[System]
BIO: "I've been captain of this god-forsaken shit ship for five fucking years. I'm sick of this goddamn grind, and I'm sick of passin' cargo from god-knows-where to god-knows-where, and getting chewed out every goddamn time it's not where it's supposed to be to the fucking minute. I GOT SHIT TO DO TOO. I GOT A GODDAMN LIFE. I'm tired of this bullshit, and I'm fucking done. They gave me a badass ship, time to use it like one."

Appearance: Cobalt-blue armor, smooth, streamlined, segmented for greatest possible mobility, V-shaped mirrored visor, containing full AR HUD. Most well-known for the fin on top of the helmet, a symbol of great significance, signifying one of "Ferrier's Firebirds", the elite squad that singlehandedly resisted UEA occupation of the distant Allegheri Station, and even were able to defeat the "Fighting 404" Marine company. (He is the last surviving member of "Ferrier's Firebirds", even including Joseph Ferrier himself).

CLASS: Raider
Hyperscout- 2DUR/9EQU/1STR/7DEX/1VIS/4CHA/9AGL/8SKL/0LCK

SKILLS:

Lightspeed- Able to pilot with such skill that even the best cannot match maneuvers

Empathy- Constantly in-tune with the crew

Ventura- Able to provide detailed tactical knowledge from a great distance

EQUIPMENT: Private Ventures Model Seven "LightningRod" Combat EVA, outfitted with a complex tactical AI, "Ventura".
Durandal Arms and Armor D-9 Displacement Pistol, modified for increased energy output, sacrificing battery life and range
Private Ventures Slash-N-Dash Displacement Shortsword, modified for impact retention, sacrificing battery life
Illegal Amphetamine Boosters, or "StimPak" mod for his suit, allowing him heightened reflexes upon activation, at the cost of personal health

[User]
Meili was awakened rather rudely in her estimation, but nevertheless, she was awake, remaining less than alert. She slowly made her way to a seated position, cradling her head in her hands, elbows on thighs. 'My fucking head is killing me,' she thought to herself. She reached for a small bag of analgesic powder in a drawer. She drew a pinch and placed it between her lower lip and gum line. The lip began to feel numb and within minutes, she felt relaxed.

'Smith, Rain, Silver, Masters, Elijah, Gunslinger and the Captain,' thoughts of crewmates drifted through her less foggy mind as she became oriented on where she was and her purpose on this space traveling vessel known as the Endgame.

She stood slowly, a bit unbalanced from being asleep for so long and crept toward the narrow shower stall. She removed her clothing and cleansed her body with warm soapy water. It felt good, helping her to become more and more awake – alert. After toweling off and drying her hair, she dressed in her under clothes and began to braid her hair which reached the small of her back when wet. The braid ended almost to the bottom of her rib cage. She continued to dress, insuring the braid was tucked into the back of her clothing. She did not want it exposed, knowing it could be used against her.

Meili found a new custom camouflage suit in her quarters. It fit snuggly, but it also enhanced her reflexes better, amplifying her ability to move quickly and silently. A rare smile pursed her lips. 'Thank you, Captain,' the former soldier whispered to herself. Then she noticed the other gift, an ultra violet laser to enhance the effectiveness of her D4 Ripper. "Sweet!" she stated aloud. 'That Captain is really taking care of me.'

She finished dressing, slid her sword's scabbard over her back and fastened the dagger's scabbard onto the left side of her belt. The D4 Ripper was slung high on her right side, hanging down under her arm. She slid it back so that it hung over the sword's scabbard. Then she left the room heading for the bridge.

When she reached the bridge, the Captain was beginning his monologue over the ship's communications system. Crew members were in various states of alertness. She listened to him in person. She heard the mission and what was expected of her. She smiled, while modeling her new suit in front of the Captain as he stated its existence. She mouthed the words, 'Thank you' as he stated them over the intercom. She nodded in affirmation to the mission she had been handed. Her expression was one of confidence, knowing she could complete the task. She only wanted to study the plans of the ship they were boarding and was starting to imagine how good that Chardonnay would taste after she brought back Rhiner's head.

[Assistant]
The Captain's voice pounded back through the comm. "You heard me right, Smith. Take what you need from Cargo and Salvage. Left sock- wait, aren't those the same as the right ones? Screw it. Left sock is all ready for pickup." He reached down to hit the seals on his suit's left boot, depressurization squealing as he slid it off his foot, exposing a worn wool sock beneath, sweaty and quite rank. "It's a pretty bad sock, Smith. Hope you're up for it." He slipped it off, and glanced around his half-cabin, half-cockpit. "Shit, that's my only left sock."

He put his boot back on anyway, and saw Mei, showing off her new suit. "Lookin' good, Mei." He gave her a little finger-gun, before he realized he was still bootless and barefooted. He slid his boot back on. The internal gel layer warmed to match his body temperature, but he still winced at the feeling of the gel against his bare skin. "Ugh. I hate that." He adjusted his pistol, magnetized to his belt. It had a habit of floating over to his crotch and making it hard to sit down comfortably. Once it was properly placed, he sat back down onto his chair and promptly jumped back up, his sword hilt now in the way, having rolled to his lower back. He slid it over to his left side and sat back down. "Mei, there's a scientist on that ship, a theoretical physicist. His name is Doyle. I don't have a first name for him. That's classified. I want him unharmed. Barring that, use your hardlight dagger. I have a sneaking suspicion there's something down there on the surface. And I want to know what it is."

"Ventura, let's get some music in here. How about... Perturbator's 'Humans Are Such Easy Prey'." Ventura's voice sounded through the intercomm, a cool male voice with a strong American accent.

"You got it, Cap." The music thumped throughout the ENDGAME, making small, unsecured objects vibrate with the bass.

[User]
R3N was a little late to the party. She felt she had no real reason to wake with the others, so she stayed tucked away in dreamless sleep. That was until she heard the captain's name for her. R3N's eyes flickered open and she slowly looked around her room during the captain's little talk.

Thank you for the upgrade Captain. Any specific ways I should 'convince' the other Mech? R3N sat up out of the pod and made her way to the captain. She was without an acceptable reason to tidy herself up. Her red hair wasn't a mess since she didn't move during cryo, her clothes still smelled faintly of dust and oil, and, to her knowledge, she was clean.

She walked to the bridge and instantly spotted Mei wearing what G30 assumed was her upgrade. The captain rarely got just one member of the crew something new, so the others must have improved gear as well.

"Captain, the fastest way to get another creature to comply is a show of dominance. However, they will not be loyal and will most likely switch sides at a moment's notice. I am very inefficient at the other way, which requires forming some kind of trust. I would prefer to render the creature unconscious, imprison them on the ship, then use the second, more effective way of gaining their obedience."

[Assistant]
Walking in on the conversation like usual, John walked past the captain and his left sock, and removed a small grate. Ducking into the hole that lead towards the wires John briefly cut in between the captain and R3N.

"Oi cap'n, check the heat gauge for me will ya?"

A moment later the heat gauge would spike as a snap and some flaming noise sounded from the hole.

"Did it signal extreme overheating? Yeah? Good, means it's still working."

Crawling back out of the hole, John headed straight for the heat gauge, positioning himself next to the captain. Without any delay, he smashed the gauge with his elbow and grabbed the sock from the captain's hand.

"Sock's just fine cap'n, matter of fact, it's perfect for the job. Anyhow, I think I've got the gist of what you're pulling here, so here's our story; our heat gauge broke a little while back, but since we were near a landing spot we decided to leave it be. However, we just heard some disturbing noise and found our systems overheated."

He briefly paused, seemingly thought about something and dryly noted "Ah, and you can't send Mei-mei on there if you're planning on using that EMP device on them rather than ourselves, would make her feel crap and as well as fry her gear."

[User]
"Ah, don't worry about that. We're gonna trigger the device first." The captain gestured to Mei with a blue gauntlet, powered servos whining almost inaudibly as his fingers moved. "She'll head in with R-Three." He looked straight at R3's optical sensor. "Keep their attention on you. If you gotta kill their Mech, so be it. Mei's got a separate job to do. Smith? If you wanna go on, feel free, once their incapacitated, and we've got em by the balls. Remember, when the charge goes off, their life support is out. Keep your helmets on, visors down, rebreathers active." He paused, looking R3 up and down, before adding, "Their guns will be mostly inactive. But be ready for any asshole still packing old-fashioned heat. I'm talking revolvers, I'm talking .22 Long rifles, hell, I'm talking Mossberg fucking 1014s, for all I know. And uh, there are some folks on there who won't be as susceptible to the EMP as others." He turned away from the group, to face the main viewscreen. "Vee, throw it onscreen. File nine one six, title four oh four."

"Onscreen, Cap." The image of two armored figures appeared onscreen, each wearing the grey and white camoflage of UEA Marines, and each bearing a badge on their chests: a golden eagle, over blue flames, "404" emblazoned over it.

"These two are Hyperscouts. You may recognize that symbol. These two are from the specialized 'preemptive strike' company, the 'Fighting 404'. These are the same guys my squad fought off at Allegheri Station, a couple hundred kilometers outside Pluto's orbit. These guys are no joke." In a snap, he whipped his pistol from his belt and shattered a beer bottle on the other side of the room without looking at it in a flash of white light. There was no hesitation. "Think that was impressive?" Frothy beer foamed across the floor, carrying with it bits of broken glass. "They're even faster. If they're still using the same training and equipment, which I'm sure they are, their suits will be lead-lined. This means that while the EMP will damage their powered-motion systems, their personal life support and tactical AR systems will still be functional. I don't know how they're armed. But even unarmed and crippled, they're dangerous as all hell. Kill them. I don't care how. I don't even care if you kill 'em like a coward. Unless they die, they're dangerous. And the others will have someone to rally behind." He sat back down in his chair, ignoring the beer rolling across the floor. "I'll clean this up. Smith, get the bomb ready. You all know your places. Sorry to keep reiterating, but I'm pretty fucking nervous."

"Vee, can you hack their comms?"

"Negative, Cap. All I can get are snippets. And it sounds like they're using code. I'm not programmed for decryption, but if I had to guess, it sounds like Latin."

"You're fucking kidding me."

"Big fat negative, Cap."

"Team, if you need a show of force as a sign of, uh... Good faith, let me know. I'll be on the comm the whole time. Smith, you ready with that charge?"

[Assistant]
Henry woke up from from sleep and shivered as he sat up and shook his head. When they say chill out they probably don't mean it literally, whoever they is. He got up and got dressed quickly as the captain's voice broadcast through the intercom, looks like they were doing a mutiny of sorts. Sweet, he had been starting to get bored around here.

"Sounds good captain, any neat toys for me?" Henry had a wide smile on his face as he put on all his equipment, making sure to place "Good Ol Sandy" on his hip carefully. He got to the bridge quickly and slid himself into an empty seat, whistling a merry time as he listened to the captain's speech. He raised his hand and began to speak. "I'm down to go grab the cargo and kill whoever on my way there. Whatever you want me to do though." Henry shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

[User]
"Nothing particularly special, Tapter. A vambrace with a hidden MAG gun inside, holds twelve rounds. If you get captured, that's your last line of defense. I have a special hacking drone for you too. I call him Credence. He'll be more effective than other means, and even has his own treads and jump jets. He'll be able to hack for you, regardless of what you're doing. Just give him the order." The drone was small, little more than a black box on segmented treads.

The captain prepared both gifts, and tossed them into a crate. "They're both in the cockpit whenever you're ready. Oh, and you won't be going into combat. I need you alive and well. Instead, I want you to work on scanning their shuttle. I want their comm frequencies. The real ones. You'll have to sift through the fake ones. You up for it?"


[System]
Scale color(s): Black with red rims
Eyes: Pitch black/blood red
Special design: Large red "eye" on his chest.
Powers: Animus, black magic, artifact creation
Talents: Stalking, Magic
Defense: Thick armored scales, powerful wings
Favorite Past time: (Good naturally) taunting and mocking others. (Usually.)
Family: (dead)
Hobbies: Crafting magic items
Enemies: Anyone that gets to know his true nature
Friends: Anyone who doesn't know his true nature
Other: He was born blind, but he can still "see" with his magic

[User] "what things?" this was getting REALLY interesting but how would they react to seeing a dragon like Jera?

[Assistant] "I've had to do things....terrible things, to keep my freedom."

[User] "liiiiiike?" she smiled, she could ask questions till the end of time.

[Assistant] He raises his head, tilting it slightly "I've had to kill many, many dragons. I don't even know how many anymore. That's why I moved here. To hide the world from me."

[User] well even though you refused to tell me about yourself i just got a good amount of your backstory "is there high amount of xenophobia among the tribes of phyria?"

[Assistant] "No. Just against me."

[User] "Oh ok. How do you think they'd react to me?" She didn't want to be attacked or anything.

[Assistant] He shrugs "With suspicion, and cautious acceptance."

[User] "Hmmm ok. But now that I think about it it might be best to know more about pyhria before I go there. This island alone is extremely different from the archipelago"

[Assistant] "This island is quite far from the rest of the continent. For the most part, they're split into different tribes, according to race. There are all sorts of dragons, mud dragons, water dragons, and sand dragons to name a few."

[User] "How big is the continent." The maps and records of phyria the delta archipelago were old and didn't Give much information.

[Assistant] "Enormous. It would take you years to fly over it all."

[User] "Years?! I can reach all of the delta archipelago from any point there in a day or two!" This was impressive. "There must be a lot of land diversity there"

[Assistant] "Not as much as you'd think. It's almost cut into equal wedges, deserts, forests, and ice as a few examples. Each one is immense however."

[User] She had only known islands as long as she had lived. She had seen a lot of biomes but had no idea how they would be all in one land mass. "I wonder if there's any place like our main island"

[Assistant] "What's it like there?"

[User] "The entire island is made purely out of obsidian, well there are caverns and they have different material but 90% is pure obsidian" she remembered the islands, there were also smaller islands close to it all out of obsidian. They all had different purposes

[Assistant] "Sounds....sharp. What do you eat there? Surely nothing could survive for long in such a barren environment?"

[User] She laughed. "Well there are a few trees and groves but they're simple. You can see the ocean from any point on the island, it's not huge. There are many surrounding islands with lots of life and diverse biomes, you can even see a few from the island. The farthest ones we use are a day or two trip from the island but they're snowy. There are also reefs just off the island"

[Assistant] "Snowy? What's snow?"

[User] "You don't know what snow is?! Hmm let's see… snow is atmospheric water vapor frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer. If I remember correctly that's the definition" she hoped she didn't confuse him with the long answer

[Assistant] "Frozen water?"

[User] "How do you not know what frozen water is?!?!" Makes a very confused what the heck kinda face.

[Assistant] "I didn't say I don't know what it is. I've just never seen it before."

[User] "Ok, that's much less weird. So you are from phyria?"

[Assistant] "I'm from a island off the coast of Phyria."

[User] "Would that be in the sea kingdom?" She recalled the map having a tail of islands, of course it was old and island geography could change drastically.

[Assistant] "It's called the Kingdom of Night."

[User] she thought about it for a moment "but that's, not an island, its a peninsula.?" this was confusing, had water levels rised to turn it into an island? no the topography wasnt right.

[Assistant] "I haven't been there for several years. I may be remembering some things wrong."

[User] " it should be a peninsula. Do you know how the shape of phyria makes a dragon? it's the claw of the dragon. could you describe the island?" she didn't know how you could mistake the peninsula for an island, it was very much attached to the mainland.

[Assistant] He begins drawing a picture of the land, and draws a island just off the edge of the main body. "Right there."

[User] "that island is not on our map, it must have been overlooked. whats the island like?" and why would they change the location of the night kingdom?

[Assistant] "Small, dark. Not much life."

[User] "Why would the night kingdom move there if it's so desolate? Are there any surrounding islands?"

[Assistant] "I'm unsure. I haven't been there for many years."

[User] A thought came to her head "if you are a minus couldn't you create an item to allow yourself to disguise yourself however you wish?"

[Assistant] "I thought it best if I just left. Make it easier for everyone, to hide them from my rage."

[User] "Ooookaaaay then" Came her response to that confusing answer. She looked up at the sky then lifted her tail into the air and swished it around. "It's going to be night soon, no rain tonight."

[Assistant] He asks suddenly, "What do you want out of life? What compels you?"

[User] she turned back to him confused "duh wha? that came out of nowhere, lets see..." she thought about it "i don't know, different things. studying magic, studying and learning in general. currently i want to update and expand our knowledge of phyria. pantala if possible maybe but thats farther in the future. this is what i want to do with my life and its what im supposed to do with my life. how about you?"

[Assistant] "To find a place where I can be myself."

[User] "that sounds poetic and vague. have you not tried crossing the ocean?" she brought up a mental map of the oceans, there were small random islands scattered throughout the oceans and far apart from eachother, most of the waters were stormy but there were good places.

[Assistant] "That's a terrible idea. A blind dragon, trying to island hop?"

[User] "Oh yeah. I forgot." She looked up at the sky again "guess I'm staying here tonight." She looked at her surroundings then sat down. She took some runes out of the pouch around her waist (not the special pouch) and arranged them in a pattern on the ground, a bluish sort of magic small, almost portal looking thing appeared less than a foot above the ground. She stared at it and her eyes went completely blank abd turned the same bluish hue and looked as if she was searching for something. She blinked twice and her eyes went back to normal "I guess it doesn't work long distance"

[Assistant] "What are you doing?" His ruin marked eyes glow when the rune magic starts up, and dim when the magic's dispelled.

[User] "A communication spell" she said simply "any idea why your eyes are reacting to the spell?"

[Assistant] "They seem to glow around magic. It's happened before."

[User] "Ok" she thought about the couple black dragons back home, Pertha looked most like this dragon with his blood red designs, omega was completely black like obsidian, and hurricane was black and grey. None of the dragons she knew were at all like this one.

[Assistant] "Ok what? You seem to know something."

[User] "Nothing, just thinking about some dragons from home. You don't have to be so paranoid"

[Assistant] "All the dragons I know are either dead, or want to kill me. I think I'm allowed a little paranoia."

[User] "I guess that seems fair" everyone?

[Assistant] "Yes, everyone. I scare them."

[User] She looked at him in surprise "wow. That's s lot of people"

[Assistant] "Well, all the ones still alive, that is."

[User] She reviewed the conversation in her head something had seemed off. Then it clicked. "Waaaaaait a minute. I didn't say 'everyone?' Out loud"

[Assistant] "What're you talking about?" He taps his talons on the ground.

[User] She looked at him seriously "I THOUGHT everyone? YET you somehow responded with and I quote 'yes everyone" she said the last bit in a near perfect impression of his voice.

[Assistant] "And your point is?" His eyes glow strangely.

[User] "My conclusion is that you can read minds" she said calmly and with a slight smile.

[Assistant] "Correct. Starting to see why others are scared of me?"

[User] "Yes. Expecially if you're carelessly throwing around responses to their thoughts" lucky for me I don't think I have much to hide. Unless you count the occasional weird voice in my head telling me important things about the future ack oh and also the stones… she clamped down on her thoughts. It wasn't that she absolutely did not want this dragon to know about their importance but that she'd rather explain then in a more organized manner than her rambling thoughts

[Assistant] "Do the stones you were just thinking about have anything to do with the rock you were comparing me to earlier?"

[User]
"Yes. They do." She opened the pitched and turned it upside down so the contents fell onto a bare pouch of ground. In it were some things each about an inch in diameter Deep cut red gem in the shape of an eye (ruby)
A cut blue square gem in the shape of a square (sapphire)
A roundish square turquoise one (turquoise)
A light pink cut stone in the shape of a heart (morganite)
A roundish triangle light green cut gem (peridot)
A perfectly sphere pure black stone (obsidian)
A roundish oval orange stone (moonstone)
A grey stone triangular pyramid (regular stone)
Another perfect sphere but a pearly white (a large pearl)
And some stone runes each one with a design in the color and shape of the corresponding gem

[Assistant] He picks up the red, eye marked one.

[User] "Something tells me it's not a complete set" then she saw him pick it up. She wanted to y'all at him and slap it out of his hands and not at the same time. Instead she picked up the corresponding rune.

[Assistant] "Why does this one have the same marking as my chest?"

[User] "Honestly I don't know. Id tell you if I did" she wish she did know. "You didn't happen to hear that weird voice in my head earlier didja?"

[Assistant] "What weird voice?"

[User] "Well then I guess you didn't hear it"

[Assistant] "In all honesty, I've gone kinda crazy, living here by myself for so long. I may have missed it, thinking it's just another phantom voice."

[User] "thats deeply disturbing im not gonna lie"

[Assistant] "At least you're honest about that."

[User] "Might as well speak my mind since you can read it anyway" She shrugged

[Assistant] He chuckles sadly.

[User] she put the regular runes back into their pouch.

[Assistant] "What do those things do anyway?"


[System]
Appearance: "I don't have time for you, I'm drawing."
Age: 10
Race: Wildtype
Citizenship: Horizon
Personality: Chie has a personality that greatly contrasts her small, childish body. She has a tendency to be deeply sarcastic towards others if she decides they deserve to be treated with sarcasm, and she often quietly teases others. She enjoys greatly drawing, and has a deep interest in various kinds of media, including the current equivalent of interactive entertainment(whatever the video games of the future are) and various visual mediums, which she pursues whenever she is able to. Chie often draws or writes about these things, though her writing is significantly more childish then her art. In spite of her thick layer of sarcasm, she does still have the personality of a child and is surprisingly easily frightened and quite fond of sweets. She retains an absolute fascination with Cogs, in fact it could be called an outright adoration for the massive machines.
History: Chie's family has been present in Horizon for a long time at this point, her family being composed of two nationalities originally from Earth. Prior to learning about Cogs, she was fascinated with extremely old(and new) media featuring gigantic fighting robots, both realistic and less so, as well as various advents in technology. Her father, a scientist working on the Cogs, made a rather large breach in protocol and brought her along with him, where she learned about the Cogs and swiftly became obsessed. While he was reprimanded for this, he was able to push for Chie to become one of the pilots, specifically for a heavy, long-ranged Cog.
Theme Song: WIP

Cog: Chie calls it "Boom".
Physical Description: "Weapons systems online..."
Tactical role: Heavy Weapons
Evaluation:

* Cog Score: 10
* Pilot Skill: 7(Chie is a prodigy who has done far, far too much research into the subject for her age)
* Mental Fortitude: 4
* Obedience: 5

Weapon/Equipment/Special Systems List: I'll need to work on this.

* "Boom" has a basic folding knife stored in one chest panel. The mecha itself is generally unsuited to close-range combat, but it will do in a pinch.
* "Boom" sports a series of cluster missile launchers, contained all along its upper chest section. These missiles can deal a fairly heavy payload, but shields or thick armor can mitigate the damage.
* "Boom" has two long-range missile launchers attached to its shoulders, capable of firing highly damaging explosives, more dangerous then the cluster missiles in its chest.
* Finally, "Boom" can be equipped with a point-laser rifle or a rocket rifle.
* Basic thrusters.
* Heavy armor, to make up for fairly light shielding.

Wishlist: This too.

* Improved thrusters for rapid movement?
* Incorporating heavy laser systems into the built-in weaponry.
* Shielding improvements.

[User] Pharazon arrived at the gate 15 minutes before departure time and saw Corina. "Lieutenant Chun; Lieutenant Commander Pharazon CXS, pronounced 'Chess'," Pharazon introduced themself. Pharazon was promoted to lieutenant commander when they were appointed to lead the cog team, while all other cog pilots would start at the rank of ensign except those who had official Horizon military history. In Corina's case, since she served in the Planetary Defense Force instead of the Fleet, she was made lieutenant regardless of her prior PDF rank. Although Pharazon felt awkward around humans, Corina had received professional military training, and that was something Pharazon could trust in. Pharazon also failed to notice Arienne.

[Assistant] Corina stood at attention and gave a short salute. She subtly straightened her posture; first impressions were key. "Lieutenant Commander. I assume that your knowledge of who I am means you're going to be the CO for this assignment, then?" Corina asked, hoping that she'd finally be able to get the answers she'd been waiting so long for. Like what exactly they'd be doing and what their purpose was. "Also, you know we're being watched? Hooded figure just outside the gate," Corina dropped her voice slightly, nodding towards Arienne's general direction. "I've been military long enough to know when someone's looking suspicious, and they fit the bill."

[User] "At ease," Pharazon replied appreciating Corina's formality, "And yes, I'll be leading the team of pilots." Pharazon looked to where Corina indicated. "Oh, that looks like one of the ensigns in our team," Pharazon said, giving no indication that they found Arienne's behavior or appearance unusual in any way. Many Quantums adopted unusual eccentricities, Pharazon was eccentric in their own right, one of which was having a poor grasp of what constituted 'normal' behavior. In an economic gesture, Pharazon waved Arienne to join them.

[Assistant]
Arienne walks over and gives another informal salute in a loose and relaxed posture.

Looking at both Pharazon and Corina in turn, she says "Arienne RHD, pronounced 'Rahad', reporting for duty."
Then turning to Corina, "Glad to see a lance mate who is cautious and vigilant"

[User]
"Come on, Chie, you've got to meet the others," said her father, with a good-natured smile.

The tiny blonde girl huffed and folded her arms across her slight chest. Of course, she couldn't be allowed to go on her own. Of course. Her father had to escort her. It's not like that was embarrassing or anything... sure, she was ten years old, but she was going to pilot a mecha! A real mecha! Surely that meant she didn't need to go around with one of her parents guiding her, right? Her father sighed, and gently took her by the shoulder to guide her in. Chie could only resist so much, and she grumbled under her breath as she finally came in and started walking.

Chie entered the room first, her father nearly pushing her in by this point. "Hmph... are all these idiots the ones in the project, too? Do I have to talk to them?"

Her father let out another sigh. Chie had been in a sour mood ever since it turned out her father would be escorting her all the way there. She had complained and been threatened with the removal of her new simulator, and finally told that this kind of attitude would possibly make the people in charge reconsider her position as a pilot. That had definitely been enough to make her agree to be escorted by a parent, as annoyed about it as she was.

"You can't talk to them like that," her father admonished, straightening behind her. Chie didn't respond, instead simply turning to look away. If her father wanted to escort her so badly, he could introduce her, too.

"... Fine," he said. "My name is Doctor Richard Alberton, and this is my daughter, Chie. She'll be a part of this team as well."

Chie spoke up, at this point. "The best part."

Her father sighed, feeling like he had been doing so many times this day. "They're qualified for this, just because you're skilled for your age doesn't mean you're better than anyone else."

"Hmph."

[Assistant] "Glad to have you here, Ensign RHD," Pharazon replied, then turned to Chie and her father, "and you as well, Ensign Alberton, Dr. Alberton." Then, to give Chie a sense of who she'll be answering to, Pharazon added, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Pharazon CXS, pronounced, 'Chess', I'll be your commanding officer." Pharazon had said this while placing their hands on their knees and bending forward to speak to Chie in an almost patronizing fashion. Pharazon wasn't really happy with what they considered Dr. Alberton's 'mistake', which Chie's enlistment was a direct result of. Pharazon hoped that this mistake wouldn't end up giving the entire team trouble, though first impressions certainly led Pharazon to believe that it would. What Pharazon was really trying to hide under their disgruntlement of the current situation was their fear of human children: human adults at least had to attempt to maintain a facade of being reasonable and professional, whereas children had no such restriction, making them unpredictable, uncontrollable, and chaotic.

[User]
Corina had just begun to relax when Chie and Dr. Alberton showed up. The LC and Arienne seemed decent enough, but a child? Children would not be so easy to work with in any scenario, nonetheless in a military setting. It took everything she had to stifle a deep, exasperated breath. Hopefully this assignment wouldn't turn into a long babysitting job.

On that note, I wonder if I can get some more background info on these people, Corina thought, as she eyed this ragtag team of individuals. Based on first impressions, Corina began a mental assessment of the team members thus far. She knew that they'd all be piloting cogs together, so their physical attributes really wouldn't be a problem. Corina marked that off her list.

First off was the LC. If nothing else, Lieutenant Commander Pharazon CXS knew how to keep up the formalities. There had been no slip in their personality thus far, but at the same time, Pharazon was a Quantum. Who really knew what was going on in their heads? In any case, the LC seemed capable enough to lead a team as of this point. Of course it was impossible to come to a definitive conclusion without the stress of battle in front of them, but first impressions were good.

On to the second Quantum, Arienne RHD. The small Quantum had done her best to stay discreet, and in all fairness, she did a damn good job. To Corina, that simultaneously spoke volumes and posed many questions regarding Arienne's line of thinking. Clearly Arienne was one for the shadows, but for what reason? Corina was sure she'd find out soon.

And then there was Chie. Where did Corina even begin? Chie seemed like she could cause all sorts of problems unless somebody kept her in line. And no disrespect to the good Dr. Alberton, but he did not seem very capable of keeping the girl in check. At least, not to match Corina's standards of military discipline. At this point, however, Corina cut her analysis of the girl short. Just thinking about the mess Chie could cause gave Corina a headache. This was a problem for another time.

However, there was one question she wanted to ask, but she wasn't sure whether or not it was the time or place to ask it. She pursed her lip momentarily as she considered the options, and finally opened her mouth to speak. "With all due respect, what exactly are we doing here? Having just been reassigned from the PDF, it would be comforting to know that our mission here is, in fact, more important than my previous one."

[Assistant]
"I'll have to answer that in the privacy of the shuttle," Pharazon replied to Corina's question. Taking a look around, Pharazon continued, "It looks like everyone's here, and it's time to board." The boarding gate opened and Pharazon walked through the corridor to the shuttle, expecting the others would follow. It was a small military shuttle about the size of a short bus, with an aisle down the middle and two columns of seats on either side of the aisle.

Once everyone was situated, Pharazon answered without showing sentiment, "Importance is relative, Lieutenant, and dependent on many factors including priority and immediacy. What you'll be doing here," Pharazon now addressed all pilots, "is, in essence, weapons testing. You may have heard the term 'cog' being used. One could think of a 'cog' as the next generation of strike craft. However, that is a very limited definition. The capabilities of a cog have already been demonstrated to be much more than a strikecraft, more than a team of strikecraft can do. Because cogs are still classified as strikecraft, the project is under Horizon Defense Fleet (HDF) jurisdiction, but in addition to being a space-based fighter, a cog is also quite capable as a surface-based mobile weapons platform, so if the project goes well, we may see cogs deployed in the Horizon Planetary Defense Forces (HPDF) as well in the foreseeable future. The development of these may give us an edge in defending Horizon from the scattered remnants of violence left from the wars and the instabilities that still plague our borders. I hope you can agree that this project has its due importance, Lieutenant."

[User]
Upon hearing Pharazon's answer to Corina, Arienne finally frowned.

At the mention of strike craft, she remembered her original misgivings about joining this project in the first place.
'I'm going to be piloting a fancy plane' she thought to herself. That just didn't feel right.
Her training and skill set are in close quarters and hand to hand combat. Sure she can aim a pistol really well, but she wanted something more... personal, more intimate.
With a sigh, she pushed her doubts away. Might as well give final judgement after she had seen these 'cogs'. She had other things to worry about right now.

In Arienne's eyes, Chie Alberton was an adorable girl. She liked children with attitude and thought the little bit she'd seen of Chie's was endearing. But Arienne had never had to work with such an attitude on a professional level. And even then, why was a child part of a military project? Arienne loathed the thought of a child getting put into dangerous situations, but this was assuaged by 2 things:
* They were gonna be test pilots, so shouldn't see actual combat (this fact also annoyed Arienne). Chie, for the most part, should be safe.
* Chie must have gone through the tests so she must be qualified for the job. She probably had the skills and aptitude needed so that the Horizon government would be even willing to recruit a young child in the first place. On this point, Arienne didn't know whether to be impressed or disturbed.

Having sat down in the row in front of Chie, she turned around with a small but sincere smile on her face, piercingly searching blue eyes, and asked Chie in a quiet voice,

"Ms. Chie Alberton, if you'd be so kind as to answer this question. I wanted to know, are you here by your own choice or are you in any way being forced into this?"

[Assistant]
Chie narrowed her eyes at her 'commanding officer'. Folding her arms across her chest, she let out a huff and turned away, shutting her eyes as she did. Bending down like that... she was a pilot, so didn't she deserve to be treated just like all the others? She didn't need someone acting all... all... patronizing like that! She was irritable the whole way onto the shuttle. She sat with her arms still folded across her chest, looking firmly to the side and away from all her fellow team members... at least until one of them spoke to her. And she was talking to her normally! Hah!

... Even if the question was kind of weird. Still, given the chance to talk about how she was here, the blonde little girl couldn't help but give a cheerful and incredibly smug smile in response to the question that had been asked of her.

"Of course I'm here of my own choice!" she said, unfolding her arms to place her palms on either side of her hips where she sat, kicking her feet slightly. "Do you think I'd have to be forced to do something like this?"

Her smile shifted, becoming a rather sarcastic expression as she cast a sideways glance at the other team members. "Maybe they're dumb enough to think that..."


[System]
Moving my characters to a different post.

---

Alias: Elemental

Gender: Female

Age: 23 (Earth years)

Parents: Ransetura and Arnensa Kuinu (both deceased). However she has been adopted by Peter Parker.

Powers: Estella can control the elements of nature. Due to her race communicating strictly through the mind she possesses a natural aptitude for telepathy. In turn her people's evolution has granted her a great deal of resistance to mental intrusion.

Bio: Esuterura (her name is derived from her home planet) was the princess of a planet named Suteruraru. It was a very lush planet and its people were very close to nature. As far as their history goes the people have possessed telepathy, very early on making speaking unnecessary and forgotten. Over time they evolved the ability to manipulate the elements around them. Typically an individual could only manipulate one and it was a marvel to be able to control two. But over many very careful selection of marriages, a select few families managed to gain all five. These families, through fear or respect became the ruling class, seen as royalty. Though tension existed between them, there remained an uneasy peace for many years. Technology advanced while small conflicts tested the limits of diplomacy. The Kuinu line rose to be the strongest ruling power.

Eventually the lines of communication were shattered by the sounds of war. At first it didn't look like much would come of the smaller families pushing back. When alliances began to firm the threat became a real. The Kuinu family were loosing ground at an ever accelerating rate. Things were not yet beyond the point of no return. However, not wanting to put his daughter in danger the king ordered the remainder of the Kuinu family to be evacuated. Most of their resources committed to the war a small fleet of cruisers took to the stars with the enemy in pursuit. The fleet attacked and destroyed, only a few stasis pods escaped with the sole instruction to land on the first habitable planet it detected.

Upon arriving on Earth, Estella (as she had become known) found herself surrounded by a strange people that were not accustomed, or adept, at communicating telepathically. Moreover those she was with were not ordinary in their own right. Out of place but not without encouragement she began to learn about the world and the strange concept of speech. Over time she began to fit in and make friends. But her toughest trial would not come from her new home. Hidden away on the ship she arrived in was one of the very weapons that helped destroy her world. Transformed into a soldier for a long extinct war Estella fought against her new destructive instincts. Seeing that she was losing control she set off in her repaired ship to find a cure for her condition. Attaining that goal did not come without consequences.

Losing her memories the only clues she had left to follow were Ben Parker's memories. They had been implanted in her mind during her transformation. As one might expect this caused her more than a little confusion. Lost and alone the Parkers became her de facto family for a while. But two years later she was surprised by Peter with adoption papers and officially became part of the Parker family.

Resigning to stay at the only place she'd ever really lived on Earth, Estella was only a couple years away from graduation when things started going wrong. While the academy was founded for the next generation of supers it apparently wasn't the only one that thought of it. Without the tried and true heroes out in the world new villains began to surface that were not bound by the treaty. Earlier than expected the time had come for their training to be put to the test. Mentally Estella was prepared by both the academy and the weapon she'd been exposed to. Emotionally she was uncertain and afraid of the public reception. But there was no way around it and she had her father and brothers to help her out. She would protect her new home to the best of her ability. Having a good mode of transportation meant that as a team they could get around fairly quickly. Though coming up with parts to repair the things was easier said than done at times.

Appearance:

---

[User]
After being seen to have his hands properly cleaned and bandaged, Adrian exited the medical tent still looking a little shaken and exhausted, but ultimately much better now that he'd had a chance to have his wounds looked at and clear his head. During his search for survivors Adrian had never stopped trying to find any piece of evidence that could help him find the one responsible for the school's destruction. It defied explanation, as the (self proclaimed) world's second greatest hunter, Adrian had been taught from the moment he was capable of learning that everything left some sort of trail behind when it moved. It could be anything; a scent, a track, even something as easily missed as a bent branch or a crushed leaf. Sure in the city it was a bit harder to find a trail, but even then the pattern still remained the same. But there was no evidence to be found here, nothing that could possibly used to track. The only thing Adrian knew of that left absolutely no traces was when someone or something went full on scorched earth, but even that couldn't have been the case as it would have wiped out everything.

Adrain gripped his head as if trying to force his brain into overdrive, "There's got to be something I missed. Has to be. Has to be." he muttered tiredly.

[Assistant] Nicholas had helped the daughter of Daredevil putting his mask back on to hide his face form everyone,He slowly picked up the girl helping her on her feet and into the medical tent.Once he got inside she thanked him and looked around for a moment to think if he should help but shook his head saying goodbye to Mordock's daughter heading out of the tent.

[User]
Phoebe

Phoebe turned to Kagerou, pitifully grateful for the offer. but she shook her head. "I just don't want to check alone" She said softly, "I was going to call. To ask if he'd take one day off, to hang out with Daniel. Why didn't I?" She swallowed, and turned back to the rubble. There was nothing more to say. They both knew he would have hated to be away, when something like this happened. It was just her own guilt.

She began to move it with her vines, knowing full well that Kagerou could move it more easily.

Connor

COnnor looked around, a long, lingering gaze at the destruction. "Flood, we have seen something like this both, haven't we? On a smaller scale. In power development, with Sue. Whose to say that there isn't someone with Sue's abilities out there? After all there's plenty of empaths, telepaths, out there. Why not more sound users? Of course, this is massive scale. Just one of many theories about what could have happened Here. Excuse me, I should go stop Adrian before he kills himself searching" He said, his eyes having landed on his team mate.

"Adrian!"

[Assistant]
@knight125

Makoto let Estella guide her into the tent where a mature man worked expertly, she didn't recognize him but he also wasn't in a paramedic's uniform. Paramedics were around, working with what they had and transporting who they could fit to what Makoto assumed was the closest hospital. Makoto resolved to the option that the strange man was gifted and was either extremely educated or could heal others. A flicker of envy burned inside her, all she ever wanted was to help like that but her gift was one of destruction. Well, she really shouldn't think like that. Storm had taught her that if she put enough effort and thought into it, she could use her powers for anything. As it stood she already knew how to act as an AED and jump start someone's heart. On that note she looked around, spotting a paramedic doing chest compressions while another was headed towards him with a stretcher.

"Wait!" Makoto called, catching the attention of some bystanders. "Let me help." she rushed over, caught up in the moment and forgetting to thank Estella. The paramedic looked confused and frustrated with her. "No, really, I use electricity. I know how to shock his SA node." By now the other paramedic had reached them. With the consent of the one doing compression, the other helped prep the student as best she could. Makoto confirmed with the medics the approximate age and thus voltage to be used. She placed her hands quickly on the top right of the dead boy's chest and one to his right side just below the arm pit. "Alright..." she said, raising her hands slightly off the boy. "... clear?" the paramedics nodded and Makoto pressed her hands onto the boy's bare skin. He jolted, his muscles flexing involuntarily. Makoto raised her hands, a paramedic checking for a pulse, she shook her dead no. "... clear?" the boy flexed again and the woman checked for a pulse. This time she nodded, a slight smile breaking across her tired face. Makoto beamed at the success, her first human one, and moved out of the way of the paramedics.

[User]
Kagerou
Helps move some of the rubble. This place was barely recognizable in the aftermath. Shelves knocked over and crushed, books strewn everywhere. The desk that he often sat behind was in similar shape. Whoever had planned this did the job well because if Bruce was a target then they accomplished their goal. Anticipating the coming emotions Kagerou stood close, ready to comfort Phoebe.

Estella
She watched Makoto work. Expertly the young woman controlled her ability to such a degree that she could restart a human heart without harming them. That was not something she herself could do. Part of that might be because her abilities were spread across many elements. But also it had never occurred to to use it in such a way. Having witnessed the saving of a life she walked up to Makoto. "That was amazing. I didn't know you had progressed so far with your abilities."

[Assistant]
Phoebe

Even as grief tore at her, Phoebe's expression became blank. She took everything in, but didn't seem to react. Five years. Five years wasn't that long a time, made smaller by the fact she could have had 27 years. "I'm going to rebuild this school. After I catch the ones who did this" She said softly, standing there, and for a moment, it might seem that she was frozen in place, before she looked away. Her composure broke, and she shuddered, closing her eyes tight, she sought to rein herself in. It was only will power that stopped her from breaking down. "Um. I left plants were there were students, alive. We should...see if...if there are still some that need to be taken to the medical tent"

Her voice shuddered as she spoke, but there were still things to do. There was no sense in breaking down, not now. She couldn't stay there. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had fled, running back down the rubble. The familiar shape of Katherin drew her, and scrambling, she flung herself at her friend, holding onto her tight, something familiar in a landscape of unfamiliarity.

[User] Flood nodded at Connor and looked over at Makoto. He saw her revive a student and smiled. Always the helpful one. He grimaced when he realized someone was going to have to tell her about Storm. He walked over towards Makoto and stopped. "Makoto. I need to tell you something." He had a slightly mournful look on his face as he took off his cowboy hat. "It's Storm. She's... I'm sorry." He looked at Estella and mentally pleaded for her to explain. He was always terrible at this type of thing.

[Assistant]
Katherin

Katherin wrapped her arms around Phoebe. Had Phoebe located her father? Or was Bruce still missing? She wanted to ask but she needed to comfort her friend first. She couldn't imagine what she would do without her father and she had had him her whole life. Phoebe had only had Bruce a few years. It wasn't fair for to lose him so soon. Especially like this. We'll find them Phoebe. We'll make sure that they pay for what they did.

[User]
@floodtalon

Makoto smiled at Estella, not really knowing how to explain why she chose the life she leads now. It was all intertwined with dreams of her past and learning to work productively with the naturally destructive power she had. Makoto had just done what Storm had always encouraged her to do, really think about something form all angles and find the best solution for the purpose she had in mind. She didn't even want to go there right now though, having not heard from Storm yet. Makoto mumbles a thanks to Estella, still holding her hands in front of her like a surgeon who was all prepared for surgery.

Makoto was glad to see Flood when he approached and waved in greeting. She was always glad to see him though many other gifted people seemed to stay away from him and his father.

"What do you mean..?" Makoto began, her face sombering at the way Flood was behaving and what he said. After her great success it took her mind a second to shift gears and to piece together what the young man could be talking about. No, she didn't want to believe it. Storm had to be out saving the world. There was no way that she could loose her parental figures twice, the world wouldn't be that cruel... would it? "Flood?" she croaked. It was a plea, for an explanation and to prove her worst fears wrong. One could hear the utter heartbreak in her tone, though she tried to hide it. With all of her being, right down to the deepest parts of her core she prayed that Storm would be alright, that though Flood had never joked about this kind of thing before, it would just be a cruel joke. Then she could punch his shoulder and keep going, keep working, keep hoping for the best.

[Assistant]
Estella
This entire time she had been trying to figure out how to tell Makoto about Storm. Nothing seemed appropriate to say so she held her tongue for the moment. And then Flood let the cat out of the bag. For a second she had a flashback to the woman's final moments that they shared in their mind. Snapping out of it she took a deep breath to try and keep herself together. But there didn't seems to be much success in that endeavor. "She... she didn't make it, Makoto. I found her. I tried to get to her, but there wasn't enough time. All I could do... all I could do was..." Looking like she was about to have a breakdown her expression suddenly softened.

She looked at Makoto for a moment as confusion crossed her face. Glancing around she shot one glance down at herself. She spoke to herself it seemed, her speech pattern having shifted similarly to that of Storm's. "Dear girl, what have you done?" Looking back up she tried to remember what had happened. Yes, the academy was attacked. It had knocked her out, presumably buried. Estella had found her and they "talked" briefly before she began to slip. Believing death had come to take her she could feel the pull to let go, and she did.

Storm
Had she been mistaken on what the sensation was? Lifting her hand up to her mouth in shock she took a couple steps back. "No, this cannot be. Estella what have you done?" Transferring a mind to another body was not unheard of in her experiences. It had always required extremely complicated technology or a very high level telepath to accomplish though.

Noticing the pain with mixture of confusion on Makoto's face she stepped forward cautiously. It didn't matter how it happened at the moment. Makoto needed comforting. "Do not cry dear. It's me, Ororo. I don't know how but I am here with Estella. She saved me the only was she could." Being at eye level with Makoto was not something she was used to. Compared to her normal height Estella was quite a bit shorter.


[System]
ABSTRACT:
An aloof Changeling who rather be lost than found.

INTENT:
To immerse himself in mazes, emerge more than victorious, and perhaps light the travelers' way… if he ever feels like it.

FIRST ADVENTURE:
Swapped at birth for a human child, Aloe was raised inside the city. Often plagued by the voices of his human parents and the bustles of the city, he search for an escape. One night, his parents were particularly loud, as his lamp shook along with their rising voices. He snuck out into the backyard and found a small space beneath the bushes. Almost like magic, he found what seems like a different place. What is merely an over grown garden in his neighbor's yard is a place of solitude in his eyes. He sat with the soil that dampened his feet and the hedges that loomed overhead. He marveled at what he hears – who knew silence could be so loud?

HOW DO YOU KNOW KETTLE?
It was rare to see a living person inside a decaying maze, and even rarer to find one that didn't try to stab him on sight. Kettle was the first face he had seen in days that was not just a pile of bones. She sat next to a bonfire, roasting a meal, when he had crept close. Usually he would have shrug off such meetings and continue on his way unnoticed; however, Kettle has uncanny intuition. She noticed him in an instant and invited him to share the fire. He has to admit – Kettle wasn't such a bad companion to have when navigating through the unknown.

WHY DID KETTLE PICK YOU?
His charismas may not have won him anything, but his experience certainly did. Having traversed numerous mazes and lived to tell the tale, Aloe is a capable navigator and scout. It helps that he's both small and nimble to maneuver his way through tight spaces.

HOW DO YOU KNOW NEL STEVENS?
He had never met her. Heard of her? Unfortunately, yes. How could he have forgotten after her parents – the famous adventurers, Lenny and Henrietta Stevens – nearly drove him crazy with talks of their child? As much as he tried to ditch them in the caverns (the place he accidentally encountered them), their curious spirits (and talk of food) kept him in place – as well as the need to finish marking the right path out of here. Overall, they were nice people...
@Darcs

HOW DO YOU KNOW LEON MARQUISE?
It was quite a while ago. The hunter nearly killed him in a stone ruins, is what he did. Aloe was minding his own business, making marks along the walls, until an earthshattering roar made him break his chalk. As the earth trembled, he looked to the corridor -- to see a giant beast running at him while Leon was on its tail, weapons in hand. It's kind of hard to survive if the Changeling have only few rocks to chuck at it. Let's just say it took a while for things to settle down... with a few broken walls and bruises on his person.
@SiliconColt

[User]
The ruby would no longer stick in its socket -- the glowing runes in the column pulsed with a deep blue light as Lila's valiant efforts proved fruitless.

The ruby shone brilliantly, and red light illuminated the bones of her fingers from within her grasp. Strings of tiny red runes snaked and twisted around her arm, raced up her elbow to her shoulder. The ruby dug itself into her palm and the runes continued to draw themselves on her skin: across her torso, her throat, her face.

She would feel constricted, like the air was pressing in on her. The ruby was a sealing stone, and now it was trying to seal her.

Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout

A child's voice sang in the treetops. Or maybe it was just in her own head.

She ate all her friends and turned to stone throughout

Lila saw red. Below her, Leon and Clavic and Kettle were being accosted by a monster -- as monstrous as she herself. A command hissed in the back of her mind; Leon, Kettle, Clavic, Nel and Aloe glimmered in her vision as targets.

Kill them

Leon didn't have time to finish his sentence. The stone beast leaped and landed with a crashing rumble between him and Kettle, its fangs sharp and snarling. Its spiked tail whipped fiercely, catching Kettle in the chest; the pistol went flying into the bushes, and Kettle slammed into the white pillar with a sickening crack of bone.

The beast had barely noticed; its glowing eyes were focused on Leon, and the ruby glowed bright in its mouth. Something dark dripped from the crevice in its chest, where bits of fur and bone were visible among patches of stone.

The beast barked and snarled and shook its head -- then suddenly switched its attention and dove directly for Clavic, its jaws open wide to clamp down upon him.

It was behaving as if it were frightened and uncertain, lashing out at anything that seemed a threat. Anything that the spell in its head told it to attack.

Grom bellowed mournfully and pawed the ground where Kettle's spear lay in the mud.

For awhile there were only sounds of confusion and destruction -- then, the flap of wings, and the magpie perched on a boulder behind them.

"They're here! They're here!" the bird warbled happily, hopping and flapping to draw Lila's attention. "Itsy-bitsy, bitsy spider, come to eat you all up!"

The ground continued to shake.

The grass a few feet from where Aloe and Nel sat began to move and separate. A clink and clank of scraping metal echoed in the darkness below a perfectly square hole that slid open in the ground.

A stairwell led deep below.

[Assistant] The small bone-y creature began to speak, ready to shout out some sort of plan to those who weren't completely out cold. Unfortunately for him, the stony beast decided that it wanted a nice marrow appetizer before its meaty humanoid main course. Clavic was not very happy about this. He let out a screech that was accented by the rattling of bones and he immediately dropped to the ground. The full force of his weight was thrown forward, causing him to roll forward rapidly and hopefully out of the way of the creature. As he rolled, many of the bones that weren't tucked into the tighter parts of his furry clothing began to fling themselves off of his person and backwards into the maw of the beast with a few flying askew and stabbing into the ground.

[User]
Seeing that the ruby was not going back into place Lila gave up. Unfortunately the events she appeared to set into motion were not finished. The runes appeared and spread across her body. Before she could drop the object it dug into her palm. What was unfolding before her eyes was beyond her understanding. Was this magic? A curse? Did such things even exist? Of course that thought gave way to fear and panic when the spider woman felt constricted from what appeared to be nothing.

As if that was not enough the voice of a child came to her ears. There didn't appear to be anyone above her where the voice seemed to come from. It was the words though that caught her attention. Eating her friends was something that she wanted to avoid. The mention of turning to stone struck a nerve. Was that where the statues here had come from? She was going to become forever stone.

It was all becoming clearer but the sealing stone was not through. Lila's companions flashed in red in her vision as she was given a command. Kill them. The order was counter to her purpose, but very much spoke to her base instincts. Since the start of their journey she had not had a chance to feed on anything fresh. Try as she might the combine call to attack overcame her rational thought.

Exactly what everyone was doing was not important. Immobilizing them all with a bite wouldn't be possible, but several were already crippled in one way or another. The motion of Clavic caught her attention and Lila dropped down from the treetops to cut off his escape.

[Assistant]
There was a tremendous ruckus that brewed about as Aloe failed in his attempt to wake Nel. The changeling huffed in annoyance which was followed by a disappointed click of his tongue. Still nothing. Maybe a stronger strike will do? ? In one swift moment, Aloe raised his hand higher as his grip on a bundle of the lady's shirt held her steady.

"Itsy-bitsy, bitsy spider, come to eat you all up!" The magpie cried out, flapping its wings.

His hand pulled away at the last second as Aloe fixed the magpie with a glare. Confusion reflected on his expression as though he was thinking through a riddle. "Spider? What— OUCH!"

At that very moment, something bonked him on the head. Luckily, it wasn't enough to knock his out yet it still hurt. He growled as he whipped around... only to paused. He reached down to pick up a gun. For a moment, he stared at the weapon until the noise grew even louder than before.

Peering over the bushes, the scene was enough to draw curses from him. Kettle was down near a white column, not moving an inch. There a gigantic stone beast after one of his traveling companions with a lady-spider – a Jorogumo, wasn't it? – that was about to cut off the bone-y creature's escape path. Just what is that Jorogumo doing? She is an ally, is she not? He saw her as part of the traveling pack when he had lagged behind. Although, the red in her eyes weren't there before… A gem shone brightly in her hands. Slowly, his eye widened, the magpie's words slowly sinking in.

Crap, what was he suppose to do?

It wasn't long before the ground trembled a few feet away from where they sat and caught his attention for a moment. A section of grass shifted. In slow cranks and grinding metal, a hole revealed itself in small increments. Hidden within it was a staircase that descended into darkness. No matter how well his eye could adjust to the darkness, he couldn't see the bottom.

His gaze flickered from the hole to the approaching spider lady and finally to the fallen Clavic. The gun felt heavy in his hand. Aloe grimaced. He wasn't sure what was in that hole, but it seemed to be the only option if they wanted to live.

With a sharp intake of breath, Aloe rushed out of the thicket, leaving Nel behind. With adrenaline pumped into his system, he shortened the distance that separated him and Clavic. He grabbed onto the fur that Clavic wore and pulled the being up; the gun he held shook unsteadily as his aim kept switching between Lila and the stone beast.

"Creature of bones, there's a staircase along with a girl hidden behind those bushes. Take her and go down!" Without waiting for the poor creature to recover, the young man pushed it toward the shrubs, ignoring whatever bones that may fall out of it. He turned his gaze over to Leon. "Young hunter, come!"

[User]
Bones flung into the stone beast's face and mouth; it skidded in the dirt and shook its head vigorously, snarling, giving Clavic and Aloe a precious few seconds. The glowing ruby flashed on its stony tongue.

But those seconds were short-lived, for Lila was even faster than the beast. Perhaps she would think twice when faced with the barrel of Aloe's stolen pistol. But the voice hissed steadily in her head, and Aloe surged red in her eyes: Kill.

"RrrrrRRRWWWWAAAAAAA!"

The terrible bellow did not come from the stone beast, but sounded like the roar of a dragon.

Grom galloped to Aloe's aid, the saddle bags shifting and bouncing on his back. The cameldragon stumbled to a halt, curled his tail around Aloe protectively and stood his ground, baring sharp teeth he'd never revealed before, like a dog defending its owner.

The red in Lila's eyes dimmed, and so did the voice. Bloodlust faded. Similarly, the stone beast opposite her stood wavering, still hateful but no longer inclined to attack. The red of both rubies faded, and they no longer glowed.

The facts were these: Grom and Kettle both had sigil tattoos on their backs. These tattoos ensured the stone guardians would not attack them -- and also gave them the ability to command the stone guardians to attack or to stand down. Kettle's desire to kill Leon had caused the awakened beast to attack, but now she was unconscious, her head bleeding from an unintentional flick of the stone beast's tail.

Grom himself was confused and wary of the situation, not quite intelligent enough to understand. He remained by Aloe's side, glancing between the stone beast and Lila, growling deep in his throat.

[Assistant]
One moment Lila was ready to tear into her companions, the voice driving her mad. And likely she would have had not the montra been shattered by a roar. The sound rang in her ears, drowning out everything. The grasp on her mind melted away. Taking a deep breath the constricting force disapated.

As her mind cleared the spider woman held her head. It still throbbed from the experience but at least she was herself. Turning away from everyone Lila shrank away. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." whilst moving away she noticed the ruby color in her palm. That's right, there had been some runes coming from it. Feeling the spot it appeared that whatever it was could not simply be extracted by normal means.

[User]
"Stop." A firm steady voice called out after Lila. Despite her apology, Aloe stared at the spider woman with a cold gaze; the gun was now aimed at her chest. His eyes spoke with clear intent and distrust. Just seconds ago, she aimed to kill as he saw his own troubled expression reflected against her irises when she drew too close. And not long before that did she try to get that strange creature of bones when it had fallen.

While the giant statue still posed as a threat, it is ninety-eight percent pure stone. It would be a waste of bullets. He would have to find an alternative solution. More concerning though was Lila. She is still able to move and able to talk instead of growling. Was she an enemy or an ally? Will she revert back into something murderous? When will she? As much as a threat she still posed, Kettle chose her for a reason. She could still be useful for something, but is it worth the risk?

Honestly, Aloe had no idea what just happened. He had just wandered onto the scene and saw a disaster. Why was Lila rampaging? What is that statue? It was luck that Kettle's feathered beast somehow managed to keep the murderous forces at bay. But long will that luck last? Although the red in her eyes may be gone, Aloe didn't live this long on just hope and optimism.

A small click could be heard as the cock of the gun was raised. "Care to explain yourself?"


[System]
Age: 30 (looks 22)

Gender:Male

Appearance/Looks: He is an extremely handsome guy in human for. He is 6 foot 2 well built with blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. He is well muscled and all around reminds people of a model that walked off of a page. However, this is his glamour. His real self is pretty much the same, but blue with slightly pointed ears iridescent dragon fly wings and teeth. Teeth that are all sharpened like a row of daggers in his mouth. Of course, he has gotten to the point where he can have his wings out and look like a nice 'fairy' but if he either is mad enough, tempted enough, or hungry enough his entire normal self pops into existence. Usually starting with him turning blue. Since he is a pixie king, he tends to leave a faint trip of golden glitter on his birthday... it used to be all the time but for some reason he has managed to get the glitter to stop.

Species: Pixie King

Abilities:
Flight
Teeth
Strength
Stone skin (If you hit him its like hitting stone)
Decelerated aging
Bewilderment Inducement:can cause confusion (temporary interference with the clear working of targets mind) in a person or group of people.

Weakness:
Iron

Sexual Preference: Heterosexual

Likes : Blood (Particularly of teenagers... its a pixie thing), flying, sunsets

Dislikes: Iron, dishonesty, being tricked, the glitter that falls off of him on his birthday

Bio: Astley was born to an english pixie king and his queen. he was being raised to take over their territory, but he refused. He did not want the life that they had because it involved controlling multiple pixies usually against their will. It also involved turning humans and if they survived it then controlling them as well since the more pixies a king and queen controlled the more power they had. His parents threatened him, basically if he didn't agree they would force him. So when he was 19, he ran. Finding that America was a good hiding point and a good area for possibly getting some territory. Of course, that last part hasn't really worked out. Especially since he had a run in a while back with a different pixie king who captured and tortured him for about 2 years where he was bled often by the king and his pixies. Luckily, he was able to escape and from then on he has been from place to place trying to find somewhere to live. He is still rich, so he is able to get the best of forged anything, including his doctor degree. Kind of scary to think about, but he is actually good at it. He is a bit weak in his abilities due to being alone, not having a queen, and not having territory. So, his only powerful ability is Bewilderment Inducement (which he uses to help him get into various jobs).

Occupation: depends... currently he is a doctor

Country of Origin: England

Feelings about meeting their soul mate: Nervous that he will accidentally kill her or something

Soul mate:

[User]
Aria Kelly

Aria's now slightly blood-shot eyes focused on the newcomer to his bar. It was interesting that two supernaturals would come on the same night. Maybe he was advertising too much because serendipity seemed too convenient a reason why they would both came on the same night. Perhaps he was being hunted for a previous job he had done, but that seemed far fetched. He always kept his jobs clean. Aria calmly scratched his mark feeling a faint itch and dismissed it as him simply being high. Aria's attention returned to the Pixie's question, prompting a small grin. "Apart from game journalism, I do a few odd jobs here and there. Generally people who hear of my other services are of a supernatural nature. My last job was to hunt down a feral werewolf who'd lost his way." Aria's grin disappeared and was replaced with a mask of a face, void of most emotion if it was not for his tone. It was melancholic. "It was grim work seeing as the old man was simply going senile. I made sure he went peacefully, as were the family's wishes." Aria took a large gulp from his glass and finished the pleasant drink. "Anywho, I have another patron waiting for a drink, doctor. I'll be back to you in a minute, but I must warn you it get rather crowded in here. Plenty of youngsters like to pre-game here before getting very drunk at other bars. I'd love to continue talking though."

With that, Aria leaned off the bar and calmly made his way to the end of the bar. Grabbing a small glass and whipping it down, measured up the relatively small woman's appearance. The skull face paint was very impressive, and he immediately wondered how long it took her to put it on. Her fierce eyes set out nicely from under the hood she wore. Her body language was a combination of something feral and hostile. With another scratch to his wrist, Aria gently sent the glass down on the bar. "How may I serve you tonight, miss?"

[Assistant]
Despite her annoyance and hostility towards others around her at times, she had to play nice with some people and that included bartenders if she wanted her lovely drinks. At least the bartender of the bar she had wandered into seemed to be a supernatural as well going by his scent, though what she couldn't say. She had never come across something like him, he was different, which gave him more points to her, it got her curious, cautious still to be around him or him getting to close to her personal space but curious in finding out what he was. She eyed him for a second before giving her answer.

"Bloody Mary with a shot of Naga Chili Vodka if you have it, I want my insides to burn," she said, scratching her arm a bit as it felt like pins and needles were poking it. She couldn't help but notice the fact that it only got more annoying as the bartender had come closer, what was his game? Looking to score? She doubted it, by his looks plenty would want to eye for his attention, she on the other hand didn't feel the need to settle down nor wanted to, getting close only meant they could hurt you later. She had friends but kept them at a distance so when they turned on her it would mean little.

"What the hell do you clean this place with?" she finally asked aloud as she looked at her arm to see if she was developing some form of rash or something because whatever was going on was starting to drive her nuts, more then she usually was, of course when she looked down her eyes stopped on the name and her agitation and annoyance turn to shock and what she saw. She never remembered the thing on her arm, the thing everyone waited for most there life. For her it had been forgotten ages ago, better left out of sight, out of mind.

No it couldn't be, she thought to herself ,No. They'll only hurt her, not little Ada, I need to keep her safe.

Of course whoever in the bar who had the matching name that belong to her wouldn't have Scorn written on their wrist. That was her name now but her original name would still be written on them which made her go pale under the black and white paint on her face. She fought control of her emotions unless she wanted to throw a fit in the bar, perhaps it would at least drive whoever was connected to her away and then she could stop worrying about but then she might not get her drink.

Her head looked around uncertain on who it could be. She acted like prey and predator feeling backed into a corner now. Scorn had prepared for everything but this to protect her other half, the little girl that was shattered all those years ago, kept deep within to protect her from the cruelty of the world.

[User]
Aria Kelly

Aria sighed when the young woman asked for the Naga vodka. "I only have Absolute Peppar and Spud Red Chili Pepper. I'll fix it up for you. I assume you want it straight?" He said as he picked up the glass and a lime wedge. Running the lime wedge along the rim of the glass, Aria pulled a salt shaker from below the bar and began to salt the brim of the glass. Once that was finished, Aria grabbed the two vodka's and set them on the bar and grabbed the tomato juice. As he poured, he spoke calmly. "As for what, I clean this place with, I generally use lemon Lysol and bleach for more larger messes. I'm sorry you aren't reacting well to it." Aria reached under the bar and picked out Tabasco sauce and with a smile he dabbed two drops into the glass. As he continued to prepare the drink, Aria studied the young woman. "I'll make sure to wipe it down more thoroughly next time. I'm terribly sorry." She smelt nothing like the moon, which indicated that she was no werewolf. Her eyes, however, were mingled with something that could only be defined as beast-hood. He was starting to regret chugging that drink, as he was a lightweight. He could feel the flush roll up his cheeks as his extra senses faded. He was left to simple deduction to find out what this woman was.

"Might I ask how long it took you to cake on all of that face paint? I've seen women with literal masks of make-up, but I'm afraid you take the cake. I must say it's very striking." He said as he took a liberty on her drink. Taking both bottles of vodka in hand, he poured them both into the glass with practiced dexterity. After setting both bottles down in their respective places, Aria scratched his mark and leaded forward onto the bar. The thought of beasts always brought his mind back to the saddening thoughts of hunts. Looking at the custom coasters on the bar which blatantly said "Ye Ole Huntsman" disturbed his attempt at a pleasant Friday. He quickly grabbed a napkin and covered the coaster before placing the glass on both objects. "Is there anything else you need, madam?" Aria said the a bit of a dip in his mood. He attempted a half smile at least for the benefit of the woman.

[Assistant]
"I-It's f-" Adam started to say, before his soulmate inturrupted him by saying he was going to pay the bill.
Adam was left there, sitting in a mix of shock and worry. Was it something he'd done or said?

He watched as Danilo weaved between tables and to Delilah. He took another long sip of his hot chocolate. Adam's eyes were curious as Danilo began talking to the waitress, and he could hear her asked what happened.

Oh. Maybe he actually had done something after all.... He begin to fidget and play with his hands on the table. Adam saw Delilah look over at him. He took another sip before playing with his hands once more.

Oh. He'd definitely done something.... He looked down at his hands, so he didn't see Delilah look at him again.

When Danilo came back, Adam looked up at him. "D-Dan it's fine. I-I'd love to go over to your place." He gave the dragon a small patient smile.

Adam still wonder what he'd done to make Danilo so nervous....

[User]
(Gonna speed the time a bit up. okay?)

The smile helped the dragon clam down his worries. Maybe the expression his soulmate had a bit ago was something he misunderstood? Pushing it back in his mind he took his cane and offered his hand once more. Leading Adam out the cafe.
The walk to his home was a pleasant one. He enjoyed Adam presence and even the speed the other walked somehow matched perfect to his own step. Danilo found that fascinated, and couldnt help but wonder if fate payed attention to even such small things when writing the names on one wrists.

In the dragons opinion it was still too soon that they arrived to the apartment complex, where his flat was. Never the less, he with a slight bounce in his step, lead the way up the stairs to his place. He entered first and hold the door open for his soulmate to come after him in. It was a neat place, one could see it was a bigger flat with a good view and kept neatly. It looked spacious, the living room held a computer, as well as a collection of action figures and some other trinkets from all around the world placed lovingly on display. Beside the computer a collection of theater recordings and musical disc as well as some rarer merchandise were sorted by the year of premier.

"I shall let you know Adam, now that you know where I live, you are welcome at any hour and feel free to make yuo self at home. Feel free to explore, and familiarize~ While I cook. " Dan spoke with pride as he put his cane on the side and too off his coat and gloves off. Making his way to the high tech kitchen. It was on the half way there he remembered he never got around to buy the fire resistant paint. So he added quickly.

"Could you not go into the last room on the left down that hallway?" His bedroom, the last door on the left was unlocked like all the others in his home, he didnt want to leave a bad impression.Seeing not so small scorch mark on the bedroom ceiling, who knows what kind of bad impression it may leave. On th other hand Danilo didnt yet think of a answer to the 'Why not?' question.

[Assistant]
"I guess that will be fine," she said with a hint of disappointment.

As she watched the bartender make the drink she picked at her mind on what he could be. The brief moment she had got a good glimpse at his eyes, she tossed out beast. There was something more alien to them, not like the fae, pixies, or other more magical supernaturals but something out of this world was the best way to describe what she noticed. Yet she doubted he actually came off the world so she was stuck trying to figure out what he was by simply crossing out things she had a good knowledge that he couldn't of been.

Her thoughts were broken however when he came back at that annoying feeling on her arm flamed back up again. It had been find moments before when he had gone to make her request but now it was back with vengeance it felt. Before she could process and make a connection he asked her about her face paint which she was always delighted to talk about."Oh this, well anymore maybe fifteen to twenty minutes. I've perfected it after a few years of doing it," she said ",I thought going tattoo but sometimes I do like what is underneath and really I can't sit that long for such a procedure." She nearly swallowed her drink whole afterwards, though it wasn't the hottest thing she had ever had, it hit the spot like she wanted. He then had asked if she had any other requests, which made her mind go back to her arm and begin trying to string things together as the gears in her head turned. She looked at the name on her wrist before speaking again.

"Well I guess there is one thing besides another drink," Scorn finally said dropping her guard ever so slightly when she asked her next question ",Your name would be Aria would it? Aria Kelly?" She hoped he said no, begged it internally because she wasn't certain how to react if he said yes.

[User] Astley nodded before sitting back and watching the interaction between the two. He then realizes that those two are soul mates. He smiles before his phone beeps. This causes him to see that he was needed at the hospital. He sighs and puts down a card with his name and number along with cash for the drink. He quietly gets up and leaves. As he walks he puts a flask up to his mouth and drinks the warm liquid inside. Hot blood was sometimes better tasting then cold. He looks at his watch before hurrying a bit and making it in time for a life or death surgery from a bad car accident. The guy was in bad shape and he managed to save him.