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Unknown Wednesday February 14, 2018 (hopefully) When Rev and SFX entered the portal, they immediately felt as if they were being pulled forward at incredible speed, yet at the same time felt as if they were going nowhere. All around bright light flashed by, creating a sort of tunnel around them. Just a little ways ahead of them were the simulacrums who were still holding on to Lawrence. However, some sort of distortion appeared around the three, appearing to be centered on Lawrence. "You will be taken to the master." Said the simulacrum that looked like Robert. "It is inevitable."

West End, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday February 10, 2018 9:34 PM Mali Benjawan was standing on the rooftop of a four story building in West End dressed in the costume she wore as Crimson Tiger. Over the past couple of days Mali had been investigating the disappearance of several young people in some of the lower income parts of Freedom City. Her investigation so far (read: some roughed up criminal informants) had led her to believe that these disappearances where the work of the Dark Fist, a street gang connected with the On At-Zhang, a Triad that operated in parts of the West End. While Mali would normally not be overly afraid of pursuing things further on her own, as luck would have it her friend and former classmate at Claremont, Giang Trang, had reached out about wanting to help Mali with anything she might be working on. Giang had explained she was helping a current Claremont student with some things and wanted to get her a bit of crime fighting experience as part of the process. So the two had arranged to meet here. Mali had arrived a bit early, to watch over the location that her sources had indicated was a hideout for the Dark Fist. It was an old warehouse on the West End’s boarder with Grenville For the most part the warehouse was dark and appeared abandoned, but from her vantage point, Mali could see that the section toward the back had lights on, and there were lots of motorcycles parked out near the back entrance and occasionally people coming and going out there. A few blocks away Jessica Witchblood was on a Freedom City Transit bus, on her way toward the southeastern edge of the West End. The young woman had been looking into the disappearance of Hannah Ryan, a girl that was a peripheral member of the group of friends who worked in the clubs that Jessica was part of. Despite warnings from Jessica and some of her other friends, Hannah had gotten at least partially involved in some of the more dangerous criminal elements of Freedom City. And now no one had seen Hannah in a couple of days. Not convinced the police would put this as a high enough priority, Jessica had started looking into it herself. So far the best lead she had was that it might somehow be connected to a street gang known as the Dark Fist. So, now she was on a bus headed toward a place the gang was known to hang out at. The next stop would get her a few blocks from the address.

1/14/2018 Headmistress Office, Calremont Academy "So, how have you been settling in, Miss Xieng?" Miss Summers asked sitting behind the impressive wooden desk in her tastefully appointed office. Zhu smiled and nodded, "very well Headmistress. I like the school very much." "Excellent, that is something which we of course strive for. It's important that you both enjoy and learn. Believe me, the time will go fast and you may find very unique pressures which you have to face." As the third incarnation of the Raven she had first hand knowledge of what kind of pressures the young girl in front of her might encounter. Zhu was about to reply when a middle aged woman stepped in, "I am sorry for interrupting Miss Summers. However, your 10am is here. Mrs. Davydov and her son. Should I show them in." Miss Summers considered for a moment, "Alexa, would you be willing to do me a favor?" "Yes, ma'am. Of course," Zhu replied. "Excellent. We have a new student starting. I would like to discuss some things with Jack's mother in private. Would you be willing to show Jack around the campus?" Zhu paused, "I would... but I'm still very new here." Miss Summers laughed easily, "yes you are, but admin server you are currently monitoring has a map of the campus whic I'm sure you can find. Besides, it's Sunday and most students are still alseep I would imagine." Nodding, Zhu got up, her pleated skirt falling to her knees as she straightened her simple long sleeved top, "yes ma'am..." she said sheepishly as she had been peeking at some of the nearby computers. Smiling, Miss Summers continued, "let's just not make a habit of going places you shouldn't. Thank you Miss Xieng, I'm sure Mr. Davydov will be fine in your company. We'll talk again later to check on your progress." Stepping out of the office, she ran into a pair of legs. A very large pair of legs. Looking up she realized that it wasn't some kind of colossal leg statue, but they were connected to a person who loomed above her. She blinked a few times at the mountain of a boy before realizing that this must be Jack, craning her neck she gave him a smile, "oh! Sorry... I didn't see you. I'm not sure how I didn't. We're to take a tour of the facility... and... oh! I'm Alexa. Sorry. You have me out of sorts."

The Pitching in Thread, now with more OOC!

February 17th, 2018 Science Lab, Claremont Academy Zhu It was Saturday Afternoon and while most students were either still asleep or relaxing as there were no scheduled classes today. Zhu, dressed in black yoga pants and a flowing white thigh length tank dress was the lone occupant in the lab. While she wasn't working on any particular school project, the amazing array of equipment was a dream for her to work on. She was currently trying to revise her nanobots to give them a little more independence. Her latest babysitting adventure had convinced her that she needed to really work on their capabilities. While she was working in the pristine lab, another pair of student was finishing up their tour. Eric VanWitzenburg, a senior, was leading Tony Edwards through the science section of the classrooms. He paused just outside the lab that Zhu was in, "so that pretty much wraps up the tour. We're in the science section and you'll have a lot of classes here. You have the introduction packet, your schedule, and your room assignment. I hate to do this, but I have to head out. You should be able to get back to the dorms through that door." He shook Tony's hand and hustled back to the admin building where there was another person whom he had to give a tour too. Meanwhile an atomic centrifuge made a powerful whirring noise from the lab as it separated some component materials to it's atomic elements. Zhu didn't appear to be looking at the very detailed readouts on the console, but every now and again, a prompt would flash up and it would go away without her even seeming to acknowledge it.

January 3rd, 2018 Dorm Room, Claremont Alexa sat in her room scanning through her YouTube channel at some of the comments. Her fingers did not grace the keyboard even as the screen scrolled and flicked from topic to topic. When she had been in Shanghai, her presence on her channel had been constant as her schoolwork had barely occupied a fraction of her time. Yet, with the move and transition to Claremont and her work to assimilate into American society she had barely put out anything in the past couple of months. While the comments on her work were positive, there was an undercurrent of restlessness from the posters wondering if she had dropped the channel or not. "Zhu, you need to post more!" "Where have you gone? We miss your stuff!" Of course there were some of the more rude and crude posts, but she had learned long ago to filter them out. The inevitable crude propositions and inarticulate rage that the internet seemed rife with were taken care of with a reasonably good set of filters. Still, she missed producing videos and now that she was feeling a little more settled in, the urge to create had crept back up on her. The question always was what to make this time? She was known for her special effects and short films with elaborate sets. Ideas were always the hardest part, but once she had one, then she could start laying the groundwork for it. Jumping off her own channel, she started to scan the news, looking both at current and past events. Thankfully, Freedom City had more than enough colorful material for her to look through and she was soon awash in photos of epic struggles and colorful heroes. As she was scanning she paused on a story about an Olympian hero, Scion. Reading through it she grinned as an idea for a short came to mind. She could practically picture the set with sweeping Greek architecture and who wouldn't want to do immortal special effects. Right! Idea found, now to find a leading lady. She didn't think that anyone would really want to see a comically underage Chinese girl play the part, so starring in it herself was out of the question. She didn't have the money to hire a professional, but probably could get some funds for an amateur. Especially someone who might be looking for some supplementary income. Grinning, she started a scan across social media outlets searching for someone who would have the right looks. Her ability to work the computer without having to operate it manually was a godsend as images and threads blazed by across the screen. Suddenly one paused and she gave it a good look. The woman, Moira Morley, had a face that would really suit the Greek Goddess part... well with a little post processing at least. She wasn't a professional and worked at a bar in the West End. That was about as perfect as it was going to get. Hopefully she would want the money and perhaps some exposure! To: Moira.Morley@morleyspub.com From: Zhu.Xieng@gmail.com Subject: Hi! Would you like to star in a movie? Hello, I know this is really kind of random, but I produce YouTube short movies and have been looking for someone to feature in my latest one. You have a perfect look for what I want to do and was wondering if you might be willing to spend a couple of afternoons to star in my film. I'm a student at Claremont but have some money to pay you as well as a successful channel. While the money wouldn't be great, if you are at all interested in acting, the exposure would be pretty good. I would love to meet with you and show you my work and talk over the possibility of you working with me. Sincerely, Alexa Xieng

2018-02-07 20:12:00 Bayview - Pramas Bridge Pramas View CIty Park Zhu The view across the South River, and especially the impressive Pramas bridge was impressive, at least to Zhu who felt some comfort watching the docks on the other side of the river. Her home had been a busy port and this was a view that reminder her ever so slightly of where she had come from. Not that she objected to being here, but sometimes there was a twinge of homesickness where she just liked to pretend that she was still in China. While she enjoyed the view, she had more reason lately to come to the small park. Her mentor had asked her to work on her concentration and had given her some exercises and tasks that were to help her concentrate on more than one thing at a time. While she could do them in Claremont, she felt a little silly doing the Yoga poses in front of Rev and had sought out the solitary park with it's little memorial to Chris Pramas. On most nights, it was pretty clear of people, and certainly more so in the winter. While she hated the cold it was apparently good training to be uncomfortable while working on concentration. She was just about to get into her first position when she noticed the woman who had either entered the park with her, or perhaps had gotten there just before her. While it was a little odd, certainly the park was a public space and she wasn't the only person who appreciated the wonderful view. With a sigh, she began to try to balance on one foot with her other leg angled against her standing leg's knee. Shuddering a little, she raised both arms to the sky and held the position, trying to empty her mind and concentrate on just being.

February 1st, 2018 Ying and Yang Convienience Store, Lincoln GM: As was her schedule, Zhu often found herself back in her parents store on many evenings. Just because she was at school didn't mean that she didn't realize how much help her parents needed. Considering all they had given up to move here, a few hours during the week was the least she could do. At least tonight there wasn't much in the way of customers, being a Thursday evening. She'd be able to close things down soon after cleaning everything up and mopping the floors. The Yin and Yang carried a variety of sundries for the residents of the poor, but not criminally ridden neighborhood. So most of the customers were both regulars and local. Still, they did carry a variety of medicinal herbs that her parents either grew themselves in a small greenhouse, or somehow imported from China. When people came from elsewhere in the city, that's usually why they came. Frankly, Zhu figured that they could likely just run the store on those, considering what people were willing to pay for some of the more rare plants. While it wasn't really her call, her parents did welcome any advice from their gifted daughter. Which considering she had placed a fully automated restocking robot in place was probably for the best. She'd check the programming on the machine again tonight before heading out to let it do it's work. However, for now she had more important things to do as she was busy texting Lexa even though her phone was sitting five feet away on the counter. 'Nothing's going on. It's pretty dull here. What did you think about Eric in Powers and Responsibilities? I think he's pretty good looking, but what a temper' the text scrolled seemingly on it's own as she controlled it with her mind.

December 9, 2017 Freedom City Maritime Museum The Waterfront Alexa Xieng's homework had taken her to the Freedom City Maritime Museum, a small private museum that discussed the history of Freedom City's shipping industry. There was actually quite a bit of history to see here, much of it going far beyond the age of heroes that had begun in the late 1930s. In her walkthrough so far she'd passed everything from a birchbark canoe like those used by the Lenape Indians who'd once lived all up and down the New Jersey coast to the cunningly hand-crafted model of one of the Nantucket whalers that had docked at Freedom's ports from the late 18th century on. The museum's tour guide, an older man with a white-streaked beard and a merchant marine cap, was obviously much more eager to talk about this part of Freedom's history than the "new wing." "Don't get me wrong," said "Captain Craig" a little awkwardly as he glanced into the newly constructed wing of the museum, its metal-walled rooms a sharp contrast to the rebuilt Victorian brick that made up most of the rest of the museum - which had once been a shipping baron's house, a century or so before Alexa's birth. "We certainly support Freedom City's hero population - but there isn't much to say about their maritime history. We discuss the Deep One invasion and the Atlantean one last year, of course," he went on as the two of them crossed the central foyer of the museum to the "hero wing", "but you can find that on your local websites. But don't let the curator hear me say that," he added with a wink. "We do have some fine artifacts preserved," he added, "all of them donated to us by the Freedom League. Behind Captain Craig, peering through the doors of the new wing, Alexa could make out the newer exhibits the man was speaking about - the Deep One invasion of 2011 being one of the main centers of attraction. In fact, a nearly intact Deep One suit of battle armor was in a glass case at the center of the room - but a half-dozen seeming-'tourists' were in the process of opening the case! The half-dozen men, all of them in Hawaiian shirts and Bermuda shorts that clashed oddly with the chilly weather outside, were intent on their work - and hadn't noticed them yet.

The OOC. What do you want to do?

Claremont Academy Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday January 17, 2018; 3:28 PM "Thank you for taking the time to come and meet with one of my students Giang." Callie Summers said as she walked down the hallway of a Jasmin Summers Administrative Building. Walking alongside the school headmistress was a twenty-two year old Asian woman with shoulder length black hair. Standing about five foot three, the young woman had a lithe build and moved with an easy grace. She was dressed in dark blue jeans and wore a jacket much to light for the cold weather outside, a red windbreaker with a Del Mar Lifeguards crest on the left front breast. "I am always pleased to help Headmistress." Giang Trang replied. "And it is always nice to have an opportunity visit once again." "So you will be finishing your degree this Spring correct? Settled on any plans for the future?" "Nothing definitive. There are a few offers for research projects I could work on for the short term. But I likely will take a bit of time off to visit Lord Zandar and his family in the Lost World, and likely spend a bit of time in Atlantis with Thaelia." "I trust those destinations were not choose just because they are beyond the reach of your father?" Headmistress Summers asked, glancing over at the young woman beside her. Giang gave a small smile. "No, although it is much easier to relax when one is not looking over their shoulder." She paused a moment and then asked, "so, is there something in particular you are hoping I can help Zhu with?" "Well, beyond just being a well-grounded, non-teacher young adult that she might feel more comfortable talking to and confiding in, she does have some confidence issues and has frozen up in stressful situations." "Not exactly uncommon for most teenagers, although here it is somewhat less so and certainly is a problem in situations many of us tend to end up in." Giang stated with a nod. The two continued to talk a bit more as they began descending down the building's central stairway. A short while later they arrived down in the main lobby of the building, where Zhu Xieng had been instructed to meet the pair. Quickly spotting the teenager, Headmistress Summers moved over toward her. "Good afternoon Miss Xieng, may I introduce one of our somewhat recent alumna, Giang Trang." Giang gave Zhu a small formal bow as she was introduced, along with a warm smile. The Asian young woman possessed something of a serene presence, combined with a casual confidence. <"I am pleased to meet you Xieng Zhu."> Giang said in Mandarin. The Mandarin style she used, along with her accent, was a bit formal, but perfect.

GM Greatest Grabs Wading Way, Freedom City, New Jersey Tuesday, November 28th, 2017 10:30 AM It had been a day since Alexa and Zhu had moved in together. And already the pair were making a run to Greatest Grabs to replace broken machinery from a night of enthusiastic experimenting. Greatest Grabs a high-end electronic store on the Wading Way with the appearance of a commercial establishment to draw in more patrons. Whether those patrons could actually afford their wares was another matter entirely. But, it was the time of the year for sales. At such affordable prices, even two high school students would have no trouble in making a purchase or two. Not alone to this line of thought the pair found themselves having to wade through a crowded store. Ending up in the stereo section purely by a matter of pedestrian congestion. A shove here, a push there, and their aisle was chosen for them.

GM North Bay, Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday February 14, 2018 5:06 PM The streets of North Bay were generally quiet and not too congested with traffic, with the exception of the morning and evening rush hours. Of course, Lexa Veen and Zhu "Alexa" Xieng were just in the beginning of the evening rush hour, so there was considerably more traffic than normal as they rode in the back of a luxury town car. The town car had been sent to pick the pair up at Claremont Academy to bring them to the Harrows' home in North Bay. Headmistress Summers had recruited the two teenagers to help a family friends of hers, the Harrows, with some babysitting tonight. The slow moving traffic afforded the pair opportunity to take in some of the large homes and mansions that filled this part of Freedom City. Or to watch the many luxury or high end sports cars that they passed in the traffic. Eventually the town car had made it through the worst of the congestion, as it entered the more northern section of the North End, where the homes were much more spread out, possessing larger grounds and gardens around them. After turning off one of the main roads onto a smaller road, the town car finally reached the pair’s destination. The Harrows' home was a large mansion set well off from the road, a long driveway leading up to the front. Hedges ran alongside the road, although not so tall that they could not see more of the grounds beyond. There was a large, well groomed garden to the right of the driveway, and open grounds to the left that appeared to stretch back around the mansion for who knew how far. The home itself was of a classical style, that would like right at home on some English estate. The town car pulled up in front of the mansion, the driver getting out to open the door for the two teenagers.

OOC for this thread. Zhu and Lexa have likely met at least one fellow student at Claremont that went to the Nicholson School.

01/07/2018, Late evening Lincoln - Between Yin and Yang Convenience Store The Noreaster which had swept over Freedom City had slowed the torrential pulse of the city into something softer and more manageable. The streets, quiet on a Sunday night, were especially so with the foot of snow which had brought things to standstill. However, the city, and its heroes were quite used to the Eastern Seaboard weather, and things were already getting back to normal. The Yin and Yang Convenience Store was a relatively new establishment in the Asian dominated area of Lincoln, but had quickly gathered a patronage due to the warmth of it's older owners. They seemed to be able to really put customer first policies in place and managed to get a rather wide variety of ethnic produce and foods to stock the shelves. However, on this Sunday night, the only person in the store was Zhu, who was sitting behind the register reading a book on Practical Applied Mechanical Systems for one of her classes. Her parents had sacrificed much to get her to America and the Claremont academy and she did her best to help them out when she could. Sunday night was usually a good night for her to give them some well deserved time off while she minded the store. While the store was not in the best of area's, it wasn't as deadly as the Fen's and the routine patrols by police and heroes did a lot to keep crime down in the immediate area. It didn't help that there was a liquor store adjacent to them, but at least they had a nice metal grate over their windows to deter the criminal element from the block. Drumming her fingers on the counter, she was making notes as she read, the computer next to her seeming to dictate things nearly on it's own. Outside a plow rumbled through the streets and she looked at the blinking yellow lights as the faded down the major thoroughfare. With any luck, she'd be able to close up early and get back to her dorm. She had a new dance track she wanted to play for Lexa and get her opinion on it.

OOC Thread for whatever comes up.

November 27th, Mid Morning Claremont Dormitory After meeting with the Dean, Alexa felt more at ease. She had a schedule as well as a room assignment, which while she loved new experiences, order was much preferable to chaos. Of course, she was wheeling a mostly broken suitcase with the remnants of her things, courtesy of a less than mindful speedster. The vaporized silicon components likely were ground into most of her things, but even that was just another problem to deal with. She was here; Claremont. It was now official and she could relax just a little bit before whomever the school had assigned to her as a roommate. She opened the door to her room and looked at the small, but orderly room. Two single beds twined with matching desks and small shelving units dominated most of the space. The carpet was soft and clean and the walls a pleasantly neutral color. What was nice was the wood trim and furniture which was something that was rare in China, although it certainly was more common here from what she could tell. Still, it added a touch of warmth to the space which was nice and made it feel more lived in even though nothing was there. She thought briefly on waiting to see if anyone showed up before unpacking and essentially choosing a side. However, her patience wore thin after a few seconds and she forced open the battered suitcase and began to unpack on the left side of the room. It was a shame that washing was going to have to be done already, but that was more than outweighed by the excitement of meeting all of the very special people that seemed to go to school here.

Collection of links and information on SFX Basics: Character Sheet Reputation "An interview with WNTW's Mary Fox" [20Q Interview] Short Stories: November Vignette - Decades Timeline: 11/27/2017 - Do Students Ever Show Up Early? - Zhu shows up at Claremont for introductions on her first day 11/27/2017 - Beauty is more than Skin Deep [Complete] - Zhu meets her roommate Rev and they work to conceal Rev's metallic appendages. Break in's to the science labs! 11/28/2017 - Rush Hour 12/02/2017 - Bonfire with Vanity - A party is thrown, and Zhu crashes it. 12/09/2017 - Spiraling Shape - While visiting the museum, strange things are going on. A heist of Deep One material and a mystery as Devil Ray confronts the heroine. 12/16/2017 - Soup of Human Kindness [Complete] - Even heroes can find ways to give their time and talent. 01/03/2018 - Freedom City's Got Talent - Zhu looks up an actress to help her with her latest YouTube project. They meet for coffee. 01/07/2018 - Kicking the Tires 01/14/2018 - Pitching In - Zhu meet's Jack and shows him around campus. Later, the pair meet up with Rev then head out to do some bowling. Things go downhill from there. 01/17/2018 - Observing the Mind [Complete] - SFX gets to meet Giang who becomes her mentor. She is shown how to focus her efforts and to not be as tense. 01/20/2018 - Winter Wonderland - Snow on the campus leads to some hi-jinks and super powered snow fights! 02/01/2018 - Do you carry Asparagus Racmosus? -Jessica comes to the Ying and Yang while Zhu is working there looking for some mystical herbs. Things get very strange. 02/07/2018 - Mistaken Controls - Zhu meets Replica while doing Yoga exercises in the park. 02/14/2018 - Superpowered Babysitting [Complete] - The inseparable duo of SFX and Rev sign on to babysit Lawrence, son of Paradigm. How can you lose a child in space and time? 02/14/2018 - Far From Home 02/16/2018 - Circumference of Hi 02/17/2018 - Weird Science