Vertigo

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

@Xaltwind Should we do a collab for the blessing part, or?

Reborn: Coming of Calamity

S A Y A K O

Sayako had barely gotten to enjoy her impromptu post-death nap for half a minute before she was already forced to acknowledge someone’s presence. From the sound of it, the man on the horse had dropped onto the grass next to her, apparently offering a hand.

M’lady, though? For some reason, hearing that felt... wrong. Really wrong. Gross, even.

Sayako had barely mustered up the mental strength to look up and see the fabled hand, when another equally strange person practically burst out from the forest. She seemed to be choking on her own hurry to get out angry exclamations, then suddenly pulled out a sword - and lunged towards Sayako.

In an instant, the oni jumped to stand. Her form was low and tense - as if prepared for combat. Sayako unsheathed a wakizashi she didn’t know she owned, holding it up in a way she didn’t know she was supposed to. Her eyes were reflexively fixed onto the woman, and a strange sense of déjà vu filled her with dread.

Again? Did the fighting never end?

The woman was approaching fast, prancing across the field like a psychotic, armed deer. Then, at the noble guy’s orders, she sheathed her blade, and---

---practically threw herself onto the ground to grovel in front of him.

... Oh. So. She was an idiot.

Sayako relaxed her stance, but did not let go of her weapon. The ikemen guy had turned away from her to talk to the rest of the group. He’d left his back unguarded. He might have been one of them. She should kill him.

... W-wait, what? Huh? Why?! Sure, he was annoying as all hell, but-- back home, you didn’t just kill people you didn’t like!

You did in war, though.

But this isn’t war!

While Sayako was busy contemplating unprovoked manslaughter, the rest of the group did the much more sensible thing and introduced themselves. It was then that it occurred to her they were all humans - save for one, super tall, grey-skinned guy. By all means, he was the one she should have been freaked out by, especially when she happened to catch a glimpse of a horn peeking out from among his hair. But... no. It was the humans that gave her pause.

Which was weird, because last she checked, she was a human too.

...

Ever so slowly, Sayako started to feel her way up her head, over her - strangely voluminous? - hair, until--

“AHHHHHHH!” She threw both hands onto her head, squeezing her horns and giving them a strong, panicked tug. It nearly sent her right back onto the grass; she had to take a few clumsy steps forward to prevent it. Another gasp, and she yanked the horns backwards, also forced to mirror the action with her feet. Forth, back, forth, back.

Then she remembered she wasn’t alone. And that she was supposed to introduce herself. At this rate, she was going to come across just as weird as the girl who stared open-mouthed at the ground and the guy that wanted to tame bears-!

“...A--Ah. A-ahem. Ahem. I’m---” she hesitated, though she didn’t know why, “I’m Sayako.”

Not knowing what else to say, she tried to remember what her only kin had said, figuring he knew something she didn’t about this whole oni thing. Honestly, she probably should have said nothing. What she did say, was, “I won’t eat you either."

She contemplated for a moment, then added a very uncertain, "... Probably.”

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Post is up. I wasn't sure at what point Triss did his introduction in relation to Xaltwind's post (aka was it before the dwarf finished coming down the stairs and walked up to Ayame, or was it assuming they started to ascend after it) but hopefully what I did works. I can edit if not!

Also, Ayame's face when

Hider

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Ayame hadn't been paying much attention to the conversation going on in the room, so it wasn't difficult to pick up Athena's voice over it. She turned to find the Godddess at the stairway, asking for her to follow. Finally, it was about time!

Before the renard could actually stand up however, another voice called out from behind the Goddess. This one was... not quite as pleasant to the ears. That was to say, Ayame could hear the depravity in the man’s voice, and it made her tail bristle. What manner of filthy lout did they keep in this familia? First the mutt, now this. To make matters worse, the oaf dared divert the Goddess’ attention from her. Ugh, as if she had not waited long enough. Was she truly forced to listen through this... drivel before she could get her turn?

Then the dwarf noticed her.

In an instant, his eyes lit up with disturbing, childish glee. Upon hearing she was going to be joining the familia, he started to waddle towards her - and then proceed to attempt a bow. Oh. Well now, at least he had some semblance of manners, even if the execution wasn’t quite right. Perhaps she had misjudge---

"Brozar, you just wanna squeeze her butt when she stands up!"

"Hah! What's wrong with 'at? She'll be family soon enough!"

...

Ayame said nothing, but the strained smile on her face spoke plenty. Flames burst into being upon her palm, dancing and writhing as they licked at the air hungrily. Without a word, she pulled her hand back-- and then blasted the entirety of her Foxfire straight at the dwarf’s stupid, ugly, lecherous face.

She could only hope it hurt, even though no lasting damage was likely to occur. Her fire was not potent enough to kill.

Unfortunately.

With him taken care of, Ayame stood up, dusting herself with a few delicate swishes of her hand. She looked to the Goddess with one of her most delightful smiles - as if nothing was amiss at all, and spoke in an unfittingly light tone, “Shall we? I do believe I’ve had enough of waiting.”

With that, she begun to make her way towards Athena and the stairs - only to see Triss breeze past her to introduce himself to the dwarf. Oh. Why, how perfect, the boy made for a nice distraction!

"Hurry now, I simply can't wait!" she exclaimed as she hurried up to Athena, swiftly locking her arm into her own. With no second thought given to the fact that this was an actual goddess she was dealing with, she begun to practically try and drag her up the stairs.

(D&D 5E) The Tyranny of Dragons, Part 1; Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Got a lousy 5, though it's sort of fitting icly.

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Hrm, actually, if you could hold the hammer for one more day, that'd be grand! Been busy with doctor's appointments and lab tests this week, but I got my post started today and should be able to finish tomorrow evening.

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

So it looks like midnight caught up to me. I've friends coming over for the weekend, but I can get a post in for this on Sunday when they leave! Sorry for the wait.

Reborn: Coming of Calamity

S A Y A K O

She was still falling.

If she was dead, why was she still falling?

Nothing had changed. All the sensations she remembered were still there: the sinking feeling in her stomach, the deafening howl of the wind, the sharp pain in her eyes when she dared try and open them. The only thing missing was the rain. And... it was brighter too, she supposed. She was no longer cold.

Oh, and someone was screaming.

She was curious as to who and why, so she opened her eyes a little - but all she saw was the sky. It was strangely blue. Sort of calming, actually. If she was cursed to fall for all eternity, at least the gods had the courtesy to make it a sunny eternity.

Then she hit the ground.

Her entire world exploded into a flurry of dirt and grass, with a splash of petals to give colour to the chaos. Then, after a moment, everything settled. The sky was still blue, and she was still staring up at it underneath her new, makeshift blanket of mangled flora.

... Huh? Wait, was... that it? She’d expected it to hurt more. A lot more. So much more that she’d died on the spot in excruciating agony, with police sirens going off in the distance.

Saya sat up, realizing she did so in a crater. Crawling out was a menial task, but finding her balance afterwards was not. Her legs felt weird. Her body felt weird. Her head definitely felt weird, as if she had carried an extra weight that threatened to tip her forwards.

She took a step - and forwards she tipped, losing her balance and crashing right in front of some guy on a horse.

He asked if they’d just plummeted from the sky. Considering she was still lying face down on the ground, she could not see his expression - but she could hear his enthusiasm.

She hated him already.

But not enough to pry herself off the ground and give him a look.

Nah. The ground was, all things considered, quite comfy.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

Reinstituting the speaker turned out to be a trivial task, done in a jiffy. Just in case, Duncan turned the thing around to make sure everything else was in place. Like batteries. Man, how many things even needed batteries nowadays? Talk about a blast from the past.

Pebs seemed to be done on her end as well. ‘Bout time, she’d been messing with the plant for a while.

It looked like whatever she’d been doing had went well though, if her face was anything to go by. The giddiness made Duncan smile a bit too, despite the circumstances. But hey, at least they were making progress. Anytime now, they'd get back to civilization and could go over their experiences over a beer or something. If she drank beer. .. Wine? Who drank wine, anyway.

Duncan grinned at her appraisal, and couldn’t help but chuckle at the words themselves. “You kiddin’ me? This old piece of scrap hasn’t been new in a decade. We’ll be lucky if we still get a sound out.”

She held up keys and another piece of paper. Apparently they were something the plant had coughed up. Well damn, he wouldn’t have... thought to check that. Who hid their shit in a plant? Well, whatever, he wasn’t complaining.

“Fingers crossed.” He crossed his for a brief moment, then set the car on the ground. With remote in one hand and the other hovering over the radio’s play button, he went on to announce, “Background music for suspense--- is a go!”

He turned on the radio and tried to steer the car forwards at the same time, hoping he had one more hand to cross fingers with.

^{@Typical, @Alamantus}

DanMachi: Alter Oration [DEAD]

Will get a post in tomorrow!