[Day: Saturday, October 5th. Time: 8:00 p.m.] [Mechaesque recap: blah blah cyborg women blah blah evil doctor, blah blah wind demon.] [This evening you gather at the office. Yes, even you. Woo.] (I have a style. It makes me proud to be alive.) [Session Start!] (Your style lacks VERBS!) (One does not need verbs to convey meaning.) * Togo is sitting at the desk, idly adjusting the loading springs on the box magazine for his machinegun. (Whatfor were we summoned for todaye!) (To save the world from stupidity!) ((The dreaded question.)) ( Togo got word of an incoming mission, but got no details. So he called you all in. ) (Cue FFX-2 quote about plans sucking here.) * Lukas had better be there, then! Sigh. Ten is in his, uh, loving arms. Yeah. He still looks a bit red-around-the-edges, and his satchelbackpack is backpacking it. (It waits for the day it gets legs eagerly.) * Herman opens the door and walks in with absolutely no fanfare. He looks... like Herman! Complete with studded leather, spiked hair, and his pipe. He looks fine, particularly considering everything that happened last night. "Hey." * Togo waves, then goes back to what he's doing as he speaks. "Supposed to get details, such as they are, on the mission soon. So don't get too comfortable." * Lukas waves with one arm and remains otherwise seated. * Herman stifles a yawn with his other hand. "Yeah, sure." He finds a chair, turns the thing, and sits on it backwards. * Alys walks into the room, her hair in many tiny braids, and stops directly in front of Herman, holding out a mug. It's a nice mug. It's even clean. But it's not the one Herman gave her. (... Herman's Mug?) * Ten is no longer in studded-leather, but has moved on to a long and simple black dress, brown boots, and a red cloak. Her new wings have a snow-flake pattern and she's suddenly blond. (Flip my and Alys' actions.) Evenin' Ward Girl. * Herman peers at the mug. "Doesn't look like the one I gave you." Of course it's the one you gave me. Don't be silly. I wouldn't do anything stupid and potentially breakable with your mug. * Herman looks up from the mug to Alys. "What'd you do?" * Lukas smirks slightly to himself. ....Nothing stupid and potentially breakable, I told you. Sure. What did you do, then? * Ashley strolls in, in a fairly sedate peach polo shirt and khaki slacks. "Ah, morning everyone!" He beams. Painted it and put it on my nightstand as a holder for Syla. Oh, I named my voodoo doll Syla. * Khalil heads in slowly, carrying a couple of books and binder of disorganized papers between his arms and kicks the door closed. He's holding a pencil in his mouth as he walks over to a convenient desk or table. Hanging from the ceiling fan seemed uncomfortable. * Herman nods. "Oh. Nice of you to ask permission for something like that." He takes the mug, looks it over, and puts it in his backpack. So, why my mug and not this one? (Because it's YOUR voodoo doll, Herman. Get with the program.) (But it's not.) * Alys shrugs. "Felt like it." (Sure it is. You were a Syla in another life.) Right. ( Storing a voodoo doll in there... aren't you worried about getting mugged? ) * Khalil glances over at Alys and Herman. "Wah ee eesh aah bau?" (....that was horridly bad, Togo) (*winces) (Standard Jesse.) And if I had the mug enchanted so it'll explode after someone keeps it too long, then what? Syla will get blown up and I'll have shards of your mug all over my room, obviously. * Ashley shrugs and takes a seat. He's humming something off the top 40. * Alys looks at Khalil. "Sorry, in English, please?" * Herman nods. "Just so we're on the same page." (Actually, that was bad even for Jesse.) * Lukas speaks up with a faint smirk. "He said 'What's this all about.' I speak 'mouth full of tool'." * Khalil sets down the book and takes the pencil out of his mouth. "I asked what this was all about but I believe you just explained it sufficiently." * Khalil then laughs at Lukas. "Well met." * Alys finally notices Ten and hurries over to her, delighted. "Wow! Do you have a collection of amazingly pretty dolls, or did you redecorate her?" * Togo finishes reloading the bullets into the drum magazine, and slips it into his trenchcoat. * Herman stifles a yawn. * Lukas pats her on the head. "She got a little singed in the fire, but it's the same Ten." Beat. "Except for the clothes, wings, skin, and hair, but when do those actually matter?" * Khalil sits down and cracks open the books. He taps his pencil against his ear as he studies "British History." It sounds much like me when you explain it like that. (I want a Khalil plushie.) (...a Khalil plushie would be so adorable.) * Ten turns her head to look at Alys. "I. Am. Still. Ten." See? Proof positive. (You could pull the string in the back, and he'll tell you how you sinned.) I must remind you that the voice of that doll is extremely creepy. * Alys 's grin gets even wider, and she sort of settles on the floor and smiles happily at Ten. What'd you expect? She's a robot. More syllables, perhaps? I don't go in much for robots, so I can hardly say. * Ashley frowns. "Except for the brief fad... well, no matter." * Lukas chuckles. "Hey, the fact that I don't have to prompt her ALL the time? Great strides, man." Right. Hey, Volt, can you get her to talk with more syllables? Like what? Say 'antidisestablishmentarianism'? * Khalil licks his fingers and turns the page. He furrows his brow and then switches elbows that he leans on. Uh, sure. I would shoot for conversant English, myself. Perhaps he should have the doll actually say something with meaning. Perhaps French, if you can't make that. I. Also. Speak. French. But it is his machine, and I take it he will do with it as he pleases. * Ashley eyes Ten. "Bloody marvelous. Still creepy, though." * Khalil looks up from his studies for a moment, now a bit impressed. "" (And even got the genders of the words right.) Oh, lovely! (There are no genders in the phrase she spoke really.) * Lukas grins to himself. (Not even the 'I'? Shows what I know of French.) * Herman is just watching Ten curiously. ("Je parle francais aussi." Nope.) Considering the height of commercial AI is the robot Togo turned into robobits at the factory, she handles herself pretty well. Yeah, she's really something. * Ten switches back into English. "I. Currently. Understand. Thirteen. Languages." * Khalil hmms. "That could be useful. Although at the rate of her speech pattern, the translation may suffer." The combat AI on those things wasn't bad, actually. * Ashley rambles off a phrase in another language. * Khalil rolls his eyes and glances at Togo. "Is that all that you believe in, Togo? Combat and violence?" I cannot imagine what types of dreams you have about guns in your sleep. * Ten remains silent. Ah, blast. Can't have everything, I suppose. What language was that one? * Lukas rubs the side of his head briefly as Ten waits. (And is saved from asking by Alys!) * Togo glances at Khalil. "You don't wanna know the kinda dreams I have. Trust me on that." I very well trust you in that respect, Togo. * Herman sighs, drumming his fingers on his knee. (*powerposes* Super Alys, saving the day by asking random questions!) * Ashley waves his hand at Alys. "Gaelic, lass," he says, in a rather well-done brogue. Then he switches back to a London accent. "Dying language, these days." Better than the dead ones. And I've been a solider in one capacity or another for... going on 15 years now. So yeah, combat and violence are pretty much my business. Oh. Well, I only speak three. My brother knows a bunch more, but not thirteen. * Khalil then sighs and goes back onto his studies. "Tell me...you have been in London longer than I. Are all British professors simply...how do you say... * Khalil furrows his brow as he fumbles for the word. * Lukas snickers. "Well, Ten's good at vocab, ya?" I admit to only 5 myself. * Herman reaches into a coat pocket and pulls out a pair of ear pieces, putting them in, before reaching his hand back in and hitting a button on what's probably a music player of some sort. Two... well, three technically. Boring. Professors are boring, all of them. A good reason for not going to university. * Herman sits up suddenly and glances around, then his eyes home in on the door. He gets to his feet and hits the button inside his pocket. Not the word entirely I was seeking I believe. Think that's a teleport spell. * Herman grabs his pipe and walks over to the door, opening it. * Lukas rubs his head for a second before blinking at Herman's surprise reactionyness. Oh good, a visitor. * Khalil glances up at Herman and then the door. * Togo stands up, a hand reaching into his trenchcoat. * Alys hops up to her feet and watches Herman. * Ten turns her head to look at the door. (We're trying to figure out what's going on inside Herman's head.) (Wasn't that a movie?) ( TV show ) (TV show) (Ahh) [Behind the door is a gorgeous young wizardess. You can tell she's a wizardess from her floppy pointed purple hat with a wide rim. She's also wearing earrings shaped like little crescent moons and carrying a crooked wooden staff shaped like a question mark. Her eyes are blue and her hair long and blond, slightly wavy. ] [She's wearing a blue cape with glittery stars and moons scattered on it over a plain purple robe that's low cut in front so you can get a nice view of her *ahem* more than ample chest.] [All at once she throws her arms around Herman, beaming. "Darling!"] * Khalil blinks at the door. "This is the first time we have had personal visits." ... oh, now this is going to be fascinating, I can tell. * Lukas gawks. * Herman takes a step back, from surprise more than the force of her throwing herself on him, and then just stops. And blinks. And very does not hug her back. "What?" She clearly said "Darling." I am convinced I am not the only one who heard that. * Alys looks at the new girl for a moment, then flops back down onto the floor. * Ashley grins madly. "Oh, no. Quite clearly." * Khalil does happen to say that with a straight face. I have pretty good ears, and I heard 'Darling' too. I really shouldn't, uh, believe it, but yes. [She grins, looking into his eyes. "You haven't forgotten me, have you? I'm your fiancée!"] * Ashley is still grinning. "If you don't want her, for the love of god don't throw her back." Thank you, fucking peanut gallery! [She's quite pretty, yes.] * Herman tries to remove this lady from his person. Man, she's clingy. And pretty, but right now he's more concerned with the clingy part. * Togo pulls out a bag of peanuts from his trenchcoat, and starts passing them around. I wonder if I have a fiancé that I don't remember. Does this happen very often, Pipe Guy? (Are the peanuts full of angst?) ( No. Full of protein, though. ) * Lukas passes on peanuts. * Khalil passes on peanuts as well. They may be against his religion or something. 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8-3) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 3. * Ten doesn't get handed a peanut by Lukas because he's mean like that. (Oh, it'd just get caught in your gears anyway.) * Ashley takes a handful and starts popping them in his mouth, shells and all. His eyes pretty much haven't left the girl. * Alys sneaks a few from Ashley and pockets them. * Khalil hasn't taken his gaze off the girl either. But unlike Ashley, he's most likely looking at her face. [She nuzzles Herman. "I just had to come see you. Let's get married soon, okay?"] She seems very...aha...affectionate. (... she has a boobies? I mean a face. Boobies. Faceboobies.) Does Ten have a wedding dress, Volt? * Alys snickers. She's watching Herman's face, because that's much funnier than the girl. (... That'd be scary) (Oh god, that reminds me of ImproArt) ( No, scary would be if Togo pulled one from his trench coat >.> ) * Lukas is looking at the girl and Herman, but at least he's not in the 'would be babbling incoherently' crowd. He blinks and turns to Togo. ".. she doesn't need a wedding dress. Ten's not getting married." * Herman stares down at her for a long moment, then pats her on the back. "Uh... we need to talk about that. Can you let go for a second? I'd like to get a good look at you." [She lets go and poses seductively. "So, you like what you see?"] * Ashley swallows convulsively. (Posing to whom? :P) Dress for a wedding, I mean. (I think it's a shotgun blast of posing.) (Herman's just right up against the, uh, barrels.) (... Mecha... that is a GREAT analogy.) ( Alys. She suddenly decided to become a lesbian. :P ) * Herman coughs. "Sure." He takes a step back and reaches into his coat. "Just hold still for a second. I think you brought something in with you." And he reaches into his jacket, pulling out a wooden cross, before he starts chanting in that cross between Anglo-Saxon and Latin. (Isn't it, though?) * Khalil coughs and then goes back to his studies, muttering something in Arabic. Anyone who knows Arabic would catch it as a prayer of Mohammed. * Herman traces a pentagram in the air, and the same shape starts to stencil itself around her feet, glowing a faint white. * Togo glances at the girl once she disengages from Herman, tilts his head a bit, taps his glasses a couple of times, and whistles softly. (Remember: Gay guys get all the chicks.) [The woman tilts her head. "Aww. You don't like me like this?"] ( She's got huge tracts of....sonic resonance.) * Herman doesn't answer, as he keeps chanting. He states the final word in Latin, and light shoots up from the pentagram around her. 2d8-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Herman (2d8-3) and gets a natural 8 for a result of 5. * Lukas looks a bit tense. [She pouts. "Aww. Fine." Then she staggers a bit as the light comes. She nearly topples, but manages to keep her footing.] * Herman lowers the cross as the light dies down, and the symbol vanishes. "You okay?" he asks, suddenly sounding concerned instead of confused or annoyed. [When she regains her footing she groans, then looks into Herman's eyes again. "Yeah. Thanks. Ugh, I can't believe I fell for that."] * Herman nods. "What happened?" * Ashley quirks an eyebrow. * Lukas peers. "I think we might all want to know what happened." * Alys seems a bit disappointed. "Show's over?" * Khalil glances up again and slowly closes his book. This is more interesting. Or at least more relevant. [She opens her mouth to speak, then casts a glance at everyone. Then she grabs Herman's arm. "Come with me a sec." She drags him out into the hall!] ... okay, this rates about a 6.5 on the What-The-Fuck-O-Meter. * Herman shugs to himself and lets himself be dragged out into the hall. "I'll be back in a sec," he says as he's pulled, and the door shuts behind him. * Khalil looks at the door, then looks at the others in turn silently. Give me about a month, and I'll be able to handle any kind of randomness. This is like training. Someone throw the purple bunnies at me, I can take it! Sorry, left them at home. Damn. Oh well. Well, blast. Visions of beauty such as that are rather rare. Togo? Any purple bunnies hidden in the coat? * Lukas rubs his head. "I don't get it either. Some sort of demon, or something, maybe, which is why I didn't really move." Coming from the man who can create them at a whim? Anyhow, I suspect some sort of mystic interference. Charms and such. * Togo tosses a blue plush rabbit to Alys. * Khalil jots down a few more notes. "If not that, I trully know not what to expect." ... stop at the crane game before coming to work? * Alys catches it and gasps. "Blue! How did you know my secret weakness!?" She hugs the plushie tightly. * Lukas looks to Togo. * Togo taps his trenchcoat. "Bit of magic on this, actually." * Lukas chuckles and pats Ten on the head idly. "Explains a lot." * Khalil peers at Togo. "A...magic trenchcoat." So, does my bunny have a name? (It's O.S.C.A.R.) ( Call it Terry McGinnis. ) (Harvey?) ( Harley!) Magic trenchcoat. Has more storage space than should be possible, and I can pretty much pull out any simple item from it. No complex machinery, no jewels or anything... but stuffed animals are no problem. ... okay, so it explains less than I thought, but still. * Ashley yawns. "Until you can pull a girl that pretty out, or perhaps the latest Grammy winning CD, I'm afraid I'll have to pass." * Khalil settles back in his chair. "Mister Volt is correct. It does explain a lot." * Lukas suddenly snickers. Well, lugging around all the ammo, guns, and grenades I carry, in addition to a rocket launcher, would seriously hinder my maneuverability. And I don't like running outta ammo. So this solves both problems. And if I ever need something random, like a shovel, it's right there. s'handy, basically. You think? * Alys is annoyed that no one is naming her rabbit, and decides to take the solemn responsibility upon herself. "I dub thee Random Morganstern. Use your new name well and honorably." ( ...Random. ) * Lukas rubs his back. "I need to figure out how to get some of that action, before my backpack turns me into an invalid." Alys gets a funny look. (Look, even.) * Khalil looks at Lukas. "Is she trully that heavy?" ( Hey! *zaps Khalil with a lightning bolt* ) * Lukas pauses for a second, then says, "No, she isn't that heavy. But she's not the only thing in there." * Ashley pulls a Herman and pulls out a pair of headphones, slipping them on. He closes his eyes and starts mouthing along with the words. If you gave me some time, I could prolly track down something similar. Dunno about the pulling out random objects part, but extradimensional spaces aren't the rarest things in the world. I dunno. Upside? Nothing in there if I get stopped by the cops. Downside? * Lukas smirks. "There's nothing IN there if I get stopped by the cops." Either way. * Lukas shrugs. "Eh." He looks over to the door. "Someone want to go check if they're both still alive out there?" [Togo's PDA beeps.] One sec. *pulls out his PDA; checks the message* * Alys tosses the bunny into the air once, then stops. "Hey, is that Kirby still in here somewhere?" * Lukas mutters, "I didn't take it." I am not certain it would be appreciated peeking in on two magicians. * Togo scowls. "Back to ChemicalDyne. That guy from Asahara that was supposed to be meeting Himmel? He's still showing up, and needs a whuppin'." * Khalil glances blankly at Togo. "'whuppin' meaning...?" * Lukas blinks. "Wow. Their intel's almost as bad as ours." * Alys grabs the Kirby from the desk, assuming it's still there, then heads over to the door and opens it a bit, checking to see if Herman and the girl are in sight. The guy's from Asahara. He's extremely dangerous. The message says defeat. I assume that means beat up, capture, and interrogate if possible, terminate if not. * Khalil sighs longly. "So I suppose that means that I should prepare for the occassion..." [The two are talking out in the hall. The girl now has a set of cards, nearly a half-foot long, in one hand. And there's a frog and a snow-white owl there, too. For some reason, you can't hear what either of them are saying.] * Ashley pulls off his headset. "Work can be so dreary." For once, I would prefer a mission that did not require me to be stuck like...that. * Lukas frowns. "Does he plan on being made of metal? This is definitely outside my area of expertise." * Alys tosses the Kirby at Herman, shuts the door, and run-slides back to where she was sitting. They're still talking. Quietly. You can hang back when the actual fight starts if you want, but I'd like you there in case this guy has a computer with him. Asahara has insane protocols for destroying their records if trouble comes, and I'd like you there to recover what you can if something like that happens. (Plus it's a feeble pretense to avoid Brett having to split the session!) (Ha.) (Can't argue with that!) (Nope!) * Lukas mms, and says, "I'll buy that for a dollar. Alright." Can we avoid the idea of killing people? Dead bodies smell bad and.... well, I don't like dealing with dead stuff. Except maybe zombies. (She LIKES zombies?) (She likes dealing with them. Maybe they suck at bartering.) If it's human, sure. But Asahara operatives aren't usually human. Or at least all human. (She's never met a zombie! She thinks the idea is neat.) ( So that's your soul, the entire town and all the treasure you come across right? Good price for one brain.) (Not like I was using it anyway.) I'm fine with people dying, as long as they have the common decency to be clean about it. Nothing worse than having to pick up your own messes. * Togo opens the door, and pokes his head out. "Got the mission, Herman. Gonna be much longer?" * Herman is talking to the woman, but Togo doesn't hear a word he's saying despite only being a few feet away. He glances in Togo's direction, then hands the lady the Kirby plushie Alys threw, saying something else. * Togo looks confused for a moment as he doesn't hear the words coming out of Herman and the lady's mouths, then mutters something about magic. * Khalil glances out the door and then hangs back. He's not changing until that lady is gone. [Khalil sees her from the side and mentally calculates that her boobs are about as big as her head.] (Knew calculus was good for something.) (Ha.) (Heh!) (I have Phys Sci Math too! ;_;) (_I_ want to make snap judgements about womens' proportions! Where's the love?) * Togo is still looking out the door at Herman and the woman. Well, mostly at the woman. But some at Herman! [Lukas mentally calculates that Ten's.... wait, I'm not even going there.] (Ha.) * Ten sits on Lukas's arm and is secure in the knowlage that the womans boobs are larger than she is. (She is incredible math after all.) * Herman is talking rather heatedly with the woman at this point, though she remains calm. She just took his hand, and he snaps at her. * Alys twirls a braid around her finger, chews on it for a second, then makes a face and spits it out. "Ick." I'm bored. Can we do something now? * Lukas stretches with one arm behind his back, then says, "I think we're waiting on Herman. Every able body to the task, after all." * Togo ducks his head back in. "I'll try'n hurry him up." *waves to get Herman's attention; makes a 'hurry up' gesture* If we hesitate, our query may have already gone though. [The woman sighs and keeps talking, and Herman calms down a little, too. He doesn't look over at Togo.] [They exchange a few more words, then the woman waves her hand. There's the sound of tiny pops in the air, and the group can hear her say, "It really was nice to meet you."] Nice meeting you, too. And with the way things've been going, I wouldn't count on me not knowing her. * Alys tries to sort out the double negative and fails miserably. [She smiles. "Perhaps I'll introduce her." Then she spreads the deck of ten cards in mid air like a circle and chants something in some other language. The cards surround her, and she turns into light and vanishes.] * Lukas stands up slowly. ... right. Ready to go, Herman? * Herman picks up his pipe, which was leaning against the wall, and stoops to grab an envelope and crumpled paper that fell to the floor. He walks over to Togo. "Where?" * Alys jumps to her feet. "Yes! Time to do things!" Yes. The paper clip fiend was getting restless. ChemicalDyne. The Asahara rep that was supposed to meet with Himmel is showing up, and we're supposed to greet him warmly. * Ashley sighs. "Shame she had to leave..." * Herman nods. "Sure. Want to go the quick way?" There's a quick way? Yeah. Hop to my apartment, then we go to ChemicalDyne. * Lukas starts putting Ten in his backpack. * Herman nods in the direction of the lady who just vanished. "Not as fancy as her teleport spell, but it works." That works. We might even be able to set up an ambush, god forbid. * Ten goes in the bag and actually seems to be helping in keeping her clothes from snagging. * Togo pauses. "Was that anything the rest of us should be worried about, or strictly personal? If it's the latter, my questions stop now." * Khalil looks at Herman for a moment. "Also, I was... errr... wondering... I..." Oh, where were all of you when I was in my theatre class? I bet you guys would have been the most useful stage crew ever. * Herman eyes Togo, then he says, "Personal. And as to why she was so clingy earlier, she was under a mind control spell." * Khalil takes in a breath and tries again. "I may need your assistance in changing later." * Herman looks into the room and towards Khalil. What for? * Khalil then...peers at Alys. "...Excuse me?" ^^ * Ashley looks to Alys. "Who needs sets, anyways?" (Sorry, my windows flipped.) We do not know what will we be up against. It does not hurt to plan for it. * Togo nods. "Personal it is." * Herman steps into the office and waves Togo in after him so he can close the door. * Togo follows. * Herman does close the door! And he doesn't waste time, as he starts to trace those runes on said door, chanting under his breath in Anglo-Saxon. The letter drops to the ground, but he doesn't care. * Alys makes some random gestures toward Khalil. "Stage crew. Theatre. Acting and sets and you could fly up to fix lights and I wouldn't need a catwalk or anything." I realize what a stage crew is. You said query before, and it made no sense. You can't blame me if I don't know how well your grasp of random English terms is. * Lukas glances to the fallen letter. * Herman keeps casting. He's about halfway through and paying no attention to the lot of you. * Khalil blinks. * Ashley waits patiently. (Seventh try on typing that word's the charm, apparently.) * Khalil then hesitantly replies, "very well." * Herman finishes, the runes shifting from that very dark green to white, and then he opens the door, light streaming through. "I'll be the last one through," he says. "And before I forget to tell you guys, that was Sarah Fallsworth. I wouldn't get on her bad side if I were you." I'm getting the feeling that it's a bad idea to get on the bad side of any busty, scantily-clad women we encounter. (She wasn't scantily-clad.) ( Relatively speaking. ) * Ashley smirks silently, and waits for people to go through. (She was... provocatively clad?) * Togo heads through the door thingee. (She was wearing a robe!) (With I giant cutout that showed her cleavage!) ( I'm blind. Work with me here. ) (Though there was the low cut- true.) * Lukas chuckles and says, mainly to Herman, "Does his succubus friend have a bad side, I wonder?" (Now that I'm looking up. Man, I really am playing a gay character. Awesome.) (Snicker.) * Khalil blinks. "I was not expecting to get on any side of her." * Alys smiles at Khalil before walking through the door. * Herman snickers. "Probably. But that was no succubus." * Lukas nods, then proceeds through the door. "Don't forget your lett--" Zoop! * Ashley walks through! After some people and before others. * Herman waits for Khalil so he can goooo. [Khalil goes through, as though he's in a GM-controlled trance!] * Herman goes through after him! In a non-GM controlled trance. Everyone ends up at Herman's place! Hooray! He doesn't waste any time, after stepping through, in closing his front door and starting a repeat of that spell. * Herman finishes in fairly short order, pulling the door open, white light streaming through the crack in the door. "Oh, fuck. Forgot the letter." Pause. "I'll get it later." He looks to the others. This'll take us to Himmel's lab; it's the same door I used to take us here yesterday. Be ready, all right? [Well, Herman casts the spell, then you all go through.] [Cliffhanger'd!]