Avenger Assembled

"Thanks, Mr. Sid. Free Socotra!" she said automatically, raising her cup in salute, even though technically a pretty boy she'd gone to school with was now the Prince-Consort of that particular nation-state. And wasn't that a fun couple of weeks, she remembered, counseling Judy about why it was bad to have a super coup d'etat even if it was against a real son-of-a-bitch. Ashley hesitated at the turn the conversation had taken, then figured what the hell - they were all just friends having a friendly conversation. I can talk even when I don't have people writing my lines for me. Technically they tended to get very specifically-worded suggestions rather than a script, but that seemed like a small point to niggle on right now. Hell, how did Mara know about - well okay, she is a super-genius. "With those two, you don't want them endorsing anybody, because then you get superheroes who are hired and fired because of their politics - and that's going to turn into an army like that." She snapped her fingers with one hand while drinking her tea with the other. "For the rest of them, it's a slippery slope on both sides. Capes have power that people let them have, but if they start really using that power, a lot of people are going to freak out - so you either get the government biting down on the supers, which is just going to get you killed the next time there's an invasion, or the supers take out the government and suddenly we're all in that evil dimension..." She sipped her tea again. "And that's leaving out the people who would vote just because a cape told them to, even if they were voting to put their kids in an orphanage. Or hell, even vote for a cape because they told them to. Phalanx walking into the White House and deciding he's President is a problem. Miss Americana getting elected President, that's a whole other one." As the TV station switched back to an Arabic music video, she considered just how much she should say about the Patriot. "Between the dragon, and the earth god, and the plant goddess, and the lady who can pluck bullets out of the air, and the guy with 'love my beautiful voice' powers, the lady with the gun is probably the least threatening person on the Freedom League. And really, I know they went without one for forever, but isn't it better having somebody from the government on that team especially? Somebody who works for us and not for a giant bee." She grinned at Ellie. "Hey, don't forget, you're talking to an official government drone here. If you ask me, cops with powers doesn't sound that bad."

Ashley's face fell just a little. "My mom's going to come," she said, projecting confidence. "She's been on my ass to get married for ten years and she was in the front row every time one of my sisters got married, she'd better come to this one, right?" She finished their order, and made sure to order the kibbeh to start them off, which let her not think about how her mom would react to the news that she was finally getting married to her girlfriend. That was a piece of feeling she didn't need to deal with right now, so she changed to something easier to deal with. "Back when I was little, I was sure I'd get married in Mary Queen of Vietnam, but that doesn't seem too likely unless they elect Gabriel Pope." She snorted. "Where she's from, they usually do it, you know, just with signing forms, so she said it's up to me." If she says yes. "I don't want like a full...Bridezilla dress, but maybe something in red." She smiled a little, then glanced up when Mr. Sid excitedly declared, "Look! Patriot! And Patrioteen!" The masked, costumed patriotic defender of American civil liberties was conducting an interview with one of her young proteges, an armored, winged patriotic young man who kept his own identity close to the vest but was widely known to be Arab-American. "He is Soqotri you know! I love this country," he added cheerfully to the ladies as he brought out their tea in faded red cups that looked like they'd been in use there for years. The context looked to be an interview for one of the big cable news channels; not the sort of thing your average hero did, but one of the few costumed super-people working for the US government was not your average hero. The Patriot looked to be in no mood - though you had to go by voice with the upper part of her face invisible behind her helmet. "Neither of us are ever going to run for office," she was telling the interviewer firmly. "Superpeople shouldn't get involved in politics." "What about your recent role as grand marshal of the DC Pride Parade?" she asked in reply. "Being queer isn't political," said the Patriot, "anymore than being Asian is. It's just what I am. But the minute people like me start telling people like you how to vote, we're spitting in the face of personal freedom in this country. We have superheroes, not super-rulers."

Ashley lit up like a bulb inside a shade, obviously trying to hold herself back but not being terribly convincing. "Yeah, if that's all right with you. She already knows you better than anyone who works groundside," the League, with its satellite base, didn't really count. "I'm going to make her garlic noodles with extra fish sauce, we're going to open the wine she likes, and then I'm going to get down on my knee and do it." It wasn't the sort of proposal she'd imagined when she was a little girl, but then again maybe it was - she'd just changed around who was doing what. "We've been talking about it for a while, but something always comes up for me, or for her, right when we're getting serious. So this is it. We're going to make this work." Or we aren't. She slipped the ring box back in her pocket. She bit her lip, and added, "We are...going to need a bigger place," she admitted, "because we've both been talking about how, after we got married, we want kids." She blinked. God, just put your heart out there for them to watch it break if this doesn't work-It's okay. These are your friends. You are allowed to have friends. She took a breath and smiled, "Between you two and Fleur de Joie, I know it is actually possible to be a superhero and a mom, and that's what I want." Okay. Okay. Things are going to be fine. But we do the other stuff after we eat. "But enough about my early midlife crisis. Come on, let's head out to the restaurant and you can tell me what's happening out in the West End!" She was shining a little brighter now. It really was a little cold to be walking around outside, the wind coming off the bay with some force as it whistled down the bayside streets. Luckily the Arab place wasn't too far away and it was warm from a busy kitchen. Ashley was obviously no stranger here, calling a boisterous hello to (from his nametag) "Mr. Sid" thickly-muscled, grey-mustached man who came out from behind the counter to steer them to a seat in front of the television playing the national news, where a subtitled President O'Connor was giving a speech to a railroad worker's union. "We should get the kibbeh," she offered, "it's great. Hey Mr. Sid, I'll have a mint tea, and the ladies will have...?" The place was decorated for South Arab culture; there were tourist pictures here and there, Yemeni and Socotri flags, and the crowd seemed to be a mixture of out-of-town tourists and Arab locals.

If he takes her by surprise, it looks like this: https://orokos.com/roll/969118 = 24 That's an Autofire Reflex save Paralyze.

Oh, jeez. She's nuts. Not in the fun way or the colorful way, but in the way that meant you were willing to kill people to get what you wanted. Even your family, or people who were close to it. He thought of Bryant, with no powers at all, who'd have been as helpless as anybody else if the rest of the family hadn't been there with him. "All right, then," he said, playing this straighter than he would have with almost anyone else. "If you've planned everything out, I guess you know how this-" He didn't bother with banter, not with a sick kid who needed to be stopped before she hurt anybody else, so instead he led with the left hand while feinting with his right and tagged her, temporarily putting her on pause - or out of phase with the time-space continuum if you paid attention to what the nerds said. Unfortunately, Richard was paying entirely too much attention to what the nerds said.

Neko shifted where she sat, tail twitching behind her. "He doesn't-" She adopted a pained look, feeling flushed still from the sake, and said, "Owain...thinks things, because...where he is from? Not, ah, because you Irish, but..." Her cheeks were definitely flushed before she decided that Owain was going to have those pained looks in his eyes forever if nobody ever said anything. "I think he is gay." They all knew Owain pretty well and none of them had heard him ever whisper a breath of romance about anyone, though he had sometimes discussed the duty of a Christian husband to treat his wife as an untouchable jewel. "I want to tell him it is okay, but he would - just say he is not gay."

When Leon spun the bottle it came to Neko, who smiled a little smile and lay her hands on her lap. She was pleased to be the chooser and not the chosen, particularly since there were a great many truths she had little interest in sharing with most of her friends and many she wouldn't even tell Leon. Luke's pictures had been funny, though she was glad to see she looked cute in all of them. "Okay. Bernadette." Multi-Girl had been safe enough to pick before. Truth Dare

Neko needed some clarification about what the game and its rules were, but then nodded. "Oh, Shitsumon to chūmon, I know...this. Okay." She sat cross-legged near the bottle, hands folded in her lap, and for just a moment looked every inch a creature out of legend. Maybe it was the pointed ears, or the way her tail thumped behind her. She opened her sake and tapped it against Leon's beer, then tossed it back. For just a moment she was a girl, taking her first drink of sake under the watchful eyes of her parents. And then she was back with her friends and her boyfriend, smiling with her teeth. "Ready." She spun the bottle with a strong flick, spinning it on the concrete floor with a slight buzz, which eventually pointed towards Multi-Girl.

When the last of the one hundred drops from the sacred vessel splashed home, the bowl was again filled to the brim, reflecting the stars and Moon above. Neko rose to her feet and began to chant in an eerie caterwaul of a voice that was the only thing about her that actually sounded like a woman nearly a hundred years old, her yellow eyes cast up to the night sky as she turned in a slow, deliberate circle, her tail twitching behind her the way it would if she was about to spring. She called to the goddess of the Moon. “Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto!” She called out their purpose. “Silent night; moon bright! Calling down its magic power! Gentle glow, all hour!” She called out their plans for the evening: “Strength beyond measure; protected by magic’s might! No one can harm us!” She called out their plans for the future. “Elegant and strong; crowned with wisdom and beauty! Queen of all we survey!” When the bowl dumped its contents out on the sacred circle between them, she knelt down again with a smooth, economical grace and spread her hands, rejoining the mystic circle she and Raina had made for what Americans called the Wolf Moon - the full moon in January. - Neko had proved to be a good housemate for Raina because Neko knew how to do magic. Oh, Owain knew how to do magic too, with a command of dusty old Hermetic tomes that would surely have brought about envy from some of the stuffier mages who had never stopped judging Raina even after her parents had been put away in warded cells on her testimony. Neko knew the good stuff. She knew the names of things you weren’t supposed to say and would never admit knowing around anyone else. She knew how to snap a pigeon’s neck so the tiny soul would power the sort of spell you didn’t admit to casting; even if Raina had had to tell her early on that biting off the pigeon’s head was not something she was ever going to try and not something that Neko had better do in front of her again either. She knew how to summon the essence of fire; not the stuff Raina shot at people who had it coming but the pure stuff, and bask in it, the light in her eyes and her belly in the air, for hours at a time. - Neko had appreciated someone who didn’t pretend to love her. Oh the affection she got from the adults in the Espadas household was all fine and good, the sort of thing she’d have gotten from the aunts and uncles in her home village. (Owain was the brother who had lived, the one piece left from the girl who had never come home from going off to war.) The feelings she had for her classmates, her peers in some ways, were all fine too. Raina was a friend who didn’t try to be a sister. That had been right - that had been what she needed. And besides bringing her business partner Merlin into her life, Raina also knew things that non-magic users didn’t know. She knew the names of the spirits in America, the ones that didn’t respond to Japanese but had English or Indian names, and she even knew the machine-things that sometimes came out to trouble her. And most importantly, at least for this conversation, she had a solid knowledge of the nature of American teens - and post-teens. 17… “Things are all right. No one digs too deep.” She shrugged her shoulders fractionally. “It was a nice New Year. Luke’s family should be fat with how much they eat.” The host of Neko’s new year, Luke was the friend of Leon, who with a little advice from Raina, Neko had figured out how to make her boyfriend. He was by all accounts nice to look at and did what Neko wanted him to do, which was all she really wanted. “I thought the boys would fight the other day, but-” She made a small noise as she felt the power of the circle growing, and there was a faint crackle as of static electricity when she shifted her position. Looking annoyed, she pulled one hand out of the circle and licked it. “Careful,” Raina murmured, not even looking Neko’s way at the small commotion. She had both hands still in the circle, manipulating the power between her fingers with the sure focus of a master weaver setting a weft, not even looking as she worked. Her whole attention was turned to the moon itself, its light making her blue eyes almost luminescent in her upturned face. “This would be a bad night to make a mistake.” Another few twists, knots in a line Neko could feel but not see, and the circle settled down with a sigh of power, humming peacefully instead of crackling. It was still very powerful, but more like a sleeping lion than one pacing its cage. Raina settled back on her heels. “You know boys and their hormones,” she told Neko, which at least proved she’d been listening some. “If they’re not fighting over dumb shit, it’s only because they’re figuring out something else dumb to do.” Scrubbing the back of her hand through her hair and assuming a distinct ‘I meant to do that’ air, Neko resumed her place in the circle. “They are easy, like you said,” she agreed, having found Raina’s relationship advice remarkably useful in negotiating both male friendships and male interest around Claremont. There were rude boys and nice boys, and boys who liked boys and boys who were from other places or other times, but boys were boys. “And the girls too.” She’d been worried about the mind reader but that girl didn’t go where she wasn’t wanted; which frankly put her ahead of several of her classmates when it came to courtesy. “I was afraid of leaving,” she said out loud, “but if everyone is so - easy, it will not be so bad.” Certainly she was doing well out of her online presence; from what Merlin had told Raina, Neko had successfully monetized herself to a degree unusual for a high school student. “They are all - babies anyway,” she added. 24… “”They haven’t seen what you have,” Raina agreed, spreading her fingers wide and letting the power flow through them. It rippled blue in the air, making her hands look like starfish in a tropical tide pool. “They haven’t had to do what you had to do, so they got to stay kids a lot longer.” She turned her hands, pulled the power like taffy, braided it like dough. “You can pretend though, if you want to.” Raina glanced up and caught Neko’s eye for a moment. “Try to act like they do, just for a night or a weekend. Throw caution to the wind. Dare to be stupid.” She grinned. “You might get in trouble, but you’ll probably have a good time.” Neko smirked at Raina’s words, obviously thinking it over. “Will Erik give me a lecture?” She rolled her eyes, though not with any particular malice. The older women of the household could be stern taskmasters when the situation called for it, but Erik tended to be a softer touch. The key, as she’d learned from Raina, was to make sure he found out about it first. “They talk about some things. Leon and Luke know places.” She stretched her fingers like claws and pulled slightly at the power, loosening it so it could spool quickly up her arms. “If we bring costumes, it is…patrolling…” She fell silent, concentrating on a particular fiddly point of magic, a glowing crimson dot that hovered between her fingers for long seconds as she leaned her face closer and closer. No! With a palpable effort, her fingers almost trembling, she pulled her face back and let the dot fade away. It wasn’t that long ago that she’d have tried to eat it, with disastrous consequences for the evening. I’ll get that crimson power yet! With an exhale, she said, “Can you cover, if they ask?” 42… “I never know where anybody is unless there are lives at stake, it’s my personal policy.” Raina cupped the magic in one hand, stirred it with one finger from the opposite hand. “Just make sure to have guardrails on your stupidity at least. Keep the tracker on your phone, don’t go anywhere alone. Stupidity in groups is more fun anyway. Make it a date night and drag Luke along.” She tilted her hand, spilling the magic from one palm to the other. “Okay, this is about ready. I’m going to start prepping the talisman so we can charge it up.” Neko was all business for a little while, rising to her feet to help control the gathered magic while Raina prepared the silvery-bright moon talisman. She paced around the still-filling bowl, her hands outstretched and tail twitching heavily behind her, careful to keep it out of the way of the falling drops. She seriously considered inviting Raina along, but the older girl had been quite vocal about having no interest in hanging around with “a bunch of high school kids” in the past despite the fact that their age gap wasn’t that big. It had been frustrating at the time but now, with significant exposure to them, Neko could see where Raina was coming from. 62… It didn’t do to vocalize specific intent around so much magic, not when one’s words could become real, so instead she bounced lightly on the balls of her feet before whispering, “And then, spring.” She was already thinking ahead to what the two of them had planned for the equinox. “We will have so much.” she added excitedly. 87… “Sounds like a good time,” Raina murmured absently. She wasn’t talking much now, instead humming and singing under her breath. Whatever Raina’s school of magic was, and she’d always been a bit cagey about that around Neko, it was tied up intricately with music and rhythm. Most of her spells seemed like doggerel, nursery rhymes with power behind them, but for complex spells like this one she had entire songs that had to be completed for the power to grow. Neko had occasionally seen even the pragmatic Merlin participating in the music that helped power the magic. He couldn’t sing, of course, but he could keep time with claps or a small drum and chant along, after a fashion. Having a familiar with hands was convenient. Raina’s song trailed off finally, and she lifted the amulet in cupped palms as the last notes faded away. Moonlight began to pour down from the sky, covering them both but concentrating itself in the charmed jewelry. It glowed like a small moon itself, throwing Raina’s upturned face into shadows. Neko closed her eyes, raising her wrists in front of her with hands pointing down, and gave a soft, almost inaudible nya from low in her throat as the crescendo of the song and spell came at the same glorious moment. This was the kind of magical power she could hardly ever get in the safe, secular confines of Claremont, the kind of thing she generally could only get through her friendship with Raina. She hadn’t sung during the casting because this wasn’t her spell, not really - but as her power grew under Raina’s tutelage, she knew her time would come. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing from the reflected moonlight, and she watched with great interest as the amulet shone. She folded her hands, ears twitching and tail lashing behind her, obviously eager for the power that lay in the twin amulet but clever enough to avoid breaking the circle until Raina could give her share to her. In a soft voice, she whispered excitedly, <“feline now with power, whiskers aglow, spells take form, mystic cat now reigns.”> The Moon, Raina knew well, was a common source of illusion and misdirection - one reason why she’d brought Neko along with her natural talent for illusory magic. Thus it wasn’t too surprising when the power bound into the amulet fluctuated and squirmed as Raina bound it, seeming to speak in half-whispers that a less experienced witch might have tried to listen to. When it was quiet, it was Neko who broke the new silence, distracted from her hunger for the power by a question. “Out there,” she said with a wave towards the city, “they…they think this is not real. Even though there is…very much in Freedom City. Why don’t they?” “Because they can’t feel it.” Raina’s voice had an absent quality, preoccupied as she was with handling the powerful trinket safely. “If you can’t feel the magic around you, then you don’t know what’s real magic and what’s bullshit. Even worse if you learn confused and messed up stuff about gods and magic and reality when you’re little, you grow up with no idea what to believe. Easier for them to just say no to all of it. Plus then they don’t have to feel bad when they can’t touch it or use it. Here, gimme your hands.” When Neko extended her hands, Raina carefully tipped the amulet into them, her face intent. “Drop it right away if it starts to burn,” she warned. “Should be okay, though. Cats and the moon get along.” Neko clung to the amulet excitedly, chittering in her delight, and held the amulet up to her face, where the magical glow was reflected behind her eyes. For a moment, it looked like she was going to try and pop the thing in her mouth, before she put it around her neck, grateful that Raina had put it on a chain with a clasp so she didn’t have to try and fit it over the top of her head. With the amulet on, her eyes glowed for just a moment before her body adjusted to the magic. “T-thank you,” she stuttered briefly, obviously trying to remember her English in her excitement. “Verry good. Good.” Raina reached forward and put the tips of three fingers against Neko’s forehead, her face serious and solemn in a way she almost never was. “The gifts of the Moon: safety and strength, light in dark places, and protection from the evil that lurks in shadow. May you use these gifts to protect others and bring light in your turn. Blessed be.” Neko closed her eyes, flushing briefly as she fought embarrassment at being so overcome in a sacred moment. But when no tart comments from Raina followed, she relaxed. I will remember this always! She thought. This is one of the most special gifts I’ve ever gotten. I must find some way to repay her for this boon. “Tsukuyomi remembers, because she sees all,” she murmured softly, then opened her eyes to look at Raina. “Thank you,” she whispered reverently. Raina nodded. “Now close the circle by yourself,” she instructed. “I’m going to watch you to make sure you do it right.” She said nothing else as Neko extinguished the candles and erased the lines they’d drawn while murmuring the ritual words, so apparently she’d done it right. When it was finished, they stood together in the clearing, Neko’s new amulet gleaming in the light of the moon. “You feeling okay?” Raina asked, giving the girl a close look-over. “Don’t feel like you’re going to collapse or barf or anything? No sudden evil impulses that you didn’t have before?” Neko took the questions seriously - all of them. “Here,” she said, running her hands along her arms and through the fluffy white hair on top of her head, which seemed to be sticking up slightly, the way it did when she was especially nervous or on particular cold, dry autumn days. “Not here,” she clarified, pointing to her stomach. “I am okay. Just brighter,” she added, hand resting on the amulet. When she did so, her eyes shone briefly, but it was more like light reflecting behind her eyes rather than actually emitting it. “I will wait. It is very late,” she added, removing her hand from the magically empowered gem. “You?” “Fine,” Raina told her briskly, putting away the ritual gear into an embroidered backpack. Neko could recognize a few of the designs on it as magically significant, power woven into the very fabric. “This is pretty basic stuff, you’ll probably do this again dozens of times during your practice. It’s a good way to gather energy for big work, or just to recharge.” Raina’s fingertips were glowing slightly after handling the amulet, but she otherwise seemed unchanged. “The amulet will be attuned from now on, you’ll have an easier time putting energy into it and it’ll resonate to your power. Don’t give it to anybody you don’t want having a key to your heart,” she warned. A few faces flashed behind Neko’s eyes - and she dismissed them just as quickly. “It is mine.” she said firmly. She smiled, points of her teeth showing. “They will not have it.” It wasn’t as if any of her friends would understand how to use it, anyway. Neko’s aura was already charged by the amulet to Raina’s eyes, though subtly enough that she probably only saw it there because she knew to look for it. Just as planned. For her part, Neko gave into temptation and tried a small magic backed by the power of the Moon. With one hand on the amulet, she raised her other hand. For a moment a spectral white fiery cat with huge eyes and grinning teeth circled them in the air, leaving behind the smell of brimstone and the sound of a distant miaow when it vanished. Neko looked very pleased with herself.

"I wouldn't want to do it in New Orleans or Miami," said Ashley, "but the weather's mild enough to stick it out 90% of the time." She rapped on a wooden panel for luck. "Which is good, because Little Blue and I wouldn't even get out of the harbor if I tried to dodge a hurricane." She didn't sound terribly concerned about that prospect; after all, what superhero would leave before a hurricane got there, unless they were leaving inland to help refugees? She opened Ellie's presents and smiled, giving the cat-face pillow a rueful look. "Well well well, if it isn't my old friend." Tossing it neatly onto the couch, she opened the cookie bag, took a bite, and said "Nice! I can use the pillow when I'm on and and eat cookies when I'm off." Damn, she thought, these are really good? And what did I get them? Moon tourist crap! I should have planned harder! The statues turned out to be hand-sized, squat-bodied and big-eyed figures vaguely recognizable as humanoid women, one pure white, the other slate-grey. "I got those in Farside City, they call them Earthwomen. You know, because-" She made a gesture encompassing the height and slender build of Farsiders, an average one of those probably being unable to fit inside the cabin. She sat down in the bolted-down desk chair on the other side of the small 'living room'. "Just for the record, sports bars are great places to meet guys who are - definitely not your types," she snorted. "Speaking of...stuff I got on the Moon, look at this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the box; clearly a ring box, and cracked it open, revealing a gold band with a single small gem that looked like something between an opal and a diamond. "I've decided that - the next time I see my girl - I'm going to ask her to marry me." And break it off if she says no. She wasn't ready to say that out loud, though, not yet.

Ari: Rainshadow: 1PP Avenger Assembled Angelic - 1PP Doctor Archeville: Artificer 1 post = 1pp Horrorshow 1 post = 1pp, +1 [Mod] = +2pp EternalPhoenix: Effigy: 1 PP Fox: Nocturne: 2PP Gizmo: Chitin: 1PP KnightDisciple: Thunderbird: 1PP Nerdzul: Nightscale: 1PP Nick: Ardent: 1PP RocketLord: Nocturne: 1PP Spacefurry: Paper - 9 (+1/GM = 10) = 2PP Blackstaff - 1PP Chimera - 1PP TheAbsurdist: Jotunn: 1PP Thevshi: Multi-Girl: 1PP Tiffany Korta: War Woman: 1PP trollthumper Cavalier: 1PP

Greenbank's railyards were just busy enough that there was no profit in shutting them down - but not busy enough to be very populated this late at night. It was easy enough for the teens to make it over the rear fence, Neko climbing up the side nimbly before vaulting over the barbed wire at the top, landing silently and on her feet on the other side. There were a few security guards but it was easy enough, between the four of them, to give them all cover as they made their way out to an old wooden-walled warehouse that had seen better days. "Perfect," said Neko as she hopped up under shelter of an overhanging metal awning. She perched there for a moment, then said "We need...kanpai." Not terribly interested in American beer, which was by all accounts terrible, she had taken something for herself, and so produced a small bottle of what Raina had called 'airplane sake'. She pulled the lid off the bottle with her teeth, then raised it high to clink against the other bottles as the others allowed before tossing her head back for a drink.

Ashley was very tired and probably - no, definitely needed a bath. She put a reassuring hand on her sidekick's arm and said, "You did great tonight." She hesitated, thinking back to her youth and her time sidekicking for the Raven, a lifetime ago it felt like. "I know every time we go somewhere it turns to total crap. Next time, no super-stuff, just...I don't know," she admitted. "We'll think of something." She sat down next to the catgirl and watched the agents work. "You know," she said, "I bet I can find a place for you after graduation if you want it..."

As the tentacles lashed their way around Fiery Fury, a smile crossed Neko's face, showing teeth more pointed than a human girl's could be. She sauntered towards the captive villain, tail lashing behind her, ears twitching, her fingers before her big, bright yellow eyes as a low kekekeke came from her throat. Below Fiery Fiery, where Horrorshow held him tight, there was a distinct rumbling noise before the ground seemed to open beneath him. The gateway below was to a dark and dismal place that stank of rotting flesh and sounded of crawling, wriggling things and a moaning despair that seemed to last for eternity. Beside her, giving an encouraging nod to Horrorshow, Owain held his blade against the Fiery Fury's throat. "Purgatory here, or that below. Will you yield?" he asked, his tone surprisingly mild.

Let me know if you want rolls here!

"The wound in his chest is closed, if that's what you mean." Richard looked at the girl squarely and said, "You want to tell me what happened?" It wasn't hard to guess what was happening here, or what was going to happen to the girl and her family if people didn't play their cards right here. It wasn't hard for him to impose Holly's face on this girl's body and think unhappily about the sins of the parents being visited on the children. He liked to look back with pride on his glory days on the wrong side of the law, but of course that was easy enough to do when all your crimes were pardoned and you didn't have to worry about your kids going wrong. "I know about the Emeralds," he said suddenly, hazarding a guess and liking the taste of it. "But something this big, it's going to attract attention beyond whoever the law is out here." He'd never thought too highly of Oregon or Washington's culture or their superheroes. Grew good weed though.

Neko always seemed to have a slight smile plastered to her face, especially when she was meeting new people. She was smiling now - and showing her teeth. She tossed Carmen the pack of cigarettes she'd asked for, without the judgement most people their age might have had. It didn't surprise her that a city girl like Carmen smoked, but she didn't view it as a bad habit the way everyone else around them did. "Do they need -" she asked Multi-Girl, pointing to the beer bottles. She didn't know very much about the duplicates but she had bought a lot of beer, at least by her own reckoning. She'd heard Irish people liked to drink, so who knew? "Some place dark." she said to Leon, smiling as she slipped her arm inside his. Her big yellow eyes reflected the streetlight above with a feline glow, the four teens alone for the moment in the Greenbank street.

I'll let you get this one, @Dr Archeville!

Winter 2023 The elderly Asian man in the jean jacket and denim slacks might have attracted attention if he'd come into the liquor store any earlier, but it was late at night and the middle-aged clerk was obviously ready for his shift to end. He smiled at the clerk and placed the liquor and cigarettes on the counter. "Nice weather, we are having today." The man grunted, looked at his ID 'sorry sir, gotsta check everybody these days', then glanced at his security camera feed suspiciously for a moment before shrugging and accepting the older man's money. Still smiling, he walked outside with his bags under one arm, then walked out of view of the liquor store and into the darkness of the poorly lit streets of Greenbank. In between one step and the next, he blended away and vanished, replaced by a petite Japanese teenager whose ears and tail weren't visible at the moment, her clothes now a warm wool jacket and too-large slacks. She found her friends waiting for her at the edge of a nearby alley. "It was easy," she said, cooly handing her bags to Leon. They'd wound up bringing a curious bunch along for this evening out, Leon and Luke, the best of friends, Multi-Girl who she hadn't really gotten to know well despite the year they'd spent in each other's company, and of course - Carmen. "Nobody around here," she added confidently.

"I would tell said demon lord, or whatever beast he might be, what he might do with such a foul offer," said Owain, simmering at the thought. "We gain nothing from deception." "Oh?" asked Gwen, a curious look in the butterfly fae's eyes as they looked at Owain with purple eyes, pink hair tucked behind their pointed ears. "Surely you might practice deceit on the battlefield. Did not Arthur do so many a time?" "In some tales," said Owain, sounding defensive, and the two began arguing about specific events from Arthurian romances that nobody else was familiar with.

"Welcome aboard!" declared Ashley when Mara and Ellie arrived, almost immediately kicking herself for sounding so corny as they stepped onto the boat. It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. She didn't actually know Mara except by her reputation in the sciences, and supposed it made sense that someone who did so much super-science would be tied into the super community enough to be Ellie's wife. "Ashley Tran, nice to meet you." "Sorry it's so damn cold, I was hoping things would even out a little by the time you got here. But hey, I made cocoa!" The cocoa was in plastic mugs from Squib Kick, a place Ellie recognized as a particularly raucous West End sports bar with cheap beer and good wings, and was steaming hot. The blue waters of the bay were calm, the boat only gently rocking as Ashley greeted her guests. "How was the drive?" She caught sight of Ellie's gift bag and took a moment to be glad she'd planned out her own gift, giving it the usual level of attention that any normal person would give - just over the space of the last few weeks. She handed the box to Ellie and Mara while they were handing over gifts. "Here you go, Merry Christmas!" Oh hell what if they're allergic to moondust. Wait, that's not a thing - is it? _Hell_. She kept smiling as she said, "Here's my little home away from home," showing them around her tiny living room and attached bed and sink attachment, looking a bit more like a small dorm room afloat than anything else. "I got the pillows at that little thrift store you told me about," she told Ellie, "it was nice!"

Hokay - let us know!

My big advice is to avoid overthinking it: 1. If you want to damage something with your Move Object, buy the Damaging extra. If you want a Blast effect (i.e., Ranged Damage, firing nails at bullet speed or something), buy that as an AP of the Move Object. The last batch of questions are things to solve at the GM level. 2. Selective Area is pretty powerful but it's so expensive you'll have a hard time getting it close to PL, and it's generally not worth it significantly below your PL. 3. If you want to do those things, you should buy APs like Snare, etc to represent those effects.

Owain gave Leon a very skeptical look. "Leon, hast thou deceived us? Was this not a choice given to us by Master Hawke?" "If you remember the instructions I gave you at the beginning, you all had the option of inventing your own," said Hawke easily as he walked past the group. "Going your own way was always a choice. And it seems like that sparked a little more conversation than anything I did." "Okay," said Holly Cline, thinking for a moment before she spoke firmly. "This one actually happened to, uh, somebody I know." The pretty psion colored slightly in her pale cheeks before she spoke. "There's a force about to invade Earth. Even if they lose, they'll be able to inflict some real damage; it'll be the thing with Atlas or the last T-invasion all over again. The leader of the invading force knows you, and they send you a message that says if you'll come to their palace and become their, er, companion, they'll call off the invasion. What do you do?" Her eyes still closed, Neko's lips moved almost imperceptibly as she murmured, "<tears fall like rain; soft words of comfort I speak; child's cries soon cease.>" Outside, the fluffy white cat jumped into Wilona's lap and began purring, settling in loaf-style as it looked up at the two girls with the expectant face of a cat that expected more petting. If the look it gave Carmen was rather insolent, wasn't that true of all looks any cats gave?

Daisy looked startled for a moment, her face lighting up with a surge of barely suppressed emotion. "That would be the heroic thing to do, wouldn't it?" She went to work helping her fellow hostages, all of whom were in some stage of injury and most of whom seemed pleasantly surprised to see her uninjured. The wolves that had dragged her away had seemed intent on doing something terrible. Outside, there was the sound of raw, unfiltered violence from the office as the Patriot went to work on her target. Carmen couldn't see what was happening through a closed door, but she could hear the sounds of bones cracking and animalistic screaming. Daisy, it seemed, could hear them too, but was quick to reassure Carmen. "This kind of thing happens a lot around here," she said in a whisper, "We'll know if she's not - oh there she is." Sure enough, after a loud, heavy thump, the Patriot, battered and bloody, had staggered out of the room where she'd beaten the last werewolf and hobbled her way into the room holding the freed hostages. "God_damit_," she opined before sliding to the floor. - Later The hostages had been taken to the hospital, the uniformed AEGIS agents had arrived and brought Carmen some hot soup and a blanket, and Daisy Gibbons had notably made herself very scarce. It had been a very, very long evening. The Patriot had only reluctantly let herself be tended by the AEGIS medics, keeping her helmet and battered uniform on throughout. By the time she found Carmen again, she was on the phone. "Yeah, yeah," she said, sounding more like an angsty teenager herself than her professional voice. "This is for _you_," she said, handing the phone off to Carmen. It turned out to be the headmaster of her school. "Carmen," said Ms. Summers in a cool, professional educator's voice. "The Patriot tells me you had quite a night. Do you want us to send someone to pick you up?"