Fox

Mara looked...a little sheepish, actually, ducking her head a bit and not making eye contact. "Not...can't...I mean, wouldn't...mmmmh." She sighed, gesturing over toward the garage area. "Making it more complicated than I have to. To be honest. Simple flight is easy - have done it before, could do it again. But wouldn't be - would really prefer to.........might be easier just to show you."

It was a small mercy that almost no one was around to see Supercape trip over his self-named garment; a very bemused custodial worker (who had apparently missed both the commotion and Quentin's escape into the closet) leaned his broom up against the wall, offering the prone hero a hand to his feet. "Reckon you're that Supercape fellow," he noted through a bushy mustache, retrieving his broom and heading off down the hall. "Not gunna ask why you're in a closet. S'pose y'got better things t'do. Some kinda noise outside, ain't it? Probably gunna hafta clean up after it m'self...always do...." His voice trailed off as he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.

Her gauntlets as a whole have Precise. Fearless! Unfortunately true. Toughness Save vs. Knuckles' knuckles, DC23 (1d20 + 7=13) I hate you, Invisible Castle. Burning a hero point: Toughness Save REROLL vs. Knuckles' knuckles, DC23 (1d20 + 7=16) That's much better. 9->19, plus 7 is 26. Defense shifting! Bah!

Dragonfly stood straight in the chaos, unmoving as the fight broke out all around her. Well, mostly broke out, anyway - Nick seemed awfully effective. She spared a glance at the hands - extremely creepy - but otherwise didn't pause in bringing a gauntlet up to bear on Knuckles, releasing a twisted spacial distortion at the man.

Ranged Attack Roll vs. Knuckles (blast) (1d20 + 9=19) Hm. Could be worse. DC24 Toughness, if it hits.

"Don't worry!" Tarrant, called, rapidly making his way out the door. "I'll go check on them! You should stay here, where it's safe!" And then he was gone, sprinting down the hall and toward the nearest staircase. If I can just get to ground level.... Outside the commotion was starting to drift away, out toward more open areas of the campus. Whatever the thing - things, from the sound of similar noises elsewhere - were doing, they were certainly causing quite the stir.

"Sort of upset at being x-rayed, apparently," Tarrant observed, looking rather blankly toward the window. From down on the campus grounds sounds of commotion could be heard; whatever the thing was it was causing quite a stir. "Other than that I have no earthly clue. I guess I'm just glad I only brought the one chunk; there are a whole pile of those rocks back in the earth sciences, and I dread to think what would have happened if....aw, no." From clear in the other building the finely-tuned ear of a hero would be able to catch the unmistakable sound of a woman screaming, followed by several faint and jarring screeching noises and a series of crashes. Tarrant put a hand to his face. "I told one of the graduate students to run some tests...including a series of x-rays. I need-" I need to find somewhere to change, is what I need. "- to go make sure they're alright."

Tarrant blinked at the x-ray results, scratching the back of his head as he looked at the monitor. "That's....what? It can't be hollow. That makes no sense." And yet it unmistakably was - past the porous 'shell' was a large hollow, almost impossibly smooth; the very center of the hollow held something solid, for all appearances suspended in mid-air inside the rock. "That's crazy. For that to make any sense at all the...inner bit...would have to be floating, or embedded in something the x-ray doesn't--" And then the sample exploded. Not into shrapnel, or fire, but no less eye-catching - viscous green slime burst out of every pore, crack, and crevice of the rock, quickly and alarmingly coalescing into an amorphous blob that proceeded to rear up, make an awful (if a little high-pitched) noise, and leap across nearby tables and out an open window, carrying the meteorite away inside it.

Tarrant nodded, still frowning at the readout. "That's...very strange. Yes, let's. That part, at least, is much more your area - all I was able to do was rule out the usual suspects." He shrugged helplessly, hands in his pockets. "Truth be told, I'm a little limited to my area. I'm very good in my area, mind you, but I don't branch out much...times like these makes me wish I did."

Physical Sciences - there is indeed something very not your standard mineral in the sample, but test results so far don't bring any possible answer to mind. Additionally, there's an odd anomaly with what you know already: a rock of this composition shouldn't be so porous, and a rock so porous shouldn't be so heavy. How porous the rock is, exactly, would require something like an x-ray to determine. Life Sciences - you got squat. There's not much to get, here, though.

Tarrant hmmed at the readout, really wishing it hadn't been quite so long since he'd had to deal with one. "That looks mostly normal. That's iron ore, there - pretty good, too. A little rare metal, and...that.......huh. I have no idea what that is." He indicated part of the spectrum, frowning. "I'm pretty sure that's not a rock. I don't have every possible mineral memorized, of course, but it's not...quite right."

"Don't know how you do that," Mara noted, making her way to the fridge and digging around. "Running, jumping. Rooftops." She pulled out a couple drinks - bottled, not canned, for that extra touch of class - and set them on the counter, twisting the top off one. "Would much prefer to fly, if I could get my wings working."

Caught, Mara blushed a little and cleared her throat. "Admitting nothing about extremely attractive butts I may or may not be looking at. Can't prove otherwise. Warehouse camera footage will be strictly for science." Still, she helped herself to another look before adding, "Want something to drink? Decent stock. Water, milk, soda. Wine."

Mara locked the door, looking around her warehouse with something bordering on pride. "Not much, but it's home. Plenty of space, quiet. Neighborhood could be better, but local threats don't...mmh." She smiled to herself a little. "Don't come within a few blocks, anymore. Very mysterious." She put her hands in her pockets, taking the opportunity to indulge in a moment of secretly admiring Jill from behind. "Would give you the tour, but it's pretty open. Can see...most of what's worth seeing from here."

Mara glanced up from some machine or another, blinking at her door and then the clock. She swore in Russian at the time, grabbing a grease rag off the workbench and bringing the front outdoor camera up on main computer monitor just to be sure it was who she thought it was. Sure enough, there was Jill, glancing around by the door. the door - my door - eeee - did I just 'eeee'? The inventor started toward the door...and paused, jogging back to the monitors and bringing herself up on camera, using the grease-free back of one arm to brush her hair back and carefully adjusting her jeans and t-shirt. Then it was back to the door, taking a deep breath, and pulling it open. "Jill! Ah - hello."

I've been poking around CO over the last couple days - @Blayden (Dark Born or Mindtrap).

Tarrant was all smiles, hand folded in his lap and sneakers flat on the floor - some old church habits just never go away. The newlyweds had his full and undivided attention, however. It was a beautiful ceremony, and while he didn't know the groom they seemed a fine couple. The lack of an objections opening didn't pass him by - he'd had a few friends get married in college, after all - but that certainly seemed like a wise move. He hadn't ever really understood the point of that bit, anyway. It was just asking for trouble.

On the other hand, common sense says there's a lot you can't do if you don't actually have the device. Powers with personal range, actually AIMING your attacks unless the device happens to be pointed in the right direction, any power that requires that you do something physical (e.g., reach into a dimensional pocket), and so on. You'd almost have to design your device for the purpose of using it remotely, which any sane GM is going to smack you for. ...hmm. I'd say no - you'd have to do them in sequence, or with enough Quickness that they're functionally happening simultaneously. I may obviously be corrected, here, but all applications of +Area I can think of let you do a single thing applied to lots of targets - +Area Damage does a single type of attack, with the same modifiers and extras, to everything it hits.

"Somewhere in Asia, I think," Tarrant replied, standing by with characteristic quiet patience. "Apparently some old civilization or another had them shut up in a fancy room way underground. My friend wasn't sure if they were being protected, or stockpiled, or just moved out of the way...honestly I think he's hoping I can give him some insight, there." He looked around the room as Quentin did his thing, hands in his pockets. "You really have some nice equipment here," he noted, with a low whistle. "We'd kill for half your budget."

"Mmh. Thank you." Dragonfly grimaced, but her tone was grateful, at least. "All the same. No more speeches. Not cut out for it, I think - and not as good with crowds. Learning experience, I suppose...." The dirty blonde engineer didn't even look up from her chair, where she was staring up at the ceiling. She did, however, allow herself the smallest of satisfied grins. "Karma."

Huh. I don't know about 1, but something like 2 seems like a fair tradeoff, sorta - true, you basically get Indirect for free, but you've also essentially dropped your device from 'hard to lose' to 'hey, I'm over here, come pick me up'. Seems easy to abuse, though....

Dragonfly frowned at the remaining piles of food - not to mention the food that hadn't quite made it to the desk - and tilted her head. "Didn't make much progress there, did we. Feel free to take whatever you like home. Rest...mmh." She joined the healer in stacking and re-bagging, thinking back on rooms she hadn't visited in a while. "Social commons not far from here. Should have a fridge...." She cleared her throat, pausing for just a moment in her bagging as her brain caught up with the whole 'date' thing. At least the afternoon had given her plenty of practice in just going with the flow... "Mmh. Yes," she replied, trying so very hard to keep her cool. "Saturday sounds...good. Could meet you here, or gave you my warehouse address earlier, either is quiet enough for language exchange....."

Dragonfly All-Access Pass (43) Certain Flaws (11) The Conquering Mind (12) Crack is Whack Part II (3) Place Your Bets, Ladies! (9) Russian Reactors are Reliable (16) Twilight Talks (16) Visiting Hours (2) Welcome to the Lab! (6) Vignette 43+11+12+3+9+16+16+2+6= 118 posts, plus the vignette Gaian Knight Indescribable, Indestructible, Insatiable (23) 23 IC posts + (16/2=) 8 GM credit posts = 31 posts GM Indescribable, Indestructible, Insatiable (16) 16 GM posts, worth 8 normal posts, to be applied to Gaian Knight

"Mmh." Dragonfly was apparently glad that she wouldn't have to explain why she had or hadn't had her head looked at, and made a show of raising an eyebrow and stroking her chin to think the idea over. "Deal - will make sure to call you in event of terrible migraine, health-threatening invention testing, or inexplicable aversion to sleep. Distraction is helpful. Also healing, I suppose." She frowned, though, and added, "Thank you, however. Honestly. Dislike painkillers - why I use them only as a last resort, and barely then. A very infrequent need, but...will return the favor somehow."

Dragonfly wandered in only shortly after Miss Americana, looking worn-out but relieved. "Excellent PR," she noted, flopping down on the first available comfortable chair. "But too many...crowds. For me. Think I've used up my social energy for weeks. Months. Glad we only open once, don't think I could do another speech." She put a hand between her visor and her face, rubbing her eyes and the bridge of her nose. "Don't know how you do it."