| Whippoorwill |
Whippoorwill spits out a wad of blood as she pushes herself to her feet. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, then clutches her side as she shrugs off Cat's assistance. She glowers briefly when Sanction looks at her.
She limps back to the rooms, giving only a mirthless smile and saying, "Called it," when the others look her way.
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
"There, see?" she then hears Aegis. "Oh for the love of.." she sighs. "Not you, too! Yes, we totally have to work on things. No, we didn't beat the guys who have been doing this since before you guys had powers. Why's that surprising? I think if it had gone on, we'd have risked actually needing Trinity, which is actually bad. 'Cause what if someone for-real needed her when we'd basically self-inflicted our wounds..?"
She then watches Whip head off... too many different directions was poor Hotaru being pulled.
| Saffron "Aegis" Sinclair |
"Not me too what? Beat? We barely made a dent while they took down nearly three of us without breaking a sweat."
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
"Were we watching different fights?" she says, looking from Aegis to Ace. "Or did you get into my head? Oh please tell me it wasn't me that you jinxed."
| mdt |
Transducer laughs. "Sorry girl, didn't feel a thing. But I figured you wouldn't have enough experience to realize it." She picks at her suit with one hand. "I've had to work with Sparky one too many times while he was around water."
Shadowcat looks at Aegis. "You had a chance, but it wasn't a big one. Don't take that personally, you've had two months of training." She nods at Kestrel. "Bowgirl has been at this for nearly a year now. Me, Ace, and Transducer about four each. You don't expect an grease boy to rebuild an engine on his first day, or even his 31st. You did good. You were holding your own until Ace approved us working as a team, instead of working alone."
Kestrel laughs and flicks a penny at Pulse. It bounces off the tip of her nose and then hits the floor and rebounds, bouncing off Aegis's chin. "Nah, it was hyperboy. Got a lucky hit on that one. He came close to hitting me. Not many people do that without cheating."
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
Hotaru goes crosseyed for a moment as the penny dings her nose, then looks back to the others. "Bad idea, actually... the screaming made me rethink targeting you. It's all well and good to put you down... but I don't know what that does. I know it wasn't that bad for most people, but..." she shrugs a little. "You never know, I guess. If it were higher stakes... I dunno. But for a pretend playmatch? Not going to torture an ally." she says, shoulders slumping a bit.
| The Rocket |
Rocket blinks a few times. His mouth opens, then closes, then opens. Then in a blink he's posturing in front of Ace, fists raised. "You! You...How can you do that to someone? I trusted you!! I mean, beat my brain silly with your mental blasts, that's legit--but controlling my mind? That's evil! Making me see--" and with no more than a breeze he's on his knees in front of Violet, his voice quavering with tears, "Violet-- Vi, I'm-- I'm so sorry. So sorry! I-- He made me see--" And with that he realizes he can't speak anymore without betraying his tears any more plainly than he already has.
He forces his pain into a scowl and glowers at Ace, again opening his mouth and then closing it, unable to find words.
| mdt |
"Wasn't for you hon, I didn't want your friends to think I needed hitting." Trasnducer nods at Aegis. "She almost knocked me out with one hit, there for a bit, I was seeing gold stars and emmy statues floating around my head."
Ace shakes his head. "Not really, one meta we haven't been able to catch, and one new guy who's being recruited this week, but nobody with experience. You get to be the first."
| Whippoorwill |
Whippoorwill comes out of the break room holding an ice pack on her shoulder. "Rocket!" she shouts as the youth begins to rant. Then, softer and with a bit of sympathy, "Let it go for now."
| mdt |
Kestrel walks up to Rocket, and flicks him on the nose. "Hey, kiddeo, you're back to being snailboy now. Would you rather experience that in a controlled area where we make sure you don't actually hurt your friends, or would you rather experience it in the field." She crosses her arms and taps her foot. "There's a meta calls herself Circe. My team walked into a warehouse, never knew what hit us. She just looked at Kodiak, and in the sweetest voice you ever heard, asked him to grab Robo and beat Flicker to death with him. So he did, nearly killed Robo and Flicker. Me and Cat had to take him down. Whole team taken out by one woman. So before you get all bent out of shape over him teaching you what to look for and what to expect, you might want to think about what would happen in the field, if someone did that to Aegis.. or you... or Goo."
| Saffron "Aegis" Sinclair |
Aegis is too disappointed to bother explaining the fight to Pulse or react to Kestrels taunting penny.
They don't get this was supposed to be a real fight, cheap tricks happen and not attack won't work.
Aegis gets out her flask and takes a quick drink. "Do I at least get my favors now?"
| Project Violet |
Violet says nothing, provides no reaction to Kestrel or to Rocket. After being woken up, she sits, motionless, without expression. When Whippoorwill admonishes Rocket, she reflexively (but absently), puts a hand over his and pats it.
"It's okay," says a voice in his head. "You didn't know. We had no idea they'd try to kill us. Their approach is flawed, even if their hearts are in the right place."
At a 30 point standard effect, Violet's Telepathy is EGO +10, which is good enough to talk to Rocket.
She watches the interchanges dispassionately, looking from conversation to conversation, unblinking.
When the talk of villains past begins, Violet looks out into the depths of the silo, then at the group.
She says nothing, stands, and moves out of the silo and into the bunker.
She pauses at the door, looks at Kestrel as though she wants to say something, but doesn't.
Pausing in the kitchen to pour a mug of hot water over a tea bag, she returns to her room, setting the tea on the bedside table before laying flat on her back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Anyone who comes looking for her will find her lying on the bed. The door is wide open and the light is on.
| The Rocket |
"But--" Rocket starts in reaction to Kestrel's dismissive comment, "But--" But maybe she's right. Maybe this IS what we're getting into. This is serious.
But he still doesn't have the right, without asking. He invaded my mind. I'm...I don't know what to think.
Rocket shakes his head, glares one more time at Ace, and says, "OK whatever. I'm hell of hungry. Anyone else ready to eat?" In the kitchen he makes himself seven roast beef sandwiches and a chocolate milkshake. He'll offer to make more for whoever else comes along, while digging into his own mountain of food with gusto.
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
"We also don't choose the powers we have." Hotaru frowns slightly, "We only choose what we do with them." She looks towards Ace, "I don't really know what else you do, whether you melt brains to goo, or throw cars at people with telekinesis, or find people, or what... but I want to thank you. Both for showing us a sort of worst case scenario... and for not doing that to me." she gives a lopsided smile, with sincere eyes that make the whole thing look confusing.
She then looks towards Transducer. "The 'turn into energy' thing was kind of cool. Can you explain how that works? Wonder if I could ever learn to 'beam me up, Scotty'..." she says, watching two more people leave dejectedly. 'How many of my friends are going to stick around after something like that?'
| mdt |
Violet doesn't realize they are actually trying to talk you all out of joining up, so they're being rough. Tough love.
The group makes their way to the commissary, and Kestrel and Shadowcat head into the showers to clean up.
Transducer shrugs at Pulse's question. "As near as I can figure, I partially convert the energy in my body into a tachyon pulse, and partially into a magnetic containment field. Then the pulse moves from point A to point B, and anything I pass through on the way get's, for want of a better word, nuked."
Ace looks at Aegis. "Mimic, yes. As to the breaking in, Sanction left it up to me. I need more information on why you think whatever it is is stolen from you. If it was, she authorized Shimmer to help. Although, she wanted me to ask why someone who can walk through walls needs help to get something out of a locked room."
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
"Ano... I suggest not doing that with me. My barrier is electromagnetic. I'm not sure which field would win... but... it'd likely be bad for both of us. So... no porty through sparky.
On her way to the lunch room, she decides to instead swing by Violet's room. She knocks on the door frame, and then stands there looking awkward in the open doorway.
| Whippoorwill |
Whippoorwill stays on the periphery, watching and listening intently to the others' reactions and comments. When Ace talks about the other metas, she pays close attention.
"Well, we've got some thinking to do, and a lot to talk about. You want to come back in a day or so? We'll have your answers by then," she tells Ace and Cat as she grabs a water bottle, then eases down into a seat.
| mdt |
Ace and Transducer look at each other, and then Ace nods. "Sure, we'll go get cleaned up and head out. See you in a few days."
The two head into the locker rooms, leaving everyone alone.
About 30 minutes later, the four exit from the locker rooms at nearly the same time, despite being in two different areas, and head out, chatting about politics and the last presidential debate.
| Project Violet |
Violet doesn't realize they are actually trying to talk you all out of joining up, so they're being rough. Tough love.
She does, actually. She also realizes that without her forcefield, she'd be just this side of brain damaged, or possibly dead, thanks to Kestrel's arrow. That's not "tough love." That's going for the kill shot when a severe wound would have been just as useful. But all that can come out in play. ;)
On her way to the lunch room, she decides to instead swing by Violet's room. She knocks on the door frame, and then stands there looking awkward in the open doorway.
Violet looks up from the bed, a pained look on her face. There is an enormous bruise on her forehead, where Kestrel's arrow struck. She looks at the tea cup, frowns, and mutters at it, pulling the bag out and making a face when she tastes the tea.
"I let it sit for too long," she projects to Hotaru. "At least it's not Assam."
She sits on her bed with the tea, and smiles weakly at Hotaru, patting the bed next to her.
"You can come in if you want. My brain's normal again."
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
Hotaru winces when she sees the growing bruise. "I wouldn't say 'normal'." She offers, attempting a joke, "I'm less worried about brain, and more worried about you as a person. Everyone took a beating out there... cept Goo and I, I guess. You want to talk about what's bothering you? Aside from the Assum?" she leans against the inside of the door frame.
| Project Violet |
Hotaru winces when she sees the growing bruise. "I wouldn't say 'normal'." She offers, attempting a joke, "I'm less worried about brain, and more worried about you as a person. Everyone took a beating out there... cept Goo and I, I guess. You want to talk about what's bothering you? Aside from the Assum?" she leans against the inside of the door frame.
Violet looks at the tea. "I keep forgetting you're afraid to get too close to people. I should remember, given how similar that makes us."
She hops up and moves the room's solitary chair so that it's sitting directly across from the bed, facing her. Returning to the bed, she points at the chair, smiling. "There. Now you can sit. Not too close to anything that can go boom."
Regardless of Hotaru's reaction.
"I just... I really think that there were other, better ways they could have used to scare us away from doing this," she says, finally. "That was a live-fire exercise, and I get that. I do. But..."
She points at her head.
"If I hadn't gotten my shield up in time, I would almost certainly be dead. Not hurt. Dead. Kestrel went for a kill shot. Not a wound. Not something that would hurt me. She tried to put me down permanently."
I the player know that wouldn't have killed her. Damn near, mind, but still. In character? Nooooope.
Violet pauses, sipping her tea and frowning. "Maybe she knew what she was doing? Maybe she pulled her shot... somehow? I don't know. I just know that putting a shot through my shoulder would have been just as painful and put me out just as easily. Without any risk of brain damage or a lobot..."
Violet starts to cry. Her composure is completely gone.
| mdt |
mdt wrote:Violet doesn't realize they are actually trying to talk you all out of joining up, so they're being rough. Tough love.She does, actually. She also realizes that without her forcefield, she'd be just this side of brain damaged, or possibly dead, thanks to Kestrel's arrow. That's not "tough love." That's going for the kill shot when a severe wound would have been just as useful. But all that can come out in play. ;)
When she asks about it, she finds out Kestrel got a confirmation from Ace that Violet had some sort of defense before she fired. Remember, they were mind linked. Not that that will change the shock value of it. :) Which was sort of the point.
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
"Nonono..." Hotaru said from against the wall, then started making shushing noises as she crosses the room. 'Dammit, no waterworks. Hotaru thinks to herself. She makes it within range to place a hand on Violet's shoulder, but doesn't want to risk exploding anything that might be in her bed. "No. See, that's not it at all. I..." She pauses for a moment. "It was all really different for me. Cause... I guess I'm not really a threat. They hit everyone but me, and... yeah, that's kind of terrifying. I know how defenseless you must have felt." She says, discovering rapidly, she's on the wrong track. "Okay. So. Might be a secret. But this at least absolves Kestrel, so I don't think it'll hurt to tell you. Trinity... she's a capital H Healer. Not like... mend bones and things. Like, give me back some of my internal organs. But that knocked her out. I don't know her limits, but... really irresponsible, yes. But murder? No." She says, slumping into the chair. "That, and I'm sure they cheated." Hotaru says with a shrug. "They knocked out scary flower goth girl first thing cause creepy mind powers. We went for that, too, before everything went downhill. Cept creepy flyboy instead. Kestrel chose the absolute perfect target for that. And it's not like we can complain. I cheated and looked at what Transducer was about. They've got no one like goo, yet no one tried to hit him. He should have been a complete unknown. Likewise, they ignored me. I'm the weakest, but one of the more valuable day to day. They knew." She says with a small shrug. "But... okay." she says and slumps into a chair.
"Day twenty seven of 'figure out how to use sparkles to help people' was just like any other day. Go to work. Listen to some ass hit on me. Give him pie. Add sweetie and honey til the good ol boy is giving me a decent tip. Well... all the cell phones go nuts. Only people talking on them notice... except for me. Someone's jamming signals out there, but... they don't know I'm there. I go outside as everything goes black. I'm... not really sure what they were doing. But some guy named 'Snowjob'" 'Seriously.' She says in her head, Violetward, "Tells somebody else they turned everything off. I didn't trace it, though. They opted to leave a body. Luckily... they found me. See... that's how I found out I'm about as sturdy as a steel security door. Cause after blasting one off a wall, Snowjob blasted me -through- a wall. She lifts her shirt and hoodie to show that her stomachs was mostly good as new. [B]"He hit me hard enough and cold enough to break my barrier, send me through a wall, and break a cherry slush machine." she says, as she lets the shirts fall back down. "I guess they also knew I'd already had my 'live fire' and didn't need another. I was strangely lucid for the whole thing. Not entirely. Cherry slush still makes me giggle nervously. But,I was surprised by how... normal everything seemed. Guy named Gridlock breathe snow out of him, and he poofed. Then he got us out, got us to a car, then got Shimmer to take me to Trinity. Trinity fixed a few key ingredients in my 'Not dead' plan. Then passed out. See told me I could just stay home if I wanted. But... if they found someone who did more than turn into a pinball when they got hit, instead of me." She offers a shrug. "So... in all fairness, first meta I met went for a killshot without knowing I'd survive."
| Whippoorwill |
Ace and Transducer look at each other, and then Ace nods. "Sure, we'll go get cleaned up and head out. See you in a few days."
The two head into the locker rooms, leaving everyone alone.
About 30 minutes later, the four exit from the locker rooms at nearly the same time, despite being in two different areas, and head out, chatting about politics and the last presidential debate.
Whippoorwill watches them all leave with an air of disinterest. She moves slowly with a few winces here and there and generally looks defeated.
When they're gone, her demeanor changes instantly. "No freaking way!" she shouts as she tests her bruises and muscles. She hurries over to Silo 3 and inspects the chunk of stairs that had been thrown at her. "Unbelievable! How did I survive that!?"
She takes to the air and practices a few loops, to make sure everything works and nothing's broken.
She finishes her flight and heads back to the break room, still rubbing her sore spots but generally moving better than before.
| Project Violet |
Violet listens to Hotaru's description of her experiences prior to coming here, still teary-eyed and struggling to keep the teacup steady in her hands.
When Hotaru finishes, Violet wipes her eyes on her sleeve and takes a deep breath.
"There are people who want to capture me," she says. "Take me away, cut me open. Find out what makes me possible."
Violet projects some of her memories into Hotaru's mind - thoughts and experiences from when she was a child, the day the faceless men in dark clothes came and stole her brother. It's mostly emotions and reactions - sounds and bright flashes, the feeling of an entire building shaking. Well-coordinated agents - soldiers, perhaps - with advanced weapons and tactics. The image of her brother, standing up against a hail of gunfire, before they gassed him and took him away.
There is a riot of other people's thoughts mixed in among all of this, during and after the immediate chaos of the invasion. Hotaru-as-Violet screams, and dozens of people (friend and foe) fall over. Most are asleep. Many never wake up.
"That's the day I learned I could read minds," Violet's voice is quiet and distant. "That's the day people in my father's lab started suggesting they have an emergency kit on standby... to drug me if I got out of hand."
A series of different faces flash across the memories. "A few of them... they didn't know... but I could hear it, every time they looked at me. They thought the only way I'd ever be 'safe' is if they cut up my brain. Lobotomized me and used my ovum to start a new generation of the project. They wanted to reset the whole. Take us back to zero. Figure out where they 'failed'."
"My father fought them, of course. Uncle Bill, too. But you don't know what it's like, every time you look at someone, to see them imagine shoving an icepick into your eye socket."
Violet shrugs.
"You're not the weak link, Hotaru," she says, trying to smile. She rubs her head, wincing at the bruise. "At least you weren't useless."
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
Hotaru seems to take the gunfire and voices in stride. It doesn't even perturbed her in the slightest. The drugs didn't bother her either. She still had a pill bottle beside her bed. The explanation brought a frown to her face, and as she mentioned the eye socket part, she actively resisted further mental contact, wincing, with one eye closed. The last thing Violet hears mentally is 'noooooo...' in a squirming-child voice.
After a few moments of Silence, Hotaru shook her head. "No, I... don't think you get it. You -are- strong. Just not pinball strong. I'm pinball strong. Aegis, too. But you're strong in a different way. Ace set Rocket on you. The first two attacks targeted you. If they hadn't set Rocket on you, maybe you'd have set Cat on them. You heard Transducer. I didn't even phase her. With a direct hit. I was sturdy, and that's about it. Heck, even standing between you and Kestrel didn't do anything. She could have banked a shot at you." She shrugs. "But here's the thing. Rocket, Kestrel, and Transducer all focused you. You're still there. That's huge. And, I mean... ten seconds may not seem like much, but if Rocket and Whip were getting folks out, that'd be a lot of people saved." She says, letting her Herefordshire hands fall into her lap.
| Project Violet |
Violet immediately ends the mental contact when Hotaru begins reacting poorly.
"I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget."
When Hotaru finishes attempting to bolster her ego, Violet manages a smile.
"You've got a point," she says, dejected. "But that's no excuse for the gloating they were doing out there. They won. They didn't need to rub it in."
"You should look into psychology," she says. "You're good at being blunt, but also being supportive. Important life skill."
When Whippoorwill walks past the door, Violet waves at her.
Whether or not Whip comes in.
Violet pulls a box out from under her bed and opens it. She's got bags in the box for everyone in the group. Inside are each member's favorite cookie and a small punch-out papercraft of themselves (now you know what she was doing in her room hunched over Illustrator for the last week).
"I made these as victory bags," she says. "But now they'll have to be 'didn't get our asses handed to us too badly' bags."
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
Hotaru seems fairly pleased with herself, and managing to move Violet away from crying, "I... get it from dad. Mom's a tigermom, but dad's more of a teddy bear. It'd be nice to study something... but short of the comics that Aegis has been getting for me in town, I haven't really been able to do much of anything. Maybe I'll see about getting their Cypher guy to make me a laptop that I won't break... or maybe I'll try to learn bluetooth or wireless. But that's like learning how to bike in city traffic." she says, keeping her conversation going while Violet digs under her bed. Hotaru is a complicated sort. Her favorite cookie depends on the moment. And cookies are best eaten in separate flavors as pairs.
She digs into the bag immediately upon receiving it, and grins. "Oh wow. Fruitcake cookies? I haven't had those in years." Indeed, the combination of flavors made it unnecessary to mix and match cookies. "And... wow, that's really neat. I didn't get anything for anyone. So... I'm pretty lame, apparently." She looks over the little papercraft, and tilts her head. "Oh, neat. Like Origami. I never really learned how to do anything but a paper airplane. And I don't think that counts." she explains.
"Hm. Wonder if any of us will ever wind up as a Funko Pop figurine." she says, as her mind drifts from the pieces of paper to what they'll one day be.
| Whippoorwill |
Whippoorwill stops picking the rubble out of her hair as Violet waves her in. She accepts the cookies with mild surprise. "Thanks." She opens the package and looks inside. A small smile crawls along her face when she hears that they're to be a consolation prize.
"I wouldn't call today a loss just yet." She breaks off a piece of a chocolate chip cookie and pops it in her mouth. "When you're ready, we need to have a talk. All of us."
| Dark Goo |
Goo heads to the break-room and when he gets there turns on the radio. In an effort to get rid of his pent up energy Goo dances for the next minute or so, the way only Goo can with a little to much jiggling going on. He thinks, Pulse is right we need to CELEBRATE!
After dancing he takes a seat and has a meal of his favorite synthetic motor oil with plastic sprinkles. However, the longer he waits he begins to realize there might not be a celebration. Reluctantly, he turns on the television and begins watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory.
| Project Violet |
Violet is about to answer Whippoorwill when she hears the music in the cafeteria.
She looks at Hotaru and again manages a smile. "No point being gloomy gusses all the time," she says.
She gets up, bringing the box with her. She waits for Goo to finish dancing (it's rude to interrupt!) and sits down at the table with him when he sits to eat. Smiling, she hands him a bag with his name on it.
You get to decide what the cookie is made of!
"It was hard making the cutout-you very... well, 'goo' like," she tells him. "But I tried."
| Dark Goo |
Goo is happily surprised by Violets thoughtfulness, “Thank yoU.”
Forgetting his manners he starts on the cookies failing to ask anyone else if they would like to try one. Eventually he says, “These are greAT.
Between mouthfuls he asks, “Where did you get the Polyethylene TerephthaLATE?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, “Tastes like a peanut butter jar.” Nodding his head he continues, “and the tar is super crisp just how I likE IT.”
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
Oh god. I just imagined Goo doing This
Hotaru follows after, rather happily. She hadn't really been hit in the face with a ton of bricks like the others had. She took her usual seat, furthest from the kitchen... so Cat couldn't blame her if something went wrong. Rocket was almost automatically going to be in the kitchen. Almost. Did Aegis follow the 'adults' to the lunchroom?
MDT Kitty! How 'accurate' is Hotaru able to broadcast things to a Radio? Like, would she be able to do stripped down covers of songs she's heard a ton, or would that be 'too much' for her?
| mdt |
She'd be about as accurate as if she were singing. Any musical bits would sound about like her trying to make them with her mouth. If she picks up some skills, like Mimicry and Kn(Musical scores) and some performance skills, she could do full broadcasts.
| The Rocket |
Rocket is just finishing his sixth roast beef sandwich and digging into a bag of chips when Goo comes in and starts to dance.
The speedster crunches a few chips and then sets them down to watch, smiling. OK, if Goo can come out of that battle dancing...well, that guy's got way more to worry about than I do. Maybe Kestrel's right. Maybe I do need to buck up, if I'm going to handle what real baddies will throw at us.
Rocket finds his toe tapping along as Goo does his goofy gooey moves. When Violet, Pulse, and Whippoorwill come down he finds himself smiling a bit.
His smile broadens when Violet gives him his gift bag--as much for knowing she doesn't seem weirded out that he got so easily mind-screwed and ended up trying to run her over.
"Thanks Vi!" he says while shoving the cookie into his mouth. He glances over at the almost-empty platter of sandwiches. "I guess I've eaten most of the ones I made, but I can make more fast. Anyone want something to go with their cookie?"
| Whippoorwill |
Whippoorwill joins everyone in the mess after taking a quick shower and changing into come comfortable sweats. She had shaken her wings several times to get rid of the excess moisture, but still had to fan them out wide to let them dry fully. She sits her bag of cookies on the table and thinks. "I guess milk would be good. Thanks," she answers Rocket.
She takes a seat and watches everyone for a while, studying their moods. She recognizes the atmosphere; it was always like this after a bunch of recruits get schooled on the training ground. The hazing process generally took a lot of the wind out of the rookiees' sails. Some would try to find the silver lining, while others would question what they were doing there. A few would always wash out.
She wonders briefly what they would do, if she said nothing. Who would try to return to his or her life? Who would try to gain their acceptance and join up? She shrugs and decides it doesn't matter. She steels her nerves as she works out what she's going to say. The day's real battle was about to begin.
As casually as she can sound, she asks, "Hey Pulse? Is there any way you can tell if there's listening equipment around? You know, like bugs? And if so, would you fry them, or at least foul them up?"
Turning to Violet, Whippoorwill looks at her. "Would you be able to detect another telepath listening in to our conversation? Could someone do that?"
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
I'm going to go with 'she'd know if there were any that she -could- detect, as Magnificent MDT would have informed her. :)
"No real sense in putting bugs in the place you live... unless you're really insecure." she offers, but does a cursory listen anyway. "No promises the kitchen is clear."
| mdt |
Already told Pulse, the only radio signals in the base are the microwave when it's blasting. The music & tv are from a sattelite up top and come down the old comm wires. Any bug that's hard-wired, she wouldn't be able to detect. As the GM I'll point out it would be easier to use mental powers to eavesdrop, or invisibility, or a dozen other things. Enjoy the paranoia!
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
"Not a thing. But, I can't say a word for mental. Or even if the base is a sentient being. Who knows!" Hotaru says with a grin. She pulls out one of the fruit cake cookies, and holds it out to the others to see if they wanted it.
| Whippoorwill |
Yeah, but an invisible person will still have a mind that can be detected, right?
| Saffron "Aegis" Sinclair |
Aegis joins the kitchen party a bit later, she leans against the corner as she watches them celebrate. "Thanks." She seems genuinely grateful for the gift bag but still sounds disappointed from the fight.
| Whippoorwill |
Ugh. Of course there's invisibility to mind reading. :/
Whippoorwill begins slow. She leans forward and looks at each in their eyes. She wrings her hands in front of her and stares at them for a moment.
"I-- I want to ask you all something. Well, maybe not Goo, but he probably understands where I'm coming from. Basically... I don't have a life to go back to. I can't even have a pretend-normal life." Her wings shake and flutter a bit. The fact that they're splayed open to dry makes them appear even larger, framing her form in a brown and red corona of feathers.
"I haven't been this way long. These wings, they're only a few weeks old, now. My... flight adaptations. All new. I've had one life, and I walked away from that, and I was just starting a new one when this..." She rubs her face. Great, I'm wandering all over the place. Just say it!
"What I'm trying to say is, I can't do this alone. I've thought about it, and I just don't know how I can do it. I mean, if you want to go back to your lives and forget all this, I totally understand. I won't blame you." She again looks at everyone, making eye contact.
Her voice drops low, barely above a whisper. "But whatever you decide to do, I think we should sever all ties with Ace, Sanction and the rest."
| Saffron "Aegis" Sinclair |
"I still have some business with them, we shouldn't stay in their training facility our entire lives but I don't think cutting ties with such powerful allies is a good idea."
| Project Violet |
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Violet, seemingly completely unaware that the eyeliner and mascara smeared across her eyes makes her look like a glam rock raccoon, seems pleased that everyone likes their cookie(s), and wonders if Rocket will pause to read the instructions on the papercraft, or just speedster it up in a blink.
To Whippoorwill's question, she allows her rediscovered smile to become a frown for a moment.
"I don't know," she says. "Ace is the first person like me I've ever met. I've mostly had to deal with terrorists, murderers, kidnappers, and rapists. Terrible people. But nothing like..."
She waves her hand around.
"All of this. I think it's theoretically possible... but I don't feel anything."
She takes another sip of her tea, makes a face that speaks of more bitterness than a Reddit AMA about 80's kids shows that have been rebooted as modern day films, spits out a series of four-letter words, and gets up to make a new cup.
| Whippoorwill |
Whippoorwill looks seriously at Aegis. "Powerful, yes. But allies? Hardly."
She sweeps her arm across the room, then points toward Silo 3. "They tested us. They wanted to see how much of a threat we are to them. What kind of threat we could become."
She shrugs. "I'm just relieved we did so badly."
| Hotaru Hoshiko |
Hotaru pauses to listen to the others speak, though the concern on her face is written into the lines formed by her furrowed brows. She just listens for now, and nibbles on her cookie.
| Saffron "Aegis" Sinclair |
"They've protected us from others that, like you said, would cut us open. They trained us to use our power, yea they wanted to see if we'd attack innocents with it first but they did help once they knew we wouldn't. Either way they are someone we want on our side."