|
Post by ch00beh on Jul 26, 2008 16:16:27 GMT -5
OOC - Dammit, Bulbs, it's "Terrian", not "Terrain"!
And, man, telepaths are LAAAME. But I don't mind. However, I'm going to need Lee to post and actually bring Nat over here before I can apologize to her, because I believe she, Garth and Emily are still over across the field. OOC - So are shape shifters, Slys been on your shoulder since you left the car. Oh and sorry about the Terrian thing OOC: I KNOW TELEPATHS ARE LAME. This is why I'm killing off Ender and he's going to stay dead. :3
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Jul 28, 2008 1:11:13 GMT -5
"No pills, please. I'll heal this up quickly enough." Natalie responded, waving Emily away. Gone from sight one moment, a rustle in the grass indicated her return beside Terrian, though still obscured by the greenery.
"That's right. I won't punch him." Natalie jerked, her blade lancing out and slicing into the back of Terrian's calf with a sickening ripping noise. She flickered, the blade disappearing, leaving Terrian with a slowly spreading dark stain on his leg. "That was only a shallow one, since I'm guessing you can't heal. Hit nothing vital, and it should be patched up in a few days. But it hurts like hell, doesn't it?" She turned away from him for a moment.
"I say we take the twins, wimpy, and the guy with the energy knife to a place where we can talk things over. I know a good warehouse about a mile off that won't have anybody in it this time of night..." Natalie raised a finger, stopping Ender. "No teleporting. We walk." She gave Terrian a pat on the cheek, and then began striding along.
|
|
|
Post by Beelzebibble on Jul 28, 2008 1:35:40 GMT -5
Still hovering in midair, Terrian buckled over. He could tell the wound wasn't severe, but it felt about six times more painful than it should be. He gingerly attempted to soothe the wound with his hands, wishing that the cold numbness that was just starting to creep in around the edges of the white-hot pain would hurry up and overtake it.
Tears welled up in his eyes, through which he could see – what? The duplicate Brogue, still carrying the briefcase, had rushed forward and crossed around in front of the woman's path.
Terrian shut his eyes, but could clearly hear Brogue say, "I deserved that."
Terrian didn't hear any response from the woman, but Brogue went on: "No – wait – listen. I talked him into firing at you. He was going to shoot at the dressed-up guy, but... Well, there's the thing he said, about how we thought you were going to attack him—" (Terrian assumed Brogue was gesturing toward the feeble man) "—but there's also this."
Terrian, still squeezing his eyes shut, heard the briefcase open. Brogue, he guessed, was showing the woman the business card.
"We can talk about this when we get to the warehouse. It's all very weird and confusing. But the point is, I'm the reason why he shot at you. And the only reason I'm not offering up my leg for you to stab is because I can't feel pain. That would only make him suffer a little more."
Terrian opened his eyes and looked back at Brogue and the woman in time to see his duplicate add: "So for future reference, can you be pissed at me instead?"
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Jul 28, 2008 21:57:17 GMT -5
"Well, well, well... A perfectly good example wasted. Beyond making somewhat more clear to him what a bad idea it is to shoot me without killing me, no good whatsoever. I was hoping you two would share the pain, but I guess that was far too much to ask." Natalie stopped, thinking to herself.
"I guess that we probably should teleport then, if it's not going to punish the one at fault any. Besides, it's faster. And I really want to know what all of the pretty boys around here happen to be up to," Natalie continued, neglecting to apologize. If she couldn't get Brogue back, that would have to do for now. She knelt down to examine her injured leg. The rapid transformations had healed it significantly, and she had omitted the bullet from her body with the first teleport. It still hurt to walk on, but that was what happened. She could heal severe damage due to the modifications to her sceard Sly had made, but minor wounds and fatigue still wouldn't depart. This would be with her until she healed on her own.
"And now that I think about it, Emily, I think that Ender probably could use those painkillers better than I could," Natalie stated just loudly enough for her friend to hear, and gesturing toward the psionic.
|
|
|
Post by ch00beh on Jul 28, 2008 22:41:42 GMT -5
"Right. Painkillers. Just have it ready. Off we go!" Ender flashed a smile and the entire group disappeared.
They reappeared outside the warehouse that Nat had described. As soon as they appeared, Ender briefly blacked out and lost his footing. He regained consciousness as he was falling, and managed to only fall to one knee. His hands shot up to the sides of his head. Around his temples the major veins bulged out. There was almost visible pumping.
Weakly, the psionic reached a trembling hand to his pocket and pulled out his bottle of extra strength aspirin. He simply tipped it into his mouth, a good number of pills spilling off to the side, and swallowed it all down. Then he just flopped onto the floor on his back to breathe for a bit.
|
|
Clicker
Joyeuse Insurgency
Trunk Monkey Thief Retriever
They're more fun airborne.
Posts: 236
|
Post by Clicker on Jul 31, 2008 14:17:20 GMT -5
After being teleported Emily saw Ender collapse. She gasped. “Nat, what’s wrong with him?” After another moment she noticed he used extra-strength aspirin. She gasped even louder. “Oh my goodness!” she yelled, “Why are you taking those? How could you be so evil?” She expected Natalie to side with her and was little shocked when Nat gave her a questioning look.
Emily sighed with exasperation “Do you ever read anything that has to do with modern medicine!” It wasn’t really a question. “I got it from a very reliable source that aspirin is evil. Not only does it kill your kidneys and liver and brain, but also the companies force abandoned orphans to make it! Worse yet, they test on animals!” She could barely believe how ignorant some people could be.
“Reliable source eh?” Natalie said sarcastically. “When did the tabloids become reliable?”
Emily gasped again. “How did you know that was where I read it?”
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Sept 3, 2008 22:21:43 GMT -5
OOC: M'kay, kids, it's review time. What should we do with Triannual? BB's gone for a long while, longer than the average ban, Choobs is slacking out of RP for a while, Clicks is off at school and down to a post a week, and DL's at a snail's pace. Pohatu and I are still virile and charming.
So, should we keep moving and autorun the first two, or should we wait for Choobs or BB to return to get the ball rolling again?
|
|
|
Post by Beelzebibble on Sept 4, 2008 8:15:11 GMT -5
"Five-second rule," said Brogue, as he delicately plucked a couple of pills off the floor and gave them to Terrian, who was sitting on the floor with a grimace and nursing his wound. With a smile of thanks for his duplicate and not a word of acknowledgement to Emily, Terrian popped the aspirin. For all the good that did. Then he sat back.
"Give me your socks, too," he said to Brogue.
He answered the duplicate's blank stare by explaining things with thought instead of speech. I'm going to make a bandage. Give me your socks and then I'll re-absorb you.
What? Really? But...
Yeah?
Can't I stay out a little longer? I still feel responsible for all this.
Terrian considered this, surprised. The duplicate was developing his own conscience, independent of Terrian's. That wasn't the only way one of them could attain proper sense of self, but it was certainly one route. Well, why not. He'd always meant to getting around to creating a few more of those.
"Fair enough," he said aloud. "But if we survive this, you're going to medical school."
He reached out a hand, and Brogue took it to help him up; he then tottered forward a few steps, and turned to see that standing behind him was a third Terrian Brogue whose leg was identically wounded. Almost disturbingly, however, this duplicate paid no heed to the injury, since he couldn't feel pain. Without a word, he knelt down, removed his shoes, removed his socks, replaced his shoes, handed his socks to Terrian, and then limped back to him.
Again they were two. Terrian sat back down and tied the socks as tightly as he could bear around the gash on his right leg. Brogue, looking around uncomfortably at the room and the others, heard him mutter, "No wonder Tuxedo Boy was so interested in me. Who wouldn't be? Terrian Brogue, the infinite sock generator."
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Oct 29, 2008 0:24:39 GMT -5
OOC: Oh wow, I never actually read that last post. If Kevin doesn't mind, I think I'm going to write as if he wasn't with us, since he hasn't shown up in this plot for a page now. BIC: "So, now that all of you-" Natalie paused. She wanted to say 'wimps', but that would be levelling an accusation at Ender, who was in pain just because he wanted to help her. "-are patched up to the point where we won't die, let's talk turkey." She turned to point out the two prone forms besides Ender's, Garth and the man who had stabbed her. "Something's up," she growled, striding toward them. She took care to avoid Ender, but rather deliberately stepped on her former foe as she passed over him. She approached Garth, who was still snared too tightly in vines to move, and brought her right hand up. Her sword appeared, locked into a straight position, and at his quivering throat. "Don't kill him!" Emily shouted, and Natalie simply nodded, showing she heard. "You know what's going on. You said so yourself. Now..." She pushed it closer, the very tip of the blade piercing skin. Garth snapped his head back, his breathing wracking his frame. His eyes were wild with terror, and foam flecked his lips. "TALK!" Natalie began to advance toward him, only to be stopped short. Sly, who had transformed from his fly form into his human guise, put one delicate hand on Natalie's tensed shoulder. <We Andalites may not be above doing what's necessary to do the job...> Sly pushed back against her slightly. <But I think you're just terrorizing the poor boy.> Nat turned to meet his glance, Sly's eyes showing both concern and disappointment. She flickered, her weapon disappearing, and turned away from Garth. She gave the other man a kick in his satin-clad ribs as she walked back to the main group. <Now then...> Sly reach behind him, his hand moving more quickly than the average eye could track. Beams of light sliced across the obstructions, and then the roots burst from around Garth in a shower of soggy splinters. Sly holstered his shredder again, the weapon having already cooled. He then knelt down, offering a hand to the youth. "Wh-What ARE you?" Garth choked, drawing back in obvious fear. Perhaps he could sense that the being extending a hand to him was neither human nor fly. <I'm a friend of the people who were hurt in this incident. That's all that matters. Now stand up. Let us talk with you.> Sly responded, as if talking to a scared child. Garth wordlessly responded, shakily rolling to his feet and taking the shapeshifter's hand gently as he stood up. "Are you going to hurt me?" Garth asked, still watching Natalie even though she had turned away from him and was examining the nearest wall. "I can't speak for the rest of them. But I know that I won't," Sly said, keeping his voice reassuring and strong. "It'd probably help if you were to tell us what was going on." "Can they hear what you're saying?" Garth asked, glancing to Sly. "Yes. We can," Natalie replied, turning back to face him out of the corner of her eye. "Go on." "Okay!" Garth stepped back a little, Sly stepping to stay beside him. "Anyways... This all started a while ago, when I was younger... Maybe four years ago or so? Longer? I don't really remember. Anyways, when I wasn't even a teenager, I awoke one morning to find my window smashed and a bronze circle with a symbol on it on my floor." He paused, and took a deep breath. "So, I was kinda surprised, but I just kept it as a good luck charm. That seemed not to lead to any problems, you know, a harmless trinket kind of thing, right?" Garth smiled, wiping some of the spittle from earlier from his lips. "So, anyways, one day, I wake up, and when I went to go look for it, it had disappeared." "I looked around for a little while, worried about losing my mojo, but I gave up on it and decided to shower before school..." His hand went to the buttons towards the waist of his shirt, and began unfastening them awkwardly. "So, I go to get undressed, and I have... THIS." He jerked the light fabric of his shirt aside, revealing his stomach. Emblazoned on it was a massive, angry-looking mark. The same red as a back lashed in torture, a straight line drew itself from his ribs to his navel, with a similar line curving around it twice. "That was three days ago. When I went to see a doctor about it, they said it looked like an allergic rash of some kind, and that they'd need to hold onto me until they found out what caused it... The second night I was there, a male nurse came and put me under..." Garth smiled ruefully. "I awoke later on, in Violet, dressed like this and tied down to a table like some sort of sacrificial animal. There were a lot of people wearing this kind of clothing, and they were chanting in some kind of ritual. I freaked out, and that meteor thing from earlier came down." Garth gave an apologetic look to Natalie, who simply turned away from him. "I escaped in the chaos, and have been on the run since then." Garth concluded. "Wait... So you escaped?" Natalie asked, her voice incredulous. "Yes." "Then why did you hang around here, IN THE OPEN, and let whatever these cultist guys are find you?" "I thought that since they had taken me captive when I was alone and hidden, maybe they'd stay away if I found some people..." Garth looked rather ashamed at his logic. "You were the first person I saw, since that weird stuff in the air was keeping most people away." "Seems reasonable," Sly announced to the group, stepping away from Garth. "So, you're with us, right?" "You're just going to accept him?" Natalie growled, turning to face Sly directly. "If we do hurt him, we might be doing the work of those other guys for them. And considering their track record-" "I'm in." Garth said, cutting Sly off. "If you don't mind." <You were pretty good with him, Sly.> Ender privately intoned. <It's natural. He reminds me of Rick when he was younger.> Sly responded. <And if there's one thing you never forget, it's how to be a father.>
|
|
|
Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Nov 2, 2008 23:34:09 GMT -5
Dracon stood in the background absorbing all this, his big arms folded across his chest, "So what exactly are we to do, take vengeance on these purple cloaked people, or just stand around with our thumbs up our asses?" Dracon leaned casually against the wall, awaiting an answer from the group.
|
|
|
Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 3, 2008 11:49:32 GMT -5
In the silence that followed, Terrian said very clearly, "I'm not taking vengeance on anyone."
He didn't seem interested in arguing the point further with the draconic humanoid who had been watching these proceedings without a word until now. Indeed Terrian didn't seem curious that the creature was even there. Brogue, concerned, tried to catch Terrian's eye. He knew the only thing that could put a stopper on Terrian Brogue's natural curiousity was the desire not to open up. And the duplicate, watching the original sit on the floor and tend to his wound, thought he had never seen himself look less willing to open up.
Brogue, therefore, decided to take the initiative. "Maybe now is a good time to talk about this," he said, bringing back out the business card he had shown to Natalie outside. He gave it to her. As she studied it with grudging interest, and as others in the room pressed in to take a look, Brogue explained.
"I told you this was part of the reason why I wanted my original to shoot at you. What I haven't told you is who gave it to me. There was another tuxedo boy like this guy. He..." Brogue swallowed, realizing he would have to start earlier. He looked to Terrian for encouragement, but the original was staring at his leg and hadn't deigned to look up for any of this.
"The car broke down," said Brogue. "All the streetlamps went out – our phone wasn't working – might be now, I'm not sure – anyway, Terrian told you all that. Then he told you we both came out here to investigate. That wasn't totally true. He came out here to investigate. I stayed behind in the car. And another tuxedo boy like this one came over to see me.
"All the while Terrian was watching your fight, this other guy was talking to me – saying – really weird things, I couldn't figure most of it out. He was trying to intimidate me, but I didn't understand what he wanted. Eventually he gave me this card. He said he and his group thought they could use Terrian's talent. He said they'd seen what Terrian had done at the Parmigianino Institute... that was a while ago, we helped – I guess Rie might have told you about it," he finished rather lamely, looking at Ender.
Brogue turned helplessly back to his original, but Terrian had now apparently found a very interesting spot on the far wall, because it was holding his undivided attention.
"So – I don't know – now that we might be getting service again, I think Terrian and I wanted to try calling the number. Figure out where they are, what they're up to, why they're interested in us... That's all stuff you guys might find it helpful to know, isn't it?"
OOC - I love how thoroughly Terrian's and his duplicate's attitudes have shifted since my first post in this topic.
|
|
|
Post by hermes on Nov 4, 2008 19:03:22 GMT -5
Prime was going far too fast for his own good when he drove into the dark area, the electronics in his electric motorcycle going dead. "Oh hell," Prime said, tapping the screen frantically as the motors started to cease up. He desperately squeezed the breaks, but they were power driven as well. He hit a rock, wobbled, and his back wheel started spinning a lot slower than the front. The power imbalance dragged him into the side of a warehouse building, where a loud crash saw him embalmed in the huge metal wall.
"Euuugh," he groaned, trying to move. His shoulder and waist were surrounded by metal. His bike trapped his leg against the steel wall. He could feel bruising starting to creep up his leg, and over his waist and ribcage. "Oh hell." He pulled at his leg experimentally, but winced, and started gasping. "Okay, that's not gonna work. HELP!" Prime screamed, hoping somebody nearby had a crowbar.
OOC: Remember, amnesia! He's a deja vu person! And yes, that is your warehouse.
|
|
|
Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Nov 6, 2008 18:52:07 GMT -5
Dracon's ears twitched as he heard the desperate screams of a man who apparently crashed directly into a wall. The large shapeshifter jogged over to the biker, his leg lodged in his bike. He placed both hands on his hips. "Well this isn't good, now is it? Let me help you."
Dracon's appearance changed again: this time he was a green scaly color, with big beefy dragon arms, and a face similar to that of a iguana, his tail taking up about 75% of his body length. His tongue flicked the air lightly as he wrapped his fingers around the metal, bending it outward, letting the man free up his leg.
"And who might you be?" Dracon said, the scales falling off and disappearing, returning to his human form.
|
|
|
Post by hermes on Nov 7, 2008 1:47:16 GMT -5
"Aw crap my bike!" Prime griped, then calmed down, shaking his head. "Anyways, thanks for getting me out of there, dragon man," he said, brushing himself off, and popping his bike seat. He pulled out a semi-automatic pistol he'd picked up earlier, and checked for damage. "Well at least this thing is all right," he muttered, then turned back to his rescuer. "I'm Pardas Rafe Idris Magnus Elder, also called Prime due to my initials," he said, inclining his head slightly.
He then noticed a few other characters, colorful characters, not far off. "Oh, what's going on? We seem to have prisoners here," he said thoughtfully, shifting his stance. "Well, I'd be willing to help out a bit if there's a job opportunity here, or if anyone has some extra-strength pain killers. My leg and hip are already starting to bruise here," he said.
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 19, 2008 0:41:01 GMT -5
"Huh." Natalie held the card up to the dim light, eyeballing it. "Just the number, and nothing else. Those schmucks must really want to meet you on their terms, not ours..." She paused, her sword clinking slightly. "So they wanted Garth and you. And he said something about me-"
Looking at the floor for a moment, mulling over her options, Prime's bike crashed into the building. Almost instantly, Nat threw herself at Garth, tackling him to the ground and covering him as best she could. She flickered, reappearing facing the wreckage where the wall had once been.
"Huh... Just a... Yeah." She shrugged, flipping the card back to Terrian, aiming for the bridge of his nose. "Just another person getting caught up in this crap because magicians can't keep their ****ing **** to their dumb*** selves." As Prime approached the group, a vague look crossed Natalie's face.
"Oh. YOU," she muttered, the corner of her mouth turning down.
"You know him? So you guys are friends too!" Emily ventured.
"No. We aren't. He just looked like... somebody I knew, I think." Natalie sighed, and kicked at the floor. "Anyways, I'm not going to let some sap crashing into a wall distract me."
"I say that we've got two tools here. We've got one of them captive, and we've got a number to reach their superiors." She paused, turning around and taking Garth by the collar. "Four tools. Two captives they want. Five if you count my bracelet. We've got some serious leverage with whatever we do."
"I'm thinking that we should bargain their own man against the information on why they want us, and-" She snapped her fingers. "We go from there. Most likely in the general direction of kicking all their ***es."
|
|
|
Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 19, 2008 2:08:30 GMT -5
OOC: Jointly written conversation. Lee wrote the NPC's dialogue.
The business card bounced neatly off Terrian's nose and twirled to the floor, where he picked it up. He gestured toward the duplicate Brogue, who was still holding the briefcase uncertainly. Brogue handed it over, and Terrian opened it up. Almost immediately, he closed it again. The Mage Masher was back inside, and he thought it better no one in the room should see he was still armed.
Terrian had dropped the gun when Natalie had cut his leg open; Brogue must have picked it up and stashed it without anyone noticing. Terrian mentally lauded the duplicate's acumen as he opened the suitcase again, only by a few inches this time. He fished out what he had originally been looking for – the cell phone – and flipped it open. A couple of bars. Good enough.
"Great," he muttered, punching in digits, as Natalie's speech ran to its end. "Sure. All right. Fine. Also: think fast."
Brogue, who had apparently gotten stuck trying to puzzle out Natalie's sums of tools, immediately snapped to attention. "Hold on—!"
But already a voice on the other end said, "Ah. It's you."
Terrian supposed this might be the second tuxedo boy, the one who had left the card with Brogue, but without any way to know for sure he said simply, "That's right."
"Quite punctual, really. Typically, referrals such as you take a little bit more time to come up with a response. I'll need to hand this news along to my higher ups," the voice oozed like a poisonous honey. "Of course, you don't really need to be too punctual when working with us, I suppose. Otherwise, the three other members that were supposed to back us up would have been able to keep things from blowing up so spectacularly."
It didn't seem like the proper night for Terrian to deliberately complicate matters, and so he looked for the best way to steer around this last cryptic sentence and turn the conversation back to its goal. With a glance at Natalie, he said into the phone, "My response is yes: I'm interested in your offer."
"Of course, of course," the man responded, a small glimmer of happiness appearing in the mire of his voice. "It's not as if we would pick somebody unlikely to work with us. Such behavior would only be poor business, after all." After a pause, his tone grew more eager. "So, when will you be able to come in for the interview?"
Terrian looked at his wristwatch. Eleven thirty. "Well... it's a little late, but I happen to be unoccupied. If there's always someone at your... office, I could drop by tonight. How close are you to Whelkshore?"
"There is always someone at our... office. It's policy." The man changed to a more guarded tone in mid-word. "As for proximity, well, don't think that you could just Mapquest us. We use the absolute latest and best when it comes to security. To get here? Step through the card."
What did he say? Brogue thought to Terrian; the duplicate had been listening in on the cell phone conversation to the best of his ability.
"Step through the – I don't suppose I can trouble you for any advice on how to step through the card?" Terrian asked the man. "Or is that something I'll figure out?"
"It's quite simple, really. You set it down on the floor, and then step on it like you're going down stairs. I'd think that with your experience, such things would be mundane by now."
Terrian could have corrected the man's overestimation of his experience, but decided it would be better simply to say "All right. I'll be there in a moment. Anything else I should know before showing up?"
"Well, we're a very growth-oriented organization. If you were to happen to, say, catch a couple passersby and bring them along, that would be lovely. And if you haven't killed my dear friend yet, he would be a most delightful present to take with you."
"Of course," was the brightest reply Terrian could come up with under time pressure. Hoping he had made it sound mysterious and impressive enough, he hung up. Then he set the card down on the floor in front of him and, with help from the duplicate Brogue, got to his feet.
"Clear the way, now, people, give a guy his space, I've got some walking to do – oh, shit," he gasped, quickly shifting weight off his injured leg. Brogue stepped forward to support him better.
What's the plan? he thought to Terrian.
"Not much use trying to conceal it from this bunch, is there?" Terrian replied aloud. "I'm going to go have a word with the bridegroom brigade."
|
|
|
Post by AngelicTragedy on Nov 19, 2008 10:47:13 GMT -5
Valon finally stepped from the shadows and held up a hand much the way a teacher would if they were trying to silence their students. His face was stone but his dull green eyes shone like emerald fire in the dimly lit room. Valon nearly floated over to Terrian and grabbed his shoulder before he could descend into the portal and caught his gaze. A few long moments passed, Valon let the man go and smiled softly.
"I'm going with you. Who knows what we're walking into and I'm more than capable to keep things from going overboard. I think that you need to explain exactly how we're going to be paying these people a visit for those of us that don't have super hearing." Valon winked, giving off the impression that he had been listening to the entire conversation.
OOC- Short, but not alot to go with.
|
|
|
Post by hermes on Nov 23, 2008 2:30:07 GMT -5
Prime pinched the bridge of his nose, the confidence this character was giving off was embarrassing to be around. He shook his head, took a few careful steps with his slightly injured leg, and made his way over to Natalie. "You seem familiar but I can't place you either," he said. "Anyways, mind explaining what exactly is going on here? And whats your next move? Just for the record, I don't have issues with shooting at anything that glows, or has a sharp object. As long as I get some painkillers."
|
|
Clicker
Joyeuse Insurgency
Trunk Monkey Thief Retriever
They're more fun airborne.
Posts: 236
|
Post by Clicker on Nov 25, 2008 18:51:15 GMT -5
"Yeah jumping into a card to fight some spooky guys, sounds like a good time." Emily laughed, she was a little nervous, but more so excited. "Hey Nat, we get to work together again!"
Reaching in her pocket she pulled out a bottle of pills and tossed them to Prime. "These are painkillers, they should help a little." She then armed herself with a spike in one hand and knife in the other. "I'm ready to go through the awesome magical card, how 'bout the rest of ya?"
|
|
|
Post by Hamuu on Dec 5, 2008 0:54:42 GMT -5
Sly tilted his head as he listened to both ends of Terrian’s conversation, making sure to keep his main eyes focused on both him and his copy. One stalk-eye was rapidly moving between everyone and keeping as many people in his field of vision while the other focused on supervising Nat and her ‘captive’.
<Interesting,> Sly said, glancing at the card that would take them exactly where they wanted to go. <I will also accompany you.>
OOC – Horrible, but I am sleepy. Btw I am taking my characters back officially for awhile as of this post.
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 7, 2008 0:11:29 GMT -5
"Wait just a minute, all of you." Natalie walked up to Terrian, having been too far away to pick up both ends of the conversation with her fairly mundane hearing.
"You all might be full of bravado and all that, but I've dealt with people like this. They don't just go 'Oh, you're cool, let's hire you.' They want insurance. If they didn't want something from you, they wouldn't let you know that they're interested." Nat stepped in closely, leaning into Terrian's face.
"So, what is it that they wanted, huh? We're not going to find out they demanded a sacrifice of one of us or something, right?" She leaned in closer, her breath in his face. Her eyes were full of emotion, though the shade made it hard to tell the details. Was it anticipation? Rage? Impatience? Fright? Nobody could be quite certain what it was that the girl was exuding. Her hands weren't on her sword, at least. For Terrian, that was a start.
|
|
|
Post by Beelzebibble on Dec 7, 2008 1:05:28 GMT -5
"Oh, uh, jeez, listen, I'm sorry, you sound really interested in the job, but I don't think they're likely to hire you at this point. I mean, you can offer minimum wage, but..."
Terrian turned his head away from hers a bit to address the others. "On the other hand, I probably ought to answer your question for the benefit of anyone in the room whose resume doesn't include beating up on tuxedo boys and slicing open the legs of potential tuxedo boys of the future. I don't know what they want from me especially. Your guy didn't...?" he said to Brogue.
"No," said the duplicate hesitantly, whose nervous attitude had only grown more and more pronounced as Natalie had closed with Terrian. "My guy just said they could use talent like mine."
"And the one on the phone didn't even say that," Terrian went on. "Whereas he did say that I was welcome to bring along other people to the interview. So whatever they want from me, it's not so special that they're not going to consider hiring others."
Terrian looked back at Natalie. "Basically, the plan is me going to see them. If the relatively harmless among us want to come along, that's no problem. But they definitely wouldn't be happy to see you sitting in on the interview so please have no fear. No one's going to sacrifice you. You're not coming."
"Um," said Brogue loudly, primarily to shut Terrian up. "I feel like you and I have been getting slaughtered by telepaths tonight. Aren't you worried there are going to be more mind readers at the... office? They'll know you've been conspiring with enemies of the organization."
"I haven't been conspiring with anyone," Terrian replied immediately, before he was even sure whether or not his response was true. But of course it didn't matter – the duplicate was right anyway – the tuxedo boys would figure out he'd spoken with Nat, Valon, Ender and the dragon man. Terrian thought about this for a moment.
"Can anyone here protect against telepathy?" he asked, again looking away from Natalie and hoping she wasn't going to raise her hand.
OOC - Choobs, Bulbs, this one's for you mostly. Could Ender or Sly somehow shield the minds of the interviewees against telepathy? Of course, Lee might preemptively auto an affirmative just to push this on to the next scene.
|
|
|
Post by Hamuu on Dec 7, 2008 14:01:18 GMT -5
OOC - Sly does. It's a small metallic ball that fits in the ear canal and 'takes the place' of your brain for purposes like mind readers and polygraphs. It give the impression that you are calm and truthful. He only has three though. I think I need to make a topic somewhere with what all Sly carries around in his messenger bag. I also need to start using the gadgets more often since all he ever uses are his Bee Clusters and his Shredder, i don't even think the Gravity Grenades have made an appearance since the war ended but he always carries them around with him.
|
|
|
Post by Beelzebibble on Dec 7, 2008 14:23:46 GMT -5
OOC - Three of those would do fine. As I recall in accordance with Lee's infiltration plan, that means two not-obviously-harmful people -- Emily and Prime? -- can come along with Terrian as potential recruits, while the shapeshifters can accompany them in tiny, innocuous forms, and remaining characters can stay behind and keep contact through the duplicate Brogue, waiting to teleport in when the situation inevitably gets messy.
I think the tentative idea is...?
- Terrian, Emily and Prime go to the interview, bringing along tuxedo boy #1 - Nat, Sly and Dracon sneak along in forms that won't draw attention to themselves - Ender, Valon, Garth and Brogue hang back to step in at the right moment - ???? - Profit!
Something like that.
|
|
|
Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 8, 2008 23:35:58 GMT -5
As Natalie indeed did, albeit still looking somewhat surprised at the brusqueness of Terrian's answer for them.
"Well, not actually. I can shield my own mind-" Natalie cast a cautious glance around to see if Ender or Sly noticed her statement.
"But I can't shield yours. But that's where my friends come in. Sly, you have something to block telepathy on ya, right? And Ender, since those two have connected minds," Natalie jerked her thumb at Terrian and then at Brogue, "you can use that to shield Terrian wherever he goes, right?"
Natalie stopped speaking for a moment, trying to look Ender in the eye despite his mirrored shades. Her message was clear. If you don't want to keep hurting yourself, it's okay to stay here and just back us up. You've done enough tonight.
"So, how many magic anti-telepathy pills can you whip up on the fly, Sly?" Nat stepped toward him, extending her hand before he even could respond.
"Because if you have more than two, I think we might just be in luck..."
OOC: Now it comes to Sly gives the mental guards to himself, Emily, and Prime, Dracon shapeshifts a small telepathic lizard, Nat goes tiny, and Valon/Ender/Brogue/Garth come out of nowhere and nuke things if the situation gets ugly.
|
|
|
Post by Hamuu on Dec 9, 2008 19:10:13 GMT -5
Sly produced three small metallic balls from his satchel. <You know full well my views on combining technology with magic, Natalie.> He knew she really didn’t believe they were magic but he’d rather make it clear to the new people that his devices were natural and up to par with most magic. Something Sly took great pride in.
<I can block my own mind well enough, the only telepath I have met thus far that can break my defenses is Ender.> Sly handed her the metallic balls, explaining that they needed to be pushed as far back into the ear as possible.
|
|