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Rita Kord Dormitories, Third Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, September 7, 2024 Although it was a rather cloudy day, the weather was warm and pleasant in Bayview Heights. Once again the start of another school year was drawing near, with classes starting in just a couple days. As was tradition, this mean that the Claremont Academy campus was a scene of general chaos as students and their families made their way to the school’s dormitories to get the students moved in for the year. Two of the older students tasked with trying to maintain some semblance of order for the third floor of the Kord dormitory were Carmen Arrache and Iris Miller. A sixteen-year-old girl exited one the stairwell at the west end of the floor, pulling behind her a large suitcase with one hand, while the other held a violin case. Lynn Conners had her long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and was dressed in a navy blue skit and a white button up blouse. She tried her best to have something of neutral expression on her face as she started down the hallway toward the room she would be sharing with Mattie Hopper for the year. The blonde teen could have already been to her room if she had wanted to, but did not want to so openly use her speed (she would save that for putting things away in her room). Instead, she had taken the time walking from the parking lot to try to calm herself after the ride from North Bay with her adopted brother. Lawrence Harrow reminded her so much of her own brother (although some of his mannerism and accent were completely different) that being around him too long often triggered memories of what had happened that lead to her barely escaping her own timeline and eventually ending up in this one. Thankfully she was feeling a bit better at the moment, the last thing she wanted was to have a nervous breakdown the first day at Claremont.

Sub-Basement of Claremont Academy Bayview, Freedom City, New Jersey Friday September 13, 2024. 10:00 AM (Counting as GM Post) A spooky day! In theory. Friday the 13th, the day of horror and spooks. Especially one getting so close to Halloween. It was that day when the student listing of Renee Cole King, Vanya "Jack" Davydov, Harper Hale, Daphen Celeste, and Sarah Francine Thatcher were requested in a room with a very exciting name. It was noted to show up in either their uniforms or costumes and expect strenuous activity. In the case of the last group of the week, it was likely they'd already heard rumors either from other classmates or their Sophomore classmates about what to expect; that they'd get a chance in the 'fabled' Doom Room, to test their mettle and powers against some of the creatures cooked up in the complex and effective simulator. Some of the tales their upperclassmen and fellow sophomores had said about what they would encounter had been clearly exaggerated, likely in good humor for the newer students; a particular Upperclassman had regaled several students with a tale that she'd had to fight The Centurion. She'd later been sternly lectured by another Upperclassman about scaring the new students. So they probably weren't going to fight The Centurion. But others had suggested encounters that seemed more than possible; The Maestro, Dinosaurs, Orion the Hunter, just to name a few. While the stories varied in the specifics, the overarching details did indicate there was probably going to be some sort of fighting or other conflict for the students to navigate to get a hold of their powers and learn how to work as a team, and for the faculty themselves to be aware of those same factors, because nothing beat a first hand test. In that way, you could in fact take it as the first test of the new school year. The large room was mostly white and grey, covered in hexagons, and gave no indication as to what the group would be facing as they entered, heading down the stairs from the student entrance to the building. They couldn't even tell who was going to be administering the test, as the black windows in one side of the room were one way, letting the instructor see but not the students. All they had been told was to get into costume and get into the room, and the test would begin soon.

Spigori Unified Year 331,697 "Ratings are down again, huh?" Tun complained as she watched the dip- even her most annoying rival, Fex, was getting viewers again-. How were they getting bored again? She'd just brought Wrestling to the Spigori, and they were already bored of Wrestling! They really had some gall. The giant being of hard light turned her many eyes to the screens she kept locked on all earth signals she could obtain. A mind knowledgeable beyond compare and made purely for entertainment watched entertainment made for beings below her on the evolutionary totem pole; but even she had to admit that their entertainment far outstripped what the Spigori AIs could create. As her eyes flicked this way and that, she spied something interesting. "Cesar's...Sports Book?" she questioned. But then as she watched, her questioning thoughts turned to firing probes. She had an idea now! Earth Year CE 2024, March She appeared from a probe that seemed to pop into existence; they didn't appear like conquering invaders, but rather like paparazzi cameras. The projection was 8-10 feet tall depending on the space available. It presented a bright orange creature with blue highlights; blue gems, a blue neck, and bright blue lips. It had 4 eyes- three in a line and a larger one set in the forehead-, it was clearly female. It had 4 arms; each with 5 regular fingers and a thumb. And it had a giant, showman's smile. It was dressed in a toga with a gold laurel crown. It spoke to each person with a loud, excited voice. "Hello! I am Tun, the Mistress of Ceremonies for the Spigori Civilization, their premier entertainer of the entire race, Artificial Intelligence of Channel 1207; Sports Central 8, The Ocho. I am offering you a grand experience to come to my Game Station to participate in the grand opening of my new Battle Casino; Tun's Palace. You will be able to participate in the finest gambling activities that I can muster; those from Earth and beyond. If you win, you can take home any number of fabulous prizes!" she clapped all four of her hands repeatedly. "Yaaaay! Prizes!" The drone spat out some confetti. Then a contract appeared in one of Tun's hands, holding it out to each of the Heroes she'd picked. In another hand, she held an object of great desire to the hero in question, or at least a virtual representation of it. "Are you interested? Just sign here and you can make your dreams come true!" She had absolutely just appeared surprisingly; no matter what the heroes had been doing, Tun had appeared to interrupt it.

An OOC for This Thread Featuring: Diamond Light! Shooting Star! Mz. Grue! And Forever Boy! For now, you can decide what she's offering that's enough that your hero would sign up to journey to a weird alien's space casino! If you want to dialogue it out a bit, you can do that as well.

Claremont Academy, Morning If you weren't paying attention it might seem that the two had arrived the normal way, rather than via teleporter, a guardian and their ward arriving on their first day at a new school. It looks familiar, but I don't remember anything about this place Daphne looked around with something approaching wide-eyed wonder Did I really go to school here? "You previously went to a place called Wells High School, though you did assist them when you were older. And remember to speak not use telepathy, humans are unnerved by such things!" Uncle Rick spoke with a deep melodic voice, that well-suited his current human identity "You are probably experiencing Jamais Vous, the experience of feeling you know a place without remembering anything about the location." the third voice came from a cube attached to Daphne's patch-festooned backpack, who (the cube, not the bag) was Mother Unit Daphne's carer for want of a better word. "Though it is probably best you keep quiet, humans are still nervous around Artificial General Intelligences." As they chatted away the group drew nearer to the building where some of its many students were already milling around for many and various reasons related to the still early day.

Mz Grue Power Level: 7/12 (180/185PP) Unspent Power Points: 5pp Trade-Offs: None In Brief: A reborn Grue out again to experience all Earth's wonders. Catchphrase: "Oh wow!" Theme: Save the World - Daphne & Celeste Alternate Identity: Daphen Celeste (Secret) Birthplace: Birthing Unit TT3-47 Residence: Claremont Base of Operations: Claremont Occupation: Student Affiliations: None now Family: Meta-Mind (Gene father, very distant), Mother Unit. Description: Age: 16 Apparent Age: 16 Gender: Female Presenting Ethnicity: Grue Height: 1.73m (5'8") as Daphne Weight: 60kg (130lbs) as Daphne Eyes: Naturally White, Brown as Daphne Hair: Black In her natural form, Daphne looks fairly typical of her species with her red skin, brow ridges, pointed ears and a mouth, unlike Drones that do without. On a second glance, however, her appearance is subtly different, with her brow greatly reduced and her mouth having natural lips. But the most obvious change is her long flowing hair, from a species that naturally has no hair. Through exposure to cosmic rays, her metamorphic fields have been altered meaning that this is her natural form, though as a shapeshifter she can choose to adopt the more standard forms of her species. And even though her species has no concept of gender, Grue being either cloned or produced by binary fission, Daphne chooses to express herself as female. The original Daphne had based her human form on a character she'd watched on television, but as she'd gotten used to Earth she had begun to form her own distinctive identity. Her rebirth has finalised this with her adopting her own unique form, taking on the identity of a sixteen-year-old African-American woman. As Mz Grue her costume is the silvery-white jumpsuit that was provided by the Grue for her to wear, being a morphic fabric that can adjust size, shape, colours and textures as needed to whatever she needs it to with but a thought. On the chest is the three-pronged star that is the symbol of the Grue Union, Daphne thinks that she’s reclaiming the symbol and using it as a force of good. And whilst she’s a little less fashion-conscious than when she was younger, she still dresses stylishly her costume abilities allowing her to appear perfectly tailored for whatever frame she is wearing. History: At the turn of the twenty-first century envious eye turned towards a certain area of the Orion-Cygnus arm, a Grue infiltrator ship was dispatched but never arrived at its destination. Instead, it came into conflict with a Lor Cruiser and after the Grue attacked, according to Lor Naval records, the Grue vessel was destroyed apparently with all hands. In the battle, however, one of the infiltration/birthing units, Baby, was ejected from the craft with its precious cargo. Damaged from the combat the pod activated its Grue podling occupant, with the onboard portable AI, later calling itself Mother Unit, began to scan for a signal to signify a location for their infiltration mission. However, the signals were scrambled and the AI mistook the signals from Earth as the locking signal. So this little party began the sixteen light-year journey towards the Sol System under sublight powers. The data from these signals was used to help rebuild the damaged databanks, whilst the pod slowly repaired its battle-damaged systems. Though with damaged radiation shields it podling occupant was bathed in cosmic rays, along with those Earth signals that Mother Unit was using to construct a personality to determine how best to raise this young podling. Little Daphne grew up in this environment of the ship limping towards Earth at light speed, learning about this world from the carefully picked entertainment. Apart from instinctively knowing Grue the isolated podling had no connection to the telepathic influence of the Meta-Mind, instead, she learned to read and write the languages English of the shows. With the aid of the only parent she knew Daphne formed her own identity and gained a sense of right and wrong from the heroes she saw on these human shows. With the cosmic rays causing alteration to her cells Daphne developed differently than the Drone she was originally designed to be, instead, she took on more human features (much like a Grue Metamorph). She spent her time practising her shapeshifting and telepathic abilities, as well as learning as much as she could about Earth culture from its broadcasts. From this information she chose a name for herself, Daphne Celeste, feeling that she was ready to experience her new home. During her time on Earth Daphne had done a lot to embrace her new home planet, making many friends with the heroes of Freedom City. She has also ended up living among the women living in the DuTemps castle, being a gregarious person who enjoys the company of those around her. From her superhero activities adopting the title of Miss, now Mz, Grue making efforts to be accepted by the common folk of her adopted home. This effort finally led to her being offered a position of Freedom League Auxiliary. Everything was going great for Daphne as an accepted superhero in Freedom City, she had even begun to use Mz Grue over her original Miss Grue identity and had begun to form her own unique identity. Then she just disappeared, and no one knows quite what happened, even Daphne, her body has never been found and it's generally assumed she was taken out but another villain or the Grue themselves. What they, or anyone else, knew what that Baby, had made a spare clone to keep in storage in cas eof emerganceis. Activated the Birthing Unit released this new Daphne clone onto the world. Or at least as far as anyone can work out, this Daphne is again sixteen but her form is more like that the older Daphne had been forming for herself, and her knowledge of the world is completely up to date. She doesn't however have any memories of her superhero days, only vaguely recalling people that she has met before. As she's a clone there's no way to tell if it's a revitalised old Daphne or a completely new version of the same Grue. Not sure what to do with this new Daphne it was decided to send her to Claremont to become a student again. Personality & Motivation: Everything about Earth is new again, and Daphne is enjoying Earth and everything it has to offer. She is often amazed at things with an optimism that everything working out has suited her well through the darkest of times. As a telepath, she knows the best and worst of what humanity can and does think, though she knows not to pry into people's thoughts unless it's an emergency. But despite this she still gives people a chance to prove their better nature, trusting in the inherent goodness she believes are in (most) people. Though never to the point that she would endanger another, she is still a hero after all. Whilst she can, and has experienced the full range of emotions the one that she has never felt the need to seek out is physical love. Partly this is from her alien nature, a clone species does not need sex after all, but neither has it a need for love and family which she has experienced many times. It’s mostly however that she feels no need for sexual encounters, instead, she is happy to experience romantic love in all its shapes and forms. Powers & Tactics: In her enthusiasm, Daphne tends to go off half-cocked spending no time assessing the situation and instead rushing into danger to try and help people as quickly as she can. She will attempt to use her shape-shifting abilities to best cope with the situation at hand. Power Descriptions: A reclone of the original Mz Grue has all the standard abilities of a Grue and though she's lost her phasing powers (for now) she seems to have kept her telekinetic powers. If anything they seem more powerful than they were before. Complications: Grue are you? Daphne's knowledge of her own species is based on a very damaged copy of the original database contained in Mother Unit. As such, she knows almost nothing, apart from the media portrayal of them, about her own species. Grue the Looking Glass Almost all of Daphne's knowledge about Earth comes from humanity's broadcasts into space. As such her knowledge is slightly skewed and she expects life to behave just how she had experienced things from watching television and movies. Hide and Grue Daphne know that as a Superhero she must preserve her secret identity to protect her loved one. Not that her strange habits make this easy sometimes. Grue the best Daphne is a natural optimist and naive and tends to naturally assume that people are telling her the truth. Even when all evidence should be telling her the exact opposite. Congrueity Shapeshifters and Grue especially are feared and hated by a majority of citizens of Freedom City. Daphne feels that this is just a massive misunderstanding and everything would be fine if only she could explain things to them. Mothering Grue During her time in space the Birthing Unit, now calling herself Mother Unit, has gained some unusual habits based on the broadcasts she has monitored. She considers herself Daphne's literal mother and occasionally will intervene if she considers that her daughter has been placed in too much danger. The GM can take control of Mother Unit to try and influence Daphne's actions or even attempt to stop her acting. Gruesome End Someone had it in for the original Daphne, and may still be out for this new clone. Abilities: 2 + 0 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 6 = 16PP Strength: 12/28/28/4 (+2/+9/+9/-3) Dexterity: 10 (+0) Constitution: 14/22 (+2/+6) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 16 (+3) Normal/ Density/Growth/Shrinking Combat: 8 + 4 = 12PP Initiative: +4 Attack: +5/+2/+7 Unarmed, +4/+2/+6 Base Defense: +5/+3/+7 (+2 Base, +3 Dodge Focus, Size -2/+2), +1 Flat-Footed Grapple: +6/+13/+13/+1 Knockback: -1/-7/-11/+1 Normal/ Density/Growth/Shrinking Saving Throws: 5 + 7 + 7 = 19PP Toughness: +2/+6/+6 (+2/+6/+6 Con, +0) Fortitude: +7/+11 (+2/+6 Con, +5) Reflex: +7 (+0 Dex, +7) Will: +8 (+1 Wis, +7) Normal/ Density/Growth/Shrinking Skills: 60R = 15PP Bluff 7 (+10) Concentration 9 (+10) Diplomacy 7 (+10) Gather Information 7 (+10) Knowledge 9 (Popular Culture) (+10) Language 3 (Grue [Native], Galstandard, English, Spanish) Notice 9 (+10) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: 18PP Attack Focus (Melee) 1 Dodge Focus 3 Fearless Improved Initiative 1 Minion (Mother Unit) 5 Equipment (Baby) 7 Powers: 8 + 6 + 5 + 8 + 27 + 11 + 9 + 26 = 100PP Communication 8 (telepathy, 2,000 miles) [8PP] Comprehend 3 (Languages - Speak All, Understand All, Understood) [6PP] Detect Emotions 5 (Super-Senses, Telepathy, Acute, Radius, Ranged) [5PP] Detect Minds 6 (Super-Senses, Accurate, Acute, Radius, Ranged) [8PP] Grue Nature 12 (24 PP Array, Feat Alternative Power 3) [27 PP] Base Power: Density 8 (+16 Str, +4 Toughness, Weight x5 [600lbs], Immovable 2, Super-Strength 2 [heavy load 520lbs]) [24PP] Alternate Power: Growth 8 (+16 Str, +8 Con, +2 Size categories [15ft]) [24PP] Alternate Power: Morph 8 (Any Form, +40 Disguise) [24PP] Alternate Power: Shrinking 8 (-8 Str, -2 Size categories [2ft, 8lbs], Feats Normal Movement, Normal Toughness) [24PP] Immunity 11 (Life Support, Sleep, Starvation & Thirst) [11PP] Mind Reading 7 (Feat Subtle 2 [unnoticable]) [9PP] Power of the Mind 11 (22 PP Array, Feat Dynamic Alternative Power 3) [26PP] Base Power: Telekinesis 7 (range 70ft, Str 35 [heavy load 3.2 tons], Feats Attack Focus, Extra Damaging, Attack Specialization) [23PP] Dynamic Alternate Power: Flight 11 (25,000 mph, 220,000 ft/rnd) [22PP] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 16 Toughness Damage Unarmed (density) Touch DC 24 Toughness Damage Unarmed (growth) Touch DC 24 Toughness Damage Unarmed (shrinking) Touch DC 12 Toughness Damage Mind Reading Ranged DC 17 Willpower Mind Probed Telekinesis Ranged DC 22 Toughness Damage Totals: Abilities (16) + Combat (12) + Saving Throws (19) + Skills (15) + Feats (18) + Powers (100) = 180/185 Power Points