Avenger Assembled

"Oh, uh..." Mark coughed. "I can take us anywhere we need to go, assuming my powers work that here." He snapped his fingers, there was a flare of black bubbles over his body, like a swirl of spilled ink, and he disappeared, bringing a halt to his band's playing in surprise. Before they could do more than blink, though, Mark had returned, this time carrying behind him a fluttering American flag, complete with five-foot pole, the flag flapping in the dramatic breeze that had blown up at his arrival. "Yeah. They do. Okay, Ms. Wells, I can take our entire party anywhere they need to go. Gentlemen-" He turned back to the band. "Remember that the East doesn't matter. The West doesn't matter. The music matters. People matter. Buy the world a song, and teach them how to SING!"

"Oooooh!" said Mark. "That's pretty! You should be a street performer! You could act like it's some clever smoke machine doing all the work. You could do it in between cleaning up the streets of criminal scum!" With anyone else it'd have sounded mocking, but tone shifts like that were part and parcel of dealing with Mark, even while drunk. Maybe especially while drunk. He pointed to Trevor, waved his hand, and said, "Aaa...nah, I was going to suggest something, but you're already doing pretty good. Hey, this one time the other day, when I was messing with my powers, I created life! It was cool. But not as cool as those animals. Can you do one of you and Erin?"

Costumed Detective PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 36 pp STR 30/20 (+10/+5) DEX 16 (+3) CON 30/20 (+10/+5) INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Unarmed) DEF: +7 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +6 Saves: 7 pp TOU +13 (+10 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +6 (+3 Ref, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 14 pp=56 r Bluff 8 (+10) Intimidate 8 (+10)* Investigate 8 (+9)* Knowledge: Streetwise 8 (+9) Notice 8 (+10)* Sense Motive 8 (+10)* Stealth 8 (+10) Feats: 16 pp All-Out Attack Attack Specialization: Unarmed (2) Challenge (Fast Startle) Dodge Focus Improved Initiative Fearless Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack (2) Skill Mastery (Intimidate, Investigate, Notice, Sense Motive) Ultimate Save (Toughness) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 56 pp Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp] Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp] Impervious Toughness 10 [10 pp] Protection 3 [3 pp] Super-Strength 5 [Dynamic] [Heavy Load: 24 tons] [14 pp] DAP: Flight 5 (250 MPH) Drawback: [3 pp] Vulnerable (vs. magical damage) (uncommon, major) [-3 pp] costs abilities 36 + combat 24 + saves 7 + skills 14/56 + feats 16 + powers 56 - drawback 3 = 150 pts ---- Design Notes: Anyone else a fan of Superman: Speeding Bullets? No? Well it wasn't a great comic book by any means, but the conceit of the flying brick costumed adventurer was one I liked. So here it is, a grim and gritty avenger of evil, wearing a dark costume with a somber attitude, who just happens to be able to fly supersonically, survive a tank shell to the chest and shrug off bullets, and generally ignore the sorts of problems that used to bedevil Batman on a regular basis. He's quite a surprise for people expecting a Squishy Wizard-type Costumed Adventurer, as well as people expecting a friendly, cheerful Flying Brick. (He might work as an Iron Age variant on Superman or what have you, but here I assume he's acting as a straight Batman-type) Why impersonate a masked detective? I can think of a couple of reasons: maybe he doesn't want the attention that a Flying Brick would get, particularly if he's in a corrupt city (or part of the city) where the media might find out all sorts of dangerous information about him. People expecting a guy they can just shoot won't go looking for his secret ID: with that magical vulnerability, he takes magical hits as if they were double in power: a rank 10 Magic blast does +20 Damage to him! Good thing he's got that Ultimate Toughness if he does run into a wizard who he can't intimidate into stepping aside. Or maybe he just likes the dark costume and the rooftop vigilante lifestyle, as well as the LOOK criminals get when they shoot him in the chest and nothing happens! Does he have a Cave, a car, a teen sidekick? You can give him all those things and more if you want, not to mention variants on the usual paragon powers: it's just a matter of shuffling his points around. He should probably have a nice mansion, at least, or some other way to showcase his wealth. (Which I'd say he has, even if it's not useful enough to be a benefit to him) As it is he's a decent blend of both worlds. You could easily shave things here and there to make him particularly good at one or the other; maybe he's just a mean paragon, or maybe just a costumed detective with a high TOU who can fly. I suggest a background where his adoptive parents were murdered before his eyes by criminals, or maybe one where his whole planet was shot by an Earthly thug before he himself was blasted into space. Either way, fun times!

Mark slapped himself in the face and laughed. "Hah! That's...that's pretty tough. I wasn't laughing at you, Mike!" he added amiably to where his friend had just disappeared under the water. "Just the situation. I mean, you wouldn't expect Alex to talk about..." He mimed what she'd been talking about, and this time he broke into a fit of giggles that nearly made him go under the water too. "Hah-hah! Good stuff. Okay, Alex, whose turn is it now?"

Phalanx, have an HP!

"Hm." Murdock studied Victory uncertainly, feeling an unsettling twinge at the back of his spine, as if his armor was begging for release. "Can I help you?" he asked, his voice not rising above a stage whisper as he spoke to the armored figure. Victory wasn't normally so careless about his flight in the city, which made Harrier especially nervous. Was there an emergency? Or was something else happening entirely? "Is something wrong?"

A flash of smoke and clap of thunder made Jimmy Lucas and his Genie both people-sized and among the heroes on the ground, the elder Lucas arriving just as his grandson swung in beside them. Jimmy looked from face to face, his eyes wide and his grin huge even in the middle of the battlefield. "Oh boy! New heroes! I'm Jimmy Lucas, nice to meetcha!" He shifted his cigarette holder back and forth as he talked, his profile vaguely reminiscent of FDR. "And this is Al-Azim, the Genie of the Lamp! He's my best pal!" he added, introducing the genie. Al-Azim and Edge exchanged two _looks_, the genie frowning and Edge tensing, but Jimmy didn't notice, soon moving on to Legionnaire and Cannonade. "Oh boy! The famous Legionnaire! You know, just the other day, my pal the Centurion was saying that you're one of the toughest guys on the Western Front. It's keen to meet you!"

17, ouch!

"Mr. Hughes, Dr. de Havilland," said Joan politely as she joined Corbin and Estelle for the walk out to see the show. "I'm Joan Collier with the Herald. It's a pleasure to meet both of you," she said, giving a quick, firm handshake to both. "I'm covering the society beat for Fletcher Beaumont this evening. Isn't this a lovely party Mr. Fassbinder is throwing?" she asked gaily, by all appearances the perfect, if slightly plastic, society journalist. "And with the government providing the entertainment. He must have even more friends in high places than we knew about!"

"I know I was just leaving. Good afternoon, ladies. Ms. Browning." And with that, Joan excused herself past Mrs. Hughes and headed straight outside, grabbing a drink and walking out onto the lawn just outside the big house. Standing up to the incredibly strong personalities of Talya Browning and Miss Americana had been tough enough to make a normal reporter sweat, and Joan herself was certainly feeling the strain. Like dealing with an angry Hachiman and the Supra-Models all rolled into one. Maybe I am getting too old for this business. Or too cranky. She sighed, staring up at the stars overhead. It's the kraken in me, she decided. You bait me, I'll try and pull you under. I should use that line again sometime.

Since he had no family to go home to, Murdock volunteered to help carry the huge trashbags out to the big dumpsters behind the restaurant. The smell disgusted many of the people there, but Murdock wasn't bothered: he himself had eaten worse than food left to decay for a few days, and he'd seen far, far worse in his time. When everyone else had gone home, he dallied in the break room to wash his hands, then began heading home. It was a long walk back to Lincoln, but truthfully it was as enjoyable as the bus to take his feet.

Joan folded her arms (well, some of them) imperiously as she stood in the door, which surely would have been a terrible inconvenience if anyone had wanted to use the ladies room at that moment. "I think you're broadcasting everything I need to know right now. As for the article, my mistake was understandable, or so the other party in the case told me. I spoke to the Scarab after the article was published. I told her my motivations, she explained the situation to me. We parted on good terms." And for what it was, that was certainly true enough. "The message of the article was valid. Superheroes need to be held to a higher standard. You can play the flirty femme fatale con-artist-cum-cat-burglar with a heart of gold all you want. But you shouldn't be surprised if the woman on the street just treats you like a con."

"The tunnel can be found by passing through the old cemetery at the heart of the Asylum, straight through the tomb of Jedidiah Providence himself! And below, a wondrous maze of honeycombs where once catacombs lay!" He banged on the table. "And you are right, Fleur, I shouldn't risk the lives of my bees against my own diabolical cunning. You can find them, liberate them, and then perhaps they and I will be reacquainted when I make my daring escape from this terrible confinement. Yes, that will be more than acceptable. The password, of course, is LIBERBEE!"

Barry was silent for a while, simply struggling to regain his composure, before steepling his hands in front of him and taking several deep breaths. "The bees you have not captured remain secure in a heated facility of my own design. They have plenty of food, enough to sustain them until I can escape from this incarceration." For a moment she thought it hadn't worked, that he was still the old Bee-Keeper, before he said, "They are beneath the very walls of Providence Asylum itself!"

Barry looked away, but Stesha could see the flash of pain in his eyes. "Most of them betrayed me at the end," he said, but it didn't sound like he really believed it. "Thanks to your stubborn blindness, and their own love of pollen, even if it warped their minds! They...they betrayed me and picked your team! Let your people find their queen, if you...if you love them so much!" He sniffed, and Stesha realized he was wiping tears out of his eyes.

20 Questions With Joan Collier Alone at night while Charlie and Lois slept, Joan clicked on the tape recorder, the old-fashioned reporter's Dictaphone a birthday present from her mother some years earlier. "This is Herald reporter Joan Collier, conducting an interview on November 4, 2010." 1. Who are you? "I don't know sometimes. The life I'm living now is not the life I thought I'd be living at twenty-five. Or at twenty, for that matter. I can't believe I'm thirty freaking years old; when did that happen?" 2. Do you have any regrets? "No. Yes. I don't know. Sometimes I feel terrible about the things I'm supposed to be proud of, and happy about the things that don't really matter. I guess if I regret any one thing, it's tripping." 3. What does that mean? "I tripped at Sydney. Not on the field, God knows, I'd have died if I'd done that, but I tripped and banged my knee so hard I thought I'd broken something that morning when I was in the shower. When I was out on the field that day, I _felt_ my knee stretch when I made my first throw. I could have beaten that damn Slovak with my eyes closed if I'd had two good legs for the second throw." 4. So is that why you stopped being an athlete? "Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is. I...I tell myself sometimes that it's because I had a kid, that I couldn't compete and take care of Lois and get my waist back. But that's not really it. I wouldn't have gone to Athens and won, not when I was already injured. I was world-class on a good day, but I wasn't a world-beater." 5. Why did you have a child? "Because I wanted a baby. When I knew Lois was coming, I was so happy, I...no, that's not really the question, is it? I mean it's true, but it's not really what you were asking. I had a baby because I got pregnant, and I got pregnant because I slept with Charlie. Charlie was really sweet and kind, and he helped me feel better after my little Sydney oops. Just in time for my little Portland oops....yeah, Lois is still asleep, thank God." 6. Is that why you married Charlie? "I'm not saying I would never have married Charlie...but yeah, that is the reason I married him. Maybe I'm old-fashioned about things, but if you can make a relationship work and you're going to have a baby, you need to be married. That's why we need to let gays marry too, so they can be parents for their kids. Anyway...yeah. I mean, I was only twenty! I wasn't going to run off and get married without a reason! And Lois was my reason. That's how I have a ten year old." 7. Do you love them? "Damn right I do. Charlie is a sweet, wonderful man who's always been there for me, and Lois is the best daughter I could ask for. She's smart, she works hard in school, and she's learning to cook just like her dad. She's a good girl, and she's going to be a great woman. And Charlie's a good man; he has been since we were both eighteen. He was the first man who didn't roll his eyes, even in his head, when I was talking to him about politics and women." 8. Do they love you? "...I don't know. Lois thinks I pressure her too much. And I do put a lot of pressure on her, but that's because I want her to be the best! She's got to get out on the track and lose that baby fat, and take some boxing lessons so she'll know how to deal with boys who can't handle girls without spitting on them! But she wants to be like her dad, and learn how to cook, and play her Playstation games, and...well, she's just a kid, she's got plenty of time to grow up. I just want to make sure she's prepared when it happens." 9. And Charlie? "Charlie loves me. He's stayed with me through some pretty awful times, some times when I was pretty awful. He wouldn't do that if he didn't love me. A lot of people go through life without ever having anything bad happen to them, so I think they never really have proof that the people they love care about them. Charlie and I went through fire together. And water." 10. Do you want to talk about that part? "No. But I suppose I'd better. I remember waking up in the hospital after the chemical leak and feeling so dry, so dessicated, and then my sides started itching...I thought I'd died, actually, and maybe gone to Hell. I remember screaming and screaming, and then not even being able to talk in air, before they just threw me in the freaking hospital pool while they waited for the super-doctors to arrive. But there was too much chlorine there, so they had to move me to the aquarium." 11. How far gone did you get? "You ever watch Squiddly Diddly? It was really big back in the late 1960s. A humanoid octopus with a huge, misshapen head, tentacles trailing down in place of limbs, big eyes staring at a world you can't even touch without pain, but all the while recognizing your family and loved ones? Not even able to talk to them because all you have is a goddamned beak? I hate goddamn Squiddly Diddly. Lousy Cartoon Network." 12. How did you feel when all that was going on? "I wanted to die. Before I talked to the super-scientists, I thought I was going to, and even after they'd stopped my brain from collapsing in on itself I was sure I was going to spend the rest of my life as the first humanoid octopus. And I didn't want to live like that. Not like a...a freak who couldn't really touch her family anymore. I didn't even let Lois see me at first. 13. And when you were cured? "I wasn't cured. Let's get one thing straight. What happened to me couldn't be reversed. I can't ever make the tentacles go away, and the gills only close when I'm in air. Maybe I got superpowers out of it, but that doesn't take away everything I lost. I can't run in the park in a tracksuit anymore. I can't lift weights at the gym anymore. I'll be like this for the rest of my life, and there's nothing anyone can do about it." 14. Are you always so pathetically sorry for yourself? "No, but it's been a rough week. And I've been drinking. And I don't always feel bad. I feel really, really good when I don't have to hide anything. When I'm in costume or under the water, that's a really good feeling. I can be free to move my body, all my body, even the ugly parts, and I don't have to be ashamed. Hell, if I do it where people can see, they usually applaud!" 15. So is that why you're a superhero? So people will love you? "It's part of the reason. I mean, if I just wanted applause, I'd be Joan Collier, Pulitzer Prize winner despite being a mutie freak. I wouldn't go out and do what I do, day after day, if I didn't genuinely want to help people and make the world a better place. But is it really so wrong to want people to admire me after seeing them scream in disgust at the sight of me? Don't four tentacles entitle me to grab a little karmic justice?" 16. Do you ever have any reservations about what you do? "Balancing two, no, three lives? Sometimes. I've missed work because I was in costume, and things with Charlie and Lois, just like I've missed out on superheroing because I was working or with my family, or any other combination you want. But I really do love my life. I wouldn't change much about it." 17. And what about your work? Is it really as moral as you say it is? "I try to be careful. I mean, how unethical would I be if I used stuff I learned as Fusion to write stories as Joan? About heroes, anyway; of course I'll do that about bad guys and evil corporations and such. I'd never, ever give away someone's secret ID, or anything else about them, unless lives were ont he line. I haven't always followed those rules, no, but is anyone ever perfectly consistent with their own code of ethics? I'm a human being...mostly, I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes." 18. Like the thing with Scarab and Bombshell? "That was...a mistake. I should have done more research, yeah. But people got that all wrong. It wasn't about Bombshell, though I swear I'm taking Lois' TV if she talks about dressing up like Talya Browning for Halloween next year. Again. It was about Scarab. Heroes need to be held to a higher standard, and that means no screwing around with trampy supervillains. But again, I made a mistake there: Browning's reforming, or acting like it, anyway. It didn't seem to do her any harm, though." 19. Do you worry that other heroes will be angry with you if they ever realize who Fusion is, and if they ever figure out who wrote the article? "Sometimes. People like the Scarab and Bombshell more than they like me already. Legacy heroes and pretty girls always are more popular than angry jocks with extra arms. It's the way of the world. But if I work hard enough, and if I keep my future coverage as honest and _fair_ as possible, I think the people who matter will take that into account if my ID ever does get exposed, God forbid. The people who won't take it into account don't matter." 20. Is there anything about yourself, besides being a hideous freak, that you'd change if you could? "...you know what? No. I am what I am, and I am who I am. If people can't handle that, if they can't handle _me_, then they're not worth my time. I earned the right to be the woman I am today; I earned it by pumping iron, running track, going to the Olympics, birthing a baby after ten freaking hours, getting my body warped by toxic chemicals, and by being the best damn journalist I know how to be. If you don't like that, get out of my way!" "Thank you for your time, Ms. Collier." Joan popped the cassette out of the Dictaphone, studied it for a long moment...then crushed it between her fingers. "We have to do this again sometime."

"I'm afraid I'll defer filthy encounters in back alleys to you, Ms. Browning," said Joan icily. "That is your area of expertise, as I recall." Joan finished her primping, which was really more of a formality given how she looked, and shook her head. Somehow she was reminded of her own high school days, except she doubted she'd be able to suckerpunch Talya Browning the way she had those mean girls back when she was a teenager. "I'll let you go on telling one of the world's premiere technologists about your inveterate urge to steal things," she added, "I have a party to get back to." She turned to leave at that, heading for the door with her back up.

Psychic PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 32 pp STR 14 (+2) DEX 18 (+4) CON 20 (+5) INT 12 (+1) WIS 18 (+4) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Ranged/+11 Pistol) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +8/+20 Saves: 12 pp TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +8 (+4 Ref, +4) WILL +10 (+4 Wis, +6) Skills: 19 pp=76 r Acrobatics 1 (+5) Bluff 10 (+10)* Concentration 1 (+5) Drive 1 (+5) Intimidate 10 (+10)* Investigate 9 (+10) Languages 4 (Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian) (Base: Belorussian) Medicine 1 (+5) Notice 11 (+15)* Pilot 1 (+5) Search 4 (+5) Sense Motive 11 (+15)* Stealth 11 (+15) Survival 1 (+5) Feats: 23 pp Attack Focus: Ranged (4) Benefit (Security Clearance) Dodge Focus (6) Equipment (2) Evasion Improved Initiative Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Quick Draw [Draw] Second Chance (Concentration checks) Skill Mastery (Bluff, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive) Ultimate Save (Will) Uncanny Dodge (Mental) Powers: 40 pp Psi-Array [32+4=36 pp] Telekinesis 10 (Extra: Damaging) [Heavy Load: 12 tons] (PFs: Precise, Subtle) AP: Drain Wisdom 10 (Extra: Range 2 [Perception]) (PFs: Slow Fade 1 [1 minute], Subtle) AP: ESP 4 (1 mile) (all senses) (Extras: No Conduit, Simultaneous) (PFs: Rapid 7 (10 million), Subtle) AP: Mind Control 10 (Extra: Conscious) (PFs: Mental Link, Subtle) AP: Mind Reading 10 (Extras: Action [Move/Standard], Area [burst]) (PFs: Selective, Subtle) Protection 3 [3 pp] Super-Senses 1 (Direction Sense) [1 pp] Equipment: 10 ep Heavy Pistol (Blast 4) (PFs: Masterwork (+1 to hit), Subtle [silencer]) [10 ep] costs abilities 32 + combat 24 + saves 12 + skills 19/76 + feats 23 + powers 40 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: Here’s a slightly tweaked take on the usual Psychic archetype. He’s not a wheelchair-bound supergenius, he’s not a flying goddess with a visored husband. There are plenty of psychics out there more powerful than he is, but none with the friends he does. This is a psychic agent of the government (whichever government you prefer), a trained combatant and agent whose mind is his most potent weapon. He's Nick Scryer, not Jean Grey. It’s up to you whether or not he was an agent whose powers manifested on the job, or whether he’s a psychic who was trained and recruited by the government for his powers. He’s probably one of the more powerful assets his agency or government possesses, given the average PL of agent games, and thus has good reason to stay undercover. He’s got great reason to have a Secret ID complication, particularly if his work as a superhero isn’t something he’s supposed to be doing! His Telekinesis is Damaging, so he can grapple and damage with it, or throw telekinetic punches, as well as the classic grabbing people and slamming them into solid objects: it’s also Precise, so he can type with it and pick locks. I’d be inclined to say that his Subtle means it’s only obvious to people with the ability to detect psychic powers. I figure his Drain Wisdom represents a direct telekinetic attack on the brain, inducing small, temporary strokes by cutting off blood flow to vital areas. It’s a scary power, and a fun surprise for enemy psychics who’ve scrimped on their Fort save. “No matter how powerful your mind is, your brain works like anyone else’s!” Make it a Will save if you want to make it a direct psychic attack, of course. Note that his Mind Reading’s Area extra only applies to surface thoughts: you can’t use Mind Probe on multiple simultaneous targets by UP. If your GM doesn’t let Selective apply to whose thoughts you read, swap it out for Rapid so you can read minds all the faster. Mind Control lets bad guys shoot each other, or confess on the witness stand. His ESP is deliberately low-rank to keep him from game-breaking, but if he concentrates he can make himself very sensitive to what's going on within a square mile of himself. As suggested above, this is potentially a dark character, with Unfortunate Implications out the wazoo. You can play it that way, but you can also play him as a perfectly respectable, if overworked government agent, using his powers to probe the minds of the worst supercriminals. Maybe being a superhero is an escape hatch for him, or maybe he’s been sent in to investigate the community of supers in the area. Have him go off the reservation and be a rogue ex-agent, or be the agent of an enemy power (defector or otherwise) for a real twist. Does he pose as an agent with no powers, a psychic with no agency training, or something else entirely? He might not like those psychic capes much, with their unregulated power over the community’s very soul, but it’s hard not to feel a little envy as he watches them fly overhead.

"That's the one," said Jack, pointing to the door for the first week of August 2009. "Taylor and I didn't expect to fall in love," he confessed. "I asked her out...because I was lonely, and because it seemed like she had no one she could really talk to." And because her costume showed off those god-given gams. "If something had interfered back then, we'd have just drifted apart the way I have with most of the rest of the Knights now that the team is dead. That's the one. That's the door. Everyone, watch yourselves." And with that, he threw the door open wide!

APPROVED

Joan grinned ruefully, looking down at the red A-line skirt that helped hide her tentacled body. "Let's just say there's a reason I dress down even when I dress up, and it's not because I like the cut. I don't really have the figure for anything more than this. You'd be amazed how much your body changes after you have a kid, even if you work out." And it was true, even if it wasn't actually the reason. She peered in the bathroom mirror, adjusting her short hair: barely reaching the nape of her neck, it didn't need much work. "I might have said hello to Viktor first, but I'm glad to see you, too," she added conversationally. "There aren't nearly enough women in the sciences, especially not omniglots like you. You're the kind of woman my daughter wants to be like." There was perhaps just a hair of envy in her voice at that, carefully concealed. She almost dropped her hairbrush at the sight of Talya Browning just walking into the ladies room. Bombshell. No Elena on her arm tonight; interesting, interesting. Recovering neatly, she got back to work. Talya Browning didn't know who Fusion was, she was fairly confident, but she would almost certainly recognize the reporter who'd outed her and Scarab's relationship. "Ms. Browning," she said conversationally, as you would any other acquaintance. She kept a careful eye on Talya in the mirror.

"Ooooh!" Mark applauded. "Oh man, you guys are adorable! Look at them! Aren't they adorable!?" He sounded very animated about the whole thing, rumless or not. "Young love is so sweet!" He put his hands to his cheek, then pointed. "And you too, Mike and Alex! So nice to see young people in love, doing loving things, and being happy together..." He wondered if either couple had done it yet, but was too polite to ask. I dunno. They all seem a little uptight about that kind of stuff. I hope we don't play Have You Ever, because I won't do so good!

Mark glanced at his own back in an automatic reflex, shrugging a little as he did so. I guess it looks good. I mean, it's just a back. It wasn't that he was particularly interested in looking good for Erin, much less Alex, for all that he'd had his hands on places visible in the bubbling water on the teen telepath, but when the subject came up, a man had to check himself out to make sure he was all right. "Very interesting! Trevor, I suggest you get another car...with a big trunk. Erin, I believe you're up."

"I'm washing my hands," said Joan with a little shrug, heading over to the sink and scrubbing up with soap. With her short hair and thick fingers, it didn't look like the other woman did more than the socially necessary personal grooming. "Fassbinder's a little oily when you get up close," she added. "You look great, by the way," she complimented, her voice perfectly sincere. "I don't have the figure to pull off anything with a sharper cut than this," she said with a gesture to her own outfit, "but you really look good. Is that a Michelangela?"

Avenger: Inside Out, Upside Down House Calls Edge: (Vignette) Kill A Man New Kid on Campus (And GMing) Brit Machine Quality of Mercy Heroes of Our Past Mind Games (And GMing) Midnight Confessions Fusion: Champagne Shenanigans Entangling Alliances Walked Alone Terror in the Bay Harrier: Science Side Handbasket GMing: Mind Games: Remix Preventative Measures