540 replies to this topic

[Yui]

Day 3, 3:00, Some grimy bar

Points: 182

W/L Record: 2/1

"I don't give a fuck if you're the Queen of the Galaxy girlie, keeping me here against my will is a crime." It was then this man - who Aurora had suspected was merely a grimy drunk - opened his jacket, revealing both a gun and more importantly, a police badge! He was an officer too! ...was it wrong to feel a bit upset about barring the door like that now that she knew he was an officer of the law? It felt like locking an officer in was worse than just some random drunk... but that felt like a wrong thing to say. "You Arena crowd think you can do whatever you want don't you? Just cause that bitch Mauvache is watching your backs. Well she ain't here now is she?"

 

"I am sorry about locking you in, Officer, but I would have done it regardless of if Mauvache is watching me. Even if you were Mauvache, I'd still do it, because it's what I felt like I had to do at the time."

 

Even more surprising than the good officer's identity as such, however, was what followed. The girl that what's-his-name and Xia had come with wrote out a word in mid-air. She had pretty handwriting, but Aurora's curiosity about why she chose the word "melt" didn't last very long, before the ice Aurora had put up to keep the officer in so she could ask questions melted, right before her eyes! Talk about impressive!

 

"You best leave this alone. We already have a dozen men dead and an officer down. Don't need a stupid fucking kid getting killed too."

 

"Kids, am I right? They think they're hot sh​it just 'cause they happen to have power. Still, this whole bar killer thing... it's got me interested. How about we get away from there... children... and you fill me in a bit on our murderous friend. I'll even buy ya drink!"

 

"With all due respect, not leaving things alone when police and citizens are in danger is exactly what people in my line of work are supposed to do where I come from. I'll stop bothering you for information, but I'm going to help figure it out and bring the criminal to justice, however I can."

 

This investigation wasn't off to the best start, as far as she could tell.

[Maeriberii Haan]

 

"Ugh...what is happening?"
 

The deeper Angela went into the tunnel complex, the more nauseous she felt. She clutched her head in pain, but the sensation further convinced her that something interesting was going on inside, somewhere. The voices continued to skitter on the distance, as Angela made her way only guided by the faint light of Aetherstone veins going near her. To think about it, she had only been into a mine complex once before.

 

Right, it was when her father surveyed a newly discovered coal mine near her city. He decided to take her there, along with-

 

Her thought and anger was disrupted by the sight of six of the creatures that attacked her earlier. Two on the ceiling, and two on each side of the pathway. Angela prepared her spear in response. They seemed to be aware of her presence, and that was enough for Angela to decide that she was going to take the initiative.

 

She conjured two phantom spears and with a rapid speed, lobbed them towards the two creatures on the ceiling.

 

[Alaina]

 

Xia nodded as her demon friend told her about the second part of bar time fun. As it was, there were a good deal of people that the dragon girl already enjoyed talking to, so she could see where the fun in that could be. However, as the situation between Aurora and the man she was talking to seemed to start getting a bit more heated, the girl merely looked in awe as Julian seemed to melt the ice by making a bunch of wavy hand motions. The girl was then made curious by Aurora's next comment, walking over to the girl saying, "oooh, that sounds like a cool job to have Aurora! Helping people does sound super nice too! I think Julian was also looking for stuff to help people out too, so maybe we could help you out with helping!"

[God Emperor Cow]

Aurora, Cyanthrax, Xia, Gavin

 

"Tch, I'd love to see you do this to her." Henry said in response to Aurora's words. He seemed ready to leave until Cyanthrax butted in. "Hm, what...you're an Elf or something?" he asked the demon, due to his words and appearance. "Hm, I won't turn down a free drink from anyone though. Now we're talkin..." Henry looked Aurora up and down and grunted. "Your job is to fight in case you forgot. Dunno what shitshow of a planet you lived where a kid like you was a hero but it ain't here." He returned towards the bar, gesturing for another drink from the bartender. Who seemed pleased that he was actually getting money today. "Not much I can say about it though." He admitted to Cyan as he grabbed his new drink. "I guess I can slip a bit since you're being so generous." He said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

 

Julian meanwhile overheard what Xia said and joined the two girls away from the bar. "Yep, thought I'd do some snooping on my own. Didn't think anyone else would be too, especially not someone from the Arena. Figured Mauvache would keep you on a tighter leash after...everything. Soooo....I think there may be a lead we're missing out on." She hooked a finger over towards the back door where the man who had been eating fries was opening the door and heading out. "Seems someone's in such a rush they forgot to finish their food."

 

The man talking with Gavin shrugged. "I'm sure they have plenty reason if you asked but sure, assuming they don't, it had to be someone else. I don't really know much about it. Just came down here cause it reminded me of a place is all. Maybe Angela knows, she was the one who was here when it all went down. And she was the one who that officer was messing with. I'm just an editor. A damn good one but that's all. I don't know much about investigating."

Angela

 

Angela's spear pierced one of the ceiling Mine Crawlers straight in the middle. Pinning it to the wall where the strange liquid in its center dripped from the wound onto the ground beneath.

The other one, however, dropped down. Its spindly legs spread and prepared to wrap around Angela's face.

 

The two on both sides of the wall dropped down as well. Both of them heading for Angela by the side. They would move nimbly and attempt to bite down on her. Given their size they'd only be able to reach her legs and waist but they'd latch onto anything that entered range of their large maws.

[Reptilious]

 

 

Cyan grinned wildly as Henry agreed to drink with him a bit. He'd let the elf comment slide for now - he wasn't entirely sure what an elf was, exactly, but if they were anything like him they were probably pretty awesome. His grin, however, slightly shrunk as Henry admitted to not actually knowing much. "I guess I can slip a bit since you're being so generous." There was still hope, at least. 

 

"Finally someone realizes how generous I am!" He said, slightly sarcastic although with a hint of seriousness, taking a swing of his drink. "But enough about me. About this case..." He thought about what he wanted to ask, before coming to a quick conclusion. "Got any leads on who dun did it?"

[Chaos Sonic]

 

 

"I'm sure they have plenty reason if you asked but sure, assuming they don't, it had to be someone else. I don't really know much about it. Just came down here cause it reminded me of a place is all. Maybe Angela knows, she was the one who was here when it all went down. And she was the one who that officer was messing with. I'm just an editor. A damn good one but that's all. I don't know much about investigating."

 

Gavin nodded, before glancing down to his MOVA and beginning to type a few things onto it's interface. Angela, huh? Seems the two had a bit of a relationship or acquaintanceship going on...might be the best place to start. he thought, hoping to see if he could find a reading on Angela...doubtful, but hey, it was an idea.

 

While that was going on, he disabled the interface before returning back towards the young man. "Alright. We'll try speaking with her. Hopefully she'll be able to shed an inkling of light into this situation." Gavin stood up, before doing his best to get Aurora's attention, motioning for her to get ready to go. "Thank you again sir." he said, moving his hand towards the young man, preparing to shake the man's hand. "Hope we see each other again...would love to chat about that visor you happen to be wearing sometime."

[Yui]

Day 3, 3:00, Some grimy bar

Points: 182

W/L Record: 2/1

"Tch, I'd love to see you do this to her."

 

Hmmm... she DID bring us all here, but that doesn't really answer the question of how strong Mauvache really is. For all I know that's as far as her power goes; bringing people in and out of worlds... An idea was brewing in Aurora's mind. There was something she wanted to do. But not right this second, and probably not today. Today, she wanted to continue looking into the attacks that had been going on. However, Officer Henry didn't seem too keen on the idea.

 

"Your job is to fight in case you forgot. Dunno what shitshow of a planet you lived where a kid like you was a hero but it ain't here."

 

It's not a shitshow planet, Aurora grumbled to herself in her mind. It's not quite as high-tech as this place that feels like something out of a sci-fi book, but it's a world worth protecting. Just a shame there are so many people intent on making it a bad world. Even if Henry didn't want her sticking her nose into this investigation, it was something she felt had to be done. Unfortunately, it seemed she wasn't going to be getting much information out of the good officer. Hopefully that elf guy's generosity would have better results.

 

In the meantime, it seemed Gavin was trying to get her attention. Aurora made for him, a bit deflated that her attempt at investigation was a total bust, but still optimistic that something could be done. "You figure anything out?" she asked.

[Alaina]

 

While waiting for Aurora's reply to her statement, her having gone to speak with the new guy, Julian then grabbed her attention again. Looking at the man who ended up leaving the bar, the girl looked to him, then to his food, then to Julian. With her eyes lighting up, looking towards the reporter the girl said, "oh! Well in that case, we should go bring him his food right? It's bad to waste food and just leave it lying around after all." The girl nodded to herself before going to pick up the fries and exited out the same door he had. Once she saw him, she would call to him, saying, "excuse me Mister! You forgot to finish your food!" 

[God Emperor Cow]

Cyanthrax, Gavin, Aurora, Xia

 

"Got any leads on who dun did it?"

 

Henry grumbled as he took a swig of his drink. When he put it down he turned towards Cyanthrax. "Some." He said gruffly. "The main suspect is one of your pals. Angela? Yeah, there weren't any witnesses we could find but someone did see her leaving the scene of the crime before the bodies were found..." he paused. "Ah, hell. The news says they just went missing and that's what the story is but...they weren't missing. Maybe some pieces of em but..." He took another drink. "And then there's the android. We were told to back off your buddy but she didn't listen. Now she ends up in pieces too. With a warning to stay out of the way." He finished the drink and slammed it down. "So I guess there aren't any leads, no."

--

The man looked down at Gavin's hand and didn't shake it. Instead he just shrugged and nodded his way. "Not like I said much." He tapped his visor. "This baby helps me with my work, nothing too fancy compared to some of the other stuff around here but it's all I need."

--

Julian looked at Aurora with mixed emotions. But she settled for understanding. "Ah, young love." She said. "Back in the day I'd probably do the same. Never fear, leave it all to me...and Xia." She chuckled as Xia ran out with the plate of burnt french fries.

 

"excuse me Mister! You forgot to finish your food!"

 

The man cursed as he realized he was being followed and tried to speed up. That was when Julian also stepped into the alleyway and noticed where the two had run off.

She drew closer and pulled her pen out once more. This time writing

The ground in front of her suddenly became slippery. Which caused the man to lose his footing and fall onto his back. Though it would also be difficult for Xia to stay standing she had a better chance than he did.

[Chaos Sonic]

 

 

"Not like I said much. This baby helps me with my work, nothing too fancy compared to some of the other stuff around here but it's all I need."

 

"Nevertheless, I find it to be quite intriguing." Gavin smiled, before seeing Aurora heading in the direction he motioned for. "Thanks again for your cooperation, sir." he said, before moving towards Aurora himself.

 

"You figure anything out?"

 

"I just might've..." he said, opening the door to the bar to have Aurora walk out, with him right behind her. "He suggested we find Angela and speak to her. He said that she was down here when it went down. Not only that, she's also the one the officer was messing with." Gavin let out a sigh, shaking his head slightly. "He didn't know much of anything else, but I'm pretty sure that Angela might have some inclination on what happened to your friend."

[Alaina]

 

With the plate of food in hand, the girl started to make her way towards the man outside. Unfortunately, just as she had called out to him, he started to increase his pace. So, naturally, in order for the man to hear the girl call out to him, she had to pick up the pace as well. Beginning to run towards the man, the girl's stride was broken as somehow the ground suddenly felt a lot  slipperier. Losing  her footing, the girl's steps were far less steady and she herself seemed to be leaning far more forward before she finally started to fall forward. Thankfully, the man had fallen a bit earlier then she had and so by the time she had essentially dove forward, she had managed to make up a great deal of the distance between the two. While a clear trail of fries was behind the girl, she still held the plate up with a far sparser amount on it saying, "excuse me Mister. You forgot to finish your food, so I thought I'd bring it out  to you! So here." She presented the plate towards him. 

[Yui]

Day 3, 3:00, Some grimy bar

Points: 182

W/L Record: 2/1

 

"I just might've..."

 

Oh? As Aurora stepped out of the bar - with Gavin just behind her - the tinker boy continued.

 

"He suggested we find Angela and speak to her. He said that she was down here when it went down. Not only that, she's also the one the officer was messing with. He didn't know much of anything else, but I'm pretty sure that Angela might have some inclination on what happened to your friend."

 

Angela again? She was definitely a central figure in this investigation. It would be good to talk to her some more then. Aurora whipped out the trusty watch once again, sending another message to Angela.

 

Hey. Whenever you're free, I need to talk to you again. The sooner the better, but don't rush yourself.

 

She considered sending one to Mauvache as well - there was something Aurora wanted to talk to her about too - but that could wait until later. Aurora made a very firm mental note to not forget about sending Mauvache a message. Assuming she even had an inbox like everyone else of course. It wasn't something she'd ever checked.

 

"I sent Angela a message," she said, bringing her attention back to the here and now. "Hopefully that's going to be a big step forward in figuring this out."

[Reptilious]

 

 

The demon nodded along as the cop gave him some info. Apparently Angela was one of the suspects, which caught Cyan off guard. From what he had seen of her she didn't struck him as the killer type, although once he thought about it again those were the ones that ended up being killers. He also learned that whoever was running around bars was sloppy, and they killed an android. 

 

"A wild goose chase then..." Cyan said, slamming his drink again. He was surprised that, at least according to the cop, he was not one of the suspects. He wasn't sure if he should be glad about that or insulted, but that was irrelevant at the moment. "Aint that some sh​it..." He let out a sigh. "So no proper leads, save for ol' Angela huh? Can't say I know much about her... or any of the other fighters, for that matter."

 

"Still, all of this seem like a problem... any plans on trying to catch our killa? Maybe a stakeout or something like that..." He shrugged. "I ain't no cop, so I don't know how this works..."

[God Emperor Cow]

Xia, Cyanthrax, Aurora, Gavin

 

The man that Xia had chased looked at the plate with the most confused and panicked expression. "What? So...you weren't...chasing me to get information outta me?" He said, reaching out for the plate hesitantly.

 

"Well she wasn't at least. But now that you're implying you got information to give I can't just let you go can I?" Julian said, sliding expertly across the slick floor and stopping next to Xia. She placed a hand on the girl's head to steady herself. "Good job, Xia." She said with a laugh.

 

The man's eyes bulged. "Uh, no, I don't got any info, I just saw your friends asking and...uhhh."

 

"And you just have a fear of questions for no reason? I don't think that sounds very innocent, do you Xia? What do you think we should do about this mysterious young man?"

---

"Still, all of this seem like a problem... any plans on trying to catch our killa? Maybe a stakeout or something like that..." He shrugged. "I ain't no cop, so I don't know how this works..."

 

Henry laughed. "Maybe if the chief wasn't so worried about upsetting your boss." He grumbled. "And most of em are running scared after that last attack. What kind of nutjob carves 'Any cop caught snooping around will suffer the same fate' into steel walls....Anyway planning on getting me more to drink or do I need to add to my tab?"

[Maeriberii Haan]

 

Angela activated Invisible Air the moment the creatures started aiming at her, however soon she realized that it was pointless, as they still managed to chase after her somehow. Of course, Angela cursed to herself, they're a creature of the depth, they didn't even have eyes to see. Whatever senses they used, they would not be affected by optical invisibility. With a yell, Angela dispelled her invisibility as a shockwave of air, just as one attempted to wrap itself on her face. As the creatures were pushed away, Angela used the opportunity to fire her phantom spears at them, before using her gaps to channel magic into herself.

 

Taking a deep breath, she ran as fast as she could forward. She would have been able to deal with these creatures with ease, probably, but she was in a disadvantageous position, and she decided that it's not worth her time. They're just wild animals anyway. Slaughtering them meaninglessly, while fun, wasn't really useful or productive.

 

[Reptilious]

"My boss?" Cyanthrax was confused for a moment, before realizing who he was talking about. "She ain't my boss. Nobody's my boss!" He grumbled, shaking his head. "Hmm... I'll getcha one more drink, on one condition." He leaned in towards Henry. "Let me in on 'em. I'll stop this mur​derin' bastard!" He said, before rocking back on his chair. "There ain't no way this son of a bi​tch can handle me, especially outside of the arena!" He let out a hearty laugh. "Wait till that motherfuck​er feels the wrath of a demon!" His laughter became a cackle, before simmering down. "So waddya say? Ya let me track down and deal with out little friend, or I do it myself - the hard way."

[Alaina]

 

The dragon girl seemed a bit confused at the man, seeming to think that she was here to ask him something. Xia had no idea what she would be asking him, outside of if he liked the fries or not, so she didn't know why he thought she was going to. As the man attempted to explain himself, the girl looked back to Julian as she spoke of the man's irrational fear of questions. The girl thought about it and she was pretty sure that wasn't normal, after all she loved to give answers, so it likely also wasn't innocent. However, as she was asked what to do, Xia wasn't quite sure where to go from there. 

 

After the gears were whirring around for a bit in her head, Xia figured out one course of action that was appropriate. Pulling her hand back that held the plate, she figured the man was not to get his fries back until he answered some questions. She had no idea what questions to ask. But she did know someone who did. So instead she said, "oh, I got it! We should make him answer all of Aurora's questions or uh..." she looked around trying to figure out what to follow up with, before her eyes drifted back to the plate, "or he doesn't get to eat!" Surely a man being denied his fries was an apt punishment. 

[God Emperor Cow]

Angela

 

The girl made her way past the creatures. While they were fast her sudden movement seemed to confuse them long enough for her to run past. Though it seemed the path was merely a straight one for quite some time and so it wasn't possible to lose them entirely. If she stopped for long they'd catch up as they started to follow her as soon as they realized she had gotten past them. All crawling along the ceiling in a relatively straight line.

 

The lights would grow a bit dimmer the farther she went and, when she took the first turn since escaping the creatures from before, she'd have to be careful as a short distance later the ground beneath her opened up into a cavern with a thirty foot drop.

 

It seemed to have been once connected by a stone bridge of sorts that had at some point crumbled. The walls opened up and she'd be able to see vast, beehive-like, openings all over the place. Openings that dumped down to a darkness deep below that Angela couldn't see the end of.

 

Though directly beneath her, thirty feet down, was another area with a solid floor. However she also would be able to see what looked like a giant, twelve foot long, slug slowly moving back and forth. Where its head was there was a bulbous protrusion that glowed.

Across the way was another opening like the one she stood in. Similar except for the pair of four foot tall mushrooms near the sides of the opening. These mushrooms were a grey-blue color with areas that glowed similarly to the creatures earlier and the slug below. There were several small, tentacle-like, sprouts coming off of the mushrooms' stalks.

 

A fair distance behind her Angela could still hear the skittering noises of the Crawlers.

Cyanthrax and Xia

 

Henry let out a mirthless laugh. "Not your boss, sure, okay then. We'll see about that." The cop turned his red and puffy eyes over to Cyanthrax, scanning him up and down. "I'm not gonna tell someone they can do vigilante work." He burped, wiped his mouth, and grumbled. "But if something happens I might be able to cover it up." Then he let out a sigh. "Don't know what you expect to do. Only suspect is that girl and something tells me your 'not boss' won't approve of trying to bring her down." With that Henry, with some stumbling, got up and headed for the door. "You can give me that drink another time." he called back. Cyan would have time to stop him if he wanted otherwise the man would be leaving the bar.

---

On the outside, Julian was trying, and failing, to hide her snickering. "Oh you are just too much." She said to Xia. "We need more people like you. So, you heard the lady. How about you come with us back in and get some questions later. I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss out on your food...And you wouldn't want anything unfortunate happening." Behind Xia's back she held her pen up and wrote the first half of a word which caused the man's face to pale.

 

"Er...no, no I think...I think I'll go with. Sudden...change of heart."

 

"Well there you go. Why don't you escort this fine gentleman back into the bar then, Xia? Maybe Aurora is done with her flirting by now."

[Alaina]

 

Xia's eyes brightened and tail flicked a bit as Julian made her comment about needing more people like her. "Oh definitely! I'd love for there to be more dragons around!" Nodding to herself, the girl then looked back to the man and said, "well, up we go!" Springing to her feet, she grabbed the man's wrist and with great force pulled him off the ground. Gripping tightly to his wrist, the girl then said, "let's go!" Walking forward, the girl began to drag him and his plate of fries along as they made their way back to the bar. 

 

Once inside, she merely proclaimed, "hi guys! I'm back!" A small "mrow" could be heard in response, prompting Xia to look over to see Snowball resting on the counter top. The girl nodded her head saying, "yeah, bars are fun, Snowball!" Looking over to her friend she said, "hey Aurora! You were asking - oh." The dragon girl looked around to see that the bar had fewer people in here. Turning to Julian, she said, "she's not here. Oh, I got it! Julian, you look after him, and I'll go find Aurora!" With that, the girl made her way out of the bar and began walking out, and with the two having just left the bar, they weren't that far out of Xia's range of sight. So, shouting out, "hey Aurora and New Guy! I found a guy for you to question!" 

[Reptilious]

 

 

Cyanthrax waved as the man left the bar, not completely satisfied with what he had but figured there wasn't much else to squeeze out of him. His assurance to cover any bloody mess the demon made was more than he had expected, and he had a better idea of what happened. He also had a suspect, one of his fellow fighters. "Just what kinda people is she bringin' to fight?" He said bitterly, not sure what to make of this new found information. Either way it was probably for the best for him to regroup with his not-date. 

 

Or at least he was going to, before seeing the girl go in and out of the bar. "Already done?" He said, shaking his head, before making his way towards Julian. "So, what did I miss?" He said, a grin on his face.