Atrophy

Shadows in the Dread City- A Cyberpunk RolePlay

^*squeals*

This scrub right here is down, @Kingfisher.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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Hillview High - Mason Square
_{@Majoras End@Fernstone}

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“Sounds like a plan, bro,” said Billy to Rien, attempting to adjust Maddie so that he could support her from the shoulder. She wasn’t necessarily heavy, but with her being unconscious there was something difficult about shifting the dead weight around—although perhaps it was his lack of muscle mass to blame. After what felt like an entirety of struggling (but less than a few seconds, really) he had her in a position where Rien could help him carry her, Maddie propped awkwardly between their shoulders while Billy hunched his back to match their height.

They had barely gotten settled when a wall of ice jutted up from the ground, blocking off the attack from the Glutton that he had witnessed out of the corner of his eye. Billy let out a sigh of relief that was quickly cut short as he saw the ice sculpture begin to collapse in on itself, the middle part glowing the same awful orange light as if the tip of one of the creature’s tendrils was a welder’s torch precisely burning a hole through the ice. It broke through and Billy closed his eyes, bracing for whatever unfathomable pain he was about to experience. However, instead of impossible agony he only felt a mild tightness as a hand wrapped around his shirt and pulled. He opened his eyes in time to see Penny, and within moments the color vanished from the world as she pulled him, Maddie, and Rien through the wall.

It felt weird travelling through solid matter, like he had fallen asleep on his arm funny and woke up to it feeling as if it was crawling with ants—except, in this case, it was his entire body. However, Billy thought that he was also possibly imagining it; he felt like he should feel something, so his mind was convincing him that he was. It was a trippy, bizarre thought to have, especially when he considered that they were very much likely being chased by a cosmic horror with a horrible case of the munchies. He felt like he should be more afraid than he actually was at that very moment; even the ghost-like apparitions that appeared as they phased through another wall did little to set him off ease.

Maybe they would make it after all, he thought.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

<Snipped quote by Ciaran>

Hold her arm!

@Surtr Inc

_{That's not an arm!}

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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Hillview High - Mason Square
_{@Surtr Inc@Zombiedude101@Majoras End@Ciaran}

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Billy watched in horror as Rita did not back away from the nightmare, her voice growing louder and become more and more of an animalistic shriek as she continued asking her question. He didn’t know the girl very well, but he had her pegged as the running-and-hiding type. Her Abstraction, whatever it was, didn’t seem to be the kind of thing that would be able to protect her from a giant, creepy, tentacular monster. He was still feeling a little drowsy from the fight with Scott, but he took a few tentative steps forward—and then reconsidered. What the hell could he do against something like this? It would be smarter to listen to Tuyen’s advice. He would’ve begun creeping away slowly if it weren't for Penny. He wasn’t going to leave her behind.

Penny had yet to fully recover from what she was witnessing, but enough of her will was capable of pushing back the horror to muster up the courage needed to try and get Rita away from the Glutton. She had barely taken half a step forward when her knees buckled and she dropped to the floor, the exhaustion from the day overcoming her desire to pull the stupid girl away from certain death. Her eyes grew wide in horror and she tried to produce a warning that would come too late as she watched the thing’s arm swipe at Rita, Kimberly tackling the mousy girl out of the way just in time.

Rita had entered into some kind of trance. Tiny, little fists fell harmlessly on Kimberly as Rita tried to breakaway from the woman who was saving her life, determined to get the truth out of the Glutton. She was sick of the secrets and of the surprises. The sharp pain that shot through her elbow when she collided with the ground pulled her out of her stupor. She looked around the hallway with the wide, confused eyes of a hunted animal that had just heard a shot, uncertain as to what was happening but completely aware of how much danger she was truly in.

So much was happening. The barrier blocking the Glutton’s assault before it dissolved into the floor gave Penny enough time to stumble back up to her feet. She stepped towards the two girls on the ground, uncertain of her balance as she reached down to help them up. The entire time, she was cursing out Rita: “You’re a fucking idiot. You’re the biggest, dumbest, most fuckingest idiot I have ever seen in my entire life, and I’ve known Billy for all of it. If you ever do some shit like that again I’ll…”

Rita was silently mouthing “I’m sorry” over and over again in response, her eyes tightly squeezed shut. She didn’t know what she would say if she looked into Penny’s eyes. Already, even after all of this, the compulsion to draw forth the dirty little secrets of someone she hardly knew was growing.

“Are you o—” was all Billy could get out of his mouth as he rushed to his sister’s side before the Glutton showed back up, busting through the wall like some kind of horrific Kool-Aid Man. He pushed the group of girls away before diving to the side, just barely missing one of the Glutton’s tendrils as it crashed past them. He stumbled into a locker a few feet from where Maddie was lying and slumped down. Was she dead? She had been thrown pretty hard by Reese during the fight. Billy slowly slid over towards her, keeping one eye on the Glutton as it began to level its tendrils at everyone, and grabbed her wrist to check for a pulse.

A light bulb went off in Penny’s head the moment Nate yelled for someone to hold his hand. It was an absolutely insane idea, and they might all end up getting stuck fistfuck-deep into a wall, but it was better way to go than by being consumed by something called the Glutton. Penny had seen what had happened to the locker door Claire had thrown at it—it had been completely erased, as if the being had devoured it simply by touching it.

“Take her goddamn hand,” said Penny, her anger at Rita’s stupidity still flowing through as she guided the girls towards Paige. Rita did as she was told, and then Penny held her hand. She reached out behind her, expecting Billy to latch on, and whipped her head back when she felt nothing. He was several feet away from them, quietly trying to get Maddie moving. A crushing wave of expletives poured from her mouth as Penny tried to stretch closer to them. A few more people and they’d make it. Penny’s eyes burned as she watched the tendrils dance around the Glutton. She didn’t know why it wasn’t striking, but she’d take every second it gave them.

“Grab on you dumbasses!” she shouted to the group of people that still hadn’t linked up. Running might’ve been an option earlier, but as of right now the Nate Express seemed to be the only way out of this hellscape. She slipped her hand from Rita’s, allowing room for others to step in; she was determined not to grab on until she could get ahold of Maddie and her brother.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Friend's wedding is this weekend and they think I'm fit to be involved in it, so I won't be able to post for the next few days.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

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Penny stood back up to her feet as she continued to repulse the blade into Reese. Sweat was making whatever was left of her makeup run, and a trickle of blood from her nose was beginning to flow more steadily. Still, she wasn’t going to stop until one of them expired, or at least that was what she had thought before Scott began to transform back into his normal, scrawny, asshole self. She dropped her Abstraction and stared in a somewhat state of shock as he began bawling like a baby, begging for forgiveness. She felt her stomach twist as her throat tightened, the blood hammering in her ears. Had killing him really been the only option? He was a reprehensible murderer, but if his final words were true…

“Nobody can make you do anything,” came a hushed voice from behind Penny.

Rita had kept herself away during the fight. She was too curious (or, she thought, stupid) to run, but smart enough to know that she couldn’t really do anything to help. As Scott Reese began to transform back into his original state, Rita had felt that compulsion again to start ripping whatever facts she could out of the man. She had quietly approached from behind Billy, who seemed to be nursing quite a headache, and had walked up behind his sister. Her eyes danced around the scene, darting at the wicked blade dripping with Reese’s blood to the other kids who had been knocked around in the fight. She brushed herself past Penny and began to slowly approach Reese, his head hung low. If she could lift his face and look into his eyes—a hand grabbed her shoulder.

“Stop,” said Penny, pulling Rita away from Scott’s dead body. She didn’t know what the creepy girl intended on doing, but something bad was happening. Orange light flooded the hall as the hair on Penny’s arm stood up. A heaviness—different from the one of her overusing her Abstraction—came upon her, almost as if something was sitting on her chest. Her rapid breaths grew shallow and her eyes widened with horror as the being morphed into reality. It kept shifting in and out of forms, all of which seemed familiar but none of which seemed possible either. Penny’s hand fell from Rita’s shoulder.

And Rita stepped forward: “What the fuck do you want with us!?”

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Got hit with nine straight days of work. I'll be dead til Friday.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

@Surtr IncNot really. Out of my characters, only Penny has used hers—and I feel like we could justify it as a secondary part of her Abstraction. Same can probably go for anyone whose character's aura helps with their power.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

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It all happened so fast. By the time Penny had recovered from the burst of light, Reese had already closed the gap between himself and Paige. She felt a scream in defiance rip from her lips as she rushed after him, knowing all too well that she’d never make it in time. “Billy, do something!” flashed into her brother’s mind, ripping him out of his daydream just in time for him to witness Tuyen’s shadow come to life. He, too, was not going to get to Paige in time, but thankfully Jasmine had the time to freeze him in place. Penny sighed deeply in relief, and slowed her sprint to a trot as the shadow slammed Reese into a locker and Justin and Lynette turned up the heat.

Her aura was still going strong, which meant her head was buzzing with pain and her senses were beginning to overload. Still, she would not turn it off, not until she made for certain that they were in the clear. Reese’s screams filled her ears. She hated the sound. She hated him. Yet, the sound of him suffering caused her to freeze up. She knew that there would be no reasoning with Reese, that he was more monster than man now, that he had killed people that, while she truly didn’t like, certainly didn’t deserve it, and yet despite all of this she felt bad for him. He disgusted her, but she pitied him.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to do what was necessary.

"Barbie! I'm gonna toss this, do your little magic trick!" shouted Claire before chucking the blade that had killed so many of their classmates at Reese. Penny didn’t even hesitate. Her aura calculated the arc and she reached out with her hand. One second the blade was sailing through the air, and the next it was gone. At the same time, Penny felt her legs give out from underneath her. She collapsed to her knees. The world went silent and she saw a blackness begin to creep into her peripheries. She turned her aura off and pushed the hair out of her face; she was sweating and blood had begun to drip from her nose. As she looked up, sound began to return to the world, and then her vision cleared.

The first thing she saw was Scott Reese, his own blade buried in his chest up to the hilt.

“Nice fucking throw, O’Sullivan,” huffed Penny, sitting back on her rear. She glared at Reese as he screamed and struggled like a worm on a hook. He was trying pathetically to pull the blade from his chest. As his hands were about to reach the hilt, Penny reached back up and repulsed the blade again. Then again. And again. Anytime she saw the blade shift, she pushed it again. Penny started seeing red and could taste the iron in her mouth, but she would not stop. Not until she was certain.

Scott Reese wasn’t going anywhere.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Will be able to get a post up by Friday at the latest. Turns out drinking in 100+ degree weather is exhausting.