ic This Side of the Pond [Open]

[BitCook]

At -2 or whatever the temperature was in the frozen hellscape that was New England, Vicki looked at the offered sweater.  Her jacket was meant for for London winters, rainy and 10 degrees Celsius.  Not deep cold and snow that one would expect in the Alps or some other exotic destination. Pure manners would have had her politely refusing the offer. However, the petite girl was quite cold. So it was with a grateful smile that she nodded and said, "thank you so much. I didn't really expect it to be so cold here. I think my father and I were worried about making a good first impression as opposed to showing up looking like the stay puft marshmallow Man."

 

Between the casual miracle of healing the cut, and the simple question of what are your powers, Vicki's attitude an opinion of the school was changing rapidly. She had started to assume that powers were just accepted, but she was now starting to realize that they were common. As she tugged the comically large sweater over her head, the smile that poked out was both large and genuine, showing off two little dimples on either side of her mouth.. Much of her reservations and guard were starting to come down.

 

"Well if you ask anyone else it's schizophrenia. I kind of spend a lot of time talking to myself. But I suppose I guess I would be classified as a psychic". She gave a little self-deprecating grin, "most of my other classmates would have called me a psycho."

 

She then paused a moment, "does everyone here have powers?"

[Poncho]

"Hah! Thanks Lawrence, you're a great guy." Michael said irrepressibly cheerfully as his face was patched up. "Both for fixing me up and for not ratting me out." He laughed. 

 

"A psychic? That's cool. So you can like read minds and the like? Or see the future or something? Those are really impressive powers. And you're probably not Schizophrenic or Psycho." He grinned. 

 

"As for powers; yeah. As far as I can tell, everyone has powers. Though how much control and how comfortable people are with their powers is different for each person, obviously." He says. "That sort of caused me some issues on my first day honestly, so I'm working on it still. My powers are pretty basic though. I can fly, I'm super strong, tough, and fast.

[BitCook]

Oooof.  That cat came screaming out of the bag quickly.  Although, to be fair she had told them she had Psychic powers.  Why did she even open her mouth about it?  The small logical part of her mind was trying to explain that just saying Psychic generalized what she could do.  That did not change the fact that while she had not told people what her powers were in the past, she had been around people when Psychics were discussed.  Being incredibly sensitive to people's emotions, Vicki usually could tell how people felt around anyone who claimed they could read minds.  Rarely was it good; most of the time showing fear, suspicion, or other indications of unease.  She worked hard to suppress her power because she just didn't want to know what they felt, not yet at least.  She was riding on a euphoric high after finding out the type of school she had ended up in and wasn't ready to face how people really felt about her and her sometimes intrusive powers.

Giving a nervous laugh, Vicki shifted from one foot to the other, pulling on the hem of the overlarge sweater,  "well... something like that.  Mostly emotions.  Mostly... and um... I get visions.  They're really kind of annoying and they come at the worst times.  I mean... I guess there's a bit more... uh... I can move things with my mind too."

Even without her powers, Vicki was an astute judge of character, and she consciously focused on the remaining snow on the ground.  Not wanting to see what she felt would be the signs of suspicion and mistrust.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

"No worries Michael." Lawrence replied to the other boy's thanks. As the topic turned to Vicki's powers, the teen focused back on the British girl, trying to gauge if she might be too uncomfortable with the subject.

 

While she certainly appeared to be, not unexpectedly Michael responded with his typical non-judgmental inquisitiveness. Lawrence certainly had no negative reaction to Vicki's admission, having had a foster sister for the last few years with similar abilities.

 

"I am sure with practice you can learn how better to focus those visions Vicki." The blond teen offered with a reassuring smile. "My foster sister has very similar abilities and graduated from here a few years ago. She works for Danger International now, so travels a lot, but next time she is in town I could see if she has some time to meet with you."

 

"As for the students here, there certainly been ones who did not have powers that have attended, but were still interested in being costumed crime fighters. I am not aware of any currently."

 

 

 

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

"Okay, I was kind of wondering what your powers were, Mike. All I could see was that your hair turns orange." And Consuelo gives this mischievous grin. "Oh really? I didn't know everyone here had powers. I just figured a lot did. But I never really asked, I guess."

 

If Consuelo was capable of concealing her emotions, she wasn't making any display of that aptitude today. "What, seriously? You're psychic, Vicki? Ooh, ooh, ooh! Could you, like read my fortune? That would be soooo cool! But, uh, you probably shouldn't read my palm, though. . . . "

[Poncho]

"Heroes without powers are super cool too!" Michael said enthusiastically. "Like the Raven family, or uh...Foreshadow was his name right? Standing up to super-powered bad guys with nothing but your wits and how well you've trained your body!" he throws a few punches at the air. "A lot of them are like, masters of dozens of martial arts too, right? That's so impressive. I don't even know one." he grinned. He continued to talk up his friends, and that included Vicki, even though he'd known her for like all of 5 minutes.

 

"You can move things with your mind? Can you pick me up? Or throw me? Just like hurl me across the campus? That would be incredible." He was like a kid in a candy store seeing something brand new.  "I'm sorry that you can't really control your powers. I kind of have the same problems sometimes, I'll just be walking along and then suddenly I'm floating in the air because I wasn't paying attention to where i was putting my feet...I can get it's a little harder when you're getting visions of the future or accidentally reading people's minds though...but at the same time I bet the teachers here will be able to help. They've been a great help to me."

 

"As for the orange hair...well I mean that could be an interesting power. 'The ability to change your hair color to orange'. You'd have to work pretty hard to make it useful, maybe...I bet someone could figure it out though. I mean you could just be one of those super training heroes and then use the hair color change for your costume?" He thought about it. "Also my hair is red, not orange. I prefer to think of it as like... Rose gold." he fluffed his brown hair a little bit. It was a bit of an overstatement to say it 'wasn't orange' when he was burning out, but even Michael could have some pride in him at times, and apparently here that meant giving his hair a special color

[BitCook]

With more than a little trepidation, Vicki pulled out the ball.  The anchor and bane of her existence while also being the thing that had opened up her powers like a flower to the sun.  Sitting in the knit covered palm of her hand with the sleeve of the sweater dangling down four or five inches past her finger, the ball looked exactly like a cheap dollar store toy.  She was careful not to think of a question, careful not to shake it; no sense in having to try and make something happen that she didn't wish.  No sense in giving it an opening to mess with her life further.

"Well... this is kind of how I tell the future.  Sort of.  I mean, it's complicated.  Sometimes there are visions and sometimes I have to ask the ball for clarification.  Um... it also is kind of bossy," she said with a bit of a frown.  "The worst part is when I'm just talking to someone or wandering around and then all of a sudden, there it is.  Some intimate, or revealing portion of someone's life.  Just sitting out there unbidden and unwanted.  So not only do I kind of look like an idiot, going blank while it's parading their dark secrets, but then how do you talk to someone when you find out something um... strange about them."

As her powers went, moving things was far more cool and far less controversial.  As far as she knew, there was no unwanted movement that happened and it certainly had helped her solve some complicated or sticky situations without having to out herself.  So she replied to Michael with a little more confidence in her voice, "well... yeah, I should be able to pick you up and move you around.  Unless you weigh a LOT more than you look.  I guess I can move a lot of stuff."

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

"Okay, very funny. Ha ha. Are you all in on this?" Consuelo looks around accusingly at Lawrence and Michael. "I might not be a genius, but I know what a magic eight ball is! Okay, you've all had your fun, tricking dumb Consuelo that the new girl is a psychic that gets her powers from a magic eight ball. Ha, ha, ha. I don't know why I even try with you people!" And the antler-clad self-appointed snow-blower flies off in a huff.

[Poncho]

"...A...magic eight ball?" he seemed befuddled. "...That's...a totem..right? Like a magic totem that helps you do stuff? I mean, they can come in any shape and size I would assume...so I mean...why wouldn't it be a magic eight ball." he was trying to apply logic to magic, which was really a fool's errand, but part of being irrepressibly positive is just accepting things sometimes, excuse or not. "But then it gives you visions...and you ask it questions...but it orders you around..." he nodded along. He came to his conclusion and decided to announce it.

 

"Your powers are really difficult! I'm sorry that you have to deal with them, so let me know if you ever need any help!" he said with absolute, complete sincerity and earnestness. He had no idea about magic, no idea about powers that have rather unfortunate side effects, but he was still committed one hundred percent to giving a hand to someone in need, because that's the person he was. "If there's anything you even think I can do, I'm your guy." And then Consuelo got upset at him. He raised his hands with his palms up in a gesture of surrender at her accusatory glare, like it was a weapon aimed at his heart. When she flew off, he raised a hand to stop her but didn't fly after her. Which he acknowledged to himself as weird. He should, he usually would. But something about Consuelo made it hard to put the extra effort in sometime. He really needed to ask her about that at some point, why he was always on edge around her. Maybe Bernadette knew.

 

 "Consuelo, wait! I didn't know either! Come oooon!" he called to her retreating back, but his shoulders slumped in dejection with her exit.

 

"Crap."

[BitCook]

"Shite..." VIcki said quietly, "it seems like such a better curse and description of what just happened."

It was the first time that the very proper British girl had cracked the perfectly mannered and spoken aristocrat.  How that had gone sideways befuddled her in a huge way.  She had been regretting oversharing, but as it turned out, what had landed her in the kettle was not that she could rip information from their minds, but that it was powered by a $5 Hasbro toy.  I mean, it was all strange and she barely understood any of it really.  Other than working hard to control and work with the powers she had, she and the Ministry of Powers had made nearly zero progress on what the ball was.  Theories ranged from bound extra planar creature to sentient relic.  The one thing in common was that to date, all of the theories were just that.

 

She looked after the strange flying girl for a moment, trying to muss through what she should have done.  That was one of the real problems with being acutely self aware; continually evaluating how you could have made the situation better and the realization that sometimes nothing would have.

Sighing she threw the ball as hard as she could away from the school.  Granted, her experience in throwing was subpar, her hands were covered with an oversized sweater and she would have been far better kicking it than using her arms, but it did sail at least thirty yards away into the snow, sinking into a drift.  "I don't really know what it is other than a pain.  Well I know it's magical, but really that's about it.  It causes a lot of trouble, but I've kind of accepted it.  Syn... my mentor has been really good about that.  Sometimes I feel she's more of a therapist than a mentor.  Not that most therapists are really good at dealing with people like us."

Edited December 5, 2023 by BitCook

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

"Well, a lot of them know martial arts, sure." Lawrence replied to Michael's comment about non-powered heroes being masters of multiple martial arts. "But, there are also those that use technology to give themselves powers."

 

But then the focus was back onto Vicki and her powers, at which point the British girl pulled out the magic 8 ball to show the group. While Lawrence had not particular knowledge or experience with magic, he certainly knew there were multiple individuals that wielded magic. And growing up within the superhero community of Freedom, he had seen plenty that had taught him that powers and abilities could come in all sorts of different ways. So, the blond teen accepted Vicki's announcement without any sign of doubt.

But, then Consuelo had her reaction, and stormed off from the trio. Lawrence watched her go as he gave an internal sigh. The blond teen was aware of at least some of the issues the green-haired girl was dealing with, having heard her vent at Parker back during their first training session in the Doom Room. But, he suspected there was more than just that, but of course Consuelo was not likely to be willing to open up about that. He glanced over to Vicki and Michael, who seem upset about how things had unfolded.

 

"I believe Consuelo is…dealing with some things, but not my place to really say. I know she seems to have made some friendships with some of the older girls, so maybe just give her some time." He offered, before turning to watch Vicki toss the 8 ball off into the snow, giving her a puzzled look.

"Well, if your mentor knows about the 8 ball, I am sure she and the headmistress have discussed it. Claremont has more than a few alumni that are experience with magic, not to mention other connections, so if anywhere can find you someone that might be able help figure it out, it would be here." Lawerence stated before looking back over towards the main quad, a look on his face as if he was calculating something. "Well, classes are about to switch, we should probably get moving with the tour again, if for no other reason than to get out of the cold."

He glanced back to Vicki, "umm, are you planning to just leave it over there in the snow?"

[Poncho]

"True, big brain people are cool too...maybe I should put some more effort into chemistry or engineering..." Michael mumbled, thinking about it again with his infinite curiosity. Then the 8 ball went flying and he was about to go get it, but a specific noise on his phone made him stop; It sounded like an alarm going off and he had to check it immediately, like the sound was specific to a person. His smile turned to a frown and he sighed as he looked at whatever message he got.

 

"...Ah, sorry, duty calls; I've gotta go help Sam with something." he said as he put his phone back in his pocket. "I'll see you two later! Nice to meet you Vicki!" he waved before running off at full speed again, leaving his sweater with her and not thinking about it at all.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Poncho

[BitCook]

Magic 8 Ball

 

"Wait!" Vicki called out as Michael left, "You forgot your..."

 

But he was already gone and she was still waving the ludicrously oversized sleeves in his general direction.  Slowly putting her arms down she gave a quirky grin to Lawrence, "this happens to me a lot.  People running off, that is."

 

She exhaled, a puff of white in the cold winter air before turning back towards Lawrence.  While the sweater might have looked ridiculous on her, it certainly was warm, however she was not about to turn down a chance to go somewhere out of the winter air. So she nodded and fell in step alongside Lawrence as they walk towards the next building.

 

She spared only one small glance back to where she had thrown the ball, "Yes. Although it won't really matter. The stupid thing will come back to me no matter what I do. I've tried a number of ways to get rid of it with no luck. I think the worst was the time when I tried to flush it down a toilet. Which, it did..."

 

There was a long pause as she relived that moment in her mind. Yes, she had been able to flush the ball down the toilet. Which was a testament to British plumbing and the pipe size of her father's mansion.  That had been early on in her relationship with the ball. Unfortunately, as she found out, it tended to come back along a similar trajectory as it was disposed of. The resulting explosion of sewage had covered Vicki from head to toe and had certainly taught her to be a little more careful with how she tried to get rid of it.

 

"... I think that was my last serious attempt to get rid of it. It uhhh... was a bit of a mess when it came back."

 

As the pair walked, already the ball was starting to wiggle its way out of the snowbank, slowly rolling towards Vicki.  At some point it would vanish and show up in her handbag, or somewhere similar.  Despite the oddities, she was feeling pretty good and looking around as students filed out from whichever classes had just finished.

 

A thought struck her, "you didn't mention what powers you had did you? Is that a secret?  I saw you heal Michael's cheek which is absolutely brilliant. I guess I can imagine why you wouldn't want to advertise that too much."

Edited December 5, 2023 by BitCook
Formatting

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence gave a slight chuckle as Vicki talked about how some of her pervious attempts to get rid of the 8 ball. "Well, that does sound aggravating. Afraid magical objects is not really something I have any experience with."

Up ahead, Lawrence pointed out two buildings to the pair's left, one, which was the larger of the two, was a combination gymnasium and auditorium, the other, smaller building was a chapel. This brought them to a much larger building, which, actually appeared to be several buildings that were all interconnected. The entire structure was of similar architectural style as the other building on campus and three stories high. Sitting at the corner nearest them was a section of the building was slightly taller than the two wings that extended out from it (one to the east, the other to the south). It also had a small turret located at the southwestern corner that rose above its peaked roof. Vicki could see other parts that slightly varied as well as Lawrence indicated the building directly ahead was the school library.

 

They were just about to enter when Vicki turned back to the topic of powers, specifically, Lawrence's powers. "Well, I can control the flow of time, to a degree. For Michael, was a simple matter of reversing time so that the injury never occurred. I can slip in and out of it as well, making it seem as if I am moving at superhuman speeds, which can also be useful for getting a lot of studying done in very little time. I also can move forward and backward with in time and space." He said somewhat casually, perhaps not being as dismissive of his powers as he had often been in the past.

 

As the two entered into the library, they encountered two students that were making their way toward the exit. One was a tall, muscular teen with blond hair, the other….looked like a humanoid insect with a green exoskeleton. Lawrence greeted the two with a wide smile. "Hey Parker, Baz."

"Vicki, these are my friends, Parker and Baz." Lawrence stated, indicating each in turn. "Guys, this is Vicki, an old family acquaintance from England, and today is her first day at Claremont."

[BitCook]

As the tour had progressed, Vicki was feeling a bit more confident in meeting people and her chances of fitting in this amazing school.  She listened to Lawrence describe his powers and felt a twinge of envy at being able to effect the flow of time.  How wonderful that would be even for the mundane use of getting an extra hour or two of sleep every day.  Lawrence had already mentioned the benefit to study time and the implications for binge watching were just off the charts.  More important was that the students talked about these things with the same level of importance as they did talking about hobbies or weekend activities at her other schools.  It was liberating in a way that was really hard to describe to someone who had kept this bottled up for years.

 

Looking at the pair, she enthusiastically waved to them, the sweater flopping about as she did, "Cheers.  It's nice to meet you both.  Super excited by all this..."

 

For once, she really appreciated her father's insistence on sending her to a prep school.  While there, she had been schooled not just in reading, writing and arithmetic, but also in manners and how to conduct ones self in social situations.  So while she was greeting the two, she only showed a just a little of her surprise at seeing the bug like boy.  Certainly, her social situations instructor had not quite imagined this, but being able to hide her shock was a good tool to make people feel at ease.  Which, considering she was the newcomer, was something she very much wanted to do.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker is carrying a number of books. He didn't exactly expect that he would have to do normal homework on top of everything related to being a super hero, but turns out, Claremont wants you to actually become a functioning member of society too. It is not really annoying, just unexpected, and now he had needed some books for a philosophy class. Not the easiest thing. Science? That was much simpler, and that all made sense.

 

Looking up from his stack of books, he smiles warmly at Vicki, shifting the books to his left hand and holding them, while holding his right hand out to her to offer to shake her hand.

 

"Hi Vicki, welcome to Claremont." His tone is friendly and welcoming. He has done enough to make people mad at him already, so he would prefer to not do that with one of Lawrence's friends. "How are you finding the school so far?"

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Hi Vicki, I am Baz. Baltazar Botez. Or Gamma Buzz. Or the Cockroach Kid!" said Baltazar, with a wink. He felt sick, but managed to keep the vomit in his iron stomach. New people usually freaked out and ran, or grabbed some peticide to spray on him. But Claremont? Not so much. He was almost getting used to people not screaming when they saw him. There was only the occasional slack jaw. 

 

Beginnings were sensitive times. 

 

"How you like Claremont, eh? More fun than a cloud of harmless yet lethal radioactive smoke, eh? It could do with a bit more green, but otherwise its swell, right?"

 

"And the science classes are only moderately boring, too!" he added, by way of encouragement. 

[BitCook]

"Fascinating, wonderful, I'm rather chuffed really," she said replying to Parker and offering a sweater covered hand to shake.  As they did, she saw the empty sleeve handing limply below where their hands met and giggled a little, "uh... I'm sorry about the sweater.  It was cold and someone far bigger than me loaned me something to keep me warm.  I didn't exactly expect snow."

Then as Baz spoke she turned to the odd boy.  His speech and movements were alien and strange, but then, as he even said, it appeared that he thought everyone else was strange.  That was one thing that Vicki had learned; perspective was everything.  Laughing a bit at what he said, she replied with a genuine grin, "I can't say that I've ever played in any radioactive smoke before, so I'll have to take your word for it... and if you want to change the weather so that it's not white outside... well I would very much be pleased about that.  But yes, very swell indeed."

Science classes.  She desperately hoped that she would be able to continue her pre med track as she was drawn to that like a moth to flame.  At the Atom Academy, she had done some very heavy work with life sciences and while she was a very long way from being a qualified doctor, she already was rather competent and diagnosing and triaging people with minor injuries.  'Going to have to expand my studies.  Might not even be human anatomy that I'm called on to heal or help' she thought to herself.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker chuckles at the sleeve and snow comment, but shrugs, as well as he can while holding the stack of books. "This is Freedom. It always seem to snow in the winter, so you can probably expect it next year too." 

 

Baz being his usual outgoing self, saying weird things like normal. Honestly, Parker's gotten used to him, and Vicki is thankfully calm about it. And he hasn't offered her any body parts. Yet.

 

"You're from England? So what brings you here? Most of us started back in September. Did whatever makes you, err... fit for Claremont, I guess, only happen recently?"

Edited December 6, 2023 by RocketLord

[BitCook]

Magic 8 Ball

Vicki nodded to Parker, "It was fairly recent.  I mean, I've sort of been odd all my life.  But things really just started being different three years ago.  A lot different.  Mostly in a good way.  Although, I don't know, sometimes I'd kill just to fit in."  

Of course she had finished saying that, only just realized that she was also talking to a humanoid bug.  She winced just a little, hoping she didn't offend him or make him feel bad.  But truth be told, part of the reason she was so happy to be here was that fitting in would be nice.  Not being an outside and having people and friends judge her on who she was instead of what she was.  It was also then that she realized the question was more about why she was starting in December.  Staring back at the tall blonde, she continued talking.

"Oh!  Why now you meant?  Well... my father is very political and he sort of has a thing about meta humans.  He's running on the platform that all of them should be registered so that the government knows who they are and can hold them liable for damages done or whatever else.  He doesn't really know that I have... gifts... and I've sort of had a hard time fitting into all of the prep academies in the UK because of them.  Well more like hiding them while there.   So he found one of the best science academies in the country, the Atom Academy, and sent me there.  Until he found out that it was a school for training meta's as much as a science academy."

She gave a heavy sigh, "yeah... so after freaking out he asked some of his politician buddies in the UK where was a discrete place to put his daughter and here I am.  I guess I have Lawrence's dad to really thank for that."

She was just finishing her sentence when the ball had finally caught up to her again.  Rolling along the ground it gently bumped into her ankle like a small child clinging to it's mother.  For the moment she just ignored it, perhaps hoping that it would just vanish like it often did.

Edited December 6, 2023 by BitCook
Because I have socks for brains and got people mixed up.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Mizuki was jogging closeby, with a backpack loaded with her daily assortment of text books. And possibly a couple bricks. Note the backpack was more suited to hiking than to jogging... particularly for a mile... But she knew she had time between her physics and biology classes normally reserved for lunch to get out into the New England air. The cold never bothered her at all after she gained her powers, so she's out with a sailor collared shirt and a pair of coverall jeans and a sturdy pair of boots, with goggles on her head as she runs.

 

She walked into the Library, was going to return a couple books she borrowed, on hydrodynamics that she was reading out of curiosity when she noticed a bit of a crowd.

 

"Busy day." She said, noting the new faces. She nodded to 8Ball. "Was thinking of going for a swim later, once I don't have to worry about dripping salt water around the campus. Buuuut... studies first."

 

What's odd is even with the load she's carrying, she isn't even sweating, and she should be still shivering with how lightly dressed she is, even walking into the heated library. One would almost say she enjoyed the cold.

Edited December 7, 2023 by The Sailor

[BitCook]

Magic 8 Ball

 

As the new girl walked into the building and was returning books, Vicki had noted the appalling lack of clothes on her.  She would be a popsicle if that's all she was wearing, as evidenced by still enjoying the oversized sweater she wore.  When the girl nodded over to them, Vicki returned the gesture with a little finger wave and a cheerful smile.  That smile froze for a second as she heard the girl talk about swimming... and salt water, which implied outside, unless this school had some kind of tidal aquarium.  Which, given how amazing it was in general, would not really be a surprise.

Regardless of how crazy she thought the idea, she introduced herself, "hi, I'm Vicki... did you really say you were going to go for a swim.  Like... outside?"

Feeling the ball nudging her feet and not going away she gave it a little kick, as it rolled over to one of the stacks and bounced down it.  The last thing she needed right now was to have some kind of ball related issues.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence stood by to allow Parker and Baz to get a chance to talk to Vicki, pleased to see that Vicki appeared to be getting a bit more comfortable. The blond teen noted with a small smile that, just as Vicki had indicated, her eight ball had rolled back over to her from where she had tossed it.

 

As Vicki mentioned his father's role in Vicki now attending Claremont, Lawrence grinned slightly and looked over to Parker and Baz. "Given the issues with Vicki's father, Headmistress Summers asked me to be there for the tour, rather than one of the older students as normal, to help put him at ease that Claremont is just another private school."

 

"Morning Mizuki." Lawrence said as the other teen came over to the group, giving her a charming smile. "Vicki's first day at Claremont, so I have been providing a tour to help her get oriented before she joins classes this afternoon."

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"Ah, Excellent!" Mizuki said, looking over to Vicki. "Also, the cold stopped botherin' me after the well... incident that gave me my powers." She stared at the floor for a moment before looking up. The sting of losing her parents and seeing a hero atomized before her eyes before her world was bathed in a blue-green light was just as fresh now as it was 6 months ago. She cleared her throat.

 

"No need to worry about the threads. Same with swimming... I could swim in the Antarctic or Arctic oceans and not care one bit. So off shore around here is nothin'."

 

She smirked a little. "Name's Mizuki... some have started callin' me after the previous Torpedo Lass... but on accountin' she's no longer with us and I seem to have caught a xerox of her powers well..." She shrugged. "Sorta like it, to be honest."

Edited December 12, 2023 by The Sailor

[BitCook]

Magic 8 Ball

"Hello Mizuki!  It's very nice to meet you," Vicki said admiring the other girls outfit.  Up until recently, she had not considered the legacy that Heroes left after they were no more.  She had personally not known many people in the meta human community, so all of these concepts and ideas were still novelties.  Then, to continue Lawrence's explanation, she looked over at Mizuki a little sheepishly, "my father is... um... not particularly a friend to the hero community.  He's one of those, 'everyone needs to register and be held accountable' kind of guys.  Other than um... having the house egged a few times, it didn't really encourage any of the hero community to be over as guests." 

 

As she spoke about her father, her face had a very complex mix of emotions, running the gamut from resigned affection to outright embarrassment.