ic Crowd Control (IC)

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

Wednesday afternoon

Sept 18

Millennium Mall

 

Crowds moved through the mall in their usual ebbs and flows as the people shopped and wandered about. The food court was bustling with activity as the lunch crowd buzzed with chatter. And in one of the central intersections of the mall a crowd gathered to watch the small film crew that had set up camp to capture the mall as background for its ‘on-location’ shooting. A local daytime drama, popular with local viewers for being set in the city and sometimes filming on location. Uniformed FCPD peppered the perimeter of the filming crews.

 

Just like any other day in Freedom, the multitude of civilians had no idea just how many superheroes found their way into the mall on a daily basis. Today was no different as several members of one of the newer teams, the Young Guardians, ventured into the mall to enjoy a well deserved lunch after a reprieve from training by their leader and taskmaster.

 

But they are far from alone the only heroes blending in with the crowds this day. Eira, another Claremont Alumni, was at the Childrens’ Museum nestled within the giant mall. The new interactive exhibit easily coming together as she worked.

[Lone_Star]

Ghule

 

Vik slowly made her way through the crowd, drawing her hoodie up to avoid attracting attention. She was nervous of being caught, of being outed as a zombie in this big crowd of people. What would happen if people knew an undead walked among them? Would people get hurt trying to get away from her? All these questions drifted freely through her mind as she made her way to the children's museum, where she was supposed to meet some other members of the Young Guardians.

 

She glanced over at the daytime drama being filmed at the mall - it was never her thing, her mother was all about her "stories", but seeing the actors prepare for their scenes made her smile just a little bit. It reminded her of sitting with her mother while she made kasha for breakfast. . It always aired just after Saturday morning cartoons, and though she didn't really understand what the show was about at a young age, she knew her mom liked it. 

 

She sent out a group text as she posted up just outside of the Children's Museum: Anyone else here yet? 

[Avenger Assembled]

Angelic 

 

It would have been a simple matter to install the mainframe for Archetech's newest contribution to the children's museum, a 3-D holographic display called JOURNEY TO SPACE! that let children interested in the final frontier 'zoom' out from Mercury all the way to the hub to CoVic Station at the edge of the Solar System. But Eira Katastroff didn't like to do simple jobs, especially when it let her honor the brand identity of one of her heroines. So instead she'd done the work - then installed an "FTL mode", allowing young people to zoom all the way out to the nearest star systems, complete with accurate maps of those systems and depictions of Lor and other alien vessels they might pass by. Unfortunately that did require a substantial upgrade to the core memory, much less the projection bandwith of the holographic projectors and the generators of the interactable hardlight objects - but fortunately Eira didn't need to sleep. She'd pulled an all-nighter, scored an excellent reference for her consulting business - and honestly things were going well. 

 

She leaned against the wall, fighting the urge to scratch under her blue labcoat by simply deactivating those sensors, and went on speaking to the museum's director. "Everything will be ready for the big unveiling, yes?" she said, her tone not really making it a question. There were many children here, playing happily and enjoying themselves immensely, or crying and throwing a fit, or any number of things - and she was happy to see all of them. She'd taken the time to upgrade the museum to make sure it was fully compatible with the Americans with Disabilities Act, one of the few things that she really liked about living (for a while) in the United States. 

 

As they spoke, she watched, a half-smile on her yellow-painted lips, as she saw a young girl in a wheelchair reach out for a holographic Mars the size of a basketball and clutch it to her chest, looking very pleased with herself. 

[Nerdzul]

omw...  Luke texted back when he saw the message in the group chat.

 

Admittedly he wasn't exactly that far to begin with (although somehow he still had managed not the be first to arrive), given his current gig working at the mall as a greeter. He was on a break right now and he had complemented his uniform, that normally consisted only consisted in a pair of red board-shorts, adding a blue athletic t-shirt with the store logo and a pair sneakers. Now acting as eye candy to get customers in at the mall wasn't exactly the way he had envisioned his career, but it did pay the bills and the store manager didn't mind too much his criminal record, his not exactly stellar education curriculum and the occasional absences due to super-hero stuff getting in the way of his day-to-day life. Now his room-mate teasing was another matter of course, but whatever, besides it was not like Luke didn't have any ammunition to tease back Leon for his own career choices anyway.

 

It only took a minute or two of a light jog through the crowded halls of the malls to get to the new attraction, in truth, his inner child was kind curious about how it was gonna turn out, plus, the young man thought that it was neat that Angelic was working on it, superheroes making people life better that didn't involve punching bad guys was a plus in his books. 

 

"Hey..." He saluted Ghule with a wide smile.  "Looks like I am not the last one this time..." He gave her a self-conscious chuckle, as his inability to be punctual by then was much likely well known to the whole team. "How is it hangin'?"

 

"Eira... Long time no see..." He grinned as he waved at Angelic. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Recognized by a Claremont student, and thus a potential partner, Eira excused herself from talking to the director and stepped outside to greet Luke and his friends. The blonde woman's hair was back in a bun that resembled the famous tech heroine Miss Americana's, her blue labcoat matching the color of her eyes, her lips painted the same gold as her hair. "Hello, Luke," she said, her distinct Swedish accent as present as ever. She gave him a firm handshake, then turned to the girl she guessed was his friend. Eira looked a bit older than the two Claremont students, much closer to twenty-five than fifteen, and her teeth were a perfect white as she said. "Hello. I am Eira Katastroff. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." 

 

She stood there and talked to Ghule and she was dead. No, worse - she wasn't alive and it didn't seem she ever had been. The being standing there talking to the two Claremont students was as alive as one of the video games in the arcade - fun center on the other side of the food court. "Did you go to high school with Luke?" she asked, an easy way of checking the other girl's bona fides. 

[Kaede Kimura]

Shadowborne 

 

Muirne had forgotten to check her phone until she was just around the corner from the group, and so hadn't replied in the group chat. Instead the short hero just appeared out of the crowd. "Sorry I'm late guys, I don't know if I'll ever get the hang of moving through the mall-" She stopped short seeing Eira, the last significant interaction between her and the robotic heroine having been in Rurland where their talks had been... Strained.

 

"Ah, gód ofernón miss Eira, it has been a while. Have you been well?"

[Lone_Star]

On 10/5/2024 at 1:23 PM, Nerdzul said:

"Hey..." He saluted Ghule with a wide smile.  "Looks like I am not the last one this time..." He gave her a self-conscious chuckle, as his inability to be punctual by then was much likely well known to the whole team. "How is it hangin'?"

 

"Eira... Long time no see..." He grinned as he waved at Angelic. 

 

Ghule

 

"Hey, it's been okay!" she said happily to her teammate. "Been practicing with Charlie and Bernie a lot, just developing my..." She looks around, a little nervous. "Abilities."

 

6 hours ago, Avenger Assembled said:

 "Hello, Luke," she said, her distinct Swedish accent as present as ever. She gave him a firm handshake, then turned to the girl she guessed was his friend. Eira looked a bit older than the two Claremont students, much closer to twenty-five than fifteen, and her teeth were a perfect white as she said. "Hello. I am Eira Katastroff. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." 

 

She stood there and talked to Ghule and she was dead. No, worse - she wasn't alive and it didn't seem she ever had been. The being standing there talking to the two Claremont students was as alive as one of the video games in the arcade - fun center on the other side of the food court. "Did you go to high school with Luke?" she asked, an easy way of checking the other girl's bona fides. 

 

Vik looked at the blonde woman who shook hands with Luke, and felt herself cut to the quick. Does she know? 

 

Vik unconsciously took a step back, and smiled a little at Eira, trying to regain her composure. A quick glance with her life sense confirmed her suspicion, that Eira wasn't alive, and hadn't ever been. Was she a robot, like her fellow Guardians member? "Yeah, no. I didn't go to that high school. But Luke and I have a lot in common, you know what I mean?" She hadn't met Eira before, but she assumed if Luke and Muirne knew her, that she was a fellow superhero. 

 

She visibly relaxed when Muirne walked up. "Hey, Muirne!" she said, and gave her friend a quick hug, grateful for the break in the conversation. 

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

The museum director had thanked Eira again for all her hard work, ecstatic over how much the children were going to enjoy the new exhibit. He had been more than happy to accept any input she had had on improving the museum before having to leave her to attend to other pressing matters.

 

Out front of the Children’s Museum people continued to pass the gathering heroes. The flow of foot traffic was a comfortable buzz in the air that gave small groups the sense of being their own island of calm in a sea of noise.

 

As introductions were made, and Vik was getting used to the idea that there were more people in the city that were both alive and not alive in ways different from herself, something else dingged on her Life Sense. A single figure, but with two separate life signs, one within the other. 

 

And then it was gone. Lost to the crowded walkways.

[Avenger Assembled]

Eira smiled again, greeting Miurne as she joined the group. Her hands were folded behind her back, in unconscious imitation of Miss Americana. "I have been very well indeed! The installation at the museum has gone very swimmingly - and might have a few surprises for the little ones, yes?" Having thoroughly resented being forced to get a high school education among so-called 'normal' people _after_ earning her bachelor's degree at the age of 16, the one-time prodigy found it actually very pleasant to be socializing with once-high school students. Especially since my new body appears older than my chronological age! she thought cheerfully. She went on, handing out her business card, "If any of you are looking for a part-time position with Katastroff Consulting, you should give me a call. I can always use the services of a contractor, especially in very specialized areas." 

[Lone_Star]

Ghule

 

Vik did a double-take as she noticed someone with two life-signs. Was that person...?

 

She gladly accepted a business card from Eira, understanding her meaning. "I'm always up for a side-gig. Especially if you have...problems that need taking care of," she said with a grin. Charlie's training has given her a newfound confidence, not only with her abilities, but with her unfortunate condition. There were advantages to being undead!

 

"So, while I'm happy to be here, just wondering what we're doing at the museum today? Are we watching them film that show, or what?" 

[Kaede Kimura]

Shadowborne 

 

Muirne returned Vik's hug with a smile, and followed it up with one for Luke as well, before returning her attention to Eira, taking a business card with a smile. She wouldn't mind getting a job, living off of Charlie's generosity wasn't exactly her ideal future. "I'm glad to hear that, Eira."

 

She turned to Vik as she asked what the plan for the day was, chuckling. "I think the plan was just to get lunch and spend time together before Charlie invents a new training regime he wants to try out." She pantomimed checking a watch, "We might still have five minutes before he does."