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RPGC#38 - invisibility (prompt and discussion)

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RPGC 38 – invisibility

Invisibility, a blessing or a curse? For this month, I want you to think about invisibility: how does your character turn invisible, what they will do with it, how they feel about being invisible, and how permanent is it? Write a story exploring this theme.

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Core rules:

• At all times follow the Fundamental Rules of the Guild and the Moderation Policy for Forum Contests.
• After reading the above this should be obvious: No plagiarism and respect copyright laws.
• The story you submit must be written by you and specifically for this contest.
• This is a place for original fiction, no fanfiction allowed.
• Don't exceed PEGI 16 with your writing; no 18+ themes and fade to black if applicable.
• Don’t forget to subscribe to this thread. You will receive updates on the contest and on the number of entries, and reminders about the deadline here. I will not PM them.
• The winner of this contest will be honoured in our Trophy Case.

Contest rules:

• the focus of this story is invisibility and what effect it has on your character.
• There will be a minimum word count of 500 and a maximum of 5000
• Please PM @Loksfjoer your entry and give it as title RPGC#38 - (Your Title).
• Your entry can be anonymous or carry your name. Let me know what you want in the PM. If you don't specify, your entry will be posted anonymously, but you may always claim your story during or after the voting round.
  Even for anonymous entries, the name of the writer will be added to the entry in the Hall of Fame.
• The deadline is October 23rd, 9:00 CET, which is 7:00 server time (both times are in a.m.)

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Number of entries so far: 5

A Trainers Ambition [SporkoBug and Calle]

Netherlu returned the hug and gave a final wave to his father and went for the portal.

"I don't know exactly where we're going," Michael said as he followed Netherlu towards the portal, "but it will be a human city. I suppose this will be your first time seeing one of those."
[i]"They can be loud,"[/li] Lytse further explained, "and the bigger a city is the less fresh air you'll smell, but cities have good things as well. Lots of food for instance."

Netherlu stepped through the portal and put his hands on his hips as he looked around, he was now the guide for these humans, taking them to see the injured human he had found and brought away to the care-taking facility.
"Where to?" Andy asked when he joined them.
"I flew in from that direction," Netherlu said, pointing to trees ahead of them. The only paths leading away were on their left and right. "Which one of these paths leads there?"
Andy pulled a map from his backpack and examined it with Netherlu to determine where he had dropped off the human and where he had found him. It turned out Netherlu knew exactly how long he had flown and how he had flown in relation to the sun, but had very little knowledge about a map or a compass and struggled to translate his bird-eye view to the map.
"Too bad none of you can fly," Netherlu said after determining the right path was probably the one leading in the direction he came from. "It would be so much easier."
"We could send our flying Pokémon with you," Michael offered.
"You could, but I'll travel on foot. People get very excited - understandable of course - when they see me, so I try not to fly around too often. Keep it rare and special for them."
Andy turned to Netherlu. "do you really bring eternal happiness to people who see you, or do you only reveal yourself to pure-hearted trainers?"
Netherlu blinked. "No? I mean, who wouldn't be happy when they see me, but eternal happiness? Is that what you humans say about me?"
"Oh, and more things too. For instance, a rainbow forms behind you when you fly," - Netherlu confirmed that, but added it depended on how the light would reflect from his feathers - "That you live on the foot of a rainbow," - Netherlu laughed and said that was physically impossible but he liked the idea - "and indeed the lore mentions eternal happiness for those who see you. So I expect some eternal happiness from you now."
Netherlu took Andy by the shoulder. "You saw me, cherish that memory and you will always be happy when you think of it. Eternal happiness granted."

Andy chuckled and turned to Frosiien. "Do you want to know what humans say about you?"

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Fenna turned to Lilliana when she joined her at the table and smiled. "Of course, please sit down," she told the mage and she nodded to Fredrick when brought her meal. When Zell arrived at the table, Fredrick brought his order too and she turned to Zell. "You have a good appetite in the morning," she commented.
Ready to dig into her own meal, the next to join them was James, also asking to sit with them. "The more the merrier," was all she said about it before taking a bite.

She had her eyes on James as he mentioned they needed to talk, nodded and waited for him to tell her the topic of their not-serious-but-normal conversation. The bird?
"Oh, I named her Sil, after my grandmother," she said and when James asked permission to share his theory, she nodded and listened intently to what he had to say.

"I think that makes sense," she answered when James asked what they thought. "I have seen birds of prey before, but never have I seen one flying to me when I just think about her, or more precisely when I want her to come. And I roughly know where she is too, even without seeing her." She gestured to the north. "In that direction, somewhere. There is a... bond between us that seems to grow the more time we spend together. I'm more aware of her now than when we first met. And I know for sure I didn't have this ability back home." She took a moment to observe the crystal in her hand. "Nor this. I'm unsure how or why we ended up here, and maybe that message we can't access yet will have the answers to that, but I definitely have abilities now that I didn't have before."

Having said that, she picked up her warm beverage and took a sip.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Morning came and all things considering Fenna had slept quite well. The falcon was still sleeping on the window sill, but woke up when Fenna got out of bed.
"Good morning," Fenna greeted the bird, reaching out to scratch her head, which she allowed. Sil then turned around, gave a final look at Fenna and flew away to hunt.

Fenna watched the bird soar over the city until she was out of view and closed the window. After a moment of contemplation, she decided to wear the same outfit as she had bought in the high-end store the previous day. They weren't going on their mission yet, so why not take advantage of another opportunity to wear it? It might be a while before the next opportunity would arise. It wasn't long before she left her room dressed in her dark green long-sleeved vest made of a velvet-like material with gold buttons with the matching ankle-long skirt with some golden embroidery along the edges and the darkgreen hairband with golden embroidery she had purchased from a stall on the bazaar. The boots weren't fashionable perhaps, but they were comfortable and she anticipated more walking, as there was a part of the city she wanted to check out.

First things first though, it was time for breakfast. There weren't many patrons sitting at the tables when she entered and none of them belonged to her party. She asked Frederick for a meal and he told her he was busy making a big order, but he promised her he'd bring her a portion of the ham, egg and cheese toasted sandwich and a cup of tea when this was done with the rest of it.

Nobody Will Believe It [SporkoBug and Calle]

Marc sighed and glanced around, noticing Sara sitting nearby. Since Benjamin didn't pay him much attention, he turned to her.
"Hey..." he began, not completely sure how to continue. "Are you okay? You don't look very well."
Her entire posture seemed sad or depressed, and there was a paleness to her skin he hadn't noticed before, or maybe it were the lights in this place.

Benjamin sat up, holding his head as the world seemed to spin, but that slowed down gradually. The haze in his head didn't want to fully clear, but Dia had taken some of it away. Had he thanked her? He wasn't sure.

Paranormal Activities [SporkoBug and Calle]

Chiyoko glanced into the room after Steph went inside, sniffed the scent of blood and then moved to her own room to get some rest. It was very eventful now that the three new women arrived. Just the boy was puzzling, there weren't usually boys in this part of the facility. He'd be a tasty meal if it was allowed, but unfortunately it wasn't.

Lily groaned when she heard the underling, just when things were getting interesting. "Heads will roll if I can't watch this footage later," she told her assistant and then went to the door to open it and address the people there.
"I'll examine the wounds in the infirmary. I have not heard about this yet, but we haven't studied sirens in detail yet. Have someone observe the boy, but don't interfere with him. Maybe hunger will calm him down." She took her phone as she walked to the infirmary to contact Mr. Johnson. "Get me that siren agent you lost somewhere."

Mr Johnson put down the phone and contacted a team of agents to search for Freya, pick her up and take her to the research facility.

A Trainers Ambition [SporkoBug and Calle]

"Thank you," Michael said to Arceus and then turned to the others. "I suppose we'll be on our way then?"
He made sure the backpack was comfortable on his shoulders and looked at the others to see if they were all ready to leave.

"Let's go!" Netherlu said, but took Nygari by the shoulders first. "I'll visit when the business with the humans is done. Shouldn't take long. If you want I'll keep an eye on your daughter as well to make sure she doesn't do anything naughty with the human."
"Excuse me," Andy interjected. "The very handsome human. Thank you."
"That she doesn't do anything naughty with the apparently very handsome human," Netherlu said.
"I'll take it," Andy said to Benny, who nodded in agreement.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Once they had the list and were kindly escorted out of the church, Fenna turned to Lilliana. "I had a good time," she assured the younger mage before heading back to the Mended Drum with her. As they walked the falcon soared overhead, circling back when she got too far ahead and followed them to the inn, where she perched on the roof and preened her wings.

Once inside she took a moment to eat something and have a drink, before retiring for the night. The first thing she did when entering her room was check her bags to see if nothing was missing. Thankfully the people handling them and the staff of this establishment seemed to be trustworthy because all her belongings were here. After washing she went to bed.

The nights alone were the hardest part. Just like the night before, it was lonely in this room, in this bed. She had slept with the same man in the same bed for many years, and throughout the day were enough things happening to keep her occupied. The night did not have the same distractions. After turning in the bed a few times she went to the window, opened it and whispered "Sil?". Nothing. She repeated the name of the bird a bit louder and there she came.
"I'll leave the window open, maybe you can sleep here."

It was impossible to say how much the falcon understood of her words, but Sil remained on the window sill when Fenna went back to bed. It wasn't a living person next to her, but knowing Sil was there helped her relax enough to fall asleep.

Nobody Will Believe It [SporkoBug and Calle]

Marc stared at Dia as she walked away. What was she talking about? A part of him knew he had to stop her, but he didn't. One of the reasons was that he wasn't 100% certain she wasn't an intern, but a part of the reason was Benjamin as he let out a pained groan.
"What's wrong?" Marc asked.
"My head hurts." Benjamin muttered. "Where did Dia go?"
"Who is she?"
"I don't know exactly... my head really hurts."
Marc decided to go to the water fountain and fill a plastic cup; if the headache was a medicine side effect it could help him if he drank something. After he handed him the drink he glanced around to see what the other patients were doing and saw Sara. For a moment he stared at her, until Benjamin spoke up.
"How did Simon die?"
"As far as I know Simon didn't die, he went home."
"Come on, Marc!" Benjamin replied, still slightly slurring from the effects, although he was more awake and clear-headed since Dia had visited. "That's not true. Don't believe them. Shady things are going on here. Disappearances. I'm not even here that long and I heard about it, surely you must have heard about it too. Some patients that went home suddenly, without any indication they were even close of being released."
While that was true, Marc wasn't sure he should be talking about that with a patient. "There were some cases..." he mentioned, but he didn't go into more detail.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Fenna had compassion for the sister who obviously felt bad about what happened, but it also didn't seem like she could help them any further. Once sister Juliet confirmed they had indeed come from Lucinda and on behalf of a ghost, she went inside, leaving Fenna and Lilliana outside.
Was the sister going to get someone that could help them or were they supposed to follow her? The sister hadn't asked them to wait there.
"I suppose we'll follow her," Fenna said. She was curious as to how it would look on the inside and she saw two people who looked to be commoners exit the place, so she assumed it was open to the public. And they had just announced their business here.

Similar to religious buildings back home, the inside of the church was built to impress the people, with high ceilings and impressive architecture. Fenna recognised some of the building styles that had been used at the academy as well.
There wasn't much time to gaze at what was around them, as another sister approached them and told them she had heard from sister Juliet something about Lucinda and ghosts and that she knew Lucinda, but that she could use more information about the ghosts.

The sister looked old and wise enough to know about the things Lilliana needed to know, and kind enough to show them what needed to be shown. For the most part, Fenna took the time to appreciate the inside of the building while Lilliana did what she came here to do.

Outside Sil had watched them go inside and waited for their return. If it was possible to know the thoughts of a falcon, it was possible she'd muse about the inability of humans to deal with gravity, or their strange desire to be surrounded by wood or stone on all sides when they could be outside with limitless space and food.