Heritage

Would Casey's x-ray vision reveal any signs of head trauma?

Gretchen sighed; she was going to be in sooooo much trouble with her girlfriend, especially after all the s### she'd given Lynn after she'd slept with Moira last March. Tentatively she reopened their mental connection. - Hey. - - There you are! Where the f### were you, I've been worried sick! I've been scanning every piece of me in a two hundred mile radius for the last two hours, and there was no sign of you anywhere! Are you okay? - - I've, uh...I've been bad. - - Oh God. Is anyone dead? I'm from Jersey, I know where to hide a stiff. - - No, nothing like that, it's, uh...we met this...I met this witch, and- - - Oh God, the 'hot chick'. Did she put the whammy on you? - - Maybe? I don't know. We...- - You had sexytimes, and now you feel like s###, is that it? - - Uh...yeah, actually, uh...are you mad? - - Well, sure I'm mad, but mostly because I was worried sick you were lying face down in a ditch somewhere, when you were actually having...y'know! But I also know hard it can be to resist that kind of thing. The important thing is, did she make you do anything you wouldn't normally do? Because if so, she's going to wake up screaming some day soon. - - No, no, nothing like that. Also, we're...working on a case. With Queenie, Warp and some other people - - Well, be careful out there. And if that witch tries to pull any more s###, let her know I'll rip her lungs out, okay? And keep this channel open. - - Will do. And...thanks.- - I love you, too. - Suddenly her eyes opened, and Gretchen sat up and turned to the witch. "We need to stop f###ing around. Where do we find this wizard?"

Just a heads up that I'm going to be fairly scarce for the next few days. I sat too long on a project that's due on Wednesday, and now I'm going to have to work on it for several days straight.

Just a heads up that I'm going to be fairly scarce for the next few days. I sat too long on a project that's due on Wednesday, and now I'm going to have to work on it for several days straight.

"The correct term is 'partner', not sidekick," Gretchen insisted in her usual dry way. "I'm not anyone's sidekick." "And the correct adjective is 'long-suffering'," Grim added with a wink. "Amen to that," the young barista concurred as she took another swig of wassail. "Yeah, we should totally work together," said the changeling to the heroic behemoth. "What kind of cases do you handle? Me and Shrike primarily work the supernatural beat, but we also do undercover work, some general detective stuff-" "Children's parties." "Children's parties, theme weddings, both bat and bar mitzvahs...uh, interdimensional rescues..." "Disaster relief." "Oh, yeah, that one's real! So yeah, we like to mix it up a bit, keep things fresh. What kind of cases do you like?"

Grimalkin/Shrike (11) [Maxed] Good Company and Good Cheer (3) Mysterious Circumstances (1) Retail Or Coffeeshop Experience Preferred (1) There's Always Room For One More (2) Visitors? Visitors! (4) Miracle Girl (4) Eat at Joe's (3) No Man Should Have All That POWER (1) Ditra Fifty-Five (2) Diaspora: The Gathering Storm (1) Signal In The Darkness (1) Grim's points go to Ditra Fifty-Five

"On it!" Casey effortlessly hefted the man in a bridal carry, then flew him outside to the waiting EMTs; she had to yell a bit to be heard over the cacophony of the scene. "There's a lot more people in there, on four different floors!" She pointed at her ear and her mouth. "I'll stay on your frequency and keep you updated. We're going to focus on the harder to reach people, and try and stay out of your way!" And with that, the young heroine flew back into the inferno, keeping all her amazing senses alert for more survivors and new threats.

With great effort, Gretchen pulled her head away from the lovely witch, and slid her shades down to meet her smoldering gaze with her intense blue one. She spoke with some hesitation, as if broaching an awkward topic. "Um, just so you know...this is all very lovely, and we can talk and we can fool around a bit, but...I have a girlfriend. A steady girlfriend, who is a hundred year old princess of the Winter Court. She's not normally the jealous type, but...she does have claws made of night that can cut through steel, so please-" And here, Gretchen managed a hint of a rebelious smirk. "Be gentle with me." Then she took Hysti's soft hand in both of hers and sighed contentedly. "There's a cabin in the Maine woods, far from any towns. We could be alone there."

Is it okay if Grim makes a short guest appearance here? I feel it would very hard to not have her at least pop in. EdIT: may be able to avoid a physical appearance, at least.

Do we want to completely split the party, or form two teams? Queenie's as a rendezvous point sounds like a good idea. EDIT: And yes, Shrike will discuss this in my next post.

"Done." The blonde heroine nodded and grabbed the door knob, but then stopped and held up her hand. "Wait a sec! Checking for heat; don't want a backdraft!" She then did a quick IR scan; satisfied that opening the door would not endanger anyone, she casually yanked it open as easily as tearing open an envelope. "I can lift twelve tons," she stated matter-of-factly as she stuck her head through the door for a quick look round. "More, in a pinch. If you see any big obstacles in our path, let me know."

"I can see through walls; if you give me a direction, I can plot a path to them. And yeah, I'm crazy fast, but that's not always a good thing in situations like this." Casey appreciated heroes who were upfront about what they could and could not do; in situations like this, ego had to go out the window. There was only time for the current mission. Switching to x-ray, she did a quick scan throughout the building; she also listened for heartbeats, coughing, panicked breathing or cellphone signals, any of which might lead to a potential survivor.

Happy birthday, Tiff!

The Nameless agent mutely nodded and stepped into the corridor; once she inside, she undid the seals on her bubble helmet and happily shook her locks free. "This is all so amazing! Is the ship biological in nature? I experienced the briefest of telepathic contacts." Ditra continued down the cortidor, her audio and visual scanners greedily recording everything; at this point, every second they were inside the vessel was historic. She continued to send out telepathic 'pings', hoping for some kind of intelligent response.

Casey Blankenship was walking back across the quad from Emerson Hall to the Pi Episilon Delta house after a long day of classes; the fall term had been pretty easy, mostly knocking out a few of her gen eds. But this term, she'd decided to add Arabic to fill her language requirement; she could have gone with Spanish or Japanese to get an easy A, but she already spoke them fairly well, and used every opportunity to practice them by herself in the real world. She'd chosen Arabic to challenge herself, but also because she felt that it was an important langauge to know in the modern world, especially with her majoring in journalism. Not having to rely on translators in the field would be huge, and could maybe open some doors as well. All these thoughts swirled through her head as she walked, backpack full of books easily riding on her shoulders, across campus. But then she abruptly stopped, causing the girl who was walking and texting behind her to bounce off of her like she hit a brick wall, knocking her flat on her butt into the snow. "Hey, watch it, bitch!" "Oh, I'm sorry!" The blonde powerhouse easily pulled the girl to her feet with one hand; she was too polite to point that it was the girl who was texting who should have been looking where she was going. "Yeah, yeah..." As the girl wandered off, knocking snow off the seat of her jeans, Casey turned her attention back to the sound that had caused her to stop dead in her tracks in the first place: the sound of sirens! And lots of them, from the sound of it; she could pick out police, fire and ambulances from the din. Cocking her head this way and that, she soon picked up the police band, which gave her the location and the nature of the threat (an apartment fire), not far away at all. Looking around to make sure there were no witnesses (everyone was on their phone, natch), she leaped into the air and flew off to the PED chapter house, where she had a favorite place to hide her street clothes on the roof. There was a blur of motion as she changed into the uniform at the bottom of her backpack, and seconds later, Miracle Girl was in the air! As usual, she flew quietly a short distance away, then made a very loud and showy entrance. She felt this served two purposes; one, help disguise which direction she was coming from, and thus help preserve her secret identity, and two, offer a symbol of hope flying in from above! Floating down majestically to land on the street below, she called down to the first responders as she approached. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. How can I help?"

- I can't -, she replied in her mind, her shoulders arching up with pleasure like a cat being scratched. - I have no magical power of my own. I was chosen to bear the Three Gifts of the Magi. The Helm of Truth. The Cloak of Mystery. The Ring of Power. And they are bonded to me, to my life energy. Maybe my soul, if you believe in such things. I have no power to offer you. - Tearing her eyes away from Hysti's, she addressed the others, not realizing that her gloved hand lay pleasantly on the witch's thigh. "We can definitely help you. Three of us are heroes of this world, and the old troglodyte seems to have mystical power, too. Tell us more about this Evad...redness. Where would he go if he was suddenly in a strange new world? What would he seek out? What does he value?"

Nah, I'll go for it for now; it will make it far more dramatic when she throws of the shackles later.

Boop!

What the heck, I'm open to try all three of the ones you mentioned, but if i had to pick only one, I'd say Grim Demeanor.

Knowing on some level that is was probably a bad idea, Shrike nonetheless took a seat next to Hysti, feeling tingles up and down her spine. "Um, in terms of nature spirits, I...think one of them is married to one of my partner's old teammates. But I've...never, like, met her personally." Swallowing the lump in her throat, Gretch just gave in and met the witch's gaze full on; to not do so felt like trying to achieve escape velocity in a go cart. "But like the old guys said, some of us...can do magic, too." And here she turned the ring on her finger, and her costume shifted into a very fetching white 'ski-bunny' outfit like something out of an old Ann-Margaret movie, complete with white fur hat. Her mask was now a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, which she hoped might hide the hint of panic in her eyes. "But like everyone else said...no killing."

Whenever something obviously mystical or magical happened in Freedom, typically several people sents texts, tweets or Instagram posts to Grimalkin's website. Of course, there were other heroes in town who dealt with the weird or uncanny, but they were usually much harder to reach. After hurried consultation between the two heroic partners working out of Silberman's Books, it waa decided Gretchen could use the field time, so it wasn't long before the increasingly familiar shadow of the Shrike flew over Freedom's rooftops. Landing somewhat majestically with her cloak held wide, the young woman in black leather and a silver bird mask quickly took in the situation with her dark blue eyes. Grim checked in via their telepathic link. - Are you there yet? What are you seeing? - - I'm seeing...oh my God, this chick is hot. - - Wait, who's hot? Are they good guys or bad guys? If they're super-hot, they're probably evil! - - I'll call you later. - - Wait, what? - Disconnecting the link from her end (her Ring of Power maintained it, after all), Shrike strode over towards the mysterious strangers, offering nods to Queenie and Warp. Despite herself, the young barista found her gaze irresistibly drawn to the alluring witch. "So....I take it you're all from out of town? I'm, uh, called the Shrike."

I cannot even remember what our thread was; can you remind me? Also up for new threads.

Boom!

Yeah, her powers are self-contained; she'd just have no access to Hero Points.