Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 1b: Being all Kinds of Social

[Dawn OOC]

"Four," the one in the middle said to Jason, then glanced at Zack. "Five." He looked around the room at the students watching with various levels of concern. "Only eight left to go. Who else wishes to catch my eye?"

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan watched at the football players got themselves deeper into the shit storm. Maybe you aint so smart as I thought after all. He stayed where he was leaning against the wall, Sundae in one hand spoon in the other moving between the bowl and his mouth. His posture was relaxed, his eyes focused nowhere but taking in everything. He made no move to get involved but he did begin to form a plan, a course that would take him from his slacking position to a spot where he could intervene if needed.

Click to reveal..

Int + Athletics to plan an optimal path

(21:32:56) ChatBot: (Ryan) rolls 5d10 and gets 10,6,7,4,7.

(21:33:00) ChatBot: (Ryan) rolls 1d10 and gets 3.

1 sux

[Deacon Knight]

A bunch of oddballs show up... so of course everyone crowds around them and gives them all the attention they want. Good plan crowd... good plan. People like that go away if you ignore them. Deacon murmured to himself in thought as his mouth was full of ice cream. Sean's got some stones though, I'll give him that...

He casually rolled himself through the crowd ignoring the goings on as best he could. From behind his flannel shirt he produced a small Fisher-Price microphone, read with a little yellow plastic speaking end. Taped and jury rigged to it was a thing-a-ma-do-hickey that resembled a small box with a WIFI antenna connected to it.

"Students... faculty... off campus guests... His voice boomed over the schools entire P.A. system. From the locker rooms to the janitor's closet where Mr. Douglas was down on Prof. Patterson (she's married you know!) Deek the Geek's message to all would be heard... besides, spiking the ice cream three years in a row would have been boring. "I'd like to welcome you all to Dalton's... what ever annual ice cream social this is. Now, I know a lot of you are first year students out there, and I want you all to know that there is nothing to be afraid of here at Dalton, we strive for academic excellence."

His eye brow quirked. "Oh, who am I kidding? We're here for the parties, premarital sex, and the prescription and non-prescription drugs! Look people! Learning is what you're going to be spending the rest of your adult life doing! Why waste your youth? So welcome all of you for another year of the most expensive party you're parents willingly paid for you to be sent too! As a wise man once said: 'Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking.' I'm Deacon Knight, and I'm here, for you. Deuces!"

He flashed the universal two fingers that meant 'peace' and started rolling off before he came to a sudden and abrupt stop... "Oh, and uh Dean Rogers keeps videos of scantily, or unclad, women singing dirty songs and spanking each other on his lap top. I highly recommend that any with some free time tap up his IP and check em' out. You know I did! Thanks Dean Rogers, for keeping it real, you're my idol.

The mic clicked off and he spooned a mouthful of ice cream. "Aaaand, I'm spent."

[Dawn OOC]

"Six," the man murmured with a smile, a wicked glint in his green eyes. "Almost halfway there."

[Emily Silsbury]

As yet another member of the football team slides into place next to Sean and Micah to face off against the strangers, Deacons words echo about the room. Emily breaks off her conversation with some friends in Science Club, and looks warily about her. Her gaze settles on the confrontation in front of the ice cream table. She herself will never eat the brownies again, due to the 'reaction' she had last year, so she hasn't visited the table yet. She moves closer, in time to hear the strange man with the green eyes say, "Almost halfway there."

She edges in next to the football team, opposite Lorelei, and says,

"I seem to have missed something, but 'almost halfway' where, I wonder?"

[Dawn OOC]

"To my final selection, Seven," the man said, turning those incredible green eyes on Emily.

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan had tried to follow what they were all saying but his mind wasn't one that kept thoughts for long and his memory was at best selective. They are counting ... to ... Twelve? Fourteen? What is this some kind of intramural thing? Maybe they are from a competing school! Oooohhh I bet those pricks are Whiteys! Ryan had been at Dalton long enough to know that the ultra prep Lowell Whiteman School had been, and likely would continue to be, it chief competitor in all sports and scholastic competitions. What's more he had had his ankle sprained two years back during a cross country meet by a Whitey who had shoved past him on the trail.

Ryan shoved himself off the wall with a flex of the muscles in his shoulders. He scooped up the last bit of sundae and shoved it into his mouth, biting down on the plastic spoon. With a sideways flick of his wrist the now empty bowl was sent spinning through the air and into the trashcan at the other end of the room. "Lemme guess. Lowell Whiteman School right? I can practically smell your holier than thou bullshit from here. What's this all about? Looking for a baker's dozen of us to kick your ass?" Ryan wasn't sure what a Baker's Dozen was but he knew it sounded good.

Click to reveal..

Intimidate check

Presence -1 (no skill) +3 (Willpower) = 4

(14:33:49) ChatBot: (Ryan) rolls 4d10 and gets 5,9,8,4.

2 sux

[Dawn OOC]

The man smiled at Ryan. "So many... so eager. It wasn't like this last time," he murmured and his two minions shivered with delight. "Yes... a baker's dozen, Eight," he said to Ryan. "Though it is not your... asses I seek."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan's spoon suddenly went sailing through the air past the newcomer. "Dick. Why don't you tell us your name and why you are here? Scared of us?"

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Streaky's latest comment made Sean grind his teeth together, audibly. Seeing Ryan get their attention for a moment, he stalked back to the refreshment table. He quickly, and with little grace, made three sundaes, threw a brownie on top of each, and jammed a spoon deep into each sundae. He marched back to the Assholes Three, a sundae in his left hand, two in his right.

"Here are your damn desserts!" Sean said angrily, thrusting one sundae at Streaky, the other two at his right-hand minion. "Answer Ryan's questions, then take off. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen! There's your baker's dozen!"

[SalmonMax]

Renata gazed after the sundaes that Sean had made, then looked wistfully at the now-empty platter on the table. Those things had looked tasty too. She picked at some crumbs, but they weren't really big enough to get a good bead on the taste.

That tore it then. Screw the party, screw Dalton Academy, and if her mom was still out there making sure she didn't sneak back out, screw her too. This thing blew chunks that then each blew chunks of their own. Chunking submunitions.

She turned her back on the brownie-stealing jocks and the pathetic post-graduate campus haunts or whatever they were and headed back across the crowded room towards the door.

[Dawn OOC]

The door burst open seconds before Renata reached it. An imposing woman stood in the doorway, her skin white, truly white and her eyes endless black. She appeared to be wearing a strange uniform, though the sword strapped her to her side was the strangest of all. Her eyes raked over Renata, then past her, leaving the young woman with the sense that she'd been summarily dismissed.

With a scowl, the strange woman pushed past her and walked toward the group standing around the Three. Even before she arrived, she began to speak, talking stridently at the Three in a strange language.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean cursed in surprise at the new arrivals, dropping the sundaes at the feet of the Three, the bowls shattering like glass. As the strange woman strides towards them, he does his best to hold his eyes on her depthless black gaze. Whatever he sees there sends a shudder through him, and he takes a step back, gently pushing Lorelei back behind him with a protective arm, muscles tense, ready to spring.

As the Woman tears into the Three with her unfathomable tirade, a vicious grin returns to Sean's lips. He may not understand the words, but the tone translates into any language. "Looks like your babysitter's here, assholes. Hope you're in for a spanking."

[Thomas Burke]

Reaching a hand out to Renata, he makes sure she's okay before observing what else is transpiring.

"Careful Miss. Crazy people talking now," he tells her. He positions himself so that he isn't directly in Psycho-Actress's way.

As they continue to talk, Thomas calls out with a grin because this is so ridiculous,

"All right. Nothing to see here. Move along ... get some ice cream ... move along. Pay no attention to our visitors from another Sanity."

[Frida Ricci]

Frida stepped into the room a few moments later as the woman broke into her tirade. She was dressed in one of her typical floaty black skirts and a simple gray tunic. Around her waist she was wearing an intricate silver link belt, and she had several grey, black and white necklaces made of tiny beads wrapped around each wrist like bracelets.

In her hand, she was holding a piece of rock that she had been turning in between her fingers. She was so occupied with the study of it's texture that she ran straight into Renata. She looked up with a start, as if the girl had perhaps suddenly appeared in front of her, instead of having been there the whole time.

When she spoke, her voice was without much in the way of inflection, despite the British lilt to her speech.

"Oh.. terribly sorry. Didn't see you there. I suppose I'm a bit late."

She glanced around the room briefly, her eyes resting curiously on the group of mostly strangers in the center of the room. She recognized a couple of them, but for now she turned back to the stranger she'd run into and looked at her with her curious, shadowy gaze.

"You must be new. I don't remember seeing you before."

[Lorelei]

With a reproachful glance at Sean following his outburst, and an incredulous, vaguely horrified look at Mr. Burke, Lorelei simply shook her head. Despite being arrogant, and not a little unnerving, their guests (for she could not imagine the undoubtedly foreign strangers as anything else) had done nothing she could see that demanded such violently aggressive responses. Had absolutely everyone gone mad? Shouldn't the adults be setting a good example?

"I must apologize," she began, addressing the foursome in her quiet, lyrical way. She smiled then, slightly, in a largely conciliatory fashion. "The greeting you have received has been both impolite and unnecessary, and I regret sincerely that visitors to our campus have been treated to such an unwelcoming experience. I assure you, it is not the norm here, but many of the students are still a bit..." She paused, biting her lower lip as she tried to find a way to diplomatically call someone bull-headed, and finally spread her hands in a universal expression of appeasement. "...Over-exuberant after the summer holidays. I am sure that no offense was intended."

Click to reveal.. (Diplomacy)

(22:42:25) ChatBot: (Lorelei) rolls 6d10 and gets 1,8,8,1,10,5.

(22:42:35) ChatBot: (Lorelei) rolls 1d10 and gets 9.

4 successes, Manip + Persuasion + Striking Looks Bonus. Will re-roll if SL is not applicable here.

[Deacon Knight]

Deacon said nothing and just watched, eating his ice cream. Collectively he'd never thought it possible to gather so many into a room and still maintain such a low average I.Q.

"See..." He mumbled. "This is why you never invite LARPers to ice cream. "All it takes is one wrong word and the next thing you know... tennis balls and lightning bolts..." He shook his head, mourning the imagery of a felled ice cream stealing Ogre buried under a mound of deadly tennis balls.

[SalmonMax]

Renata nods at Thomas, and is about to say something quippy in return when another girl smacks right into her. She backs up with a startled grunt.

"Uh...yeah, I guess. We just moved here. So..."

She glances back over her shoulder at Whitey and the Megazords.

"...does this happen every year?"

[Frida Ricci]

Frida looked at her a bit curiously, then turned and glanced around the room. She absorbed what was going on in the center of the room for a moment, then turned back to Renata, looking blankly at her for a moment.

"Do you mean the ice cream social? Or people yelling at each other? Those both happen all the time around here. She does seem upset about something though, doesn't she? I wonder if she could teach me that language, I've never heard anything like it.."

Her gaze wandered to the woman in the center of the room again, and the other three odd figures with her. Then she turned back to Renata, and tilted her head.

"I don't suppose you know if Deacon put any hallucinogens in the brownies this year, do you? Last year I got a bit of a headache.. and then I added this odd cubist motif to my latest painting. It didn't match very well.. and I must admit to not having much of a fondness for cubism. So I think I might have to skip the brownies this year if that's the case.."

The group, for now, seemed to have moved on, past the girl's attentions.

[Dawn OOC]

Each word of the students and teachers seems to drive Renala's anger up hotter, until Lorelei spoke. Her words stopped the strange woman, who inclined her head to the young woman. "You speak like a civilized woman. I thank you." Turning, she said something to the middle man who shook his head. More back and forth ensured, before Relana said to Lorelei, "You are excluded from the Harvest, by my word."

She looked at the Three and said, "We are going."

"I am not your subordinate," the middle man said. "And I am not done."

"Yet you are subordinate to your father," Relana said firmly, "and he gave you only the time I am here, this time."

The middle man shrugged. "Then we're leaving." He smiled at the gathered students. "Good night, for now. I shall return, to finish my selection."

Finally, the group began to exit the party.

Click to reveal..

They'll leave, unless someone intervenes. Feel free to continue reacting amongst yourselves.

[SalmonMax]

Oddly, Renata found the other girl's lack of reaction a bit reassuring. It couldn't be THAT weird, or she'd be more concerned, right?

She shrugs at the question. "No idea. What's a Deacon? Isn't that like, one of those guys in a Mass? Like, not a full priest, but they light candles and stuff?"

Okay, that wasn't a kind of freakish thing to say.

"I mean...don't worry about it. The brownies are already gone. So it's a complete non-issue."

[Frida Ricci]

"Oh.. alright then. And yes, the deacon is kind of like a vice-principal.. he does everything a principal does, unless the principal decides to do it himself. Except, of course.. the principal is the Priest.. and in this case, Deacon is a student here..."

She trailed off as she saw the group approaching, and as it seemed the sensible and polite thing to do, the odd young woman opened the door for them and held it as they passed.

"I hope you enjoyed the social.. do have a good day..."

[Lorelei]

The unintelligible exchange that followed her apology was so strange, and the references made by the pale woman so obscure, Lorelei could only nod politely as they turned to depart. If her lips were still, however, her mind was busily highlighting the most interesting bits of the strangers' visit. It was as utterly surreal as the mysterious woman herself, and Lorelei found herself watching the regal-looking maiden with rapt fascination.

[Ryan Jackson]

"Umm ... if she's excluded does that move us all up a number? 'Cause I think it'd be sweet to be number seven, that is of course assuming that you would like to be be civilized in return and tell us what is going on here." Ryan hadn't moved from his position by the wall but he spoke loudly enough that he could be heard by all.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Having stopped just outside the door, Sylvia had watched the worsening situation... and then saw Lorelei's gentle approach and the result. As the resolved their internal pecking order and headed toward the door, she held back until Relana cleared the door and was nearly even with her, then matched pace with the sword-bearing young woman.

"You know," she said, trying for a conversational tone, "most of us think that this is an elaborate hoax by one or more of our students. But that's not the case, is it? Would you mind me asking how exactly the Dalton Academy and this Camarine Army of yours came to be at odds with each other? I'm a historian - among other things - and if there was ever a record of this here, it's been stricken." Because, she added to herself, nobody's quite ready to deal with the possibility that you represent... if this really is what it increasingly seems to be.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Originally Posted By: Asshole the middle

"Good night, for now. I shall return, to finish my selection."

"You won't need to, bud. I'll make sure you choke on the first one." Sean' grin was humourless, his voice determined. As the Four turned to leave, he took a deep breath, and then let out a long sigh.

"Oooookay, that could have gone better." That was wierd. At least they're leaving now. Sean looked down at Lorelei, a rueful look on his face, though his eyes narrowed at the obvious fascination she had for the Woman. "I'm sorry about the way I acted, Lorelei. There was just something about those three that got to me, they were being such... Nevemind, no excuses. I'm new to this place, this life, and I'll just have to learn to adapt and find my place in it."

Originally Posted By: Ryan

if she's excluded does that move us all up a number?

Sean's expression turned thoughtful at Ryan's sass. I'm guessing being chosen is bad, so does Lorelei's exclusion mean someone else will have to take her place?... Won't matter, I'll we'll stop them, whatever this is. He shifted his eyes back to the door through which the Strangers had left, trying to hide his thoughts from Lorelei.

[Adrian Moss]

As Thomas witnessed Ms. Dorn poke another stick at Crazy, he stifled an internal sigh.

"Ms. Dorn, they need to be going," he interrupted. After all, if Crazy didn't like him, and he seemed an obstructionist then maybe Crazy would respond to the poke and Ms. Dorn would be happy with herself ... and get more air time.

Beyond that, he scanned the crowd of teens to see if anyone was nursing a wound of any kind (they weren't) or if they were distrubed and needed some council (perhaps). His maine duty was to follow these nutjobs out of here and see to it they left the Academy. The kids would have to wait until Lady-With-Sharp-Pointy-Thing left. Reality Show or not, Thomas felt the Sheriff should be called.

In the back of his mind a thought occurred.

I wonder if this had anything to do with the Troubles I've read almost nothing about; the deaths and disappearences and the hushing up of what really happened. ... Nah. That's just excellent window dressing.

Thomas was determined to follow the Psycho(s) and see them gone, no matter what.

[Dawn OOC]

The barbs were ignored as the Three left, following the strange woman like a bizarre convey. The one walking backwards continued to walk backwards, his pace graceful despite the awkward way he was traveling. Thomas found himself meeting those odd, flat eyes as he trailed them, as if he were meeting gazes with a doll.

"You had your two questions," Relana said, her head high. Those strange eyes latched onto Sylvia. "Your people are more foolish than I remembered if they are not taking this seriously."

"Since you're taking it seriously, you can be Two," the man who had done all the talking said, before twisting his head around to look at Thomas, "You can be Nine, for being a general pest."

"If you really want to know, know this," Relana said, her voice hot with anger, "your people invaded us, then whined like children when we struck back. They disrupted our culture, destroyed the stability of the Nine, and threw our world into Chaos. If you decide to do it again, do not expect this to help you." She reached into a deep thigh pocket and pulled out a snub-nosed thirty-eight. "We have our own Arms of Fire, now."

They weren't walking for a gate. They were headed for the dorms. The Talking Man said something, and Relana paused, putting the thirty-eight away. She turned to face Thomas and Sylvia, her hand on her sword. The others were moving past her, leaving her to face them alone. "You can come no further," she said simply. "Turn back, or I will be forced to hold you back."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan smiled and slid along the wall until he got to a window. While everybody was watching the freak show leave he opened the window and climbed out. He took his time, being quiet as he could and shutting the window behind him. Once free of the crowd of students and faculty he slithered through the bushes that abutted the building until he had a spot he could observe the exit from. He wanted to see where these people were headed next.

Click to reveal..

Slipping out of the room unnoticed

(10:47:17) (Ryan_Jackson): Stealth check (7 dice)

(10:47:21) ChatBot: (Ryan_Jackson) rolls 7d10 and gets 1,8,7,1,2,9,5.

Result = 2 sux

Hiding in the bushes and watching for the weirdos to leave

(10:47:52) (Ryan_Jackson): Stealth Check (7 dice)

(10:47:56) ChatBot: (Ryan_Jackson) rolls 7d10 and gets 7,2,9,9,4,10,4.

(10:48:00) ChatBot: (Ryan_Jackson) rolls 1d10 and gets 4.

Result = 3 sux

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Click to reveal.. (Perception)

Perception (Wits+Composure) to notice Ryan
1d10.hitsopen(8,10)=0, 1d10.hitsopen(8,10)=1, 1d10.hitsopen(8,10)=0, 1d10.hitsopen(8,10)=2= 3 successes

Sean noticed Ryan slip out the window with a smile. Good idea. I'll have to get the scoop from him later.

With the interlopers gone, people were still whispering, some worried, some not, but no one was having fun. Time to change that. "Come on guys, they're gone, let's not have them spoil the party. Since I seemed to have made a small mess and wasted three perfectly good sundaes, the least I can do is get some more ice cream, and see if there are anymore brownies to be had." Sean remembered Deek's stunt with the PA system and his Fisher Price microphone. "Think you can pipe in some music, Deek?"

Click to reveal.. ( Have Fun)

Presence + Socialize
1d10.hitsopen(8,10)=0, 1d10.hitsopen(8,1...itsopen(8,10)=0= 1 Success
Striking Looks
1d10.hitsopen(8,10)=0, 1d10.hitsopen(8,10)=0= 0 Successes

Sean went off in search of more refreshments, asking with his eyes and a cock of his head, if Lorelei would like to accompany him.

[Rorx]

As the Intruders head out the door of the party room Jason is already moving to the nearest window, going out through it he bothers little with stealth but dashes to the Sphere in the 'quad' taking up an observation position there to see where they go.

Click to reveal..

No stealth going out window, but will try to hide by the Sphere and see which dorm they go to.

Dex + Stealth = 3+0 -1 for unskilled = 2dice

Yeah I know he should have the skill but I ran out of pts/xp have to pick it up as I go.

(16:50:36) ChatBot: (Jason) rolls 2d10 and gets 3,9.

1 sux

[Thomas Burke]

Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC

"Turn back, or I will be forced to hold you back."

Okay, this is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy! Act like you can see the cameras ... and that she can to, so we can get this frightening farce over with.

With a calm tone and big, open, inviting eyes,
"Relana ... Rwen, I really don't mean to be a pain, but I would ask you were you are and what your duties of Herald are? This is our home, not yours. Are you really going to break your word and the words of the treaty because he said so?"

"Come on. Let me walk the group of you off campus and we can end this evenings ... interesting events concluded. Now, I'm going to walk the four of you out. I'm hardly in a position, nor an inclination, to harm anybody. Now stab me and show yourself to be false, or let's go."

Click to reveal..

Presence+Persuasion to get her to go along (14:04:24) ChatBot: (Adrian) rolls 9d10 and gets 10,3,6,10,4,6,4,4,5.
(14:04:35) ChatBot: (Adrian) rolls 2d10 and gets 1,10.
(14:04:42) ChatBot: (Adrian) rolls 1d10 and gets 3 = 3 successes

Click to reveal..

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Pride Vice at work.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Her eyes widened at the sudden appearance of Relana's handgun. Those eyes stayed fixed on the .38 even as she spoke.

"Thomas, I don't think this is what you think it is. Hold up."

Hoping against hope that the new teacher would indeed 'hold up', Sylvia watched as the pistol was tucked away, then tore her gaze from the hand - now heading for a sword hilt - to meet Relena's eyes.

"I think that there's been a terrible misunderstanding. You may not know us very well, but we're not a monolithic people. This invasion that happened? If someone from this place committed it, it was very much a lone effort, something that nobody here today was a part of or would sanction. We frankly aren't even fully aware of other... worlds, I suppose? And we certainly wouldn't sanction an attack on one.

"At the same time," she added, "those dormatories are where our children live. I'm charged with their protection." She took a step forward, watching Relana's grip tighten on the sword. "So either I'm going with you to make sure that my people are safe, or you're going to have to draw that sword and stop me. I'm hoping that you'll opt for civility and the hope of peace."

[Frida Ricci]

Frida kept holding the door open, almost as if she had forgotten she was still holding it. She watched the events unfolding with a sense of detatched curiosity, as mentally she burned the image of the strangers into her mind. The woman was strikingly lovely, she was sure she would make a beautiful painting. So Frida watched them, etching every movement and feature into the sketchpad of her mind...

[SalmonMax]

Renata watched too, with the air of someone who's still not convinced what she's seeing isn't supposed to be a prank.

"What are they supposed to be, Indians?" she mutters. "Hey, is that a gun she just pulled?"

Suddenly nervous, she takes a step to the side, putting a wall between herself and the now-armed woman. She gestures to Frida.

"Get out of the doorway," Renata urges. "I think the chick just drew a gun!"

[Frida Ricci]

Frida's eyes flickered down to the gun, and she gazed at it a moment thoughtfully. Then she let go (since the visitors had already left, and the teachers after them), and stepped back behind the wall with the new girl. When she spoke, her voice was slightly less detatched and edged with a touch of annoyance, but her words were only a murmur, not really heard by anyone other than Renata, whom she was right next to.

"Now that doesn't suit her at all, the sword seems much more appropriate. I think I'll have to leave that out of my painting..."

[SalmonMax]

"Painting?" Renata demands in a whisper, staring disbelievingly at the other girl. "Are you out of your mind? She has a gun! Haven't you ever heard of Columbine or...those other schools where people got shot? And did you see her eyes? I'm almost sure they were all black. Or maybe not, but that's what it looked like!"

She glanced around the room quickly and gave voice to her most urgent question.

"Why is everyone acting like this is normal?!"

[Frida Ricci]

Frida gazed at her patiently for a moment as she spoke, then responded in that odd, unnaturally calm voice. This time, however, it seemed to be a little more focused, without the vagueness she'd spoken with before.

"I wouldn't exactly group that in with this. After all, the shootings at Columbine and the other incidents you're referring to were commited by angry students. I can assure you, none of those four have been students here in the last four years or so. So the situation is quite different."

She glanced around at the others in the room, then back to Renata.

"I believe the other students are either under the impression that this is a show of some sort, or that they are students from a neighboring academy we are in competition with. Of course, both those options seem unlikely based on the woman's comments about invading them and fighting back. The others seem to think they're some kind of friendly visiting group which is just angry about being treated rudely, which is most likely some self-defense denial mechanism on their part in order to keep them their minds from having to deal with the truth that something odd is going on. They're obviously not ready to deal with the situation yet."

She gazed at Renata calmly the entire time she spoke, and the finally paused for a moment, tilting her head and looking at the frightened girl before continuing with her eerily calm address.

"If you're concerned about getting shot, you should probably stay in here. After all, they're outside now and don't seem to be interested in us at the moment. And you're right of course.. she did have black eyes. Very perceptive of you to notice."

[Dawn OOC]

"I have my duty to my Shovat," Relana said, "and he must leave this place. I cannot allow you to interfere. And if it is as he says, if you have forgotten the way to our kingdom, then I cannot allow you to find it again." Her sword hissed as she withdrew if from the sheath. "I prefer to not do violence before the season for violence. I will not hesitate however, so you will allow my Shovat to return home with his Shadows. And you will not spy on their path. You will stay here, by your own will or mine."

Jason crouched in the shadow of the globe, having arrived before the Three. The problem was when he first saw them, there were two of them. Frowning, he eased his head to the side to see a bit better, and felt someone tap him on the shoulder. "Curious little kitties should mind their noses," a guttural voice hissed at the same time, and Jason spun to find one of the flankers standing there. In the shadow of the globe, the man looked strange, almost animalistic. "I will give you one chance to lose your curiosity and save your nose."

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia blanched visibly at the drawn blade, but held her ground.

"If your... Shovat? Shovat is in one of the dormatories, you aren't going in alone. Not armed. Not with children in there. Now if you get your Shovat under escort and then leave the dorms, I won't follow. But you aren't setting foot in those buildings without me, unless you plan to cut me down on the spot."

In a careful gambit based on what she'd seen of First Wing Relana so far, she added, "I think that someone who respects duty as much as you can appreciate why this is necessary."