Hestina

Vicki shook her head, looking at the girl in front of her. Someone who not only knew that she was mute, but could sign as well! Excitedly Vicki signed back to her, "Vicki Adams. You don't know how good it is to find someone who can sign! It's always a bit of an adjustment coming to a new place and trying to figure out how to communicate with people." As her hands fluidly signed back to Daphne, her smile grew wider. Then it sunk in what she had 'said', that she was a telepath and was nominally here to help out. She quickly continued her side of the silent conversation, "well I don't know if I'm a telepath or not. I can communicate with people that I am touching. But, I would LOVE to sit down at talk about it with someone who knows what she is doing. I often feel completely lost and overwhelmed."

Vicki wondered if the ban on powers included her communication abilities. If it did, then she was going to have a very hard time. Although, no worse than most times, she reflected. It was just that she was getting used to people not freaking about her mental communication and perhaps she was getting lax about maintaining her communication abilities. While she had her phone, it would last perhaps a day or two at most. She had already powered it down, saving the charge for an emergency. Turning to face the girl who had approached her, Vicki took a deep breath and prepared to go back to her attempts at signing to folks who did not know ASL. First, she tapped her lips and then shook her head while giving a thumbs down with her other hand. She repeated that motion a few times hoping to get across the fact that she could not speak. Before the other girl could acknowledge it, she tried to answer her question. Picking up a small straight stick and one with a fork in it, she pointed to the one with a fork and again shook her head, giving it a thumbs down and then tossing it behind her. Pointing to the other straighter stick, she nodded yes and gave it a thumbs up. Pausing between the next gesture, she put her hands together and then stretched them apart as far as she could, hoping the universal sign for so big translated well. Doing that gesture twice, she then pointed back to the straight stick again. Finally, she pointed to the tree line and put her hand out flat using the fingers of her other hand to make a walking gesture before pointing deeper into the forest. There would be deadwood out there, and with any luck they would find what they needed.

Several things were happening, and all at once. Vicki was about to ask where she was from, but her sudden levitation left her figuratively speechless. Which considering that she was literally speechless, was not quite as bad as it sounded. Yet that was perhaps only the second most disturbing thing that was going on. The fact that the crowd was doing some kind of perverted dance step was drawing her attention even more. She watched as they seemed to be milling about aimlessly still in the large crowd of the reception. Realizing that she didn't have time to try and type out messages to her odd acquaintance, she went to tap the girl's shoulder so she could communicate with her.

Vicki paused, again, nothing she had said was so strange as to raise any alarms. Kimber seemed to be very pleasant, if a bit eccentric. Which, considering they were both in a graveyard not visiting family, wasn't as odd as it could be. Still, it was almost as if she was talking to someone behind her, enough so that Vicki turned around to look. Seeing no one, she tapped at her phone, "No, my father may stop by later, he's stationed at Lonely Point. I promised him that I'd stop by a service today as it's normally something that he likes to do. However, they were transferring some guy out to the island and wanted as many people on duty as possible. Is your family back at the service?" She was going to leave it go at that, and her mother would have told her that prying wasn't very polite, but she was a curious person. Her fingers danced on the glass surface of the phone and she hit play as she looked up, tilting her head questioningly, "I'm sorry. I have to ask. Were you talking to someone else there? Also, shouldn't ask me what?"

To say that Vicki had been looking forward to this trip would be an understatement. While she had moved around a lot as they transferred from base to base one thing had remained constant, her love of camping. This had certainly been helped by the rural nature of many of the bases as well as her fathers tradition to camp with his girls for a weekend every time he came back from deployment. So when Elias had announced this trip, Vicki had enthusiastically signed up. There was multiple ways to camp, from the back of a car to survival, and she enjoyed all of them. It was something about being out in nature and seeing the splendor of creation. Nature was amazing and if you looked there was always something to amaze. Dew on a spiderweb, sunlight streaming through a canopy of leaves, majestic and stately pines; she drunk up the sights and smells every time she went out. This was no exception. The hike itself had been pretty reasonable and about two and a half hours by her estimation they were looking at a small clearing that was to be their home for the next week. As Eilas instructed them to start working on shelters, she shrugged off her pack looking around at the site and taking a mental note of what was available. She wasn't sure if they were going to be sharing shelters or required to build their own. Sharing made more sense, as body heat was something that you could use to remain warm if the cool summer nights turned cold as it did occasionally. Although, she had a pretty good mummy bag, rated for the 20s, so that wasn't likely to be a huge issue. She still wasn't entirely sure of the ground rules on the campout and what they could and couldn't use. She had packed her typical backpacking kit, yet it seemed that he wanted them to go more rugged, which was fine enough. So, first order of business was to see what was available. She stretched and shook out some of the kinks from carrying a pack, pulling her unruly hair back into it's functional ponytail, before walking around the perimeter of the clearing, looking for materials that would come in handy. (There is no OOC thread so putting rolls here: Survival Roll to find appropriate materials for shelter building 1d20+7 = 24)

Linking arms with the other two girls, which would let her communicate with either of them when needed... and hopefully not look too abnormal in the process, they made their way over to the chef. She gave a bit of a smile at the ears comment as it wasn't going to matter much with her, unless she was going to break into a whistling contest. Looking between her companions, that was not as unlikely as it seemed. She mentally flashed a message to both Eileen and Casey, <"well... there's your answer! I don't know about either of you, but I am ready to eat, and if the food is anywhere near as good as it smells, I'm going to have to apply for a credit extension."> Making their way over to the chef Vicki waited for either of her companions to speak, content to listen and smile for the time being.

It had been a good trip out, and the promise of food at the end made it even a better proposition Vicki thought as her stomach rumbled ominously. Eileen had suggested they take a trip out to visit the Southern Queen, a noted if sometimes snubbed restarant in the North End. As she was still trying to find out about Freedom City, Vicki had been excited to get out. That it was time spent with her friends Eileen and Casey made it even better. Eileen had gone on about the varrious social media outlets for a good chunk of the ride over. Which, in Vicki's mind, had only enhanced her desire to actually eat. Some of the pictures and reviews looked amazing and if it was anything like what people said, it sounded like heaven. While she had been mostly quiet on the trip over, she had communicated a little here and there. Especially on the bus, where the close quarters made it easier to communicate with her companions, just as it was now that Eileen had excitedly grabbed her shoulder. <"I don't know... although it does look like the person that was on the cover of the Freedom Food magazine. Do you want to go say hi?"> She adjusted the sleeve on the cover to her white and floral print dress as Eileen in her excitement had shifted it nearly off one shoulder. As she did, she looked over at the woman who looked rather exhausted and taking a break. <"She does look kind of tired..."> Looking over to Casey, she tried to see if she wanted to meet the chef as well. Vicki didn't want to intrude, although meeting a famous chef did seem pretty cool. Maybe she'd sign a menu?

After a couple of days of Claremont, Vicki was starting to feel that she at least understood where her classes were. It didn't help that it seemed like she had more than the standard reading writing and arithmetic. There were power classes, and ethics classes, as well as all sorts of very strange history classes. So far it had been a very confusing and wonderful experience. She needed to get more of a handle on her powers, that was what she was here for. To grow and learn and become the kind of hero her dad was. She was heading across campus, distracted by the blooming white cherry blossoms as the gently fell like spring snow. Thankfully she had the next hour free for a study period so she was taking her time slowly heading to her next class. Unlike many of the students, she carried no books, or purse, or for that matter anything other than the clothes she wore; jeans and a loose white blouse.

Vicki nodded listening serriously, she was glad that Sakurako was making try the plans. This was bigger than anything that she had done before. It was one thing to break up a robbery or stop a mugging, but so far it had only been her life on the line. Risking your life was your own choice, but risking another's life? That was scary. She tried her best to remember her lifeguard training from a few summers back and hoped it would be enough. However, there was something that she did need to let Sakurako know so she raised her arm and waved it vigourously to get her attention. Then stepping over, she gently touched her shoulder, figuring that since time was limited, she could be a little less polite about asking, her thoughts flowed across the contact, <"Sakurako, I can also open a portal to a safe place. I think I could probably fit... I don't know 20 people in there if I had too? It moves with me, and I can go into it as well if it's an emergency. Just, hen I'm in it, I have to come out where I went in. It might come in handy because if you can fly me out, we can fly them out. But I do have to get them in there...">

Vicki looked at the sign and smiled. She always appreciated it when someone took the time to try and learn some ASL. It was like someone saying hello or thank you in your native language. Although truth be told, she could get very used to the mental communication. Still it did have its drawbacks, like not being able to communicate across the room. Pointing with the index finger of each hand he brought them together in a short choppy motion. Then to be able to translate the motion, she made sure her knee was bumped up against Eileen's. <"Yes you got it. I signed back that you were right. You also have no idea how much easier this is going to be being able to communicate easily the meaning of a sign."> She then shrugged holding her hands out and looking a little perplexed. Following that sign with the same one Eileen had used for movie. <"That was asking you what movie. You probably have better recommendations than I do.">

The look on Vicki's face was complete happiness. While she was going to refuse, that had to be one of the sweetest offers she could remember. The girls she had known at the other schools had been nice in a lot of ways, but they also could be very catty. She hadn't known many people who would be willing to risk ridicule for a best friend much less a new roommate. Impulsively, she leaned over and gave Eileen a warm hug. <"Thank you... that is so sweet"> her mental voice quivered with emotion. <"I mean it... It really is. But I couldn't let you... I'd feel terrible if you got picked on because of my bear. I mean that. So... It'll be our secret for now and I'll keep him in the portal when I'm not sleeping."> She let go of Eileen grinning ear to ear and set her bear in her lap.

Vicki let out a long sigh, releasing the worry and tension that had been plaguing her. To be honest, that had been nearly at the top of her list in terms of things that could go wrong with school. Although Eileen's mention of invisible boys might have been there had she thought about it earlier. Actually, it seemed Eileen had thought of a lot of things that she hadn't really considered. Perhaps it was all the movies that she had watched over the years? Still she silently giggled, looking over at Eileen and handing her the faded mohair teddy, <"I don't really remember how he got his name, but it was a long time ago, like when I was four or five. Mom seems to think I had a 'little friend' named Timmy and so my bear got the same name. I don't really know. I just know that I've had him forever, and you have no idea how worried I was that my roomie was going to see me going to bed with this silly old bear and think... 'what kind of baby have I gotten stuck with'."> As Eileen took the bear, she could feel how worn he was, the mohair soft and he had a silly little expression that seemed to say, 'I know something cheeky'. <"...and well, I like the pillow too. It is a bit more grown up.">

Vicki paused and looked at her for a moment, perhaps weighing how sincere Eileen's response was. Of course, the stupid part was, it would come out quickly enough anyway for anyone living with her. Unless she was about to break a habit that she certainly hadn't been able to ditch yet. Or for that matter, wanted to ditch. She tilted her head, and then nodded, making an internal decision as she held her fingers up and made a square in front of her, fingers burning a hole into the fabric of reality as a small shimmering portal opened up in front of her about the size of a breadbox. She stuck her arm into it and seemed to rummage around for just a moment not even needing to look to find a well loved object. Pulling her arm back, she also brought out a very well loved bear that showed years of care. She held it in front of her for a moment, her thumb tracing the stitched edges and some of the worn spots along the fur. <"Okay... I mean, you would have found out soon enough anyway. This is Timmy, and I sleep with him. I know. Totes embarassing, but I don't think I could sleep without him anymore. Dad brought him back from the UK on a training trip and I've never given him up since. Even though he's kind of worn in spots I've never wanted another either. It was the one thing I was worried about when I knew that I was going to room here... not really a way to hide that I still want to sleep with my bear. I know it's totally kiddie..."> She looked over at Eileen with a look that wavered between embarrassment and hope that her childish habit wouldn't be looked down on, or worse, spread around campus.

<"Yeah, being a pacifist has made it kind of hard... but I guess I'm not a total pacifist, or I wouldn't have gone out to stop some of them. But I do feel better about it after the fact. I mean that not really hurting them part of it."> she added nodding sincerely. <"I think I would have been a little more leery about going out if I thought I could really hurt someone."> Hearing that Eileen had a very similar philosophy was a good thing. It had been hard to be a teen hero, with curfiew and all the other restrictions. However, her dad had done all that he could to help people and she was certainly going to do the same. She had no intention of stopping her heroing escapades, and hearing that it sounded like Eileen had a similar philosophy was a good thing. In the next few days, they could start training, either in the structure of the school, or perhaps on their own free time. <"So... I have one other thing to ask. I mean, no telling about this either. You can keep a secret, right? I mean big secret and the kind where you totes promise to die before revealing it?">

Vicki blew a rasberry in Eileen's direction. At least some noises she had the capability to make. Like whistling, for instance. Not that she was about to render a version of any popular song in whistle where anyone was in ear shot, but you had to entertain yourself in the shower some how! <"Well some of us haven't always been blessed with having the right answer all the time... perhaps because they snuck out the night before to try and thwart a robbery, or perhaps just because their bestest friend in the world managed to find tickets to a hot band. I mean... it wasn't an everyday thing, but I just didn't want you feeling sorry for me. I'm used to it by now and there are some unintended perks that kind of come along with the whole package."> She leaned back, guessing that Eileen was likely joking with her, <"come on... you can't tell me that you've never bent the rules a little?"> She wiggled her eyebrows clearly already having a firm opinion on how Eileen should answer that question.

As the camera in the phone snapped Vicki had already given a brilliant white smile along with a thumbs up, tilting her head towards Eileen so they would both be centered in the picture. As the camera snapped she thought to herself, which inadvertently leaked through the communications channel <"this is so perfect!"> Absorbed in the moment, she didn't feel the telltale echo of her thoughts moving along their shared contact. While she stopped posing, her smile remained <"I don't know about that. I'd be worried that it was going to explode, or mutate me or something. I mean I like changing styles and all, but scales or turning pink would not be cool. No, it's not that bad. I mean there's just the one time it was terrible. Other times, I can just shrug and go back to being that quiet girl. Let me tell you, no one ever suspects the quiet types. You can get away with tons of mischief that way. Oh! Like if your teacher calls on you and you don't have the answer because you were totally daydreaming about going to a concert or something?"> While discussing her ability to cause mischief, her look turned conspiratorial and while she didn't need to, she turned to look Eileen in the eyes, leaning close like someone might be listening, <"fake out that your phone is dead and you get total sympathy points. She feels terrible for picking on someone handicapped and then you can go back to daydreaming with impunity! It's a perfect setup I tell you.">

<"Well..."> her thoughts kind of faltered. <"I do get an indication when something is about to go bad. So... I'd hope that invisible boys would fall under that, although I'm not about to test it any time soon. I don't like saying it very much as most people then just make the assumption that I'm reading their minds. Which I totally can't."> She nodded watching Eileen charge her phone. Given that it was often her only means of communication she not only charged it, but a host of battery packs as well. Actually ending up mute was a total pain. <"If you ever want, I have like... I don't know... ten to so battery packs and a really really good charging station. It's usually my only lifeline to people and I had a time where I was talking with the totally cute guy and the phone conked out. I was about to tell him what I thought of him and all. Then... nothing. Never had the nerve to do it again. He ended up dating a girl on my gymnastics team. So moral of the story? More power!">

NOW WITH MORE PICNIC BASKET's Changes for Hestina: Additional Skill Ranks 3 points Skills: 52R = 13PP Swimming (5) +5 Acrobatics(10) +15 Survival(2) +7 Add Progress[Cargo] 3 (5 tons) to Dimensional Pocket. It should read Dimensional Pocket 4 (Mental, Genetics, Dimension; Extras Duration 3 (Continuous) Feats: Suble 1, Progression 3 (Cargo, 5 tons), Quick Change 1, Hide in Plain Sight, Alternate Powers 3) [29PP] Thank you!

"Kimber, nice to meet you. I'm Vicki. I suppose they might appreciate it, if they were looking at me now I suppose. Wouldn't that be kind of a scary thought?" her phone intoned in it's monotone voice. Her hand, which had been reaching to shake, fell back to her side. While that was an unusual request, it wasn't that abnormal. There were plenty of people who had space issues, or germ issues, or all sorts of reasons they didn't want to be touched. If Kimber hadn't been so friendly Vicki might have noticed the hairs on the back of her neck standing up and not from static electricity. However, the open and cheerful girl belayed the instincts that her body was trying to communicate. As she looked back at the grave, she then realized that Kimber must be here to pay her respects and it was just coincidence that she had chosen this one to pause at. Her fingers tapped out a reply, "I'm sorry. Am I in the way? Just let me know as I was just stopping her for a moment."

If Vicki had intended to give some kind on entandre, she didn't seem to show anything regarding it sitting relaxed as she often had with her sisters and friends talking before bed. Although if she had thought about it, she was acting far too familiar with someone who she had known for just a day. The realization that she would be able to talk to Eileen nearly any time she wanted, without the artificial pauses of the phone, or having to teach her ASL was so liberating that it had not only dropped her guard, it had pretty much smashed it into bits. The bonus that Eileen seemed really cool was just icing on an already wonderful cake! <"Yeah, I've always run into a few of those. There was a girl who was better at gymnastics than I was... I mean, she would have never fallen on her head. Anyway she was always so snooty about it and did everything she could to 'put me in my place'. Captain of the team, popular clique, straight A's, the whole nine yards. I was so thankful that I had my Gremlin Marauder to back me up or that would have been a pretty hard year or two. She was really good at being a manipulative witch."> She bit at her bottom lip suppressing a decidedly wicked grin but still looking very furtive, <"a couple months before I moved, though we totally set her up. My partner in crime distracted her while I set her BFF's text contact to a distribution list for the school. She sent out some nasty things about people and it went out to most the school. Opened more than one set of eyes. I know it was wrong, but it was VERY satisfying. She figured it out pretty quickly, but by then all the nasty things she was saying about everyone got spread around.">

Does this mean I'm going to have to stick to my little star projector?

\o/ I love camping! No really, I do!

Vicki was listening as she was still tossing equipment into the tear in the universe. As they talked about rescue strategies, she wondered how many people could stay in her own pocket. She'd never had more than two people in there at a time and she was worried that it might be too much to fit most of a crew of a ship in there. Still, she should be able to fit a reasonable amount of equipment and hopefully save a few people who needed it. As for swimming, well, she was reasonably adept at it, and with her ability to teleport out of danger easily, she wasn't too worried about drowning. Besides, if worse came to worse, she could always hide out in her own dimensional pocket. To be on the safe side, she made sure to grab some fancy packed emergency rations and toss them into the hole along with the other things she had gathered. Glancing about the room, checking for opposite sexed individuals, she quickly stripped down and started tugging on the underlayer to the drysuit. No sense in waiting until they were already at the location to get ready. While she wasn't going to put the whole suit on, as she would roast, this part would do not only to be ready, but also as a costume of sorts, The body hugging stocking material was close enough to her size to fit, and she felt reasonably comfortable. How long that would last would be another question. When she was dressed, she looked to the small group, "How are we going to get there?" her phone chirped out at the people frantically gathering equipment.

Hestina GM Posts: (Only one character, apply all posts to Hestina) April Showers Bring... () Total () IC Posts: A Welcome Lunch () Voice of the People () Buddies a Brewing () April Showers Bring... () Freedom's Finest #2: Undedication Ceremony () Total ()

Rogue state? Vicki wasn't sure of a definitive list, but he didn't look North Korean, or one of the several Middle Eastern nations that would qualify for that status. That was something she would have to ask him about later. However, in the mean time, plans were being made that had her nearly doing mental cartwheels being so excited! Would her mom let her go for several weeks this summer? She paused her thoughts, she had a friend who owned an island. This school was definately different than any base school she had gone to before. She clapped her hands excitedly before rembering that she needed to actually type into her phone for people to understand her, "So this is for real? I can talk to my parents about this?" As the monotone British voice echoed her text, she wanted to throttle the phone. Didn't it know that she was about to get an offer to go on the trip of a lifetime? Then forcing the giddyness down a bit she turned back to Elias, tapping in another message, "Rogue State? Which one? You don't look like you come from one of them."