The area around the portal room was as calm as it normally was, people coming in and leaving at an almost constant rate. Conversations going on here and there. People deciding to group up or not. All sorts of normal activity. That all changed for a brief second when the portal lit up this time. The light flashed, and the tall warrior stood there, completely relaxed, Glitch floating near his head looking around with a slightly nervous expression.
Now, this in and of itself was not out of the ordinary. Oh no. What was out of the ordinary was the feeling that followed the appearance of this warrior. Now, some of the stronger people were able to shrug it off, but this wasn't so much a matter of strength, as it was a matter of attitude.
Dal'Mori was giving off an aura, if you will, that spoke to everyone around him. In much the same way that a tiger gave off an aura when it was around prey that it wasn't killing. It spoke of a promise danger and violence, death if necessary. It was a warning. Dal'Mori knew he was skilled and was willing to fight to the death over the little guy floating around his head. Unless you wished to do the same, step off.
It was that simple.
The feeling followed him, sending shivers down some of the weaker-willed individuals around him, while others looked upon him with some respect for his mastery over the ability to let his intentions be this known, while still showing nothing in his face. Which was true. He was as stone-faced as normal, yet something in the way he held himself just screamed his warning.
He didn't have to say a word.
He felt a little bit surprised when he witnessed what happened next. The little floating blob shifted forms, changing into a tiny version of himself, a perfect replica if only a fraction of the full size. It walked around his head a few times, strutting about in an over exaggerated example of what he was doing. Against his wishes, he felt his lips twitch into a smile for a brief moment.
Just like that, the effect was shattered. People stopped sneaking glances his way, either to assess him or his new pet.
He was fine with this. Glitch shifted back to normal and nuzzled his face, much less nervous now as it floated around the area, never straying too far from the warrior's side.
As he went to turn in his completed mission, he was informed that he had met the requirements for a promotion. This meant he had access to higher ranked missions, a second core would be able to be placed in his body, and his card would be upgraded, allowing him access to a higher amount of resources.
As the mission clerk was giving him this information, Glitch suddenly darted away from his left side, causing his gaze to turn that way enough to see what was going on. There was a small 'eep' as his stone cold gaze pinned the little lad, the one who had shown him to his rooms when he first became a Baiter, to his spot. He stuttered out an explanation that he was supposed to lead him to the area where he gets his weapon upgraded.
Immediately his gaze softened, and the sigh of relief that came from the errand boy was amusing enough, apparently, that Glitch mimicked it and then started making the weirdest giggling noise shortly thereafter. The small boy huffed in annoyance, but there was some obvious amusement in his eyes as he took in the sight of a tiny version of himself doubled over in laughter.
As Glitch turned back into its normal form, the small guy asked Dal'Mori to follow him. Nodding his consent the significantly taller warrior began to walk, at a rather slow pace all things considered, behind him. Much like the last time he interacted with this particular errand boy, he began chatting away. Once more, Dal'Mori tuned him out because he wasn't really talking about anything important.
Once they reached their destination, they met with one of the various types of wizards that worked in this place, who asked him which item on his person he would be using to bind another core to himself.
Dal'Mori was silent for a while. During which time Glitch decided the kid was fun, as he was off playing with him. It was almost enough to be considered adorable. That is if people would stop looking at Glitch like it was a disease. At the same time, the wizard guy was getting impatient, like he was used to people throwing whatever item at him as if they didn't care.
He wanted to make sure his choice reflected his dedication. His decision to move forward with this life. Things were going to be hard. He would never truly be able to leave his village behind, but if he ever wanted to feel better, he needed to allow himself to start a new life, instead of dwelling on his old life.
Easier said than done.
Even as the perfect choice came to mind, his gut filled with lead. Could he really do this? Could he move on? This wasn't a light decision. He knew he needed to, but actually being able to? They were two, hugely different, beasts.
Apparently, even while wrought with indecision, his body knew what was best for him. As he spent that time agonizing over the idea, his arm reached up and pulled his weapon from its position on his back, and moved to hold it out. The second he realized what was going on, he hesitated. Looking down at the weapon handcrafted by his best friend, used to fell so many threats to his home.
It was a perfect choice, but at the same time, it was the hardest.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he quickly handed over his weapon and looked away, trying to find something to distract himself from the claws that wrapped around his heart as he did so.
He watched the young man playing with his new pet, and his features softened, now completely certain saving the random ball of energy was the right choice. He would never live to regret saving the creature, nor would he regret defending it as he was sure he would have to from now on. The small creature brought the tiniest amount of peace to the scarred warrior, and he wouldn't trade that for anything.
A few, agonizingly long, minutes later, his weapon was returned to him, though the magic user was grumbling as he walked off. As soon as his weapon was put away, the young man was all business again. Glitch, realizing his playtime was over, floated back to Dal'Mori and turned into a tiny white, four legged creature. It looked like a mix between a bear and a tiger, but otherwise, it was unrecognizable. After this, it moved up and laid down in his hair, curled up as if ready to sleep.
There was a single instant in which the Baiter wanted to smack it off his head, but then it started to make an odd purring sound and he couldn't bring himself to do it.
The young man then began leading him off again. Taking a little bit of time to explain they would be seeing the gentleman who had done his card the first time. Apparently, as he ranked up, it would evolve. He was rather excited to see this. This magic stuff was turning out to be more and more interesting as time progressed, and the explorer in him wanted to know more.
They reached his office in no time. It seemed that it was close to the area where his weapon was upgraded. When he walked in, he was greeted by a warm smile. "My, these new Baiters are just chomping at the bit aren't they? Well, come on over then. Let's do this." The words were spoken with an honest amusement, written clearly all over the gentlemen's face.
He explained how this would all work. He would take Dal'Mori's card, place it in the warrior's hand, cover it with his own, and then the magic would happen, further cementing the idea that magic existed in his head. Now, what happened next, he would never be sure. There was a bright light coming from his hand, and the card was no longer there. In its place was a simple silver band.
"Simple and strong. You should be proud." Was all he got from the man before he stepped back to his desk to return to whatever it was he had been doing before.
He slipped the ring on his finger and once more turned to look at the young man, being careful not to do so too fast lest he awakes the sleeping creature on his head. A brief conversation later, informing the man that he was now free to go about his day,
He gave a slight nod and took off. He had something he wanted to get and knew where to go to look for it.
Turning a corner, he managed a few steps before he found his foot catching on something, sending him sprawling to the floor, sliding a few feet. Poor Glitch was shocked, as it was sent flying when he tripped. Dal'Mori was shocked as well, proven by the fact that he stayed on the floor for a few seconds.
He rose to his feet to see what the hell had tripped him, figuring he must have gotten extremely unlucky and kicked the side of a desk or something because the thing his foot caught on was solid.
And hard.
What he saw caught him even more by surprise. There was a young girl on the ground, whom apparently could not get up. His eyes widened for the briefest of seconds. Was she made of metal? His toe still hurt a bit from connecting with her!
Shaking his head as he got up, he just had to accept that magic was a weird thing, and moved over to help her up. "You know, you shouldn't lie in the middle of the floor." As he spoke, Glitch floated over, rather quickly as it apparently didn't want to be around so many people without being near its new defender.
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B.A.I.T.R Standing: 187 Health: 1820/1820 Control Limit: 1400
One Man Army - Level 5 - While fighting without summoning an A.I. Core, you gain an additional +25 to all stats. However, if you do summon an A.I. core, you will receive a -50 to all stats instead.
OOC: 98
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Kisame Hosigaki sama
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:15 pm
Jason swore again as he turned to help the girl up. “Are you alright Cherie? I didn’t think I hit you that hard...” he had just been about to take her hand when Dal’Mori suddenly stumbled by and tripped, head over heels, over Jason’s new friend. The Dark-haired man’s sudden appearance took Jason by surprise, and he only barely avoided being knocking over himself! He stumbled back to avoid Dal, but managed to keep his footing. “Merde...! Watch where you’re going!” he snapped at the newcomer, “You could’ve hurt her!” [You were not paying attention to your surroundings either.] Solitaire reminded him in his cruel, monotone voice. “Quiet you.” Jason hissed back, the gesture making it look rather as if he was talking to himself... Jason sighed and straightened his posture in an attempt to compose himself. “Sorry. I hadn’t been paying attention and accidentally knocked her over.” he looked back to Rachel. “Are you alright Cherie? I promise, stumbling blindly through the streets and knocking into a helpless young woman was not in today’s schedule.” he offered a playful smirk, his expression relaxing as if to reassure her that their unfortunate meeting had been a genuine accident. His expression swiftly changed when he saw the little creature that had been following Dal, changing from a gentle smirk to a harsh glare. If the others were particularly astute, they might recognize the practiced way one hand slid into his coat pocket as if he were casually reaching for a phone or keys, or the way he stepped to one side to put just one more foot or so between himself and Glitch. Jason’s physical reaction seemed almost reflexive, as if he had done it without even thinking, but his voice remained calm and relaxed. “You a Baiter?” he asked Dal, assuming that the little creature was with him. Jason didn’t wasn’t exactly sure what the little creature was, but it looked quite a bit like an AI. It was certainly smaller than Solitaire, but it sure didn’t look like anything else Jason had seen before... He figured it was much smarter to be safe than sorry. Solitaire, for his part, was silent. It quietly observed from inside Jason’s code core, curious as to how his new ‘partner’ would handle the unknown variable...
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B.A.I.T.R Standing: 27 Health: 440/440 Control Limit: 220
Skill: 20 [22] Strength: 20 [--] Defence: 15 [--]
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Tactical Advantages
Battleground Proficiency: - Level 1 - You ensure that you observe the battlefield and commit every building, trash can, rock, or tree to memory. You can utilize the battlefield with ruthless proficiency. You gain +2% to all defense chances, and your opponents receive -2% to their defensive chances against you.
Kisame Hoshigaki sama
Mind-boggling Trickster
Shenris
Offline
Kisame Hoshigaki sama
Offline
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 7:25 pm
Rachel Caldwell
Things were happening way to fast for the girl's mind to keep up. As the man who knocked her over was about to offer her a hand up another person ran into her! This one caught his foot on her shield and tripped over her. Reflexively Rachel curled up into a ball to protect herself. Why had she suddenly become a magnet for people today? She was way to shy for this much attention! But the world seemed to have other plans for her and before she could protest further or try to curl up enough to disappear she was yanked back to her few by the tall gentleman who had tripped over her. Blushing beat red as her hair fell into her face she tried to stammer out any form of reply. "I uh... yeah I'll be sure to...um... I-I'm sorry!" The last part she squeaked out before her fight or flight instincts kicked in and she chose flight. However her escape was thwarted by not paying attention yet again and she turned to run straight into the other gentleman who had bumped into her in the first place. Stumbling back but managing to stay on he feet this time she saw stars as her forehead had connected with his chest.
Rachel was getting more and more frazzled as she kept making a fool of herself. "I-I'm so sorry! I just... I'm new and uh... this is all just... so much, and I think I'm lost and... and...." The poor girl had just had too much. She dropped to her knees and let out a defeated sigh. She looked on the brinknof tears but was doing everything in her power to keep the waterworks at bay. First the loss of her sister at the gates, then her fight, the loss of her brother, and now her new confusing and incredibly daunting life. It was all way too much for poor little Rachel Caldwell to handle. And the one friend who she had made who seemed to know what was going on and what needed to be done had disappeared and left her alone in this massive and confusing city. Now top it off she'd run right into two scary looking strangers, literally! One of them twice!
"I just want things to start making sense again..." she complained quietly. Rachel stayed on the ground, hanging he head. She didn't look up at the two intimidation figures standing over her. The one seemed nice enough seeing as he had apologized and tried to make light of the situation, but the bigger one who had helped her up still just seemed intimidating. He scared her a bit, though to be honest that was a rather easy feat with Rachel. She had a small hope that they could help her, but at the moment was much to embarrassed and scared to ask for it.
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B.A.I.T.R Standing: 42 Health: 335/380 Control Limit: 332
Skill: 15 [--] Strength: 18 [--] Defence: 50 [--]
Line count: 600 OOC:
Shenris
Shards of Myself
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:55 pm
Sarah Hartwell
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Sarah glanced at Acel, listening as he said thank you to her for everything she had done so far. Though, it didn't seem like a big deal to her, when she heard him say thank you for talking to him like a normal person, she realized what he was really thanking her for. She didn't treat him differently than she would with anyone else. She didn't reject him like he figured would happen. Those small little normals were what he wanted, that little hope. She nodded with a small smile toward him. Before she could muster a word, a man walked in with long brown hair, wearing what she would call a sort of pirate outfit with the black shirt opened all the way down to the bottom of the his chest, a red sash wrapped around his waist. The man walked up to Sarah with a friendly smile before holding up a card. “Hey Sarah, they asked me to give this to you. I guess one of the office people forgot to tell you about the cards we get. Just put a bit of your hair to it and it'll register you in it.” He said as he handed her the card.
Sarah took it, blinking in surprise. She looked at him, trying to remember where she had seen him before. But then her cousin Helen came to her mind and it clicked. “O-oh th-thank you.... Br-Brandon right?” She was sure that was his name, but she hadn't really spoken about him before other than her cousin Helen that she forgot his name.
Brandon seemed surprised then smiled. “Yep, glad I didn't have to explain who I was. Figured the family would have kept quiet about me being here.”
Sarah felt bad and quickly answered. “ No no. Your sister told me about you when I said I was coming here.”
Brandon gave a sad smile but nodded. “Well that's good. You take care.” He glanced at Acel, his eyebrow raising slightly before smiling at him. “Take care of my cousin for me will ya.”
Sarah watched him leave, shaking her head once he was out of sight. She took a deep breath. “Hard to believe he's eighty.” She muttered to herself.
She plucked a hair off her head when Acel spoke up. “He's only eighteen? He looks a little older.”
She glanced at him, realizing he had heard her, but misheard her. “No no.... he's eighty.” She tried her best to make sure that she said eighty correctly.
She watched as he looked at her in shock before finally saying. “Wait.... What? How is that even possible? He looks my age!”
Sarah tried to keep from laughing, due to her thinking he seemed to young to be eighty when she first saw his picture when she visited to her Cousin Helen. “It's the code cores, from what he told his sister and his children. They're in thirties, maybe forties..... I can't quite remember, I only seen them at family reunions and Brandon hardly comes to them. I think there was something going around about him and his wife wanting more too.” She looked up a bit, trying to remember if it was true or not.
She watched as he looked his hands like they weren't his or if they would grow an extra finger. “So... we're just going to keep living like this.... forever?”
She understood how he felt, she had sat in her room at her parents home, looking at Brandon's picture once and while and tried to think about how it would be, to look so young without any medical upkept needed. Just join the Baiters and that was it, no upkeep. “From what I understood, Brandon has been like that since he joined, and according to the Hartwell family tree, he was born eighty years ago. His wife is almost ninety if I remember right.”
“Gosh... I really can't decide weather that's awful or amazing. I mean.... He's got someone to share it with, at least, I suppose. I guess... not asking for this life kind of left me with little time to understand how it all works.”
She looked at him before shrugging, feeling nervous. She wasn't sure how to tell him. But she knew how it was, almost. Her family didn't want her to join the Baiters at all, trying their hardest to try and convince her otherwise and now she had to deal with the decision to live this life willingly even though so many were so strongly against it. “Th-th-there are al-always ups and downs to decisions, it depends on how you take them.....”
Acel nodded. “Yea, but of couse.” He smiled. “Just have to make the best of things.”
Sarah nodded and smiled happily. “Exactly... and I'm likely to get more little cousins.”
“Well, I am sure there can never be too many of those. Little ones often do breath a special sort of light into life.”
Sarah thought back to her family, knowing that was probably the strongest belief in it. “That's how my family sees it. I actually have almost thirty first cousins alone, on my mom's side anyways.”
Acel looked at her, surprised. “That is... Remarkable if not slightly insane.” He began to chuckle. “Well, Sarah... Truly, today has been lovely. Aside from the rough business, of course. I am sure we will see each other again.” He said with a smile before sticking his hand out toward her. Sarah looked at it before slowly extending her hand and gently took it, shaking it slowly. This guy is... a little awkward.... Sarah silently agreed, but then again she wasn't much better.
“I-I'm sure y-you will, bye Acel.” She said, walking out of the portal room with him before giving a small wave as she separated from him to head out and back to her apartment.
Well... if anything you're good for him, I suppose. You're use to people treating you different that you know how to treat others equally despite everything. The Guard said, in what sounded like a thoughtful tone.
Sarah looked up to the direction of her forehead, wondering what the Guard meant by that and where he was going with it, but shook her head. He was right, she was use to being treated different, not everyone knew how to treat someone that couldn't hear them speak. Even her family had difficulties at first. But she doubted it was the same as being half AI like Acel seemed to think he was, where it took him over and did things on it's own. She did learn that she needed to block whatever the thing said to her, and try to keep the knowledge that whatever it says isn't what Acel was saying. That would be a little harder, but perhaps not too hard.
Sarah reached her apartment, glad to find some familiarity. She glanced around as she relaxed in the area. Though relaxing seemed to reveal how tired she really was, as exhaustion seemed to crash on her like a wave. She went straight to her room and removed her ruined clothes, replacing them with a silk nightgown. She removed her headphones and placed them on their mount beside her bed. She almost just fell onto the bed with a sigh, pulling the blanket ontop of herself before shutting her eyes, sleep almost coming immediately. Suddenly she felt a sharp p***k on her neck that almost pulled her out of the sleep, but she couldn't find the strength to open her eyes or even move, and then she was out again.
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Outfit:Day clothes Headphones: Attached: Can hear Line Count: 1259 OOC: Song: Translation:
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Sarah
B.A.I.T.R Standing: 170 Health: 1500/1500 Control Limit: 1364
Skill: 141 [165] Strength: 85 Defense: 115 [125]
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Tactical Advantages
Tank - Level 1 - You gain 10 extra Defense. However, you also receive a -5% to your defensive chances.
Apparently tripping over the petite lady was enough to set a series of events into motion. The first of which was someone, notably weaker than himself, decided it might be a good idea to tell him off. This was followed by the little lass being quite obviously scared of him, and trying to turn tail and run, only to run right into the guy who tried to tell him off. The end result there, was her sitting on the floor, apparently lamenting her life choices.
He easily brushed aside the man's harsh tone. It had no effect on him. Honestly, it was just as much her fault as his. Who watches for people laying on the ground? How is that an everyday occurrence in that gentleman's life that he felt the need to snap? Regardless of the answers to these questions, the man made little difference to him.
The man became even more inconsequential when he mentioned that he hadn't even been watching where he was going, so he had a part to play in all of this as well.
Though Dal'Mori made a mental note to keep an eye on this guy. Being a Baiter himself, he could easily guess this man was chatting with his core. Which said one of two things, either he wasn't strong enough to suppress him, as Dal'Mori himself had done, or he was trying to work together with the core. If the latter turned out to be the case, he wanted to ensure he would stay away from this man. He had no time for people who held any kind of sympathy for the monsters that plagued their world.
This made him think of Acel, but that was a thought process for later.
He then turned his attention to the stammering mess of a newbie. While it was true he had only recently been promoted, seeing someone this, to put it bluntly, pathetic, actually irked him a little bit. He came in with a serious reason to fight. Most of the people he had met so far had serious reasons to fight. This girl? She seemed terrified just at the sight of them! It was written all over her face.
He suppressed the urge to shake his head and said nothing. She would quit soon. It was clear as day to him, which meant she wasn't really worth his time.
As Glitch came over, he caught Jason's movement out of the corner of his eye and was moving before he could even think about it. He shot towards the man with a great deal of speed, so much so that the other had no hope of even matching him as he was now. His hand wrapped around the man's throat and lifted him off the ground as if he weighed nothing.
For one single moment of time, he once more was amazed at his new body.
The moment was blinked out as he pulled the other male close, to make sure he had no choice but to look into his own eyes. From there he opened his eyes, not in the literal sense. They stopped being empty and stone-like, and instead filled with a cold, firm determination that clearly stated he could kill this man in his hands without so much as a second thought.
He put no pressure on the man's throat, outside of what was needed to hold him up. He was not trying to hurt the man. This time. He was merely making a point. Which he made clear with a very solid warning.
"Don't. Do that. Again."
His voice did not change inflection, raise in volume, or alter too much in any way. It had an edge to it, that spoke volumes of how serious he is, but that aside, it was as empty as his face.
He promptly let go of the man and turned to walk away, no longer desiring to waste any more of his time around these people. The girl might be worth his time later if she bucked up and tried, but that guy? He would be lucky to not find himself on the end of Dal'Mori's spear.
Glitch's body swirled around as it turned into a pair of lips, which then blew a raspberry at the guy who all but threatened it, and then rushed off after its new friend.
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B.A.I.T.R Standing: 187 Health: 1820/1820 Control Limit: 1400
One Man Army - Level 5 - While fighting without summoning an A.I. Core, you gain an additional +25 to all stats. However, if you do summon an A.I. core, you will receive a -50 to all stats instead.
OOC: 138
Line Count: Kind of a bleh post, but it gets things moving. ^-^
