Post #2821499 in Impending Pursuit, a roleplay on RPG

To touch, but to not mean. To speak many words, but for it all to tell little. Celty had mastered the woes of ungenuine conversation, word to word contact more akin to strenuously extracting with a catheter syringe than anything that approaches sincerity. They were the best for this, and nothing that had happened could say otherwise.

CLANG clang clang

As their thoughts danced, seemingly reassuring themselves, a moderate clink erupted through the processes. The sound continued to stir, a metallic dribble that persisted from source and echoed off the ivory shaded walls. A small prattle of footsteps then instead filled the empty sound space, picking up the source of the earlier disturbance before returning to her seat.

Celty sank back into their chair, waiting for the undrownable sounds to cease before continuing their mental flattery.

It didn’t matter that they only met with a quarter of the sponsors that Celty had planned or that the vexatious brat drifted off every other second and required both eye and hand to keep her in place at all times. Managerial work was a natural aptitude, and the hard, honest work of charming overseers, sponsors and saboteurs would surely be rewarded.

CLANG clang clang clang

Glaring daggers at the resound, then craning up their pointed gaze to the source, the unbidden sight was their red-headed brat stuffing her face with various concessions. A miffed grunt crawled from their throat, their unfortunately effective eye for detail revealing crumbs that clung onto her previously unblemished cheeks alongside the fallen metallic bowl that rattled to a stop.

The source of all that is unholy, the sole reason as to why they could not have nice things. To them, it was a hell that had them begrudgingly fit the hat of babysitter instead of manager. An eternal migraine that caused such nuanced annoyance that they swore it was purposeful. A handful pleasantly named Ciara.

“How is it physically possible for you to drop that same bowl twice in a row?” Their eyes narrowed at the pyramid of steamed grain that procured from the earliest blunder. It was obvious that she had initially picked up the container, dropped and spilled it due to the temperature and attempted it once more only to re-drop it.

The swamp woman pardoned herself for thought, sight ceiling-bound as she racked her simplistic brain for an answer. Eyes glimmering as she looked back at them with her dreary expression, she opened her morsel laden mouth to speak only to be stopped short with a sharp verbal interference.

“And ‘the wind’ is not a probable excuse.” With that, Ciara closed her mouth, stared at Celty for a few drifting moments before focusing back at the soon to be deceased meal in front of her.

It took every urge in their form to not grow physical with the frustrating woman. They only restricted themselves from the sole fact that the slime woman was well-worth it. Making certain to maintain secrecy, Celty examined Ciara’s abilities through a small demonstration and she was close to making up for the trouble. Impressive physical prowess, a lack of reliance on equipment and extraordinarily hard to kill without a steady hand and a sharp eye, she was an ideal competitor save for her key mental and bodily weaknesses.

Ciara had referenced herself as a ‘slime’, and Celty was keen on keeping such a secret. Steering interviews off the topic entirely, locking Ciara away so she couldn’t gossip and turning away pesky cameras when it was the woman’s turn to train. To anyone, she was an unknown mutant, not possessing outward animalistic traits.

A knock and call from the door signaled down that it was Ciara’s turn next. Rising from their seat, Celty looked the woman over and wiped her face clean. It was a godsend that the mutant didn’t need makeup or anything aside from something to wear to look good enough.

“Remember, don’t overshare or I’m going to rip your fucking head off.” Celty had the mind to prioritize the coming interview in their schedule, the scarce moments that Ciara chose to cooperate focused on that. Ciara met their attempt at a pep talk with a simple nod before sauntering her way to the stage.

"Now stay tuned because up next is Ci-ar-a, the sanguine slime seductress!”

Being led through the hall by hand, she was finally deposited on the sidelines as the host for the night read off her name. While the nice round of alliteration was charming to the swamp woman, she couldn’t help but manifest a slight smile. While she was not always the most perceptive, she knew that Celty was trying to keep the type of mutant she was a guarded secret. Most likely such was going to be the main subject for the ongoing interview. She’d have to keep herself in check or Celty will restrict her meals again.

The base wallpaper of the screen shifted, a lower resolution that contrasted the higher quality imaging. As if the footage was taken directly from a handheld camera, the display revealed the point of view of a huffing soldier. Scurrying through a dark dilapidated forest, the roars of monstrous beasts soared overhead and caused a mad scurry as the point of view shifted from jittery bouts of careful examination. A gasped descry drifted from his weary form as he caught sight of a bubbling black sludge puddle. Rising from the contents would be a familiar red-headed woman, covering in nothing but the liquid darkness. Her gaze slowly turned towards the camera, puddle moving alongside as she ambled her way closer. The woman’s unblemished face would come in full view as she brought her eye to examine the camera. After a few moments, she unhinged off and patted the camera donning soldier before strolling off.

A cut into another few shots of spliced surveillance footage, showcasing the areas most laden with corruption with a single zoom in revealing a crimson haired woman marching about unaffected by the environment around her.

The footage changed to one of higher quality, shots more recent that were taken from the sparse moments that Celty was not stowing her away. The screen switched between Ciara dressed pleasantly and dancing at the party, eating platefuls at the cafeteria and finally ending with her embracing a popular fish mutant by the fountain before finally switching off.

Now seated across from him, her dreary gaze met his cunning eyes as he began to speak to the crowd. “Quite the enigma, isn’t she, everyone?" He raised his hands to ham up the crowd before turning his body to face her.

“So so, your manager and you are quite the secretive types. Tell us about them. Y’all getting along some?” Wei leaned forward into his seat.

Ciara, pleasantly confused by Wei’s facial expressions, scooted her seat towards him ever so slightly.

“Hmb. Their style is very vocal and hands-on, but they are adequate.”

Retracting back, Wei seemed dissatisfied with the answer hoping that filterless Ciara could be tricked into spilling any gossip.

“Speaking of hands-on, you don’t seem to exercise personal space very effectively. A romantic, perhaps? A killing game hardly seems like the place.”

Ciara leveled her gaze with the ceiling before an answer drifted from her lips. “I wish everyone was more transparent. There are so many liars here that sometimes I must touch them to see if they are real.”

“Frankly, a fair lady like yourself doesn’t look the part of a mutant. What does being a ‘slime’ entail?” Wei glanced sharply at a technician to silently bark at him to turn up the volume in Ciara’s mic.

Ciara’s usual moment to pause dragged out for a few moments longer. She would be as..eloquent as she always is but words from a certain bubble wrap clad manager stopped her from completely spilling.

“I feel stronger, more durable and..I don’t feel tired often.” Ciara brought a finger to her cheek as she continued speaking. “I don’t like being cold, or hot however..and shocks hurt me alot. Regardless, I do not think anyone here will be able to stop me.”

“Ooh, pretty, strong and confident, quite the catch.."

While Wei donned his usual grin, the man was seemingly unimpressed at his attempt at getting her to list deeper weaknesses, he conceded and ended off the interview with a final question.

“Alrighty, any words to the audience before we wrap up here?”

Ciara turned to face the crowd, inhaling a measured breath and bowing her head before she began to speak.

“I’m grateful to be here. Everyone, please cheer me on.” The line delivery were robotic, similarly written just as stiffly but the genuine nature seemed to elicit a decent amount of applause.

“There we have it, the enigmatic Ciara, everyone!” Wei spoke after the claps, introducing the next competitor in line as Ciara rose and walked off stage to her seat.

Snippet #2821499

located in Father, a part of Impending Pursuit, one of the many universes on RPG.

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