Scuffles

Kristin put her hands on her hips and gave the reporter a disapproving look. "I wasn't saying that you should snoop around Diamond's yacht!" she complained. "I was saying you should snoop around the harbourmasters .. wait a minute!" Disapproval was quickly replaced with shock. "You think that Steve Diamond is involved with the drugs and people smuggling? Wow... if that's true that's completely wild! I don't suppose you have any proof or else you'd have already written the story right?"

I'm a little confused by Ari's last post. I would have assumed that these are two separate conversations and that Subito wouldn't know what Kristin and Jack are talking about at all?

Kristin laughed "I can help with the dancing too!" as she reached out and caught Etain by the hand. She struck a pose and then twirled in under her arm. The two girls worked their way through a short and simple dance in time with the music playing in the mall, then broke apart again. "Nice one!" Kristin chuckled at Etain, then turned back towards John and Victoria. "Her sparring is like dancing. Mine not so much!" she laughed. "I don't think anyone would mind if we tried some dancing in a corner of the gym though! You don't even really need anything except the floor and some music!" She turned in the direction of the music shop. "That way right? I've never really played an instrument. I did drums in primary school but that wasn't so good for anyone nearby! I'd love to learn guitar or something!"

Kristin did her best not to laugh at the reporter as he danced. She even almost succeeded. Seriously? That's worse than Dad dancing. "Random school girl snoops and finds practically nothing isn't all that much of a scoop Mister Jackson!" She chuckled. "Your own stuff sounds like it's way more on the right track. You've got a harbour master who takes kickbacks, illegal people trafficking and drugs. You just know that would be on every paper and news broadcast in the country if you could bust it open!" "Heck, you heard Royer talking about it before right? You could even scoop him if you dig up the right kind of stuff!"

Kristin's hoping that if she gives Jackson something he really wants to hear he might run off and try to dig up dirt on port officials. I guess I have to roll something again now? :D

Kristin had to suppress the urge to accidentally shoot her coin through the camera lens. Dammit he's not going to leave me alone unless he thinks something else is more interesting! "Ok look I was snooping a little bit." she said as she snatched the coin out of the air and stuffed it back in her pocket. "But I'm not going to be the one to do anything about it. I'm not a 'cape'. Never worn one in my life!". "I'm not even good at snooping," She said with a sigh. "All I've managed to find is vague rumours about drugs and refugees." "Hey I bet you're awesome at digging up dirt?" She asked as she gave Jackson an conspiratorial look. "I heard that the people bringing that stuff and the people in through here have contacts. High up ones, like a port official or maybe even someone in local government. That would be a massive scandal. I bet if some reporter managed to bust something like that open he'd be in line for.. what's that award called? A Pulitzer?"

I figured that blatantly lying to reporters would need another bluff roll. 11 isn't nearly as convincing as last time though.

"I really hate to break it to you mister Jackson, but I'm not really going to be giving you anything newsworthy!" Kristin said with a shrug as she dug a coin out of her pocket. She held it out and then caused it to float a couple of inches above her palm. "I can still do this, but ever since that first day when I had my little accident I really haven't been able to lift more than like a couple of kilograms. I'm just nowhere close to a walking disaster." She looked out over the water and sighed. "I've already done my visits with the science people who want to investigate whatever genetics caused it in the first place, now I'm just here to finish school so I can go back home. I can't wait to go home. I miss my family so much.." I really don't have to make that bit up..

Kristin rolled her eyes a little. Oh he's infuriating! I wonder if I get in trouble for smacking him on the back of the head? "There's a difference between learning from your mistakes and brooding about them. One helps. The other not so much." she said as she waved her hand at Marcus. "He's not even mad. Nobody got hurt. Walk it off, try to hit the next one!" She shrugged, then a grin crossed her face. "If you never screw up and never lose then you never get better. That's what this place is for. And you don't think it gets called the "Doom" room because people win all the time right?"

So I thought "ha ha why not!" and then rolled a 20. Total 21.

"Oh way to be subtle!" Kristin grumbled at Subito as he yelled out loud enough to attract attention from way more people than she would have liked. Well at least we found the guy we were looking for! She thought as Cruz answered. Oh damnit, not Jackson again! "We are not making a spectacle of ourselves with that jerk watching!" She growled at Subito under her breath. "I do not want to be on the evening news again! Talk to Cruz, I'm going to go and distract Jackson. Somehow." "Mister Jackson! You're still here! Did Steve Diamond make a newsworthy scandal yet?" She called out as she started to head over towards the reporter. "My friend just wants to do some temp work as a dock hand" she said with what she hoped looked like a relaxed gesture. "Sounds boring to me. Can you recommend any other sights to see around here?" Yeah like he's going to believe that..

"Hey! I thought we were playing dodgeball! It's not my fault you suck at dodging!" Kristin protested. "Or that you weren't looking because you were doing something else entirely! I'm blameless for sure!" Relieved to be out of the cold, Kristin didn't even grumble about the slow line, and dropped into her seat next to Vicky with a grin on her face as she munched contentedly on an iced donut that she had filched from a strikingly pretty blond waitress. The unveiling of the massive model-covered table made her sit up straight in her chair, eyes wide as she remarked "Hey wow, that's just about the coolest thing I've seen since I got here! And I've-" Whatever she was about to say next was cut off as everyone was dragged towards the models and downsized. Disorientated by the change, Kristin staggered a little as she found herself on a model rooftop, grabbing hold of Victoria's shoulder to steady herself. "Taken hostage? What the..? Oh that's bad." She grumbled as she looked around wildly. "What do we do? These people are all going to panic in a minute if we're not careful!" she asked, glancing at her more experienced friend for guidance.

Kristin stuck her tongue out at Etain for daring to suggest that she might have an ulterior motive for visiting the shops. Such slander! And besides, sports shops were her weakness, not shoes. "Never seen snow before in my life!" she said with a smile as they moved inside. "It just never gets anywhere near this cold in Queensland where I come from!" "A new hobby hey? I can totally sympathize with being bad at drawing!" She chuckled as she tilted her head and looked at John curiously. "I can even make stick-figures look wrong! It's so bad! We're going with artistic hey? What have you tried? What about an instrument? What kind of music do you like? Maybe dancing? That's always fun!"

Kristin gave Subito a solid thump on the shoulder. "I'm trying to give you a compliment dork! Stop getting all 'I'm not cool'! with me!" She stopped, and jammed her fists on her hips. "And with the bringing up the flying! You know how hard I've been trying and I still can't do it! Rub it in why don't you?" The angry glare stayed on her face for all of about 4 seconds before she burst out laughing. "Damn, why can't I do that with a straight face?" she complained. "You said we needed to look around the fancier areas of the docks right? I think this looks like we're getting close to the right place!" She said as she gestured at a very nice looking yacht bobbing at its moorings.

Kristin, rugged up in the warmest winter gear she owned came around the nearby corner just in time to hear John ask Etain if she had invited anyone. She brushed her hood back as she headed over to her three schoolmates and said "She invited me! I hope you don't mind!". She smiled at John as she pulled a gloved hand out of her pocket. "I'm Kristin! I've seen you around the gym and stuff. It's really nice to actually meet you!" she said as she held her hand out towards John for a handshake. Without missing a beat she flashed grins at Etain and Victoria. "Hey Etain, Vic! Thanks for giving me an excuse to get off campus for a bit! Why are we standing outside? There's snow. Snow means we should be inside where it's not freezing!"

Kristin gave a little fistpump as the last robot went down and faded away, then jogged over to meet her teammates near the center of the room. "Well that wasn't too bad!" she decided, rather pleased that her first real try at fighting with her telekinesis and fighting in a team had worked out well. "Are you guys alright?" She asked Marcus and Subito. The senior didn't look any worse for wear after swapping punches with one of the Robots, and Subito seemed to have shrugged off a laser blast as well, but she still wanted to check. After all, the Doom room probably had plenty more in store! Serge got a bit of a sideways glance for being so down on himself. "Stop that! You totally pasted the one that was shooting at me! Thanks for that!"

Kristin tried to scowl at her classmate, but couldn't really pull it off. In truth, despite the ease with which the Russian had wiped the mats with her she had enjoyed the training session greatly. Except for the last two seconds perhaps. "You should be sorry about making me come out here in the cold, not about beating me up!" She chuckled as she pulled her jacket more tightly around her body. "And I demand a rematch you know!" The mention of drinks and donuts brightened her day even more. "Oh hey you could have just told me there'd be donuts instead of cranking my arm off!"

Kristin followed Subito as he set out, matching his pace as she fell in beside him. She looked around warily as they moved past some warehouses and several rather shady looking dockworkers. She couldn't help but relax a little however when Subito started making idle conversation. "I still can't get used to the cold!" she complained as she shoved her hands into her pockets, "But it's an amazing city. I'm glad I'm mostly on top of the school stuff now so I can get out and explore a little!". A faraway look crossed her face for a moment. "I miss my family really bad," she said. "It's the first time I've actually been away from them at all!". She pushed the homesickness down and flashed a broad grin at Subito as she said "But at least my classmates are pretty cool!"

The battle turned into a bit of a blur for Kristin as one of the robots fired a shot at her and then promptly shattered into pieces under Net Fly's concerted sonic attack. She moved into position to follow up Subito's attack as he flew forward in a yellow and blue rush and had to suppress a snort of amusement as his fist plowed straight through the target. The last robot was exchanging blows with Marcus, so she stepped to her left again to get a clear look at it, then hammered down on top of it with her telekinesis. A loud clang echoed around the simulator room, but the robot shrugged off the blow. Kristin's grin turned into a bit of a scowl as the rest of her teammates moved in to attack!

Well there's only one left, so we might as well just attack it: 17 should hit! DC22 for the toughness save I think.

Kristin grinned as Subito looked at the sky while recounting what he had learned, then shrugged as he suggested that they "phone home" to let someone know what was happening. "What are we going to say?" she asked. "Tell them that there's something weird happening at the docks but that we really have no idea what it is? That we know the old name of someone who might be working at the docks?" She put her hands on her hips as she met her friends intense gaze. "I'm not saying that we shouldn't be letting someone know what we're up to, but we should at least try to find the guy first right?"

Glow might be only PL7 but she'd love to come along for a bit of mini-city fun!

Glow Action at a distance Two's Company, Four's a party To be Free, by Sea

Kristin continued to walk through the docks as she talked, but seemed a little distracted as she thought back to the rather traumatic first week after her powers had awakened. "I guess my breakout was pretty spectacular," she said with a shrug. "So I guess they were hanging around to see if it would happen again. And there's nowhere near as many meta-humans in Australia as there are around here, so I guess our media is a little more excitable about that kind of thing." She stopped cold and looked around. "Geez. Smack me over the head if I start to ramble will you?" She laughed. "We're supposed to be looking for anything unusual and I'm hardly even looking where I'm going!"

This is what happens when we gather information: That's right. We now know that the sky is blue!