Ardiente 'Scorch''s page

She nodded as she adjusted the dials. The image zoomed in close enough that individuals can be identified. "There's Fi and James. There's my dad. I don't know who that lady is but it looks like she'd bossing people around. People look really upset. Oh. They're leading more people into the holding pen. More of my grandparents' victims, I guess...." She turned her attention back to Sighru. "Hey, is there any way to get sound on this thing? Or is it visual only?" she demanded.

Sighru shook his head. "No sound. Not unless we send a drone to that area to transmit it back to us...oh, fudge..." he said as Raelle's eyes lit up. "I'm not authorized to do this...."

The young monk looks to the tech "You might not be authorized to send out a drone, but both Raelle and I would really appreciate it if you did so anyways. If it helps, I will take full responsibility should something go wrong."

Look, I swear that wave of lava cascading towards the school is *not* my fault.

Doing just that, the lava bender looks to the screen "Yeah, you'll definitely need to zoom in closer, but you were right. This is a much better, and safer, way to see what's going on."

Hey, I never said she wouldn't explode stuff, I just said she would be here awhile.

Also, get back to semi-regular posting! We miss you!

As Raelle had Sighru showing her how the observation program worked, the other crew member tapped Ardiente on the shoulder. "Do you think this is going to take a long time? Velys is downstairs waiting for her and I'd like to let him know if he should go and take a coffee break now instead of hanging around," the large half-orc said in a voice so quiet it seemed like it was apologizing for existing. She let her hair fall over her face in a gesture that was familiar to anyone who had spent a lot of time around Vai. Whoever this woman was, she was clearly shy around new people.

Sensing the woman's shyness, the young monk smiles pleasantly "You better have Velys go on his break now. Raelle is learning something new, and knowing her, she might be here awhile." He says, placing solid emphasis on the last word.

Raelle brightened and then stopped, face falling again. "No, we shouldn't. It might make things worse. If there's one thing I had drilled into me over and over last night it's the importance of not rushing into things without thinking first. Come on," she said, getting an idea. "Lead the way to the hangar. James said there was a mission control center there, right? What are the odds that they don't have some kind of observation program running there? I mean, they have to know where trouble is so they can send you guys to deal with it, right? And I'll need to know how it works, after all..."

The young monk catches up his girlfriend in a big hug "Raelle, you really are a genius! Let's go!" With that, he grabs her hand, and they make their way to the hangar, and the mission control center.

"Well," Raelle said uncomfortably, standing there between the buildings after James's abrupt departure. "Not like I'm worried now or anything," she said with a frustrated sigh, biting her fingernails as she sometimes does when she's stressed. "I guess....I guess we just do what he says? Ugh. This is so frustrating."

Aridente sighs himself "No, that will do you no good. If we don't go see what he rushed off for, you'll likely chew your fingers off." He pauses, thinking. "Hey, I don't suppose you could either render us invisible or otherwise disguise us, huh? If James was worried about our safety, it might be best if we were unseen."

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean anything bad by it. It's probably just a bad habit you picked up from Ace. He's a nice guy, but not the best at the listening," she said with a small grin. "Nicknames were mostly just used to make fun of me when I was little. And even when I first came here. I tolerate James calling me Elle because he has nicknames for everyone, and it's not so bad. Nobody ever teased me with that one. Ra, Rawr, Rae, Rail...and the variations of those. They were all used in a mean way, so I really don't like them," she said, shrugging apologetically.

The young monk decides to seek advice from his cousin "Say James, if Raelle ever became a pilot for you, what would her code-name be?".

Once safely in the hallway, Raelle breathed a sigh of relief and slipped her hand into Ardiente's. At least now there was only one family member here to embarrass her in front of her boyfriend. It was harder when they were outnumbered.

Squeezing her hand softly, Ardiente offers a slight apology "Sorry for calling you Rae, I shall strive to do my best to only call you by your full first name, since you don't seem to really like nicknames."

Ardiente shrugs "After what Rae went through, can you blame me for being a bit overprotective? Besides, I should probably familiarize myself more with the mechs."

The cookie party was interrupted by a knock on the door of the apartment, followed by Jiminy poking his head inside. "Hey, just checking up on you guys...." he started before he was interrupted by Chara.

"James! We have cookies! Come share!" she crowed.

He laughed as he walked in properly. "Sorry, firecracker, but I don't think I'd enjoy them the same way you guys do. More cookies for you," he said ruffling her hair.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't just a social call?" Pyra asked, eyebrow raised.

"I'm wounded! Deeply wounded! Of course it is! And if that part goes well, I'm going to ask to borrow Elle for a while. I can do the safety checks without her, but not as fast and not as well," he said with a shrug.

Scorch gives a respectful nod of his head to Jiminy "Morning Boss, need me as well today?"

Pyra smiled as she gently picked Chara up. "Yes, sweetie. Less sad now. But sad comes and goes, and I will probably be sad again sometimes because I miss my little brother. But it means a lot to me that you were working hard to help me feel better, baby."

Ardiente smiles a warm greeting at Pyra "Good morning Mrs del Sol. I hope our kitchen shenanigans didn't wake you?"

What time of day is it for the Firebird bake team?

Raelle blushed. "I was so gonna be calm and laid back and not do this. I may have understated the facts when I told you I was kind of a math nerd," she said with a self-deprecating grin. "I may on occasion get a little bit nuts when things aren't just so."

She picked up a scoop. "These are for shaping the dough into cookies. Umm....it has to be these ones and filled exactly or they don't cook exactly perfect...." She put her hand over her eyes. "I'm just making it worse aren't I?"

"If your being some sort of uber math whiz is the worst I have to put up with, I suppose I got off light, yea?" Ardiente says as he follows Rae's instructions as meticulously as possible.

Raelle gave a forced laugh. "Don't be silly. I'm not that uptight! It's just....it's just...." And that's when her self control broke. "It's just that it needs 3 more grams of flour and another quarter teaspoon of baking soda and an eighth of a cup more chocolate chips," she muttered as she started adding ingredients to make the ratios right for the mathematically perfect balance.

Well, everyone has character flaws....and you just can't hide them from your SO forever.....:P

The young lava bender smiles at Rae's precision calculations "It would appear you're both the beauty and the brains in this relationship. At least I know that with you making sure the exact right mix is used, these are probably going to be the best cookies I have ever had." He says, trying to set his girlfriend's mind at ease.

Ardiente follows the instructions closely, but botches cracking the eggs a few times. He smiles a bit sheepishly "You're right, this is way harder than it looks."

Ardiente sighs dramatically "I'm so misunderstood." He says, barely containing a grin.

He stands a bit out of the way while the girls get everything set up, though he will offer to help if any of them appear to need an assist.

Ardiente grins at Chara "I have to admit, I would also pretend to be sad sometimes just to get feel better cookies" He says, with a chuckle as he puts on his apron.

He turns to Ignace "Alright, what do we do first? Be easy on me, as this is my first time." He says with a small smile.

Ignace's tears finally stopped around the same time as Chara's story finished. Raelle sent Ignace to the bathroom to clean up and headed to the kitchen.

"Hey, you two. Sounds like you're having a good time in here. Since Mom is still sleeping, how about we make a batch of feel-better cookies? Chara, you should go and tell Ignace that's what we're doing."
As soon as Chara ran off, excited about cookies, Raelle hugged Ardiente. "Thanks for being here. I don't think I could have handled both of them by myself."

He hugs her back "You're quite welcome, though to be honest, there's few other places I would rather be than with you and your family."

He lets that sink in for a few moments, then says "So, baking cookies. I don't think I've ever taken part in such an activity."

Lyn, was there any additional posts in the Del Sol house, after Ardiente said that Chara could be a great storyteller one day?

Ardiente laughs at all of Chara's outrageous suggestions, but adds them in without question. "You have a wonderful imagination little lady! You could be quite the storyteller one day" He says with a big grin.

Ardiente smiles to Fieri as she leaves "Thank you, and yea, I'll see what I can do to help out. Good luck, I get the feeling you might need it" With that, he goes inside, and greets Rae and Chara "Hey yourself, you're looking rather well. Hi Chara, of course I'll tell you a story. In fact, why don't you join me in the kitchen while I eat"

He proceeds to tell her an epic story of brave knights, pretty princesses, scary monsters and a happy ending. He does his best to sprinkle some age appropriate, goofy humor, trying to get Chara to laugh.

The young monk waits patiently outside of the Del Sols apartments, and once invited in, almost immediately senses the somber mood. He stays quiet, not wanting to press whatever might be going on.

Ardiente spent the night outside of Rae's infirmary room, as he was worried some other attack might happen. But also, because he didn't want to be that far away from his girlfriend. He had failed her once already, and he was damned if he would do so again, if he could help it.

Thus, he was there when Sorchan came to pick his daughter up, and offered to accompany them back to their 'house'.

Lyn, gonna leave off here. Let me know if Ardi would be allowed in, told to stay outside, or even asked not to come at all

"Glad I could help you not do something you would regret later, even if I was unconscious at the time," she said, squeezing his hand. "I can only imagine how hard all this is for you. And how much betrayal you feel. I mean, they're strangers to me. I wasn't raised as a part of firebird society. They're all strangers to me. And I barely understand the customs. But you were raised to be a part of it. And you really believed in it. And they let you down in the worst possible way. I'm sorry you've had to go through that. I wish there were anything I could do to fix it. But I know there isn't. Just know I'm here, and I can at least listen if you want to rant about all of it. And don't worry about sparing my feelings if you have nasty things to say about my grandparents. I probably agree with you. They're awful people. Really, truly evil."

He smiles fondly at her "Yea, they let me down, in ways I can't even begin to explain. I used to believe in literally everything they drilled into me. From a rather young age. And they shattered my core belief system, into a million tiny pieces. Then you came along, and helped pick them up, putting them back together. Both literally and figuratively. I owe you more than my life, I you my very being and identity"

Ardiente smiles a bit sadly " I have to be honest, I came close Rae. Like really close. It was only my thoughts of you that stopped me." He says quietly.

"Well, to start with, I can not start out crippled by being unable to use my abilities or call for help," she said, wrinkling her nose with disgust as she glanced at the psionic inhibitor that was sitting on a table near her bed. "I'm not using it anymore. Writing equations on the walls until I drop from exhaustion is not that bad compared with being helpless. But yeah, I definitely could use some self-defense training. Like how to get free when someone grabs me. Not exactly my strong suit there. Obviously."

"Are you sure you're okay?"...

"We need to find you somebody who can train you properly, on a daily basis, on a how to use your new abilities. And maybe you and I can set aside a time everyday for meditation. Along with the self defense lessons. Thankfully, the style of martial arts I'm trained in has plenty of counters and is protection focused." He says, trying to really encourage his girlfriend.

"Yea, about that. Uh, I beat the heck out of my former boss. I can't even stand to say his name at this moment, or even his proper title. Not after what he tried to do to you."

She shrugged. "Physically? Yeah. Clean bill of health. But they're keeping me here for observation just in case there are any complications from the ritual magic they tried to use on me. That's how they explained it to me anyways. Emotionally? I don't know. I thought my sister was in trouble, and then when I went to save her I ended up being attacked by a group of soldiers. I fought as hard as I could, but I'm not exactly the combatant type, you know? And when I woke up, I was in the infirmary being fussed over by my family and told that my grandparents kidnapped me and tried to do some kind of spell to erase my personality. So, yeah. That's gonna take some time to process. I hear you were pretty heroic with the rescuing and stuff," she said with a wobbly smile, reaching out and taking his hand. "So, thanks for that. I'm really glad I'm still me."

He grins happily "I'm really glad you're still you too, and you're welcome. I uh, got out a lout of uh, 'frustration' during the rescue. I think that was really good for me. Not exactly how I would have preferred to have that chance, but I'll take it" He takes her hands in his "I was so scared for you. We really need to start teaching you some basic self defense, and I bet we could figure out some combat applications for your smoke magic, even if it's just creating a smoke screen on command so you can then disappear."

It's Ardiente's turn to blush, at Chara's comment "Uh..I..um, wasn't planning on being uh, 'mushy'..but.." He stammers, as Rae's sisters leave.

He walks in after them, and sits on the edge of her bed. "You doing OK?"

Smiling back, the young monk asks "Is it alright if I come in? Your room is already a little crowded, and I can wait till your sisters leave, if you would prefer" He says with a slight bow.

Ardiente flies back to Avalon, lands, and touches the walls. He thinks of Raelle, and follows the arrows to his girlfriend.

I'm cool with just a summary and move on post.

::"I'm certainly open to suggestions. Boss said to not let these reach the building where the negotiations with the 'good' bugs is taking place."::

Ardiente sets himself to the task of trying to destroy the bugs, a bit unsure if he's strong enough to so on his own.

::"There's now three bugs making their way to building one. Two more just joined the first. Not sure the best way to stop them."::

::"Boss, there's a small bug creature crawling along the roof from building 2 to building 1. Advise?"::

Being rather out of his element with all this nanite talk, Ardiente continues to provide aerial coverage. Just a reminder he's around. 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (20) + 18 = 38 Perception

Shifting back into bird form, Scorch takes to the air, doing his best to provide aerial coverage like Jiminy asked. 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (11) + 18 = 29 Perception

As Fei goes about attempting to communicate with the bugs, Ardiente looks to Jiminy "What can I do in the meantime boss?"

"Could we disrupt or jam their signal somehow? Or otherwise prevent their ability to self heal?"

Using Firestorm to make 4 attacks for a total of 12d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 2, 6, 3, 1, 5, 1, 5, 2, 5, 2) = 38 healing

Seeing how badly injured Elektra was, Scorch flies down to her, blasting her with fire.

Do I actually need to roll to hit her, or should I just roll 'damage'? Using Fire Blast to heal her

Firebirds are native outsiders, and thus have darkvision 60', unless you negated that

Ok, so correct me if I'm wrong, but to make fire, I gotta make a firebending checking and hit the DC, right?

Should I assume my above perception check revealed nothing of import, or was it lost in the shuffle?

Reposting just in case:

1d20 + 18 ⇒ (13) + 18 = 31 Perception 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (6) + 23 = 29 Fly

Hearing that Phoenix was hurt, but not wanting to rush head long into an unknown situation, Ardiente asks ::"What should we do Boss? Are there other entrances we can come through, to flank or surround the enemy from?":: Directed at Jiminy

Lyn, could you re-link the map? Or even better, add it to the info?

::"Alev, you cover the left hand side, I'll take the right. Try to be as quick as possible, so we can rejoin the rest of the group."::

1d20 + 18 ⇒ (13) + 18 = 31 Perception 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (6) + 23 = 29 Fly

Shifting into bird form, Ardiente takes to the air. ::"I need another pair of eyes. We'll split up, and cover two different sides. Who wants to come with me?"::

Can I get a quick recap of who all is where? I know Ghalen has gone inside one of the buildings, and I believe Elektra is outside of it, waiting. Where are the rest of us? Is Jiminy there? On the way? Sorry, just trying to get some more details down, before I make my next post

Ardiente follows behind Fei, keeping an open eye for any trouble. 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24 Perception ::"Should a few us take to the skies to provide aerial support and fire?"::

Wait, I'm the shuttle pilot? Sorry!, I didn't realize that!

Ardiente is quiet, pondering all the things Alev said. It was an awful lot to take in, especially in light of what just happened with Rae.

As he wasn't hurt in the fight, he just hops in the shuttle and fires it up once Fei and Alev are on board. He doesn't say anything as they fly back, still trying to wrap his head around everything, trying to figure out what their next move should be.

Taking several deep, centering breaths, Aridente settles himself down. "Do not blame yourself. As you said, there is no way to have truly known just how evil the elder del Sols were going to be. Raelle is safe, they are captured and that is all that matters. Now, we should look into whether or not its possible to free Elektra's dad from the mind control. And find out if there are any other guardsmen, or just other firebirds in general, who have been subjected to that awful ritual." He pauses, thinking "What are the chances any of the other families were also engaged in mind controlling their guards?"