Heritage

Torque nodded attentively as Dragoneer explained his high pressure lifestyle; it sounded exhausting to her, and she no longer slept! So she could hardly judge him for not making 'hero work' a full time job. At the mention of how she got her powers, she suddenly became coy. "There are...details of my private life that I am not able to share," she said as she shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. "Suffice to say it involved nanotechnology, and a significant change in my body's structure."

Crystal-Gazer () A Changing World () Amygdala () Crime Doesn't Pay () Dead Men Tell No Tales () Halloween Mall Trip () Marquee Lights () Rainbow Connection () Teen Idle () Witchy Woman ()  Grimalkin () [Maxed] Birthday Girl () Kingmaker: Checkmate () Siren Song of The Void () Torque () Dragon's Harvest () Vibora Bay - Rough Draft () Vibora bay: Even The Mere Reports Of Such (1) All Grimalkin's points go to Torque

Lulu stiffened for a moment, then she sighed and shook her head. "Ahm sorry, Davyd, ah didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Then she shook her head sharply. "No, that ain't entirely true." She unlinked arms, then took both of Davyd's hands in her own, and took a step back. "Look, ah may be dumb, but ah ain't stupid. Ah know you're a little sweet on me, and ah was tryin' to do a little, ah don't know, shock therapy or somethin'? But it's manipulative and wrong, and that's not who ah want to be no more. Now, ah still think you could learn a lot spendin' the day as a girl, but ah'm not goin' to force you to so anything you don't want to, okay? So we don't have to link arms and put you through torture if you don't want to." She smiled sweetly and shrugged. "It's all up to you, 'Olivia'."

"Well, ah don't want to get you in trouble," said a now somewhat concerned Lulu. "Ah mean, any more than you already are. Ah'm sure there's a late night pizza joint here in Freedom. Hey, maybe after we eat, we can take a few more puffs and watch some kind of trippy movie? Mah brothers love to watch 'stoner movies' after they get high, like The Big Lebowski or Ernest Scared Stupid." It was true; the Beaumont boys had stack of DVDs in well-worn cases, smudged with peanut butter and Cheeto powder, that they referred to as 'inspirational viewing'.

"If you knew I was coming, you would've barred the frickin' door," Lynn said with a chuckle as she took a seat, placing her food and the booze on the crummy Ikea coffee table before her. Then Beelzebub made his dramatic entrance. "Oof! Well, at last we meet, Beelzie! I've been smelling you on your mom so long, it's like I already know you!" She extended her claws and oh so gently scritched the big old cat behind the ears, and like most cats he practically melted. "Yeah, he likes that!" "So, she stated matter of factly as she poured them both two fingers of bourbon. "Other than getting wasted, what should we do?"

Mia had made an unexpected visit to Silberman's Books earlier that day, which she did from time to time. Not that Lynn objected; she was a cool kid, and their powers were similar enough that the older heroine could give her a few pointers now and then. But this time, the awkward teen had a very specific mission: that her mother not be alone on her birthday. She produced a key to the apartment and placed it on the counter, and warned the changeling to be prepared for anything. Which turned out to be painfully accurate. "Ah, vintage Adult Swim," said the shapeshifter with a sigh, like a wine aficionado savoring a rare cabernet. "You have excellent taste." Lynn was dressed fairly casually (though not quite as casually as Serena) in a pair of loose jeans, Teva sandals and a faded Princess Jasmine T-shirt. Over one shoulder was an overdized canvas bag, and she carried a plastic bag filled with delicious-smelling Chinese food. Her curly brown hair was up, revealing her pointed ears and graceful neck. "A little bird stopped by the shop today," she began as found her way to the kitchen and began unpacking things onto the small kitchen table. "Well, more of a great blue heron, really. Anyway, said bird informed me that a woman of her acquaintance was going to be spending her birthday alone, getting drunk and eating junk food. We both agreed this was unacceptable, and I was provided with a key in the hope that I might rectify that." Lynn came back into the living room with a plate piled high with egg fu yung, mushroom fried rice and veggie egg rolls, as well as a bottle of Maker's Mark and two glasses. "May I sit?"

It's been a rough week, but I'm happy to say that my school situation is vastly improved. That being said, I will be scarce over the next week or so as I work on my big project under my instructor's guidance. I will probably pop into chat to say hi from time to time, or do a random short post here and there, but it will be a fairly light presence until the great work is done. See you around!

"Hey, this is mah first time gettin' properly high," Lulu retorted with a slight frown. "Let me freak out in mah own way." Then she looked around a bit and tried to figure out what she was in the mood for at the moment, which was kind of everything. She tapped on her lower lip for a few seconds, then held up two fingers. "Alright, ah got two ideas-" She paused, then held up a third finger. "Three ideas! Okay, the one for sure is we go to New York for pizza, 'cause they got the best pizza. But before that, we do one of two things." She dramatically held up one finger. "We go for a walk in the woods. Nothin' crazy, maybe just Wharton. Or two, we go swimmin' in the Gulf. Night swimmin' in warm water is the best, but we can't go too far out, 'cause we're high as f###."

This was all fascinating to Lulu, who felt a certain kinship with Corona in experiencing poverty and being exploited once her powers manifested. The redheaded psychic hung on every word, and when it was time to ask questions, hers was the first to shoot up. Once she was recognized, she once again used her powers to make her voice louder so it would carry better. "Hi, Miss Mustafic, ah'm Lulu Beaumont? Ah'm actually friends with your daughter, who is great, by the way. Ah was wonderin' if you could describe the kinds of messages or techniques that Mr. Wu used to keep you and other Delinquents loyal or in line? In case we ever encounter kids in the same same situation. Thank you!" She returned to her seat, happy to have gotten the ball rolling.

Lulu frowned comedically and attempted a casual wave, but it looked more like she was trying to sway away an invisible moth. "It's fine; we're all judgemental sumbiches on this bus! Ah thought you were some surly punk rock b####, and it turns out...well, you are one, but you're also hella cool! Hella cool!" The telepath began slowly floating back down, accompanied by hilarious fluttering hand movements and off-key humming. "Mmm, pizza sounds good, but we should probably sober up a spell." Weird psychedelic images and blobs of color began to pulse and throb across Lulu's face and chest, and tiny rocket ships and planetoids orbited her head. "Ah mean, look at this s###!"

Lulu nodded and gave Davyd a golf clap. "Cousin Olivia, so nice to meet you! What part of the country are you from, cuz? Don't pick an accent you're goin' to have a hard time maintainin', now." Lulu got out and locked the SUV with a beep, her purse over one shoulder. "Now here's the thing: girlfriends, as in girls who are friends, are kind of touchy. And ah don't mean quick to go off the handle, ah mean comfortable with each other's touch." And here she stepped over to 'Olivia' and linked arms with her in a casual, friendly way. "You alright with that, cuz?"

"It's all good," Lulu said with a shrug as she accepted the joint back. "Ah'm sort of on the other end of that equation; once mah folks figured out ah wasn't goin' crazy, they were all too keen to let me swim around in people's heads. You know, provided ah came back with their credit card numbers..." She took another slow drag, finally getting the rhythm of it, then handed it back to Mia as she waved a hand and held her breath; she was good for now, content to let the drug do its thing. After letting her breath out slowly, she smiled and gradually floated a few inches off the ground. "Uh oh," she whispered in mock horror. "Ah think ah'm high!" She then shook her head and burst into a giggling fit.

Lulu chuckled as she gingerly took the joint from Mia. "Well, we ain't all that different; my family is 100% genuine white trash." She carefully held it to her lips and did a long, slow draw. "Our house is right next to the Chattahoochie River," she croaked as she did her best to keep the smoke in, like she'd seen her older brothers do. "It's pretty much the whole backyard." She tried to let it out slowly, but burst into a coughing fit, which gave her a major head rush. "Ooh, Lord have mercy! Anyway, that damn river pretty much floods every year now; had to keep all our clothes in plastic tubs, but they still end up smellin' like swamp water. And that stink hung over mah whole family. Hell, mah dad got fired from Piggly Wiggly for stealin' steaks out of the deep freeze; you can't get more white trash than that!" She sighed and looked down at her nice clothes. "Only reason ah look this is good is ah got lucky; got hooked up with a wealthy foster family. Ah can finally afford nice shampoo and soap, and mah hair ain't cut at the Delacroix Beauty Academy for five f###in' dollars." She took a smaller, smoother toke before handing the joint back, still holding the smoke in her lungs.

"Boy, you sure scouted out this spot," Lulu drawled as she peered around. Just in case there were any security guards wandering around, she wove a mental illusion around the two of them, hiding them both as well as the fragrance of weed that would soon be wafting up into the chill night air. "Why don't you get us started on that doobie," the telepath said with a wave of her hand; she'd heard the rather outdated drug slang from her father, who was known to partake. "Ah'm just as likely to cough and spit it out." Lulu was both excited and nervous to light up; she'd had a wide variety of experiences growing up involving 'the herb', and was unsure where this path would take her. Mia was definitely a bad influence (Mrs. Harrow wouldn't be pleased), but she didn't see this as the first step into a life of crime, or anything else so dramatic.

"And who sent a bunch of teenagers out to fight for them, while they stayed behind and watched," snarled Lynn up at the shy; she hated self-deceiving hypocritical bad guys more than any other kind. "For someone who says they love their family, you sure are willing to put them in harm's way! Louis here is a child! Why not put a gun in his hand and drop him in a f###ing combat zone! Only an insecure zealot sends a child to fight their battles for them!" It had been a long time since Righteous Indignation Grim had been in the field, but she was roaring back.

"That's awesome! Nice work, Dayvd!" Lulu then returned to her normal appearance. "Y'know, it's interesting," she said thoughtfully. "The Grue sort of have the same limits as the Fae; more like copycats than truly creative. Ah wonder is they've ever met." An involuntary shudder danced down her spine at the thought of such an inauspicious meeting. "Anyway, ah got a little sidetracked from my original proposition," she continued as she smoothly entered into the vast mall parking lot. "So ah have a challenge for you." She pulled into a spot, turned off the car, and turned to face the young shapeshifter. "Would you, Davyd Palahniuk, in the interest of research, be willing to spend the afternoon with me at this here mall, as a girl? Nothin' weird, just clothes shoppin' and hangin' out, maybe gettin' some lattes. Think of it as a socio-psychological experiment."

"Uh, we can teleport," She stated matter-of-factly as she laced up her black Hi-tops that matched the rest of her dark clothing . "Shortest distance between points A and B, right?" Lulu felt a little weird, but not in a bad way; it was the first time she felt like she was back in Alabama in a long long time. Since living with the Harrows and at Claremont, she'd pretty much been on her best behaviour; now she felt like she was sneaking out of a convent.

For her part, Lulu was on her phone, sitting with her knees up as she did a deep dive on one of her favorite websites, Atlas Obscura. She was dressed similarly to Mia, but in a Critical Role t-shirt and a knit hat from Judy. When her teleporting friend made her nonchallant suggestion out of the blue, the redhead looked for her and blinked for several seconds before she responded. "Yeah, alright." Swinging her feet off the bed, she swapped her sleepy pants for a pair of sweatpants she grabbed off the floor, and then pulled on a hoodie that was casually draped over the back of her study chair. "Where are we goin'," she asked as she pulled her hair through the neck hole. "Up on the roof?"

Baby Lulu was a little mad at Mia for snatching her off the ceiling, but they were friendsies, so it was okay. However at the mention of Adam, her face scrunched up in thought. "Adam? He's not in our class, is he? He's in...Blue Squad..." Her eyes began to clear a bit as she blinked a few times. "How are we-" And then sweet Baby Dio humbled over, and Lulu almost gave in to childish fits of laughter until she saw the words. - Oh! That's right! - The words suddenly appeared in Mia's and then Dio's head. Then the tiny telepath closed her and tried to peer in the teacher's mind A few seconds later, Lulu shook her head, and her 'voice' returned to both of them. - As far as she thinks, she's the real deal. So either she's a victim caught up in it, too, or she's behind it, but rewrites her own brain to fit the story. Creepy either way! -

Can Lulu read Ava's mind? It would be a DC 13 Will Save to resist it. Edit: my bad, Grumble pointed out it's a Contested roll. Mind Reading roll: 1d20+3=23 Hell, yeah!

Lulu couldn't help but laugh at Davyd's final form. "Alright, put those away before someone gets hurt!" Then she got thoughtful again. "Have you ever made up a person out of whole cloth? Like that first day, you combined parts of everyone together by mistake, but have you ever tried to do it on purpose? You know, mixin' an' matchin' until you come up with someone unique? Here, let me show you." Using her illusion powers, Lulu changed her hair to match Judy's long, dark locks, then shifted her skin tone to match Ashley's, and finally her eyes to match Astrid's. She spared a quick peek in the mirror at the results, which were somewhat...disconcerting. "Whoa, that looks weird!" She did a little fine tuning to the various shades and textures to blend all the features together harmoniously, until she looked like a completely different person from any of the four girls. "See," she said eagerly in the voice of a stranger. "It's a whole new me!"

Per chat, I'm going to wait to see what the modified builds look like before I make my final choice ?

But Danica was too late, and Lulu was soon running around upside down on the ceiling, her little topknot bobbing around like a colorful bird. "Wow, ah can see everythin' up here!" Noticing her erstwhile classmate trying to reach her, the psychic imp merely giggled."You can't catch me, Miss Danica! Hee-hee!" Thump thump thump

"He sounds like fun," the teen psychic said with a nod. They were getting closer to the mall when an idea hit her; a very weird idea, but that wasn't uncommon for her. She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully at a stop sign for several seconds before finally broaching the subject. "So, when we first met, you made yourself look just let me, and it was amazin', you could have fooled mah own momma. But if you had to act like a girl, you'd what, copy stuff you've seen in movies? Like, in terms of behavior, body language and such."

"Some aluminum would be excellent, thank you," the synthetic human said with a slight, pleasant smile. "And UFVB is a very good school; I graduated from the engineering program several years ago, and was well-employed prior to my transformation. I still follow the Gators, and try to make at least one game a season." Then she turned to her host and sighed, a residual human behavior. "You'll have to forgive me, Mr. Knight, but I don't follow follow professional wrestling; are you still an active participant, or are you focusing on the other aspects of your career?"