Fantasy New Oasis: Four Heavenly Kings — The B-Sides

[Elenion Aura]

MARKUS WEISS

CS Link

SCENE:

The concrete that breaks our fall

TIME:

January 16, 2010 | Pre-Arc 1

LOCATION:

Paragon Hall, West District

PARTICIPANTS:

Isobel, Markus, Roland

The concrete that breaks our fall

The impact of Roland's sudden appearance behind him caught Markus off guard. The weight of every punch and kick was like a hammer on an anvil, each strike sending shockwaves through Markus' already battered body. It wasn't just the physical blows; it was the unexpectedness of Roland's position and speed. He'd been bested.

As the strikes came in, Markus managed to parry some and evade a few, but many made their mark, leaving searing points of pain. Blood gushed from a fresh cut opening over his left eye, as bruises flowered up and down the length of his body. The words Roland had whispered, words only Markus could hear amidst the roar of the arena and the pounding in his ears, played over in his mind. "I'm sorry I had to be your enemy."

The whispered words seared through Markus like molten metal, hot and scalding. How dare he? In the midst of their battle, this soft-spoken sentiment? The fuck!? It felt like a slap, a mockery, a condescending pat on the head from an opponent who seemed to think he was above it all.

Every fiber of Markus's being rebelled against that quiet confession. It was as if Roland had taken a blade, not just to his body, but to his very pride, carving out a wound that ran deeper than any physical injury. The audacity of it – to say such a thing and then to look so... calm, so detached, as if he were the benevolent force and Markus just a misguided child.

He wouldn't get away with it. Markus would not allow him to get away with it.

The arena, the audience, even the pain he felt from the blows faded into a distant blur. All that remained was that piercing statement, echoing, resonating, and fueling a raging purgatory of ice within him.

"You think you're better than me?!" Markus bellowed, his voice echoing with a raw, primal fury. His eyes burned a cold flame, wide, wild, and unyielding.

His heart thundered in his chest, every beat a war drum urging him forward. This wasn't just about winning anymore; it was about reclaiming his honor, proving he wasn't someone to be looked down upon. And Roland would soon learn the price of such an insult.

The atmosphere in the arena grew palpably tense as Markus, rolling out of harm's way after weathering the latest salvo of blows from Roland's fists, planted his feet firmly on the ground. His fingers twitched, drawing from a reservoir of power, fueled by rage, yet untapped. The air around him grew cold, so frigid that spectators nearby could see their breath misting in the air, their skin prickling with goosebumps. A low hum started to emanate from Markus, a sound almost like the groaning of ancient glaciers.

"Alright, asshole, this is it... It's been fun, now... Hurry up and DROP DEAD!"

Then, with a thunderous roar and a violent upward thrust of both hands, a massive wall of ice surged forth from the ground. It grew at an alarming rate, shooting upwards and outwards, its surface gleaming and shimmering as it caught the light. The sheer magnitude of it was staggering. It expanded, almost threatening to touch the very edges of the arena, casting a vast shadow and plunging a significant portion of the battleground into a chilling twilight before it all came crashing down towards a singular point in space: Roland himself.

 

[Damafaud]

Tri

CS Link

SCENE:

New Royals

LOCATION:

Kaspian's Club, Central District

TIME:

Post Arc 2, about a month

PARTICIPANTS:

Hector, Tri

New Royals

Serpents were short-lived compared to their peers and their monarchs were no exception. For example, Tri stopped being the Jack of Serpent after three months; a short time to be a monarch and certainly a very short time spent before he became King. His legitimacy required some fighting and Tri gladly flaunted his firepower whenever questioned.

Kaspian's trembling bouncers were unfortunately too aware of the political shift in the gangs. Tri sulkily occupied a table with furrowed brows and a brewing mood. He was planning to get turned away from the door, go in with sleeping gas, and enjoyed a peaceful evening with trembling servants like the low-key and harmless-looking but secretly powerful and terrifying man. He even dressed carefully; a worn but branded knitted cap, an old faded shirt, and a leather jacket.

Tri hid his sulki by taking a sip off his champagne. When everything was essentially non alcoholic, taste ranked more important in a drinking experience. It provided an excellent tactile experience, a refreshing fuzz with delicious hints of peach and apples that hinted of flowers with every sip.

It was annoyingly good.

Tri wanted to pout, but he was a King and definitely not in the style to be pouting now as a Hidden Master. He wanted to do something, but he couldn't find anything to make trouble with. He casually glanced at the bartender now attending another guest and labeled him as a target for future robbery. And then, the person he was serving because the world wasn't fair.

...? Wait.

A quick scroll through his note of important people (Paris made it) later, Tri tapped the table and hummed. The new Phoenix Queen was here. Almost as new as he was, and making a scene. So, the question became how he should make a scene. Not making a scene was not considered whatsoever obviously; he had to make a scene and it had to be cool and fit his current Hidden Master style.

The edge of his lips curled into a kindly smile. He figured it out. He called his servant's attention.

"Tell the young friend to calm down so not to disturb the atmosphere."

He spoke slowly, with cadence, with warmth in his eyes and a smile like a nice uncle. The shaking in the servant's eyes made him felt cool and the bartender's face's paling resulted in a satisfying amount of schadenfreude.

Tri savored his champagne and his victory of the night. Tonight was salvagable.

WhiskeyMarten

 

[Elenion Aura]

MILO NAGISA

CS Link

SCENE:

The Guy Who Wrote “Art Is In The Eye Of The Beholder” Probably Did It On The Toilet

TIME:

May 3rd, 2022 || Pre-Arc 3

LOCATION:

South District

PARTICIPANTS:

Tak, Milo

THE GUY WHO WROTE “ART IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER” PROBABLY DID IT ON THE TOILET

Milo smiled a friendly smile at the blue-haired boy, internally filing this nugget of information away in the place his mind had prepared for it, neatly organized and catalogued under 'Supporting Evidence'. He'd only known him for a few minutes, only heard a handful of the words that spilled from his lips, but already Milo could tell: this was another piece of the puzzle that fit snugly into place.

"Milo," Milo said by way of reply. "It's nice to meet you, too." He smiled a little wider, but it didn't reach his eyes. As Kelsey rattled off a wishlist from what may as well have been Barker's personal catalogue, Milo's smile softened pityingly. There was something to be said for that level of enthusiasm, he supposed. Not much. But something.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see!" He replied once Kelsey had finished rattling off his wishlist for Barker, matching the blue-haired boy's enthusiasm as best he could, whilst still keeping his cards held flat against his chest. It was only when the atmosphere changed—when the third man, the one who looked most out of place amidst this gilded, idyllic scene—that Milo's true expression surfaced. Eyebrows and lips drawn tightly together as his focused narrowed down to a singular point in space, Milo listened intently as Tak's own focus landed squarely on him.

Milo's focus, however, quickly morphed into confusion. This person's presence was a wrinkle in his theory, if not necessarily his plans. As the aura of intensity swirled around Tak, a single comically large sweat bullet dropped down from the air beside the back of Milo's head. "Uhm..?" Milo didn't know precisely what to say. He couldn't tell from the jump what kind of person this was, stood before him like an obstacle to be surmounted, or an impassable wall to be circumvented some other way, or—

And just like that, as quickly as his questions arose, they were all answered in a flash, as the door swung open and barreled the man over, burying him facedown in the gravel. Milo blinked, bewildered by the chain of events that had just unfolded.

Shaking his head and brushing off the strange man's behavior as if it were quirky, but otherwise normal and acceptable adult behavior, Milo started off after the trio of maids who proceeded to lead their small troupe through the large, wide-open doors and onto the estate grounds.

 

[Elenion Aura]

The Doppelgänger

CS Link

SCENE:

Late-Night Chase

TIME:

Nighttime, post-arc 1

LOCATION:

Aksher Co. offices, South District

PARTICIPANTS:

Charlie, Minato

LATE-NIGHT CHASE

Minato's smirk faded as the realization dawned on him: he was truly alone now. The backup he'd relied on were now gone. He could feel the weight of the situation pressing down on him, the odds which had momentarily shifted in his favor were now overwhelmingly against him. The gravity of his predicament became all too real as Charlie's hand firmly gripped his collar, as the cold, hard edge of the pipe loomed menacingly in Charlie's other hand.

His breath came in shallow pants, but he managed to muster enough energy for a retort. "Ya' know, yer stronger than ya' look, heh!"

As the Phoenix tightened his grip, Minato's mind raced. Pinned and clearly at a disadvantage, his only real card left revealed itself to him. A new trickle of blood made its way from his mouth, staining his chin. He forced himself to relax in Charlie's grip, taking a deep, pained breath.

"But h-hold on," he coughed, struggling for every word. "You've... got it backwards, y'know! I ain't the one y' really oughtta be bone-breakin'." Minato paused, waiting, searching Charlie's face for any sign that he was receptive to this new angle.

"You think I came here just to grab some lousy data? Think bigger," Minato spat, an impish glint in his eyes. "There's a whooooole other operation going on, here that I'm bettin' you ain't been made privvy t'. Killin' me ain't changin' that."

He chuckled, the sound painful. "Although... Mayhaps, might be I clue you in on a li'l secret. Though... I bet it'd make ya real angry."

As he felt the grip—or perhaps imagined it—tightened, Minato continued, his voice a raspy whisper, his legs kicking weakly, "Smash me up now, and you'll never find out--!"

 

[thebigfella]

Zentsupa Pei

CS Link

SCENE:

Why Do House Cats Sharpen Their Claws?

LOCATION:

Central District, Grubtopia Grocery Store

TIME:

July 6th, 2022 || Post-Arc 3

PARTICIPANTS:

Zentsupa Pei, Passeri Park

Why Do House Cats Sharpen Their Claws?

Watching the portly body of Quinten scurry off after his gunfire brought Pei a brief moment of amusement, a dull, repressed chuckle coming from his throat as he ran away as fast as he could move, leaping off the side of the roof. He could only be entertained by it for a while before more whirring above his head, and the increased fluttering of his hair brought his focus upward, a stagnant hand being placed onto his hip.

He knew it was his time to leave. As much as he would have liked to stay around and toy with the police, he had much more exciting things he wanted to look into now. He decided to spare just a bit more time to listen to the woman’s murmuring, whatever bloodstained drivel leaked from her lips. She wanted to pay him back, but he wasn’t surprised. A tiger found more home in contracts and transactions than anything else, so it seemed.

He wasn’t interested in anything regulated. There would be no payments made or any deals broken.

Pei felt no need to respond; he looked down at her with that same grin. Though she wasn’t able to see it from her current position, he bet that she could just use her own imagination.

“Hurry up and take a cat nap already, dumbass,” he spat in response to her useless prattling, stocking his hands in his pocket as he walked away. EMTs landed on the ground beside him, quickly hurrying to her side to begin fastening her onto the stretcher in a hurry to save her life.

Meanwhile, Pei walked over and used the tip of his shoe to peel Lala off the ground like a wad of gum, kicking her up into the air and catching her by a wing before she could fall back to the ground. Holding her like a flimsy piece of chicken, he wagged her around while she hung there limp with swirls in her eyes, the patterns of feet embedded into her back. He glanced over towards Bushineko, the blue cat standing on the sidelines as he watched the EMTs go to work with an intense look in his feline eyes; despite being covered with trash, his honor had yet to be sullied.

“Oi! Fuzzynuts!” Pei’s shout brought him out of his trance, his eyes shifting to look towards the lanky blonde and his toothy grin. Pei responded to his eye contact with a nonchalant point over his shoulder. “We’re leaving.”

There was a moment of silence, Bushineko staring at him without moving or saying a word before a simple nod. His paws squeaked as he went to follow behind.

The helicopter’s blades whirred as they lifted up in the air, carrying the star back up into the sky, where she could hopefully find her place amongst the galaxy again.

Pei watched as they disappeared into the horizon, legs hanging off the roof's edge as he prepared to hop down, his arms crossed as he frowned, the rare, uncertain thought in the back of his mind, which he didn’t hesitate to vocalize.


“Can a house cat find its home within the den of tigers?”

He leaned forward, cupping his chin as he pondered it for a moment, before finally letting the frown break back into its usual smirk as the area around his face darkened, only leaving half illuminated to show his demonic visage.

“Guess I’ll find out that answer for myself, kekekekek.”

The One Eyed Bandit

 

[gxxberkit]

LIZZIE K. COLEMAN

CS Link

SCENE:

Lady Madonna

TIME:

June 24th, 2022 | Post Arc 3, Timeskip 1

LOCATION:

Our ✰ Dream Soup Kitchen, South District

PARTICIPANTS:

Passeri, Eric.... Residents of the South

MISS DEMEANOR (Lady Madonna)

When the volunteer showed to keep his nonchalant attitude, MEATLOCK’s fists lifted from the counter with a sneer. Their one eye flickered to the silver-haired lunch lady. She was watching… What was this, a telenovela? MEATLOCK would’ve done something about either one of these volunteers but…

…They really didn’t want to get kicked out…

…

Their hands landed on their waist. That same laugh rang— like a bomb and its fuse. This time, however, the gunpowder was laced with venom.

“FUNNY. You really are a hoot!” they chuckled, sparing a glance towards the pot. “I WAS EXAGGERATING!! It’s my sense of humor. You get it, right?” They nudged the air with their elbow, seeing as the volunteer was a smidge too far to actually tap him —and they might’ve gotten kicked out if they tried to get over the counter.

Their fanged grin gleamed. “Just needs a lil’ more salt,” they said as they pinched their fingers in front of their face.

MEATLOCK turned to Passeri, shooting a finger gun at the pot she was standing behind. “Hey, soup lady! Bet you’ve got some better soup for me, right?” They walked over as if they hadn’t just screamed in the middle of the soup kitchen— but to be fair, it wasn’t very out of place for them.

Just another Friday.

MEATLOCK giggled, hovering over the pot of soup with a scrutinizing smile. “Looks better than that guy’s, anyway!”

Roda the Red The One Eyed Bandit

 

[Ramjammer]

I Would Like to See Your Permit.


Lorette Lècuyer CS LINK

Scene: I Would Like to See Your Permit.

Time: Nighttime. December 2021. Post-Arc 2.

Location: Lower Central District

Participants: Lorette. Eric.


"Murder Mittens?" She thought, befuddled by the man's seeming lack of concern about how close Lorette had come to squashing him underfoot. The young Officer's steely demeanor clashed with his present attitude. He didn't reasonably behave like someone who took things seriously.

Lorette had seen enough shit and seen enough people who'd seen enough shit to understand that some people coped with stress much differently than others. Being a Cop in Lower Central couldn't have been all sunshine and rainbows after all.

The cat jokes, though? Those were unacceptable.

The dirt and dust she'd kicked up from her landing did little to obscure the man from her sight since he insisted on glowing like a fluorescent bulb. She tracked him quickly as he dodged the rain of stone shrapnel she sent his way.

Lorette used the distraction to creep closer to him. Keeping her body low, she padded through the lingering dust cloud. Just a bit closer, and she'd be in striking distance...

His range of attack greatly exceeded hers. It was fortunate that Lorette was already prepared to pounce. It allowed her to leap away just before taking a face full of golden arrows. He'd been wise to shoot in a wide arc, and several of the projectiles embedded themselves into her left flank.

Lorette yowled in pain, and her previous irritation morphed into full-blown anger. The boy was clever; she would give him that. If his quip about the condition of her joints was anything to go by, he'd seen right through her monstrous disguise, too.

The dust was clearing, and what cover she had would soon be gone. Knowing she wouldn't get another chance for an ambush, Lorette focused on yanking the arrows from her hide. Whatever the hell they were made of, they damn sure worked. She was lucky that he hadn't managed to hit her in one of her rear legs; otherwise, she'd have been crippled.

She craned her head around to grasp one of the glowing arrows in her teeth and yanked it free with an agonized growl. Shaking her head furiously, Lorette prepared to spit the damn thing out but suddenly paused.

There was a subdued thrum of energy coming from the arrow. Lorette would have written it off as the unnatural aspect intrinsic of all Potentials had it not been so strikingly similar to the feel of the sun's rays being converted into the same energy needed to fuel her beastly form.

When she focused on where the remaining arrows pierced her hide, Lorette noticed more of the same. The pain of being wounded had hidden it. Lorette could feel it seeping beneath her skin and into muscle and sinew. Suddenly, her wilted mane perked up just a little, and Lorette put two and two together.

Somehow, the energy expended by the man to power his Potentiality was such that Lorette could use it akin to sunlight. Granted it was a very watered-down sunlight, but the benefits were undeniable. So long as those benefits outweighed the risks of being struck, Lorette would not turn them down.

She whirled to face the man head-on, and her jaws snapped shut, shattering the golden arrow like glass. The rain of glimmering shards faded from sight, eaten up by a darkness they were too weak to beat back. Lorette snarled, and the sound echoed tremorously through the square. It was different from the rest, a vile, warped mockery of laughter. There was no longer any point in hiding just who and what she was. The boy's need to know had him sauntering right into danger. If he was so adamant about getting to know her, then Lorette would gladly oblige him.

Her present injury, forgotten, Lorette closed the gap between herself and the man in a single bound. The second her front paws touched the ground, Lorette pivoted her body sharply to lash her tail at the man like a massive bullwhip. For his sake, the Police Academy had better have had a class on ducking and rolling.

Roda the Red

 

[simj26]

Jessamine Darkness

CS Link

SCENE:

The Welcome Wagon

TIME:

Post-Arc 3 | June 23rd

LOCATION:

Dragon HQ, East District

PARTICIPANTS:

Dorian, Jessamine, Keith, Lloyd, Mirza, Pavel, Renjiro, Ruriko

THE WELCOME WAGON

Juvenile.

She simply didn’t know what to do with this piece of paper. What the fuck was this face supposed to convey? She turned the card over, and still, no hidden message revealed itself to her. Was this an actual invitation, or was it just a prank? She had been the victim of the latter once or twice before, and it did not end well for the shitheads who had perpetrated it. Her parents hadn’t been any help in deciphering the ‘letter’, if one could call it that, either. When she had shown it to them, her father had simply laughed, as if he understood some joke she wasn’t aware of, and her mother had very softly told her to simply not be late. And to bring gifts.

What the FUCK was it? She still didn’t get it. Invited to what?! Ugh.

“We’re arriving soon, Ms. Loveless.” The driver at the wheel of the black Rolls Royce Ghost announced, preventing her from actually making any more sense of the letter. It was useless to ponder on it any longer. If nigh a week had not allowed her to parse any information, joking or otherwise, from it, it was quite highly implausible that a car ride from her home to the HQ would have revealed anything.

“Thank you, Gregory. Leave me at the front of the building.”

“You got it.”

The solemn-looking car slowed to a stop in front of her destination. She stepped out, and adjusted her tie and jacket. She looked down at the letter again, and once more, felt a little incensed by the rainbow lettering and the goofy-looking face plastered on the red background. She hated things she couldn’t understand, and couldn’t punch the living daylights out of. This was one of them.



She found her way to the venue without much problem. When she had presented the card to the front desk, it almost seemed like the receptionist had stifled a laugh, but they did point her towards where she was supposed to be headed. She sighed, and, once more, adjusted her attire in front of the meeting room doors. There were voices in there already.

If this was another one of those fucking caught on camera bullfuck, this building, Dragon HQ or not, was going to be leveled by her own damn hands. She composed herself, and pushed open the doors.

“Jessamine Darkness, reporting. What is this invitation about?” she stepped over the threshold, presenting the card. “I assume you have a proper reason as to why someone broke into my home and left this lying about?”

Slav Beann tityanya WhiskeyMarten Roda the Red Jexon Whells

 

[simj26]

Elise Cutter

CS Link

SCENE:

Overcast, In Saline

TIME:

Post-Arc 3, July 7th

LOCATION:

Clemency Private Hospital, Central District

PARTICIPANTS:

Passeri, Eric, Dagger, Kiwi, Dante, Pei

Overcast, In Saline

She was being torn apart. The feeling was so familiar. She wanted to cry, she wanted to shout at the Princess’s face, she wanted to tell her how relieved she was, she wanted to just stay quiet and keep her arms around her, in fear that the moment she let go, she would lose her. All the ‘I’m okay’ nothings, she heard those before. And she did the same as she did, all those years ago. She relented, just slightly, pulling away, but her hand stayed, clutching onto the Princess’s as she knelt down- no, it was more as if she fell to her knees, by the side of the bed. Please, please, please… Her mind was caught in a maelstrom of emotions and voices, each of them drowning out the rain pattering away at the window outside and the Princess’s soft voice, so much softer than it usually was. She was trying to be humorous, that much Elise could tell, but she was not listening.

The fuzzy crackling of their voices over the comms. They spoke in the same way that the Princess did.
It’s not as bad as it looks, Liz.
We’ll be fine, kid.
Just get the hell out of there, we’ll be at the rendezvous.

Lies. All lies. Lying to her, to preserve one’s own life, was normal. Lying to her, to save her, was not. She loathed it. She hated it. That was what the Princess was doing. She wanted to shake the woman and tell her not to say those words. Take it seriously, tell her what she needed, just don’t play it cool like that. She could see, through her one good eye, that, even with all the lies that the Princess was telling her, she was not fine. There was pain. There was agony. There was worry.

“I’m sorry.” Her own voice was quiet. Perhaps she really was tired. Perhaps she just didn’t want the Princess to hear the tremble in her voice. Perhaps she didn’t want to say any more than that, because any more would have had her choke on her own words. She bowed her head, resting it against the side of the bed. Passeri didn’t need to see the streams of tears that had finally managed to manifest themselves after so many years. She didn’t need to see that unsightly face of hers as she struggled to stifle the ugly sounds of choked, heavy breathing and the unseemly sniffling. "I'm sorry," she managed again, and her grip on Passeri's hand tightened. "Please. I'm sorry."

Spoiler: tags

Roda the Red The One Eyed Bandit @gxxberkit @The Regal Rper thebigfella

 

[Haze-]

Dante Aguilar

CS Link

SCENE:

Fighting A Wild Animal Seems Scary Until You Get Hungry

TIME:

April 17th, 2022 || Pre-Arc 3

LOCATION:

New Oasis Zoo; Central District

INTERACTIONS:

Hiachi, Tak

Fighting A Wild Animal Seems Scary Until You Get Hungry

They’d strolled near the gate; Dante was snorting out a chuckle as Tak described Iroi’s special in terrifying detail. Sounds of mirth caged behind a stifled grin soon rolled out of his mouth, as though a stray plume had fallen from the heavens and brushed an annoying school-girl’s nape— he had a smug look plastered over the usual gloom on his face, creased the bags under his eyes the wrong way, made you wanna knock him stupid.

He scissored his ticket between two fingers, still giggling.

As Tak weighed his options, now that he had his walking-talking 100% off discount, going from plain cookie dough to a Richard Foster, — “They giving up a banana for adoption? The fuck is a banana foster?” — Dante had just started to notice this slow, unsettling regard for how much he’d missed out as a kid. Hell, even how much he had yet to catch up with as an adult. There was this cross between introspection and utter confusion bundling up in his head, the more he thought about it, the more his eyebrows creased.

Just as he was staring idle holes at the ground, immersed in thought, he caught two women digging holes with their eyes too, straight through him. He followed their disgust, eyes narrowing. Middle-aged, money-class-privilege type. Elephant caps, two round foam ears and a trunk, “Oasis Zoo” plastered on bold white letters. Why the hell were these two broads staring at him like that?

“Ah…” — Right...he’d been cursing like a pirate in a sea sailed only by countless toddlers.

“What the frick is a banana foster, I mean.” — He dug hands into his pockets; there was no way he’d be a worse influence for these crayon eaters than Tak.

“Peanut butter?” — There it was again. Hiachi’s pebble rolled, kicked up against a crack lining the ground, his eyes moved to catch her punting it again. He thought back, there was never a moment where the money his dad made patching up wheels on the workshop was put into fancy things, the things the proper kids that’d stay at his mother’s hotel would get. It was always put into sinking roofs, backed up sinks and, on special occasions, to put patches on his moth-devoured sweaters. He only ever had ice on some birthdays. And not the real kind, according to Tak.

He'd never grown out of it, had he? All under the excuse that he was too busy nowadays to be treating himself like that. No time to be a child.

“Hmm…” — But he wasn’t busy right now, was he?

“Might go with Park’s diabetes on an ice cream cone then,” — Didn’t hurt to try something new every once in a while. Maybe he could sue Iroi after he had a heart-attack from eating the ice cream, make a quick buck out of it.

“You want a h—what?” — He raised a brow at Hiachi, pulling out his phone to look up whatever she meant by sherbet, staring wide-eyed at the first image popping up. A mush of cream balled atop a fancy glass, go figure — “A shore-bay, huh? Crazy how far technology’s come.” — He flipped the phone screen around, aiming the blue-light straight at Hiachi — “This thing’s just ice cream in a cup. Whaddaya mean you’re not getting any ice cream?” — Dante gave her a puzzled look, clearly not understanding whatever difference, if any, between brain-freezers served on cones and cups. Again, he wasn’t an ice cream maestro, the likes of Tak.

Whether she shed light onto that difference for him or not was up to her.

As they rode the line of happy families waiting to enter the zoo, Dante let his mind lazily wander around; after all, he wasn’t checking them in either.

His eyes traced the ambient metal of the gates, wondering if the surface was still caught on the heat from the eye-searing, bastard sun, or if it’d cooled down over a soothe from the breeze. His eyes moved over, wondering also, if the tiny critters running up the hinges of those gates looked on in amusement at the giants that came and went. What were they thinking about? Do the animals caged in the zoo ever think about breaking out? Does bottling up your emotions actually make your balls shrivel up when you hit your thirties?

Most important of all, he had another thought as he looked on, solemnly into nothingness. Born out of sheer boredom, sure, but a thought nonetheless.

“Yo, man, thinkin’ about it,” — A thought he had to share, rather passionately — “You ever wonder if an HP could fuck up one of those roided-up, angry fuckin’ chimps they got in here— like, in a fight, y’know? Or would it be the same thing with a regular person where they rip off their face and chomp off their balls?” — Dante asked, his low tone making it sound like a genuine question.

“I’m talkin’ a regular HP too, not one of those lucky bastards with superstrength.” — He added, side-eyeing Tak as he put hard emphasis on the lucky bastards with superstrength — “Food for thought.”

“Me personally? I can probably take on a damn eleph…” — Dante’s sudden, irritating rantings slowly quieted down once he saw Hiachi staring at one of the dozen posters lining the outer walls of the zoo. Bubbly, animated, made you feel warm just looking at it— disgustingly warm for his taste. A whole exhibit just for Skippo and Rice, apparently.

“Hm? You wanna go see those waddling suits, Hiachi?” — He asked, a hand coming up to push up his sunglasses and staying there as he pondered actually going to see the two penguins. He wasn’t all touchy-feely in the heart to go look at cute animals, not willingly, but he’d always found penguins funny for some reason. He liked seeing them face-plant into the ice on T.V — “Arctic exhibit would be nice for a cool off, actually…”

The sun was still up and beaming down proudly, to his misfortune.

thebigfella miki

 

[Elenion Aura]

MINATO MAEDA

CS Link

SCENE:

"Two" is Company

TIME:

Pre-Arc 1, July 20th 2021

LOCATION:

Camila's Apartment, West District

PARTICIPANTS:

Camila, Minato

"TWO" IS COMPANY

Minato giggled, feigning bashfulness.

"Ballet, huh?" Minato parroted the word back at her, then took a moment to stare off into space, as if he were thinking something, or imagining something. Camila in a froofy pink tu-tu. Something about that image was kind of... Funny! He turned his sly eyes back at her, appraisingly. After a pause, he said, "... Yeah, I could see it."

As he looked smirkingly across the table at her, seemingly still caught up in the fantasy of her pirouetting across some darkened stage, his other hand slipped subtly beneath the table, his fingers working quickly over his phone's screen. 'Tonight, same spot?' he typed the message and send it off to an unknown contact.

"Zen time or not, you're an amazing chef, Cammie," he continued aloud, eyes still fixed on Camila as he scooped up another mouthful. "Really, this... It's world class stuff!"

His phone buzzed discreetly, the screen flashing with a quick affirmation. See you at midnight.

A smirk played at the corners of his mouth, his attention seemingly back on Camila. "But—wait, hol' up—if I'm your snack, then all's I gotta say is... Wait til' you see dessert." He giggled again.

After dinner had drawn on a little, Minato felt his phone vibrated subtly in his pocket. His heartbeat quickened slightly, he hadn't been anticipating another message until later.

Sliding one hand casually under the table and into his pocket, he unlocked his phone and swiped into the message before taking a quick peek.

Urgent. Now.

The timing had changed. Something must've gone wrong. He didn't bother asking. It wouldn't alter what he had to do now, even if he didn't particularly want to.

He cleared his throat lightly, offering Camila a half-smile. "Hey, sorry — you're gonna hate me," he winced as he began. He was always bad at giving people bad news. C'mon Minato, just rip it off. Like a Band-Aid.

"Somethin' just came up. Work stuff... Y'know how it is. Can't disappoint the big boss!" He gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes and pointed to the texts on his phone screen, as if either gesture would make his sudden departure more palatable.

Pushing back his chair, he trotted over, placing a light, feigned affectionate peck on her cheek. "Rain check?" he offered.

Not waiting for a detailed response, and a little worried that if he stuck around too long he might not make it out alive, Minato made a bee-line towards the exit.

Once outside, away from prying eyes, he quickly picked up the pace.

 

[angel doe]

celestine renee cadieux

CS Link

SCENE:

the DEATH of cinnabun??!?

LOCATION:

north district

TIME:

wouldn't u like to know, weather boy

PARTICIPANTS:

takaonna, celestine

the DEATH of cinnabun??!?

"Taka..." Celestine watched the taller woman with a slight frown, concern etched into her features, "Where is Cinnabun now? I would be happy to check on her." She didn't know how severe the issue with Cinnabun was, but she wanted to stay positive. Cinnabun was an important creature in Taka's life and she wasn't about to upset her further by assuming the worst.

"Do not fret, Taka, I am sure she is okay." Celeste's tone was incredibly gentle as she stepped toward her friend, reaching out and taking one of Taka's hands in hers, "Why do you not show me to her, yes?"


AriAriAbabwa

 

[Elenion Aura]

MARKUS WEISS

CS Link

SCENE:

Catch a Tiger by the Tail

TIME:

Past Midnight, October 9, 2021 | Between Arc 2 and Arc 3

LOCATION:

Markus' Penthouse, West District

PARTICIPANTS:

Markus, Dagger

CATCH A TIGER BY THE TAIL

"I'm sure," Markus said. His voice, husky and low, whispered in the dimming light. The room had started to blur at the edges of his focus, except, no... That wasn't quite right. It was more like, everything extraneous, all the irrelevant bullshit, had its volume turned down.

He tilted his chin as her hands had bade him, committing the feeling of her touch to memory. His eyes found their counterpart. Markus captured her gaze, the wilderness that was her. The fine hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end as the world around them seemed to contract, as the space between their faces became a world unto itself.

The press of his lips grew more fervent, the heat of their closeness pushing back the chill of the night air whistling through the bones of his kingdom. His hands found their way to her waist, drawing her even closer...

There was a certain recklessness in not knowing where one's fate lay, and choosing to dive headlong into it anyway. The Tiger and the Hound. Every fiber of his being was alert, charged with a raw, unbridled energy. He stood up—her in arms; the pain he had felt reduced to a dull ache—and together they retreated to the bedroom.

The red sun of morning would be cresting the horizon before he knew it, and in its light he'd find himself again, his reason, his reality.

Yet, at least for now, he was content to stay lost.

 

[Roda the Red]

ERIC EVENSEN

CS Link

SCENE:

You Know The Rules, And So Do I

LOCATION:

Some Park, Central District

TIME:

Post Arc 3 || July 1st 2022

PARTICIPANTS:

Hector, Eric

YOU KNOW THE RULES, AND SO DO I

The Queen of the Scarlet Phoenixes had no intention of going down without a fight, a fresh carcass becoming his weapon and shield in a single move, a projective that managed to soak up the detective's, drills of light piercing dead flesh and burning fur as they dug into the once-was mighty beast. With a mighty strid, Eric avoided the incoming corpse, heavity landing on the sandy tiles of the park, coating them with a sickening, steaming crimson. What the detective wasn't expecting, however, was an array of ferrous stakes coming his way at a worrying velocity. Barely making it in time, he managed to dodge the blades, one of them managing to graze his suite, slicing the threads like butter.

"It's true, you're very scary, my legs can't stop shaking as we speak, even" Eric begun to dramatically shake his legs around in mocking manner "But I can't let this special chance go, I know you're just as excited as I am" From Eric's right hand, a large tendril of light emerged and elongated, growing and extending until it exceeded a meter in length. "I can tell just by looking at your eye" He lunged forward, swinging his photon blade in a diagonal, downwards motion, he gave Hector a calm smile as their faces got close, condensed light pushing again metal. "Your heart's been aching, but you're too shy to say it" He then threw a single front kick at the queen's stomach.

WhiskeyMarten

 

[simj26]

INIGO HAN

CS Link

SCENE:

Fuzzy Dice

LOCATION:

On the Road, Central District

TIME:

April 30th, 2022

PARTICIPANTS:

Sebastian, Inigo

FUZZY DICE

The moment that he was placed in the driver’s seat, Inigo had already known that they were not going to accomplish anything worth of note today. Sebastian had more or less signed off on this non-verbal agreement the moment he suggested that the white-haired man be driving. Faced with multiple infringements ever since his last venture out in a patrol car, he had been more or less forced into driving safely, under threat of being written up (again) for his actions. The radio had been tuned down to its lowest volume, and they had been simply cruising around the city aimlessly.

Just as MAISON started to peek out of the custom playlist he had set up, Sebastian had pushed him to pulling up at a coffee shop. He already had his breakfast, with a cup of coffee and a cigarette, and he was just very slightly tempted to just ignore the man’s suggestion. He relented at the last second, not wishing to be on the receiving end of endless whining and complaining and childish tugging at his sleeves for the rest of the day. After all, they weren’t going to get anything done today. He might as well just sit back and relax for the day.

He leaned back quietly as Sebastian shoved near the entirety of his upper torso out of the window, and brought the seat back, just to make space for the man. “Decaff. And a egg mayo sandwich,” he replied gruffly. He never spent much time with Sebastian, but he prayed for those who did. To be able to lift the burden of…this from their shoulders for just one day, it was a worthwhile sacrifice.

At least he hoped so.

Coyote Hart

 

[WhiskeyMarten]

TEDDIE TUCKER

CS Link

SCENE:

Friends Who Slay Together Stay Together

LOCATION:

The Tucker's House, North District Outskirts

TIME:

Post Arc 3

PARTICIPANTS:

Celeste, Teddie

FRIENDS WHO SLAY TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER

Teddie Tar Tucker Tunes

The jeep swerved around the road, vibrating from the deafening music that played within. It was Eliza's idea to install some crazy speakers so that they could save money on concert tickets by hosting their own. Right now, the sight of the vehicle prompted people to stop and stare at the couple jumping around in time to the song. A few recognized the tar smell that wafted out of the open window, others thought the car was about to explode.

"Hey, 'Liza, darling, darling."
"YEAH?"
"Do you remember that silly- Heehee - silly girl I played around with?"
"WHAT?"
"Listen, Eliza, do you remem-"
"I HEARD YOU. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

The jumping stopped.

"Hiachi, Hiachi."
"Oh. Hiachi!"

Over her brief fury, Eliza began giggling, kicking her legs in excitement.

"Are we going to play more games with her? I'm sad I missed out, Teddie"
"We'll see, we'll see. She's hilarious, Eliza."

The jeep sped around the district, slowing as it entered the city but still weaving around traffic as much as it could. They headed West, and were soon cruising across the bridge linking their districts. The difference was apparent immediately.

They drove, and they drove, and they drove and drove and drove and-

"Teddie~"
"Eliza. What is it, my dear? My dear…"
"Where is she?"
"Where is she?"

…

"Hm."

Thankfully the streets were desolate, as the jeep sat at an angle across the road. They had sat in silence for many minutes, Teddie watching nothing in the distance like an alligator ready to snap. Eliza containing her giddy excitement until she realised they weren't watching anyone.

"I was promised a game with our friend, Teddie."

Eliza pouted, and Teddie reached a warm arm around her, cooled just enough where it wasn't scalding.

"Oh, we'll see her another time. We'll see her another time. This isn't the game I want us to play today anyway, there's much more. Much much more."

Satisfied by this answer, Eliza let Teddie bring her back through the city, this time heading towards Central, and through to East.

"Ooh! Look at that Teddie! Is that a temple?" Eliza pointed to an ornate gate hiding a building behind it.

"Maybe?"

Teddie honked the horn a few times. If it was a sacred place, the peace had surely been destroyed. They kept driving until they found themselves down worn cobbled streets.

"Celeste was talking about the Dragons."

Bump, bump, bump, went the jeep over the cobbles.

"Oh I know, poor John."
"Jozef, Jozef."

Bump, bump, bump.

"Celeste is a good friend. Those Dragons are no fun."

Bump, bump, THUD

Teddie sped and swerved straight into a man, who crumpled under the front of the car. The couple peered over, unbothered.

"We need to show them how we have fun."

Teddie exited the vehicle, and once she heard the screams, Eliza exited too. Teddie murmured words into the man's ear, lips touching so close that his skin began to melt under the heat. The squirms stopped suddenly when Eliza kicked a heel into his forehead.

"Not yet, Teddie! It wouldn't be fair on Celeste"

Teddie swiped a finger across the man's forehead, soaking up some of the blood. They laughed, nodding in agreement but unable to get words out. He laughed all the way to the boot, where he had dragged the man to and deposited his body, and then he laughed all the way back to the driver's seat. Finally, he calmed down.

"Are you hungry?"
"Are you getting me dinner too?"

They drove off again, until the lights of an Amestrian Roast Chicken (ARC) tempted them. Soon, Teddie, Eliza, and the comatose Easterner sat together, eating roast chicken with bloody hands. Behind them, smoke rose from the kitchen littered with charred, headless bodies. After kicking the heads around the car park for a bit — their victim playing goalie as he got pelted with gore — they hopped back in the car to have the dessert of their date. Back to their house they went.

"Oh Celeste! We're home!"

"Yes, we're home. Kehehe. Say, Celeste, does this guy look familiar?"

As soon as he saw Celeste, Teddie threw the man's body to the ground at her feet. He wasn't familiar at all. Just a guy.

 

[Roda the Red]

ERIC EVENSEN

CS Link

SCENE:

Overcast, in Saline

LOCATION:

Clemency Private Hospital, Central District

TIME:

Post Arc 3 || July 7th, 2022

PARTICIPANTS:

Passeri, Eric, Pei, Dagger, Kiwi, Dante

Overcast, in Saline

Who cares about me right now, you idiot.

"Aye, it's been a bit rocky, feels like a can't take much of a break lately, I'm afraid my beauty naps might start getting compromised" He sighed dramatically, his shoulders purposely going as low as it was physically possible. "But sometimes I come home to this and my batteries feel recharged" He pulled out his phone, showing the pale girl a photo of his most brainless cat, Marley.



He listened patiently as she explained her current ordeal, from the drastic shift in her itinerary, to the monotony of cold and calculated, marketable trash spewed by the television, ultimately commenting her experience to be a nice break.

Yeah, as if.

"Feel ya on that, just a while I was on a diet, had to skip snacks for a whole two months, I'm still surprised I managed to recover"

Like a malfunctioning machine going past its limits, Eric could feel the smoke coming out of his ears. The masks grew one more crack through its length, triangulating with another, a chunk falling down and shattering to dust, from the hole, a tired eye peeked through, having grown weary of the farce and the smile, yet unable to fully break free from its ivory cage.

"Hey, Pas." He chanted, the driest delivery the woman would have heard from him to this day. "Please tell me the truth" Gold locked in with ruby, an unfaltering gaze aiming to pierce through any deception coming its way. "You can be honest with me, no need to sugar-coat it" His shoulders lowered once more, a contrasting, pristine sincerity lingering in the motion.

"I, uh...I just..."

To fumble on ones words, a mistake that had long since felt distant and unachievable, reared its head like a sorrowful memory of a boy who was no more.

"I've been so worried about you, is all"

A moment of weakness seeped through, its true magnitude cushioned by a last-second moment of reason.

The One Eyed Bandit simj26 thebigfella gxxberkit

 

[Elenion Aura]

MILO NAGISA

CS Link

SCENE:

Back in the Game

LOCATION:

Post-Arc 3, Timeskip 1 | July 5th

LOCATION:

Boustan [A metropolis about a four hour drive from New Oasis]

PARTICIPANTS:

Hitoshi, Charlie, Milo

BACK IN THE GAME

The sight of Elizabeth disappearing into an inky black void in the clutches of a mysterious man played over and over in Milo's mind. He felt his eyes go wide, unblinking. Droplets of cold sweat beaded his brow.

He felt like he was in a trance, or perhaps a dream. Turning slowly, expression frozen with shock, Milo faced both Charlie and Hitoshi, the same question spilling from their lips. It was the same question that raced endlessly through Milo's own mind. Where is she?

Guilt gnawed at the bars of his composure. He felt his heart hammering in his chest as his breath quickened, pulse rising with every moment that passed.

"She..." His words failed him. No, that wasn't it... There simply were no words to describe the enormity of his failure, the totality of it. His mind reminded him once more of how afraid she'd looked, how pleading her eyes were as they disappeared into ether.

"She's gone. Someone took her."

 

[miki]

Little Red

CS Link

scene:

Misery Hates Company

location:

South District, Leaf's Apartment; Early Morning

date:

November 30th, 2021 || Pre-Arc 3

participants:

Leaf

Misery Hates Company

There was something cold about a New Oasis overcast sky. Back home, overcast skies were rich with blue and gray. Crushed up lapis mixed in the sharp shadows of dark clouds, the light of the sun unable to creep through any concentrated points. The air was electric, so that her lungs filled with energy. It was full of promise: that torrential downpour was imminent.

But New Oasis was just gray. Like someone had looked at the blue sky and painted over it with gray. No clouds, no shadows, no lightning, no majesty; just gray.

It was rather depressing, which was unfair since Red was already feeling depressed. Her decompressed posture lined the curve of her spine, her shoulders, and her neck. She sagged as she walked, her path wobbling as she did. Her long red cape followed suit; it billowed from left to the right, right to left, and left to right back again.

Red was feeling overcast herself. She didn’t want to do this in the first place. Not on principle of sponsoring someone—that was fine, in her opinion. Leading baby ducks was easy. But the principle that she had to do it, or else she would be compromised.

It was unfair. She never had to think about this when Papa was alive. And she shouldn’t have to think about it now that he is dead. She had long since proven her worth, and asking her to do more felt like sticks against a bear’s fur.

She came to the conclusion as she stood in front of the apartment complex—she was miserable.

She hated that revelation too. In her burst of hot anger, she dashed over to a potted plant and kicked it over, the concrete encasement shattering. The dirt spilled everywhere, and the plant fell on its side.

She stared at it for a moment. The shattered pieces of a strong foundation, rendered pointless. Dirt speckled in dots in her shoes.

With a neat tuck of her collar and a flourished sweeping of her dress and apron, she walked in the building like nothing had happened.

The markings on the piece of paper, try as she might, were irrelevant to her. She looked at the numbers and couldn’t decipher shit. Luckily, in cases like this, all she had to do was match the number to the number on the wall. She took a sharp left away from the elevator, her irrational fear of the machines laying a reminder in the form of chills down her spine.

Red dashed up the stairs instead. She looked at the first number, until the floor number matched the first number. Then she walked down the hall, looking for the shapes that marked her answer.

When she found the match, she approached his door without any caution, tapping with her knuckles in gentle and quick succession. She heard muttering behind the door, of which didn’t concern her. Whatever roommates he had were irrelevant. Because within seconds, the door was open and her sponsoree was standing before her.

Her big, glossy eyes emerged from the shadows and glistened in the fluorescents of the ceiling. With a saccharine smile, she poked her finger just below her puffy cheekbones.

“Hello~♪ Nice ta meetcha. I’m your sponsor!”

Just as her eyes emerged, they retreated back into her hood’s shadow as she lowered her gaze to her eye level. As quickly as the persona emerged, it faded. He knew what she was. There was no need for semantics.

She pointed at him, before poking the center of his chest with a hard press.

“Your first test…”

The weight of her words were immense. Whatever she proposed next, whatever plan she had crafted, would determine his place in the Phoenixes. A seat at the table, or cast aside. She gestured to him to follow.

…

The weight withered to a feather once they stood in front of their destination.

“I’m hungry!”

Or, perhaps, her childish nature wasn’t an act. Because she skipped right into the fast food chain, wholly serious about her proposal, her humming masking the beating of her heart:

What the fuck is a sponsor test!?

Spoiler

@Haze~

 

[Elenion Aura]

SHEN YUE

CS Link

SCENE:

Clouds at the Summit

TIME:

Pre-Arc 1, March 21st, 2017

LOCATION:

Millennium Hall, East District

PARTICIPANTS:

Hifumi, Bae Family (NPCs), Shen, Others?

CLOUDS AT THE SUMMIT

Shen didn't answer. There was no answer to give.

He remained silent until the topic turned to dreams. Hifumi's question caused a furrow to form across Shen's brow, carving introspective lines into an otherwise serene countenance. Dreams? The notion seemed somehow at once foreign and familiar. His life sometimes felt like a waking dream, flowing like a river to a quiet, unassuming rhythm. Shen had never wanted for anything, be it money, power, or prestige... None of them seemed to be worth the trouble that others often went to to get them. Was there truly more to it? He'd never considered it before, his Dream, except, no... There was something. Perhaps it was wrong to say that he had 'never' considered dreaming, but that, it had been a very long time.

Lost in thought, Shen suddenly looked much younger than he was, like a child gazing off at distant stars.

At last the words came to him, the true desire of his heart.

"One day, I will see the whole world!"

His declaration left no space for doubt or debate. Neither did it leave room for hope... For Shen did not speak it like it was a dream, but instead a promise. And thus, in that moment, Fate was rewritten.

 

[The One Eyed Bandit]

Passeri Park

SCENE:

Sunday Roast

TIME:

October 21st, 2021 | Pre-Arc 3

LOCATION:

Passeri's Penthouse, West District

PARTICIPANTS:

Passeri, Markus

Sunday Roast

"Clearly." A wry inflection licked at Passeri's voice. She wasn't surprised. Rejection, to prick her hands against the thorns that were the Tiger King's thick coat, she'd expected all of that. It wasn't her place, nor her aim, to join her blood-dappled hands with his and sit by his side. If he'd hidden his aims in the shadow, then she'd drowned hers in light.

"But nobody's an island, you know? You should know this pretty well as a businessman; Life's all about connections. How many of those do you have that don't just boil down to shackling them to your hip?"

There was strength in solitude, she knew that better than most. Passeri Park was an inlet. A bar of sand, twinkling on the horizon. Beyond arm's reach, but not the eye's grasp. That was how she'd made her.

But then, what was Markus Weiss? An isle in a sea of frost. There were countless ships in his harbor, all of them frozen in place. People tread on his ice, thinly, and milled about him like flies. But that's all they were. Stranded. Prisoners unto his will. Calling him a King was delusional. What the Tigers had was a warden, an untouchable figure lording over them all. Chains in hand and shielded by the intangible, but whatever the incident was that had turned his penthouse to rubble should've been enough to show him that wasn't going to work forever.

"Shackles of debt, shackles of obligation, shackles of common interest... It's all the same, really. Do you know what people like to do with shackles? Break them." And it was much easier to kill the hand that held them, than it was to shatter one's bonds. "A King needs more than that, right? Subjects and vassals, not slaves."

She sawed at a piece of pork. Markus had stopped eating, she'd noticed, but she hoped his ears were taking in more than his mouth. Food for thought. That was the real meal she'd wanted to feed him, tonight.

"Believe it or not, I want to help, Weiss. If you won't trust me, then at least trust that I'm not suicidal enough to get cute with you." Strife in their ranks. A future where the Tigers' claws turned in on themselves. She'd seen it, bubbling in the shadows, and what once was would be again, if nothing was done about it. She was not keen to see history repeat.

"Don't think of it as partnership, if you don't want to. Just let me help." One word. Four letters. Yet, it'd taken her this long to get to them. "That's all."

It wasn't. Not all of it. But for now, it would have to do.

Elenion Aura​

 

[Elenion Aura]

MUGEN

CS Link

SCENE:

The Hard Way

TIME:

Post-Arc 3, Timeskip 1 | June 4, 2022 | Daytime

LOCATION:

NOPD, West District

PARTICIPANTS:

Hiachi, Mugen

THE HARD WAY

Three things happened immediately following Hiachi's escape from Mugen's grasp. They happened in this order:

First — Mugen let Hiachi go. He didn't waste his time with the weak. Her existence was promptly forgotten. As he laid his eyes on larger prey.

Second — the pair of officers exchanged looks, an unspoken understanding passing between them. They had seen enough. Whatever this man's deal was, they could work it out with him back at the station. It was time to intervene.

Third — the taller officer stepped up. He reached out to not-un-gently grab Mugen by the arm. "Aw'right, aw'right, tha's enough, big fella. Time to g—"




















The next moments were measured by the distance between heartbeats.


















Space blurred. It stretched and contorted. Then it snapped back into place.

There was no thought, only action. The kick had been instinctive, almost reflexive. The next sound was of a body violently tumbling across the ground before crashing into a solid brick and cinder block wall. It echoed through the air.

One moment the tall officer was reaching out, the next, he was airborne, propelled backwards by a monstrous force. It happened so fast, and yet, time seemed to cruelly slow. The way the man's limbs flailed helplessly, the horrific slide across the pavement, the final, sickening crunch, like the sound of a bag of wet cement dropping from an impossible height.

His fellow officer cried out in shock and rage, brandishing his baton and charging Mugen where he stood. All reason forgotten. The commotion had already alerted others inside the building. The square would be swarming with WDPD officers before long. They had kicked the hornets' nest.

Mugen gazed at the crumpled form of a man in the distance, his brow furrowed. Frustration. He was surrounded by weakness. The city was rank with it. An infestation. A rot.

Blood-red energy crackled and danced, igniting the space around him. The air was electric, charged. It hummed. It vibrated. It menaced, like the last moments before a storm.

Space began to distort again. It warped. It rippled.

The asphalt beneath his feet shuddered; gravel and small flecks of pavement trembled and rattled. He was preparing to move, eyes alight with crimson, steaming.

As new foes approached him, Mugen spoke in a low, calm voice.

" 弱いなら、邪魔をしないで。"
( If you're weak, then stay out of the way. )​

 

[Beann]

SAMIRA CALRISSIAN

CS Link

SCENE:

A Summer Breeze Scatters Blossoms

LOCATION:

Katōre, Sankai

PARTICIPANTS:

Ryutaro, Samira

A Summer Breeze Scatters Blossoms

Eighteen years. That was certainly a long time going without seeing family but she knew Ryutaro well enough. He was a busy man; a very successful busy man at that. It was understandable that he couldn’t make time to travel that much outside of Amestria. Or maybe he could? While she considered the two of them to be close in terms of friendship, Ryutaro always exuded an atmosphere of both familiarity and mystery. That was fine with her though, she didn’t need him to divulge every detail about his life considering their casual conversation seemed to be doing the work.

No surprise that he was from a prominent family lineage, and while time changed the dynamic, a few characteristics remained. Samira was interested in hearing more about his grandmother though as she pulled her eyes away from the window again. It would take someone formidable and well-respected to make Ryutaro Hashimoto nervous. Unfortunately, he was quick to change the topic before she could press any further questions about his relatives.

“Telabiim…is like Sankai in a way. The cities are densely populated while the remote areas have a calming beauty. The countryside arguably has the best night skies, with hardly any trees or lights to conceal the stars. However, I do miss the busy cities — Telabiim has done well to preserve cultural architecture and incorporate it into modern use. Very much akin to an oasis.”

joshuadim

 

[thebigfella]

Zentsupa Pei

CS Link

SCENE:

Overcast, in Saline

LOCATION:

Clemency Private Hospital, Central District

TIME:

July 7th, 2022 (Evening) || Post-Arc 3

PARTICIPANTS:

Passeri, Eric, Pei, Dagger, Kiwi, Dante

Overcast, in Saline

The incessant beeps, the dull reminders of the life that hung in the balance, scales of hell or purgatory tipped, rising and failing, but never sat still. The sun had begun to fall beneath the horizon, the orange hues sinking into the floor and basking the wall across the window, casting curtains shadows.

Passeri’s judgment had already been passed, the decision being made to put her one side over the other side. An untold choice, the continuous selections came in succession. Beep, beep, beep. Like the constant pressing of a taped-down button that had its option on “Continue,” or more akin to the continuous ticking down of a digital counter that never seemed to reach zero.

A woman in seafoam-colored scrubs watched the vitals, leaning over to look at them analytically, seeing them stable. The heart continued to beat, the breathing rate stabilized, and temperature and blood pressure had refound their natural balance.

But what of the mind?

There was no equipment to check that. So, the nurse smiled, turning to look at the pale woman in her eyes. Unaware of underlying problems, the things stuffed between the cushions wouldn’t be discovered until they had already been forgotten. She was happy to see her patient recovering, as far as she could understand.

“It looks like you’re already starting to recover, Ms. Park,” the young lady spoke with gentleness, barely above a whisper, as she looked at Passeri with her warm eyes, the look that matched the kindred spirit who would be generous enough to dedicate themselves to help others. They spoke of a higher purpose, satisfied just by seeing that the idol was still living and breathing.

If only everyone could be that simple to please.

She rose to stand back up, moving away from the equipment and turning to reach towards her cart; the various drawers that allowed one to peek through the opaque plastic and see the medical equipment varied from syringes and prescriptions, the worn wheels audibly rolled across the ground as she moved towards the door, prepared to leave Passeri back in the silence of her dimly lit room, to give her the peace of recovery with only the television and the rain against the window to keep her company.

Before she departed, he glanced over her shoulder, giving Passeri that same unaware smile.

“Dinner will be ready soon; you should be good enough to eat solid food now. I’ll make sure they make some for you. Tonight’s Salisbury steak! It’s one of the patients’ favorites,” she notified her, hoping that maybe the possibility of having a good meal would brighten up her day.

With that, she closed the door behind her, letting the bright lights of the hallway irk out and be replaced by the shadows that leaked out from the corners of the room.

“Kekekekek!”

Within the darkness, a crooked smile of glimmering teeth, the laugh of the devil. Whether he had escaped hell to meet her or was greeting her entrance, it was unknown. But, he made his presence known once the two were alone--

“Pi-pi-po♩ , Beginning mission!” An ear-grating shrill robotic voice clamored out as a familiar robotic tin clan rushed out from the shadows, his hollow body clanking as his treadmill feet clattered against the floor, running across the room to Passeri’s bed.

Well, at least alone as they could be.

He stepped out from the darkness with his hands in his pockets, as casual in his stance as his appearance into her room unannounced. How long had he been there, hiding among her? The question was up in the air and probably wouldn’t be answered. But all that mattered was that he was here now.

He seemed to travel light today, the warrior cat and the

“Yo! What’s up, floozy!? Looks like you’re still hanging on by those threads, huh? Kekekekek,” Pei greeted her with all the same brashness; he had not cared for pleasantries when she was bleeding out and suffering, so there was no expectation for it to change now.

But why was he here? Surely, not just to visit, make sure she was doing well, and then go about his day.

The sounds of buzzing overpowered the backing notes of beeping, the focus panning downward onto the tiny robot who was present along with Pei; his antennas had pointed themselves together, forming a connection that blasted bolts of electricity into the controls for the hospital bed that hung from the side, enveloping it in a constant stream of shifting energy. His eyes rolled into the back of its head as his mouth hung open, diverting all of its power until he finished whatever it was.

Like nothing, his antenna separated, and his expression returned to normal, looking towards Pei with his arms triumphantly raised in the air. “Professor! Professor! It’s done!” He shouted, elated, jumping up and down.

“Kekekekek! Looks like you finally did something right for once!” Pei responded, strolling over to stand at the end of Passeri’s bed, chuckling as he reached behind a curtain to pull out exactly what he was looking for: a wheelchair. He positioned it right at her feet, leaning down to barely hide his grin behind the backrest.

“ALRIGHT! PRESS IT!” He ordered, and on command, Q-Bot slammed his mechanical palm against the biggest button on the control.

Like an unloaded spring, the bed flipped upward and forward, flinging the wounded woman out of it like a slingshot through the air, until she landed squarely into the wheelchair, uncomfortable, uneven, and facing backward, getting a close-up view of the mad-man who had decided it fun to play around with her mangled body some more.

“Staying in this dull-ass room isn’t my style! Let’s get you some fresh air! KEKEKEKEKEK!”

There’s no way he was going to really do this, right!?

The One Eyed Bandit

 

[miki]

Hiachi Ito

CS Link

SCENE:

What The Dirt Remembers

LOCATION:

East, Heiwana Sasayaki Summer Camp (Abandoned)

DATE:

May 16, 2022 | 9:57 PM

PARTICIPANTS:

Hiachi, Rem

WHAT THE DIRT REMEMBERS

Warmth grew in her chest, and she could only stare in awe. It was incredible. Rem could remember every detail, just like she had when they were kids. Where Hiachi could barely remember the year it happened, Rem could pinpoint down to the amount of rocks she counted. Rem’s words brought her back into the moment, recrafted with her fragments. A smile threatened at her lips.

But it subsided, as her whimsical nostalgia faded in the presence of her suspicions. She could no longer ignore what she liked. Unease would eat her alive, if she wasn’t backstabbed by the truth before it.

Her mouth flattened back into a line.

It was too easy. Too flawless. Her eyes returned to meet Hiachi’s. They glowed pale green under the moonlight. Unwavering.

She started shaking again—cold because of the breeze, and chilled by a notion that she was being tricked by what she wanted to see. Something was awry. She couldn’t be slighted, not this time.

“I don’t remember, but… How do you remember?”

Paranoia flooded her veins.

Spoiler

gxxberkit