Fay - T (Open)

"And you seem to be okay with it as long as you get something from it." She slid the three decks in with the other two. "I thought you Shamans were all high and mighty about stealing."

She could tell that he was uncomfortable with this whole thing, and so she couldn't help but goad him--just as long as he didn't decide to talk. Nobody liked a tattle-tale.

"Well, I'm trying to be open-minded about your customs," Kyron told her honestly and, maybe a bit guiltily, "City customs are strange and I guess I wanted something out of a rotten day."

Morgan gave a slight shake of his head. This guy was completely and utterly clueless. Trying to be open to city customs? Didn't he understand that she was breaking the law? That the 'city customs' would place her on probation if she was caught again?

"You're such a... a idiot."

There was just no other word to describe him.

Kyron scowled at her, feeling rather angry at her. He spoke, "At least I'm not a thief. Why can't you be more like Tadi?"

"Because Tadi annoys me. And you annoy me too, with your stupid questions. Come to think of it, everyone annoys me. Just bug off and leave me alone, and go back where you belong, because you obviously don't belong here."

She didn't mean it, not really, but his question hurt. Everyone always wanted her to be somebody else; nobody was happy with who she was.

"Maybe you should accept someone's friendship when they offer it to you! Then you wouldn't be so alone and bitter!" Kyron shouted at her, frustration taking its toll on the usually shy and nice Shaman, "You are just like all the rest of the people in this city: selfish and bitter!"

"No," she muttered as she came to a stop. Her fingers curled into fists and she turned to face Kyron. "You're just like everybody else. And if you hate me so much, why don't you just go away! I didn't ask you to follow me; I didn't ask for your friendship! And I don't need it anyways!"

She drew out a deck of cards and threw it at him. "Take it and leave me alone!"

"No! I don't hate you! I find you insufferable, but I don't hate you," Kyron told her, breathing heavily, but at last calming down. He caught the deck of cards, but handed it back to her, "I'm sorry. I guess things aren't what I expected."

She took the cards, surprise flickering over her face for a moment before her expression hardened back into anger. "I'm not done being angry at you! You can't just... just..." She poked a finger into his chest. "We're not done yet!"

"What's the point? We both know we're saying things we don't mean and we both know that one of us is going to apologize anyway," Kyron noted, slightly annoyed.

Morgan frowned and turned away from him. "I don't apologize. Not for nothin'." She started walking again, giving the pavement a kick as she did so. Maybe she could relieve some of her frustration on the Circuit, but she didn't want Kyron following her to the underground place. He wouldn't like it there, and she didn't need the burden of watching over him while doing her gambling.

So, instead, she started towards home. Maybe her father would be home, and he would chase the irritating Shaman away.

"See ya," Kyron muttered, walking the opposite way. Maybe taking a nap in the park would calm him down. The grass and the trees were a lot better than steel and concrete any day.

(Hey good news! I shall use the libraries computer until I get mine back, so I should be on more. But not for a long time)

Aire smiled at Tadi.

"So what is on our agenda today?"

Tadi offered her a smile in return. "Well, two things. But first..." He turned and started walking, waving a hand behind him for Aire and Tory to follow. First, they needed their secure location.

The local library wasn't too far of a walk from school, and soon all three of them were in one of the group study rooms, with the door tightly shut behind them. A long narrow table sat in the center, with several chairs placed around it, and a chalkboard filled the back wall.

Tadi let his backpack land next to the table and then straightened up. He cleared his throat. "We have a problem." His hazel eyes flickered between the two girls. "A big one."

--------------

Morgan let the door bang shut behind her. The noise was quite loud in the quiet of the house, but she didn't care. She threw her backpack down in the kitchen and pulled the frig open. Her brown eyes scanned over the empty shelves and she growled in annoyance. He was supposed to have gone shopping today.

"Can't depend on him for anything," she muttered and slammed the door shut.

Stomach rumbling, she headed up to her room.

---------------

Aaron Raye watched from the shadows as Morgan slammed the door to her room. His frown deepened. Did she have to slam everything?

Not in the mood to deal with her at the moment, he disappeared back into their small library. The room was full of dust, with even a thick film covering the floor. Bookcases lined the walls, each filled almost to the brim with books, and a reading chair sat in the far corner, its deep blue color looking faded under the grime. At the far end, centered on the wall, was a painting of wild horses, galloping straight towards the viewer.

It was to this painting that Aaron went. He passed straight through it with a muttered word. The sensation was like that of passing through falling water, but it lasted only a moment. On the other side was a room half the size of the library, and this one was full of papers, books, maps, and scientific equipment. A computer rested on a desk squeezed into the far corner. The dim light of the screen lit up the room just enough to avoid tripping over things.

Aaron sat down at his computer and stared at the screen for a moment, and the notes he had made.

If they only had a month to get this done in, he had to perfect this formula now.

With a tired sigh, he reached for a book sitting next to the computer and started flipping through the pages.

Kyron sat in front of his tent, cooking a couple of birds over the campfire. Today had been a tiring day. He sighed. He really hoped that Morgan would speak to him again. He did want at least one or two friends in this city.

Aire nodded. A problem was never good, but it did not help to panic. Not that she was prone to panicing a lot. Still.

"What is it?"

"The Eta seem to be accelerating their plans," Tadi said. He spoke calmly and looked like the picture of peace, but inside he was frightened. He had been frightened ever since he had come to this realization.

"I have not be able to determine their date of completion, but... I think that we're running out of time to stop them."

But how were they to stop a force that they knew so little about? How...? No, he would find a way; they would find a way.

"So what do you want us to do?" Tory asked.

"Right now, more than anything, we need information and we need numbers. If they are accelerating their plans, we must accelerate our pace to match their speed."

Name: Xorn
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown

Natural: No; Phylacery is a machine that channels ambient magic into his body, or circulates it during periods away from magical sources. Not a power, but an addition to his nature: Immune to poison, disease, and cold; weak against fire.

Personality: Cold and calculating, tends to be a loner. He understands right and wrong but has lived long enough to know there is never a real defining difference. Sees living creatures as beneath him or inferior, but never lets it dictate his position, or tries not to anyways.

Appearance: Skeletal in nature, with dead flesh and muscle holding him together. His eye sockets glow green, wisps of pure white hair clinging to his decaying scalp. His cloths, while somewhat archaic, are a solid black Victorian era gentleman’s outfit, the hat is worn formally. Favors an Adamantine longsword, but will use guns if necessary, if not magic.

History: Unknown; Most records were kept word of mouth, and predate most technologies.

Occupation/Side: LoP Officer

Other: Unaware of the secret war, but has been dispatched to the planet on account of suspicious activities, and as a precaution.

Hope it's not too late to join.

(Accepted.)

"So we should begin to recruit more people," Aire asked. She thought about the people at the school and sighed. Would a bunch of kids be enough? Maybe they should try and go outside and recruit others.

Tadi gave a nod of his head. "Yes, but..."

What they were about to do was risky. He had tried to be so careful before, about who he spoke to about this and about what he did. Now he was throwing away that security, and endangering those that served with him. But this was the only way to stop the Eta.

"From this point on, there's no backing out. We need info, and we need it now. We know that there's seven people behind Eta, but we only know two for sure, and the other two are just guesses. We know that they're creating some secret weapon, but we don't know what it is or what it can do. We need more people to help us.

"I'm not saying that we need to go crazy with finding others--that's something that we still need to be really careful about. What we need are those that are good at gathering information, those with family members involved in Eta, and those that are good in a fight, if it comes down to that.

"Kids aren't all we need," he finished up, as if reading Aire's mind. "But the problem with adults is that they rather pretend everything is all right, instead of addressing the problem. And if we get a lot of adults in Occult, they'll try to take over. We don't need that.

"So, bottom line is: be careful who you ask."


(One of the confirmed is Tadi's brother, Hale. Morgan's father is under suspicion, but there has been no proof he's involved.)

As the large ship docked, there was a collective silence as the pressure seals on the door disengaged. It wasn't so much that the League of Planets were disliked or hated, or even the insignia that was emblazoned on its hull, but this aura of...well, it was difficult to describe, but it had everyone on edge. All eyes were on the ship, as its sole disembarking passenger stepped off.

Jaws dropped, eyes widened, and even a few fainted. Fear, it was a beautiful abstract concept that bent many to spill there secrets...and this place reeked of them. Cold, green embers in bleached, lifeless sockets drew in the scenery before him. Stepping further into the terminal, he was aware of the people scurrying away from him, but paid them no attention as he walked up to the Security, all of whom were clearly scared to death.

Flashing his platinum LoP badge, the security became increasingly nervous. His hollow voice reverberated from his maw, "So then, gentlemen. I do believe you are to stay out of my way. I'm here on investigation of suspicious activities, and that's all you need to know. Get in my way and you will be dealt with accordingly. Is that understood?"

The security could do nothing but simply nod in response. While the planet of Fay governed itself, the LoP had the power to back up any commands they issued. If this... this... being was here under the LoP's orders, they could not deny him.

"Of c-course..." The security guard speaking cleared his throat. "Of course, sir." He stepped out of the way of the being, trying to hide the way his knees knocked together.

What suspicious activity could possibly bring something like this to their backwoods planets?

He could tell from the look on the security guard's face that he had no clue what he was talking about. It was of no consequence, as noticeably small detail, such as small increments of money disappearing from organizations, specifically ones under the ownership of seven people, as well as subsidiary groups that also belonged to said seven people.

"Excuse me," He said, parting the security with but his words, he moved through the gap. Outside the terminal, was a vehicle waiting for him. Opening up the driver-side door, he brought up a list of name and addresses on the dashboard computer as he sat down. Typing in a name, he closed the door. "Target has one child. No consequence, so long as Mr. Raye co-operates."

(Realized yesterday that I forgot to put up the Enforcer info on my first post. I've added it, and it can be found near the bottom of my first post.)

"Queen of Fay."

Morgan pulled out one of the cards in her hand and then opened her eyes to see that she was, indeed, right... again. With a tired sigh, she let the cards fall to the ground. She was always right.

The teenager pushed herself up off of her bed and headed downstairs. Maybe she would head to the Circuit after all. That would be more exciting than lying around at home.