Gathering Shadows (Ava & Mistress Obsidian)

TTRPG

Necati's bracelet worked as it was intended. Marina Collins found herself roused mysteriously  from her nap. Releasing a small, groggy groan she stood up from her once peaceful respite. Giving her eyes a quick rub she stretched and looked around. Marina had an urge to move.

She slipped on her shoes. Seeing as she hadn't been resting long, her hair was unaffected. Slipping put of her apartment she hurried along the street. Marina was not garbed in her usual attire, but instead she wore black skinny jeans, converse, and a gray trench coat. She hadn't brought her gloves, which made it quite clear that she cared much less about brushing skin with others.

It didn't take a while longer of walking until she fell into step with Necati for a few paces. Her foggy mind cleared and she stopped walking, looking at him with a smile and a raised eyebrow. "I should have guessed..."

Her exhaustion soon melted away to reveal her now pleased amusement. Necati had so easily managed to brighten her mood. She settled down onto the bench and listened intently as he spoke. Smiling still she nodded when he had finished.

She spoke up. "I honestly don't mind the intrusion, or the company." With quiet calm she leaned against him, her slightly smaller frame settling in beside his.

"Perhaps you are right. I may find myself with another friend." Though Marina was still a bit too tires for friend making, she would happily ensure the hassle of it be it to Nec's advantage. She closed her eyes and yawned for a moment before looking out for said arriving being with her placid gray eyes.

It was fairly dark outside by the time Obsidian had finally finished her nightly patrol, and the blonde girl was stood on a rooftop of one of the buildings in downtown Jump City. The teen didn’t smile, but she felt content enough. She was in her element – the shadows were amassing, and the sun wasn’t to be found... At least, not for a few hours.

Yet... something was different. Obsidian wasn’t sure what, but even the shadows in the area were acting oddly. She ran forwards at the edge of the roof and just as it looked like she was going to fall over the edge, she seemed to vault over the edge of the roof. Momentum still propelling her forward, she left through the air. She landed on the building to her left, slightly bending her knees upon landing due to it being shorter than the first building. Obsidian straightened up and looked around, wondering what it could be. If it even had the shadows reacting, then it was something worth investigating.

But suddenly from below the building Obsidian had just landed on, she felt something... strong... almost suffocating. She couldn’t put her finger on it – whatever it was, it was exceedingly powerful. Its presence was... very potent. Very potent indeed. Much more than anyone she’d ever met – at least, anyone she remembered – and it piqued her curiosity. Maybe she used to know them, and the odd reaction she was having to it was something to do with it?

Probably wouldn’t hurt to follow it. It might be a villain or something that I’d fought before I came here.

Quickly she looked from the roof, having seen the cause of the presence moving away from her peripheral vision. Her head whipped around, observing silently. It looked like a man. But as she watched he seemed to be gliding away from her, as if he wasn’t a civilian at all... She had to check this out.

Again, Obsidian had started to follow this man from the rooftops. The heroine was as silent as she’d ever been, avoiding the lights and jumping over rooftops, yet still the man seemed to be even quieter than she was. Obsidian took her eyes off of him briefly to jump to the next rooftop when she noticed he was heading to central park. She waited for him to enter before she leapt from the last building, landing with a silent thud. The blonde hero quickly walked through the gates after him, and let the gate clang behind her – after all, he’d simply think it was what he’d done – before seeming to collapse into the shadows again. Powers activated, she had completely merged into the shadows. By this point, she’d moved forwards through these shadows as he seemed to sit down on one of the benches. Maybe she was wrong and he was a civilian. Maybe she did know him, though.

Before she could rematerialize in her regular form, she sensed two things. One, the shadows had started moving. Not by her own will, but she guessed maybe this guy may have been doing it... she wasn’t quite sure. And the second thing she sensed? Why, it was simply a girl walking over to him. It was possible that they knew each other somehow, but Obsidian couldn’t really tell that so well.

For a while, she heard them chatter, before she started to focus. Within a few seconds, she had retained her human form behind them, stood next to one of the trees. They had started talking about making friends by this point. Obsidian vaguely wondered why, before the nearly suffocating power held by the man on the bench had caused her to refocus. Maybe they’d already realized she was there. Just in case they hadn’t though, Obsidian got ready to walk around to find out who – exactly 0 they were, but froze in her tracks at the very next thing they’d both done.

It was no unknown fact – at least to herself – that Obsidian was going to ‘say hello’, as it were. Yet, she was cautious. She didn’t know – or remember – any of them, so she couldn’t have simply just walked out like some fool. She’d been debating on whether to do so or not when a harsh wind had blasted up from the south, causing her to slightly step back. They were still talking, and she didn’t want to interrupt them. They both looked up, and Obsidian would have sighed if she’d had no sense of control.

Fortunately, she managed not to do that. It would have been rude. She heard the man say something about shadows, and revealing oneself. Obsidian stepped forward again, waiting for them to quieten. However, she was cut off speaking when a lone owl had hooted, and Obsidian blinked. There were owls here? She liked owls... Obsidian snapped back to reality when the shadows she had been standing in suddenly receded, as if one of the street lamps had suddenly fallen from the sky.

However, this was not the case. She knew she wasn’t the one controlling them, so that only left the other two... she’d been spotted. Well, she wasn’t going to run away again – that was cowardly, and she wouldn’t even think of that – and in either case, a wall had suddenly formed around the park. Damn.

The wind had receded, yet the sky still churned. Obsidian looked up at it for a moment, deducing that the same force that had just made the shadows move had done this, too. By this point, she already knew she was dealing with something powerful.

Stop losing your focus! What is with you tonight, Dee!? How are you going to even be able to join the titans if you keep being like this!?

Obsidian looked down from the sky, instantly noticing that the man had stood up. Now that he was closer, Obsidian noticed that he had silver hair and his eyes...

His eyes were what drew her in. She didn’t know why. She didn’t move, but those eyes held the enormity of his power – of which she could see, anyway – and she just couldn’t look away.

Mostly because those eyes stared into her soul, but Obsidian knew that this must have been some sort of... intimidation tactic. Yes, that must be it...

He was watching her closely, so she let her face fall blank again. It was something she’d somewhat mastered – the ability to mask every single one of her emotions in an instant. This was one of the times she was glad for her mask. It at least obscured her identity.

“Aww my dear it appears our guest has arrived though a bit earlier than expected…tsk tsk didn’t you know eaves dropping is rather rude. Especially among friends.” Obsidian heard him say, and that confused her. Too much. So she did know him. But who was he? Obsidian didn’t know. Not at all...

For his rather intimidating reaction to her, he seemed to be rather friendly. That confused her too, and made her rather... suspicious. She didn’t know why she felt that, either. Maybe it was because he’d trapped them all in there. He was talking about her being his long time friend... of more than a decade? How could this be? Had she somehow been frozen for that long? Had something happened? She didn’t remember... everything was fuzzy. She remembered nothing from before she had arrived. Maybe this man knew. She nearly – underline nearly – had jumped when he suddenly laughed. There must have been some good memories...

The girl that had been with him was introduced to her as Marina. Obsidian watched silently as she was introduced, and she seemed to nod in greeting. Again, even this girl had eyes that weren’t... like other eyes she’d seen. Marina’s seemed... threatening... as if she was about to strike. Obsidian knew she’d have to be wary about Marina. As well as the white haired guy... she didn’t remember either of them, but at least she somewhat knew that she’d never known Marina. At least. "As he said.. I'm Marina." Obsidian watched her stick out her hand, and the wariness intensified.

If she said that she was half afraid she’d be sucked into another dimension by this gesture, she’d be lying. She just felt highly suspicious of it all. But... she had to take a chance. She wasn’t going to let then think she was rude.

So she accepted the handshake, not realising that it was one of the first terrible mistakes she’d made since arriving her, but that wasn’t something Obsidian knew until the physical contact had started. Tremendous pain raced through every single cell of her being, and every one of her senses – sight, hearing, smell, everything – seemed to be obliterated by this agony. Even her breathing, though that was not a sense, had completely stopped for those few seconds. Everything had seemed to have stopped, apart from this eternal torture...

On the inside, she was in agony. She would have effed and blinded. Her old self probably would have, too. But now... she was in the future. With no memory of whom she used to be. She had changed.

Yet, Marina and Necati would have been somewhat disappointed at the turnout of her physical reaction, not that Obsidian was deliberately intending it. She had simply stayed silent during the entire five seconds, and had almost fallen to the floor.

By the time the pain had receded and the fog had gone, Obsidian had very nearly attacked them both. It was outrageous, but at least she hadn’t done anything to show those emotions... No, instead she’d slightly stepped back. And let herself breathe again. She kept her temper in check, before fully straightening up again.

“...Nice to meet you both... And that's a nice power you have there, Marina..” She said, slightly nodding. “And I’m afraid I don’t recognize you... friend?” Her eyes travelled to the silver haired being... and she didn’t recognise him at all.

Then again, she didn’t even recognise a single face since she’d arrived. Not a single one. That is how bad it was. She just hoped she regained her memories soon enough.

OOC: This is going to be.. painfully short, since there isn't much Marina can do.

BIC: Marina didn't have to see the physical agony to know that it was affecting Obsidian. She began to hum softly as she leaned gently on Necati for a moment, smiling a deceptively warm smile. "Why thank you.." Then, as she looked back up at Nec, the smile became genuine. She straightened up, staring directly at Obsidian to wait for Nec to continue the dealings.