Heritage

Initiative: 1d20+1=5

This may seem odd, but I'm volunteering Miracle Girl for the first role? If she's too powerful or otherwise inappropriate, I completely understand.

Kooks. Magic. Why was she in this line of work again? But then a glimpse of Lynn's breathtaking smile flitted through her mind and she remembered. Ah yes. Love. As pondered she book, she noted the presence of Robin out of the corner of her eye, which she acknowledged with just the slightedt of nods; she wasn't sure why, but the superhero fan wanted to show she was nearby. Gretch guessed that was nice. The book did have a whiff of magic stank, but Gretchen prided herself on her objectivity; the story he spun was intriguing, but highly unlikely. "That doesn't make sense. How could one book be present in so many places. I cannot see an author holding this massive tome as they pen a story into its pages." She flipped the book open, and began to turn the pages.

Lynn let out a long breath as she pushed back a bit into her seat. "That is a good question; probably not enough, at this point. Though I'm back here on Prime, I've lived most of my life off world, on a parallel Earth, where I left three generations of offspring behind. They are my legacy back there. As to here..." She let her eyes wander about the office. "I suppose this shop is the start of my legacy, that I will live to see evolve. Beyond that, I'm looking to start a foundation in my grandfather's name, but I guess that's really still small potatoes." The changeling's thumbnail grew into a sharp talon, which she began to use to pick at the leather of her armchair. "I'm now in the unenviable position of being older than my parents and siblings, and knowing that I will watch them age and I die, while I remain unchanged. I mean, I may allow myself to physically age a little for appearance's sake; I did that for Bill and the kids back home. But it's not the same as real aging." Lynn stopped and looked up at Murk, her eyes bright with tears. "How did you do it? Watch them deteriorate and slowly crumble before your eyes?"

Magic HUD activated!

For the past six months, Gretchen McDaniels had done no heroic work in EC, as she felt doing so without adequate preparation would be idiotic and put the people she was trying to help at risk. Instead, she'd worked on getting the store established and getting to know both sides of the river. Not to say that she hadn't used her powers at all; telekinesis was just too darn useful not to (discretely) use in retail, and she'd used several of her powers to explore the city and develop an impressive database of its inhabitants, neighborhoods, and criminal and supernatural activity. After six months of groundwork, the brilliant young crimefighter finally felt she could start to make a difference. During that time, she could not ignore the near-constant (by her standards, anyway) presence of Robin Langely in her store; she was certainly cute (sigh!), obsessed with superheroes (borderline annoying) and by her own expert estimation, actually smarter than Gretch (super annoying). But the Freedom City transplant did take some comfort in her superior understanding in some branches of knowledge, and did not begrudge the younger girl's superiority in others. Gretch was far too honest and practical to deny what to her was obvious. To say that the two had become friends would be an overstatement, but not by much; Gretchen found Robin's presence in the store a welcome change from talking to idiotic college students who knew nothing about either music or science. This afternoon found the store's proprietor behind the counter, black plastic framed glasses perched on somewhat avian nose as she peered at the new arrival and his book, her head cocked to one side. "Well, then. You've found her. Let's see what you have." She held out her hands as she activated the Helm's senses; even disguised as her glasses, the artifact could reveal much.

Rock rock on!

Claremont Academy, Bayview. Monday, May 6th, 2019. 12:05 pm Sitting outside the headmistress' office, Lynn couldn't help but think of the last time she'd been on campus, and she shuddered uncomfortably. She'd spent a lot of time since then wondering as to what Dr. Archeville really wanted her to find out about the two 'Terminus babies'; as far as she knew, they'd both turned out alright, so maybe he never had time to move his sinister plans forward. The changeling looked like any other visiting parent, dressed for the mild spring weather in jeans, polo shirt and a light jacket, a leather briefcase by her side. She took a casual sip of her coffee as she peered at the young Grue who'd asked her to join her today. "So what's so special about this 'Davyd Palahniuk' anyway?" She pronounced the Ukrainian name perfectly, a gift of her fae nature.

Lulu reached over and gripped Adam's hand with her smaller, softer one. "That's what ah love about you, Adam; you're truthful. Ah come from a family of liars, cheats and drunk good-fer-nothins. You grow up 'round that, you start thinkin' everybody else is just the same. Mah daddy always said, 'Everybody lies, Lulu; lyin's what makes the world go 'round.' And ah didn't want to believe 'im, but poison like that seeps into your bones." She smiled and gave his hand a tight squeeze, tears in her dark brown eyes. "Thanks for provin' mah daddy wrong."

"The dorms are pretty nice; ah hardly ever see mah roommate, ah guess she's pretty busy trainin'." Lulu sent another message Davyd's way as they walked down the dorm hallway. -Everybody doesn't always get along; we're all teenagers with superpowers, so things can get intense pretty fast. But when it comes down to it, we all have your back. Don't be afraid to be yourself; you're among friends.- She gave him a quick smile, then turned back to Judy. "How are you two sisters gettin' on? Ah mean, ah love mah brother Bobby, but ah think after two weeks sharin' a room with him, ah'd be pullin' out mah hair!"

Lulu was not a front line fighter, and certainly not without her armored suit; at the sound of trouble, she did the first thing she'd been trained to do at Claremont: make herself hard to hit. She simultaneously created an illusionary duplicate of herself as she faded into mental invisibility, so smoothly that only the most observant could detect it. Then she took several steps to one side while her duplicate spoke for her. "What in Sam hell is that?" 'Lulu' dropped into a defensive crouch.

Lynn didn't hesitate for a moment, standing and embracing the super-genius in a warm hug. "It was good to see you, Viktor; I wish you all the best." She finally let him go and then straightened this jacket as she smiled sadly. "We old timers have to stick together. And yes, I will take you up on that offer of help; as my partner would say, I'm pretty sh##y with money." The changeling flicked her fingers, and a business card appeared. "Do come by the shop sometime; former Interceptors save 15%!"

Crystal-Gazer (27) Afternoon Matinee (4) Christmas with the Harrows (0) Mud Pack (6) Nostalgia Trip (3) Reflections Of The Mind's Eye (2) Silence Like A Cancer Grows (12)  Grimalkin (9) [Maxed] Body Doubles (5) Codus Immortus: Grimalkin (3) Mending Fences (1) Siren Song of the Void (0)  Miracle Girl (7) Dance Macabre (4) Do You Remember When... (2) Hero Worship (1) Ooooh Fashion (turn to the Left) (0)  Shrike (6) Choose Your Own Adventure (6) The Eel (4) Adrift (4) Twenty Questions GM Posts (2) Adrift (2) Grimalkin and GM posts go to Eel

The telepath looked thoughtful as she idly waved a fry around. "Mm, ah think ah eat a bit more than a lot of girls mah age; they always say thinkin' and readin' burn calories, so it makes sense that doin' the super-powered versions of those gives you an appetite." She sighed deepy. "Ah do miss Southern cookin' up here, though; biscuits and gravy, real fried chicken and Alabama barbeque. Mm-mm! You'd love it down there!" "Oh, it's fine," said Lulu as she wrinkled her nose and made a dismissive gesture when Adam apologized. "Mah family talked shop in front of me all the time. 'Course they was talkin' about scammin' lil' ol' ladies and such; different priorities and all." She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Lynn winced slightly as the gentleman fumbled with his teacup. "I sensed you had exceptional senses, but foolishly assumed they compensated for your loss of sight; my apologies." When Murk revealed his true form, the shopkeeper let out a slow, tuneless whistle as she leaned back in her leather chair. "Oh my; me and my mere one hundred plus years are definitely still in the kiddie pool. You may be the first person I've met who's older than Scarab." She leaned forward intently. "Have you experinced all those years, or did you 'sleep' through parts of it?" Then she gestured down at herself. "This form is as real as any other I adopt, but it requires the least amount of thought to maintain, so you can think of it as my 'true' form. Well-" And then her hair flowed upwards, twisting itself into an updo that revealed her pointed ears. "I am of the Fae Courts, but I'm guessing you knew that; Winter, to be precise, though I bear no love for them."

While Jhett's apathy could probably suck the pleasure out of a weekend at Disneyworld, Lulu found enough of it interesting to actually learn something; Miss Megan would be proud! But when Davyd began to demonstrate his powers, the young telepath couldn't resist the chance to join him, using her illusion powers to assume each form he discarded. "Two can play at that game, surface dweller," stated 'Nereid', hands on her hips in a regal stance.

The changeling scoffed and held up her hand, her thumb and forefinger less than an inch apart."You're just a little sharper than my usual marks were, or rather how smart I thought they were; my ingrained prejudice towards yuppies may have influenced my choice of targets a tad." She sighed and shook her head. "Oy, what a self-righteous little shit I was! I do not miss that part of being young." Lynn stared off into space for a few seconds. "I had this idea a few years ago, of setting up a foundation in my grandfather's name; it's primary focus would be providing assistance to the victims of non-violent crimes. Especially the victims of supervillains, unscrupulous psychics and magical whammies." Then she turned to the doctor and smiled sadly. "Atonement is big among my people."

A wry grin touched Lynn's lips as her eyes rolled, not with genuine annoyance so much much as...what would you call it? Her 'on the nose' sense? She filled a small porcelain teapot with leaves and hot water, then set it on a tray with cream and sugar, a teacup, spoon and linen napkin close at hand, and put it on one of the tables to steep. At 10pm finally came, she shooed her staff out the door, explaining that she'd finish the close herself. Once the door was locked, she fixed herself a chai latte and closed out the registers. Carrying the cash box towards the office, she left the door open, a show off good faith. "Bring your tea along, sir, so that we can talk." The small room was full of old things and stories, and the love of a child towards a lost grandparent. There were objects from Earth's past and other world's, a heady brew to those that could sense it. Lynn locked the cash box into a clearly magical safe, then turned to her guest as she raised her mug to her lips. "So, weary traveller, let us speak of magic and time."

"Oh, well, if you're hungry now, maybe we should grab a bite to eat first? Then we don't have to feel all rushed." Lulu had been planning to hold off on eating to leave room for snacks at the theater, but she forgot to take into account the ravenous hunger of the teenaged male; boys were always hungry. It was like background noise in the back of their heads. Well, that and the other thing. She knew it wasn't their fault; it was biology and chemistry. And it wasn't like girls didn't have their obsessions, too. "Let's head to the food court and see what they have; ah could eat a horse!" Despite this statement, which was really more designed to make Adam comfortable, Lulu didn't load up on too much food. She settled for a cheeseburger, fries and a Cherry Coke, gleefully dipping her fries in a large glob of ketchup on her tray once they found a seat.

Was is freaky seeing Davyd transform? A bit, sure. But as a telepath, Lulu was used to strong reactions to and mistrust of her powers, so she'd be a massive hypocrite to treat Davyd in any sort of similar way. "That's actually pretty sweet, Davyd! Definitely a useful power if you need to be in two places at the same time." And then, a gentle mental nudge. -I'm a telepath. People tend to be nervous around my kind as well. You get used to it. I like movies, too!- The mental voice had the same tone and timber as Lulu's, but no Alabama accent, which was interesting. Upon seeing Nicole, the redhead offered a hushed but friendly greeting. "Hey there, girlfriend!"

Throwing Lulu's hat in here.

Lulu's cheeks went a little pink as Leroy described her with such flowery language. "Well, ah don't know 'bout all that..." She gave Davyd's hand a single firm shake. "Ah'd be happy to join y'all on your journey of discovery." She tore open her Hot Fries, then asked the new arrival a question as she popped several in her mouth. "So Davyd, what's your thing? What brings you to Claremont?" munch munch

"Thank you, ma'am," the redheaded teen said with a smile, showing her dimples. "Ah could lie, and say this is my first time drinkin', but it ain't; not by a long shot." She raised up her glass and made a telepathic toast. -To family; we know where the bastards sleep.- After a healthy sip, Lulu shivered a bit. "Hoo boy, ah needed that!"

Lulu wiped her mouth, set her napkin aside and rose; it took all her strength to not curtsy. Still, she turned to the Dowager Harrow and dipped her head slightly. "Thank you, ma'am; lunch was delicious." Then she turned to Robert and nodded. "Sure, that sounds great." Then she addressed Lawrence. "If you don't mind; start with whichever room's your favorite." She had mixed feelings about this, but ultimately decided it was for the best. She kept hoping that she and Lawrence would eventually warm to each other, which maybe would never be the case, but perhaps in these new surroundings they could at least find some common ground.

Lulu was standing in front of one of the vending machines, trying to figure out what she wanted to eat, sweet or salty. After coming to the only sane conclusion (both, duh!), she reached down and grabbed her Snickers and a bag of Hot Fries. Looking up, she noticed Judy, Corrine and several other students leading around someone new. Not wanting to be inhospitable, she approached the group with a friendly smile and a wave. "Hey, y'all!" The pale redhead wore a blue denim vest over a black Lynryd Skynyrd T-shirt, jeans and a pair of red Hi-Tops. "Showin' a newbie around? Hi, ah'm Lulu, pleased to meet you!"