Stanifly

"Oh, The Irony!"

@Mihigh3725 Urgh, sorry I took so long. And I have no idea if I'm offending anyone who has actual experience with guns, hahah. I did some research at least.

"Oh, The Irony!"

Caden

As the girl crashed out through a window, he cursed, turned on his heel, and dashed back through the doors, all in one fluid motion. He hardly registered the chanting of his title by the commoners who'd gathered, which died down as soon as he stepped out the bank.

"Geryll, hoverlimo, now!" he barked, running towards his right hand man. Geryll immediately fished out a car remote from his pocket and slammed his thumb down on the appropriate button. In a few seconds and with no more than a few quiet clicks, the limo was off the ground, its wheels gone, and its overall build had taken on a suitably streamlined shape. Without further ado, Caden and Geryll climbed into it and it took off with nary a hushed whisper from its thrusters.

"You saw where she went, right?"

Geryll nodded. "Did you figure out her ability?"

"Wind manipulation." It had been obvious. The second Caden had stepped into the bank, he had felt the harsh brushes of wind, something one did not usually find in banks. It had been all over the place, weak, scattered gusts of wind, but he'd suspected that had he been closer to any of his men or the girl, it would have felt stronger. "Clearly, she has some idea of how to use it. She was puppeting my men with the wind alone."

They were getting closer. The hoverlimo - or "Andy" as Geryll had come to affectionately call it - was experiencing a bout of turbulence that did not seem to be letting up any time soon. Caden braced himself on the smooth dashboard. He was glad that neither of them were in the habit of ornamenting the car with bobble-heads or other useless doodads for any one of those would have surely jumped into a window or one of their faces with the car's severe shuddering.

Perhaps this was a bad idea. They were in the air, and any idiot with half a brain could tell that they were in the girl's territory now. A sack of cash wasn't worth risking everything he'd worked for after coming so far. However, if he let her go, fresh rumours would spread, gleeful, mocking whispers of how the supposedly fearsome Shadow Master had been trounced by some rookie. Aspiring ruffians would take it as an invitation to rise against him and no matter how amateur they were, it would be annoying to have to wipe off those worthless pests. It would get in the way of his plans and he had much bigger dreams than wasting his time dealing with small-time crooks. They wouldn't even be considered as training exercise.

There she was. She didn't seem to be in much of a hurry, drifting in the air like that, with what seemed to be her phone floating before her. Eyes darkening, he rolled the window down and was met with a rush of wind, ruffling his short hair. Geryll glanced over to him as he manoeuvred as best as he could around the harsh wind trails the girl left in her wake.

“You got something?”

Caden reached into the holster secured on his hip, pulling out a pistol. From appearances alone, one could already tell that it was no ordinary handgun. He reached once more, this time into a pocket on the inside of his black overcoat. When his hand retreated back out into the open, his fingers were curled around a few bullets. He loaded his gun.

“I’ve always got something.”

He opened the car door, simultaneously pressing a button just by the handle. The car floor extended beneath him, just enough so he could crouch behind the door, half out the car. His arms stretched through the open window and he took aim. He fired. The wind was still whipping around something fierce but if he couldn’t tinker a gun to cause enough propulsion to withstand something as simple as the air, then he’d be a fool to try and claim a seat among the top villains at the Imperium. True to his aim, the bullet zipped through the air, shoving back against the irritated nudges the wind attempted to give, crossing the distance between them and the girl in mere milliseconds.

Then it wasn’t a bullet anymore. Right before it would hit its target, the casing split apart and a metallic netting of sorts was flung open. Inertia propelled it forwards and as soon as it had its target, its magnetic ends would click together, effectively trapping the target. Simple. Caden was rather proud of this one, honestly – it paid off to see the laughable expressions on idiots who were expecting to dodge a bullet and didn’t foresee the expansive length of the net in their way.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Always Open!]

@Pseudo Stygian It's a shame. I really enjoy this RP, it's a rather calming change of pace from the ones I used to partake in. Just what I needed in this year of stress, hahah. If you're willing to keep going, I'm definitely up for it. The conversation-centric plot of this story is actually quite intriguing on its own, in my opinion, but maybe we do need to up things a bit if we want people to be more interested or smtg? Idk, did you have anything in mind?

On the other hand, I feel like people are genuinely more busy than uninterested. In which case, then maybe the plot isn't the problem then.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Always Open!]

It's okay, I'm fine with waiting. I'm a little concerned about the others, though. I get that people are busy, but I haven't heard a peep from any one of the others...? It's rather alarming.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Always Open!]

@Sundrop Yay, it's up~ I edited it into my post with ol' Lexi. Sorry it came later than I said it'd be. ^.^"

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Always Open!]

My bad, I hit a road block with the Authoress and combined with school and getting dragged out to visit relatives on the weekends, I've only got half her post done. I'll try to get it up by Thursday hopefully. x.x"

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Always Open!]

Just a quick heads up before I go to bed - school's begun again for me, so I may not be as active as usual. I'll try not to lag behind too much, though. Hope that's okay. ^.^"

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Always Open!]

@SilverRain Nuuu, don't stomp the squiggle D:

@Sundrop Go for it~ I was hoping you'd bring them, anyway. They sound like fun! :D Maybe they could explore the Restaurant for a bit. I know the Authoress has been wanting to poke around the place.

@Pseudo Stygian Eid Mubarak back to you, my friend! I'm busy with visiting relatives as well...most of which I only see once a year. Here's to awkward socialising~

"Oh, The Irony!"

Caden

The world has always been broken.

Caden watched through the limousine's window as they passed by the commoners' homes, disinterested eyes not really registering anything. The sky was a perpetual dark grey, casting a shadowed gloom over the ruined city. Well, not quite ruined. This district had electricity, food, water - the bare necessities needed to survive. All with a price tag attached, of course. He couldn't say the same for the rest of Palm City. The ones at the top hardly cared for the ones under their rule.

It was ridiculous. Clearly, the Overlord, the asinine villain who had taken over this particular city, had no clue what he was doing. What was the point of ruling over a city if one did not make use of it properly? He robbed the citizens of all their money, flaunted his strength and manpower, and was completely ignorant of the potential the city offered. He lacked the finesse of a true villain, one who was truly in control. "Overlord", his foot. He wouldn't know opportunity even if it smacked him in the face.

Caden, however, could. So it was inevitable that he would take this chance the Overlord offered him by being the fool he was and steadily build his own growing organisation on the ashes of the city the Overlord had left to burn. No, he wasn't stupid enough to grapple for power with a big shot like the Overlord, but he could form alliances here and there and claim his spot at the top right under the buffoon's nose. It wasn't going to be easy but then again, nothing worth gaining ever was. Recently, his organisation, the Penumbra, had successfully claimed the Branch district as of late. In the face of the world, it was hardly anything, but it was a start.

Yes, the world was broken, but he'd be damned if he let it disintegrate before it was under his rule.

They were still ironing out the bugs, though. Where there was authority, there would surely be entropy to counter against it. Like right now. He shifted, straightening up. They had arrived.

"What's the current situation?" he asked as Geryll, his trusty right hand man, opened the passenger door. He got out, his gaze settling on the bank as Geryll answered.

"Lone girl. Some body manipulation power. Possibly also has control over the weather."

The bank doors were closed. The building looked untouched. The robber hadn't just blindly busted her way in, then.

"If it's body manipulation, then that just makes things harder," muttered Caden. He ran a gloved hand over his face. "Stay outside the entrance and keep the more curious people from nosing around. If things get bad, intervene." A few commoners were already staring, whispering about "why the Shadow Master was here". Caden certainly hadn't come up with that name; people had caught a glimpse of him in battle, rumours had spread, and he'd been feared as the ominous Shadow Master. It served him well in the sense that such a cliche title had managed to induce intimidation into the people he ruled and he'd made no move to correct the misnomer.

"Got it, boss."

Without anymore hesitation, he strode forward. The reports may have stated there to be one girl in there, but it was one girl casually stealing from his bank, with his guards and his hired guns in there. He was not one to scrape from the bottom of the barrel when it came to manpower. Quality over quantity, as they say. This was different, though. This was someone who possibly had elemental powers and was, as usual, abusing them. He huffed as he swung the bank doors open. That was the problem with bull-headed overpowered people. They tended to use their powers and not their brains.

They'd gotten there just in time. The girl had already gathered most, if not all of the money in the bank. His dark eyes narrowed.

"That's a lot of money you've got there," he called out, not stopping his pace. The doors swung back and forth behind him a few times before finally shutting. When he was within conversational distance, he stopped.

Truth be told, it was a little unnerving to see his men moving around with such rigid movements, obviously forced by an outside source. Strong, talented men reduced to puppets at the hands of this girl. Most of his men cried out at his presence, some in relief, most in self-righteous anger. He lifted up a hand to silence them; he needed to assess the current situation and their unneeded input was distracting. His gaze returned to the girl.

"How are you going to carry it all back, may I ask?"

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [Always Open!]

@SilverRain Well, it's not quite a flood, but will a tentacle alien suffice? :p

@Sundrop Sorry I haven't made a post for the Authoress yet. I'll try to get it up later. It's currently 3.23 AM. XD