TRP is a post-Great War AU RWBY RP set in Mistral City and Haven Academy with no canons, no rank claims, no maidens, and no god interference. We offer a progression system and site-wide events that change the setting based on player actions.
Post by Flynn Gwyrdd on Nov 26, 2020 19:52:11 GMT -5
Well, this had gone from bad to worse.
While the effort to clear out the injured with a shorter redhead had been steady, if slow, going for a little while things just exploded in a very swift and dangerous fashion. There were too many individual events to name, but Flynn frankly wasn’t equipped to deal with that much shit happening all at the same time. He couldn’t process the amount of weird stuff that was happening right before his eyes, and he couldn’t really process the amount of threats now lurking around what was supposed to be a peaceful and normal festival.
What he did know, though, was that the giant pumpkin was an immediate threat to the lives and limbs of anyone nearby. He might not have been the fastest, but the fact of the matter was that he had his aura activated and most of the people over there closest to the thing didn’t – so even in a worst case where all he could do was take a hit or two… that was better than the alternative.
There was so much going on, with the vines thrashing and the booming noises of semblances going off and that jerk with the loudspeaker and the massive ice walls coming up in the distance… but it was fine. He just needed to block all of it out and start moving towards the immediate threat as quickly as possible. After the giant boom noise, the vines from the pumpkin became a lot more aggressive and Flynn barely managed to interpose himself in between a group of confused and panicked bystanders and one of the vines. He caught it with both hands and yelled at them to run until they finally did so.
The hit to his aura was significant and caused his green aura to flex, but not quite enough to break it. He could still eat one more attack with his face before things got really dangerous, and that was a comforting thought. The force the vine moved down felt like it was going to break every bone in both of his arms, and maybe it would have if his aura hadn’t protected him. It was a scary thought, really, but at least this time he was able to prevent something.
The vine tried to move, and Flynn was able to hold it back for long enough for the group of teenagers to fully escape through sheer force of will, but it slowed him down significantly. He wasn’t anywhere close to the base of the pumpkin, and there was still a very uncomfortable number of people way in between him and that most dangerous area to be in. It was disturbing, frankly, but people tended to panic and freeze up when horrifying situations like this happened right before their eyes.
Like, who got up that morning and thought even for a second that there might be a giant killer pumpkin trying to kill them that day? None of them, probably. Hopefully. Maybe the person who made the killer pumpkin in the first place, but nobody else.
Rolling for: Attack of the Pumpkin Kaiju (Obstacle 10) Roll: 3 + 0 = 3 Result: Failure
Why the fuck was the area still so crowded? Sure, the crowd had died down from the beginning on account of those smart enough to leave but like… why the fuck was this place not entirely cleared out by now? Why were people still here? This entire situation would be so much easier to deal with if there weren’t so many people too fucking stupid to leave when shit got too dangerous. The pumpkin itself was starting to point its flailing vines downwards, attacking people for the crime of standing too close now. She didn’t see any blood yet, but that certainly wasn’t for lack of trying on the side of the lunatic currently on top of it. Seemed like there were people with semblances actively protecting bystanders, but they couldn’t hold out for too long. Not at this rate, when she saw one of their auras flex from getting slapped once with one of those vines. [break][break]
In a more open area, this would be so goddamned easy. The situation was continuing to get worse, though, enough that she opened her first pack of gloves since coming to Mistral. Each set was expensive, and she tended to avoid using them as much as possible due to that cost. They were designed to look like white dress gloves in a military style, and truth be told didn’t look like anything special. Infused with plant dust, the gloves produced a sticky and highly heat resistant jelly that could withstand being lit on fire with even her strongest flames and fly with that fire to coat her target with that superheated jelly in a combined attack that was pretty damned effective. [break][break]
It was extremely typical for one blast of her semblance to break most people’s aura, and in that case the secondary attack of the jelly sticking to their body at temperatures easily exceeding one thousand degrees Celsius due to exposure to flames of much higher temperature usually killed them before they even understood what had happened. In cases where death wasn’t immediate, the sticky quality of the jelly along with the residual heat from flames going up even slightly past one thousand five hundred degrees Celsius tended to combine to finish the job in only a few seconds after that. It seeped past the skin and into the bones and muscles of the target, rendering even immediate attempts to freeze or put out the fire next to useless because even if the fire was put out the residual heat was still more than enough to burn right through the individual. If they could even think to even try to put it out beyond placing their hands on it and spreading the napalm across their body and melting their hand, given the extreme pain and the fact that heat of that magnitude sucked all the oxygen out of the air merely be existing in the same space and they’d find it extremely hard to breathe even if they weren’t immediately getting melted. [break][break]
And if their aura didn’t break upon the first hit of flames, then the residual attack would almost certainly do the trick either immediately afterwards or within a few seconds. The first hit was always the easiest, because those with semblances that strong tended to think themselves invincible and the best way to ensure a victory was to annihilate them with the first salvo of attacks and leave them zero room to change their strategy. The feeling of the cloth against her skin felt good, and gray eyes tracked the situation next to the giant pumpkin closely. Still moving at the far edge of her range, she didn’t have a clear shot just yet that was far enough away from people that mattered and found herself coming closer and closer to the sound of the loudmouth monarchist… now with a new and improved megaphone that seemed even louder than the last one somehow. [break][break]
That was good, actually, because she could actually use the megaphone right about now. Nobody was even looking in her direction on account of the giant pumpkin wreaking havoc, so it was easy to sneak past the monarchist thugs and trap the leader on top of a car by simply snapping the middle finger and thumb on her left, ungloved hand and melting the bottoms of his shoes on surface of the car to stall any attempts to flee. The guy’s first instinct was to turn and run, and with the bottoms of his shoes crumbling all that did was cause him to fall face first into the pavement below, and even though it caused some of his bodyguards to finally notice the white-haired faunus simply did the same trick to slow them down and jogged over to both take the megaphone that was dropped from the ground and give a solid kick to the jaw of the leader that wouldn’t make him hate the faunus any less but would be enough to make sure he wasn’t yelling anymore that day with words… just indistinct screaming which was much less incendiary. [break][break]
Screaming that started immediately, but it was nothing compared to the sound of the megaphone that the faunus immediately started using as she dodged out of the way of her now shoeless pursuers while moving back towards the pumpkin and turning her attention to the next threat. [break][break]
”Hello, terrorist on top of the pumpkin. Yeah, you. Terrorist girl. Hello!” she started, projecting her voice with practiced ease so that she was heard over the din and very audible to the girl on top of the pumpkin right then. Her left hand was holding the megaphone while her right hand was held forward with her middle finger and thumb pressed together and pointed towards the top of the pumpkin, anticipating some sort of attack which she would retaliate against with full power. Her voice was completely calm, which was perhaps more disturbing to hear than any sort of anger or indignation. Irritation slipped in, sure, but her tone was very controlled and there wasn't the slightest hint of panic or self-doubt in it. The only thing that was there except for focus was irritation, like this wasn't worth her time and that she had other things to do that were much more urgent. She was dressed in black leather jacket over a white woolen sweater and a black and white checkered shemagh covering her neck. Waterproof and synthetic dark gray alpine designed pants completed the ensemble, with an integrated belt and a zip ankle closure for easy access to her combat boots. With both sets of ears uncovered, she hardly looked like a world beater but the sheer brazen audacity of picking up a megaphone and with zero hesitation drawing attention to herself like that showed that she wasn't an average civilian even if nothing else did.[break][break]
”Always happy to see another big ego with okay powers running around thinking that makes them a god. I’m sure with a semblance like that you don’t get challenged much, but I’m going to be level with you. You still have the opportunity to walk away before anyone dies, but if you continue to put these people in danger I will be forced to step in with lethal force. I realize you terrorist types aren’t very smart, so I’m going to spell it out for you. If you continue, I’m going to use my semblance once and you will die before you finish your blink. I don’t know what your point of being here is, and I don’t much care. You’re choosing to put innocent people’s lives in danger, and I care about their lives a hell of a lot more than yours. There are multiple people putting their lives on the line right this moment to make sure nobody gets smashed into paste by your vines, and they can’t hold out forever. Either nobody dies, or you do. Vines stop thrashing now or I make the choice for you.” [break][break]
She let the megaphone fall to her left side, then, with her right hand still being held up high with the middle finger pressed against the thumb. If the vines didn’t stop in the next six seconds or an attack lashed out, she was letting loose her semblance and her napalm right at the top of the pumpkin with intent to kill. She wasn’t going to waffle any longer, and with the megaphone she did her best to reason with the piece of shit at the top. The other person wasn’t working fast enough to get this threat under control, so she’d step in the fix the problem herself and just be extra careful to make the collateral damage as minimal and directed to property as possible. She was confident she could do it at this range, and confident enough in her ability to overpower the semblance of the plant terrorist that she was willing to call her shot in advance. The more resources she used to try and defend herself, the less there was actively going out and hurting people. [break][break]
And if she attacked Alina instead? The vines wouldn’t get lit on fire, they’d turn to ash. Fire hot enough to melt carbon steel beats fucking plants any day of the week, and this bitch picked the wrong day to grandstand and make an ass out of herself. [break][break]
Attempting DOWN WITH FAUNUS!! :rebel: (Social: 12) [break] Rolling With: Semblance B (Social Locked this event) [break] Roll: 9 + 6 = 15 [break] Result: PASS [break][break]
Initiating PvP unless vines stop being a threat to civilians next posting cycle. [break]
[break]
[attr="class","nikki103"]1560 words
[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE
[attr="class","nikki103"]8166 TOTAL WORDS
[break]
NOTES
B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion
HAVE YOU SEEN HER? HAVE YOU HEARD? THE WAY SHE MOVES, THERE ARE NO WORDS
Another deafening shot rang out, this time just nearly missing a stray vine as, the green tendrils seemed to react to her attacks. Damn. It wasn't a big shock that she was noticed, all told, considering her Semblance was pretty much impossible for anybody in the vicinity to ignore, but it was a little annoying that now the vines would be dodging her attacks.
She moved to prepare another shot, when a familiar face made her way through the throngs of fleeing civilians towards her.
Sienna?
Scarlet eyes darted towards the approaching redhead, before returning to her target. As curious as she was, to why Sienna was heading towards her, or about the million questions she still had from earlier, her mind, and her gaze, were dead set on her club president, as she began to prepare another blast- her hand was nearly on her drum again, when she was spoken to, and her eyes flickered back to Sienna, who seemed to be offering her a ride into much more dangerous territory.
She paused for a second, debating whether moving closer was the best move or not- she had a pretty unobstructed shot at the pumpkin, as it stood, though not really at its master, seated atop the growing monstrosity. From closer, or higher up, she could much more easily aim directly for Holly, and while she was highly accurate at fifty meters, the closer she was, the less likely she would miss her shot.
So she nodded, wordlessly, before grabbing onto Sienna's back. She was fairly light, as the faunus might remember from their last encounter, though the drum she carried now was noticeably both significantly larger, and much heftier, than the smaller djembe she wore on the elevator; compared to Storyteller's size, that drum might have been mistaken for a toy.
She wrapped her legs around Sienna's waist as they maneuvered towards the huge pumpkin.
Which only added more questions- like, when the hell did Sienna get so fast? And like, Huntress-tier agile and jumpy! Was she a secret Huntress in disguise? That would explain a lot!
She didn't have time for those questions.
She had a second Rochdale to prevent. A second Qiu'li to stop. As they moved forward, towards Holly, Carmim's eyes never left the pink-haired girl's side. They came close, far closer than anyone else had been successful at getting so far. "I am sorry, t'is will be very loud." She let her arms go, confident that Sienna would be able to hold her weight, and confident in her own powerfully muscled legs to hold on to the other girl with a tight grip, as she set about aiming her drum.
It was much harder to do in motion, especially as fast as they were moving, but she was skilled with her Semblance, and had spent countless hours training it, in her many attempts to gain better control over its power. While she was still stuck with effectively all or nothing, aside from her little recoil-jumps, she did attain a high degree of precision over her aim, which she used to line up a perfect shot at Holly.
A direct hit, right to her center-mass, which would absolutely be strong enough to shred through whatever plant matter she could summon up to defend herself, hitting her hard enough to throw her off the pumpkin and shatter her aura instantly.
It would have gone perfectly according to plan.
Except for the woman on the loudspeaker.
The sudden announcement, following the small scuffle between the newcomer and the racist shouty dude, was just enough to distract her at the worst possible moment- she turned to glance towards the voice as it addressed Holly, and the moment she did, a stray vine lashed out, slamming hard into her back, and sending both her and Sienna hurtling towards the ground at high speed, at the same time that her hand hit her drum, sending a blast straight up into the stratosphere, but nowhere near Holly.
She managed to make a soft landing, which preserved at least a large enough amount of her Aura that she could continue firing at Holly, but she didn't think she could hold out too much longer, if she kept getting hit like that, all things considered.
Getting close with those vines in the way was going to be a problem, but even more problematic was the considerably more dangerous woman on the podium- Carmim wasn't so naïve as to believe for a second that she was bluffing about being able to kill Holly in an instant. Which only drove her to try harder to stop this as quickly as possible.
She stood quickly and began lining up another shot without even waiting for Sienna- she was confident that the other girl was tough enough to handle herself, from what she'd seen so far at least, and considering she was willing to risk her life trying to stop this madness quickly, she figured Sienna wouldn't be opposed to her continuing to open fire without waiting, or checking in on her, after they hit the ground and rolled apart.
Gritting her teeth, she launched yet another volley at the pink-haired girl, this one only just barely grazing a much quicker-moving vine that rushed to protect its creator.
"She does not deserve to die. T'is is not normal, she needs help, not deat'. If she is dead, t'en she cannot atone for what she is doing. She is not like t'is all t'e time... Ugh. I just need to hit her. Just enough to knock her out.
Easier said than done.
LAIKA OF GS!
Problem Attempted: Pumpkin Terror Stress Destruction (Hazard 16) Skill Used: B Semblance Roll: 1 + 6 = 7 (Failure)
Last Edit: Nov 28, 2020 0:29:59 GMT -5 by Carmim Clover
SEM*: A, DURA: C STR: D Recoil: E, STAM: E, SAND: E WEAP: F, EARS: F
Post by Kishka Burzanova on Nov 27, 2020 1:35:39 GMT -5
KISHKA BURZANOVA
Dammit, Holly...
Why did you have to make this so much harder than it needed to be?
The deafening boom of Clover's Semblance forced Kishka to reflexively cover her ears, as she continued trying to find a way to reach Holly, while also attempting to protect the idiots panicking around her. Largely from Holly, but also from themselves- herd mentality was strong, and she'd seen firsthand what people getting trampled looked like. Not pretty.
She suppressed an incredibly agitated groan.
Those blasts nearly turned their professor into paste, and did punch a hole in a goddamn steel wall. Kishka knew Holly better than anyone else present, and she knew for a fact that Holly's constitution was as frail as a bag of soggy potato chips. Maybe she could take a stupidly powerful semblance blast to the face, but there was just as good a chance that it would blast her face off, if the gardener's Aura ran out before the attack hit her.
She needed to reach Holly, and fast. Her first attempt was to try and get all of these people out of the fucking way.
Glancing around, she quickly located the most strategically efficient exit routes, and began shouting for people to follow those routes if they wanted to get to safety.
Unfortunately, she was unheard over the roaring din of the crowd, and even those who did hear her chose to ignore her in favor of continuing to panic like headless chickens.
People really did lack any sense of self-preservation instincts...
Luckily for Kishka, so did she, and so did some white-haired kid, who'd just thrown up a very precarious-looking ice stairway towards the top of the pumpkin. Kishka didn't waste a single second, as she(?) called out to her. She just glanced over at Opal with a brief and curt nod, before shooting up the staircase at her full sprinting speed, making a running long-jump as she neared the edge of the stairs, aiming to grab onto the pumpkin and climb up to Holly.
Funnily enough, things don't always work out so well in practice as on paper.
She made her jump, and right as she did, a heftier vine crashed into her gut, sending her straight through the ice stairs, and hurtling far back, nearly slamming into Alina before crashing through a stall right behind the podium area. Her Aura crackled a midnight black from the direct hit, but it didn't yet break, as she clamored to her feet, and made another full-speed sprint back to where she was before.
"Come on, Holly, you don't have to do this! You're better than this, dammit, remember? Fuck!"
As she ran, she caught the gist of what the woman she'd just flown, then run, past was saying, perfectly well. And it took a lot of restraint to not just immediately respond with a desire to bash her head in for even thinking about hurting Holly.
It was rational, though.
It made perfect sense to threaten lethal force on Holly at the current moment- she was in a full-on rage, and an incredibly dangerous threat to public well-being and safety. There was, in fact, every chance that Holly was about to be put down like a rabid dog, the same way Solomon had been.
Post by Bianca Sabbato on Nov 27, 2020 4:50:05 GMT -5
As I made my way around the pumpkin, baiting any stray vine that became too dangerous to left unaddressed. I wasn’t completely oblivious to my surroundings.
First of all, that the imbecile with the megaphone still kept spouting his bullshit, which meant another chaos factor to throw into the equation. And second, the mob still hadn’t abandoned the scene.
And people wondered why huntsman and huntresses were a necessary institution? Well, lo and behold, this was the reason. People born and raised in frontier villages typically were smarter than this. And would have evacuated the area as soon as shit hit the fan.
But these were pampered city dwellers. Even if they were slummers, I was sure only the smart ones had even made an attempt to escape. There was a world of difference between watching the danger from the edge of your windows and actively trying to stop it.
On the edge of my vision, I saw the carpenter crew that had come earlier to repair the fence for the petting zoo. They apparently had finished their task and were now standing there like idiots, passively looking at the chaos around them as if it was a cheap movie theatre.
-Carry the people to safety! You are a big man, they will follow you!- I shouted to them, hoping they would put those hardened muscles and imposing figures to good work for once in their lives.
But the ram faunus and his crew simply stood there, paralyzed by the scene in front of them. Completely unable to do anything else besides running away in fear as soon as my words assured them that the danger was real... So much for trusting civilians with anything. I could probably have the cows make themselves more helpful than them.
-And you call yourself men? Bunch of pussies!- I screamed in exasperation, as it was clear the situation wouldn’t solve itself if not for the trainees here present.
Speaking of trainees. I managed to saw Kishka run through an ice staircase that was probably of Ice queen’s craft. And subsequently, be batted out of the sky like a fly by Holly’s vines. I knew the girl was resilient, so I trusted her to be fine. In the distance, it seemed like someone else had hijacked control of the loudspeaker...
I had no idea who this woman who had taken control of the megaphone was nor where she had come from, and at first, I was glad someone had managed to shut up the human extremist. But as I paid a little attention to her words (as much as I could while dodging vines). I had to let out an exasperated groan of frustration.
Chances of her being a trained huntress? Zero, no huntress spoke like that, I was sure most of them would have used their authority to evacuate the population and then fend off the threat. Not to simply agitate the people further. So she was probably just a plucky asshole with a powerful semblance looking to show off and be a hero. We changed one megaphone idiot for another, brilliant. Great. From the frying pan, directly into the flame. Now we had to stop Holly before we got two powerful semblances to take care of.
She was right about one thing, though. It was becoming abundantly clear that Holly was becoming as much a danger to society as she was for herself. And if this kept going on. Chances were a proper huntsman would show and need to intervene... But considering how much this city cared about the ground district, even that was highly dubious.
So either Holly calmed down, or we would need to calm her down one way or the other... Dammit, girl. I knew you were unstable, but I never imagined it was to this degree... Honestly, what was she even doing as a student if she was so easily ticked off? With a semblance like hers, she could make a living in a million different ways.
So why had no one foreseen this could happen? Why had people let her carry on if she was this gone already?
I checked out the internal part of my clothes. There, an Astarte Inc. dust grenade laid in wait. The other one had been broken at the same time Nereida’s mechanisms were crushed by Holly’s semblance.
Holly was a little far away. But I should be able to line a good shot with the aid of my semblance. I didn’t know how strong or weak was Holly’s aura. But those things carried as much punch as one of my strongest physical attacks. So It was a fair chance that it managed to aura break her. Especially considering that keeping this giant pumpkin up must have been steadily eating at her reserves.
Before I could get onto that. My attention was taken by the sight of Kishka, running again in another effort to reach Holly. I knew the girl was both strong enough to incapacitate Holly, and a close friend of her that could make her snap back to reality.
Sighting. I got to work. I still had a little aura left, not enough for a full-blown stairway. But I could create probably four or five platforms for her to make another attempt... That would be all, though. It would leave me with only enough aura to direct the grenade and set it off.
One last chance Kishka... If this fails... Then there will be nothing more to do.
Holding the dust explosive tightly to my chest. I channeled what was left of my power to create the steps necessary for Kishka (or anyone else) to reach the pumpkin girl and do what was necessary. If things didn’t de-escalate somehow. I would take Holly down for her own good.
And once all of this was over, I hopefully would have a long talk with both Holly (probably in a cell, if I was being absolutely honest). And with Haven’s authorities about the future of the pink-haired girl in the school...
1009/ 8277 Words
Attempting Problem: Direct the Crowd to Safety (Social 7)
Using: F Streetwise (Social) Roll: 3+0 = 3 (Failure)
Post by Opal Machias on Nov 27, 2020 9:16:27 GMT -5
To say things had gotten a bit out of hand would have been the understatement of the year. It seems everything that could go wrong was tonight. Worst it was happening to people, well person, he knew, and he was powerless to help. Other than his flimsy walls, the area looked more like a frozen wasteland with all the crushed ice. His own body was already feeling heavy from the overuse of his semblance, but it was not like he could stop. “Shiiit!” He cursed, rushing forward, forming an ice shield on his arm to block another vine coming way too close to some people.
Why the hell were there still people standing around anyway? Did they think it was safe because so many people with superpowers were tanking to the main brunt of the vines? Or were they really that scared seeing something this closed to a real-life monster? Opal prays it was the second one, so he could at least understand it a little. His first time facing a Grimm, he locked up too, seeing it right in front of you, running at full speed. It was a scary thing the first time. Most here, he was willing to bet have never seen a Grimm or even left the city before.
However, all these thoughts were quickly knocked out of his head as his shield shatter, sending him sliding away only to trip and fall onto his back, rolling. Just as another one of the loud booming sounds rang out, scaring him more than he would have liked. “Combat school does not train you for whatever this is…” Musing to himself, rolling back up to his feet. He still had no idea where or who was doing that, but it seemed they were helping. He hoped anyway since only the vines seem to be taking any real damage.
It was only then that Opal took another real look around the area. It seemed many more people had joined in on helping stop or at least tried to stop the vines. A new guy seems to have taken up the same idea as the lizard girl by using his own body to intercept the wild vines. Worst he watched as his little ice stairs only got the blue hair girl flung across the street, but to her credit, she was back unto her feet in a blink.
“This isn’t working…” He grumbles, watching the people around him run around like a flock of headless chickens. Seeing it from the sidelines, they were treating the symptoms and not the cause. Ideally, they needed to stop Holly, but it made any real attack impossible with so many people around. Opal's real worry was for the people who might have already been injured from the riot. With so many people panicking, it would not be hard for someone to go unnoticed underfoot.
Just as a new problem was dropped onto their plat. As it sounded like someone finally shut the ranting man up and hopefully for good. However, this new voice thought Holly was some terrorist. As if things were not bad enough now, they might have a public execution happening. It was crazy as the poor girl was not a terrorist… at least as far as he knew. Holly was an odd duck. Granted, he could see the reasoning, but most terrorists he guesses would have already started tossing bodies around.
With his patients at their ends, Opal decided enough was enough as he rushed back down the side of the road looking for the right someone. That someone happening to be a rather big and tall faunus, an ox he guesses from the man-size and horns, standing in a group of other rather large men. Seeing this only fuels his anger seeing them standing their slack jaw. “The hell is wrong with you! We need to get these people out of here!” He yelled, but if any heard him, they did not show it.
Red in the face, Opal was done with this, suddenly jumping up kicking the biggest on his low back. “Owww, the hell is…” Not giving the man time to speak, Opal got into action. “Huntsmen-in-training, now shut up and help! We need to get these people out of here. NOW!” shouting at the end now with a group of faunus all a head taller than him watching. “Stop standing around with thumbs up your ass and help. You! With the horns, I need your help.”
Rather it was from hurt pride on getting called out by a pipsqueak or whatever; Opal did not care. What he did care about was how the group of men afterward jumped into action. With a nod, Opal used a bit more aura as he forms a loudspeaker for himself. Okay, it was mostly just a funnel with a handle, but it did what he needed. From his spot standing on the shoulder of the ox faunus, he took a deep breath before yelling once more.
“Idiots! Please stop panicking and leave the area! In case you have not noticed, there a monster pumpkin here, and the professionals can’t do their jobs.” Using the ice cone to amplify his voice over the crowd. “Please be a decent person and leave!” Unlike the woman from before, his voice did not hide his annoyance all that well as he had enough of this clown show. This was something he expected from the people of Cloud district, not from Wind. Oh well.
He watched as the other from the carpenter crew started shouting and directing people away from the area from his vantage point. “Focus on the injures first! Get them out and to help.” In truth, he wanted to get down there and help but knew he would have only got lost in the crowd again. Cursed being short! “You guys heard the lady! Guys, let get these people away from that thing so the pros can do their job.” The ox yelled his own voice, a boom of its own. Causing Opal's eye to twitch a little at his helpful words.
1,019/2,627
Attempting Problem: Direct the Crowd to Safety (Social 7) Using: E Medical Knowledge (Social) Roll: 8+1 = 9 (Pass)
Last Edit: Nov 27, 2020 9:16:53 GMT -5 by Opal Machias
Post by Rose Phoenix on Nov 27, 2020 15:01:52 GMT -5
❝I Was Lightning,
Before The Thunder❞
684 w./ 4,151 w. total
She gave a nod and a wink to Bianca, grinning at the girl. They'd definitely get out of this situation alright and the way things were being handled gave the blonde a feeling of encouragement. Some students here she knew, while others she could only guess at. But despite her knowledge or lack thereof...everyone was chipping in. It was a pretty awesome experience, all things considered.
"You betcha, Angel. See ya on the other side a' this shitshow!"
Though, this was starting to become a real pain in the ass! The people wouldn't shut up over this stupid Faunus business and they were getting awful rowdy! It wasn't like the Grimm or folk back in Vacuo that could simply be cleaved...no, this was the god damn city where there were consequences. Fucking civilization! Rose couldn't attack these people, even if they were assaulting her and the others! So it was all she could do to fend off the assault...though she was glad that she wasn't alone in this fight.
Aside from Bianca, she spotted the same ashen haired Faunus girl that she bumped into at the start of the night...making an attempt to reach the jackass with the loudspeaker. Rose narrowed her eyes as she sliced a bottle flung in her direction, gritting her teeth in anger and annoyance. She wanted this shit to end! This wasn't a fun brawl like back home, but a stupid commentary on racism. The blonde took a step forward to finally give in and attack the crowd when she heard a girl screaming something...a hostile declaration of sorts.
Rose's eyes widened as she spun on her heel and saw...that it was Holly. The pumpkin monstrosity that she stood on was glowing like mad! Vines protruded from it like a hentai monster and Rose was pretty confident that Holly wasn't fully in control. She kept her distance from the insanity to survey the situation, catching a glimpse of Kish dancing about the threat! Shit...she went straight in without a plan. Not the brightest idea there, Kishy.
A red head lashed out with an overwhelmingly loud blast that fizzled out kind of anticlimactically. It caused Rose to raise a brow for a moment and then growl in annoyance.
"The fuck was that!? It's a GIANT FUCKING PUMPKIN! How do you miss that shit!?"
She shook her head at the people running around in terror from the giant pumpkin. Good grief...She attempted to make a dash for the crowd to get them out of harms way, but just as she kicked up her semblance...Rose caught sight of a tendril flinging in her direction. The girl narrowly leaped into the air just as another blast from the redhead slammed down. It shook the very atmosphere with how strong it was, but the girl wasn't scoring a direct hit!
Rose flipped backwards in the air, landing on her hands, and backflipping to touch down safely. The people were a lost cause for now...there was no way that she could get them all away, plus they weren't a priority.
Holly was. If things weren't settled, then someone was going to kill her or she would kill them! Everyone was converging on the pumpkin, but no dice. No one could get near Holly or get through to her with words. The girl wasn't in her right mind! The only one with a strong chance of ending this was the chick with the boom drum.
Rose powered up her semblance, scarlet lightning flaring up around her, and shot straight for the girl while dodging and weaving around the vine tentacles. She skid to a halt and glanced up at Holly, true dread setting in the pit of her stomach. Holly...damnit what is happening to you, Pinkie?
"Hey, doesn't look like yer gettin' a clear shot at her from this far back."
Rose steeled her gaze at Carmim and looked back up at Holly before reaching her hand out to the other Huntress.
"Ya got a way better chance a' ending this than anyone here. You think if I can get you close enough...can you hit her?"
Attempting Problem: Attack of the Pumpkin Kaiju (Obstacle 10) Using Semblance D (Locked to Obstacle) Dice result 6 + skill 2 = 8 (failure)
Post by Sinopia DeStellanova on Nov 28, 2020 0:40:46 GMT -5
She nodded as Carmim climbed onto her back. She held the trainee harder than was pleasant, but considering the situation, she really needed to make sure Carmim didn't fall off. With a drum that big, she wasn't sure how well Carmim would be able to hold on by herself, and it was likely that Carmim would need both hands to attack. Better a little bit of discomfort than falling off at a critical time.
Once she was sure Carmim was secure, she bolted towards the giant pumpkin. This wasn't the kind of situation she wanted to hold anything back in. Sure, the trainee controlling the pumpkin wasn't attacking anyone yet but there was no guarantee that would last. There was no reason to do anything like this to begin with. There was no reason to believe that Holly wouldn't turn on anyone here at the drop of a hat. It was the only reason she was okay with bringing such a destructive force right to Holly's face. It'd be ideal if nothing too drastic had to happen, but she wasn't counting on that. So, she was going to do everything she could think of as quickly as she could do it. If someone got hurt because she hesitated, she'd never forgive herself.
The thrashing vines were difficult to maneuver around, and the worst part was, they were about the only footing she had to help her go up. She jumped between them, giving up on keeping Carmim steady almost immediately. If worst came to worst, she could take her shot once they were up on the top of the pumpkin itself. It'd be pretty hard to miss Holly from that range. All she had to do was get there.
Easier said than done. It was taking everything she had to not get knocked down, and one strike was coming that would be really hard to avoid with all the other vines thrashing so hard this high up. She figured she'd do the logical thing and use her semblance to go through it. She could go through steel now, so a pumpkin should be easy enough. Except it wasn't. This stupid plant was apparently harder than steel because it slapped her a Carmim on the back and out of the air. She managed to right herself mid-air and landed on her feet, but it still hurt like hell. She wasn't sure how much longer her aura was going to hold out at this rate, and she doubted that vine even hit her as hard as it could. If she couldn't even go through the pumpkin, there wasn't much she could do if the vines were protecting her like this.
The noise was getting to her more than the fall. Having Carmim's semblance go off right next to her face blew out her senses for a moment, to the point that it was a miracle she even managed to stick the landing. Her peripheral vision was mostly gone, and she had the same detached look on her face that she did in the elevator. She stood there blankly, until she heard Alina's voice over the megaphone.
Since Alina was showing herself now and was prepared to deal with the threat herself, there wasn't much reason for her to stick around and help Carmim anymore. Everyone would be better off if she focused on clearing the area so Alina could work without fear of hurting anyone. Even if the pumpkin was turned to ash immediately, there'd still be a moment where the flames would be hot enough to injure anyone too close, and it would likely suck all the oxygen out of the air again. Not something that anyone would want to be too close to.
"Sorry, I can't get you up there. I'm going to help people escape."
She didn't acknowledge anything Carmim had to say about Holly because, frankly, it wasn't relevant. With any luck nothing would happen, but she wasn't about to sacrifice any of these people for a crazed Haven student going berserk for no reason. She just informed Carmim that she was no longer going to be here, and left as quickly as she could.
Fortunately, the people seemed to finally getting their shit together and were getting out of the way in a much more orderly fashion. The only work she had left to do was to get the people that were particularly slow. There was one person with a cast on their leg, clearly injured long before the festival even started. A couple of people had some pretty nasty looking cuts on their face and bruises on their legs, likely from the brawl, and there were a few that were stuck in the outer edges of the roller coaster accident, but those were the only adults left. Far more disturbing, and the first people she made sure to get out, were a few small children that had gotten separated from their parents. As much as she wanted to reunite them with their family, there wasn't time. Instead, she brought them to the person with the long light blue hair that calmed down the crowd and seemed to be having the most success directing them.
"Hey!" she called out once she was a few steps away. "These kids lost their parents. Can you help them? I need to go back for the rest!"
She didn't actually wait for a response before dropping three children that looked under the age of five around the legs of the androgynous person, only taking a moment to reassure them that everything would be okay before running back into the crowd to get to the rest of the people. Once again, she used her semblance to, quite literally, move through the crowd and get back towards the pumpkin as quickly as she could. It wouldn't take long for the stragglers to be cleared out.
---
982/5861
Attempting Problem: Attack of the Pumpkin Kaiju (Obstacle 10) Using Semblance Rank C Result: 6 + 4 = 10 (Solved)
The bonking was everything that Fable had wanted to do. Absolutely everything. It fulfilled a desire of fun, while also building up adrenaline. It made Fable feel alive to get into the fray. However, as excitement was building, the whole brawl seemed to slowly resolve itself. Well, of course it would. There was no one who would be willing to stand up to the world wide bonk master. Fable, looking around, not quite sure exactly why the brawl had stopped, had no problem with taking credit for solving it, if anyone were to actively ask. It did bring about a serious problem of boredom though. Frustration was mounting rather rapidly. Surely this couldn't be the end of the fun! It had only just started! There had to be more things to bonk. More things to destroy. Twitching, Fable was once again overloading on electricity. Things were no longer under control. Things were no longer fine. Though, just in the nick of time, an enormous pumpkin smelling creature began rampaging in the middle of everything. A pumpkin smelling creature that also had the scent of someone Fable knew. Of the pinkette bully that had tried to steal her shirt. This pissed off Fable beyond belief, while simultaneously impressing the white arctic fox. Holly had generated a wall out of plants in the blink of an eye. A wall which had straight up tanked a punch from the blonde warrior, Rose. Now that very same power was generating a construct of massive size, with enough power to... well, do this. Half impressive, half infuriating.
Fable grasped her hands together, instinctively containing all of her power into a singular point. Lightning coursed through her, as she began shining brightly. The electrical devices in her immediate vicinity were reacting. Some of them overloaded, some of them straight up blew up. Compressing the power further and further, it was soon a small crackling orb of condensed lightning. Fable rushed forwards to get into a better position, dodging the smashing of the vines. Until Fable was finally close enough to unleash everything. The orb expanded as it was launched. The pumpkin was, momentarily, covered in an electrical hue of blinding light. The lightning coursed straight at the pumpkin creature, the roar of thunder crackled through the air like a shockwave. A thunderous shock emanating through the air as the sound along gave off a big thunderous bang. This was everything Fable had left, loaded into a singular, destructive shot. Impacting onto the pumpkin cleanly, Fable was grinning wickedly. Of course this was going to tear the pumpkin apart. With how much power was behind this, perhaps even the pinkette bully was going to be disappearing in the clap of thunder too. Everyone around would hail Fable as the one who took down the evil creature, all the while letting Fable have a lot of fun. Everything was perfect. The yellow golden color dissipated from her fur as the semblance returned to it's dormant state. Fable was panting softly, still mostly blinded from her own attack.
...and then the vine struck her. The pumpkin was far from destroyed, in fact, it seemed to be in mostly tip-top condition still. Ears were standing at attention, eyes were looking straight at the pumpkin. A look of sheer horror and shock on the fox's expression. The vine smacked straight into the side of her head, right where the collarbone meets the neck. Aura shimmered, protecting the fox from being outright killed, but with her aura broken, she was going to take some physical damage from this. Tumbling sideways like a ragdoll with no direction, she spun across the ground like a rock thrown at significant speed. Crashing into a stall of fruits - how ironic - Fable was lying on the ground spasming. Unable to breathe, as her airways were currently blocked by blood. Vomitting, spitting, crying, gasping for air... Fable was crying. Crying from sheer agony, as any chance of her getting onto her feet on her own had been, literally, crushed. The most terrifying thing, was attempting to move, yet body not reacting properly. Dizzy, numb, pain. This sucked, this sucked. Fable had gone from the pinnacle of power that she had ever displayed. The absolute limit of what she was capable of. Feeling like the whole world could be crushed underneath the weight of her attacks. To lying in a literal pile of rubble with a random assortment of crushed fruit splattered around her. Never in her life had Fable been this utterly defeated. Never so utterly destroyed. Reaching a hand up towards the sky, Fable's world was a singular blur between tears. Each gasp of air painful and desperate. Each raspy cough dropping more blood down her chin.
Fable's lips moved, yet no real sound came out. A soft gargle, some bubbles of red spit. Yet, in this predicament, perhaps Fable needn't speak, for her actions spoke for her clearly. Please, someone, anyone... help me!
Trying :Pumpkin Terror Stress Destruction (PTSD) Needs a 16. Rolled a 7+4 for 11. Result: Failed
Alina Rybalka (1 problem remaining): OSHA Would Not Approve (Obstacle Difficulty 10) Solved by Rose Phoenix! OP: 6 from Alina, 6 from Fable, 10 from Rose, 10 from solving for 32 total.
Holly Hock (1 problem remaining): Defuse the Angry Karen gaggle (Social difficulty 9) OP: 5 from Kishka, 8 from Holly, 8 from Nasrin, 3 from Kishka, 3 from Alina, 9 from Kishka, and 10 for completion for 38 total.
Rose Phoenix (1 problem remaining): Stop the Rollercoaster crash from destroying the fair! (Hazard difficulty 8) Solved by Red OP: 8 from Red, 10 from solving for 18 total.
Red (1 problem remaining): Animals are Stampeding and People Would be Very Sad if The Animals Got Hurt (Hazard 11) Solved by Nasrin OP: 10 from Bianca, 11 from Nasrin, 3 from Carmim, 10 for solving for 34 total.
Nasrin (1 problem remaining): The Herd Needs a Fence! (Social 8) OP: 4 from Sonya, 7 from Red, 4 from Carmim, 5 from Berwyn, 8 from Bianca and 10 from solving for 38 total.
Rose Phoenix (0 problems remaining): Fight off the slave trader thugs and save Rose! (Combat difficulty 5) OP: 5 from Fable, 10 for solving for 15 total.
Fable (1 problem remaining): Fable cannot control her semblance and is releasing electricity, hurting those around her! (Hazard, Difficulty 8) OP: 8 from Bianca, 10 for solving for 18 total.
Bianca (1 problem remaining): Stop the mob psychos from getting out of control! (Social difficulty 7) OP: 7 from Alina, 10 from solving for 17 total.
Kishka (1 problem remaining): Why Is Everything So Flammable!? (Hazard 9) OP: 9 from Red, 10 from solving for 19 total.
Red (0 problems remaining): Escort the Injured (Mobility 12) OP: 1 from Flynn, 10 from Carmim
Flynn (1 problem remaining): Get the crowd to stop blocking everyone’s way (Social 8) OP: 8 from Alina, 10 for solving for 18 total.
Carmim (1 problem remaining): DOWN WITH FAUNUS!! :rebel: (Social: 12) OP: 7 from Bianca, 7 from Red, 6 from Nasrin, 8 from Alina, 5 from Red, 10 from Alina, 12 from Alina and 10 from solving for 65 total.
Bianca (0 problems remaining): Pipe dreams are nightmares! (Hazard 11) OP: 11 from Holly, 10 for solving for 21 total.
Nasrin (0 problems remaining): BRAWL!!! (Combatants 10) OP: 6 from Fable, 6 from Rose, 4 from Bianca, 8 from Berwyn, 4 from Opal, 5 from Holly, 5 from Kishka, 10 from Opal and 10 for completing
Berwyn (1 problem remaining): Drunk Berwyn needs to be put to bed ;-; (Social 6) OP:
Holly (0 problems remaining): Pumpkin Terror Stress Destruction (PTSD) (Hazard 16) OP: 14 from Carmim, 10 from Bianca, 9 from Holly, 7 from Carmim, 11 from Fable
Opal (1 problem remaining): Attack of the Pumpkin Kaiju (Obstacle 10) OP: 8 from Red, 3 from Flynn, 8 from Rose, 10 from Red and 10 from solving for 39 total.
Alina (0 problems remaining): Direct the Crowd to Safety (Social 7) OP: 6 from Kishka, 3 from Bianca, 7 from Opal, and 10 from solving for 26 total.
Post by Opal Machias on Nov 29, 2020 12:29:30 GMT -5
At long last, people were finally starting to move away from the action, much to Opal delight. It seemed it just needed someone to screams something at them other than racist slur to get their asses in gear. He thought, pulling the ice cone back up to his mouth. “Get them out of here! If they're unharmed and not moving, then toss them over the stands! I don’t care! They have been giving enough time to move already.” Surprise even to see a few people get toss over a small sideshow box stand. Meant that more of an empty threat, but alright he thought from his command post atop the ox faunus shoulders.
With others helping and the civilians now moving, he allowed himself a moment to survey the action down the road. Sadly, it didn’t look like much had changed, except it seemed some of the vines were moving up to protect Holly. His best guess was a reaction from those weird sound/wind attacks that someone kelp firing at her. Either the attack was extremely hard to aim, or the person was trying awfully hard not to hit the little redhead now in the pumpkin horn. How else could someone miss a target that big?
Either way, it wasn’t something he could help with anymore as he had his own job to do. It wasn’t a flashy one, but one he was more than willing to do. He then froze with the cone halfway to his mouth, spotting a blur moving through the sea of bodies coming toward him. It was the woman that had tried to get the little drummer girl closer to Holly, and she…kids with her? After a few short words, Opal quickly nodded, understanding the situation. “Redd here.” He said, giving the ice cone to the ox and jumping down and running over. “You know what to do. Keep yelling at them. You’re a hero, mate!” Shouting over his shoulder.
However, before he even took the few steps to reach them, the woman was already gone, seemingly running through people to get more people. A huntress, he guessed since it seemed she knew what she was doing. Either way, that didn’t matter now as he kneed down to the kid’s eye level. “Hey there. It’s okay. We’re going to find your parents real quick like, okay?” He spoke softly as he pulled the kids away from the adults' many feet bring them to the side back to his command post ox. “Okay, we need to start looking…” He suddenly ducked, covering the kids from the loud crashing in a nearby fruit stall.
“What happening now!” Shouting standing up, but his mouth agape at what he saw. Someone had just taken a hit, a ridiculously hard hit from one of the vines. “Shit!” Snapping out of his stunners and turning to Redd waving his arm to make sure the taller man saw him. “Watch the kids!” That was all he said before sprinting over to the injured girl. “DON’T MOVE HER!” He shouted while waving his arm at a few people who had begun to move to help. It was clear from their faces; they either were confused or angry as to why someone would tell them to stop.
Sliding to a stop next to the fox girl, Opal quickly went through his years of study. It seemed at his knowledge was about to be put to the test in the worst sort of way. “Could be a head trauma.” Said to cool the people around him, and truth be told that he thought so at first. It was an awful sight as the girl rolled and trash on the ground in a silent scream. “HEY! Ok ok. I can do this.” He already felt his hand shaking before suddenly slapping both sides of his face hard enough to leave red marks. “Go get help. We need medics and an ambulance here now!” Turning long enough to look at the people around him before going back to work.
“The aura broken… trauma to the neck, not broken. Good…” Speaking to himself as his finger checked both sides of the fox necks before seeing the blood. The gasping was the worst part and his best clue. Grabbing her reaching hand if for nothing else to let her know she wasn’t alone. He quickly moved to the side and slowly rolled the girl onto her side. “Okay, stay with me here. It going to hurt, but we got to get the blood out.” Said using one hand to hold her head in place, allowing the blood to drain out. “This going to be weird, but… well.” Said this more, talking to himself while using a finger to help sweep out any blood he could. The important thing now was getting her airway back open. What was a little blood when an life was on the line?
With a hand cover in blood, Opal did all he could to ease the pain. He wanted to use a thin layer of ice to numb the pain, but that could backfire. While the pain was well painful, it kept the girl awake, and the last thing he needed was for her to blackout now. “You’re going to be okay. Helps on the way, and they get you fixed right up!” He said again, not fully sure rather, it was for himself or her at this point. Where the hell was the medics!?
916/3,543
Attempting Problem: Fable needs a medic! (Social 10) Using: E Medical Knowledge (Social) Roll: 2+1 = 3 (Failed)
Last Edit: Nov 29, 2020 12:30:15 GMT -5 by Opal Machias
Post by Holly Hock on Nov 29, 2020 16:00:22 GMT -5
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Something was in the way. [break] [break]
Holly simply put some extra force in her swing.[break] [break]
Whatever gave her trouble didn’t budge. Annoying.[break] [break]
…[break] [break]
Shouting.[break] [break]
Terrorist, innocent lives in danger, vines need to stop.[break] [break]
Annoying.[break] [break]
…[break] [break]
Holly hit something. Nice.[break] [break]
There wa-[break] [break]
“AHHHHHH”[break] [break]
Even though Carmim’s blast only crazed the vine, it hurt. Holly screamed. Holly felt it like scraping her arm against one of those rough walls that would leave a scratch. With her cocoon protecting her, she couldn’t see what was happening around her anymore. She could feel when her vines slammed into things, or when she was attacked. There were less attacks than Holly thought there would be. She had expected to hit a hundred of flying Grimm with every swing, to be stung a thousand times. None of that had happened. She only felt the few attacks that her fellow students and bystanders gave her. It enraged her beyond believe, like how a wounded animal would react, but it did focus all of her attention at what was actually there.[break] [break]
What is the point of hitting the air when there is nothing that flies there? [break] [break]
Why not hit the ground to get rid of all the annoying stuff that is actually attacking?[break] [break]
…[break] [break]
Holly hit something else, that was really close to her. She wanted to hit something, and she did. It felt good. If she kept hitting things that attacked her, they wouldn’t be able to hurt her. More…hit more things…[break] [break]
…[break] [break]
She thought she could feel something narrowly avoid a swing. More attacks followed in that direction. It was…someone approaching her, wasn’t it? The closer they came, the easier it was to swat. [break] [break]
…[break] [break]
I am a monster, aren’t I?[break] [break]
…[break] [break]
Something hit Holly. The bigger Holly, she could feel a jolt coursing through her. It hurt, but it was a weird hurt. Like a power bug-zapper giving a shock. Annoying… Holly made sure to send a vine sweeping wherever she thought it came from. She hit something again, could feel it being swung away. If this was baseball, it would have been a homerun. [break] [break]
…[break] [break]
It was a person, wasn’t it?[break] [break]
…[break] [break]
As Holly’s rampage continued, she had used more and more of her aura. Even beyond that, it was exhausting. She felt like she was running a marathon every second she was swatting someone. Every movement of her…body…took more and more out of her. The vines who had just tore through several student’s aura reflected this lethargic change. Their movements started to slow down as Holly began to run out of juice. [break] [break]
Beyond the effect it had on the pumpkin, the low amount of energy the girl had left also made her slowly but surely snap out of her fear-fuelled outrage. While the full extent of everything she just had done within the spawn of about a minute was still hazy, enough of her faculties return to Holly to begin to process her own actions. [break] [break] …[break] [break]
All of the vines that had previously swatted away at both real and imaginary attackers seized their attacks, as they began to curl around the already existing coil of green that protected Holly. The girl was no visible anymore as multiple layers of tough vines protected her. She was as good as she was able protecting herself from whatever was coming. That was the extent to which she could process action and reaction at this moment.[break] [break]
Those things that had been attacking her…it was not Grimm. It was people. This wasn’t Rochdale. Holly had attacked people…she didn’t know why she did it, and she had no idea of the true damage she had done. She didn’t want to think about those things. Didn’t wanted to deal with this at all. [break] [break]
She was…on top of her pumpkin, yes.[break] [break]
Around her are vines protecting her, but for how long?[break] [break]
That megaphone…they wanted to kill her…right?[break] [break]
Should she…let them in and do it?[break] [break]
“No…”[break] [break]
Holly softly spoke the words to herself.[break] [break]
She didn’t wanted to die. Didn’t wanted to die here. Not like this. [break] [break]
But she was…sleepy…[break] [break]
She took one of her hands off the pumpkin to rub her eyes.[break] [break]
The moment her flesh was removed from the orange fruit, she felt a jolt of pain course through her whole body. Renewed tears sprung to her eyes as the pumpkin started to shake, like it was in agony. Even though she just did it without even thinking about it, letting go of the pumpkin with any part of her body felt like a muscle had snapped. She was still connected, but her arm hurt unlike anything she ever felt before. Like there should be a connection, but it was ripped out violently and quickly. [break] [break]
It was like a splash of ice-water for her brain. She needed to get out of this place. Flee. Not be here. There were people around, her fellow students and others. They were quicker than her. She couldn’t flee. She was sleepy, exhausted. She couldn’t go up…but she could go further into her pumpkin. Stall. Time to think. They would kill her if they caught her. Dead. She didn’t want to die yet. Holly needed to enter her hollow pumpkin. She created a little hole at the top of her own creation. Done as quickly and easily as that. She could see the insides. Still hollow. She expanded the hole. [break] [break]
Holly held her breath.[break] [break]
This could hurt.[break] [break]
She needed to drop down into the pumpkin, but that would mean that there would be a moment in time in which she would fall down. Loose contact with her…pumpkin sense…it felt like ripping herself in half. No other option. She scurried over towards the hole, and tried to detach her other arm from the top of the pumpkin. She flinched when it happened, and the pumpkin spasmed a second time. It hurt, but not as much as before. Her…senses knew that the pumpkin wasn’t really her. She could do this. Just get it over with! Like ripping of a Band-Aid with the Band-Aid being your skin! Just do it![break] [break]
Holly let herself fall through the hole and into her pumpkin. This was a dumb idea. [break] [break]
Because in the short moment that Holly fell down, there was no semblance strengthening the pumpkin. And there was still a problem underneath it that had waited for just this moment to read its ugly head.[break] [break]
Just like there was only so much abuse someone can take before they snap, the botanist patchwork-solution to solving a damaged pipe could only go on for so long. Bianca taking a sizeable chunk of ground away did more than just expose a bunch of pipes that got hit. It created an unstable situation that was soon having a heavy mini-van of a pumpkin pressing upon it from above. Combined with the water pressure building up in the pipes, it created a volatile situation that concluded when Holly’s semblance was no longer strengthening the pumpkin. [break] [break]
Extreme water pressure blasted through the pumpkin’s underside, causing a chain reaction.[break] [break]
The sudden release of pressure made the unstable ground…become unstable enough to partly collapse in on itself under the weight of the pumpkin. From the outside, water would erupt from the sides of the pumpkin, as if a seal had been cracked. With this explosion came quite some earth and even some rock. The vegetable kaiju would be dragged down about 20 centimetres lower into the ground, as it weight was no longer supported by something. [break] [break]
The vines that previously had been coiled around the top remained mostly in place, as they were unnaturally heavy in upon themselves. One of them did stirred again with the watery explosion, and dropped down the side. Nothing seemed to be controlling it anymore. Like a lifeless limb hanging from the side of a bed.[break] [break]
The pumpkin was still tough, even now that it didn’t appear to move anymore, nor did it have a magenta glow around it. The waterflow would make it somewhat difficult to easily approach the monstrous vegetable, and its shell was still as tough as a thick tree.[break] [break]
The insides of the pumpkin were slowly being filled with water if someone were to open it up. Through the water they could see a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin. Rubble filled most of the created opening, but if one tried hard enough, they could make out a space beneath it all.[break] [break]
The Wind District’s sewer system.[break] [break]
The collapse of the ground didn't made this any less of a hazard. That pumpkin was still a danger in upon itself. It was filling with water, and if the water pressure or something else would destroy the orange fruit, chucks could be flying everywhere rather soon. The water that was flowing out into the street from the sides made the terrain hard to approach to boot. Even now that there weren't vines flying everywhere, it wasn't exactly the place you would want to be near if you were a squishy normy. [break] [break]
-
Holly didn’t rightly know what happened as she dragged herself through ankle deep wastewater. It felt slimy through her skin, and if she weren’t running on pure survival instinct she would have thrown up or collapsed from the smell of it all. She did none of this, and kept stumbling forward into the darkness. She could see a faint light a distance away in the tunnel. She didn’t look back, and just kept pushing forward as she moved through the sewage pipe to whatever lay ahead. Her aura barely hanging on, but her determination running strong.[break] [break]
She wasn’t going to die here.[break] [break]
She wasn’t going back to that school.[break] [break]
Wherever this pipe lead here, she would not let anything hold her back anymore.[break] [break]
Holly had a taste of what she could truly accomplish if she didn’t hold herself back.[break] [break]
She had felt like nothing in Remnant could stop her. She felt big, she felt strong, she felt invincible. For a moment, she felt like a God.[break] [break]
Post by Alina Rybalka on Nov 29, 2020 16:01:39 GMT -5
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[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE
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[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY
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[attr="class","nikki109"]The entire point of calling her shot was to stall and get other people to act in ways she was unable to. [break][break]
She needed space and yelling her intentions over the loudspeaker before doing it gave others the time to give her that space. It also alerted the maniac on top of the pumpkin that an attack was coming, but that was why she had the glove on. It didn’t matter if her enemy knew the attack was coming if she just overpowered her enemy – and while it was certainly possible that the girl possessed a stronger semblance than Alina… the chances were low enough that she was willing to risk it. Decently strong, yes, but also drained from both creating and manipulating the giant pumpkin. How strained was an open question, and one that could range from extremely to barely at all depending on how much aura the girl had and how efficient she was at using it. [break][break]
With those unknowns in place, the white-haired faunus defaulted to what would be the safest for everyone else… which was to make sure the threat died immediately, without a chance to counterattack. If she knew what sort of aura the other had she could have fine tuned the blast, but in times like these, overkill was the best option when it was available to be double sure that nobody that mattered died. [break][break]
The situation was getting worse, but she couldn’t really take her eyes off of the immediate threat. Her peripheral vision was back for whatever reason, though, so she could see things like a small redheaded girl and Red getting knocked out of the sky… which made the back of her right hand itch, but she needed more time. She also saw someone run up towards the pumpkin and blast some sort of lightning semblance at the structure, before getting smacked out of the way by a vine with enough force to turn a normal person into paste. [break][break]
Even still, she needed to hold. Ideally, she’d have nobody within a few meters of her person and nobody would be anywhere near the base of the pumpkin, since Alina was going to fire at the terrorist… which meant that some molten parts of the pumpkin were going to drop somewhere nearby the pumpkin. The called shot ended up working even more quickly than she had hoped, because it focused multiple people’s attention to getting civilians the fuck out of the dangerous areas. It got a lot of people moving very quickly and opened the way for a variety of different attack patterns and most importantly cleared the area in case of any counterattack on Alina’s person. While she could survive a vine slamming down on her head at full force, there were few others in the area who could say the same. [break][break]
Vines had curled up to protect the terrorist as a result of earlier attacks. That was fine, because in theory it meant less vines were out there trying to get people killed. The intensity of those vines thrashing seemed to be increasing rather than decreasing, or simply that those with aura were forced to take bigger and bigger risks to even be able to keep those around them safe. With Red having moved on to getting people out of the way and another person gathering people and leading them out from the pumpkin itself, all that was stopping her in a few seconds was logistics. [break][break]
The plant matter protecting the terrorist wasn’t an issue, frankly, because even if it absorbed the brunt of the first blast of fire the dust enhancement would get through completely untouched to finish off an aura that would have been shredded in order to defend against the fire. [break][break]
In a world where there a lot of people with semblances out in it, each semblance interacted with others in a different way. There were semblance types that Alina did very poorly against or that could counter her ability to do things as she wanted, but plant manipulation wasn’t one of them. In fact, plant manipulation was a semblance that quite frankly didn’t stand a chance to a sufficiently powerful fire semblance. Whether it was specifically plants, pumpkin specific, grass focused, or whatever didn’t really matter. Fire beat grass, and that was the bottom line. [break][break]
Luckily for Holly, all that stalling meant the promised attack came out a bit later than promised as Alina waited for the area around her to be fully cleared before firing off her semblance. She set her feet and snapped the middle finger and thumb of her right, gloved hand while her left still hung limply at her side with megaphone in hand. She had been walking forward slowly this entire time, so her distance to the target was just under fifty meters and thus within range to hit with pinpoint accuracy. [break][break]
A jet of extremely bright white flame erupted from her fingers, with the napalm from her glove being thin and light enough to be carried alongside the fire on its way up. Both the fire and the superheated and very on fire jelly were flying up towards the top of the pumpkin at speeds right around two hundred and forty kilometers per hour, shot forth in a package roughly three meters wide and three meters tall. Both the fire and the napalm individually could tear through carbon steel like someone might tear up a paper plate, and combined they held absolutely devastating firepower. [break][break]
Even though the fire was generated about five meters in the air from Alina’s location, there was still a very noticeable temperature increase with a lot of the ice and snow immediately underneath where the fire started melting immediately due to the blowback heat, and everyone within about twenty meters would feel a rush of hot air run over them that would partially melt any snow or ice on them or nearby on the ground. The arc of the fire would go upwards, then hit the area where the plant cocoon was from above. After hitting it, the fire would dissipate less than a second later due to Alina playing it safe. The heat of the flames well exceeding a thousand degrees Celsius ensured that there would be no smaller fires starting, due to all plant matter the fire touching simply turning to ash in an instant. [break][break]
The jelly was a bit tougher, frankly, but with the fire immediately cleansed the superheated napalm wouldn’t actually start any fires either. It would burn through the top of the pumpkin, sure, and any organic matter it hit, but it would basically go straight down until it finished burrowing partway through the pumpkin and with any luck wouldn’t even go through the bottom of the pumpkin itself due to how strong it seemed to be, structurally. She made sure to arc the shot so that it was next to impossible for any of the napalm to actually escape the pumpkin in any direction, and gravity would do its work with the position Alina left it in to force it down rather than to the sides where the worst it could do is burn through some concrete or melt some of the already destroyed pipe. [break][break]
Once that was done, the megaphone at the side of the faunus was raised up and she used it once again. Her tone was completely calm, and she immediately ignored what had just happened and moved on to the next item on the checklist of things that needed to be done in this absolute clusterfuck of an event. ”Alright, now that that’s done can we get some medics to run over and get some of these injuries looked at? I saw someone get punted by a vine a bit ago shooting some lightning, and they probably crash landed somewhere over there to my left somewhere in between the bakery and the car repair shop.” [break][break]
Post by Rose Phoenix on Nov 29, 2020 21:24:14 GMT -5
❝I Was Lightning,
Before The Thunder❞
681 w./ 4,832 w. total
Rose grit her teeth and bit her tongue as she stared in wide eyed disbelief at the crazed pumpkin monstrosity. Not out of anger or malice per usual...but out of fear and pain. This can't be happening. Holly...what's happened to ya? Why are you doing this?
She tried to speak to Carmim, to yell at her to stop Holly, or to do...ANYTHING! But the words caught in her throat and the blonde choked back a cry that pained her deep within her heart. Her hand gripped Rebellion tightly, her body trembled, and Rosalia's vision blurred as tears welled up to cascade down to streak her dirt ridden cheeks.
The girl couldn't move her body, despite everyone around her breaking into action like the heroes they were. This wasn't some asshole to punch or monster to slay...this was someone who reached out to Rose. A girl who always believed in her even when she didn't believe herself. The sweet plant girl that she easily pummeled so long ago...just look at her now.
"H-Holly..."
Her voice cracked as she reached her hand out toward the giant pumpkin. Within that swirling torrent of energy and vines was the sweetest little thing that Rose had ever known and Rose suddenly felt her legs shake. They gave out from under her and the proud warrior collapsed to her knees in disbelief. The girl on the megaphone was shouting things about Holly, Bianca and Kishka were working in tandem to bring her down, and...a zap. Wait, a zap?
Rose's eyes turned to wet saucers at the terrifying sound that snapped her back to reality. Her head turned on a swivel to behold Fable building up a charged attack using Rose's own energy...and there was a horrifying scream that followed. As Fable was struck by a vine with such force to shatter her aura, time seemed to freeze. It didn't register to Rose that the god awful scream was coming from her, ravaging her vocal cords as a primal shout tore through her throat.
"FABLE!" She screamed.
The blonde ignored Carmim and the others, didn't care if she was hit by the pumpkin creature, and didn't see anything in the burning world around her except for the Fox girl rocketing through the air. Even with her semblance swirling like a cacophony of rage and sorrow, it wasn't enough to reach Fable in time as she collided with a fruit stall and shattered it into debris.
An aqua haired figure had reached her first to offer help and Rose, in her primal state of fury, held her sword aloft and swung at the small crowd gathering around Opal and Fable.
"Back! BACK! Get the FUCK back or I'll fucking kill ya, I swear to god!"
Her nose curled up and Rose snarled like a monster, baring her teeth wildly. It was terrifying enough that anyone who came near would second guess their choices. She staggered toward Opal and crossed over to the other side of Fable's spasming body, digging Rebellion hard into the ground and collapsing to her knees...not caring that she sat in a mired mix of blood and vomit.
"Save her...please save her. Hick Cough! I'll do anything...p-please..."
Rose's mind was a swirling torrent of images, memories, and thoughts. Save Fable? Save Holly? R-Rin...? She didn't know what she was thinking or saying...she just wanted this nightmare to end. Rose wanted to hug Holly and tell her she was sorry. She wanted to run around with Fable and call her names. To be Team HARP again with Theia as her princess...to hold Rin tight and kiss her.
The girl stroked Fable's cheek as her lips trembled from all the crying, dripping tears onto the Fox's body. Rose yanked her red jacket off unceremoniously and wrapped it gently around Fable's body to keep her warm and continued to stroke her face as Opal did his thing.
"Hey hey stay with me, honey. Come on, yer st-stronger than that! Just don't close yer eyes, hear me? Don't you fucking fall asleep, okay!? Fable is bestest! Fable is Rose's friend!"
Attempting Problem: Fable needs a medic! (Social 10) Using No Benefits Dice result 1 (failure)
Post by Kishka Burzanova on Nov 30, 2020 16:38:29 GMT -5
KISHKA BURZANOVA
Hitting the vendor stall behind the podium had done little to slow the purple-haired trainee down- she was quick as hell, and remarkably sturdy, so shooting back towards Holly was easy enough, in spite of the hits to her Aura which she'd sustained. She wasn't giving up- not that easily, dammit.
"Holly... Just hold tight, I'm going to stop this before you get hurt.
She didn't know who the white-haired faunus was, but she didn't trust her. That death threat came so easily, there was every possibility that she planned on killing Holly either way this went. Her first instinct, as she passed by her, was to clobber the fuck out of her with her weapon, but if she wasn't bluffing her ass off about her threats, that would very likely be the last person she ever assaulted. Realistically, she'd need at least a team to try and bring down someone who was confident enough in her ability to instantly break through both Holly's surprisingly powerful Semblance, and her Aura, and pierce right through to kill her off in a single blow.
It pissed her off, but there was nothing she could do about her at the moment. But she could still stop Holly. She still had time, dammit. The vines had smashed most of the blue-haired girl's ice stairs, but just in time, Bianca managed to throw up a few platforms leading to the top.
She was close, when it happened.
It was already daylight outside, considering the entire point of the day was that the sun wouldn't set until after midnight, but the brightest light she'd ever seen flashed overhead with such speed and intensity, she stumbled, tripping full-on into a forward roll, as she staggered back into a mad dash for the earthen steps.
But her eyes were focused forward, and her heart sank in her chest as her brain realized what was happening at least a full five or ten seconds before her body could follow suit.
The hottest, whitest, fire she'd ever seen in her life reached out to engulf Holly, wrapped up in her vines, atop her pumpkin.
Kishka knew Semblances- she knew how they worked, generally, and she knew how they matched up against one another. Holly's plants weren't any less affected by fire than normal plants would be, except for the fact that her plants were as hard as carbon steel, and a fire hot enough to burn them would have to be pretty goddamn hot- that meant that the ashen-haired faunus had a Semblance at least as strong as, if not stronger, than Holly's. Which was terrifying.
Because it meant she wasn't bluffing.
Her legs were strained to their limits, as she made her mad sprint up the steps. In the brief second it took for the flames to devour everything atop the pumpkin, she might have made it to the second platform. Which meant she was high enough up to realize that there was nothing left, where the fire had hit, and the intense heat was wearing her Aura thinner as she approached; her running became ragged and dizzyingly painful, as the oxygen was slurped up in an instant. "Holly! Holly!! HO-"
Right as she leapt from the fifth platform, towards the smoking crater atop the pumpkin, still broiling with white flames that threatened to consume her just as they'd done to her friend, she was hit by a fucking train.
That was how it felt, anyways.
She didn't even realize it until she moved to stand up, several dozen meters from the pumpkin, Aura shattered, in a daze. Her ears hurt, and she was bruised and bleeding a little from being thrown through what appeared to be a T-shirt stand. She struggled to stand, but only managed to slump back to the ground, staring vacantly at the giant pumpkin, as her eyes finally filled with tears. "Holly...?"
She stretched out an arm, to crawl forward, as some figure, maybe a shopkeeper, maybe some random civilian, maybe one of her classmates, rushed over to try helping her up.
"She's dead..." She blinked, a certainty in her words.
Her voice cracked as she managed to speak again. "She's dead."
Her eyes found the one she was looking for, as her mind buzzed with the impossibility of what had just happened. Memories of a goofy weird girl in her bush fort, and of her silly Kiteman shenanigans at Vytal, and of the way they were finally progressing their friendship in a healthy way, all flashed through her head at once. But there was only one thought that could make sense of any of this. Only one conclusion she could come to, after watching her friend die, stricken down, and immediately disregarded by her killer, like an afterthought, as she continued droning on through her megaphone.
"She's dead..." She clenched her fist, and choked out another sob.
She stared at Holly's murderer, hatred hotter than her flames.