In reply to GM (msg # 31)

"Still not feeling okay then? Are you alright ever since the hospital you haven't really been yourself. At least not as talkative or interested in new things. Everything alright, Buddy? We're still alive and hey we were heroes! That's gotta get you somewhat happy, right?"

Jaylen looked at the phenomenon of Reggie's and felt that creeping unease about what he saw inside. He needs some sleep and that drink. Hopefully whoever that woman was is willing to share. This town has never felt more alien than tonight.

Before Jaylen could continue he heard the question behind him. He turned and saw that one. The one who appeared inhuman even when juxtaposed to whatever form Reggie took on. He looked normal now without the visor on so maybe it was just a trick of the smoke, maybe. "Uh, yea he's kind of hard-ass not really the best person around to associate yourself with. Uh sorry my name's Jaylen" As Jaylen extended an uneasy hand over to them.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:00, Thu 09 Mar 2023.

Will laughs a little bit. "Yeah, hard ass sounds about right. I'm Will, nice to meet ya." He takes his hand with a firm shake. He also takes in Jaylens appearance for the first time. The hoodie and dusty blue jeans gives him the impression that this guy is pretty chill. After his "talk" with Reggie, he needed chill. Will does notice what appears to see some burn holes in Jaylens clothes, though he makes no mention of it.

"Thanks for your help back there, by the way. Not many would approach a cat-eyed demon bartender to save some strangers skin."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:54, Thu 09 Mar 2023.

In reply to William Hurst (msg # 36):

Jaylen noticed the look down Will gave him. The scorch marks on Jaylen's hoodie sure didn't help him not look like some meth'd up stoner out to harass bar goers. However, he could've tried better at at least appearing presentable.

Jaylen returned the firm handshake and looked rather intently at William. He seemed positively human. His face had no trace of the alien features he saw earlier with the visor on. Maybe it was some trick of the mist, but Jaylen couldn't be sure. For now he should focus on his own problems right now like getting something to drink and some sleep.

"It was no problem. I just like to be a hero when I can. Crazy day, huh? First the sudden attacks and now we get to find out the resident dive bar is run by a monster. Long day and still no drink in my hand" Jaylen then pointing at the woman who, in the confusion, took a bottle of some liquid courage. "I was gonna see if she was willing to share"

"Nice to see all hero's aren't d-bags," Will says to Jaylen. He thinks back to seeing Paragon after the fight with Bulwark. That fucking smile that was on his face still makes Wills blood boil.

"But you're right, today was wild." Will then recoils for a second. "Wait, did you say attacks? Were there more freaks rampaging than just the giant armored guy?" The mention of multiple attacks throws Will off guard. He only saw Bulwark and, if he and these other attacks are all related, Wills hunch about there being something more going on sounds spot on.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Sat 11 Mar 2023.

The voice buzzes to life in Jaylen's head, This one is dangerous. We should eliminate him quickly to avoid any serious harm.You feel the implant on your back vibrate and begin shifting to deploy.

"Woah, woah, woah bud we just met him and I'm not really the best judge of character, but he hasn't given any red flags. Are you sure?"

As Jaylen seems to adjust his back uncomfortably and steps away from William. Jaylen flex's his back and every muscle down his arm to keep the artificial muscle from forming over and under his skin. "R-right you can't really bet on these bigshots too much anymore..." Jaylen lets out a slight grunt due to the pressure.

"Regardless of what you want me to do we aren't doing this NOW too many people, too many eyes. Let's try to question him somewhere secluded"

"H-hey yea I was sort of in the middle of one of the attacks. Guy who was able to scorch people to ash just by being near him. It was insane to just watch. I do remember seeing some armored guy appear suddenly..."

"Oh, this is the first time I'm hearing about some fire guy," Will says to Jaylen. He gives him a look over again. The burn holes make a lot more sense now. Then he hears what he thinks is a grunt come from him and he sees this look of extreme effort on his face, like he's holding something in. Will is confused for a second but he thinks he put it together.

"Well, it's been nice talking to you, my man, but it looks like you need to take a massive shit so I'll let you go. Plus my car's been running this entire time so I gotta see to that." He points to a muscle car that looks like it hasn't see the outside of a garage in 60 years.  Will shoots Jaylen some finger guns. "See ya around and hopefully you get that drink you've been looking for!"

Will walks back towards his car and, when he gets to the driver side door, he stops to take one long look at Reggies. He can see the completely normal scene through the windows but now he knows that this place is anything but normal. "He called me 'Agarthan,'" Will thinks. He mouths the word quietly to himself, feeling the enunciation. Was this shitty bar with its demon bartender the firs step into finding out who he really is?

He gets back in his car and drives home.

[Moving to Hurst Family Farm]

"R-right...yea" Jaylen watched in slight disbelief of how just nonchalant this guy was about things. Weird, but friendly and pretty gullible.

William went back to his pretty old, but well running car and peel off to wherever he lives. As he saw the taillights cross the horizon and finally let go of the pressure building in his back. With an exasperated sigh he falls to the ground feeling his legs lose feeling in them again.
"What the fuck was that?! You've never outright called someone dangerous before! You have definitely never tried to rob control before! what is going on with you!?" Jaylen wills himself over to curb of the street and into an alley way near to Reggie's. It isn't anywhere near to a soft bed and is surely worse than a booth even at Reggie's, but it'll have to do. Jaylen pulls himself up against the brick wall and resting his head against the cold stone he can finally feel the exhaustion take hold. "Don't try that again. We can't just attack someone off some assumption, even if they might not be human. We're heroes dammit" Jaylen shuts his eyes and begins to doze off to a less comfortable, but deserved sleep

Evening soon becomes twilight but before full night falls Jeanne hears the sound of something small scuttling towards her as an impish creature approaches her. The thing looks like a mix between a beared dragon, a gerbil, and a butterfly. Its wings flutter uselessly as if holds out a slip of paper to Jeanne. The small black text presents the price of the stolen bottle of liquor and a coupon for her next visit.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:02, Fri 17 Mar 2023.

Jeanne watched as the two men exited and exchanged words before parting ways, she had heard one mention the burning man from earlier on in the day and her eyes narrowed and focused on him watching as he stalked off. She would go after him in the alley soon but for now the bottle of booze and the cigarettes were her only friends and she was enjoying them to the fullest. However, when time slipped away and night rolled in she found she was confronted by a very strange creature who handed her bill. “Gods damn it.” She said drunkenly before pulling a wad of cash from her bag and handing the creature a hundred before stuffing the cash, the coupon, and the bottle into her bag. “That’ll do gremlin that’ll do.” She mumbled in a poor accent as she stumbled to her feet and proceeded to the alley wher the man had walked into.


Surprisingly it didn’t take her long to find him, she was surprised, as she thought she may have had to track him down. But no here he was fully asleep, I’m the side ally. “Ok showtime” she whispered before pulling all darkness into the alley, weaving a tapestry of infinite darkness the bubble encompassing the alley swallowing all light. “Wake up!” She shouted to the sleeping man as a tendril formed in the void giving him a light slap.

In reply to Jeanne Sextus (msg # 45):

Just before the sleep finally took Jaylen off he was awoken by a slap. Eyes blasting open he worryingly stumbled awake and got into a sloppy defensive stance. It took a second, but he could barely notice that everything was dark. Not simple street alleyway dark, but near pitch black. He looked at the slender figure seeming to be made of pure darkness. "Woah, woah hold on! I don't want any trouble. Just some shut eye" he stated. Good thing he didn't get that drink after all or he'd have ruined some of his last clothes.

The haze of exhaustion cleared somewhat and he started to get a slightly better picture of the situation. He was still in the alleyway given how the floor felt when he was awoken. So he wasn't moved. Wait, did this person sound familiar?

“Please calm yourself, I won’t hurt you unless you give me reason to.” She said calmly focusing on her words, it was only now that it dawned on her she probably shouldn’t be doing this while drunk. “I heard you speaking with the man from the bar earlier, you mentioned a burning man. What do you know?” It was at this point she finished weaving the darkness the two now stood what would appear to be a void she could feel him in her darkness like a spider feels a fly in the web but he should be completely blinded.

In reply to Jeanne Sextus (msg # 47):

As he tried to manage any more familiarity suddenly it was pure darkness. "fuck" he tried his best to keep up his facade of defense. Where were they to overhear him and William talking? Nevertheless he was at every disadvantage he could be at in the moment. So, he talked. "All I know is the psychopath hid his face before he suddenly panicked and attacked innocent people". Jaylen swallowed hard at remembering those that died from his failure to track and spoke, "Right at that moment he incinerated several people. Killed them almost instantly..." Jaylen couldn't hide his feelings of shame. "Who are you? Do you also work with that freak and the armored bastards who also attacked?"

She was silent for a moment, “No I’m not affiliated with them, but I do have a bone to pick with the pyro. What happened to him, and how were you involved?” She asked calmly

In reply to Jeanne Sextus (msg # 49):

Jaylen truly couldn't outright trust this person, but the enemy of my enemy I guess. Jaylen perked his head up some. "I'm not a 100% sure on what happened afterwards. All I heard were the screams of people trying to evacuate and then suddenly someone in some weird get-up tried to control the situation and evacuate others. Then they started fighting" Jaylen didn't know how much he should reveal, but he'll have to keep his face up and just tell as much as he could.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:48, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

“He had to have been somewhere in the crowd” she thought “Were they a member of the guardians?”

In reply to Jeanne Sextus (msg # 51):

"Not one that I've seen before, but honestly I didn't see any of the guardians during the whole ordeal! Like it wasn't up to their paygrade apparently, fuckin' chumps" Jaylen did remember that key detail. Not a flash of any of the Guardians the whole time. Where were they during this kind of attack?

"Oh, I did remember seeing someone else dip into the fight as well! Someone appearing through the crowd and landing a few good hits before suddenly disappearing" Jaylen did hope to see that person again, but I guess being a vigilante like himself didn't make that easy
This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Thu 16 Mar 2023.

A smile crossed her mouth for a moment as it seemed they have a similar opinion to the guardians. “How did you manage to escape?”

In reply to Jeanne Sextus (msg # 53):

"I was far enough away from the crowd before the attack to get away in time. I was able to get a better vantage point, but I didn't stay very long. I knew it might get worse" Jaylen couldn't toot his own horn too much, but in all fairness he did a damn good job taking the guy on. "What do you plan to do with any of this information? I mean I would try to hunt down the guy who fought the maniac off"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:40, Thu 30 Mar 2023.

Jeanne watches him for a moment, "sounds like you were lucky. Even being at a distance, considering," her eyes dart to the wheelchair. "Whoever he was, I'm sure we'll see more of him, don't you think?"

In reply to Jeanne Sextus (msg # 55):

Jaylen relaxed a bit, "We'd be lucky too. Whomever it is they seem like a real hero to me..." As Jaylen rubbed his unfeeling and useless legs.

He stayed silent for a moment before finally asking, "Where do you think the Guardians were? Like, why didn't any of them show?"

She relaxed, crossing her arms.

"Do you still think the Guardians actually care about what happens to normal people? How many times have you seen news story of any of them doing their jobs? Meanwhile, a new statue or awards ceremony pops up every other week. They aren't heroes, they're frauds."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Tue 18 July 2023.

Jaylen gripped his legs tighter.

"...their inaction is part to blame for my current state. I gave up on them pretty soon after what happened to me" he sighed "I know they aren't real heroes, but there are people still trying to be something better than them now"

Jaylen piped up some, "there can be heroes we can count on!" He recognized the joy in his tone and settled some. Then again realizing how bizarre this whole situation is. Who was this person? What was their goal in the end?

Jeanne smirked before turning to walk away, "Maybe you're right, but if you're looking for some like-minded people," something slithered out of a nearby shadow. It was almost serpentine ut entirely void of light. As the tendril reached Jaylen it evaporated, leaving a business card laying on the ground.

Noticing the card, Jaylen realized Jeanne was no longer with him, seemingly disappearing into thin air.

Jaylen now mostly alone again reached for the card. Puzzled and exhausted he slunk into his wheelchair and began slowly lulling to sleep again. It's been a full day of questions and more questions rearing as the night went on.

It was too much for now, but tomorrow will come. Hopefully, with some answers.