Fox

She blinked. "You actually made a scarf." sounds rude "Sorry, I mean - you made a scarf? Bought it? Found it...mm, unlikely. I...thank you. Got the force field to trap a little warm air but not enough to...will get good use out of this. Not...even really sure the work I did was worth a gift. Probably...took you a lot of time?" She didn't even reach out to take it, just kind of blankly looking at it like she wasn't sure how to reply.

"Erm," he murmured back. "Right." He turned back to the giant bee, finding it difficult to maintain eye contact with someone when their eyes are bigger than your head. "Fleur de Joie told me a little about your troubles...I'd like to help, if I can. I'm afraid I don't know much about...er, bees, or beehives, but I am very good at digging and building." He gestured at the mounds, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. "The least I could do is lend a hand to some...ah, friends in need." I'm going to get eaten. I'm going to get eaten and turned into honey or something, and no one will ever know because it happened on some other dimension or reality. Life gets a lot weirder when a magic answering machine lobs a fancy sword at you and tells you to protect a place that hasn't existed for hundreds of years.

They breathe fire. They breathe fire. I wish someone would have mentioned that. "Um," he replied, awfully eloquently, raising a hand. "I'm...a friend of Fleur de Joie's. I can...maybe...help you with the digging problem. I hope." Preferably without being eaten! What kind of bee breathes fire? I'm pretty sure normal bees don't breathe fire. ...although, I guess I'm pretty sure normal bees aren't HUGE, either. He coughed, and started to hold out a hand for a handshake before catching himself (How does one greet a bee, exactly...?) and just bowing, a hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "I'm...Gaian Knight. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Dragonfly shook her head, sharing the glance at the heavens as she calculated the likely height they'd have to take. floor height f times floors n plus inter-floor spacing s times floors n divided by average height of step... "Have to know where I'm going. Could end up in a wall. Personal teleport, anyway...could reconfigure on the fly for multiple passengers but it would carry some risk. Prefer to return you to your school with limbs intact. Though there is fascinating work being done on prosthetics in one of the labs...."

Dragonfly had honestly been expecting them to use the front door - when Silhouette's voice rang out from the secret entrance at the very far end of the warehouse, the young blonde's head popped up from behind a counter in the kitchen, where she was stashing her wine bottle. why - probably just wanted to show it off - or approached from that side - mm "Security measures. Can't just put a sign on the door," she replied, waving the ninja over. "A little warmer at this end of the warehouse, if you're cold. Difficult to heat the whole thing. First winter. Working out kinks in the system...water heating's inefficient. Plenty of bleed heat from the generators, anyway." Noting the distinct lack of a battlesuit-clad best friend, Dragonfly turned part of her attention back to their connection. Where did you run off to?

"And," Dragonfly noted as walked with her new companions, nodding toward the pass, "won't be respected everywhere. Some rooms have warning signs for a reason." awkward silence - answer question? - supposed to be showing off technology anyway - unlikely to reverse engineer off a demonstration The young woman held her hand out, the pad twisting and folding back into being, then disappearing the same as it had before. "Folded space - 'dimensional pocket'. Very useful. Fairly common...not widespread or commercially available. Abusable. Safe, reliable personal storage. Good for personal items, vehicles, spare clothes...very useful for intimidating criminals. Transfer isn't dangerous, but I'm told it's unpleasant." She tilted her head, frowning. claustrophobia - cleisiophobia - fear of elevators? no latin name "Could. A lot of climbing...exercise is probably healthy. Why?"

right outside-? Dragonfly grabbed a gauntlet, slipping it on and triggering her dimensional pocket, letting her costume wash over her in a rippling, twisting wave. At a thought her computers went to screensaver - everything but her link with Ironclad was now encrypted and out of sight. Not much point in standing around in the cold. Should probably come on in, if you're nearby; door will be unlocked. ....didn't try to punch her, did you?

Dragonfly shrugged, the gentle correction completely unnoticed. "Wouldn't know about high school. Less about Claremont. Little experience with- we are?" She blinked again, glancing from Supercape to Etain and back again. "I...okay." The pad twisted and disappeared, folding away into nothingness in her hand. She winced, leaning her head to the side and stretching. "Good idea to take a break anyway. Going to go crazy at this rate. Prove everyone right. Haven't helped give a tour yet, anyway. Probably wise. Might be interesting, regardless." most things are worth doing once - can go back to work later - probably a dead end anyway

Dragonfly sighed as her computer alerted her to the request. always when I decide to spend a night in - too cold anyway - if I didn't like that short jacket so much... Putting down the wine glass, she sat up in her comfy chair and turned to glance at the nearest monitor...and blinked. why...? Yes. Silhouette - heroine. Worked with her during the Halloween...mess, she sent back, not really bothering with a keyboard. She didn't want to dwell on the events surrounding Halloween for too long...bad memories. Helped her and her friend with a technical problem not long ago, as well. Why?

Dragonfly rolled her eyes - the head movement apparent, even if her eyes themselves were barely visible under the visor. "Working on it. Could teleport to safety if I noticed in time. Better than falling the whole way...flying's a challenge to do. Have gone through a lot of mannequins...close to a solution." She tapped a finger against the pad, still somewhat lost in her thoughts. lasting longer without destabilizing - would be better if I could reconfigure the- That snapped her out of it. She blinked, lowering the pad. "...it is? Why?" catch up - Claremont? - private school - something about - ah community outreach - publicity - bothersome "...right. High school. My...condolences?"

Gaian Knight was pretty sure he'd never seen a squid that big outside of a movie, and he was really sure he'd never seen a movie squid spit hundreds of tiny, angry squids at its enemies. He'd barely avoided the tentacled shower, grabbing onto his rock and flipping upside down to let them bounce harmlessly off the bottom of his ragged stone platform. He could see them swarming those unlucky enough to be caught on the ground, and took quick stock, trying to get close to the action without getting anywhere near the probable reach of that giant, ink-inflicted cephalopod. An arm outstretched, a series of large jagged earthen spikes shot up out of the ground in a rippling chain across the docks, covering as much of the squirming masses as safely possible. "If I was a marine biologist," he nervously mused, trying to keep a very, very careful eye on the angry sea creature, "I'd probably have a pretty good quip for this."

Minion-sweeping sounds like a good idea to me. Area Blast, shapeable. As many squidlings as GK can fit into 20 5-foot cubes without inflicting the attack on an ally. Squiddies get a DC20 reflex save, and a DC20 or DC25 toughness save, depending on whether or not they pulled off the reflex.

Will Save vs. Squid's Fearsome Presence; DC17 (1d20 + 7=9) I....think I'll spend a hero point to reroll that one. He'd never forgive himself if he fled and someone got hurt. His bonus is +7, so I won't even bother with invisible castle - on a reroll, he can't possibly fail it. EDIT: Forgot that Fearsome Presence has a relatively short range! Up in the air and just arriving, GK was likely further out than 35 feet unless the ref wants to rule otherwise for dramatic purposes, in which case he'd keep that HP.

Dragonfly nearly plowed right into the pair, walking along with an electronic pad in her hand, muttering something about balancing out vibrations in...something. Whatever she was looking at, it was engrossing enough that she only stopped short when her visor put up an alert, warning her she was about to try walking through a short young woman, a fellow Lab member...and a wall. She blinked, looking up and taking a step back to restore everyone's personal space. It took her another moment to get her brain back on track. "S-..sorry. Distracted. Why are you on the--" She looked around. not the seventeenth floor "...ground floor. How...? Nevermind. Not important." She reached under her visor to pinch the bridge of her nose, sighing. "Going to walk out a window one day."

There was a lot of wisdom and compassion in that. Gaian scratched the back of his head, finishing his coffee and trying to get a better feel for the ground. "Everyone deserves a good home, right? Especially people who've had a bad life. Or...bee people. Beeple?" He raised an eyebrow, pondering that. "I guess I won't know what I need until I get there and see - well, not see, you know, but - see what's in the area. And...meet some giant bees." This almost, almost beats out the magic answering machine. Almost. Politely finishing his cookie - which was delicious - he set his cup down and adjusted his gloves. "I...I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be, whenever you're ready to brave the cold again. I'm actually kind of looking forward to meeting a giant bee queen." He chuckled, adding, "I've never been face to face with royalty before."

"'Beelisima'. Naturally." Oh. Sixty-foot talking bees. How silly of me. He had a look of great beemusement, now trying to imagine giant bees working retail. "If they can describe what they need and, er, provide some advice I'll certainly see what I can do. No creature should have to deal with the winter cold, much less...giant, intelligent bees." He had to admit, the mental image of a bunch of bees trying to pack into a cramped, half-built home was pretty sad. Even if they were massive, massive bees. That talked. "Is there a limit to how much space you want it to take up? Not that they're likely to have, uh, other neighbors, unless you took in a colony of forty-foot carpenter ants...."

Reflex Roll vs. ohgodsquidbabies; DC20 (1d20 + 7=23) GK also, miraculously, manages to avoid the squiddy hordes.

Gaian Knight paused, coffee halfway to his lips. "Bees. Bees the size of...sixty-foot bees?" He was having an awfully hard time imagining this, much less flowers big enough to...sixty-foot bees. My god. "That would be a pretty big earthen mound. But..." Sixty-foot bees. "Yeah, I can probably help them with that. If they know what they need, I can help them make it happen. It'd be...interesting." He thought about the sheer size of the hive - mound - required to house sixty-one semi-sized insects as he picked up a cookie and nibbled. "Do they, uh. Can they point out directions, or write things, or...how smart are they?"

"That's...huh." He wasn't really sure what to think about that. "That's kind of depressing, really. It's like where we could be if we'd taken another path. Or...literally where we could be if we'd taken another path. That's...huh." I guess teleporting to other realities smells like grass. He sipped his coffee while he mulled that over. "If they went all crazy on each other, you've done a heck of a job cleaning up your - ah, bubble. The earth here is pretty happy - full of concrete skeletons, but remarkably clean for a disaster zone. If the population wiped themselves out, though, who's needing help?"

He absently took the cup, blinking. No utility companies on this planet? Carefully, gingerly, he sunk his senses into the earth, soft golden glow showing through the goggles as he felt his way through the soil and rock under his feet. It was mostly familiar - sediment, stone, the usual suspects (Hmm, glacial scars.), some decidedly unusual suspects (And...that's not natural. Is that a foundation?), but it all felt...weird. Off. Unfamiliar. The personality wasn't quite the same, like meeting a good friend's sibling. The features were there, the family resemblance was obvious, but... He sipped his coffee, glow fading. "This is...a very interesting place. Where in the world - uh, worlds? - are we?"

He kept his coat on, but removed his hood and pulled his face cloth down around his neck, still looking around through the goggles. "Oh, just with some milk, if you have it." The earthshaper made his way to a comfy-looking chair, pausing for a moment while dirt and dust trailed across his outfit to collect in one hand, forming a little rock that he tucked into a coat pocket as he sat down. "I don't mean to pry, but I really have to ask - how do you power this place? I didn't think utility companies visited plant houses."

Gaian blinked, glancing around as he reoriented himself. Teleporting was always a little disconcerting - the sudden, if brief, loss of connection with nearby earth never failed to weird him out. It was like having the lights flicker - for just that instant something reliable is gone, and it never sits right. Still, it was a pretty neat 'house'. He unbuttoned his coat and rubbed his hands, glad for the space heater. "Decaf's fine by me. You have a nice place here. Very...green - it suits you." A note to self: having headquarters sounds like a really, really good idea. I should work on that.

Gaian Knight chuckled, coming down to ground-level and hopping off his 'ride' - said ride dissolving into dirt and rocks and spinning away to become food for surrounding plant life. "I understand, believe me. I swear if I didn't have a layer of cloth between me and my armor-" he rapped the chestplate with his knuckles "- I'd freeze to it. Some coffee sounds fantastic."

Making his way down to a large, unfinished basement room of his building, Tarrant glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and dropped down through the ground, stone closing up above his head as he made a little pocket of space around himself to change in. The chestplate was always the worst part - he once again reminded himself that he really, really needed to figure out a better way to protect himself. Even if he was sort of abnormally durable these days.... Just under fifteen minutes later, the fully-costumed Gaian Knight swept in toward the center of Liberty Park, waving to Fleur de Joie as he flew in seated on a nice big rock. "Hello! Have you been waiting long? Chunks of dirt just don't fly as fast as you'd think."

Tucking the phone between his head and shoulder, Tarrant glanced at the map on his wall. Teleport? This is going to be a strange day, I just know it. "Hm. Maybe the center of Liberty Park? Plenty of plants there, and at this time of day probably decent privacy for....uh. Teleporting." Leaving his office and locking the door, Tarrant swung the bag over his shoulder and headed for the stairwell. Fifteen minutes...better get going. "If that works for you."