forum Your Worst Nightmare OxO || RP w/ AltrinceTheAsianBean ^-^

Started March 18, 2020 by @Moriarty

tune

(That is okay, friend! ^-^ I understand completely.)

Zeke let out a small laugh, though it was forced. He wasn't the best at lying. Or acting. He was experienced when it came to fighting, but when it came to being charismatic– eh, not so much. "Just going for a walk. It's a nice place to do it," he responded slowly, clearing his throat. He glanced towards her canvas. It was a nicely done piece of work, he'd give her that much. But he didn't have time to make small talk or admire her artistic abilities. He had a job to do. Kill her. Leave her dead body to rot in the sun. Seemed simple enough, except for the fact that he felt like he was at a disadvantage. There were no shadows for him to hide in, and there was no hiding place for him to teleport to if the need arose. He was stuck. Not to mention, if he did win, he would count it more luck and his element of surprise rather than a fair fight– and, if he won that way, would he have truly bested her? He chewed his lip, debating this while he tugged at his backpack straps. Frankly, he didn't look remotely villainous without using his powers or wearing his Nightmare apparel. Perhaps that was why he liked the shadows so much; he wasn't intimidating at all without them.
"You drew this?" he inquired, nodding towards the canvas. "It's not so bad. Better than I could do." He wasn't quite sure why he bothered complimenting her; maybe some dark part of him that enjoyed beguiling her, since he was aware she had no clue of his identity.

Lynn raised a small brow.
”You haven’t answered my question yet,” she scooted a bit closer to the man ”mind if I tagged along?” she asked again, giving off a genuine ray of chaotically positive energy. Her shirt, at that time, was a natural greenish color. More likely that not, it came from the grass she laid on. If anything, she felt safe around these places and though her usual clothing is basically her heroine format, she was never against having a couple of fans approach her when she travelled. Not that it mattered, this gentleman either doesn’t care that he’s in the face of Pastel or he just doesn’t know.

"Well, I'm not really going anywhere. Just– out–" Zeke managed, his face flushing a bit due to just his own awkwardness. This was not going according to plan. He was supposed to come here to kill her, not take a peaceful walk through the countryside with her. Ugh. Why did things have to get so complicated? And her positive energy was about to kill him, he was sure of it. He was going to overdose on the brightness of the entire situation and just keel over if he didn't get the heck out of there.
Then again, maybe if they ventured off together, they could stumble across a dark forest– and maybe there he could make his attack. Plenty of shadows. Plenty of darkness. No one to hear her screams–
He swallowed and nodded a bit. "But, I– uh, I don't see why not."
Well, the only good thing his generally awkward nation was doing for him was ensuring that he wasn't intimidating. That was a plus for now (albeit an unintentional one), since he didn't want her to know who he was.

”Sweet!” she smiled with glee before scooting to his side and tucking on his sleeve before pointing towards a tranquil-looking path.
”There’s this nice forest pathway I heard of though I’m not brave enough to go alone—“ she looked back to the man ”—but now that you’re here, I might just be brave enough” she gave a nervous laugh.
”Oh, right! Names! I’m Evelyn, also known as ‘Pastel’—“ she introduced herself before she went to quickly gather her equipment ”—and you are?”

Zeke's face flushed more, and he swallowed. Things were definitely not going as planned. Not even close. Abort mission. Abort mission.
Darn his inability to handle even the simplest of scenarios without getting flustered.
He glanced down at her hand on his sleeve. Even though he hadn't released his name to the public, he wondered if it would be risky of him to tell her his actual name. It wasn't likely she'd have any clue who he was, but just to be on the safe side, he made up a fake one on the fly. "Nick." He cleared his throat, promising himself not to forget what name he used. This was already turning into a disaster. The last thing he needed to do was forget his own fake name. He stared at her momentarily before a look of false recognition washed over him. "Oh, you're that hero chic, aren't you?"

(Evelyn will be the death of me irl if she was real to be honest XD and yes Zeke will be regretting everything)

”Don’t call me that, I’m just a rogue to be honest.” she gave a rueful grin before stepping in front of the man and turning back to him.
”I know the way, just follow me” she claimed as she started on the path. She was wearing her usual clothes though her baseball cap wasn’t exactly the light gray it used to be. Today it was red with the yellow text of ”I’m Fire~!” imprinted on it.
”So, Nick—“ she started after some time of walking ”—what do you do for a living? Like do you work somewhere or for someone? Sorry if it’s a little weird to ask, I’m just curious, heheh” she chuckled a bit at the end, reaching her hand to cover her mouth.

Zeke chewed his lip as he followed her, wondering where the heck he went wrong. How did a simple mission to kill this chic turn into– whatever this was? It wasn't supposed to be this complicated.
Find Pastel.
Kill her.
Go home.
Seemed easy enough– but maybe it wasn't, because now he was apparently some guy named Nick who was going on a walk. And that walk happened to be with the very person he was supposed to be fighting with right now.
He should've stayed home.
Or at least done some more thorough planning instead of coming after her on a whim just because he got embarrassed about losing to her last night.
Oh, boy. What a mess he had gotten himself into. What a lie he was spinning himself into– and he just seemed to be getting deeper.
"I'm– well– uh–" He tripped over his own words. What's a job that he can say he has without having to prove it? Agh– His nerves were about to go through the roof. This entire mission– big mistake. He scolded himself for ever being foolish enough to think this would work. "I work for myself right now. I'm an aspiring writer," he said, hoping that lie could sustain him for now. It was something that couldn't be proved if he hadn't finished a manuscript– which he hadn't, since he was most definitely not a writer– and a simple, quick answer. Still, he wasn't the best liar to walk the earth. Not even close.

”Hm?” Lynn stopped when the man said he worked as a writer. She turned to face him and took a really deep breath.
”WhatKindOfStoriesDoYouWrite?DoYouHaveAnyFavoriteWriters? CanYouTellMeMoreAboutYourBooks? CanWeWorkTogetherSometime?! IWouldLoveToDoThat!!—“ she paused and took a breather ”—please?” she blinked casually before what appeared to be stars glittered in her eyes. She was pressuring chaotic positive energy into the man and it was possibly too much to handle.

Zeke's eyes were round by the time she finished. He'd never been a religious man, but he was ready to pray to God for mercy and escape from this entire situation before he drowned in positivity and anxiety– two words which were possibly synonyms in Zeke's mind. After all, this was the guy who liked to sit alone in the shadows, stare in to the dark, and contemplate what would be the best way to die.
This most certainly was not the best way to die.
His face burned, because his lie just kept getting more out of control– as did this overly enthusiastic woman, who was starting to freak him out. He needed to get away from her. ASAP. To think, he'd come here to kill her and now he was almost on the verge of fleeing from her.
He swallowed hard and took a step back, maybe just to put more distance between her and the overwhelming amount of psychotic– er, chaotic positivity.
Had she really defeated him a second time without even trying? Maybe not physically, but– essentially, yes. There was no way Zeke could say he was winning this round.
"Oh, um–" Which question was he even supposed to start with? This was a disaster. 1000% out of control. He never realized such a simple task could go so horribly wrong. "Maybe." He didn't show it too much, but deep down inside, he was ready to panic. And leave. Maybe he'd be wiser to just accept defeat since she was quite possibly insane. "Well– what about you?" he blurted out in a desperate attempt to change the subject. "What do you do for a living? B-besides– being a rogue or a hero or whatever–"

Evelyn gave the man a daring grin with a raised brow.
”Well…” she took a deep breath… again.
”I work as a freelance, a digital artist. I make money selling landscape paintings and portraits. For landscapes, as you might have seen, I just finished that burnt village one. As for portraits…” she got out an A4 sized folder which was packed.
”I draw heroes and villains I’ve encountered and so far, this has to be my favorite one—“ she got out one of the several sheets, one that showed a finely done portrait of the infamous ‘Nightmare’ in an action stance.
”I met him last night and honestly, he was cooooooooool~~ I’m not supposed to say this, but I will. I am a big fan of his” she stated with a small smile.
”You know him? He’s quite famous! And honestly adorable in his own way… somehow!”

Zeke's face burned red hot.
Did she just call him adorable?
Yes. She did. Adorable. That was her exact wording.
"I– but– he–" He sputtered, unable to string his own words together. He wasn't adorable. He was a killer. He was a force to be reckoned with! How could she think he was adorable? That was– ridiculous. He wasn't sure which was worse: the blow he'd taken to his self imagine (considering how much emphasis he placed on himself to become intimidating) or the fact that he was so flustered by that simple statement. "He– He's not adorable," Zeke managed, a little more defensively than he intended to. "Why would you think he's adorable? I mean he– kills people." His face grew warmer and warmer, while his heartrate was already through the roof. He needed to chill, because on some level he realized that now would possibly be the worse and most awkward time to blow his cover.

”Yeah? Let’s see… killed a hero who had a secrecy in crime, another who committed several frauds, another who abused his wife to the point of suicide. If he’s anything, he’s an idol for other villains” she claimed, listing the cases she remembered from ‘Nightmare’. There was… a slight air of fana—no, a strong fanatical air.
”Say what you want about me, but he’s great!” she presented her thoughts like it was her second nature.

Her phone rang. She took the device out of her pocket and gasped a bit.
”Oh dear—“ she leaned in a tad bit closer to the man ”—sorry but I’ll have to go. I have an event I have to attend at the Grand Museum. See you around Nick!” she ran the other direction, giving the man a wave and a cheerful smile before going full speed to the bus stop.

"Bye."
Zeke did have justification for all of the heroes he killed. He wasn't a serial killer or a mindless murderer. But he wasn't adorable. Or at least, he didn't think he was. He wasn't supposed to be.
It didn't help that he was already so discomposed and blushing scarlet just from their short encounter. This did not end how he had hoped or intended it would. He… was supposed to kill her. Instead, she killed him. Maybe not literally, but… close enough.
The problem was that he left that place not knowing how he felt about anything anymore. He wanted to be upset and mad– because he was not adorable. That word made him feel weak. Vulnerable. Small. He didn't like it. Even if it had a positive connotation– he didn't want to be labeled as adorable. Nobody would take him seriously.
At the same time, he felt like a jerk. Sure, he wasn't the most moral person in the world, but he still had a conscience– and it was chastising him big time the entire trip home. He had went all that way with intentions to kill her, when she had only good things to say about him. Granted, he wasn't sure whether or not he considered adorable a good thing– but she had some positive image of him in her head, like he was actually a decent person. To put it simply, he felt kind of bad for wanting to kill her in the first place.
When did murdering his enemies get so complicated?
Needless to say, Pastel had won not only last night's physical battle, but today's mental battle as well– whether intentional or not.

(Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet~)

”Greetings! Greetings! Aaaah! You’re adorable!!” Pastel did not have time to mentally prepare for the barrage of people and fans who came to her. As soon as she stepped out of the bus, she was no longer given a second to breath. Gradually, she would enter the building and the room she was told to be in for the time being. It was a simple waiting room per se. She was alone in the room and had to wait until the master of the event would arrive which would be another half an hour or so. She looked out the window which was the only way for her to see what was happening.
She sighed, looking at her suitcase and the images of some of the villains she had drawn… her eyes widened.
She went straight back to the window and looked up. It was a crescent moon.
”Perfect night, isn’t it…?”

”Crescent…”

A masked and white suited figure stood atop the Museum’s rooftop, looking down at the crowd which started to gather.

“𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜…“ the villain murmured to himself, staring off into the vast sky and the ever so beautiful crescent moon.

Pastel, being herself, exited herself to make her way to the rooftop where she was sure the villain was. Of course, the sketch she made of this villain was not yet complete so this… this was the perfect opportunity to gather information.

She opened the door that led to the rooftop.
“𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚕…? 𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝚊𝚖 𝙸 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎…“ the villain in white laughed a bit.

Lynn gave the man a determined stare, hiding her internal fan-girling.
”Why are you he—“ before she could even finish, the man in question pulled out a detonator.

“𝙳𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎… 𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎… 𝙸’𝚖 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐…“

It hit her.
The Main Hall will be filled by 9:30 which meant that… she looked down at her watch.
Fifteen minutes until the start of the event.
She knew how maniacal ‘Crescent’ could be. He was serious that he was here to kill. She froze…

Meanwhile, Zeke had arrived back in town as well– and he'd retreated back into his Nightmare alias, into his general dwellings of darkness and shadows where he could mull over his pained existence. He tried not to think about his encounter with Evelyn earlier. No. That whole ordeal had him all discombobulated, and he hated being discombobulated.
At least the sky had darkened with the evening, which meant shadows were plentiful. He recalled Pastel mentioning something about going to the Museum, but he wasn't thinking about that now. Maybe it crossed his mind once. Or twice. But he was someways off, drifting through an alley. He had no real goal tonight except to clear his mind and get out for awhile, truth be told. His stress levels were through the roof– and for what? Because some hero had insulted him? Technically she had complimented him, and for some reason that made him even more tore up.
But maybe he would go and see.
Not her of course. No. No. He didn't want to speak with her again. She'd beat him in another fight, knowing his luck, and then proceed to make him flustered and upset.
But maybe he could still go and see the Museum. Just to check it out. Out of curiosity.
Or maybe he'd be wiser to avoid it altogether. He sighed lightly, unsure of what to do or how to stop thinking about it. It wasn't like he cared what she thought, or what anybody thought. Okay, so, he cared a little what people though, because he didn't want them to think he was adorable– because nobody would take an adorable villain seriously– but still.

“𝙸𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚕?!“ the villain who obviously had the advantage shouted at the heroine as he was fighting her, constantly reminding her of the detonator he had with him and how he could press it at any time.
The heroine could not fight back, that would be unwise. However, if she’s going to stand there without doing anything, what’s the difference… her train of thoughts went off its rail though when she was pushed to the ledge of the rooftop, only holding onto it with her right hand.
She looked down and gasped fearfully.

“𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎, 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝? ’𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚎, 𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚕, 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝’… 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎—“ the villain in question stepped on her hand and applied force onto it “—𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚜 𝚊 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞…“

She was holding on for dear life.
She wasn’t going out this way, was she? Whatever the case, she wasn’t going to give up. Not like this.

In the meantime, Zeke found himself with nothing better to do, and he eventually gave in to the pressing desire to go to the Museum. Just for the heck of it, of course. He constantly reassured himself that it was only because he was curious and bored, and that it had nothing to do with the fact that Evelyn was there. Of course not. He… didn't want to see her anyway. Not after she made him feel all weird and awkward.
Yet, he headed to the Museum anyway.
Teleporting was a quick way of travel, and even though his was limited to line-of-sight, he was only several blocks away in the first place. A couple poofs of disappearing and reappearing, and he was there, standing in the shadows across the street from the large building.
Hm. That was odd.
Someone was dangling from the edge of the roof.
But it wasn't just a random civilian.
It was Evelyn.
His eyes widened slightly.
He recognized the villain standing over her, too. Crescent, or something like that. He definitely seemed to have the upper hand.
Well, hey– maybe this was for the best. Crescent could kill her, and then Zeke wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.
But… he couldn't really do that, could he? He couldn't just stand by and watch her get hurt. That would be messed up.
"Crud," Zeke murmured to himself. He may have taken more time to consider his actions had not the whole situation seemed so imminent. Not to mention, he was unaware of the presence of any detonator. What happened next occurred within a span of only a split second. Shadows whirled around him as he vanished and instantaneously reappeared in the air directly above Crescent– to whom he delivered a sharp kick to the jaw as he fell and landed on the edge of the roof. Zeke swung an arm to reach for Evelyn, hoping to grasp her hand before she could fall–

Within that blink of an eye, her wrist was taken as she was held by someone. She was too in shock to see who had saved her.
”Thank yo—“ she looked up and was shocked at her find ”—N-Nightmare…?” she gasped a bit before using her own strength to pull herself up.
”I owe you one, I’ll tell you that…” she said to the assassin after she held her composition.

”𝚈𝙾𝚄…“ Crescent did not seem satisfied with the situation one bit.
“𝚆𝙷𝙾𝚂𝙴 𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙾𝙽, 𝙽𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃𝙼𝙰𝚁𝙴?!“ the villain asked, getting out his signature crescent-shaped blade.
The detonator flew out of the villain’s hand, landing at the other side of the rooftop. Luckily, it was currently closed.

Evelyn tried her best to not squeal at what had just happened between her and Nightmare, that Nightmare. Her heart was pounding rapidly but this was not the time.

Zeke didn't bother responding to Evelyn just yet– mostly because there were still other problems at hand. Namely Crescent. He narrowed his eyes at the man and the weapon. "I'm on nobody's side but my own," he responded. Okay, so, that wasn't necessarily true. In general, it was, but in this current scenario, he realized it was fairly obvious whose side he was on. But he wasn't going to admit that with his lips, even if his actions proved it to be so. His gaze landed on the detonator, and, though he couldn't immediately tell what it was from this distance, he assumed it was important. But he would go after that later. You know, once the massive blade wasn't a threat to his life. Or, more specifically, Evelyn's, since Zeke could technically teleport himself out of the way if necessary. "Going to try to kill me, too, are you?" he inquired nonchalantly, seemingly unmoved by the presence of the blade. It was ironic how he could maintain his composure in life-threatening situations or battles, and yet he was a nervous wreck when simply having a conversation with Lynn.

“𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚋𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚋𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚠?“ the nocturnal villain answered before rushing at Nightmare quite prematurely.

Lynn knelt down and absorbed the grayish color of the floor before using it to create a wall between Crescent and Nightmare.
”What a straight forward attack…” she commented, creating another wall behind and around him before sealing it shut with a spiked top. She basically locked him in a concrete cuboid.

Lynn went over to the detonator. She knelt down to pick it up before turning back to face Nightmare.
”I hate to ask but…” her heart was pounding immensely ”…why did you help me…? Weren’t you the one who wanted me dead the most…?” she looked him in the eye.
”Answer me truthfully, Nightmare”
She faked her courage and made it seem like she was serious. Internally, she could faint from happiness right then and there

Zeke was glad he had a mask covering the lower half of his face so that the red flush creeping up his cheeks wasn't evident. Being Nightmare was much easier than being Zeke, because he could hide behind the facade of a man who was distant, stoic, and unapproachable. Or, at least, he liked to think he could. "Because if he killed you, then I wouldn't be able to do it myself," he blurted out, trying to sound as detached as possible, though that was far from the reason why he had helped her. "This is a one-time ordeal. Don't get any crazy ideas and think I'm your ally now– because I'm not." He felt the need to clarify that. He resisted the urge to state that he wasn't adorable, either. "Besides, don't you have something to be doing? In there?" He motioned down, referring to inside the Museum.

”I do but I was only invited so it’s not necessary that I show up……” she paused a bit.
”How do you know about my invitation…? It was last minute and I wasn’t on the list of guests…” she asked with a concerned expression. By last minute, she meant last night.
She had a silly thought in her head but that was unlikely. If that was actually true, she would probably die out of embarrassment. She shook her head a little bit. No, no, no. That couldn’t be true, could it? She was very much confused.