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 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 5:16 pm
Biathlon Field
A large grassy field enclosed by high walls. Around this field, a well-worn track wends its way past knolls, hillocks, and ditches.
At regular intervals are bull's-eye targets set onto poles that allow the targets to pivot and flip exposing a solid color reverse. The walls behind the targets are pock-marked with bullet holes.
Spectator seating is set outside the walls. These elevated bleachers are opposite every target site and placed outside any possible lines of fire.
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:21 pm
((OOC: Because of a day's absence and missing Homeroom and Lunch, I am teleporting Mana to her club activity.))
[Mana enters the Biathlon Field.]
Even before she stepped onto the grass of the field, Mana had cleared her mind of the distracting thoughts that had clouded it since the morning.
Mana cradled her Remington as she walked through the gate. She was the only one there. There was no one to even work the timer for her. This was a regular enough occurrence that she had taken to wearing a stopwatch around her neck.
The course was wet. She could see the grass was slick and treacherous, thankfully there were no drifts of leaves. Still, traction would be a problem. Run too fast and she'd be scrubbing out grass stains. Well, that was the game was it not? Assess the course and compensate for the terrain and conditions.
Mana took her mark. A few deep breaths centered her, taking her to that void between breaths and heartbeats. With her left hand she clicked the stopwatch on and ran.
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:27 pm
What Mana may not have realized was that Zazie had gone through the course not to long ago. Or rather, not exactly had she gone through it herself, but the six spirits that often accompanied her had done so while Mana and Zazie were in class. Since the two of them often played their 'games,' most of the time being the simple word dissociations, puns, and clever phrases that the two would shoot back at one another and grade by points, but today Zazie had increased the game interest a little bit.
Along the track, if Mana was to keep her eyes looking anywhere down at the track she was running upon, and take careful notice, she may see that some of the lighter parts of terrain on the track seemed a little different. Like it had been recently redone or paved over. What she didn't know was that Zazie had her spirits dig up three pitfalls in the track, all covered by a very well disguised tarp that seemed to match the color and texture of the track itself. It was nothing more than a joke though, the pitfalls being no more than six feet deep, ten feet wide, and five feet long, enough for Mana to leap the pits if she reacted fast enough, but it would surely make things more interesting for her training, that was for sure.
((It's pretty well disguised, but I know Mana has a well trained eye, so instead of fifteen, I would say the magic number is nine. Can you roll a 20 sided die for the post? If you get a nine or higher, she should notice no problem, if below, well have a nice trip~ Just thought I'd make things interesting with a dice roll. =3))
During her run, Mana may not have noticed the subtle appearance of the same person who had caused her memories to stir before like it had in class. It was almost like he had come with the very winds them self, not seeming to make a sound as he entered the stadium. He didn't walk far in though, standing poised in gate's entryway, but not going any further as he watched her from afar. He was still garbed in that long, black, trench coat with the blue turtleneck shirt beneath it, the loosely fit black pants, and leather blue cloves, giving him a rather unnerving and dark appearance. Oddest of all though was that case he carried, still seeming to have it since this morning, like it never once left the safety of his right hand.
He had been going from club to club to observe each and every student today, wanting to learn what he could so he could make notes on the more 'unique' students in Mahora. Thus far, he had seen mostly disappointments, but when he came here to find none other than Mana Tatsumiya herself, he had to admit he was pleased by this discovery. He didn't think she would notice him right away, and honestly he didn't care whether she did or not, but for now, he wanted to watch. It had been so long since he had last seen her, he was curious about just how much she had grown in skill over the past years.
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Urd Tanzanite rolled 1 20-sided dice:
5
Total: 5 (1-20)
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:34 pm
((OOC: Rolling the die and will post according to number. EDIT: Oh, bother... it's a fairly low number too, so this is going to hurt....))
As Mana ran along the track, cradling her Remington, she sensed the presence of someone behind her. Slowing her pace just a hair, she risked a quick glance over her shoulder. It was at that exact moment that she felt the ground beneath her give way.
Had she slipped on the wet grass? Mana tried to correct her balance, but ball of her back foot also lost traction. With her head already turned, wrenched her head around to see what had opened up before her. A simple pitfall, its sides were too far apart to help halt her fall. Seeing the bottom was clear of other surprises, she twisted her torso around. She was not about to fall onto her Remington.
With the rifle still cradled in her arms, Mana watched the walls rise up around her. She curled up slightly, tucking in her head and bowing out her spine and tried to relax. When she hit the ground, she threw out her arms and legs and let her neck uncurl, allowing the impact of the fall to dissipate. She lay there for a moment, the Remington laying on her chest, and took stock.
Nothing appeared to be broken. She wiggled fingers and toes. Everything still responded. Perhaps that was in part to the early morning rain that had saturated the ground causing the bottom of the pit to actually have some give.
Her next thought was: Zazie.
Since nothing was broken, only bruised, Mana saw no reason to lie there. She wiped her hands on her clothes before she touched the Remington. Then she sat up. While she could just leap out of there, she did not want to be observed by whoever it was she saw just before her fall. She would have to do this the way a mundane would. After slinging the Remington over her shoulder, she took stock of her surroundings.
Mana bent her knees slightly, swung her arms back and as she jumped, threw them forward and up. She caught the edge of the pit and quickly pulled herself up. Kneeling on the grass, she rubbed her hands clean on the wet grass around her before standing up, heedless of the water soaking through the knees of her slacks. She looked around for the man that had shown up just now.
((OOC: OK, that's my last post, I'm off to bed.))
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:38 am
((Night~ =D ))
"And here I thought you would have trained yourself to be better than that." Calling out from a distance, the blunt tone coming from the guidance councilor carried forward through the empty stadium. His voice may not have had much thickness to or, nor did he raise it to a shout, but the way this place was built and the dead silence was enough for his hollow voice to echo a little, enough for Mana to hear. The voice had come from where he was remaining, standing there in entrance gates, not moving from the spot he was, despite Mana's incident.
He had to admit, even he was a bit surprised by the fact that there was a pitfall in the midst of the field, but he was even more surprised that Mana had allowed herself to get distracted and fall into it like that. It was actually a bit disappointing to be honest, she had no excuse. At least, that was how he saw it. He was hoping that he had just caught her at a bad time, or perhaps she was just not paying attention, but Tatsumi wasn't the type to give second chances or doubts, so he began to judge her heavily by that one mistake, being quick to point out the negative, never being the kind to look at things in a better light.
As he remained there, pondering over what had just happened and watching as Mana recuperated herself from the fall, he took a moment, adjusting his glasses as his oakwood brown hair fell over the right side of his face, blocking it off from plain view, only half his face visible. It also helped hide the scar upon his face, but if anyone was to look close enough, they would see it stretching from above his right eye down across his nose and to his left cheek, but he didn't care if Mana noticed this or not, chances were she wouldn't recognize him. After all, it had been how many years now? At least over ten, and he would not have recognized her either had it not been for the fact that Negi mentioned she attended here earlier. He was amazed by how much she had grown into a fine young woman. But what mattered most was not how she developed physically, rather, what was important to him was her talent, and he wanted to see just what she was up to after all these years.
That aside though, he had to remember, he wasn't here to catch up on his past, he was here because he had a job to do...
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Urd Tanzanite rolled 2 20-sided dice:
15, 2
Total: 17 (2-40)
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:58 pm
((OOC: Rolling 2 more dice. Will post dependent upon outcome. EDIT: Well, that went well... Mana's not having a good day.
Straight rolls really aren't the way to go. I would have preferred to have conditional modifiers and also taken into account the fact that Mana is so much more accomplished than the average athlete.
If we follow the narrative, Tatsumi really isn't going to think much of Mana.
Of course let it not be said that I do not accept the consequences of my actions.))
Mana would have been embarrassed to have been caught out like this if she had actually cared for this man's good opinion. However, she did not care and continued along the course disregarding the course time.
What was important now was to find the other pitfalls and traps if there were any. Any that Mana did not trigger or disarm could swallow up or injure the rest of the Biathlon team when they next ran the course, which would be today.
As she approaced the first target set, she made the decision to pause and to go over the area. That she did not detect any traps however, did not mean there were no traps. She carefully shot the targets wondering if any were rigged, ready to take cover at the first hint of the unusual.
It was not paranoia if you knew someone was out to get you.
Mana found the second pitfall alongside the track just after the second target site. As the track was clear of debris or any helpful heavy stones, she had to carefully trigger the fall herself. She now had some idea of how Laotian UXO felt.
It was perhaps a half-minute later that Mana found herself staring up at the walls of the third pitfall. Today was not a good day.
((OOC: ShadowOfIce, if you want to comment.... This is most likely my last post for today.))
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:40 pm
((I didn't expect you to do the others, but that's cool. Like I said, normally it would have been a check of 15, but I figured giving you a modifier of +6 to make a 9 the needed roll was fair. Bad luck I guess. ^^;
You're welcome to challenge me to a dice roll later in the future now to dictate my actions. I at least owe you that. 3nodding ))
A long sigh escaped his lips when he witnessed her fall again. At this rate, he was just thinking it was bad luck, because despite how young she was when he last saw her, he knew she was better than this. Miscalculated traps or not, there was a good saying for people like himself and Mana; Expect the unexpected. But perhaps she was just letting herself get distracted, or she was having a bad week, or like all women, it was just that time. Whatever it was, he let his old feelings get a hold of him as he walked away from the entrance gate, and approached the field where she had inevitably plummeted into another pitfall.
Actually, now that he thought about it, just why in the Nine Hells were those there in the first place...?
That thought aside, he ended up reaching the pit she had just fallen into, and put his case down for a brief moment as he knelt down by the edge of the pit. He didn't say a word though as he looked down at her, and simply offered a hand to her. Whether she took it or not, he didn't care, in fact he hardly even knew why he was doing this in the first place, she could have made it out on her own. But he just couldn't stand watching her like this and felt like helping. Maybe it was just because he wanted to make up for his mistakes in the past, or maybe he didn't want her to think of him in a negative way as he watched her and didn't do anything to help.. But whatever it was, he felt the urge to at least offer her a hand.
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:20 pm
Mana looked at the pre-offered hand and after wiping her hand on her already muddied clothes, she took his hand. "Thank you." She spend a few seconds to compose herself.
In the darkening twilight, Mana looked at this man. The thought that she knew him from somewhere nagged at her. Really, what would it cost her to ask? "From where do I know you from?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:31 pm
There was a short silence from him when she asked that. He could have told her, but he knew if he did that would compromise his mission. Even if he wanted to tell her, the risk was too great, and he only took a risk if he was confident he would succeed against the odds. This was different though... this situation had nothing to do with his mission; it was just between the two of them, right here, right now.
But despite how he felt, he still didn't tell her.
"That is something I can not answer." Was his only reply, his blunt words carrying a sharp edge to them, almost like it carried a sense of warning to it like she shouldn't keep trying to pry or find out. He was sure that someday, eventually, she would remember if she searched long and hard enough. But he couldn't help her; he had to remember that there was a mission, nothing else. Even if he was taking a trip down memory lane, he couldn't let it distract him.
With that said, he turned around just as a heavy gust of wind blew by, creating an unsettling aura in th air between the two as he began to walk away. He had a feeling she wasn't going to just let him walk away, but despite that, he just began to walk, heading for the entrance gate without even turning back.[Tatsumi departs to the Teachers dorms]
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:23 pm
Mana tried not to bristle at the rebuff. She let him walk away. She would not chase him. She would not beg.
Mana was not having a good day and it was turning into a bad night as well. She was muddy and filled with thoughts of getting back at Zazie. It was not a good time for her to add more to her troubles by antagonizing someone that already had an advantage over her--at least one piece of information.
Did he know her from Bells of the Four-Note Scale? If he knew her from her NGO work, then it would be easier to track him down.
Mana waited until he cleared the gate entrance before she began her walk.
[Mana exits Biathlon Club. Enters Streets and Sidewalks.]
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:21 pm
[Mana enters from Mahora Campus (Streets and Sidewalks).]
After making certain she was alone in the club's locker room, Mana opened her locker and pulled out her things. She repacked her carryall, which now included her book bag and its contents. Items from the carryall that had been secreted beneath her miko outfit in the carryall were placed in her guitar case. Lastly, she shrugged into a backpack that she kept at the bottom of her locker. It was one of many overnight/mission packs that she had on the off-chance that she needed it.
Kitted up, Mana lockeed her locker and after slinging her carryall back on her shoulder and picking up the guitar case, she left, turning the lights off after her.
[Mana exits Biathlon Club, enters Mahora Campus (Streets and Sidewalks).]
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