Raveled

Brian watched Gwen's hair fall down her back, stroking it absently as she grabbed her laptop. He waited until she had navigated to the proper webpage, then flicked through the available movies with her. Most films that he'd choose to watch weren't exactly date-night material, so he was forced to go outside his normal viewing selections; but he also didn't want to break the mood by obsessing over which movies to choose, so he ended up mostly looking at the movie covers. One that caught his eye was a young man with swords crossed above his head. He read the synopsis through and felt himself warming to the movie. "What about this one," he asked, tilting the laptop so that Gwen could see it better. "Princess Mononoke. It sounds interesting."

Starlight's Toughness save, vs DC 25. (1d20+10=17) Ouch. Gonna take a reroll on that. Starlight's Toughness save, vs DC 25. Reroll (1d20+10=29) Much better!

Brian's face grew more serious as Gwen talked about Sanctuary. "I'm sure you'll do great," he said, "but we're not going to need it." He grabbed her hand and pulled her down to the bed. "'Cause we're gonna stop this Gorgon thing. And then I'm going to see you again." He leaned in and kissed her tenderly, shifting so his knee rubbed against hers. When he pulled away, his face was flushed and his heart was pounding. He licked his lips, eyes still locked on Gwen's. "So. Um. You wanted to watch a movie?"

"That's incredible," Brian said with feeling. He stepped behind Gwen, putting his arms around her. "You've seen more of the world than I think I ever will." He chuckled suddenly. "You're going to have to find some way to put another dimension on there now, you understand?" He stepped away and sat down on the bed, glancing at the half of the room that belonged to someone else. "You're rooming with Jeena, right? The, uh, other Dutch transfer student?" His eyes roamed across the far wall, eventually tracking back to Gwen. "Does she keep you up all night with weird Euro-pop?" He grinned. "Morgan usually blasts this weird Celtic-rock-punk stuff when he's making runes. He worked up some kind of sound-bubble thing so he doesn't have to worry about anyone else complaining."

Brian stepped cautiously into the room, half-expecting alarms to go off as soon as he crossed the threshold. It was a thrill, being in a girl's room with said girl in tow. He'd never gotten to this part of dating before, and the fact that he was doing it with Gwen made everything a thousand times better. He walked over to her bed and ran his hands down the carefully made sheets before moving to investigate the map. "This is all the places you've been," he said, taking the fact for granted. "That is... really, really cool." It was mind-boggling, in fact. The farthest Brian had ever been from home (if one didn't count alternate dimensions) was, well, Freedom City itself. To imagine that Gwen had traveled to all these different places and that they were the same age was incredible.

Brian breathed a little more freely, nodding readily. "Yeah, I think I'd really like that." He stood and lead Gwen out of the greenhouse, holding the door for her and making sure it latched behind them. The weather was turning nippy, and even though he didn't have a green thumb Brian knew better than to let too much cold air get in to the plants. Outside, he held Gwen back for a moment. "Wait a moment," he said. "You liked this before and we might not be able to do it for awhile, so." He swept the small woman into his arms, then leapt into the air. His power flared around them, propelling them higher and faster than Brian's muscles ever could. It was a short flight, but Brian was grinning widely by the time they set down in front of the dorms. He opened to door with a sweep of his hands, ushering Gwen inside. "Okay," he said. "Which room is yours?"

"That's not true anymore," Brian whispered. "You've got me. And you've got Vicky too, I'm sure. There's lots of people who would miss you if you... didn't come back." He slipped his hand behind her head and kissed her again, quickly. "So you're going away for awhile, then? Are you all packed and ready? Do you... do you need me to get you anything?" The sentence rewound itself in his head and Brian pulled back suddenly, blushing. "I mean, do you need me to bring your luggage down or take you to the airport tomorrow, anything like that."

1s miss automatically on attack rolls.

That's a fail on Comsicstar's part. He is Bound and Helpless... about 50 ft in the air. Whoops!

+7 for 25. Yeah, that one wasn't so much of a problem.

Jessica gasped as Blake picked her up bodily, the rush of hormones apparently giving him a burst of more-than-usual strength. She laughed as he carried her over the threshold like a newlywed bride, kissing him fiercely just before he let her down on the bed. She laid on the bed, looking up at Blake, her thoughts rather disordered. After a moment she sat up and kissed him again, putting a hand behind his neck and pulling him down to the bed. "I think this turned into a very good vacation."

KC and Ironclad may be upgraded to a Home Run.

Brian felt a pang in his chest when Gwen mentioned his parents. Maybe his mom could wrangle a pass to Sanctuary by pretending to be someone else (and avoiding psychics, probably) but his dad? Brian didn't delude himself into thinking that AEGIS or UNISON or the Freedom League or whoever was running this whole show would be too interested in evacuating criminals. He didn't want to say that to Gwen though, not and ruin such a perfect moment. He held her, kissing her cheek and the very end of her nose. "It's going to be hard being without you," he admitted. "When are you leaving?"

"If you remember," she said, "I said I wanted to hold off on more... serious stuff until I was eighteen." Her sudden blush, visible even in the setting sun, left little doubt as to the exact nature of the 'serious stuff' she was talking about. "Well... I'm eighteen now. Been so for a couple days. In fact, that's why I can afford to drag you around Europe, but that's neither here nor there. What I want to tell you is that I want to do... serious stuff with you. All the serious stuff, really." She blushed furiously, but didn't look away from Blake's face.

Brian felt the pressure in his chest ease a bit. Gwen wasn't leaving the school on a permanent basis, just going away for a bit to help with the evacuation. It'd suck that she would be away for so long, but she'd be back. And in any case, he'd probably be much too busy in the next few weeks to miss her. Or so he tried to tell himself. Brian smiled, relaxing for the first time since Gwen had burst into tears. "I wish you weren't going away," he admitted freely, "but I can hardly tell you not to go help people. But I'm really going to miss you, Gwen." He leaned closer and kissed her again, more slowly, taking his time with it.

Brian fought to keep control of his emotions. "Gwen, you're not making sense! Sanctuary? What is that? If the Freedom League fails, the entire world's going to be destroyed -- but they're not going to. They didn't when Omega came, they didn't when the Grue invaded, they didn't when that madman tried to take control of ArcheTech. They don't lose -- they can't lose." He took a deep breath, steadying himself for what he was going to say. "And even if they fail, I'm not going to run. My parents are still here, and I'm not going to abandon them."

GM Glowstar was breathing easily, but he didn't stir when Wisp laid him on the bed; he was out cold. Down in the garden, Changeling's immaterial hammer struck Mega square in the skull, causing the large man to stagger back several paces. He looked to be on the verge of collapse, but he didn't fall. After a moment he glared into the fog, the energy burning off of him making a striking corona in the fog. "Fools! Servants of the Terminus! It's not enough it's not enough! Do you really believe such tricks will save you? He can hear you! He still knows where you are! None can hide from the Gorgon! None can stand against her herald!" The self-proclaimed herald turned and loosed a blast of blue-white light, catching Changeling square in her gut. With a surge of power, Mega leapt from the ground and hovered in the air, scanning the garden. "You are all as insects! And you shall be CRUSHED!"

Zu, I still need a check for Wisp vs. that Intimidate. Glowstar's unconscious, so nothing doing there. Cosmicstar can't see! Oh noes! Thankfully he has Accurate Auditory Super-Senses, or this could be a pickle! Okay, he's going to toss a cosmic energy blast at Changeling because she just about KO'ed him last turn. That's 33, which hits. DC 31 Toughness save for Changeling, please. For his next trick, he's going to fly up and out of the fog. Initiative 32 Megastar -- Bruisex2 -- GM 19 Myrmidon -- Uninjured -- HPx4 17 Changeling -- Uninjured -- HPx2 15 Crow -- Uninjured -- HPx3 14 Wisp -- Uninjured -- HPx3 10 Glowstar -- Unconscious, Bed'd -- HPx6 Myr's up.

Even as his body warmed against against Gwen's, Brian felt an icy hand reach into his chest and take hold of his heart. "You're... you're leaving? You're leaving... Claremont? But Gwen, I... how could... but me and you, we were... why?" Emotions rushed through him, bringing back memories of when his parents were ripped away from him, and Brian found himself on the edge of tears. "I thought you were going to stay here. In Freedom City, at Claremont. I thought we'd be... together." He took Gwen's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Why, Gwen? Why do you have to leave?"

Brian calmed down, pulling Gwen to him again and letting her cry. "It's alright," he assured her. "I know. It's hard to even comprehend what's coming. That even something that powerful, and that evil is out there is kind of overwhelming. But we'll get through it, I swear." He held her, and after a moment began chuckling. "God alone knows how we're going to do it, but dammit this world didn't take it lying down when someone wanted to chew up the entire universe. We're not the kind of folks to take something like this lying down." He pulled away, looking Gwen in the eye and brushing her hair back. "Besides. Do you really think I'd let anything in the world keep me from seeing you again?" He leaned in and kissed her quickly.

Starlight turned her head away, avoiding the worst of Young Britannia's light burst. At the same time she charged a bolt of her own mystic power and unleashed it with a cry, turning her whole body and putting all her strength behind it. Unfortunately it went wide, passing over the heavily armored figure and splashing against a wall. Undeterred, she flew over to place herself between this new foe and the hero he had sought to bring down. She put her palm out at the new figure, speaking loudly. "This is not your place. I do not wish to harm you, but if you bring violence upon this place, then you shall be defeated, villain!"

Starlight's going to do her level best to blast this sucker. Which isn't nearly enough. Starlight sets down between Levi and Zealot, doing her best to shield him.

Probably the last thing Brian was expecting was for Gwen to throw herself at him and burst out crying. He had no idea what was happening, but he reacted automatically, folding his arms around her and hugging her to him. For a long minute he rubbed her back and murmured soft, comforting words while his mind tried to process what was happening. "Gwen," he said. "Gwen, it'll be alright. Everything'll be fine, just calm down." He kept repeating the words over and over like a mantra while he tried to figure out what could have caused her such distress. When an answer came to him though, his heart froze. "Gwen, wait." He pulled away until he could look her in the eye. "It's not your parents, is it? Is your family okay?"

I'm going to need a Stealth check for that, and while you're at it why not give me a Notice check as well?

Martial Artist's opposed grapple check. +20 for 27. Not quite enough to avoid Protectron's grasp, so he goes flying. Toughness save. +7 for a total of 11. Misses by 13, so Dazed + Staggered.