KnightDisciple

*Starts throwing a wild birthday party for Sorus*

Woo-hoo! 8-)

Gabriel glanced to Muse for a moment, then took the lead.

"Right. The reason we called the three of you in on this, rather than taking care of it ourselves, is because we believe that this operation may well escalate quickly.

Between the two of us, we've build a decent picture for what's been going on. One of the mobs stationed in the Boardwalk recently went through a bit of a management changeover. Once that settled down, the new management really started pushing protection rackets.

We believe that a group of at least 6 "enforcers" is going to be hitting this area tonight."

Muse had, thankfully, taken the cue, and the targeted location was now on display over the holo-table.

"We also believe there's a possibility that the boss who's ordering this will either come himself, or send a senior flunky. One way or another, we expect all of the gang members to be comparatively well armed. And since I'm not immune to bullets, I figured a little extra help won't hurt."

He looked to each of his fellow heroes in turn, his expression (what wasn't muffled by mask and hood) showing a mix of determination and...sadness?

"I also believe most, or even all, of the gang members "attending" tonight will be new recruits. Likely with ages between 16 and 18. Possibly as young as 15. Kids, really. That's one reason we're trying to nip this in the bud; I don't want more kids joining this scumbag. All I ask in the field is that you make sure you don't permanently harm these kids, or any of the gang members, as tempting as it may be for the "big boss". We need to set ourselves apart from the likes of the mob."

He leaned back, his expression more relaxed.

"We think they're moving between 9 and 10 tonight. Any suggestions on ways to approach this problem?"

Diplomacy (1d20+20=40).

Well, you're not the only one. And that's without attractive!

Poor guard's just getting hit left and right. :o

The male guard that was guiding the crowd blinked, then had one of those "not quite a blush" moments.

"Well, it's a bit outside the norm, but...So long as you promise to get into one of the safe rooms in this building. Hopefully you can, ah, move quickly."

With that, he moved aside a bit so she could pass, before going back to managing the crowd.

Meanwhile, Carson had reached...just Amy? No time to speculate, at least Amy still had his backpack.

"Thanks Amy I need that stay safe I need to go be responsible and stuff!"

Carson all but yanked the backpack from Amy's arms as he kept pressing through the crowd.

When he got to the guard, he put on a solemn face.

"Sir, I know you're supposed to try to guide everyone, student and teacher, into the safe rooms. But you and I know some students will either sneak off, break off, or be in the restrooms while this is going on. I'm going to go try to corral any "loose" students, while you and your fellow guards keep up the excellent job you're doing so far. Would that be reasonable to you, sir?"

Gabriel just shook his head at some of the banter.

When Breschau entered, he gave the man a solemn nod.

"An honor to meet you as well, Breschau. This place was picked for being comparatively subtle, at least on the outside. Please, take a seat."

The man in white then turned to face Powerhouse, still somewhat solemn.

"I can appreciate your openness, Alexander. But honestly, I'm not one to just hand out my true name. I wear my mask for a reason. I don't judge others one way or another, but I do ask they respect that decision on my part."

He then quirked a smile.

"Lucky for you, "Gabriel" isn't as unique as some code names. I hope it isn't too much of a strain on you?"

A bit of mischief dances its way into his voice at the question.

Gaian chuckled. "Some measure, yeah. Don't let the sword fool you; I'm pretty awful with it - need some stone moved, though, and I'm your guy. And I've been stalked by the Freedom League, huh? I'm not really sure what to think about that. I guess if anyone's keeping tabs on the new guys, it's them."

Gabriel shrugged.

"I suppose so. And I'm sure earth control will come in handy."

"What...? Oh!" He glanced at the table, then back at the newcomer. "Hah, yes. Good advice! I like my arms where they are." Taking a moment to look over the group, Gaian Knight had to admit they were sort of a motley crew, but in this city that didn't seem to mean much. It'd sure be educational to see them all in action; the newest arrival looked pretty durable, but that was as good as his guessing could get.

Gabriel gave an amused snort and shook his head at the new arrival's words.

"But just who at this table is, in fact, the Wookie?"

Gabriel smiled and nodded as Gaian Knight entered.

"Well, I just called the Freedom League; they're the ones that seemed to know such things. As for missing anyone, yes, we are. Two more, as I understand it. We've still got some time before they're late."

A curious eyebrow was raised at the trick with the dirt and dust.

"Handy. I take it from that, and your name, that you have some measure of control over earth and rock?"

At about 10 minutes until the scheduled start time, the door to the private room opened gently.

In walked the hero named Gabriel, his clothes that same crisp, clean white as always.

He sees Muse playing with the holo-table, and smiles.

"Ah, Muse. Good to see you're here. I don't feel quite as awkward being early now."

He moved to the table and sat down across from her, his eyes flickering over the display.

"Trying to formulate a plan? Any interesting ideas pop up at you yet?"

Story 1, Characters: Gabriel, Muse, Gaian Knight, Breschau, Powerhouse is now active!

Lead Us Not Into Temptation OOC

Lead Us Not Into Temptation IC

@OmegaPlatinum: Sorry, but we've actually closed recruiting at the moment. But consider yourself as holding something of a "rain check", at least from me. I'm sure we can do something in the future.

Scion could be there just to meet sick kids and cheer them up either as a superhero or in his secret identity as a comic book artist depending if this is a spandex or civies affair.

It's up to you. It's during the day, and we're actually having people going in separately, at least initially. The idea being that while they're there, something happens, and they have to do the hero thing. If Scion's just as likely to be there cheering kids up as a hero in the daytime, it's fine if he's already in costume. So long as you know why you're there. :D

*Rewind*

Carson just smiled and shook his head as the speaker to his right barely managed not to laugh out loud. When he spoke, it was only audible to the men on his right and left.

"Good think she remembered that. Had my PDA in it..."

And his costume, but no need to say anything about that.

*Present*

Carson's speech was trailing down when the PA system crackled to life.

"Lockdown alert. Repeat, lockdown alert."

At that moment, 2 FCU security guards came into the room, one of them speaking into her radio. The PA system stopped the repetition after a moment, at least in this room. While she was on the radio, the male guard stepped to the foot of the stage and spoke up.

"Okay ladies and gentlemen. Please do not be alarmed. There's a bank robbery at the Fifth National Bank two blocks away. The robbers are busy there, so we're hoping there's no chance they'll come here. But on the off chance they try it, everyone's going to have to move to one of the safe rooms in this building. If you would all exit this room in an orderly fashion, and follow our directions to one of the safe rooms."

With that, the staff and students all stood. There didn't seem to be any real sense of panic in the crowd.

Carson was closer to panic, but mostly for the sake of getting to his bag, and then getting changed.

He began subtly weaving his way forward through the crowd, trying to reach Amy and Vivian, and working on what he'd say first to the girls, and then to the guards.

Alright, we've got the two stories congealed, but we need to hear from the players!

Story one is about a protection racket and how the heroes put (at least one attempt on it) it down

Characters: Gabriel, Muse, Gaian Knight, Breschau, Powerhouse

Story two is about something in a hospital trying to do something

Characters: Gabriel, Seraph, The Jay, Scion, Supercape

Let me (and KnightDisciple) hear your questions and/or comments

For Story 1, we'll have "why everyone's there" taken care of.

For Story 2...Gabriel will be in his civvies, visiting a sick student. We're thinking Seraph's there doing the healing thing, and The Jay is there doing community Service.

Doleth, Supercape, can you guys be thinking on why your characters would be at or near the hospital?

Carson smiles as he takes the card.

"Many thanks, Stesha. May the blessings of Saint Phocas follow you constantly."

With that, he turned, moving over to Heyzel. He appeared ready to teleport once the limits of the travel were expounded upon.

Carson stood, shook Stesha's hand, and generally made polite goodbyes.

"Well...could you take us to my apartment? Do I need to describe it? Or does it need to be someplace you've been?"

It was pointed out that, for Equipment, only the Leather Jacket would actually require EP; local house rules state that things like phones and such are free, barring them being "tricked out". Thus, I submit this revised request.

Equipment wrote:

Cell Phone[0ep]

Laptop [0ep]

Digital Audio Recorder [0ep]

PDA [0ep]

Leather Jacket (+1 Toughness) [1ep]

Weighted Gloves (Damage 2 [Power Feat: Mighty]) [3ep]

Night Vision Goggles [1ep]

Edit: Also, please change the following.

Speech Color: Underlined Red

To the Following:

Speech Color: Maroon

Thank you.

Done by Sandman XI

...There are kids who don't know what "blast processing" is? Who don't know that the Sega Genesis did what Nintendidn't?! :shock:

To be somewhat fair, my family never owned one (budgeting and all). But still. They seemed clueless that it even existed. They'd probably seen Sega-related stuff before, but...*Shrugs*

Okay. For now, registration is closed. I'm working with Sand on some plots. We may move around who's involved, but we have 2 good ideas, so we'll do our best to involve all of the people who expressed interest so far. Keep an eye on this thread for links and details! If you don't make the first story, don't worry. We'll work you into the 2nd one. ;)

I'd throw in that many of those kids don't know what a Sega Genesis is. I know this because my 2 brothers, one about to be a freshman, the other a year behind him, didn't know what one of those was. Years ago, before I was even in college (which was a few years ago).

I wanted to cry when they said "What's Sega?". :(

[Room 5, Liberal Arts Building]

Vivian and Amy made it to the lecture just in time. Many of the other students attending were those in the education and/or theater programs.

Carson was right about not being first. He was seated on the stage, apparently in a right to left order of presentation. The first speaker was just standing to begin his part of the seminar.

He was an older gentleman, introducing himself as the head of the FCU Theater Department. He gave the names and originating universities of each of the speakers. None of them were from FCU, and no two were from the same college; several notable Eastern USA schools were represented.

The first speaker briefly touched on the long history of the theater in society, before passing the podium on to the next person.

The next two speakers each talked about various methods they used to keep kids, typically high school or younger age, interested in drama classes. Nothing earth-shaking, but perhaps interesting as a change of pace for the girls.

Then Carson Finbar Keefe took the podium, a 100-watt smile beaming out at the crowd, eyes twinkling.

"Right then. Well, first things first. No, there's not quite the same, ah, generational difference between myself and you guys and gals out there. I suppose I'm just lucky; these folks have been great so far. I'm sure when we're eating lunch and swapping drama class horror stories, we'll bond even more."

A chuckle rippled through the crowd and collection of speakers. There was no judgment in Carson's note about age, just an amusing anecdote being shared with friends.

"Anyways. My time's split about evenly between teaching people like you and me, who either want to go into acting of some sort professionally, or want to teach it...And teaching the basic drama course to the various students who want an "Easy A Elective" class. Many of them come in with a huge bundle of pre-conceived notions, bias, and so on."

He begins to pace the stage a bit, getting into his speech.

"Maybe they'll make mention it's not a "real" class. Maybe they'll make fun of the people who enjoy acting. That sort of thing. Our first desire is to simply tell them to be quiet, or some variation of that."

He stops at the podium, pinning the crowd with his gaze.

"Doesn't work. Not really. No, we need to try different methods. Engage them with language they understand. I've found..."

And so he goes on, speaking passionately about something he truly, sincerely believes in and does with care and pride.

So.

First, that backpack does, in fact, have Carson's costume, buried under other stuff in a sort of "false bottom" (though it's not very fancy).

Second...Hm. I'm trying to figure out how Carson will catch word. He has a card for the Freedom League, but he's not a member or anything yet. I guess we'll play it by ear or something.

Carson raised an eyebrow at the question.

"Hm. Officially, I would have to discourage that behavior. Teacher's reputation and all."

He leaned a bit closer, with a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eyes.

"Unofficially, I'd say so long as you don't feel like you'll suffer for missing that one class, it's fine by me. It's a fairly open seminar. Maybe you and Amy can sit together? That will give you at least one person you know in the audience, I suppose. And I promise, no, ah, odd imaginings during my speech."

Here he had the grace to look a touch embarrassed. He then glanced at his watch.

"Hm. I do need to be there before things start. I'd better head out. Give yourself a couple more minutes, then be in Room 5 in the Liberal Arts building. I'm sure you and Amy can get some decent seats. I'm speaking fourth, unless they made an 11th hour change on me."

With that, Carson stood, draining the last of his coffee, and depositing the cup in the appropriate receptacle. He gave Vivian one last "charmer" smile, giving her a quick shake of the hand before starting to move away.

"Was a pleasure meeting you, Vivian. See you after the lecture!"

And with that, Carson was out the door.

...But he'd apparently forgotten his backpack.

Carson nods, relaxing a bit.

"Good to hear. It's the little things like friends and favorite coffee shops that make college so enjoyable, at least in my experience.

And you're right. It helps that I'm not first. I just don't want to squeak in at the last minute. Not how my folks raised me, you know."

Her he tossed her a friendly wink.

'Well, she's certainly a nice girl. Same with that Amy. Even with that odd bit earlier...I suppose I'll just chalk it up to not understanding women...'

Carson took another long sip of coffee. As late as he'd been up last night, it was helping a bit.

On the outside, Carson raised an eyebrow at the exchanged looks.

On the inside, he simultaneously felt like a side of meat being bargained over, and an instinct to run away. He suppressed both, writing it off as paranoia or some such. It was just a friendly cup of coffee and some conversation, after all!

He nodded as Amy talked.

"Sounds like fun. I think in a city like this, there might be more opportunities than you think."

Carson turned to look at the seat Vivian indicated, thus missing the looks exchanged.

"Okay. I suppose we have a couple more minutes. Amy, it was a pleasure meeting you. Maybe we can chat a bit more after the lecture and such is done?"

He offers his hand for a quick shake before walking over with Vivian.

"I take it you two have known each other for a bit now?"

He takes a sip of coffee, looking around at all the art and such.

"How long has this place been open and decorated like this?"

If you get more than 5 people for either thread, I'd recommend starting a 3rd one.

Also, while it's a great way to inflate your IC post count and earn a bunch of PPs at the end of the month, don't feel pressurred into running more simultaneous threads than you're comfortable with. Whenever anyone posts a recruting thread, they always get more candidates than they know what to do with.

Well. As stated earlier, I don't feel comfortable GMing yet. Though I definitely want to help the GM out as far as idea-generation goes.

Hence the "rain check". As stated, Sand has (at least nominally) volunteered to run the initial group. Everybody else, keep this thread in mind. Any more people can speak up as well. If nothing else, maybe this will help us keep a PL10 thread running most of the time for various folks. ;)

Well. That would make us 5 and 5 (counting Gabriel both times). Again, assuming the GM of each group is up for it, I'm okay with it.