Character Resort

Vincent pondered Qrlil's statement for a bit. "Well, sometimes they're short-sighted, sometimes not. Just a few years after chimeras were revealed, some humans started putting together a bank plan specifically for chimeras so that the inevitable centuries of compound interest wouldn't cause the inflation rate to skyrocket or bankrupt the banks."

He thought for a few more moments. "And let me tell you, for the first few years, it was a bit awkward having to put 86 BC as my birthdate for all my forms. That's calmed down a bit, though, and most humans don't have a jaw drop when they see how old I am."

Xavier nodded. "Yeah. I get what you're saying. I've had to take some bad jobs in my time to pay the bills."

He was thinking of a good topic to steer the conversation to when he noticed the scar on Saliha's arm. "Um, hey," he said, "do you want me to heal that for you? It's not too much of a problem, and it's relatively easy compared to some stuff." His voice trailed off.

As innocuously as he could, Kat zoomed in a little on Rachel. Dogged by a god? Interesting. At least, it sounded like a god. He wondered a little why the Eyes and Teeth or whatever it was called didn't simply smite her where she stood. Maybe it's not omniscient. Or not a god. But then why didn't it smite her great-whatever-grandfather when it knew where he was? Whatever it is, it must not be very smart. Or maybe it is, and I just haven't heard enough.

edited 25th Oct '11 9:38:52 PM by TeraChimera

Yuki flashed a smile, and then she was gone.

It took a pair of shundo to get maneuvered right, the first taking her into the surf, kicking up water when she launched herself behind her foe.

Hope you've got some speed, she thought, throwing a kick at the small of her foe's back.

Jean nodded, hand at his chin. “I see. Very well, I could assign you to a mobile unit. Or, given your skill set, you could take on with me. I’m traveling constantly for diplomatic meetings and have a sophisticated private plane for doing so. What do you say?”

He picked up his pen and slipped it back into his coat pocket. “And I am rather interested in just how your great-somethings-grandfather managed to fool the Eyes and Teeth. That information could prove useful, for obvious reasons. I wonder what an elder god’s psychological profile would look like. Come to think of it, we don’t actually have a dossier on… It. We normally keep them for people. That’s something that I’ll have to have corrected.”

Saliha brought the scarred hand up. She turned to Wesley and looked as if she was going to say no, but he nodded and gave her a soft push of encouragement, nodding. She nodded back, then turned to Xavier. “Yes, I’d like that.” Wesley chimed in. “It’d make her less recognizable. Make our life easier.”

[Beach]

Hxaons have been genetically engineered to be able to perceive and act around 8 times faster than human senses normally would allow in their combat state. The humans from this setting have this too. The Vencarans do not, and usually rely on AI to make up the difference.

P'jwakh concentrated and saw Yuki move very rapidly from the beach to the water, then turning her head slightly, coming from behind. She tucked her hands in, and shited to the left slightly in the sand, so that the kick struck her side armor at a mild angle, yielding only a glacing blow. She threw two backhands on her right into Yuki's path.

edited 25th Oct '11 7:21:49 PM by Sonzai

"Okay," said Xavier. He lightly took a hold of Saliha's hand and put his fingertips on the scar. "This might tingle a little. Cexiyl."

Blue light pulsed around the scar, and it slowly began to recede into her skin. Within a few seconds, it was completely gone, with no indication that it had ever been there.

Xavier inspected her hand for a few seconds. "Looks good. How does it feel? You might be a little numb in that general area, but that's pretty normal, and it goes away in a few minutes at the most. If it stings, I'll need to do a little more magic to prevent any infection. Unlikely, but why take the chance?"

She managed to roll as she took the blow, but it still caught Yuki mostly off guard. She reacted faster than sensei! she thought as she rolled to her feet several yards away. He's got faster moves, but even she starts her counters sooner...

"Let's go," she muttered, a grin on her face. Another pair of shundo put her behind her opponent, then a jump took her airborne just over her opponent's head. Catching herself with her hands, she kicked back and up with both feet.

Saliha withdrew her hand, inspecting it with apparent wonder. She looked up and shook her head, a very sharp, toothy grin splitting her face. “It feels fine, thanks!” She leaned in, planting a kiss on Xavier’s lips and marking a small smudge of black camo paint on his muzzle.

Yeah, even though they can react very quickly they're not able to move that much faster than normally, so most of P'jwakh's moves will likely be short distances and creative applications of force under these circumstances.

P'jwakh saw the maneuver, and jumped lightly, absorbing most of the blow to her back armor, but adding rotation. This sent her airborne a short distance, nearly upside down, but facing away, where she used her top two hands to perform a small reverse somersault, and land again on her feet. Slightly winded, she said, "Not bad. You're awfully fast."

That last maneuver kicked up sand towards Ivin. "Go! Go! *cough* *cough* *cough*" was all Ivin managed to say during most of the engagement so far.

[Bar]

Rachel considered the offer. She wondered if there was a flirtatious edge to Jean's suggestion that she could work with him, or not. She hoped not; those sorts of relationships never ended well. "Well," she said, "I'm going to have to talk Asayu into it. Where I go, she goes. Long story. I trust her, more than anyone else I can think of. You and her..." she took a moment to phrase it delicately, "didn't do so well when you first met. But I'm sure she'll see reason. Running around in your private jet beats diving through portals and crawling through jungles any day. Hopefully she doesn't get caught sleeping with any important politicians..."

"You're welcome," said Xavier, grinning. He didn't bother wiping the paint off of his snout.

He decided that wherever she had gotten the scar wasn't his business. Instead, he said, "Healing can be a bit difficult, but with a scar that size, it's not hard. Sometimes, a scar can be easier to heal than the cut it comes from. Technically, it's never really healing, more of a magic band-aid. So the magic simply holds a cut together until the body heals it on its own; it looks fine, but it can still reopen if you pull on it or something. With a scar, I'm apparently just dissolving the extra tissue into the bloodstream. More experienced chimeras could go much further than simply scars."

"Proper application of speed will win any battle," Yuki quoted. "My sensei takes training seriously."

She lunged again, feinting a flying knee before trying a move she'd seen sensei do. Forcing ki from the bottom of her foot, the idea was to create a small midair platform to shundo from.

As she'd half-expected, she found herself spitting sand out of her mouth from where she crashed.

"That was graceful," she heard Amaya say.

Yuki scraped the last of the sand from her tongue and resumed her fighting stance. "Care to take the offensive?" she asked.

[Beach]

P'jwakh had stepped back to counter, but given the crash landing couldn't help but smile slightly. "I rather doubt I'll be able to land a blow by myself, but let's see how you do versus one of these force pistols." P'jwakh said, walking back to the pile, and taking out one of the medium-sized pistol-like weapons. She activated it, as it's front half snapped open up and down, and it emitted a 10 by 10 ft wall of force towards Yuki at around 60 mph, kicking up a little sand along the way.

It's a hard forcefield, and can be jumped off of, reflects projectiles, etc.

Jean caught the meaningful look that flitted across Rachel’s face, giving a short laugh before reassuring her, “You’ve nothing to fear if you’re concerned about me taking advantage of my position. Sigmund Clark and I don’t share many traits, but there is one thing that we DO have in common.” He grinned. “Lets just say that Asayu would find her usual methods ineffective if she tried manipulating me. Speaking of her, I’m sure she can be brought around. If she trusts your judgment, it shouldn’t be an issue. If nothing else, it would give us the opportunity to have more enlightening discussions.”

Saliha seemed somewhat relieved, looking back to Wesley and nodding. He broke out grinning and looked at his feet, before receiving a nudge from Saliha. He looked back to Xavier, also looking relieved. “So, you’re not- like, mad or anything?”

edited 25th Oct '11 8:10:00 PM by Gault

Yuki barely had time to realize what was coming at her before trained reflex kicked in and she rolled to her left, coming up in the surf.

"That was... different," she said, watching as it continued down the beach a ways before fizzling out. Okay, it's big, and quick, but not as fast as me, she thought, analyzing the attack. Pretty sure I could outrun it if I had to, but I don't know for sure. Best to just dodge for now. I've been thinking for a while now, didn't sensei lecture me about overthinking things?

Xavier was puzzled. "About what? Your mercenary job? It's not what I would have preferred for Saliha, but if it works, go for it. It's better than nothing. And..."

He blinked as several facts clicked in his head. "Hang on," he said. He looked from Wesley to Saliha. He had either been clueless or was jumping to conclusions way too quickly. Either way, Xavier wasn't completely sure he wanted to know what was coming next.

"Are... you two..." He pointed from one to the other. "You know..." His voice grew quieter as he shuffled his feet awkwardly. "A... a couple?" He was practically whispering by now. "If you are," he blurted out, saying everything very fast, "then no I'm not mad and in fact it's good for you to have someone who cares about you who isn't from another dimension and you can only meet once in a while when fate dictates it and I mean I don't like that sort of thing but then your culture is obviously different and I shouldn't impose my own values on top of yours and-" He cut himself off to stop babbling.

Dante Used in the feminine sense, walked toward the beach after checking in, wearing a black and red two piece body suit. She walked toward the beach volley net, looking toward it curiously, before shouting out, "Anybody wanna play?"

Nighters!

[Beach]

"Okay, how about this..." P'jwakh said, activating another wall, this time six inches underneath the sand in front of Yuki, lifting up a sand wall, before the field popped, sending a cloud of sand towards the surf. Almost immediately afterward, another field lifted water from the ocean and popped, generating a spray in the opposite direction. P'jwakh then activated three more walls, stationary, in a 3-sided box 10 feet to the left, top, and right of Yuki.

Since there's three of them, and they're parallel to the way the force gun is pointing, they are somewhat weaker, around the strength of a normal house wall. Also, the sprays don't have a lot of force to them.

Both Wesley and Saliha looked to Xavier, somewhat shocked. Then they simultaneously began to explain, talking over one-another, before noticing and both stopping. Wesley nodded to Saliha, who said, “No- nonono! Nothing like that! It’s not-” If she had cheeks that could burn, they would probably be bright red at that moment. She took both hands and covered her eyes, moaning.

Wesley spoke up instead, his words awkward and halting. “Yeah- we’re not… No. I mean, I care about her yeah, but it’s more like a little sister. I was actually worried that you would be pissed with me because I wasn’t exactly keeping Saliha the safest she could be. For you. So…”

Qrlil smiled. "I cannot speak for humans, but I know that if jaw-dropping was part of qrtxian body language, mine would have been on the table right then."

She thought for a moment. "One thing I find interesting is how humanlike you are. One would think that a lifespan of thousands of years would produce something far more alien then even a cthwui or dragosi, yet you seem so much like a human. Different" - and better - "looking, of course, but your body language, your attitude... it seems strange, to me."

Xavier couldn't hide his sigh of relief. "Caln. Sorry. It's just... wow, I am really rusty at romance. I jumped to conclusions when I shouldn't have and got something that wasn't really there." And maybe was a little bit jealous.

"But seriously. Saliha's a big girl. She shouldn't be kept away from the world, away from all possible sources of harm. That'd just make her completely clueless." He grimaced. "And as much as I hate to admit it, the burned hand teaches best. This is experience. Maybe not the best kind, but it means she's learning."

Vincent shrugged. "Can't say anything about that. I'm not good with psychology. Although we do have a few traits that most humans don't have."

He began listing them off. "We have a weird penchant for shiny, valuable stuff. I don't know why, but it's easier to bribe a chimera with five hundred dollars in gold than seven hundred and fifty dollars in cash. Trust is far more important to us than to humans, but that might just be a cultural thing. Um... there was one more I can remember, whatsit whatsit whatsit..." He snapped his fingers, trying to jog his memory. "Um... oh, and we sometimes seem more hot-tempered. Given that we're reptiles, our fight-or-flight response is more developed than in humans, so it gets triggered easier. Humans are a bit more likely to try and talk things out."

Trying to come up with more stuff, Vincent rubbed his temples. "And... um... that's all I got for now, really."

Ryan lay next to Asayu with one arm around her and an enormous grin on his face. "Fuck, I needed that," he said. He'd been quite the playboy when he was young, but those descriptors didn't exactly apply to him any more. On top of that, it had been about 2 years since the last time he'd gotten any action at all. Turning to Asayu, he said, "So, was it good for you?"

I was trying to come up with some possible damage to the room that might have resulted from whatever specifically happened, but I'm not sure if that would be in character for Asayu.

edited 25th Oct '11 9:01:26 PM by KyleJacobs

Qrlil took in his points quickly. She hadn't really noticed any of that in him, but of course no species had a defining trait that applied to every member, at least outside of poor speculative fiction.

Silence hung between them for a few minutes. She felt things growing slightly awkward again.

"Er. Do you know what there is to here, exactly?" she asked. "I did not really get much of a description when coming here."

Boxed in! Sensei told you to quit thinking so much!

There wasn't any getting out of the box she was in, that much was certain. With a deep breath, she drew as much ki as she could to her center before blasting it out around her in a rudimentary barrier. Her barrier skills were enough to perform shundo, but anything longer than that (or that had to stop more force than rushing air) took its toll.

The sand and water crashed together around her, surprisingly weakly before she realized there was no way either of them would deal a blow to seriously injure the other. Overreaction, she realized, visibly winded from the energy expense. "That would have been trouble if you were serious," she managed to say between breaths. "Maybe it's time to quit messing around on my part."

Saliha gave a raspy chuckle as both her hands slid off her snout. She softly brushed her fist across his chest in a fake punch. “You idiot!”

Wesley laughed cathartically along with her, exhaling his tension. “I’m ah- actually kind of glad to hear you say that. I don’t really like to see my friends go through losing someone that was close to them. But then again, I know just how strict a teacher experience can be, so maybe it was also kind of me. Sorry.” He addressed the apology to both of them.

edited 25th Oct '11 9:16:20 PM by Gault

"They sent me a brochure, hang on," said Vincent. He rummaged into his pocket and pulled out a small pamphlet. He began flipping through it.

"Let's see, Sojomi Resort... robot maids... fifty bedrooms, all of which have a view of the ocean... a variety of sporting activities, tennis, volleyball, so on... a sparring chamber in the basement, but you probably don't want to see that... bar, dining hall, game room... Here, take a look." He slid the brochure to Qrlil. "There's a map in there, but some of the layouts don't make sense at first."

Xavier fake-staggered under Saliha's "punch", saying in a monotone, "Augh. My ribs. I think they're broken. Ouchie." He chuckled. "Yeah, I can be a bit of an idiot sometimes. Don't worry about it."

He glanced around. "Now that that's out of the way, you want to head to the bar? Vincent said the drinks are on the resort, so we can get whatever. I'm a little thirsty anyway."

That went better than expected. The awkward silence lasted less than fifteen seconds.