Xanthe “Firebird” Alexandris – Silverline Session #1
The scene opens as Firebird is looking to get some photos in the city of Silverline. Using her powers of flight, she is able to get some awesome vantage points behind the lens, but she notices a creature rampaging down the streets. Snapping a quick photo of the creature, she sends off a signal flare using her pyrokinetic abilities, notifying both civilians to stay clear and CiCon officials to come contain the creature.
Seeking to contain the damage and keep as many people safe as possible, she throws up a ring of fire around the creature (Hollowbrute) in an attempt to contain it. (Unleash – 10, full hit) While the beast is contained for now, if not kept distracted it will look for escape or someone to attack.
Firebird recognizes this and flies down into the ring of fire, evaluating the creature; she notices the creature doing the same to her, sizing her up. While she has its attention, she moves in a manner of implied threat, not actually striking it, but making it clear she is a potential threat and aggressor. The beast lashes out at her, but at the very last moment, she uses her super speed to dodge the attack, leaving the creature to sink its claws deeply into the road. (Unleash – 13, full hit) Firebird notes that there has been a spectator crowd that has gathered, some of which are taking photos or filming.
Frustrated at his inability to hit Firebird, the creature turns its attention to the nearby civilian population and begins advancing. Firebird grabs it by the tentacled hair flowing from behind its bony facial area and attempts to throw it back into the center of the ring, but misjudges and instead is thrown into the wall of a building. (Directly Engage – 3, miss, Facing Danger Alone – mark a Doom track)
(Takes a Powerful Blow – 9, hit)
Angry and Insecure at being thrown into a side of a building (WTF and I should really have been able to do that…), she notes it about to swipe at a civilian and interposes (Defend – 8, hit). She gains influence over the civilian (TBD) as both her and the creature end up crashing through the roof of a residence (escalating the situation).
It was then she could feel it; the presence of the Phoenix Soul wanting acceptance. Time seemed to slow as she realized “Right now… you’re the only one who’s really with me, who really understands, the only one I can be really close to…”
A mom and two children watch as the gold highlights in her hair begin to glow and spread throughout her hair, to her eyes, and finally throughout her entire form, and she bursts into golden flames. She raises a hand, and from her palm shoots a very powerful beam of precise flame, throwing the creature out of the house, and creating a powerful updraft of heated wind. Terrified the family looks at her/them.
Looking at the fear in their eyes, she could feel a bit of the human reality coming back to her and time regaining speed. “You… don’t have to be afraid of me… I’m here to help. Fire doesn’t always have to hurt. Sometimes it can be warm…” It felt difficult to express herself in the midst of her powers like this and the words were stilted, but the family seemed to understand that she was there to help and felt calmed by her reassurance. (Comfort and Support – 9, hit)
Leaving the residence, she noted CiCon on the scene, and a woman approached to ask her questions. Looking to the trail of destruction left in the wake of the creature, she was more interested in following the trail to its source than she was in answering CiCon’s questions, so she blew the woman off in search of the origin of the beast.
While tracing the creature back to the source, she drew a lot of attention, and finally CiCon caught up with her, also following the same trail she was. (Assess – 2, failure) Displeased at her dismissal, CiCon uses a restraining method to force her to cooperate. After defending herself as someone wanting to help, citing her signal flare warning/help notice, and her actions to attempt to protect people and property, CiCon says since she is not registered, they cannot entirely trust her motives. Reluctantly, she says she will answer their questions after the investigation is complete, uncertain as to whether or not she is going to cooperate with them after all is said and done.
She rides to the origin site in one of CiCon’s black vans, which turns out to be an abandoned factory/warehouse that has a giant hole in the side from the creature’s escape. She goes in to investigate with the team, only to fall prey to a weak area/trap in the floor; she falls through, hitting her head as she falls, and is rendered unconscious for an unknown amount of time (Assess – 1, failure)
When she wakes up, she is in a portion of an underground Zeta spaceship that has long since been empty. People had been conducting some type of research here but the most recent set of notes was from 10 years prior. She collects some of the notes in a briefcase, and snapped some photos. It was then she receives a fiery vision of the people that had been here last, doing the same things she was presently doing, and hearing voices. One voice was different from the others, and almost seemed to be speaking directly to her, despite this being a flashback from the past. Unlike the other voices, which sounded like fire, this one sounded like the wind. It said the Zeta tech was not all understood by the Zeta, and was not necessarily tech that belonged on the Zeta world, or any world, for that matter. Firebird begins to understand that the Phoenix Soul was not something that originated on Earth and came from elsewhere. (mark a Doom track)
Having no desire to deal with CiCon again, Firebird looks for the way the former residents got in and out of the area. Finding an abandoned elevator shaft, some maintenance tunnels, and some various other passages, she makes her way out, finally emerging from a sewer system. Taking note of the location, she heads to Pythia’s shop.
The crystal shop Pythia owns has a part-timer working the front counter, and a back room where Pythia would take clients for psychic readings via palmistry or crystal ball. To get Pythia into the back room, away from prying eyes and ears, Xanthe tells Pythia she is there for readings/consultations. In the back room, Xanthe explains the situation she experienced and asks for Pytha’s advice in the matter. Pythia tells her that the creature was a demon, and pulls out a book published in 1948 that had the creature depicted in it. After some discussion, Xanthe is given a set of diagrams corresponding to demonology practices and instructed to look for those at the factory site.
Firebird returns to the factory and attempts to sneak in without attracting the attention of CiCon, but to no avail. (Assess – 4, fail) She is noticed by the same agent from earlier and brought into the back room. “So you came back to talk to me,” he says.
“Yeah, that’s exactly it,” Firebird replies sarcastically.
“Have a seat,” he says, gesturing to a folding chair in a makeshift back office. “What’s your name?”
“Firebird. What’s your name?”
“Agent in Charge. Or you can call me A. I. C.”
“Fine, Ike.”
He wants to know what she’s doing there, and she says she’s here to help. He asks how she’ll be of help, and she cites her earlier exploit in the streets. “If you missed any of it, I’m sure you can get footage from one of the people filming,” she comments dryly.
“Sure, you can fight, but we’re in the investigation portion of this now. How are you of help here?”
She defends her intelligence and sources, commenting that no one knows everything. She offers that she has reason to believe that they’re dealing with a demonologist, to which he snorts. She shows the diagrams, asking if they had seen anything like these at the factory. Clarence, another agent (who apparently shares a name with the lighthouse keeper) and scientist, explains that the diagrams match the molecular structure of a sample they have taken from the creature. It is also discovered that the creature has been left to starve to death, as it is not of this world and they cannot figure out what it can eat in order to survive. It was abandoned and set to lash out at its surroundings, and it had its own built in “timer” as after a few days it would die of starvation. Firebird leaves after giving a burner phone number to CiCon and getting Ike’s business card.
Xanthe returns to Pythia with her requested tiramisu and asks for advice on what demons eat. Pythia loans her the demonology book. Xanthe leaves the shop, and there is a shot of eyes watching her, as the scene fades to black.
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