alderwitch

Robin gave another little hop from one foot to another although she gave up on dancing altogether as things turned south for Cathy. Casting a glare over her shoulders at the young women that had seemed to upset her classmate, Robin mowed her way through the crowd with little concern for people in her way. Although she didn't, certainly, bowl any one over, she didn't apologize when people thumped into her solid form either. "Excuse me," she said pointedly to one couple as she pushed her way through. She waved one hand at Raina in what might have easily been construed as 'I got this', and followed Cathy towards the edge of the dance floor. "Y'wanna go? We can probably go." She offered to the young woman, giving the thankfully quickly melting snowflakes the briefest of glances.

Taylor blinked at Huang and then eyed him thoughtfully, "...We did not send you to Claremont to learn how to blend in among regular humans. Honey, if Dad was worried about your ability to stalk humans, he'd have sent you to a public or private high school not to a school with the kids of our colleagues. We sent you there to actually make friends. So, do whatever you would like to do. Have some of your mystic friends come over to learn spells, maybe summon a lesser entity to ask a few questions about one of the far realms. Or teach a few more plucky kids how to play tag with the ghosts - you and JJ have always enjoyed that." Taylor lifted her shoulders in a small shrug then, "I spent most of my high school reading or visiting your namesake at his dig sites on family vacations. That's what I liked to do." She paused and then added quickly, "Though I definitely think you shouldn't look to follow in your dad's footsteps. His teenage years were... rough. Anyway. What sounds like fun?"

"Mitya, that is ever so much more frightening than your old service weapon. You should have opened with that," came the dry tones of the ex-spy as Erik changed swiftly. "I intend to keep my clothes on for this trip unless we end up someplace that is all white sand beeches and warm weather. New Jersey is miserable this time of year, and that trip to Asgard last month wasn't any better. But what you boys do with your shirts is really your own business," Talya said as she reached out an elegant hand to cover Frost's on the statue. Her red lips quirked in amusement though. "I want to hear more about the pants-less medieval dimension sometime. How do you always lose clothing in your adventures. Is that actually your secondary mutation?"

Bombshell (21) Exes and Ohs (15) No Nationality Or Religion (2) Pop Some Tags (1) The Taxman Cometh (3) Nighthawk (16) Dirty Blvd (2) Get Low (1) Monotreme Melee (4) To Help People at All Times (4) Twinkling of an Eye (5) Phantom (18) Draw the Circle (11) Kount Every Klan Vote (2) Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon (6) Psyche (10) All the Colors of the Sky (1) Bulls on Parade (4) He Danced With Me (5) Renegade (3) Tattered Marks (1) While the Cat's Away (2)

Strange. Alex's comment was thoughtful as they shimmered into this newest fragment of memory. Different, too. She floated down, unseen, among the various soldiers, ghosting around and through the memory fragments as she took in the whole of the battle. She waved one ephemeral hand through where she thought the enemy might have been supposed to be. It's always hard to tell if this is because a memory has fragmented or if the enemies weren't actually present - you know, invisible, intangible, psychic, what have you. What do you think, Danica. How does this fragment make you feel?

"Oh, you don't need to bring anything, really," Taylor tried to demure before offering helpful suggestions, "Jack is the worst to try and shop for. Every holiday, I still struggle to find something suitable. I think part of it, is that there's very little in the gift range of things that he doesn't just pick up when the mood strikes him. Bottles of wine are probably the safest gift if you really want to get something. As for the kids, well, Huang's been interested in Egyptian mythos lately - the reasons are rather clear - and oddly enough, those old John Hughes movies." Her cheeks dimpled as she moved onto her youngest, "As for JJ, he's largely - largely - out of his biting phase and is a fairly typical five year old. Super Heroes, mostly. Especially the Centurion. I didn't even know they still made Centurion sheets." She gave a little wave of her hand to dismiss it, "But really, just brining yourself is present enough."

Even her stern stomach lurched at the tableau, but although her brain flinched away from sights and - God, the smell - her body never hiccuped in its fluid motion. Nighthawk stared hard at the bizarrely normal dressed man as he vanished, freezing his image in her brain to examine at a later date. There were far more pressing matters to attend to but clearly that would demand some further investigation. She bolted forward, putting her body square into the line of fire as she hoped to draw the bulk of the Feral's attention. Her sneaker hit the ground and Robin twisted, not unlike a baseball player sliding into home plate as she kept moving to come up near the edge of the feral clump. The gesture was purposeful and Nighthawk's distaste for the gore that coated her already filthy jeans was confined to a mute grimace. "Yeah, yeah. Feed." Nighthawk took grim satisfaction in the fact that her voice was nice and steady. Coming up into a coiled stance, she jerked one hand up, crooking the fingers, "Look, I'm all spattered in blood now. Mmm. Tasty, right? C'mere, you sonova-" Nighthawk volleyed forth every rude word she'd gleaned in her years on the street, each slamming into each other in a hissed torrent that sounded not unlike a prayer if one ignored the content.

Robin nodded and stood up, moving on quiet feet down the hall. It seemed like just another patient until the girl paused at the elevator doors and then braced her arms against the door frame to block the doors from closing. There was the faint protest of mechanical whining as the door hit her hands and then stopped. Standing there, her back to the receptionist, Robin said in a voice that carried, "Ride's here." She turned her head then, her twists snaking over one shoulder as she glared at the receptionist and her confused expression. Robin's look was patently unfriendly as she said simply, "Wasn't talking to you."

Taylor couldn't help the moment of pride as Huang began to express his distaste for mocking the 'weirdos'. Sure, he mocked them in the next breath, but still! "It's so very hard coming from a stable home environment with attentive parents," Taylor teased him as she reached up to smooth the recently mussed hair once more. "It's only been a couple of months, Huang. You're not going to like everyone but you'll make some friends eventually. It'll probably even sneak up on you. Lynn still calls me to get together and none of us really saw that coming after your father gave her that head in a jar, that time." As a pep talk, it wasn't really the best. "I'm not saying you have to pretend to be a teenager but right now, maturity wise - whatever years you have memories of - you're clearly a teenager. So, when that changes, so will our expectations." Taylor sighed and then suggested, well aware it was going to go over like a sack of bricks with her spouse but she made the offer anyway, "Why don't you have a few friends over to the mansion, with our permission. Not a party, but maybe movies and snacks... whatever teenagers are doing these days." Oh god, she sounded like her mother.

"It's the more important part of the answer," Taylor sighed but she ruffled his hair once more, "If you're asking for the less important, more scientific response, I looked into all possible avenues of what could and couldn't be and I believe that you were created when JJ was - from the same event that we have already established you don't want me to go into." Taylor's dimples flashed, "But while JJ gestated in a more typical manor, you existed here, in the Void until you decided not to. The memories that you have are legitimate - are yours - but while JJ exists in a front to back manner - you are a bit, well, all over the place and the structure assigned to your existence is a bit more of your own making. Hence the memories that you had adjusting as events adjust. When you see yourself as a different entity from JJ, then I suspect, your memories will adjust to that as well. Which is, really, why I asked how you see yourself. It's the view that matters." She sighed then, "I'm not asking you to ape normalcy, Huang - if I was, you certainly wouldn't be at Claremont - but I do want you to have all the advantages that I can give you. At the moment, as unconventional an existence as you might have had - you are a teenage boy and school, and friends, and even dating are all important things for you to be doing. It isn't supposed to be a punishment."

"You're our son," Taylor said as she reached out to capture his jaw between her hands, smiling faintly as if she'd caught the line of his worry. "Fully human identical twins were at one point the same cell but they're no less individuals. Beyond that, it's up to you to define what you'll be. Which, really, is the essence of the teen experience. Perhaps you're spending more time in this age because that question is a little... larger for you." She gave his cheek an affectionate little pat before releasing him. "What do you think you are?"

Taylor made that humming noise in the back of her throat, the sound echoing oddly as she turned briefly insubstantial to avoid a drifting chunk of debris - a sure sign they were circulating close to the section of the Void that Huang had claimed for his own. "More in the moment of creation sort of nascent," Taylor said, the tone almost apologetic as she finally drifted down to stand on one of the rubble-rocks drawn towards Huang's hide-away in the void. As one of the little voidlings drifted closer, Taylor held her hands out towards the entity as it chirruped cheerfully at the Void's mistress. "Just as on some level, you choose the rules that govern your existence. Which is why I said that JJ takes after your father and you've, well, take more after me," Taylor repeated, although clearly she was actually talking about a level deeper than the choice of vampire versus magi.

"Mmm," Taylor replied which was not quite agreement but at least Huang was once more enjoying a lesson in his mother's manner rather than dealing with the mundanities of Claremont. It was, if nothing else, familiar territory. "Most of those with a parent from a different dimension tend to be angelic, or demonic - or one of the various so-called gods - but though their other dimensional parentage is not human, they are almost never an entity in the sense of dimensions like this one. Children of the dimension of dreams, or nightmares, might be closer." She gave a flip of her hand as if dismiss a tangent that was, while interesting, less relevant to her point. "In essence, on some nascent level, JJ chooses a linear existence and you, honey, picked a different path."

Taylor's laugh was light and she drifted past him, ruffling his hair as she floated past, "You're filled with ennui and angst over your place in life - I'd say that you're managing 'teenager' just fine." She commented as she glided through the Void with ease and a sense of direction that few others could have matched in the dimension, and with enough purpose that she was heading somewhere, even if Huang might not be entirely certain where that somewhere was. "If you read the book on transitive dimensions," Taylor teased, her dimples flashing, "You'd have a better understanding of where I was going with this. Knowledge is power but not all knowledge is magic. Transitive dimensions don't flow in linear pathways, they don't ascribe to those rules the way that the near-Earth realms do. You and JJ are, really, half extra-planar entity as I haven't belonged to Prime since well before either of you were born."

"Not so much," Ray said as he waited until the man's pulse beat steady, if slow, under his fingertips before he pulled his hand back. Casting about for something to wipe the blood off his fingers, Ray gave up that futile quest after a long second before he met the woman's gaze unflinchingly, his bare arm resting on one knee and the light of the tattoos starting to slowly fade. "Look, if you want to have a theological debate about where free will starts and where influence ends, we can have that chat. It's going to be long and not very satisfying for any involved." Ray's commentary was dry. "I can sum it up in the whole 'greatest gift given is the ability to choose your course of action' but that generally is unsatisfying to hear. You're not going to have a bolt of lightning come crashing from the sky at the last hour - present evidence to the contrary - but in all the whispers to turn away from this course of action in the moments leading up to this. Entities can influence, suggest, but in the end the choice is yours - and your boyfriend's - in how to react to those whispers." Ray straightened then, rising to his full height as he wiped the blood on his hands off on his jeans.

"You're not," Taylor said forcefully, taking a step forward at the idea the boy in front of her might vanish without a trace. For a second, the force of nature that was the Phantom showed through his mother's jaw set and the hard look in her brown eyes. She took a few steps forward and took his hands. Taylor forced her tone to gentle once more as she repeated, "You're not a shadow or a looped echo. You'd have faded long ago if that were the case." Giving his fingers a gentle little squeeze, Taylor sighed as she clearly debated how much to discuss with the teenager. Clearly, though, she had to nip this nihilistic impulse in the bud. Still holding one of JJ's hands, she lifted the other, shifting the wall to reveal the ever permanent portal to the Void. "You're just not human," Taylor said gently, "JJ takes more after your father and you, well, you're more a creature of the Void." Leaving her fingers linked with her son's, she pulled him though the entrance until they stepped out into the endless black night of the dimension that was as much Hunag's home as the mansion. Taylor didn't look as out of place as she probably should have floating in the empty space in her jeans and sweater. Then, she finally let his hand go to tuck her fingers in her pockets, one leg lightly bent.

"Well, I'd want you to talk to me if you have any questions - even if the conversation felt a little awkward," Taylor said in response to the commentary. She laced her fingers together as she pointed out, "My folks - your grandparents - weren't exactly people I could talk to about that sort of thing so I went in pretty blind to things with your dad, the vampire thing aside." Taylor's lips curved down in a slight frown at the news of the school, although it was always hard to parse whether or not it was teen angst or something more. She made a mental note to discuss the matter with Jack. Maybe some ghosting of Huang might be in order... But there were more pressing topics at hand. "Hrmm," she said in response to Huang's commentary, which was his mother's classic prevaricating noise. Clearly, she was deciding what to tell him. "Honey..." Nothing good began with that, and Taylor braced for the teenagers outrage, "You are a teenager. You may have been stuck at this age longer than a normal sixteen year old but hormonally - developmentally - you aren't moving past that age. I... I am fairly certain that you won't be until you and JJ are in synch again." She delivered the news gently, but had clearly been doing some sort of surreptitious research of her own.

Forever (Psyche and Phalanx) February 2016 Vignette Papers whirled around the large open space of the penthouse at AEON like a miniature tornado - well, a semi-controlled psychic tornado. It was clear why Alex had the place designed with a large multiple story central area, with two fliers in residence but especially, apparently, when she had work to do. “Five more minutes,” had been the muttered response everytime Mike had poked his head out to see if his pint-sized partner was ready for bed. Even though Mike generally woke early, since the recent attack at AEON, Alex had been late to bed and early to rise, bookending her busy days as a CEO and super hero with research into the terrorist Terminus group. Every new discovery had made her frown furrow deeper as she realized the depth of information that she’d missed in minor heights. Floating in the center of the space as she utilized both the multiple computer screens and her copious notes, Alex heard the door crack open as she crooked a finger and pulled over a new set of files, “Five more minutes!” Her tall fiance ducked a report of some kind as it whizzed past his head as he tugged a tight fitting tank top over his head and stepping into the room tightening the drawstring on his pyjama bottoms. “Yea so you said.” Mike replied in a low tone of concern as he watched the papers whip around the room as screens flickered with rapid fire information, “You said it five minutes ago, and ten, and fifteen, and twenty….” he trailed off and floated up through the center of the room to hover next to her in the eye of the vortex. He reached out gingerly to lay a hand on Alex’s arm, “How much have you been sleeping?” he asked earnestly, “Really Alex.” he added more firmly, “You’re burning the candle at both ends.” the concern in his voice was clear but there were no recriminations. “I know this,” he gestured to the maelstrom of data around them, “Is important.” Mike quirked a brow and pursed his lips, “But you can’t do everything, you can’t know everything.” he was silent for a long moment and looked to her in profile, “You can’t keep this up.” he intoned solemnly. “Not indefinitely, no,” Alex agreed, but under her usually unflappable tone was frustration. This was personal to her, and worse, a personal failing for not having seen it coming sooner. With a gesture she sent this particular stack of papers over to the wayside and gestured for a different one as she pivoted in place to better frown at Mike. “But it could be worse, next time. We have to be prepared! I have to be prepared,” she added, her tone stubborn before she turned away once more with every intent to immerse herself in the paperwork again. “Just five more minutes. Really.” Mike fixed a hard look on his fiance and shook his head as he caught her shoulder, “You can’t, and you couldn’t have.” he said firmly without doubt in his mind. “That’s their whole point.” one big hand moved to cup a delicate cheek as he met her gaze with his own. “You knew this was coming.” he said firmly, “You’ve talked about the backlash against the hate for years, built this to buffer it.” he gestured at the building around them and shook his head. Mike let out a low sigh, “They’re terrorists Alex,” the big paragon declared openly, “They thrive and survive on striking at innocents and with surprise and you made sure that when they did you would be there.” his eyes gentled, “Be there to stop them and if you couldn’t, be there to put the pieces back together.” Long impossibly strong arms pulled her in toward his chest, “You can’t predict where they’ll strike next, or when.” he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, “You can make sure that when they do you’re ready to help, not exhausted in a fugue in your apartment.” he opened his arms and floated a few paces away before slowly beginning to sink to the ground, “Come to bed. Not in five minutes…” he trialed off feeling he’d made his point as well as he’d be able. Alex sighed but as the paper madness began to float back to their neat piles in corners of the room, Mike knew he’d convinced her. Landing on bare feet, Alex’s shoulders slumped inward and some of the exhaustion showed in her features. “Maybe I could,” she still argued as she tipped her head up. Twisting one braid between her fingertips, Alex still continued to protest. “If I just looked at all the angles....” She added with a look towards her research once more, wavering in her agreement to go to bed like a sensible person before she sighed once more and walked into Mike’s waiting arms, with a mumbled complaint. “It was awful.” Enveloping her in his warm embrace mike made a low shushing noise, “It always is.” he replied frankly, “But it would have been worse if you weren’t there.” he countered plainly and ran a hand through her curls, deftly undoing the clips she’d pinned her hair back in. “And that is why we do it, remember?” Her muscular fiance pointed out gently and pulled her effortlessly up into his arms. Running his cheek along her own he breathed in and out, several long slow breaths as he let breathing match his own and waited for the tension to leach from her slim frame. Gently kissing along her jaw, he whispered his voice a low rumble felt more than heard as he set to unfastening her clothes with the same gentle care that he’d taken with her hair, “You can’t get lost in the missed opportunities and setbacks. You did good and tomorrow you’re going to get up and do more good.” Slowly padding to the bedroom Alex still in his arms Mike smiled a small loving smile at the woman who had so thoroughly captured his heart, “You have to choose life Alex.” he intoned, his voice a deep rumble against her neck, lips feathering along the smooth curve of her skin. “It’s all any of us can do, choose life and live it and try to leave the world better than we found it - and that’s what you do, every day.” A push of psychic energy pushed the door closed behind the couple with a very faint click. I love you. I love you too, Alex.

The glance Talya slanted towards Erik was thoughtful but she didn't press. Instead, after making a mental note to pester him about that privately, she turned her attention to the latter half of Eve's statement and then laughed softly. "Erik Espadas, city council?" She asked, making the leap towards where Eve might be going with this. Her blue gaze twinkled with good humor, "Well, he has been having the occasional half an hour of free time, here and there - although efforts are regularly made to keep that to a bare minimum." There was an additional undertone to that statement, and laughter under the British spy's crisp tones. She gave a shake of her head, "You were talking about trying to help out with the restart of that outdoor market come spring." Talya offered helpfully - although who she was helping was a matter of debate.

Taylor spread her hands, letting the books float over to the desk in a neat pile, and giving her teenager her full attention, "Clearly it matters," Taylor said as she leaned her hip against the desk. Although his mother's features remained frozen at the age she'd accepted her duties, her dark brown eyes were far older than her face and at the moment, they were filled with compassion. Folding her arms up over her chest and with her ankle lightly crossed, "What's wrong, kiddo? School troubles or social troubles? It seems like you're enjoying spending time with Set... that's been going well?" Her voice lilted up, turning the statement into an invitation to talk about things.

"Hey, kiddo, why so glum?" His mother's voice came from behind him, ghosting through the shelves to turn solid once more. She gave the lanky teen a one armed hug, her other arm full of a few books of her own. As she glanced down at the book he was reading, Taylor's nose scrunched in vague dismissal of the work, "Hermetics. Too stodgy and inflexible... what about reading one of the lore keeper's records? There's a good one I just shelved on the transitive dimensions..." As she released Huang, Taylor gestured towards the shelves above as the tome flew from shelf into her hand without so much as a command word or gesture to focus the magic. She held it out for him with a smile.

Landing, Ray's wings vanished back into the tattoos on his skin and he went to pull his tank top back down. Regretfully, he tucked his jacket under one arm. Probably was going to need more than the skin on his hands if everything went south. His boots were solid on the floor boards behind the two ladies as he pulled up the rear. "Well, this place is dreary," Ray commented from the back in a low drawl. He lifted one hand, tossing a ball of light towards the ceiling with a twitch of his fingertips. "Could just be a machine left to run but that seems really unlikely." He paused and then asked, "Do you want me to go first?"

Nighthawk paused, wrestling with what to say to that. On the one hand, the idea of watching Riley walk through the portal never to return made the muscles in her stomach clench but on the other hand, didn't Riley deserve to go home? To see his mom again? Robin reached out with her hand, closing it around Riley's bicep in a mutely supportive squeeze that was really as demonstrative as Robin got in costume. She studied him for a long moment with those grey eyes before she glanced to the other two. Her hand remained on Riley's arm, as she read Waverider's note. "You can read my lips?" She waited to confirm before continuing, as it seemed like a good plan to get everyone on the same page before charging down the hall, "'Kay. So, Riley's world has these things on it and they hunt in packs - not quite animal and not quite horror movie but an awful amalgamation in between. The space on the other side, s'got a whole lot more of 'em, so Riley's got no hope of surviving to get back to the safe area if he goes through. If we're lucky, we can blow it up on this side. If we can't, going through might be a one way trip and so you gotta make that call with eyes wide open. This part of the city... it ain't safe on the other side. So. Y'all are much more suited to doing damage to electronics than I am as all I got's my fists. First priority is getting whatever the portal is shut down. If we got more alpha-things, more'a the Atoms, I'll try to get them to focus on me so you all can do your thing." That was probably more words than most people had heard Robin offer in one sitting before. "Cool? Any questions, cuz we're on the clock."

"Dearest, I only mean that you've grown better with age," Talya replied smoothly to Frost's grumbling with an arch smile. She inclined her blond head to Erik's comment about changing even as she reached to unfasten the overcoat she'd worn over her own dress. She draped that over the back of one chair, "You'd look very fetching in palm fronds, but they do itch something terrible." Talya offered, the teasing light and clearly aimed at blunting conversation away from the toll of an immortal life span. With deft fingers, Talya untangled the scarf at her neck and added that to the pile of extra layers. As she unravelled her disguise, the changes to her silhouette since the last time Frost had seen here was much more obvious. Still, she dropped to the ground gracefully, her knees tucked primly under her and her hands in her lap. "We might as well start there," she suggested, "Perhaps we're lucky and Ace has tarried there long enough that we might catch him.." Her sigh, though, was heartfelt. "I hate magical inter-dimensional travel. At least its not time travel, though. Small favors."

Volcanic Power Level: 10/12 (180/180PP) Unspent Power Points: 0 Trade-Offs: -2 Attack / +2 Damage, - 5 Defense / +5 Toughness In Brief: Empowered fire-controller not fully in control of her abilities, and lost from her own time. Catchphrase: Theme: Alternate Identity: Leilani Keli'i (Public) Birthplace: Hilo, Hawaii Residence: Freedom City, at the moment, as she gets used to her powers. Base of Operations: Occupation: Unemployed Affiliations: Family: Leilani has a large family back in Hawaii but since she 'died' during the 1960s, she's struggling to reconnect with them. Description: Age: 80 (In stasis from 1962 - 2016) (DoB: 1936: August 11) Apparent Age: 26 Gender: Female Ethnicity: Native Hawaiian Height: 5'3" Weight: 140 lbs Eyes: Brown/Blue / Red, glowing Hair: Black / Red, on fire Leilani is a young Hawaiian woman with an athletic swimmer's build. Her most distinctive feature when not a creature of stone and lava is the fact she has heterochromia, resulting in two differently colored irises. Leilani's skin is tanned from time spent swimming and surfing and she keeps her dark hair cut to a manageable length; long enough to pull back in a pony tail or braid but not so long that it gets in her way. When she's not afraid of burning her clothes to ash, she favors lightweight breezy outfits that are easy to move in. A sundress over a swimsuit is her most common attire - or it was. These days, she generally spends her time in something made of morphic molecules or something equally unlikely to burst into flame. When she transforms, her body transforms into a living figure made of fire and obsidian, with her hair and eyes burning and her flesh turned to jet black stone. History: Leilani grew up on the big island during the war years and although life in Hawaii was marked by great change from her birth in the thirties, through the war, and then eventual statehood - Leilani's family buffered their children as much as they could. Her memories of martial law and the mandatory curfews are far dimmer than her experiences in her teen years, enjoying the boom of the tourism and plentiful access to sand and surfing. Middle born of a large family, Leilani was certainly the rebellious one in her family - determined to carve a life out among the surfers. Although she held the occasional odd job here and there, the bulk of her time was spent out at Honoli'i riding waves with other beachcombers, always looking for the next big wave. 1962 was a more active than usual year for storms but that didn't stop Leilani from hitting the waves. When she saw a truly large wave crest on the horizon, she should have started back to shore. Instead, she turned into the wave - a choice that changed her life forever. When she wiped out spectacularly, the fierce currents pulled her under quickly, yanking her into the depths of the ocean. Leilani thought she'd be cold but it was warm, so warm, and very peaceful. She has only the faintest memories of her long sleep under the waves, of a dark haired woman with eyes that burned like coals singing soft lullabies. What she knows as fact, though, is that she was found smoldering on a beach, over half a century after her presumed death by drowning - spat out of the ocean the same morning as a small seismic event. The fires of Kilauea now burn without respite in her breast and when she closes her eyes to sleep, Leilani hears that same soft lullaby. Thankfully, there's a place in this modern world where they can help people like her - or so she's been told; Freedom City. Personality & Motivation: Leilani has always had a temper, but now when her mood turns dark, she's likely to set the ground aflame with her rage. There's a part of her frightened by the strange transformation and another part that finds it almost seductive. At the moment, all she wants to do is develop some confidence that she's not going to burn everything around her. Beyond that, she wants to know exactly what her nascent connection to the fires of Hawaii wants from her. Beyond the crisis she finds herself in, Leilani is generally a passionate creature - prone to jumping into situations without forethought and stubborn when she has a goal set for herself. Eventually, she'll be able to see the beauty in the flame but right now, all she can see is the danger to everyone around her. Powers & Tactics: At the moment, her tactics are rudimentary at best. Without any allies in the fight, turn into a rock-person and set everything on fire tends to work out pretty well for her. Leilani certainly has the potential for a lot more versatility and control once she masters some finesse but at the moment, she's really still getting a feel for the basics. Anger fuels her abilities, although not always in a controllable or even helpful fashion and fear tends to weaken her control. Her ability to surf the sky with her thermal control, however, is the one definite bonus that she's found to this new life. Eventually, no doubt, she'll find others. Power Descriptions: Leilani channels geothermic energy, resulting in both fiery and lava born powers as well as the ability to manipulate stone and soil itself. As Volcanic, Leilani is a creature of fire and obsidian, and drawing on the additional strength accepting that transformation gives her and able to meld with and through any natural rock or stone by becoming one with it. Even without shifting forms, though, Leilani is immune to any amount of fire or heat, and she generates enough warmth that she no longer feels any sort of chill on her skin. The blasts she fires are pure flame and when she manipulates the earth, it seems to melt and flow at her command. Her flight and burrowing are akin to riding a wave of flame, or earth respectively. It does look not unlike surfing and Leilani thinks that it might - just might - actually be more enjoyable. Complications: Fiery Temper: Leilani is quick to anger, which is doubly problematic when rage fuels the literal flame. Out of Time: A lot has changed since the 1960s and while she's doing her best to get a more solid footing, there are definitely gaps in her education and understanding. Benefactor: Leilani's transfiguration was guided by an extra dimensional power and they have their own motivations and goals for what their reluctant avatar is meant to accomplish. Newly Empowered: Leilani doesn't entirely have a handle on her powers, to say the least. Fortunately, most of the time 'set it all on fire' works well for a fight but the rest of the time, not so much. Sometimes, she doesn't actually want everything to burn. Partially Deaf: Congenital deafness runs in Leilani's family and her hearing is diminished but still functional. High and low ranges might be harder for her to perceive and crowded environments are more likely to be confusing for her. Abilities: 0 + 6 + 10 + 4 + 6 + 6 = 32PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 16 (+3) Constitution: 20 (+5) Intelligence: 14 (+2) Wisdom: 16 (+3) Charisma: 16 (+3) Combat: 16 + 10 = 26 PP Initiative: +3 Attack: +8 Melee, +8 Ranged Defense: +5 (+5 Base, +0 Dodge Focus), +0 Flat-Footed Grapple: +8 Knockback: -0 Saving Throws: 5 + 5 + 5 = 15PP Toughness: +15 (+5 Con, +10 Protection) Fortitude: +10 (+5 Con, +5) Reflex: +8 (+3 Dex, +5) Will: +8 (+3 Wis, +5) Skills: 20R = 5PP Knowledge (History) 3 (+5) Notice 7 (+10) Language 2 (Hawaiian, Sign Language: ASL) Perform (Dance) 3 (+6) Swim 5 (+5) Feats: 0PP Equipment: 0PP = 0EP Powers: 10 + 7 + 11 + 29 + 45 = 102 PP All of Leilani's powers are geothermic in nature and have the description energy and geothermic. Some have an additional fire descriptor as noted below. Protection 10 (Volcanic Endurance) [10 PP] (fire) Immunity 7 (Volcanic Immunity; Cold, Heat, Fire) [7 PP] (fire) Movement Array 5 (Feats: Alternate Power) [11 PP] Base Power: Burrowing 10 (1,000 MPH) {10 PP} Alternate Power: Flight 5 (250 MPH) {10 PP} (fire) Volcanic Array 12 (Fire and Earth; Feats: Alternate Power) [29 PP] Base Power: Damage 12 (Fire Blast; Extras: Range) {24 PP} (fire) Alternate Power: Move Object 12 (Stone Waves; Extras: Damaging Flaws: Limited Material (Stone/Earth) ) {24 PP} Alternate Power: Create Object 5 (Raising the Mountain; Extras: Movable, Duration (Continuous); Power Feats: Innate, Progression x 3 (50 cubic foot/rank) ) {24} Alternate Power: Environmental Control 7 (Eruption; Distraction, Hamper Movement, Heat, Light; Extra: Independent) {24} (fire) Alternate Power: Damage 12 (Earthquake; Extras: Area) {24} Alternate Form 9 (Pele's Avatar; Container) [45 PP] Protection 0 (Extras: Impervious 10, Drawback: Noticeable) [9 PP] (fire) Damage 8 (Extras: Aura) [16 PP] (fire) Environment Control 4 (Heat, Light) [8 PP] (fire) Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 PP] Permeate 3 (Flaw: Limited: Stone or Earth) [3 PP] Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 15 Toughness Damage Chain Lightning Ranged DC 25 Toughness (Autofire) Damage Taser Blast Ranged DC 16 Fortitude Stun Totals: Abilities (32) + Combat (26) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (5) + Feats (0) + Powers (102) - Drawbacks (0) = 180/180 Power Points