Meeting in the Middle

A beautiful beach-side town in a vaguely Californian climate full of colorful characters and whacky hijinks! Though at night not everything is as it seems...

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:41 pm

"How dare you.

How DARE you!" Will shouted, taking a step ahead of Tereza. "What gives you the right?"
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Will Stanton
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High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:55 pm

Tereza takes the chance of the distraction to finish changing, her eyes watching Sam carefully.
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Tereza Rozanov
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High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Samantha McManus » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:15 am

The three Sams are still eerily in unison.

"You've hurt people I care about."

"Kings have drowned in their own blood for less. Nations have burned for less."

"Tell me why you shouldn't. I will only give you one chance before I sing your death-song."
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Samantha McManus
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High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:05 am

"You know, maybe you should show a little more respect. Because we're still in the simulation, you dum-dums." she glares at them as the air around her glimmers again with digital distortion.

"And in here I'm in charge!" she shouts and swings her arms, a giant hammer the size of a bus materializing in her hands, although it's obvious she's not really swinging it herself. Although that probably makes it worse, the hard-light construct moving with essentially arbitrary force as it swipes at the lot of them in a horizontal arc.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:12 am

Will's instinct was to run towards the impact, rapidly increasing in size and density to try to absorb and block the hammer from hitting anyone else.

It was an iffy idea, at best, in a world that followed regular laws of physics. In a simulation...
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Will Stanton
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High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:15 am

Tereza leaps for Conduit, going to attack the source as quickly as possible, though this also puts her in the arc path of the hammer for far too long.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Samantha McManus » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:47 am

"Don't be so sure."

Sam's mind casts out with pecking beaks and scratching talons, honing in on Conduit's thoughts.
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Samantha McManus
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High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:19 am

Sam casts out the ravens and they tear into mental resistance and right through it. Only to be met with more opposing force, this one taking just a moment longer to punch through. Right into another. She recognizes what she's pecking through. Danger Room constructs for telepathy training. Or at least something like it. Stacked in layer after layer around Conduit, the shimmering layers around her crammed full of spatially distorted danger room dummy-agents.

Her giant hammer slams into the growing Will, taking him off his feet with the impact and carrying along, slamming Will into Tereza and sending both of them flying when the hammer finishes it's arc.

"Uh-oh! Think again!" Conduit laughs at her oh-so-clever pun.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:31 am

Will wrapped himself around Tereza as they flew thorough the air, enveloping her so that when they hit the ground, they bounced, with Will absorbing the majority of the impact as they hit and skidded across asphalt.

He then released her, hopefully giving Tereza an attack angle while he recovered from the having the stuffing knocked out of him, first by a hammer and then by a wolf.
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Will Stanton
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High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:41 am

Tereza reorients herself and leaps high, aiming to clear any further swipes of the hammer and come down onto Conduit with a full body tackle.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Samantha McManus » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:52 am

"Mmm, you think you've armored yourself? How much feedback can you take?"

Sam starts rapidly burning through the simulated minds, aiming to cause as much damage as she can as she goes through each one.
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Samantha McManus
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High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:53 am

"Me? Not a lot. Most of the population of Hollydale? A buuuunch!"

Some of the minds are easy to tear through, not very sophisticated constructs. Others are a little more intricate. Of course they're not real, no matter how well they're made to simulate thought patterns. And of course they wouldn't be programmed to actually experience a psychic attack. Unless an unhinged technopath had stapled that functionality on to them. So tearing through Conduit's defenses Sam has to accept the fact that she has to wade through a bunch of simulated pain she's inflicting over and over. To minds that feels at least somewhat familiar.

"I get the feeling you guys aren't taking this place seriously." she pouts when Tereza pounces at her. She waves a dismissive hand at the leaping werewolf and suddenly she's encased in a big soap-bubble of cartoonish resilience and buoyancy. She ends up floating mere feet away from Conduit. "You should have been happy with what you had." Another wave of her hand and a wireframe of a ten-ton weight draws itself in the air above Will, in the blink of an eye filling in and the heavy chunk of metal (labeled in white letters, of course) drops down on Will and squishes clay out on all sides.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:00 am

Will only had time to raise one hand up before he was crushed under ten tons of steel.
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Will Stanton
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High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Isolde Schwarz » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:22 am

Meanwhile, Isolde is calmly walking towards Conduit.
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High Concept: Broken Fairy Tale
Aspect: Older Than She Looks
Aspect: Steeped in Blood
Aspect: Ledger Wiped Clean
Aspect: Guardian of the Child

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:21 pm

Tereza prods at the bubble with a finger, finding it stretchy and not at all bubble-like. She growls and paces, or more appropriately slips, around inside the bubble as she tries to figure a way out.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:42 pm

Isolde gets within about 5 feet of Conduit when the ground underneath her feet turns into a treadmill and her casual stroll has her walking in place.

"I think doggy wants to go back in the kennel." Conduit taunts her.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Isolde Schwarz » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:45 pm

"I just wanted to thank you," Isolde says, not raising her voice.

"You taught me something valuable."
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Isolde Schwarz
 
High Concept: Broken Fairy Tale
Aspect: Older Than She Looks
Aspect: Steeped in Blood
Aspect: Ledger Wiped Clean
Aspect: Guardian of the Child

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:54 pm

"Oh goodie. You're very welcome." she says condescendingly.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Narrator » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:54 pm

Meanwhile Sam's feeling the onset of bit of a headache. Nothing too serious, but it feels like time spend as three people with a constant telepathic link is catching up with her a bit. But as the effects of her 'role' in Hollydale wear off more and more, bits and pieces of memories that aren't hers float to the surface as well. Floating inside Cerebra. Walking alongside Conduit in the Point. Watching her rewire things and rattling off explanations about how the simulation is going to work. Glimpses behind the scenes from whoever used Cerebra to fit everyone into their roles. A feat ambitious enough that they probably didn't manage to shield their own mind thoroughly enough, leaving behind these impressions?
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:29 pm

Tereza stops her pacing, her eyes focusing on the bubble itself for a brief moment. She braces herself, eyes now focused on Conduit as she waits for something.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Narrator » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:47 pm

That weight hit like tons of steel. But once Conduit's attention is focused on Isolde, something changes in its density, leaving it just light instead of hard light. The change isn't visible from the outside, so one wouldn't know things were different unless, say, parts of one had been squished underneath the weight.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:51 pm

Will started to scrape himself off the asphalt, collecting what clay he could. He didn't know why he was no longer compressed, but never look a gift horse in the mouth.

He opted to stay hidden for now, to catch his proverbial breath and to set up a surprise assault.
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Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Samantha McManus » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:12 am

In truth, Sam has never really done this before, but in unison all three of her frown, and join hands. Her flesh starts to run like wax.
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Samantha McManus
Student
 
High Concept: Waking Goddess
Aspect: Enraptured by Violence
Aspect: Made of Nightmares
Aspect: Not Crazy
Aspect: Driven by Wolves

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Narrator » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:47 am

It's certainly a very unique experience. The more ephemeral awareness of the three bodies becomes visceral. Three pairs of lungs draw in air, staggered ever so slightly, stuttering a little as nervous systems link up and the three breath out in unison. Three heartbeats struggle against each other, her head swimming for a moment as blood-pressure fluctuates and finally settles as more of the bodies flow into each other, flesh knitting itself together. It's disorienting as boundaries fall away, no way to distinguish between the three bodies anymore. Too many minds with too differing ideas about how to move. Almost easier to shift than to agree on what to do and for a moment finger twist and shift into a fist that turns into smooth skin before sprouting new fingers where knuckles had previously been. The same seems to repeat all over until indecisiveness becomes paralyzing. Movement demanding so much mental effort to become the dominant idea, but they can all agree that they can't let themselves be locked into their body. Especially not now. Commonalities and the sense of just a single body slowly blur the mental lines a little, back towards how they'd been before...
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Thu Feb 22, 2018 2:20 am

Tereza's eyes flick to Sam and then back to Conduit. Back and forth, back and forth, though she spends most of her time on Conduit. She has no idea what she's waiting for though.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:09 am

And that distraction was enough for Will to come peeling out of the fake weight, a sports car revving it's engine as it aimed to flatten Conduit.
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Will Stanton
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High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:26 pm

Conduit, still waiting for what Isolde has to say, is taken by surprise by the sudden sports car ejecting from the weight. The vehicle slams into her, hood crumpling around her protective shell with a massive crunch and sending her tumbling down the road, limbs flailing until she hits the side of a house and comes to a stop.

"That wasn't very nice!" she yells across the street as she dusts herself off. She strikes a needlessly dramatic pose, one foot back to brace herself, one arm outstretched and pointing at the group. Then her protective shell seems to release one of the simulated occupants of Hollydale, taking on her stance and appearance as it's fired off towards the group in a mix of bull-rush and projectile.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:06 pm

The bubble promptly pops in a strange manner tossing Tereza into the air briefly. She seems as surprised by this as anyone for a moment before she recovers and diverts her fall into a roll under the projectile with a crunching noise. She rolls back up to all fours, a former sheet of ice now spiked up into wicked-looking 'quills' throughout the fur on her back. Her golden eyes are hidden behind glowing white energy as she begins skirting around, trying to scatter from the group a bit to force Conduit to pick targets.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:17 pm

Will, woozy, slowly backed up from the impact, sheet metal scraping against the ground from the crumpled hood, as he tried to dodge in the opposite direction of Tereza, hoping Conduit couldn't focus on two directions at once.
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Will Stanton
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High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Isolde Schwarz » Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:21 pm

Isolde meanwhile, without a word, picks up her pace on the 'treadmill' she's on, breaking into a sprint to gather up a head of steam before leaping at Conduit.

However as the arc of her jump completes, Conduit finds an immense black wolf sailing towards her.
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Isolde Schwarz
 
High Concept: Broken Fairy Tale
Aspect: Older Than She Looks
Aspect: Steeped in Blood
Aspect: Ledger Wiped Clean
Aspect: Guardian of the Child

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:02 pm

The clone dashes right into Tereza with an outstretched fist, sending the ice-wolf flying back and through the wooden wall of a house while the clone laughs and gloats with it's hands on it's hips.

Conduit is striking the same pose, although hers is interrupted when Isolde demands her attention and she points at her in the air and just yells "Get her!" before a half dozen copies of her shoot out and collide with Isolde in mid-air, hanging on to her in a big ball of fur and Cloneduits as they hit the ground.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:15 pm

Tereza launches herself out of the house, not at the clone near her but at the clones on Isolde, trying to get to them to rip them away from as fast as possible.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:42 pm

Tereza Rozanov wrote:Tereza launches herself out of the house, not at the clone near her but at the clones on Isolde, trying to get to them to rip them away from as fast as possible.


...And that's when Will peeled out, aiming to drive through the area Tereza was vacating *just* after she jumped, hoping to smear the clone as it chased after her.

Teamwork!
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Will Stanton
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High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Fri Feb 23, 2018 5:36 am

The single Cloneduit is indeed preparing to dash after Tereza when it's straight up flattened by a car. Individually they're much less resilient and it derezzes while Will plows through the corner of the house.

The pile of the ones clinging to Isolde are punching and kicking at the werewolf. First one, then two getting pulled back by Tereza and tumbling through the air.

Conduit seems to be having a fantastic time, laughing and bouncing as she tosses another clone out of her shell, this one sailing in an arc and landing in the WillCar as it comes crashing out of the house again. The Cloneduit grabs for the wheel and starts swerving it back and forth.
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:00 am

Will swerved back and forth along the road, but the seatbelts quickly lashed out, strapping the Cloneduit into the seat nice and tight.

The seat then collapsed inward, pressing down hard. The back of the seat swung forward, pressing the Cloneduit into the fabric, before melting and melding with the seat proper, essentially sealing her inside. A new back grew out as the pressure continued to press the Cloneduit further and further into the padding of the seat.

It was, all in all, quicker and more ruthless than Will normally was.

The car then swung back around, sliding around in a drifting handbrake turn, and started barreling back towards Conduit, horn blazing, engine roaring, lights flashing.
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Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Isolde Schwarz » Fri Feb 23, 2018 7:01 pm

Isolde is thrashing, flinging constructs from herself and slamming her body into buildings and cars to shake them off.
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Isolde Schwarz
 
High Concept: Broken Fairy Tale
Aspect: Older Than She Looks
Aspect: Steeped in Blood
Aspect: Ledger Wiped Clean
Aspect: Guardian of the Child

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Fri Feb 23, 2018 7:20 pm

Tereza glances at Sam for a moment. 'Sam! We need you!' She snatches up a broken piece of one of the cars that Isolde has smashed into, throwing it really hard in Conduit's direction.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Conduit » Fri Feb 23, 2018 7:45 pm

The swallowed up construct is slowly condensed, limbs buckling until it's just a crushed up ball that derezzes with a sudden pop. The real Conduit puts her hands together and takes a sudden steps towards the speeding car, another clone shooting out but this one turning into some kind of metal as it plants it's feet down and uses it's hands and arms as a wedge, letting the WillCar drive itself into it and split in half as metal screeches on metal.

Isolde's threshing manages to dislodge one clone after another. They're not particularly strong or durable individually and the raging werewolf manages to tear through them one by one.

The piece of car bonks off of Conduit's head, the shell around her shimmering as it does and she turns her head away from the car crash happening ten feet in front of her to look at Tereza. "Hey!" she frowns, annoyed at the insolence more than the actual impact. "Stop that."
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Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Will Stanton » Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:06 pm

The metal Cloneduit hit the front of the Willcar, splitting it wide open as it zoomed forward.

However, the car reformed as it continued to speed forward, flowing around the Cloneduit like water flows around a rock, metal and upholstery re-stitching itself together as it sped forward, unabated.
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Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Meeting in the Middle

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:26 pm

Tereza's response to Conduit is immediate. "No." She pitches something else at Conduit, trying to keep Conduit's attention focused on her.
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Tereza Rozanov
Student
 
High Concept: Winter Wolf
Aspect: Chip Off The Old Ice Block
Aspect: Escaped Asset
Aspect: Servant Alpha
Aspect: Partner To The Fey

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