Chaos Theory: A Buffyverse RPG

Who: Elena Casimiro & Shiva.
What: Working out.
When: Week Six, Sunday, late morning. (I'm re-posting this thread to put it in the current week.)
Where: In & around the Pod.
Status: Active.

Becoming a Watcher again had not been the most fluid transition in the world. For years, Elena had put the supernatural out of sight and out of mind. Sure, there was the occasional cover-up of a vampire or demon killing at the NYPD, but otherwise, she had completely forgotten how to be a Watcher. She thought it would be like riding a bike, just simple muscle memory. It was not. There was so much to remember, so much to learn all over again; lately it felt like she spent all her time in the library, devouring any book she could get her hands on. Catching up with her peers was like trying to win a race after starting a hundred yards behind everyone else. Always an early bloomer in life, that was not something Elena had really experienced before. And around Beth, she felt more lost than ever. Training Esperanza had been so easy -- but that was over a decade ago, and Elena was no longer the same person. She was tough, hardened, bitter, and while Beth was a nice enough girl, she was not her best friend. Elena would never be the Watcher she had been before. Now she just had to figure out how to be one at all.

After finishing up in the library, Elena ducked into a semiprivate corner to change, her sense of modesty long gone. She stripped down quickly, trading her cargo pants for a pair of stretchy black yoga pants and her turtleneck for a sports bra. Pulling her hair back, she emerged to leave her clothes (and the duffel bag containing them) at an empty table before heading outside. Nearly half an hour later, she was back from a six mile run, sweaty and breathless and more at ease than she'd felt in days. The crisp air -- cooler than usual that morning -- reminded her of home; if she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of traffic, she could almost imagine she was back in Manhattan. Not the safest thing to do while one was out running, but it worked for a few seconds at least. As she stood outside the Pod, stretching her arms over her head, Elena glanced around. With all the people milling about this place, it shouldn't have been too hard to find a sparring partner. Even if it did mean she'd probably have to make small talk. She could handle that. For a little while.

Who: Maricha/Marsha Clellan, Leonard (NPC)
What: Opening the door between life and death
When: Week Six, Friday evening (day after Thanksgiving)
Where: Clellan Estate, Los Angeles
Status: COMPLETE

( fading through the door into Summer )

Who: Beth Holden, Angel
What: Pleeeease be my study-buddy?
When: Week Six, Tuesday
Where: The Pod
Status: Active

( Be my study buddy! )

Who: Beth Holden, Kali
What: Beth feels a little out of sorts.
When: Week Six, Saturday
Where: Entente
Status: Active

( Resentment by Edna )

Who: Maricha (Mod!Plot)
What: Distributing a few gifts
When: Week Six, day after Thanksgiving
Where: The Pod
Status: Mod!Plot, Complete

Maricha was smiling, and it wasn't pretty. Rows of razor-sharp teeth glittered in the shadows as she faded into them. One of the benefits of being rakshasi was invisibility. She had eavesdropped on Wesley's return this way, and now she was putting it to work for her.

It would've been easier if she could've changed her shape, but no. She was bound to change only between the outward human shape, and her rakshasi self. Luckily for her, the rakshasi's invisibility worked in either shape, although it was easier to manipulate in her true form.

The long-fingernailed claws clutched four shopping bags, tied with brightly colored bows and labeled with four names. The clothes inside the bag were from Edna, the enchantment had been strengthened by their combined magics, and Marsha was delivering them.

The first bag was bulging and heavy with nubbly, cable-knit sweaters in browns and grays. These she left on the doorstep of Rupert Giles, matching tag to nameplate. The second bag was incredibly light, and this bag was left on Angel's doorstep, woolen scarves, all black, with shimmering threads shot through them to throw a glimmer and shimmer in the light. The next bag was for a Slayer, and Marsha crept through two floors of apartments before finding the one that belonged to Beth Holden. She left the shopping bag full of jeans on the girl's door, and then took the last bag to the room at the end of the hall, that belonged to Davan Collins. Hooded sweatshirts, in a rainbow of colors, were nestled in the bag, and she rubbed her hands together.

The clothing had all been enchanted; each person received a special gift. Giles' sweaters were full of indifference, because who wanted to deal with the world when wrapped up in warm and cuddly softness? Angel's scarves were full of regret, each silver thread in the black wool another memory that Angel could not stop thinking about. Beth's jeans were full of resentment, boiling up in the denim and copper fasteners like stonewashing. Davan's hoodies were full of anger, growling and furious as the hoods hid his true secrets from the world.

Once all the packages had been delivered, Maricha fled the building before she could be detected.

She couldn't wait for the fun to begin.

Who: Davan and Beth
Where: Beth's room at the POD
When: Friday night
What: Davan is bored, too bad for his only friend.

( ... though it was rather annoying to constantly pretend to be his own son )

Who: Buffy Summers & Dean Petrado
Where: Pod Lobby/Common Area
When: Week Six, Saturday
Status: Closed & Finished

Buffy was taking everyone's advice, albeit rather reluctantly, and spending a lot more time wandering the Pod and doing the mingling thing, instead of being holed up in her room. She had spent more time in the training room working with the other slayers. And had even ventured to the library to do some research amongst other people.

But, right now, she was taking a break after having her nose in one of Giles' books for the majority of the morning. She was sipping on a cup of hot chocolate, flipping through a gossip magazine near the window, when she spotted a man she didn't recognize--and boy, there were a lot of those--wandering the lobby in bewilderment. She peeked her head over the top of her magazine, glancing around to see if anyone else was here to greet the newcomer.

After waiting a few minutes to see if someone would come to his aid, she set her magazine and cup down, smoothing her shirt as she crossed over the room to him. She stuck her hand out, a smile coming into her features as she said, "Hi, can I help you? I'm Buffy Summers."

She knew that no one would ever step foot into the Pod, unless they had a specific purpose or knew of what they did. So, this guy--who, she noticed as she met his eyes was what she would stereotypically describe as ruggedly handsome, much to her personal delight--had to be either a watcher or someone else hired to help out with their mission.

Who: Riley Finn and Spike {M}
What: Into the great wide open, under them skies of blue
When: Week Six, Monday night (8 pm & later for full dark)
Where: Marina Sailing and the houseboat
Status: Closed but Active

( His leather jacket had chains that would jingle, they both met movie stars, partied and mingled )

Who: EVERYONE/OPEN
What: Thanksgiving!
When: Week Six, Thursday
Where: The Pod Cafeteria
Status: ACTIVE GROUP POST

Of course they'd choose the Englishman to be in charge of Thanksgiving preparation. Because that had gone so well the last time. At least this time, Giles had made sure there were no cursed artifacts or magic books accessible to anyone, so with a bit of luck, there'd be no wild animals created on this Thanksgiving.

Still. It both annoyed and amused him.

The tables had been laid out, small round tables seating about six or seven a table, and they had laid enough places for hundreds of people. Some of the Slayers, he was sure, had gone home to their families, and he wondered if they'd be back. He'd hoped that some of the girls would stay gone, for his own peace of mind as well as proof that you COULD leave and not come back. But they'd planned for all the Slayers to be there, and Giles sincerely hoped that the holiday observance would bring no surprises.

Unlike the surprise he'd gotten that morning, encountering a brightly-dressed little Hindu man dancing in the lobby. The man had introduced himself as Devdas Sharmas, but the gold-flecked eyes that had winked at him spoke of a lot more than that. He hadn't even asked. He didn't want to know, yet, and Devdas-Please-Call-Me-Dev had clarified that he'd met a young god by the name of Dolos who had invited them to the building, them being himself and his wife, Ursula, who owned the club where the Halloween party had been thrown.

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose and had welcomed the hyper little man, and Devdas had glued himself to Giles' side after that, keeping up a stream of chatter that had finally ended only when Devdas' wife tracked him down and tempted him away with promises of Titanic on DVD until lunch.

He'd also run into several of the Slayers, had gotten a message that Richard had absolutely no intention of stirring forth to take part in "this ridiculous charade of a holiday" and had noticeably not seen Angel or Spike, which he assumed meant neither vampire was going to grace the gathering with their presences.

He was ready to throw himself off the rooftop and the meal hadn't even started yet.

The last thing he'd heard was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on the televisions in the lounge, and most people were still watching the parade before dinner.

Next year? Someone else was being festival organizer, because he was officially retiring.

Week Six
Monday Nov. 22 - Sunday Nov. 28th, 2004

Moon Phases
The Full Moon rules this week, occurring on Friday, meaning Thursday-Saturday will be peak werecreature activity time. The Full Moon is at it's brightest and this is a time of great power. Any Magick done at this time is directed toward the manifestation of goals. Incense Jasmine, rose Crystals Clear quartz crystal (especially sphere), white or rainbow moonstone, selenite, snowy quartz, white opal, silver are all beneficial elements during the phase of the full moon.

Adds
dean_petrado

Removes
notsorogue
crosskeeper
chaos_magician
slayercovax & wolvencovax

Please Run The Friending Tool
Because there is no IC AIM requirement, there is no pre-made buddy list. However, check the contact post for OOC contact information.

friend add chaosrpg_mod
friend add chaostheory_rpg
friend add chaostheory_ooc
friend add chaos_storyline
friend add rupert_giles
friend add sgt_finn_riley
friend add bethholden
friend add andrewskywalker
friend add inrazorkit
friend add immortallydavan
friend add vampirewithsoul
friend add _watcher
friend add bloodspeaks
friend add broodypants
friend add verybritish
friend add octoberwitch
friend add bitcaewedoe
friend add deathandbirth
friend add on_a_missiongal 
friend add elenamc
friend add artfreak
friend add ritchiearts
friend add theslayer_buffy
friend add bookman_price
friend add qareen 
friend add dean_petrado
friend remove connorreilly
friend remove theonegirl
friend remove theshell
friend remove primordialsmurf
friend remove thefelineone
friend remove pyleanmisfit
friend remove bitunremarkable
friend remove nathansliver
friend remove kaeo
friend remove rosewillow
friend remove slayednlaid
friend remove sonofthemoon
friend remove x_to_the_ander
friend remove notsorogue
friend remove crosskeeper
friend remove slayercovax
friend remove wolvencovax
friend remove chaos_magician

Important Information
1. Thanksgiving is this week, in game. I will be putting up a group post shortly, so that we can take advantage of the full playing period to make sure we have time! Since Christmas and New Years is coming up in the real world, our next week change will happen on January 11th, instead of January 4th, which will give us three weeks.

2. The mod!plot is moving along nicely, though a bit slower than I'd expected. But that's okay. Things are brewing, and once they start happening, I'll be posting OOCly to clarify and let you all know.

3. Activity is slowing down a bit with the holidays, but please be assured, your mods are doing everything we can to try and make sure this game doesn't die. If you have any ideas, please feel free to let us know. My AIM is havocdogsofwar, and I ghost (that is, lurk invisibly) 99% of the time because I'm away from the computer. Leave me a message there, hit the mod email, the mod dropbox, any OOC community post, or, just PM the mod journal. We're accessible for a reason!

4. The Thanksgiving post is mandatory, except for Spike (the Spike player has already obtained a pass for him). Everyone else is expected to "attend." Please be aware that if you do not participate in the Thanksgiving post, you'll be removed, because I'm using it as a way to gauge interest in the game.

ETA: A bit of clarification here. If you have multiple characters, it's all right if only one or two of them come. (For example, your mod plays Shiva, Giles, Beth, Riley, and two mod!plot characters, Wesley and Marsha. Riley is not going to be at Thanksgiving, but my others will be.) I realize how complicated it can get, and I don't want anyone stuck self-threading. :) The requirement is for the player, not every single character you play.

5. Make sure you are on the birthday list.

In-Game Announcements
1. The Thanksgiving dinner will be held in the cafeteria of the Pod. It has been catered, so no one had to be responsible for cooking unless there was a particular dish that catered to a food allergy or tradition that was not covered. (For example, the caterers did not make gluten-free dishes; if your character is gluten-allergic, they would have prepared their own dishes. The menu is predominately Americanized, so if your character has a non-American dish, they are welcome to prepare and bring it as well.)

2. The lower level of the Pod has been mapped, and is being drawn by our resident artist, Ritchie Eckerson. Each floor will be done at different times, as time and situations allow. There has been discovered a rather plentiful stock of building materials in the basement, including glass, brick, mortar, and framing.

3. With the full moon coming on, the holding cells will be opened (although I don't believe we have anyone in the game who needs them)

4. There are a couple of posts that need replies; I'm listing them here for brevity:
Elena's looking for a sparring partner
Kali & Shiva are looking for signs of life in the Pod

Who: Shiva, Kali, Open
What: Approaching the Pod
Where: LA County Jail, Pod building
When: Week Five, day one
Notes: Initially, the thread had been in Week Four, but in waiting for another player that eventually had to be removed, the thread got delayed, and is now set on the last day of Week Four and the first day of Week Five

Shiva had countered his wife's musical selections with Jailhouse Rock, Sixteen Tons, and A Hard Day's Night as they'd broken him out. Perhaps it'd been an unjust use of his magic, but by the time Shiva and Kali had left the Los Angeles jail, the cops were singing along and waving at them as they'd left.

He had not had this much fun since Woodstock, and he remembered that with great fondness. There had been more than enough music and dancing, more than enough happiness--both genuine and drug-induced--to keep him sated for three decades.

Back in the park where this had all started, Shiva stopped in his running long enough to take off his boots, tie them together by the strings, and sling them over his shoulder. Barefoot suited him much more, and he shook his head at Kali. "We really must introduce ourselves; if they are searching for demons, then they are well on their way to discovering us," he pointed out. "Shall we show them who we truly are, or save that for another day?"

Who: Beth Holden, Buffy Summers
What: Bumping into each other
When: Week Five, Day Six
Where: training area, the Pod
Status: Closed but Active

Beth had always done well with knives, so long as she didn't actually have to throw them. Skinning a carcass? No problem. Slitting a demon's throat and bleeding it? Also not a problem. Cutting particular organs out? Again, not a problem.

Throwing a knife and hitting a target? That's where Beth's problem lay.

Elena had suggested she find something physically taxing to exhaust herself during the day, and combine the tiredness from that with the herbal potion Giles had been handing out to help push the Slayer dreams to the back of her mind. So far, it had been working, although today's exercise--working on knife-throwing--was not getting her anything except frustrated.

Growling, she walked up to the target and yanked out the four knives she'd been using, and carried them back to the throw line. Someone had been smart enough to put up a couple of glass enclosures so no knives went astray in the throwing, but even so, Beth looked both ways before taking the knife by the blade and tossing it at the bulls-eye, which was hidden by a crudely drawn face with a shock of blond hair and a pair of uneven fangs.

That had been Tabby's suggestion; make the target someone you didn't like too much, and it'd make the practice fun. Of course, not as much fun as it would've been actually stabbing Spike in the face, but it was enough fun to balance out the frustration. Three more knives flew in quick succession, but none of them were hitting between the eyes. Maybe she should've started with some of the smaller knives, but the Bowie and the skinning knives were the ones she was most comfortable with, so that's what she'd started with.

Who: Andrew and Ainsley
When: Friday afternoon
Where: POD
What: 'The time thing'

( He totally hadn't been waiting for the weekend like a kid waiting for christmas... )

Who: Riley Finn and Spike
What: It's a surprise
When: Week Five, Friday Night
Where: The Pod, the car, and the Marina at Marina del Rey

- - -

Riley had rented a convertible. It was only a twenty minute drive, but Riley didn't want to walk the roughly twenty-five miles. So he rented a big black convertible for the ride. The sun had just gone down, and both bottles of liquor he'd bought earlier were in a bag in the back seat, along with a couple of glasses and a pack of cigarettes for Spike.

Parking in the Pod's parking deck, Riley took the elevator up from the garage to the top floor. Someone had posted a list of names on a blackboard, and Riley followed the arrows down to the far end of the corridor, and pounded on the door with the gold "Spike" nameplate on it. "Open up, blondie bear," he sang out.

Who: Ainsley and Andrew
What: First Meeting
When: Week Five, Day Four (noon)
Where: Library

Who: Wesley (Open to everyone)
What: Homecoming Time
When: Week Five, Day Two (afternoonish)
Where: the Pod, formerly known as Wolfram & Hart

---

"Everything's changed," he said to the woman on his arm. Marsha was looking around eagerly, taking in the new lobby as Wesley looked around and tried to re-orient himself. He'd imagined that when Marsha told him the building was still standing, that it would've been exactly the same as he remembered it. But it wasn't. The stairways were in different places, the style of the lobby was different, the plants and small trees were gone, even the elevator doors were stainless steel now instead of warm wood paneling.

"That's okay," Marsha murmured, rubbing her hand over his forearm. "You said Angel had an office here once upon a time?" she asked again, keeping her voice quiet as she directed his thoughts with her questions.

"Oh, yes, he did. Perhaps we'll start there. Harmony had a desk on the same floor, then there was a stairway with a landing up to the office. Hopefully that's still the case, if Angel is still here."

"He is, Wesley, we checked, remember? The driver came in last week and asked... some young girl that was running about, identified herself as a Slayer, whatever that means, and said that Angel was still in charge."

Wesley gave an impatient jerk of his head as they waited for the elevator. "No, I meant if Angel's office is in the same place."

Marsha didn't say anything to that, just followed Wesley onto the elevator once it arrived. When the doors opened again, the layout was the same as Wesley had remembered it, but that was all that was the same.

There were young girls, from teenagers up to young adults, milling around the landing. Some were laughing and talking, others jostled around him and Marsha to get to the elevators, even more were jogging up and down the stairs to the landing, going God only knew where. "Good Lord, it's true," he murmured, half-shocked. "I can't believe Angel is letting his building be overrun by the Slayers, especially after how shabbily Buffy and Andrew treated him over the last Slayer we captured."

Marsha quietly slipped her hand off his elbow and faded away into the woodwork--literally. Her body melded with the wood grain so that she was completely invisible, observing Wesley in the "new" enviroment.

Wesley was looking around, looking for a familiar face and hoping to see one sooner rather than later, because the sudden appearance of so many new faces, when he'd been expecting quiet and familiarity, was making him a bit light-headed. He hadn't even realized that his friend Marsha had disappeared, because he was rather too busy gaping at everything and everyone as he wandered over to what had been Harmony's desk, and took a seat behind it.

All her unicorns were gone, there was no sign of her pink feathered pen, even Angel's #1 Boss mug was gone. He ran his fingertips over the desk blotter, trying to pick up vibrations of what had gone on before, but the noise of the Slayers rambling in front of him was too much. He moved out from behind the desk and just stood at the base of the stairs, looking around curiously.

Who: Wesley Wyndham-Price, Marsha Clellan, Edna
What: Wesley says goodbye to his new friends and gets ready to return to his old friends
When: Day Two, Week Five
Where: Clellan Estate and limousine
Status: Complete

( The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things...  )

Hi, I'm back! My aunt sent food back with me, more than I can eat, so I'm sticking it down in the fridge for anyone to try. There's half a pig's worth of pork ribs, there's pork and beef barbecue with spicy sauce, two and a half pounds of brisket, and enough quesadillas to feed Pharaoh's army. There's also two dozen cookies. Davan, I've brought you back a UT Longhorns hoodie, gray with the Longhorns on the front, and yes, you HAVE to wear it. At least once, because you can't be friends with a Texas girl and not love the Longhorns! I'll drop it off a little later this weekend. If anyone needs me, I'll be at the Huntley Arms, 212, cleaning and oiling my guns before I lock them back up in the gun safe. Just uh... announce yourself so you don't get shot by accident.

Who: Andrew and Spike
Where: Around the POD building.
When: Saturday afternoon.
What: failed avoidance, mostly.

( Running, jumping, climbing trees )

Who: Riley Finn
What: last boating lessons
When: Week Five, Friday morning
Where: Marina Sailing, Marina Del Rey, CA
Status: complete

( Captain Finn )