Keeping the "Angst" in Team Angst

I should have just called this post, “Shut up, Mason.” Fyre’s going to have a big posterboard signs printed and posted around Paragon, just to save time.

First, something I probably should have covered yesterday.

I won’t say that Fyre is getting over her Malta issues, but she’s so distracted and angry that it’s been pushed to the side, for now. Also, our Malta missions have been pretty easy. I remember Malta being a lot tougher. But, then, we ran Team 1.0 on a higher difficulty. Gunslingers were usually red to us. Is she going to freak again if there’s a team-wipe? Is she ever going to freak again if there’s not a team-wipe? Well, I don’t know. We’ll find out together, I guess.

And, I totally missed one of the best lines in the game, but I just caught it in the logs: [NPC]Reformed Freak Proprietor: L00k, w3'r3 r3f0rmed! W3'v3 g0t l1v3s n0w, 4nd 1'm 4 buz1n3ss Pwnz0r!

Freaks are funny. Well, until you do one of the missions where the Freaks leave body bags all over the place. Then, not so funny.

Okay, let’s talk about Fyre’s… fire. Yeah, I’m still frustrated with the WS, probably. But, now that I’ve done it, I’m not sure how or why she’d go back to her Warshade powers. I hate to abandon it at level 43, when 50’s around the corner. But…it’s a 50 I’d probably never play, anyway. Here’s the thing, though: one of the best things about a Kheldian merger for Fyre was that her evil ancestor and the demon may as well have been nonexistent. Thanks to Serra, not only could she not “hear” them anymore, but she could barely even sense them. By repressing Serra so much, she’s opening herself back up to them. And her anger, fear and stress are opening her further. It’s possible their influence could even be making those feelings more intense, creating a cycle with an incredibly dangerous and destructive climax. She’s seeing those possibilities, but doesn’t see any way, or maybe even any reason to find a way, around it. No one else has thought of it, either from not having the knowledge, or just not adding it up. If they do, she’s going to brush it off, especially if it’s E. She’s certainly not going to add to his worries. Or at least try not to.

When Fyre joined up with Team Angst, Lodestar was subbing for Mason. That made Fyre’s night. Much easier to deal with. Unfortunately for Fyre, after a relatively quiet Nemesis mission, Nate-Mason was back.

Oh, right. Mason’s tail. I won’t go into that much, I’m sure Mason will. Fyre thought it was pretty funny. When they had a minute alone, she tried to explain to E that Kheldians don’t go into heat, but she didn’t have Serra around to ask, so she wasn’t entirely sure. Mason and Frost are “going steady,” as Fyre said, or something equivelant. Fyre wished them good luck, and Mason seemed surprised, but Fyre figures they, especially Frost, are going to need it. After all, no one will argue that Mason is anything like stable.

During one of their Nemesis missions, E teleports into a group and sets off EM Pulse, which makes them all fall asleep. It actually worked really well, game-wise, but it practically gave Fyre a stroke. She jumped in right behind and Inferno’ed and knocked them all down, then yelled at E for being reckless. She’s not happy about him running with them, because she thinks he’s not up for it and ought to be taking better care of himself.

On a side-note, when Team Angst met up with Futura, it was pretty fun that Star “smelled smoke” from Fyre three quarters of the way through a mission, after she’d Inferno’ed two or three times. Fyre would never say, “Well, duh,” to Star, but she was probably thinking it.

So, relatively calm Carnie mission, and then All Hell Breaks Loose. You know, as usual.

E reveals the Scary As Hell costume to Kit and the others, and admits to Kit that he’s dying. Yes, Fyre is in denial still. I don’t know if Mason is just being contrary, or is somehow trying to push Fyre out of denial, or what, but snarling, “He’s dying,” at her isn’t going to force her out of it. She’ll keep saying, “Shut up, Mason,” until she’s hoarse, at the least.

Before I gloss over it, I want to note that Bloodshot signed on to the team that’s going to go after Strym (Um, when they do. If they do. Uh, whatever). Bloodshot sort of scared Fyre before. If she wasn’t exactly afraid, she still at least wasn’t sure of what to make of him. After his immediate response last night, though she may not completely trust him, he definitely went up in her estimation. (“Do we have names? Cuz I have bullets.” Loved that!)

Also, in the midst of Mason and Fyre working themselves up at each other (as usual lately), E brings up that Strym might have a cure for E. That gave Fyre some more ideas. I don’t know if she or I will act on them, or if they‘re even feasible, but it gave us both some ideas.

It’s been hard to tell recently whether Mason has been intentionally making Fyre angry, or if it was just a side effect. Here, it wasn’t hard to tell at all. Mason and Fyre were so intent on fighting with each other, they barely noticed E struggling to stay on his feet. And maybe that’s why they are fighting so much, because it takes their minds off of E. Fyre did try not to get sucked into the argument, but Mason just kept pushing. Kit got to see Mason in action, and seemed a bit shocked by the things he said. Fyre starts fighting back, and Mason comments on the faint quality of her insults. Now, Fyre has thought of some very hateful, hurtful things to say to Mason, and she hasn’t. She came close last night, but didn’t. Those things border on unforgivable, but if Mason keeps pushing, I’m not sure that she’ll be able to keep holding back.

E says that he’d really like to hit Mason, but he’s probably not strong enough to do much damage. Fyre protests that if anyone gets to hit Mason, it’ll be her. Mason offers to let either of them have a shot. Fyre says that she shouldn’t right now. Mason keeps on the same track, and suddenly Fyre start laughing, and keeps laughing for a minute or more. Mason doesn’t understand, she says. She thinks that Mason figures her “shouldn’t” is because of not upsetting E, but it’s really because she’s pretty certain that if she does take a shot at him, she’s not going to just “beat the crap out of him.” She just might kill him.

If Kit doesn’t exactly settle them down, she get them to stop for the moment, though it takes quite an effort. Eventually, Fyre manages to stop and she takes E back to the hospital in Steel.

Things haven’t looked good for Team Angst often. I don’t think it’s been this dark before, though. Team 3.0 should be all shiny, happy people all the time. Will it be?

Not a chance.