Heritage

Jeena nodded, feeling bad for making Cole feel bad. Truly, getting to know someone was like trying to cross a cavern filled with seismic mines; you never knew when you'd misstep and plunge down into darkness. She shrank back down to her normal size and headed over to the drink table, head down and hood up, but as she passed she ran an affectionate hand across Cole's shoulders. She was tempted to send to Zach, but opted for a few moments of silence; anyway, he'd probably see her and send to her regardless. The Gatorade felt good going down; as she stood with the cold bottle held next to her temple, she looked back across to Cole and gave him a hopeful smile; she definitely didn't want to let this portal close. Don't scare him, Jee; keep that connection open.

For a brief second, the pale-skinned girl stiffened, her smile frozen on her face; she thought of the scars hidden beneath her clothing, from both combat and her brief period of imprisonment. Scars on Tektani skin didn't stand out as much as they did on a human, but they were still visible, and could be felt by a gentle caress... He can't have known; he's just being silly, and remember you were the one who started this warrior business. Jeena missed a bit of his joke, but was able to fake it; she clutched one hand to her heart and pressed the other to her forehead as she mock-swooned. "The only injury I suffered was to my heart, shattered into a million pieces by..." And then she thought of Preel back on Tektan, the boy she liked on another team; she never got a chance to talk with him alone like she wanted to, and of course now he could be anywhere. Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, but she did her best to laugh lightly. "You know what, maybe we should just cut the theatrics for a bit; the fastest way to injure yourself is being silly on a worksite." She held the pane of glass firmly in place and squeezed her eyes shut.

For a few seconds, Grim was frozen in place as she looked down at what, she wasn't sure; was it really Viktor? He seemed so small, like he was somehow diminished; not physically, but more like the spotlight that normally shined on him was dimmed. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but her emotions were too confused for her to know the source. The shapeshifter staggered for a moment and muttered a few words, barely audible above the chaos that still reigned. "Keep fighting....we need to keep fighting..." And with that, she threw herself back into the fray.

I think we're approaching wrap up, but yeah, I would appreciate another post from Cole :D

Jeena was out exploring the school grounds and facilities, trying to memorize the layout; if they knew they were going to stay in a given location for any length of time, her and Zach always noted food and water supplies, sleeping areas, power sources, and other strategic resources. As she came down the corridor sketching a map into her notebook, she spotted Gwen speaking with another alien. To be honest, the tall girl might have just been an exceptional human, but Jeena doubted it; her clothing and the way she carried herself suggested a non-terrestiral origin, and of course her skin color and distinctive marking favored the hypothesis. She'd heard they weren't the first aliens to arrive on Earth and most certainly wouldn't be the last, but it still came as quite a shock to see one here now. The Tektani girl stuffed her notebook in her bookbag and slowly approached the pair, hugging close to the lockers on the wall; as usual she work almost all black, with her striking purple sunglasses perched on her head. There was a smile on her pale, blue-eyed face, but also a hint of caution. Jeena waved nonchalantly. "Hey, roomie! You still greeting new students?"

Cubic looked over to her brother, then back to the three adults. "Well, we attended a special military academy back home in the Netherlands; lots of war games, tactical theory, stuff like that." The Tektani girl nodded. "Yeah, that would be fine; we could relay information back to you-" Then she stopped suddenly, and shot a nervous glance over to Covalanet. Ooh, do we dare to send to them? They seem like good people, but we aren't even telling the kids at school about that yet.

Works for me! You'll probably run her better in combat than I would :P

So how do you want to play this? I'm more than happy to run Grim again.

Lost track of this one, my bad!

Gossamer nodded slowly; clearly she was no closer to understanding 'Cape's powers than she was before. "Alright, I'll...be ready to help restrain it if it comes to." She followed behind, happy for her part in the successful bagging of the beast but now in the afterglow of the capture, she felt a tiny bit useless. Oh well, they had achieved their goal and worked together well as a team, so that was all worthy of celebration. Speaking of which... "So once we get him to our mysterious employer, what do you two say for a drink? The bar in my lab is well stocked, or we can hit a local pub, if either of you prefer."

Jeena smiled and gave Zach a wink. Thanks, big brother, you're the best! And don't worry, I'm not going to do anything too crazy; just a little pleasant conversation while in close physical proximity. The pretty giantess pointed innocently at the smear. "What, this? This is war paint." She rubbed a still-wet dollop from the back of her hand on her other cheek. "Before any battle, a true warrior applies her 'warface', so that her enemies know her terrible intent!" She shook a massive fist at the inanimate structure they were working on. "Fear me, O house of glass! My mighty blows shall sunder thee!" At her current size, such battle cries were fairly impressive, though thankfully lacking the volume they possessed at her full height; of course, her ludicrously twisted grimace was more than half silly smile.

Whatever Grim's original plan was, it was quickly lost in the wall of madness that throbbed out of the mountain of twisted flesh they faced; how strange that the faerie nature that she so often mistrusted would be the key to the shapeshifter not losing her mind? No, it can't end like this, with all of us his mad puppets! Lynn took a deep breath and let the glamour flow out of her body, surrounding her petite frame with swirling motes of light as she took on a truly unearthly appearance; but unlike poor Viktor, Grim was now a source of warm, loving calm. When she spoke, her voice was like a soothing stream of water flooding through the fevered minds of her teammates. "Be not afraid, nor troubled nor lost; you are all Warriors of Light. The Darkness will not not touch you, nor consume nor taint you. You shall remain separate from the Dark, and where your weapons strike, the Light shall spring forth." When the minds of her friends were clear, Grimalkin focused on helping them fight the Beast; heedless of the potential harm to herself, she shrank down to pixie size and began to whip around the column of flesh, tearing deep into the odious mass with her diamond-sharp claws. sadly it soon became clear that the injuries began to heal as soon as they were dealt, and foul abominations boiled out the wounds before they closed. Grim cried out in frustration when she saw Thrude fall and redoubled her efforts; to slow the slithering, gibbering, shivering horrors, she dropped several brick walls, forming a labyrinth to thwart their progress. Where she saw civilians in peril, she either flew them clear or made them swords and clubs to better defend themselves. And where her brothers and sisters in arms struck, she created rock salt, garlic, silver, vinegar and any other traditional charm she could think of to hurl into the gaps in the flesh, anything that might cause the injuries to fester. "Why...won't...you...die?!"

A rented limo pulled up in front of the mundane facade of the Secret Bar; one of the valets opened the door, and a golden tide spilled out, followed closely by a pair of long shapely legs in elegant pumps. Dr Estelle de Havilland (AKA Gossamer), the lovely yet rather bizarre heroine and founding partner in the Lab, made an impressive entrance. She wore a shimmering backless black dress and vintage diamond earrings to match her stunning necklace on loan from Versace. Estelle smiled for the cameras, shared a few polite pleasantries with the press with mechanical ease, and made her way inside. When asked about her handsome veterinarian boyfriend, she made a show of being sad he was unable to attend the event; it was difficult being a public superhero with Greg still 'in the closet', but so far they were making it work. Perhaps I can discretely hold his hand with a spare tendril; assuming, of course, I can be a bit more subtle than I was the first time I met Moira... She rolled her eyes and chuckled at the embarrassing memory as she made her way to Mad Dog's table; her smile was friendly but not overly familiar. "Hello again, MD! Nice to see you could make it."

Jeena did her best to hide a smile; it wasn't often Zach liked a boy she thought was cute. Morgan said something about a 'kawk gun'; maybe- She stopped when she noticed him popping around the greenhouse, gleefully squirting a pale gray goop into seemingly every crack and crevice of the structure; she indicated him with a jerk of her head. Is that what he's using over there? Or should I say 'abusing'? If kawk's some sort of sealant, he's making that greenhouse safe for space travel. After a bit of hunting around, the twins found the sealant applicators near the rest of the tools, and got to work. A smiling Jeena leaned out of the greenhouse, poking most of her torso through the framework; at her current size, she was wielding her 'kawk gun' more like a syringe. "We put the window panels in place, then fill in the cracks with this sealant." She held up one hand smeared with grey putty; there was also a fairly artful smear on her face, though it was kind of hard to make out against her pale skin. "I can get the panels in fine, but my sealing skills need a bit of work; Cole, how about you work the gun while I hold the panels in place?"

Jeena frowned as she pulled back her hood to scratch her head, allowing her short, silvery-white hair to spill out. "Oh, so the Worm is a human? That is, a person leading other persons?" She looked to her brother thoughtfully. "Well, we have seen groups of rather scary-looking people down here now and again; obviously we were able to hide from them fairly easily, using our abilities." She continued to describe them as she would giving report to an officer back home. "They appeared to be armed with pipes and other crude weapons, traveled in groups of five to seven, and were dressed like street people." She sighted along her arm back down the tunnel, like a surveyor. "Mostly we've seen them south by southwest of our current location; wouldn't you say, Cov?" Is that okay for a 'nickname', or should I use something else? You can call me 'Cube', if you want.

I don't think we ever imagined it would ever stand up to serious scrutiny; I imagine the same will happen if Jeena and John go on their possible 'date'.

Inch-high Jeena was quite shocked by the sudden arrival of her brother; she'd felt a quick rush of wind and made a correction, but then there was a second rush and her brother was flailing about, and then they were caught. At first, Jeena bumped herself up to six inches, not quite ready to admit to the full range of her capabilities, but then she figured busted was busted, and she assumed her normal proportions, an embarrassed smile on her face. "Hello! Uh, my brother and I were down here in the tunnels, like we are from time to time, and we...saw you looking around, hunting for this Worm creature, and we thought, 'Wouldn't it be nice to help those three mysterious people?' But we're sort of new at this, and we weren't sure..." Do we use our real names, or those code names we were talking about?

This statement made Jeena's ears prick up a bit; a fellow outsider? Between Cole and John, there seemed to be two possible choices for her...assuming, of course, she found the time for any sort of relationship. As always, their first obligation was to going home. Silly how she had to remind herself from time to time! She was also relived there seemed to be no hard feelings between her and Corbin, which was a huge relief. The twins had read up on caves and 'spelunking' when they first arrived as they were starting to master the English language and basic American customs; it seemed many humans had limited experience with life below ground, with the notable exception of the World Wars. Reading about these conflicts stirred up powerful resonances with Jeena, who felt a certain kinship with the humans of that era; the Tommies, doughboys and poilus in their trenches and dugouts, the citizens of London huddled in Tube stations during the Blitz, the brave and desperate Soviet soldiers in the sewers under Stalingrad. These humans would have understood what her and Zach had gone through, but would their descendants? But Jeena voiced none of these thoughts; she merely shrugged in what she hoped was a mysterious way and said, "A cave can be a home if you make it so." The Tektani shook her head. "Gwen is using a kit sent by her...godfather, I think? Plus she has built such structures before in her travels around the world; I have every confidence in her ability to erect it." Then she turned to look over the various teens working together. "Now whether or not we posses the skill to put her plans into action, that might be a debatable point." Jeena nodded and she wiped her mouth and pitched her trash into the receptacle. "Yeah, I'm ready to get back to work; let's have a look at those windows." She started back towards the construction site, throwing a look and a smile over her shoulder towards Cole as she began to grow back up to fifteen feet, a size that was ideal for this sort of activity. She noted Brian and gave him a more-or-less neutral nod; hopefully Zach would follow and the other boy could finally get something to drink.

I'm a bit vexed as how to proceed myself; she saw the markings, I think her Dex roll allowed her to avoid the blade but Zach is also doing an Interpose. Suggestions?

Per chat discussion with Ari, Jeena actually does need to make the rolls, since she is floating closely behind the trio and based on how her Flight power works. Notice check: 1d20+9=27 Tiny senses are go! Dex check: 1d20+3=20 Tiny reflexes are...also pretty good!

Is that common knowledge among new students? I thought we had to pass muster before we see the cool stuff. Either way, I'll leave Jeena's statements the same, and just say she was getting overly enthusiastic.

Three cheers for the new sacrifices! :toot:

Cubic Going Topside If you build it... New Beginings Sleeping Worms Transferance from Abroad Gossamer Outdoor Show Space Safari: Fulcrum, Gossamer, and the Giant Beast A Touch Of Class Grimalkin (NPC) [ArchEvil] Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit

Jeena shook her head as she tried to piece together the trio's mission based on the bits she'd heard. It sounds like they're hunting for someone or something called 'the Worm', some sort of bad guy that lives down here; look for any scratches on the wall, it seems like that's a clue if the Worm's been here. We should also keep our eyes open for any traps or ambushes, since it sounds like it's smart and has been down here for some time. Despite herself, the Tektani girl began to feel very protective of the three mysterious heroes, like a tiny Shard sprite out of one of her storybooks. By the Shard's Light, I'll watch over you, at least while you're down in my world. She smiled as she looked up towards the surface. Up there, you're on your own.

Jeena shook her head. "Nah, Cole, see the outdoors is overrated; sunlight, trees, conflict between young males over desirable females...all of it's bad news." She gave Zach a playful nudge, then pointed at the handsome new arrival with her pizza slice for emphasis. "The future is in cave-dwelling." She shrugged as she made ready to take another bite. "It's what all the cool kids are doing." Jeena reached out to rub her brother's arm affectionately. He was being overprotective of his girlfriend, or so he feels; clearly he thinks he's marked his territory and he's going to fight for her. I know you like her and you're not going to give up so easily, but maybe try another approach? Charm her, be there for her when Brian can't; then let her decide on her own, and be okay with it if she doesn't chose you. The Tektani girl smiled around a mouthful of pizza. And be able to sustain a seismic bombardment for hours! Hey, maybe they'll let us dig some defensive tunnels under the campus! That could be our project!