Atrophy

[On hold, Will return]

I like how this was the solution instead of something silly like saying, "Hey y'all, sometimes unrelated people can have the same last name."

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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“Herik’s right,” said Vashti, showing that she had been paying attention to the Coven’s conversation after all.

She was sitting on top of the yellow concrete block in front of an empty parking space with her head hung low. Her clothes and her headscarf had been so soiled that they had to be thrown in the bin. The hospital had been kind enough to give her a replacement outfit, a very stylish combination of an oversized Mickey Mouse sweater and acid washed jeans. It was on the house, which was thoughtful considering the amount of debt the Coven had just racked up in hospital bills. Was DENS going to cover that too like they had covered why they were here in the first place? Vashti didn’t want to have to explain to her dad why she was dipping into the trust fund.

The doctors told her that her cut wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked, which Vashti imagined that she had Meifeng and Izzy to thank for that. They still doped her up, stitched her wound, and wrapped her chest up like a mummy. There would be a scar, which meant that even once she did get her curse lifted she’d still feel hideous. The doctors didn’t even question the scales, probably thanks to DENS, or maybe they did and she didn’t remember. She had only started to come out of the painkiller haze when Madison had called for a meeting.

“I mean, honestly, you’re joking, right?” she said, lifting her head to give Trevor an annoyed look. “Or maybe you’re lying, because an FBI agent telling a bunch of girls”—plus Herik—“that they can handle this themselves is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve heard since Maya insisted that she fingerbanged a lady so good that it gave her magical powers. He sent some spooky bitch to go murder a bunch of people. Isn’t that reason enough for you Feds to go in and bag him?”

She was already certain that the answer would be a no. Hell, she was certain that a majority of the Coven was itching for another fight. She had seeked them out to find a way to control the chaos in her life, not get dunked into a vat of it. Vashti released a pained sigh that was so seeped in frustration that it might as well have been a growl and she looked at Lyss with pleading eyes. Aside from Herik and perhaps Emily, Lyss seemed to be the only other sensible member of the Coven.

“You agree that this is ridiculous, yeah? I know we all want to go after Schmidt, but didn’t Kayla have some grand plan to use him?” said Vashti, trying to sound calm. Although…“Wait. Where is Kayla, anyway?”

[On hold, Will return]

Well shit.

Maybe my character sheet will be done by then.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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With a nod of her head Odessa knew that it was time. They couldn’t exactly waste any time dilly dallying here any longer… with one more usage of her sensing ability she deduced that the Apparition was not too much further away. She wanted to grab onto Penny’s hand but she wasn’t sure how the girl would react. The rain was still pouring… and it seemed completely random but the last thing that Odessa was going to do was wax poetically about rain. They had to stay focused as she walked towards the site… and there was one thing that Odessa had to say.

“... That Apparition most likely knows we’re coming,” Odessa started, “But, they haven’t moved. So either they aren’t paying attention or they want us to come… just be prepared.”

They kept walking and eventually the environment started shifting from Farmer Hill to the streets of Paradise… it was rainy but there was something odd here. Well, it wasn’t a mystery. As they walked up there were mounds of dirt on the ground that reminded Odessa of dug holes. Except it was on concrete, asphalt, pavement… she kept walking until they made it to the park gates. Odessa put her hand up as she looked at Penny.

The last thing that Odessa wanted to do was give Penny vague instructions - or no instructions - and then let her charge in. Odessa had a plan, and a good one.

“Penny,” Odessa began, “I need you to distract that Apparition… I’m going to draw a sigil on the ground and I need you to get it to stop right over it so I can activate it.”

Odessa sighed.

“Then I can seal that Apparition in something and we can be rid of it for good… think you can handle that?”

“Is there any doubt?” asked Penny, kneeling in the rain and hunching her shoulders to protect the slips of paper as she went over the lines on her glyphs with a marker. She stopped drawing, frowned, and flipped the sheets over as she looked up at Odessa. “Wait, how long do you need it to stop over the sigil? This an instantaneous thing?”

“Well...” Odessa trailed off… and hoped that Penny didn’t realize she was referring to her first statement. There was a stipulation. There always was. “Roughly thirty seconds… so let’s just say it needs to stop for a minute.”

Penny nodded and drew three new glyphs on the backs of the paper. As she finished each one, the glyph on the other side vanished as if the ink had evaporated from the paper. Then, careful not to get the cards wet, she slipped them into her pants pocket and stood back up. She tucked the marker between her teeth while she jingled a handful of coins in her other hand. Penny eyed the gate as she bounced up and down on her feet.“Okay, let’s make this bitch pay. I’m ready whenever.”

Odessa couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm to avenge their friend… that was only out of respect, however. Odessa pushed open the gate as she saw what was a normal park… with mounds of dirt but this time there were sticks shoved into the mounds, like a makeshift grave. Odessa knew what this place was… she sighed as she merely pointed towards the center of the place as she stepped into the bushes. In the middle of it she grabbed a rock.

“... Don’t disturb any of the graves,” Odessa left Penny with one message.

However… whips of air could be heard as the Apparition inside of Caelea came charging for Penny. However, it carefully maneuvered around the graves… until it had one clear shot at Penny and charged her. Only thanks to the noise did Penny have time to react. She clicked on her abstraction just as Caelea’s blur was charging at her. Penny dodged to the side. She so narrowly avoided the Apparition that she was put off-balance, catching her footing just inches away from the makeshift mound. Penny cursed and bounded away from the grave, firing off some spare change at the Apparition as she made distance in anticipation of its next charge.

The Apparition attempted to charge away but one of the coins went through Caelea’s cheek… coming in through one way and leaving through the other. Penny was trying to make distance and the Apparition attempted to close it. The Apparition charged… meticulously dancing around the graves as it went so fast that it looked like it was disappearing… however, the Apparition got one clean path straight to Penny and took it. Charging her head on.

Even with her abstraction tracking the movement of the Apparition it was difficult for Penny to keep up as it flashed around the grave mounds. The handful of potshots Penny took at Caelea blasted past her, and Penny found herself empty handed as the Apparition charged her again. Better prepared this time, she spun to the side to avoid getting slammed by Caelea but had nothing to fire off in return. She knew there was only so much time before the side effects of her ability made it impossible to see Caelea’s movement. Like a gunslinger going for the quickdraw, Penny reached down into her pocket and her bag and pulled out a card with one hand and an arsenal of Lincoln’s with the other.

She’d be ready for the next charge. She stepped back to prepare for another dodge, the back of her heel clipping the edge of a grave… and it revealed a skeletal hand.

“Get out of here!” The Apparition-Inside-Caelea screamed as it charged her head on… ignoring all of the graves that it was disturbing in an attempt to kill Penny.

Unaware of her dangerous footing, Penny held her ground as she unleashed a barrage of loose change at the Apparition. Without waiting to see the damage, Penny snapped the Keno card out in front of her and activated the glyph. Instanetously, she lost visual of the Apparition her other abstraction was cancelled. At the same time, moisture in the air solidified into a two-foot long blade of ice that jutted out from the card. Intending to let the Apparition gore itself on her blade, Penny prepared to leap away the moment she felt impact. And the Apparition seemingly ignored the present danger and kept charging in… it wasn’t like it could stop anymore. The Apparition was stabbed directly through the leg to the other side… and it loudly hissed in pain as it felt the stinging of it.

Meanwhile, Odessa had turned her hand into a long, thin, blade made out of wood and got to work. She wasn’t too far away from the chaos but she was risking it here, just so Penny could get a clear shot at it. Odessa drew a symbol on the ground, a sigil that she was familiar with as fast and neatly as she could.
Once it was finished, Odessa’s hand went back to normal as she tossed a grey stone that she picked up onto it.

It was ready.

“Penny!” Odessa shouted, and knew that she was smart enough to figure out what’s next.

“C’mon, you bitch!” hollered Penny as she danced away from the wounded Apparition, waving the two remaining Keno cards in her hands like a bull fighter’s cape. She reactivated her abstraction and drew in her breath as she toed the line of Odessa’s sigil. She waited for the Apparition to move, ignoring the pulsing pain in her temples. “Come and get me!”

The Apparition stopped as it faced Penny… and maneuvered its way through the graves carefully before it got a clear shot at Penny and charged. And as it charged Odessa hoped that Penny had a plan cooked up in her head…

As the Apparition turned to face her, Penny took one big step back into the sigil. She was careful not to smudge Odessa's work as she laid the cards down at her feet. Penny took another big step back as the Apparition charged, plotting it's course with her eyes and activating her glyphs the moment it would cross them. The two cards glowed as spears erupted from the ground to intersect one another, with Caelea's body being the crossing point. And the spears pierced the Apparition… and it screamed out in pain as it was almost forced out of the body.

And with a snap of her fingers, Odessa activated the sigil and the tree of life activated at the Apparition’s feet. Suddenly, the Apparition-inside-of-Caelea screamed as it’s smoky form was launched out of her body. Then it screamed as it clawed at its upper body as it was sucked into the stone.

And Odessa smiled as she casually stepped over to the rock and picked it up. That was one loose end taken care of but the Apparition was oddly quiet. Odessa would try to talk to it at another time. She decided to see if she can sense anyone…

“Penny...” Odessa started, “... I can’t sense anyone. It’s just… me and you.”

She chuckled darkly as she assumed Penny was going to bury Caelea.

“So… do what you need to, then we have to figure out what’s even next.”

“Right,” said Penny, wiping the sweat from her brow.

She stared down at the mangled body of her friend. Penny’s face was stone but there was a pallor to her skin. She had managed to hold it off while fighting the Apparition, but it was absolutely sickening to have to fight Caelea—even if it was only her body. Penny clamped a hand over her face and choked. Shrugging off her cardigan, she carefully draped it over Caelea to hide her face and her wounds before ducking down next to the girl to prepare a grave.

Her friend was tiny, but it would still take two earth glyphs. Penny grimaced as she worked, her fingers tracing through the mud as the rain continued to beat down on them. She stood up when she was done and activated the glyphs. The mud and dirt dove down and then swelled up like a wave, splashing away from the girls as a shallow grave was formed. Penny knelt besides Caelea, sharply drew her breath, and reached under the cardigan. Moments later, Odessa would be able to see the faintest sigil of a bird appear on her upper back through the material of Penny’s shirt as it glowed then faded. With Caelea’s abstraction now her own, Penny lowered her friend into the grave.

“I’d say goodbye, but I know you’re not really gone. I’ll see you again, someday,” said Penny in a low-voice, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. She reached at the pile of dirt with her hand and used Caelea’s abstraction to blast out a light gust of wind. The dirt was blown down into the grave and eventually covered up her friend entirely. With Caelea buried, it was time to move on—but Penny didn’t budge. She stared at the wet lump of dirt that was almost indistinguishable from the other mounds around them. Something wasn’t right. Penny wouldn’t feel at ease if her grave was left like this. There was just something missing.

“Hey, Odessa,” said Penny quietly with a scratched voice as she looked up at Odessa. “She needs flowers.”

Odessa just casually watched as Penny buried their friend… probably Caelea didn’t see her the same way Odessa did, unfortunately. Still, life goes on and death is merely the gateway to infinite possibilities. Immortality is one of them but Odessa was going to keep that to herself. She wished that she could feign puppy-dog eyes but… it wasn’t in her nature. Penny now has Caelea’s abstraction, and she there was a thought that crossed her mind. Just the most curious thought that she couldn’t resist.

She created roses out of her hand that outstretched unnaturally… before they snapped off and Odessa handed it to her.

“... Just how many abstractions are you going to take, Pen-Pen?” She said with a grin.

“Well,” Penny mulled the question over as she set the bouquet down on Caelea’s grave and then stood. She glanced at Odessa, noting her grin. “I guess that all depends on how many more of our friends we lose. Or were you being serious? Because...because then I don’t know,” said Penny, sighing. “But I’ll take whatever advantage I can get.”

Odessa took a risk… she grabbed onto Penny’s hand as that grin was wiped away. Just for a moment as she looked up into her eyes.

“... We’re not going to lose anyone else, Lawson,” Odessa declared. “I promise you that… I also promise that, eventually, maybe, we’ll finally be able to get a rest. One day. I mean, with the Glutton gone, the fight’s… over.”

“I dunno if the fight’s over yet, but it’s gonna end someday. I’ll make sure of that,” said Penny, worming her hand free from Odessa. “Come on, Williams. Let’s go find the others.”

“Odessa.”

She sharply corrected her friend.

“Britney Williams died,” She started, “I was there, you know.”

“Yeah,” said Penny, rubbing her neck. “I know.”

Odessa looked around and saw that, while they weren’t paying attention, the area changed back to Farmer Hill. Except it was at its height. Its… golden age. Beautiful buildings, and other such beautiful things too. Odessa smiled. It brought back memories.

However… this isn’t her home anymore and that smile went flat.

“Let’s go,” Odessa started, “Maybe we’ll find a way out of here.”

Farmer Hill was one long tragedy after the other...

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Yes! Yes! Fuck yes! The Leviathan hardly even noticed the pain as the scythe was knocked free from her chest by Herik’s lion as her claw caught the shoulder of the Outsider and ripped through its ethereal flesh. Tooth and claw tore into the Outsider, tossing the pathetic ghost meat about like a dog ripping apart a chew toy. The fight was over. The Leviathan had won. Stupid ghost bitch, it should have run when it had the chance. The Leviathan kept shredding apart the Outsider, ignoring the pain in her chest as she flayed the apparition. In the end, the Outsider was no tougher than that metal elephant. Nothing was a match for the Leviathan. She growled as the bone girl hit the Outsider in the back. Assistance was not appreciated. This was the Leviathan’s kill.

Only her kill was reforming before her very own eyes. The Leviathan hesitated on her next strike as if she was seized by the realization that everything she had done had amounted to nothing. Whatever. The Leviathan was stronger, she could tear the Outsider limb from limb for eternity if she wanted. The claw swung down to rip the Outsider’s shredded jaw clean off, but the Leviathan’s talons never hit their mark as the Outsider blew her away. The Leviathan bashed against the edge of Lyss’s barrier and was dragged after the Outsider, only the Leviathan slammed into the window frame instead of going through it.

The feeling of fear clamped down on the Leviathan again as its focus shifted from the Outsider to the primate drawing the sigil. Nothing so fucking pedastrian as that could ever really contain the Leviathan, yet the sight of the cage still awoken the animalistic instincts inside of the Apparition. With a low growl the Leviathan skulked back into the crumbling building, shrugging off falling debris with ease, as Madison slammed into the Outsider. The Leviathan broke into a panicked mad dash as the sound of the Outsider screaming pierced through the clattering of falling wood and concrete. She smashed through the otherside of the building as it finally came down upon itself and continued fleeing. In the distance, sirens filled the air as the rain began to let up.

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Vashti cried out in searing pain as she stumbled and collapsed to the ground inside of the dried out fountain. She was matted with blood. She was unsure of how much of it was hers, which was always a concerning uncertainty. Vashti fought back the instinct to hurl as she recalled the Leviathan devouring whatever-the-hell the Outsider had summoned and clutched her chest. She shivered. It was another bad sign—she shouldn’t feel this cold right now. Tears streamed down her face, cutting little rivers through the muddy red, as she tried to stop her hyperventilating. Without fail, regaining control of her body always felt like a major panic attack, but normally it didn’t hurt this much.

She had to see the damage that was done—and she had to make herself decent. With shaking hands Vashti unclasped the buttons on her frayed jacket and trembled at the sight of the darkening red mess on the front of her sliced blouse. Slowly, she undid the top two buttons and, with a deep breath, pulled the shirt out to reveal the wound. From the top of her left shoulder to her right armpit was a massive gash that still oozed with blood. The sight was sickening.Vashti looked away instantly, her breathing growing rapid. Her vision swam. She dug her nails into her thighs as she closed her eyes and fought off the blackout.

She’d sometimes returned to her body after the Leviathan took over with a few bumps and bruises, but never an injury as bad as this. How was she even still alive? Her heart rate quickened as she ripped the headscarf off of her head and wrapped it around her chest as tightly as possible to staunch the bleeding. At this point, Vashti didn’t even know if that would really do anything. Slowly, she picked up her bloodsoaked jacket and wrapped it around her waist to cover the hole created by the Leviathan’s tail. She chuckled at herself. She was bleeding out to death and still somehow managed to worry about that? Well, better than being found ass out in a pool of her own blood.

Slowly, she pulled herself over to the edge of the fountain and made her way up unto the concrete wall surrounding it. The pain was beginning to disappear, replaced instead by a kind of peaceful stillness as she sat at the edge of the basin. Vashti looked up and saw the form of a massive black dog looming in the sky. So, it was real after all. A calm settled over her as she closed her eyes...and moments later the peace was shattered as she let out a low, aching cry as something deep inside her forced her to stand up. Pain coursed through her entire body. Good. Pain meant she was alive.

She could see the flash of blue and red a few hundred yards away near the collapsed building from which the Leviathan had fled. An ambulance? She felt the shadow of the big dog pass over her as she moved towards the lights and away from “the” light. Vashti proceeded slowly with the broken shuffle of a zombie, taking breaks every now and then when she grew too lightheaded. After what felt like an eternity of suffering the girl stumbled against a black vehicle. FBI? She’d thought that had been a joke, some stupid form of hazing. So they were busted. So what. The suits and the witches were all looking away from Vashti and towards the ferris wheel. The dog was back. Good boy.

"... There's a casualty!"

Vashti’s head spun and she caught herself against the grill of one of the black SUVs as Meifeng whipped around to shout at the group that there had been a casualty. Confused, Vashti stared at Meifeng until her eyes grew wide with horrified recognition. Vashti must’ve been a terrifying sight herself. Her hair was soaked with blood and sticking to the sides of her equally drenched face. The front of her shirt was drenched too from the wound caused by the Outsider’s scythe, while her jacket and pants were soaked in the drying leftovers of the little devils. The only part of her not drenched in viscera were her scaly arms, which had been covered by her jacket. It had been a bad day to wear a sleeveless blouse.

An FBI agent had his arm around Maya. Were they all getting arrested? The Coven felt like the kind of group that’d all get arrested. Vashti sighed to herself as she slowly raised her hands in surrender, unable to lift them higher than her chest.

“Casualty. Yeah, close enough,” said Vashti weakly, looking down at herself with a sniffle. Her legs started to give out and she began to slide down the SUV, but she managed to steady herself.“Could we...could we let a doctor make that call?”

The Night Shift - Gas Station Horror Simulator (OPEN)

“I guess a litterbug could be considered a type of pest,” muttered July under his breath as he gave Ada a once-over, not realizing that she was actually going to do the work that had been assigned to them. If it wasn’t for the overalls, she looked like she would’ve been pictured in a stained glass window with a radiant halo surrounding her choppy hairstyle. Truly, she was a saint if she’d offered to clean up the parking lot. He returned her smile with the tight-lipped smirk of a garter snake. His plan, which wasn’t a plan so much as it was just a lie, had worked. He glanced sideways at Rory and then quickly averted his eyes. A wretch like him should only be allowed to catch glimpses of something so heavenly in the reflection of the half-dome mirrors hiding security cameras.

“Problem solved then, my Lord,” said July to Rory. The my Lord was supposed to have been a sarcastic dig at Ada’s weird choice of words, but when he said the phrase to Rory it just sounded natural.

Before July could fully pledge his fealty to the assistant manager, a pot-bellied trucker approached the cash register. Although Ada had denied him her aid on his quest, he was beaming as if he had managed to find his own personal holy grail. In a way, he did. July glanced down at the magazine called Big Booty Pirates. It was strange for a treasure hunting magazine to be in a blacked-out bag to prevent browsing, and then it clicked inside of July’s head as he scanned the other choice items the trucker had purchased. He was both mildly disturbed and deeply intrigued to discover what exactly “The Jolly Rogers Edition” meant. It was the kind of self-discovery that’d haunt him for the rest of his days, assuming he made it past the first night shift.

“Let me bag that up for you,” said July after ringing the man out for his smut. He wished he had forceps to handle the items, or at the very least a pair of gloves.

“No need,” said the trucker, grinning. “You got bathroom keys?”

Oh god no. July sometimes went into that bathroom. Rory sometimes went into that bathroom. He was pretty sure Ada was the one stuck cleaning that bathroom, which was already a herculean task that didn’t need to be made any worse. He couldn’t let the trucker perform his dark rituals in their already debased sanctuary. July glanced behind him at the pair of keys attached to a piece of wood with the grimy effigy of a man carved into it. He looked back to see the trucker eyeing the keys with the same lustful look that he had thought people would give him when he’d started playing guitar (but never did).

“Oh sorry,” said July, sucking in air between his teeth as if to express true regret. “The bathrooms are currently out-of-order. Both of them. Some kid flushed a bunch of M-80s down the toilet and what came up with the explosion still keeps me up at night. Unfortunately, until the HAZMAT team arrives we’re stuck using nature’s toilet.”

July jerked a thumb out the Expanse.The trucker grumbled under his breath and took his goods. July sighed in relief as the man left the store and climbed back into the cab of his truck. July put a hand to his beating heart. Not all heroes wore capes. Some of them wore another person’s name tag and a crappy vest. With no more customers, the night shift entered a kind of state of stasis where he couldn’t tell if one minute had passed or one hour. The speaker he’d so graciously left for the other employees was dead, murdered by their own hand’s inability to plug in the charger, so he couldn’t even enjoy the sounds of the inner circles of Hell as he stood around the register and attempted to open his body and mind up to becoming possessed by the spirit of someone who knew how to look busy.

Wait, didn’t someone have to take care of that slushie machine? Should he actually work?

The devil and the angel that warred upon his shoulders soon laid down their arms and sought shelter from the smell that had wafted into the Gas-Way as the door ring-a-dinged open. July tucked his nose into his elbow, looking somewhat like Dracula who had forgotten his cape, as he tried to avoid staring at the Squatter. He had been warned about the man. All of them had. However, only July had been warned about the man by his mother. While she didn’t even know of the Squatter’s existence, she’d often threaten him that if he didn’t start acting like an adult that he’d one day end up becoming a vagrant like the Squatter. At least his mother thought he’d become something. It was a nice thought. July stepped away from the register and tried to disappear behind the display of keychains as the Squatter approached.

“I see what you’re all doing! You’re all fools.”

Damn it, he should’ve just ducked under the counter. July stepped back out onto the worn-down mat in front of the register and sucked in his lips as the vagrant began to rant and rage. If the smell wasn’t so bad July might’ve appreciated being in the company of someone who looked as ghoulish as himself, but with the stink the best he could do was try not to appear horrified. However, he didn’t have to attempt to hide his horror for long as the man continued rambling on like an English rock band that had stolen it's riffs from old American blues artists. July’s face softened as he realized the man wasn’t speaking gibberish. He was reciting poetry. Shit, they could make some pretty killer lyrics, too.

July grabbed a pen and a pad and began jotting down whatever he could about rainbow butterflies in the sky and ice-skating worms of the brain. This man was a poet! A fellow artist! Here, in Nowhere! July had truly not expected to meet a peer. His pen halted as the vagrant mentioned how they’d regret eating Mexican. What? Oh, it was a dig at how American corporations “eat up” the cheap labor force of migrant workers and then pin the blame on the needy workers instead of the greedy bosses that hired them. July definitely didn’t expect the thought provoking social commentary from the Squatter, but all art needed meaning. Now they just needed a platform to spread the message. Maybe he knew how to play drums.

“Ughhhhhh…..that was a bad trip….”

Oh.

“Any of you youngsters got a spare buck for a Yoo-hoo?”

Right.

Sometimes the insane ramblings of a homeless man were predictions of encroaching doomsday or the fall of society brought upon by its own hand, and sometimes they were just insane ramblings. July frowned and rubbed his chin. If screamed, they would still be good lyrics. That was the beautiful thing about screaming in songs—no matter how asinine the lyrics were, nobody would be able to call them meaningless since nobody would be able to understand the words anyway.

He looked at the Yoo-hoo can on the counter, and then at the flickering lights outside. Fireflies? Weird. July thought they were going extinct. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually seen some. Then he breathed again and was laser-focused back on the Squatter. Okay, this chemical warfare had to stop. It was like they were being kept hostage by his stench, the Squatter being a biological terrorist whose list of demands only included a watered-down chocolate milk. Fine. He’d buy the guy a Yoo-hoo if it meant that the Squatter would leave. Only he was as broke as the Squatter himself. Hell, he’d love a can of Yoo-hoo too. Was his mother right? Was this a vision of the future?

“You know what, man?” July leaned in to whisper to his future self. It was a big mistake, but he kept his composure as he powered through the smell. He slid the bottle closer to the man. “It’s on me. Just make sure to drink it out back so I don’t get chewed out by management.”

And so that he’d stop poisoning the air. And so that he’d stop terrorizing poor, lovely Rory. July glanced over at the orange lights again. The little burning embers reminded him of the tip of a cigarette, which further reminded him that he was in need of a smoke break. Once the Squatter left, it would be nice to get some fresh air while he propped the door open and let the odor out. The dancing lights were taunting him. Yeah, he definitely needed a smoke break after this. He turned back to the Squatter.

“What do you say. Deal?”

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

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Hah! The ghost jerk was so stupid, so primodial that she didn’t even have the survival instincts to turn and flee as the Leviathan’s mighty tail sliced the air towards her. Something so scrawny wouldn’t be able to survive the hit. Another fucking one shot. Easy victories were still victories, but it was nice to have a real fight every now and then. Maybe the Leviathan would tussle with the bone bitch afterward to prove to the Coven that she was the baddest. Even then, it’d be another easy victory. Nothing could stop her from dominating.

The Leviathan’s tail crashed against the Outsider. The hit was punctuated by another brilliant clap of thunder, which explained why the Leviathan didn’t hear the Outsider go colliding through tables or the adoration of the weakling witches. The Leviathan felt herself being lifted up, likely thrown upon the shoulders of her diminutive flock of dumbasses to be carried back to her red throne of the number eight bumper car, and then she started to spin. The reason she didn’t hear any of the chaos she’d imagined herself causing was because it hadn’t happened: the Outsider had grabbed her tail.

The Leviathan roared as she was spun around and lifted from the ground. The sky was not the place for a sea monster, but her disdain was drowned out by a blast of sound as the Outsider let her go. The Leviathan thrashed as it soared through the air, tail nearly whipping the greatest summoner in the world off of her greatest summon, as she crashed through a support beam and smashed her red throne. The Leviathan howled in pain—over the loss of her throne, because it hardly hurt to get tossed like a fucking morsel of meat about to get snapped out of the air by a pair of powerful jaws. The Leviathan lumbered back up to its hind legs and swatted the destroyed throne in rage, flipping the bumper car wildly away from the group.

Then something tickled her. The Leviathan rose her hand up to her face to see some tiny little demon shit sinking it fangs into her hand. Idiot. The Leviathan huffed and returned the favor, the demon’s blood bursting all over her an overly ripe tomato as she bit in. Not the best blood she’d ever tasted in her life; she’d take a freshly squeezed primate over a demonic baby anyday. The Leviathan snorted in annoyance as more of the little bastards latched on. When swatting them with her claws proved to be underwhelming the Leviathan dropped to all fours and went into a death roll. When she stood back up the great beast looked like she’d fallen in while making wine the traditional way. The Leviathan was soaked from head to toe in blood, as the apex predator should be.

The Tempest continued to pick up as the Leviathan popped another blood creature between her teeth. The second one tasted better than the first, or maybe she’d just acquired the taste. The Leviathan glanced around. The summoner and her sacrifice were raining down lightning while others fled from the scene. The Leviathan’s eyes narrowed into slits as she saw one of the girls turn on and throw her to the ground. Beautiful. Everything was fucking chaos. This was her kingdom, and that dumbass Outsider was still trespassing in it.

The Leviathan began to lumber forward again, tossing chairs, smashing tables, and squashing demon babies that were in her way. Something was wrong with the color around the Outsider. Everything appeared grey, but it didn’t matter because the Leviathan was currently only seeing red. Without hesitating, it stepped through the barrier—at the same time as the Outsider launched its attack at Lyss. The scythe meant to kill the girl instead sliced into the Leviathan’s chest, tearing through the already tattered coat as it ripped a deep cut across the Leviathan's chest. The already blood-soaked clothes deepening in color. A scream of actual pain ripped out of the Leviathan’s throat as she began wildly thrashing about while continuing to push towards the Outsider. The Leviathan was an absolute hurricane of claws strikes and snapping teeth, a fucking unstoppable whirlwind of death.

However, behind its fury there was a rising tide of fear ready to come crashing down.

𝔽𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝔾𝕒𝕞𝕖 - Cyberpunk Political Intrigue Roleplay

Hey, Opp, how many pages of that new post is BBcode?

Hider

The Night Shift - Gas Station Horror Simulator (OPEN)

I will have a post out by Wednesday.

@Bork LazerJust so I know for the future, how precisely would I use the cashier benefit? Do I just write July saying something in the proper color text for it to activate? I figure he might "inadvertently" use it on the Squatter.

Recollections: The Othergrounds [Complete]

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"I can sense one Extra-Normal. And only one. We should handle it first. It's almost like this place wants us to do this, walk down this path."

Penny gave Odessa a mildly confused looked as she joined the girl at the bottom of the stairs. Then her eyes widened as realization as her lips drew in. She nodded. It was what she had planned on doing. Plus, she doubted that the missing others would just snap back into existence if they waited around for them anyway, so perhaps they’d come upon them out in Paradise. Penny checked the glyph cards in her pocket. The lines were as crisp as when she had drawn them. She was prepared for whatever was to come.

“Well then, let’s get to walking,” said Penny, moving ahead of Odessa before suddenly stopping. She had no clue which way was the right way. She crossed her arms and turned to Odessa. “So maybe you should lead the way for now.”

"Gladly," Odessa said with a smile. Given how Penny was... taking all of this, Odessa would rather be the one to lead the way herself. Just until Penny calms down just a little bit. Perhaps once they close this thread of theirs, they would be able to find the others... and that was just Odessa being hopeful. Deep down, Odessa knew that she would be watching Penny die sooner or later. Or hoped that they wouldn't find Mao's body or anything.

Odessa took a step towards that one little blip on her radar and just kept walking with Penny behind her… hopefully. However, the environment began to change, subtly at first but Odessa picked up on it almost immediately. It turned from this city - Paradise - to Farmer Hill… except a visage that Odessa was somewhat more familiar with. The ruins of Farmer Hill after that “earthquake” destroyed the place.

Odessa sighed as Penny drew in her breath. No matter how negative her feelings to her hometown had been, it always hurt to see it in this state. Seeing the broken windows and fallen rooftops of buildings she had walked by her entire life reminded her of all the people that were still missing after the town was reset. It always felt wrong, thinking of this version as her hometown. What had happened to her home had been much worse.

“... This place again?” Odessa said as she stopped as her attention landed on a particular sight. Sucre… the cafe that many yuppies and kids from Farmer Hill used to meet up at. She sighed as it was a mere destroyed replica(?) of the place, caved in at the roof and barely recognizable. “This place… it had it coming.” Odessa regretfully said.

“What?” said Penny, letting out a flash of the anger she was trying to hold in. Farmer Hill was a shit town, for sure, but it wasn’t that shitty of a town. No town was shitty enough to deserve what had happened to her town. Penny gave Odessa a glare, and then something clicked. She uncrossed her arms and buried her hands in the pockets of her cardigan.

“Why’d you say again?” asked Penny. “How do you even know this place?”

Odessa put her hands together at her waist and then shrugged.

“... I been through here a few times,” Odessa started. “Before and after it’s been destroyed.”

“Wait I thought you said you came from an African village in a whole other fucking universe,” said Penny, trying to keep the accusation in her voice from leaking all over her words. “This is Farmer Hill. Like why would you even bother coming out to Montana? Did...did you, like, go to Grand Ridge?” Penny would’ve known her then, so she couldn’t have. “Seriously, are you just fucking with me?”

Odessa started chuckling as she held a finger to her lips… except it stretched out a bit longer than it should have.

“I was born there but...” Odessa started off as she started walking around Penny, “... Is it wrong to want to go stretch your legs? See the world? Or the other ones?” She started laughing as she twirled one of her dreads.

“Odessa, please, stop…” Penny tilted her head as a dark thought crossed her mind that was accompanied with a pained expression. She hadn’t considered before that Odessa could possibly be tied to why they were stuck in Paradise. A lonely human-apparition hybrid with a broken memory that somehow manages to know too much regardless? No, she was just being paranoid. Penny tried to relax her strained face.

“Odessa, I’m fucking warning you, I swear. Stop. Screwing. Around.” Penny’s hand whipped out of her pocket and snapped at Odessa’s wrist to stop her from prancing around like an asshole. “This isn’t cute. I’m trying to find a good reason not to hit you, and I’d fucking love it if you could help me out in that regard. Why did you come to my town? When, even?”

Odessa froze, that grin of hers was completely removed from her face as she felt Penny’s hand on hers. For a moment, Odessa wondered if fighting Penny was even ideal. They were the only people here… other than that Extra-Normal that Odessa was more than certain it was that Apparition. Would Penny really take time to really ask this line of questions? When that thing was using their friend as a skin suit?

Odessa started laughing again.

Tears streamed down her face as she laughed.

“... You can hit me all you want, Lawson,” Odessa tilted her head. “And I would deserve every. Single. Hit. So… wack away. Whatever makes you happy….”

She stopped laughing.

“... Lawson.”

“Get the fuck away from me!” The hand that had grabbed Odessa’s wrist let go as it curled into a fist and flew at Odessa’s face and sent her stumbling backwards. Penny used the distraction of the king hit to back away from the mad girl, coins spilling out of her pocket as she pulled out her other hand. She appeared panicked, all wild-eyed and hunched like a cat ready to bolt, but she got a few yards away from Odessa and held her ground. Penny activated her abstraction, praying that the headaches would stay away, in anticipation for some kind of retaliation as she pointed a finger at Odessa.

“How the fuck do you know my last name? Who the fuck are you!?”

Odessa regained her composure and graced her face with her fingertips… her jaw was slack as she merely stood there in shock at Penny’s question. It was… Odessa didn’t know anymore. Everything was crumbling. Odessa dropped to her hands and knees, she started crying as tears began to stain the cold ground.

“... You know, that’s the only thing I can feel,” Odessa said in between sobs, “At least, that’s the only thing that the Hound left me. Does that make me more human or less..?”

Odessa shook her head.

“I… I just can’t keep up with these lies anymore, Penny,” Odessa said, “I just can’t stand looking at you, Zoey, Hagan and Caelea… and seeing a reminder of everything I ever failed. That I ever did wrong. And a reminder of everything I can’t be anymore.”

Odessa sobbed some more before she screamed.

“You want to know who I am, huh?!” Odessa shouted as she hopped up to her knees… and just decided to say it.

“... I am...”

She sighed.

“... Britney Williams.”

Penny trembled with rage at the mention of her dead friend’s name. Her initial reaction was to deny it completely, and she was going to demand the girl to prove it—accept Odessa already had. She had control of plants like Britney, she came from Glint like Britney, and she was a vague, cryptic know-it-all like Britney. That wasn’t what convinced Penny. Rather, it was the thing Odessa had said to her just before she had yelled at Stacey. It had sounded familiar then. Now she knew why.

“I got what I wanted…” muttered Penny, wiping her eye as she looked down at the girl. “You’re—” Her voice broke into a relieved laugh as she wiped her eyes again. Penny walked forward until she was standing over the other girl and crossed her arms as she looked down at her.

“You’re always such a bitch,” said Penny, smiling, as she offered Britney her hand.