Rise of Legends OOC(formerly RP title pending)

Hey uhm, I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I have no problem with that living generator idea if you're still into it Patches.

Joural, I have Posted my terrible sheet.

I'll be joining this also. I'm just gonna see if the power would be acceptable.

My character would have a shadow that is quite literally alive. It has its own mind and can speak, but it is connected to her at all times. When simply in its normal shadow form, it would simply be an extra set of eyes. The shadow creature can become solid and attack things with its clawlike hands, whip tail, and fanged teeth. In this form it can be hurt and, if killed, it would be unable to take a solid form for two days, which might not seem like much, but when you are being attacked and the only thing protecting you can't come back for even a few hours that might be a death sentence. The character with the live shadow would also be vulnerable and if she were injured, then the shadow would be injured too.

I was thinking of somthing like a light-based vulnerability, but I haven't really figured that out yet.

Hm, this looks quite appealing. I've been developing a character idea for a while, and I think I'll start making a sheet now.

Oh, and that sounds like a cool idea, Wolfpaw. :)

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Huge edit so I don't double post...

I FINALLY finished my sheet. It's probably way longer than it should be, but here it is.

Name: Ivy Atkins
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Appearance: Ivy is 5'11" tall. She is very skinny, enough for her ribs to be clearly visible. Her skin also tends to look unhealthily pale. Ivy's hair is medium brown (except for a gray streak in the back), long enough to reach her shoulder blades, and often messy. As a random side mutation, her eyes are an intense, almost neon-green color. Ivy tends to wear a lot of clothing in order to avoid attracting attention, or at least to feel like she's avoiding it. This most often includes a t-shirt and heavy jacket, plain jeans, her dirty white sneakers, a navy-blue wool cap, and when possible, sunglasses to hide her unusual eyes. The cap is also to keep her ears from getting cold, which they do easily.
Personality: After having to hide her mutant nature from the world for most of her life, Ivy has grown closed-off and minimally social. She is extremely reluctant to talk about herself out of the fear that something she says might reveal her mutation. She would like to be friendly, and she tries to be courteous when she has to talk to someone, but she fears that too much attention could also draw criticism for her unusual traits, such as her thinness or her eye color. Since she is quite sensitive to such criticism, she strives to avoid as much attention as possible in order to prevent it. In less mutation-related areas, Ivy loves books of all kinds, although she particularly enjoys novels. She is intelligent, resourceful, and practical. She prefers to think through all aspects of a problem before reaching a decision, meaning that her choices are usually wise but slowly made. This can make her slow to react in an urgent or unfamiliar situation. She easily gets queasy at the sight or thought of unpleasant things, especially gore-related ones.
Skills: Blending in with a crowd, using her power subtly
Power: Essentially telekinesis. Ivy can move objects and apply force with her mind, either steadily or in a burst.
Limits: It takes Ivy as much energy to move something through telekinesis as it would to move it normally. So she won't be able to, for instance, tear limbs off or send houses flying; in fact, just lifting a person off of the ground would be pretty taxing. Even holding someone's arm in place would be hard to keep up for long if the person resists. If she expends all of her energy by trying to do too much, she can pass out or even die. Spending that much energy at once will make a bit of her hair turn gray, as she already experienced once. Ivy must eat and/or rest to regain the energy she needs for her power. The power's range is also limited; it's difficult for her to affect things beyond thirty feet, and past sixty, it's pretty much impossible. Furthermore, she has to be able to see what she's moving unless she can visualize it precisely, so she can't, say, move someone's organs around inside them.
Background: Ivy is fortunate enough to have an appearance that, while unusual, doesn't necessarily reveal that she's a mutant. By learning to use her power only when alone or in very subtle ways around other people, she managed to live a relatively normal life in her California hometown... until recently. Three weeks ago, her college roommate witnessed her abilities and quickly spread word of them. Before long, Ivy couldn't stand the fearful, judging stares from the other students anymore and had to leave. She decided to go to New York City because she has relatives there, and because she hoped that the highly populated city would help her blend in. She hasn't told anyone except her parents where she is, not even her nearby relatives since they don't know about her powers. Encouraged by the occasional report of strange events, she hopes to find any fellow mutants in the area.
(Incredibly Long) Sample Paragraph: Ivy walked briskly along the sidewalk, alone in her thoughts. Cars and people were bustling all around her even at this time of night - something she was still getting used to with this city - but she only noticed them enough to keep out of their way. The streetlights were bright enough for her to see through her sunglasses, so she kept them on despite the occasional curious glance her way; the glasses were still attracting less attention than her eye color would.

She turned left into an alley that she liked to use as a shortcut back to her apartment. Now that she was out of the crowds and the streetlights, she lifted her sunglasses and let them rest on the top of her head. She walked at a slightly slower pace, enjoying the relative quiet during this part of the trip.

Suddenly, the peace was disrupted as the back door of a busy restaurant burst open. A man in a slightly wrinkled suit tumbled out into the alley, taking a few more steps to keep his balance before hitting the opposite wall shoulder-first. Two more men - one big and muscular, the other short and also wearing a suit - walked confidently out after him. The first man turned to face them; he pressed himself against the wall, and Ivy could see the fear in his eyes before the door closed again and the light from the restaurant faded.

She instantly froze in place, getting the feeling that something very bad was about to happen. She watched as the short man crossed his arms and said to the fearful one, "I'm not sure you understand our arrangement. See, when you accept our very generous loans, you're expected to pay them back. On time. Is there some part o' that you don't understand?"

"No! No, no, I-I understand perfectly," the frightened man answered. "I-I almost have the money. Just-just give me another few days, and I can-"

The short man shook his head. "That ain't good enough, pal. You pay what the boss wants, when the boss wants, or you suffer the consequences." Leaning his head toward his burly companion, he said, "Let 'im have it."

"No - no, please! I-" But a sharp jab to his stomach interrupted him and made him double over. Ivy couldn't suppress a gasp. She put a hand over her mouth, but the short man had already heard.

He looked in Ivy's direction and yelled, "Hey! Who the hell are you?" She panicked and dashed back the way she had come. "Hey! Stop! Come back here!" He started running down the alley after her.

Just before she reached the mass of people on the sidewalk, she looked back as she ran. In a moment of inspiration, she telekinetically tilted her pursuer's foot away from him just as he was about to step on it. She didn't stop to watch what happened, but she heard him tumble to the ground with a surprised "Whoa!"

As Ivy reached the moving crowd, she heard the shorter man exclaim, "Get her!" to his companion. Heart pounding, she pushed her way past a few people to get to the inner edge of the sidewalk, slipped between several in front of her, and then matched the pedestrians' pace. She put her sunglasses back on and looked down in a desperate attempt to escape her new pursuer's notice among the masses. She nervously continued walking, forcing herself to appear casual even when she heard the sounds of protest behind her that meant the man was advancing through the crowd. He came ever closer, and closer, and closer, until finally he came right next to Ivy.

She devoted all her willpower to remaining outwardly calm, but she still couldn't help tensing her shoulders. A dreadful moment of suspense passed, and then the man continued on through the crowd, oblivious to his quarry's presence. Ivy watched without moving her head as he went a little farther, took one final look around, raised his hands in defeat, and started dejectedly back.

It was an easy walk back to her apartment, but Ivy was still trembling from the close escape.

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So, yeah, the mobster guys in the sample are pretty clichéd, but whatever. And believe it or not, the sample was originally even longer, but I took out some less relevant stuff near the start.

Also, I'm terrible at relating numbers to actual distances, so feel free to adjust the power's maximum range if it's too long (or too short, I guess).

V, he should be easier to kill than that, if I cut out his lungs or filled them with fluid(by, say, shooting them) his brain would starve before he could fix them, if I disembowled him he would lose blood too quickly to effectively regerate, etc.

And as a suggested limit to make the hunting make more sense and make his power more interesting- if he is adding tissue to his body, he has to eat an approximately equivilant amount of flesh, if he fails to do so he gets shakes and his body slowly shuts down unless he gets enough meat into him(he could do small fixes, like a finger, easily, but an army would require him to have food, for example)

pending the first change and the possible second, accepted.

Wolf, that power sounds interesting, but I'll have to work out exact limits with you via PM. It's definately an interesting concept, but I'm not sure it's reasonable, or controlable. Send me a PM and we can start working on it.

I'll edit in my response to that last sheet when I'm done reading it.

okay, ivy sounds good, but the intention of the physical mutations is to force them to be pariahs, subtlty should only exist in the form of "Hey, I can hid my mutation under this coat/ scarf/ gloves!" I would suggest something that would become more obvious with age, but still easily hidden, perhaps her arms are too short and refuse to unbend all the way. Still, it should be something that, when noticed, makes her clearly a mutant, not just unhealthy, or possibly even an irish supermodel.

Charrie fixed. Jour, I hope I'm not being rude but another regenerator is sorely missed right now.

hee. I'm not sure I'd call this guy a regenerator, but I did like Pandora's character. However, she wouldn't fit in this story, and I've alreayd got ideas flitting around in my head for the other two. For example, sound wave manipulation is my current baby- amplification, reduction, repetition, manipulation- as part of his mutation, I'm considering saying that he can't speak, and has to use his power to get any verbal point accross.

Accepted, feel free to post IC.

Okay then.

Edit: I checked the IC. I am in no way a match for the length and description in there. I can't do this.

Ok, I figured that this particular power would require a bit of editing. If it doesn't end up working out, I have other power ideas on the back burner that I could use. Typing up the PM now.

Oh, I see. Looks like I have a lot of editing to do, then...

I've gotten Corvid fairly involved in the Chromosome Z RP on the sporum (which straddles the line between literacy and illiteracy further with each post) and think I'll stick to Sylvia.

Who reminds me of a particularly violent part of a Stephen King book. What better way to start off writing as a teenage girl?

I RPed with Vipera in Half Blooded I and II for quite a while, she has good intentions, but tends to draw the less competent in. Believe my I sympathise.

And I really need to look at more writers don't I?

Jokie155 wrote:

I RPed with Vipera in Half Blooded I and II for quite a while, she has good intentions, but tends to draw the less competent in. Believe my I sympathise.

And I really need to look at more writers don't I?

Yeah, the RP has (I sound like an arrogant dick, haha) me, Cynder, and cavalier, and then most of the others are just kind of...nyeaha.

My main and really only irritation is that Vipera has something against things getting too dark in this RP, and as I'm sure everyone knows I'm a pretty cynical bastard. My character's an ex-convict (not sure for what, yet, I'm considering something bad though. He is a veterinarian, so I could surprise everyone and have it be malpractice or something.) and his endgame plan is to try and establish the mutants and animals in the world as the dominant species. The problem is that it's not going to fail because it's an impossible plan, it's going to fail because we're dealing with idealists. Vipera has a weird thing about censoring powers, too. She let the guy who can manipulate all light, sound, and matter in, but got upset over the guy that could shapeshift into an object.

I don't think she'll be kosher with characters getting killed off, either, which is bothersome. Not that I want to go around killing other people's characters, it's just that my character isn't the merciful type. So I either have to let him get curbstomped by a bunch of teenagers (and she objected when I said that teenagers aren't prepared to fight, regardless of their powers, because holy crap have you ever been in a near-death situation? You forget CPR to help the person that's collapsed, you forget that you have a gun hanging from your belt when the motherfucking bear is twenty feet away from you, you forget everything), or I have him leave people alive which just seems wrong for him. His character wouldn't randomly go kill mutants, he'd try to win them over to his cause, but inevitably he's going to fight someone. Ugh.

I'm interested to see what the antagonist she keeps hinting at is going to do. I'm not sure what he's going to be ABLE to do in this RP. Correction: what we'll be allowed to do against him.

Still, it's a fun RP, and it's better than Break, which moves at a snail's pace. I went into it with higher expectations than I should have for a generic school-for-superpowers RP.

Also, whoever wants a pimped-out Plymouth Fury for free, let me know. In the RP, that is. It's my character, and I don't want to just randomly drive up to one of you. If you're near a parking lot or something and have an excuse to touch it (trip and fall or brace your hand on it when you lean to pick somethin up) that'd be really cool. Juuust saying.

Ok, here's the shadow girl's sheet. The sample post on her powers in action probably isn't my best writing, but I decided I might as well post the sheet anyways. Let me know if there is anything that needs editing.

Name: Lena Denari
Gender: female
Age: 18
Appearance: Lena is about 5’6’’ and her skin is the even tan of someone who spends a lot of time outdoors. Her eyes are a deep indigo with lighter blue “spokes” spanning outwards from her pupil. Her light blonde hair, very straight, reaches down to the middle of her back when it’s let loose. That isn’t often though, she keeps it up in a ponytail most of the time so it doesn’t get in her way. It’s rather annoying sometimes, but she can’t bring herself to cut it shorter.
Clothing-wise she’s pretty laid back; honestly she’ll usually just go with a tank top and jeans, shorts if it’s getting warm outside. For shoes it’s nearly always blue and white Adidas, they’re great for running and climbing. She has a pair of durable black gloves in her pants pockets for those times she does decide to climb. They provide a good grip and minimize the blisters.
Her power only shows through on her shadow when it isn’t being utilized. She always has a shadow, even in conditions where a normal person would not have one. Her shadow seems more… alive than a normal human’s. It has two holes where her eyes would be and its head turns when her’s does not. Passersby will often muse to themselves that it looks as if it has a mind of its own and they wouldn’t be far from the truth.

Personality: Lena and Lucifer (her shadow, explained further in the Power section) are as opposite as day and night. Let’s start with Lena; she is caring, amiable, and loyal to those people that she trusts. She used to be quick to trust, but one thing she learned from her shadow is that people lie and lie often. That was probably a useful lesson to learn though. She likes talking to people, but won’t just go and strike up a conversation with anyone because that makes some people uncomfortable. All and all, she’s a pretty obedient person and knows how to follow directions (or orders, if need be). She can’t stand to see anyone in pain and will do whatever she can to help. She’s also rather sensitive, so if someone is making fun of her that could lead to tears, but at that point her shadow will probably intervene.
Lucifer is the complete opposite (he’s explained more in depth in the Power section), he is cruel, cares only for his own safety (and that of Lena, though he’d never openly admit it), and would never stop to help an injured civilian. In fact, he’d probably be annoyed with them for being so clumsy and getting hurt in the first place. Lena’s actually the one who named him, before that the creature living in her shadow was simply called Shadow. Now he acts as the sort of devil on her shoulder, suggesting lines of action that most people would steer clear of. She usually doesn’t follow his suggestions, but there’s always the potential for her to give in and do what he says.

Skills: Lena’s a pretty agile person, good at climbing tall things. She hasn’t done anything truly ambitious like attempt to climb up the side of a building though. She’s also a terrible cook, like she-would-probably-accidently-burn-the-house-down-if-you-asked-her-to-make-a-salad terrible.

Power: Her shadow is alive and she named it Lucifer, sometimes Luce for short. It doesn’t really like that and will tell her so quite frequently. Yes, it can speak too; its voice sounds distinctly male, with a growling animalistic quality to it. There are no other clues to its gender other than its voice. In its ‘sleeping’ form all it does is watch and speak.
Lucifer does have a solid form. In his corporeal form though, he’s can be quite dangerous. Lucifer stands on two legs with three long toes and one claw pointing out from the rear of its feet. His hands are also similarly aligned, but the right one can streamline into one single spine when it’s fighting. Lucifer’s “skin” is black and smoky, like a shadow. He has a long tail with no spikes on it, ornamental or otherwise. Its head looks much like the drawings and imaginings of a demon; there’s a mouth filled with knife-sharp teeth, two horns that curve and point behind it, and glowing eyes with no pupils. Short spikes are present on Lucifer’s shoulders, though they don’t seem to serve any purpose other than a sort of armor. Lucifer can stand up on his hind legs or run on all fours like a dog, either is equally comfortable.

Limits: There is always a thin “tether” running from its feet to Lena’s and it can’t go more than twenty feet from her without the line yanking him back like a leash. Lena is sure what would happen if that tether were to be cut. Lucifer can be injured when solid, even killed. His vulnerable spots are the same as a human; head, neck, trunk area, etc. If he is “killed”, then Lena will die also due to their constant connection.
He also has a weakness to darkness; during the night he has a harder time manifesting due to the fact that everything is shadow. He would be at his strongest in the morning or evening, when Lena’s shadow would be the longest, but then weakest at midday and night. His maximum size is three times the length of her shadow.

Background: Lena had an okay childhood, occasionally other kids would tease her when they saw her off by herself and talking to what they thought was no one. Lucifer quickly proved them wrong by speaking up when they began to taunt his host. The teasing became fearful avoidance. High school was easier as Lucifer had learned not to bother her in public and just acted as a second set of watchful eyes. Her dad also attempted to get her exorcised at one point because he thought she was possessed by an actual demon, but all that did was make her shadow very unhappy with him and the unfortunate priest.

Sample Paragraph:
Lena took another step backwards, heart thundering in her chest. The setting sun illuminated the dark forms, three in number, which were closing in. One held a half-empty bottle in his fist, another stumbled sideways, all were wasted and looking for someone to pick on. A mutant like her was simply an easy target. Or so they thought now.

Lucifer’s pupil-less eyes glanced up at his host, “Would you like me to take care of them now or once they decide to actually make a move?”

“J-just scare them, I can run when they’re startled,” she answered, one hand grasping behind her for anything she could use to defend herself. Her protector might be a great fighter, but she was left vulnerable whenever he manifested. She protected her own body and he protected his.

"A beating would probably do them good, but... I'll simply frighten them this time. Consider it a gift."

The darkness around her feet spread out in front, elongating into an almost bipedal-lizard-form. It rose up like a zombie out of grave, clawed hands held at the ready at its sides and tail lashing. With a low growl, it raised its horn-tipped head and… smiled. Lena shivered, the idea that that thing was always with her was still a bit creepy even after all this time. Lucifer turned briefly to face her, nodded, and ran at the three men on all fours. It was safe to say that they all screamed like little girls when faced with what looked like a demon straight from hell charging straight at them. In that window of time where they were all cowering, Lena sprinted around them.

Well, I wasn't feeling terribly creative, so I went with something similar to Joural's suggestion. I completely redid Ivy's background since her mutation is more obvious now. I don't know how much it matters at this point, but I slightly adjusted the sample to reflect the changes as well.

Here it is again...

Name: Ivy Atkins
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Appearance: Ivy is 5'11" tall. She is very skinny, enough for her ribs to be clearly visible. Her skin is also uncommonly pale. Her hair is medium brown (except for a gray streak in the back), long enough to reach her shoulder blades, and often messy. Aside from her power, Ivy has a few other mutant features: her eyes are an intense, almost neon-green color; her arms are shortened by about a hand's length (her fingertips reach to where an average person's wrist would be); and her hands are smaller than normal, with especially thin, delicate fingers. Her forearms are shortened more than her upper arms, meaning that her elbows land at almost the usual length but also that there isn't much arm space between her elbows and her wrists. Ivy tends to wear a lot of clothing in order to hide her physical mutations. This most often includes a solid-color t-shirt, her heavy brown jacket, some plain jeans, her dirty white sneakers, a navy-blue wool cap, and when possible, sunglasses to hide her unusual eyes. Her jacket has normal-length sleeves which cover her entire arm and hand. This lets her fold her arms over her chest or tuck the ends of the sleeves into her pockets to make it look like her hands are simply hidden from view. The cap is also used to keep her ears from getting cold, which they do easily.
Personality: Due to her limited exposure to others and her strong desire to keep her mutation hidden, Ivy is closed-off and minimally social. She would be friendly under normal circumstances, but she fears that too much attention could make it more likely that someone will notice her mutant traits. Since she is quite sensitive to the horror or laughter that inevitably results, she strives to avoid as much attention as possible. In more mundane areas, Ivy loves books of all kinds, although she particularly enjoys novels. She is intelligent, resourceful, and practical. She prefers to think through all aspects of a problem before reaching a decision, meaning that her choices are usually wise in the long term. Unfortunately, this can also make her slow to react in an urgent or unfamiliar situation. She can easily become queasy at the sight or thought of unpleasant things, especially gore-related ones.
Skills: Keeping a low profile, using her power subtly
Power: Essentially telekinesis. Ivy can move objects and apply force with her mind, either steadily or in a burst. She uses it frequently to compensate for her arm length.
Limits: It takes Ivy as much energy to move something through telekinesis as it would to move it normally. So she won't be able to, for instance, tear limbs off or send houses flying; in fact, just lifting a person off of the ground would be pretty taxing. Even holding someone's arm in place would be hard to keep up for long if the person resists. If she expends all of her energy by trying to do too much, she can pass out or even die. Spending that much energy at once will make a bit of her hair turn gray, as she already experienced once. Ivy must eat and/or rest to regain the energy she needs for her power. The power's range is also limited; it's difficult for her to affect things beyond thirty feet, and past sixty, it's pretty much impossible. Furthermore, she has to be able to see what she's moving unless she can visualize it precisely, so she can't, say, move someone's organs around inside them.
Background: Growing up in her California hometown, Ivy lived a tense life of constantly trying to avoid the judgment of normal people. When it quickly became clear that her abnormalities wouldn't be tolerated by her peers in the public school system, her parents - the only people that have shown acceptance toward Ivy's mutation - began homeschooling her, and her education continued that way for the rest of her childhood and adolescence. Since leaving the house posed the risk of her odd appearance being noticed, Ivy spent little time outside (contributing to her skin's paleness) and never acquired much experience in being social. Her books were her only friends, for they couldn't judge her like other people did. College wasn't an option for Ivy, so she felt purposeless and idle after her homeschooling ended until she decided to seek out other mutants in the hopes that they would be more understanding of her plight. Three weeks ago, she settled on New York City as a good place to start and moved there. Now, after taking some time to adjust to her new residence in a cheap apartment, she is ready to begin her search. She keeps well in touch with her parents, but she's also excited to be doing something on her own.
(Incredibly Long) Sample Paragraph: Ivy walked briskly along the sidewalk, looking at the ground and crossing her arms over her chest. Cars and people were bustling all around her even at this time of night - something she was still getting used to with this city - but she only paid them enough attention to keep out of their way. The streetlights were bright enough for her to see through her sunglasses, so she kept them on despite the occasional curious glance her way; the glasses were still attracting less attention than her eyes would.

She turned left into an alley that she liked to use as a shortcut back to her apartment. Now that she was out of the crowds and the streetlights, she telekinetically lifted her sunglasses and let them rest on the top of her head, following them with her eyes. By now, she was so used to adjusting her glasses this way that she barely noticed it. She walked at a slightly slower pace, enjoying the relative quiet during this part of the trip.

Suddenly, the peace was disrupted as the back door of a busy restaurant burst open. A man in a slightly wrinkled suit tumbled out into the alley, taking a few more steps to just barely keep his balance before hitting the opposite wall shoulder-first. Two more men - one big and muscular, the other short and also wearing a suit - walked confidently out after him. The first man turned to face them; he pressed himself against the wall, and Ivy could see the fear in his eyes before the door closed again and the light from the restaurant was cut off.

She instantly froze in place, getting the feeling that something very bad was about to happen. She watched as the short man crossed his arms and said to the fearful one, "I'm not sure you understand our arrangement. See, when you accept our very generous loans, you're expected to pay them back. On time. Is there some part o' that you don't understand?"

"No! No, no, I-I understand perfectly," the frightened man answered. "I-I almost have the money. Just-just give me another few days, and I can-"

The short man shook his head. "That ain't good enough, pal. You pay what the boss wants, when the boss wants, or you suffer the consequences." Leaning his head toward his burly companion, he said, "Let 'im have it."

"No - no, please! I-" But a sharp jab to his stomach interrupted him and made him double over. Ivy couldn't suppress a gasp. She put a sleeve-covered hand over her mouth just afterward, but the short man had already heard.

He looked in Ivy's direction and yelled, "Hey! Who the hell are you?" She panicked and dashed back the way she had come, uncrossing her arms to help her run. "Hey! Stop! Come back here!" He started chasing her down the alley.

Just before she reached the mass of people on the sidewalk, she looked back as she ran. In a moment of inspiration, she telekinetically tilted her pursuer's foot away from him just as he was about to step on it. She didn't stop to watch what happened, but she heard him tumble to the ground with a surprised "Whoa!"

As Ivy reached the moving crowd, she heard the shorter man exclaim, "Get her!" to his companion. Heart pounding, she pushed her way past a few people to get to the inner edge of the sidewalk, slipped between several in front of her, and then matched the pedestrians' pace. With her sleeves covering all the way to her fingertips, she appeared to have no hands when she wasn't trying to conceal it, but she risked it for a moment anyway. She looked up and traced her sunglasses' path down over her eyes once more. Then she jammed the ends of her fingers into her pockets and looked down at the sidewalk in a desperate attempt to escape her new pursuer's notice among the masses. She nervously continued walking, forcing herself to appear casual even when she heard the sounds of protest behind her that meant the man was advancing through the crowd. He came ever closer, and closer, and closer, until finally he came right next to Ivy.

She devoted all her willpower to remaining outwardly calm, but she still couldn't help tensing her shoulders. A dreadful moment of suspense passed, and then the man continued on through the crowd, oblivious to his quarry's presence. Ivy watched without moving her head as he went a little farther, took one final look around, raised his hands in defeat, and started dejectedly back.

It was an easy walk back to her apartment, but Ivy was still trembling from the close escape.

Ooh dear...