(Under Control) Two By Two

[West]

Slowly, Leo's eyes open.

It's bright, but not glaring. Grey concrete walls dull the overhead lights. His head swims, and throbs, and his mouth is a mixture of sourness and coppery salt. Blood. Even with his wooziness, he can feel the weight of matted hair against his head.

He can't move. Even if he weren't weak as a kitten from being half dead, he can feel straps binding his arms and legs.

And head.

Rolling his eyes to the edge of his peripheral, he can see the edge of a table, to the side, with a silver tray, and metal implements on it. His eyes move back forward as the sound of footfalls approach. A chair is placed in front of Leo, and a man sits.

It's the man from the VIP room. He's dressed now. A casual golf shirt, with large horizontal stripes. A few dark flecks spot it randomly.

"You awake? Good. It's Twenty Questions time."

He's a smug fuck.

Harry leans forward. "You probably think you're not going to answer my questions. But, bear with me. I spent some time in Uganda, a while back. Great place. I learned a lot. That whole area is full of warlords, and nobody fucks with them."

He's actually a pretty personable guy, when he's not slamming bottles into people's head.

"You know why? One word. Mutilation. They cut bits and pieces off. There was one that took a whole bunch of prisoners from a failed coup. Every year, he trotted them out, in public, and hacked something off. Hand. Foot. Every. Year. You get the idea. No more uprisings. Hell, that's pretty effective. So I thought to myself, self, you could probably beat a man all day, and he'd still keep his secrets. Water. Electricity. All that silly stuff."

He smiled.

"But what if a man was faced with, say, spending the rest of his life missing a hand? Or foot? Think those secrets are worth a lifetime of that? I don't know about you, but I don't. I sure wouldn't, at least."

Harry leaned across, reaching for the tray.

"I took the liberty of expressing how serious I am. Just in case you think I'm fucking around."

The steel surgical tray in his hands holds a nasty looking chisel, and a hammer. Dried blood is caked on them.

It takes a moment for the other objects to register.

Two blueish pink bloody stubs. Ragged ends show a hint of yellow bone.

They're Leo's thumbs.

"Right now, you can still drive a car. Dress yourself. Even jerk off."

[Leo Lockheart]

As Leo came to the scene in front of him was anything but what he expected. He struggled against bindings uselessly, and toes and fingers wiggled as Leo felt something off. Then the target was there and words started pouring out. He was angry to start, but when words like warlords and mutilation started to fly Leo visibly shifted to nervous. And then the tray came out and the shock and horror took over.

Now the First Talon was acutely aware beyond a reasonable doubt that this was a man that had to die. Now.

OOC

Since I'm about to start throwing spells around I'm just going to drop init in now.

  Init 12

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-25 21:14:21		Leo rolls 1 die for initiative		6

[West]

  Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-25 22:45:43		Harry rolls 1 die for initiative		10

[Leo Lockheart]

"The fuck?" Leo said halfheartedly as he continued to try and wiggle. "Why?"

He continued his wiggle, except it wasn't wiggling. The mudras required for rotes of covert spells were so subtle that one could perform them even while grappled or restrained with no true hindrance.

Armor up bitch.

OOC

After double checking there is no penalty for being restrained when casting a rote of a covert spell (MtA Core page 111). However the missing thumb might be an issue depending on the hand gesture. ST call.

  Pot 3 Organic Resilience

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-26 18:40:03		Leo Lockheart rolls 5 to OR (STA + Ath + Life-2 Wound penalties) (10 Again)		10, 3, 10, 1, 8, 5, 5		3 successes

[West]

"Why? Because you mentioned my camera."

Harry shrugs and smiles. It's reasonable. Actually, Leo's probably lucky that Velma stopped him.

There are other footfalls, and a young woman moves into Leo's field of view. Pony tail, glasses, no makeup. It takes a moment to realize she's one of the women at Ember. She drops a McDonald's bag into Harry's hands.

"Oh, he's awake? Well. Make sure you put those in a Zip-Loc before you throw them away. They'll smell. And dad wants us to come over for dinner." She ducks down and gives Harry a kiss on the cheek. Juice stained fingers pop a blueberry into her mouth from the deli carton in her other hand.

Leo, she ignores completely, and leaves.

Harry rifles through the bag and pulls out a carton. Bold letters describe the contents: Bacon Habanero Quarter Pounder. Harry pulls it out, and takes a big bite.

"So, what do you know about my phone?" he asks, words muffled and distorted as he eats.

Leo can jam in several Actions during Christine's appearance and the eating.

Spellcasting

I spoke with Casitive, as this was an unintended consequence. She's ruled that Leo will have to re-learn mudras, and until then cannot use his rotes. I'll let you decide if you still want to cast Organic Resilence since there will be the non-Ruling mana surcharge. The roll, and Potency, will stand adjusting to Gnosis + Arcana - penalties yield the same result.

[Leo Lockheart]

When Harry asnwered his question the First Talon cringed, partially from the answer and partially from turning bits of his nervous system into mana. When the woman appears and kisses Harry on the cheek, the wounds from the club close just a little. When Harry rustles through the bag, the energies of the world reveal themselves to Leo.

Eyes dart around the room as the Obrimos looks for radio waves, figuring the presence and such could be measured against the phenomenon he so regularly noticed at the Circle. Hopefully he wasn't underground or deep inside some huge building. That makes escapes so much harder.

"I found a camera on a man that had recently been stabbed to death. I took the thing because a woman thief seemed especially eager to steal the mans possessions." Finally Leo's eyes settled back on Woods. "I was told where to find the owner and was at the club to bring you back to the people I left the camera with." One hundred percent truth. The fact Leo was going to take him back for questioning possibly against his will was something that could be left off the table for now. Leo just needed time to set up one more spell.

Actions

Keeping Organic Resilience so -1 mana for that. First action is scouring -1 Dexterity for 3 mana. Second action is -2 mana for Improvised Self Healing to heal 2 lethal. Third action is activating Read Matrices at Pot 3. Then looking for Radio waves to compare to the Circle. After that Leo answers Wood's questions.

  2 suxx heal, Pot 3 Forces Sight

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-27 23:37:25		Leo Lockheart rolls 3 to Imp Read Matrices (Gno+Forces) (10 Again)		8, 8, 8		3 successes
2014-07-27 23:36:24		Leo Lockheart rolls 8 to Imp self Healing (Gno+Life) (10 Again, WillPower)		4, 10, 3, 5, 1, 10, 6, 6, 1, 3		2 successes

[West]

With eyes opened, Leo is surprised by how little there is to see. Sheets of light radiate from overhead, rippling at the frequency of the electrical output. Small waves of sound from voices taper off into the void of space. The cold, grey concrete walls are barriers to any outside intrusion.

The burger stops it's journey to Harry's mouth. Frozen. Harry looks at Leo, then sets it down. He stands and begins walking away, then the footfalls stop with a soft scrape on the concrete floor.

"If you're lying to me, I'm going to make you eat every bit that I cut off of you."

He still sounds pretty personable.

Then Harry is gone.

That burger smells awfully good.

[Leo Lockheart]

And with Woods gone Leo gets to work. First he draws down the Aether to reinforce his muscles, then to fray the object he was bound to and turn it into more mana, mana immediately spent on healing. He continued siphoning knowing the shitty mana would do squat, but knowing the spell was more controlled then possible blowing his hands off. Dox hit and was stopped in his pattern, then again it was absorbed, and finally it got to be more then he could handle. The final casting was...bad...and it was about to show. Bright side, Ariadne might have a bat signal.

Hopefully.

Actions

-1 mana for Gain Skill for +2 to Brawl. +2 mana for Siphon Integrity and -2 mana for improvised Self Healing to heal 2 lethal. Then a bunch of botched siphon attempts against his bindings. Havoks absorbed as Resistant Bashing, Anomaly left free for a beacon.

  So much stuff

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-28 23:26:54		Leo Lockheart rolls 5 to MOAR PARADOX (10 Again)		4, 3, 7, 8, 10, 9		3 successes
2014-07-28 23:14:39		Leo Lockheart rolls 6 to Imp Siphon Integrity (Gno+Prime-1 retry-1 dox+2 HS) (10 Again)		3, 8, 1, 7, 7, 6		1 success
2014-07-28 23:13:23		Leo Lockheart rolls 4 to Dox again (10 Again)		6, 9, 6, 6		1 success
2014-07-28 23:12:00		Leo Lockheart rolls 3 to Dox (10 Again)		10, 2, 4, 4		1 success
2014-07-28 23:11:44		Leo Lockheart rolls 4 to Imp Siphon Integrity on arm restraints (Gno+Prime-2 Target factors) (10 Again)		1, 6, 7, 5		failure
2014-07-28 23:10:35		Leo Lockheart rolls 5 to Imp Self Heal (Gno+Life) (10 Again)		6, 8, 1, 9, 4		2 successes
2014-07-28 22:51:55		Leo Lockheart rolls 9 to Imp Siphon Integrity (Gno+Prime) (10 Again, WillPower)		9, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 3, 5		2 successes
2014-07-28 22:51:36		Ariadne rolls 8 to Prime Sight (8) (10 Again)		6, 2, 8, 4, 8, 5, 5, 6		2 successes
2014-07-28 22:51:20		Leo Lockheart rolls 2 to Paradox (10 Again)		2, 2		failure
2014-07-28 22:50:31		Leo Lockheart rolls 5 to Imp Gain Skill (Brawl) (Life+Gno) (10 Again)		5, 4, 6, 7, 10, 10, 5		2 successes
2014-07-28 22:50:19		Ariadne rolls 7 to Miscperception + Mind Shield (Gno+Mind-combined2=7) (10 Again)		10, 6, 8, 4, 10, 8, 4, 5, 1		4 successes
2014-07-28 22:49:57		Leo Lockheart rolls 1 to Paradox (10 Again)		6		failure

[West]

Already half dead, Leo let's the Paradox free.

Anomaly.

Nothing happens. The strobing waves of light remain pure. The soft waves of his breathing ripple outward. The lights do not explode. An electrical storm does not form. Simply... nothing.

It takes a few moments. To feel it. Something throbs, at the ends of his hands, something no longer there. Sluggish. Cold. Blackish-red and bruised. Decay. Loss. Fear. Pain. A body in agony, even while unconscious.

Every bit of emotion still attached to his severed parts, to him, slowly shifts inward. He feels the stained resonance absorbed into the mana his body holds, spoiling and tainting it.

OOC

All Mana is now tainted. Any attempt to draw, convert, or spend Mana will induce release overwhelming pain and/or loss. Mechanically speaking, for any of these actions, Leo will be overcome with the sensations akin to an Emotional Urging, and the subsequent Action will suffer a -2 Penalty (regardless of time between activating tainted mana and action).

[Leo Lockheart]

Leo bit his lower lip as a growl that would have been a scream escaped. He didn't have any mana, but using Prime to siphon away the bindings holding him was the only route he knew to take without accidentally blasting his arm off. Yeah, C-Fire? Not an option right here.

He felt the wiggle of his now ghostly thumbs, and for a second his mind wanders to work of all places. While the hours were unforgiving, Leo loved helping people as an EMT but now? No thumbs would put an end to that because dumbass sucks at manipulating people. When he once more tried to siphon away the bindings, it was like the new aspect of his life he loved so much was literally expelled from his reach. It was going to be nothing more then a memory of the few months he had to shine in twenty two God damned years.

As he once more reached to the Aether the backlash and anomaly served to reinforce the sense that even if Leo could escape his life was irreparably damaged because of this. Psycho and the two chicks from the Ember just made The First Talon's new hit list.

Action

Forgot the -2 to draw the mana from the binding so it's only one additional point of damage to the structure of Leo's already damaged binding. Also paradox soaked as Resistant bashing.

  3 Resistant bashing from dox, 1 more structure damage from Siphon Integrity

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-07-30 22:24:03		Leo Lockheart rolls 4 to Imp Siphon Integrity (Prime+Gno-1 retry-3 Dox+2 HS) (10 Again)		8, 3, 10, 9, 9		4 successes
2014-07-30 22:20:56		Leo Lockheart rolls 6 to Dox (Sorry Ari) (10 Again)		5, 10, 2, 3, 4, 1, 10, 9		3 successes