_Gothic's page

Your Defense (and priority) multiplier is increased by 2, as you get some kind of advanced warning of incoming attacks, reacting to them before you even see them. You also halve any penalties (round down) imposed by Confusion, fighting blind, fighting an invisible opponent, etc.

For 3 pts, you have true Telepathy, which allows you to read others thoughts and broadcast your thoughts to them for communication. Normally this power has a visual range, but in dire situations with people who are especially close, it can work at a distance.

Super Senses can either be used as a “substitute” for ordinary senses (like a sonar sense replacing vision in a blind character), or can give them the ability to perceive things impossible for others even to try (such as microscopic vision, allowing one to make vision checks to see things incredibly small).

You are able to see into the past through other people's memories. Sometimes, you have visions involuntarily. If this is the case, the Narrator will just tell you what the vision is. Deliberately using this ability is far more difficult, and has the Concentration quality. You must make a 30 Mind check to acquire general knowledge about a person, place, or thing. Succeeding by 10 or more will make the knowledge more specific. If you fail, you cannot try again for the rest of the issue.

Make a mental attack roll against the target’s Mind. If successful, the target loses his/her panel until s/he rolls a 20 Mind check (one try per panel). A dazed person cannot dodge an attack, but being struck un-dazes him or her.

Make a mental attack roll against the target’s Mind. If successful, the target takes x2 damage.

You are extremely creative in the use of your powers. Once per issue, you can perform a Power Stunt without having to spend a Hero Die.

You do not fit into the “accepted social norm” of everyday society. As a result, you may be the victim of intolerance, based on what makes you different. When trying to persuade or charm people who are not like you or close to you, the difficulty increases by 10 or more.

Having an insight (albeit unwanted) into the minds of people, she has a very low opinion of them. Hence her antisocial tendencies and refusal to speak.

However, the rush of positive emotions when someone experiences altruism is euphoric to her. It's almost enough to make her smile. So all to often to find that surge of gratitude, she has to go out and do it herself.

Gothic sat in the Chicago L, warding people away with her demeanor. Her heavy, well-worn jacket and black floor-length skirt disguised her body shape. She stared straight ahead, keeping her arms crossed as she slouched in the seat. Any time someone's attention drifted her way, she would meet their eyes with a challenging glare which usually turned them away.
The constant susurrus of thoughts of the people on the L assailed her. Though she was not able to block them entirely, she usually managed to ignore them and only took interest if they took interest in her. While most would find it a horrible invasion of privacy, Gothic would simply answer that most people's thoughts were nothing all that unique and universally offensive. Everyone has ugly thoughts and evil temptations.

::Oh, God. I falsified the report. I had to. It's my job on the line, and no one will believe the truth anyway::

Gothic didn't react to the panicking thoughts that rang in her head as loudly as if the woman sitting across from her were shouting. She heard too many internal confessions to be surprised. But she listened a little closer, since the raw horror of the woman was radiating off her like a stench.

She picked through the thoughts and was rewarded with a startling revelation. The woman was an assistant with the Cook County coroner's office and had discovered the decedent brought in that morning had its brain rotated 180 degrees inside its skull, with no sign of outward trauma. Then she caught the face of the decedent, and Gothic nearly gasped, since she recognized it: Vincent Marcini, a mob enforcer. Seeing the still, ashen face in the woman's mind brought back memories.

It was stupid how intensely people focused on trying to win the cheapest of objects. The young woman at the claw game strained so much that her body nearly shook. Gothic rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the woman's thoughts.
An audible squeal and a surge of pleasure interrupted and Gothic looked up to see the woman pulling out a fuzzy plush cartoon character. She stared for a moment with disdain for the meager accomplishment until she glanced at the game itself. It was inert.

"What?" the woman said. ::Little emo freak, what are you looking at?:: her mind continuing to comment.

Gothic didn't answer her, but studied the young woman. She looked about twenty, had thick auburn hair, and had one hand firmly on her hip in a defiant pose. Her stance shifted slightly under Gothic's stare, and her mind started getting suspicious. ::No way she saw me take that bunny without the claw. Who would believe her anyway?:: She scoffs.

Gothic arched an eyebrow and made a decision. ::Like I care whether you stole a stupid stuffed animal from that machine:: she projected into her mind. ::But it's interesting you used your mind to do it::

The woman's jaw drops. After a few seconds of stunned silence, she thinks, ::No way that came from me, did it come from her? Is she hearing my thoughts?::

::Yes::

::No way! You-- you're talking to me? With your mind?::

::Sigh. Yes::

:Omigod omigod, this is amazing. I can move things with my mind and you can read minds? How cool is that?::

Gothic shrugged.

The woman moved to sit next to her and leaned in to whisper, "Are you like, going to try to join the Avengers?"

Gothic scowls, rolls her eyes and folds her arms.

::Well, excuse me, Miss Emo bi--:: she stops that train of thought at Gothic's venomous glare. ::You heard that? Are you listening now? How can I tell if you're hearing me?::

Gothic listened to the paranoid thoughts for as long as she could stand, then interrupted. ::I can hear you. I can't turn it off. Go ahead and freak out. Everyone does::

The woman studied Gothic for a while as her mind whirled. But she decided not to freak out. ::My name's Ciandra Lake. I can move things with my mind. Little things, but I'm practicing. I'm planning on going to the Grand Victoria Casino and work the roulette wheels:: Then her face brightened. ::You should come too! You would know what everyone has at the poker table! You'd be awesome!:: Images of casinos and gambling flashed in her mind as she thought of the possibilities.

Gothic shook her head. The idea of being around all that despair and desperation made her nauseous. ::Not interested::

Despite her refusal, Ciandra and Gothic continued to learn more of each other, each finding some fascination in the other's mental abilities. Ciandra even accepted Gothic's dour persona and refusal to speak. And Gothic endured Ciandra's constant disdain for her emo appearance.

A few weeks after their chance meeting, Ciandra made her first attempt at working the Chicago casinos. She had texted Gothic after that night about her winnings (since she never answers her phone), saying that her gift was working, and she had been able to turn a hundred dollars into a thousand. She was excited, and planned to try again the next night.

Several nights later, Gothic got an urgent text that she was being pursued by some goons from the casino and she needed help. Despite feeling like Ciandra had gotten into this mess on her own in the first place, she went to Ciandra's old place as fast as she could.

When she arrived, she was too late. The goons had bust in and were viciously beating her. Gothic stunned the lookout by the door, then moved past him and mind blasted the next one she saw. The one standing over the broken form of Ciandra caught her movement and spun, wielding a police-style baton. He lifted it up and stepped toward Gothic as she tried to blast him as well. He shrugged off her attempts to stop him and loomed over her. She could hear his thoughts, brutish and cruel, curious about how the other thugs were dealt with but not enough to stop from bringing the club down on her. But his arm paused where it was, poised to crush her skull. Gothic could feel that it wasn't his own doing, and she looked down at Ciandra. She was bloody and beaten, but her face was a mask of concentration as she focused on the man's arm. The thug followed Gothic's eyes down to Ciandra, then lashed out with a booted kick to her temple. Ciandra collapsed and Gothic unleashes a silent scream into the goon's mind, dropping him to the ground.

A hasty text to 911 brought the paramedics and got Ciandra to a hospital. However, her head trauma caused swelling in her brain and put her into a coma. Gothic sifted through the minds of the goons before leaving the apartment, learning their identities and who ordered the hit on the closest thing to a friend Gothic had. Jimmy Spence. Vincent Marcini. Frank Di'Amato. All enforcers for the Maggia.

As it became apparent that Ciandra was not going to wake up anytime soon, Gothic stopped visiting the hospital. There was too much despair in the minds there. She went back to her usual life on the outside of society, trying to block out the constant drone of the minds she passes by.