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 Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 10:49 am
Poultrygeist (15) : As Destiny City is a bustling metropolis, it’s not unexpected that there should be some strange animals running the streets. Sometimes it’s a tiger, sometimes a monkey, sometimes a chicken. Sometimes it’s something worse. Strange egg clusters have appeared in Destiny City’s parks and officials aren’t really sure what they are; these eggs have nothing inside of them. Though it’s an anomaly, they are chalking it up to teenaged pranks. However, they have advised to just leave the eggs as they are. Nobody wants to say why, but if you’re out late at night, you’ll find out. In the darkness, whispered between the sounds of the city: a guttural, rasping cluck. The creature stands on stilt-like legs, rooted to the ground with razor-sharp talons. It wears a cloak of long, oily feathers that drag on the ground with a sinister scraping. If you stare into the darkness, piercing red eyes stare back at you. That’s all it takes for a confrontation: a mangled bird, maybe a chicken in another life, comes barreling out at you. It stands easily as tall as a person, but the proportions are all wrong. The smell of sulfur follows it as it lunges, pecking and screaming and scratching as it attempts to chase you away. Maybe, from the nests full of empty eggs. The battles are fierce, but fleeting; it will viciously try to chase you away but the effects are always the same: at some point, the eggs are crushed. As always, there’s nothing inside of them, but with one final wail, the bird will vanish into a plume of foul smoke.
Note: If you choose to encounter one of these bird-like creatures, your character will recognize they are not youma. It is impossible to tell if it is a single entity or if there are many. The bird does not seem to understand or care to listen to human words. It will always disappear in a malodorous plume of smoke and leave nothing but a foul odor and a clutch of empty, broken eggs behind. This RP can be used as a battle requirement as long as there are two powered characters involved; you must be interacting with another player’s powered character. This does not count as the one youma battle per stage for growth so characters can still use an NPC youma battle as well as this one for growth purposes. 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.
Demon chicken-adjacent…creature…thing.
Because…of course. It was summer in Destiny City, which meant all manner of weird and magical goings on for all the residents, powered or not.
One Kiringul, Squire of Cosmos was cursing up a storm as he sprinted down a well-worn path in a nearby park, a mangled up chicken-esque shadow, furiously clucking and hot on his heels. The smell coming off of it wasn't doing him any favors, nausea hitting him each time the wind blew as he also happened to be downwind of the damned thing.
"Come on, come on," he sputtered, panting as he surged toward a fellow Knight's aura he sensed a bit earlier. When whoever it was finally came into view, he started flailing his arms like one of those car dealership inflatables.
"Hey! Hey!" he called, not at all caring who heard him or who saw what all was happening. "Demon chicken on my a**!" he went on, now throwing in a few gestures behind him while he continued to flail about. "Demon chicken on my a**!"
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 10:50 am
Xibalba thought of himself as fairly level headed. Well, mostly. As long as no one set off his berserker button. And as he hadn’t encountered anyone likely to cause a need to use his aspect, yeah. He considered himself pretty even keeled in the head department.
He’d even been thinking about heading home for the night given how quiet everything was. Was being the operative word in the case. He’d felt the other knight approaching rather quickly and had felt a stab of concern. Then, the other knight had come into view and Xibalba found himself smiling. Cosmos knight. He hadn’t talked to one of those in an age. But then, he took in the flailing arms and shouting about demon chickens. Which, he could have written off had he not seen the ******** bird itself, chasing after.
Summoning his sling, he loosed a fireball that did… absolutely nothing to the bird. So.. not a being of Chaos then. Right-o. He’d have to be more direct. Running at an angel, he grabbed for one of those flailing arms and yanked, intending to pull the cosmos knight from the path. As big as the chicken thing was, it didn’t look very nimble. He could probably buy a few seconds before it was able to alter course.
“Hi there, laddie,” he said, voice entirely too cheerful. “Catch your breath a moment. Ye stay behind me.”
Maybe his fireball wouldn’t work, but Xibalba was a knight of Mars. And he’d made it a point to learn how to adapt and fight when things got strange. Like, for example, when a chicken as tall as him managed to turn around a lot faster than expected and level its beady gaze upon him.
Well hell.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 10:53 am
Mars Knight. Perfect. They had a reputation for being good fighters, right?
Or was it just their aesthetic that had him thinking about them along the lines of Leonidas and his band of badass men from 300?
There was the slightest bit of hope that swelled in his chest–burning lungs notwithstanding–as he made a quick approach, though when he followed the fireball to its intended target and saw that it did nothing that bit of hope dwindled to nearly nothing. Nearly being the operative word. He caught the angle the man was running and purposely flailed an arm out in his direction, relief flooding his system the instant he felt the man catch on and yank him out of the cursed poultry's direct path.
He came to a stumbling halt but didn't fall over, thankfully saving whatever was left of his dignity for the evening.
"You sound way too happy all things considered," he huffed, hands at his sides as he fought hard to catch his breath. "But thanks for the save. b*****d came outta nowhere and–"
A loud squawking cut him off and pulled his attention back to the demon-chicken that was now having some kind of staring contest with the Mars Knight.
"Uh…"
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 10:54 am
Keeping his gaze locked on the demon chicken, Xibalba considered his options. His fireballs had no effect on the thing. Therefore, this was not a youma or other Chaos created abomination. However, there had been a lot of weird, random eggs and nests scattered across the park. They were currently within the park.
Did this thing think it was protecting the eggs? He knew that some birds got mean as ******** if they thought their future babies were in danger. Rubbing idly at the snake shaped scar across his chest, the Mars knight’s gaze flickered to the Cosmos knight.
“Where ye ran from,” he said urgently. “Were there eggs? Can ye lead me back?”
He’d heard rumors already that the eggs were nothing but empty shells. He didn’t know how accurate that was, but it was worth checking out. Maybe they could use the eggs as a means to draw the bird off somewhere safer for everyone. All he knew was that they couldn’t leave the chicken here.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 10:58 am
He wasn't entirely sure why the Mars Knight had asked about that, but he pointed to the right without a second thought. There had to be a reason, right? Even if he couldn't track exactly why yet. He blamed the whole needing to catch his breath and get his bearings–and certainly it was not because of the freakishly demonoid chicken that was attempting to stare straight into their souls.
"That way. I walked through some bushes to get back onto the main path, I heard some kind of crunch, and then–"
Oh.
Kiringul made a little "o" with his mouth as he turned his head to look back down toward the path he'd sprinted down. "Yeah, I can lead you back." He sounded a little bit more confident than he felt, but he did have a general idea of where the bush was.
"Just tell me when you want me to start running."
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 10:58 am
“Good lad,” Xibalba said approvingly. He knew this sort of thing couldn’t be easy for Cosmos knights, so anytime he met one that showed a bit of spark, he was quick to praise. “Let’s go now an’ get Mama there oot o’the way of civilians, aye?”
Keeping his eye on the bird, he nodded to the other knight, encouraging him to move when he had his breath back. There was no point in killing the kid, after all. The whole while, though, he was trying to dredge up everything he’d heard about this bird and her various nests. Crazy, giant chicken thing? Check. More eggs and nests than should be feasibly possible for said bird? Also a check. Eggs that were nothing but shell? Well, he hadn’t been able to verify that one yet. He didn’t particularly want to try and stomp an egg just to end up having destroyed the one viable egg this monster had lain.
He’d worry about that later.
Right now, the chicken was clucking deep within its throat and getting agitated again. With a scream it ran for them and there was no time left for breathers.
“Shite! Run!”
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:00 am
Kiringul certainly didn't need to be told twice. Not after it screamed like that.
Without missing a beat, the Cosmos Squire sprinted off in the direction he came, glancing over his shoulder only to make sure the other was right on his tail rather than trying to stick around to do some heroics or whatever it was that other more offense-inclined Knights did.
"There!" he huffed out after they'd been running for a minute and were moving upon a familiar cluster of trees and foliage nearby the bathrooms. "I saw some eggs in and around the bushes by the big tree to the left, there." He was out of breath and clearly struggling, but he genuinely wanted to help. The sooner they got rid of this thing, the sooner he could get home.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:00 am
Skidding to a halt, the Mars knight suddenly grinned as he saw broken shells around the nest with zero evidence of anything having been inside. Eggs were messy and even if something had come along to eat the insides, there would have been something left behind. So, if they broke any of the eggs, they, at least, would not have to feel guilty of animal murder.
Which was very good as the adult demon chicken was hard on their heels and the eggs were about the only things around to throw. Which Xibalba did with very little hesitation. Scooping up eggs, he fired each off with uncanny precision, striking the bird in the face and throat.
“Don’t be shy, laddie,” he urged the Cosmos knight. “We have t’get her t’back off!”
Most of the eggs that struck her skull and beak shattered upon impact, the shells crumbling as they fell to the ground. Bindhi was not going to believe this, he thought. She was absolutely not going to believe that he’d thrown empty eggs at a people sized demon chicken. It was too weird. Even for this town.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:02 am
Kiringul came to a far less graceful halt, but he was relieved he at least didn't lose his footing. A glance behind him was all the encouragement he needed to scoop up some eggs as well, and he started chucking them at the demon chicken with…varying degrees of success.
Which was fine! Somehow, from a distance, it looked like the thing was starting to lose steam. Its wailing and squawking was getting worse, a little more frenzied, but the creature itself…
"Is…" the Squire started to say, his arm at the ready to throw another egg but paused for the moment. "Is it getting smaller, or am I going crazy?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:02 am
Pausing in his own egg chucking, Xibalba took a good, hard look at the chicken. He wasn’t sure it was physically smaller, but it gave the impression of shrinking in on itself.
“Not sure,” he answered. “Ye’re nae crazy, but Ah suspect the poor, dumb thing is losing steam so it only seems smaller.”
Of course, he could be completely wrong, but at the moment he was reasonably confident in his estimation. The wailing noise was unnerving though. It didn’t sound birdlike at all and it made the chicken sound depressed. Could demon chickens feel depressed? He hurled another egg, this one catching the mother square in the eye before shattering. There weren’t many eggs left in this nest. Hopefully with nothing left to protect, she’d wander off and be a bit more harmless.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:03 am
Kiringul bobbled his head and, like the Mars Knight, just kept throwing eggs until they seemed to exhaust what was in the immediate area, and the demon chicken went on and on with its wailing until finally it gave one last (surprisingly depressed sounding) cry before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The Squire blinked at the space where their assailant had just been, unsure what to think but slowly coming to very grateful terms with the fact that it was gone.
Clapping a hand to the Mars Knight's shoulder, he said, "Thank you. Pretty sure I would've made for a perfect pecking practice board for that ugly thing if you hadn't helped me out. If I can return the favor somehow, just say the word."
He extended a hand, and a grateful, if awkward, smile. He wasn't usually the greatest with people, but even he could acknowledge when he was indebted to someone.
"Name's Kiringul."
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 11:04 am
Eyes going distant for a moment as he silently repeated ‘perfect pecking practice’ and marveling at the fact that the Cosmos knight, Kiringul, had been able to say it without stumbling all over the words. Still, he grinned at the shoulder clap and eagerly seized upon the offered hand, shaking it heartily.
“Ach, there’s nae favors owed, Kiringul. Ah’m happy tae help. The name’s Xibalba.”
He took a glance at where the demon chicken had stood before vanishing into a puff of smoke. Really, this city was just damn weird. At least something good had come of this nonsense. He’d just increased the number of people he knew. Always a plus.
“Do y’think it’ll try tae come back?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2025 4:30 pm
"Well, if you ever change your mind," he said, wanting him to know that offer would stay on the proverbial table, just in case he ever found himself in need of anything in the future.
He followed Xibalba's gaze to where the chicken had been, noting that the smoke was completely gone now. It was like no poultry had escaped hell to wreak havoc on the both of them tonight, which was...well. Par for the course, as far Destiny City was concerned.
"I don't think I wanna stick around to find out." Summoning his cell phone from subspace, he glanced at the time and let out a somewhat relieved sounding sigh.
"I'm gonna grab some dinner before heading home, though. There's a good sub shop that's actually still open." Dismissing his phone, he pointed in a seemingly arbitrary direction–a quiet invitation as much in thanks as it was to maybe make a friendly connection with another fellow Knight–before heading off without really waiting for a reply.
Like his previous offer, the invite was there if he was interested. And if not, well. At least he tried. It was more than he'd done in the past...
Ever, actually, in his history of being a Knight. So there was progress on that front, at least.
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