Zeitgeist Blue

This sounds right up Nicole's alley. If you'll have me, I could offer up the wheelchair-bound Nicole for a less action-y, more investigative type or Salvo if you just want a straight up blaster.

Salvo Room of Danger (sixth edition) (1)

Right. Going to change my action to a grapple. In case it's needed. Grapple Roll: 32 http://orokos.com/roll/575028

Salvo relaxed her aim on the robots as Replica explained concisely. It was a breath of fresh air talking with someone who got to the important points pronto and Salvo smiled within her interface. Now their communication was getting somewhere. "Good to know," she said and extended both her arms forward. "Then I'll take care of Stormwarden." She flew closer to woman in robes at an easy pace, trying to look non-threatening but with her armor she doubted it worked very well. They were the only ones in the air though, and maybe the only ones who could get up and fly, so if it came down to it then it would just be the two of them. Salvo kept Stormwarden on her sights, and then she was right in front of her. "If you'll come with me." She shot an armored gauntlet forward and grabbed Stormwarden.

Alright. Fusion Autocannon Attack Roll Result: 18 Though fluff-wise, Salvo's not attacking until Stormwarden makes a move! http://orokos.com/roll/573652

Salvo turned her jets to the ground and flew up. She called herself the Warden of the Storm and from the big, fancy title Nicole could guess she had an ego that didn't fit the warehouse. Nicole hadn't even heard of her, much less care what name the woman bestowed on herself. So when the teenage hero reached Stormwarden's level she decided to cut to the chase. "Right. I'm giving you one last chance to surrender." Below her, Nicole noted the robots moving into combat sequences. They were a threat to watch out for and she lowered an arm to point at them as her other remained steadily pointed at Stormwarden. Some help would be appreciated if this was to break out in a fight. Her search heuristics booted up and began to locate Replica and Nicole sent a terse message to go with the search. It'd repeat her message on Replica's radio receiver if she had one or once she got close enough to something that could. "Located Stormwarden in the main holding area. Need help with her robots."

Got a 12. http://orokos.com/roll/572892

Nicole emerged from the garage looking a little harried though she had attempted to clean up for the party. She had a clean dress on and her hair was combed, but her pupils were dilated from caffeine and she moved erratically as if distracted. Her fingers twitched as if something was missing but they had not yet registered the loss. She yawned and rolled herself to the washroom, noting the things which caught her interests. Even in the beach portion of the estate, the rooms were filled with reminders of the wealth of the owner. Paintings, books, electronics and gadgets. There was a painting by a Geraldine Newman and Nicole could imagine and appreciate how much effort it took to fill the life-sized canvas. From all the voices she could hear to her left, more people were coming and mingling. It wasn't her greatest idea of the best night out but she'd made do with parties before and it she needed the distraction. She peeked through the open doorway and frowned slightly at the scene. She could match the faces with the names but that was different than engaging them in conversation all at once. She went inside anyway and moved to get some coffee. Her hand grasped reflexively and found air instead of her phone. It's absence was annoying and she sighed in resignation. At least she still had coffee and Corinne's song was something good. If anything, Nicole could always trust her playlist.

Don't mind here. Should I roll Init as well?

Let's try rolling Notice now that she's in the building. Using radar. Notice: 1d20 + 0 = 17

Her eyes flew open and she shivered even through the radiant heat of merged steel and flesh. Father was gone, try as hard as she did to find him. She would have found him where he within the constraints of her consciousness or her armor's programs, but there was little of his trace. As much as his presence annoyed her, his persistent absence was more unnerving. It meant something was wrong. Something powerful enough to worm into Bellicose and subvert its core, Her mind's inner sanctum. Compromised. But she could find no evidence of it, knowing but really not, and that unnerved her most of all. She watched Replica sneak into the warehouse. Her antennae port twitched involuntarily and she took a step forward, ignoring the two detectives behind her. She scanned the warehouse in its entirety and visual simulations fired up around her interface, multiple ways of entry. Each requiring different vector solutions and thrusts and achieving multiple results based on factors controlled and environmental. She chose the one that would maximize her entrance. Her thrusters fired up, and she revved the flames for a second. Then with a flick of her wrist, she catapulted forward, streaking low. She skidded once, twice on the asphalt then she crashed through the main doors in an explosion of dust and steel cracking. She thrust her autocannons out.

Reconfigured by the Absurdist. Salvo Going to round off her skills and enhanced saves. IC-wise, it's all about reading books and tinkering with the suit. Skills (+2PP): Removed Craft (Artistic) so now she really needs to use electronics to do magic rituals and etc. Distributed the 5 points elsewhere Knowledge (Arcane Lore) +1 Knowledge (History) 3 Knowledge (Technology) +1 Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 3 Notice 3 Search 2 Device (+4PP): Enhanced Saves (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +1)

Ah yes, I will be back soon. Not drowning in school and extracurricular work anymore (just treading them), though I'll have to go down my backlog of other threads. I'll get this maybe tomorrow or the next day?

Cool with me too! Are we starting where we left off?

This sounds like a fun thing I could do. I haven't yet used Nicole fully suited up in a combat thread yet, so it'd help me put it down to writing. Perhaps something involving magic or high tech? A combat thread without where I could let go of holding back (ie. Up the collateral damage to eleven). I wouldn't mind having another PC to thread, even waiting for another one.

Lights flickered and motors whirred feebly back to life, systems sounding green and operational down her interface, and Nicole stirred awake. Her body ached and so did her mind expressed within the whiteness of her psyche. She remembered the walls tearing down from this plane, pushing past her sensory breakers, overwhelming them with the force of reality unchecked. Colors and non-colors, a million images from a million planes and times and she saw them all, knew them as intimately as if she lived her whole life in repeat. A hand goes up in self-defence, red in blood that was not but was precious nonetheless, so much color in the dark of a moonless alley... She cackles madly. Three deadborn and one live to act as the host of multiple souls, and somewhere a mother howls in childbirth-agony... The smell of perfume is sharp, almost painful to her nose that had known nothing but the manure of camels and the slop she would feed the farm animals.... His wife lays her fingers on his shoulders, massaging away the tense muscles. There is too little time in the world for simple pleasures like this and so he relaxed, fully immersed... Bile rises, sickly acidic and bitter of stomach acid. The last of her dinner was was already coloring the carpet an unsightly green, but she could still taste the traces of nachos... Nicole started, fully cognizant of where she was and who she was. She was Nicole Whitfield-Hall and as Salvo she had crashed within the outskirts of Freedom City, leaving a deep furrow of tossed earth behind her when she crashed. Her eyes hurt but she could see the aftereffects, feel it too. "Run diagnostics," she muttered as she materialized her form, systems booting up fully, and she looked around. Something, somewhere was wrong. Things had changed but nothing within her could hint as to what. Father was still there, hands cupping his face and looking as bad as she felt though a smile graced his thin lips. As if feeling her gaze on him, he opened his eyes, meeting hers. "You felt it too didn't you?" She cocked her head. Normally she wouldn't acknowledge him, but this wasn't normal and he took that as encouragement to continue. "You've studied the histories as well as I, better even. The causal aftershocks manifested usually with the shifts of realm breakage." Father smile grew wider. Nicole knew he only smiled like that when he was pleasingly surprised, and he was rarely surprised or pleased. "That blasted rat's been a thorn in my and your mother's side for a very long time. I'm glad to know he's dead now." Nicole glared at him as her thrusters flared to life, startling the bystanders surrounding her prone form. Someone beside her was shouting but she ignored them and picked herself up, bits of grass and soil on her armor. Things were urgent and she knew people would be moving fast to hedge their plays. There were others like her, practitioners who if everyone pooled together could best know the next course of action. She rocketed straight into the sky. "There'll be a new one." "Oh, I know. It was merely Adrian Eldrich who irked me." "Then I'll make sure the next one pisses you off even more." She pushed her father from her thoughts and closed her eyes, focusing even as the air outside screamed.

Salvo Et in Arcadia Ego (1) Registration Day: 2 Fang 2 Furious (1)

"Well there goes Mr. Tulink..." Holding the sandwich she was eating for lunch, Nicole followed Sharl's flight with her eyes. She could almost see the flight patterns around him; trajectory back to Emerald City. It would take several hours to cross to the West Coast with his present flight capability, but armor was more comfortable than couch on airplanes. Ergonomic design was an almost forgotten factor for most people who didn't have to wear mechanized limbs to be able to walk. She took a bite from her sandwich and turned to look at her fellow students. She furrowed her brow at Huang. He was right, though thinking back as to why was like ripping a bandage off a fresh wound. Maybe she was wrong to react that way, they all were, but... she only had control over herself. "I'm sorry," she said, forcing her words out. "For before. We shouldn't have fought, but you two were acting like assholes and so was I. So maybe we're all assholes?" Nicole closed her eyes, unused to this, and her visor came down. Thrusters engaged and she lifted from the ground. Her father clapping sarcastically. "We have homeroom in 15," Nicole said to Corrine. They were the same batch, even if Corinne didn't know that. Nicole had seen the list of students before the school year had started and now that list was committed to memory.

Nicole was standing there. Waiting, hands on her hips, as Corrine returned to the group back to normal. "Your powers alter your mannerisms. Perhaps the changes go as deep as your character," Nicole notes, her visor retracted to show her face frowning in thought. "Assuming from the cosmetic and not-so cosmetic effects your other half exhibited, I'd guess the changes stem from a reordering of your brain." She shakes her head. The implications were interesting; transmutation of two beings sharing one body. The ritualization required to even begin to separate the two, and where to store the one and the other? Into an artificial being? Nicole would have asked Corrine's opinion, but Nicole knew from experience such thought experiments made others uncomfortable and was considered a faux pas. A shame, considering the insights one could gleam from honest, open discussion. Nicole quirked her eyebrows at Citizen's comment. "Because of the threat of violent retaliation. But there isn't any better way, is there?" Even if there was, she was not sure people would care to look for one and even if they had it within their palms, go the lengths to introduce the new paradigm. It was a simple but unfortunate characteristic; to be boxed into situations inherently opposed to find the best way forward, instead of just what will do at the moment.

Nicole came back a few seconds later holding two books in her arms. One book was an old thing, thick but small and leather bound, pages frayed and yellow, and the other was a thinner volume, newer with bold words printed on the cover. She pushed the thinner one to Mirror. 'MYSTICISM AND AGRICULTURE: The Beginnings of Industry' the title read. "If you plan to properly look for something you need to understand the context," Nicole said as if lecturing to a class. "Magic wouldn't be anything without the background to situate its constituent elements, would it? Neither would much of human culture either." She nodded to the books Mirror had shelved, rolling her eyes behind her helmet. Those were a start but there was always more. "As for what I'm doing, I'm doing research." She held out the old book, a journal actually. "The Life of Doctor Jan Vanderwall: 1918 - 1989" "He was a medical doctor with an interest in transplants," Nicole explained, her voice darkening with disgust. "But also a practitioner of rituals and the transference of life forces between humans and... other things." She shook her head and noticed Mirror had cleaned up. "But nevermind that. You're leaving then?"

Yep. Still here.

Nicole In Anticipation of Meaning (2) Registration Day: 2 Fang 2 Furious (1)

"Built in electro-plasmic refractors," Nicole said, tapping her visor. "Captures a wide broadband of energy and translates the data into coherent images. Mary stands out like a lightbulb." She pointed an armored finger at the ghost. "And I'm not surprised you'd think that. There's some slight fluctuations in your friend's signature even now. Looks like she's undergoing a metanoia of sorts. Could be ontological or a retro-time snap of something but I wouldn't know unless I examine her closely." Nicole looked around and true to the guy's words the library needed some Spring cleaning. Cobwebs stained the dark corners of the ceiling and the furniture was stained at places where liquids had spilled over the years. A sorry state of affairs but one that couldn't be helped and so Nicole pushed it out of her mind. What was disconcerting were the books and all that their paper insides held. What would happen if this library were to be sold off? Lost. All that could be, more precious than gold. "Hmm," she hummed tunelessly, thinking, then shook her head and stepped to the bookshelves away from the duo. "Just looking for a book. Last I heard, libraries were public, though we're both up late tonight." "The pot calls the kettle black. You know how it goes." Picking her way through the aisles, her in-armor speakers and receptors allowed her to converse with Anton as if they were standing next to each other.

"I--" Nicole began hotly before she cut her sentence off with a shake of her head. The tension in her evaporated through the steam vents and she planted her boots firmly on the ground, stalling her mechanisms into sleep. Her blood cooled as she looked from Huang to Corinne though her eyes still narrowed at the simmering conflict. Instead of readying for a fight, the two were now bickering against each other and Mr. Tulink. Nicole closed her eyes behind her visor. She was still giddy but it was fading together with the promise of a fight, but she still had to speak up. "They were wrong to trust him," she said with forced calm. "But that's why we're trying to make up for it. I didn't go here or to Archeville to work for madmen and both of you wouldn't too. But what you're saying isn't helping."

"I was patrolling," Nicole said with a sniff that somehow translated to her external speakers. She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and as if by asking her reasons he was stating how he lived under a rock. Yet, her answer wasn't the complete truth. Libraries were filled with dusty old books that took ages to go through but as much as she wanted it to, not everything was transposed into a digital format. There was still a lot of things that was only written down in paper - old histories, names of pets, tidbits unimportant enough to be forgotten by today. Like the particular cloth worn by a man on a particular summer's eve. That could be a start. For one thread. "It's like you've never seen a hero before," she said sarcastically. Then she pointed to Mary at the corner of the room. "But I know why you're here. She's a spirit, and one you're trying to help her by finding her identity."