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!
that's the life of a virgo – storm !
achromatic
Member
She / Her
GMT / GMT+8
achromatic#7519
my life is just constantly existing at ungodly hours
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Jun 13, 2020 15:20:01 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jun 13, 2020 15:20:01 GMT
#serpentine / stormaf
If there was one thing Emeline was grateful for, it was that their tattoo parlour's big windows were on sunset side. She was never a morning person–never will be–but getting that extra bit of light during the summer, the warmth of the golden light bathing the room was a gift. Definitely a gift worth paying a bit extra for, especially when they were indoors all day. "I'm gonna head out for lunch, want anything?" Jack raised a brow at her, and she shrugged. There were only so many takeout places to get food from. "What are you going to get?" she asked. "Mm...maybe chinese? They do a lunch deal with extra spring rolls, you know." Emeline wrinkled her nose. The Chinese takeout place down the street wasn't bad necessarily, but if she was honest, she wouldn't call it Chinese food. Jack snorted at the look on her face, giving her an overtly sarcastic eye-roll, miming her 'it's not even Chinese food' look. In return, Emeline threw the coin purse–luckily nearly empty one–at the other man. "Get me a poke bowl?" she asked, turning back towards her laptop, "I'll venmo you back." The other man snorted, an amused 'whatever' on his lips as he left for lunch. Great, time to work. She loved Jack, but whenever he was in, they'd just start talking and devolve into a conversation about whether egg salad should be called egg salad at all because there weren't any vegetables in it, according to the man. It was ridiculous, but that was what made working here so much fun. Still, back to her designs...there were three appointments this upcoming week. They were small tattoos, all flash ones she had created a few months ago, and there was a custom design due the week after. Things were going pretty well for Emeline, and it seemed like her name was beginning to pick up around these tattoo circles. Jack promoting her pieces also helped plenty; his following was pretty massive, after all. Already absorbed into her work as she quickly started to sketch something new–a Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly for a thigh piece–she didn't quite notice anything around her, the music and the comfortable warmth making it easy to get lost in her mind.
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Jun 13, 2020 15:25:32 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jun 13, 2020 15:25:32 GMT
Lycari
Lycari had been walking a long time. Along the way, he'd worked at a few farms, so he wasn't entirely short of cash. When the roads became more populated and there were fewer wild areas, he'd shifted from his wolf into his human form. A large white wolf with stormy grey eyes would have stood out like a sore thumb in what looked like a city, but a wolf had no problems finding food in the forest.
It was as hard for Lycari not to stand out as human as it was when he was one of his animal selves. Tall, muscular and lithe, he walked with an easy and confident stride. He moved like the hunter and fighter he had to be. He was as pale as pale could be, with long hair that trailed down between his shoulder blades. Silvery grey eyes were framed by dark grey eyebrows and thick grey eyelashes. His hair had several locks braided with colorful beads in them, leftovers from his last trip to the haybarn with a farmer's daughter, who was fascinated with his nearly blindingly white hair. Most women found him very attractive and Lycari loved women to distraction.
He had been sent from his northern tribe to find any of his own kind that still lived. After the attack that had decimated his people, the tribe was in sore need of more individuals to keep them alive as a race. He'd been on the move for a long time now. Fortunately he adapted to new situations fairly well, but he understood that there still were things in the world that would surprise him.
Speaking of being surprised, he found this city amazing and a little daunting. He'd never seen any place so large and the buildings were giving him a bad case of claustrophobia, much worse than some of the little towns. He was sure he'd need help in locating any others of his kind in this human zoo.
Lycari had spent a couple of nights sleeping in parks and alleys as he moved deeper into the city. Fortunately, he'd hung onto a few days worth of food to carry him over until he found a job or something to keep him going while he was here. Nothing had bothered him, possibly due to the fact that every small noise awakened him to a full defense mode. He'd scared the willies out of a hobo who'd wandered over to try and steal the woollen blanket he'd bought a few days ago. The poor guy had peed his pants as Lycari had immediately shifted into his wolf, with a terrific snarl and lunge. Back in his human self, the shifter had stifled a laugh as the guy ran like a fool, shouting and tripping, out of the park.
Today, dressed in his store bought jeans and a scruffy t-shirt, Lycari found himself wandering down a street that had shops and stores to either side of its black topped road. Every store was closed, much to his chagrin. Not many chances for a job or even information so far. Then he saw a man leave a shop. Thank the gods, one was open! Just to be on the safe side, Lycari leaned against a closed store front and surreptitiously watched the activity in the area. When no one came or went for a while, he walked over, opened the door and entered.
It seemed to be some sort of tattoo marking place. The walls were filled with art. At home, very few of his people got markings and those were inked by the shaman. Most never opted for this, as it also marked the animals they became. Ahead of him, behind a counter, two women were conversing as one marked the other.
Lycari walked up to the counter and put his hands on its hard, smooth top.
"Hi," he said, "may I speak to the shopkeeper, please?"
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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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Jun 13, 2020 15:45:37 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jun 13, 2020 15:45:37 GMT
Emeline hadn't been expecting anyone today. Walk-ins on a weekday were rare, and it wasn't like Jack was in right now. He didn't have anyone booked until later on today, at least from what she heard. Still, the voice made her look up, almost dazed, as everything filtered back in, the playlist she was playing, the light, and the figure silhouetted in the doorway.
Huh. He definitely didn't look like he was from here. His hair was decorated with beads and his hair was bright. If Emeline didn't know better, she'd either guess he was a stoner or fresh from a music festival, except he didn't seem like either types. She'd be able to spot a stoner a mile away–spending too much time with her flatmate gave her that ability–and music festival boys who dressed up usually weren't this....muscular.
She had to admire that, at least.
"Um, Odette isn't here today, she usually does the appointments," Emeline spoke, standing up from the table, "but how can I help you? Are you here for a tattoo appointment? If you give me your name, I can check whether you're on the books, or I can try and book you in for a consultation. I'm afraid Jack's booked up for the next two months though."
If anything, she was curious about this guy. Where did he come from? He didn't look like he was from the city, carrying all of his bags like that. Did he come from a camping trip maybe? Part of her assumed he was just here for directions, but of course, anyone coming here was a potential customer, and Emeline could always use another tattoo on her portfolio.
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Jun 13, 2020 16:11:00 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jun 13, 2020 16:11:00 GMT
Lycari
He straightened up and nudged his buckskin back pack with a sneaker-clad foot.
"Unh, I'm not here for a tattoo," he explained, "I'm new in town. I mainly need some help. And a job and a place to stay."
He gave her a bright smile, "I'm a good worker. Name's Lycari."
He stuck out his hand. He'd learned that this was the way people introduced themselves around here. Back home, everyone clasped arms and thumped each other on the back. Lycari expected that this young lady would take offence to this kind of hello.
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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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Jun 13, 2020 16:16:57 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jun 13, 2020 16:16:57 GMT
Huh, well what do you know, Emeline thought. She guessed right. Biting her lip, she gave the man a look over once again. There wasn't really much work available at the tattoo shop, that was for sure. All the extra stuff–the cleaning, the sweeping, booking names–they were all either done by her or Odette these days, and even if the secretary had plans to leave the city soon, it didn't quite seem like this guy's type of work.
"I'm Emeline, but everyone and their mom calls me Em," she offered with a polite smile, before gesturing towards the couch often reserved for people waiting for their appointments, "where did you come from? I mean, all of that kind of depends on how much you have already."
She wasn't going to offer anything without knowing how much the guy could afford. New York was the capital of immigrants really, everyone flooded into the city to look for work and for a new life. Her parents certainly did.
"I don't think we're hiring anyone other than another tattoo artist, and you'll need a portfolio for that," she replied apologetically, "but I mean, I don't have much to do, I'm technically on my lunch break, so why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself? How much money do you have and...you know, do you have any special skills? I'm sure I can pull up a job site; they're usually hiring around these parts, especially the small restaurants and stuff. You came at a good time at least; everyone's going to be hiring for the summer tourist season."
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Jun 13, 2020 16:45:36 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jun 13, 2020 16:45:36 GMT
Lycari
The shifter nodded and bent to pick up his pack. No sense in leaving it in the way. He dumped it on the floor beside the couch and sat down.
He crossed his long legs. The way the sun danced in across the floor was nice but it highlighted the fact that one of his sneakers was out in the toe. He frowned at it. What a way to make an impression! He had better things to spend his little bit of money on though. Like food, now that he was no longer in the wilds.
"I'm from up north." Way, way up north, he added in his mind.
"I just got in maybe two days ago," he continued. Don't seem nervous, he advised himself, you've killed bears with your knife. This is a young lady. He laced his fingers together and tried to be at ease.
"I'm not a tattoo artist. I'm not even good at drawing. I have a strong back and I'm a good learner."
He leaned forward over his back pack and drew the rawhide strings open. After a moment or two of fishing around he drew out a few bills. A bit more rummaging produced a handful of coins. As he searched, the woman could get a very good look at his face and he was strikingly good looking, although his eyebrows had drawn together as he looked for wayward money. Which he didn't find.
Sinking back into the couch, he counted his great wealth. Not.
"Ah, I've got forty five dollars and eighty five cents."
His grey eyebrows rose. He shouldn't have bought that extra shirt after his last farm job. Surely she didn't want to know about --- the other stuff he could do. Lycari watched the woman intently.
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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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Jun 13, 2020 16:59:06 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jun 13, 2020 16:59:06 GMT
Hm, Emeline pondered at the options. The other guy definitely seemed like he was living it a bit rough, but then again, with the recession these days, wasn't everyone? She sympathized with the guy–she really did–but New York was expensive and she wasn't the kind of person to offer a free place to stay to a random stranger. New Yorkers really weren't that friendly, and she was born and raised here. Not to mention, Ash would never let another dude come through the door, at least, not after her last asshole ex.
"North, huh?" she mused, moving towards the cupboard on the left side of the room, grabbing a couple of mugs. She might as well offer the guy some tea. "Like a Maine kind of north or a Canada kind of north?" She wasn't quite paying attention, grabbing some teabags from her 'random tea jar,' the less fancy kind that Jack didn't mind her taking. turning the kettle on to reheat the water.
"Mm...so you're probably looking for labour jobs, right? We can check if any of the supermarkets are hiring; they usually need some delivery guys and all..." she glanced towards the man fishing through his bag for cash. A few bills and coins...she could feel her jaw drop slightly. Right, that wasn't going to work out well for him; hotels were skyrocket prices around here.
"You might be able to find a hostel?" she offered with a frown, her brow furrowed in thought now. Despite not knowing this guy, she was a worrier; the city was dangerous for strangers, she knew better than most, "I think if you get out of downtown, you might be able to find a shared room or something for 20 bucks. I can search for some if you want." She already had her laptop on her knee, typing in a quick search.
"Mmm....look, how about this one? There's a bar downtown looking for a bodyguard..." she glanced up to the man again. Oh yeah, he could definitely do that kind of job; he was tall enough to be intimidating, and built for that job too. "It might be good for you, and it'll be an easier job than working at the local supermarket lifting boxes and shit."
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Jun 13, 2020 20:37:02 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jun 13, 2020 20:37:02 GMT
Lycari
Lycari considered her question.
"Not exactly," he said. "More like above Canada. That kinda north. Labour would be fine."
He grinned, "I'm not really trained for much city stuff. Hunting, yes. I can live in the wild for, well, years, but I doubt that's gonna be too useful around here."
After dumping his pitiful wealth back into his back pack, he asked, "What's a hostel?"
His tribe always took in travellers. It was simply the only kind thing to do in his neck of the woods, however he didn't think that would be so in this big city. He could always head for another park. Those benches were hard though.
"Bodyguard?"
Lycari had done his share of turfing people out on their ears. In fact, he noticed a young man in a hoodie loitering around outside the shop right now. He froze in place, as quiet as a winter day, as the young man sauntered inside. With his hood up, the man's side vision was impaired and he was very nervous. He fumbled for a gun.
"Gimme your cash!" He shouted.
Like a shot Lycari was off the couch and had ghosted around behind the fellow. Then he pounced, which was the best way to describe what then happened. In seconds he had the young man's arms locked behind the man's back. The guy yelled and accidentally squeezed the trigger. The bullet caught Lycari in his exposed toe.
The shifter gritted his teeth and took the young man to the floor. He knocked the gun from his hand and sunk a knee into the man's back. Blood leaked from his open sneaker, but he paid no attention to it.
"What do you want done with this guy?" Lycari asked through his teeth. Man, that smarted! How in the nine hells was he going to fix this and not expose himself?
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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 Jun 14, 2020 3:20:52 GMT
Hmm, more north than Canada? Maybe he was where the northern lights resided; that was pretty cool at least. It explained how he was dressed at least; she knew there were probably indigenous people out there in the wilds, but she had never really looked into it.
It also explained how he didn't really know of the city. He seemed to take all of her words in a sort of confused haze. Guess they didn't have hostels or bodyguards out there, though she was curious, how someone could live in this world and not know of these things. "They don't have that kind of stuff up there?" she asked with a frown, "hostels are sort of like...shared group homes, temporary ones, you know? They'll give you a nice bed and fresh sheets and towels, and a place to lock up your stuff and to shower for a lot cheaper than a hotel, and bodyguards...like, they protect certain people, or places I guess? Like they make sure people are acting right and if they're not, they get kicked out."
Honestly, this was turning into a strange kind of day, as if she was lucid dreaming. What was even more strange was when the man quickly burst into the shop looking for money. She knew there were desperate people around these days, even more considering how absolutely shit the economy was, but someone trying to steal from a tattoo parlour? She held her hands up with a reproachful expression. "We don't carry cash dude–"
Oh. Okay. Well, the other guy definitely had it handled. She almost felt relieved; of course she could use her own powers, but...she still didn't quite understand them. She could do small things, like bring her own tattoos to life, but the big things took so much energy, and she had yet to perfect them. She grimaced, stepping back, her hands bracing herself on the table. Jesus Christ.
He made quick work of the man, and Emeline jumped at the sound of the gun. "Holy shit," she immediately scrambled for her phone, calling the cops and quickly explaining what was going on. Five minutes. Great, that meant five minutes of distracting the guy before–
Oh. Huh, seemed like the guy had handled it. "Uh...." her face was pale, blinking as if still in shock, "I just called the cops," she replied weakly, "they should be here in a few minutes..."
She glanced to the man's shoe. "You're hurt," she spoke, blinking sympathetically, before glancing warily at the man who struggled to no avail, "well, you'd certainly make a good bodyguard or a bouncer." She didn't really know what to say to lighten the situation.
"Let me go get a first aid kit; we need to stop the bleeding until the ambulance and the police get here."
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Jun 14, 2020 14:31:52 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jun 14, 2020 14:31:52 GMT
Lycari
While he felt like swearing in very colorful terms, the shifter kept his oaths firmly clamped behind his teeth. Still holding the young man's arms behind his back, Lycari stood him up and dragged him over to his back pack. He kept a firm one handed hold on the guy as he flipped open his pack. A moment's search revealed a coarse rope about twenty feet long. Like some kind of professional cowboy, Lycari had the miscreant trussed up in no time at all.
He stood on one foot, with the injured one raised and still dripping.
"Sorry about your floor."
A trail of blood dripped and smeared from the counter to where he now stood.
"I'd really appreciate it if you could give me the time to get out of here before your cops come. I'm not sure that they'd, ah..."
He fumbled for the right words. After all, he didn't want to suggest that he was some sort of crook himself. Hopping back to the couch, he fell into it with his injured foot raised. He brushed a hand across his face in frustration and gusted a sigh. What to say? How much to tell this nice lady he so unfortunately involved in this mess?
Being taken to some sort of prison wasn't quite what he needed at this moment. A quiet and secure place to heal was.
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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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Jun 14, 2020 14:59:35 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jun 14, 2020 14:59:35 GMT
Okay, Emeline couldn't get a read on this guy. First, he comes in looking like he's some sort of music festival hippie, and then turns out he's new here, with reflexes that could make any fighter look like a wimp, in her opinion, and...he has rope in his bag? What else was in his bag? Had he really been camping or something before all of this? She frowned. Whatever was up with the guy, she was both intrigued and a bit worried.
He seemed like a nice dude, but these days, Emeline didn't know. Her ex seemed like a nice guy too when they had first dated, and look at how that turned out. Now she was sitting here with some dude who tried to shoot them tied up on her floor. Jack was going to freak when he came back. A groan left her mouth at the thought. Quickly sending a text of 'get your ass back here someone tried to rob the shop lmfao' to Jack, she grabbed the first aid kit quickly.
"Okay," she mumbled to herself, uncertain to where to start. She had never really done this before. "Um....first thing is probably to....wash the wound I guess? She grabbed a bucket they used to hold paints and inks and emptied it out before moving towards Lycari, putting it on the floor, and grabbing a bottle of water.
"Here, can you take your shoe off and pour some water to wash it off and we'll uh...see how bad it is." She grimaced; Emeline wasn't particularly squeamish with blood but god, he got shot in the toe. There was no way it was salvageable, right? She turned to grab the bandages, as if prepping herself for this mess.
"Don't worry about the cops, I'll tell them you were a customer and all, it should be fine," she replied, "I mean, you didn't do anything wrong, and I probably owe you for that one. We'll get you fixed up and to the hospital maybe? We can call an uber to the ER or something...beats taking the ambulance."
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Jun 14, 2020 16:58:35 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jun 14, 2020 16:58:35 GMT
Lycari
Lycari was worried. Hospital? Ambulance? Uber? He unlaced his sneaker as she asked. Underneath was a blood soaked sock that had seen better days.
If cops were what he thought they were, they'd want to know who he was, what he was doing here, maybe even what he was! He wasn't sure he wanted all of that out. If they searched his name, they'd find a big fat zero of information. He and his tribe were so far off the charts, they had to hang onto the map by their fingers.
Finally he looked up at Emeline, silvery eyes reflecting what he was about to do. He was hoping that she was as nice a person as he thought she was.
"I hope you can keep a secret," he pulled off the sock. His toe was almost obliterated, with bone sticking out and blood slowly seeping out from the mess. "I won't need the water, but maybe stick the bucket underneath so I don't make more of a mess than I already have."
He gave her a wry smile as he reached down to his toe and wrapped his fingers around it with a wince. A strange blue light surrounded his hand and his eyes went even more silvery. The dripping blood stopped immediately. A few seconds more and Lycari removed his bloodstained hand to reveal a completely healed toe.
Sitting straight again, he put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion and then promptly keeled over onto the couch fast asleep.
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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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Jun 14, 2020 17:18:38 GMT
Post by achromatic on Jun 14, 2020 17:18:38 GMT
This day just kept getting weirder, huh?
Emeline wasn't exactly looking when he pulled his sock off. Frankly, that wasn't what she wanted to see; if there was blood and bone and all that? Yep, she was definitely not going to look. She'd have nightmares for weeks; the last time that had happened was when Ash played some prank on her after they had watched Annabelle. Nope. Never doing that again.
She only turned around when he spoke, seeing the blue light glow and his eyes turn silver. A shiver ran down her spine. Wait, what? That was definitely not normal. She knew the world wasn't all cut up as they described it; she could control ink and her flatmate apparently could read memories off of things, but this? This was something completely new.
"Holy shit," she whispered, taking a step back, as he revealed a completely healed toe. Well that wasn't something you saw every day. What was even more surprising was how quickly he fell asleep. Wait, what was she supposed to do now?
Her phone buzzed and she almost screamed. [JACK: Wait....what? You're not pulling my leg are you? Hey Ash, if you took Em's phone again, can you please fuck off?]
Em sighed. Great, how was she going to explain all of this? None of this made any sense at all, if Em was to be honest. She checked the time; the cops should be here in a couple of minutes. Hopefully, Jack would stay out a little longer for lunch today, she thought, as she moved towards Lycari, shaking his shoulder to see if he was completely out cold.
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Jun 14, 2020 19:23:14 GMT
Post by stormaf on Jun 14, 2020 19:23:14 GMT
Lycari
The shoulder shake did rouse him a little. He looked at her sleepily.
"'M sorry. Didn't mean to conk out so quick," he mumbled, "It's part of the whole shebang. I heal someone, I fall asleep."
He sat up and leaned on one arm. He obviously wasn't going to be of much use for a while. In fact, he looked like he was starting to drift off again.
Shaking his head to regain some sort of a working brain, he peered up at her.
"Do you have anywhere you could put me so I can sleep this off?"
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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 Jun 15, 2020 1:52:13 GMT
Well, at least he didn't need the hospital. She frowned. "So you're....like, a mutant?" She didn't add the 'like me?' part; it was awkward enough without explaining that she had her own weird powers too. So he was a healer type; she wouldn't have guessed. The world was getting too weird, Emeline thought dryly, eyeing the man once more. He looked like he was about to pass out.
"Um, I was going to bring you to a hostel but...if you want to take a nap, I can wake you up after the cops leave. You can take the couch or...I guess the tattoo bed? I don't have any appointments today so...."
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