Gizmo

Ellie started to insist that Danica didn't need to order her anything but caught herself. She could be a little gracious for once if it meant showing a little respect to a girl used to being treated as a liability. "Cocoa sounds like a plan." She tried to picture Danica's shell growing - Did it stay attached to her? How did it work with her clothing? - but decided that was something to revisit later. "My wife does a lot of work with dimensional pockets, I can ask her for some tips. I got accidentally kidnapped by space marines and a space princess once, that got pretty hairy. Sounds like your friends were lucky you were there. You're, like..." She gestured vaguely at Danica's person. "...magic, yeah?"

Ellie draped her coat over one arm and followed next to Danica on her scooter. "Ha, sure. Somehow stopping somebody from getting stabbed isn't as sexy as doing the stabbing." That wasn't something that bothered her much anymore, maybe because she'd had enough time to get well and truly sick of the attitudes of 'rockstar' doctors on the opposite side of the spectrum but she could absolutely understand the frustration for someone still dealing with high school social structures. "Well if anybody gives you a hard time about not being punchy enough, my expert opinion is screw 'em. But, more constructively, why don't you give me a rundown of what you can do and which parts feel like your strengths? They gave me a quick rundown ahead of time but I'd rather hear it from you."

"Trying to recreate mystery meat seems misguided on a couple levels," Ryder agreed with the sort of disapproval he reserved for poor culinary service. His puffy jacket looked like its designer had been getting a commission based on how many different coloured stripes could be worked into it while his loosely fitting pants were an orange that didn't occur in nature. He paused for a moment before pushing the door open to give Utsuwa a sidelong glance. "Hey, so, I know being out in the city is still pretty stressful and all for you. It's legitimately impressive that you're just, like, tanking that but if you need to cut out, just say the word, yeah? But for now: food!" He led the way into LentALL before his roommate had to endure the indignity of responding to the heartfelt sentiment directly.

Chitin Notice Check: 1d20+5 17 The armour also gives him Super-Senses 7 (Radio [Accurate (+2), Danger Sense] [4PP], Visual [Infravision, Tracking, Ultravision] [3PP]) [7PP] if that matters here!

"Do they really just have you doing the same classes twice every two years? That sounds... unbelievably boring," Ellie opined with a grimace. She caught herself and gave a little start as she tried to backpedal from what might have been an insulting comment. "Uh. Unless that works better for you? Obviously I want to do this mentor thing however you find you learn best. I know I always got a lot more out of choosing my own material to study on my own time." She'd had a couple of classes in pre-med where she'd ended up skipping the lectures and just showed up to pass the exam but that seemed like generally bad advice to give a teenager. Effective-teenager. "I guess... I don't really know exactly what to do with mentoring, either. Let's try this: what were you hoping to get out it?"

"Yes, hi! You can just call me Ellie, though," she returned the greeting, getting up out of her chair and extending a hand. Hearing the honorific in front of her name was still taking a surprising about of getting used to, especially outside of the hospital. She'd also considered pulling out one of her varied aliases for the meeting - she'd technically been enrolled under one during her time at Claremont after all - but unless she was going to show up in a bandana mask she'd decided to trust the school's safeguards for confidentiality. Besides, it had seemed rude when she was supposed to be mentoring a girl who couldn't reasonably hide her metahuman nature. Instead of a costume she'd opted for a fitted vest in a rich chocolatey brown over an ochre dress shirt, with an eclectic combination of bangle bracelets that clattered softly as she offered her hand to shake. Her black pants were loose and flared over the top of sensible boots for the weather, while he coat was draped over the back of her chair. "How were your classes today?"

"Can't justify aesthetic design flourishes right now, being very sneaky," Chitin whispered, the blurred outline of an emphatic shrug just visible enough for Nocturne to catch. "I'm going to get a better view of May. Ooh, we should get like radio earpieces or something for next time! I'll just ask one of the Robugs to check in on you, in case." After a ghostly thumbs up he slipped out of the space between the booths, moving cautiously to avoid bumping into anything or anyone and to give the armour's adaptive camouflage a chance to keep up. Reaching the wall of the convention centre he pressed his gloved fingertips against it, the Mantis Instar's wall crawling hardware finding purchase. The toes of his boots followed suit and silently and invisibly he began scaling the up toward the ceiling.

Wednesday, January 13, 2021 4:03 Unlike many private schools Claremont Academy did not bombard its alumni with requests for donations long after their tuition had been paid. It did, however, lean upon the spirit of community service it instilled in its students to ask for a bit of their time toward mentoring the next generation. Considering how many times her brother had agreed to host whole gaggles of teenagers at his dojo - even thought he never even went here - Ellie Espadas would have never heard the end of it had she declined. Besides, the short briefing she'd gotten about Danica Holmes had piqued her interest from a medical standpoint alone. Hopefully she's not disappointed she didn't get a flashier mentor. Or one who's technically younger than her. She'd put together her best business casual, smart-and-successful outfit and done her homework before arriving at one of the Academy's public areas, sitting on a bench that circled around a large planter, to wait.

For when we have to roll to enjoy hearty lentil-based meals, probably!

Monday, January 11, 2021 3:26 PM "C'mon, this'll be great!" An offhand comment about being a bit underwhelmed by the variety of vegetarian options in the Claremont Academy cafeteria on Utsuwa's part had been all the excuse his roommate needed to drag them into the downtown of the Freedom City. Ryder promised he knew a little place in Riverside that did every imaginable variation on a lentil bowl under the sun and was evidently worthy of quite a bit more effusive praise even after Utsuwa has assured him he was convinced. The street they were walking down had done its best to fit as many businesses as possible into its limited space, street-front real estate divided and subdivided, skinny little stairways leading up to second floors and hand lettered chalkboard signs competing for space with pedestrians and bicycles. The soundscape was no less overbearing, from the halves of cellphone conversations to the wailing toddler in the stroller across the street, from the young woman busking with an electric guitar on the corner to the mishmash of chimes, bells and electric chirps that sounded as every door opened. From the way he was grinning Ryder might as well have been strolling through a meditation garden. "Look at that blue sky! Hope you're hungry bud, I know how you feel about American portion sizes. Here we go!" He stopped in front of a vertical sign with red block letters on a black background reading 'LentALL'.

Chitin Stealth Check: 1d20+2 16

"And you're already risking your safety to help capture some criminals without anyone else getting hurt and reduce the prison time of someone who needs a second chance! I should definitely see what else you can teach me." Ryder's rejoinder was as quick and cheerful as his grin as he placed his hand atop the belts chamber switches. "Subtle, right." As he toggled the chambers in sequence the belt's computerized voice loudly announced, "CYMK! Dream in colour!" Raising his arms to either side Ryder commanded in a low stage whisper, "Chitin! Online!" With a burst of displaced air that send the costume in Natalia's hands and the vinyl walls of the trade show booths flapping and the light show of armour pieces emerging from their pocket dimension and locking into place he donned his heroic persona. The multifaceted eyes of his helmet lit up with a dim glow as the suit powered up and from her perch nearby Magenta leapt to him. Long forelimbs became two fins across the top of the helmet while the rest of the Robug's body unfolded to integrate into the faceplate in a splash of white and hot pink. The belt chimed in again, "Orchid Mantis Instar! Say your prayers!" and brought forth a chest piece in the same colours styled like a spread of broad, spade-shaped petals, flexible overlapping hip plates and a pair of dangerous looking blades that started at each wrist and curved back past his elbows. Finally as the wind and lights died down the eyes turned a contrasting green. "Okay, so maybe it's a little conspicuous," Chitin admitted off of Natalia's unimpressed look, "but there's more!" He pressed something else on his belt and faded from view entirely, disappearing from the boots up. This close to him she could see the slight outline of the armour in the air, its adaptive camouflage taking a moment to catch up as he moved but it was overall an impressive bit of stealth, considering.

As it became clear that the proverbial pebble had turned into a rockslide of interest Ryder led them to a nook between two booths, concealed from view by overhanging vinyl and unevenly assembled aluminum bars. "Haha, wow. I vote we don't tell May it was our fault she had to talk to that many people," he suggested, peering around the corner before ducking his head back out of sight of the sudden press scrum. "Tricking people with you is a lot less stressful than normal, y'know. Maybe you had a point about being a corrupting influence." He shot Natalia a cheeky grin and began unbuttoning the bottom buttons of his shirt, revealing his oversized belt buckle and a sliver of abs. "Spread out and keep an eye on things, everyone. Mag, you're with me." The Robugs burrowed their way out of his bag where he placed it on the floor, hopping, skittering and buzzing away in their respective manners to find good hiding spots. The little white and magenta praying mantis robot visibly preened at being singled out and sat atop the bag looking up expectantly.

Chitin Spending an HP on Beginner's Luck to get 5 ranks in Bluff! Bluff Check; +5 Beginner's Luck, +4 Aid: 1d20+12 32 Oh wow.

Lou Lubrano The Fast and the Furriest (1) Chitin Monkeys on Parade (8) GM The Fast and the Furriest (1) Ref point can go to Chitin, GM posts can go to Rock, thank you!

Ryder's grimace melted into a beaming grin at her faintly given praise with the ease of stretched spring resuming its resting state. The boost of positivity seemed to inspire something and he clapped his hands in excitement. "Oh! Oh, you're right!" He quickly looked about the room for the closest journalist with a camera in tow. "I've been thinking about this as a crime thing when I should be thinking about it as a promoting local businesses thing! We just have to Charlotte's Web it!" Indicating for Natalia to follow he made sure his camera was clearly visible in one hand and held his phone up to his ear in the other then began walking purposefully past the news team. "I don't care about the SEO, Tabitha!" he shouted into the phone in his best unreasonable customer voice. "Trust me, any tech blog that doesn't have pictures of that armoured gorilla suit on their front page yesterday is going to look like dinosaurs! Yes that's bad! Dinosaur DNA is old news, Tabitha! The future is robot gorillas!" He passed directly by the journalist over the course of his tirade, seemingly ignoring them altogether until he's rounded the corner of a nearby booth, where he paused to see if they'd taken the bait.

"Oh, well. Probably to make a violent, public example of May, I guess," Ryder replied with a grimace but surprisingly little hesitation. "Show that even making a deal with the biggest bully in class can't protect her. If you're managing through fear you don't want people making rational decisions in their own self interest so you can't let them think they have options. And there's already reporters here so it's free publicity, if that's what you care about." It wasn't that hard to put himself in that headspace, really. He just had to think about any of the awful reasons he'd heard people give to try to excuse their behaviour, ignoring what seemed like common sense to him. "Grabbing some science weapons might be a bonus if you're just like a mid-level bank robber, that sort of thing. Actual super villains have enough respect for their own aesthetic that they're not going to start using somebody else's beat up gravity glove just because it's sitting there." He absently patted his conspicuously moving satchel. Meeting Natalia's eyes again he shrugged expressively. "Or maybe not! It's dangerous to generalize too much about people, maybe they're super into ridiculous missiles like that guy has!"

Ryder hung his head dejectedly, still holding onto Natalia's shoulders. "Lying is a lousy longterm strategy and it super stresses me out." He dropped his hands and took a half step back, following her scan of the room. "No, okay, you're right. We need to make this a better trap. They know May's here, they didn't show up when the security seemed lighter, so how do we make it more attractive to the sort of people who hire morally challenged interior decorators?" It would have sounded like a rhetorical question had he not been looking directly at her, giving Natalia his full attention. "I could try piggybacking on the fake engineers' comms so we can listen in?"

From high in the sky Lady Horus heard a brief whistling sound followed by a thunderous explosion punctuated by a canine yelp, fire and smoke erupting over the rooftops two streets over from the chaotic vehicular combat. She could hear metal creaking and glass breaking before the top of a fire escape toppled to one side and fell out of view into an alleyway. With his newly minted werewolf athleticism Meza was making remarkable speed through the city toward a few blocks of industrial buildings but evidently U-CRZY was keeping pace and was unconcerned with collateral damage if it meant taking out her target.

U-CRZY She'll fire a rocket at Meza! Meza Reflex Save vs DC 20: 1d20+8 13 Toughness Save vs DC 25: 1d20+8 23 Explosions! 26 - Hard Bargain - Uninjured, Demoralized, Feinted 25 - Thru - Bruised x1 23 - Lou - Uninjured, 3HP 23 - Wadjet - Uninjured 23 - Lady Horus - Uninjured, 0HP 22 - Gremlin - Uninjured, 3HP 21 - U-CRZY - Uninjured > 12 - Dr. Thorne - Uninjured, 3HP 6 - Judex - Dazed, 0HP 5 - Meza - Bruised x1

"Right right right, yeah. Could you excuse use for one second?" Ryder tugged on the sleeve of Natalia's coat until they'd stepped past the bounds of Mechanica's sound bubble, the hubbub of the convention centre returning to its original volume. With his back to the headless ex-gorilla robot and his hands on his classmate's upper arms he gave her a pained look. "Okay, so I know this is probably really, really dumb but I need you to either talk me out of pretending to be a bad guy to trip this awful trap without anyone getting hurt and May still getting time off her sentence or talk me into doing it in a way that doesn't blow up in our faces in a painfully literal way."

Ryder seemed to stare off into space for a long moment, his left eyebrow twitching as he tried to order the things about what May had just explained by priority and odiousness. "Like, obviously abusing an already broken prison system and the general endangerment of you and the journalists here and just the whole neighbourhood is the worst part but honestly the knockoff poseur engineers are just deeply offensive to me on a personal level." He screwed up his mouth into a puckered grimace than made a clear effort to straighten his back, roll his shoulders and take a deep breath. "Alright, one thing at a time. Is that loud guy in the uniform in charge? I'm gonna need to have a word with him."

"Yeah, I just walked up and nobody stopped me so it's probably allowed. Nice two-way audio baffling bubble!" Ryder gave the convicted mechanic a sunny smile before turning his attention to the retrofitted robots, walking a few steps in an arc around it. "So... do they know you're phoning it in? 'Cause I saw the specs on your gorilla when it had a head and that was, I mean, that was tight work. That had style! This looks about as stable as me in my sister's heels." He scratched his temple idly and looked over his shoulder around the conventions centre. "Actually, it sort of looks like everybody's working on their junk drawer projects without the batteries. Like missile guy over there, why bother trying to hide that there's no payload in them? You'd think they'd want people to know nothing on display was especially dangerous or useful..." He frowned with a sudden suspicion and looked over to Natalia for some sort of confirmation before turning back to May. "Aw man, they're not using you all as bait, are they?"

Chitin Craft (Electronic) Check: 1d20+15 35 Craft (Mechanical) Check: 1d20+15 16 Knowledge (Technology) Check 1d20+16 35 The highs! The lows! A rollercoaster of technical competence!

Chitin Ryder will be looking primarily for signs of how May's been treated and to a lesser extent any actual security measures that would prevent these 'projects' from being used, especially if it looks like it might interfere with his equipment, too. Notice Check: 1d20+5 20 Well!