Prey: A Character Driven RP [FINISHED]

[Darth Caelum]

Spoiler: OCC

Quite all right.
Note: My character runs on a certain moral standard, just not anything we would see as a moral system.

Anthology looked up from his....feeding, from a certain point of view, to look around his immediate surroundings. It was still, in comparison, very weak from it's full strength. But It had what was necessary.

It spotted a nearby building, much more open than the other buildings around Anthology. It was open enough to allow for Human vehicles. The vehicles themselves would stop for several minutes, then move on. Anthology guessed that it was either a mandatory thing, or not. If it was mandatory for Human vehicles, then it's lost would be noticed. If not, then no harm.

Anthology raised a hand towards one of the small pillars extending from the ground, made from metal and plastic, and squeezed. It caused the molecular structure of the pillar to vibrate several hundred degrees from it's original position. It replicated the act with the other Pillars as well.

To Anthology's faint, but welcome, surprise, the entire thing exploded. Fragments of metal, plastic and chemical were spewed all around the immediate area. The humans manning the building screamed and attempted to negate the flames melting their skin, those that were still alive anyway. The humans within the vehicles were either dead or slowly roasting. Around a dozen or so cars were in or around the building, more or less. Anthology ignored the screams.

It had seen atrocities several dozen exponents higher than this.

Anthology then watched the continuing inferno, seeing it spread to the other buildings and watching the Humans' panic. It breathed their panic and fear, but it merely watched what the Humans would do.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

Lily had been sizing up the situation from outside for a few minutes, and eventually coming to the conclusion that there was definitely something unplaceably off about the girl tucking into an extremely late breakfast, and the women sitting in the booth directly behind her were quite clearly spooks. Not highly trained and fairly obvious, the pair seemed to have alerted the girl to something, making her quickly pay and leave. Following on, Lily saw the girl climb into a van. Thinking on her feet, she opened the door on the other side of the cab and setpped up, closing the door after herself.
"Keep quiet, you're being tailed." Lily said, looking directly in front of her and startling the girl. "I'm going to get you out of this and leave them secure in the fact you're innocent. True or not." She reassured "First, you'll have to start the van, then you'll do whatever you have to do next, after which, a masked man will rob this vehicle and you'll report it to the police. No criminal would go to the police in their right mind, so they'll have to drop suspicion."

 

[SamuelT]

Already this is getting cluttered. By good advice of my man Quad, A group appeared:

<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/members/Prey-RP-Group>This righty here.

Please join, so any OOC chat can happen in there.

 

[RootbeerJello]

<spoiler=OOC> I need to finish this post after dinner, but I'm being harassed by my family right now.

In the sewer below Paris, a small man lay curled on his side, sleeping. His clothes, which were in the style of the 1950s, were decomposing, and a silky, pitch black flowed around him in a large pool stemming from his eyes, nose, and mouth. Although many people would pass him off as dead, if you listened carefully, small, shallow breaths could be heard approximately every six minutes. It had been that way for the past 45 years, and it could have stayed that way until the end of time, if the sewer and street above had not been obliterated in a jarring instant of light and sound.

The explosion instantly killed every person in the immediate area, and 17 deaths were later recorded, but the fragile-looking man was not killed. That's because Basaran was not a human. Basaran was a creature made of shadows, simply assuming the form of a human. His emaciated form was thrown across the sewer and dashed off a wall, shattering into a million pieces.

The newly opened body was revealed as nothing more than a receptacle for the shadows, Basaran's true form. Impossibly vast, jet-black streams of darkness flew from the now disintegrating body like a grotesque caricature of bloodshed, splattering across the wall, before groupng into one pool and assuming a more shadow-like behavior. As the light from above met the mass of shadows, it burned away at Basaran's being.

The shadow slunk out of the crater the explosion made, before pulling itself from the ground and condensing into the silhouette of the small man again. The man's skin rippled into existence, and Basaran joined the screaming crowds. As he ran, he felt his body being pulled, as if by a magnet, towards one point, before being violently thrust back out. This pulse of attraction and repulsion continued steadily as Basaran identified the source.

He soon saw the source. A creature that could only be described as "empty". It was a void, a mass of nothingness, and it showed no emotion as it meandered away. Basaran decided he needed to know what it was, and set off in pursuit.

 

[JoJo]

Maya sat tranquilly on a low wall; sucking on a juice drink she had lifted from a supermarket a few minutes before. She studied the people passing by: tradesmen hawking their wares, old folk quietly smoking their pipes, mothers busy buying their daily groceries. She sighed, and then saw something was sitting beside her. It was a small cat, obliviously licking a paw.

"Kitty!" Maya cried and reached out a grubby hand to stroke it. The cat made a high-pitched noise and darted off into the crowd. The little girl jumped off the wall and ran after it. "Come back!" she shouted at the fleeing creature "No-one else knows I'm here!" After running aimlessly through a couple of alleyways and into a bustling thoroughfare she realised that the cat had escaped her.

Disappointed, she was about to turn back when she heard a commotion in the street. A young boy of about nine or ten was running along the road, behind him a large man carrying a rake was following in hot pursuit. She watched with interest as the boy ducked under an awning and hid himself under some steps. The man got to the hiding place and looked around confused for a few seconds before reaching in and pulling out the unfortunate child. From across the street it was difficult for Maya to see what was going on; it appeared that the pursuer had slapped his victim and then dropped him, for a moment later the boy was on the ground running again, this time carrying something orange. Within an instant he had disappeared into the crowd. The small girl stood there for a time, absent-mindedly sucking the juice drink she was still carrying and staring in the direction which the boy had ran, before trundling back to one of her favourite sitting spots.

 

[DktrAgonizer]

Rezetta's head snapped up as she heard somebody slide into the passenger seat of her van. Wide-eyed, she turned her head to stare at the woman as she spoke. Once she was done, Zetta narrowed her eyes and said, "Who are you? And wait do you mean I'm being--" She stopped herself, as her furiously working mind caught up to her. "Wait. Cops? Shit, somebody's got suspicion on me from the drug ring ages ago?"
Zetta shook her head, incredulous. Granted, it hadn't been the best idea for her to remain in the city after she'd barely escaped being killed or captured at the bust all those years ago, but she figured she'd be fine. Her illusions kept her from being noticeable in day-to-day life and she'd kept a low profile after she was almost killed a couple of years back.
Zetta gave a small gasp as the realization hit her. When she started her own robbery business, she'd met a lot of clients. It must have been them, or the angered victims of the houses she hit, who had managed to connect her to the drug ring. One of them had somehow found about her current job, or maybe just the local places she liked to hit up for food, and tipped off the police. In that case, Thorn and Fallon were most likely still safe and out of the country and the two in the diner had just been lying. Or so she sincerely hoped.

"Fuck," she finally said, breaking the silence she'd created while lost in thought. Rezetta eyed Lily with some suspicion, knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel hard enough to hurt. "While I appreciate the help, I'm not leaving until you tell me who you are and why I should trust you."
Before the other woman could reply, Zetta glanced back at the diner and could see the two women through the window. They were getting up from their booth, about to leave.
"Fuck," Rezetta said again. She pulled the van out of the parking space and turned onto the street.
"New plan. I'm not getting out and leaving my van to some random stranger I haven't met before before I get a name and an explanation. Reported stolen or not, I'll get into some deep shit for losing this thing anyway."

 

[Oneirius]

It was very early in the morning, which means the air was cold and somewhat wet, the kind of air that causes even the most well clothed people to shiver slightly. The morning light was pale, but powerful, the kind of light that causes the eyes to twitch a little, especially after the darkness of the night and of the small apartment.
It was in this early hour of every morning, or perhaps almost every morning, that Paul had to wake himself up to go to work. He didn't care, of course. Even if he liked sleeping, he knew that the work was far more important. Not just because of the money, mind you. Because work helps people, even the most insignificant. And he liked helping people. Everybody needed something, and he was pleased to give them that. That's what being a good person means, and Paul liked to think of himself as a good person.
Mr. Alderson was a grocer, a short, but jolly fellow who managed a little corner shop of vegetables and fruits of all kinds, mostly. He also sold bread, soup, some sorts of candies. Things people eat. And he was old, and, as I have already mentioned, somewhat smaller than average.
Which means he was absolutely delighted when Paul asked him if he could be of help, carrying boxes and sacks around and other such menial tasks. A sackful of potatoes is a recipe for hernia, for most people, but Paul could carry two, three, sometimes even four without even slowing down. He did it mostly out of good will, but he didn't complain when Alderson paid him for that after so and so hours. That is, after he made sure Alderson actually had enough money to allow that. It would be horrible, to ask something like that of someone who didn't have much. But Alderson, as it turned out, lived alone, his wife was long dead and the kids long left to their own lives. So he didn't mind.
And that was good.
The shop opened very early every day, allowing Paul six, maybe five hours of work before his lessons start. He needed about an hour to walk to the university building, since he didn't like buses very much (people tended to give him a weird eye, because he took an entire bench for himself every time). Still, that's more than enough time to work, get paid, see a smile on a few people's faces, give some help.
The world was were he lived. The world allowed him to live, to wake up every day. It was only fair to pay back the debt, even if he would never be able to do so fully. Nobody can.
But it doesn't mean nobody should try.

 

[Darth Caelum]

Anthology looked at the panicking mass of humanity and felt at ease. It was so...familiar, to his own world for a moment that It had momentarily forgotten. He stood there for a moment, breathing in the sounds of chaos and confusion.

It saw vehicles, bigger than the ones that were obliterated in the explosion, come nearby the burning wreck and proceed to aim a long snake like object at the fire. After a few moments, it spat out a jet of high pressure water towards the fire, and was immediately joined by several other hoses. It could see smaller vehicles cluster around the wreck, screaming loudly and sending out red lights. It took those humans not dead from the explosion and took them somewhere else.

Anthology was intrigued. In the early days, It could remember something like this happening, but It was still too young to understand. Later, his race stopped trying to save others. It continued to watch the scene, uncaring for anything that came near it.

It looked around, and still saw panic and disorder. Anthology was momentarily confused. During It's...creation, for lack of a better term, It's progenitor race were, one way or another, united. When they went to war, they were all united in the desire to go to war. When their society fell apart, they were all united in trying to survive and damn anyone else that got in their way. When the last of them had gathered long after their fall from grace, they were united in their despair.

But not these....Humans. They were exhibiting behavior that Anthology had never seen before. Some stopped to help loved ones and friends, others gathered around the explosion recording the entire instance, others were attempting to take advantage of the situation to acquire monetary funds from others without their permission. In a way, there were more chaotic than Anthology's progenitor race and It was intrigued by them. They seemed entirely....strange.

Amusing.

Anthology looked around and saw a collection of cosmic energy, bound to a malleable form. The Shadow, for whatever reason, seemed to be trying to approach It. Anthology gave It's approximation of a shrug and looked back at the chaos surrounding them, starting to consider blowing up one of the vehicles just to see the Human's reactions.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

"Right now, I have no more reason to trust you than you do me, but if you must know, my name is Lily, and I'm trying to keep you out of hot water. That's the best I can give you until we get out of here." Lily said, trying not to let too much away. "Loosen your grip a little, they'll look in the window on the way past, try to act natural." she continued, putting on her seatbelt and trying to look as casual as possible, scruffing up her jacket a little and leaning into the chair with her shoulder until the spooks had gone. When she was sure they were out of sight, Lily sighed and continued "If you want, it could be a simple joy-ride, found with a few nicks here and there in a car park tomorrow morning, but we could unload anything the feds might take offence to finding at a place I know if you want. They'll be safe there if anywhere, I've set up a little protection around the area I have in mind with a little help from my friends."

 

[SamuelT]

Gabriel stepped out of the coffe bar and into the chill of the night, too late to be calling it evening now. Outside he could hear several sirens clearly, where inside he was deaf to them. With raised eyebrows he saw the firetrucks sped past, the traffic parting in fron of them.

"The fuck?" he whispered to himself. He noted the red glow in the sky where they were going. He quickly followed the machines, already caught in the swelling masses of the people.

 

[JoJo]

Maya walked along a quiet pavement on the richer side of town. It was nearly midday and she was sweating under the Sun's intense rays. Tall iron fences surrounded gardens of lush green grass; each one had a long gravel drive leading up to perfectly neat houses. She heard joyful laughing from just up the street and ran up to investigate. Through the fence she looked into a garden to see three children happily playing in one of the largest paddling pool that she had ever seen. She gasped with delight and skipped round to the causally opened gate, sneaking in carefully.

"It doesn't matter if they can't see me" she thought "I'll just pretend that I'm playing with them!" The small girl danced across the lawn, feeling the soft grass beneath her bare feet. She could already imagine how cool and refreshing the water would be when she heard a low growl behind her. She started and turned to see a huge dog with an even larger collection of dripping white teeth. The dog began to bark loudly and Maya took a step back.

"N... ni... nice doggy" she stammered "I... I... I'm leaving now". She shot away but the beast moved even faster and sunk its teeth into one of her arms. She screamed and tried to pull away but the dog refused to let go. "Help!" she called out. A large man wearing only a pair of bathing shorts appeared at the door of the house.

"What is it Bao?" he called "Is someone there?" He walked out into the garden, stopping just short of Maya herself, and observed the scene. "Stupid dog" he exclaimed "there's no-one there!" The man pulled on the beast's collar and it mercifully let go of the little girl, although as it was dragged away it looked around and growled at her one more time as if to warn her to stay away. The door slammed shut and she looked down at her bitten arm, blood welling up from the deep tooth marks. She got up and began to run back to the safety of the markets, tears filling her eyes as the pain set in. Finally, just as she thought her legs would give up, she got back to her familiar haunt and threw herself down onto an empty sack in front of a quiet clothes stall.

"Owww!" she cried as she cradled her injured arm. "Mummy, where are you?" she wailed into the oblivious crowds, "Why can no-one see or hear me?" The passers-by just kept on walking though, unaware of the suffering happening just feet away from them.

"Please!" she wept "Someone... anyone... help me!"

 

[Quad08]

Adam walked slowly through the smoldering wreckage, his eyes glancing around for any survivors. He had found two already, both of them burned beyond recognition, and he had used his curse to quietly grant them the sweet release of death. To the onlookers, it had looked like he had been trying to save them from the wreckage but to no avail. He had been sure to put on a good show, crying out tearfully as the last of the victims lifeforce flowed into him. An older man had helped him to his feet, a comforting hand placed on his shoulder

"You had done all you could, son"

Adam however, wasn't finished. There might still people in the building, people he could use, so he made his way to a side entrance and began his search. Even with the firefighters around him, Adam figured they'd be easy enough to sneak past.

There was little left inside, mostly a burned out crater. Whatever had happened inside, Adam was quick to deduce that it was not by natural means. Standing amidst the burning wreckage, he found himself contemplating what might have done such a thing. Most unnatural entities he had met were mostly concerned with keeping themselves hidden from humans. Sure, they might be stronger or more powerful, but in the end humans always won.

He sighed and kicked a burning clump of wood. He was getting bored again. With a quick flick of his wrist, he twirled his cane in the air, caught it in his other had and waltzed out the back. Adam knew no one was ever around to appreciate his grandiose gestures but he always had fun with them.

Quickly mixing in with the crowd Adam carefully slipped through and headed away, slipping on his gloves as he did so. As he continued to walk, a most particular sight caught in the corner of his eye caused him to glance behind him. There was...something watching the explosion. All Adam could make out was a sort of haze or heat draft, but something was definitely watching. And a second something was moving towards it. Everything was kind of shifty though, so he couldn't really make out what was going on...but there were definitly several unnatural entities in the area.

Leaning on his cane with an amused grin on his face, Adam watched, curious at what was about to happen. He could use the free entertainment

 

[DktrAgonizer]

"I'll happily go along with this plan of yours, then," Rezetta said as they passed the diner. "As long as I get this thing back and you're sure this will throw off any suspicion..." Her voice trailed off as she lifted one hand from the wheel to her head. With barely a glance in the rear-view mirror, she tugged some pins out of the bun in her hair to let it fall loose past her shoulders. She ran her fingers through her hair agitatedly as she drove. "I have work off for the next two days. I could deal with this thing being missing for then, if that'll help. As for the packages, I don't believe there's anything out of the ordinary in any of them, so they should be fine."

As Rezetta stopped the car at a stoplight, she rolled the driver-side window down a crack. As she did, she heard the howl of a siren, coming closer to them. Right as the light turned green, a firetruck turned the corner and shot past them, going in the direction they'd just come from.
"Huh." Zetta, both hands back on the wheel now, drove forward. "My name is Rezetta, by the way. Zetta, if you prefer." She paused, giving another thoughtful glance at the woman beside her. "Alright then, Lily. I plan on heading to my apartment complex for the day. Shall we go straight there and talk a bit more, or did you have another plan?"

 

[SamuelT]

Gabriel elbowed his way through the crowd. They were all staring at the flames, gaping like sheep. Some fled the scene, their arms filled with the ill-gotten gains from the surrounding stores. He made it to the edge without incident, allowing him to survey the scene. Up front the firefighters were doing their thing, risking their lives and all that. Several more vehicles stopped nearby, and the authorities did their best to break up the mass of people.

Then Gabriel spotted someone with the clothes he expected to find on a waxen mannequin in a museum, complete with cane and everything. What was more was that he could feel that he was one of his world.

He quickly sped to the man, and casually leaned against a nearby surface. Then he remembered that casual really wasn't his forte.

"So, vampire?" He asked.

 

[Quad08]

Adam couldn't help but chuckle at the sudden accusation

"I suppose I have characteristics one might considered to be vampiric"

He turned slowly to observe the stranger, a young, nerdy looking man. While outwardly there was nothing really special about the man, it was quiet obvious from his posture that he was something more, perhaps a wizard or shape-shifter of some kind. Adam had met both kinds on his travels, as well as many others, but he always had to be cautious around these types.

You never knew what there real agenda was

"I assume you're here for those?"

He asked cheerfully, pointing with his cane towards the strange...somethings up and across the street

 

[SamuelT]

Gabriel followed the pointing motion of the cane with his eyes, noting both the black human-shape and the....whatever a small distance away.

"The. Fuck?" He said again, somewhat more pronounced than last time.

"To be honest, I was here for that." He said, waving his hand at the flames. "But I think I'll stay for those. Whatever they are. Or it is, dunno."

 

[Quad08]

A most interesting man. Perhaps maybe even an ally? Depends on his view of the unnatural, I suppose. Still nothing ventured...

Adam thought, finding his reaction to the strange shapes to be both accurate and immensely amusing. So far the man had done nothing to indicate he may be a potential threat, and he seemed to be accepting of whatever supernatural tendencies Adam might have.

...nothing gained

He held out a gloved hand

"I'm Adam. Hopefully the upcoming spectacle proves to be entertaining for the both of us"

 

[Darth Caelum]

Anthology was getting annoyed. It realized that it was becoming a spectacle to these apes, and scoffed at them. It looked at the three things that, so far, seem to be interested in it. It did not look at them with anger, or suspicion, but with total indifference. It did not consider them worth It's time. It dismissed them from It's attention.

The Anomaly looked around again. It spent several minutes looking for something, not content with the Humans' current reactions. It decided on one of the nearby buildings, deciding to use It's powers to collapse it as well.

It used It's senses, throwing them at the building in an attempt to analyze it. Anthology used It's powers to disintegrate the foundations, making the building lose it's cohesion within seconds. The Building fell, damaging several vehicles while doing so.

Anthology watched the Humans, intent on his purpose.

 

[SamuelT]

Apprehensively Gabriel shook the outstreched hand, uncomfortably aware of the so called 'vampiric characteristics'.

"Gabriel, and the same." He said with half a grin.

It seemed that both their wishes were immediately granted, as the building adjacent to the flaming one collapsed, stirring the crowd into a panicked stampede. He noticed that the people who were spying the scene out of the windows started to stream out of their homes, adding to the people massing on the streets. Gabriel squinted as he could sense several of the other people running away as well.; a woman of indiscernable age with a heavy coat and the same gigantic man he'd seen on the way here. The woman shot him a quick glance. Gabriel scratched his head.

"Yeah, I was thinking an all-out godbattle here instead of Godzilla flattening the city. You?"

 

[Quad08]

"Oh, I try not to come into these things with expectations. It always feels so much better to just...go with the flow"

Adam replied, spreading his arms out dramatically before quickly regaining composure and watched as the people ran about, most of them with no idea what was going on. It was if the entire bottom of the building had simply disappeared and with nothing to support it, it had collapsed

Fascinating. I've never seen this many unnatural's in such a small area before

He thought, his eyes drifting over to the young man beside him

"If I was a betting man, I'd say that thing or things over there are what is causing the destruction"