Altered Tundra

Baybridge: Halcyon Days [Superpowers/Semi-Sandbox]

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Local Bar in New Raygate, Prince Ed-Field

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Jackson had been at the local bar just a few blocks away from his apartment. He was already on his third glass of some crappy, cheap Jack Daniels-ripoff. He was probably already drunk or close to it. After what happened - after apparently helping a cause that he probably didn’t even know exist - his mind had been racing. More to the point, since the investigation about Levi’s disappearance had been put on the back-burning, he felt a bit...left out? No, that wasn’t the right word. He was feeling empty and without purpose. He has these powers and he did save a couple of lives, but there still something not quite right. It was as if Jackson suddenly realized something was missing. But what?

Looking into the remainder of his fourth whiskey, Jackson pondered on that thought for a few minutes.

“You’re looking a bit down there.” The Bartender said, wiping the counter as he glanced Jackson’s way.

“Perhaps just a bit.” Jackson didn’t feel like talking.

“Y’know, people come here for a lot of reasons. Some come to unwind after a long day at the office. Some come to just enjoy a pint or two with their friends. Some come to get shit-faced. But you seem like you’re here to figure out some stuff.” The Bartender would offer Jackson a bit of insight on the happenings of this bar.

He looked up at the wise bartender, “so what exactly are you trying to say?”

“A man doesn’t down four glasses of whiskey without a reason. You need to find that reason, young man.”

Hearing the man speak, Jackson knew he was right. Damn it, he was right about all of it. “Thank you..whatever your name is.”

“Name’s Sam. Sam Williams.” Sam said, holding his hand out.

Jackson shook his hand and left what he owed plus a tip for the advice. He knew what he had to do, but more importantly, Jackson knew where he had to go. If there was going to be any purpose in his life, he would need to make some changes in his life. Might as well start with his future employment.

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@Surtr(characters mentioned)

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The city was pretty lively this time of night, so hailing a cab was a nightmare. After about a dozen or so tries, Jackson finally found one, to which he would tell them exactly where he was heading.

Along the way, Jackson thought about what he was going to say and how he was going to word it. Making a life change has always been something of a tricky thing. If not done right, it would backfire and be spat right back at you in your face. If worded incorrectly and you might end up on someone’s bad side. So, those were only but a few of the many factors that were contributing to Jackson’s anxiety at the current moment.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that Jackson lost the track of time, but more specifically, he didn’t realize that he was already here.

“That’ll be fifty bucks even.” The cabi said.

“Jeez, that much?” Jackson sighed as he handed the cab driver sixty - fifty for the fair and ten for the lack of conversation.

Getting out, he looked up at the all-too familiar building. He saw the logo of the Joint Headquarters of DOVE and RAVEN. It was kind of hard to miss. And even though he knew exactly what he was here for, the butterflies in his stomach wouldn’t cease their flapping. They wanted his nervousness to be at an all-time high as he would begin this life-altering decision.

Shaking his head, he knew this had to be done.

Walking through the front door, Jackson approached the receptionist at the front desk. “Yes, I don’t know if you remember me. I came here before looking for my friend.”

“Right, I remember you. Drake, was it?”

“Yeah,” Jackson nervously nodded, “anyways, I was hoping you could help me with something.

“I’m sorry, but there are still no new updates about your friend.”

“No, that’s not it. I was hoping you could tell me if a woman named Meifang Zhao or a man named Francis Jean-Pierre is in?” Jackson asked, sweat starting to drip from his face.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

And so another one cracks the seal.

In the span of just a few hours, nearly all of the Esper Seals have been unlocked. It started with Hamut and Exodus. When the Judge-Sal’s seal - the most ancient of them all - was unlocked, Zodiark felt it. The waves of Mist travelled through the spectrum and he felt how Exodus was judging all those who opposed his Chosen One. He felt how all those who were against the Dragon of Archades would fall. And so they did - well in a manner of speaking. The one that judges everyone and deems them below him is perfect for a Scion of Darkness who had eventually done the same thing to Ivalice and all those within it.

Following him was the Seal of the Gigas, to which young Jackson overcame great anguish to empower himself with all that is fiery and fierce. Determined and set in his ways, it was fitting that the one who held the ultimate key to healing anything would fall into the one who started out as an outcast. The one who swore to protect his friends and allies. A fitting seal and fitting Esper for a protector.

Along the way, three more seals were unlocked -all seemingly tied to one another. Mateus, the Corrupt, Zeromus the Condemned, and the Pseudo-Queen and leader of the Scions of Darkness, Ultima, the High-Seraph - all unlocked through their chosen one’s intense emotions to protect those closest to them.

For Savayna, her drive was to prove her worth. It was fitting that she unlocked it while corrupted by a foreign invader. But after it was all said and done and the Ice Queen herself took some time to cool off, it ended up being the one moment where she did prove that she belonged with everyone else. As did another.

Probably considered the exact same as Savayna as well as the complete opposite, Nadeline Lenore also went through strides to prove her worth. First, it was to her family, then to her friends. And after she did the same to her own fiance, it was to her greatest enemy: herself. One that truly went beyond any and all previous expectations that anyone ever had about her, Nadeline surpassed the odds and actually went toe to toe with the Keeper of Precepts himself, Zodiark. Not an easy thing to do.And yet, she, like many before her, came up short. Though, it is worth noting that she would have died if not for the courageous efforts from Grant. Because he unlocked Zeromus’ impressive Seal of the Condemned, he, ironically, was Nadeline’s savior. That, above all else, was the defining moment for him.

And as they stood back to back and the rest came to join them, Zodiark would look on. His eyes seeing what he never thought would happen: Humes and Viera in arms about to oppose an enemy they could not hope to defeat with power that they knew that they didn’t have for long. To Zodiark, it was foolish, but to them, he was an enemy and they wanted to eliminate him. Perhaps it could be done, but not now. Not with the amount of power that they have. It simply wasn't the time.

So, as Zodiark seemed satisfied, he let his black armor fade and he was back in his robes. His tome had returned and his additional arms back as if on the blink of an eye. He gazed upon them all. He waved his arm and awakened Savayna. “You all have impressed me. Especially you Rozarrian Girl and Condemned One. And for that, I will uphold my end of the bargain, Rozarrian Girl. You are allowed three truths. Any you seek and I will tell you. As the Keeper of Precepts, I am bound to my word. Now, speak and be heard.” Zodiark stated, looking at Nadeilne curiously.

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He pressed as hard as he could. All of the determination to rid Emiri of any and all of Zodiark’s influence was stronger than any amount of fatigue he was experiencing right now. The love and affection he held for Emiri was stronger than the injuries he sustained during his fights throughout the day. It didn’t matter to him. Nothing mattered more than getting Emiri back and out of the clutches of Keiran and any other possible ‘seed’. His eyes reflected the burning desire within him. They burned with the same brilliant gold and red that his entire body seemed to because he was now surrounded by a literal healing fire aura, all of which was being concentrated into Emiri’s entire body.

He felt himself running low on stamina. Belias would note that there was only so much power he could lend Jaakuna without it overwhelming and destroying his very soul, but Jaakuna quickly retorted that his life was meaningless without her. “You hear me, Belias! I don’t care if I am destroyed in the process. If it means she is saved, I don’t care what happens to me!”

And as Jaakuna spoke those final words, something brought him out of his own frenzy. It was subtle. Warm. He felt warm hands grab his own. In the blink of an eye, Jaakuna’s Mist ceased its outward appearance and he was back to his pale self. Blonde hair a normal gold. His eyes back to the grassy-green. And above all else, when he looked down at Emiri, he saw a shade of violet that he never thought he’d ever see again. And tears from eyes he never thought he would see flow out of those eyes. And...and…

He embraced her. He didn’t say anything. Not a witty ‘you scared me half to death’ comment. Nothing came from his mouth. He just held her as close as he possibly could. For the first time in a long time, probably since before Chaos first wiped her memory, Jaakuna had his Emiri back. She returned to him and he couldn’t be happier. He never wanted to let her go.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Zodiark chuckled as he noticed Nadeline’s saviors were aiming to interfere in a fight that, up until just a few moments ago, was a one-on-one venture. Of course, after that Shinto had opened his mouth, there was no mistaking that he recognized the spell that Zodiark had used. Still, even if they were to make it in time, they had no chance in hell of stopping Zodiark, much less saving their dear Nadeline.

“It seems the deal we made might be cut off, Hume girl.” Zodiark said, citing the interference of her friends as a dealbreaker.

He kept his eyes on the slowly-shrinking prison Nadeline was in, but as the Viera and humes would gather their magicks to attack, Zodiark threw his staff into the air, letting it float. In his now free hand, he formed a handsign to where his index, middle, and thumb fingers were out. He placed his arm under his other one. From there, he gathered powerful magicks and sent a wave of darkga towards the ground. It was a more enhanced version of the spell than most were used to. He would unleash it upon all of them - even those who had yet to decide to help.

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Though everything that was happening to him and Emiri wasn’t exactly idea, Jaakuna’s mind couldn’t help but go to the gutter when Emiri flipped him on his back and had landed on top of him. As she would shout, all he could think about was that first time that they were together and how he was in a very similar position as he was right now. And despite her yelling at him, saying all of those feelings that were bottled him, Jaakuna had a stupid grin on his face.

“Ya know, this is just like that night. You know - the first time we actually spent the night together.” Jaakuna wiggled his eyebrows. But the reminiscing of good times would cease entirely as she would grip his throat. She had a strong grip, that Emiri. Jaakuna, before he was starting to be choked to death, had forgotten about her surprisingly strong grip. It was amazing and terrible at the same time. Because he had let her do this, now he was struggling to break free of her hold.

And all the while, he heard her. And the words she spoke before. When the good times faded, much like Emiri’s composure, it reached a breaking point and he not only saw her pain, but he felt it. Not through him, but Belias relayed that pain to him. Espers have more of a talent of sensing that kind of thing than the humes do, so when Jaakuna finally would feel her pain, he realized something - well, aside from needing to break free or he’d die. He realized that she wasn’t entirely gone. This Emiri that was yelilng at his face and choking him was the insecure Emiri that he met before. The one that ran away from Stigma the first time and ended up as a hunter in Rabanastre. It was the same Emiri that left him to go face Nadeline in Bhujerba.

And in realizing that, Jaakuna’s fire was activated once more. This time, he didn’t waste his time grabbing her wrists. As quickly as he possibly could(given the circumstances of course), Jaakuna would press both of his golden, blazing hands onto Emiri’s...erm, assets as hard as he could and push with all his might.

“My heart burns with awesome gold and blazing red. My hands are an extension of my soul and it’s roaring loudly, telling me to purify you,” Jaakuna said, as if citing an incantation, “Purifying Blaze Palms!” As he shouted that, the intensity of his hands erupted in deeper golds and reds, giving Jaakuna an extra boost of magickal powers as he now had Emiri on the ground and he was now on top of her, breasting harder, intent on finishing what he started.

Crooked Young - An Altered Lies Production

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Alexandros would just stand there as he let Audrey finish what she was going to say. He knew that she obviously had something to say about his comments, which meant that he got under her skin. Good. That’s what he meant to do. Though, she should have expected this. When you play with fire, you’re going to get burned and Alexandros sure felt that latina burn through every ounce of oil he had poured over their game of fire. However, he had to admit that even he was surprised by what she just said.

The sudden turning of the tables, Audrey appeared to have had it with their games. Through that entire speech, Alexandros stood there impressed. She actually brought out a genuine expression of surprise out of him. Not only that, but she seemed to have actually gone through a change into something resembling maturity. Audrey Huntsberg had actually had enough of the back-and-forth between them, which raised a question for Alexandros: what is a guy to do now?

When Audrey got up and her posse gathered their things, he simply watched as she would leave him at their table as she and the girls would go to leave. Though, before she would leave him completely, she left him with some famous last words. As she spoke them, Alexandros listened well. To her the games were over. Perhaps it was about time he also stopped playing the same game that she started.

Before she would turn around, Alex gave her a nod. Whether she chose to acknowledge it was her business.

Alexandros knew what he had to do, but the struggle he was having was should he? And more importantly, could he muster up the courage to forget his pride and arrogance, and go do what he needed to do? Racing through his mind were various scenarios - none of which were good for him. In his mind, he had ideas of how he would do it. But in his heart - god the heart that seemed to be making all the wrong decisions - there was all but one way to go about this.

Before he even realized it, Alexandros had followed Audrey’s suit. He didn’t really care that she was with her “A Team”. In all honesty, maybe it was good that they were present for what about what was going to happen.

He rushed in front of her, stopping the latina dead in her tracks, which would also stop her posse who were right behind her. “Not so fast, Huntsberg and friends,” Alexandros said, stopping them where they stood, “you left so abruptly that you didn’t let me finish.” Alexandros would feign sadness. He quickly shook it off as he looked into Audrey’s brown eyes. “I’m not going to pretend and say that my intention was on playing with your head. It’s fun seeing you squirm. But you’re right, when it all comes down to it, I was wasting your time. I went half-measure when I should have just..oh screw it--”

Alexandros shot Audrey’s friends a look before returning to his prize. His hands found themselves gently caressing Audrey’s face and without even so much as a word of warning, Alexandros gave her the most sensual, passionate kiss that he could muster up that would last for more than the average amount a kiss should last.

When the kiss ended, he would once more shoot her friends a look and return back to Audrey. “How’s that for winning?”

Shuffle your music player and post the first 10 songs

Echo — Amalee feat. DJ-Lo — Echo
Heavy — Linkin Park feat. Kirara — Heavy (feat. Kirara)
Nobody — Selena Gomez — Revival(Deluxe Edition)
You Are So Beautiful — Escape the Fate — This War is Ours
I Will Follow You into the Dark — Death Cab For Cutie — Plans
I Need You By My Side — Ramin Djawadi — Game of Thrones: Season Six Official Soundtrack
You Already Know What You Are — A Day to Remember — Homesick(Special Edition)
Scene Four - Don't You Ever Forget About Me — Sleeping With Sirens — If You Were A Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack
Building — Funeral For a Friend — Memory and Humanity
Everlong - Foo Fighters Cover — Boyce Avenue — Cover Sessions Volume II

Crooked Young - An Altered Lies Production

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Despite what she claimed, Alexandros knew the truth because he knew how Audrey operated. It might’ve taken a bit of time to figure it out, but she liked to use underhanded, often sneaky, tactics to get what she wanted. He knew this because he had wronged her or apparently made her upset one too many times that warranted her revenge plots. Due to that, it allowed him to get a good idea of how her mind works and how exactly she executes these revenge plots of her. She obviously saw Florence as a threat, so she got rid of her. Maybe it wasn’t her directly but she was involved. Alexandros knew that. Audrey knew that he knew it.

While he ate the fry that he had in his hand, he heard her very subtle(not really) threat to stab him if he touched another. Just to spite her, he took one more before she would get a chance to stab him with that flimsy fork of hers. Next he would hear as she tried to denounce his claims that she was the one behind the expose of Flrorence’s father. It was rather amusing to see that first hand. Saying that she was blessed and for her friends to actually back that up was even more amusing. She really was believing her own gospel and her friends ate it up.

“Deny it all you want, but we both know the truth,” Alexandros stated, choosing to ignore the puppets. “If you think this means you’ve won, then think again.” Alexandros leaned in, practically touching Audrey’s face. “A Mossos always wins one way or another.” Alexandros stated, still oh-so close to Audrey. For a moment, he would give her the impression that he was going to kiss her right then and there, but instead, he grabbed her last fry, then stood up. “These are good fries by the way,” he said, proceeding to walk away.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Whilst midair, an airborne Nadeline, to Zodiark’s approval, recovered rather quickly. She used her cat-like reflexes and general-level quick thinking to not only protect herself from the majority of his attacks, but in that same moment, she continuously cast multiple spells to work in her favor, layering them so it would enhance her physical and magical strength. Though, what she failed to realize was that, no matter how many spells she would cast, it still wouldn’t be enough for her to completely escape his might.

Before she would get the chance to continue that swing of her rapier, Zodiark held out his free hand. In front of it, a dark purple glyph appeared. In half of a second, a gravija was cast...or so it seemed like it was. It was obvious what the effects were. Simultaneously, Nadeline would feel copious amounts of magical pressure on her shoulders, ceasing any and all movement the moment it happened and she would also be brought to Zodiark right as he had cast that spell. When she was close enough, he snapped his fingers and the glyph in front of him split into a dozen other glyphs and they floated all around Nadeline. They would get so close to her that she would be boxed inside a magical prison that had several colors radiating all at the same time. It was like a prism of colors.

“You did well, Hume Girl. You lasted longer than any Hume before you, but all good things must come to an end.” Zodiark informer her. Rotating his hand, the prison that she was trapped in did as well. When he inched closer to balling up his hand into a fist, the prison would shrink.

Meanwhile, the rest looked on. Shinto would specifically fear the worst. Not because he didn’t think Nadeline could get out of it - well, he was thinking that, but not for the reasons one would expect. He had seen this one. “We have to distract him. She will die.” Shinto said, “no, I’m not saying this as a way to come to her rescue. If we don’t do something right now, she will die. That spell he’s using..Madame Blue Rose, you remember that forbidden spell that you told us about? The one that encloses one inside a prison that sucks out the life force and delivers magical damage with twice the amount of life force taken?” Shinto asked Shion. “I’m telling you, that’s an enhanced version of that spell. If we don’t do something now, I’m afraid Nadeline won’t survive.”

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Jaakuna purposely ignored Keiran’s comments. Instead, he would focus on Emiri and how his plan was working. Belias definitely had his doubts, but for the time, he seemed to be in agreement with Jaakuna in how it was the best way to stall time so that the flames could work their magic until he could get physical contact once more. “Then let’s do it. Just you and me. Forget Zodiark. Forget the union of Rozarria and Archadia. Let’s just spend our days in the skies. Let’s live the future we talked about. Let's..” Jaakuna grabbed Emiri’s hands gently with his bare fists, no fire present. He looked deeply into her eyes with love and compassion.

Move Over for Maeve

Hi All!

I'm a long time writer new to the world of play by post roleplaying, and I'm looking forward to making stories on the site!

@Maeve

Oh and welcome~ :D

This site looks great!

This site looks so active--plus a persistent setting and lots of discussion forums! I'm a bit excited to be here. How do people find this place (I was recommended by a friend)?

@Normie

>when normies invade

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Nah but seriously, hiya and welcome!