Gizmo

"That is... very noble," Ellie said diplomatically, biting back on a more brusque reply. "But first off, I'm not a siphon. I could try to manage a transfusion between you but that's a whole additional layer of questions and risk. Second, I wasn't talking about dangerous for me." She directed that partly toward Erin with a weak smile to indicate appreciation for the concern, undercut by the grim tone of the larger conversation. "We don't know how quickly Lightbringer's system could metabolize that energy or how to slow down his rate of intake if it starts to go badly. There's not a delicate way to say this: just trying to restore his natural levels could drown or burn him out."

"At first we were just gambling that the recreation was accurate enough to include something we could use in one of the other cities, communication equipment or something." Hoping that there would be a copy of some super-team's headquarters with a functional interplanetary ship that wouldn't immediately get them nabbed out of the sky the second they took off had been a long shot at the time and sounded worse in retrospect. "We found out later that a big part of why the Curator hadn't found us by then is his attention or processing power, however you want to think about it, was busy elsewhere, so much that stuff started to stop working right on the Ringworld. Including one of the drone ships looking for us doing a nosedive close by enough that we could get to it and pop it open."

Ryder made an impolite noise as he ducked his head out around the edge of the alleyway to make sure the crowd was still sufficiently distracted enough that they wouldn't draw any attention or awkward questions. "Bruh. I'm second-generation, not thick. You got any menu items you want to try to convince me to get tattooed next?" He ran in long enough to retrieve their food and leave a tip on top of what Utsuwa had already paid before heading back outside. He handed his roommate his styrofoam container and jerked his head to the left, suggesting it might be less hassle if they weren't nearby when someone thought to start asking for witness accounts.

Ryder threw his hands up and his head back. "As much fun as getting roasted indefinitely sounds, at some point we should actually go upstairs, yeah?" "I could probably subsist off of you getting roasted for a while longer," Jenny supposed as she finished closing up the restaurant for the evening and put away her cleaning supplies with the enthusiastic help of Yellow and Cyan. "But as a dutiful daughter I shouldn't deny our father the opportunity to bask in the crackling warmth of this steady stream of savage burns, so sure." "So extra." Letting Magenta hitch a ride on his shoulder Ryder stood up and indicated for Natalia to follow him around the counter and into the back of the first floor. "See? It's not like it's just me!"

Ryder made an expression of wonderment. "That is some genuine tortoise spirit wisdom, woah. Like, what even is 'on-time', right? Who gets to decide?" Their lively conversation continued as the bus carried them toward the Lab and Danica's new scooter. Standing with one booted foot on the low railing surrounding the edges of a rooftop overlooking the largely destroyed bus stop, the mysterious guitarist adjusted the strap holding her guitar against her back and narrowed her eyes. "Again?" she muttered, the faint sound of aggressive drums swelling around her with no discernible source. "Well. @#$% that guy in particular."

Ellie's metamagi abilities didn't give her any special insight into diagnosis; that skill came entirely from her own rigorous medical training. Which did not specifically cover Furion paediatrics, weirdly enough. Fortunately she did have the benefit of experience treating a number of unique individuals and there were basics from which she could build. "Yes, that's my face you're poking, ninõ." She carefully went over everything she would have done while examining a human infant. After a pause she willing a pale blue light into being around one hand, dappled with faint shadows like sunlight streaming through a leafy canopy. She let Lightbringer grab at her extended finger and allowed a small drip of magic to flow into the baby. She felt it gobbled up like a vacuum and inhaled sharply. "Okay, so." She bounced her patient a bit and turned her attention to the adults in the room. "He's perfectly healthy by human standards. There's nothing wrong with him, there's just..." Ellie took a deep breath and tried not to grimace as she looked for the best way to explain. "Alright, so imagine a full glass of water. Then imagine you poured the same amount of water into a rain barrel. Do you have rain barrels? Whatever, you have barrels, probably. You get the idea. Humans are the glass, you're the barrel, yeah?" She looked back down at Lightbringer. "I could try to restore the... energy level he'd naturally have but one, I have no idea how long that might take and two, we're talking about trying to do surgery with a firehose. Do you have firehoses? Dios, I am this close to talking about 'life-force' like freaking... ugh. It would be dangerous and I couldn't even tell you how dangerous."

"Yeah! Operation Scoots Magoots is go!" Ryder dropped a closed fist into his opposite palm and nodded. "Man, there's always something, huh? I better text Eira and let her know what happened and that we'll be there soon. Hopefully getting to do scooter science will outweigh missing out on heavy metal monster mashing." Somehow he expected their classmate was entirely capable of being enthused and outraged simultaneously. "Utsuwa is gonna be so smug, too. He thinks I'm never on time for anything which is only, like, statistically true. I'm very reliable!" He placed both hands to his chest in a declaration of emphatic innocence.

"Aha! A one woman shield wall, tremendous!" Redbird crowed in approval. It didn't seem to take much to guide the bombastic woman back to her default enthusiasm, it seemed. Mr. Hunter noted the size of the shell impassively, jotting down a few more notes, including some napkin math for the height and arc of its front opening based on Danica's own height. "Utility in limiting vehicle's size to fit in enlarged shell, then. Metahuman combat can be... taxing on equipment." Redbird made a sound from the back of her throat at that, somewhere between a scoff and a chortle. "Reduced visibility is a concern but sometimes you just need a battering ram." He didn't seem overly concerned about recommending she drive into things intentionally.

Jill took a long, slow breath in, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled just as slowly. "No, I'm alright. We're most of the way through the mounting existential dread and paralyzing anxiety part of the story and then it's just adrenaline-soaked, active terror which is way easier to talk about." Something in the return to her sardonic tone told Paige that the unexpectedly breached walls of emotional fortitude had been raised again and reenforced for the occasion. It may not have been the best way to deal with those complicated feelings but they weren't there for therapy. "If you want to run it back I'll give it another shot."

"Hey, I'm on time sometimes! You sound like my sister," Ryder protested with a good-natured laugh. His grin dimmed as his brow furrowed and he shook his head. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Big demon ghost looking things kinda seem like your area more than mine but the music thing was weird, right? I feel like that guy was telling the truth about not knowing what happed and the Ragin didn't, like, specifically go after the person he was arguing with before it showed up or even stick around where he was. Seemed like it was just smashing whatever." He absently patted Cyan affectionately as he tried to puzzle out what they'd witnessed before suddenly snapping his fingers. "Our food! I asked them to hold onto it!"

Set - #justgodthings Mr. Hurricane - Beast It's a Sin - Pet Shop Boys Girls/Girls/Boys - Panic! At The Disco Take Me to Church - Hozier Desperate Measures - Marianas Trench Uptown Funk - Mark Robson ft. Bruno Mars I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers Get Me Through The Night - Trevi Moran Electric Lady - Janelle Monáe You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Ghost Girl - Afterlife of the Party Dance Apocalyptic - Janelle Monáe Kimber's cheerful attitude and positive energy seem to be at odds with her disturbing and unnatural existence but those two extremes exist in her character simultaneously. Sure her physical body might be a mouldering pile of bones in a shallow, unmarked grave but that's no reason not to have a dance party! All the more reason to enjoy every moment. Born Again Teen - Lucius Very literally Kimber has given a second chance and a sort of clean slate and dove into her new 'life' at Claremont with both feet. She's quick to trust and make connections with people and wears her heart on her sleeve; being sixteen in an exciting time even if there's an asterisks after the number. Bulletproof - La Roux Combining her youthful optimism and the fact they very few things can actually harm her leaves Kimber feeling pretty invincible. Part of that is knowing that the worst has already happened and she's still standing. Well, floating. Touch - Daft Punk This song is such a journey and the build up as new sounds are added and the tempo changes feels appropriate for Kimber's rapid mood swings. Kimber's a very affectionate and demonstrative person and the melancholy of being unable to act on those impulses during her high school years was always in the back of her mind. Monster Mash - The Misfits There's something really special about a young person finding the people they belong with. Sometimes you just need to be a little loose with the term 'people'. Become friends with Indira is probably the best unequivocally good thing to happen to Kimber, along with joining Young Freedom and moving into the castle. Ghosting - Mother Mother Graduating from Claremont left Kimber trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her potentially endless existence. Her friends were growing up and she was frozen in time, the teenage ghost bit beginning to wear thin. Either she was going to fade away or have to do something... dramatic. Feelings - Hayley Kiyoko Kimber tends to feel everything at full volume. It makes her empathetic and likeable but it also motivates some of her more questionable decisions and can be overwhelming for the people around her. Some mentorship from Nick Cimitier helped her move past self-recriminations and own her emotional honesty. Black to Gold - Dear Rouge Literally everyone told Kimber that getting close to Tarva the Black was a bad idea - including Tarva. But Kimber made up her mind to find a way to make it a good idea, even if that meant breaking some laws of magic, un-kidnapping the occasional baby and fighting anybody who disagreed. War of Hearts - Ruelle A dangerous, consuming love may look like a mistake from the outside but a big part of Kimber's character arc was moving past caring about other people's opinions and validation. There are aspects of her life and her love that are dark and strange and those parts are as precious to her as the light and sweet. Ghost - Mystery Skulls Well, I wasn't not going to put this on the playlist.

"Like I said, I’m good at making friends!” Ryder replied cheerfully, placing the back of his hand under his chin, parallel to the floor. He managed to hold the pose for a few second, even as Jenny’s cloth went flying just past his head, but quickly broke into a short laugh. "I asked my boss to let me know if she heard anything about where May was being held,” he explained while Yellow flew down from her perch in a loose spiral to retrieve the cloth and fly it back over to Jenny. "It seems like she hears about everything, especially if it’s about science and engineering. Plus she has some, uh, pretty specific opinions about weapon development.” He paused and tilted his head slightly, considering. "She did say to try not to cause trouble but everything worked out so that’s probably fine.”

"Why did she see your face? Ry. You made yourself a whole bug-eyed helmet, there's not supposed to any face-seeing." Jenny massaged her force head with her lean fingers, trying to forestall the inevitable headache. "We didn't show up in costume right away!" Ryder defended himself, gesturing up and down at his outfit in demonstration. "I got a tip that May was at the exhibit and things seemed hunky so we went in undercover to get the scoop!" Jenny's wince suggested her massaging had been ineffective. "Since when do you get tips? I'm the journalism student, I get the tips. Also how did you think going undercover was going to work, you're a terrible liar." Her brother grinned broadly and gave a cheerful thumbs up. "Sure sure, but I'm great at making friends! You don't even have to lie if people think you seem really confident that you're supposed to be there!"

Making a small murmuring sound to acknowledge that he'd understood her, Mr. Hunter moved to one of the workbenches and retrieved a tablet and stylus. He jotted down a few notes in the top corner of the document he opened then began sketching out some loose lines to get a sense of space requirements. "Additional storage and equipment add weight. Expect to encounter extreme conditions, active opposition. Reasonable to focus on durability, traversing difficult terrain rather than exceptional speed." He looked back up to Danica to gauge her reaction. "Shell can be larger, yes? Maximum size? Worth knowing if it could hypothetically envelop vehicle."

Ellie can get a 30 in Medicine with Skill Mastery. Knowledge (Life Sciences) Check: 1d20+15 22

"Oh wow, your memory is so good!" Ryder considered for a moment then planted a fist in his opposite hand. "Okay! So we're pretty sure our mystery musician is going around making Ragin on purpose. But, like... why? Both of the ones I've seen just sort of tried to smash whatever grabbed their attention, didn't really seem to be on a mission. Just seems like a random jerk move, right?" He shook his head, sending tousled strawberry blond locks bouncing across his forehead. "Guess I'll just have to ask her if we see her again! At least we're finally going to make it to the Lab to get your scooter!"

Ryder pointed to Natalia approvingly. "That, only not sarcastic, yeah! Look, you like being super pragmatic and tough: helping May means I have one less enemy and one more friend! That's a two point swing! Sun Tzu probably said something catchy about that, it's great." He folded his arms across his chest and nodded, confident his math was unassailable. Jenny moved from table to table with practiced efficiency. "Joking aside, I'm going to need to get a better run down of what you're actually talking about before we go up and see Dad so I know how much damage control I need to do." Ryder opened his mouth to explain and was silenced by a menacingly brandished dishrag. "Nooope. I want to hear it from the girl who seems like she'd tell me it's 'just business' before throwing me off a pier."

"Right, you folks are big on titles," Ellie recalled as she extended her own hand. "The butch-lady-VINCE calls me a 'mender perilous', which is fun. I do nicknames, too." A moment before her hand clasped Aarden's a soft crackle of bio-electricity rippled down her forearm and coalesced into a soft blue glow, a forcefield that enveloped her hand like a glove. "My name is Dr. Eliza Espadas. Ellie to my friends." She returned the handshake with just enough force to match the broad shouldered elder's grip. "I appreciate that you aren't here as your first choice. If a title makes you feel more comfortable, you can call me 'Doctor'. Not 'child' or 'outlier' or whatever else. On this world 'Doctor' is a promise. An oath, yeah? It means that I will do everything in my power to help you. And to do that I need your full cooperation. Fair?"

"Aah, I don't know?" Ryder answered quietly next to Danica, opening the flap of his bag just enough to make sure Magenta was situated comfortably. "I think maybe the anger part is just the juice? Like, the power source. Both this guy and the one Utsuwa and I met woke up and were conspicuously chill afterward." He looked around the interior of the bus uncomfortably, trying to shake the feeling that they were being watched. "You heard the music right before it manifested or whatever though, right? That girl at the bus stop was playing and it seemed like she was trying to egg the guy on and it was super loud but there was no sound system. The way they sound like instruments and sort of look like a sound wave on the outside it's just..." The younger student made rapid, aimless movements with his hands in a frenetic expression as he tried to find the words. "It's an aesthetic. Like my armour doesn't need to look the way it does but I like it. The Ragin's whole thing feels intentional like that."

With Danica skillfully calming down the bystanders, Chitin took a few awkward steps back away from the group. "Okay, well, no more monsters to fight. Stay safe... citizens?" He raised an armoured hand to wave. "Okay, bye!" The surfaces of his suit seemed to ripple briefly before his entire figure disappeared from view. A faint blur in the air and some soft squelching noises in the slush followed by the grunt preceding a leap gave a pretty good idea that he'd left the immediate area. Still rattled by the entire experience the young mother had made her polite excuses after thanking Danica and hurried away in what may well have been a random direction. The other man took the teen's advice and used a ride share app to call for a ride. In the meantime Ryder reappeared from around the corner of a nearby building, jogging back over to the bus stop. He reached the side of the road just as the requested car arrived... just ahead of a salt stained bus.

Ellie winced as Erin recounted the family's recent tragedies. "Oof. That is... a lot. If this does work I'm hoping you've got a plan for talking them down from the cult angle. I would not make a good saint." There was a silent lull as the elevator reached it's destination before she spoke up. "By the way, they had me in to do the interview about the whole Curator robot thing at the end of January, like we talked about? Brought back some stuff. Don't think I thank you and Steve enough for getting us all through that in one piece." Her tone was fairly light, not looking to have an emotional conversation there in the hallway while there were other matters that needed resolving. There was never really a good time to talk about a shared experience in alien abduction.

"Aw, I wouldn't go with that. 'Duckling' is definitely condescending, sure but it also sounds way more affectionate. 'Cricket' at least gives you some plausible deniability when you're trying to pretend you don't think I'm great." Ryder gave Natalia a broad, almost challenging grin, any momentary embarrassment evaporated like snow landing on the hot skillet of his natural enthusiasm. "And sucking up implies I'm not nice to everybody! May tried pretty hard to kill us and I'm nice to her." Jenny made a long note of frustration in the back of her throat. "Ry. Don't let people try to kill you." "I can't stop them from trying! Just from succeeding! Hence: armour." He raised his palm outward for Magenta to bat at playfully, not unlike a cat. "I probably could have done a tape deck theme. Sound instead of colour?" "Make it look like tape was wrapping around you when the armour came out?" Jenny offered, taking a spray bottle to one end of the small restaurant to wipe down the tables. He brother bounced a little on his stool and pointed an approving finger in her direction, visibly working out the engineering behind that sort of effect.

"That's crazy," Ellie objected as they walked. "Mark's way more motherly than you. Corbin, too. Maybe Trevor. Not Eve. Do you have a statue? You do, don't you. I'm already jealous of your hypothetical statue." She gave the harried security chief a lopsided grin. "I'm also remembering that you once said you'd explain the Omega thing later and then super never did. So you're not getting away with that twice." Her expression dimmed as the elevator approached their floor. "Seriously, though: if this is something the kid was born with or a long term thing I might not be able to do anything special here. The magic part is fussy about that stuff, that's why I couldn't do anything for mi mama. How bad is this going to be if we can't pull out a win? People get dangerous when worship's involved and that's not-huge-warrior people."

The prone man groaned more loudly before hauling himself into a seated position, hand still over his eyes. "You friggin' said it, kid. At least the food's good." Finally dropping his hand he looked about the scene with a morose expression. "Maaaaan, I've been making some real progress at therapy, too." "If it helps, I'm pretty sure the giant monster part wasn't directly your fault," Chitin chimed in, body language casual but very pointedly standing between the bald man and the still nervous young mother. "Happened to another guy who lost his cool the other day, too." He looked up blearily and caught sight of the woman behind the armoured teenager. "Aw jeez. Lady, I'm real sorry about yelling and scaring you. I've been trying to be better than that but it ain't fair you had to deal with it." Chitin caught Danica's eye and gave a small shrug, trying to figure out if they needed to stick around or make a graceful exit.