Raveled

Robin coasted right up to the high-water mark, the elemental leaving her with something like regret, its presence and its mind soon lost in the mingling energy of the vast ocean. She stood and leaned on her staff, her legs unsteady and half-asleep from the long journey. While she waited for her limbs to stop tingling, she looked Wesley up and down. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, but somehow seeing him against the backdrop of a deserted tropical island aroused feelings in her that Robin wasn't prepared for, though in retrospect she should've expected them. The sorceress took a deep breath before speaking. "Wesley. I see the tropical life style agrees with you."

Jessica felt her heart going like a hammer, and she was actually a bit light-headed. When Blake moved forward to kiss her, she responded eagerly, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight. When he pulled away part of her didn't want to let him go, but she did, locking her fingers behind his neck to keep him from moving too far off. Her eyes looked deep into Blake's, feeling the heat in her cheeks and belly. "Wha... What is it, Blake?"

Jessica settled back against the couch, holding Blake close as she listened to the band settle into a crooning Irish melody. She felt a warmth spread through her, a comfortable feeling of happiness just being in her boyfriend's presence. She rocked him gently as Albion warm the crowd up with a few easy ballads, their Gaelic vocalizations slow and sweet but utterly incomprehensible to the inventor. After a few songs, they started an extended instrumental piece, letting the singers rest their voice and giving rise to a murmur of conversation. Jessica stroked Blake's hair gently, pulling away from him a touch. "Hey. Blake." She reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of jewelry, a pair of silver bands cleverly worked into a single ring. "I, uh, found this at the mall. The Radio Shack had a sale on radio transmitters, and this jewelry store was right across the way." Her fingers worked at the ring and separated the bands, pulling them apart. "They're supposed to come apart like that," she explained. "And one goes like this. And the other one goes like this." She slipped one band on her middle finger, and put the other in Blake's hand, closing his fingers around it. She couldn't bear to look him in the face just then; she kept staring at his hand, a blush spreading across her jawline and ears.

Robin knelt in the center of her lab, the wards scribed on the walls pulsing in time to her slow heartbeat. There was a large tripod settled before her, with a gold plumb hanging from the intersection of the three wooden legs. There was a detailed map of the south Pacific on the floor; the displayed area was roughly a hundred miles on a side. It showed a few fly-speck islands and lot of empty water, but Robin was sure that somewhere in there was Wesley Knight. The sorceress sat herself down before the tripod, checking once again that north on the map was aligned with magnetic north. She had cast this particular spell almost a dozen times; the movement were easy, familiar. She tied a swatch of green cotton, taken from a shirt Wesley had left behind one night, around the base of the plumb. Then she took a deep breath and gathered her energy in, and began chanting as she breathed out. The magic swirled around the plumb, momentarily highlighting the runes etched on the surface. She reached out and touched the weight, setting it swinging gently. The plumb kept moving long after friction should've stopped it, coming to rest off-center and pointing at a particular island. Robin say back on her haunches with a sigh, already planning the trip. It was almost two weeks later; it had taken Robin that long to go from Freedom City, New Jersey, to the coast of Costa Rica by bus and train. Now she kneeled on a wave of water, her leather longcoat undone and flapping behind her like wings, wearing her ubiquitous slacks and tee-shirt underneath. Her staff was held out in front of her like the prow of a ship, and her other hand was sunk an inch or so into the water. She could feel the presence of the water elemental, making the waves beneath her firm and speeding her on to the island. For all her planning and careful execution, though, Robin had no idea what she was going to say to Wesley when she saw him again.

So... ya gonna post soonish, or...

That should be enough to cover most of the area. It's also gonna hit the civvies, though. Sure you wanna do that? ;)

What exactly are you using? One of the Blasts, or the Gravity Control?

Robin's resisting with Sense Motive. 1d20+11=24 Oh, well. Gator gets a bite, I do believe.

Clad's new Ini 1d20+3=8 :smash:

OOC for this thread.

Jessica was quiet for several long seconds after Blake's revelation. She slipped her hand inside his and gripped it, hard. "I never really knew my parents," she said. "They're still alive, but I don't see them much. My dad's always off somewhere running the company, and my mom's really into politics, so she's usually down in D.C. I think they love each other, but I don't know if they love me." She swallowed a sudden lump in her throat and kept talking. "I was raised by a lot of tutors and nannies, but once I started making stuff, my granddad pretty much took over raising me. For a long time it felt like me and him against the world, but now I have friends like Mara. And I've got you, Blake." She bent her neck and kissed him on the top of his head. "And I think that, no matter what I had to do to get here, I'm happy to be here." Jessica blinked away a few unexpected tears, and then settled back in the couch as the band started up.

Dead Head stalked through the shanty town, and nothing could hide from his burning gaze.There was one presence that he couldn't ignore, lurking near the surf. It drew closer and resolved itself into a huge, lanky humanoid, at least eight feet tall and broad shouldered, but with arms and legs as thin as the revenant's. Its skin wasn't a gray pallor, though, but an orange-brown color like a beetle's shell. Its mouth was horribly distended, too long and so filled with teeth that they jutted out at every angle; like an unholy combination of wolf and shark. It was a ghoul, a living creature mutated by necromantic energies to be stronger, faster, and tougher. The fact that it would only digest living flesh was technically a side-effect, but not one most necromancers would lose sleep over. This thing, though, was larger than any ghoul Dead Head had ever heard of. It licked it lips and teeth with a long, purple tongue, eyeing the revenant. Its long arms were tipped with sharp, black claws; it raked those across the bare earth, staring straight at the hero.

Jessica smiled and slipped her arm around Blake and pulled him close. "I like hearing about your day. I like hearing about your life. I wanna know everything about you, Blake." She kissed him on the forehead. "So come on. Tell me what wacky adventures you and Rift have been getting up to. Tell me something I don't know about you." She hand cupped his head and leaned him against her. "I want to know it all. Every last detail."

Jessica smiled. "There's a fatal flaw with that," she said, brushing an errant lock back from Blake's face. "If we went to some place fancy, I doubt they'd have secluded couches for a make-out spot. And then what would we do, baby?" She winked and wiggled around until she could sit up again. "We'd have to talk about our day and how school's going." She reached for her cup and sipped at her coffee, hiding the grin that spread across her face.

Jessica giggled happily when Blake leaned in, wriggling her neck under his lips. She reached back and carefully set her cup on a convenient table, then put her arms around her boyfriend and shivered as Blake's kisses worked up her neck. She leaned her head back, encouraging him to move even higher, then tilted her head back down and kissed him passionately on the lips. "You know," she said between long kisses, "we should probably leave off. At least until they put the lights down. For the band. You know?" She kept her arms around Blake, though, holding him tight. One hand curled in his gelled hair, while she shifted on the couch so that he could press more of his body on top of hers. She felt happy and warm and content, lying there in the cafe, Blake on top of her and their bodies curling tighter and tighter.

Jessica picked up her own drink and slipped her other hand around Blake, leading him past the table and towards the far wall. There were a number of wide couches there with deep, plush cushions and end tables for drinks. She sat down at the end of one couch, pulling her boyfriend down next to her and snuggling between him and the couch arm. She sighed, happy and content in his arm, laying her head and his shoulder and watching the band tune up. "Don't stop," she said, smiling. "Tell me more about how fantastic I am."

INITIATIVE 20 -- Suzaku -- HP x 1 17 -- Dyne -- HP x 3 10 -- Valkyrie -- HP x 4 Last -- Zombies -- GM

Ironclad nodded to Kid Cthulhu and touched his arm before he flew of, then walked over to the lead SWAT officer. She showed him the partly-dissembled rifle the terrorist had used, along with the magazine. "Officer, there's something odd here." She handed the weapon over and pushed a few rounds into her gauntleted palm. "These weapons only seem to be firing rubber rounds. These people might have been able to kill with these, but that wasn't their intention."

Jessica giggled as Blake pulled her in closer, flushing a bit. "I am the mistress of web searches," she informed him, arching one eyebrow mysteriously. "My ways are arcane and unknowable by lesser folks." She grinned and put in an order for a large mocha double-hit with mint. "Besides," she added, "I've got to keep the spice in our relationship somehow. If you knew all my secrets, how would I keep you coming back?"

The Java Joint was technically in the basement of one of the old, historical buildings in Riverside. The cafe was a large open space, with one side taken up by a long bar/counter and one corner built up into a stage. Jessica sat at a small table as close to the door as possible, splitting her attention between the band setting up and the flight of stairs leading down from the front entrance. She spotted Blake as he slipped inside, a familiar feeling of butterflies in her stomach and tension in her chest rising up inside her, but had to do a double-take to make sure it was her boyfriend. She stood and held him at arm's length, taking in his new outfit slowly. "Honey," she said, smiling widely. "I like it!" She pulled him in close for a quick kiss on the lips, then turned and started walking towards the counter. "Up for some coffee? The band's supposed to play a few sets, and then there'll be an intermission. I figure we can get some food then." As usual, the inventor's mind was fixated on the practical; Jessica would've planned the entire night down to the minute, if she could have.

Saturday night, and Jessica Parker was getting ready for another date with Blake Salazar. She had dithered on where exactly to go, but thankfully a quick Internet search showed that a band called Albion was playing at an upscale coffee shop in Riverside. Jessica had never heard of them before, but their description as "Celtic/rock" sounded interesting and after she listened to a few songs she decided that she liked what she heard. She just hoped that Blake liked them, too. She was dressing up more than usual for this date, with a blousy top in earth tones that laced up over her bosom, spiraling Celtic designs around the flared hem, and bell-bottom jeans. She was even wearing cherry-red lipstick, a first for her. She just hoped that she wasn't trying too hard with the whole get-up. She wanted tonight to be special. Jessica drove her black truck through the city center and south into Riverside, parking in an elevated structure and walking over to the Java Joint. She had told Blake to meet her here in just a few more minutes.

Protection is a Permanent power. I'm not sure it can be Nullified. For that matter, I'm not sure it can have the Noticable Drawback, either. Powers that require an action to use, like most Movement effects, cannot be made Permanent. Or you could simply never stop moving.

Initiative would be helpful, guys.

SCape is out because I don't want to wait a week for him to post.

Ini for Robin. 1d20+1=10 Argh.