Futuristic The Grand Masquerade [IC]

[SodaToast]

Sirius | Late Evening | Interactions: Makoa and Alianna [@SodaToast]​

Not for the first time, Sirius’ stood atop the ever so familiar metallic tower, gazing out towards the city, deep in thought. A cool, gentle breeze caused his curly hair to brush against his face. His black cloak fluttered behind him, his hands clasped behind his back.

Despite his calm demeanor, a battlefield of hopes and worries clashed against each other inside of him. He was furious at himself for it, but in the past few days, as the date of the meeting crawled closer and closer, he couldn’t help but begin to doubt what he was doing. He was the one who fought so adamantly for the idea, he was the one who shouldered the ridicule, and he had, up until this point, complete confidence in his own plans, and yet he doubted himself. Perhaps it was a sign from a greater being…

He scoffed at the thought. Has it been so long that I have begun to think like them?

The disbelief in his own thoughts seemed to stir him, causing his attention to turn towards the great mass of light and sound that was The Web. A city filled with people and potential. A city that if given the right circumstances could have become so much more. He clenched his fist, furious at those that ruled this society.

No. Ruled was the wrong term. The Reborn did not rule...they crushed. Even the most vain and pompous kings recognized the importance of their subjects, but not the Reborn. A long time ago, what felt like an eternity, he had hope in their good nature. Those thoughts had long been buried, though the pain of their actions remained fresh.

“Sirius, they are beginning to arrive.” Said a gravelly voice.

Turning around, he quickly met eyes with the hulking mass of a man, his golden brown skin tone still visible even in the shadows of the roof exit. Sirius nodded.

“Yes, I suppose they are.” He muttered.

He gave the city one last glance before following the large man down a flight of stairs and into a rather spacious room in regards to the outside appearance. It was a sharp contrast towards the cracked concrete on the rooftop, with weeds sprouting out of every crack and crevice.

Lush mahogany wood covered the floor of the entire room and the walls were a deep red, consisting of specially reinforced brick. In the center of the room was a long, metal table with comfortable, padded seats on both sides as well as with one at the end. Two leather couches sat snugly in the corner farthest from the door, accompanied with cushioned armchairs, all of which surrounded a wooden coffee table. Two, enormous TV’s were mounted against the wall along with a computer setup with a multitude of monitors of different sizes in the other corner.

A petite girl sat cross legged on one of the armchairs, absentmindedly swirling the wine glass in her hand. The glass was already almost empty.

Sirius sighed. “What did I say about drinking before a meeting?”

She quickly looked up at him, blushed, her cheeks flustered, and then grinned.

“And what did I tell you about being so terribly stiff? I’ve always told you and meaty over there that you need to loosen up a ‘lil. Enjoy life! Who wouldn’t want to live in a secret hideout, forever in fear of an all powerful government that would gladly kill us?”

“Alian-” Before Sirius could reprimand her, he was interrupted by a grunt.

No, not a grunt. Laughter. The man beside him was bent over laughing deeply. Both Sirius and the girl stared at him in disbelief. Finally, the large man rubbed the tears from his eyes and let out a deep breath before dropping himself into one of the other arm chairs. The room - no, the entire tower - shook considerably, dust drifting down from the ceiling.

“Meaty...that’s a good one.” He rumbled.

Sirius glanced towards the girl, an eyebrow raised, but she simply shrugged and said,

“Makoa’s got the right idea, and before you go on another one of your rants about our cause and how us fighting back against the Reborn is important and blah, blah, blah, I was jesting. Besides, I’m about to get introduced to a bunch of children. You can’t blame me for taking a sip or two...or more.” She winked and quickly downed the rest of the wine.

Sirius rolled his eyes before heading over to the table and sitting down at the end with his arms crossed. The time for waiting was finally going to come to an end. His team, with or without the rest of the Masqueraders, would be the first to take action. The first to directly strike at the Reborn. A strike not just towards the occasional RED soldier, but at the heart of their government. He smiled at the thought.

“Do you think they know about the elevator?” Mumbled Makoa from the armchair.

“Shit. I forgot to tell them about that.” Replied Sirius. “It’s hidden pretty well so I doubt they’ll find it. It’ll most likely be the stairs for them.” He leaned back into the chair. They were on the 64th floor. “Who knows though, we may just be surprised.”

~
​

The wait seemed like an eternity, but the IC is finally here and the roleplay is ready to get rolling! Please make sure that your characters are completed before participating. Also, I encourage you to post your character's name, the general time of the day, and perhaps the people you are interacting with at the very top of your post to make things easier for both me and the other roleplayers.

For some further clarification on the setting in case any are confused, your characters were essentially notified about a meeting that they were invited to. The location they will be arriving at will be at the base of a metallic building, a tower essentially, and the lobby is basically a run-down, barren hotel lobby. A doorway leads to the flight of stairs and hidden beside a portion of the concrete wall is an elevator. You can choose whether or not your characters take the stairs or the elevator, though be aware that it will essentially be the very first decision you make in regards to your character and could potentially affect their growth throughout the roleplay.

With all this aside, I hope you enjoy!

 

[TheFlyingWriter]

Charley | Late Evening | Interactions: None (open I guess?)​

Charley kept his head low as he made his way through the shadows and hypothetical back streets of the Web. He had never really been the sort of person to make himself known, even before his interest in becoming a Masquerade, so blending into the background and avoiding the prying eyes of the REDs came quite naturally.

He had stowed his drone, Zoe, on his belt loop like a keychain, powered down for the time being. The soft thunk of the metal orb against his leg after each step was somehow comforting, and he fell into a rhythm. Step, swing, step, clunk. Step, swing, step, clunk. It reminded him of a giant humming machine, and he gazed out into the hazy lights of the Web. In some ways, the whole world was like a machine...

Alright, enough with the philosophy, Charley thought to himself as he approached his destination, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. He had done enough thinking his whole life; now, it was time to take action.

He stopped at the doorway of the building, squinting as he tried to see the top. The location was correct, so with a quick glance around the area, he slipped inside. Charley figured that the interior had seen better days, unless 'run down and trashed' was the look they were going for. He grimaced slightly as he scanned the room, noticing a doorway that he guessed led to some way up, be it stairs or a ladder or something similar.

Seeing no one around, Charley decided to be safe rather than sorry. He fished Zoe from his belt and she powered up at his touch, a whir and trill signalling her awakening. "Morning," he mumbled with a small smile. "Scan for abnormalities." The drone beeped affirmatively, before spinning twice in the air and flashing its optic green. Charley examined her display.

"One lifeform detected in immediate vicinity. Large electrical output detected in immediate vicinity," the display read.

Charley glanced up and began moving around the lobby. He figured the lifeform was himself, but the 'large electrical output' interested him. Something still had power in a place like this? It took him a good 30 seconds to traverse the rubble in the room, but eventually he found what he guessed he'd been searching for.

"Huh," Charley exhaled softly, gazing at the elevator door. He ran his hand over the metal, then pulled away. He knew the meeting was on a pretty high floor, so the free ride was tempting, but... he eyed the door to the stairs and sighed, before moving away from the elevator.

Not only had his parents embedded 'take the hard road, it always pays off' into his head, but he also preferred keeping his feet on the ground. If he didn't have to take a risk, he wouldn't, and while taking an elevator wasn't exactly a risk, it would be a lot easier to stop his descent down a flight of stairs than the descent of a hacked or malfunctioning elevator. He didn't mind being called paranoid; after all, being a little cautious had kept him out of trouble before.

So with a deep breath and slight regret, Charley moved to begin his long trek up the stairs, Zoe hovering close behind.

 

[Unicorn666]

Lazarus| Late Evening
​

Pushing through a tiny, 'backstreet' market square was a clown blending in with the rest. It was crammed, hard to breathe. Have you ever wore a gasmask? That's how it felt. So many people.. All of them arguing, sighing, crying and yelling so loudly that the Regal pretty much heard one too many lifestories on his way to the metal tower. They had a relatively easy time keeping their head down, simply because of the sheer amount of people. All the short, tall, fat and skinny people that surrounded him were much like a curtain for this man. This was the first part of their long trip to the tower.

Despite the fact that he was calm, his head hurt like a warehouse. Maybe it was because of the amount of people around him, maybe it was because of just how important today is to him, maybe it was because he didn't sleep well today, maybe it was because they'd have to work with other Masqueraders.. Masqueradees? Masquerades?.. Doesn't matter. Maybe all of those factors affected him at once. Not even they knew. But, trully, today was an important day. Finally dealing a blow to the government is something the actor longed-for. And on their way to the tower, they counted prime numbers to calm their head down. 2.. 3.. 5.. 7.. 11.. 13..

"Ah, so this is the tower. Quite tall it is.. five hundred meters? Six? Maybe taller.. I've never been great at measuring height. Or size in general, really."

After quite a long drag, the masked man finally arrived at the tower without beng noticed. The last.. 7-10 minutes? Maybe less? Were wonderful. This tower was located at the very edge of the city, with pretty much no one around. There's a few towers of similiar size and height around the area, but they weren't even close to one another. 'Completely abandoned' perfectly described this area, and perfect it was. In fact, one could say it was heaven for a person such as he. It felt much like a day of repetition weeks before the actual play - only actors and the supervisors will be around. No need to fear the stage, and the only criticizm he'll recieve will help him. Hopefully, at least.

The young man entered the building and was met with.. nothing except the smell of dust hitting his nose. Much like the rest of this area, the lobby was abandoned. Thick layers of dust were everywhere where they could be, giving the impression of a post-apocalyptic hideout of a survivor. It was quiet, with specs of dust flowing through the air, dancing like snowflakes. A captivating sight, really. But, there is no time to waste, they came for a bigger purpose. Looking around proved to be worthless - nothing of interest. Except a doorway which leads to a flight of stairs. Considering the height of this tower, taking the stairs would equal to suicide, and he was having none of it.

"..Oh dear lord, no, I'm not going there. That's one too many flights of stairs for my legs.. Guess good ol' Lazarus is going to make his own elevator."

The man spoke, his name escaping his lips. Lazarus.. what a peculiar name for the day and age, don't you think? A name with the meaning of "God will help". That's all Lazarus knew about his own name, and that's probably the only thing he will ever know. Books of old are hard to find nowadays, and finding one that actually has a meaning for their name is going to be impossible. Well, it matters not now, there's bigger problems. Like those stairs. At least, that's what the male saw through the doorway. They went back outside, taking a few steps away from the building.

Raising their arms created a barrier two meters tall and two meters wide underneath their feet. Then, four walls enclosed Lazarus inside, for safety reasons. As a ceiling appeared, it also created a barrier that was two meters tall, essentially creating 3 hollow boxes. The bottom box started extending upward into the floor of this transparent elevator, and the top bpx started extending upward, dragging Lazarus. The bottom part was constantly erasing as it retracted into the bottom of the middle box,and pushed him further up, giving more barrier space to the top part which dragged him up. The combination of these two added up speed for this 'barrier elevator'. It was moving very quickly. Faster than an average elevator.

Window after window, floor after floor passed before his eyes as the man grew tired of this sight. They turned around, gazing at the city and other towers. One could say that this sight was beautiful, but this.. 'Web' is a rotten place. But, even then, all the lights were pleasent to look at. Lazarus won't have to gaze at it for long, they'll reach the roof in just a few minutes.

 

[Mosa]

C.H.E.E.T.A | Late Evening | interactions: none

It had taken cheeta quiet a while to track down the humans. Even after interrogating handfuls of them, none of which wanted to spill out any information. It had seemed like this case was going to go cold soon, but luckily after much time "persuading" numerous criminals, spending day and night doing most of the work herself, she finally had found who she was looking for.

Specifically, the man who was in charge of setting up some sort of assembly of people who wanted to finally make a change from the usual terrorism they decide to cause to the soldiers who are just ordered to protect and serve. Cheeta went out of her way to make sure she was alone for this very moment.

It wasn't hard at all to stand out from the crowd when she roamed the web, It was almost as if she was parting the red sea. It was painfully obvious that humans were afraid of a single reborn, especially one covered in mecha armor and weapons. The lone reborn made her way through a backstreet, It had begun to run, small thuds falling on her helmet as she exhaled and continued to walk stopping at the building and looking up knowing she had found what she was looking for.

If she had a heart she knew it would be pounding about now.

As she stepped into the building she stopped just before she reached the elevator. She thought about what she was going to say, how would she word her sentences properly, but if they were smart as they thought they where they would listen to reason, these humans.. specifically the ones who fight back .. the masquerades .. if only they knew what waited for them. Despite the government's efforts humanity grows weak and complacent while their successors gather around them. She knew they would not survive and she could not allow that,
The reborn was sympathetic to mankind and their plight to keep there humanity. Even then she knew with a fact they would not survive, that she would have to drag them, kicking and screaming into the future.

Getting into the elevator she looked above to see where the group was, tapping into her visor to change the view to show infrared.

" five heat signatures, three stationary and two others closing in, " she said to herself, as she pressed the button heading to the sixty-fourth floor, the long wait calmed her nerves as she knew things could go downhill in a matter of seconds.

 

[Hextremus]

Eriana Stratus | Late Evening
​

"Now that's a tall building."

Eriana Stratus said out loud as she approached her destination, high heels clicking quietly against the hard ground with her every step. She came to a sharp halt as her gaze climbed the metallic spire of a building, searching for its peak. Her hands came up to rest on the back of her neck, fingers interlocking as she let out a quiet whistle. It was indeed a tall building. Quickly losing interest in the building, Eri found herself padding straight into the building through its front door, hands still resting against the back of her neck. An empty room greeted her.

"Aww, no greeting party for me? How rude."

She said out loud once again, one hand dropping to her hip while the other ran through her hair quickly, silver-blonde hair gleaming as it caught the light. She immediately set to scouring the room and the rest of the ground floor. There wasn't much to see, at least until she stepped through the doorway that led to the staircase. She stepped right to the middle of it and craned her neck back to stare straight up. She sighed.

"Yeah, no. Heels and stairs equals me wanting to kill myself."

Eri spun on her heel and clicked her way back into the blank room, apparently the only other room on the entire floor. Seemed like a waste of space to her. She began idly whistling a haunting melody as she scoured the room for a second time, slipping her hands into her pockets as she searched. The Vandal quickly discovered the solution to her problem; an elevator, tucked away and hidden. She smirked to herself as the melody she whistled guttered.

"Eureka."

She stepped up to the elevator as she began whistling again, drawing one hand out of her pocket to call it. It paused inches away from the button as she looked up; the display above the elevator doors showed a rising number count that eventually stopped at 64. She arched an eyebrow at it, still whistling idly. It appeared she'd narrowly missed one of the members of the group she was soon to be a part of, but she paid it no mind as she pressed the button and stepped back, waiting for the elevator to come back down after it deposited its current occupant. When the doors eventually did slide apart. She stepped inside and immediately pushed the button for floor 64. She cracked her knuckles before slipping her hands back into her pockets as the doors slid shut. She stared up at the floor counter as the elevator slowly ascended, still whistling.

Still whistling that haunting lullaby.

 

[SodaToast]

Sirius | Late Evening | Interactions: Makoa and Alianna [@SodaToast], TheFlyingWriter Unicorn666 Mosa Hextremus
​

It had only been five minutes since the trio had sat down, and Sirius was already brooding, Alianna tapping her foot in the air and fidgeting with her armchair, and Makoa was already fast asleep, the armchair beneath him groaning every time the large man exhaled. Just the usual day for the group.

Sirius shook his head and glanced down towards his watch, noticing the time to be precisely four minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin. He looked over to the heaping mass that was sprawled across one of the armchairs - his favorite one, in fact - and wished not for the first time that falling asleep came that easy to him. He ran a hand through his hair before abruptly standing up, causing Alianna to give him a odd look.

"Getting a drink. You know I hate waiting."

She rolled her eyes but gave no other indication as he walked over to the long, metal table that almost spanned the entire length of the room and poured himself a glass of red whine. He sipped the drink carefully as he looked out of one of the few windows in the room. Just like every night, Sirius was entranced by the magnificent lights of the city that seemed to be able to penetrate through even the darkest of nights.

Except there was something else. Something else in the night sky. He approached the window cautiously and squinted his eyes, trying to get a better look. Suddenly, his eyes widened. There was a person outside the tower and they were walking on the air. Sirius cursed to himself, and quickly rushed over to Makoa and gave the big man a shake, causing him to wake up mid-snore.

"Is the pizza here already?" Makoa mumbled, seemingly still asleep.

Bending over, Sirius gave him a sharp flick in the ear, finally causing Makoa's eyes to shoot open and his arms to flail around. "Get yourself together Makoa. I just noticed somebody outside."

Makoa looked over to Sirius with a questioning look. Alianna did as well.

"We're on the 64th floor, Sirius. I knew you were an idealist when I joined - as a matter of fact that's why I joined - but I never knew you were crazy." She said without bothering to look his way.

Shaking his head, Sirius pointed towards the window. "Look for yourself."

Alianna mumbled something under her breath before reluctantly pushing herself out of the armchair, over-exaggerating her desire to remain seated, and began to walk over to the window. As she was halfway there, the quite and barely distinguishable, yet familiar sound of footsteps on concrete caused Sirius to freeze. Somebody was taking the stairs, and they were almost upon them. Even Makoa noticed, and the large man immediately stood up from the armchair and lumbered over to the door. Sirius motioned for him to remain there. It could be those that he invited, or it could be something much worse. Whoever showed up, they had to be prepared.

"Wait...you're right. I do see someone out there." Said Alianna, her face pressed up against the glass.

At that exact moment, when it sounded as if the footsteps were almost upon them, the ever so familiar 'ding' of the elevator arriving filled the room.

 

[Unicorn666]

Lazarus| Late Evening |Interactions: SodaToast
​

The longer the young man stood in their own elevator, the more bored they got with every second. The view of the city was both pleasent and disgusting, both sweet and bitter for his eyes. Eventually, they started singing to themselves. Of course, the barrier wasn't soundproof, but who on Eearth could hear them sing when they're several hundred meters up in the sky? The music the actor sang was far too old for anyone to recognize. Songs such as these would be the equivalent of classic music when compared to the current times. Not even the Regal remembered the song's name, he has forgotten it quite some time ago. But, the lyrics stuck with the man for one reason or another.

"..Look up here, I'm in heaven.."​

He quietly sang to himself, mumbling the lyrics. Lazarus knew the entirety of the song, yet didn't know the name. Odd, is it not? Well, it didn't matter. They've arrived. Once the man turned around, they realized they were a meter or two above the roof. The entirety of the elevator vanished, leaving only a plate underneath his feet. And once they jumped off, that vanished out of existence as well. The landing wasn't exactly soft, and the young man's feet hurt ever so slightly. They brushed off whatever dust they could've gotten on their boots, and looked around. Thankfully, there was a way down that led into the building. Although, wouldn't it be weird if there wasn't one? Matters not, he should focus on what he has at hand. The meeting is very important, no time to loose.

"Alright, it's showtime. 2.. 3.. 5.. 7."​

They calmed themselves down, rising the respective amount of fingers for each number they counted down. The young man opened the door only to find a flight of stairs. Guess you can't escape these in this building, can you? Well, no time to loose. The regal walked downstairs and found themselves at the first door. Floor number sixty four.

"Is this where the meeting shall take place?"
​

Lazarus quietly listened, pressing his right ear on the door. He definitely heard something, or someone inside of the room. Someone's inside, that's for sure. These people were other masqueraders.. That thought did not make them excited. Through experience, he was sure that almost every masquerader is a complete nutjob or fanatic. But, these people decided to actually do something, unlike everyone else. They wanted to act, just like him. This led him to believe that.. Perhaps, they're sane people? There's a small chance that not they're not a complete nutjob. And if there's a small chance.. then it's time for an entrance to remember! The man swiftly opened the door, with enough strength to make it swing open, revealing a rather spacious room with a few people inside. Lazarus came spinning inside, like some sort of fidget spinner. The cape engulfed the man, slightly glinting in the light. It seemed velvety, with intricate golden patterns on the edges. And once they stopped and crouched, several meters into the room, their cape finally turned straight before falling on their shoulders once again. An almost invisible barrier manifested underneath their feet, slowly rising them up in the air. And, as the barrier rose, so did Lazarus.

"Ggreeetiings! 'Tis I, the Aegis of the Regals!"
​

Once the man finished, he put both of his hands into the air, glancing at everyone. And once the barrier stopped rising, the masked person kneeled once again, putting their right hand on their heart, and the left arm outstretching to the side with an open hand and a slight bend on the elbow. They gazed at the ground, finishing their phrase.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance."​

 

[TheFlyingWriter]

Charley | Late Evening | Interactions: SodaToast Unicorn666 (or anyone else who wants to)​

Charley reached the door to the 64th floor and sighed heavily, a wave of relief washing over him. "We made it," he breathed, not horribly out of breath as he'd been pacing himself. "I really hope we don't have to do that every time."

Zoe whistled and beeped softly, and Charley examined her display. "Five lifeforms detected in immediate vicinity." Charley hummed in the back of his throat. "Hopefully Masquerades," he mumbled. "Keep scanning." The drone beeped again, its optic flashing green, as Charley left the stairwell.

He reached for the crossbow from his back with one hand, the other adjusting his Mask further over his face. As he moved down the corridor, he created an illusion of silence to further mask (haha) his quiet approach. It was then, amidst his silence, that a voice rang out.

"Greeeetiiings!" it called dramatically. "'Tis I, Aegis of the Regals!"

Charley's eyebrows furrowed. The Regals were a faction of the Masquerades, so this had to be the place. He moved towards the sound and peered in through the door. He couldn't see much save for a dramatically bowing person, likely 'Aegis of the Regals', so he backed away (dismissing his illusion of silence), straightened, and knocked politely on the door, albeit softly. He didn't feel like he should just barge in, so with that, he slowly opened the door, hands raised in surrender in case they were taken off guard. Zoe followed behind, her optic blinking slowly.

"Um, hello?" Charley offered quietly, unsure of what to say, waving one hand slightly before lowering his arms.

 

[Mosa]

C.H.E.E.T.A| Late Evening | Interactions: SodaToast Unicorn666 TheFlyingWriter Hextremus

The reborn stood in the elevator, silently, solemnly. With each floor, she passed her thoughts stirred more and more, she thought of every outcome and the odds were not looking to be in her favor. as she was near her destination, she exhaled deeply.

as she was a few floors away from the sixty-fourth floor, she heard what sounded like a man.. screaming? or introducing himself, cheeta knew how mentally unstable the member of the masquerades where obviously they would have to be born that way if they thought they could cause any dent in the reborn government but to hear one shout an introduction to strangers surprised her.

as she reaches her destination, the reborn quickly pulled out her pulse rifle, taking it off of the safety as the doors opened, conveniently at the same time another masquerade came through the stairs of all options, She realized she wasn't doing anything and quickly moved out of the elevator with her gun drawn.

" As we are all introducing ourselves ... I'm apart of r.e.d. division 6, it took me quite a while to find this hideout,.. " realizing she was appearing too hostile as she put the safety back on the gun and dropped it kicking it towards the humans.

"Apologies .. its instinct" as she said so she took off her helmet, showing her cold half mechanical half humanesque face.

" I think we all need to talk, I'm not here to hurt you, but so much as make a threatening glare at me and ill have a whole patrol unit here before you all can even THINK about running." This was her only way of trying to peacefully communicate, obviously she was not good at it but working as basically a robot who kills and destroys she couldn't help but threaten. They may not have known it but the human side of her was terrified, this was her only chance to help.