LadyAmber

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Samantha Dalton AKA Chaos

Astral Sea: The Sandbox just exploded

Sam was not watching as the surface-to-air missiles launched and took out the Hind. She was too busy defending herself from the soldiers that came up on her unexpectedly from under the tarp. Sam was too busy trying to breathe when Skye commented on Stafford’s shot and issued him new orders. Her armor had stopped the bullet but the concussive force of the bullet at least bruised her ribs. She had felt like she had been kicked in the chest by a mule. She pushed through and managed to get back to her feet. Her side was on fire with pain but her adrenaline was pumping with endorphins which helped her move forward to take out the last guard she saw.

@FourtyTwo
She was standing over the guard her rifle pointed down at him as she heard Skye come over the radio.
"Chaos, sit tight there. Got your feed, you've got more moving near your position but I've got the flank on them. Don't let the bastards destroy it before we have a proper look." Sam just acknowledged the order knowing she was still in the fight but not moving as smoothly or as agile as she had been after taking that high-powered round to the chest. “Chaos holding.” Sam kept her head up on and on the swivel since Skye had told her she had enemy troops closing on her position. She had a few stragglers trying to come at her from the sides. She was fighting an injury, so she chose accuracy over speed as she lined up headshots and took them out with 3-second bursts taking out six more of the enemy as they seemed to be working in pairs as she waited on Skye.

Sam spun towards Skye as she landed gracefully next to her. She took her finger off the trigger just in time. Skye’s face winced in pain as the quick movement pulled the bruised muscles in her chest. Recognition was quick but her reflexes even impaired by her injury were fast with the adrenaline pumping through her system. She nodded her head respectfully to her boss. “Welcome to the party Queen.”

Skye chuckled at her as she replied, "Well, hello. You seem to have had some entertainment out here...and that's some fun bruising you're gonna have from that round, Chaos. Try not to get shot, ey?" Sam rolled her eyes at her boss. Like she planned to get shot! You can’t plan for every contingency, even though they tried. Sometimes even the enemy got lucky. Sam gave Skye a cheeky grin as she replied, “Well I didn’t want you to get bored. Besides you know better than anyone that no plan survives contact with the enemy.” She sighed as she gave the boss an honest assessment of her injury. She would need to know. “I took a high caliber round to the chest. My armor caught it, but my chest is on fire. I don’t know how bad the damage is. I have bruising at least. It has slowed me down and weakened me on that side. The endorphins are helping the pain. I will push through.”

Sam motioned towards the camo net. Skye moved forward first as they began to get a look at what was hidden under that large camo net. Sam chuckled as she heard the boss mutter "Oh my word...that is quite the stash. Terrorist aliexpress really is getting impressive these days." Sam’s hit the record button in her HUD as she walked through the large tent with the boss. She recorded what was there. Her helmet had a satellite uplink to their secure network so that she could upload recon directly in case her helmet was damaged, or she was killed in the action. That way the intel got to headquarters either way. Sam went to the BTR-90. If she could get it operational, they would have a great way to transport the rods. She clambered up and then dropped down inside. It was a bit of a mess on the inside. Someone had cannibalized all the electronics in it. There were bare holes where components had been ripped out. The large tank could be repaired easily with the right components. She could jury rig something to make it go but she didn’t have that kind of time. Sam was climbing back out of the tank when she heard Queen’s report.

"That is a very copious amount of explosives at the back. PETN. And about a quarter of a tonne of it....which will make a very big boom, and not exactly shite we can leave in the wild. It's more than I'm safely comfortable managing. Detonating it with our own explosives is one thing or trying to make it safe with time is another. But I don't think we have that luxury. What we do have, is a drone with a large ordinance on it which can delete this. Delete the lot of it. But I think there's something far more concerning to look about all of this when we get back to base." Sam nodded knowing the post-op debrief would include pouring over any intel they had gained during this op. She moved to rejoin Skye.

Sam respected Queen and recognized the look in her eyes. She had seen it in the eyes of those who had seen the worst that humanity can do to each other. You can only see so much darkness and depravity before it leaves its own mark. You learn to function and move past it, but it takes a little bit more of your own humanity along the way. She knew her eyes didn’t carry the weight of experience that Skye’s did. She had her own list of shit; she would never be able to unsee. Sam did this work so that others could live their lives blissfully unaware of the depths of depravity that humanity could sink to. She did these so innocents like children could laugh and have joyful childhoods. Sam did this work so others would be spared the pain of experiencing the tragic loss of their loved ones. Whose lives were cut short by terrorists.

Sam nodded to Queen as she told her. "Keep an eye out for me would you?" Samantha’s only reply was “Roger that.” She moved to a location where she could see what was coming from both sides of the large ammo tent. Sam utilized her sensors to highlight any movement caught in the area. She kept her head swiveling and scanning as Skye inventoried the remainder of the tent. Skye finally came out of the tent with her MG3 in her hands. Sam nodded acknowledging her orders to drive them back towards the rendezvous spot as Skye gave official orders over the radio. "Alright then lass, drive us back to the rest of the crew. All callsigns, clean up your sectors, and regroup at the position I've pinged to your display once you're done wasting these wankers."

Sam left her automatic rifle on the tactical sling so she could get it in a hurry. She got behind the wheel and started up the DPV. Her movements were a little stiff. She was driving them towards the rendezvous spot Queen had designated when she told her. "You held up well today, Sam, nicely hacked. I'm shipping you and Xander, mind. I haven't seen him this excited to work with someone since...well, about a month ago." Samantha laughed at her boss. She guffawed incredulously to hear Skye giggle. She never thought her straight laced workaholic boss would giggle. Laugh yes but a girly giggle? Never! Samantha just grinned and laughed as she shook her head as she replied. “Thanks boss. I aim to please.... Xander has his charms. For all, I know he is only interested in his next beer. He hasn't indicated that he is interested in anything. I do find him highly entertaining.”

-----------------------------------------------------

Samantha was waiting at the DPV on her next set of orders. The operational mop-up was nearly done. The resistance the team had faced was wiped out with a few stragglers here and there. Sam kept her head on the swivel and occasionally fired on a hostile that came towards their vehicles. Skye was nearby looking over the field of combat and talking on her radio. Sam couldn’t hear what she was saying as she was in the command channel. Sam assumed she was talking to HQ. She was looking out over the sand when she heard Skye start barking orders.

"Shit! Bomb drone's been hacked, everyone, fucking run and split!" It took a second for Skye’s words to penetrate. Sam began running in the opposite direction away from the DPV and the ship. She began to run in a crazy pattern to make her a harder target to hit from the air. The concussive blast from the explosion knocked her off her feet and into the sand face first. The force from the secondary explosions were enough to flip her over onto her back. The helmet protected her head, but her battered body was slammed into the ground hard even as the ground shook with secondary explosions from the ship. The world went black as her eyes rolled back in her head, not that anyone could see that since her helmet covered her face.

Sam came awake gasping for air. Her chest was on fire. Her body bowed in pain. Her HUD was cracked, and the screen was full of static. Samantha couldn’t hear anything. She tried to suck in a deep breath of air but felt like she was trying to breathe through a small straw. She felt as if tight constricting bands were around her chest. She fumbled with her visor but couldn’t get it to open. She fumbled with the straps to her helmet. Her hands felt heavy and clunky. She eventually managed to pull her helmet off. She lay there breathing deeply. Her chest was still on fire, but she no longer felt like she was suffocating. The constricting bands had loosened some. She began assessing if she could move the rest of her body. She managed to push herself into a sitting position. Her manual dexterity seemed to be coming back. She felt weak and shaky but her gross motor skills seemed to be functioning. As she held her helmet, she noticed a piece of metal shrapnel sticking out of the visor. She looked down her body to find her armor had taken a beating. She was covered in an dark greasy sooty dirt. Her armor had bare plate showing in spots. She dug into the pouch at her waist for her backup earwig. Her hand shook as she managed to get it into her ear. Samantha got the backup shortwave radio piece connected and active in time to hear Skye giving orders.

"Ogre, bury and tag the rods for now. You and Frigga need to hide in the intact end of the ship and come out only when they're right in front to take out the infantry, and go head on into the IFVs at point blank, and destroy any Trophy System or anti-missile systems they have, likely one or two has one for sure to help protect the cluster. That gives your various weapons systems the best chance to work and you can run at the bastards getting out, mortars, direct energy, anything to basically blast them open. I'll be with you above on the ship, so I'll cover your flanks from anyone trying to give you shit. If you can take the weapons out of one of them, see if you can make it spare to steal. Hornet, you're with me on top of that ship, see if you can grab any anti-tank, RPGs or anything that might be able to help us defend." Samantha shook her head trying to comprehend what was happening. She looked over at the smoking pieces of the ship and the huge shrapnel field that spread out from the point of contact toward her.

"Glitch, Chaos, I need you both to go to the weapons cache, I spied a few guided AT launchers in there...you can steal those and some LMGs, then find a position in the remains of the ship to defend from. We'll use those to ambush the IFVs masse when they get close and the Trophy Systems are dead. Bring spares, and we'll then decimate them. There's nothing you can do about that network- the hack's hit mine and Oracle's link, so we aren't going to be able to patch it locally and without that, we have no way out. Once our network's online, we need to keep any hackers off our patch and ideally, light their server up before they try again."

"Stafford, Jaguar, set up a sniper position south of the ship, and get ready to snipe off troops coming in. Cloaking and camo will be needed- you need to make them confused from your firing positions, more chaos the better when they're figuring out who's shooting. Your systems might be fine, but don't count on them entirely." Her brain was finally rebooting from the jolt she had taken. Right, the drone had been hacked. Skye mentioned IFVs. Samantha nodded to herself acknowledging the orders.

"We're going to let them come to us, so don't fire till they're close- I give us about five minutes till they arrive. They'll know we're here, but they just won't know where. Let's make them work for this arms deal in bits, aye? On my order, yous' can unleash hell, so let's show them some proper hospitality if they want to come visit, ey!"

They had hostiles inbound. Samantha tried to get her shit sorted out. She didn’t have time for injuries. She dug into her pack and pulled out the first aid kit that was designed for the team to use in the field. She pulled out the autoinjector in the kit. She placed the autoinjector on her neck before pushing the button. It was the only place not covered by armor that she could reach easily. Samantha winced as the needle jabbed into her neck. She gave a sigh of relief as the cocktail of antibiotics, painkillers, and stimulants hit her system. Samantha pushed wearily to her feet. She knew when the drugs wore off, she was going to go down like a marionette with cut strings. Hopefully, by the time the shot wore off, they would be homebound and out of danger.

Samantha pushed to her feet once more. She swayed a little bit but it was easier this time. She reached into the same pouch and pulled out the microphone strap that went around her neck. She quickly plugged everything in and secured the strap around her neck. She pressed the transmit button on the neckpiece. “Chaos inbound to pick up new toys.” She didn’t bother to give Skye a condition report, this time. Skye already knew she was fucked up. “Queen my favorite toy was in the DPV. Nothing was left of it.” Her eyes surveyed the blackened twisted pieces of the DPV frame and smoking debris pieces laying around. Queen needed to know that her laptop had not survived the fallout from the blast which had taken out their DPV. Chaos had nothing left to hack with. Well unless you gave her a cell phone. She might be able to work a minor miracle with that.

Sam heard Xander’s reply. “Copy, mum.” His voice was hoarse with pain as he replied. “Just… Give me a moment… Need to… take some medicine.” Sam suspected he was using his autoinjector too. “Oh bloody hell that’s good shit!” She grinned as she heard his response to the injection. “Yes, it is Glitch.” Chaos had begun moving towards the weapons cache. Her movements started out slow and jerky. As the injection went to work, her movements smoothed out and she sped up.

She heard Xander address her. “Alright. One surprise party for Artemis coming right up. Let’s go, Chaos.” Samantha laughed as she was already in route. Samantha had managed to kick up into a run. She was approaching the cache as she heard Xander’s reply. “I reckon we start with the AT launchers. Make sure we can deal with anything armored, then worry about LMGs. Worst case I still got a gun and a knife and those work pretty well on blokes. Tanks. Not so much.” Samantha chuckled as she headed towards the AT launchers and LGMs. “Well Glitch, I haven’t gotten to show off my knife-fighting skills yet on this mission. A tank would not be my opponent of choice.”

She tore down a side wall of the camo tent. She spread it out on the ground. She began loading ATVs and LMGs onto it. She also grabbed a case of explosives. Maybe one of the others had demolition experience and could rig some charges for them. Her plan was to use the heavy cloth wall as a sled to pull what she gathered across the sand. She dispersed the weight of the cargo over a larger area so it wouldn't tear the durable fabric. Once they were done loading everything they thought they had time and room for Sam turned to Xander. "Let's work smarter not harder. I can take one side you take the other? Did we get everything?" She didn't need to tell him that she was not capable of lifting much. She could use her bodyweight to help her pull the stuff. It would be easier on her poor battered body than trying to make multiple trips back and forth. It would be faster too!

Brand new here!

Welcome to the site

Hey hey, it’s a pleasure to meet you all!

But- I call it disorganized organization.

@GinValley

My husband called this Organized Chaos.

Welcome to the board.

Greetings and Salutations

Hello and Welcome

Saiting Boredom

Welcome

TNT - The Nameless Tavern. (Always Open)

@Chris488

Fiona Flamebeard: House on Fire 2

Fiona dipped her head in respectful acknowledgement of the blessing offered in return. She didn’t come across that often. She had never heard of a deity named Homura. However, she as a dwarf and was not particularly knowledgeable about other races gods and goddesses. She took another long pull from the bottle before letting out a deep sigh.

“I am grateful to have found this tavern. My travels were fraught with their own pitfalls.”

She took another drink before launching into her tale.

“I was performing my duties to my goddess by traveling to the smaller dwarven villages. During the early planting season, her priestesses are traveling to bless crops for a bountiful harvest and the residents with fertility. Then during the harvest season, we come back through and collect the goddesses share for the temple.”

She took another pull off the bottle and her cheeks were slowly gaining some reddish color. She gets more animated as she tells her tale. Her hands gestures are becoming bigger and wilder.

“I was traveling along the Gnoll River towards the next village when I was caught out by a surprise spring thunderstorm. The storm caused the river to jump its banks. That forced me to travel away from the river. I was almost caught in the flooding. I finally made it high enough in some foothills and found a cave to ride out the storm.”

She took a deep breath before taking another pull on the bottle.

“The next morning I climbed to the top of the hill and the flood had wiped out the bridge. I had to find a new place to cross the river. It is not like dwarves can swim you know. We just sink, like rocks. Water is not our friends.”

She shook her head sadly before taking yet another drink.

“The next few days were creepy forests filled with mists. I was completely turned around. I have never seen terrain like that before. Then I found this tavern. I have no clue where I am.”

She hiccupped and covered her mouth as she laughed.

“Sorry about that. Can you tell me where I am or how to get back to the dwarven lands?”

The Witches & Warlocks of Tanner 2.0

In the Library: Caitlin, Daniel, and Jazrina

Jazrina had been sitting and sipping at her drink. She had been watching people come and go. It looked like only the younger coven members would be attending this party. Jaz sighed as she shifted in her chair. She had seen Delaney come in and waved at her as she made her way over to the table with the drinks. Jaz saw Cait come through the party after visiting the snacks table. She met her eyes and waved back to her with a warm smile. “Hey Cait!” She was happy to return her greeting. Jazrina had just turned to see who else had come in when she heard a commotion near her.

She didn’t have to wait long for the drama to start. Jaz couldn’t believe that the new girl would try to pick a fight on her first night at the coven house with an established member. The fight was vicious and fast. Jaz had stood up planning to intervene but as she started to try and push her way through the crowd all standing around gawking like they were all still in high school, the fight was over.

Jaz noticed all the blood. It didn’t surprise her to see the new girl in bad shape passed out against a wall. Jaz had no sympathy for her. She had sought out trouble and bit off more than she could chew. Delaney was not in much better shape. She was being taken care of by Erin and Serena. Jaz wondered where Carlisle was while this fight was going on. Carlisle came in from the balcony looking pissed with blood on his face. There was obvious tension between him and Lilith. Jaz shook her head thinking she couldn’t complain that this party was dull.

She was very disappointed with how things were going. She wanted to feel like she belonged to the coven and to make friends. She still felt like an outsider except for a few people like Caitlin. She thought this party was supposed to bring the coven together. All she saw were people fighting or ignoring others as they sought oblivion at the bottom of a glass. Jaz went into the kitchen and poured her glass down the drain. She rinsed the cup and drank a full glass of water before throwing the cup away.

Maybe she needed to find a quieter spot than trying to meet people next to where the snacks were. That hadn’t been her brightest idea. She thought it was a great place to mingle as a lot of people would go through there. She had already witnessed one fight and the aftermath of whatever had happened to Carlisle. Anger seemed to be the prevailing emotion in the area from the looks on the faces she had just left behind. She decided to make her way to the library. The coven library was supposed to be one of the best repositories on magic in the state. Maybe she could find a book to help her learn more about her powers.

Jazrina walked down the corridor till she found the heavy carved wooden doors to the library. The space had antique wooden tables set up with chairs for studying. A few more comfortable arm chairs were spread around the space for solitary reading. Shelves lined with books, some of them fragile with age. The air in the library seemed to smell of dust and furniture polish. It made her sneeze. She pulled a tissue from a box on the entry table and wiped her nose in a ladylike manner. She threw the tissue in the trash can and began to look around. The lights were already on so maybe someone else was here. At least it was quieter. She could still hear the music and feel the beat pulsing from the main room but it was a dull roar now.

After another near-traumatizing car ride with Miles and Carlisle, Daniel waved goodbye to everyone as he headed home to rest up before the party. Daniel didn’t have many clothes intended to look nice, so after he shower he just put on the same button down and jeans he had on earlier. His wardrobe was meant to be functional, not fashionable.

Checking his watch Daniel saw there was plenty of time before the party. At that moment a thought occurred to him, the drinks were probably just going to be spirits and mixers. Daniel could deal with that but there were things he’d rather drink if he was going to be getting drunk. So he hopped in the car and drove over to the liquor store to grab his supplies. The drive was pretty short, Tanner wasn’t exactly a huge town. But Daniel put on a podcast which he continued to listen to while he shopped. The hosts were talking about something they dubbed “The Yuba Incident,” and despite them being goofballs the topic was pretty interesting.

When Danny was done his shopping he had a couple 4 packs of vodka mudshakes (chocolate, obviously), a 24 case of Twisted Tea in 4 different flavors, and a bottle of absinthe to take shots with anyone who was brave enough to try it with him. Daniel didn’t drink often but when he did he had two rules. 1) Make it taste good, and 2) Go hard. No point in drinking all those empty calories if you weren’t going to at least get drunk. Satisfied with his haul, Daniel went home, set up his drinks on the kitchen table in a neat four by eight grid, with the absinthe on the end, and proceeded to watch some anime until it was time to head back to the coven house.

The time came and Daniel walked over, not wanting to worry about his car at the end of the night when he would inevitably be too drunk to drive. He walked in the house and gave some polite nods to people who happened to look his way. Checking out the refreshments table it was exactly as he thought, basically just spirits and mixers. With a wave of his hand Danny conjured the first of his mudshakes from his kitchen table back home to his hand. This specific spell was basically second nature to him at this point and hardly used any energy.

Daniel parked himself against a wall and observed the party as he drank his mudshake. He wasn’t even sure why he came, well that was a lie, he came because his mysterious contact told him to keep on eye on Carlisle, who was currently outside. If it wasn’t for that he probably would have stayed home, the party scene was never his thing. Delaney had dragged him along sometimes before he left for school, but it always took convincing. Speaking of Delaney, Danny noticed her across the room, and the new girl who arrived with Kolby.

Aaand they were fighting. Daniel did not want to deal with this, ”not my circus not my monkeys,” he muttered to himself as he swiftly left the room in search of somewhere more peaceful. He found himself in the coven library, the lights were off so he guessed no one else was around. He switched them on and wandered around a bit. The music could still be heard but it was very muted, Daniel thought it sounded a lot better this way. Maybe while he was here he could find a book to help him with his shadow clone jutsu (although he’d never tell anyone that’s how he thinks of it).

He checked the aisles and eventually found a book that looked promising. As he pulled it out he heard a sneeze from the library entrance. Heading back over there he saw a girl in the entryway. ”Hey, uh, Jazrina, right? Not sure if you remember me from school, I’m Daniel.” He put the book down on one of the tables and finished his drink, dismissing the empty bottle back to his house and conjuring the next in line. He noticed Jazrina didn’t seem to have a drink, ”you want one?” He held out the bottle he had just conjured towards her.

The dust had cleared in the wake of the brawl, and Cait had re-centered herself. She stumbled a bit under the combined assault of both the alcohol and THC, but caught herself before falling altogether. She took a peek over her shoulder into the dining room; the party was still going strong. Lilith, still seeming intoxicated, had returned from the veranda, fumbling around by the snacks and drinks. Nope. Not a good idea. So much as Cait loved a good house party, the arguing and fighting was a push too far for her.

She started thinking of a quiet area of the house to retreat to. The basement usually would have worked, but after the explosion from before, it was better off not being a hangout spot. She thought of just going back up into her little boarding room, but if she was going to do that, she might as well just skip out on the party for the night; can't have that.

That was when she noticed Jaz passing through. Figuring to catch up more thoroughly with her, Cait decided to follow her down the corridor. The trek ended with Jaz entering the library. Thinking it was as good a place as any, Cait followed suit not too far behind. She entered, closing the door shut behind her, and drifted, glassy-eyed in Jaz's wake. "Bless you, she said, after Jaz sneezed. Then she jumped at the sound of another voice from nearby.

Cait poked her head around and stood next to Jazrina so as not to stay hidden. She gave the young man that had just come out a quick wave.

Jazrina had stepped further into the library after throwing the tissue away. She was looking around trying to decide where to start her search when she heard footsteps coming her way. She jumped as she heard Cait’s voice from behind her. “Bless You”. Jazrina had just turned to greet her friend with a smile and a small wave before turning towards where she had heard the footsteps, curious about who else had come to the library.

She smiled warmly at Daniel as he appeared coming towards her. Jaz felt Cait move up next to her. Jazrina was trying not to gape as Daniel strode towards her. She couldn’t help but admire the easy way he moved and the interplay of muscles accented by his movement. She had a crush on him in high school. She thought he was very attractive. He had only improved since high school. He obviously still worked out and kept himself in shape. She tried not to let self doubts and the insecurities learned from other people taint her conversation with Daniel. Her experience with dating was bad. She had trust issues. They were well earned but it made it hard to open up to others or to not let those bad experiences color her expectations from someone new.

Jazrina was stuck in her head as she was telling herself to be kind and play it cool. He was being nice. Her smile got bigger and her eyes widened as he introduced himself. She couldn’t help thinking, He remembers me! Cait’s movement next to her gratefully pulled her out of it.

She was probably grinning like a crazy loon. She cleared her throat before responding. “I do remember you from school Daniel. I believe you were in the class behind me.” Inwardly she cringed. Great remind him that you are a year older than he is. She rambled a little bit nervous about what he might think of her. “Thank you for the offer but I think I will pass. I had to get out of the mainroom. I think I am done drinking for the night.I was never one for scenes like those.” She scrunched up her nose in distaste. She waved a hand towards Cait. “Have you met Cait yet?”

Dan was glad to see Jazrina smile at him, she seemed to be having a good time, despite her comments about her experience with the party thus far. ”Ya, between the fight and the general inability to hear it’s not really my scene either. But I figured it would be rude not to come after Carlisle set it all up.” Daniel uncapped his drink and downed about half of it as Jazrina introduced Cait.

”You know, I don’t think I have, good to meet you Cait, I’m Daniel.” He was about to offer her a drink as well but she looked really out of it. She had definitely had her fair share of alcohol and possibly other substances already. Which was impressive if nothing else, considering the party had basically just started. ”You doing alright Cait? You seem….” Daniel wasn’t exactly sure what adjective to use to describe how she seemed. Daniel shook his head, ”Never mind, enjoying the party?” If her mental state was anything to go by she was probably having a great time.

Not finding her words immediately, Cait returned Daniel's greeting with a bro nod. "M-me?" She responded to the question of her state with a slight hiccup. "Yeah. I'm straight; I mean not like… I'm all up for parties. But that shit got too Jersey Shore for my taste, ya'know?" She fell silent, and began shifting her head, looking around the library. "I never spent much time in here before I left," she resumed, shifting the conversation away from the party. She gestured broadly at the library.

Jazrina took a deep breath mentally telling herself to snap out of it. She looked closer at Cait as she heard Daniel ask her if she was all right. Cait did look a little out of it. She shook her head and chuckled as she heard Cait hiccup. Cait had always been somewhat of a wild child. It was no surprise to Jaz that she had already been in the alcohol and whatever else was passing around this party. She laughed at her description of the fight. Jaz snort chuckled at her Jersey Shore comment. Jaz thought to herself more like a wrestling smackdown extravaganza on pay per view.

She didn’t really want to talk about the fight either. It had made her uncomfortable and simply highlighted the challenges faced by the coven. It didn’t really matter who took over the coven, they had their work cut out for them. This party had shown just how divided and immature the younger coven members were about their responsibilities. That was why Jaz had left that part of the house to begin with. She smiled at Daniel once more. At least the evening was looking up.

“I have heard of the library before. This is the first time I have been here too. I thought maybe I could find some books that would help me train my powers better. My parents did most of my training but they are not as powerful as I am.” She shrugged as it was a simple truth. “I can’t help feeling like there is more I can learn if I trained the right way or knew it was possible. I have never really taken the time to explore my abilities fully.”

Jazrina let her eyes linger on Daniel as she gave him a sultry smile. “I would say my evening is looking up. What are you doing here Daniel?” Jaz waved a hand around to indicate the library. Jaz was trying out her weak flirting skills. She prayed that she was coming across as interested and alluring, not desperate and crazy. She hoped Cait would make a good wing person.

Was Jazrina…looking at him? Obviously she’d look at him to talk, but was she looking in a way that was implying something? Daniel was never good at picking up hints from people, especially girls trying to imply they were interested. Besides, Daniel didn’t really consider himself boyfriend material. He was fit, which some girls appreciated, but he’d never been able to hold down a relationship for long.

He had another swig of his drink, which was quite easy considering it was basically a booze milkshake, and answered her question. ”Well a library seemed like a great place to get away from all the craziness out there,” he grabbed the book he pulled off the shelf before the girls arrived before continuing. ”My magic style is basically all self taught, Conjuration doesn’t seem to be very prevalent in these parts. So any time I can’t just figure out what it is I need to do I come here. Right now I’m working on conjuring a shadow copy of myself that can act independently from me. Right now it can either copy my moves exactly or just wander around aimlessly.”

Daniel realized he was going on way too much and they probably didn’t care. He coughed awkwardly and finished his drink, dismissing the bottle back to his house with a small flourish so he didn’t have to keep holding it. ”Anyway, I could always help you with training Jaz, if you wanted. My long term goal is to be a teacher so I like to think I’m kind of okay at it.” He gave her a smile then realized he shortened her name, that may come off as a bit too friendly, he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. ”Is it okay if I call you Jaz?”

Jazrina’s eyes lit up with interest as Daniel explained why he was in the library. She was really impressed that he had taught himself. She was impressed as he casually demonstrated his power by sending the bottle away. Daniel called her Jaz which was her nickname that most of her friends and family called her. Hearing him call her by the more intimate name felt good as warmth slid through her at hearing it. Jaz reached and took his hand briefly giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Jaz is what all my friends and family call me. Of course you can call me Jaz. I hope we will be at least friends.” She gave him a bright smile hoping her comment was to the point.

Daniel was one of the first coven members that she had met that talked about how they learned to control their powers. Jaz had been diligent about what she had learned but her teachers who had been her parents were so much weaker than she was. She had learned all they had to teach her years ago. She had not really focused on trying to learn about her magic while she was away at college.

The one thing she had to keep up with was her yoga and meditation. Being off balance could cause her elemental magic to manifest on its own in some truly embarrassing ways. For her college had been about self care and coming to terms with herself. It had been her journey of self discovery and settling into the type of person she wanted to be. Jaz bit her bottom lip as Daniel demonstrated his power once more by sending the bottle away.

She had never really discussed with any of the younger members how magic worked for her. She had never really had the opportunity or felt like she could. Jaz appreciated that Daniel seemed laid back and easy going. She felt he was being genuinely himself with her. “That’s really interesting. I didn’t know anyone else had challenges using their magic. My magic is all based on Invocation and Enchantment. My strongest skills are in working with the elements. Working with the elements came naturally to me.”

She demonstrated by holding out a hand and pulling water from the air to form a small ball of water over the palm of her hand. She made the ball of water bounce a few times in her hand before tossing it up in the air to disperse it as a mist. “I have found that if I feel out of balance such as being emotionally upset. It makes my elemental powers harder to control. I have a daily routine of yoga and meditation that helps me control my powers better.”

Jazrina shrugged as she learned towards Daniel once more. “I never thought of working to actively train my powers by trying new things. My parents had been all about controlling what came naturally to me. Maybe I can find some books that will talk about how invocation and enchantment manifest for others and try them?”

Jaz turned to Cait. She was feeling bad thinking she was excluding her friend from the conversation. “What about you Cait? Do you have quirks with your magic? How have you trained so far?” Her eyes flashed back towards Daniel briefly before focusing her attention on Cait.

"Huh?" Cait turned around. She had been perusing a nearby bookshelf in a curiosity that she was surprised by herself. She hadn't spoken about her magic with anyone in a while; not since she told her parents and the council that she was happy with what she had learned before college. "Well they said I have a form of Transmutation. she pulled out a nearby chair and flopped down into it. "It's more like Telekinesis. Like, moving shit with my mind. I can levitate a bit too. Then there was a time I had to spar with the others; I ended up throwing a blast of… well I'm not sure what it was… it hit the wall though; punched right through the plaster. That's…

She pulled the joint and light from her pocket. "Please don't tell anyone, she said, looking at Daniel and Jaz. If Carlisle or the council knew she was lighting up in the library they'd probably throw a fit. She lit up, took her hit, exhaling away from the other two, and quickly stuffed out the end and crammed the joint and lighter back into her pocket.

"That's when I decided 'no more.' That's where I drew the line. Coulda broken someone's nose. Nah. I didn’t want it. Not like that. If i had kept going," she shrugged, cutting herself off. "I've just been keeping up with the basics since. Stuff that helps me. Stuff I can do without really doing anything."

Jaz took his hand and smiled, confirming the nickname was perfectly fine. ”Great, I’d love to spend some more time together.” Daniel was glad Jaz was so friendly, she was also kinda cute, but he wasn’t exactly looking for a relationship. Just being friends and reestablishing himself in Tanner was fine for him at the moment.

Daniel listened as Jaz explained her abilities and experience with her magic. Invocation type magic was a lot more flashy than his comparatively simple style. He used to be jealous of others who had flashier spells, but now Dan has grown in to his magic and found a style that worked for him.

Next it was Cait’s turn to talk about her magic. She didn’t seem to care much about it. Daniel could relate to that, he wasn’t all that in to magic when he was younger. It almost felt like cheating in a way, like he had an unfair advantage if he ever used it. That’s why he wanted to be strong, so he could protect people without magic. Obviously that changed, and also it seemed Cait’s distaste of magic stemmed from a mix a trauma and laziness.

”I won’t tell anyone about the weed,” Daniel assured her, “but do you really not want to learn to control whatever that blast was? If it were me I’d be concerned about accidentally unleashing that power unintentionally. My offer to help Jaz with training also extends to you. To me it sounds like your powers were more than you could handle and you just decided you’re better off without them. He faced towards Jaz and continued, ”and Jaz, it sounds like you’ve mostly trained very formally without much experimentation. If you like that then more power to you, but personally I find experimenting and maybe even making some mistakes is the best way to learn.”

Daniel stopped, then realized how he sounded and rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward laugh, ”heh, sorry about that, kind of went in to teacher mode there. Didn’t mean to lecture either of you, I get a bit passionate about things sometimes. Daniel summoned another drink for himself, a can of twisted tea raspberry. He wasn’t sure if the drinking was making his passionate nature better or worse. But he did know he bought all those drinks to get drunk, and he wasn’t there yet.

Jazrina tilted her head to one side as she listened to Cait and Daniel. A look of concern came over her face as Cait shared her story. “I have to agree with Daniel. It sounds like your powers scare you. I understand why. Mine can be scary if I don’t control them. If I don’t use them they tend to manifest on their own. I didn’t really have a choice about learning the basics.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment as her eyes met Daniel’s. “I think there is some truth to what you think Daniel. I feel like I have just scraped the surface. I have the basics down but I have never really pushed anything outside of what I already know how to do.” She shook her head and gave them a rueful smile. “It sounds like we all have things we could work on. Maybe we can help one another? Would there be anything we could do to help you train Daniel?”

She turned to face Cait once more, a serious expression on her face. “Cait, why don’t we all train together. Maybe we can help you feel safe while you learn the extent of your powers and how to control them? I put up elemental shields around things. Maybe together we can all train more safely. Would that help you feel better about your powers?” Jaz waited to hear what they thought.

Perhaps it was because of the high, but Caitlin found herself hanging onto Daniel’s words. At the moment it was hard to wade through, and whether she wanted to take him up on his offer was up in the air; with Jaz echoing Daniel’s sentiments, the idea started to seem easier though. When all was said and done though. “I supposed it couldn’t hurt,” she said, kicking up out of her seat. “I just… I’m not sure there’s much point in working to control an ability I don’t plan on using. But I guess… if it'll help with things. She looked towards the door into the corridor. ”You think things have settled any out there? Wouldn’t be much of party if we weren’t there to live it up.

She stopped and looked at Daniel as she started to make her way out. ”Any chance you could magic me up a beer? I spilled my drink when the cats started fighting.”

”Sometimes training can just be for your own sake, even if you don’t plan on using it, Daniel said somewhat sagely, ”I don’t plan on fighting anyone but I still know how to defend myself.” Danny down the rest of his drink and dismissed the can as Cait brought up things probably having settled down in the main room, then she asked him for a beer.

”Unfortunately I can’t make beer, I can only conjure the drinks I left at home,” with a wave of his hands he summoned two of each of the types of twisted tea; regular, half and half with lemonade, raspberry, and peach, along with a couple mudshakes.

”This is all I’ve got for options, but take your pick, he turn to Jaz, ”you can have one too if you’ve changed your mind.” Daniel conjured a peach twisted tea to his hand then dismissed all the drink the girls didn’t take.”Oh right, before we go back we should exchange contact info, Daniel took out his phone as he said it, ”we can figure out a good time to get together for training. Or, y’know, anything else,” he eyes Jaz as he said that last part. This was his bit of hope and suspicion that maybe Jaz was being really friendly for reasons other than her just being a nice person.

”Well with that done I say we’re good to head back,” as they headed back Daniel had to steady himself a bit, using the wall for support at times. ”Ya I should really eat something, drinking on an empty stomach is probably not the best idea.”

Jazrina couldn’t help but feel like training or talking about her powers was uncomfortable for Cait. She knew Cait well enough to let it go. She smiled as Cait asked if we thought it had calmed down out there. Jaz shook her head before answering. “Well I certainly hope so. The only way to find out is to go check. And you're right, it's supposed to be a party.”
Jaz had been very discouraged by the party when she had arrived. The people who were supposed to be their new leaders so far had only presented themselves to her in a bad light. In their defense, she had been late and had missed the meeting. She was disappointed that the vibe of the party came across as a frat house party. Every frat house party she had been to, seemed geared towards getting people drunk or hooking up. It was not what she would have expected for a Coven House party. She couldn’t help but think that she wouldn’t mind hooking up with Daniel. She felt her cheeks color slightly at the thought.

Her eyes trailed over Daniel’s fit form as he was offering them a drink. She was distracted by her own attraction to Daniel. Cait’s voice asking him to conjure her a beer helped bring her out of her inner thoughts. Jazrina let Cait choose her poison first. She looked over the choices in Daniel’s hands that were left. She met Daniel’s eyes with a grin as her hand caressed over his as she took possession of a Spiked Peach Tea. “Thank you for having something a little lighter than was on offer at the party. These are some of my favorites.”

Jaz released his hand as she took the drink. She brushed her hair behind her ear as Daniel suggested they trade phone numbers. Her face lit up at his comment. She hastily pulled her phone out as they all shared numbers with each other. They all left to go back towards the party. Cait and Daniel both seemed a little buzzed already. She laughed at Daniel’s comment about needing to eat some food. “Did they have any food other than chips? I think that was all I saw on the table.” She would lend a supporting arm to whichever companion needed it to keep from falling to the floor. Jaz was amused as she had gone to the library to escape the party and now she was excited to see where it would lead.

TNT - The Nameless Tavern. (Always Open)

Fiona Flamebeard

@Chris488

Fiona had not missed the woman and child enter and take a seat at the bar not far from her. Nor had she missed the gentleman who had come in taken a seat at the far end of the bar. Her eyes wandered around lightly gliding over her fellow patrons. She felt that familiar warmth from her goddess as her prayer was acknowledged. Fiona felt the last of her tension slide away. It had been a long few weeks. She had earned an evening of rest and company in this fine tavern.

Before she knew it there was a young woman asking to join her before slipping onto a barstool between her and the woman with the her daughter. She was a good deal taller than Fiona. Fiona was only 4 foot tall standing. She was a foot and half shorter than the woman next ot her. Fiona smiled happily and nodded. "Please suit yourself. Breanne's blessing be upon thee. I hope your travels to this fine establishment were without troubles." Fiona took another generous pull from the bottle. She was doing her best to empty it.

TNT - The Nameless Tavern. (Always Open)

Fiona Flamebeard

Fiona drank the spicy alcohol directly from the dark brown bottle. It warmed her from the inside out as it burned pleasantly all the way down as she drank. She could feel her muscles relaxing from her travels. She blushed as she remembered she had forgotteen to thank her goddess for her blessings. Her voice came out in a melodic alto as she prayed to her goddess. Her hand clasped around the heavy medallion around her neck. "Thank you divine Breanne for the elixir that I know partake in. May it's warmth remind me of home and hearth and your bountiful blessings." Fiona's thanks werer sincere and contrite. She should have offered that thanks and gratitude before she took the first sip. She was tired from her travels though.

She hoped once she was well rested and had a hot meal that she would be able to figure out how to get back to her own lands. In the mean time, with her duty to the goddess fullfilled for the moment. She turned her attention to the fine liquor in her hand. She would give her thanks to the owner of the place if she had any clue who they were. They obviously ran a fine establishment. She took another drink of the potent spicy liquid.

Fiona began to look around at the other patrons. Maybe there was a reason she had gotten lost and was in this tavern. Was she here in this place to do the goddess' bidding? She looked around at the patrons and began to watch what was going on more closely. The tavern seemed busier than when she had come in. She looked over the crowd and didn't feel particularly drawn to anyone. If she was here to do the goddess' bidding, maybe the time was not right yet. Or maybe the person she was being directed at was not here yet. Maybe she was here simply to bless this fine establishment. They did serve very nice liquor. That was certainly worthy of a blessing.

TNT - The Nameless Tavern. (Always Open)

@LadyAmber

Would Fiona be willing to accept some company? Anath Homura always enjoys conversing with newcomers.

@Chris488

But of course! I mean why else roleplay in the tavern?

I did submit a character sheet for those interested.