Ultima

Pleased to see Bogdan reunited with his mother, Atma wears a pleased grin. He didn't dwell on it for long though as he began scanning those present for anything of interest. Scanning the crowd, he found himself disinterested, and wary at worse. Priest class types were often annoying to the young inventor. Templars and hunters were one thing, as slaying demons, undead, and other evils is an easy topic to bond over, but idle eyes and idle hands make for paranoid ones, and Atma didn't like being under scrutiny, so when he spotted the skeleton watching everyone from a decent cover, garbed in modern fatigues with a shotgun, Atma's interest was piqued. Unperturbed by Dijon's ghastly appearance, Atma approached him with a friendly wave. Do I spy another connoisseur of firearms? A shotgun? What model is that?! Atma respected Dijon's personal space but was as close as one could get while trying to take a peek at his firearm.

Listening to the philosophical conversation, Atma felt inclined to chime in, and opened his mouth for a moment to offer his perspective, but refrained as he didn't want to broach the topic of Priela's or his heritage by showing how he once yearned for a human's childhood. The others may have not picked up on it, but he knew that look in her eye as she briefly paused at the fae's ichor. The thought of it caused him to rub the tip of his tongue on one of his incisors, albeit keeping his mouth closed to not look like a complete weirdo. As the brief hint of lust dissipated, Data picked up on his master's wariness, choosing to chime in for him. The cogent voice of the AI was carried by the surprisingly effective speaker module. While I understand the importance of such moral quandaries, I do recommend we pick up the pace. You are all still getting to know each other, and thus will have some growing pains before you're an effective team, and it would be most unfortunate should one of these growing pains be if something tragic should happen to the child.

Going to go ahead and pass for the next scene. I don't think Atma has any useful input now.

Lol, yeah, apologies! 😅 Thanks, but the length of the post wasn't it. More like trying to titrate ADHD meds can make you forget things exist because of hyperfixation & hyperfocus combo. No worries, I'll be more consistent in the future as my cognition is getting used to it. I just went to check my languages and realized I hadn't listed them. If ice9004 is okay with it, I'll add Romanian now.

Upon the revelation that the creature was a nuglub demon, Atma stood back up and gave a disappointed sigh. So Nuglubs take pleasure in setting up little attacks like these. Waiting in the shadows was typical Nuglub behavior they usually do this...alone? Atma realized he had got lost in thoughts, whilst his comrades were interrogating the child. Realizing Mandy had gone to scout and Lastolva following afterward, he stepped towards Bogdan, picking up on the need to console the child. He slung Morningstar across his back, letting the gun rest on his traps. He then kneeled to be eye level with him, placing a hand on the boy's head, and rubbing his head affectionately. Don't worry, Mihaly knows all there is to know. You can trust him! Atma then gave him a reassuring smile. OOC: Apologies for disappearing, I'm titrating new ADHD meds. Rolling deception to try and reassure the kid he can trust Mihaly? Deception

The moment the creature gave a death wail, Atma's eyes fell on Lastolva with a slightly disturbing grin that would have made most people uncomfortable if they were in the woods at night and began walking towards him when the terminally responsible Data interrupted his ironically chaotic master once again with a jovial tone with his usually subdued snark. I have an idea! Let's try analyzing the three-eyed creature. The shape-shifting bovine android who doesn't feel confined at all because he isn't confined to a gun isn't going anywhere. Atma stopped for a brief moment, now focusing his attention on the creature. Of course, you read my mind! Let's take a look... Atma stepped before the creature and began examining it for any signs of intelligent design. Considering Lady Priela's no doubt illustrious career, her not knowing immediately what this creature is, along with its rudimentary or perhaps nascent potential?... Ah, I bet someone made you. Are you a prototype? Or a refined tool for a specific purpose? Are you part of an experiment? Are we variables in this experiment? I'd wager the former, we're probably being watched if this is indeed an experiment. I may need to examine multiple specimens to know what the creator's signature might be, or maybe I'll get lucky and it's a signature I've seen before. In the meantime, anything that doesn't look like a product of "Mr. Literally Holier than Thou" is probably what I'm looking for... Arcana Occultism Society

As Lastolva takes on the offensive and transforms, Atma moans in excitement, seemingly completely forgetting they are in a life-or-death situation. OH MY GOODNESS!!! DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT?! THAT'S SO COOL! Atma then began staring off in a random direction, as he turned to his introspection but verbalized it. Is he a cyborg? Would be interesting to have a colleague. I wonder if he was able to find a solution to glial cell build-up. Or what if he's not a cyborg and an AI?! Is he as smart as Da- Atma froze still for a moment as an electric impulse surged through his rifle, electrocuting him. Monster, Child, allies in danger. FOCUS! Atma's eyes began to glow a brilliant gold as his talking rifle began to hum with energy. The hum turned into a powerful drone as the barrel began to cackle with divine energy. A brilliant light briefly shone, and the air screamed as the Morningstar unleashed a bullet propelled by Atma's technical ingenuity at the attacking monster. Overdrive Morningstar Attack Damage

Sounds good.

Upon seeing the scene, Atma maintains ten feet behind Mandy watching for anything odd, his trigger finger poised as his right hand supports the barrel of Morningstar. He wore a friendly smile, not wanting to scare a child, but in truth, he was poised to aim and blow away the child and the cat's corpse should anything seem off. There were no quips from Atma's assistant, you could cut the tension with a knife. Perception

Apologies, posting now.

Yes, it's that good. This is easily the best Final Fantasy game in decades. They wanted to make a game worthy of Square's legacy, so they pulled it off. I'm halfway through the game, and it's blown me away. There's so much content in this game. It makes Remake look like a tech demo, and is reminiscent of KH1 to KH2 in how much they refined the combat. I've shed tears a few times, I've laughed out loud, and I've been grinning ear to ear with each encounter. This is probably going to get game of the year if there's not another surprise upset like Baldur's Gate 3.

Atma had been happy to just shadow Priela and Mihaly. It was the most logical tactic, as the odds of a child alone in these woods crying not being a deception were low but as Mandy wanted to rush forward, the young inventor quirked his head as he assessed the situation. What if Mandy is right, and they're risking a child's life? It was a nonzero possibility that there was indeed a child in danger. So Atma walked up to get within earshot of Priel and Mihaly, and quickly whispered his thought process. Mandy's heart isn't going to afford her the pragmatism needed to assess the situation. So this is what we can do. I'll proceed along with Mandy, and if it is an ambush, I'll have her back since I'm fully expecting that to be the case. If so, then you guys will be our counter-ambush pincer attack, while Mandy and I are the decoys. If possible, I'd like to interrogate whomever or whatever may be responsible for orchestrating our demise... Atma then kicked up his pace and caught up with Mandy. You're right, Mandy! We can't take the risk of some child alone with a nightmare in the black! It is our duty to rescue the child, we have no luxury of caution and skulking about in the night! TO ARMS! Atma then grabs Data's module, re-installing it into Morningstar before beginning to run at pace with Mandy toward the origin of the crying child. Why are you and the pop star breaking off from your wiser colleagues in the middle of the night? Data then hears the crying and makes an audible sigh. I'd provide you the statistical possibility of this not being a trap, but since you're so determined to end up dead, I'll leave you to it. Atma groans in annoyance. Oh, ye of little faith...

My bad, forgot reality existed for a moment because of FFVII Rebirth, posting now 😅

As Priela questioned him on the patrol relief, Atma blushed with embarrassment. He didn't want to tell her he got distracted tinkering to get his rifle to function as a light source and had no clue where the others were. Being raised with one foot in vampire society, Atma had never met a vampire anywhere near his age, let alone a dhampir, and so he assumed body language like a scolded child, rubbing the back of his head while shifting on one foot to the other. We...split up! Yes, yes. The others received a call and had to double back to camp. With my skills, they figured I'd be fine rendezvousing with you guys! As Velvet greeted him, Atma gave her a respectful nod, silently grateful she chimed in, giving him a chance to change the subject. Likewise! Data is going be out of commission for the moment because...well he's in a bit of a mood, but I'm sure he'll be happy to chat with you later! As Priela commented on their Yankee disposition, Atma swallowed a lump in his throat knowing full well that, in that regard, he was as American as one could be. Before he could think up an appropriate response, the cries of the alleged child were his saving grace. Did you hear that?! No time to lose! We've got to check on that child! Atma then began to step in that direction, but not advancing on his own, gesturing with his thumb to try and convince the group to take action. He was a goofball, but even he wasn't going to run into the darkness of these woods with reckless abandon alone. Atma then looked off in no apparent direction as a thought came to mind. Wait a minute, if the patrol left me behind to rendezvous with my current comrades, where are they?

As the last rays of sunlight graced the team, an obnoxiously bright artificial light began beaming at them. It grew closer and closer before only being a dozen feet from the group of slayers. Hello Everyone! Not to worry with my Morningstar, I'll be able to light- The light began to flicker, making the beam ever more obnoxious. As the light flickered, Atma's sunny but embrassed smile came into view for anyone not looking directly at the light, as well as the weapon he was referring to. An impressive ornate rifle with a divine motif. Silver with hints of gold, the weapon was nearly as tall as he was. ...just...a moment... Atma began tinkering with the rifle to stabilize the beam, before it shorted out altogether. The rifle then did something that was even more obnoxious, it spoke. As I've explained repeatedly to you, relying on your immature abilities for anything beyond the primary function of Morningstar was a bad idea. Data! Not in front of my comrades, you're gonna make me look like I don't know what I'm doing! You don't. If you did, you'd have thought about the ramifications of not having a supplementary power source, and now I have to go to sleep for perhaps thousands of years because you're going to all be killed by a thousand-year-old- Snip. Placing a component into his pocket, Atma wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow. Oh, look at that, Data is malfunctioning, saying crazy things... SO! How was the trek, guys? Did you manage to spot any creepy crawlies?