You were sitting at your computer desk like every other day, but this time was different.  You had a new monitor that had the new "scriff-enabled" logo on it.  You'd read online about it, and found that it's a new product.

Anxious to try it out, you boot up your computer, just as your father comes through your door.  The shock of the entry makes you spill your drink in front of you, and the electricity travels up your arm, and through you.  Everything goes black.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You wake up with your things scattered around you.  Even the cup that spelled your doom is next to you.

You can feel the concrete underneath you, and you look around to what is a peaceful neighborhood.  You're on the sidewalk, and you feel better than ever-light, even.  There's green grass to your right, where someone's yard is, and a black street to your left, more houses on the other side.

Bloody 'ell, what happened.. and where am I!?  Why am I not back by my computer!?  What's going on here.  Ok. calm down, I'm sure I'm dreaming.. or maybe this is heaven?  Damn, didn't want to die yet.  Well, might as well find out what's going on here.

I get up, gather up my possessions, tucking away my dagger so that it's out of sight, and head over to the house that is by where I am, to see what's going on. Upon getting to the front I knock.

You walk towards the house.  Right when you're at the door, and you move to the side of it to ring the doorbell, it swooshes open, hitting the side opposite you powerfully.

A boy with shoulder-length black hair turns his head for a moment and looks at you as he storms off.  He's wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black trenchcoat.  You feel something powerful from him as he walks past.

There's still some commotion inside the house.  It sounds like a couple voices arguing-a young man and a woman.  You hear the young man as he runs to the door.  Tears are in his eyes, and his mother is calling him to stop.  The young man shouts, "Andreas!  Wait!"

He has a similar face to the other boy, but his hair is shorter, and he has a smaller body.

When you look back to where the other man went, he's already gone.

Right....that's weird... I think I'll go ask elsewhere..

I leave and go to another house down the street and knock on the door.

You turn to leave, but the boy about your size grabs your shoulder and says, "Wait, tell me where he went!"

You can feel pressure on your shoulder from him.  He's grabbing it with a strong hand, and attempting to spin you around to face him.

"Dude, seriously, I dunno.  Turned around and didn't see him anywhere.  I can see that your busy, later."

I pull free (if I can) and walk away towards a random house.

He spins you around and has his fist reeled back already.  You can tell he's furious with a hint of desperation as well.

"I'll beat it out of you, then!"

It's as if he didn't listen to a word that you'd said.  You see him start his punch.

I take my right hand and grab his fist as I move my body to the side with a side step, following it up a hit to his outstretched elbow, using my open faced palm of my hand, then an elbow into his gut.  Following this up with another side step to be behind him and pulling his fist along with the movement to get behind him, then using my free left hand to wrap my arm around his neck so that it can't move.

"You shouldn't start fights.  Seriously, it can be a waste of time, and I'd rather not go through the trouble of having to deal with something like this.  So, why don't you chill out and not bring me into your issues."

You easily reverse the effects of his attempted haymaker, and you have him right where you want him.

His free arm is holding onto the one around his neck in vain.  He responds to you, "Chill out?  Me chill out?"  He lets out a shout, "Cyro Gel!"

You feel the air around you instantly become colder, and suddenly you're pushed away from him by something unseen.  When you look back, it seems as if ice shot out from his back like a porcupine to get you off.  It's still very cold where you are, even though it's a summer day.

The grass around his feet is frozen.  Still, the ice on his back is melting some.  He looks at you and says, "Why were you at my house if you weren't with my brother?"

I look at him with my arm outstretched, pointing at him..

My mouth opens and I start to say several different words, moth closing after each word as I try to figure out what to say and how he did it..

"Y-... W-... I... D..."

After a couple seconds blurting out in a very surprised sounding ness...

"HOW!?"

"Dude, how the hell did ya do that?  Look I dunno what's going on here.  Last I knew I was chillen at home on my comp and there was a spill and I woke up here in your backyard.  Dunno what's going.  I have no freaking idea who you or your brother or who anyone is, or where or when am I... Who are you?  And how did you do that?"

The boy looks at you closely, and you see the ice recede back into him.  He's sweating.  "I suppose that if you were with my brother, you'd have used your powers by now in retaliation."

He immediately bows some, "I apologize.  I assumed that you were also one, or else I wouldn't have used my powers on you.  I'm Jesse, a student at Cannon High, a facility to learn how to keep one's abilities in check.

I'm suprised you don't know about psychics.  Wait-did your family not let you to get scanned for potency?"

...

"..."

*Silence*

I look at him blankly, as if he suddenly grew two more heads...

"Potency?  Psychics..? Huh?  I have NO clue what you are talking about. Psychics like special abilities...right?"

"Exactly.  The ones who are potent have the potential to unlock their abilities.  The government is supposed to check all willing families once a child enters high school; however, hospitals have a ward for those who wish to check for potency all the time.  It's completely free-a government tactic to make sure they have everyone who's psychic registered."

He looks at you as if you should know all of this already.  "What did you say your name was again?"  He presents you with a hand to help you up with.  You can see in his eyes that he has other objectives behind just being kind to you.

Hmm.. well I suppose I shouldn't reveal my name unless its necessary.. but this could be interesting.  So maybe I should just use my full online title I got on that one site... hmm rank and everything included...  yeah this could be fun, lets see how he reacts to this..

"I'm Master Gunnery Sergeant Jeff 'Badfur' Calafalas, pleasure to meet ya. Before anything though, I have no clue where or when the hell I am.. Could ya tell me today's date and what country/continent we're on?  And planet if that'd be possible..."

Man...psychics?  Bloody 'ell thats almost as bad as Psions in DnD..  what is going on here..

OoC: Ya didn't think I'd actually say my full name now did ya.  Bah I'm not one fer sayin' me name here.. yall can figure out the last name fer yerself if ye're really that interested..
This message was last edited by the player at 12:37, Tue 19 Feb 2008.

"It's April 20th, 2001.  You're in Cannon Beach, California.  Maybe the sun's gotten to you.  Come on in; I'll get you some water or something."

He opens the door to his house, gesturing for you to go in before him.

My mouth visibly drops....it stays down for a few moments.  Then I look around and fall back a few steps, almost as if I just got slammed in the chest.

"D-d-d-d-dude.... are you s-s-serious!?

Yeah, water would be great.. this is...woah.."

I unconsciously take my left hand and slip it back through my hair at the news of this...

Then I cautiously take a few steps towards his house, eyes darting around visibly nervous and the thought of what he just said if it was true..

They let you into the house, and David cleans himself off.  He seems like he has more energy after washing his face off.

While you take drinks, his mother leaves the room and David inquires about what all you remember.  It still seems as if concern isn't his primary motivation for talking to you.

I take a deep breath and exhale... then change my facial expression from one of "Right, well whatever" type of thing to one of "Cut the crap lets talk" type of one.  [Mostly done by tilting head downwards, smile disappears (not like one ever appears anyway), eyes aim upwards slightly at whom I'm speaking to, and eyebrows furled inwards.]

"Alright, cut the crap, what are you planning.  I know enough martial arts and war strategy and tactics to know when someone has other motives and this is one.  What's the real reason your talking to me now.  Surely you can see that I don't know what you may consider to be common knowledge, but I'm not blind, why are you going about things as you are right now.  Don't give me a lame answer, seriously, tell me what's going on."

"I want your help.  I haven't seen you around the school or on the news, so if you are potent, then you can help me find my brother.  I want your help-no one knows you, so you might be able to get into his inner circles with the other rebels."

He's looking at you seriously now, and seems to be telling the truth.  "If you give me a blood sample, I'll get you checked out for potency myself.  Are you up for it?  In exchange, I can teach you how to do some incredible things."

Eh.. I really don't like being pricked.. but cmon power.. that could be really cool..  good thing he doesn't know about my dagger... which from what I feel is still safely in my pants pocket.

"Ok, sounds good..  Where do we start?"

He tells you to stay at his house, but he's back an hour later with a vial and needle set, as well as some other equipement in a medical bag.

He sits you down and prepares you for the needle to take your blood.  "I've done this a few times before at the school-I'm a nurse's assistant there.  With this kit, we should at least be able to get the first part of your aural radience code, if you're even potent.  Are you ready?"

I let out a sigh, then relax my body..

"Yes, I'm ready, continue whenever."

I do what I can to keep my mind away from it..

I really don't like needles.. this is such a pain..and very troublesome... aww man, now I'm sounding like Shikamaru Nara... bloody 'ell, this is getting weirded by the minute..

He takes your blood and it takes about half an hour for him to process it.  During the process, he needs to take another vial, but he finishes soon.  "It looks like you are potent.  Perfect!"

Jesse now has a wide smile accross his face, and comes up to your ear.  He whispers a semblence of words: Laydlen Semprand Yohandron.

You feel a pang in your mind, like something all of a sudden clicks.  It's something of a rush, like constant, incoherent thoughts fill up your entire head, then slowly die down so that you can think clearly again.  "Congratulations on your Awakening.  By the way, that was the first code for you.  It causes your aura to awaken and function properly under your control somewhat.  I'll need to send this in elsewhere for your second code, which gives you full control over your powers."

"Eh? A few things, A, what do you mean it causes my aura to awaken and work under my control somewhat, and B, what do you mean by rebels when you mentioned your brother."

Laydlen Yemprand Yohandron That's weird.. I'll have to memorize that..  I should probably try it out.. codes, auras.. bloody 'ell this is weird.

The partial aura control is mainly used to shield oneself from attacks using the aura.  For some, it takes strenuous concentration, while it's natural for others.  The shields increase in strength with time and use.  Also, it allows you to develope an 'eye' for auras easier-to see mood and if someone could possibly be potent.

The rebels are aura users who believe that they shouldn't have to be known by the government.  They believe in die-hard freedom for use of their powers.  Mostly they're broken up into gangs in different cities, but some gangs are beginning to mobilize and unite.  He also says there are other, more dangerous ones who believe that all 'lesser' people without auras should be purged from society through force.

"Ok.  So what do I have to do?  Just say those words?  Or what?"

I take a deep breath and then exhale as I think of the possibilities of what might happen.

"The aura shield will automatically act-a good trigger for it is fear for beginners.  It will almost always activate when someone else is using their aura aggressively at you.  I can train you in the shield's use-once you have that down, we can work on another skill that is highly useful."

You see him disentigrate in front of you, then you feel a tap on your shoulder.  It's Jesse, and he teleported right before your eyes.

My jaw drops again...

"Right..."

"That's cool.. so.. how do I go about this...

Laydlen Yemprand Yohandron"

I wait to see if anything happens..

if nothing does.. "Soo... what now?"

if something does occur, I see what happened..

When you ask what happens next, he grabs your arm.  "I'll show you, follow me."

He takes you into his back yard, which has a high wooden fence surrounding it.  "All you need to do is focus on my attack.  Fear or a need for protection usually initiates it naturally, but it won't hurt for you to picture a sphere around you for protection."

He's standing on the opposite end of the yard as you are.  "Cyro Gel!"  Ice shoots up from the ground near his feet, and he looks to you.  "Just tell me when you're ready.  I won't attack you too hard."

I look at him, then again at the ice, shaking my head about what's going on..

I can't believe this is going on... well I should probably try this out..focus..lets.. se...

*Focuses on Jesse*

While looking at Jesse, meeting his gaze with my own, I nod, informing him that I am ready to begin.

He walks towards you some as you see in his right hand, he starts generating something.  There's some sort of blue energy around it, but when he finally throws it, it's a ball of white-it looks like snow, or slush.

It soars towards you, and you also see him generate two more quickly and throw them as well.  All three are headed right for you.

I take my left foot and sidestep to the left, take my right foot, and spin around and do a full spin, then as I finish the spin I extend my left foot forward, as if about to take a step, and shoot my left hand forward saying "Laydlen Yemprand Yohandron."

I hope something happens..

Your side-step avoids one of the slush balls.  When you push your left hand foreward, you destroy another one.  You can feel it collide with your hand.  Finally, the third hits you square in the face, and you fall on your back from the force, which was harder than you expected.

Jesse approaches you and says, "I think you have it wrong.  The first part of your code is only to awaken your abilities-it has nothing to do with their use.  That's what the second code is for, which is what I use every time you start seeing cold or ice forming around me.  Just focus on the emotions of defense and keep an eye on my attacks.  Sometimes it helps people to put their arms up in defense, like they're blocking in boxing."

He takes his position again and calls out, "Whenever you're ready."  The grass is still freezing around his feet.

"That was defensive. I put the hand up do block it, I didn't expect it to be so hard though..   If I was going to be offensive... well, you saw me a bit defensive in the front yard you attacked me.  You'll know offensive when you see it.

Oh and the best defense is to not get hit."

I start getting excited, things have gotten interesting.  Once I'm ready, I assume a basic stance for kenpo.

I take my left hand and outstretch it forward, slightly bent at the elbow, with my left hand in the form of a claw, almost as if I would be able to fit someone's punch in it, if I were to do so.  The other hand is open and turned facing outwards, with the back of my hand hovering above my upper right part of my forehead.  My knees are bent slightly, and my left foot is in front of my right foot.

If he does the same thing, I will block each with one hand, then since they come at different times, I will use the hand I blocked the first one with to block the third, and will rotate my body if need be to get my right hand there.  (Right blocks 1 and 3, left blocks 2.)

You knock all three of his slush-balls out of the air.  Then, you see him put on an ambitious face.  "Fine, I suppose this is part of the process for you.  I'll just make you use your aura to block!"

He throws five more at you, all of which approach you at the same speed as the others; however, something's different about them.  They all look as if they have more of a blue tint to them.

Crap. Ice.

I drop to the ground.

You manage to evade the first two, but you see Jesse move as they fly overhead.

He moves his arms from a straight-foreward position in a motion towards the ground.  The motion of his remaining three projectiles start to change towards you.

I roll to the right, keeping my arms crossed across my chest, with my closed fists being at each shoulder and my arms protecting my chest, I curl my head inwards, and roll to the right to avoid them.  As this goes on, I say Laydlen Yemprand Yohandron over and over until something happens...if something happens.

You roll to the right chanting, until you see the projectiles already curved towards you where your head is.  You flinch and stop chanting from this suprise.  All that fills your mind is a desperate need to stop the attack.

That's when you hear *smack...smack-smack*.

All three balls are broken and on the ground, only a foot away from your head.  During the smacks, you actually felt some sort of mental stress, as if something was pressing on the edge of your mind each time.

You feel a little dizzy, and Jesse helps you to your feet.  Within only a moment, you're fine again.  "Well, it's about time you used it."

He looks at his watch and curses, "I have to go to work now.  Sorry, I can't teach you anymore right now.  You're welcome to stay here-or maybe I can help you find some work in town.  Your choice."

OOC: Psychic Shield 1@1.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:06, Mon 25 Feb 2008.

"I'm not big on work.. besides, everywhere I've tried to get a job, people refuse to hire me.  Not sure why, but it happens.  I'll stay here, practice a bit.."

I get up and wait to reorient myself and for my head to stop hurting.

I then close my eyes and try to get rid of external distractions, focusing on myself, meditating sort of.  From there I slowly open my eyes and keep them partially open, as I concentrate.  Then while focusing, trying to figure out myself exactly what happened. I say "Laydlen Yemprand Yohandron" and see if anything comes up.  If nothing I visualize myself surrounded by a vertical cone of sorts encompassing my body as a protective shield and then say "Laydlen Yemprand Yohandron" again.

You feel as if your mind expands some outwards, in the way that you picture; however, you don't see any physical proof of the shield's existence.

You find that the shield is harder to get up when you're not being attacked.  The form you feel mentally isn't the exact same as what you picture, but it seems that the sphere can be manipulated by your thoughts about it.

Interesting...

I proceed to mentally visualize different shapes, cones, spheres, an outer ring around me, and so on, to see what the limits are of what form it can take.  I rest as needed to be sure that I don't over do myself.  I wouldn't want to work so hard on something of the sort, so I relax and proceed at my own pace.  After about an hour or two of this, I sit down and meditate, and rest/sleep inside somewhere, a chair perhaps, until Jesse gets back.

You find that you're only able to produce a shield that surrounds your entire body, and the shape is always spherical in nature-as if it's a ballon that you're just changing the shape of by poking and prodding it with your conscience.

After about four hours, you get tired and his mother hospitably allows you to sleep on their spare bed until Jesse gets back home.

When you wake up, it's dark.  Jesse's over you, rousing you awake by touching your shoulder.  "I'm back.  I thought I'd teach you some things about aura glimpsing, if you want."

I yawn, then nod and get up.

"Right...let's do this."

I get up and follow him.

He takes you in his car to what seems to be the downtown of the city.  A quiet suburban paradise is suddenly turned into a louder, more compact city area.

More specifically, he takes you into a club that he knows and he sits you down.  The room is lit with a black light, and there's a large dancefloor in the middle of a two-story eating and drinking area.  There's a bar on the first floor as well.

"Alright, now.  The name of the game is reading people's auras.  New people to glimpsing auras need a dark environment, so that the auras shine a little brighter compared to the background.  That's why we're here.  I want you to look at me first, and focus your attention into your eye opposite your dominant one.  This is to equal out the focus between the two.  Try it while looking at me.  Take your time."

I close my eyes and focus, then open them both and do what I can to focus my non dominant eye.  I take my time (As much time as I needed to make this post) and I do as he said and try to see some auras.

Right when you open your eyes, you can see a distinct translucent color around Jesse's entire body.  Even those in the background have auras around them, and you can also see a faint glow around objects that are near you as well.

You look to your side and there's music playing from a stereo.  You can feel and see colors coming out of the box.

Jesse is simply gazing at you with his eyes and mouth wide open in amazement.  His aura is colored a dirty brown mixed with a mesh of pale yellow.

OOC: You just got a great role for that.  I'm starting you at 1@3 for Aura Glimpsing.

"Well... that's interesting.  So... you've got a dirty brown with a mesh of yellow ish type of colored aura..  if what I'm seeing is auras...  That's a....interesting indeed...

So.....this is kind of weird..  What now?"

I look around and see what type of colored aura different people have... and look for any that might be a pinkish color.

"I'm not suprised...  Your eyes...they're...  They're so strange.  Come with me, you have to see this!"

Jesse gets up and grabs you by your upper arm, attempting to pull you with him.  "We have to get to a mirror, c'mon!"

I go with him... I'm curious to see what my eyes look like as well.

When you enter the bathroom, you see the colors around start to dim back to normal vision.

In the mirror, you catch a final glimpse of your eyes, which are multi-colored with red, green, blue, brown, and every other tint and color you can recognize mixed and moving around togeather.  You watch over the next few moments as it slowly dissipates and your normal eyes are present again.  You can no longer see the auras around you either.

"Duuuude.  That's weird.  Does everyone have their eyes go like that?

Soo...

What do the aura's mean anyway.  Do certain colors represent stuff, or...what's the deal with that?"

I get excited and slightly freaked out.. but mostly excited that something that cool happened..

"I've never seen anyone with eyes like that before.  I mean, there've been rumors about geniuses who could see the aura in inanimate objects whose eyes glew like that, but I've never seen it myself.

Here, take this."

He hands you a piece of paper with some colors and corresponding emotions scribbled down.  It covers the basic colors, plus a few more-as well as what shading of light or dark means for them.

OOC: You're now able to recognize emotions behind an aura while glimpsing auras.

I look over the list and see roughly what Jesse's emotions were when I saw his aura...  then proceed to put the list in my pocket.

"Soo.... what now?"

When you saw his aura, the list says that he was confused, shocked, and excited at the same time.

You put the list in your pocket and he's still smiling, amazed.  He opens his mouth and is about to speak, but then you hear an explosion outside the bathroom in the bar.  Jesse turns his head towards the bathroom entrance and runs to it.  After he cracks it open for a peek, he says, "Cyro Gel!"  You can still hear a commotion outside.

He has icy-blue eyes and you see cold air circling around him and emitting from him.  "The bar's being attacked by some aura users.  We have to help the people-most of them can't defend themselves from attacks like that."

"And what the hell should I do!?  I can't do anything!"

Jesse seems like he's thinking about something for a second, and almost speaks; however, he stops himself and says, "You can throw a punch, right?  Just use your aura shield to protect from their attacks and fight back if you can.  I only saw a few out there.  I think that I might be able to handle them if you can just protect the innocents.  Are you ready?"

"Protect innocents..right.."

I say it sort of sarcastically.. but nod anyway..

"Don't worry, I'll do what I can.."

Innocents?  Man...why did I have to met the guy that cares about people like this...while that's nice and all..best way to grow up is have to fight to protect yourself..and well.. I suppose I ended up alright.. but whatever...

After he heads out I move over to the door and cautiously take a look around to see what's going on.  I move over sort of slowly towards people, while watching what's going on.  Not moving quickly, unless something heads my way.  If something does head my way, I say the command word for my aura thingy, try to protect myself first, and if whatever is coming is within a racket's reach of me then I side step say the command word and try to protect whomever it was going for with my hand though, not with my full body..

When you head out, there's a good portion of the place burnt and some on fire from the attack.  In other spots, there are fissures and broken pillars.  A corner of the roof is gone as well.

You see Jesse run off to the right where there are a couple of guys in black trenchcoats wreaking havok with earth and water.

There's another guy close to you who's toying with a woman and two small children, which appear to be her children.  They're in a corner cowering in fear while he shoots fire from his hands, barely missing scorching them.  The woman already has burn marks on her, in front of the children.  He has a sadistic look on his face, and he doesn't notice you.  Many others have cleared out, while some are unconscious on the floor and there are others screaming in fear where Jesse's battle is taking place at.  Other than that, you see no one.

Hmm..Jesse is busy..  its loud by him.. I sense an oppourtunity..

I walk over to him..

"Hey man, how's it going...

Need a hand?"

I get ready to defend myself and quickly punch him in the throat if possible should I get a chance, assuming he acts hostile towards me.

You break his concentration and he looks towards you.  You see that he's about to speak and is in an aggressive stance.

Immediately, you punch him in the throat.  Not expecting a physical attack, he takes the full impact of it and falls back from the force.  You can hear him struggle to speak unsuccessfully.  He's gasping for air, but it seems like he'll be okay in a couple minutes.

The family thanks you, and they quickly run out the front door and escape.

Over where Jesse's battling the other two, he's already used his ice against the water guy by freezing him with his own water, and he's currently cracking a large wall the earth-user made by tunneling through it with spikes of ice.  You see a figure come out of a shadow on the wall behind Jesse.  It's the figure of a man in some sort of trenchcoat, and he's heading for Jesse's back slowly, sneaking up on him.

Man.. why do I get put in positions like this.. do I help the guy that's been somewhat nice to me so far?  Or do I let him get owned, but possible get stronger and cooler because of it?

...

curse me for being too freaking honorable..


I dart towards the man heading towards Jesse's back, hoping the sound of battle covers up the sounds of me approaching.  I be careful not to say anything and to keep him focused on Jesse, and I do everything I can to run towards the man.  When I get close I put my hand around his mouth and take my other hand and slam it towards me also into his neck. I take my knee and drive it upwards into his groin and move back towards the other guy.

You run towards the sneak-attacker, who is now just a little bit behind Jesse.  The shadowy character looks towards you and smirks, saying, "Domendo."  He sinks into the shadow on the floor.

Jesse succeeds in finally breaking through the earth-user's shield with a large spike of ice, and he sees you next to him.  "What's the probl-" is all he gets out before a hand reaches up from the shadows and pulls his legs out from under him.  He falls flat on his face, and the hand returns to its dark haven.

"That's cool.  But yeah, that's the problem.. some guy was sneakin up on you.."

I move around as I speak but eventually just run back to the guy I hit in the throat to see how he's doing.

The guy you decked still is grasping his throat and breathing heavily; however, he does have the ability to mumble some obscenities at you when you approach him.  Jesse comes over to you with a guy about five feet tall and thin, in a dark trenchcoat, knocked out over his shoulder.  The rest of the people in the building have already left, and you hear sirens.

"It's better if we get out of here now.  They'll assume that we're criminals too, since we can use our auras.  I'm thinking that we need to get this guy back somewhere private and beat where they're meeting next out of him."

"That's fine.. although I expect this one will have a hard time talking for a little bit.

Think ya could get this guy as well?  I'm not that strong, and I know that I couldn't carry him if I tried."

If he agrees I let him get the guy, if not then I do what I can to drag him by his shirt.. so that I'm behind him and drag him out where I can..

Jesse nods, and he helps you carry the maniac as well as the smaller one that he got.

The two of you have to make a slight jog of it, due to the sirens drawing ever closer, but eventually you're out of earshot of them and in a nice, dark alleyway in a place where no one is stupid enough to go down them, no matter what they hear down there.

He throws them to the ground, and freezes their wrists so that they're bound.  "Are you any good at this sort of thing, Jeff?"

"Nope.  Interrogating isn't my forte.

meh, let's just talk and see what we can find... torture I could probably do...interrogating...well I haven't needed to do it before so..."

Jesse grabs the larger one by the collar of his coat and drags him further down the alley.  "Fine.  I'll try to beat it out of this one, and you can go ahead and talk to that one."

The smaller one in front of you is waking up.  He turns over, so that he's actually facing you now, and you see that he's actually very young-about twelve years old.  It takes him a moment to notice his frozen bonds, and he looks up to you in fear from what you might do to him.

Ahh..people being afraid of me.. such a wonderful feeling.. but I supposse if I want to get stronger..which is always a plus..and develop these aura things I might as well find out what I can..

I move over to him..

"Eh... don't worry mon..  Just need some questions answered.  You don't answer me truthfully, you'll lose a few limbs...maybe an arm first...then both your legs..  anyway, you get my point.  So, let's start it off simple.  What exactly can ya do with your aura.  I already know of course, so lying is pointless, but I want to hear it from you.  I won't harm ya so long as ya tell the truth."

He cowers some, but speaks up still.  "Well, upon just being awakened, there are a couple powers.  You can see auras, defend yourself with an aura shield, and blink-rather, teleport.  The last one is rather hard to do without experience and a lot of practice.

Now, the posibilities are even broader if you were to find out your second code.  Then, you'd be able to say it and have complete control over your powers-meaning, if you were like your friend over there, you could control ice and the cold, and if you were like me, you could control the shadow.  You're born with a specific second aura code.  If you help me take down your new friend over there, I can take you somewhere where you can find out your own second code tonight."

"Interesting answer..not quite what I was expecting, but we'll see.  2 things, A how would I know I could trust you.. The Answer.. I can't.  B  now why don't you tell me what YOU can do with your aura.  I don't want to have to start breaking limbs.. or snapping tendons or whatever so don't give me a partial answer.  Get through all this and I'll consider your proposal."

"Well, I can manipulate shadows.  That means that I can...well, I can sink into them and move them around.  Still, I'm certain that I haven't unlocked all of my powers.  I've only known my aura code for a week now.

You can trust me because we're both psychics, and we're only fighting for the right to be like us.  The world wants to use us, and eventually they'll want to destroy us.  We have to look out for one another.  If I take you to my big brother, I'm sure that he'll examine your blood and tell you your second aura code on the spot.  Please!"  The boy seems genuine about what he's saying.  At least, he believes what he's saying.

OOC: Interrogation 0@1
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:43, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

"Very tempting.. is your brother amongst other aura users?"

"Yes, he's the one who got me into this group.  We fight for aura users everywhere, even those who don't appreciate it.  We all use auras to protect people like us and our future as a whole."

You hear the maniac pyro user shouting obscenities at Jesse, and the shouts are always followed by numerous thuds before they talk in softer tones again.

"And that guy over there.. what's his problem?"

I point over to the pyro..

The boy further explains that not everyone who joins their group is in it for the right reasons.  Some people, rather than joining for protection and securing a future, just join for revenge.  Most of them aren't allowed into the group, but some are due to how talented they are in aura use.

The pyro's attitude increases his ability to use the fire for some reason.

"Well I suppose anger and rage are two very strong emotions which probably cause an amplified output of power."

I take a moment or two and try to see the auras of the kid and of those around me, including the pyro and Jesse's.

Everything around you is vibrant with color again.  The aura is almost like a living entity it seems, constantly shifting and moving.

The kid's is fearful, but some hope in his chest is trying to burst through the fear.

Jesse has an aggressive aura and seems angry.

The pyro's aura is insane.  It seems like he's having a blast yelling obscenities and getting beaten into the ground.

OOC: That's two times in a row that you've gotten such good rolls for aura glimpsing.  +0@1 to it.

"Well.. that's nifty...

Anyway,  I'm going to talk to my friend.  Don't move.. I wouldn't want to have to tear your legs off..I'll see if I can work something out.."

I move over towards Jesse and see how he's doing with the pyro..

"Whoa...amazing eyes..."  The kid says, the fear leaving him and amazement taking its place.

Jesse seems to be getting angrier by the minute, and you see that his fists are bloody, as is the pyro's face.  He's in the middle of kicking the guy's ribs as you approach.

"Well you seem to be quite angry..it seems like this guy is having a blast over here.. Have you learned anything?"

Jesse looks you in the eyes and you can almost feel the anger coming out of him.  He very badly wants to hurt this guy.  "Yeah, I've learned that it's a workout even for the one giving the beating."

He continues to kick the guy in the trenchcoat.  The kid is looking over at you, pleading for you to help with his eyes.

"From what I found out, this guy's emotions increase the power of his aura and such.  My guess is the more pissed, angry, or whatever he gets, the more powerful his attacks can be.  Also..  the kid back there.. Well besides the fact he honestly believes that attacking others is to help protect people, which in my opinion is a bit flawed as violence doesn't necessarily lead to protection.  But whatever.  He wants to head back to his brother whom he honestly believes can tell me what my second aura code is or whatever.  Now, its an interesting offer, one that can be good and bad.  A, it can help me find where a bunch of people are hiding out.  And B, well I get more control over my aura.  He simply wants you to be taken care.. although I'm sure he just wants to be set free and doesn't really care what happens to ya.

Now, I think this can work in our favor.  We need to find out where the majority of them are, right?  I need to know my second code so that I can do more with my aura.  If I head with them, I can find out some necessary info and perhaps come back and let ya know so that you and whatever army you may know can come in kick some ass..

Again its just speculation and possibilities...  What do you think?"

"Okay...fine."  Jesse hands you a little piece of paper after writing something on it.  "That's my cell number.  Give me a call if you have anything to tell me or need some help.  I owe you for this one.  Now, I'm going to act like I'm going to go get more help for this.  Use that chance to escape with them."

Jesse walks towards the exit of the alleyway, and shouts to you when he's at the end, "Remember, just keep an eye on them.  Their frozen wrists should make it so that they can't concentrate on their auras.  I'll be back soon with the help."  He then runs off down the street, right of the alleyway.

I move back over towards the kid.

"Well he'll be gone for a bit, some get your ass up and let's go. I'd like to speak to your brother..maybe we can work something out."

I yell over to the pyro..

"You coming?"

Both of them nod, and the three of you run off into the urban environment.

They lead you around until they can get their bearings, then take you on what they say is a course to a temporary hideout-a place that they can take strangers to see if it's okay to let them join.

The kid's still talking to you as you're walking.  "We can't make you join us, but those eyes could prove very useful.  I'm sure my big brother will ask you to join.  We're here."  He knocks on the door five times in a certain tune, and you're greeted at the door by a large man, about seven feet tall.  He's very muscular.

"Who're you?"  He looks straight at you, and pushes the kid inside when he tries to answer for you.

"The name's Badfur, pleasure to meet ya..."

"You have to prove yourself before you can come inside.  Prove that you have an aura and convince me that you're genuine about keeping this place a secret from the rest of the world."

"How am I supposed to prove that I have an aura?  And as for the second question, there is know way you could truly ever know if I would keep it a secret regardless of what I say.  Even if I could convince you, all I did was convince you, what I do from there is my own choice to decide.  So regardless of what I say, if you'd be willing to let me in you'd have to trust me on some level.  Even if you don't trust me, while we took a roundabout route to get here, I'm sure I could find my way back.  I just ditched another aura user to go with these two.  Now, you believe me or not, its up to you, ultimately.  This kid thinks I have one.. hell I know I have one...freaking awakened or whatever you call it several hours ago."

He looks at you intently as you can hear the kid saying something behind him.  He nods his head, and moves aside so that you can come in; however, he moves back to block the pyro's way in.  "Go back to the nearest place and tell them that if they don't hear from us by tomorrow to come and check it out, okay?"

The man looks at you, "For now, you can call me George.  Now, my brother tells me that you have some sort of skill that I want to see.  Show it to me."

No one else is in the place.  It seems as if this abode is a single room, even though it has two beds and a couch inside.  It's barely big enough for the three of you.

I try to sense the aura of this man.

OOC: Okay, this is screwy...  This is 3/3 times that you've gotten the best possible role for the same technique.  I'm going to say that you're so good at this that unless you botch, you do this thing in the amazingly cool way.

You look at him, and the auras dance and flow all around like the other times.  You read the aura of 'George' at first as dull and bored, but then it moves to deep interest.  He smiles and signals for you to stop.

"You're good, Badfur.  I'm interested in what sort of developements can happen after we unlock the rest of your aura code.  I suppose that we can trust you for now, with the hopes that you might join our cause soon.  Just come over to the edge of the couch and sit down, then we can begin."

He takes out a needle and says, "All I need is some blood from you, then it'll take an hour to process it and determine the second part of your code."

"Ok."

I roll up my sleeve and get ready to have some blood removed.

Once the blood is removed I sit down on the floor against the couch, get into a meditative position and meditate..

Man.. I havent meditated in a couple years..  oh well, should be good for me..
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Mon 31 Mar 2008.

The kid, whose name you learn is Tony, sits down next to you when you meditate and closes his eyes, sitting in your same position.  He only lasts about fifteen minutes before he gets bored and starts leaping from shadow to shadow.

After the hour's over, a little machine dings and George takes out a small printed piece of paper.  "It looks like you've got some illusion genes, even though they're not like any that I've seen before.  Still, you can go ahead and give it a try in here if you want.  Illusion never hurts anything permanantly."

He hands you the printed out piece of paper, and shows you the second part of your code.  "Myr Aj," George says, "You have to say that at the beginning every time you want to use your powers.  If you want to increase the amount of power you're using, you'll have to use it again during combat.  Now, for illusion, it's best to start by changing the color or appearance of something; however, your powers probably have the potential to change environments entirely when it comes to perception-including all five senses.  Try to change the colors of some things in the room to start."

It's an average room with tan carpets, white walls, brown beds with white sheets, tan couches, and a dark brown dresser.

"Myr Aj"

I try to change to colors of the wall to sky blue.

An entire wall changes color in tune to your mental picture of sky blue.  It spreads from the center of it and moves out to the edges.  It doesn't spill over onto the ceiling or anything else.  It simply stops at the corners.

"Well, well," George says, "you're a natural at this sort of stuff.  What do you say to joining us and help us fight the good fight, huh?"

OOC: Illusion Powers: 1@1.

"Ok, sounds fun, what now?"

I look around and say Myr Aj again trying to change the floor to look like the decayed bones of humanoids...

All you manage to do with the floor is create a design of bones on the floor.  George claims that you're far too inexperienced with illusion to make things actually appear, and that you should currently work on manipulating each individual sense, and later combine them three-dimensionally.

"Well, tonight you should practice manipulating sound, smell, taste and touch.  It seems like you have your sight illusion skills down.  If you don't manage to master all of them, I suggest you get a good night's sleep-don't take too long practicing.  Sleep is more important so that your mind can be awake tomorrow during your examinations.  Others in our organization will be testing your potential.  Due to the importance of this, you can use a bed tonight."

George walks over to a couch and lays down to sleep.  Tony follows his lead and lays down on one of the beds.

I stay up for about 30 more minutes and try to change the smell in the air to smell like cherries.  If it works or fails.. either way I head to sleep after that.

You're able to change the smell of the air fairly effectively.

After a long rest, George wakes you up the next day, and takes you through various turns, entrances, and exits, to thoroughly confuse your location.  He continues and finally leads you to the entrance of a large warehouse in the middle of the city.

You both go inside, and you see people in workout clothes all over the place.  Some are in rings fighting, with and without auras.  Others are in a corner with exercise equipement, and there are others just hanging around talking.  They seem relatively normal.

There are three men in the same black trenchcoats that come up to the two of you.

George hands you over to them, and they take you to the back of the room.  They ask how you can contribute to their organization if they were to allow you to join.

"Isn't that obvious?  You'd have one less person to deal with that'd be against ya.  Seriously.  On the other hand though...  I suppose if I develop this aura thing that yall can do so well, if I get better with it, I suppose I could do some fearsome stuff.  Then, wouldn't it be better to have me as an ally in that case?  Again though, should ya not let me join, its not like I'd oppose what yall're doin.  If I'm thinkin' correctly, then when ya fight for a cause ya need every able bodied person ya can get, and it appears that's what yer doin'.  But don't let me join and I'll simply head home and watch from a distance and see how this whole thing plays out."

after a second or two..

"Is this necessary?  Well.. I'm sure it is, but from my logic, if George didn't think that I would join he wouldn't have taken me here.  Granted I have no clue how to get back, but I've still seen places and could recognize them if I saw them again.  So, I'm sure its your job to make sure I don't go and join your enemies, and based on the type of people I see and have met in your organization, it appears to me that you'll accept pretty much anyone willing to join your cause."

"Right."

"Are you suitable for aura combat, or are you at the moment too new to all of this to successfully fight?  It's just that fights are the easiest way for us to judge your powers and fluency with them.  If you choose to fight, I'll be your examiner and will be against you."

"Eh.. I'm not much a fan of fighting..  So I'd rather not...at least not until I get better with my aura.  Besides.. if I were to fight.. it wouldn't be with my aura..  Not yet at least..  I need more practice before I'll willingly enter a sparring match."

"Okay, that's understandable.  You'll be allowed to stay here at the barracks and train your aura use in private if you like.  We can supply a place to sleep and daily rations for you...

...However, we expect some things out of you.  We expect you to be ready in one week's time to take a battle examination, unless you can think of a better use for you, or another sort of test we could give you."

"Dude.  Seriously.  My aura is illusion based.  That's not something I expect to use to attack something or someone.  I'll head to a room and such, and so long as I get food... I'll see ya in a week."

I head to a room they provide for me, and work on changing the texture, smell, taste, etc. to that of cherries for everything but touch, which I change to the texture of ice.

OoC: Plan for the week.

Day 1, Mix of various things, concentrating on each thing separately.

Day 2, Work on sense of smell

Day 3, Work on sense of Touch

Day 4, Work on sense of taste

Day 5, Work on sense of sight

Day 6 and 7, Combine everything at once, and work on creating illusion copies of myself.

8 hours at most of sleep each day.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:09, Tue 08 Apr 2008.

You work on all of your abilities involving illusion, and find that touch and taste are the two hardest skills.

Also, every sense has more complex levels than you initially thought.  By the end of the week, you can generate more complex visuals, some three-dimensional.  You can hold a visual image of yourself for about 2 minutes before it dissipates.  You tend to lose control of the illusion if you try to make it generate sound.

You've managed to master sound for the most part, but you feel as if there's a deeper level, like controlling who hears the sound, which you haven't yet been able to do in your solitude.

At the end of the week, the man who gave you the room asks you to show him what you've learned the past week.  It'll determine whether or not you'll stay with them.

I start off by focusing on changing the room to look like rotting corpses on the floor, then from there, if possible, I try to incorporate a similar stench as to what they might smell like, coming up with the worst possible smelling thing I can imagine.  From there, I work on creating another 3D image of myself.  After that, try to make myself look and feel like a boulder.

I go through an assortment of smells in the room, then attempt to make it so that he feels wet, making an illusion that his clothes are wet.  After going through each sense doing what I can, and showing him... I get an idea recalling a book I read over the summer..

"Hold on."

If you believe it, an illusion can kill you.  Then Jarlaxle said something to the effect of, 'Even if you don't believe it, the real thing can kill you too."  So, if I can get him to believe something, it can harm him...hmm possibilities.. kind of like the Mangekyou Sharingan I suppose.. genjutsu..hmm.. ooh, an Idea...

I focus for a little bit then create an image of myself going over to him, reaching into his chest, and ripping out his heart, then have the image of his heart beating in my image's hand.  I focus for several minutes trying to do this, and see what happens.

I focus before and after each thing I do, just showing him everything that I can think of.

"Right, right.  You can bend shapes."

He marks things off, and seems to be especially amused when you appear to change into a boulder to his eyes.  "And you can camoflauge yourself decently as well-not bad, if I say so myself."

Then, you attempt to make your image walk up to him.  He smiles when your image approaches, and then the smile broadens more when the arm reaches into his chest.  That's when he begins to actually laugh, especially when you pull his heart out.  "You had me going there for a second."  He waves his hand at the image, and it dissipates.  "I like what you've done in the course of a week.  We can put you out on assignments immediately.  Our policy is that you have to participate in one mission a week, and we give you a place to stay and limited funds per mission you perform.  You can duck down here if you're in trouble with the law."

"Cool.  Sounds good.  Umm... is there like a range or something where I can work on training and such, where if things get damaged no one cares..or atleast not as much.  I've had an idea or two and want to test stuff out...  Also.. just curious.. what can you do?"

"Hahaha, okay, I'll make a deal with you.  Your mission this week is just a test-run.  You may use your powers for this, but being discrete is never a bad thing in this business.  We want you to bring back $500, that's it.  If you bring back four times that, I'll tell you what I can do."

"Just tell me if you need anything for this assignment-maps, a bag with a dollar sign on it, whatever."

"Hmm.. maps would be sweet.. and um..  how about a bag.  Nothing special on it.. just a bag that could fit it all."

He gives you a map of the downtown area.  It seems to be based on a very well-plotted grid system.

Also, the bag that he gives you is a simply black duffelbag.  When you look inside, you find that it isn't empty.  It has a loaded handgun inside.

Gee..  thats... damn.  Quite a bit different than the .22's I'm used to shooting.. umm... wonder where to go...

"So, where do you want me to go now?  Where am I to retrieve this cash?"

He laughs and says, "This is a very free sort of thing.  We don't care how you get the money.  You can beg for it on the street, rob a bank, extort the money, or any other ventures you can think of.  Sometimes people around here plan big jobs and need extra people to accomplish them.  Ask around if you're interested in something like that."

"From my experiences, organizations such as this watch their prospective members to see how they do, regardless of what they say that they don't.  Honestly... are you just going to have some guy trailing me to see what I do?  Or might I actually be able to do this my own way?"

After I get an answer, I use the map and find a way to the restaurant that was attacked, and from their seek out and borrow a phone or find a place where I could use a phone and call Jesse, to see how he's doing and if we might meet.

"We're not interested in following new recruits around.  You wouldn't be here if we didn't already trust you, and I'm not interested in wasting anyone who could be out on assignments by having him follow you around."

With the map, you find where you are and easily make your way back to the restraunt where the fight took place.  The structure is suprisingly still up, but the insides are burnt too bad for the place to be open.  A laundry mat next door lets you use their phone.

Jesse picks up on the first ring, "Hello??"

"Hey, Jesse, how's it goin? I'm at the laundromat next to the place that got destroyed and such a week ago, ya know, the place we were at.  Think you could come buy and pick me up?"

Jesse makes it there about an hour later, and apologizes, saying that you had called him while he was at work.  He immediately asks you about what has been going on for the past week and says that he's been worried from not hearing from you at all.

"What's been going on for the past week?"

"Hmm.. perhaps I could show you.

Let's head back to your house and I'll show you what I can and explain the rest.. maybe a little bit of both."

You show Jesse the illusion skills you've learned, and he seems to be impressed.  "You clearly have a knack for this sort of thing.  I mean, your aura viewing, and you've made it this far in only a week.

So, I assume that you've been accepted by their gang now?"  He looks hopeful and he gives you his entire attention.

"Sort of.  They said they trust me, and that they will eventually give me some missions.  Now, I'm not entirely sure what they are planning, but if I do some, I might be able to figure out more info which if things go smoothly I could get some valuable information.  Need to trust me a bit here, give me some freedom to do stuff.. but when the time comes I can give ya all that I know and they can be hit hard.  I just need them to start giving me missions.  They said it will probably occur over the next week, maybe later, they are awaiting the results of some group or other returning from some mission out of town.  Or that's what I gathered from what I was told.  Anyway...  what now?"

"Well, I suppose that we can either do some more practice, or you need to get out there and earn more street cred with them...

...Either way, take this with you, just in case."  He hands you a switchblade from his pocket.

"Very nice.."

I take it and put it in my pocket..

"Personally though.. I prefer this..."

I create an image of my dagger that I kept behind my bed..which is probably still there.

"Great for stabbing, and very sharp..good in tight places.. although not nearly as easy to conceal as this.. so it'll do."

"So, street cred...eh?  Haven't used that term in a while.  Well I'll see what I can do.  I'm trying to become a bit familiar with stuff around here.. but I'm directionally challenged, so I need a map or a gps to really get around to places..  is there like a central street that has like everything on it? Convenience stores,    fast food, banks, etc. that type of stuff?"

"Well, yeah, but they're generally busy during the day."

He marks three major streets on your map that you should check out for such things: Gringold Road, Bernadette, and Harris Crossing.  Harris Crossing connects the other two roads to one another, and both intersections have competing malls and other prostigeous buildings at them.

"Hmm.. well.  Might I try something?  You know I can do illusions of course.  But, could you try to believe that they are real?  I would like to see a few things.  Also, might I try something to that tree over there?"

"I doubt they would hurt you after all, they are illusions.. but do what you can to believe that they are real."

I first head over to the tree..  I materialize a katana in my hands.. Simulate its weight, give it's blade steel, with a nice razor sharp edge.  Then I create a flame covering the blade, creating the sensation of heat if possible, really hot area, it smells like the blade is melting due to the intense heat, then I take it, wind up like a baseball bat and slice through the base of the tree with the sword.

You slash your flaming sword through the tree, and it passes straight through, not damaging it at all.

It turns out, at least in the case of a tree, the sword is only a mere illusion.

"See Jesse.. nothing to worry about."

I move over to Jesse.

"Hold your arm out.. believe that this sword is real.. smell the melting steel and believe in your mind that this is truly a blade that I am holding."

As I say this I alter the illusion to show the edge of the blade start to serrate from pieces of metal melting due to the extreme temperature of the fire.

I take the blade and slash it through is arm.  Then I create another illusion of his arm filling to the ground.

No blood, cus the fire stops the bleeding and closes the wound, and its a clean cut..
This message was last edited by the player at 02:02, Wed 07 May 2008.

Jesse's eyes widen when he sees this all happening in front of him.  Still, he doesn't fall to the ground in pain or anything.  He moves himself out of the area when his arm falls to the ground, and shakes his arm.  It's still attached and undamaged.

"That was pretty frightening, Jeff.  If it weren't for the fact that I couldn't feel it, I might have very well believed it."

"Yeah.. Touch is a bit hard to do.  But, I'll be working on it.. and it might give me an edge with all this business."

I looked around breath in the air a bit..  take a few deep breaths then look back towards him.

"I think I'm going to need to check out that street.  Before I head back of course..  Would it take too long to walk there?  Or might I com--  I wonder.. do you think I could create a car and drive it around?  If I believe it is real, and make it just like my own back home...hmm  possible.. don't you think?  I might need to commandeer a car though.. to get around."

"No, I don't think illusion works like that.  I think it can kill a human like that, but I don't know if you could use it to travel."  When you mention stealing cars, Jesse says, "I don't want to be involved in that.  I don't know how to steal a car or anything like that-but maybe you could steal someone's car on the street or something.  Do you want a ride to that road?"

"I said nothing about stealing a car.  I was going to say commandeer.  There is a difference.  Stealing is taking without permission.  When you commandeer, you take it over for a length of time.  Similar to how a president might commandeer a general's troops because the general was failing in his duty.  The president took them over for a length of time.  A ride would be nice though."

He gives you a ride to the mall at the corner of Harris Crossing and Bernadette.  The roads have the regular places on them-department stores, strip malls, restraunts, fast food places, and other stores.

He leaves you in front of the equivalent of a SEARS and drives off.

I walk around and aim for a store of sorts that isn't overly populated.. preferably one with no customers.  If I find such a place I head over to the counter..

If I can't then I find the mall, head to the food court, and watch people.  I just people watch, and see what goes on.

You manage to find only one small place that isn't packed with cars during this time of the day.  It's called the Silver Purse, and it's just a small convenience store that looks like it's on its way into the gutter.

At the counter, with no customers, a young man in a short-sleeved collared shirt and kakhis is reading the latest edition of some magazine called Penelope.  He looks up at you, and asks what you might want, and says that you'll need proof that you're at least 21 to buy cigarettes.

"Do you even care if I was 21 or not?  Looks like this place has seen better days.  So..."

The word 'So' trails off as I think of what to say.

"...this...wh--...any reason that there aren't any customers here?  Besides the fact this place looks like it hasn't passed go in a while and is on its way down the drain?"

He proceeds to name off all the problems with the store.  It's too 'old-school' for a lot of the youth, and they've gotten robbed pretty frequently in the past month, not that it's been a concern to the business-there wasn't any money to steal.

The place is so poor, because of all of the bigger, better stores around the area.  They're just no competition to the two huge malls.

"Very well then.  I'll be going.. oh...and I'd be careful in the next day or two if I were you.  I felt a disturbance in the force."

I leave and head to the food court of a mall to people watch and see how things go.

This mall's food court, and everything else you see, is very large in comparison to the local ones you've been in before now.

Inside the food court, there are tons of tables to sit down at, still with appropriate space between them for comfort.  They have a number of different fast food joints inside.  Some you recognize, while some you don't.  The food court is connected to a main hallway in the mall, and there are some booths in the middle of that large hall that sell random things.

One sells shirts, another sells picture frames, and one sells jewelry.

I go over to a table and people watch.

There are a lot of people.  A lot stand in line at the various fast food places and sit down to eat with their food.

Others just go through the main hallway and keep walking.  Still others go in, look at menus, and decide not to eat at the food court.

hmm.. maybe I should have some fun..  Sure I think about this type of thing when I'm bored in Calc or Physics.. but what if I could create an illusion of it happening.. man that'd rock.  Now let's see..  Fire..oh yeah, that house down the street...  smoke... see plenty of that after burning those books that time.. choas?  Meh, I've dealt with high school fires... no biggy...and after almost getting killed...twice now that I think of it...back 5 or 6 years ago.. this should be fine.. now where was I..  oh yes...oven would work..  its believable.. and if it clears this place out, I can get some cash and make an escape.  If not.. well I can wait to closing time, disguise myself as a trashcan or something and go from there..

I quietly say the trigger word, and create the illusion of smoke.  Very dense smoke.  First it starts off with the smell, then along the ceiling I create black smoke similar to how a fire makes smoke.  Then after this goes on, I recall a memory of seeing a house being burned, and recall the sound it made when it collapsed inwards on itself.  I create sounds similar to that and create a fire over by the kitchen area of a fast food restaurant's that deals with an oven or something of the sort.

There's some place that looks like an Arby's in there, and it's the perfect location to start your smoke.  You do so, and it's rather convincing to everyone around.

People scream, shout, and head for the exits of the building.  You hear a fire alarm go off, and everyone else leaves as well.  Even the cashiers of the fast food registers are gone.  All that's left is you in the food court, and a fat security guard who was slow on the uptake making his way to the exit still, as fast as he can.

He leaves in a few more moments, and the place is yours to do what you will with it.

I go over and take cash out of the register after quickly making sure no one is left.  Then I proceed to all the other registers in the food court and should I hear people coming, I crouch down near some tables and create an illusion so that I look and feel like a garbage can.

If I finish before people start showing up I head to for an exit, taking my time, while after making my clothes appear to be very sophisticated and expensive.

Out of the fifteen registers in the room, you're only able to get ten of them open.

After you've opened all of them, you find that you have $825.  You're on another register at some sort of fast food chicken place.  You're confident that with a little work, you'll be able to get it open; however, you're starting to get a headache from keeping up the illusion.  Also, you hear sirens approaching.

I dispel the illusion and make my way for an exit. I head for the top floor looking for escalators that lead up to an exit on the roof or something of the sort, instead of ground floor exits.

If people come I make myself look like a garbage can.  Avoiding any illusion use until then giving myself a break.

You manage to find the second floor of the building, but you can't find a roof access point.  You hear confusion outside of the building, and then you catch sounds of more sirens approaching, this time police sirens instead of a fire eingine.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:25, Fri 23 May 2008.

I make my way for an exit carefully, listening to the sounds and searching for another exit that doesn't have police or firefighters around it.

You run around stealthily for a couple of minutes, checking exits and evading foreboding footsteps.

Finally, you manage to find an exit that doesn't look like anyone's outside of.  You move slowly still, in case someone might be there.

"Freeze!"  Someone shouts from your right flank.  You see that there's a car parked a ways down, and there are two officers, hands on their gun holsters.  They're looking right at you.

Very quietly.. "Crap."  Shortly followed by, "Myr aj."

I put my hands up and turn towards the officers.

"Hey officers, is there a problem?  I fell asleep on the toilet and when I woke up no one was around.  What is going on around here?"

I create illusions of myself behind the officers.  Each of them is holding a hand gun and pointing it at the officers.  I focus on keeping the illusion up and quietly.  I move my eyes back and forth between the officers and each of the illusionary copies of myself.

Your illusions take without a hitch.  The two officers raise their hands into the air, and drop their guns to the ground for you.

One of them keeps talking to you about how this is a mistake to kill a police officer, and that your life will be over and such.  In a matter of moments, you have the two against a wall with your illusions holding guns to them.

I walk over and retrieve their guns.

"Ya know.  I agree it is a mistake to kill an officer.  Then again, it is a mistake to tell me, Master Gunnery Sergeant Badfur, Marksman division in the corps to freeze.  So, I'll level with ya a bit.  You made a mistake.. and I can make a mistake if I so choose.  However.  I don't think I will.  So, take your handcuffs and do as I say.

Take your left hand and attach them to the other officer's left hand, then take your right hand, and put it across and over your left hand so that they are attached.  Throw throw your keys towards me, and I'll probably let ya go.  We'll see, so do as I say and we'll go from there."

You now have the their guns in your possession and they obey you every step of the way as they bound themselves as you instruct with their own handcuffs.

They're now at your mercy, and you have a minor migraine from holding the image of the two mirages that are pointing guns at the officers.

"Well, officers..  If ya don't mind me askin, what's your standpoint on aura users?"

I do what I can to ignore the migraine and wait for an answer.

"Well, we're not much for the ones who use them for personal gain.  Otherwise, we just leave you people to your own business."

"Well.  Looks like we agree on something.  I don't really care too much about those types of people.  Although, ya need to know where those types are before you can stop them, right?"

Both cops look at you, glory clouding their judgement.  "We're listening."

"A friend of mine is looking to end those that use their aura for profit, but his brother is among them, and his brother knows that he is against it.  I however am unknown to both sides, so its perfect right?  Only the side a choose will know that I am on their side.  But which side I choose has yet to be decided.  So in order to do things right I need to be at the top of both sides so that I know most of the secrets and my side can be doing well.  I am working on it.  Now, I need information.  I can let ya both go and such, but if I do, I need yall to give me a hand and not try to arrest me.  After all, the ends justify the means...right?  Overall a greater good can be done, after some minor set back and such while on the way over there. The money and such can eventually be returned, but I need to have some cash to learn all that I can about the other side.

So, will you officers agree to work with me, so that a greater good can be done?  Or would ya rather sit here and do nothing while more crimes and such are done."

The two look at one another.  One shakes his head at the prospect of it; however, the other, who seems to be in charge of this partnership, nods a little.  "We're in."  The dominant officer says, "As long as you can help us make a bust.  Call this number when you have a crime to report to us."

He slowly reaches into his back pocket, and pulls out his calling card, handing it backwards to you.

"Think you guys could get me another 1500 dollars?  I need to show that I'm capable, so that I can go up in rank and be in a position where I know everything.  I'll be sure to give you guys a call if I know when something is going to happen?  And if things go well, the money can eventually be returned to where it came."

I go over and retrieve the card.

"Oh.. and if you guys can work with me to get things done and overall help the general public then there shouldn't be any issues and you'll know when a crime is going to happen."

I try to read the auras around me and of the two officers, to see what I can figure out about them...if they are bluffing or not.