Heritage

After tonight, I won't be around until sometime Sunday evening, as I will be driving with my mom and sister to a family wedding near Erie, PA this weekend. Should be a pretty good time, though I need to buy a dress shirt that fits :roll:

I understand, and I'm sorry I didn't do more to support it; I think three characters is more than I can handle, since I can barely handle two! Also seems Spectrevk has been a bit scarce of late I do appreciate the work you did on this though :clap:

Grim's eyes go wide as the deadly cloud billows in her direction; she quickly drops to the ground and covers her mouth and nose as tightly as possible, but some of it manages to squirm under her eyelids where it stings like battery acid, and the smell manages to reach her hypersensitive nose. Dear God, what is that? Oh God, it's awful! Though she is still hiding her form, the gas clearly outlines the space Grim occupies for all to see; she waits a few moments for what she hopes is the worst of the gas to pass, then cautiously raises her head for a look 'round, nose running and red eyes streaming tears as she shimmers back to visibility. "Where'd he go," she whispers hoarsely.

With a sharp intake of breath, Grim leaps behind the nearest obstacle and fades into the background as she clutches the graze on her forearm. Man, that hurts! Okay, we're about to find out just how sharp the eyes on these guns are. The young vigilante stands up and walks unhurriedly to the next closest obstacle, waiting to see if she's targeted, and ready to dive behind cover the minute a gun swivels in her direction.

The furious assault catches Grim completely off-guard as the barrage of blows lands about her face and neck, leaving her reeling. She barely has the awareness to try and block the strikes, but finally her arms rise up reflexively to protect her face, though far too late to do any good. Only one clear thought rattles around in her ringing head. I knew I should have thrown a little Angelina Jolie into that speech.

Geez, my digi-dice are on fire tonight! I got a 27, so does that mean she feels nothing but a wince of pain?

Got a 25 on the Reflex save and a 25 on the Fortitude, so what exactly happens to her so I can include it in my post?

Gossamer wrinkles her nose and smiles. "It was good, but not so much in my field; I'm afraid you lost me after a little bit." She laughs and then turns to face the Emissary, taking in the group with a casual wave of her arm. "Are we expecting any others, or is this our full complement?"

After a few minutes, Estelle returns with several white plastic bags held up by loops of hair, leaving her hands free; an older woman passing by gives both her and Ullgir a sharp disapproving look, which seems to draw the hairweaver's ire. She crosses her arms and levels a stern gaze in her direction. "It's impolite to stare, ma'am; my friend and I are minding our own business, so I suggest you do the same." The woman sniffs and continues on, and Estelle just rolls her eyes. "You'd think a citizen of Freedom would be a bit more considerate, but I suppose we are an odd-looking pair to some. C'mon, let's find a place to sit down and eat." She nods up the street, and a thin strand of gold snakes out to gently rest across the Viking's broad shoulders; the sensation is odd (though the contact is light, he can feel the little tendril's strength) but suggests a feeling of camaraderie. As she leads Ullgir closer to Liberty Park, the blond scientist-turned-superhuman chats about many things, including her family's Norman heritage ("We might even be related!"), the wonders and pitfalls of life in the modern world ("Reality TV will be the death of us all.") and the high cost of quality shampoo ("I'd make my own if I could afford the raw materials in bulk.") They draw a few more looks, not so much because they are supers but because they are casually walking down 48th Street carrying take-out. A cop car has been slowly following them, but once they finally get to the corner of 52nd and Wading it speeds off. Estelle points at an impressive building across the street. "That's the Hunter Museum, where I'd suggest you let them have a look at your piece." She then points at the opposite corner. "And there's Liberty Park, where I'm hoping we can find a little peace and quiet for our meal."

Ren's flippant attitude is a bit irritating, but she starts to get up anyway, her face somewhat clouded. "You wouldn't think it was so funny if you felt it; maybe it's one of those things you can't express with words. Whatever." Lynn shakes her head vigorously, and her hair falls perfectly into place, as though the artfully random spikes were created by a salon stylist. She steps into the bathroom, and thirty seconds later steps back out in sneakers, denim shorts and jet-black baby tee; she's also wearing a pair of oversize sunglasses that cover almost half her face. Lynn tosses her jammies on the bed and throws her messenger bag over her shoulder as she ambles over to the window. "'Kay, let's go."

By the time Velocity has finishes list her achievements, which are far more impressive than the papers have reported (Grim senses this is because she actually doesn't like to brag), most of the anger has finally drained away from the young heroine, leaving her feeling stupid and tired. She rubs her face with her hand and sighs. "I'm sorry," and here her voice cracks a bit as she yelled herself hoarse. "I have no right to criticize; the fact that you do this at all, and don't just, like, make money off it somehow, says a lot." Grim stops and hugs herself fiercely as she looks away in shame. "Sometimes I just feel...so alone out there. And not to knock you Rival, you've been great; beyond great, actually." She laughs sadly and gives Velocity a crooked smile. "It just...it just would have been cool to have a girl my age on the team. And I get jealous of people when I think they've had it easier than me, which I know you haven't, but that part of my brain doesn't really run on logic, y'know?" She puts her hands on her hips and nods. "Okay, Idiot Girl is gonna go get the chicken; I'll be right back." Grim heads out the door, but then sticks her head back in a moment later. "By the way, I have really good hearing if you're gonna talk about me while I'm gone. Just so you know." She grins and then goes to gather up the chicken and rummage around for paper plates, finding some comfort in the activity.

Wow! It sounds like your time away was productive, in that it gave you time to think about what you need to do with your life and where you need to be. I'm with nariek on this, your reduced prescence will be felt, though I'm comforted that you will be our 'guardian tech spirit', as it were :D

I think some folks might have been waiting on my reply to your question; I will be posting here tomorrow.

I just saw this; very sad, he was one of the best, right up there with Rick Baker, Dick Smith and Jack Pierce :(

Wow! That was not planned, but once I knew how Grim was going to react to Velocity's statements, I chose her words very carefully. This is the ugly face of prejudice, folks; I hope it's not a problem for anyone OOC, but Grim has major issues with people she thinks have lots of money. Feel free to have at it IC, though ;)

Despite herself, Grim hears the blood rushing in her ears when Velocity starts to explain just why she won't be joining the group; whether or not that was her actual intention, it's how Grim hears her words :x Then why the heck is she even here? Why is she wasting everybody's time? The young vigilante is able to keep her temper on low boil while Hub is speaking, though her right leg does start pumping a bit, and she nods sharply as he makes his various points. Well at least someone is on our side. Once the Texan has said his piece, Grim shoots her hand up like she's back in school; when she speaks, her voice is tart. "I'd like to say a few things, if that's okay." Don't say it; she's been doing it longer than you and she could beat you to death in the blink of an eye if she really wanted to, and you know it. Don't be stupid, don't be stupid... The tiny heroine wheels around to face Velocity and holds up her hands in an angry shrug. "Why are you here? Why did you come? To show off some fancy cookies? If you knew you were going to take a slot on the League, and go zipping around the world to go to school in Paris or whatever, why even bother to show up? What's the point?" She points towards the outside world beyond the walls "I go out there night after night, and I get my butt kicked by people who are too big for me to take on, which is okay by me actually, I can take it; I mean, at least I know I'm working for a living!" Grim steps up to the masked speedster, her hands gripped in a somewhat menacing fashion, but there are tears visible in her eyes. "But you, someone who could really make a difference, who could really turn the tide around here, are too busy skipping across the ocean to go shopping in Paris, picking out the Egyptian cotton sheets for your orbiting space bed!" She's never been this angry in her entire life, and it scares her; her face is throbbing beat red and there's even a bit of spittle. "But y'know what, who cares! Who needs you!"

And the kid takes another hit; "C'mon Rock, ya gotta get back up in there!" :)

And I got a 14.

Who's turn are we waiting on here? If it's me, please forgive me :oops:

My God, how far am I willing to go with this? Grim hears herself saying in Whisper's dull gray voice, "Human life means little to me, just so much clatter and noise, but as Ghost has said, death can lead to complications." The pale woman tilts her head to one side and smiles, but it is lifeless, no more than a curved slit in white clay. "It suits you." Whisper slowly shakes her head. "I can think of nothing, but the detail forgotten will be the death of us all; we will have to adapt."

Sorry, somehow didn't realize this one was waiting on me :(

Grim smiles, a little tentative at first, but then it gets bigger and she nods as she sits up. "Okay, fair enough; I will do my best not to activate any nukes around you, and in exchange I will share." She worries at her lip for a bit, squeezing it between thumb and forefinger, as she looks off into space. "Mine is a bit more common than EMPs, but still not something you see everyday, though sometimes I'm surprised how often I do encounter it." She takes a deep breath and lets it out. "It's iron; not steel or any other metal, just the heavy black stuff. Mostly I've run into it on older buildings, like on fire escapes or bars over windows, but also some sewer caps, the occasional frying pan. I makes me sick to my stomach just to be near it, and if I touch it, I get, like, this light-headed vertigo feeling, like I've been holding my breath too long, y'know? And then all the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stands up, and I get this gross taste in the back of my throat." Lynn makes a 'bleagh' face and does a full body shudder. "So yeah; iron plus Lynn equals ick, so don't forget it."

Actually that makes you awesome - what kind of responses did you get?

Lynn is crazy ticklish, and squeals and giggles manically under her boyfriend's playful attack until tears run down her eyes and she's a bit red in the face. "Gyah-ha-ha! Stop, oh please stop! Huh-ha-hah! Oh God, oh I can't breathe! Ahuh!" She takes a deep breath and lets it out once the assault subsides, but a few more giggles leak out as she just lies there panting, looking up at the smiling face of the man she loves. "Mmm, so now you know my secret weakness...actually, I do have a secret weakness, but I-" Lynn stops and wipes her eyes as she becomes suddenly very serious. "I haven't told anyone about it, actually; I don't know why it happens, it just...makes me all weak..." She frowns and turns her head away, gnawing on her knuckle.

Added the two rolls to my post; need to put some ranks in Intimidate next month :D