Achronum

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

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Location: The Mutant Underground
Skills: N/A

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“God, couldn’t agree more with you.” James chuckled, beaming since his comment didn’t set anything off and Casper seemed to appreciate the gesture. He sipped at his own, instinctively making a face at it but scolded himself internally. This place was clearly not well funded and they had just been brutally attacked. This was something he would have to get accustomed too. He was just thankful they had something to hold back the eventual caffeine headache that would probably kick his ass up and down the curb later. He did turn his attention back to Veil for a few moments however.

“I’ll go with anyone. I’m pretty good at staying out of sight; people tend to look right over me. I can help scout out but I’m more than happy to head to the bar if you expect anyone to be critically injured. I can help in a pinch if you need it.” James offered, though he did turn back to Casper. “Are you going to head out now that you’ve rested? I know you mentioned you didn’t seem comfortable with the idea of hanging around here the other day. Not that I’m shooing you away. In fact, I might, maybe would like you to stay because maybe I could keep my promise from the other night and go out once the dust has settled?” James asked hopefully, not really sure what tonight would entail if things got messy with the bar but he really did hope he could do something semi-normal just to take his mind off the whirlwind of crazy that had happened.

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Requiem

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Location: The Hellfire Club
Skills: N/A

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“If you wished for someone to solve your problem in less than 48 hours, you requested the wrong person, Mr. Shaw. You should be fully aware of my background and methods and thus my penchant for meticulousness. ” Requiem stated bluntly but sighed as he took off his glasses, tucking them neatly into his jacket. If Shaw wanted a scapegoat, then so be it. Requiem had things to share and none of them were going to be to the man’s liking. “However, if you care to hear my preliminary findings in front of two of the three people you believe may be culprits, I would be more than pleased to oblige. I emphasize that these are in no way my final conclusions so any of you may feel free to continue enjoying your little game. I only beg your patience during my discussion.” He adjusted the grip on his cane as he planted it in front of him as he addressed the table.

“As you are all aware, Mr. Shaw misplaced his prototype Sentinel some days ago. Despite the urgency of the matter, Mr. Shaw contacted Jinx and myself to investigate the missing prototype the afternoon before yesterday. When we went to investigate where the Sentinel was being held as per Mr. Shaw’s suggestion, Ms. Frost intercepted us and escorted us downstairs where we discovered scratch marks along the floor and video footage showing Ms. Frost and Mr. Shaw engaged in intense physical intimacy, Ms. Payge entered with the triplets and made a phone call, and Mr. Lensherr and Mystique use the medical facilities before the footage ended for an hour time period. Requiem tapped softly on his cane as his eyes flickered between the three, meeting Ms. Frost’s gaze, clearly amused with her interest in his discussion. Anastasia’s presence and her little slip up last night made him far more confident in his theory than he had been last night. “Looking at the footage alone, it creates quite a convoluted picture. We see Ms. Frost and Mr. Shaw using the room for private pleasure early on, entirely devoted to their pursuits and seemingly unconnected. We see Ms. Payge testing equipment and on the phone, perhaps revealing information on the function of the Sentinel. Finally, Mr. Lensherr and Mystique access the facility and then leave right before the footage ends. From that viewpoint, it seems they scouted the room to confirm no one was present before absconding with the prototype. If we only used this, and what physical evidence we found in the room, it would point to a connection between Ms. Payge and Mr. Lensherr as the likely culprits. Ms. Frost displayed a degree of irritation beyond what Jinx’s behavior encouraged. It supported the initial assumption that she was relatively removed from the situation, outside of the fact her lapse in security is what caused the technology to go missing.” He smiled pleasantly at her before continuing on.

“But I couldn’t shake the nagging suspicion that it wasn’t quite true. So I continued to ponder the idea overnight. And when I appeared at our Headquarters the next night, I concluded I was correct not to throw out Ms.Frost after all. Ms. Reinhardt had been placed on the investigation. An interesting development since one of those you believed possibly responsible for suddenly inserted someone into the process. Then while someone interested in seeing you Mr. Shaw attempted to allow others to infiltrate our headquarters, Ms. Frost suffered an unfortunate head injury while she was busy infiltrating my mind despite the more logical option being simply to verbally communicate to me while in her defensible form. An odd thing coming from someone so calculating. So what does that mean?” Requiem frowned in mock consideration. “Previously I had managed to subject her to my own abilities, albeit it accidentally, and simple pride is the only reason I can imagine she made such a costly mistake. After all, I doubt we would have lost our asset if she had still been standing. Which brings me to conclude that her indisputably advanced logical capacities are easily swayed with strong emotional spikes. Such as in the throes of passion.” He made a pointed look at Shaw and Frost.

“In conclusion, I currently believe Mr. Lensherr is the only one can be considered absolved at this point. Ms. Payge is a wild card, with little time to observe or interact with her, and Ms. Frost and you, Mr. Shaw, are the primary suspects of my investigation.”

Of Blood and Magic

The Masquerade ballroom was situated a little further from the rest of them, built closer to the cliff than the rest. The entire room sparkled, several layered crystal chandeliers suspended from thin, magically enhanced glass archways that spanned the room. The room teemed with masked people and music floated down from the full orchestra playing upstairs. The center of the ballroom was a whirl of dancing while the edges were much more calm. The various paintings of alumni and previous professors framed artfully between the marble pillars boasted various tables of food and non-alcoholic beverages with the exception of wine. Noila dressed mages handed out glasses of the Noilan vintages, a dry red, a sweet white, and a rosé settling somewhere decidedly in the middle. The mages only allowed each guest two glasses and marked the back of their hands with a special rune that would only wear off once the sun rose.

Little tables peppered the balcony across from the orchestra, giving Revel goers a chance to sit down and relax for a few minutes. The noise was magically muted, still present but significantly calmer than downstairs. Waiters with frosted pitchers offered water regularly to mortals taking advantage of the respite. A few vampires also relaxed upstairs, chatting quietly amongst themselves as they watched their mages enjoy themselves down below with a mixture of fondness and apprehension.

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The third body of the night hit the ground, tucked away behind a dark building. Given it’s location and the short line of masked mortals lining the opposite side of the building, it was likely a ballroom. It had been a risky meal. One false move, even a muffled shout, could have ruined her game but that was the thrill of it. Killing sheep right under the flock’s nose. She wiped away the last fleck of blood at the corner of her mouth and sauntered her way around the building. She adjusted her mask and sauntered past the line, whispering softly in one of the guards admitting people, who only nodded and let her pass. Silly, silly princess. Such exploitable security procedures.

The room was a pleasant one. Clearly no expense was spared for its construction and the vampiress decided to up thrill a little. She’d take something sweet from here. A young little thing, just recently awoken. The last one left an odd taste in her mouth and she could use a refreshing drink. She took to the dance floor easily, catching a mage clearly holding themselves back as the eargerly hovered on the edge of the dance floor. The vampiress lead the pair in a fast paced waltz that had them spinning circles around most of the other dancers. The girl the vampiress managed to catch was a third year, not quite what she wanted, but she had fun with it, purposely baiting the vampire drilling holes in her from upstairs. Ah, young obsession.

But she let the girl go after the first dance and left to pick up a glass of red while it was available. The dryness was a welcome reprieve from the lingering aftertaste of her last meal and she sipped at the drink slowly, enjoying the menagerie.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω Officially Done

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Aster Damien Luxiel

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Location: Dining Pavilion
Skills: N/A

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Aster rolled his eyes at Theresa’s lukewarm response. Why was that the comparison? She chose literally the lowest bar next to Uggs―the appropriate reaction is clearly defined by the brand name and he will fight anyone who tries to tell him otherwise―and claims its better. Which is technically true but so is anything from the garbage so she doesn’t have to try really. He goes to say as such but the horn sounded and he groaned. Really? Right after he sat down to eat?

“It means monsters sauntering a little too close for comfort.” Aster sighed, staring longingly at his food but pushing it away and standing back up with a little extra flair. “They won’t make it through though so don’t stress about it. However, my curiosity is more than a little piqued. Gunna pop on over and see what all the commonition is about. Never know what is going to happen.” He wanted gossip material and a horn was definitely prime material. He wasn’t going to miss out on this for anything. He blew a kiss towards Moana and Aurthur and positively skipped out of the dining pavilion.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

James Kingston

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Location: Human Resistance HQ, New York, New York
Skills: N/A

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James stepped through the portal with no small amount of trepidation. The warning from Strange played over in his head. Or risk the extinction of the mutant race. Apparently no matter how things went, mutants were fucked all around. Abducted and turned into drugged up puppets or the possibility of extinction. What the hell are with these choices? Couldn’t the universe cut them some slack? For once, could the repercussions just be they maintain the status quo? Apparently that was way too much to ask for.

“Well, let’s see if we can’t find Casper and Jack. They might be able to help us hunt down the rest of the group.” Did he have ulterior motives for wanting to find the first, yes. Was he about to tell this group of people he was adamantly against literally 24 hours ago? Absolutely not. He did however pull out his phone on the off chance, because Casper never answered his phone and especially not when you actually needed him to, Casper would be playing with his phone and not drinking while begging Ben to help him cheat at Back Jack or something. Which would probably be incredibly lucrative for awhile. Maybe he could convince him to do that in the other reality. Scamming rich people of their money must be a better hobby than basically everything else he does when he’s overwhelmed. He paused before he actually hit send and deleted the message. It’d be more fun to sneak up on him, if Ben didn’t rat him out first.

The Gifted - Concluded

James Kingston

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Location: The Mutant Underground
Skills: N/A

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James nearly considered not getting up when he felt himself stir that morning. Yesterday had been… an experience. Attacks from every side, a failed mission, and the amount of injuries all around had James seriously wondering how anyone was still fucking breathing in this place. In less than a week, he’d disappeared from his old life, made friends with a guy who pulled off magic tricks, helped someone out of a burning building because of said magic trick guy, got a date, had to piece said date and said date’s brother back together, and had to get a bunch of fucking children back on their feet because some shit heads decided to have a grand time blowing up buildings. And that wasn’t even everything. Erg’s dead, Max is a murderer and single handedly responsible for turning every mutant into public enemy number 1, and he had a massive caffeine headache on top of everything else. At least one of those things could be handled. The rest of it?

Who the fuck knew.

So James forced himself up and through his stretching routine that morning despite wanting to do anything but that. He definitely felt better but he could tell his smile was a little stiffer than normal but hey, a smile’s a smile. Fake it ‘til you make it and all that jazz. His first stop was coffee which he got set up while Veil spoke. He didn’t have any reason to leave or stay. He was kinda just in the wind but this whole Hounds thing sounded horrible and if he could help somehow, he kinda felt obligated to do so. He almost spoke up but Casper and Jack caught his eye. Casper seemed a little frazzled and Jack concerned. He didn’t know if it had anything to do with how he found the pair last night but he thought it couldn’t hurt to at least check in and if it was something else that he had no part in, he’d slip right out. Or awkwardly stumble his way out. Whatever worked.

So he prepared two more cups of watered down coffee―at least something was good around here at this point―and brought three cups over to the pair. “Hey, just wanted to check in on you guys after last night. You all still feeling alright?” James asked softly, not wanting to interrupt the other conversations going on. “I know I promised a little alcohol involved the first time but this was the best I could whip up on short notice.” James joked lightly, very much prepared to bolt if it landed poorly.

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Requiem

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Location: The Hellfire Club
Skills: N/A

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Requiem retired to his apartment last night after the fiasco, incredibly irritated with the entire situation. His hands still stung, his leg was acting up, and he spent a few hours listening to records and reminiscing trying to get himself back in a better frame of mind. This was no time to be distracted with petty concerns, much less frustrations over the constant changing of responsibilities. A missing sentinel, an unexpected raid, a missing computer, and now an entire change of direction. It had taken him the entire time to get himself calm and refocused. It was times like these that the ache of loss hurts most sharply. Before he’d have someone to lean on, two people ready to listen and work with him when he needed these mental adjustments.

It had been difficult the first few months. He’d still spoke to them like he did before the assignment: asking Devon to pause his studies to set the table while he was cooking or yelling at Natasha when the laundry machine banged when it was unbalanced. But of course, no one answered and he contemplated more than once following them into the next life. He couldn’t afford a therapist. Financially yes but the risk involved was far too great so instead he did what he did best. He made a plan and resolved to do something about the situation.

Requiem made his way to their morning meeting in considerably better spirits than when he left the night before. He paused for a moment when he entered, both so that he could analyze the company and so he wouldn’t have to speak over the tapping of his cane. “Good morning everyone. From present company, it seems we’ll have our work cut out for us today.”

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω Officially Done

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Aster Damien Luxiel

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Location: Dining Pavilion
Skills: N/A

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Aster checked his mirror one more time as he entered the dining pavilion, checking his hair and glitter one more time. He;d barely had enough time to take a decent shower after the morning class he taught―definitely not because he had a long routine and a late morning class really cut unreasonably into his time!―and he had to be perfect. Not that it was hard. His parent was the most beautiful thing in existence and he wouldn’t deny he got all his looks from her. He picked up a goblet and a plate, offering some of his food as per usual, and then scanned the hall to see who had made an appearance. He rolled his eyes at the whole Zeke and Demetri thing going down and sauntered his way over to his cabin’s table and slid into a seat across from Arthur, his newest sibling, and Theresa. He shot his other siblings a haughty look.

'Really? You know it doesn't work unless they can actually hear you." Aster rolled his eyes, leaning in towards the pair in front of him and stage whispered. "Ignore the harpies. They're just all upset their outfits are a few decades out of date now. Everyone knows denim is in this fall, not…" Aster grimaced as he gave his siblings the look over. "Even the kid of Zues is in on the trend. And I heard one of our sisters found a wrinkle today. Can you believe it? Is she even Aphrodite's child or did she just piss Mom off?"

"Did you get that?" Aster leaned back, eyebrow arched as he stared down his siblings. "Try and remember this time. Gossip properly or not at all. You'll set a bad example for our sister." He rolled his eyes and turned back to the pair with an exasperated sigh. "Siblings, can't live with them, can't live without them. And what do we owe this pleasure, Arthur. Bored over there at the Hades table?" Aster snapped his fingers as a light bulb went off in his head. "Oh Mona, I have a few different eyeliner and mascaras coming in. I don't have anything that'll ft that punk aesthetic you have going on quite but I was reading and I think I found something that'll give that kick-ass vibe you seem to be going for. I still can't get over the fact they put you in that hideous camp shirt. How could you, Theresa." He lamented dramatically, leaning back with a hand to his forehead.

Of Blood and Magic

Darkness rose cool on the night of the Revel. Mages restless and struggling to acclimate to their new routines would have heard the set up crew moving around across the campus, large trucks hauling the temporary structures that made up the roaming carnival. Rows on rows on rows of stalls, massive towers for coasters and rides, and an absurd amount of decorations were all unloaded over the course of the day with some help from the vampire organizers before the moon found its bed. Mages finished the job, magic and manuel labor hand in hand as they set up for the next few nights of fun.

Music and light broke the normally peaceful campus weekend, entertainers and workers eagerly calling about. Game stalls lined the walkways and the picnic benches had all been removed or shifted around to make room for the various spinning rides and bumper carts and coasters that broke the Academy skyline. The scent of carnival food, a break from the healthier options the school actively pushed on the students, drifted across the campus: funnel cake, cotton candy, meat pies, corn dogs, and the lot. Students bolted from one stall to another, laughter trailing them, and excited screams echoed from one end of the Academy to the other and the usual first semester tension of new students trying to find their place in a new society eased somewhat.

A few days before, every dorm received an informational letter of the special events occuring in the ballrooms. This year's theme was Masquerade but instead of demanding it across all campus, the Academy limited the required attire to ballroom events. It was required, as per the letter, that students be dressed appropriate to the theme in order to enter and more than one event would end in a contest for the best outfit. The last four of each day, specialty shows put on by Marivaldi show mages, had limited seating so RSVPs would have to be made in order to attend. However, all other dances, shows, and contests were open to anyone interested.

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A porcelain mask painted with a dizzying array of spiral colors hung from an older woman's face, covering it completely. An elegant dress, black and silver with traces of green thread touching around the edges, flowed behind her as she made her way gracefully through the crowd. She practically skimmed the ground as she walked. The exuberant crowd barely phased her, moving with the ease and grace of someone accustomed to such things. She followed the paths around until she found a dark corner--out of sight is out of mind, after all--and she waited. The smell, the sound, the heat of precious blood pumping under the vermin's skin was intoxicating.

But she held strong. She waited. And waited. And waited. Impatience was boiling under her skin when the filth stopped to fix his shoe. Perfect. He was gone in a flash, experienced hands winding around his throat and mouth before they were safely away up the building. She relished that moment, the smell of fear and helplessness as her fangs broke skin, and a little sigh came out as the first drops of blood splattered across her tongue. She drank deeply.

Until his lifeless corpse slumped from her hands.

She grinned as she slipped her mask back on. The weak, silly Noila princess went soft after the war and she collected all these fine blood bags all ripe for the plucking. It was a feast, all cozy and unsuspecting, wrapped up in the silly comforts they didn’t deserve. These vermin were meant to fear them and she was in the prime position to remind them. And get a delicious meal to boot. The silly princess wouldn’t even know somone plundered her precious collection until the morn and she’d be long gone by then. The grin turned feral.

This would be far too fun.

ＦＩＮＡＬ ＦＡＮＴＡＳＹ Ｘ｜Ｖ： Ｔｈｅ Ｂｌｅｓｓｅｄ Ｔｗｅｌｖｅ

The carriage came to a halt shortly after the pair's conversation came to a close, pulling Kajin out of his brief contemplation. He didn't recall an aetheric disturbance in the various records he transcribed but he wasn't looking for one. The next bell that finds him with free time, he'll send a letter back to Ul'dah if courier timing worked out. Mentioning a Padjal believed such an anomaly exists would likely get the Eyes investigating in a heartbeat. Kajin shrugged, putting the matter out of mind for now, and hopped out of the carriage and brusted off the little dust cloud still swirling around the carriage wheels. He took a moment to look around and grinned.

The Silver Bazaar. A struggling monument from an Era sorely missed but despite all its flaws, this bazaar was still one of Kajin’s favorite places in all of Thanalan. First of all, the best pescatore came out of here an Kajin was willing to put Gil (and fire, lots of fire) on that. Secondly, the stars at night on the back edge of the town were gorgeous. HIs first time seeing the ocean was magical, born in a landlocked region of Thanalan, and he fell in love with stargazing on the rock behind the bazaar became one of his favorite past times. Sure, the town needed fixing up and sometimes rougher folk made their way around here but most of the town’s populace were worth making friends with.

Kajin listened to Lyveva, nodding along with a frown. She skipped over someone, probably one of the best of the town’s residents to speak with. Most of the people here had at least considered turning tail and running as business collapsed and those same people wouldn’t have any issue letting a fraudulent auction run rampant if it meant incoming gil. No, Kajin knew a few people and if anyone would be willing to help, it’d be the one person who would rather die than see the Silver Bazaar finally collapse into the sands. The Gil might be pretty attractive but it would just take a little convincing that developing the Bazaar’s reputation as a shady place would only hurt her efforts to restore the once proud markets to their former glory.

“Okay, okay. I know she said all those people but how about you stick with me and we can try something else?” Kajin asked E-Siri, scanning the crowd and giving out a loud “Hehe, found ya!” before he bolted off into the crowd, expertly dodging wandering feet and knees until he skidded to a halt, beaming. “Kikipu!”

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

James Kingston

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Location: Human Resistance HQ, New York, New York
Skills: N/A

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“I’m know Max. I just told you last call and then you’re done. I wasn’t asking you to call Casper. I know where he is and what he is doing. I’d like to say safe but when does that ever apply to him.” James sighed. “I left him a voicemail. He’ll check his phone when he checks his phone. It wasn’t a strong suit of his in the real world and I highly doubt he’ll take the time to check his messages while he’s bouncing around a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Its more likely we run into himbefore he even looks at the damn thing.” He shook his head with exasperate fondness in his words before he returned his attention to Max.

“Rest dude. It sounds like we have a full day ahead of us tomorrow and you’re starting to look a little thin.” James poked Max in the side. “And you’re not a fuck up. Sure you’ve made some… mistakes but you’re also bending the laws of the universe so I think you deserve a little slack. And I’m not sure how all your magic works but maybe once we fix all this, you’ll remember all these things you can do and even if it doesn;’t help you immediately, it gives you a goal to work towards. Sometimes all you need is a little direction and I think this is more than just a little. Maybe you could even remember how you learned all this so you can replicate it in our reality!”

Talrae Reborn

Willow wasted no time making her way to the group’s meetup spot, River close on her heels. He was chompin at the bit apparently and Willow wanted to be able to reign him in if River decided to take off without thinking. She sighed, again no response from Prome, but she put that out of her mind. As long as he was in town, he shouldn’t get into too much trouble… Right?

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“Aye, it’s a right masterpiece. Made ‘er just last week. Last bit o’ material I had too. Nasty stuff to work with but old Bidhorn got the job done!” The shopkeeper chuckled but gave Holly an appraising look. “Now, not for nothing, but I think yer not quite suited for the smithin’ life right now, lassie. It’s plain to see you haven’t picked up a hammer in your life. Come back to my shop after you got a few projects under your belt and we’ll talk shop.”

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Alfor Ratshrew’s home was much the same as the night before and the door opened to reveal Rowena once again who only sighed and ushered Prome in. “Frankly, I’m surprised you weren’t scratching at the door like a dog when I stepped out this morning. What possessed you to visit us at such a queer hour of the night? It wasn’t as if your business was pressing.” Rowena grumbled as she finished cutting fruit for a platter on the table. She tugged on a rope hanging by the fireplace and the same jingling could be heard upstairs. A heavy thumping could be heard as Alfor made an appearance at the top of the stairs once more.

“Ah, he returns! How exciting!” Alfor exclaimed, heavy footsteps pounding down the stairs before he clapped Prome on the shoulder. “What idea have you cooked up in your head overnight?”