The Longest War: Shards of Power

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Night came and went with little fanfare. As the first rays of dawn broke over the skyline, Edgar woke up. He rolled out of his hammock onto the tiled rooftop with a thud before rising to his feet, feeling refreshed. As he did, he looked over at the flower garden he'd begun cultivating before the war. It had been his way of unwinding after a stressful night at the bar, tending to white poppies, freesias, lily of the valley, and lavender. Something about the solitude and quiet always made him feel...happy.

After a couple hours tending to it and reflecting over their beauty, he decided it was time to get the others together. He walked down the fire escape, popping through the window and waking a sleeping Johnathan. "Sorry to startle you." he said, trying to avoid a bad situation. "Out of all the rooms, you just happened to pick the one with the fire escape on it." He said with a chuckle, before motioning to the door. "Come on, I'll make us some breakfast, and we'll work out the game plan for today." He opened the door and walked through. "By the way, if you value your privacy, take the left or right room tonight. The lock on this door doesn't work." That said, he walked to the right bedroom, changing from last night's clothing into a pair of rough, torn jeans and an oversized hoodie. It didn't occur to him that no one was in there until after he'd left.

Edgar walked down the stairs and through the hidden door to the bar, noting that Raelin was the only one left in the bar, passed out in one of the booths. He wondered why she'd spent all night down here, and where the others might be. He walked over to her and unzipped his hoodie, placing it over her like a blanket. The girl looked rather cute and innocent while she slept. Walking back to the bar, he noticed both stones were still there...

I did tell them I would be taking them in the morning if they didn't...he thought, justifying what he was about to do to himself. He grabbed a stone in each hand, letting the pain wash over him as they began to be absorbed. When they were gone, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't high. Could it be because I absorbed one last night? Maybe he had a refractory period he hadn't known about. Either way, he had things to do this morning. A few seconds of concentration, and Clone Edgar appeared once more, wearing the same clothes as yesterday. "Come on, buddy, I need an assistant. We're gonna make breakfast for the fucked up four."

C!Edgar looked around the bar, noting its emptiness. "I only see the hot one." He said, pointing out Raelin.

"I know, but I've just got a feeling, you dig? Let's get cooking."

"If you say so..." C!Edgar said, following Edgar into the kitchen. Soon, the smell of fresh corned beef hash and eggs wafted through the pub, making the place that much more inviting to those four he'd met last night.
 
The woman awoke to find herself wrapped up in some fabric that wasn't hers, but in her slumber she had clung to the inside of it, even subconsciously pulled it over her head to keep the light from bothering her. She sat up in the booth with a look of confusion on her features, taking a moment to realize she wasn't at home in her own bed. "Right," she murmured to herself. "Monster, weirdos, shards." Raelin listed the things that came back to her memory as if to reassure herself that it really wasn't a dream. The last verbally listed item brought her attention to where the shards were placed on top of the bar, though now they were no where to be seen. Fuck. I wanted those. Unfortunately after making long calls to her employees in the middle of the night she had passed out without collecting what she initially set out for.

She shook her head at herself and rubbed her eyes before sliding out of the booth, zipping the hoodie together then folding it up. Obviously someone put it on her, she just had to figure out who and give it back to them. Or just leave it out in the open for them to claim. It was tossed up on the bar without another thought, the scent of food making her lips purse. If Griffin had taken those shards without her knowledge there was no doubt she'd bite his head off the next time she saw him. With daydreams that only Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd would have she began to stretch, using the tall stools to her advantage. How else was she going to start her day- with a glass of liquor? She'd leave that to Edgar and Jo.
 
Griffin woke with sun. He got up and rubbed the kinks out of his body. He felt different. He couldn't pinpoint what was different but he felt stronger. He frowned thoughtfully. Was it because of the second shard? What effect did the second shard have on him? Should he try to find out? He wasn't sure how the powers worked. He knew that he could make things out of shadows but he wasn't sure how or why. He was still trying to figure everything out. He saw movement in the bar so he headed back over there to watch and listen. He was willing to help if he could but he wasn't ready to trust them yet. They hadn't proven themselves capable of anything.
 
The doors swinging open, Jotham gave a yawn as he strolled back inside the building as promised. Last night hadn't been fun, but it had been productive.
"Moooorning~." He called out in a singsong voice. There were notable bags around his eyes, and the way he walked suggested he hadn't got any sleep. That being said, his coat looked a little more full than before, suggesting he'd replaced the stuff he'd used on Apocrypha with other things he'd 'found' around the city.

He also had a backpack he'd likely scavenged slung around his shoulder, which seemed to give a muffled metallic jangle as he walked.

"Ah, goody gumdrops, everyone's still alive...! And someone took the shards, too, so I can actually look in the direction of the bar. That's a nice start..." Jotham commented. Falling into a chair, Jotham dragged a chair in front of him so he could rest his feet on it, sitting down in a basically laying down position. His hands seemed to be forcefully stuffed in his pockets ever since he entered the building. "Eghh... sorry if I'm a little slow today... I'll wake up eventually, keh heh. I did find some useful things last night on the bright side, and I'm assuming there were no problems for any of you in the night... that's good..."

Jotham paused. Something smelt great... like proper, hot food. It was embarrassing to admit, but Jotham was absolutely dreadful at cooking - he usually lived off stolen snacks or foods that were ready to eat, particularly anything chocolate-based.
"Mmm-mm... something smells absolutely bloody delightful. If our dear host is treating us to a group breakfast, I suppose I have these to add to the feast." Jotham said. His face contorted into an uncontrollably bitter expression for a moment at the thought of sharing, but he forcefully shook the thought away.

Out of an inside pocket of his coat, Jotham hurled a packet stuffed with about a dozen pastries inside onto a table near the middle.
"Pain au chocolats," Jotham explained, "H... help yourselves if you want some with your meal. I've already eaten ten... no regrets..." Jotham said with a lazy but somewhat naughty smile, wiping a crumb from his mouth and kicking back. Aye, t'was not gentlemanly to gorge himself with sweet treats, but he hadn't eaten breakfast, lunch, or dinner yesterday. In fact, he still had room for more right now.
 
Johnathan

Johnathan's eyes opened as he heard the window open. He thought that the window had been locked, so he hadn't checked it, bugger him, it was a mistake that could have cost him dearly. Nodding in reply to his host, he watched as the man left the room, then Johnathan got up and checked his pockets, pulling out his wallet, and the swiss army knife within. Two of the only things he ever worried about losing.

After making sure he had them, after all he had been sleeping in a house full of strangers, he needed to know he had them still, he stood up and walked downstairs, greeted by two people in the bar, and delicious smells wafting out of the kitchen.

"Smells good, wonder if he has any coffee."

Speaking aloud the words to himself, Johnathan walked over to one of the bar tables and sat down, absent mindedly looking around the bar.
 
A shirtless Edgar came out, carrying a platter with stacked plates on one side and a massive cast iron skillet full of corned beef and fried potatoes. Behind him came Clone Edgar, carrying bottles of coffee and a couple cans of Edgar's energy drink on a matching platter. They set their platters on the bar, and Edgar began plating food while clone Edgar went back for the eggs.

Edgar tossed a can toward Jotham, happy to see the spiffy bastard had come back. "You look like you could use something stronger than coffee." He said with a laugh. Clone Edgar came back with a pan of fluffy scrambled eggs and started dishing out the rest, handing out the plates for the rest of it. As Clone Edgar was passing out food, Edgar walked to the jukebox and played some soft instrumental music. "Do me a favor, if you guys come back when this place is back in business, never mention this. I have a reputation to maintain, and that doesn't include continental breakfast service."

"Maybe if we did, we might attract more good customers and less ruffians." Clone Edgar mentioned.

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't be comfortable here anymore." He retorted. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry as fuck after last night." He said, chomping on a large piece of potato. "We need to regain our strength and prepare. It seems we might be getting some company soon, if what I'm feeling is right."
 
"Goodness, shirtless service? ...All you need now is a little bowtie... and all the ladies will be swarming for your 'corned beef'." Jotham jested. "...Keh heh... in seriousness though, thanks a lot for all this. I can't remember the last time someone willingly served me breakfast..." Jotham mumbled. His sentence seemed to put him in deep and somewhat sad thought for a moment, before the energy drink flying at him snapped him back to reality.

Catching the can of the not-so-subtly named 'Cocaine', Jotham shook his head and chuckled as he examined the can. He wasn't usually one for fizzy drinks, but it was better than coffee. Cracking it open, Jotham coughed after the first sip.
"Christ almighty. Is this amount of caffeine even legal in an energy drink...?" Jotham mused, already starting to buzz somewhat. Finishing off the can with a pained expression, Jotham exhaled a deep breath. "Well. *Cough*... that certainly did the trick. I couldn't close my eyes even if I tried, now."

Delicately starting to eat some scrambled egg, Jotham enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere and music of the place, kicking back as he ate from his plate. Christ... he never thought he'd be feeling so laid back in the presence of other shard-bearers. He always thought he'd need to be thinking of how he was going to stop them from killing him, yet here he was, eating breakfast with individuals who had the capability to become the most dangerous being in the world - him included.

"Oh, more company...? And I was just starting to enjoy myself here..." Jotham mumbled, looking at a piece of potato on his fork in thought. "I suppose I should get to work on some traps after breakfast, then..."
 
(breaking the buffer rule to give some more for people to work with)

"It just recently became unbanned. It's rather popular with the gaming crowd, despite tasting like someone melted down Robocop." he said, cracking open a bottle of coffee and taking a swig. "The 5 kilo bag of powdered caffeine in the back room is in a bit of a grey area though." Edgar quipped. "Still, it's rather handy." As he started tucking into his food, he closed his eyes, his mind drifting elsewhere. Since he'd gotten the new shard, he became more acutely aware of the energy each of them emitted, and he was trying to learn how to differentiate them. He could feel something alien in the area, and he wanted to figure out what it was soon.

While Edgar was focusing and eating, Clone Edgar continued to talk. "Actually, I have a job for you. You and I will be sparring this morning before you do any trap making." he said. "If I'm gonna be having my home and place of business turned into Pavlov's House, I wanna at least make sure you know what you're doing." He stole Edgar's coffee, drinking half before he noticed. "I'd also like to get to know you a bit more, and they say you learn the most about someone through sparring. Ms. Raelin, if you'd like, I think I'd enjoy sparring with you too."

"Or if you'd rather, I can show you an interesting way to use my powers while the others are busy..." Edgar said with a smirk. He couldn't help it, honestly. It seemed like once he split into a shadow clone, his more lascivious nature got the better of him. "Johnathan, you seem the most...resourceful of the newbies. If you don't mind, could you go scavenge for supplies? We could probably stand to use some scrap and such if Jotham's gonna be making traps, and from what I've seen, you're about the only one who's not a glass cannon out of this bunch, myself included."

Current Track
 
Johnathan

Johnathan nodded in response to Edgar's question, whilst he munched on his plate of food and sipped the coffee. Still, he'd need a bit more information as to just where he should look for the scrap, he didn't want to blunder around looking for it, just being a massive target for whomever decided that they wanted his shards.

"Got an idea of where I should look for said scrap? It'd be nice if you also had something better then a multitool that I could use as a weapon too, my blood is good, but I don't need to rely on it. Oh, if you know a local place where we can get black gunpowder, or fireworks, or just plain ole bullets and nails, I can make one hell of a IED set to go off on a tripwire.

Johnathan quickly finished sucking back his coffee, finished his food, ten waited for a reply from Edgar.
 
Griffin listened to the others talked. No one looked at him. No one approached him. He was alright with that. He didn't care if they liked him. He knew that they didn't trust him any more then he trusted him. No matter how much he had in common with these people it would take time to build trust. "Depending on what kind of scraps your looking for I might be able to help." He said casually. He didn't know why he was offering to help. But he figured he had to start somewhere. He needed to see what these people were capable of. "I am a pretty good mechanic. I can fix or build just about anything you have in mind." He had worked as a mechanic. He had always been good with his hands. He figured he could safely give them that much knowledge. It would be interesting to see if and how they decided to use it. He wouldn't offer any more for awhile. He had learned to play things close to the vest.
 
Raelin watched in silence as others drifted in and began talking while she finished stretching out. Sleeping in that booth was an awful idea. She propped her foot up on the stool in front of her and leaned her upper body over her knee, stretching out the back of her thigh and calf with a half of a groan. After repeating the process with her other leg she finally took a seat, pulling the red scarf back up over her mouth as she glanced down to the plate of food in front of herself. As nice as the gesture was, regular food wasn't as appealing as it used to be even with her growing hunger.

She pushed the plate down the bar to whoever else might want it, murmuring, "Thanks, but no thanks." Instead she opted for a can of coffee, shaking it in one hand while her eyes shifted from Griffin, Johnathan, Edgar, and then Jo only to reverse in the opposite order. The coffee was opened up and began to bubble out before Rae took a sip, resisting the urge to spit it back out. Sure it was gross but she was going to need energy if she was supposedly going to try and spare with a clone. Her vacant gaze quickly reverted back to Edgar, a half of a smirk forming behind the rim of her can as she tried calling his bluff. "We can do that. I'm sure you've got something interesting up your sleeve."
 
"If I remember, there's a Bass Pro Shop about 5 miles northwest of here, give or take." Edgar said, chomping on the last piece of food on his plate. "They carry ammo kits, last I checked, so you should be able to get black powder there." He grabbed another bottle of coffee and started sipping on it. "About 3 miles to the south, there should be a Hardware Town, you can probably find all sorts of prospective shrapnel in there. Take Griffin with you, too. Best case scenario, he's being honest about his technical skills, and can lend us a hand. Worst case, he turns out to be lying, and he gets eaten, maimed, or otherwise put in his place. Either way, it'll be beneficial for us in the long run." he said with a shrug.

As he began to relax into his chair, Raelin's words made their way into his brain. He fell backward over his chair as he understood what she had said. Wait...is she suggesting...hmm... he thought, before starting to laugh. "Quite the spunky girl, huh?" Clone Edgar said with a chuckle. "Well then," he said, looking down at his progenitor, "how bout we make things interesting then?" He leaned forward looking into Raelin's eyes. "If you can do more damage against me than Apocrypha was able to last night, then I'll give you the next shard I find. If you can't, though, you get to spend tonight keeping us warm in the master suite." God, he was starting to get as terrible as his master.

Turning to Griffin, he bowed his head to the man. "My apologies about not engaging with you. To be honest, you snuck in here so quietly that no one noticed you, despite the fact that we made you a plate. Later, when you two get back, I'd love to see how you fight, shadow to shadow-user. For what it's worth, I don't dislike you, and neither does the idiot on the floor. He just gets a little...cranky when he's coming down from his high."
 
"Ooh, shotgun!" Jotham called out when Raelin offered her plate, taking it and finishing it off himself. Phew... eating that much had made his stomach ache a little, but hopefully that'd keep him going for the day. "Mmm... my compliments to the chef. I never would've expected you to cook up such a good breakfast in a place like this... no offence." Jotham added as he got to his feet and stacked the empty plates.

When Jotham was offered a sparring session, he lifted an eyebrow, looking amused but somewhat confused.
"Uh, pardon? Sparring?" Jotham paused, before chuckling. "That's a very nice offer, but... ah... I will warn you: I'm not very fun to fight. Plus, I don't want to end up accidentally hurting someone who just made me a great breakfast." Jotham mumbled, adjusting his top hat. His coat was full of all sorts of tricks after last night's scavenging, but he had no intention of using them on a potential ally.

When Raelin seemed up for it, Jotham winced a little at the rather vulgar conditions if she lost.
"Christ. You'd better fight for your life, Raelin. Who knows what that bed smells like..." Jotham commented, chuckling. "Keh heh... anyway. If it's okay, I think I'll just watch you and the missus have a tussle, before doing what I can in terms of traps. My backpack there is full of things I 'acquired' last night that could spruce this place up for our 'visitor'." Jotham said, pointing to the backpack he'd put on a chair as he'd walked in. Griffin and Johnathan gathering supplies would be great, too, as he didn't have the necessary things to make something as insane as an IED, as Johnathan suggested. Also, Jotham may have been crafty, but he was no major mechanic, so it was good know Griffin could cover that.

"If you're desperate to spar with me, though, Edgar... I suppose you could take me on, whilst Edgar #2 takes on Raelin..." Jotham sighed, putting his hands in his pockets as he winked. "I'll warn you again, though: I'm not very fun to fight. To be honest... unless you can surprise me with something, I doubt you'll be able to land a single hit on me. I can only imagine what sort of hangover you must have, keh heh..."
 
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Johnathan

Johnathan nodded at Edgar, the ideas and suggestions he presented made sense. However, money wasn't something he had a whole lot of, and he didn't want to lead police back to this place. He waited until Jotham finished speaking, then spoke himself.

"Hey, you got any cash to use then, I don't have a whole lot of money on me, maybe like three or four dollars. If I was alone i'd just steal it, but I don't want to attract police attention, the longer we have a "base", the better."

if He given the money of course he planned to leave, however if he didn't get it, and was turned down for whatever reason, he definitely wasn't leaving.

"Besides that, Griffin I hope you can keep up with me, because i'm running all the way. I don't do cars."

He made a mental list of all the things he needed to build the trip wire bombs, then thought about just where he could get the things he need out of the two stores, and with that list made, waited for replies from the two.
 
Edgar smiled and pulled his hand from behind his back, holding up one of the pieces of jewelry from Jotham's bag and tossing it to him. He'd grabbed it while the others were distracted by the clone, as a way to show off a bit. "You're not omniscient, dear Jojo. Besides, I think between the two of us we can figure something out to trick you." He said cheerfully. "Though it's not so much desperation and convenience. I need to learn more about what I can do now, and it's important to know how your powers work in a fight. I'd be asking the same of Johnathan if I thought I wouldn't get turned into a kebab."

Speaking of Johnathan..."Have you noticed any police, or normal humans, around in the last few weeks?" Edgar asked. "I think that there's not a single unaffected person left in the city." Still, better to be safe that sorry...he thought. He went to the bar, pulling a stack of 20s from under the register and tossing it to Johnathan. "There should be about two grand there, if you need more than that, you're going way too high tech." He said with a smile. "If you need it, I'm more than happy to help when you get back, if I'm still around anyway."
 
@conman2163

Griffin shrugged. "Unless you have super speed I can keep up. If you go too fast I will hot wire a car. It might be better to have a car anyway. Unless you have a way to carry a bunch of stuff at once." He wandered if he could create something out of the shadows to carry things. Like a huge wagon or something. That would be great. He wanted to be able to get as much at once as possible. He figured it would be better to make as few trips as possible and he didn't want to be in a car. He wasn't fond of small spaces. He decided that he would try to make something to carry the supplies. It would be good to know what he could do if he needed to do something. Although he was still nervous about the side effects and long terms effects.
 
She quietly laughed at the way Edgar reacted to her words, shaking her head a bit at the theatrics of it all. Hopefully he smacked his head on the ground back there. After a few more swigs of the coffee she sat the bottle aside, turning her attention to Edgar's double with narrowed eyes. He offered a good deal. She was only here for the shards anyway, so if winning this spar got her an extra one she would be doing her damnedest to win. Especially when last night's fluke of a rock hadn't done anything useful for her except set her innards on fire. There wasn't even a visible mark on her, not that she'd checked everywhere though. "More damage than Apocrypha?" She asked with a smirk. That seemed a little too easy, all she had to do was get one good bite out of him but she wasn't going to complain. "Done. This 'us' however..." Raelin trailed off with a raised brow. "I'll set both of you on fire if I need to."

The woman leaned back in her seat, confidence oozing from her pores. "You should be worried about your friends there, Jo," she gave a nod to the duo across the bar from them. "If I win, it undoubtedly means I'll be trying to feast on whatever's left of him." She didn't realize what she said or the fact it might give away what her corruption was after avoiding the subject the night before. If they didn't catch on then hopefully she could pass it off as a joke. "So how are we doing this, hm?" She asked the original Edgar. "Are we using weapons or is this an abilities only thing?" Rae shifted in her chair, oddly eager to prove herself against them.
 
Catching the piece of jewellery in his hand, Jotham seemed genuinely surprised - perhaps even a little mad - at first, before he laughed it off.
"Christ... I'll give you that one. You're just as bad as me... keh heh." Jotham mumbled, hurriedly putting his jewellery back where it belonged. "Well then... I accept your challenge. Don't worry, I don't want anything like a shard if I win - today's breakfast was enough. Though, I'll add that I'm not going to keep you warm tonight if I lose. Sorry to disappoint." Jotham added with a joking wink, hopping to his feet.

Jesus, he must've been super tired to let that jewellery thing slip by him. It was indeed true: he was not omniscient, as proved just now. If Edgar's dexterity was that high, then Jotham was certainly looking forward to what he had in store for him. Though - sparring or not - he'd still keep high restrictions on the usage of his powers. He didn't want to knock himself out by going overboard just for the sake of looking impressive.

When Raelin mentioned eating Edgar if she won, Jotham hadn't caught on to the fact that she was giving away her corruption, and laughed at what he thought was just a dark joke to try and scare Edgar.
"Pffft... my lady, I'd highly advise you not to do that. You'd probably get drunk after one sip of Edgar's blood." Jotham chuckled with a wink. "Although, if you do get round to eating him, you get to have seconds. That's a use for the clone I never thought of."

When Griffin and Johnathan were about to leave and scavenge for some supplies, Jotham looked like he was about to offer something to them, but held it back. It was a good thing Edgar supplied Johnathan with cash. Jotham certainly wouldn't be able to bring himself to part with something more than pocket change. It was hard enough offering baked goods around, let alone real money.
"Good luck, you two." Jotham said, tipping his hat. "I'll be sure to lift a hand when you return, and we'll see what we can pool together to make something rather deadly. ...Do stay safe."

Jotham was a bit curious about Raelin's question, too, though he didn't mind how things went. He was pretty adaptable, although in a fists-only fight, he'd probably get his ass kicked. He could perform very swift punches with the Cursed Hands of Kharon, but they lacked as much power as his throwing weaponry.
"I don't mind how we fight, although... we should avoid going too overboard. A bit of high-adrenaline fun could escalate into a serious injury, and whilst I know some First Aid, I'm no paramedic. We don't want to be dead for when our visitor arrives." Jotham pointed out, twiddling the brim of his hat.
 
Johnathan

Johnathan nodded to the barkeep and to the other guy. HE basically ignored Griffin. Johnathan clearly wasn't going to just carry this in his hands back, he planned to get a pack while he was there anyway. Sighing, he picked up the money and put it in his pockets, double checking that there wasn't any holes before he did so.

"Alright then, try not to murder each other while i'm gone, i'd hate to come back to a bloody mess and a new shard monster, be a terribly hard to kill you then."

With the dry humor, Johnathan turned and walked out the door, then started jogging down the road in the direction of the bass pro, before stopping and turning to wait for Griffin.

"Small change of plan here, we're splitting up, not that I don't trust you, but I don't trust you, that and the more of us the bigger we show up on beasty's radar and it'll be faster. Go ahead and take half the cash and head for that hardware store to the south, i'll head to the bass pro, then we meet back here."

Johnathan reached into his pocket and pulled out the rough equivalent of half the cash.

"Also, try and find some prepaid cell phones while your there, I can set up remote detonators that way too."
 
Griffin rolled his eyes. He shook his head. He didn't blame Johnathan for not trusting him but he didn't like it. The man's argument that it would be faster sort of made sense but so did working together. So he didn't argue. "Thanks but you keep the money. I am not going to need it to get scrap and most hardware stores don't sell prepaid cells. So you can try the bass shop." He doubted that they would have any wither but he wouldn't know. He had never been in a bass shop. He still didn't know exactly what they needed. So he figured that he would get whatever he could find. To his way of thinking too much was better then not enough. He headed to the south. He had never spent much time on the south side of town so he didn't know what the hardware store would have. He would compare the tools they had to the ones he owned and go from there. He wouldn't find much scrap metal or even wood at the hardware store but he had an idea of a couple of place that he might be able to find the things that he needed.
 
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