Captain Piett and the "Proto-Rikti"

Will had his freak-out last night. His player already posted in his blog, and I probably could have just made this as a comment to that, but I have more space to ramble here. Ramble, me? No, really, it happens sometimes.

Anyway.

We did three or 4 missions on the Dark Mavis/Dark Maverick arc.... how do you get from Dark Maverick to Dark Mavis? She calls herself the Dark Maverick, but she's listed as Dark Mavis. Did I miss something, or is it just one of those irritating little typo type things? Is a little consistency too much to ask?

Anyway.

Just those couple of missions caused quite a bit of ang-- er, drama. And, checking Wiki, I see I made an error.

I hate Task Forces. I've mentioned this. So, I don't pay much attention to them. They all sort of run together for me. My first thought when Mavis sent us on the trail of Aurora Borealis was the task force where you're sent by her husband to rescue her. Okay, if I remember that much of it, Fyre must have done it, right? Wrong! That task force doesn't exist any more, and it hasn't existed for a long time. Fyre couldn't have done it. I'm not even sure I've done it.

But, we'll play it as it stands.

So Fyre thought Aurora might know who she was. Well, of course not, but Fyre was slightly concerned. Then Mavis set them on the trail of Longbow's "sapper" tech. Malta has sapper guns. Malta killed Fyre, so she's understandably got some issues there. Then, one of the scientists involved in the sapper tech is now residing with the Lost.

At level 30, Lost become Rikti. We were 29, so there were bound to be some 30s in the mission, even at the Heroic-- er, Villainous setting. And there were. And Will freaked.

Fyre's pretty understand of the freaking. She's done it, both over Malta and once over a mission in an insane asylum, that I don't recall very well.

Okay, I don't recall, because it didn't actually happen. Back in the Team 1.0 days, either at or near 50, there was a mission to go after Malaise. It's set in the hospital/insane asylum map that we've recently run into villain-side with Team 3.0. Character-wise, Fyre freaked, and wouldn't have gone inside. It should have been as bad, at least, as her Malta-mission freak out. Probably much worse, because she wasn't nearly as tough as she is now. In reality, it was an "RP-lite" team, and it was late at night, and in tells it was decided to "pretend" she freaked, and just go on with the mission.

But, anyway, she's understanding of Will's issues, and she has sympathy and concern for him. She hasn't mentioned her own, both because she's not a "sharer" and because she doesn't feel they compare. Will's mourning the death of thousands of people, including his family. For her, the only death involved was her own. It makes her feel as though she's being selfish.

Quick aside: I love the way Will's player is using the minions. Sinatra, the commando, in particular, and to a lesser extent Taylor, the medic, are almost developing into characters themselves.

So, the argument of the previous night is more than forgotten, Fyre's concerned about Will, and Will finally acknowledges that Fyre wasn't just making up stories about the Lost and the Rikti.

And then we get a mission about an ex-hero that's come to the Rogue Isles and become a villain. "Again," says Will. "Again?" asks Fyre. Well, yeah, a couple of days ago, there was a Freak that had been a hero in Paragon. "It must be a trend," comments Will. Two isn't a trend, Fyre points out. "Four is," says Will.

Silence. Dead silence.

Will is, obviously, referring to Mason and Fyre. Fyre doesn't consider herself a villain. She hates that she might be thought of as one. She doesn't like being put in the same class as psycho-serial-killer Mason, either. Especially by Will, who doesn't hold Mason in very high esteem, to say the least. Was that an innocent comment, or did he know how much it would disturb her? If he knew, did he say it because of how much he disapproves of her actions, or is it some jibe to get back at her for being right about the Lost and the Rikti? Either way, it's enough to remind her how distrustful she should be. Just because she can identify with some of Will's issues, she shouldn't overlook what he is, or how dangerous he could be.

And, 3 more levels to fire imps.

Weekly Pictures

Fyre and Barracuda. They're not going to be friends

Captain William Piett and Keen Havoc. A lot of cows had to die for those outfits. Let's have a moment of silence for the cows.

Samantha Noir, a.k.a. "Sam." A level 8 robots/ff Mastermind on Pinnacle, and also on Infinity. She's tougher than you.



Fyre Hex and Vagabond Mage fighting the Rikti AV, though here he's only an EB. In both guises, he's one of the few AV's that will run away. Wimp.




Fyre, pulling her kamikaze routine and trying to solo the EB. It didn't work. That time.

Faultline's in that mess. He turns out to be a stone armor/earth control tanktroller.

You may have to click on this picture to read the blue text. But, do it!

Floating torsos. The Isles really are weird.

Team Mastermind, doing what masterminds do best... block things. Here, the stairs. All the minions wouldn't even fit on the stairs.

Weekend Pictures

This is Villain-Fyre (you can tell by the blonde). I don't know why she was posing, but I do like the picture. It was taken before I (finally) turned up my resolution, so it could have been better, of course.

Yeah, it's kind of a "death picture," but it's a good action shot anyway. That's Keen Havoc in the foreground, Fyre dead on the floor with the minions and miners, and Mason, in the back ground, about to be hit by a shovel.

Mason, Fyre, and Captain Piett spent some time in Pocket D over the weekend. The facial expressions do not change in the game, but I'd say Fyre looks mad about something or other. With that crowd, it's a good bet.

I spent way too many hours in the RWZ on Saturday. Poor Fyre died, a lot. Here, she's helping to tear down a pylon.

The Rikti Giant Monster, U'Kon Gr'ai. Note the guy with the Most Mismatched Costume In The World, behind U'Kon's.... club? Gun? Sword?




The death picture! I think we were trying to spell out "help."

I always think it's kinda ironic when Fyre gets frozen. Even more, when she gets set on fire.

Luna spent some time exploring Sharkhead while the team waited for Kain. She found some Freaks doing some strange stuff. They were apparently baffled by this "strange item." Looks like a skelton to me, guys. With all the shooting, slicing, stabbing, burning, and exploding, it can't be a very unusual sight.

You can also see my obessive-complusive need to organize my inspirations (ugh, that orange is in the wrong place!) and Luna's lack of chat tabs. All the action in Guardian happens in team-chat, and only in team-chat. I never bothered to add or seperate anything else. I think every character I have has a different chat-tab set up. But, everyone's inspiration tray is nice and organized. No matter what. Yes, I will click-and-drag in the middle of a fight.

Lunatrix, in her goth look, making someone invisible. Probably Bomber.

Quick Pix

Fyre and Will teamed up with Keen Havoc and Master Masonry. Will, Havoc, and Masonry are all MM's. That's... 12 minions, and 4 players. I don't think everyone fit into the shot. And, I hate that annoying little HeroStats gibberish box.

Cass on a cliff in Talos during a Rikti Invasion. You can see the green sky, and that the forcefields of the War Walls are nowhere to be seen.

Blonde Fyre and Will's mercenaries.




The traditional death picture. What's harder to see in the background, though, is that Cage security guards are fighting the Rikti Invaders. The Ghost of Scrapyard also fights the invaders, which is fun to watch. However, it's difficult to call it a "fight," as he one-shots everything.

Pictures

I'm putting pictures in separate posts from now on. Pictures, for some reason, screw with my spacing, and it irritates me. Possibly, there's some other fix, but this is just as easy, if not easier.

Fyre and Will, "before."

Fyre and Will, "after." You can't see, but those are combat boots.

Blonde #2, Luna. She needed sunglasses because Sharkhead is just so darn bright.

I'm Not A Blonde, But I Play One on CoH

Not too much here. It seems pretty quiet without Team Angst, doesn't it? Team 3.0 is way calm. (Team Time-Bomb? Nah.) At least compared to Team Angst. Fyre and Will don't do much social-type talking. Okay, practically none. They talk about their missions, and that's pretty much it. I pushed them a little last night, and they got into an almost-argument about Fyre's trips between the Rogue Isles and the Steel Canyon Medical Center. Will thinks that Fyre's vigil for E is beyond pointless. Fyre, of course, disagreed. Had it not been so late for the players, the characters may have argued more.

Before that, though, they hit level 20. Life with Stamina is greatly improved. Neither of the players was entirely sure what to do with the second costume slot, but Fyre decided she needed a more incognito look. Will agreed, and suggested they come up with outfits that sort of went together, and also agreed that Fyre's red hair stood out. So, Will's in black leather (Oh, yeah, I totally hate that. Right.), and Fyre's a blonde. In a short black skirt and an almost-there top. *Sigh* What was I thinking? Blonde-Fyre got more looks, stop-and-stares, and comments in two hours than all my other characters over two years put together. I think I'm going to have to adjust the outfit.

It is entirely a coincidence that a few days earlier, Luna turned up a blonde. I'd pictured her as a blonde since I started creating the character, even with the short, bright pink hair, which I always knew was a wig. So, what's with me and blondes? No idea. Brown hair in the game often looks like mud. No, not always. I've seen brown pulled off very well, both male and female, though hair colors are rougher with the longer styles. Black hair is usually too severe, and looks fake. Again, no, not always. Unnatural hair colors are hard for me to deal with for long periods of time. Yeah, it's fun for awhile, but then it just seems to look wrong. To me. On my characters. No, I'm not saying all characters with pink, purple, or blue, or whatever hair are ridiculous, or brown or black. It's not a criticism, I'm just saying how I feel about my characters. And I've done red to death. Blaze, Cass, and Fyre (most of the time) are all red heads of one shade or another. So, the COTM (color of the moment) is blonde. It's a phase, I'll grow out of it.

Bomb and Boom

This should be a short post, so pictures first.

Dragon Ryu, scary scarred Bomber, Luna, and Kain.

Kain, Bomber with his shirt back on, and a better picture of Dragon Ryu.

Villain Fyre and Captain William Piett, aka "Bill Peterson, Paragon PD" in Pocket D.

We learned some more about Kain's Longbow problems. He doesn't necessarily want to kill them, but when we sees them, something goes haywire and he goes nuts. Bomber thinks Kain has a chip in his brain, or something, and related that to his own issues, and freaked. Psychotic-break Bomber is scary, especially with his helmet and shirt off.

Also we... uh, okay, the "we" here is "me and Fyre," or the grammatically correct equivalent... learned more about Captain Piett. He had previously alluded to "Baumton" several times, giving the impression, if not saying the exact words, that he had lived there before and during the Rikti destruction of the zone. I had no idea that a such a mission existed, but Fyre and Will were given the mission to go to Boomtown and do their best to stop the reconstruction. Neither was I aware there was "reconstruction" in Boomtown. Will initially refused to go, and they headed to Pocket D to talk.... where they wouldn't be over-heard. Uh, anyway... Captain Piett showed Fyre a Paragon Police Department business card with the name "Bill Peterson" on it, and that he was Bill Peterson, and then showed her an older picture of him with a woman and two young boys. And a dog. He said that he had lived in Boomtown during the time of the Rikti invasion, but had been working at the time that it was destroyed. His men, he said, had been in similar situations. Fyre refused to order him to go back to Boomtown and said she would accomplish the mission on her own. Will had doubts of her success without him and his men, and argued that they would go, anyway. Fyre was... confused, but rather than argue, she accepted his assistance, and off they went.

I'd never done the mission before, and it was pretty neat. It's rare that I run into a new map anymore, and this was new to me, though it wasn't overly elaborate.

I know that Will's player is up to something else with the character, but I don't know what. Fyre took Will's claims (or were they just suggestions of claims?) as total truth, but I have doubts, and theories. Poor Will. Whatever else may be going on with him, I don't think he'll enjoy I10 in the least.

Unnecessary Pictures.

Pointless? Absolutely. But, fun!

More death pictures. Fyre died, but the fire didn't go out. And HeroStats makes a really interesting inset when it's on

Just keeping with the theme. Luna and Ryu died, but they took some of the Legacy Chain with them.

More death. Luna died first, and the Longbow rushed to take out the rest of the team.

I have absolutely no idea of what exactly is going on here. Or why I took the screenshot. But, I bet those ninjas will feel awfully silly when they see it.

Villain-Fyre in an Arachnos base.

In the arc that has you "warning" Ghost Widow and then rescuing Wretch, there's a cut scene. I wanted to see if it would show up for screenshots. It does. So, Ghostwidow, Mu'Rakir, Huntsman Ohanko, and minions.

Strike Force Sunday and New Programs

So, I quit my job today. Well, gave my two weeks. I'll have some extra free time real soon. I've been putting in a LOT of hours lately, and I've had to put some pretty important things off, so I have some things to catch up on. Uh, no, the timing has nothing to do with I10. But, I'm sure some of that "free time" will be spent fighting off Rikti. What? I need a break, okay?

Anyway, though. Before TF Sunday... er, SF Sunday, I downloaded new cheater maps (Vidiotmaps. How did I ever live without those things? I hadn't updated it since back in.... I7, maybe.) And, just for kicks, I chose the download pack wtih HeroStats. So, download, install... no HeroStats? Huh? And the FAQ "Instructions for Dummies" picture links were dead on the page, so that didn't help me at all. But, by now, my curiousity had morphed to determination, so I downloaded HeroStats on it's own. Ohhh, there it is. I linked it with City Game Tracker, which you may notice off to the right here.

So, how's it work? Well, I'm not going into the instructions; you're smart, you can figure it out, if you haven't already. But, it's.... uh, okay. Doesn't help me at all, thanks. Do I care about XP per minute? Well, no. I'll admit, I felt a twinge when it slowly, slowly dropped while we sat and talked or took a break. Sure, it was nifty to see that the team defeated 104 "villains" in our first mission. And it was kinda cool to see how much infamy and prestige I earned. It is sort of helpful to see how many times each power missed, or what the average damage was when it hit. There was a small thrill of accomplishment when I saw the badges I earned during the play session listed. However, I am not a badge wh-- er, hunter, so even though you can link it to Badgehunter.com to "verify" your badges, I probably won't be doing that. So, nifty? Yes. Necessary? No. At least, not for me. I'll keep it, but I won't be running it every play session.

I'm still having some problems with Luna. Her powers are... okay. Once I get Total Domination, I'll be more amused, I think. That has to wait until level 24, though, and I just hit 20 yesterday. Stamina first, then I'll be free to pick "cool" powers. Her endurance isn't too much of problem, until I start "granting invisibility." That's a real drain, and sort of a pain to be chasing people around to make them invisible. Literally, in Bomber's case. The Bomb hates disappearing. I don't have the chat logs handy, but it mildly irritates Luna. "You're cute when you whine, Bomb." "Aww, really?" "No, not really. Cut it out." T3 doesn't have much defense, though, so I'll keep the invisiblity. I will, however, respec out of Luna's stealth and reverse "Invisiblity" and "Grant Invisibilty." I took "Stealth" as the prerequisite so Luna could sneak ahead and confuse mobs before the real fighting starts. I did that will my ill/emp over on... uh... Infinity? Pinnicle? Whichever... and it worked pretty well. It's slightly less effective with T3, but it's not completely ineffective, either.

Luna is starting to get more of a "voice," though. She's sounding a lot like someone I used to hang out with that ran with a bad crowd, sprinkled with someone from a soap opera (What? No, I don't watch it. My mom does. Really *coughcough*). A lot of the "comments" that I held back with on Fyre, Luna just lets fly. She *is* a villain, after all. Though none of our villains are especially evil, and Luna probably even less than the others. At least, at this point. She was having fun with "Green Corruptor," who's base costume is blue and yellow. Great costume, really. A very intimidating character. In fact, Luna and Bomb called him "the big scary guy" more often than not. When she wasn't calling him that, though, she was calling him "Blue." From the other side of the room, of course.

As a side note, one of my goals is to create an actual "evil" villain. Not just misunderstood, or morally ambigious. I've attempted it once or twice, but backed off. And, yes, this is probably a goal that will never be realized. But it could be fun for... oh, twenty minutes or so.

Fyre and Will are still more entertaining to me, though. Is it the characters or the powersets? Probably a little of both. I like burning stuff. That's kinda ironic, but neither here nor there at the moment. Fyre is still having horrendous endurance problems. Stamina will be her level 20 power, and she's about three bubbles from 19 at the moment.

Character-wise, she's still having "issues," too. She doesn't mind fighting any of the villain groups in the isles, or even the "RIPs," because it's blindingly obvious how corrupt they are. She has real problems with Longbow, though. Not only are they supposed to be "heroes," but E was Longbow. At first, she was able to justify it as Longbow did betray E and his daughter, but that only held out for awhile. Will and Fyre had a "steal something or other" with Longbow just the other night. They tried to sneak through using "smoke," but it didn't work out quite that well, and they had to fight their way through most of the base anyway. Will's pretty matter-of-fact about most things, except Rikti, and that keeps Fyre pretty calm, but I expect her to have some sort of break-down sooner or later with the guilt that being "evil" is giving her. I expect her demon to have a more active role in her actions, as well.

Fyre and I are also interested to find out more about Will. He's offered to sit down and talk with her a few times, as long as she buys the beer, but she's shrugged it off. She's not treating him like an employee, exactly, but at least just as someone she works with. She is paying him, after all, and that keeps her from looking at him as a friend. Or anything else. She's not paying him to listen to her problems, but to shoot things. She figures he's being nice because she's signing the checks.

I put a bunch of bids up for sets for Blaze. I'm sort of disappointed with what I had available for her, actually. As a dark/dark defender, her heal targets an enemy, so I need accuracy slotted, and "accuracy" isn't an option in the heal sets. The fear set bonuses just didn't excite me. So, I went for ranged damage for Gloom, to get the most out of the bonuses. Gloom is a good DoT damage power, so Devastation certainly isn't a waste. I was just hoping for something "more," I suppose.

Cass needs a respec. I hate doing respecs. But, the Epic powers weren't working for her, so I respeced her out of that and was just picking powers that sounded interesting, so I gave her Stealth. Character-wise, it fit, and the extra defense certainly couldn't hurt. However, I came across a Stealth IO, and shoved it into Combat Jumping. Nice effect, especially since she didn't particularly need it, anyway. And, no extra end drain, which is a bit of a problem for her still. I need to respec her back OUT of the Stealth, now, though.

I want to work on my Necro/Dark MM, too. Dominique De LaCroix. Yeah, I know, but the game hates spaces in names. I recycled the name from a "vampire" mind/psy Dominator, but now she's my creole/voodoo/goth chick. Somewhere I have a robot/ff MM, and Syn's got her "thugs," but I didn't have any zombies at the moment. So. Zombies was the real goal. I've goofed off with them, but never gotten past 20 with one, so I'm still interested. For the moment. At least until I role-play her and someone expects me to remember French. I'll have to Google some stuff and see if it jogs my memory. I don't have high hopes.

Pointless Updates

I don't really have too much to say. I haven't posted in over a week, though, so I suppose I should make an effort. Angst is extremely minimal with the new team, so there's been very little to explain. I had the vague ideas of a story where Fyre tells comatose E what she's really been up to. Very vague. But, I just read E's post of what the comatose E is thinking, and I'm slightly intimidated. And the only thing I've been really inspired to write is my resignation letter, which I'll probably be turning in on Monday. So, I may have lots more time to write very soon. I'll be able to post every hour, on the hour!

Okay, well, we might not do that.

Team 3.0 is... okay. I'm so used to damage, this "control"... er, excuse me, "domination" thing is taking a bit to grow on me. Once I get past the boring Fitness powers, and get into some of the more interesting powers, I think I'll get a little more into it. I can tell I'm not too into the character, too, though. Usually by at least level 16, about where we are now, I'm itching to get to 20 for that next costume slot. But... eh. I don't have any ideas at all for a new costume for Luna. Something without a trenchcoat, and with a more "normal" hair color, maybe.

I revived a version of my Necro/dark MM from CoV beta, and she's kinda fun. While Luna is almost a poor-man's version of Fyre, personality wise, Dominique is good old-fashioned shadowy evil. Not Jason/Freddy slasher-movie evil, but more like old black-and-white Dracula movie evil.

For whatever reason, though, I'm having a lot of fun with villain-Fyre and Captain Piett. Right off the bat, they had the "chemistry" that people talk about between actors and actresses. Will is a "tough guy," and I'll admit, I like tough guys, and you've gotta be pretty tough to hang with Fyre. And, okay, I kinda like burning stuff, so the powersets were a little more interesting to me. Fyre has terrible endurance issues, though, so I can't wait until Stamina for her. It's not too bad, since she's mostly just duoing with Will, so I don't have to try to keep up with a full team. They're level 16, so Stamina and more interesting powers should just add to the allure. Fyre with fire imps.... the potenial awesomness is staggering.

Character-wise, is anything going to happen with that "chemistry?" Too soon to tell, I think. For one thing, Will has some issues that haven't been explored yet. And yes, we all know Fyre has issues. Including a demon with a fluxuating level of control over her. Plus, poor E. But, either way, they're fun.

Even when Masonry appears out of nowhere and joins them. That was fun. I mean, honestly. It had potential for major angst. And there was some angst. But it could have been total World War 3... actually, I think they're up to War 5 or 6.... between Fyre and Mason. It wasn't, though, surprisingly. They mostly got along. The Rogue Isles version of Mason sort of scares Fyre. She's not really afraid of him, though. This is a nightmare version of Mason for Fyre, the version that was she was always afraid existed, but she chose not to believe did. Well, at least until the end there, when he admitted he wanted to kill Fyre and E, and Jen if it suited his purposes. But, anyway. When Mason killed his punk follower, it made Fyre nauseous. It makes her more sick to think that she can hardly find fault with him, as she's in the Rogue Isles for nefarious purposes of her own, and responsible for just as many deaths, whether she finds the glee in killing that Mason does or not. I'd planned to keep the villain version of Fyre as more experimental than cannon, but I'm not sure how that will change now.

Oh, and hey, pictures.

I don't know why I took this picture. I don't know what killed poor Luna. But.... well, there it is.

Bomber, Luna, and Ryu in a Council cave. Kain must have finally wised up and ran away from them.

Luna, Electryk (Which I'm probably spelling wrong. Forgive me), Kain, and Ryu's "children."

I almost posted the nice, pleasant picture of Masonry and Fyre sitting peacefully on a bench together, but.... nah. Besides, Mason already posted it. So, here's villain-Fyre, villain-Masonry and one of Will's army. Death pictures are funny today, I guess.

"Give Me A Reason"

Well, I had a slightly different plan here yesterday. The first quarter of this post I wrote during work yesterday, and finished the rest and most of it at home later. When I clicked “Publish Post,” it posted the first draft, which is the first quarter here. Ugh! I almost threw the computer out the window.

I still want to illustrate the same points, so, DO-OVER! Probably slightly shorter, and with a slightly different bent.

We’ll start back at the beginning.

Fyre did want to talk to Mason, now that he’s Nathan again. She needed to know what he was planning and plotting. She’s concerned for herself, but more for E and especially Jen. More now that it’s been established that the destruction of the Kronos was not the defeat of Strym. She expected to meet him alone. She didn’t want Frost to be hurt or frightened, and she didn’t want E to have to deal with Mason or whatever she may have had to do or say to Mason. Instead, the four of them ran into each other in the hosptial. E was checking test results while Fyre waited, and Mason said he saw them and wanted to “congratulate” Fyre on her “freedom.”

Masonry Redux: Well, it's over, isn't it? You wouldn't be running around if you weren't a target anymore.

Wrong!

Fyre’s reply? Well, part of it:
Fyre Hex: Well, for one thing, some jerk that wants me dead is standing ten feet away.

Aside from that, he wanted to know the current Styrm situation. Apparently, Frost had told him the story, but he wanted to hear E’s version of it. Although, they never really get to that. It was actually the same argument they’ve all had over and over.

Some of the highlights:

Masonry Redux: He [Strym] contacted *me*.
Fyre Hex: And you told him everything he ever wanted to know.

Fyre Hex: How badly do you have to screw-up before they yank you back to the Zig for breaking parole?
Masonry Redux: I haven't broken parole.
Masonry Redux: I don't plan on it.
Brief point here: Fyre figures it’s only a matter of time before he does break parole, and not in a small way, either.

Masonry Redux: So if what Frosty told me is true, even if Styrm's still out there, I don't have anything he wants.
Oh, but Frost does. Actually, he has the arc, which spawns the Kronos Titan the next night, but they don’t know what yet.

Masonry Redux: If I actually sold you out, Fyre, do you think I would have told you I told him?
Masonry Redux: Would I have warned you?
Fyre Hex: You wouldn't have, but I caught you in the act, didn't I?
She, and I, firmly believe that he would NOT have told her, but she caught him while he was doing it.

Fyre Hex: I never did anything but try to help you, Mason, and all you did was throw it back in my face.
Fyre Hex: With a Malta gun behind it.
Masonry Redux: I know.
Masonry Redux: I know I did.
Masonry Redux: I was pissed.
Fyre Hex laughs for a long minute.
Keen Frost smiles. (Poor Frost. Granted, she laughed. But it wasn’t THAT kind of laugh)
Fyre Hex: So it's okay to kill people when you're pissed?
Masonry Redux: No.
Fyre Hex: No? To get someone else to kill them, then?
Fyre Hex: Because, Mason.
Fyre Hex: I've been very angry for a while now.
Masonry Redux: Well you're a better person than I.
Fyre Hex: You think so?
Masonry Redux: And much stronger.
Fyre Hex: I'll agree with that.
Fire shields go up, and the “Evil Fyre” costume comes out.
Masonry Redux raises an eyebrow.
E.VAC: uhh...
Keen Frost looks at Fyre.
Masonry Redux: Pretty demon.
And, dammit, I didn’t realize it until now, but that’s BEN! Ben used to call Fyre “Pretty little Nictus.” I wish Fyre and I had caught onto that then.
Keen Frost: Mase.
Fyre Hex smiles.
Masonry Redux: I'm not afraid.
Fyre Hex: You're not that smart, either, are you?
Masonry Redux: Why should I be afraid if I already know I'm going to die?
Fyre Hex: I'm not a demon, Mason. But the fire burns the same doesn't it.
Masonry Redux: I'm not afraid.
Fyre Hex: Oh, you're know you're going to die, do you?
Keen Frost: Mase...
E.VAC: I'm pretty sure you are, Nate.
Masonry Redux: Yes.
Keen Frost looks down and away.
E.VAC: Afraid, that is.
Fyre Hex: Tell me... us, then, what makes you say so?
Masonry Redux: Because I know when I'm outclassed.
Fyre Hex: By whom? Me? Strym? Someone else?
Masonry Redux: You want to kill me? Be my guest.
Masonry Redux: E? Sure, if you want.
Masonry Redux: Styrm? Tell him to take a number.
Keen Frost: Mase, no...
Masonry Redux looks at Frosty.
Keen Frost: where's Jack...?
Fyre Hex: Who did you mean, then?
Masonry Redux: I don't want to die... but if it ends this.
Masonry Redux: I don't know where he is.
Another aura up: Hot Feet. It’s the one that makes the ground look like it’s boiling.
Masonry Redux: I don't think the hospital guys are going to like the damage.
Fyre Hex: I can afford to pay for it.
E.VAC: Wouldn't be the worst they'd had to clean up.
Keen Frost: Fyre...
Keen Frost: Wait...
Keen Frost: It doesn't need to...
Masonry Redux closes his eyes.
Fyre Hex: For what, Frost? For him to plot to have me killed by someone else? Carnies? The Circle?
Fyre Hex: For him to hand Jen over to Strym? For him to toss E at the next Kronos?
Keen Frost keeps silent, clenching his jaw.
Masonry Redux mutters, "End it."
Keen Frost: [Do something...]
Masonry Redux: You know something?
Masonry Redux: I am getting damn sick and tired of cleaning up.
Keen Frost sighs nervously.
Masonry Redux: If we didn't love Frosty, I would have let you tear him limb from limb.
Fyre Hex: It took you long enough.
The fire shuts off, and Fyre’s back in jeans.
Keen Frost swallows.
Fyre Hex: I thought I was going to have to burn the room down.
Masonry Redux sighs.
Keen Frost: quietly:: [Thanks.]
Fyre Hex: I don't want to kill him, Jack, but I can't let him run around and wait for him to put a real live knife in my back, or E‘s, either.
Masonry Redux: He won't. I won't let him.
E.VAC: Heard *that* before...
Masonry Redux: But if he gets past me --
Masonry Redux: And he has.
Jack never does actually finish that sentence, but it’s painfully obvious what he means.
But, yeah, Jack saves the day. For about ten minutes. They all discuss what to do with “Nathan,” including having Nathan’s soul bound by the Wombat. A couple of the plans could cause the death of “the body” and/or Jack, and that’s not acceptable. Aaaaand, Nathan’s back, and the discussion picks back up.

E.VAC: One honeyed word from Styrm, and you'd step aside so he could shoot Fyre.
Masonry Redux: You never know, E.
Fyre Hex: >Exactly. And therein lies the problem, huh?
Masonry Redux: quietly:: I guess.
Masonry Redux: So you want to still watch your back, figuring at some point I'll stab you through?
Fyre Hex: No.
Fyre Hex: I want to not have to watch my back.

Masonry Redux: See, you all like Jack better. Well being the pansy that he is, he's too weak to keep me back.
Keen Frost: ::quietly:: Shut up.
Fyre Hex looks to Frost.
Masonry Redux: The Guide. The one who doesn't like to get his hands dir--
Keen Frost: Do you want him dead... too?
Masonry Redux: No!
E.VAC: Heh... another name for the list.
Masonry Redux: Then I'd probably die soon af--
Masonry Redux glares angrily at E.
E.VAC sticks his tongue out at Masonry
Masonry Redux glowers.
Keen Frost glares the same way at Mase.
Mason now wants Jack dead, too, if it wouldn’t kill him as well.

Keen Frost: ::quietly:: You're still... jealous.
Masonry Redux: Obviously I say other things and I don't do them, right?
Masonry Redux turns to Frosty
Masonry Redux: What?
Masonry Redux: Jealous of who?
Keen Frost: It never changed, did it?
Masonry Redux looks confused.
Keen Frost looks at Fyre, then E.
Fyre Hex watches Frost quietly.
Keen Frost: You never accepted that.
This actually goes WAY back to the first time that “Ben” tried to kill E and Fyre. At first, then, Mason blamed it all on Ben, and then shortly after, Mason admits that he, too, wanted them dead. Then, he said it was because that Fyre hadn’t responded to his flirting, and that he was jealous of E and Fyre because they were “better” than him.

Masonry Redux stares at E.
Masonry Redux: He refused me.
E.VAC sighs
Masonry Redux: For *her*.
Fyre Hex flashes a smile and nods in acknowledgement.
Masonry Redux: Because he's a pansy.
Keen Frost: Oh, stop.
Masonry Redux: He lets a woman drag him around.
E.VAC: Kick *your* ass any day of the week.
Masonry Redux: Yeah, and you've done it.
Masonry Redux: And she's done it.
Actually, no, she hasn’t. She used an energy drain on Ben to stop him when Ben attacked an innocent by-stander, but Ben immediately backed off and shoved Nathan back out then.
Masonry Redux: But you're weak.
Fyre Hex rolls her eyes.
Masonry Redux: All these women have you - her, Jen....
Masonry Redux: You can't do anything without them.
Keen Frost: ::quietly:: Love has this effect.

Masonry Redux: You don't understand, you never did, and I gave up someone who loved and accepted me for what I was.
Masonry Redux narrows his eyes.
Fyre Hex: You did do that, Mason. Two of us, as a matter of fact.

Masonry Redux: You're turning him like you did with Kit.
Keen Frost: I'm not "turning."
Fyre Hex: No.
Keen Frost: Mase.
Masonry Redux: Well you're making him damn uncomfortable!
Fyre Hex: We told Kit the facts. She made her own decisions, whether you talked her out of them now or not.

Keen Frost looks at E.
Keen Frost: ::quietly:: He will always refuse you.
Keen Frost: Will you destroy his life because of that?
Masonry Redux grinds his teeth angrily.
Masonry Redux: I can't.
Masonry Redux: I want to...
Masonry Redux: I can't.
Keen Frost: You're just pissed.
Masonry Redux: Both of them... I so want to...
Masonry Redux: I can't.
Masonry Redux: More than pissed.
Keen Frost: Wouldn't you rather feel good if he's happy?
Masonry Redux looks up at Frosty
Keen Frost: Anyways... it's not like you'd be alone... you know.
E.VAC: Just more proof that it's not really me he cares about. Just what I can do for *him*.
Masonry Redux swallows.
Masonry Redux: I cared about you!
Masonry Redux: I care about all of you!
Fyre Hex: And you just admitted how much you want to kill two of us.
E.VAC: You only care about yourself.
Keen Frost: I know that, Mase.
Masonry Redux: You don't know how bad.
Masonry Redux clenches and unclenches his hands.
Keen Frost: But... you can't have... all you want. It's just... natural.
Fyre Hex: Finish saying it, Mason.
Fyre Hex: Say it.
Fyre Hex: Finish the fucking sentence already.
Masonry Redux: I want to kill you.

Masonry Redux: I'm angry at them and jealous of them and I want to do something...
Keen Frost bites his lip.
Masonry Redux: And the only thing I'm good at is...
Masonry Redux: ... :: quietly:: killing.

Masonry Redux: I threatened to get his kid killed.
Masonry Redux: And the "woman he loves" ::airquotes::

Masonry Redux: Not if they keep bringing up how I "sold them out" and "want to kill them" and do all that shit.
Masonry Redux: Not if E keeps overlooking me.
Keen Frost: These are just consequences.
Fyre Hex: You just said five minute ago that you want to kill us! And WE won't let it go?

Keen Frost looks at E and Fyre.
Keen Frost: I'd like to... uh, try it.
Keen Frost looks away as he realizes what he's saying.
Fyre Hex: Pardon. I've been hearing a different conversation half the time, apparently. So, try what?
Keen Frost: Forget it.
Fyre Hex shrugs.
Masonry Redux slumps.
Keen Frost: Okay, Mase.
Fyre Hex: He wants me dead. He wants E dead. Not only that, he wants to kill us.
Fyre Hex: What did you expect me to say?
And that’s the point of all the quotes here. I didn’t even realize, and there’s no way that Fyre saw, that the purpose of any of this conversation was to get Nathan back into the team. All the evidence, especially the things that Nathan’s said, points in the exact opposite direction. It’s not because E and Fyre, or their players, are mean and evil and trying to exclude anyone, or their players. It’s because Nathan hates them and wants them dead, in fact, wants to kill them himself, if he thought he could manage it.

Masonry Redux: Let's try. Together. Again.
Fyre Hex: Why?
Fyre Hex: Give me a good reason. Just one.
Fyre Hex: Honestly.
Fyre Hex: I'm not being sarcastic, or insulting, but why?
Masonry Redux: We've gone through so much already.
Fyre Hex: You just admitted that you want to kill us.
Fyre Hex: Not, like, Oh, he took my pen, I could kill him. But, for real, you want to kill us.
Masonry Redux: Well, I just have to get over that, don't I?
Keen Frost: It's not that simple.
Fyre Hex: No, it's freaking not that simple!

Masonry leaves to join with his super group.

E.VAC: I respect you for trying, Frost. I seriously know why you tried.
E.VAC: But it's never going to happen.
Fyre Hex: He wants us both dead. He wants to kill us both. How can we have someone like that at our backs?
Keen Frost: I understand.
Fyre Hex: I was hoping Jack would stay.
Fyre Hex: I hope he's okay.
Keen Frost: I just think... differently, even if I was the one threatened.
Keen Frost: I'm sure Mase will talk to Jack.
E.VAC: You don't know that, Frost. And hopefully, you will never have to find out.
Fyre Hex: Frost, I don't think you would. How can you have an enemy guarding your back? You can't.
Keen Frost nods slowly.
Keen Frost: I don't see him as one, however, but I need to understand how you two look at it.
Fyre Hex: Frost.
Keen Frost: I'm probably missing that.
Fyre Hex: It's how he looks at it.
Fyre Hex: He wants us dead. He wants to kill us. Anytime a weapon comes up for that, he uses it.
Keen Frost: I see.
Fyre Hex: I'm not trying to get you to turn against him, like what he said. But I don't understand what you don't get.
Fyre Hex: I'm sorry, I am. I... wanted it to work, for you and Jack. But I don't see how it can.

Frost leaves, and E and Fyre head down to E’s lab.

And E’s and Fyre’s players head over to the Rogue Isles, where my favorite line of the night happens. Captain Piett has used the term, “meta human,” which Malta use. Fyre questions him about his association with Malta, and isn’t very clear about it, leading to:
Cpt. William Piett looks like a man who suddenly realized he might be set on fire.

The next night, E’s player and I debate on what to do, and decide to work on the Malta arc-- after Blogspot eats my huge, long post, and I get over the urge to throw my computer through the window, into the driveway, and run out to drive the car over it a few dozen times.

Halfway through the first mission, Frost pings E and Frost joins E and Fyre to finish the mission. After some discussion, we decide to catch Frosty up by steal thing as much as we can through the missions he’s missed. Snickering and giggling and running into sappers ensues. Quickly, we get to “Defeat All Wildflower Agents,” which spawns the Kronos Titan on exit.

This time, we wanted to give everyone a shot, and a badge, since it went unexpectedly fast last time. We sent OOC warnings to the Futura channel, and again when we finished the mission. Futura was waiting outside the mission before we even got to the mission, and were ready when we came out. The Kronos lasted longer this time, but still went down easily enough. Yes, with two separate teams.

Masonry, as Jack, came over to talk afterwards. He briefed E and Fyre on the heroin plan, which E agrees is too dangerous. E suggests that he can come up with an alternative. He’s a doctor, after all. They discuss the merits of Masonry, Jack or Nathan, rejoining the team. Jack says that Nathan knows that E and Fyre hate him.

Wait a minute. This phrase keeps coming up. Fyre has refuted it previously. She’s getting tired of hearing it, and now, it unable to argue against it with much strenght, but, as she points out:
“Wait a minute. *He’s* the one who wants to kill *me.* Why does everyone have a problem remembering that?”

They part, planning to think about possible solutions.

The player wants the team together. Yes, including the fill-ins we get from Futura, or for that matter, the Dauntless, or the various places we’ve had people from. It’s fun. Even when someone screws up, we have fun. It’s a freakin’ game. That’s the point of the a game, to have fun. The way we’ve chosen to play, as RP, with “broken” characters, introduces conflicts. Some of those conflicts are minor, some of them have been major. But they’re IN CHARACTER conflicts. Mason and Fyre have been at each other’s throats, on and off, since Ben turned out to be psycho. As Mason’s player and I have both said, they should have probably killed each other levels and levels ago. Does that mean that I want to take a swing at Mason’s player or call her mean names? Nope, not in the least. I like Mason’s player. I like our characters’ interactions (yes, including Mason and Fyre, on occasion) and I like our OOC conversations. I feel the same way about the other players. They all seems like cool people, who I’d hang out with RL without second thought.

Yeah, I’m rehashing something that E posted weeks ago, and has been touched on over and over again, briefly usually, for as long as I can remember. We are not our characters. Our characters motivations are not ours. Their thoughts, feelings, reactions, and words are not the players. More, if I was unable to separate my character’s thoughts and feelings from my own, then I would not RP. Or only RP a shiny happy character with other shiny happy characters so that no drama would arise. Again, that’s not how we have chosen to play the game.

A fun fact to close with: I realized today that I use Mason’s “hands behind the back, look-I’m-harmless” pose around my ex-almost-father-in-law.