Welcome to Gaia! ::

Corrinne’s smile faded momentarily when the young girl turned away from her. ‘Was it something I said?’ Corrinne thought to herself but after retracing her words she couldn’t find anything that would have caused this kind of reaction. It must have had something to do with her interaction with Akio Kawaguchi; did this young one have feelings for him? Not that she could blame her he was quite attractive. The boy on the other hand was much more pleasant, he seemed instantly to like her; this made her smile return as he introduced himself to her. “Wonderful to meet you Ilya, I like your name.” She beamed at his proud stance.

Pausing to look up to Akio as he spoke to her, she was amazed to hear that it wasn’t Dal’Mori who had won the tournament. Though, she remembered this fae character as Akio put it being very strong too. It was at this time that Corrinne caught the smallest whiff of cookies baking; the smell was warm and enticing. And before she could think an older woman obviously of Russian origin offered an invitation to partake in the desserts. “Nice to meet you Katya,” Corrinne managed to get out before being jostled with Akio through the door into what she assumed to be the apartment of the children and their mother.

Politely taking one of the cookies offered to her she nibbled on it as she listened to the conversation between Ilya and his mother. Having no idea on what they were actually saying, she had never tried to learn Russian before but at this moment she wished she had. Although her not knowing, gave the two a kind of privacy that Corrinne slightly envied.

“Acel?” Corrinne answered Katya, “Unfortunately I don’t know much about him; many of the other Baiters are still a mystery to me. Even Kawaguchi here, though I have met some of his family.” Corrinne glanced at Akio before returning her full attention to Katya, “I actually haven’t been on a mission yet, only training, and the tournament. It’s a little embarrassing but the children are probably more experienced than I am.” Corrinne paused as Katya began to ask Ilya and Thre questions, taking little snippets out of what Ilya said, Corrinne began to piece together some of their history, though she was still rather confused.

From what she could gauge, something strange happened between the children and Acel. From what she could remember of the man, he wasn’t that amazing, a little emotional. And wasn’t he a farmer before? Or was that Dal’Mori? The information was all blending together and her absence didn’t help any, being away from everyone made her a bit hazy on their backgrounds. She was amazed that she could remember Akio’s name but for some reason as soon as she saw him the name appeared in her mind.

Corrinne still caught bitter glances from Thre and after being in her presence for a few minutes, this only made Corrinne smile. Her intuition was telling her that the young girl was jealous of her, this almost made Corrinne want to appear closer to Akio but she held herself back since Akio looked barely there as it was. She would wait and see how her relationship with everyone progressed before acting hastily.



__________________________________


LINES: 83


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Quote:

B.A.I.T.R Standing: 55
Health: 600/600
Control Limit: 440

Skill: 35 [35]
Strength: 35 [36]
Defence: 40 [41]



Quote:
Tactical Advantages


Sadist - Level 1 - When one of your attacks deals damage, you get +5 to your Strength. This bonus disappears if an opponent successfully blocks one of your attacks. Sadist does not stack with itself.



Ominous Noodles


Shards of Myself

What an interesting group of people he seemed to find himself caught up in. Akio watched as the woman named Katya squeezed her children in a warm hug and brought everyone inside for cookies and to spill tea. Basically, his two favorite pastimes, aside from programing bots to do unnecessary, well, anything. So, actually, Akio was quite attentive to the conversation, or as much as he could be after a good four hours of sleep, five cigarettes, four extra strength Advils, a cup of coffee, and a persistent headache. Still, he managed to pick up on the bits and pieces of the conversation that actually mattered. For instance, what exactly was going on with Acel. From the sounds of it, they had an encounter with the Angel, or whatever it decided to call itself. And from how traumatized the little boy looked, it probably got at least him, or both of them, killed. Akio folded his arms and leaned on the counter, ignoring the cookies for the time being. He didn’t want an allergic reaction, no matter how minor, to cloud his judgement any further. Perhaps later.

Corrinne then spoke up, giving less than useful information to the group. But he really couldn’t blame her, considering she had all but vanished for the past two-ish days, or however long it had been. Though he couldn’t help but smirk a little at the idea that she still knew very little about him, aside from his barely remembered name. After all, he did think her name was Kory for a split second there. “I am an enigma to all.” He said, his amused voice tangling with his accent in an interesting way.

Then it wasn’t long before Thre launched into her story about what happened, giving a lot more detail about what happened on their mission with the blond farm boy. The second the girl opened her mouth, Akio almost lost his s**t. He managed to stifle the laughter just barely, a light snicker escaping him, but overall managed to hear the girl out. Seriously though? Pathetic waste of space? That was actually kinda hilarious. Reminded him of what he said to Acel the first time they had ever met. But the amusement slowly turned into strong curiosity and concern for everyone when she said he went completely berserk on the battlefield. He remembered what it was like being out on the field with Acel, and how the entire time he was worried about whether or not he would turn on Sarah and him when they were fighting. Honestly, for a while he didn’t know what to think, but now he had a pretty good idea of what actually was going on, or close to an idea.

He was lucky that he had a therapist, so he knew a few things about trauma and what it does to the brain. Akio wasn’t sure exactly how accurate his guess was, but it was the closest thing that he could think of. “Sounds like you two had an encounter with the Angel? Or whatever it calls itself.” Akio began, pointing his question first towards Thre, who seemed to be the most conscious of what it was that had happened. That wasn’t to say that Ilya couldn’t comprehend what he was about to say, but he was younger and these concepts were sometimes hard to grasp. “I went on a mission with him to Chicago yesterday, and something similar happened to me. It was interesting to say the least, and also kind of terrifying. My theory is that he has a fairly strong case of Split Personality Disorder.”

When Ilya looked at Akio with a confused look, Akio sighed and explained, not entirely irritated that Ilya didn’t know and at least somewhat glad that he could get into detail about it. “Literally exactly how it sounds.” He said, pushing himself off the counter, shrugging his shoulders a little bit and going for one of the cookies. “When someone goes through a severely traumatic experience, sometimes the brain will fragment itself to keep itself protected.” When he said this, Akio broke the cookie in half, adding emphasis to his words. “It creates a shield, if it were, of a whole other being that lives inside your brain. Usually, this is a manifestation of what you want to be or sometimes the worst parts of you. I think that’s what the Angel is, though part of me things that’s not entirely the case.” Once again, Akio shrugged, taking a bite out of the cookie before saying anything else.

He took the moment to collect his thoughts. The cookie was pleasing to the tongue, and he was rather pleased that he could finally try some with little to no effects other than that strange tickling feeling in his throat that now bubbled up. Hmm. How strange. Akio let out a short cough to clear his throat before speaking again. “The theory doesn't match perfectly, and there’s still a lot of variables to consider but… “Akio shrugged, putting the cookie down and deciding the unpleasant feeling wasn’t worth the delicious taste. “Either way, the dude is crazy and I’d suggest you limit interactions with him until I figure out what he is, exactly.” And if it was actually true that he killed his own daughter. Those words were still echoing in his mind, and if it were true, he’d rather keep these kids as far away from Acel as possible. And for that matter, everyone should probably keep their distance. It was too late for Ilya, Thre, him, Dal’Mori, and Sarah, but at least Corrinne could heed the warning.

The ‘Angel’ fed off fear and despair, actively going out to seek it in other people. It just so happened that in the original group it made itself known in, that was a simple task. Sarah was meak, Acel wallowed in his sorrow after his family died, and Akio for… Well, that was his issues, not something worth getting into at this point in time. Point was that this thing was the epitome of ‘misery loves company.’ Akio thought for a moment, tapping a finger on the counter, unaware of how awkward his silence was. He couldn’t help but think about how Acel couldn’t speak Mandarin, yet suddenly could when the Angel took over. That didn’t align with his theory at all, but he wasn’t going to say that outloud and scare the children more. What also didn’t align with the theory was the sudden pick up of different fighting styles, or the dual voices the man held when he spoke as the Angel. It was almost as if it was actually a whole other being in the man, which was more than slightly terrifying. If that were the case, then he needed severe help, and he wasn’t sure anyone could get him what he needed. Akio frowned, playing with one of his lip piercings in thought. He desperately hoped that wasn’t actually the case, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like it was a distinct possibility.

Damn it. It was too much to think about, and Akio clearly wasn’t in any position to think too hard. Perhaps another mission would clear his head? Somewhere cold. Very cold. Some place that reminded him so much of home. Looking up, he realized that there was actually a perfect amount of people with him to go on a fairly successful mission. And Corrinne did say she hadn’t gone on a mission before, so it was a good time to show these two kids what a successful mission looked like as well as her what a mission looked like.

Once again, Akio leaned against the counter, resting his head on his hands, this time directing his question towards Katya. “Would you mind me taking your children on a mission? I can send you updates via text messages if that will make you comfortable. Of course you’re welcome to come as well, Corr.. inne. Corrine.” The last bit was directed towards the redhead, finally saying her name for the first time. He almost ******** up her name, clearly having forgotten it for a moment. He almost felt bad, but she did mention that she forgot his name as well, so he felt less like a horrible human being and more like someone who had only talked to this person once before.


Lines: 292
Ooc: I have the mission all set up, and you are welcome to tag along. It would be to the Polar Gates, so you know.
Message me on Skype if you want deets.


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Quote:

B.A.I.T.R Standing: 181
Health: 1500/1500
Control Limit: 1452

Skill: 135 [158]
Strength: 118 [---]
Defence: 110 [---]



Quote:
Tactical Advantages


Acupuncturist - Level 6 - Your blows hit pressure points, causing the foe to move slower and be less proficient with their attacks. When you deal damage, the foe suffers a -12 to their Strength stat for the rest of the fight



show spoilerhide spoiler
Pesky Raven

As Corrinne quietly nibbled on the sweet hand-made cookies, she was surprised to see how emotional the young girl grew suddenly when hugged by Katya. Her tears welled up and she gasped, trying to catch her breath, she held the older woman tightly. Since Corrinne didn’t know any better, this looked completely normal to her – for she was still under the mistaken impression that Thre was Ilya’s sister and that this reaction was just from being able to see her mother again after a mission. This made Thre amiable in Corrinne’s eyes so she began to lean comfortably against the wall behind her in between Akio and Katya to watch the children.

However, her relief was instantly interrupted when Thre began to unburden herself to the group about the events involving Acel. In the most animated expression Thre explained how Acel had put her and Ilya in danger and went mad on the battlefield! Corrinne couldn’t believe it, her jaw visibly dropped as she looked from Thre to Ilya. Then as Thre began to pace in anger, Corrinne covered her mouth from shock, “Oh my! How awful.” Corrinne looked around at the other adults to see if they were as disturbed as she was about what had happened. Then Akio quickly picked up the conversation after Thre only to confirm that it was all true!

“Split Personality Disorder?” Corrinne repeated Akio’s words with a quizzical expression. Folding her arms across her waist she nodded in to listen to him more clearly as he went into an analysis of what it could be. “Angel? Couldn’t this also be his AI taking over?” She added to his conversation before he went on to say that he was still trying to figure out what it actually was. But that it would probably be safer for them to keep their distance from Acel for a while. This was still shocking to Corrinne, as Acel was actually one of the people that she had had the most contact with, having comforted him a few times. But she didn’t know about all of this! It truly was a mystery, one that she wasn’t sure she wanted to solve.

Corrinne watched Akio tapping his fingers on the counter, obviously thinking to himself, then playing with one of his piercings. Corrinne half smiled and raised her eyebrows sympathetically, she found these long awkward pauses that the male BAITR’s did quite charming, how sheltered had they been? To do these long awkward pauses in most societies today would make any normal listener impatient. But he suddenly started his conversation again after leaning against a counter and addressing Katya, asking her if she would be all right with him taking her children out on a mission again. Yet again, Corrinne was surprised! The children had just come back from what seemed a very dangerous battle and already he was proposing they leave again.

Then he added that Corrinne may come too, half stumbling over her name in the process. “Wha-” Corrinne put her hands on her hips as she waited to hear what Katya’s answer would be. Thrown again, when their mother agreed that they might go with Akio on a mission, just as long as he kept her informed of their status. “Are you serious? They just risked their lives,” Corrinne gestured to the young ones but before she could argue the idea further Katya had already reached for pen and paper with their information on it to give to Akio and herself. “I can’t believe this,” Corrinne looked down at the carefully written down information then back up at the rest of them and sighed, “Alright, I can’t believe we’re doing this but I promise to look after them.” She stared back at Katya and nodded, “I won’t let them out of my sight.”

When Katya seemed satisfied with this she went to Ilya and patted him on the head lovingly. Corrinne shook her head and looked back at Akio and let out a bewildered, “What did you just get me into?”



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LINES: 129


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Quote:

B.A.I.T.R Standing: 55
Health: 600/600
Control Limit: 440

Skill: 35 [35]
Strength: 35 [36]
Defence: 40 [41]



Quote:
Tactical Advantages


Sadist - Level 1 - When one of your attacks deals damage, you get +5 to your Strength. This bonus disappears if an opponent successfully blocks one of your attacks. Sadist does not stack with itself.



Ominous Noodles


Shards of Myself

Dal'Mori Cestrol Menne

As he was walking away from Kawaguchi, the man with whom he'd had one hell of a successful mission with, his mind was a flurry of thoughts. The best way to describe it would be to say that someone had unleashed gale force winds, before spinning them into a twister within the confines of his mind. Normally, after a good workout like that, and there was no denying that that was what that fight had been, his mind was calm. It had been taxing, no doubt, but already he was feeling refreshed, the healing his body was now capable of reaching once more impressing him with its capabilities. However, despite this fact his mind was a mess of thoughts, which was probably the biggest reason he wanted to rush off into another mission already.

That and fighting something to the death was a great way to forget. There was nothing but himself, them and the life or death battle. Anything else was background noise to be ignored.

Obviously, the current focus of the majority of his thoughts was the shorter male he'd just been on a mission with. He simply couldn't fathom how in such a short period of time he'd come to respect someone like that. Sure, there was plenty of grounds for it, otherwise the respect wouldn't have come about, but it just came so fast. Between the amazing challenge he presented with that magic, the way he actually spoke to the kid in such a kind way despite his first impression, and the fight they'd just been through, Dal'Mori would be willing to fight for Kawaguchi. Not like a subservient soldier, never like that, he highly doubted anyone would have that over him, but certainly like an honest partner.

It was as surprising as it was unwanted.

He couldn't afford to make connections like that, no matter how small and tenuous they ultimately turned out to be. He had a goal. A clear cut, hopelessly out of reach goal. He had to be willing to give up everything, literally everything for this goal. Wiping out an entire species of things that could spawn themselves from what he could only assume was nothing would never be an easy task, and that was without taking into consideration that as he was right now he could still only barely battle those considered the lowest tier of enemy as he was.

Taking that fact into consideration, the path he laid out before himself was an insurmountable mountain, paved with the hardest of hardships, grueling circumstances, and nothing but the worst of experiences. A flash of golden eyes raced through his memory, reminding him of his humiliating defeat just yesterday.

Yet, for reasons he simply could not comprehend, his mind was finding reasons to make whatever he found between himself and Kawaguchi work. More than that, it was finding a means of making him go and try to find something similar with Acel, Sarah, and perhaps even that Corrinne woman should she remove that idiotic view about family hurting her. It was trying to grasp desperately at the stained threadbare connection that had formed between himself and those people, like it was falling from a cliff and they were his only means of salvation from a deep black void. Almost as if his mind thought these people would be the means of healing the cracks that had formed within his mind.

He was no longer heading in any one direction, his mind too caught up in this whirlwind of thoughts.

Speaking of other people, his mind shifted to Acel. The man who had dishonored a sacred act from his village, however inadvertently, to force honesty from the seasoned warrior. This was easy enough to get around, for if he simply did not speak, he would not be lying. He ignored the little part of his mind that spoke of the fact that that would still be considered a lie of omission, but seeing that Acel had asked for honesty, and not for Dal'Mori to always respond to him, the tall man didn't care. It was only fair, after all, as the man had been rather underhanded with what he had done.

However, truth be told, he couldn't bring himself to be that aggravated by that fact as he'd been when it first happened. Why? Simple. With how things worked out with Kawaguchi, and subsequently his decision to try this strange tactic on the blonde male, he figured it would be easier to wipe the slate as clean as he could. After all, it would be far easier to convince someone to be friendly with him if he was nice, and not angry.

Turning around a corner, he came upon the sight of the very object of his thoughts. He was deep in conversation with Sarah about something, and Dal'Mori, being so absurdly practiced in reading people by the way they held themselves, he could tell something big had happened. What it was, he wouldn't even hazard a guess, but he promptly walked off before either of them could notice him. While he was more than willing to attempt to befriend them to reach his own goals, he was not at all ready to deal with whatever baggage was going on right there.

He would just hope to catch them at a better time. Maybe ask them onto a mission with him, so he could get a better feel for how they fought. He decimated Acel, and his core in their fight, after giving him a few friendly pointers. The same could be said for his fight with Sarah, minus the friendly tips, which he didn't offer any for. Though, admittedly, this fact made both of them worthwhile candidates for him to attempt to recruit into his circle.

Acel was rough, unformed clay. Sarah was hard, unshaped marble. The shape and form were there; it just took a strong, steady guiding hand to bring it forth. They would make amazing fighters in due time, but for now they were still a little green. Acel had strong potential as a front line fighter, where Sarah was incredible at taking a beating. While that may not seem like a desirable trait, the truth was it made her an optimal pick for a defender. Toss in Kawaguchi who was so damned fast, putting him in either the vanguard or support role, and you had yourself one damn good team. Having all of them around him would make for one unstoppable force.

There it was doing it again! His mind was coming up with reason after reason as to why he should cling to these people! He growled in frustration. That was not the plan. The plan was simple, easy. Only a fool could muck it up. Step one, get strong. Step two, get minions. Step three, begin the long and arduous task of destroying every, single, last beastie that walked this planet! Ensure that no one else ever faced the destruction of everything they loved! Remove the pain of that kind of loss from this world!

So why couldn't he let go? Why, even now, even after recognizing what his mind was doing, did he hold so stringently? Why were these people so present in his mind?! These people who he had only just met! Of them, only one he had ever fought with, ever stood beside! Even that was just once! One single time! One single moment!

'Life is made of single moment's little brother.'

The voice of his oldest and dearest friend slipped into his mind causing him to start. The endearing name she called him despite their lack of blood relations cause him to smile a very slight smile, so slight in fact that even staring dead on at him you would hardly be able to recognize that his lips had turned up. She was a whole three days older than he was, and they had basically grown up together, but she always insisted on calling him that. She knew he both loved and hated it, which was exactly why she did it.

She was every bit that kind of person, a person who lived in the moment, who thought the past was exactly that, the past. That the single moments were what matters. Those single instances were what made people people, what made life life. He never truly understood it, feeling almost the exact opposite. Life was a long and continuous sting. People connected over time, never in a single moment.

This was exactly why he was so confused right now. Even more so when one took into consideration the fact he never wanted these connections, which was why he had planned on limiting interactions between himself and people. And yet, here he was, a mere single instant later, considering empowering those connections, making them stronger, even if it was with selfish reasons in mind.

He groaned as he felt a small headache start to form in the back of his mind.

He was not one for deep thought like this. He let his actions speak for himself, and rarely spent a lot of time thinking about them, more often than not following his gut. With that thought in mind, it was high time he stopped thinking about it, he had plans now, no matter how confused they made him, they made sense. Which, admittedly, was rather confusing as well, but he never claimed to be a genius.

So, he moved over to the nearest wall, to make sure he was as out of the way as possible, slipped to the floor, moving into the position he was most comfortable dealing with, he began to meditate. Breathing slowly. In and out. In and out. In through the nose, out through the mouth. The tension in his body slowly began to seep out as he started putting the thoughts away, some he forced to the back of his mind, hopefully to be forgotten, others he placed where he needed them to go, clearing his mind of their clutter. The whole process took several minutes, but when he was finished he felt lighter, and no longer worried about his choices.

He would follow through, and deal with whatever consequences that would come with them. His gut told him this was the best course of action, and he'd never ignored it before, and thus would not start now.

He took one final deep breath and opened his eyes, significantly calmer now than he'd been however long ago it had been since his mission with Kawaguchi. He lifted his eyebrow at the glances that kept being sent his way, wondering why this seemed like an out of place occurrence. Didn't everyone meditate? If not, they really should pick it up. It was an incredible way to calm the mind and relax the body.

Shrugging he rose to his feet and looked for the nearest directional... Thing. He had no idea what they were, guessing they were words of some sort, but having no means of understanding them. He found the ones that looked familiar, meaning they pointed towards the training room. He followed them easily enough, his body easily moving through the crowd like a ghost, the meditation calming him down a great deal. Once he reached the very familiar room that, just barely a few hours ago, he'd been inside with Kawaguchi, he immediately set off towards the mission room, using the training room as a landmark of sorts.

His memory served him well, and a few short moments later he was walking into the mission’s office once more. He really needed to find a means of figuring out what those words were, he didn't like the idea that if he wasn't paying enough attention he could get lost.

He walked up to the nearest desk, flashed his badge and asked for a mission. The lad behind the counter was interesting looking. Half of his hair was missing, but not due to an injury or anything, it looked like it was purposely shaved off like that. His nose was slightly crooked, and he had a good deal of facial hair. However, the most interesting thing about the guy was that his eye, the one on the side of his head that actually had hair, was covered with some kind of black patch that seemed to be embedded in his face, the skin surrounding it was scarred deeply.

Apparently this man had dealt with something dangerous, and only barely lived to tell the tale.

"SIR!" The loud voice of the man in front of him brought him forth from his musings, causing Dal'Mori to cringe the smallest of amounts due to his own inattentiveness, apparently the man had been trying to get his attention for a while now. The man however took in in stride, continuing on to describe his mission. "We have a mission for the Colorado Dustbowl. A couple Baiters have been coming back stating that they have been seeing some kind of anomaly in the area, that keeps scaring A.I.s towards the farmlands of the people who live there. The mission is to go and investigate this anomaly, and if possible rid the area of it. Do you accept?"

The warrior nodded, taking the necessary paperwork and headed off with a quiet thank you. He may not care about the man, but he was doing his job, and as such helping him out, so it was only kind to show the man some respect. No matter how empty it really was.

Within minutes he was at the very familiar portal room, handing over the paperwork he was given, before walking right up onto the device that would rip him into tiny pieces, and then deliver him where he needed to go. His brain hurt when he tried to think about how that particular magic worked, and simultaneously wished he had a portable one. 'How cool would it be to teleport around the battlefield?' The little kid in Dal'Mori couldn't help but think.

As that thought passed his mind, and with a bright light, he was gone.





Ooc:

Line Count: 194

❅❄❅⋅⋩⋩ Безумная Утенок

Ilya was fine accepting the mission, and completely fine with Kawa texting his mom at any chance he got. What he was worried about was more of the outcome of the battle. True, he had a, hopefully, more dependable than the original composition. True… He had the utmost faith in Acel when they first met so he was somewhat wary of everyone here, but from the sound of things no one even knew what it was that was going on with Acel and were not the same. And at least Corrinne sounded like an absolutely lovely human being. When Kawa even brought up the mission she was opposed, simply because they had already risked their lives in their first mission. To which, Ilya could only c**k his head and ask ”But isn’t that what a Baiter is supposed to do? Risk their lives every day?” He asked before everyone finally agreed to the mission and were on their way out the door.


Before they were finally out the door, though, Ilya had to say goodbye to his mother. Sure, they would see each other again soon and there was no need to be upset, but he couldn’t help but the little boy couldn’t help but tear up when he said his goodbyes. He gave the woman a long hug, holding her tight and with as much love as he could place in his hug. Katya was everything to Ilya, and he would fight everyone and anything that came near the woman. It was of the utmost importance to him that she lived and continued to be near him. To have his world vanish from him… That was inconceivable.


Finally, they were on their way out and Ilya was wiping away his tears, on his way to his second mission ever. This time, he hoped, he wouldn’t die. Or see anyone die, actually. That would be the best thing.


But then Kawa spoke again, asking Thre if Acel’s skin was basically falling off and if he had that weird dual voice thing going on. Ilya had to answer as well, adding his own comment to whatever Thre responded with. ”Called us ‘fools’ a lot, too...” He said, sounding more than a little upset by this. He wasn’t a fool… Young and probably naive… But not a fool. Rude.


Ilya listened to what the man had to say, thinking about it. It was actually somewhat concerning that no one actually knew what it was or where the issues actually came from. Ilya shook a little, not wanting to encounter it again. But… If he were to help, then he would have to encounter the man again. Ilya was in a predicament, having to think about what he was going to do next. And he had no one to talk to about it! His mind was spinning, and there was nothing ce could do to really stop it.


Soon, though, they were on their way to the main facilities so they could pick up their new mission. Of course, on the way there it was calm and collected, Thre doing her thing, Akio doing his thing, and Ilya questioning Corrinne as much as he could. Actually, he quite liked her. He thought she was very kind and was glad to hear that she was on his side. Corrine didn’t do the same thing that Acel did, underestimating Ilya to the point where he didn’t even believe that he was a Baiter. Or, even, had the capability of doing so! Corrinne, though, she just wanted to make sure they were alright. It was a far cry better than simply not believing them, Ilya believed. He asked the woman questions like ‘where are you from?’ and ‘what did you do before this?’ Ilya wanted to know as much about her as possible, asking questions that even went into who she was, what she liked, and if she had any goals for the future. Whatever answers he got, he would bounce right to the next one, going from one question to another so that he could soak up as much information as possible before they reached the main station.


When they did, he had to stop, though he knew he would be able to get more answers as soon as they were to start moving again. They just had to pick up the mission and go forth from there… Luckily, it seemed that Kawa had taken the reigns and picked up the mission for the group, not making them do any of the brunt work. It was to a place called the ‘Polar Gates.’ Ilya had no idea where that was, but it sounded cold as all hell, which he was totally okay with. All Ilya had to do was show his Baiter badge, a pure white card flecked with black streaks, which he pulled out of one of his pockets and showed it to the woman at the desk. It only took a moment, then the woman handed it back and he was ready to go. All was left was Corrinne and Thre and they could be off! He was so excited that he could barely contain himself. Whatever was going to happen, it sounded like it could be a lot of fun. Though, he did have to admit he was a little worried to hear that no one had come back from the mission yet. He hoped that they were at least okay.

Lines: 433
OOC: Bleh. After your posts, bank or update. Then we'll head on over to the place and begin the mission.

As two being materialized in the teleportation room in BAITR HQ they had very different reactions. The gray haired girl was grinning ear to ear while the raven haired girl look shaken and frazzled. The first let out a whoop and pumped her fist in the air. "Man, that is always such a rush!" She turned to her friend who's eyes had shrunk to points and still looked dazed and confused. "Fun huh?"

"F-fun?...That's...not exactly the word I wouldn't use for that... eh heh heh..." Rachel's nervous laugh said it all. She ha no idea what had just happened, but she knew she didn't like it. And it certainly was not fun, nor would it probably ever be. Finally feeling safe to move Rachel relaxed eve so slightly, just in time dir Daniel to grab her by the hand and drag her along again. The girl had an iron grip, and being taller than Rachel the brunette was nearly tripping just to keep up, it was more being dragged than followed. Again she was led through strange buildings and rooms she didn't recognize, all filled with more people than she had ever seen in he life. It made Rachel a little uneasy to be surrounded by so many people. It made her want to close herself off even more and retreat to a quiet place and hide. But the iron grip of Daniel kept her moving through the compound towards who knew where she was being taken. All the while Daniel regained her abou the dangerous mission she had just been on and how she had destroyed a couple A.I. on the trip. "And then POW! Right in the kisser! He never saw what hit him. Ope, but enough about that, it looks like we're here!"

Here turned out to be the office of an older gentleman with dark meat hair and a kind smile on his face. As the noisy pair entered his work space the man looked up from what he was doing and his warm smile grew a little bit bigger. He put down what he was working on as he spoke to them. "Good afternoon ladies. Is there anything I can do for you today?" he asked sounding absolutely sincere. Daniel pulled Rachel all he way up to his desk before finally letting go of her hand. She then placed an elbow on the desk and saluted the old man with a two finger salute.

"Hiya Quan. This little lady here just finished her H.A.L.F. procedure and needs her baiter card. I figured I'd help her find yah." Daniel flashed Quan Yuen a winning smile before turning and motioning for Rachel to come closer.

"Ah, excellent. It is good to see so many new baiters coming grouch as of late. And what might your name be my dear? Quan asked as the timid girl stepped forward. Rachel stood there awkwardly, not able to look at the man for more than a second before averting her gaze to the floor or something on his desk. When she finally spoke her voice was quiet. "M-my name is Rachel sir...Rachel Caldwell. I was told, in, that I needed to come see you for an ID card." Rachel ring her hands together nervously as she spoke. Wish just kept smiling at her. "It is delightful to meet you Rachel, I am Qua n Yuen, and please feel free to call me Quan. So you are a brand new baiter then huh? We'll let me Ben the first to congratulate you on starting your journey to make this world a safer place. And the next step you must take is going your baiter card. All I will need from you to make it is a few strands of your hair please."

"M-my hair? Oh um... o-okay" Rachel muttered as she nervously played with her hair. Taking a moment to sift through it for a few strands she then plucked a few out with a quiet 'ow'. She then handed them to Quan and watched a show he went to work. The older man took the black strands of hair and delicately lowered them onto a black card gen had pulled from a drawer. There was a small flash as the hair and fused to the card. In this instance Quan Yuen caught a glimpse of the recent tragedies Rachel had suffered and his smile sank into an expression of great sadness. "Oh you poor girl. My sincerest condolences for your recent losses. I am truly sorry." he said as he handed Rachel her new card.

Rachel was not expecting this and the reminder of her loss nearly picked the girl over the edge again. Fighting to keep back the water works Rachel took
The card and said with a catch in her throat. "Th-thank you sir." Daniel gave the dark haired girl a confused look but figured she'd ask what Quan meant by that later. Peering over at the new card she noticed the symbol on the front of it. And odd swirl that was three spirals all connecting at the center inside of a circle. "What's that mean?" she asked both genuinely curios and to distract Rachel from whatever bad memories were obviously coming back up to the surface.

Rachel looked down at the card on her hand and noticed the picture on her black card. "Its a trinity. My mother told us it was a symbol of ancestors used to represent the cycle of life; life, death, and rebirth." Remembering her mother wasn't doing much to help her mood but the pain of that loss was a duller one Rachel had leaned to cope with. Daniel seemed interested though as she tried ringer a better look. "Neat! Mine's got a flame on it. I think it's for my fiery personality and will!" she said pumping one of her fists up with the other hand on her bicep. SHE smiled trying to get her new friend to smile but it didn't quite work. Rachel seemed a little lost in thought. But she soon shook herself out of it and gave Daniel a weak smile. What little she knew about the girl seemed to support her claim. Taking the smile as a sign Rachel was okay she then grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. "Well thanks doc. We'll be seein' yah around! Rachel let out a small yipe as she was dragged away again. With a quick wave back she simple said. "Thank you sir." As the twongirls left in a hurry Quan waved to them as well. "Goodbye girls. Take care." Once they were out if the door Quan Yuen looked down at his desk and sighed. "It is such a shame we get so many baiters because of such horrible tragedies."

"W-where are we going now?" Rachel called out as she struggled to keep up yet again. She truly did appreciate the help but she worried her arm might get pulled off at the speed and frequency this girl kept dragging her around at. Daniel just grinned back at Rachel before turning her head back to look where she was going. "Only one of my favorite places in this whole humongous compound..."

Daniel dragged Rachel around a few more corners before finally coming to a large set of double doors. Releasing her new friend to grab the handles on the doors she gave her a devilish grin before throwing them open wide. "The armory!" she announced proudly. Rachel's jaw nearly dropped as she saw he room they had come to, it was a massive chamber full of racks and shelves holding more weapons than Rachel had ever imagined existed. Some the the strange objects before her she didn't even know what they did. She was however reluctant to enter a room full with so many death dealing instruments. That is until Daniel got behind her and pushed the timid girl inside. "This is one of the best parts about being a baiter. Choosing your weapon! And boy howdy do you have a selection to choose from. Swords, knives, spears, hand guns, flame throwers, cross bows, missile launchers, chainsaws, you name it! They've got it right here! Look hard enough and I bet you could even find sword-chucks or exploding sheep or anything else you could imagine!"

Rachel's head began to spin, she wasn't a fighter, not really. That H.A.L.F. procedure was the first time in her entire life she had to fight. How couldn't she even begin to know what she needed to fight even more A.I.? "There's... so many choices... How do I even know what to pick?" she pondered aloud.

"Aw that's easy," Daniel said as she stopped pushing Rachel and stepped in front of her. "Just pick what you like. What do you like to do in a fight?" she asked gesturing to the vast array of weapons around them.

"I...I don't know. What do you like to do?" Rachel asked hoping Daniel's answer might help her know how to think about fighting.

"Me? That's easy, I like to punch stuff! Really hard in the face!" Daniel grabbed two silver and blue bars off her belt and her hands became encased in sliver gauntlets with blue details on them and strange bands around her wrists. She punched at the air around her a few times and threw in a kick for good measure. "I'm a brawler, and I like to get up close and personal in a fight!" she said with pride, pointing her thumb at her chest. Rachel thought about what Daniel had said before responding. What did she like to do? It want to do rather since she had only fought once. "Well. I'm not really that good of a fighter. I just want to protect people. I don't want anyon around me getting hurt." Daniel tapped her chin on thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "I think I know just the thing!"

A few minutes later in a small training room Daniel stepped back and looked at Rachel approvingly. "Eeyup! I think this suits you perfectly girl." Rachel looked down at the device she now had strapped to her right hand. It was a large circular shield, about a meter in diameter, with a cuff attached to her forearm underneath it and a harness that had a circular metal disk set just below her shoulder blades on her back. "Give it a try!" Daniel coaxed the raven haired girl encouragingly. Rachel turned to look at the sparring dummy and targets Daniel had set up towards the middle of the room. "And don't forget to play with the buttons! See all it can do!" the gray haired girl called out from behind Rachel. The timid new baiter stepped up to the dummy and raised her shield up in front of her. She lightly thrust it forward, barely nudging the dummy with the front of the shield. "Hit her harder than that! Come on really let her have it!" Daniel yelled out encouragingly. Rachel tried harder, and again harder, still just nudging and pushing the dummy, another shout from Daniel got her to finally put some force behind it and a loud clang was heard as the dummy was shoved back. Hoping not to disappoint her new friend Rachel took a step forward and then brought the shield back to pinch the dummy with the front edge this time. As Daniel kept shouting encouragements at her Rachel became more and more bold. She tried one of the buttons on her hand control and a blue energy disk formed around the edges of the shield, doubling its size for added protection. She then tried another and a triangular blade of the same blue energy extended from the front of the shield. She used this to slash the dummy a few time until it fell to pieces. Then as a last test Rachel span around and launched the shield at the target a few meters away from her. The shield flew like a frisbee and struck the target with a loud clang. Then before it hit the ground Rachel hit the last button on her controls and the shield continued soaring through the air, completing the second half of a circular flight and returning to her hand. Panting but feeling quite proud of herself Rachel turned back to face Daniel, placing the shield on her back. "So... How was that?" The gray haired girl ran up and grabbed Rachel's hands and spun her around in a circle. "That was amazing!"

Rachel and Daniel left the training room to head towards where Rachel would get her room that she would be living in. As Daniel celebrated Rachel's new found abilities with her new weapon of choice Rachel began to think that maybe, just maybe, she could actually pull off this while baiter thing.



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OOC: WHEN CAPTAIN AMERICA THROWS HIS MIGHTY SHIELD!

As Rachel and Daniel left the main building for headquarters and headed off towards the baiter apartments Rachel got her first good look at the island. To be honest Rachel had not even realized that she had been on an island this whole time. The blue sky over head and the distant sound of waves she heard we a new sensation. She hadn't heard the ocean in so long, not since her terrible journey to Toronto had started. And the warm tropical breeze felt so good as it caressed her cheeks. For the past year she had known nothing but the bitter coldness of the north and the mountains as she had tried to find the safe haven of Toronto with her siblings. She let a small smile creep onto her lips as she enjoyed the warm sensations.

Daniel noticed her new friend appearing happy for pretty much the first time since she had met her and grinned. "Now there's what I like to see. I think you're gonna do just fine here shorty." she said as she placed a reassuring hand on Rachel's shoulder. The girls took a few more steps before Daniel suddenly remembered something. "Oh man! I just realized I totally forgot to report back in after my mission!" she blurted out, smacking her palm against her forehead. "I gotta go and check in, I'll find you later okay?"

Daniel then turned and ran back off towards headquarters, calling out a "See you later!" as she waved back to her new friend. And just like that Rachel was alone in the big city. The raven haired girl turned to watch her friend suddenly rush off and comprehended just enough to give a small confused wave in return. "Oh... O-okay... um, bye?" she squeaked out. Rachel honestly had no idea where she was supposed to be going. She figured she should try finding her way on her own, if Shen was a baiter now she needed to be able to do things on her own right? But after just a minute or two of walking the poor girl was completely lost. Rachel had no idea which way she had come from or which way she was going. A panic attack was about to begin taking hold of her when suddenly a black clad man in sunglasses bowled into her. It wasn't that hard of a bump but Rachel jumped at the sudden contact which caused her to fall flat on her back. The shield that was hidden by her hair made a loud clanging noise as it hit the street. Rachel looked a little dazed and when she realized what had just happened the girl turned a beat red, bringing her hands up in fists to cover the bottom half of her face. She just laid there for a moment before she had her wits about her enough to try and get up. "Oh, I'm...it's okay. I should have... been watching where I was going..." Rachel said meekly as she tried to stand. However as she used her legs she suddenly realized she wasn't going anywhere. Unused to the large metal shield strapped to her back the raven haired girl was stuck on her back like a turtle. She became a bit panicked and began flailing her and and legs to try and right herself. "Um... help! I-I'm stuck!... I can't get up... help me p-please!" she begged trying to keep panic from creeping into her voice.



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OOC: not at a computer, will do lines later.