ic Dance Beneath the Stars (IC)

[Heritage]

SHIFT

 

Pol was not very good with playful banter, so she didn't join in with the rest of her team for the usual post-combat quipping. However her senses were very good, especially at pattern recognition, and she'd noticed a pattern in Vik's behavior. She modified her vocal projection apparatus to 'throw her voice', although really is was more of a narrow focused audible broadcast targeting Ghule's left ear.

 

I see you think about leaving a lot. Please don't. I feel like I don't belong, too, sometimes. At least if you stay, we can not belong together.

 

In her purely robotic form, there weren't many features on Shift's head; it was mostly a smooth metalic dome. But there were a pair of soft synthetic lips, and they were forming a timid smile.

Edited June 23 by Heritage

[Lone_Star]

GHULE

 

On 6/20/2024 at 10:45 AM, Spacefurry said:

Paper

 

“If I gotta stick around, so do you. That’s what it means to be a Young G.”

Leon reached out and ruffled her hair. Sure, she was only about 4 inches shorter than him, but it wasn’t going to stop him from messing with her curly hair like a little sister.

“The more us there are, the less likely those two will start with the PDAs.”

 

 

Vik grits her teeth so hard that you can practically hear her molars grinding and instinctively flinches back when Leon touches her hair. "Paper, don't freaking touch me right now. I know you're...god#### it, just give me some space right now, okay?!" She takes a few steps back, and holds her hands out in front of her. Well, here it goes Vik. The inevitable part of any friendship where you royally screw it up.

 

On 6/20/2024 at 6:09 PM, Kaede Kimura said:

Shadowborne 

 

Instead she focused on Vik's injured arm, her mind going to how the Conqueror Worm had been brought back with her power. She had heard that the Undead drew power from the Schattenwelt, perhaps she could try to heal it.

 

It would be nice, to fix something for once.

 

Aoife agreed with Muirne's sentiment, many limbs shifting to move her forwards to her companion, where a arm reached out, claws glinting like wet paint. "Vik, could I take a look at your arm?"

 

Vik continues to move back. "Shadowborne, I'm fine, see?!" She held out her injured arm and, with a grimace, snapped her elbow back into place and let out a sharp sound of relief and pain. "I can fix myself. I don't need you. And frankly, none of you need me on this team either, I'm just going to be a liability." She regrets these words instantly, but what was said could not be taken back. 

 

Quote

SHIFT

 

She modified her vocal projection apparatus to 'throw her voice', although really is was more of a narrow focused audible broadcast targeting Ghule's left ear.

 

I see you think about leaving a lot. Please don't. I feel like I don't belong, too, sometimes. At least if you stay, we can not belong together.

 

In her purely robotic form, there weren't many features on Shift's head; it was mostly a smooth metalic dome. But there were a pair of soft synthetic lips, and they were forming a timid smile.

 

 

Vik paused and thought about what she had said to her friends as she heard Shift's voice in her ear. She didn't speak for a moment and turned to Shift. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but her heart beat one time faintly. Perhaps this was what it meant to feel human again?

 

Her voice softened, and tears started to fall down her cheeks. "I just feel like I royally messed up back there, like I let you all down. I'm sorry for being a dick." 

 

 

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

The tall armored figure looked over to Nighscale, apparently unfazed by the massive dragon. "I am Kinarr Khan. With the recent death of my father, I am the new Star Khan and ruler of the Stellar Khanate." The grey skinned alien responded in heavily accented English.

 

Now that Nighscale, Multi-Girl and Stormcrow were able to focus on Star Khan, he appeared not that much older than they were, perhaps in his early-twenties. Although, what that meant in terms of his actual age for his alien race was other question.

 

"Well, thank you fer keepin' them from continuin' ta hit me while I was down." Bernadette said with a small smile as she looked up at the tall alien.

 

“I am glad to have arrive when I did, and I can see why they sought to keep you from returning to the battle." He replied, giving her a charming smile and glancing around a moment where several of Bernadette's duplicates were starting to see to the injured AEGIS agents in the various vehicles. He then turned back to Stormcrow, giving a small nod as Stormcrow indicated he need to question the leader of the supervillains. "Perhaps another time. As everything appears well in hand, I should be taking my leave. Still likely more heroic deeds to be done." With that, he took off into the sky and started flying off towards the north and downtown Freedom City.

 

Visor slowly returned to consciousness after Stormcrow bound him and disengaged the visor he was wearing (it appeared to be a rather complex device, so there were good odds it was the source of his powers). Focusing on Stormcrow after a few moments, the villain gave him a slight smile. "Nice try hero. I will wait until I have a chance to speak with a lawyer before I say anything."

 

In the distance, the sound of approaching sirens grew louder….

[Kaede Kimura]

Shadowborne 

 

Aoife's reaction to Vik's outburst is hard to gauge, the shadows that make up her form not carrying any expression. She just stopped, even many of the tendrils and ever appearing and disappearing limbs stopped.

 

Inside Aoife felt like her gut was churning, like she would throw up if she was a human at this point. She scrambled to calm down, to soothe this awful feeling and despite herself, found that she had started talking. Or perhaps it was Muirne? She couldn't tell.

 

"If we decided who could be a hero based on their failures, I wouldn't be here. The first time I went out to fight a villain I lost. Hard. I nearly died. Later, Nightscale and I went on a patrol woth two members of the Freedom League. One of them died, and I nearly did again. Casanova took control of me twice. The second time for nearly a year, ending with him reviving the Conqueror Worm. You don't think you pulled your weight in this fight, you might even be right. But you still stood by us and tried. That's why you belong here."

 

She felt better after saying her piece. Not good, but better. She settled back. There was nothing she could really do beyond talking to keep Vik here. She couldn't even touch her outside of her claws.

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

Leon quickly put his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything.”

He tried to apologize, dropping his hands as the other girls spoke up.

 

“They’re right.”

He added somberly.

“Everyone has off days sometimes. I’ve had my own share of bad days and stupid calls.”

Leon admitted.

“Hell, my first year at Claremont, I nearly blew myself up zapping a half busted Omega drone with power lines. My man can verify that, he was there.”

He thumbed over at Nightscale.

“A hero isn’t measured by how many times they’re knocked down, but how many times they get back up.”

Leon paraphrased an old comic book movie speech.

“You’re on your feet, so you got this.”

He smiled and offered he fist for bumping.

“If you still need some space, we’ll understand and we’ll be here when you’re ready.”

He didn’t want to push Vik, he understood the need for personal space sometimes.

 

He glanced over at Stormcrow trying to interrogate Visor. He noticed the other guy had vanished. Whatever, he didn’t know him, if he didn’t want to stick around it was no loss.

Just then, his phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. He gave a little sigh and stepped away from the others to answer.

“Little busy, make it quick.”

[RocketLord]

The STORMCROW

 

Charlie suppresses a frown as he looks down at Visor. Sure, makes sense. He didn't expect him to talk, anyway. Not unless he tries to use some of the Raven's methods for interrogation, and he honestly doesn't feel like doing that.

 

"Sure. Talk to your lawyer and the cops, bad guy. We'll be watching."

 

He stands up, turning away in time to watch the Star Khan set off and fly away. That was interesting. And maybe the kind of firepower that they team could need. He will have to look into who the Star Khan is, but he can't help but consider that he might be bad news.

 

With a frown, he turns back to Bernie, and then the others. "What's going on?" Try as he might, he couldn't exactly be in two places at once.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette watched as the young Star Khan took off into the air before turning to look at Nightscale. "That was shoor odd." She said with a smile as Charlie came over towards them. At his question about what was going on, the Irish teen glanced over towards where most of the other members of the team were gathered around Vik, along with a couple of her duplicates.

"Ghule is havin' a bit o' confidence issues. I think the others have helped reassure her she did fine." The redhead said in a low voice. She then spoke up a bit louder as she added, "So, we waitin' fer the police ta arrive, or goin' ta clear out?"

[RocketLord]

The STORMCROW

 

Right, confidence issues. They'll have to work on that, but piling on right now probably won't help anything. Besides, it shouldn't be in the middle of the street.

 

"Hey, everyone! Gather up!" he shouts, hoping to get their attention. Once they're at least looking at him, he continues. "The cops are probably gonna be here soon, so we all got a choice to make: Stick around, or get out of here? I want people to know and trust us. If they see us coming, they'll know help is on the way, and that includes taking the time to talk to the cops, but I'm not gonna force anyone to stick around if you don't want to. If you'd rather not, now's the time to get out of here."

[Lone_Star]

Ghule

 

Vik felt very embarrassed as her friends quickly came to her aid. Well now I feel like a real jackass...

 

On 6/23/2024 at 7:52 PM, Kaede Kimura said:

"If we decided who could be a hero based on their failures, I wouldn't be here. The first time I went out to fight a villain I lost. Hard. I nearly died. Later, Nightscale and I went on a patrol woth two members of the Freedom League. One of them died, and I nearly did again. Casanova took control of me twice. The second time for nearly a year, ending with him reviving the Conqueror Worm. You don't think you pulled your weight in this fight, you might even be right. But you still stood by us and tried. That's why you belong here."

 

She felt better after saying her piece. Not good, but better. She settled back. There was nothing she could really do beyond talking to keep Vik here. She couldn't even touch her outside of her claws.

 

"You're right, of course. I just...geez that wasn't cool of me. I'm sorry Muir - umm...Shadowborne. This will just take some getting used to, is all." She reverted back to her human form, bone weapons retracting all at once. She even smiled a little bit. "I'm just used to working solo, and this whole team thing is kinda weird for me. But it's good to know you guys have my back." She dusts herself off, realizing she got her leather duster dirty during the fight. "Sorry in advance," she said before she popped a finger back into place, her regenerative powers kicking in. "Ahhh, god that's better."

 

On 6/25/2024 at 1:47 PM, Spacefurry said:

 

 

“They’re right.”

He added somberly.

“Everyone has off days sometimes. I’ve had my own share of bad days and stupid calls.”

Leon admitted.

“Hell, my first year at Claremont, I nearly blew myself up zapping a half busted Omega drone with power lines. My man can verify that, he was there.”

He thumbed over at Nightscale.

“A hero isn’t measured by how many times they’re knocked down, but how many times they get back up.”

Leon paraphrased an old comic book movie speech.

“You’re on your feet, so you got this.”

He smiled and offered he fist for bumping.

“If you still need some space, we’ll understand and we’ll be here when you’re ready.”

He didn’t want to push Vik, he understood the need for personal space sometimes.

 

 

"Damn right, man," she said and reciprocated the fist bump. "Nah, I'm cool. Just gotta stop having these little pity parties all the time - it's really bumming everyone out. You all are frickin' awesome." She looks over at Bernie and Charlie having their own conversation, and her heart falls. Better step up my act if I don't want them to regret inviting me to the team. They've got a lot to teach me about being a hero...everyone on the team.

 

On 7/8/2024 at 6:13 AM, RocketLord said:

The STORMCROW

 

Right, confidence issues. They'll have to work on that, but piling on right now probably won't help anything. Besides, it shouldn't be in the middle of the street.

 

"Hey, everyone! Gather up!" he shouts, hoping to get their attention. Once they're at least looking at him, he continues. "The cops are probably gonna be here soon, so we all got a choice to make: Stick around, or get out of here? I want people to know and trust us. If they see us coming, they'll know help is on the way, and that includes taking the time to talk to the cops, but I'm not gonna force anyone to stick around if you don't want to. If you'd rather not, now's the time to get out of here."

 

Vik crosses her arms and plants her feet with a newfound confidence. "Let's stick around and explain to the cops what happened. What do you all think?"

Edited July 18 by Lone_Star

[Kaede Kimura]

Shadowborne 

 

Aoife couldn't smile as Leon told the story about the Omegadrones. She hadn't been conscious then, but still remembered that fight. It had been exhilarating, fighting against the very real agents of the End of the World. But yes, Leon's trick with the lightning-

 

Electricity.

 

Leon's trick with the electricity had been very foolish.

 

She felt a warmth in her chest at Vik's apology. This is what she wanted, trust and care from her comrades. But it seemed the agents of the law would soon be arriving, and she was going to be a Shadowbeast for some time yet. "Ic béo giet a þyrs¹. It might be wise if I left, I cannot transform back for some time."

 

¹ I am still a monster.

[Spacefurry]

Paper

 

The cops.

Leon still wasn’t comfortable talking to the boys in blue. Nearly half of his life had been running away from them. It was going to take more than the last three years to change that.

Every muscle yelled at him to run, but he couldn’t think of a good reason. 

“I… ah. If you wanna play nice with the badges, that’s on you. But I’m not so keen.”

 

When Shadowborne mentioned leaving herself, Leon wanted to jump on the chance. But when he opened his mouth…

“You should probably go with her.”

He said, looking at Nightscale.

“You took a beating yourself. I’m sure you could both use some rest.”

 

‘Ugh’

Damn it! Why was he playing wingman at a time like this? Leon sighed internally and resolved that he was gonna have to put on a nice face for ‘the man’. He would just make sure to stand in the back and let Charlie do the talking.

[Thevshi]

Multi-Girl

 

Bernadette had followed along with Stormcrow as he moved to address the others and offering those that wanted to a chance to clear out before the police arrived. Several of the redhead’s duplicates were helping the various AEGIS agents at the scene as she took up a spot next to Charlie and gave him a small smile. "I'm not goin' anywhere till after we speak to the police."

 

Her smile widened as Vik built up some confidence and indicated she intended to wait for the police as well. The Irish teen could understand why Murnie (and possibly Luke) might not want to wait, but it was not as if they needed all of them to intact with the police all the time.

 

In short order, those that had wanted to had cleared out, while some stayed with Stormcrow. It was not long before several police and AEGIS vehicles pulled up to the scene, with a couple of news vans following after….