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 Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2026 10:58 am
2026 Star Festival Prompt Poultrygeist (10) : As Destiny City is a bustling metropolis, it’s not unexpected that there should be some strange animals running the streets. Sometimes it’s a tiger, sometimes a monkey, sometimes a chicken. Sometimes it’s something worse. Strange egg clusters have appeared in Destiny City’s parks and officials aren’t really sure what they are; these eggs have nothing inside of them. Though it’s an anomaly, they are chalking it up to teenaged pranks. However, they have advised to just leave the eggs as they are. Nobody wants to say why, but if you’re out late at night, you’ll find out. In the darkness, whispered between the sounds of the city: a guttural, rasping cluck. The creature stands on stilt-like legs, rooted to the ground with razor-sharp talons. It wears a cloak of long, oily feathers that drag on the ground with a sinister scraping. If you stare into the darkness, piercing red eyes stare back at you. That’s all it takes for a confrontation: a mangled bird, maybe a chicken in another life, comes barreling out at you. It stands easily as tall as a person, but the proportions are all wrong. The smell of sulfur follows it as it lunges, pecking and screaming and scratching as it attempts to chase you away. Maybe, from the nests full of empty eggs. The battles are fierce, but fleeting; it will viciously try to chase you away but the effects are always the same: at some point, the eggs are crushed. As always, there’s nothing inside of them, but with one final wail, the bird will vanish into a plume of foul smoke.
Note: If you choose to encounter one of these bird-like creatures, your character will recognize they are not youma. It is impossible to tell if it is a single entity or if there are many. The bird does not seem to understand or care to listen to human words. It will always disappear in a malodorous plume of smoke and leave nothing but a foul odor and a clutch of empty, broken eggs behind. This RP can be used as a battle requirement as long as there are two powered characters involved; you must be interacting with another player’s powered character. This does not count as the one youma battle per stage for growth. This can only be used as a battle requirement once per character, but there is no limitation for how many times a player can use this prompt.
Ever since he and his partner had joined the organization, the lieutenant didn't like the pressure the Negaverse was putting on Tetra, but the Negaverse was seeming like one of those organizations that wasn't so easy to get out of once you were in. They didn't like people knowing too much, especially when they had so many enemies who could take advantage of their precious information. Actinolite didn't know the details, but he had heard rumors and stories that if people wanted out of the Negaverse or went against it and its leaders, they were often eliminated or their memories were wiped. Sometimes they were even turned into youma to be used to attack others and fight opponents. The thought seemed horrendous.
For his part, Actinolite didn't mind being part of the organization so much. He already felt he took morally questionable and some might even say monstrous actions, so he didn't mind stealing energy from people especially when he knew they would be able to get it back eventually. It wasn't like he had taken any lives...yet. But to think Tetrataenite - his poor, sweet, innocent fiancé - was be forced to have to fill the same energy-gathering quotas that he did when he was so kind and caring toward others seemed positively cruel. Actinolite wished he could help. He wondered if there was a way he could turn some of the energy he himself gathered in on Tetra's behalf, but he also knew that if either of them got caught, it would spell big trouble for them both.
Just as he was considering this, the lieutenant heard a noise and stopped in his tracks. He turned around and scanned his surroundings, but all he saw was a nearby star charm and something a little further down the path. Walking over to the violet star charm, he absently reached down and picked it up, wiping it on his pants before placing it in his pocket to decide what to do with it later. But as he had gotten closer to pick up the charm, he also came close enough to see what the something further down the path was. It was a cluster of large eggs.
The moment he laid eyes on those eggs, he heard a deep, rasping sound that closely resembled a chicken's cluck. Whirling back around, he was standing face to face with a tall, person-sized bird-looking creature of some kind with long legs like stilts and raptor-like feet tipped with sharp-looking talons. Its eyes were red and piercing and its plumage was oily with feathers so long they scraped on the ground. When it saw Actinolite looking straight at it, it released an ear-splitting scream and lunged to peck at him.
Actinolite had nothing on him except for his kiseru; his Japanese smoking pipe which was his so-called 'weapon' as a lieutenant. He used the pipe to block his attacker's beak, keeping it away from his face with some difficulty. At least he knew if it snapped, he could re-summon it again good as new with some effort. He just hoped he would be alright enough to be in a state to do so after suffering an attack from the monstrous avian he hadn't been anywhere near prepared to defend against, much less fight.MiddyGlow ((Please let me know if you’d like me to change anything!))
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2026 9:38 am
Lieutenant Dzhalindite had been a Lt for a little while now and she had a group that she worked with and plans she did on a weekly basis. To gather energy for her people. It was important. She had been chosen, and now she had a direction and purpose. She had to prove herself so she could gain more power and show that she was meant to rise in the ranks. It wasn't long before she felt the energy of another so she headed in that direction to see what was going on. The star festival wasn't something she knew much about. She did spot a charm on the ground, and she picked it up. It was green, which was one of her favorite colors. Sides from red but she figured she would find more later. Soon she found someone standing over a group of eggs. She frowned and asked, "Are you into animals or something?" She hadn't noticed the bird creature till she heard the scream. She watched as it tried to peck the guy she was trying to talk to so she didn't pay much attention to if he answered her or not. Dzhalindite, or Dz for short, wasn't much better off weapon-wise since she only had her little Christmas tree. She did, however, have her legs and her fists. She watched as the guy dodged, and she frowned, "Come on, I'm sure we can drive this thing off if we try." She said with confidence.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:25 am
At the sound of the voice addressing him and the sensing of another chaos energy signature very similar to his, Actinolite looked over briefly, accidentally giving the bird creature an opening to try to jab at him with its beak. Fortunately, he was quick enough to avoid it like he had the former peck, but it was a close call. Then he heard the feminine voice speak up again.
"...What would you propose?" the Japanese man asked, using his kiseru to shove back the creature a little. "Hold its eggs hostage? Presuming those even are its eggs, of course." Judging by the way the young woman spoke of the avian monster, Actinolite was willing to bet she didn't know any more about it than he did. Moving quick, he crouched down to try to kick the bird-thing's long legs out from under it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 10:09 am
Dz considered the suggestion "No, but maybe if we cover the eggs with leaves or dirt and find a round rock, maybe we can distract the bird and beat it enough that we can get away. Most of these weird creatures can't be beaten anyway." She rolled her eyes and said, "The magic in this city is really weird, and it makes gathering energy a pain." She had things to do if she wanted to gain more power. She had since discarded the idea of finding out about purification. After all, it was a stupid thought. Why would she want to be like the order members anyway? She yelled at the bird and ran over to the nest, pretending to gather some eggs. Then she kicked some leaves and dirt onto the nest and made a run for it to distract the creature from the other nega soldier. She figured they would do something unless their head was filled with rocks.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 11:56 am
"I was joking, mostly, but very well," Actinolite answered. "We'll do as you say. It sounds as though you've had more experience with these sorts of creatures than I have, anyway." He sighed. "After living here for about a year, I do agree about the magic in this city being weird, however." Like Dz, Actinolite, too, wanted to gain power, but for the reason of wanting to be strong enough to cover for Tetrataenite. If he collected enough energy and worked hard enough for the Negaverse for the two of them, then Tetra wouldn't have to do anything that went against his morals. The tricky part would be trying to pass off his own accomplishments and gathered energy as Tetra's. He was still working on determining how to do that.
"...What exactly are you trying to do by covering the eggs?" he asked the other lieutenant. "Wouldn't it be better to just crush them?" There was the risk of making the bird creature angrier, of course, but it seemed angry enough as it was and there was also the possibility that if it had nothing left to protect or get angry over, it might leave them alone.
Nevertheless, he took the opportunity when the young lady distracted the avian monster to pick up a large stone and throw it hard at the creature's head, hoping it would do some damage. Even if it didn't, at least it would probably get it to turn its attention back on him and away from his impromptu teammate.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 12:34 pm
Dz laughed and said "None at all, actually." Dz had the creature's attention and she was dodging attacks from it's beck. "I'm hoping it's not smart and will think it's real eggs are gone and will sooner or later get bored with us." She shrugged and said "Or maybe once we get the creature to go then we can take the eggs and use them, I don't know." She said, rolling her eyes. Suddenly, the creature disappeared "Well, see then that fixes that problem." Dz went to collect the eggs, only to find they were now broken without either of them doing anything to the nest. She frowned and said "What the heck??" She grumbled, "What a waste and what an rotten smell." She said, wrinkling her nose. "I'm Lieutenant Dzhalindite" She said, introducing herself finally.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 12:53 pm
"None?" Well, even if she hadn't met any other strange creatures, she certainly talked as if she'd heard or read about others and that was enough experience to give reason to listen to her suggestions in Actinolite's opinion.
Indeed, they had hardly done anything at all when the creature disappeared and its eggs were broken. The Japanese man was about to ask his fellow Negaverse agent if she had done something to the eggs, but by her exclamation, he deduced she was just as clueless as he was.
"Yes...maybe we'd better move away from the area before the odor starts to cling to us," Actinolite recommended, already walking away from the site of the broken eggs himself. When Dzhalindite introduced herself, her companion bowed to her.
"Pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Dzhalindite," he replied politely with a cheerful smile. "I'm Lieutenant Actinolite. 'Act' or 'Acti' is fine if you prefer something shorter, though."
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 3:37 pm
Dz nodded, "And you can call me Dz if you like. I'd give you my other nickname, but civilian rules and everything." She said as they walked away from the area, she didn't want this smell stuck on her any more than he did. She nodded, spotted a charm on the ground, and picked up the red ice cream charm. "Well, at least this trip was good for something." She put it away and said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, I have plans so I'll see you around, maybe." She said in a dismissive tone. She really wasn't a people person; he was lucky she had bothered to help at all.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 4:19 pm
"What civilian rules?" he asked, raising a brow. "It should be alright to know each other's civilian identities since we're of the same faction, right? We're both Negaverse agents," he reminded her. "But if you'd rather not share your name anyway, I suppose that's your own choice."
He watched her pick up a star charm - those things really did seem to be everywhere - and nodded when she dropped heavy hints she was about to part ways with him.
"Have a good rest of your evening," he told her with a nod and raised a hand in farewell as she prepared to go. He had his own plans to attend to, after all. "And thanks for your help, Dz. Hope to see you around."
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 4:22 pm
Dz shook her head, "Not worth the risk, if someone turns traitor, that could be dangerous." She shrugged, "You can't do much with Cici either way, since it's not even my full name." She nodded and said "Same to you," before taking off. (Fin)
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