Well..... It's been a whole minute, a couple minutes, very many minutes... Anyway, because I feel the need to give an excuse for my absence I'll give a quick run down, again, I have no intention on stopping to write.
- 4 separate power outages
- a tornado was right outside my house along with 3 or so storms
- Someone in my family died
- Someone was hit by a tree during a storm
- Sister almost got jumped, then broke up with her boyfriend, then got back together
- I stopped writing for so long I stopped, I still had several ideas, but I stopped physically writing
- Had another 'I'm not getting better' episode after reading my favorite authors book and comparing ours.
- Built a $1600 ish PC by myself and decided to wait till after I built it to upload, then grinded a bit of Valorant because I had a friend who has a PC (i'm a console Main but want to learn, currently Bronze 1 after not playing for over a year)
- Had to give several people who are older then me, some of which are 10+ years older, life advice
- Was questioned by people who are 30+ years older than me about my life choices despite the fact that their lifes are a mess and mine is going pretty okay
- Just tired and eepy from working (job gave me the 4th, Thursday off, but not the 5th, friday. EVERY single other factory was closed and there was like 6 of us there.
I also started to stream with my shitty mic and gameplay, playing the E-Dating sim itself, Valorant as a new PC player.
Final thing before I let you go, my writing schedule, how I wanna write, etc is just now what I want it to be, I'm learning and always trying to get better, so forcing myself to do too much isn't good, I need to learn to work at my own pace while still doing it. For those having a problem with the constant changes, sorry, but it's my own choices and it's life, womp womp.
Anyway, from this point onwards, it's a chapter I wrote a while ago but never uploaded to make sure I was prepared to come back.
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For those who've actually read Vigilantes, this is taking place earlier than in canon, the original Sky Egg taking place in about December.
I'm posting this on July 15th, 11:07 PM, if I die, please delete my files on my pc, phone, and everything else 🙏.
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The blazing heat flowed throughout the air. The light reflecting off of the rippling water from a puddle, steam rising from it. Children ran and yelled as the dulled and muffled sound of music followed them. Tapestries, pieces of paper with the same printed on it, and different snacks laid about.
All of these are happening under a building that surpasses skyscrapers. The tower like base leads off into a giant dome, the Sky Egg, a famous contraption made after the destruction of the Tokyo Dome and Skytree.
Following the Origin Era of quirked users, several wars and skirmishes occurred throughout the world. Many solely internal: a couple across seas. Proceeding the first hero institute, created in Rhode Island with the "Rhode Island New State Statute," 7 out of the 187 Vigilantes became heroes, causing these wars to rise and then simmer.
(I'm going back to numbers, am lazy :p)
Because of the decision to make heroes a reality and granting them sanction to operate in certain legal boundaries, we have events like today. Captain Celebrity's return to America. With his time here now done and his plane fueled, Japan offered him one final send-off.
Final signatures, last laughs, fancy drinks, and couple gift as well. These last blessed moments were all they wanted to cherish. A moment of peace and happiness, a moment of ignorance and bliss to this life.
They even invited other heroes. The famous threaded hero, Best Jeanist, showing up, throwing out as many quips about strings as he can. Two rising star female heroes of Mirko and Ryukyu showing up. Mirko being as smiley as always, simply enjoying the present, and Ryukyu dealing with her antics. These were specifically objects of attraction, Mirko's almost silvery hair and Ryukyus lightly scaled body.
Heroes from all over Japan came to for this final send-off. Deatharms, the Wild Wild Pussycats, Midnight. Simply a night for all those there to enjoy themselves, excluding two.
"How long will we be out here?" Neo questioned. He was supposed to be briefed by Nagant, but she'd been quiet, excluding a couple of small comments.
"Till we're told to stop or something happens." She kept her words constricted. She hadn't even spared him a glance.
The two were laying on the highest building the area, excluding the Sky Egg itself. Though they couldn't quite see the top, they got a good birds eyes view of the area. Nagant herself laying with her rifle out.
From what he gathered, their job was to watch and observe. While he helped in that objective, it was only in brief glances. He couldn't see like she could, nor was he given an item to do so. So he waited, ready with his quirk to move them if needed. If a problem arose, he'd be the ride.
He was simply to observe and support, or at least he'd assumed so. He preferred it this way. His body still shook a bit whenever he remembered Stendhall's bloodlust, his first time being in a high stress situation. He doubted he'd ever forget it.
The two watched, seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, at least it felt like it. Neo himself glanced at his arm-pad. It'd only been 3 hours, a dimly lit blanket now draped over the sky. He went back to idling, his mind stuck on one question.
...
...
"Did something happen?" It only took him another quarter hour to break. Nagant was one of the few people he could trust, one of the few he could relate to. He didn't want to lose that.
"No." Nagant knew what he was talking about. She'd known since they first encountered each other again. Noticing the way he acted, shifted around, waiting for her to say something, to lengthen her responses, he was grasping for something. It reminded her of a lost puppy, and as much as she disliked the hurt feeling she felt subconsciously, she still had doubts in her thoughts.
After her interaction with the Director, she couldn't help but ruminate about it. It was almost digging itself into her psyche. She was smart enough to realize the development of self-invented doubt. Whether a part of her questioned if that was simply an excuse or not, she still decided to keep her distance.
It was safer that way. She couldn't risk the chance of conditioning herself to 'getting used to that thought'. Following along the ideology of being exposed to something makes it easier. Regardless, for her health and for his, she would try to keep her distance.
"Then..." He halted. Although he was 'close' to her, she was still his superior. He wasn't allowed to speak freely, openly, or so casually to his superiors.
Sure, he and Goda spoke on even terms on occasion, but that was different. They worked together, shared ideas, and they invented fragile and important tech. The two of them couldn't restrain themselves to power-held positions and operate as normal. So exceptions were made for those situations.
His gaze fell, stating at the floor in contemplation before reaching an 'answer'. "Then why do you keep looking at me like that? Why... why speak to me like everyone else does?"
They always kept their gazes distant, withdrawn from human emotion. No, not withdrawn from it. They just held none towards him. Their words were no different: short and concise.
Nagant didn't move, her right eye still looking down the scope. She took a deep breath, her lungs emptying once again. "Things... They're not that simple."
"Why not!" The roar in his voice made her freeze. Finally, she looked at him.
He wasn't one to show much emotion, not by choice, but from lack of experience and understanding with them. But I was different now. She'd forgotten. She wasn't the only one shaken right now.
He wasn't one to realize they'd been traumatized, only assuming it's remnant emotions from his encounter with Stendhall. But he was, he faced a person who had killed several individuals, he'd been treated like a tool constantly, and he'd was taught to not think for himself. Hell, he was self-destructive. No normal person rips their own teeth out last time she checked.
He was like a brittle glass reinforced with steel. You may not dent the steel, but the internal glass will break easily if you hit it right. He was tensured enough as is, even rubber snaps.
(I believe tensure is used right: the act of straining or stretching something out)
"It's just- !" Nagants gaze snaps towards her guns barrel, something felt wrong. If there was one thing she truly trusted, it was her senses, and she was feeling danger.
Her eyes met the metallic cylinder, her body rolling as a bang pierces the wind, an explosion following it. A thick ashen smoke covers the cracked roof.
Nagant quickly rebalances herself, grabbing her burnt left arm. Scratches across her face except for an arm thick line across her chest, her shirt damaged and ripped, though mostly intact. She's quick to look for Neo, the thought to be a suicide bomber now gone.
'They targeted me first, probably a coordinated attack. The heroes should've heard-' Nagant stops in her tracks, the smoke clearing as a tall, almost humanoid, figure looms nearby. Their body regenerating.
'A suicide bomber based quirk? Does it also grant self regeneration? But what about their odd appearance?' The tall figure takes a step forward, it's eye less face 'staring' at her, it's bat like wings stretching out as it's puffy enlarged teeth clatter.
Developing from its stomach and orange glow takes her attention, quickly jumping back, Nagant fires another shot. The armor-piercing molded round, causing another explosion.
Preparing another shot looks around, finding Neo thankfully only lightly damaged near a ventilation shaft. Attempting another shot, it's punched out of mid-air. This time, she was unable to reload fast enough, Nagants weapon denting as she flies back.
Slamming into the exit leading downstairs, the doors crumple, a glow around them. Nagants body slowly drops to the floor, red trickling down her lips as she attempts to ready another shot. Having a harder time as her warped barrel is 'relocated' through forceful means.
Back on the roof, Neo lowered his left hand. The creature now set on him, a low growl escaping from its throat. 'I barely protected her. This thing, is it go-'. Before he can finish his thoughts, the creatures blitz towards him, its wings blowing dust around.
Before it can reach him, a ventilation shaft slams into its head, the following explosion being blocked by its now destroyed metal body. Neo is quick to stumble back, having reacted on instinct. His constantly expanding chest and beating blood making it hard to think.
The creature gives him no time to think, tearing the ventilation shaft away as a fist uppercuts him, two glows intertwining as he thrown away. Blood seeps from his mouth as he falls to the floor, blood pooling around his head.
He wasn't given time to react, neither of them were. If he'd just kept quiet, would she have noticed it quicker? If he'd done as he was told, would this problem have occurred?
Only- only if he'd listened and trained harder.
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