eenie meenie miney moe.

[-bump-] OK folks! This is gonna be a pretty standard dicetastic scene. Nothing fancy. Ergo:

1. 10 min per post OR LESS. Preferably less. If we're dicing, declare in 3 min. Roll in 2 or I'll roll for you.
2. No posting order, but please post ONCE for every post I make.
3. Keep track of your own health and tempers.
4. Questions in the chat. Don't IM me. If I don't see the question, repeat it until I do *LOL* If I don't respond for minutes on end -- I'm probably posting. You should wait, unless it's absolutely urgent, upon which you should PM me once.
5. PM me your applicable flaws. This includes stuff like nightmares and phobias and hatreds and compulsions.
6. If there are any off-limits themes, imagery or events you do NOT want to see in a scene, PM 'em to me now.
7. Go ahead and post yourselves in. We are a block or two off Broadway, so it's a quiet semi-urban commercial/residential area. Brick rowhouse, treelined street. Looks something like this:

http://tinyurl.com/yb2vaqp

Your character might just be coming out of a theater or a restaurant or something!

[Lonna Larson] Lonna Larson had finally become comfortable enough with herself that she could go to the movies alone and not be embarrassed or frustrated or anything of the sort about the act. It violated a social norm, yes, that one was supposed to be ashamed when they came out of movies alone because it was an inhernetly social act to sit by your closest friends for two hours and not say a word to them.

No. No, Lonna thought this act was completely stupid because, well, if she wanted to watch a movie with her friends she would talk through it. And, if she wanted to actually watch a movie, she obviously did not feel the need to surround herself with people that she liked.

So, there she was, making her way out of the theatre smelling vaguely like cut flowers and dissapointment.

There was twelve bucks and two and a half Lonna Larson was never going to get back.

[Danicka Musil] Ms. Musil is finished shopping for the night. She's striding down the sidewalk, back to the station or back to wherever her car is parked. Her boots are worn over her skinny-legged jeans, crunching into the snow and crushing the salty icemelt. She's got a few layers on up top underneath her black wool revere coat, a yellow leather purse over one arm, and she's carrying a couple of shopping bags in her other -- gloved -- hand. There's a green knit hat on her head with a tiny decorative brim and a daisy on it, offset. Her hair is in two long blonde braids.

It's very cold. She's alright with that. Her breath steams as she walks. Her cream-colored scarf peeks out at the world from beneath her coat. She hums to herself as she goes. It's the Happy Birthday song.

[Genevre de Provence] Genevre had spent most of the morning and afternoon in this district working on some contracts for a local company. Now she was on her way back up the street to find her car, since parking sucked in America, so that she could head back to the office and work on revisals.

[-bump-] There's an faux-irish pub just down the block, and the door flies open to emit a burst of noise and music -- as well as one glass walker kinsman, tossed out on his ass. The Fox & Feather isn't really the sort of establishment you see barfights in a lot. It's all green felt and dark wood, expensive and just a little pretentious, a place for young professionals with musical leanings to go for overpriced scotch and half-decent open mic nights. No wonder Alexander Vaughn and his antics weren't welcome here.

"I know girls that fight better than you!" he shouts back in the open door. A motorcycle helmet answers him -- pitched out at his head. He catches it. The door slams shut. The street is quiet again.

By coincidence or serendipity, they're all within a block or so of each other -- Danicka, Genevre, Lonna, Alexander. Grumbling, the Glass Walker gets to his feet, dusting snow off his ass.

Somewhere down the street, a dog starts barking.

[Danicka Musil] She's not one of the women in this town who delights in seeing Alexander Vaughn tossed out of a pub, tackled flat in the snow, or otherwise brutalized. She doesn't feel much at all when she sees him up head, nor does she have much reaction to the sight of Lonna coming out of a theater across the street. She's familiar with both of them. She usually only sees them when bad things are happening, and that may be why the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end suddenly.

No matter, no matter. She ignores the crawling sensation of foreboding for now and keeps walking, does not offer Alexander a nasty quip, but does wave to Lonna slightly. She hasn't seen Genevre yet.

[Lonna Larson] Somewhere, a dog starts barking. The blonde keeps her hands in her pockets and she moves down the street. She stops, finds herself looking at a pub, and wonders briefly if she should go get a drink or not. There's always room for booze, it seems. The Child of Gaia continues on her way, though her eyes go from Mr. Vaughn to... oh, a wave.

She looked at Danicka and she smiled. The bonde slipped her hand out of her pocket and waved hello to her. Lonna had yet to realize that she only saw Danicka when something terrible was about to happen. They were missing Atropos this evening, how unfortunate. She does see Genevre though, and she waves to her as well.

She is pleased, to say the least.

[Genevre de Provence] She manages to get to where her car -should- be and looks around. She frowns, she could have sworn she had parked just there.

Hearing the commotion not too far away, she looks to see Alex throw out on his ass. She smirks a bit, finding it amusing actually. Then a look around, and she notices Lonna. A light wave was given back before she moved up the way and stood next to Alex.

"You alright, monsior?"

[-bump-] By then, Alex is back on his feet, dusting his ass off, turning his helmet over in his hands to check for damage.

"What?" He whips around, looks at Genevre. "Who the fuck are you?"

Down the street, the dog's bark grow louder, more urgent. Whoever's dog it is, he isn't getting shushed. Maybe the owners aren't home. Or maybe --


(percep/alert check! diff 8, all or nothing.)

[Danicka Musil] [perception + alertness]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8) Re-rolls: 1

[Lonna Larson] [per+alert, diff8]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 10 (Failure at target 8)

[Genevre de Provence] "Genevre. I 'ave seen you around, non? May'aps at the Brother'ood? For zee celebracion of Thanks?" But the dog's barking makes her turn to that general direction.
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 6, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 8)

[-bump-] That dog is getting closer.
to Danicka Musil, Genevre de Provence

[Danicka Musil] Her attention does pick up on Alex and Genevre now, as her hand drops and she turns her head that way. The barking of the dog makes her frown, as she heads towards Genevre and Alex, expecting Lonna to do the same, perhaps.

"Genevre de Provence, Alexander Vaughn," she says. "Vaughn, de Provence." Only half a beat. "Would the three of you like to join me for some drinks? I have an idea to run past some of you, and now's as good a time as any."

Maybe she believes in Providence. Or Serendipity. Or something.

[Lonna Larson] Lonna Larson is deliciously clueless in this regard. There was a dog barking, and it was barking quite a bit. Lonna wasn't too sure what that meant, but she didn't quite put much thought into it. She smiles, something polite and lovely as usual and has finally bridged the gap with little effort.

"I'm Lonna, Lonna Larson, it's a pleasure," introductions to the man who is a little taller than she is, and it's back to Danicka.

Mentioning booze. God bless Danicka Musil.

"That? Sounds fabulous, I would appreciate that."

[Genevre de Provence] Genevre shifted her briefcase from one hand to the other, so she could get to her purse hung from her shoulder, and shifting her hand in it as if looking for something. She's a touch distracted by the dog barking, but a nod was given to Danicka. "Oui, mon ami. I will buy zee firse round."

[-bump-] Alexander laughs, a rough sort of sound, dabbing at his nostrils with the ball of his thumb to see if he's bleeding. He's not. "Well, if she's buying, I'm in. We better head somewhere else. I'm no longer welcome here -- "

He breaks off. They can all hear claws on asphalt now, running. The dog's still barking. It's loose. It's coming at them, and

it's not a dog.

This is a nice street; a quiet, tree-lined street with brick rowhouses that march away into the distance and plenty of street lighting. Pools of amber sodium light fall on the snow drifts and the well-plowed street. Sprinting straight down the center of the road, seen in flickers and flashes as it dashes through those pools of light, is a beast out of nightmare.

It's fourlegged. It runs like a dog, forepaws stretching for leverage and hindquarters churning with power. It has short, dense fur; the markings are vaguely those of a doberman, or a rottweiler. That's where the resemblance ends.

The size of the thing is mindboggling, for one -- as large as a pony; bulging with overblown musculature. Bone spikes protrude from its elbows and the hocks; from the point of the shoulder and the croup. A ring of bone crowns the withers. Three horns protrude from the skull, like a triceratops gone wrong. Slaver runs from its jaws as it snaps and growls and barks, coming straight at them.

By now, it has become rather clear Fido doesn't want to play.

(inits!)

[Danicka Musil] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2

[-bump-] (Those of you with guns: I'll let you draw and load in one action (split is okay). Fido is still a good 20-30 yards away, though it will cover that in a round -- so for this round, it's just running at them.)

[Genevre de Provence] 5
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1

[Lonna Larson] 5+1d10
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4

[-bump-] +6!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] (Action order:
Fido
Lonna
Danicka
Gen

Declare in reverse!)

[-bump-] 7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] (Ahem.
Alex
Fido
Lonna
Danicka
Gen)

[Genevre de Provence] Spending round to draw gun and load clip.

[Danicka Musil] Upon sight of the dog, Danicka Musil's eyes go wide. She drops her shopping bags on the sidewalk immediately, but it's not out of shock. Air, ice cold, shoots into her nostrils as her hand goes into her bag with motions that are, sadly, becoming rather practiced.
[1a. Draw and load
1b. 3RB on Fido]

[Lonna Larson] There was a dog there. A bog... thing... ish. She looks at it, brows knit and the blonde takes a second to rifle through her purse, because no lady was ever really fully dressed without a hand gun
[Actions1
1a: Draw and load
1b: 3 round burst! Sorry, Fido]

[-bump-] Fido:
BARK! BARK BARK! RUN! BARK!

Alex:
1. Dig in Danicka's shopping bags for something to use as a weapon.

[-bump-] (Anything useful in those bags?)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2 (Failure at target 6)

[Lonna Larson] [Shoooot! dex3+firearms2+3RB = 8 -3 (split) = 5, diff 7)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 7) [WP]

[Lonna Larson] [Damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[-bump-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] The first staccato burst of bullets comes from Lonna. They hit the once-dog with a crunch of lead into bone. The creature yelps, stumbles ... keeps on coming.

[Danicka Musil] [1b. dex + firearms + 3 (burst) -3 (split)]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 7) [WP]

[Danicka Musil] [damage. 4 + 1]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[Genevre de Provence] *is loading in the clip*

[Lonna Larson] Bullets hit the once-dog, but it doesn't stop moving just yet. No, it's still coming. it just... keeps... coming. The blonde grits her teeth, and a look of clear displeasure crosses too pretty features. Normal day in Chicago, it seemed.

[-bump-] Danicka, Genevre and Lonna, for all intents and purposes, appear to be three ordinary young women.

They're not going to some secret meeting; they're not on some quest. They're rather attractive, all of them, but nothing that would stop traffic, shake the earth. They're all well-off, or at least comfortably situated in life, but none of them appear to be heiresses to a fortune. None of them are out particularly late. None of them are returning from anything particularly interesting.

And then a hound from hell comes howling down the street at them. And not a single one of them shrieks, or runs. Not a single one of them cowers and hides.

They all drop their shopping bags, their movie popcorn, their briefcases -- and pull handguns out of their pretty little outfit-coordinated purses. Not little snubnosed ladies' affairs, either, but matte black, heavy, semiautomatic pistols capable of firing three round bursts. They step away from each other on instinct, load, flick the safety off, square to the target, brace their firing hand with their off.

The street resounds with gunfire.

And with the sound of tearing paper and cardboard. Alexander has found a knife block in Danicka's shopping bags. A moment later the kinsman gets to his feet, a cleaver in one hand, a chef's knife in the other.

"Bring it!" he shouts at the dog-thing.

And the dog brings it.

[Genevre de Provence] 1) Firing, 3RB at hellhound

[Danicka Musil] "Alexander Vaughn, I swear to Christ almighty if you blunt a single one of those I will end you," snaps one of the two blondes, the shorter one, without lowering her arms.
[1a. 3RB
1b. 1 shot]

[Lonna Larson] Action! 3rb!

[-bump-] Hellhound:
1a. Headbutt Lonna! With horns!
b. Bite Alex!

Alexander:
a. Stab in ribs with chef's knife!
b. Chop cleaver into skull!

[-bump-] a. Stab! +2 diff for targeting. Effects: if damage after soak, stamina -1 for collapsed lung. -2 dice!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] Damage, +1
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 6 (Failure at target 6)

[-bump-] b. HEAD CHOP. No particular effect.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 8 (Success x 3 at target 4)

[-bump-] 2
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[-bump-] Alexander: "Your knives are already dull!"

[-bump-] The hellhound yelps as Alexander's knife -- formerly Danicka's knife -- parts thick muscle, slips past arching ribs, finds its target in the tender tissue of the lung. However, it shrugs off a direct blow to the cranium. Doesn't even seem to split the skin.

A second later it bows its head and drives directly for Lonna with its three wickedly pointed horns.

a. -2 dice, headbutt!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 7, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 7)

[-bump-] Damage +1(headbutt) +2(succ), lethal.
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6)

[Lonna Larson] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] Lonna isn't nearly so tough. Bone tears through her flesh like razors through paper. The kinswoman drops, stunned, as a pool of blood begins to spread beneath her.

The hound doesn't hesitate. It turns and snaps, viciously, for the one with the knives.

b. -3 dice, bite!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 5)

[-bump-] Damage, lethal!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Lonna Larson] She doesn't so much sit up as she does roll over and look at the triceratops-turned-housepet. The blonde barely levels her gun and fires three times. Thank everything she's close...

[3RB: dex3+firearms2+3 = 8 - 5 (OWW!) = 3, diff 7 - 2 (really effing close))
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)

[Lonna Larson] damage
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6 (Failure at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] Danicka doesn't answer Alex. The hellhound's closer, and there's a muscle in her jaw twitching, a glint in her eyes that isn't fury but terror. She readies herself for the nine millimeter's kickback and fires off three rapid shots again, thinking not Alexander Vaughn is an asshole but oh god oh god oh my god oh god.
[1a. dex + firearms +3 (burst) -2 (split)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5)

[Danicka Musil] [damage! 4 + FUCK YOUR MOTHER]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] [1b. dex + firearms -3 (split)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 5, 10 (Success x 3 at target 4) [WP]

[Danicka Musil] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[-bump-] (soak against 1 auto)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Genevre de Provence] ((Dex 2 + Firearms 2 + 3RB Diff 7 - 2diff point blank shot))((Add WP))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5) [WP]

[Genevre de Provence] Dam 4 + 1
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] The thing is unholy in its toughness. Despite bullet after bullet hitting its hide, the hound

just
keeps
coming.

(Let's reinit! Hound, +6!)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5 (Failure at target 6)

[Genevre de Provence] 5
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[Danicka Musil] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1

[-bump-] Alex, +7
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[Lonna Larson] (0+1d10)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7

[-bump-] Genevre
Hound
Alex
Danicka
Lonna

go!

[Lonna Larson] action!: 3rb on the thing

[Danicka Musil] [1a. 3RB on Fido
1b. -1WP, BB on Lonna]

[-bump-] Alex:
1a. This is fun! Stab to back of neck with chef knife.
b. Cleave again!

Hound:
1a. STOP STABBING ME. Bite!
b. STOP SHOOTING ME. Toss Danicka!

[Genevre de Provence] 1) shooting again 3RB

[Genevre de Provence] ((dex + fire + 3RB = Diff 7 -2diff for PB range)) ((WP again))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5) [WP]

[Genevre de Provence] Damage 4 + 1
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 5, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[-bump-] Yelp!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 7 (Failure at target 6)

[-bump-] ...until Genevre plants three bullets in its thick skull, anyway. The hound's head snaps back so hard it rears up, its huge body twisting once in the air.

Then it hits the asphalt on its side, motionless. There's so much mass there that the kin can feel the ground literally shudder on impact.

They get only a second's worth of respite before an inhuman shriek splits the night.

"THEY KILLED MY PUPPY!"

It's coming from above them. At the edge of one of the brick lowrises is a girl, perhaps 18 or 19, pouting. She clings to the sleeve of a tall gentleman whose coat and hat makes him look like a throwback to Chicago's gangster era.

"POOPSIE, THEY KILLED FIDO. THEY KILLED HIM. LOOK."

The man beside her sighs the sigh of the longsuffering. "Yes, darling, I see that. But I told you, if you let him off his leash like that, he'll get hurt one day. Didn't I tell you?"

"BUT POOPSIE--"

"No buts. Come on now. Let's find you another one."

The girl's face lights up. Her mouth splits open. The smile is an obscene mockery of delight, all sharp teeth.

"REALLY, Poopsie? Which one?"

The gentleman looks over the edge at the kin below. "Pick one," he says.

The girl -- well, she looks like a girl, anyway, until she vaults over the edge and falls, falls, lands in a coiled, compact, effortless crouch. Her eyes are totally black, insectoid. She looks from one kin to the next.

Then she begins to chant:

"Eenie, meenie, miney, moe..."

[-bump-] (one free round while the two are talking to make whatever preparations you like!

also, everyone roll 1d10.)

[-bump-] (alex)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Genevre de Provence]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6

[Lonna Larson] (ohgod!)
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10

[Danicka Musil]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5

[Danicka Musil] Danicka starts to lower her gun when the hound goes down. She's breathing heavily from terror, from preparation. Her arms are already sore. She jerks when the shriek hits her ears, whips her head -- and, notably, her firearm -- around, though the barrel doesn't point straight at the girl until she sees those sharp teeth. And then she just bolts towards Lonna, reaching into her purse and taking out something wrapped in cellophane.

"You're okay," she says to Lonna, the woman whose intestines are currently showing and who -- even so -- went on shooting. Danicka lays the bloody bandage, black and dried, across her midsection. "You're going to be fine. But you need to get up."

A hard rush of air leaves the Lord kinswoman's lungs right as the bandage starts to glow faintly blue, sparking with bits of silver that turn black as they die out, like candles extinguishing themselves when the wick and the wax are diminished too far to be of any use. The bandage feels like rage when it shudders, unravels, and then disperses into nothingness. When the glow has faded, all that's left are -- well.

Lonna's midsection is still a mess. But it's far less of one, now. Danicka stands up, rolls her shoulder, gun still in hand. She goes over to Alex and hands him a pair of thin darts, speaking fast. "You have to get up close anyway. Focus on these and jab them wherever you can. You'll have three seconds, maybe, where they won't be able to react while you chop them the fuck up. Okay?"

She doesn't wait for an okay. She lifts her gun and aims.
[-1WP, BB, +3Health to Lonna]

[Genevre de Provence] The dog finally drops, and as she listens to the strangeness of the girl and man, she pulls out a fresh clip, her spare, and switches them out. Leaving the half clip in her coat pocket so she can get to it faster. Her eyes staying on Mantis-girl.

[Lonna Larson] Lonna Larson always expected that, if her life was a horror movie, she would be the first to go. She sits up as best. she can, though it doesn't quite work. Everything hurts. There's blood everywhere, and she's starting to feel incredibly lightheaded.

She shoots anyway.

Danicka rushes over, and within a moment her midsection isn't quite as disgusting. She's okay, Danicka says. She's going to be fine, but she needs to get up.

The blonde has no qualms with it, and she is on her feet quickly.

"Anyone parked close? We gotta get the Hell outta here," it's all the advice and forethought she has to offer.

[Lonna Larson] (close that tag!)

[-bump-] While Danicka is handing out talens, Alexander is staring at her.

"What are you, Mary Poppins?"

And then, to Lonna: "My bike's a block away, but that doesn't help the rest of you much."

--

"...catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers let him go.
Eenie meenie miney ... moe."

Her finger points at Alex for an endless second.

Then:

"My, mommy, told, me, to, pick, the, best, one.
And, that, is, Y ... O ... U."

She's pointing at Lonna. And then she squeals in delight, jumping up and down, clapping her hands.

The gentleman leaps down behind her. He lands as she does, effortlessly, catlike in balance. And he shrugs apologetically at the kin.

"You heard her."

(inits!)

[-bump-] Alex +7!
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] [+6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 8

[Lonna Larson] 3+1d10
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5

[-bump-] Darla +6
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] P. Sherman +5
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4 (Failure at target 6)

[Genevre de Provence] 5

She glanced over her shoulder, and took a quick look. "Zee red one" A gesture to the red Volvo 3 cars up across the street.
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6

[-bump-] (init order:

Alex
Danicka
Darla
Genevre
P Sherman
Lonna

For the record, I'm going to say Genevre's car will take a full turn for most people to reach (doing nothing else). If you split your actions 50/50, it's two turns to get there; if splitting 33/33/33, it's three turns, and so on. It'll take an additional action for Genevre to unlock it, and then 1 each to get in.

Declare!)

[Lonna Larson] action! 3rb for Miss Darla (Sorry Darla!)

[-bump-] P Sherman:
1. Evil Powerz, Activate!

[Genevre de Provence] 3RB at Sherman

[-bump-] Darla:
1a. Grab Lonna
b. Evil Powerz, Activate!

[Danicka Musil] She doesn't look at Alex when she answers him, staring down the street. "I used to be a governess, actually," she says. "Not a nanny." Like it matters. Especially right now.

"I didn't drive," she adds to Lonna, and fires at P. Sherman. She's getting tired. They're not even half done and she's tired. She would wonder if she should run, if it weren't for the fact that she's too focused on what she's doing.
[1a. 3RB on Sherman]

[Lonna Larson] (changing action to this: dodge Darla like a mofo]

[-bump-] Alex:
1. Jab Sherman with dart! -WP to activate talen.

[-bump-] Rolling it like a knife, since it's in his hand! +1 diff for unwieldy knife.
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 6, 6, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2

[Danicka Musil] [dex + brawl + 3 (burst) // diff -2 (pointblank) -2 (partially immobilized target)]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 2, 2, 2, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 3)

[Danicka Musil] [damage. 4 + 4]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] Alexander doesn't know what he's doing. He's never handled a talen before. But when the tall man comes sailing down, and when all the kin line up their beads on him, he doesn't think twice.

The Glass Walker leaps in and jabs the dart into the tall man's side. As though struck by lightning, his spine arches and his head flies up, eyes staring emptily skyward.

Three seconds. The kinswomen unload.

(soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] Darla: grab! -2
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 8, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Lonna Larson] Eyees widen, her heart pounds, and all she knows is that she does not want this spoiled brat of a whatever she was touching her. Lonna intended on getting out of the way

(dex3+dodge2= 5 - 1 (oww) = 4)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6) [WP]

[-bump-] Quick as the preying mantis Genevre thinks of her as, the girl strikes at Lonna --

-- but the blonde dodges. Easily.

Shrieking with vexation, the girl tries again.

(b, changed action! -3 dice, +1 diff.)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 7)

[Genevre de Provence] ((dex 2 + fire 2 + 3RB / diff 7 - 2 diff (point blank - 2 immobilized target))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 6 at target 3)

[Genevre de Provence] Damage 4 + 5
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] (Action order:
Alex
Danicka
Darla
Genevre
Sherman
Lonna

declare while i quick-recap!)

[Lonna Larson] action: stomp on Darla's instep (poor Darla)

[Genevre de Provence] 1) SHooting Mantis girl now 3RB

[-bump-] This time, Darla gets a fistful of Lonna's hair. The girl's strength is nothing to write home about, but her tenacity is alarming. Like a piranha on a victim, she just doesn't let go.

"Lets," she hisses, "make you a little prettier."

Meanwhile, the others fire on Sherman again and again. Bullets riddle his wool coat, his felt hat; for all that, only Genevre manages to wound him -- and then, only grazingly.

Seconds tick by. Awareness is coming back into his eyes. For the first time, his longsuffering weariness melts into something else, closer to true irritation.

"Insects," he snarls.


[Sherman declare: 1. ACTIVATE EVIL!]

[-bump-] [Darla declare: 1. ACTIVATE EVIL!]

[Danicka Musil] [1a. 3RB on Sherman
1b. 1 shot]

[-bump-] [....on Lonna, that is. Sherman's just powering up something evil.]

[-bump-] [Alexander: 1a. Get behind Sherman
b. Kidney stab!]

[-bump-] a. move!
b. -3 dice, -2 diff.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 6, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 4 at target 2)

[-bump-] dam +3!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] Even as she fires, Danicka is counting, chanting in her head like a nursery rhyme. Seven to go, seven to go, seven to--

Go.
[1a. dex + firearms + 3 (burst) -2 (split) // diff -2 (point blank)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 5)

[Danicka Musil] [damage! 4 + 5]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 3, 4, 5 (Failure at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] Four to go, four to go, four to --

Go.
[1b. dex + firearms -3 (split) // diff -2 (pb)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 7, 8 (Success x 2 at target 4)

[Danicka Musil] [damage! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] (this will be followed by a short post)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 7)

[-bump-] Darla's eyes are bottomless pits.

They hold Lonna's as her thin hand holds its grip on her hair. The girl's other hand comes up and grasps Lonna around the throat, viciously.

The sensation that follows, rippling out like a shockwave from that pitiless grasp, is like nothing Lonna has ever felt before. Radiant pain shocks through her very bones -- literally. Her skeleton pops and cracks, and then her skin splits.

Spires of bone, bloody still from their sudden eruption, rear from her shoulder girdle; curve from her knuckles; jut from her elbows. Darla's shrieking laughter rings in her ears.

(soak 2 lethal, Lonna!)

[Genevre de Provence] ((Curve the bullet!!!))

((dex 2 + fire 2 + 3RB / diff 7 - 2 diff (point blank))((WP))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) [WP]

[Lonna Larson] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Genevre de Provence] Damage 4 + 4
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)

[-bump-] (soak!)
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 2 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] [this, too, will be followed by a short post.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 7)

[-bump-] Darla doesn't laugh for long. Genevre's next shot hits the girl square in the shoulder, smashing bone, tearing flesh.

The wound doesn't bleed.

The impact drives her back, though, slams her against the brick wall. She slides down in an untidy heap, dazed, Lonna slipping from her grasp.

Her companion snarls in fury, lips peeling back from his teeth. They all see it: his canines long and sharp, translucent white like those of a viper's. And then shadows devour him alive. Where the man once stood is a column of living darkness, writhing and sentient.

[Lonna Larson] Oh that. was. It.

The blonde one, bloody, warped, and ultimately displeased, turned and looked at Darla. She was a vengeful little thing.

"I'm pretty the way I am, thank you."

(actions!
1a: punch! -2
1b: 3RB for Darla)

[Lonna Larson] (oh, wait, just a 3RB, she doesn't have the dice to split)

[Lonna Larson] (dex3+firearms2+3rb= 8 -2 (oww!)= 6, diff.. something)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9 [WP]

[Lonna Larson]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] (init order:
Alex
Danicka
Darla -- Stunned
Genevre
Sherman
Lonna

Declare in reverse while I recap!)

[Lonna Larson] Action: she's stunned, may as well finish the job!
get in point-blank-range for Darla, aaaand shoot.

[-bump-] Darla stares at Lonna stupidly as the child of gaia -- badly injured but pissed as hell -- blows another hole in her chest.

That one doesn't bleed either.

Then the column of shadow and wrath, howling like nothing human, moves. Fast as light. Fast as darkness. It gets between Lonna and the girl, protecting her. Tendrils of darkness, agile, dimensionless, like countless ropes of gossamer, lash out.

[Sherman, reflexive:
-1 blood point. Heal for 1L

Leftside tendrils:
1a. Disarm Lonna
b. Initiate Clinch on Genevre

Rightside tendrils:
1a. Grab Danicka
b. Bash against wall!)

[Genevre de Provence] 1) 3RB HEAD shot @ Darla

[-bump-] [Darla: stunned]

[Danicka Musil] [1a. Dodge
1b. 3RB on Sherman]

[-bump-] [Alex: 1a. I ATTACK THE DARKNESS (stab!)
b. MOAR. (stab!)]

Furthermore: if your character has NEVER seen Obtenebration 4, roll permanent WP vs diff 8 to prevent succumbing to terror. If you fail this roll, you must try to flee instead.

If you have Gall, roll at diff 6.

Alex's WP roll -- ]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)

[Lonna Larson] [OMG WTF?!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 8)

[Genevre de Provence] ((WP))
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] a. stab -2!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 6, 6 (Success x 1 at target 4)

[-bump-] Damage!
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] b. Stab -3!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 6, 6, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4) Re-rolls: 2

[-bump-] dam+3!
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[-bump-] soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 4, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] [1b. 3RB // diff -2 (pb)]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5)

[Danicka Musil] [damage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)

[-bump-]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 7, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] Alexander strikes at the seething darkness. Danicka's knives -- once gleaming, now wet with houndsblood -- sink again and again into

nothingness.

It does little. The same can't be said for Danicka's shots. Muzzleflash from the guns casts their shadows onto the buildings -- everyone's except the man-turned-darkness. Like a vampire of legend, the shadow itself casts no shadow. It does not bleed. It does not speak.

But it is capable of being damaged. Wounded.

Brought down.

Three bullets strike in quick succession, square-on, and the writhing tendrils of darkness seem to twist in on themselves; fall apart at the edges. Tattering, shattering, they spin apart --

-- the form of the man, revealed again, hits the wall beside his companion. Slides down.

He looks dead. He doesn't breathe. His skin is cold. But at least one of them here knows that if he were really dead, he would turn to ash.


[Darla: still stunned! Genevre, go!]

[Genevre de Provence] ((dex 2 + fire 2 + 3RB / diff 7 - 2 diff (point blank - 2 immobilized target))
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 3)

[Genevre de Provence] Damage 4 + 5
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[Genevre de Provence]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[-bump-] Darla: Soak!
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 2, 2 (Failure at target 6)

[-bump-] One last burst of gunfire from Genevre drops all light of awareness out of Darla's eyes. She slumps beside the tall man, apparently lifeless.

[-bump-] [back IC!]

[Danicka Musil] She's shaking now. Her backbone -- never what she's been known for, at least before Chicago -- feels chipped away at, bent out of shape, weakened. Danicka has one bullet left in her gun, and she doesn't carry extra clips. She's never exhausted even one before. Why would she carry extras?

But she knows she has one. One. And she knows what these things are.

When the others are faced with massive black tentacles of shadow writhing about in the street, Danicka thinks only Oh, god. and it's a resigned, exhausted sigh of blasphemy even in her own skull... rather than a scream of terror resonating around her head. She doesn't lower her firearm but squeezes the trigger once, twice, three times in quick succession, praying. She prays, sometimes.

And it does the trick. Finally. Danicka lets out a noise that's not quite relief, nor is it anywhere close to triumph. She is breathing heavily, her chest moving with each pant, and her arms are still locked to keep the gun at the ready.

The girl falls, and Danicka walks immediately to the fallen man. She bends at the waist, presses the barrel of the gun to his head, and unloads one last bullet into the bloodsucker.

[Genevre de Provence] It took a few moments for Genevre to lower her gun. She wasn't shaking, or fearful, or the like when one took a life. It almost seemed as though, this wasn't the first life she ever took. She slowly pocketed the gun in her coat. "Why iz it when I go out, some kind of bullzhit like zis always 'appens?"

[Lonna Larson] She has no idea what this is. She has no idea what they are or what they could do [she has an inkling though, and that was enough]. She could handle quite a lot of things, but this was not natural by any means. She is furious... and when the fury and anger and indigation settled down...

She caught a look at her knuckles, her shoulders, the blood that was everywhere and daring to make her get sick to her stomach. Lonna looked pale, and now that her adrenaline was daring not to pound too heavily, her hands were shaking...

"ohmigod..." is the only thing she can think.

Ohmigod. ohmigodohmigodohmigod fix. it. now

Breathe, Larson. Right?

"I think I'm gonna be sick..."

[Genevre de Provence] She moved over to Lonna. "Come, we take you to.." She had to think for a moment then grumbled. "We take you to Theron. 'E will fix you, 'opefully."

[-bump-] The bullet does nothing.

But the spark -- the fire bursting from the muzzle, point blank; the ignited gunpowder coughing out onto the bloodsucker's temple --

it catches. Like sparks to paper, lightning to tinder, it burns, sudden and hot and unbelievably fast. A rim of fire spreads, orange and furious, licking from one monster to the other. Behind it, flesh and bone, a century old or more, crumbles away to ash.

In seconds, the man and the girl are gone. Ashes blow away on the wind, speckling white snow with grey.

--

Kinfolk live a rough life. They get jaded fast.

A few months ago, Alexander fought against fomori for the first time. He was terrified. Tonight, facing the hound with the bone spikes and the muscles and the teeth, he thought mainly about how to kill it. Where to strike. How to angle the knife.

And then he saw a man turn to darkness.

The knives are shaking in his hands, splashing shards of light in all directions. He's panting, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. His helmet is forgotten in the gutter.

"What the fuck was that?"

[Danicka Musil] "Leech," is all Danicka says, and this is to Alexander Vaughn.

She's stepping back from the fire, and she's still trembling. And shudders when she looks over at Lonna. "Oh god. Lonna, I'm sorry."

As though she could have stopped that.

[Genevre de Provence] She was pulling off her coat to put on Lonna's shoulders. "Zat was our life, mon ami."

[Lonna Larson] In a moment of morbid fascination, the blonde perks up with a half of a laugh, "hey, look, they're self cleaning. We don't have to do anything."

Ashes scattered to the winds, and she shudders. The blonde is genuinely horrified. It comes across in her speech- shakey, uncertain, quiet, and the way that she is holding onto Genevre's coat for dear life.

"I'm fine," is the only thing she can get out, for her own benefit as much as anyone else's. "We... we... we need to go. We need to go now."

[Genevre de Provence] She took Lonna by the arm. "I take you to Theron. 'E should know 'ow to fix zis." And started for her car with Lonna in tow.

[-bump-] Alexander just gives Genevre a look: equal parts disbelief and disgust. "What the fuck?" he says, and then turns back to the blonde. The one with all the spikes. "Let's go. Think we can get someone to ... help her? Push her goddamn bones back in under her skin?"

[Danicka Musil] The Shadow Lord kinswoman -- who has been, at turns, mistaken for a member of a great many other tribes, and not just by Mr. Vaughn over there -- looks at the Fang and the Gaian with a concern she's never shown for others after one of these skirmishes. She looks at Genevre. "She needs to be taken to her tribe. If you don't know a Child of Gaia, take her to the Brotherhood and flag down the first one of them you see. Someone will know a Theurge."

Her eyes go to Alex as she's staring to put her gun away. She swallows hard. "Would you mind giving me a ride home?"

[Genevre de Provence] She shoo'd Alex off. "You go. I will 'andle Lonna. I will take 'er to mon pack's zeuge. Now shoo." Being all Fangy at it.

[Danicka Musil] "Genevre," Danicka snaps. "It hardly matters which Theurge it is. Find someone, for god's sake. But shut up and go."

[Genevre de Provence] *takes Lonna to the BH*

[Lonna Larson] People keep talking about taking her to her tribe. The blonde, however, doesn't seem to be taking this well. Of course, she's taking it just fine for a moment, then the realization of something seems to be sinking in and she's reminded of something else and things build and build and-

Genevre was taking her to the brotherhood. No panicking.

[-bump-] Fang and Coggie head toward the red Volvo. Alexander watches them go, trying not to stare too hard at the bone spikes.

"No problem," he says to Danicka. "It's this way."

[Danicka Musil] [intelligence. is there any chance you even remember?]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 10 (Failure at target 6)

[Danicka Musil] There are shopping bags on the sidewalk. Williams Sonoma. Crate and Barrel. Pottery Barn. They are left right where they are, as the rather pale woman in the black coat -- which has ash on it now, and Lonna's blood on the cuffs -- and the cheerful green hat walks over to Alexander Vaughn with a small nod, gun in purse now. She shoulders the bag and nods. She doesn't even notice the shopping bags, it seems. Or maybe she just doesn't care.

"It isn't far," Danicka assures him, as though this makes much of a difference with a dead dog-monster's body behind them and a cloud of ash stirring up and vanishing. She stops, though. "Oh."

And looks at the dog, then Alex. "I don't want to deal with this," she confesses. And then: "One moment."

An iPhone, sleek and shining, comes out of her coat pocket. She doesn't call anyone. She sends a text, and then nods to Alex. "Alright."

Her address is given, and she doesn't shy from quite literally clinging to him once they're on his bike, all the way to Kingsbury Plaza.

[-bump-] "Hey, you forgot your stuff," Alex calls. If she doesn't go back for them, he does -- muttering the whole time.

It's probably a good thing she doesn't live far. The Buell's saddlebags are small on a good day; its storage space is miniscule with a passenger on board. It's possible she'll have to leave some things on the curb.

The knives, maybe.

They get there, though -- Alexander riding not so fast as he would in better weather; under better circumstances. The kinsman's body is stocky and solid, a compact, dense bundle of meat and bone. He shrugs her back if she leans against him so heavily he's in danger of losing his balance, but given who this is, and her approximate mass, this is unlikely.

At the foot of her building Alex stops, sitting back as she gets off the back of the bike. She's at the glass doors when he suddenly calls her back.

"Hey!" Irony: it's the same words. "You forgot your stuff."

He's holding the second dart out to her, shimmering between gloved fingers, faintly green-black in the sodium lights.

[Danicka Musil] "Oh."

Danicka does indeed turn back to get her bags, folding paper around items inside to shove them into the saddlebags. Her trembling is dying down. She'll have to be reminded again when he gets to Kingsbury Plaza, perhaps, to take her stuff back out. She didn't shake when she was firing. She just lets it all hit her now, in the aftermath.

She's ridden on the back of a motorcycle before. A few times. A lot of times. And she does need to be reminded of the talen, if not the bags from the places she chose to shop at today. Her hands have Lonna's dried blood on them when she turns on her heel, walks back, and takes the dart back.

"Thank you," she says. No words about keeping it, or about doing a good job out there tonight. She does look at him for a moment though, and her parting shot is just: "You'll be hearing from me."

She goes in. Home. Or something like it.