Heritage

Lynn frowned slightly at this last piece of news. "So wait, he didn't mention he was president in the letter? That's kind of weird." She threw a worried look Gretchen's way, but the young barista just shook her head and shrugged; she was always expecting bad news, and was therefore rarely surprised when things looked to be going south. "Well, I'm sure everything will turn out fine," Lynn concluded with a contented sigh as she patted Sam's hand. However, the stage magican quickly realized that his employer had defly slipped him a conjured note, her sleight of hand even subtler than his own. The note only lasted for the few seconds it took for him to read it before it melted away to nothing. "If anything goes wrong, for any reason, we've got your back, Sam. I will smuggle you out in my Vault if I have to. Love, Lynn"

Medicine check on the lady, because that's the kind of hero Casey is: 1d20+5=17

"Oh no!" Casey was horrified to see the SUV flipping end over end; it had never been her intention to kill the perpetrators, or even put them in the hospital. She just wanted to bring this nightmare to an end. As soon as Leviathan landed, she dropped to the ground and approached the ruined vehicle, her eyes full of concern as they began to scan for vital signs and possible fractures. "Are you okay? Can you move?" Spotting the shotgun, she grabbed it and effortlessly tossed it well out of reach before turning back to their captive. "I am so sorry about that; I just wanted you to stop, not put your life in danger!" She reached in to pull her out, much more gently than the cops would be. "Here, let me help you get out of there. How's the annoying Irish guy?"

The Home of Sid and Clara Epstein in Brigantine, NJ. Saturday, December 24th, 2016. 8:45 pm With her girlfriend gone to investigate the mysterious, spontaneous Christmas celebration downtown, young Gretchen McDaniels found herself alone with Lynn's extended family for the first time ever. True, she was fortified with a great deal of wine (both kosher and treyf) and a bellyful of Lainey Epstein's famous latkes, but it was still a bit sobering once the full impact had sunk in. Thankfully they were about to have a jam session, so Gretch could throw herself into the music and blot out the fear, or so she hoped. Lynn's Uncle Sid was an amateur drummer who had a full kit down in the basement, and his son Frank left his bass at home, so it was just a matter of gathering everyone else's instruments, a task made much easier thanks to magic. The Line Up Butch Epstein - guitar and vocals Gretchen McDaniels - lead guitar and vocals Sid Epstein - drums and backing vocals Frank Epstein - bass and backing vocals Everyone present had at least a little experience playing New Jersey weddings (gag!), and soon it became clear that there was a common corpus of material they could all draw upon. Bon Jovi - "You Give Love A Bad Name" It took all of Gretchen's willpower to steer the band away from 'Livin' on a Prayer', a song that held a special place of loathing in her heart; she knew there was no way to avoid the Garden State's second favorite son, but she knew to pick her battles. The assembled adults and kids ate it up, even though the young barista played it fairly mechanically. Still, it was a good warm-up number, and it was a chance to see Butch go to town on his little Traveler guitar, which apparently was a lot easier to play in a wheelchair; Gretch wanted one badly. Billy Idol - "White Wedding" So apparently, Uncle Sid was quite the sex symbol back in his day (ick!), and he requested, nay demanded, a chance to do his favorite karaoke song, which as the oldest son, he was able to push through. But he couldn't drum doing it, because he had to cradle the mic stand and 'work the room' (double ick!), which meant a bit of juggling instrument-wise. Frank shifted to the drums, which left Gretch on bass, which was a bit challenging because it as strung for a rightie, but she managed. Luckily the bass line was pretty straightforward, so she could take in a bit of Sid's performance, which she had to admit wasn't too bad; must have been quite the ladykiller, once upon a time. Radiohead - "Creep" This one was a bit of a surprise; Lynn's big sister Eddi requested a chance to take the mic, and sing one of her old favorites. Lynn had told her that Eddi did a little lounge singing on the side (she was a CNA at a nursing home during the day), but Gretchen had no idea what a set of pipes this girl had! Drawing upon who knew what personal pain from her own life, she turned it into something between a tortured torch song and a mournful wail, and it sent shivers down everyone's spines. Gretch also enjoyed the chance to take on Jonny Greenwood's visceral guitarwork. k.d. lang - "Constant Craving" Emboldened by Eddi's impressive performance, Gretch asked the rest of the band if they were familiar the work of the Canadian singer-songwriter, and was happy to see that even young Frank was a fan. Even though part of her felt like it was a bit of a cliche for a bi girl to sing this song, she was compelled by a strong desire to sing this song in this moment, with these people. Eddi and Lynn's mom Lainey (of all people!) flanked her on either side of the low stage to sing backup, and to everyone's delight, 'baby brother' Uncle Karl joined in on the bongos! Seeing so many Epstein rocking out at the same time was surprisingly touching and cool. Grand Funk Railroad - "The Loco-Motion" It was starting to get late, so it was time to start winding down; not wanting to go out on a sad note, Butch suggested they finish the night with a real barnburner, and offered up the hard rock cover of the Little Eva classic, and it proved to be a fortuitous choice. Inspired by the loss of one of the the all-time greats earlier in the year, Gretch went full-on Prince for the solo, and blew the room away with her impressive fingerwork. By the end of the song, everyone was singing along, and Butch and his wheelchair were leading a conga line around the basement. Exhausted, delighted and pretty damn drunk, the young newcomer dropped to her knees on the last chord and whooped with delight. Butch rolled over to her side, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said into her ear, just loud enough to be heard over the applause of the extended Epstein brood, "Welcome to the family, kid!" She had to wipe away happy tears; so this is what having a family felt like.

Silent grinning Clown!Grim shook the butler's hand and nodded vigorously as she pointed at herself and Clown?Gretch, who was busy texting. Once the butler left, she put her phone away, crossed her arms and just glared at her partner. -I heard a lot of red flags.- -Yeah, tell me about it. So do we think 'Ms. Foster' is the wife?- -Probably. Also probably doesn't know the real reason we were hired.- -Agreed. So if Ms. Ellie is the client, what does that make Ms. Sarah; jealous little sister?- -Mr. Foster's crazy first wife that they keep locked up in the attic. Keep her away from matches.- -Heh! Sounds like we're in for a fun day.- -You do realize it will be at least a year before I even begin to forgive you for this.- -Yeah, I know; you really don't deserve any of this. If it'll help, we'll spend all the money on really stupid s###.- -We had better.- Smiling a bit sorrowfully, Lynn gently caressed her lover's face, then leaned in to give her a warm kiss, which she then followed up with a playful nose squeeze, which earned her a quick half-smile. Then they both took deep breaths, squared up their shoulders and prepared to round the corner to face certain death. -"Once more into the breach, my friends! Once more!"- -Aye aye, captain!-

The offer had been...unusual; provide security at a child's birthday party for one of Freedom's wealthiest citizens. Though the client refused to go into specifics, he implied that the threat was very real and very dangerous. Of course, he had his own security team, but they couldn't be everywhere, and Mr. Foster understood that Grimalkin and her associate the Shrike had certain skills and abilities that would allow them to protect his child without drawing attention to themselves, and for a man in his position, discretion was key. Gretchen argued in favor of invisibility; she could perch on a rooftop or hover overhead, while Lynn moved undetected among the guests, both in constant mental contact. It was perfect and required minimal interaction with actual children. Lynn admitted that while on paper it was a very sound strategy, and would probably work very well, it failed to incorporate one crucial psychological component: a parent's concern for his child. Foster needed to see his superhero security mingling with his guests to know his kid was safe, or else he would still be nervous and on edge the whole time. So naturally, they went with clowns. As a changeling, Lynn was ideally suited for this sort of role; in fact, she would arguably make a better clown than she did a shopkeeper. Agile, charming and artistic, she effortlessly slipped into the role like a second skin, adopting the loose, flowing garments of a classic black and white pierrot, complete with white slippers and gloves and a black skull cap. She chose simple monochromatic 'makeup' that was neither scary nor sexy (which was actually pretty hard to pull off in these jaded times), and decided she would not speak the whole afternoon if she could help it. She walked on tiptoe, darting here and there like a hummingbird, and occasionally did a random cartwheel or backflip out of sheer exuberance. Gretchen...was not a happy clown. Not as a creative choice like the late, great Emmett Kelly, but more because she'd been shanghaied into this whole nightmare operation against her will, and would've preferred being stabbed repeatedly with a dull knife over spending the day with a pack of spoiled rich kids. Her barely-a-clown costume consisted of a bright yellow curly wig, a pair of oversized sunglasses, and a colorful vest covered in patches; otherwise, she just wore a red flannel shirt, jeans and a pair of red Converse Hi-Tops. Oh, and she two black lines of makeup, one under each eye...yeah. Because her girlfriend was so busy being 'in character' (grrrr!), it fell upon Gretch to drag the wheeled airport bag with all the face painting crap up the driveway, plus her ukulele case kept banging against her tailbone. To say that she wasn't exactly loving Lynn this morning, as they stood waiting at the gate for this living hell to begin, would be the understatement of the year. -You will pay...in blood.- -That's the spirit!-

Happy birthday, Giz!

I think Casey is a bit drained, so a big fight might be a bit much for her; on the other hand, having the SUV plow into a tree that Mr. Know-It-All didn't see coming, leading to a face full of airbags for our foes, seems like it would be very satisfying!

Holy Cheez Whiz, Kolo! By all means, rest up and take care of yourself.

Huzzah!

Blue provided me with his FB info; if anyone wants to stay in touch, PM me.

What's the status of this thread?

Just so you know, I'm trying for something I bit different with Casey's heatvision, in terms of how it looks; instead of the the traditional red or CW blue laser, I see it more like an intense burst of solar radiation, visible as a bright light glowing in her eyes, and then the white-hot point of impact on whatever it hits. Basically she's like a magnifying glass targeting an unfortunate ant

Casey shook her head in frustration as she continue to cling to Leviathan's back; this was ridiculous! They should be working together to bring down these bad guys, not dodging bullets and trying not to hit each other! The blonde heroine continued to speak through the cellphone, her tone becoming increasingly assertive and confident. "Officer, you are wasting your ammo by shooting at two bulletproof people! If anything, you're only putting innocent bystanders at risk due to possible ricochets! Please stop shooting at us!" She didn't mention how much the shotgun blasts from earlier hurt; declaring themselves to be 'effectively bulletproof' just made for a less compelling argument. Straining her eyes to the max, she focused on the rear right tire, which her amazing eyes brought into sharp focus as it spun. "I am going to try and take out one of their rear tires with my heatvision; hopefully this will get them to slow down a bit." There was a bright flash of light, like looking directly into the sun, as she struggled to hold her gaze upon the tire; in a few seconds, she would know if her tactic worked or not.

That's because I was desperate to add Precise to her Heatvision, because it is so frequently used in any Superman family story for all sorts of things, like spot welding, cooking eggs, shaving, etc; splitting off that one rank of Attack Specialization was the only way I could figure out to do it without raising her Enhanced Strength, which i don't want to do yet. Whenever I do, I will probably clean that bit of awkwardness up. EDIT: Also using SM for the Diplo check, if I can do that this round, too.

Suddenly Gretchen stiffened, then lifted up her head as her telekinetic 'hug' loosened. "Wait. Did you just marry us? Because I did not ask to be married." Lynn slid out of the group hug, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "I think it was a more, uh, general blessing, y'know? Like when a politician says, 'And I approve of this message'." The young barista frowned. "If anything, that makes it sound worse." Lynn sighed and shook her head. "Y'know what? Let's just walk this off, okay? And you probably...you should probably get back on the floor, right hon?" "Yes..." Gretch narrowed her eyes and started slowly moving towards the door, as though afraid a wedding might take place if she left the room. "We're all good here. No matrimony, no sexy times, just...good old-fashioned girl bonding, I swear." "Fine." Then she stopped in the doorway and leveled her gaze directly at the former goddess. "You owe me a foot massage. It will be both stimulating and stress reducing." And then she was gone.

Do we want to keep going along without Blue, or do we put it on the shelf? I'm fine either way.

"I can see two women," said Casey over the coms as she squinted down at the house. "One is making dinner, the other is...studying? They're both in the kitchen. There's a large, lead-lined bunker beneath the house that matches the model Punchline made us, though it looks like there might have been a few changes since he was there last. I can't see anyone else, though obviously someone could be in the basement." The blonde powerhouse shook her head as she floated above the house; this was all kinds of weird. "Neither of the women look like the Browns, unless they're somehow shapeshifters; if anything, they look like...maybe sitcom chatacters? Their hairstyles are all old fashioned." She gave Warne a puzzled look and a shrug. "Maybe he made himself the 'perfect family'? Kind of fits his M.O."

Sorry to hear that, Blue, but appreciate the heads up. Take care of yourself, and know that you are loved

Lynn snorted and shook her head. "Oh don't I know it! I doubt I'll ever date another 'Muggle' again." Then she looked in the general direction of the sales floor. "'The talk'?" She sighed wistfully. "Kids just grow up so fast these days..." Meanwhile out on the floor, Lance stood there transfixed as 'Tanya' gave him the straight dope on Merge; as she spoke, his cheeks got a bit pink, and all he could muster was the occasional 'yes, ma'am' or 'no, ma'am'. Behind the counter, Gretch just shook her head and mouthed the words, 'You're doomed'.

NPC Lance nodded and smiled "Sure thing, Hype...oh, is it okay call you that?" He grabbed a pair of pastry tongs and deftly began to fish out the items. "Is two danishes enough?" He put everything on a plate and rang him up; seeing Nicki near their table, the blonde barista smiled and winked. "Better keep an eye on that one; she loves trouble!"

Okay, gonna soldier on and post here; sorry to keep you in limbo for so long. Casey is going to tdy and target one of the rear tires of the SUV. I believe I'm at +12 with her current penalty? 1d20+12=17 Still rolling crap, though maybe that hits. Damage 6 means DC Toughness save of 21, I think? Not sure why I didn't put that in my stat block.

The two young ladies disengaged from their smooching and made ready to disembark. Lynn and Gretchen both brought a single carry-on bag; Gretch's actually held her laptop and a bunch of other important stuff, while the changeling's was entirely fictional, conjured up from glamour for appearance's sake. The heat didn't bother either of them, due to various similarly magical reasons, which meant they didn't sweat very much; hopefully no one would question this. Once they were in the back of the limo, Lynn leaned in close to whisper in Sam's ear conspiratorially."Do you need a leopard? Because I can get you a leopard." She winked, and for a brief second her eyes took on a decidedly feline cast, a vivid reminder of their first training session back at Rusty's Ranch. For her part, Gretch looked out the window and shook her head. "It sucks when people know you for just one thing." Her tone might not have been warm, but her intent was clear; this was how the snarky barista expressed sympathy for her fellow artist.

Okay, I just realized I have no idea what Casey is seeing! What does Sill Mastery Notice 24 get her with Telescopic and IR vision?