Fantasy A Flower Cannot Bloom Without Desire - Main (Closed)

[SleepyConley]

A Flower Cannot Bloom Without Desire
Lore - Characters - OOC

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What is it that you desire? If you could have one wish, what would it be? We humans are so often led astray from the paths we carve ourselves to fulfill the temptations we so desire. To truly achieve our dreams and goals we sometimes lose a piece of ourselves, until we can no longer be called human. But that is what makes us grow, we learn from our mistakes or the mistakes of others. One cannot grow without temptation; a flower cannot bloom without desire.

In Umbra, one of the largest cities in the world, temptation is everywhere. Around every corner is a promise, a bittersweet lie that sounds so good to be true it keeps you going. Criminals and gangs run the streets, looking for their next fix of chaos. Money, power, sex, and drugs are all things every gang desires. in Umbra You seem in this world people have special abilities known as blooms, these blooms are an extension of the body taking various different forms. Usually as weapons or tools of destruction, blooms start out as seed like growths inside someone at birth. They usually only have one and the most common spot for a seed to be is the wrist. A seed grows from desire until it blooms around a persons adolescent years and can be almost literally anything. Weeds are artificial or modified blooms. People who develop a weak bloom or a bloom they dislike will often modify it through surgery to something they like more. This is expensive and extremely dangerous. Some people change the location of their bloom and those that desire to have more than one bloom usually inject artificial blooms inside them. Artificial blooms are extremely expensive and aren't nearly as strong as a bloom that develops naturally. Because Artificial blooms are so weak, this creates a blackmarket and exotic bloom hunting. Those with strong or exotic blooms are usually kidnapped and have their bloom cutout. They then use the cutout bloom to sell or inject inside themselves. This is how most gangs make a living, the ones that desire money and power more than anything, they sell their humanity to attack and ultimately kill innocent victims, just for having a strong bloom.

To combat gangs, the biggest bloom organization in the world, The Garden employs those with exotic blooms or incredible skill. The Garden also employs doctors, teachers, architects, archaeologists, beast-tamers, adventurers and many other professions and have institutions all over the world. To join The Garden you have to have an exotic bloom or be very skilled in your profession. Those that join get a special license signifying your enrollment into the organization and can be used to get special treatment and discounts all over the world. Most join The Garden for wealth, power, fame and glory.

However, within The Garden is a secret sector known as The Criminal Investigation and Taskforce Department (CIATD). Here they train new recruits that look promising enough to risk their lives and fight crime while also monitoring the city and helping law enforcement with crime. They're a total of 6 different groups/teams with up to 6 different people apart of each group. These groups are assigned missions and must investigate and take down criminals/gangs.

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Spoiler: Ben Van Depeer

Head of the Criminal Investigation Department/Task Force
Ben Van Depeer
NPC

Inside The Garden is a secret sector known as The Criminal Investigation Department, that investigates and deals with criminal/gang affiliated business. This secret sector deploys tons of different groups to different assigned missions and the leader of all the deployed groups is Ben Van Depeer. He oversees all mission reports and assigns missions. He has one bloom, but nobody knows what is it.

​

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As of today the director of The Criminal Investigation and Taskforce Department CIATD is proud to announce a new team. The director of CIATD, Ben Van Depeer, must oversee all mission reports and assign missions. Recently the department has noticed a spike in criminal activity and can't keep up with all the crimes being committed, so to combat this, the department is creating a specialized team. This special team is comprised of those that have exceptionally strong blooms, skill and potential. Instead of only having 6 members, the amount of members allowed on this team doesn't matter. The goal of this special team, Team Number 7, is to act like as a trump card. They'll only be assigned to investigate and take down criminals and gangs considered to be dangerous and of high caliber, too risky for the other teams to handle. Most of the members on this team are new and don't have much experience in the field, so they'll be thrown into simulated scenarios to build teamwork and combat experience.

Team Number 7 was briefly allowed to introduce themselves to each other before being briefed by Ben Van Depeer on what they'll be tasked with doing, today is April 18th, 2142. The first day Team Number 7 and its members have all been called in together. They sat in a room similar to that of a classic classroom setting, there the members all introduced themselves. Ben Van Depeer informed them of their lack of experience working together as a team and took them to an incredibly large underground room, the room was full of buildings, mimicking a small town. Here they'll be trained and put into simulated scenarios, except the catch is that they'll actually be in danger. The agents they'll be going up against will be acting like criminals. Team Number 7 will have to investigate them, figure out what their plans are, the identities of the criminals and stop them. The agents will not be going easy on them and have been assigned to kill if necessary, but of course they have a medical team full of exotic blooms with healing properties on standby, so nobody will actually die... probably.

As the members of Team Number 7 explore the town, they all find themselves in the central plaza. A wide-open area, here they decide to discuss their plan of action. Ben Van Depeer gave them all an earpiece that allows them to hear and communicate each other even when they're apart. A team leader hasn't be assigned so that should be the first thing the team decides or chaos will ensure... The simulated scenario has began. Will the members of Team Number 7 be able to impress Ben Van Depeer or make a fool of themselves? (The environment in the small town is similar to a small city that we would see today, in our actual time, it is destructible and I expect buildings to be destroyed. Our characters are strong but we're also going up against agents deployed by The Garden pretending to be criminals, they're also strong and their blooms are currently unknown.)

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⛧ c o d e d _ b y _ s p o o k i e ⛧​

 

[SleepyConley]

Spoiler: Dee Ashun

[Name]: Dee Ashun

[Age]: 22

[Gender]: Male

[Height]: 5'9

[Weight]: 155lbs

[Bloom]: Located on his left wrist, his bloom is a simple wristwatch. Allowing him to slow or speed up himself or things within 5 feet of him. Has a seed that hasn't yet bloomed located under his tongue (he is the only person that knows about it.)

[Bloom Rank]: Rank S

Dee looks around himself, he is surrounded by strangers in a strange place. Barely being able to remember the names of everyone from the brief introduction, he thinks to himself how dire the situation seems. A large group of people just thrown into a simulated scenario. His surroundings are both small and large buildings, it looks like a ghost town. Even though they're underground, the city is somewhat well lit, it isn't close to being bright, but it isn't dark. He watches as everyone looks at each other awkwardly and begins to speak, "Alright everyone, so, um, well... what exactly is everyone thinking? I think we should just wing it honestly... I mean how tough can these agents be, I mean we have to be way stronger right? I think we should just find a tall building, do a bit of scouting and try to see if we can find their location. After that, wait for them to do something "illegal", attack, subdue them and then put their underwear over their heads." Dee lets out a small snicker and a smile, totally proud of the plan he just threw together. But what he doesn't realize is that for the most part... he was mumbling to himself the entire time. Only a select few people heard him... and they just stood staring at him. Dee rubs the back of his head and smiles "What guys? Do you not like the plan?" Dee is smart, but also a bit of an airhead.

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[Too]

Spoiler: Jojo Wattan

[Name]: Jojo Wattan

[Age]: 23

[Gender]: Female

[Height]: 5'8

[Weight]: 130lbs

[Bloom]: Jojo's bloom is located behind her neck, a red scarf. She can extend (up to 30 feet) and retract it all will, can harden and soften it, make it sharp, or widen it to make it into a shield. The material the scarf is depends on the last metal/material she touched with the scarf. It is like a second limb to her, considered by the chairman of The Garden himself as one of the best defensive and offensive blooms he has seen.

[Bloom Rank]: SS

​

Jojo rolls her eyes, she didn't have a lot of combat experience, but her bloom was incredibly powerful. Before joining The Garden, she worked at a brothel and was quite the seductress. Looking around she sees everyone mumbling among themselves. Unsure of what to do or how to do it, she makes her way towards a small building, away from the crowded plaza. The building has an upstairs and the interior looks similar to a bar. Nobody seems to have noticed that she left, everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. She had always wanted a way out of the streets, the life of a prostitute wasn't a life she was proud of and when Ben Van Depeer offered her a way out she couldn't refuse. She wants to impress him and prove her worth, but she has no idea how to fight. She is seriously going to take this training serious, unlike some of the others who see it as a cakewalk. She knows it isn't going to be as easy as everyone might think it is, or at least not to her. Climbing the stairs ascending to the second floor of the building, she looks out a window onto the plaza below, looking down on everyone. She can slightly overhear the plans and ideas everyone is throwing out. She hears someone say that finding a tall building to scan the area might be a good start... she agrees. She shifts her gaze from the plaza towards the other buildings, trying to find one that is tall and might be a good vantage point to scout around. Out in the distance one distinct building stood tall above the rest, jumping out of the window she uses her bloom, a scarf that materializes itself as the last thing it touched and can be extended up to 30 feet (among other various things that are unimportant right now), she touches the concrete building with her scarf and uses it to act like as a grappling hook to swing on top of the building she was just looking out of. She continues to jump from rooftop to rooftop with the help of her bloom, slowly making her way towards the tall building.

 

[Fill]

a

• A Flower Cannot Bloom Without Desire

• TEAM SEVEN'S TRIAL: CENTRAL PLAZA PREPARATIONS

  If Malcolm could have turned down the offer to be on Team Number 7, or Team 7 for short, he would have done so in a heartbeat. Not that he had much choice in the matter as Mr. Van Depeer was intent on having him on the team. Refusing the offer would have landed him working as nothing more than a beat cop at best. Apparently, among various other candidates that had been turned down, he had been chosen to join along with a select few to comprise this unique squad. The young man suspected it was because of his bloom and weed more than anything rather than his actual skills or field experience. Although, to be fair, Mr. Van Depeer and his superior had been understanding during his tenure when it came to his unique situation, so there was not much use in complaining.
  
  But Malcolm could still not wrap his head around why he was wanted on a team with enough A-rankers and S-rankers as it is. Anyone with access to the Department's databases or had been around the Garden enough would have known about these people and their abilities one way or another. A C-ranker like him would probably have no pull in this team at best and be seen as an occasionally helpful nuisance at worst, especially due to his bloom situation. He doubted much thought would be given from them in concern to him, a lowly Rank C.
  
  Fine with him. At least not much would be expected of him, and he could go about this however he liked. If this were not a team exercise, the man would have been true to his name and gone into this situation alone without anyone backing him up.
  
  Although, it may have been his weed urging him on to go alone that gave rise to such thoughts.
  
  Pft. What a bunch of clowns. Is this seriously who we're working with? Better off on our own.
  
  Shaking his head in both annoyance and amusement at his weed's comment, Malcolm surveyed the group, attempting to glean information from them and their apparel and even how they carried themselves, their personalities. It would be good to know if certain members would clash due to difference in personalities and help prevent any future issues concerning team cohesion. Also, if any of the team members currently had their blooms revealed, it would prove to be even more invaluable information for the aspiring detective.
  
  In fact, one member of their particular group made his thoughts known on the matter, albeit quietly, and Malcolm smirked as he caught only the tail end of it. Another began to operate on her own, acting on impulses not too dissimilar to the one's Malcolm had cross his mind. However, this was not a playground nor a contest. This was a battlefield, and this is where Malcolm thrived. Someone had to lead this group, if only temporarily since he was unsure if that was something he even wanted, but someone definitely had to stop that girl from being shot out of the air.
  
  Too bad. If they had all sticked together, he had a few one-liners to introduce himself with, but now was the time for action. Guess he would have to save those for later.
  
  "Somebody get her back down here! She's going to get shot out of the sky if she keeps going like that! They might have snipers!"
  
  Tapping the mumbler from earlier on the shoulder before running past him and waving to the rest of the group to get onboard with his plan of action and follow him, Malcolm began to chase her before pulling out one of his tactical revolvers from his underarm holster, neatly concealed under his black jacket. No way he was going to catch up to her on foot.
  
  His only chance was to get off a warning shot, aiming to hit whatever building she was closest to, and catch her attention before she got too far away. Normally, he would not be shooting anywhere near another agent, but there were too many unknowns about this situation, and he preferred if no one got hurt because of reckless behavior that could be easily avoided. This was the only plan he could think of on such short notice.
  
  Lining up his sights, Malcolm pressed the cold, steel trigger.
  
  This is gonna be good.
  
  *BOOM!*
  
  "HEY! YOU WITH THE SCARF! PULL OVER! GET BACK ON DOWN HERE! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE!"
  

 

[Japanime]

"Whoa what the..?!" Liam's vivid scarlet eyes darted side to side, taking in his surroundings. Suddenly he was in a different place with other people. He slowly turned 360°, curiously glancing at all the dissimilar buildings and people around him. It appeared as if they were just in a random city except it was only them there and it was awfully quiet other than the faint murmuring of other curious and confused people. Didn't take long for the boy to begin checking out girls who were around him. Liam was suddenly interrupted by a male not too far from him. He was openly expounding a possible plan he thought up.

After finishing, he seemed quite confident in his plan until he realized he only got stares as a response. "It's not so much I don't like it, it's just we shouldn't underestimate the agents. But as far as your plan goes, doesn't sound that bad." He had now moved closer to the other boy, hoping to carry on the conversation.

SleepyConley​

 

[Nano]

▌Matthew Ayres

It was only a minute into their test mission, yet the situation was already on the verge of collapse. If they weren’t underestimating the mission’s difficulty, they were overestimating the strength of their bloom—typical of the so-called elites of The Garden. Admittedly, he had fallen prey to the same mistakes during his early days, and he could only blame the administration for the team’s current lack of cohesiveness. Simulation or not, it was a disaster in the making to throw a group of misfits who were completely unacquainted with each other into a team and force them to work together.

Matthew held back a sigh and tapped the earpiece provided by Van Deeper twice. “Ah, ah. Is this thing working? Good.”

“Hey, Grey Eyes,” he called out Malcolm in a tired yet sharp tone, “first, we have comms available. Use them. Second—and this applies to Scarf Girl too—we need to regroup and get out of here. Now. If the enemy is nearby, we’ve already given away our position.” His final words were added on with slight urgency. He had a feeling that even he were severely underestimating the abilities of the agents dispatched to act as the criminals.

“Admittedly, I haven’t done a thorough scan of the area, but I haven’t heard anything suspicious yet,” he continued. His words sounded positive, but his tone remained grave, as if detecting nothing nearby was an issue. “This means they’re either not in the area or being especially careful. They’re serious, and they’ve more than likely read up on our files. At the very least, we need to discuss our roles first. We can’t ‘wing’ this.”

Matt’s eyes wandered towards Dee, but he withheld any further criticism. The lecture could be done by whoever decided to play leader this time around, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be someone named Matthew Ayres.

tagged: Fill | Too | SleepyConley​

 

[Gaius Danius Griinia]

Izuru let himself just kind of sink back into the grouping of people. He really wasn't a leader, nor did he have any plans to offer to everyone here. Clutching his tachi in his hand, his hand turned white as he gripped the scabbard tightly. He honestly didn't expect them to come out of the gate with AGENTS. Not just agents, professionally trained agents who have seen numerous combat situations. The first of them to speak offered a fairly decent plan, gaining higher ground to scout from above sounded fairly reasonable. Though removing the pants of these highly trained agents seemed like it was going s bit far. Then one of the girls in the group ran off on her own, Izuru tried to say something. Yet his voice refused to come out of his throat. Then when someone pulled a gun out and fired at scarf girl to get her attention. Izuru wanted to say something, but couldn't. Holding his tachi close to his chest, he then began looking around for agents. Crouching down and holding out his hands, Izuru's neck began to glow faintly. Appearing above his palms were two small humanoids. Pointed ears, wings like a butterfly and barely any larger than an infant. These were two Pixies, small fairy folk. "Can you look around for me?" said Izuru as he rubbed their heads. The two Pixies indignantly pulled from his grasp, but eagerly nodded before disappearing into the wind. Looking at the rest of the group, Izuru kept silent.

Mentions: Too Fill SleepyConley

 

[Pandy88888]

Taylor Lum
​

“Alright, I’ll go scouting.” Taylor volunteered. “What could go wrong?” He walked off immediately, with less then recommended caution.

20 seconds later:

“CONTACT, I have contact and stuff, there’s a thing.” He then started to describe the creature. “Alright, so I think it’s dormant right now, but it appears to have a layer of protection, so shooting it is gonna be hard. Uhh it’s also got multiple arms, and I can’t find it’s head. Its arms also split at multiple points and I’m pretty sure it deals blunt damage. Does anyone know of a power with creatures or something? It’s also pretty brown but there’s also green in it. Advice: should I engage or ignore?” He asked, sounding as serious as he could, or at least as serious as he could be, describing a tree as a threat.

He raised an assault rifle, looking as completely serious as he could be, in the situation someone was watching. Not easy to get this, He remembered, getting shot is never fun. Either way, I got this now, it’s like downgraded to CC but it’s the best I could find. He shrugged it off, probably get the job anyway, I’m good at improvising. And also getting other people to do it for me.

 

[SleepyConley]

A Flower Cannot Bloom Without Desire
Lore - Characters - OOC

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As anticipated by Ben Van Depeer (the director of The Criminal Investigation and Taskforce Department), Team 7 was not doing well in the first few moments of their trial. Of course, throwing a bunch of strangers into a dangerous scenario together wasn't the smartest thing he has ever done, but he had his reasons. Team Number 7 was made with the aim to be the most elite squad, full of those with strong blooms and/or amazing potential, within The Garden's Umbra district. Ben simply wants the first simulation to be a wake up call, that this isn't going to be easy. He plans on training them vigorously until their teamwork and experience is up to par with what he and The Garden expects.

The leader of the agents pretending to be criminals is Nero, a triple S, rose ranked agent. The chairman of The Garden, Wallace Taku (one of the strongest in the world), said that if Nero got serious even he doesn't know how the battle would turn out. Although Wallace would probably win by a landslide, he is humble and just doesn't like to admit his strength.

Spoiler: Nero Hallun

Nero Hallun is a SSS, Rose ranked agent. He is usually solo, but does work with others if ordered to by Chairman Wallace, the only person he will listen to. Nero is going to be an NPC, so feel free to control him yourself if your character runs into him. He is pretending to be one of the criminals we are facing off against. Him and two others, who are significantly weaker so they'll be took out fast. If you decide to control him, he is cocky and doesn't hesitate to attack with small talk. He does what he is ordered to do and he does it with his cold eyes. Nero has a savage fighting style.

Bloom: Nero has two blooms. The first bloom is located on his chin, a mask that favors an animal. His smell and hearing are greatly altered. The mask basically becomes an extension of him and can work as his own mouth. He usually incorporates biting into his fighting style. Whatever Nero eats, his fangs will materialize into the material of the item he ate. His second bloom is located around his heart and materializes into a full suit of body armor. If he wants he can instead conjure a sword with partial body armor encasing his chest and arm where he wants to hold the sword. He usually chooses to fight this way. He is extremely agile and quick and has tons of experience in combat.

Ben Van Depeer intends to put them in scenarios against Nero until they can defeat him. The sooner, the better.

As Team Number 7 was standing around, mumbling and unsure of what to do, many of the agents began to move on their own. One in particular was a woman who seemed to have a scarf as a bloom. She was moving from rooftop to rooftop before being ordered to stop by her team, Nero seen this and thus their location was compromised. However there were far too many of them to launch an attack against them all... So Nero decided to stalk his prey in the shadows and take them out one by one when they grow impatient and split up alone or into smaller groups.

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[SleepyConley]

Spoiler: Dee Ashun

[Name]: Dee Ashun

[Age]: 22

[Gender]: Male

[Height]: 5'9

[Weight]: 155lbs

[Bloom]: Located on his left wrist, his bloom is a simple wristwatch. Allowing him to slow or speed up himself or things within 5 feet of him. Has a seed that hasn't yet bloomed located under his tongue (he is the only person that knows about it.)

[Bloom Rank]: Rank S

As Dee finishes his explanation, unsure of why everyone didn't applaud him, he watches as a woman is seen slingshotting herself from rooftop to rooftop. He can see she is steadily trying to make her way towards one of the taller buildings. "Woo! Yeah, there we go finally someone is doing something." This makes Dee happy because he feels as if she had listened to him. Regardless if she actually did or not.

Suddenly he is approached by someone with hair as white as his. They tell him his plan is good, just not to underestimate the agents. Dee responds, "Yeah, I agree, but we're all super strong right? I think that woman has the right idea... and the right figure, if you know what I mean." Dee pats the man on the shoulder and begins to run in the direction of the woman. Suddenly as Dee is running towards the woman, BOOM, someone fired at her. "Shit, what the hell was that?! The criminals! We're under attack! Lady get down! Hurry!" Dee screams in panic. Using his bloom to speed up his running he runs into one of the nearby buildings and peaks out of the doorway out into the open where the shot came from. He sees a man summon two small strange looking pixies, Dee stared for a second in amazement. He also saw the man who probably shot at the woman. Suddenly the earpiece in his ear begins to vibrate and a voice comes through. The voice explains that they have earpieces and should use them, specifically Malcolm the guy who probably shot at the woman, and for the woman to get down and not risk the operation and everyones safety.

Dee taps the earpiece in preparation to respond, "Woah I totally forgot about these earpieces. I totally feel like an agent now. As bad as I hate to agree, I also think you need to get off the roof. We all need to get out of the plaza, we're way too exposed. We need to find a decent sized building and all meet there or else we're as good as... a woman with A cups..." Dee pretends to shiver and then laughs to himself. "Seriously rooftop woman, as much as I think you have the right idea, right now we need to work together and not run off. Everyone thinks these agents might be tough and... well it made me think, what if they are? And you got hurt?" Dee truly... is an airhead.

Too Fill Japanime Nano Gaius Danius Griinia

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[Zero Two]

[Name]: Brana Tonua

[Age]: 18

[Gender]: Female

[Height]: 5'3

[Weight]: 110lbs

[Bloom]: Bloom is behind eyepatch, her seed was behind her eye and when it bloomed, pushed her eye out. Her eye was replaced with a circular scanner similar to a robotic eyeball. Except she can't see out of it. Her bloom allows her to replicate and manifest the things she scans with her robotic eye. Weapons, money, anything.

[Bloom Rank]: AAA


Brana was excited to be apart of Team 7, this was all new territory for her. Nothing like her fathers gang she grew up watching operate. She watched as people somewhat panicked, throwing ideas out of their asses and generally not taking anything serious. She watched as everyone ran rampant onto rooftops, shooting at each other, listening to the others panic and scramble to get everyone to calm down through the earpiece. Brana wanted to help, she wanted to stand tall and let everyone know it is going to be okay. Just like everyone else, she didn't know how to go about doing things either. Her bloom isn't especially useful for fighting and is more support orientated. Among all the chaos near her was a man who was shooting at a tree. She watched the man struggle and shout and he lit it up. This eased her mind and snapped her back into reality, hopefully the man was being silly, if not, he needed help more than anybody. She walks over to the man and introduces herself,

"Hey I'm Brana and I noticed you just killed an enemy, good job agent." She smiles and winks playfully.

Pandy88888

 

[Japanime]

The final comment the other white haired boy said drew Liam's attention to the fine figure swiftly swinging from building to building. Immediately his eyebrows raised and his eyes expanded, further revealing his alluring vermilion eyes. Hardly did he notice his jaw dropping slightly. He may have even had a moderate blush, his cheeks gradually filling with red. The woman was for sure attractive. The halfwit's drooling was cut short by a blaring sharp boom that viciously reverberated throughout the city. Liam cautiously jerked in the direction of the frightening sound, with a brisk pivot he scanned the area for the sound source and possible victim, completely ignoring all sounds and voices coming from his comm. After a few seconds he located a male with black hair holding a gun. "Yo what the hell is going on?!" He yelled somewhat fearfully into his comm. Liam hoped Team 7 wasn't fighting or trying to harm each other because the mysterious man with a gun fired at the lovely woman swinging. Releasing a grateful sigh soothed his heart rate and slowed down his racing thoughts. Speaking once again into his comm, "Everybody needs to chill. Did you guys forget there are agents in here? Are you trying to get us compromised?" Sticking his hands into his pockets, he continued, "Stop sticking out like sore thumbs, fools. We need to stick together." His expression was now one of seriousness. "You gettin' me?"

Zero Two SleepyConley Pandy88888 Gaius Danius Griinia Nano Fill Too​

 

[Too]

Spoiler: Jojo Wattan

[Name]: Jojo Wattan

[Age]: 23

[Gender]: Female

[Height]: 5'8

[Weight]: 130lbs

[Bloom]: Jojo's bloom is located behind her neck, a red scarf. She can extend (up to 30 feet) and retract it all will, can harden and soften it, make it sharp, or widen it to make it into a shield. The material the scarf is depends on the last metal/material she touched with the scarf. It is like a second limb to her, considered by the chairman of The Garden himself as one of the best defensive and offensive blooms he has seen.

[Bloom Rank]: SS

​

As Jojo continues to hop from building to building with the aid of her bloom she suddenly hears a loud bang. The building she is on has just been shot at. Jojo dunks down and looks in the direction the projectile might have come from. Scanning the area she hears a voice come in on her earpiece that was handed out by Ben Van Depeer. A voice tells her to get off the roof and regroup with everyone else and that 'winging' the operation might not be a good idea. A second voice comes through, someone joking about women bra sizes, a man whose voice sounds like a total airhead. He basically finishes with the same argument, that getting off the roof and regrouping inside a building would be a good idea. And finally a third voice comes through, telling everyone to calm down. Surely if something doesn't change, everyone will lose their cool and that is never good.

Jojo cringes and takes a deep breathe, she had accidentally gathered a lot of attention. She taps the earpiece and begins to speak, "Sorry about that guys, I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sure Ben thought poorly of my decision to run off alone doing a team building trial. I'll get down, how about we regroup in the bar I found right next to the plaza? It has windows on the second floor that lets you see down below, into the rest of the town."

Jojo finishes speaking and uses her bloom to help her off of the building she was on, back down onto the plaza below. She speaks into the earpiece one more time, "Oh yeah, whoever shot at me is an asshole."

SleepyConley Fill Japanime Nano Gaius Danius Griinia Pandy88888 Zero Two

 

[Stale Biscuit]

This task was designed for them to fail. Surrounded by a group of new faces who made up her co-workers, she watched as very little was being accomplished. Zara plopped an almond into her mouth as people began to branch off on their own, a young woman using her bloom to scale a building at the suggestion of another white-haired fellow while another young man shot at the scarfed woman in an attempt to stop her. If anything, Zara had to admit this was an interesting bunch, though interesting wasn’t going to be of much assistance in this scenario. Digging into a small straw bag that clung to her waist, she plopped another almond into her mouth as someone else gave their input. Another blue-haired man trying to get the group together while also noting that the little gunshot from earlier probably notified the opposing agents of their location, a thought she had as well. Zara gently chewed the rounded nut as she recollected their earlier mission briefing. According to Mr. Depeer, their task was to act out a simulated situation in which they were to figure out who the villains were, what their goal was, and to apprehend them. This was something she assumed was a means of developing their cooperativeness as a newly formed unit.

Admittedly, she saw immediate flaws in this exercise. To simply allow a group of this size compiled of a bunch strangers, knowing essentially nothing about each other’s blooms, to participate in a task of this difficulty was ludicrous. Frankly, an ice breaker would have been a much better way to get them to get to know one another. At least then they wouldn’t have to worry about the impending attacks from highly trained officers. For this mission to result in anything but failure would be a surprise to her. Giving herself a small pat on her hip, she watched as the scarved woman returned, giving the group an apology, though it felt like it was directed more towards the Head of the Department than to any of them. After another round of people exclaiming that they should come together as a group, Zara decided it was her turn to give her two scents.

Raising a hand, Zara spoke. “If I may interject, I do agree with the two men over there.” she paused, trying to remember their earlier introductions. “Liam and Matthew I believe.” she said, hoping that she had matched the names to the right faces. “As Matthew stated before, I’m pretty sure they are aware of our current location, and if they didn’t before they certainly do now.” she stated bluntly, referencing both the scarf wearing woman and the ebony-haired man standing with them.

“I think our first plan of action should be to immediately relocate, as already been suggested.” she reiterated. “I think …” she hesitated yet again, stuck on the scarfed woman’s name. “Jojo’s idea to head to this bar would be a start, but, assuming that we’ve already been spotted, it may make no difference, in all honesty.” she said bluntly. If they were already discovered, then their stalker would just follow them there. However, Zara was unsure of how many of them were out there, so it was hard to make a conclusive decision.

“Well, there isn’t much else that we can do without knowing each other’s blooms, so I suggest we get a move on.” she chirped, hands resting on her thighs. “Now Ms. Jojo if you could please lead the way.” she spoke into the headset. Zara was not one to play the leader, but she also didn’t enjoy disorganization nor was she interested in utilizing the amazing blooms of the medical team here.

“Oh, I’m Zara by the way. Nice to make your acquaintance!” she chirped, reintroducing herself while making her way to Matthew.

“Do you hear anything now?” she questioned, recalling Matthew’s earlier comment. If she was correct, his bloom was something that allowed him to hear incredibly well, though to what extent she wasn’t sure. However, in this scenario where they were given very little information about their opponent and their co-workers, his ability would prove extremely helpful.

mood: concerned

tags: Nano , Too , Zero Two , Fill , Japanime , SleepyConley , Pandy88888 , Gaius Danius Griinia

mentions: n/a

 

[Nano]

▌Matthew Ayres

Amidst the complaints, apologies, and analyses being thrown about, Matthew refocused his attention to do another scan of the area. Instead of the rushed sweep from before, he sifted through every footfall and breath within a half kilometer radius. Quite frankly, he had always disliked searching for suspicious activities right in the middle of a populous city. Unless there was something explicitly wrong with the way someone moved or behaved, it was difficult to discern a criminal from a common pedestrian. However, as if he had struck gold, a peculiar sound struck at his ears. He couldn’t tell why, but a singular person’s footsteps and breathing were odd in an almost animalistic way. Then, when the moment the lady with the red scarf jumped down to join them, the noise halted completely. They were evidently being stalked by an individual who thought of themself as a predator while they were the prey.

“Ugh,” he groaned while massaging his temples. The higher-ups were either toying with them, or their stalker had decided to make a move on his own. What underground organization went running around to eliminate agents they weren’t even sure were after their arrest? That would only draw unnecessary attention to their crime ring. Was this practice mission testing for their reactions towards an information leak? Or was it a gang bold enough to reap blooms from The Garden?

Before his thoughts could freefall into the chasm of him overthinking things, he was approached by a woman who introduced herself as Zara. Right, he needed to report his observations.

“One target of note. Approximate distance of 350 meters to the south-east at an elevation no higher than 50 meters above our current position.” he stated with a dry delivery and following analysis. “It moved as if it knew our position, but it became more cautious after we regrouped. It’s probably waiting to pick us off one-by-one.”

Matthew’s gaze shifted from Zara to the silent man in the back who had sent off two pixie-like sentries seconds ago. To scout the area, he assumed. “For the time being, could you instruct your familiars to start from the north and the south? Sweeping by the area that I indicated a bit later is fine, but don’t pause or linger there. We need to make it seem like we aren’t aware of that person until we make it to the bar, or wherever he can’t see us in plain view.” he requested. Their stalker was being cautious, but he couldn’t tell what would happen if that person knew he or she had been detected. For all he knew, that person could even be a decoy. However, instead of waiting for Izuru’s answer, he walked off to follow Jojo’s lead. If the man didn’t trust his judgement now, he wasn’t likely to trust his call after a mere minute of justifying his decision. Any words spoken would simply be a waste of breath and more time spent standing around idly.

tags: Stale Biscuit | Gaius Danius Griinia | Too | @

everyone​

 

[Pandy88888]

Taylor Lum​

“That damned tree got what was coming to it.” He answered jokingly. “Anyway, I’m Taylor, I can mimic blooms, like this gun.” He waved it around with little concerns for silly things like gun safety. “Nice eyepatch,” He noticed, ”you look like a pirate except without any of the pirate stuff.”

Taylor listened as the comms crackled in. Something about the Agent? “I’ll check it out.” He confirmed in the comms, starting to take off at a merry jog, maybe so the Agent wouldn’t be suspicious, maybe because he didn’t care. He started whistling a nice tune, that coincidently also happened to be about the doomed.

He remembered about Brana, and turned to jog the 5 seconds that he had gotten while whistling. “What can you do again? I think I might need help with this. I’m pretty sure I can lay a trap, so we can see what they can do, but I need someone to analyze their shooty or stabby or whatever they can do potential. Do you think you’re good at that?”

Zero Two Nano ​

 

[Gaius Danius Griinia]

Izuru agreed with what his teammate's plan of action and sent a mental communication for the pixies to sweep both the North and South of the area. One of the best things about using Pixies is that they were small enough to not leave much of an impression. That way they could tail or observe people without being seen. This came at the cost of strength though. Pixies weren't good at fighting and usually employed Hit & Run tactics with lightning magic to get away from predators. Eventually they informed him of an ominous presence they felt. Then he waited until Matthew Ayres had left before snapping his fingers. The sound was quick, sharp and effortless. Izuru felt his neck grow warm as a flash of light called a shadowy figure to his side. Tall, limber, adorned in clothes from a long gone era. His white hair curling at the ends, his skin dark as iron. With a fanged grin, he looked up at Izuru and said not a word. "Kudlak.... I want you to subdue the guy the pixies spotted...no killing...." was all Izuru said to the man beside him. "As you wish, Master Izuru....I shall extract not only his most exquisite screams but also his lifeblood....yet his life shall be spared" said the velvety voiced Kudlak as he knelt before Izuru. Then he seemed to melt into the shadows.

Kudlak was a vampire, a creature who drank the blood of others to sustain himself. Izuru had tamed Kudlak by feeding him blood from his Succubus. Succubi Blood was addictive, nourishing and provided a heavenly euphoria according to Nene-Sensei. Izuru had called for him because the vampire was skilled in tracking, stalking and assassination. Izuru didn't know how strong this person could be, or even if they were a person. Yet he still sent the bloodthirsty Kudlak all the same. They had his file, as well as knowledge of his Bloom. Holding back would result in not only a loss, but also a reason for Izuru to be compared to Otonashi. Taking a moment to clear his mind, Izuru went to join JoJo Wattson and Matthew Ayres.

Nano Too

Spoiler: Kudlak

 

[Fill]

a

• A Flower Cannot Bloom Without Desire

• TEAM SEVEN'S TRIAL: CENTRAL PLAZA PREPARATIONS

  Too much was happening at once for the young man to quite handle it all. People leaving the group, doing their own thing, or just being a pain in his behind, criticizing his decisions as if he had no clue what he was doing. This group was severely lacking any sense of caution. Had any of them receive training of any kind in law enforcement? Did any of them even suspect more was at play here? To even think things through at all?
  
  At least Malcolm had the foresight and shrewdness to see the details others tend to overlook as his mind already began thinking of a strategy.
  
  You seriously letting them talk trash about us? I say we ditch them and do the whole thing ourselves. I mean, really, they'll just slow us down.
  
  Shut up. You know I can't do that. Besides, I can't risk them getting injured just because I did nothing. We're going to have to stick this one out whether you like it or not.
  
  A sigh escaped his lips before he holstered his weapon and returned to the main group. Nobody was happy about him and his actions, and they had already decided upon the next move for the group. People were already moving and being ordered around, albeit poorly in Malcolm's eyes. There were much more efficient and stealthy ways to approach this. Despite the pretense of not winging it, everyone appeared to think the situation would turn out fine if they stuck together and hold up somewhere.
  
  How green all of them were.
  
  "This is your grade-A asshole reporting in, here to tell you how your head is for more than looking cute, miss. Next time you do something like that and get sniped out of the sky, I hope you remember me, the one guy looking out for ya' for more than just your breast size," Malcolm spokes as he glanced at the airhead and the kid in the jacket who thought he had cool gangster lingo, "Besides, any psych class will tell you high-tiers tend to not follow orders. I made a judgement call and thought a show of force was necessary."
  
  A bit more could have been added to the jab, but he kept himself from adding more, no matter how much his weed egged him on. Malcolm pulled out his communicator and held it up for everyone to see, particularly for the man named Matthew and Liam.
  
  "Oh, and Mr. Hot Topic 1 and 2, you really think I didn't already think about the comms or our position being blown? Our communications are most likely tapped and I would even dare say we are being tracked by them, if they haven't already followed our little miss here. I wouldn't put it past Mr. Van Depeer or any of the higher ups to do this to us, especially since we're the team that's supposed to be able to handle the worst situations thrown at us. Besides, they tend to have a funny sense of humor like that. But go ahead. Let's run the risk and see where that gets us. It'd be one thing if we were going up against a criminal organization. It's another when we're going up against our own people."
  
  Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Malcolm gazed at each one before delivering his final points.
  
  "This isn't a playground."
  
  His gaze shifted to the airhead.
  
  "This isn't a contest to impress anyone."
  
  His gaze shifted to the scarf girl.
  
  "And this isn't certainly something we can go into with a barebones strategy, hoping we reach the bar before things get worse."
  
  And then finally to the white-haird individual with the dull tone.
  
  Malcolm sighed again. He hated being this serious, but he did not want anyone to get hurt on his watch. If they had a problem with that, well, they would have to suck it up. Malcolm would begin relaying orders, albeit quietly since the white-haired fellow with the sensory-type bloom already found someone following them. Best to keep what he said next to a bare whisper, enough for the group to hear but no one else.
  
  "We need to break into groups but stick together, that way we don't have to worry about each other as much. White hair, keep your head on a swivel as your probably our best scout. Scarf girl, you cover his back. We can't have him incapacitated. Pixie guy, you're with pervert guy and gangster dude. Keep each other safe and make sure our summoner doesn't get hurt. Use your pixies to get a bird's eye view and to alert us if there's trouble outside white hair's range. You two that just came back from the tree thing, you are watching each other's backs and, Zara, you're with them. If for some reason we get separated or come under fire, stick with your group. Cover each other's weaknesses. It's the only way we're going to survive and win this without freaking out over each other or start scrambling without a clue as to what to do."
  
  Malcolm wondered if anyone would have a problem with this as he began to follow the others to the bar, which was another issue.
  
  "Finally, the bar is not a good idea. Limited space. Can't exactly cut loose with your abilities. Not enough escape routes. A few good chokepoints I can think of, but that's not good enough. Wooden countertops and tables won't exactly stop rifle fire. Even if it's made of masonry or stone or even metal, we'd be putting all our eggs in one basket. We'd be in a killbox one way or another. We need two or three story building with fire escapes or nearby rooftops we can jump to. That way we have multiple exits points in case things go south. The trade-off is that there would be multiple entry points, but we can also set up defenses and traps on each level to slow them down, thin their numbers. It would probably be best to head to the edge of this simulated environment and find a building backed up into a wall or something. That way they can't come up from behind us and have to play into our hands rather than the other way around."
  
  The detective shrugged before walking over to a sewer grate before examining it.
  
  "But that's just my advice. However, I suggest we stick to alleyways and avoid main roads for wherever we're going or, if we really want to avoid being seen and avoid most tracker-type blooms . . ."
  
  The young man began to lift the grate and examined if there was anything underneath it. Apparently, this simulated town had all the works, including a sewer system, although it was nowhere near as nasty or as deep as those in Umbra. Malcolm looked back towards the others with smirk.
  
  "Bingo. We take the sewers. Unless, of course, you guys are afraid to get your feet wet. If we're taking this route, we best lose the communicators and rely on some other means of communication. Better safe than sorry."
  
  This is boring! Why don't we fight the guy white hair just found out about? I'm itching for some action.