forum Private Roleplay with @becfromthedead

Started June 28, 2021 by @Fraust

tune

<33

Aurelius and Felix had agreed to meet in the coffee shop in front of the park, but Aurelius was running quite late.
Felix, in the meantime, waited patiently for his friend, sipping on a latte infused with a shot of a potion to help with his stamina.
When Aurelius came in, he was clearly rushed, disheveled, and not ready for the job.
"You just wake up?" Felix sighed, "You know we have to go clear out that damn park before those ghouls decide to eat any more children who wander too far- or adults for that matter."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Aurelius replied.
"It's alright, I'm not mad. Worried, if anything. Get yourself a drink to help you perk up, and we can get going."
Aurelius frowned a bit.
"Will do… but can we talk about our approach, and some other things? I think there might be some stranger magic going on beyond just the ghouls that moved in."

Elio was dragging Caelum along to the coffee shop, much to the latter's chagrin. Caelum looked exhausted, and he definitely needed coffee, but he didn't like being dragged. His bright friend was also very loud, and very much a morning person. Caelum shushed Elio a bit as they headed into the shop, not wanting him to disturb other customers.
"Eli, please… it's so early. You can't be so loud so early in the morning." He said softly, holding one finger up to his lips. Elio rolled his eyes, grinning cheekily.
"Oh, c'mon, Cae! Live a little~!" Elio crooned, wrapping his arm around his friend's shoulder. "It's now or never, isn't it?" Caelum sighed in exasperation.
"I suppose so. Please try to keep it down, though." Caelum headed to the front and ordered himself a simple black coffee. Elio ordered some ridiculously complicated sugary drink that could scarcely be considered coffee.

Aurelius walked to the counter a little behind Caelum and Elio, not paying much attention to the two at first. He went to order a heavily caffeinated iced coffee and stood back near the end of the counter, waiting for his name to be called.
He shot a glance back at Felix and sighed. But then, Felix got up to wait with him.
"What did you mean when you said other magic might be involved?"
Aurelius shrugged.
"The plant growth in the park has been unnatural. Either it's illusory magic or someone made those plants actually grow that large using magic or special potions or something. May be more than just the ghouls we have to deal with, is what I'm saying…"

"How do you still manage to look this good so early in the morning, huh?" Elio asked Caelum, leaning against the counter with a small smirk. Caelum rolled his eyes and crossed his arm.
"Christ, Eli… not so loud. We're not dating or anything. You don't need to tell me I'm pretty all the time." He replied softly, thanking the barista as he grabbed their two coffees. He handed Elio's to him and started sipping at his own.
"I know I don't have to, but I want to." Elio stuck his tongue out a bit and drank some of his sugary mess of 'coffee'. Caelum rolled his eyes again.
"Whatever. We just need to wake up a bit before we go and deal with whatever is happening in the park.' Elio nodded eagerly, humming happily to himself.

Felix was distracted for a second by the two other guys at the counter, but he snapped his gaze back to Aurelius.
"That makes matters worse, doesn't it?" Felix sighed, "I thought you said we could easily handle this on our own?"
"The more people we add, the less pay we would get," Aurelius explained, taking his coffee and thanking the barista, "You need the money."
They sat back at the table together, glaring daggers at each other. They were only a few feet from the other pair who had just walked in.
"Saving up is a process and part of the plan. Dying on the way would ruin it all. I know you don't really care much about what happens to you, but I do. And I also happen to want to live. You said it would be a simple job, but the more you talk, the more dangerous it sounds."
Aurelius groaned softly.
"I know, I know. Although, to be fair, when I convinced you to accept it, I only knew about the presence of ghouls and probably a monster nest in the park, which is something we could handle. I was merely researching some of the events there lately, and it appears to be more than meets the eye. I'm sorry- I just… I don't know where we could find others to help on such short notice either."

Caelum quietly listened to the other pair talking, idly drinking his coffee to pretend that he wasn't paying attention. So they're going there too… and they think it may be more difficult than originally anticipated. I guess it's good that we have more people, then. He sighed softly and closed his eyes. Elio seemed to be genuinely not paying attention, and was instead toying with a small ball of light in his free hand. "Come on, Eli." Caelum said softly, starting to lead the way out of the Cafe. "We need to get going."

(Wait, were you thinking light powers for Elio the whole time bc I kid you not I pulled that name because it was a variation on Helios lmaooo)
After Aurelius had finished his drink, he and Felix got up and walked outside, peering out to the park.
"Hey, Auri. Looks like those guys from the coffee shop are also headed towards the park. Hopefully not to stir up any trouble," Felix murmured.
Aurelius looked ahead and gave a nod. "Maybe we should make sure they know?"
The two jogged a little bit to catch up.
"Hey, that park's filled with monsters," Aurelius warned, "We were about to clean it up, but until then, I'd stay out of the way."
"Unless…?" Felix whispered under his breath.

(Adgjk I was sorta planning it the whole time because of his appearance and personality and stuff lol)
Caelum looked up as the other pair approached him and Elio, his hair shifting gracefully in the breeze. "Oh, we're aware. We were planning to assist, you see." He replied politely, his voice soft and soothing as always. Elio hopped forward, examining the two with a bright smile.
"Hi! I'm Elio, but you can call me Eli or whatever the hell else you want!" He chirped brightly. "This is Caelum! I call him Cae, but I dunno if he'd like it if you call him that." He looked over to his friend with a grin, and Caelum sighed tiredly.
"Please excuse him… he can't help how stupid he is." He drawled, pulling Elio back so he wouldn't continue being a bother. Elio pouted, but reluctantly fell quiet.

"Oh, thank god," Felix sighed, "I didn't know other people were going to show up, but I'm glad you did. I'm Felix. This is my friend, Aurelius."
Aurelius gave a firm nod. "Right. Let's take inventory of powers so we can strategize this, shall we? We need to break through that plant growth. If they're real plants, I can get rid of them with no collateral. If they're illusions, it might be a little tougher than that. But it's definitely where we need to start."
Felix glanced over.
"Well, excuse him for being so straightforward. But I suppose we don't have a lot of choice, do we?"
"You were the one talking about kids getting eaten. We don't have time for much courtesy. It's not like I'm being mean."
Felix gave a halfhearted smile. "That much is true… Oh, but to clarify, I can summon and control fire, and Aurelius here has a decaying power."

Caelum listened closely to their explanations, keeping quiet and calm with little expression on his face. Elio, however, was the opposite, and he reacted to every little thing they said. Caelum opened his mouth to speak, but Elio interrupted him. "Wow, that's super cool! I can use electricity and light and stuff like that, and Cae has… uh…"
"Umbrakinesis. I can remove shadows, hide in them, create weapons out of them, et cetera, et cetera… it's versatile." Caelum shrugged a bit. "Since all the plants are making it pretty dark, I should be able to do something."

"I read umbrakinesis is pretty useful at dispelling magical illusions," Aurelius said, "So if that's what they are, your power would make that part of the job a lot easier. I could also wither them if not. Once we get past that, I'm really not sure what's lurking in there, other than those monsters."
"Well, then, shall we get started?" Felix suggested, "There's only one way to find out what's in there."
"Alright. Guess I'll try first?" Aurelius replied, "Stand back, I don't want anyone to get hurt."
He took a shaky breath and raised his hands, where a very dark aura appeared. With a sweep of his hands in front of him, he sent a wave of black magic forth, which ate through some of the vines and branches to reveal so many more than he would have expected.
Aurelius stepped back and lowered his hands, a frown etched onto his face.
"There has to be a better way. I can cut a path, but to take down much of this would drain me beyond what I can handle."

Caelum examined the damage thoughtfully. "Well, they don't appear to be illusions, but I suspect there's still a lot of magical influence. If I could dispel some of that, then the plants may shrink and become easier to destroy. It'll drain my energy, but I think I can do it." He hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head slightly to the side. Elio was trying to think as well.
"I could help." He said after a minute. "Plants have a lot of electrons in them that help them grow and stuff. These massive ones probably have a lot. Since I can control electricity, I could theoretically draw out all of that, which also might make them shrink."

"Or I could just start a controlled forest fire and someone could do damage control," Felix suggested, "I know we're trying to minimize collateral, but since we will likely have to fight once we get in there, it wouldn't do much good for someone to drain their energy right off the bat."
"That's quite… the opposite of what we should probably do. Even if we do manage to confine it to the park, the park will be unusable."
"The park's already unusable. They can replace landscaping and benches and shit. Can't replace the lives that have been lost. But like I said, it's only a suggestion. One of many."

"We need to be careful." Caelum said, opening his eyes to look up at the plants. "There's a possibility that there are people or animals trapped inside. If we try to release an uncontrollable forest fire, they would be killed. Even if it takes a little longer, we should go about this in a safer way, just to make sure there are no casualties." Elio groaned a bit.
"God, English please." He whined, making Caelum roll his eyes once again.
"Fire bad. Might kill people." He said stiffly, to which Elio nodded.
"Thank you. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Ugh…"

"Fair enough. I say there's a slim chance that anything in there is alive, but a slim chance is still a chance. And I'm not so keen on the idea of killing people for no reason," Felix agreed.
"How much would the electron manipulation take out of you?" Aurelius asked Elio, "We could alternate between your powers, and save everyone's energy in the process. We just need to have enough in us to be prepared for combat once we cut through."

"Well, if I draw it out of the plants and into myself… I could last a while." Elio hummed thoughtfully, still looking up at the plants. "After a while, though, I could end up burning myself from the electricity." He shrugged a bit and Caelum nodded.
"I can go a while without passing out." Caelum said quietly. "But it does still strain my body. But with four of us, we should be able to handle it."

"Right. Let's get started," Aurelius agreed, "Felix?"
"I'll be on standby in case any ghouls attack," he said, "Let's also keep an eye out for anything strange in the meantime. There has to be something hidden in there."

Caelum and Elio headed forward into the plants and held their hands out, using their respective powers to begin shrinking the plants around them. Elio was glowing lightly, and a thin veil of darkness surrounded Caelum's body.
(I feel like I should throw someone else in aha)

Behind the other two, Aurelius withered the plants away, taking deep breaths to keep in control. He found his hands shaking a little bit as he pressed forwards.
"Seems to be working well," Felix said with a smile, but that smile soon fell when he heard faint snarling drawing closer.
It was just one ghoul for now, so he was able to take it on as it lunged towards Elio. Flames spilled out from his fingertips, and he was able to redirect the creature towards himself so he could take a swing at it with his blade and finish it off.
(That's fine with me! You could make them trapped in the little "jungle" somewhere or something maybe? Uhhh I have no plans, idk exactly what's in there 😂 Maybe a weird sinkhole, and there's like a tunnel leading to something? I just don’t know what that something is or who's behind it tbh. Just making things up as I go, and you’re more than welcome to do the same.)

(Alright aha)
Elio dodged out of the way when the ghoul came towards him, huffing as though offended. He continued working, however, steadily shrinking the plants alongside Caelum. As they cleared more of the forest, they could hear some shuffling and barking further in. Azel, in his fox form, was attempting to jump out of a hole he was stuck in. He growled in frustration, unable to jump quite high enough to get out.

"Someone lose their dog in there?" Felix asked, glancing around a bit, "Or we got a different monster on our hands?"
"That," Aurelius replied, "Could honestly be a number of things. We'd be lucky if it was a little puppy. Doesn't sound that far ahead though. Maybe there's a break in the foliage up here?"
As the trio kept working through the plants, there was eventually a gap. And a steep drop-off. Neither Aurelius nor Felix could immediately see what was at the bottom.

Azel continued trying to climb up the wall, but it was far too steep for him to make much progress. He barked again, although it sounded a little different than a dog. Elio came up to the edge and lit up the hole with his powers so they could see what was at the bottom. "Looks like a fox. Should we try and get it out?" He asked. Caelum hummed thoughtfully.
"Yeah, probably. It'll die if we leave it stuck down there." He said softly, peering down into the hole as well.

"Yeah, might as well," Felix agreed, "It doesn't look dangerous or anything. Looks like it's trying to escape, even. Any ideas? I can't see much, and if I use my powers, I'll just burn the poor thing."
"Unless someone else can use their powers, we might have to find a long branch to lower," Aurelius suggested, "I can't exactly create a way up either."
Felix also used his magic to shed additional light into the hole, peering over the edge a bit. He glanced around the divot in the ground.
"Sinkhole? That's… strange."

Azel could hear people talking and shifted back into a person, his ears twitching a bit. He looked up, his hands up against the side of the hole. "Hello?" He called up awkwardly. Caelum looked down again, bewildered upon finding that the fox had disappeared and seemed to have been replaced by a person instead.
"I might be able to make steps of some sort or if the shadows." Caelum said quietly. "That would be a pretty easy way to get him out."