Mirandae — Roleplayer Guild

Flashback: Ascalon Isles *

When a present voice could not be heard to answer her question, Olivia assumed herself to be alone even if she could hear some of her beloved friends nearby. The girl slipped into a loose, beach tank top of some greyish color—imprinted with a black, distorted graven image of a serpent-like Kami—to allow herself relief from the exposure of her dark two piece, accompanied by some designer-inspired, square butterflyish, oversized sunglasses. Any notion of order remained absent from and within the endless straws of her benighted hair, and facial beauteous enhancement was not to speak of, but it did not matter at the time and place in which she was. Lazy days and hours at the beach were utmost favored by Olivia, even if their offering of activities were limited to nothing at all. Therefore, the girl allowed herself to fall onto her back, and onto the cotton towel she had brought with her, once more in order to absorb the sun and the frisky sounds of the ocean. Her arms were outstretched along the length of themselves behind her head, fingers playing in the sand. Her left leg rested on its foot, which was situated next to the kneecap of her other leg, extended and resting along the length of the towel, feet pointing towards the ocean. Tiny specks of fluid, water from various sources, dotted the landscape of her smooth, now sun-aureate skin—oblivious to its own voluptuous nature.

Some sundry moments passed and the sun descended further towards the great maw of the horizon. Olivia reached for her phone, which was inside a designated beach accessory, and managed to navigate herself to a group of contacts of particular significance. Her intentions were unmistakably that of fervent flattery to procure a favor of cold beverage brought to her being, as she could not muster the energy to stand up, put her sandals on, walk thirty meters to the bar and get it herself. Unsure of which number the device ultimately decided to dial, the slender brunette attempted to adulate whoever that was on the other end: “Hi, sweetie. What are you up to?”

Aaron sat a distance away from the cabana propped up against a post taking long and meaningful drags off of his cigarette, making sure that the smoke would not disturb those enjoying their well-deserved time off with his offensive and disgusting habit. The day had progressed with a slow and relaxing pace almost as if these islands were a land that time had passed by. Aaron had, of course, spent the majority of the day with his friends engaging in all manner of beach fun, but as time slowly turned the sun towards the west Aaron took the time to try and reflect on life in general. He could hear the joy and laughter from the cabana and his heart was lifted by his friends’ happiness...but something gnawed at him, and had since the first time that he met them. Something told him that he didn't belong, that he had no place among them. Normally he would suppress these thoughts and would go about his day, but ever since joining Oakridge, his heart kept telling him that he had no business with them, that in the end he would do nothing but hurt them. His self-obsessed introspection was interrupted by a vibration his pocket which was only exacerbated by the jingling of loose change also within his pocket. As he grabbed his phone and went through menial task of unlocking and checking to see who was calling, he felt his heart skip a beat as he read the name of the caller: Liv. With shaking hands Aaron answered the call with bated breath.

“Enjoying the view...how about you?” Aaron knew all too well that she was most likely trying to reach someone else, but if she called him, then he was going to capitalize on the moment.

Olivia stretched her limbs and muscles as she rolled onto her stomach, into some weird, feline-like position that would appear extremely uncomfortable but was in actuality the contrary. Her voice was serene and smooth around its consonants, sensual in its foundations and tone, flowing akin to a stream of water: “Oh, nothing much… could you bring me a cold one? Pretty, please? I’m on the beach, just down from the bar.”

Aaron looked out across the beach until he spotted her waving him down to ensure that he saw her, once he saw her he responded in kind, giving a slight wave in her direction. "Alright...I'll be there in just a sec." Within moments Aaron had purchased two beers from the bar keep and then made his way over to her. On any other occasion he might have been so nervous that this simple act would have been nearly impossible, but today was different. Maybe it was because of his introspection earlier, or maybe it was because the island time had taken hold of him and made him forget his problems... whatever the case, he was glad that he was going to be able to relax even if it was only for a moment. As he walked up beside her, Aaron glanced at Liv's awkward position and let out a friendly chuckle: “That is by far the oddest position that I have ever seen you in..., and I’ve seen you drunk at several parties.”

Olivia rolled around onto her back again and dramatically pulled her shades off with a funny look on her face: “You don’t say?”

With a quick gesture, Aaron handed Olivia the frosty beer and plopped himself down in the sand beside her, forearms resting on his knees, staring out over the lapping waves on the shore line. “I can't remember the last time any of us got to relax like this. It's been so long, at least in my mind it has.”

Olivia pulled herself together and seated her buttocks next to Aaron, legs crossed together and the beer resting between them against her thigh. A wide, pearly smiled erupted on her face as she tilted her head downwards, catching herself embarrassed by her own sensation; the moment was perfect—it was a time and a place that she wished would never seize to exist. She suddenly realized why people so ardently craved vacation in distant places of the world every year. Troubles that otherwise clouded her mind and welfare did not matter here, even if she had not forgotten them; they were so far away and out of reach. Olivia’s smile faded as she took a sip of her beer. “That makes two of us. It feels as if our troubles are so far away and out of reach, as if they can’t get to us here. It feels… nice,” she said and took another sip. “How are you feeling, by the way?”

“Eh, I’ve been better. Really, I’ve been contemplating life and the mysteries of the universe and such... ” Aaron took a long swig of his been letting his voice trail off a bit, there was more to his words then he let on. As if brought on by her simple question brought back all of the self-doubt that he had been previously contemplating. He was never meant to be around these wonderful people that had appeared in his life, because deep in the pit of his soul he knew that he would one day hurt all of them in some shape, form, or fashion. Suddenly brought back to his current conversation, and as he turned to Olivia and saw that warm beaming smile, all of his worries faded away: “...but I’m better now having a beer on the beach with you.” Flashing his own smile Aaron reached out his bottle to clink it against hers in a mock toast.

Olivia basked in a delightful chuckle at the boy’s phrasing and took a sip of her beer in honor of his toast. “—Life and the mysteries of the universe, huh? That sounds intriguing! What do you think about that stuff, anyway?—like, Kami,” the girl said and pointed to her tank top that had an image of one, “and Eternal Etro and all that there. Do you believe in that stuff?”

Aaron thought about it for a moment, he had never really given that particular subject much thought..., mainly because he never needed to. From the day he started training at the academy all he had ever known was what he could see and feel. “Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it..., it’s people that scare me more than anything else.”

Having a fancy for and majoring in Philosophy at Oakridge, matters such as these enticed Olivia to reflection and discussion, whether the disciples in her presence wanted to discourse it or not. The subject matter was one of her few passions in life, even if she did not believe in it herself. Olivia glanced at Aaron as he spoke, the corners of her lips slightly retracting to form a smirk. The girl gently placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder and let herself fall onto her back again, dragging Aaron with her. While gazing at the cloud clad sky, Olivia tilted her head next to Aaron’s and then stretched her arm and index finger towards the atmosphere. She began to paint shapes and forms with pre-existing cloud formations in order to illustrate:

“All life is born from the Earth,” she said and marked a circular shaped cloud, “and each new life has a spirit,” she continued by contouring some abstract cloud pattern, “Each new spirit is housed in a physical body,” she placed her other hand on Aaron’s chest, “and through their experiences on Earth, each spirit matures and grows,” she said and pointed to a cloud that vaguely resembled an infant child, “and when the physical body perishes, the mature spirit, enriched by its life on Earth, returns to what we call the Eternal Etro, bringing with it its experiences and energies, enabling the cycle of life to begin anew,” she said. “Or, at least that’s what they talk about in Philosophy class,” she chuckled. “I don’t know if I believe in it, but it’s beautiful when you think about it—that we are all connected somehow.”

Aaron stared up in the sky with a blank stare on his face, he had taken the same class as Olivia, although he may not have done as well as she was. Aaron had always been more of a ‘flesh and blood’ kind of person, meaning that the grander philosophies of the afterlife meant little to him. Rather than saying something dumb and very ‘man-like,’ Aaron decided to sum up the thought process in a simple phrase: “Here’s all I need to know...,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her back up, directing her attention towards the group of friends hanging out just a distance away: “...life isn’t some grand Etro, it’s here. Life is these moments that will last a lifetime with those that won’t.” It took a minute for Aaron to realize that he was still holding Liv’s hand, to which he quickly rectified by pulling his hand away as nonchalantly as possible. “Uh...sorry...”

Olivia was awestruck by Aaron’s sudden metaphysical insight about life and the mysteries therein. Her jaw almost dropped when she was taken by his stormy impulse, displaying and maintaining an open smile that exposed Olivia’s entire upper row of blinding, pearly teeth. Olivia quickly grabbed Aaron’s hand again after the boy let go of hers. “Wow, Aaron… that was amazing… I had no idea you were so…wise,” she said, and then the girl proceeded to collect her things. “Come on, let’s see what life is up to,” Olivia said, locked her arm with Aaron’s, and proceed to stroll towards the bar.

Norton City: Battle II

When the hail of fire spewing forth from the Mech’s armament seized, Olivia put the tip of Cerberus against the ground to assist the effort of pulling herself off of the ground and onto a knee. She tilted her head upwards to catch a glimpse of Thael, who responded to her gaze with a glance over his shoulder. “Good man,” she panted, pressing her eyebrows together in retrospect of what had just occurred. Her beloved friends had been fierce in their movements and execution. Two of the Storm Guard soldiers had already been dispatched of in the brief time that Olivia had been disabled by the Mech. The remaining three soldiers were barely standing and the Mech was about to fall apart from being frozen by Kat’s spirits and punished by Thael’s spear. However, this was not going to be their only moment of stress and battle during their stay in the city, so keeping their strength and effort was crucial. When Olivia attempted to become on her feet again, she felt a momentary sting in her hip followed by aching which could only indicate a bruised injury of some sort, bound to slow her down for a few minutes until she would adjust to the sensation. Using the potions that she had procured in Doral was tempting, but they still had a long way to go and perhaps worse challenges to face, so Olivia managed to restrain herself by biting her lips—pain to cancel pain.

Olivia positioned herself seated back to back with Thael at his crouched stance, protected behind his immense shield. The girl put her gunblade aside for a second to rub her hands together, palms massaging each other. The motion began to conjure some manner of brilliant sparks and Olivia’s forearms displayed a soft, light-bluish glow as her spirits gathered their strength from within. While performing her odd ritual, she repositioned herself to support weight on one knee and balance herself on the other leg, which foot touched the ground, still behind the hulking tank that was Thael. The glow and sparks from her hands rapidly increased in size and within seconds massive lighting arcs lashed out at conducting objects in the environment, displaying a marvelous sight and rolling sounds of thunder. When the power of her spirits had reached the tip of Olivia’s fingers, she threw her hands at the sky upon which a loud booming sound emanated from her position and the lighting sparks suddenly vanished. Not an instant later, barely half a second, a titanic lightning strike descended from the darkened sky, vast in size, and struck the Mech where it stood.

The impact of Olivia’s lighting attack, albeit a few paces away, knocked both Thael and Olivia backwards onto the ground. The Mech suffered catastrophic engine and systems failure and exploded in a concentrated burst of lighting and fire. Three distinct ribbon-shaped, spirits of lighting could be seen escaping the detonation. They moved across conducting material and objects on the battlefield in sporadic, jerking motions, lashing out at unsuspecting things and people, before they found their way and retreated into Olivia’s body. She felt as if she was hit by a speeding car as the three spirits simultaneously penetrated her person, returning to safety once more—not that she knew what being hit by a speeding car felt like, but it would have been the best possible analogy. The girl coughed like an old woman as she recovered and looked to Thael. “It’s been a while since I put those guys to use…, I forgot how aggressive they are,” she said, referring to the three spirits known as 'Thunderclap' as ‘the guys.’

summary [+]

Enemy Stagger [+]

Norton City: Mistaken Identity *

The friends traversed a city torn asunder by forces akin to that of transcendental beings, superior in every conceivable way. They ran and fought through barricades and ruins alike, scaled impossible obstacles in their path, and felt the chilling grasps of death itself on more than one occasion when random artillery fire shook the grounds and buildings nearby. However, this was what they had trained for their entire life. There was no mistake to be made, this is what they lived for, what they were destined to breathe—the putrid fumes of war—for the remainder of their days on Atlas. Even though what they had to do, what they had been ordered to do seemed convoluted and bewildering to Olivia, she kept her focus on her own goal, one which she had shared with her friends for a long time—revenge for Sam’s death. Of course, they were impossibly ignorant to which particular Xenomorph that had slain him, but it did not matter. The situation was infinite leagues beyond Eye for an Eye at this point; only the complete and utter genocide of the alien race could modestly suffice.

After what seemed an eternity of running and fighting, but what would only be fifty-nine minutes in actuality, the friends reached allied territories and the Norton City Vanguard Command. It was an extremely cramped space underneath a gigantic shopping center, somewhere in the middle of the city. They were received by a Scout Sniper that had tracked their movement for five minutes before they arrived. As the friends were led underground, they were met by medical staff that examined them on the go and gave them tiny bottles of water. Olivia hastily and forcefully grabbed two bottles, one which she almost literary chucked down her throat and another one which she emptied the contents of over her head and face to cool off. The friends marched down hallways and ladders in silence, akin to war heroes upon which injured Norton City infantry gazed in awe from the ground. When the friends reached the actual command center, Thael was the first to enter the confined control room, followed by Olivia, Emily, Royce, Freddy, Aaron, Katherine, Magdalena, Remiel, Jynette, and Kimberly. All manner of holographic tables and screens of some reddish color lit the otherwise dark room with a comfortable, smooth illumination.

“Sir, WARG is here.” the Scout Sniper address to an old man, the general standing by the hulking control board in the middle of the room, whom abruptly discontinued whatever he was doing to face the friends.
“Thank you, Williams. You’re dismissed,” The general replied. The general proceeded to approach Thael with an extended hand and arm, which he gratefully shook the titan’s with.
“It’s an honor to have you here, Captain,” the General said to Thael, whom quickly glanced at Olivia with a confused look, but returned his attention to the general equally fast.
"Sir, I'm actually-" he began to say.
“Yes, Captain, an honor indeed,” Olivia interrupted with a mischievous tone to mock Thael.
“Please, if you would,” The general continued and urged the friends to gather around the control board, which they did. “As you can see, we’re getting utterly destroyed and any form of diplomacy or demands from Nautilus has either been ignored or unheard of since the initial attack,” he continued. The general kept his attention on Thael, believing the hulking praetorian to be the commander of the group. Olivia also threw unnecessary attention on Thael, staring him down as the general spoke. She was not sure what to think or feel, but she was not agitated, as she would never have thought herself the commander of anything if standing next to Thael.
“I don’t know what Oakridge expects by sending you here, but the odds of an actual victory here is slim at best. What we need from you is to secure our artillery platforms, here,” the general pointed at a location on the holographic map, “Those units are crucial to any kind of gain in this confrontation,” he continued.
“What kind of resistance can we expect over there?” Olivia inquired.
“We are not entirely sure. Our scouts report mixed infantry units and military assets that we cannot identify. Some of our men claim that they have seen Aggressors, but nothing has been confirmed,” the general replied.
“Aggressors? Nautilus doesn’t have any spirit training programs and most Aggressors work alone,” Olivia said.
“It’s most likely superstition,” the general concluded, somewhat annoyed. “Anyway, that’s what we know. The best way of getting to those platforms is through the sewer systems, which you can access from within this complex—Chief Gunnery Sergeant Williams will take you there,” the general said and sighed, “Divine Etro be with you out there,” he finished and saluted the friends.

As the friends were about to exit the control room, the general addressed them once more. “Oh, and one more thing: the presence of WARG is next to legendary amongst the men and it boosts their morale, tremendously. See if you can encourage them out there somehow, perhaps say a few words. We would certainly appreciate it a lot,” the general said and dismissed the friends again. As Thael was about to exit the control room, Olivia hastily interrupted him by slightly bumping into his arm with her shoulder, spitting a somewhat spiteful sentence without even looking at him, as she passed: “You’re up, hero.” Olivia was annoyed by a plethora of different things that had been building up inside of her mind and heart; she knew that Thael thought that he should have been chosen for command over her, she knew that he made no effort to conceal his disappointment, and she knew that sooner or later she would have to deal with it, violently if necessary. Olivia did not doubt Thael’s leadership abilities, which were probably better than her own, but she could not allow him or anyone else undermine her because of it. The fact that the general had assumed Thael to be the Captain only added insult to injury.

The Gunnery Sergeant received the friends outside of the control room, ready to lead them to the sewer entrance. All around them there were injured soldiers on the ground, accompanied by somewhat readied soldiers about to face their opponents on the surface of the city. “Speak to them, hear their stories, encourage them,” the Gunnery Sergeant said, “It helps them more than you know.”

Hello my Darlings,

I have some updates for you to sink your teeth into! First, I’ve updated some paragraphs in the combat guidelines, here:

Combat Updates [+]

Second, I’ve addressed a few issues with my private GM-notes that should make things clearer and easier for me. However, naturally, I cannot show them to you! Stagger calculations is one of them. These should now be more precise and diverse. You will notice that the stagger meters have increased in size across the board, for the next battle. This is an effect of my changes, so no worries!

Third, I’d like for you to review our progression so far by answering a few of my questions. You don’t have to answer them in this thread if you don’t want to, you can send them to me in a private message instead. You can also include any general thoughts/ideas you might have about the roleplay. This is really important to me, so please take a few moments when you have them!

Questions [+]

Note: I'm not going to comment on the answers that you guys give to my questions, but rest assured that I take them in and carefully heed every word that you say.

Last, don’t forget that one OOC-post each day! Let us know how you are, post a random fact about your character, post music that you like or associate with something/somoeone in the roleplay, or something else!

Mirandae Member

𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦

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