Hestina

<"Sorry... I missed that. I think I saw the first movie, but never read the books. Now that you said it, you're totes right, it is kind of like that, and well most places I was at everyone was pretty busy trying to show how old and mature they were. Short of my BFF who I got into no end of trouble with. She was the other half of the Gremlin Marauders..."> there was a mischevious twist to the words as she said them with just a whiff of the kind of friendship that bonds people for life. <"I think that maybe I'll have to redecorate the 'clubhouse' to make it suitable to hang out in, although power is a bit of an issue... well and the fact I'm not terribly handy. I can do some, but I'm not like some home remodeler."> With her hand resting on Eileens shoulder she crossed her legs, letting them dangle off the side of the bed her white sandles half dangling from her feet, <"so tell me about your family... and friends... and significant people?">

Vicki noticed Eileen's reaction, and truth be told, Vicki knew that some people just did not like people touching them, regardless of the reason. She nearly withdrew her hand, but held it in place deciding that asking was going to be better than communication via phone for the rest of the year. Besides, she was more of a ask forgiveness rather than permission kind of person anyway. <"I'm sorry. Guess I'm being a little forward, if it bugs you I'll go back to using the phone, just let me know and I'll give you space. I'm really not that clingy normally."> However, it was Eileen's later revelation that concerned her. Being able to fly and also being afraid of heights had to be a nightmare situation. She couldn't really imagine having to deal with that, but she could help in her own way perhaps. Besides, she totally wanted a ride sometime, so it was kind of in her own interested to help... even if she would have tried regardless. She smiled as her thoughts continued, a warmth twining around the words, <"well I'm not sure, I've never tried to go that far with it. I can open doors where I need them, so perhaps? Still, it's a lot easier to just take a cab. Dad's stationed at Lonely Point Naval base just a bit away from here."> The warmth turned to a curiosity and introspection, <"Well it's not just a wardrobe. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have a lot of clothes in there. But it's more of a space that's mine? Gah... that doesn't make much sense. Um... think of it as a clubhouse!"> Her mental tone turned sour, <"OMG... while that might be true, I just made that sound like I'm 8 years old.">

Vicki held up a ruffled sleeveless blouse for inspection, turning to the mirror to determine if it would go well with the jean shorts she was wearing. It must have passed her inspection as she nodded silently and folded it up, placing it carefully into the drawer she had been steadily filling. Several other country-ish outfits followed along with some classic jeans and tees. As Eileen described her powers, Vicki opened her arms incredulously, looking surprised that anyone would say flying wasn't cool. To emphasize, she tapped on her phone. "Flying?! Totes awesome. Besides all of the other stuff too." As she finished putting away the things that she had taken out of her dimensional pocket, she looked around the room. Decorations, she'd have to get some decorations. That was something she hadn't considered this morning in her haste to get everything ready for her first day. Considering how many new people she had met, she began to wonder if the school year was very non traditional. She walked back over to Eileen's bed and plunked down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder and her thoughts flowed smoothly across the link, <"Okay, I kind of guessed that everyone here had powers, but I didn't know. I'd hate to blow some top secret on the first day. So where are you from? Do you still get home much?">

Stepping closer to Eileen she touched the girl again on the shoulder, hoping that she was not invading her personal space too much. <"Well, right now it's a bit of a jumbled mess. I have a few odds and ends in there that I've collected... and I've dumped most of my clothes in there as well. I've thought about trying to make a little hangout inside of it since everything tends to stay the same. Mostly at least. As I use it more, it does seem to be getting bigger, which is a total bonus." But if the door closes, I just open it up again. It's really convenient that way. Right now, other than all my junk I have a few beanbag chairs and a small desk. Sometimes I really need to take the time to organize it properly."> Moving back to her things, she started to fold her clothes, which were mostly simple and what you might find in the rural south. Although there were a few formal outfits mixed in, the sort that you might wear to church or a dinner party. Her mother and father were fine with her choice in clothes, perhaps even relieved given the cost of designer brands. However, they had insisted on a few nice outfits and dresses for when the occasion demanded it. As she was standing near her side of the room, folding tops, she paused and punched into her phone. The mechanical British lady spoke for her. "So what about you? I mean, I assume that you have powers as well? It seems like everyone I've met here has them."

While Vicki had changed schools many times, she had never actually lived on campus. This was obviously a very different experience, and one that she had thought about for some time. When Eileen asked if she needed help she smiled and shook her head no. In fact, she had not brought any luggage or bags with her. There were some advantages to having access to N dimensional space. She stepped over to the other girls bed and lightly touched her shoulder. <"Thank you, well I haven't said anything about it, I guess you could say one of my powers is the ability to bring lots of stuff with me easily. Kind of like having the world's greatest backpack." "Although one of the problems is that I tend to become a bit of a pack rat. Still I haven't figured out how much space I actually have so you never know what you actually might need."> Stepping just a little away from Eileen, Vicki traced a small box in the air. There was a shimmering light and an otherworldly portal opened up. Stepping into the glowing portal Eileen could hear Vicki's muffled commentsas several items came back through the portal making a small pile on the floor. In a short moment Vicki stepped back through the portal and looked at the pile of things, satisfied.

Nodding in total agreement, she quickly typed another message out and played it. All the while giving a knowing nod at the table behind them where several guys had certain taken notice of them. The electronic British voice chirped, "Okay, that was totes cool. Although, I have to say, I'm not sure if I'd be willing to stand in the middle of the cafeteria wearing nothing but a body stocking. Still I think you definitely got some interest to say the least. Or they're wondering where I was able to put an entire pizza. I'm going to bet on the hot body stocking for the reason they're looking." Flashing a wide and friendly smile at Sakurako, she silently laughed, typing one last message, "well I have to touch you to communicate that way, so unless we're playing twister, there's kind of a limitation on how many people I can communicate with that way. It's good for one person, this phone works best for more."

Vicki paused in assembling the final bits of the radio to look up at Sakurako, she reached over and put her hand on top of the other girls letting her thoughts flow, <"Great! It'll be good to see her. As for space, for now, being on the ground is just fine. It can be like the final frontier or whatever, even if the suit looks better now."> She paused for a moment, <"Lovely Scientist Sailor Sakurako? That's quite a mouthful"> the mirth she was feeling bubbled through the link as she continued, <"Although I guess I can see what they are talking about. Yes, I think they have it right. Sooooo... am I supposed to call you that as well? I mean I suppose it beats me, my nickname was the Gremlin Marauders... although not while I was in costume."> Pulling her hand back she put the final assembly into place with a satisfied nod. In front of her was a small radio which if Sakurako was correct would also get shortwave as well as the standard radio frequencies. It was amazing that it was together, and frankly without her friend's help, it wouldn't have happened... at least not any time soon.

(GM) Noah Kingsley had been aboard the big freighters for most of his adult life, and even a portion of his childhood. His father had been in the Merchant Marine and spent all of his life plying the trade routes. Noah had taken a position on the Glencairn two years ago and hadn't regretted it. At least until last night. Whatever squalls and storms they had been sailing through had battered the big container ship in a fierce way. It had never really crossed Noah's mind to worry about crossing the ocean. The accidents and tragedies were as remote as plane crashes or getting struck by lightning. With a ship the size of the Glencairn, it didn't seem possible that anything could sway her. At least that was until the 30 and 40 foot waves smashed into her over and over. He had been trying to make dinner for the past two hours and finally gave up. Walking through the engine room he passed out power bars and packs of Raisins. "Fellas it's too rough to feed ya..." he said entering the small dining area. Mark Sullivan called out, "you didn't just drop a Edmund Fitzgerald reference on us did you?" With a chuckle, Noah passed out the cold dinner and went back to the kitchen for more supplies. They were close to land, and it was a first for him to want to be off this rocking and shifting craft.

Vicki listened intently, staring at the intricate suit. She wondered for a moment why the girl was wearing something like that, but her subsequent explanation of science pretty much summed it up. Actually, it also explained the goggles and the lab coat. Looking down at her own clothes, she wondered what they said about her? The sundress she had chosen for the first day of school wasn't her normal attire no matter how much she liked it. Her mom was pretty insistent on making a good first impression, and it had worked before, so why change a good formula. Oh, well I can communicate through touch. There's some mental short circuiting too if I have to stop someone who's really angry, and I can teleport. That's the best. Especially if you're plate for something. Which I nearly always seem to be. So yeah, if it's one on one, I can 'talk quietly' in a manner of speaking. It does make things easier and saves me from Autocorrect.

Smiling with faint flush in her cheeks at the compliment, she took a deep breath, picking up the soldering iron and now seeing where she had messed things up. Sakurako was correct, laying things out how they were supposed to go before trying to assemble anything did make it easier, and perhaps the teacher would give her some extra credit for having the receiver pick up short wave. If this was any indication, she was going to need it. <"Thanks, although is that because I'd look like the stay puff marshmallow man?> she thought, a silver ghostly laughter following along. <"I was watching you work with your projects. I hope you don't mind, but you really seem to know what you are doing! Where did you learn all of that?"> Taking her hand back, she worked quickly. Thankfully her issues with the radio had nothing to do with agility, and all to do with a complete lack of understanding on electronics. The shortwave took shape quickly as she put the components into the box and deftly soldered them together, occasionally moving her hands back to let Sakurako inspect what she was doing. As she worked, she relaxed more, relived that she was making progress. She had feared that she would be stuck in the room all night working on it.

Platapus? Where did that come from, Vicki wondered as she looked down at her phone, then read the last message and groaned. Shaking her head and silently chuckling, she quickly tapped in another message. Auto correct. Bane of my existence. My PROGRAM that was sent to me said I'd have one... and really don't worry about, I'm kind of used to it. People assume I can't hear, it's pretty common. I don't get bothered. As long as you can wait for me to text things and let the polite British lady speak for me.Then she paused, looking over her room mate with a smile before she typed one more thing quickly. She held up the phone and let it speak for her. Walk with us? You can show me the room afterwards?

Vicki waved her hands at the offending science project. The small radio components were scattered in front of her like a million small puzzle pieces, taunting her as they lay in their jumbled mess. She smiled as she turned her book towards the other girl, pointing to the science experiment described in the book. She nodded enthusiastically at Sakurako before pointing to the instructions shaking her head. Then realizing that they had met at lunch the other day, she reached over and placed her hand on top of Sakurako's. <"Sorry, I'm still a little jittery about using this way of talking. It didn't go so well back home when I did. You know, freaking out, mental invasions... all that. As for lunch, I'd love it, I swear I'm always hungry, and I'd never turn away the help. I always had pretty good grades, but this... well I just don't get it. They invented the radio in like the late 1800's and I can't figure it out now. I think I'm hopeless with this stuff."> Vicki's voice came through her mental contact along with the taste of her frustration at failing so miserably at trying to assemble the simple receiver. <"Besides, I'd love to see Casey too! I don't feel so bad eating when she's around."> the last bit of her communication was tinged with humor and self deprecation as she looked over at Sakurako and smiled wide.

Vicki slid down on the table to make room for the girl in the odd sailor/lab outfit. While it was strange, she was already begining to find the unique normal. This was going to be a great year! She flashed a thought to Casey, <"Is that a friend of yours?"> before letting Casey's hand go so she could operate her phone. Dancing her fingers across the glass screen she tapped out a message and pressed the text to voice app. The slightly mechanical and tin like british voice spoke from her phone. I am! Nice to meet you. I'm Vicki. Sorry about the phone voice, but I'm mute.

(Hestina) The rain sleeted down against the broad windows of Claremont's Daedelus Technology Center. The dour weather matched Vicki's bleak mood as she tried again to make the small radio transmitter work. Class had finished long ago and while she had cruised through Translocation 101, Trigonometry and Media Relations this basic Engineering class was likely more than she was going to be able to handle. Thankfully for her, the teacher had let her stay and keep working in the back of the room while a more advanced class came through. If the work they were doing was any indication, Vicki should likely stick to the social sciences. There had been one benefit though, she certainly had been amazed at some of the things they had been discussing. Sure, the basic radio was over her head, but the discussion on nano technology that had just occurred was seriously cool. Well most of it was serriously cool, the rest she wasn't really sure what they had been talking about. As most of the class filed out, she sighed, pulling on her slightly disheveled ponytail. That noise was at least something she could produce which needed little translation. Pulling the simple circuitry apart, she dug back into her book looking as morose as the weather as she tried again to determine how to make it work. When she had signed up for the class, she had envisioned death rays and anti grav boots. If her current aptitude was any indication, she was a long way from even spelling those concepts.

(GM) The Glencairn, a 100,000 metric ton freighter labored in the rough seas just outside of Freedom City. It had been a rough crossing and Captain Eric Mathers was going to be happy to make port and give the crew a day or three leave to compensate their near steady state of vigilance. He'd been making the run from Amsterdam to Freedom City for nearly a decade and he couldn't remember a series of storms like the one's they'd been cursed to slog through. He had seen the string of spring storms and had guessed it was going to be a rocky go, but not quite like this. Normally, the Glencairn made the journey in seven days, but they were already two days late and the crew was getting jittery. He could practically feel the tension on the bridge as they bore in on the US coast. "Right two degrees, let's get in that shipping lane nice and easy Mr. Jones," he said as they made the last of their corrections to bring them to the channel leading then to the docks. "Yes sir," Jones, his pilot responded, making the subtle change. Captain Mathers shook his head and sighed, taking as sip from his cold coffee, "Jones, land is going to be a sweet thing to see..." "I'll drink to that," Jones replied looking down at the console, "just another 20 miles or so and we'll enter the harbor."

The OOC posting for April Showers Bring... thread. GM and IC posting to start. Current players are: Endeavor Hestina I think there is one more coming!

Vicki gave a silent laugh, smiling in a friendly manner to let her know she wasn't upset. Most people assumed she was deaf as being mute was far less common. On the off chance she was wrong she quickly signed a pinching movement with her fingers, then pointed to her ear shaking her head followed with her index finger moving up and down in front of her mouth nodding her head. However, she was reasonable sure, given what Eileen had said that she didn't know ASL. Regardless, Vicki didn't like to make assumptions, too often when she did her thoughts were proven otherwise. Still, the phone would let the others in on the conversation, even though there were days that she really wanted to find whoever did the voice work on it and strangle them. Hi Eileen, that's great! My platapus said I would be assigned one. I'm mute, not deaf. I can hear you fine.Looking up at Eileen, giving her a warn smile, she didn't even catch the auto corrected word slipping through.

Vicki looked over at yet another person coming up! She'd have to remember this tree as it seemed quite the spot to meet and greet her fellow students. She was about to scoot aside to make room when the smiling girl not only knew her name, but was looking right at her. She did a double take, and concluded that she didn't know this girl from anywhere before. It wouldn't have been the first time that she bumped into an old friend from a prior base. She quickly saluted, the sign for hello followed with a deliberate head nod to agree. She only paused a second before realizing that she also was not a practitioner of ASL and looked to her phone, punching into it furiously. Yes I am. Do I know you?Letting the vaguely british voice from the phone speak, she looked up and flashed the girl a bright smile.

At a memorial day celebration Hestina is standing at the end of the parade route listening to the speeches and the tributes to America's fallen. Having heard speeches like this so many times she wanders through the cemetary eventually encountering Ghost Girl. Thankfully, this also took her out of the radius of Baron Samedi's ritual which enthralled the gathered crowd. As he summons more of the dead to him from the graves his manical plot is to turn the gathered veterans into the core of a new deader army! Can the teen duo break the ritual and stop Baron Samedi from changing the gathered host from the living to the dead?

I'd be more than happy to have two new people together if you're willing.

<deleted> This should have gone in April's bucket. Posted there.

Soooo... Hestina is going to be looking for a room-mate. If you are interested in having a partner in crime shenanigans, I would love to know.

Vicki stared at Casey, fascinated as she changed her hair faster than the eye could track. Her mouth hung open as Casey took her hand back with her pig tails still swaying. <"That is amazing! I don't do much to get ready and it still takes me an hour... at least!"> she communicated with light and mirthful tone. <"...and yeah, I usually just end up going hungry on a date. One of my first, I think the poor guy thought I was a rabid animal and was going to start chewing on him next. Definitely no good night kiss on that one."> Her smile was wistful with a tone of self deprecation as she turned back to her food and started to finish the pizza on her plate. <"So you just gained powers? Is that like something that can happen?">

<"Okay, no arm wretling then... what can I do? Well lots of things I suppose. I can kind of scramble people when I touch them and I did mention a couple of black belts, right?"> she sent over the link smiling in person and projecting a friendly warmth as she also ate. <"Oh! I can like blink from place to place too. That counts for something I think?"> She chewed thoughtfully enjoying the surprisingly good food, <"this may sound totally wrong... but it's really nice to see someone eat as much as I do. I always feel a bit out of place when I do. Date's are the worst.">

Vicki has started to type into her phone before looking up at Vox again, how would she actually spell his name? Vox was straight forward enough to do, but Thanh? Had she heard that right? Well perhaps if she listened to others for a while, she'd pick up on his name if that what it was. Although, perhaps cooler was the mental communication. She was definately going to have to corner him sometime and ask him about that. He didn't seem to need to touch someone to communicate with them, which would be totally helpful. Maybe he could teach her how to do it. She was punching a reply into her phone as someone else came up. Vicki looked up at the newcommer and smiled brightly before waving a hello and looking back down at her phone and furriously typing a response. When he gave it a final push, the phone dutifly spoke. Oh! Hello there. I am at least. Nice to meet you. Blood When is going to give us a tour.Sighing at the butchery of Blodeuwedd she looked over at their guide and gave her a rueful smile.