|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 7:55 pm
Quote: Radioactive Mysteries (13) : Destiny City has been booming, but with more people you need more power. Recently, an old power plant has been renovated and updated and just opened for business–but now people have been claiming dizziness or fatigue when in the area. Not to mention the animals. So far one shady, blurry video has been posted online of a strange bear-shaped humanoid ‘monster’ in the area. It’s difficult to tell if it’s a hoax or not, but whether or not you believe it, it might be a good idea to keep your eye out if you’re in the area. Especially because if you pass through, you feel like something’s watching you. It doesn’t have an aura so it can’t be a youma, but if you poke around too late at night you might find a strange creature that's built like a bear, covered in fur, but which has a strangely human presence. Something about it is just off--or, maybe it’s just your imagination. Maybe it’s just someone in a costume having a bit of fun at your expense. Still, its claws are sharp and it’s fast. When it runs through the forests, the trees seem to crack upon impact, and if you explore during the daytime you might find strange scratches and odd markings in the grass. The longer you’re in the area, the dizzier you get. Note: If you choose to encounter the strange creature, your character will recognize that it is not a youma. The creature seems smart enough to understand human words but does not respond and does not seem to listen. It will always disappear before it can be caught or gravely injured. 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.
Regardless, someone could get hurt. Yvoire couldn’t bear the thought of someone completely ignorant to the city’s dangers happening across this… creature, youma or not. Maybe it wasn’t his responsibility to take care of it, but he saw it, and he recognized it for the danger it presented. He couldn’t walk away. Letting it roam free when he had the power to do something about it would make him just as culpable as whoever released it into the city!
If only he had a better weapon…
Yvoire stumbled, knocked back by the creature. He almost fell, but drew close to a tree and let the wide trunk take some of his weight. Something about the area made him dizzy. Was it a gas leak? Or some sort of chemical? He didn’t smell anything strange, didn’t feel anything amiss, but he knew something about this was wrong.Cynthus ran through the trees, barely keeping pace with Reims. Superpowers made her faster than she was without them, but Reims was an athlete; he would probably always be faster (unless Cynthus took up sports, too, but… ew, no thanks). Leaves crunched beneath their feet, twigs snapped, and loose dirt went flying from the speed of their steps.
They saw the monster before it saw them, and the familiar figure of Yvoire backed against a tree.
“HEY!” Cynthus shouted. “HEY, BEAR! GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
It looked like a bear. Sort of. She was pretty sure that was how you were supposed to deal with one: make a lot of noise and scare it off. Or was that a mountain lion? Had she just sealed a gruesome fate for all of them?
Not if she had anything to say about it!
Cynthus struck the bear-monster with her crook once, twice, three times, roaring at it as it roared at her.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 7:57 pm
“Be careful!” Reims barked in alarm at Cynthus as she rushed in to attack the bear, screaming the whole time. He’d been on his way to do the same (although maybe not screaming like a maniac), but had paused by the tree to make sure that Yvoire didn’t need immediate medical attention.
He could tell that something was off, and as he tried to catch his breath, he reached out to brush his fingers over Yvoire’s pale cheeks, brushing his loose hair back. He looked almost sickly, like he was nauseous or maybe in shock, but Reims didn’t know for sure.
That was fine, he would keep an eye on him and carry him back if he needed to. Right now he needed to make sure Cynthus didn’t get her face torn off by a bear.
Reims left Yvoire at the tree as quickly as he’d paused to check on him, taking his letter opener to use not necessarily as a weapon, but to help keep his hand as safe as possible as he shoved the flat end of the dull blade against the creature, giving Cynthus enough time to get away from it before it struck back.
Which it did. And Reims soon learned how sharp the creature’s claws were as they cut across his upper arm and knocked him clear off his feet and to the ground.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 7:58 pm
The dizziness made him nauseous and the nausea made him pale, but Yvoire’s cheeks still flamed bright red beneath Reims’ fingers. Thankful for the dark of night and its ability to conceal the reaction, Yvoire took a few breaths to get himself back under control.
Kindness was his weakness. Touch, too, it turned out. That Reims was rather good looking certainly didn’t help matters.
Alas, there was a bear to deal with. Anyway, Yvoire doubted very much that Reims meant the brief show of concern and affection in anything other than a platonic way.
Pushing himself from the tree once he could ignore the dizziness, Yvoire sprinted back toward the bear, which roared and swiped at Cynthus and Reims. When Reims went down, Yvoire went to him, helping him back onto his feet before throwing himself bodily at the bear.
Yes, it was reckless. Yes, he was probably going to get hurt, but he couldn’t stand there and do nothing, and his brain wasn’t exactly helpful with supplying him with battle strategies.“You’re both insane!” Cynthus shouted.
She ducked under a swipe from the bear’s claws, barely missing them. She saw Reims go down but didn’t have the chance to check on him, not with this monster coming for them. Heart pounding frantically in her chest, Cynthus struck out with her crook again, once, twice, three times in quick succession, knocking the bear back a few steps.
“GO! GET OUT OF HERE!” she screamed at it.
Cynthus was good at screaming. She screamed a lot, especially now that she was aware that monsters and superheroes were real. Who could blame her? This city was weird as ******** and the war itself was ******** up beyond comprehension. That more people weren’t screaming about it was bizarre. Weren’t they afraid? Or pissed off? Or knocked off their rocker from all the crazy s**t that went down?
Like bears in the woods. And banks exploding. And stolen starseeds.
Yvoire’s wild tackle knocked the bear to the forest floor. Cynthus grabbed the little blond by the back of his shirt (nevermind that he wasn’t much smaller than her), dragging him away before the bear could crush him or maul him or whatever this monster had in store for them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 7:58 pm
Reims hissed from the pain of the slashes across his arm. He would probably have to be awkward and try to get in touch with Ephesus after this. Or maybe he would just suck it up and let the wound heal on its own. Scars were attractive, right? For the most part. Maybe. Except this would be difficult to explain, and he did not want to have that conversation with anyone.
But Yvoire was quick to help him back up, and he barely had time to say thanks before both Yvoire and Cynthus were lunging for the bear again.
“You’re the one yelling!” he shouted back at her, but grabbed his letter opener so he could defend himself. Somehow.
The bear roared at them and while it seemed to contemplate retaliating against the teenagers for attacking it, it instead ran at them-- and past them. A tree that it ran into seemed to crack from the impact of the bear’s body, and Reims was grateful it was none of them that crumpled under the power. He felt a little sick that it could have been one of them. Or anyone else.
“Don’t go after it!” he said to both of them, quickly making his way over to the both of them with the intention of grabbing them if they tried. “It wasn’t even a youma. But what was it?”
It was so bizarre. They had to worry about creatures that weren’t controlled by the Negaverse, too??
“Are you okay?” he asked the two of them, pressing his own hand against his arm to try and at least temporarily stop the bleeding.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 7:59 pm
Yvoire struggled against Cynthus, if only because it was embarrassing to be pulled around and restrained by her. (He knew he was small, but did he have to be smaller than an equally small girl?) She yanked him out of the way when the bear charged at them. Yvoire stumbled again, almost losing his feet. By the time he’d righted himself and forced the nausea back down, the bear had disappeared—there one second and gone the next. Yvoire didn’t even hear it crashing through the trees after the first several cracked and snapped in its wake.
He wanted to go after it, wanted to make sure it didn’t hurt anyone else, but Reims was bleeding and the bear had gone deeper into the woods. With any luck, it would stay there. Maybe once he powered down, Yvoire would call the police or animal control and report the strange monster. They might be better equipped to handle it with guns than he was with a wooden flower.
All the magic in the world wouldn’t make him a formidable opponent.
“I’m fine,” Yvoire said. The dizziness and nausea were already easing. Now he felt foolish for fighting such a dangerous monster on his own, and guilty that Reims had gotten hurt.
Yvoire flushed bright red again, ducking his head in shame.“God, this city’s weird as ******** had absolutely no intention of going after the bear. She was relieved that it had gone. If she’d had it her way, they would’ve let it be as soon as it became apparent that it wasn’t a youma, but they’d heard the noises and found Yvoire, and they couldn’t just leave him to fight it on his own.
“Maybe it was bigfoot,” she said. “There’s a lot of sightings around here, aren’t there?”
Now that she knew that superheroes and magic and monsters were real, obviously that meant bigfoot probably wasn’t a hoax. Aliens, too. Maybe even the Loch Ness monster. (Wasn’t there one of those in the reservoir??? If Cynthus was braver, she might’ve investigated. At the moment, she’d really rather just go home.)
With a heavy sigh, Cynthus looked over Reims’ injuries. She cringed at the blood. The white of his shirt was already pretty soaked by it. He’d probably need stitches if magic didn’t help.
“Come on, let’s get out of here before that thing decides to come back. Maybe Effie can take care of that for you.”
Every team should have a healer. That was basic nerd wisdom.
Cynthus would know. Daddy taught her well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
