The City of Durem - A GM Thread ♦ WALK-IN/OPEN

[Cthulhu Wish]

A beast stirs from the heart of the Durem apartment building.

It was a rough night of partying from earlier as the slumbering creature groaned as it made its way from the flat mattress and to the bathroom. Its bountiful booty bounced with delight with every movement of nudity across the room.

Flicking the switch in the water closet, the beast revealed itself into the light. The light bounced off a feminine body revealing the collection of scars and tattoos. Makeup smeared across her lips as she grinned slightly before reaching to the counter to pull up a cigarette and place it to her lips before lighting it.

Izette Prechtl had risen.

Placing the lighter on the counter, she proceeds to take a long drag from her cigarette. The collection of smoke swirls from her nostrils and her lips before she reaches for her lime green rectangle. Quickly, the screen lit up revealing an unflattering photo of a rather annoyed ginger and the dark-haired punker in her glory. Her arm ached a bit as she proceeded to unlock her phone with her thumb. However, unlike her arm, this one seemed to have a new wound. Her entire arm seemed to be entirely black, however it was not done by an artist. But rather supernatural means as though she had dipper her hand in ichor. However, it did not stop on her arm. But rather climbed up across her neck and her chest.

Hey Zandy-girl, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. Whaddaup?

Hitting the send button, the woman proceeded to grin before taking another long drag from her smoke.

It would only be a matter of time for another adventure was about to begin.

[Sins of an Angel]

Zandra was all too happy to give the Durem PD a wide berth as they concluded whatever business brought them to the hospital, leaving the nursing staff to their work once more. She wasn't fearful of them, mistrusting sure but not fearful. Frankly, the less she had to deal with the "good old boys in blue" the happier she was. They, like everyone else on the mayor's payroll, were about as reliable and honest as the Hivers in the Undercity...

Then again, even they had their own moral code and you knew what you were getting up front. So maybe that was a poor comparison.

Regardless, Durem was all too pretty and scrubbed up on the outside but she knew it was only for show. Which was why she hated coming here. With the officers out of the way Zandra sneered at their retreating backs and swung herself into the hospital room fully. Her eyes drifted, taking in the paltry scenery and not yet landing on Joseph until he finished speaking.

Though she snorted and rolled her eyes at his joke, she took it in good faith. "Thanks, but I'm not really into the whole 'clinically sterile chic' aesthetic." Like a ping-pong, she hit back with her own brand of snarky humor. At first, she sized up the nearby chair to determine whether or not she really wanted to sit, and ultimately decided against getting too comfortable. "Anyhow. Guess you could say that my conscience grew two whole sizes this day. Saw your mug on the morning news and how you got your s**t pushed in right on your front stoop. Classy. So, seeing how you have literally no one else, and I'm probably the last sucker you had any meaningful contact with, I swallowed my pride and came to make sure you were okay."

If she sounded annoyed, it was not at Joseph, but at the stupidity happening around this shithole of a city lately. The gangers and druggies in the Red Light District were bad enough on a good day but this was not their usual practice.

"So. Phyresis. Didn't take you for the type-”

The sharp buzzing vibration of her phone clattered noisily against the wall from within her back pocket, interrupting what Zandra had been saying. “Sorry, one sec.” It was a text, not an incoming call so whatever it was couldn’t be urgent, but she grabbed her cell expecting it to be Lucky, asking where she was.

Hey Zandy-girl, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. Whaddaup?

Or it could be that.

She didn’t even need to look at the contact name, or number to know who sent it. Izzy. Had the woman finally dug herself out of her booze-and-food induced hole? The thought made Zan snicker shortly before her fingers flew across the on-screen keys to type out a response.

Nice of you to text me back. Only been a month. Maybe longer, don't remember.
At Durem General dealing with something. Why?

The text came from Izzy directly, not Melech writing on her behalf to say the woman had gotten herself arrested or shanked, so that was promising.

Not wanting to be rude, she slid her phone back in her pocket and returned her focus to Joseph. “Like I was saying, you’re not a stupid man, Walsh. So why are you ******** around with that s**t? Nevermind what it could do to you, now you’ve got the entire Undercity on your a** like a pack of bloodhounds, and the PD sniffing around your place. Most of the cops in this city don’t care if you shoot up right in front of them half the time, but I still wouldn’t take the risk.” Zandra’s shoulders slumped as she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She wasn’t yet privy to all of the details and it had nothing to do with her by a long mile. Not really. Not yet. But she knew how easily this could spiral out of control.

Kaijumancer

Cthulhu Wish

[The Kaijumancer]

Joseph gave an honest smile at hearing it was a social call rather than a business one, but he withdrew the smile and his offered hand at the mention of Phyresis.

Sins of an Angel

“Like I was saying, you’re not a stupid man, Walsh. So why are you ******** around with that s**t? Nevermind what it could do to you, now you’ve got the entire Undercity on your a** like a pack of bloodhounds, and the PD sniffing around your place. Most of the cops in this city don’t care if you shoot up right in front of them half the time, but I still wouldn’t take the risk.”

It was going to be a business call anyways it seemed. “You give me too much credit in the intelligence department, I’m flattered.”
He moved to sit in the chair Reagan had previously eyed then ignored.
“While it was embarrassing to get jumped in my own home, I don’t thinking means the whole of the Undercity is out to get me. If anything it shows that at least the three that got me knew their mark.”

He looks down at his hands before looking Zandra in the eyes. “And this is why I turned to Phyresis, so I could go get numb and not think about that, not think about how much this hospital bill is going to cost me.”
“The thing that gets me though, is that they used magic to effectively turn me off. The aura stuff I could see them countering if I’m their mark, but it also slowed how fast I heal, something magic hasn’t done before. I thought the old saying was magic must defeat magic or something like that.
Either way seems a little over kill to just steal a inkwell sized jar of liquid Phyresis.”
The kaijumancer looking down tries and fails to manifest his aura into hand as golden motes of light swirl around his fingertips before fading away.
“Still can’t channel either of my abilities. It’s not a known side effect of prolonged Phyresis exposure either at least to my knowledge.”
Looking back at the woman he sighed before continuing, “You still do odd jobs right? How bout a multi part one, the base pay will be s**t, but like some damn video game, you can keep what you loot.
I’m going to find out why I got targeted, how there magic was able to get me to be powerless, reverse it, and give the person who called it a piece of my mind.
I could use the second opinion on anything I find.”

[SalvoriaBlaze]

AUROURA ROSE MOON
Age: 18 Years-Old
Element: Fire

Auroura was wondering in the woods, she knew she was lost. She decided to sit down by a little water fall. She leaned against the tree behind her she decided if she took a little nap she would have the energy to find the village. Her father decided to send her on a journey to find her true love because her father was the king of her kingdom and he was going to be stepping down from the thorn and let her and her love take over the kingdom. He father was over a 100 years old. She is part goddess her mother was the moon goddess before she died. She doesn't know if her love would be human or not, but she didn't care as long as he loves her she would be happy. She started humming a beautiful song her mother always sung to her to get her to her to relax. She closed her eyes and hummed and listen to all the beautiful sounds that were around her. She knew the sun was shining very bright but she was happy she was shaded a little bit by the tree that she was leaning against.

[[ Lemon Tree ]]

SalvoriaBlaze

"Why are you here."

It was less a question and more a statement from a female voice to the right of the resting person. A turn of the head would allow her to see the girl that appeared-- she seemed about the same age with toasted caramel skin speckled with red freckles and piercing light blue eyes that stared. Her expression was flat; some tended to call that 'unreadable' but she didn't mind the "resting b***h face" description. Her black hair was streaked with red that, in her mid-back hanging ponytail, tended to streak to a fiery orange. Ears were pointed, though not long. Her clothing consisted of black slacks and a black semi-translucent dress, though it was opaque over her chest.

"People don't usually come to this area. Not alone, anyway."

[SalvoriaBlaze]

[ Lemon Tree ]

SalvoriaBlaze

"Why are you here."

It was less a question and more a statement from a female voice to the right of the resting person. A turn of the head would allow her to see the girl that appeared-- she seemed about the same age with toasted caramel skin speckled with red freckles and piercing light blue eyes that stared. Her expression was flat; some tended to call that 'unreadable' but she didn't mind the "resting b***h face" description. Her black hair was streaked with red that, in her mid-back hanging ponytail, tended to streak to a fiery orange. Ears were pointed, though not long. Her clothing consisted of black slacks and a black semi-translucent dress, though it was opaque over her chest.

"People don't usually come to this area. Not alone, anyway."

The girl turned towards the female's voice "I am new here and i am lost" She said in a tired voice

[[ Lemon Tree ]]

SalvoriaBlaze

She didn't approach any closer, staying a good twenty-five feet away. She talked only loud enough to be heard, a raised volume that still hadn't reached what one would call "yelling."

"Where are you trying to go?," she asked.

[Sins of an Angel]

The Kaijumancer

“You give me too much credit in the intelligence department, I’m flattered.”

That made her snort, but in good humor. When he wasn't trying (and failing) to pickpocket her or bleeding all over her living room, Joseph wasn't half bad. Maybe she was just in a good mood, maybe the drugs made him less of a tit, who knew. Regardless of what made her so inclined to hang around and actually listen, she did. Her eyes followed him casually as he took the seat she rejected. There was a stool just tucked by the bed, Zandra realized and hooked her foot through the rungs to drag it over.
"Love the humility, but I'm serious. If you weren't even a fraction smarter than the average lho smoking hiver, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Quote:

“If anything it shows that at least the three that got me knew their mark.”

With a huff, she rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Sure. I'll give you that. They targeted you deliberately. My point is, you've enough brain cells to know what they likely cut that s**t with so why risk it?" It wasn't any skin off her nose what happened to the guy if he carried on like this. She was doing him a favor even though Joseph owed her.

She met his eyes soon after, noting the self-loathing and defeat, both of which earned a frown from the engineer. Zandra was of no mind to start falling all over him in pity, but damn did he look rough and put through his paces. He was effectively still a stranger but she didn't wish ill on folks just trying to scrape by. "Don't worry about the bill. I'll... put in a good word with a friend."

Fortunately, the topic of conversation switched gears and Joseph launched into speculation surrounding the attack. He vocally pondered the more curious details and laid it out for common discussion. The man had a point, to some extent. Not about going to stupid extremes just to pinch a small amount of Phyresis, not if it was such a widely desired product. Zandra was becoming intimately aware of how much upheaval Durem had been thrown into because of this s**t. Aekea, her personal stomping grounds, were usually safe from the bullshit happening in the other cities, but it was quickly becoming a widespread problem.

Only time would tell when the s**t would hit the fan.

"I told you, this is not your usual party drug. It's ******** batshit at best and potentially a Gaian-wide crisis at worst. It started with the hivers and that's where it ought to have stayed. But some a*****e let it leak and now-" the bright sparks danced across her vision in a brief display before it vanished in little more than a whimper. Wasn't anything out of the ordinary for her, she had seen it all over the years, just about anyway. But it was still foreboding to know that this s**t wasn't just creating new metas and mutants, but directly interfering in the ability of those existing folk.

For a minute, Zandra thought back to Izzy and something twisted in her gut, but she didn't say anything aloud. Hopefully she was smart enough to stay away. Melech would be there, of course but he was her partner, not her babysitter. She had a history with the recreational drug business, it was how they met after all but she’d not been involved for some years now. With any luck, it would stay that way. “Look, just take my word for it okay? I’ve seen people close to me get seriously ******** up on all shorts of substances and this one sounds like it takes everyone’s worst trip and made that into a drug… my ex was a pusher. He was tight with Dzan Streea. That should tell you I know a thing or two about this scene.”

What light came in through the far window caught on the motes, or sparks of gold that fell like dust from Joseph’s fingertips and caught her attention. She watched with reserved interest as he attempted to demonstrate some of the less obvious side effects he had discovered. It wasn’t unusual to see a substance negatively affect metahuman abilities to some degree, but not like this. Zandra wrinkled her nose, her expression scrunched as she pondered what it meant. “I’ve heard rumors, but this is definitive proof. The mundane are mutating and the metas are regressing. This is so ******** stupid, and dangerous.”

It was still confined to Durem, but how long before it reached other parts of Gaia? Like her hometown?

Quote:

“You still do odd jobs right?”

In hindsight, she should have expected those to be the next words out of his mouth. “Keyword there being jobs, Walsh. I don't go on suicidal scavenger hunts, hoping that I don’t get ganked every time I turn the corner.” That was unfair, and she knew it but it still had to be said. With a sigh, Zan pushed off the stool and reached to snatch Joseph’s cell. Before he could protest, she gave him a knowing look and got right to business opening his contacts list and plugging in her information. “Here’s my number. I’ve got somewhere to be - like ten minutes ago, but I can meet you at the Rave Club after that. We’ll talk more then, how’s that?”