[Day: Monday, June 15th. Time: 8:30 p.m.] [Karin's cruising down the highway in a snazzy looking Peoplecar. I mean Volkswagon. Yes, snazzy. It's the future. Cyra's with her in the back seat, staring at... well, not staring at anything, really. Presumable Rose and Jamie are there, too, or this won't be much of a mini.] ( Unless you really want to watch npcs interact with each other. ) [Start] * Roseli is sitting in back, taking the seat next to Cyra and avoiding some pain for her ward. She looks about how she normally does AND she's looking out the window! [Karin tries really hard to stay awake! Wait, that's not her, it's me.] * Jamie is in the seat farthest possible from Cyra, shotgun. She's looking very much in the opposite direction and only has the doorhandle in a slight deathgrip. [She does mention, though, "It's not much further to where we're going. I told Iris to meet me at a little motel outside the city. That way nobody should be able to overhear us."] * Roseli focuses on Karin. "Hope walls aren't thin." ["Iris should be able to tell if anyone's listening through them."] ( She's really just leading Rose to a motel to make out. ) * Roseli nods, thinking for a moment, then asks, "Figure she can check Jamie for the fanfiction thing, too?" Pause. "Did you hear about that?" (I suppose that's possible! What would the wards do about it anyway?) * Jamie listens to the car, trying to drown out the sounds of Cyra breathing, her existing behind her. This doesn't keep her from starting a bit when Rose mentions her name. [Karin nods. "A little. From what I understand it had something to do with a connection to Pavla."] Really? Was sure she was doing it before Pavla joined. * Jamie nods slightly. [Karin blinks. "Really? Hmm..."] * Roseli nods. "Was alerted to the problem about a week before Zarina..." She trails off there, then picks up with, "In any case, Jamie had been unconsciously uploading fanfiction well before we knew about it." ["I'll ask Iris to check into it when we get there. Speaking of which..." Karin pulls onto an offramp and, coming around a bend that runs under the highway, a motel appears in the distance. You know it's a motel because it's got a neon sign that says "Sleepy Sheep Motel", and there's an image of a sheep asleep in a bed.] Thanks. Schumaucher claimed it's because of genetic tampering, which would mean someone had to have access to her when in the tank. * Jamie looks down at her lap and clenched hand. [Karin drives. The motel is further than it looked! I need to reread this log.] (Acursed red lights!) (Ha!) * Roseli lets the GM read the log! I mean, Roseli waits until they get there! * Rowyn is now known as Aurelin [Karin shakes her head. "Sorry, I don't really know much about gen-modding. Or computers, other than how to use one." She pulls into the motel parking lot and stops the car, turning out the headlights.] Me neither. Hoping Iris can help us there. * Jamie practicaly flies out of the car as she unfastens her seatbelt and scrambles farther away from Cyra. * Roseli gets out of the car calmly, making no comment about Jamie's fleeing. She reaches into her pocket, pulls out a pack of gum, and takes a piece. "Want one?" she asks Karin. [She nods. "Iris is pretty good at... well, everything. At least, she is now. You know Section 3 still doesn't have any other agents?"] [Karin shakes her head as she gets out. She helps Cyra out, too, and leads her to a hotel room. She raises her hand to knock, but the door pops open before she can.] Odd, since Keiko's a psychic. They could have put her there. Wonder if they'll take Emily. * Roseli tucks the gum away, except for her piece, which she proceeds to chew. * Roseli heads after the Karin! [Iris is behind it. "Hi. Come on in."] * Jamie follows with Rose between herself and Cyra. * Roseli smiles a bit upon seeing Iris and not someone out to kill them (hopefully Iris isn't out to kill them) and heads in. * Jamie goes where Rose goes, softly padding along. [Karin returns the greeting as she leads Cyra inside and sits her in a chair. The motel room is pretty basic: one bed, one dresser, a TV, and a table with two chairs.] * Roseli hooks her hands in her pockets as she takes a look around. "Jamie, do a cursory bug search." * Jamie nods and listens for pieces of the counting that shouldn't be there. [Karin smiles at Iris. "Thanks for coming."] (Want me to roll that brett?) [Iris nods. "I'm not really sure what you think I'll find, though."] ( Go for it. ) No idea, Iris. But things are pretty wrong. (... opens up the right version of the char sheet) (A good first step!) 2d8-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jamie (2d8-4) and gets a natural 13 for a result of 9. (Miss by 1) [Karin nods. "I know it's kind of a long shot, but you're the only person I could trust to look into it."] [Jamie detects no bugs.] * Jamie looks at Rose and softly speaks. " I don't hear any." * Roseli nods once. [Iris adds, "And there's only four people in the area besides us. They're not anywhere close enough to hear us."] Good. Where do you need Jamie for this? * Jamie looks at Rose and then Iris. [Iris looks towards Jamie and smiles predatoril--- um.... just smiles. "Anywhere you'll be comfortable, Jamie."] (/me goes home) (NOT THERE) ( /waiting in Jamie's home are 27 ninjas. ) ( And high mortgage rates. ) * Jamie looks around and then sits on the edge of the bed near the wall. [Iris kneels next to Jamie, looking her in the eyes. "Just relax, this won't hurt."] * Roseli moves to stand near Jamie and watches. * Jamie takes a deep breath and then lets out out slowly. She's heard this before, but things that sound like orders are of themselfs calming. ( Is Jamie going to try to resist? ) (Not conciously.) ( Unconsciously? ) (You want complaints about the rights and property of others, you need to wake Ten back up. Jamie won't resist because she still can't resist. If there's anything else swimming around in there, I can't speak for it.) ( Umm..... So is that a yes or no? ) (Not resisting.) ( Ok ) ( Then I don't need to look up mind combat rules. XD ) (Mind combat takes tiem anyway.) ( This gonna take time anyway. Looking stuff up! ) ( Also, if RDM could send me an updated char sheet, that would help. Jamie's background is missing from the one I have. ) (Background should still be attached to the hotaru char sheet) ( I only got one for Jamie :P ) (You deleat the first one I sent you?) (Sending to kirbykirby) ( I got a new computer. ) ( Don't have all my old files. ) (Ah) [Iris frounds. "This is a little weird." She glances at Rose. "Did you know Jamie's abilities are psionic in nature?"] * Roseli shakes her head. "Never been confirmed. The idea occured to me, though." Would make some amount of sense, given her previous modifications. [Iris nods. "It's strange, though. Her psychic energy waves don't resonate with the human brain. I would figure they do with machines, but I didn't even know that was possible."] * Jamie looks at Iris blankly. * Roseli chuckles, dryly. "Schumaucher is a genius," she says, somehow also conveying that she hates him oh so much. ["I guess so." Iris turns back to Jamie. "Jamie, what are you connected to right now?"] * Jamie blinks and focuses. "Connected to?" [Iris nods. "Yeah. What machine are you talking to?"] * Jamie blinks again and sounds very confused. "I. I. I'm not talking to any. I. I. can tell you which ones ones I can hear." [Iris blinks. "You're not?" She glances at Rose, confusion in her face, then back to Jamie. "Are you sure?"] * Roseli moves forward and puts a hand on her ward's shoulder. "It's all right, Jamie. Relax and think." * Jamie listens to herself, it's not something she does very often because her heartbeat is so loud and the air rushing through her lungs is distracting, and the pressure and warmth of Rose's hand is... is not something to focus on. She has to listen. (What would be the roll for using her power on herself?) 28d+1 2d8+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jamie (2d8+1) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 12. (That's... a tough roll.) * Jamie starts to shake a bit as she shakes her head. (-first shake +shiver) * Roseli sits next to Jamie, rubbing her back. She looks to Iris. "Find something?" [Iris frowns. "There's something. I... guess you could call it a presence, but not like... well, a human. Or mortal. It's not a comprehensive mind I can read."] [Karin frowns. "What does that mean?"] * Roseli furrows her brow. "Ten? But she should just be an aspect of Jamie's base personality." Jamie, keep checking. [Iris responds! "I don't know. I was assuming it meant Jamie was talking to a machine... my next guess is that a machine is talking to her. But this is just so far outside my field..."] * Roseli nods. * Jamie nods and concentrates on herself. 2d8+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jamie (2d8+1) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 11. (Closer!) ( You better hope so. She's probably not happy about being nuked ) (I'll just nuke her again.) (FYI, Rose is going to have Jamie continue to check until she gets something.) 2d8+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jamie (2d8+1) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 12. (We could be here for a while) (Although she's got the shittiest rolls ever.) [Iris rubs her temples. "It's hard to explain to a non-psychic, but the energy signiture is like it's being camoflagued. Like a chameleon. Or maybe like a backdoor trojan... A backdoor trojan designed by an alien."] [Karin asks, "Could that be related to the fanfiction?"] [Iris towards her head towards Karin, who responds, "I meant to ask you, Karin. Jamie's been subconsciously posting things about Blitzkrieg to the Internet."] * Roseli nods. ( 2nd Karin is Iris! ) * Jamie listens to her fast beating heart and tries to slow it, the creaking of the tendons in her clenched hands are imortant, the sounds of other people breathing arn't important, all she has to do is find what it is Karin can see. That's it. That's her order. [Iris slowly shakes her head. "Maybe... I really don't know. I'm sorry but this is beyond what I'm used to."] 2d8-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jamie (2d8-1) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 9. (.. that should be plus 1 and I still missed with the mod backwords) (You mean Iris, Gryph.) (... So I do) ( They're inseperable. ) A connection to Pavla would be obvious if this is linked to their powers, but what about Cyra? ( brb ) * Jamie shivers harder, at the mention of that name, a new forogotten fear working its way back into her mind. * Roseli blinks as Jamie shivers, then gives her a half-hug and says, comfortingly, "I'm here. You're okay." Just concentrate. This is important. ( Back ) * Jamie takes the sweet, simple order and calms down, all the shaking isn't part of concentrating, fear isn't concentrating, her mind is concentrating. 2d8+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jamie (2d8+1) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 10. (So much hate.) [Iris shakes her head. "I can detect absolutely nothing between her and Cyra."] ( At this point I'm just going to say Jamie can't find it. ) (Come on, Brett. :() (Last shot!) 2d8+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jamie (2d8+1) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 12. ( ;_;) (HATE HATE HATE HATE) (THAT'S IT I'M GONNA KILL DICEY) [Iris blinks. "It's gone."] * Roseli glances between Iris and Jamie, concerned. She looks back to Iris. "Do you have any idea what could have caused it?" * Jamie 's shoulders slump and she lets her head droop as she fails to carry out her orders. [Iris stands up, cupping her chin. "I'm guessing a machine since I couldn't do much more than notice it. Most likely it was communicating with Jamie." She pauses, glances at Jamie, and adds. "Possibly, Jamie was subconsciously communicating with it, as well." She lets her arms drop. "And as for why it vanished, I would guess it realized she was trying to locate it."] ( That get through? ) (Yes.) [Karin frowns. "That's a lot of guessing."] * Jamie doesn't say anything. [Iris sighs. "I know. I'm sorry, it's the best I can do."] * Roseli nods. "Most likely a mole." She sounds openly worried now, and openly concerned. [Iris adds, "But if it turns out I'm right, it could come back at any time, and Jamie won't even realize it's there."] * Roseli winces. "Wonder if it's within Keiko's ability to monitor it. Between her and Jamie's attempts, we might be able to keep it under partial control." (I love monitoring people.) (Just ask Luana.) (We might as well move you into our room!) Beyond that... * Roseli looks to the other two grown women, and she seems at a bit of a loss. "What do we do? Can we even tell headquarters about this?" (I need to afk for a bit) (I like this plan!) [Karin shakes her head. "I don't know. Is it Schuhmacher's doing? But if so, why wouldn't they have fixed it when she was modded over Christmas?" She shrugs. "If they even could? I really don't know much about genmodding."] (Back) [Karin adds, "I don't know if it can be monitored. It's really well camoflauged, and unless Keiko or Jamie can constantly pay attention to looking for it...."] ( Or.... ) ( Iris says that. ) * Roseli nods. "Or check on a cycle." Schumaucher didn't seem to know anything about it when questioned. Can't discount him, but I'm guessing someone else. [Karin nods. "Probably the way to go. Hmmmm.... I wonder if something similar is happening with Pavla?"] [Cyra watches TV! Nevermind that the TV's off.] * Jamie slumps a bit farther. [Jamie slumps too far and implodes!] Possible. (Her favorite show is on!) If it is... someone involved in Zunkuft, probably. [Karin nods.] And Zunkuft has a hold on section 2. * Roseli sighs. "They won't investigate in any way that will stir problems." * Roseli looks to Karin. "What's your read on the new guardian? Think he'll be up for Iris scanning Pavla?" [Karin nods. "Sometimes it feels like section 2 is just an experimental facility for Zukunft."] (Swap those two.) ["Fritz?" Karin frowns. "I think if he thought it would help Pavla, he'd be for it. The problem is Pavla herself."] Point. A silent scan, then? * Roseli looks to Iris and continues, "Not trying for all of her secrets; just want to see if she's got the same connection. If you know what to look for, will it be as intrusive?" [Iris nods. "That shouldn't be a problem. As long as you can keep Keiko out of Pavla's head while I do it."] [Karin shrugs. "I'm not sure about their relationship, but I know that Pavla really doesn't like it when someone's in her head."] [Iris nods. "I can be discreet."] ( Or can she! The GM looks at the telepathy rules to find out! ) (Haha.) (You haven't been running them that way, but technically if someone has Mind Shield < Telepathy, you can just kinda punch through.) (Without them noticing.) (No roll, no muss, no fuss.) (Now, mind combat, still kinda noticable, but.) ( Yeah... She'd only be able to detect surface thoughts. ) ( So nix Iris's last line. ) ( And replace it with ) ["If her Guardian orders her to allow me access, I can make her forget it ever happened after."] * Roseli is silent for a moment, then says, "Hangs on Fritz. Your teammate, Karin. Your call." [Karin frowns. "Hmm... I'll see if I can talk to him in private."] * Roseli nods. I'll talk to Heinrick. See if I can't get his and Keiko's cooperation, for monitoring. I think he's trustworthy for this. [She looks at Iris. "You should scan Cyra now. Maybe you'll be able to figure out why she had a sudden burst of activity around Jamie in December."] [Iris frowns. "Karin, you know how I feel about that."] * Jamie shivers once and draws her arms up around herself. * Roseli half-hugs Jamie again. "You did fine," she tells her. [Karin nods. "I do. And I'm sorry. But this is the only way we can find out what's going on. Please, try."] [Iris hesitates. Then she nods. "Okay. Okay, I'll try." She crosses over to Cyra and kneels in front of her, looking her in the eyes as she'd done with Jamie.] * Jamie lets her shoulders and head slump farther, but he back stiffens a bit with the praise. [Iris bites her lip. "I... I can't." Then tears start running from her eyes as she screams, "I can't do it!" She jumps to her feet and runs, the door opening and closing itself to let her through.] Iris! * Jamie winces at the shriek. [Karin reaches out an arm towards her as she runs by. "Iris! Iris!!"] * Roseli is on her feet. "Watch the wards," she tells Karin, before moving quickly to find her. [She doesn't chase after her when the door slams, though. She just lets her arm drop, and slumps into the other chair, staring at her feet.] (Well, I'm going!) [It doesn't take Rose long to find Iris. She's quite visible in the night sky, flying quickly away from the motel.] * Jamie sprawls for a moment without Rose to support her, but manages to recover before she falls off the bed. She watches Rose leave with wide eyes. * Roseli runs after, yelling, "IRIS!" Maybe she can even hear her! [Maybe she can! But she doesn't give any indication of it. It's not long before she's well out of earshot, too.] * Roseli eventually slows to a stop, breathing heavily. She rubs at her eyes, then turns around and walks back for the hotel. [Not much has changed there. Karin looks up as Rose enters.] * Roseli closes the door behind her. "She flew off." * Jamie doesn't have to look up, she's been staring at the door. [Karin nods slowly.] * Roseli works on catching her breath; she did quite a bit of running out there. "What was... that?" ["I never meant to.... But I shouldn't have asked her to do it. Dammit, I'm so stupid." She turns her gaze to Rose.] * Roseli shakes her head. ["When we were kids... Cyra wasn't always autistic."] * Roseli blinks. She looks surprised. "Normally happens in early development, doesn't it?" * Jamie stands up, walks across the room, and sits down on the floor near where Rose is panting. * Roseli isn't panting anymore, but she doesn't seem to mind Jamie's company. [Karin nods. "Normally, but...." She looks down. "When we were kids, we lived in an orphanage in a small town. It wasn't a happy time in a cozy little hamlet. Basically nobody cared about us except each other."] * Roseli nods. She remembers small bits of this story from when she's talked to Karin before. [She flexes her fingers. "Iris and I were -- ARE -- best friends. We were always together. And Cyra was always trying to join us. But she was so much younger than us..." She groans and buries her face in her hands. "God, what was I thinking, asking Iris to do that?"] It's okay. You don't have to tell the story. * Roseli lets out a sigh. "And you asked her because you're worried about Cyra. She agreed because she's worried about Cyra. There's no..." She shakes her head. "No shame. Just don't press her about it, later. Don't think you would." [She shakes her head. "That's not the whole story. We used to tease her. Juvanile pranks. We thought they were harmless enough, but they must have stung. And then Iris's powers started to develop, and she used them to tell what Cyra was thinking..."] [She looks up at Rose. "God. Iris has always blamed herself. She thinks she's responsible for Cyra's autism."] * Roseli nods silently. * Jamie doesn't react. [Karin stands up. "She isn't, though. I'm sure of it. Iris would never do anythign to hurt her sister."] * Roseli looks at Cyra and murmurs, "" in Portuguese before switching to German: "Do you think that if Iris gets powerful enough, she can help cure Cyra's illness?" [Karin nods. "I think so. I mean, that's why I majored in Magical Mental Therapy in Warthogs. And Iris told me she joined Blitzkrieg because they promised to research a way to cure Cyra through genmodding."] ["But Iris herself is too scared to try anything."] I understand. She needs to confront the past first. [Karin nods. "I just... I should've done something different." She stands up. "Come on. Let's get out of here."]] * Roseli nods, too, and gestures for Jamie to stand. Because they're going. Then she goes! [Karin helps Cyra back to the car and hops in.] * Jamie stands as ordered, and then follows despite not being! (And so we drive into the sunset!) ( No you don't. ) (!) ( We're not done until something explodes. ) (Aw man, not like last time.) * Roseli gets in the car, next to Cyra once again. (And then suddenly the overpass exlodes into a fireworks show, perfectly timed to the 1812 oveture!) [Karin starts the car and drives. She's quiet for a long while, but eventually says, "There's something else I need to talk to you about."] What? * Jamie continues to look out the window. [She pulls onto the highway. "I'm pregnant. I don't know how to approach Control about it."] * Roseli blinks. "That's..." Her brain switches gears. "Johnson's the father?" [Karin smiles. "Yeah. I'm not sure of the exact date it happened, though. I just found out about it a few days ago."] * Roseli chuckles and takes Karin's smile as a cue. "Congratulations. I think." ["Thanks." Her smile fades. "But it's going to be a big problem for work."] Could be. Don't know if they accounted for the possibility of maternity leave. ["Me neither. But it's doubly worse in my case. Using magic during pregnancy could have consequences for the baby."] * Roseli frowns. "Like alcohol? They'd have to give you maternity leave, but in this case we're looking at the full term?" (They would! Gov. benefits package!) [She shakes her head. "I can still work, but I'm not sure how much use I'll be."] [She glances at the rear-view mirror. "But I don't want to leave Cyra for a full nine months."] * Roseli shakes her head. "She'd be ineffective without you anyway, wouldn't she?" They might just try to replace her. Either way, if you're going to keep the baby, you have to let them know. [She grins. "They can't replace Cyra. They wouldn't want to risk upsetting Iris."] * Roseli smiles slightly. "Well." If they threaten to bind her to a second guardian, make sure you let Iris know how dangerous that is. It'll be a fun predicament. Until then, you can shoot without magic, right? So you're at least as good as me. Maybe they can spring for some equipment to replace your magic in the meantime. [She nods. "Again, they can't do that. Iris specifically requested me as her Guardian."] * Roseli nods, rather wishing she had that kind of pull. ["I can use a gun, but I'm not really soldier material. Normally, the way we operate, Cyra and I fly to a location, and I spot targets. She does the firing." She pauses, then says, "I guess we'll be grounded for a while, though."] ( If your best friend was one of the most powerful psychics in the world, you could! ) Like I said, get some equipment. [She laughs. "Like a jetpack?"] ( And no, those don't exist :P ) * Roseli grins. "Sure. Maybe not *a* jetpack, but something that could work." [She nods. "Maybe they'll have some ideas."] Climbing gear? Telescopes? They manage to have snipers in the army with no magic involved. [She nods. "But not like Cyra."] No. Not like Cyra. * Roseli glances at Cyra, who is no doubt in happy land. [She sure is! She's deffinately grinning about something.] * Jamie doesn't. Cyra is something to be avoided at all costs. (She's grinning about the thought of grabbing Jamie's boobies!) ( Possibly! ) ( Although Jamie isn't much to look at anymore. ) ( Anyhow, we can end when you like. ) (That's a lot harder than grabbing Hotaru's boobies!) (Whenever you like. ^^ I'm good.) (Ditto) [And then they get into a traffic jam, because a propane truck drives into another propane truck several miles ahead and they both explode.] [End]