Dariusprime

Vox: 2 posts = 1PP Here & Now & Then (1) Park Time Job (1)

Nick set down the tenner and returned a good, firm handshake with Dr. Tomorrow. His eyes sparkled and a grin plastered itself across his face. Oh yes, he looked more than happy to meet Dr. Tomorrow! He was not going to fanboy though. No, a dignified excitement would be sufficient. Eh, that wasn't working. The stupid, star-struck look on his face pegged him as being in awe. Nick signed back quickly, fumbling over his words, "English is fine, thank you, sir. For reasons you already know, I will be signing. A real pleasure meeting you, Dr. Tomorrow!" At Claude's interjection, Nick gave the Bostonian a look of such incredulity one would think the Iowan had stripped a gear. Apparently, Tomorrow's perfecting timing seemed like rather... understandable given the time traveler's reputation. Thus Nick shook out of his spell long enough to nod to Claude and retrieve his money. If they didn't already have his attention, his body language practically vibrated, Well, get on with it! Not knowing the proper etiquette in these situations, Nick sat back down but refrained from continuing his (delicious!) meal.

Mona couldn't help but smirk a bit at Claude's surprise. It wasn't a malicious smirk. More a whimsy at having caught, unintentionally, the level-headed young man off guard. Once his gears turned, she nodded without looking back. "Got it in one. Being a living reactor has advantages. I suspect Dr. Tomorrow won't be much bothered." She continued observing the time-frozen park as Claude laid out the details. If she was surprised, she took the revelation in stride. Another day on the job as it were. Amusement still in her voice, she floated after Claude. "Lead the way, Chief. This is your ballgame." Mentally, she took stock of the situation, the information relayed, and 'Gnomon's' role in all this. The likely conclusion was, indeed, that Claude was a recruit, and sounded like he was apprenticed or assigned under Dr. Tomorrow. It all made sense. As for the situation itself, 'daemon' was something new and sounded very dangerous. Yes, that needed to be neutralized forthwith. A few seconds after speaking, she popped her knuckles loudly. Sounded like concrete splitting. She smiled.

Sorry for the delay, Ari! Nick will use his Stun 6 (Resonance; Extras: Area (General: Cone) +1), DC 16.

Nick froze in place. Truth be known, he still had a lot to learn about dangerous situations. Even more so about integrating his superhuman senses. He felt it, he heard it, but his head didn't fully register that it was invisible to normal vision. He blinked a couple of times, looking down the hallway but not really seeing it. The inhuman way it moved though threw him off even more. The sword though, and the ease at which changed walking surfaces, brought Nick back to reality. It was obviously approaching them. Now that could mean any number of things. Just passing them by could be a possibility, but Nick wasn't about to bet his life on it. Or it could have evil intentions to them or others. At this point Nick didn't care if the thing was hostile or not. Thus he remained frozen for a moment as it approached. He looked to be staring silently down the hallway. As if anticipating something. Then Nick reached over and tapped Leroy on the arm. Quite forcefully and urgently. He then looked up and said quietly, "Invisible swordsman on ceiling." Of course, anyone passingly familiar with Nick's powers knew that isn't what happened. Although in this case, the effect didn't an explosive boom. Instead his voice amplified a thousand, two thousand fold, echoing deep into the labyrinth. The air in front of him seemed to shimmer and distort like a heat mirage. The distortion aimed at one point: the spider-walker-sword-person-thing.

I'd love to! Work has hit me very hard too. I'll try to post tomorrow. Thanks!

Vox: 3 posts = 1 PP Here & Now & Then (1) Look Ma, No Self, No Sense, No Death! (1) Tech Compliance (1)

Nick didn't much like conflict. Even before developing powers, he wasn't the type to start problems. A typical response to interpersonal conflict not directly involving him was to stay out of it. Even in general, "conflict avoidant" categorized him neatly. At the same time, the better angels of his nature often forced his hand. His sense of empathy did want him to try to calm Micah by defusing the situation. To address the first issue, his hand shot back from Micah like he'd been burned. Took a second or two to realize what actually happened, but it came as a shock, so to speak. The standoff between Micah and Leroy he followed with his eyes. Otherwise he sat very still listening to the energy bursts coming from his classmate. In some ways focusing on the mysterious x-ray source kept him calm. His mind fired up his analytical capacity and quickly built a profile of the output. The how eluded him, although the data proved fascinating, but the why, in some senses, felt fairly straightforward. Micah's emotional response appeared to be triggering certain aspects of his powers. Nick didn't know Micah's powers, but obviously energy manipulation factored somehow. Much to Nick's relief, de-escalation ruled the day. Ms. Velásquez's authority channeled Leroy's ambitions at least temporarily. Now if he could just soothe Micah a bit. Of course then Leroy went and opened his mouth again. At which point Nick's neutral expression once more dropped into a scowl. Shaking his head, he braved putting a hand on Micah's shoulder again. This time he leaned forward, trying to bring his face into Micah's field of view. Hopefully, an expression of real concern would at least draw Micah's focus for a moment. Sometimes that was all it took. Or he'd get fried. Eh, he'd had a good run.

Yup, nothing like keeping your audience riveted. Nick just continuing going with it. Given the superscience he read about occasionally, digitizing and de-digitizing people seemed within the realm of possibility. Not probable, but possible. "The Dolorous Clock" though elicited nothing more than a blink. Must have been important though. Instead he focused on the aftermath. He nodded in understanding about Claude's reaction. Made a lot of sense. By now he'd gone from reclining, to upright, to leaning forward. Hanging on every word as it was. Nick was on the edge of his seat for the reveal. Thankfully, he managed to keep from calling out "Wow!". Throwing up his hands in shock still occurred. As did him jumping up from his seat. You'd think his favorite team had just scored a last-second win. Only after a second or two did he process that the final sentence had a distinctly German accent. Freezing in place, he looked over at the newcomer. Now Dr. Tomorrow he knew, at least in general terms. And his name had already come up. No super genius but no blockhead, two-and-two processed visibly across his face. It seemed to make sense to the young man. He stared quizzically at Dr. Tomorrow, then looked at Claude, then back to the Doctor. Then he calmly produced a ten dollar bill from his wallet and offered it to Claude. No commentary, neutral expression.

The company felt pleasant enough. Like many of his classmates, Leroy stood out as an acquaintance but not one with which Nick had much interaction. Most of his impression was first impression during the move-in. Which was, to say, something of outlier. This stood as a good opportunity to get to know the fellow better. As such Nick's smile remained warm. Once the walk got his blood moving, he seemed to wake a bit more and developed a spring in his step. His enhanced hearing focused on Leroy initially, and he glanced up at the prince from time-to-time. He nodded sympathetically at his relationship troubles, but his head slowly turned to focus on him at the mention of his family. One Power? That earned Leroy a curious look, and earnestly displayed how little Nick knew about his classmate. Yet under all that bravado, he sensed something deeper. Maybe some wisdom? The shift in topic did not brighten his mood further. Unconsciously casting his senses outward, the small teen seemed suddenly ill-at-ease. Leroy's comments obviously contributed, and he made valid points of why this place should be public knowledge. The last point, though, earned him another inquisitive look. Kinda happy about potential ambush sites are ya? Now Nick had the creeps. The fingers of his free hand starting tapping his thumb rhythmically, and he resorted to gripping the mop handles to steady himself. He still twisted his hands around the handles. By the time they stopped walking, Nick spent most of his time glancing around apprehensively at the floors, ceilings, walls, cameras, even the light fixtures. The pulse bothered him the most. Made him feel like he was inside a metal beast. Or a Tool video. What is that? Still Leroy's question lingered in the air. Nick shrugged and took the opportunity to survey the area more thoroughly. He cast open his electromagnetic senses especially, listening for the ambient waves put off by electronics. Mostly to get a better feel about the weird place. Secondly, to perhaps pick up telltale spectra of sunlight. As in early-dawn light slipping in through an exit. Nothing would make him happier than finding the exit passages, mopping, and getting the heck out.

Nick hesitated but eventually turned his attention away from Summers and Ms. Vasquez. His smile remained, and he examined the website critically. After a moment or two, he nodded solemnly to Micah's question about adapting their design. He picked up his tablet to answer when Micah yelled. He nearly jumped out of his seat. In fact steadying himself on the table became necessary. He sat there blinking at Micah and wondering why he yelled at him. Of course with his head turned, the obvious answer became that Micah wasn't yelling at him. He was looking at Leroy. Seems his tuning out of the cubes and those dealing with them meant he missed something important. Multiple important things really, but he didn't know that. Although on a tangent, he realized that for the first time in a long time he was able to tune out individual sound sources. That made him quirk his head in thought. Which matched his curiosity over what had been the source of Micah's alarm. His face fell at Leroy's explanation. Matter of fact, his scowl said it all: Are you insane!? Glancing around the room, he judged the others' reactions. He stopped upon spotting Micah's pale, mortified expression. Nick reached over and squeezed his shoulder in solidarity. He couldn't smile, not in a situation like this, but he gave Micah a reassuring look.

Maybe not weird to Benny. This ranked among the weirdest things Nick had ever experienced. Painful too. He looked up at the shadow falling across him. Over the roar, Benny could have said anything and he'd be none the wiser. Still the guiding hand got the small teen moving, and up he stood while keeping his hands over his ears. Silently hoping the pigeons didn't scream louder, he followed his guide to Danica's shell and took shelter. Crouching just inside the opening, he nodded his thanks to Benny. Although the boxer probably didn't see the motion through the cloud of feathered fiends. Having cover on three sides of him helped a bit. The near-deafening noise wasn't mitigated, but having the sounds arriving from mainly one direction took the edge off. Now their hope rested on Bread Bomber and Pigeon Man.

Oh, Nick got the analogy. Nodded as much too. Up until then he'd gone with the flow, but the idea of human cloud computing made him squirm. Still as awkward as the situation made him, he focused on what Claude said. Time enough later to ponder theories. Aside a fidget here-and-there, he remained reclined and listening. Of course the next sentence caused him to blink. His mind immediately latched onto the problem with that plan, but thankfully, Claude had already taken that into account. His brow knit in confusion at the solution but again said nothing. Now the smile that came over him next was hard to describe. Was it amused, rueful, joyous, or a little of all three? Truly his eyes sparkled at the implications and the outcome of breaking the loop. Especially after seeing the cube...overloaded, he guessed. On the other hand, Claude sat there telling the story so he had to have survived. He didn't process the details further this time around. Instead he simply sat up straight and motioned for Claude to continue. A riveting story this turned out to be.

Perhaps the idea is low-hanging fruit, but how about a theme of wishes? Goals, regrets, secret desires, dreams, New Years resolutions, that sort of thing.

Nick heard none of this. After his initial burst, the realization dawned on him that the radio squeal didn't diminish. If anything the volume increased! Hands still over his ears, he slid down to the ground and pulled his knees up against his chest. Putting his head down seemed to keep the birds at bay and protect from debris. With gritted teeth he turned to see what the others were doing. The blast did help him focus against the noise. His thoughts were torn. On the one hand, part of him really wanted to open up on these feathered rats. Again mainly to make them shut up or flee. On the other hand, he already felt terrible for hurting the birds. And for probably scaring his classmates and teacher. Speaking of which, where did the pigeon man come from? Probably the same place the Carpenter-esque pigeon came from. But he had no time for that! Why? First, a rain of bread. A bread-plosion. Then the pigeons spoke. All of them. At once. Nick froze. Yes, he appeared to still be in control of his faculties. Yes, the sound originated from the totality of the pigeons. The bread had to be Mia's doings, and he slowly looked around wide-eyed in search of her. His gaze rested on the pigeon man as he danced about and appeared to nod at him. Not that he could hear a thing over the birds. Whatever Davyd was doing he hoped he did it fast.