Happenstance Application
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 10:37 am
Happenstance
Emblem Link
Justification
She fits the criteria for who he tends to mark:
Story:
Kira guided her motorcycle to a halt, its tires crunching over the gravel leading up to an abandoned farmhouse just outside the city. The dilapidated building was an aged giant, its formerly vibrant paint faded and peeled away in the wind. Its numerous windows were boarded up or smashed in, while others hung open like empty eye sockets. Rumor had it this place was teeming with zombies, which was why she was here.
However, sitting just outside the entrance was a man who seemed utterly out of place amidst the grim surroundings. He wore a well-tailored set of clothes that gleamed despite the dust in the air, his posture casual as he leaned back against the building. His hair was a ruffled mess of black and his eyes gleamed with an almost unnerving level of mischief as he watched her approach.
Kira pulled her helmet off, setting it aside and drawing her pistol as she approached him. The smile that twisted his lips was sly, the very picture of a cat that caught a canary. "I've been waiting for someone like you," he said, his voice smooth as silk, a stark contrast to the rough surroundings.
Raising an eyebrow, Kira stopped a few feet away from him, eyeing him warily. "And who would that be?"
"Someone brave. Someone bold," he answered, his grin widening. "I have a proposition for you."
"And what's that?"
He straightened from his relaxed position, moving closer until they were almost toe-to-toe. "A little wager," he said, his voice low. "I bet that you can't last an hour in there." He gestured to the ominous building behind him. "Without any of your bullets."
Kira glanced back at the building, considering his proposition. Her usual strategy was to handle the undead from a distance. A bullet to the head, no need to get close. But the man was offering her a challenge, a deviation from the usual, and despite the risk, it was somewhat tempting.
She looked back at the man, her eyes narrowing slightly. His smile didn't falter, only growing at her silence, as if he was certain she would take his bet. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't, but either way, she was undeniably intrigued.
Leaning against her bike, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Let's say I take you up on this bet..."
The man's mischievous grin widened further as he watched her, and he reached into his pocket, drawing out a platinum coin that gleamed in the failing light. "If you succeed," he said, flipping the coin in the air and catching it with ease, "This is yours."
Kira's eyes followed the coin, a rare commodity that would fetch a pretty sum. "And if I lose?" she asked.
The man shrugged, tucking the coin back into his pocket. "Isn’t it obvious? You’re zombie food!"
She glanced back at the farmhouse. Nodding her head, she stepped back, moving to her bike. She placed her pistol on the seat and motioned to it so the man would see that she was leaving it behind. The man watched her with the same sly grin, seemingly certain of her loss. He didn't see the backup pistol strapped to her inner thigh, hidden under her pants.
Kira thought, “if this is a trick then I still have my backup pistol and I’ll come out here and shoot him dead before he can run off with my stuff. And I’ll have the weapon with me if I get into any trouble in there.”
"Good luck!” The man said with a wink. Kira shot him a defiant glare, before turning on her heel and striding toward the entrance of the complex. The moment she crossed the threshold, the man pulled the doors shut behind her.
She smelled the stench of decay and nearly gagged. The weak daylight filtering in from the broken windows did little to illuminate the eerie darkness within. The silence was broken by the soft sounds of shuffling feet, and the low, raspy breathing that filled her with a cold dread. The zombies were here, possibly lurking in every corner.
She took a deep breath and pressed onward. She listened to the chilling sounds echoing off the worn-out walls. The man's grin and the glinting platinum coin flashed in her mind and drove her to find a nice spot to hide for an hour.
She made her way to the second floor and peered through a cracked window. She squinted her eyes and saw the man leaning casually against her bike, twirling two pistols in his hands. Her pistols. Her eyes widened and she immediately reached for her thigh where her concealed weapon was strapped. But her hand met only the rough fabric of her pants.
"How...?" she muttered under her breath, glancing back at the man outside the window. His grin was wider now, his eyes glinting with a victorious gleam. He held up her pistols as if to taunt her, and her blood boiled with a rage that made her blood pound in her ears.
She whipped around, a yell of frustration escaping her lips. He'd tricked her somehow. With a burst of adrenaline, she sprinted back towards the entrance. The sound of her hurried footsteps echoed eerily as she charged at full speed at the door and tried to break through hit. Even with the aid of kinetics, all that did was bruise her shoulder. She doubled over in pain and tried the metal handle but that didn’t budge either. She was trapped.
Frustration surged within her as she banged her fists against the stubborn door, her shouts echoing through the complex. Each impact resonated through her bones and made her skin sting against the cold metal door.
Stepping back, she looked at the door, her mind whirring with possibilities. She couldn’t break it down and she had a feeling that she wasn’t getting out of a window either. A shuffling sound broke her train of thought. Goosebumps erupted on her skin as she slowly turned, her eyes scanning the dimly lit hallway behind her.
With a final, lingering glare at the locked door, Kira drew a deep breath and turned back to face the music. She was without her pistols, trapped inside a decrepit building teeming with zombies, and a trickster was waiting outside, probably relishing her predicament.
But, she was far from defeated. All she had to do was find a place to hide. She’d given up on the trickster holding up his end of the bargain. For all she knew he was going to steal her bike and her guns. She’d heard it wasn’t all that difficult to hotwire a vehicle if you had the right tools. But hopefully someone else would be coming around, eventually, to take the contract. She didn’t know if it’d be hours or days but she was going to sit and wait until she heard the sound of a motor.
Drawing deep within herself, she tapped into her kinetic powers, a warm surge of energy spreading through her. She watched the flux and figured out that zombies were coming from basically every direction. She decided to go left and pushed the flux with her aether to knock the zombies over before running past them. She turned the corner and erected a shield to stop them from following her… but the shield only lasted a handful of seconds.
Kira ran for her life until she stumbled upon a closet. She quickly scrambled in and closed the door behind her just as a group of zombies shuffled past. Their grotesque shadows filled the tiny cracks around the door frame. In the pitch black darkness of her hiding spot, Kira could hear their rasping breaths and the eerie shuffle of their decayed feet against the rotting floor.
And there she waited, alone in the darkness. She fell asleep there after some time and only awoke when she heard loud footsteps coming down the hall. She instinctively threw up a barrier to cover the closet door, but it was effortlessly broken and the door was ripped apart.
Kira curled into a ball and screamed but it was just the man from earlier. “Congratulations,” he said.
Without warning, he reached out, pressing a finger against her outstretched palm. And thus she was marked. She didn’t even want the damn thing! Simply having the mark was enough to get executed in the Imperium, but she was given it all the same. All for a bet she never intended to actually take. He tossed her the platinum coin as well but it turned silver when she caught it. She had so many questions.
She chased after the man when she regained her bearings but he was nowhere to be seen. She ran back outside and saw her motorcycle was there with one pistol on it. She felt her thigh and sure enough her pistol was still there. She was beyond confused. The only proof that the encounter had even happened was the silver coin in her hand and the mark in the palm of her other.
Searing 1st, 122rd Year, A.o.S.
Emblem Link
Justification
She fits the criteria for who he tends to mark:
- not bloodthirsty (doesn’t yearn for killing)
not corrupt (she has no station to abuse)
not pure (she is willing to commit crimes)
not righteous (she doesn’t care who she kills so long as it’s for money and she thinks she can get away with it)
Story:
Kira guided her motorcycle to a halt, its tires crunching over the gravel leading up to an abandoned farmhouse just outside the city. The dilapidated building was an aged giant, its formerly vibrant paint faded and peeled away in the wind. Its numerous windows were boarded up or smashed in, while others hung open like empty eye sockets. Rumor had it this place was teeming with zombies, which was why she was here.
However, sitting just outside the entrance was a man who seemed utterly out of place amidst the grim surroundings. He wore a well-tailored set of clothes that gleamed despite the dust in the air, his posture casual as he leaned back against the building. His hair was a ruffled mess of black and his eyes gleamed with an almost unnerving level of mischief as he watched her approach.
Kira pulled her helmet off, setting it aside and drawing her pistol as she approached him. The smile that twisted his lips was sly, the very picture of a cat that caught a canary. "I've been waiting for someone like you," he said, his voice smooth as silk, a stark contrast to the rough surroundings.
Raising an eyebrow, Kira stopped a few feet away from him, eyeing him warily. "And who would that be?"
"Someone brave. Someone bold," he answered, his grin widening. "I have a proposition for you."
"And what's that?"
He straightened from his relaxed position, moving closer until they were almost toe-to-toe. "A little wager," he said, his voice low. "I bet that you can't last an hour in there." He gestured to the ominous building behind him. "Without any of your bullets."
Kira glanced back at the building, considering his proposition. Her usual strategy was to handle the undead from a distance. A bullet to the head, no need to get close. But the man was offering her a challenge, a deviation from the usual, and despite the risk, it was somewhat tempting.
She looked back at the man, her eyes narrowing slightly. His smile didn't falter, only growing at her silence, as if he was certain she would take his bet. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't, but either way, she was undeniably intrigued.
Leaning against her bike, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Let's say I take you up on this bet..."
The man's mischievous grin widened further as he watched her, and he reached into his pocket, drawing out a platinum coin that gleamed in the failing light. "If you succeed," he said, flipping the coin in the air and catching it with ease, "This is yours."
Kira's eyes followed the coin, a rare commodity that would fetch a pretty sum. "And if I lose?" she asked.
The man shrugged, tucking the coin back into his pocket. "Isn’t it obvious? You’re zombie food!"
She glanced back at the farmhouse. Nodding her head, she stepped back, moving to her bike. She placed her pistol on the seat and motioned to it so the man would see that she was leaving it behind. The man watched her with the same sly grin, seemingly certain of her loss. He didn't see the backup pistol strapped to her inner thigh, hidden under her pants.
Kira thought, “if this is a trick then I still have my backup pistol and I’ll come out here and shoot him dead before he can run off with my stuff. And I’ll have the weapon with me if I get into any trouble in there.”
"Good luck!” The man said with a wink. Kira shot him a defiant glare, before turning on her heel and striding toward the entrance of the complex. The moment she crossed the threshold, the man pulled the doors shut behind her.
She smelled the stench of decay and nearly gagged. The weak daylight filtering in from the broken windows did little to illuminate the eerie darkness within. The silence was broken by the soft sounds of shuffling feet, and the low, raspy breathing that filled her with a cold dread. The zombies were here, possibly lurking in every corner.
She took a deep breath and pressed onward. She listened to the chilling sounds echoing off the worn-out walls. The man's grin and the glinting platinum coin flashed in her mind and drove her to find a nice spot to hide for an hour.
She made her way to the second floor and peered through a cracked window. She squinted her eyes and saw the man leaning casually against her bike, twirling two pistols in his hands. Her pistols. Her eyes widened and she immediately reached for her thigh where her concealed weapon was strapped. But her hand met only the rough fabric of her pants.
"How...?" she muttered under her breath, glancing back at the man outside the window. His grin was wider now, his eyes glinting with a victorious gleam. He held up her pistols as if to taunt her, and her blood boiled with a rage that made her blood pound in her ears.
She whipped around, a yell of frustration escaping her lips. He'd tricked her somehow. With a burst of adrenaline, she sprinted back towards the entrance. The sound of her hurried footsteps echoed eerily as she charged at full speed at the door and tried to break through hit. Even with the aid of kinetics, all that did was bruise her shoulder. She doubled over in pain and tried the metal handle but that didn’t budge either. She was trapped.
Frustration surged within her as she banged her fists against the stubborn door, her shouts echoing through the complex. Each impact resonated through her bones and made her skin sting against the cold metal door.
Stepping back, she looked at the door, her mind whirring with possibilities. She couldn’t break it down and she had a feeling that she wasn’t getting out of a window either. A shuffling sound broke her train of thought. Goosebumps erupted on her skin as she slowly turned, her eyes scanning the dimly lit hallway behind her.
With a final, lingering glare at the locked door, Kira drew a deep breath and turned back to face the music. She was without her pistols, trapped inside a decrepit building teeming with zombies, and a trickster was waiting outside, probably relishing her predicament.
But, she was far from defeated. All she had to do was find a place to hide. She’d given up on the trickster holding up his end of the bargain. For all she knew he was going to steal her bike and her guns. She’d heard it wasn’t all that difficult to hotwire a vehicle if you had the right tools. But hopefully someone else would be coming around, eventually, to take the contract. She didn’t know if it’d be hours or days but she was going to sit and wait until she heard the sound of a motor.
Drawing deep within herself, she tapped into her kinetic powers, a warm surge of energy spreading through her. She watched the flux and figured out that zombies were coming from basically every direction. She decided to go left and pushed the flux with her aether to knock the zombies over before running past them. She turned the corner and erected a shield to stop them from following her… but the shield only lasted a handful of seconds.
Kira ran for her life until she stumbled upon a closet. She quickly scrambled in and closed the door behind her just as a group of zombies shuffled past. Their grotesque shadows filled the tiny cracks around the door frame. In the pitch black darkness of her hiding spot, Kira could hear their rasping breaths and the eerie shuffle of their decayed feet against the rotting floor.
And there she waited, alone in the darkness. She fell asleep there after some time and only awoke when she heard loud footsteps coming down the hall. She instinctively threw up a barrier to cover the closet door, but it was effortlessly broken and the door was ripped apart.
Kira curled into a ball and screamed but it was just the man from earlier. “Congratulations,” he said.
Without warning, he reached out, pressing a finger against her outstretched palm. And thus she was marked. She didn’t even want the damn thing! Simply having the mark was enough to get executed in the Imperium, but she was given it all the same. All for a bet she never intended to actually take. He tossed her the platinum coin as well but it turned silver when she caught it. She had so many questions.
She chased after the man when she regained her bearings but he was nowhere to be seen. She ran back outside and saw her motorcycle was there with one pistol on it. She felt her thigh and sure enough her pistol was still there. She was beyond confused. The only proof that the encounter had even happened was the silver coin in her hand and the mark in the palm of her other.
Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying
