[System]
Second Name: N/A

Caste & Exalt: Night Solar

Limit Break: Foolhardy contempt - The solar loses touch with their fear and rushes headlong into conflict. Partial control: The solar may use tactics and strategy, but thinks nothing of personal risk
Duration: One day
Condition: Having an opportunity to prove one's bravery.

Gender: Female.

Age: 25. Gwyn just exalted a few months ago.

Birthplace: Gethamane, among the deep caves where she was fascinated by the plants and stories, caved and painted on the walls.

Appearance Description: Gwyn has a face that is hard to remember. She blends into crowds for the most part. Only in places where her blonde hair and fair skin stand out does she have a hard time keeping a low profile(merit: innocuous).

Gear: Quarterstaff, botany supplies (sketchbook), a satchel of pears (each a different color of strange flowers). A breastplate, which is hideable under her clothes. Green Jade wrakstaff which can do cold damage when anima is spent on it.

Skills: Gwyn was destined to be night class with a high skill (4 dots) in dodge and stealth. (3 dots in everything else night cast but larceny which has 2 dots)
She speaks several languages due to her travels (Low realm, sky tongue, river tongue and high realm).
Her skill with a quarterstaff is nearly unparalleled (4 dots in Martial arts and 2 in specialty quarterstaff). Gwyn has spent the last several years studying plants and their interactions with people as such she is skilled in medicine (both to help and hurt), and has decent survival skills in the wild.

Intimacies: Gwyn will avoid revealing she is a Solar until the last possible moment. She is too afraid of the White Lotus finding out to just do it at any time.
Gwyn feels a pull (eternal vow) but has yet to seek it out. She knows it isn't the plant she seeks and is afraid of what she will discover when she finds the thing that is pulling at her.
Gwyn enjoys sketching plants and discovering their qualities. Her sketch book spans a good portion of the world. The most recent pages, cut short by bad luck, cover the islands to the west.

Personality: Having grown up smaller than anyone else in the caves Gwyn learned to be scrappy. She would hide in old caverns and study the fantastic artworks. It was this that would eventually drive her a little insane. She started dreaming of a specific plant, one that she hadn't seen in the caves. At first, she was determined to find it among the cave drawings, but as it became clear, she wasn't she decided to leave home. Since exalting, she has kept her secret to herself. The fear of being discovered by the White Lotus driving her to keep her head down even more than usual. She has little care for the laws of the Dragons as they conflict with her very existence. She is driven to find the plant from her nightmares, and to avoid being caught. She'll fight as long as she can without using any motes and causing her anima to appear (though she does love its appearance).

Despite her desire to keep her nature hidden, she finds that she wants to prove herself. She fights the urge to let herself go and destroy her enemies for the sake of staying safe.

Biography: Born and raised in Gethamane Gwyn always was too small, so she picked up some of the more unsavory tricks. She had a love for the unseen plants outside of the cave walls. Around the age of 20 after having learned some Ill Lily style, Gwyn proved herself to the White lotus. She worked her way through some assumptions before deciding to take her work to the road. There she studies plants, looking for a specific one from her nightmares (flaw: nightmares).

As Gwyn started her explorations, she found a coral  and befriended it. Sven, the snake, now curls around her body for warmth and when needed will bite as directed poisoning someone. That is the quickest way Gwyn will assassinate someone. Her other preferred method, which takes longer, is via some nastier plants she has found during her travels.

Gwyn exalted while she was exploring some islands. A few solar hunters got close to the group she was traveling with and, she panicked. She is terrified of being caught as a solar because of her connections within the White Lotus. The White Lotus is anti-solar.

Other: Anima - Poisonous plants/vines writhing around and wrapping around her body.

[User]
Albert had entered Guixiang 'normally', well, as normally as a fourteen-year old can do so in fine clothing without a bodyguard. Thankfully, there were caravans, individual traders, craftsmen looking for apprentices, and various other people streaming into the city. He'll blend in just fine.

But first, why was Albert here, having interrupted his lessons under Astraea, Third Incarnation of Salina? Well, his mentor had heard rumors of the 'rubies' of Guixiang, and the sinister nature behind them. And Albert had volunteered because he was a precocious child who wanted adventure in his life, and it's not as if Astraea didn't take after Salina in her 'hands-off parenting'.

So it came as a surprise that once well inside the city, the guards had surrounded him and, with implied meneace, asked him to come with them. This turned out to be a wise decision, as 'with them' implied being escorted to the presence of their leader, a Lady with the supernaturally regal poise that came with the 'aristocracy' of Creation. Now Albert can try and resist the urge to speak up first. That way, he can allow others to pitch in and he can learn more about them.

But once the others were done speaking, and only then, the boy would say, "Ah, I'm here to look for a...trainer," He didn't dare say master at this point in time, "A trainer who can help improve my knowledge of craftsmanship."

There was something unnatural afoot, that was to be sure. Best not to do anything foolish.

@HokumPocus@Kirah@Lord Orgasmo@LordVoldemort@Raijinslayer@Sloth

[Assistant]
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Guixiang, City of Living Rubies
Present Day

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The twin-tailed girl didn't expect much of a pleasant reception when she arrived in Guixiang, but to be approached in such a manner was a little unexpected. Did they make the connection? And why of all reasons was her very distant sister standing only a few feet from her? Was this merely a coincidence or something that spoke of a greater plot?

Experience dictates that coincidence is nonexistent.

Shuozhen considered the thought. But even if there was a plot against her, Shuozhen knew she needed to keep her wits about her and play along for the time being. Still, she couldn't help but feel the urge to drop her hand to her sword to prepare for the first strike. She stopped herself from doing so, of course, but it did not stop the pressing anxiety in the back of her mind. The nagging feeling often made her feel like she was paranoid, but her experience with such matters tended to assure her that she was prepared rather than paranoid – and Shuozhen liked being prepared. Plus, she had an ace in the hole if things did get out of hand. Though she did not want to rely on her exaltation as doing such would be a wonton death wish.

The woman had directly looked at her, so Shuozhen felt she was on the spot. As her mentor would tell her, it was time to act. As much as Shuozhen would've preferred to remain quiet and read the room a bit deeper, she had little choice. But what was the right answer? The truth was that she had traveled all the way to the famed "City of Living Rubies" to investigate a certain rumor that she had heard sometime ago. She supposed it would count as sight-seeing. Technically. She was seeing sights, after all.

"Sight-seeing, naturally. Guixiang is one of the marvels of the world, after all." She paused for a moment before adding another comment, though really it was an inquiry. "Do you call for audiences with all of your city's guests like this often? or is this a special occasion?"

[User]
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Guixiang, City of Living Rubies
Resplendent Wood, RY 768

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To say Meymun didn't look like he belonged in such a grandiose room would be an understatement. He still looked every bit as homeless as he had in the years prior to his Exaltation, only now, instead of leaves and twigs hanging from his unkempt hair, it was a permanent layer of dirt hanging on to his clothes and mud between his bare toes. While the sight of the homeless wasn't exactly unexpected in trade cities, most urban poor didn't tend to have prehensile feet and emerald green hair that fell just below their shoulders. The fact that he didn't have the common courtesy to look extremely humble rather than eyeballing everything around him probably didn't help the odd looks he was amassing from the natives. He at least paid attention when the leader of the City was brought before and addressed him and a number of others he now found himself next to. He even had the wherewithal to respond in his heavily accented version of Riverspeak.

"I'm just passing through the city on my travels. Used to trade with some merchants from here, but I'd never seen the place myself. Figured I'd stop by."

It wasn't a lie. Even Haltan craftsmen had dealings within Quixiang, and Maipa had been one of the best in the Republic.

"While I'd love to experience the 'pleasures' of Quixiang, despite what you might think when you look at me, you'll find I'm quite low on money. Not to mention that I, too, am curious as to why you've brought us here."

The man couldn't help but grin and start scratching the back of his head as a way to idly pass some time.

[Assistant]
It had to be Karilis that had gotten the pair of them flagged for (Gwyn wouldn't call this arrest as much as it felt like) arrest. The two of them hadn't been traveling together long. There was little trust shared between them, though something resembling respect had started to grow. Karilis meant potential trouble. Though, Gwyn was confident her secret was safe especially this far from the Islands where she had exalted.

She clutched her sketchbook tightly; it was the dirty, dingy one she wrote and drew in first before transferring it to the oilskin-wrapped book. That was the only sign she was freaking out. Sven knew though and moved slightly, putting his head near an opening in her clothing if he were needed he'd be ready to strike.

The regal woman's eyes paused on one of the others that had been brought up. There was something uncomfortably familiar about her. Gwyn couldn't quite put her finger on it at first. She was pale and had red hair, much like her travel partner. Were they related? She'd get back to that thought.

Her focus darted over the others. A literal green haired man with.... prehensile feet. She had seen weirder in the caves, but it was one of the stranger things she had seen in the last couple of months of heavy travel.

There were two children, boys, couldn't be older than 16, an old man and someone who looked stoned out of their mind. Why had this group been gathered? Both the non-Karilis red-haired woman and the monkey man asked the regal woman that question. No point in asking it as well. If the woman wouldn't respond to them, she wasn't going to answer Gwyn.

In response to her question posed to the group, Gwyn lifted her sketchbook. That sketchbook had gotten her places before, nothing forbidden, but it had always been a conversation opener. She would have to explain it better if the woman wanted, but it was her way of saying I'm here for business certainly not for whatever things you consider pleasure.


[System]
Age: 134 (26 when frozen, only recently thawed)

Gender: Male

Appearance: Ethelred currently cannot remove his armor, thus it is all anyone sees of him.

Abilities:
Ethelred was altered by a malevolent unseelie's curse, and is now what he has deemed "kin" to ice and snow. Freezing temperatures do not harm or hinder him, and he can see through ice, allowing him to navigate snowstorms and see through his frozen helmet. He can freeze things by touch, through his armor or even through the tip of his lance, and in enclosed spaces he can measurably chill the air around him. He doesn't seem to need to eat or drink, and he's not entirely sure why. He's also not entirely sure why the curse didn't affect his mind- perhaps the curse was flawed, or perhaps killing the fey stopped its progression before that point.

Another effect of the curse is that his armor seems to have fused with him, and taken on an icy, crystalline appearance. The armor slowly "heals" any damage inflicted upon it, including any attempt to shave off its crystalline protrusions. His lance and shield were also altered, but mercifully they were not merged with him.

Ethelred's horse, which suffered the same curse as him, remains a loyal companion despite its twisted appearance. Its horns and protrusions allow it to defend itself effectively, and like Ethelred, it's not bothered by freezing temperatures.

As a knight, Ethelred is skilled in the use of his lance both mounted and dismounted. It might not have a cutting edge, but it makes for a brutal bludgeon and the tip is quite sharp, as the fey that cursed him found out the hard way.

History:
Over a century ago, Ethelred was the youngest son of a noble family that controlled a small piece of land. Being somewhat removed in line to inherit their land, he was never particularly interested in politics and intrigue. Instead, he became a knight-errant, a wandering warrior seeking to emulate the heroic tales of the old king of Albion. He traveled the land, helped people, and battled bandits and raiders who would prey on the weak and vulnerable, and occasionally even came into conflict with supernatural malefactors. He never figured that his family would miss him- after all, he was the spare of a spare of a spare- and he reasoned they'd probably be more comfortable with one less potential claimant scheming to inherit.

While traveling through a rarely-treaded mountain pass, Ethelred was suddenly beset by a magical spell. His boots froze to the ground, and a layer of ice began to form around them, spreading up his legs. His horse fared no better, rooted to the spot by the same curse. As Ethelred tried in vain to free himself, an unseelie approached, its inhuman voice chuckling at the knight's plight. It gloated about how this curse was its doing, and how it would enjoy what came next but in the middle of its ramblings, Ethelred thrust his lance forward and stabbed the fey through the torso just before his right arm froze up, a final defiant blow.

As the evil fairy tried to pull itself free of the weapon, its face turned to horror as it saw the ice advancing along the lance. The last thing Ethelred remembers as his head froze over is seeing is the fey frantically struggling as it too was encased in an icy tomb, a victim of its own wicked curse. It's not an entirely bad way to die, he thought as it went black.

The next thing he remembered was waking up on the ground, having been freed from his frozen prison. Above him stood a radiant woman, sword in hand. She spoke of the king's return, the beasts being slain, the fey facing retribution, and traitors facing reckoning. By the time Ethelred regained enough strength to stand up and ask who she was, she was gone. Stirring awake next to him was what he initially believed to be some sort of elder beast before he realized it was his horse, twisted into some sort of strange ice creature by the unseelie's curse.

It didn't take Ethelred long to realize that he too was changed by the curse. His armor, which had taken a strange crystalline appearance, would not come off, including his helmet. The freezing cold temperatures no longer bothered him, and found himself no longer growing hungry or thirsty. His first was to interrogate the fey that cursed him, still frozen with his lance in its chest. He attempted to free the unseelie by smashing the ice that imprisoned it, but this only caused the frozen fairy to shatter into pieces. If it wasn't dead before, it was definitely dead now. At least his lance wasn't broken, though.

With little hope of finding more information on this curse, he descended the mountain and found a changed land. It seems he had been frozen for over a hundred years now, and things had gotten even worse in Albion over that period. He also learned that the frozen forms of him, his horse, and the fey had not gone unnoticed, and had gained some local fame as "The Frozen Knight", as both a landmark for those navigating the mountains, and as a symbol of human defiance against the Unseelie. It was a relief to him that the local highlanders weren't afraid of him, and it was probably a relief to them that he intended to be the very symbol of human spirit and resilience that they had made him out to be.

Ethelred set out in search of the woman that freed him. He traveled from town to town, helping the locals, taking time to master his new powers, and catch up on the state of Albion. By the time he reached the queen to pledge himself to her, having decided her goal was a worthy one, word had already gotten around of his deeds.

Anything else:
About 40 years ago, his family got into a conflict with another noble family and ended up getting wiped out, and their castle reduced to a ruin. The perpetrator of the massacre, currently the rival family head, is still alive but elderly, and Ethelred wants justice. For now he's stayed his hand, either because he wants to help the queen establish a law of the land by which justice can be carried out, or perhaps he's biding his time because as the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold.

Another thing is that while he doesn't want to lose his powers, he would at least like to be able to find a way to take off his armor.

[User]
The Knightess stumbled backwards a small bit from the trembling earth. As he had addressed her, it was only right that she answer his thoughts. "You are correct, beast." Luna said, bothered by the man's transformation into what she could only assume was a type of Fomorian. "I am the Eldest Daughter of House Lightsword." She continued, using what footing she could recover to slap away Annagan's reaching hand. In the worst case, she and Niall would have to widdle down his strength, which seemed to be not much either of them had at the moment. One good thing for the both of them was that they had the man flanked. It was hard to pay attention to both sides. While it may have been only a superficial wound, the damage towards the beasts ankle could always compound to more later. Especially like this moment when she moved to attack as Niall made him block a stab to the face with his weapon!

Luna moved her shield carrying shoulder forward as she brought her shield in front of her body. Her right arm brought her sword up to her shoulders, poised and ready to pierce through her enemy's back. She just hoped he was distracted enough by Niall to let her get an easy strike in. She noticed whatever energy was coursing through the hammer. "You're right! It won't be just him. Fio!" The Knightess yelled, hoping that, if Fio was able, she would be able to help as Luna stabbed forward, aiming to pierce her foe's neck with her blade. Hopefully, should she not be able to stop his charging energy, it'd distract him from Niall who has already taken much punishment.

[Assistant]
The sight of the abominable experiments tearing one asunder was awful. She saw flesh scatter to the ground, organs spilling out, bone and muscle snapping and tearing until all that was left was a pile of useless, fetid meat heaped upon the ground.

But no part of it could fight anymore.

"That's where you have me mistaken, Fomorian," Fio replied, a smirk on her face as she turned back towards the dark, bound girl, "I may be in service of that apparent Queen, but I'm a witch. Not a knight."

... Not to say that she wanted to go any further. She was quiet thankful not to have to actually kill a helpless foe, even a Fomorian. Though she would have if she hadn't called off her experiments.

But she'd wanted to take a Fomorian prisoner for a while now.

Really, it was the best outcome for both of them.

With a wave of her sword, Razor Light Bind dissipated...

"Constrictor Light."

... only to be replaced immediately with an even tighter, but far less painful or potentially lethal bind of blue light, tightly securing the Fomorian's limbs to her body, binding her legs together and into a kneeling position. She would be even less capable of movement, now. Creating a set of barriers to use as steps, she made her way down towards her captive and positioned herself just behind her, to ensure she didn't try anything. Not that she could escape, anyway.

The fight with that huge bandit had changed dramatically while she was distracted. Now, he had become some bestial, monstrous abomination. Quiet similar to one of the Fomorians himself.

Keeping the Fomorian bound meant she couldn't necessarily use her biggest offensive spells, but at the same time she had to do something.

"Sura," declared Fio, thrusting her blade skywards, "A single phantom sword. Its edge hard. A great blade of light that will pierce the enemy."

The air rippled above her, and a sword of woven blue crystal-like energy emerged from the circle as it appeared, as big as Fio herself and pointed squarely at the bestial bandit.

"Kill."

And it was released, hurtling towards its target. Even if the blow didn't prove lethal, as long as it struck it would surely make an opening for her comrades.

@Pyromania99@FrogRFlowR

[User]
Niall went for the eye with blinding speed - but was once more parred by the bandit. OR what remained of him, at least. The Hammer going up to deflect the Lance upwards, sending Niall up with it. Out of energy and stamina for having fought this beast of a man on his own for so long, Niall was, however, not out of wits and managed to see what was happening. As he was now sent upwards, he witnessed Luna and Fio's attacks both aiming to kill and both needing a distraction of some sort.

Acting quickly, Niall once more let go of his lance in order to change his trajectory midflight and not be dragged by the man's superhuman strength. Niall used his magic to boost himself right into Annagan's face - with the monster's hammer hand up, from such a close distance, it should be doable. This wouldn't be deadly, but it would hurt.

Niall was out of weapons, but his gauntlet's ended sharply in order to mimic a bird's claws. On the giant man's face, Niall teamed up with his pet Owl Gwdihw, calling it to him by whistling into the night, and they both went for one eye.

This should prove distracting enough.

[Assistant]
The wyvern wasn't killed, but Ethelred was content to call this a victory. Even if it managed to crawl away to safety, Ethelred was confident that it would not recover from its wounds. If it didn't bleed out, the frostbite would surely prove fatal, probably after extended agony as its frozen flesh expires. The merciful thing would be for Ethelred to finish it off once the battle was over, but that would have wait until the third wyvern was taken down.

Grainne was still as impolite as ever, although given the situation, she could be forgiven for being deeply upset. He'd need to correct her on his name once this was over, though. They still had one wyvern to go, and they needed Ethelred to keep it busy while they prepped the ballista.

"Alright, I'll take care of it. Just be careful where you aim it, I don't want to get hit."

The Frozen Knight descended the stairs of the wall down to the courtyard, where he approached the wyvern. With Elnith's sword in his shield-hand, he swung the weapon at its belly as he drew nearer, taking note of the space-warping enchantment. He always did want to see what it was like to use Elnith's weapon.

I'll have to thank her for letting me try it out. Considering how closely Ethelred treasured to his own lance, he found it quite touching that Elnith would entrust him with her sword. It was a slight disappointment that it didn't turn from red to blue in his hands, though, but no weapon was truly perfect.

"Prepare yourself for death, beast!" he shouted at the Wyvern as he approached, brandishing both lance and sword. As much as this was only meant to be a distraction, he was intent on using what time Grainne and her soldiers afforded him to do as much damage to it as possible. This monster had murdered many soldiers, and even if it was just a simple predator with no sense of right and wrong, Ethelred wanted to make it pay.


[System]
Stella Herbalem

Character Quote:"Beware the most beautiful flower, as it might be the most deadly."

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Character Summary
Aliases:Flower Girl, Star, Stella-Bella
Age: 12
Birthday: March 20th, 2008
Ethnicity: White
Birth Place: Berkeley, California
Godly Parent: Demeter
Cabin Number: 4
How Many Years At Camp: 0
Gender: Female
Occupation At Camp: N/A
Languages: Ancient Greek, English, some Spanish

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Appearance
Height: Currently 4'8"
Weight: 85 Lbs
Body Type: Skinny but healthy
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Red
Skin Tone: Pale with freckles
Tattoos/Scars/Piercings: One piercing in each ear lobe.
Personal Style: Stella likes to keep her hair nice and long, and she usually has it loose, but she will braid it sometimes when she's working in the gardens. She tends to wear easy to wear clothing, jeans and zip up sweaters the most, casual clothing. She hasn't really found too much of a personal style yet, as she is a twelve year old girl, but she does like wearing more 'earth tones' or things in green that match her eyes.

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Psychology
Cheerful* Spacey * Friendly * Sheltered * Optimistic *Impulsive

Sexuality: Unknown, she's twelve and not sure yet
Relationship Status: Single
Personality: Stella is overall a very bubbly young lady that honestly has nothing but good and happy thoughts for the world. Part of this is because of her upbringing and her fathers influence on her. This has led to her being a bit sheltered about some things, like some of the issues of the world, as well as issues that might arise from being what she is. However, overall, she is a cheerful and spunky young girl with bright eyes and a happy smile.
Fatal Flaw: Excessive curiosity: She is too curious about the world and sometimes it can get very distracting, as she will wander off, her head being in the clouds (according to her fathers.)
Habits: Chewing on her nails, skipping over cracks, whistling when gardening.
Hobbies: Gardening, cooking, reading, and hopscotch.
Fears:
* Fires
* Homophobes
* Pure black darkness

Likes:
* Strawberries
* Tea
* Puppies
* Books
* Poppies
* Rain

Dislikes:
* Big felines (Lions, Tigers, ect.)
* Snow/ Frost
* Bullies
* Strong Black Coffee
* Horror Movies
* Baseball

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Skills
Demigod Abilities:
* Chlorokinesis: As a child of Demeter, she has the ability to control plants, like accelerated growth and plant sensitivity.
* Karpoi Summoning

General Skills:
* Baking
* Gardening
* Reading
* Some knowledge of poison
* Sewing
* Cooking

Combat Skills:
* Some self defense lessons
* Some knife lessons

Magic Item: * A seed packet full of flower seeds that never empties. (Gift from her mother.)
* Sickle from Demeter. (Helps her control her powers.)

What Do They Carry On Them:
This includes your clothing, jewelry, your wallet, your id, your keys; cash (denote which country), a picture, lighter, cigarettes, weapons you may carry, shoes, purse, bag, pistol and so forth. If it is not listed you are not carrying it. Again, keep it grounded in the real world. Limited to spots provided.
* (Less carried and more being followed by) Arbor, their pet plant wolf.
* Clothing - Sneakers, jeans, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie, stud earrings, necklace with a peace sign on it and a flower watch.
* Purse/Wallet - Backpack~
* Wallet- With a library card for Berkeley Library, $250 US Dollars, A Berkeley Bus Pass, A few gold drachma.
* Celestial Bronze Dagger, gift from her mother.
* Paperback books
* Photo album
* House keys
* Small makeup bag with a collection of normal seeds in it.
* Sewing Kit
* Stuffed Red Panda plush
* Cell phone
* Small otter plush

Possessions In Cabin:
* Extra clothing
* Tablet (Not really used.)
* Practice weapons
* Small planter of her more interesting plants
* Extra soft pillow from home

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History

Biography
Stella always was an unusual child from the time of her birth, as she had two fathers that loved her and one another very much so. They were rather quiet about whom Stella's mother was, always saying she was a surrogate that wanted to remain anonymous, and Stella was alright with that until she was twelve and things changed.

Stella was raised by her fathers, with both a wealth of information and plants around her, as one of her fathers was a professor of biology, and the other was a celebrated flower arranger, as a Japanese-American man. It was still clear that she was a bit odd, as she had attention issues, and she was always happiest when outside in the sun and among the plants, and talking to them happily. Her fathers never saw anything odd with it, and encouraged her more.

Things started to change as she got a bit older and entered middle school, and she started to notice more and more weird things. Like creatures that others didn't see, and that people were following her. Her fathers assured her that she was alright, and nothing was wrong. It was only towards the middle of December that things changed drastically in her life.

How Long Have They Been At Camp Half-Blood:
Stella technically hasn't made it to Camp Half-Blood yet, but they are on their way there. It was half-way through the school year, and she was struggling a bit as usual with her ADHD and dyslexia when she caught the attention of one of her classmates. Around half-way through the year, the classmate introduced himself as a satyr, and told her that there was a camp she needed to go to. After talking with her dads she set off for the camp, on a grand cross country trip.

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Additional Information

Theme Song: Strawberry Fields Forever

Extra Information:
See previous Character for Sample
Favorite God: Hades and Persephone, followed by Freyr
I agree to follow the rules for this RP and understand that if I do not follow the rules, the GM or Co-GM may kick me out of this roleplay.

[User]
Ezekiel Kel

Location: GCS -- New York City
Skills:

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 Ezekiel continued to stare at Demetri in utter confusion, even after he panicked and shifted into a cat. Now Zeke couldn't demand answers from him. He wasn't even sure what he was feeling beyond confusion. Zeke had been heavily attracted to that raven haired female that cared so deeply about him. He should have known it was someone playing a trick on him but Demi was the one to pursue him all those months ago. So what did it mean to him now? Zeke didn't have the faintest clue except for feeling some disappointment with the confusion.
 Nancy came back over and told everyone how much the train would cost for them. Ezekiel sighed, glad he had managed to pack himself some snacks this time because he was about to give Nancy his last bit of change. Zeke rummaged through his pack for his cash and handed Nancy a crumpled up twenty. He didn't bother to say that was all he had. It was pretty obvious enough as it was.

[Assistant]
Location: Labyrinth
Skill:

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Andy smiled a bit as Mary and Mads talked. It was kind of funny to her. They made it into a quiet corner of the Labyrinth. Andy had a sinking feeling that something was off. She felt like this might be the last relaxing moment they would have. Then Chocolate was there, leaping at her. She caught him confused. Chocolate was supposed to be with Arthur.

"Chocolate." She said, confused. Giving the hellhound puppy some pets. "What is wrong?" Not that the puppy could actually talk to her. "Where is Arthur?" She asked the puppy again. Not really expecting an answer, but worry was building in her gut.

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Location: Train
Skills: Mist Control

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"Yeah, there should be a dining car. We can check it out." Niah started to head out and look for which end of the train the dining car was on. However, there was a disturbance.

She ducked back into the room and closed the door quickly. Then pressing her hand on it, she thought of an electrical access door. Letting the mist manipulate their cabin door. It should be a good enough disguise. It was unlikely but not impossible that the cyclops would still try the door. Especially if they had their smell.

"Well, there are four cyclops on the train. I had the mist disguise the door. Hopefully, that's good enough. Unless you feel like fighting." She said the last part with a creeping grin on her face making it clear she'd be fine with a good fight.

[User]
Location: The Train
Skills: N/A

---

---

Stella heard the screaming and crashing and looked up to see the cyclopses through the window. So, they had gotten on the train. So much for that hope that they had escaped them. Thankfully the window and door were closed, and Niah used the Mist to manipulate the door, so that did buy them at least some time. She gently put her sweater over her pussy, as to not wake him when she went to fish out her dagger. She held it tight in her hand as she could tell that Niah wanted a fight, and she didn't want the people on the train to get hurt.

"I don't really want to fight, but they'll tear apart the train looking for us if we don't get rid of them. So, while I'm not fond of the idea, we should... take them out." Stella also pulled out her bag of seeds, and looked around. "If you want, I can try to tangle them up if you both want. It might help." She dug out some seeds and felt them. "Kudzu... strong and fast growing... I can also get ivy or thorny vines..." She was musing over what to use, what to do, and how to do it.


[System]
Rank (If applicable): Major (Swords of Sanghelios)

Species: Sangheili

Appearance: Standing at 252 cm (8'3") and keeping his brown eyes to himself most of the time, Yalu is the model of any Sangheili soldier. His average grey complexion only conforms him further. Without his armour, he barely sports a somewhat wide chest and mandibles to give him an individual appearance. His combat harness at least allowed the expression of his lineage; a refurbished assault pattern harness he brought out from family storage shortly after The Great Betrayal ensued.

Skills: Close to medium range combat, vehicular combat, and just about any situation requiring improvised solutions under pressure. Not the strongest or most resilient, but fast of body and mind.

Preferred Weapons/Equipment:
- Type-57 Carbine [T-57 C] or Needle Rifle [T-31 Needle Rifle], though any good marksman's weapon will do
- Concussion Rifle [T50 DER/H]
- A Brace of Plasma Grenades [T1 Antipersonnel Grenades]
- Wrist-mounted energy dagger
- Whatever else is at hand

Background: Yalu began his career from an unassuming life on Sanghelios, indoctrinated like many of his peers into the Covenant dogma and piped into its military training. It quickly became clear that he was a fast fighter and a faster learner. Merit in training carried him into promising early missions for his masters. He distinguished himself enough to earn respect -- a reliable soldier with strong initiative, a level head in a crisis, and always looking out for his team mates. His superiors saw enough potential in him to present fitting challenges, but he generally fell short in one key aspect. His kill count was low for a soldier of his capabilities. He was promoted to major only when most at his cohort and skill level were already each majors for at least three years, and he never earned the right to carry a sword.

Those Yalu worked alongside could not begrudge any lack of skill or courage. He knew when to strike and was a fantastic shot in amongst any firefight, not to mention no one could recount a time he seemed to panic or give any indication of retreat. When the time for slaughter came, he simply feigned advance when everyone else rushed forward to take scalps for personal glory.

Superior officers spoke with him about his reticence, but there was always an excuse or a dodge he had. They most eventually tolerated his behaviour as a lack of ambition. That was until he was assigned to an Ultra with a deep seated bloodlust during the Human-Covenant war. Yalu faced the most dangerous months of his life in that time, as he was thrown into mission after mission with the tacit (and sometimes clearly stated) objective of killing as many as possible. It was in this time that he grew resentful and empty. He might have lost himself completely as he justified the missions as a path to the Great Journey.

Then the prophets stole away everything. The Sangheili were replaced by the Jiralhanae and the truth came out about the Halo rings' purpose. Yalu's commanding Ultra tossed aside any notion that the prophets were in the wrong as if there was hope on the other side for any of them. Yalu, with the support of the soldiers around him, called the Ultra out, accusing him of dishonourably feasting on blood rather than granting mercy to worthy opponents. The Ultra drew an energy sword and a duel followed. Yalu won out by taking a cheap strike at his opponent's jaw to shed one drop of blood, before claiming it was the only honour he had to spill. The Ultra lost his temper and fell into all of Yalu's traps until he collapsed into a battered heap, beaten to within an inch of his life by the butt of Yalu's carbine. In one more act of mercy, Yalu obliged the Ultra's next order to end his life to cover his shame.

Thankfully, Yalu was not the only one resentful of their position and betrayal by the prophets. The battlegroup agreed to find and defect to the separatists. Once again, Yalu fought for a cause in a way he could agree with.

After the war, Yalu's body count was still abnormally low. While respected by his peers, his new leaders resented his lacking approach to his personal honour and glory. The prospect of Aegis Team was the perfect way to dispose of Yalu while still providing a top notch fighter with a cooperative spirit to joint operations.

[User]
Vael 'Virisusai

---

The armored column had to move quickly to take advantage of the surprise they still had over their enemy. The open ground outside the walls would have made for a strong defensive position, had the city's garrison been able to see the attack coming. The plasma turrets alone atop the walls were far from sufficient to stop, or even slow down an armored assault. At the moment, they were able to push forward at max speed to close the gap to the city walls. Weapons fire from the mantis and scorpions at long range could tear apart the plasma turrets long before they could do meaningful damage to the vehicles. The plasma turrets were intended for anti-infantry or anti-aircraft roles, while other defenses would normally handle heavy vehicles.

The push to the wall had been simple, with little resistance, but now that they were approaching the opening their ship had made, they were about to be stepping into much more danger. While the breach was not small, two scorpions side-by-side would only barely squeeze through. For their entire column, it was going to be a choke point. They caught a few glimpses of infantry through the opening, but machine gun fire from the scorpions forced them back into hiding. No doubt, they were scrambling to establish a defensive position inside.

At the moment, the team could not know how many anti-tank weapons were already in position inside. The defenders would be scrambling to deploy them to the breach, but it had been less than a minute since landing. If they were lucky, they would be able to get a foothold inside before the enemy could arm themselves to deal with them, but the longer they took, the more the enemy would be able to fortify.

"Shadows, stay back until we have a foothold inside. Everyone else, push forward!" Vael ordered. They were going to be pushing into an urban environment. The city did have streets wide enough to accommodate their vehicles, but it was still going to be far more cramped than the field they were in now. For armored units, urban fighting could be particularly dangerous, so they would need to be adaptable and alert for threats that could come from any angle. They did not know exactly what the other side of the breach looked like or where the enemy was positioned on the other side. There was only so much planning that could be done ahead of time; at a certain point, they had to adapt and improvise. How they decided to cross the choke point would be important to improve their odds.

[Assistant]
Spartan Lucas Ryker and Infiltrator Comi'Masam

Leading a group of warthogs and a couple of other needlehogs, Ryker and Comi were already inside the breach, lighting up any infantry that they could see. However, once they were inside the walls, the needlehogs were in a very different situation, as their munitions were worthless against the walls and heavier protections offered by the urban environment. The warthogs equipped with standard armaments would have the penetration to clear out walls without having to risk their crews, but Ryker and the other needlehogs were going to have to hope they could catch the defenders between positions as they raced through the streets. {Light armor group is inside the walls and doing what we can to push back the city defenders. What's the plan for securing the buildings as we move? Needlehogs are good against infantry, but not much else.}

Comi, meanwhile, was lighting up every Unggoy, Kig-yar, and Sangheili that exposed themselves long enough to take more than a couple of needles, keeping any of them holding anti-tank weaponry from getting an actual shot on both the Warthogs and the approaching scorpions and wraiths.

[User]
As the breach was so small, a traffic jam inevitably ensued as the heavier armour filtered through into the city. Soldiers on the walls began firing small arms and chucking grenades down onto the vehicles beneath. Tar's Wraith hung back slightly and pounded the walls with blue balls of plasma. She tilted her plasma repeater as far up as it would go and sprayed the parapets, forcing some of the Sangheili there to take cover. Her shield flared as a carbine bolt pinged off the Wraith and into her face.

"Clear the gap, move!" Tar yelled, ducking back down as far as she could go into her cockpit area as her gun overheated.

[Assistant]
Yalu 'Suumko

With a hollow wheeze from its engine, Yalu swung his banshee around toward the walls. The close air support on his wings could fly over relative safety with all the anti air turrets on the walls blasted off their mounts, but the weather left visibility to be desired.

Yalu's voice hummed quietly over the comms from the shelter of the prone cockpit. "We have the skies. Mark urgent targets for the hornets and banshees. We will be shooting down their aircraft as they come."

Yalu did his friends a favour in the spare moment to do a strafing run on a parallel street to the wall to keep anti-armour teams pinned. The street lit up with rapid fire plasma bolts. No small arms fire did more than scratch at this distance. It was all he could do before enemy air support came onto the radar. He pulled up and boosted into the rain to gain altitude.

[User]
Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker
// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Armored Assault on a Shadow >>> Sieging the wall

Grik continued to hold onto the lead troop transport as they began to crawl closer to the walls of the city. The breach in the wall was a tight fit for the vehicles and the defenders on the wall were not going easy or breaking their spirits. Yet it did not seem like they were getting the heavy weapons they had left to bear on the advancing armored column or the vehicles pouring through the gap. Small arms and anti-tank weapons were a likely cause for the amount of fire power heading towards the breach in the wall and the city beyond.

The grunt had a good opportunity in his new suit, to show off its power and maneuverability on top of not being seen on the battle field before. This was a test run for non-simulated combat. Now would be a perfect time to test out its ability to clear walls and trenches knowing that it could easily dive off the wall if it got too hot.

Leaping from the troop transport, Grik began moving through the armor around him to get to the wall quicker than the transport could. Evading so many tanks and other vehicles wasn't entirely easy, he found that he had to hitch a ride here and there on a tank or two to get out of the way but eventually made it to the wall.

"Lift and shift your fire on the right wall." Grik called out over the radio.

Slowly and deliberately he waited for the armor to shift its fire to allow him up while pinning down enemy forces. Being mindful of being shot from the other side the goblin mech scaled the wall to the top were most of the defenders seemed to be rallying and started with a barrage of heavy needles before he even got up to the top. Following the barrage quickly up the wall and beginning to open fire on the defenders keeping an eye on his shield strength and continuing to use cover when he was able too. Hopefully this would give the vehicles more time. To get through the gap.

[Assistant]
Vael 'Virisusai

---

It went without saying that Grik's maneuver came by surprise to the defenders on the wall. The prototype goblin had far more mobility than would be expected from a vehicle of its type. The infantry on top of the wall were not equipped to overcome the heavy defenses of the mech, nor did they have much cover to hide from it. Those that Grik did not kill right away retreated quickly. In addition to taking a lot of the pressure from his team below, from the top of the wall, he would have a good view of the streets inside.

With the light vehicles Ryker was leading having pushed through the gap, they had been able to put pressure on the enemy infantry pretty much immediately. They had forced many of them to scatter and seek hard cover, which meant the tanks pushing through the breach behind them did not have any sort of organized frontline to try to stop them. Plasma mortars from allied wraiths sailed overhead to bombard groups of enemies that could be seen rushing towards the walls in the distance, while shells from scorpion tanks were targeted more precisely at closer groups.

While their armored column was able to establish a foothold in the walls, moving forward still presented more dangers. Not long after they started to advance, a flash of green shot out from off to the right in front of them, from the doorway of one of the buildings. A fuel rod struck one of the warthogs, sending it rolling until it crashed into a barrier on the opposite side of the street. A second fuel rod fired quickly and struck the front of the lead scorpion, though from a single shot, there was no penetration through the tough armor. The shooter quickly ducked back into the building, but Vael marked the target for his wraith's driver. It fired one plasma mortar, then another back-to-back. Between the two of them, the small structure collapsed entirely.

"We have neither the time nor forces to secure every building. We shall use our armor to destroy any place they may hide. Our objective is the Kaidon. Should Tar defeat him in honorable combat, then the city shall recognize her right to lead. Advance straight to the keep, as quickly as possible." Vael ordered. The city, of course, was not strictly a military stronghold, though Vael did not seem concerned by differentiating between military and civilians. The building the wraith had collapsed looked to have been a residence, but it was no less of a target to him.

In the air, the blockade runner was still close enough to provide support, as well as serving as a target for the attention of ground-based AA. Yalu and the other banshees could use it to gain an edge over the incoming banshee squadrons. However, their ship could not continue to soak up damage forever. An alert went out that there would be two minutes before the blockade runner retreated. Once that happened, any pilot still in the air over the city would be in much more danger.

[User]
Those are many civilian buildings going up, Yalu thought to himself. The first line of them had little warning. Would the others have time to get out of the line of fire?

There was no time to act on it now. Enemy aircraft were showing up on his motion sensor before his eyes caught them through the poor visibility. They could see him and his wingmates. Yalu dove to gain speed and lined up a close shot on one banshee to the left. A few plasma bolts flew out to force evasion. The enemy rolled to one side -- a manoeuvre not easily interrupted. Yalu mouthed a prayer and lead a fuel rod into its path.

The sky lit up for a second. Yalu figured something out.

"Air, pull back towards the blockade runner," Yalu said over comms. "Do not cover me."

It was a relatively straight path to the kaidon's palace from the breach in the wall. A wide, main parade street at that. Yalu swung around and dove for the street level at full boost, trailing lines of bright plasma and several enemy banshees behind him. He levelled roughly thirty metres from the ground and kept going at full speed. He would be below the anti-air batteries and very much in view of any civilians left in the area. Hopefully his risky flight path would give them notice enough to evacuate under the pretence of leading the enemy away.


[System]
Age:
Eighteen years old

Gender:
Male

Family:

* An Nguyen — Father †
* Linh Nguyen — Mother
* Dan Nguyen — Brother
* Ryan Nguyen — Brother

Pre-Outbreak Occupation:
Student

Personality:
Quan is a shadow of society, distancing himself from its members more often than not. With few friends and many "associates", his introverted nature is facilitated by his general lack of interest in most things. Quan rarely attempts to stand out in a crowd, though sometimes, it backfires and attention is directed towards him anyway. Regardless of what he calls "unnecessary attention", he is soft-spoken and thoughtful, even in his shyness.

Biography:
Quan was not always the depressive, reserved individual that he is now; there was a time when he was like the other adult's children, enjoying youth with friends and the like. Born in Buras, Louisiana, he was the energetic youngest son that his family poured all their love and resources into, though his parents had already been divorced before his birth. Two years down the line, the family eventually separated from one another, with Quan and his two older brothers moving to Philadelphia with their mother. During elementary school, they would learn that his father perished from Hurricane Katrina's devastating path through their former home state.

In Pennsylvania, Quan lived a happy childhood and grew up a healthy child, growing taller than his family members by the time he was in middle school. He was notorious for being a troublemaker throughout the years, proud to be one of the "popular kids" as he spent late nights playing video games and moving onto other hobbies in high school. During his sophomore year, Quan befriended a girl named Julia who was two years older than him and ran away from her parents' home, and the two began seeing one another soon after.

It was evident that Julia was suffering from her own personal demons, but whenever Quan attempted to soothe her, she would state that nothing was wrong. Worrying about prying too much, he decided to not pursue the issue persistently. This decision would change almost every aspect of Quan for the rest of his life afterwards; at the end of the school year, when he went to the usual spot that he and Julia would hang out, he only found a letter that said she was ending her life. Unable to believe it, he searched for her, even traveling to the southern parts of the state on one occasion and looking. After days of searching, Julia's letter proved to be true; people discovered a girl's body washed up in the Delaware River near the Ben Franklin Bridge.

From this point on, Quan withdrew himself from society; he cut off almost all of his activities and relationships with friends, and locked himself in his room, confiding in his longtime hobby of playing video games. During his junior and senior years, he has been at odds with his family because of his lack of preparation for his future, and is constantly threatened to be kicked out onto the streets.

Like most people who invested a large amount of time into video games and the Internet, Quan was no stranger to the zombie threat, and instantly recognized the virus as the comings of a zombie apocalypse when the leaks came through that it was bringing the dead back to life.

Disabilities / Fears:
Quan suffers from a moderate case of depression, and has not made the initiative to seek help. As a result, he can become extremely volatile in times of heavy stress and pressure, often lashing out on others in physical and verbal abuse if his emotions remain bottled for long periods of time. He is claustrophobic, and shows anxiety being around many people.

Weapon(s):
For now, a pocket knife that Quan always had in case he would need to protect himself.

Supplies:
Typical items — his wallet that contains money, identification, and a picture of him and Julia. He also has his cell phone.

Theme Song

[User]
Quan Nguyen

And then nothing notable happened for the next hour.

With his breakfast ingested, Quan watched as his brother took their empty plates to the kitchen sink. He got up from the table and started towards the staircase, stopping as the pictures framed atop of the fireplace caught his attention. It was hard to recall the boy captured within the images; his first basketball game as a freshman just as his feet lifted off the ground to take a jump shot, him and his cabin mates during the fifth grade camping trip, the smug smile on his junior portrait.

"Let's go get some coffee," a firm hand shook his shoulder, startling Quan as he saw that it was only his brother. "I don't think I can stay awake without it."

Quan looked to the side. "I don't want any."

Ryan playfully wrapped his arm around Quan's neck. "Oh well, dude. I get lonely sometimes," he laughed. "Plus, you talk to that computer more than you do to me. We're bros!"

"Fine," Quan knew that trying to say no to Ryan would only make him more persistent.

"Be out front in a few, I'll get my car," Ryan released his hold, skirting between Quan and the fireplace and out of the door.

Within the next few minutes, Quan quickly brushed his hair down and threw on a pair of jeans and a brown tee shirt, wearing a black hoodie over it. He was used to the cold weather during the time of year, and he didn't want to keep Ryan waiting. After telling his mother where they were going, he ran through the door and into the passenger seat of his brother's car, which had been heating up since then. Strapping on the seatbelt, Quan dug into his pockets and pulled out his phone, flipping through the screen as he plugged in his headphones.

"Where to?" Ryan blurted out abruptly as the car revved to life, pulling into the street.

"A coffee place?" Quan replied.

Ryan snickered. "Thanks, smartass. What coffee place?"

If he was the one who wanted to get coffee, why is he asking me where to go? It grated his nerves. "Starbucks. I don't know."

"Of course," Ryan drew a sigh. "The farthest from home-"

Quan snapped a little bit. "I didn't ask to go with you, you just dragged me along."

"Calm down, I'm just messing with you. Christ."

It annoyed Quan that he looked like an older version of Ryan, given his taller stature. When they had been the same height, people always mixed the two of their names up; they could've passed as twins, if it were the case. Like him, Ryan had played basketball at the same high school he attended years ago, even being the captain of the team at some point. Though, after high school, Ryan chose to not move on to college, and started fiddling with cars instead. He had said that twelve years in a classroom was enough, and he didn't need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to read more books that had nothing to do with what he liked. Hell, the moment Dan graduated, he went straight into the Marines without a second thought. Even then, Ryan and his mother pushed Quan to be the first in their family to attend college, but to be honest, he felt the same as his brother did.

An absentminded Quan had not realized they had arrived until he heard the door to the driver's seat closing. Awkwardly running after his brother, Quan entered the bustling Starbucks with quiet anxiety. Why is there so many people?

"Guess coffee is a natural remedy to hangovers," Ryan mumbled to Quan, whose right hand pinched the side of his jeans tightly. Blinking uncomfortably, he felt the urge to turn and run out of the Starbucks. "Let's wait for these lines to clear up..."

[Assistant]
ALEXANDRA "ALEX" METCALFEDecember 26th 2015 10:07am
Once the broadcast was over Alex pushed herself back up onto her feet, switching the television off for the peace and quiet her mother would need when she woke up. Plodding back through the small one bedroom apartment, she made into the room where her sound asleep brother was still laying. It was the day after Christmas and she allowed him to have an extra lay in for today. That was the only thing of Christmas, neither of them really got presents. Only presents Alex could afford after paying the bills for Jordan. She spent the most on him, she never needed anything and hated spending money on herself. As quietly as she could, Alex gathered a pair of black leggings, a casual white top and her old camo jacket, making her way into the bathroom to wash and change. Once dressed and ready, she gathered her things from around the room and packed them into a backpack that she threw over her shoulder. Making sure she planted a light kiss on her brother's forehead before she headed out.

The fresh air was a pleasant hit as Alex walked out into the open street. The sun rays dancing and bouncing along the pathway. A clear blue sky, the vastness of it surrounding her, there wasn't a single white cloud in sight. Alex began down the road, digging into her jacket pocket for her cigarette and lighter. She carefully lit the end of a cigarette as she walked down the pavements, throwing the lighter back into her pocket. Where about's she was going wasn't clear to her. Most mornings going for a walk did her well, a pleasant way of starting the morning. Alex took a long drag of her cigarette, she thought of her brother who she left at home with their mother. This walk was going to be quick, Alexandra hated leaving Jordan with their mother, she never looked after him and Alex felt like she was only worried about getting more alcohol, not about the welfare of her kids. If their mother did she would've proved it to them a long while ago. She didn't want him seeing their mother like that. Alex may have grown up with it but she wanted the best for her brother, not having to work around a constant drunk fake of a mother. The only reason she had stuck around and carried on living with her mother was for Jordan, otherwise she would've left as soon as she was old enough.

Not even after a few minutes of walking, Alex neared the local Starbucks. It was handy for their to be a coffee shop just around the corner, sometimes its just what you need in the morning. She threw the cigarette onto the floor, trending on it as she pushed the door to the coffee shop open. The sweet aroma of coffee took over her senses. The bitter, yet invitingly warm smell filled the atmosphere. The shop was pretty full with younger people and adults sitting at tables like they knew what they were doing. Alex continued to scan the coffee shop as she joined the queue of customers for her coffee.

[User]
Laura Miller

December 26, 10:38 AM
Starbucks Cafe

As her rather cheery introduction went over to the two men, one of them returned a response. The Starbucks guy. He introduced himself as James, and the lazy sleepy guy beside him as Miller, giving off a rather attractive half-smirk as he did, a hand outstretched for a shake. She returned the gesture, shaking hands with James. "Well, good morning to you both, James and Miller, I hope you two have a great day ahead." she answered with a bright smile.

She then left the two men at the table, walking over to the counter to collect her cup of steaming hot chocolate. She sighed in satisfaction as she took a sip of the delicious chocolate. What a great way to start a morning. Most people did with coffee or tea, she did it with chocolate.

A short while later, Laura glanced up at a new arrival at the cafe. Golly, there sure were alot of people here this morning! Taking another glance at the guy, she realised it was Ryan from the automobile shop she worked at. The very same. She had worked together with Ryan on a number of occasions and was pretty chummy with the guy. He was part of circle of good friends at the workshop. Walking over to him, she called out to him in a pleasant surprise.

"Ryan! Hi..Good morning to you! Fancy seeing you here on our day off!" A younger guy then caught up with him, his appearance strikingly similar to Ryan. She assumed him to be Quan, the brother he had mentioned once or twice before in the past. She waved to him, "Good morning Quan, that's your name, isn't it? It's nice to meet you."

[Assistant]
James and Thomas Holtz

Thomas responded to the hug positively. He did like Kayla, and he couldn't wait for his child to be born. He always wanted children. All he was scared about was the baby being a gentile. Kayla wasn't Jewish - as far as he knew - and his father wanted him to marry a Jewish girl. "How's it been?" he asked Kayla.

---

James walked out of the synagogue and breathed some fresh air. It had been a long service, as usual, and he began the walk home. He decided that on the way back he would get some coffee, probably Starbucks, because it was on the way home.

[User]
Kayla Campbell

"Oh you know, just been traveling around for the past month since we last met, and going to be watching my niece for a few days shes coming over to my place pretty soon." Kayla answered, she leaned herself up against the wall her one foot pressed up against the wall to let people pass. "What about you, and want something my treat?" Kayla said looking over at the group of people who started to gather into the Starbucks, she was nervous of being pregnant though she always wanted a little child to take care of on her own. And Thomas was a nice guy, she then got up and pulled out her wallet again looking at the menu for a moment and decided on just a regular coffee looking over at Thomas. "What would you like?" She asked him as the line started to move, Kayla felt her phone vibrate and quickly picked it up and it was her sister Alicia. "Hey whats up?" She asked while the line was moving slowly. "We are on our way to your place, where are you right now?" Her sister asked Kayla looked over at Thomas and smiled at him for a moment. "Just by the Starbucks outside my place, I can get you something and hang for a bit before your treatment?" Kayla asked. "Sure that works, i'll be there in a few minutes." Kayla hung up and looked at Thomas. "Sorry it was my older sister."

Lilly Campbell

Lilly finished eating her cereal rather quickly, and then drank the rest of her milk looking up at her mother and smiled at her as she got up and started to put her plates down into the sink. "Thank you sweetie, now go and get your coat on we will be over at Aunt Kayla's soon." Alicia said as she went to call her sister as she went to grab her things ready as well for the drive down to the city. Lilly came back a few minutes later with a pink winter coat on as well as her backpack with her clothes and toys that she wanted to bring with her. "I'm ready." Lilly said and her mother smiled as she opened the front door and got into her van and started to drive down the street and headed over towards the city.

[Assistant]
"Nice to-"

"Small world, ain't it!" Ryan interrupted, seemingly in awe. Quan sighed as his brother took over the conversation, standing to the side and messing with his phone. It was one of the things he hated about his brother; sometimes, he talked way too much, and in his excitement, forgot about other people. "It's like the whole freakin' city got drunk and needs coffee to make it through the day, Laura."

Quan tapped his brother's shoulder with the back of his palm, pointing to one of the few vacant tables. "I'm going over there."

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan said. "Anyway, you hear about the east and that virus? Quan's told me about some of that fucked up shit, said it was zombies. Not gonna lie, it's pretty sketchy..."


[System]
Age: 15

Superhero Alias: Satsui-Yurei

Superhero status: Aspiring hero

Quirk Name: Sensory Divination

Quirk Ability: ( Passive: when used on self) An aura that extends 18in out from his body. Aura can be extended or reduced. Quirk allows him to sense anything that comes in contact with his aura and its relative information like speed, trajectory, relative force. Drawbacks: If aura is extended too far it can result in sensory overload from too many stimuli, resulting in headaches, dizziness, and blackouts. Can also be extended to a singular object (leaving him uncovered) giving him information about the structural integrity of object (also applies to people).

Looks: 5'9" Dark skin tinged with copper swirls, golden colored eyes,athletic build, black hair shaved on sides with twist on top. (similar to kilik from soul eater sans glasses). Generally can be seen with a serious face.

Brief Bio: While both his parents have Quirks that would have allowed them to pursue a career as a Hero, they chose to work in the civilian sector, and became very lucrative and influential from it allowing them to establish worldwide connections. Yasuke was of the same mindset focusing on how his quirk could be utilized in the civilian sector. It wasn't until he experienced a traumatic event (will be detailed later) that he began to turn his focus to Hero work. As his quirk is mostly passive, Yasuke seeks to increase his natural fighting ability. With this in mind he convinces his parents to move to Japan in order to learn martial arts from the source and make a bid for the prestigious U.A. .

[User]
youtube.com/watch?v=zrPxo-QxHn4
It was late at night, a slight drizzle in the air. The harbor was devoid of life, excluding a lonesome figure in a trench-coat holding a briefcase and the slightly swaying ships. A faint light appeared on the seaside horizon. With it came the noise of music, of drunkenness, and of revelry. The figure stood still as the lively Cruise liner approached. While the cruise made port and the passengers scuttled off into the previously dead port, the figure stood watching. As the tide of civilians died down a light aboard the ship started to make its way onto land. With this motion, the figure finally moved to meet the light midway.
"How was your vacation boss?" The figure said in a low scruffy tone.
"It went swimmingly." What appeared to be a three piece suit with light flowing out of every hole replied cheerfully in a surprisingly normal voice.
"How did business fare while I was away?" Dave Henderson asked his right-hand man while they started to methodically walk towards the inner city slums.
"Swell, however some events happened that I figured you would want to hear about." Michael said while hefting the briefcase up
"Oh? tell me while we are walking." The boss said tensely
"A new group of big shots calling themselves the Fortunes of Gentlemen, F.O.C for short."
"So what did they do? I know you wouldn't tell me every crappy little organisation that crops up."
"I did some digging on their quirks, some real nasty ones, hell even a couple that would give you a run for your money."
"tell me about them."
"It's mainly rumors at the moment, was waiting for you to get back before we did the usual "tests", but so far the only ones we know about is that the hatter and gizmo are in on it, A kid named Cloud who was U.A, looked em up on their website, he can manipulate the internet but is otherwise unnoticeable. There are two others, a big fat guy who has some sort of psychological manipulation powers, and a girl named "Voodoo", no clue on her powers."
"hmm" The boss said while stroking his face. "We'll have to see how far they get, but run some tests to confirm their quirks."
"also there is something else but it will need to wait until we get inside."
"hmmph"
After half an hour of navigating through the slums and late night bars they arrived at a brick warehouse marked "Dave's solar power" alongside with a phone number
While opening the slightly rusty door to the interior, Michael started to explain.
"There was an attack at the U.A entrance exams, no evidence on any particular group yet. The U.A also covered up a fair bit of it from what it seems."
"sigh, not enough information, not enough. Whoever can attack U.A and get away with it most definitely poses a threat to us. Find out what you can, first lets head to my return meeting." the boss said while lighting a cigar and inserting into his mouth covered by the light.
As they went by the stocked shelves of solar panels they reached a rusted door, behind which led a staircase down. Beneath the warehouse was a thick steel door bolted to the foundation of the warehouse. Upon knocking on the door a visor slit opened, then slammed shut. After a moment, the door slowly slid open and the pair stepped through into the small junction of hallways and concrete. After navigating through the winding halls a large wooden door beckoned them to enter. Inside there was a large lavish room with tile flooring and wood walling. In the center of which stood a massive table surrounded by 5 chairs, 2 of which were empty.
As the two entered the previous chatter between the three had swiftly ended as the two strode to the head of the table.
The boss took his throne at the end of the table as Michael took the one to the right of him.
"I am pleased with what I have heard so far, Very good in running business in my month long vacation."
"However I do still want the details of how each branch has done, But first I have an announcement! We are moving to the next stage of our plan, getting our fingers in as many pies as possible, so while on the cruise I have come up with plans to get inside men into not only the police force, but to get into a position to recruit promising individuals from U.A itself, to convince you of these plans gentlemen I ask a simple question. Who has ever heard of a pro hero becoming a janitor? Because I sure haven't."

[Assistant]
For Jyn the test wasn't very difficult, he didn't mind tests, but he preferred to use his brains in the field of duty rather than in a classroom. After the test was finished he decided to go catch some fresh air and think back upon all of the events that had just happened. He felt rather good about his achievements in the exams so far and he was definitely going to keep on his toes in case some other situation emerged during the exams. He left the exam room and saw that were a couple of other students hanging around and Jyn decided to socialize for a bit.

"Hello, I hope you guys didn't have much trouble with that written exam" he said as he put his hands in his pocket.

"I don't mind these kinds of tests, but I like to use my head when on the job. A written test is not like having to use your head in a deadly situation with life and death in the balance" he stated as his mind thought about all of the possible crimes he would have to deal with in the future when he earned the rank of hero.

[User]
The fact that yin returned her smile made Alexa's heart sing.

"I know they said high school is hard, but that a whole nother thing!" Alexa did want to have in slip away. Deep down, she felt like this girl had to be a good person, she worked so hard to keep others safe.

"You bossy? No, so don't worry. I'm just glad we got as many people out unharmed." Alexa said as she waved her hands defensively. "I'm still surprised i made it through the exam. I felt this strong sensation to…"

'May I shouldn't say anything about wanting to quit in the very beginning. Heroes don't say things like that, Do they?'

"Your rift was amazing. How does it work? I've never seen a strong quik like that before." The enthusiasm was spilling out as she got a little closer.

Sometimes her excitement could be a lot to take in. She knew that about herself, but it was hard for her to maintain sometimes. Before she could recoil and bring down her excitement, slam!

Alexa's eyes went wide as she lost her footing. What the hell hit her?

'What the?! So embarrassing!'

She felt her bag fly off her arm as she tried to right herself. There was no point though. She let the fall happen.

"Oof!" She was loud as she hit the ground. Her eyes were closed tight.

It took her a minute to settle down and open her eyes. She saw a red headed kid with glasses in front of her. He must have been the one to hit her. Her eyes narrowed in on him as she got up quickly. He was super apologetic which made her feel a lot better. He was familiar too, but why.

"No no, I'm fine. Don't worry. " Alexa said quietly, she took his hand.

'Strong grip.'

Alexa returned his smile as she let him help her up.
'Herito?...Why does that sound familiar.' The wheels in her head turned. Something bothered her about that name. What was it? Finally it came to her. 'The experimentation kid!'

Her smile remained the same as she got to her feet. When she stood up, she was ready to introduce herself to him. Then a loud beeping went off and he was gone soon after.

'Saved by the bell.'

"Sorry about that Yin." She said as she bent over to pick up her bag. She didn't pay it any mind as she slipped it over her shoulder.

Once she had her bag, she listened to Yin's question. It made her think for a sec.

"I'm going to be honest. I think I did terribly. I was hoping to take out a few robots, but I had to focus on saving people. Not that i regret doing so...I just hope they give us a break. I mean I really tried hard, but I don't know."

Before she could feel sorry for herself, she heard someone leaving the classroom. Alexa snapped her head when she saw the other student. She would give him a big smile.

" We were just talking about what we thought about it. Didn't seem too too hard." She hadn't seen this guy before.

'Maybe he was in a completely different section of the physical exam.'

"Yeah practical exams don't exactly measure up to what we were up against yesterday. No matter how hard you study. I'm Alexa by the way." Her voice was cheerful, then she pointed toward Yin. "This is Yin."

[Assistant]
Tokiko put her eye patch on and looked at her test. Everything had been answered properly and looked over again. She glanced around the room and saw many students still working.

Looks like I got done a little early. Only time will tell if that's good or bad.

She handed her test to a teacher and walked outside into a hallway. As she strolled by the window, she took in the scenery. Trees swayed in the breeze, and it was sunny outside.

Its really pretty out here. I hope I make it i-Who is that?

She noticed a bikini-clad hero, standing near the test room. She seemed to be guarding the area, after the chaos from the day before.

So she's what that guy was breathing hard over...Ugh.

Tokiko shook her head.

I wonder what her quirk is though...Well, if she works around here, I'll find out eventually.

Tokiko went outside made her way to the entrance and stopped.

Oh yeah, mom and dad wanted to pick me up today.

Her parents were quite concerned when they saw the newscast on TV. While Tokiko was more or less fine after the practical exam, they were worried about her safety. Her parents wanted to both pick her up and drop her off from school, but she had managed to convince them into letting her walk up there.

 It's about 30 minutes before my family comes...

Tokiko sat under a nearby tree, looking out at the entrance.

You almost wouldn't believe they were attacked yesterday. It's just so warm and sunny and nice...

Tokiko's eyelids lowered, and she began to sleep.

[User]
***EDITED TO PROVISIONAL LICENSE EXAM***

 Yasuke walked down the stadium stairs, eyes scanning the arena. He took note of all the entrances, exits, and the other people in attendance, trying to judge the best avenue of attack a villain could use. Not that he had much to be worried about, not here at least. This was the Provisional License exam after all. The professional Hero's would be on high alert, and the students taking this test would be the next Hero's to enter the scene, at least the one that pass, Yasuke thought. Still it was a good habit to maintain if he wanted to excel as a hero. He was excited to see how the Provisional exam would differ from his own. To see what he could learn, how he could prepare. His parents had connections that allowed him to bypass the en masse entrance exam via recommendation. That revelation had been a shock. He knew his parents supported his new-found desire to become a hero, but he wasn't expecting them to take an active role. [I] [b] That just means I have to work that much harder. [/I] [/b]

 Finding a suitable place to observe from Yasuke sat and waited for the exam to begin. While his first goal of getting accepted to UA had been achieved, he still had a long way to go. His next goal was to be down in this arena with the other applicants. There were so many more students here than during his interview! How powerful are their quirks, he wondered? [b] [I] [b]How powerful were the students from the other schools?[/I][/b] He wouldn't have to wait long to find out, the announcer was getting ready to start the exam.

 As the aspiring Hero's started their race against the clock to battle each other, knocking other students out without getting knocked out themselves, Yasuke began to catalog all the different quirks he could…some form of elemental control… a barrier quirk… he never thought to use a water quirk like that...Hmm his movements seem similar to mine, moving before the attacks even come…a mass area of effect quirk, good for multiple enemies…a speed quirk? Could I ever hope to be that fast? The passive physical enhancement from father's quirk won't be enough. I can't be that fast, but i can be faster than I am now… A smile slowly began to creep its way onto Yasuke's face, but when he noticed it he immediately corrected his face back to one of stoicism. There were just so many powerful quirks!
Even though the exam was over he could feel his adrenaline begin to pump in anticipation, as his aura pulsed and tried to expand, reaching to gain more information in anticipation of a fight. He had to forcefully contain it. His earlier excitement ballooned. A smoldering fire burned with an eagerness for the semester to begin. The second years were amazing, but in order to achieve his goal he had to better. He couldn't hope to beat them now, but soon. He would use all these other Hero course students to refine and master his quirk. He could barely contain his excitement. The smirk returned to his face, but this time he let it stay. It's time to go beyond!


[System]
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Personality: Defensive, cautious, thoughtful, creative, suspicious.
Appearance: Short black girl with wild hair, big hips, honey-brown eyes.
Equipment: One ratty backpack containing: a serrated hunting knife, homemade hardtack, a Nalgene, a can opener, and a cool-looking pair of tweezers she found on the ground. (you never know if you'll need 'em, right?)
Weapons: That hunting knife from earlier and a slingshot- she used to have a handgun, but it was too hard to keep the ammo stocked so she scrapped it.

[User]
It had only taken two days for Mattie's entire family to die. Interestingly enough, none of them had become infected with the virus that turned human beings into reanimated, flesh-hungry corpses. No, while they were all busy worrying about that, they had forgotten that there were other diseases that lurked in the carcass of a collapsed civilization. Even worse, her brother had fallen victim to something much less visible: despair. He'd been the first death. After spending several hours making hardtack and making weapons out of broken glass shards, she'd come up to check on him. He'd hanged himself with a sheet from the balcony of the house they were barricaded in. There wasn't even a note.

As if that hadn't rattled her enough, death decided to tear through the rest of her siblings and her adoptive mother. All of them. The background was this: She'd had several jugs of water sitting on the kitchen counter. Half had just been collected, and Mattie had put the iodine tablets in them not five minutes before. The other half were safe to drink. And she, in her utter stupidity, had neglected to label which were which. Her youngest sister, Isabella, who was nine, had woken up from a long nap and went straight for the water. No one saw her drink from the contaminated jug, but in less than an hour she had a steadily-rising fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

With no running water to dispose of all that biological waste, Mattie and her mother were unable to contain what they both were fairly sure was cholera, no matter how much bleach they depleted from what they had. They were the second ones to fall ill, and from there it spread like wildfire. Within twelve hours, everyone in that damn house was ill, and within six, Isabella had died from dehydration, followed by the rest of her siblings. Mattie didn't quite know how she survived, as she spent at least a day unable to move with a dangerously-high fever, passing in and out of vibrant fever-dreams and wild hallucinations that she was too disoriented to distinguish from reality, and of course, vomiting out more than she thought she had in her.

And then, suddenly, she felt fine, despite the entire house smelling like feces and rotting bodies. Mattie wasted no time grieving––she could do that later–– and rooted around until she found cans of gasoline. She'd doused everything, walked out and thrown a lit match over her shoulder, unsure what to do and laden with heavy jugs of clean water and a hastily-gathered pack.

Now, to the present. She had planned on strictly rationing her hardtack but it turned out she didn't really need to. She hadn't felt like eating for the three days since she'd walked out of that burning hellhole of a house. Now, disoriented with hunger and rattled with the ever-present paranoia of a living corpse coming out of nowhere and gnawing her flesh, Mattie stumbled clumsily in the direction of a Wal-Mart. She hoped there were enough supplies left in there to restock, but she certainly wasn't going to count on it.

[Assistant]
"Just close your eyes," Nicholas told her, gently running his thumbs over her eyelids. He was shaking. His voice was shaking. He had to go out there. And he was terrified.

The next difficult decision he had to make was this: did he take the rifle, low on ammo, while he scavenged and leave his sister defenseless, or did he leave the rifle, low on ammo but still loaded, with an eleven year old girl who had never fired a weapon before? Despite what might have been best, he settled on the latter. He wrapped Alissa's arms around the rifle as if it were a teddy bear, and her eyes cracked open to look at the weapon.

"I'm leaving that with you and you need to be a big girl about it, okay? If anyone, even mom, tries to attack you, aim at them and pull the trigger. You understand?"

Alissa looked up at him and nodded.

"It's gonna be loud if you have to pull the trigger. Hopefully you won't need to. I'm going to find food for us, okay? I'll be right back."

They were in a Wal-Mart. A Wal-Mart, and yet it was utterly without food of any kind. And any kind would be paradise right now. They had a single box of Saltine crackers which was getting emptier by the day, and they couldn't long survive on just crackers and water. Nicholas feared they might have to resort to cannibalism...but how sanitary would that be?

The thought causing his skin to crawl, Nicholas headed for the front entrance of the store. As soon as he stepped out, wielding his machete, he caught sight of a stumbling humanoid figure and immediately took cover, back inside of the building, behind a crane game machine. He peeked out from its edge, completely oblivious to the fact that he was visible through the transparent glass, and eyed the figure warily. It was a woman, but whether living dead or just plain living, he couldn't rightly tell immediately.

[User]
There was a flicker of movement in the corner of Mattie's eye that made her stop and stand alert. Suddenly she thought of what might be inside the Wal-Mart. What if people had gotten infected in there? What if it was crawling with the living dead? Why hadn't she considered this before? Heart pounding, she reached into her backpack, got out her slingshot, and picked a rock up off the ground. It wasn't by any means a very effective weapon, but a properly-aimed jagged rock could break open the skull and make it much easier for her to toss another stone and obliterate the brain.

But she didn't shoot the sharp-edged rock which she held at the ready. She wanted to know if this person was...a person, before she leaped to conclusions. But the figure had disappeared. It was somewhere in the Wal-Mart, near the entrance, but she couldn't see it anymore. Mattie weighed her risks. She'd been sleeping partly on rooftops, partly in wrecked bedrooms of houses she wasn't sure were infected. She was desperate for shelter, real shelter that protected from the elements and from disease.

She took a single deep breath. In and out. Stay near the entrance. Be quiet. She picked up several more rocks, her chest aching with dread. She didn't want to go in there, she wanted to run far away. But if she could find food in there, food and fresh clothes and supplies, then maybe it'd put off her death for a good while.

She approached on newly-energized feet, with a quickened pace.

In and out, she told herself. In and out. In and out. Mattie stepped foot into the Wal-Mart with the feeling that most people have when entering a Wal-Mart (impending doom), and pulled back her slingshot, scanning the entrance of the store through narrow eyes.

[Assistant]
As the woman neared the Wal-Mart further, she seemed to be wielding something - a slingshot? Nicholas could have scoffed. What damage would a slingshot do to a zombie? His grip on the machete tightened, and he held it with both hands like a baseball bat. His entire body was shaking violently out of fear, his heart pounding hard against his chest. A whimper threatened to break out of his throat.

Finally, he mustered the courage to squeak, "Stop!"

[User]
Mattie jumped violently at the sound of a voice, said "Asscheek sandwich!" and whipped her head around to look at the man. He was shaking. She was shaking. Yes, a well-aimed rock or two might concuss a living human, but it was rotting flesh that it worked best against and even then there was much less than a guarantee it'd do its job right. She looked down at the weapon. It looked like a machete. She was practically at his mercy, even if she managed to get out her hunting knife.

"I just need some supplies," she said, trying to keep her voice firm. "I'll be out before you know it." She knew very well that even most living humans had lost the ability to reason when society collapsed.

[Assistant]
Nicholas had revealed himself, stepping out from behind the crane game machine. It felt like his heart was in his throat and ready to be vomited out at any moment. His cursed limbs were shaking like leaves so that he could only imagine what his voice was going to sound like when he finally mustered the audacity to speak again. Still, he tightly held the machete like a bat. In reality, the slingshot wouldn't do him much harm whereas he could get a few good slices in with his weapon, no matter how dull it was.

"I just need some supplies," said the woman.

Solemnly, Nicholas shook his head. "D-Don't we all?" he said, rather upset at the fact that his supposed to be witty comment came out as a stuttered mumbling. "There's- There's nothing here," he continued. "That's why I w-was leaving. I have to, uh, I have to, uh," he shook his head again, frustrated. He spoke slower, "I have to find my own supplies."

[User]
Mattie swallowed. Shit. She was exhausted. Depressed. Just wanted to lay down and–– a vision of the last time she saw her brother flashed through her head. No. She wanted to live, god damn it. This guy seemed worn out too. From how much he was shaking in both his voice and his physicality, he was either too scared to be any good at defending himself, or too malnourished. Or both. Perhaps they'd be more effective at finding useful things if they joined forces.

Trusting the wrong person could be her last mistake, however.

Her voice came out as measured and taut as she felt. "Then perhaps I can join you."

[Assistant]
"Join me?"

These words confused Nicholas simply because of the fact that the only other human he'd come in contact with had tried to kill him over half a loaf of bread. His whole demeanor transitioned from anxiously alert to depressingly exhausted. There was nothing other than his own life that he had to lose in letting this woman join him in his - their - fight for survival. His mother would not see the end of the week, and his sister didn't have much longer either. Of that, he was sure.

"Sure," he finally said, "but again, there's nothing here. We have to go somewhere else."

[User]
She nodded curtly and let out a breath of tentative relief. For now, it seemed like they were set to cooperate, and though she would certainly have to keep an eye on him until more trust developed between them. If it did. Mattie had her doubts that anyone outside of her family would earn such trust, and, well, that meant the whole world.

"Deal. We split what we find evenly, got it?" She hoped that would be advantageous enough for him to settle on it, but she had little hope and zero faith. Why should she? "Fuck me over and that little sword of yours is going straight up your ass," she warned. And then she got moving, exiting the Wal-Mart swiftly in a way that left no room for argument. She made a note to get the knife out of her backpack and have it somewhere she could quickly arm herself with it, just in case he became a threat.

But somehow she had a seed of doubt that he would. He looked weirdly familiar, which was nonsense. He was a complete stranger.

[Assistant]
"That's no way to talk to someone who just agreed to become an ally," Nicholas growled, though his adrenaline was pumping harder upon voicing the mild threat. Who was she to talk to him like that? Still, he felt the need to shake it off and let it go. It would be no use making living enemies - there were enough undead ones to handle.

"There's a hardware store and a convenience store side-by-side about five miles from here," he said. "Which, as you can tell, is almost the middle of nowhere. I- are you from around here? Oh, God, how rude of me. I'm Nicholas, but everyone calls me Nick."

It was a spontaneous question, but Nicholas couldn't shake the feeling that he'd met this person before. His eyes squinted in confusion as he stared at her just a little too long before he shook his head and looked away. There was no way he'd ever met her before in his life, yet he felt almost emotionally connected with her. As if they'd been through a lot together.

How stupid.

[User]
Mattie felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise at the tone of the man's voice, but she responded with only a quiet nod. There'd be no use arguing; even if it didn't escalate to something dangerous, it might mean the loss of an ally. She didn't know how useful he'd be yet, but she'd just have to weather it. Hardware store, convenience store. Hmm. She doubted that they'd be unlooted, but perhaps the hardware store would have been overlooked for more immediate needs like food and water.

The man's introduction came out of nowhere, and the name Nicholas took Mattie by surprise. Her eyes widened for just a moment but her expression was quickly back to normal. There was just something about the name Nick. Through her whole childhood, every time she'd heard the name or met someone called that, it had given her the strangest, deja-vu feeling. She'd always hated it. But this time, it felt different–– there was still a deja-vu feeling but it wasn't the same. Somehow. Maybe it was that Nicholas looked like he was feeling something similar.

"My name's Mattie," she finally said, reaching out and shaking his hand. "Um...nice to meet you."