@antioceas: [ 2. ] sender receiver teaches sender self-defense, hands firm on their hips as they adjust their stance.
✱˚｡⋆ ↪ 𝐀 𝐘𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 . ( a collection of mixed action prompts.)
He watches her as she tries the stance he just showed her. With a small smile on his lips he shakes his head and chuckles. She wasn't getting it right. How were their camp surviving if they weren't teaching their citizens proper self defence?
"No, no. Wait." Arxus walked up behind her. Placing his hands on her hips. Just to show her the stance, of course. "Move just a little bit like... Like this." He moved her hips just a few inches, as well as making her move her leg forward. "Like that! Now, that's a proper stance. No one will be able to push you down now." And as to prove his point he gave her a gentle push.
"Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here" is a book about an angel in the middle of the biblical apocalypse getting a vision where he can either do nothing, let the apocalypse happen, and doom all of the universe to destruction; or he can try to stop the annihilation and doom himself to death but will save the lives of his brothers and sisters.
Along the way, he enlisted the help of a demon who is also trying to stop the apocalypse, and they slowly fall in love over textures and flavours and snarky repartee.
This is.....esthetically inspired by CW's Supernatural, but the universe is mine and the characters are mine.
Warning for violence. Also editor was busy so this is not nearly as polished as usual.
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The voice on the radio had been a comfort since the new radio station started broadcasting in the small town a couple years ago. Nobody was sure where it was set up, although some rumors the host took over a nearby abandoned military site. Nobody could really get access there so that’s where everyone decided it must be. The station called itself Haze Radio, so when the host allowed call-ins, people just assumed that was the person’s name. The friendly voice had accepted that as a nickname for themself. People wanted to send gifts to the host so a drop box was set up. Nobody saw anyone take from it, but it was emptied when locals checked so they knew the gifts must be retrieved somehow.
So while the host, Haze, remained a mystery, the whole town grew fond of the voice. The voice reported on the annual scarecrow festival and complimented the ragtag art around the town. They gave reminders of when hunting season started and what areas hunters are allowed in and where not to go. A friendly voice discussed when the weather was good to plant and harvest. The voice praised a rehab project that restored local land to allow animals to flourish when the government approved reintroductions of species previously extinct locally.
The whole town gossiped about the voice on the radio. How did this Haze know so much about everything going on? The voice didn’t match any locals. The station wasn’t heard outside of town. It was all… bizarre. But the town quickly loved their mysterious radio station.
But one day the regular local reports the station gave were… strange. The stranger on the radio had previously warned them ahead of time when a tornado would pass through town so everyone trusted Haze. Haze was never wrong. Haze knew when a freeze would kill off seedlings and to wait to plant. Haze knew when thunder may spook the horses and they needed to be put up for safety. Haze knew when coyotes were too close to the duck farm. But this… It was vague. It didn’t make sense. Just a warning that bad things would happen. That in the next week they need to get their relatives and friends from the cities to come out here through a certain date.
Of course all of them had talked to relatives and friends about the mysterious radio host and how much his words helped the town. About the warning before the tornado even formed, how Haze seemed to know the exact path it would take down to the street corners it would go past. Many out of towners wanted to dismiss the crazy talk of coming to town by a specific date. But when the locals got worked up, many eventually caved. Some locals even claimed needing desperate help after health issues to get far traveling children home.
Those who used deception to get family to come faced arguments over the next days… but eventually most agreed to at least wait to see if anything happened on the date declared.
The date in question came and Haze had a new message. “Stay at home. Don’t risk going outside no matter what. Just watch the news to see why I told you to bring everyone here for safety. I am so sorry I couldn’t tell you more, but if they found out I warned you, I would have been taken away and unable to protect you.”
It turned out the locals had been wise to listen to the voice of Haze.
News announcements on television warned that strange phenomena appeared near major cities and especially military structures. Giant beings, many bearing some sort of elemental abilities came through what were apparently portals of some sort..
The locals became extremely worried. The abandoned military place they all knew about… it might be a target too. They were soon calling each other on the phones and texting, trying to see if anyone had eyes on it. To see if they would be targeted too. The news was reporting mass casualties… as they were trying to make sense, they heard sounds like on the television. The ground shaking and splitting. Looking out windows, word spread fast that two of those monsters were in town. Fire hitting the small police station, the town hall… But nobody was in those buildings. They had listened to Haze and stayed home.
Suddenly a third one of those monsters showed up, attacking the other two. It didn’t make sense. In the new broadcasts all the monsters were working with each other. Why was this one acting different? While the first two had used fire and earth, this one gestures and blasts of water hit the fire one, causing it to fall. The fire giant fell onto the school… which was empty only because of Haze’s warning. The earth one punched the one using water and the beast stumbled, damaging several downtown shops in the fight. Shops empty because of Haze’s warning.
But the fight was moving. Getting closer to the neighborhood. To houses. The fire giant tossed a piece of wall at the water giant, and it shattered, pieces impacting a nearby building with three apartments in it. The water one roared and hit the fire giant again. It yelled at the two other giants and that’s when it clicked for everyone. The water giant screaming at the other two to get the hell out of his town… that voice was Haze. The first time any of them heard anger in that familiar friendly voice. The other two seemed hesitant but talked. Something about a job to do. An assignment. But Haze didn’t back down. “These people have nothing to do with the mission. They are innocent and good. The base here is empty. So go elsewhere. But leave this town alone.”
Finally, the two other giants began to leave. The water giant knelt by the apartment, carefully removing debris and speaking in a soft voice, “This building won’t hold long. You can’t stay in it. We need to move you somewhere safer. I know I must be very scary to you… especially when you are seeing what my kind are doing on the news… but even if you don’t let me help you, you need to get out of here and see what houses may take you in.”
Of course with all the terrible things on the news, it was hard to trust a giant… but he didn’t try to touch anyone. He merely held the fire escape in place against the building so they could get out on their own now that the stairs were ruined. As they started their retreat to the neighborhoods, they glanced frequently. Haze was checking each damaged building for people. He seemed visibly relieved when so many were empty. The only time he came near the people heading to the houses was to move debris that blocked their path.
A couple hours later many of the locals had gathered in one of the larger houses to talk. Downtown was in shambles, but most houses and all the farms were still fine. Most importantly the early warning meant their relatives from the city were far away from the worst of this apparent invasion. The radio was going in case Haze came back on it. If he gave any more information they wanted to have it. But first they needed to decide what to make of what happened. Haze was one of them… but also the reason they were alive.
Arguments went back and forth. He’s one of them, one of the enemy. Probably sent ahead as a spy. He’s the reason anyone is still alive. Warning the government might have saved more people. Warning the government could have gotten him locked up by the government and unable to help. If his people saw him turn traitor in a more drastic way, they would have intervened and the whole town would be dead. Then the argument that sealed the decision: without his help we could still die to the others.
The music vanished and a familiar voice spoke on the radio once more. It sounded… sad. Haze apologized again that he couldn’t do more. Apologized for hiding what he is from everyone. Explained that the rumors of his location were correct… He had been trying to make a shelter that his kind couldn’t access. He knew he couldn’t stop the others… their minds were set. But he wanted to help as many people as possible. He opened the gates to the military land. They were welcome to come… and he would not blame them if they chose to attack him.
Silence after the voice signed off and soft music played again. What he said made sense. One person cannot stop a hundred. But they can guard one small place.
Discussion followed instead of arguments. They already decided that without Haze they wouldn’t stand a chance. But there were still concerns. How to handle this… it wasn’t an easy matter. But it seemed it was time to meet Haze. The mystery radio host was a giant, and their only hope.
The taste of iron was still fresh on his lips as he came to consciousness. That was the first thing he noticed, but it was quickly replaced by the pain he felt coursing through his body. The soreness of the fight that had taken place. He didn't even know how long he had been laying here, presumed dead by those who raided his camp, pillaged their supplies, and killed their people.
His eyes blinked open as he let out a ragged cough, the taste of blood washing over his senses yet again. As he attempted to move, he realized most of his body was stuck under a heap of rubble atop him. Broken wood, heavy metal, and rocks kept him pinned to the floor. He had access to one arm, but there was only so much he could do with it, and he knew damn well his strength would run out eventually.
"Shit." He growled under his breath, his throat coarse. He needed water desperately, but it's not like he was in a position where he could exactly get himself that. He weakly pushed a larger rock off of him, but it did little to relieve the pressure keeping his person immobile.
That one simple task proved to take more of a toll on his body then he expected, sending him into a coughing fit, each cough reminding him that he was injured, each cough shooting pain through his entire body, each cough sending blood onto the rubble. As he finally regained his composure, he lay his head on the ground, looking up at the ceiling. Did he dare call for help? What if the people who raided found him? They'd just kill him anyway right?
"I-is anyone there?" He called out. Fuck it. Better to die trying than die doing nothing at all.
@walkitoffrogers sent: "Our luck had to run out sooner or later“.
Frustration got the best of her and she kicked the door they were locked in harshly, the blow shot through her whole leg. A group of human circled them and dragged them here, into this well guarded house with prison-like cells, a bloody metal table standing in the middle of the room with all sorts of cutting items. Hunters, of course. She thought (hoped). Sin couldn't help but panic at the thought of being locked up again and with people like them, she had a very bad feeling.
“I'm not dying here” she replied, stepping away from the door, looking for another way out. Anything, but the only window was on the other side of the metal door. “They're going to come back eventually.”
“I found you unconscious back there. What happened?” ( for the au )
[ Random starters: Fainting/unconscious edition ]
“I think I just had a bad reaction to what I ate last night... My stomach was killing me. I must’a blacked out.”
Richie looked a little confused himself, but he couldn’t guess what else it might’ve been. Expiration dates didn’t mean much of anything when almost anything you could come across was almost two years off a sell-by date. You had to smell it and trust your own judgement most of the time. Usually he checked with Bevvie first if he wasn’t sure, but thought this was fine.
Maybe it was that jar of pickles maybe pickled a bit wrong.
“You didn’t eat any of those pickles, did you? Usually they keep forever... Right?”
It was late when Jac got home. The house was dark and had been quiet and peaceful for probably hours. Even Blair was sound asleep, folded under a blanket on the couch, a cup of hot chocolate -- now empty -- still in her hand. Eventually, Jac would wake her, move them both to their room just for a few more hours of sleep. Sleep was hard to come by lately. Everyone was uneasy, tense, waiting up for the one thing that would be too much to finally hit. No one in the movies ever said that the world would change so slowly, that the end of what they knew would come at such a painful trickle. The world would end clenched in fists of power as they squeezed what was left out of it and no one slept well. Except for Blair, at least just for tonight. Jac didn’t think she’d be sleeping any time soon so she buzzed around her wife on the couch, quietly shuffling things around the living room, putting away Ryan’s school books, the running shoes she’d left by the door, a basket of Finley’s already folded laundry. She heard Blair stir immediately. Ryan called it her ‘momma tiger’ sixth sense. Jac called it paranoia, tightly wound worry that was as deep in her spine as it was in their current political climate. She lifted her head all the same, relaxed her shoulders, offered her wife a tired, four am smile. “Sorry,” Jac shrugged, “I was trying not to wake you.”
