[Changeling] A Gathering of Mists IC

[SiuiS]

Charlotte shrugs. When all else fails, be polite.

"Excuse me, Monsieur malevolence!" she calls to the black spiked... Thing. "Are you perhaps an evil witch, or would you know where to find one?"



I am actually shamed by how easy that was once I clicked "respond".

[Thanqol]

Not the approach she would have taken.

Stephanie, using the distraction, began moving very rapidly around the shadow monster and towards the boy. He might be in danger, might be a link - either way, shouldn't be alone.

[Anarion]

The boy turns at Charlotte's words. When he does so, he finally sees the shadow. And upon seeing it, everything seems to shift. The whole world grows dark, a haze covering the sky and flooding through the trees. The boy screams and freezes, the shadow grows and begins to envelop the boy.

Stephanie is already running, however, and she's close and comfortable with the darkness. She can still see the boy clearly and has time to act.

[Thanqol]

The boy turns at Charlotte's words. When he does so, he finally sees the shadow. And upon seeing it, everything seems to shift. The whole world grows dark, a haze covering the sky and flooding through the trees. The boy screams and freezes, the shadow grows and begins to envelop the boy.

Stephanie is already running, however, and she's close and comfortable with the darkness. She can still see the boy clearly and has time to act.

"Hi," said Stephanie, grabbing the boy's hand. "Run," she advised, holding onto his wrist and pulling him into a run. She didn't have the physique to pick him up and keep running so this was the next best thing.

[Anarion]

"Hi," said Stephanie, grabbing the boy's hand. "Run," she advised, holding onto his wrist and pulling him into a run. She didn't have the physique to pick him up and keep running so this was the next best thing.

[Hmm, I think there should be a check here to see if this works. You get a basic freebie though because I think Dex+athletics to get the boy moving and keep everyone on balance is the most appropriate check. -3 for overcoming pure and utter terror accentuated by a dream landscape.]

[Thanqol]

[Hmm, I think there should be a check here to see if this works. You get a basic freebie though because I think Dex+athletics to get the boy moving and keep everyone on balance is the most appropriate check. -3 for overcoming pure and utter terror accentuated by a dream landscape.]

[10-3=7,

8 - 10 - 3 - 3 - 6 - 9 - 8

10 Again: 8

Exceptional!]

[Anarion]

Stephanie's tug pulls the boy right out of his terror and his feet start moving on their own. The two of them hold hands and begin running. To Stephanie's amazement, the boy seems to have no trouble keeping up with her. It's almost like the ground and the air are shifting to accommodate his shorter strides, letting him fly through the forest. In fact, she realizes that she is running faster than she has ever run before. The trees go from distinct shapes to green and brown blurs, the grass, soil, and brush below doesn't so much respond to their feet as slide beneath them. Even as the shadow rises into the sky, they outrun the sky, which kindly tips its hat and gives them a little bow as it gets out of their way.

When they finally stop, Stephanie and the boy are standing in a castle courtyard. It's not the same castle as where they slept. This one is darker and twisted somehow, the stones seem to slide out of place when looked at through the corner of her eye.

"My name's Peter" says the boy, extending a hand to shake Stephanie's. "Since you saved me, I can help you out through here."



From Charlotte's perspective, the scene is quite different. As soon as Stephanie grabbed the boy, the shadow reared up and collapsed atop both of them. However, it didn't fade away, but instead left a solid black tear in reality just sitting, about 5'x3' in front of Charlotte and hovering about a foot off the ground. Charlotte can barely make out a shifting shadow within the dark tear that could be Stephanie.

[Thanqol]

Faster.

That was how Stephanie kept from reeling while she was running, how she prevented herself from stumbling or breaking down in awe. One word: Faster. A simple trick to cope with a dizzying million by imagining a million and one. Move faster, don't stop to appreciate the view until you're at the very top of the mountain -

They were running faster than thought now, leaving only a word and an instinct: Faster.

And then they were stopped, and all her thoughts that had been chasing behind her crashed into her mind all at once. This might have been a serious problem for the kind of person who had a lot of thoughts, but Stephanie was able to sort through it all in a matter of seconds.

"Khoyshekh," said Stephanie, shaking the offered hand. "Lead the way, kid."

[SiuiS]

Well. How rude.

Here there was a droplet of ink on the watercolors of the world about, and now Stephanie has run off into the darkness and up and disappeared.

Well, at least according to miss Stephanie this was Charlotte's kind of canvas. So this could be worse, non? Sticking out her hands, Charlotte pokes the dream, feeling the texture, like air and yet paper yet cloth yet pixelated screen, testing the medium.

Dream analysis wits3 + empathy3 - intensityX to see whether interacting with the blob involves fighting another entity, else an attempt to step sideways and locate Stephanie. Reread shows I don't have an actual idea of the intensity?

[PhoeKun]

She recognized the park, if not necessarily from the angle she was looking at it from. It was a favorite haunt of her parents once upon a time, a quiet place to sleep or stare at the sky or whatever the hell else disgusting useless freeloaders do with their time. Rose sighed and ran a hand through her hair, keeping the other hand on the reigns of her... horse? Odd. She looks down, at the bright blue officer's uniform her very human body proudly displays.

Not Rose, then. Rogers. Kalina inhaled a deep breath through her nose, and smiled. Time to get back to patrol. She spurred her horse on and started a slow pass of the main walkway. The air was quiet and the view pleasant, giving her plenty of time to think and to enjoy the moment while waving to various happy couples and early morning joggers.

Although she tried, Kalina could not remember how it was she came to join the force. Every time she thought back to her academy days, all the studying and training, all she came up with was a warm and pleasant haze. Oh well, she shrugged, it wasn't really that important. Not when this was her life and everything was so per--

"Heeeeelp! My purse!"

It would be comical if she wasn't staring right at it. A man (in a mask, no less) was tearing a pretty leather handbag out of the grip of a tiny old woman with freshly permed hair. The bag was his now, and off he went. But he hadn't made it so as the next block before Kalina was on him, snatching him off the ground and throwing him bodily on top of her horse. She wheeled around and returned to the lady in triumph.

"Thank you so much, officer!"

"Just doing my job, ma'am." Kalina smiled.

Yes, she nodded. This was heaven. Only... there, just over there, a man was threatening his wife. Fist raised in anger. Kalina stopped him before the second blow was struck. She apologized for not arriving sooner, but now she had to ride off immediately to stop a ranting lunatic from bothering some park goers. Now a man was pointing a gun at another man's head.

Kalina Rogers stopped every one of them. She did it with ease. But the beaming pride in her work was starting to fade. And suddenly she startled as the selfsame burglar who had started her morning ran by her, purse in hand. She sighed and casually flicked a pair of handcuffs at him, which clicked around his legs and brought him to the ground. She raised an eyebrow. Really? Shrug.

Cries sprung up from every part of the park. It was chaos. Kalina could feel a well of nerves knotting up in her stomach, but she paid it no mind. She was a police officer, and her duty was to protect the people. She spurred the horse to a gallop, and turned in a sweeping pattern through the entire park.

Maybe a half hour later, she lead a line she would swear contained half the population of San Francisco to the nearest police station, her head hung low. What was happening? Why was it all so easy? Why did none of it feel good, the way it should? She looked up again, eyes wide with horror at the station before her. Each man she lead entered in, and exited almost immediately after through the revolving door at the front of the building, dashing off as fast as their legs could carry them to commit more crimes.

Kalina's pupils dilated and her breath caught in her chest. No. No. No no no no. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be pointless, not for nothing. This was her dream! This was everything she'd wanted, that she'd worked for!

"...No!"

Screams filled the whole city now. Overhead, the sky darkened as a huge scaled beast floated overhead, breathing fire that melted skyscrapers in an instant. It turned its eye upon the police officer, and she caught it's flame full on. Uniform burned to ashes in an instant, leaving only smoke. But when it cleared, there was a halo of soft golden light. The gilded feathers of an angel unfurled from around their owner, and Rose the Silver Knight stood once more in the city.

She had no sword, but that was ok. She knew what to do. Grabbing a shard of twisted steel, she scrambled madly up the remains of a ruined building. Higher, get higher. Above the monster. She turned and leaped to meet it head on and ram the improvised weapon straight down--

Rose awakes with a start, covered in sweat, breathing heavily. Was every dream from now on going to be this bad? A thought rolls softly across the back of her mind: 'god damn it, Stephanie'. But still...

"Is that why I found her as a politician?" She asked an empty room.

Empty and strange. Rose spits in disgusts and leaps to her feet, stalking out of the building. Whatever. The hell with everything. If Marchande was gone then there was nothing for it. She'd see them all when she sees them. Out the door, across the street and away she goes, stalking through the still dim shadows for... she has no idea what. A fight, maybe. Or an answer or... something. She'll know it when she sees it, she's pretty sure.

[Anarion]

"Khoyshekh," said Stephanie, shaking the offered hand. "Lead the way, kid."

"We have to wait" he says. "This isn't where you're looking for. And adult me doesn't remember, so he can't interfere to get you there faster. But I took you in here, where it's safe. There are wolves out in the forest. He has to die first before you can leave."

Dream analysis wits3 + empathy3 - intensityX to see whether interacting with the blob involves fighting another entity, else an attempt to step sideways and locate Stephanie. Reread shows I don't have an actual idea of the intensity?

[The dream is intensity 4. Roll away.]

"Is that why I found her as a politician?" She asked an empty room.

Empty and strange. Rose spits in disgusts and leaps to her feet, stalking out of the building. Whatever. The hell with everything. If Marchande was gone then there was nothing for it. She'd see them all when she sees them. Out the door, across the street and away she goes, stalking through the still dim shadows for... she has no idea what. A fight, maybe. Or an answer or... something. She'll know it when she sees it, she's pretty sure.

(1d8)[4] (Picking a random compass direction with 1=north and going clockwise).

Rose wanders through the city aimlessly, course taking her southeast into one of the shadier areas of town. It's late, must be past midnight. The street lights are on and the clouds only lights wisps, coiling past a beam every few seconds. They'd probably be off by morning.

As she goes, she notices a few street lights that are shot out. The liquor store at a corner has a heavy metal grate over it, and the word "Nutsy" spelled out in foot tall red and black letters.

Rose turns onto the side streets, avoiding the few cars moving about at this hour. As she stalks down an a narrow alley between houses, however, she catches s glimpse of someone rounding the corner. Except the feet are backwards, like the person was being dragged from behind.

[PhoeKun]

It's all the same city, but so different. Every building, every car, the clothing in all the windows, the basic shapes are recognizable but the designs and the particulars are like they've been twisted and warped by magic. Sleek and polished and mirrored, except... well also all the old cramping and motley shapes and colors. And on that note the more she walks and the more decay she finds, the less it looks like some strange fantasy version of her city. Her heart rate slows as she slips into the dark alleys of a decaying part of town, and Rose steps through a door back in time.

One deep, slow breath and she can feel it all evaporating. She is herself again at last. Only... around the corner, what was that? A pair of feet disappears around the corner. Backwards. Kalina arches an eyebrow and stretches out her fingers, cracking the joints.

Nothing for it. She springs forward, following the feet around the corner.

[Thanqol]

"We have to wait" he says. "This isn't where you're looking for. And adult me doesn't remember, so he can't interfere to get you there faster. But I took you in here, where it's safe. There are wolves out in the forest. He has to die first before you can leave."

"- have to wait for - oh! You mean the deer, right?" said Stephanie, snapping her fingers.

It was approximately .48 seconds after that before she said "What happens if I save him?"

[Anarion]

Nothing for it. She springs forward, following the feet around the corner.

The street is dark. All the lights here are out. The road itself is a narrow one, barely a car wide, with big, multistory apartment buildings with boarded up windows and peeling paint practically leaning down into it.

Rose can make out a shape though. The feet sticking out aren't very large, and they belong to a blobby shadow that's leaning down at an angle. That small blobby shadow is held by a much larger one: the broad shoulders and wide legs suggest a man of above average strength and the shape is about 6 feet tall.

The two blobs are about 15 feet away from Rose and there's not much else around. No trash cans, a street light pole and an electric pole, no other people or cars.

The man starts when Rose rounds the corner, and there is a muffled shout from the smaller shadow. The man shifts his stance and his arms, but it's too hard to see what he's doing. Everyone is frozen, waiting for Rose to make the first move.

[You should roll initiative as well.]

"- have to wait for - oh! You mean the deer, right?" said Stephanie, snapping her fingers.

It was approximately .48 seconds after that before she said "What happens if I save him?"

"Things will change again. Maybe he can help you? But he always dies. It's what's supposed to happen."

[Thanqol]

"Things will change again. Maybe he can help you? But he always dies. It's what's supposed to happen."

Stephanie held up her left arm and traced out some of the moving tattoos with the tip of her index finger. She'd take help.

"Stay here. I'll see what I can do," said Stephanie, reaching back into her memory for the tool she needed.

The witch doctor gibbered as he circled around her. He'd long since passed from speaking language, and now he was just screaming and singing to please the spirits. The African sun blazed bloody on the horizon, and darkness was falling rapidly, leaving only the infernal glows of the campfires. Blood poured down her arm as the painted tribesman burned the tattoos into place, but she didn't notice. Her mind was ablaze with the madawa ya kulevya that had opened her eyes to the bloody cycle of predator and prey all around her.

"You are hunter," said Kuwa sitting opposite from her. "Your armour is night. Your path is blood. Spend no tears. Spare no quarry."

She nodded, growled, feeling her own blood pound like fire in her skull.

"You will kill beasts. You will kill men. You will kill demons. And when demons hide in the dreams of men, you will hunt them there."

Two tribesmen came forwards, carrying between them a beautiful, deadly black compound bow. It gleamed in the firelight, a masterwork.

"Remember this bow. It is your friend. It will be with you wherever you go."

They put it in her hands. Her vision was a deep green-gold smoke, tracing the lines of the bow. The shape of it infused in her mind, freezing in place, carved on the inside of her eyelids.

Then she placed the bow in the flames, and breathed deep of the smoke. It was hers now, weapon of her mind, wherever she went.

Her eyes opened. The black bow was in her hands: Wawindaji Rafiki. Just like it had been that fiery night. The tattoo writhed on her arm. She remembered the chase.

"Time to hunt," she said.

[Dreamsculpting a compound bow. Damage 2, Range 44. Broadhead hunting arrows give +1 damage and AP 2 against targets without rigid/ballistic armour. Armoury p90. Have to reload after every shot.]

[PhoeKun]

Damn the darkness to hell. It's impossible to see like this, she can't figure out what she's getting herself into. Her eyes dart around, scrambling for more information to tip the scales, but comes up empty. No weapons to scrounge up this time, you moron. Should've thought about that before throwing a hissy fit and smashing up your little board, huh? Idiot.

Rose grits her teeth. It's a tad late to grow a brain now. For one brief moment, she feels an overwhelming sense of connection to Stephanie. So this is what it's like. Rose is unleashed. Her legs tense and she explodes forward through the alley and leaps into the air just short of the smaller blob. Her target is the larger man. Put him down. Put him down with one blow.

She digs inside of herself, looking for the legendary power she used to wield in the Forest. Her hip swings in midair and she levels a vicious kick at the figure, using the momentum from her jump to bring her entire weight to bare against him, to knock him to the ground and drag him across the pavement.

She grins.

[Initiative roll is 7, plus 3 for a total of 10. Kalina is attempting to attack with her Brawl skill by way of an All Out Attack. She is also spending a point of glamour to attempt to trigger Might of the Terrible Brute (results: 3,8,9,8,4 for a total of +3 dice on the roll. Er... technically 3 dots of strength, but it's the same basic result). Not sure if I should roll or wait for a ruling on other modifiers, so I'll wait for you]

[Anarion]

"Stay here. I'll see what I can do," said Stephanie, reaching back into her memory for the tool she needed.

Stephanie forms her bow in less than half a minute with little trouble. Peter nods and lets go of her hand when she starts her dream-sculpting, stepping back further towards a castle tower. He looks to Stephanie to make sure that she's okay with him stepping away to climb it and observe.

Charlotte, for her part, can see the shadow Stephanie in the rift shift and shimmer as she sculpts the dream. It's sort of like the inky blackness within becomes unsteady and roils around until the bow is finished forming.

[Initiative roll is 7, plus 3 for a total of 10. Kalina is attempting to attack with her Brawl skill by way of an All Out Attack. She is also spending a point of glamour to attempt to trigger Might of the Terrible Brute (results: 3,8,9,8,4 for a total of +3 dice on the roll. Er... technically 3 dots of strength, but it's the same basic result). Not sure if I should roll or wait for a ruling on other modifiers, so I'll wait for you]

[I'm treating avoiding hitting the small blob as a penalty similar to a called shot because it requires aiming at a specific area, in this case the guy's upper body. He's a bit surprised at Rose's speed and he can't really move that well because he's holding someone else, so he has defense 0 here. So your total roll is str (boosted)+brawl-1, taking into account the penalty and the all out attack.]

[PhoeKun]

[That works out to 7 dice, which went 8, 10, 3, 3, 10, 2, 6. The tens, sensing my excitement, promptly went 6, 4. So with 9 full rolls, that's 3 successes. And I have no idea if that's good or bad.]

Rose's foot finds its mark and her eyes flash with triumph as the oh-so-satisfying crunch of a heavy impact fills her ears. Good gods above, she'd needed this....

[Anarion]

[That works out to 7 dice, which went 8, 10, 3, 3, 10, 2, 6. The tens, sensing my excitement, promptly went 6, 4. So with 9 full rolls, that's 3 successes. And I have no idea if that's good or bad.]

Rose's foot finds its mark and her eyes flash with triumph as the oh-so-satisfying crunch of a heavy impact fills her ears. Good gods above, she'd needed this....

[It's slighty above average.]

Rose strikes her target with a flying kick. As she does so, however, the man also raises his arm, and there is a glint of metal in starlight. The sharp crack of Rose's impact is accompanied by an equally sharp bang as the man tries to point his arm at Rose. It's hard though, with all that giant angel flying at his face in the darkness, and with so little time to react.

(2d10)[7][9](16)

The shot grazes Rose's wing and shoulder. As the kick lands, the gun goes flying out of his hand. But Rose also feels a sharp pain. Her arm is slick, a dark liquid has run down it where the bullet struck her. The red of her own blood invisible in the faint starlight.

The man loses his balance as well. His hand slips and a young girl screams as a bleeding angel entangles herself with them both, landing on top of the man, who falls prone from the impact.

[SiuiS]

Charlotte peered down at the blackened koi-Stephanie in the floating shadow pond. It was reasonable to think that Stephanie, spelunking treasure hunting adventurer, had all those skills whether the stories were real, non? Which leaves Charlotte playing catch up unless she can deduce the script. Made all the harder by Stephanie's improvisation, no doubt.

Plucking a blade of grass from beneat her boot, Charlotte wields it like an exacto knife, carving a square of bark off the nearest tree. Smoothing it flat on her knee, she pulls a twig from the tree and dips it, swirling, into the inky edges of the void bridge. With square of paper and branched pen, she writes.

Stephanie,

You've gone beyond the edge of this story. I can follow but will be hard pressed to keep up. Should I turn the page ans follow or search for symbols here, now? My heart seeks the white hart who runs these woods, but I also fear for you. A dream is a nightmare with the lights on, and you suffer in the limelight as others do in darkness. The game is rigged, te script a tragedy, the audience strangely quiet.

Send word soon and swift, dear darkling. We will be by poolside, waiting. The crane knows the way.

–C


Charlotte sets the pen in her teeth, between the crossing threads, and folds the small square yet smaller. The one piece of work almost every child knows and learns, like fortune tellers and ninja stars. Made of living, still green bark stands a folded crane in charlotte's palm. She tucks the inked 'pen' into its underbelly and bids it fly to Stephanie as oneiric messenger pigeon.

[Anarion]

Charlotte sets the pen in her teeth, between the crossing threads, and folds the small square yet smaller. The one piece of work almost every child knows and learns, like fortune tellers and ninja stars. Made of living, still green bark stands a folded crane in charlotte's palm. She tucks the inked 'pen' into its underbelly and bids it fly to Stephanie as oneiric messenger pigeon.

The crane flies through the portal and materializes next to Stephanie, promptly falling to the ground right in front of her face.

[PhoeKun]

Pain. Sheer, unrelenting pain. Rose had never ever been pierced though a wing before. Thoughts, images, flashes of red hot light pound their way into her skull. No. No. Shut up. No time for that!

She throws herself down on the man, smearing him with her beautiful red blood. Her arms snake between his and his neck and pinch down in a vice. Hold him. Hold him and crush him and...

Her eyes flash to the other stuck in this entanglement.

"Get up! Get up and run!" she barks.

[If I'm understanding you correctly, my dice pool should be 7. Which nets a result of 1, 2, 1, 8, 1, 2, 9 for 2 successes to establish the grapple. She's interested in damaging him, but I believe that requires more actions than this one]

[Thanqol]

Stephanie forms her bow in less than half a minute with little trouble. Peter nods and lets go of her hand when she starts her dream-sculpting, stepping back further towards a castle tower. He looks to Stephanie to make sure that she's okay with him stepping away to climb it and observe.

Charlotte, for her part, can see the shadow Stephanie in the rift shift and shimmer as she sculpts the dream. It's sort of like the inky blackness within becomes unsteady and roils around until the bow is finished forming.

Ayyy-yyy! Hunter me, o hunter bright!

Stephanie fell from the rift. She landed in a crouch on all fours, legs sweeping the ground. Her fingers plunged through the grass, staining their tips with dirt. She rubbed it across her teeth to dim her smile.

Bring us many skins tonight!

She started forwards in a crouch, arrow strung to the bow, shadows boiling around her. The rift-stuff was drawn in behind her, stuck to the cloak in long sticky black strands, like clotting oil.

What false hunters walk in hunter's sight?

She caught the crane with one hand and flicked it back in a bird-call, a shimmering message borne by the trees, unwrapping itself as it hit Charlotte's ears - save the hart, I will slay the wolves.

She moved from tree to tree, an oily shadow with jagged sharp edges. She followed the wolves, paw print and spoor and howl. When her sight closed on her quarry, she rose to her full height and the shadows burned away from her, coiling around the arrow, leaving the hunter standing perfectly silhouetted and revealed, barbed arrow-tip dripping with shadow poison.

Show your prey a hunter's might!

"Rafiki, tonight we kill many wolves," said Khoyshekh.

She loosed the poison arrow, glittering black.

[Dream combat attack - stunt dice?]

[SiuiS]

"Find the Hart".

Simple enough for Charlotte. She supposes that the way to a woods' hart is through its center, since a forest lacks a stomach. The clearing at the center of the black wood would have the white hart, unless it was stuck in some bramble or another.

Charlotte sets off into the thick of the trees, to find either a hill, a lake, or a clearing. She's not particularly picky just the nonce.

[Anarion]

[If I'm understanding you correctly, my dice pool should be 7. Which nets a result of 1, 2, 1, 8, 1, 2, 9 for 2 successes to establish the grapple. She's interested in damaging him, but I believe that requires more actions than this one]

[It would have been a bit lower actually, since iirc grapple subtracts his strength from your roll. But you got a success in the first four dice, so it still succeeds.]

The girl doesn't really get up, she just sort of rolls off of the man as Rose is pushing her way closer, but then the girl screams again and collapses, probably fainted on the sidewalk. Perhaps it's a mercy that this neighborhood is so dangerous, as it doesn't seem like anyone is coming running even in response to a woman screaming twice.

Rose, however, isn't focused on any of that. She's focused on the man that shot her. Her wings envelop him, her hands and her feet crush down on him, and she captures him in a hold. He tries to push back and break free, his face turning and looking frantically for the gun that he lost, to no avail. This close, Rose can see his beady eyes, a small shock of lighter-colored hair, though he's mostly bald, and a rounded double chin that suggests maybe he's not in as good shape as he first appeared to be.

[Dream combat attack - stunt dice?]

[2 stunt dice.]

As Stephanie waits, she hears the howling she was waiting for. She sees no white hart, but out beyond the castle gate, now open, several small shadows run through the forest. One of them becomes clear to her in the moonlight as she watches. A grizzled old grey thing, shaggy fur, long fangs, eyes bright with its own hunt. A perfect target.

Charlotte sets off into the thick of the trees, to find either a hill, a lake, or a clearing. She's not particularly picky just the nonce.

There is no hill, nor lake, nor clearing in this forest, at least not one short of Charlotte's own making. This is a forest of trees and shadows. There are trees, and darker trees. And as Charlotte walks, the trees become thicker and more twisted, and there is a little bit of snow on the ground as the air grows colder. And in the distance, she can hear the howling of wolves.

As she wanders, however, she does occasionally come across footprints in the snow. Hoofprints, that could belong to the white hart. Paw prints, that may have been past wolves. Larger paw prints, that Charlotte doesn't much want to consider as far as owner, and at one point, her own shoes as she realizes the forest has just made her loop herself, even though she thought she was going straight.

[Raz_Fox]

Marchande hits the streets again. Two hours probably isn't enough time to run back to Timothy's place to drop off the laptop, so she ambles towards the nearest park, hoping to enjoy the day- and, perhaps, recharge. It had taken a good deal of her strength not to go mad with drinking, after all.

And, to be clear, she's not going because of her dream last night. Horrible dream, really. The lie of what being a dog is supposed to be like. Tummy-rubs and runs in the park, and not having to please the master all the bloody time. Being employed and aware and being stronger is much more important than being a pet. Pets can't fight back.

But her ears still perk up when she sees a frisbee.

[PhoeKun]

"Now I get why you needed a gun..."

Rose taunts the man while she tightens her grip on him. One arm snakes behind his should and wraps around his neck. The other reaches around the front to join into a lock. She wraps her legs around him and becomes a vice.

Half seated, half on the ground. Here she has leverage. Her wings cocoon them both for just a moment, enveloping both of them in a soft and barely perceptible light. They snap back and beat powerfully and forcing her arm into his trachea.

She strains her arms and leans her back into her hold. His shoulder or his lungs. She'd pop one of them soon.

[Hazarding a guess that from this point in the grapple there's no real dice bonus to be gained (or at the very least I can't find a rule to suggest there should be), which puts the rolls from here on out at a dice pool of two. 10, 1. The 10, sensing my delight, rerolled a 1. Rose is attempting to Damage Opponent, so she applies one more point of bashing damage.]

[Anarion]

Marchande hits the streets again. Two hours probably isn't enough time to run back to Timothy's place to drop off the laptop, so she ambles towards the nearest park, hoping to enjoy the day- and, perhaps, recharge. It had taken a good deal of her strength not to go mad with drinking, after all.

And, to be clear, she's not going because of her dream last night. Horrible dream, really. The lie of what being a dog is supposed to be like. Tummy-rubs and runs in the park, and not having to please the master all the bloody time. Being employed and aware and being stronger is much more important than being a pet. Pets can't fight back.

But her ears still perk up when she sees a frisbee.

[I have no further plans for Marchande this morning before her lunch. She's free to wander around the city, just narrate as you wish, or feel free to time skip.]

[Hazarding a guess that from this point in the grapple there's no real dice bonus to be gained (or at the very least I can't find a rule to suggest there should be), which puts the rolls from here on out at a dice pool of two. 10, 1. The 10, sensing my delight, rerolled a 1. Rose is attempting to Damage Opponent, so she applies one more point of bashing damage.]

(1d10)[7]

The man fails to escape from Kalina's weight pressing down on his trachea. He gags and his eyes begin to bug out.

[PhoeKun]

Rose squeezes the would-be assailant as hard as she can. He thrashes, she torques. He squirms, she constricts. Until, slowly and steadily, his motions become weaker and weaker and then... nothing.

She holds her grip another moment longer, wrenching with all of her weight until she hears the loud, wet pop as his shoulder dislocates. There we go. Rose exhales slowly and releases, watching the man tumble to the ground.

Now at last she has a chance to get a good look at him. He's covered in blood. No matter; it's hers anyway. She winces, and touches a finger to the injured wing. That's a new one...

Focus. Step one, bind him. Off comes his coat, shirt, or other convenient chest covering. She snaps it taught, and quickly sets to work binding his hands.

Step two, get that gun. It's dark and difficult to see, but now there's a moment and she doesn't stop until it's in hand. There, good. Situation defused. That leaves...

Her eyes fall now on the girl. Not safe here. Rose stoops down, gently cradles her in her arms, and carries her out of the darkness.

[Raz_Fox]

An hour is spent enjoying the day, trying not to snap at balls, and generally relaxing before she snaps. It should make her feel a bit guilty, but it feels nice, not having albatrosses hanging around her neck. Absurdly-skilled, similarly-lost albatrosses. She assuages her conscience by reminding herself everyone benefits, once she's in a stable position.

She gets back to the office a little before two hours have passed, still looking sharp, ready to be professional. Shoulders are perhaps looser than they should be in a suit, but she knows what's in store for her, so why not be comfortable and unbemused?

Well, she probably knows.