Dana sleeps and twist and turn and roll, she does not like to be controlled and this *experience* makes her feel powerless - how did someone kidnapped her, undressed her from the party clothes she was wearing and placed her in the middle of the wilderness in flats. Who could possibly get away with such a humiliation ? If she ever finds the one responsible - she WILL kill him, or her - or them. Them seemed more appropriate, and THEY did *that* to *her*, they took the most dangerous weapon and placed her in the wilderness around innocent children. She could forgive them for risking her life, she would have came willingly if they told her she get to fight tigers, but to place her around innocents like that under extreme circumstances? That was plain evil. Dana had no memory of that experience, none at all, the last thing she could remember was going out to party in a club, the place had a live band performing, a Russian metal band called access denied. She was out with her fixer friend and sometime lover and mother figure Tammie. The one that kept her alive after she escaped.

When Dana is up she feels like a mess, "is it morning already? I better wash myself I have earth in places that I shouldn't" She said as she headed for the stream. It was only after washing her body that she regained her normal mood. She sat silently with Maya and Callin and examined her nightly conquests, the young tween was an angel... it was impossible not to fall for her.

[Cailin, Small Camp] #18

"Hello Dana. Here, for your hair." Cailin gives an hairpin to Dana. She smiles a bit apologetically "It's not very nice but without better tools, it's better than nothing... Do you want me to do your hair?"
She cocks her head on the side, murmuring. "I should go wash too." Putting the pelt she just finished, she stands up "I'll go take a bath." with a light blush she adds "while Raf' is still sleeping."

Dana smiles "Thanks this is very kind of you. We can try the bun thing from yesterday - but lets keep it mundane we have a long day ahead of us. Braid my hair and we'll use the pin to hold it down like that." she said and happily invested her hair with the young elf's hands and for a moment everything felt normal... A bit later, when Callin suggest taking a bath before Raf returns Dana tosses Callin her half wet flats that since yesterday are demoted to towel functionality. "Well hurry on then... " She smiles at her.

[Cailin, Small Camp] #19

Cailin laughs softly "I only know how to take care of hair by cheating you know. The good thing though is that it makes wonder with skin and nails too. Oh and I was told it works to remove hairs too, but I don't know too much about that... But I suppose it could come in handy for some in a week or so. Think about all those poor girls in Rick's camp with their hairy legs..." she winks, amused. With a small laugh, she jogs in direction of the stream, where a half smothered scream marks the moment where she gets in the cold water.

Klarissa exits the cave, greeting Maya and Dana with a grunt. She looks around, and asks "Cailin ?" nodding when she gets the answer, she goes to the stream too to clean up.

After a few minutes, Cailin comes back, followed by Klarissa moments later. The two sit down by the fire, where Klarissa asks, toying with the new blankets "So, what now?"

Maya watches as Cailin goes off to the water, followed shortly by Klarissa. When they return, she says that she is also going to go off for a bath. "Dana, would you please come with me? It is still dangerous out here and we should not be moving alone. And everyone, please remember to use the latrine we built just over there."

She returns after the refreshing cold dip and warms herself at the fire. She looks at Klarissa and then the others. "I think we need to get the meat to the camp. I think I can stay here and help Raf with working on a couple of bows while Dana and Klarissa take the meat up to Rick. Try to bargain for our clothes and maybe a couple of tools. We do not need much as we are a much smaller group, but anything would help. Summer and Cailin can also help around here and perhaps this afternoon we will go look in some of the other caves. Does that sound alright?"

[Cailin, Small Camp] #20

Klarissa nods "Fine."

"I could carve the bows a bit if you want" says Cailin, before pausing "but of course, that wouldn't be useful... A pretty bow works quite as well as a..a..not as pretty one... But..." she looks at the bones "I don't know what I could do. I would need more tools for the bones - not that it wouldn't be useful for wood of pelts - but I don't know what I could do now..."
Cailin pauses, looking at Maya "Do you have an idea? I can't really stay idle and do nothing after all."

Dana say to Callin - "Okay to cheat... if it shaves the legs, I spend a lot of time naked so I guess it is important. If you can somehow do some body paint that would be very helpful. Keep the force low, it is just morning and it may be a long day." She watches the as the girl goes to the water, and nods to Klarissa as she inquiry about the charismatic elf.

Dana then nods to Maya and escorts her to the stream. She watches Maya carefully as she strips, with some curiosity - her scars are a bit difficult to look but they do have a positive side - Maya looks like a warrior. Dana on the other hand may be a warrior but she looks like a girl, nothing more nothing less and guys treat her like that. "I wish I was taken more seriously, and not as an harmless girl" she thought.

As the two girls get back to the camp, Dana remains silent and observes the others - trading, social relations... she is not exactly the ideal person to negotiate these. Dana looks at Callin and say - "Callin, you are breathtaking and charismatic and have already successfully negotiated with Rick. I am certain that you would do better job then me negotiating the price for the meat."

[Cailin, Small Camp] #21

"Body paint? Like the clothes you mean? Sure, it's not too difficult. And it's not a tiring spell so it's no trouble at all. I can do it on every one and not be tired after. I love this spell, it helps a lot on the morning, especially if you stayed in bed too long. Here."
Makeover (Cast at Force 6, effective Force of 4): 14d6t5 6 (drain would be 3, so I don't need to roll)
Looking at Dana's transformation, Klarissa grumbles "I don't know if it's the stupidest spell I've ever heard of, or the best one..." to which Cailin answers with a pleased smile. Looks like there's no doubt at all for her.

At Dana's compliments, Cailin blushes "You can't really say I successfully negotiated with him... I wanted all the clothes which are of no use to him and only got yours. It doesn't seem very successful to me." She sighs, then grimaces "I can't say I'm eager to go there but if you think that's best... I'll ask for the clothes and some tools. However even if they don't have you, I'm pretty sure they'll soon be able to catch enough food for themselves. Rick probably won't want to give more than the clothes of one of you, and maybe some tools. And that's if I'm lucky. Whose clothes should I ask for if I only have one choice?"

Dana strips for her makeover and is surprised to see how her body is being covered with a layer of paint that is similar to the tiger pelt, she feels a lot less naked covered like that. Her face also take on to the general look of the beast, her nails are polished and clean, and take the form of claws.

"I like it " She said - "It feels a lot more covered for me, and the art is so nice I doubt anybody would be interested in my body."

Reluctantly, Dana wears her body glove carefully on top of the glove. "We'll figure that out when we are there... I there is more we can offer them than meat. Even with the meat - I am not sure how much they can catch - it is very likely that you simply cannot feed so many people with hunting in this specific place.

In primitive times you could only establish villages in certain places where the wildlife could support your population. Two massive tigers are okay, four maybe fine - but at a certain point there is simply not enough food to eat. We are on very high mountains - not the most hospitable of all places."

[Cailin, Small Camp] #22

Blushing, Cailin mutters "You know, you don't have to strip..." she pauses, looking at Dana's chest, then glancing at her own. Or her lack of one more exactly. She seems to be a bit jealous... "Well, they would be fools not to be interested you know. I don't think any boy would ignore you... And probably some girls for that matter." She shrugs.

After a moment, considering what Dana said about the place, she adds "I suppose you're right. My home wasn't anything like that. But speaking of the place, shouldn't we move? I mean, surviving here is nice and all, but shouldn't we move to find other people? Maybe a village or a town? We're not trying to settle the place after all..." rubbing the right side of her nose, she concludes "I hope not in any case..."

Dana said "I am too dangerous for them, I doubt any of them can handle me." and there was some bitterness in that saying.

Dana shrugged "We should move, but it may be wise to stay for a few days until we have more tools.

I'd like some helmet or a shield, something to place some more protection between my flesh and a beast. Raff and Maya are skilled with bows and their chances increase once we make these. Then there are the clothes, it might get very cold and we definitely need them."

Maya has been listening to Dana and Cailin talk and decides to add a few words. 'Cailin, you really are the best choice for a voice for us. Perhaps you and Dana could return to Rick with the other meat and try to trade. I think you might be right and find that he will not trade for all of our clothes, so I would put the priority to be Summer, Raf, then me. You and Dana already have yours and I would be a poor leader if I looked after myself before the others. And I agree with both of you that we need to move, for several reasons, but I think we can stay a couple of days to see if we can craft the bows and some arrows. A few tools will help, and I have an idea for using some of the bones for that purpose, but I need a bit of time to work with them. Summer can stay with Raf and me and the three of us will manage to keep busy. She has a comlink, but can either of you cast a spell that sends a message? Perhaps one of those spirits?"

[Cailin, Small Camp] #23

Cailin pats Dana's arm, in an attempt to soothe her.

"If you think that's best. As far as tools are concerned I might be able to help. I just don't really know what would be useful and we don't really have the resources to make much... Oh, maybe I could make some small traps?" for a moment, she seems lost in thought. With a shrug, she refocuses "I can't really help much with weapons though... And regarding messages" Cailin shakes her head "I can only ask spirits. I think I heard about spells to do that, but I don't know any. Since I don't know many spells on the other hand, it's not a big surprise though..."

Dana feels a bit embarrassed when spirits are mentioned, she has only recently developed the modesty needed to seek help from external force and while sometimes successful that ability proved unreliable at best. The young witch seemed to had that angel covered despite being so young... amazing.

Maya nods. "Well, no situation is perfect, right? We will just muddle on as best we can. And small traps would be great. I can do some snares as well, but do not have much in the way of materials to work with. There is a lot of sinew from the cat, though, and I can maybe use some of that. Now, I did notice last night that a few fish were jumping after insects. Maybe Summer and I will try our luck spearing some fish while Raf finishes the bows. If there are plenty, perhaps I will try to make that weir."

[Cailin, Small Camp] #24

"Fishes? I never tried but I suppose a water spirit could catch some easily." she smiles, looking at the Earth Spirit nearby "I love spirits." to which the spirit answers, in a deep rumble "I'm glad to hear that, though Water Spirits are sissies you know." Cailin chuckles.
Then freezes, and a bit anxious, looks at Maya and Summer "I don't mean that you wouldn't be able to catch some of course! But if the spirit can do it, more things could be done in parallel."

Maya laughs. "No need to apologize. I had just thought that you might not be able to use the spirit while you are away. Can you? Otherwise, I totally agree with your logic. We are too few to really do much and any help is a blessing. Thank you for offering."

[Cailin, Small Camp] #25

Cailin shakes her head. "I can, it's just that I can only have one summoned spirit at a time. And when I send one too far away from me, it only does the one thing I asked of it and then goes back to its metaplane." She grumbles a bit "I asked why but they never want to answer. They can be really frustrating like that. Every time you ask them, they tell you that they like the physical plane... Well maybe not this place, it....stinks..." From the spirit's emphatic nod, you understand that it completely agrees with Cailin "But still, as soon as they can, they go back home. I'm sure that's because they don't want to be taken for granted."

She shrugs. "Anyway, I wouldn't have a spirit with me on the way to Rick's camp, but between Dana and Klarissa, I don't think it would be an issue. And catching some fishes shouldn't take long."

Dana say "The way I see it, you are the thing that anchors the spirit to this world. They may like or dislike to stay here, but they cannot do so without you. I had some formal education in that, but I am not very skilled with spirits, or people for that manner."

[Cailin, Small Camp] #26

Cailin nods "I was told that too, but I feel like there's more to it. After all, I can summon a spirit in the morning, and have her do something far from me for the day without any problem. Except that she may grumble a bit of course. So she can stay far from me for hours, but even if the task take five minutes, that's the only thing she will do. Maybe they do it just to stay mysterious and all that..."

She looks attentively at her spirit, in a mock death stare. To which the spirit answers with a slight smile. With a disdainful sniff, Cailin sticks her tongue to it and turns around.

With a normal tone, she offers "I could help you a bit for the spirits if you want. As for people..." she shrugs "Mom always says that I'm naturally gifted and all that but I don't really know what I do so... But I'm sure you could, you know. Trying is nine tenth of the process. Or so was I told."

Dana laughs "No idea really... It feels like in cartoons that gravity only effects them once they look down."
She then frowns "I tried being nice -it always blows up in my face, just like with Nora.
Maybe it is different in the Tir, but here people can be nice for a while then when I tell them what I can do I stop being a person in their mind - either I am the big bad wolf and they are terrified of me, or I am just a quick way to make some profit. A person I am not, this is how things were for me before I got here."

[Cailin, Small Camp] #27

"I suppose it is. There, pretty much everyone expects elves to be Awakened. In fact, you could probably say we go to the other extreme: if you want to be someone, you have to be Awakened" she flicks her hear "and have pointy ears" looking at Klarissa, she adds "and no tusks. It's stupid and creates a lot of problems but for now, that's how it is."

She shrugs "So yes, it is different. I was told that in other countries Awakened were feared. I suppose I can understand it but it's certainly not something I'm used too. As for Nora, just ignore her, it's her loss." she smiles "I wonder if she knows that Lindsey is Awakened too..." making a face, she adds "though I'm sure even if she found out, Lindsey would explain that it's not the same...If she even admitted it"

Taping her lips with her fingers, she considers the problem before adding "Anyway, you shouldn't pay too much attention to the opinions of fools. Not to the point where you let their ideas mould you at least. You are what you want to be, not what they make of you. Just find people with whom you can be yourself, and ignore the rest. Might be easier said than done, I know. Still..."

Klarissa grunts "Cry me a river. You can fry anyone, control their bodies or even their thoughts, summon unkillable spirits and you're surprised we fear you? Ha, what a joke!"
Stammering a bit Cailin protests "But I can't fry anyone! I can't even hurt anyone!"
Klarissa presses her charge "Oh yeah? What about your flying spell?"
Surprised, Cailin asks "Levitate? What about it?"
Frowning, unable to even believe that Cailin could be so naive as to ignore that, it takes a moment for Klarissa to decide to explain "Couldn't you lift someone a few hundred meters and then drop them? What do you think would happen then? And what about spirits hey? If they can rip apart a car, what do you think they could do to someone?"

Staggered, Cailin doesn't seem to even know how to begin to retort to that.

Dana said "Grok could kill with a single blow, without even meaning to do so... He was a person and a good one. Some awakened can do all that, others do not, some mundanes can punch through walls and lift cars but most do not.

I have no right to be upset about this fear, you are right Klarissa I am dangerous. They are correct in being afraid of what I can do. I am no murderer though and my motivations are not to simply kill everyone else.
Even if I actually could do all that - there is no honor in that - I follow the path of a warrior not of a monster.

Nevertheless, to be awakened is to be alone - all the time alone. To never trust anyone and to watch even people you consider friends turn on you once things do not happen as they expected. It is a lonely and unrewarding path, for example I would not be surprised if somehow they would consider me responsible for someone hurting the hunters. Even if I was the one who found them and the first one to treat their wounds - somehow if anything bad happens I'll always be the one to blame."

Dana said "Grok could kill with a single blow, without even meaning to do so... He was a person and a good one. Some awakened can do all that, others do not, some mundanes can punch through walls and lift cars but most do not.

I have no right to be upset about this fear, you are right Klarissa I am dangerous. They are correct in being afraid of what I can do. I am no murderer though and my motivations are not to simply kill everyone else.
Even if I actually could do all that - there is no honor in that - I follow the path of a warrior not of a monster.

Nevertheless, to be awakened is to be alone - all the time alone. To never trust anyone and to watch your back as even people you consider friends can turn on you once things do not happen as they expected. It is a lonely and unrewarding path. For example, I would not be surprised if somehow I am to be blamed for the hunters that were beaten up and placed like a trophy in front of the camp. Even if I was the one who found them and the first one to treat their wounds, somehow when something bad happen - people grab their torches and go after the wicked witch. "

[Cailin, Small Camp] #28

Cailin seems a bit disturbed by the discussion. Talking about murders or killings is certainly not something she's used to. And the fact that she could frightens her a bit.
After a while, she goes to Dana and hugs her, softly saying "They have brains, some will use it. And if you're a wicked witch, then so am I. We'll create a club."

Dana said with a serious tone"We'll need three wicked witches to start a coven... Perhaps that Lindsey, would like to join witch club one of the girls there looked at me with such hostility when I was back at camp. It must not be very nice to be awakened in there... " and then she laughed - if they were a bunch of freaks in that little camp - at least she was not the only one.

(Yes, that was Lindsey but Dana has never met her...So how could she recognize her.)

[Cailin, Small Camp] #29

Cailin laughs, a bit sadly "I think Lindsey would be the Evil Witch. I have a bad feeling about her. But maybe we can put some advertisement to find a third. With a bit of make-up and a nice dress, maybe we could draft Sim. Until we find someone else of course."

The 'patients' had woken up, more or less, deep in the night. At the time Addie herself was deeply asleep as she underwent her four hours of downtime, so she didn't wake up much more than they did. Pierre and Ratchet did the major job of getting the hunters to realize they were safe now, and to settle down and sleep until they were more coherent.

Later Addie was awake, of course, while the sky was still profoundly black. She malingered longer than she should have, enjoying the warmth and touch of being cuddled up with others. She started reviewing and organizing the notes she'd taken from last night's matrix lesson from the boys, knowing it was a stalling tactic but feeling a little less guilty for not being up and productive yet.

Eventually duty pulled her away from that comfort, but barely before the pre-dawn watch was being woken up anyway. In fact she didn't have time to do much more than realize that Dot was back, laid out next to the lean-to, sharing none of their warmth. When had the troll returned? Of course she could see well enough even at night, but why had she returned from the other camp? What news did she bring? How late had her arrival been? Why hadn't anyone told Addie?

But then she realized: what could she have done? The injured hunters probably needed the heat more than Dot, especially since the troll was wearing her body glove so would be more comfortable than on previous nights. But it still didn't feel right, that Dot had come back in the darkness, to find she'd been kicked out of a second sleeping spot, if only for the one night.

======================

Half an hour later and Addie had finally managed to block those thoughts by instead returning to how to better use her commlink. She kept her eyes scanning, but she knew she wasn't paying all that much attention -- and despite the attack on the hunters last night, she didn't really think that the whole camp was in that much danger.

She worked through the settings on her commlink, and suddenly it was telling her that it had multiple connections. The boys had been right: she'd gotten it switched over to direct-connect mode instead of passive matrix node. Now that she had the mode right she was getting, well not a rush of information, but a trickle of things that had been waiting for her on other peopple's links. More about the trade request, and some sort of larger attachment.

The file didn't seem to be the sort of thing she could run. Her datajack enabled AR for her, but this was some sort of other content. She found the internal help where Pierre had suggested she'd find it, and eventually figured out the problem -- it was a purely visual file, needing an image link of some sort. That was frustrating -- she wondered if anyone in the camp, other than whoever had recorded it, had cyber eyes?

Then her attention was pulled away. Something was moving rapidly, maybe a quarter of the way around the camp from her. Even in the pre-dawn light it showed up clearly to her as it had an unnatural balance of the usual colors and the fourth that her vision picked up, almost like a really ripe plum or something.

She'd missed where it started from, but currently it seemed to be rapidly leaving the camp and heading into the valley at an angle. It was hard to tell exactly where it was flying to. Wait, flying?

Peering at it as it receded, it was clearly flying through the air, but didn't have any wings. And the the outer portion, withe the odd colouring, was hazy -- but in the middle there was something more solid, almost shiny. Could it be some sort of metal drone that was releasing smoke?

It suddenly came to her: what did tear gas look like? Or nerve gas? Could this have been an attack drone that had just done awful things to the camp?

She called to her Mguel, her patrol partner "Did you see that? Keep a careful eye out, I'm running back close enough to check on the camp--listen for me to call to you if we need you back there."

- - - - - - - - -

Four minutes later she jogged back to her post, glad to see Miguel still there. "Nothing to worry about, at least not now. No attack on the camp, more like a theft. The girls guarding the supplies didn't see it approach, it just jumped up out of the fire, swallowed up the other suits, then flew off. They think it was magic, a spirit or something. A lot of people are upset. At least it didn't take the food or the few tools or medical supplies. But I guess who is to say it won't do so next time?"

Miguel looked in the direction the spirit had flown, spat, and swore one of the worst words he knew "Magic."

Maya smiles. "You are both already in a club. We all know that you are awakened and are not frightened of you. You have a place with us because you were brave enough to want to come with us. If your powers and skills can help, then we will use them, but I do not want to get into the position of abusing you or your talents. We will discuss what you can do to help and then ask, not demand it. Part of developing a society is learning how to accept each other and protect each other. I have no idea why we were put here, or whether or not we will be taken back to where we were. What I do know is the here and now. We are in danger and we have to learn to work together to survive. We have to plan for the thought that we are here to stay. To that end, we have to look to develop our small society into something the rest of the people will want to join."

The image of Sim as one of the witches brings some live to Dana's face. Honestly, she was never sure what this femininity was all about. Most of her interactions were with asexual drones, nanny drone and mommy drone, fighting drone and training drone. There were the scientists but the day to day activities were delegated to drones - apparently you could raise a child kind of 'normalize' using just technology. At that particular moment however, Dana felt like a 'girl' and it felt nice.

Dana looked at Maya and said "So you got passed Nora and her mile of friends leaving because of me? Having us here would probably cement this as the smaller camp. I wonder how Sim manages to blend in in there. Perhaps it is because he is one of the pack, orks are the best."

[Cailin, Small Camp] #30

Cailin snorts "Sim has two advantages: first, he's an ork, which means even without his Magic, humans or elves probably wouldn't want to have a go at him, not alone at least." she raises her head at Dana "And while that would be true for him and not for you, you would be underestimated and not him. It could probably be quite effective if used correctly. Anyway, another point for him is that orks tend to stick together I suppose."
"Damn right we are." adds Klarissa. With a small smile, Cailin continues "Second, he's Erik's man. As long as Erik is around, Sim's protected. Should something happen to Erik though, it could take a turn for the worse quite quickly."

She seems sombre for a while, then talks again. "I don't know why we are here, but maybe we should try to find out. And answer some questions..."

She makes a list with her fingers, raising one of them "What? Options could be a sick game, an experiment or some kind of ark I suppose. Maybe more?" raising a second finger, she continues "Who? We come from all over the world or at least from multiple continents: North America, Middle East, Europe... I don't know about Asia, Africa or South-America though. Still, you'd need serious mojo to get us here, whatever here is. For some it would be easy, but for others..."
She sighs lowly, but carries on "Anyway, one natural option would be a Mega-Corporation. Or multiple Mega-Corporations probably. Another one could be a dragon I suppose. Maybe a free-spirit? Or some kind of huge ritual?"
A third finger "Where? Probably the question with the easiest found answer. Maybe not right now, but the weather seems nice enough even if the air stinks, places like that tend to be inhabited I suppose. There are probably other meta-humans not too far from here, villages and towns."

She shakes her head "Those questions as important as they are, don't matter much right now since we can't do anything about them. But there's a fourth question, at least as important as the others, and maybe more: why us? And maybe we won't know the answer soon, but nothing prevents us from finding clues. Were we selected? If so, what was the criterion and how was it tested? What do we have, as individuals or as a group that is remarkable? Was it random? If so, how? Given the number of SINlesses among us, it can't have been something simple like that."

She pauses, frowning and adds "Oh, and a fifth one: are we the only group in this situation, and what would happen if we met others?" Blinking she looks at the others "Err, I went a bit far sorry, and it's probably not that important right now, when we're still trying to just survive." Cailin looks at Maya "I've been thinking about all that for a while now and since you spoke about it..."

Smiling apologetically, she adds in a lighter tone "Anyway, it we want a civilization, in addition to decide how we want to interact with Rick, we would need some rules." Thinking about something, she adds, amused "Oh and of course, a Head, a Heart, and a Soul."

Dana watches as Caillin goes on and on about conspiracy theories and speculations about the current situation. She seems to have a sharp mind, but something in the way she speaks about it - tells Dana that she is nervous. Instead of coming up with some theories of her own, Dana simply hugs Caillin and say softly. "I will get you home, I promise I will do anything to get you back home."

One thing certain, the little witch was definitely too young, she might be able to move mountains but she is still like 12 or something, barely adult. She did not deserved being resented and feared and who knows what next. She had a good life, some life to get back to, so did Raff they were children. As for Dana what exactly was there to get back into? Life of crime, without a sin, without an identity, being completely dependent on a fixer to find 'work' for her? Work that was morally ambiguous at best and not worthy of a true warrior. These were not the life she wanted - and in a way Dana would prefer to stay in the outdoors, where she can just eat what she kills.

She then sighs and say hesitantly "I changed Vincent into an eagle to scout the skies, he never came back. Either he found a settlement and went there - or there is something nasty guarding the skies. I did not think he would be in trouble - eagles are top of their food chain - usually.

I can go scouting myself but I am not sending anyone else - it may be very dangerous. I was naive and failed once, but will not do so again. If you like I'll scout and try to spot the nearest settlement so that we can go there." Dana remains silent, clearly in pain by the entire situation and waiting to see what the others would say.

Maya looks about. "Perhaps scouting later, but right now you three should be leaving for Rick's camp. Summner, Raf, and I will remain here. Good luck with the trading. Cailin, if you can, please summon a spirit to gather some fish from the lake for us. I know that it will be long gone by the time you get back, but it could help. If it gets any, Summer and I can begin cooking some and drying the rest." Maya stands and offers hugs to those leaving, even Klarissa if you will take one.

January first, 2069 - flashback.

Most nights were depressing but that specific night was the worst, the entire city was partying the new civil year. The institution was empty, cold and dark and Dana wanted to party as well. At least to see the fireworks at 00:00. The place was beautiful during the day, surrounding her small house were endless plantations, filled with the next generation of genetically engineered food. Technology that could save humanity - rice that improved the immune system, oranges that reduced the risk of cancer and tomatoes that were so nutritious a single one was enough to sustain a person an entire day.

The institute apparently had a lot more success with vegetables than it did with babies. Dana was their only successful specimen - of the A1 project. A genetic treatment aimed to create the next step in human evolution. The rest of her sisters were either completely insane, or completely deformed and Dana was told that none of them was able to survive for so long. She was precious - one of a kind - and she needed to be protected and studied. Fireworks... they were not exactly a priority for her. Nobody cared for a the desires of a young girl.

Dana faked being sleep for a long time it was 23:53 - just enough time to sneak out and see the fireworks. Dana left her bed and attempted to sneak out of the room - only to her the perfect voice of nanny-bot ™
“You should not leave your room DNA-A1.” Said a nanny drone. “I’ll be out only a short while - I just want to see the fireworks - besides I told you like a thousands times to pronounce it DANA”. She said.

The nanny bot tried to stop her from leaving - but Dana quickly run away and locked the room with a broomstick. It was enough to hold that kind of drone. Nanny bots were not built for violence -but the patrol drones outside were more of a problem - Dana has to time her escape just right so she gets to see fireworks. 23:56 - Dana leaves the building and begins climbing the low brick wall. She is bare feet and in her nightgown, but she has the agility of a cat - and it only took a minute or two before she was on that roof.

Dana counted the seconds - if she was lucky she get to see fireworks before the security drones find her.
A minute after minute passed and the girl grew more and more excited.
23:59 - almost midnight Dana's heart sunk when she heard the mechanic and terrifying voice:

“DNA-A1 - return to your cell.”[ Dana froze, she needed to stall - just one minute how hard can it be?
“DNA-A1” return to your cell” cried the drone again (that was second). Dana got up slightly, only to get her third warning “DNA-A1 - return to your cell” - if drones had feelings these security drones were hurt because Dana just gave them the fingers.

What followed was a rain of taser darts, out of whom Dana dodged two. The third missed her entirely while the bloody forth struck her back with a generous amount of voltage. Dana dropped like a rock - so much pain but her eyes were still open and looking at the sky. She did not move, played dead and the drones stopped.

... It took the medical drone few precious minutes to pick her up - and in these minutes Dana saw the most beautiful fireworks she has ever seen to that date.

A eagle boldly started flying around the skies in camp. He started squaking and swooping down in a panic causing a disturbance in the camp.

Spring 2075 - Denver
Personality: Thaddeus Whittaker

Most of his peers live from moment to moment in a frenetic tumult of pressures and distractions. They tumble about their existence, put off kilter by the demands pushed upon them by their parents, their teachers, and the ever present eyes of a corporation that just wants to help them become a better citizen. Thaddeus Whittaker, unlike many of them, has a means to cut through the fog of distractions that surrounds so many kids his age. His is not the typical corporate kid life, and that has only served to hone that focus into laser precision. Other kids have the newest fad to track, they follow celebrities, fashion, obsess over homework and corporate sponsored gatherings. Tad has one driving goal in his life: the Olympics.

Every morning he wakes up to a soft pulse from his internal commlink - installed so that he can receive and track real-time performance feedback - and security logs him leaving the student dormitory at 0400. He spends two hours in the gymnasium running through first a plyometric workout and then a superset of free weights. Old school methods from a time when he had no access to a proper gym at all, from when he had been a Barrens kid with a dream. From before a corporate executive had his commlink lifted by a kid who made his private security look sluggish when he evaded them. He runs through two workout routines, each an hour long, and then he hits the arcology's indoor track for a ten kilometer run. On weekends the routine holds one difference. On weekends he departs the arcology for a run on the streets of Denver. The unregulated pressure of the thin atmosphere and the natural weather help his conditioning.

School is a means to an end for Tad. He does not excel at any one subject, though he enjoys history. There are those among his peers and online tutors who think that he is slow simply because he lacks the corporate groomed foundation. They think because he grew up disenfranchised that he is at a disadvantage in all but the physical realm. The truth of it is that his education in the Redmond Barrens had lacked only for formality. He possesses a critical eye for the lessons taught to him by the corporate schools that he is careful to disguise. He knows that to question his corporate benefactors could mean an end to their benefice regardless of his performance on the field.

Tad is a multiple sport athlete, as at home on a Rugby pitch as he is on a wrestling mat. His true passion, however, is for decathlon sports. To him there has always been something satisfying on a primal level about those simple ten sports. They are tests of strength, form and willpower. He is not the fastest of runners, but he makes up for it in the other elements of the competition. Having been screened on multiple levels for magical potential or performance enhancement and come up clean, he has been touted as one of the most gifted pure athletes of his generation in his age bracket, though he has come out of virtually nowhere. The transfer to Denver had been conducted to bring him closer to the Olympic coaching staff while still providing the controlled environment of a corporate arcology. He had travelled on his own to meet with his new coaching staff, and for the past three months he has been working out in the mornings and practicing various disciplines in the evening.

He is a natural thrower, with a consistently muscular build and strength far outstripping that of a typical youth from his age bracket. While some might consider him raw, he has continued to put down numbers that defy critics. The coaches have taken note, and there is talk that he might bumped to men's competition levels. First, however, he needs to impress his corporate sponsors in higher level competition.

The stage is set to impress at an all-Denver meet, one that spans multiple corporate and political borders. It is being held in one of the old winter Olympic stadiums, and for a high school level event the stands are set to be packed. Two days of events are being held, with a traditional decathlon as the centerpiece.

Day one of any decathlon is not Tad's strongest day. With two running events he usually lags behind the other competitors, though by a small margin. He is mentally prepared, however, for this event, and he manages to score nearly four thousand points on the recently updated scoring scale with a surprising victory in the 400m run. It is not a record-worthy day, but it more than outshines his opponents. Tad is focused, driven, and he retires for the evening after a well earned massage and a steam.

The second day of competition starts with somewhat of a disappointment. He clips one of the hurdles in the 110m event and places a mere fraction of a second slow for scoring his target nine-hundred points. It is a small error, but one that puts him back in second place overall. This is not a daunting hill to climb, however. He has two throwing events to come. Tad is peerless when it comes to these events. He practices with an adult weight two kilogram discus and throws distances competitive for the appropriate age bracket. Today they are throwing the youth one and a half kilogram weight, and he is bound to stun the competition and audience alike.

Laser focus. As he approaches the throwing circle he accepts a discus from his coach. It is competition inspected, though not typical of the youth discs of the competition. His is weighted heavily along the metal rim. The design is meant to aid angular mobility, though it is more difficult to throw. Tad has spent hours practicing both with this design. The discus becomes an extension of his arm as he settles is down into the curve of the fingers of his right hand. He calms his breathing and lets the noise of the crowd melt away. He settles into his initial stance, with his feet evenly spaced at shoulder width, and he pictures the whole wind up in his head. His eyes scan from right to left, the arc he will travel for his rotation, and for a moment a face in the crowd locks in his mind.

Elder gentleman. Distinct Teutonic features. Greying at the temples. He wears a bespoke suit the quality of which stands out even at this distance, and there is a small pin on his left breast. It is the pin that triggers something in his mind.

One split second, and then he focuses again on the rhythm of the throw. He shifts his weight over his left foot and explodes into the run up. Right foot forward, he pivots hard and tucks his left leg in for the first rotation and then lets it slip as he dances off of it. He drives his body around and land with his right foot centered and his left foot impacts right after. His body torques into the line of throw and he drives his hips hard as he plants his feet to stop the momentum of his stagger-step run. His arm arcs and his fingers uncurl as he lets throw the discus in a perfect arc.

The one point five kilograms of plastic and metal arc through the air and the audience is enraptured. The angle seems off. The elderly German man whose image was burned into the back of Tad's mind is 74.6m from where the young man ends his run up. He is five degrees out of the arc of acceptable throw, well outside the safety limits established by the designers of the venue when seating had come to mind. The disc collides with the man's sternum even as he half raises from his seat in an instinctual effort to evacuate from the area. With 3.3lbs thrown with such force impacting his chest, the man has no hope of survival. The resulting trauma is staggering.

A jarring thought flickers through Tad's mind. If the man had not been in the path of the throw it would have been a potential world record-setting attempt. That thought will stay with him as his coaches and various members of the event staff move to usher him off of the field through throngs of medical personnel who are already too late to save the Regional Director of Saeder-Krupp's heavy machinery division. He tries to run through what went wrong as they cover his head with a towel to shield him from the astonished looks of the crowd, and they escort him to a small room where he is left alone while officials and corporate security discuss what had happened and review the footage from various feeds.

The room seems oddly familiar to Tad, though he has never been here before. He seems to know the exits from the building, and the rotation of security personnel. The last thought the young man ever has is that his Olympic dream is likely shattered.

It lingers a moment, and then his mind goes Blank.

Rick's statement causes an immediate hush to fall on the gathered crowed that quickly morphs into an uproar. Lindsey can't make out any individual conversations, but the general sentiment seems to be that Maya and her followers had claimed their clothing. After a few minutes Rick apparently finishes his conversation with Sim as he starts to bellow orders at the assembled kids. "Well you're obviously up now, so might as well get to work! You three," pointing at Lindsey and two other girls, "fix up the damage at the stockpile here. The rest of you get about your tasks for the day! If you've forgotten what you're supposed to be doing, come talk to me and I'll 'remind' you..." No one seems to need reminding as everyone scatters except for the stockpile task force.

Leading the other two to the small fortress of crates, the three girls start re-stacking the food that had been knocked over and cleaning up the rest of the mess. "Might as well have breakfast while we're here," Lindsey suggests, and the three of them break into some packets of instant soycakes. "Definitely not the worst breakfast I've had," she thinks as the girls eat in silence, watching the camp move around them as those who weren't at the scene before start waking up and moving about the camp.

It's easy to see how the news of the attack is spreading as a pall seems to fall over the camp. Everyone seems to be looking over their shoulder as they walk around and the general chatter and good cheer of the previous days is gone. As the sun crests the treeline, people start making their way to the campfire and grabbing assorted food packets for their meal. The chatter is muted, but it's obviously all about the two attacks and sentiment seems to be devided between trying to get revenge on Maya's group and being scared and wanting to run. Finished eating, Lindsey starts to circulate through the crowd, letting those who are curious hear a first hand account of what happened at the campfire while trying to calm the most extreme reactions. "We're not going to be able to get revenge, they've got two mages and who knows what else now. Let's find our way out of this place and leave them here to rot!" places some, while "Running scared won't help! We'd just end up in trap or hunted by animals, or worse! We need to stick together and be smart about this. We definitely need to leave, but with a purpose, not running with our tails between our legs!" calms others.

After about an hour of this with kids filtering in and out of the communal eating area, Rick appears and summons Lindsey. "Lets go. We're having a tribunal meeting to discuss what happened overnight and what we should do about it."

Dana reaches out to hug Maya - suddenly everybody is looking to hug and she likes it. Then as the two girls hug - she feels something, a tickle under her skin... magic. She jumps a bit surprised, just in time to see a large eagle in the sky. "Anybody else has felt that ?" She asks and then jumps and run around, as if trying to zoom in on an invisible attacker. Alas, what ever it was it is gone already. After several long moments of extreme anticipation for combat Dana's hair returns from its combat red shade to her regular red-brownish shade. The adrenaline fades off and she tries to appear cool, but she feels a bit confused, the only magical critter than can move so fast is a spirit. That means that somebody was spying on them - it had to be it.

Maya gives Dana a quizzical look. "What is wrong, Dana? Are you alright?" She looks around to see if she can see anything that might have set the young mage off. Not seeing anything right away, she remains alert until Dana says otherwise.

Dana said, still a bit uneasy from the expirience.

Something was wrong for a moment but than it disappeared. It was very fast but not spirit fast. That eagle that flew above us... It must be it. Its pressence tickled me. I am not sure that it is really an eagle.

Maya looks to the sky as well, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "Could someone at Rick's camp be sending things to spy on us? Was not Sim a mage? Could he do that?"

The eagle landed next to Maya and squaked excitedly, flapping its wings.

Maya is taken by surprise when the eagle lands, and that does not happen often, as she is pretty good at observing her surroundings in the wild. She steps away from the large bird, which is exhibiting some rather strange behavior for an eagle. "Dana, is this the eagle? It seems to be trying to communicate with us. Maybe it is something from Cailin?"

Vincent began meticiulously scratching at the ground until the scratches began to,spell out. "I AM VINCENT" then he screeched and flailed and spelled out. "FOUL AIR CHASED ME... HAD TO HIDE... LESS VINCENT MORE EAGLE... STILL VINCENT... HELP..." It began to tear even if it was incapable of sobbing. But tears came.

Maya looks at Dana. "It would appear that this eagle is a lot more than it seems to be. Do you know a Vincent?"

The Eagle screeched and drew an arrow pointing then stood at the point so it pointed at him.

"Well," said Rafferty, speaking the obvious, "Isn't there some way you can reverse the spell?"

Dana looked at the eagle confused "I... I cannot do these things. I am not sustaining the spell - the spirit should have been long gone. It should have only lasted until sunset, something went very wrong."

Instinctively Dana looks around nervously looking for some attacker, she can feel the magic being channeled to her hands as she braces herself to an attacker. An offense is not imminent, but she feels something - something nasty not far from them. "Be careful, something is very wrong." She said. Her body is a split second from charging what ever manifests.

Then a large ork like humanoid manifests it appears twisted, the its face is all wrong and the hands and legs clearly have too many fingers. The beast looks at Dana and say You! Brought me here, you are responsible for corrupting me, I will end you!"

Dana's body is ready to strike, she say "Release Vincent, foul critter - I am not the one corrupting you" The spirit just laugh and say "make me." Dana is embarrassed, she knows the theory about breaking spells, counter-spelling it is called, however it was always comfortable to her makers to have her vulnerable to spells, so she was never actually trained in counter-spelling. A weapon needs to be controlled after all. Dana is frustrated, she wishes to strike that spirit, to vanquish - to solve that problem with violence like she knows how to. The spirit however, remains in the astral, outside the reach of the deadly young mage. It just stands there and mock her.


(note that the spirit is manifested not materialized, it does not expose itself to offense, but cannot hurt us.)

"You asked for it." A spirit of man... Clad in a grey knights armor with a large notched axe in one hand and a spiked kite shield in the other manifested. He towered over the orc a good few inches and his helm was closed and his face unseeable but what WAS noticable was that his back was adorned with the top half of the skull of a dragon. "I'll give you... A 10 second head start." He said lifting the axe. "Alternatively you can abandon vessel and you don't get to expierence the pain of a damage conncection to the mortals..." He said lowering the axe

The spirit laughs - "Calling favors from higher deities aren't we? I will back down for now, but I will avenge you when you least expect it... sleep with one eye open" It laughed and disappears, leaving Vincent naked, confused and starving on the ground.