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 Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:36 pm
Nolan wrapped his coat around him as he walked quickly through the trees on the Romano’s campus, trying to get back to his dorm. He shouldn’t have been walking this way, but it was the fastest way to get back, and he had gotten stuck with a study group in a nearby café and he had to excuse himself to be able to make it back in time to his dorm. Sure, it was the weekend, but that still didn’t mean that he wanted to ruin his schedule, especially on a Sunday night like this. He pulled his coat closer to him as he walked quickly, his footsteps loud as he tried to cut across campus. It was dark, a waxing crescent moon not helping the situation, and he could barely see anything. He cursed himself for trying to walk this way. He had done it only a few times in the day, and to do it in the dark… it hadn’t been a great idea. He still knew the general area, and was sure that he could still make it, but the fact that it felt like it was taking longer than it should have didn’t help anything. Nolan had started attending Romano’s as soon as it was available, though it wasn’t necessarily his idea even if he liked the school. His family was a military one, and to be able to send him locally, well, they jumped on the idea. Besides, Romano’s was said to be the best. And with his training it made him a bit more paranoid, so when he heard what sounded like something else in the woods near him, he stopped, trying to see what it was. Strickenized tell me if there's anything I should change in the title!
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:12 am
"Gotta get back, gotta get back…" Chrysoprase chanted her little mantra to herself while she trotted through the almost-melted snow and twigs and probably littered trash as she cut across the huge field beside Romano's. The hour was already pretty late, and tomorrow started classes in full swing for the week, with a giant exam on Monday that she didn't want to miss and totally had to sleep for. Or cram-study the last bit of material and then sleep. She hadn't gotten around to deciding while she was still halfway through the field.
On the other side of the fence, a growl emanated from the low bushes hedging the sidewalk. Paws skittered across gravel with an uncommon fleet of foot, belying the agility of the concealed creature. And in the quick snatches of light from the walkway lamps, inky black fur failed to shine — it simply sucked in all reflection.
It stalked its target for some time. Since he left the café, the pseudo-feline prowled in his footsteps. And now that they approached the darkest portion of the school campus, the creature darted out with a wicked hiss and arched its back for the found prey. It looked no different from a normal housecat but for its saint bernard size and its brilliant red eyes. Its tail puffed into a great stalk, and at last the vestiges of light shone on needle-like barbs interspersed with the fur. One of DC's monsters of yore came to visit.
Its low growl crescendoed into a yowl, and the youma pounced toward its victim with preternatural speed. Claws unsheathed and extended, fangs bared, it sought vulnerable shoulders to pin its prey before he could slip into the safety of Romano's.
Chrysoprase heard something weirdly creepy and definitely not normal coming from the other end of the campus, which dogged her to move even faster. She was sorta convinced she was going to twist her ankle before she even got there, but if someone was in trouble… "Come on, girl. Pick it up!" Pumping her arms, she ran a little faster.
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 7:55 pm
Nolan looked around, trying to find the source of whatever was making the weird sounds, moving around in the snow a bit as he turned to look. Unfortunately for him, before he could even tell what was going on, the youma was on top of him, ready to bare it's fangs into him, probably to dig out his starseed immediately. Nolan thrashed about, trying to get the youma off of him. "********! Get OFF of me!" And even my fencing sword wouldn't help at this point. He thought to himself as he tried to use his training to get the monster off of him. The youma scratched him, and he yelled in surprise, unable to keep himself from yelling from the pain. " s**t! Someone help!" He really hated to admit such a weakness, but it's not like he could get a giant unnatural monster off of him when he had been taken by surprise and already he was bleeding a bit.
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:22 pm
Chrysoprase scrambled close enough to the Romano's campus grounds that she could vault the fence with no difficulty. And once she reached the crest of her jump, she saw the major problem -- one of their youma was attacking a student! They definitely couldn't afford someone here finding out about that super secret organization! She'd totally lose her position, and all the extra credit that she may or may not be getting she wasn't completely sure about that…
"Hey!' She called as she landed. "Get off of him! Go! Shoo!" Chrysoprase pumped her burning legs a little more and waved her arms about her head as wildly as he could. Sometimes it worked to get the attention of these weird-looking little monsters, and other times it totally backfired on her. She hoped it wasn't one of the backfire times. "Come on!"
She decided then and there that if she had to fight it, she would. Already it clawed at the face of some innocent kid, and threatened to do worse than that. Talk about a misunderstanding! How was she even supposed to explain to a youma that Romano's was no-no?
But when she saw, by the cut of light behind it, that the youma was more of a feline shape… Chrysoprase got an awesome idea. She concentrated hard, scrunching her eyebrows together, as she imagined the cat-toy-in-a-sack that the Negaverse gave her, and soon enough, it appeared in her palm. The lieutenant wasted no time in plucking it out of its packaging and starting down a new line of distractions. "Here, kitty kitty! Momma's got a new toy for you. Go get it!" And with all the force she could muster, she hucked the stuffed toy over the fence where she came. If that didn't distract it, she wasn't sure what would (other than maybe kicking it in the face, but weren't they allies?).
And once the toy was out of sight, heels clacked hurriedly on the sidewalk as she got close to the poor boy. "Hey, you okay?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 6:44 pm
Nolan was very glad that the monster was finally off of him, and wondered for a bit if a panther had escaped from the zoo or something. However, in his delirious mind, he heard what sounded like someone talking, and he tried to look in the direction it was coming from, but the adrenaline from trying to fight off his attacker was finally going away and he was now a bit more worried about the cut on his face. It didn't seem too deep, but it was definitely stinging. "I guess I better go and get some rabies shots..." He mumbled to himself, trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually though, he could see what seemed to be a... girl? Woman? Female human? Thing? Standing near him and she, he thought it was a she, seemed to have a worried look on her face. He drowsily blinked at her, trying to remember what was going on. "I... uh. I think I'm okay." He said, trying to stand up, but he felt so weak at this point that he ended up falling. "I guess I better not get up right now." The female human's shape was coming into better view now, and blinking a few times, he could see that she was a redhead. "You uh, see that panther that attacked me? Was it a panther? Uh..." He felt like he needed to say something else, but the pain on his head was making it hard. "Did you get rid of it?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 8:20 pm
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Chrysoprase started, her hands extended out like she was trying to keep him on the ground by pure force of will. When she got close enough that she could touch him, she crouched on the ground next to him as neatly and ladylike as she could (and figured that Stellerite would be pretty impressed about now). "Just hold on for a second, okay? Um…" Hastily she chewed her lip.
"Here, actually, I'm gonna help you get up. Just put your arm around my shoulder, okay? I know I don't look like much, but I'm pretty strong!" Chrysoprase donned her best warm smile as she looked down at the poor guy. It looked like the youma did a little damage in the chest area, but maybe his clothes took most of the damage? Totally sucked to lose a shirt that way, but it was way better than losing a life. "Um… You look like you're pretty tired, huh? I know this probably sounds a little lame, but I think we should get to the nurse first to make sure you're okay. Cat scratches really suck." At least that was the story she was gonna stick to. Youma scratches probably sucked worse.
"Anywayyyyy…" Chrysoprase drawled out as she looked around. The schoolgrounds seemed pretty quiet — nothing hung out in the bushes, and it sounded like the youma just decided to vanish. That was good by her. She didn't want to deal with fighting the stupid thing when it was out attacking people on Negaverse property. Dumb youma.
"I think it's gone now, yeah. I don't think it was a panther? Just like, a really big cat. Like a bobcat or something. Wait, are bobcats really big? I dunno. Let's just get moving before it decides it wants to come back." Gingerly she took hold of the guy's arm and guided it around her shoulders, then gave him a quick verbal prompt before she slowly started to stand. She definitely didn't want to rip him off the ground before he was ready.
With a hum, Chrysoprase started toward one of the larger buildings. "Okay, nurse's office. That's gotta be… This way, I think."
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 6:22 pm
Nolan let the woman help steady himself and help him up. He wasn't about to decline her help just because he was a woman. He looked up at her, and blinked a few times, as some blood started to get into his left eye. "All right. Thanks." He said, though almost inaudibly. He really couldn't tell what was going on at this point. He heard her talking about some big cat. "Well... it was a cat at least..." They agreed on that point it seemed. But what was it doing on campus? He thought that campus was pretty secure and wouldn't have random, huge wild animals coming through. Birds and squirrels and other small creatures sure, but a cat like that? He slowly got to his feet, appreciating the help that the woman was giving. "Thanks, uh, lady. You can lead the way to the nurse's office." He said, trying to take a step forward and almost collapsing again. ---------- It took a while, and it seemed that Nolan was about to pass out a couple of times, but eventually they made it to the Nurse's office. Unfortunately it seemed as though the nurse wasn't there, and so Nolan had to sit on one of the beds provided while the woman that had helped him. He was trying to keep his head from spinning. He shook it a bit, probably making the blood go all over a bit, but he was just trying to stay awake at this point. Maybe talking would help? "How'd you get rid of that uh... large cat thing? I thought I saw you holding something. You hit it at all?" He was wondering. What she was wearing was... interesting. It looked like some kind of uniform, and not like the ones they had at school.
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 9:57 pm
Transport went okay, more or less. Well, he didn't die in transit, so Chrysoprase figured that was a step in the right direction. And she wasn't super sure about the whole first aid thing, but she'd seen it on TV shows and YouTube from time to time, so she was pretty sure she could bandage cuts and stuff. Plus she could just grab her phone and look up a WikiHow if she really needed it.
After he thankfully parked himself on a bed, Chrysie went shuffling around in all the drawers she could find. She poked through pretty much everything from gauze pads to tongue depressors to those weird cone things that went on the ends of those ear scope thingies. She found cotton balls and q-tips and band-aids too. Her almost-youma-victim looked like he needed more than a couple band-aids, but she took a handful in case he had some super minor cuts and scrapes. After poaching some antibacterial ointment and probably half the collection of gauze pads and some tape, she shoved the lot of it into a wicker candy basket and carried the mess over to him.
The candy basket was then plopped beside Mister Stranger, and she huffed a hopefully assuring "okay." With a careful eye, she looked him over.
"So, it seems like that cat got you pretty good, but I think I can fix it." Chrysie tore open one of the large gauze square packets and began dabbing away some of the blood streaming from his forehead. "Oh, and I'm Chrysoprase, by the way. I know that sounds super weird, but we've got these really cool code names because we're basically superheroes, and nobody's supposed to know who we really are. Okay I think I just made it sound weirder."
She needed some water or something. The gauze was starting to stick to the wound. A quick rush to the sink and back procured a cup full of water, into which she dipped the gauze. Most of the blood cleaned up fairly quickly, and she emptied one of the ointment packets almost too liberally — the blob of gel squished down when she added a gauze square over the top of it. But it taped down fine, even if it looked really dumb on the poor kid's head. He could probably deal with looking dumb as opposed to bleeding forever.
"You know how when it rains, it pours, right? So like, here's me being even more awkward: do you think you could take your shirt off for me? It looks like it got a little ripped, and I just want to make sure the cat didn't get you anywhere else. Cat scratch fever is some nasty stuff. Or maybe it's just a song… Either way, better safe than sorry, you know?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:49 pm
Nolan uttered a small "thank you" when Chrysopase started to clean up his wounds. Already he was feeling better because of it. Or maybe it was the bed. It was surprisingly comfortable. Maybe they just had the best of the best at this school? His head started to clear up a bit, which meant that he felt the pain a bit more, but it was better than it had been. "Chrysoprase? That's an interesting name. You get your own code name and you're a superhero? How do I join?!" He had only been at the school for a little bit, and didn't quite know all of the ins and outs. He let out a sigh as a shot of pain raced through him as he sat up a bit more, and started to take off his shirt, feeling the already dry blood being ripped a bit as he removed the shirt. He really wasn't expecting anything bad from Chrysoprase. If the shirt had to come off, it had to come off. Though he did feel a bit embarrassed because he felt like he should be farther along on his abdominal muscles. His parents did always say he needed to eat more red meat. "How are you a superhero? I mean besides being able to save me from that monster cat back there. Do you do anything different to be able to qualify as a superhero?" He was interested in the 'super' part of the superhero. He knew that others could become heroes, such as the police, firemen, someone saving a kitten from a tree, but a superhero usually required a bit more... uniqueness didn't it? Something that made the person a bit less human and a bit more mutant?
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Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 2:46 pm
Chrysie giggled at the thought of pitching recruitment stuff. She could see it in her mind's eye — she'd strike a pose like Rosie the Riveter, smile her biggest smile, and then tell this stranger all about how the Negaverse helped her be the best she could be. And a bunch of other stuff too, like how they were helping her get better grades and she was helping them collect energy. They gave her the power to stand up to the people who tried to harass her and she found them new recruits to fill the ranks. And then probably some other stuff about healthcare or whatever adults really liked to talk about. But the idea was fun — maybe she'd practice it!
She struck a pose, though this one had her hands on her hips with one cocked confidently. "It's a super secret, first off, so you gotta swear you won't tell anyone. And they aren't super affiliated with Romano's, but they'll try to talk with your teachers and get your grades looking better the more you help them out. But!" Chrysie held up a pausing finger. "You can totally join. All you need to do is, like, prove you can be good at what they want you to do. Which is basically like, listening well and following directions? Oh, and being good at physical activities really helps!
"But trust me, it's such a confidence booster! I feel like I can do anything! Jump up to buildings, run super fast, sneak around on rooftops, and…" Chrysoprase opened her palm before the boy and focused on the image of her cat toy in a bag. Then, suddenly, it appeared in her hand with no preface. She grinned.
She offered the toy to him. "Here, you can look at it if you like. I gotta, um, take care of that." She needed to wash the blood off first, right? So she bustled back into the drawers for more cotton balls and gauze, then dampened what she needed to start wicking away the dried flecks. "Really, though, it's totally worth it." Chrysie pressed the gauze gingerly against his wounds. "And it's just like getting into the army. Look good, and all it takes is a recruiter to be like, 'I want you with us'! That's how I got in."
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Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 3:36 pm
Nolan wondered for a few seconds as to whether or not the girl was being serious about this, but then she struck a pose, and the uniform looked so official too. She couldn't be making this up! "I won't tell anyone, I promise!" Now it was sounding like they were two little kids keeping a secret but superhero stuff was exciting! And if he could really become one, then why not? He wasn't too interested in getting better grades for it, he was a bit serious about school after all, but it would be a nice perk anyway! And he was all into physical activities! Or at least he didn't whine about them. Of course there were some that he liked more than others, but they certainly didn't bother him. He was about to reply that he could do all of that, when he was distracted by what she said she could do. Jumping onto buildings, running super fast... those definitely sounded like superhero powers! He couldn't keep his eyes from widening however when she summoned her cat toy right before him. Although it was weird that it was a cat toy, he took it, looking it over to see if he could find anything that would show that some regular magic trick had been used to make it appear. He couldn't find anything, so he believed that she was telling the truth. He jerked a bit as he felt her tending to his wounds again, but made sure not to cry out at it. After all, that would make him look weak wouldn't it? "Wow! That's amazing! I can't believe they do that here at the school! Or at least unofficially at the school. You think you can put in a good word for me?" He asked, flinching a bit as she continued to clean his wounds.
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Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 6:03 pm
"Ummmmm…" Chrysie bit her lower lip as she finished dabbing away at the boy's injuries. She dumped the bloodied cotton ball into one of the stainless steel waste bins. The red lining looked like a cloud — or like one of those poisonous flowers she saw on a Netflix documentary. "I think I can," she said, still staring into it. "I just need to know some stuff."
With a breath, she straightened up and looked at him. A smile spread glossed lips. "Like your name! And what you can do. You know, all that physical activity stuff. Nothing major, really. It's totally straightforward." And then she'd pass all that information off to Ms. Rey, and maybe Ms. Rey would pass that on to that orange-haired guy and he'd do all the corruption stuff again. Sure, getting a hand put through this stranger's chest would really suck a load, but Axinite didn't make it last long for her. And he gave her advice on maybe eating something after, like it was a blood drive. Overall she thought it was pretty good — pretty easy.
"Oh, and lemme just finish up with that." Chrysoprase snatched up some of the leftover gauze and unrolled the ribbons around the worst-looking cuts. Little squares of packed gauze sat primly over ugly cuts while she wrapped them into place. Slow and light she went, until the translucent squares looked solid, even though they bit into his skin. But they were supposed to do that, right? ssbrosb maybe another post or two, then close?
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