Avenger Assembled

Hm, better check on this one with Shaen. :D

Jack chuckled a little, focusing on Stesha's words. His mind was elsewhere; he didn't notice the flowers. "You never know," he teased, "one might be walking behind us right now." They walked through the exhibit hall devoted to contemporary heroes before they reached the magic exhibit, giving both of them a chance to see familiar sights. 'Contemporary' heroes applied, of course, to everything after the 1960s or so, so there were statues of everyone from long-running heroes like Daedalus and the recently-"returned" Scarab all the way to dead heroes like Brainstorm and Tectonic. Jack looked up at the statue of the Scarab in particular, smiling a little. "Always liked that guy," he murmured to Stesha, "Too bad they never found out what happened to him."

Arm-in-arm, they walked down the street to the museum, the soft light of the streetlights casting a gentle glow down on them and the rest of the crowd. The streets were busy tonight, the museum itself much more brightly lit up with spotlights and banners advertising the exciting new traveling exhibit "HEROES OF MAGIC!" They stopped for a little while, Jack taking pictures of the 20-foot statue of Atlas holding the world on the steps of the museum, before they headed inside. Jack paid the bill, pulling a crisp fifty to buy their tickets, and let Stesha led him inside the museum.

"No," said Jack, warming to a subject that he felt very strongly about. "Living in this city has...well, it's had its ups and downs, but it's done some great things for me. Looking up in the sky when someone's flying overhead, or looking over at the Centurion statue, are some of the greatest ways I know of to remind myself to be better than I am. To be better than myself." He turned and looked at her. "Do you know what I mean? Living in a city with heroes is a reminder for me to try and be a hero myself in my everyday life. Even if it's just something like buying flowers for my friends, or showing a pretty girl a good time on my treat." He grinned at her, his smile disarming. When they reached Allen Street, he circled a few times, driving very carefully indeed, before he found a parking garage they could use.

"Oh, about five years now," said Jack. "I was born downstate, near Bedlam. I came up here to go to school." There was only so much he could say, not when saying too much would lead a potentially curious date down all sorts of dangerous paths. He looked over at Stesha. "You said you've been here long enough to see the Museum, but your accent doesn't sound Freedomian. Are you from the Midwest?" he hazarded.

People wear this kind of outfit to museums, right? Darn it darn it darn it. He offered his arm to hers, all old-style class and elegance. "Thank you, I do my best. So, shall we go to the museum?" He smiled as they walked out of the shop, adding in a soft, self-deprecating voice, "I, er, borrowed the Lexus from a friend of a friend. We'll have to make sure we take good care of it as we go."

Despite all of Stesha's worries, Jack pulled up in front of the store at seven o'clock sharp, his black Lexus high-quality enough that he knew he'd have to be very careful driving the thing. After all, it wasn't his car. In an impeccable black suit cut tight enough to show off his well-toned body, he walked into the shop and immediately realized he was overdressed. Crap! I got it wrong. But he smiled anyway, and said, "Hello, Stesha, you're looking lovely today. I love that dress, it really seems like you."

"All right," Jack agreed. "Tomorrow at seven it is. Wear something that shows off that lovely hair of yours." He laughed softly. "I'll be there promptly, and we'll have a lovely time together." He spent a lot of time thinking about their date in the next day, even when he was busy running the usual errands on behalf of the elders of the city. It was a normal, human thing he was doing, just like everyone else. So why did it feel so odd?

GM hat: Thunderstanding can tell that Wander is a shockingly good fighter for a sixteen-year-old, with base combat abilities not too far from her own.

OK, I think we can have Wesley and Grim get to Scarab's place off-camera. (Unless you guys want to write a thread for that on your own.) Anyone have anything left they want for this thread?

"If you'd prefer to go out a later day, that would be fine too," said Jack gently, picking up on a few hints of emotion in her voice. He was very good at that sort of thing. "Or meet later. I know you might not want to get picked up at your place of business. Believe me, nighttime is my best time. I can meet you anytime after your work that you'd like. You're not imposing on me."

Razorback, are you still invested here?

"Well, we'll see," said Jack a little doubtfully, already planning the stomach upset that would keep him from having to eat anything when he was around her. And this wasn't the sort of date that would likely end with his teeth in her neck, either...though by all means, if she was interested in that sort of thing, he wouldn't discourage her in the slightest. "But after seven on Monday? sounds good. Where would you like me to pick you up?

Durf: Enhanced Feats like Instant Up are a power; you want to list them there and not under your regular feats. Could you clean up the formatting a bit? It would make the post a bit easier to read.

Jack had given this one a lot of thought. He'd go out with her in the day, because that was what normal people did, and he'd go somewhere that normal people went. "Well, how do you feel about visiting the Super Museum?" he asked her with a small chuckle in his voice. "I realized the other day that with all the years I've lived in Freedom City, I've never actually been there. When are you free?"

"Hello, Stesha," said Jack warmly, his voice a silky purr through the phone. "I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time." He was reclining in his apartment, the very image of the modern-day vampire lounging in his boudoir. She sounded very...human on the phone, and that was a nice thing. That was what women were supposed to sound like, wasn't it? "I was wondering if you were interested in going out."

This is the OOC thread for Jack and Stesha's date and their encounter with...well, that would be telling.

Jack called Stesha back a few days after he'd been to visit her at her shop, after mulling over the call a little. Who was to say he couldn't go out on a date with a cute girl just because he liked her? He owed her the time, and time spent away from both superheroes and vampires might be fun. He was confident enough in himself to know that he could show a lady a good time, too. After some consideration about a good destination, he gave Stesha a call early one Sunday evening to chat.

OK, Akmenos. Do you want this character to be able to meet his caps in combat? Right now it looks like he's got +9 with his strike but only does +8 Damage with it, just as he's got a Defense of +9 and a Toughness of +8. (He's got 3 ranks of Shield, not 2) If you do want him to meet his combat caps, my advice is to shuffle his points around enough to buy three ranks of Attack Focus: Melee and three ranks of Defensive Roll. That'll make him +12 Attack/+8 Damage, and Defense +12/Toughness +8. As for getting bigger, remember that you do want to buy ranks in the actual Growth power. Or does he just get cosmetically bigger? If you want a good dragon build, why not cannibalize it from something like Kreuzritter's work here? I like what you've done with the character's backstory, but you do want to explain what he's been doing with himself as a superhero. You're doing good here, you just need to get the finer points worked out.

June 2, 2009: The Sweet Science sees Wander, Phalanx and Mercy pitting themselves and their courage against the madness of Coach "Iron Jaw" Jones. Will they teach the school's new machine to roll over and play dead? Or will they TAKE IT ON THE CHIN? June 3, 2009: Wander has her Placement Test. Hopefully, it'll go well!

This is the OOC thread for Wander and Mercy to blow the lid off the joint.

Erin, Mike, and Mercy all had spent time at the Aaron Cage Gymnasium since their arrival at Claremont, the three teens both having their own reasons to have their athletic potential evaluated in an environment without their powers. But today was different; today they'd all gotten an invitation by email from Mike "Iron Jaw" Jones, the assistant coach who ran the show while Mr. Archer was busy with the other aspects of student life. They'd all met Coach Jones enough to know that he was a friendly sort of man when not on-duty, but had a certain aggro style about him that made him a better team coach than gym teacher.

Barry has no radio function on his suit. With no goons yet, he has no one to talk to. The Epi-Pen is indeed in case anyone he attacks turns out to be deathly allergic to bee-stings; he's no murderer! :o

Edits made. Marionette would seek out Golden Age legacies like Lady Liberty and Beacon in particular, along with those who've been seen to work with them and be their friend. So if a plot like "Langston Albright/Beth Walton-Wright go crazy for a while" is needed, she's your girl. She'd also happily throw down with any other kind of hero that seemed especially clean-cut and patriotic.

An interesting concept, SWA. My thoughts are below. Does he have a regular human cover identity, then? (Did he kill the real David Peterson and take his place?) OK, what part of the Terminus is he from? Is the Queen one of Omega's Annihilists, or does She rule one of the unaffiliated worlds in the Terminus who give tribute/supplies to the Omegadrones as they pass by? What happened on Resource Planet 18? You could drop a point each from Int and Wis without changing the character's Stat modifiers any. Might give you points to spend elsewhere. An Assessment monkey really should have some ranks in Sense Motive.