[Crossbow]

O'Conner/Torley

Five of the six scurry out, clearly not interested in conflict.  The last one in the far corner turns out to be already gone, maybe four, five days.  The devil rats had already gotten to him, large chunks of of the best meat already gone.

Darrel and Ulrich appear to have squashed any beef that O'Conner could tell, the ignorant commentary at the heart of it more a  product of Ulrich's West Virginia upbringing than any real bias.  The term 'Redneck Shitkicker' was made for this guy, and Darrel is too much of a greedy little bastard to let some slurs get between him and his toys.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor yelled after the fleeing squatters, "Hey, you left something behind!" He shrugged, "Whatever. Maybe the meat will draw in some ghouls for next time." He turned to Torley, completely ignoring the body, and tossed the fast talker his keys, "Mind grabbing the supplies out of my car? I want to sweep the place for anything that might still be hiding. In the trunk is a backpack loaded down with liquor and novacoke, and a cooler stuffed to bursting with beer. The backseat's got a few folding tables and chairs."

With the immediate problem dealt with, both Darrel and Ulrich returned to their vehicles to gather the rest of their guns and ammo. O'Connor headed deeper into the warehouse to ensure that it wasn't housing anything else among the refuse and debris.

[spoiler=Perception]
Intuition 3 + Perception 3 + Visual 2 + Actively Looking 3 = Pool 11
Perception (Visual): 11d6t5 3
[/spoiler]

[Thvor]

Sam didn't show his annoyance outwardly--he was here to learn, and putting up with Con was a small price to pay for lessons. Still, it took him several trips to lug all of the "supplies" into the warehouse; by the time he was finished, he was already starting to work up a sweat. With an inward shrug, he popped open one of the beers and took a swig. Cheap drek but strong, he thought to himself. Better not drink too much or I won't be able to see straight.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor finished his sweep of the warehouse. Finding nothing, he called out, "Alright, we're clear." He returned to the group and grabbed a beer. He motioned Torley to follow him to a corner of the warehouse away from where Darrel and Ulrich were setting up targets for the makeshift firing lanes. He finished off his beer, "Training will be split between melee and firearms. We'll warm up by starting with melee. That way I can get an idea of your skill level, and then we'll move on to firearms in a bit." O'Connor chucked his empty beer at Torley to make an opening for a sucker punch, "Dodge!" After the first punch, O'Connor settled into a pseudo-boxing stance and followed up with a flurry of punches. Anyone with training could see that O'Connor had learned to fight from the school of hard knocks, but made up for a lack of sophistication with speed. He pulled his punches enough that they wouldn't do any real damage to Torley, but only just.

[farothel]

As soon as Marcus had gone off to school, Sammy went to a doctor.  He confirmed that she had some cracked ribs.  Not much could be done except to tape them, take some painkillers and wait for it to heal naturally.  Next she went shopping for some natural ingredients to cook that evening.  And she also placed a phone call to her contact at the Club to ask for access to the library to learn counterspelling and maybe someone to whom she could ask a question or two.  She also placed a quick call to James, her talismonger, telling she was back in town and would talk to him some more later when he had more time and she was feeling better.

Soon dinner was ready and now she had to wait for Marcus to come back home.

[Mercy Merchant]

Snow walks out of the clinic twelve days, seven hours and thirteen minutes after entering it.  Tommy has brought a car to take her and Andrew to their small apartment.  He has said he has no problems with Snow moving into Andrew's bedroom, although it does mean a tighter schedule on the bathroom and the available hot water.  Snow offers to toss in a bit extra to cover an increase in the hot water ration, which pleases both men.  The apartment itself is a bit on the smallish size, about two thirds the size of the place Snow shares with Pixie.  It is a ground floor apartment and has its own bathroom, a smallish kitchen, and a decent sized living room.  It had been advertised as a three-bedroom place, but the guys had converted one of the bedrooms into a small workshop for their equipment.  Both men look at her expectantly as she wanders about, looking at everything.  She smiles at them and says, "Besides needing some better curtains, it's perfect.  I will need to go fetch some clothes from my other place and I really appreciate that one of you has already got me a small dresser.  I would expect that to be you, Tommy, since Andrew has been near me most of the time."

Tommy snorts.  "Try almost all the time.  We were both worried, but he has it so bad he was worried almost sick every time they sent him away to get a shower and a change of clothes.  But, welcome home."

Andrew has been standing still through this, blushing a deep red.  "Not sure it was all that much, but I am glad that you are out of there.  Now, the nurse gave me some instructions about what you can do and not do for the next couple of weeks and Tommy and I are going to see that you do it right."

Snow looks at both of them and smiles.  Perhaps she really has found a home.

[Crossbow]

Sammy

Dinner time comes and goes, comm checks go unanswered, and after about 3 hours of trying to decide whether to say to hell with her ribs and hit the streets, Marcus comes strolling in.  His look is different, rougher, even though the clothes are brand new.  The piercing definitely is.  He stared at her for a second then heads for his room without a word, the challenge palpable.

[Thvor]

O'Connor chucked his empty beer at Torley to make an opening for a sucker punch, "Dodge!" After the first punch, O'Connor settled into a pseudo-boxing stance and followed up with a flurry of punches. Anyone with training could see that O'Connor had learned to fight from the school of hard knocks, but made up for a lack of sophistication with speed. He pulled his punches enough that they wouldn't do any real damage to Torley, but only just.

[/spoiler]

The beer, to Sam's surprise, helped. Largely because it dulled the pain--though part of him knew he'd pay for it later--but also because it relaxed his muscles. He kept expecting Con to take a break, or at least slow down, but his tormentor seemed relentless and tireless. After a while, the attacks seemed to start blurring together, and he lost track of when one stopped and the next began. Con had been watching for this, and smiled as Sam started moving on instinct rather than trying to carefully predict where he needed to be to minimize the pain.

[farothel]

Dinner time comes and goes, comm checks go unanswered, and after about 3 hours of trying to decide whether to say to hell with her ribs and hit the streets, Marcus comes strolling in.  His look is different, rougher, even though the clothes are brand new.  The piercing definitely is.  He stared at her for a second then heads for his room without a word, the challenge palpable.

Sammy sighed.  She was so not prepared for this kind of stuff.  But not doing anything now would only delay the inevitable.  So she went to his room and after knocking entered.
"We need to talk" she said, "but first, you want some dinner."
I specially prepared for you, she didn't add.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor feinted with a left cross, making Torley duck down. He didn't see the real attack, a right hook, coming. The blow connected with his ear, and sent him sprawling to the ground. O'Connor instinctively reared his leg back to kick him in the sternum, but relented. Instead he offered the downed man a hand up, "Good, in melee, reflex will always beat reaction. You do need to watch your opponent's eyes more. They're what will give away if it's a feint or real attack." O'Connor grabbed a couple beers, tossing one to Torley. He pointed over to Darrel and Ulrich, who in between bursts of gunfire were arguing over the merits of fully automatic shotguns, "Dodging bullets is a whole other matter."

O'Connor took a long swig of his beer before continuing his lesson, "By the time your brain can process seeing a muzzle flash, a bullet will have already ripped right through it." To emphasize his point, O'Connor activated the gun slide on his forearm, depositing a pistol into his free hand. He fired a round that hit the corpse across the away, turning what was left of the head into mush. Just as quickly as it appeared, the pistol disappeared back up his sleeve. O'Connor finished off his beer, "To dodge bullets, you need to know where they'll be before they've even been fired. Might sound impossible, but lanes of fire are actually rather easy to figure out. If you know where the enemy is and understand the layout of the battlefield, you can reliably predict where bullets are going to be coming from."

O'Connor finished off his beer and started digging into the backpack he brought, pulling out a bottle of whiskey, some shot glasses, a tray and the bag of novacoke, "Let's take a break."

[Mercy Merchant]

Snow lets Andrew drive her over to get some of her things from the apartment she shares with Pixie.  The other woman is not at home so Snow sends her a note explaining what is happening and letting her know that she has paid into the rent fund for the current and next month and will let her know if she needs to look around for another roomie.  After returning to the apartment she is now sharing with Andrew and Tommy, she unpacks her clothes into the small dresser and closet, both of them laughing at how small the closet seems with her clothes in it.  Dinner is a light meal at the Stuffer Shack down the block and Snow puts her hand in Andrew's as they walk there.  After dinner, they return home and she watches the guys play at one of the popular trideo games.  They only have two controllers so they switch off letting her play.

After playing for a couple of hours, Andrew calls it a night and takes Snow in to their bedroom.  She looks at him and smiles as she begins to remove her clothes.  "I know that the last time was a bit hurried and you might have missed things, so I will take more time tonight.  I hope I do not disappoint you."

Andrew is more than ready and lets her know with great fervor that she does not disappoint him.

[Thvor]

Sam gladly took a second beer, but didn't touch the drugs or the whiskey. Based on what his "training" so far had been, he had a sinking feeling that the "dodging bullets" training wasn't going to be strictly theoretical.

OOC: Alright, Necro--I'm going to be getting on our boat soon. Feel free to advance the training. Don't hurt Sam (too much). He'll gamely go along with Con, but won't do drugs.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor poured shots and cut lines for the group. He raised an eyebrow when Torley refused anything but beer but didn't comment, *His loss.* The other two did not have Torley's reservations about mixing booze, drugs, and firearms. Several rounds of shots and several lines of coke in, O'Connor turned to Torley, "Start loading those pistol clips with gel rounds. You did bring the gel rounds, right Darrel?" Darrel rolled his eyes, "Yeah I brought 'em. Don't see why though." O'Connor pointed at Torley, "Because we're going to be shooting at him and I don't want to have to explain to rest of the team why we need a replacement face." O'Connor returned to talking to Torley, "You should start loading those clips. I wouldn't trust anyone of the rest of us not to throw in a live round or two. Keep you on your toes and what not."

If Torley seemed bothered by the situation, he didn't show it. That was half the reason O'Connor didn't trust the man. He doubted he'd had, or ever would, see or hear anything remotely genuine from the face. O'Connor wondered if there was anything behind that carefully controlled mask at all. After the clips were ready O'Connor had Torley stand at the end of the firing range, "Like I said earlier, where bullets are going to come from is easy to predict. So, don't be where they're going to be. Now I want to run at me. If I hit you, you go back to the end of the lane and start over. If you can reach me without gettign hit, I'll let you fire a couple rounds at me. I won't dodge or anything. Ready! Set!!! GO!!!" So the second half of the training began, three drunk and coked up assholes taking potshots at the one sober guy.


Novacoke would've actually helped Torley.
Effect: +1 Reaction, +1 Charisma, +1 Perception, High Pain Tolerance 1

[Crossbow]

Sammy sighed.  She was so not prepared for this kind of stuff.  But not doing anything now would only delay the inevitable.  So she went to his room and after knocking entered.
"We need to talk" she said, "but first, you want some dinner."
I specially prepared for you, she didn't add.

"No, YOU need to talk.  Problem is I am done listening.  Look, I appreciate everything you are doing, but I gotta make my own way.  I will stay in school and do that stuff, but I am going to need you to give me some space to do my own thing too, that's all there is.  I'm done and I already ate."  He rolls over and puts his back to her.  "Kill the light on your way out."

[Necrogigas]

Torley's training session started out well enough for him. He got hit by the first round, but his armor absorbed the impact. The next three all got him center mass, but didn't hurt...much. O'Connor channeled his inner R. Lee Ermey to give Torley "encouragement." O'Connor had actually watched that scene from the original Full Metal Jacket several times for inspiration. The next round hit Torley square in the forehead. Despite the pain, he actually managed to dodge the next one. The victory was short lived however when the next round hit him in the solar plexus, knocking both the wind and consciousness from him.

O'Connor struggled to pull Torley's unconscious form off the firing range. After watching with amusement for a few minutes, Ulrich gave O'Connor a hand. The bear of a man easily dragged Torley one handed over to a corner. O'Connor hooked the face up to his medkit and left it to do it's thing. To continue passing the time O'Connor took Torley's place on the firing range, letting Darrel and Ulrich use live ammunition. O'Connor, being a badass and all, was left completely unscathed by the onslaught. It was a damn shame that Torley was crumpled up in the corner, he could really be learning a thing or two.

[spoiler=Torley's Training Session]
O'Connor - Pistol
Agility 5 + Pistol 4 + Smartlink 2 = Pool 11
O'Connor - Pistol: 10#11d6t5
3 4 4 2 5 3 4 3 2 2

Torley - Dodge
Reaction 2 + Dodge 3 = Pool 5
Torley - Dodge: 10#5d6t5
2 2 1 1 1 3 1 3 1 3

O'Connor - Net Hits
1 2 3 1 4 0 3 0 1 -1

Pistol DV - Base 4 - Gel Round 1 = 3S + Net
4 5 6 4 7 - 6 - 4 -
Note: AP +2

Torley - Damage Resistance
Body 3 + Impact Armor 5 + Gel Round 2 = Pool 10
Torley - Damage Resistance: 7#10d6t5
4 3 5 2 3 - 5 - 2 -

Damage Taken (Stun)
0 2 1 2 4 - 1 - 2 -

So with a Stun Track of 10, Torley gets knocked out on shot seven

First Aid, Threshold 2
Medkit R6
Medkit: 6d6t5 2 (Glitch)
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=O'Connor Dodge]
Darrel - Pistol
Agility 4 + Pistol 4 + Smartlink 2 = Pool 10
Darrel - Pistol: 10#10d6t5
4 3 4 1 1 4 3 4 3 6

O'Connor - Dodge (Reaction +1 from novacoke)
Reaction 9 + Dodge 7 + Improved Ability 2 + Ranged 2 = Pool 20
Dodge: 10#20d6t5
6 10 6 4 5 6 7 4 8 6

Ulrich - Pistol
Agility 3 + Muscle Replacement 2 + Pistol 5 + Smartlink 2 = Pool 12
Ulrich - Pistol: 10#12d6t5
6 2 1 2 4 5 5 3 4 3

O'Connor - Dodge (Reaction +1 from novacoke)
Reaction 9 + Dodge 7 + Improved Ability 2 + Ranged 2 = Pool 20
Dodge: 10#20d6t5
11 9 6 7 8 7 5 6 7 4
[/spoiler]