Greywind

“You said water balloons!”

“Aye. An' I also mentioned color. The water had dye in it.”

“Obviously,” Dani said exasperated. One side of her face was blue. The other was yellow. There was a splash of green where the colors had overlapped. Very little of the walls and floor was white any longer. “This better wash out. I've got a casting call tomorrow morning.”

“Tallyin' up the score now,” Irish said. “Looks like a solid 91%, Theresa. That's your mark for any further attempts.”

“Okay,” Trese responded. Her shirt was mostly still white. A blue balloon got through on one side, while a red one had tagged her on the other. Her pants and boots were stained by splatters from blocking the balloons too low.

“Commence rinse.” Sprayer heads descended from the ceiling and began spraying the walls. The dye rinsed off easily, leaving gleaming white walls behind. With the walls cleared, the sprayers began on the floor. From the walls towards the center. Two others descended towards the girls and began rinsing them off.

“Oh, look,” Dani said. “Our first shower together.” Trese blushed. “Relax. I'm teasing.”

Trese took hold of the sprayer above Dani. “Turn around. Let me rinse your hair out.” Running her fingers through Dani's hair while spraying it, Trese said, “It's okay. What's the casting call for?”

“Police procedural. Episode work. I'm not sure what the actual part is. We go in, read, and they decide who they like best for whichever role. I could be a college student, a prostitute, the murder victim. Or I could be cut loose and all I'm out is the time it took to drive to LA and back. My turn,” she said, taking the sprayer from Trese.

“You'll be there for the whole day, Dani. Regardless of the outcome,” Jason said from the observation booth. “Take Trese with you. Do some clothes shopping for her.”

“Awesome!”

“I've reserved a suite for the two of you for a couple of days.”

Amazon isn't much better. Front door, back door, etc. I've got 2 front doors. The front door to the house has a chain across the bottom of the ramp. Along the lines of "keep out". The pedestrian door to the garage is right at the end of the walkway. So, of course, crap goes up on the ramp.

“So why am I wearing all white? And what's with these boots?”

Dani smiled. “Stop complaining. It's all part of the training exercise. The white will make your mistakes stand out better.”

“That doesn't explain these boots,” Trese complained.

“They will help you keep your footing in adverse conditions,” Dani explained. “Similar to what will go with your uniform. Here we are.” Dani led Trese into a white room.

“Ooh, I am just so going to disappear in here,” Trese said sarcastically. “I'll just blend into everything.”

“Except the ceilin' an' the observation windows, darlin'” Irish said from the observation station. “Now, your task is ta keep ye from bein' anythin' but white. The more of the floor an' walls ye can color the higher yer score will be.”

A robotic ball pitcher rolled out. “Our friend here will be tossin' water balloons at ye. I want ye to deflect them. No' out and out blocking, Theresa. Blocking will take more energy and strength than deflection. Ye understand?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Good. An' ye get bonus points fer everyone tha' ye can hit Dani with.”

“What!? I didn't agree to this!”

Irish smiled. “No flamin', dear.”

“Oh, this is gonna be fun,” Trese said laughing. Dani fumed.

Jordan's Aes Sedai are all women. Sometimes respected, usually feared. Just not as much as their male counterparts are feared.

To be honest, any martial art that isn't named could be a mixed style.

7 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

Perhaps the character's gather was killed by a six-fingered man....

 

 

 

 

seriously, though, vendetta crosses all social platforms.

 

 

I hate it when gathers get killed. Leads to all sorts of messiness.

Brag all you want! But don't get between me and the bloodwine!

23 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

I sent a friend a spare 3e Bestiary some time back.

 

I included an 8.5x11 inch piece of plywood in the envelope specifically to prevent that.

 

(I hate that, too)

 

 

Did you add the warning "Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate"?

Don't your clerics get temples to pray in?

Yeah, well I've never known hope when it wasn't on a diet.

Found this interesting.

https://www.eastonspectator.com/2021/10/07/my-formal-complaint-against-dr-bonnie-henry-by-norman-grant-smith/

Walking from the wraparound porch to Warren's latest addition, a deck around a new pool, Marlene asked, “Why so big?”

Kate laughed. “With the sheer number of you guys that will show up for the pool parties, mainly. How's the water?” she called out.

“Warm,” Trese answered.

“And Warren just had to add the deck to the porch while keeping the pool far enough away from the house in the event of a malfunction?”

“Are you kidding? The dealer made a big deal of the fact that the liner is comparable to ballistic cloth. He thought we were crazy when we told him how big we wanted the pool to be. The frame is well reinforced for the extra size,” Kate explained. “Then there's Warren's deck around it, further reinforcing it.”

“When do we eat?” Dani asked.

“As soon as Warren and Jason get back and fire up the grill,” Leah said.

“Not sure I can hold out that long,” Dani said with a laugh.

Most of the contingent were on floats of one type or another. Kaneda was the odd man out, being the only male in the pool. Warren had dragged Jason off to help with one chore or another.

Two motorcycles sounded from the front of the house. One noticeably louder than the other. They abruptly cut off. After a moment, Jen, Amanda, and Billy rounded the house and came up the steps to the pool deck.

“Sorry I'm late. I hope you don't mind that I brought company along,” Jen said.

“No problem, Sis,” Kate said. Marlene pulled her cover off, revealing her bikini-clad body. “Oh, God, I'm jealous.”

“Why?” Marlene asked.

Kate dropped the shirt she was wearing onto a chair, revealing her own one-piece bathing suit. “We both had kids. I got cursed with stretchmarks. You, you look better than you did before you got pregnant.”

Marlene laughed. “It's a gift. And I started working out again as soon as I could. As for the stretchmarks, well, there's a secret to that.”

Jen shucked off her shorts, revealing her own black one-piece bikini. Billy's gaze went from Jen to the women in and around the pool. “I died,” he said quietly. “I died and went to bikini heaven.”

“Hey, Jen,” Dani called out. Jen looked up. “You've grown up nicely.”

Jen blushed a little. “Thanks, Dani.”

“Who're the others?”

“Billy and Amanda. Friends”

“Hello, Amanda,” Kris said.

“Hi, Dr. Tyler,” Amanda said.

“Wait a moment before you get into the pool,” Kris said. “Could you hand me that black thing on the table there?”

“This?” Amanda asked, picking the item in question up.

“Yes.” Amanda handed it to her. Kris fit it into her ear and pushed a stud. “Pulsar.” She waited a moment. “Are you busy? Home in on my signal. Because miles to go. See you soon.” She took it out and handed it back to Amanda. “Back on the table, please.”

* * * * *

Putting the tools they had been using back into the carrier, Warren asked, “What was that all about?”

“On a guess, I'd say Jen finally showed up and, as we expected, had Amanda in tow.”

“'Miles to go'?”

“'The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.'

Robert Frost. I made a promise to Amanda. Kris just called in the marker.”

There are those who believe life here began out there.