Heritage

Estelle laughed, and turned back to face Dragonfly. "'Hopefully' indeed! The Manhattan Project was a meeting of great minds, and look at their legacy." Returning to her seat, she thoughfully laid her head in her hand. "I've never really thought about it before, but in a sense I've never worked alone; I went right from Harvard to my family's firm, then to ASTRO and now here. I've been a 'team player' my entire professional career." She shrugged. "Not sure if that's good or bad, really; I suppose it depends on the individual."

"I agree, the views up here are spectacular, which is nearly reason enough to pack up shop. I'm not sure if I want to continue my association with ASTRO Labs or not." She looked out the window in the lab's general direction. "They've been very good to me, but I wouldn't mind a change; still, no point in burning your bridges." Rising up from her seat she took a few steps to the windows, her eyes taking in the whole of Freedom, now burnished with the rays of approaching sunset; unconsciously she put her hands on her hips in a somewhat iconic pose. "But there's something to be said for joining others of exceptional abilities in an undertaking like this; I feel as though...I'm not sure I can put it to words. A sense of...promise?" She shook her head, waves rippling to the ends of her hair. "I don't know exactly what it is, but I feel like I'm where I should be, if that makes any sense."

Estelle nodded. "A fair point; to be honest, it would probably put me to sleep, even with my greater..." She impassively looked down at her rather impressive body sprawled in her chair. "Mass." The chemsist waved her hand dismissively. "No worries. And really, it's no worse than having your name in the tabloids, which I've had a misfortune of seeing a few times. I don't keep anything really important on my phone anymore." With tremendous effort, Gossamer managed to sit up and nibble on a brownie. "Mmm, quite good! So, do you have an epic plans for your new lab space?"

It took a second for Estelle to comprehend exactly what Dragonfly was talking about, but then her eyes flickered back and forthe between the remarkable young inventor and her own phone, and it finally sank in. "Ah yes, thank you, good to know." She placed her order, thanked the woman at the resturaunt and ended the call. Now that the day was finally drawing to a close, she allowed her head to sink back against the chair with fatigue. "Oh, I hope I don't have to do many more of those...my bones feel like they've been cast in lead." Without bothering to lift her head, she asked, "Fly, I have a bottle of single malt scotch I've been saving for a special occasion; would you care for a glass?" With some effort she raised her head back up, and sleepily surveyed the room. "Everyone else is welcome to join...us? Hmm, I think we've been abandoned..."

Estelle was truly impressed by Fusion's handling of the van by herself; clearly she was a highly capable individual, even if she was a bit on the prickly side. She nodded in appreciation as she continued to dust of her lab coat and the jumpsuit underneath it. "Well done, Fusion, well done indeed." With the aid of her many golden appendages, Gossamer nearly flew behind the dumpster as each limb found purchase on nearby lampposts, parking meters and such, rapidly dragging her clear of the pending collapse. Just the way Nick spoke those words struck the blonde heroine particularly funny, no doubt fueled by all the adreneline still in her system; soon she was alternately laughing and choking on fine plaster dust. "Ah-hah-hah! Oh my goodness; I expect it will take several showers to get fully clean after this. Is everyone alright?"

Actually to avoid confusion, you might want to edit that post Sorus; Sage can say all that stuff, but ante and discarding should probably take place in turn order. I've got your discard PM, so I'll just apply that when her turn comes up, unless you want to change it since there's still time.

Remember folks, this is our turn order: Grim > Silhouette > Wisp > Jill > Dragonfly > Sage > Fusion So Sage won't get her replacement card for a few posts, Sorus :)

Some of Lynn's fellow FC students mentioned a show at KayJay, a venue she'd heard of but never actually frequented; other than the occasioanl trip to Midnight Hour back in the day, she tended to avoid all ages clubs for the simple reason that she'd been able to pass herself as over twenty-one for several years now. That and teenage boys were fairly gross and now of course illegal. However one of the girls mentioned that Eddie's band Octopus Dropkick was going to be headlining, so she decided she should stop in to give Eddie some support. Ooh, maybe I can hang out backstage; that would be cool!

Lynn pondered Mona's words; her brow furrowed, and a bemused smile touched her lips. "There's kind of a morbid undertone to that line of thought, but I'm gonna choose to focus on the positive part. What would you call that, 'bitterseet pragmatism'? I guess I can handle that...philosophy. See, I'm learning all kinds of stuff in college!" Her eyes wandered over to the bridal party, lingering on both the 'heroic' and 'non-heroic' among them. When she spoke again, her words were slightly muted and her voice nearly cracked. "It's nice to know I'll still have friends a hundred years from now." The shapeshifter laughed and applauded at Dok's speech, eagerly clinking her glass with the others. "My God, your future husband is so German!" She was glad she was able to say it as a compliment.

A wide-eyed Lynn held the bracelet up to the light, clearly enchanted; after a few seconds, she silently crawled up the length of Colt and kissed him for a very long time. When she finally came up for air, she only had a few seconds of freedom before Mona swooped in for the kill. “Meep!†Once free of the gentle giantess, she comically wobbled about the room as though in a daze; however she dropped the act when she received her portrait. “Cool, I can hang this one up next to my Blake! You're awesome, Mona!†The shapeshifter considered the strange gift for several moments. “Wow, if I hit this button while I was flying, I bet I could make it to Europe in, like, two seconds! Thanks, Eli!†Lynn savored the rare Ellie-sanctioned hug, giving the teen a firm friendly squeeze. “You’re welcome, hermanita; I’ll try not to do it too often, ‘kay?†“Ohhh!†The changeling flipped through the pages and then held her hand to her heart, small tears forming in the corners of her eyes; resisting her overwhelming urge to hug the two Espadas siblings, she merely gave them both a big smile and softly murmured, “Thank you, guys.†Once again curled up in her fiancé’s lap, Lynn felt a happy glow in her tummy. We all did good today. I love my team.

Estelle nodded firmly as her eyes nervously flicked about the shattering structure. "Yes, it appears our work is done here." She sent a wide lasso of hair towards the psychic, which looped under his arms and effortlessly picked him up and pulled him to her side. A pair of golden cables shot forth to grab anchor points on the door frame of the entrance, which Gossamer hoped would be solid enough for the next few seconds. She didn't wait long enough for Nic to object before putting her plan into action. "Off we go!" There was a sudden lurch, and then the two of them were rapidly launched outside as though by a giant slingshot, tumbling to the ground out some fifteen feet clear of the building. The blonde chemsist slowly rose to her feet, rubbing a few tender spots as her animated mane returned to its normal length. "Sorry about that. Ouch."

As Grim continued to study both her own hand and the faces of the other players, a wide variety of emotions flickered over her face as they discussed various aspects of Japanese robot culture; amusement, frustration, remorse. Dragonfly's hilarious correction made her smile; the more she saw of her the more she liked the girl, and was happy to see her and Jill were such a good fit. Clearing her throat, she finally chimed in again on the whole 'robot question'. "Uh, I guess I kinda misspoke earlier; Nanowire was a Japanese boy who was turned into a robot, not, y'know, built in a secret lab or something." Lifting her beer back up to her lips, she leveled her gaze at Fusion. "He died saving me from the Yakuza, so he must not have been all bad, right?" As soon as she said it, she regretted it; setting her beer down on the table with a dull thud, she focused intently on her hand, doing her best to set her cards on fire with her mind.

Despite Wisp's own critique of her work, her subject was delighted with the piece. "Omigod, that's so cool!" She waved the younger heroine over to her side."Here, someone take a picture of us both, with me holding her sketch! Wait, I should make something for you, too!" The changeling held out her hand, palm up, and lo and behold there was a Wisp action figure! The style was somewhat humorous and a little clunky, reminiscent of the WWF Hasbro figures Lynn and her brother used to play with growing up. The fully poseable figure came complete with a removable Old Navy hoodie made of what felt like a cheap, somewhat stretchy fabric. "Here ya go! I have no idea what you're wearing under the hoodie, so I kinda used my imagination." Realizing this statement might be misinterpreted, her small face went a bit pale before her cheeks became bright red. "I mean, you're wearing clothes under there, obviously! Or at least, uh, the doll is; y'know, little trunks and a workout bra, molded into the plastic..." Grim poked her head around the line to reassure any children (or more importantly, their ever-watchful parents) with a big, rather forced smile. "Remember, kids, Grimalkin says 'Always wear your clothes when you're outside!'"

Grim makes Wisp her own action figure! Craft (Artistic): 1d20+6=23 And it's a keeper!

Estelle shuddered involuntarily at the sight of the eerie 'entity' as it quivered in the shadows, just at the edge of perception. Oh, this is going to be rather icky. Her hair formed into a single thick fibrous appendage some fifteen feet long; with a grunt of effort, she swung it around her head and snapped it forward like a lash, shooting across the intervening space like a golden bolt of lightning.

Kill it with hair! Gossamer's attack: 1d20+10=24 DC 25 Toughness check.

After distributing the requisite fifty dollars in chips to each player, the changeling finally had a look at her cards. Grim considered her cards for a bit with a fairly neutral expression, discarded two and received two replacements from the tentacled dealer. "Well, I once dated a Japanese robot, so having dinner inside one might be a bit weird; I mean, he wasn't a giant robot...actually I guess he kinda was, compared to me anyways, but then most folks are. Giants, that is." She tossed her five dollar ante into the pot and took another sip of conjured Corona.

Remember that Fusion actually dealt the cards IC, so I think the betting starts somewhere else!

Estelle's cheecks went bright red with a happy flush. "Well, there's no hurry...it might be wise to wait until the new year, since you...perhaps...right, shutting up now!" She playfully wrapped a golden gag across her mouth and snuggled deeper into the arms of her man, happily envisioning what the new year would bring.

Grim frowned as she gently moved aside a few paper plates. "I actually bought some chips, which have mysteriosuly disappeared...ah, here we go!" She held the tubes of poker chips in one hand while gesturing at them with the other, not unlike a Price is Right model. "I figured real chips were more honest, but if people want, I can conjure up, like, a ton of Thin Mints to use for bidding. I could even make them different colors." She started to unwrap the chips and put them into neat piles by color. "Does a five dollar ante sound good?" She'd been pointedly ignoring her cards until the bidding issue was resolved; she also wasn't too keen to see just how crappy her first hand was, at least not right away. Who knows, maybe I'll be lucky for once.

Lynn shook her head. "Oh, no way! I'm looking forward to it!" However her brow did furrow for a second. "Though I'm not gonna lie, I do worry about it sometimes." She held out her hand, just below the edge of the table, and a little Colt and little Grim appeared, side by side like they were on top of a wedding cake. She gently ran a finger around the brim of the miniature cowboy hat. "I mean, I keep on evolving or whatever you call it, becoming less and less human; what if someday....I dunno." She closed her hands over the pair, and thin streams of vapor leaked out between her fingers. "In the stories, the faeries never die, and things don't always turn out so well for the mortals they bewitch..." She opened her hands, and both the figures were gone.

"Mmm, me too. Here-" She tore off a piece of pizza and fed it to him, allowing her fingers to linger upon his lips. After a few moments, she turned thoughtful. "Would you ever...well, um, move..." Her swirling emotions temporarily robbed her of her usual eloquence.

The Interceptor vigorously nodded in approval. "Teleportation? That's awesome! Wish I had that power; I have still have to fly everywhere. Here ya go, Bethany, have a great day, and stay warm!" After a few more signitures, she continued to chat. "You'd get along great in my family; I come from a long line of nerds. I'm actually the least nerdy member of my family, much to my shame; other than the Oz books, some Star Trek and about four months of playing D&D, I'm hopelessly square. Oh, I did read all the Harry Potter books, but that's almost mainstream nowadays, right?" She craned her neck to take a peek at the portrait so far. "How's it coming? Have you captured my mysterious allure?"

To me it makes the most sense for Grim to show up at the concert itself, either having heard about it through the grapevine or Eddie calling her. I have no problem waiting a few posts before having her show up.

So if the concert is taking place on the 25th, am I to assume it's not the same as the current day? If so, Eddie could always call Grim and tell her about his upcoming gig.