Epilogue

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

“I’d love to see what they could do against an attack drone.” It was fairly easy to guess where Katherine stood on the ‘magic vs technology’ argument. She was on the side that could rain death from above with a wireless cellphone. “Hm. I’ve been trained in ranged combat, I’m handy with most ranged weapons with a strong preference for the MP5 in particular. I can maintain and repair most common firearms…kind of thing you’d need in the field. Hand-to-hand combat isn’t my forte but I can hold my own and against an untrained combatant well….” Katherine smiled, showing her teeth.

“….They might not be walking again for awhile. These abilities are enhanced if I’ve fed, so I’ll be sure to gorge myself before any part of the tournament. On the cerebral side of things…..well, I fight to win. You need a dirty deed, chances are I can plan it, carry it out and then kick them while they’re down. I think you know the typical vampire weaknesses. I’ve got a particular….thing….about fire. Don’t like it. At all. And it returns the favor. I’ve got troubles getting along with certain types of people."

Katherine shrugged. "I don’t do angst and a lot of people do. They don’t like what I say about them.”

Edited July 29, 2013 by Basilisk

[Krayzikk]

IC:"So, you're primarily a ranged fighter, if I understand you correctly." Alistair said, eyes moving up and to the left as he thought. "Though capable in hand to hand combat as well. That actually works out quite well, as I prefer melee combat."

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Kahterine)

“I do like to be as far away from my enemy as possible yes. Preferably on another continent. That wouldn’t be economical in this case however.” Katherine shrugged. “Anything in particular I should watch out for?”

[Krayzikk]

IC:"Lots, and lots, and lots of sharp pointy things. Many classes of Exorcists and some Hunters still favor things like the sword, and they have the skills to ensure that such weapons have enchantments to stay effective. Specialties like Blasters use guns, however.""Oh, and expect to see some really, really crazy things. We've got possessed students, minor gods, Smiters, and legendary weapons that live up to the legend. Nothing is ever out of the realm of possibility."

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Kahterine)

“Not worried about swords. At all. They’re out of date for a reason.” She paused for a moment. “Ah. No offense. The other stuff….I’ll keep my eye out.” Inwardly she was shaking her head. Swords? Really? What was wrong with these people?

[Krayzikk]

IC:"Correction. They're out of date in the human world. No offense meant whatsoever, but you're going to have to change the paradigm of your thinking. Swords are out of date in the modern world because the advent of the firearm made them ineffective against ranged opponents. But in this world, they never lost their effectiveness. Enchantments of all kinds make up for the loss of range, and there are more than a few blades that have ways of defending their wielder from bullets.""That's not to say that their shortcomings aren't valid at all, but they're significantly lessened. There is a reason why there are just as many Banishers as Blasters."

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

“If you expect me to take the notion of a sword-as a valid weapon-seriously, you going to have to cut a few tanks in half with one. What little I have seen of this world has not impressed me. At all. If you want to have a debate about this, by all means, but frankly, anyone who expects a rifle to lose to a blade when there is distance involved, will get no respect from me whatsoever.”

[Krayzikk]

IC:Something very, very curious happened.As Katherine spoke, instead of frowning, or growing annoyed, Alistair simply smiled. And as she continued, that smiled widened. The scholar reached into his bag, rummaging around for a moment, before withdrawing the same book he had been holding at the assembly, and set it down on the table. Rotating it to face her, he slid it across the table to Katherine. It was a hardcover book, old and worn, but the title was still very clearly legible. Written in bright gold text were the words Arthurian Mythology.

 

"Are you familiar with the weapon most associated with Arthur?"

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

 

"Yes. And if confronted with the wielder of suck preparing to kill me, my response would be a few batches of nerve gas."

[Krayzikk]

IC:The smile widened another fraction of an inch. "Would you like to test that theory?"

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

 

"If the nerve gas doesn't work, call in the drones. Depends on the resources I have." Being fairly intelligent, she noted the grin. "And now you're going to tell me that you wield his weapon I suppose? Or something connected to it? Or that you are him? Frankly, if you think you can take on a tank, you've got a bit of an ego problem."

Edited July 29, 2013 by Basilisk

[Krayzikk]

IC:"Taking on a tank would be a bit of an issue. But a rifle would be simple."

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

 

Katherine was far from convinced. "Hm-hmm. File me under skeptic. Carve it into stone in fact." Katherine's face wrinkled as she looked around the caferteria. It was also becoming quite evident that her choice in partners was sadly lacking by her standards.....and he'd seemed like the best options. Would sort of insanity had she stepped into? "I notice you didn't confirm any of my guesses. If you try to make me call you "your majesty" you'll soon be missing a certain portion of your anatomy."

Edited July 29, 2013 by Basilisk

[Krayzikk]

IC:"Majesty" is a title reserved for royalty. My family is far from that. And you're right, I didn't confirm any of your guesses, though one is most certainly correct." There was a momentary pause, the smile never fading. "But you didn't answer my question either.""You seem quite adamant that magic can't beat technology. Would you care to test that?"

Edited July 29, 2013 by The Snark Knight

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

 

"If you are challenging me to a duel, I'll need to go grab my MP5. I assume you can withstand plastic bullets?" She didn’t want to hurt him too badly of course. Just bring him down a few pegs, that’d be more than enough.

OOC: Okay everyone! Three guesses what her hidden character flaw is! If you guess wrong I get your soul! Even though I’m an atheist! Figure that one out!

[Krayzikk]

IC:"I can withstand plastic bullets." Alistair said, finishing his meal, and picking up his soda. "And duel is a bit of an exaggeration. Sparring would be more accurate, but I digress. We passed the room for sparring on the way here, third door before the cafeteria. Meet there in roughly ten minutes?"

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

 

"Acceptable." It would be a simple thing, to get the MP5 from her luggage and, slap on a few modifications…..and she was facing an unknown variable, some insurance couldn’t hurt. She picked up the aluminum can and downed it in one gulp. “See you there.”

[Krayzikk]

IC:"Agreed."Alistair stood, taking a moment to dump his tray, and walked to replace it near the kitchen. Humming quietly to himself, he returned to his seat and slid his book back into his bag, before heading towards the hallway. Three door down, he opened the door, and stepped inside.The room was fairly bare. A door to the left lead to a closet containing practice weapons, but the room itself was noting but blank walls and rubber matting on the floor. Alistair sat down, leaning against the wall in the cross-legged position, and closed his eyes to wait for his partner to arrive.

[Promised Land]

IC: A laugh sprang from Brianna's lips as the two shook hands. The new girl was definitely someone she could get along with now that she had loosened up a bit. "C'mon," she declared tugging Karen along easily despite the obvious height difference, "We can chat some more over lunch, I'm fixin' for a bite."

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

And arrive Katherine did, a Heckler-Koch MP5 gripped in her hands and her face carefully blank. The safety was off and she admitted, she was slightly concerned, plastic bullets could kill, in the right circumstances. He seemed confident but....still, everything she knew told her this was dangerous irresponsible act. Hopefully, she could just shoot his legs out from under him and end it quickly. She couldn’t back down. That was out of the question. If he was going to be a useful partner, this lesson needed to be learned.

[Krayzikk]

IC:"Ah, there you are."

 

Alistair slid fluidly to his feet, standing near the room's rear wall with a decidedly relaxed stance. His smile had vanished completely. In fact, any trace of levity had vanished. It was as if once he stepped into the room, it was all put aside. Though Katherine might not notice, another fact would be clear to any swordsman; his stance, relaxed though it seemed, was like a spring, coiled and ready for action. Every movement, no matter how casual it seemed, was a maneuver to ready himself.

 

His hand closed around something behind him. At first glance it appeared to close around air, but then he gave a slight tug, and... A hilt suddenly appeared in his hand, the sheath across his back, and half an inch of the blade on display."Ladies first."

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Katherine)

Her hand twitched and in half of a second, the barrel of the weapon went up and the room was filled with tell-tale sounds of a submachine gun doing what it did best. Short controlled bursts, she figured would do here. Filled the room with bullets was an unacceptable risk and a horrible tactic. You only saw that in the movies. She’d aimed for his legs, but moving the barrel up would be a trivial thing. She also had a pistol hidden in her jacket, just in case he got close.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Basilisk

[Franco]

IC: Ed would've loved to stay and chat with Abraham a good while longer. However, Ferdinand had plans quite contradictory to any such interaction. The bovine caught a whiff of fragrance on the wind and took off, sweeping his rider up in his venture to find a flower. Ed barely had the time to yell a hasty "See ya!" before he was dragged off on a mad dash through Venator Academy. His steed came to a halt in an unknown hallway minutes later. As a bewildered Ferdinand concentrated his olfactory capabilities once more in a test of the air, Ed took the respite as a means to guess the location of nearby firing with a glance into an open door.

 

Was that an armed student firing upon another?

[Krayzikk]

IC:Alistair moved.Not the simply, normal movement of a human, either. The instant Katherine's hand started to raise, he was on the move, weaving across the space between them with speed beyond that a normal person would be capable of. The few bullets that managed to clip him as he moved were stopped just shy of his body, though of them a handful got closer than the others. His movements did not slow, if anything, they seemed to get faster. His sword was drawn now, as he crossed the roughly four yard distance between them at almost double the speed one would think possible.OOC:Note, that for the purposes of this post and subsequent ones, the muzzle velocity of the MP5 is considered to be roughly that of an average pistol. This is based on comparing its average muzzle velocity as stated by Professor Wikipedia, and comparing it to a table of over eighty different handgun speeds, in addition to the statement from the statement found on the submachine gun's page that says that submachine guns canot effectively penetrate modern body armor.And, well, that's what Alistair's protection has been described as the equivalent of.

[25K Now!]

IC: "Zhaung"

 

"No."

[Constructelf]

IC: "Zhaung"

 

"No."

 

IC: Vincent (Grey is sound effects), Eleven

"Then what is this IHO organization?" Vincent asked, perplexed. He had honestly not heard of any other organization named IHO. If they weren't Hydrographers, what were they? Hospital workers? Hunters? Hostesses? Hair designers? Hatchery managers? Hazardous waste management specialists? Horticulturalists? Etc etc...

 

"Look, the school has a policy that applicants should give a decent amount of background information when applying. They won't let just anybody walk in." Vincent continued to talk while noodling around on his phone. "Heck, even the public schools I went to back in Canada needed your student number, report card, and all that." Vincent entered Renren, muttering in Mandarin something about how he couldn't read simplified Chinese. "And this isn't a public school; this is a private school which deals with extremely touchy matters of security, so it's only natural that they would at least require a backstory other than 'Hi, this place is interesting, bye. If our lovable (deadpan voice) Headmaster has no grasp on politics, then you dear (charmer voice), have no grasp of basic security checks.'"

 

"Wait," Vincent muttered as he accessed "Zhuang's" profile. "It says here that you're related to a 司馬牡丹 (Sīmǎ Mǔdān) on your profile. Is this legit?" "If it is," Vincent thought, "Then does that mean that this woman and me are cousins?" "Is it really a surprise?" Eleven piped up, making his voice audible to everyone. "I can bet you that you have a lot more distant relatives that you've never met than you could ever imagine-" "I get the point. No need to point out the obvious."

 

OOC: Family relation requested by Onarax to get the ball rolling (because otherwise we would be here forever). Sorry if the name's weird/cliche; I'm a banana, eh?

 

IC: Misayo

"So you mean things that... won't necessarily be allowed in the school?" Misayo decided not to probe further; she might not like what she may hear. "Thank you for mentioning this Alistair. I'll be sure to seek him out when I have the chance." "Was that the right expression, 'Have the chance'?" Misayo thought. "Would it be inappro... Argh, I'm even having trouble thinking in English! Should have asked the sushi chef at the restaurant to teach me..."

 

IC: Agnes

"Yeah, I guess you're a special case. Maybe they'll tell you when 'you're ready' or something."

[25K Now!]

OOC: My greatest enemy! Traditional Chinese characters!

 

IC: "Zhuang"

 

"International Hunter Organisation," replied the woman. "It's based in Paris."

 

She frowned.

 

"Him? He's my mother's cousin."

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: "Mmmm, me too. Been a long trip to get here."

 

As Karen spoke her stomach gurgled, letting her know she was hungrier than she realised. She'd been so caught up in the new experiences she'd been ignoring it, but the mention of food had brought her hunger right to the fore

[Promised Land]

IC:

 

After a few minutes of walking, Brianna stopped and gestured around the huge mess hall. "This here's where the magic happens," she said, "It's a bit much to take in all at once, so I'll point out what you need to know."

 

"First off, breakfast hours go from three in the morning until about eleven-thirty. Then lunch goes until about five and dinner goes on until breakfast. There's four coffee stations in here that are always open, two over there and two over there. Even so, there's usually a line, so get here early if you want any."

 

"We've got a big soup and salad bar over there, all self-serving. And if you're into that vegan stuff, there's stuff for you there too."

 

"Pizza is real popular and they rotate toppings every day. Pasta station is right next to it and they'll make it however you want."

 

"Over there's where you get entrees and stuff. They switch it up every day to try and have something for everyone."

 

"If you want a sandwhich, you go over to where those baskets with the bread are. They have all sorts of stuff there, so go wild."

 

"There's the grill area. It's usually meat and stuff but they always serve omelettes for breakfast. I don't get 'em all that often 'cause there's always a line."

 

"That one cooks up international dishes. They'll have different things like Mexican, Chinese, whatever. Go there if you want to try something different."

 

"And of course we've got the dessert station right over there. Ice cream flavors get rotated out every day, so don't worry if you miss what you like."

 

"Any other questions?"

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Brennus Cynbel

 

"Some of the works they've had me gloss over seem to elaborate that all of us are special in some way, and have a part to play. So I would have to agree and expand that to many others, yourself included. To be honest, I'm not sure how much they know about me... only a few references even identify my species. The phrase 'Idol' is used a lot, but I've seen plenty of every terms."

 

"I suppose the tournament is not too far off, is it?"

 

IC: Alexander Hawkins

 

"Glad to be useful." he thought. "Useful keeps you in the tournament. And keeps me a partner..."

 

He asked, "How much do you know about the tournament? Do they actually throw creatures out there for us to fight, you think? Like... ferals. Or maybe even possessed objects and stuff?"

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Constructelf]

IC Vincent."Okay. One: who names their boy 'Peony'? Two: he just so happens tto be my maternal uncle. Youngest six siblings. Wait, that would mean..."IC Agnes"Idol? As in those statues that ancient civilizations worshiped?" If this guy was a statue, then how was he moving?

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Brennus Cynbel

 

"To an extent. From what I understand, some were crafted by demons as a means of temporary possession, in which they could rest in pure psychic energy whilst also being both defended - and worshiped - by mortal followers. The living Idols sometimes developed their own will, and such is how I came to be. Though the circumstances of this time are lost to my memory. Perhaps I never was host to a demon, though this is doubtful. I do not linger on thought of what such a creature would do during that time."

 

"This is not my true form, just so you know. I am told, however, that some may see it as troubling. Thus, I appear as such."

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Constructelf]

IC: Agnes

"Illusion projection huh," Agnes commented. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Appearing as a human would be easier for the other students to handle rather than appearing as a talking statue. But wait: if Idols are made of stone, wood, or metal, then how do you move?"

Edited July 30, 2013 by Crimson Superball

[25K Now!]

IC: "Zhuang""Your mother's sister is married to my mother's cousin? It's really not that hard to figure out."

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: "I'll be honest, I could really go for a pizza right now..." Karen said, licking her lips, "They have meat feast on today?"

[Promised Land]

IC: "Hmm." Brianna craned her neck to try and get a glimpse of what people had on their plates. "Looks like it's burgers today. Might have bacon at the sandwhich station too."

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Brennus Cynbel

 

"Slowly."

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Constructelf]

IC: Agnes

"That doesn't explain how you're malleable enough to shift your form without cracking," Agnes replied, still confused. "Unless you only appear to be wood/stone/metal and are actually made of some organic material that behaves like human muscle but appears to be something much stiffer."

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Brennus Cynbel

 

"It is simply the way I am. It is no more strange than a Kitsune flying, is it? I find it perfectly normal. And yet flight... that is not a concept I wish to ponder upon. How strange to be disconnected from the world at your feet. The falling does not sound particularly pleasant either."

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Constructelf]

IC: Agnes

"Well, yeah; the first time my flight powers activated, I was terrified. It was awesome, no doubt about that, but it was also terrifying. I was only a few inches off the ground but I already was freaking out. The feeling of suspending yourself in midair, it's quite strange. Much stranger than being on an airplane or a helicopter, or even skydiving. It's like you're floating on air. For me, it feels sort of like I'm swimming, except the air is much less dense than water, making it even more unusual."