You can tell a lot about someone by looking around their living quarters. The only true furniture in the room is the bed and desk that were originally supplied.  A large beanbag chair and nearby lamp, for reading, were purchased over the weekend and sit in the corner.  On the desk sits a slightly older model laptop, and a stack of hardrives all anti-static bags - not for the extra storage, but but because hardrives have a tendency to fail around Israel, so he brought extras.  Sensitive data is kept on various cloud services, since he can't cause those to collapse.

On the wall are three posters, one of Star Wars: Special Edition from 1996 (with the text in Hebrew), an American imported Raiders of the Lost Ark poster, and a third displaying the logo of Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball.

A simple bookshelf contains both fiction (in English and Hebrew) and copies of Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible, basically the Old Testament), Talmud (Rabbinical teachings), some Apocrypha, and various Midrash (Commentaries on Tanakh and Talmud).

Israel doesn't have to worry about a drive, since he's already there, so he heads to the Cafeteria to get some breakfast.  He looks for someone he knows, particularly Rebekah or Ariel. Both breakfast and the remainder of his free morning is spent socializing.  If he's gonna be working with these people, he needs to get to know them.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:07, Mon 18 June 2012.

Jacob starts his day off like pretty much any other day since basic, reveille at 0400, he stretches for a bit, cranks out about 50 pushups, and goes for a 10 mile run.  He returns home, cranks out 25 pullups and 50 situps, stretches again and hits the shower (cold).  He then sits down to read a chapter of Proverbs and a chapter from Luke, pray, and study the Scottish culture before squaring away his suit and driving his motorcycle up to the compound at about 0700.  He heads to the cafeteria and eats a big breakfast, after all, when you're packing 250 pounds of muscle mass you require a lot of fuel.  After that, I'm going to head to my office or wherever it is that I'm supposed to meet the rest of the taskforce.

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 3):

Israel arrives in the cafeteria and sits with Ariel, who is saving him a seat.

So Rebekah left last night for Ghana?  Too bad, I like having her around most of the time.  She isn't too great of a help on selecting fashionable dresses for the Scottish summer though.

Oh hey!  That's Jacob coming in, your new partner!  I had a few drinks with him and some of the others around here, he seems nice, preoccupied,but he made an effort to be sociable when I could tell he didn't feel sociable, and that's counts in favor of a man.

Ariel proceeds to wave to Jacob and invite him over.

I head on over to sit with Ariel and the other guy, set my tray down, and drape my sport coat over the back of my chair before I sit down.

Mornin' Ariel.  I assume you must be Israel?  I look forward to workin' with you.

I assault my breakfast with precision and efficiency, quickly mopping up any pockets of resistance, politely pausing to add to the conversation when appropriate.

Well, it's better than Krystal's idea of breakfast, I suppose.  Fruit and yogurt?  How's a man supposed to defend his country on that?

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 5):

Ariel: Well, it is good to see a man with a good appetite.  After all, one never knows what is coming, or when the next meal will be in this job.

If we leave soon, we can all be in the basement before Sergei makes it in, which should impress him some.                                                                                                                                                               

Israel greets Ariel with his standard smile.  "Yeah, I dropped her off at the airport last night, leaving me the lone Israelite.  I'm now but a wandering Jew without a people." He winks at her. "You'll just have to keep me on the straight and narrow."

After Jacob arrives
Israel looks over to the newcomer. Apparently, I've been paired with a tank , he thinks to himself. Israel offers his hand, "Shalom, Yakcov. I am indeed, Israel. A pleasure to meet you."

After Ariel's comments
"I suppose we must eat quickly then, don't want to disappoint the new boss."

I accept the Israeli's hand and try not to crush it.

My face reddens a bit at Ariel's comment.

I suppose old habits die hard.  At Parris Island, we were supposed to get 20 minutes for our meals, but when you've got that many recruits cyclin' through the mess hall, well, we usually ended up with about 5 minutes.  Of course, it wasn't a bad habit to have in Iran, there were a few times when we were lucky to get 5 minutes to wolf down a Meal Rejected by Ethiopians.

I stand up and offer some gum with a grin on our way out of the cafeteria.

Perception is reality, ain't gonna do us no good to meet the boss with bacon breath, right?

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 8):

Ariel replies Or blood sausage breathe.  I honestly don't know how Felix does it at this time of morning.

"Don't think you have to worry about the Jew with bacon breath.  My mother would faint with horror.  And I have no idea what a blood sausage is, but that sounds less kosher than anything I've seen since I've been in this country." Israel finishes the last of his coffee, sets the cup down, and gets up to walk to the office. "So, what's this Sergei like anyway?  I haven't run into him since I've been here."

Well, I've only met him a couple times.  I'm not sure how much I'm at liberty to say right now, but the last time I saw him was Saturday when he walked by my house wearing hip boots and carrying a stringer of fish.  I figure any man that's comfortable in hip boots is a pretty decent guy.

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 11):

I read his file once.  I keep the paperwork in order, I get to read everyone's paperwork.  Only Sergei's isn't so much a case of reading as admiring the shapes made by the redaction marker.

From what I can tell he was feared and hated by several sides during the Cold War, including Russia.  I think he may have been KGB, but can't find proof. I do know they tried to kill him on more than 1 occasion.

At some point he turned his attention to the supernatural, and Interpol made him official, but I don't know the details.  I do know he picked up fishing in the last couple of years to relieve stress and have a hobby that doesn't involve dead bodies.

"There is something both humorous and terrifying at the thought of an ex-KGB spook calmly sitting there fishing.  You'd half expect him to raise his pole and see a screaming captive agent on the other end being repeatedly dunked in the water as part of an interrogation." Israel does his best interpretation of a Russian accent, "Come now Comrade, are you ready to talk, or must I return you to the sharks again?"

"We had an ex-KGB agent give a lecture on various...techniques at Mossad once." Isreal shudders, "That old Soviet could have given Darth Vader the creeps."

They're regular people just like the rest of us, they put their pants on one leg at a time just like you or me.  Don't let nobody intimidate you, the way I see it, nobody has any more power over you than what you give 'em.  'Course, they're a whole lot easier to deal with if you don't give 'em the power in the first place than it is tryin' to take it back from 'em.  But what do I know, I'm just a big, dumb jarhead...

Israel looks confused. "I don't understand...what about your head looks like a jar?"

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 14):

Ariel <Rose> I went fishing with him once.  We spent 30 minutes before catching the first one, he took it, alked a little away, spoke to it, then proceeded to catch his limit in a few minutes.  Said the first one told him where the rest were in exchange for being released.  How did you get information from a fish?

Ah have ways of mehking it tahlk.

He says fishing lets him concentrate while staying alert, or something like thst.

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 14):

Ariel I went fishing with him once.  We spent 30 minutes before catching the first one, he took it, alked a little away, spoke to it, then proceeded to catch his limit in a few minutes.  Said the first one told him where the rest were in exchange for being released.  How did you get information from a fish?

Ah have ways of mehking it tahlk.

He says fishing lets him concentrate while staying alert, or something like that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:07, Fri 22 June 2012.

I chuckle a little at Israel and Ariel:

"Jarhead's" a slang term for marines in the US.  Some smartass thought that the regulation "high and tight" haircut made it look like our heads were screwed on, like the lid on a jar, so "jarhead" stuck.  The brass tends to take offense at it, but the grunts like me wear it like a badge of honor.  Of course, I prefer "devil dog" or "leatherneck," but that's just me.

So, Ariel, what you're sayin' is that if I want to catch anything, I don't need to go fishin' with Sergei?

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 18):

I'm sure if you have the proper paperwork, signed by administrative members with sufficiently high clearance levels in triplicate, he'd divulge some of the locations of the rebel aquatics Ariel giggles.

He's big on procedure, even if it is how to break it properly.

As Ariel is finishing her sentence, Sergei enters the room from the primary entrance, the one from inside the compound rather then the door that leads to the yard outside.

Sergei Mikhailov is a bear of a man, making you wonder for a moment how he could pass for anything but a Russian operative.  Well over 6', pushing 300-350lbs, Sergei squirm in his new suit a moment, shakes hands and makes introductions, then invites Israel and Jacob into his large glass office.

His voice is deep and gravely.  It is hard to pinpoint his age, but you are guessing upper 50s or lower 60s.  At last this day has come!  It is nice to not have all the responsibility anymore, though I am already missing the field work.  Shut the door please.  Gentlemen, let's begin with questions: is there anything you have not been told you have wanted to ask about?

Jacob thinks silently for a few seconds before he speaks:

Well, sir, first I'd like to say thanks for gettin' me out of Bossier, I didn't have much in the way of career prospects left after the incident.  That bein' said, what exactly is our mission here, sir?  I'm not all that clear on it, how do I go from bein' a beat cop in Louisiana to bein' on an Interpol taskforce?  I really think I'm out of my depth here, sir.

In reply to Jacob Williams (msg # 20):

Out of your depth?  So was I, with the fall of Communist Russia, alone in the woods being hunted by a pack of what I now know to be Red Court vampires.  Out of my depth, but I killed 3 with my bare hands, and a 4 with sharpened limb.  I can't take credit for the fifth, he jumped himself head first into a wood chipper.

Everyone here was chosen for a specific reason.  There was no random determination.  I believe you bring important skills to this team, especially once you get your mind into the job.  I have high hopes for you Williams.  Come see me if you need to talk.

Levy, it should be a bit more obvious why you are here.  A new wizarding talent unclaimed by other organizations who admit your kind's existence without automatically trying to kill you.  Not to mention Mossad training, which should make you just the man we've been looking for here.

Sir, that's exactly what I mean.  Wizards?  Vampires?  I've been to some strange places and seen some crazy ass things, but wizards and vampires?  With all due respect, it sounds like that weird Dungeons and Dragons crap my kid sister plays, sir.


<OOC>Fourth wall is officially broken.</OOC>
This message was last edited by the player at 05:56, Fri 22 June 2012.

"Don't believe in wizards, huh?" Israel chuckles, then mutters under his breath "fiat lux" (Let there be light).

Simple light spell. Using 2 conviction (well under my limit). Rolled 2 + Discipline 3 = 5

Israel begins to glow with light, not blinding, but enough one may want to look away.

Israel does his best imitation of Laurence Fishburne  "Welcome, to the real world."

He dismisses the light show and turns to Sergei. "Yes, sir, I know exactly why I'm here.  I've no illusions about my purpose. They drill those out of us in spook training. I am a loaded gun.  Someone is going to point me at their enemies, whether I like or not.  May as well be the good guys." The is a brief pause before he adds (as if he had already forgotten), "And I may have pissed off a self proclaimed deity, so I'm probably gonna need some powerful friends."

In reply to Israel Levy (msg # 23):

Gentlemen, you are both here because, though the world does not know it, it is in danger, and needs protecting.  The supernatural is very real, and very dangerous.  Sometimes, what you don't know can kill you.

We will put ourselves on the line between the light and the darkness.  You will find yourselves fighting ancient evils, creatures you believed existed only in story and myth, and you will win.  You were selected, this team built, because I believe the individual members have what it takes to be successful.

Parris Island prepared me to eat my own guts and demand seconds.  Feed me intel and I will crap results with extreme prejudice.  Just put a rifle in my hands and enjoy the show.

Maybe Krystal's right, I am an adrenaline junkie.  Danger attracts me and I go all "gung-ho this" and "oo-rah that."  No wonder everybody says us leathernecks are insane.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Sat 23 June 2012.

Israel slightly raises and eyebrow to Jacob's response.  Then replies, "Uh...basically what he said, but with less gastrointestinal analogies."