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 Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 8:51 pm
There was a very long pause as Caelius took the time to evenly spread cream cheese to every single corner of the bagel. He paused and polished the knife cleanly with one of the tissues from several boxes, most likely distributed for the inevitable feels talk.
"It must be convenient to think you actually matter," he spoke very slowly, a little after Stormy had tried to start conversation, "That for some reason, your consistent failure and inability to cope with proper mission protocol has earned you some sort of right, that being one of the main deciding factors on why your failure of a former division leader defected I'm sure has given you a lot of time to feel special and important." He paused. "It must be nice to realize that you break more things than you touch and the only reason you are actually useful is to use as leverage for other people. An excuse to make them behave, because if you misbehave, which you do, and consistently, they take your punishment and do a terrible job of hiding evidence, while you still blindly pretend nothing is happening."
He cut the bagel into perfect quarters and just left it there on the plate. Allan at some point took one and Caelius didn't even notice as he tried to decide if Mark was more important half alive or half dead.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:10 pm
There was a loud cough from the end of the table and the two seminar instructors, highlighted so thanks to a giant sign on their part of the table that said INSTRUCTOR, stood up. One was quite tall, and one notably shorter. The taller one moved over, and began to play a cassette tape, some sort of Buddhist chanting music mixed in with low harmonic tones reminiscent of trance.
"Let us begin," said the taller one, a sullen Moon Hunter with long, very long black hair, black mascara, black eyeliner, and pretty much dark black everything clothing. She had fishnetted most of her Hunter coat, which made it look like it was pretty much fashion from the 1980's. "Welcome to the darkest hour of your life, the sensitivity training course. I am Zoe, and this is Oz," she pointed to the shorter Death Hunter, a dark-skinned kid who looked like he belonged in the same pea pod as Otto and Gale, "and we are your instructors. But don't think of us as instructors, think of us as masters understanding your feeble, weak minds, masters of-"
-Crack went part of the table very close to Caelius that sounded very much like one of the table legs-
- "And moving on," she finished hastily, "we will be handing out sensitivity name cards. Feel how miserable you are inside, and write your greatest emotional weakness on the back. Today is all about coming to terms with your weaknesses in three crucial stages. At the very end you will release your emotions into the pit of vapid darkness and they will be no more. You are finally free."
Silence. Oz clapped halfheartedly. The music in the background made a strange noise that sounded like weeeEEeeeeeeEEEeerRRRrrrrrRRrrrrrOoooooo AAaaaaaaaahumbaga.
"So, step one, namecards. Let me introduce," she reached under the table and took out the most ridiculous looking voodoo staff complete with fake cobwebs and a giant fake spider, "the staff of emotional turbulence which you will take when handed to, say your name, and your greatest emotional weakness. After you have spoken your peace, the staff will absorb your dark energies. Pass it to your next buddy and we shall go around the table. We only have an hour so it is important you don't hog the staff all for yourself, a few lines is enough incantation. Seriously. Nobody wants to hear about your life trauma. Nobody. You're not special."
Oz began to sullenly hand out cards, and by sullenly he just threw a bunch of cards at people and hoped it worked out. Occasionally he whispered really loudly, "The faster this is over the better" and "We'll charge you double if this goes to two hours". Thankfully someone had already provided pens.OOC
THERAPY EXERCISE NUMBER 1Step 1: Take the staff of holding (just have your character holding it/ take it from the person posting above you). EVERYONE in the room should do this, ones called and their buddies. Please post this in EXCLAMATION POSTS. Step 2: Introduce your character or w/e @ greatest emotional weakness. Step 3: Write your character as "passing the staff over", though it doesn't matter to whom, just write it that way so the next person over can receive it. Step 4: Feel free to rp regardless of introductions @ side commentary/ etc
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:14 pm
Mark had managed to grab a secure hold of the table leg (for now) and thankfully wasn't going anywhere, unless Kat really really wanted his boxers as well.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:41 pm
Roland was still shuffling about the edges of the room as the two hunters explained the situation, his lack of a partner didn't seem to be an issue at this point so when no one grabbed the staff he simply moved over giving it a snag as he was assaulted by Oz and his flying cards.
"Roland Taft, Mist division," he looked at the staff and shook his head at how bizarre this whole thing was.
"My greatest erm weakness, I get emotionally worked up...and make poor choices." He thrust the staff out at arms length a bitter look on his face. Was this done yet?
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:00 pm
"Friar's tits!" A loud exclamation came from the back of the room. "You've got to be shi-"
"Language." Lance's sharp rebuke halted the woman from further outbursts, finger raised and wiggling back and forth in admonishment. "And for the record, you're not making a very good first impression. I'd put a sock in it if I were you before you dig your hole any deeper."
The woman next to him muttered darkly under her breath as she sank lower into her seat. While Lance had a rather unnecessary name card in front of him (after all, how many wheelchair bound hunters were there on Deus?), the woman next to him did not.
"Hey!" Lance called, raising his arm to grab the attention of whomever held the staff. "Pass the turbulence staff over here! We've got some serious emotions to channel."
"Oh my ******** Goddess if you're going to -- ********.
Lance caught the staff of emotional turbulence, holding it aloft in triumph before lowering it to poke a cobweb back into place. "Lance," he introduced himself, "Mist Division Lead. Greatest emotional weakness is currently having too much patience."
The staff was thrust to one side and forced into the woman's hands. The look on her face was one of utter disgust and outright hatred. "Sandy, goddamn Mist Assistant and I'm going to ******** cut off your godda-"
"You're too angry and will likely need another sensitivity class at this rate," Lance said loudly over her words, burying them. "And since they'll charge double if this session goes on for a lot longer than it really should, you should consider passing that staff about now. Go on."
Sandy spat several more curses before shoving the staff onto the next person.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:10 pm
America took the staff and twirled it as she spoke in the bored tone of someone repeating a phrase they've heard too often to really care anymore, "Name's America Jones, Sun Scouts. My greatest weakness is my constant need to prove myself." Blah blah blah look at all these feelings I have.
She didn't add the fact that she was almost always successful in this, because she was, in fact, <******** awesome thank you. It'd just make everyone else feel worse about themselves, which would be insensitive. So America just tossed the silly-a** baton along and went back to taking notes. That Oz fellow wasn't bad, nice little princess type.
Actually, he was a Death hunter too...
She looked at Caelius for a long moment before sighing and underlining seems to prefer younger men.
Twice.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 11:34 pm
Robert had managed to make three out of four of his sandwiches by the time things were underway. He was just finishing his fourth, because he wasn't just making a sandwich, he was crafting it. But when he heard the meeting start, he rushed to finish off the last few layers and smashed them all together with his hands. Then he grabbed a napkin, wiped his hands clean, and leaned in to grab two drinks. One was a can of Pepsi, and one was a can of ginger ale. When he stood up straight, he was suddenly aware of how close Mimsy was, and let out a soft chuckle. He leaned down, kissed the top of her head, and wrapped one arm around her in order to lead her all the way to the seated area. His goal was Lucky, if only to seat Mimsy beside him. She needed to feel comfortable on all sides, and Lucky was the only one who wasn't going to piss her off. So he settled her down in the seat beside Lucky, and then grabbed the nearest seat, slamming down into it himself. His sandwiches were safe in his hand. One was safely in his mouth when the Buddhist music started to play, and he stopped stuffing it down his throat as he slowly stared. Were they going to get high? If so, he regretted his decision to be here less and less. He went back to inhaling his sandwich with gusto. The goth girl was really starting to bum him out. Robert did not especially want to feel how miserable he was inside, especially when he was trying to enjoy his quadruple decker sandwiches. But he took his card, and a pen, and started to write out his greatest emotional weakness. "I.. a.. m.. t.." He handed Mimsy the card and pouted like a child. "Can you write this for me? I don't think I know how to spell passionate right."
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 11:49 pm
So…sensitivity training was really venting of emotions? Or like, some kind of therapy session? Why had she decided to come here again? Oh, right. There was some light grumbling in her head while she accepted her name card and waited for her turn.
She wasn’t exactly keen on this whole “passing the stick business”. She didn’t really want to share her weaknesses. Even if that’s what therapy was about. But if everyone had to do it… with a sigh she grabbed the stick, very much looking like she didn’t want it.
“My name is Sherry Greyson, Life Division. My, uh, my greatest weakness is…” she turned red as she looked around the room, “My greatest weakness is being too nice.” Close enough, it would work.
Nope. Sherry was not about to announce that to a room full of people. And she didn’t feel like talking about any of the other things she considered to be weaknesses, either. She didn’t want to be there talking about her emotions and stuff. Too nice, indeed.
She handed the staff off and hastily sat down, reaching for the pen so she could finish her name card. The penmanship was complete crap, but she didn’t feel like taking the time to try and make it nice.
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:00 am
Jake only watched the chaos unfold with a tired sigh, wishing more and more he hadn't bothered coming in the first place. Even more so when it turned into some sort of therapy session. He knew he had problems, but it wasn't exactly something he wanted to vocalize.
Still, better to get this over with, he supposed.
Taking the stick, he grimaced, wishing he could just throw it at that goth lady.
"Jake. Death. Insensitive."
And then the stick was passed off and he busied himself with the name card, avoiding eye contact with a certain brunette.
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:20 am
The entirety of the presentation was absurd, but Mimsy was able to contain herself until the same time someone who occasionally resembled her also had enough; her loud scoff was lost in the sound of splintering wood.
As the first person began to speak, introducing himself as Roland, she uncapped her pen with her mouth so quickly that she marked on her lip. Then she began to write - it looked like she was working on something entirely unrelated to what was going on, as she seemed detached from everything around her.
She didn't look up from those words until Robert passed his card to her. After giving him a look that implied there was more studying to be done, she took the card and wrote in neat, simple, capital letters: I AM PASSIONATE
It seemed that she had forgotten the 'too', until she kept writing at the bottom of the card, in much smaller letters: and it is ridiculous to consider that a weakness when it is a quality that positively differentiates me from others.
"The bottom is for you. Do not read it aloud," she advised him in a whisper, her head leaned on his shoulder to appear as nonchalant as she could, just in case. That weakness wand, or whatever it was, looked like it might reach her soon, so she wrote on her own card in preparation, and returned to taking notes as she waited.
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:22 am
When the stick was passed to her, she curled her hand around only the spider, holding it there for the duration of its time with her.
"My name is Mildred," she said, with a toothy smile that looked every bit as genuine as she was feeling. There was no use in hiding the name Clerise once teased her with now, and it was the only name these kinds of people ever knew anyway. She never told them otherwise, when they tried this many years ago. She never told them anything at all. This method was a failure then, and it would be now.
"My greatest emotional weakness is that I am incapable of experiencing emotions." She held up her card, which was identical to what she'd said, excepting the frowny face she'd drawn beneath it. It was truly the face that made it ooze sincerity, she thought.
With that over with, she passed the stick along and placed Robert's card on his leg, patting it to notify him that the finished card was there.
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:42 am
Robert saw the ink on her lip immediately, and made a tsking sound, reaching out to try and rub it off. That was easier said than done, and he'd only managed to make it less noticeable when she distracted him with his card back. Just as she'd suspected, he took a breath as if to start reading it out loud, but swallowed it in when warned not to. So instead, he squinted and read very carefully - his mouth was still moving to the words as he read, however. He didn't even notice he was doing it.
Then the words sunk in, and his eyes widened. He put the card down, and moved to stand up. His hand reached for the staff, clutching it so tight he could have almost broken it.
"My name is Robert." He called out, in a voice just a little too loud to be proper. "And I am - " He pulled the card out, re-reading because he'd already forgotten what was written. His voice was monotone, and awkward. "I am pass- I am too passionate." The tiny words at the bottom reminded him of how he'd felt, and his face turned all sorts of blushing red. So he handed the torch to the next person, and bumbled back to his seat.
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:02 am
Rep wrote or rather tagged his name on the card, it was a swoopy elaborate and almost illegible collection of lines. Underneath it in neat printed letters he wrote. TOO ******** NICE. He hated goths, he hated hippies and he especially hated s**t that combined both things. He'd been to plenty of therapy sessions, most of them mandated by the government for antisocial behaviour and he knew bullshit when he smelled it.
When the stick came his way he took it with the most deadpan dismissive expression. Once upon a time he had spilled more than he had ever spilled to a small group of people around a fire, even people he hated thanks to the faith he had in one person. But Killzone was gone, with only a friendship bracelet left behind and this room was too full of his enemies to lower his walls even a fraction.
He eyed the saddest collection of Halloween props he'd ever seen disparagingly.
"My name is William" he drawled because he was feeling particularly vindictive. "And I'm too ******** nice to cunts and bitches who don't deserve it."
He threw it - rather heavily in the direction of the next person. (unless the next person was Harrison, then he got it tenderly handed over to him)
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:15 am
It was Taym instead. This was already going poorly and now Taym was having things hurled at him by Rep. He gave him a flat, venomous stare as he caught it.
Taym was sharply reminded of certain expensive in-patient facilities, certain rooms of soothing music with skinny, yellow-toothed, hollow-eyed people in a circle eyeing the clock desperate for the next smoke break while a couple of gentle-voiced counselors attempted to initiate talk about feelings and shortcomings and acceptance. It seemed as irritating but less funny now than it had when he'd invited America along. The fact that she'd cooperated at all grated him, even if she'd sounded appropriately bored.
He grimly took the stick in his hands and prodded distractedly at the polyester cobwebs while he talked. He hated talking in front of people. This was miserable. If he was the kind of person who blushed he would have. Instead he just scowled and longed for the floor to open up and swallow him.
"My name is Obadiah Thompson," he said finally, in a faintly mocking sing-song, "and my greatest emotional weakness--"
He paused.
"--is my inability to identify my emotional weaknesses," he decided, pushing the staff to the next person.
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:33 am
Marcus remained slouching, though his possible nap had been cut short by the obnoxiousness that was the meeting getting underway finally. Lazily he watched the others in the room begin to pass around the staff, (which to him could do with an upgrade- bat motifs were much more appealing). Overall, the moon hunter wasn't impressed.
Some mildly surprised him, others didn't, and overall it felt like a sham. A waste of time and energy and the fact that the reality was by the end of the session nothing would have changed. If it did, he speculated it would have changed for the worse.
The staff passed (more or less) to him he took, it, held it for a second, then just handed it off to whomever was next. "I need a minute to mull it over."
They'll force you to say something you know.
And yet what would you have me say?
Me? I'd label that your weakness is ability to love and care for others.
Funny, because I doubt that is what makes me weak.
And what makes you weak then my Marcus, what do you wish you could remove from yourself?
The vampire's phrasing prompted an immediate mental reply.
Nothing.
Dis cackled, saying that he did so love Marcus, if for just such reasons.
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![[A.V.]'s avatar](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/8d/f2/221070ca3ff28d_flip.png?t=1546143856_6.00_11&pl=15)
