Gizmo

Sure! That's DC 32 altogether. Dam Toughness Save vs DC 32: 1d20+11 26 Refreshes the Daze and adds a Bruise! Ardent is up. 26 - Tsunami - Bruised x1, 3HP 25 - Monsoon - Unconscious 20 - Frostbyte - Bruised x1, 5HP 14 - Temperance - Bruised x2, 3HP > 12 - Ardent - Bruised x1, Staggered, 1HP 8 - Dam - Staggered, Dazed, Bruised x3 Blood Golems x6 - Uninjured

Dam Toughness Save vs DC 26: 1d20+11 15 Spending the HP for Temperance to clear the Daze, she's up! 26 - Tsunami - Bruised x1, 3HP 25 - Monsoon - Unconscious 20 - Frostbyte - Bruised x1, 5HP > 14 - Temperance - Bruised x2, 4HP 12 - Ardent - Bruised x1, Staggered, 1HP 8 - Dam - Staggered, Dazed, Bruised x2 Blood Golems x6 - Uninjured

Hitter Power Level: 8 [Without Powers] / 10 [With Powers] / 12 (180/180PP) Unspent Power Points: 0 Trade-Offs: +2 Attack / -2 Damage [Without Powers], -2 Defence / +2 Toughness [With Powers] In Brief: Contender, cop, criminal, concrete. Theme: Push and Pull by July Talk Alternate Identity: Lou Lubrano (Secret) Birthplace: Stark Hill, Bedlam City Base of Operations: Converted Warehouse Occupation: Hitter Affiliations: The Fix, BCPD [Formerly], Scarpia Family [Formerly] Family: Nora D'Angelo [Ex-Wife], Max Lubrano [Son] Description: Age: 44 (DoB: 1972) Gender: Male Ethnicity: Italian-American Height: 6'0" Weight: 215 lbs Eyes: Ice Blue Hair: Grey, Black Beard Lou's layers of muscle are built for function rather than aesthetics and mostly hidden under the perpetually rumbled suits he wears. His hair, combed back off of his lined face, has gone uniformly grey but his beard remains jet black and notably better maintained than most of his appearance. He stands with his back straight and shoulders squared but his unassuming manner he still tends to fade into a crowd. He never drinks while he's working and never smokes when he's not but the lingering scent of both suggest he still does more of both than he ought. History: Lou was never a great boxer. Making up for any lack of finesse with an ability to soak up monumental amounts of punishment, he was good enough to earn a modest scholarship and some respect in the neighbourhood but he never considered himself anything more than a big fish in a small pond. Real respect meant being more than a second rate prizefighter. Real respect in Bedlam meant joining up with a gang and he knew only one gang had a retirement plan: the police. Lou was never a great cop. The city didn't provide that opportunity. They didn't have a fraction of the resources to deal with all of the crime in Bedlam anyway so where was the harm in taking a bribe to let the organized, orderly stuff slide? Picking your battles was just another job skill and Lou wasn't afraid of putting in the work to learn. Nobody could say he didn't do some good and more people went home happy than not. Besides, it wasn't like the basic salary was worth risking his neck over and he had a family to think about. Lou was never a great husband. He met Nora at a college when her date made the poor decision to take a swing at him. He liked that she was pretty and quick witted, she liked that he was ambitious and laughed loudly and often. They got married the same month he graduated from the academy and joined the police force and their son Max was born a few years later. They never got around to taking that trip they talked about but maybe once they had enough set aside for Max's schooling. Lou was never a great partner. It wasn't like Simmons made it easy on him, always pushing his luck, always sticking his nose where it was liable to get cut off. They should have ignored the tip about the drug lab but Simmons wanted the bust and it was only two blocks away from a school. Max had just started Grade 5. They went in without backup. It wasn't a drug lab, at least not the way they were thinking. Somebody shot. Something exploded. Lou woke up in the hospital nearly two week later. Simmons didn't. Lou was never a great liar. He nearly slipped up maybe a dozen times before he finally got caught just shy of two years later; it was tough to miss a bullet bouncing off of a chin suddenly made out of the same steel as his car door. Metahumans couldn't be cops and that left Lou without a career and without friends. He took a few odd jobs but nothing stuck. He started to drink more. He never came home drunk but a lot of nights that meant he just didn't come home. Eventually he came home to an empty house and a note. He sold the house, moved into a closet the landlord had the gall to call a bachelor apartment. He signed the papers Nora mailed to him from her sister's place out of state seven months after that. She put a copy of Max's latest school picture in the envelope; that went up on the nearly empty fridge. He was down to his last excuse over late rent when one of the guys he used to take money from offered to buy him a drink. Turned out there were certain people very interested in someone with Lou's specific combination of experience, skills and abilities. Turned out that what Lou was truly great at was hurting bad people who'd made other bad people angry. Sometimes somebody needed to be found, sometimes something needed to be retrieved, sometimes it was just about sending a message. They gave their hitter a name and the situation got handled. He finally had respect, of a sort. The only trouble was that those names didn't always belong to people who were as bad as Lou might have liked. Sometimes they weren't that much older than his son. Lou started to think that someday he was going to be given a name and there'd turn out to be one more thing he wasn't great at. Personality & Motivation: Lou plays his cards close to his rumpled vest, content to remain anonymous and unassuming while others posture. Focused and goal-oriented he does his best to remain professional in a line of work that's often anything but. If he feels he's not being extended that same courtesy, however, he's quick to demonstrate why respect is a wise policy. That stoicism hides layers of self-reproach. Having seen both sides of the law in full Lou doesn't so much regret his indiscretions as a police office as wish that he'd been a good enough man to accomplish real good with his position. He considers himself to be a failure as a father and demonstrates a sometimes misplaced protective streak as a result. After years of doing whatever it took to get ahead or stay afloat he's begun to let his better principles guide him and found that standing up for those who need it suits him better than he'd expected. Powers & Tactics: The drug lab Lou and his partner raided was experimenting with metahuman treatments, leading to him being doused in unstable chemicals and buried in rubble in the explosion that followed. As a result he can take on the attributes of any inorganic material he touches. Doing so greatly enhances his overall strength and durability, enough to shrug off small arms fire. The specific material he mimics determines the specific benefits or side effects he receives on top of this, such as making him more or less conductive, fire resistant or brittle. As his powers provide a distinct visual Lou prefers to use them only as a last resort, favouring discretion and relative anonymity unless he finds himself otherwise outmatched. Even without them he is a competent hand-to-hand fighter with impressive endurance. When required to buy time he will gladly let an opponent wear themselves out before moving in for a decisive finishing blow but when the person he is protecting comes under immediate threat he switches to a much more aggressive style, foregoing his own safety to end a fight more quickly. Power Descriptions: Lou takes on the appearance of the materials he mimics along with their properties. This extends to copying graffiti sprayed on a brick wall or yellow centre lines painted down a concrete road. Dents and cracks sustained while in a transformed state are translated into bruises and cuts when he reverts to flesh and blood. His powers do not extend to the clothes he wear; Lou goes through a lot of suits. Complications: Blood and Iron: Lou's son and ex-wife no longer live in Bedlam but were they in danger there are very few things that would keep him from immediately going to their aid. Cement Overshoes: Quitting the Scarpia Family family is a poor health decision, leaving in the middle of a job even more so. Taking out Lou would be a good way to build a rep and earn points with the higher ups all at once. Concrete Evidence: Lou goes out of his way to avoid using his powers unless there's no other choice. They draw the wrong kind of attention and getting spotted would effectively ruin any cover story he's using. Feet of Clay: Lou is trying to be a better man but he's not there yet. He's slow to trust and slower to let go of a grudge. Convincing him to take risks for strangers may take some doing and convincing him to ask for help is all but impossible. Glass Half Empty: Although he makes a point not to drink while on the job, Lou definitely drinks more than he should. In an unexpected emergency there's no guarantee of finding him sober or without a hangover. Golden Rule: Respect is met with respect. Disrespect is met with percussive correction. Steely Resolve: Though usually methodical and cautious once Lou has committed himself to a fight he's loathe to walk away. He'll take on impossible odds or weather fantastic amounts of punishment if it means keeping his word. Tin Badge: Many of Lou's former colleagues in the BCPD take issue with his metahuman status while others resent his newer ties with the Scarpia Family. Plenty don't see any reason to choose just one reason to hate him. Abilities: 8 + 6 + 12 + 4 + 8 + 4 = 42PP Strength: 18 / 26 (+4 / +8) Dexterity: 16 (+3) Constitution: 22 / 30 (+6 / +10) Intelligence: 14 (+2) Wisdom: 18 (+4) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 16 + 12 = 28PP Initiative: +7 Attack: +8 Base, +10 Melee Defense: +8 (+6 Base, +2 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Grapple: +14 / +18 Knockback: -3 Flat-Footed / -4 without Powers / -8 with Powers Saving Throws: 4 + 6 + 8 = 18PP Toughness: +8 / +12 (+6 Con, +2 Defensive Roll, +4 Enhanced Constitution) [Impervious 4] Fortitude: +10 / +14 (+6 Con, +4 Enhanced Constitution, +4) Reflex: +9 (+3 Dex, +6) Will: +12 (+4 Wis, +8) Skills: 148R = 37PP Bluff 8 (+10) Concentration 6 (+10) Diplomacy 8 (+10) Drive 2 (+5) Gather Information 8 (+10) Intimidate 13 (+15) Investigate 13 (+15) Knowledge [Behavioral Sciences] 3 (+5) Knowledge [Civics] 8 (+10) Knowledge [Streetwise] 13 (+15) Knowledge [Tactics] 8 (+10) Language 2 (English [Native], Italian, Spanish) Medicine 6 (+10) Notice 11 (+15) Perform [Singing] 8 (+10) Search 8 (+10) Sense Motive 11 (+15) Stealth 12 (+15) Feats: 20PP All-Out Attack Attack Focus [Melee] 2 Connected Defensive Roll 1 Dodge Focus 2 Fast Talk 2 [Feint, Startle] Improved Critical [Unarmed] 2 Improved Grab Improved Initiative Interpose Luck 2 Power Attack Startle Stunning Attack Uncanny Dodge [Auditory] Equipment: 0PP = 0EP Powers: 4 + 5 + 19 + 7 = 35PP Damage 2 (Boxing; Feats: Innate, Mighty) [4PP] (training) Device 1 (Earbud; 5PP Container, Flaws: Hard to Lose, Feats: Subtle) [5PP] Super-Senses 4 (Communication Link 4 [Other Earbuds], Feats: Subtle) [5DP] Alternate Form 4 (20PP Container [Active, Sustained], Drawback: Noticeable) [19PP] Enhanced Constitution 8 [8PP] Enhanced Strength 8 [8PP] Impervious 4 [4PP] Object Mimicry (5PP Variable Power, Any Power, Multiple Powers at Once, Touch Range; Extras: Action [Free Action]) [7PP] Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed [without Powers] Touch DC 21 Toughness Damage Unarmed [with Powers] Touch DC 25 Toughness Damage Totals: Abilities (42) + Combat (28) + Saving Throws (18) + Skills (37) + Feats (20) + Powers (35) - Drawbacks (0) = 180/180 Power Points

Kimber didn't do a very good job of hiding the eyebrow she arched at Dimitri well up into the waves of her bangs but she did make some attempt to cover the look by replying, "Not everywhere needs to rely on good weather to be nice!" She folded her arms and closed her eyes in a theatrical pout but let one eye peek open to glance between her guests. "And big hair was great, I don't know what you're talking about!" Floating down close to the floor the phantom snapped her fingers. "Oh, that reminds me, though. There was something I wanted to consult you on, Uncle." She turned to Leilani apologetically. "Can I steal him for a minute? Bluebird could show you around in the meantime, if you like! She basically is the castle so she gives outrageous tours!"

Jack of all Blades / Jill O'Cure (5) Exes and Ohs (4) U-Haul (1) Wail (3) Rainbow (3) Ghost Girl (2) Old Flames (2) Reagent / Alkahest (11) The Past Is In The Past (2) [ToV] Being Green (1) Looking for Treble (6) Final Exam (2) GM / NPC (1*2=2) Act of Union (1) Rollover and Ref point can go to Reagent, thanks.

"More of a full contact sport!" came the answer to the masked vampire's growled question, though the one-liner was probably muffled somewhat by the boot crashing into his face as Jack leaped through the air. The local version of Faretti was as strong and quick as the swordsman was expecting but he was given no chance to recover his balance as the blaze of purple flame struck agains and again. The necromantic energies left deep cuts on forearms hastily brought up to block and sliced at his legs to keep him from finding his footing. A two handed thrust sent the blade clean through the undead meat of the vampire's shoulder, its wicked curve burning on the way out as well as Jack danced back just out of immediate reach. "Oh, hey, take your time, Corncob, sure!"

Jack of all Blades Move Action: Move between Altvenger and Ace. Standard Action: Energy Sword vs Altvenger: 1d20+20 39 With Improved Critical that's a DC 10 + 6 + 5 Critical = 21 Fortitude Save against Drain Toughness with Affects Objects and a DC 15 + 6 + 5 Critical + up to 3 Autofire = 29 Toughness Save against Damage.

"Hm, I wouldn't call it 'sleeping' so much as 'subsisting in a state of frenzied madness'," Kimber corrected, placing an index finger to the side of her chin and looking contemplative. She let the momentary slump of the other woman's shoulders pass without comment when she saw Dimitir's reassurances. "They say you can sleep when you're dead but a lot of the time that's just not right at all!" She laughed brightly at that, something suggesting it was a joke she'd told several time before but which continued to amuse her. The poltergeist clapped her hands happily at the positive review of the upside-down cake and the floating carafes poured glasses of milk and orange juice in celebration while a kettle moved itself to the stovetop. Her expression turned to a sigh as she answered Dimirti, "Tarva's supposed to have the day off but she's taking care of some work around the castle. I don't think she wanted you to think she was just laying around having parties, Uncle." There had been some involved explanations of everything the shadow witch had needed to catch up on but no one could accuse Tarva of being an inefficient worker. If she wasn't thrilled at the prospect of a visit from a Freedom League member and wanted to make a good impression with Kimber's avuncular mentor, though, that wasn't so surprising. "On the upside, we get to make up for lost time tonight," she added coyly with a returning smile, wagging a finger in the thermovore's direction. "Which is all the details you're getting, you."

16 isn't quite enough to hit even the golems, I'm afraid. Cathy is up. 26 - Tsunami - Bruised x1, 3HP 25 - Monsoon - Unconscious > 20 - Frostbyte - Bruised x1, 5HP 14 - Temperance - Bruised x1, 5HP 12 - Ardent - Bruised x1, Staggered, 1HP 8 - Dam - Uninjured, Bruised x2 Blood Golems x6 - Uninjured

It took longer for Winifred to realize the extent of the horror than her friends. Certainly using the image of the Alkahest for their simulated antagonists was a transparent attempt to upset her and test her self-control but then that had been the theme of every exercise designed for her in the Doom Room. She'd begun silently reciting her calming exercises and trying to think of something to help Woodsman focus past his understandable issues with humanoid monstrosities when she finally processed the reactions of Sparkler and Nighthawk. They were too far away for her to hear then until Robin started yelling but looking back to the fading holograms she put two and two together with a sharp intake of breath. "Smith, those-- He used the images of her parents," she stuttered haltingly to the survivalist crouched nearby. The images from the photograph her roommate kept carefully tucked away in a sealed bag, the one Winifred had seen only on the handful of times they were both feeling melancholic enough to talk about their losses. "Then the-- the cultists would have been--" She turned her attention to Raina, fire burning dangerously bright and obscuring her expression at a distance. She couldn't complete the thought out loud. She didn't particularly care for Archer or his methods but this was an outright attack, designed to hurt her friends, some of the sparse handful of people who had made an effort to show her kindness in the world of the present, as badly as possible. Glass vials clinked softly as her whole body vibrated with rising anger, vitriol that pounded in her ears. "S-Smith, I-- I'm going to-- t-trying...!" She gasped out the words while one hand clenched into a fist and pounded a panel of the revealed simulation room with a dull clang and her eyes focused with unnatural intensity on the control room.

"Will make arrangements," Midnight told Ruby with something that might have been a small nod or just her imagination. Trevor was thinking along the same lines as Erin; while the resources of the Hunter clan could have procured a sizeable amount of precious metal on relatively short notice having Mark create the gold would ultimately raise fewer questions at home. That didn't mean he wanted the bounty hunters to know the specifics of the proverbial golden goose. "Refuelling at Aleph Station should be no issue." Since the formation of the wormhole on the edge of the solar system the Freedom League had been eager to make new contacts in the galactic community at large; it wouldn't hurt to make sure that word got around that helping Terrans stranded in deep space was worth a spacefarer's time. He looked to the Traveller with a weighty silence before saying, "More specific?" A lot of things had happened during the Communion's attack on Earth, from nanite swarms pretending to be evangelists to the plain of computronium converted out of sand in the Empty Quarter, and he wasn't about to hand out information on most of it.

"Suitably ghoulish," Winifred observed, pulling a face while she inspected the scrawled words on the walls. "Blood, a bit too fresh for comfort. It seems safe to surmise that whatever is meant to have happened here happened only days ago and happened quickly." She thought of the rioting mob caused by the Deep One's hallucinogens and wondered if Archer's scenario didn't include something similar. Reagent hurried after Nighthawk, splitting her attention between keeping watch and looking for direction from their field leader.

The peace held for the better part of an hour before one of Mara's drones reported movement. Ellie stirred with a murmur of objection, wrapping an arm more tightly around the inventor's waist as she moved forward to get a closer look at the video feed. Looking through the sensors of the drone in the hallway outside of the coma patient's room revealed nothing at first until she toggled through different readouts. As she watched the motion sensors were tripped again, not by anything in the hall but in the ducts between floors, a space too small for any conventional human to crawl through. With a vigorous shake of her head Ellie brought herself back to wakefulness or at least as close as she was going to get and looked to her partner expectantly. "What did they find?"

The last of the guards attempting to attack Jack fell to the ground, laid low by a vicious headbutt that was both showier and more bluntly violent than was strictly necessary. Laughter with an unusual edge rolled from his upturned lips as he turned to watch Ace and who he assumed was some version of Faretti. The necromantic sword pulsed dangerously in time with his facing heartbeat and he blinked rapidly while running his free hand back through his hair. "How we doing, Corncob?" he called to Frost, hesitant to get any close to Talya until he'd had a moment to get himself back under control.

Unloading the back of the truck into the school's first floor went much faster than the reverse without having to worry about what might shift about in transit and in short order an assortment of boxes were stacked tidily by the stairwell to the apartment above. "Won't be long," Erik promised as he bent over to kiss Talya on the cheek before jogging back out to the truck to drive his mother back to her house. Having an extra pair of hands around when it came time to get things done was a definite fringe benefit to their arrangement he reflected as he stepped outside, leaning back to wave to the flowers overflowing from the second storey windows onto the top of the school's sign, blowing them a kiss.

Jack of all Blades spun with the slash he couldn't fully sidestep in time, turning what was meant to be a decapitating strike into a thin, superficial ribbon of red showing through a rip in his shirt from right shoulder to his left side. He slipped his arms from his greatcoat in the same fluid motion, leaving the royal guardsman who had just proven to be the most skilled among his peers struggling in surprise with the swath of fabric threatening to engulf him like a tarp. Before he could sort himself out Jack's empty hand snapped out in lightning quick jab through the coat and directly into the vampire's face. With a grunt the guard was already falling to the floor as the swashbuckler planted a booted foot into his chest, using him as a springboard into the air. The next guard closest to his right run-through with necromantic magic in a downward thrust while he was still trying to figure out where the intruder had gone. Jack used the momentum to fling himself into a tight spiral parallel to the marble floors that ended in a scissor kick that crossed two more names from the list of immediate threats. The remaining two vampires recovered from their surprise with predator's instincts and lashed out only a moment too slowly, their strikes swinging over the metamagi's head as he dropped low to the ground. One more streak of hungry violet fire left them disarmed and clutching their empty hands, another added to the growing pile of undead. Locking eyes with the few guards canny enough to have let their comrades charge in first, Jack gripped either side of the tear in this shirt and ripped it apart to hang in tatters at his waist, exposing arms sheathed in lithe muscle and a torso of thin white lines intersecting with trickle of blood, punctuated by a handful of puckered bullet wounds. "Come on then, you guano hearted amateurs!" he shouted, arms thrust outward like a gladiator calling to a coliseum full of blood thirsty spectators. "At least make this interesting! Fight! Me!"

Plates and cutlery floated through the air above the dining table seemingly of their own accord, cutting out a generous slice of the upside-down cake and depositing it in front of Leilani. "Listen to you, Uncle," Kimber teased Dimitri, raising one eyebrow while she folded on leg over the other as if there were a chair beneath her. "'Magnificent', eh? How could I say no to that! Indira loves anything that takes a lot of skill like that and I could see if Aquaria wants to bring Jessie along; any excuse to get near the water!" A few boxes of tea and a canister of coffee drifted from the shelves along with a pitcher of milk and another of orange juice from the fridge, the assortment hovering expectantly near the surfer, waiting for her selection. "If it helps I used to have some trouble not freezing the room around me, too," the poltergeist commiserated with an understanding nod. "Ah, though if you think you're feeling a bit melty, I'd appreciate some warning. I'm a bit more flammable than him, you know." That was underselling her phobia a bit but there was no reason to make her guest self-conscious about her powers. "Oh, that reminds me, you spent a few decades in a rock, right? I did the same thing in an abandoned cabin!" She beamed like someone explaining they'd gone to the same alma mater just a few years apart.

Jack of all Blades Standard Action: Take 10, Power Attack 5. Same as last round, looking to clear out the group of guards surrounding him. Move Action: DC 29 Taunt with Skill Mastery vs Guards Using Thrown Weapons.

While Ardent regrouped and recovered her wits Dam clenched a fist in Tsunami's direction with a snarl. The younger woman wobbled unsteadily toward the villain as every drop of blood in her body attempted to force its way through the nearest orifice and flow in that direction. An ordinary person would have been killed almost instantly, Giang was sure but reflexive use of her own powers turned the deadly attack into a still agonizing tug-of-war. The one point in her favour was that Dam was clearly splitting her attention as she gestured with her opposite hand to command the towering golems toward Temperance. The constructs slammed amorphous fists the size of cars toward the spiritualist, forcing her to dodge left then leap forward and to the right. As the fifth of the group reared up before her, however, there was nowhere left to move and she was sent flying backward toward Phaedra. If the heroes were to have any chance of prevailing against all odds they were going to have to focus on blood controlling woman shouting again about righteous judgement and stagnant hypocrites.

Dam Full Round Action: Perception Damage vs Tsunami. That's a DC 27 Toughness Save for Tsunami and has the Vampiric Extra. Blood Golems Combined Attack vs Temperance: 5#1d20+7 23 18 14 12 14 That's a DC 32 Toughness Save for Temperance. Also giving everyone an HP as the tide begins to turn against them! Tsunami is up once I get the IC post up! 26 - Tsunami - Bruised x1, 3HP 25 - Monsoon - Unconscious 20 - Frostbyte - Bruised x1, 5HP 14 - Temperance - Bruised x1, 5HP 12 - Ardent - Bruised x1, Staggered, 1HP 8 - Dam - Uninjured, Bruised x2 Blood Golems x6 - Uninjured

LaMarr made a rumbling sound from somewhere in his broad chest as Riley expounded on his difficulties at Claremont but was otherwise silent while the boy spoke. He waited for a moment while Riley fumed before saying, "It's always more complicated than that. Could tell you things have gotten better lately but I won't play you, there's places it's gotten worse. 'Sides, things have been 'getting better' my whole life and that's only a comfort to people writing text books. Doesn't make the now any more right." He glanced from the pond to study the survivalist's face, sharp and angry. "Small community where you grew up? Not much use for tribes and labels?"

Jack of all Blades Toughness Save vs DC 23: 1d20+8 10 Betrayal! Toughness Save vs DC 23, HP Reroll: 1d20+8 17 That's a 27 with the +10 HP bonus.

Winifred's initial interest was more for the disks themselves, having a cursory familiarity with the concept from her studies but not having had opportunity to see their like in person before but she quickly refocused on Rivera's explanations. She shifted uncomfortably on the bed before catching herself and straightening, forcing herself to make eye contact despite the awkward topic. "Stress," she clarified. "Anger or panic are the typical triggers, it seems, though there is a maddening lack of consistency." That wasn't actually surprising; there were any number of factors that might affect one's overall mood, the severity of one's reactions. In her case those differences simply had much greater consequences. "I wish I could be more specific but as Smith says, 'this thing didn't come with a manual'." She hoped she was using that in the correct context and that editing out some of the more colour word choice didn't alter its meaning. Distractedly she chewed the corner of her lip, looking vaguely toward the room's window while she tried to recall any specific auditory triggers which might have proven problematic in the past, gauging the associated risks. Her nose wrinkled and the expression made her fine-boned features less severe for the moment. "If I might persuade you to... experiment with me," she spoke up again with a note of hesitation at asking for the favour, "perhaps we could start with something less extreme and work from there? I can always let you know if I feel the need to stop."

"Not exactly one for subtlety, our Mister Archer," Winifred replied dryly to Robin, loosening the strap of the topmost vial on her bandolier with one hand while choking up on her care warily with the other. It was rude, certainly, going strictly against her clearly and repeatedly stated preferences but it was the distinct stutter that struck her as out-of-character. That along with the lack of explanation put her ill at ease; the Academy faculty had proven to be perhaps overly fond of 'pop quizzes' but her understanding of a final exam generally allowed for some preparation or at least a full night's sleep. It might have just been Archer's spartan sensibilities at work but an insistent knot of dread settled in her stomach nonetheless. Still, she'd be damned if she let that stop her from making short work of the bully's test. "And yes, you may rely on me, Nighthawk," she assure her roommate with characteristic cool composure. Making sure to keep her eyes flicking about the hallway she took a closer look at the graffiti, looking for signs as to its age and whether it had been scrawled with paint or something less tasteful.