Heritage

Casey Blankenship was admiring the last of a beautiful sunset from the roof of the Marriott Hanover Square; her father was in town on AEGIS business, and thought it would be a good idea for her to see the city, since she'd be transferring to school here next month. He'd been very specific about not flying off willy-nilly, and tonight she was stuck at the hotel for a night of pay-per-view and room service while her dad was stuck in an all-night planning session of some kind. Not that that was so bad! But eventually she'd gotten restless and made her way out to the balcony, which had an amazing view of downtown and the Promenade; despite her promises, she couldn't help but imagine how much better the view would be from up on the roof... And now she sat with her hands in the pockets of her Air Force Academy High School track suit, her legs idly dangling over the ledge as she trained her amazing eyes over the cityscape, catching wonderful little snippets of big city life. A fashionable couple dashing out of a cab on their way to a show, the Monorail wending its way through the skyscrapers, five men dressed like ninja wannabes breaking into a building- "What the...?" Casey sat up straight, then hopped to her feet; obviously, the right thing to do would be to call the police and report the break-in. Heck, she could probably just read the license plate right off the van! But how would she explain how she was witnessing the events from so far away? Maybe she could just say it was an anonymous tip. Or maybe she could do something incredibly stupid... In a flash, she was back in the hotel room, swapping her track suit for a black knit cap, generic pair of navy-blue sweats and a matching hoodie, and flying her way over to a rooftop across the street from the perpetrators!

I have a fun idea how to hring her in, just haven't had time to type it up.

Kn: Arcane Lore: 1d20+10=21

Yes, it would have been faster to fly, her delicate gossamer wings shimmering as she darted north; in fact, that was Lynn's first instinct. But her friend and second-in-command Kiki convinced her that a train ride and overnight stay in New Hampshire, its rolling hills a-fire with autumn leaves, would be a wonderful break from the pressures of running the store, her classes at school and all her elaborate Halloween planning. So she made herself a comfortable sweater, pair of jeans and a brown leather bomber jacket, and pointed her cowboy boots towards Union Station. And as always, Kiki was right; the amazing views out the windows, the wonderful normality of boarding pass and overnight bag allowed the weary fae to just let all her earthly cares drift away. Almost. The rather disturbing events just prior to the train's arrival in Mystery gnawed at Lynn, but there were no announcements of any kind; as she got ready to disembark with her bag, she approached the conductor. "Excuse me, I thought I heard someone cry out a little while ago; is everything alright?"

Miracle Girl here as well!

Grimalkin grinned; yes, she'd detected Terrifica's presence before the lights went up, but she had absolutely no idea how she'd managed to get into the isolated trailer before that; clearly she was the right woman for the job! For his part, Butch threw his coffee high in the air, only for Grim to nimbly snatch it out of the air; his terrified yelp was also epic. "Gah! Jesus H. Christ, give an old man a heart attack!" He dramatically clutched his chest, then held his thumb and middle finger to his throat as he checked his pulse against his watch. Now that the lights were up, the full details of the trailer could be seen; there was a second table piled high with old and yellowed blueprints, lots of photos of old-fashioned funhouse and dark rides taped to the walls, and a third table at the far end supporting urns of coffee and two boxes of doughnuts. The small narrow place was dominated, however, by the long table in the middle; it was now clear some sort of model waited underneath. "Welcome, Terrifica; glad to see you could make it. And yes, I hope this will indeed be the 'mother of all haunted houses'-" With the wave of her hand, the tarp vanished in a cloud of vapor, revealing an incredibly detailed one hundredth scale model some eight feet long; it depicted the shed broken into three sections by internal walls, each section decorated and laid out in a different theme. The one closest to the shore was labeled 'The Haunted Warehouse', and judging by the tiny tracks and carts it contained, this was a traditional 'dark ride' along the lines of Disney's Haunted Mansion. The next section was designated as 'The Dark Forest', and this looked to be a sort of labyrinth made up of thick trees and thorn bushes, with a number of sinister locations like the Witch's gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel, Baba Yaga's hut on giant chicken legs, and other horrors associated with fairy tales and folklore. The final section the farthest from land was called 'The Asylum of the Dead', clearly inspired by the zombie films of George Romero and survival horror games, with twisted staircases, padded rooms and pools of foul-looking liquids. Over all three hung a sort of attic or catwalk than would allow someone to watch over the whole operation with ease. "So this is just a little something I conjured up..." Grim cleared her throat with false modesty. "Butch and I have obviously been giving this way more thought than is healthy; nothing is carved in stone yet, but we think it will look more or less like this. Each section is designed for a specific age bracket, roughly paralleling the PG, PG-13 and R ratings of the MPAA; we're looking to cast a fairly wide net in terms of guests, visitors, whatever you might call them." And now Grim began nervously gnawing on a thumbnail as she awaited their reactions. "So whaddya think, am I nuts? And you guys can work on whatever parts you want; if something looks too gross or whatever, we've got it covered." Butch looked from the model to the faces of the heroes and then back again, like an eager teenager hoping his parents liked the gift he made for them in shop class.

Character: Deep Freeze/Ana Plonsky What she's doing: Working as engineer and mechanic aboard the Xeno; possibly caught up in events while on leave from her duties.

Lynn looked very excited and nodded vigorously. "That would be great!" The vivacious young owner proved to be an excellent subject; her natural charisma translated well in pictures, and she offered several options for Dancia to choose from (proudly standing with arms folded, the 'Vanna White', sitting behind her office desk surrounded by stacks of books and colorful knick-knacks). She also convinced the highly-photogenic Maddy and Lance to pose for a few as well. During the photo shoot, she shared several anecdotes about her grandfather Louis Silberman, the previous owner, and her childhood visits to the store; it was clear reopening Silberman's Books was a passion project many years in the making, and she loved every square inch of the shop. "Oh man, I've really talked your ear off! I hope you got everything you need!"

I think you meant 'Lynn' and not 'Grimalkin' in that last post, Tiff ;)

Sorry, somehow missed this update completely! Notice check: 1d20+5=6 Yikes! (Incorrectly listed as Grim's roll out of force of habit.) INT check: 1d20+5=24 Much better! Just remembered Ana's suit gives her Direction, Distance and Time Sense, for what it's worth.

Lynn nodded; that had always been Stesha's way, the nurturing 'earth mother' striving to protect all life. It made her happy to know Toma's people might finally know peace. And speaking of peace... The evil queen cleared her throat, and then began softly speaking fluent French. <"Look, I have confession to make: I may have had an ulterior motive with this whole party business. I've noticed a few things, and I spoke with your roommate, and-"> She sighed and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. <"I-invited-Sam-to-the-party!"> Yep, it's official: I'm a f###ing Yenta!

RR is actually slightly stronger, but let's see how The Man rolls: 1d20+3=16 The winnah! I will try to post more to keep this going.

When Oskar had let her know they would be 'assisting' the general with his shopping, Ana nodded to herself and unpacked her suit, making sure its power cells were fully charged and all systems were operational. It amused her no end that a girl so tiny could act as 'muscle', but her triggered mutation had seen to that. When the airlock cycled open, she was at her captain's side, streamers of ice crystals dancing around her armored fingertips. "Which way?"

Hah, awesome entrance, EP! I wrote that post at l like 3am, and didn't realize what a perfect set-up I gave you!

Terrifica, that's your cue!

GM At the sight of young heroine's transformation, Grim suddenly looked delighted. "Wait, you're a shapeshifter, too? That's awesome!" In a flash, the older heroine's body was obscured by swirling mist, and when it cleared there stood a perfect duplicate of Ms Red! "See, we could be twins! Oh, this is gonna be great!" She quickly resumed her own form in a similar fashion, and then turned to Coiled Lightning. "Don't worry, we'll find lots for both of you to do. And I remember what it was like to be young and trying to make it on your own; if either of you ever need advice, suggestions or even just someone to talk to, look me up, okay? I'm here for you." Grim stopped when she noticed Butch looking at her, a mixture of pride and sadness on his face. "What?" He shook his head. "Nothing; you just sound so grown up now." They both looked rather awkward for a moment until Butch finally cleared his throat. "Okay, let's head inside the trailer; any lollygaggers will just have to knock." Grim stepped behind his wheelchair and began pushing him up the access ramp, where he opened the door at the top; inside, it was dark, though a long low table covered with a tarp was partially visible in the center of the room. Butch sighed. "Oh great, we lost power again! I thought you said Daedalus was some kind of genius, hon!"

GM Grim thoughtfuly studied the redhead for a few seconds, then smiled and nodded. "Fair enough, welcome aboard! So, other than flying, what else can you do?" Meanwhile 'Butch' had been watching Coiled Lightning's progress as he made his way over to the pier. "Nice moves, kid; I like your electro-whip thing!" He offered a strong handshake. "Butch Cassidy, at your service!" The petite shapeshifter rolled her eyes and also shook hands. "Hi Lightning. Don't mind 'Butch'; this is his first time working with, well, people like us."

Lynn blinked a few times. "Oh, that's cool." Then she politely cleared her throat."Uh, remind me again, what's the relationship between Sanctuary and this world? I've been to a few other worlds, but never that one." She tried to hide her embarrassment behind a large swig of Goth smoothie. She then quickly sent her senses back to the haunted house on Pier 13, just a fast reflexive sweep before focusing back on Tona; it was starting to become like checking her email!

The party appeared to be a more or less a low key event, a chance for co-workers to hang out, eat and drink, though it was still early and Lynn was know for a theatrical streak and a love of surprises. The attendees soon started to clump up into conversational packs; Cred0, Gretchen and Lance were talking movies by the snack table, and Maddy and Christine were showing Kiki adorable baby pictures (they had recently found a great new sitter) on Maddy's smartphone. The Wicked Queen found her way over to Robin Hood, her long dress trailing behind her; Lynn raised her jet-black smoothie in salute. "Blueberries! Very tasty!" Looking over the gathered people, she sighed as she adjusted her flowing cape. "Y'know as much as I love them, even Gretchen in a way, I can never really be myself around them; even Kiki, who knows the truth about my unnatural nature, still gets the edited version. It's all just another show..." She sighed and then looked apologetic. "Sorry, that's just the blueberries talking. So how are things with you, Robin of Locksley? How's school and everything?"

GM Grim looked from the new arrival to the man in the wheelchair and back again. "Uh, hi! Yeah, I think i remember..." She placed her coffee on a wooden stool that appeared out of nowhere for that exact purpose, drew a circle in mid-air with her finger, and then reached into it (her arm disappearing up to her elbow), and pulled out her smartphone. "Lemme just check...yep, there you are!" The grinning young woman strided over to the redhead, hand outstretched to offer a firm handshake. "Grimalkin, a pleasure to meet you!" She cocked her head to one side. "I've got to admit, I'm not familiar with you or your work; are you a new arrival in Freedom, or...?" She raised her eyebrows slightly. The man in the wheelchair, who looked almost as excited by the arrival of Ms Red as the young woman herself, rolled his chair forward and offered a gloved hand. "Nice to meecha, Red! The name's Butch; I'm kind of the resident 'spookhouse' expert around here." His accent and manner of speech were somewhat reminiscent of Grimalkin's own.

I edited the >PC line-up to reflect Trailblazer's departure.

Maddy the lead bookseller, who came along with her girlfriend Christine (they'd opted for a couple's costume: Crazy Eyes and Piper from Orange is the New Black), just shook her head as she looked her employer up and down. "That is something, Lynn!" She indicated the flowing purple dress. "What exactly do you have going on under there?" The Evil Queen shrugged. "To be honest, I'm wearing an insane pair of lace-up hooker boots with six inch heels; I will not be standing for very long!" She approached Tona and her tray of beverages with an eager grin that totally didn't match her sinister wardrobe. "Oh ho, what have we here? I'm gonna try...this one! Black as my heart!" Gretchen dubiously made her way over to the bar; her 'costume' consisted of her wearing the same 'disgruntled hipster' wear she always favored, but with the addition of a pair of black plastic glasses frames and cat ears; to any who asked, she patiently explained she was a 'brilliant cat scientist'. "So what exactly is in these, anyway?" She picked up a green one and sniffed it. Rounding out the employee attendees was 'Cred0', who somewhat surprisingly had put a lot of thought and work into his costume; a well-groomed preppy J. Crew model, complete with pink dress shirt, khakis, a pair of Sperrys and a white sweater draped over his shoulder...and a bloody knitting needle sticking out of his right eye. Mrs. Nussbaum had politely declined the invitation; as a Conservative Jew, she'd never celebrated Halloween, though she always had candy for any neighborhood children who did.

Aww! Fair enough, though.

In case it wasn't clear, anyone other than Vector is welcome to show up at the trailer, even if they're not helping out with construction.

The door to the back office slowly creaked open, allowing a layer of thick fog to roll out into the store; the room was pitch black, though occasionally a strobe light flashed somewhere in the depths, accompanied by pre-recorded thunderclaps. "Did someone mention...poison?" Suddenly Lynn came sweeping out of the office, dressed as ">the Queen from Snow White! Between her crown and something going on underneath her gorgeous dress, the normally petite brunette was now topping six feet, a truly impressive effect. The regular staff was gobsmacked, though Kiki just rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Lynn?" The store owner looked down at herself innocently. "What, is it too much?"