The Keepers
Posts 234
Power Level 31
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Post by Azoth on May 29, 2016 16:18:10 GMT -7
Ever since she had read about this “normification tonic” in the newspaper, Azoth had been interested in the good Doctor. She knew there were quacks and fake entrepreneurs capitalizing on people’s fear, and Dr. Mallord was as likely to be one of them as a pine tree was to be green, but every so often even fools stumbled upon some gem of knowledge. The off chance that she might learn something - even if he knew as much about superpowers as the fear mongering politicians, surely she wasn’t the only one to have an interest in the man and his products; proof he was a fake would still be valuable - was enough that she had scoured the news, internet, and other sources for anything on him.
That’s what had lead her to the flyer, advertising a talk about the Doctor’s miracle drug. She didn’t know if Mallord would be there, but it hardly mattered - the man himself would be nice, but something as simple as a forlorned memo may contain all the information she sought. If all else failed, whoever was giving the talk might know something.
But first, she would try the back rooms in search of this grail of a memo in whatever form it took, be it a notebook, talking point notes, or an important-looking laptop. She’d find the speaker’s prep room and give it a good search.
The trouble was getting there. Getting in was easy; locks meant nothing to Azoth. She needed only find a back door - the one set beside this auditorium’s large trash bin would do - and she was in. The little stick of metal barring between the door and the doorway that acted as means of keeping unwanted guests such as her out of places they shouldn’t be, such as here, broke cleanly in half as she turned the door’s handle and pulled the door smoothly open.
Azoth paced down the dark and empty janitor's hallway. The current talk was being broadcast through large speakers in the main room of the building, and a muffled version of it could be heard as far back as where she was. Security cameras blacked out just before she came into their threatened area, integral wires broken neatly. Azoth’s boots on the linoleum echoed slightly off the otherwise empty hallway. Discourse could be heard just beyond the thin walls, but she seemed to be mostly, if not completely, alone in these back ways.
This was a good thing, because Azoth was rather lost. She made two turns after three long hallways, and found herself well within the building and with little sense of where what she was looking for was. It wasn’t like she could just pick up some map and it’d have a room labeled “storage for sensitive information regarding the current speaker”.
The first possible solution that occurred to her was to find computer hooked up to the security system. Azoth just hoped whatever she needed to do could be done quietly back here, without the knowledge of the three hundred (at least) civilians listening to the talk or the viewers of the conference's online live stream.
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SCHEME: Find out if there’s something more to this “Doctor’s” claim of a tonic able to suppress superpowers. It’s probably nothing, but an ounce of prevention… never mind.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on May 29, 2016 17:53:03 GMT -7
Aurora had been busy lately, but the fruits of that labor were finally beginning to show themselves. People knew her name, she was starting to get more money than she even knew what to do with, and she even had a small following with in Pandaemonium (even if she was pretty sure most of them hated her). For once, she felt like she might be able to move a little rather than prepare. It was too soon to make any big waves, but there was one thing that continued to piss her off every time she saw it. Some jackass was selling a miracle cure for superpowers, as though being a super was some terrible medical condition that needed a cure in the first place. The fact that this abomination existed in the first place was bad enough, but the fact that it was being advertised so heavily meant that people were actually buying it too. Aurora couldn't let this stand. She had no intention of letting anyone kill off her kind. It was good timing that she felt like she had a bit of time to tackle this because it just so happened that someone was giving a talk about it today.
She spent some time gathering items for her aurora on the way there, as she always did, but she kept it low to the ground instead of putting it in the air until she got close. The sparkling cloud swirled around her feet, making it look like she was almost walking on air. As much as she'd love to announce her presence as usual, it was important that the building didn't try to evacuate too quickly. Aurora wanted to know who was involved with this, whether the person was a speaker or in the audience, it was likely that everyone here had some stake in this product and the research behind it. As such, they were all fair targets until she got information that proved otherwise. Once the entrance was with in her sights, she sent her aurora skywards to signal her arrival. This particular exercise would not be nearly as effective if the people didn't have some idea of what was going on, or who caused it.
Rather than make an effort to sneak in, Aurora went right through the front door, or at least where it would be if she hadn't destroyed it and most of the wall it was attached to. The person running the front desk was momentarily confused until Aurora herself entered the room. The woman covered her mouth, presumably to hide any sounds she might make, and with her eyes wide, tried to call security. Once it became obvious which device the worker was reaching for, Aurora made it dissolve into particles and glared at the woman. Aurora continued walking, grabbing the computer, most of the front desk itself, and bits of the floor and walls to add to her collection. As she walked, she never once broke eye contact with the woman.
"Against the wall, hands behind your head," when the woman nodded and complied, Aurora continued. "Where's the seminar about the Normification Tonic?"
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Her aurora was at her feet again, lighting up the room and her face as she walked towards the auditorium the seminar would be taking place. Aurora was taking out chunks of the walls to give her access to the electrical systems. After severing a few wires here and there, most of the lights were out and she was pretty sure she took out most of the ways security would communicate with each other. It was all done late enough that she doubted the auditorium would have time to evacuate by the time she got there, and it would be easy enough to foil all their attempts to do so that it wasn't even worth worrying about. Like before, she blew open the doors with her power, but this time she kept the walls in tact. When she entered, the people looked confused at the blackout, and the fact that the sound system didn't seem to be working anymore, but with the doors gone and the sudden influx of colorful light, it became clear exactly what was happening. Some people started getting out of their chairs immediately.
"No!" Aurora dropped several chunks of wall, floor, and whatever else she was carrying around all the exits she could see. "You came here to listen to a speech, so you're going to listen to a speech. I wouldn't dream of ruining it for you."
She sent her aurora a few feet above her head, creating a colorful spotlight around her in the darkness of the auditorium. Aurora walked down the center isle, slowly, taking a good look at every person on the way to the stage. Once she reached the stage, she took a seat on the edge and started breaking apart everything behind the speaker. The curtains, any interesting looking junk back stage, even part of the back wall just to confirm there was nothing but the rest of the building behind it. With that, she got comfortable, had her aurora fill the stage to act as a new light, and looked at the speaker.
"So keep talking. I'm very interested in hearing your conclusions."
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SUPPORTING: In spirit at least. I'm sure we want the same thing in the end.
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Pandaemonium
I need a gingerbread man, the one I'll eat
Posts 154
Power Level 28
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Post by Bloodbath on May 29, 2016 18:43:05 GMT -7
Bloodbath sighed as he gasped open his arm, grumbling becoming audible as he had thought this day would go by without ripping himself up again.
But you want to be useful, right? Right.
He proceeded in as Aurora tore through, commanding flexible of blood till bloody beasts roamed throughout the halls, attacking anyone who tried to attack or leave.
He himself sat in the front of the conference, deranged little chuckle escaping his lips, "L-lets hear i-it.
Supporting: Providing backup!
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 153
Power Level 22
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Post by Titan on May 29, 2016 19:49:38 GMT -7
Titan had been going through the motions of his superheroic "career". Walk around this neighborhood, save a cat stuck on a tree. Walk around that neighborhood, help out the fire department with whatever crisis they were dealing with. Though while he was gently pulling people out of a burning building to safety, Titan could swear he heard some dissatisfied grumbling from the gathered firefighters. While he understood where they were coming from (supers weren't trusted that much anywhere), it still stung a little bit. He was helping out the community after all, a little appreciation would have been nice. But instead of complaining like some people would, Titan maintained his perpetual silence and departed as quickly as he arrived before the police could.
He was quite proud of how he did it; his giant form brought a lot of attention, so him suddenly shrinking down to his normal size was jarring enough to catch a lot of people off-guard. And in his normal size, Titan could run through the alleyways while the police were scrambling to find him. It was a good system that was working well so far. While he was new to the whole superhero thing, Titan felt that he was getting the hang of it. Most of everything went without incident, and as long as he avoided encountering any supervillains, Titan was fine with going home and relaxing for the rest of the day.
But, alas, such an encounter with a supervillain was bound to happen one of these days, and it did. While Titan was wandering about his "stomping grounds" (so to speak) he caught sight of a building. One with a hole in it, but a building nonetheless. Deciding to investigate the situation, Titan walked through the gaping hole and saw a terrified woman cowering in the corner. When she saw the super, she pointed towards a few more holes, as if she thought he was with whoever did this. Titan nodded in appreciation then made his way towards the assailant. The super wondered to himself what could have been responsible for this. It was a either a demolition crew or a super that would be capable of doing this, and Titan was pretty sure it wasn't a demolition crew.
Finally reaching the end of the hallway, Titan's path was blocked a by a large piece of wall, all but confirming this was the work of a super, and a reasonably strong one at that. Growing to 10 feet (and being thankful his head didn't bonk the ceiling), Titan threw a hard punch at the obstacle, shattering and allowing him to enter the auditorium. Once he was inside, he saw two figures standing out from the cowed crowd, both of them wearing mostly red, marking them as (probably) members of Pandaemonium. The male was surrounded by strange liquid-y beasts while the female had a weird rainbow aura. No doubt the latter was Aurora, who was gaining quite the reputation as a villain. The two's affiliation to Pandaemonium confirmed, Titan got to work. Increasing his size to 15 feet, the sounds of snapping bones resonated from the super, disturbing most of everybody in the auditorium. Nonetheless, it was hero time.
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OPPOSING: Its a God-given right for a man to peddle his snake oil
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Unaligned
Aw, what's wrong? Don't you trust me?
Posts 235
Power Level 30
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Post by An0nymou5 on May 30, 2016 0:29:40 GMT -7
It was merely happenstance that Anonymous found himself in this situation. He was curious about this “nortification” tonic that the news advertisement was speaking about, and finds it rather strange as to why certain people would want to get rid of their God-gifted power to be normal. In his slightly unstable mind, he could guess that this is another scam to fool the good people, preying on their hope to get rich. At first he didn’t expected a number of people were also taking an interest in attending the seminar, so he decided to blend in with the crowd to find out more about this. He was hoping he might be able to see this Dr. Mallard, whoever he is, and to find out if these tonics were in fact faked; that would be enough to place him in his list of people to punish for their crime for later.
What he didn’t expect was Aurora barging in to the room, spreading her aurora in the ceiling and accompanies by that psycho Bloodbath. And to make matter even more hectic, now there’s a 50-ft giant man started to trash the place as well. Then again, this is a perfect opportunity to get what he need.
With the giant make a large escape path in the room with his humongous fist and the panic of the crowd, Anonymous can simply sneak pass them without them noticing. His target would be the information that the suppose doctor might have somewhere inside this building; even better if he find the man himself. That way, if he was proven to be a fraud, it won’t be hard to deal his punishment to him; killing two birds with one stone, as they said. However, as luck would have it, he has to bump into another super that he recognized a while back, who was also interfering with his work. Guess these Keepers make a living by trespassing to place where they shouldn’t belong. He could feel the rush started to excite him; he reverse back to his usual faceless form and smiled at her:
“Well, what do you know; if it isn’t Azoth? Here on a mission for your up-tight organization, I assume?”
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OPPOSING: first to get to the information gets the spoils, Azoth, how about it?
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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on May 31, 2016 16:21:05 GMT -7
PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 online Running aberrant conflict search heuristic. Scanning satellite imagery... anomaly located. Beginning detailed analysis. Multiple emergency phone calls detected in Emerald City, sector AM-35. Multiple aberrants detected in the vicinity. Cataloguing contents of sector... Detected: 28,651 unpowered humans Detected: Four standard aberrants. See case files 1-5606, 1-5652, 1-5691, 1-5977. Detected: One anomalous aberrant. See case file 3-0508 (cf. 5-0193). Conflict probability within next 60 seconds: 99.99% Beginning combat data collection. (The fight starts now! In public, post your reactions and responses to everything that has happened since your last post. Then, click here to PM the admins with the description of your action this turn. In that PM, also include which power type you're using and your choice of target. The next round will begin in 48 hours, or less if everyone's actions are submitted before then.) |
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The Keepers
Posts 234
Power Level 31
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Post by Azoth on May 31, 2016 16:24:07 GMT -7
Azoth paused at the sudden increase of noise in the room over. That, if her memory served her, was one of the major conference halls, and the room of the current talk. It was the only room she’d thought to look up, a fact she was now regretting. Whatever was happening, it certainly was loud - either the doctor’s speaker had brought bass speakers powerful enough for make the ground shake and something startling enough for people to begin panicing, or-
Of course other supers had arrived. She couldn’t have been the only one to have heard about the seminar, and this was exactly the sort of thing to get on the nerve of the more, violent? Volatile? Supers in the city. If they were here, it was only a matter of time before the roof came down on the place. She’d have to hurry.
She quickened her pace. Footsteps were audible in the hallway, but she paid them no mind. She could use the chaos caused by the other supers to her advantage, steal away into the back rooms while security was preoccupied with the louder threats- Azoth physically jumped as the one attached to the footsteps, a civilian who would’ve been all but faceless to her in their inconsequential nature, suddenly became literally faceless. She stopped in her tracks as her breath caught in her throat.
It was Anonymous. Azoth forced herself to breath. Though she had never fought the super, she’d seen what he was capable up at the lake. If at all possible she would like to avoid fighting him. She’d like to avoid fighting in general, but the unaligned in particular struck her as a bad opponent. Some part of her, in spite how unlikely it was, hoped he was just here to mess with the civilians in that room.
“I’m here on my own business.” Azoth replied simply. “Don’t get in my way and we won’t have any conflict.”
Her gaze lingered on him as she turned, leaving him only as she began off once again down the hallway and a fast jog.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on May 31, 2016 17:25:25 GMT -7
Aurora leaned back on the stage, letting her legs dangle off the edge. She wasn't more than a few feet away from the speaker, who very nervously continued on with his speech. Not once did she stop staring at him with a scowl, directly into his eyes, as he spoke no matter how boring his speech was. At least until there was a pound on her makeshift wall, and soon a hole. It figured that one of the Bulwark idiots would show up, but she didn't expect any of them to want to fight her here. Quickly, she dropped another piece of wall to fill in the hole he created in order to prevent any civilians from escaping. If he just wanted to keep breaking her walls, that was fine by her. She could get more. In the mean time, she scanned to the right, and then to the left, looking over the entire audience before turning her attention back to the hero that crashed the party.
"Seriously. You want to fight me here? In a room full of unpowered civilians?" Aurora sighed and hopped onto her feet, the metal parts of her boots clanging againt the stage. "Okay then! I knew you were all a bunch of hypocrites, but you've managed to surprise even me! You didn't think this one through did you?"
Her aurora swirled overhead. There had to be a good hundred people here, all of which she could hit at once given the current size of her aurora. Aurora paced back and forth on the stage as she considered what she should do. Should she hit the civilians? That seems to be why these so called heroes were so willing to fight her in rooms full of them. It was true that she was usually good about avoiding them, often better at doing so than the so called heroes themselves, and that was what made her consider pulling something. It would be incredibly easy, and there was no doubt that every single person in this room deserved it on some level given they were supporting something like this. After a moment's thought, she still decided against it, at least doing anything herself. But she was going to be damn sure that if this guy wanted to attack her he was going to have to hit at least a dozen other people in the process. Her pacing stopped, and she was facing the speaker, no more than a foot away from him.
"And you, did I say you could stop talking? Keep going!"
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Pandaemonium
I need a gingerbread man, the one I'll eat
Posts 154
Power Level 28
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Post by Bloodbath on May 31, 2016 17:57:38 GMT -7
Bloodbath cupped his head in his hands as he tuned out somewhere along the way of the speech. The man just droned on and on! Boring, boring, boring!
He resembled an impatient child, his bloody creatures given the "stand by" command and curling around him like a gang of beloved pets.
He noticed the rumbling first, drawing a shield around himself while squeaking out a warning, "S-super!" He hissed as a gigantic man burst in and towered over them. However, his confidence returned as Aurora snarked at the giant, "Y-yeah, take a step a-and your s-shoes will be s-sticky!"
He boldly waved mockingly before lowering his hand with a bashful expression in his gaze, blankly committing the speech behind him to memory, somebody was going to need the information, he assumed.
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 153
Power Level 22
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Post by Titan on May 31, 2016 18:20:33 GMT -7
Seeing Aurora block the exit Titan had made when he came in as if it was afterthought was quite disheartening. That meant these civilians were trapped in here, not only with two most likely psychotic Pandaemonium supers, but now with a giant who could accidentally squash one of them. The two villains were very much aware of Titan's concerns, as was evident when they taunted him about the situation. This wasn't going to be a reckless brawl in some abandoned, run-down part of the city, there were innocents here, innocents that Bulwarks like him swore to protect (at least Titan hoped the other Bulwarks did so). Letting out a grunt of frustration, Titan went into a lower stance, hands open to allow for grappling.
While the two supers were almost goading him on to make the first move, Titan thought over how he was going to handle this fight. Making wide sweeping attacks was a definitely not an option whatsoever, nor was stomping about the place like Godzilla. Increasing his size was out of the equation completely, he was already stretching it as is. Whenever he went on the offensive, he needed to make precise attacks that minimized any risk of collateral, at least as precise as a 15 foot giant could be. Not only that, but with every step he took, he had to keep an awareness of his surroundings to make sure no civilians were in his path.
Titan cursed his luck. Fighting two supers while also having to keep an eye on each and every person that could be caught as collateral was not his idea of a fun time. Far from it, really. But you reap what you sow, and as long as he stuck to the game plan, everything would turn out reasonably well. Hopefully.
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Unaligned
Aw, what's wrong? Don't you trust me?
Posts 235
Power Level 30
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Post by An0nymou5 on Jun 1, 2016 15:37:51 GMT -7
Anonymous chuckled at Azoth’s response to his inquiry; it is rather funny how even Keeper’s own members think they have freedom to do whatever they want without their own higher-up watching. He could still hear the commotion in the seminar room slightly; guess he can leave that giant in dealing with the two Pandaemonium members. Worst-case, this entire building will be destroyed, along with anyone inside it. Either those Pandaemonium are on their own mission, or they’re here working as a distraction for Azoth to go around unnoticed.
He gave her a shrug as he shook his head: “Well Azoth, I got a feeling that what you’re after might be the very same thing that I’m after as well. I would ask if you’re willing to share what you find with me, but somehow I have a feeling that you Keeper don’t like the idea of ‘sharing’ much.”
As for the other two Pandaemonium, he doesn't really know why they're here, but as long as they didn't bring this place down, they can bickered with that giant for all he care. He can always mess up Bloodbath, but not right now, not when so many innocent civilians are in the room. One wrong move and Bloodbath will massacre the whole room with his blood-monster. He just need to be smart about his approach; for now he need to focus on his reason of being here.
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Post by PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 on Jun 2, 2016 0:52:10 GMT -7
   PANOPTICON Ver. 3.023 analyzing combat data... --- Interference (Obfuscation) by Azoth against An0nymou5 results in SUCCESS, +5% combat advantage Accumulation (Information) by An0nymou5 against Interference (Obfuscation) results in FAILURE due to suppression by the Interference (Obfuscation) Azoth used Accumulation (Summoning) by Bloodbath against Aggression (Destruction) results in SUCCESS, +10% combat advantage Maneuver (Alteration) by Aurora Disicio against Titan results in SUCCESS, +25% combat advantage Aggression (Destruction) by Titan against Bloodbath results in PARTIAL success due to lesser suppression by the immunity granted by the Accumulation (Summoning) Bloodbath used, +15% combat advantage --- Current conditions: Aurora Disicio Azoth and Bloodbath have immunity to Aggression (Destruction) granted by the Accumulation (Summoning) Bloodbath used Current advantage: Aurora Disicio Azoth and Bloodbath have 40% An0nymou5 and Titan have 15% Current openings: Azoth may SURPRISE the other side at a cost of 15% combat advantage, causing her side's actions to be considered higher-level for the purpose of resolution order next turn. (Click here to send in your next round's actions!) |
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Emerald City Bulwark
Posts 153
Power Level 22
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Post by Titan on Jun 2, 2016 19:26:40 GMT -7
Some of Titan's attacks struck true, the ravenous bloodhounds that he got solid hits on bursting apart in a viscous shower. However, others were too fast for him and evaded those strikes, allowing them to close the distance and viciously latch onto Titan ankles. They were like fire ants; small, but with a mean bite. Titan growled and smacked a few aside, exploding them agains the walls, but that wasn't enough to get rid of all of them.
Titan didn't even have time to shake all of them off, as Aurora made her move, releasing a hail of objects towards him. Miscellaneous items from both the building itself and outside it pelted Titan at high enough speeds that he had to bring up an arm to prevent them from colliding into his face. The combination of the attack from Bloodbath's hounds and Aurora's hail made going on the offensive incredibly difficult. They were aiming to spread Titan thin, and they were succeeding.
It was then to his horror that he realized that whatever objects Aurora threw at him would also affect the crowd. Titan spotted a piece of concrete hurtle towards a bystander. With his free hand, he managed to catch before it could do any damage, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. Titan then turned his attention to Aurora, glaring at her from behind the mask.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 3, 2016 13:15:06 GMT -7
Her attack was enough to get the hero to squirm. While it was satisfying to see on some level, Aurora was still irritated that she even had to do it, and was even more irritated when the idiot hero wanted to continue fighting. She always knew that their so-called heroism was more about their own egos than actually helping people, but actually seeing it still managed to piss her off somehow. If she ever pulled shit like this, regardless of who she was fighting, she'd be a monster, but it was always totally fine when they did it because justice or something. The fact that he still wanted to fight just made her face flatten.
"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish with this? If you hadn't come at all, no one would have been at risk, no one would have gotten hurt," she paused and raised a finger. "Yet. You all should know how I operate already. These peoples' unnecessary suffering is on your head."
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Pandaemonium
I need a gingerbread man, the one I'll eat
Posts 154
Power Level 28
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Post by Bloodbath on Jun 3, 2016 13:32:05 GMT -7
Ohhh, that's bad. I know it is, tell me what to do! More blood, overwhelm!
Bloodbath followed his minds voices, one hand flicking up to scratch at his neck while the other dug into his palm. The feeling of emptiness was only a slight hindrance, squashed by the giggling amusement he felt at the hero.
"T-that's right, and y-your still gonna l-lose!" At his words, he stole a quick glance at Aurora, as if seeking praise.
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