Crowvette

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alexandria

@KillamriX88

Alex nearly toppled over after being set down by Vera, the sudden twirl leaving her dizzy. As she steadied herself, she saw that Vera was speaking. Saw... Not really heard. Things still sounded like they were in a room over from where she was. The ringing had at least subsided to a low buzz, which Alex was thankful for.

"What?" Alex rubbed her ears, only picking up parts of what Vera was saying. Her voice was raised just a little too high, betraying her lack of hearing. "Let's rush the front door? Isn't that where everyone else is gonna be?" Alex felt like it was strange of her to suggest that. Alex needed to show Vera that she was perfectly capable of thinking on her feet, and decided to make up a better plan. "It's better if we go another way and avoid the crowd! Let's go out the back!"

Alex confidently took the lead, heading towards the bar's employee exit to lead Vera out the back. It was strange of Vera to be so dazed by the situation that she'd make such a bad call, but luckily Alex was there to help.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at Terauchi Temple

Io bowed slightly to Ayu as she greeted her. “Of course not. Only invaders. I know the importance to the locals," she reassured her. Upon further thought, she went ahead and added, “I’ll try to keep them out of sight and away from the village. They make the living uncomfortable.”

‘Though sometimes they make people uncomfortable not necessarily solely because they’re undead.’ Io mused to herself, looking over the zombies. ‘I will need to find some concealing robes. They might not draw as much attention that way.’

Io wanted something local for them. She wasn’t must of a seamstress herself, which should have been obvious to anyone who saw her own ragged clothes. And using magic to create clothes… Just seemed wrong to someone like her. “Ayu. Is there someone who makes clothes here? It would be best if they had something to cover them up, at the very least.”

After the encounter at the abandoned house, Io felt like some shopping would be a good chance to rest. She hadn't done such a thing in a while.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Yeah if anyone wants to poke Io she's just going to be nerding out on her own for a little bit. Hopefully I didn't overstep anything with her making a potential second base... It's just a lich thing, you know.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at the Abandoned House

Io turned away from the Varjan brigand after he had confessed, satisfied with the information. This wouldn’t be quite as easy as she hoped, but she had captured a few enemies. Hopefully the others would find value in her bringing Varjans alive. If not… It was not Io’s problem.

She brought the Varjan back to the group, and touching his forehead, drained him of enough energy to knock him unconscious. It wasn’t her preferred method, but given the situation it was the best he was getting. “Get these ready to move. I will return in a moment.”

Io returned to the abandoned house. It wasn’t much, but the structure was sound enough, and there were plenty of dead nearby. She touched the floor, quickly mouthing some basic spells. A simple ward against wandering animals and something to slow the rate of decay in the nearby area. She’d need to get her zombies back in here to clean the house up for her, and prepare some further magical implements, but Io could store her notes and… potentially other things here in the future. The thought of having a contingency pleased her.

Io returned to her zombie servants. “We are returning to the village. Let the living sort themselves.” Grabbing one of the prisoners, she turned back towards the village. She had to report the details of the iron marks to the villagers and the fighting between them and locals at the very least.

She would then send her zombie servants to return to the abandoned house, in order to prevent them from drawing too much attention. Then she would simply take some time on the temple grounds to mull over the recent events, scrawling notes and reflecting. She would have to peruse her memory to find the right spells. Provided nobody interrupted her, of course.

As she began to meditate, she made a mental note: ‘Find more intact clothes for current zombies. Something fitting for a servant. Perhaps maids.’

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alexandria

@KillamriX88

Alex was slowly inching towards Vera's vicinity when things went out of control. The center fight suddenly stopped, there was a commotion, and before Alex knew it her body was rocked by an ear-splitting blast, followed by another, and more. Each shot felt like a punch in her chest from the pressure of the gunshot. Alex had never heard a gunshot in person, let alone a high-caliber one fired indoors. It instantly sent her into a panic.

Alex yelped in surprise, instinctively ducking down and covering her ears. She didn't know what was happening, but her mind focused on one thing: Getting Vera, and then leaving. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the ringing in her ears and got back to her feet, quickly scoping out where Vera was. There was a commotion, people moving, tables in the way. But luckily, Alex still had her lingering magical effects to lean on. She had an enhanced jump height, and the ability to fly. It was a simple matter for her to bound over the obstacles in her way, and beeline to Vera in midair.

Alex was not quite versed in flight, however, and in her adrenaline-fueled burst of movement she did not quite allow herself the space to slow down, sending her careening towards Vera. She only had a moment to shout a warning to the unsuspecting girl before they collided.

"Veraaaaaa!! Get down!"

The Crow's Test

The joke is that it's test, not nest. Laugh, damn you.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Andras and Michael's Closet Meeting

When Suzakura got knocked out of the ring in record time, Michael couldn’t help but clear his throat trying to cover up a snicker. He talked a big game, but he was still no match for his opponent. Still, that just meant his opponent was nothing to scoff at, having been quick to take out his opponents in quick succession. Whoever had to fight him next would be in trouble.

Speaking of who went next, Michael went through the list of fighters in his head, and he realized he was up against Alex next. It was a perplexing conundrum for him. On one hand, he wanted to see what Alex was really capable of first hand. However, he had done a study of her power in his time together with her, and knew she only had a limited number of those cards she used to manifest her power. There probably wouldn’t be many left now, if any at all. And on the other hand, Michael was loath to raise a hand against Alexandria. She was…

Michael shook his head. He resolved himself to put aside his heart for this match. And besides, it was just a match. Everyone here came simply for a good fight. Alex surely came here for the same reason, and Michael was not going to be the one to take it away from her.

Alex put the strange person that accosted her out of her head for the moment, with nothing left to say to him. She had bigger things to deal with now; Namely, she had completely zoned out and a fight had occurred without her really paying any attention. In all honesty, Alex was already at her limit - she had dumped her hand far too quickly when Vera toyed with her, and now all she had were the spell effects that she already had active. She clenched her fist, the latent magical power briefly dancing around her arm. She could throw punches with superhuman strength, and she could still leap twice her normal height. That would be enough to settle the score with whoever she was up against next - and if not, she’d at least create a story about the “demon girl” who could punch with the force of a truck. Alex was actually beginning to get her excitement back. She quickly ran down the list of remaining matches with her eye.

‘All right. Let’s see who I get to fight. After what happened with Vera, I think I need to deck someone I’m not on a first name basis with-’ Alex’s train of thought froze in its tracks as she read the name she was paired up with.

Why did it have to be the only other person she knew at this tournament?! Alex wondered if Wolf would ambush her on the way back to her home at this rate. Or perhaps her online chatting friends would reveal themselves in order to fist fight her? Alex felt torn. In all honesty, she didn’t want to hurt Michael and her only method of fighting at the moment was something she couldn’t really control well at all. But she had a reputation to build… Plus, winning against Vera and then quitting the next round would not be very kind.

Alex took a deep breath. She wouldn’t let this go wrong either. She would normally simply let things go with the flow, but today had already gone too wrong. She had to be proactive. Assertive. Like Vera. She singled out Michael in the bar and grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards the nearest supply closet. “We need to talk.” She said to him, keeping a firm grasp on Michael, with determination in her eye. “Alone.”

When Michael saw Alex walk toward him, he smiled and raised his hand in greeting, but went wide-eyed when she dragged him away to somewhere more private. “A-Alex?” Michael asked in surprise. “Ok, um, sure. What’s going on?” The situation was quickly escalating beyond his expectations, and was quite out of character for both Alexandria and Andras.

Alex finally let go once they were stowed away successfully. She had managed to grab him, but her resolve was at her limit. “The truth is…” Her face quickly began to flush, contradicting her previously stoic demeanor. She couldn’t seem to make eye contact. “M-Me and you…” She continued to mutter something, unable to quite put together her thoughts.

‘W-Wait… Did I just drag him to a closet alone? What if someone saw us?! I didn’t think about this at all!’ Alex’s mind finally caught up to the situation she created. Alex froze in place, unable to continue her train of thought. Her attempts to speak simply devolved into stuttering.

What? ‘Me and you’? Michael thought to himself as he turned away, his face bright red all the way to his ears. Was it really what he was thinking? He took a sideways glance at Alex again, seeing her stammering over her own words, which only served to further cement his understanding on the matter. He raised his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, then proceeded to say, “This wasn’t, uh, how I pictured this would happen, but, uh…” Clearing his throat again, he continued, “Ma-may we, um, g-get along, then.”

Alex’s eye widened with surprise. “You’re okay with it?!” She backed up, bumping her back to the closet door. “I-I don’t think I can really control it myself… I don’t want to hurt you!” She clenched her fists, suppressing a sniffle. “I-I mean, I almost hurt Vera already… You saw what I did, you know! I-If we fight each other in this next match, then…” A tear rolled down her face. “I don’t want to hurt anyone else I care about… I should just concede the match!”

Michael was confused once again by where the conversation was headed. Then he realized his initial assumption of the conversation was wrong. She had brought him over for a different sort of confession, after all. He felt relieved, but he also thought he felt a sharp pain in his heart. He forced himself to push his feelings aside and continue listening to Alex. This was still a serious conversation, after all, and he needed to hear it.

“Alex, you have nothing to worry about in this case,” Michael reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I came to the Midnight Tournament expecting to get hurt. Sure, I wasn’t expecting you to come here, and I’d totally beat up anything who did hurt you, but I’ll… be...” Thinking back on the pairings, Michael realized if he would indeed somehow manage to lose, she would have to go up against the guy who had quickly taken out Suzakura. That was a fate Michael would very much like to avoid. Quickly making up his mind, Michael said, “A-Actually, yeah, maybe you should concede. I won’t hold it against you, and-and I’m glad you care so much about me.”

Alex felt reassured, at least partially, by Michael’s words. “I-I kinda joined this all on a whim, but things have really gotten in over my head...” She averted her eye for a moment, fidgeting somewhat. “Maybe sometime you can show me a little bit about how to actually fight… I-If you have time!” This most recent tournament had shown her that maybe she needed a little bit more than just her cards to win.

“I just hope Vera doesn’t come down on me for forfeiting after beating her…” Alex gave an uneasy sigh.

“Of course,” Michael said, smiling. “Eh, I wouldn’t worry too much about Vera. I’m… sure she cares about you… in her own way.” Stepping out of the broom closet, Michael continued on, “Now then, let’s get out of here. You should go issue your surrender to the announcer. I’ll get ready for the final match.”

“G-Good luck…” Alex let Michael go on ahead, waiting a little bit so they weren’t seen exiting at the same time. She meekly stalked over to the announcer, submitting her withdrawal from the tournament, before turning away and scanning the bar. She had to just make sure where Vera was. Alex wasn’t going to let her get away without at least exchanging contact information. She’d keep an eye on her and talk it through once the fights settled down.

Hopefully.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at the Isolated House

@PaulHaynek

Io surveyed the aftermath of the fight as the major din of the battle settled, thinking about what the last villager said, and looking over the bodies left. It was quite a selection. She hadn't been amongst so many fresh corpses in a long time - if she had to explain it to a living person, she would have likened it to setting foot in a garden full of freshly planted seedlings. There was plenty of potential here. But first, there were things to attend to. Weeds in the garden, so to speak.

Io allowed some of her undead hounds to chase the living ones off. She would have to re-make her scroll, but she didn't really want to retrieve the existing one from a living beast. She had standards, and it wasn't a hard scroll to recreate with some time. Next, came the issue of the unconscious Varjans. While she was still tempted to let them join the rest, she had to at least see if they would be worth anything to the villagers alive. She bound them with rope scavenged nearby.

Io kept her zombies on guard as she singled out one of the unconscious Varjans, taking them apart from the group. She had to figure out if they knew where this merchant was, and this was the most direct way to do it. Shaking the prisoner awake, she gave them a moment to come to before she crouched down and softly began asking them questions. "Varjan. You will tell me everything you know about these 'iron marks.' And the location of a local merchant that has one." She took a moment to undo her disguising aura, letting her undead pallor return to her skin. She beckoned over one of her remaining undead hounds to draw close to the prisoner, with her grimoire in her other hand. "Telling me now will be best. I have other methods if you refuse." Her normally deadpan expression gained a slight, yet noticeably sadistic smile. She would move on to the others if this one knew nothing - Io hoped that at least one had a clue. If not... That was their problem.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Alyona

@KillamriX88@AtomicNut

Aly cocked her head at Cel's reference. "What is that? Key master?" The joke went right past her head, as most references to Rhean pop culture went. She assumed most things she heard were made up on the spot when it came to Cel, which didn't help.

She didn't get a chance to ruminate any further on the situation, because the forgettable guy that followed them up to the roof decided to phase out of existence. Once again, it was something Aly did not consider normal, but perhaps her frame of reference was merely out of date. She'd have turned to search Cel's expression, but she feared for what her grip on reality might end up being if she relied on them for a compass on what was normal. "Well. They're both gone, so problem solved...?" Aly pulled out her phone to check the time, turning to walk back home.

Before she could leave, the two reappeared. The forgettable one seemed to have completely taken the goopy one out... Somehow. So that move wasn't just to remove them both from existence forever. He had done something in the meantime. Alyona's stomach tightened at the thought. This kid was some slacker hiding out in the bathroom after school, and he could do something like that? Completely unacceptable. She was going to have to go toe-to-toe with the cretins of this school some day. The least she could do is try and remove this one from the pool of people she'd have to fight.

Alyona already had her phone up, so she quickly navigated her cracked screen to her camera. She managed to get it up just in time to record Wolf kicking the poor kid to the floor. "Oh my god..." She gasped quietly, making sure the video recorded her shocked disbelief. She had to try her best to sell it. After snapping the quick video, she quickly stowed the phone in her pocket. She'd have to get pictures of the trashed schoolrooms too, to really sell it, but she had formulated a bit of plan: Submit evidence that Wolf was fighting around the schoolgrounds after hours, trashing the place, and beating other students to a pulp. If that wasn't enough to get someone in hot water, Alyona would really have to give up on understanding this new city.

She gave a stiff greeting to Wolf as he approached her and Cel. "I would rather not take credit for something like this." She shot a glance at the person Wolf left on the roof. "<You are a real piece of work.>" She added in Yekaterinan, with a hint of respect. To think he'd not even kill the guy, but instead leave him a vegetable. Maybe he wasn't as boring as she thought.

Tales Of Shizuyama (Far-Eastern Monster Girl RP)

Io at the Isolated House

@PaulHaynek

Io barely noticed the hound latching onto her arm, though she did have a mild pang of annoyance as it was making it hard to move. The dogs were trained supriringly well - or perhaps they were deaf? She didn't care enough to continue the train of thought. 'Though, a monstergirl facing down a pack of wild dogs like this... Not dissimilar to the lecherous texts of a head wizard I once knew.' Io thought to herself, amusedly. The old memory of the story gave her an idea.

Even trained animals were still animals, and ruled by instinct and feeling, Io knew. She reached down to one of the scrolls wrapped along her inner leg, causing her old robe to flutter upwards for a moment (not that anyone was looking, of course), before pulling it free and deftly draping it around the dog. The scrolls along her body had many purposes once they were activated, of course, most of them for magical enhancements... but a small few were for other purposes. This one simply amplified lust in the one it was touching, clouding other feelings entirely. Io activated the scroll, letting it wrap around the hound and have its effect.

If it worked to free her arm, Io could then direct her attention to helping those in the melee - they were too close together for Io to use another lightning bolt, as much as she wanted to simply knock them all out and sort them herself. However, her zombies could be used. Reaching out, Io would cast a wave of undead energy across the zombies and the dogs they distracted. The energy was of course harmless, even beneficial, to undead but would drain the living hounds as it touched them. Then she would simply direct her raised zombies to aid in the fight against the Varjans.