breakingamber

“Sparks sparks sparking sparks!” Screaming. The sound of feet pounding against concrete. Electricity crackling and popping everywhere, filling the air with the smell of ozone. “You were wrong! Sparks, Sean, you said there would be no Epics! There is clearly an Epic!” Sean gripped his Louisville Slugger tighter, grimacing towards his radio. He very briefly stuck his head above the chunk of building he was taking cover behind, then yelped and frantically ducked back down, just barely dodging the two-foot metal needle that pierced through the air right where his nose used to be. It circled about for a bit, then flew right back the way it came. Sean exhaled in relief. “I sparking noticed, Tommy, thank you very much,” Sean muttered to himself, turning his attention back to ‘his’ team. He activated the transmitter on his radio, broadcasting instructions to them: “Alright. Change of plans. Anne, Harris - on my signal, take what you can carry and run for it. Tommy, you’re with me. Distraction duty.” Affirmative sounds filtered through the speakers, concluded by Tommy’s resigned, “Fine.” Another ionized boom shook the street, closer to him this time, followed by the hoarse over-the-top shouting of the Epic causing it. “Face me! Come, foolish mortals, and face the wrath of Shocksteel!” That wasn’t a terrible name, Sean had to admit (he’d heard of a lot worse), but he really did not have the voice to pull off that threatening bellow. He sounded more like a crow hopped up on drugs than, say, Steelheart. He was dead now, come to think of it. Sparks, it had been more than five months, and he still could barely wrap his head around it. One of the most feared tyrants in North America, a god among - not even men, a god among Epics - dead. Killed, by the Reckoners, a group he’d thought hadn’t even existed before they’d quite publically taken the spotlight. A group consisting only of maples, consistently slaying Epics and getting away with it? It seemed like a fairy tale. Unlikely. And yet, it seemed that these were unlikely times, for the Reckoners did hold Newcago, were holding it, had held it against all comers for months, with no signs of being forced to stop. When Harris had finally managed to convince him it wasn’t a hoax, Sean had felt a spark of hope bursting in his chest, piercing through his hard-earned cynicism. Maybe things will get better, he’d thought. Perhaps the Epics that had oppressed everyone for far too long would start falling, life would return to that semblance of normalcy he treasured so deeply. Perhaps his sister would finally get to go to high school, do normal high school things, without the grim spectre of death looming over her every minute. His hopes had risen even further when Doubletake, one of the city’s major crime lords, had fallen under mysterious circumstances in the following days. Following that, after a period of frantic struggles for territory and more Epic fights than he could remember, he’d heard rumors of a meeting, called by Epoch, between all of the city’s major and minor Epics, which seemed like it could only go poorly. And then, as expected, there’d been some sort of disaster, though he hadn’t the foggiest clue exactly what had happened. What he did know was that every single Epic who’d attended was nowhere to be found, and that meant there were acres of unattended territory, no longer under the yoke of any Epics. Free. The minute he’d confirmed the news, he’d called Notley, asked her for support. He was going to take his little group - it didn’t have a real name, consisting largely of former students and parents - and take back as much of the city as possible before new Epics, and he wanted the help of the former Albertan government in doing so. She’d agreed. And so they’d went. Things had gone well, at first, as he and about a hundred others slowly tread through the eastern end of the city. They’d encountered a couple of minor Epics, but, thankfully, they were nothing that bullets couldn’t handle. There hadn’t even been any casualties. They’d avoided the southeastern end of the city; Pariah had been rampaging there, destroying and murdering wantonly at the time, though it seemed that she’d calmed down nowadays, leading her new faction in the ruins of ERA. And then Moonglow had shown up, and everything had gone to hell. He hadn’t been there personally, but he’d heard from the few survivors that she’d staked a claim, right where they were planning on expanding their territory. She and her ‘Lodge’, had expressed no interest in bowing to the ‘irrelevant mortals’, and had enough powerful Epics to make it happen, causing progress to grind to a halt. Notley pulled out the minute there was any sign of resistance, giving up almost all the territory they’d taken, irking Sean to no end, even if it was the logical choice. He’d heard they were currently combating some new corruption Epic, Depravity, just south of the middle part of the city. And now, he was back to doing what he was doing nine years ago: raiding and pillaging, foraging from abandoned houses for survival, keeping both him and the group alive for just one more day. It was grueling, hopeless. He wasn’t the only one who felt so, given that a couple people had left to join a cult with some slontzy name - the Acolytes, that was it. Still, the remaining people were looking up to him. So he did his job, going out nearly every day, braving desperate maples and dangerous Epics, hoping to find food and water and weaponry and anything else. Earlier that day, Anne had, while scouting, seemingly hit the jackpot. In the cellar of a seemingly-abandoned house, she’d found a large stash of food, weaponry, books, and other stuff. Sean had immediately called everyone in to toss it in the truck and haul it out, only to find that no, the house was not abandoned, and there was, in fact, a very irate Epic living there. Which they were currently fighting. And by fighting, he meant ‘hiding from’. Sean took another peek over his makeshift cover, finding that Shocksteel had turned away from him, crackling metal objects orbiting him lazily. He sighed. Pressed a button on his radio. “NOW!” Charged. What Happened in Edmonton (Reboot!) A new year, a new RP.

4 years ago Karina walked down the sidewalk and breathed in the arid Texas air. The sidewalk beneath her feet was cracked, but not unreasonably so and thus she continued walking on it. She waved at some of the people walking by, most of which waved back or offered some cheerful greeting in return. She halted when she recognized a minor Epic wearing a leather jacket and a somewhat stereotypical cowboy hat. He had a revolver holstered at his waist, and cowboy boots with spurs. He looked at her, and she quickly got out of his way but also prepared to grab her rifle and fire. His name is Shattershot, I think? He's one of Boombox's thugs, and he has the power to... she frantically racked her brain for information - to shatter bullets in midair as if they were frag grenades. Also enhanced reflexes. A good shot to the back of his head should take him down as long as he doesn't see it coming. He walked on past, and she watched him as he walked past, itching to take a shot at him and figuring another dead Epic could not hurt. Eventually, she let out a quiet sigh, turned around, and kept walking. Trying to kill him here in public would draw too much attention and almost certainly blow her cover. She still had a family to look after, and it was no secret as to where her mother and sister lived. Regardless, she couldn't help but feel like a coward as she approached her apartment building. Karina entered the the complex, waved at the woman at the front desk, and took the elevator to the nineteenth floor. She walked down the hallway and inserted her key into the lock on the door to her room, twisted it, and pushed the door open. Their apartment was of a decent size. Karina walked through the doorway into the sitting room and looking forward towards the kitchen, looking for her sister. For a split second, she thought she saw her sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. Karina blinked and then her sister was walking towards her. Serena wore a loose-fitting sports jersey and stained white shorts. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she folded her arms and stopped at arms length away from her sister, frowning. Karina hadn't noticed her sister's ill mood, and she casually took her rifle off her back, setting it down on a small table near the wall. Still oblivious, she turned to her sister, rambling, "Hey Serena, how're you doing? You know Davy? The Australian guy? He apparently got a real bona fide baseball for you." She leaned closer conspiratorially. "I think he likes you!" Serena scowled. "Where have you been?" The older sister replied offhandedly as she opened up a cabinet to retrieve a bowl, "Oh, at work. Moved some boxes around, worked with some weapons, you know the drill. Need to go back in about an hour, but I figured I might as well spend some time with you and catch up with Mama first. How was your day?" Karina found an oatmeal packet in the small pantry and prepared it to eat. She'd never told her sister nor mother she was a Reckoner, and didn't really plan to. It was just too dangerous both for them and her. Serena hadn't moved from where she was standing. She flatly replied, "Archangel got pissed off and blasted the marketplace. I'm out of work for at least a month." Karina finally processed that something was off, and turned back to look at her younger sister, and gasped. "Calamity, you look awful! What the sparks happened?" Her forehead had a very noticable, very purple bruise just above her right eye, and her entire body was splattered with dried blood. One of her legs looked badly charred, and her hair was slightly singed as well. Karina immediately walked towards her sister, exclaiming, "I can't believe you're still standing! You must've lost so - " Serena stiffly interrupted, "If you're worried about the blood, don't. It's not mine. Mostly it's Caden's and Julia's, they're the ones that pissed the sparking Epic off." She winced as her older sister poked gently at the bruise above her eye. Serena irritably brushed her sister's hand off of her face, then suddenly started shouting. "Where have you been the past three weeks? Mama's been worried about you and I've had to take care of her by myself! What in the world have you been doing?" "Three weeks? Surely it couldn't have been that long..." She trailed off. Karina realized with a start that she hadn't seen her sister this riled up in long time. She'd known her sister to be a rather reserved, cautious person, always trying to avoid offending whoever she was talking to. Now, she was absolutely furious. And not undeservedly so, I guess... Three weeks? "Yes it clearly could've been that long, because it has! Answer my question! What have you been doing recently that's so important that you let your sister get burned and beaten by some random Epic?" Karina defensively replied, "Well, it's very important but I can't really tell - " "Oh it's so important. More important than your mother and sister," Serena interrupted. She snorted derisively. Sarcastically, she continued, "Well don't let me stop you. Go ahead, with your secret meetings and your stupid friends. They're clearly too good for us." Her tone changed again, back to seething rage. "For that matter, even when you were here, you really weren't, were you? Always looking at a stupid book or working on your stupid sparking rifle." She walked over to said rifle and picked it up. "When was the last time you really even talked to us? Not just the basic banal greetings, really talked to us, asked us what we thought and our sparking hopes and dreams and whatever else?" Karina started to wonder if something was really wrong. Her sister rambled on for another minute or so, and eventually Karina interrupted, "Do you want me to leave? You're clearly worked up and - " Evidently, that was the wrong thing to say. Serena snarled, and suddenly Karina hit the ground, dazed from her sister's surprisingly strong left hook. I didn't see that coming... that's strange, some part of her brain felt. Most of it, however, was preoccupied with the dull pain in her cheek. Karina made an effort to sit up and leaned against a nearby chair, then groaned as she felt a vicious headache coming on. She forced a laugh, though it sounded more like coughing. "Sparks, you hit hard. That'll leave a mark." Serena was sitting on the nearby couch, her head in her hands. The younger girl looked absolutely miserable. The SKS-45 lay on the table in front of her, forgotten. Her older sibling shakily rose to her feet, then sat back down beside her. Silence reigned for a couple minutes, as the two siblings simply sat next to each other. Karina's cheek slowly turned purple. Eventually, Serena slowly sat up and broke the silence. "I'm sorry. That... that was... I'm sorry. I don't..." She made an incomprehensible gesture where she clenched her and unclenched her hands repeatedly and waved them around in circles. "I mean..." Karina tried to smile comfortingly. "It's okay. I'm sorry too. I guess that you really do have a point." Serena frantically gestured and started to speak, but her sister held up a hand and continued. "I haven't been spending much time with you, come to think of it. I've just been really busy. It's just that - " Serena finally interrupted, "No no no, it's fine, I know what you do pays pretty well and we need to to pay for the apartment and for Mama - " Now it was Karina who interrupted, " - but that's no excuse for me to go and ignore my family." She looked at her younger sister, and felt a pang of sadness seeing her sister so miserable. She looked up at the clock, and realized with alarm that she only had about 20 minutes left until she had to head back to base. She brushed aside her concern temporarily; right now the important thing was patching up her relationship with her sister. Said sister frowned, then asked a question she'd asked likely dozens of times before. "What do you do, anyway? You need your rifle for it, so I thought it might be a protection job, but then again..." She shrugged. "...I can't figure it out." Karina considered the question. In the past, she'd always tried to dodge the question, usually by giving out specific details about what she'd done that day. She tried not to lie to her sister if she could, though it was sometimes inevitable. Today though, she had a strong impulse to tell the truth. I'm a Reckoner. One of those shadowy people in the shadows that kills Epics across the Fractured States. "I'm a Reckoner. One of those shadowy people in the shadows that kills Epics across the Fractured States." she quietly answered. Karina mentally slapped herself. Serena's eyes widened. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Something went through her eyes - Fear? Surprise? Admiration? - and her face grew pale. "You've got to be kidding me." Karina immediately considered pretending that she was, in fact, joking. She realized she couldn't lie to her sister, and instead turned back to her sister, whispering, "Please don't tell anyone. Not for anything. It's really dangerous both for you and Mama to know this. Please be careful, I shouldn't have told you. The gang believes that my family doesn't know... dammit how am I going to break it to them?" She got up and paced around the small space, her headache forgotten. Strapping on her rifle, she turned back towards her sister, her voice softening. "Look, I've got a job in just a couple days. After that, we'll probably have a break for a while. I'll find a way to tell the team later, but I'll take a break from that stuff for a while." Her voice quickened, and she was on the edge of rambling. "We'll have some time together, I'll tell Mama, maybe I'll really let you meet the rest of the - " Karina paused and took a deep breath. "Just don't tell anyone, okay?" Serena had composed herself. Her face was unreadable. She nodded. Karina looked back at her sister, then opened the apartment door and walked through.

4 years ago "Picture a skyscraper. You've seen skyscrapers, right?" "Uh, yeah. It's not Chicago or New York, but Houston's no slouch in the very tall building department." "It's Newcago and Babilar now, but I know you don't care so I'll stop pushing it." Karina quickly disconnected the barrel of her rifle from the stock. She carefully put the parts down on the table, then turned to grab the can of WD-40 sitting on the table beside her, then turned some more to glance at the man lazily sitting at the other end of the room. He wore a Men Down Under t-shirt with thick trousers, and smiled bemusedly as he tossed a leather-bound round ball from hand to hand. "Hey, where'd you get a baseball, Davy? Please don't tell me you expect me to - " Davy loudly gasped, then chuckled. "No, I would never encourage you to play ball when you've got all your work to do. This is for your sister. " Karina quietly sighed in relief. "Good, because I hate baseball. Never understood Serena's fascination with the game." She grimaced and turned back to her partially disassembled rifle and sprayed it liberally with the fish oil. "Anyway, I'm picturing a skyscraper. What about it?" "Ah, right. Imagine it hovering in midair," The Australian traced an L in the air with his finger as he continued, "and then grab both ends, and rotate them such that they form the - what's the square corner thing again?" "A right angle?" Davy nodded. "Yeah, that's it, a right angle. A skyscraper, bent at a right angle. Now there are stairs inside this skyscraper, and when you climb them and reach that bend you made, when you continue you don't just fall off. You can climb those stairs all the way to the 'top', as if the laws of reality had gone on vacation." He frowned and lost his concentration, dropping his baseball, which rolled under Karina's table. She poked her newly reassembled rifle at the ball and sent it rolling back. "Come to think of it, they kind of have, haven't they?", the other man mused. Karina shrugged. "Finish whatever you were saying, would you?" "Fine. Anyway, on the outside of this strange otherworldly building floating a mile above the ground, there are corridors poking out of it in all directions. Regular-looking hallways from the inside of them, long steel tubes from the outside. These hallways, they're about, say, the length between me and the kitchen, but they can stretch on for miles and miles until they reach their destination, which is another strange twisted building. There's a massive network of these strange tubes, poking out in every direction on every axis we know of, as well as some we probably don't. That, Indy - "Don't call me Indy. My name's Karina." "Sure. Anyway, that is what the locals call the Twisted City, the largest city in Australia. It's a sight to behold, eldritch and strange, all courtesy of the Epic ruling there." Karina raised her eyebrows. "You've been there?" Davy chuckled. "Nah, I haven't been to Oz since Calamity. Most of what I've heard are second, third, fourth, and probably hundredth-hand accounts of what the city's like. What I've told you is just the common threads in all of them. They're probably at least partially true." Karina grunted. "Yeah, right. If what you've said is true, I personally would doubt it even exists. People are pretty stupid. I'd bet this Twisted City's just some scammer's attempt to get people to buy doctored photographs or some druggie's fever dream." Davy stood up and wagged his finger. "Now now, I don't want to hear your arbitrary skepticism. First, people are, on average, average, by definition. Second, you've heard of and have proof of stranger things. Babilar has naturally glowing spraypaint ghost-powered radios that work without batteries. California is missing an entire perfectly round portion of its desert, as if it was cut out by some Epic scalpel. Why's a strange space-warping floating city so strange to you?" He folded his arms, awaiting his teammate's response. Karina shrugged. "I dunno. I guess it's because if I believed every sparking rumour I heard, I'd be thrown out for being a madwoman, as well as probably dead." She reached into a nearby bin and grabbed a couple rifle magazines, loading one into her SKS and putting the rest into her pockets. Davy looked at her red t-shirt, then her jeans, then asked, "Have you considered getting a good sharp knife?" The other woman sighed loudly, then turned to face the Australian. "Please, do we really need to go over this again? I don't need a sparking knife. I'm a good enough shot with this rifle." Her tone grew sarcastic and snippy, "And your constant insisting that 'you don't need to reload a knife' and 'a rifle's not good in close-quarters' and 'what'll you do if you run out of ammunition' I've thoroughly addressed already. Give it up. I'm not getting a knife." Davy threw his hands up in mock surrender, then put them back down. "I get that you're busy, but can you please just consider making time to at least learn how to use one? Hell, I'd buy a good one for you, and I'm sure Clement would teach you how." "I'll think about it," Karina tiredly replied. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and walked out of the room, ignoring Davy's protestations of, "You always say that!" Just remembering something, she stopped just outside in the hallway, she turned around and yelled, "Don't forget, the briefing's in two hours! Make sure to be there, or else you're in the kitchen tomorrow, and I'm really sick of your sparking overcooked ketchup-covered burgers!" Ignoring his muffled protests about his hamburger quality (they really weren't that bad, but she wasn't going to let him know that), Karina exited the safe house and went to check up on her sister.

This is a thread for random insanity that actually is canon in the Reckoners RP. If you have something you want to post but belongs to a new character or whatever, or happens at a significantly different time, post it here.

Posting for Mrake Darshall because he's not here. Taya slowly sat up, barely processing what ‘Moose’ had just said. She was barely conscious, but she tried to stand up anyway. She half expected to simply slump down again, and she did. While her wound wasn’t necessarily life-threatening, it certainly wasn’t helping her accomplish anything. Taya muttered something about meese, then slightly more clearly said, ‘If you don’t mind, I’ll just… stay here. Sorry about the mess.’ Unconsciousness overtook her.

Karina watched MV choke on a few crumbs as she swallowed the last of her Twinkie, which almost brought a smile to her face. Kinda funny to see that even Epics occasionally choke. Well, when they need to eat. And breathe. Her voice trembled slightly as she recalled, "Oregon. Portland. Right in the middle of all the turf wars, just managed to get out in time before everything really blew up." Karina's mind whirred for a moment. Oregon... I've heard it is - was? - a volatile place. The turf wars were legendary. I can easily believe that it literally went up in a big ball of fire. In fact, in hindsight, that was probably the most likely outcome. She looked again at the Epic, and silently marvelled at the fact that this 19-20 year old girl had survived. Well, duh, she's an Epic. And she's clearly worried about someone, probably her sister? MV continued talking. "I don't know about a supermodel, but it was a lot worse this morning. I met this weird Epic, he... I don't know really, but suddenly it was like this again. All clean and nice. Not tangled." Karina's eyebrows crept up a quarter inch. "A beauty Epic? Wonder what she looks like. I met this one unrealistically beautiful Epic once - think her name was Fantine or something - her waist was thinner than a needle and it looked like she had waaaay too much makeup on. She had some sort of strong illusion power, and she made everybody around her look real ugly - probably to hide the fact that she looked sparking ridiculous." She neglected to mention she'd helped kill her. Not sure if that would tick off this Epic or not, but what she doesn't know can't hurt me. Karina resumed a more serious expression and asked, "Speaking of Epics, have you heard of the deaths of any Epics - any other Epics recently?" Reciting the line she'd said several times before, she continued, "I'd like to know what parts of town to stay away from, and if Epics are dying anywhere, that seems like a good place to stay away from."

Now The Epic in front of her fumbled the catch, froze the plastic-wrapped Hostess treat in midair, and grabbed it, opening and eating it. Powers over wind, perhaps? That wouldn't account for how it just stopped though. Her face visibly relaxed as she swallowed, and she looked towards Karina curiously. MV frowned briefly, then asked, "So, Indy. You from around here?" Karina shrugged. "Kind of? I haven't been here in years, but I was raised here, yes." Karina opened up another package, and nibbled one of the cakes inside. Karina had forgotten how good Twinkies tasted, wolfing down the two of them. damnation, wish I had more of these - oh wait, I do. She sat down on the stairs and dumped out the rest of the golden-yellow cake packages on the floor. There were seven left. I should probably save some of these for later... Eventually, Karina decided to just eat one more, and she reached out to grab another one. Her gaze turned to the girl in front of her first, looking more closely this time. California? Maybe Oregon? Karina asked, "So, where do you come from?" She frowned. "And why does your hair look like a supermodel's?"

[should I put an image here?] Still now The more Karina thought about the world, the less sense it made. To be fair, she'd mostly gotten used to it. She could handle there being reality-defying people with superpowers from comics and movies and really bad books. She could even accept that every single person with those powers was a sadistic murderer (well, if they could actually sadistically murder). It was a pattern. Easy to follow. It was the exceptions that made Karina uneasy. The exceptions that made her wonder, Could it be that not all Epics are evil? She was jarred out of her thoughts by the probably-(hopefully)-not-evil Epic beside her, who snarkily asked if she was an angel here to smite her. Karina laughed again, then replied, "Nope, not an angel. Just trying to help, because hell, I mean, you kinda look like you need it? You were sitting in the snow wearing a t-shirt crying. And here we are." Karina walked through the open door, then smiled. "Wait here, I think I can get some food." She walked upstairs. First, she entered the bathroom and popped open the medicine cabinet, which had been completely unraided all these years. Cough medicine...Benedrill..."Yes!" she whispered quietly while snagging a half-full aspirin bottle. She popped two pills then left the bathroom and entered her bedroom, which, just like she'd remembered, was completely empty. Well, unless you know where to look. She pulled up on a certain part of the carpet, revealing a small compartment, undisturbed for years. A weathered almost-unreadable cardboard box lay inside. Covered in dust and cobwebs and nearly full of plastic wrapped little cakes, she smiled and walked downstairs, looking for MV. When she found her, she smiled and tossed one of the packages towards her. "Want a Twinkie? These things last forever."

Still now, and probably will be for a while The girl, MV, stared blankly at Karina, then accepted the coat. She didn't say anything until she said, "Well you're too nice to be another Epic." I'd hope so. "And you're still standing here so you can't be a vanil-er, a maple' Maple? Is that what they call vanillas around here? "So I guess that leaves an angel or some kind of grief-and-cold-induced hallucination?" A chill gust of wind blew by, as if the other girl's statement was blasphemy against the Canadian gods or something. Karina shivered slightly. "Sure. Maybe we should get inside? It is sparking cold out." She stood up and motioned towards her house across the street. "And I don't think I'm a hallucination, though I could be wrong."

Also now The girl nodded slowly and slightly. While Karina knew she was an Epic, she couldn't help but see a young girl, not a monster who may have murdered an entire neighborhood. She almost seemed... human. Karina fingered a small metal box in her pocket, remembering some things she'd rather forget. 'Are you alright? In the head I mean. Or did you just not realize what I am?" The Epic pulled a small piece of cloth out of her pocket, wiping her nose while still crying. "I'm MV. An Epic." An electricity-based Epic? With flying powers, perhaps?". Karina shrugged her coat off. Honestly, I don't even need it at this point. These sweaters are warm enough. Holding it by the hoodie, she reached out to the younger girl, replying, "At this point, I'm pretty sure I have a subconscious death wish or something. But you remind me of someone." Karina winced as a pain in her head blossomed, almost as if it were saying, 'Run away now! EPICEPICEPIC YOU'RE GOING TO DIE' Karina blathered on regardless, trying to mask her pain with a smile. "My name is...Indy. Call me Indy."

Now Karina had done some dumb things in her life. Apparently, getting murdered by an Epic was about to be the last one. The girl she'd attempted to comfort simply walked off the edge of the building she had been standing on, landing on the ground without breaking a leg, a sweat, or anything else, despite a quiet crunch sound being heard. As the Epic locked her pink-tinged eyes with the vanilla's brown, Karina instinctively took a step back and tightened her grip on her rifle, figuring that if she was going to go out, she might as well try to take this Epic with her. I hope she isn't a High Epic. That would make things a lot harder. The (relatively) young girl said something Karina didn't hear, then turned and walked down the street deeper into the suburbs. Karina was hit first by a surge of relief, but stayed on her guard. Many Epics could kill without seeing their targets. In fact, some Epics had to. Karina wondered when the wave of force was going to smash her into jelly, or the bone spike was going to smash her skull open. Could this be an illusion? A trick to get me to get me to do something? All of a sudden, the girl sighed and sat down, muttered something else, and tucked her knees in. Karina looked more closely, and was shocked to see that the Epic was crying. Karina didn't think she'd ever seen an Epic cry. Not even the Kraken, with four out of eight limbs cut off, hadn't let loose that salty trickle of tears (though he had let loose a rain of gore when she shot him in the face). Karina hesitated, raising her rifle slightly. I could probably end her right now. It was a possibility to be considered. Eventually, Karina came to a decision. I'm not going to live past thirty, am I? Sparks, I'm a sucker for... never mind. Karina slowly walked towards the Epic, careful not to touch her, and sat down beside her. Is she wearing jeans and a t-shirt? In Canada? Karina looked down at her thick coat, and felt slightly guilty. Looking at the blonde beside her, she hesitantly unzipped her coat and asked, "So... um... uh... are you cold?" Sparks, I'm going to die here.

An hour ago, give or take a dozen minutes Of course, things were different now. From what she'd heard on the road, Edmonton (That was still the name of her city, and anyone who said otherwise was a sparking slontze) had naturally been ripped apart by Epics. She still didn't know much, but she did know that to get to her house, she'd have to enter Epoch's territory, which, according to a particularly elaborate speaker, "was a maze composed of the sands of time, fortunately navigable by anyone with a shred of sparking common sense." On one hand, it would probably be a bit of hassle. On the other hand, at least she had a lower chance of randomly being murdered...she hoped? She'd been wrong before. Walking down the ruined road, Karina winced as she tripped over a bit of rubble and her hand high-fived the asphalt. When she looked up again, she noticed a long line of people near a particular highway entering the city. Refugees from Oregon? Wonder what happened there. Karina got in line and chatted up a refugee next to her. He was, in fact, from Oregon, and was more than happy to share tall tales of what had happened. Naturally, Karina didn't pay much attention to the clearly made-up stories (a rain of pancakes? What is this, a Paul Bunyan story?) and simply trudged forward with the rest of the line. Eventually, she made it to the checkpoint, and after they searched and confiscated her pistol (but not her rifle, thank goodness), she was in. She bade farewell to the guy she was talking to and walked north. The streets of Edmonton were still more or less the same. A right turn on 12th street still lead to the Corner Pantry. Going left on 23rd still lead to the school. Karina had lived here for years, and still remembered these streets quite well. The occasional rubble pile caused her to navigate around, and sometimes she crossed the street to avoid an unsavory-looking group of (everyone), but it didn't take long for her to reach her old family home, the for-sale sign still stuck in the front yard, somehow. Karina smiled. I never thought I'd be back here... what is that? She ran inside the once-and-current shelter. Peeking out of a broken window, Karina inwardly cursed. Sparks! Epics! Two Epics faced each other down on the street not far outside the house, one male wearing a black trench coat, and one female with blond hair that almost could pass for a vanilla if not for the fierce expression on her face, as well as the fact that she was hovering above the ground. The man tossed out several small round objects, and Karina instinctively ducked as they exploded. Looking back up, a thick smoke cloud surrounded the combatants, obscuring them from view. Suddenly, more things happened. A red van barrelled down the street, and a girl almost identical to the Epic Karina had seen climbed out and ran towards the scene. What are you doing? You're going to get killed! The van disappeared somehow, and all of a sudden, Karina lost eyesight somehow. She stepped backwards, slipped on a piece of glass, and fell hard on her back. She just lay there for a couple seconds, thinking. All right. I've never heard of twin Epics, so this new girl must be a sister... wow, that sparking sucks. Karina's eyesight returned, and she shakily stood back up, peeking out of the window again. The male Epic had vanished, and the Epic one grabbed her probably-sister and flew her to a nearby rooftop, where they exchanged words Karina couldn't hear. Surprisingly, the Epic left her sister live and flew away. Karina decided to take a risk and walked back out the door. Poor girl. Doesn't look like she has anyone taking care of her anymore... I know how that feels. Walking to the foot of the other building, Karina yelled, "Hey! Are you okay? Was that your sister?"

Karina character bio: EDIT: Figured I'd toss a couple more in here, because it's fun. Boombox (deceased): Appartition (not going anywhere near Edmonton(for now)): Downfall:

Two weeks ago The truck stopped. Again. Karina sighed, sat, and then stood up. Her back had been rumbling against the back of the pickup for the past hundred miles or so, giving her back pains to go along with her ever-more-painful headache. "Why did we have to sell the shock absorbers?" she mumbled as she climbed over the thin lip that had guarded her life as she'd travelled north. The driver, Clovis, was hunched over, a large map spread out over the wheel. He was mildly pudgy, but much cleverer than one might expect from the sports fanatic he was pre-calamity. Karina walked up to the truck door. "What happened? Why are we stopping? I mean, I'm in no hurry, but I hate just being a sitting duck out here. Is something broken?" Clovis continued studying the map. "Well, nothing's broken. Might have some trouble starting this hunk of junk up again, but the truck's fine for now. I'd hate to leave it behind." He had told her he'd gotten the truck from a Newcago scrapyard with his buddy Turt, who was snoring in the passenger seat. "What's the problem then?" "I think we've drifted too far west. Take a look." He pointed at his map, then looked at the compass dangling down from the mirror. "Remember when we made that detour to avoid Ashburn? That's Minot on the map." Karina frowned as she traced his thick finger down their route. "We took this highway west, passed through Bismarck, and now we're at this junction. We'll want to avoid Helena, because I've heard there's a bunch of different Epics fighting over it. Instead, we'll be passing through Missoula, where we'll probably also be able to get some extra gas. Then we'll head north and we'll be in Edmon- I mean, Olympia Polaris - in no time." Karina thought about it and said, "I don't like passing by Hauntsville," as she pointed to Spokane, "but it's probably necessary. We're avoiding Calgary for sure, right?" Clovis nodded, grinned, and then said, "Then it's settled then." He got out of the truck, flipping the hood over as he did so. "Could you hold these two wires together so we can get back on the move?" --- --- --- One week ago "Stop the car!" Turt slammed on the brakes as Karina screamed from the passenger seat. "Sparks, you almost gave me a heart attack. What is it, Indy?" She frowned and said, "I'm getting out. I thought I saw some smoke in those trees over there." Turt shrugged and said, "It's your funeral. We're almost to Edmonton; only an hour away or so. If you want to walk the rest of the way, go ahead. I'm not stopping here." Karina glared, then threw open the car door, grabbing her backpack and rifle from the back before she trekked off. The skinny freckly guy watched her go, then said to thin air, "I know you wouldn't like it, Clovis, but hey. I'm going home." --- --- --- Karina batted at the brush in front of her with her rifle, cursing under her breath. "Sparking bushes. Hope there's actually something back here, else I'm walking to Edmonton for nothing." She hit a tree with her rifle, and snow fell down on top of her. "Calamity it's cold up here." She looked up, and saw that the smoke plume was only a couple dozen meters in front of her. Karina pushed through the branches and bushes with renewed urgency, until she stumbled upon what appeared to be a campsite. Surrounded by corpses. Karina looked around at the carnage. The fire had burned out of control slightly, burning its way to a nearby snow-covered tree, which was slowly putting the fire out. If I'd gotten here earlier, I probably would've been killed. Later, and I never would have noticed this. Looking back at the corpses, their methods of croaking varied significantly. One guy was decapitated, another impaled, and two of them had been shot, one much more than the other. Karina noticed a piece of paper in one of the female corpses' hands, and wrenched it out of her stiff grasp. It read, "Taylor Swift drank a black cherry Perrier and shared the rest with a fan during her last stadium concert" Puzzled, Karina put the paper into her sack. Maybe it's just a treasured piece of trivia? A code, perhaps? She entered one of the several tents placed around the campfire, finding a mobile. She turned it on, and, unfortunately, it had a password on it. Sighing, she stuffed that into her pack as well, found some ammunition (into the backpack!) and started trekking north, hopefully towards Edmonton. Or, as it was called now, Olympia Polaris.

I'll be in the next alley offering cupcakes with a big neon sign that says, "CUPKAKES HEAR"

I didn't actually do much here, but I'll miss the stories. I used to check this site the way I checked giant in the playground or xkcd for each new post, and now I'm sad. If I ever meet you guys in person, I may never know. :?

Yay! A new Corvallis post (and probably the last )

I just did another look at the the RP threads. Holy ship. I just want to make sure about this: Is Corvallis really gone? Is Nighthound actually dead? Is Lucienta actually dead? Am I dreaming? I've been gone awhile. ... And the forum is dead.

Are we making that WHOOC canon now, since they are meeting for real? If so, I completely approve Not that it matters.

Rebuttal of Lesson 1: What if the game involves getting rid of all your numbers? Wait, that is UNO...

I would have said that if I wasn't so dead. No kidding. I should explain that.

Not going to use them, but I have to put my private thoughts on public display. That's the initial reason I joined this site. Plus I couldn't get enough Epics. Anyone else can use their powerset, if not their backstory, if they want. I don't want them in particular, although I really like Redglare. I was originally going to stroll into Corvallis with them, but then after about 2 seconds, I thought that it was ridiculous, but I liked them, so... yeah. http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Ancestors

Rule of the Reckoners RPG upvoting if {meme} then yes; if {really good encouragement} then yes; if {talking about rules of Reckoners RPG upvoting} and if {making joke about talking about rules of Reckoners RPG upvoting} then yes if {using really demented code} then (I hope) yes; if {bad pun/joke} then yes; if {new character} then yes; if {12 new characters} then YES OHMIGOD YES (I hope); so {here are 12 more characters in really bad code form}; {decides to quit the really shizzy code} (yes I actually use the word shizzy)

I could make a horrible meme about that! When I say horrible, I mean the pun would be horrible. The idea you have is great.

Just checked: This was the 3000th post! Lucky you ShadowLord! Sorry for doubleposting. Twi, are you opening a new Question thread?