BCTheEntity

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Verum Autem Ex

In due course, all parties had made progress on achieving their goals. Leonard's rapid-fire teachings were a success, and whilst at first it was impossible for Mieke to coherently organise the facts she'd developed or pull out anything at will, not to mention her additional awareness of some other very strange things that seemed pretty irrelevant, it had all stuck in place by the time ten minutes rolled around, gifting her with an increasingly-cohesive idea of how Stands worked. Such a surge of knowledge might normally have been overwhelming for her, but for how Leonard's power functioned, she found herself more than able to cope with it all.

Meanwhile, Arthur's research bore fruits. By the time he walked out of the library, he possessed a very cohesive list of all the clubs in DC, especially the most popular ones that any comedian might seek to make an appearance at. And as for Hogan, he got some alone time to have a nice nap - or do anything else he might be interested in.

In any case, the two parties seeking out the rogue funnyguy made their presences known in two very different locations: Laurie Blue ultimately made her way to the Smithsonian Gardens, whilst Skinner and Choux found themselves coming to a halt just outside the US National Arboretum. If there were any immediate signs that their target was in either of these locations, they were very well-hidden indeed, and both locations would want to be investigated further.

Into The Dark: Tales of Maroleth

@The Fated Fallen Thank you very much. I don't know that a lack of ability to update for my RPs has helped much, but yeah, hopefully I can resolve any future issues more adroitly. I also hope you manage to find more time to sleep.

In the meantime, I think it's just @Mortarion who needs to post, if Fetzen's round skip is going through?

Into The Dark: Tales of Maroleth

@The Fated Fallen Decent. I had a bit of a moment last night, but I think I'm over it now.

Warhammer 40k: Enemy Without, Enemy Within - an 'Ecclesiarchal' RP [Mature][High Casual/Low Advanced]

So how're you guys doing? Alright, pretty good?

Into The Dark: Tales of Maroleth

So how're you guys doing, then? All doing alright?

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Verum Autem Ex

The groups seemingly decided for this mission, every individual headed their respective ways: Arthur and Hogan headed for a van, Mieke joined Leonard on his motorcycle, and Laurie went at it alone, receiving a reply text from her boss after a few minutes: Armstrong's a smart guy. He won't steer you wrong - even if it looks like he might be.

And back in his office, Armstrong hoped everybody would know what they were doing.

---

Louis Armstrong

Name: Louis Satchel Armstrong

Gender: Male

Age: 61

Stand: N/A

Appearance:


Personality: Louis tries to adhere to the notion that every action ought to have a purpose. One shouldn’t do something frivolously, not simply for the sake of it, and if one is going to offer another the opportunity to act in their stead, they should ensure that other can indeed perform the acts they are being volunteered for. To that end, he is quite a practical figure, choosing people for the SWF’s missions based on how appropriate it is to use them, and offering little but stern reproach for failure in that regard - which, of course, isn’t to say that he is by any means incapable of praise or goodwill, merely that it is not something he offers even to himself if it isn’t earned.

Skills: Supernatural awareness - Louis has a strong knowledge of all things supernatural. Whether it be vampire, Spin, or Stand, you ask him a question, and he can almost assuredly give you an answer.
Management - One does not become the head of a foundation without extreme knowledge of how best to arrange its assets. Louis dabbles in ordering and arrangement the way a professional sports player dabbles in how best to hit the ball the direction they want it to go, and the SWF has only become more prosperous under him as a result.
Pragmatism - Satchel may be getting on in years, but his mind is a steel trap, and he refuses to take any actions that don’t seem to support his goals, or the goals of the SWF. Indeed, given multiple options, he’ll usually want to gather more information before deciding what the best option out of the lot is and following through, and is generally uncomfortable when he has to make a snap decision without all the information available to him.
Physical ability - He had to start somewhere. Whilst Louis hasn’t done much field work lately, his muscle memory is still quite sharp, and he’s got enough plenty of mind and muscle left to put what he remembers to good use.

History: As those associated with the Speedwagon Foundation know, its name comes from its founder, Robert E.O. Speedwagon, after he struck oil in the USA. Publicly, it is a sort of charity dedicated to medical research and environmental conservation, with top-notch technology in both fields, leading to rumours that they can even resurrect the dead. Covertly, this is not quite detached from the truth - though they do not literally have the technology or powers to resurrect the deceased in their own right, they are affiliated with a number of underground groups and supernatural phenomena via their Supernatural Research Department, most notably “Stand powers” of a varied nature, depending on who has manifested their Stand.
This is how Louis Satchel Armstrong made his way into the SWF. His life up to that point had been tough, as one might expect given the time period, but not as entirely terrible as it could have been, leaving him in a decent desk job by his thirties; however, after surviving an encounter in the late eighties with what turned out to be a member of the undead, he was approached by a hiring agent and brought in as a low-level worker, proving himself worthy of promotion after promotion as the years passed, pushing him up to a high-level managerial position by the start of the 2010’s.
Eventually, the current CEO of the Foundation resigned after some kerfuffle or another went haywire and killed a lot of men both empowered and not, naming Louis the new leader of the Speedwagon Foundation in his wake. For the past five years, he has handled the organisation’s natural and supernatural quite soundly from his perch in the SWF’s D.C. headquarters, but recently, a spat of odd deaths has plagued Washington, D.C., and it is naturally Louis’ lot to figure out how to handle it. With most of the SWF’s suitable agents preoccupied, he has chosen to hire a few people from outside the organisation, those who are known to have particular abilities that might be of use in this investigation.

Other: Named after the singer and musician Louis Armstrong, also nicknamed “Satchmo” and “Satch”.

---

ACT 1

No Turning Back

The groups moved toward their respective locations. Each had some time to consider their next options in finer detail,

Leonard and Mieke had some time to chat, driving toward their first park as intended. If Leonard wished to explain Stands to Mieke, as he'd suggested he'd like to, now was the time.

Laurie made her way through D.C. alone, using her Stand to propel herself at incredible speeds, ideally unnoticed by the general populace. Her conversation with her boss might be on her mind, as might the locations she intended to search for this first Stand user.

And Arthur drove one of the Speedwagon vans toward whichever library he had eyes upon, with Hogan along for the ride in the back. The famous Library of Congress was both present and open to the public, making it a prime choice, though how he'd get Hogan in any such library was a question he'd want to consider in great depth.

Warhammer 40k: Enemy Without, Enemy Within - an 'Ecclesiarchal' RP [Mature][High Casual/Low Advanced]

In truth, Alexa couldn't fault the basic fact that Gruk was willing to assist the group so heartily. Her heart found itself pitying the man's grotesqueness, for if he were more adherent to the baseline of human standards, he'd perhaps be a worthy servant of the Emperor. As it was, he was merely good for leading them to a villain far less likely to submit quietly.

Mere minutes later, Sister Caroline died, stumbling and collapsing mere moments after something struck her from the shadows. Sister Victorine sprinted forwards instantly, and Alexa was hot on her heels, already firing up her chirurgeon's tools in preparation to save her... but to no avail. From the foam round her mouth, the toxic darkness of her surface veins, and the spark of life absent from her eyes, it was clear that the woman was no more. A mere second of analysis, both by eye and by helm, proved what Alexa already suspected - neurotoxin, and a highly potent one at that, targeted at her unshielded face.

A mere second was too long to hesitate in a firefight. The hissing of deadly Needler fire was replaced with that of a bolt pistol's report; though both she and Sister Victorine made their way back to cover, Sister Vitruvia failed to do so, felled by a bolt that split her flesh with ruthless ease, that Alexa herself could have attempted to block with her frame. Her instant reaction was to exit cover again, only to drag the hapless victim back with her - though this time, she was not dead, but simply wounded. Thank goodness. She could fix a wound, even from a bolt pistol.

She worked to open the damaged power armour, apply anaesthetic, and mend the flesh inside as her superior talked. When the suggestion of grenades was made, Alexa simply uttered 'Five of us are left, with two hands each. The traitor's armour might survive one grenade blast; it cannot withstand ten at once.' This time, the cold bark of her helmet vox was appreciated, for only now did it accurately convey her anger at the death of a stalwart ally.

It wasn't until she looked up and saw who was missing, processed the sound of additional bolts being fired, that she realised the flaw in her reasoning - if power armour could not withstand ten grenade blasts, the barely-protected Confessor certainly couldn't either. Emperor take that ruddy fool, what was he doing?! Martyring oneself over an ally's death was one of the most needless ways to waste one's service to the Emperor! And she couldn't hope to protect him, either, in the middle of a surgical operation... damn it. Sadly, then, it'd be up to the others to save Horacio from his own bullishness.

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

Alessa (@BCTheEntity) and Lillian (@Old Amsterdam) collab

In time, both girls managed to get away from the press and the crowds, and so to a transport van taking them back to the PRT’s headquarters. Alessa, for her part, was happy to be away from the paparazzi, but happier still that all had gone so well. For once since that fateful mission where Sonar lost his ability to be a hero, nothing had gone wrong, and to her knowledge, nobody had suffered lethal injuries.

Though, the point of Margrave still bothered her.

Lillian entered through the large entry doors, waving absently towards the desk as she dragged Alessa deeper into the base to their own HQ. Today had been…. Something. Yeah, something. Villains, fun, annoying people.

She was more than a little disappointed that Elliot has opted to go somewhere else, apparently. She'd have thought he'd be here.

She slipped off her mask, there were alarms for when people came, dropping it on a table in front of the TV, and plopped down unceremoniously before letting out an exaggerated sigh. ”I thought Elliot would be here, too,” she muttered into her hands. ”He seemed kinda lost, and I realized I've ignored him since I got here. I wanted to make that better. Can we just watch something here? I'm really kinda done with people after those reporters.”

Alessa, removing her own mask, sat down beside Lily, patting her on the shoulder. ‘Honestly, I wanted to follow after him too, but the reporters blocked us off,’ she commiserated. ‘I know he asked us something whilst we were talking, but I didn’t get a chance to respond before he left...’

Sadly, looking around for Elliot now would be a fool’s errand. He’d return when he returned, and then she’d be able to apologise to him for not being able to properly chat with him at the time. For now, the best thing she could do is help out those in her vicinity: Lillian, and anyone else who showed up that needed the support.

‘Yeah, let’s watch a film,’ she murmured, grabbing the remote and turning the television on. ‘Anything in mind that you’d like to see?’

Lillian shook her head, standing up. ”Just nothing scary. I'm gonna grab snacks, want anything?” she asked. Alessa thought for a moment, then replied ‘Crisps might be good. And coke, if there’s any.’ As Lillian walked off, Alessa started flicking through the channels and viewing guide, looking for anything good that they’d both enjoy.

Lillian nodded, absently, buzzing around the kitchen as she heard the small clicks and changes in volume as Alessa surfed for a movie. She grabbed a few cans of pop, nabbing the chosen snacks, before heading back and dropping them on the table and sitting down.

”Anything good?”

‘Mm... not yet,’ Alessa admitted, still checking the guide. ‘Best thing so far is a bunch of Simpsons reruns. Although, actually... we do have Mulan on one channel in a few minutes. Oh, and The Emperor’s New Groove immediately after that. That’s a heck of a lot of time taken up, if you’re interested.’

Tilting her head, Lillian considered for a moment. ”Mulan, then. I'll probably be leaving after that, though. There's some things I need to do.” Her voice was wistful as she replied slowly.

‘Makes sense,’ Alessa nodded. ‘Actually, since you mention it, I was thinking I might head out on patrol at some point anyway. The day’s still pretty young, and you know what they say about crime sleeping.’

“That it doesn't, hehe.”

‘That’s right,’ she confirmed, grabbing one of the cokes and opening it up. ‘Anyway, that ought to be a good watch. It’s been ages since I last saw that film.’

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

Raymond Haywood: The Cruise Room

It wasn’t long after he and Chatterbox had dragged Xolotl’s unconscious body outside that both parties received a message from an unlisted number. Next assignment at the hideout. Naturally, it seemed their day wasn’t over yet. That did beg the question of what they’d do with Xolotl, though... leaving him there was a waste of resources, and presented a strong risk that he’d return to try and finish them off, not to mention generally prove to be a nuisance to everyone else in general, and if they left the range of the Broker’s powers- whatever that distance might be- he’d reacquire his ability to turn into lightning and most likely run off, the moment after waking up and slaughtering both of them. Unless...

‘Tell me, Chatterbox, does your power work on unconscious people?’ he asked quietly. ‘I imagine if you could whisper into his ear how much he doesn’t feel a need to escape or kill us before he awakens, it’d greatly improve our chances of moving him to our base safely.’ Or they could just dump the body here, with all the unnecessary drama that came with it, but frankly, this was a rare opportunity: to get a spy of their own into the Community, and one who’d willingly return to refresh their orders and brainwashing at that, if Chatterbox’s power worked the way Raymond thought it did.

Into The Dark: Tales of Maroleth

@POOHEAD189 Finally posted. Sorry that took so long, though it seems like everyone else has yet to post too...

@Stormflyx Do you want to do that post collab soon-ish, either during or after the process of childbirth is being handled? @Gardevoiran, you may also wish to be involved, depending on when exactly said collab occurs during said childbirth process.