forum Washed-up//open//OxO

Started May 11, 2021 by @StarkSpangledMayflower

tune

Name:
Nicknames:
Age:
Gender:
Sexuality:
Appearance:

Personality:
Habits:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Allergies:
Fears:
Illnesses:

Background:
Family: (opt)
Birthday: (opt)
Pets: (opt)
Job:

Name: Percy "Pierce" Ellis (Hates being called Percy but most people know him as Panther anyway)
Nicknames: Panther
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight but curious
Appearance: Pierce is just under 6'2, has a thin but muscular build, and has short-ish medium hair with longer bangs. He has grey eyes and hair. His hair used to be black but due to an illness a few years prior, his hair slowly began to lose its original hue. Pierce has a birthmark on the right side of his face. It looks like a large rash or a red stain, depends on who you ask. He has pierced ears and chooses to wear silver jewelry. He also has a couple of scars. (Visual Aid: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ep04me17z47ZxToHeDcLatFVFmlGCSmUMJVTD1OC7xg/edit?usp=sharing)

Personality: Pierce has a morbid curiosity. He enjoys reading true crime and has a way of incorporating it into his work. As someone who does bounty hunting for a living, Pierce knows how to do the hard things with ease. While others may feel empathy for their victims, he can separate feelings from his work. He knows what happens when you mix your emotions in this line of work. The scar on his left shoulder has a way of reminding him of this fact every once in a while. However villainous he may seem, Pierce has a hidden soft side, if you think a bed of brambles is soft, I mean, he has a cockatiel named Gray.
Habits: He has a necklace that he tends to fiddle with when he's thinking, Pierce says it helps to ground him. Whether that's true or not, no one truly knows. Pierce has an 'Enemy' of sorts. One of his favourite things to do is "check up" on this person once in a while just to keep them on their toes. Pierce also likes to think of things as a game, doing this gives the hunt a bit more 'oomph'.
Likes: his job
Dislikes: his job
Allergies: Surprisingly he is allergic to rabbits and hares.
Fears: [REDACTED]
Illnesses: A strange illness that caused his hair to lose its natural hue.

Background:
Family: [REDACTED]
Birthday: June 15
Pets: Gray the Cockatiel
Job: Bounty Hunting

(No worries, looks great so far!)
Name: Auraleous "Rae" Fontaine
Nicknames: Phantom
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Pan, hasn't really had a chance to explore what he's into but doesn't want to close himself off to any options just in case
Appearance: Auraleous stands around 5'10 with a strong upperbody built and a bit of leaner lower body, mostly brought on by his extensive hero training. He has tanned skin, and curly black hair, usually neatly trimmed save for the section he likes to keep long enough to pull into a short ponytail. He wore glasses as a kid but they became an inconvenience when he became a hero for his agency. He's gotten used to the contact but prefers to wear glasses on his days off.
As a hero, he usually sticks to a simple hero suit, traditional and practical instead of the flashy outfits his colleagues have grown attached to. Yes, they were recognizable and looked nice but Auraleous could care less about being recognized, in fact, that usually was the last thing he wanted. He stuck to blacks and greys, things that kept him inconspicuous. As a regular person, Auraleous loved his comfort, preferring sweaters and worn-out graphic tees to wear a tailored suit every day.

Personality: Auralous likes to keep to himself, seeing as he lived a double life. The less people knew about him the better for their own safety. Perhaps due to his training or maybe's he's always been this way, Auralous likes to observe from the sidelines before speaking his own opinion. He prefers the quiet and enjoys solitary time rather than being in large groups for long. He does come off a cold and anti-social even for an introvert but deep down there is some part of him that wishes he were more open with people.
Habits: Auraleous tends to toy with a necklace he rarely takes off. There's not really a rhyme or reason as to why he keeps it so close, it's just a comfort to him
Likes: Auraleous adores sweets, specifically anything involving chocolate. He also loves his cats, his only constant company for now
Dislikes: The smell of lilies, he likes how they look but the smell is off-putting to him. He also doesn't really like spicy food
Allergies: He suspects lilies but he's unsure
Fears: Auraleous tries to avoid small spaces as much as possible. He gets panic attacks and feels like he can't breathe in a few short seconds
Illnesses: none

Background: Auralous grew up in Spain but soon moved to the States when he was 18. He wanted to go to college and experience more of the world than just his home country. He studied biology and chemistry in college, having a passion for the sciences, and soon was picked up by his agency for his intelligence. He became an official hero a few years later and has been a hero since.
Family: His parents and brother still live in Spain but visit often to make sure the youngest son is alright.
Birthday: August 23, 1995
Pets: Winnie - A small male siamese, and Joon - a larger main-coon with black and white patterns
Job: As a cover and to make a bit of extra money, Auraleous partially works for a publishing company as an editor when he's not a hero.

(Here's my boy! hope he's alright)

(thank you! And I love Pierce, can't wait to him push Rae out of his comfort zone.
Ooh it would! Would you like to start? If not I can put up a starter tomorrow morning.)

(Trigger Warning in Advance)

"ACK– No! Oof– AARGH!" the sound of glass breaking accompanied the sounds of the victim as Pierce prowled towards them. Another glass jar broke as the victim attempted to stand up and run. Pierce lazily threw a small knife at them and closed his eyes as a wet splatter made its way onto his face. The birthmark on his face along with the new liquid dripping off his face didn't help calm the victim, rather Pierced looked like a psychopath and the victim was alone with him in the room. As he backed against a wall, Pierce flicked open a long baton he had found upstairs and dragged it alongside him. He crouched to the level of his victim and looked at them sideways before licking his thumb and grinning at them.

"Matteo sends his regards." He whispered in their ear, pulling out his favourite weapon. The person's eyes widened as they shook their head,

"No, no plea– AAGH!" Pierce stood up and twirled his knife again. He took a step back as liquid began pooling around his feet. "Ugh, Matteo better pay for new shoes." He muttered and dipped a gloved hand into the liquid. On the wall ahead of him, he scrawled his signature, the word Panther followed by a pawprint. He normally would have left a screeching panther face but he forgot his stencil and there was no time to run back and grab it. He took a step back as soon as he finished with his trademark and smiled, satisfied.

The sound of a dog barking brought him back to his senses as he realized that his return time was growing closer. Pierce quickly placed bags on his shoes and began to ransack the place, making sure to grab his knives from the many places they attached themselves as he threw them. Once he went upstairs, he grabbed the files that Matteo asked for and took a few trinkets to add to his growing collections. Trophies you could say. He quickly grabbed the last knife and threw it into his bag before slinging it over his shoulder and sitting in the attic window. He took a deep breath and sighed and satisfaction as the metallic scent hit him. Some days his job was fantastic.

Pierce climbed onto the roof and tapped his staff against the shingles opening his portable hang glider. As he clipped himself into it, he heard the dog barking again and grinned, barking back at it. He jumped off the roof and glided to the nearby park where he had parked his bike. Once he placed his things in the bag on his bike, he heard a siren. Pierce grinned and quickly hopped on, turning the key. Just as he pulled away, he heard the siren again, it seemed to be getting closer. Racing to headquarters took no time at all, he went in, submitted the files to Matteo, received his pay, plus extra for the shoe replacements, and then sped off to his next appointment. He quickly made his way up the small building and onto the roof, looking down at the home across the road. His Arch-nemesis' home. This was about to make the end of his work day fantastic.

(No worries and thank you!)
Auraleous pinched the bridge of his nose as he paced his kitchen, resisting the urge to throw said phone across the room. "He's an assassin. There's not going to be any accomplices." He explained as calmly as his temper allowed. You'd think it'd be obvious for a hero agency to be at all competent when it came to knowing their regular opponents but apparently not, much to Auraleous' annoyance. He tried to reason that the agency did recruit new people a few weeks ago, wanting to rotate a few veterans and allow for more opportunities. He took a deep breath and set his phone on the counter so he could begin his research while talking the newbie through the system.
"Just look up "Panther." You should get his profile, his legal name is Percy Ellis but he usually goes by Pierce." Auraleous heard silent tapping and muttering before the newbie announced: "Got it! Looks like he's working for a Matteo?"
Auralous got to typing and scanning through his files looking for anything relating to Pierce and this new person. "Any last name, alias, agency?" He asked, pausing to wait for an answer.
"no nothing, just Matteo. I sent you an image but we've cross-referenced it with our files and haven't found anything."
Auraleous cursed softly, finding news articles and reports popping up on his feed now of the emergency news, at least two were officially dead, but they were expecting to find more. The whereabouts of the criminal were unknown. Auraleous couldn't help but breathe a small laugh. Regardless of whose side you were on, it was always the tiniest bit satisfying when either side got past the police. Auraleous would almost be proud if it weren't for the situation and of course, Pierce being his enemy. "Call me back if you find anything." He hung up before a response could go through and kept looking through files, saving and sending anything that could pertain to this new case as well as anything that could connect back to this Matteo person.
He sighed softly when Winnie walked over his keyboard, bringing him out of his research frenzy at least for now. He scooped the cat up and set him on his shoulder, deciding to walk around his apartment a bit, if only to clear his head and try to think more clearly. That calm lasted all but two seconds. Call it his hero intuition or maybe Auraleous was always this paranoid but he couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched, and he didn't mean just by his cats. He tugged aside the curtains he usually kept tightly drawn over his windows and scanned the empty streets of his neighborhood. Save for a few lights on from fellow night owls, there wasn't much going on. Until he raised his gaze to the rooftops of the building towering above and barely caught a dark silhouette against the night sky.

(On break so sneaking a post)
Taking notes was an almost soothing job. Whether it was because he was mimicking his rival or because he had just bought this custom made leather bound journal, he could not tell you. There was a certain glee in mimicry, Pierce would say it was flattering, after all, try as anyone might, they weren't getting better than the original. Pierce poked his head over the edge again and peeked through the binoculars just in time to see the curtains move and a tired face looking at him. It almost caught him by surprise. Almost.

As any good assassin knew, trying to hide when someone sees you was often the worst possible thing to do. Especially if that someone was a person you'd been tracking for a while. Rather than duck down, Pierce put both his elbows on the edge and waved with one hand. He wished he was a magician right now, playing a disappearing act or vanishing in a puff of smoke would be so worth it. Instead he kept watching.

A sharp beep broke his focus and he looked down at his computer. It seemed as though the agency was making to many connections to him. He grinned, this was his favourite part. Or was so easy to hack the equipment of newbies, their ego's prevented them from suspecting that whatever preventative measures they had in place, had failed. Pierce grabbed the computer and danced his fingers along the keyboard. He pressed enter and watched as the face on his screen paled. Not having an audio connection was a severe sacrifice for not being able to hear the commotion, but there were other more important things he needed that energy for.

Seeing the panic made him laugh, which surprised him. It had been a while since he heard himself laughing authentically. But as quick as it came, it disappeared just as fast. His fingers danced along the keyboard again as he removed any traces of his hack. Going as far as to load the screen from the newbies perspective and clearing traces from there. He was right, this was turning out to be a great end to his day.

Auraleous eyes narrowed as he kept his gaze on the figure. He wasn't sure what he had expected, possibly a little red light pointing at his head indicating a sniper, maybe even an unknowable conversation over the phone he had no idea would bring criminals to his doorstep, but definitely not a wave—nothing as bold as a cutesy little wave and remaining locked in tracking each other's movements. Auraleous nearly had the heart to wave back, if he hadn't had the sneaking suspicion Panther would get some twisted glee out of it. He probably was already giving that seeing that Auraleous was rightfully pissed.
His attention snapped to his ringing phone at the same time Pierce ducked down so when Auraleous looked up he was gone. No, not gone, waiting. "Tell me something good, newbie." He demanded, letting his cat down from his shoulders and stalking back to his computer, hoping to see more reports or any progress on the murders.
"He got in, sir. We can't do anything! One minute we were sending you info, reports, anything we could get our hands on, the next his face shows up, and then screens blackout!" Auraleous could hear a commotion in the back, yelling from superiors to back up files, put up firewalls, and track any stray outliers that were not part of the system. Auraleous cursed again and scrubbed his face, feeling slightly bad for the newbie. It was rare when they got hacked, their security was top of the line. Even for pros in the industry, this was scary. He took a deep breath and started typing away on his computer, pulling up every firewall and security measure his computer could handle before he logged into their agency's portal. "Alright newbie, Conan was it? I'm going to walk you through the system. It's not your fault the system was hacked. Things happen and we have to deal with them. For now, follow exactly what I tell you okay?" Araleous heard a soft and wavering confirmation before they began backtracking out of the system, making sure to avoid any precious files in order to keep as much information safe. At this point, Auraleous couldn't care what Panther found out about the current mission but he couldn't let any other missions be put into jeopardy. He only hoped the team had gotten the idea to do the same.
After nearly two hours of meticulously leading the hackers around in a circle of ghost files and fake reports, letting them dig around the wrong reports and whatever their greedy little fingers could access, Auraleous guided Conan through a series of codes, putting up the agencies fiercest firewalls and security, blocking any access to all files to anyone who wasn't a high ranking official of the agency but not without Auraelous sending a final code to his little pursuer.
"A valiant effort, kitty cat, but hiding behind a screen is cowardly."
]"That should do it." Auraleous leaned back in his chair, huffing a small laugh when he heard Conan unceremoniously slam his laptop shut. "Thank you, sir, and I'm sorry again." Auraleous barely had the energy to dispute and merely congratulated the newbie on his success. "I'll be sending you files to access until the higher-ups deem it official to open the system again. Until then, do some digging at your own discretion. Send me anything you find through personal contacts." And with that departure, Auraleous shut his phone off, determined to get a few hours of sleep before he had to do this all over again later. He tidied his small apartment a bit and peeked out the window again if only to put his mind at ease. Pierce could have been out there, but for whatever reason, Auraleous couldn't muster any energy to care. If a fight was what he had wanted, he assumed his enemy would have been at his doorstep by now so Auraleous fell into bed without another thought to his target, at least for today.