A city that never sleeps
The world isn't as it seems, and New Yorkers certainly know that well. While the element Asterium is not widely understood, those in the city's underground know better. For millenia, humans have known of this energy. They called those born with it in their bones changelings and mutants. Legends have told of werewolves and vampires for centuries. Those who can harness it became witches and warlocks. All they know now is that some things are better kept secret, and where else can you hide a secret better than New York City?
NEW YORK TIMES
07/07/2020 It's been (technically) our first month! Thanks to everyone who's joined us, and for more announcements, please check HERE for in-game and new developments!
17/06/2020There are staff & RP position tryouts here!
23/05/2020 Trying to gauge interest right now! If you want to help out and potentially take one of the leadership positions, please message me! (either on achromatic#7519 on discord or if you have my skype!)
A SUPERNATURAL ROLEPLAY SITE
Modus Operandi achromatic
Blueprint is a premade Proboards v5 theme designed and built by punki of Adoxography and Pixel Perfect. MODUS OPERANDI is the work of the mind of achromatic. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. All images belong to their original owners.
coincidentia oppositorum
CURRENT PLOT
We are currently starting up, and trialing some of the groups right now! There will be an upcoming plot in regards to some city shenanigans soon, but for now, we're simply fixing up the kinks and establishing roles/groups/characters. Feel free to join us! The community and the lore is still being built, and we're always open to new suggestions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The strange Fourth of July groundhog day event is coming up! Please sign up HERE!
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Post by stormaf on Jul 7, 2020 14:13:37 GMT
Lycari woke up early. Sunlight was coming through the one window his room had and that was all he needed. He lay in bed thinking about the coming day for a few minutes. Emeline was coming by and she was planning on helping him yet again to find work and a few things he would need to stay here a while.
How on earth could he repay her?
She'd been so kind and he already considered her a good friend. In Lycari's world, that meant much more than other people thought. It meant that you were almost family. Perhaps, when he finally had money coming in, he could take her out for a dinner somewhere nice?
He flung the covers off and stood up for a stretch. As usual, he slept naked. His tribe were not overly concerned with nakedness and it wasn't considered rude to be seen with nothing on. Why sleep in clothing when you had furs?
First things first, though. He needed a shower. He pulled on his jeans from the day before and took an extra short blanket to act as a towel. When he left his room, he didn't lock it just in case Emeline came along before he got back. Hopefully there wouldn't be a line up for the mens' room this early in the morning.
Luck wasn't with him and another early bird had grabbed the bathroom before he got there. His neighbor, the girl who'd run into him the day before was in the same situation he was; waiting for the bathroom.
Lycari strolled up and hung the blanket over one shoulder.
With a smile he said, "Hi."
"Hi," she replied shyly.
Her eyes had already roamed all over what she could see of his well built body. Her hormones did a little jump, which she tamped down quickly.
"I'm sorry about running into you yesterday," she said.
Lycari waved a hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it. Accidents happen and I could have been watching better myself.
"My name's Lycari," he continued, "I'm new in town."
"Aren't we all," replied the girl, "I'm Sue. Jeanie and I came into the city looking for work. Jeanie's in there right now." She pointed at the womens' bathroom door. We want to get the jump on other job seekers."
Lycari leaned against the wall. His sense had picked up Sue's interest in him, but the time wasn't right to be picking up women, not with Emeline coming around at any time.
"So where are you from," he asked.
Just then a young man squeezed out of the mens' washroom.
"Upper New York," the girl called as the shifter excused himself and went in for his shower.
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 7, 2020 17:19:50 GMT
Emeline heard her alarm and groaned. Great. She should've turned it off for the night, but she had been expecting to go to work today. Blearily glancing at the phone on her bedside table, she rolled her eyes and shoved her face back into the pillow when it said 9:30 AM. God she was still tired, her shoulders ached and she could practically melt into the bed she was on.
Her mind wandered back to yesterday. Right. A stranger she had met just saved her life from some idiot trying to rob their shop. An idiot who was probably high on crack. Who could've killed her. Yep, that was still baffling, and kind of unbelievable. She wasn't sure if she should tell her parents or not. Then again, if she mentioned it to her parents, they'd never let her live in the city alone. They already had misgivings about it, and she didn't want them to be even more concerned.
Turning the alarm off, she sighed, before rolling to a seated position, facing the window, glancing at the faint light that had escaped the blinds. Did she really want to get out of bed today? She did promise that guy she'd help him out, and from the looks of it, he'd need all the help he could get. The city could be a lonely place, especially for one who didn't know what the hell was going on.
She sighed, getting up and shuffling to the door, heading to the bathroom only to see Ash already grabbing a bagel from the toaster.
"Huh, weird to see you up this early," she yawned.
"Weird to see you still at home this late," Ash jabbed back, "aren't you supposed to be at work?"
"Day off," she shuffled towards the bathroom, "but I think I'm meeting someone to help them find a job. Met some dude who was new to the city yesterday, he seemed really lost so..."
Ash heaved himself up onto the table, sitting with his legs swinging. "You know, I thought you were more 'stranger danger' than anyone I've ever met," he snorted, "you know it's not normal, right? To use a free day to just help some stranger instead of spending it with yours truly AKA me, right?"
She rolled her eyes, peeking out of the bathroom door with the toothbrush already in her mouth. "You know just because I'm your flatmate doesn't mean I need to spend every spare moment hanging out with you, right?" she snarked back.
Ash laughed. "But you know you want to," he teased, grinning at the fond smirk that appeared on Emeline's face.
"Just be careful, all right? Let me know where you are and if you don't update, I'm going to go find the lads and hunt you down. Also, wanna grab dinner tonight?"
She snorted; Lycari didn't seem like the type who'd be intimidated by the scrawny boy, but still, it was a nice gesture, though she didn't think she'd need it. If anything, she knew how to protect herself, especially after everything with Lance. She finished washing her face, quickly changing into an outfit she had left by the hook on the door. The hostel wasn't far, but she did say she'd be there early.
Cringing, she gave a wave to her flatmate, before heading out the door, quickly jumping on the train and heading out. Twenty minutes later, she was at the hostel, signing her name in as she headed to the lift, finding her way to the room from yesterday.
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Post by stormaf on Jul 8, 2020 2:32:01 GMT
Lycari
When Lycari got out of the shower, he towelled himself dry with the blanket and wrung out his hair. He figured that he'd need to take the little beads out before going on any job interview, but decided that he would wait until he got back to his room to do so. There was no point in holding up the bathroom lineup any longer than was necessary. He wrapped the blanket around his waist, grabbed his jeans and out he went.
Two other guys were waiting to use the bathroom and apparently Sue had got in for her turn because he didn't recognize the new woman standing outside the women's room door.
"Well, hello there," she purred as she blatantly leered at him.
Lycari gave her a friendly smile and a quick 'hi,' as he hightailed it to his room. Once back inside, he gave a sigh of relief, thankful that he hadn't lost his blanket or had some other embarrassing thing occur.
His back pack still sat on the second bed, personal items spilled everywhere, so it didn't take him long to locate his comb. With the blanket hanging low on his hips, he sat on the other bed and started to pick the beads out of his long white hair.
"I'm lucky that I didn't let her bead all of my hair, like she wanted to," he grumbled.
Still, those few little beads were firmly attached and very hard to get out. He struggled with the blasted things for quite a while and was completely absorbed in the job, when there was a knock on his door.
"C'mon in," he called. Then he hit a bad snag and added, "Ow!"
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 10, 2020 3:40:30 GMT
The hostel was bustling with life, it seemed. Emeline sighed, pulling her oversized jacket a little closer, leaning to the side of the lift as it went up the three floors, her earphones still plugged in. She made her way out of the elevator as a couple of people went in, the young woman sliding out from the side as she glanced at the doors, counting the numbers as she looked for the right one...twenty nine...thirty...thirty one...
It was thirty one right? She bit her lip. Should've written it down. Still, she could at least try. Knocking on the door, she hesitated. "Lycari?" she called out, hoping that if it was the right room, Lycari would at least be able to hear her. When she heard the words 'come in' she let out a sigh of relief. At least it was the right room. Pushing the door open, she stepped in.
"Uh good morning...I brought you some stuff I had lying around the house, actually found my old Nokia brick; it's not great but it'll work for now, but you'll have to top up a phone card and all..."
She looked up to the man to see him combing through his hair. Without a shirt. Without any pants either. With a towel around his waist. Immediately her face flushed pink, eyes widening almost comically and immediately turning around as quickly as she had come.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry," she cringed, "shit I didn't realize...yeah you know what I'm uh....yeah I'm just going to wait outside."
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Post by stormaf on Jul 11, 2020 1:53:29 GMT
Lycari
Immediately, he remembered that Emeline had mentioned the fact that nakedness was frowned upon in this society. Leaving the comb hanging in his wet hair, he grabbed his jeans.
"No, no. I'm the one who should be sorry," he faltered, "I got kind of caught up with this blasted hair.
"And I need to keep in mind that you guys aren't like my tribe," he added as he hurriedly dragged his jeans on under the blanket.
"Okay, I'm decent now," he informed her sheepishly.
The comb dangled in his silvery white hair and the blanket hung from his hand. His shoulders were bare and broad. He was all in all a nicely built man. Lycari passed Emeline to hang the wet blanket over the back of a chair. Then he dug a t-shirt out of his pile on the other bed.
Holding the t-shirt in a guilty manner, he apologized again, "I'm really sorry. I guess I'm going to need a crash course in civilization. Pants are for always and shirts are sometimes? I know I didn't wear one much on the farms. I guess that's different here."
The comb bounced off his neck and he gave it an annoyed side glance.
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Jul 11, 2020 14:37:37 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jul 11, 2020 14:37:37 GMT
Her face was still pink as he spoke. It was just...yeah, there was a lot to learn for the other man, it seemed. She didn't even know where to start, to be honest, but she definitely had to give him a little crash course before he found a job, or things would go from weird to weirder. People in the city were peculiar about their little customs–sometimes even more so than ones from the small towns–and one misstep often warranted a shouting match or some weird argument, and if anything, Emeline knew that people her kind were better off staying quiet.
"Yeah, I mean pants are a yes and I think shirts are–at least in the city–usually a must. I guess if you go to the beach or something it's different but you won't see a lot of people shirtless in the city unless they're sunbathing. Just...full set of clothes at all times to be safe, even when people are coming over to your...uh, room." She didn't want to mention that people usually saw half-naked guys greeting them in public as either creeps and trying to expose themselves, or someone trying to seduce people or something, which was just as unusual.
"Are you...ready?" she turned again, feeling the pink tinge of her face start to fade. She didn't consider herself a prude but everything had just caught her by surprise. "Did you end up finding all the toiletries and stuff last night?"
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Jul 11, 2020 19:29:22 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jul 11, 2020 19:29:22 GMT
Lycari
The shifter tried to fish the tangled comb out of his hair.
"Not exactly," he admitted, "Someone left some deodorant beside the sink, so I borrowed some. I have quite a few toothbrushes actually, but I used the last of my toothpaste sample this morning."
The comb was well and truly stuck and aside from simply hacking the hair off with his knife, he at down on the bed and started picking at the knot in his hair.
"Do I need some sort of special outfit for working or interviews? All I have are these jeans and a couple of t-shirts. And some mismatched sneakers."
He looked over at his pack, "I should look presentable. Can we exchange that Canadian money somewhere?"
Lycari dragged his comb and the mess in his hair to the side and gave it a good yank.
"Ow! Geeze!" He gave Emeline a weak smile, "I might wind up wearing this comb."
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Jul 13, 2020 12:25:55 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jul 13, 2020 12:25:55 GMT
Right. There were a few things to get. "So we can go get that first maybe?" she offered, "and yeah...you'd probably want to look presentable. No jeans, but a shirt should be fine...though a button-up one might be better. You'll definitely need matching shoes...I'm sure there's a few shops that are affordable, and if not, there's a Goodwill uptown, that might work."
She nodded. "I checked earlier, there was one past Hell's Kitchen that had a pretty good rate, we can go there first? Then get some breakfast and go shop for some clothes or something."
Emeline gave Lycari a sympathetic glance. "Yeah...you might have to cut it out," she sighed, "or at least go see a hairdresser if you don't wanna. I mean...is there any conditioner in the bathroom? We can try that if you want."
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Post by stormaf on Jul 14, 2020 2:37:06 GMT
Lycari
Lycari smiled brightly. He'd hoped to exchange the Canadian money for American, which would allow him some leeway. He also knew that a city this big would take a very long time to search properly. His best bet lay with becoming part of the scene here.
"Right," he said, "First things first, I guess. There were some bottles in the bathroom, but maybe one of the women on this floor would have some of the conditioner stuff?
"It would be better not to turn up at a job interview with a hunk chopped out of my hair. Never made much difference back home, but as you pointed out, things are not the same here."
The shifter stood and headed to the door.
"Give me a minute or two and I'll see what I can find."
He strode down the hall towards the mens' room, which was unoccupied and he checked the bottles left on the shelf. Nothing said conditioner. With a small sigh, he went and knocked on the door he knew his friend Sue and her friend were in. Sue herself opened the door. As soon as she saw it was him, she gave him a friendly grin.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi," Lycari replied, "Could I please trouble you for some hair stuff, ah, conditioner it's called?" He pointed at the tangled comb. "Sorta got a sticky problem and my friend says that this conditioner stuff'll help. I'll get you more when I'm out shopping."
Sue studied the comb for a moment.
"Hang on," she mentioned as she turned into her room. "Jeanie? Can you get the Pantene please? No, the conditioner."
When she turned back to him, she had a white bottle in her hand.
"Here you go."
Lycari took the bottle, "Thanks a lot. I really appreciate this."
"No problem."
As Sue closed her door, Lycari could hear her roommate berating his savior.
"You should have invited him in, dummy! We could have helped him. I'd love to get my hands on any part of him, but I'll start with the hair."
When he returned to his room, Lycari was laughing a little and scratching his still wet head.
"Okay, I think we're in business."
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 15, 2020 9:12:01 GMT
She nodded. While she had never really had the same problem–her hair was never all that thick and knots were just roughly combed out, rather than getting tangled in enough knots to keep a comb in its place. Still, she had helped her friends once or twice, smoothing oil or conditioner or whatever in until it was smooth enough to get any knots out. Of course, this would've been easier in her own apartment, but hey, not everything was always to her plan.
At least he found the conditioner though.
"That's good," she smiled, before glancing around, her eyes settling on a chair. "If you sit down I can try and get that comb out?" she suggested.
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Jul 15, 2020 19:15:14 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jul 15, 2020 19:15:14 GMT
Lycari
The shifter sat obediently on the floor beside the chair, with his long legs crossed, so that Emeline could sit and reach him. As she worked, they talked.
"It's probably because I tried to take out those beads the girl on the last farm I worked on put in. If I'd known they were going to cause this much trouble I would have stopped her.
"I sorta felt like I owed her one though. Her Dad was nice enough to hire me without any references. She told me she wanted to go through hairdresser school. I never knew that schools taught that. Back home, it's just Mom and a knife."
Lycari's hair was rather long, just far enough below his shoulders to warrant a pony tail or something. He obviously hadn't had a good trim in a while. It was an almost iridescent silvery white and in general in pretty good shape considering his current dilemma.
The comb was well wound and took conditioner and some dexterous finger work to free it. When the thing was finally out, the shifter shook his head. His hair went everywhere and he smoothed it back from his face.
"Ah, freedom!" He joked as he stood up.
"So I guess we start with the money exchange?"
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Jul 17, 2020 16:43:51 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jul 17, 2020 16:43:51 GMT
She began her work, her deft fingers working through the hair, smoothing the conditioner through before trying to untangle the knots that had tied the comb to his locks. It definitely wasn't an easy fix, she thought, looking through the mess, but it didn't seem unfixable either. It'd just take a bit of time and patience.
A light chuckle left her mouth. "She must be pretty good," she murmured, voice distracted, "I think I got my hair done like that once, when I was five? Went on a vacation back to Malaysia and they do that on the streets...sort of a touristy thing I think. I thought I was the coolest kid back then." These days, she knew she could never get her hair that way–too much maintenance and frankly, she wasn't sure it'd be appropriate these days–but back then, it had been a pretty good memory.
It didn't take as long as she had expected; once the comb was out, it was pretty easy to get the knots out, even if she had to comb relatively hard to get them off. She finally got it out with a small cheer, before heading to the bathroom to wash the conditioner off her hands. She returned to the man's cheerful expression, and she snorted. Freedom indeed.
"Yeah, sounds good," she nodded, already holding the door open as she headed out to the hallway. There was a lot to be done if she was going to set this guy on the right path forward.
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Jul 17, 2020 19:04:33 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jul 17, 2020 19:04:33 GMT
Lycari
While Emeline took the elevator, Lycari bounded down the stairs and beat her to the main floor. The outside world beckoned him and he felt ready to on anything.
It was a wonderfully sunny day. Everything cast long shadows on the pavement. A lot of people were out and about this morning and Lycari nodded hello to a few of them. Being true New Yorkers, they found the sidewalk very interesting all of a sudden. A kid on a bike cycled down the wrong side of the street and got honked at. The kid threw the driver the bird.
Lycari decided that he liked small towns better. Perhaps the longer he stayed here, the more he would get to know the place. Surely there were a few friendly people around. Emeline was proof positive of that. The shifter tipped his head back and let the sun bake his face. Didn't matter much to his complexion. He stayed the same pale shade no matter what the season. He couldn't even get a sunburn.
"Look at that blue sky!" He enthused, "What a nice day."
A lady with a pug was out walking and she passed the pair. She didn't say a word but her dog gave a short growl. Lycari growled back. The pug yelped and proceeded to tie his owner up in knots with the leash. The shifter mischievously winked at Emeline.
"He shouldn't say that sort of thing to his betters," Lycari explained, a smile tugging at his lips. "Now, which way do we head?"
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achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Post by achromatic on Jul 18, 2020 8:31:00 GMT
If anything, at least Lycari was enthusiastic. Walking with him on the street was kind of amusing; Emeline had never been the kind to attract too much attention; she kept her head down and people were used to punks like herself. She had toned down from her 'emo' days anyway, and New Yorkers kept to their own. Still, she stifled a laugh at the sight of people looking away from Lycari. He was...too friendly for the city really. She respected that attitude–almost envied it even-but city folk were rarely as open as small town folk.
What really surprised her was when the pug had growled at them and he had actually growled back. When the little dog had yanked the leash off the owner in fear, she couldn't help but snort, her hand flying to cover her mouth as the woman fussed over the puppy.
"Okay, that was hilarious," she was smiling now, "how did you do that? Was it a shifter thing? Or can you actually talk to animals?"
She glanced up the street signs, before turning to the left, heading down another, smaller street.
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Jul 18, 2020 19:34:29 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jul 18, 2020 19:34:29 GMT
Lycari
With his long legs, Lycari took one stride for every two of Emeline's. Standing over six feet, how tall he was often caused people to stare, but add on the singular looks and sometimes he wound up mistaken for some kind of eighties rock star leftover. However, instead of the fluffy mod look, he sported a sleeker head of hair, very sleek now that it was loaded with conditioner.
He did have a somewhat carefree attitude this morning, as if he'd had about five really tasty coffees. Never a particularly shy kind of guy, Lycari enjoyed everything, somewhat like a kid at a fair. When the woman finally untangled herself from the leash and picked her little dog up, she gave Lycari a rather fierce glare, which he returned with a bright smile.
"How do I do what?" He asked Emeline, "You mean is it a shifter thing?
"Sort of and not exactly. When I take on the ability to become another animal, I also know them very well."
He snapped his fingers and frowned trying to find the right words.
"I take in everything about them, their abilities, their behaviors, all of it. And yes, I understand them, because I am one of them. So far, I'm a wolf, a horse and one of those big cave lions. I'd really like to take more forms, but I've got to touch the animal to do it.
"Whenever I take a new animal, it really tires me and I sleep for about a day, depending on just how sentient the creature is. Some animals are a lot to absorb."
He adroitly dodged a bag lady pushing her shopping cart down the sidewalk. He returned to Emeline's side.
"I can't take people. They're far too complex to learn. I'd really like to learn a bird, like some sort of crow or small raptor. To fly would be amazing!"
As they headed down a smaller street, Lycari kept his senses on alert. This was a perfect spot for ambushes. He stayed close to Emeline in case he needed to defend her.
"Basically, by growling back at that dog, I was saying that he didn't frighten me and that I was a much bigger tiger in this jungle than he was. Alpha wolf crap works with any canine.
"Hey," he declared, "If you take me to the park as a wolf, there's a great chance another shifter will pick up on me. Maybe I'd get to meet some of the locals. If anyone can tell me if some of my people are here, they would. Shifters always know another shifter when they see them."
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