Insidious Insects (18 ) : In the first week of July, the area around the tree is just buzzing. The call of the cicadas is loud and droning, and it’s constant. You start to hear it all over town, too. All sorts of insects seem attracted to the strange pods, and it’s not uncommon to find nearly any species curiously investigating. If you listen closely, you notice something else strange–it’s not just the bugs that you see making the familiar call of the cicada. It seems like it’s coming from inside the pods, too. Any pod that wasn’t leaking sap suddenly begins to snap open, and giant cicadas, crawl out. Their full wingspan can reach up to a foot and they’re hungry–and angry. It seems like the pods that were leaking sap were slowly rotting, but the ones that didn’t leak were being eaten from the inside out–and now that the cicadas have run out of food, they’re out for anything they can find. Though there are several notable differences between these insects and the common cicadas, their low, chirping wail makes them easy to find–as well as the fact that they spit acid. These bugs are incredibly hostile and will attack indiscriminately, powered or unpowered, human or alien, day or night. They have a protective shell that makes them easy to crush but they’re hardly the most menacing foe you’ve faced–but if they reproduce, you could be in some real trouble. Better to crush them now before they become Destiny City’s next invasive species… Note: These creatures are a violent alien species that are aggressive and eager to destroy. They will attack everyone and everything within sight. The insects can fly, spit acid, and will try to burrow into the ground to hide. They are very fast and difficult to see. This RP can be used as a battle requirement for a character, separate from your ‘one youma battle’ per stage if there are two powered characters involved; you cannot write a solo and count this as a battle, and your character must be powered and interacting with another player’s powered character for it to count. This can only be used as a battle requirement once per character, but there is no limitation for how many times a player can use this prompt.
Star Fest had started and there were decorations scattered all over the city. They were bright and colorful, which was something Beatrix wasn't really about. But, all the weird rumors of creatures and monsters lurking in the city were very interesting. She scrolled through Instagram as she walked through the empty streets, there really weren't a lot of people out tonight so draining would be a task for another day.
The main thing that seemed pretty interesting, were the pod things that were starting to find themselves all over. She had kicked a few of them and stomped one to see if anything was inside them but, they had just bounced away. She might reach out to Croconite to see what he thought about them later.
Halfway through another doom scroll on her phone, she heard a buzzing. It came from the direction she had kicked the pod. Maybe they weren't empty. Focusing, she felt another Negaverse signature nearby. Would probably be a good idea to find some backup if that steadily increasing buzzing noise turned out to be an army of things.
Off she went, running in her heels, towards the energy signature she had felt. Sometimes she hated being right because now there was an army of something gaining on her and she wasn't sure her magic could deal with small things. "FML."
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Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2023 6:32 pm
Psilomelane had been taking a break from patrolling. She hadn't been seen by anyone since she injured her leg in her last scuffle, electing instead to take it easy and have frequent breaks throughout the day when she was active. For now, she spent that time reading up on the comparison between different translations of the Beowulf epic. The material may not have been light reading, but it gave her something to consider during the downtimes between draining targets.
Though, as she felt a Negaverse aura crest near her, Psilomelane expected she might have a different direction on her hands. After replacing her bookmark, she dismissed the book and stood with the help of the nearby HVAC unit. Distantly, she heard the person spelling.
That didn't bode well. Psilomelane pursed her lips, her magic a thought away.
When the girl appeared, she wasn't anyone Psilomelane recognized. But more importantly than that, she was being followed by… Hornets? They looked like hornets, but they didn't have the feel that she expected out of a youma. Were they normal hornets? Would her magic work on them and give the girl time to get away?
"I've got you," she called as she readied herself. "Bitter hope." She hoped that, if she looked exhausted and ready to fall over, she'd seem a more appetizing target for the bugs.
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Pavo appears hurt and close to defeat, which may lure her opponent into a false sense of security. The illusion breaks upon physical contact, otherwise lasting about a minute.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 7:25 am
Beatrix saw the other girl sitting, she looked like she was in bad shape. "Oh crap they already got you didn't they." As she got closer she could see they were kinda slumped over and hurt, that was when she noticed the bugs were starting to head over that way instead. They looked more like huge cicadas and as a few of them passed her they spat gunk towards her. Where it hit, it burned, like obnoxiously so.
"Assholes! Fine then! You might wanna be on guard, I'm still figuring this new one out." First, she had addressed the bugs and then, the corrupt who was still seated. With the girl probably just out of reach of her magic, math and distance still weren't Beatrix's strong points for her skills, she cast it. Even if her creature couldn't grab them, maybe the cold would make the bugs drop from hypothermia or something. She also thought they used foggers and stuff to knock out bees and hoped that might work too. It was a whole bunch of maybes, she knew should have paid more attention to classes when she was in uni.
It would be nice if any of it worked, she would feel bad if that other corrupt, who looked kinda rough, got burned up by these nasties.
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Super Sailor Scout Attack: Beatrix's Embrace A dark fog radiates out from Beatrix, a shadowy figure appears behind the enemy and whispers something before wrapping them in its cold body. They can clearly see the armor and fact that the figure is headless. It disappears with a laugh as the magic fades. Radius is 8 feet. Effect and illusion lasts for 25 seconds and can be used twice per battle
Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 6:31 pm
While the bugs swarmed toward her, Psilomelane got a decent look at the other Negaverse senshi's magic. Even from her angle, she couldn't make out a lot from it — something tall and dark that whispered something she couldn't quite discern, along with a surfeit of fog to accompany the silhouette. Some of the hornets or cicadas or bees or whatever they were fell to the ground while the remainder charged toward her.
As soon as they were blasting toward her, Psilomelane ducked with a quickness they weren't expecting. Some of the pests slammed into the wall behind her, stunning or killing themselves, and Psilomelane immediately shifted out of the way to avoid being pelted with dead bug bodies. Doing so had dispelled her magic, but between both attacks, they now faced a much more manageable number of supernatural critters.
What was it about Destiny City, anyway? Psilomelane couldn't remember living anywhere else, but she had to imagine that no other city suffered as much magical phenomena as here. It bordered audacity, she thought, the way they were constantly running into strange magical spectacles that severely impeded their daily tasks. The last time she'd been out draining, she got attacked by some kind of demon bear, and now it was a swarm of giant bugs! Who kept allowing this to happen and why didn't the Negaverse put a stop to it?
"I think we've gotten rid of most of them." The Super Senshi darted to the other senshi's side. "Do you have more of your magic? I can draw them in if you need it."
She had plenty of magic for that. If she thought her Super magic would be helpful here, she would use it, but against bugs? It seemed like a waste.
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Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 10:36 am
Beatrix couldn’t believe that worked as she watched some of the bugs fall to the ground. “Yea, yea! I have some other stuff I can do to try and fog some more of them out. That was pretty smart of ya to bring ‘em in!” Just as an added measure she made sure she squished the fallen ones as she prepared to try things again. There was a smaller swarm of them now still closing in.
They tried spitting acid at her again and it hurt but not as much as her magic hopefully would hurt them. She waited until they were closer and made sure that she kept the other outside of the ring just in case. Since they were working together it would be bad if the Dullahan went after her instead of the bugs. The fog came again and she took the chance to squish bugs as her magic worked. Hopefully all the guts would be gone when she powered back up again later. It did seem to work kinda like laundry service.
“Whatever ones are left after the fog might come after ya so be ready okay?” Hopefully there wouldn’t be many by the time her magdiscarded. They were so gross, she would need one heck of a shower after all this to clean up the grossness.
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Sailor Scout Attack: Beatrix's Grasp A dark fog radiates out from Beatrix, a shadowy figure appears in the fog. It will reach out to grab an enemy with an icy cold hand. The being is still mostly enveloped by the fog or shadows. The radius is 6 feet. Effect and illusion lasts for 15 seconds and can be used 3 times per battle[
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 5:16 pm
Before Psilomelane could reply with a thank you, one of the bugs shot some kind of acidic spray into her hair. She yelped, feeling some of it get on her exposed shoulder, and was quick to tear off her sash and scrub it away. Her skin turned an angry red from the damage.
Wherever these aggressive bugs came from, it was clear that losing some of their comrades wasn't enough to dissuade them. Or maybe it irritated them further, which meant she and this other senshi would have to exterminate all of them before they could catch a break.
That silhouette came again, and more of the bugs got caught in the embrace. Psilomelane watched them fall to the ground, stunned, and she smashed a few with her heels. What sickened her most was feeling their exoskeletons crush beneath the weight of her shoe; it was a feeling she hoped she would never have to suffer again, but she wouldn't be refreshing her outfit of the disgusting ichor until the rest of them were dealt with.
"Bitter hope," she tried again, and angled herself between the bugs and the wall. While they were aggressive, Psilomelane found they weren't smart, as none of them learned from what happened to their brethren. More of them smashed into the wall when she ducked at the last minute, leaving the area finally and blessedly clear of the nuisances.
"Whew," she exhaled tiredly. "I'm glad that's done.
"My name is Psilomelane, of Mirages. Your magic is very impressive to have taken care of so many of them." As she spoke, she tried to scrub away some of the remaining guts with her thoroughly soiled sash. She just needed enough of it off that she wouldn't track it anywhere when she teleported home.
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2023 6:37 pm
As the last bug fell to the ground, Beatrix stomped on it with her heels. "Gross." Now that the sound of buzzing was gone, Beatrix walked over towards the other senshi. They had complimented her magic so they were ok in her books, on top of the fact they had a really pretty outfit. " Oh yea that's a thing, name's Beatrix, of the Dullahan. I wasn't really sure if it would work against those things but I'm glad it worked out. I'm used to one on one things or sneaking up yanno? You're ok, right? I know you looked kinda rough for a moment there but that was your magic, I think."
Luckily most of the bug guts were just on her shoes since the cold and fog of her magic had done them in. "You think these were related to those cursed-looking cocoa bean things?" She left out that she had kicked one which might've started the whole thing.
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Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2023 6:50 pm
"You're right, that was my magic. I'm Psilomelane, or Pavo, of Mirages. I can make myself look like an easy target, which gives me a boost in the amount of damage I can do to my enemy. It's helpful on sentient things that can be tricked, but like your magic, I wasn't sure if it would work on those bugs." Psilomelane breathed a sigh of relief.
Psilomelane checked herself, brushing off dirt and debris. It seemed she wasn't much worse for wear despite dealing with those buzzing nightmares. "I think…" She looked up at Beatrix, giving her a quick once-over for any injuries, "That sounds plausible. If they hatched from something like an egg or a cocoon, that might look like a cocoa bean. If you're feeling adventurous, you could try breaking one open later." But not now — not so soon after they dealt with those things.
"We could talk it over in more detail somewhere safe, like in a café. It's a good opportunity for us to grab some drinks to soothe our nerves. What do you think?"
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can fin on bea's acceptance/decline~
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Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2023 4:42 pm
"That sounds pretty cool but had me wondering for a minute which I guess means it worked right." Beatrix used the grass to kinda wipe some of the grossness off for a bit as she wondered about the bean things. "I think I've had enough of bugs and pods for tonight but going somewhere to eat sounds amazing. I've seen some stuff that just wasn't a vibe this year and maybe we can compare notes? I know of a few late-night places that have some cheap food around here."
With that she nodded and started walking along with Pavo, it was nice to meet another female corrupt with an awesome style. Hopefully, she wouldn't mind the deep-fried goodness of the munchies cafe she often snacked at before and after working her shifts at 7/11.
