Long Sample (probably mostly occurs with scene-setting posts or starting posts):

Chase, or Tank when in uniform, sighed as he observed the unfortunate scene around him. He’d been in the middle of making a delicious dish when the call came in about a metahuman incident. He shoved the half-finished product in the fridge, geared up, and made his way over to the area with a policeman who was kind enough to give him a lift. The B Team didn’t have money for a vehicle of their own, so they often bummed rides off whoever could give them one, usually someone from emergency services. Oddly enough, he was the only one called in. Probably for the best. Shadowstrike was once again off on one of her off the books prowling in the slums and Blaster was still recovering from expending a lot of energy the night before. He’d call Kay once he knew the situation.

The police were doing most of the investigating. Tank supposed he was mostly here to help provide crowd control or a shield if whoever did this was still around. He’d be able to take a few hits and buy time if someone more powerful needed to come and take care of it. Either that or Techton Enterprises didn’t think this was a big enough deal for one of the “main” heroes to appear. They certainly liked dumping the non-glamourous or attention getting jobs on them.

He had been talking to an officer when he noticed a car drive up and someone get out. “That would be Ms. Antonia Martinez,” the officer informed him. “The victims’ daughter.”

Now he knew why he’d been called here. No one on Team Techton either had time nor patience to deal with understandably upset and hurt relatives and he was such a good “people person” that this was just up his alley. It was probably a good thing the other B Team members weren’t here. Shadowstrike was often blunt to the point of hurtful even if she didn’t mean it and Blaster was bad at reading the room and might’ve made things worse despite his best intentions.

He barely felt her grab his shoulder plates. He knew how she felt, or at least had once felt the apparent despair that became visible. The officer he had been talking to stepped up to separate them, but Tank shook his head. She wouldn’t do any damage to him with her bare hands. He just wished that someone else would step up and give her the bad news. Someone trained for this sort of stuff.

“Ms. Martinez,” he spoke, softening his voice as much as he could. It made his Bristolian accent more pronounced. “We’re still investigating what happened, but the head investigator has some theories.” He nodded to the officer he had been talking to. The officer headed off to presumably go find the head of the investigation. “While we wait for them, why don’t we go sit down? I know that waiting for news is the hardest part.” His mind flashed back to waiting in a hospital lobby with his youngest sibling in his lap while his dad paced and the twins sniped at each other over a video game system.

He gently removed her hands from his shoulder plates and indicated the bumper of a nearby ambulance. “If it’s any consolation, they only found your parents’ bodies. All indications are that your brother is still alive.” But she probably wouldn’t be happy to hear the head investigator’s theory. “Would you like some water while we wait?” Even if she didn’t drink it, it would be good for her to have something in her hands. He’d even let her throw it at him if that made her feel better. He’d been hit with harder stuff than a water bottle before.

Shorter Sample (probably the length of my average post. Will vary if NPCs are included.)

The guns registered with Allison when he folded his arms and asked his question. She wasn’t sure what this particular ship’s policy on armed passengers had been, but it wasn’t unheard of for ships, especially if they were traveling through rough territory, to let their passengers keep their arms as long as they were visible. She made a note to watch him carefully.

“Well, can you name every planet a ship passes without a map?” She tried not to sound to annoyed that he responded to a simple question so rudely. “I’m Allison and who are…?

Then he started walking toward her, not looking too happy. Of course, the first person Allison could find had to be that way. After all, the universe was clearly against her right now. She scrambled back and to the side, only to realize that he was walking past her. She turned to see the smoking ruin of a spaceship. She was about to follow him when he started yelling at… well, nothing.

That meant two things to her. Either the man was crazy or he had an injury of some kind that was making him hallucinate. He almost seemed too well put together for the latter. Then came what he said after yelling at nothing.

Allison looked behind her. Maybe she should leave him and try to find someone else. After all, he was armed, he could probably take care of himself. But the logical side of her pinged in, reminding her that she was completely lost and not armed. He would be fine alone, but she probably wouldn’t. She almost missed his question.

“A wood and metal cube?” Allison eyed his hand on his holster. “No, I haven’t, at least not in the direction I came from. Did you have it on you when you landed or was it in a bag of some kind?"

The windows weren't exactly the clearest things in the world, waves of dust flying past the tainted glass, like ocean waves crashing against the chassis. The desert didn't feel like it was moving, other than the rumbling of the engine below. She knew they were approaching soon... couldn't necessarily say she was very happy about it, or her current situation in the slightest.

Kate sat near one of the many windows, there weren't many people for such a large bus... especially to where they were headed. Her eyes stayed to the bright and hot world outside, the bus didn't have any air conditioning at all. Feels like a fucking oven in here. Though, she figured she might as well get used to this... it was the middle of nowhere in the desert.

She fiddled with her fingers in her lap, her green eyes transfixed to the amber sand as it flew by, spirals looping and interweaving in her headspace...

She was no stranger to stress. In fact, it was like the next-door neighbor, the family friend that always knocks on your door every afternoon asking for a cup of sugar. At least if people even do that anymore. Now it's just creepy.

All she could think about was what would happen to her in this place. Some portion of her cognitive dissonance wanted to say that she belonged here, another said that she didn't. A larger part was guilty for what she did... what it did... The aching in her chest, the stitches she never remembered getting, the neckband- a collar more like -that was snug against her throat...

The bus began to slow, as a shadow was cast among the sand, something blocking out the sunlight, and considerably reducing the amount of pent up heat inside the airfryer that was that transport bus. Her thoughts were drawn away, gaze shifting up.

A wall.

What exactly was she expecting?

This was not Eriwyn’s definition of a good day. It had started as one, but the broken arm, cracked rib, and missing friend implied that somewhere, things had taken a turn for the worse. Of course, the day hadn’t started that way; it began, like most since she’d arrived in the clanhold, with plants.

Eriwyn started her morning like any other, brewing a cup of black tea and caring for her garden. She kept a great many plants crammed together on a custom terraced setup, built into and through the upper floor of her wagon, sweet-talking each plant to play nice with its neighbors and grow in the cramped confines. Her latest batch of Firemoss, a tobacco-like plant that smoldered slowly and gave off a sweet relaxing smoke, was nearly ready to harvest. She had given it extra attention that morning, describing to it how she wanted it to grow in the language of plants and emphasized how sweet and rich its smoke would be.

That done, she donned her outfit for the desert: a flowing, hooded robe of finely woven undyed cotton belted at the waist, with an additional over-robe to further keep the sun off her pale complexion. She left for the Arena, knowing her help might be needed that day as she often volunteered as a doctor for Arena contestants, both in the show matches and the more dangerous fights. Beyond that, a friend of hers, a gladiator and rising star by the name of Mirena Starborn, was fighting that day. Eriwyn was also rather worried about her friend’s involvement with an unknown bookkeeper and intended to ask her about this beforehand.

Perhaps meeting the other woman for a light meal before her fight would give her the chance to get to the bottom of what has been bothering Mirena. It wasn’t like her friend to be jumping at shadows, and she’d even seen her ducking out of sight to avoid some shady characters. They were of the sort that often loitered around the Arena, taking bets and making deals of many kinds. With these dubiously happy thoughts circling through her head she left in search of her friend, finding her on a side street leading towards the Arena.

Mirena was an Ainok of average height for her people, with muscle stacked onto every inch of her frame. Her hair was cropped short and kept out of the way, and her fur coloration gave the impression of a wildfire rippling across the grasslands, only the tell-tale scars of a fighter across her body to break it up. When not fighting, she wore an embroidered tunic and a pouch-covered leather belt to help carry anything she might need that day along with a small icon of the Light-and-Flame around her neck.

“Salamu Alaykum! I am glad I caught you early today, dear friend.” Eriwyn said as she caught up with Mirena, who turned to face her with a startled look. “Wa salaam, sister. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Mirena said, the look of shock morphing into a nervous smile as she looked up at the elf.

“I had hoped to catch you before your bout, for a light meal at least. You’ve been dodging me for those shady bookkeepers for the better part of a week, so I came to hunt you down instead.” Eriwyn smiled mischievously at the shorter woman and hooked one arm around Mirena, who looked around anxiously as Eriwyn started the pair towards an eatery they favored. As the pair turned down an alleyway shortcut Mirena's nervousness was proven correct, as a group of well-dressed figures stepped from the alley's shadows, blocking the path.

“I’m sorry, Miss. The Boss has business with your friend but not with any… hangers-on.” One of the figures said to Eriwyn before an unknown assailant behind her backhanded her into one of the alley walls. Her vision faded to fuzzy black as her head slammed against the stone and she slipped into unconsciousness.

Eriwyn woke up not knowing exactly how much time had passed, though not too much based on the movement of the sun. Her head pounded from the impact and a sharp pain in her chest implied further damage, but she forced herself to stand regardless and to find help. Her friend was missing, and she could not let that stand. Perhaps with the influx of travelers, she could even find someone to help them.

Eriwyn was raised on stories of the noble hero-kings of ages past by her nursemaid, and the ideals these stories espoused landed and found fertile ground in her young mind. She is the 7th of 11 children of the Duke Aegnor of the Emerald Grove. By the Duke's reckoning, she was the most troublesome by far, caring about more than the family's wealth and power. To the Duke's disappointment, Eriwyn was nearly the polar opposite of her father, caring more for the people of the land than the profits they could produce.

This came to a head when, soon after Eriwyn’s 45th birthday, the capital city of the Emerald Grove was struck by a plague that ripped through the common folk while leaving the noble class relatively untouched. Beg and plead as she might, her father sent little in aid to the commoners who worked his lands, instead sending soldiers to enforce isolation and curfews with brutal authority. While effective at eventually bringing the disease under control, the city and Eriwyn both were devastated as nearly a quarter of the city's population lay dead in mass graves, or drifted away as ash from funeral pyres.

The ravages of the plague, and the shoddy efficacy of her father’s reactive measures, lead to a growing interest in medicine within the young woman, leading her to take up the study of medicine and biology alongside her other studies. This eventually culminated in Eriwyn starting a hobby clinic in the central part of the capital of her father’s Duchy, where she practiced and learned through experience and experimentation. Her father was none too happy, seeing this as below his daughter's station to be working amongst those who needed help but could not pay at a proper facility, or those who had an emergency that she was closest to.

As came to all elven girls of noble birth in their kingdom, on Eriwyn’s 200th birthday she came of age and had her official debut into society, alongside an announcement of her betrothal. Duke Aegnor had arranged a marriage for her that would benefit the family, a marriage to the up-and-coming young Count Beleg of Verdant Lake, whose lands bordered the Duke’s. Unfortunately for Eriwyn, the Count was a callous man whose treatment of his servants and serfs left her aghast.

Soon after learning of her betrothal to Count Beleg, and shortly after meeting the man himself, Eriwyn decided to run away. Over the following months, she carefully arranged for a carriage and horse to be readied through the many friends and connections she’d made through her studies and work in her clinic, before slipping away the night before the wedding and making for the Duchy's border.

Eriwyn traveled under an assumed identity of a well-to-do traveling doctor, charging those who could pay so that she could help those who could not. As she traveled, she heard rumors of the Uttering Monks and their Saying ways, and they reminded her of the whispers she would occasionally hear from her patients' bodies. Thus, she decided to visit them in the hopes of learning more of their arts. She spent nearly 10 years living among them and learning their ways before moving on, as rumors of a missing princess and a search party began to reach the Eld Marshes. With that stop behind her, she continued wandering, stopping wherever there were hospitals and places of learning to be found. During her travels, she supported herself by providing discrete services for nobles for anything from a cure for their son’s sniffles, to a powder to solve their marital issues, while using this money to help commoners and other folk. Eventually found herself in the Hold of Clan Buraq, hoping to learn about their unique biology and medicinal practices from their Shamans.