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Kord Dormitories, Third Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, September 5th, 2020 As was typically the case on move-in day at Claremont Academy, the hallway on the third floor of the Kord Dormitories was a rather chaotic scene. Parents and students made their way along the hallway, usually with boxes, suitcases or duffle bags in hand. But one pair moved through the slightly crowded hallway with casual easy, neither laden down with any large bags or boxes. In the lead was Veronica Danger, who was dressed in her typical attire, a tight T-shirt (red today) over which she wore a thin lien Khaki short sleeve shirt that was left unbuttoned, black cargo shorts and a pair of well worn-in hiking boots with thick socks. The attractive teenager did not even have a backpack as she walked along, reluctantly listening to the figure trailing behind her. Veronica's long brunette hair was braided into a ponytail which went down to her waist, a much longer length than it had been just a few a few months ago at the end of the last school year when it had only gone down to her shoulders. Following behind the teenage Danger was a young woman in her mid-to-late twenties, dressed in finely tailored business attire and wearing a pair of round glasses. For those returning students, Veronica and Janus' personal assistant Prudence was a familiar sight, regularly shadowing Danger cousins. As was more often the case, Prudence had a small tablet in one hand which she was studying as she followed Veronica. "I have managed to keep your schedule clear for the rest of the day, but tomorrow morning you have brunch at Danger Manor." "Thank you Prudence." Veronica responded with her slight French accent and the slightest roll of her eyes. She then came to a stop in front of her room, looking at the door for a brief moment. It was going to feel a bit odd not rooming with her cousin as she had over the last two years.

Nevermore II Kord Dorms, Floor One, Claremont Academy Saturday, September 5th 2020 Charlie had looked all of them up before arriving... All the other students that were going to be on the first floor to, that was. It was a weird bunch, a flying guy, some science experiment, a guy that had trained under Captain Thunder, someone that could control paper, a freaking dragon, and then, him. Not that it was easy to find out much about Charles Gordon Pym. He knew people that would have made sure of that. Entering the floor amidst the chaos of students arriving from all over to Claremont, Charlie had already stashed most of his gear away in his room, and now he was sitting on the couch on the common area, waiting and watching for others to arrive. His phone was out in front of him. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a dark red t-shirt with a big white speech bubble with a black explanation mark on the front, grinning at the black haired in the blue and gold Claremont uniform that was running around and panicking about finding the kids for this floor.

Kord Dorms, Floor Four, Claremont Academy Saturday, September 5th 2020 In the floors common area a young woman waited for some of the newcomers to arrive and help them get settled into there new rooms. Having only recently arrive here herself, forced here from New York after engaging in activity considered, questionable, the Headmistress had insisted she get settled in before the other arrived to avoid to many questions. In these circumstance it was easy to be bitter and refuse to get involved with the school, but she’d decided instead to be as helpful as she could. A little nervous she tucked a strand of white streaked hair behind her ear. “Hello there I’m Maggie Què, welcome to your dorm floor.”

GM An abandoned warehouse in Kingston 11:30PM, August 18th, 2020 The Raven and Bowman families had been in Freedom City for generations. Beyond working together in the Freedom League or chance meetings, there had been little coordinated effort between what might perhaps be the city's two most well known sources of unpowered heroes. Both families had recently expanded. New, young heroes in training. Both the newest Arrow and Nevermore would attend Claremont Academy soon. At headmistress' Summers suggestion, the fourth Bowman and the third Raven had arranged a playdate for the fourth Arrow and the second Nevermore. It was a simple job. One where the experienced heroes would be able to keep their sidekicks safe with little issue. It would serve as a simple training exercise. Nothing serious, a weapons deal going down in an abandoned warehouse in Kingston, far away from the Doomforge. It would all be very simple and easy. Maybe a few stray bullets at worst. No civilians to keep safe, just the other heroes. What could go wrong? The group of heroes were positioned on the roof of a nearby building with a clear vantage point of the supposedly abandoned warehouse. It was all concrete and glass, several ways inside. It was supposed to be empty, but of course it wasn't. The four heroes could see lights moving around inside. The Bowman kneeled by the edge of the roof, holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes. "I count at least 12 people in there. There's probably more, staying away from the windows." He lowered the binoculars, then looked back over his shoulders at the rest of the heroes. "How do you want to do this?"

Content Warning: Descriptions of gore. Greenburg Manor North Bay Freedom City, NJ Saturday, the 15th of August, 2020 8:32 PM The Greenburgs of Freedom City were nouveau riche - their relative affluence dating back only three generations, rather than descending from founders of what would eventually become Freedom City. Their current matriarch, Jessica, had been one of the top physicians for the wealthy of Freedom City, before ascending to their ranks herself - no mean feat for a female doctor, especially in those days. Now, however, she lead the family with a firm but gentle hand to improve their fortunes and those of the rest of Freedom City - especially the impoverished minorities. Unfortunately, not all was well in the Greenburg family, though this somewhat recent state of affairs had not yet been revealed to the public. Two hours ago, Jonathan Greenburg, one of Jessica's grandsons, arrived at the manor to pick his grandmother up for a family dinner. Upon his entry to the house proper, he discovered what looked like a scene from a charnel house - two rooms with butchered and defaced bodies. He called the police, and they swiftly set up a crime scene on their arrival. After determining that this was, like an increasing number of murder cases in the city, opaque to their investigations, the police got in contact with one of the heroes they knew was most suited to the investigation. That was where Terrifica came in.

Bayview Mall Freedom City, NJ Monday, the 17th of August 2020 12:38 PM Though school was nearly back in session, the last heady days of summer vacation were still slowly slinking towards their end. Thus, the malls of Freedom City were still seeing a great deal of use by the teenaged population of the city. In Bayview, that often meant that there were at least some students and students-to-be from the isolated and prestigious Claremont Academy. Thus, as sunlight lanced through skylights and windows, crowds of shoppers sought the newest fad Thing and students soon to return to class fled from the reality of their impending imprisonment. A gentle breeze wafted through the air, carrying with it the myriad scents of a mall - perfumes, scented candles, cleaning products, and even the smells of foods of varying qualities. It was a lovely day, with just the barest hints of clouds marring the beautiful blue beyond the skylights. Some people, however, brought with them an abnormal tension, and those snippets of their conversations audible over the noises of the mall were... disturbing. "- don't think that they'll tolerate it for long, do you?" "No, no, of course not. It's just, it's been three months!" "It'll be fine. They'll deal with it. Just you wait." "But what if-"

‘God this place looks way creepier after dark.’ Sure Luke could actually see clearly, even with no lights, perks of being a mythological monster in disguise, yet while perhaps it was just his imagination, the young man could not shake the feeling that Claremont did feel a bit like a haunted castle if you looked at the place in the right way. He had been circling the Academy for a while, trying to find a way in, but turns out that a school for heroes valued its privacy and his confidence in being able to get past its walls unnoticed was getting lower with every passing minute. 'This is pointless.' And risky, what if they caught him? That would be an interesting way to start the school year, especially as a scholarship student. And yet, there he was. ‘Maybe I should just get to bed…’ No way though. He wanted to see Claremont on his own terms and it was gonna happen tonight. Sure, the tour a few days before had been very convincing (kinda awesome if you asked him), but that was the whole point right? Show off the place at its best, with all its glitters, glamours and magics. That was not enough for the teenage boy though, he wanted to see past the paint job, check if there was rust underneath. Trust was good, he knew that, in fact kinda of a necessity in his future line of work, but he was still putting his life in the hands of these people and truth was, he didn't know anything about them, or the Academy. It was only fair... Besides it was not like he was there to commit a crime (well technically), just taking a peak. 'Whatever.' So there he was, black sweatpants and sneakers, hands struck in the pocket of his hoodie, darting from one shadow to the next. ‘If anyone sees me they must think I must be the most foolish burglar in the world.’ The thought made him chuckle. Yeah trying to get into an academy for superheroes. ‘Come on! It’s a school, not freaking Fort Knox, there should be a way…’ @Heritage

GM The Fens, Freedom City August 24th, 2020 9:30 AM The day had started normal enough for Alice. Go to school, don't quite save the world just yet, but maybe learn a bit about how to do it eventually. Like much of the Fens, Alice's school was not a particularly nice place to spend your time. Apathetic teachers that had given up on trying to make a difference, students fighting. It was not the safe place that most of Freedom City had become. Few seemed to care about the Fens, after all. So few heroes stuck around. Alice was not one of those heroes. Since returning to the school after the summer, she had noticed something new. Drugs had always been a problem at the school, but these new drugs were different, and since those new dealers had appeared at the school, rumors of students getting into trouble had only grown, and they were suddenly showing signs of different super powers. Someone had to find out what was going on. By this point, Alice had found two dealers: Teddy Kaplan, a normally quiet and slightly twitchy type that tended to stay in the school yard, and Billy Altman, a nerd that was usually hanging out near what passed for a computer lab. She honestly didn't know either of them well, but she would have to make a choice on who to pursue.

The Espadas School of Self-Defense and Swordsmanship! "Ha, making me work for it today!" Erik Espadas called across the length of the training mats while he intercepted a pingpong ball-sized fiery projectile a hairsbreadth from his nose with equally fiery rapier. The flame wrapped around his hand in an elaborate guard and the light of the deceptively delicate blade was picked up in the sheen of sweat across his chest. Where his shirt had gone and why he had bothered to wrap a dark blue bandana over his eyes when they both knew he was using his metamagi sixth sense to anticipate the incoming bolts of fire were questions his training partner had learned not to waste energy asking. Instead another flurry of little fireballs forced him to flip backward and contort his wrist to catch before they could hit him or the flame retardant tarp they'd hung up on the wall behind him.

Freedom City. Claremont Academy. 8 AM. August 10, 2020 Chronia A certain young (ish) woman was…kind of bored, actually. Who was she? What was she? When was she? Where was she? Why was she there? How did she get here? All very good questions. To answer them, she’d have to get her brain in gear and that sounded like effort. And as the world wasn’t currently interesting…nah. People were talking. Mom. Aunt Serah. Someone with a weird seasonal name. No more talking, going somewhere. Oh, outside. Some good byes. Perfunctory thing, with no need for actual thought. And then she was alone. But not for long. She had caught a word or two about a guide or something.

Summer 2020 The Cahill family was in southern California today, having had their regular campaign season Sunday service in a silvery crystal cathedral that towered three times as high as any of the buildings in the small Oklahoma town where Judith Claudia Cahill had been born. She'd closed her eyes at the right moments and prayed the right prayers, but Jesus and the Holy Spirit had seemed terribly far away. She'd picked a fight with her sisters, something easier now that they were all stuck together again for the first time in nearly four years, and won the freedom to sulk in her room instead of joining the family for dinner. So she lay on her bed and listened to the news outside without having to turn on her television, then after a moment's consideration she took out her phone and texted Arcane. Hey Abby. Can you FaceTime?

GM 3PM, August 25th, 2020 University Hill, Emerald City Naomi might not have expected that Elliot would ever take her up on the offer to talk or help with the issues at his school, but months after their meeting, she had received a simple text message: Things are getting worse at the school. I need your help. Meet me at the Starbucks to the South of the University Hill Campus. The Starbucks was busy. People talking all around. A lot of people that Naomi recognized from the university, some that she shared classes with, others that she had only see. It wasn't completely crowded, but there was enough people around that it would be difficult for anyone to cause a scene of any kind without being noticed. She would soon see Elliot, sitting by himself by a table, fending off a guy that asked if he could sit.

Penthouse Suite, Newmar-Kitt Building, Central Park, Manhattan, New York 9 am Monday 24th August 2020 It had taken fifteen minutes to overcome the various alarms and traps but Callie finally had disarmed all of them, all but one. She hoped that it would be enough to bring her elder self to come see what she was up to this time, her features reflecting against the glass of the Raven suit that both of them had worn before. She wondered if her other self set all this in place to train her abilities, always the teacher at heart as she was now. Today was special for them both as it was her birthday, and whilst spending the night with her father he’d mention how he’d try to surprise her every birthday. Still as sharp as ever she knew that he’d put the idea to do it for her elder, who tended to avoid celebrating now. She knew something bad had happened, though the details were still a little vague, but she wanted to do something to say thanks to the other her. Still she couldn’t do all this on her own, so she’d asked for some help on this day, the firsrt of which would be arriving soon. And even if this didn’t work then at least they could have a party just for her. And you never knew someone might surprise her as well.

It had been a long but good Fourth of July - a chance for the President and the First Family to put overt politics aside and have the celebration with military families that was de riguer these days. Judy had played her part to perfection, applauding the talent shows of little kids, cheering as the fireworks echoed above Washington, and even serving meals alongside her mother and sisters at the service table. It was all good footage for a Presidential election year, or so the news media was presenting it. She lay on her bed and listened to the news outside without having to turn on her television, then after a moment's consideration she took out her phone and texted Crystal-Gazer. Hey Lulu. Can you FaceTime?

Southside, 4:16pm GM It wasn't, by any objective measure, the best part of Southside. The old and the new, falling apart side by side, was the name of the game here: looming apartment buildings of too-small apartments standing next to perpetual (re)construction projects seemingly purpose-built to drive down property value and rob decent people of decent sleep. Most of it was leftover damage from recent invasions and city-shaking battles, of course...too important to ignore, not important enough to pay attention to. It wasn't the doom-ridden ruins of Kingston, but it had its own problems. One of those problems was the apparently slipshod standards around building numbers. The order Ryder's smoothie-delivering job had gotten was large (large enough to make the trip, for sure!) but it was to a home that probably didn't exist. Yet. To the left, 1325 Carolina Street. To the right, 1329 Carolina Street. In the middle, the unfinished, unlabeled shell of a building with tarps where windows should be and nothing so hospitable as a door mat - much less anyone to greet him. There were vans parked outside - proper big ones, work vans. Maybe construction workers got thirsty, but also very busy?

July 11, 2020. The Hanover Zoo. The Promenade. Hanover, Freedom City. Noon. GM Five minutes ago, everything had been fine, mused one Lisa Sandlin. Just another day at the Zoo. And then some lunatic had started popping open cages and enclosures, proclaiming that the animals needed their freedom. There were children in the Zoo, for heaven’s sake! It was a Saturday! And now Lisa, professional zoo keeper with a master’s in zoology, was going to be eaten by a lion. How embarrassing. She had no idea how she was going to explain this one. Where was a super hero went you needed one?

The Southern Queen, North End, Freedom City June 27, 2020 9:00 PM Starlok Ever since Ori-Bath had met the Praetorians, two things had been on her mind. The first was that all Lor bureaucracy was trash and the Praetorians should be able to help her overthrow her brother if she wanted them to. The second was more relevant to now: She had to meet the one known as ‘Maybelle McQueen’, alias ‘Queenie.’ Partially to recruit her to her cause, but also to eat some of the delicious Terran food she was apparently quite deft at making. It had taken some time to track down the place - it turned out that humans were very uncreative and called many locations ‘the North End’, but she finally tracked it down with the help of the Terran mass-information network. Unfortunately, getting there posed even more problems. She had attempted to ‘rent a car’, but apparently that required vast amounts of documentation from the American Empire she simply did not have. And apparently government workers did not know who she was nor did they care. They kept calling her British, too, which was just patently incorrect. So instead, she had to have her servants pilot the Pale Rider to hover over the Southern Queen’s parking lot, causing an awful din. As papers and plastic bags were thrown about by a ship the size of a jumbo jet hovering over the restaurant, a lift descended down from the ship’s base, carrying on it Ori-Bath, Countess of Nos. She had decided to go formal for this, forgoing her normal wargear and instead wearing a fancy, frilled royal blue evening gown and makeup that had the strange feature of using blue wherever a human would use red, namely lipstick and blush. Her long, dark hair was done up in an updo. She felt she conveyed the very image of grace. Sending her ship off, Ori-Bath simply waved off the crowd of people who had gathered to see what exactly was happening. “Do not be alarmed,” she cried in perfect English, speaking with a flawless recreation of a High Received Pronunciation accent. “I am merely here to sample the food. Return to your business!”

Summer 2020 Angelic had been full of questions ever since she'd found out what was in the sealed sample container that had been personally delivered to Miss Americana - the one that the latter was now in the process of flying to HAX personally. "Active computronium!" She sounded excited; considerably more excited, Miss Americana knew, than the teenager usually was these days. A few years earlier she might have been buzzing around Miss A as they flew, as it was, her wings were spread and there was a smile on her quicksilver face as her magnetic flight propelled her along after Miss A. "Do you think it has a live connection to the Communion hive mind?" She rubbed her wrists, where the inactive computronium that she used to interface with cybernetic systems lay buried. "I wonder if a full-on interface is possible using terrestrial equipment. We may need to take it into deep space." - The announcement of Miss Americana's imminent arrival with her dangerous cargo hadn't quite interrupted babysitting-the-playdate time but it was close. Via closed-circuit camera, Mara could check in on the littlest kids visiting. "The robots are making soup!" declared Charlie, Mia's friend from Nicholson, whose precognition and enhanced intelligence were intermittent enough that he wasn't actually a threat to anybody's job at HAX yet. Mia turned to her friend and declared, a wide smile on her face, "More like...poop!" Charlie grabbed his sides and fell over laughing, with the sweet innocent laughter of an early kindergartener, the sound ringing all through the small office. "You're so funny!" Charlie's mom worked long hours and was a single parent, so he went on a lot of playdates. Luckily the Nicholson program was very good at arranging time out with trusted friends in safe company. Wander was close by, after all. And come to think of it, it was about time for Chitin's visit!

Location Unknown Date and time unknown: Saturday March 7, 2020 at approximately 10:04 AM China Standard Time (CST) The rocky, cold terrain of the hillside had become a blur of color around Danica and Heroditus. Then the pair felt a slight jolt and everything returned to normal. Only, they were no longer in the cold foothills of a massive mountain range at the edge of a desert. Instead, the pair found themselves standing in a brightly lit open area, a hot sun bearing down on them, a fact not helped by the heavy humidity that hung in the air. Looking about, Heroditus could see no trace of the portal that had brought them here. Glancing ahead, Danica saw the edge of what appeared to be a very thick jungle that spread out to either side. But as the pair turned around to take in their surroundings they both were slightly taken aback by what lay behind them. The jungle wrapped around the clearing and to steep side of a rocky spire that towered over several hundred feet into the air, with rugged, jungle covered hills behind it. But perhaps even more surprising was the structure built into the base of the rocky spire. Three sloped sides rouse upward dozens of feet to a flat area, wide stone stairs going up the middle of each side. Atop the flat area was a small, columned building that was clearly built into the side of the cliff that appeared to Danica to be of a Greeco/Roman style. But Heroditus realized the structure was of an Atlantean design….

Summer 2020 The first thing you have to understand is that Eira Katastroff was decidedly not bringing her boyfriend home to meet her parents. This was a real summer trip (albeit a short one) with her, Pan, Lulu, Mia, and Micah all heading across the Atlantic for a week or so to visit lovely Sweden. So what if they were going to start at her parents' house? The Natt och Dag estate was a natural place for their first arrival and convenient to much of the rest of the country. She'd asked (and not whined, definitely not that) to get hero visas for all of them and it had all worked out fine. Everything was going to go perfectly. So here they were, a couple of weeks after Claremont had dismissed its students for the summer, standing on a campus that was mostly deserted except for a few unhappy students stuck there rather than with their families, the sky overhead bright and sunny, the trees and grass a brilliant shade of green. It looked to be a good day. There was no sign of Angelic yet.

June 2020 - Riverside Joining the Claremont campus at the start of the summer meant Tori had plenty of free time to get to know her new neighborhood. She was enjoying the mixed bag of reduced parental oversight. It had been a relief to her mother to find a private boarding school that was better suited to her eldest new 'talents'. Shipping a problem child off to an elite institution was perfectly within her idiom but where her mother had been horrified, assessment at Claremont had deemed her new abilities well within Tori's control. She wasn't a danger to herself or others so there was no reason to restrict her to the campus and exploring Freedom City certainly took the edge off any homesickness. And it wasn't as if Tori was alone. In addition to the pair of fox cubs that she'd brought with her, there was no end to the creatures that called Claremont's grounds home. Still, it was nice to talk to the occasional human, as well. Tori was certainly looking forward to when Claremont would fill up in the fall. When the silence got a little too overwhelming, Tori would scoop up her wallet and keys and catch the bus from the campus into the city proper which was exactly what she was doing this morning. Tori settled onto her bus seat, ignoring the looks from the older couple across the way. Tori assumed that they were eyeing the tattoos that covered her skin. The woad swirls were impossible to cover up entirely even if she wanted to. Of course, it could have been the furry animal nestled in the hood of her sweatshirt occasionally poking his black muzzle through her red curls to catch the myriad scents. Flipping through her phone, Tori directed her conversation to her companion. "Where should we go today, Tango? Riverside? How does Riverside sound? Oh, look, there's some little bistros there. This one is vegetarian," Tori chattered away cheerfully only to have Tango snort in her ear. The teenager rolled her eyes as she went to stand up. She reached up to make sure that she wouldn't lose her passenger. "You're an omnivore, you know. We really have to expand your diet. It's what your mum would be doing in the wild. Just because you like burgers doesn't mean we eat those all the time." Tori bounced out of the bus, tucking her phone back in her pocket as she wandered along the commercial stretch of the neighborhood. Eventually, her rambling lead her to a smoothie shop where she paused. "Oh, hey. What about a smoothie, Tango? I bet we can get you some berries if we ask politely." Tori commented absently over her shoulder before she went to push open the door.

A deserted Crossroads, Deep in the San Sebastien Swamp, Vibora Bay Walpurgis Night 1936 Many place had a legends of places like this where one could sell your soul for the ability to play like a (fallen) angel, if only for a short but glorious time. On this night a young man, John Robinson, had dressed in his best suit and travelled out to the swamp guitar in hand. In the moonlight he could see a figure at the crossroad, a misshapen thing, though he should have expected something considering who he was expecting to meet tonight. Taking a breath he stepped onto the crossroads to meet the one he was sure that could help him achieve his goal. He wasn’t sure what to except, but the woman that stepped into the light wasn’t want he expected. With her fancy extravagant hair, apparently not a hideous a beast in humanoid form, and her strange boyish dress it wasn’t the kind of girl you’d see even in the clubs of Vibora Bay. “Hi there we need to talk!” Several Months plus Seventy odd years later…

GM Tea Time, Around 4PM, May 15th, 2020 All Across Emerald City Hello, hello, all my new friends! I am the White Rabbit. The man on the screen looked smart, in his long tailed jacket. The jacket was black, with a red and white pattern on the lapel, with the red on each side looking suspiciously like half of a heart. He wore an off-white vest under it, with a white dress shirt and a neatly tied dark red tie. On his head, a black bowler hat, with a pair of white rabbit ears under it, pointing down. His hair was short and blonde, but he sported some impressive sideburns. The man looked so happy, a wide smile on his lips, as he looked down at a golden pocket watch in his hand. To most, he probably looked like a slightly deranged kids' show host. Some saw him on their television, where he had suddenly appeared. Some heard him on the radio. For others still, his image had suddenly appeared on the screen of their smart phones. Anything connected to the public air waves, he was there. Oh my, would you look at the time? It is tea time! The very best time of the day! And oh, what a party we will have! So come, my friends! Come, and let us have tea! Join us, my friends and I, and come for tea! We even have cake! He threw his head back, laughing quickly at himself, before turning back to the screen. My old friends are out there already, y'know. Go and find them, they will tell you what to do. They'll show you how to really get the party started! Now, hurry up! After all, you're late, you're late, for a very important date. All across Emerald City, the effect was instant: Anarchy. As they were drawn into the White Rabbit's power, the citizens of Emerald City took to the streets. Even to those that escaped the madness of the mind, the city seemed to take on a brand new life. Everything was changing, twisting and turning. A cartoony world of wonder, with giant flowers, playing cards and more, spreading all across Emerald. It was almost enough to make one go mad. A fairy tale wonderland, spreading out across the city streets, as the White Rabbit's new friends began to spread into shops, stores, homes, banks, government offices and more. A group of heroes were among the unaffected. Whether by chance or design, they had escaped the White Rabbit's friendship. It wouldn't take long for them to notice that the greatest concentration of White Rabbit's friends seemed to be centered near the Yellow Brick Row shopping district...

The Docks. The Waterfront. Freedom City. May 20, 2020. 2 AM. Another night in Freedom City. Another arms deal on the docks. And another gaggle of goons who thought some fancy weapons could help them take on capes and the Mob. Dixie Clements knew they were a big bag of idiots, with the full cognitive power of a box of rocks. Or was it a sack of hammers? Whatever the idiom, they had money. She had fancy guns. This wasn't complicated. She was a blue eyed blonde in cowboy boots, blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a lovely brown cowboy hat. Her trademark revolvers were strung all over her body. As the leader of the goons (Dixie thought his name was...Jonesy? Maybe? Tch, like it mattered.) said something extremely stereotypical (and his goons leered at her excellent figure), her thought dwelled on her partner Reiko Hinomoto. Reiko's features and black hair betrayed her Japanese origins. Today, she was dressed in the latest in red and black motorcycle chic. She was totally unarmed, leaning in relaxed fashion against her motorcycle. Oh, right. Jonesy was finished speaking. What did he say? Guns, right. Dixie jerked her thumb at the box her motorcycle (in front of Reiko's) had on its (now disconnected) trailer. "Guns. Money please." Jonesy waved a hand, and a goon brought the usual briefcase full of cash. She popped it open, flipped through briefly, and nodded. "Pleasure doing business with you, sunshine." Another deal done, time to get the heck out of here. Freedom City had this problem with superheroes always busting this stuff up, you see.

Riverside - Smoothie Shack May 17th, 4:33pm GM All kinds of people came into the Smoothie Shack, on Sundays as with any day: the kids after a cool treat, often with beleaguered parents in tow (though the latter were just as often secretly happy for an excuse to indulge); the joggers who'd some some napkin math and figured they'd burned enough calories to justify immediately consuming that many again; the older regulars, most of whom had stories about the ice cream parlors of their youth (less than most of which seemed credible). Even when it was quiet one could people-watch, learning about the patrons and passers-by by watching the little things. The young man in the booth by the window, clearly wanting to be seen (and perhaps waiting for someone who'd never arrived), the couple who were all smiles and laughter (but there was too much tension, too many little jumps and starts for it all to be genuine).... .....or the not-so-little-things, like the rough young man in the far corner who'd spent the last half-hour, head in his hands, watching his smoothie melt and looking for all the world like the last thread on the sword of Damocles was going to snap at any moment.