Heritage

Grim did her damnedest to make the best of a bad situation; she made sure to get any nearby kids involved with gathering up the broken stone into neat piles, challenging them to work their hardest but making sure they treated the monuments and the grounds with respect. She talked to the moms about drawing up a list of which stones where damaged and how badly, and put the dads to work with the heavy lifting. The whole time, she moved among the people of the neighborhood, encouraging them, joking with them, and patting the occasional shoulder, and one in one instance playfully slapping a butt (what, he was cute!). But she didn't shy away from the physical labor either; whenever an extra hand was needed, she lent it, frequently using her claws to get a better grip with some of the more awkward stones. And lastly she also blew the last of her spending money on buying as much pop and ice cream from the pushcart vendors as she could afford for her thirsty crew.

Wait, wasn't Memorial Day May 25th??

Grim nodded as she finished putting her plans together in her head. "Okay...yeah, I can do that." She turns back to Wesley expectantly. "Just tell me where and when, Mr. Freakout, and I'll be there."

How's she look now, Doc?

Something about the way he said that made the hair on Grim's neck stand straight up; it took her a few seconds to regain her composure, but then she caught something the masked hero had said, a few times actually.. "Uh, okay, uh...wait, is your name really Wesley? Interesting. My name's Lynn, since that's only fair." She gets up and starts pacing as she ticks off points with her fingers. "Okay, so I need directions or a guide, and maybe a lift back to the Imperator so I can get my stuff; I'm gonna have to be sneaky, since I can't let Pitt know I'm moving out-" She stops and spins on her heel to face Avenger. "Or should I make a big show of it, like I know I'm being hunted? Or like I'm 'trying' to be sneaky, but totally failing because I'm so damned scared of whoever is on my tail?"

Grim is somewhat taken aback by the offer of lodgings, and is actually speechless for a few moments. Whoa, this is happening so fast. And yet it would be nice to live with some new people...even if some of them are major weirdos. And how exactly is that different from where I'm living now...? When she finally finds the right words, she seems to choose them carefully. "I suppose I could do that...uh, how many people are living in this place? Is it like a co-op or something? Do I have to sign something, or make any kind of deposit? To be honest, I'd like to get place of my own eventually, or with just one or two roommates, preferably someone not in the, uh, 'biz', as it were. But for temporary...yeah, I guess so." For a while she just sits there on the bench, deep in thought, working out the particulars in her head. Finally she looks up at Avenger. "Where exactly would I go, and when? It won't take me long to get my stuff together, just a few minutes, tops; like I said, I don't own very much."

At the sight of Knight's rather disturbing stunt, Grim screams and leaps up into the air, a good ten feet, before landing a short distance away in a three-point stance with a totally revolted expression on her face. "Good God, would you warn someone about that? I nearly tossed my cookies!" She stands and walks back over to the others. "A place to go? Hmm; other than Carmine back at the Imperator, I don't really know anyone in the city who has a place. I guess I can check the paper for a roommate; since I don't really own anything, moving won't be much of a problem." The young heroine frowns. "My babies; I need to get my cats out of there. Carmine could help with that, he looked after them before, but I would like to get them back."

Oh man, she could be anywhere now! Dammit! Turning her attention back to the crowd, Grim drops her Vicky Atom persona and stands before them as Grimalkin, for the first time facing her 'public'. Anf she is not happy with them. "For your information, the name is Grimalkin; I was trying to use a familiar face to calm down that woman who just leapt away, who I think was a version of Andrea Atom...though I don't know why her hair kept changing." Grim climbs up on top of one of the few intact headstones nearby, and raises her voice. "Look, I know your all very upset about what she did here; this is a sacred place to all of you, as it should be, and I respect that you're angry and want justice." And now her tone is much sharper. "What I don't respect is firing a gun at a woman who was putting her fists through freakin' headstones! What were you thinking?! You put me and everyone else here in danger, and now she's all mad and just took off for the Theater District, when the cops were probably on their way over here! Thanks a lot, thanks for helping! Make sure to yell 'jump' the next time you see someone out on a ledge!" She stops, then shakes her head before she continues. "Look, I'm sorry I yelled; that was mean and unfair, but I don't like when people shoot at me. I find it upsetting. If anyone wants to stay here with me and start cleaning this up, I'd appreciate it it, because I'm not all that strong, and some of these look pretty heavy." She jumps down and starts trying to figure out the names on the nearest damaged grave markers.

Edited Grim's previous post, which made it sound like she was standing, when the post before that had her in a bench she conjured up.

Notice check for Columbia's hair going crazy (thanks, Fell!).

I'm gonna wait on you before I post, Sand :)

Victoria shakes her head, smiling through her tears as she takes a few steps closer. I'm actually reaching her; this actually might work after all! Now I just need to- Grim's anger flared, and for a moment she even saw red. F#@ing idiots and their stupid guns! In a flash, 'Victoria' bounds over to the guy with the gun, claws barred. "Do you mind?! I am trying to resolve this situation peacefully! You and your stupid gun are not helping, jerkwad!" Oh crap, does Vicky Atom ever use claws? I think she's just stretchy! :shock: The claws disappear as quickly as they appeared, and Grim pushes herself, harder than she has before; both her arms start to stretch, not too far, more like four or five feet each. Holding her arms outward as if to block the crowd, the faux Atom turns back to her 'mom', her brow dotted with sweat. "Mom, run! I can't hold all of them back!" I can track her invisibly, and then I can talk to her away from these panicked morons.

Spending Hero Point to mimic Elongation 1 with Morph.

I am so down with this idea!

Lynn gets in line behind a girl with matted dreadlocks who reeks of patchouli and infrequent bathing; despite her best efforts to breathe through her mouth, her face begins to crumple with dismay. "Uh, what? You mean me? Heck no, I didn't even finish high school! I, uh, do plan on getting my GED soon, though; maybe then I could try for like community college or something. I have no idea what I'd actually major in." That was actually a really good question; maybe she should think about college on down the road... "So yeah, I guess a sort of general broadening of the horizons kinda thing. Actually-" She casually looks around to make sure no one else is paying attention, then leans in to murmur to the Irish boy. "I'm on a kind of a quest, just like Lancelot and Galahad!" Lynn looks thoughtful for a second as she steps forward to place her order. "Well, maybe more like Brave Sir Robin." The beautiful brunette laughs and wiggles her eyebrows. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Hi gang! I'm gonna be a little scarce for a bit, due to some issues we're having with our provider ("Comcast! I spit!"), but I will get on when and where I can.

Lynn's eyes light up at the mention of free hot liquids. "Oh, coffee for sure! Lots of cream and sugar, with caramel syrup and whipped cream if they have it!" She jumps up, grabs the Celtic book and tucks it under her arm, leaving the kitsune book on the low table by her chair. She eagerly points across the bookstore. "From the smell of it, I think the coffee and baked goods are over thataway."

I know Shadowboxer never used bold for Rival, but it makes it easier to read (shrug).

The petite brunette smiles. "Ooh, I get to fake my own death? Cool!" She strokes her chin in thought, looks between Wes and Avenger, and finally nods. "Okay, if it will help things, I will let you in on the same secret I let Knight here in on; remember, I want to keep this ability a secret, at least for now." Grim closes her eyes and is surrounded by thin gray mist; seconds later she appears as her old mentor Nightrival, the voice and inflection a perfect match. Nightrival spreads his arms over the back of the bench and offers a rugged grin "Hey, I hate ta brag, but ya gotta admit, this ain't half-bad!" The Southside defender chuckles. "Me an' Rival, th' real Rival, used ta mess with them skinheads alla time wit' this trick." With another swirl of mist, Grim is once more herself, though her expression is somewhat perplexed. "Hmm, first time as Bossman; kinda weird." She shudders involuntarily, then puts her chin on her fist. "So anyway, 'Sneaky' is my middle name; what do you want me to do?"

Lynn shrugs offhandedly. "Well to be honest, the kitsune book isn't what I'm really looking for; very cool pictures of old Japanese paintings, though." She holds the book open to show him; it's more of a glossy coffee table book with a smattering of descriptiosn and interesting tidbits. "See? Cool stuff." She sets it aside and starts flipping through the somewhat larger Celtic book; it's more of an anthropological overview of the myth cycles, legends and folklore of Ireland and Scotland, targeting the amateur enthusiast, and has a few black-and-white line illustrations. "This is more what I'm looking for, stuff about the 'Day-on Sid-hee', hollow hills and stuff. The Faerie Courts, goblins and brownies, that kinda thing." Lynn peers closely at a caption, holding the book right up to her face. "God, this Gaelic stuff is so hard to pronounce! 'Two-hatha Dee Dannon'; hmm, maybe they invented yogurt." She chuckles at her own weak joke, then stops and looks up at Sirius, and her brow furrows with concern. "Oh man, I'm sorry! This is all Irish stuff, right? I didn't mean to make fun of your cultural heritage or anything." The young woman sits up and starts craning her neck to scan the store; somewhat oddly, she seems to be sniffing the air as well. "Maybe I could buy you like a scone or something; do you like scones, or is that more an English thing?"

Dear God, the poor woman was in anguish! Grim kept telling herself that as long as she kept Columbia talking, she wasn't hurting any innocent bystanders, but it didn't make her feel any less like a kid pulling the wings off a fly. And sooner or later, I'll take it too far, and then she'll really let me have it; the cops and fire department better be using this time to get people clear, so my inevitable death won't be in vain 'Victoria' took two steps closer, until she was within twenty feet of the tortured heroine, who seemed to be from a parallel world. She held her hand out in a reassuring gesture. "Look, I don't know what you did or to who, but I can tell...you still love me, Mom. And if you did something bad, like really, really bad, you did it for a good reason...even if it doesn't feel that way now." When Grim played a role like this, when she was in real deep, it was barely like acting anymore; it was like she touched something that touched every other soul on Earth, a place where every emotion was pure and true. "No matter what you did...I still love you, Mom." And in a way, I really do. :cry:

Grim barely heard Knight's words of reason. She didn't want to calm down, she wanted to hear this so-called hardcase try and talk his way out of this, to explain exactly why he rolled over on his back and let Pitt scratch his widdle tummy. Words. More words. Nothing but lies and excuses and whine whine whine- That caught her off-guard; at first, all Grim can do is stare at the black-masked vigilante in dumb shock, but then a few seconds later she cracks a smile, the anger leaves her eyes and she is laughing, laughing 'til she's actually clutching her belly in pain. When she finally composes herself, she must wipe her eyes to see clearly. "Ah-huh-haha! Oh god! Ah-huh! Ooooh!" She leans over, clutching her knees for a few moments as she catches her breath, until she at last stands straight and manages to speak. "Wow. So, we now have proof that he's human after all." Grim shakes her head and grins wryly. "Okay, funny man. You're telling me he's not worth fighting, and you have a way we can work this out that doesn't ruffle any feathers and no one gets hurt, right?" She flicks her hand out, points towards the ground, and a low bench appears; she takes a seat, her graceful legs demurely folded in lady-like fashion. Catching Wesley's eye, she pats the bench beside her before returning her attention to Avenger. "So, how's it all work? What's your game plan?"

(Bump)

Shiny! :D

Grim actually snorts, even though the rational part of her brain tells her it's really bad to laugh at someone like Avenger. "'How much trust'? Dude, I hardly know you, and it looks like even that was all wrong!" She starts to get all animated, gesturing sharply to illustrate her points. "Look, I'm not saying it's a bad thing to help out the lovable freaks at the Imperator; hell, that place is a firetrap, and we all know it! But I can't help but notice your little plan doesn't even mention Pitt, which gets me thinking..." And here the tiny vigilante boldly approaches Avenger, not getting right in his face (because she's not quite that stupid), but within about two feet of that emotionless mask. "You guys cut a deal, didn't you? He bought you off! Pitt walks away free and clear, and all the little puppets get new shiny houses, and everybody wins!" Grim plants her hands on her hips and shakes her head in disgust. "And from the sound of it, you've got plenty of money lying around to throw at other people's problems; sounds like a rich North Bay playboy who gets his jollies punching poor folks in the face!" She turns and walks away. "Forget him, Wes, we don't need him; it's just you and me, buddy. :evil: