Rein Initiative
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Post by Solomon on Sept 23, 2016 15:10:45 GMT -7
It couldn’t possibly be her. He’d caught the form of the young girl only from the corner of his eye; she had been only the fourth life signature, less of an immediate threat than the two powerful Pandaemoniums attempting to seize the building. But it was like catching a specter at the edge of one’s vision, and, turning to make sure that surely, he was just mistaken, he certainly felt like he was seeing a ghost. In no small part because she appeared to have hardly changed. As the years had gone by, he had feared he would no longer be able to count on his memories of her as she aged, changed, perhaps even took on a different name. Yet, there was the blond hair, the green eyes, and the round face of a young girl. He would have thought it an illusion were it not for one thing: the doll. There was no mistaking the tiny porcelain girl in the frilly dress. It was her, or it was an extraordinarily good imitation. What were the chances that here, in this county, city, and singular spot in the docks, he would run into her? He’d been trying to find her for a good part of the last twenty years. Not searching, not really, but he had tried to send letters, and when those saw no return, he began to keep an eye out for her. He’d attempted research on several instances, but the world was too big and his scrying spells didn’t work well on supers. Solomon had a mission. He was supposed to stop Pandaemonium from whatever they were up to here, and to learn more about the combatants involved. However, this was a self-imposed mission. He was only here because he had decided he would be here. Now he was deciding to override this mission with a new one. He desperately wanted to investigate further, confirm that she was who he thought she was, but he couldn’t do so here. Not with all of these supers around, in the middle of a fight. Solomon looked directly at the girl and spoke a single syllable. A set of pages in his book flashed and dimmed, a light telekinetic force surrounded her, and she would find her body in opposition to any movement. It would disperse either when someone made contact with her or the time ran out, but any current motions would end abruptly; not jerkingly, but as though she was paused at that moment. The pages of one of the books flipped wildly. Solomon walked decisively towards her, speaking in quick jibberish. He was careful; he spoke the final word of the spell the moment he placed his hand on her shoulder, completing the last two requirements of the spell. Instantly, the first spell was broken, and the two of them were transported from the battlefield. Solomon had chosen a location a ways away; a quiet shell of what had once been a train station. The marble floor was worn, but the pillars that held up the arching ceiling were in fine enough condition that they didn’t threaten to let the two-floor ceiling fall. Old wooden benches lay scattered about, many arranged as though they had been used as beds. Remnants of a fire marked the ground by the still-standing pillar clock at the far end of the room. The air was stagnant and littered with dust, and particles blew about in the light trickling in from the fogged windows that circled the upper level, past the balcony rimming the wall that looked down to the floor below. The undisturbed air swirled gently with the sudden arrival of the two supers in the center of the station’s silent lobby. Poppet |
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The Keepers
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Post by Poppet on Sept 23, 2016 15:53:20 GMT -7
It all happen in a tiny flash, that’s all Poppet can interpret out of the situation. All she can remember is that one guy with a bunch of books around him looked at her, and just like that before she could react, he was right next to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. It didn’t even take her a split of second to react when he warp the two of them to a different location. From the look of their surrounding, she can see they’re in some abandon train cart somewhere. Why would this guy take her here? The area is reclusive and abandon, is he planning to do something to her here? Away from prying eyes?
This is bad; this guy was working with that creep with a knife from earlier, so there’s no way he brought her here randomly. Is this a kidnapping attempt? Is he working with that knife-guy in capturing here? After all, she was the most vulnerable out of the supers in the area. If that is the case, she need to do something to protect herself from whatever plans these guys has in mind for her. For once, she feels like both she and Jessica finally agree on the same page; if this guy has an insidious agenda, then she wouldn’t mind if he get hurt in the process.
She needs to get this creep away from her before he does anything else. Almost in an instant that they got to this location, he would feel a bundle of wires tightly wrapped around the wrist that he place on her shoulder. Without warning, both of his arms will then get pulled behind his back with a loud snap on his shoulder, nearly dislocating his arms. The wires then bind his hand together before she pull it back, lifted him off the ground by his bounded arms. Pulling the strings attached to her hand back as hard as she could, the creepy guy will find himself completely immobilized in her tangle web. To make sure he didn’t mumble anything to use his power, Poppet even wrapped her wires across his mouth, stopping them from utter even a word without her permission.
With the guy tied up like a piece of meat, her porcelain doll flew up to his face and looked at him right in the eyes:
“Alright Mr. Creepo, what the hell did you do?! Why did you bring us here?!”
Poppet released her bind on his lips, but as soon as he said something that doesn’t sound like an answer, she will bull his limps in different direction like a rack.
“P-Please answer the question, or I’ll have all your limps snapped out of their socket.”
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Rein Initiative
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Post by Solomon on Sept 24, 2016 0:03:38 GMT -7
He had been trying to think of what to say, how to explain it and make sure she was who she appeared to be, and had intended to do so immediately. Inwardly, he was apologizing for what would likely be seen as being attacked by a strange super who, moments before, had been fighting in opposition. All would be explained the moment they were away from the supers who would in all likelihood take a conversation as a chance to attack, and frankly, he didn’t want to overhear.
But he had hardly the time to react, let alone say anything before his arms were wrenched behind him. He’d only let out a brief grunt of pain as his arm snapped back in a way he was pretty sure was best generally avoided before he was hoisted off the ground.
The three books he’d set aloft during the battle still hovered around him. Between them, five separate sets of pages were alight. They moved to rise with him as the rudimentary telekinesis spell he set on them governed, but he let them fall to the floor of the empty train station. He didn’t dismiss the spell, just for absolute worst case, but their lift ended suddenly as though they’d reached the arc of being tossed and they dropped as gravity dictated. The metal spine of one clinked on the marble floor. One of the others fell open to a random page. He had no intention of continuing the battle they had come from, and this was some means of communicating that while in this… predicament, was one way to put it.
Solomon didn’t know quite what he was expecting. Perhaps a kind reunion? That was likely unwarranted optimism. Even so, some bitterness was to be anticipated, yes, but being outright attacked was… not all that surprising, actually. He hadn’t had much time to think about the best course of action or the consequences that might come from them, nor did he have the opportunity to create better circumstances. It had caught him off guard, but a moment of spared thought returned that this was the obvious reaction. He had essentially walked up as a stranger and teleported away with her without warning. Of course she would respond defensively.
The sooner tension was resolved the better, and there was one thing that was likely to do so. That, or if luck held true, only make things worse. He had to pick his words carefully. It was a risk - he didn’t know for sure if it was her, even if they signs were pretty near certain. But it was the best he had. All of this was just the best he had, and, as present circumstances would suggest, it was extraordinarily inadequate. It was, in a way, both terrible and ironic; this was the first time in a long while he was so lacking in options, and it was, of course, in reuniting with her.
He spoke quickly. “Izzy,” he grunted, his voice quiet and strained, but without an ounce of insincerity. “My name is Augustine Marson. I’m your twin sister.”
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The Keepers
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Post by Poppet on Sept 24, 2016 1:17:40 GMT -7
With the three books fallen on the ground, Poppet can feel slightly better than before, believing she managed to neutralize him. However, it is what he said next that really took her by surprise. Ever since she set foot on this country, she has never let anyone know about her full name; Jessica would sometime called her by her first name, but unless they work within the Keeper’s archive, no one know about her full name. Even then, she has never heard anyone ever called her by that nickname, not for the past 20 years or so ago. There’s no way someone like him would ever deduce that even if he can read her mind.
And as the icing on the cake, he’s calling himself as Augustine, and claimed to be her twin sister. Unless those books that he carried around is just for so, he can’t be this stupid claiming himself to be a girl. However, the way he used those books, the method he called out thing from those books is almost the same way that her sister used to show her when they were kids. She might not know how super powers work entirely, but there’s almost an astronomical chance that this guy have the same power as her sister have.
Still feeling a bit skeptical of the guy’s story, Poppet come up with an idea in order to fully confirm if what he claimed is true or not:
“I-If you’re really who you said you are, t-then answer me: what gift did I received on our tenth birthday?”
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Rein Initiative
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Post by Solomon on Sept 24, 2016 15:01:49 GMT -7
It was hard to absolve all doubts that it was actually her. Twelve years were plenty for any number of strange things to happen, especially when supers were involved. Judging by her reaction, he was case in point. It was not an impossibility that she was someone else, perhaps another super who could channel the appearance and powers of other supers, and who knew enough about his sister to ask questions like the one she just did. He placed it as far from below someone with such an ability to attempt to use it as easy means of gaining information on other supers. But, the chances of that being the case were so infinitesimal that to believe so was in the realms of paranoia. It was the surreality, mostly, that was still playing on his doubts, and that was not a strong argument. She had his sister’s powers, his sister’s face, his sister’s doll, and had just asked a question that only the two of them would know the answer to. It was her.
“You didn’t receive a gift. I gave you that doll the day after.” His moment of pause after her question was not from hesitation, but from the tax of being airborne. He had been trying to keep a serious face after the initial shock, but it was quickly dissolving into a wince. Thankfully nothing felt dislocated - yet - but there was a good reason most people abstained from resting their body weight on their shoulder sockets. He gave her a weary smile. “Could you please let me down? This is fairly painful.”
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The Keepers
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Post by Poppet on Sept 25, 2016 12:08:38 GMT -7
As soon as she heard his answer, Poppet immediately let go of her bind on him and drop him on the marble floor. Part of her still have some suspicious on him, but there’s no way a random guy can guess the answer correctly. She integrated that memory to the point that she can recall it as if it happened yesterday. Their tenth birthday, even though the party was a celebration for the twin, Augustine was once again being in the spot-light and got showered with gift. Back then, she was always been placed in her sister’s shadow when it come to everyone else’s point of view. She was always so reserve to herself that barely anyone will notice her.
Everyone, except for her big sister. Augustine was the only one who actually looked out for her. When her sister saw how she felt being left out the day after the birthday; she gave her one of her favorite doll among her gift. From that day on, Jessica has always been there by Poppet’s side, making her feel as if her sister is there, watching over her like always.
Poppet finally managed enough courage to slowly walk toward him, bending down in order to get a closer look. She reached out her hand and touched his head all over like a doctor examining his patient. He look so old, and his hair is completely bleach grey, Poppet can see a resembling of mommy in his eyes, and that nose and ears are definitely from daddy. So unless this is a work of a very talented plastic surgeon that can fool her, he is the male older version of her sister.
“S-Stine? I-Is it really you?”
“Holy shit dude,” Jessica landed next to her position, “what the hell happen to you? When did you have a sex change?”
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Rein Initiative
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Post by Solomon on Sept 25, 2016 21:46:29 GMT -7
Solomon wasn’t quite able to catch himself on his feet from the sudden drop. He situated himself on his knees and rubbed the more disagreeable of his two shoulders, making certain it hadn’t slipped out of place. While Jenny appeared to be checking if he still had a face, he cast a glance at the doll and subject of the question, out of anything, she’d chosen to ask. He was surprised that it was what she had with her now, and as an apparent extension of her power. Moreso simply that she’d kept it after all this time.
“Gender,” he corrected with a chuckle. Not out of humor, but because he still couldn’t believe this was happening. With a grunt, he pulled himself up. “It was sometime around when I was seventeen. Quite a lot has happened since,” he sighed happily, “it’s been years. But it is really me, I promise. I’m sorry for scaring you. I bet I look completely different than how you remember me.” He said guiltily, running his hand through the hair by his pierced ear. “You, however, don’t look like you’ve aged a day.” He raised his brow and gave her a teasing smile. “You must tell me your secret.”
Solomon exhaled slowly, and his expression relaxed. He couldn’t say he wasn’t a little concerned about how she had come to be in one of the most super-dense cities in the world, not to mention one threatened enough by the supers within that he’d been deployed here. Nor could he say he wasn’t curious what had lead her here. But presently, that didn’t really matter. He was just happy to have found her, at last.
Smiling warmly, he placed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s good to see you again, sister.”
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The Keepers
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Post by Poppet on Sept 26, 2016 23:36:51 GMT -7
Poppet tried her best to not let a single tear coming out of her eyes, but eventually it just pour out like waterfall. She sniffled while using her sleeve to wipe away those tears before she gave him a hug. It was 12 years, but for her it feels like an eternity ever since she saw her big sister. Even if she looked slightly different and much older than before, there’s no denying of his identity any longer.
“I-It’s good t-to see you t-too…” she sniffled between her words.
“So…” Jessica flew toward his face, “should we call you big brother now, since you’re a guy and all? It’ll be weird calling you big sis. Man, we have so many questions to ask you now that you’ve finally back to us. Where should we start?”
The porcelain doll just floats around the two of them, almost in a dancing pattern of joy and excitement. The two of them have a lot of catching up to do, even when she doesn’t know if they have any time for it. After some time of embracing her sister, or technically her brother not:
“I-I’m sorry about earlier,” she said without looking at his eyes, feeling slightly ashamed for what she did, “b-but you shouldn’t just teleport me to a strange place without giving me some context. You’re lucky that I didn’t pull your arms out of your sockets.”
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Rein Initiative
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Post by Solomon on Oct 4, 2016 9:06:20 GMT -7
Solomon reflexively tensed at his sister’s embrace. But, just as quickly, relaxed and rested a hand on her back. The height difference between them was startling; that he felt like he was looking at himself from decades ago moreso. Though he supposed of the identical twins, he was the most guilty of unexpected changes (or lack thereof). He wondered, nevertheless, what had caused her evidently ceased growth. Perhaps something to do with her powers?
“Brother, yes, and don’t worry about it.” His gaze moved from the doll to the girl. “Again, I apologize. Please, ask whatever you would like.”
Time did not appear to be of the essence, and he was happy to take as much as was needed.
“I do have one for you, however.” He continued after a moment. “What are you doing in Emerald City?”
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The Keepers
Posts 71
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Post by Poppet on Oct 5, 2016 17:15:22 GMT -7
Poppet wiped her face to remove the tear away after giving her big “brother” the reunion hug. She still can’t believe the chance of this reunion ever happen here; everything just so overwhelming that she can’t even properly think of a right question to ask him. When he asked her the question, she looked over at the side, scuffling with her feet:
“W-Well…” she has quite a hard time choosing the word for her answer. She doesn’t know how to break the news to him; it has been quite a long time, and so much has happen that she just couldn’t bear the thought of telling him what happen. Seeing how uncomfortable she is at the situation, Jessica flew toward his face:
“Looking for you, duh.” it said to him, “Seriously, twelve years of losing contact, it’s not like we have a lot of option to go around looking for you. We didn’t even think you’ll actually be here in the same city as us when we arrived here.”
Poppet looked up to him as Jessica started to float down onto her hand. As soon as they make eye contact, she looked down as soon as the flood of sadness returned to her thought. Once again she is on the edge of falling apart in tear:
“W-Where have you been all this time? W-Why did you leave without saying goodbye? W-Why d-didn’t you come back for me all those time?”
The thought that she’s blaming him for everything happen to her only make her feel worst about herself. For twelve years, she has to endure so much without having anyone to share her thought with, to tell them about her problem, and to feel a comforting smile that would wash away all those sufferings away. Subconsciously, she felt as if Stine has abandoned her to the mercy of their parents, and it tore her apart that she actually believed that for the longest of time.
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Rein Initiative
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Post by Solomon on Oct 7, 2016 16:28:08 GMT -7
She had been looking for him? In meeting her, beneath the joy and surprise were the dulled memories of his searches for her. Time spared when he could to write letters that never saw return, occasional hours looking through records for any supers with powers similar to hers, but never enough given to return home or truly search for her. It had been a quiet longing to find her again; something that returned to him on odd sedentary nights but was gone by morning. He had been busy and she had not been prioritized, and he had inactively considered his efforts to be the best he could afford. Her questions stung; just because he hadn’t seen the time to come back didn’t mean he couldn’t have made it. His brow dropped, and his gaze with it.
“I… have made mistakes. Some I’m not sure I will be able to recompense, but I will try.” This was one he knew he'd need to make amends with at some point, but, as ironic as it was, his recent occupation with other matters had not allotted him time to figure out how. He looked back to her, his expression serious. “What can I do to make it up to you?”
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The Keepers
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Post by Poppet on Oct 8, 2016 0:42:39 GMT -7
Jessica pulled out a small napkin out of Poppet’s pockets and handed it to her. Poppet took the napkin and blow on it before wiping her tears away. It’s not that she want him to make amend to his mistake, but rather merely want to know the reason why he hasn’t came back for her. After all, her parents were hiding those letters that he has been sending for all those years, so she doesn’t know where he was or how he was doing. It was her parents’ fault that she has no idea what happen to her twin sister; they have kept her in the dark for all these time, so Solomon has no reason to be sorry about not keeping in contact.
“I-It’s quite alright,” Poppet said to him, “I-I don’t blame you; i-if our parents didn’t decided to hide those letters that you sent, I-I’m sure we could have stay in contact.”
Jessica then flew right in between her and Solomon, turning its head to look at him right in the eyes:
“Now that you mention it, we do need some…permanent shelter at the moment. If you’re living all by yourself, how about we all live together? Heck, even if it’s just a small one-bedroom apartment, we can at least pitched in as long as we can live together as a family once again.”
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
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Post by Solomon on Oct 19, 2016 23:56:17 GMT -7
Solomon thought of his small apartment, a walk away from downtown. Despite there being room in the FOB and having claimed a room there as his own, he still liked having his own space enough that he’d rented himself an apartment with one bedroom, a kitchen, and a couple of resident spiders. Housing here was absurdly expensive - strange, given its keenness to be destroyed, or perhaps that was exactly why - but it wasn’t out of necessity that he’d picked this as his place to live. Money was easy enough to get from the government that rent wasn’t the issue. Rather, it was the best place he’d found that required as little about him as possible. Solomon hadn’t wanted to fill out a ton of paperwork, for one, but the less the civilians around him knew about him, the better. And so, despite its run-down nature and location on the bottom floor, his apartment had been the best available that met his criteria of a name and a promise to make payments on time. He was fairly sure he’d only gotten it as quickly as he had with as little as he had was because it was apparently prone to flooding in the spring, and thus it had sat empty for the past six months and the landlord needed the income. Thus why he was keeping all of his paper-based belongings at the FOB.
It wasn’t the best place, but if she didn’t have any housing, he supposed it would be better than nothing.
“You’ve guessed correctly. I have a one-bedroom apartment that you are free to stay at if you would like. You don’t need to worry about helping the rent or utilities, as my powers,” he coughed into his fist, “require their own apartment, so I get the funds from my faction. I can take the couch.”
He said this without any disdain for the idea - he slept in far more uncomfortable places, like his desk seat, or the Rein library floor, on a regular basis. The couch was just as comfortable as any bed in his mind, and was likely literally as comfortable as the old and creaky bed he had stashed in the bedroom currently. He wouldn’t mind. It was more important his sister had a roof.
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The Keepers
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Post by Poppet on Oct 20, 2016 17:29:05 GMT -7
Poppet let out a small smile in response to her brother’s offer; it is quite nice that he agreed with her request. It is a bit unfortunate that Solomon is on a different faction than her, otherwise they might spend more time together. This brought up quite a little question: since her reason of joining the Keeper was to look for her big sister, now that she found her/him, is there any more reason for her to stay in her faction?
Jessica noticed her slight dilemma and landed on her head, looking at her with its emerald eyes:
“You think we should leave the faction?” it asked, “I mean, what else are we need from them now that we reach our personal goal?”
“I-I’m not sure,” she replied, “e-even though most of the members are quite creepy, where do we have to go?”
Poppet still remembered that creepy guy that on the same faction as Solomon, the weird knife-yielding guy that just rub her the wrong way. So far he’s the worst person she has come across ever since she step foot in the city. Or rather, she has not met anyone who isn’t being a big jerk in this city other than maybe Azoth and Solomon. She looked toward Solomon:
“I-If you don’t mind me asking, how did you managed to join your faction? I want to know how the years have been treating you all this time; I mean, it has been so long, and even now the fact that your gender changed still surprise me.”
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Rein Initiative
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Post by Solomon on Nov 3, 2016 22:39:19 GMT -7
Mention of being part of a faction raised an eyebrow from Solomon. It made sense, and he blamed his own newness to the city and thus current lack of research that he didn’t know which one. Given the battle before, perhaps Pandaemonium? Unlikely, considering how much he’d looked into the red faction. He would’ve found at least mention of her prior to this. Bulwarks seemed only slightly less unlikely, given her description of her faction mates.
Which left the Keepers. “Yes, it’s probably for the best if you leave the Keepers.” He said, gazing off to the side and considering her question. “I’m part of the Rein Initiative, if you didn’t know. I... tracked one of their agents back in Europe and asked to join. I’ve been deployed here just recently.” He said slowly. Shrugging, he turned back to her. “I suppose it isn’t a very exciting story, but that isn’t a bad thing.”
Her mention of the passing years made him chuckle. “It’s interesting times we live in. Whether that’s a blessing or curse is a matter of opinion.” He mused. “I can’t say you don’t surprise me either. You look like you haven’t aged a day. How has time been treating you?”
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