The Keepers
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Post by Geata on Nov 30, 2016 0:43:50 GMT -7
RoboGeata had heard on the grapevine that Aurora had (probably unknowingly) taken on a new idealistic protégé. Said new Panda apparently shared at least the basics of Aurora's goals, and he was allegedly just as full of himself. Naturally, being the only non-Pandaemonium to regularly and happily interact with the Pandas on a regular basis and essentially be one himself, Geata was absolutely required to interact with his friend's new probably-not-actually friend. Geata, happily making use of the fact that nobody could stop him from going where he wanted even if they had reason to, searched around Pandaland Shelter for Wayward Souls (the nickname was a work in progress) in hopes of coming across an unfamiliar costume. Once he found the motorcycle helmet that matched the description he had been given, he waited for a time that the new guy was by himself and not likely to be moving much. He then dropped down to the roof of his own "base of operations", took a quick glance around to confirm that everything was in place, and then opened a portal underneath his victim. Geataland had changed little since Seraphim's visit. Bolide would spot nothing of interest except a television rigged with a cable box and an extension cord, a lawn chair, and a flag adorned with a split rainbow. And, of course, RoboGeata with a hand outstretched in both a greeting and an offer to assist Bolide with steadying himself. "Good afternoon," Geata said cheerfully. "I hear you're the new guy in town, yes? I'd like to extend a warm, personal welcome to the Panda family, even though I'm not actually a member myself. I'm Geata. And what might your name be, buddy?" Solomon |
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Post by Solomon on Dec 2, 2016 1:15:48 GMT -7
It had been another afternoon of fixing up the faction’s base. Bolide had been doing so with increasing frequency recently; every evening he could find the time he made himself found here, and for want of things to destroy for proper reason, he helped around with whatever was needed. Bolide lacked any outstanding manual skills, but had a general competence for most things, and so kind of just helped out with whatever odd jobs were lying around. The one exception was in mixing drinks. He was overall a good cook, but for whatever reason food in the liquid form always seemed to turn out just right when he had a hand in it. He’d tried to a mild degree to keep knowledge of this to himself, but one coffee given to a particularly loud member lead had to a rumor, more requested drinks from curious factionmates, and soon entering the kitchen meant he was going to be there for quite a while.
Thirty minutes had passed since he’d entered the kitchen to get himself a dinner and catch himself a short break, and he’d since been drafted into cooking food for half a dozen others for lack of another cook and failure to ditch the scene quickly enough. He hadn’t had much else to do anyway, and so had resolved himself to it.
He had just turned the stew to simmer when a hole opened up beneath him, like holes do in kitchens.
Bolide caught himself on his feet. Surprising, annoying, and unwarranted or not, he could at least manage not to make a pile of himself on the ground. He didn’t immediately recognize where he was, or (technically) the one who had brought him here.
Geata, the Portalmaster, as some called him. Technical Keeper, unofficial Pandaemonium, and previously unaligned of several months. The boyfriend of one Azoth - he suspected that the young Keeper was at least part of the reason why Geata had joined the faction. Due to lack of clear gain from either party, chances were high this was a relationship to be a relationship. Geata himself was not wealthy or particularly famous, overall lacked resources, and had apparently only been moderately powerful until recently. The current full extent of his abilities now, however, were yet to be confirmed. It was something to watch for. He was well-connected within the super community, but that appeared to be a recent development as well.
Powers included the ability to create portals of varying sizes, used to varying effects. There were inklings of a rumor suggesting some kind of mind control abilities, given his unusually large and varied social circle, but these were the same sources who were saying fast food companies were run by some super trying to take control of the country through its diet (though, the fact that this block, ‘Geataland’ as it was supposedly called, was still standing despite its physical and metaphorical location in relation to Aurora could be stretched into evidence for this theory). Best presently estimated counter was ‘telekinesis’. One of Solomon’s specialties, actually, so he didn’t normally have much fear for the super. Geata’s non-violent tendencies meant he likely didn’t have much to worry about now either; a very good thing, because while he might normally consider himself fine, Bolide could not. For the time being, he would still tread carefully (or, as much as he reasonably could).
As his present appearance confirmed, Geata had also recently managed to misplace his entire body. How, Solomon hadn’t bothered yet to try to figure out, but his immediate guess was an attempt to have his mind on other things gone horribly wrong.
Bolide did not take the super’s hand, for the reasons that he neither needed his help nor wanted to extend a friendly gesture to the person who’d just interrupted his afternoon and his dinner. Instead, he looked Geata over with an eye of judgement and scrutiny. “You looking for a fight or something?” He grunted, sounding more than a bit miffed by this development.
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The Keepers
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Post by Geata on Dec 2, 2016 12:19:13 GMT -7
"My, my," Geata said, slightly surprised but clearly not taking the super in front of him seriously. "Why, you've even got her unfriendliness down! Gotta say, Skippy, seems your reputation does you justice."
Geata retracted his hand and looked over Bolide. He couldn't quite say that his appearance was impressive, but he had seen shabbier individuals and honestly didn't care much about how people looked in the first place. What had led to his interest in the relatively unknown super was simply a mutual friend. Whether Bolide considered Aurora a friend or not was as inconsequential as Aurora's opinion on the matter as far as Geata was currently concerned.
"Nope, no intention of fighting you, man," Geata said as he slowly started pacing in a circle around Bolide. "In fact, quite the opposite: I'm here because my friend made a new friend and I need to meet said new friend. Completely peaceful intentions, new guy." He paused for a moment. "You're something of an instant sensation within the Pandas. Somebody just shows up one day, no prior reputation, and their first known action is to go off galavanting with Aurora in the name of super rights? Add in that nobody seems to actually really know anything about you other than you apparently make a mean cup of Joe, and you're the talk of the town."
"However, as a recent edition to the Keepers, factual information is something of an interest of mine. And so, we're gonna hang out. Don't worry about your chores, I found a few layabouts trying to avoid being given work of their own and convinced them to hop to it. Aurora probably won't even notice you're gone."
Geata came to a stop on the opposite side of Bolide from where he had started. Behind him, a portal large enough for people to walk through opened up, revealing locations a fair distance away. "Now, you may have noticed that I'm talking like you're definitely coming along with me. That's because you are. You can either come along willingly, or I can drag you along with me. Your choice. Oh, and I suggest against trying to run away, as I doubt you'd get very far before you started to run wherever I wanted, yeah? So, what'll it be, Skippy?"
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Post by Solomon on Dec 3, 2016 1:27:32 GMT -7
So Geata had taken an interest in him? The super could consider that interest returned; the Keeper was unusual in that he was one of the few supers who could claim any closeness to Aurora. That was the main reason why he’d bothered research into him, and why now he was curious to see what Geata wanted. He’d known it would be only a matter of time until he interacted with one of Aurora’s friends, but that Geata had gone out of his way to approach him (and the switching between almost overly friendly and ominous language) was intriguing. It’d be best to see this through. Not that it was likely Bolide would be able to thwart Geata’s threats, for long anyway.
Bolide’s eyes narrowed on the super and his posture stooped down and left. He watched Geata as he walked, turning only once he was beyond ninety degrees to his side.
“The hell does a Keeper want with me?” He muttered to himself after the stunning reveal, not really caring if he was mumbling over Geata. As he continued, Bolide had slowly raised a hand to the supplementary forehead of his helmet. A moment of disbelieving silence passed after Geata finished before Bolide began.
“So you are looking for a fight.” Bolide grumbled. Figured, dragging him here, making threats - didn’t Aurora warn him about crazy faction members trying to fight or ‘haze’ him? While there was work to do, too. Didn’t this guy have any better ways to waste his time?
Bolide glanced around the rooftops, taking note of their distance and attempting to spot any useful features. Reaching down to his hip, he held the wick of the lanturn between his fingers until orange flames began to lick the cloth, and then pulled back to let the sparked flame grow and the lantern light. From his back bag he pulled four darts tailed with a strip of cloth, each held between one of two fingers, and, repeating the process, set the ends of the cloths alight. A steady plume of smoke began to rise out of the lantern, and thin lines trailed up from each of the darts. Bolide turned to face his abductor.
“Hey, Keeper, you’re Aurora’s friend, aren’t you? I’m not going to hurt someone she’s close to, but I’m not about to start taking orders from some rooftop bum I’ve never met either. I’m sure as hell not going to start taking threats from him.” He turned away and with his empty hand, waved. “I’m going back to the base.”
Bolide threw two of his darts, both in quick succession. The first was thrown to just inches left of Geata’s foot. Assuming there wasn’t interference, it’d bury its tip in a crack in the roof’s top. The second was thrown in the complete opposite direction - a hard chuck would have it shooting towards the neighbouring building, to sick into the brickwork just below the roof’s edge.
It was the second that Bolide was watching closely. If Geata didn’t bother with it, the moment it reached its destination Bolide would vanish in a cloud of smoke to reappear where it landed. He’d catch the edge of the rooftop with one hand and pull himself up. If the dart got portaled, Bolide wasn’t about to follow it through. A small trail of smoke would follow the dart - when he vanished, he’d opt to reappear at the farthest non-portaled point of smoke. If that meant being over the street, well, he’d work that out when he was there.
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The Keepers
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Post by Geata on Dec 4, 2016 2:57:08 GMT -7
Geata was perfectly content to let the still not introduced super come to his own conclusions on the situation, and he had no intentions of giving his name first. And so, he stood quietly, hands behind his back, until Bolide inevitably made the wrong decision that Geata was pretty sure every super would have also made.
Bolide would notice a distinct lack of interference with his darts. However, a split second after he materialized on the wall of the building, a portal opened underneath him the same time as another one opened a few inches away from his exposed hand up on the roof. Through that portal, if Bolide was quick enough to pull himself up to see through it, was Geata quickly pulling his birthday taser from behind his back. He then thrust the activated taser at the exposed skin of Bolide's hand. Once Geata heard the impact of Bolide dropping through the other portal and landing back in his original spot on the Geataland roof, the taser was put away.
"First," Geata said as he calmly walked over to Bolide, "I'm pretty certain that I am not Aurora's friend and I think you'd be liable to be punched if she heard you insinuating that I am. However, she is my friend, so close enough probably. Second," he said as he started to pick up the newly incapacitated super, shocked by the lack of resistance to the action. He doubted the man weighed more than fifty pounds, maybe sixty. It was a concern for later, though, as he made his way through the portal and ones that would subsequently open.
"You know how people will say that crap of 'that wasn't a threat, it was a promise' or whatever? Well, I wasn't making threats or promises. I was simply providing you with a warning of what your decision would entail. And don't even try to say that I had no idea what your decision would be. Assuming you're sane and that you aren't very well informed, judging by how you thought I might've been looking for a fight, it was obvious that you thought you could get away or that I'd let you."
After a number of portals, Geata found himself at the stargazing spot of one Rook. The very same place where Aurora had been brought when she'd been abducted. The biggest difference between her and Bolide, though, was that Geata felt bad about kidnapping her but didn't really feel too sorry towards Bolide.
"Third, Limen apologizes that she's too busy to accompany us on this lovely evening, but she sends her regards and gave me a backpack full of foodstuffs. Worry not, Skippy, you'll be getting dinner after all. Probably. I'll just need a few minutes to remember which tree I stashed it on and to see what's actually in there." Geata did his best to set the other super down softly, and then waited for Bolide to recover.
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Post by Solomon on Dec 4, 2016 21:01:35 GMT -7
Fuck modern electricity and all of its box-shaped spiteful incarnations. The world was better before people could jab each other with acrimonious distilled candle supplements.
The attempted escape was cut even shorter than Solomon had been expecting. He’d thought he’d be able to keep up a resistance for at least ten seconds, but then Geata revealed his taser and he, after a painful jolt and a moment’s flash of worry that Geata might not have made the obvious portal (thankfully, he had), found himself back where he began. Only this time in pile form.
Bolide’s lantern was still churning out smoke; he could teleport himself back to the far building, seeing as the smoke from the dart had been allowed the time to rise up higher than the edge of the roof, but Solomon was not keen on dropping his limp body from a place that might land him on a roof with no good follow up options or might leave him on the pavement several stories below, depending on his luck and the direction of the wind. Bolide would do it, and under most circumstances he’d therefore be obligated to at least try, but Bolide was too busy being tasered right now to come up with the idea. Deciding exactly how pissed off he was going to be while he was carried away it was.
Solomon made two mental notes as Geata departed with him. First, if the two of them were to fight per normal, he would have to make sure to prepare against tasers. Lack of bodily movements was extraordinarily inconvenient. Second, Geata was an asshole. This would be important to factor into future interactions.
As soon as his muscles began to relax and became mobile again, Bolide put them to use. Stiffly, and with no small amount of effort, he pulled himself up to his knees and then his feet. His eyes were deadlocked on Geata, and he had the answer to his previous query. He was exceptionally pissed. Against his better judgement but not against his biased desires come electrocution, Bolide stomped towards where Geata resided. White flames formed around his balled fist, and he observed a spot on Geata’s cheek that would especially hurt if hit to be his target. Bolide might indeed only weigh about fifty pounds, but he hit with the same strength as a fit fellow his size. Factor in that, at present, his fist was about as hard as steel, his anger, and that he was slightly off balance while his left leg figured out the fine details of moving again, and it was a punch that was probably not going to hit but Bolide didn’t care. Forget words, or that this punch was about as likely to trip him as it was to make contact, he was retracting his previous statement and returning pain in full.
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The Keepers
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Post by Geata on Dec 4, 2016 22:22:47 GMT -7
Geata had been focused half on trying to remember which tree held dinner for the night, half on trying to decide on a new nickname for Bolide (Skippy just didn't have the proper feel and was too generic for consistent use for a specific person), and half on trying to be aware of Bolide's state. Luckily, recently tased people didn't make for the stealthiest sort, and Geata heard movement and turned in time to get a good picture of what was going on before Bolide swung.
Whether the punch would've been able to hit its mark or not wasn't something that Geata was concerned with. The moment he was convinced that the punch was at full momentum and probably not being stopped anytime soon, a portal opened directly before it, leading to the area of Bolide's back that would mean that he'd be feeling the potential impact in his kidneys.
"I'd suggest against trying to hit me, Smokey," Geata said flatly. "Not while there's not something to keep me intensely occupied, at least. I'm not very keen on letting anyone ever put their hands on me in a violent way again unless I really like them and they have a damn good reason."
On the side of Geata opposite Bolide, a series of portals started opening and closing, none of them lasting longer than a second except the final one. From that one, Geata pulled out the previously hidden bag of foodstuffs. "You hungry, Smokey?" he asked, considerably more calm. "You wanna take out your frustration at me verbally, feel free. I'd just suggest that you do so over a meal of..." Geata trailed off, rifling the backpack and grabbing the thing off the top. "Instant ramen cup, apparently sans water. Give me a second here, I'm sure there's something edible and fitting for an actual meal."
After a few moments, he looked back up at Bolide. "Oh, yes, if you're wanting to try and walk back home, I won't stop you. If you can sit here long enough for me to sate my curiosity, though, I'll take you back and leave you be until further notice."
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Post by Solomon on Dec 6, 2016 0:54:06 GMT -7
And there was the trip. Adding injury to insult, Geata went ahead and redirected the swing to his back. Kind of him to return punches thrown.
Bolide did, in fact, feel it in his kidney. He also felt it up the entirety of his back, and, having been tasered just prior, was overall not feeling very good. As he had attempted all of this before fully recovering from said taser, the returned fire was the last of what was needed to re-take out his unsteady legs and knock him to the ground. Bolide let out an “oomph” and found himself on the ground yet again.
Bolide was still pissed, but Solomon didn’t hate himself enough to try putting up a fight against Geata like this. In the current moment, anyway - the aforementioned ‘intensely occupied’ took his interest as for what exactly might constitute it. Might be worth poking at. But, for now, he settled for the suggested approach of verbal aggression relief.
As he began to talk, he pulled himself up onto his elbows, and from there to a cross-legged sit, arms tightly crossed and shoulders stiff. Likewise, his voice steadily grew in volume as he went on.
“You goddamn smug cakehole, you think it’s funny to just drag me off to god knows where in the middle of the night like I don’t have actual things I need to spend my time on?! Like I don’t have enough on my plate with trying to figure out the hell how to be a super without getting my bones broken or shot by police while I don’t have my mask on. I just try to mind my own business figuring out how company assets work between helping build the Pandaland base and trying to work out my powers, but no, everyone either wants to dump their work on me ‘cause Aurora’s not looking and they’re too lazy to lift a shovel, or get me involved in some thoughtless, pointless fight. So yeah, you can just go ahead and push me around, because I don’t mind being slapped in the face once again by my own powerlessness because that doesn’t already happen every goddamn day. And clearly it’s all no problem for you ‘cause I’m the new guy, so it’s not like I have anyone who’ll help me if I get dragged off to the middle of god knows where, so drag away! No repercussions for you because no one gives enough of a damn about me to care.”
It was at this point that Bolide’s stomach rumbled. He gave it no attention in the hopes it would go away and not alert this guy that he was, indeed, quite hungry. The dinner he’d been interrupted from had come only after a couple hours of manual labor, after all, which was in his book more than enough to be rightfully hungry for.
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The Keepers
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Post by Geata on Dec 6, 2016 2:35:28 GMT -7
Geata listened with interest and amusement growing proportionally to Bolide's volume. He was certainly living up to the rumors of being like Aurora. And "cakehole"? It didn't matter if it was because of a lack of better insults to hurl or not, that was great. Geata was barely containing his laughter by the end. The new guy didn't seem to understand jack squat, especially about how things worked in the super community. Geata wondered just where exactly Aurora had found this one. Still, considering how clueless Bolide was, Geata felt obligated to try and help out lest he make similar stupid mistakes as to what he had.
"Let me start off by giving you an important piece of advice," Geata said warmly as he continued to plan out Bolide's meal. "Suck it up, buttercup. You know what I got saddled with when I first met Aurora? Rat extermination and moving undesirable materials from the docks to Malachite Isle. I wasn't even a Panda. It could be considerably worse, but even still. You don't want to do other people's crap, make it clear that you won't. You can't do that with brute force? Use some cunning, lad. Get some braincells working, and figure it out."
"Now then, on to relative powerlessness. I don't know much about your powers, other than you can manipulate fire to some degree and can apparently use smoke to teleport. Not going to lie, as a fellow teleporter, teleportation is a pretty powerful tool. You've just gotta find your niche. And you definitely seemed to feel that punch you just threw, so I'd say you're probably decently capable of holding your own in a fist fight. Or you're a total creampuff, but I digress. Sounds like the biggest things you're lacking are experience and connections, which leads me to my next point."
"You're more cared for than you realize, dumbass. Even if the common Panda mook doesn't give a crap, Aurora's definitely got your back. When she hears about this, I doubt it's going to go well for me, man. But she's not the only one. The main point of this is to serve as an introduction to me and to get you started on making some connections. I get to know about you, you get to know about me, we part ways with you disliking me but with a better understanding of the new world you've been thrust into. By the way, if you're going to get this mad considering how I gave you warning, you chose the wrong faction. Which actually brings us to the first thing I was hoping we could discuss."
Geata tossed Bolide a box of snack cakes, a can of spaghetti, and a plastic container full of mostly intact grapes. He also made note that he wasn't trusting Limen to get food anymore, which meant that Blue Jay was the next on the list. Poor guy. "I'm curious, Smokey. Why the Pandas? The Bulwarks are the ones with the pamphlets about justice, the Keepers are the best informed and most likely to keep one financially stable. The Pandas have explosions and Aurora. Then there's the new kids in town, the Rein Initiative. Honestly, I don't know much about them, other than they're apparently supposed to be hero types, but certain things don't seem to add up. For instance, not too long ago, one of them apparently murdered a Keeper and then a bunch of civilians. I can understand the Keeper, he was painting the town red from what I understand, but killing unpowereds doesn't sit well with the title of do-gooder, you know? Ah, but I'm getting off topic. So, what was it that brought you to the street gang as opposed to any of the other factions?"
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Post by Solomon on Dec 9, 2016 17:24:48 GMT -7
Bolide grumbled to himself as he got a lecture from a guy he seriously doubted could be much - if any - older than him, but he accepted the food. After all, between all of the talking down and the boosting himself off of Bolide’s misfortune and understanding that made his hair stand on end and seriously reconsider the truce on blows was a very reasonable offer. Circumstances aside. Why this couldn’t be done in Geataland or at the Pandaemonium HQ was beyond him.
Food con masks, to Solomon’s understanding, tended to present a bit of a dilemma. Two masks, both covering his mouth no less, only compounded it. There was a solution, albeit one Bolide was hesitant to employ in front of a person he had just met and so far had proven to be decently aggressive. He cast a glance between Geata and the tossed and caught snack cakes. His will proved too weak, and Bolide gave in.
The bottom of the motorcycle helmet was detachable, and with a click and a pull came free. With it set aside on the ground, the helmet still covered the bulk of his head, and the tinted visor his eyes. Even still, a second mask kept the whole of his face covered. He pulled the black neoprene half-mask down from over his nose and let it bunch around his neck. The snack cakes and their sugar and carb-heavy sponge were by far the best of the given selection, and so the cardboard box was opened and the first plastic pack withdrawn.
The answer to Geata’s posed question was ‘because that’s where Aurora’s at’, but that could be left unsaid along with the real reason Bolide was sticking around. The tangent on Rein, however, stopped him mid-removal of the cake. Bolide’s mouth twitched. Indeed, he was getting off-topic. It’d be best to steer him away from it.
The reaction was hid quickly in a mouthful of food and Bolide attempting to grumble through it. “Warning my ass, if someone tells me they’re going to punch me in the face before they do it, I’m not going to think ‘my, what a good guy, to tell me they were going to cause bodily harm and then keep to their word’.”
Bolide was ready to give his response and piece of mind immediately, but first he had to swallow. He slouched forward, placing his hand on his knee so its elbow had ninety degrees to itself. The elbow of the hand holding the cake was rested on one knee, and the cake itself would be used as a gesturing tool akin to a relevant packet of paper as he spoke.
“First, don’t call me Smokey. Second, someone needs to help Aurora. If those lazy gang pigeons aren’t going to step up to help, I’m not about to let the ball drop. If no one does the work, work doesn’t get done and all that weight falls back on Aurora, like she doesn’t have enough on her plate already. This affects more than me. Maybe you need to read a book on causality. Third, if you’re looking for a fight, just say it already. Fourth, what you said about Aurora applies to all the Pandaemoniums. And couldn’t you have thought of a better way to do this? You’ve obviously got a brain.”
He’d expected Geata’s question would come up before too long, although the conversation he’d imagined it’d be asked in was a fair bit more casual than this. The supplementary explanation could be made without a stretch. Bolide’s voice took an edge of pride to it, and he took another bite of cake.
“The Bulwarks don’t fight the moneybag assholes. Rein doesn’t fight the moneybag assholes. The Keepers probably are the moneybag assholes.” He eyed Geata suspiciously. “I’m not fighting for the fake ‘justice’ that upholds a system rigged to protect those who already have power on the backs of those who don’t that the Bulwarks tote, or this bullshit status quo Rein worships, I’m fighting for real justice. The kind that benefits the people who need it. The kind Pandaemonium is fighting for.”
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The Keepers
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Post by Geata on Dec 10, 2016 1:56:27 GMT -7
"Ah, but that's not what happened," Geata said. "I gave you a choice. Come along all peaceful-like, or be brought along against your will. As a super who had already brought you somewhere against your will, you should've been aware that I was capable of following through and likely willing as well. You made the wrong choice after being warned against the wrong choice. That's on you."
Geata was started to realize just how much of an ass he was being, but it was much too late. He had made his first impression already, and trying to apologize and make amends would come across only as a shady attempt to make nice. Besides, Geata couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't continue to act like an extreme ass unintentionally. Especially considering how easy Bolide was making it. Better just to not mention it and apologize later, probably.
He chuckled at Bolide's list of responses. "Sorry, Smokey, no can do. I gotta call you something, after all, and you still haven't given your name. And you seem to be as bad at listening as you are at introductions. I persuaded a group of layabouts to cover your shift. If I hadn't wanted to talk to you, I never would've thought of it, and that group would still be doing absolutely nothing. Aurora would've eventually noticed and gotten involved, and then she'd have more on her plate with that. Instead, I motivated some of her workers for her, actually decreasing her overall workload. How's that for causality?" Yep, he found it far too easy to be an ass. He was definitely blaming Bolide for that fact.
"Okay, let's be honest, if I wanted to fight you, I technically already won seeing as of how I incapacitated you with a taser. You were incapable of fighting, I win by default, please stop going on about fighting now. Okay? I understand that you're the brutish sort that solves your problems with fisticuffs, but this was actually meant to be a relatively peaceful outing involving food and stargazing. So sit down, stop whining, and quit being difficult. This was a perfectly fine idea in all aspects but one, namely you," he huffed.
Geata found the implied accusation hilarious. "As a Keeper, yes, the Keepers are indeed the moneybag assholes. With the exceptions being those of us who joined for completely different reasons than money, both of which that I know of being less than rich and more living off of the kindness of others." The rest that was said, though, needed a few moments of thought before being responded to.
"In all honesty, guy," he said finally, "I'm not sure how many Pandas agree with you on the mission of the group. Oh, sure, Aurora's in charge and that's her mission, so people are playing along, but most everyone is there because they wanted to let off some steam at the expense of whatever bank crossed their path. It's my understanding that the Panda King generally doesn't live for more than a few months, and Aurora's reaching that. The way things are, it's a new situation so nothing's certain, but my guess is she's either going to start dealing with would-be usurpers here soon - if she isn't already - if she's unlucky and people don't decide to give her time to get things really going."
He paused again, but for a significantly shorter time, and this time he was obviously in a better place when he started talking again. "That said, you sound like you're there because she is, which means she's got another meat shield between her and attempted killers. That works out well, yeah? Assuming you're willing to be martyred for your cause. Are you, Smokey?"
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Post by Solomon on Dec 10, 2016 17:00:23 GMT -7
Bolide was mentally marking down various rebuttals to Geata’s statements as he spoke, but settled for finishing off the cake while he waited for the super to finish. What he ended with, however, threw all of that out the window.
“The hell.” Bolide said, taken aback and visibly recoiling as though Geata had clapped his hands in front of his face. “You said you were her friend, didn’t you? What are you saying?” Bolide’s voice lowered as he jumped to a conclusion that given Geata’s reputation seemed very unlikely to Solomon, but given this afternoon and present lack of context, was the first impression Bolide got. Plus, Geata had essentially handed him means of explaining this topic with little reason for doubt, and Solomon wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass. Geata was handing him all kinds of useful things this evening. Enough so that it was almost worth getting tasered for. Almost.
He internally thanked Geata, flattened his expression, and said, still mildly stunned, “Is that some kind of threat?”
Bolide’s voice jumped a notch in volume as his confidence returned. “If you’re asking me if I’ll protect the people I’m fighting for with my life, the answer is yes. Hell yes. I don’t care if it’s you, anyone you send, or the goddamn armies of hell, if they’re trying to kill someone I’m trying to protect, I will fight with everything I have. I’m not afraid to die to save the life of a super. Especially if that super is someone I respect like Aurora. If I can’t even save one super, how can I begin to hope to help all of them?”
He locked his gaze unwavering on Geata and stilled his movements. While his tone had remained serious and overall poor tempered, it now took on a sharp edge of gravity. “Take that as a warning, Keeper. You may have ‘won’ today, but if you, any of your buddies, or anyone you manipulate tries anything against Aurora, I swear, you haven’t seen anything of me yet.”
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The Keepers
Posts 357
Power Level 31
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Post by Geata on Dec 11, 2016 23:01:59 GMT -7
At first, Geata was simply confused as to what he had said and what Bolide was saying. After all, how was his friendship with Aurora in any way related to how she'd be dealing with attempts on her life? As Bolide continued, though, his meaning dawned on the portal user. By the end, he was equal parts disbelieving and offended. "A-Are you - holy shit, you don't even understand how fucking dense you are," he stammered, losing any semblance of regret for his previous actions.
He needed a few moments to calm down somewhat and think. "Alright, dumbass, listen up," he said, not really trying to hide his irritation. "Before I can even start to consider addressing anything else, you apparently need to understand something: the leader of Pandaemonium gets that title by murdering the previous despot. Aurora had to kill Mosh Man, the previous leader, to become leader, and she wasn't the first to do such a thing. It's only reasonable to expect that somebody will eventually be trying do such a thing again, and I am by no means saying anything about that somebody being me or anybody that I currently know of. What I was saying was that history is likely to try and repeat itself - again - and Aurora's going to be challenged in one way or another, and it wouldn't be a very friendly fight. I was simply commenting on the inevitable situation, not saying that I was planning on causing it."
"You can die to save other supers all you want, Smokey, but I'm going to give you a couple of pointers now that might save your idiotic ass sometime down the line. First, just looking at pure strength, Aurora is easily one of the strongest supers in the city. If I, or anyone else, thought we'd stand a fighting chance against her, we'd have no issues with trying to kill you. Second, you've seen about as much of my abilities as I suspect I've seen of yours, meaning nowhere near half of the tricks up our sleeves, so threatening that I've seen nothing of you yet is an empty threat considering how you've seen nothing of me yet either. As honorary Panda slash official Keeper, I'd recommend underselling your capabilities, especially while you're still new. If people think you're out of tricks, they're vulnerable to being surprised when you reveal a new one."
Geata paused a moment, lost in thought, before continuing. "Also, I feel the need to make something very plainly clear for you, twit. I'm likely one of the closest things to a pacifistic super you'll meet in this city. Using a taser is the most violent action I've performed since developing my powers, if memory serves, and you're the only person I've ever done that to. So, for the love of all that is holy, will you shut the fuck up with insinuating that my every motive involves hurting people? Just because you're a moron who made the wrong choice and I responded doesn't mean that I've had to resort to violence often, or that it's a preferred method of mine. Now please, understand so I can stop going on about this and wasting our time," he grumbled, still clearly irritated.
"Now then, that was not the question I asked by any means. I asked if you'd be willing to die for your cause, and I'd imagine 'fighting for supers' is a bit too vague to really be what your cause is. So, I'll rephrase: what is it that you're fighting for supers for?"
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
Power Level 31
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Post by Solomon on Dec 15, 2016 3:00:16 GMT -7
“Aurora killed a guy?!” Bolide shouted. And then he went silent. For several beats he looked at Geata, mouth agape, and then he looked down at his feet for several more. He raised his eyebrows, lowered them, closed his mouth, and continued to say nothing for about twenty more seconds.
He looked slowly back up at Geata. “If that’s what you were asking, you should’ve just asked that.” He said, his voice low and significantly calmer. That lasted all of one sentence before he was yelling again like he was trying to convince Geata he was quite tough actually. “I’m fighting to make supers equal human beings, because if this,” he gestured angrily to his mask, “is anything to go by, we’re not. Among all the other bullshit this society thinks is okay. We need to change, and we need to change fast, because every day I don’t is another day young supers have to be afraid for their lives. Since just about everyone else around here is doing fuck all, I’ve got to step up and do something about it.”
What else could he mean by saying ‘fighting for supers’? With that taken care of, Bolide shifted his weight recrossed his legs the other way.
“You’re sure doing a hell of a lot of complaining about how the person you tasered and dragged against his will to the middle of some god forsaken hill isn’t being perfectly cordial about it. What, were you hoping I’d develope stockholm syndrome in the first ten seconds and thank you for picking up my evening and dropping it wherever you damn well pleased? Remember how I mentioned that thing, causality, was it? Amazing how applicable it is. Sorry to drop this stunning revelation on you, jackass, but you’re not entitled to my cooperation, alacrity, or good mood. So suck it up and stop acting like a spoiled buttercup.
“And bot wig, you keep giving out advice like that and you’re going to get Aurora killed. Even the strongest wall has its weak points. Every leader sleeps. Fine, I’ll believe you harbour no ill will against her, but if you care about her, you can’t just think to yourself ‘ah she’s strong, she’s fine, what could happen’. I’ll tell you what could fucking happen, someone could try to play this, what is it, gladiatorial match for leader of the faction and try to kill her! If that’s the case here then she’s a big flashing target, isn’t she? You’re talking like just because she’s strong, there’s no point in trying to protect her, and that’s bullshit.
Here, let me play out a bit of math for you. If Aurora fights someone who is exactly as strong as her, her chances of winning are fifty-fifty. If that person fights Aurora and me or you, suddenly chances sway in Aurora’s favor. This isn’t a video game, clod, we’re not all going to line up in some long hallway and let the enemy take us out one room at a time.”
Bolide had nothing further to say about the rest of his advice. It was solid advice.
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The Keepers
Posts 357
Power Level 31
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Post by Geata on Dec 15, 2016 22:53:03 GMT -7
"Boy, you really ought to study up on your recent history, guy" Geata sighed. He didn't have much room to talk about a lack of research, if his last discussion with Unhallow was anything to go off of, but he at least had some excuses. The Keepers were secretive, shady, and he had thought he had already known what the goal of the faction was. Pandaemonium, though, was anything but secretive. And a change in faction leadership was made well known to even the least involved super in the city, considering how much it was discussed. Either Bolide had been especially isolated from his fellow supers for a long while around that time, or he was very new to the super community as a whole. Given the rest of the conversation so far, Geata was more inclined to believe the latter.
Still, he was secretly pleased with Bolide's reaction. It was pretty clear that he hadn't expected Aurora to have done something like that, and it didn't sound like it was anything he'd be doing himself. Geata hadn't believed it at first when he heard the news either, so he understood the surprise that the other super was experiencing. It was exactly because he hadn't expected that Aurora could do such a thing that he understood that it must have been an immensely difficult decision for her. That was why he didn't let his feelings on the matter influence anything; it would only make a difficult situation worse. He didn't like what she did, but, admittedly, he respected her ability to do what she felt was necessary for her cause. Even so, most of the time, he simply tried his best not to think about it. Bolide had no idea how uncomfortable a subject it was that they were discussing.
And then the moron opened his mouth again and Geata tried to repress a sigh, barely succeeding.
"Oh, well," he said sarcastically. "I had thought 'why are you fighting for supers' would've been a weird question considering how I didn't know what your goal was, even in vague terms. Pardon me for not previously knowing your entire life story before we even met, asswipe. I will give you credit, though, at least you're not just some asshole who's version of 'for supers' involves thinking that the best thing would be enslavement of unpowereds. I can respect a desire for equal rights."
Geata was almost tempted to simply drop the subject of the taser until he was called a 'spoiled buttercup'. After that, he couldn't help but feel like to do so would be to admit defeat to a lesser opponent. "I'm sorry, I had been led to believe that accepting the consequences of your actions was a mature thing to do, princess. Thank you for your ever enlightening words of wisdom that have shown me just how wrong that assumption was, o great and powerful new guy. Listen here, I don't give a damn about your cooperation, alacrity, good mood, or general well being for that matter. What I care about is you shutting your mouth. I'm every bit as entitled to you acting a certain way as you are me, so how about this: you drop the subject, I drop the subject, and I don't leave you in the woods to walk your way back home. Deal?"
"And I'm sorry, what makes you think that I'm not aware of all that? Hell, I flat out said that you'd be useful as a meat shield, at the very least. I'm not saying that you shouldn't fight alongside her or anything. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't try acting all big and bad towards someone you think is going to try and off a powerful super when it's just the two of you alone. That will only be good for one thing, namely getting yourself killed pointlessly when instead you could wait to die when it'd be useful. Or, as I'm sure you'd prefer, not at all. Because, if you don't wait until you have backup, it's going to essentially be like what you just described: her enemies killing off her friends one by one so that the final fight is just her on her own. A smart man would take down potential threats when opportunity presents itself, as it would have here had I any reason to consider you threatening; making yourself seem like a bigger threat can be used to your advantage in certain situations, but that wouldn't be one of those situations."
"In short: had I wanted Aurora dead, you'd currently be as good as dead if I thought you were enough of a threat to be worth killing. We're out in the middle of the woods, with nobody around. Should you ever find yourself in an actual situation like that, making threats is only going to get yourself killed. And, as I'm sure you're aware, you'd be no good to anybody if you died like that. All I'm saying is, your safest options would either be to run and try to regroup with allies, or talk your way out if confident in your ability to do so. I strongly suggest you stick with running." Geata paused, still unsure if he was getting his ultimate point across. Or if he already had multiple times already. Either way, though, it deserved to be said, whether it was being said again or not.
"Listen," he sighed eventually, "I'm not trying to say that Aurora's strong enough to handle it herself. I strongly believe in the opposite, in fact, and on this particular subject I'm unsure if she'd disagree with me. I have multiple contacts in the faction keeping an ear out for talk of revolt, not to mention what I'll personally do to anybody who dares think that they can hurt one of my friends. There's also the rest of Aurora's friends, and now you. But, if somebody can take her one on one, they can take you one on one, so play it smart and make sure that you're there when she actually needs you. Have I made myself clear to you yet, maggot?"
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