Gizmo
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Ryder gave Natalia his most infuriatingly genuine grin. "That thing you're feeling right now? That sort of fluttery unsureness? That's optimism and a little bit of trust in your friends." He gave the group a thumbs up as he jogged backwards in the direction the roadie he'd bumped into had gone. "The vote of confidence seriously means a lot, won't let you down!" By contrast, Pan effectively vanished, blending into the crowd and flitting from one brief interaction to another so that at any given moment he seemed engaged and in his element. In truth he kept one eye on the individual Eira had pointed out. The Forever Boy recognized the layers of hard, lithe muscle that spoke to experience rather than aesthetics and the slightly sunken definition of survival rather than comfort. Likely in their early twenties, they kept one hand gripped securely around the strap of their backpack at all times. For a brief instant Pan made eye contact, casually as if in passing but deep enough to read a simmering intensity. Whoever they were they were at the festival on a mission and prepared to do violence.
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I'll assume that Eira in particular would have researched the festival ahead of time with Gather Information so she'd know that there are six bands playing tonight, each doing about a twenty minute set with ten minutes in-between, starting at 6:00 PM: Blood Tribute Mind Shatter Necropotence Bog Wraith Drown in the Loch Pyroclasm Knowledge [Pop Culture] tells Eira and Nat that all six of these bands are local to Freedom City. Drown in the Loch (DitL) is like the one Eira is most interested in since it's an all-female band, fronted by twin sisters with Atlantean heritage who go by Scylla and Charybdis on-stage, real names Sally and Charlotte MacInally. She can probably make the nautical leap that the big guy Ryder befriended was affiliated with them. Nat would note that Mind Shatter has the most notable social media presence with an aesthetic that's something like if four close-up magic performers formed a boy band. Notice tells Nat that although the show is meant to start any minute there are several roadies and festival organizers on stage inside the bandshell right now, with a mix of impatient and anxious expressions. Knowledge [Technology] tells Eira that there's nothing that looks too impressive or complicated about the setup for the show apart from a couple of higher end camera setups for live streaming the show. There is a real mix of audio equipment on stage of different qualities and ages which might be what's giving the roadies trouble. The drummer for Blood Tribue, a girl in her late teens with a strong nose and a sort of torn-up gothic lolita look is trying to thread the line between being helpful and not getting in the way, nervously twisting her drumsticks between her hands. Neither of them spot anyone who matches the description Ryder gave them of the person summoning the Ragin but it's not like she'd stand out in this crowd. With her Quickness I'll say Eira does notice someone else scanning the crowd as though looking for someone: they're androgynous, dark skinned, buzzed hair and have a distinctive X shaped scar on their jawline. Her Sense Motive tells her that this person is focused on their task and has no interest in the festival itself. Otherwise the crowd seems genuinely excited and friendly, with a couple older metalheads going around making sure the first timers are stay hydrated and one of the organizers, a tall blonde stone butch woman in a STAFF shirt making sure the mosh pit area is clearly defined.
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"I mean technically there's gyroscopes and magnets involved--" Ryder began, always happy to discuss engineering with anyone showing interest. He stopped short as Davyd launched into a bit of character acting. He'd gotten relatively accustomed to that sort of thing from the shapeshifter from working on school projects together but typically everyone at the table knew that he was doing a bit. Always one for theatrics Magenta hopped down from her perch and skittered over to the feet of the 'minotaur' and began mimicking his gestured with her curved forelimbs. "Hah, okay Dav that's pretty good but seriously--" He was interrupted again as Leon smirked his way through his disinterested cool guy routine. Ryder frowned slightly and Black chawed up the back of his overalls to peer over his shoulder, slowly shaking his horned beetle head in disapproval. "C'mon man, it's for sure brave! Professor Wainwright's obviously going through it right now, we can--" Melissa cheerfully related a bit of future-history about the university while Yellow buzzed about her with trepidatious curiosity, probably raising even more questions considering their guest had seen for a fact that his old institution was very much closed. "Oof, that is going to be kinda tough to explain, huh? Okay, right, uh..." Turning his head back and forth trying to decide where to start he followed Cyan's hopping trajectory over to Fleur. The Robug stopped near her feet and turned back to Ryder, bobbing up and down and waving his antennae back and forth with cheerful chirps. "Right! Good call, bud! Ms. Fluer, you've probably got like an orientation video or a brochure or something for this kind of thing, right? Maybe? I feel like we're maybe not helping as much as we'd like. Or at all. It's a lot."
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There were few Claremont students as well suited to the rough and tumble engineering of building computer infrastructure with whatever was conveniently on hand as Ryder Fujioka. The teenager’s seemingly bottomless well of energy and good cheer carried him through farm work and story time with children equally well and his experience with cooking and baking turned out to be an added bonus. The real reason he’d wanted to see Sanctuary for himself however brought him running out of the barn at the sound of massive wings, followed by his little swarm of Robugs. “Yes!” he cheered, pumping both fists in the air and taking off again at sprint after the giant bee. He was wearing a set of worn denim overalls and sensible work boots with a neon orange mesh shirt underneath and a spool of insulated cable wrapped around one shoulder. Yellow buzzed nervously around his head while Cyan kept pace with huge leaps, Magenta perched on his free shoulder and Black hung unconcernedly from his back. Ryder caught up to the group just in time for the moustachioed man to start crying out, distressed enough to pull the young inventor’s focus from Beeanca. “Well, ‘man-honey’ definitely isn’t a thing so you don’t have to worry about that, right?” He gave the panicking man a reassuring thumbs up before frowning slightly in thought. “Obviously you could try milking humans but it’d just be wildly inefficient. And what would the bees even do with the milk? I’m not trying to shoot you down or anything but I feel like you haven’t really thought this through.” Looking back at the man’s expression he winced. “Can we get you like a glass of water or...?”
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Let me get whatever rolls you each think are relevant to look for anything out of place, investigate for clues, etc.
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"But it's a public park...?" Ryder questioned Natalia's advice hesitantly. He turned at the sound of Pan's approaching voice while still stepping forward and immediately collided with another festival-goer. "Oof! Sorry, I--" He turned back around to apologize and had to crane his neck upward to find a face. The man had nearly two heads of height on Ryder with the difference occupied with a massive tawny beard. His shaved head had been almost completely covered in tattoos of stylized sharks and waves, giving the impression that the viewer was looking through a submarine porthole. A thematic fishhook hung from one earlobe while a weathered black tank top had been charged with covering his broad torso and been found sorely lacking. For a beat Ryder and the tattooed man made tense, silent eye contact. The teenager remembered his friends' advice and genuinely intended to act upon it. What came out instead was an enthusiastic, "Holy smokes, that is a great blue ink! Ultramarine?" The towering man blinked before responding to the dimpled grin with a big smile of his own, revealing teeth that had been filed slightly to sharper angles. "Nah man, Egyptian copper salts. Supposed to be healthier in the long run, yeah?" His voice was a bass rumble with a ragged edge but his body language softened as he took a half step back to make room for the small group. "Nice stud work on the jacket." "Thanks! My friend Nat did it! She's super good at crafts." The big man nodded sagely and gave Natalia a relaxed thumbs up with a fist roughly the size of her head. "Wicked. There's a pin and patch show set up over by the water tent, you should check it."
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Friday, June 4, 2021 5:56 PM Ryder would have been the first to admit that Shredded Beat, which billed itself as hopefully the first annual festival for local independent and amateur metal bands looking to break out, was a little outside his comfort zone. But Eira had insisted that this was the perfect place to stakeout the mysterious guitarist he and Danica had run into in later February and after a goat-like Ragin had wreaked havoc in the West End the month prior until a few of the Interceptors made short work of it she wanted to be there the next time one of the strange, musical demon constructs appeared. The upperclassman had told him to come dress appropriately but in typical fashion had considered the specifics of those instructions to be self-evident. Ryder had turned to the only fashion expert he knew who specialized in monochrome: Natalia. Which brought him to a milling crowd around the Liberty Park bandshell in a pair of black pants that hugged his legs like a second skin, a sleeveless t-shirt featuring a band name with lettering he couldn't begin to parse and a pre-owned leather jacket Natalia had studded across the shoulders with an insect wing design. He tugged one more time on his leather choker, fastened in front with a small padlock, before forcing his hands back down to his sides. He'd painted his nails an uncharacteristically sombre black and hoped that the sparkly top coat wasn't going to be an issue. He caught one of the other attendees giving him a side eye as they walked by and gave them a terse nod, trying to lower his register for a brusque, "Hey, how you doin'."
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"'Audience' implies I'd be performing for family! Now that sounds exhausting!" Shawn replied with a belly laugh, topping his own burgers with a mix of mushroom, zucchini and bell pepper he'd had simmering in a pan on the stove then sprinkling them with crushed nuts. "Different families have different dynamics, though," Ryder interjected quickly. He let slices of swiss cheese sit atop the patties on his plate long enough to begin to soften before covering them with slices of pineapple and some sort of stone fruit, followed by a deep violet drizzle that smelled of berries. "Do we have any green stuff left?" Jenny placed the requested glass of water down next to Natalia then rummaged around in the fridge, producing a pitcher with a thick, verdant smoothie. "Yeah, just remember to blend some more this time if you want it for the morning." She poured her brother a glass the set about layering pickles and jalapeño slices on her own burgers. "You get it, though," she told Natalia. "It's about the creating, not producing a product." "You're making us sound a lot more, like, philosophical than I think we actually are," Ryder snorted with a grin. He took a massive bite of his burger and gave their guest a sheepish shrug.
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Kimber had been floating a few centimetres above the surface of the pool in a reclined position and keeping half an eye on Avro as he tried to slowly, stealthily creep up on Baxter. As soon as Jessie burst out of the water she hurried over to her, keeping a little less than an arm length's alway and pointedly waiting for a sign that it would be acceptable to touch the startled woman. "Most folks dive into the pool, eh? That was a heckuva jump! Everything alright, hun?" She'd always gone out of her way not to pry too much into Jessie's past but like most of the castle's residents she had plenty of experience recognizing triggered trauma by now and there was a sort of unspoken agreement that the one who could be incorporeal should be the first to check on her in such a situation.
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"Eira," Ryder interrupted, his tone serious as he looked up from playing with Magenta. "I promise you - and I mean really, genuinely guarantee - that if you decide you seriously want to be a giant mechanical spider I will one hundred percent have your back both because I have strong beliefs about bodily autonomy and also because that sounds unspeakably friggin' rad." Standing back up he arched his back in a stretch. "I've got a couple bike designs on my phone, I'll send them to you! I want to run a simulation on how fast it could go before literally falling apart!"
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Ryder returned the smile with a broader one the crinkled the corners of his eyes. "I said what I said. But maybe that's just problems with the language again, huh?" He crouched down and raised his open palms like a boxing coach. Magenta raced over and began hopping up and striking out with her forelimbs to tag his hands, bobbing about and skittering back and forth to evade imaginary counterattacks. "Honestly? I'm kinda saving spiders. Arachnids in general! Never know when you might need to design a whole separate set of armours or whatever, can't use up all my thematic material in one go! Like, I was thinking about a motorcycle, yeah, only instead of two wheels there's a central tread and the tread is a centipede! I've got sketchbooks full of 'maybes', so we'll see."
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"Hah, I'm not really a knight or a superhero or any of that, though. I'm just one guy, like everybody else." Ryder raised both hands in front of himself and waved them quickly back and forth to brush away the assertion. "I never want to get into the habit of thinking I'm not allowed to make mistakes 'cause then I'd start thinking I can't make mistakes, probably? Like, you gotta be able to learn from an experiment, clean up the mess and apologize if you need to and listen to other people." He laced his fingers, pressed the heels of his palms together and placed his hands under his chin. "Making mistakes reminds us we're all human."
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Jenny barked a laugh at Natalia's quip while Ryder gave her a flat look and slid two burgers onto open faced crusty buns before handing her the plate. The patties had an unusual spiral pattern to them. "They're a little crumbly," Shawn warned as he sat down at the head of the table. "I'm experimenting with a spiral of beef and black bean! The seasoning's where I want it but the binding agent needs some iterating." "Drinks? Also who would that be for, Dad?" Jenny asked from the refrigerator, pulling out a can of iced coffee for herself. "Art dictates its audience, not the other way around," her father instead, emphasizing the point by pointing a sausage-like finger upward. "I suppose he gets that from me," he continued, turning to Natalia with a broad grin and familiar dimples, emphasized by his moustache. "I've always been the kind of man who sees the glass as half full and the empty space as an opportunity to try out new cocktail recipes!"
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"Ha, I think that's the first time anybody's been upset that I present as too masc, but I hear you," Ryder laughed lightly, lacing his fingers behind his head and looking up at the ceiling. "For the record I'd have still gotten my shorts in a knot if you were talking about Utsuwa's..." He paused for a moment and frowned. "Sword metaphor? I'm not great with euphemisms. When my sister came out the guys in gym class had a bunch of opinions about her body they thought they needed to share and y'know, I disagreed. But hey, no three day suspension this time, so I'm willing to call that personal growth!"
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"Not really, no," Ryder admitted without hesitation. He didn't seem particularly proud or defensive but nodded amicably to concede the point, leaving the bit about programmed feelings alone for the moment. "This'll probably sound like a line or whatever but I kinda forget how much that matters to most people? Well, no. That's not really right. It's more like I forget that it's the first thing most people think about, y'know? Not how I'm wired. Uh, so to speak." He let Magenta hop from his shoulder to his outstretched hand and then to the floor so she could scuttle about while they talked. "So it felt gross to imply I only like Nat because of her-- did you mean breasts specifically? I just kind of assumed but I guess, like, gravity well, curved space-time, it works for whatever." He sighed. "Anyway, I overreacted and I should have thought more about how it'd sound. Guess it's still a hot button thing for me."
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"You don't have to be self-deprecating, anyway," Ryder chimed in earnestly. He gestured with both hands as he spoke and perched atop his shoulder Magenta mimicked the motion. "Like, you know all kinds of tight tortoise facts so if there was something they were working on you were really interested in I think for sure you'd pick it up before you knew it!" He pumped a fist for emphasis and Magenta bobbed one of her curved forelimbs. "Haha, anyway! That reminds me, I wanted to ask Eira to explain part of the design to me before I get distracted by anything else. I'll catch up!" Once Voltage had guided Danica out of the room for a tour of the larger facilities he turned to the upperclassman and let out a long breath. "So I feel like I hurt your feelings earlier." It wasn't really a question.
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Shawn laughed again and followed her into the kitchen. "Well, if it's for science, how can I argue?" Ryder gave Natalia a small shrug while placing plates on the table. "Well y'know. Family stuff is sort of a lot for Utsuwa, Eira convinced herself that I'm trying to set her up with Jenny..." "Is this girl cute, too?" his sister asked innocently, making an exaggerated expression of consideration and setting a large bowl of mashed potatoes down. "Sure but so is her boyfriend." Ryder retrieved a sort of oversized charcuterie board piled with toppings that ranged from slices of tomato and onion to a wedges of fruit and unusual cheeses. He looked back to his classmate. "How many burgers did you want to start with?"
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"Oh captain, my captain!" Kimber snapped upright from her horizontal lounge and gave Eve a sharp salute. Her outline lost focus for a split second as though seen at the very edge of peripheral vision and her outfit was replaced by what might be described as a sailor's uniform in the same way a fashionable clutch might be described as luggage. Ruffles giving the faintest suggestion of a skirt sat on either hip of the bottoms while the striped top came together in a navy blue bow in front. A jaunty little hat sat atop her suddenly much tidier bun while she floated back down to hover just barely off of the floor to link arms with Tarva. "Allons-y!"
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Jill O'Cure (Maxed) (4) Arrows in the Hands of a Warrior (4) Midnight II (Maxed) Ticket to Anywhere (1) Face the Music Vignette 1PP Wail (Maxed) Face the Music Vignette 1PP Ghost Girl (Maxed) Face the Music Vignette 2PP (unclaimed from March) Set (Maxed) Face the Music Vignette 1PP (unclaimed from March) Rock Face the Music Vignette 1PP Reagent (Maxed) (1) Only Doing Good When I'm Having Fun (1) Face the Music Vignette 1PP Lou Lubrano Face the Music Vignette 1PP Chitin (9) Aren't You Tired of Being Nice? (1) Monkeys on Parade: Second Banana (2) When We Fall Asleep (6) Face the Music Vignette 1PP Ref point and rollover can go to Chitin to keep it simply, thank you!
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She was met with a booming laugh that reminded her of Ryder with the bass somehow turned all the way up. "Haw! I can tell you our regulars basically live here!" Towelling off his hands with a dishcloth Mr. Fujioka stepped into the view and came down the hallway to greet them in person. "You must be Natalia, then! Ryder said 'smart and funny'. Oh, or should I not have repeated that?" He tossed the cloth over one of his broad shoulders and gave his son a quizzical look that his luxurious moustache seemed to exaggerate. "Everybody makes such a fuss about me saying nice things about people, man." Ryder rolled his eyes with a soft scoffing noise before giving his father a hug and stepping past him toward the kitchen. He turned on his heel and continued to walk backwards to call back, "She knows she's smart and funny!" "Just an absolute sack of hammers sometimes," Jenny sighed quietly enough that only Natalia could hear her. She clapped the younger girl on the shoulder as she too passed by. "Good luck with that!" She leaned over to give her father a quick kiss on the cheek before following Ryder. "Hey now, I can't keep up with what you two think is or isn't embarrassing!" Mr. Fujioka laughed before turning his attention back to their guest. "Regardless, welcome! I've been at Ryder to bring some of his new school friends over, happy to have you! You can call me Shawn."
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As expected she found the poltergeist floating horizontally several feet above one of the long couches in the largest of the castle's common areas, a massive tome and a several loose sheets of paper levitating about her. Kimber's translucent cerulean hair was done up in a messy bun held in place with a pencil, technically an affectation but one she insisted helped to put her in the right mindset for research. She'd manifested an azure and teal plaid flannel buttoned only to the base of her sternum and tucked into high waisted blue denim jeans. "Well you could skip this whole step if you don't have skin to melt off," she mused aloud to herself, the page of tome turning and a pen jotting down notes as she controlled them telekinetically. She seemed to sense Tarva's arrival before seeing or hearing her and swooped down with a sunny grin and a little midair twirl. "Look who decided to get up and join the unliving!" she teased brightly, floating in front of the taller woman as if supported in a bridal carry and leaning in for a long, not-entirely chaste kiss. "Mm, have I mentioned I love that robe on you, liquorice whip? Very nice."
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Ellie accepted the water bottle and forced herself up to her feet, hiding her unsteadiness with a slow saunter over to Copycat's infirmary bed. Having someone bow to her while seated was somehow another layer of uncomfortable. "That's why they call her 'Dethroner'," she explained to their old classmate under her breath, offering a small shrug. Louder she added, "What she said, with slightly less name-dropping. You just keep an eye on the kid's recovery and let us know if there are any side effects, yeah?" She paused to consider, looking sidelong at Copycat then back to the Furions, deadpan. "Although we do have this big party and parade every June you'd be welcome to swing by for. I feel like you ladies would go over really well."
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"Mmrrooow?" A brassy trill greeted Eve as she stepped out into the hallway. Avro, Kimber's pet manticore, had been growing slowly but steadily in the time he'd been living in the castle and had reached roughly the size of an adult Jack Russel terrier, which had had the effect of making his segmented scorpion-like tail considerably more off-putting. He still acted like a young house cat in spite of his developing armament and happily trotted over to rub against the lady of the château's shins, weaving around her ankles. In their relaxed state his quills were soft against her, something like an evergreen tree. His little simian face looked up at her questioningly, as if to confirm how rarely she found time to actually walk the halls of her castle.
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"I can help with some pre-set decos if you like!" Ryder offered enthusiastically, taking a few steps back away from Eira's inert form while keeping his hands where they were clearly visible. "I'm thinking overlapping butterfly silhouettes in rainbow colours. With glitter!" He considered a more professional look to match Danica's costume and the black and yellow patterns on her shell but that made him think about Natalia's extensive wardrobe of custom made black and gold attire which reminded him that he probably could have been a little more diplomatic with Eira after she'd obviously been on the back foot from the reaction to The Wing. He let out a short breath, directed upward so that it jostled his bangs. "Engineering first, though, right."
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vignette Face the Music - March / April Vignette 2021
Gizmo replied to Tiffany Korta's topic in Freedom City Stories
Wail - Wail Songs The Man - Sons of Slum Underdog - The Dirtbombs Hot Pants Road - The JB’s Son of Shaft - The Bar-Kays Pull Up to the Bumper - Grace Jones It’s Your Thing - The Isley Brothers How Sweet It Is - Marvin Gaye Mighty Mighty - Earth, Wind & Fire Watcha See is Whatcha Get - The Dramatics Nightshift - The Commodores