Legendary Emerald

Lol, I liked your post. You hit the rational reaction to Serah's jackassery right on the head: not condoning, but at least understanding. Hey, look at the time everyone! It's past 12:00am! Let the flood of posts commence! And by that I mean YOU should all start posting... give me a little bit longer to rest.

The cult ended up not being useful for the first Shifted like I thought it would be. I originally didn't want to bring them back for this Shifted since I didn't want to be treading old territory. However, I found a need for it this time when I examined the character arc I'm planning for Serah. I watch a video series on proper roleplaying techniques, and one of the most important is to make sure all characters are properly invested in the stakes. I'm just taking the steps necessary so that Serah won't just be following the others blindly after a certain point.

DAMN IT, I WANT IT TO BE GOOD, OKAY?! ALL CAPS BECAUSE RAWR! ... Okay, it's posted. Go have fun readin' 7k+ words, kiddies. No, a "tl;dr" version will not be provided. Also, huge points to whoever gets what place is stolen from referenced in my post.

“What now...” Serah sighed, and glanced over at the pony approaching her. A particularly angry pony, with a glowing horn. “... shit.” The unicorn continued on and on, but Serah had a hard time concentrating on his words when the light from his horn was grew to an almost blinding brightness. “No time to form a counter attack...!” she thought, alarmed. Still, she did not back down or let on that she was becoming increasingly intimidated. “God damn these unicorns and their magic tantrums!” Serah's eyes went wide as she felt a sudden impact in her chest, and saw trail of green motes of light lazy trailing between her from the unicorn's horn. The blast had gone so fast she couldn't even see it. All of a sudden she felt very hollow and empty inside. And then reality blinked out of existance. - - - It was pitch black. She was falling. Her limbs pinwheeled in the air uselessly. She couldn't feel any air rushing past her, and there were no surroundings from which to gauge her velocity. The only indication that she was air born was the lack of solid ground under her feet and a lump inside her chest which threatened to explode out her muzzle at any second. After what seemed an eternity, the space beneath her lit up: two parallel beams of green light that extended out and disappeared over the horizon. Serah's descent slowed radically, and she touched down between the beams, the space inside of them supporting her. She held her head in her palm. “One too many reality jumps...” she groaned, holding her head in her palm. She quirked an eyebrow. Her hand traced her forehead, looking for something that wasn't there. “My...?” Suddenly, the area sprung to life with neon light. Buildings of various shapes and sizes were outlined in vibrant reds, yellows, greens, and blues. Nothing appeared solid, only formed by the colorful streaks of light. It was almost as if the entire realm was composed of vector graphics, with the blackness serving as an intimidating backdrop that leaked through everything. Serah floated her hand over the green light band that marked the road, illuminating five digits and a palm. She felt her body and found she was wearing a familiar pair of of clothes: a grass stained pair of blue jeans, and a mottled brown jacket over a black t-shirt. Her hair remained pink. “The more things change, the more they stay the same...” She stood up warily and began to walk forward on the straight path laid out in front of her, having nowhere else to go. Curiously, while buildings were numerous to her left and right, she couldn't see anything up ahead until she neared it. For all Serah knew, the path continued on forever. After walking for several minutes, she noticed a solid figure in the distance, to her left. It appeared to be human. When she got closer, she could see it was a disheveled man in a business suit, checking his watch and muttering to himself. “Numbers? Is that you?” Serah asked. “Wait, why did I just...?” “Hey! Parking meters!” the man suddenly shouted, staring deep into Serah's eyes with a wild expression. “And you're walking around! Ha ha ha... That's so funny.” The man doubled over in a fit of laugher. Serah felt a sudden urge to get as far away from this person as quickly as possible. She turned and ran off down the road, the man's laughter still echoing in the empty space. When she felt she'd left the laughing man far enough behind, Serah slowed back down to a walk and caught her breath. Unfortunately, another human form sat on the ground up ahead. There was nowhere else to go but forward. This time, Serah couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. The stranger sported 3 o' clock shadow and rosy red cheeks, hair dyed blue and body covered in a tight, form fitting gray jogging suit. “Ice Storm?” Serah's asked. “How do I know...?” “My bones.” the person began to quiver. “My bone's bones. Bone bone bone.” 'Ice Storm' began to violently convulse on the ground, droning on and on about bones as his/her body was wracked with pain. Serah stood by, visibly worried, but unable to do anything. Just then, a pony materialized out of nothing: Aurora. She knelt by the shivering figure, and laid a hoof on the suffering figure's head. Then she turned her head and looked past Serah, towards some unidentified point in the distance. “If you stay here too long, you'll end up frying your brain.” she intoned. As soon as the words left her muzzle, both she and the human dissipated into tiny particles of light, which scattered throughout the void and into nothingness. “No. No, I want back.” Serah spoke to herself in the darkness, hands shaking. “I want to go back!” Everything went dark, as if a light switch had been flicked. And when the light returned, it was all focused on one spot: a large, cathedral style building formed from fluorescent beams of red and green light. It looked oddly familiar. “No...” There was a flash of sparks near the top of the cathedral, and a yellow cross sprung to life. “No!” Another flash; two pairs of blue insectile wings sprung out from the cross. “No, not here!” A bell tolled, and the doors to the church opened up. Numerous red robed figures, formed from the same vector graphics that made up the rest of the world, slowly trudged towards her. “Welcome back...” “No, not back here!” Serah verbally answered the voice that was invading her mind. “This isn't what I want!” “Don't disappoint your father...” “To hell with my father!” she screamed. Acting on instinct, she punched the air in front of her as she had done when facing the wolves; nothing happened. “You are nothing more than yourself...” “I am so much more than...” Serah's sentence trailed off. “A sinful little girl...” “Fuck your morality!” she cursed, backing away. The robed figures drew nearer. “Let us lead you... form you... protect you...” “Leave me alone!” she screamed, desperately. “Please... don't disappoint... your family any more...” The lead figure reached up, pulling back his hood. From underneath, two bright blue eyes shone out. Then the cloak fell away entirely, melding into the form of a demon, just like the ones who'd burst from the forest, The other robed acolytes underwent the same transformation, and began to hiss and screech as they bared their vampiric teeth. Serah fled. She ran in the opposite direction, not daring to look back. Her footsteps made no noise, and all she could hear was the humming of wings chasing after her. There were no buildings, no landmarks, no street to tell her that she was actually going anywhere. But even nowhere was better than going back. Suddenly, felt herself collide something large and hard. She stood back up, ignoring the pain, and felt in front of her; a solid surface was definitely there, but she couldn't see it. Hissing. Humming. They were getting closer. Serah pressed her hands to the wall, and ran alongside it. Eventually she bumped into another surface. She felt between the two, and found an open space. She squeezed herself inside, ending up in an extremely tight alleyway. After a few tense moments, she heard the sounds of the demons trail off into the distance. “Lost them...” she panted. “Where am I? What was that place? Why was it so familiar?” Serah pounded her fist against whatever surface lay in front of her. “What does my family have to do with this? Why are the demons here?” “Who the hell am I?!” The surface lite up like a billboard, and she backed away. Numerous points of light came to life, small dots popping into existence one after another, forming a message: I'm Anastos Celosia. “My... name? My full name?” The message disappeared. And soon, so did the entire world. - - - She gasped. Serah opened her eyes, and found herself back in the pony world. She did a quick inventory check; horn, hooves, tail, all accounted for. She found herself staring back at the unicorn who'd teleported her. He had a deservedly horrified expression on his face. “Oh, if he's scared now...” Serah wanted to feel anger. Wanted to threaten the same pain upon this pony as she'd threatened on his girlfriend. Wanted him to experience his own hell, and then ask him how it compared to hers. However, she could feel none of the emotions she wanted to feel. Almost all emotion had been drained from her body. And when she opened her mouth to speak, it was in a lifeless monotone. “Do not. Do that to me. Ever again.” Serah warned, barely managing to eek out any semblance of her usual threatening tone. She paused, taking a deep breath. “I'm going to explain this to you. To all of you. Just. One. Time.” Serah took a moment to make sure everyone would have a chance to hear what she had to say. “You're 'girlfriend' is strong. That's why I did what I felt I had to do.” Serah explained. “I could feel the heat leaking off of her. I'm tuned to it, because I feel the same fire inside of myself. But she didn't even notice she was going nuclear.” “She flew into a rage, and her magic followed suit; if her inability to control her power didn't cause her anger in the first place. The first time she used her magic, she hurt herself, called out the legions of hell, and could have killed all of us. Why, I ask, should I have given her the chance to try again?” Serah asked, voice picking up strength. She didn't wait for an answer. “If you want to run off after her, try to 'defuse' her, go ahead. But if nothing else, understand this: until she has a lock on her power, she cannot allowed near anyone who values their life.” she concluded. “Call me selfish if you want. But I'm the one looking out for the safety of the majority.”

Hnnnng, I want to post again so bad. Why must the RP be inactive during the day, and explode during the night? CURSE MY TIME ZONE! *RP, Forum closes*

Heh, I actually started writing a post to replace my goof, but since it's been moved now, I'll just save the dialogue I'd written for later. I know something big is going to be happening to my character soon because of a PM I received, so I'd rather not post until that happens anyways. Also, Aureity... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-T4g86KkNg Edit: Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELECTRO! Just a warning, my next post is going to be pretty long. I just wrote three pages of it, and I can guarantee there will be at least one more page before it's done. I just need to wait until a specific someone makes their post first, so I can finish my post.

FFFFFF- I was wondering why the minimum word count was 200 instead of 100. Let me just, uh... *runs to edit post before anyone else sees my shame*

Looks who's jumping aboard the bandwagon! Serah's Journal - Day 1 Serah's inner monologue already reminds me of Rorschach, so I thought it wouldn't be too hard to write journal entries for her. Was kind of fun, but reminded me of just how much stuff has already happened in this RP. Probably missed a few things worth noting in it.

Woke up on damp grass. Different from cold hard ground. Not used to it. Knew something was up. Had been relocated. New bright world full of colorful horses; myself included. Suspected drugs at first. Can't completely rule them out, but becoming less likely. Experience too real for any simple trip or dream. After initial confusion, stopped to think about situation. Observed other ponies. Most or all previously humans. None of us remember our true names. Talk of a green crack they all saw. Similar to green light in my memory. Here by accident, or for a reason? Possible leads: Princess Celestia, ruler of the land. Lives in "Canterlot". Long trip. Could provide answer. Or the zebra lady. Lives in "Everfree Forest". Nearby, but have to take a dangerous path. Thought little of danger. Wanted answers immediately. Far from peaceful place. Tan pony summoned horde of demons from the forest. Didn't know why at first. Likely to have been an accident. Ponies scattered, some going into forest. Followed after them. Didn't care for their safety. Hoped to encounter a demon. Needed a fight to get blood pumping. Turns out more than blood pumps through me. Discovered ability to shoot fire, and encase myself in it. Rotted tree first to feel my wrath. Left me half drained when actual enemies arrived. Not demons; wolves made of tree bark. Burn real good. Pony named Numbers provided support. Able bodied pony. Highly reasoned. Laughs too much though; possible maniac. Has no use of magic though, so shouldn't be a problem. Was outnumbered after killing the wolf pups. Ran to find other ponies in woods. Lead danger straight to them, not thinking of consequences. Foolish of me, but worked for best. Many unlocked their magic potential in the fight. No casualties on our side. Realized can't do this on my own. Fire only burns for so long. Need to surround self with other strong ponies. They aren't making it easy, though. After returning from forest, Ice Storm confronted archer pony. Pointless argument. Ice Storm clearly an idealist, and archer suffering from dementia. Could have ended peacefully, but then wild card showed up again. That tan pony. Ran up and began to bitch about Storm's bitching. Hypocrite. Worse, tan pony can't control her magic. Felt it swelling inside her as she yelled. Remembered last time she lost control of magic. Realize how dangerous she truly was. Ticking time bomb. Frost began to cover the ground; Storm must have been thinking the same as me. Set my hands hooves on fire. Warned wild card to back off. Not good with words; only upset her more. She summoned a dragon-like creature, but it disappeared as soon as it came. Lucky. Doubt my flames could counteract a beast that looks to be made out of fire. Wild card ran off afterwards. Seem to be only one who realizes this is a good thing. Ponies try to call me out for my actions. Never let me explain, though. Usually wouldn't care what others think of me, but the ponies seem to be splitting into two camps now. Divided, stand less of a chance of getting back to Earth. Those foolishly following wild card doom themselves, if not all of us. Need to rest. Decide on course of action. ~ Serah

Well I'd like to react, but your character didn't wait for a response. You just started talking to someone else immediately after saying your piece. If you didn't want an answer, that's fine. But if you wanted one, leave me a space of time where I can do so. I'm not like some of the other people in this RP; I don't like skipping around in time just to hold a conversation. It's confusing and makes no sense to me.

Yay, posted again! Glad to see Serah's fears about Artsy and her uncontrollable magic weren't unfounded. Klopp didn't give me a chance to defend Serah's actions, but then again, I doubt she'd care what "a pony who needs to wear a fedora to feel like a man" thinks about her. It seems the group might start splitting off into two now, with some going off to follow Artsy and her "supporters". Will be interesting to see how things progress from here.

“What I was afraid of.” As soon as the creature manifested itself in front of her, Serah jumped back and unleashed twin jets of fire from her hooves at her the figure made of red light. The beast dissipated right before the flames could strike it, passing through the air harmlessly. For the first time, Serah was actually worried. Luckily for all of them, Artsy stormed off after throwing her fit. “Go after her, put her down before the next time she lashes out?” Serah wondered to herself, panting slightly. “No. Let her take herself far away. Can't hinder us if she isn't here. No need for bloodshed.” Serah sat through the tirade with an unamused expression, not bothering to point out the numerous ways the fedora wearing pony had misread the situation. The pony left without waiting for an answer; a good idea, since Serah didn't feel like giving one at the moment. Numbers chose that moment to walk up to Ice Storm and address her. Serah nodded along with what Numbers had said about the group not being 'friends'. If there had been any part of Artsy's tirad she'd agreed with, that had been it. “Allies. Nothing more. Still work for myself. Just need a strong group to succeed. Wolves proved this place more dangerous than expected. Especially for a world based on a... TV show?”

Also, I should point out that the reason Serah is standing by Ice Storm on this one, as opposed to just trying to set both of them on fire, is because Ice Storm at least proved herself somewhat useful in combat earlier. Even though Serah dislikes being around others, she can at least realize that the group needs to cooperate. Right now, she sees Artsy as a weak link that might leave them all hurtling into the abyss. If Artsy can't be corralled, she can at least be disposed of, so the chain can be reforged before it's next test. Also, GOONAIT!

Posted. And no, Serah did not calm things down. Not that anyone would have expected her too. I really should get to sleep in a few minutes, though. So if this results to blows, you might have to wait awhile for my character to throw a punch/dodge a spell.

A lot transpired after Serah nodded her head; nothing which got any of them closer to their goal of finding a safe place to rest. The armed pony had turned out to be not as native as Serah had though, and was now having some sort of panic attack. Then the tan pony decided it was her place to chastise Ice Storm for the way she had spoken to the armed one. “Rage without reason is useless. Don't like situation anymore than her, but don't have time to... is she heating up?” Sure enough, Serah began to feel heat coming off of Artsy's body, emanating from the tan pony's very core. It wasn't altogether to different than the feeling Serah had felt while using her own magic, which might have been why she noticed it. “That's right. She was the first to unlock magic, and then hell broke loose. Dangerous, to herself . To all of us.” Ice Storm began to defend herself against the verbal tirade, while Serah began to concentrate on her own body temperature. She called upon her inner fire and directed it towards her forelimbs, feeling them warm up. By the end of Storm's rebuttal, the ground was frozen where Ice Storm stood. Serah nodded, an let loose the heat she'd stored, setting her hooves aflame. She held them at her sides, like a wild west gunman prepared to reach for his weapon. “Holding onto humanity is one thing. Holding us back is another.” Serah warned darkly. “You threaten any hope we have of returning to normal. Stop bitching. Control your magic. Fight with us, or you can be god-damned sure I'll fight against you. 'Friend.'” Serah spat out the last word, since it seemed to be that word which set the tan pony off in the first place.

Damn this time period! All the rest of the day, no one posts. But as soon as it nears when I want to go to bed, hell breaks loose. And this time, I want to actually participate. But people keep posting in front of me! AAAA- *Legendary Emerald has died. RIP.*

Sheesh, am I going to make it a habit to post ten minutes before I need to leave for class now? Had a little bit of catching up to do, so I basically just wrote a couple of Serah's reactions to what is going on now. Didn't open her mouth this time, which saves me trouble.

Serah heard a groan from behind her, and turned to see Numbers struggle to stand back up. He addressed the pony who had confronted Serah upon exiting the forest. Serah rolled her eyes at the “friend” comment, but held her tongue. “Don't care what these ponies think of me. Do what needs to be done.” The pony who'd just introduced himself wasn't familiar to Serah, but she decided to save her questions for later. The pony next to him was much more interesting; this one was armed, looking for all the world as if he'd just stepped out of a fantasy novel. “Shall? Thou?” Serah cocked an eyebrow. “Perhaps the normal dialect in this world. Unpleasant. Won't be adopting it.” The pony known as Electrobolt voiced his assent to the armed pony's statement, and Serah found herself nodding in agreement. “Had my fun for the day. Now just let myself be dragged along.”

Not too bad. The eyes seem a tiny bit misaligned, though. And there's quite a bit wrong with the body and proportions, but I know how difficult that is. Aww, you're wittle head hurts? JK; I switched it to a non-animated version now. I always wanted a static version of it anyways, so I just screenshot it and cropped.

Give it up for early morning posting! I am in no condition to be operating a keyboard now, I apologize. Zzzzz.... oh, crap. Class in 30 minutes.

Serah exited the forest without much flourish, Number still laying unconscious across her. The ponies who'd decided to stay behind while the others ventured off into the forest all seemed to be pretty busy talking to one another, and didn't immediately notice their reappearance. “Typical. Far be if from them to do anything. Ever.” However, her return had not gone completely unnoticed, it seemed. “Why don't you go find out?” Serah asked coolly. “But don't expect me to carry you out too.” Serah kneeled, depositing Numbers haphazardly on the ground. Then she stood up, mirroring the confrontational mare's pose. Rustling from behind marked the reappearance of the ice wielding pony, who was carrying Aurora on her back. “We have wounded. In stable condition, but need rest. Important matters to discuss with everyone.” Serah explained to Tich. Serah looked around at all the gathered ponies, arching an eyebrow. “There seem to be more of you than last time.”

At least the OOC thread has been pretty bumpin' today. So if nothing else, we've spent plenty of time talking about what we would like to post in the RP.

@ Kind of confused about your last post. Near outside of the forest, but on another side? Which group of ponies did she find hunched over? I'd guess you meant the ponies in the Everfree Forest, but your character then tried to talk to Serah in your next paragraph. In my last post, Serah had already taken Numbers and headed off towards the group of ponies outside of the forest, and would be there or near there by now. I'd like to write another post so I can set Numbers down, allowing Scoots to post again, but I can't do that until my confusion is cleared up first.

Shipping? Serah wants no part of any boat you peeps are sailing. She may not be an asexual character, but Serah places about 0 importance on romantic relationships. She values her freedom, and doesn't want to feel tied down; not even to someone she cares about. And she hasn't had a sexual encounter since high-school, when she out-of-the-blue requested it from some random guy, just to try it out. But because it was such a meaningless experience, it didn't do anything for her, and she just sort of stifled her sex drive after that. (Other things she tried out in that rebellious period of her life stuck around more, such as smoking and getting in fights.) That's not to say Serah cannot feel attraction. She is primarily attracted to strength, as you might guess, and is similarly drawn to people who want to be strong but may not be yet. Traits typically associated with men, but not exclusively. I've tried to ask Serah what her sexuality is in the past, and all she's ever answered is "does it even matter?" My own characters sometimes evolve past my own understanding. This isn't all stuff I'm making up on the spot now, either. I tend to think a hell of a lot about the characters I write. It helps me flesh them out so that they feel just a little more "real". Even when their role in a story is to be nothing more than a powerhouse who throws fire at things and growls a lot.