forum GateWorld: Keepers of the Gates//7/8//Group Rp//

Started April 10, 2021 by @StarkSpangledMayflower

tune

"Yes my love, look at them run foolishly. They think they can stop me? No–" the voice chuckled darkly. "They will pay for what they did to me, and to my master."

---

"Fucking bitch, stay still so I can kill you!" Sparrow yelled at her opponent. Her position had been compromised and she had to attack her victim head on. She didn't expect that he would be so skilled. Sparrow groaned and took out her dagger, cutting through the air wildly in an attempt to injure him enough that he gives her an opening. She slit his bicep and heard him groan. "You can't escape me, the guild send their—" She coughed and looked at her chest, a deep red blossoming around a short dagger with an emerald hilt. "You were saying?" He responded and pushed her over. Sparrow fell to the ground from the top of the building and saw his face break inti a magical grin as her licked his finger. A white light burst open from his face and Sparrow fell to the ground, motionless.

A loud gasp was heard as Sparrow jerked awake and realized that she was leaning against a cobblestone gateway. It was surrounded by vines and had metal squares sticking if from places. Small bugs crawled around the metal. To Sparrow, ut almost looked like a city. She shook her head and looked to down at her dress. Wait dress? Sparrow did a soluble take and lifted the sides of the dress. It was sleeves with a raven shaped opening, fitted to her body with leather decorating it, a flowing skirt with the smallest bit of sparkles. There was a black mask with the dress and it also had two blades on a leather rope dropping at the sides as decor. "What the hell?" Sparrow muttered and walked out of the doorway.

Lance growled. He should have been able to smell her. Or at least hear her. "I don't care how many of you try to come after me, I won't stand by and let you hurt these people." He drew his sword from it's scabbard, gripping tightly.
The female dragonborn cackled. "Foolish. I am the best warrior in the Lion Den, werewolf. You can't beat me." She tossed her dagger at Lance, piercing his arm easily and pinning him to the wall.
Silver. He didn't have the time or energy to heal from a wound from a silver dagger. He couldn't move either.
"You should think twice before trying to fight the Pride leader, pup." She said, unsheathing her other dagger. "Time to meet the Hunter."
The dragonborn drove her dagger through his heart, and out the other side.
"Don't cry. That'll attract attention." She let out one last cackle before letting go of the blade and disappearing back into the night where she came from.
Lance closed his eyes. He couldn't heal from this. Try as he might, he couldn't protect his town from the evil of the Lion's den. Lance accepted the darkness, his last hope being that someone would step up and protect the town…

"Damn it." Lance said, frowning as he woke up. The knight should have been dead, bleeding out on the side of his hut.
"Well, if I'm not dead, might as well stop moping about it." He stood up and brushed his…strange. He should have had his coat and regular clothes on. But he had armor, detailed with a black armor, gold linings and some wolf emblem on the chest.
"Maybe an alchemyst. Or a wizard." Lance guessed. He shrugged, and turned his gaze to a stone doorway, where he heard a swearing, likely well dressed woman. He could smell the fabric, wrinkling his nose. "She doesn't smell great."

Meanwhile, Theo's life seemed to be taking a rather different turn. He held up his hands as a ragtag group made up of all different species from the realm of angels and demons stalked towards him. "Hey, hey, guys, we can talk about this, right?" he asked, taking another step back slowly. "I was only telling the truth, you know. Don't come at me because Althea doesn't know what mouthwash is."

"There's a difference between telling the truth and being rude," sniffed one of the angels in the group that now almost had Theo surrounded. "You didn't have to tell me that my breath was bad."

"Listen, I'm sorry, Althea, but I can't kiss someone who's breath smells they just ate a rotten tuna sandwich," protested Theo.

"There you go again!" Althea whined, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Always saying exactly what you think, like we all want to know. You can honest without telling us every thought that crosses your mind, asshole."

"I told you this was the last time you offended one of my friends," snapped the young woman at the front of the group. She was a fallen angel with battered-looking black wings and a mess of bright red hair, which had clearly just been dyed by someone much more skilled at it than whoever did the last dye job. "Now it's time to make you pay."

"So, what? You're going to kill me because I insulted your fashion choices, Nadia? Come on, I also said you were pretty," Theo responded, desperately wishing he had a weapon on him.

"That doesn't make up for it! You've insulted half of the people here, whether you meant to or not," hissed Nadia. "We aren't famous for nothing." They weren't exactly famous, though possibly infamous on a good day. Nadia's little group of mostly women was known for being a group that had members of every species, an unusual feat since demon and angel society tended not to mix most of the time. Well, that and giving punishments to people that were incredibly disproportionate to the crime. Theo glanced up, debating trying to fly away, but he knew that half of the people here could fly as well, so that probably wouldn't work out. His mind raced to think of a plan.

Suddenly, Theo heard a familiar voice. "Don't you people have something better to do?" Luciano asked, out of Theo's field of vision due to him being behind some of the members of the group surrounding him. Luciano sounded tired, clearly done with Theo's bullshit. "C'mon, just let him go. He's sorry, isn't that right, Theo?"

"Yeah, super sorry," Theo chimed in with a nod, trying to figure out exactly where Luciano was. There, between two teenage-looking demon girls, was a visible patch of Luciano's wing. "I promise not to do it again, you're all very lovely–"

"Enough!" Nadia screeched. "We are going to end you both for this injustice!"

Luciano cursed under their breath, looking for a way out of this situation. Why did Theo always have to get himself into trouble? Couldn't Luciano live their life unbothered for five minutes? Apparently not. They ended up deciding to use one of their many light arrows for this task, specifically one with a net of light attached to it. It would hopefully capture all of the creatures so that he and Theo could escape. Now to warn Theo. Unfortunately, similar situations had happened before, so they had a code word for it.

"Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag," sighed Luciano, wishing Theo was better at picking code phrases. This was why Luciano should start being the sole decision maker of the pair. At any rate, Theo quickly launched himself into the air and away from the circle of ragtag creatures, leaving them confused just long enough to Luciano to shoot the arrow and bring the net over them.

"And now, we run!" Theo cried, wasting no time getting airborne and flying away. Luciano followed him quickly, shaking their head. They soon had left the group behind, getting out of the air to rest.

"Theo, what the hell?" Luciano asked, giving him their patented glare. "I was trying to enjoy my day. I don't have time to be constantly saving you from your dumb mistakes."

"Okay, so that time it was on me, but still! Who knew Althea was part of the group of Venus?" Theo responded with a shrug. Luciano just looked at him. "Right. Well. Now we can go do something fun together."

Just then Luciano felt something go through the middle of his chest, gasping. "What–"

"Gotcha," hissed a female voice from behind him, whoever it was taking the sword out and this time, sticking it through his stomach. Luciano's blood ran hot and sticky, red quickly getting on his clothes.

"Luciano!" Theo cried, eyes wide.

"Run," the other angel gasped out as the blade was pulled back out. Oh how it hurt. And Luciano's favorite shirt was definitely ruined now. Theo's panicked gaze was the last thing Luciano saw before everything went white.

~~

Luciano blinked awake, dazed. Wasn't he with Theo? They definitely hadn't been in some sort of garden, propped up against a doorway made of a clean, bright gold, light coming softly from it. The interior of the doorway was dark, black as the void, and red vines that looked like the tail of a demon climbed up the doorway menacingly. Luciano looked out at their surroundings. The garden itself was beautiful, but they didn't remember anything about a garden.

"Theo?" they called, features creasing in worry. "Theo? Are you okay? Althea? Nadia? Hello?" Where the hell were they? And Luciano didn't feel any pain now, or blood seeping through their clothing. They looked down, seeing no blood and an entirely new outfit. It was the sort of thing that angels might have worn in days gone by, a simple white toga that was clean was draped enticingly over Luciano's body with a thin, golden belt and a matching golden circlet on their head like a crown. They were also wearing golden sandals that twined up to their knees gracefully, arms with matching golden bracelets. "What the hell?"

(Rad, ty! I'll post my starter tomorrow cause I'm sleepy lol)

USERNAME: SimonSays
PRONOUNS: he/they

Name: August McAvoy
Nicknames: Gus, Mac, doesn't really love nicknames
Age: 23
Gender: Unsure
Pronouns: He/him
Sexuality: Queer

Appearance: August has medium brown skin, lightly dotted with freckles. His irises are fully black, and he generaly wears a distant smile. He has a bubble gum pink, curly mullet that he takes great pains to style every day. It's favorite aspect of his physical appearance, though he does like to change up his hair color frequently. He's about 5'8" and a bit lanky; his energy goes into magical rather than physical strength. His ears are covered in piercings, and his lips are usually bleeding because he bites them as a nervous habit.
Species: Crystal Mage (is that right? Idk I keep confusing myself)
Clothing style: Slutty androgynous vampire
Outfit: Almost always wearing a long, dark coat that probably has some kind of pattern on the inside. Sunglasses, generally dark ones that cover his whole eyes but when he's feeling particularly confident he might go for a red tint. Either wearing a skirt with platform sandals or well-fitting pants with some kind of boots (probably also platforms). Makes his own shirts with incredibly strange sayings on them.
Distinguishing features: His hair, mainly. He also loves wearing messy eyeliner, and the eye-shaped earrings he wears are often noticeable.
Weapons: Daggers, he loves that shit. Close-range weapons give you all the drama you could possibly need in a fight.

Personality: Clearly feigned confidence combined with a dramatic flair and the soft sighs of a person who hasn't slept well in a long time. He wants to present himself as cool and collected, but is generally about 3 seconds away from an anxiety attack. To be fair, he's generally decent at hiding how anxious he is at all times, but it isn't difficult for a person who knows him well to figure out just how much of his self-assured personality is fake.
Likes: Rain, soft lighting, loud laughter, always having company, warm drinks on cool nights, angering people who annoy him, moths
Dislikes: Being alone, the dark, silence, yelling, large dogs
Power/s: (if any) Uses his power over shadows to bend them, can temporarily hide things from view (which has gotten him out of several unpleasant encounters with police). Theoretically, he could also use this to make himself less visible, but hiding things is exhausting, so he's never tried it. He can also reanimate a dead person for a few minutes before he blacks out, which has been great for interrogating dead people. It's much easier to raise dead animals, and he often has some small skeletal creature with him just for company. (Idk if these are things he'd be able to do just lemme know lol)
Realm of Origin: Saiorin (I hope I got this right, Saiorin was the last one open right?)
Habits: Biting his lips, spinning daggers like they're toys, tapping his fingers on every available surface, often seen sucking on a lollipop. Also a tad bit of drug use.
Family/friends: Has siblings scattered all over, but they don't talk much. Only one close friend, Cassie, who's known him since they were kids. He doesn't like letting people really know him.
Fears: Small spaces, abandonment.
Backstory: Strict father who put him in situations he doesn't want to remember, siblings who didn't help, absent mother, lots of running away, and now here he is.

Any other information?: Don't think so

(Lemme know if I got something wrong or if I should change anything!)

(Forgot I had two characters for a moment-)
Nicole fiddled with her ear piercings nervously. She didn't like this.
Her father had left for an emergency call to work, leaving her with her books and staff.
"Always having to work…always leaving for emergencies…" She whispered to herself.

Nicole jumped at a loud crash. It had sounded like glass, from the kitchen.
"The hell?" She inched forward, brandishing her staff.
"Who's there?" Nicole said, opening the door.

A slithering voice responded. "No one."

Nicole frowned. "Okay, come out. Now." She said.
No one came out, infuriating Nicole.
"Fine, I'll come to you." She looked around the corner, getting hit over the head with the coffee pot, which shattered on impact. "OW. UNNECESSARY."

She couldn't see much. It was all blurry, spinning. Nicole could see a dark figure though, who blocked the light. "Where…who…" She muttered.

The figure shushed her. "Be quiet…it'll make your death quieter, calmer." It said.

Nicole panicked, letting out a scream. "LET ME GO! DAD! HELP" She kicked at the figure, fighting through the pain in her head.

All went silent as a blade slipped into Nicole's chest. She tried to cry for help, but couldn't.
"That's it…quiet…calm…" The figure said.

It left, climbing out the window it broke and left Nicole to her fate.
__________________

Nicole gasped for air. "Dad!" She yelled.
But…something was different. This wasn't her house. It was a garden.
She looked behind her, seeing a door, filled with carvings of birds, and bird nests on the top of it.
"The hell…?" Nicole muttered as she got up, brushing herself off. Her clothes were the same, and they didn't have a hole or bloodstains on them.
It was a win in her book.
She looked around, listening to the birds, feeling the dirt and stones under her feet.
"Hello? Anyone there?"

Destiny walked around in paces as her sister Luz looked up at her from the nut chair she was sitting on. Axel was nowhere to be found, and it was worrying Destiny. For a minute, she thought she could leave to search for her brother, but then remembered she had a sister to take care of. "Well, there isn't anyone I can ask to take care of her. And even if I do find him, what if he's dead?" She mumbled to herself. Axel had a bit of a rivalry with Grindel, the elf. Okay, maybe a bit of a rivalry wasn't the right word. She constantly found her brother trying to murder Grindel, which she would always somehow manage to stop. Axel kept telling her it was because Grindel fancied her, but she highly doubted it. And if that was indeed the case, well…she just hoped something could happen to Grindel before he managed to speak a word to her. But what if Axel had succeeded this time? What if that's why he wasn't at their house? Her wings fluttered like crazy and Luz sighed.

"Go on. Go find our brother. I can take perfectly good care of myself, you know." She said as she shot her older sister a smile. "I know how to defend myself after all. I did learn from the best."

Destiny hesitated and looked at her sister. "Are you sure? It would devastate me if anything bad happened to you. Or Axel."

"Which is why you need to go find him!" She yelled. Destiny flinched when her sister yelled and Luz sighed "I'm sorry, I yelled. But you need to go find Axel as soon as possible. That nasty elf might have done something to him."

Destiny nodded as she walked to Luz. She engulfed her sister in a hug, and she knew Luz was struggling to get out, but she didn't care. She hoped that she would be able to return with their brother safely. She whispered goodbye and set off to look for her brother. It didn't take a long time to find Axel, as his loud screaming could be heard from miles away. She stopped in midair as she heard her brother scream. It wasn't a normal scream….she quickly noticed that Axel was screaming in pain and quickly flew down.

What she saw was horrible. Her brother was trying to stand up, and he was covered in blood. For Pluto's sakes She thought to herself. She didn't know if that was Fairy or Elf blood that her brother was covered in. She hoped it was the latter. Axel was clutching a dagger as he ran towards Grindel and stabbed him on his side. Grindel let out a scream, and let out a stream of swears towards Axel. "You'll pay for that, you filthy piece of a fairy!"

Grindel growled as the fingers around his spear tightened. He was about to throw the spear at Axel's wings when Destiny yelled "STOP! BOTH OF YOU!' Axel looked up as her sister made her way to the ground. Grindel smirked when he saw Destiny. "Why is it always the both of you trying to kill each other. Why can't you live in peace, for Pluto's sake?"

"Grindel started it! He was talking shit about us. I wasn't about to let him badmouth our family." Axel said angrily as he crossed his arms. He sent a threatening glare at Grindel who still had the spear in his hands. Destiny sighed and shook her head. "That gives you no right to start another fight. Couldn't you just ignore him?"

"Ignore that stupid elf? It's impossible!" Axel said. "Either way, it isn't like he would be able to fight. I gave him more injuries than he gave me."

Grindel laughed bitterly as he threw his spear at Axel. Destiny moved in front of him and the spear stabbed her on the side of her stomach. She hissed in pain as she gently took out the spear and clutched her injured side. The elf gasped softly as he stumbled backward. He had promised himself he would never hurt Destiny, and yet he had done the very thing he swore not to do. He looked around and disappeared into the trees. Axel could be heard saying "Coward! You and your kind are cowards!"

Destiny collapsed to the ground and she closed her eyes in pain. This was it. This was how she was going to die. To a stupid elf and his spear. She tightly grasped the spear in her hands as she passed out. An extremely bright light shone on her and she mumbled something. She opened her eyes and a black-cloaked figure looked down at her. She couldn't make out anything since her vision was blurry. "Axel? Is that you?" She cried out weakly.

"Come on, silly girl. Get up. There's work to do." The voice responded. To her surprise, it wasn't Axel who had responded. The figure helped her get up, and now that her vision was back to normal she could she was no longer in the forest where her brother and Grindel were fighting.

She was in a garden and behind her was a wooden door with a cobblestone frame with moss, mushrooms, and shrubs surrounding it. She looked at her side and noticed that it was healed. Her clothes were the same, but when she touched her head, a flower crown was in place. She carefully took it off and inspected the colorful crown. The black-cloaked figure took the crown out of her hand and placed it back on Destiny's head. The figure smiled at her and she looked up at the figure speechless. Her fingers around the bloody spear loosened a bit. "Where in the world am I?"

(Aa ok sorry I've been pulling a lot of all-nighters to get my grades up before conferences so I haven't had the brain power to write for fun but I am here (I hate school sometimes t-t))

August was running. Again. It seemed to be a consistent part of his life now, for him to get chased by someone. Today it was different, though. He had no idea who was chasing him this time. As he bolted through the streets, winding through small crowds, he briefly mulled over who it could be that was after him. Definitely someone tall. Definitely someone running at him with a knife. Maybe it was the mafia. They were usually subtler than this, but one never knew. He tried to think over the list of people he'd cheated recently, but no one he could remember had fit the picture of the person trailing him.

"Hey, Alexei," he panted at the skeletal bird clinging to his shoulder, "got any bright ideas?" The bird did not, and August didn't have time to have a heart-to-heart with him about his recent lack of planning skills. Alexei rattled faintly as August turned corner after corner.

"You're already dead, dumbass," he told the bird. "It's my ass we're worried about, here." August turned down another street, and was abruptly faced with a dead end. "Shit." He was trapped in a small alleyway now, and there didn't seem to be any viable way out. He started running back the way he came, hoping for an escape, only to see the figure turn into the alleyway and run at him.

"Woah!" August laughed nervously as his persuer came to a stop in front of him, blade held high. "I'm sure we can talk about this. I've got some great connections with the uh, with the crime- the criminal side of town, you know what I mean, I can get you a favor or some money or hell, I'm not above drug deals. Just name your price," he smiled, speaking far more quickly than he'd intended to.

The man in front of him was very clearly unimpressed. "I need your head, severed from the rest of your body," he stated, seeming almost bored.

"Shit, ok, I mean I'm uh- I'm definitely actually using this head right now, I'm sure there's another head you could find though, lots of people in this city, so many heads, infinite brains! My head's really nothing special, just a pretty trophy, you know, I'm sure you could find one with a lot more-" the man stepped closer. "Okay, fuck, this is exactly what my mom said was going to happen. I've got this bird! I can reanimate shit! I'm useful, there's really no need to-" the man had clearly grown tired of August, as he abruptly stabbed him directly in the chest.

"Ow, fuck," August exhaled with an immensely labored breath. The blade was pulled from his chest, and was then drawn across his throat in a swift motion that immediately ended his life. He'd always known it would end this way; he just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

---

August had quickly come to terms with the fact that he was dead. It was a fate that he'd been anticipating his whole life, and at least his death had been dramatic. Just how he'd always hoped it would be. He smiled and opened his eyes, expecting to wake up floating on a cloud or standing in front of the pits of hell. He was disappointed.

"Hey uh, what the fuck?" He called loudly to anyone who might be around to hear him.

(Sorry all! Simon, august saying "ow, fuck" before dying is a mood if I ever seen one lmao)

Sparrow walked a couple steps further and jumped when she saw more confused people standing in front of gates, each one different than the rest. "Either I'm dreaming or I'm dead." She muttered, taking in all the winged creatures and then some. "Hey, who are y'all and what am I doing here?" She said, drawing the knives in her skirt and spinning them on its chain.

Although she knew that she was in a garden, Sparrow couldn't understand where she was. If there was one thing made clear, it was that this garden wasn't on earth anymore, and yet there were birds singing. Slowly, testing the reactions of those around her, Sparrow continued to the middle of the Gates where there were 8 seats, almost thrones, similar to the different gates. She stopped spinning the knife and let it fall back against her leg, flowing slightly and circling the center. "What the fuck?" She murmured, standing in front of a seat that was made of stone and vines with metal decorating the back rest and the arms. She tentatively took a seat and felt the seat move, fitting her frame better so that her feet were just hovering off the ground and the back was tall enough that her head was cushioned by it.