[The Mythic Scribe]

Mauve smiled as she heard Russell attempt at being polite. Cute. Madam. The title was a bit too old and matronly to be used to address her, and it was usually used only when you didn't know the name of the person you were addressing, but she appreciated it all the same. She also appreciated the fact that Russell seemed to enjoy the tea she'd prepared. "It's my pleasure Mr. Omhiaba. Please, ignore me for now and return your focus to the hopefully riveting game you and Nathan will play. If you need anything else, please do not hesitate." Sending a final smile Russell's way, Mauve stirred her tea absentmindedly, even though there was nothing added to stir in. A sneaky way to fidget, where the calming and distracting effect was the same while it didn't look like you were fidgeting. She'd successfully escaped reprimands for doing such things for awhile using that same method.

There was still something else on her mind though, the fact that Ismael still hadn't returned yet. Skhaos was always an eccentric type, and the team had learned to leave him to his thoughts when he wished to be alone, but Mauve still couldn't help but worry, almost to the point where she started tapping the side of her tea cup. Sipping it was a much better thing to do. Still worried though, Mauve looked at her wrist for the time, and when she realized that she was in fact not wearing a watch, her gaze went to the clock mounted on the wall just above the entrance to the dorm room. It hadn't even been five minutes. He'd return soon. Hopefully.

[Th3King0fChaos]

As Ismael's breath slowed his heart beat followed and he began to enter a Zen like state of mind. Nothing is thought of, nothing at all. Until an explosion of white comes to though and a large black bird with the tips of its feathers gleam with a rainbow of colors. It freighted Ismael out of his trance and left him with more questions than anything. He stood up and started to head back to his dorm with a leisure pace, contemplating on the meaning of the bird.

[nathan67003]

"I'll have you know I'm no pushover when I get into it!" Even though he most definitely preferred the vehicle-filled maps that came with the VCTF and Onslaught modes, he couldn't think of a good reason to justify the use of those game modes - for now. Within about 30 seconds, a local deathmatch game with no modifiers had been set up - random maps, once per map, populated by half a dozen 'noob' level bots for the sheer hell of it.

The game loaded and Nathan immediately started moving towards the rocket launcher pickup point. He had bothered to fully explore every single map to get that trophy, after all. Keeping watch for others, he managed to kill two bots without taking damage just with the starting pistol - the second kill was far easier, given the double wielding.

[MTNew]

"Wouldn't have it any other way!," Russell said with a fun intensity. As the game came on, Russell reminiscing about the past times he's played the game. He memorized every map in the game and where the best weapons would spawn in. He had been training for this game his whole life.

The game turns on and he begins to scope the map for the large poles equidistant from his location. The game begins and Russell starts to make his character bolt to his immediate right. Running for 5 seconds before halting and shooting the wall to find a dragon's breath shotgun.

[The Mythic Scribe]

All the while, Mauve sat and sipped her tea, occasionally reaching to pluck a seed from the pomegranate half on the end table. Games were not her forte, not at all. Technology in general actually. Fluores would've probably attested to that. God, she still cringed when she thought of the... eventful... setup of Ismael's birthday party. It'd been a nice party though. Fortuna even played the fiddle. Fortuna... Giving up on trying to understand how the game worked, Mauve sipped the last of her tea and put the cup away, grabbing her laptop in the process before sitting down on her bed once again. Opening said laptop, Mauve typed in her password (which she kept very, very secret) and checked her email to see if Fortuna had responded yet. No luck. Oh well, there were plenty of things to do when you had a computer on hand.

[Th3King0fChaos]

Ismael quietly opened the door and walked over to his bed and quietly sat down as he rummaged through his bag and pulls out a sketch book and starts to sketch. He starts to draw the bird in his image, it looks majestic now as Ismael adds the details and leaves the tips of the feathers blank to leave for coloring later. He then flips the page and starts to sketch a metal glove with a rose on it.

[nathan67003]

Far too absorbed in the ongoing game - the game's kinda close and stuff is flying everywhere - for something that's not even VR, Nathan almost missed Izzy's return. Well, the shotgun and explosion sounds didn't really help, either.

Taking advantage of the fact that Russell had just turned him into a bunch of bloody meat morsels, he uttered a "Damn. Just you wait..." while glancing over at Izzy's bed. He wasn't really sure wether he should say it or not, but the guy was amazing at this kinda game and also great fun to play with. After waiting for some sort of significant movement signifying the end of the, uh, chimera's first sketch, a period which spanned several killing sprees on both players' side, Nathan took advantage of the slight pause in his friend's activity. "Hey Izzy, wanna join?"

[MTNew]

Russell was actually beginning to have fun. While there were games at Atlas, he never really had fun like this. Especially on his first day there. He found it funny that he bonded with his teammate Nathan through a murderous video game,but he digressed. He was just happy that the flashbacks weren't as pronounced anymore.Maybe this could really be a new home for him!

Noticing that Ishmael had returned, he wanted to find a way to get his rather distant teammate to enjoy himself. Russell said, "That's a really good drawing, Ishmael!" He turned his head away for a second before he realized that Nathan had found his location in game.

[The Mythic Scribe]

Spoiler: ShowHide

Alright, so this is dragging a bit. Anyone have anything interesting to do? I can whip up a small mission? Or we can ask someone to DM a mission for us to be called on?

Mauve perked up as she heard Ismael reenter the dorm room, glad that he didn't wander off for too long. She was still lacking anything to meaningful to do though... She didn't really feel like practicing any musical instruments, it'd be impolite. Embroidery? She hadn't done it in a while, and her mother always said that it was a useful skill to have. Honestly though, Mauve could find it a little boring. She was good, but it was boring. Half of her wanted to leave and go train or something, but leaving her team would be impolite as well. Due to her restlessness, Mauve started to tap her index finger on the bed, though she stopped as soon as she realized she was doing it, clenching the bed sheets tightly. Fidgeting was also impolite.

[Th3King0fChaos]

Ismael answers Nathan in a small sigh as he places his notebook on his bed. He goes to sit next to Nathan as he said to his new teammate for complimenting his drawing, "Thanks". Ismael doesn't really like to have his drawing seen, and keeps all his drawings a secret, but Ismael knew that his new teammate was trying to get on his good side and he can appreciate the effort.

Spoiler: ShowHide

A mission would be awesome. It would give some bonding for the characters.

[nathan67003]

(Yass. Bonding. Character development. I'm all for it.)

Nathan didn't look at Izzy's drawing - he knew they were for him only to see - and handed him the controller he had. "Here, bugger's right in front o' ya. Start pwning!" With that, he went back to his bedside dresser, took a gulp or three of tea - why the hell did this taste so good? - and produced another roll and controller from the drawer, which he quickly plugged into the computer before installing himself on the floor, sitting with his legs crossed.

[MTNew]

Russell was having fun. He was doing pretty well in the game and he was happy to hear from Ishmael. He was starting to feel at home. Moments later, he got killed in the game. "Oh man. Where'd you come from?," Russell said, waiting to respawn.

While waiting, he noticed Mauve wasn't really doing anything. She went through all that trouble to make him welcome but he felt like he hadn't done the same. He quickly scanned for another controller. "Hey Nathan, if you have another controller, maybe we can all play together. What do you think?" He hoped Mauve would come over and join in. Maybe it could break her out of her shell a little bit more.

Spoiler: ShowHide

I'm down for a mission and some more bonding. I'm sorry for the infrequent posting again. Let's do this mission!!!

[The Mythic Scribe]

Mauve gave Russell a small smile when he suggested that Nathan find another controller so she could play with them. "That's very thoughtful of you Mr. Omhiaba, but I must politely decline. Video games aren't exactly my forte, nor are they something I'm particularly interested in, this kind particularly. I still appreciate the thought be-oh!" The exclamation was brought on by a notification on her scroll, from Beacon judging by the personalized alert that sounded.

Mauve opened the message, skimming over the contents inside. "Well... Team F-Rose, team Rose... We have a mission alert. Two choices, urgent." At this point, she got up off of the bed and walked to the front of the room, posture perfect as ever. She made sure that everyone was listening before continuing to inform the team about the message she received. "First, there are a few vacationing caravans that have gotten lost in an area that's known to be populated with a good number of Grimm. They called in a few hours ago to say that they were lost but alive. We would have the task of locating these travelers and making sure no harm befalls them. We would be accompanied by a former hunter or huntress from the closest village. Second, a village fell a couple days ago, terrible tragedy, heard about it on the news, details later if we pick... Some of its inhabitants are still there, but there's also a convergence of Grimm heading towards it. We would need to hold the Grimm at bay while officials and such escort the villagers out via airship. A hunter or huntress would accompany us and assist. Also, there are a number of combat-capable people there." Finished, Mauve looked up again. "Any opinions?"

[Th3King0fChaos]

Ismael grits his teeth as he hears they needed to choose which people to save. Then they had choose who they are damning. Ismael wanted to save both, but he they were unable to have that option. He nearly crushes the controller in his hands until he gets up and puts the controller down and leaves with a: "I'm going to get my gear".

[nathan67003]

Nathan smiled knowingly as Mauve explained why he hadn't suggested for her to join. Truth was, she'd pretty much never played video games before and preferred reading anyway.

The following subject, however, made him drop his smile as well as his attention on the game. Putting the controller down, he listened to Mauve with a blank look that few could manage, and gave his opinion when it was asked. "I say we should go to the village first, since we already know it's being targeted. After that, we could rush over to the caravan if nobody took up the mission." He knew Izzy wasn't okay with having to choose - so much was obvious by his reaction - but that didn't mean they couldn't end up doing both.