Rein Initiative
Posts 54
Power Level 30
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Post by Seraphim on Oct 6, 2016 12:59:54 GMT -7
There was a change of plans, and Seraphim was in a remote region of south east Asia when it happened. There were obvious downsides to being in such regions, among them being that it was difficult to find transportation across the Pacific on such short notice. Rein managed to find it, but it wasn't going to be a comfortable ride. The plane was a modified old fighter plan that wasn't really meant for passengers, and was probably about as old as she was. The only reason she wasn't terrified of the prospect of flying in that death trap was because she was already borderline incapable of feeling fear anymore.
The plane was loud and sounded like it was going to fall apart at any moment. Despite that, given how few people lived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the entire trip felt almost eerily silent to her. The whirring of the engine, the clunking of the metal, the pilot's attempts to reassure her that everything was perfectly fine despite his mind say otherwise, it was all very quiet compared to the roar of the thoughts of thousands that she was used to hearing. It felt weird, though Seraphim couldn't quite place the feeling. For the time being she was content to look at the view and contemplate why she was going to be moved to Emerald City, a city with quite a large number of supers compared to the rest of the world if she wasn't mistaken. She found it difficult to think in such quiet, but it was going to be a long trip. She would have time.
Seraphim had been suspicious about Rein's actions before she even joined them. At first, it was because she knew what they were thinking and what they would do, now it was because she couldn't. They didn't find a way to stop her power, they were just very careful with where they put her, and who they let get with in her power's range. The amount of lower ranked, and often outright clueless people, she talked to wasn't a coincidence that much she was certain of. Plus, she was pretty sure that a few of the missions she was sent on in the last decade were meant to be suicide missions. Being transferred to a city where the biggest threats she'd be dealing with most of the time were still human. There would likely be some dragons because of the concentration of supers, but she doubted she'd be fighting them as frequently as she was used to. The situation must be dire if they were sending someone like her to the city; she wasn't known for subtly or gentleness.
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Seraphim was dropped off at the edge of Evergreen Hollow in a clearing likely made for this purpose. Once she was off, the plane took off once more to get to its next location, somewhere in southern Texas apparently. The pilot didn't know much more than that. It was about a 30 minute walk to get to the FOB and check up on things. She doubted she was the first one here just because of how far she had to travel to get here. It wasn't until she got here that she had a full understanding of the situation. All of this was apparently caused by a young super interrupting the mayor's speech and causing a fight, and then another one kicking the mayor in the shins. Somehow, she doubted that was the whole story. If that was enough to be the tipping point there must have been a lot going on in the city before then. It was time to do some scouting. She left a note on the table that simply stated:
Scouting. Be back at 22:00 - The Seraphim
Even from here she could hear the voices of thousands, but she needed to hear all of them. Most importantly, she needed to find the two mentioned as the cause as well as the other prominent supers in the city. A lot of them seemed to be gathered around the docks, so that seemed like the most important area to listen to first. She only had to walk to the edge of the city itself to hear most all of it, save for most of Malachite Isle and some of the other small islands off the coast. She could look through those areas later. Seraphim found a comfortable spot in one of the smaller trees at the edge of the city and started taking in all the information she could. The direct thoughts of the supers weren't enough, she also searched through the minds of the civilians by the hundreds to get their opinions and feelings. It wouldn't take too long for her to at least have a thorough picture of the current state of the city.
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
Power Level 31
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Post by Solomon on Oct 8, 2016 22:23:04 GMT -7
Solomon’s morning had been one entirely devoted to research and breakfast, and his afternoon to a slightly adjusted same. It was appearing as though this was to be a pretty standard day in Emerald City, at least until he could more regularly engage with threatening supers, and it was a pleasant enough schedule, he supposed. Certainly a lot of walking. He’d been slowly replenishing his power supply since arriving here, but too many expenditures of teleportation spells were expensive and he needed to grow his stock, not maintain a bare minimum. In teleporting to the FOB and realizing the walk it may be home, he was considering investing in a bike. Something to consider (and hopefully avoid) once he got a better gauge of how much energy he was going to be working with.
He had seen and taken note of the short message left in the FOB, and absently concluded that their leader had good taste in action, seeing as he was taking a short break from the same. Even if this might come off as distant to most, as this was her arrival in the city and she, their esteemed leader, was essentially introducing herself to those at the base by a ‘I’ll be back later’ note. Granted, there were only a handful of people haunting the place, who weren’t necessarily going to be by there anyway. He thought to make sure he was back around the time she was.
Today’s findings recorded, Solomon departed from the base to explore the surrounding area. He’d yet to fully do so, and while he was sure maps existed, they would not show the best routes to enter the base quietly, or the best places to overlook the city. He slowly traversed his way down towards the city, occasionally crossing onto trails, and occasionally getting pseudo-lost (and having to reorient himself with a spell because you couldn’t buy signal out here if you waved money in front of a cell servicer’s face). He didn’t much fear running into anyone else here, in part because there was no one else here, and because he could simply pull up the hood of the old sweatshirt he’d been going about his day in, give a friendly wave and perhaps a ‘hello, the lake is a few miles ahead still’, and part ways without suspicion.
It by happy chance and near the point he was considering turning around that he happened across one of the first people he’d seen about here today. Who, as it were, both matched the description he’d been given of Seraphim, and was situated in a tree. It seemed he may have saved himself himself a walk back to the base. Solomon decided to approach.
“Good evening, Seraphim.” He greeted, coming to situate himself at a stand at the bottom of the tree and his shoulder bag on the ground beside him. He set his gaze over the city, not far beyond. “I suppose I should thank my luck for having run into you here in stead of having to return to the base to meet you.” Crossing his arms, he cast a glance up at her in fear of and in hopes to catch a ‘please don’t bother me’ reaction. Though, rumor held she was a little hard to read, and he wasn’t expecting to get much. In the same casual tone, he continued, “What are your thoughts on the city?”
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Rein Initiative
Posts 54
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Post by Seraphim on Oct 23, 2016 18:46:16 GMT -7
Because of her power, Seraphim didn't have to worry about being out of the loop. If anyone in the FOB thought about something important, she would know of it. If they were there, it was likely they'd be thinking about important topics if such a topic existed, and if they weren't, it was a sign that nothing much was going on. Her expectations did not betray her. A voice appeared there suggesting that someone was doing the same thing she was (albeit, probably getting different information than her), and seemed to be interested in taking to her at least. It was useful to note, and likely to happen later, but it wasn't something she expected to be able to act on quickly. At least, until he walked into the forest.
He was lost, that much was obvious. His wandering wouldn't take him anywhere near her, but that was easily fixed. His voice wouldn't give her his exact position, but the general direction was more than enough to give her some idea of where to go. Quietly, she descended from the tree she was in and made her way to a different one. By her estimates, he would pass by in about five minutes unless he changed directions, and the canopy in this area was a bit more open than the denser area she picked before. It increased the odds she would be seen without having to act like she planned this. It was more convenient to let him think that it was chance than her acting on what he was thinking. That tended to make people uncomfortable. Her expression didn't change when he spoke. She showed no signs of irritation, but no signs of everything being fine; it was completely devoid of any emotion. Her voice was the same way.
"I think the trouble was exaggerated. The populace doesn't think so, but that's normal for a group of publicly violent supers. The people involved don't seem dangerous. Aurora Disicio, known as Disco to the general public much to her irritation. Teenager with a savior complex, thinks she knows everything and could solve the world's problems overnight if people would listen to her. Nothing special, I've seen no reason to dig further through her mind for the moment. She doesn't seem any different from any other teenager with a lot of megalomania. She's predictable, shouldn't be a problem for the short term. There are signs that she might be trouble later, but she's not a priority.
"Giza Kadabra, the other mentioned super, is in the same boat. He's more emotionally volatile, but his ire is mostly directed towards anyone that gets to close to Aurora, particularly the men. The nature of how he directs that energy makes me think he is also not a threat for the short term. He is more likely to direct his violent tendencies towards other supers, and only a few of them, so he shouldn't target civilians regularly, and it doesn't look like he's targeting enough supers to negatively impact how well this city can defend against dragons.
"Pandaemonium in general seems like a small threat in the grand scheme of things, especially given how many of them are interested in fighting dragons. There's a Keeper cell here, which will end up being more of a problem. Pandaemonium is noticeable and demands attention, which will make them seem scarier than they are, but Keepers are far more insidious. I'm going to try to track down their headquarters. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone heads there, so it shouldn't be too difficult to pick out. The cell here seems more hostile towards their own members than usual, so we might be able to break them apart for once. They might destroy themselves with a little bit of nudging in the right places. I'm still working on getting a list of all their current members. They're a little more well known in the super community, but beyond that the cell doesn't seem well-known at all. They might be known individually, just not as part of the cell. I'm not sure. It'll take me some time to comb over everyone's minds.
"There's also a branch of the Bulwark here. They're as ineffectual as most of the others. Nearly dissolved recently, but it looks like they're making an effort to improve. I will not be expecting much from them.
"You've been scouting too correct? What have you observed?"
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
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Post by Solomon on Oct 31, 2016 20:31:03 GMT -7
Solomon set his bag down at the foot of the tree and settled down, cross-legged, next to it. He found it interesting that she considered the Keepers to be a larger danger than the Pandaemoniums, but not wholly unexpected considering what he knew of the faction. Quite corruption and takeovers were indeed far more dangerous than the short-term effects of unfocused destruction. It was a quiet build, one easily ignored in favor of far more immediate threats - such as the mayor being attacked by supers - but that was precisely what made such tactics so dangerous. More interesting, however, was the implications of this assessment. He’d been wondering to how long-term this initiative would be. The Keepers, unstable or not, were likely to have deep roots that would take time to deal with should they wish to prevent them from growing back. It seemed Rein was going to be around in Emerald City for a while.
To be honest, he couldn’t read her expression or tone at all. The only hint he received as to her social mood was the length of her response and the following question.
“I have.” He confirmed. “Though I’ve been doing a different sort. As you say, I doubt Pandaemonium will be too large a threat. Trouble to the unlucky civilian, perhaps, but nothing beyond what we can handle. Their leader, considered to be strongest supers in the city, appears to be a matter manipulator. She is capable of disassembling material objects into small particles that she can controll by her will, and often times has enough ‘floated’, one could say, that it makes quite the cloud. If you haven’t seen it already, I’m sure you will soon. Objects can then be rematerialized, which, when factored with gravity; I’ve heard rumors that’s how she killed the last leader of the faction, though I’ve yet to establish a fully reliable information network.
“The most straightforward counter I see is to send someone who can stand to have a building or two dropped on them, whom is also capable of dealing damage. Non-material damage, of course. A less destructive method would be mental powers of some kind. It seems unlikely she would have any guards to them. Alternatively, forms of telekinesis or pressure manipulation of some kind - air, for instance - that could be used to guard oneself and perhaps others may prove effective.
“Giza Kadabra should not be too difficult either. I’ve not been able to get a full gauge on his abilities due to their varied nature, but my first guess is a form of object manipulation; a paper bird becomes a living flock, a scarf becomes knives - such as that. On that assumption, abilities that can destroy or remove said objects could prove useful, but I’m lacking enough evidence to base a full strategy around it. As it stands, strong, concentrated force should work fine enough against him. He seems the sort that would fall more to precision than overwhelming strength, but again I need to gather more information. It may honestly depend from battle to battle, on what he is using. Mental abilities, again, may prove useful.
“Nor do I figure any of the Pandaemoniums will provide too much trouble. Bloodbath appears to require his accumulated blood - I’ve wondered if quickly separating him from it may interrupt his abilities. Dullahan is perhaps best dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but someone who is able to interfere with technology or effectively destroy it may be a fine counter. Limen appears to be more annoying than powerful; simple force should do. Sanduleak’s abilities are also difficult to pin down, but seem to have something to do with his eyes. Blinding him may alone be enough. If not, a single, swift and powerful surprise attack. Lust seems to lack anything beyond what I assume to be mental abilities; guards against those or distance attacks should do. Pride should be dealt with swiftly, preferably before he realizes battle has begun. I would be interested to see the effects of mental attacks on him; they may be enough to subdue him or utterly ineffective. I cannot say. Wrath, water. Fleet should do. She appears to be violent in nature, however - a good one to keep an eye on if we wish to prevent civilian casualties. Greed, matter manipulation. I haven’t heard enough of his abilities in battle to suggest more, but general counters to earth manipulation may also work. Tricky I also lack information on, but his abilities appear to be elemental in nature, to at least some degree. I would recommend brute force against him for the time being.
“I don’t think Pandaemonium is organized enough to have long term goals, so stopping their efforts whenever they arise should be enough to keep their growth constrained. Other resources, I agree, should be placed towards the Keepers.” he concluded, shifting his leg up to rested his arm atop. Taking his gaze from the city, he looked up to the faction leader above. “Have you any thoughts on the members you know of?”
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Rein Initiative
Posts 54
Power Level 30
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Post by Seraphim on Nov 6, 2016 17:46:56 GMT -7
"I can confirm that Aurora Disicio killed the previous leader of Pandaemonium. The pile of...stuff she dropped on him was enough to dwarf most of the buildings in the area. Judging from how she feels about the incident, and how she felt about Mosh Man, I don't think that will happen often. When it does, we'll have so much advance warning that we'll be able to prepare for it easily." She paused for a moment. "Apologies, I haven't worked in a team for some time. My own abilities are not very versatile, so I rarely look for counters like that. I can fairly quickly get an idea of their emotional states and weaknesses.
"Her feelings about further than that. She is a very straight-forward fighter who claims she will never lie or use 'underhanded tactics.' It seems like an accurate enough claim so far. She uses the cloud you mentioned as a warning beacon almost, or at least that's one of the uses she has for it, so people know to get away. Even if they don't, she tend to be very careful to avoid hurting them. That's towards unpowered people, the people she supposedly doesn't care about. She much more gentle against other supers, making very sure that she won't do any permanent damage, or even hurt them too badly. We don't need someone that can survive having a building dropped on them because the odds of that happening are so small that it's not even worth worrying about. We only need someone that can stand having some sandpaper chafing their skin and some dust in their eyes." She paused again. "Don't try to get her to join Rein. That is unlikely to go anywhere even if she's under duress.
"Aurora Disicio is very predictable in that regard, even if you can't read her mind. Her attacks are generally telegraphed, she does not use misdirection, and she does not try to hide. Though I think that last one is more because of the limitations of her power than any personal feelings about hiding. Moving on, she won't attack from behind, attack someone while they're asleep or in a significantly altered state. She won't attack anyone under the effects of mind control if she's aware of it...I could go on, but I think that's clear enough. You will know what you are getting into the moment you get into a fight with her, and you will know exactly how far she is willing to go in that fight. If she thinks you don't, she will tell you. Her targets are clear, and unfortunately numerous, given the nature of the city. She targets people with anti-super sentiments, and people that she deems are taking advantage of other people. She's impulsive enough that even without mind reading abilities, where she will strike next should be fairly obvious: look for whatever person or group said something mean about supers this week. Her focus appears to have shifted somewhat to repairing the dock area since it was attacked by a dragon about three months ago. It's made her less active than usual. She considers the whole area her responsibility. Strike there, especially if you strike the other supers of Pandaemonium, if you want to get her attention. It's not hard."
Seraphim paused again as she realized how long she'd been talking. Even though she didn't dig through the Pandaemonium leader's mind too deeply, she didn't have to in order to get all of this information. She thinks about so much of it so obsessively that it was assimilated into Seraphim's consciousness the second she was in range. The rest mostly from her looking for Keepers since a little digging revealed one that she was irritated with. There was more she could say, but that seemed like the important part. She wasn't sure how much anyone wanted to listen to her ramble about this.
"I can provide detailed dossiers about what I find when I return to the FOB, unless there's something specific you want to know now. Or if there's something specific you want me to look into.
"I haven't been here long, so I haven't had time to find too many yet. There was one in Aurora Disicio's mind, apparently they had a disagreement recently. Her name is Azoth. She is not very visible in public consciousness, likely prefers not to be noticed when possible. I found two people she was connected with quickly that gives me enough of an impression. One is her boyfriend, likely not the most reliable source of information, but given what was in his mind I am concerned. The other is the only survivor of a family she killed in a dispute over money. I believe that says a lot about her as a person. I will have to look further in order to determine more, but her boyfriend is proving to be a useful source of information. They did several things together, so I will be able to link incidents, allies, enemies, faces, and abilities soon enough.
"The other..." Seraphim paused for a moment and looked upwards as she tried to figure out how to turn this person's thoughts into words. "I found her because she doesn't think of much else besides the Keepers. At first I thought she had some kind of protection against mind reading, but the more I look the less likely I find that. Young girl, unfortunate power. Everything in her vicinity slowly decays. She has excellent superpowered senses, but I doubt I'll be able to make use of them because of how chaotic what she actually sees is. I can't make much sense of it. She is...out of her league with the Keepers. She is in a vulnerable state, easily manipulated because of it, and doesn't know how to manipulate people in turn. We should try to recruit her. She wants little more than to fight dragons, and has a power dangerous enough that she should be kept away from people as much as possible. She would be useful. They call her Unhallow, but she does not like this name. I would suggest giving her a new one if someone could convince her to leave. It would be difficult to do because of how deep in Keeper influence she is, but it could be very beneficial.
"Aurora Disicio herself should take care of most of the problems with in Pandaemonium for the next couple of weeks or so. She is trying very hard to get everything under control, and is not making much progress. She is also spending a lot of time building up the dock and slum area which...I am not inclined to stop her from doing so even if it might end up benefiting her somewhat in the long run. Mitigate any damage they might cause if it looks like it'll be a problem, yes, but otherwise I'm not sure if they're worth investing any resources in yet. What I'm finding out about the Keepers is far more interesting."
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
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Post by Solomon on Nov 14, 2016 23:58:25 GMT -7
Solomon waved dismissively to her apology. “People have many types of weaknesses. None are any less valuable than any other; it’s just a matter of what one is good at spotting and exploiting.” Though he assumed she already knew this. He leaned back again against the trunk of the trunk of the tree. “Also, I would indeed appreciate any relevant documents, thank you.”
Seraphim’s thoughts on the three given supers were quite interesting. Just what she had said would require several days - possibly weeks - of research through records and witnesses to find, and it took just a bit of sitting in a tree for her? If these were just preliminary results, he wondered how much she could find given time.
He confirmed his suspicion that there was no point in keeping any secrets from Seraphim. He wasn’t even going to try.
Solomon thought over what she had said in silence for several seconds. He took what she’d said of Aurora first.
“I imagine one could kick the wrong stone and incur her wrath. She plays like a young king.” Solomon mused. Glancing up at Seraphim, he elaborated, “I’d like to offer a counter argument to your assessment of Aurora. She may not be a particular threat in the short term - as long as what you say continues to hold true, I doubt we’ll have to worry about anything more than an occasional office building getting lost a few blocks down the way, but her mentality is not the kind that can last. Some mature gracefully out of it, but most…” He closed his eyes and shrugged. “The sooner preemptive measures are put in place, the higher chance at a smooth resolution we have. Call it a safety measure, and perhaps one that can be turned to our favor regardless of actual necessity. A bit of guidance may prove beneficial, both in steering her away from unfavorable targets now, and from larger destructive goals down the line. Should that prove insufficient, it’s always easier to overthrow and replace from within the court.”
The problem, overall, was fairly standard issue, and as such seemed solvable with a fairly standard method. “The only issue,” Solomon continued after a moment of thought, “is, from what I gather, she is not the most… sociable of people. Those that speak well of her do so with an air of distance, as though they’ve never met her in person. She’s said to have followers, but friends; finding the sort of people someone is drawn to is often one of my first steps to getting a grasp on who they are, but I’ve found none for Aurora. Not even someone moderately close to her, save for perhaps Giza, but his devotion to her does not seem to be reciprocated. I’m curious as to what you know on the subject.” Seeing as she was likely the best source in the city for this sort of thing.
The third person she mentioned caught his interest even more, mostly for the conclusion she drew about the Keeper at the end. “I also have a few questions regarding Unhallow.” He said contemplatively. “I suppose first, your recommendation on how exactly to go about recruiting her.” There were no shortage of ways to get one to join one’s side, especially with a faction such as Rein with its many benefits and strings to pull, but only certain ones worked on certain people. Her manipulable nature, suggested by Seraphim, would make things easier, but brainwashing posed the problem of rejection. “Specifically, are there any particulars that she doesn’t care for in a person? Sentiments, topics, or actions that should be avoided, and inversely, any that cause her to like someone? Acts or characteristics that create trust? I’m also curious as to if there are any holes in her brainwashing that might provide an opening.” He paused. “Lastly, do you happen to know of any ways to bypass her powers? Gradually decaying does not seem like it’d lend itself well to conversation.” He chuckled. “Or battle, should it come to that.”
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Rein Initiative
Posts 54
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Post by Seraphim on Nov 15, 2016 21:50:00 GMT -7
"You're not wrong. Aurora Disicio will either be a great asset or will have to be neutralized completely. There are no other options given her personality. There is no reason not to steer her in the optimal direction. One moment."
Once again, Seraphim paused. She was going to have to constantly remind herself that she had a team this time, that she didn't have to work alone and only focus on what she could do. There was no way she could get herself into a position to manipulate Aurora, but Solomon had a very different skillset from her. He might be able to. She could not forget this.
She hadn't searched Aurora's mind much, only enough to get an impression, so she couldn't give Solomon the information he needed yet. It would take a little while to get, but not so long that she felt the need to get back to him later. She'd be surprised if it took longer than thirty minutes. During that time, Seraphim kept her eyes forward towards the city, though it looked like she was looking through it rather than at it. Getting all the inner workings of her mind would be excessive, but working out how she felt about people and how people felt about her in turn would be straightforward. She already had the big picture, now she just needed the details.
"Ah," she finally spoke up. "There are people that consider her a friend, but the feeling isn't entirely mutual." She paused again, putting this girl's thoughts into words was difficult. "I say entirely because it's clear she holds some feelings towards them that she doesn't towards anyone else, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it friendship yet. Yet because it looks like their relationship will end up developing that way." She paused again. "With one exception, she trusts them. The exception...not worth talking about. She appears to be delusional. That level of trust is not easy to get. I think that the exact personality of the person matters less than whether or not they are able to get that trust. The only thing I could find that does matter is that she doesn't want people to be dependent on her and she is suspicious of polite people and compliments. She sees the first as creepy, the second as a sign of dishonesty, and the third as a sign that people are trying to get her to do something for them.
"However, if you want her to be more than friends with you, you need something else on top of that trust: respect. That...appears to be even more difficult to get. I could at least find three examples of people she trusted, but I could not find an single example of someone she respected. She genuinely thinks she's better than everyone and that the world needs her specifically. However...I don't think it's impossible to gain her respect. She has a mental image of what the ideal person should be like, and it's an image she tries to match herself. In other words, the kind of person she's most likely to respect is someone like her, or rather what she thinks she is. I think a bit more tact than she uses would be necessary, but the rest is just a balancing act. You would need to be confident without being arrogant. Stubborn enough to make it look like you're convicted, but not so much that she thinks you're trying to fight her. You need to hold her in high enough regard that she feels like the queen she thinks she is, but not so much that she thinks you're licking her boots. Honest, but in a way that doesn't bruise her ego.
"Either way, a lot of her past interactions with people have been bad, and her personality is very harsh and difficult to deal with. You'll need a lot of patience if you want to try to befriend her, and you'll have to be able to take a lot of verbal abuse. Possibly physical if you happen to accidentally step on a sensitive spot. She has a weird way of showing it, but she does care about people and has a strong sense of loyalty towards the people close to her, friends or not. I'd recommend posing as someone younger than her to help tap into that desire to protect people, and as a super to take advantage of those feelings as well. Don't pose as someone rich, it'll make her immediately suspicious. She's very honest, so you will know exactly how she feels about you; she will hide nothing. She's surprisingly patient with people despite how she acts, so if you mess up somewhere it's not the end of the world. Especially if you 'learn from' what happened. Avoid intimidation, or more overt emotional manipulation as she also considers that a form of intimidation; it makes her more inclined to want to fight back than to listen." She paused again. "You'll know you're succeeding when she starts picking at your faults. I don't mean in an abstract way, she's very prone to yelling about her ideas to anyone that will listen to her, I mean when she starts criticizing you specifically, often about minor things. When she stops talking about 'people' or bigger ideas and starts focusing on you as an individual without a specific incident triggering it. If that makes sense. Getting her to talk about sensitive topics is...less difficult than you might think and beneficial if you can do it. If she does fall in love with you, she's not going to be sure about what to do. It's not something she's experienced before, so she will be moving very slowly and carefully and won't do anything until she thinks she knows exactly what to do. You might have to make the first move." She paused again.
"As for the other, there's less to say. Her feelings towards supers before getting her powers were about what you would expect: she was afraid of them, thought they were generally bad, the usual. Those feelings got worse after she got her powers, not only because of her powers, but because she started fighting them. She actually started seeing what they could do, so they were no longer the boogyman in the shadows. If she starts acting hostile towards you for no obvious reason, this is likely to be why.
"She is completely devoted to the Keepers, to the point that she thinks about little else. That's how I was able to find her so quickly. Her family was killed in a dragon attack, as well as her adoptive parents, and she had to break most of her other connections with people because of her power. To the point that she's pretending like she died in the dragon attack three months ago, along with the rest of her adoptive family. It is no exaggeration to say that she has no other connections right now. She considers the Keepers the last thing she has and will do anything to preserve that and to help them, even if it means serious bodily harm or death. Breaking her out of that will take time, likely months even with a professional. It's like she joined a cult and the effects will likely be with her for some time. I'm not sure if you'll be able to do it, but I can't tell what a positive connection outside of the Keepers will do to her. Nothing like that currently exists in her mind for me to compare to. At the very least, if you pose as one of the Keepers she will do anything you ask short of attacking other Keepers. However, she's not quite naive enough to believe in anyone she hasn't seen in the sanctum. You would have to take the form of an existing Keeper to take advantage of that. It would be easy to simply abduct her because of that.
"As for her power, it works slowly and its power starts diminishing quickly as you get further away from her. Even if she were to try and grapple you, it'd take at least 5 minutes for her to actually kill you," Seraphim paused, "Perhaps 3 if she was on the right drugs. Your healing abilities should be able to out pace anything she does. I am not aware of any other way to negate the destructive part of her power. For the sensory part, invisibility is useless unless you can somehow erase yourself on the subatomic level. She sees solid structures and forms, so projections and light are invisible to her. It's...possible she can see these things but isn't aware of it. I can't tell.
"That's the general idea in as concise a form as I could explain it. If you need more specifics I think I can give them."
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
Power Level 31
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Post by Solomon on Nov 18, 2016 2:20:52 GMT -7
It was a few minutes after Seraphim grew silent that Solomon realized she wouldn’t be speaking anytime soon, and set to occupying himself with some study material he’d brought in his pocket book. He waited patiently and quietly for however long ‘one moment’ was going to be (though he did consider taking a nap). When she spoke up again, he yawned, set aside the files, and listened.
He realized pretty quickly that he was not going to remember all of the exact details, all of which were going to be fairly important, and should be taking notes. He pulled from his pocket book a small notepad and a pen, and opened to the first black page, past some observations of the site of a recent super battle. His hand was quick, neat, and fine, and, as was the rest of the book, was in Norwegian.
Seraphim had all but spelled out a persona, leaving him with only holes to fill in to complete it. Simple enough. However, at the mention of Aurora falling in love, the pen stopped, hovering above the page. He wasn’t against it - it wouldn’t be the first time he’d purposefully or even accidentally made someone fall in love with him for reasons that had nothing to do with his own romance, and he couldn’t say it hadn’t come to mind due to its general effectiveness. It was that Seraphim had jumped straight to it that had caught him off guard.
He took note of what she said and that she said it, and turned a new page for Unhallow. It was good to know before going in, and he was glad to hear that his powers would be able to outpace hers. Removing that timer, or at least replacing it with one of his own, would simplify things. The time estimate to get to her, though, was troubling. Not impossible, but the greater the time required, the more time available for things to go wrong, the higher the chance something would. At least there was the option of abduction should worst come to worst.
He jotted down the last few things he wanted records of. “No, I think that should do it.” He tapped his pen against the page to hide the tip and slipped both it and the pad into his bag.
Standing up, he stretched his arms over his head. “I’ll have my plans made up by the end of the week and begin implementing them as soon as a chance presents itself.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I assume you will not need reports?”
Solomon found himself smiling. He, too, was not accustomed to working on teams - in the past, his allies more often than not had to be bought or manipulated into aid. Rein threw that to the wind. He’d just met her and already Seraphim was proving herself a resource unlike any he’d had before. He could certainly work with this knowledge. Indeed, he was eager to get to it.
If there was nothing else, it was about time for him to return to the base. He had a lot of planning ahead of him.
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Rein Initiative
Posts 54
Power Level 30
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Post by Seraphim on Nov 18, 2016 9:52:32 GMT -7
She was not alone this time. Seraphim felt the need to repeat this in her head a few times. It was an objective truth at this point, and Solomon thoughts confirmed it. It was good to see someone as eager to get started on fixing this city as he was. Ideally, the rest of the supers stationed here would end up being the same way. It would make everything so much simpler.
"No, a report will not be necessary. However, we should still try to meet regularly because my power only works one way. That is, I can get information from you from anywhere, but I have no way of telling you anything with it. If you need to meet with me outside of those times, I will know, but I may not be able to get to you quickly if I am in the middle of something. Be discrete to the point of being paranoid about it. It's always bad to be outed in these situations, but I think it would be particularly bad with her. Plus, there will be a lot of eyes in her direction, and therefore on the people near her, and there are some people that would want to sabotage any chances of her getting close to anyone."
Those were the last few pieces of advice she had for him. It sounded like he didn't need much else, so she turned her focus back towards the city. That was one potential problem that she was getting mitigated now, so she could focus entirely on that Keeper cell.
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