TheWendil

Cross Gear

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“I’m in. Don’t much care for the time and place, but if it’s fun and if there’s money, you can count me in~” Reina appeared behind Michael and Hyun-jin, wrapping a casual arm around both as if they were long lost friends. They weren’t, but she didn’t much care for personal space. What she did care for, was the proposition of traversing through the Night City Gate. As infamous as it was, that only meant it held the greatest of treasures and the largest of boons. More so especially if this kid was offering up such a hefty prize.

“Besides, you need five people, right? Well I’m not too great at counting where it doesn’t count, but I’m pretty sure you’ve got four right here. Five if you count the blonde psycho, hah!” Reina turned her head back, voice raised as if wanting the new girl who just got scolded to pay attention. There were five very willing and very happy to accommodate Divers in the room already, so it was almost too perfect of a scenario. Whether or not she met Erika’s eye was up to her but soon she turned back to face the group, still all smiles and smirks.

“And the bounty? Well, well, that’s a good cut between five people. Fair’s fair I think if we divide evenly too.” As she said this, she gave Michael a knowing wink, leer spreading wider. Pulling a fast one over the kid and the knight may have been easy, but she knew how the game was played. Spending some time watching the group develop from a distance away might have helped too. All the same, she shook her head to the swordman’s question.

“Holder? Nope, not me. I’m more of the rely on guns type of person with lots of bullets too. You lot look like you need someone with long range anyway." A glance at Da-Xia. “Well, long range and will actually hit their target~ Say kid, any more details about this mission we’re doing? Money’s good and all, don’t get me wrong, but you can tell us a little bit more other than it’s in the Night City Gate. What’s this ‘something important’ you had in mind.”

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Monster Federation Force (Monster Girl RP)

“Well...this isn’t looking too good.” For the greater half of the battle, the SS Silencia and her crew remained independent of the strife that rocked the world below. Still very much cloaked and still very much high above the clouds, the screens that filled up HART’s headquarters served well in keeping up live updates regarding the situation. Tomoko watched intently with a fist against the bottom of her chin. She winced when the MFF, bullies as they were, unleashed their attack now on Yeshua, uncaring who was friend or foe.

“Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to send them out on their own. It’s bad enough the MFF are hellbent on hunting them,” she said quietly. As if to confirm at least someone wasn’t in danger, she briefly looked around for Eris, before noting the other girl had to still be on the ship somewhere. Looking back to the screens, she sighed, joined by the grim collection of the ship’s staff as they too discussed amongst themselves what to do. Intervention came with a price-

“I don’t doubt the strength of the MFF. They’re as relentless as they are resourceful.” Tomoko bolted upright in her seat, not expecting to hear someone answer her mutterings, especially HART’s leader. She followed the line of sight, people slowly turning upwards to one of the room’s balconies where their leader stood. Cross-armed, they watched the resounding battle with their usual stoic front. “But don’t underestimate the power those girls have either. We need to remember they still hold secrets and abilities no one truly understands.”

“With all due respect Ace Commander…shouldn’t we still do something?” Tomoko asked. She felt like biting back the words as soon as they slipped out. Indeed, intervention would compromise their secrecy and the veil of intent they’d hidden from the world for so long. To do so now would be to jeopardize the lives of everyone who signed up for this organization to the shadows. But much to her surprise, she was rewarded not with rebuke, but with a smirk by their leader.

“Yes, it is only fair we give them a helping hand. Despite their looks and their powers, there’s something fundamentally human about the GMGs. HART has remained in the shadows for too long.” With a flare, the Ace Commander outstretched his hand to address all in his radius. “Lower our cloaking and scramble our pilots. Today we show the MFF that the GMGs aren’t their only enemy!” With a sense of reinvigoration flowing in the air, the SS Silencia’s crew did as they were told, Tomoko still reeling at how that had actually worked.

It wasn’t long then before a slew of missiles rained down from the sky, countering those fired by the MFF. A party of jets soon after rocketed outwards from the clouds, cruising around Yeshua and giving her support. “Remember, these are all your fellow humans. Shoot to disable weaponry and vehicles but keep your shots non-lethal and below the belt. Split your forces in groups of two to help out friendlies and search for any stragglers evacuating,” ordered Tomoko.

“Yes m’am!”

Deepest Abyss (Conquer the World)

Bump.

Cross Gear

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Tsushima wasn’t the best place ever in the world, but it was a decent little hole for Divers and civilians of all kinds. As far as other locales went, it was downright luxurious in comparison. But so long as it had nice beds and a decent meal, it was a fine enough spot to be in. Indeed, Reina had spent the better part of a half-hour walking around the extraordinary backdrop, taking in the sights of man-made perfection and power. With the number of skyscrapers that scratched the horizon, it was almost a wonder humanity hadn’t yet become the masters of the Gates.

As if. Sometime later and she’d find herself lounging around the Tsushima Diver Services. Scouting for herself one of the seats in the lobby, she made the smart notion of taking up two, laying down horizontally across both as she as flicked her eyes about boredly. Nothing was happening. Nothing was going on. Aside from the loud sound of slurping, there wasn’t much to catch her attention besides the overspun milkshake in her hands. Gripping the cup and clenching her teeth against the straw’s end, she crossed her legs over and under before obnoxiously slurping once more.

Despite the number of Divers around, the place was surprisingly dead to her standards. She supposed she could take up a mission but that required some level of effort and interest. In fact, she was just about on the precipice of taking a nap before the sound of boyish yelling caught her attention. Something about money not mattering-which was bullshit and every Diver knew it-along with a boy frantically moving from one group to the next for help. It wasn’t long before someone eventually took the bait and Reina watched as two answered; some guy with a fancy blade and a girl straight out of a knight’s fairy tale.

Relatively close by, Reina quietly watched the scene unfold, silence broken only by the occasional slurps. She could tell what the older guy was going for, a lopsided smirk forming around her straw at the prospect of some boon to be exploited. Then the knight bumbled her way in and apologized for a transaction that hadn’t even been completed yet. All of it culminated into a rather funny viewing and soon enough, Reina finally unclasped her lips from the straw to throw in her two cents on the situation.

“Hah! Hah hah!”

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Deepest Abyss (Conquer the World)

As it turned out, Jukati was the first to ask of the skull-faced being of his truth and identity. Indeed, it seemed like a question that might have been placed first, but it wasn’t quite so with the group gathered. By means of proximity, all the Abyss’ former prisoners stood in one area, moving about and doing as they were told. The speak of an alliance was fresh in the air and so the skull-faced being saw no reason not to answer the oni’s inquiry. “My name is irrelevant. It is lost in shadow and time, but if there is anything to address me as…it is Ignis. Lord Ignis.”

He stood where he stood and stared where he did, placing an unreadable face on Willowa. “You will waste breath trying to coax that girl into talking; for she is the very will that once held us under these depths, the caverns that breathed and the waters that swallowed. She is the sole, true jailer of this Abyss and the reason you have all been locked down here for some time. You may address her as Pandora, for now that she is in our grasp; she will become a valuable ally.”

The man who wore his skull spoke in rhythms, almost eloquently. He gave no pause in his mannerisms, nor did he take time to explain his meanings. But he had a point. By whatever reason, if this girl, this Pandora, was as he said, then it was priority to keep her at their side. Indeed, Ignis had since moved beside the girl who trailed him, lifting his dark coat and parting it to rest around her shoulders. “Thus, it’s good to see we’re in agreement of unity, Emperor Velo, Azrael…and Chryseis, is it. I believe you will make admirable allies under the right hand.”

Ignis turned his face to observe the oni, though his sight moved past her and towards the rat and the cat. “Even you, trifling. Yes, I have observed you as well. And that is why I am ordering our newest ally to keep a very careful eye on you,” he said, referring to the cat crouching in the shadows. Ignis’ eyes would linger on Rafiq for a moment longer before greater factors were more needing of his attention. “If we are to be as one, we will need several components. A base of operations, as a starting point.”

The skull-faced being raised his staff and pointed it at the wolf who attacked Raula. “Information. Information must be extracted from this pup. Where his leader hides, we will take. Where they have fortressed themselves, we will make our own. To escape to the surface, we must ensure we do so with no one among the Abyss to impair us.” Apart from the dripping noises of the Lagoon’s steady atmosphere, there were also the groans of deformed wolves still resonate in the area. Indeed, Willowa made no exaggeration to the questionable usefulness of the surviving wolves but if Ignis was concerned, he did not show it.

“As long as they breathe and bleed, they have some use for us. There are ways of which beyond alchemical properties. After all, once we’ve made this prison our own, they may be the first to atone for our mercy as loyal lap dogs.” He said this almost vaguely, some unseen, unkempt darkness shrouded in intent towards the hapless wolves. But that was neither here nor there. Ignis raised his staff and smacked the end to the ground, as if dropping the gavel in some human courthouse. Such was its intensity against the stone that small ripples formed atop the Lagoon’s surface.

“We conquer what we must; only then will our revenge and escape be achieved. As soon as the wolves tell us where they remain, we will conquer them too. This is the first step in making this prison into our sanctuary.”

Deepest Abyss (Conquer the World)

Bump.

Deepest Abyss (Conquer the World)

Bump.

Tower of Fable

Events moved on their own and in their own pace, but there was some level of expectation for such reactions. The Student President watched in silent amusement as one thing happened after another, Rose trying desperately to avoid the responsibility of signing papers. Kanbaru looked to be her polar opposite and at least wasn’t outright off put by the notion of spending some time signing away names. Even as she slipped free from Rose, the Student President offered her another pen, idly pushing her stack of papers closer to her.

“Oh? What makes you think I uphold the finer nature of justice?” Still smiling as he was, the Student President rested his chin atop two clasped hands as Kanbaru posed her question. It was easy to distinguish his assistant Iona for some sort of angel by looks alone but the sentiment was still an interesting point. “Is it because I command such authority? Surely where you come from, presidents of the student body and council exhibit privileges beyond the normal populace. A school of villainy this may be, but it is a school nonetheless.”

He left her off on that strange contradiction to ponder. As one could imagine, there required some level of authority to keep the school from diverging into madness and the like, especially by its rowdier students. Regardless, the Student President’s interest was placed on the card-carrying girl at the further ends of the table now. While Kanbaru dismissed Caprice’s words for rambling, the Student President remained in his cool expression.

“I like to think we accept all manner of students in these gates, conniving or craven. The budding youth of dark hearts must be nurtured and guided with a steady hand. That said, your hand is impressive,” he mused, noting Caprice’s quick tricks with the cards. “Perhaps a tarot telling class can be expected in your future? You all look to be healthy assets to the school, ones that would prove beneficiary in the Umbral Games.”

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Deepest Abyss (Conquer the World)

Bump.

Deepest Abyss (Conquer the World)

Bump.