IAmTheIsland

Kingdom Hearts: Heroes of Hope

Hoshi

The Guard Armor fell to the combined assault from the massive part of warriors and mages. Following the dispersal of the mighty foe, Hoshi too, fell in her own way. Her legs, weary and wobbly, shook and gave out beneath her; she fell back, catching her fall with her hands and landed seated with her legs splayed out in front of her. "Finally," she said. She clasped the Keyblade, which had fallen to the ground beside her, and stared at it with a raised eyebrow. Is it even... worth it? Whether it was tired arms or something else, the weapon felt heavy in her hand. Maybe with training it would feel more natural, like her sword and staff back on the Islands. But until then, she wasn't sure about the whole thing.

Fortunately, she wouldn't have to think it much in that moment.

A shadow appeared over her, approaching stride by stride. She looked up to Levi looking down at her. "Hey. Fancy meeting you here," she said, half joking. She surveyed herself, checking for any significant wounds or bruises, and finding none. "Yeah. Looks like I made it out OK. I mean, if Tsu asks, it wasn't your turn to watch me... I know, he wouldn't buy that; he probably still remembers me as his baby sister." She shook her head with a grimace when Levi asked about Alias. She dug the end of her Keyblade against the ground and propped herself up with it; her legs still shook, but she managed to stay upright with her Key as a crutch. "I... uh... I passed through the Darkness to get here," she said with a shiver in her voice. "I... It was... Some guy back on the Islands gave me this coat before I went through; he was wearing one just like it. I couldn't see his face though because his hood was drawn up and it looked like the shadows blocked him out."

She looked hesitantly at Levi as he shoved a handful of Munny into her hand. "Should I even ask?"

She didn't get an answer, as then Lucian had begun speaking. "A prince?" She looked at Levi and forced a humorous smirk. "Hopefully he doesn't make us call him 'Your Majesty' now," she said. She quickly reverted back to a more straight face, acknowledging both the importance of keeping Lucian safe, and getting more than a bit excited over the news that Alias was still alive and had that someone knew where he was. She limped a few steps, saying "Well then we better get going! Who knows how long he'll be ther--" She halted, clasping her right leg as it cramped on her.

"Best not to go anywhere just yet." A man with long brown hair, adorned in copious amounts of leather and more belts than necessary strode up to the group. The man lowered and holstered his weapon, and looked upon the scene with approval and a faint smile. He nodded at the near dozen-strong party that had just felled the counterpart of the Opposite Armor. Behind him, Hoshi could see Zac, the woman Aerith from earlier, a nimble-looking girl with dark hair, and Leon and Launchpad. Hoshi ducked behind Levi, afraid to be seen by the pair after sneaking off on them before. The brown-haired man's gaze fell on Hoshi, mostly out of her being closest to him as he passed by. "You'd best get some proper rest," he said to her.

"Leon," Aerith whispered to Hoshi, pointing at the man. Hoshi nodded, now having a face to the person she was supposed to have found. "Leon is right," Aerith continued, now addressing the group as a whole. "You've all fought bravely today. A good night's sleep will help prepare you for the journey ahead."

"As for which," Leon said without pause. "It may not be so simple as everyone going to one world." He scanned the group, quickly identifying Donald and Goofy, as well as Daisy and Max. He pointed to the Goofs. "You two," he then pointed to Daisy and then Donald. "And you, and you. Sorry if there's no time for proper introductions now, but I see you're all emmissaries of the King. We'll need to talk with all of you once we're back at our lodging."

"And you two as well," Yuffie added, looking at Leon and Luanchpad. Squall nodded in agreement.

"And Zac, if he wants in on it."

"Hey now! What about the rest of us!" Hoshi started toward Leon, who raised his hand.

"You'll get filled in after we've had our say. All of you from the Islands have been through enough for now."

Hoshi backed away, retreating next to Levi.

"So whenever we're all ready, Yuffie, Aerith and I have some rooms set aside at the Hotel in the Second District. You're all welcome to rest there for the night. The Keybearers and the Sorceress will have the Blue Room to themselves. Everyone else can split as they see fit."

Heroes Rise: Paragon City

Angel's

A N G E L ' S
A N G E L ' S

Drink, Dine, & Dance

Business Type: Bar & Grill; Small Music Venue
District Location: Mapleview (By upper left corner if Millenia Park
Owner(s): Angelica Lopez, Age 50
About: Originally opened by Marcos Lopez, Angel's came under the ownership of his daughter Angelica (who is also the establishment's namesake) when he retired from the day-to-day operations. Originally just a place for Mapleview's working class to get shitfaced, Marcos eventually expanded the bar into a more proper restaurant. Under Angelica's management, the place bought an abandoned storehouse nextdoor, and expanded the interior to include a small stage and ample floor space for dancing. As a music venue it hosts local and small time indie artists every Saturday, as well as DJ's and a weekly Karaoke night called "Sore Throat Thursdays."

Being at the heart of 70th Street territory, Angel's has a rapport with the gang, and is among their favorite hangouts. A few bartenders act as informants and confidants to Valentina and her crew, though if asked, Angelica knows nothing of their dealings. Also "unknown" to Angelica is the rotation of the area's illicit prizefighting ring, which ocassionally sets up shop in the basement level beneath the bar. Music and other activity on the main floor drowns out any noise from the fighting.

Sarah Lives Here

P A R K V I E W A P T S
P A R K V I E W A P T S

Business Type: Apartment Complex
District Location: Mapleview; North of PCFD, boardering Millenia Park
Owner(s): Paragon City Urban Housing Initiative
About: A public housing development located in the Parkside West area of Mapleview. The complex offers studio, single-bed, and two-bed units priced a reasonable monthly rates; working residents have their rent deducted from their paychecks with other municipal taxes. Being in proximity to the Police Presinct and the Fire Department HQ meant its construction was more cared for, and the ground and facade are slightly better maintained than other parts of Mapleview. But public housing is still public housing; Parkview isn't fancy or flash, offering little more than the bare necesities to comprise a home. Appliances aren't always up to date, and good luck getting that broken baseboard fixed any time soon. The actual quality of the living spaces is dependent upon public funds and which political party has a majority in the municipal government.

Current residents include Sarah Marie King and her mother Anna Elizabeth King

Kingdom Hearts: Heroes of Hope

Battle vs. Opposite Armor

The tandem impact of Zac’s defensive spell and Launchpad’s Jumping assault had dealt the Opposite Armor a tangible blow. Thankfully, for it, it had evaded the follow up from Leon, their brief moment airborne having given it just enough time to collect itself, and move its vital spot out of harm’s way.

While the trio of Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie were protected behind Zac’s Reflect, they silently agreed on a plan of action. Determining that the Heartless would have resilience against the brand of magic they could throw at it, they opted against continuing on with that approach. Aerith cast a set of spells to enable [her] Leon, each devised to improve his combat prowess; his strength was amped by magic; an invisible force would reduce the impact of the Guard Armor’s attacks; lastly, a boost to his speed was cast upon him. Meanwhile, Yuffie had sprinted out from behind the Reflect barrier before it had even dispersed into shards. Her role in this battle wouldn’t change, leaving her to chip at the foe from afar and keep it annoyed enough to not focus properly,

Watching the Heartless take a series of attacks from the two odd characters she had met earlier, Yuffie squared her throwing star up to its target. As soon as it had righted itself, she began pelting it with her throwing stars; they all flew truer than usual, the extra time she had had to mark the enemy proving invaluable. Just as before, the “Annoying Fly” maneuver proved its effectiveness: The Opposite Armor would shift away from Leon and Launchpad, and beset itself upon her, much to Launchpad’s chagrin. Leon landed next to his diminutive, similarly named counterpart as the magics flowed through him, preparing his strike. The two warriors silently looked at each other and realized what had to be done. The powers of magic seemed to surround the Lilty as he drew a second blaster. "TRIGGER HAPPY!" He called, before unleashing a hail of laserfire upon one of the arms. Leon (Enhanced by Aerith’s magic) seized the moment to land a strike against the armor's other arm, their combined attack more than the armor could take.

Yuffie didn’t cease her tactic; she continued the volley of stars as both Leons destroyed the arms of the Armor. “Alright!” she said, pumping her fist at Launchpad as she ran past, but looked back at him. “Good going you t--” Yuffie was cut off as one of the Armors legs came sweeping down on her.

"LITTLE LADY! LOOK OUT!" Launchpad yelled at the same time.

The attack succeeded in brushing her back, but she employed her ninja skills and recovered gracefully. “Whew!” She smirked towards Launchpad. “Cut a bit too close!” She jogged out a few steps in place and resumed circling the Heartless.

“Careful, Yuffie!” Leon could be heard shouting. As the second foot came crashing down, Launchpad grabbed the short Ninja Girl and hurled her to safety, the foot smashing into him, as he was unable to also dodge in time. As the foot raised to find its next victim, Launchpad was left pancaked into the floor,

"Ouch…" Launchpad calmly wheezed out, looking more like a puddle than a duck at this point. An arm raised from the flattened figure and pulled himself up, looking a little flat. Placing his thumb in his mouth, he blew hard, before quickly reinflating with a “POP” He raised the Trident "Big Mistake, pal, you just activated my SPECIAL ATTACK!!!" He yelled loudly and heroically. His Trident turned a crimson red as his eyes glowed. Jumping up at the leg, he drove the Trident into it. "LIFEBREAKER!" Channelling the damage he just took into his trident, he slammed the trident into the leg, energy pouring into it, scarlet energies running across the leg from the 3 prongs stuck in it, before violently exploding, sending Launchpad flying away and landing next to Yuffie again. He raised his arm in a thumbs up to indicate he was ok.

While the others began their assault on the Opposite Armor, Zac hung back, within range to jump to their spellcaster/healer’s aid if he needed to. He let out an appreciative whistle as his comrades made quick work of the Heartless’ limbs, rendering down to nothing more than a floating torso. He didn’t let his guard down, however. Experience told him that these monsters were dangerous up until they dissipated into Darkness.

Just as he had the thought, the Opposite Armor’s torso flipped around, the wider end taking aim at the group as its head came to rest on top of its chest. Energy began to gather at the end facing the group as it prepared a ranged attack. When it fired its projectile, Zac charged ahead and met the blast with the flat of his Keyblade. “This isn’t what I ordered. Gotta return to sender!” he quipped as he smacked the projectile back at the Opposite Armor like a baseball before following close behind it.

The Armor rattled and wobbled against the force of its own attack being racketed back into it. NOT EXPECTED! Even still, it didn’t cease its hovering about the plaza, now being sure to keep the Keybearer at a distance. It focused its offensive elsewhere, and an easy target presented itself in another string of throwing stars knocking off of its torso. ANNOYING! The torso spun around, taking aim at the young ninja. Another projectile cannonballed out from its torso.

“Bet you’re on the ropes n-- Aargh!” Yuffie had gotten over zealous and careless. In her moment’s lapse, the energy blast from the Opposite Armor slammed full-force into her. She was flung back and slid into a far corner of the plaza. As she flew, she smashed straight into Launchpad who had finally picked himself back up, knocking him out of his shoes and sending them both flying into the wall, Launchpad’s feathered form breaking Yuffie’s fall somewhat.

“YUFFIE!” The cry came from Aerith, who projected an uncommon rage. She raised her staff upward. A magnificent light flared out from its end. Both Leons and Zac would be both fully restored, and finding themselves, for the moment, literally invincible. “We’re not losing ANYONE else to the Heartless,” she said to Squall.

The Gunbladesman nodded sternly and took up arms beside Zac. “Let’s finish this one off. Here and now.” He looked across to Other Leon and Launchpad who had stumbled his way over in a dazed state, pulling his shoes back on. “You two! Give it everything you’ve got! No holding back!”

“AYE AYE COMMANDER NEBULSTEIN!!” Launchpad slurred out in his punchdrunk state, before raising his lance up and it began glowing with the red aura again, before rushing at it in a zigzagging path. Leon, on the other hand, pulled out the large Plasma Cannon and aimed it straight at the Opposite Armour, pulling the trigger and a ball of green plasma launched towards it.

Zac clenched his fist, feeling a surge of energy rush through his body. He nodded to Gunblade Leon and raised Stonecall with both hands toward the Heartless, parallel to the ground. “I’ll go high, you go low,” he told Leon as he cast his magic. A holographic image of a ticking clock appeared as he cast Haste on himself and Leon. Stone rose from the ground, encasing Zac’s Keyblade to add more weight to it while extending its reach by nearly double, and the shimmering shell of Reflect gathered around his weapon at the same time.

The young Keyblade wielder was the first to move, jumping into the air while Leon dashed forward, as if fired from a cannon, his glowing Gunblade in hand. The Opposite Armor, beset on all sides, was hard-pressed on which to focus on, slowing its reaction somewhat. By the time it would have decided which person to react to, it was too late. Launchpad and Lilty Leon’s attacks made contact on either side and the resulting explosion weakened the Heartless’s torso armor enough for Other Leon to easily cut through it, slicing it in two.

”You’re finished!” Zac yelled as he brought his Keyblade down on the Heartless’ head. The weight of the stone-encased blade drove the Opposite Armor’s head into the ground just as Reflect absorbed the force of the impact and sent it back, cratering the ground with the following release of energy. As the dust cleared, the remains of the Heartless, now nothing more than crumpled metal, began to fade as Zac let himself fall back on his rear, sitting in the crater. ”Finally,” he said with a relieved sigh. ”And to think…I was thinking about taking that thing on by myself!”

Squall let out a forced laugh at Zac’s comment. He breathed heavily; invulnerability didn’t come with infinite stamina, and his finishing slash on the Opposite Armor had taken a bit more out of him than he’d have liked.

Aerith, meanwhile, had rushed to Yuffie’s side and nursed her back to her usual spry and jovial self. The ninja made her way over behind Aerith with a skip in her step. “Good job team!” She exclaimed, giving everyone two thumbs up.

“I’m thankful we all made it through,” Aerith added.

“Right,” Leon said, no longer attempting his humored face. “We should get to the others.”

“Agreed,” Aerith said. “I sent one of them, Hoshi, through the Third District. We should head that way first.”

Leon shouldered his Gunblade, and started down the alley towards the Third District. Aerith and Yuffie followed close behind, waving for Zac, Leon, and Launchpad to join them. Together, the six of them would depart the Second District, and emerge into the Third to an astonishing, but welcome sight…

Kingdom Hearts: Heroes of Hope

Post incoming.

EDIT: Post posted.

@King Kindred, @Sadu ((Tagging our GM team))

Misfits: Rise of the Delinquents (Closed)

Caitlin Cade

"Thanks bro." Cait said through the spliff hanging between her lips. As the flame from Prince's lighter ignited the end of her vice, she drew in a long, smooth breath. She held her breath for a few seconds, allowing the flavor and substance of the roll to sit on her tongue before turning away to exhale into open space. The effect of the cannabis was almost immediate; her tolerance had taken a dip since her run with the police, due to her folks deciding to cut her off from any drugs or alcohol. Her head lightened and her eyes glazed a bit. A lighthearted chuckle pumped out of her chest. "The best hash, as usual from you," she said, raised the spliff like she was toasting to a drink. She took another hit, this time, a quicker one. "That's twice I owe you."

By that point the pair had arrived at a still-tagged bench. Cait, masking the loopiness of the high with an exagggerated, forced straight face, knelt down and pried her can open and dipped the brush in. She gave the pain a few wuick stirs and pulled the brush out and began painting. Others nearby had began singing an old Marley tune, setting a relaxing mood to the affair. "They damn near caught the whole crew," she explained to Prince. "Late night sesh over in the Royal Parks. Hit up some spots, dodged a few cops along the way. They finally caught up with us tricking off the Matilda Fountain." She burst out a laugh and took another hit off of her spliff. "Guess they thought the same as you thought: that I was the best skater of the lot; sent some new upstart to chase me down on a bike. I almost fuckin' faceplanted when my wheels hit his baton." She sighed. "So yeah... 'defacing' a historic monument, plus charges for public intoxicatoion. And here I am." She gently glided her paint brush across the seat of the bench, and puffed on the spliff.

Do You Have RP Pet Peeves?

As a DM, it's ghosting for me. I often deal with repeat customers (players) who eagerly jump in when I start a new thing, only to see them barely participating after one or two months playing. It is honestly annoying because I have allocated significant time and attention working with them to make their characters fit into the story, even tailoring some elements in the plot to cater to their characters' backgrounds.

And in the long run, it makes me restless; Maybe some new changes are needed? Maybe there was something in the narrative that they didn't like? And the worst part, it is hard to mend things when you have people completely gone from the radar, and you don't know why they are gone, and you can't ask them why.

It's understandable if things in real life prevent them from participating, but it becomes another if I see them online in my Discord server or returning once every two weeks to post memes without context. AT least keep us updated, a simple "sorry still busy this month" every once in a while would do just fine and take no more than 2 minutes of your time, or just withdraw from the RP altogether so I can focus on what is left, thought it's still annoying because I still have to deal with the marks that retiring character left, but at least it is better than having a character just idling in the middle of the road for the rest of the arc.

@Mas Bagus

As a player, GMs ghosting is equally frustrating. Especially when they outright refuse to let another person step up and Co-GM. Had that happen once; GM hadn't been around. I asked about taking over in their stead, they denied, the RP ultimately died. Also once had a GM abandom her RP to take over another one and then, when asked for any notes/plot ideas she had had, her response was just "I don't care."

[Interest Check] Masks & Magic: The Awakening

Color me intruiged

Do You Have RP Pet Peeves?

My personal experience has been that friends->lovers doesn't work out for me. But then, strangers to lovers hasn't gone well either so it's probably just me having a factory defect that I should really get recalled for.

But I've seen it work for others.

To Hold Back The Dark

Erik Elfhame Ostriecher V

Mistmoor Stronghold
With: Tarrian Kar, Lady Victory

Erik's outward demeanor remained hard as steel. He held strong against the aura of despair that Himeri emanated. Inwardly, he found himself victim to worry. He had yet to an encounter a high functioning emissary of Darkness; merely the instrinct-driven beasts not unlike those that had attacked the gate and been slain by their "leader." The callous nature with which Himeri had struck down her own had been unsettling; one so cold would not be inclined towards any notion of mercy. Thinking of the sword at his side, he pondered how well he would do if this exchange did come down to a battle... he had trained to fight monsters... would he hold his own against an intelligent, human-form opponent? Was she as skilled as she hinted? In that moment, even the bold brashness that had defined Erik's prior deeds gave way to better discretion. He would prefer not to have to answer his own questions within the gates of Mistmoor.

More unsettling was knowing that even as he projected his own aura against Himeri's, her presence was sharp enough to pierce through any protection he had mustered for the soldiers that stood behind him.

He looked quickly to Tarrian, but did not ask her opinion on the matter. "Very well then... If you're to go, you will be escorted. Tarrian and I will personally see you to the estate. You will retrieve your sword, and you will leave. But be clear on one matter: you are no guest of honor, and will not act as such. While we will not allow idle assualts, I cannot promise that you will not be treated with verbal hostility. In short, consider yourself a temporary captive. Now then..." He circled behind Himeri. "You will proceed in front of me."

Do You Have RP Pet Peeves?

A newer one that I've been feeling lately: People who exclusively play a single specific character and try to shoehorn them into everything (prior lore from other non-related RPs and media, etc). This is as opposed to taking a character and adjusting/adapting them into the lore of the RP. And definitely goes for canon/IP characters a bit stronger than OCs.

At best it comes off as having a narrow range of interest; at worst it comes off as creatively stunted or plain lazy.

Crossovers are the exception to this, of course.

Otherwise... if you're gonna run mains, at least put the work into making them fit the lore if the RP universe(s) you're placing them in. Or be prepared to be (potentially) limited in your RP selections.