Taskforces, Drama, and More Drama

So, a lot happened last night.

Oh, and we finished the first Shadow Shard Task Force, too. Quarterfield. Blaze now has 3 of the 4 Shard TF’s. This is semi-remarkable because 1) I hate task forces. I just don’t have the attention span for them, and I’ve done too many with PuG’s that I really don’t want to spend that much time with. Task Force Sundays, thankfully, have been the exception. We have good players, and good people, which makes the “ordeal” much easier. But, 2) I hate the Shadow Shard. Yes, it’s pretty. No argument there. Yes, it’s nice to do something different. But, it’s too freakin’ big. It’s too hard to get around. I dread taking my super-jumping scrapper there. And, I’ve given Fyre IC reasons for this, but it makes me dizzy and a little sick. I think it’s the 3D travel. Nothing is linear. The “islands” are above, below, off at angles. The more traveling, the more it bothers me. Luckily, I didn’t get much of that at all throughout the task force.

On to the drama. We’ll start slow.

Mason switched back to his old armor now that he has an enchanted mace, courtesy of the Vagabond. The blue and white on his new uniforms really looks good with his new hair. Let’s face it: Mason’s hot. I know it, Fyre knows it, Mason knows it. No one’s going to argue that. I was concerned about the white hair, but it’s working for him.

Frost has a magical amulet, courtesy of the Wombat (by the way-- Suicidal Wombat: Best. Name. Ever.) Where it came from was unclear at first. Fyre was suspicious, but trying not to get E worked up in Frost’s direction.

Fyre likes Frost. (Just “like,” before anyone gets ideas. This stuff is complicated enough!) She considers him a good kid. Yes, “kid,” even though if I remember correctly, Frost is older than she is. Frost is the only one of them that isn’t “broken” and bitter. Fyre would like to keep it that way, and figures the rest of them feel the same.

E caught on, though, and was close to ripping into Frost. After calming down and questioning Frost more closely, the origins of the amulet were established (or were they?) but the effects are still more than questionable. Fyre suggested that Vagz and Blaze take a look at it, since they were already on the case of the locket that Strym offered Fyre.

Almost forgot the part where Mason asked Fyre if she was “crazy.” Harmless comment, right? Not to someone who was committed against her will to a Victorian horror of a mental institution. Fyre did doubt her own sanity, both from the visions and suggestions that Katherine forced on her, and the things that went on in the asylum. And Mason didn’t do such a good job of backing out of it, even though he was, or seemed to be, trying. E noticed, and got the hell out of the way, even though the explosion was avoided.

And then we move on to the dreaded Malta mission. One of the very few times I’ve had to work myself up to something in the game, game-wise or RP-wise. Fyre was going to freak. There was nothing I could to do to get around that. But, like I said when E and I talked later, I could only plan out the first two minutes. Everything else depended on other people’s reactions and other things. Just for a small example, when Fyre ran out of the mission, she ended up boxed in, with walls on 3 sides. I couldn’t have planned that. Being cornered panicked her more.

Another thing I hadn’t planned on was E’s extreme reaction. I probably should have, I guess. Fyre didn’t expect it, either, and it did freak her out more.

Going back over the logs, which I won’t post (*coughMasoncough*), I see it’s even more complicated than I thought it was. So, just in the order that it occurs to me:

E’s ghosts freak Fyre out. Panicked, it was worse. She had thought that their appearance meant that E was forgiven for killing them, in some cosmic fashion. After Blaze told her the real reason why they were there, they remind her that he’s a killer. She didn’t want them anywhere near her.

Poor Mason. Fyre wasn’t in any condition to appreciate him, and in fact was getting angry at him, probably mostly out of habit. She shoved him at E because she thought that’s where he wanted to be. Later when she has time to think about it, she’ll see what we all see, that he was torn. Seriously. Poor Mason.

Fyre doesn’t blame E for Malta attacking and killing her, at least not consciously, or she wouldn’t have kept their reasons to herself for so long. She knew that he would blame himself, though, so, in her mind, she was protecting him, again. She should have predicted his reaction, in hindsight, but, as in the real world, hindsight is 20/20.

So, she did go back into the mission, due to Mason’s insistence, E’s heedless running in, and her player’s lack of anything else to do with her. She didn’t exactly get over it. She went in, because she HAD to, but she’s still going to have issues anytime Malta comes up. And I think there’s going to be a lot of Malta coming up. We’ve worked it into the story-line.

Skipping ahead: Mason admitted his feelings to E. It actually wasn’t that dramatic. While they talked, Fyre pretended not listen, but she and I both did. Fyre’s relieved. If Mason’s gay, then whatever confused feelings she has about Mason, she can disregard. She wasn‘t just relieved, she was happy about it, and even asked Mason to lunch again. She did have an alternative motive there. Tuesdays have been a day she’s had set aside to spend with Jen. Jen is in an undisclosed location that even Fyre doesn’t know. She’s worried, but she also doesn’t want to let on that she’s worried, and cause the rest of them, especially E, to worry. She’s rather have them suspicious of her than worry about Jen’s safety, if it comes to that. She also offered to get Mason a job. Vagz had suggested Mason get a job in construction. Coincidentally, Kelly Enterprises, Alexandra’s company that she inherited from her father, started as a lumber supply company, long ago, and their major focus is construction and construction equipment (yes, really. I picked that a long time ago, when I first drew up the background.) She figures he’s too smart for straight construction. He doesn’t want a cube job, so she’s thinking a salesman job. Mason’s social, personable when he wants to be. It should be a decent fit. She’ll pitch it to him at their lunch.

As far as E goes, aside from the Malta stuff, Fyre’s sort of avoiding him still. She isn’t sure of her feelings, and she doesn’t want to talk about Jen with him. She doesn’t entirely trust him, for various reasons with various things. She doesn’t want to point any of that out to him, though, because she suspects he won’t take it well.

I have a feeling I’ll have more to add tomorrow. I don’t think tonight will be quiet!