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Dutemps Building, Château de Martel Early Afternoon, Around Lunchtime Eve leaned back in her office chair and sighed, rubbing her eyes and fighting off an encroaching headache. She needed something to eat, and to see the other ladies of the Castle. She gave herself a gentle mental chiding, reflecting that it was so typical of her to jump straight into to tackling the pile of paperwork tied to the company, the tower and the city projects she had instead of taking some time to reconnect with her friends. "Yeah," she said out loud, padding off toward the kitchen, "Food."

GM Claremont Academy March 9th, 2020 Afternoon, after class Aside from Casanova and Stinger's grudges, things seemed to have calmed down considerably since the fight between New Young Freedom and the group of young heroes in October. New Young Freedom had resumed their patrols in December and, so far, they seemed to stay on the straight and narrow path. Well, things between the two groups had been mostly calm. A week or so before, Muirne, Luke's girlfriend, had been teamed with Sebastian for a project. Soon after, she had started talking about how maybe Sebastian wasn't that bad, that Luke and the others should try to give him another chance...

OOC for this. We'll start off with just @Kaede Kimura and @Nerdzul, I'll call in @RedSpine, @Cubismo and @Lone_Star as everyone else gets involved!

May 2021 After All Bad Bad Nevertheless The good news was that Sea Devil and Singularity had beaten the monster. Whether it was the injury Aquaria had done to it, or the terror Jessie had put in its eyes, Memento Mori had disappeared before it could attack the Project Freedom crews that had arrived on the scene. Singularity had even been talked back to Jessie before she could hurt anyone, thanks to the need to get Aquaria to a hospital and the nearby presence of people she knew well. The Kingston cleanup process was...going to be delayed for some time. Jessie's fast healing meant that she didn't have so much as a bruise by the next morning. There was just one piece of bad news. Aquaria still hadn't woken up. Out of her armor she looked decidedly bedraggled, a downcast look on her broad face, her eyes responding to light and her body to stimuli, but her mind seemingly elsewhere. Eve had found that Aquaria was indeed still in her head, but far away as if in deep sleep, and magical probes by Tarva and others hadn't gotten very much further. They'd taken her home to the castle where she could rest, in the deep wading brackish water pool where she was the most comfortable, but her quietude was alarming. No one else who had been hurt by the creature had stayed down like this. Even going back to the worst injury anyone had heard of Aquaria getting, the in all honesty probably too-violent beating from Nereid that had led to her initial arrest, there was no reason for her to still be unconscious, especially with seemingly no bruises herself, the next day. People had been in and out of the Castle all day, specialists from the League and elsewhere, but nobody had figured anything out yet.

GM Claremont Academy October 15th, 2020 5:00 PM Sebastian Shields had not been happy about the events of the day that he had returned to Claremont after the summer. No, the way everyone had acted, like he was not better than him? It was simply not acceptable. He had been busy, since then. If the newly enrolled students wouldn't give him the respect that he deserved, then he would teach them why they should respect him. He would be better than all of them. All he needed was a team. Eddie Fell was the logical choice. Of course Sebastian needed Chump. Any good team needed some muscles, and Eddie was loyal. He wouldn't even need a nudge to help. Charlene Hart had been by Sebastian's side for a while. The two had often been seen together, at least ever since he had convinced her to go to prom with him. He had helped her, he had calmed her down. She was loyal, would never disobey him. Toxin got to be the second member of the team, her mere touch would be enough to stop anyone from messing with him. Sebastian quickly decided that he didn't need more boys for his team. No, Chump was quite enough. Melanie Cutter was a good choice. No powers, but she had extensive training and she was a killer with that bladed whip. He even liked her codename, Stinger, even if the redhead would probably challenge him a bit more than he would like, but that was fine. Sebastian would enjoy convincing her otherwise. Finally, the team needed some legitimacy, so of course he made friends with Cassie Dugan. Having the vice-principal's daughter on the team would open doors, and she filled in the much needed spot of a flier. She didn't really want to do it, but she did like the attention it would get her. Bluebird probably wouldn't cause too much trouble for Sebastian. So, his team had been set, and on October 1st, Sebastian made a big show out of presenting his group to everyone. Of course, no one else needed to do anything anymore. After all, they were the new big team at Claremont: The New Young Freedom. They had been busy in the few weeks after that, breaking curfew, fighting bad guys and punks. Not really any super villains or anything like that, and of course they did it in secret. Not like anyone would tell on them, that would just get others in trouble too. But... there were rumors. Maybe they had beaten up some kids for just causing a bit of trouble. Maybe the kids had not really done anything really bad, at least not something that deserved that? Maybe it was just a rumor. After all, they were heroes, right? Maybe not everyone trusted Casanova.

OOC for this. @Cubismo, @Nerdzul, @RedSpine, @Heritage

Steve carefully replaced the tea cup on its saucer, lest he hurl it to the ground. “...why do you come to me with this?” he asked the projected machine intelligence, his voice a low rumble of suppressed anger. “A Furion machine intelligence should be loyal to her mistresses above all else.” “I am loyal to my mistresses above all thinking things,” said Bluebird sharply. “They are not puling cowards, to hide their deeds in darkness - and I am not betraying them by telling you these things.” She set her own simulated teacup down. “But there are other loyalties, to things greater than things that think.” “The destruction of Nihilor,” they finished together. He stared at her, understanding what she had left unspoken. His hand flat on the table, Steve was heedless of the nearly empty outdoor cafe, the weather having taken a turn for the hot that had driven all but the hardiest patrons inside to air conditioning. “Her repentance. I have seen it. You have seen it too. Is it sincere?” Bluebird looked uncertain for a moment, a strange look on a warrior AI’s face, before speaking, “As sincere as her nature allows.” “Good,” said Steve flatly, shooting a look at the distant towers of the DuTemps Building. “If it were not, I would tear down the walls of that place around her head.” “And war against me?” inquired Bluebird seriously. “And the Fleet, and a mighty spectre, and a warrior from beyond the stars?” There was a tone of frank disbelief in her question. “Not to mention Tarva herself.” “I would not come alone.” Privately, Steve wondered who among his new-found allies would stand with him against their own flesh and blood - fellow heroes of Earth-Prime. “But if she has sincerely abandoned her old ways, that thought is of no matter.” Steve put his hands together before him, steepling his fingers in almost an attitude of prayer. “And this offer to walk the streets, what has she said?” “She refused it,” said Bluebird, sounding a little surprised at the memory. “She refused it and said she would learn human ways inside the building. She fears to go outside. She fears you, the other drone, the city…” “She is correct to do so,” replied Steve, feeling the anger surging that he had first felt upon learning Tarva the Black was in Freedom City. He had silenced it once, but now - “When I thought she was in...in confinement there, I could understand that. Outside of the direct protection of superhumans, she would certainly be killed, and she was essential in defeating the nanite drones.” He rose to his feet, hands at his sides now and balled into fists, still staring at that distant building. “I swore that I was not her enemy - and I meant it. But what you describe is inadequate. That is...that is more freedom than she deserves.” “There were people on this planet who think the same of you,” said Bluebird frankly. “Just as there were Furions who wanted you confined, or destroyed, to prevent the spread of entropy. How is this situation different?” They were biting words, enough to make Steve sit down and consider his case carefully, the metal chair creaking beneath his weight. “If they had done so, I would not have argued with them. There was a time when I would have gladly courted death." He closed his eyes, focusing on his own inner dilemma. "She killed. She...defiled. All these things I did in Nihilor, and more." He opened his eyes. "But she did them of her own will. It was within her power to stop." "She would have been devoured alive if she had no longer made use of proles in that way." It was not hyperbole. "It was within her power to stop. She could have left the service of the Annihilists and gone into the Ghetto, as my parents did." His eyes flashed. "The palaces of the Annihilists are built on the bones and suffering of the proles of Nihilor. She slept in a bed, she ate when she pleased. She had garments when she wanted, and if she had spawned, her children would have lived in luxury beyond the kings of this world. She lived well - on the suffering of others." He looked up at the DuTemps Building. "She lives well still." "She weeps in the night - for loves lost, and worlds abandoned, and the name of her dead gods." They were interrupted by a waiter at that point, and Steve took the opportunity to pay the bill. When they were alone again, he spoke of his own accord, his voice all cold, unforgiving anger that he kept to a rumble instead of a shout. "To weep in the night is her fate. That she regrets what has happened is a sign she is worthy to...to be, at all. But no more than that." "So what will you do?" asked the Furion curiously. "Will you summon your battle-woman and your handfast allies and make war against the castle that holds Tarva?" It was a measure of the seriousness of the moment that the war machine spoke of a potential conflict with no anticipation in her voice. "No," said Steve without hesitation. "No, I will not be the cause of conflict in this world. I am troubled by what you have said - but no more than that." He fell silent himself and studied Bluebird, meeting the AI's projected blue eyes with his own. "You are watching Tarva. And you are watching me. If I had told you I would slay Tarva out of hand, whatever the consequences to Freedom City...?" "There are those beneath the Silver Tree who want you destroyed - and that other drone, too, the better to prevent the spread of entropy. I am not their creature," said Bluebird dismissively at the question in his lined eyes, the two rising now and walking down the street together lest they attract more attention at the cafe. "It is not proper for a Furion to plan a killing without carrying it out with their own hands - not suitable for an honorable warrior. It pleases me that you deserve to...be." "Hmm." Steve folded his hands behind his back, considering those words carefully. "You are indeed a trueborn Furion, Bluebird." He watched as the drone she'd used, an Archetech telepresence drone disguised as a small rolling electronic toy, turned and headed into a nearby alleyway before vanishing from his unenhanced sight altogether - back to the Dutemps Building, and its mistresses. And back to Tarva.

April 1, 2015 Dutemps Castle "They are not your slaves, Tarva." Furion's rage tempered by the coolness of Earth-Prime, Bluebird fixed a level gaze on Tarva, arms crossed over her chest, a face watching Tarva from the latter's personal computer. "They have a world that is theirs, a city that is theirs, and mighty laws and unions to guard them. If you speak to the cleaning staff like that, they will simply quit, and _you_ will have to explain to Blue Fox why you have driven away her handfast vassals." Her big blue eyes narrowed. "Do you think she will like what you said? Do you think she will laugh?" "No. No, she will not." Tarva looked away guiltily, shadows flushing in her cheeks. "I thought it a jest, to play to my-" "Would it have been a joke before, daughter of Nihilor?" asked Bluebird, her usual cheerful voice serious. "...yes," said Tarva, surrounding herself with a protective blanket of shadow. "But a true jest all the same. Please, please message them and tell them my apologies. I try so hard to be of this place, and I fail sometimes, but...I want to. I want to be a daughter of Earth-Prime." Bluebird let out a breath - an affectation for a projected consciousness. "You are a child in the soul, Tarva." It was, despite everything else, a statement of affection. "I will extend apologies. But then it must be _you_ who apologizes, shadow-witch, and takes them back to Blue Fox's bosom." "You are right. I will go write one." Tarva rose to her feet, a look of determination on her face. "I have procured several books on the subject, and with my vast brain I will surely find some..." The swinging doors closed behind her, cutting off her monologue. Bluebird herself made an appearance a few minutes later, in an immaterial holographic form. She looked around the room for a few moments before her eyes settled on one corner. "Ghost Girl." She smiled cheerfully. "Oh, was I not supposed to spy you?"