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!
see, i've come to burn your kingdom down / closed
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
|
Jul 20, 2020 16:28:32 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jul 20, 2020 16:28:32 GMT
Her soft voice shook him out of his rumination, his eyes flickering to a journal left on the refurbished mantelpiece. He glanced up to see Blake looking through at the bookshelves, a troubled expression on her face. The man's expression softened slightly; he didn't know much about the other hunter's childhood, but he was certain that regardless of upbringing, a situation like this had to resonate somehow with any of their kind.
"She survived," he confirmed, "she left and ended up at a women's shelter. Called the cops and still had the marks to show; they arrested him two hours later." It had been a strange case, in that everything just went so...smoothly. The arrest had been caught on some kid's instagram story, and the newspapers had quotes from the victim the next day. In his experience, few abuse victims ever went to the police, and more often than not, the abuser would be able to smooth-talk out of the situation, at least to some degree. In this case, neither happened. Even the victim's mother gave a statement, saying she had never expected this; they were madly in love, and he had never shown any sign of violence.
Which begged the question: why would he have attacked her out of the blue? Was it all just a trick he had up his sleeve, or did something trigger it?
"You ever met someone who was being abused? Or seen an abuse case?" he asked quietly, his brow furrowing, already opening his backpack to grab a pair of latex gloves, just in case. "Abusers don't usually admit to their crimes, and victims don't usually go to the police until it gets to a breaking point. The weird thing about this case was that neither of that was true. It was apparently the first time he had raised a hand against her, and he admitted to hurting her. They found him in the apartment after she had reported him, and apparently, he didn't put up a fight."
Tobias sighed, before pulling out another pair of gloves. "Here, put these on," he offered, "just in case the pigs catch us while we're here, we don't want to leave anything behind." He had already pulled his on, and he began to head towards the rooms. "Give me a shout if you find anything that might be useful."
|
|
bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
|
Post by bucky on Jul 22, 2020 1:46:07 GMT
Blake thinks back. It's bad, but all the cases do seem to blend together after a while. She is only twenty-five, but her father had taken her on her first official hunt when she was twelve. She remembers that one. It had been in Russia in July—a vampire, freshly turned, was terrorizing a small village.
She remembers the corpses of the victims. They had been so pale.
The vampire had had fresh crimson blood dripping down his chin when her father staked him through the heart.
There had been some abuse cases—that girl in St. Petersburg and that family in San Francisco—and she knew some of the statistics; certainly enough to know that what Tobias was describing was wildly out of the ordinary.
She accepts the proffered gloves and snaps them on, noting Tobias' irreverence of cops with a small smile.
Blake hums to herself as she thinks, heading into the kitchen. The crimes were escalating, which was something of note. The demon had inspired vandalism before assault. This combined with the lack of subtlety pointed Blake more an more to a demon that lacked experience. It had the landmarks of someone who was doing this all for the very first time.
Some magnets dot the fridge and a handful of plates sit in the drying rack by the sink, clean but left out. There is a bright yellow marker next to a splatter of dried blood on an otherwise spotless granite island. Nothing looks particularly out of the ordinary. Thinking back to the father's comments, Blake wonders if there is more information to be found on a computer—then she remembers if there was one, it was almost certainly taken into evidence. Still; perhaps there were notes around a desk, or perhaps a desktop computer.
"Hey, is there a computer or anything in there?" Blake calls.
|
|
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
|
Post by achromatic on Jul 22, 2020 2:10:06 GMT
The bedroom seemed almost too normal. The bed was made, there were happy photos of the couple on vacation, the whole room was clean. He glanced to a raised laptop stand by a small desk in the corner. So they probably did take the laptop. Great.
The other room wasn't so clean. A home office, it seemed. The bookshelves had files and old paperwork around, and the fancy dresser had a few plaques and photographs all the same. Nothing big, nothing out of the ordinary. Glancing to the desk, his lips twitched into a half-smile. There was a computer. A desktop would be useful.
"Yeah, just one," he called out, already moving the mouse to open a password screen. He frowned. Well, it couldn't hurt to try some of the basic passwords, though he doubted any would work. If there was even a hint of infidelity, well no one who was actually cheating on someone would ever leave an easy-to-guess password out there.
12345. Wrong password. Password. Nope, that didn't work either. What was the wife's name again? Leanne?
Oh? It worked. That was a surprise. The password was...too easy.
"Hey," he called out again, "I think we might be able to get something off this." The first thing he clicked on was the calendar, praying to whatever god was out there that they had at least synced it to one of their phones or their google account.
|
|
bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
|
Post by bucky on Jul 22, 2020 6:02:21 GMT
Nothing in the kitchen area is calling Blake's name so she heads towards Tobias in the study.
She passes another handful of yellow markers in the living area, where it seems most of the activity had taken place. Someone must have been cut in the struggle because there are splatters of blood here too. Blake hesitates and pictures the scene as it must have unfolded. The couple had just cleaned up from dinner. Perhaps they were planning to watch a movie. Somewhere between washing dishes and heading to the living room, things go very wrong.
Blake walks slowly past unended furniture and a shattered picture frame. Without thinking, one hand reaches up to touch her neck. She shakes her head and huffs. Foolish. She straightens her back and makes her way into the study.
She glances around a bit before frowning at Tobias on the computer and tilting her head. "Did they not have a password?"
|
|
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
|
Jul 22, 2020 11:13:24 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jul 22, 2020 11:13:24 GMT
He was already looking through the calendar app when she came in. Her question made his head jerk up.
"Oh, they did," he frowned, "that's the weird part. You'd think that if anyone was having a relationship on the side, they'd have a harder password on the computer, but it was the wife's name. A bit too easy for someone who's trying to hide a secret...but if it's a demon's work, there must've been something going on in the first place, right?"
Tobias seemed pretty confused, as if questioning the scene in the first place. Everything about it didn't make sense. Everything stood out. How could they seem so normal but everything seemed so...strange? The weirdest thing was that there was absolutely no warning signs...at least none he could see.
The calendar was pretty normal too, but a certain date caught his eye. "Hey, look," he gestured to Blake, asking her to come over, "they marked down the party that they were talking about. Jenna's recital party? It's on their calendar."
The only thing other than that on the weeks leading up to the crime was a dinner party, apparently. 'Dinner Party 14C' was the only thing it said, with nothing else. What did that mean?
He glanced at the mail app. Emails probably made sense to look at, and he prayed that they had their 'remember me' option on. He clicked on the mail button, and emails immediately popped up, and–oh.
"I think...I found out where the jealousy came from," he looked up to Blake with a raised brow, "think these two were part of a swingers party."
|
|
bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
|
Post by bucky on Jul 23, 2020 3:37:47 GMT
Blake's frown deepens as Tobias explains the password situation. Curiouser and curiouser.
She peers over at the calendar, skimming the dates over Tobias' shoulder, nodding along. "Yeah," she says. "It seems like everyone in this apartment building was pretty close—close enough to be inviting each other to parties at least."
She hums thoughtfully at that. A close knit apartment building like this would make it all that much more difficult for a newcomer to get adjusted, wouldn't it? And yet, somehow they'd managed to integrate themselves in a few months into the social goings-on of the entire building.
She is torn from her thoughts at Tobias' revelation. She can't help the laugh that bubbles out of the throat. "Yeah, that'd do it, I imagine." There was another piece of the puzzle. From what she understood about swinger culture, those involved were discreet, often vetted, and, most importantly...
"If this person somehow infiltrated a swingers' party, they'd have needed a partner, wouldn't they? I don't think they let people go to those things alone. Isn't that, like the point?"
|
|
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
|
Post by achromatic on Jul 23, 2020 5:48:00 GMT
"I'm not sure whether I'm more surprised at this or whether I should've seen it coming," he mused, as he leaned back. It'd explain some of the things going on, but it made him wonder. Jesus Christ was this some unsaid secret for the whole building? Was this just a coincidence? Or perhaps this was why the demon had chosen this place in the first place...
"I mean, it's hard to find a unicorn but I'm sure with groups like that, a single person might be exactly what they want," he frowned, "and they might not even have met there. He might not be involved at all...but if he figured out that one of them had problems with it...I'm sure there's a way for him to talk a man into some crime of passion if he's smart enough."
It waas all speculation, of course. He turned to Blake. "I don't know if that's any big hint but it's something; he might've even just somehow made a mountain out of a molehill; we know it wasn't a common occurrence. What do you think?"
He wasn't exactly sure what linked the two cases together, or how that had anything to do with the vandalism in the first place. All he knew was there had to be something that tied it all to someone in this building.
|
|
bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
|
Post by bucky on Jul 31, 2020 6:45:09 GMT
Blake nods. That makes sense.
The more they discover, the more clear the picture becomes—and also the more complex.
"They're clearly escalating," Blake muses with a frown. "And fast. It's hard to tell what their end goal is. The thievery and the keying the car—that's a simple jealousy to amplify and manipulate. Causing someone to attack a person they love? That's some high-level power."
She pauses and crosses her arms in front of her chest.
"It's possible there was no jealousy here too but the demon knew about the parties and knew it would be a sort of alibi."
|
|
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
|
Post by achromatic on Aug 3, 2020 8:39:49 GMT
"He could just be starting shit for the sake of starting shit," Tobias mused, his expression still but the look in his eyes seemed exasperated. How anyone could just toy with people's lives like that...he hated the idea of it. It had always infuriated him when he was younger, seeing the rich and powerful play with regular peoples' lives as if they were toys.
"I think it might've been a starting point," he replied, "if we're right about the demon being new to the game, that could be why."
"I think we should talk to some of the residents...get a better idea of who knows what, the gossip around this building and all that," he looked up to Blake, "tenants always gossip if things are happening. Someone has to be in the middle of this, don't you think?"
|
|
bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
|
Post by bucky on Aug 11, 2020 4:09:19 GMT
"Definitely," Blake says. The energy in the apartment is starting to get to her. The rational part of her knows it's in her head, but a tinier part of her whispers that the negative feeling creeping down her spine could be something more sinister. Her instincts have kept her alive so far, so she snaps a picture of the computer screen on her phone before headin gout of the room.
"I guess we should head to the roof, yeah?" she says, shoving her hands into her pockets as she heads back towards the elevators.
The roof—it had the potential to be the focus point of it all. If it was a demon, there were sure to be signs of it there; possibly sigils or other subtle things that could be passed of as bits of graffiti or scratches. She presses the elevator and steps in when it dings; pushes the button for the roof and leans casually against the wall.
|
|
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
|
Aug 11, 2020 15:31:58 GMT
Post by achromatic on Aug 11, 2020 15:31:58 GMT
It wasn't just Blake starting to feel a bit strange. It wasn't exactly the same as the jealousy the others must've felt, but part of him was thinking of what had happened back in Chicago, the men who had sworn to be on the same side for the rest of their lives, having suddenly turned on him overnight...why? Why now? He knew he had never quite gotten over it–it was why he was still a hunter, after all–but his thoughts were almost obsessive, creeping back to the forefront of his mind.
He gritted his teeth, before giving Blake a stiff nod. "Yeah," he replied curtly, "I have a feeling we'll definitely find the demon here. I just...have a feeling." He couldn't quite explain it, but he was sure there would be some clue to where the creature was hiding. He just hoped it'd be a quick, simple mission rather than a drawn out one. He was ready to leave this space; it was giving him the creeps.
The man followed Blake into the lift, a frown still on his face. "You ever hunted a demon before?" he asked, simply out of curiosity. He knew she wasn't new to the game, but he hadn't known her for long. It was always interesting to know what experience the others had; it might help them later on with this mission too.
|
|
bucky
Member
She / Her
EDT
astrorum#7334
|
Post by bucky on Aug 26, 2020 4:21:16 GMT
Blake nods solemnly. In their line of work, 'having a feeling' could mean the difference between living to fight another day or having your guts ripped out by a family of feral werewolves. Some people took it to an extreme—she knew some older hunters who refused to go on a hunt without a certain knife or piece of clothing—but honestly, Blake understood it. Some of the things they saw...it was enough to make anyone superstitious.
She glances over at Tobias's query. "Yep," she says. "I mostly handle demons and vampires, but I have a bit of experience with everything," she adds with a small laugh. "You never know what the next hunt will bring, right?"
She is reminded of summers on her family's estate in Russia. Mornings spent in her grandparents' airy library learning everything there is to know about the supernatural, afternoons spent in the basement training rooms with weapons of every shape and size, nights spent on hunts. She liked the nights the best; the application of everything she learned.
The elevator opens, letting them into a small hallway with a door at the end. Blake leads the way to the door, pushes it open, and takes a deep breath of fresh air. The building is not a skyscraper, but it is tall enough that the look to the ground is dizzying.
In front of them, couches form a square around a fireplace. To the left, there is an infinity pool and hot tub surrounded by lounge chairs. To the right, there is an outdoor kitchen and dining area. It is all a bit worn down but looks well taken care of; the occupants of the building must use this space often. A handful of people are chatting in the kitchen area, too caught up in conversation to notice their arrival.
|
|
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
|
Sept 27, 2020 14:20:35 GMT
Post by achromatic on Sept 27, 2020 14:20:35 GMT
He nodded at her words. He had specialised in vampires since he started really; it was the bloodsuckers that had drawn him to this career, after all. "I guess we hunt in similar ways, huh?" he mused, glancing towards her. He didn't know much about her, but he had heard of other hunters that had started when they were young, or those with dedicated bloodlines who hunted for generations.
It was all different from how he knew the world, but if anything, he could learn from her as much as anything. He glanced up at the door as the bell rang, signalling their arrival. It was a nice rooftop–probably nicer than anywhere he'd ever stay–and he was a bit relieved to see a few groups of people already chatting. It seemed like a nice place to hang out; it was clear others thought so too.
"Let's pretend we're new tenants that just moved in a floor below," he offered, "easier to get them to talk than to point out we're investigators."
|
|
|