John stepped into the Dream. Almost immediately he had the urge to return to his own body. He knew that time flowed differently here, and his day today was packed full of commitments. That and he was still uncomfortable with how closely this felt like a chemically induced vision. That was what scared him the most.

He was in Moscow. Still in his loft. Al told him that he step into the Dream from anywhere on earth to anywhere in the Dream, but John still always began in the Dream right where he was on earth. Then he had to 'shift' to where he wanted to go. He had so much to learn. Unfortunately, his apprehension of how much the Dream reminded him of his past hampered his ability to learn this place properly.

He 'shifted' to the MSU Library, to the Red Square, and then back to the library. Then he started to wander the campus. Aimlessly and without purpose or direction.

John needed a teacher. Like that was going to be likely. "Um, I have no fucking idea how to develop my skills here, and I don't know anyone in Moscow that I can ask 'Ever have an outer body experience? Can you show me how to control it?'" Yup. That felt stupid. John shook his head calling himself all kinds of a dumb-ass. Shouting out to nobody in an empty Dream.

John 'shifted' back into his loft, and them stepped out of the Dream. Maybe he killed enough time so he could go see his realtor and collect his shipment from Texas.

I thought this might be a good idea. Have this thread as an easy way of contacting characters who are available for potential threads.

The basic idea being - if your character isn't currently engaged in anything, put it up on this thread so other characters know that you are available, and can contact you to set up a potential scenario.

To start things off, I'll have my characters status'.

Mikey (I know, you will all be devastated, I'm sure ) is currently occupied.

Tony, however, is free if anyone wants to have a thread - it doesn't have to be anything particularly important. Just a casual meeting is fine.

The Dallas Scroll


October, 2041.
-Associated Press


Police are reporting that the missing person's investigation of Jensen James has been modified to include a homicide investigation. With support from Mexican authorities, the black Mercedes abandoned outside Mexico City has been confirmed as that matching one registered to the James' household.

Surveillance video has captured the image of a man leaving the vehicle. No matching identity has not been made. This news comes after investigation into financial records revealed a ten million dollar discrepancy in the James' personal accounts.

In light of the video leakage of James' private life, including soliciting a male prostitute and the missing ten million dollars, authorities suspect the case was one of blackmail turned homicide. Proof substantiating their claim has yet to be found and investigations continue.

A spokesperson for the family continues to offer a reward for information regarding the case.

The first few days of the press corps rotation were uneventful. At the beginning of the day, the CCD held their daily press briefings in the corps room of the Kremlin Grand Palace. The room itself held an exclusive twenty people organized into two columns of four chair rows. The most senior of correspondents occupied the front, with those lucky enough to gain assignment spanning the rows behind. For the next two weeks, however, an additional row was added to accommodate the CCD's latest campaign. To exemplify CCD transparency, members of the non-Custody accredited press were invited to participate in a rotation on the Ascendancy's pool--the Moscow based journalists assigned to regularly cover the activities of the Ascendancy.

Nicholas Trano rubbed elbows with invited representatives from China, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. Together, they constituted five additional faces on the circuit. Other than a few harrumphs from the most senior of journalists, the American among them was treated fairly. It took prestige and sacrifice to walk into this room, and though the duration of these outsiders' stay was short, they were not particularly welcomed with open arms.

Custody updates those first few days constituted nothing extraordinary. Statements were made about official positions regarding a brief uprising in Brazil. China's trade policies were once more in negotiation with DIV officials. The patron of DV was flying to Cairo to meet with the Egyptian President, etc etc.

Then the day arrived when the Ascendancy was going to make a public address to the US people. It was to coincide with the aforementioned resubmitted proposal for annexation. The hype surrounding this event was high. The speech itself would go live early in the morning to accommodate the time difference between Moscow and DC and filmed directly from the Ascendancy's office. After which, he himself was scheduled to appear before the press corps for a ten minute Q&A session. For the chance to directly speak to the Ascendancy, those front row journalists would claw one another's eyes out to be offered the chance to ask their questions, but with five additional competitors in the room, seniority was no guarantee for success.

Nikolai was shown the usual layout of the corps seating before taking the stage. He was only two-minutes off schedule--an acceptable deviation in his mind.

"That went well, Ascendancy."
Nikolai continued to study the layout of the press' seating assignments arranged in his field of view and nodded. "'Well' is the incorrect word, Jacque. It went as expected,"
he corrected.

The shallow praises continued to be uttered by those in his company as the group proceeded. The hall separating his office from the media room was immaculately dressed, but it did not pass by unappreciated by Nikolai himself. At least the window treatments were more interesting than these characters attempting to flood his attention. He otherwise offered no additional corrections; this particular group were but minnows nipping at a Great White. He put them to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand. It was going to be difficult enough ignoring Trano while fielding questions - staged though they may be.

"You want to see WHAT? You are aware that that particular volume is 1200 years old? Well of course you are, after all you asked for it by name." The librarian went into the back to have the Bible in question pulled. He returned rather quickly with documentation for the unusual requisition.

"I will need to see the proper credentials and I.D. before allowing you access to the manuscript. We take great care in preserving our historical treasures at the MSU, especially with foreigners. I hope you understand."

John understood, alright. With a name like 'John Smith', everything he did was scrutinized. That and every librarian he had encountered in his researches over the last 10 years got a special kind of stupid when an undesirable wanted access to a priceless piece of antiquity. With access to billions of US dollars, 3 masters degrees, and fluent in 5 languages(4 of which are 'dead' ancient languages and on the to mastery in a 5th) and he was still an undesirable. Dickhead.

" Here is my passport and student visa. I will be here for at least a semester. I will be pestering you daily for my research over the next few months. I will get those back today, right? I am too new to the area to not have my paperwork on me at all times." The librarian gave him a quizzical look and nodded and said something very non-committal.

After a few minutes another librarian led John to an empty table and told her that could work here. He stressed that any damage to the book would be 'frowned upon.' John sat down and carefully open the abnormally large tome that was the subject of todays venture. The Bible was just what he expected it to be. And these idiots had no clue as to how valuable this book truly was. The Bible it self was just over 1200 years old, but what was under the visible text pre-dated it by almost another 700 years or more.

After the fall of The Western Roman Empire writing materials were scarce. After all, commerce and the preservation of knowledge took a backseat to survival. Education and enlightenment just couldn't compete with the need for food. When the Augustinian monks began their efforts to make copies of the Bible and other classical literary works that were danger of being lost in the annals of antiquity, they were for forced to use existing material as new parchment was almost nonexistent. So in order to supply the necessary parchment for this grand enterprise, they had to 'scape' off the existing writing from the parchment (and occasional vellum) and then write the new text over the old. The process was less than perfect. While to the casual observer all that could be seen was the new piece transcribed on the newly cleaned material, an expert in the restoration of the text originally on these pages could unearth knowledge long since oppressed and believed by the Church to be tossed in the abyss where it belonged.

Funny how things really work out. In replicating Bibles and other classics on 'recycled' material, the Church unwittingly were the saviors of that which they labored to destroy. Ain't Karma a bitch. All you had to do was know what to look for and have the proper skill set.

What sat before John was a copy of what could only be called 'Dark Prophecy.' It wasn't really what he generally searched for, but a vision he had in the 'Dream' was explicit. Or at least as those psilocybin-esce experiences could be. So here he was, reading one of the oldest copies of the Latin Vulgate believed to still be in existence. And he hated Latin. It just wasn't as fascinating as the Greek. Unfortunately most of those types of works were done at the time and place when Latin was the predominate language. Most of the Greek manuscripts either predated the Latin by few hundred years, or were in the Eastern Orthodox world where the 'dark ages' had less of an impact.

John was as elated as someone could be when doing a job he loved. Thankfully he 'removed' text was in Greek. And so there he was, reading a hidden Greek text in a Latin Bible while making his notes in Sanskrit. His work should be relatively safe from prying eyes.

For the first hour, things proceeded rather slowly as there wasn't too much of interest to be found. then he found it. On the pages of many of the scholars in the 19th century would call 'Deutero-Isaiah'(the last 20 or so books of Isaiah). he began diligently working an transcribing the underlying text.

John was an excellent researcher, and good hunter, and a better than joe combatant. Unfortunately, he was piss poor when it came to intrigue and finesse. "Wow. Can you really read that? Christian? Or just a literature buff? What the hell is that you are writing? Is that a language, or is it code?" The annoying bastard then took a seat beside John. Definitely not a southern gentlemen.

John stopped what he was doing and turned his attention to his uninvited guest. the man was patiently waiting a reply. "My name Yoseph, and here are your papers. I am curious. According to our information you fluent in Latin, and here you are seeming to struggle for almost half an hour on one page? And of a Bible no less? Most Latin students either go into medicine or theology. Your studies primarily revolve and Man. So tell me why you are really here, Mr. Smith."

Stupid nerd. John could have kicked himself. So absorbed in his passion that he didn't see anything else. Idiot. Now was he really got a good at look at his guest. Yoseph seemed to be a little older than John, maybe in his late 40's. He was dressed in a older style dark suit. Nothing fancy but very well kept. he appeared to be focusing all of his attention on John and at the same time soaked in everything around him. This was no librarian.

"Obviously you are aware of my 3 masters degrees? I am working on my Doctorate in History. I am taking notes for my thesis. I am an over-achiever." John smiled sardonically. He tried to give the appearance of a smug elitist instead of a man about to shit his pants.

Yoseph smiled and shook his head as he casually leaned back in his chair. "Here in the CCD we can be quite tolerant, or hideously unforgiving. Which would you prefer?"
Edited by doulou, Oct 25 2014, 08:41 PM.

Remembering the past and distinguishing it from the present isn't always that easy. John was always a slave, at least for as long as he could remember. First he was beholden to a family that had appearances and standard that had to be measured up to. And don't forget the Church. Every Sunday morning, Bible study and then worship service. There was a legacy to live up to.

One day, in church of all places, something smelled... off. There was a myriad of new smells and they were all jumbled together. John father told him to shut up and stop embarrassing him. We are in church, dumbass. There was no downward spiral. It was a straight plunge into the abyss.

The smells graduated to voices and hallucinations. To see if HE was real, of all things. Were the voices real? And the hallucinations? Outer body experiences. There was no doubt in his mind that he was spiritually oppressed. Where was his faith? Where was God? He read the Bible. He knew what it said. Where was Jesus?

Rum and coke silenced the voices. LSD and mushrooms also aided in eliminating the crazy outer body experiences. At least these were 'natural hallucinations' now. The next several years brought much of the same. Hiding in a drug induced stupor from his own mind.

In 2025, at age 20, John's parents died of an 'accident.' Apparently business was dangerous. Enter the trust fund. Now it was easier to find a place to get high, so it wasn't all a raw deal. And college ain't so bad when you don't have any expectations to live up to. Except the next party of course. The next 10 years were a blur. School was a place for his eccentric liberalism. And partying. Lets not forget the drugs. This vicious cycle continued for the next ten years.

Finally, shit got real. Sanity ( or whatever you call it) was slipping fast. and it wasn't far to the end. Enter Al F., this old guy in A.A. "Boy, you got to ask yourself 'DO YOU WANT TO GET SOBER?'" Strangely enough, John said 'Yes.'

Now Al had been sober for scaring the hell 35 years. At age 68 he was in better shape than most men in their prime. We worked that stupid 12 step program just the way it was set up to worked as best as I could. And for the first several months things got better. And then, they came back. All of it. The voices, smells, hallucinations... everything. John was at his wits end.

Once again, Al steps in. "Boy, we got one more thing to do to 'clean up the wreckage of the past.'" So much for 12 steps. The 2 men went on a retreat. A hunting trip. If one thought that old John was a loopy son of a bitch before, they would really get a kick out him here. He almost pissed himself when a grey wolf talked to him. Not only did it communicate with him, it convinced his dumb as to hunt a rougarou with Al and the wolf.

After that John found his calling. He was a 'demon hunter.' His studies picked up at break neck speed. He learned Hebrew, ancient and koine Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit. He recently began his studies in Sumerian cuneiform. He earned Masters Degrees in Anthropology, Archeology, and History. And he trained in hunting and combat with 'the desperation of a drowning man.'

Now, armed with degrees, a student visa, a new outlook on life, and various small arms and bladed instruments (trust funds do come in handy) he has began his career as a hunter. A hunter of the minions of the abyss. He also bought a pair of Serengeti sunglasses...


Edited by doulou, Sep 28 2013, 10:56 PM.

When my character gets approved, I will probably need assistance with the little things, like adding a picture to my profile and such unless I can get my daughter to help. This is my first attempt at forum-based RP, but I have a good 20+ years of RP and war gaming experience. I also own and have read all of the WoT books with the exception of aMoL which I am getting this week.

I thought it would be interesting for everyone to post what times of the day they're usually here, on chat, etc.

I'll start:

My schedule is pretty wonky from time to time depending on my store's needs. Nevertheless I almost never go to sleep before 3 a.m. because I'm usually working late.

I'm in MST which is 2 hours behind the U.S. seaboard, so 7 days a week I'm around from approx. 2 a.m. EST to 5 a.m. although if no one else is around which is usually the case (Nick and Mikey are sometimes here that late) I'll knock off earlier. On days I don't work closing shift at my store I'm here around 10-11 PM EST.

I can also at least a few days a week be found here before 5 p.m. EST. Depends on whether or not I decide to sleep in before work. Those are days which like today I work the evenings and nights.

I usually take Monday or Tuesday off from work and can be found here at any time.

The Dallas Source
Blogger Lex Teasdale

September 21, 2041


Say bye, bye to the scandalous days of shocking sex tapes leaked from Hollywood and Washington. The video that's taken the country by storm comes from a clean cut, home-grown Texas cowboy speaking the good word!

By day, Jensen James is the charismatic, sweet-talking conservative standing up for strict moral fortitude and religious reformation. You've seen him, no doubt, flipping channels on the weekend, center stage before ten-thousand churchgoers hanging on his every word. By night, he's a steamy punchline come true!

Congratulations to us! The camera was rolling, and somebody was caught with their pants down. Or more accurately: nowhere in sight!

Five years to become a religious household name might be fast, but five hours to circle the globe? Now that’s an impressive fan base! The good preacher's audience has grown faster than you can say 'Ride 'em cowboy! He’s been spotted in everything from stand-up to late-night. This is your fifteen minutes, brother! Get yourself a book deal while you can.


Comments are open-


Update - September 21, 2041


The steamy partner in the Good Preacher's video has been identified as gay-for-pay Latin American prosti-dude Tomas Alvarez. Shit just hit the fan!

Meanwhile, Mrs. James asserts her husband “is not gay.” Keep telling yourself that darlin’. No wonder his car was spotted South of the border.

<big>Dallas-based megachurch preacher missing.</big>

September 18, 2041

The Dallas Source
-Associated Press


A report was filed with police today that local megachurch preacher and televangelist, Jensen James, has been missing for nearly a week. According to a spokesman for the James family, confirmed identification of Mr. James' whereabouts were last observed by gated surveillance cameras leaving their home estate, in the north Dallas suburb of Preston Hollow, at 2 AM Saturday morning. The report states that a car matching that as one owned by Mr. James was identified on I-35 southbound at the Mexican border at Laredo.

The James family has offered a reward for relevant information. No other official statement has been issued at this time.

COMMENTS ARE OPEN