Wayward

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

Ding

The polished steel doors of the elevator parted, opening into the hallway of conference room level. Half to her annoyance and half to her relief, Talia's stay in the foyer had proven longer than she anticipated. Given the nature of her previous assignment, she had consequently found herself engaged in a persistent stream of conversation with other agents connected to the case. She had answered questions as concisely as she could in the conscious effort to make it to her new team in a timely manner; but, as was the case with Bureau business, one question lead to another, and one conversation inevitably lead into the next without respite. Now, having left another brief meeting to fill in the replacements on her old assignment, she was free to move on to her new team.

Still, sensing an abundance of hostility about the conference rooms, she tread at a less-than-hurried pace, taking the time to tie her hair back into a bun... a more professional look was always preferable, and that much justified the unexcused tail-end of her tardiness.

She needed no directions as to which room she was headed; the raised, arguing voices had managed to carry to the end of the hall, even cutting through the elevator doors when it had arrived on the floor. Even that, however, was almost minuscule next to the aggressive sensations emanating from that point, which, even back in the foyer, seemed to press its weight upon the facility. Thinking, then, that she might be of some help to de-escalating the situation(s), she wasted no further time, immediately entering as soon as she arrived that the door.

Stepping into the conference, room, she took advantage of a brief break in the discussions, and cleared her throat loudly.

@KatherinWinter

((Haven't been able to completely commit to memory who else is in the room. I'll get the hang of the tagging business over time)).

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

<Snipped quote by Wayward>

Not a thing

@KatherinWinter

OK. I should be able to jump in tomorrow.

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

Sorry for the absence after my intro post. Things got very hectic for a few weeks. Have I missed a whole lot?

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

@KatherinWinter

“Ah.” Agent Talia A. LeCroix emerged from the relatively cabin of a BoSA-chartered jet. Before her, at the foot of the fold-down steps from the aircraft, the tarmac of a government-access runway, and the span of airfields of Dulles International lay before her in the bright morning sunlight. Relieved to be on the ground, she drew in a deep, pleasured breath of fresh air, and slid a heavily tinted pair of sunglasses over her eyes. Lugging her single carry-on item, a small, weekend bag, she descended the steps onto the runway, approaching a peculiarly gaunt looking driver standing by a non-descript black Buick.

She nodded, hesitantly, at the man, who she noticed was holding a sign with her last name boldly written across it. Important enough for the jet; not enough for the escort. She might have expressed disdain with the lack of a welcome from the Bureau, but she knew better; whatever the upper-management was looking to do, it was something they were trying to keep on the downlow… such was the nature of the Bureau. It never would have made sense for an agency established to monitor the supernatural to parade through the streets in full Presidential regalia.

Nodding again, this time kindlier to the driver, she climbed into the Buick’s back seat. No words spoken, driver and passenger departed the airstrip.

A moment after, Talia removed her Bureau-issued phone from its belt clip, and messaged her supervisor:

Back from Boston, MA. Just landed at Dulles and in route to Headquarters for next debriefing. Negotiations in MA went smoothly, considering the brevity. We should have London’s support moving forward.

She stowed her phone back into its clip, and heaved the long-held sigh. She had hoped to make more headway on a case back north… a matter that she and her colleagues suspected was the work of a witch convent, which, as it happened, came up as she was assisting the Bureau in establishing a more international front with a similar Ministry in London.

But, that, she knew, would have to wait for the time being. Her supervisor, that is, her immediate supervisor, had only informed her of a new team assignment a day earlier, and set her on an early, private flight from Logan to be briefed on the tasks to come. “Sorry to spring this up on you,” he had said. “But there was an oversight, and they’re pretty shorthanded as far support goes; too combat-heavy. You’ll be much appreciated behind the scenes.”

Her phone vibrated. Checking it, she rolled her eyes, and then sent out a second message to her supervisor:

And we should put out a memo to the White House that Lincoln’s Ghost was granted Presidential Amnesty… along with the other first-family spirits. They’re getting riled up over it again.

The trip proceeded without further interference. She suspected as much, as the supervisor in question was likely also overseeing the new team’s integration. She would spend the remainder of her time contemplating the driver, whose haggard appearance left much to wonder about, and proved difficult to resist prying more into. When they arrived at her destination, she stopped at his rolled down window. Slipping him a generous tip and a business card, she said, “what happened wasn’t your fault. We can help you.” She turned about, up the steps towards BoSA headquarters, leaving behind a confused driver.

“Special Agent Talia A. LeCroix,” she informed the security guard. “I’ve been called in for a new assignment.” She presented her Bureau ID. Exchanging nods with one of the guards, she followed him into foyer, and awaited further direction.

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

@Wayward I can work with that.

@KatherinWinter

So will I be good to start posting?

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

@Wayward so I message you when I want to have something big to happen? That could be interesting.

@KatherinWinter

Yes. That's pretty much the plan.

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

<Snipped quote by Wayward>

As long as you PM me before using the clairvoyance and ask permission to mind read active character I'll approve

@KatherinWinter

My plan was more so to let you call the shots as far as green lighting points for me to use that sort of power to its fullest extent; like if there's an incident you feel would be well-highlighted through a vision of the future.

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

@Wayward you will have to be careful with telepathy. I appreciate the limit you added. But reading other character's minds, even NPCs, is will require approval. Clairvoyance is another power I don't really like. You will have to be careful not to direct the story.

@KatherinWinter

I understand the concern. Mostly, she'll be restrained to baser function in regards to telepathy; I'll hold back from using much more in pivotal situations, probably just using it in passing on randoms that I bring up for narrative flare, but will have little to no impact. Perhaps we could come to some agreement on points in the RP in which she can get information through mind reading and/or clairvoyance?

The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

For consideration, in application for an agent of The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs

Hider

Name: Agent Talia A. (Aryana) LeCroix
Age: 25
Species: Human; ESPER
Gender: Female

Weapons: Avidly adverse towards her personal involvement in physical altercations, Talia eschews most weapons in favor of utilizing her mental and psychic prowess as her primary defenses. However, recognizing the follies in relying purely on such tactics, she is no stranger to carrying small arms and other such items. In the spirit of her preferred form of self defense, she prefers to equip herself with concealed agents for subduing and incapacitating would-be attackers. These agents consist of drugs and toxins to debilitate the mental fortitude of their targets, typically in the forms of syringes, aerosols and/or light explosives as well as the more traditional pepper spray, and, occasionally, tasers.

Skills:

• Extra-Sensory Perception; since a very young age, Talia has been gifted with extra-sensory abilities. Through this 'sixth' sense, she is able to perceive and detect energy fields, such as those radiated from spiritual and psychic phenomena. Over the course of her life, she has trained herself in using this sense, and her skill at determining different iterations of energy fields from a psychological and emotional perspective.
• Telepathy; a diverse, yet extremely difficult pool of psychic applications that focus on the connection of Talia's consciousness to those of other applicable beings within her vicinity. The base function of this is to allow her the ability to project her thoughts towards others, often as a means of inconspicuous communication; given the opening and effort on her part, she may peer into the minds of others, though this is much easier with willing subjects. With great respectively increasing difficulty, she may also utilize telepathy as a means to the manipulation and direct assault of the minds of others; such acts require favorable circumstances, such as an inherently 'weaker' mind, a distracted or unaware pr unsuspecting target, or otherwise, one not in a formidable mental state, such as drunkenness or under drug influence. Though not perfect, she has gained some experience in banking on her own telepathy to resist telepathic assaults on her person.
• Clairvoyance; determined to have developed as the ultimate result of both her ESP and Telepathy powers, Talia is further gifted with a limited ability to perceive future events prior to their occurrence. Such an ability is limited in that the image of future events is often blurred and ambiguous, and, typically, only comes hours to mere moments before happening.
  
  • Amplification; Talia's psychic powers, her ESP and Telepathy in particular, can be amplified in their range and effectiveness by operating in tandem with external devices, such as wiring her brain into a computer network, or communing with a supernaturally charged artifact such as a crystal ball.

Weaknesses/Limits:

• Physical Deficit; Talia has no remarkable physical traits in terms of strength, speed, endurance, etc. She is, by all accounts of physical prowess, average at best.
• Concentration Factor; utilizing any of her abilities takes a proportional amount of concentration to achieve, depending on what extent she wishes to use it to. Increased concentration requires and increasingly one-tracked mind. Thus, when putting most of her abilities to use, Talia is almost completely invested in that act, leaving her quite vulnerable physically.
• At Risk Mind; because the manner of Talia's powers, in that they necessitate opening her mind to the paranormal, she can be considered at risk of such happenings as possession and other psychic influences when her mind is exposed.
• Psychological Toll;
• Extensive or heavy use of her abilities is enough to leave Talia mentally exhausted... at the very least. It is theorized the excessive use of her abilities, and the resulting exposure to the supernatural spectrum of energy, could even be enough to destabilize her mind over time. It is frequent that after such work as field missions, Talia finds herself in need of a prolonged resting period to soothe her own mind to avoid repercussion.

Biography: As a child, Talia was discovered to be gifted in the ability to perceive the supernatural. Over the course of her youth, she found herself brushing with various, unseen-by-others, specters and spirits; some were benevolent, others... no so much. Through the frequent torment of ghosts and demonic entities, and the gracing aid of more angelic manifestations, Talia grew increasingly obsessed with understanding the supernatural, and her relationship to it. Her journey would lead her down the path of psychic practice, and studies in psychology and extensive research into the paranormal. Following her graduation from university with degrees in psychology, she devoted her time to working as a freelance clairvoyant, typically contracted by small-time ghost hunters.

Eventually, fate would have one of her small-time, afternoon-TV investigations intertwine with a legitimate case of the recently formed Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. After a review of her legitimacy yielded positive results in relation to their own investigation, Talia was approached by agents of the BSA and offered a more substantial living to make off of her gift. Though initially skeptical of the offer's truthfulness, she was naturally excited to break out from the commercialized, pop-culture paranormal, and into a more serious field of application. Since that day, she has worked fro the BSA in the capacity of "Psychic Forensics" and in negotiations and deescalation tasks.
She often uses her ESP and Telepathic abilities in team efforts with more combative field agents, serving as a spotter in tough situations.

Arena Chat Thread

Can we call the cue for the end of the drama now? Maybe take it backstage from here? If people are in mind to leave here and not come back, then do it. Poking around in spite of the resolve to wash your hands of this place, just to keep up a petty argument isn't helping you or any of the problems/adversities of the site.