Semi-Autogyro

"I can get you a list of what the school has for clubs."

"Thank you Miss Victoria. That will be quite helpful. I am hoping to pick up some normal pass-times, but in Mr. Summers phrasing it seemed more like an order." He pondered something for a second. "I also been told to procure any items that I require, since due to the unexpected nature of my being here I brought only the essentials." John continued. "So if you could direct me to a bookseller, electronics shop and a military surplus store, it would be most appreciated."

"Let's just say if you decide to go on a date here in FC, make sure you wear body armor. Heh."

"I was not aware that attempted romantic interludes in this locale required such protection. Thank you for the advice, Mr. Morgan." John answered completely seriously.

Myrmidons' Saves

Myrmidons' Ref. Save vs DC 22 Paralyze Total = 16 (Fail)

Myrmidons' Will Save vs. DC 22 Paralyze Total = 9 (Fail by 10+ = Paralyzed)

Painting!Myrmidons Saves

Myrmidons' Ref. Save vs DC 22 Paralyze Total = 25 (Nat 20! Success)

Notes: I'm a bit rusty on the 2E rules, but doesn't a natural 20 basically means he auto-succeeds against the will effect as well? Regardless, I'll roll his secondary save as well, just in case.

Myrmidons' Will Save vs. DC 16 Paralyze Total = 9 (Fail by 5+ = Slowed)

Notes: In case it's needed.

John scanned the room for possible changing locales. Bathroom no. One way in or out. Closet no. Door had a lock. Podium no. Not enough cover. Aha.

John slid underneath a loan officers' heavy oak desk, unzipping his backpack as he slid on the balaclava first and then proceeding with the rest of the armor. Note: Find better solution to having to change in public. The seismic activity also troublesome John noted, as it probably was connected to the irate man ordering the bank around. John took a deep breath and exhaled as he buckled the last few straps on the armor and vaulted back over the desk. He landed in a low crouch, summoning a staff in his hands.

Other heroes had appeared interim, most notably Crow. Well, that made things easier.

Initiatives

Myrmidons' Initiative Roll Total = 21

Painting!Myrmidons' Initiative Roll Total = 4

Attack Rolls

Myrmidons' Attack Roll vs. Painting!Myr DC: 16 Total = 17 (Hit!)

Notes: Unarmed All Out/Power Attack on Painting!Myr. Defense Reduced by 5, Currently +1. DC increased by +5, Currently DC 21. Versus DC 16.

Defense Rolls

Painting!Myrmidons' Toughness Save vs. DC 21 Total = 10 (Fail by 10+ = Staggered & Stunned)

Way to beat up yourself John!

The two Myrmidons stared down each other, waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Rene furiously whispering and trying to fix the situation was apparently it, as both of them focused on him for a split second. They both reacted to the distraction each unleashing a perfectly synchronized strike. Myrmidon aimed low, his sword arcing upward toward his doppelgangers chest. Painting!Myrmidon lunged forward, a straight thrust aimed at the real Myrmidons' heart. The simultaneous strikes connected, leaving the two Myrmidons with swords sticking out their backs, and oddly, uninjured.

Painting!Myrmidon looked downward, Myrs' sword buried to the hilt under ribcage angling upward into his chest cavity and then to his own sword, straight through Myrmidons' throat. Clearly both were intended to be lethal strikes. However, at each swords point of entry and exit, a yellow crackling appeared. "Hmm. Looks like we will have to do this the old-fashioned way...BRUTALLY!" The doppelganger said with manic glee. All Myrmidons' response to this was a morose "Indeed," before snapping his head forward in a savage headbutt.

With a meaty TWHACK! the Painting!Myrmidon is sent reeling.

"it is alright. My father in his own way has also guided me on my path." He did not follow much of the conversation abut x-boxes or tvtropes things, whatever they were. Hopefully he'd get a more in depth answer later.

"Damn...those do look similar. Heh, ever thought of sending one to do your exams while playing Xbox or something? Lucky stiff..."

Oh. John still had replica soldiers out. He dismissed them, and the faded out of existence. "No, I prefer to do things on my own merit. After all, they are reflections of me, not the other way around. I tend to avoid using my powers if at all possible. Even though some situations do not allow that luxury."

"Actually, you're one of the first newbies I've met who didn't give me a 'this guy must be crazy' look when I mentioned rune magic. You've seen magic before?"

"I know of the existence of magic, but yours is not how I expected to be. Magic is more along to lines of Eldrich's power as I understood. But that there would be variations is to be expected. To be perfectly honest, i understand the concept of magic but not the theory as it were." he looked around taking in the bit of Claremont he saw.

"I was wondering, what do you usually do? I assume you were doing other activities before running into me. This is the first time in a long while I have how you put it...time to kill?"

Most people would have reacted to the last few events with slack jawed amazement. John just blinked a lot while maintaining the pose, up until the point where the painting!Etain was talking to him.

"Vos would planto a nice toy , dico mihi , operor vos reputo ego sum pulchellus?"

His eyes snapped to the fake, trying to answer her "I..wha..." he looked to Miss Etain. "Translation, please?" But she was already talking to it in what he could only assume was some sort of latin dialect.

His confusion and bafflement was further compounded by the appearance of a duplicate Morgan. Painting!Morgan was behaving decidedly more lecherous John noted, though it brought him some amusement as the real Morgan was turning a fascinating shade that he had not seen before.

Wait. If those two... he finally broke his pose, staring at the painting. It confirmed his misgivings as a pair of gloved hands pulled themselves up and out of the picture, before standing and straightening the uniform. The uniform was similar to John's but as he crawled out of the painting, it had smeared with other colors and became a closer to the original form....SHADOW armor.

Painting!Myr looked around until his eyes zeroed in on John, and the face cracked open into a wickedly evil smirk. "Well, Well. What do we have here? A faulty spare. Looks like I'll have to clean this up." John stepped away from the painting!Etain and stared down his duplicate. "Fool. You are nothing but a painting." He called a sword into his hand, as painting!Myrs' manic grin grew even more. "Oh?" the duplicate replied as he created an identical sword.

Myrmidon

Posts

Just Beneath the Surface (IC) (1 post)

Claremont Academy Inbound (IC) (13 posts)

First Impressionisms (IC) (6 posts)

1 + 13 + 6 = 20 posts = 2 PP

Extracurriculars

Vignette: Myrmidon - Thule House Rock! [if Accepted] (1 PP)

1 PP

John had started into a nice quiet doze while still being somewhat aware and maintaining his pose, since he really didn't know how long this was going to take. Morgan and Miss Etain seemed to be having fun, and he was wondering what the finished picture would look like. Maybe he could learn to paint or something similar. he hadn't ever tried before...

Morgan registered Rene's slight pause and he shook it off, but snapped fully awake when Morgan chimed in. After all, Morgan was a bit more sensitive to the mystical stuff. For all John knew about magic was that it tended to be rather flashy and rather sudden. Plus he had been feeling like he was being watched ever since he set foot in this place.

Better safe than sorry, he mused while keeping an eye on both Morgan and Rene.

John chuckled darkly. and sighed "I know what it's like to live in the shadow of a person, believe me." A dark look crossed his face as he continued. But to answer your question, I have been trained in a variety of styles but don't hold any sort of rank. Krav Maga, Systema, Sambo, Boxing, and MCMAP. I've been dabbling in learning more about Parkour as of late. I am experienced with most every weapon that shoots or holds an edge. My main specialty is combat command and tactics."

He slumped his shoulders when looked at their faces, both with incredulous looks directed at him. "I did not have a normal upbringing, however you put it. Not much else in my life up to this point except books and combat. My mother died when I was three in Bosnia, and well, my father doesn't seem to care one way or another if I am alive or not."

John forced a smile on his face. "So I hope you will understand and forgive me that I do not know much in the way of popular culture or current events." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit embarrassed. "So if you could explain things of that nature it would be very helpful to me."

Standing perfectly still was one of the things that John was good at. Though he questioned the pose he was in, his right foot on one of brick planter his and his left hand holding onto a trellis. Morgan had said looked 'captainy'. More like ridiculous, he thought to himself as he stood stock still, maintaining the position.

"Don't think anyone hereabouts is psychic, mate, so you should be gold. Why do you reckon something'd go wrong if they did?"

He tilted his head, curious. Myrmidon was a decent guy, but sometimes he could be real tight-lipped when he wanted to be.

While Rene was fussing over Miss Etain, he had responded to Morgan. "The state of mind I have when i use my powers is important. Bad things tend to happen when a psioniscist loses control. I've read studies where someone with similar powers had a sociopathic duplicate." So you can understand why I'm extremely wary of avoiding that." It was true, that one of the clones had gone catatonic and started making berserker duplicates in one of the testing phases SHADOW had put them through. He was sure that it wouldn't happen now, as it was more along the lines to keep his origins secret as per the agreement he had with both the League and Summers.

"Say, can you put on an orange track suit and yell 'Believe it!'?"

Blatant confusion washed across Johns' face as the duplicates popped backed into non-existence. "Orange? Is there some reason I need to be highly visible?" He had only half-heard Morgans' response to Victoria while wondering exactly that had to do with anything. He surmised it must be some sort of cultural thing.

"Still, that's pretty damn impressive there, mate. How'd you wind up being able to do that? Family powers? Magic? Science experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong?"

John, happy to have something that he understood and could answer, replied. "I usually turn off the mental link between my myself and the duplicates. That way i can not 'read' their movements beforehand." He paused for a bit, knowing that Morgan's question was one that he had a cover element in place for while he searched his memories. "I was born in Pripyat, Ukraine inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone." He looked between the two of them. "I am sorry however that I do not have many answers the question as to what my parents were doing there." He continued. "The doctors who examined me when I stated showing my abilities think that my exposure to something there is the cause." He glanced to both of them "What about yourselves?"

Yeah. That could be pretty hilarious. For example, Myr could be A Col Klink/Sgt. Shultz expy since Rene mentioned he looked like a good Aryan boy.

"Anyway. Thought you might like a class portrait, and a few people around here might be able to help you figure out your abilities a bit more. You cool with that?"

John nodded. "Of course, otherwise I'd still be in the exercise room at Claremont." He gently picked up the easel, making sure to not to scratch or hit it on anything. "There is also the added befit of multiple people here, just in case something does go wrong." He waited until Morgan had gathered up the other supplies. "Which shouldn't happen unless they go rummaging about in my head."

He angled the easel sideways as he carefully brought it outside into the gardens. It was a bit of hassle getting it through the door, and he had understood why Rene had left it to them. It took another 5 minutes getting it to a place where Rene had liked, which involved moving it around a couple more times.

When that was done he took a seat on the edge of a stone planter and waited for the instructions.

"Yes, although I am a recent transplant. I tend to think Morgan took pity on me, as I have been getting steered around to all his friends and acquaintances." He laughed ruefully at the mention of interesting. "Thank you for that Miss Etain, that has to be the first time I have been called interesting. I believe Mr. Morgan had called me 'boring'" when he found out I have little in the way of hobbies or interests. This is his not so subtle way of expanding my horizons."

He sighed before taking a seat opposite her. "I regret that I have not met many other students. I mainly train or, well, train. I do not start at Claremont officially until the fall semester, so I have a quite bit of free time. Which has led me here today. Though to be perfectly honest I am not exactly sure as to what I am supposed to be doing." He had gestured with a shrug to that that last sentence.

And just to spite him, it seemed that the universe had a ready answer to his last question as Rene had came into the room with paintbrushes and canvas in hand.

"Oh. Well then. Question answered."

John took the offered hand, and agave a firm handshake."Please, call me John, Mr. De Saens. Code names are meant for the public not in private, or so I have been told." He blinked in surprise as the cunning elder made Morgan carry some things as well. "I also see that I should keep on my toes around a man as worldly as are." He said that with a small smile.

Looking around, he noticed that he had forgotten to introduce himself to the lady when they had teleported in with. She had gone to another room during the time he was talking.

"If you'll excuse me for a moment, gentlemen." He set down the canvas so it leaned on the frame against the couch. He walked over to the sitting room taking a look around, before extending a hand in greeting to the lady on the couch. "Hello, Miss. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please, call me John."

Half of what Morgan was talking about sounded like gibberish to John. Fae? Troll? and then statement about Magic. This is the second time he'd mentioned runes as well, John noted. Morgan didn't exactly fit his mental idea of a mage which was that of someone like Eldrich or the like.

John looked at the ground sheepishly when Morgan had indeed seen him fabricate the staff. "I do not think my powers are like yours intrinsically, Mr, Morgan. I believe they classified me as a psionicist more than a mage, as I expect that you are." He smirked at Morgan, as he called a sword in hand. "This actually is pretty recent. Happened over the last few months or so. I suspect that I can eventually make more complicated ones." He demonstrated by shifting it between a couple other forms such as a silenced hold out pistol, a blowgun, and then a throwing knife before dissipating it.

"As for the training, I'd be glad to participate with anyone who wants to. " Myr smiled as he made a duplicate lean on the tree next to Morgan. The duplicate spoke the next line "As you can see, I usually train by myself. A third duplicate appeared behind Victoria then, his hands on the back of the park bench. "Indeed."

Johns' inertia carried him off the couch after the abrupt landing, which he used to roll up to a low crouch. "Interesting. It is not somewhat similar to a low altitude parachute landing." John said as he got to his feet. "Usually when parachuting you can see where you are landing, however."

He proceeded to make sure the he survived intact, dusting off a bit of couch fibers that had collected on the armor he was wearing. He still had no idea why Morgan had asked him to wear it other than it was for something 'official'. John didn't have a dress uniform, much to his discomfort. It was like having to wear work clothing to a fancy dinner. Still, he did consider Morgan his friend, and went along with it.

Morgan knows some eccentric people, John thought as he looked over to the graceful woman in period clothing and then to the elderly man just outside.

When the man they called Mr. Saens had dropped the canvas, John had walked over to help pick it up. "Allow me please, Sir."

"I see. Perhaps it is lucky then that I do not have that ability." John extracted himself from Morgan's arm and sat down on a nearby concrete bench. "Though I do wonder what sort of other abilities you both posses, since it sounds like your teleportation skills are different in nature though similar in execution." He leaned back in the bench."To tell the truth, I did not have many problems with my own powers. I suspect that was due to the training regimen I went through." He looked at Morgan and then Victoria.

"Maybe we could possibly train together and help improve each other. As it is now, I do not know what I am supposed to be doing until the fall semester." He shook his head. "So I have plenty of idle time, and I do not exactly have much in the way to do at the moment."

John kept to himself as the line seemed to be stuck in stasis. Well, I guess I'll have to run errands tomorrow as well. Seeing as this would probably take a bit, he fished out a magazine from the backpack and opened to where he had marked a page earlier. He was about to to start reading where he had left off when the his peripheral vision caught the pointed gesturing of the large man.

Glancing over at the source of the problem John frowned slightly. Why do people seem to think that getting angry solves a problem faster than being polite and professional? He wondered to himself as he split his attention between the article and keeping an eye on the situation.

Johns' first reaction to seeing Morgan back up in the tree was a raised eyebrow. Teleportation? Interesting ability. Tactically and strategically it had an number... That train of thought ended abruptly when Morgan clamped a friendly arm over his shoulder.

Morgan could feel Johns' body go rigid as soon as his arm was around him. John mentally fought his instinctive reaction so he would not automatically try and break free of the arm, and counter what his ingrained response saw as a precursor to a sleeper hold. "Apologies Mr. Morgan. I am not used to how Miss Victoria just put it...abnormality. It is my first time being in such an institution." His body relaxed, and John shook Vickys' hand.

"It is a distinct pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Victoria." He smiled ruefully. "Though I do not possess the ability to teleport, which seems good for my continued health around here."

"It's a pleasure. I'm Johann Smith, but call me John. I just arrived here earlier today from Germany."

John cursed himself mentally when he realized his screw up. He had wanted to help the man, not openly display his powers like a neophyte recruit. He paused in the middle of that thought when he heard the laughter from behind he and Morgan. He looked back to see a young woman smirking at Morgan.

John gave Morgan a sympathetic smile as he turned to the woman "Oh, pardon me. I did not mean to not introduce my self to you as well Miss."

Puzzlement crossed Johns' face as the guy in the greatcoat had some sort of epiphany. Rune? Lightning? Maybe he had suffered some sort of cranial trauma when he wound up in the tree.

This was quickly replace by a wince as gravity took control and the man met the ground personally.

John shook his head at the man. "Not a problem." he replied as he took the offered hand and also helped him to his feet.

He nulled the staff in his hand and it dissipated into motes of quintessence. "Is that something that happens regularly? Being stuck in a tree I mean."

John had stepped outside and was in the middle of stretching his muscles a bit before the odd sight of a man dangling upside down from a tree wearing a greatcoat. What was really odd was the calm acceptance the man had, stuck there like an afterthought rocking slightly as the wind moved the tree branches. Well, might as well see if he needs help.

He walked over to him, his face almost level with the other mans'. Correction. The man looked deep in thought while he was stuck in the tree. Hanging by ones' ankle didn't seem like something one would do for fun, so he called up staff with his powers to hopefully pry apart the branches trapping the limb.

"Uh, Sir?" He asked. "Do you need some assistance in getting loose? You seem to be rather stuck." He pointed with the staff at limb in question.

Hey folks. Myrmidon has an intro thread up in Bayview for any and all Claremont students who want to pop in.

Claremont Academy Inbound (IC)

Claremont Academy Inbound (OOC)