|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2024 12:57 pm
It was the silence that made Madriu realize that he had to be somewhere different.
His world was never quiet—not like this. There was no roiling storm, no electric crackle in the atmosphere—that was…that was wrong. And there was something under him—something….cold. And wet.
He sat back on his heels, ears drooping down, and took in the area around him. It seemed like some sort of….clearing in a wooded area? But there seemed to be a path stretching away from him, and there were places to sit nearby, and everything was covered in a blanket of white.
Madriu scooped it up in his palm, tilting his head to the side in confusion. It seemed familiar—cold and wet and soft, and—
Oh.
Snow.
It had been so long since he’d seen any, with Madriu’s atmosphere so thoroughly dried out, that he’d forgotten what it was like. Slowly, his tail began to wag behind him, and his ears perked in delight.
Wherever he was, now, there was snow. And it was cold, and wet.
And he was alive. That was the most exciting part. He, and this world--they were both alive. Which meant there was a chance.
Something strange pinged on his magical senses--something Chaotic. It made him freeze, made his ears pin back and his tail fluff in agitation--things he had once worked so hard to suppress, but he'd been away from the Arcalian court for so long, and Anthy had always thought he shouldn't have to, and he'd let the habit of repression slip--and he whirled around to look for the source of it.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2024 11:14 am
As she hit the town after leaving the Negaverse’s library, Andesine felt her heart positively thrumming with possibility. Whatever had happened down there among the stacks—whatever it was that she’d found on that scroll with the ornate border decorations like something out of an illuminated manuscript, and whatever had happened with it shimmering and disappearing into her meteor hammer—it had felt special. Probably not predestined, which was a fundamentally silly concept that Andesine simply did not have time for entertaining, but very much like something that she couldn’t take lightly.
(Not that anything in the war could ever afford to be taken lightly—it couldn’t; Andesine knew this—but this especially felt like something that Andesine needed to treat with the appropriate solemnity and reverence.)
Moreover, whatever had happened felt powerful. Not all power in this war was magical in nature, but nobody with a working brain could deny that magic had power. If whatever that scroll did had made Andesine’s weapon more magical, then it had effectively given her more power—an almost dizzying thought (but only almost; wouldn’t do to let the new power go to her head so much that she ******** something up and, in so doing, prove that she didn’t deserve it).
After teleporting into one of the city’s many parks, she took off skulking through the snow and the trees, her hand curled protectively around the handle of her meteor hammer. Whichever park she’d wound up in didn’t much matter. Enough civilians passed by on the nearby streets and paths for Andesine to drain them without anybody getting too suspicious. It was late at night, after all, and some exhaustion only made a perfect amount of sense. Besides, Andesine was careful, as always, to avoid draining too much from any one person. Not that the idiots from the White Moon cared about such semantics, but the difference really was important. It all came down to how someone chose to utilize the human resources available to them in Destiny City, and whether or not they used said resources well.
Rubbing her thumb up and down her weapon’s handle, Andesine resolved herself to using the resources before her well.
As another aura popped onto her senses, though, she couldn’t help but thinking, Well, speak of the devils.
White Moon. No telling without getting closer if they were a senshi or a Knight, but whoever they were, they probably wouldn’t be able to stand up to Andesine that well. Or maybe they could, if they had any decent magic, but that would only make defeating them so much sweeter. Following the aura and carefully looking around her, being mindful of her surroundings and any other advancing presences, Andesine kept on her guard.
“Come out, come out,” she sing-song teased, feeling certain that she was close but not yet seeing the White Moon interloper. “You’re not lost, are you?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:15 pm
Oh, good. Whatever this was thought it was some clever, badass hunter, singsonging little threats. Madriu wasn't sure exactly what he was feeling--it felt...sticky, and crackly, at the same time, and it felt like danger, but he wasn't used to his aura senses actually working anymore.
This was probably some sort of strange monster, he guessed, one that had been made to mimic voices. whatever form chaos took here, at least, it didn't feel as pervasive as it had been on Madriu, and that was a point in this planet's favor.
He prowled closer, moving as quietly as he could--footsteps light on the ground, though the snow crunched under his feet regardless.
And then he came within view of the monster, and he froze.
It wasn't a monster.
It looked like a person.
"What the ******** are you?" He demanded, ears pinning back and tail fluffing in a full threat gesture. It--she?--looked too real to be the mimic he'd suspected. What was Chaos doing, here?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 1:14 pm
Thankfully, the White Moon idiot came right out into the open; Andesine loved when they were ******** stupid. Meeting them head-on, though, she hesitated a moment. Wolf ears……a matching tail……oh. As the realization that she was facing one of the invaders from outer space set in, Andesine wrinkled her nose and let herself scowl. And for him to have the gall to interrogate her like this? Nuh uh, no ma’am.
“Captain Andesine, and I’m a who, not a what,” she told him, readying her meteor hammer. Lifting up the chain, she let it swing like an exceptionally cranky pendulum whose tone was very pointed right now, but she didn’t immediately swing it at the senshi. Even without attacking, Andesine could’ve sworn that she felt something different with her weapon.…… something more potent and more threatening. “And I’m one of the people trying to stop outer space freaks like you from colonizing this planet!”
Screwing in all her focus and determination, Andesine swung her meteor hammer toward the space invader. Whatever new magic that scroll had put into her weapon, she fixed her mind on unleashing it all over the feral wolf-boy.Noir Songbird At will, Andesine whips her meteor hammer and swings it at one target within a 20-foot radius, but does not hit them physically. Instead of physical damage, they are assaulted by a wave of magical force powerful enough to bowl over unsuspecting targets. A hallucination accompanies the force-wave: a powerful smell of rot, something like an uncleaned charnel house in the middle of an extremely humid August. This smell is incredibly unpleasant but illusory; it deals no extra damage and can be recognized as an illusion with focus from the target. This attack has three uses.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 9:41 pm
Captain Andesine. A rank, a name. Mostly meaningless to Madriu--but he supposed he'd figure them out in time. This was a whole new world, after all. A whole new Chaos poison. One that could infect people.
Vile.
And that word.
Freak.
How many different variations on that had he heard--directed at him, said over his head, dropped casually as if his people deserved to be belittled, to be treated like feral monsters--
He snarled, animal, and launched himself forward--and then whatever strange magic from her weapon slammed into him, sending him flying backwards.
The smell of rot and decay and death had become familiar, over the centuries, but this--so concentrated, so powerful--was completely unexpected. For a terrible moment, he feared that he was still on his world--still trapped on that dead planet, and he'd stumbled onto some undiscovered mass grave that had somehow not fully rotted even with centuries of time. But that didn't make sense--he knew he was somewhere else, could feel the cold snow under his back, knew that where he was was not where he'd been.
He pushed himself to his feet. She was stronger than him. Had unnatural magic, and a dangerous weapon. This was not a fair fight.
Madriu was built for unfair fights.
"Struggle On," he breathed, to himself, and then he launched himself at her, arm drawn back to throw a punch charged by his magic.Quote: Madriu calls the name of his attack, punches his fists together, and is surrounded by a golden aura. For the next 25 seconds, he will receive physical boosts equivalent up to twice his natural ability, giving him the power to struggle against difficult odds. He becomes physically stronger and for the duration of his magic feels no pain. To achieve the full boost of his magic, he must be actively struggling, and the more dire the situation is, the more damage he can do. He can use this magic up to three times per battle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2024 8:43 am
Andesine allowed herself a smug smirk as she saw what the new magic in her weapon could do.…… People getting bowled over without her needing to make physical contact definitely wasn’t bad. Not bad at all. Whatever else accompanied the force that had knocked this senshi over, she couldn’t quite tell. Clearly, she’d need to experiment a bit more. See some more reactions out of the White Moon idiots and try to gauge from those what she was inflicting on them. Honestly, it sounded like a good time, altogether. Idly twirling her meteor hammer, Andesine wondered if she might not find some others of this senshi’s number lurking around and waiting for her to knock them back.
And then a fist collided with her nose.
She felt something cave. Heard something crunch. Something hot and thick and wet gushed down her lip and the back of her throat—eugh, that would be the ******** blood, then. <******** didn’t want to show any weakness to this space invader with delusions of grandeur, but she couldn’t help groaning under the duress of the pain. Her free hand rushed up, not to protect her nose but claw at the wolf-senshi’s face, or shove him back, or rip off his glasses and throw them, or <******** whatever. Anything that Andesine could do to get him to <******** off.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2024 5:44 pm
Madriu felt the Captain's nose crunch under his fist. It was satisfying--in a way he hadn't felt in quite some time. There was just something about fighting another person, about meeting violent words and violent actions with violence of one's own, that felt so godsdamned good.
She was fighty, he'd give her that, going for clawing at his face instead of trying to defend herself, but even that didn't hurt. Still, he skipped a few steps back, fists still raised, golden aglow.
"Get out of here," he growled, "or I'll break more than your ******** nose."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
