open } she's had her fill of destinies and that's why she flew away

[choosetruth]

Who: Georgia Mason, YOU
Where: the Kindergarten
When: June 23 - 27
Rating: PG-13ish probably
Summary: Georgia's a Dhampir Oracle. Goodie. Just like she's never dreamed. At least she has spells that make people tell the truth.
The Story:

[Starters in the comments! There's one party starter available for people if they want to get stuck in the zone of truth for threads.]

Comments

mingle } guard your eggshell heart for the moon tells lies

[choosetruth]

It doesn't last long, not compared to the course of the event. Only about ten minutes. But during those ten minutes, if you're caught in the 40 foot diameter circle that comprises the Zone of Truth, you'll have to make a will save of 16 or find yourself incapable of telling deliberate lies.

It's not hard to guess the source of the spell, considering how well known Georgia's feelings on the truth are. She's not hiding, either. She's easy enough to spot, sitting in the shade of a cliff, though she looks somewhat different. Her tendency to avoid sunlight has left her pretty pale to begin with, but now she's an almost greyish white, and her hair, though still short, looks suspiciously like it's only that way because someone went at it with a sword. Mulan made it look a lot easier to give yourself a haircut with a sword than it actually is, go figure. Her eyes are a weird, washed out grey, not her usual brown or the black they'd been when she had Retinal Kellis-Amberlee, but she still finds herself missing her sunglasses. Not just because her new dhampir race has given her back her light sensitivity. They're familiar. She misses that.

sideburns liar and camera liar are here to party

[burntvideocassette]

[Will: 3 (+ 4), so 7, so n o p e]

Jay and Tim have to keep moving. Neither of them are particularly great in a fight (even now, with the new bodies and the new powers), and so far the most effective way to avoid get killed by a multi-legged rock monster has been to not stay in one place long enough for any multi-legged rock monsters to find them.

They haven't run into anything for a while, though, so when Jay catches sight of Georgia--well, senses that there's a conscious creature around (detect thoughts, 1st round) and then actually looks up and sees her--he manages a hesitant wave. He's in his default form, a scrawny, pale, faceless thing with bulbous yellow eyes. He regrets not shifting to something a little more pleasant to look at before this conversation, but what's done is done.

"Georgia, right? How're you...holding up?" Wait, she might not recognize them as easily as he recognized her. "It's, uh, Jay, and that's..." He gestures to the avian guy next to him, wearing a satchel full of herbs and glass bottles. "That's Tim."

emphasis on party

[postictal]

At least he's been sticking at Jay's side and ensuring that nothing worse has happened to him since. Even if he's - difficult to look at, with the elongated limbs, the lack of a face, the pale skin stretched over a sepulchral frame.

He doesn't detect the precise moment in which he enters her crosshairs, but he's only rolled a 6 for a will saving throw, which means the spell has already begun to take effect.

He blinks round, amber eyes, shifting from foot to foot.

"Some event, huh?" At least he sounds the same.

emphasis on LIAR

[choosetruth]

Georgia's crit fail wis check means that her expression is almost comically taken aback when they approach, at least until Jay introduces them and Tim speaks. Then she relaxes sligthly, nodding. There's no reason to lie about that, even if they could while caught in her spell.

"And I thought I had it bad." Really, past looking like an illustration for some of Buffy's more obnoxious stories and cleavage, she's downright normal. "Yeah, it's... different. Kind of insane, even for Wonderland."

[burntvideocassette]

"Definitely different." Instinctively, he checks the area, his line of sight lingering on the humanoid holes in the walls. He doesn't want to be caught off-guard if another one of those creatures crawls out. (Spot: 11 + 4 = 15) The nearest cluster of holes looks clear.

"I mean, for me, things've been...rough." Had he meant to say that? He was trying to reassure her, not-- "My 'spells' or whatever are basically useless against those things. I think Tim's probably the only reason I haven't been snapped in half yet."

What. What. It's--it's true, but not...what.

He shoots Tim a look, somewhere between confused and apologetic.

[postictal]

Uh????

Tim stares at Jay with something approaching incredulity, or as close as he can get to emoting as such when all he has are eyes and a beak. That's a level of frankness he's not come to expect from Jay historically, and particularly now, with things being - the way they are between them, maybe the way they always have been, it's not what he'd call typical.

"That's 'cause I don't want more nightmares of you dying, you asshole," he snaps, with considerable more force and bluntness than is standard for him.

open } follow the white hare like you're on a tether for this is bitter earthquake weather

[choosetruth]

Georgia isn't particularly interested in fighting, whether she's suddenly part of a fantasy roleplaying game or not, but she isn't one to be left out of the story. Someone needs to write down what happens.

Of course, when battles start, it's not like she's going to sit them out. Not when she has magic coursing through her veins and a sword that she actually knows how to use for some reason. She's surprisingly unhindered by her dress, jumping into action with an initiative 19, but if the fight takes place somewhere brightly lit she's pretty clearly uncomfortable, blinking and flinching from the light. There's a part of her that revels in that despite the discomfort. It's a lot closer to how her mind tells her her eyes are supposed to be than how they have been since she came back.

And, of course, if the fight's at night, when there's no light, she's the most in her element, eyes seeing in the darkness as easy as others see in the day. It feels right, and she relishes it, even as her heart pangs for what she's lost. It's not like she misses having killer migraines all the time, except when she kind of does. They're just one more thing about her old life that's gone.

ayyy here comes a literal firefight

[normandysbest]

To her credit, Shepard is usually much more experienced in combat than she is here. Fighting is her element; she's a trained soldier with ten years of experience. When there's a fight going down, her instincts say to leap, to protect, to take the hits others can't. Unfortunately, even if she's got a fairly sizeable amount of HP thanks to her level, her magical experience has all but been guessed at and it's probably a shame Georgia doesn't like the light right now, since Shepard is absolutely all fire for the next few days.

Regardless, her initiative roll is just behind Georgia's at an 18, and even if the light's low, she's not. Her tengu feathers are a bright red bleeding into orange and gold, and she seems to pretty constantly have some sort of flame in her hand, if not accidentally lighting herself on fire. Just a little. It's fine and she absolutely has a handle on it.

She slides into the battle quickly, squaring down the gem monster in front of them both. "You need a hand? I wouldn't want to take one of these things solo."

AWW YEAH

[choosetruth]

Georgia's not sure who she's talking to, though considering how different everyone looks lately, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Also considering she can't really get a good look since this... being is on fire. Georgia blinks, eyes watering a little, and focuses on the monster, ignoring the spots in her eyes and the way they burn. She's used to that, at least.

"Phrasing." She gestures over at the being, which has far too many hands and more than a few legs and not nearly enough faces, then gives a slight nod. The fact is, her spells mostly are not good for fighting, and while she's better with a sword than she has any right to be, she's still clearly more of a healer than a fighter. "But yes, I would appreciate help."

She uses her turn to wrap herself in instant armor, and moves, close enough to the gem to get an attack in next move.

[normandysbest]

Shepard shrugs in response, considering she doesn't exactly have hands to speak of either-- thankfully, Tengus don't just have wings for arms, but her hands are three fingered and clawed, more like talons than real grips. It makes using weapons hard, but thankfully, she's got more than enough magic to keep up with it. "You got it, then."

She rolls a decent perception (16) to notice Georgia's squint, and circles a little away from her, as not to accidentally hit her with the kickback. In the spirit of being precise, she holds her hands in front of her and casts scorching ray; once her modifiers are added, she's got a 28, 22, and 14, so all three of the bolts find their way to the target, one slamming directly into the beast's chest and the two scorching some of it's hands for 15 damage with intent to draw it's fire.

[choosetruth]

The gem monster swings one flailing limb at Shepard (atk 14) and one at George (atk 22), which hits (dmg 4) causing her to grunt in pain. She swings her sword back at the being (atk 29, atk 21) hitting it solidly twice and dealing 9 dmg.

"Be cool if any of my spells were fighting spells."

open } the moment that you leave the path the future's in your hands

[choosetruth]

When she's not exploring, she can be found in the shadows of caves and cliffs, frowning slightly as she experiments with her newfound spells or typing vigorously on her phone so she can write this event up properly when it ends.

Be there when she learns the hard way that cure spells don't work on her and she needs to use inflict spells instead, or risk her irritation and interrupt her while taking notes. Or come to her because you need healing. She might not particularly enjoy being interrupted, but, well, she's not going to leave someone hurting when she can do something about it. Maybe, if you're really lucky, you'll catch her when she figures out she can literally walk on air.

She's never been particularly interested in magic. She still finds the concept, well, silly. But she can't deny that it is a little fun. Maybe. She still wishes she could magic away her stupid dress.

Oh wait, she can. If only for ten minutes.

[beatupgrass]

[her little air walk adventure has not gone unnoticed, though the observer is currently hidden in the shadows of one of the exit holes, but, you know, dark vision trumps those shadows, so it's very clear that outline is human, though unrecognizable.

the voice, however, is unmistakable.]

Y'know, Georgie, when I say you tend to float above it all, this ain't what I meant.

[choosetruth]

[The voice and the nickname tip her off, so it's not too hard a connection for her to make (wis 14). She raises an eyebrow over her pale, washed out eyes, then walks up to him as casually as if there was actually a staircase to climb.]

Rocket. You're... taller than usual.

[Nice way of putting it.]

[beatupgrass]

[Despite being human, he does have disconcertingly reddish brown eyes, which means the look of utter disdain he gives her would also give him away.]

Shit. Am I? I sorta got overwhelmed by the bein' hairless thing and couldn't get past it. What the hell are you supposed to be?

[choosetruth]

A... dhampir. [Whatever the fuck that is.] Look on the bright side. No one shoved you in a dress.

[mrsarcastic003]

Tim has spent a lot of time exploring, not necessarily avoiding combat, but not seeking it out either. Combat is a necessary part of most campaigns, of course, but it's almost never the most interesting part for him. Probably because he has more than enough of it in his real life. It's in one of his bouts of exploring that he comes across George practicing her spells. He grins.

"Walking on air definitely qualifies as 'cool,' by the way."

[choosetruth]

"A teenager thinks I'm cool. That's never happened." She looks amused as she walks down to the ground. "It is pretty cool. Not as cool as the truth spells, but it's possible I'm biased."

[mrsarcastic003]

"'Possible.'" He wrinkles his nose a little, though he's still smiling. "Truth spells give me hives. I try to avoid them whenever possible."

[choosetruth]

She raises an eyebrow. "Cause of your secret identity?" There might be a slight note of disapproval in her voice. She really does like you, Tim, but secrets are gross.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun has never had long hair in his life, so when he wakes up and it's almost waist length, and red, he doesn't waste any time trying to fix it. Unfortunately, he... doesn't seem to be wearing much, so his usual assortment of gear, which would typically include a pocket knife, seems to be completely absent.

It looks like he's going to ave to find another solution, but fortunately, he's not alone. George is there, and... also different. Great. An event. Fine. He'll be a lot happier if he can stop having long, grabbable hair.]

Please tell me you have pockets, and that those pockets have a knife in them.

[choosetruth]

[It takes Georgia a moment to respond. She's... a little distracted, and a little mesmerized. Shaun's body has always been pretty distracting, especially when he's not wearing a shirt, but right now it's, well, green. It's... pretty confusing, honestly. It's not like she's opposed to trying new things, but body paint has never really ranked as something worth exploring.

She reaches out to touch, letting her fingers drag lightly against his skin, then looks up, taking in the rest of him.

She blanches.]

What the fuck is on your head?

[adaptiveimmunities]

It's terrible, isn't it? George's distraction isn't actually that surprising, given the green skin and the fact that he's not wearing much, but it's sill just a little flattering, as always.] Knife? Sword? Sharp rock?

[choosetruth]

[She liked looking at his chest better, honestly. She sits back and takes stock of herself.

Her own skin is greyish, weird, but not as weird as green, and she's in a dress, though it does come with pouches. Her hair is also annoyingly longer, though the change isn't nearly as dramatic as Shaun's. And there's a... backpack shaped like a cheeseburger. Also weird, and anachronistic next to the rest of it.

But most importantly for their current needs, she does indeed have a sword strapped to her waist. She draws it.]

...huh. That's... intense. [Why does she feel like she actually knows how to use it?]

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Oh, thank god. He shrugs out of his own backpack, which he's dismissed as irrelevant for the moment, since it doesn't have the sharp object he's looking for in order to tame the wild (possibly living?) creature that is his insane hair. He drops it to the ground next to him, and glances at George.]

Just as long as you don't cut my head off when you're going after my hair, we're good.