Emerald City, Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008  6:00 AM
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A new morning dawned. Alex and Jiro awoke after a long day and even longer night. They had spent a great deal of time with Chen Ming, learning about the city and about the Vampires that were plaguing it. Time was spent in practice as well, Alex and Jiro working one on one to learn something about each other and themselves.

Given the events of the previous day, it had been decided not to press their luck and aggressively look for the undead that night. The plan for this morning was more practice, and then a hunt for information. If anything useful was discovered, then they could see what they could do about the vampires.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:19, Sun 13 Mar 2011.

Alex awoke first, and hopped in the shower first. The morning ritual done, she waited for Jiro to complete his own preparations.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:20, Sun 13 Mar 2011.

Jiro took his time in the shower, lost in thought. I must be completely cracked in the head. I just agreed to go hunt down and in all likelyhood stamp out a vampire's nest. There's also a crazy girl in town who wants me, my father, and grandfather dead. I have a suspicion she'll try again.

He sighed. And to top it off, I'm doing this at the behest of a Triad sorcerer who may or may not try to kill me when this is all over.

Finally, as the water hit that point that generally heralded the hot water heater about to give up for a while, he killed the water and dried off. Dressed, he walked into the main section of the hotel room. "I have given this some thought, Alex-san. First, while I appreciate your offer last night... of the two of us, I suspect your own need is greater. I have lived with this curse for some time, and ultimately it is temporary. Your... condition... does not seem to be. If we are offered a genuine cure by Dragoneye, I would be more than happy to let you take it. I can be patient a while longer."

He gives her a moment to respond, then continues. "I would like to take some time today to train and meditate. Bluntly, I have my doubts of Dragoneye's sincerity. While I have no love for creatures of the night, I am also not sure I want to play Slayer and go a-diving into one of their dens." A pause. "Kamis. You have infected me," he says with a wry grin. "In any event, after some time in training, I am sure we could begin to seek informaiton, to learn more of what these vampires have done, and from there, perhaps learn of where they lair."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:20, Sun 13 Mar 2011.

While Jiro was in the shower, Alex had been sitting crossed legged on the couch setting up her new laptop. Liberated drug money was tremendously useful to have around.



Alex looks up from computer and gives Jiro a look. "Man, you've been hunting for this for who knows how long. I've had to deal with this for a day. Besides, my problem seems like it might be a bit more complicated. At least I really hope that dimensional travel isn't trivial here for example. A world where it is scares me. Not to mention the fact that I don't think that what would cure you would cure me. I don't know anything about real magic, and seriously saying 'real magic' is kinda freaking, but all the stories and legends I've read suggest that. Since Dragoneye more or less knows what happened to you, he's got a better chance of doing something about it."

She pauses. "I'm also not sure I even want this whole thing to be cured. Being a girl isn't my idea of a good time, and I would love to go back home but... I think I like having super powers. Scratch that. I KNOW I like having super powers. I'm faster, stronger, and healthier then I ever have been. I've got coordination like I never thought possible. I've always dreamed of being able to make a difference, to help people in a very direct way. I... There are no such thing as super powers where I come from. Everything I can do now is impossible. You can only do things like it with good CGI."

Alex closes her eyes and leans back on the couch. "Back home I'm a nothing. Just a guy stuck in a dead end job, coding crap for the Ministry of Health in a programming language older then I am. I've got a little family who will be torn up by me disappearing but other then that... I don't really have all that much calling me home. I don't wish a seconds pain on any of them but... don't sacrifice your cure for me."

Tears leak out of her eyes.

"You do me great honor, Alex-san."

"You are right, that I have searched for some time, and that our situations are not equivalent. You are right that even if Dragoneye is able to cure me, he may not be able to cure you. And-" his lips quirked into a smile, "Being superhuman is indeed a great deal of fun, and helping people is rewarding."

"But, when you say your old life is nothing; when you say you are worthless... that I cannot believe. Alex-san, you are a great man, one with a willpower and drive I see far too seldom in this world. Far too many, when handed power on a silver plate, take the easy way out and turn to evil. You have counted coup on the one who attacked you, but I cannot fault you for that. I have done similar in the past. You have, as you say a job working to keep hospitals running. You have skills from that job I could not dream of having - computers are as arcane to me as magic is to you. You say you want to help people, you were doing so before, and in a scale far greater than most superheroes manage, at the Ministry of Health. I have not known you long, Alex-san, but you are a remarkable man, one who I think will likely be missed. Your old life is not something to be thrown aside so easily, not something to hate or consider valueless."

"As for myself, I have done very little for you since we have met. Seeing what I have of your abilities, I have no doubt you would have overcome those thugs we defeated that first night. Since then, I have put you in great danger; in part by ignorance and in part by my own past haunting me. It would be dishonorable of me to demand anything of you."

A deep breath. "And all this assumes Dragoneye is able to come up with a cure in the first place, and that we survive the process of finding the vampire's lairs. We have much to do before we reach our promised reward. I ask only that you do not throw away your own chances for my sake just yet. Let us both think on this, and accomplish our goals. We can.. what is the phrase... cross that bridge when we get there."

"I think you've misread me something awful, but I don't feel like arguing about it. Let's just say that twenty plus people a year graduate from my program who can do the the job just as well as I can... For the rest... I don't think you understand how damn important you've been for keeping me sane. Without someone who knows what's what with all this weird drek that's been flying around, who can look at me and say 'no, you're not completely crazy. the world really does work this way'... I don't think I'd have made it through the first night much less any longer. So don't sell yourself short. I pretty much knew what I was getting myself into when I went with you to Chinatown. I've watched enough movies."

Alex takes a very deep breath. "So, what's the plan for today?"



"Doubts about the sinister mastermind? Who would have thunk it? His betrayal of us would be inconceivable!" Alex retorts, in a clear attempt to get back into better humour.

Then she freezes. "Wait... Slayer..." She gets a look of concentration on her face. "Something rang a bell there, but I can't place it. Never mind. Anyway, I think some less stressful lessons in what we can each do would be awesome."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:02, Tue 15 Mar 2011.

"I would suggest we head for one of Emerald City's parks and find a quiet, out of the way area to spar. Hopefully, we should avoid too much attention that way. After lunch, we can start hunting information. Time to search, as well as reach a place of safety before dark."  A wry grin. "I have fought enough Vampires that they do not exactly terrify me, but I would much rather fight them on my own terms, than theirs."

Leaning back, he gets a thoughtful expression. "Depending on the type, they may be weaker durring the day. Burning their lair down around them while they sleep has some appeal."

[OOC: 18:00, Today: Jiro Koji rolled 12 using 1d20+8. Knowledge: arcana re vamps. Probably not enough to tell me if we can safely pull the Bolshevik Muppet routine on them, but it's a start.]

"Always does, but it just isn't practical. The powerful ones will survive, and their blood dolls will die in the flames. I'm not making that mistake again." Alex said, her voice somber. "But finding the lairs they use is an excellent idea. I'll need just a couple minutes to finish up with my computer then we can get going. Daylight's burning."

Jiro nodded, then did a double take. "Wait, blood dolls? 'not making that mistake again?" He gave his companion a strange look. "Alex-san, are you just messing with me, or something?"

Oh Kamis, if this... whatever it is that takes over when Alex is fighting, is talking now... I hope it's friendly.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:09, Tue 15 Mar 2011.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Kuso. Jiro felt crawling horror begin to dawn, and knew he was going slightly pale. "I suggested burning down the vampire's lairs durring the day if possible, and you replied, and I quote, 'It's not practical; the strong ones will survive, and it'll kill all their blood dolls. I am not making that mistake again.'"

Alex looks spooked. "I... I did, didn't I? That's not good! How the hell did I know that? It doesn't feel like something I saw in a movie or something. It feels real, like something I learned and learned well. What the frack is going on?"

Okay. REALLY spooked.

Jiro exhaled slowly, collecting himself. "I wondered if something like this might have happened." He paused, taking a moment to choose his words carefully. "Alex-san, do you remember yesterday, at the gym, when I suggested we spar so that you could master your abilities, rather than be mastered by them?" A pause while he waited for a nod.

After getting it, he took a breath, and continued. "There have been... oddities, I suppose, in the way you speak and act, especially right after a fight, that seemed out of place to me, which is why I suggested it in the first place. You seem to know, almost as well as I, who have trained since I could walk, how to use your abilities. I suspect, now, that you were gifted some knowledge along with your powers."

Mind racing, he hastened to add, "This is not a bad thing! You are still Alex, this has not made you into some other person. Simply... added something." At least two somethings, and swapped one something for another, but I'm biting down on that thought right good; because I somehow doubt off-colour humor will help matters. "We can, I think, learn the root of this; harness it. I have read of things like this happening; in cases of reincarnation," Possession, but that's a can of worms I don't care to open just yet, "Ancestral memories... even something like a mind-reading accident. I.. we would have to look into it some more, do a little research, but this is not something you cannot master."

"And do not think I would abandon you because of something like this. You have fought beside me and proved a valuable and honorable companion, and I will stand beside you, Alex-san."

[OOC:21:18, Today: Jiro Koji rolled 28 using 1d20+8. Arcane lore for gifted knowledge/memories.]

Alex takes a series of deep breaths. "Ok. I can deal with this. My body has been altered so as to be completely unrecognizable, I guess it makes sense that my brain has been played around with. I just need to figure out what all has been changed."

She takes another deep breath and looks thoughtful. "Of course without an uncontaminated baseline, I don't know how the hell I'll be able to reliably figure out what all is screwy up top. I didn't think ANYTHING was wrong, but now that you point it out, I can see more then a couple places where I acted... wrong. Or at least wrong for me. Screaming in panic while covering your eyes and wishing the monsters would go away isn't exactly the 'right' response to an attack by the walking dead."

"I think all I can do is start a journal recording what's going on. Encrypt the hell out of it, but write it. We can review it when we get some downtime and try to figure out what doesn't seem right for a programming geek who's never been in a real fight in his life. If you could also make notes, mental or otherwise, about things that seem off that would probably help."

"This sounds reasonable to me, Alex-san. I would also suggest meditation. And above all else," He paused and put a hand on her shoulder. "Remember that you are not alone. A good friend is a most blessed thing to have in times of trouble; of this I speak from experience."

Jiro stood. "For now, let us break our fast, and then, perhaps, find a place to spar. I picked the food yesterday; your turn."

Alex places her free hand on Jiro's shoulder in response and gives a firm squeeze. It's not quite hard enough to be painful, but it's close. Judging by how casually she appears to have done it, Jiro is pretty sure she just massively underestimated her strength. "Partners then. Let's hit the road."

Alex finds a place that serves fried eggs, breakfast sausages, tea biscuits, and killer pancakes. She orders all that, in quantity, and seems to have no trouble polishing it off.

After breakfast, the pair find that the city has a number of large parks. One in particular seems promising. Very few people, and a few isolated clearings for practicing in.

Jiro felt very, very full. Have more pancakes, you thought. They're like okonomiyaki, but less filling, you thought. You're an idiot.

As they walked to a quiet corner of the park, Jiro tried to let his stomach settle. He was more or less fine when they reached a good spot. "This should do for our purposes. I suggest we start with light sparring, and work up from there."  He settled into a defensive stance, and prepared to begin.