Ducksworth

Noble Arms: The ASEAN War - Thread Three, the Darkest Hour

Levi Orienko

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Bahram’s energy washed over Levi again — bright, loud, warm in the way fire was warm when you got too close, that slight burn on your face as the flames lick at you.

“Cool! Fireworks are banned, but we can eat—what foods do you like? I’ll treat!”

Levi froze, suddenly the warmth had turned to ice. Food. Not rations or gruel, Not the thin grey paste he had swallowed because it kept him upright. Actual food — the kind people had opinions about, fought about. He blinked once, slowly. The ground felt suddenly very interesting.

“I… don’t really know,” he admitted under his breath. A tiny pause, almost guilty. He shifted his pack, not out of discomfort with Bahram — but with the question itself. “You can pick,” Levi added, softer. “It’d be better if you did.”

Bahram barreled forward into politics next — uprisings, monarchists, alliances, a handful of acronyms Levi had never seen written anywhere. The words poured out of him with practiced familiarity. Levi listened because he listened to everything. But the meaning went right past him. He frowned a little, eyes narrowing in that quiet, confused way he had. “I… have no idea what any of that means,” he said honestly. No shame. Just a small shake of his head. “Sorry,” he let out a small breath. He didn’t pretend to belong to a world he had never been taught.

Movement to his side brushed the edge of his awareness. Lukas was still there — calm, watching, part of the same circle of noise — but Levi didn’t split himself trying to manage two conversations. He just kept his body open enough that he wasn’t excluding anyone. It was the best he knew how to do.“We should go in soon,” Levi said quietly, eyes flicking toward the hall doors. He didn’t move first. He waited — for Bahram’s lead, or for the moment to feel right. That was enough.

@LladyLloki@Letter Bee

IH Phoenix Corp Turkey Shoot

The morning sun crested the ridge in a slow, gilded sweep, its first light spilling across the fields in drifting ribbons. Pollen and stray petals caught the glow, floating like pale sparks shaken from some slumbering giant’s breath.

A soft breeze threaded through the blossoms and grain alike—gentle, cool, almost ceremonial in the way it brushed against Aramis’ coat. As if some unseen mother-spirit of the land passed a hand over her children, soothing them before the inevitable chaos to come.

Below, the Greatspur flock lumbered through the fields in ponderous waves. Massive bodies swayed and thumped with each step, feathers shuddering like banners caught in a storm. Their gobbling rolled across the countryside in deep, resonant quakes—an absurd chorus for creatures too foolish to inspire anything but ridicule, yet too large to dismiss entirely.

Aramis stepped up beside Locke, his boots sinking into the damp soil, dew soaking quietly into the leather while the morning light traced a pale outline along the folds of his coat. His gaze followed the flock’s destructive wobble with the bemused detachment of a man long resigned to this world’s insistence on presenting threats that defied all dignity. One hand rested on his staff; the other stayed tucked in his pocket, fingers curled, his stance steady despite the thunderous absurdity below.

“We should consider shaping the field before committing,” he said, glancing sidelong at Locke, the sunrise reflected faintly in his eyes. After a beat, he looked back toward the land. “A trap might serve us better than a direct charge.”

He lifted his staff slightly, pointing toward the far end of the fields where the land dipped and narrowed between wooden fences. “Those irrigation trenches… and the carts stacked along the fence line. They could form a bottleneck if we guide the birds through here. Narrow their approach enough, and they’ll have no choice but to funnel straight in.”

His attention drifted back to the slope, expression sharpening as petals drifted lazily past on the breeze.
“Of course, that would require someone to draw their attention first. Turkeys this size will chase anything that looks even remotely like a challenge.”

He studied the terrain, then the flock.
“It could be anyone, really.”

He shifted his stance as the breeze ruffled his coat again, sending loose blossoms drifting past his shoulder like wandering thoughts.

“In any case,” Aramis finished, tone returning to its usual evenness, “it’s only one option. If either of you prefer another approach, I’ll adjust. Best to lay out choices before we commit ourselves to being flattened.”

He exhaled softly, a thin mist leaving his lips before the warmth of the rising sun swallowed it. His eyes followed a few petals dancing across the ridge before they spiraled down toward the marching birds below.

[Ryke - Dungeon] Languishing Large Loner

The hall bucked and groaned like it had a spine as the Mammoths feet thundered within the chamber. Light fractured across a hundred mirrored surfaces, every reflection of the beast twisting into new impossible angles. His mind twisted between two facets of his job as support, help the charge and to take down the beast or… Evie’s voice still rang in his ears through the noise — “Find and crush a rune node.”

Crush it.
The words looped in his mind, but his instincts pushed back almost immediately.
What node? There was no network here, no visible lattice to break. Everything about this room was feeling before form. A physical field responding to emotion, to will — to memory.

Kavros’ earlier words slid through the cracks in his concentration.
The walls remember what I desire.
They remember every lie.

He blinked behind his fogged glasses, the world catching up to him in flashes — the runes pulsing, the mist thickening when Kavros spoke, the floor itself shifting like it was breathing in his commands. The realization came fast, almost violent in its clarity.

He could almost feel the weight of it: centuries of thought and grief pressed into glass, repeating because no one had ever taught it anything new. The Domain didn’t attack them out of cruelty — it was imitating the will it knew best.
And Evie’s order — “find the node” — wasn’t wrong, not really. The node wasn’t a place. It was a mind.

His heart kicked hard. His thoughts blurred and reformed around a single, dizzying hypothesis:
If the Domain obeyed the will of whoever impressed themselves on it… then maybe it could be impressed again.

He grounded his staff, the sound ringing sharp against the mirrored floor, and drew a slow, steady breath, closing his eyes. Every part of him wanted to overthink it — equations, mana flow, harmonic interference. But the truth of it wasn’t math; it was meaning. The Domain remembered Kavros’ hunger, his sorrow, his dominance. It could just as easily remember something else.

Aramis reached for the quiet places in himself that had kept him alive this long — a calm cup of lavender tea, the quiet that balanced panic, the silence that made study possible, the stubborn belief that understanding was always better than ignorance. He shaped that calm into intent and fed it into his magic.

”Remember… purpose,” he murmured, voice trembling but clear.
“Remember peace. Remember thatt you were meant to cleanse, not that which you’ve become.”

The staff answered with a low hum, vibration climbing up through his arms. He let it run, threading his own mana through the ambient pulse — not to dominate it, but to blend, like ink seeping into water. He used the same careful focus he applied to enchantments: intention as pattern, patience as anchor.

Light rippled around him, faint but visible, as he offered the Domain a new rhythm — slower, steadier, built from understanding rather than fear. Whether it listened or not was beyond him. His job was to try.

The staff’s hum deepened once more before fading. He exhaled, eyes opening to the mirrored hall.
“If you remember everything,” he said softly to the air itself,
“then remember this.”

---

Economy and Narration

OOC: Aramis trusts his team to do their part while trying to change the very domain itself.

Actions:

1. Analysis — Aramis re-evaluates the Domain’s behavior using his Intellect (C) and Arcana (F) knowledge, deducing that the Domain records and mirrors will and emotion rather than mechanical magic.

2. Invocation — Using Intelligence (C ) + Magic (E) + Enchanting (F) + Duration (F) + Range (F), he projects a counter-intent into the Domain: calm, purpose, remembrance of cleansing rather than corruption.

3. Brace — Maintains focus and composure, awaiting the Domain’s reaction to his attempt at emotional/magical redirection.

Metropolis of Superheroes

So should I still respond to the last GM post or no?

@Azure Bubbles

Definitely. It's still canon as far the RP goes and it allows us to see which kiosk you go for etc.

Metropolis of Superheroes

Sounds perfect to me @Birdboy!

[Ryke - Dungeon] Languishing Large Loner

The sweetness in the air thickened until it coated the back of his throat. Aramis swallowed, slow, the motion deliberate. Power offered so freely had a taste — always pleasant first, always cloying after. Kavros’ voice echoed through the mirrored hall, heavy with promise. The runes flared with it, pulsing in quiet agreement, and the mist curled low at their feet like it wanted to listen. The scholar in him wanted to listen too — to take it apart, piece by piece, to see how it worked. The rest of him remembered what happened to people who couldn’t stop at curiosity.

He didn’t step forward. Didn’t even shift his weight. The others had already tightened formation, and he wasn’t about to be the one to break it. He let the staff rest upright against his shoulder, eyes fixed on the reflection of the throne rather than the thing that sat in it. He felt safer that way. The offer gnawed at him all the same. Secrets. Knowledge. Power. It was exactly the kind of bait that hooked people who read too much and thought too little. His fingers flexed against the wood, the thought finding its way out in a low voice meant for no one but himself:

“Shortcuts leave gaps,” he murmured, the words rough as gravel. “And gaps get people killed.” He wasn’t sure if he was reminding himself, or answering the offer. Maybe both. He adjusted his glasses, eyes flicking once toward Evie, then Locke, then Yumi’s stillness reflected a dozen times over. Everyone was braced, measured, waiting for the first wrong move. Aramis exhaled through his nose, quiet but steady. “There’s no wisdom in learning fast,” he added softly, the faintest edge of disdain curling the last word. And with that, he fell silent again — not defiant, but immovable. Whatever power sat on that throne would find no eager student here.

Noble Arms: The ASEAN War - Thread Three, the Darkest Hour

Levi Orienko

---

The sunlight was already sharp enough to sting. Dust lifted from the road each time a truck passed, hanging over the air like pale smoke. Levi let it drift over him in silence, content to listen to the rhythm of the street, the idle chatter of soldiers, the clatter of spent cartridges swept into piles, the smell of oil and mango leaves.

Bahram’s voice broke through it all, bright and careless as ever.

"Some of us have been tasked with giving humanitarian aid; food, water, medicine, blankets, and for the kids who had to endure war, toys and candy - I have a sample, if you want!"

The man reached into a blue plastic bag stamped with the UN logo and drew out a packet of Hershey’s. The color alone brought something old and unwanted to the surface. Chocolate.

He remembered the first one he’d ever eaten, stolen from a shelf in some nameless train station after his escape. His hands had been shaking, his stomach empty enough to ache. He’d devoured it whole and spent the next hours hunched and retching behind a wall, his body rejecting sweetness as if it were poison. He hadn’t touched chocolate since.

“It’s not poisoned, I promise!”

Levi’s lips twitched, a flicker of something that might have been humor.

“I believe you,” he said quietly, a slight chuckle escaping his lips. “But I will pass.” He paused. “I er… had my fill of it once.” He didn’t explain any further.

The street buzzed with heat again, and Levi’s gaze swept across it, calm, methodical. His eyes caught on a familiar figure at the far end of the road: black leather jacket, worn jeans, steady stride. The one he had seen through the paper bird’s eyes minutes ago.

When his concentration was broken, he nearly missed that Bahram had invited him to celebrate. He spoke a little too quickly, almost abruptly. “I have not celebrated New Year in a long time. I would like that.”

When the man approached and greeted them, with an easy tone and practiced friendliness, Levi was already still. Not tense, nor surprised, just… ready. The stranger’s eyes flicked between them, lingering long enough to study, not long enough to challenge. Levi met his gaze briefly, a simple acknowledgment, before replying.

"You look kinda young to be standing around here for. I'm guessing you got some masterly arms about you?"

The strangers opening about their Arms took Levi back a bit. It’s not like Noble Arms were so uncommon that people couldn’t make assumptions about who might have them, and true, Bahram and Levi being stood here, outside the town hall brought a level of attention that would give the man more information than he’d even need to assume they’d have them but it was an odd opening statement. At least, it was to Levi.

“Something like that.” Levi replied after a moment’s silence. He let the emptiness fill his words more than he said. And the answer worked for most situations.

Bahram had turned to a paper, voice lifting as he read headlines about rebellion and war, the kind of noise that never really stopped, no matter which flag you stood under, not that Levi had paid much attention to the state of the world or its events. He’d only been free for a short time and still didn’t understand, nor try to understand, world affairs. He simply smiled gently at Bahram and spoke gentler, his voice tinged with accent. “I did not, no. Is good news?”

@Letter Bee@LladyLloki

[Ryke - Dungeon] Languishing Large Loner

Time blurred in the crawl between chambers. When the others slept, Aramis’ mind kept him up. His mind constantly running theories. The labyrinth didn’t care for his logic, but he measured it anyway, a stubborn defiance against the unknown. He spoke rarely, his voice becoming hoarse from disuse while he saved words for questions that might matter. None of the answers ever felt right, but the asking kept him steady.

By the time the corridor opened into the mirrored hall, his thoughts had narrowed to focus. The reflections made the room feel endless, each surface throwing the group’s shapes back a hundredfold. Silver-veined runes climbed the pillars like veins of light, pulsing faintly with their own rhythm.

Aramis stayed where he was, a few paces behind Evie and Locke. He didn’t trust this place enough to drift. But his eyes compulsively tracked the nearest pillar all the same, almost against his better judgement, squinting through the soft layer of dirt lingering on his lenses to follow the shapes of the etchings.

He adjusted his glasses, leaning just enough to catch the details, angles, intersections, and symmetry. Every line looked intentional. He breathed out slow, quiet enough not to break the medic’s negotiation. His lips moved soundlessly, tracing patterns, testing them against the web of arcane languages and glyphwork stored in his head. A thought surfaced, and he murmured under his breath, mostly to himself: “...Do I.. know you?”

---

Economy and Narration

OOC: Aramis follows the group but is too intrigued by the runes to not examine them.

Skill used: Educated F [Scholar]

Metropolis of Superheroes

I'm sorry to hear everything that is going on for you, @xaltwind, I've been hoping that you would be feeling better, or at least on the mend.

As for continuing the RP, I'm sure we'll find a way to continue with the RP as, as the others have said, I don't mind if someone wanted to take over as GM or if we continued GM-lessly. Normally I'd put my hand up to take the reins and continue on with GMing but I've got too many RPs on my plate right now to outright run one.

Metropolis of Superheroes

I do have a list for Vector! I'm so glad you included NSP in that list for the car thing. Thats incredible. I'll link mine when I'm on my pc/laptop next!