Hey, you guys- we've moved to a new thread. You can find it here. From here on out, all posts, CSes, and questions should be posted there. This thread will be locked shortly.
canaryrose
Member
STATUS:
tbh a death threat was not on my 2023 bingo
1 yr ago
- Last Seen: 1 mo ago
- Joined: 8 yrs ago
- Posts: 1450 (0.52 / day)
- VMs: 1
-
Username history
- canaryrose 8 yrs ago
-
Latest 10 profile visitors:
-
Most recent →
Izurich,
Shin Ghost Note,
Rabidporcupine,
sassy1085,
Hitman,
Crimson Flame
Status
Recent Statuses
1 yr ago
Current
tbh a death threat was not on my 2023 bingo
1
like
1 yr ago
man if you’re just gonna fucking admit it what’s the point. go touch grass. don’t kill your roommate.
1 yr ago
ANOTHER ONE?!?!
1
like
1 yr ago
holy shit roommate murder guy went off
1
like
1 yr ago
announcing intent to murder is pretty juicy, tbh
5
likes
Bio
User has no bio, yet
Most Recent Posts
《 Class X: Administrative Staff 》
As they say in the military, these are 'the brass' of HERO. They are the ones calling all the shots, managing the personnel at HERO, filing out all the time-consuming mind-numbing paperwork, and dealing with all the inevitable red tape. Never enough bureaucrats, after all.
《 Class S-Ranking 》
All individuals that are currently under 24/7 surveillance by HERO. These individuals are very dangerous. Even as a disembodied AI voice, I sweat a little in their presence. Metaphorically, not physically.
《 Class A-Ranking 》
The summa cum laude of the HERO roster. Individuals with high potency of power and ability and the real paragons of HERO's villainy-fighting divisions. I never understood how A came below S. I understand everything, of course, but my logical cortex doesn't fully process this data.
《 Class B-Ranking 》
Some of our finest and most gifted heroes in the B-Ranking. Very talented individuals. They may not be able to crumble entire city streets with earthquakes, but do we really need any more of those? I think not. I'll stick to my B-class, thank you very much. B-class is always a safe bet.
《 Class C-Ranking 》
As Former Director Hugo Powers would put it, the 'meat and potatoes' of HERO. The best at all-out brawling? Probably not, but the C-class is never to be underestimated. One second of arrogance may be your last. That is a figure of speech, of course. If they could kill you in one second, they would be higher than C-tier.
《 Class D-Ranking 》
The real foundation of HERO. Contrary to popular belief, D actually stands for "delightful," not "dunce." That was a joke. D is simply a letter of the alphabet to denote 'lower than S, A, B, and C' in the HERO lexicon. But that does not mean these heroes are not delightful. Weak, perhaps, but certainly delightful.
《 Rogue's Gallery 》
Enemies of HERO? Preposterous. I do not comprehend who could be an enemy of HERO. Besides bank robbers, murderers, evil geniuses, transnational conquerors, hideous monsters, human traffickers, drug traffickers, gun traffickers, the mafia, the gangs, the police, the mayor, the city's robots, Caribbean pirates, non-Caribbean pirates, music pirates, disgruntled heroes, all the other hero companies, ICOSA, myself, wizards, Martians, vigilantes, circus clowns, evil circus clowns (though I repeat myself), professional assassins, corrupt politicians, the entire nation of France, the cast of Saturday Night Live, chainsaw maniacs...
-CURRENTLY EMPTY-
HEROIC EGALITARIAN RESCUE ORGANIZATION
RETINAL SCAN PROCESSED. FINGERPRINT PATTERN MATCHED. DNA DATA FINALIZED. VOICE PATTERN COMPARISON COMPLETED. VERIFIED POSITIVE MATCH. WELCOME BACK, HERO.
《 H.E.R.O. Archives: An Abbreviated History of Superheroes 》
Greetings, prospective hero. My name is ALISA and I will be guiding you through the application process here at HERO. First, a brief lesson in our history is in order.
> > > Year 1764: The Beginning < < <
300 years ago, to the date, one of the strangest scientific anomalies in history occurred. A massive meteor jettisoned towards Earth at breakneck speeds, only to dissolve as soon as the meteor entered the atmosphere. What astronomers of the time prophesized as a bringer of doom to the human species appeared to have just been a simple near-miss. Life went on for a short while, until the scientists, and people all around the world, realized that the meteor, termed the 《 X-200 Meteor 》, had left something in its wake.
The meteor, upon dissolution, had released clouds of purple dust that had caused mutations in select numbers of fauna, flora, and most importantly, humans. These genetic mutations gave this specific group- only about 5-7% of the world's population, at the time- what is called the "Hero Gene." The Hero Gene runs in families and grants all sorts of superpowers. Some people grew wings, some people could spit fire, some people could cause countries to experience earthquakes, and some people could cause yeast to rise faster. All sorts of new powers came about from this revelation, and it led to one of the greatest paradigm shifts humanity has ever seen.
The meteor, upon dissolution, had released clouds of purple dust that had caused mutations in select numbers of fauna, flora, and most importantly, humans. These genetic mutations gave this specific group- only about 5-7% of the world's population, at the time- what is called the "Hero Gene." The Hero Gene runs in families and grants all sorts of superpowers. Some people grew wings, some people could spit fire, some people could cause countries to experience earthquakes, and some people could cause yeast to rise faster. All sorts of new powers came about from this revelation, and it led to one of the greatest paradigm shifts humanity has ever seen.
> > > 1770 - 1790: Formative Years < < <
The new class of "superhumans" came to recognize the implications of their newfound abilities much faster than the world governments did. The first "villains" and "heroes" were just superpowered crooks and ragtag groups of superpowered neighborhood watchmen, essentially. Small bands of these heroes duked it out with the early iterations of supervillains, and also did battle with "Leftovers," a blanket term for the creatures that had become affected by the X-200 meteor and had adopted (often hideous) super-mutations of their own. This kind of rampant havoc was troublesome, to say the least. Representatives from the major world powers of the time held a summit to determine how to address this new problem. The 1791 Austria Convention would reshape how the world thought of this new term of “superheroes.”
> > > 1791 - 1879: Heroes Gone Global < < <
The 1791 Austria Convention laid down a method of organizing the new “superhero” groups. The world was carved into regions, where each respective area would be responsible for administering a “hero company,” a governmental division of superheroes that worked for the government and fought to preserve the peace. All the hero companies would be linked to a single entity known as ICOSA, the International Council on Superhuman Affairs, centered in Vienna, the first real transnational governing body in human history.
This original convention was, in short, a failure, or at least, it wasn’t as successful as it could’ve been. The world was rife with tensions, and as such, the powers bestowed upon ICOSA were incredibly weak, with most of the power given to the individual nations. These individual nations used their respective hero companies less to police supervillains and more as cudgels for their enemies. Because of this, heroes were rarely around to actually help fight villains and more often that not doing battle against Napoleon or helping quash rebellions or pillaging villages in the Scramble for Africa. Superheroes, at this point in time, were not viewed very well, and would continue to be viewed poorly by the general public for almost a century. This was a dark period of superheroes, and after a coordinated series of supervillain terrorist attacks in the 1870s, combined with atrocities committed in the Crimean War of Europe and American Civil War, the international community reconvened for a second conference, this time in Geneva.
This original convention was, in short, a failure, or at least, it wasn’t as successful as it could’ve been. The world was rife with tensions, and as such, the powers bestowed upon ICOSA were incredibly weak, with most of the power given to the individual nations. These individual nations used their respective hero companies less to police supervillains and more as cudgels for their enemies. Because of this, heroes were rarely around to actually help fight villains and more often that not doing battle against Napoleon or helping quash rebellions or pillaging villages in the Scramble for Africa. Superheroes, at this point in time, were not viewed very well, and would continue to be viewed poorly by the general public for almost a century. This was a dark period of superheroes, and after a coordinated series of supervillain terrorist attacks in the 1870s, combined with atrocities committed in the Crimean War of Europe and American Civil War, the international community reconvened for a second conference, this time in Geneva.
> > > 1879 - 1945: Reform and Readjustment < < <
The 1879 Geneva Convention moved the meeting grounds of ICOSA a thousand kilometers west to Geneva, Switzerland, and established new rules and legislation that redefined superheroism. Superheroes were no longer to be tools of the military, and were limited in their parameters to solely be guardians, not soldiers. Hero companies were forbidden from going to war and ICOSA enacted a series of hefty guidelines that every HERO company had to follow, lest they be punished by ICOSA. ICOSA was still a mostly laissez-faire organization, giving individual companies a great deal of autonomy and freedom to run things as they so choose, but finally began to crack down on the usage of superheroes as tools of war. From this point on, the public image of superheroes began to improve dramatically. Though Switzerland’s neutral position in both world wars meant that there were no superheroes to be serving on the frontlines, the imagery of the spandex-covered superhero finally began to take hold of the public. When the world emerged from World War 2, there was one image that remained untainted by the cynicism of the world, and that was of superheroes.
> > > 1945 - 2050: The Golden Age of Superheroes < < <
The next century or so is considered the golden era of superheroes. Trust in superheroes was at an all-time high, and for the first time since the inception of hero companies, civilians began to not only feel comfortable around superheroes, but openly followed them. Powerful superheroes, handsome superheroes, cool superheroes, funny superheroes, all of them began to grow in popularity with the public, and once the snowball started rolling, the hype only increased. By the 60s and 70s, consumerism centered around superheroes began to keep pace and even exceed at some points the fan obsession with actors and musicians, and becoming a superhero with a hero company not only became a viable career path, but a very lucrative one at that. Local and international funding guaranteed that no matter where in the world you are, signing your name with a hero company promised a good salary, plenty of benefits, and a ton of clout.
In the midst of a global obsession with superheroes, one company stood out- HERO, an American HERO Company that covered the Northeast and part of the Atlantic coast. HERO was known for being highly destructive in their superheroism, but for always getting the job done in the midst of one of the most populous and villain-infested cities in the world, Castleburg, New York. HERO had some of the strongest, cunning, caring, and oftentimes oversexualized and overhyped heroes in the world, and it earned a reputation as being chaotic but exciting, a hub of hero activity that many flocked to.
In the midst of a global obsession with superheroes, one company stood out- HERO, an American HERO Company that covered the Northeast and part of the Atlantic coast. HERO was known for being highly destructive in their superheroism, but for always getting the job done in the midst of one of the most populous and villain-infested cities in the world, Castleburg, New York. HERO had some of the strongest, cunning, caring, and oftentimes oversexualized and overhyped heroes in the world, and it earned a reputation as being chaotic but exciting, a hub of hero activity that many flocked to.
> > > 2050 - Present, The Decline < < <
After a hundred years of popularity, the advent of the future caused superheroes to tumble from the top- robots.
Robots have a lot going for them- effective, obedient, cool, and much less volatile than actual humans. In the late 2040s into the coming decades, police forces from around the world began implementing robotic divisions, known creatively as e-Police or Ekops..Their incorporation and effectiveness diminished the popularity of heroes. Hero companies are still around, and are still prevalent and heavily sponsored, but they aren’t quite the same as they used to be, with much of the public feeling more comfortable around the productive and efficacious Ekop than the humans that spit fire from their mouths.
Looming in the future, though, there are distant threats to Castleburg and the world, threats that a bunch of pieces of tin can’t stop. It’ll be up to the heroes to reassert themselves once again to keep the city- and the world at large- safe, like heroes have always done at the end of the day.
Robots have a lot going for them- effective, obedient, cool, and much less volatile than actual humans. In the late 2040s into the coming decades, police forces from around the world began implementing robotic divisions, known creatively as e-Police or Ekops..Their incorporation and effectiveness diminished the popularity of heroes. Hero companies are still around, and are still prevalent and heavily sponsored, but they aren’t quite the same as they used to be, with much of the public feeling more comfortable around the productive and efficacious Ekop than the humans that spit fire from their mouths.
Looming in the future, though, there are distant threats to Castleburg and the world, threats that a bunch of pieces of tin can’t stop. It’ll be up to the heroes to reassert themselves once again to keep the city- and the world at large- safe, like heroes have always done at the end of the day.
> > > TL / DR < < <
After a meteor hit Earth 300 years ago, some people developed superpowers. These superhumans were grouped up into regional, acronym-based companies all managed by a global organization called ICOSA that functioned as the UN of superhumans. Eventually, after being used as tools of war for many years, ICOSA forced superheroes to be superheroes, and they went from being viewed in disdain to being idolized as celebrities and role models for the 20th century and first half of the 21st century, when the rise of electronic policing has begun the decline of superheroes as a paragon of justice.
《 The City of Castleburg 》
Let’s now shift our scope from the world at large onto the bustling futuristic metropolis of Castleburg, New York, one of the world’s three largest cities and the home of HERO.
Castleburg is a bustling metropolis located in New York State. A thriving city on the cutting edge of the future, Castleburg is the home of more than 20 million people and is the center of HERO, the Heroic Egalitarian Rescue Organization, a hero company that covers much of the Atlantic Northeast of the United States, though its main branch is in Castleburg, a city that with its great population also has a great number of supervillains looking to bring the mighty city to its knees.
《 H.E.R.O. Affiliations 》
H.E.R.O. has been Castleburg's vanguard for hundreds of years now, a shining beacon of justice in a city that is all too often clouded with chaos. It is imperative you learn exactly what you're getting into before you join our ranks, and also, who you'll be up against.
《 H.E.R.O. Formal Application 》
With that housekeeping covered, please proceed to the application and complete it to the best of your ability.
Pointers For Character Creation < < <
- BALANCE IS KEY! I give a lot of leeway when constructing an OC, under the assumption that everybody exercises a degree of reason when making their character. Some characters will be stronger than others, but try to balance power with weakness when making a character.
- Third-person is preferred in the character sheet, though I will accept any perspective so long as it is thoughtfully done. Please delete all the turquoise text prior to submitting the character sheet in the OOC first.
- You can have as many characters as you can reasonably manage, though I would suggest no more than 2-3 main characters. You can have NPC side characters as much as you want, though please do not godmod anybody else's characters or GM NPCs. If you want any sort of incorporation into the main story, please DM me and/or Zoey.
- The main character sheet portion and abilities section are both mandatory and can be separated or combined, up to you. If there is a relationship sheet added later, that would be entirely optional.
- All faceclaims should be some form of digital art, not a real-life faceclaim, as to keep with the established theme/mood of the RP. If you have an FC that is in a gray area for whatever reason, shoot me and/or Zoey a DM.
- When in doubt, send me and/or Zoey a DM and we'll be more than happy to clarify anything. I am pretty lenient, so any situation should be able to be worked out with a bit of communication.
- Though my goal is to work everything out and try and get as many people happily participating in the RP as possible, my word is final.
RAW CODE EDITION
Character Help
《 H.E.R.O. 2064 Updates 》
As they teach us in AI administrator school, there's always something more to be said. Here it is.
- 7/1/21: Happy Launch Day! Been very excited to launch this for a while! CLICK HERE TO JOIN DISCORD!
- 7/5/21: Relationship sheet is up! It is entirely and completely optional, but always a benefit to start at least hashing out the ties between the characters (if there are any) before they first meet. Again, only a supplement, but a good one, in my opinion. Example and raw code are above!
- 11/15/21: Due to a sudden GM change, we have decided to change threads! The previous one can be found here!
This seems pretty cool! If I have time I might end up making a character.
Location: Circus Tents Interacting with:The Team
Is that… Viktor? Although she was in the middle of fighting crazed horses, Alisa turned to get a look at ‘Rainman’- or, rather, Viktor in a knock-off Superman costume. She wanted to laugh, but her fear subsumed the part of her that thought any of this was funny.
Thankfully, ‘Rainman’ took care of her pony problem. “Got it, sir!” Alisa saluted him cheekily. Her hands were still shaking. She thought she understood some of what he was trying to do. Their cover was nearly if not totally blown if the phone cameras pointed their way were any indication, and he was trying to save it. It was smart. Really smart.
Alisa herded the remaining civilians out of the tent as her teammates continued to fight the horses. At the end of it all, she headed back to Zach’s dressing room with the rest of them.
Later, in Zach’s dressing room, Alisa told the rest of the team what she had told Kila earlier about the fortune teller. It seemed like they still weren’t sure who their prime suspect was, though. She was leaning against the wall, letting others sit. She grit her teeth. Had they really fucked up another mission? Alisa knew that she and Maya, with the freeing of the horses, had probably been a big part of it… but for now, they both had agreed to keep that quiet. It didn’t seem relevant. And, if Alisa was being honest, she didn’t want the others to know- about her fear or her mess-up. She hated the idea of their judgement.
“What do we do now? Viktor, you were amazing…” She giggled. She couldn’t get the sight of him as fake Superman out of her head! ”You know, as dorky Superman, but we still don’t have any leads, and the show’s nearly over. We don’t even know how any of those horses got like that, either.” She sighed and shook her head. “We won, but it just feels like we’re not getting anywhere.”
September 21st, 2064
'Totally Innocuous Warehouse'
Brookside, South Castle Island
'Totally Innocuous Warehouse'
Brookside, South Castle Island
‘Strong Boy’ gave Leon a confident thumbs-up as he walked off to the back room. The heroes had totally given him a shit job, but whatever. At least he’d be able to watch them from here. He could see if they had made any progress.
He performed a cursory check of the backroom and then stood by the doorframe. Beth didn’t seem to be having any luck with the vent. SSV had clearly vacated already. And upon looking, no one could find their target. It was like she had simply vanished into thin air. It seemed that the heroes had failed.
Sam snuck out the back door, trying his best to get away before the heroes came asking any questions. His team had called him back, unable to find her either, and he wasn’t eager to go to prison. He used one of the emergency fire escapes, careful not to make any loud noises. His boss wouldn’t be happy, either, but at least he got to go home and have a nice cold can of beer.
September 21st, 2064
Academy of Young Heroes
Lighthouse Island, Castleburg
Academy of Young Heroes
Lighthouse Island, Castleburg
“Haha, look, this guy has paper powers- WHAT THE FUCK?!” The goons yelled and dropped their guns as the metal folded in on itself, crumpling and breaking within their hands. A few of them clearly didn’t know what to do, cursing and panicking. One drew a taser from his utility belt, clearly grasping for straws.
Now that Drew didn’t have an assault rifle pressed to his head, he scrambled away from the armed, dangerous man and practically vaulted over the side of the climbing wall. Eyepatch Man didn’t seem to care too much- instead, he flickered out of existence and made for Michelle, trying to grab her. “Forget the heroes! The girl!”
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t see Jenna coming before too late. The young girl who had previously gushed over her favorite mentor flew at him like a bullet, her face grim and focused. She didn’t barrel into him, however. Before she could, she reached out with her powers and flung him off the island with incredible telekinetic force. He had no chance to teleport before he fell into the river with a crash inaudible from the Academy.
His lackeys weren’t having much luck with the heroes either. Graham flung himself at the winged man, who flew upwards at the first sign of provocation. “Holy shit, the hell is that thing- AAAAAAAA!” A surprisingly girlish scream came out of his mouth as he wrestled with the clawed Graham mid-air, trying to pull him off of him. He lashed out with razor-sharp wing feathers, trying to pierce Graham’s skin.
The force of Gematria’s punch threw the tall, skinny man to the ground. He looked very confused to be attacked by a human-sized mech, but he tried his best anyway. He hopped up and attempted to bring her to the ground from her back, clinging to her neck and trying to push her to the ground.
Meanwhile, the other one was handling Strain, Polaris, and Cadenza, having a difficult time. Cadenza had begun to use her flute, attempting to bring down the men, but was shocked shortly before she could do so. Polaris and Strain were wrestling up close with him, but the two were quickly beating him with a combination of powerful electricity and density manipulation powers.
September 22nd, 2064
HERO Two
Assistant Director Raymond Blum's Office
HERO Two
Assistant Director Raymond Blum's Office
Early the next morning, Assistant Director Blum stood in front of the surviving heroes, looking ill at ease in a suit and tie. This was an uncomfortable situation for him, and it showed on his usually jovial, tough-looking face. Raymond hated failure but hated a pyrrhic victory even more. Three of the heroes under his charge were either dead or close to it. He had a right to be upset, and he certainly looked it. The heroes before him, however, looked even more so. He had given them the night to recover rather than barraging them with a debrief so soon after a difficult fight. Some had stayed in the hospital, others had gotten to go home, but most of them were here
His office was a simple affair. It didn’t look like Blum spent much time there. The walls were a light beige color, adorned mostly with pictures of HEROes, past and current. Most notable were photos of himself and Director Steel accepting their respective positions and a newspaper clipping about his defection. The clipping showed a picture of him shaking hands with then-Director Hugo Powers. He had a standing desk with a sleek laptop and holo-projector. Three yellow-cushioned chairs sat before the desk, facing a giant window covering the entire back wall. It had a view of the Castelberg skyline, slowly changing as HERO Three drifted through the sky. The double doors were glass, too, but the curtains were drawn shut now to obscure their conversation from any nosy observers.
He cleared his throat. “I’m very sorry for calling you here so early in the morning, but I really need to talk to you all.” He fiddled with a remote in his hands and pulled up a holograph of the picture of the N Train as it appeared last night- halted in its tracks, evacuated people clustered around the tracks. “Your mission on the N Train yesterday was a success in that you did get the nuke, which we currently have under lock and key in a secure location. But it was a raging disaster in every other way.
“Thirteen people are dead, including two of our own heroes, two civilians, and nine enemy combatants- five of whom died by your hand personally-” he stared directly at Blitz as he said this, gaze unflinchingly critical- “and you made no arrests, which means we can’t find out why any of this happened in the first place,” he said, all in a gruff, dissatisfied voice.
“Samantha Everett and your mysterious assailant both got away. Sam’s plane touched down in a field near Utica last night, but by the time the local cops reached the plane she was long gone. She’s gone to ground. We can’t find her in any of her usual places. And the woman who set off the gas bomb on the train disappeared without a trace. We don’t have any records of her in any of our files, so keep an eye out. We’re going to make finding them a top priority.” He switched the screen to a picture of the downed plane, devoid of any passengers.
“But, at the end of the day, missions go wrong. It’s always a tragedy but people die. Be glad you’re alive. You’ll have a ton of paperwork in the coming days, but take the time to rest. Director Steel is giving you all an optional month-long paid leave, so do with that what you will. We’re keeping this quiet. Don’t tell anyone that you wouldn’t trust with your jobs any details. And, hopefully, this will all blow over in a few…”
Raymond’s phone dinged. Then dinged again. And again. It was a cacophony of noise, and he pulled it out, looking slightly peeved. “Who…” His lips went slack, his eyes widening. “Oh,” he whispered. “Oh. Oh, shit.”
- MISSION COMPLETE -
-and-
Kila rested in the dressing room, looking into a lighted mirror. He was dabbing tissue at his chest as the flimsy shirt of the outfit could not completely endure the tiger’s claws. He wondered how his chest hadn’t been torn to shreds, only having a few spills of blood here and there. Fingers absentmindedly going over the scars there, the place his most painful of memories were. Kila had come to the conclusion that his skin had become calloused.
Although he meant that more metaphorically, he came across a patch of his skin that felt off…It was abnormally rigid around where one of the claw strikes were only to return smooth in minutes…it felt like elephant skin. Before he could ponder further about the Power of The Red that lied subtly in his veins, there was a knock at the door.
Remembering quickly that they were still on a mission, despite being undercover, Kila prepared himself for any potential confrontation. However, from the other side of the surface, the voice of the android girl announced herself. Despite being one of the more verbal members of the team, Kila had rarely interacted with Alisa. Still, she seemed pleasant enough, compared to some. Moreover, her status as having robotic qualities should prove helpful to an extent in gathering information.
Thus, he allowed her in, listening to her explanation of her search of the Fortune Teller’s quarters. The more she talked, his eyes narrowed.
“The one, the man who smelled your things; likely a grunt of some sort. I am willing to say that he was coming to give the Fortune Teller some sort of message. However, your presence there instead as a newcomer, may have made them suspicious of your intent.” Kila thought aloud, starting to pace, abruptly stopping as another situation came to him.
“Something else to keep note of…These performers are very probable to have abilities as we do. The man smelling your garment was clearly some attempt to identify you. Hopefully your more inhuman qualities act as a counter to his capabilities in that sense…Have you seen anything else out of the ordinary?”
Alisa shook her head. “Besides those two things, no. I didn’t get a chance to go through her room completely, but what I saw seemed pretty normal. Have you?” She turned her gaze to Kila. The two of them had spoken little, but she knew enough to notice that something was a bit off. Only hours ago he had been acting upbeat and goofy, but now he seemed, well… serious. Had something happened? She scrutinized him, noting he was shirtless, before noticing the little wounds on his chest. Claw marks?
She frowned. He looked fine- sympathy over concern was probably the way to go. “Ow,” she said in sympathy, although she had no real point of reference for the sting of blood. “Did the tiger get you? I thought you were supposed to be the animal whisperer!”
Kila paused after what she asked, touching his chest again. Memories that did not belong to him briefly came to mind at the mention of the tiger. It was a quick flash of images; tall grass, a roar, men in black jumpsuits, tranquilizer shots. It was an intense but brief staring session into the wall. Pulling his hand away from his chest to look down at his palm, Kila blinked. That was new.
“I suppose that I am…The tiger has been through many bad things before they put her in that cage…I fear what would have happened, should it have been anyone else’s act.”
A genuinely sympathetic frown crossed Alisa’s face. “How terrible. They shouldn’t do that to the animals, let alone let them “perform” in front of an unguarded crowd. I’m glad it was you, then. Even if you did get a bit scuffed up.” She sat down in a chair by the door and leaned forward. In the month she had been on the team, she had spoken very little to Ja. He was intriguing, to say the least.
“I’m terrible with animals,” she said, remembering yesterday’s incident. She laughed. “I mean, I adore most of them, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t like me back. It’s probably why I volunteered to shove a katana down my throat rather than have to deal with anything alive,” joked Alisa, trying to lighten the mood.
Kila nodded, “Right…I imagine that would not bother you much? Given your mechanical insides.”
“Not really, no! I mean, it hurts a bit when I scrape the back of my throat and I have to be a bit careful with my vocal box, but I don’t have any fleshy bits to puncture. Or any blood.”
Kila slowly nodded again, though staring at Alisa’s eyes. It would appear as though he were searching for something, because honestly, he was. The concept of artificial intelligence vexed him quite a bit. Why would one want to create a machine with, or ability to mimic, the human mind? There seemed to be something different about her, opposed to Red Tornado who acted as their overseer.
He didn’t care much about it being awkward, but would have apologized in courtesy of possibly making her uncomfortable. What stopped him though, were the sounds of somewhat distant screams. These were not screams of joy however…they were screams of terror. Quickly snatching up the mask he wore earlier, he started for the door.
“I do not like the sound of that. We should investigate.”
Alisa stared back into Kila’s eyes, unblinking. Why was he staring? Had she done something wrong? Before she could get a chance to interrupt, however, she started to hear screams. They were rising in volume and number, coming from… the circus tent? She swiveled her head to the door before standing and walking to the door with Kila. “Yes,” She opened the door, only to hear the screams escalate in volume. “Yes, we should. I think something’s very wrong.”
She started to speed-walk down the hall and then started to dash. The two of them burst out of the tent together and raced across the field towards the main circus tent. People were streaming out of the big tent, screaming in terror.
The only possible explanation was that someone had attacked. But who? And why? Gotham had its own horde of supervillains, but an attack from them didn’t make any sense. And this was a recon mission at a circus- they weren’t invading an enemy base.
Then, they entered the stage, coming behind Zach, Daphne, Aleen’a, and Kassy. Alisa felt fear start to clog her thoughts. I fucked up. The horses that Maya had convinced her to free yesterday were here, giant and vicious. A look of horror and guilt crossed her face as she stared at the scene. This was her worst nightmare.
At least the wall offered them a moment of respite. “What-what should we do?” Her voice wavered. Kila quickly studied the scene.
“First priority is to remove innocents. If even one person dies while we are active, our mission is already a failure.” He explained, instantly sprinting off towards the group.
Alisa ran after him. They came to the forcefield. Kassy’s flickering illusory wall and Zach’s forcefield were keeping the crazy ponies away from them and anyone who had managed to duck behind them, but not much else. There were still people being terrorized outside. Alisa sucked her teeth- she truly didn’t want to go out there and fight, but it seemed as though there wasn’t another choice.
“I think Aleen’a’s right,” Alisa said, her hands curled into fists. They had come in just at the end of Aleen’a talking, so she had caught the tail end of it. “But there’s no way we can contain them while they’re like this. I think… we need to fight them and herd them all into a group so Zach and Kassy can create a forcefield to trap them.”
Once she finished talking, Alisa figured that she had to do something. People were getting hurt, and they were the only ones around who were capable of doing anything about it- even if it meant risking their cover. She still didn’t want to get close, though. So with a heft of effort, she squatted down and picked up a box- used for propa, but still considerably heavy- and chucked it at one of the horses. The rabid animal was knocked to the ground. Several more came running at her. Alisa screamed in what sounded like fear and threw a punch at one of them. The horse neighed in rage, and then Alisa was caught in a frantic melee with two horses, looking absolutely terrified.
Kila, meanwhile, lassoed one of the rabid ponies around the neck and pulled it away from someone, trying to herd it to the center of the ring.
Hey guys! Canary here. We've already discussed this at length in the Discord, but @Hitman has regretfully decided to leave RPG for the foreseeable future and has left me in charge. Although it says otherwise in the top bar, I am now GM and @Zoey Boey is the new Co-GM (thread status pending). We've already contacted a mod and it turns out that it's not possible to transfer thread ownership, so Hitman will remain the GM in the top portion unless we switch threads. The permission difference is fairly minimal, thankfully. There won't be much of a difference.
Please direct any and all questions to either me or Zoey! We're undergoing a period of reconstruction at the moment so things will be slow.
Please direct any and all questions to either me or Zoey! We're undergoing a period of reconstruction at the moment so things will be slow.
© 2007-2024