The Three Demons

[albatross]

Kris is able to sense Dancer's power. Her strength is more subtle than the mega power of Peacemaker. Still powerful, but not a beacon. And when the lights come up and the curtain comes down, her power disappears, as if she were merely human.

Tiger gets up and leads the team to the lobby, where she accepts delivery of a bouquet of irises wrapped in blackthorn. Taking this bouquet, Tiger proceeds to lead everyone back stage.

Once backstage, the Dancer waves to them and a short, fat man ushers the mayor and some German celebrities away. The man introduces himself as Mr. Eliot. It is obvious that he is from the United States, probably New York judging by his manner of speaking, though he spoke passable German to the mayor. The Dancer introduces herself as Gisa Viatrix and Tiger greets her as a Captain of the United Nations Special Forces.

"So Daniel told me," Gisa says indicating the fat man. She seems surprised, probably not unprepared but merely disbelieving. "I will do anything I can to help."

Tiger grins, "We are recruiting candidates for the North America Trials. We need individuals with youth, agility and intelligence. I heard you are the top of your class?"

Gisa nods.

"Wonderful, and I hear you received A's on your correspondence courses as well."

"Yes," Gisa says, "but you don't mean you want me to fight the demons do you?" Her voice falters, squeaking a little.

"I thought you would do anything," Tiger smiles. "For now lets test your aptitude."

Tiger leads Dancer and everyone else back to the stage. The hall is empty now, and they have the stage to themselves. Mr. Eliot holds the bouquet for Gisa while she watches Tiger.

Tiger begins a martial art form. Legendary masters like her teacher sometimes created forms, or knew a form from their own masters. Occasionally, for one reason or another these forms were not passed on and the knowledge died out. This was the 111st lost form of Tiger Claw Kung Fu. Tiger wasn't sure if everyone who knew it was dead, but it had to be close.

The form was intricate and challenging. Not meant to stand on its own, the form was a continuation of several other complicated forms and contained original moves. It was mostly a hand form, but a couple kicks had the effect of exposing Tiger's underwear. She doesn't seem worried by this, after all the ballet dancers aren't wearing much more.

Finishing, Tiger turned to Gisa and said, "Can you do that?"

Gisa nods. And she performs the form. Perfectly, with each and every nuance exactly as Tiger did. Oddly, while she is very agile, Kris, Akane, and Tiger do not believe she is their equal in agility - yet her moves are flawless, a supernatural power. Kris can sense her again, and though she hardly looks stunning compared to the beautiful women around her, merely cute, she has a radiance when performing that clearly shines through.

She looks at Tiger expectantly. Now Tiger leaps to the balcony, then pivots and leaps all the way up to touch the ceiling. Gisa's jaw drops.

"Can you do that?" Tiger asks.

She leaps as far as she can towards the balcony and lands just over ten feet away or so on the stage. A good leap fora ballet dancer, but nothing like Tiger's jump. Gisa shakes her head no.

"Do you want to learn how?" Tiger asks.

"And to fight the demons?" Gisa responds. Clearly conflicted. She wants to learn the technique very much, but the demons scare her.

"Yes," Tiger says matter of factly.

Gisa takes a deep breath and nods.

"Excellent." Tiger turns to the agent. "You have your contract. Put me in touch with her parents."

Gisa glances over and Mr. Eliot shakes his head, "Her parents value their privacy. I will inform them of course, but their contact information is strictly confidential."

Tiger stares at him as if comprehending something for the first time. "Of course," she says dryly. "I wondered why they weren't listed in the phone book." But she looks away, clearly distracted.

Turning her attention back to matters at hand she hands out assignments again.

"Dancer, this is Dante. He will be teaching you to meditate. And this," she bows to the woman on Dante's arm, "is Strongbow. She will keep you in top shape. This is Kris, he has another assignment - guarding your new best friend Peacemaker. You two will be training together. You may call me Tiger or Captain or Sifu."

Peacemaker nods and says politely, "You may call me Eliana."

"You'll meet Jeckle on the plane, she is also quite busy with her current assignment." Tiger continues, "Akane, you will shadow Dancer. No other organization gets to talk to her without my say so. She is under our contract now. And make sure she is safe. No need to babysit, stay in the background if you want."

[shiivster]

Jeckle hums offkey as she works. she's glanced at the cell that her brother texts too and sighs and slips it into her inner pocket. He'll have to wait a while longer. this 'soft contract' on her has her wondering who would be keeping tabs on her.

*she shrugs it off and settles to work and keys the rest of hte world out of her mind.

[dakota]

Khris nodded politely at his introduction, but kept his expression blank. Tiger's assignment annoyed him, but he wouldn't tell anyone, especially the new recruits. The only good part was he was merely protection, and not responsible for their training.

[sasqaricious]

"No one else gets to her. Got it! Shadow her. Got it." With that she follows around the little dancer.

[albatross]

Gisa makes a short stop at her dressing room and changes into her street clothes. After years as a performer, she has about as much modesty as Akane and she quickly emerges wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt with a swan on it. A short, skinny kid with big blue-grey eyes and long auburn hair, she carries a small battered suitcase. She seems more unsure of herself off the stage and Kris can once again feel her presence a normal person.

She gives her agent a hug and follows everyone to the limo and back to the plane. Peacemaker asks her lots of questions, mostly about ballet and they both question Tiger a bit about Tiger Claw Kung Fu.

Only a few hours after they left the plane they are back aboard. Tiger introduces Gisa 'Dancer' Viatrix to Jeckle and soon the plane is back in the air headed towards Norway.

[shiivster]

Jeckle merely gives a nod at the second newcomer, and then resumes working again. a quiet 'nice to meetcha Dancer' is all Jeckle says as she resumes working. she wonders what Khris will say about the bottle, then realizes she really doesn't care. either he'll drink or it store it. either way its out of her hair now.

[Dome]

Dante mentally answers Bel, 'not much time for outings lately. When this is over, I'll take you someplace nice.'

Later when introduced, he nods at the girl and smiles at her, but puts his arm around Bel's waist pulling her closer.

[albatross]

The plane ride to Oslo is much shorter, and everyone gets in some sleep on the plane after landing.

This time Tiger selects her UN military uniform, and asks everyone to dress for a meeting with an organization of/for metas. Nothing Peacemaker or Dancer have is appropriate, so Tiger outfits them in some of her military fatigues. Neither of their clothing has any patches or markings to indicate a country of origin, but neither set of clothes fits precisely either. But the clothes aren't too baggy, just a little over sized.

Tiger has a revolver strapped to her hip in a cavalry holster and wears her retractable claws on her forearms under her uniform.

"This is a meeting with a shadowy organization, so you can wear what you want as long as it looks reasonably intimidating" Tiger says. "Weapons are fine, just keep them to something you can wear."

[Dome]

Dante had spent some time with both Peacemaker and Dancer on the flight, showing Dancer how to meditate and encouraging Peacemaker in her efforts. He would occasionally mentally flirt with Bel, sending images of them dancing in the fancy outfits, or of him helping her change out of her outfit.

When they land Dante dresses in military fatigues, collapsible nightsticks sticking out of his boots. The new staff that Jeckle rigged for him strapped to his leg. He also takes the largest broadsword he brought and straps it to his back with the hilt very his shoulder for faster drawing. A short sword strapped to his waist. He puts on the "Jeckle special" sunglasses to complete the look.

[albatross]

Dante finds Gisa to be very smart, with an I.Q. over 200, but her focus and willpower isn't quite as good as Peacemaker's. (I.Q. 21, M.E. 10) Nonetheless, Gisa applies herself diligently to the meditation exercises and already seems to have some knowledge of breathing and relaxation techniques from her study of ballet.

Her and Peacemaker compare notes and frequently practice when Dante is otherwise occupied, but Dancer did fall asleep at some point on the flight. Unlike Peacemaker who was awake the entire time.

[sasqaricious]

Gisa makes a short stop at her dressing room and changes into her street clothes. After years as a performer, she has about as much modesty as Akane and she quickly emerges wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt with a swan on it. A short, skinny kid with big blue-grey eyes and long auburn hair, she carries a small battered suitcase. She seems more unsure of herself off the stage and Kris can once again feel her presence a normal person.

"Young child. You seem not to have the same faith in yourself outside of the area of your expertise. That is at least what I can tell from obeservation. Yet you have no sense of the common persons modesty. I am surprised you do not put the two things together. Perhaps we can work on that."

[albatross]

Gisa merely nods at Akane's observation, deep in thought.

[dakota]

Returning to the plane, Khris was suprised to find the bottle in his seat. He tucked it in his gear bag before walking over to where Jeckle worked. He watched her for a moment, not wanting to disturbher thoughts. When she seemed to be between things, he spoke," Thanks, kiddo. i'm sorry if I was brash, you caught me off guard a little. No hard feelings. In fact, I got a project for you if your interested. He picked up ancrate of grenades and it vanished, replaced by his massive .416 sniper rifle. " This belonged to the first trainee I ever let myself get close to. I requesitioned it when he was killed on a mission I had no business taking him on. When you need a break from Tigger's thingamajigs, toy with it, see what you can do to improve on it. I'm in no hurry to get it back, so when you have time." He didn't come out and say it, but anyone who paid attention to him knew it took alot for Khris to trust someone with his weaponry. Just letting them see his weapons except in use was virtually unheard of.

He set the heavy rifle in a storage locker and returned to his seat. during the flight, he wasn't obvious about it, but he kept an eye on Peacemaker. He didn't approach to be friendly or get to know either newcomer. It simply wasn't his way.

Once they touched down in Oslo, he put on his battle armor, looking a bit foolish in sandals, but he didn't care. He lashed on one of his spare Colt Pythons to his hip to look like a standard issue weapon, not that he would ever use it. He looked at Peacemaker, " No arguements. I don't care what your powers let you do, you stay behind me and keep your head down if things get messy."

He shot Tiger a strange look, unsure why Gisa's presence seem to change, and he could only sense her part of the time.

[albatross]

Peacemaker nods, her eyes tracking Kris earnestly. "Behind you. I will do that." Kris noticed that while Dancer fell asleep a couple times just on the flight to Oslo, Peacemaker has been awake since he met her and seems to be constantly practicing meditating, starting conversations to find out more about the plane, their mission, and the other potential recruits on their list. And she doesn't just listen to people, she is constantly observing their manners and behavior. When everyone else is resting or flying, she merely practices meditating until someone wakes up.

This time a full sized van is waiting at the airport. Tiger takes the wheel and drives everyone about an hour and a half out into the countryside. Gisa tells Peacemaker what little she knows about Norway, but she has mostly spent time in Paris, Berlin and London.

[shiivster]

Jeckle simply looks up at Khris 'no worries. enjoy, i don't drink'

*she resumes work again, catching a sleep of a good 6 hours shortly after take off and is waking up for another go of the model parts while the others are off and working. as the others disembark, Jeckle is already at work and humming, off key yet again, to herself.