Heritage

Miracle Girl is of course in!

Hence why I think it could make a great vignette someday, like maybe in the summer?

This concept is actually vignette-worthy!

Do we want continue this in any way?

Gretchen merely glared at Merge over the top of her glasses, the rest of her face devoid of expression. "Yes. That would be helpful." Inside the manager's office, Lynn looked excited as Marcus described his powers. "That's so cool! I can do animal forms, too! Here, check this out!" Gray mist swirled around the chair, and when it parted there was a friggin' black panther sitting in the seat! It's heavy paws lay on top of the desk, and it purred deeply for a few seconds before the mist returned, leaving his potential employer beaming in it's place. "Cool, huh? Want kinds of animals can you do?"

Gretchen smiled just a bit and shook her head. "No, it's...a bit of a joke between me and my girlfriend." Her eyes drifted over to Grim perched on Leviathan's chair, and despite herself she smiled a full smile, if only for a few brief seconds. "My God. She's such a flirt." But there was no jealousy or mistrust in her words, only affection; clearly she trusted her lover, and didn't keep her on a short leash. Then she turned back to Replica and indicated the android's drink with a nod of her head. "Can I get you a refill?" - - - Grim pouted when she saw the reptilian hero look forlornly down at the seat she'd made him. "Aww! You wanted to keep the chair!" Then she shrugged. "Y'know, my dad's a pretty good carpenter, and I'm not half bad myself; if you're looking to get a real live, genuine version of it, maybe the two of us could whip something up? He always looking for new ways to give back to the superhero community." But then poor sweet Leviathan made the mistake of mentioning 'party tricks', and the little Jewish pixie's eyes lit up like two stars. "Oh, you don't know the half of it, buddy! I got something that'll knock your socks off!" Then she took a deep breath and seemed to collapse in on herself, until all that was left of her was a tiny sprite, less than a foot high, hovering in the air on two pairs of gossamer wings that hummed pleasantly as she floated in front of the massive hero's face. "Ta-daa!!"

Happy birthday, birthday folks!

Something about all this still seemed a bit off; in this scenario, one would expect the guy in the hockey mask to have the weapon, like a gun or a knife or even a garrote, yet the masked assistant was using his bare hands to assault the yuppie, one of the worst ways to kill a person, especially a healthy young man. It was noisy and takes a long time; that scene of a guy being strangled in No Country For Old Men and his boots scuffing linoleum still haunted the young heroine. So neither theft nor assassination made any sense as motives on this perp, which left what, intimidation? Someone trying to send a message? Revenge for a perceived wrong? But then he'd want him to see his face. Gretch kept coming back to that knife; yuppie duppies don't carry knives, pretty much as a rule. The way he put it back into his pocket was familiar, with practiced ease; he didn't fumble awkwardly with it, he was holstering his weapon. Had he been in knife fights before? Was he the the kind of guy who anticipated having to defend himself with a knife? Why not carry a gun? Because they're too loud? Lastly she considered the girl; what was her reaction to all this, and the knife? Was this a side of 'her man' she'd seen before? Doing her best to keep her eyes on both 'victim' and 'asssilant', and still keeping the masked man pinned to the ceiling (Why wasn't he struggling or calling out? So many questions!), she addressed 'Chad'. "Interesting. Why do you carry a knife on your person?"

Yeah, Casey's been in 'high speed hostage negotiator' mode, so she hasn't been able to share information yet. Sorry

Sorry, I picked up several swing shifts at work this week, and was just too damned tired to post most nights. Will try to get caught up again over the next few days.

Grimalkin/Shrike (3) [Maxed] Good Company and Good Cheer (1) There's Always Room For One More (1) You Never Get A Second Change For First Impressions (1) Miracle Girl (5) Ooooh Fashion (turn to the Left) (1) Under Cove-r (1) Welcome To Crimebusting Monthly! (3) Ditra Fifty-Five (1) Signal In The Darkness (1) Grim's points and any vignettes go to Ditra Fifty-Five

I'm trying to decide if Grimalkin would join; I think I need to read the threads to make up my mind. She is on record as telling her staff (and even her own children!) how to kill her if she ever turns evil, so she's not opposed to extreme measures, and she is immortal. Hmm....

This would make it, what, three heists Casey had participated in? The first was for her mentor Terrifica, and had gone reasonably well; the second had been concocted by herself and the young heroine Echo to help the FCPD with a particularly tough case, and had largely been successful as well, other than that insane situation with all the pizzas (never again!). So while it would be wrong to accuse Miracle Girl of feeling cocky as she planned to help her old schoolmate Blodeuwedd, she was feeling rather confident about her fledgling non-criminal criminal career. But that was before Leviathan casually entered the bookstore. What the heck...? - - - As was usually the case when she got involved in one of these schemes, the blonde heroine put a lot of effort into hiding her identity, but this one featured an extra challenge: the initial meet was in a public place, so she had to take a few extra steps. Like she'd done before, Casey bought all her clothes the day before at one of the many outlet malls in Delaware, paying in cash; she wore black biker boots, pre-distressed jeans, driving gloves, a navy blue warm-up jacket and a pair of wraparound sunglasses. She also sported a bobbed black wig, dark brown contacts and burgundy lipstick and nail polish; of course, no one could see the color of her nail polish under her gloves, but she knew it was there, and that's what really mattered. Satisfied that her look gave her at least some anonymity, Casey had arrived early to scope out the place, scrutinizing Silberman's Books with all her advanced senses. She'd heard of the store before, seen ads for it in various places (apparently current FCU students saved 15% if they presented a valid school ID), but somehow never made it in before, and now thst she had, she regretted not having done so sooner. She loved to read, and the store had a funky bohemian vibe that appealed to her- Whoa; there is some seriously advanced security for a store this size. And is that a secret, lead-lined back room...? No, Casey thought to herself, shaking her head; today was not about investigating some weird West End bookstore. If the place was good enough for Cerys, she had to assume the place was legit; besides, in a city like Freedom, you shouldn't assume anything. There could be lots of good reasons to have a room like that; maybe the pretty owner was super-paranoid, and installed a panic room in her office? She'd seen stranger things. Finally the time for the meeting was approaching, so the mysterious young woman went up to the bar to order some coffee. A brown haired girl with glasses and tons of ear piercings stood behind it, looking bored, though she stood up bit straighter as Casey approached. "Wha, what can I get you?" 'Hardcase' had eight inches on her and over thirty pounds, much of it muscle; she didn't have to do much to radiate intimidation, though the barista (one 'Gretchen') did her best to stand her ground. "French press, Ethiopian. For here." As before, she'd modified her voice as part of her persona, pitching it lower and somewhere in the realm of Scarlett Johanssen to make her sound a bit older and more dangerous. 'Hardcase' just stood there, hands in her jacket pockets, waiting on her drink. After grinding the beans, putting them in the French press and adding hot water, Gretchen handed her the press and an empty mug; she was doing her best to avoid eye contact. "When the, uh, timer on the side beeps, that's four minutes. Then you...press down on the thing, and pour." Casey pulled her hands out of her pockets and put a twenty on the counter, then took the press and mug and walked away. "Keep it," she said without looking back. - - - It took some effort not to gape at the reptilian hero when he made his entrance, but somehow Casey managed to keep her poker face. Then she got up from her table with her mug and strode over join Blud and Bonfire, praying to God Leviathan didn't recognize her. "May I join you?"

Casey sighed; this was the hard part about being a 'hero' no one ever talked about. Not every 'bad guy' was an evil genius laughing magically as he aimed his destructo ray at innocent civilians; many had been innocent themselves once upon a time. But fate was not always kind, and humans often far from it; yesterday's victims often ended up tomorrow's villains. Miracle Girl pulled off her glove, reached out and put her bare hand on Mrs. Cole's shoulder; the heroine's bioenergy field glowed brightly at the point of contact, but she felt no pain, just her skin against the skin of a poor, exhausted woman pushed to her limits, another victim, no doubt, of human greed. Because why else would some horrific lab perform cruel experiments on innocent people? If it wasn't for money, than it was certainly about power; the two typically went hand in hand. But for all the sympathy she felt for this tormented speedster, crimes had been commited, and that still needed to be addressed. >>"You're right, I did help send them to Blackstone, because no matter what their motives were, they were attempting to kidnap someone, which is still a crime. Just like what was done to the four of you.">> Casey sighed again and ran her fingers through her hair. >>"Look, I don't have any easy answers here; yes, you've commited crimes, several of them in fact: kidnapping, assault, destruction of property. But I also understand that you have suffered greatly at the hands of others, and that the four of you have been desperately seeking a cure for what's been done to you. And that in the case of you and your husband, these terrible 'gifts' have made it almost impossible to get help in any sort of normal way, to even talk to people.">> Then she took off her other glove, and put both hands on Mrs. Cole's shoulders. >>"But I give you my word that if you let your captives go free, I will do everything in my power to help you. I will speak on your behalf to the authorities and help you get justice, and even track down the people who did this to you.">> She met the speedster's eyes. >>"Will you let me help you?">>

"Oh hi, Daph-oof!" Now more used to her alien friend's long hugs, Casey happily rode it out, giving as good as she got. "Oh, it's so good to see you! How were your holidays? C'mon, I'll show you my room!" The eager freshman led the way to her room, which was clearly split between two occupants. Casey's half was very tidy, with lots of Girl Scout paraphernalia on display, as well maps of various national parks and photos of her family and sorority sisters, whereas the other was much messier, featuring touristy knick-nacks from New York as well as Puerto Rico. "My roomie's almost never here," Casey explained as she motioned for Daphne to sit on her immaculately-made bed (a sure sign of a military brat) while she turned around her study chair and took a seat. "So we've got some privacy. What's up?"

Ditra was stunned to see the familair figure of the Grand Nauarchus appear via hologram; surely this was a violation of somew treaty or other for the Lor fleet to take such direct action against Terra? But then she recalled the announcement of a 'dimensional incursion'; perhaps this was a fleet from another version of thier universe? Or was this indeed another Earth? The number of possibilities was staggering. "Can they detect us with their scanners," the cyborg asked as she nervously took a step closer to the holographic Frankan. "We don't stand much of a chance if the Lor fleet can spot us. Or the humans might mistake as another enemy and fire upon us, assuming they haved the capability."

Is Casey able to touch Julia, or is she even too hot for Miracle Girl? And can I try for another Diplo role, or should I just roleplay it and we'll go from there? Either way, Casey will continue to talk to her.

As Replica spoke, Gretchen cocked her head to one side and looked at her intently, her dark blue eyes intense in their focus. At length, she seemed to come to some sort of decision, and her posture shifted as she reclaimed her glass and took another sip of her drink. When she spoke again, her tone was not unfriendly, but the hint of flirtatiousness was clearly absent. "You may be right," she said with a shrug. "Or I may be an elitist bitch. The jury's still out on that one." At this point, the young barista slipped easily into affable 'shop talk', happy to talk hardware and software with a fellow techhead; while she didn't have the same 'processing power' as the android (not that she suspected her true nature!), her knowledge of technology and computing equaled and sometimes even exceeded the lovely blonde's, which made for stimulating conversation. - - - Grim looked thoughtful as Leviathan asked her to elaborate on the nature of her powers. "Um, well there are some limits and a few sort of 'double-edged sword' aspects, and because of those, I'm less inclined to use my glamour for long term projects. The big one is that if you touch a piece of glamour with iron, it melts back into vapor; now, you might not think there's not a ton of iron just floating around loose in Freedom, but there's more than you might think." The changeling began to count items off on her fingers. "Manhole covers, fire escapes, railings, frying pans, waffle irons, some of the older bridges. And in a city with lots of superheroes and supervillains occasionally duking it out in the streets, some of that s### can end up airborne." She winced and shrugged. "I wouldn't want anyone to live in a house I built that might go 'poof' if they drop a pan in the kitchen. So I tend to use it for more temporary things." And then she sighed and ran a hand down her leg. "But there's also a more selfish reason, if I'm being honest." Grim gestured towards the giant chair they were both sitting on. "Anything I make out of glamour is still linked to me, is in a sense still part of me. I can sense things through it, even travel through it, which can be damn useful in our line of work. But...it's a two-way street; if someone damages a piece of my glamour, I feel it, painfully. So I get nervous about leaving lots of it around..." Then a thought struck her, and the elfin beauty chuckled as she pointed towards the business card she'd handed the giant reptile earlier. "So you might not want to take that home to your secret lair or undersea kingdom." She shrugged and looked as coquettish as inhumanly possible. "I mean, some guys might like having a sexy little pixie pop into their house in middle of the night, but maybe you're not that kinda guy, y'know? Gotta protect that secret identity, am I right?" Oh, she was evil!

DC 27 Diplomacy check via Skill Mastery, more if Attractive applies (shrug).

There was so much going on right now it was almost too much to handle, but Casey knew better than to panic, which would help absolutely no one. She didn't know who the newly-arrived 'goon squad' worked for, but she had a feeling someone wanted to erase all evidence that this facility ever existed. The fact that the goons seemed to have boosted reaction speeds did not bode well for anyone who couldn't keep up. But all of that was irrelevant compared to the fate of the poor Coles, their minds and bodies horribly warped by science gone mad. Before she did anything else, she had to try and reach out to the tormented speedster; activating her own enhanced speed, Miracle Girl looked right at the woman and spoke in a level voice, far too fast for most humans to hear. >>"Hello, Mrs. Cole. I know this might be hard for you to believe, but I want to help you. I'm not sure who did this to you and your husband, but it's obvious that the transformations you both endured have made your lives a living hell. I cannot imagine how much you've suffered.">> She held her hands out, palms upward. >>"How can I help you?">>

Gretchen and Lance worked well together; they had a certain chemistry born from their entirely different energies (positive vs negative) and the fact that they both knew they'd never sleep together, because eww. Their vibe was somewhere between big brother/little sister and flirty cousins, and it made the days go much faster. On the other hand, Gretch decided a long time ago that she hated Maddy for no other reason than it amused her, and the store's top seller seemed to get the joke, such as it was, so the two constantly bickered and talked shit in the friendliest way possible. However, everyone stopped and stared slack-jawed as the lovely, dark-haired creature that strode in the store like she owned the place. The three regular staff shared quick glances as Gretch mouthed 'holy s###', to which Maddy could only nod. But stunned disbelief had to yield to cool professionalism as the new arrival made her way over to the register and stated her business. "Uh, okay," the young heroine finally managed. "I'll call her and let her know you're hear." She picked up the phone and called the manager's office; the whole time her dark blue eyes never left Jennifer's face, and a slight smile touched her lips. "Hey. You're 10:30's here a little early. Should I send her back, or do you want to come out? Okay, sure." Gretch hung up the phone, still smiling."She'll be right out."

As was often the case when she was in her dorm, Casey was on her MacBook making a show of 'working on homework', but the fact was that homework took up very little of her time, due to her super-speed. Typically it took the blonde heroine less than five minutes a night to get all her reading and writing assignments done; the rest of her 'homework time' was spent doing independent research for her superhero work or responding to fan mail on her new HeroHouse account. Due to her speed, she actually managed to read and respond to most of the posts, at least not the pervy ones (ick!) When Lola poked her head in, Casey looked up and frowned, the glow of her laptop reflected in her glasses. "She says she knows me? Uh, okay." Closing her MacBook (she could really use a break from reading about Jamaican posses anyway), the young journalism major stepped out of her room and into the hallway; she was wearing an oversize Denver Broncos jersey, FCU sweatpants and a pair of Uggs as she looked into the common room. "Hello?"

This might be a good fit for Miracle Girl!

I'll have some PP once January totals are calculated. I also have some unspent rewards courtesy of Grim than can be converted to EP

This was all a lot to take in, even for a creature who's brain operated as fast as Ditra's. "'Dimensional incursions'? What exactly does that mean? And are we actually going to Earth?" Despite the apparent gravity of the situation, the Nameless agent was full of childish glee; would she actually be visiting the ancestral homeworld of the humans? She'd dreamed of doing this for years! A chance to walk the surface of old Earth, maybe take in a museum or swim in one of the blue oceans. The possibilties were nearly endless! Assuming, of course, they survived whatever threat they were about to face...