Dana stops training and mobs the sweat off her face, her new termo-regulated body glove seems incredible for workout. "Punishing myself? What makes you say that?" She asks the younger elf.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #89

Cailin cocks her head on the side "Well... Doesn't it hurt? Especially in this polluted air?" she frowns "Wait, you're thinking about that as exercise aren't you? Didn't you have enough for today with the walk to here and the cliff?"

Dana replies "Training yes... getting here have interfered with my schedule.
I usually train most of the day, and when my body needs rest I work on my magical skills. It is not enough to be strong - a well placed punch focuses all the strength on a single point, this is how you damage your target. If you open your palm - then the strength is unfocused and the punch is ineffective. With some regret Dana adds. "I behaved like an open hand in this camp, preparing food and talking politics to hunters. These were idle deeds, and that path does not end well for me. I need to train more, but things happen all the time."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #90

"Oh... I can't say I know much about training to be honest. Except for Magic of course, but it doesn't have much to do with my body..." she smiles a bit sadly "I do agree about your point of view on politics though. I can't say I like it either."

She stays silent for a bit, then asks "But since something happens all the time, shouldn't you keep your energy instead of tiring yourself? You know, to be at peak condition to react?"

Dana said "The first teaching about Jewish law tells you that you should rise like a lion early in the morning. It is very specific, and mention that it is you that should bring up the sun and not the other way around."

She adds "Why do one need to rise so early when it is still dark and cold? Clearly it is nicer to wait for the sun to wake you up, but this lesson is so fundamental that it is the first in our law book. Do not react, be active and initiate. Do what you are meant to do, despite the distractions of this world. I was born with dense bones and fists that are optimized for striking. This is my purpose, so I better be the best I possibly can."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #91

"Oh." Cailin nods, thoughtful. After a while, she asks "Makes sense I suppose. It almost sounds like a Tradition too. But then, most religions can be Magical Traditions anyway so... However, shouldn't you find the time to enjoy yourself? To do something not because it makes you better, not to achieve or produce anything, but just because it's fun? Or nice? Something you enjoy for the sake of it."

Dana said "My relligeon has a magical tradition, but I have never heard of it. They keep it secret unless you are a married man over forty and have spent your entire life learning the mundane aspects of the religion. I doubt I'll ever make the cut for obvious reasons.

Dana smiles and say "I am not all business, I do take long bathes, and I dedicated some hours, the night that Grok died for hiking. I felt connected to nature like few people can. I can take you the next time I go, if you like."

Maya arrives with the others and stands in a small group with them, near enough to Dana and Cailin that she can hear the girls talk. She does not interject anything...............she has lived far too long without the company of people her age to really feel able to say anything important to them about what they are saying. So she just listens. Listens, and waits for Rick to start the rest of the meeting.

Vincent caught up and went next to Maya. "Ever hear of slow and steady wins the race?" He said panting.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #92

"The more I learn, the less I like this religion of yours..." she shrugs, then adds "I don't swim that well, but baths are nice." she grumbles a bit "A lot more than hikes with this damn polluted air. So I'm sorry but for hikes, it'll be without me... I don't think I could enjoy nature, or anything else for that matter, if I were leaving pieces of my lungs all the way..."

Before: Dana looks at Vincent and said "Slow and study builds less stamina..."
====
Dana smiles at Caillin "I was born into it, it is not by choice or anything. Typically I choose to follow what I like and ignore the rest. I take stuff from other religions as well and if I ever found a practitioner of Kabbala that is willing to teach me, I'll listen. Just like I would to you if you decided to teach me about the 'path'. Nobody has the whole truth and there is more than one way to spin a cat." She then switch subject "The air is relatively clean, we are in the wilderness far from industries and cities. If you call this polluted, I doubt if you could even live in a place like Seattle. Is the Tir really all that nice?"

One thing Addie learners from student council: make sure to got all the info out in the open before people chase off in all directions with partially informed ideas. "We heard that's there's was a toxic shaman, but not much more. Where? how did you encounter him? Her? How do you know they are a toxic?"

"Um... I met him. Unless it was one of the most elaborate halluncenations in the history of Eagledom." Vincent interjects. "He bound me with alchemical preperations and made me hunt food for him."

"Eagledom? Ummm, maybe you need to go back a step, because I'm already lost.". Addie looks around to see if someone can make more sense of this. " You mean symbolically an eagle, right?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #93

Cailin nods "Well, I hadn't considered it that way but if you don't feel like there's a problem with the air here, maybe it is... It stinks... Not as bad as in the astral, but still..."

As Addie interrogates Vincent, Cailin glances at them, frowning. She seems to think all of this is going reeeeally slowly and that it could take forever to get to the bottom of if. However, since she doesn't want to get to the end of this conversation anyway, it might not be so bad.

Adept boy seems eager to expose every single one of my secrets, they probably know already.

Dana replied "Eagledom as being an eagle. Vincent wanted to scout the sky around us, perhaps find a human settlement or someplace reasonable to go to. When Rick and Maya had their pissing contest, Vincent took off his clothes became an eagle and scouted the sky above us with his keen senses."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #94

Cailin grumbles "Which is probably why the Toxic got him, it's not exactly sneaky in the astral... Even for us who are not aligned to the background here, to say nothing of the Toxic."

In a more normal tone, she adds "So forget doing it again... It wouldn't be discreet at all, and I don't think it would end well, being an eagle and having the spell suddenly dispelled..."

Dana's eyes lit up and she looked at Caillin "You are brilliant, now we know how to find the toxic." She said with excitement, Dana could feel the excitement spreading all over her body. Finally, progress rather than an endless discussion.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #94

Cailin sighs "I knew I shouldn't have said anything..." she sighs, then shakes her head "It's not that good an idea. Sure, you can get an idea of the area where the toxic is, but not by a lot. Dispelling a spell doesn't leave any trace in the astral, and an eagle in the sky can be seen from pretty far...and all you need to do to dispell a spell, is to see your target, doesn't matter if it's kilometers away..."

She shrugs, and after a pause, adds "And If I were the toxic, I'd just sic a spirit on the eagle anyway. Said eagle would become a mess of blood and feathers - at best - and we wouldn't know more..."

Excited Dana said "Astral sight stinks in here... if the mage needs line of sight then it needs to be close to see the spell... If he uses a spirit it is even better, these are always anchored to their conjurer and that link can be followed. Basically, we are going 'fishing'... it worked the first time but we were not ready for it.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #95

"Yes it stinks. For Sim and me. And the spirits we summon. But, and that's a strength of toxic mages, for him, it's like being a fish in the ocean. He's perfectly fine and has no problem whatsoever in the astral."

She shrugs "And for the spirit, yes, but it would take us hours to find the right link and go to its source. I very much doubt we would have the time. There might be another way though...".

She frowns, then sighs and visibly does...something magical. To Dana and Sim, she obviously summons a spirit. For a second, she seems absent, but then focuses back on the conversation.

"I asked a spirit if he could find us the lair of this toxic mage. We should know more soon I hope. Without risks for anyone." lower, almost with a whisper, she concludes "For now at least..."

Addie feels like she was suddenly thrown into a riptide, being pulled farther and farther from the comfort of anything she really understands. "Wait, Vincent can literally turn into an Eagle? And your spirits can find this toxic mage? Wait, how do you know that he is toxic?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #96

Cailin shrugs and answers like it's no big deal at all "There is a spell that allows to change someone's form to take an animal's one yes. In fact there are multiple spells for that, one for each animal, and one that allows the mage to choose as he casts the spell. It's a very cool spell."

She smiles for a couple of seconds, and resumes "I don't know how Vincent can say for sure that it's a toxic, but I suppose it was by his spirits. Their spirits are not like ours. They are Noxious, Abomination, Barren..." she pauses, counting on her fingers "Noxious, Abomination, Barren... Oh yes, Nuclear, Plague and Sludge."

"Never met one, and I'd like that to continue if you don't mind, but from their names you can probably guess that they are quite different from anything else so..." she grimaces, then shakes her head "As for mine, he may find the toxic yes. There's no guarantee, but since it doesn't cost much..."

“Wow, they sound like a lot of fun at parties. So, like, are they crazy, or just malelelv ... evil?” Addie can’t quite hide a blush at her old stutter leaking through, and making it look like she didn’t even know how to say malevolent. She knew that all this magic talk was scary, but she didn’t realize quite how much it had shaken her.

But mages were still people, right? That was part of her grandmother’s lectures about how laws had to apply to all, including the awakened, that whatever powers and abilities people had, the same law had to apply to everyone, that we are all people and can all choose right from wrong.

Which brought her to her key question “But he’s one of us, right? A teenager, a teenage boy?”

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #97

Cailin scratches her cheek, thinking about it "I don't know if they are crazy or evil. Or well, they do stuff we would consider crazy, but they may not be clinically crazy. No more than those in most corporations who think that they can do whatever they please if it means more money at the end of the month anyway. I don't think any of them is quite right in the mental health department but..."

She sighs, a tad sadly "The main difference is that while for corporations' people pollution is a by-product they don't care about unless it impacts their bottom line, to toxic mages, it's a tool, something that makes them stronger. As such they may want to corrupt places, peoples and spirits that are not yet affected."

She shrugs "I'm afraid I don't know much more, you'd have to ask him if you meet him."

Dana remained quiet at the exchange, she was kind of embarrassed of all the specific of the magic talk. She silently watched the interplay between Addie and Caillin. So much magic talk among suspicious and superstitious people. It would only make them afraid she thought, trying to defuse the situation Dana took some of the meat and offered Addie "Here, you look a bit pale.". What would Addie think of her when she discovers that it was Dana who cast that spell, that she was to blame for what happened to Vincent.

[Addie - 4th day - Main Camp]



Addie smiles, if a little wanly. Yes, there is some conversational solid ground she can stand on, so while she has her footing she might as well make her pitch. “Maybe I will.” She looks around to let people see that she is serious, then continues. “I’ve been thinking, even if we can get close to him, it might be really hard to actually find him. Someone mentioned that you” waving at the small camp group “Found caves. He might have found too, or a burrow, or who knows what hiding spot. Or spots. And he has magic, and that can make it hard to find someone too, right?” Here she glances at Caillin and Dana for confirmation.

“And that isn’t even looking at the danger. If he knows he is being hunted, he might make ambushes, or send those abominations or whatevers after the hunters. And if he gets cornered, who knows what, right? Especially if he is prepared.”

“So what I was thinking is that we need bait. And that I’d be perfect.” She counts her reasons off on her fingers, left index finger folding down her right hand fingers.

“I’m hopefully fit and skilled enough that I should be able to hike to near him on my own, from some distance away – without looking so threatening that he hides from me instead of capturing me.”

“He’s a teenage boy, so good chance he’d rather have me alive than dead, because …” she gestures vaguely at her body and give a small shrug before folding down her second finger “… you know.”

Quickly folding down her third finger, she continues “I have useful ware that he wouldn’t know about. An internal commlink, so if someone else with one can stay not too-too far away, I can give more detailed directions about where we are, when he is asleep, and stuff. And I have a sleep regulator, so I don’t need as much sleep as most people, so I can probably be awake when he isn’t.”

She hesitates a moment before touching her little finger, but then gives a tiny nod as she touches it and explains “I totally don’t plan to fight him on my own, but I’m quick enough and know enough judo that if I catch him by surprise and he isn’t fast and skilled like Dana is, I might have an outside chance if it comes to that. I don’t mean to be sacrificial bait, I promise – there is too much to do still.” Mentally she adds "And you don't all need to know about any other tricks I may have."

She stares at her fingers for a moment, before touching her thumb too. Still looking down at her hands she adds “And I owe service to the group. I screwed up and put Niyaf in the situation that let things happen. I really think bait is the best way to catch this guy, which means someone has to put themselves in a dangerous situation, so … it feels fair.” Only after she has finished speaking does she look up to meet Rick’s eyes. "Kick me off the rules council, give me a small brand -- give me reasons to have run away from the group, reasons to be mad at it. Let me 'steal' a knife, so that he can 'disarm' me and feel safer. And let me take a water bottle, he'll probably want that, so another reason not to just hide from me."

Looking around she finishes up "If we do it this way, a lot of you already know, but no telling anyone else, please. In case he has any way of knowing what is going on in here, or anyone he communicates with."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #98

Cailin looks like she just heard the craziest idea ever, and looks around, mainly at Dana and Maya to see if they share her opinion. For a moment, she seems about to say something, then shrugs. After a couple more seconds, she finally says "You're afraid of a simple shapechange spell, afraid of magic in general, and you want to go straight in the den of a Toxic Mage? With no immediate support? Without any knowledge whatsoever of the spells he may know? He will probably have a spirit watch you, how do you intend to get rid of it?"

"I dunno. His skin was all black with red welts." Vincent said. "He was pretty paranoid and reclusive. He even yelled at the spirits to make sure I didn't get mutated when they brought me in. If I lost my abillity to fly by chance he'd have to go get food himself. He HATED regent hunting too."

Dana sized Addie up and down and then finally said: "Your buttocks are indeed lush Addie but there is more than one beast in the wilderness. Sometimes the beast you want to fight is not the one that challenges you, remember what happened to Grok."

"I'm hoping not to deal with him as a magician, but as a boy. If he can like, totally read my mind or control my thoughts or something, I'd be in trouble. But isn't that the stuff of bad trids mostly? I mean, I need to be kicked off the council and punished for my mistakes, I need to be impressed that he has survived on his own, I have to want to know what he might have learned about this place. But that is all easy. Being scared of him will be easy too. I can be a decent listener when I have to be, and I bet he hasn't had a lot of those. He may not have been treated well or fairly, or at least not as he sees it, and I can sympathize with that. Being a survivor, finding strength where you can, I can admire that. I'm not saying I could make him believe me forever, but I think I have pretty good odds of getting him not to hurt me for a while."

After a moment she adds "And for the record, I'm not scared of the spell, at least not much more than I'm scared of a gun. Do I like the idea of somebody turning me into an eagle or something? No, of course not. I don't want to get shot either. I notice that he hasn't done anything to any of us yet, except make Vincent hunt for him. That doesn't sound like someone who is going to kill first, probably. I get it that toxic mages are dangerous, I shouldn't try to, like, reform him or something. I wish I could -- it would be better to have another mage than to have a fight, right? But just by being out there, he's a threat to the group, to every kid here. I think this is the lowest risk way of getting to him, and I think I'm probably the best person to be bait. So in the end it doesn't matter much if I'm afraid -- it needs to be done." She doesn't add out loud "And I'm an Addison, so I'm expected to do what needs to be done, and to be up to the task whether I feel like it or not."




"He might not take me in if he is that paranoid. But he also sounds like he'd be hard to find, too, without bait. I can forage as I go towards him, so he can see that I know how to find some food locally, that might make him more likely to bring me to him."

Then Addie's face goes pale, and she turns urgently to Vincent: "I forgot about snakes. Did you see snakes around there, any more rattlers? That could be a problem."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #99

Cailin grumbles "Yeah, except that the important word in the stuff of bad trids mostly is mostly. To me, it looks like you want to do it more because you feel it would be exciting than because you feel that it's the only solution. Or maybe, you find this so exciting that you are just convincing yourself that it's the only solution, forgetting anything else." she shakes her head as she speak "Like for example the simple fact that I have a spirit who may be able to tell us more. Or that Vincent could find the area, he hunted there after all. But if you really want to play the bait..."

She shrugs "That's your skin... Oh and by the way, if you're kicked of the camp for your "mistakes", what do you think will be the consequences here? Not that I really care myself, but shouldn't you pay a little more attention on this side of things? What will they think if you're banished for an ill-advised pairing? At best that for every little things they'll be kicked out? At worst, that Rick is banishing the opposition or something like that?"

Addie nods to Dana’s point. “Like I said: snakes! They are sneaky and deadly, I’m not sure I could do this if the place is crawling with snakes. Plus yah, there are other dangers. Look, I get that there is danger for me in this. And I really don’t want to die out here – but not taking chances can also be a way to die. And when you showed me how deadly a fighter you are, you didn’t wait until I was ready for you, on my guard, set in my position – you took me down when I wasn’t expecting it. So I think you understand something about not choosing to fight against someone’s strength, but trying to take advantage of their weakness.”

Addie realizes she’s started to hunch her shoulders defensively, so forces herself to straighten out and relax – she doesn’t want to get entrenched in a position like this if there are other good options.

“How about this: we look at two options: how to make the bait plan as safe as possible, and how else we – you – would go after him. When we’ve looked at both, we decide which one has the least risk to the least people. All I ask is that you don’t protect me just because I can’t toss spells or fight six-legged tigers single handed; risk to me is no worse than risk to you, and fighting on the social front can be no less effective than on the physical.” To herself she adds "Why risk our magicians and strongest fighters, when we can risk ... someone who mostly just screws up?"

Dana told Addie "Look, Addie your plans makes a lot of sense - I am all for the direct approach you suggest. Get the initiative, surprise the mage and strike as hard enough to finish the conflict before it has begun. You are brave for volunteering to a task that most people would avoid.

Let us take a step back and think stuff over. Lets go back to what we do know, Caillin magic may indeed revels the location of his layer to us - but hear me out before we rush into a plan."

She imitates Addie and pulls out a finger: "First - we know that we are dealing with a mage with conjuring and alchemy skills. One that is interested in reagents.


Second, she pulls a second finger and say.
"Vincent escaped the mage but the mage had a spirit following Vincent. It talked to us, it is safe to assume that the mage knows where we are. It is also safe to speculate that killing Vincent once in sight of the camp was not that difficult, just break the spell when he was high in the sky. So the second fact is that Vincent was allowed to escape, the mage was in control the entire time."

She pulls a third finger and adds
Third, we are led by linear and predictable people. I do not mean to insult you guys, but hear me out on this. Vincent tells maya about a toxic mage, Maya being the idealist she is hurries up and calls Rick to wan him. Rick was a gang leader in the Barrens, so he decides to solve the problem the way a gang leader would solve it. Rick gathers a small army with our best warriors and every single awakened we can. How can we possibly refuse - there is a toxic mage out there and he may be all powerful.

She pulls a fourth finger and adds
We have five awakened people just in this forum, me, Caillin, Vincent, Sim and Lindsey. We are very much inclined to throw magic at our problems, it is very much likely that Caillin's magic exposes the magical lodge of that toxic mage. Then what? Rick would have us all go into that lodge to strike the mage. Then what? if we go mage hunting - we are leaving our camp undefended.


Pulling her last finger out she adds. "most of you hear magic and lose their common sense. Somebody has attacked your hunters, it was urgent. Then, a toxic mage makes his presence known and suddenly you forget everything. You have a tendency to over react, when magic is involved. While you may think that you have the initiative, you are predictable. Being predictable means that you are going to lose a fight, it is true in unarmed combat and it is true in general.

Frankly, if we embrace the weakness of our hand. Our best weapon is to be unpredictable.
So I say we do exactly that, we do absolutely nothing about the news Vincent has delivered us. Doing nothing will force our opponent to do something, hopefully something less subtle. It might anger the toxic, as nobody likes to be ignored. What I have learned from fighting is that angry people make bad decisions.
A toxic mage that has worked hard to make his existence known to us is likely to expect a reaction to this information. When no reaction comes, he'll have to act again, and doing so will give us more information about him.

As Dana talks Addie goes through a spectrum of emotion. Pleased that someone recognized that her plan made some sort of sense, angry that not all the information about this toxic mage had been revealed before now, dismayed by some of the implications of how perfectly wrong her plan would have been, and finally almost overwhelmed by homesickness – Dana’s take reminds Addie so much of conversations with her Mother.

She thinks “Mom, I may have been angry and frustrated a lot because you always had to come up with something more clever and insightful than what I’d thought of, but right now I wish I had you here to advise me. I’m trying my hardest, but I don’t think I’m smart enough to figure out all the right things in this insane situation. I think Dana has thought this through in a good way, but I’m sure there are yet more angles that I haven’t seen.”

She starts to mentally break down the three proposals in the ways that she’s been taught. She may not be great at coming up with new insights out of the blue, but given enough time to think things over she can usually come up with a decent analysis. Then Dana is done talking before Addie’s train of thought has done much more than leave the station. Addie nods to Dana in thanks and responds “Thank you for mentioning the spirit which followed Vincent; that was new information, and it probably changes things.”

She hasn’t worked things through much yet, but she does have one thing to point out. “It sounds like Dana and I both agree that we need more information about this guy. We had different ideas about how to get that information, but that is one point to decide: how much information do we need before we act? We want to find out what Cailin’s spirit tells her, but after that the first decision is probably more information gathering versus strike now – then decide how to gather information or how to strike.”

"What if he reacts by sending a spirit of radiation?" Vincent asked. "We don't exactly have lead lined clothes."

Dana gave Addie a warm smile an said "Indeed it changes things, but I am surprised you did not already know all this. I guess with all the commotion and the trial you guys lose focus. It is easier for me to focus as I do not have all these distractions."

Addie was brave, a bit misguided - and yet very brave and Dana could not, 'not' like her. She was willing to use everything she had, even her own femininity. Thinking of Addie's body Dana's thoughts begun to fly: "...she clearly feels attractive and confidence in it. She is kind of sexy, I feel confident in my own body,... but sexy? There is no way I could trust my look to keep me safe. It is so sexy that Addie trusts her seduction skills so highly. Too bad she is stretched so thin, doing all these day to day choirs in this camp."




Dana nodded and said "There is so much we can do with the information we have, we cannot strike without knowing where he is and I am reluctant to just have Addie wandering randomly in the wilderness hoping she accidentally encounters the toxic mage."



Dana replied - "Normally I'd agree with you, but we are so unequipped that we are vulnerable to radiation as much as we are to any other element basically. We have very little armor in the first place so fire and acid would kill us just as quick.
In Seattle when most people are well armored, and therefore radiation is terrifying as all your that armor become useless. I know, it does not make you feel better. Seriously though, most things here can easily kill us, I myself was not very far from going there when I killed the first tiger, without my healing spell I'd still be badly wounded."

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #100

Cailin looks quite dejectedly at Addie, wondering what is wrong with her. She doesn't feel like her own arguments were weak, even if they were not arguments Addie wanted to hear. Maybe she just doesn't really know how to present things in a way that would touch others? Had it been the only instance of such a thing, she probably would have thought so. But with what happened when they got here, when Addie went all "You don't know what you're talking about, let grown-up Addie tell you how it works" well... The picture becomes quite different. And even less pleasant, to her at least.

After a couple of seconds, she shrugs. Doesn't really matter anyway, and it's not like she will have to put up with it for long. "Well then, if we're agreed that we'll just wait to have more information, I'll go back to my meal. I'll let you know when I know more, it may take an hour or so."

Addie looks confusedly at Cailin. "I was just suggesting we need to decide if we want more information, or if we go right to taking action. I don't think Vincent or Dana said anything different. So I don't think anything is agreed."

Dana is thorn as Caillin is leaving, on one side she'd like to stick in there for her. Considering the situation from Caillin's perspective it seems that the young mage did not find her place in the party, nor did she find it in the council. To state her discomfort with such a hurry to leave and get back to a party that she did not like very much in the first place.

Dana admires Addie for a bit longer, allowing her eyes to rest on her figures just a little longer... If Addie is the next one to die, Dana want to remember her. Grok died out of random bad luck, but Addie she is willing to go alone into the lair of a mage that her entire camp seem to fear. That blondie was clearly cut out to more than she appeared to be.

"She is braver than myself... and prettier... I trained all my life for it, I have potent magic... I might as well beat that asshole fair and square without all that sneaky sneaky stuff. How come I am not the one volanteering to run into the lair of a toxic mage and slay him..."

Then after a few precious moments Dana have finally managed to move her look away from Addie and turned toward Caillin, she needed to raise her step to catch up with the younger elf. "Is everything alright Caillin? You seem a bit less comfortable than usual. was it something I said?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #101

Cailin looks grumpily at Dana for a moment. After a couple of seconds, she takes Dana's hand with a small smile "No, of course not. It's just..." she grumbles for a bit, then says "Did what I say make any sense? Maybe it came wrong?" she shakes her head "I don't know why, but I have the impression that when I'm talking to Addie - or Rick for that matter - all they hear is bird noises, especially when I don't agree with them. Is it something I do or say? Or just that for whatever reason they don't think I have anything important to say and don't listen?"

Dana happily takes Caillin hand and then said "They probably envy you as you are breathtaking and your voice is like music. Your hair is always perfect and your clothes are always perfect. You walk like a princess and complain about the quality of the air. It is not your fault that you are so privileged, but I am not sure that you can just be friends with an orc gang leader. He grew up in the Barrens in shortage and he blamed people like you for his misfortune. I doubt that you and Rick can ever become friends.

As for Addie... She sometimes speak like a teacher, I got that part too. I think that you overwhelmed her a bit with all the magic talk and the details... She compares the most amazing spell to being shot. It is clear that she struggles with this concept of actually speaking to mages as equals. She just learned that a person can become eagle and that there is an hostile mage around us. She is uncomfortable around you, but she tries to be nice to you... then she starts with that teacher voice when she is nervous I think.
"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #102

Cailin blushes lightly "You know that for most of it, I was just born that way, there's nothing I can be proud of... And for the hair and clothes, I cheat with spells... I could do it to anyone, all they'd have to do is ask... Like this." she smiles mischievously, and Dana can feel her hair disentangling and done in a pretty complicated bun, her nails cleaned. There may even be a very light touch of make-up, on the lips and eyes mainly.

With a couple of seconds, her smile slips and she sighs, shaking her head "They hate it when they are judged based on the poor conditions they grew up in, but don't even realise they're doing the exact same thing..." Cailin stays silent for a moment, then asks "What do you think is my blindspot? The thing I do or think that is wrong and that I don't even notice?"

Dana feels a bit awkward having her hair nails, and face modified like that. She happily giggles and gently pushes Caillin and says in a playful voice... "Now that wasn't very nice of you... they would not see me as a warrior now." Dana trusted Caillin to give her some of that gorgeous look, and her movements subconsciously became a bit softer.

She then thought for a moment and added "Look Caillin, you are younger and you are unused to people being like that. I do not want judge you or to hurt your emotions, but you storm out too much.
You know, it is unfair because Maya can get away with it but you cannot. Maya is practically an adult, older and more experienced than the rest. They will treat her as an adult - call it ageism. You still look like a tween and you want to be taken seriously despite your young age. So you cannot afford to lose your temper and leave just because things got boring or heavy. None of the others behaved like that.

When you behave in that manner you just give people an easy way not to listen to you. They can just dismiss you as a child... If you want people in that council to take you more seriously you'll have to show respect to that council. It is difficult especially when Lindsey is there, but Rick is their leader not Addie - and the discussion is not over just because you say so. Many of the council members have yet to contribute their opinion, they did not agree on anything. So I think that you should have stayed there and waited for Rick to terminate that discussion.

I also think that you should have kept your temper when trading the meat and scoring out whatever you could, even if the revenue would have been disappointing. You are not defeated when you are beaten down, you are defeated when you give up. As much as I am allowed to use combat metaphors to describe a social situation.
"

Day Three - Afternoon
Personality: Blank

A running tally of the hours makes it approximately five and a half he has been conducting a search grid of the lowland area adjacent to the river. Five and a half hours, and approximately five and a half square kilometers covered. That leaves him about one and a half kilometers from his prior camp, and the area fairly thorough scoured. Nothing Is precise when it comes to this terrain. The rhythms of it are alien. In an urban landscape, a park, or even a Pacific Northwestern forest he would have more of a feel for his surroundings. Even after four days of acclimation, however, he found himself having to back track on occasion because of a bad read on terrain.

Though he has ranged a significant distance from where he had been left to awaken on day zero, Blank does not expect that he has even covered a fragment of the ground he is going to need to cover. He is not significantly closer to escape from whatever machinations the organization that brought him and the others here. To think so would be naïve. Escape remains his primary priority. For that, however, he needs better equipment.

Blank takes a break mid-afternoon from his search pattern. He settles by the river`s edge and he re-fills his water stock. Flowing water. No need to purify it. His system can handle whatever guests the water might bring with it. He eats a half-ration and considers the need not only for equipment, but basic supplies. He is not a hunter of animals. He hunts man. His training included a brief on guard animals - along with a practical introduction to guard dogs in the form of having a pack unleashed upon him in the middle of the night and being left to fend them off bare-handed - but it had not covered wild game. With the supplies he has at hand fishing is possible, but again he has no experience. Everything would be intuition. Or perhaps reflex. He could attempt to catch some with a spear. That will wait for the moment. He is confident there are still crates to be found this far out. The organization that brought them here did not do so only to leave them. Such an exercise would be futile. With no means to monitor their activities, to study their responses and gauge performance, there would be no point to the exercise. They are watching. They have the capability to air drop crates. It is just a matter of spotting one of the drops in progress and he can anticipate where to find fresh supplies. Until then he will continue his search. He will switch sides of the river and double back.

He shades his eyes from the sun and casts his gaze up along the ridgeline, and then to the sky. Someone is watching. Someone is judging them. It occurs to him only in that moment it may well be his handlers who have put him to this test. Eventually he will outlive the current operations they have him undertaking. He will simply be too old to pass as a high school student. Perhaps this is a test to see if he can adapt to new parameters.

If so, he will survive their trial. Even if it means he is the only one left.

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #103

Cailin smiles, with a small wink "You should think of it as a disguise."

After that she stops, grimacing, staying silent for a minute while looking at the sky. "So, they treat me like a kid because I act like one, eh? Well, I asked..." she grumbles "While I don't agree with the perceived reasons of my actions, I suppose it doesn't matter ultimately."

She pauses for a second, then adds "You speak about defeat, maybe you're right. But for it to matter, you have to care. And I'm not sure I do honestly... Simon is probably thinking that if the evil witches could just die with the toxic it would be perfect, Sim and Rick are content to listen and stay silent, as do Raf' and Maya for that matter. Vincent, despite being the one with all the informations doesn't contribute much to the discussion, so all it left besides you and me was Addie. And since she's too preoccupied trying to convince herself and others she needs to be a hero to listen to me anyway... Speaking to walls is not really interesting, and there was nothing new I could have said, so we might as well wait for Mairin. That's my spirit. And should it be necessary, Maya knows my position now, and they listen to her. Being with them served no purpose then." she shrugs. "Maybe I'll regret going back to the others in five minutes but there's always the possibility that I could contribute to something, who knows."

Maya watches and waits, content to let others talk for a bit. After all, being among so many people her age or near it is a but..............different. Different and unsettling. She is comfortable with smaller groups. Maybe even just being alone. Yet, somehow she had worked her way into some sort of leadership position and people actually listen to her. How odd. She watches as Cailin makes to leave and is momentarily stopped by Dana. She cannot quite hear their conversation, but reasons that it is important and makes a decision. She nods to the rest of her group and whispers that she will return after having a word with Cailin and Dana.

Walking the short distance to where the pair is standing, she says, "I am sorry and hope that I am not intruding. Is this a private chat or may I have a word or three?"

[Cailin - 4th day - Main Camp] #104

Cailin glances at Dana, and answers "You can probably have as many words as you want. But do we really have to stand here? There are more comfortable places to talk..." she looks at the tribunal, and adds in a low grumble "Especially if it's words I won't like..."

Dana listens to Caillin and then say
"You do not need to explain or justify your actions. I am your friend, I get it.
These people that seek for our help are not very polite about it. Perhaps now that we left they are going to be more chatty.

We do not know what Simon thinks and frankly, there are so many prejudiced haters in this world that it does not really matters what he thinks. I have your back, there are beasts within this camp and there are beasts outside.

As for Rick speaking last is his thing, this is how he get people to see his words as a verdict. He is not going to argue and debate with the rest of us. This is how he is, distant and he uses that distance so that people feel his authority, try to satisfy him and so forth.
That authority is not as great as you might think, once you stormed out he told Lindsey to offer you everything you want. He wanted your cooperation on the 'bigger issue'. I am guessing Lindsey is not packing a fruit basket for you despite what Rick said.

As for Sim? Maya has just humiliated him, Sim tells people 'this is the truth - I did magic' and people just believe him. They were going to let a predator get away just because Sim told them it was a mistake. Even Maya bought that, you see Sim uses the prejudice and ignorance of people to his advantage.

As for Vincent ? you met him, he can remembers vividly a toxic mage but cannot remember me.
Do you really trust his memories? I saw no evidence of a toxic mage, but I saw a spirit - one of my own that was corrupted. I am just hoping Addie does not just go to the wilderness alone based on the words of a madman. If Mairin tells us otherwise, or if some toxic mage actually confront us - I am going to believe this danger.

You see a pattern? They were almost willing to let a predator off the hook because of magic. It is also magic that makes them forget the real concrete danger of somebody beating the crap out of their hunting party and they insist to drop everything and talk to a danger whose only evidence is a bizarre story.

I mean... Vincent is an Adept... how come he even knows how to collect reagents... I mean it is not impossible that he is a mysical one - but these are extremely rare. I myself am an adept and a mage. I only found out a year ago by the way. Before that I knew just a single spell and I needed a QI focus to cast it. Then, I suddenly understood how to do so without the focus."

Seeing that Dana wishes them to come back Dana stops and tell Caillin, "Look... Maya needs something..." the two girls stop and wait for Maya to catch up.

Maya looks at Cailin. "Hmmmm. Look, I do not like the idea of this tribunal or whatever it is, but I am not the leader here. I much prefer our form of governing. However, this is what they have here. I thank you immensely, both of you, for having the courage to speak up and be heard. I am far from a civilized person, having been in wilderness camps and indigent villages almost my entire life, so I might be seeing things wrong or saying the wrong things. If so please forgive me." She takes a deep breath. "It appears to me that you, Cailin, are uncomfortable in this area and I cannot blame you, but leaving might not be the best answer. United, we present an imagine of solidarity, even without saying anything. We do not always agree with each other, and that is how it is supposed to be, but the six of us are basically alone and need each other. For some reason, all of you have decided that I am the leader of this group, a position I neither coveted or seem very qualified to have. However, I have accepted the role and will try to do as well as I can. But I need all of us to be together, even if we do not all agree on a procedure. Or, more particularly, if we do not agree on the procedure of the other camp.You two are like strong arms for me."

"As mages, you have my respect and a bit of envy. You can do things I will never be able to aspire to. Vex, Summer, and Raferty each have talents that contribute, as do I. At this point, we depend on each other a great deal, and that is a good thing. But I really believe that we need to present a unified appearance to the others so that they can see how we act and react. We are setting an example for others, I am sure of it. People are watching. I urge you to remain here with us and not go off. I think that your idea of gathering more information is the correct one to follow and will lobby for that unless the group feels otherwise. Should I call the others to us so we can discuss it and vote on it? If so, we should still remain close enough that we can return to the council meeting when they are ready and willing to hear more from us."

Maya looks at both of her friends and smiles at them, waiting to see what they say.