BlazingCoconut

SFX Zhu looked around the group as the war party approached, this did not look good at all and she did not want to be skewered on an oil derrick miles from home on her first few weeks of school. For one, she had no idea what Aquaria was saying to her, which was a bit of an oversight on her part. Why did she not bother to build in translation into the suit? In fact, why had she not bothered to build a universal translator at all? She thought about it, all it would really take was miniaturizing Google's server farm and porting their code into something approximately ear sized. Oh, and enhance the code so that it could handle language detection. That kind of seemed a tall order so she settled on something that would just translate Lemurian languages and allow them to have the same intonation as the frightening creatures. Thankfully, she had a small army to help her work. Stepping behind the trio, she quickly started to code the essentials for the hardware, using off the shelf designs from various hearing aids that she could liberate from the net. Then, with some alteration of Dragon Naturally Speaking's source code she began to adapt it to handle the languages that she needed. Well, if the government files on Lemurian were be believed. Still, the young girl put her heart into it as she raced to give them some means to communicate before things became complicated.

Oh yeah, totally going to do this! Who needs HP? I'm sure the rest of the adventure will be safe. Right? Invention: Comprehend 2 (Understand All, Is Understood; Extras: Affects Others, Ranged; Flaws: Broad Group [Lemurians]) 6PP Craft Check: DC 10 + 6 + 5 = 21 vs. 1d20+16=31 - Successful in 6 rounds! -1 HP leaving SFX with... 0.

SFX With a grin, SFX's form rippled and a very movie ready leather clad woman stood in her place. With her head shaved on the side and hair colored bright pink and cascading down her back, she definitely looked like some of the less legitimate residents in the area. Pulling out a small mirror from her uniform, she checked out the illusionary costume and nodded, "I just wish I had programmed the vocals better with it." Then she considered, "I can also put holographic thugs all over the place. It might help us if they're chasing after phantoms, right?"

As they walked out of the park, Zhu shook her head, "oh no, that's fine. It's not really personal at all. I was born in China and just moved here last summer." She shrugged a little not quite sure how to put how hard it had been to move, "I miss home, but I have met some wonderful people here. So I try to look forward not backwards." Then sighing just a little, "I suppose sometimes I feel like there's not too many people here that really understand me, but it got a lot better when I started school back in November. Since then, I met my roomie, who's as awesome as it gets. I have a mentor, and a lot of friends. So in that respect it's better than what I had when I was back home. Do people normally not want to talk about that?" They had turned down the street and were heading in the direction of one of the busier hubs in the neighborhood.

SFX Feeling emboldened with the success of her encoded objects, she looked around the battle and her eyes locked on the robed figure. He had been the one to directly threaten Lawrence and perhaps all of these people they were battling were his fault. As Paradigm attacked, she saw where the barrier was and decided to try and locate the point of her attack inside of it! BOTNET: v1.023.a STATUS: Active UNITS ONLINE: 97.1m COMMAND> /* 000000 */ 0x2f, 0x2a, 0x20, 0x54, 0x68, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, /* 0x0008 */ 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x61, 0x20, 0x73, 0x65, 0x6c As she watched for the quick assembly code to execute, her HUD began flashing errors at her. BOTNET: v1.023.a STATUS: Down UNITS ONLINE: 0.0m ALERT: SYSTEM FAILURE. Please reboot BOTNET for continued functionality. Reboot? Seriously? This wasn't like a desktop computer! She mentally cursed herself as she initiated the code to reinitialize the BOTNET and hope that it would be back up soon! "Lawrence, if I start moving forward, can you follow me?" she finally said as she waited for the command to finish.

Well... might as well give this a try. It's probably a bad idea. Standard Action: Attack the Robed figure 1d20+10-2=9 Move Action: Stay Still Free Action: None Yes... it was a bad idea!

"Li Hai!" Zhu exclaimed happily forgetting that she spoke in Chinese as she interjected that things were indeed awesome! "Oh sorry... I mean, that's awesome, and I'd love to show you Yoga. I'm not the best at it, but my mentor has been having me work at it for some time now. So at least I can show you the things that she's shown me. Okay... I also might cheat a little and download how to videos as I'm doing it too. But it's the form that counts!" It then took her a moment to consider what Replica said, "feedback huh. How to ask this without subjective terms..." She ran a hand through her dark hair as her face took on a look of concentration, "okay. So if you had a choice to get the feedback, or not get the feedback. Would you choose to get it? If you do, you're probably spot on in your assessment." Then she tilted her head and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "and I'm happy to hear that you've liked talking to me. That makes me feel nice and I've really enjoyed this too." As she finished talking there was a moment where she felt oddly shy and covered it by getting up so they could start to head out of the park.

Zhu thought about it, "well I mean I can come up with lots of things. It kind of depends on what you have or haven't done." However, that was a pretty vague answer so she started ticking off thoughts, "so... quintessential teen is shopping or going to the mall, there's going for coffee or dinner, we could go to the gym to work out, go to see a movie or play, play a board game. Well it's a pretty big list really. I mean, I'm not sure what will and won't help, but then I'm not sure if that's really the only objective..." She paused looking over at Replica. It was then that she realized that reading her facial expressions and body language was probably not the best way to determine what she was feeling, if she could feel. That also explained in her mind why some of her reactions were just the slightest bit off. "...I mean the objective to spending time with someone is to be friends and enjoy each other's company, right? Do you have feelings?"

Search Roll: 1d20+12=27 Looking to get an idea of how many people there are, how many might be armed, and a general layout of the area.

SFX While SFX didn't quite know what they were doing yet, as neither her mentor or the other lady had explained what was going on, the thumping music and looks of the place they had snuck too practically screamed that something was wrong. While she waited with the pair she executed the botnet to start giving her an idea of what was around her. Thankfully, she was getting better and better at this and the small machines floated off, invisible and silent. As the cloud expanded so did her awareness of the surrounding area. She received a very thorough visualization of the area and the people within and she started to catalog what was going on. "It's a party," she said. While that probably didn't need saying, she did anyway. "I'm starting to try to figure out how many of them are armed or not."

GM While the pair landing in the parking lot had garnered some attention, Jack turning into a giant bear and snuffling around the parking lot certainly did! There were some startled cries and more than a couple of people raced for the safety of their cars. One even went so far as to leave her groceries in the parking lot as she hastily locked all of the doors on her Prius. More promising, was that Jack could indeed recall the scent of the thugs they had encountered before and more important they had been here. After meandering around the lot a bit, he got the impression that they had been here multiple times, but that it appeared that they tended to be towards the back of the shopping center. Looking past the building, there were a few larger apartment complexes which had seen some better days along with what appeared to be parking for those facilities.

Zhu "I'm glad," she answered sincerely. "I guess I meant maybe more long term than just a few questions today. I mean, I'm happy to talk, although I'm starting to get cold, but I'm pretty sure that maybe if I gave you more... you know long term help, that might be better. I mean, we could hang out and do things together and I could sort of give you a running commentary on what's going on. Like do a dinner, or ice skating, or stuff like that." Then she paused with a huge mostly embarrassed grin, laughed and said, "it sounds like I'm asking you out! But I am serious, I'd be willing to help you learn and I think it would be fun in the process."

Giggling again Zhu grinned ear to ear, "well... depends who you are fumbling in the dark with on whether that's a price or a bonus." She fanned at her face for a moment as she had suddenly gone red and took a deep breath, her smile fading to a more normal expression. "So... I think that most of us are optimists and also don't like to be reminded of the things that can go wrong with our lives. Like... your comment on the divorce. It was totally true, but, it reminded that person that perhaps happiness is fleeting. That was on a day that she was really happy and excited to be looking forward to marriage. So while facts are good, sometimes it's when we hear about the facts that's as important as to what the fact is." She tried to formulate another example, "oh! Say I get a college acceptance letter in the mail. That's really good news and makes me feel good that I was smart enough to be considered. That would not be the time to tell me that the wage to debt gap is rapidly closing and that I probably will take 30 years to pay it back. That's good information to give, but I probably want to celebrate the moment before having to consider the harsh mistress of reality. So yeah, be careful on giving facts that might contradict someone if they're very excited or happy about something."

That doesn't answer my question

Is Jack in bear form or not?

I'm totally good with that. Give me a search roll Jack.

SFX She might be completely outclassed by most of the fighters around her, but thankfully her powers were not immediately obvious. Allowing her to continue to strike out at Not!Sai without her having a huge idea on where the attacks were originating from. As the floating woman teed up another devastating sonic attack, SFX was already forming two stone towers behind the simulacrum and then smashing them into her. While she had some small success, this particular attack seemed to catch her less aware and hammered into her backside. While more seasoned heroes might not giggle in battle, SFX couldn't help herself as the angry Siren flew hundreds of feet away, reeling from the attack. It seemed quite comical if there wasn't deadly energy beams and other hazards all around her. "Rev, I think I got a TouchRun!" she said mixing her sports in her excitement and failing at badass quippery!

Zhu giggled, "OMG. That's actually kind of funny. See if you make a mistake like that, some people can pull it off by making it look like they were telling a joke. Although you better get a good grasp on humor before you try that." Then she tried to consider what advice she would give to someone who had never had practical human interaction before. Which to be fair, she wasn't exactly an expert in either. However, compared to the poor AI in front of her, she was practically a past master in social interactions. "Well, usually tempering your comments to what people are already predisposed to hear is a good idea," she said tapping her chin in thought. "The less you know someone, the less actual advice they want to get from you too. Oh! Saying something nice usually goes over better than cold facts." She grinned, "but some of it... well even humans don't get right. I mean like dating and relationships. I don't know if I'm just bad at them, or if I just haven't met the right person. Heck there are some days I don't even know who that person would even look like. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for some things, you just fumble along in the dark and try to do the things that feel right for you."

It's time to keep hammering Not!Sai: Standard Action: Damage 10, Indirect from behind her, Power Attack 1d20+8=26 which should hit (though that was the second roll after getting a natural 1 so -1 HP. I forgot to link it) DC27 Save. Move Action: Assess Not!Sai 1d20+2=21 Sense Motive Check Free Action: None

"I suppose that depends on what you men by relatively well..." she replied with an embarrassed smile. "Like, the other day, I was looking at the contents on someone's phone and well, they had a lot of very intimate and risque pictures on there. That was bad enough, but then they caught me snooping because I was so embarrassed. I suppose I managed it okay because she didn't even press charges, although I did sell her a plant. So that probably made up for it." Her rueful smile continued as she kept talking, "yeah... and my friends Jack and Lexa, they love to say things that they know will embarrass me. They do that all the time and it usually works. Then there was the time that..." She paused realizing that she was going a mile a minute, "yes. What sort of experiences? I mean I'd love to help."

SFX Zhu waved at Cathy as she sat down. She had seen the other girl on campus, that was pretty much a given for any students as the school was small. However, they had yet to meet. "Hello Cathy, I think we might share an English class, but it's nice to finally talk to you." She slid over a bit to let her do her duties which put her closer to Corinne, "how is your dancing coming along? I haven't seen a whole lot of you over the past few weeks..." Somehow, Corrine and her had gotten off to a bad start. She had a feeling it was in a large part due to Rev telling her off on their first day here, but she wasn't totally certain. In fact, if there was someone who Rev's natural charm and charisma didn't work on, it was definitely Corrine. Zhu really wanted to get around that, but considering that they didn't see each other often, that was easier said than done.

SFX SFX nodded to Aquaria, while the deep one's teeth were certainly not friendly looking, they were just another aspect of her that surprisingly Zhu just took in stride. She listened about the meat comments and nodded, "I think I'll be okay with it. I'll just not eat very much if I don't have too. But, I like working with movies and a lot of the better effects are related to um... horror movies..." Realizing how that might sound, "not that I think you're horrible or horrific, but um, the sounds and sights, I think I should do okay." Thankfully, Phantom appeared at the right time, saving her from making a bigger fool of herself, "yes Ma'am. Should I prepare for being underwater now?"

GM The young man barely waved at them as they left, although the super powered duo did notice his mother watching them through the window. The fact that she was waving a rolling pin in their general direction was only vaguely worrying. However, as Rev blasted off carrying Jack more than a few people were surprised at the very strange sight! Thankfully, it was Freedom City and such things didn't elicit the same kind of attention as they might in other cities. With a pause for some high octane, and perhaps a burger or so, the duo found themselves back in the air and traveling to the Potters Row shopping center. While the surrounding area was generally decent, the shopping center was both dated and partially abandoned. Yet the Savers mart which anchored it meant that there was always some, but never enough traffic to make it really safe. Several of the stores had been boarded up from broken windows and while the management fought a decent battle against the ever present graffiti, it was obvious that they were losing that fight. It was late afternoon and a trickle of people came in and out of the Saver Mart as well as a slightly more seedy group that found the small liquor store anchoring the other end more to their liking. Both of them could see some people that might fit the description of the Denim Mammoths, but apparently they didn't have anything so easy to spot as a brown elephant on their clothing.

Zhu smiled, "well, it's refreshing that even advanced AIs have jobs and lives. I hope that someday I can work for Industrial Lights and Magic or one of the major design studios. I love doing movies and videos and all that stuff, but mostly the effects. Although, I'm going to Claremont Academy now and that's pretty cool as well. In terms of being able to do research and progress... I mean it's incredible." She pursed her lips and looked over at Replica, "so what are you trying to find when you are staring at people? I mean, I know that people watching is sometimes fun, but are there aspects that you're trying to get right?" Thinking, she finally ventured, "maybe I can help you?"

GM The boy shrugged, "well, if it were me, I'd go down behind the potters row shopping center. I hate that level, there's never any cover. But, that's why they hang out there, especially at night." His eyes glanced over at Rev, "if they get a look at you... well... you best be ready that's all. I don't like talking about stuff like that. It's bad enough on the screen." He sighed and turned back to his game. What looked like an 80 year old man was squaring off against a guy that looked like a professional wrestler, "aw, come on... that's not even fair."