Gizmo

"All day?" Winifred murmured, dropping her hand to her lay over her chest and looking a little dazed. She didn't really have the context to know what went into setting up a smartphone for someone else but if nothing else she could infer that it meant acquiring the device, negotiating the service contract and selecting the various 'programs' to place in it. Even assuming Raina had rushed over as soon as it was ready - and she'd witnessed very few things that could convince the witch to rush - she and Merlin would have had to have been discussing her absence and deciding upon a response at least by the time Robin had deemed a search party necessary, if not earlier. She kept that rough arithmetic to herself; such an observation probably would have been edging to close to 'genuine sentiment' again. "Well I live quite the fairy tale existence," she mused instead with a small smile, "to have preternaturally clever beasts and a veritable round table of knights and princesses and self-professed monsters looking after my well-being."

Winifred looked back down at the phone, then back up to her taller friend then back to the phone. "Raina...!" she exclaimed finally, covering her mouth with her free hand. On the bed Fang stopped feigning sleep to sit up and watch with unconcealed interest. "I can't accept this! There's no way that you can afford to just give away a telephone like this!" Money or lack thereof was always a bit of a delicate subject with the witch but for once Winifred didn't dance around it. Raina might have been a little better off than she was after waking in the present day without a stitch to her name but it was hardly a secret between them that her chequebook couldn't measure up to her admittedly expensive tastes without help. She looked back down at the little photos on the screen and felt her chest get a little tight. "It's much too generous."

Winifred swept 'adorable' away to the corner of her brain where she sent compliments rather than accepting them like a well adjusted person and reflexively caught the tossed phone in one hand, the benefits of practicing lobbing glass spheres full of volatile chemicals about. She looked down at the little rectangle of light and colour and blinked. She'd spent more time with the desktop computers in the Academy's lab and the tablets sometimes handed out for work during classes but she was familiar enough with the general idea of a smartphone to understand what the photos and strings of numbers meant. She was much less clear as to what Raina expected her to do with it. "I... don't understand. You want me to send the photograph to Matthew from your phone number?" she asked, nose scrunching up. That didn't strike her as a good idea, at all.

Fang made a sort of harrumph that suggested she was more interested in napping than conversation but she did crack one eye open enough to make sure she didn't miss any of the proceedings. "He's not-- I just wasn't entirely prepared to sleep alone," Winifred admittedly quietly, bluster cracking as she gripped one upper arm with the opposite hand and looked away. She didn't add that the hounds' resiliency made them a good choice just in case. Raina was better than most of their friends about planning for that particular worst case scenario. It was probably a little ironic then that she was probably the one in front of whom Winifred least wanted to appear weak. Clearing her throat daintily she began, "When do I finally get to see 'charm--'" The question was interrupted by an indignant squawk as her photo was taken. "Raina! You can't just do that! I'm a fright!" She belatedly tugged at the bottom of her oversized shirt, flush returning in earnest.

Winifred felt herself flush faintly at Raina's grin - evidently she could be bothered at least a little further - and in retaliation made a small show of looking the blonde up and down as though debating her answer. At least that was what she was going for; her capacity for coy banter was running low and she suspected it came across as more of a slow nod. Giving up on anything clever she opened the door further, gesturing for Raina to enter. "Ah, so when they're erring on the side of genuine sentiment they're my friends, are they?" she noted, absently trying to get the hair on the top of her head to lie flat. "You've likely met Fang already," she added, waving in the direction of the dozing - or pretending to doze - on the foot of her bed, "though I expect you've not been properly introduced. Daughter of Slate and Ember, you know."

It took Winifred a few moments to rouse herself to wakefulness, confused for a moment about whether she was in her dormitory room or still in the holding cell underground. The overheard conversation didn't leave much question as to who was at the door and despite a huff from Fang as the dog was disturbed she slipped out of bed. She considered her sleep wear for a moment, pursing her lips. Her shirt was technically long enough to account for modesty and if one went about knocking on doors after hours what could they expect, she reasoned. She did make a half-hearted attempt to school her hair into order by raking her fingers through it; the shorter cut had been much less work overall but it stuck out all seemingly physics-defying angles if left to its own devices. She caught her own reflection in the dim light on the way to the door and decided that while not remotely presentable it had been a long day and she couldn't be bothered any further. She opened the door and leaned around so that most of her was still behind it. "Raina? You missed the parade."

"Only if she doesn't mind," Winifred insisted, although the way she had one arm practically wrapped around the dog made it clear how much the company would be appreciated. "Good night, Matthew. Thank you." The silence that followed the gauntlet of visitors hung heavy after he left and Winifred chided herself wondering idly after the most notable absence, like a spoiled child wondering if there might not be one more Christmas present tucked away somewhere. She was tremendously fortunate, all things considered, to have happened upon quite possibly the only group of friends who would unblinkingly stand by her despite her condition. Once she was confident that Robin had found her own lodgings for the night - the rooftop did seem like a likely bet - she rose to change into a fresh sleep shirt, having spent the entire day in the one she was wearing. The remainder of the ice cream was sealed back in its container before being placed in a sizeable metal wastebasket she had handy by her workbench along with a pair of liquids that would result in a minor but sustained endothermic reaction. She considered the icy mist rising from the basket for a moment before putting its lid down. It would probably be fine. Turning off the lights she settled back down on her bed and invited Fang to make herself comfortable. The weariness with which she'd woken hadn't ebbed much throughout the day and she quickly found herself dozing near sleep as she focused on her breathing.

It was subtle in the harsh artificial lights of the lab but anyone looking closely could have seen little flashes of energy crackling about Jill O'Cure's fists as they clenched tightly enough to make the material of her gloves crinkle audibly. She had a sudden palpable urge to call home and make sure that Yolanda was alright, visions of black bile spewing entropic wounds and huddled refugees trapped in bunkers playing on repeat in her mind. She hadn't talked to Lieutenant Hudson is almost a year, too long, she couldn't know if he and the others were still safe, that the screaming end of their home reality hadn't caught up with them after all this time. Stop it, she scolded herself silently, pushing all of that away to deal with during what was likely to be another sleepless night. She didn't have any pithy words this time, lips pressed into a thin line as she waited to hear the answer to Dragonfly's question and stared at the dragon emblem as though expecting it to leap off of the metal and attack.

This post is reserved for an ongoing timeline of events in the thread. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 9:00 AM - Wedding Party Arrives 9:53 - Becky meets Trevor in the Reception Hall 2:00 PM - Guests Arrive 3:00 PM - Wedding Ceremony 4:00 PM - Reception 6:00 PM - Dancing 12:00 AM - Cleanup Begins

Winifred lifted her arm accommodatingly for Fang and began scratching the hound's side, trapping the pint of ice cream between her thighs to keep it from tumbling off of the bed. She didn't bother to hide her amusement at Matthew's futile struggle to maintain his aloof composure in the face of his mutinous allies. "Perhaps you ought to listen to her more often. She does seem to be doing quite well for herself," she teased, artfully raising one eyebrow. She let out a long breath and allowed some of the tension to drain from her shoulders with the rhythmic petting. "I don't actually own a device for 'texting' just yet; we'll see how my little side project fares, I suppose. I'm sure I could work something out, regardless. Thank you." It was hard not to feel bolstered by the parade of people concerned for her wellbeing, offering assistance without the bitter pill of pity to accompany it. "I won't pry, of course," she added more seriously, "but one of these days I wouldn't mind hearing a more detailed account of your... 'stuff'. I understand if it's a sensitive topic but I can't imagine I'd be in a position to pass judgement."

"Teleporting, please. You know I hate riding in the pocket." Ellie could have trapped a bubble of warm air from the helicopter around herself with a force field but then she would have had to make it airtight and impermeable and that would have meant a whole other set of issues. She pressed a bundled hand reassuringly against Mara's armoured shoulder, not missing the glare given to the railgun emplacements through her faceplate. She didn't have quite the same specific distaste for heavy ordinance but she didn't love the implication that they might be necessary. "Let's just get inside and find out what's up." It was always hard to tell if Steve's terse speech should be interpreted as especially grim or just his normal standing levels of grim.

"I'd just as soon avoid to commotion of an RA being shot with an arrow, thank you," Winifred called after Huang before pointing a finger at Matt in mock warning. "You be nice to Fang. She was an absolute dear today, you should know." The alchemist patted the bed beside her, inviting the dog to hop up. Her expression fell slightly and she looked away from her friend, trying to cover the pang of embarrassment by retrieving the pint of ice cream from the nightstand. "I'm the one who ought to have left a note or told one of you before... well. It would seem I underestimated the resulting consternation of my absence. I'm sorry." She ducked her head slightly between her shoulder and salved the flush rising in her cheeks with a spoonful of ice cream. "I, ah, I expect I should be fine shape to 'jam' tomorrow though, yes. Frankly it helps me get out of my own head for a spell, if that makes sense. I'm not sure that I've honestly progressed much past the ability of creatures without opposable thumbs but that is what practice is for." She managed a small smile to go along with the small joke.

Jill O'Cure had forgone most of her usual costume in favour of more weather-appropriate gear in the requisite crimson and black, the ends of her bandana mask tucked into the hood of her parka. She rolled her shoulders for the umpteenth time since boarding the helicopter, trying to stave off the stiffness that had been slowly but surely creeping into every one of her muscles over the past days of travel. "You should hear what we charge for birthday party appearances," she quipped with a game smile for the copilot, only a little of her weariness slipping into her voice. Tuning to Dragonfly she dryly added, "We should take Yoyo to Disney World after this. Or the beach. Or literally anywhere warm." If was more obvious to her partner than their new friend that the humour was a touch forced. They'd had plenty of idle time to let their imaginations come up with possible scenarios for the emergency that had called them to the bottom of the globe and she didn't like much of anything she'd come up with. It was one thing to request engineering help from Mara but considering how private Steve and his girlfriend were she doubted she'd been asked to come along just to provide company. Needing the assistance of an engineer and a medic suggested all sorts of nightmare scenarios given 'Caradoc's' cybernetics. She knew Miss Americana had some amount of prosthetics as well though that had proven to be an even more sensitive topic. Jill let out a breath and rubbed her eyes. If they were landing soon she needed to do less worrying and more focusing. Easier said than done. "I'll take one giant techno-worm over swarms of tiny techno-worms any day, thank you."

"It's like you're not happy to see me or something!" Jack called over the roar of gunfire as he shot forward from a crouch, flaming sword lashing out to slice through muzzles close enough to the base for sparks to bite at unprotected trigger fingers. As ruined metal hit the floor he delivered a quick punch to the sternum of the first handgun wielder with his free hand before abruptly flipping backward as the weighted end of the chigiriki whirled overhead. The toe of his boot caught the flail as he spun through the air, redirecting its momentum to connect with the second gunman's jaw. "A guy could get a complex!" Landing back on his feet with his shoulder down the swordsman rushed the intruders stepping into the hallway, sending them tripping backward into each other and forcing them back into the stairwell to the dismayed shouts of their comrades behind them. An upward swipe of his sword scorched through leather, solid enough to leave a mark and send the unlucky knifeman doubling over without doing any permanent harm. Before his shout of pain had finished ringing out Jack was in the air again, spring-boarding off of the man's hunched back and coming down on the man with the chigiriki with a haymaker that sent him over the railing and onto more of the assassins crowding the stairs. Wild fire from half a storey down tried to follow the bounding fencer and instead scored the light fixture overhead, causing it to begin flickering in and out in the windowless confines of the stairwell. In the brief moments of darkness the only illumination came from the licking orange flames in Jack's hand, reflecting off of the whites of his bared teeth before he pounced upon his next target.

Lou Initiative: 1d20+7 18

((Welcome to Eve and Becky’s Big Enormous Wedding Thread! In the vein of With Lovers and Friends I Still Can Recall this is a way to tell a big story from many different perspectives. Below you’ll find a rough timeline for the day including some details of location and timing, as well as some story hooks requiring superhero intervention. This thread is open to everyone to post vignettes and mini-vignettes telling their characters’ stories from that day. Because this is not a traditional vignette prompt (read: you do not get vignette reward PP for this) but it is also not a regular thread, we’re relaxing many of the normal posting rules. Your vignettes can be of any length - a full page is not required - and you may post more than one per character if you wish. The prohibition on multiple characters per thread is also lifted, so post with as many of your characters as you have stories for. Double and triple vignettes are still allowed, if you so desire and also have no length requirement. As vignettes are added by players the events of the day will be further detailed. Later posters should try and read the vignettes that came before them so they can be sure their work will fit into the developing timeline. That does not mean vignettes have to be in chronological order! Feel free to jump ahead or backfill anywhere you like, so long as it is on the wedding day. Story hooks are first come, first serve, so posting early isn’t a bad idea. If you don’t believe your character would’ve been invited to the wedding feel free to post stories about your character protecting the city while a sizable chunk of its superhero population is taking the night off. Feel free to ask in chat if you have any questions and have fun!)) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Once upon a time, two girls fell in love. Then one of the girls was possessed by a cannibalistic spirit of avarice, for which the other girl blamed herself and as second dates go it honestly could have gone better. They spent too long apart before finding each other again, reigniting a spark that had never gone out. They had adventures together, lived together not nearly enough, missed each other far too much, celebrated and mourned and eventually they decided that together was absolutely better than apart. Finally, on an August afternoon in a castle in the sky, there was a wedding. All of their friends were invited and even if not everything went as planned there aren't many obstacles a bunch of superheroes can't overcome if sufficiently determined and their friends were determined that the happy couple should live happily ever after, at least for today. Preparations for the wedding began in the morning at the Dutemps Building, with Becky and an impressive collection of Canada's greatest living champions in the penthouse apartments at the top and Eve and her bridesmaids - and one Maidnight - up in the castle. There were caterers and decorators and the mother-of-all-florists running about, which made things a little complicated for some of the obviously non-human guests! Mani-pedis, makeup, lots of last-minute advice and a champagne brunch rounded out the morning for the wedding party, along with a few shenanigans designed to make sure that the brides didn’t encounter each other before the ceremony. In the afternoon, all the dressing-up began in earnest, and then the pictures. So many pictures, professional and otherwise, with people who don’t often get photographed with their own faces and looking their best. The photographers didn’t always confine themselves to the wedding party either, arriving guests might find themselves captured on film a few times for the album. The venue was beautiful, the Gothic Revival-style chapel dedicated to St. Jeanne d'Arc was illuminated with gorgeous light through its stained glass windows and bedecked with flowers. There were a few diversions to entertain the guests, a book to sign, a little display of childhood photos of the brides, a table of snacks. There was also a nasty elevator malfunction in one of the private elevators leading up into the castle but it was sorted by helpful guests before it became a real problem. As the 3:00 PM wedding start time approached guests began to move to their seats while music played and a breeze whispered through the trees. The ceremony was beautiful and quite peaceful, though it’s hard to say what behind-the-scenes machinations may have been required to keep it that way. Jack Pegahmagabow and Eden Espadas nearly stole the show as ring-bearer and flower girl, despite subtle interventions from their uncle and parents, respectively. Otherwise, the simple and brief service, conducted by Claremont’s headmaster emeritus Duncan Summers, was focused on Becky and Eve, who stood under a flowered trellis to exchange handwritten vows and rings in front of all their friends and family. With the business of the day taken care of it was time to celebrate! The castle’s ballroom had been prepared in a fine faux-Medieval style, with dinners, drinks, and dancing inside a hall bright enough to pass for a fairy tale. A minor problem in the kitchen was quickly sorted and if the happy couple disappeared from their own party for a little while before arriving for dinner, nobody was inclined to say anything about it. There were toasts and a few short speeches after supper and then the happy couple opened the dancing with a slow turn on the dance floor to an original 1930 recording of Lucienne Boyer's Parlez-Moi d’Amour, one taken right from the Crimson Fox's personal collection. The dancing went on late into the night, helped along by a custom coffee bar manned by two experienced baristas. At one point in the evening, the power went off for nearly ten minutes, but inventive guests worked around it and the problem was quickly solved. Eve and Becky left around 9:00 in a hail of bubbles and sparks and flowers and beams of light from their friends, taking off in the private elevator up to the castle's master living quarters. Even with the guests of honor gone there was plenty of partying left to do, and it wasn’t till nearly midnight that things quieted down and the cleanup could begin.

"If I can have you gagged as well I'll consider it," Winifred shot back, her prim delivery undercut by a small smirk poorly concealed behind her raised hand. It faded at Huang's unexpectedly candid commiseration. The moment of self-awareness and broader perspective made her wonder if he was simply making an effort as an exception or if some amount of the dhampir's lackadaisical personality was merely an affectation, not so different from the straight laced control she imposed upon herself. She picked up the compact disk as he set it down, reading the front cover with its exaggerated calligraphy with a raised eyebrow. "I assume the joke will explain itself in due time. Until then, thank you. Genuinely."

Winifred swallowed the ice cream in her mouth as set the pint aside on her nightstand with the spoon sticking out of it and gave Huang a curious look. "I want to make some sort of comment about your general lack of restraint but I honestly hadn't expected you to be among the impromptu parade," she admitted. Hearing her words aloud she frowned and bowed her head briefly in apology. "That sounded unkind. It's just that, well, Robin and Cathy can mother hen on occasion and where they go Smith and Phaedra tend not to be far behind. I didn't think I'd be missed by anyone else." That sounded more self-pitying than she'd intended and her frown deepened but she resisted the urge to fall into a cycle of never-ending clarifications. She let out a short huff instead and looked Huang in the eyes. "Are you talking about your father's influence?" She'd heard a few things about Mr. Faretti after one of his visits to the campus but she hadn't known how much credence to give any of it. Schoolyard gossip hadn't been terribly kind to her either, after all, though she expected - hoped - that the rumours about her involved less speculation about what she looked like without a shirt.

Too surprised by Phaedra's dramatic reappearance to object Winifred accept the pot shaped container and cutlery without comment. She made a vague gesture of thanks and farewell with the spoon as the couple quickly exited rather than risk overstaying their welcome, looking down at the chilled pint once she was alone. Prying off the lid the alchemist gave the bright green colouration a skeptical look but remembering that she hadn't eaten much all day she scraped just a bit from the surface and hesitantly slid it into her mouth. Her eyes lit up and reflexively she raised the container to get a look at the list of ingredients before deciding that could wait. A full spoonful quickly followed the cautious sample and was itself quickly followed by a pang of regret as she scrunched up her nose and placed the heel of one palm against her forehead. Mouth still full she managed a mumbled, "Nuuuuu..."

Jack of all Blades Reaction: Spend an HP to double Dodge bonus for the round, allowing him to avoid the hail of gunfire! Move Action: Taunt Gunmen, DC 29 with Skill Mastery Standard Action: Attack Gunmen, Power Attack 5: 1d20+15 32 DC 21 Fortitude Save vs Drain Toughness, DC 26 + Autofire Toughness Save vs Damage.

Winifred opened her mouth to respond to Phaedra but had to settle for tilting her head slightly to one side in bemusement instead. She might have characterized her extra-planar classmate's unique frame of reference as indifference earlier but hearing that someone was confident in her self-control was surprisingly reassuring. The redhead was abruptly removed from the room and replaced by her girlfriend before Winifred could come up with a response and she felt the corners of her mouth tugging upward in spite of everything on her mind. "Quite alright. In fact, pass along my appreciation," she told Cathy, folding her hands in her lap where she sat on the edge of her bed. "It's nice to know someone isn't wringing their hands over the fragile Englishwoman. I may owe you an apology, conversely. I know you worry about everyone even on our better days."

Ghost Girl sized up the scene with a thoughtful tilt of her head. With the the enhancement of their force fields the looters were probably a more immediate threat than their frantic leader but malfunctioning psionic-amplifying doohickies didn't necessarily mean harmless psionic-amplifying doohickies. Besides, he'd managed to get on her nerves. Her scythe appeared in her outstretched hand as she caught Wraith's attention and nodded her chin in the mastermind's direction. Circling silently through the air she got behind him, floating as close as she could without giving herself away. She drew he weapon back and at the last instant her stern expression split into a predatory grin as she shouted, "Aren't you a scythe for sore eyes!" The impossibly black blade whipped through the top of the little man's head just as he was spinning about, the arc catching him right in the face. Defying physics the soul scythe passed effortlessly through his corporeal form, instead tearing away at his last shreds of composure, the icy chill of death gripping his heart as surely as skeletal fingers.

Winifred will use Skill Mastery for an automatic 30 on Craft (Chemical) and Knowledge (Physical Sciences) to determine what she can from the blade and any other physical evidence the others bring to her.

Winifred accepted the handkerchief on reflex then looked down at it for a moment, recalling how much she'd seen Robin sweat into it. The hesitation was brief however and she returned it after drying her eyes. "Ah. You... know about the containment cell, then," the alchemist noted at Riley's assurances, deflating. She'd been hoping for at least a veneer of deniability regarding her whereabouts throughout the day but she supposed there wasn't any keeping secrets from such a resourceful group. Sitting down heavily on the edge of her bed she stared at her own hands. "It's only... Well the short of it is that I had a nightmare and I just knew, any little thing... I couldn't manage it today." It was a difficult thing to admit to two people she could not picture backing down from any of the many hardships they'd each faced. She felt a pang of guilt for some of what she'd said to Fang in private as well; she didn't think she'd earned the concern being shown but could not fail to acknowledge it. Tempting though it was to take Riley up on his offer and lock the door behind them she shook her head with a sigh. "It sounds as though I've caused enough consternation already. If the others feel the need to confirm my wellbeing the gesture would not go unappreciated."

"Honey and vinegar, kid," Lou's low voice answered from somewhere in the shadows as he slid out of his suit jacket and deposited it silently behind a shelf and out of the way. The bearded man hadn't survived his varied succession of careers without knowing how to stay out of sight when necessary but he couldn't fault anyone for failing to anticipate measured grace coming from his slouching frame of meat locker muscle. Out of view he straightened and rolled his shoulders, legs tensing and hands closing deliberately into fists. He was only going to get one shot to capitalize on the element of surprise and he wasn't planning on using his ace in the hole around a bunch of last-minute understudies.