RBYDark

Black Skies, Black Hearts

Good morning, Kingsport! It is currently 4 AM and welcome to WKXZ News Radio, your local station for all the things happening in this amazing city of ours! Our top story for this morning: last night around 10 PM, an apartment on West Gay Street caught on fire. Firefighters arrived on the scene after a neighbor reported a sound like an explosion to find the top half of the six-story building burning up. One fatality has been reported so far, and eight people are in the hospital for related injuries. There is no news as to what caused the fire or the explosion-like sound. Anyone with possible information is encouraged to call the police station. Personally, I'm trying to remember off the top of my head if any of our local supervillains are known arsonists. But that may just be me.

The weather for today is predicted to be a wonderful seventy degrees Fahrenheit, partly cloudy with winds under five miles per hour and no chance of precipitation. Humidity will be only 37%. Listeners, if you want to see the sunrise, it's predicted to begin at 4:37 AM this morning, so grab your coffee and cameras and get ready for a wonderful start to a wonderful day!

Onto the traffic: Highway 40 is currently clear. We- Hm. We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties with the drone, we'll get back to you on that, but your commute should go smoothly. No accidents have been reported yet and with the weather the way it's been, there are no hazards to warn about.

Onto the other stories for the day!

-kzzzt-

Good morning Kingsport! It is currently 4:30 AM and welcome to WKXZ News Radio, your local station for all the things happening in this amazing city of ours! The sun should be rising soon - on our sponsor break, I decided to take my own advice and prepare my camera for the sunrise. I think our friend Matt in Weather may have made a few wrong predictions - the sky seems to be blanketed in clouds this morning. I couldn't even see the stars! So that's your weather update, first of all. Secondly, I apologize, but it seems the traffic drone is still out of order. I sent Clara out to report on the roads herself, so don't worry, we'll have information to you all in good time! Everything you need to know to have a wonderful morning!

-kzzzt-

Listeners, I believe Matt has made another mistake. The sunrise seems to be a bit late this morning. Our apologies from everyone here at WKXZ News Radio, particularly those looking forward to a beautiful sunrise. We are trying to correct this error. In the meantime, on with our coverage that will affect your morning commute!

-kzzzt-

I... Good morning, Kingsport. It is now 5 AM - I think - and and welcome to WKXZ News Radio, your local station. In especially local news, we are examining the clocks in our station. The sunrise seems unusually late, as verified by our callers, but it's possible we've ignored Daylight Savings Time or something similar.

Clara has been reporting in - roads are mostly clear. We have our outbound traffic as usual, heading off for that forty-minute commute - we wish you luck from here at WKXZ News! Inbound traffic seems to be moving slowly, though there are no accidents. Probably some rookie drivers. More on this as it progresses.

-kzzzt-

Listeners, the sunrise is over an hour late now. We can't find anything wrong with the clocks. I went outside - the sky is still black, with no stars visible. Matt is calling the National Weather Center in the event we are experiencing strange meteorological phenomena. However, I also received a call from Clara - she's now inbound to Kingsport. She doesn't know what happened, and, frankly, neither do I. Each of her reports indicated she was headed straight out of the city. She says she's going to try to turn around and exit the city.

I- excuse me, we just received a call. One moment.

-kzzzt-

...Listeners. We have an exclusive story from Mother Mercy General Hospital. According to the employee who called me - after they'd calmed down enough to tell me the story - all of the comatose patients have awoken. There was no warning, just, suddenly, everyone's awake. Of course, families are being contacted and many of them are apparently well enough now to return home. It's as if nothing ever happened to them.

Afterwards, Clara called - she managed to turn around and kept me on the line as she drove outward - only to return into the city. She told me what she was doing, and I don't think she's trying to trick me. Listeners... she sounds scared. I'm going to call Meridian County Police, try to get some help here. I think something terrible may be happening. If any of our local superheroes are awake, I will also plead for you to help find out what's happening.

-kzzzt-

..........

-kzzzt-

Listeners. The Meridian County Police answered when I called, and promised to send out a car to get a sense of the situation. That seemed reasonable to me, since no one's getting hurt yet, as far as I've heard. Just a lot of callers confused and scared since, well, the sun appears to be missing and so far we have a looot of late employees unable to leave Kingsport to go to their place of work. It's very bizarre to say the least. But anyways.

The Meridian County Police sent their car.

Their car came back.

Listeners... they can't find us. It's as if Kingsport has been plucked off the face of the earth. They've sent out three more cars, to no avail. They're working on escalating to state and even federal assistance. In the meantime they, and I, advise you all to stay indoors unless necessary to go out and call the station if there are any more updates to report. Again, if any superheroes are listening to us at... 7:45 AM, please, help us.

What is going on here?

Old One Rising (A Lovecraftian adventure-horror RP) (Reboot)

aaaaaaaa

Welcome back c: Not much new.

Old One Rising (A Lovecraftian adventure-horror RP) (Reboot)

@ONL Application submitted, just awaiting some extra materials to make it in. Will let you know eventual results.

Alright, that works for me. @Sigurd ping and @gohKamikaze ping, just as a reminder.

Digimon - The Parallel Visage

ᴅ ᴀ ɴ ᴛ ᴇ ᴊ ᴏ ɴ ᴇ s - ʏ ᴀ s ᴜ ʀ ᴀ ɢ ɪ + ʀ ᴜ ʙ ᴀ ɴ ɪ ʟ ɪ ᴇ ɴ ᴇ s + ʀ ʏ ᴀ ɴ ᴍ ᴀ ʏ ᴇ ᴢ + ʙ ᴀ ʀ ᴛ ᴍ ᴀ ᴛ ʜ ᴇ ʀ s :

ᴛ ʜ ᴇ ᴅ ɪ ɢ ɪ ᴛ ᴀ ʟ ᴡ ᴏ ʀ ʟ ᴅ : _{L I K E L U K E W A R M W A T E R}

---

_{@Briza, @Ezekial Wolffe, @Fish of Oblivion, @RBYDark, & @VKAllen}

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. The invisible grip around Dante’s body didn’t quite exert the pressure needed to cut off his circulation or push his bones from their proper place. Nonetheless the sensation of helplessness sent his head reeling and his blood beating in his ears, his expression frozen in its prior horror.

Coherent thoughts were as beyond his reach as the others were: he watched them move about, their words as garbled as the thoughts running through his own head. As the sounds coming from their midst grew louder and more aggressive, however, something began to spark off at last in his head. Fear was one thing, but anger was another: it was infectious, and for better or worse, it began to creep its way into Dante’s head, furrowing out his terror in favour of raw frustration.

When the other boy rose from the dirt and shoved back at the girl who’d grabbed him, it was just about enough to complete the reaction. Beginning to breathe again, slowly and then increasingly quick and shallow, he filled his lungs with air and prepared to call out-

“Well, I think I gave you guys a fair chance.”

And his words caught in his chest as the crystal plunged through it

The next few moments passed in an incomprehensible blur. At the exact moment the crystal was pushed into him, his mind went blank: not so much from pain as from the curious sensation of having something pass through you as easily as you would pass your hand through water. Shock claimed him, and he was all but dead to the world as he was thrown to the ground, as he felt his insides vibrate unpleasantly from the crystal dispersing and spreading throughout him.

He stared upwards, frozen in premature rigor mortis as the horrifying scene continued. As his consciousness wavered, the last things he heard were the terrified, stammered whispers of one of the girls, the stuttered horror of the other boy, and the sounds of footsteps as Rubani moved to defend them the best she could. Moments later, and he-

“...” Light returning to his eyes, he blinked and moved his hand to his chest. The unpleasant liquid sensation of before was still present, and kept him on the ground as he recovered from his fall: but at the crystal’s apparent point of entry, there was no wound. No no gaping wound, no blood, and not even a hole in his shirt. His sternum seemed entirely undamaged, and there wasn't a hint of pain as he moved to tap it.

He blinked again. His mind began to move once more, and blank panic and shock was replaced with abject disbelief.

“What the hell.”

---

Unfortunately for Rubani, the floating child shook his head. “Nuh-uh!” And raising his hand, the earth followed, creating a short, muddy wall. Not enough to really block any of their fields of visions, but certainly high enough to catch Rubani in the midsection. He giggled, floating down and sitting on the wall’s top. “Oh, so close!” Even with the mask’s unchanging stare, there was a hint of a mocking grin on that covered face.

Rubani nearly tripped over her own feet as she tried to come to a sliding stop. Even so, she somehow managed to stumble into the wall. She had fallen backwards when the demon child mocked her from the wall. Her mind was past caring, however. She had already accepted her death at the hands of the monster; her only concern was making sure as many people as possible got out alive. If she couldn't get past the wall, there was an easier way to get their attention.

“RUN!!!” she shouted to the two kids. If that couldn't get their attention, there wasn't much else she could do.

Rubani really did not have to yell, RUN!!! Ryan knew what to do even in her horror stricken state, her adrenaline took over, and in a vain and clumsy attempt to take flight, her hand pressed rudely against Bart, fingers twisting into his shirt and skin for better friction and shoving him further into the ground. As her body began to make movements for sprinting, Ryan hesitated and quickly turned his attention to Bart, miffed in the ground. A spare movement to help him up registered through her mind. However, the thought did not follow through into her nerves, and the rest of the moment became a black blur as she shoved one boot in front of the other, shoveling her heels into the Digital World’s floor.

Bart detected the immense pressure from Ryan’s coarse and rough palms as he attempted to rise and make a run for it. “S-stop! You’re crushing me! Ow!” The pain was enough to paralyse him as Ryan took flight-- a pin cushion to her needle-like fingers that pierced his skin and nerves all the way through to the ground.

As the two ran for their lives, Rubani's worries were still plenty. If they ran, the demon child could still catch him. She just couldn't let that happen. From the ground, she clumsily leapt towards the demon. Her arms reached outward; her goal was clear. If she could grab the demon and distract it for a moment, Ryan and Bart would have a few more seconds to get away.

Rubani was too close for the little demon to move off the wall and out of her reach. The fleeing of the other two also captured his attention - muttering something that sounded a lot like “Not again” as he raised an arm, likely to manipulate the ground around the two and entrap them. That was before he noticed Rubani-

And before he could react, she reached through him.

The moment hung in the air - Rubani’s arms plunged through something that felt like lukewarm water before connecting with the top of the muddy wall the child sat upon. It seemed to stare at her through the mask, his midsection fuzzing around the arms that were halfway through it.

“....whoopsie.” He darted upwards as if Rubani’s arms weren’t even there. He casually flung an arm outward as he stared down at Rubani, and a smattering of violet crystals landed, points jabbing skyward, by Ryan and Bart’s feet.

The feeling of something that wasn't where she thought it was be wasn't a feeling that Rubani felt all too often. Her hands phased through the demon and she found herself falling over the wall and landing back on the ground face first. It took a moment for her to register what just happened. No, I'm sure I didn't miss, she thought.

Ryan stopped sprinting the second her body was about to barge into the crystal barriers charging at her feet. Her arms spread-out, trying to stop the momentum and found herself tumbling over, cheek rubbing burns of dirt in her skin. Her eyes closed in pain as she held back tears; fists clenched themselves as her muscles flexed to push herself upwards. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how weak and exhausted she was from everything they had just done -- predominately chasing Bart and getting into a failed wrestling match with him. She was tired; but her mind wouldn’t let her give up; and all she could do was helplessly whimper Bart’s name.

His hand clutched and raked the grass by his palm and rose from his grounded position and propelled himself forward as if a feline had met its match. A flustered and exhausted look bequeathed Bart’s complexion; beads of sweat slithered by the plateau of his forehead and crevices of his cheeks. A sharp, cleanly dissected crystal implanted itself into the ground in front of him and the grip of his shoes managed to stop him from advancing further forward prior to momentum following through his body. There’s a look of surprise. The glasses had unbalanced -- quickly adjusted by with a natural flick of his fingers and scoured around him until he saw that tomboy struggling. Corpse tumbling over.

What ensued next probably wouldn’t be good. Rubani’s attempt at distracting the monster had failed, Bart had only milliseconds to think and react as the ground shifts for Bart; breaking him into a sprint with determination and ran to Ryan’s side as he hoisted her up around his shoulder but silent. “Not today. Nooope,” He continued his advance, albeit slower away and further away from the monster (hopefully).

Bart’s grasp pulling Ryan over his shoulder caused her mind to try and retract from the disorientation. She wanted to push herself from Bart like he had some type of cooties, but logically that was an unreasonable decision. Her body relaxed as it would -- perhaps, selfishly, now, as her heart pounded through her chest, echoing into her eardrums. The boy was breathing deeply, but all she could hear was her own breaths as her eyes strained to glance around the area. They were not going to get far anytime soon.

Old One Rising (A Lovecraftian adventure-horror RP) (Reboot)

@ONL going to hope not, but if we must, hopefully we can salvage from it?

Old One Rising (A Lovecraftian adventure-horror RP) (Reboot)

@ONL Pretty sure they did. They just left me really exhausted was all, but pretty sure I got A's across the board and my application to a PA program is almost complete.

I know Ob's alive. ...but oh dear :c

Old One Rising (A Lovecraftian adventure-horror RP) (Reboot)

I apologize for taking so long. After finals ended, I just wanted to draft up a post of sufficient length/things to respond to to make up for my slowness. Hardly an excuse but hopefully I succeeded?

Old One Rising (A Lovecraftian adventure-horror RP) (Reboot)

Jeremiah Dupree

Physical state: Tense
Mental state: Conflicted; dubious sanity

Lichfield. Bureau of Investigation. They had hit the agent in the face, even if he might be the Agent they had been warned of. Dupree hoped the way his breathing had grown shallow was a detail gone missed by the others. Police were bad enough. He glanced to Emil first, as if unsure to be worried for the young man or of him. The revelations of the day thus far pressed heavily upon him. Surely a true delinquent would not be able to easily join Miskatonic University, nor would Arthur trust someone who was a danger, but there was that hint of impulsiveness. Arthur himself seemed to be perfectly aware of it and unbothered, which was a concern in and of itself, and why Dupree shifted his gaze to his fellow professor, awaiting his reaction and hoping they would curb the same impulsive quality that had brought them to break into their deceased colleague's office in the first place.

It was almost strange, the conspiracist being the keeper of others. It was often implied to be the other way around, even when Dupree argued he was perfectly sane. Then again, it was always a different story when police were involved. It was always a different story. He recalled the case similar to his own, she - he - they had been arrested, imprisoned, no one knew to this day why they had done it-
Arthur's response was about as reasonable as one would expect. No apology was offered, and that was all fine really. He was keeping the topic on the case itself, and not why they had been in there. Speaking of, Dupree finally saw the title of the book. Well. How had Atkins managed to get ahold of that? Dupree wasn't going to lie, he was actually rather jealous. Considering the author, it was difficult to get ahold of copies even with his credentials, and its reputation certainly preceded itself. It even half the things said about it was true, Dupree genuinely hoped he might be allowed a chance to read the book for himself, even if it might have been a factor in Atkins' death.

He then realized that Arthur Steiner was holding that book in front of a federal agent and debated to himself the merits of trying to slip the book out of Arthur's hand. Were it not for the likelihood it would only draw Lichfield's attention to the book if he hadn't already noticed, it might have been worth it. Instead, he focused his attention first on the agent, then on the two figures he noticed behind him in the hallway. While Lichfield was not particularly dressed for the part of a federal agent, these two were even less so. They also lacked the uniforms of the Arkham police; perhaps outsiders? But why? Dupree didn't recognize either...

Well. Maybe not. Jeremiah could feel it brushing on the edge of his memory, and it was a welcome return to the just-unseen pattern he knew wove around them all. The Agent's legal powers could be temporarily discarded, the illegal habits of his two allies mattered not, and Atkins' death was the first piece to bring together the others. Perhaps that was why he was not as fazed as he should've been? Knowing that all along, it lessened the disturbing and traumatic impulse into a fated action that, while tragic, had simply been unavoidable. And of course definitely keep this all to yourself Jeremiah by the Eye of God no wonder they think you addled at times.

Right.

Arthur called out to them, summarily trying to dismiss the Agent that Dupree was sure would now forever be baying at their heels as a cruel hound if not collared and leashed by someone else. And one of them introduced himself.

Jeremy.

Jeremiah could feel the slight brushing sensation immediately halt and, for a split second, it instead hit him as if a hammer had been taken to his skull, the bone left intact but the brain crashing into the encasement meant to protect it and crushing itself between unchecked momentum and the hardened surface, second-hardest material in the body.

"She did." He blurted out the answer before anyone had time to dwell on either man's sanity. "By name. It... was confusing at first." He glanced at the others, remembering they were there, and his shoulders tensed and drew up. "They're... supposed to be here," he offered as a vague explanation. He wasn't sure to who; did any of them particularly mind their presence? "I'm not sure if now is the best of times, but perhaps it will work nonetheless." At this point, it occurred that he wasn't sure how much Steiner really knew about what was going on. Emil, Faye had already marked him for this fate. Surely Jeremy had somehow been contacted too, either as a passerby in the asylum that offered none, or perhaps through the other means by which she had gained her knowledge in the first place. The Agent... probably actually did not know either, as Faye Desdemona seemed to consider him an enemy of sorts, if this was in fact the Agent. If not, then it was still unlikely he knew either. Steiner though? He was connected to both Jeremiah and Emil, and yet he tried to recall what, if anything, had been said about him.

Nothing came to mind.

If anything, the one whose presence ought to be surprising, Jeremiah mused, it would be Arthur Steiner. He was certainly a good ally at least.

"This all said-" He pondered the merits of inviting them all into Atkins' office, both for formal introductions and for determining what their purposes were for gathering here right now - beyond the obvious, naturally, it was bound to occur but there was still the question of why it was bound to occur. It might allow them to keep an eye on Lichfield and earn some measure of trust and belief of cooperation, even if Dupree wasn't terribly at ease around him, but he might be alone in that line of thought. "-perhaps we ought to move this meeting to somewhere quieter, perhaps with chairs? This is hardly the most comfortable spot to be, and I suspect we have much to discuss. Would that be right, do you think?" He had an office of his own. That might not be the best second impression to make, however. For now, see what everyone thought of the idea.

Old One Rising (A Lovecraftian adventure-horror RP) (Reboot)

....I apologize for the SEVERELY long delay. School worsened, as did work and my general health. I only have two more exams, though, and then I'm free and can post Thursday.

Digimon: The Convergence of the Human and Digital Worlds

@Fish of Oblivion Why?

@Vincanity

10,000 word dissertation about Arthurian lore. I was his proofreader and it took a while to read. Good read, but took a damn long while. Took even longer to write.

He's still posted more than you have