ScoundrelQueen

(Dead) The Gifted World

To say that Orion and Mitch did not know they were being followed would have been a lie: They had damaged Citadel security, fled the state, and were well acquainted with more classified security information than most Liberty spies could dream of.

More accurately, they were unaware that they were being followed by a very large Norwegian Knight less than a ball field north.

There were more pressing matters at hand, like taking soft steps and checking around the corners for any unfriendly Ashrats. Trying to preserve Mitch's energy, the pair had a system: Orion gave Mitch's arm a squeeze, and they vanished from sight. They moved to check around a blind spot, Orion squeezed twice, and the two resumed their visibility and proceeded forward.

To an observer, it may even look more like a short-range teleport than invisibility.

"Step up, here," Orion said, and his dust-dry throat crackled though the whisper. Mitch followed through what was left of a doorway, and Orion proceeded to explain the scene in a hushed voice. "It looks like what's left of a- a restaurant, maybe? No roof- looks like it may have been caught by a wind manipulator. Or a storm- Maybe the blowback from a bomb. Most of the walls are here. Windows shattered. There's some faucets. Looks like the sink basins got ripped off."

Mitch tugged on Orion's sleeve, and pointed to their left. "I heard a drip, I think. Over there. And it smells... damp? And green."

Orion took a glance about. "Yeah- Yeah. I does. I heard it, too," he said, and pulled Mitch down into a crouch behind a counter.

"What're we doing?"

"You've got your gun, so--"

"Orion, what if someone sees? Don't you treat me like some--"

"Nope. No way. There's some broken shit all around there, and we can't afford you to get cut on it. So just stay down for a second. Gimme your canteen. I think I've got the iodine in my bag."

With a sigh of resignation, Mitch released her hold on Orion's shirt sleeve and did as he had asked. "I don't like it." She shoved the canteen out toward his voice, bumping his leg in the process. She followed the sound of his footsteps- One, two, three, a pause, four, five, a kick of something that may have been glass, six and stop. The faucet squeaked and the pipes moaned too loudly for her liking.

Anyone could have heard.

But the water was running. They had four bottles. It couldn't take that long.

(Dead) The Gifted World

"It's clear, Mitch," said a deep, disembodied voice from behind the shadow of a low border wall. At this cue, two figures materialized into visibility: A small, mousey woman covered so thickly in ash and dust that she looked like an unfortunate sugar cookie, and a man about twice her size in a similar state.

"What was that poem? About dust and death?" Mitch, the woman, asked, rumpling a hand through her sand-caked hair. A cloud of flakes and powder drifted out, fluttering down to the earth like burnt moths.

The night had not been kind to her and her partner, Orion, and the couple still sat huddled where they had taken refuge. Just before sunset, Orion had been seized by the nervous spasms he was so prone to, and the two had to stop before they could find shelter for the night. Mitch was neither able to see, nor strong enough to drag Orion to any kind of real safety, and so the two had hunkered down as best they could: Mitch keeping the long night's work of maintaining their invisibility, and Orion with a belt clasped between his teeth to keep from crying out until he fell asleep from exhaustion.

And then there was the dust storm.

Orion stood, shouldered his pack, and shook out his shirt. "'The world feels dusty when we stop to die,'" he quoted in reply, "'We want the dew then- Honors taste dry." With a gentleness that seemed impractical for a man of such mass, he reached down to touch the underside of Mitch's arm, and helped her to her feet. She had not taken off her own pack during the night, and already had it slung across her back. "But there's no dew, and we're about out of water. If we were on the right track with this place, though, the pipes in here may still run well enough for us to work something out of them.".

Mitch turned her body to face where Orion seemed to be, staring at the great white vastness in front of her. For a moment, it almost looked like there was a line between the earth and the sky; but then her pupils moved with the sunlight and it was lost. She leaned her face against Orion's arm, planted a soft kiss against him, and then nodded. "If that's what you think, Mr. Lazos, then I'm with you."

Then, with the same soft touch, Orion proceeded to guide Mitch around the parameter of the brick wall to where there was a break entrance, and the two entered the dilapidated town in perfect sync.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Heyo! Sorry to backseat GM, but I've been around the block with Echo running this plot a few times.

Most of the Wasteland is based on a barter system. Goods/services/things that may be of value. Mercs and faction-dwellers may be paid in Erubescan crowns/pieces, or Liberty credits, but one currency is no good in the other nation. The currency for both is mostly digital in nature.

The areas not occupied by either faction has no name formally, but is sometimes called "The Waste," "The Ash," "The Ashlands," or any number of things. It isn't actually all ashes, but some areas more leveled by conflict are prone to dust storms, in addition to the general ash that lingers in abandoned or destroyed settlements. People who live out there are also called any number of things, from vagabonds to wanderers, though "ashrat" is a common derogatory one.

The two factions are pretty big, and take up wide swaths of land. People from Liberty are Libertians, and people from Erubesco are Erubescans. There are, of course, any number of slang or slanderous versions of these titles.

I probably missed stuff. Lemme know what I forgot. Probably a lot.

But yes. List below.

Some Vocabulary

The Ash/Ashland: Any swath of territory outside of faction bounds.
Ashlander: One who lives in the Ash.
Ashrat: Derogatory term for an Ashlander.
Crown: The Erubescan crown- A mostly digitized form of currency; only valid within Erubesco and Erubescan trade posts. It is larger than a piece.
Erubescan: A citizen of Erubesco.
Faction: One of the two sides of the fight. Most people living in Liberty tend to refer to it as a "state" or "nation," while most Erubescans call their home a "kingdom."
Libertian: A citizen of Liberty.
Libertian Credit: A wholly digitized currency; only valid within Liberty and Libertian trade posts.
Mercenary/Merc: One who does freelance work in the Ash for one faction or the other. Some may work for both, but double dipping is risky business.
Piece: The smaller denomination of Erubescan currency.
Unsettled Territory: Formal name for the Ash.
Wasteland/Wastes: See "Ash" above.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Mitch Ingram

(photo will come)
Full Name: Dr. Leila Michelle Ingram

Nicknames/Aliases: Mitch

Age: 34

Gender: Female

Gift: Invisibility; invisibility by proxy (can turn objects or people she is touching invisible as well)

Loyalty: Ashlander, former Erubescan researcher.

Description: Mitch is on the shorter side of average, around 5’3.” She has mousey brown hair, soft facial features, and light olive-tone skin. Her hazel eyes are unfocused and slightly clouded. Her figure is thin, but soft. At the time when she fled, she was wearing a t-shirt, cargo pants, and sneakers.

Personality: Mitch is wicked smart with technology, and has a quick wit to rebuke anyone who crosses her. Her moral compass leads her to work for what she feels is the common good, but she is unafraid to wade through less savory methods if the result is deemed worthy. She is gentle, as a rule, but one would be amiss to mistake her kindness for weakness.

Skills: Hacker and computer programmer extraordinaire; brilliant mathematician; intimate understanding of Erubescan security technology; basic first-aid; ability to turn herself and things she is in direct contact with invisible at will.

Weaknesses: Totally blind; no combat skills.

Brief History: Leila Ingram was born with a degenerative sight defect that could not be corrected by surgery. It hindered her vision greatly, but was able to be corrected to a useable extent with glasses and other vision aids. She took on the nickname of Mitch while in the Erubescan Academy studying computer science: There were not a large number of women in her class, and she found her proposals to be taken more seriously under the alias “Mitch Ingram.”

After graduation, she was hired to work on developing security technology for the Citadel stronghold of Erubesco. As part of her employment, she was able to receive surgery for her vision involving a corrective digital implant. During this time, she helped develop technology that was used in the ORIN project, programmed sentinel drone protocols, and took part more directly in technological modification attempts on volunteer subjects. The possible moral ambiguity of her work was pushed aside with the reasoning that it was, in the long run, for the greater good and security of those involved.

About three years ago, she began working with a former gladiator accepted into one of her department’s clinical trials by the name of Orion Lazos. Orion suffered from persistent nerve pain and occasional spasms due to a gift-inflicted injury, and was receiving treatments involving electrical stimulation regulated by microcomputer implants. After several months of close work, the researcher and her subject ended up involved in a covert relationship.

After a track record of successful outpatient treatment, Orion’s condition took a sudden turn for the worse. His microcomputer seemed to take on a mind of its own, and the program embedded in it began exhibiting functions that Mitch did not code for. Orion was slated to be taken to a different base, and upper supervisors refused to explain where, or why. Concerned, Mitch broke into classified data that revealed far less savory projects slated for Orion’s future.

Together, the pair staged and executed an escape that left the Citadel security grid disabled for over eight minutes. To ensure a clean escape, however, Mitch had to disable her own vision aids, leaving her fully blind.

Orion Lazos

Full Name: Orion Lazos

Nicknames/Aliases: Orion "The Hunter" Lazos

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Gift: Material absorption/transmutation; the ability to physically turn his body into any material he touches, becoming literally "made of" a material other than flesh, such as steel, earth, or stone.

Loyalty: Ashlander, former Erubescan gladiator/subject

Description: Orion stands at 6'5", with a dense, muscular build. His jawline is strong and defined, and his face is handsome, but severe. He keeps his head shaved, has dark brown eyes, and dark skin.

Personality: Due in part to his former gladiator upbringing and career, Orion is slow to show sensitivity or concern. At one time, he put a lot of faith in the Erubescan system, but has since lost it due to circumstance. He is a great lover of poetry, particularly older human-era classics, as well as painting, as a result of being forced through Erubescan finishing school. He is a skilled conversationalist with a sharp tongue.

Skills: Formidable hand-to-hand combatant; relatively durable; high pain tolerance; spacial awareness; adaptable gift.

Weaknesses: Sudden and unpredictable nervous pain; damage sustained while in a transmuted form applies to his body (such as being shattered while turned into glass)

Brief History: Orion was born into a line or Erubescan sport fighters: Gladiators who fought against other gifted in the arena (to submission, but not death,) or against animals ferociously modified to battle superhumans. It was a spectator sport, and Orion was expected to train as a gentleman and showman as well as an athlete. Mingling with fans and the social elite when not in the ring was an expectation, so Orion is also versed in classical arts and conversation.

He achieved fleeting fame for several months when he was in his prime, but a devastating injury affecting her nervous system forced him out of the ring in his late 20s. He was a candidate for experimental micro-computer treatment, and fell into a trial group under Dr. Leila "Mitch" Ingram. Over the time they were working together, the two formed an unexpected, but secret, relationship.

The treatment proved affective for nearly three years, but the implants began displaying buggy coding and causing all manner of problems. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was slated to be transferred without his permission to another facility for treatments that people refused to explain.

With help from Mitch, Orion deactivated his aid and the two fled into the Ash.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

"Lucky you," Missy replied to Aires, with a nod out the door toward the slowly approaching teen. "I'm starting to feel more like a wet nurse than an agent-- Oh. Morning, Brooks." She gave a short nod to her teammate as he entered, knowing better than to initiate conversation with the wolf first thing in the morning.

Of everyone on Thunder Moon, Brooks made her feel the most uneasy in her role: She had looked up to him as her senior, and issuing orders to him as a subordinate made her stomach clench.

But Crystal was someone she could handle.

"And that, Junior Agent," she chided, closing the door shut behind the teen, "is not how any of this works. You are neither old enough to hold a firearm license nor contracted to check our security systems."

She crossed to the fridge and took out two water bottles, tossing one to Crystal. "And since you want to handle field equipment so badly, you can help with cleaning duty for the next week. Starting with..." Missy shrugged, and glanced toward Brooks. "Agent Lockwood, how's that truck of yours looking? Junior Agent Martin's been trying to make herself useful around HQ."

(Dead) The Gifted World

[quote=@Aquanthe]
<Snipped quote by ScoundrelQueen>

If you're looking for size modifiers, it's [h1], [h2] or [h3]. Then you end it with the same way, but a slash before the h.
[/quote]

Bless. I just copy/pasted the character template, but I didn't know why it was all spazzed out.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Mitch Ingram

Full Name: Dr. Leila Michelle Ingram

Nicknames/Aliases: Mitch

Age:[34

Gender: Female

Gift: Invisibility; invisibility by proxy (can turn objects or people she is touching invisible as well)

Loyalty: Ashlander, former Erubescan researcher.

Description: Mitch is on the shorter side of average, around 5’3.” She has mousey brown hair, soft facial features, and light olive-tone skin. Her hazel eyes are unfocused and slightly clouded. Her figure is thin, but soft.

Personality: Mitch is wicked smart with technology, and has a quick wit to rebuke anyone who crosses her. Her moral compass leads her to work for what she feels is the common good, but she is unafraid to wade through less savory methods if the result is deemed worthy. She is gentle, as a rule, but one would be amiss to mistake her kindness for weakness.

Skills: Hacker and computer programmer extraordinaire; brilliant mathematician; intimate understanding of Ertubescan security technology; ability to turn herself and things she is in direct contact with invisible at will.

Weaknesses: Totally blind; no combat skills.

Brief History:Leila Ingram was born with a degenerative sight defect that could not be corrected by surgery. It hindered her vision greatly, but was able to be corrected to a useable extent with glasses and other vision aids. She took on the nickname of Mitch while in the Erubescan Academy studying computer science: There were not a large number of women in her class, and she found her proposals to be taken more seriously under the alias “Mitch Ingram.”

After graduation, she was hired to work on developing security technology for the Citadel stronghold of Erubesco. As part of her employment, she was able to receive surgery for her vision involving a corrective digital implant. During this time, she helped develop technology that was used in the ORIN project, programmed sentinel drone protocols, and took part more directly in technological modification attempts on volunteer subjects. The possible moral ambiguity of her work was pushed aside with the reasoning that it was, in the long run, for the greater good and security of those involved.

About three years, she began working with a former gladiator accepted into one of her department’s clinical trials by the name of Orion Petras. Orion suffered from persistent nerve pain due to a gift-inflicted injury, and was receiving treatment involving electrical stimulation regulated by microcomputer implants. After several months of close work, the researcher and her subject ended up involved in a covert relationship.

After a year of successful outpatient treatment, Orion’s condition took a sudden turn for the worse. His microcomputer seemed to take on a mind of its own, and the program embedded in it began exhibiting functions that Mitch did not code for. Orion was slated to be taken to a different base, and upper supervisors refused to explain where, or why. Concerned, Mitch broke into classified data that revealed far less savory projects slated for Orion’s future.

Together, the pair staged and executed an escape that left the Citadel security grid disabled for over eight minutes. To ensure a clean escape, however, Mitch had to disable her own vision aids, leaving her fully blind.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Heya Echo! I may be joining with a couple bailing from Erubesco. I've got an ex-gladiator/experiment with body-composition transmutation, and a former computer scientist who goes invisible. They bailed when the scientist's moral standards were pushed too far, and they helped one another get out. Basically, the transmuter can become any material that comes in contact with the skin.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

"Graveyard shift?" Aires asked, and Missy furrowed her brow.

"Yeah, the, uh- graveyard shift, Aires," she affirmed, placing emphasis on his name. It was hard, sometimes, to try and use the right address with everyone. The other leaders tended to call others by title, but the werecat was on uneven footing with the whole thing. "As in a shift overnight. It's a thing people say..." She shook her head, shrugging off the thought. "I mean. We don't have one. Unless you made one up. To catch up on something, or... Never mind. It was a joke. Kind of. I'm uh-" she started to attempt a conversational laugh, but it died into a dry chuckle that came out a bit like trying to clear her throat. "Sorry. I'm trying to get better at those. And- Sorry, hold on."

She leaned out the door, and cupped a hand over her mouth to call out, "Junior Agent Martin! You'd better stop dragging those heels. You're not getting to stay out there unsupervised, ma'am."

And then, back to Aires. "Sorry," and then a more genuine, light laugh, "Kids, right?"

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

Silas listened with a slightly turned head, taking in what Terran was saying to compare his notes on later. He did not correct any discrepancies he heard-- If working with SCION had taught him one thing, it was that facts had a way of turning themselves about.

And if it had taught him a second thing, it was not to question someone with magical talents to their face.

So he sat, and he listened, and kept any disagreements or bit facts to himself. There was a time and a place for analysis. A personal moment with someone who was kind enough to invite another into his worldview was not that time.

When Terran took his hand, however, Silas jerked back. "That's a very kind offer, Terran. But. Ah..." he fumbled. As carefully as he could, he tucked the blank back into Terran's hand, and closed the other man's fingers around it. "I'm afraid I have a bit of a personal policy against meddling in magical 'experiments.' I'm not- Ah. I've had my share of accidents. Not that I doubt your competency. At all. I just. Erm."

Silas wriggled in his chair, and folded his hands in his lap. "I don't mean it offensively. It's just... It's a bit far out of my comfort zone, if you will."