Shae_Firewarder

I don't hear as much about e-bayed characters here as I used to in EQ. I'd think there wasn't as much point to buying a CoH character, but, someone might want the vet rewards, I suppose.

Anyhow, considering the subject, I had to go dig up a link to this classic bit of literature about ebayed characters:
dood sow please

Most of the vocabulary is decipherable through context, I think...

((Yay!))

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If you really want to get noticed in a restaraunt, enter dressed in full plate armor complete with dents from the days battles.
I used to be in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism).

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Did something like that one time... Went to Burger King in garb after a Shire business meeting. A lady asked me if I was in the SCA - and I couldn't help but respond "No, I'm in a play!".

Non SCAers may or may not get the joke....

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Classic!

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Perfect. Hehe.

But, I was in the SCA. =)

I outlevel contacts just doing normal stuff, and since I tend to roleplay, I dont' care to reroll characters just to pick up some recipe I didn't have before.

I also tend to run controllers and defenders...and end up doing other people's missions rather than my own. Unless I solo a majority of the time that I play that character...


However, I dont' mind storyarcs getting a reward like this...If I can go back and get the reward, either by exemping down with friends, or with somehting like the flashback system... that seems to have been shelved. I'd like the flashback system simply because it gives me the time to explore and find all those story arcs. Some of them require unlocked contacts, that I didn't have time to find because I wasn't doing my missions. =)

Anything you type after /em or ; will be turned into an emote. You can actually get a lot of milage out of just body language, of you put some thought into it.

example:

/em hops up to pull on Lord Paladin's cape.
or
;hops up to pull on Lord Paladin's cape.

You will get
Uncharted Territory hops up to pull on Lord Paladin's cape.

((apologies to Lord Paladin. =) ))

Even when we CAN communicate verbally, we usually do a great deal of non-verbal stuff in real life. Start paying attention to your and other's actions when interacting with others and use those as inspiration. When i am in game and my character is listening to someone else's long story or explanation, she often ;nods or indicates that she is still tuned in to the story, or she will look at someone for their reaction to what they are learning, or have some other reaction to what she is hearing.

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I know you said keep it to the list, and I did vote "story", but I thought I'd just mention, my #1 feature that I love about CoX is:

Well, hard to choose, so I'm going to pick two

The SK/Exemp system.
and
The way missions scale to the group size.

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I did vote costume, but, I agree that the sk and exemp system is a large part of why I keep playing. No matter what level I am, I can still play with my friends. The system in the pvp zones where it sets all of the team to the same level also occasionally helps on SG practice nights when the levels are too varied to match up to just one level range.

"Holy heck....what fell on him?" Steel Butterfly asked anyone in the room with the smashed looking remains of HEROID.

"Most of one of the portals," the med tech answered. He looked at Steel Butterfly skeptically, "I wouldn't think anyone would be able to put this back together. If Humpty Dumpty were a robot, this'd be him."

"It takes more than a heavy object to crush Roy," Shae murmered looking through the carefully gathered parts for something...

"Ok, well, most of the body is rebuildable. If I can just find the one piece." Steel Butterfly joined Shae in looking through the parts.

"Here," Shae held a board up and then handed it to Jenna.

Jenna carefully blew the dust off, and looked at it. All in one piece...not even scratched? She turned the board over and looked at the small rune shaped something like a phoenix that seemed to be etched in gold. Then she looked at Shae, who shrugged with a small smile and said, "The rune seemed a good idea, considering..."

"If it works." she paused, "It *has* to work..." Jenna looked over the rest of the pile, "Can we have the rest moved to the Other Guy's base? I think I'll carry this part..."

-----------
"Roy, this is getting to be too much of a habit." Jenna muttered to the pieces of titanium she was assembling in the Other Guy's base. "I even had most of the parts made already..."

She sat back, looked at her work so far, and nodded, "Ok, now for the wiring."

-----
She was connecting the last wires when Shae walked back in.
"How's Peggy? He'll want to know when he wakes up."

"She is back at Maggie's Rock and Tessarae is seing to her. Peggy has a couple of cracked ribs, but, the baby seems to be fine." Shae looked over the robot, nodded to Jenna.

Steel Butterfly looked at the last switch, "Good. All right. Time to see if he's ready to wake up." She flicked the switch and muttered a small prayer.

Steel Butterfly, walked into the supermarket at the corner of Cherry and Kroeger. It was near the Galaxy gate, and since it was in an area of King's Row that used to be prosperous it still attracted a certain number of artistic types and want to be trendy upscale shoppers. Because it attracted those shoppers it had a larger and more unusual selection of a few things...like hair dye.

Steel Butterfly had actually not changed the color of her hair in a while. Absently Jenna wondered if the lack of change had anything to do with the fact that she also hadn't changed addresses in a long while. Maybe the stability was affecting her. She browsed the hair color aisle looking for inspiration and gradually became aware that someone on the other side of the display was talking. Having become aware of the conversation she discovered that the conversation was about someone she knew. She also recognised the speaker...more than one of the speakers.

Jenna bit her lip and went back to browsing the hair colors. Blue wasn't much of a change, neither was green...but did she really feel like pink, or maybe red?

"Daisy! we have an eavesdropper. and look who it is." One of the girls from the next aisle had spotted Jenna. Jenna sighed and ignored them.

"What are you doing here?" Daisy was angrily aproaching from the end of the aisle.

"Shopping," Jenna shrugged and picked up a box of hair dye.

"And listening," Daisy accused.

"If you choose to cut up someone's character in a public place, it *is* possible that someone will hear you." Jenna replied calmly.

"It isn't that public, and you were eavesdropping!"

"I am not trespassing, and I didn't follow you in here to listen," Jenna put the haircolor in her hand carefully back on the shelf and picked up another."I also don't feel like letting you run me out of a store that I like to shop in."

"You are such a [censored]!"

Jenna raised an eyebrow, and looked at Daisy. "I can't believe you are still telling that story. Isn't it old by now, or are there still any people left in Paragon who haven't heard you tell it?"

"They wanted to hear it, they asked to hear it."

"I know, and you are a good storyteller. It sounds very dramatic when you tell it."

"It's all true!"

"The truth as you see it and color it."

"It's all true! [censored]." Daisy glared at Jenna. Jenna imagined that if Daisy had laser beam eyes, she would have used them.

Jenna shrugged, "I know your side of the story only, since I haven't heard the other person saying a word on it."

"Liar. You both talk about me behind my back," Daisy crossed her arms and dared Jenna to disagree.

"Actually we don't. Or, not often. When you go off on a public rant like this it might get mentioned." Jenna shrugged. "It certainly wouldn't get talked about in a place like this."

"You both hate me."

"Actually, that requires too much effort. I know you hold a grudge forever, and that little things set you off like a volcano sometimes..."

"They do not! What she did was awful!"

"What you say she did is awful in your opinion. I don't tend to trust your opinions because I have seen you fly off the handle and cuss people out for what I considered to be very little reason. It colors my opinion of your judgement."

"Name once!"

Jenna looked at Daisy, "Would right now be sufficient? I actually like the past to remain in the past.Grudges are a phenomenal waste of time."Jenna thought a second and then said, "Actually, from you, this hasn't been that much of a cussing out. I have *definitely* heard worse things coming out of your mouth. It's a wonder you can stand to eat with the filth you use it for." Jenna looked at Daisy struggling to find something to say that wouldn't prove Jenna right, "and the odd thing is, by next week this will be old news to everyone but you and your circle."Jenna nodded to the girl standing behind Daisy and smiled,"I expect you will be telling your side of this encounter for years, and I will have forgotten all about it. Including what color of hairdye I ended up picking." She showed off the box of hairdye she had picked and walked away from Daisy and her friend to the cash register. The girl behind the register looked intimidated, but smiled very slightly at Jenna as she calmly paid for her purchase, and left the store.

Outside, Jenna took a deep breath.The sun was bright, and she had no appointments. Mrs Henderson's cat was recently rescued and wasn't likely to get stuck anywhere hard to get to for another week. She had time for a little pampering. she finally looked down at the box and laughed. Ah well. Red it is.

((hm. It seems there is more going on than I thought. hehe.))

((One more story for the bunch. Someone I haven't written for lately, but, last night was eventful for her...))

The sun moved slowly overhead, and the golden patch of sunlight shining through the skylight moved slowly across the floor of the common room of KGB Special Section 8.

Tasenka, lost in thought, had started out sitting in the patch of sunlight on the West side of the room, and now that it was on the East side of the room she was still in the light. She wasn't really aware of moving to follow the sunlight. It was just something she did, like breathing.

She also wasn't really aware of the room. People passed her by on their way to doing important things. If they stopped and looked at Tasenka, she didn't notice them. Tasenka had been out hunting earlier. The rabbits she had brought back were in the kitchen, skinned and prepared for cooking. Usually by this point in the early afternoon, the rabbits would be rabbit stew and skins prepared for tanning, but, Tasenka had finally brought her mind back to the events of the night before. So, now she sat in the common room, unconsciously following the sunlight across the room as she studied her hands, and looked in a little hand mirror to study her face...

The mirror had been purchased because it was fascinating. In the village Tasenka had grown up in, there weren't any mirrors. If you wanted to see your own reflection, a bowl or pool of still water was the best that you could do. Tasenka had purchased the mirror when she discovered that she had some money of her own. The money seemed like a fortune to her, although it was actually a very modest stipend. Then again, the Section 8 base still seemed like a palace to her, after growing up in a tiny hut, near a tiny village in the woods, in another time. Running water, heat for cooking without lighting a fire, light at the flip of a switch or the pressing of a button. To Tasenka, these were as amazing as the teleporters, the cars, the radio...or the fact that she could now cause rain to fall, or wind to blow. The world she had woken up in seemed to follow different rules than the one she grew up in, and for the most part, Tasenka dealt with it easily enough. She learned English, and dealt with the many situations and people that she would never have encountered back home in a very even tempered fashion. Except that now, she didn't know what to do.

She was not human. Catbird had examined her hand, and then looked her in the eyes. She had asked Tasenka what she wanted... and had said that Tasenka was human...but then the commander had looked at her, and said something very quietly to Catbird, and Catbird had said then that Tasenka was not mortal in the human sense. Had admitted it. She had said more than that, but Tasenka could not think past the one basic admission. Not human.

She couldn't see it. Tasenka studied her hands, and they seemed to be as they always had been. She looked in the mirror, and could not see anything that was different from the people in her village. Nothing odd, or unusual. Pale skin, like theirs. Dark hair, like theirs. Blue eyes, like her mother's.

Her mother. Her mother had sung her lullabies, and had taught her all she knew of herbs and cooking. Hunting she had learned from her father. It was not a skill most girls would have learned, but, she had been interested in the ways of animals from a very young age, and a good shot with a sling or a bow. Any extra food or furs that she could bring in were not going to be wasted simply because she was female. The cottage wasn't close enough to the town for the couple to feel pressured to raise their daughter more conventionally. They had traveled to the village to go to church and on market days. Otherwise, she had spent her days in the woods, or in the small field near the cottage. Now Tasenka looked back on those days and wondered. Had she always been not human...or was it as the commander had suggested, that her form had altered upon coming to this place, though her soul and memories had not.

The patch of sun moved slowly across the room and up the wall, till Tasenka would have had to climb the wall or fly to stay in it. Tasenka sighed and put down the mirror, and then picked up her bow and quiver and headed outdoors to the open air.

What I recall of Fulcrum shift, was that it gave a buff for every mob hit in an area around the caster, and in the area around the mob being debuffed(called a barbell shape by many). If the kinetic were standing in melee range, you received two buffs for everything hit, and usually buffs across the screen...

I actually got my kinetic to Fulcrum shift level AFTER they changed it to ONE buff around the caster, plus buffs for every mob hit in melee range only. You still had buffs across the screen in many groups. People still asked, "what the H was that?!?"

<sigh> Ah the days before the AoE cap.

Now, with the caps on how many you can hit, it is much less powerful. Still a lovely power, mind you, but, less powerful than it was. To receive full benefit you have to be in melee range, but, that is very like many of the other kinetic powers like transfusion and transference.

as to sustaining high damage...a kinetic's damage is increased by adding the kin powers to the attack chain. The kinetic powers to no damage on their own. If every other power you strike with is doing no damage(my attack chain includes transference, fulcrum shift, siphon speed, and transfusion when I need it. siphon power when nothing else is available.), how can I be doing more damage than a blaster who has a longer attack chain and more attacks to hit with? I have fun, don't get me wrong, I just don't happen to see how I am aproaching blaster damage over time.

The problem is, the stormie in that scenario couldn't win either. So, if hurricane gets cut, then the stormie can only lose to the regen? That doesn't sound good either.

As a defender I have had trouble dishing out enough damage to actually finish a fight. Contrast this with the results if a stalker gets the drop on me, and my defender is dead almost instantly. Both situations aren't so much fun, mostly because you can't fight back.

To a certain extent it is paper/rock/scissors. For every strong set, there is *something* that can take it out. And for most "weak" sets there is something out there that is vulnerable to what you do. The trouble, sometimes, is dishing out enough damage to finish the fight, once you find the ones you are strong against.

((I got to watch the conversation in Pocket D on an alt. It certainly brought our conversation to a halt...Nice drama. and it will be interesting to see how it goes.))

SG BBS
Originally suggested by: MadScientist, Lothart, others(Suggestion Forums)
Category: decorative/other
Customizable? yes
Type: craftable
Description: "a decorative whiteboard and messageboard you can use in SG bases... where you can post discussions to your SG. (Read-only for visitors to your base... or not, based on settings.) ...[covers] things like organizing Raid times and Salvage swapping." "Nothing fancy, just a text board. E-mail is already in game so all we need is a way to e-mail to the message board and let everyone read it."
Limitations: Scales up in level, costing more Prestige. Limit on the maximum number of messages. Small: Memo Board (0 energy, 0 control) /Medium: Message Board (small E/C cost) /Large: Kiosk /Gigantic: Information Terminal (Tech) or Tome of Knowledge (Arcane)

This. I want this. =)

(Bump, to hold off the thread eating monster for a bit...)

Alexandre Ivanovitch's small group entered the courtroom just as Tasenka gave a loud girlish squeel of happiness and ran over to a bald man in a red suit. She hugged him impulsively and then stepped back but kept hold of his arm and began speaking rapidly in Russian as if the rest of the world had just vanished.

Alex's security man looked over the man that Tasenka was still speaking to in rapid Russian and realised that he must be the real Yegeny Korsakov and not the double that had been here for the past week. The security then looked at Alexandre and noticed the back of his neck was turning red; He continued to scan the room for threats to his charge, but, took a step away from Alexandre as well. There was enough pressure building there that if anything actually broke Alex's control, it wasn't worth his paycheck to be the person standing closest to him.

Alex's security looked back at the girl and Korsakov. Kinsolving and the lawyer were watching Tasenka bemusedly and Korsakov had managed to get only one or two short sentences in and was patting her arm reassuringly as the judge strode in, and the bailiff called the room to order...

Alexandre Ivanovitch clenched his teeth. The lawyer who had been speaking to him turned and looked in the direction he was looking. He looked over the girl in the archaic festival dress and the two men walking down the courthouse corridor with her and shook his head. "She brought a lawyer...that's the counsel that the foundation called 'Maggie's Rock' keeps on retainer. And who is that other fellow?" He looked at Alex and the security man he had brought along to see if they knew.

"That's Mr. Kinsolving. He works at that foundation. Probably where the the girl found the lawyer, since she'd not have thought of that on her own." Alexandre looked at the trio as they found their way to the proper courtroom. She looked calm. She wasn't going to lose control here today. It really wasn't likely that he was going to get another chance as good as this one had seemed to be.

The security man looked at his boss, and couldn't help but say, "They're heroes boss. Saving the day when it looks bleakest is in the job description." He winced at the look from Alexandre as he crushed his paper coffee cup and tossed it in the bin. Then they entered the courtroom.

He had seen it this far, he'd see it to the end. Though what else could go wrong he couldn't guess...

Alexandre Ivanovitch looked over the legal papers one more time. One set to be delivered to the headquarters, other sets to be delivered to the residence of the commanders, and neither was likely to be noticed by anyone important for a while, due to other circumstances. He smiled. An opportunity this good was not likely to happen again for a very long time.

He sent the papers off to be delivered.

Later, papers describing one Tasenka Sergeynova as a magical construct whose powers were allegedly out of control and summoning said construct to appear in court at noon on the 25th of October or be arrested as a danger to the populace were delivered to the headquarters of the KGB Special Section 8 and to the last known residences of the heros known as Comrade Smersh and Comrade Red-Eye...

Taseka opened the door of the headquarters when the process server knocked.
"Tasenka Sergeynova?" the process server asked.
"Da...I mean yes." she answered.
"May I see some ID?" he asked and looked at the hero license she pulled out for him to look at. "Sign here please,"he watched her make an "X" on the line indicated,"Thank you."

She watched him leave, then closed the door and set the papers on the table...the table that was filling with paperwork since all the folk who did the paperwork were missing elsewhere. She sighed and wondered if they were ever coming back.

((A week or so ago, about the time a strange green light began switching out certain heroes for their counterparts in what has now been called the "bland dimension"....))


KGB Special Section 8 Message of the Day: Emergency condition Blue, extradimensional magic detected, Emergency condition Blue...

[Team]Blue Magus: Yes, the carpet is singed here also...

[Team]Blue Magus: Singed?

[Team]Tasenka: da

[Team]Blue Magus: The devilish bastards!

Tasenka laughs softly

[Team]Tasenka: some of these buildings are as confusing as the maze around the Katschei's palace.

[Team]Blue Magus: Up here too?

[Team]Blue Magus: Oh God!

[Team]Blue Magus: When will the madness end!?!

Tasenka blinks

Tasenka looks up...

[Team]Tasenka: There

[Team]Blue Magus: Well, damn.

[Team]Blue Magus: You know...

[Team]Blue Magus: Maybe we should go grab a burger or something first...

[Team]Blue Magus: Just kidding.

Tasenka looks at Blue magus.

[Team]Blue Magus: Fearlessness is the one requirement for being a Star Magi.

[Team]Blue Magus: HA!

[Team]Blue Magus: Take that, carpet burner!

[Team]Blue Magus: I have a clue...

Tasenka listens to the silence
[Team]Tasenka: Is that all here then?

[Team]Blue Magus: A piece of scorched carpet...

[Team]Blue Magus: Yes.

[Team]Blue Magus: I do believe so.

[Team]Blue Magus: Oh, and I found a broadcasting unit.

[Team]Tasenka: This piece of robot I found has something on it...

[Team]Blue Magus: Really?

Tasenka hands Blue magus a clockwork piece with the words"help me" written on it.

[Team]Blue Magus: Scorch marks?

Blue Magus reads, "Help me."

[Team]Tasenka: It looks like...um...writing.

[Team]Blue Magus: We'd better get this back to Jake.

[Team]Tasenka: Is that what it says?

[Team]Blue Magus: Yes, it says "Help me."

[Team]Blue Magus: Ah.

[Team]Blue Magus: You don't read English.
Tasenka shrugs

[Team]Blue Magus: Well, you'd be surprised how many people from other worlds don't read English either.

[Team]Blue Magus: Well, of course why would they?

[Team]Blue Magus: Unless of course they were coming to Earth...

[Team]Blue Magus: And then they would only need to know it if they were coming to America.

[Team]Blue Magus: Or England.

[Team]Blue Magus: Well, I guess Ireland too.

[Team]Blue Magus: And Scotland.

[Team]Blue Magus: And parts of Germany.

[Team]Blue Magus: Oh.

[Team]Blue Magus: And I can't forget Canada.

Tasenka is listening

[Team]Blue Magus: I guess it would be handy to speak anywhere on Earth.

[Team]Blue Magus: Oh, and on the Moon too.

[Team]Blue Magus: And the Mars colony.

[Team]Blue Magus: And the Titan colony too.

[Team]Blue Magus: Wait.

[Team]Blue Magus: The Titan colony is Japanese.

[Team]Blue Magus: Nevermind.

Tasenka looks tense and the temperature around her drops by several degrees

Blue Magus: Scary guy.

Hades Moon: Greetings.

Tasenka backs up till she bumps the wall

Blue Magus belt crystal adjusts air temp around him.

Blue Magus: Greetings.

Tasenka: Preevyet

Blue Magus: Nice er... skulls.

Hades Moon: If that is what you see.

Tasenka relaxes slightly when things get less dark and facey

Blue Magus: Well...

Blue Magus: Er...

Blue Magus: Shall we go?

Hades Moon: You are well?

Blue Magus: Me?

Blue Magus: Of course.

Blue Magus: A Star Magus is never sick.

Hades Moon: The cold one.

Tasenka: I am not cold?

Tasenka: Or, I do not feel cold.

Blue Magus: She seems all right to me.

Blue Magus: She does have alittle bit of mist rising from her though...

Hades Moon: I see...

Blue Magus: I could do a bioscan on her.

Blue Magus: Send the information to the Big Giant Head.

Tasenka: ....what is "bioscan"?

Hades Moon listens quietly.

Blue Magus: My crystal will scan your physique...

Blue Magus: Gathering information about your physiology..

Blue Magus: Which will be digitally sent for analysis.

Tasenka is completely lost and doesn't know what word to ask about...

Blue Magus: It will tell me if you are normal compared to other humans or not.

Tasenka: Oh

Blue Magus: So, if you'll just stand still for a minute...

Hades Moon: Mmh. Good dreams.

Tasenka stands still, but nervously...the temperature around her drops again.

Blue Magus blue glow emanates from the crystal on his belt...
Blue Magus it fades.

Blue Magus: There.

Blue Magus: Done.

Blue Magus: Now... sending...

Blue Magus: ...transmitting...

Blue Magus: ...receiving...

Blue Magus: Ah! Results.

Blue Magus: The Big Giant Head says that you are...

Blue Magus: "An unknown deviation from human physiology...

Tasenka blinks

Tasenka: a ..a what?

Blue Magus: "An uknown deviation from human physiology."

Blue Magus: He also says your physiology does not match any known species of the Star Seed.

Blue Magus: In short, you're not quite human...

Blue Magus: And you're not an alien.

Tasenka: But....how can i not be human?

Blue Magus: Look, Tasenka..

Blue Magus: There are lots of explainations for this.

Blue Magus: Don't fret.

Blue Magus: Maybe you're magical.

Blue Magus: Magical races always throw off a bioscan.
Tasenka: relaxes a little.

Blue Magus: It will be all right.

Blue Magus: Maybe someone at MAGI can help you uncover the mysteries of your past.

Blue Magus: Or your present.

Tasenka: ah

Tasenka: I think...I need to go think about this

Blue Magus: All right.

Blue Magus: It has been a pleasure working with you, Tasenka.

Tasenka: Thank you for your help hunting monsters tonight

Blue Magus: Anytime.

((Looks like events have moved to live. Tasenka is in game. I do have a few things to post...but they are still in my head rather than written. Hopefully I'll have a wrap up for you all in a couple days.))

((If your character was at the party, feel free to recognise Tasenka.))

Tasenka tried to figure out the words. They sounded more like the language she knew than anything else she had heard since she had found herself here...wherever here was. However the accent was very strange. She replied in Russian, "I am well, thank you."

She looked over the unconcious bandits to see if they were likely to stay down for a few more minutes, and then she picked up one of their bows. She drew the bow, testing it's strength. It was close to the draw of her brother's castoff bow that she had "borrowed" from time to time. She nodded to herself and then picked up the quiver of arrows. She did not know where she was, but she felt slightly better facing the unknown armed with a familiar weapon.

Tasenka began to wonder about the weather. The changes seemed to be terribly convenient. Either someone was looking out for her, or something else had happened to her that she did not as yet understand.

Alex took off his jacket and tie and handed them to Brianna with a smile and a kiss for luck. Than he picked up a sash from the red pile and tied it around his waist, tucking the ends in to prevent anyone from "accidentally" grabbing an easy handhold.

One of his hired security team approached him as he was walking over to the pile of taped brooms that had just been brought out, "The girl is off the grounds."

"The statue..." Alex corrected him," It is a statue, animated by a spell," he locked eyes with the security agent until the man nodded.

" It will be found." Satisfied, Alex nodded and looked away, just as a Valkrie robot descended from the sky and began making fast circles around the ice, weaving in and out of the people. Alex glared at his security, and the man spoke into his com.

[ QUOTE ]
((Just gotta interrupt for a minute here and say: This is some great stuff, Shae. ))

[/ QUOTE ]
All OOC:

<blushes>

I think that the community and the writers on Virtue are the whole reason this is possible to do here. All I did was toss the ball out there, and nudge it occasionally. You all are making the game happen.

Every time I see a post on this....you have no idea how happy I have been since I sent the invites.

Tasenka tensed as the man with the axe called out to her. She didn't understand the words, but she didn't need to. She knew the stories, and knew what they wanted. If she could get away, maybe she would not die here and become one of the Rusalka.

Suddenly a bright blue-white flash split the darkness and the bandit with the axe was suddenly encased in lightning and twitching. His friends were pulling back their bows and yelling something at a figure in the air above her. The figure, a woman it seemed, yelled something back at them and unleashed more lightning at the archers. Tasenka cowered out of the way near the wall, hoping that none of the lightning would strike her.

The snow began to fall again, blowing in on a sudden wind. The cold slowed the muscles of the archers, and a few bolts shot wide. The woman landed and continued to fling bolts of lightning at the bandits until they were all either prone in the thin layer of fresh snow or running...except for the one with the axe. That one swung his gleaming axe at the woman and flung her back with the force of it. He closed again, trying to finish her, but the woman barely dodged out of the way and blasted him with an incredible bolt of lightning. Tasenka's ears rang, and she was blinded for a minute. When she could see again, the woman was standing, and the axe wielding bandit was not.

The snow stopped.

"Who are you?....Where is this place?" Tasenka asked, but the woman didn't seem to understand her.

The woman said something that she didn't understand...but it didn't sound threatening, and then she half collapsed. Tasenka was suddenly reminded of the axe wound, but she didn't have any bandages to staunch the woman's bleeding.

She wanted to help, and somehow she smelled the fresh snowy scent of the winter back home, and felt something, a gust of air? Flow through her to the woman...

((Note, not knowing Russian myself, I attempted to use babelfish. It gave me something in the Russian characters and I had no idea how well it translated it, but I was planning on using it anyhow....untill I saw how the board here treated the characters. Haha. Sooooo....Pretend that what she says is in Russian, da? ))

((Further note....if you actually do know Russian, I could use a little help. =) ))

Alex fumed, but he did so quietly. He reigned in his fury till it only barely showed in the icy coldness of his eyes, and let Brianna suggest a diversion. He thought about it, and though it was not perhaps what people might expect at a formal party, it appealed to him in a way. What was the use of a birthday party if you couldn't have a little rowdy fun planned?

And it would explain the snow away.

Brianna left to go arrange things, and he watched her go.

He detailed a couple security to investigate the statue's disappearance, and then clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

"In the honor of the beginning of hockey season, and in honor of the birthday that brings you all here," He smiled charmingly, "I have something special planned for your pleasure. Let us all move over to the lake, which is at this moment..."

He looked in the direction of the small lake, just big enough for what was planned, and noticed that Brianna had somehow already managed to find a few people with ice powers to freeze the surface. Brianna appeared from the house with two piles of folded fabric, one white, the other bright red...He thought he recognised the extra tablecloths and reminded himself he needed to tip the caterer well tonight. Brianna came over to his side and whispered to him. Then she stood next to him, smiling, and flipped her golden hair. Alex recognised the move as artifice, and yet, he had to admit it worked very well.

Alexandre continued, begining to think her plan might actually work, "Which at this moment is being frozen over for a game of Broomball...We have colors for the two teams, which we will call the Galaxy Stars, and the Atlas Archers....."

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



Meanwhile...

Tasenka had managed to get out the gate and out of sight, she hoped, but she still didn't know where she was. She had seen a couple of those things with lights for eyes and had stepped into the shadows at the edge of the road as they passed, hoping that they would not bother her, and they hadn't. However, she had forgotten about the more mundane dangers that even a tame forest at the edge of a Boyar's garden might have...

The bandits stepped out of the shadows. They were well armed. They had bows, and she could see the gleam off the edge of the axe that the largest of them carried.

<Where am I? The trees here are all wrong...unfamiliar.>

<He doesn't seem to be chasing me.>

With that thought, Tasenka's pace slowed from a panicked run to a walk. She looked around at the ice crystals on the trees and snow barely covering the ground...both already melting away. Apparently it wasn't really winter here...wherever here was. She could still hear people talking, and there was music coming from somewhere over there. Elaborate music, like a Tsar or Boyar would sponsor...or else she had gotten lost in the land of the Katschei. Neither thought was terribly comforting, so she walked in the direction away from the crowds and music, carefully staying in the shadow of the trees, and eventually came to a wall.

The wall was tall, and of fitted stone, and had metal spikes along the top. It didn't look like anything she could climb in the festival gown. She looked around for a conveniently placed tree and didn't see one, so she began to follow the wall, looking for a way over, or through. She wished longingly for her more familiar everyday dress, or better yet, her brother's castoff hunting outfit. She knew her grandmother would flay her if she got the gown dirty or ripped it on a branch...if she ever made it back home...

The music was getting louder again. She stayed in the shadows and peered past her concealing curtain of leaves at the front of the house. She could see the orchestra, and people dancing... well, they looked like people, but if she wasn't at home in the forest near her village, then she could be anywhere, and the people dancing could be anything at all as well.

She could see a road as well, although it wasn't dirt like the one she knew. It seemed to be paved, perhaps like the ones in far away Kiev, or even Moscow? She pulled a leaf out of her braids and considered her options. She was still uncomfortable so near a Boyar or Tsar's dwelling, and she still felt...watched? The back of her neck prickled. Her experience with the high and mighty hadn't been pleasant, and she wanted distance and solitude to think and to try to figure out what had happened and how she had gotten here. However, the only way through that rather impressive wall seemed to be the gate she saw in front of her, and there were people there....well, if they were people.

She was trying to think of a way to sneak past, although she didn't think sneaking would work very well in a red festival gown, when a car drove up the driveway and stopped at the valet. She stared at the thing with the bright lights for eyes. It was on ...wheels? Those were wheels, but oddly shaped....and there were no horses or oxen pulling it. She watched the valet help a woman in a long blue velvet gown out of the thing, and then the valet climbed it to the thing and ...the thing moved again, with a sound like...like a monster roaring. Her mouth dry, she decided that she was definitely in the land of the Katschei and she had to get out.

The snow that had been melting away began to fall again...the thick white flakes obscuring vision and muffling sound...

She made her way to the gate using the shadows and the snow for cover, and then, when she thought she was close enough, she ran.