Post by Ammie on Jun 16, 2013 12:31:02 GMT -8
::Run scenario.::
The Heart-In-Coils was a magnificent room, elaborately appointed with a museum's worth of ancient artifacts. It's feng shui was balanced so meticulously that the uniforms of the guards on each door were different colors.
The entity known as The Dragon sat in a small square wooden enclosure in its center, behind a screen. He relayed his communications through his servant Bong Cha, who politely addressed the Aegir group, who knelt at a food-laden table some 15 meters away, speaking principally to Aegir's chief negotiator Noel Green. Ammie and Shay paid attention enough, but giggled on occasion and punched each other under the table when they thought no one was looking.
::lock perspective: S.Gabel::
Sera caught all of this of course, her eyes constantly scanning the room for danger, and her heartbeat rising as she identified threat after threat. This was a mistake, she thought. Even the reputation gained by being chosen to directly negotiate with The Dragon himself wasn't worth this level of exposure. She felt more and more justified in having forced Tess to stay behind.
The attack didn't occur until after dinner had concluded. It began when the bees started rubbing their foreheads from exposure to a colorless, odorless, anima-draining gas that robbed them of much of their access to Anima, and took away their regenerative capabilities and access to Anima Form. It climaxed when a single sniper round tore a hole through a rice-paper door, and the throat of Seanne Rystaad.
The next few scenes occurred in slow motion to Sera, as her years of adrenal training kicked in, feeding her information from all around her in fractions of a second. Ammie rushed to her wife, catching her just as she hit the ground in a scarlet eruption. The hysterical Mage was chanting something loudly and summoning her powers over blood, but nothing was happening. Sera stood from her kneel, immediately disarming the closest guard of their sword and flinging herself into the swiftly erupting combat.
::lock perspective: A. Wicker::
Shay was terrified. Brutal tears streamed from bewildered and agonized eyes, which locked onto Ammie with a grip as firm as her that of her shaking hands on Ammie's sleeves.
"I'm...n't...healn'g...." Shay sputtered through a throat full of blood and pain. "Ba'bee...c'hel'p...me..."
Ammie chanted the words of the blood magick faster and faster, in her mind they fired every synapse as normal, but her path to Gaia was cut off. The red pendant around Shay's neck was burning like the sun at noon, and Ammie held onto Shay, touched her face, and stared into her terrified, desperate eyes as they lost their light and became glassy only seconds later.
Ammie didn't even hear the conflict going on around her. She didn't register the valiant way that Sera was holding off three opponents, or how Noel was lying face down now, unconscious. She looked around with the depthless hatred of an imploding heart, and called out to anyone, anywhere - all the deals she'd made, all the demons she'd worked with - to her brother, to the fractured pieces of herself. She ran her athame down the length of her arm, and as her own blood pumped out in thick ripples, she felt a power connect and hold fast. Not Gaia. Something blacker, hotter. It seized her mind, and clawed its way quickly in, whispering the secrets of vengeance and rage.
The pendant on Shay's breathless chest now swirled with a thick, black cloud, it's connection to the state of Ammie's emotions never more visible than now.
Ammie turned her eyes on Bong Cha, who was scrambling away from whatever she'd become, towards The Dragon's screened box. "I don't understand! The models! The projections! This was never the outcome! What...what went wrong?!"
The Dragon remained as still and silent as ever, as Flames began to spring to life on all if the fabrics in the room. The screen burned away just as Ammie finished her final incantation - the child's placid, almost welcoming expression the last thing she ever saw.
::Rewind scenario 30 seconds. Switch perspective to birds-eye - 400 feet.::
The complex of the Heart-In-Coils had begun to burn. Soldiers in Dragon garb scrambled to extinguish the blaze, but by the time they doused one, three more had sprung up. At the 10 second mark, a globe of white fire could be seen, growing in the center of the complex. At the 30 second mark, it exploded, leaving the ashes of ashes in its place. A perfect sphere of absolute death.
~~~~
Trigonal Director Solomon DeMalficad hit the pause button on the simulator. He frowned, and addressed the A.I. Assistant.
"What's the current probability of these reactions based on existing psych profiles?"
The A.I. Chimed in with a helpful voice. "87.224%, based on data samples, if scenario occurs one year from today."
DeMalficad nodded. "Did our shooter make it out of the blaze in any scenario?"
"Improbable. Trigonal instigator's chance of evacuation is 1.27%. These figures are based on the average capabilities of a top-level field operative, after 1-year infiltration period."
Solomon sighed. "Does it at least kill the child and his wetnurse in every case?"
"Chance of target death is 99.999%."
He crossed his arms. "Well. It's something, at least. Get the figures to Personnel, and see I they want to go ahead and get a sniper in there."
Solomon left the simulator room, and headed out to get some lunch.
"It's a thought..."
The Heart-In-Coils was a magnificent room, elaborately appointed with a museum's worth of ancient artifacts. It's feng shui was balanced so meticulously that the uniforms of the guards on each door were different colors.
The entity known as The Dragon sat in a small square wooden enclosure in its center, behind a screen. He relayed his communications through his servant Bong Cha, who politely addressed the Aegir group, who knelt at a food-laden table some 15 meters away, speaking principally to Aegir's chief negotiator Noel Green. Ammie and Shay paid attention enough, but giggled on occasion and punched each other under the table when they thought no one was looking.
::lock perspective: S.Gabel::
Sera caught all of this of course, her eyes constantly scanning the room for danger, and her heartbeat rising as she identified threat after threat. This was a mistake, she thought. Even the reputation gained by being chosen to directly negotiate with The Dragon himself wasn't worth this level of exposure. She felt more and more justified in having forced Tess to stay behind.
The attack didn't occur until after dinner had concluded. It began when the bees started rubbing their foreheads from exposure to a colorless, odorless, anima-draining gas that robbed them of much of their access to Anima, and took away their regenerative capabilities and access to Anima Form. It climaxed when a single sniper round tore a hole through a rice-paper door, and the throat of Seanne Rystaad.
The next few scenes occurred in slow motion to Sera, as her years of adrenal training kicked in, feeding her information from all around her in fractions of a second. Ammie rushed to her wife, catching her just as she hit the ground in a scarlet eruption. The hysterical Mage was chanting something loudly and summoning her powers over blood, but nothing was happening. Sera stood from her kneel, immediately disarming the closest guard of their sword and flinging herself into the swiftly erupting combat.
::lock perspective: A. Wicker::
Shay was terrified. Brutal tears streamed from bewildered and agonized eyes, which locked onto Ammie with a grip as firm as her that of her shaking hands on Ammie's sleeves.
"I'm...n't...healn'g...." Shay sputtered through a throat full of blood and pain. "Ba'bee...c'hel'p...me..."
Ammie chanted the words of the blood magick faster and faster, in her mind they fired every synapse as normal, but her path to Gaia was cut off. The red pendant around Shay's neck was burning like the sun at noon, and Ammie held onto Shay, touched her face, and stared into her terrified, desperate eyes as they lost their light and became glassy only seconds later.
Ammie didn't even hear the conflict going on around her. She didn't register the valiant way that Sera was holding off three opponents, or how Noel was lying face down now, unconscious. She looked around with the depthless hatred of an imploding heart, and called out to anyone, anywhere - all the deals she'd made, all the demons she'd worked with - to her brother, to the fractured pieces of herself. She ran her athame down the length of her arm, and as her own blood pumped out in thick ripples, she felt a power connect and hold fast. Not Gaia. Something blacker, hotter. It seized her mind, and clawed its way quickly in, whispering the secrets of vengeance and rage.
The pendant on Shay's breathless chest now swirled with a thick, black cloud, it's connection to the state of Ammie's emotions never more visible than now.
Ammie turned her eyes on Bong Cha, who was scrambling away from whatever she'd become, towards The Dragon's screened box. "I don't understand! The models! The projections! This was never the outcome! What...what went wrong?!"
The Dragon remained as still and silent as ever, as Flames began to spring to life on all if the fabrics in the room. The screen burned away just as Ammie finished her final incantation - the child's placid, almost welcoming expression the last thing she ever saw.
::Rewind scenario 30 seconds. Switch perspective to birds-eye - 400 feet.::
The complex of the Heart-In-Coils had begun to burn. Soldiers in Dragon garb scrambled to extinguish the blaze, but by the time they doused one, three more had sprung up. At the 10 second mark, a globe of white fire could be seen, growing in the center of the complex. At the 30 second mark, it exploded, leaving the ashes of ashes in its place. A perfect sphere of absolute death.
~~~~
Trigonal Director Solomon DeMalficad hit the pause button on the simulator. He frowned, and addressed the A.I. Assistant.
"What's the current probability of these reactions based on existing psych profiles?"
The A.I. Chimed in with a helpful voice. "87.224%, based on data samples, if scenario occurs one year from today."
DeMalficad nodded. "Did our shooter make it out of the blaze in any scenario?"
"Improbable. Trigonal instigator's chance of evacuation is 1.27%. These figures are based on the average capabilities of a top-level field operative, after 1-year infiltration period."
Solomon sighed. "Does it at least kill the child and his wetnurse in every case?"
"Chance of target death is 99.999%."
He crossed his arms. "Well. It's something, at least. Get the figures to Personnel, and see I they want to go ahead and get a sniper in there."
Solomon left the simulator room, and headed out to get some lunch.
"It's a thought..."
Weighs the same as a duck.