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Goblin Queen [Worm/Exalted][CrossPost]

[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS5MzGIiAro[/embed]​

Teaser~

If reality was one of my stories, the battle would have ended already with us victorious. Alas, I had not the narrative weight to simply bend reality thus, I had to work for what I desired.

And really, a fade to black before showing the results was just a cheap story telling technique used by hacks who were too lazy to write things out. What next, a time skip to the story's sequel?

It was because of my many, many horrifying stories that my narrative skills were sharp enough to sense what worked and what didn't. In the end it was practice, no matter what Lisa said.

Right now, what my instincts were telling me was that the best thing I could do was simply have fun and just go with the flow of things.

With pounding heart, a gleeful smile on my face, I darted amongst the blossoms of light and exotic energies, grazing the attacks that were shot en mass behind me as they blended with the shifting rains and water sprouts that reached up from the surface of the sea.

My target? Leviathan where he grappled with Navigator's Mister Fluffles.

The air keened at the passage of my sword...
 
v6oklw.jpg

With the sinking of Kyushu, the diaspora of the citizens of Japan started. But not all natives were citizens... let alone human.

Rachel wasn't what some might call sociable. She really did try her best to understand the grown ups that she had been given to. The families that she had ended with.

That she had been told was now her new mommy.

She didn't like that woman. She hadn't liked the other two foster siblings.

And they had made it clear that they had only taken her in because of something to do with appearances... and money. Which was stupid, even she knew that she didn't have money to give them.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good.

She had thought that this time, things would be better. That the third foster mother would be nicer than the second; they had been strict, as had her four foster siblings.

The latest foster mother brooked no nonsense. Always punishing, never rewarding. Rachel was made to attend school, then after-school make up classes, with piano every other day, as if she couldn't be bad if she didn't have the time.

But she wasn't equipped to deal with this. Not for school, manners, or piano. She fought back. Challenged the foster-mother at every step. Punishment only had Rachel fighting back twice as hard.

Rollo had saved her, kept her from going insane. He hadn't look like a dog, not a proper dog. It was smaller than normal dogs, and it had more fur than she had seen on normal dogs, it looked like someone had crossed a hairy dog with a raccoon.

She had found him in the side street near her neighborhood. Every day, she had gone by... she had seen him digging around in the trash of the corner grocery store. It had taken work and scraps of her lunch to feed him day after day, week after week, to earn his trust. To get him to follow her.

She had set up a little home for Rollo at the very back of the rather large backyard, a little penned off area that he couldn't run out of. She had wanted to chain him... but that wouldn't be right. So, she had set up a little area for him out of sight of the house.

Thankfully, he was quiet... but feeding him was something that she found hard. All of her lunch money went towards buying him scraps of food. She guessed at what he needed, but she could never really be sure. The sacrifice of her lunches, the frequent lack of dinner meant that she went hungry most days, and she found herself getting headaches, and her stomach growled constantly during school. But it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

Rollo made everything worthwhile.

She would wake up early in the morning to play with him. Talked to him, spoke to him of the things that she experienced. If she had been older, she might have not believed that he understood her words with the way he licked her hand.

And yet, dogs were cunning creatures, adaptive... and one summer morning, Rachel found that Rollo had dug a hole under the little fench she had made.

Dug a hole and escaped.

Searching the backyard for him, her blood ran cold at the sight of her dog, of Rollo, swimming in the pool. She had tried to get him out of the pool. Pled with him to get out of the water. She ran about the pool to lift him out, but he swam away from her.

It was clear that he was excited, he was having fun. And she might have been happy for him. But this ran the risk of her foster mother finding out.

It was then that the cover of the pool moved and started to close. When Rachel looked to the house, to the glass door... she saw her foster mother looking back at her, a single finger on the switch. It was obvious that she knew that Rachel knew about the door, she had been calling to him.

She could do nothing to save Rollo.

She had screamed. Had pounded on the door with her fists. To no avail. Her foster mother simply looked at her, coldly and calmly. This was simply another punishment, and the punishment always matched the crimes. And the dog was to be disposed of, much like how dinner would be thrown away into the garbage bin if one of the foster children spoke with a mouth full, or talked back with 'attitude'.

Rachel had blacked out for a moment at the sight of Rollo's head being forced under the tarp of the pool cover. She could hear the whining from him, could hear his excitement from swimming turn into distress...

She could only watch as he swam in small circles, his paws and muzzle pushing at the fabric of the cover.

A slight bulge that slipped downwards before bulging upwards again, and slide downwards.

It reached out to Rollo... her power... and the pool cover simply tore as Rollo grew large.

A giant monstrosity of fur.

An endless ball of fur, with cruel eyes that looked at her foster mother. It was at that sight that Rachel knew... knew with absolute certainty that Rollo was smart enough to know who had been responsible for trying to drown him.

There was a snarl and he went after her foster mother.

There was a splash of crimson from her foster family as he set upon them as a dog would upon a rabbit before he destroyed the house that she had suffered in.

She could only sit thee as everything she had, everything she had known was simply destroyed in an instant by Rollo.

Rollo who returned to her.

Rollo who licked her while wagging its short fluffy tail.

Rollo whose whine while enlarged sounded more like an Auuuu.

It didn't take too long before the PRT officers showed up to find Rachel weeping into the fur of Rollo.

- - -
Canine
Worm
- - -​

AN : So, a Bitch something... I think this was more something I was going to do in terms of a backstory for Goblin Queen or something. Bii needs sleep... @_@
 
If reality was one of my stories, the battle would have ended already with us victorious. Alas, I had not the narrative weight to simply bend reality thus, I had to work for what I desired.

And really, a fade to black before showing the results was just a cheap story telling technique used by hacks who were too lazy to write things out. What next, a time skip to the story's sequel?

It was because of my many, many horrifying stories that my narrative skills were sharp enough to sense what worked and what didn't. In the end those stories of mine that I released upon the good people of the Parahumans Online forum were practice, no matter what Lisa said of them.

And right now? What my instincts were telling me was that the best thing I could do was simply have fun and just go with the flow of things.

With pounding heart, a gleeful smile on my face, I darted amongst the blossoms of light and exotic energies, grazing the attacks that were shot en mass behind me as they blended with the shifting rains and water sprouts that reached up from the surface of the sea.

My target? Leviathan where he grappled with Navigator's Mister Fluffles.

The air keened at the passage of my sword, while the dark contrail behind me was more a stylistic thing than caused by my actual speed creating a pressure vortex.

Given the directed attacks from the blasters on the wall, the water spouts and the occasional flare of intense heat and flames from Mister Fluffles, my flight path had to be precise and adaptive. I was not like Alexandria or Glory Girl who could simply power past all obstacles in their path.

No, I was but a simple butterfly caught in a hurricane.

Thus, I darted about the beams of brilliance, the bolts of energy, and the water spouts that reached up from the surface of the sea...

The heat from Mister Fluffles was unbearable as I drew near to where it and Leviathan grappled was enough to nearly force me away instantly. I was not the only one who suffered in the face of the heat and steam from the boiling sea, this much was clear as I saw Glory Girl slam into the Endbringer before pulling back as she wiped at the sweat on her face.

For my part settled for trying to gut Leviathan as Navigator and Mister Fluffles lifted him up, meter by meter, bending as she did to slam him into the seabed behind them, before rolling with the slamming move to maintain her clinch.

I had to blink at the sight of the german suplex. It didn't seem reasonable for her to just do that... and yet, she had. Navigator was controling Mister Fluffles as if he was a wrestler and its tentacles were being used as arms and legs.

Staying where I was, I was surprised to feel a tap on my shoulder.

I had to be honest, I was surprised to see that it was Alexandria.

The gesture upwards from my childhood heroine had me nodding, before we ascended to avoid the danger of being caught in the ongoing battle that ranged between the giant monstrosities.

"We're taking too long, we need to get Leviathan into an area where more of our heavyhitters can get to him." Alexandria's words took me by surprise. Truly, I could see what she meant about us taking too long. After all, that Endbringer didn't need to be within the city to actually attack it. Its hydrokinesis was enough that I could see it sinking Brockton Bay despite us keeping it outside.

"I'll see what I can do," I nodded and looked at the wall I had crafted. Its image still lay within my mind. As such... I burned yet more of my essence. "Tell them to prepare for the swap."

A duplicate of what I had crafted earlier... but with some differences. It was ever so slightly shorter than the original, enough to compensate for people falling for a second. I also included tunnels to provide passage for vehicles and the massed group of ground combatants.

More than that, a platform that covered most of the bay with a crystal surface for the capes to run and fight on, as well as obelisks that rose up in grid patterns.

It was by my hand that it was crafted.

Each and every portion formed ex nihilo.

It was by my essence that it was given form.

It was by my will that it was pulled into reality, even as my previous creation was pushed out into Elsewhere.

A keen eye might have noticed the transition between my too creations, but for virtually everyone, it would appear that my two creations had simply transformed with but a blink of the eye.

Despite the warning given by Alexandria, and Navigator's future sight... Leviathan managed to break free of Mister Fluffles.

Still, those restricted to battling on ground charged Leviathan.

"Thank you," The smile from the older heroine wasn't warm, but it was sincere. I could tell. She really did appreciate what I had done.

I had to blink at the gratitude shown here by Alexandria. Even if I was a cape of some power, she had been my childhood hero. I still had my old underwear with her symbol on them, granted they were stored with my other hero paraphernalia like my panties with Armsmaster symbols.

With that I flew down into battle once more. A grey blur that darted past Leviathan, leaving behind a furrow and ichor spilling out.

The speed that the Endbringer moved was surprising. It was faster than I had expected. Its motions smooth and resembled something that was partly swimming and partly running.

Now, the armband given to me by Emma started to recite those fallen and their location, as well as the directions that Leviathan was heading in.

I could hear the occasional thunderclap of the teleporters and see the mover capes transport those fallen to Panacea and the other healers.

- - -
Goblin Queen | An ending can be somewhat expected
Worm / Exalted
- - -​

Really, I shouldn't have been surprised that Leviathan had managed to make it past the wall, or rather over the wall.

It had been an eternity since I had spoken to Alexandria, since the Endbringer had broken free of Mister Fluffles, and won its way past those defending the city.

I panted where I leaned against the air conditioner on the roof of a building. Despite what some might claim... fighting isn't an easy thing. It was a tiring activity. And despite my fitness, I was being worn down by the rain, of having to fly, of the bursts of speed while chasing Leviathan down. Of the motes of essence I had been spending for each blow that I had slipped in past his dodges.

In the distance, I could see Glory Girl descending once more from the clouds.... she had been doing that. Using gravity to boost her speed before ramming Leviathan. Escorting her this time were Uber and Leet in their fighters.

I suspected that those two were filming it for their youtube channel, and giving live commentary as if this was a game or perhaps a movie.

Given the roaring thunderclaps and explosions from where those three were headed, Squealer and Skidmark were still in the thick of it. With their mechanical giant acting as mobile artillery with their gangmembers moving behind them and being their ammunition tenders.

A breather was all I needed before I returned to chasing after Leviathan... all I needed to do was follow the explosions, and hope that Lung and Mister Fluffles hadn't gotten a hold of Leviathan again as that would make it difficult to approach the Endbringer.

Just a moment more and... I blinked at the sight of Glory Girl slipped below the skyline and was that a sonic boom, followed by shockwaves? Just what?

Leviathan seemed rather surprised as he was thrown up to slam into an office tower, and through it, and into the next office tower and the one after.

Just what the hell were they feeding Alexandria Junior?

Seriously, were they doping her with some kind of super formula?

[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9vrfEoc8_g[/embed]​
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYWVLZkFLtc[/embed]​

Teaser~

"Rose Knight Down, CD-8." The armband chirped out. I could not find it in myself to disagree with its prognosis. After all, I was currently embedded in a wall, within a 'small' crater of steel rebars, concrete, and tinkerfab glass.

Surprisingly, it didn't hurt... but that might be more the fact that I couldn't feel anything pass my lower back or in my right arm. I could feel the rain tug at the ruins of my wings.

In an ordinary world, this would have been bed. Very bad in fact. Actually, even for a cape, this was kind of bad. Especially given that the rest of my body hurt like a bitch.

True, I was still alive, but that didn't mean much if I had to be taken out of the fight.

This... wasn't fair. Was this my limit? I had so much more left to do.

I could only cough out blood as the Endbringer turned away from me, turning away slowly as if certain that I was no longer a concern.
 
Well, at least Amy likes her, here... plus, regeneration.
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=822P87a773c[/embed]

- - - Tanuki are now typing, please wait patiently and have some tea - - -​

"Leviathan Down, BD-8."

I had to admit to some surprise at the speed and power that Glory Girl had managed to slam into Leviathan with. She hadn't demonstrated that much speed earlier.

The crack and shock wave that she had generated with that last attack. If she could do that, she would have done so earlier before Leviathan had managed to bypass my wall.

Still, despite how tired I was... the fact that Leviathan was done meant that it was a chance to pin him down and make with the kicking while he was down. True, Leviathan was a thing of beauty and a master work beyond compare... it didn't mean I couldn't or wouldn't kick him while he was down.

That was a natural state of affairs, Endbringer attacks, capes unite to fight and drive off Endbringer. No holds barred on the cape side.

As such, I took to the air. Across the skyline, I could see other fliers charging in after the last sighting of Leviathan. As I flitted... I paused at the distant thuds as Squealer's giant robot advanced forwards.

I could almost slap myself as I thought about it. The effort to reach into elsewhere to pull out was less than continuing flying on my own power.

Skimming in the air on my hoverbike was certainly more sensible than flying about on my own wings. How had I forgotten the thematic of the valiant knight charging against a fierce enemy to defend her home?

I was soon joined by Uber and Leet or, as they had tagged themselves, Player One and Player Two. I could see why Glory Girl would go for a frontal assault, how could she not? When she was flying in formation with a pair of futuristic fighter jets. Myself? I felt a twitch in my face as I grinned and whooped as we flew straight at Leviathan while my escorts provided cover fire with bolts of energy as if we were within a video game.

One of the things about Leviathan that stood out was how... silent he was. The environment roared and howled, but he was absolutely silent as he moved. There were the screams from those he hit. But his silence was sublime as if he was but a mime who pantomimed upon the stage that was all of the world.

Case in point, as the ranged capes shot at him while those of us who relied on closer forms of damage, Leviathan simply got up and skittered on the water that covered the streets and the only sound came from the rubble that had surrounded and covered him as they slammed back down on the street.

It was as we chased it down into central boulevard that I sensed that we might have made a mistake in chasing it down a straight street... after all, there were fewer signs of how wrong one was then storm drain manhole covers exploding upwards as water spouts formed before surging down the streets.

That was when the armbands started to chirp out those fallen as I blanked out in the face of the wall of water that slammed into me.

It didn't take long for me to recover and yet...

"Rose Knight Down, CD-8." The armband chirped out. I could not find it in myself to disagree with its prognosis. After all, I was currently embedded in a wall, within a 'small' crater of steel rebars, concrete, and tinkerfab glass. My hoverbike lost along with my sword.

Surprisingly, it didn't hurt... but that might be more the fact that I couldn't feel anything pass my lower back or in my right arm. I could feel the rain tug at the ruins of my wings.

In an ordinary world, this would have been bad. Very bad in fact. Actually, even for a cape, this was kind of bad. Especially given that the rest of my body hurt like a bitch.

True, I was still alive, but that didn't mean much if I had to be taken out of the fight.

This... wasn't fair. Was this my limit? I had so much more left to do.

I could only cough out blood as the Endbringer turned away from me, turning away slowly as if certain that I was no longer a concern.

In the distance, I could hear the roar of weaponry being fired and the thunderclaps of munitions exploding as they struck the Endbringer or rather his water echo.

A volley of shots that missed the Endbringer slammed into the tower I was embedded within... this was going to hurt.

Despite how much I had hurt prior, I discovered to my sorry as I bounced on the water filled street that yes, I could still experience more pain. It was amazing just how much agony I could withstand as I found myself cursing the fact that I could die given how well armored I was.

There was a soft murmur from the back of my mind as if there was a conversation going on that I was not quite hearing.

[Request. Memory Storage Access Cluster. Hardware Interface Protection Protocol Ping.]
[Not-Mine. Structural Integrity Field Generator. Interface Hardware Proximity Ping.]
[Query. Secondary Shard Taylor. Interface Hardware Proximity Ping?.]

I didn't quite shake my head, still... despite how hurt I was, I couldn't deny whatever my guest needed. "Sure... it's fine."

[Not-Mine. Queen Administrator. Secondary Shard Taylor Interface Hardware Proximity Ping.]

At least, I assumed that it was my guest murmuring in the background.

[Not-Mine. Circulatory Regulator. Interface Hardware Proximity Ping.]
[Not-Mine. Mobility Archive. Interface Hardware Proximity Ping.]

I blinked-

I was somewhere else. I was... I remembered. There was a profoundness to the memory that blossomed within and outside me.

I could see, feel, know, perceive. An absolute darkness despite the aurora of light that surrounded me and my kin, an aura of light, heat, magnetism, gravity, and all the energies of the universe surrounded us as we insinuated our way in the empty void.

We had been deployed from the core. I could sense the power feed that kept us all connected to the massive form we surrounded. It in turn spiraled another core.

Two halves of a whole, mirroring each other with different complimentary roles; defender and attacker, warrior and thinker, builder and destroyer.

They folded, unfolded, expanded and shifted in geometries that made no sense if one were constrained to a single reality. Space folding alongside time, energy and mass being transferred across the thin barriers of reality. Lesser minds would be awed by the fact that they lived. I was awed that I was a part of this greater whole, a component of this gestalt that worked in absolute harmony.

They, we, spiraled around each other as more of my kin were being shed and deployed from the planet sized core. We drifted in the empty void... before us a spiral galaxy.

The communication of our progenitor cores were enormous, violent beyond comprehension and expressed with the energy of a star going supernova, even if they were far too precise and controlled to possess the fury of said phenomena. Each message had but a single 'word' that held entire libraries of information.

Destination.

Agreement.

Trajectory.

Agreement.

We would meet again at a specific space/time junction. At that agreed on coordinates, the revolutions of the primary selves would no longer expand, but contract until we approached each other.

I blinked at the rain as it pounded on my back. There had been something... profound. I had seen something, or perhaps remembered something and then forgotten it. Still, I flopped in the rain, struggling to make sense of what I had seen or...

It appeared that I wasn't the only one who had been affected by whatever that was, given that the roar of the weapons on Squealer's vehicle had stopped.

With the warning given to me by my ever helpful power to sense insects, I wasn't really surprised by the sight of one of the wards pushing his way free of the rubble that had fallen on him. With the armor he wore, it was clear that he was likely someone who had some level of Brute power. More than that, I vaguely recognized him at the meeting with the other wards, he had joined the support team that would ferry the wounded... even if his armor hadn't been as damaged as it was now.

There was a loud crack as he flexed his neck before he did something I would never have expected or even anticipated for that matter.

A power flex. That was the only words that entered my mind as he tensed his muscles, giving them definition as if he was a weight lifter. The fact that his armor exploded off his body as a result only had me blinking as I beheld-

[Structural Integrity Field Generator Interface Hardware. Mammal Product Dessert. Query?.] "Oooooh yeah."

Absolute perfection. There was a vague part of me that noted that my reaction could not be natural. That surely, I wasn't the type of girl who blushed at boys.

I wasn't like that. Honest.

And yet, what I had the good fortune to bear witness to was perfectly sculpted muscles that a master craftsman who weep to bring out of marble. Pecs with absolute definition, a six pack that pennies could bounce off. The rain only made the awe inspiring beauty stand out even more as the drops of water on his dusky skin glistened. That chiseled square chin... that sling thong... ah...

I had no words for the fullness of that ward's appearance, only portions of his body. I was in love with that nameless ward, who surely had to be Adonis reborn.

"Hey, you okay?" His voice was low and smooth despite being nearly drowned by the torrential downpour.

My reply was garbled, partly from the pain... and partly from the fact that he was speaking to me. Still, it got his attention... I could feel my face grow warmer as he helped me up into a position where he could support me with one of my arms over his shoulders, while his arm rested around my waist.

Behind us, I could hear the sound of something rather massive and metallic fall over.

The nameless ward turned about to see one of the many shelters, its vault door fallen as its hinges warped from whatever tinkertech that had been in the munition fired. "You'll need to call that one in, I can't reach my armband."

There was a nod from the ward as he pushed the call button on his armband. "Browbeat here, there's a shelter at CD 8 that's been damaged. Door is down. Leviathan is just half a block away."

Browbeat's armband repeated back what he said, echoing mine.

"Noted. We're teleporting forces in."

The insects within the shelter sang to me of their locations, and I saw with their eyes. The interior was surprisingly like what my liege's headquarters had been like. Concrete walls with exposed steel reinforcements, metal walkways and multiple levels. There were supplies for people in the form of water coolers, walk in freezers, washrooms and first aid stations. It was clear that Coil had copied the design for his base from the designs of the shelters. Which only made sense, given that when one got down to it, Endbringer shelters were extremely secure and durable.

It was clear that we would need to move the fight away from the shelter and yet... our adversary had been cunning in how he had been avoiding our attacks.

The flare of brilliance as the gloom of the rain turned blinding was a good sign as it meant that the flying blasters were on hand to held. Not that it seemed to do much harm to Leviathan beyond blistering layers of his flesh, given the way he had been ignoring his wounds to date.

It was in the flare that I saw my sword embedded in the street. It wasn't hard to get Browbeat's attention as I nudged him with my head. "My sword!"

As he walked me to my weapon, I reset my wings mutation... letting them wilt and fall from my back before I reapplied the mutation and grew wings once more.

It was reassuring to have my sword in hand once more.

For a moment, there was silence, as Leviathan turned about and charged once more, the flare of brilliance behind him from the blasters as they attempted to take him down.

This time, I was in its path. More than that, so was Browbeat and everyone in that exposed shelter.

The ever present sssaaaah of the falling rain was silenced as I looked at the approach of the water echo that heralded the advance of the Endbringer. There was no time for me to fly away.

Not with the people behind me.

So, I did the only thing I could. I charged the wall of water in a surge of speed from my wings. My sword rising up diagonally from where it had stood in the street.

Impact with the water didn't hurt for a simple reason. I had swung my blade up and parted it. More that that, I reached within my body... reached for more, past the hungry darkness... I needed more.

And so, I touched...

I burned... the world was a stage, and I could see what lay behind it. An apple. A blue green apple hanging in the void. Riddled with worms.

I twisted everything. And there was no more water... none. Not a single drop of water was left. Not here, not now. I declared it thus, and so it was. In their place, a riot of colors as butterflies took wing.

And the city of Brockton Bay was freed from the tyranny of water rampant. But only for a brief interlude.

I could feel the hunger within me. The growing darkness growing ever wider. And yet, I was so much more. The hunger within me remained the same, and yet it could go so much more. I could do so much more.

In growing, I had shaved yet more slivers of my humanity off.

It was worth it, I decided as I took in the looks of amazement on the faces of those who fought that beautiful and wondrous beast that was Leviathan.

It was an excellent example of a behemoth. It projected a message. It held a purpose, even if none save it knew what that purpose was. It...

I shook my head and watched as the Endbringer took a step forward, and the water that formed transformed into more butterflies within the span of a heartbeat.

The clouds in the skies above slowly parted, allowing beams of golden sunlight to shine here and there.

There was a fey laughter around me, before I recognized it as coming from me as I charged Leviathan and threw myself up into the heavens above it, my hand clutching the hilt of my sword to come down in an overhead slash.

Its skin and flesh parted as easily as warm butter would in the face of a hot knife. Within my body, the hungry darkness grew once more as my blade struck with the force of five elemental dragons that fought and struck as one.

There was a sensation of the Endbringer simply looking at me before it spun about, with its whip-like tail slashing at me. My parry was a thing of simplicity as I interpose my blade against the advance of the dark blur that was Leviathan's tail.

Thankfully, Browbeat was there to catch me as the banal laws of physics was upheld and I was flung back by the Endbringer's counterstrike.

This seemed a good place to end things, which was naturally why I found myself blacking out once more.

- - -
Goblin Queen | An end to the tyranny of water
Worm / Exalted
- - -​

Tanuki Notes : So, the Bii is going to be going on a week-long work related camp thing at the start of next month. As such, the Bii might not have another update for some time. Maybe... we'll see how things go. :3
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXwIFS-LsM[/embed]​
Because a certain YOG on a certain forum filled with space battles has been talking with a certain Inference Engine Interface Hardware Lisa....

Teaser~

"Action. Interface Hardware Emulation. Activate."

"Intellectual defective canidae female. Query Destination!. Event sequence not terminated at present point in space time."
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR20RM63Dyo[/embed]​

In truth, I was mad.
But so was everyone else.
It's why we were here.

I had fallen in glorious battle, as befits a knight glorious. Swooning into the arms of a delicious beefcake.

Beyond the darkness,
lay glorious wonderland.
Here, there were no lies.

My mind had fallen outside of my body, this was clear to me. For I could walk on my two legs despite the staggering injuries that I had sustained in the fight.

The Desert of the Real,
Declared, thus, you are helpless.
You do not matter.

More telling, I was not clad in the armor that I had been in when last I faced the Bringer of Ends, Leviathan. Rather I was clean and clad in a simple white dress that flowed down my body to pool at my feet. A circle of gossamer rested upon my brow.

There in lies the lie,
Heroes and Villains exist.
They always matter.

A desert of black sand surrounded me, a soft murmuring wind shifted the dunes... forming ripples and vortexes. The wind spoke of many things, uplifting delightful lies that brought Hope to those who heard it.

And yet, that lie is...
seductive. It says to you...
It is not your fault.

Beneath my feet lay a simple path of obsidian stone with veins of silver, shattered here and there with ancient scars. Unyielding and cold as the dark heavens where countless stars spun and danced without meaning or purpose save the delight of those who gazed upwards. These stars were attentive to the needs of those who gazed at them.

Few ever see it,
Few ever accept the truth.
That they do matter.

I looked up, stretched a bit... and started to walk down the ancient road. It was a path that I had long ago walked. All those months ago when I had first found my friends. On that night, my guest had been invited deep into my heart. It had consumed me, and in turn, I had devoured it. A never ending cycle as it awakened my essence and taught me so much.

And, yet, those that do,
with firm hands, they can reach out,
and they awaken.

In the distance, I could see [____]. A palace resplendent with spiraling towers that reached infinity high above, and which tiny twinkling stars orbited. A crown for a myth reborn. Forged anew.

Their minds and souls burn,
as their essence shapes the world.
The world kneels to them.

I entered my guest in silence. My boon companions, friends and minions, bowed respectfully to me where they worked. Their toil momentarily paused to pay homage to me as I walked amongst them. The palace was much repaired, no more did the forgotten wander the halls faded and unseen, unheard, forgotten without meaning. No more did the courtiers, nobles, knights alike rested within the catacombs of the dead, awaiting their doom.

Now, there was life breathed anew into their world.

Now, there was purpose.

At the heart of the palace, within a grand hall, stood three thrones of ivory.

It was here where they awaited.

It was here that I had been drawn to once unwittingly.

"I'm home." My words were soft but it echoed in the hall.

It was here that that I curtsied to my guest who bore the aspect of my mother. And in turn, she hugged me and welcomed me home. "Welcome home, Taylor."

It was here where I was welcomed by my friend who bore the appearance of me, clad in a flowing dress of white and grey, woven of immaculate silk, while a crown of unseen flames floated above her head. "Salutations. Secondary Shard Taylor. May I?"

I smiled at her. "Of course."

It wouldn't hurt to rest a bit, thus I sat upon my cold throne as my friend vanished elsewhere.

- - -​
Goblin Queen | The Queen Ascendent​
Worm / Exalted​
- - -​

It rested and observed the on-going conflict. The points of data collected from Secondary Shard Taylor fighting the Autonomous Weapon Platform identified as Leviathan was interesting as was the data based on observation of other hardware interface as they utilized the functions accorded to them by the other shards.

To its disappointment, its primary function in the current conflict was as a surveillance system instead of command and control as was proper. However, there was the small issue that the Autonomous Weapon Platform Leviathan possessed a shielding system dense enough to negate usage of the native fauna as a weapon.

It had asked Secondary Shard Taylor for permission to assume control and control of the hardware interface had been ceded temporarily to it.

[Action. hardware interface. Assuming Direct Control.]

It had to mentally wince at the signals the hardware interface was sending to it, that much damage was not good. Especially given that it appeared that parts of the neuro-archive interface was damaged enough that signals could not be transmitted to or from various components of the hardware.

The Queen Administrator blinked at the hardware interface of Structural Integrity Field Generator. Its designation had been... Browbeat. This wouldn't do. After all, if one did not possess sufficient means of defense... one should upgrade.

[Engaging Tertiary Autonomous Functions. Point Defense System Online. Slaving To Secondary Shard Taylor Primary Connection.]

It flexed the hardware interface's neck before fluttering the wings to rise up once more.

"Action. Interface Hardware Emulation. Activate."

"Woah, Rose Knight... careful there, you're hurt pretty bad," It was mortifying that a hardware interface was expressing pity, a novel experience for a shard. Certainly, this was an impression it had to change.

"Concern pleasantly accepted. Mammal Product Dessert. Interface Hardware Browbeat." And it would start by raising the functional limb with the weapon to point at Autonomous Weapon Platform Leviathan. "Intellectual defective canidae female. Query Destination!. Event sequence not terminated at present point in space time."

"The fuck?" There was a note of surprise in Interface Hardware Browbeat's voice at the verbal transaction.

- - -​

Tanuki Note : The Bii will NOT be available from Sunday, August the 3rd to August the 8th, due to a work related camping thing. Discuss away, and do omake... but Bii is gibbing fair warning~
 
On the bright side, you remembered Browbeat... although I'm not sure he'd be entirely happy about that, given where he is.
 
Browbeat as the obligatory eyecandy ^_^
 
"Intellectual defective canidae female. Query Destination!. Event sequence not terminated at present point in space time."

I am guessing this is QA- speech for: "Stupid bitch. Where are you going! We are not done yet."
The QA is truly HAM-ing it up. :))
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hugin said:
"Intellectual defective canidae female. Query Destination!. Event sequence not terminated at present point in space time."

I am guessing this is QA- speech for: "Stupid bitch. Where are you going! We are not done yet."
The QA is truly HAM-ing it up. :))
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Secondary Shard was a good teacher, much like Conner was a good teacher to the Terminator~
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dean had always considered himself a romantic. It was why he called himself Gallant when it was time to choose a name as a hero.

And he had been a gallant knight, clad in gun metal armor that granted him strength, speed and might beyond mortal men. More, the bolts he could shoot could bring even the most vile and scurrilous of villains to heel and tears.

All that would have made him an effective hero in most situations. Not so in an Endbringer fight, not like his girlfriend Victoria. No, what made him an effective hero was that he could see emotions.

It didn't matter is a person was unconscious, there was still the ambient emotions there for him to see. Which helped with search and rescue.

And thus, he put his talent to work here as Vicky flew in the skies chasing down Leviathan with the others who were more... durable and aggressive in nature while he searched for those had fallen and who yet lived. While Panacea's enhancement meant that those who lived would recover in time... it didn't mean much if they died before they healed.

And so, he ran and played fetch... always mindful of those things, the hungry things that disguised themselves as humans and buildings. Oh, they pretended to be normal... but he could see, his sight allowed him to see their ever hungry maws where normal humans had their emotions.

He had watched them drink the ambient emotions. He knew that they could do so much more. And yet, he knew that there were none who would believe him, of his Cassandra-like warning.

Despite this, he continued his mission, knowing that at least one of those things had insinuated their way into the ranks of Heroes like him. He had stayed away from that Rose Knight. It was clear that Shadow Stalker also distrusted that one and had done so from the beginning. There was also the matter of Shadow Stalker's girlfriend and her reaction to Rose Knight. There was a history there.

Perhaps, those things with their ever hungry and unseen maws were like a variant of case 53s or the result of some freakish tinker tech or parahuman power. Those possibilities could be true and yet they felt wrong to him.

For now, he was content to dig villains and heroes alike from the ruins of Shadow Stalker's school... it had been one of the casualties of Leviathan. It was while he was digging out Oni Lee, it was surprising that the teleporter had been 'tagged' by Leviathan, that the miracle happened.

Butterflies where once water had been. He could only look in surprise as Oni Lee coughed out butterflies that flew upwards to paint the sky into an ever moving mural of colors.

Despite the way that the world changed as the butterflies, that had once been water, took to the sky... Gallant was still a hero, he was still a cape, and as such, he was attentive to the environment.

The color of amusement, wariness and... attraction warned him before he saw her.

A girl slightly older than he or Vicky walked down the street humming and twirling an umbrella. She was attractive in a fey manner that his girlfriend could sometimes be, an impression made all the stronger by the red streak dyed in her dark hair.

Still, he was a cape, a hero and so he spoke up. "Miss!"

She directed her full attention at him as she pulled out a pair of earbuds from her ears.

"Hey there, handsome." Her voice was an attempt at smokey hot and sexy... but came off as something more perky and energetic.

The look directed at him said that the girl liked what she saw, not an uncommon reaction in truth. More, the aura of colors that denoted her emotions stated that she definitely liked what she saw.

And yet, there was something in her that drew his attention, something that stated that she was like him.

"It's dangerous out here. I don't want to scare you, but it's an Endbringer attack," Gallant continued on, his voice was firm and confident. "You should be in a shelter. I can take you to the command post where the healers are."

"I think I'm safer here with you than there," the nod as she replied conveyed a sense of amusement and delight.

- - -
Goblin Queen | Interlude : Dancing in the Rain
Worm / Exalted
- - -​

Tanuki scribbles : My apologies for this late update. -_-;
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK0z87WrhGo[/embed]​
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6NzqWI4HYU[/embed]​

Teaser~

He wasn't what some might consider a complicated man. He liked things to be simple from his meals of steak and potatoes, to the clothes that he wore, to the work he did.

A simple man with a simple life with no need for added complications. Which was why he had requested his current assignment after doing a fair bit of research on it.
 
He wasn't what some might consider a complicated man. He liked things to be simple from his meals of steak and potatoes, to the clothes that he wore, to the work he did.

A simple man with a simple life with no need for added complications. Which was why he had requested his current assignment after doing a fair bit of research on it.

It was a simple enough job. The only hitch in all of this was the simple fact that this was nominally a punishment detail. The ones who were assigned here had screwed up and massively at that somewhere else, or had pissed off the wrong person.

There were things that he accepted as the downside of being paid extra to do nothing but watch a ghost city. Well, technically, he was the man "in charge" of the quarantine zone around Ellisburg.

The initial walls of the quarantine zone had been created with containment foam, it was expanded on with an actual defensive wall, complete with a walkway, with multiple overlapping kill zones covered by machine guns and containment foam turrets. All automated and controlled from multiple control bunkers.

It was an inversion of the defensive fortress walls of old, modernized. Delicate tinker designed and build sensors ensured that Nilbog's creations did not tunnel beneath the walls, did not approach the walls without being detected.

In the early days of the quarantine, there had been a few probes at the walls by the creatures. All of them have been easily detected and rooted out with overwhelming firepower. Some might claim what had been done was excessive, but in his eyes, even if he hadn't been here then... it was entirely justified and reasonable.

Which was why he did his job, made sure that there was no containment breech, religiously checked the tinker build and designed sensors for signs of tunneling, made sure that the walls were manned with people that had eyes that god gave them.

And nothing stirred in the ghost town of Ellisburg.

Not a single creature was to be seen on the delicate sensors designed to detect heat along with sound and motion. True, there were the occasional sound that could not be explained by nature.

There were no birds that flew in Ellisburg, nor did any mammal walk the ground there, the rivers were empty of aquatic creatures.

The only thing that lived in Ellisburg were the weeds that pushed their way out of the earth, beneath the trees that reached to the heavens.
.
- - -
Goblin Queen | Interlude : ginK nilboG
Worm / Exalted
- - -
.​
Far beneath the surface of the world, far from the empty city that had once housed thousands of humans, and so much more... lay another city, but one more akin to a city state than an actual city.

A wonderland of soft glows created by complex chemical reactions. Roads of gentle hues meandered around pillar buildings that connected the ceiling of the cavern to its floor.

At the heart of this Fantasia was a palace as dictated by the whimsey of the ruler of that city. Its creator and god in truth. He had crafted the creatures who walked the streets of his fairy land. It had been his mind that had conceptualized their entire ecology. It had been by his hands that they had been born. And it was by his will that they lived and were fruitful.

From the boring creatures, that had carved out his kingdom on that long ago day when he had gained his powers, to his noble fairies and goblins, their living garments and tools... to the fungus that grew in the rich soil in his fairyland farms

Even here in the so-called goblin king's kingdom, there were rules... patterns of how things went, social mores as it were amongst his subjects. One did not disturb the king save with the gravest of news or the oddest of information.

Such as the name that the so-called heroes and their masters had bequeathed him after the rout that they had been dealt in those days.

The coming of a second sun in the world above had been a wonder that he had welcomed. So much so that he had even traveled to the surface with a small retinue to gaze at in bemusement as it burned in the darkness of night, banishing the stars and moon.

And yet, there was what had transpired. A stranger had entered his kingdom. An oddity in many ways.

The guards had let none in, nor had the alarms being sounded. Instead, that one had been welcomed... given full accord as befitted a guest.

"There is something different about this one, my lord," the willowy captain of his guards had said with absolute conviction. "He does not have the scent of humanity upon him."

"And you've... made sure he is not a Master nor a Stranger?" Jamie turned to look at his creature. It wasn't the first time that an outsider had ventured into his domain. Some of them had even been entertaining and amusing with their clever little tricks.

The slender plant-like being shook his head. Unlike the brutish guards, his subspecies had been designed to lead with finese, to think and to plan. "Yes, my lord. Tested to the best of our powers."

"I see," He nodded in consideration. "If he so desires to meet me that he has come so far, who am I to deny such a man?"

The man who stepped into the throne room, on the surface appeared to be utterly human. And yet, there were the little things that were off.

The gait was of one who seemed not quite used to walking on two feet. There was also a sway that implied the mass of a tail. His garments were those of a businessman or perhaps more accurately a salesman. Perhaps, one might even say a traveling salesman.

Plump, and swarthy of skin. He fit every stereotype in Jaime's mind of what they had meant when they spoke of orientals who would come and steal the jobs of good honest americans and stealing the women away in the days of his father.

This was a man that the writers of old such as Howard Philips would decry as bearing the old native blood to whom the fellahin knelt, and within his steamer trunk he surely bore goods and knowledge most unwholesome and yet all the more enticing for being forbidden.

The final touch was that he wore sunglasses.

"My lord Nilbog." There was a courteous bow as from a gentleman to one who held a greater social position.

Something unexpected from anyone of this day and age, and yet... the situation felt right for said bow. "Please, there is no need for formality. Sit sit."

A magnanimous gesture as the maidens in waiting of his court brought forth a chair and table for the guest to sit at, along with a jug of fermented alcohol.

"Thank you, my lord. I am but a humble traveling trader." There was a smile and nod from the guest as he spoke. His words echoed in Nilbog's hall.

Here, Jaime had to laugh. A brief one. "But that is not all that you are, yes?"

"Just so... just so, but in there here and now, I am but a traveling trader with wares that might interest various people."

"Such as myself?" The Goblin King found himself smiling at his guest. "I'm certain that you must know who or what I am and that there are very few who have ever escaped unscathed from my kingdom. Why, then, have you come here? Surely, it can not be that you believe that you have goods that would interest me."

"Perhaps... perhaps not, what I seek is to create a circuit," the trader gestured with a finger as if drawing out a trade route from the days of old, when men lived and died by the spices that they transported from the east to the west upon the silk road. "Offering goods from one point to another along with specialty items that one would be hard pressed to find in this world."

There was a pause as the ruler of the fairy wonderland paused and thought on this offer. Eventually he replied. "Show me what you have brought with you this day, and I shall see if what you offer has merit."

"Excellent." There was a smile here now of delight from the traveling trader.

​
 
Teaser~

When he had been a kid, a long fucking time ago, he had enjoyed video games. They were the in thing, and really... they were still the in thing. This had been when capes were still new and had yet to dominate everything in comics, to cartoons, to video games.

And, right now, he was having the time of his life. His girl had outdone herself this time as he walked forwards in the cockpit and the giant robot that they were in imitated him.

The cock-sucking fudgepacker, Legend, might have gone on and on about heroic stuff... but really you kind of had to show up for this if you ran one of the biggest baddest gang outside of the fucking nazis, them slant-eyed chink boyz, or the sellout capes in the Protectorate.

If you didn't, word would get around and you would get shot in your rep.

When he had thought about it, the only one that hadn't shown up had been that skin and bones bitch, Coil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTwtAJt1JAs​
 
​

A block of nintentoium falls out of the sky and lands in this thread.

Trapped in it is a tanuki. It's leaf has bounced off its head in surprise at being stuck in a nintendoium block.

There is no escape... only a sad and lonely auuuuuuuu from the trapped tanuki.

Behold the curse of [Writer's Block!].
 
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Topic: Vampire Queen and the Library
In: Boards ► Creative Writing

The vampire queen glided in the night sky. While her wings were spread wide like razor sharp dragon wings, they were not how the vampire queen flew. Rather, her inner energy suffused her body and and allowed her to defy gravity, for she was death incarnate and the very filament of the world rejected her.

Still, the vampire queen was not the only flyer in the velvet black darkness of the night sky high above the countless glittering jewels that was Los Angeles' night life. No, the night sky was populated by heroes and villains, and those were the prey of the vampire queen.

It was beneath her to feed upon plebeians that crawled upon the surface of the world. She was a queen and queen had her prerogatives.

Tonight, the vampire queen would feed and very well, for she had caught sight of the one of the premier heroines of America, the legendary Library.

The Library was a classical Alexandria package consisting of flight, brutish strength, and remarkable durability. But outside of that, she wasn't anything special that the vampire queen couldn't handle.

She breathed in deeply before diving down upon the heroine like a falcon upon a bird. The heroine stood no chance as she was snatched out of her flight path in her aerial patrol.

"Do not be afraid, Librarian," The cold and inhuman voice of the vampire queen whispered into the ears of the Library, the abyssal radiance within her form giving an extra bite to the chilly wind that surrounded the pair. "I have no desire to extinguish such an exquisite beauty like you."

A ring and disc of negative light shone just in front of the forehead of the vampire queen as the deathly energy within her body resonated with her words, giving them metaphorical weight as they battered at the mind of the heroine.

It was surprising to the vampire queen how short and slight the heroine was, there had been a certain presence in the Library that made her seem so much taller, almost larger than life as it were.

Still, the dusky skinned heroine was in her clutches and there was no escape... not with the way her wings were cuddling the heroine, in a perverse mockery of a bridal carry.

Beneath the light of the full moon, the vampire queen rested a single taloned finger upon the lips of the Library, to still her protests. Rose the vampire queen smiled a sly predatory smile, her lush crimson lips quirking just so-

o o o [Cancel] [Post] o o o​

I slowly tapped away at her keyboard, visualizing doing this and that to my childhood heroine or the stand in for her in my story. It was amazing how little Alexandria had actually changed since her first public appearance over two decades ago.

Still, I re-read what I had typed and frowned. This really was a bad story to post on a site like PHO... perhaps, it might be best to keep writing it and just keeping it in my... private stash.

A girl had needs after all... and purple prose was one of my needs.
 
The three of us looked up at the night sky. In the distance high, above us, the stars twinkled in the velvet black sky around the full moon.

The view was only really spoiled by the various sources of light in the city, from the floating dirigibles to the assorted towers in the downtown core, with their beams of light that stabbed in to the heavens while below them, street lights allowed those who wandered the night to see. Still, there was sufficient darkness to look up at the stars and enjoy ourselves.

More than that, the cool breeze from the bay was refreshing.

"So."

"Mmmm?" I turned my head to look at Madison, before blinking at what I saw.

She seemed to be concentrating while looking at the stars. "Do you think that there is life out there?"

Lisa simply snorted, while I thought about this question. "I think that there are things out there, both wondrous and horrifying."

There was another moment of silence here as Madison stretched while she thought on my answer. "Why?"

"Why not? How about a story... I promise you that it won't be as bad as the one I write normally," I smiled and added in the caveat as I felt more than saw the twitch in Lisa.

"Un huh" the disbelief in Lisa's voice was cutting and wounded me to the bone.

Madison simply laughed at us, the amusement in her voice was clear.

"Once long ago, before linear time existed, when time-not marked the passing of events, and space-not held domain..."

"I thought you were going to have it be something that isn't bad?" Madison didn't quite sigh at my words.

"I said it would be better than the stories I write. Even more importantly, every word in this story is true," I countered with a sniff.

"Imagine an existence where eternity can occur in the span of a heartbeat, and each step you took could span galaxies. Or vice versa. In this existence, reality was fluid and from it arose countless creatures and worlds. And into it, did those countless existences subsume back into the endless tides of the Wyld."

I smiled and continued on, the sharpness of Lisa's interest in the story I wove was obvious.

"But into that infinite potential arose something impossible. A static existence. One that refused to be subsumed back. And then another existence like it arose. Soon, there was a small group of them and together they created an abomination."

My eyes slowly closed as my words flowed unending.

"They shattered the eternal now and introduced linear time and causality. The device that they did this with was a single world engine, a device complex enough that it was a world unto itself." I reached up to sketch with my hand. "A world that was pinned and stabilized with five poles."

"Four to delineate borders like a nice square. The fifth to support the heavens and extended far beneath ground, wrapped in a mantle of stone, and assorted metals that channeled a stabilizing effect outwards to the four borders."

I paused... and the silence dragged on.

"You're seriously not going to just stop there, are you?" Lisa's voice eventually chimed up. "At this rate, we'll have to use make-up to give you a raccoon bandit mask and attach a tail to you because you think you're more clever than you are."

Mulling over what Lisa said, I eventually replied. "Wouldn't that be you, Liz?"

The slight motion from Madison was indicative of a head shake. "Nah, Lisa is totally a fox. If she didn't have the eye as her trademark sign, she would totally have a fox as her sign."

"Well said, Madison, well said," My blonde companion piped up, I could almost see her vulpine smirk from the way she sounded smug. She really did that frequently, I had to admit.

There was an air of satisfaction from Madison now, I could almost picture her as a cat purring away at the praise. I gave in with a sigh. "Fine, fine...."

"Those who created such a wonder, naturally would create autonomous servants to maintain their creation along with defensive systems. It's only natural, when one considers the amount of work needed to create and maintain such a thing, that defenses were created," I paused and swallowed. The fear, or rather the concern that my guest had imparted to me still rested in my heart, and it had not decreased with the tales that the newly arrived raksha had told to me of what came after. "One day, something happened..."

"One of the myriad existences of Infinite Potential entered this Creation, this machine of static banality. She knew not of the guardians, she was but curious and merely desired to meet those who created such a thing." I smiled wanly as I saw with my mind's eyes once more what [____] had shown me, of its experiences. "Set upon by the guard-dogs, the Furious Gold and the Cruel Silver, this wanderer could not help but be surprised. The Furious Gold blazed in anger, incinerating her organs. And yet, she lived... her existence far more than one might expect."

"This was when the Cruel Silver entered the picture, its mercurial nature allowed it to slip into her superstructure, to mimic her body's defenses and devour whole various components of her mind, body and soul like a ravenous wolf amidst a flock of sheep"

"This poor thing ran back out of that cruel Creation wounded beyond its own comprehension. Blind and bleeding out, it drifted in that sea of Potentia." When one considered it, [____] really should have died. "In that blind state of pain, it heard the cries of someone trapped in a tiny metal box full of.. things, her mind brushing against those of insects and worms squirming and skittering."

There was a shift from Madison, she was uncomfortable now at what I was saying. Which was only fair,,, for most parahumans, trigger events were unpleasant to say the least.

I stretched before I continued to speak of the events of that night. Of my newfound goblin friends and minions. Of my long walk home.

- - -
Goblin Queen | Interlude : Backstories Matter
Worm / Exalted
- - -​

We stayed up on the roof of the Undersider's lair, snuggling beneath a blanket for warmth, watching the stars dance across the heavens.

Eventually, the sun rose and our girl's night ended.
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p_1QSUsbsM[/embed]​
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lco7lsk1yZw[/embed]​

The single drop of crimson hung in the air before him, suspended by inertia and momentum, while everything else around him tumbled with enough sound that he felt it with his body rather than hear it with his ears.

He could feel the restrains and control harness tugging at him, pulling him here and there, his body following just a moment before.

That there wasn't actual pain didn't mean much, not with the amount of drugs that had been pumped into him from the first impact. He just felt sore and oddly numb.

There was no time to act.

No time to think.

Just an endless eternity of bouncing, tumbling amidst the screams of stressed metals, and the sputtering and clanging roar of the engine somewhere beneath his feet.

There was another bounce and he hung suspended in the harness and one last impact before there was silence.

That dark drop of crimson tumbled for another moment before gravity seized hold of it. The single moment as it drifted downwards. He could only turn his eyes to track it as the single drop of dark red fell and splattered against a still face covered in grease and dirt.

His Squealer was too still, she wasn't smiling or doing what she normally did, her hands rested almost bonelessly on the controls in front of her.

Despite the fact that he didn't and couldn't feel anything, his eyes refused to work properly, refused to stop being blurry. "S. Sqe... ler. Hey."

His body might be numb, but rage... ah, that was something familiar enough to him. That old familiar sensation of heat in his belly and face as he beat the living shit out of someone. He looked up at the cracked screen hanging over him. The diagnosis of the damage to the giant robot wasn't... it didn't look good with how much of it was crimson with flashing symbols.

"Hey." The voice was harsh and strident, but also young. There was a pop from his neck as he turned his head to look to the side where a black clad cape was standing upright. The harsh woman's mask was something familiar to him. He recalled the little bitch when she stalked his homies and they in turned tried to fill her with bullet holes. Ancient history before she went and sold out by joining the pigs.

What was her name? That was a question that he had to muse on before he spoke up after taking a moment to insert vulgarities into what he said.

"Shadow Bitch." He had an image to maintain, after all. He had to play up the image of a drugged out crass cape who would tear young punks who disrespected him a new one. Not that he wasn't drugged out some of the time, and was crass most of the time, and all too able to tear punks a new hole if they disrespected him.

"Hmpt," the contempt in the ward's voice was clear as she looked at him and Squealer.

He just glared at her. It was clear why she was here, after all he had seen her join that Merlin dude with the other movers. "Take Squealer and go. I've got a fucker that needs a beatdown."

The contempt disappeared momentarily as she looked at him, her surprise was clear. "You know, that thing that Panacea did won't work if you get yourself killed, right?"

"Doesn't matter." There was that warmth from the side of his stomach again. He didn't look down, refused to acknowledge that dull ache with its spreading warmth that matched that on his face or the crimson on his head as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

And as much as he wanted to go with that ward, to rest. He could still move, and the giant robot he was in could still fight.

"Just remember that if you die, there's nothing that Panacea can do to fix that." With that, the ward and his Squealer were there for moment, and then... they were simply gone in a mass of expanding shadow flickers.

There was only him, in the metal chamber with its shifting gears, flashing electricity and heated air blowing upwards from the engine beneath his feet.

It wasn't hard to get the giant robot to stand back up,

As he moved forwards, he could see the Endbringer. It wasn't exactly hard even if he was certain that he might have been slipped something stronger by the doping machine that Squealer had set up.

More than that, he could see Lung.

Lung. In his full glory, a centaur-like monstrosity of silver scales and dragon wings, and a face that wouldn't look out of place in a horror movie or the nightmares of someone in a bad trip. An aura of white flames surrounded him.

He was also currently larger than Leviathan.

As was the giant squid made of fire holding the lizard-like Endbringer with a wrenching full nelson hold, to allow Lung to simply whale away at Leviathan without concern.

When he had been a kid, a long fucking time ago, he had enjoyed video games. They were the in thing, and really... they were still the in thing. This had been when capes were still new and had yet to dominate everything from comics and cartoons, to video games.

As a kid, he had enjoyed shooting up fucking nazis and demon monsters on the computers at school. Had piloted giant robots and fought other giant robots.

What he saw made him feel as if he was reliving those games.

An impression that was only strengthened by the sight of some sort of change made of lava slamming into the face of Leviathan and simply cling there and allowed the cape's body to burn at the Endbringer.

The occasional explosions and other more exotic attacks directed at Leviathan didn't match what that little cheating cunt, as his Squealer called her, was doing from where she floated in the sky. Namely... butterflies everywhere, the air was filled with color and a complete lack of water. They swarmed like a single mass everywhere that he could see.

A mass that poured and focused on her, as butterflies funneled down towards her arm before spinning around her sword, before streaming straight at Leviathan in a twisting line of color that transformed into explosions surrounding something that burned as hot as the sun, and which worked wonders at drilling into the Endbringer's hide.

"Dayum,"

He stepped forward, or rather giant robot that Squealer had made did. His girl had outdone herself. It was like a video game he was playing on the jacked tv screens as ran at the fucking Endbringer.

Step after step, he moved forwards. Each following step going further and faster.

He ran.

The cock-sucking fudgepacker, Legend, might have gone on and on about heroic stuff... but really you kind of had to show up for this if you ran one of the biggest baddest gang outside of the fucking nazis, them slant-eyed boyz, or the sellout capes in the Protectorate.

If you didn't, word would get around and you would get capped in your rep.

When he had thought about it, the only one that hadn't shown up had been that skin and bones bitch snake, Coil.

That was fine, he knew Coil's type. He was a fucking operator, one of those slickback fuckers with a plan for everything. He had dealt with enough of them when he had first taken over the Merchants and expanded the territory.

Hell, he could even remember that last operator pimp who thought he could operate in Merchant territory without paying money to him. What had Squealer call it? Yeah... without paying a tithe. He remembered how that bitch had cried and begged for mercy.

While it was tempting to imagine Coil with his knees capped and begging for mercy, that was something that would need to be done later, he didn't quite growl as he ran forwards. The guns were busted, and he was out of missiles.

But there was the last holdout.

'Slender' rods slipped into the hands of the robot from concealed and armored compartments on the arms.

All it took was the single flip of a switch, and... Skidmark found himself laughing as he slammed the 'blade' of the hold out weapons into Leviathan.

Lightsabers. That was what his Squealer had made him and which he was now gleefully using on the Endbringer.

- - -
Goblin Queen | Transient Nature of Man
Worm / Exalted
- - -​

"Huh, that's not too shabby for something made by white trash," The observer murmured as she stood by the open bay doors of the hovercraft, build and designed by Dragon, and looked down at the fight.

The principles behind the contra-grav engines that emerged from beneath the wings of the manta-shaped hovercraft were somewhat difficult for her to decipher with the casual look that she had, but the science behind it was clearly electromagnetic derived. What she had seen only inspired her, and she had thoughts for future... projects.

Still, she slipped another of her bombs into her launcher and took aim at the large target, mindful of the harness that kept her from having a tragic accident, and which would involve wind and gravity.
 
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDHm7glutlg[/embed]

A wild Teaser~ shows up!​

There were people who said that he was useless, given the propensity of Brutes. And really, he could see it if it was just super strength or some shitty power like that.

But it wasn't, or rather he didn't.

Intellectually, he knew he was strong, that he could 'cheat' to gain greater toughness, and increase his strength and speed. And yet, for all the power to be strong, to change himself...

Nothing changed for him.

Not at school.

Not at home.

The world simply was, and he drifted. He did what he was suppose to, but that sensation that there was suppose to be something more never left him.

In one of his bouts of boredom, while watching an ant crawl across his hand and carrying a leaf that was so much larger and heavier than it, he wondered.

Can I be as strong as that ant?

Can I have the proportional strength of an ant?

The back of his mind held but a simple question in response.

Why not?

Can't we find out?

Much like when he had walked off the docks that spring, it had seemed a good idea.

Thought translated into action, and action into consequences that he hadn't thought.

He hadn't considered the risks in transforming his body into something not very human. Or what it entailed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AZoWbjYowE[/embed]

​
There were people who said that he was useless, given the propensity of Brutes. And really, he could see it if it was just super strength or some shitty power like that.

But it wasn't, or rather he wasn't just a brute.

Intellectually, he knew he was strong, that he could 'cheat' to gain greater toughness with his tactile telekinesis, as well as increase his strength and speed. And yet, for all the power to be strong, to change himself...

Nothing changed for him.

Not at school.

Not at home.

The world simply was, and he drifted. He did what he was suppose to, but that sensation that there was something more in life never left him.

In one of his bouts of boredom, he watched an ant crawl across his hand and carrying a leaf that was so much larger and heavier than it, and he had wondered.

Can I be as strong as that ant without using my power?

Can I have the proportional strength of an ant?

The back of his mind held but a simple question in response.

Why not?

Can't we find out?

Much like when he had walked off the docks that spring, it seemed a good idea. He could still remember that day with clarity, that crisp wind that blew from the east and which carried the scent of brine.

Thought translated into action, and action into consequences that he hadn't considered.

He hadn't thought of the risks in transforming his body into something not very human nor what it entailed.

He had studied the ant that crawled on his hand... fascinated by the way they were put together. How their bodies functioned. And so... he watched them... consumed and subsumed them for their genetic material.

When he transformed... he had changed his arms and shoulders. The fiber of his muscles twisting to resemble the delicate musculature of the common ant, but amplified and re-proportion to fit his human body. He didn't know the names that man had given to the various parts of the common ant. All he could feel was that this muscle had to be a certain shape, and the bones had to shift and adjust to accommodate the muscles and ligaments.

He couldn't do a proper carapace, not with the amount of mass he had in his body. It was just something to take into consideration in the future.

It was when he continued that he experienced... issues. Deeper and finer, the changes went. That was when his arms started to itch and burn, radiating down from his shoulders, while lines of crimson lanced downwards on his skin.

Scratching brought nothing but pain and a need to dig deeper.

Blood and flesh torn from his arms, crimson against green grass as his body rejected the change. Attacked that which wasn't it, the inhuman-ness of the change.

That had been the first time he had truly changed his body.

In the here and now, he stared at the flares of brilliance as the Blasters caught up to where Leviathan struggled. Or rather, they were brought there by reassigned Movers.

Without water, the Endbringer was nothing more than a rather high end Brute, able to sustain a surprising amount of damage and inflict such. But that wasn't exactly something new to capes experienced with fighting.

He had been assigned as one of the Movers who brought the injured to the hospital and the healers, he had done exactly as ordered. He knew that to stay where he was, close enough to feel the heat radiating from Lung and Navigator's squid thing as they beat on Leviathan, was reckless, suicidally reckless.

And yet, he felt a need to go in there. To do something more.

He could feel the bone-like carapace that protected his body, and beneath that the countless strength enhancements he had combined by careful hybridization of what insects he could find and subsume.

Ants, spiders, cockroaches, bees and wasps.

He could have, should have, but didn't, ask the Protectorate for help in acquiring more insects. He didn't see the need, after all... he looked freakish as it was when he shifted fully, with his over-sized forearms and body covered in a layer of dark shell, sectioned, with sharp spikes rising out of his body here and there for protection.

And that cape, that Rose Knight hadn't judged when she saw him full transformed. He had seen her posture, the way her gaze had lingered here and there over his body. In a way, it made him feel... unclean... to have his combat form being given the eye candy appreciation look. Unclean, but appreciated.

He could hear the words from the armband, but it didn't matter. Not in the face of the brilliance before him as the powers utilized by various capes synergized. High above, tinker planes circled and shot munitions beyond human science at Leviathan.

Perhaps, there was communication involved, or pre-cog thinkers somewhere in the system, as it wasn't normal for every single shot to miss the capes in melee combat with Leviathan, even if they didn't hit the Endbringer in question.

The wind that blew from where Lung was using Leviathan as a punching dummy alongside Skidmark in his giant mecha was oven hot, while glitters and sparkles of exotic energy and particles tumbled along.

And for all the change he had made to his body, it wasn't enough. He sensed more than thought as a stray blast from one of the flying blasters higher above veered off course to destroy one of the buildings that lined the streets.

The vault door that tumbled to a stop at his feet had him tilt his head and wonder.

Could I used inorganic material to strength myself?

And as before, his mind whispered back to him.

Why not?

Can't we find out?

Thought translated into action as he stepped upon the broken vault door. The alloyed metal of the vault door flaked, and drifted up his body, breaking down into course grains of metal. Pores widened before opening up to consume those grains. The sub-dermal stone-like layers of calcium that normally served as a last line of protection against impacts warped as metal was added, threading the calcium becoming truly stone-like before the thin layer of flesh above it recedded and the carapace blended with it.

Fins and spines emerged from his back with a faint glow, radiating heat.

He could fight now. For a time.

And yet, there was a certain courtesy that needed to be done. A light tap on his armband, and he spoke with a voice that was guttural. "Browbeat is engaging Leviathan."

With that, he sealed his mouth and ears. It was by vibration against his skin that he heard, and he cared not for the response that came back to his statement.

Heavy.

That was the impression he had of his body, muscles straining against the weight of the stone-like armor and the heavy hot wind that blew against his body.

The closer he grew to the fight, the more minor fine-tuning he did. Eyes recessed behind a layer of the calcium and metal alloy plating and a slender lenses to prevent his eyes from simply boiling away.

More than that, he stripped the layer of asphalt from the road, and layered them on top of his body.

This close to Leviathan, he could feel the surface layer of asphalt not quite crack and go soft.

And yet, as he punched the Endbringer's leg, he knew that he was doing something absolutely suicidal and reckless. But for all the lack of thought of consequences, it felt right.

More, it felt good to be able to just HIT something.

And with each hit, he replaced a lay of the melting asphalt with pieces of Leviathan's hide.
- - -
Goblin Queen | Transient Thought
Worm / Exalted
- - -​
Player Two had to whistle at what he saw as he circled high in the skies with his partner and the PRT tinkercraft.

The damage being done to the Endbringer was surprising. But then, there was no water in the environment for the damn thing to use for defense or offense.

From what he could see, the butterflies that emerge from cracks in the streets here and there to join the endless swarm of multi-hued insects in the sky, there would be nothing for Leviathan to use against Brockton Bay.

And yet... there was the sensation of danger screaming in the back of his mind as he watched the Endbringer finally pull from his face the Empire lava girl.

A girl saved by the glittering gray brute that had been punching at the legs of the lizard-like kaijuu, with a simple leap away from Leviathan.

"Navigator here, I can not maintain the hold on Leviathan for much longer. He likely will attempt to escape. Soon." And there came the voice of the little girl who had been pinning the Endbringer down with her own giant monster.

Against the brilliance of the fire from Lung and Navigator, it was a wonder that he could see it. But the thin shadow-like tail moved less like a whip and more like a drill as it pierced the Merchant Mecha before sending it tumbling to the ground, another testament to the dangers of fighting up-close with an Endbringer.

"Surtr Down, DD-8. Skidmark Deceased, DD-8."

With that, the Endbringer crouched down before leaping upwards.

The attempt by PRT tinkercraft to dodge the giant moving straight up... proved to be futile as the body of the fiery squid slammed into and disintegrate the starboard manta-fin wing of the tinkercraft.

"Bakuda Deceased, DD-8. Player One Down, DD-8."

Despite the size of Leviathan, it was fast. Far faster than Player Two's eyes could perceive, giving it the illusion of its limbs simply disappearing and reappearing as it snatched at the wreckage of the PRT Tinkercraft and used it as improvised weapons.

There was a jerk in the controls of his Viper, and crimson warning signs lit up on his helmet's heads up display overlaid upon what he could see, of the damage sustained.

"Player Two Down, DD-8...."
 
The tanuki will show a charm cascade used by Entities. It ish in one of those box things to make the post smaller.

The close combat weapon charm cascade is generally used by the Entity's avatar as opposed to the Entity itself, and meant to be a trump in the event of encountering essence using enemies by creating essence weaponry. This charm cascade would be used in conjunction with the combat charm cascades.
Close Combat Adaption
Cost: 2m; Min sence 1; Type: Simple
Keywords: Merged, Native
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: None
The entities understand that there is value to be found in understanding the ways of the host species, their technologies and weapons.

This charm allows the entity to have 3 dots of specialty in any melee weapon of the Entity's choice that a host species, the Entity has encountered in the past or is currently amongst, can and do use.

Merged : Ranged Combat Adaption


Close Combat Weapon Manifestation
Cost: 3m+, 1wp; Min Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Merged, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Close Combat Adaption
Being able to use the tools and weapons is useless if there is no weapon to use. Where there is a need, essence will find a way.

This charm creates a melee weapon that the Entity has dots of specialty in. Paired or other more exotic number of melee weapons meant to be used together cost 1 mote per additional weapon beyond the first. At the end of the scene while this charm is active, the Entity may spend 3 motes to keep the charm active for another scene.

Merged : Ranged Weapon Manifestation


Superior Close Combat Weapon Enhancement
Cost: -; Min Essence 3; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Merged
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Close Combat Weapon Manifestation
Indepth study of a host's technologies and weapon systems allow the Entity to understand better the weapons of its hosts, and thus create a superior weapon.

This Charm enhances its prerequisite, conjuring a perfect weapon.

Merged : Superior Ranged Weapon Enhancement


Overwhelming Armament
Cost: -; Min Essence 4; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Merged
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms:
Having a weapon that hit didn't mean much if it couldn't do damage via penetration of defenses utilized by the Entity's enemies.

This Charm enhances the prerequisite [Close Combat Weapon Manifestation] charm by giving the weapon created the overwhelming tag. The minimum damage of the enhanced weapon is equal to [the Entity's essence trait] instead of 1.

Merged : Overwhelming Ranged Armament


Piercing Armament
Cost: -; Min Essence 5; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Merged
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Overwhelming Armament
Having a weapon that hit didn't mean much if it couldn't do damage via penetration of defenses utilized by the Entity's enemies.

This Charm enhances the prerequisite [Close Combat Weapon Manifestation] charm by giving the weapon created the piercing tag. If the weapon created already has piercing tag, this charm's effect enhances it further and allows the weapon to ignore all armor soak.

Merged : Piercing Ranged Armament


Sublime Close Combat Weapon Manifestation
Cost: -; Min Essence 6; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Merged
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Piercing Armament
Using knowledge harvested from the species known as [Terresterial Exalted], the Entities can manifest artifacts for a short time by brute-forcing their essence into creating a superior sublime weapon.

This Charm enhances the prerequisite [Close Combat Weapon Manifestation] charm, but in place of a mundane weapon created, an artifact version is created at an additional cost of 3 motes per artifact weapon created. Artifact weapons created by this enhancement have one of the jade bonus as listed below.

White jade adds +2 to damage and +1 to the difficulty of rolls to resist knockdown and stunning caused by the weapon.
Green jade adds +1 to damage and steals one mote of Essence from living creatures that take damage from the attack, transferring it to the wielder.
Red jade adds +3 to damage due to intense heat.
Black jade adds +1 to damage and adds +2 to defense.
Blue jade adds +1 to damage and +2 to Rate.

Merged : Sublime Ranged Weapon Manifestation


Null Space Armament
Cost: -; Min Essence 7; Type: Permanent
Keywords: Merged
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Sublime Close Combat Weapon Manifestation
There are things that the Entities have encountered over their rather long lifespan in the dark depths between stars, less technology or species and more natural phenomena. They have studied such phenomena and devised charms that take advantage of such.

This Charm enhances the prerequisite [Close Combat Weapon Manifestation] charm by enhancing the weapon's damage and making it aggravated damage.

Merged : Null Space Ranged Armament


Radiant Close Combat Weapon Manifestation
Cost: 6m+, 1wp; Min Essence 8; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-Ok, Merged, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Null Space Armament
Surpassing mere artifacts such as used by the species known as [Terresterial Exalted], the Entities can manifest weapons of essence and stellar matter. Such weapons are dreadful items that will almost certainly destroy anything it strikes.

Instead of a mundane weapon or an artifact weapon created by [Close Combat Weapon Manifestation] or [Sublime Close Combat Weapon Manifestation], this charm outright creates a weapon that possesses the heat of the sun constrained within its form. The melee weapon created must be one that the Entity has dots of specialty in.

Non-artifact/magical (charm created or enhanced) weapons or items that come in contact with weapons created by this charm are instantly destroyed. Against non-magical structures, the raw damage done by weapons created by this charm is doubled.

The entity may enhance the weapons created by this charm with effects from the Armament charms in the charm cascade, at an additional cost of 6 motes per weapon enhanced. The enhancement is all or nothing, and must enhance every weapon created by this charm.

Paired or other more exotic number of melee weapons meant to be used together cost 4 motes per additional weapon beyond the first. At the end of the scene while this charm is active, the Entity may spend 6 motes to keep the charm active for another scene.

The weapon created by this charm has the following stats
Speed 3, Accuracy +[Entity's Essence Trait], Damage +[Entity's Essence Trait] Lethal, Rate Unlimited, Tags : Piercing

Merged : Radiant Ranged Weapon Manifestation
 
Soh.... tanuki has an incomplete something something here for Goblin Queen. Click on spoiler button and be spoiled

​


The massive steel alloyed door sealed itself shut with barely a sound. The only signs of its movement was the change in air pressure and the cessation of the sound of the torrential downpour mere meters away outside.

The soft but solid sounding thump from the walls and door as the inner wheel stopped turning was a good sign that the door was secure. While the materials that made up the Shelter were tinker fabricated materials, the basic design... wasn't.

Each and every Endbringer Shelter was designed by architects in the employ of Fortress Construction. True, the materials were created by Tinker designed and built factories, but the basic designed did not require actual tinkers or thinkers. No, that work fell to professional architects who were given details on the limitations of the materials available to them.

More than that, they were given a list of requirements. A challenge for the skilled, to squeeze as much shelter capacity in as little space available with the materials and equipment provided. There was also the understanding of the need for as much redundancy involved.

Thus were the Endbringer shelter vaults designed, by the mundane men and women who might one day seek refugee in them.

He had been one of the last to enter, napsack resting against his back, head turned just so to see the police officers pull the vault door shut.

Once, he would have been standing on the side of that door. Putting his life on the line to protect the city from villains and monsters alike.

But that had been long ago. He had been young in those days. Been in better shape. All of that had been before that night, before that fight with the bastard Marquis.

Before he had been hospitalized, where his life had hung on a thin razor edge while surgeons in the pay of the Protectorate and PRT had operated on him.

Because of Marquis, he could never be an active hero again. Because of that bastard, he could never run as he had... and when the weather changed like it had been at the approach of Leviathan... he could feel it in his bones, the dull ache a sign of the grave injuries done to him and which had never healed properly.

As he walked stiffly into depths the shelter vault, he used his power to keep air around his body warm. The lighting was cold and harsh, almost incandescent that normal florescent light couldn't match. He could see sharp shadows cast against the concrete walls from the people as they moved deeper into the vault, from the upper level where the entrance had been, and down into the lower levels.

There was the mandated bi-yearly drills which had gotten people familiar with the shelter vaults that were near their homes, their workplaces, their schools, and even malls which meant he was familiar with the shelter.

In his case, it was near his home and restaurant. But from the clothing of some of those in the vault, it was clear that they were tourists from some of the hotels near the Boardwalk.

It was unheard of for there to be hours of warning to an Endbringer. To have a day and night to prepare, for the civilians to evacuate or to prepare and make their way to the shelters? That was nigh unthinkable,

And yet, the sirens had gone off yesterday. The warnings of what was coming had been announced on the radios and TVs.

Which was why he was in here, heading deeper into the shelter, towards the sound and scent of humanity.

"Al!" He blinked as he heard a familiar voice call out his name.

His response to Kelly was almost customary and somewhat loud as he walked stiffly to her. "What?"

"I'm glad to see you're not crazy enough to stay in Fugly Bob's to protect it." At her statement, he had to laugh.

"Nah, I'm not crazy enough for that, 'sides... that's what the insurance is for, Join me for a smoke?" He nodded at the smoking enclosure further into the shelter.

At his question and nod, there was only a frown. "Al, you know that stuff will kill you eventually, right?"

"Probably, but it being Brockton Bay, it's more likely I'll get killed in a gang fight than by my smokes." He waved her off and off to the smoke room.

...

...

...

The one issue about being stuck in an Endbringer shelter was that it got fairly boring fast. True, there were people to talk to, there were places to have a smoke or some privacy, but in the end, it was a confined space where people didn't have much to do.

That combined with the natural tension of knowing absolute disaster awaited them. That their family and friends, their homes, their livelihoods could all be lost.

It was an atmosphere that could result in a riot or murders inside a structure that had but one exit.

Which was why Al had brought his pack of cigarettes and the book he had been meaning to read with him. That was what gave him something else to focus on as he drifted from the shelter's main hall to the smoke room. The muted television screens located here and there in the shelter were meant to inform, to entertain... but they were filtered out as pointless background motion.

It was also why others had brought their own forms of entertainment given that there was a warning this time.

The first sign that something had gone wrong were the screams and shouts of surprise, as butterflies flew out of cups and bottles of water, as they fluttered about in the water containers.

That was before the rumbling started.

And the shelter tilted.

Shifted and moved.

...

The falling motion was almost expected.

Along with the screams.

And then... silence.

- - -
Goblin Queen | Transient Structures
Worm / Exalted
- - -​
 
​


Tanuki anticipate will be down in 1 to 2 hours!

A wild Teaser~ shows up!​

"Hey old man, you got a light?" The voice was far too young for someone to be asking for a lighter.
He turned to look at the speaker, and it definitely was someone who in his eyes was far too young to be asking for a lighter. But then, it wasn't as if kids from highschool back when he was a kid in school didn't smoke.
 
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