Electra

Erin dropped to the ground, still hanging onto the giant robot head so that it wouldn't fall on anyone. Tossing it aside as she landed, she rejoined the group. "It looks like the foundry is toast," she said with slight chagrin. "Let's hope that the thing we need is in the main control building instead. We'd better get a move on before they send someone to see what's going on." She began loping towards the intact building, moderating her speed so everyone could keep up.

"It's nice that you can spend time with her and give her a hand," Stesha decided, linking her arm through his so both her hands were free to handle seashells. It also brought their bodies close enough to be nearly touching, a nice bonus. "And so the kids have a good male role model. It sounds like their mom's doing a great role model job, but more never hurts." She grinned. "I wonder what they'd think if they knew you were really a superhero. Your sister would probably be a little flabbergasted, but I bet the kids would think it was cool."

Okay, with July all caught up, I can do my edits for August. *Erin is getting a new Device. (3pp) Wander's Bat, a collapsible baton with shock distribution such that it hits harder, but does less permanent damage Device 1 (easy to lose) (Power Feat: Subtle [collapsible]) (Drawback: Non-Lethal Only) (Strike 2, Extended Reach, Mighty, Stunning Attack) *She is spending her other two pp on skills. Sense Motive x2 Knowledge: Tactics x2 Notice x4 Stesha's getting a bit of an overhaul this month. *Taking +3 damage/-3 attack tradeoff *Removing 2 points from Strength, adding them to Charisma, so that each is at 12. *Spending 1pp for 1 rank of protection increases Toughness to +9 *Removing Accurate from Stun removes the (+6) modifier on her attack *Adding 1pp to Skills, putting in Sense Motive x4 *The Snare array gets 2pp and 1 AP added to it, all powers are updated, reads as follows: Snare 10 [entangling vines] (PFs: 7 alternate powers) [27pp] AP: ESP 4 (one mile, sight and hearing; Extras: Action [free action], No Conduit, Simultaneous; Flaw: Medium/Plants) AP: Healing 9 (Extra: 45-ft. Burst Area; Total, Flaw: Plants only (-2); PFs: Regrowth, Stabilize) AP: Corrosion 6 PFs: Incurable, Precise) (Extras: Duration [sustained]) (Flaws: Plant material Only) AP: Plant Growth 10 (Growth 10, Affects Others, Limited to Plants) AP: Stun 10 (pollen burst; Extras: Range/Ranged, Sleep; Flaws: Full-Round Action AP: Transmit 8 (Continental, via plants; PFs: Progressionx2 [500 lbs], Extra: Accurate) AP: Dimensional Pocket 3 (Continuous, Ranged) (PF: Progression x2)(cap. 500lbs) AP: Healing 10 (Extras: Action [standard], Total) (Flaws: Distracting, Unreliable [5 uses a day]) Also, add one rank of Protection, please. Both done by Sandman XI

"Let's go to Coldstone Creamery," Stesha suggested brightly. "They've got one right next to campus, as I recall. Ice cream is the perfect way to celebrate a triumph. Especially," she added with a chuckle, "since we have gotten our exercise already today. It's a gorgeous night, we can walk there and make our virtue complete. And you can give me the full account of what it feels like to deliver justice with your elbow of fury."

"Let's walk on the beach," Stesha decided, keeping her hand in his and shedding her sandals to go barefoot. "Then we can jump in the water if we get hot." She could've gone for the water right away, but it seemed a shame not to investigate at least a little of the first alien planet she'd ever been on. The sand was soft under her feet, feeling much like beaches she'd walked on before, for all that the air didn't smell nearly as much of salt. As they walked, she paused occasionally to pick up and admire seashells and bits of strange rocks that had washed up on the shore. Pulling one of the gardenias from her hair, she started putting the things she collected into the cup of the flower, where they were obligingly swallowed. "You mentioned you had a sister," she said when they'd gone a little ways, out of sight of their camp. "What's she like?"

I just noticed that not all of Stesha's July points edits got made back at the beginning of the month. Her array currently looks like this: Snare 9 [entangling vines] (PFs: 7 alternate powers) [25pp] AP: ESP 4 (one mile, sight and hearing; Extras: No Conduit, Simultaneous; Flaw: Medium/Plants) AP: Healing 8 (Extra: 40-ft. Burst Area; Flaw: Plants only; PFs: Regrowth, Stabilize) AP: Corrosion 6 Flaw: Plant material only AP: Plant Growth 9 (Growth 9, Affects Others, Limited to Plants) AP: Stun 5 (pollen burst; Extras: Range/Ranged, Sleep; Power Feat: Accurate) AP: Transmit 5 (one mile, via plants; Extra: Accurate) AP: Dimensional Pocket 3 (Continuous, Ranged) (PF: Progression x4)(cap. 5000lbs) But it ought to look like this: Snare 9 [entangling vines] (PFs: 7 alternate powers) [25pp] AP: ESP 4 (one mile, sight and hearing; Extras: No Conduit, Simultaneous; Flaw: Medium/Plants) AP: Healing 8 (Extra: 35-ft. Burst Area; Flaw: Plants only; PFs: Regrowth, Stabilize) AP: Corrosion 6 (Flaw: Plant materials only) AP: Plant Growth 9 (Growth 9, Affects Others, Limited to Plants) AP: Stun 5 (pollen burst; Extras: Range/Ranged, Sleep; Power Feat: Accurate) AP: Transmit 5 (five miles, via plants; Extra: Accurate, Progression x2) AP: Dimensional Pocket 3 (Continuous, Ranged) (PF: Progression x4)(cap. 5000lbs) Thanks! Done by Sandman XI

Erin headed over to the larger of the two pickup trucks, popping the hood on it to take a look inside before climbing into the driver's seat. She didn't know a lot about car insides, but she could tell if the battery was likely to be dead, or if corrosion had eaten too many vital parts for it to be safe. This one was in good shape, though, as far as she could tell. Starting up the engine, she listened to it for any blatant signs of trouble, then buckled in and played with the buttons for a little while. Everything seemed to work on this truck, which was sort of a novelty. "You want to come too?" she called out the window to James and Alex.

Stesha startled a little bit to see him walk up in his human form, but recovered quickly. Rising, she took the glass of water, then leaned in to kiss him, putting a hand behind his neck to bring him into reach. "That was really fast," she remarked with obvious pleasure. "And you look great. Ready to go exploring, or do you want to rest up a little bit after changing?" Letting go of his neck, she squeezed his hand again, obviously pleased to have him back in a form she could see and touch.

Stesha laughed. "I want to explore," she admitted, "but I want to do it with you. I don't mind waiting." Even though it would mean fixing it again later, she gave into temptation and unfastened her hair, shaking it out of its braid to let it take in the sun. It was oddly striped, light and dark green like mixed foliage, for a few moments before all of it settled the same uniform rich green. Unfolding a lounge chair, she settled in on the edge of the sand, tipping her face up towards the light. "Best vacation spot ever, hands down." When she stretched to put her hands behind her head, she revealed that her swimsuit was obviously a two-piece number, but that was okay too.

"Nose in the brainpan seems pretty effective, though in this case I think it was more like an empty skillet," Stesha quipped, punching buttons on her phone to effect the transfer. "There you go," she said when Taylor's phone chirped. "I didn't even have to use my flower. Though he might have appreciated it, come to think of it. Oh well!" she decided cheerfully. "And I even put on my workout clothes, so that totally counts as working out, even though I didn't do a doggone thing. A good hour's work, all around."

Stesha was surprised to see the whole cabana he'd set up for this little trip, she'd expected maybe a tent on the beach, but this... "Wow!" she said again, ducking in to look at everything. "You really went to a lot of work to set all this up. It's amazing. Thank you!" She collected her duffel bag and dropped it on one of the beds, not commenting on the sleeping situation at all for the moment. "I'll help you set up, we'll both kill some time while you're powering down, and then we can go exploring together," she offered. While she wasn't anywhere near as strong as Derrick in his superhero mien, she could set up a campsite as well as anyone, and most of the work here was done already. Stesha concentrated on the food, making sure that everything that needed cooling was tucked away, and the rest was off the ground and away from any opportunistic bugs or small animals. "It's all so beautiful," she said again, looking out over the blue water. "And nobody lives here?"

"Well it's not like you need a lot of lessons, at least, not the sort that guy in there was teaching," Stesha pointed out, mopping her face with the edge of her sleeve. "That was some kind of textbook jujitsu move or something you used in there, I'm sure of it. Maybe they should have you teach the class next time. 'Self Defense Against Jerks,' they could call it. I'm sure it would be a big draw on a college campus. Especially if they put this on the poster." She pulled out her phone and called up a rather decent photo of Drew reeling backward, his hands over his nose. "I couldn't get the actual moment, but I thought you might like to get this framed," she chortled.

Stesha looked through the portal with the expression of a little girl who'd just gotten exactly what she wanted for Christmas. "It's so beautiful," she told him, "I can't wait!" Without hesitation, she jumped through the portal, her feet landing in the white sand with a soft paf sound. "And it's warm, and it smells like water!" The air itself was a little intoxicating, without a hint of pollution anywhere, and a cool breeze blowing in off the water. She did a little twirl in the sand before turning to him and urging him through. "Come on, it's wonderful!" It was impossible to conceptualize that he was actually twenty-seven thousand light years away, so she just ignored that.

"Uh-uh," Stesha muttered, biting her lip, "if you lose it, I lose it..." They both held it together just long enough to get outside before Stesha broke down in peals of giggles. "Okay, that was worth the whole evening, right there," she said between spates. "The look on his face..." She wrapped her arms around herself as a few mirthful tears started to gather. "Maybe you can wear an arm brace to work, really rub it in a little."

"Oh, neat!" Stesha exclaimed, giving the cooler a looking-over. "You can be on my desert island anytime," she told him. "Of course, the whole exercise is sort of futile if you imagine you could escape whenever you wanted." Going to the refrigerator, she began gathering up the piles of supplies and loading them into the cooler. There wasn't quite enough to fill it up, but for someone who didn't actually need to eat, she'd paid a lot of attention to the refreshments. That didn't take long, and soon the hamper and the duffel bag joined the cooler on the floor, ready for vacation. "Okay, that's everything, and I already watered the plants, so they'll be fine for a couple of days. Ready when you are."

Stesha frowned, disappointed. "Oh, that's too bad," she replied. "I guess I'll have to think of something else, then. I just don't know what else to get him. The gift is for... for someone very special, but he doesn't have a lot of hobbies besides reading on trips. I was hoping I could find something he could really use." She looked around at the nearby shelves, searching for inspiration in the doo-dads and antiquities interspersed among the books.

Stesha faked tying her shoe when she was supposed to be trying her throw, saving her hapless counterpart the stress of being practiced on, and allowing her to concentrate on the entirely satisfying visual of Taylor laying the smack down on Drew. It didn't look at all like Taylor needed any self defense classes. Bouncing up from her crouch, she raced loyally to her friend's side. "Oh, Taylor, are you okay?" she asked, all solicitousness. "Did you hurt your hand? Do you need some ice?" Drew was still sprawled on the ground while a paramedic wiped his nose and asked him how many fingers he saw, but a heroic effort kept Stesha from bursting out laughing.

Stesha bounced off the couch and was at the door in seconds. "Hi!" she told him, letting him in. She'd been hoping, a little, that he'd have come to the door solid so she could give him a kiss before they got going, but that probably would've been a waste of energy for him. Oh well, they had all weekend. "I'm all ready to get going, whenever you are... um, where's the cooler?" It belatedly occurred to her that a teleporter could probably move things like coolers whenever he wanted to, but she wasn't sure what to do with the cold food now.

This is the OOC thread for Derrick and Stesha's voyage to strange new worlds.

Stesha folded the last of her clothes into her duffel bag and zipped it up, singing along with the radio as she carried it into the living room and dropped it on the couch. It had been a bad week, one of the worst, but she was determined to let all that go just for a couple days. They were doing everything that could possibly be done to find Moira, and Ace's reasoning seemed sound when he said that Moira would be safe while she was gone, even if she didn't want to be there. They'd find her, but in the meantime, Moira wouldn't want her to be worried and upset all the time. That was sort of the opposite of the way Moira was. So she'd go, and she'd have a good time, and... well, whatever happened, would happen! Grinning, she opened the fridge to check on all the food for the cooler Derrick was bringing, deviled eggs, several kinds of sandwiches, a beautiful-looking carrot cake and bottles of wine, juice, and pop. The hamper was already packed, and she was ready to go! A half hour early, perhaps, but it was better to be early than late. She'd dressed down for this excursion, in jean shorts and a blue scoop-neck t-shirt, with her swimsuit on under it. The straps showed, but at least they matched. Her hair was plaited down her back for swimming, and the whole outfit topped off with a fanciful daisy-chain wreath of gardenias. They reminded her of the first date, and that had to be lucky. With nothing left to do, she sat down crosslegged on the couch and waited, watching Felix the Cat's tail twitch back and forth on the wall. Almost time now!

Just to wrap this up... Warmonger's character Ronin was in: The Trial of Captain Knieval To Whom it May Concern Go For Broken

Stesha gave her partner a reassuring smile even as she made a fist, using her other hand to make sure none of her hairpins were coming loose. Most of her attention was centered on Taylor and the abominable Drew. Drew was leering even bigger now, and his hands were making spasmodic little grasping motions, as though he couldn't wait to try and get Taylor into a hold. Eww. Despite Taylor's reluctance to make a fuss through official channels, that young man needed some dealing with. She wished Moira was around. Moira would know exactly how to dismantle a guy like that. She grinned over at Taylor, then refocused her attention dutifully on the instructor as he started talking about the importance of maintaining focus in a fight. That wasn't always her best thing, so it seemed important.

"Hey look," Stesha said with a grin, pointing up towards the front. Drew, with an empty seat on either side of him, was raising his hand. "He has no idea what he's in for. Go on, Taylor," she encouraged, "you know you want to. This could be your crowning moment. Raise your hand!" Helpfully, she began pointing to Taylor, trying to catch the speaker's attention.

Maybe he needs two classes, Super Science, and Remedial Super Science. ;-) I think I said that Erin will be sleeping through regular old physics this term, but she may audit a class or two if it looks interesting.

Erin shrugged artlessly. "I'm supposed to be showing you around for the next half-hour," she replied, "it got me out of a math lesson. Unless you would rather walk around by yourself, but you can't get access to everything without having an ID. Like the dorms." As they approached the long multistory brick building, she pulled what looked like a standard student ID with her picture on it from her pocket, waving it in front of the door. There was a soft humming noise and a chime, then the door clicked open. "The building is coed, but it's divided by floors," she explained, leading the way into the spacious common room on the first level. A big television and comfortable couches dominated a good chunk of the space, with shelves of books and video game equipment lining the walls. "People are still moving in and shuffling their stuff around, so the halls are kind of a mess upstairs."