The Funeral

Theo listened silently to the speeches being made. Captain's seemed to be more of a rallying cry to war than rememberance of the dead. Finn spoke more of their motivation and inspiration but also seemed to end with a politically motivated purpose.Valkyrie's speech really touched him with it's simplicity and honesty. Ollie spoke in much the same manner as Valkyrie but for him it seemed a more a matter of closure though. Theo could understand that. The guilt Ollie must have been feeling would be immense.
Then Zero arrived in a manner of dress that seemed very disrepectful for the event. And then his outburst which seemed almost an accusation at Captain. The man seemed very confused, being contrary for the sake of being contrary and acting out. Theo could only assume he had known Ghoster well and this was his way of coping.

Captain heads back up to the front, motioning to each who has spoken to help him lower in the caskets. After the caskets are in the ground, Captain grabs the shovel and looks at the mound of dirt.
"My mother, bless her heart; hated this part of the service. I ask those who so desire, to help add a bit of dirt to the grave." He takes the shovel, and throws a shovel full of dirt on top of the grave.
The dirt makes a haunting hollow thud as it strikes the closed casket of Ghoster. It echoes up the walls of grave, leaving an unnatural stillness in the air. Captain and Commander then leave without saying another word.

Falx puts a shovel full of dirt into each hole. After that he steps back and waits for Tug.

Theo isn't sure what conventions dictate this part of the ceremony. Unsure whther he's expected (as a distant relation to Ghoster) to add soil, he chooses not to. It seems something close friends or family members would do.
So Theo left, rolling up the left leg of his pants, and pedaling off.

Orphan holds back from the ritual of shoveling some dirt into the grave. Instead, he waits for an opportunity to talk to Ollie.

Valkyrie was not, strictly speaking religious. She had always thought the people had to many things to worry about here on earth to go around worrying about God and things like that. It was obvious that they had more to worry about than anyone realized.

Valkyrie shouvels dirt into each of the graves, speaking only after she has done that. All she gives the dead is a simple blessing that might not have any Power, but it was meaningful to her.

"If any day is holy, this day is."

"If any ground is consecrate, this ground is."

Then she heads over to Zilker. She's made her decision.

Ollie spreads a bit of dirt, like most of the others. Vowing never to forget these events. These times, and times soon to come, would define him as a mage, and a person. He had enough knowledge of Fate, Time, and the way that the world worked to know that.

He moves back to his spot.

~~Narration~~

A small popping sound is heard, as if someone had stepped on a small lightbulb.

Then a much louder noise, of broken glass and stone, and the creaking noise of metal being twisted.

Captain's car has run off of the gravel path which leads out of the cemetary and struck a small mausoleum.

Another popping noise i heard, followed by a faint tinkle of glass from Captain's car.

What would cause a Guardian to uncloak his nimbus here? Brushing aside the question, Animus scoops dirt onto each grave, reflecting on the sheer variety of life within each each shovelful.

Then he hears the sounds of a car crash. Captain's car. Dropping the shovel, he runs toward it, even though his gut tells him that it is already too late. Tears begin to drip down his cheeks.

Falx watches Zilker with interest. Guardians don't normally do that.

Hearing the pop he falls to a crouch reflexively. Seeing the crashed car he runs over to it.

"Those pops sound like gunshots!" Orphan realizes instantly, and though he can't identify the specific sort of weapon, he suspects the shooter is using a suppressor of some sort.

Realizing quick action is called for, Orphan focuses for a moment on the watch on his left wrist, he attempts to accelerate his personal temporal motion, hopefully without feeling the bite of Paradox.

Spoiler:

Orphan then runs quickly to the Captain's car, hoping looking at the shot pattern will help him figure out where the shots are coming from.

Spoiler:

(OOC - I Forgot to note Nimbus effect. Thanks to road for the reminder.)

As Orphan activates the spell and runs with a burst of, things in his immediate vicinity seem to slow down, the effect making it appear that is Orphan is not just moving quickly, but that the area he moves through is out of sync with regular time.

Valkyrie does not have time to speak to Zilker before Captain's car crashes into the mausoleum. She runs towards the building, hoping that there was something she could do with what little tools she had.

~~Narration~~

Approaching the car, it's fairly obvious that there's nothing to be done. Captain's head is barely attached, his throat and neck having been pulverized by a large caliber round.

Commander is looking out of the other window, motionless. Looking from the other side, it's apparent that he'll be motionless forever, as half of his head is missing. Brain tissue and bone fragments are embedded in the car's headrest.

As Orphan felt himself slow down, he just rolled with it. He doubted the unseen enemy would bother doing that, so that most likely left Zilker, the Guardian, and Orphan knew he'd probably only do that with good reason. He sprinted the rest of the way to the Captain’s car. A quick glance told him there was nothing he could do to help either man, and that it was unlikely they could be helped at all.

Forcing himself to focus on the bullet holes instead of the bogies, Orphan attempted to call upon his knowledge of Space to assist in identifying likely trajectory, and the location of the shooter. Unfortunately, that attempt was not successful.

Spoiler:

So, he instead attempted to figure out the shooter's likely location using only his powers of observation.

Spoiler:

Animus shakes his head sadly, not speaking. With a few muttered Atlantean words, he reaches out to his surroundings, concentrating on the interplay of life throughout the area. He tunes out most sources, trying to get a sense of the sniper.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

As he releases the Imago, Animus feels the taint of the Abyss, completely unexpected. He winces slightly as he draws the paradox into his own pattern.

Valkyrie, once she sees what happened to the two men, crouches down behind the car, looking for where the shots might have come from.

Spoiler:

~~Narration~~

Unfortunately (particularly for him) Finn's assessment is correct. Another pop sounds, and he convulses as if something has struck his back, and then falls to the ground, motionless.

Animus gets a sense of someone in an easterly direction, which is odd, since that would make Captain and Commander's deaths Kennedy-esque, based on the windows that were shot through.

Joshua Morris sees a faint gleam off of a Mausoleum roof, about 45M away, to the east.

Spoiler:

Falx gets next to the car and sees the damage."Fuck..." Hearing the third pop he sees Finn fall to the ground. "This is the last god damned time I go anywhere with out my guns and vest." He looks at the others. "Where is the shooter?" Its obvious to him now what is going on, they are being sniped at. Some bastard is interrupting a funeral. Images flash in his mind.

Spoiler:

He feels the past rush up to him and remind him of all that he saw and did overseas. Pushing those thoughts back down he crouches. "No time for that...need to keep these people alive." He seems distraught but is holding it together. Forcing himself to relax slightly he mentally prepares himself to react to the next shot, snipers would keep going if they thought they could. A small steel knife engraved with Atlantean glyphs is in his right hand.

(Hes preparing himself to use the instant Turn Projectiles rote mudra. He has 11 dice for the rote and burn mana to stop the paradox. If possible he will burn a willpower to make sure the spell goes off. Dox roll should be 2 for gnosis-1 for rote -1 for magical tool (unless you say no West becuase I forgot to write it down) and probably +2 for that sleeper Zilker saw. So either a chance die or 2.)

(Forgot last thing, if the spell works he wants to send the bullet back at the sniper or cause it to go into the ground.)

((forgot his nimbus))

Those near Joshua feel a sudden cold snap, and can see his flesh growing pale and lifeless. Spots of decay can be seen on his skin, and his eyes go fishbelly pale. A white light seems to surround him, just for a moment--then it all fades away.

Valkyrie did some mental math. Unknown shooter + Valkyrie = Valkyrie becoming a head shorter. Valkyrie figured that she already had enough height problems, so she crawled under the crashed car, hoping that there wasn't a fuel leak or anything.

Let the guys that knew what they were doing handle the crazy person.

Animus ducks behind the car, knowing immediately that Finn is beyond help. He scans the area to the east, hoping to spot the sniper that he knows must be there.

Spoiler:

Animus catches sight of the gun barrel just as Joshua calls out the sniper's location.

Falx flicks off the rote mudra subcounsciously. Tiny wisps of mana can be seen stabilizing the Tapestry around him as the abyss tries to fight through.

Spoiler:

He feels the abyss slip through and he absorb it into himself. The blood vessels in his right eye burst from the strain and his nose starts to bleed. He finishes the mudra.

Spoiler:

He wills the bullet to turn 45 degrees down into the ground

Animus concentrates on the barrel of the rifle, coaxing its spirit into turning against it's owner.

Spoiler:

~~Narration~~

The tense silence is unnerving, and no more popping sounds break it. By the time Tug flies over the mausoleum, he only sees a rifle laying on the roof.

Eagle/Tug lets out a shriek of frustration, and begins flying in a circle around the cemetery to locate his quarry.

((anyone running away and looking at anyone he doesn't recognize from the funeral))

Although the trajectory of the shots to the Captain's car had suggested a shooter to the north, others indicated a shooter from the east.

"Space," he mutters. Orphan draws his pistol while crouching low near the front bumper of the Captain's car, realizing at that moment how difficult it can be to take cover from an opponent whose next shot might come from any angle.

He spends time focusing on trying to detect anyone or anything suddenly appearing anywhere in his 360-degree line of sight.

Animus scrabbles up the side of the mausoleum, and attempts to postcog on the rifle to the instant that the second shot was fired. But a crippling surge of paradox ruins the spell.

[spoiler]2009-06-05 16:19:38 Animus rolls 3 to Str+Ath-3 (10 Again, WillPower) 3, 7, 4, 10, 9, 1, 4 2 successes
2009-06-05 16:29:13 Animus rolls 11 to dox+9 (10 Again) 9, 7, 2, 6, 1, 8, 6, 5, 5, 6, 8 3 successes
2009-06-05 16:31:44 Animus rolls 2 to Gno+Tim+HS-8 (WP) (10 Again) 3, 3 failure[/color]

~~Narration~~

Time seems to resume as the seconds of silence stretch into a minute. Animus' spell fails, leaving him on the mausoleum roof with the taste of the Abyss in his mouth. Tug continues to circle the cemetary, but it seems as if the assailant has disappeared. The others, waiting and watching in their various positions of cover, begin to realize that another shot is not forthcoming.

Just another day.

At least there's two empty caskets and graves dug already.

Animus glares at the rifle, almost willing to try again. But caution wins out.

He carefully climbs down the side of the mausoleum, dropping the last few feet before walking over to Zilker. "Do you know of anything that could turn covert spells vulgar? I was just reamed by backlash trying to postcog the rifle."

Orphan holsters his weapon but maintains watchfulness in all directions. Given what had just happened and the likelihood the sniper was skilled in Space, it didn't pay to drop one's vigilance at the moment.

He approaches Tug, who is not only naked, but appears confused. "You okay? C'mon, I'll help you if you need it." While he does this, he tries to determine if anyone still standing was hit or otherwise wounded, specifically looking to see how Val, Falx and Ollie are doing.

"Later," tells Animus, jogging off towards the gardener's shed he had seen the cemetery employee running to. "We have to clean this up," he calls over his shoulder.

~~Narration~~

As Joshua watches, the rifle flickers and shimmers, then seems to disintegrate into nothingness.

((Sorry I was so useless in this thread, everyone. Yesterday was hectic))




Well this is familiar

Ollie had, wisely, taken cover during the shooting. There was not much he could do against a sniper, and he didn't want to wind up like Finn or Captain. After the ruckus has ended he re-emerges from his hiding place and just mills around, trying to figure out what had just happened and to evaluate the damage.



When it becomes obvious they're being shot at Eclipse pulls Mirage down to the ground as Lyle manages to find his way to some cover. The cemetery explodes with activity as the variety of mages in attendance scrambled to find the shooter. He rises from the ground with a medium of grace, even for someone who's just had to hit the dirt, and helps Mirage back to her feet. The shooting was a frightening situation, but he couldn't help but be pleased at the enthusiasm for magic shown by the different brave workers who had sprung into action so readily.

He bids Lyle go bring the car around and wait for them. When he hears Joshua hollering about 'sympathy' Eclipse calls out to him. He doesn't yell, rather it seems as if he's grown skilled at making his voice carry across a distance - a skill attributed to public speaking experience. "I have such talents. Have you found something?"