The glitter of something crystalline caught her eye, and without mulling it over, Amphitrite picked up and and began to examine it. Warm. A crystal shouldn't have been warm, right? Unless Juliet had been laying on it up until now. "Did you think I'd like this, pretty lady?" she said in a light, airy voice that didn't at all match the situation as she toyed with the thing in one hand and stroked her lioness' soft fur with the other.
It hadn't been the first time she'd kept what she'd found. It wasn't as though Amphitrite had sticky fingers, exactly - it's not as though she felt great about it. But if people were careless enough to drop something of value, why shouldn't she take it? The circus only provided so many wages, and she had Niss and Juliet to consider.
God her heart felt so full, just - wrong, no, this was wrong, there was no lioness, "Get out of my head, " she hissed that no one in particular, the moment fading in and out of focus until she turned to Niss. "Come here. I found something."
Quote:
You have a vision of yourself doing something not quite right in the circus. It fades in and out, but it is a slightly unpleasant memory.
Beejoux
Whimsical Blue rolled 1 100-sided dice:
46Total: 46 (1-100)
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2019 9:16 am
Trey Cameron
Quote:
You see an illusion of something joyful that has happened to you in the circus.
"Suri!"
Everything went sideways suddenly, and the world grew weirdly distant. Trey clung tightly to the single thought he'd had before, feeling everything try to slip away from.
I have to find Suri.
But why? She was mad at him, he'd said something thoughtless... but they weren't really friends. She was an annoyance, for all that he tried to ignore how his heart soared when she performed. She always made it look so effortless, in contrast to when her feet were on the ground.
That wasn't right. Suri wasn't a performer. She was a childhood friend... a superior in the Negaverse. One of Chase's circle. Something felt wrong and he needed to find her... but he also needed to feed the lions. He didn't let anyone else do it. They needed to bond with him, as strongly as possible, if they were going to perform in his act. He had to be able to trust them... like he didn't trust Labyrinthite. The man was a monster, but an appealing one. He demanded results and Fafnir struggled so hard to meet his expectations... One wrong move and the lions would sense his weakness, take advantage of it. They were still wild animals, for all that they'd been 'tamed'.
Trey pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, feeling the world swing closer and recede again, thoughts falling over each other. It was the circus. It was a party. He was Trey, the designer's son. He was Trey, the lion tamer...
The first time he'd performed with the beast he'd trained for months had been the scariest and most thrilling moment of his life. The crowd, almost indistinct past the bright lights of center ring, had cheered as he let the lions out of their cages. A male and two females. A small start, but they were easier to handle as a family unit. His father had taught him that, and made sure no matter how easy to handle they seemed, he kept a healthy respect for what they could do.
The trio took little prompting to take their seats on their stands, waiting with swinging tails for his commands. His hear fluttered and he took a deep breath, struggling for an inner calm they would sense.
Through the hoops, over the jumps. Waving paws and open jaws as he demanded of them. They performed, though he could sense a nervous energy to them. They felt the excitement of the crowd like he did... but they listened to him, remembering what he had taught them to do. Trey didn't use a whip, keeping instead a little rod the length of a cane, to direct with.
The last jump, through the fire, had the large male hesitate, swinging his big head side to side with uncertainty and discomfort. Trey head his breath, even as he encouraged him on. It would not break the show, but to have his big male refuse, after all the training... it would be a set back. More months of work.
But then he jumped forward, clearing the licking flames, and the crowd roared approval. Trey's hear soard as he directed the lions back into their cages, turning with a flourish to bow to the audience. He felt giddy with his success, floating on the high of it. His father would be so proud of him with his fledgling act coming into its own. This was his life, it was his destiny. It would be a hard road, but he'd made the first wonderful, terrifying step onto it.
"Suri?" Trey said, dropping his hand and blinking around at the strange room, wavering views of canvas walls trying to intrude.
Fleur held on to Cybele's bluster for all of about five seconds. It was long enough for her to kick off her heels, which only led to her feet being more engulfed in the layers of purple fabric she was wearing. Although part of her mind was very sure that she wasn't wearing a skirt at all. At least now she could know that her feet were on solid ground.
She curled her fists, too, and only then caught a glimpse of the face of the woman tangled in curtains and hissing at passerbys.
No, not curtains. Ropes. Ropes that she was trying to climb. No matter how hard Fleur gritted her teeth, all she could see were the setups of a trapeze, the sparkle of sequins sewn into spandex. And then any worry about illusions was gone and she was just worried about her friend.
"Suri?" she asked, half gasping it as her eyes went wide. She didn't want that to be right, either. Suri was a hard worker, someone who she'd smiled at hundreds of times before going onstage, someone who she'd caught in midair, not someone she attacked. Not someone who gripped white-knuckled onto ropes and told her to leave.
There was a moment when she saw a sleek black dress, and some other recognition tried to flicker, but it didn't last.
"Are you-" she cut off her own sentence with a restrained, low pitched growl as the need to fight and to help and to need all hit her at the same time. She stood stock still, digging her fingernails into her palms as if that would cut through everything. "Something's happening," she said. "We should go."
There were protesters all around--closing in, bearing down on her for all her bravado and courage. Suri didn't like to be made to feel small or broken, but the reality of these things crashed over her as she stepped further back from the approaching crowd. The torches were approaching, and she still had no way up into the rafters, not without leaving herself vulnerable to attack while she climbed.
She thought of her team and where they might be if not here with her, injured or dead or frightened. Or maybe they had left her behind, come to their senses and rejoined polite society as so many of them could with their able bodies and charming demeanors. Suri had nowhere else to go--they would remember that, wouldn't they? These were people she trusted with her life on a daily basis, the wings that kept her aloft, her family. They wouldn't run ahead where she could not go.
Right?
She turned at the sounds of a scuffle and saw her there--Fleur, one of her fellow flyers, a partner she'd held hand in hand for years. She rushed to the girl's side, her gait stilted and awkward in her hurry, and she reached for the hands she knew, eyes wide with concern. "Fleur--where are the others? Are you alright?" Suri asked, using a quivering hand to smooth out the girl's hair.
Her head swiveled when she heard her name--and blinked, shaking her hair--but that couldn't be right. Trey Cameron, aloof and prickly as he was, wouldn't be calling for her, even in the chaos laid out before them. She'd tossed peanuts and trinkets down towards his cats now for ages, trying to get his attention, but the man was singularly devoted to his craft. She had to admire that, even if it made her ache sometimes. What might it be like, to have a sliver of his attention? It wasn't something someone like her was ever going to know.
Niss Head his head ducked, the heels of his hands pressing into his temples as his thoughts skipped between the present and a life that didn't exist. The visions themselves weren't bad, the feels attached to them felt..warm, content. It was a simpler life, but an exciting one, and he and Desdemona were together in a why Niss had only entertained in fleeting, idle flights of fancy.
But they were completely unhelpful to the moment.
He blinked as Amphitrite beckoned for his attention, sinking down to crouch beside her. "What'd you find?" He looked down at the thing in her hands.
Something else ghosted through him, something not so warm and not so content. A memory of a time where there'd been another contender for his wife's affection, and Niss had manipulated the acrobat into assisting him with the lions. He'd gotten hurt, embarrassed. He'd left the circus after that.
Noland had been so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't heard Lori approaching and jumped when she started to speak with him. "Lori! Uh..." He didn't know what to say. She seemed to just have come over to him to see what was up and see if he was worried about their performance which he should have been paying more attention to. And yet something seemed wrong about this. He thought he remembered being forced into going to a party with her, not her calling him boss.
He shook his head. "I was just lost in my own thoughts. Though I do hope that you are prepared. I'm not worried about Thor misbehaving." He said, smirking at her. He remembered fighting like this, or at least that's what he thought. Did but wasn't it at a party?
Leopleuradon
kuropeco
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2019 3:00 pm
The ground shakes beneath Nolan's feet. Just a small tremble, and then a much larger one, and then -
Out of the dark recesses a creature appears, black and dripping, vaguely lion shaped, and it's hungry.
THE LION YOUMA HP: 50 / 50 Auto damage: -2HP with every hit
This youma does not know friend from foe. It too is affected by the illusions and sees all as its enemies and will attack without mercy.
Civilians: 15 HP / 1d6 -2 DMG First stagers / cat mauvians: 20 HP / 1d8 -2 DMG Second stagers: 25 HP / 1d10 -2 DMG Third stagers / human mauvians: 30 HP / 1d12 -2 DMG Royals: 40 HP / 1d20 -2 DMG
For your attacks: roll the alotted dice and subtract two from it, that is your damage!
Anyone is free to attack!
SSBrosB
kuropeco
Dramatic Marshmallow
Offline
Leopleuradon
Eloquent Hunter
Offline
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2019 5:09 pm
Nolan seemed to be aught off guard by her appearance, but he had been the one to call her over here. A look of annoyance crossed her face, what was he wasting her time with now? He was always doing this, bothering her and and annoying her. Had it always been like that though? She had only known him for a short while, so how did that make much sense? he was the ringmaster though. Maybe it was a new gig for him and he was still getting used to it.
"I was born a performer. I'm more then ready for this show." Which was true, for both the lives that she was struggling to keep separate. To think that someone would dare question her performance skills. That earned Nolan a true scowl from her. Hopefully he would understand that regardless of their situation, that had not settled well with her.
Lori wasn't sure what had called the floor to shake beneath them, but for a moment the memory of her being your average model and corrupt took priority and she took a step close toward Nolan because, heck, there was safety in numbs right?
"Oh my god, i know it was fake. But how could Thor just turn on us like that?" Because reality and illusion were still intertwined a bit. She had spent years with him and this was the thanks she got? They needed to do something, but obviously, not everyone here, would be on 'their' side. She tugged Nolan aside a bit and pulled out her henshin pen. Because yes, she had hoped this would be a normal party, but one should always be prepared. "Let's do this partner." She called on her power and powered up in a heart beat. This was real, this was who she really was. Wasn't it?
SSBrosB
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 7:34 pm
Fleur Willis
Suri's hands found her own, and Fleur gave a instinctive squeeze, her fingers remembering all the times that they'd flown hand in hand. That was when it all shifted again. Ropes turned into curtains, leotards turned into dresses, and even though nothing changed about Suri's face, the flicker of recognition from earlier came back stronger as she reached up to stroke Fleur's hair.
"Miss Ellis?"
Fleur blinked. Between living around lions for years and charging into bloodbaths in the heart of Negaspace, Fleur had experienced many things. Not knowing if the woman in front of her was her friend and partner or her old high school science teacher had never been one of them. It just sent her head spinning more. The fact that she'd thought she was the one behind something terrible would keep her up that night, although she shoved it down for now. "I'm fine."
That was when she felt the trembles and turned over her shoulder to see what could only be a youma. Neither half of her mind gave any other justification for it. "There it is," she said, her voice still low. She grit her teeth and started gently tugging on Suri's hand, hoping to lead her away from the tangle of ropes and to somewhere a bit more concealed. Fleur could feel the slight pressure of the henshin pen hooked onto her bra. Monsters she could deal with, but that would have to wait a few moments.
Taiki had chosen to stop on the third floor, but Megumi kept climbing. It wasn’t until she reached the top that she stopped, and grinned. Yes, this was where she wanted to be—a dance floor and some music, and—
For a moment she swore that she had somewhere to be, that she had an act to practice. That she should be checking in with her partner, but—
No? That wasn’t right? She was at a party, and she didn’t even like attending the circus, so why did she feel like she knew how to perform?
She reached up to press the heel of her hand to her forehead.
And then her eyes alit on the strange not-lion creature, and she froze.
Megumi had not been frozen in terror since she was a child, but she had also never before encountered a legitimate monster. And that was what this had to be, a monster through and through.
“What the hell,” she whispered, transfixed in her shock.
Surely this was some kind of dream. It could be nothing else.
SSBrosB rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4Total: 4 (1-6)
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:17 pm
Nolan Ellwood - Ringmaster HP: 18/20 *powering up this round Boss HP: 48/50
((**wrong dice, so character just sucks))
Nolan had been about to make a witty quip back at her, when he suddenly felt the floor beneath his feet shake. He felt himself losing his balance, but managed to stay upright and noticed that Lori had gotten closer to him. So he wasn't just imagining the ground shaking. "Well even if it's a fake, it's real enough to hurt us, come on, we need to take this out!" He said, powering up into chambersite and doing the first thing he thought of, which was throwing his "weapon", the toy turnip, at the youma.
It bounced off the youma, seemingly without it even noticing, but it did notice Nubi and Chambersite standing there right now. "I told you this place was weird!" He said, though he could have sworn that the circus was where they usually were. But the lion was still weird! "Why Thor?! You suck as a trainer Nubi!" He said, unable to stop the jab from coming out.
Leopleuradon
SSBrosB
Springtime Noob
Offline
AMItotic rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-6)
AMItotic
Nebulous Trash
Offline
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:23 pm
Suri Ellis HP: 13/15 Damage: ?? Boss HP:
Suri's expression faltered, her head tilted. Had she done something to be referred to so formally? Only the children or sponsoring patrons had ever bothered to call her 'Miss Ellis' in years--why would one of her performing partners? One of her friends?
"Fleur, I--"
She didn't get to finish that statement. A lion, panicked by the protesters and the pitchforks, was on the rampage, swiping at her in the chaos. Suri tried to toss her ropes at the creature, but they swung wide of anything actually resembling a hit, so she pursed her lips and reached for Fleur's hand, stepping away from her hiding place.
"We should find Trey," she asserted, even as she backed away. "If anyone knows how to calm it down, he would." She didn't want to hurt one of his beasts--not if she could avoid it--but it was well beyond her means to soothe in any capacity.
stari_maga
Whimsical Blue
for mention <3
Whimsical Blue rolled 1 8-sided dice:
6Total: 6 (1-8)
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:45 pm
Trey Cameron (First stagers: 20 HP / 1d8 -2 DMG) HP: 13/15 Damage: 4 Boss HP: 44/50
The vision (illusion?) faded, leaving Trey confused and more disoriented than ever.
That had felt real. Like real memories of real things that had happened. He had felt... so happy, in that moment. He still remembered it, but he also... didn't. It hadn't happened, and he couldn't remember a time he had been that happy... But it was a seductive feeling. He wanted that feeling to be real. If he could just reach out... but did he dare? He had responsibilities, people who expected and demanded things of him.
Trey gaped as something large loomed up, dark and strange. His brain wanted to call it a lion, but it was not one of his lions... and while he felt a wash of fear, both parts of him knew that running away would only draw its attention to him. He needed to act, quickly and with authority. That was the only way to handle animals.
Be the leader. Or at least the tougher animal.
Trey dug into the inner pocket of his jacket, his fingers closing around the pen he'd stashed there. He did not have Suri's luxury of simply willing his other form into existence... Suri, god, where was she? She was a nimble thing, despite her injury, but no one was safe on the ground right now.
"Fafnir power, Make-up." He murmured fervently as he held it up before him, like a talisman to ward away the Beast. Trey felt the magic wrap around him, dark and heavy, curling down his limbs like acrid smoke. It felt... wrong. But also right. Power flooded his body as his hair swept to drag the floor and horns weighed down his head.
Fafnir felt... like himself. And not like himself. But at least he was stronger now. The world was still a confusing, but he was sure he had to do something about it. If for nothing else, so he could get to Suri. Either she needed help, or she was the help he needed, and both ways meant finding her first.
There was nothing here in the sparse center ring to use as a makeshift weapon... nothing but sawdust, really. He only had himself, and flinging bodily at the thing was not appealing.
"Fafnir's Breath." He hissed, drawing a deep breath between his teeth. It burned in his throat and lungs, coiling as the magic gathered... and then it poured from his mouth, falling to eddy in sickly, rolling clouds that rushed forward and outward to the monster. It lunged and he dodged, his back slamming into the wall to pull a groan from him as the magic slowly dissipated.
((whoops forgot to add this)) Sailor Scout Attack: Fafnir's Breath
Fafnir blows out a cloud of sickly purple gas that saps the energy and health of those who stumble into it. It travels fairly quickly and can cover a ten foot cone of area before it fades out in a matter of seconds. Those afflicted will see a discoloration of exposed skin and eyes, and feel sickened and weaker than before. The effect eventually fades, lasting no more than 30 seconds. Breathing does not affect the attack, as its magical in nature and he can use it twice per battle.
The youma makes a terrible roaring sound. It seems to fizzle in and out of focus for a second, blackness dripping off of its form. Those who stand too close to it start to slide further and further into the illusion, losing focus of who they are.
Megumi's memories fluctuate; she cannot tell friend from foe. The paranoia is rising.
