ic [IC] New Year's Grief

[Bisexuhell]

This is not a good night, Rose thought to herself from the rooftop. She'd made herself suspect number one through a terrible error in judgement (she really shouldn't have given her real name and where she worked when trying to convince the cops to go away), and she'd lost her leads because they'd run away. The police are after the wrong person, and I'm stuck on this roof. I better sort this out before I lose my job, never mind my freedom. What I have right now is a safe place from the police up here, what a bunch of them look like, and the money they took. I could go look around for them, but I'll probably encounter cops. I could stay up here, but that doesn't solve anything. She started to pace back and forth, mulling over her options in her head. It wasn't long before something occurred to her. If the money was dropped under a brush, that means that someone will think it's there and go to pick it up. If I can see who goes looking for it.. I can find out who's behind it. She decided to try and get close enough to see where the money was dropped, hoping to maintain her vertical position in the process.

[olopi]

GM

 

Now that she had made the first jump, pathing a way back across the city wasn’t too difficult. Rose jumped from one roof to the next, occasionally stopping in order to get a better look at her surroundings, or to hunker down when a siren approached.

 

But, after a few minutes of careful jumping, she had returned to Hillory Park, and was now on the roof of one of the nearby buildings, an apartment building most likely. From there, she had a fairly good look at the park and the surrounding areas, even if the darkness meant it wasn’t very easy to see what was going on. Occasionally, somebody walked past on the sidewalk, just barely visible in the moonlight, but nobody stopped for the park.

 

And then, Rose’s phone went off. An SMS, by Jamie.

***’s happening? Where r u? Shift!!!
Cops just came here.
What did u do
Need your help back here, still on shift!!!

[Bisexuhell]

As soon as she saw the texts she felt bad. She shouldn't have ran off, not from her job nor the cops, and now she was in trouble and Jamie was on his own. Unfortunately, now that she had some personal stake in tracking down whoever was doing this, she couldn't just go back and hope it would all blow over. I have to find out who did this. Then, hopefully, I can keep my job and my friend. She quickly text him back. 

Something came up. Sorry. Will be back before end of shift.

 

She put her phone on silent after sending that, just in case, then turned her attention back to the park, watching to see if anyone was going to enter. The only person who's gonna enter the park at this time of night has to be the culprit. Right?

[olopi]

GM

 

???
Dont do anything dumb
Stay safe

 

Rose continued to wait on the rooftop, looking downwards at the park, scanning the area. Not a lot happened. Minutes passed, nothing happened. Occasionally a car drove by, or a group of people, all chatting, walked past, but nobody went into the park. At one point an old lady, walking her dog, went into the park, but turned around when she spotted the only light in the park being broken, before even fully entering. The night was quiet, with only a siren going off in the distance occasionally. A little snow was still around, and with the current temperatures, which Rose began to feel now that she was no longer running, it would stay for quite a while longer.

 

And finally, after about 30 minutes, something happened. A person, wearing a variety of concealing clothing, walked into the park. A black hoodie, black pants. Rose had barely managed to catch them thanks to the snow. Slowly, and carefully, they moved, at first naturally, through the park. Then, when they arrived at the bush where the money had been dropped, they began to take a close look at the bush, searching for something.

 

 

[Bisexuhell]

Ha. Ha ha. It's way, way too late for not doing stupid things. Rose continued to survey the park, and eventually found exactly who she was looking for. Bingo! She watched as they looked around exactly where she expected them to, and she knew full well that this was the culprit. She quickly decided against rashly charging in, since her last rash decisions had raised the stakes far higher than they needed to be, and instead decided to just tail the person. She jumped down from her roof top, slowing her fall and trying to be as quiet as possible, and took up a hiding spot near to them. She then decided to try and scan their mind to see if she could find out where they were headed, or what exactly their plan was, before they started moving, and get a bit of a head start.

[olopi]

GM

 

It wasn’t easy, but by carefully planning her path and jumping at the right time, Rose managed to descend the building without being spotted. A short sprint across the street later, she once again was inside the park. There, moving became a bit more difficult, with the occasional branch on the ground, and with her being closer to her target.

 

Still, with some effort, she managed to get quite close to the other person without being spotted. There, she waited, as they seemingly grew more and more upset. Whereas at first they had carefully looked through the bush, they were now almost ripping into it, and into ones nearby.

 

But, the strangest thing came when Rose tried to read their mind. At first, there was nothing, as if she’d missed. Another try, the same thing. Then, on the third, she got a bit further. But, at the surface of the thoughts, it just stopped. No actual thoughts, no emotions, nothing. They were there, but they weren’t accessible. Locked away, protected, inaccessible.

[Bisexuhell]

That was a new on Rose. Someone had locked away.. well, their whole mind. Maybe this isn't the mastermind either. Maybe this is just someone else taken by them. Or maybe they've just locked their mind away to stop anyone discovering who they are and what they're doing. Rose was intrigued, and decided to stay right where she was and watch what they were going to do next. If they've been messed with like everyone else, and their task is now impossible, I wonder what they're going to do. And if they haven't.. well, then they're going to lead me to a hideout of some sort, hopefully.

[olopi]

GM

 

At first, everything continued to happen as it did before. The figure continued to rummage through the various bushes in the park, seemingly growing less and less patient each time. They continued, having not noticed Rose. She got lucky, in that this person was going through the park in such a way her hiding place would be the last thing they’d check. So, Rose continued to wait and observe.

 

Something felt a bit off about the way whoever this was moved through the park. She wasn’t really sure what it was, just that there was something. Something, in the back of her head, maybe some sort of sixth sense tingling. But, after a quick glance behind her to make sure nothing was there, she continued on lying in wait.

She turned her head to follow the other person’s movements, when suddenly, they turned, looking straight at Rose, who was still hiding. And then, she heard a whisper. Both being spoken, and inside her own thoughts.

 

“Naaaaaaaauuughty”

[Bisexuhell]

That was one hell of a lot creepier than I was expecting. What was creepier was the pounding on Rose's thoughts that came afterwards, but she concentrated and drove it off. It was only after the threat to her mind was gone that she let fear set in, blindsided by... well, that. She suddenly felt like she was in way over her head. I'm here, I better finish the job, she thought, dispelling her doubts as she considered her situation. Stealth seems to be out the window... unless.... just because their thoughts aren't there, doesn't mean I can't mess with their senses. She created an illusion of herself, visible only to him, in full costume, standing from her hiding spot and putting her hands on her hips in full on brash superhero mode. "Ha! Your pathetic mind meddling doesn't bother me! I am PSY STRIKE! The mind is my domain, not yours, and the night is safe as long as I stand firm against crime!" It shouted, giving Rose (hopefully) enough time to sneak around to a different position, where she could still them but wasn't being stared at.

[olopi]

GM

 

Whoever they were, Rose’s illusion seemed to work. As the less-than-real Psy Strike stood there, the other person approached it(her?). Slowly, with careful steps, only taking one at a time, while locking eyes with the illusion. They seemingly didn’t do anything further, as they just stood there and waited, looking somewhat tense, but ready to attack at any moment. Perhaps they were using some sort of mental power?

 

This offered a good opportunity for Rose to change her position. Whoever this was, they were busy dealing with the illusion. Rose wasn’t in the best position to sneak around, there wasn’t a lot of cover to go for. But, it was late, dark, and there only was one person she had to look out for. Nothing too difficult, she could handle that.

First step. Some mumbling by the only other person in the park, but too quiet to understand it from where Rose stood. A quick leap, towards more cover. And then, only a few steps to go. But of course, things couldn’t work out. A bit of ice had formed on the ground, so just as Rose was about to get to a better hiding spot, there was a crack. A quiet one, she had barely touched it.

 

But it seemed to be loud enough, as there was a glance to the side, and more mumbling. And, once again, something inside her head, even if it was clearly foreign, and didn’t try to invade.

 

“Another one.”

 

 

[Bisexuhell]

Yikes. Guess stealth is out the window. Rose stood up, dropping the illusion and staring straight at the mysterious stranger in front of her. She was mere inches away from a hiding spot, but she hadn't quite made it, so instead she stood there, staring them down. She was considering her plan of attack for a moment, factoring in how she doesn't know anything about their powerset besides mental powers of some sort, their behaviour, their attempted attack on her mind, the distance between them and a bunch of other things before throwing all of that and caution to the wind and running at them as fast as possible, trying to connect with a right hook across their face as she got in range.

[olopi]

GM

 

Hitting the punch was easy. Not only did Rose had the advantage of surprise, but she’d also managed to get a good angle. Fist connected with face, as her opponent stumbled backwards. When punching, she’d felt something protecting them, but it wasn’t strong enough (yet?) to soften the blow enough. As the stumbled backwards, they once more mumbled, the sound only becoming clear inside Rose’s head.

 

“Baaaaaaaaaaaaad.”

 

They caught themselves before hitting the floor, and took a stance more fit for combat, both hands in front of them, ready to strike should there be another attack by Rose. But, they didn’t attack. They stood there, and ominously looked at her, barely breathing at all. Perhaps they were doing something defensive, without direct attacks, only counters?

 

Or more likely, as Rose got to know, and feel, only a moment later, they were executing some sort of attack on her mind. Her head pounded, like a sudden headache, as her thoughts were flooded by sheer nonsense, not entirely different to what she had seen in the store robber’s heads.

 

With every passing second of the attack, she felt her body get more fatigued. Nothing bad, nothing she’d not felt before, but not like this.

[Bisexuhell]

Dammit! Rose had sensed the thing that was protecting the mystery assailant, but didn't have much time to dwell on it before her mind was flooded with.. that. That stuff. Weaponised nonsense flew through her head, and she could feel how it hurt. This was how they decided to attack, apparently. It's gonna be a weird, weird fight, she thought as she pulled her hand back and used her telekinesis to bolster her next punch, coating her hand in a golden aura and punching their chest as hard as she could to get through.. whatever the barrier was. Maybe this is overkill, considering it didn't stop the first punch, but better safe than sorry. 

[olopi]

GM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preserving the text for easy reading/the eventual problems with image linking

Having so much force behind her punch was not something Rose was fully used to yet. This clearly showed as she went on the attack. As she gathered all the force in her punch and stepped forward for an attack, her opponent, who still was, for the most part, a mystery, managed to simply side-step her with seemingly little effort.

 

 

Rose stumbled a few steps forward, before managing to catch herself. However, she was now slightly out of position, as she once more felt something attack her mind, with her opponent, standing next to and slightly behind her, continuing to mumble, the words once more amplified inside her thoughts.

 

 

“Too slow.”

 

 

At the same time, she once more felt an attack onto her mind. But this time, she was more prepared, even if the previous attack was still hurting and probably throwing off her concentration ever slightly. This time, she knew what was coming. As she felt the first bits of nonsense invade her thoughts, she steeled her defences, focusing on those parts of her mind that still worked as intended.

 

 

And it worked, as the headache did not get stronger, and Rose didn’t feel even more nonsense inside her head.

 
 

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by olopi