Mad Scientist

"Who isn't starving?" Eileen agreed, following into the lab at a more sedate pace, half her attention on the phone in her hand. "Lunch time is food time; it has been spoken, thus it shall be," she intoned sombrely. She was dressed what was coming to be apparent was her usual manner -- jeans, boots, a tank top layered under another shirt -- and, of course, her phone. "I ran into Casey, invited myself along," she explained, unabashed, glancing up at the other two. "Definitely up for a rescue mission, if wires are involved." Her tone was wry, and almost a little...dismissive. She was far, far better at the 'regurgitation of data' portion of schooling than the practical side of things, and as such she tended to gravitate away from labs, shops, and gymnasiums if she could manage it. "We gonna blow this pop stand, or do I gotta 'accidentally' break things so you might as well give up and start again after some food?" they curvy blonde suggested hopefully.

Having been invited, Cerulean will be making an appearance! And don't worry -- she definitely won't be stealing the show! ^_^;

Eileen laughed at that question, honestly caught off-guard. "Oh, I have no idea," she replied, exasperated. "School's no challenge, so I haven't put any thought into what I might do, yet. I'm still just a Junior, there's time." Mind you, she'd only be a Junior for a matter of weeks, yet -- her senior year was on the horizon. Still...that didn't mean she had any ideas. "I haven't even really put a whole lot of thought into the whole hero thing, so far," the curvy blonde admitted. "I'm still really pretty new to all this; truth be told, I've only really had these powers for about six weeks now," she revealed. A rookie indeed! "I'm glad this is going well, though," she went on, indicating the two of them. "I have to admit, I was kinda worried about the whole 'roommate' thing -- I've seen I don't know how many examples of extremely mismatched personalities rooming together," she laughed. TV, movies, very rarely did random roommates get along with one another. Honestly, about the only time they did was the racier sort of fan fiction, she'd noticed. "That's kinda why I was lurking earlier today, being kinda all stalker-ey," she said, her mouth twisting ruefully. "I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't about to get stuck with some uptight brainiac, or a stoner, or Miss Rich Bitch or something." Any number of horrible options could have presented themselves; being mute or no, Vicki was a pretty decent option, at least as far as she had discovered.

Eileen abruptly sat up again, turning to face Vicki. "Wait -- your dad is Marcus Adams?" she demanded incredulously. "I guess I shoulda seen it, knowing your name and when you said he was stationed at the naval base," she admitted, half to herself. "You've gotta be pretty proud of him," she went on admiringly, wishing her dad had been half as awesome even when he was alive. And then felt a moment's pang of disloyalty for the thought. "Uh, anyhow, most of my good friends aren't any further away now than when I lived in Boston," she related, her thumbs flicking over the face of her phone for a moment, before holding it up to display the screen. "I've never even met most of them," she laughed, "but I know more about some of them than I did about kids in my own class back in Boston. I've found that proximity alone isn't enough to make people friends, and distance won't prevent a friendship from happening." A romantic relationship, sure, but that was another matter entirely. "So, I dunno if I'll go visiting all that often," she went on with a shrug. "I mean, it's not exactly keeping things a secret if I show up randomly on a regular basis," she pointed out. "And I don't have a problem with flying -- I'm just not thrilled about doing it more than about ten feet off the ground," the blonde girl laughed. Gather Information (Well Informed): 1d20+10 17

Eileen made a rude noise, dismissing 'old and mature'. "We're going to have to grow up soon enough," she rebutted. "I'm not going to squander my last legit chances to be a goof. And I'm going to want to hear more about the 'Marauders'," she warned Vicki with a wicked grin. "I can totally give you a hand with redecorating, if you want," she went on. "I'm not all that handy either, but I've read some stuff on architecture and interior design." She shrugged, off-handedly. "And power? Batteries, of course," she added dryly. "There's probably someone here who can get you a power source that'll be able to last a while, or if nothing else, solar panels. They work with other light sources too," she confided with a cheeky smile. "Oh, no significant people," Eileen sighed, flopping back to lean against the wall. "Kind of hard to keep that sort of thing going once you're in another state," she pointed out, glossing over the fact that she hadn't had a 'significant person' to end things with when she'd transferred. "Family...it's just me, my mom, and my older sister, now," she went on. "My dad died a few years ago, heart attack," She told this simply, having had time to come to terms with his absences, as sad as it still was. Sad, but that's the way it was. "They're pretty cool about this," she admitted, gesturing about the room to indicate Claremont as a whole, and what that meant about her. "Worried, but pretty cool anyhow." She shrugged. "Your dad's in the Navy?" she countered, turning the questions back on Vicki with a curious look.

A figure was slowly making its way through the cafeteria, and was worth watching for at least a moment. In one hand, Eileen had her phone, and it was demanding the lion's share of her attention as she tapped rapidly away at it with one thumb. In the other hand, she balanced...precariously...a tray loaded with a lunch on par of that of either Vicki or Casey. She was avoiding collisions with people and tables more or less by chance rather than by any dint of paying attention to where she was going, and it seemed like it was only a matter of time before someone ended up wearing quite a bit of food. Given the myriad of powers and personalities gathered in the room, the results of that could be anything from amusement to explosive anger...possibly quite literally. She was making her way more or less in the direction of Vicki, Casey, and Sakurako, but that could just be a coincidence based on the lack of general navigation currently being employed.

Eileen seemed confused for a moment. "Forward? What? No, it's fine," she assured Vicki, wondering where that had come from. It seemed that it may have been the thought of flying high that had prompted her reaction. "But no, don't feel bad about calling it a clubhouse," the blonde went on animatedly. "If I could do that, I would totally call it a clubhouse." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "You know the difference between eight year olds and eighteen year olds? The eight year olds haven't been taught they're not supposed to have fun," she revealed with a giggle. "You want to call it a clubhouse? Call it a clubhouse! I want to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings? I'm gonna darn well watch cartoons!" She laughed, not because the idea was silly, but because she had known it was going to happen regardless. "Buuuuut, I'm guessing you didn't get the whole Narnia reference, huh?" she added ruefully. Not that she expected everyone to get all of her references. To be fair, she didn't expect most people to get most of her references. But that didn't mean she was going to stop making them, not when they usually fit so well.

Thirty foot leap to cover the distance the thug ran, taking 10 on the attack with +2 Power Attack, damage save DC 22 for the thug.

The return kick from the thug caught Wildcat on the upper thigh, and only landed there instead of somewhere even more critical due to a desperate twist on his part at the last moment. The kick still hurt, however, and it truly added injury to insult in the wake of his own failed attempt to slow the man. He barely even heard the cheesily-garbed man as he prattled on, then vanished to wrap up the man who had struck back at him. Who had hit him. Who had dared to hurt him. A bubbling growl rose up in Wildcat's throat, and he sprang effortlessly in a standing thirty foot leap with an outraged screech that brought him slamming down with both fists in the middle of the enscarved man's back, hammering with bruising force as the thug was pitifully unable to avoid the attack, not with the added encumbrance of Phantasmo's magics. How dare he? He was going to tear this pezzo di merda apart with his bare hands!

Eileen's shoulder shuddered under Vicki's touch. "Flying. Gah, you'd think that'd be great," she replied with asperity. "If you're afraid of heights, though? It sucks," she reported bluntly. "I can break the sound barrier...apparently...but I'd rather not be more than ten feet off the ground if I an help it." Vicki was right -- it was a pretty cool power, and she was too much of a chicken to use it properly. "I'm from Boston," she admitted, "but I've only been here a couple of days, so visits home haven't come into play yet," she explained. "I mean, I should be able to fly there in, like, twenty minutes, but..." She trailed off, the whole scared-of-heights thing writ large across her face. "What about you?" she asked, glancing at the other girl. "Where are you in from, and can you get there by a back door in your magical wardrobe?" she inquired impishly.

"So...if one or the other of us need privacy for something, that's totally doable, isn't it?" Eileen replied admiringly. Talk about a roommate with benefits! She desperately wished she had her own portable hope she could crawl into whenever she wanted to hide away from the world. Assuming the air supply held out. She didn't even appear to notice any theoretical invasions of her personal space, nor did she seem nervous about telepathic communication. She did, however, hear the posed question just fine. "Oh, yeah, I think powers are a prerequisite of some sort to get the whole on-campus treatment," she observed dryly. "I've got 'em, although it hasn't been for very long yet," she admitted. "I have to...power up, I guess," she continued, absently brushing back an errant strand of hair. "Just like I am now, my only super power is endless useless trivia," the blonde girl said with wry amusement. "Once I do get going, though, I've got all sorts of things set up around being able to emit blue lights." Well, that kinda sounded silly, didn't it? "I glow, a force field, I can fly, shoot like, lasers and stuff," she went on hastily, to hopefully sound a little less lame. "Nothing as useful as a portable hole, though," she added ruefully.

Eileen sat on the bed for a moment, eyes wide, jaw dropped, phone in her hand sagging and forgotten as she watched her roomie rip a hole in the air. "...that's freakin' cool!" she exclaimed finally, leaning forward to look at the glowing opening in space. "How big is that in there? What happens if the door closes while you're inside? I'm sooo jealous, I had to bring all my crap in bags, and I didn't get super strength or telekinesis or an army of animated broomsticks or whatever to help out." The words were just bouncing off her tongue, she was clearly enthused. "Oh, and the, ah, talking thing?" she added, poking at the side of her own head with a fingertip. "Also way cool. I mean, it's too bad it's gotta be touching to make it work, but it's sure better than text-to-voice, right?" The curvy blonde laughed and shook her head. Her phone came back up and thumbs flashed as she tweeted. New Roomie's got so much cooler stuff than me! Jealous! :D

Wildcat is starting to get tired of women showing up and being far more capable than he is -- it might not be logical, but her being a 'little girl' is a way of reducing her impact. Until she demonstrates an actual impact. :P

I didn't want to hog this, given that I'm taking part in the first Freedom's Finest issue, and my first game thread ever on this site was in response to Electra's And I Was Just Standing There, but...there doesn't seem to be anyone immediately leaping into the fray! Having looked over your characters, I'm going to have to say that Glamazon looks to be the most entertaining to play off. There are definite arguments in favour of either Wildcat or Cerulean to interact with the Atlantean Princess, but I'm thinking that in the long run the dynamic between 'Cat and Glam would probably be the most fun to play with. That, and the Claremont girls will have plenty of opportunities to run amok together. What comes to mind is a chance encounter between Wildcat and Glamazon (hmmm...he has a lot of chance encounters, and all with women. A hitherto-unknown power?), given that they both tend to patrol in the West End. Wildcat can suggest that little girls should run back home and leave the heroing to grownups, and we can let things grow organically from there? I'm thinking either she punches him through a wall or she shows him up badly, but either way he has it coming. :D Sound at all interesting?

A thread for Vicki and Eileen to get to know each other as new roommates. Taking place after 'Voice of the People', but before 'A Welcome Lunch. -= * * * =- It had been a long day, getting Vicki checked into the school, making sure her stuff had made it to the dorm room, getting her shown around a bit and introduced to a few of the students and faculty. Plus, y'know, some classes and stuff, which meant that Eileen had only been present for part of all of that. Now, however, after the sun had gone down and Vicki was no doubt tired and a little overwhelmed, it was just the two of them in the quiet of the dorm room. Eileen had only been there about two days by this point, but she'd already gotten her stuff unpacked and the beginnings of some personal touches on the room. She'd chosen the right side of the room, and had an old desktop computer set up on the desk, a picture of a woman and an older girl on the dresser beside that of a middle-aged man, and a poster of...Back to the Future on the wall? "So...you need any help unpacking or anything?" Eileen asked of her new roommate, sitting cross-legged atop her bed and regarding the other girl curiously.

Wildcat made a face, his nose wrinkling reflexively at what he could smell. "It's here," he told Jill grimly, not bothering to get into more detail than that. Sure, she'd already told people that the drinks were tainted, but he didn't think that coming outright and saying 'Yep, I sure smell poison!' would have a positive result on people who had already been affected. Except.... Looking around, he didn't see anyone who appeared to have been affected. Sure, people looked unsettled, but nobody looked actually sick. There...wasn't really a lot he could do at this point, though. If these people were poisoned, then Jill would have to deal with it. He did keep a wary eye one the people in the immediate area, and the kids doing the filming and the distribution -- if anyone bolted, he'd make sure they didn't get far. Either to avoid trouble, or to keep from getting help because they panicked.

"Nice to meet you too," Eileen hesitated a fraction. "Tawn," she concluded -- she was pretty sure that was what he had said his name was. "I'm new here too, just, like, thirty six hours less so," she admitted ruefully. She glanced at the other dark-haired boy, this one with charming green eyes, and the slender ponytailed girl -- these two she thought she'd seen around the school the previous day, and although she had no idea who they were, she was fairly confident they were more established students. She was used to being one of the taller girls in a group, but not so much when it came to boys now that they were all approaching their later teens. Feeling a little oversized, not in the least because her boots had three inch heels on them that put her at an even six feet, she hoped that she'd be able to track down a taller boy in the event of a school dance or something. "So, uh, we heading to check you guys in?" she asked, not exactly sure what she'd interrupted with her questions regarding roommates.

Eileen darted a look at the others still standing about -- she certainly hadn't meant to monopolize the conversation! "Oh, of course!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly. "Don't let me hold you guys up," she assured them. She glanced at the shorter, dark-haired boy with the bag over one shoulder, and made the logical leap that perhaps he might not be a long-standing student here. "Uh, hey," she addressed him, flashing a quick smile while tucking an errant piece of windblown hair back behind one ear. "You just getting here too? I'm Eileen, if you didn't catch that before," she told him with a little laugh. Hopefully he wasn't deaf or anything, or she was going to feel like a right idiot....

If possible. Eileen's eyes grew wider, and she clapped a hand to her mouth again. "Ohmygod, I'm sooo sorry!" she exclaimed, mortified. Even worse than not knowing her roommate was deaf -- but finding out she wasn't after all, after treating her like she was? She lowered her hand, looking sheepish, and her voice returned to a more normal conversational level. "I feel like such an--" she broke off, frowning. "Did you just say 'platypus'?" the blonde girl asked, genuinely confused. It wasn't really likely, as far as she knew -- but then again, they were talking about people with superpowers. It was entirely possible that she was referring to a hero known as The Platypus, or that she had the power to speak with platypuses, or that she had a magical platypus that could talk to her that was a mentor figure, or any of a number of other things. There had been stranger things out there, after all.

What are you talking about -- Speed is listed before all of the Supers. ;) Yes, I should have -- communication range and heavy lifting load now listed.

And, if anyone's interested, found a City of Heroes character generator, sort of. It uses the entire client, so it's a long download, but the entire costume generator is there to use. Just make sure to save the costume before entering game, so you can come back and tweak it later if you want.

'Marvel' also would have been an acceptable translation.

The latter, unfortunately -- they're just images for reference while using the program.

Some reference images for use with Hero Factory, English translations replacing the Portuguese. Choose Your Model Appearance Tab First Clothes Tab Second Clothes Tab Accessories Tab

20Q 1. Where is your hero from? Boston, Mass. 2. How would your hero physically describe herself? Is this different from how others would? She’d say tall, curvy, and cute. Blonde, blue-eyed, kinda casual. Others might use terms like ‘chunky’ or even ‘fat’, but she’s nowhere near obese. 3. Does your hero have distinguishing speech characteristics or recurring mannerisms? Does she ever! If you say something that happens to be a song lyric, she will sing the next line of the song. If you say something that happens to be a line from a movie, she’ll continue the scene. If nobody happens to say something relevant to a situation, odds are good she’ll figure out something appropriate to quote anyhow. 4. What is your hero's motivation? A combination of responsibility of power, youthful enthusiasm, and a subconscious urge that she’s supposed to be out, doing things. 5. What are your hero's greatest strengths and weaknesses? Cerulean is almost invariably upbeat – she doesn’t know how to let something get her down. She’s highly mobile, and to her eyes her light strips away all concealment, disguise, and illusion – it’s very difficult to sneak past her. On the flip side, however, she can be impulsive, and is very likely to run at the mouth when it isn’t appropriate. She’s inexperienced, and her fear of heights significantly limits the utility of her flight capabilities. 6. What does your hero love? What does your hero hate? Food is, really, even better than most people give it credit for. Yum. Quite a bit of a geek, she loves pop culture references (and the chance to bust out ‘I understood that reference!’). She hates people who lord something they have that she doesn’t over her, and bullies, of course. Everybody hates bullies. 7. How would you describe your character's mental and emotional state? A little overwhelmed – she’s still getting used to all of this. That typically translates into overexuberance and hyperactivity, but she can sometimes get snappish under stressful situations. It’s all very exciting, though, and she’s definitely having more highs than lows. 8. What does your hero fear the most? In terms of visceral fears, heights are high on her list (no pun intended), although having to deal with water that’s more than chest deep also gives her the willies. More abstract, although she doesn’t even really admit it to herself, she fears doing something that will result in harm coming down on her family. 9. What is your character's greatest ambition? Oh, gosh. At the moment, she’d love to be some big, famous, world-saving hero, but she hasn’t had the shiny worn off her new powers as of yet. That might be an ambition that she could come to regret having. 10. How does your hero feel about the state of the world and his/her place in it? The world is an amazing ball of chaos that needs constant attention to keep it from being sent off the rails. Her world has just changed and put her into a position to be one of those doing the nudging, and she thinks that’s hella awesome! 11. Does your hero have any prejudices? How does he/she get along with others? Eileen doesn’t think she has any prejudices, but that’s often the sort of thing that needs to be pointed out to a person before they realize it. She is, almost invariably, a good-natured, cheerful person, and tends to get along with most people until/unless they demonstrate to her why they’re not worth her time. 12. Where do your heroes loyalties lie? In what order? Eileen’s priorities are, firstly, to herself – ‘to thine own self be true’, and all that. That doesn’t mean she’s selfish, necessarily, but she’s going to think twice before selling herself out. She’ll think more than twice about selling out her family; in fact, it’s one of the few conditions under which she might compromise herself, in order to protect them. Apart from that, she hasn’t really had much opportunity to form any relevant loyalties – that will come. 13. Does your hero have a lover or partner? How do they feel about the hero now? New to town, still in her teens – nope! 14. Does your hero have a family? What is the relationship there like? Eileen does, indeed, have family – family she is close to, since she lost her father years ago. Both her mother and her older sister know about her new powers, and were both onhand to drop her off at Claremont for training and schooling. They don’t live nearby, so they won’t be coming to visit all that often – but at Cerullean’s flight speed, even staying low because flying high is scary, they’re at most only half an hour away. 15. How would the people closest to your hero describe him or her? Goofy. Silly. Friendly. Cheerful. Full of useless information. A bit of a spaz sometimes. Outspoken. Loves food. 16. Is your hero a role model? Uhhh, not yet? Maybe possibly in the future? Scary thought! But...if it means little girls aren’t starving themselves to look like magazine models, then sure! 17. How spiritual is your hero? Does your hero follow a religious tradition? Eileen isn’t really spiritual at all. Religion isn’t a part of her life. 18. Is your hero part of a team, or would he/she like to be? Why? Not part of a team yet, but that would be totally awesome! The backup, the banter, the bases – what’s not to love! That’s what it is to make it big as a super hero, getting invited onto a recognized team. Right? 19. How does your hero feel about the place of metahumans and aliens on Earth? They’re pretty much like any other celebrities, with the exception that they’re usually acting to aid people, rather than entertain them. So, kinda a step above? It’s definitely something to strive for. 20. If you could give one piece of advice to your hero, what would it be? Don’t get so caught up in the ‘wow’ of being a hero that you forget the whole point of being one.