Zoey Boey

World of Light

Image I really wanted to use but couldn't shrink so it's really big

Kasugano Sakura

Level 3: 15/30
Location: The Blue Sea.
Word Count: 936
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Level 3: 17/30

Sakura's jump in was predicted, and she braced for impact. "Oof!" Sakura inhaled sharply after grunting, involuntarily trying to get the air back in her system. Sakura landed on the water and took a few steps forward before realising the Water Princess was aiming right at her. Sakura braced herself for impact when Ranger came into the rescue. A drop kick! The shot went wide!

Sakura's grin faded when Seaplane Tender smacked the brave shipgirl down under the water. Sakura's lips became a thin, grim line. She really didn't like this big pale monster. Taking the opportunity, Sakura leapt forward and gave the Water Princess a Sakura Otoshi, smacking her three times in the back of the head with her double fisted hammer fists. "Ichi, ni,-san!"

As she came down to land though, her torso was slammed into by the mighty metallic tail. Sakura cried out and then gasped as she stumbled backwards. Another yellow spark of ki prevented her from getting splattered, and she felt like she still had quite a ways to go when it came to health. But still, that hurt a lot. And things only got worse.

Sakura was tossed off her feet by the myriad explosions, yelping in surprise. She felt the heat and the burn, and the concussive force suck the air out of her lungs. She scrambled to her feet, winded. The brown-haired teenager rose to her feet. She turned her head to the side and spat into the water and wiped her mouth. She had a split lip, and her ribs would probably be bruised. The alternative would be permanent damage, but her martial arts training was coming in handy. Even if she felt more fragile as a cat girl, she could still tank quite a few hits.

Sakura glanced around. Everyone was gone, except for Ranger, herself, and...Geralt-san? He had come into the water to help! Fortunately she could probably just pick him up.

"Okay! It's time to escape! Hey you, ship girl!" She pointed to Ranger, who Sakura had still not learned the name of. "Could you go pick up that white haired old guy and get him outta here? Maybe get onto that ship?" She pointed the swimming Geralt out, and then she gestured to the Atomos flying overhead. "I'll be right behind you!" She assured her with a smile.

Sakura then floated forward, making herself the nearest target to the Seaplane Tender. Sakura glared at the incoming bombers. Then she jabbed a finger at the Seaplane Tender. "And you! I think your hat looks stupid!" At that point, Sakura activated the Haru Arashi V-trigger. Releasing the built up energy in her spirit into an upgrade form of herself.

"You're in for it, now!" She declared. She pumped a fist into the air. There was a few circling swirls of pinkish, petal-like energy, before they settled into dark blue glowing energy in her palms.

The result was that her fireballs became more than twice as potent. They travelled faster and farther. They did twice as much damage, but many times more explosive force. Even Ryu would get knocked off his feet if he took one of them! Meaning that blocking them would be very annoying because they'd still knock their target back and around a bit. Her zoning pressure just went through the roof! And she unlocked the Hogosho, a defensive ability that allows her to channel her energy into a short ranged, long-lasting blast that was great for swatting enemy projectiles out of the air.

"Hado! Hado! Hado! Hado!" Sakura began firing off her fireballs at a rapid rate, evidence by the fact that she longer had time to complete the signature callout. The first were dedicated to dealing with the bombers. The large size of the projectiles and their increased durability meant they could knock several out of the air at a time. Even the weakest Hadokens ate bullets for breakfast, let alone these oversized toy planes! She changed up the timing on the fifth one. "HadoKEN!" This one was three times as powerful as her normal fireball.

If the Seaplane Tender got close, Sakura would use her EX Shouoken technique, a wicked fast series of uppercuts. The first one zoomed her quickly low over the ground making her nearly impossible to hit unless one predicted the move entirely.

And all the while she was firing off cannons and torpedoes. They roared with each subconscious activation of the harness. Sharp cracks and the whistle of a cannon shell. For the next thirty seconds Sakura became a stationary turret of ranged, projectile destruction. All of it let loose in the Seaplane Tender's direction. The enemy would probably find the attacks much easier to avoid if she merely flew backward as far as she could, letting the Hadokens sputter out and lose speed, and reducing the accuracy of her cannon fire. Fortunately, that was exactly what Sakura wanted. Keep the Water Princess away, so that she and her friends could make their speedy retreat. If the Water Princess felt brave enough she could try to wade through the saturation fire, the fireballs only becoming more dangerous the closer she got to the street fighting ship girl.

She hoped it would be enough. All she wanted right now was for her and her new friends to get to safety. If Geralt or Ranger or Junior or Kamek got hurt on her account she wouldn't know if she would be able to forgive herself. Sweat dripped down her forehead, and her face was one of intense concentration.

Blood's Jewels (High Casual Fantasy Revolution)

Outside of Winton --> Into the Cave

Dareen blew some air between her lips as Mikhail stalked out of the cavern, watching him go. That did actually succeed in making the situation less tense, though, because he was clearly in a bad mood. Jandar seemed completely reasonable, which was good.

Dareen chuckled as Fatima said the honest truth that she didn't plan on being any less 'foolish' or 'reckless' any time soon. Poor Jandar was probably going to have a heart attack. Saetan, though, was caught up on something. She had heard him mention it a few times now. A draw. A lure. Beset upon her by a Black Widow. Would Faeril do such a thing? Dareen wasn't sure. She also wasn't convinced, for one key reason. Men and women had an...interesting dynamic, in Blood culture. One that she, in the Crimson Sunrise, didn't participate much in. Sure, she had laid with men before but these Warlord Princes and Queens and Witches in most of the world took it to a whole other level. She could feel the tension between Saetan and Fatima. They looked like they were going to start making out any second now. So that, Dareen reasoned, might be something Saetan was wary of. That a Black Widow (Faeril) was manipulating all their minds.

The mercenary wasn't convinced, and she decided to speak her mind. "Okay, look," Dareen said, crossing her arms and leaning towards Saetan. Her tone of voice and manner of speaking felt utterly 'lower class' compared to everyone else in the room.

"I'm also 'drawn' to Fatima. And I'm a straight woman who it seems like you haven't really noticed yet. I don't think there's some passive mind control lure or whatever trapping all these men in. I think, and hear me out, they all just like Fatima." Dareen shrugged, frowning.

"And, y'know, what's not to like? She's nice, she's funny, and pretty, and brave and generous. So I think, even if there is some magical lure, that everyone here isn't just gonna up and leave or suddenly hate her guts." Dareen said.

"Don't uh," She squint-smiled at Fatima. "Let it get to your head or anything."

Describe the person above you in three words or less.

hates his dad

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Pandora glanced between Powers and the ball as he talked. He had decidedly ignored her warnings and decided to trust her with his currently secret mission anyway. She scratched at the bare small of her back, her ample exposed skin warmed in the sun. Getting briefed was something she hadn't done in a while.

”...It is my belief that the organization known as Zero, a nefarious group of villains hellbent on world domination..." Hugo said. Pandora chuckled at this.

As Powers mentioned it was her go, Pandora furrowed her eyebrows and lined up a shot. The ball rolled wide and missed the wicket she was aiming at entirely. The british woman frowned. "It's a bloody French game, anyway." She mumbled. She repositioned on the grass and sighed.

She gestured in assention at the Director. "Well, of course I'll take you up on it. I've no intention of spending time with a bunch of drunk children. Sounds like a nightmare." She said.

Brooke

Brooke deflated at Christina's laugh. The towering knight laughed half-heartedly in agreement before vanishing. Brooke shrank down to her original size. No longer elevated by armor she sat back down in her chair and considered Christina's words. Both about her disguise, and the nature of the Black Baron's cruel ability. She flipped through the mentioned dossier and went quiet. Her brown eyes devoured the written information with renewed vigor. Calmer, she was, in the presence of written information.

Christina mentioned the idea of a hostage. Without looking up Brooke raised a hand like she was in school. Then she sat it down and wasn't sure what to do with it. "Me. I'll do it." She said.

"I mean, I'm a terrible actress. I'll be nervous anyway. My weakness is if I can't see, I can't use my light power. So my capture is uh, more believable, I guess, than some other people. I tried to keep my weakness a secret, b-but, I found people talking about it on the internet so the word is out." She admitted.

"And, y'know, besides. I've got the most experience out of this team, so if anyone should get the tough job it should be me. And my armor will let me go toe-to-toe with the Baron without letting him draw blood as easy." Brooke explained. "Not that that's going to happen. But if I'm one of the only known goodies on a ship full of baddies I imagine someone might try to poke at me a little. But I can handle it." She smile wide, revealing her chipped front tooth. She sat straighter and prouder, assured of her stance and role in the mission.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

Brooke

Brooke was feeling kind of nervous. Which wasn't exactly unheard of. She had lost all of her momentum and many of the people she had succeeded in introducing herself too were now near the equator and she was once again in a room filled with mostly strangers. Bad luck. She adjusted her glassed and then stuffed her hands into her zipped up green hoodie. Everything was a little chillier on the east coast compared to the west coast. So she was having to adapt to that. Not like she would complain out loud though, lest she be subjected to a thousand years of "You think THIS is cold!?". She would just keep it to herself.

Much like she should probably keep her thoughts about this plan to herself. Brooke shifted uncomfortably, glancing around to gauge the others reactions. Patricia Donnelly, the superhero who was made the focus of the recent coup, immediately seemed onboard. Brooke wrinkled her nose. The man who called himself Alpha seemed wary, as well as Cerise. Brooke actually knew everyone here's name, of course. Christina and Blake and Eliza and Rumi were the others in the room.

Brooke cleared her throat and spoke up. "Um...hi. My name's Brooke Everette. I'm a transfer from LATCH. I meant to get around to everyone but...now the people I met are all on vacation. S-so, y'know, that kinda makes things awkward for me!" She laughed anxiously, waving at everyone.

"Um, um, okay, I'm sorry," Brooke leaned forward toward Christina and the others her voice getting very high pitch. "Wh-whyyy? Why, are we doing this? Going undercover? I'm not- I'm not- an actress? I get stage fright? Question mark? I mean I've played Dungeons and Dragons before but doing a silly voice was always the hardest- I mean- playing a character is...not life or death. Right?" She said, not stopping talking.

"What if I just, like, attached myself to the under side of the boat with my hard light powers and just hid under there until something inevitably explodes?" She asked, borderline pleading. After a moment she seemed to concede under the pressure and went along with the plan, even if there was no pressure at all.

She rubbed her face. "Or...maybe I'll just...be someone's evil silent bodyguard. That way I don't have to, uh, talk. Or, do anything." She stared off into the middle distance for a moment.

"I'm thinking something like...this?" She suddenly rose from her chair. Taking a few steps back, she looked down at herself and concentrated. From thin air sabatons, gauntlets, shoulder pauldrons, a chest plate and leggings all began to materialize out of thin air. They strapped themselves onto her and became opaque. They were grey in color but slowly darkened into being black. A helmet covered her face and she grew one foot in height as the armor completed itself and she made her legs longer. It was all spiky and hard edges. She summoned a massive greatsword as well. She looked like a fantasy knight from a grimdark world, and it was quite corny.

Her less than imposing voice echoed from underneath the helmet. "F-fear me...I...I am Hurt...you...I am Lord...Um..." She hesitated for a moment. "Hurtpain Murderdeath McMaimKill!" She announced. Her voice attempted to rise with confidence, and she rose her sword in the air, aswell.

White Wood Academy

@NeverEnding Ok! I wasn't sure what level of similarity we were going for here, so I will take a moment to think of some more concepts

White Wood Academy

Phew, okay. Been sitting on this concept (and this character I like) for a while so the words came easily to me. Let me know if there's anything I should change or add!

Cassandra

Name: Cain (Prefers Cassandra/Cass)
Age: 16
Gender: F
Race/Species: Human
Student/Teacher: Alpha Student
Inspiration: Cassandra Cain, DC. Nebula, Marvel.
Physical Description: The first thing someone might about Cass is her height. She stands at 6 feet, 2 inches, and unlike most girls her age doesn't show signs of slowing down. She is of Chinese Descent and has short black messy hair and dark brown eyes. She is muscular but lithe, giving her a powerful yet spindly frame. Her body is marked by scars in several places. Her limbs can bend unnaturally.

Personality: The only place Cassandra can blend into is the shadows.

Cass is a shy, gentle girl with low self-esteem. She wears her heart on her sleeve and is extremely overemotional. She is also the most compassionate and empathetic person in any room, caring deeply about strangers, let alone people she's actually forged a connection with. She is very slow to anger and quick to forgive. She dislikes bullying and abuse of any kind and will nervously go out of her way to stop it, if she can. She hates violence of any kind. It is extremely easy to hurt her feelings.

Cassandra despite all this, is not an introvert. She loves being around new people and making friends, and hates being alone. The problem comes in actually accomplishing this, as in her limited experience a vast majority of people are skeeved out by her. When she is around someone she trusts she becomes very intrusive of personal space, with lots of hugs and picking up and resting on.

Cassandra loves hiding and feeling safe in cozy places. She also enjoys movies and stories of all kinds, and she loves practicing her martial arts. Cass is a perfectionist, which is the source of a lot of her anxiety. If she can't do things perfectly right she grows frustrated, disappointed, and sad. On the flip-side she draws pleasure from executing things perfectly. She wants to cover up her face and dislikes the school uniforms bright colors as it makes it harder to blend in.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, Cassandra is illiterate and cannot speak any language at a functional level. She can read and write but not at a level that is considered literate, outpaced by small children. She can understand those around her quite well, but big words can go beyond her understanding. She mostly relies on body language for communication. Though she can speak small sentences, she stutters greatly and usually relies on mimicry and replication when she does speak. Instead she prefers to use her own body language to communicate, with which she is unusually effective.

Backstory: Cain was born to be molded and crafted into the perfect weapon. Her training literally began at birth. Her father, David Cain, better known as the international assassin the Orphan, wanted to experiment on his child with Lady Shiva. He wanted to craft her into the ultimate assassin to follow in his footsteps and take up his legacy, and wanted to play around with the human condition. Thus, he never spoke around her. He kept her secluded and isolated. Her only interaction with other human beings was training with them with fighting. She was raised at a shadowy ninja school, far away from society.

David also did various intrusive surgeries on her to increase her strength and grant her various other above-human abilities.

His plan worked. Cassandra's first language was not English or Chinese, but rather martial arts. While she could not read books, she could read other people as if they were books. Her entire life was dedicated to this single-minded pursuit of mastering the art of killing with swift effeciency. He gave her no name, only calling her by his own last name. He was an evil man, but he loved his daughter on his own twisted way. Every abuse towards her was for her own good, he thought. One day she would understand and live a fulfilling life of murder and infiltration, becoming the most lethal person in the world, surprassing all others. Even those born with extraordinary powers would fear her name.

However, his plan backfired. In being able to read body language perfectly, Cassandra was literally unable to close herself off from the emotions of others. Everything those around her felt, she could notice. Every lie her father ever told, she deducted. The invisible pity in the eyes of the adult ninjas she sparred with. All of it was plainly available to her and she couldn't ignore it. Her heart was corrupted by kindness in this pit of darkness.

This all came to a head when she was ordered to kill a man in order to complete her training. She did. And when she ran him through she could feel and truly understand death itself. That day she ran away from the organization and never turned back. It's not like they could stop her- at such a young age she had already outclassed all of them.

After spending a few months on her own, wracked by the guilt of murder, she decided to try and contribute something to society. She emerged from hiding was quickly offered a place White Wood academy. She agreed and applied, hoping to make something of herself and grow up to help others. It's a daunting task, remaking oneself from scratch. She is afraid of herself and one she can do to others. There are days when she feels like she should give up, but she has to push on in order to find meaning. At this new school she chose the name Cassandra. Adopted from the somewhat grim tale of the character from the cartoon she watched of the Trojan War.

Powers/Magic:

Full Body Control: Every subconscious routine of the human body, Cassandra can manually override. From adrenaline production to pain detection to even her own heartbeat.

Joint Hypermobility: Surgery has granted her the ability to manipulate her body in creepy but versatile and useful ways. Contortionism is already one of her natural talents but the re-alignment of her skeletal and muscle structure allows her to take it to the next level, with double jointed arms and legs.

Advanced Regeneration: Cass regenerates from wounds far quicker than most people.

Emotional Trigger: Cassandra has the ability to give off 'vibes' with her body. Her body language is expressive on a subconscious level that cannot be easily explained. The main application of this, however, is that Cassandra can trigger the fear reflex in people that look at her, should she so choose. Even brave, courageous, or hardened people will find their minds afflicted by fear should she undergo the invisible transformation.

Abilities:

Most Lethal Martial Artist: Cassandra has been prepared since the moment she was concieved to be a killing machine. She is fluent in too many styles of hand to hand combat to count. She has already surpassed some of the worlds most lethal assassins and her potential has yet to be even close to fully tapped. With further training, discipline, and focus, she could become the most dangerous fighter, ever.

Master of Stealth and Speed: Cassandra sticks to the shadows like a bat. She can be completely, 100% silent when she walks. In combat she can be hard to trace with one's eyes, like a mosquito in a dark room. She can hide in places where there should be no place to hide. One could mistake her for having the ability of short range teleportation, but this is just her talent for decieving the mind and eye.

Master Markswoman: Cassandra can aim ranged weapons of all kinds with impossible accuracy.

Above Her Weight Class: It may be tempting to think that one could overpower Cassandra with weight and sheer strength, but one would be wrong. While she is already very strong, her techniques allow her strikes and throws to hit with power that seem superhuman.

Like a Book: The keenest and most unique advantage Cassandra has, the one entirely exclusive to her. The ability to read body language in a fight. With this ability she can anticipate her opponents moves and intentions, their feints and their follow throughs. She can gauge their prowess in a matter of moments, and learn the strengths and weaknesses of their techniques. This skill is so keen she can be aware of her opponents next move before they are. The subtle, imperceptible give-aways of the human body. Even beyond the human body- the same skill applies to animals. Everyone and everything is communicating it's true intentions to her, especially when in the middle of combat. As a result she can accurately tell what other people are feeling. And she is a nearly infallible human lie detector. In this same way she is able to mask her own intentions and tells, making her immune to someone attempting to mimic her techniques, and making her all the more unpredictable, uncanny, and inhuman in a fight.

Potential Character Arcs:
1. Cassandra learns to read, write, and speak English at a useable level with the help of the staff and her new friends at White Wood.
2. Bad guys from her old school come to find her.
3. Cassandra finds a cause worth fighting for and discovered her passion for being a vigilante or other defender of justice. Something equivalent to her canon cause, being Batgirl and defending the people of Gotham City with a dedication that matches and (unhealthily) surpasses Batman himself. Cassandra should learn to use her skills for good.

And Cass needs a found family and emotional anchor of some kind in order to survive. But that will be up to the other characters!

White Wood Academy

Well...I might have to try and join this RP, I'm afraid. I said I wouldn't join any more, but I have a character I REALLY want to try out, so...here I go! Lol

World of Light

Kasugano Sakura

Level 3: 13/30
Location: The Blue Sea.
Word Count: 945
Points Gained: 2
New EXP Balance--- Level 3: 15/30

Sakura "Eep!" 'd in surprise as the tail suddenly wrapped around her. It was...biting her? She hadn't expected that. It was really gross, too, and her cringe was more out of disgust than it was physical pain. Her Ki sparked off her body as the teeth dug into her clothes and skin, protecting her from permanent damage.

She was sent flying by a large throw. "Woah!" She skipped across the water like a stone before managing to stabilize herself. She brushed her new, longer hair out of her face. This was why she always cut it! She would have to put it into a ponytail or something when she had a moment. Sakura sneered at the Seaplane Tender's violent words before putting another hand up to her ear.

"Um, have you guys retreated yet? Like is there like, a base or something we could run too? Just incase I can't chase off this white lady?" She spoke into her radio. "Uh, over." She added.

The situation with the so called Seaplane Tender (Honestly? Doesn't even sound that scary. What's it supposed to mean? English isn't my first language so maybe I'm missing some kind of reference or double meaning. Doesn't tender mean 'nice' and 'careful'? Or tender like tasty chicken? I don't get it.) was developing quickly. One of the shipgirls who was named Ranger decided to stay behind and cover the retreat. Sakura's main goal was to prevent the Water Princess from picking off fleeing soldiers.

Seaplane Tender created some bombers and sent them her way. But fortunately, Ranger intervened with some fighters of her own! Sakura squinted at the incoming torpedoes. "Hadoken!" She called out, firing a heavy, fast, projectile towards the torpedoes. Her Hadoken could actually travel through water. It wasn't put out by water for the same reason it didn't burn people. It was Ki, not actual fire. Her plan was for that projectile to hit the torpedoes and set them off or knock them out of the way before they reached Ranger. That way, they both covered each other!

Sakura then rushed ahead. When she reached the bombers she did a brief spinning kick to knock them out of her way but other than that, left them to be dealt with by Ranger's fighters. Once again she bombarded the Water Princess with a series of cannon shots as she approached. She figured since the Water Princess wanted to toss her away, getting up close was still the best way to deal with her.

"HUP!" Sakura performed the Haru Kaze, a massive leap that was hardly elegant. As she did, she dropped some torpedoes into the water. Her limbs spun through the air. She was predicting the Water Princess would bring up her tail to block another kick. That was what she intended to counter with the Kashinfu, a downward throw attack. The best way to avoid it was to dodge it entirely at the last second. That...or just try to swat her out of the air. Hopefully the Water Princess was still on the backfoot from her cannon fire and wouldn't have a chance to do that.

If Sakura guessed correctly, she would place her hands and feet on the tail. Using it has a platform, she would rocket her body away from the Princess. All the while launching the tail into the Water Princess's own body, using her block against her. That would sent her slamming into the water, where she would be hit by the torpedoes she had dropped at the beginning of her jump. She had no idea how they worked, but she was imagining they would launch her into the air. So when she landed from her backflip, Sakura took a stance."Tengyo!" A Sakura special, she lobbed a blue fireball into the air in hopes to slam into the launched Princess. That would knock her even higher into the air.

After that, it was another Haru Kaze into a Sakura Otoishi, her favorite move. It was the one where she did three double fisted hammer strikes in a row. Each successive strike would bring them higher until the air, until the third one, where they would go slamming back down into the Earth. "Ichi, ni,-san!" She shouted out with each hit. Or rather, the water, in this case.

That's how she imagined it going down in her head, anyway. If the Water Princess avoided her jumping grab she was probably going to look really stupid. Still, looking stupid was the price you paid for being a Street Fighter. Sometimes you get punched in the face and your tongue comes out of your mouth and your little brother freeze frames it, prints it out and mails it you for your birthday. Othertimes, you get to throw a guy twice your size across the ring with a mighty uppercut!

The good news is, with all this fighting, she was feeling her Ki charging up. She would be able to activate V-Trigger and do some EX moves if she wanted too, now. Her blood was pumping! This was the craziest thing she had ever done, and so far, so good! The longer she kept up the fight, the more people could escape. She just hoped her teammates onboard the Atomos didn't get in trouble on her behalf. As long as she kept Water Princess distracted, they could do air support. Then, everyone could get away! Everyone accept the girl who was fighting alongside her now, in Spirit form, of course... Sakura's strength was all the more bolsted by the righteousness of this fight.

《 H. E. R. O. 》

This place was gaudy. It absolutely reeked of a disgusting kind of luxury. However, that wasn't going to stop Pandora from engaging in it. She didn't care nearly enough to do that.

Pandora's athletic body was on full display. She wore an orange bikini and a high slit, open fronted, thick floral pattern skirt, and nothing else except for a large pair of dark sunglasses. That had her been her outfit on the entire way over here and would probably be her outfit the entire way back.

Pandora glanced around at the others, checking out their vacation wear as well. Fashion was something that had managed to keep her interest. It was always changing, and decorating the human body was an under-appreciated art form. So many people just slapped on whatever and thought themselves better for it, sniping at those who actually bothered to put effort into how they looked. How dull.

She found herself amused by Powers' orderly personality being maintained even while in vacation mode. Speaking of Powers, Pandora had wondered why she was invited along on this vacation.

(I certainly didn't need a vacation from all the retiring I was doing.) She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were dispersed as Powers asked her for a quick croquet outing. Pandora looked him up and down from over her sunglasses. "Right..." She said, watching him walk off. A meeting at 1300 hours, or about thirty minutes from now.

Well. She would see what that was about. What the hell else was she going to do? Spend quality time with martini-drinking teenagers? Pass. Pandora plainly gave the group a once over and then silently wandered off with nary a goodbye.

The british woman silently waited at the beginning of the croquet course, staring off into the middle distance as she leaned against a wall. Thirty minutes passed and she barely even registered it. When she noticed Powers approach she crossed her arms.

She spoke first. Her voice was quiet, but clear. "Croquet. I remember when people first started playing it in England, back in the sixties. These days it seems to be only associated with resorts and luxury, but when it first started out it was a common man's game. Us 'important folk' played croquet while discussing our plans for imperial expansion. Ever decide the fate of a thousand families based on a single whack of a wooden mallet?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Exhilarating stuff." Her voice dripped with bitter sarcasm.

"The point here is this: If you're looking for advice, you may want to reconsider your source. I'm sure one of your many plucky twenty-somethings could provide you with better counsel. She stood up straight, resting a light mallet on her bare shoulder.

"With that out of the way, I'm always up for a chat." She said, in a way that seemed completely serious but was definitely untrue. Perhaps I assumed too much, and you simply invited me out here because of my winning personality."