Fantasy [Open] Derika: Land of the Gifted

[JayfeatherRaven]

Saf shook her head. "I'm new here. My Gift was awakened only a few days ago." She explained to Gwen. The girl seemed relatively friendly now that Aurel had left, but Sapphire sort of wished he hadn't gone so quickly. Things would now become more than awkward between her and Gwen, and even though Sapphire knew the importance of making friends in her Faction, she had to fight the urge to run away. "How about you?" She added as an afterthought to keep the polite conversation going.


@WitchOfTape [Would you mind mentioning me if Gwen talks to Saf? I tend to overlook posts that I'm not tagged in. ><]

 

[WitchOfTape]

((@JayfeatherRaven i can definitely do that. ))


~Gwen~


"Darn, I'm new too. I've had my Gift a while, though." She shrugged, looked around. "Not been in town long either. Still trying to find my way around... You wouldn't know any better, would you?"


Moments after she finished speaking, her Z-watch went off and she looked down at it curiously. The urgent message showed on the screen, and she looked back up in slight alarm.

 

[Cakey]

Vilks and Nate had reached the bar without incident, but no sooner had they sat down than Vilks' Z-watch chimed.


'Damn, looks like there's something big going down with the factions. ETG have captured some super powerful Gifted,' Vilks said, scowling a little. How he had looked forward to an afternoon of heavy drinking. Nate raised his glass, full of a mysterious-looking brown liquid in Vilk's general direction.


'I'll drink for you!,' he cheered, sloshing half the pint down in one gulp.


Vilks grabbed his bag and stuff before joining a crowd of other Gifted also leaving the bar, presumably after receiving the message also. Nate hadn't joined the factions, not wanting to bring too much attention to himself and his activities in Brinkhaven, hence him not owning a Z-watch or responding to the message.

 

[Computing Magus]

[Marcus]


As he and Sylvia sit in the many tables of Bobert's Bread, wondering about the disappearance of Proteus, he suddenly felt the urgent message of the Z-Watch, saying a Gifted was in danger of the ETG. The urgency almost made Marcus forget of Proteus and decided,


because of his dormant state, must be some other ability he wasn't told about.


"Hey Sylvia, something urgent seems to be going on. I'm gonna head out first." Marcus said and left Bobert's Bread. He waits for the two still in Bobert's Bread but noticed some people with Z-Watches too and thought that he couldn't wait for long.


[✿Sakura and Umbra☽]


"Hey. Hey. Umbra." Sakura kept bugging. People came in and out of the building they were near like people who flew straight to the building and some woman with a metallic mask. At least it wasn't boring, she thought. Finally, Umbra finally moved again and beckons Sakura to follow. She has no idea where they were going now.

 

[JayfeatherRaven]

"What's going on?" Saf asked, panic creeping into her tone as her own watch began bleeping in sync with Gwen's. "Do we...do we have to do anything?" She asked again, at a complete loss for what to do next.


(@WitchOfTape Thanks! :3)

 

[Ryik]

Lí


When the announcement is made, you can't help but forget all about the strange hat thief. If you know your father, then some old relic can't compare to the golden opportunity to be a genuine hero of justice!


...Well, maybe 'hero of justice' is an exaggeration. Even so, using your powers to protect the weak... in your mind it's nothing short of cinematic. Maybe you're being childish about the whole situation, but you figure it's worth doing at least once in your life. The relic can wait.


You've been thoroughly prepared for combat ever since you arrived on Derika, so you can head right off towards Brinkhaven's front gate. It seems it's finally time for your abilities to see significant use. Bending the very wind to push yourself forth, you zoom through the city and almost bypass the checkpoint when they hold you up and tell you there's a portal taking you directly to the battlefield established in the center of a city. You thank the guard and are about to go flying off in the other direction before they stop you again and tell you there's also a portal at the front gate for schmucks like you. It even has the benefit of no lines. You thank the guard a second time, cringing at your eagerness, before stepping through it without another moment's thought.


When you come out the other side, you find that you've arrived on a portal on the edge of the faction's on-site base of operations. Up ahead you can clearly see a makeshift arrival station of sorts, so clearly the front gate put you at a different location than the ones in the center of the city. You're fairly certain it doesn't matter though. You walk in through the crowd of people, bypassing the preparatory structures and bunches of people pairing up. On the edge of the encampment is a line of soldiers in white uniforms. Upon closer inspection, they appear to be ETG, though when you wave a hand in front of their face, they don't respond.


"Hey you."


You turn to see a grim-looking guy in a hoodie. He doesn't look that much older than you, but his demeanor is noticeably a lot darker. "I?"


He gives you a look before shrugging it off. "Yeah they're ETG. Take a picture, it'll last longer."


You give a sheeping look. "I don't have a camera."


He grimaces. "Then why don't you head off into battle instead of standing around?"


You nod. "You are right." You dash right off, past the ETG soldiers standing there like zombies and to the distant sounds of gunfire. This is it, your first war. You exclaim to yourself with excited fervor. "We started it!"


Your English still sucks ass.


Kitan


Like a prayer answered, your indecision on quests was resolved when a broadcast went out, hand-delivering one into your lap. You must say, you think your ability is well-suited to a 'quest' like this one, and what better debut to your job with the factions than this?


Unlike some schmucks, you keep up with updates provided through your Z-watch, so you head straight for the portal in Brinkhaven's portal room, where a considerable but fast-moving line has accumulated. Not even a few minutes and you're already stepping through one of a few portals and coming out from a portal in a considerably sized canopy tent in what seems to be the factions' makeshift HQ. You're directed forward to keep the lines moving and handed a pamphlet of sorts to go over in order to familiarize yourself with what's going on. You're surprised with the detail of the pamphlet - it entails events that can only have happened very recently. They must be printed on the fly somewhere. The person handing them out may be making them themselves even. Who knows?


The pamphlet details the situation going on. Two of the faction leaders have been called away to deal with important threats ravaging villages near Brinkhaven. Two more faction leaders are dealing with the toughest the ETG have on defense, and the last, Amadeus, leader of the mental faction, is guarding the faction base of operations. Walking down the path, there's a lot of friendly ETG under Amadeus' control. Amadeus is keeping the path clear up to where the factions leaders fight started, which has since veered off. In other words, 'fighting the ETG up to the bulldozed trees is unnecessary'. You're guessing you should stay on the path then. Bulldozed trees are seldom something you want to get to the source of.


It then goes on into detailing a loose outline of the defensive structure in place at the ETG's makeshift base. A barrier (or multiple?) was erected over the crystal, and what appears to be a stone castle was erected inside of it. A crow's nest was built towards the top of the crystal spire, and several scientists and Gifted are working on breaking through the crystal itself. The barrier is guarded in all directions, and what's left of their front line after Amadeus and the fighting faction leaders has dispersed to either the road leading towards the barrier or haphazardly in the surrounding forests, where there were already some to begin with. The pamphlet goes on to warn you about the prospect of mental/sensory Gifted and teleporters, and warns about retaliation if you get rid of a lone soldier.


A war pamphlet like this is kind of cold-blooded in your opinion, but maybe it's just because all the information comes in pamphlet format, which you think was a terrible decision. In any case, you have your general outline, and you don't know anyone here, so you figure you might as well just go straight for the portal. Maybe you can talk your way in? Ahah... ahahaha...


Really though, where are you going to find a partner?


Xzyckxse


As more ETG got brought in by a pair of teleporters, you decided it unwise to remain in your current location. Naturally, you decided to retreat.


You've received no further orders from Aaron, but that doesn't mean he hasn't mentioned something with feigned casualnes. It seems a fight has broken out between the factions' very own Kirin and Akira with some characters of interest from the ETG. Analyzing curtain fire of other Gifted is the easiest way to create elegances for your duel system, and it's exactly what Aaron wanted you to do for his 'research' into letting you 'copy' abilities. Honestly, you were expecting better. If it sounds like an incredible thing to do, you'd be overestimating Aaron like you did until you realized what he actually hopes to achieve. Maybe you should just focus on developing an actually *useful* system to use yourself.


You know Valen's intended part in the equation is inapplicable now, but you still can't help but feel miffed that he actually got out of doing what Aaron asked of him. Truly, there is a first for everything. Maybe Valen was subterfuge so you'd go along with helping him make a system so worthless. Truly, your 'father' is a mystery.

 

[WitchOfTape]

~Gwen~


"Well... Read it. Looks like there's some important Gifted in trouble. ETG trouble." She wasn't sure what to think of that. With mixed emotions she took out her phone and earbuds, plugging them in and putting one bud in, pulling up a certain set of songs. When she was done with that, she spent a moment carefully securing her phone in a pocket and then, the earbud's wire close to her, touching the inline controls out of nervous habit.


"They probably need people. I've no idea what your Gift is, but if it's at all combat useful, you would probably be useful. If not, I imagine there would probably be guns available." Chilly and professional. It's amazing how quickly you can pick it back up in hard times. Hopefully, there wouldn't be anyone who could recognize her.


"I'm going, unless there's something better to be done. You?"


(( @JayfeatherRaven ))

 

[JayfeatherRaven]

Gwen was startlingly calm, and though Saf was fretting inside, she too kept a cool demeanor. She knew she couldn't freak out every time an emergency happened, and now that she'd joined the Factions, she was just going to have to adapt to these sudden missions. She nodded towards Gwen and began twisting the bracelet on her wrist anxiously. "Let's go." She said, praying that whatever mission the Factions had assigned, it wouldn't require her Gift in any way. A gun would have to suffice.


@WitchOfTape

 

[Alrekr]

Beatrice roamed Derika, seeking adventure and yet the physical guild. Her stomach growls with hunger and she lets off a frustrated sigh. Of course, she had many options of meat, but after what happened back where she was raised... She was only going to eat meat if she needed. Other than that, she was a dedicated vegetarian. She picks up the pace, getting nearer to the Physical guild, while avoiding the wilderness the best she could. She keeps going and going, after a long period of fear, she finally makes it. The Physical guild. She would walk in, smelling a bit, panting as she went over to the recruitment area. As she did this, she realised: Im thirsty!. She checks her slightly bloodied jacket for some extra cash and with luck, she found 50 cents. She looks around for a drink machine or whatever they were called and walks over to it. She inspects the right panel and reads the instructions. "Easy enough..." She mubles to herself, inserting the coins and inputting the three digit code for a juice box. She reaches under the flap and pulls it out, inserting a straw. She drinks from the sweet liquid greedily, finishing and quenching her thirst in no time. Now, to get back to her main objective. She goes inside the recruitment area and speaks with an offical. Beatrice explains her Gift and such and in no time, she's accepted. She recieves her complementary items and thanks the person who gave them. Beatrice puts on all of the items that need to be put on and lets out a sigh, sitting on a bench out of exhaustion. She was alone for the moment with only thoughts of her mother. Beatrice clenches her fist in anger. She didnt care much for the important alert as her mind already felt as dense as lead.


@ Anyone. [im open.]

 

[IceSolstice]

((Mattie should be coming up with an ETG post soon))


[Kuhaku]


Haku's mind was in chaos ever since she received the notification. What was she going to do now? It's required of her to participate in the battle, but she didn't want to reveal that she's still alive--assuming the ETG's intelligence network had weak footholds in Brinkhaven. Surely they'd try to bring her back? Or simply label her as a traitor and execute her whenever possible.


Haku decides to take a walk around the city to clear her head. Maybe she'll even bump into the lady from earlier.


Slightly cheered up, she exits the physical faction building and strolls around, taking in the sights. There were the five faction buildings standing proudly, arranged in a pentagon with the Faction's headquarters in the center.


As Haku saunters about the city, she spies a woman with white hair like her. Intrigued, she goes over to the female, only to notice that the person's jacket is slightly bloodstained.


"Where did that blood come from?" Haku asks the sitting woman warily.


@arialc




[Alice]


Alice is situated in an all-purpose meeting room, empty save for the one man in front of her. The chairs are all neatly pushed into the long rectangular table. A single light is on, its luminescence reflecting off of the man's glasses. A hologram of the crystal spire and current positions of the enemies sits on the table between the two in the dim environment.


"As you can clearly see, the ETG have put up a formidable defense. We need you to supervise the new members on the battlefield. They are not to go to the front lines with sufficient combat Gifts or preparation," Clyde lectures her.


"I'll do my best!" Alice replies cheerfully.


"Until then, you are free to do anything that will give us an advantage. You are dismissed."


Alice nods and goes to retrieve her battle gear from her room, saying a brief hello to Vix and the cat. Soon, she's wearing customized armor with a bunch of very sharp swords and durable shields floating around her.


"Today will be another day to enact justice!" Alice exclaims happily to no one is particular.

 

[Alrekr]

When Beatrice heard some woman ask such a thing without introducing herself, she got a bit pissy. A stickler for introductions. "Why would that ever be any of your damned business?" She asks, mean from the get go. Then again, she realized she looked like a serial killer from then. She slouches forward, elbows on her thighs with her arms holding up her head. "Sorry, sorry... Im in a massive shit mood right now. And since you were brave enough to ask from my appearance, I guess I'll be brief. It's related to my Gift." Beatrice telld the woman next to her, similar white hair. "Part of the reason I am wearing the jacket aswell." Beatrice adds on. "I am Beatrice Laplace... I usually went by La Croix." Beatrice introduces herself, mentally noting not to scare this woman away. "Who are you?" Beatrice asks, expecting a similar answer. She straightens up a little on the bench.


@IceSolstice

 

[IceSolstice]

[Kuhaku]


Haku nods to Beatrice's reply, relatively unfazed to her outburst. Considering the white-haired woman's reaction to her, she is probably new to the Factions. A lot of people are, as of today.


"My name is Haku. I'm in the Physical Faction. Are you new?" she replies curtly.


Haku also wonders what kind of Gift Beatrice had, for her bloodstained jacket to be part of her Gift. Aside from the white hair and blood, the woman seemed relatively normal. Then again, Haku also appeared to be normal on the outside. Most Gifted did, in any case.


She still didn't know what to do about the notice. Haku is itching to strike back at the ETG, but was afraid of the consequences for doing so.


@arialc

 

[Computing Magus]

[Marcus]


He couldn't wait any longer for the two still inside the shop. He'll just have to go on ahead first then maybe he might hopefully meet with them sooner or later. Hopefully. He heads towards the location that the Z-Watch indicated him to.


[✿Sakura and Umbra☽]


Sakura was led around by Umbra around Brinkhaven again. Not having any idea what he was up to and that he acts as the adult, Sakura followed her guardian. It was a bit of a long walk. Umbra seemed to be trying to find something but he won't answer what it was. After a few more minutes, Sakura spotted two women, one with a jacket that was stained with blood. These might be the people Umbra was looking for because he stopped to turn and walked towards them. Sakura followed. Umbra whispered into Sakura's ear which is the question Sakura would ask.


"Hello, may I know where we-- er I can apply for a faction?" Sakura asked, not knowing what she was talking about.

 

[Mattie]

[Liam, Jake, Abby, and Edonis at differing times]


~Somewhere in Collab A, in a slummy part of Brinkhaven~


Before Liam could clamber out the window and steal a suitcase full of drug-laced cereal from an old lady, an unexpected face literally pops up. Jake Barker flickers into view and grabs Liam’s wrist. A moment later, the two were on some rooftop, Jake saying calmly as ever, “Come with me, there’s no time to explain.”


Far past the point of becoming accustomed to this happening, Liam takes it in stride, asking, “So, ETG?”


---


The 15-teen year old Mental Gifted girl in a long white lab coat pushes her long black hair out of her eyes and looks up from her Z-Watch, lost in thought.


Fighting was dangerous, and Abbey was a soft target. But the Factions losing meant ETG winning, and she hadn’t satisfied her grudge just yet. Holding her up however, was a deactivated bomb and an unknown quantity of drugs being carried by her newfound acquaintance.


“Edo, you planning on joining the fight?” Abby asks plainly. Bringing the briefcase into the Faction building wasn’t going to happen.


Fight? What? “I’m not concerned about some little faction issue you have.”


“Good, you shouldn’t be--you’d only get in the way.” The girl smiles thinly.


“Hmm. Ok bye.” Edonis leaves. Fast. Gotta go fast.


“Waaaait! Drop me off at a Faction Building dammit!” Abby runs after Edonis, tugging on his shirt.


“Seriously? You’re making me go all the way over there?” Edonis exclaimed.


“Do I look old enough to drive?”


You can take a ride on me anytime~ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


Abby stands there blankly, horrified--no, terrified. Did he really just say that out loud?


Will immense force of will that even she didn’t know she had, she forces her expression into neutral to set up for what she’d do next.


Inwardly suppressing her desire to gag and run away, Abby lets her lab coat slide partially down her shoulders, exposing her very wet, thin, cotton T shirt beneath. Sauntering up to Edonis with a lewd expression equipped, she licks her lips and says, “J-Just how hard can you m-make your m-metal?”


“Ha! I see what you’re trying to do! Your lewd advances will only steel my virginity!”


Abby runs away crying, her maidenhood screaming in fear.


With an additional incriminating recording on her Z-Watch.


--


Watching the girl run off, Edonis held a confused expression for a brief period of time before realizing the case was still on the ground. Rapture was messily piled over the edge, and slightly strewn about the area around the case. Abbey’s sopping wet attire had dripped liquids all over most of the drug, ruining most of it. He roughly shoved the salvageable leaves back into the new defunct bomb case, and clasped it shut. Looked good as new. He considered continuing the delivery, but decided against it, as this job was far more than ruined.


Glancing at his phone, he looked at the map, the delivery location wasn’t actually that far away anymore… maybe he could drop the package and run before they notice anything wrong with it. Brilliant strategy, cause a gang war or something because a bomb didn’t work when they wanted to.


Focusing on the bomb defusal had tired him out quite a bit, so he folded his metallic wings together and attached them back onto his armor. Now with everything connected, he could just focus on using his Gift for moving himself in the armor to conserve energy. Appearance-wise, he shifted the exterior of the armor to a style of medieval armor, the last have saw on Instagram. With this new disguise on the streets, he was able to go undetected the rest of the trip to the delivery address. He dropped the less than desireable bombcase on the the doorstep and knocked. Moments later, a gloved hand reaches out from a dog door at his feet, and replaces the case with a thick envelope, likely containing the money. Time for Edonis to run before they open that case.


---


Needing to stop back at their respective apartments to get equipped for battle, Liam and Jake split ways. Liam exchanges his survival gear for more offensive mass, fresh water and rations being dropped off in place of pressured chemicals and incendiary liquids. In another location, Jake fully loads himself with micro-explosives and other weapons, Nariko helping him equip some. After kissing his girlfriend goodbye (She was still recovering from her latest fight), Jake blinks back to Liam and the two walk through a Faction portal only moments later.


The frontlines were messy, seemingly chaotic, but with a hidden air of order beneath the hurried movements and loud dialogue. This wasn’t their first fight--the Barkers brothers knew what they needed and sought out the right individuals. Jake’s teleportation would allow him and anyone he brought to get the drop on soldiers and escape unharmed, but he couldn’t bring too many people at once. The ex-ETG Agent also lacked versatile firepower, which could be considered Liam’s forte. The older brother had firepower in spades, but could only move at the pace of a normal human--fatally slow when compared to other Gifted. Together, the two only needed protection against Mental attacks, which at least one Gifted was bound to provide.


Neither Barker cared which Gifted eventually granted them the protection, but eventually they were assured they’d have a measure of defence against mind-targeting Gifts for the next fifteen minutes--more than enough time. The controlled ETG soldiers lined up against one side of the encampment are ignored. They would have liked to kill them, but it would be protested against by other faction members and that would just delay them. With another teleport, they reach the front lines, a ragged line of Gifted either freshly returning or preparing to head off into the battle.


The fight itself wasn’t clearly visible. The trees of the forest obscured most of the fight, but flashes of light and the cracks of gunfire rang out on occasion.


“Ready?” Jake asks calmly, drawing a machine pistol and flicking the safety off.


“Let’s go.” Liam replies, stepping into position in front of Jake. The younger brother places a hand on Liam’s shoulder and the teleport into the forest, relying on speed and surprise to keep them safe. The ETG barriers, some clearly visible as they reached into the sky, was their planned limit--any farther than that and they’d be in too much danger. The outskirts around the barrier, where the front-line guards roamed, was their hunting grounds for now.


Rapid jumps through the forest only bring them silence at first. The marks of battle can be seen in the torn soil and ravaged trees, but also smelt through the aroma of gunpowder and blood. Before long however, a clash between Gifted draws their attention.


The deep, reverberating sounds of clashing, shrieking metal slice through the surroundings. Flashes of sparks throw the details of the three Gifted fighting into harsh relief. It was two against one, a giant and a small, indistinct figure against a black suited one. The gold trim on the black suit indicated that the Gifted was ETG. Broken, shattered tree trunks and fallen trees littered the ground, creating an irregular, unstable terrain. Against the ETG agent are two faction members, a massive person and an arrogant youth. The giant was truly so, at least thrice the height of a normal man and completely covered in small snakes courtesy of the second Faction Gifted. The coils of the snakes obscured every inch of the man’s massive warrior-like body, and the scales of the snake shone with a metallic sheen. The titan moved with considerable speed, each strike of his hands bringing immense force. Every blow was either dodged or blocked by the ETG agent with one of the six massive ancient-looking copper swords, all roughly a foot wide and six feet long, hovering around the ETG Agent’s body. Hundreds of metal ball bearings floated around the second faction Gifted, a young boy with an arrogant expression in his face. He accelerated the bearings fast enough to puncture a tree trunk at least a few feet in diameter without stopping. Even more amazingly, the Agent, slender to the point of being androgynous, moved with incredible speed and precision to dodge dozens of the metal projectiles by a hairsbreadth.


Without any indication that the Agent had noticed them, one of the six copper swords flies at the pair faster than an arrow. Still, Jake was faster, and teleports himself and his brother to the side of the Agent. In this position, they’d be able to flank the ETG Gifted without worrying about friendly fire. The copper sword continues forward, cutting down several trees before vanishing and rejoining the other five. Where Jake and Liam had been, reinforcements teleport in, three men clad in white and gold armor, one with a sword and two with rifles.


“I’ll take the Agent.” Jake orders curtly, disappearing in a blink before a response could come.


“Sure sure, it’s not like your poor brother is outnumbered or anything...” Liam complains sarcastically to himself as he cracks his neck. At the last second he remembers that the soldiers might have antinite bullets and panics, throwing himself sideways with a burst of air from his Trick House. Bullets tear through the air moments later and Liam sighs, his back to a tree. This might actually get me killed at this rate.


While Liam cowers behind the rapidly less structurally sound tree trunk, the Physical Gifted with the sword closes the distance. Liam steps out from behind the tree as the Gifted gets within thirty feet. Emitting a horrifyingly bright light from one upraised hand, Liam obscures the aim of the two soldiers shooting at him, as well as blinding the sword-wielder dashing forward. Liam raises the other palm and fires a salvo of munitions from his Trick House. To conserve ammo yet use it efficiently, he fires a cluster of sniper rounds at the Gifted’s chest. Still blinded by the equivalent of the sun that Liam was emitting, the ETG Physical Gifted is caught full-on in the chest and flies backward, crashing into a tree. There was barely and blood however, and the Gifted stirred immediately.


The soldiers were starting to fight past the bright light by now, and began to fire rounds blindly at the source of the light. Shots began to land closer and closer to Liam that comfortable, and he launches a short torrent of superheated metal at the gunmen to distract them. Firing a bullet every few steps at the ETG Gifted to keep him down, Liam launches a torrent of pressurized acid into the Gifted’s face that began to burn past cloth and flesh immediately. The man screams in agony as his flesh melts, a foolish move (or is it?) as the acid enters his throat and lungs, granting him a swift death. A thin film of expelled water all over the front of Liam’s body prevents any droplets of acid from accidentally burning him. After ensuring the Gifted was dead, a burst of air clears the water off and Liam deals with the soldiers. Taking cover once more behind a tree, Liam extends only a finger and lets tiny amounts of light absorbed from his fingertip act as his eyes. After a few moments interpreting the light flow, he determines their positions and fires a laser from his finger at each soldier. Small neat yellow beams of light punch through the soldier’s heads and through the other side, an instantaneous kill.


All in all, Liam had used fifteen seconds of sunlight, seven sniper rounds, a half a liter of acid, a handful of accelerated metal, and two small lasers.


---


The younger Barker appeared closer to the three Gifted clashing, the bodies of the faction members between himself and the ETG reinforcements. No sense in putting himself in direct danger. Jake fires a few rounds toward the ETG Agent more as a show of good faith toward the faction members than anything, as he knew none of the rounds would hit. Sure enough, the Agent places his or her body out of the path of fire before each shot even came close. The faction members, although wary of Jake at first, return to fighting the ETG Agent with newfound ferocity, perhaps spurred on by the appearance of an ally.


Explosives directly behind the Agent would injure them and throw them off, but his explosives weren’t strong enough to finish them in one hit. Jake watches the fight intently, focusing especially on how the Agent reacted to every incoming attack. The black-clad Gifted never had to actively see any incoming attack from the ball bearings, but managed to dodge them all fluidly. Somehow, the Agent could see everything around them without needing to move their head. It fit with the attack aimed at Jake and Liam at the very start of the fight.


Jake pulls out a grenade and pulls the pin, counting down the seconds before detonation. Just before it exploded, he teleports it behind the Agent. Already prepared for the grenade, a sword shifts behind the Agent to take the force of the blast. At the same time as the grenade however, Jake teleports small explosives along the face of the two of the Agent’s defending swords. The explosives push the swords out of position and the giant’s next blow catches the ETG Agent head-on, sending him or her flying backward with a wet snapping sound.


Despite the grievous wound, the Agent spins in midair to crouch sideways on a copper sword to gradually slow down. The young boy didn’t give the Agent the chance, overwhelming the Agent with sheer mass of ball bearings before any evasion could be taken.


The moment the ETG Agent died, reinforcements rapidly flicker onto the scene, soldiers wearing both black and white. Jake’s blood runs cold and a horrid sense of danger fill him. He immediately blinks to the youth and then Liam before teleporting away. The giant would have been too large to teleport out. The trio of Gifted return to the base camp, whereupon the young boy breaks away from Jake snarling and cursing fiercely.


“You left him! Bring me back! He’ll die, don’t you care?!” The boy shouts at Jake’s impassive form. His cries fall on uncaring ears--Jake teleports away with Liam before the young boy could do anything drastic. Liam might have been fine, but Jake was spent from the consecutive teleports and needed to rest. Even escaping that quickly brought his stores dangerously low, and that was without the giant. And a return for rescue would be a suicide attempt anyways--that many soldiers and Gifted would be unnecessarily risky to take on.


Suddenly left alone, the boy sprints off to find others willing to help him rescue his friend.

 

[WitchOfTape]

~Gwen~





She nodded, pulling up a map on her z-watch to locate the nearest portal. "Looks like the nearest portal is in the faction building." So she turned to walk in that direction, glancing at Saf as she went. "Say, what is your Gift, anyway? Might be a good thing to know, since if we're going together we might as well stick together." Gwen asked, playing a song through her singly worn earbud.


@JayfeatherRaven

 

[IceSolstice]

[Kuhaku]


Before Beatrice replied, a young girl walks up to them and asks them where she can apply for the Factions. Haku supposes she could show someone else where the building was. Again. She might as well put up with it for now. On other days Haku shouldn’t be bothered as much about recruitment.


“Follow me,” Haku responds to the newcomer’s question.


Haku gives Beatrice an apologetic glance, leaving an unasked question of whether or not Beatrice would like to accompany the two.


@Computing Magus @arialc


((Feel free to party control Haku there))




((Credit to Mattie for controlling the ETG))


[Alice]


Ah, the battlefield field of justice is the same as usual. The cries, whether panicked or victorious, are simply indicators that everyone is trying their best. The faction members recognize Alice immediately and quite a few defer to her, asking what she needs. Alice looks around and notices that the recruits under her care haven't arrived yet, so she was free to do whatever she pleased. Not that she really did anything different anyways.


She replies with, "I want my team!"


Two Gifted go with her, forming a small group of a mental protection Gifted, a barrier Gifted, and her. They wait until Alice creates wings on them to follow.


"Full speed ahead!" Alice exclaims enthusiastically.


They barrel towards a group of white uniform ETG soldiers, essentially grunts. Most of them were staring intently ahead for signs of movement, but Alice's group was above them. One of the soldiers spots her and turns deathly pale. They knew of her exploits, and what could Alice say? She was certainly good at enacting justice and wiping out evildoers. Before he could cry out a full warning, wings sprout from the soldiers’ guns, piercing their hands.


"Did you guys miss me?" Alice smiles at the group.


They don’t answer and simply try to flee from her. There was almost no point in fighting since whatever equipment they had would be used against them. One of them attempts to reach down to pull out a flashbang or smoke grenade, but Alice counters it with wings on their arms and forces them upward away from their pockets.


“You guys aren’t going anywhere,” Alice says in a singsong voice.


Wings sprout from their body armor and the group is tossed back towards her. Alice’s swords fly at the ETG, essentially sitting ducks now, and pierce them fatally. The ones not dead from the first round are quickly stabbed several times. Four corpses lay on the ground and the group retreats to ambush another squad. They repeat this process three more times, whittling down around twelve ETG soldiers total. Ambushing the small groups was the most effective tactic, since they had the initiative to strike heavily and the mobility to leave quickly.


The ETG formations for this battle were small squads of 4 non-Gifted and larger squads of 8-12 non-Gifted accompanied by at least 2 Gifted. Information about the movements of the more powerful ETG members, agents were unknown. And ETG response teams tended to be quite unpredictable, except for that they tried to counter the perpetrator.


After the third squad of soldiers had died, HQ brought together a response team of defensive, mobility, and tracking Gifted. They were going to confront Alice upon the next attack. In the meantime, all nearby squads are instructed to back away from Alice’s location to buy more time for the response team to prepare.


Alice’s profile was well known--a powerful faction member with high authority and a versatile, dangerous Gift that was incredibly difficult to defend against. In addition, her mobility meant that she had been able to escape from dangerous situations countless times before. To counter this, a combination of offensive and defensive Gifted are proposed, but are nixed as Alice’s wing formation wasn’t hindered by barriers. Instead, Agent Astor declares he’ll handle Alice. Support was both unnecessary and impossible--as an AR-3, Astor had a processor and the enhancements to make him effective alone, and his Gift-- short-range telekinesis--wouldn’t allow him to protect anyone else.


Tall and powerfully built, with a physique enhanced and perfected by the medley of Gifts used to correct Agent’s of his rank, Astor cut an imposing figure. His black and gold body armor was surrounded by hundreds of four-pointed shurikens that served as both projectiles and extremely mobile shields when clustered. To add to his offensive capabilities, Agent Astor wielded a massive glaive with a long chain leading to a steel ball at the end. While the flail was encased in an antinite casing, the internals were normal metal, allowing Astor to move the weapon freely.


The moment the fourth squadron encounters Alice, their minds are read to confirm Alice’s presence and companions the moment before they die. Having been prepared to teleport in for minutes now, the transfer occurs instantly and Astor appears above the fallen soldiers.


Alice greets the newcomer, “Hey, I’ve been waiting for you! What’s your name?”


She readies herself mentally though, the ETG must’ve sent someone that could deal with her abilities effectively.


“You never asked for their names.” Astor relies curtly, opening up with a flurry of hyper-accelerated shurikens as he charges forward at her team, glaive in hand.


Alice grins, this was going to be fun.


She draws her shields close to the cluster, Alice couldn’t be sure that the enemy Gifted could loop the shurikens around to her back too. Otherwise, she would’ve wanted to focus them in the front and sides.


“Because time could not be wasted,” Alice retorts, “In different circumstances I would have.”


The shurikens collide with the shields heavily, some shurikens even embedded into the surfaces.


Alice sends out a counter attack of her own, a few swords cut through the air towards the Agent.


The swords are stopped dead in an embrace of shurikens, the throwing stars arranged around each sword so neatly, it was as if the sword were caught and not blocked. Ignoring the swords, Agent Astor swings the glaive around horizontally at their left side with deceptive ease, intent on smashing through both the shields and the Gifted both.


Alice flies up while simultaneously adding another set of wings to her fellow party members to speed up their ascent as well. Alice dodges it fine, but her teammates narrowly avoid the glaive.


Unphased by the miss, Astor preserves his momentum and spins with the glaive, using his Gift to spiral into the air for an upward slash, as well as shooting a few more shurikens.


The shurikens bounce off or sink into the shields harmlessly, but the main problem is the incoming unnecessarily large weapon. Alice gets the party to accelerate back while gathering a bunch of petals and medium sized stones with her Gift, intent on using them to obscure the Agent’s vision. There’s a chance that the Agent had a processor, but maybe it would buy them a little time. A vortex of petals and stones surge up from below to surround the ETG member. Alice pushes a button and calls for backup on her Z-Watch while making a tactical retreat. There was no point in prolonging this engagement. Clearly Alice couldn’t harm the Agent with long range attacks and with the undulating shell of shurikens, she couldn’t get close either. Alice flies as fast as she can towards the faction side of the battlefield, taking her two comrades with her.


Astor follows after her, hanging back once he reached the extreme edge of his sensory coverage. Alice couldn’t be easily killed, but Astor could reliably stop her. With the support of even one good long-ranged attacking Gift, or another one or two Gifted to pin Alice down, Astor could prevent her from escaping and overwhelm her with brute strength.


True to the ETG, they really did send someone that could neutralize Alice. The fight went pretty much to a standstill, with her on the defensive. The giant glaive with a ball and chain were encased in antinite, making her unable to manipulate them during the fight. Neither side was harmed in the engagement, but Alice was forced to back off. The Agent would have most certainly been reinforced by other Gifted to take her out if she stayed.


For now though, Alice would return to camp, rest up, get her gear repaired, and prepare to meet the recruits under her charge.




[Aurel]


Aurel shouldn’t have been surprised by the chaos. He even saw it on screen this afternoon. But the scene in front of him is surreal. No, it was surreal in the fact that it is real. He notices the stash of weapons and gear and inquires the uniformed faction member about them.


“Take what you like, just remember to return them. Do you need help figuring what works for you?” the man replies kindly.


“Yes, I’d like to know what would be best suited with my Gift,” Aurel responds, “I can become intangible and command friendly Derikan wildlife.”


The man ponders for a bit.


“Some aether clothes and an aether dagger would probably be best then. You can easily get up close to others without worry and stab them with this,” he hands Aurel a dagger and sizes him up, “These clothes should fit you too.”


“Thank you,” Aurel picks up the set of clothes the man indicated.


After he was changed, he spies a nearby vulture circling overhead. Aurel asks mentally how the situation is up ahead, and the scavenger squawks back. Apparently the frontlines were rife of conflict and bloodshed, as is logical. He sends back a mental thank you to the bird. As Aurel approaches the frontlines, he turns himself intangible, Mimi naturally does the same. A stray bullet or two could easily end him here, so it is infinitely better to be safe than sorry. Aurel casually stands off to the side, observing the battle unfold in front of him. This is the first time he’s ever fought the ETG, it would be unwise to rush in. Aurel is perfectly content to just observe for now.

 

[Alrekr]

Beatrice nods to her question. "Yeah, Im new. Not even from the citt." She says, seeing someone else approach them. "I applied into the Physical faction in the building. I dunno about the other factions." Beatrice says, shrugging. "Go ahead snd go if you want. I dont know the town much at all any-how." Beatrice says, leaning back.

 

[JayfeatherRaven]

Saf followed Gwen back into the building, falling into step beside her. She took her time to mull over the simple question, wondering how to explain her complicated ability. When she realized that they were approaching the portal, she shrugged and finally answered, "It's nothing special. I can nullify the powers of other Gifted." She brushed off the topic as if it was of no importance. "What about you? Something to do with animals, I suppose?" In her haste to change the subject, Saf had taken a shot in the dark, based solely on the observation of the girl bonding with the stray kitten. But now that she'd reconsidered it, it was most likely that the other boy who possessed such a Gift. After all, the feline had scooted over to him instantly at the sound of his voice.


@WitchOfTape

 

[Computing Magus]

[✿Sakura and Umbra☽]


"Thanks." Sakura replied and she follows the woman with white hair. Umbra walks with his hand on Sakura's shoulder. They walk for a few minutes.


"Umbra, what are we gonna do?" Sakura asked but Umbra remained quiet. She hated it when he never explained and pouted at him, to whom did not notice the expression. After a few minutes, they reach a building. Sakura wondered what Umbra was up to.


"Proceed inside. You can sign up for a faction here." Kuhaku said. Sakura replies with a thank you and enters the building. Inside, Umbra said to make him visible to people for a little while and Sakura did, blinking once then said "sight". After a few seconds to make sure that he was really being batted eyes with some other people, Umbra led the way to get a form. He told Sakura that she should fill up the form. Sakura did and occasionally ran to a few problems, not knowing what to write in some of the spaces. Umbra helped a bit and after a few minutes of a repetitive "What's this and that", they finished and passed the form. A few minutes later, a man came to lead them where she can demonstrate her Gift.

 

[DiShuRu]

Sylvester would lousily walk throughout the residential area of Derika. Hands in his pockets, back slouched, eyes tired. "Rough night." He tells himself. He knew exactly where to go however, to the Elemental Guild of Derika. He could control Air and the Gasses within that, so he would be a perfect fit. Right? Anyhow, he straightens up his back, like his Pa told 'em. Despite the fear and rejection from his family over a decade ago, he still loved them and followed their life rules. Straighten up little soldier. When you grow up, get outta this cafe business and go make your country and city proud. Sylvester dwelled his inner thoughts before crashing back into reality. Like the Old Geezer Jones said, dreamscapes are scary. Almost immediately after getting into reality, Sylvester bumps into a woman while he walked. A feisty one too, instantaneously threatening him to freeze him on the inside out. "Ehm... Apologies Miss." Sylvester excuses and apologizes, despite her hostility. Another Pa lesson. Treat women with respect 100% of the time unless your life, including things that allow you to life, is on the line. Sylvester thought again about his past and Pa, Ma, Madelyn, Sasha... "Damn." After pondering his life, he eventually made his way to the Elemental Guild. He walks in without hesitation, making a sharp right instantly to where the recruitment area would be. A female recruitment member, with a rather large bust, asks him to fill out a form. Sylvester nods, taking the paper and pen with some rather simple info.


Name: Sylvester McKane


Age: 22


Gift: Control Gaseous Elements


Previous Guild History: No


Awakened or Natural: Awakened


He returns the application and soon he is accepted with notifivation of the same female. Sylvester thanks her after recieving the complementary gear, walks out infront of the recruitment area, and rests on a bench, deep into some thought.

 

[WitchOfTape]

~Gwen~





She looked at her companion with new eyes now that she had stated her Gift. Surely, it could be useful in testing newly digitalized ones...


"That must be pretty interesting. No, my Gift's got nothing to do with animals. I can copy others' gifts, and store them." Gwen gave a half smile.


"I wouldn't mind something to do with animals, though."


They would probably soon reach the portal.


@JayfeatherRaven

 

[Ampurra]

Kris walked away from the thinning recruitment crowd, his two ghostly copies floating around him. After a short while, he arrived at the Mental building and proceeded to apply to join said faction. When Kris was sent to show his ability, he arrived in a well-lit room, with only a single person in the center of it. After an incredibly loud voice told him to use his powers on the person, he asked the two brain ghosts to please kindly go to the person and show that they exist. The ghosts decided to comply, and moved their focus to the person, who did not seem pleased about this entire thing and must have been quite tired after all of this testing. Once Kris saw that they had stopped using him as their "host", he laid down on the ground and tried to fall asleep. It took a few minutes, but eventually he woke up as his dream ghost and proceeded to walk around and let the judges know about his existence. A few minutes after he had done so, the loud voice told him to stop and let the tester leave to go tell them about his results.


After the Mental faction had (naturally) accepted Kris, he left the building with a brand new badge and Z-Watch. Unfortunately, he completely forgot to ask if he had any activities that needed his assistance, and went to get some of his newly earned free food.

 

[Sheepy]

((Collab wif neggy))


~Vix & Mayu~


Vix babbles happily to her kitty. The cat purrs gently back in response and nuzzles her slime friend.


“Meow meow, Ms. kitty?”


Mayu chirrups up at Vix before squirming around in the slime’s arms. The cat was anxious to be set down. She was hungry for food.


Vix whines but sets the cat down “Wai you no want holdens?” The cat looks up at Vix and tilts her head to the side slightly right before scampering over to the bag of cat food Alice had just bought. The wittle kitty pawed at the bag.


“OH! Yous hungwy,” Vix gets a bowl and puts some of the food in it for the kitten.


Mayu chirrups happily and stares at the bowl intently, longing for the bowl to be set down within her reach.


“Dish what you want?” Vix teases for a moment before setting to bowl down. Mayu mews angrily at the terrible pun, but forgives the slime after she is allowed to dig into the scrumptious mixture of chicken, meats, and fish. The starving stray practically licked the bowl clean and meowed contently after she finished her meal.


“Meow meow meow?”


“Mrrow mwrooow” replied the cat.


“MrRrRRRRRrrrrRRRrrow?”


“Mwrow,” purred Mayu as she strode back over to Vix and rubbed up against the friendly slime.


By this point vix is so excited she has reached maximum floofage, her cat ears are twitching, and she damn near has grown a tail.


Mayu, surprised that the slime had adapted cat-like ears, mewed loudly up at her favorite slime friend.


“MRRoW!” Vix reaches over and boops the cat on the nose.


Mayu chirrups. Nose boops, what an interesting, delightful concept, the cat thought to herself.


“So was your name Ms. kitteh?”


“Mrrroooow~,” purrs the kitteh.


“Your name is mrow? Are you being siwwy?”


Mayu shakes her head no and tries again, “Mrrroooooooow.”


“Mr-ow? Mr-oo? “ Vix questions not at all considering that the cat didn't understand her.


Mayu sighs and shakes her head no again. She didn’t want to try answer her slime friend’s questions, because she knew she couldn’t reply in an understandable form.


“It's okay kitty it's hard to talk isn't it.“ Vix says giving the cat more ear scratches.


Mayu purrs contently, agreeing with Vix’s comment and vibrating as she enjoys the soothing ear scratchies.


“So wa you wanna do now kitteh?”


Mayu strides over to the pile of new toys that Alice, Vix, and she picked out at the pet store, and paws at the toy mouse plush with the long tail. Picking up the toy with her mouth, she returns to her slime friend and drops the toy at the slime’s feet, ready to play.


Vix gasps dropping down to pick up the toy whispering while dangling the toy in front of her, ”does kitteh wanna pway?”


Mesmerized by the toy mouse swinging slightly side-to-side in the air in front of her, Mayu chirrups in reply to Vix’s question. She was sooo ready to pway. Already lifting a paw, the eager kitty attempts to bat at the mouse plush.


Vix throws the mouse above the cat’s head across the room making a swooshing noise. Mayu stares at the toy and follows it with her eyes as it soars above her head. Reacting as swiftly as possible, she lowers her raised paw, twists, and springs into action. Mayu raced across the room, following the soaring toy and pounced as its body made contact with the floor. Sinking her teeth in the toy, she pawed and gnawed at it, completely forgetting about bringing it back to Vix to throw again. The mouse was now hers and only hers. It was her prey and that was that.


Vix creeps over and pounces on the cat, being careful to not put too much weight on it. The cat shrieks in surprise, but calms down when she sees that it is only Vix. The kitty grips the mouse toy in her teeth, unwilling to hand over the toy. It was hers.


“Mrrrrow!”


“Mwroow,” replies Mayu, dropping the mouse toy at her front paws in the process.


Vix snatches up the toy and flees across the room giggling .


Mayu hisses lowly as she follows after Vix, eyes fixated on the toy. Her prey… it was escaping…


Upon hearing the cat hiss Vi x’s ears droop and she drops the toy. Mayu immediately pounces on the mouse toy and paws at it, viciously attacking it and shaking it back and forth. The prey was hers… Mayu looks up and sees the sad Vix. Toy in her mouth, the cat walks over to Vix and rubs against her apologetically.


Vix immediately perks up but sniffles sadly none the less, playfully ignoring the kitty and walking across the room. The kitty, now sad and regretful, cautiously follows after Vix.


Vix quickly turns around and re pounces on the cat. Mayu meows loudly in surprise.


Vix lovingly snuggles the cat. The cat happily nuzzles the slime, purring softly with the toy still in her mouth. She absolutely adored the snuggles.


Vix then pretended to be asleep trapping the kitty in one spot. Mayu doesn’t mind as long as there were cuddles and pets…


~☆~Angie~☆~


Angie was able to read the message, but politely asked the faction assistant to tell her about what happened. The blind girl’s request was met with silence. Angie repeated her question once more, and the assistant stuttered out of what could be inferred as a traumatic, shocked trance.


“O-oh...sorry, Miss Jedele. Please do not worry about it. Y-you should just take the rest of the day off and relax in your room. You should focus on recovering from your demonstration. You are in no condition to fight- I mean…” slipped the nervous, flustered assistant.


“FIGHT?! There is a fight?!?! What’s going on? Can I help? I can help!” Angie offered fervently. She really wouldn’t be much of a help in a fight, but the gung-ho girl wanted to be useful in some way if at all possible.


“No, no. Uh… that was just a slip of the tongue… I meant… flight! Yes, flight! You are in no condition… to fly…,” the assistant prattle on, trying desperately to cover up his/her blunder.


“...” Angie, on the other hand, was not buying a word of this poorly saved blunder. She may be blind, but she was not dumb.


“Anywho,” sang the embarrassed assistant, “I...I am needed elsewhere….I will try to find someone else to escort you to your room. You… just sit here and someone… should be by in a couple of minutes. Alrighty? Okay!” Having shoved the confused girl down into the chair, the assistant scurried off to someplace somewhere. Angie, without any say in the matter, had no choice but to sit in the chair silently. The blind girl waited for a good 45 minutes, which felt like an eternity of boredom to the sightless lass. Dropping her characteristic smile, Angie stood up. Sure the clerk had instructed her to wait, but Angie had grown tired of waiting. Anywhere and anything would be better than simply wasting her time sitting in a chair.


Using her powers to map out her location, she found she was near the lobby, recognizing the front desk’s structure. Feeling the walls to her right, Angie made her way over to the front desk.


“Excuse me, someone was supposed to help me find my room…” noted the pink-haired girl. Her statement met nothing but silence. No one was there… Well that wouldn’t do. Finding her door by her lonesome would prove to be very difficult, and counting doorways down a hallway and guessing which side is even vs. odds, was not exactly how she desired to spend her day. It made much more sense to get lost in a big, new city than in her own faction building, so the spunky girl made her way out of her building to the streets of Brinkhaven. Maybe there she would be able to find yet another friendly person that could give her more details on what was going on. Clinging to the building walls, Angie trudged on.

 

[Ryik]

Max Maxwell seats himself gingerly on the bus stop bench, inwardly cringing at the dirt and filth that could be dirtying his clothing. His expensive gold watch reads 3:30 pm. Whichever of his two requested bodyguards that showed up first would have the advantage of knowing who the second one looked like. Hopefully these people were reliable. Maxwell knew his goods were highly desirable and he tightens his grip on the handle of his suitcase reflexively.


---


Liam reclines across the street, hidden within a building directly facing the alleyway. He had used his Gift to pass through the half-intact glass window patched over with wooden planks. The property had been foreclosed and was undergoing renovation, so no one was around to bother him. He munches on a cinnamon sugar breadstick idly as he waits for his chance. In a gap between wooden planks and jagged glass, Liam could spot a figure slouched against the alleyway wall, hood pulled over their head.


---


Ezel flew through the air. There was something liberating about aerial travel like this, but if the ass-load of ammo hidden on his person wasn't enough to remind him where he's going, then the GPS in his Z-Watch signalling that he's arrived at his destination was there to pull him out of his over-glorified carnival ride. After the next apex to mitigate momentum, he poofs himself behind the bus stop bench, where someone absurdly conspicuous sits, unmistakably the client. Call him presumptuous, but to find someone in a getup so gaudy in the designated meeting location doesn't seem like a coincidence, so you sit yourself down next to him and strike up idle chat with perhaps less discretion than due. "Hey there! I'm guessing you'd be Maxwell?"


“I’m Maxwell, yes.” The well-dressed man responds, sizing up his bodyguard for the next hour. He was not particularly impressed with what he saw, and it showed on his face, Maxwell’s expression turning slightly distasteful. Still, it was impossible to judge Gifted by their appearance, so Max wasn’t especially concerned.


Seeing the sour expression lightly grace his features, Ezel thought it a good idea to reassure him by invading his personal space, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Then I am your bodyguard.” Ezel offers a bright smile. “Jake De’elcruz, at your service.”


Maxwell’s expression worsened a notch. Resisting the urge to pull away and brush off his shoulder, he somehow forces a smile on his face. “...Pleasure working with you.”


It is only with utmost skill that Ezel completely fails to notice the growing displeasure manifested clearly on Maxwell’s entire visage. He removes his hand anyway before leaning back, all formality in the meeting apparently having expired. “So, is there anything I should know that wasn’t on the quest listing? Anything you need to know about me?”


Maxwell somehow manages to suppress a sigh of relief as the man withdraws his hand from his shoulder. His right hand twitches, eager to brush the perceived dirt off, but he manages to resist. For now. “The meeting will take place eight blocks from here in an alleyway. I’m meeting a man that calls himself “Shrapnel”, who is muscular, thoroughly tattooed and wears gold chains. I’m not supposed to be bringing anyone, so be discreet.” He pauses momentarily. “As for you, tell me the details of your Gift. “If it’s particularly finicky, I need to know”


Ezel outlined the caveats of his ability. After a while, he starts rambling on about less important details like motion sickness, wherein Maxwell cuts him off and suggests he leave to make way for his anonymous partner. Ezel awkwardly obliges, deciding a nearby rooftop would be a good place to wait.


---


Frank was walking down the street occasionally glancing at his Z-watch for directions. When his Z-watch notified him that he had arrived at his destination, he looked around to find Maxwell sitting on a bus stop bench. He walks up to the man, standing next to the bench. “Hey, you Maxwell?”


“Yes, I’m Maxwell.”


‘Cool. So, uh… Bye?’


“You came fairly late, so I can’t waste any more time. Act like you don’t know me, and don’t make yourself obvious. I’m meeting with a heavily tattooed man so no need to protect me from him. Don’t mess this up for me.” With that, Maxwell rises to his feet and hurries off toward his meeting, not even waiting for Frank’s response.


Despite the cool air, Maxwell felt warm and feverish as he strained to make it to the location of the meeting before 4pm rolled around. His palm was slick with nervous sweat where it gripped the handle of the suitcase unnecessarily hard. Maxwell had met with Shrapnel only twice before--the man scared him. Still, the money he was making would be worth it.


Sizing up every passerby apprehensively, Maxwell subtly avoids every person he sees coming his way, giving them a wide berth. The knowledge that he had two paid protectors somewhere out of sight was little comfort. Despite his increasing expectations of grievous bodily harm, he arrives at the address unscathed.


Stepping out of the alleyway, Shrapnel nods at Maxwell, gold chains clinking slightly. The Gifted waves for Maxwell to step into the alleyway, glancing down both ends of the street as he does so. The only souls on the sidewalk were an old man walking his dog, a delicate-looking young woman with a scarf, and a tall man with a duffel bag on one shoulder. From across the street, Liam cautiously drops his chip into his Gift and holds his breath, waiting to see if anyone noticed his presence. The possibility of sensory Gifted/Artifacts couldn’t be ruled out. Thankfully, Maxwell and Shrapnel retreat into the dark alley without an issue.


Ezel followed rooftop to rooftop, hiding himself from anyone looking at the streets. Parkour is a lot easier when you completely remove physical exertion from the equation, and it’s hard to see someone on top of one from the ground below if he isn’t near the edges. Able to keep a distance, even a viewer from an adequately high viewing angle would have to make quite the leap to connect him to Maxwell. Ezel got more and more giddy the more he thought about it, though Maxwell entering an alley certainly took the hyperactive edge off.


From a nearby rooftop, the view to the alleyway was spectacular. Difficult to get caught, several great viewing angles to change to, and a way to be right near the action without being detected. Things were going well so far, all things considered. The alley itself was wide, several meters across, enough for a car to comfortably drive down. The walls were dilapidated, porous brick stretching all the way to the roof without a break. Twelve meters down, the alley ended in a chainlink fence with heaped garbage bags leaning against. The expected trash and refuse littered the ground--broken glass, torn paper, plastic bags, just general filth.


Honestly, Frank instantly regretted signing up for this protection detail. He had no time to find a nice spot and even if he did, Frank did not know this area at all. He decided, after no thought at all, to simply walk across the street from the alley. He could not think of anything else, and he recognized that he lacks mobility and needs to be close. Once Maxwell disappeared from view, Frank started to stroll to the alleyway.


The dichotomy was appallingly apparent. On one side, a well-dressed business man slowly losing his composure. The man was pale and fidgeting nervously. On the other side, a sloppily dressed man with an appearance that screamed danger lounged easily.


“A hundred boxes yeah? It better all be there.” Shrapnel says a tad threateningly, nodding at the case. A little faster than necessary, Maxwell swings up the case and tosses the latch open, revealing a neat stack of miniature cereal boxes lined up. He didn’t trust his voice to say anything, waiting tensely as Shrapnel glared at the contents of the case for a few long moments. “Yeah alright. You did it. As promised yeah, 5 grand, cash.” Shrapnel grins widely, revealing a golden grille as he reaches into his hoodie and withdraws a paper envelope that he presses into Maxwell’s hands roughly. Clapping the man’s shoulder so hard it activated his Gift lightly, Maxwell staggers sideways. The new owner of a briefcase full of drugs laughs and closes the briefcase, which he’d tugged out of Maxwell’s hands when he staggered, then turns and walks toward the alley entrance.


Many different things happened all at once.


An old woman pushing a shopping cart along the sidewalk suddenly stops in front of the alley and lifts two plastic bags from out of her cart, her hands grasping something within. Spinning sideways with dexterity and fluidity no senior citizen should have, she raises the bags at Shrapnel and depresses the triggers of her two submachine guns.


At the same time the old woman stopped, Liam poked his hands through the window of the building and fires a tear gas grenade and a smoke grenade at the mouth of the alleyway.


Before Liam could clamber out the window, an unexpected face literally pops up. Jake Barker flickers into view and grabs Liam’s wrist. A moment later, the two were on some rooftop, Jake saying calmly as ever, “Come with me, there’s no time to explain.”


Far past the point of becoming accustomed to this happening, Liam takes it in stride, asking, “So, ETG?”


Ezel, not seeing any reason to wait up for the other bodyguard, teleported himself and his client to a rooftop away from the alley, catching Maxwell to steady his balance. Just as Maxwell had time to reorient himself, he teleported them farther still, making a smooth getaway.


Maxwell felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over him for things to be resolved so smoothly. He immediately scrambled to push out of Ezel’s grasp and began walking off. Sure, teleporting like that was disorienting, but that doesn’t mean he needed his filthy peasant hands were necessary to steady himself. He headed towards a rooftop elevator, ready to leave. That other bodyguard can take care of the aftermath himself. “You’ll find your money wired to you electronically. Your services are no longer required.”


As the elevator closed, Ezel was kind of at a loss. Things are rarely this easy. Maybe his ability was too well-suited for the quest? Either way, he calls out to Maxwell in gratitude as the elevator door closes. “Well thank you!” He doesn’t get a response. Hm.


How awkward.


When Ezel checks his Z-Watch for his newfound finances, he finds the broadcast sent to every faction member. Well, no point delaying, right? He’s already fully geared, and there was surprisingly little action during the quest, so might as well head straight to the portals to the warfront…


Somehow this is less exciting than the quest itself. Maybe just because it’s definitely going to be harder?

Spoiler

Ezel +200 points


Franklin +200 points

 

[WitchOfTape]

Lucas and Melody come to stand outside of an apartment building reserved for members of the Unaligned faction. The room number is specified in the directions, and the room is quite high up.

-Melody-
Melody gazed up at the building.


"wow. That is high up. Are we taking the stairs?" She shifted her feet.

~Lesley Lucas~
He shook his head, gazing up as well. "Uh... I would certainly prefer not. I hope there's an elevator. After you?" He then walks to the door and opens it for her, a little uncertain about just waltzing into another faction's building.

-Melody-
"Maybe. I sure hope so. I'd hate to walk in on someone's faction business. It's too early to get ejected from the factions..." Melody started towards the metal doors.

~Lesley Lucas~
He was somewhat relieved that she seemed to share his apprehensions.


"Agreed..."


Thus they will enter the elevators and reach the designated floor, and presumably locate the room of the person they need to talk to.


So maybe they can actually get to the quest.

-Melody-
Melody glanced at Lucas before hesitantly and lightly knocking on the door. She fidgeted with her ruined blouse, preparing for talking.

Immediately after knocking, a loud thud sounded from in the room, as if something big hit the floor. After a few moments, there was a slamming sound coming from the other side of the door. A couple of seconds later, a voice called out from the other side. "Give me a minute!" There was another loud thud, followed by a couple of clanging noises and the general sound of chaos. True to his word, about a minute later, the door swung open to reveal a breathless man strangely dressed in an authentic-looking sailor suit, complete with a hat with an anchor on it. He didn't look particularly old and had no mustache, but his beard was fairly developed. "You two are here..." He pauses to take a deep breath. "...about that quest I put out, right? I didn't think someone would take it so soon. Come on in." The man excuses himself to the connected kitchen on the left to get himself a glass of water while Melody and Lucas enter.
The door to the apartment immediately opens up into a living room, a TV at the end in front of the windows and a couch with a coffee table in front of it at the other. The man eventually returns, looking somewhat disheveled. He's wearing a noticeable frown, but says "Make yourselves at home." Anyway.

Spoiler

"Sorry to say I don't know jack about the thief that can help."

~Lesley Lucas~
Lucas accepts the invitation and steps inside, only a little apprehensive. He certainly hoped Melody had the foresight to get something that could help them track the robbers- otherwise they might have a hard time.


"I think we can still find them... Where were the jewels when stolen...?"


Lucas has no idea what he's doing.

The man points with his thumb at a door on the opposite end of the living room from the kitchen. "They were sitting on a desk in my room, next to an open window. I go do some shit and when I come back and they're all gone. I've already turned this whole damn place upside-down looking for it, but obviously they aren't here."

The man points with his thumb at a door on the opposite end of the living room from the kitchen. "They were sitting on a desk in my room, next to an open window. I go do some shit and when I come back and they're all gone. I've already turned this whole damn place upside-down looking for it, but obviously they aren't here."

-Melody-
Melody gaped, unsure of what to say. She was unsure of what to make of the loud noises and the man in the sailor suit. Melody trailed behind Lucas inside, looking around. Despite her love of adventure, she had no idea how they were supposed to track the robbers. Maybe she could take the sense of smell from a bloodhound. That was always an option.


"You...Left your jewels...Next to an open window?" Melody scratched her head. If there was evidence of who could've stolen it, what on earth were they supposed to do? Put up "Lost Jewels" signs? This was impossible!

The man nods. "Yep. The window doesn't have a screen, and the room was locked at the time." He crosses his arms. "Like I said, I don't know jack about them that can help."

~Lesley Lucas~
"Well... The window is probably a good place to start..." He ventured, having to wonder a little at this strange man's apparent stupidity. Then again, they were pretty high in the air... Hopefully, it wasn't a person with a flying gift. If it was they were probably pretty screwed.

The man suddenly starts to look nervous. "Uh... You really shouldn't go in my room." He seems to be hiding something? "I uh... well, I wasn't expecting company so soon and it's... well, it's a complete mess."

-Melody-
Melody paused, studying the man. "Uh, I'm sure I've seen worse. Just look at my clothes. I'm not professional or anything but ah, it would likely be beneficial to look at the scene of the crime...If you want us to find those jewels, we'll have to see your room. Uh, probably."

~Lesley Lucas~
"I don't see how we can find them otherwise... We'd need an idea of where they went after stealing them and I think we can only get that from seeing the area..." He added hesitantly. This was going to be really difficult if this guy didn't want to let them in to see where they were...

The man tilts his head back and makes a groaning sound before walking to the door to his room. "Can you give me a while to clean up first?"

-Melody-
Melody scratched her head.


"I guess if we have to...We're in no rush?" She glanced at Lucas for his opinion.

~Lesley Lucas~
"Um... I dont see why not."


Hopefully this wouldn't make the trail- whatever they might be able to find- go cold.

The man smiles. "Alright then." He moves into the next room and slams the door. Almost immediately, there's a crashing sound, followed by the sounds of furniture scraping against the walls and ground. At some point there's a loud slam, followed by the man yelling "MOTHERFUCKER". After a few minutes, the door reopens, revealing the bedroom.
Immediately to the left is a simple desk with a chair, and atop is an assortment of empty jewelry settings. Rings, Necklaces, Earrings, all sorts of jewelry all distinctly missing their jewels. Directly above it is a window that swings outward. Past the desk is a dresser, followed by an additional desk and chair with a similar window above it, but no jewelry on it. Across the dresser is a bed, with nightstands on either side, and on the end of the room is a balcony, providing a decent view of Brinkhaven. Across the balcony, on the other side of the room, Immediately to the right from first entering the room, is the closet.


There's a few odd marks of things being scraped on the walls, but other than that, the room looks pretty clean.


"If only you two knew how messy this place was an hour ago."

-Melody-
Melody glanced at Lucas multiple times with uneasy looks as the man supposedly cleaned up his room.


"Er...Well, looks..fine now? These are the missing jewels?" Melody gestured to the empty jewelry settings and then carefully walked her way to the window, looking around the room with suspicion. She studied the windowsill thoroughly.


"Well...I can definitely confirm that this is a windowsill, but other than that..."

The man puts his hand on his neck on habit. "I mess with jewelry, move jewels around and stuff. They were all out of their sockets when they were taken, so a thief that came through the window would be able to snatch them all up pretty easily."

~Lesley Lucas~
"Oh..."


He'll enter the room as well and look around, examining the jewelry the jewels came from. Assuming they're precious metals of any sort, this will puzzle him.


"A little odd they only took the jewels... And not the gold and silver too." he mused.

-Melody-
"Maybe someone's Gift has to do with jewels. And I don't know about the wildlife here, but from what I've seen, it's pretty odd. Maybe some greedy winged beast took them. Just speculation..." Melody leaned out the window, looking down and around for any other signs of what stole the jewels.

The man raises an eyebrow. "They don't look like gold and silver to me. When I said I fiddle with jewelry, I meant their appearances. I ain't no jeweler."
Turning to the girl, the man shook his head. "They may not be precious metals, but they're shiny nonetheless. I don't see why a bird would eat the jewels and none of the rings.


Looking out the window, Melody didn't see anything particularly indicative. Just that it was very, very high up.


There were a few gifted flying around Brinkhaven in the distance.

~Lesley Lucas~
He'll follow Melody over to the window.


"If they were actual precious gems, it'd make the most sense for them to be set in actual precious metals. If they aren't precious... I don't really see why any human would want to steal them... unless it's for their gift, as Melody said."


Looking out over the city and spying flying Gifted about, he'll restrain a groan.


"I really, really hope it wasn't one of them." He mutters.

-Melody-
Melody gazed out over the city with its flying Gifted.


"Well...That's true, I suppose. It must be a person...I can fly, with circumstances, I guess. I can go ask some of those people if they saw anything...if I have to. I doubt anyone has, but I guess it could be worth a shot?"

~Lesley Lucas~
"I don't know if we have any other options..."


You're so useful Lucas. She could do this all herself, probably.

"Around half of the stones are real, and the only reason the real ones are real is because they have traits that are hard to copy." The man leans back on the corner of the wall sticking out next to the closet. "Most aren't too valuable, all in all, but it was a real pain in the ass getting so many types. Among them are jewels that actually are extremely valuable, and I need them for my ability."
"So, you guys have everything you need?"

-Melody-
Melody shrugged.


"I guess so. We don't have much to work with, but...We'll try. I guess we should go get busy." Melody looked to Lucas for what to do next.

"Yeah.." He looked to Melody for the same thing.
After a painful silent moment, he'll prompt: "Maybe you can go ask the flying Gifted if they've seen anything...? I think that's the best we've got at the moment..."

-Melody-
Melody nodded slightly.


"Ok. Let's go to the ground so I can you know...find something to copy. Maybe you can ask around down there, too."

"Alright. Sounds good."
He'll turn to the man and nod politely.


"We'll get back to you with any information we find- and, hopefully, your jewels- as soon as possible."

He put on a visibly fake smile and waved once. "Have fun kiddies."

Melody nodded at Lucas' words and did a small wave to the man before beginning to leave. The man's smile put her off slightly, and something wasn't striking her right about this man. Well, money was money.

He was somewhat unnerved by the plastic smile as well, and waved back hesitantly before hurrying out with Melody.
He was silent the whole way to the elevators, but once they were safe inside he spoke up.


"He's... Odd. I wonder if there's something fishy going on here..."

"I guess we're going to find out. I just hope we aren't being roped into doing anything illegal...And what was all that banging going on? What was the fuss about his room? It all feels very off..." Melody responded, nodding her head in agreement.
"For now, we'll just have to try our best, I guess."

"Yeah."
He shook his head. "This had better be worth it..."


They soon reached ground level, and exited the building.


"You going up, then?" He asked, once they reached open air.

Melody nodded. "Yeah." She spotted a lazy bumblebee in a nearby flower box and gently pet the fuzzy insect, copying its wings onto herself. She walked back over the Lucas and looked up at the people flying in the sky with dread.
"Well, see you in a few, I suppose?"

"Uh... Yeah. Good luck." He murmured in reply, anxiously ready to watch her.

Melody fluttered her bee's wings. After a few more flutters she managed to grab air, flying up into the sky and turning to give a small wave to Lucas. Turning back around, she flew to the nearest person in the sky and attempted to grab their attention.
"Excuse me?"

Floating before Melody, a blond man in a suave red outfit vaguely akin to Donald Trump mixed with Superman. He clearly looked like he had places to be, but regarded Melody a civil enough demeanor. "Yes?"

"Er, I just, needed to ask if you've seen anything suspicious over at, that apartment room?" She gestured to the room that the jewels were stolen from. "I'm assisting the resident with Er, some stolen jewels, and they were apparently stolen off his windowsill..."

(Stolen off a desk next to an open window)
The man frowns, seemingly annoyed at being bothered. "I know nothing, have seen nothing, and don't have time to be bothered with something so trivial."


The man turns and floats his way past Melody, but stops and looks back over his shoulder as he remembers something. "But, if I had to make baseless accusations, it was probably that Warlock wannabe flouncing around town. He's a thief, and everyone who can fly has probably seen him burgle something or another. With that big black hat and broom, it shouldn't be hard to find the twerp." he turns back. "Now, if you'll excuse me." Without waiting for any response, the man flies off to wherever it was he's going.

(Right sorry. Hate how it doesn't let you edit after a period of time.)
"Oh, uh, thank you!" A lead. Better than nothing, for sure. Melody looked to see if Lucas had moved and zipped down to him. "I have a lead! Sort of."

He has not moved, and looks slightly relieved when she approaches.
"That's good! What is it?"

"The man up there said that a wannabe warlock has been flying around burglaring things. He says he flies around on a broom and wears a stereotypical black hat. We should look for him." Melody twitched her wings.

"Oh. Fun. Alright, I suppose we should do that, then..." He falters into a mumble by the end. A stereotypical villain, how fun.

Melody scanned the sky.
"I suppose he can't be that hard to spot, can he?"

"Um..."
He looked up and around as well.

Looking up, it doesn't seem that they're airborne, whoever they are. There's a large variety of gifted flying around, but none have a getup so... whimsical as the supposed thief.
Even if they are flying about, the city skyline obscures quite a bit of space in which they could be flying behind invisibly.

Melody frowned.
"Uh...I'm gonna go take a quick look around those buildings, alright?" Melody fluttered her wings again, glancing back at them.

"...Alright. Good luck."
Feeling pretty useless right now Lucas. Good job.

"Err, we need to contact each other, if one of us sees something. You can do ground work, uh, do you know how to exchange info from this Z-Watch thing?" Melody fiddled with the watch, looking for how to give Lucas her information.

"Erm... Not sure I do. Can you add friends or something?" He starts fiddling too. Presumably, one or both of them would figure it out.

After they both figure out how to contact each other, Melody flutters her wings.
"Don't got long before I'll need to change. I'm gonna go do a quick run around the buildings. Be back soon." She took off into the air quickly, zooming around into the city, looking for the mysterious supposed thief.

change?
"Alright. Good luck. Keep me posted." He requested, leaning against a building and watching her zoom away. To look like he wasn't being completely useless trash, he got busy seeing what all his watch could do.

Melody went to fly 'round the buildings, but as she searched, she couldn't find anyone matching that description. A wide array of people went about their business below and around her, but not a single one was wearing a witch's hat.
Meanwhile, Lucas was pulled out of his Z-Watch by a young, blond man in a black trench coat and witch's hat. He was holding an old-fashioned broom and smiling charismatically. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where the nearest power tool store is, would you?

Melody flew around for a bit longer before making an impromptu tumble down to the ground on the other side of the skyline. Sighing, she dusted herself off and began her search for another winged creature that would suit her purposes. Meanwhile, she sent a message to Lucas.
"Beginning to think that man may have been leading me on out of irritation. He did seem to be in a rush...Anyway, I'll be back there in a few minutes." It read.

"Wh- Oh!" Lucas' head snapped up, giving a sudden start at the obvious witches' hat on the man's head.
"Uh! N... no... Why? Er. Nice hat. By the way."


He heard his Z-watch bloop and looked down at it to see Melody's message.


Looking back up, he gave the man in the witch hat an awkward smile. "Er, I can look one up on my watch though... One moment..."


Quickly tapping out a message in response to Melody's, he sent:


"Come quick. Witch hat found me."

Melody looked around, searching for something to take the wings of. She quickly looked down at her watch when she heard the beep of Lucas' message.
"Oh! I'll be there ASAP." Holding her promise, she took the time to find a winged bug, in this case a ladybug. The wings were awkward and large, but it was the best she could find on short notice. With that, she began to fly back to where she had left Lucas.

The man eyed Lucas suspiciously before suddenly yelling "Oh shit, what's that!?" As he says it he points his broom and out of the end comes a bright, fiery laser, blasting a couple of trash cans into the air, flinging its trash everywhere. By the time Lucas looks back at the man, he finds he's already standing on his broom and is just in time to see him take off in a vivid stream of sparks, trailing behind the end of the broom like a rocket. Already, he's zooming away at high speeds.
...Also, he just stole Lucas' Z-Watch.

Lucas indeed looked to the explosion to look back to the aforementioned circumstances, and cursed aloud seeing the situation.
"Shit!"


"MELODYYYYYY!"


He began to pursue the thief, as best he could on foot. God this sucked.

The sparks flew from the end of the broom. It was a wonder, to anyone looking, that the old broom didn't just catch fire. Try as Lucas did, the broom just zoomed away too fast- far too quickly for any normal human to keep up with. Perhaps more questionable than the broom not igniting was the thief himself being able to stand on the thing while it flew. It was a whimsical sight either way, the witch's hat bending in the wind.
As Melody flew towards Lucas and, more broadly, the sound of the explosion, The man followed by a sea of sparks rounded a corner and zoomed around her, out of reach. The doppler effect bended sounds akin to a particularly loud blowtorch as the area filled with a light scent of smoke.


The man continued, zooming behind a few buildings, out of sight.

Melody was flying quickly through the air when Lucas yelled her name, and with the sudden passing of the supposed thief, she was startled enough that she began to fall out of the sky. Exclaiming a loud expletive, she caught herself midway to the ground with the rapid fluttering of her ladybug's wings. She took but a moments break, orienting herself and comprehending what had just happened. Once the connection between the thief and the boisterous fellow on a broom that had just passed was made, she exclaimed a louder expletive. Not taking the time to seek out or acknowledge Lucas, Melody flew up to her previous height and turned round, pursuing the strangely clothed Gifted as fast as she could with her wings. She was unsure what her top speed was, or even if she would be able to fly fast enough to catch the trail, but she was ready to give it the best she could.

Melody pursued the thief on a broom valiantly. Unfortunately, the trail had gone cold pretty quickly. She followed it around one corner, then another, and by then she wasn't sure which way he had continued. The speed of her ladybug wings simply could not compare to that rocket made of sticks, and it seemed as if catching up to the thief was hopeless. The faint smell of smoke lingered in the air, but Melody's human sense of smell was inadequate, unable to tell which direction it continued in. The scent was fading fast, but even with a better sense of smell, the speed at which the trail was made meant that even if she could follow it, it could go cold faster than she could find the end of it if the thief flew for long enough.

Melody eventually gave up, debating finding something with a greater sense of smell, but deciding against it. Sigh. This would be even harder than she had thought previously, and that was saying something. She messaged Lucas on her Z-Watch, telling him that the trail was lost and asking him where he was. This case would require a different approach than flat out tailing. Perhaps disguise was in order? Perfect for a pair of shapeshifters, at least. She added on to her message to Lucas, asking him if the culprit had said anything before he took off in a blaze.

Lucas was left on the ground where he had been left, useless, and unable to do anything. Including getting those Z-watch messages, because that damn thief stole his Z-watch.

Melody patiently waited for Lucas' response, but after a few minutes, finally resolved that something had happened and she would not be getting responses. She began to fly around, calling Lucas' name to see where he had gone

After a while he would faintly hear his name. Bellowing Melody's name in response, he followed the sound to the best of his abilities. He's probably just getting more lost though.

Hearing Lucas' response, Melody flew to the sound. Finally spotting him, she called out his name again and tumbled to the ground in front of him, wings evaporating.
"There you are! Why weren't you answering my messages?"

Hearing Lucas' response, Melody flew to the sound. Finally spotting him, she called out his name again and tumbled to the ground in front of him, wings evaporating.
"There you are! Why weren't you answering my messages?"

"The asshole stole my Z-watch!" He exclaimed, stumbling toward her and coming to a stop.
"No chance to catch him, I take it?"

Melody shook her head bitterly. "He was too fast. We need a different approach. How did you see him, in the first place?"

"He found me." Lucas shook his head. "Looking for power tools, actually. Maybe we can go look for the nearest power tool shop?"

Melody thought about that.
"Sounds like as good a place as any to start, but we can't go looking like this, else he'll just fly off again. You said you were a shapeshifter too, right?"

Lucas nodded.
"I just need a private place to change. Public bathroom or something."

Melody nodded back.
"Ok, ah, I'll go and do my thing while you do that. Do you think the same clothes will work? I'm not sure that he ever got a good look at me, so..."

"Ehhhhh..." He looked her up and down with a critical eye. "Amelia's might fit you... Here." Lucas slung off his backpack, setting it down and kneeling to unzip it and dig through. In a few moments he produced a small pile of clothes, and offered them to Melody.

"Oh, wow, well, this might work. Thanks. Guess we should go get changed now. Meet back here?" Melody said, not questioning the fact that Lucas had girl's clothes in his pack.

He nodded, zipping his pack and standing up, slinging it on his back. "In, say, five minutes?"

"Sure." With that, Melody started off to a public restroom.

Lucas also went to find a public restroom.
Five minutes later, he was Christopher, and coming back to the meeting place to wait.

Melody put on the clothes that Lucas had given her. She brushed against a pedestrian outside and took their brown hair color, figuring that would be enough. She returned to the meeting spot, looking for who might be Lucas.

Spoiler

View attachment 261734

An unfamiliar man was leaned up against the wall there, with the same backpack and a phone in his hand. He didn't seem to notice Melody's approach.

Melody took another moment to look, and then approached the man. "Lucas...?" She asked, hesitantly, afraid of a possible stranger thinking her insane.

He looked up and took a moment to identify her before smiling. "Formerly. You can call me Christopher."
He stood away from the wall, giving the phone another glance before sliding it into his pocket.


"Let's go find power tools."

"Uh, ok. You've been yelling my name an awful lot, so, if you're worried about recognizing names, than you can call me by my first name, Melanie. But only for now. It might not even matter...I'm sure there's more than one Melody here." Melody looked over Christopher once more, slightly offput about how far the transformation went, and then started off to find a power tool shop.

"Which would you prefer? Melanie, or Melody?" He asked, putting his hands in his pockets and walking beside her.

"Strategically? Melanie, but I prefer Melody in general. There's some unfortunate memories associated with my first name." Melody said, walking along. "Closer people sometimes just call me Mel, works for both names."

"Do you mind if I use Mel, then? Wouldn't want to stir up any unpleasant memories."

Melody shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

"Alright, then. Mel, any idea where the nearest power tool store might be?"

"Noooooo idea, but I bet I can find out." Melody began tapping on her Z-Watch, scoping out the nearest power tool shop.

He nodded, glancing at her watch casually as they walked.
"Sounds good."

"Should be right around here somewhere..." Melody continued, following her watch until they reached the store.

Melody and Christopher eventually come to 'Dynasty Depot', the nearest and one of the most reputable stores that deal in construction materials and supplies. Appearing to be an unassuming crafts store at first, it turns out to be much larger on the inside than out, or otherwise uses the same teleporting mechanism as Bobert's Bread. It wouldn't be hard for two people to lose each other in a place like this, and the arrangement of aisles make it hard to scan the entire place at once.

He looked about the store. "Looks pretty big. Hey, maybe I can give you my phone number?" He took his phone back out and looked to her.

...When suddenly, after Christopher waited several minutes, Melanie disappeared into a dream rift. He jumped back in surprise but the portal disappeared as soon as it came, and stared around in alarm. "...Melanie?"
Shit shit fuck. Not only was the only person you could consider a friend here now gone just in the snap of the fingers, she brought Amelia's clothes with her, too. He cursed aloud. Well, he wasn't going to be finding much of their target without his teammate. Wherever the hell she went...


He had to debate leaving the area a moment. What if she came back? After some consideration, he turned and left- provided he can acquire a new watch, he can probably figure out some way to message her.

MISSION: FAILED?/ON HOLD


((Also known as Dcat is lazy and really doesn't want to try reformatting all that while being yelled at to go to bed.))