alderwitch
-
Posts
5,245 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
Gallery
Events
Everything posted by alderwitch
-
Robin wasn't really expecting other kids to be in the gym at the moment. After all, the majority of the students went home for the summer, so she had somewhat assumed that the gym would be largely open. Still, she never minded sharing the space, it was huge. She gave Hannah a friendly little wave, including her roommate in the gesture though she only vaguely recognized the other teen. Robin had stripped down to the Claremont unitard uniform as she intended to go through her paces. Riley had been kind enough to help her dye it all dark colors and a bit of judicious use of the home ec rooms equipment had removed the sleeves. Outside of the baggy clothes she wore around campus, Robin's physique was clear gymnast, with a fair share of lighter scars criss crossing her bare, muscled arms. "Hey, Hannah," she added, her voice quiet but friendly enough as she crossed over towards where the rolls of tape were and began wrapping her hands in preparation for a proper work out. "Mind if I use some of the equipment? Won't bother you two?"
-
Phantom hesitated for a moment, although her deep cowl covered most of her features. "We can drop your infant with my children, if you wish," Phantom offered, finally going against her usual resistance in mentioning anything about her family while in costume. If Paige and Richard hadn't already known of her family, that struggle would have been significantly harder. "My husband is watching them in our lair. It's very safe." Her cloak flared open to shimmer fully into a portal to the Void with the faint outline of a door floating in the darkness, the back door to the mansion. "I will need to take Fast Forward to return him to his proper dimension. Paige will likely be key in locating where your father has gone. I assume that you will wish to accompany everyone to ensure your family's safety, although you are welcome to stay in my home as well to watch your sibling... should you so desire. I would rather attend to this swiftly. Dimensional trails grow cold quickly on Prime."
-
Sure, I'm up for joining in! A convention makes more sense probably since there are multiple shops involved. Or something similar.
-
"One of... those dimensions then." Phantom said, in a manner that no doubt sounded a little judge-y. Of course, most of the things Phantom said often sounded like she was not so silently judging the people around her. There was a reason that she had never been the face of any of the groups or partnerships that she'd taken part in. Taking that into account, she turned her attention back to the dimensional threads floating in the air, echoes of where Fast Forward had come from, even as she tried to assuage Paige's worries. No one liked when their spouse fell down a worm hole after all. "He's probably not on this Earth. Hopefully he's not started shattering barriers to try and get back home. It gets so messy..." Phantom's tones trailed off with the sort of sigh of someone who saw a great deal of clean up in her future. Speedsters, after all, weren't well known for sitting still. Phantom floated upwards a bit, her cloak billowing out wide to show the Void hidden in its folds. "Shall we take a look at where you crossed over then?"
-
Consolidating my notes on the graleen and making them available before I try to bang out a guidebook entry. The Graleen Synopsis The graleen are uniform in their intentions and those intentions allow for only annihilation or subjugation of those who are not graleen. Terrans might describe them as insectoid as their forms have superficial similarities to hymenoptera from earth. There are many slurs for 'the bugs', as the standard galactic response to a graleen infestation is a swift and certain extermination before their colonies can spread. They are voracious in their intentions to expand and respect no treaties and no laws other than their own. It would be easier to deal with any threat posed if they were mindless but the hive mind of the graleen is driven by a fierce, malevolent intelligence. GM Notes The graleen are freely available for go to antagonists in space adventures. For analogs in existing fiction, see the tyranids of the Warhammer 40K series, or reapers from Mass Effect in their behavior, or even echoes of the Borg from Star Trek. They have no sense of individuality, but instead are a networked hive intelligence. There is no 'I', only 'we'. Necessarily, any PCs from the graleen would have to be mutations of one stripe or another, separate from the malevolent group conscious that drives the urges to expand and conquer. Need to create template NPCs for various levels: Scouts: small sub-groups of colonies sent out to scout potential worlds for harvest by the species. Drones: henchmen sorts, for dealing with masses of them at a time Workers: larger scale threats, akin to bosses directing drones Warriors: big threats, designed for a group to deal with a single warrior Thralls: non-graleen species that have been psychically enthralled Also need to flesh out ones that are more focused on honing/using their psychic abilities rather than physical ones. Don't have a good name for those yet. Biology The chitinous plating of the graleen isn't a true exoskeleton although it has been mistaken for such in the past. The graleen have, in fact, an endoskeleton although it is lighter and thinner than their terran equivalents. Due to the peculiarities of their species, there is a wide variety in appearance depending on the role the graleen has in the colony. Scouts, for example, are typically sleek and smaller than the drones, with fully functional wings. Warriors are much more massive, with far thicker plating and only vestigial wing nubs. They are humanoid in size, standing on two legs, with four limbs ending in three fingered hands, capable of fine manipulation. They may or may not have a stinger in their tail which, to be honest, is more akin to a scorpion than a wasp in its make up. Their face is also humanoid, although rounder and flatter than any actual terran, with large compound eyes and antenna sprouting from their brow and a mouth full of very, very sharp teeth. They are entirely carnivorous as a species, although its entirely possible for one to survive on synthesized rations, provided they had the correct proteins.
-
"Hhrm," Phantom replied which, for those who had worked with the guardian on enough occasion to know was not, necessarily, a good sound. Her eyes glowed white as she took in the tableau balefully. It might have looked like she was judging them when actually, she was seeing far more than mortal eyes ever would, taking in the magic traces of the house as well as the dimensional integrity of the Veil. The fact that this dimensions Fast Forward played with time AND dimensions AND magic made those muddy waters indeed. Finally she answered Will, "Unlikely." Finally she shifted her attention away from dimensional residue and back towards the people in question, in time to take in William's very protective stance. He wasn't all that much older than Huang. Behind the shadows of her cowl, her expression softened from impassive into something a little more empathetic. "I am not going to let any harm come to your family while I am here, young man. Does your mother know where your actual father is?" She turned her attention back to Fast Forward then, "Where did you cross over, if you know? The trail here is muddy."
-
I like the father's day one personally!
-
Saturday mornings were usually - usually! - quiet at the Farretti household. Even if her nocturnal offspring had fought sleeping during the evening, they were well out of steam by five am and, since Taylor didn't need to sleep herself anymore, it was the perfect time to enjoy the quiet, or get a bit of work done. Curled up in the large chair in her study with tomes and manuscripts spread on her desk, she was involved in research of the more mystic sort when her senses were jangled by multiple alarms as the dimensional fabric of Earth Prime stretched and warped far too close to their neighborhood for Taylor's personal comfort. Of course, since she was dealing with speedsters and psychics, apparently, things had escalated in the time it took to call up to Jack that work called and then teleport into the center of the room, appearing first as a floating mass of fabric that unfolded into the long draping layers of Phantom's cloak. Intangible, she hovered like some baleful specter, not seeming to notice when her cloak billowed through furniture and walls as it spread out. The Clines she was passingly familiar with - well, the parents. She saw them enough at the PTA meetings at Nicholson. Enough to frown at the slight differences in Richard. "Ah," she finally pronounced after taking in the scene, "Someone is breaking the dimensional barriers again, I see."
-
"No, Ace, we are not taking the children to raid tombs," Talya sighed at the younger man, shaking her head at the peculiar style of parenting that the Danger-Clan felt acceptable. Unconsciously, she tightened her grip on Eden until she felt the toddlers hands encircle her shoulders in return. It took conscious effort to relax her shoulders. Oh, she trusted Ace wouldn't let harm come to them but his idea of babysitting wasn't one that she'd be trusting the Espadas clan to anytime soon. "Mercy, given Erik's predilections for finding wormholes, I'm already this close to sticking dimensional trackers on them all. Just in case." She bent over to set Eden down, letting her enjoy the undivided attention of the adults while her siblings were all sleeping. It was a rare enough occurrence, after all. Pausing for a moment, almost as if the glib super spy was out of polite small talk - truly a sign of the end times if anything was. Truly, though, it was more of a sign of her comfort with these people than anything else that she didn't work the question into her conversation but rather moved directly to the question that she had. She directed the question primarily towards Dmitri but the question was clearly open to the assembled capabilities of those invited to the Espadas house. "Terry's eye hasn't improved. D'you think you could look at it when he wakes up?"
-
After releasing Erik, Talya trusted that he would make himself the big flashy target as only Erik really could and dropped soundlessly from dangling from the ceiling behind Raina and Cathy. It wasn't one of the more complicated maneuvers but it wasn't the point. This exercise wasn't about earning points on three teenage girls, after all, it was about teaching them so they'd work better together in the future. Personally, Talya was pleased that they asked Raina - that was smart. Raina clearly had experience here in the dojo and undoubtedly of the three teenagers knew the most of what tricks her mentor had. However, Talya wasn't about to wait for Raina's answer as she'd already gone over the best way to flush out Talya in earlier lessons... and had no desire to watch the girl set the entire dojo floor alight, as impressive as it likely would have been - Talya appeared closest to Cathy, crouched and striking out with one leg in a leg sweep. "Even when fully dressed, Erik is ALWAYS the distraction." Talya provided as she flipped backwards towards her feet, batons in hand and with the teenagers ostensibly surrounded. "Perks of being the leader - you get to do all the FUN things."
-
Leilani's hands were, unsurprisingly, hot to the touch. She did however shake off the obsidian plates once she touched lightly down on the plastic. The flames clung to her hair as she transformed back into flesh and blood as if reluctant to let her go. Absently, she ran a hand through her short, dark hair to put out any lingering fire. "I'm getting better at not burning all the things," she chuckled a bit as she set her sandals off to the side. More and more she rarely wore shoes unless it was necessary. Feeling the vibrations of the ground through her contact with it was becoming as much a part of her senses as sight or smell. She turned towards Dimitri with a smile, "But its good not to have to worry overmuch. Its hard to relax and I just... I have to pay attention, yeah? I can't really feel the heat spike up, not like I would have been able to before." Her smile lit her features. "Thank you."
-
Her dismounts were far more practiced than they had once been, so she extended her hands to the Russian as she cut the heat from under her feet and dropped to the ground. She'd have landed without turning an ankle these days if Dimitri hadn't been there to catch her but her smile was fond with memories of learning those skills and for the moment the temperamental elemental ignored curious bystanders. "I've been looking forward to it." She told him. Rather than reach for her sandals or drop his hands, Leilani tipped her head in invitation. "Should I give you a lift?" She teased lightly, an offer that she'd have avoided making to many since not everyone was immune to the heat of the flames that she rode. Leilani was well aware that Dimitri had his own methods to get places but his flight made it a little difficult to communicate.
-
It was only turning from the chill of winter to the first blush of spring but Leilani was quick to shed any sort of nod to the inclement weather and return to sundresses and sandals. Extra layers really only meant more clothing to go through should some emergency crop up... and it seemed like there was an emergency more often than not. She was hopeful, however, that tonight might prove the exception to the rule. Leilani paused to gather her keys and sandals in hand and confirm with others that called the DuTemps building home that she was out for the evening before she left. One advantage of calling the odd castle on top of a high rise home meant that it was easy to launch herself out a window without anyone blanching at the activity. Igniting the air below her feet with a thought, Leilani couldn't help but smile as she rode the heatwave down towards the sidewalk in lazily criss crossing streams that never failed to remind her of lazy waves and sunny afternoons in Hilo.
-
Saved by the bell, Talya had no time for banter - only time to scrunch her nose at Erik in mute dismay - before the centenarians had descended on their house. Talya turned with a whirl of skirts to answer the door. It wasn't much that gave her away but Dimitri had almost seventy years to learn the small ticks of tension in her aristocratic features. She pressed a quick kiss to each of Dimitiri's cheeks, affectionate for all that his skin was downright painfully cold sometimes. "Dimitri, you'll spoil them. Thank you," she teased, looking a bit more herself with the reassurances from Erik and Dimitri and Min's ever-implacable serenity. "Do come in, won't you. Can I get you anything?" Her greetings for Klara were warm after Min had said her hellos and Ace's appearance drew an actual laugh. Taking a step back towards Erik, she bent to scoop Eden up before she could demonstrate her very impressive tiny bull impression on any guests. "Good lord, Ace." She said with a laugh, "That's fantastic... all you need is a cane and you can play dapper man of mystery. Come now, give us a dazzling quick change?" Talya's steps backward had put her next to Erik, certainly casual and even affectionate but also strategic in a way that still betrayed the nerves that Talya covered so very well in every other way.
-
Rather than the rap of Talya's baton, her voice floated out, providing a momentary location for the blonde thief as she answered the question Raina directed at her, "No, we'll just charge the school for any damages," she offered cheerfully, as she flickered into existence several feet from where she vanished. "Though do try not to char things if you can avoid it. Smoke alarms wake up the babies." Talya vanished once more, although they could faintly hear them blonde humming some sort of tune melodically, under the banter and the sounds of practice. While it gave the teenagers a much better shot at tagging the thief, it could also prove distracting as sound wasn't always the easiest to pin down. It was mostly to give Erik an idea of where in the dojo his partner might be at any point in time - which, at this particular moment was the ceiling as she took advantage of one of the ropes hanging to get up and out of the floor and over even Phae's wings. "Keep your.... stance wide. Keep your body lowered..." Children's shows had such catchy lyrics, but this song in particular seemed appropriate. As you're moving forward, balance is the key.
-
It was a small list - the friends that Talya still had from her time among the Allies of Freedom was a small list that grew smaller yet every year. Most of them - all of them, really - had public personas just as flashy as Natalya Browning's public facade. They were also well aware that Talya's actual private life was something she had always kept decidedly so, so the understanding that discretion was expected was well understood alongside her invitation to visit the recently renovated apartments above the Espadas' School. Well, to most of them, it was likely well understood. For Ace, she made the effort to include a pointed phone call alongside sending a private town car - lest she get the damn Dangermobile hovering outside a window just because he wanted to tease. It might have been any other cheerful weekend afternoon at the rather noisy home of four very young children. That Talya was tense was only clear to those who knew her very well - and those who could compare her usual level of tidiness to the current downright sparkling level of cleanliness in an apartment with very young children. It was, frankly, unnatural to see the living room looking like something out of a magazine as the blonde Brit frowned before going to rearrange the art fully folded quilt on the couch's arm for the third time.
-
"Hunh," was Sofía's dubious comment about the job offer before giving a slight shrug of her shoulders. She survived, in general, with a relatively suspicious nature but short of pestering for more information that Lou seemed unlikely to give, nothing but to jump in with both feet. Fortunately, Sofía was also good at that sort of thing, "Convenient." She teased the large man before bumping Alice's shoulder companionably with her own. "I assume the 'thing that needs doing' is within our respective skill set." With one last glance towards Xavier, she accepted the proffered hand. "So, what's the job?"
-
ic How Lucky We Are To Be Alive Right Now (IC)
alderwitch replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Port Regal
"When are you planning on holding the wedding in Socotra?" Alex asked with predictable directness. Her hazel gaze, un-blunted by the glasses she'd taken to wearing at work, was as usual, a touch too intense. It was hard to forget under Alex's full attention just how much she saw. There was no malice or disapproval in her tone, only curiosity. Her smile was genuine, softening some of the uncanny intelligence in her gaze as she added, "Mike and I have always planned on a small wedding and we're happy to adjust around everyone else. It's not like the ceremony makes a huge difference to us... I think it matters the most to Mike's dad at this point. He's surprisingly protestant about certain things." -
"The mats have seen worse," Talya commented from her perch with clear amusement, but did not offer further insight into what that 'worse' might have been. The Interceptors led exciting lives by and large. Swinging her legs free, she gave Raina a gentle tap on the shoulder to encourage her to join Talya back on the floor once the mystical blood spatter had vanished into the ether. She did not, however, offer further advice into the nature of Erik's banter. Phaedra wasn't her student at the moment. "Why don't you go join your friend's side, Raina? Might be good to marry some of what you've been working on here with your abilities." And maybe Talya was also encouraging friendships? Maybe! "Three on two isn't terrible odds." The thief suggested to the teenagers even as a small movement dropped the baton into her hands. With a sudden and deceptively soft click click, the batons extended to their full length a split second before Talya vanished from senses both mystical and mundane. Raina, at least, would know that was almost certainly prelude to a light tap or touch on the shoulder, at least in a normal match.
-
ic From Beneath You It Devours: Atlantis Attacks
alderwitch replied to Brown Dynamite's topic in Lonely Point
"There are always other ways through if it comes to it." It was meant to sound at least somewhat reassuring but it took some real practice to understand the tonal intonations of Volcanic's voice when she was transformed into a creature of rock and heat. Obsidian armor plates ground against each other as she shrugged at Aquaria's question. "Almost everything will burn given enough heat. It's the collateral damage that's the problem. Let's see what needs to be done. I'm not going to let anyone die on my watch." As the guards went to let them through, Volcanic stepped forward to lead the way, trusting the very natural fear of what the heat pouring off her body could do to clear enough of a path for Aquaria and Jessie. She was aware enough of their program that Leilani figured any attitude would be better directed at herself and Klara. "We're with the Freedom League." She added, leaving off the 'Auxiliary' portion since, well, she didn't want to slow down long enough to explain the difference. -
Alexandra Albright's AEON was not only a relatively new fixture in downtown Freedom but the CEO's commercials often circulated on television. Finding yourself with strange powers... and in need of answers? Alexandra Albright was a slight young woman with too large hazel eyes, only slightly blunted by the glasses she wore in her television ads. Still, her smile conveyed a genuine warmth as she waved towards scientists in AEON Laboratories, We'll do our best to help. Call our toll-free number.... Or, of course, there was AEON right down town for locals. Most people, naturally, turned towards the Freedom League, especially with Ms. Albright's public status as a Terminus baby herself, but to be entirely honest, Alex had no desire to pull people away from the many other fine institutions. No, it was born out of a genuine desire to provide answers to people who had no other place to turn to. The lobby itself was impressive, but remained inviting, with water and comfortable chairs available. Security was increased these days but surreptitiously enough to not make visitors feel unwelcome and the receptionist desk that occupied the center of the lobby had signs denoting various queues. The one with 'metahuman inquiries' was definitely, as it usually was, decidedly empty.
-
Okay, so I had a thread about this before but then holidays happened and I never put it together. Social thread for magic users put together by Phantom. I just want to get a rough idea of who's interested so I can start up the open thread. Anyone who's an arcane practitioner could get an invite (actually using magic rather than just being magic. I'll try and do a magic creatures thing in the near future as well but it won't be this thread.) Let me know in the comments below so I can PM you when I start the thread. Planning on getting that rolling this Friday.
-
ic From Beneath You It Devours: Atlantis Attacks
alderwitch replied to Brown Dynamite's topic in Lonely Point
Leilani too had glanced up at the television to absently watch what had caught her dinner partner's attention. "Well, I--" Whatever else the Hawaiian meant to say was cut off as the scene erupted into chaos. It was a testament to how many dinners that Leilani had eaten with super heroes now that she only hesitated for a moment before reaching to toss down an uncertain number of bills on the table. Enough to cover the meal and tip, at least, and probably a bit more than that. Leilani wasn't exactly rolling in funds so she'd regret that hasty action later, no doubt. "Looks like your bad feeling was already right on the money. Gonna go make sure no one drowns. You coming?" Leilani asked as she went to slip off her sandals for bare feet once more. -
Talya let out a sigh as she dropped back to a seated position, without Steve to tease and with the match in full swing, there was very little to occupy her attention. "He's baiting you, Buffy," Talya offered in her cool, clipped tones. "Mind you don't overextend." Talya's gaze flicked from one opponent to the other, absently braiding her blonde hair back with quick fingers. "Next time I say we give them nerf guns and make them fight blindfolded." It was debatable how much use that would be for ACTUAL training and how much of her suggestion was geared towards wanting a blind physics defying dart gun battle to watch.
-
Talya had skirted the edge of the room as the magic weapon had appeared. It wasn't the blink-and-vanish but for the length of the discussion with Erik and Raina, the eye had largely slid over the blonde woman. Maybe she'd been off getting weapons? Or drinks? Talya knew magic weapons when she saw them and, until Erik was around to give his full attention to the woman with the fireweapon, Talya just wasn't all that apparent. She stepped forward once Erik's gaze flicked towards her and it was rather like she'd never been gone, appearing easily and conversationally near the swordsman. It wasn't that Talya thought the teenager was likely to stab her but she'd rather not be in the line of fire in case magic exploded. Magic and Talya were a rather toxic mix. "I'd rather not rise from the ashes if we can avoid it this evening," Talya murmured and she patted Erik's shoulder as she went to step out of the center of the damage zone. Adding in response to the varied worries that flickered across his features, "It'll be fine. It's not only your burden to bear, remember." Min might be rather phlegmatic about things like secret identities but Talya shared in the healthy paranoia of keeping multiple identities in the air. She crossed over to sit down next to Raina companionably.