The Harbinger of Ferocity

There Are No Heroes

"No, I don't know what."

That was the first, most reasonable response Asher could manage to issue as the man spoke, but it was as condemning as anything else Asher had said or done that made him suspicious. Just the sheer speed and certainty he replied with only would likely prove to confirm Jacob's creeping suspicions - if they weren't already concrete enough for him to say, beyond a doubt, that the other man in front of him in the parking lot was anything but human. To Asher however, his denial was adamant and he was fearful to get involved much further, let alone seemingly agree with the "rambling, crazed man" as he would later mull over. The worst part was, as mad and irrational as the other man sounded, Asher knew he wasn't wrong, and that alone? That... well, it struck him harder than much of anything else, and the fact another individual could sense it added only more pressure.

"I'm going to be late for work. So...uh. I'm just going to go."

"You should see a doctor, or -"

Was all he managed to reply as the man carried on, his attention anchored to the ground as he set his hands on his hips, adding after;

"I'm going to go to work. I guess we can pretend we never met, if you wanna keep this up."

Doing his best to listen, and for the moment hold his tongue, lest he either prove challenging to the man - who Asher could sense anxiety from, just as Jacob could from Asher - or prove too meek. Either way, both options were equally bad; either the man in the suit trying to talk to the other who had been so hurriedly speaking was going to instigate an incident, or he was going to let one transpire later on down the road... both were bad choices, and both he readily feared.

Asher's eyes fixated on one of the man's hands as he reached into a pocket; it was in that moment his heart skipped a beat, as just a few hours prior it seemed another man had taken a very similar action, and found himself meeting a violent demise. One that was bad enough that not only did the crime scene investigators have little to understand, they had little solid proof - at least for the time being. All in all, they'd could to believe a tiger was on the loose, and to some extent that was entirely true, just not the kind they imagined, let alone could fathom.

But now?

Now Asher Tybalt's heart started again as the man drew out a pair of car keys and issued his parting remarks before departing as swiftly as he had appeared, leaving Asher - and the woman in purple - where they were. Or so Asher believed...

Turning about to see the woman's reaction, he realized, startlingly so, that she had seemingly vanished into thin air, which was a tremendous oddity all it's own; people didn't just disappear, but then again, could she? Perhaps that was the feeling he got from her, but it didn't seem to match or align well, as she had an almost animal tempo; an underlying presence. Yet she was gone without a trace, and as Asher's shoes ground against the asphalt, he looked around in confusion and found himself alone again on that early morning - the world around him kept going, as if no one had noticed or cared about the events that transpired. Sighing with relief, he too reached into his pocket and withdrew his car keys, running the grooved edge between his fingers and examining the metal before walking slowly toward his car.

Approaching the door, he laid a hand upon the handle and inserted the key. With a gentle rotation the door opened and he proved to sit down in his small car only to look back into the rear view mirror. His eyes narrowing, he noticed he was already slightly disheveled - strange, as no real altercation took place. Adjusting his tie, running the knot back closer to his neck and throwing his coat in the seat beside him, he turned the ignition and prepared to leave this strange event behind him.

Or so he wished he did.

---

Asher Tybalt
Approximately Ten Hours Later

Attentive eyes fixated on faintly illuminated blue digits, they seemed not to blink for an eternity - or at least what felt like it. It was one of those rare moments where staring at the clock one didn't feel all that purposeful; it was all just a blur of numbers that never seemed to increase. Hanging there as they were, the driver of the vehicle remained just as tense in body as he did in stare with a blank, perhaps expressionless manner to his face - his mind far, far away.

It was one of those times he was remembering a lot more than he cared to, and trying to rationalize it all. He had to, at least for his sake right now.

This other man, whoever he was, broke a lot of that rationalization and false confidence he had given himself - it was as if he couldn't pretend anymore; that the world he knew was alright, and that everyone but him in it was as well. Previously it was only him - that one individual with a problem - but now, now someone else not only knew but was so casually confident and concerned? Right now, these few hours he sat here in his idling car, he needed to steady his response and consciousness on the matter. It was of such great concern that it hovered about him the entire day; for the first day in many he had hardly accomplished any work. His "condition" was what concerned him, but what concerned him even more, to the point of distraction, was that someone else knew.

It was now he relaxed, with a deep breath and closing of his eyes, hands now resting on the steering wheel rather than tightly grasped; the time rolled around to a quarter to six. Removing them from the wheel, car parked in the back of the lot, he rubbed his eyes slowly before adjusting his tie. Ceasing after a few prolonged moments, he glanced to his left, blinking and sighing; the familiar car of the man from earlier remained there.

Asher wasn't about to walk into a crowded store in this scenario - that was the last thing he needed.

There Are No Heroes [Modern, Supernatural, Survival]

Two slots for characters have (re)-opened for those interested in participating.

There Are No Heroes

Stefan0620 said
I'll post this weekend. This thread takes longer for me to plan for than the casual ones I'm involved in, and I've been extra busy with work this week.

Understood. As of now, however, EndCraft will be treated as if her character was not present; in the conversation between Asher and Jacob, she seemingly vanished between their shifting and distracted focuses.

There Are No Heroes

Stefan0620 said
Do you want to wait a day or two for Auggie to maybe catch up, or just role with it.

I say give August a day from this post to have a chance to post; if she does not, she simply will have "disappeared" mid discussion between Jacob and Asher who weren't focusing on her. That way she has another "in" back into the game.

There Are No Heroes

Ink Blood said
I am sorry to say that I cannot give this RP the time and dedication it deserves and will have to withdraw form it. I am sorry for an inconveniences I may have caused.

That is perfectly fine, thank you for telling us.

There Are No Heroes

The strange man stopped, surprisingly enough as Asher approached at a slower more docile pace; the man on the other hand was far from relaxed, and his hands tightly balled into fists and his eyes seemed to shift almost hysterically between Asher and the woman in the purple dress. It was as if the man seemed cornered - that look in his eyes, that wild, wild look. It was animal, easily, a mixture of confusion and borderline panic that wanted to tread toward fight or flight, restrained only by the man's obvious awareness of his situation. For Asher Tybalt these traits were alarming, and before the man before him even so much as spoke, Asher tried to calm him down for his own sake, as he himself did not deal with rampant - especially fearful - emotion well in the slightest.

"I just need to make sure you're alright, you - "

Asher began but the man interrupted; starting to ramble in a surprisingly coherent yet deeply alarming display while running his fingers through his hair and walking about a few paces back and forth. Asher, taken back by the words, had nothing to say - at least not immediately as the words settled within his ears and then his mind.

"Okay, listen. This is going to sound crazy, I know. But. Well, see. How do I put this?"

At first this appeared survivable, but the strange young man's words quickly deteriorated Asher's confidence as they spiraled out of apparent control with the following;

"I'm a fuckin' werewolf man. Alright? Tell anyone that, and they call the police, and have them send me to the shrink. You know? But you get within a mile of me, and I just get this feeling man. You're like me. Right? I'm not sayin' you're a wolf too, cause you know, you don't smell like one, but you're like me man. Light of the full moon, body of the animal, and shit, right?"

It was in that moment that Asher found himself on the same sort of precipice this man was earlier; flight or fight, but for Asher he knew one was undoubtedly going to have a more morbid outcome and the other was just going to arouse suspicion. Blown away was he by this, he remained where he was by the rear of the man's car for at least a few steady heartbeats before he reacted; what in the entirety of the world could he say to that? It was if this other man knew too much about him, but it wasn't even possible - it needed to be coincidence; there couldn't just be more like him, even if they were so different like this man who had approached him in the coffee shop.

Unaware that no matter how he was likely to approach the situation it would make no impact, Asher paused and tried to regain composure, shifting uneasily - suspiciously - in his business shirt and standing a bit more straight all the while changing his expression, he did his best to issue a reasonable, logical, "normal" response. His intent was not to, well, confirm the man's suspicions (as gravely accurate as they were), but to instead try and continue the charade he had worked so hard to live for a life time; a sense of normalcy... as much as a born ailuranthrope could have.

"I, uhm," Asher paused, trying to grasp and clutch for words in his reply, "Listen, I can call nine-one-one and see if they can - "

The "werewolf" started again, now starting to try Asher's patience which was already worn thin out of fear and concern for self. Trying not to escalate the situation, Asher stopped him after he began pleading for some sort of understanding from them both. In all truth Asher was torn between breaking into a complete dissertation about the man's "insanity", despite its reality, and simply trying to calm him down. Again trying for the latter, he stepped in, hands still open and trying to settle the issue.

"I think you're just a little stressed out - we can talk about this, okay? Let me first just get someone that can, uh... help with that, like the emergency responders or police, alright?"

To Jacob's eyes Asher was clearly playing games - this was an obvious facade and anyone in "the know" of the zoanthrope world who could "feel" the presence of another would know better about what he was doing. This was... different however, as Asher seemed to be trying to convince himself at the same time as to what he was saying was heartfelt and true, but his expressions alone betrayed him; their subtle hints of inner disbelief were fairly damning.

Asher was clearly either afraid of admitting the truth or was doing his best to cover it up.

There Are No Heroes

Stefan0620 said
We're still waiting on Endcraft, aren't we?

That we are, and they have until Monday to post.

There Are No Heroes

Ink Blood said
Harbinger, have you thought of a way to introduce Dante?

There are a few routes of approach I have in mind, but the biggest issue is that the topic as a whole is progressing slowly, making it difficult to transition effectively. For my next post I have an alternate set of events in mind as the game master to occur in parallel with the current events.

There Are No Heroes

SirenSong said
I'm interested in this. Are you still accepting characters?

As of now we are not currently recruiting, but a slot might open up in the future. As of now the first three characters just ran into each other.

Stefan said
Was that good? Meant to come off as a bit rant-y, flustered, and overwhelmed. Excited maybe

It was not what I was expecting, but that's what makes it interesting, because one can't really imagine or know exactly how people would react to such a scenario. I enjoyed it, personally.

There Are No Heroes

"Um, excuse me, Sir? Ma'am? Did either of you drop this?"

Asher had heard the man approach from behind, but initially assumed nothing; the place was busy enough as is, and he felt he was acting suspicious enough - now wasn't the time to be glancing around hastily, looking like a man who had got away with murder, as much as that was the truth. The plan changed slightly as he felt a finger tap his shoulder and a short zap of static. Turning to face the individual - with whom the voice accompanied - Asher locked eyes with the other man, the blond one who had stared out the window earlier. The world, for what felt like an extended period, stopped and Asher had no immediate reaction appear on his face; his surprise, concern, and even his hostility was repressed, giving him an almost blank, uncaring, perhaps even annoyed look. That expression did not last long, and as Asher's eyes blinked again, he swallowed while his mouth turned dry.

What spurred all of this? No one thing, but a myriad instead followed by the man's low toned reply which was intentionally for the three of them. Just looking at the blond man gave him a chill like he had met eyes with an enemy - that something instinctually told him of danger, but was unclear as to what. Asher had no time to process all of what was transpiring as the two men, and now the woman as well, became more aware of each other's presence, particularly not when the strange man spoke:

"We're alike."

The level of casualness this man spoke with unsettled Asher Tybalt, who immediately assumed this man knew far more than he did. Worried, largely because of his uncontrolled paranoia and penchant for poorly managing interaction, Asher's eyes shot to the corner as the woman beside him reacted strangely as well. Just what was going on was unknown to Asher in that time, but he caught her first reaction to the strange man which was an apparent mixture of focus and irritation - especially as the man preformed a turn away from them both and proceeded, hurriedly, out toward the parking lot. By this time, Asher was beginning his reply as he looked back toward the man, yet noted the other was already leaving and the woman beside him was taking her first step in pursuit.

Time seemed to be moving slow, but no other patrons cared or really invested themselves about the man, and now the woman, who had abruptly left.

Realizing now wasn't the time to try and ignore this strange turn of events, Asher's courage was a bit more present than normal; it was more the curiosity in him as to who this man, as well as the woman, was, and why he had approached him so strangely. He couldn't know, could he? How would one even be aware of that? Yet... There was a strange familiarity to the other man, less so for the woman in purple, and as Asher stepped out of the line and followed as hastily as he could without drawing too much focus; he noticed a few people pay minor attention to him - more so to the entire event of the three hurriedly leaving - but all in all, no one seemed to care... No one but Asher, August and Jacob that was.

Marching out from the store and into the street, the woman yelled with frustration - Asher, just now having exited, could easily make out her exclamation as she directed it toward the blond man who was now beside a car, presumably his.

"Hey, wait! Who the fuck are you!?"

Nervous, Asher attempted to blend better with the situation by placing his coat on and allowing the first car to pass as the woman stood in the center isle of the lane. Following that, he hurried across to her side, passing by her; he was not about to let this man's almost cryptic but strikingly applicable statement just go unnoticed. Issuing an apology in the form of "Uh... excuse me.", he stepped by the woman in purple and across the road with remarkable timing - passing behind a car as it made its way across the street. So close he could nearly skim the paint of its surface with his dress coat in the subtle breeze, he stepped on to the concrete again from the asphalt and slowed from his more rushed pace.

"Uh, sir - just wait. Just a minute!"

Showing his palms he shrugged slightly, trying to appear less threatening, as the man beside his car - the same who spoke to him and the woman in purple - appeared nervous, almost menaced by the situation; like there was too much going on at once. Not knowing what to say, let alone do, Asher defaulted to how he approached his boss and most co-workers; as timid as possible and attempting to be far from intrusive. It was a habit, a bad one at that, as his personality did not truly meld well with his actual nature; like fire and water these two components of his being would clash, at times violently as the news had shown that morning.