AuRon the champion

IC:

"Where are you?"

IC:

"Appearently he's stuck in handcuffs. Which means Dallas totally owes me a whole single dollar," she beamed.

IC:

"... I'm not John's biggest fan, regardless of reality... Sorry Julia," She said, her eyes narrowing, "One good reason why I aught to help?"

IC:

She quickly retrieved the phone from Julia's pocket. She glanced at the contact's name with a sigh as she answered.

"John, this is Kristen. What do you need now?"

IC:

"Which pocket?"

IC:

"Vigilantes! All of them, criminals! A public menace!" She exclaimed in a absolutely horrible impersonation of the current president of the united states.

"But at least you're alright Julia... It would suck if you got shot..."

IC:

"Yes... A couple of masked weirdos in the restaurant were being... Well, weird," she explained, thinking about it, "and they started heckling people for no reason, until one of them saw someone pull a gun I think... Then they just started trying to fight everyone..."

IC:

"Oh-ohkay... Ready when you are Julia."

IC:

Kristen reflexively wrapped her arms around Julia.

That is before she realized that she didn't ask her first.

"Uhm- Sorry," she said, her face turning red as she tried to find something else that was a suitable handhold, "Let me uh- Find something else to hold onto..."

IC:

Kristen failed to resist the urge to snicker as se climbed on.

"Ah- Should I hold onto something? I've never ridden on one of these before..."

Name: Jack Workman

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Arcana: The Lovers

Weaponry and Tools: A hardcover pocket edition of the encyclopedia

Skills: Writing and reading, an excellent historian... When he puts his mind to it.

Appearance: A man who favors clean white button-up shirts with rolled up sleeves and blue jeans. Has blue eyes with messy, yet combed hair. Enjoys wearing a blue leather bracelet and various pendants.

Personality: Somewhat of an average person, Jack works at a bookstore in Mallville. In regards to most supernatural happenings, he takes things in stride, barely batting an eye at the monstrous creatures that he might encounter. He has a particular distaste for towels and a particular affinity for shipping people.

Biography: The eldest child of a pair of wealthy Americans, Jack Workman was due to inherit a multimillion rubber duck bath toy empire from his parents. Unwilling to take a role within the company, he fled the country and ended up working at a bookstore.

Weaknesses: Towels, rubber ducks, rubber duck towels. Not trained in combat, and despite his persona's properties, he gets really uncomfortable at the sight of blood.

Persona

Name: Ishtar

Origin: Ancient Babylonian War & Love goddess

Appearance: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/b/b2/Ishtar.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20080926225035Powers and Abilities: An exceptional healer, Ishtar can heal almost anything. Lesser wounds can often be healed under a day, although severe wounds could take several days, depending on the severity of the wound. While Ishtar is a powerful healer, she has but one attack. Ishtar can create a wave of electricity, damaging all who are in the surrounding area. Except for Jack, of course. Jack is also the only thing Ishtar cannot heal.

IC:

"Park it is then!" Kristen cheered, "We're gonna drive there, right?"

IC:

"I dunno... Anywhere? You're the one driving," She pointed out.

IC:

"Hey yourself," Krisren said, grinning, "It's been awhile since it was just the two of us... Was it last in Ohio..? By Coney Island?"

IC:

"Rigbt behind you," Kristen replied, tapping her on the shoulder.

IC:

im at Kroger, wanna pick me up?

IC:

just escaped Dunkin donuts. Some idiots started a fight and left as the police showed up. Dallas sent me out first, so I absconded the outta there. I'm at the nearby Kroger. Wanna hang out?

IC:

"Don't die. If you die, I'll have to come back and kill you," Kristen said, quickly moving out the back of the shop. She started running, and didn't stop until she was a couple of miles away from the shop. She ended up inside a Kroger, of all things.

Considering how she didn't know what else Dal had planned, she swiped Julia's number from the group message. As she slowly walked through the supermarket, she shot a text at her.

hey Julia, what are you up to? -k

IC:

The donut was gone far before Rebekah came up with her plan.

"Are we going now?"

If I do something involving Christine, Matt and Nicole, I'll be sure to do so. I've been talking with a few other people about the characters in Japan, and I doubt John would show up, considering who is all involved, but who knows?

Hey so this is where you can write about that one fanfic I wrote.

Comments and (constructive) criticism are welcome. If you want me to add one of your characters to the fanfic, give me a heads up here and we can hold a more in-depth conversation later. If you guys have questions about the fanfic, I'll do my absolute best to make sure I don't give spoilers and give you all cryptic answers.

Enjoy.

(PS: Here is a link back to the story if you need it!)

The Missing Year

A X-Men Darkest Days & Marvel, Rebirth Fanfiction by AuRon

So I guess I should offer an explanation. This also counts as an introduction, I think. The following is a series of fanfictions written in the year-long gap between XMDD and M,R. If you didn’t already catch that from my “creative” choice in titles. When XMDD suffered a rather abrupt ending and a promise for a sequel game, it left a number of plot threads hanging. Flash forward a year IC and a whole lot has changed. For many characters, this  “missing year” was a period of intense introspective thought, reinventions, revelations, and deciding to become murderers for hire. The characters, mind you. Not the writers. So, since a good deal of important stuff happened “off-screen”, I seek to capture it here in these stories. I have only written with characters that I have gotten permission to use, and I have strived to be as faithful as possible to how characters were written in both games.

TL:DR? I wanted to write a story about our characters.

(PS: You guys can talk about it here if you'd like).

The Missing Year: Kristen’s Story

-01

Christine's words before departing weren't heard by Christine alone. Kristen stood not that far away, holding her side and frowning as she watched Christine walked into the rain.

"I guess we'll go shopping later then," Kristen murmured to herself as she lost sight of Christine. She sighed as she turned around, and headed back through the Institute. A hand clamped down upon her remaining shoulder, resulting in her jumping in place, and almost activating her powers before she turned to look at the figure. It was one of the students, and it dimly clicked in Kristen's mind that he had the room across the hall from her's.

"You know... That was quite a return you made back here the other day. Even better that I happened to witness it with my two eyes... And with my phone's camera," He whispered into Kristen's ear. Kristen promptly froze, and felt her hand ball into a fist as her face turned red.

"What do you want?" Kristen growled, "I don't own anything you know."

"I just need you to do me some favors... At my discretion. If you don't do what I say... Or try to tell anyone of our agreement, a certain picture of you is gonna be sent to every guy in this school," The student replied.

Blackmail. Kristen frowned, restraining the urge to punch him, or try to see if she could still absorb this guy's memories. He couldn't watch her 24/7, and when she was clear, she would just tell Alaric. Or someone who could help her...

"Fine," Kristen replied, forcing herself to relax and have a straight face, "I'll do what you ask. After I recover."

With that, she headed away, leaving the now-perplexed student behind...

---

Several days later, Kristen tried to grab a hold of the tomato again. Alex had decided that this test was the best before she tried to do anything extreme such as fighting... And also gave her the opportunity to learn how to clean it off. Gently, or as best as she could, she lifted the Tomato, trying to regulate the amount of pressure she applied to it. Her new arm glinted as the morning sun's rays shone through the window of the kitchen, and mirrored Kristen's mood. She'd asked Alex about it after Christine left. He was able to oblige her request. Kristen had been surprisingly cheerful throughout the process, even when it took many painful hours to connect the artificial and organic nerves together. She'd been told to try and avoid doing anything crazy like trying to single-handedly fight off an army while she recovered, as she needed the time to become used to her new limb. The thought was, if she could control her arm from crushing a Tomato, then she could control her arm. So far, the counter had been stained red with Tomato juice from her failed attempts.

Kristen frowned as she applied too much pressure and crushed the fruit in her metallic hand. Sighing, she dropped the remains of the fruit, and busied herself with cleaning the metallic limb. At least it was an easier adjustment to get used to than some of the other things in her life. Classes would hopefully be resuming again, and Kristen had to get caught up on her virtually non-existent knowledge of things that school teaches.

At least it beat fighting for her life on a daily basis.

"Kristen Hailey," a voice said. A voice that had promised her something. Either her name was going about, or he had found it out somehow, "We had a deal..."

She stiffened, then trying to play it off by cleaning up the mess she had made, "... Yeah, a deal..."

She didn't turn around to look at him. To be honest, she didn't want to. She just wanted to get this favor done with and go on her way. That's why she was surprised when he reached an arm around her and grabbed her.

Kristen cried out, but the sound never left her mouth. She was making the sounds of surprise, but something was nullifying the sound. The student just chuckled to himself, drawing her close to fully embrace her.

"Silence fields," he said, "that's my power... No one can hear you so long as I keep it up. Want to say anything about it? Oh right, you can't."

Kristen tried to struggle her way out of this student's grip as he laughed. It wasn't a kind laugh. He just quickly turned her around and kissed her.

M-my first kiss... She thought, trying to enjoy it or anything other than panicking... But something inside herself repulsed her. She didn't know what, or why, but it felt wrong. And gross. And it wasn't just that it was bad- it was the thought that she was kissing a guy.

She quickly pulled back, instinctively trying to wipe his taste off her mouth with her arm- but it was her prosthetic. The ice-cold metal just made her recoil in shock, and she had no time to do anything else. The student quickly grabbed her shirt and threw her to the ground, aiming a precise kick to her stomach. The sound of her hitting the ground, and the kick hitting her were missing too. Sadly. Kristen crumpled into a ball, her cries of pain silenced before they could even leave her mouth.

"You're a lousy kisser," he mocked, kneeling over her, "At least you look good."

Kristen whimpered. Or she would have, if her voice was still silent.

He simply laughed again, "Oh, and if you have any thoughts of squealing... I still have quite a few pictures of you... For someone who just recently became a woman, you sure are pretty firm!"

Her eyes closed, trying not to cry in front of this student. Much to his pleasure, she failed.

"The field should wear off in a bit, until then... I have to get to class. See you later, you dumb broad."

And then he left. Ten minutes later, she could hear herself breathing deeply as she tried to control her tears. Her stomach hurt, a dull aching sort of pain, and she was still having trouble getting her breathing back to normal. When she slowly got back up onto her feet, she stumbled forward, out of the kitchen and into the rest of the school. Preferably her room, which was still situated on the guy’s side of the school. She couldn’t think of anything else other than her encounter with the boy, his warnings forcing her to look about every couple of minutes to see if he was following her. She only stopped when she returned to her room and laid down on her bed. She still ached.

She was sure to wipe away her tears when she went down for dinner that night.

---

Kristen didn't participate in school for the entirety of that term. With a lack of headmaster following Beast's death, and Alaric vanished to nowhere, there was a lack of leadership. As well as teachers. That wasn't her most important worry. A few days after her first encounter with the student, she had finally learned of his name. Joey. Joey Walker. He stood taller than her by at least a couple of inches, as well as the fact that he had a great deal more strength and muscles than her. His orange-red hair almost draped to his shoulders, and his brown eyes had a sinister shimmer to them.

It had only been a few days since she had met him in the kitchen... But she had grown to hate his eyes. As well as a lot of other things about him. She quickly learned how to “properly” kiss according to Joey as well. After the second beating, she finally was able to kiss him without being beaten for her lack of “skills”. He still hit her because he could. She also became good at figuring out how to hide the bruises on her body and legs.

While Joey’s demeanor to her occupied her thoughts, it was only half of the time. The rest of the time her mind was trying to accept her other predicament, and figuring out how to get help about it.

"... You want advice on how to be a woman..?" Dallas asked. It wasn't the weirdest question he'd ever been asked... But he did expect Kristen to ask someone else.

"Yes. I want better advice on how to be a girl."

"Is this because of the guy that I see you hanging out with? Because you two would actually make-"

"Dallas! Please! He's just- just a..." Kristen stammered, her face turning a bright red as she tried to search for the right words to explain what Joey exactly was.

"A friend? Got it Card. Then what do you want? Other than my shirts."

"I just want some advice. Something that'll make me seem less like a bumbling idiot and more like someone who can actually control their bodily functions."

"... We need to go shopping more."

"How is that supposed to me make me more feminine?"

"For one? New pants. These jeans flatter my ######, and my ###### alone. And you've been renting them for three weeks. And I use renting very loosely, since all you've given me for them is a nickel you found in the courtyard last weekend... Not even a lucky nickel. It was face down."

Kristen instantly tried to see how well her ###### looked in the mirror positioned not far from in front of Dallas' couch. While doing so, she noticed... Dallas. She never had noticed before now, which was strange... He was... Just a friend, right? But he looked so handsome... Defined shoulders, nice chin, great hair, amazing ######... There was a lot that Kristen realized she liked about him. Physically, at least. And he was her best only friend...

She instantly tried to put the thoughts out of her head. Dallas was her best friend, yes, but not in that way... Right?

"Maybe... Maybe I should find something a bit more... Effeminate?" Kristen asked.

"Like what? Miniskirts? Of all the things that you could possibly wear, don't pick miniskirts card. I know I always say "dress to kill", but I don't mean "dress to slay"."

"You never say that though..."

"I should have. At some point."

"Well- ah, maybe I should just try... Everything?” She asked, stroking her chin, “Since I am stuck, wouldn't the best way for me to find what I like the best is to just try everything?"

Dallas mused on the thought for the briefest of moments. Or perhaps the longest, from his perspective. Being in control of time gave him that luxury to pick and choose when he wanted to slow things down, or speed things up, "Deal. Have any money?"

"Do you?"

"Good! Then tomorrow we go and hit the mall. I think nobody has wrecked the school car yet, so we can take that, relieve a couple of people of their hard-earned cash, and grab a couple of slices of pizza."

"Sounds great," Kristen said with a nod, gently rubbing her metallic shoulder as she opened his dorm’s door and took a step out, "And after we go shopping, you can have your pants back, okay?"

"Wash them first. Tali would never forgive me if she found out I had another woman on them."

She closed the door on her way out, not before giving Dallas a small smile.

---

"Tali!"

The older woman stopped and turned to see Kristen clumsily jogging towards her, leaning awkwardly towards the side of her replaced arm. She hadn't gotten the hang of walking either, her strides more accustomed to a boy's body rather than her current one.

"Kristen," Tali greeted, nodding at her. Whenever Kristen approached her, she could feel her inner turmoil. Her confusion, her anger at John… As well as anger and… Fear? Anger and fear. At someone else, not John Howlett. She couldn’t place who it was, but it was something she’d have to look into later.

"Uhm- I needed to ask you a question Tali..."

"Shoot."

"Ah- what... What should I do to make myself more girly?" Kristen asked, awkwardly shuffling in place.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I- I don't know... I mean, I have a chick's body, that means I have to be a chick, right?"

Tali just sighed and shook her head. She placed her knuckles on her forehead and tried to figure out how she wanted to say the proper words.

"Kristen, what do you think being a girl is like?"

She paused, putting a finger to her lips as she thought, "Well, liking clothes... Talking about guys... Cooking?"

"You don't have the best understanding of things, do you?" Tali asked with a sigh.

"Like, being a chick. Like Nicole."

"I wouldn't follow her example Kristen."

"Huh? Why not?"

"... Just, don't. She's not as nice of a person as you think."

Kristen awkwardly shuffled in place, rubbing at her metallic shoulder, "Well, what should I do then?"

"Kristen. here's what I say, don't try to be like Nicole or anyone else. You just do what you want to do. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, you should stop talking to them. Ok?"

"Oh- Ahm, ohkay," Kristen said, eyes wide and head tilted to the side in confusion. She started to walk off again, before Tali grabbed her prosthetic, halting Kristen in her path.

"Listen, I know this is tough for you... Having to switch genders and losing limbs... If you ever need help with your body, I can help out, okay Kristen?" Tali asked, looking into her blood-red pupils.

"Y-yes. Dallas said he could take me shopping tomorrow for some better clothes for me... If there's anything I don't know how to wear, I'll ask you," Kristen said with a smile, before wishing Tali a nice rest of the day and carrying on her way. Tali’s eyes just narrowed. There was something else bothering Kristen… But whatever it was, she was too terrified to talk about it. Definitely something she’d have to look into later.

Kristen returned to her room as the sun lingered at the edge of the horizon. She had dodged Joey for almost all of the day... Or at least she thought she did. Considering how he can make himself silent, she knew she would never be able to tell where he is without spotting him.

She flopped back onto her bed, just sitting there and trying to think. Ever since John had gotten her stuck in this body, she hadn't had too much trouble... Beyond learning how to clean herself properly. There was the fact that all that she owned was a v-neck donated to her from Dallas, same with the pants she was borrowing from him. Other than that, she had a few articles of mismatched clothing that the other female students had donated to her at the request of teachers. Mostly undergarments, and brightly colored t-shirts & socks that didn't bode well with her. That, and she couldn't figure out how to wear women's clothing.

She slowly started into change into the loose workout clothes that she called her pajamas. Afterwards she paused to stare at her reflection in the wall-mounted mirror in her room, and had a brief revelation. She hated being stuck like this. She didn't want to be like the other girls at the school... She didn't want dresses, or makeup, or talking about boys. She didn't want to be a girl, but it seemed like she would be stuck like this for the rest of her life...

She closed her eyes, an angry growl emanating from her throat as she strode over to the desk in her room and began to rummage through it. Sure enough, there was a pair of scissors there. She strode back to the mirror and awkwardly held the scissors up to her face...

When Dallas came to collect her, he would find her asleep on the floor, her hair cut a choppy short, with her former long locks laying on the ground around her.

I'm going to hazard a guess and say "yes". Especially considering how persona are a reflection of the personality... Changing them would be no easy feat IC. Ooc, it probably would require staff approval?

Query: why are all the characters in this story horrible flanderizations of the actual characters?

IC: Kristen Hailey (Chapter Three, One thing leads to another):

After losing consciousness for a few moments after he blew a kiss at me, I was about to sit up- Before taking a bite out of the donut. Chocolate cake. Frosted only on the top. Sprinkles.

I remained lying back on the seat, looking up at the ceiling and wistfully wanting to do something.

I took another bite of the donut.