Barely readable snippets of log. Will be removed as it is cleaned and put back up in a better format.
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Table of Contents
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First
David-Visage hmms, "A cabin somewhere. Food and supplies already arranged and a training plan in mind."
Wage|Heah: "You're not going to be talking all Yoda-like to me, are you?"
David-Visage: A jolt suddenly ran through the new 'host', feeling far too much like someone had just swatted his backside, "Less talking, more running… We do want to get there before sunset. Gee up!"
Wage|Heah yelps a bit and startles and starts trundling along. He's already drawing on the strength of the 'rider' as he's getting winded.
Wage|Heah: *looks up the path, inwardly groans but keeps pushing.*
David-Visage: A cold tingle, rather than the burn of exertion, filled his legs as he ran and he could feel muscles which might have started to cramp instead just keep working under the ministration. That didn't make the pace much easier to manage, but it allowed it to be kept up for long and the right cadance made the feelings flow around in a way which was inappropriately interesting. At least until the tingle shifted briefly and helped that 'problem' subside.
David-Visage: "Don't worry, this is starting you off easy." The androgynous, sourceless, voice told him. "After all, it's your first day…"
Wage|Heah: "I. Can. Do. This." He breathes in and out with the rugged cadence, buoyed by the lack of fatigue and the guiding voice telling him he's not alone…
David-Visage: "Yes, you can!" The voice reassured him as the ground crunched beneath his feet, "I should mention that, although there -is- a hot tub up there, it's a pain to heat up so it'd be an irregular treat. Unless you end up being able to do something with energy…"
Wage|Heah: "Shouldn't. Tease. Like. That." The idea of a hot tub is very appealing but the amount of work… right now it doesn't seem an option but if he gets much stronger perhaps he could even use friction to make a fire under it.
David-Visage: "Oh, teasing is going to be a later part of the training. Probably along side 'witty banter'."
Wage|Heah: "Let me get to not fighting to breathe and talk at the same time first." He looks up the trail and pushes a little bit harder, since his body is keeping up with the current pace.
David-Visage: "You know, you can't feel this much now but keep up the good work." The voice told him encouraging, "The harder you work the more I can do to help so…"
Wage|Heah: *He pushes as hard as he can, until it feels like even with the help of his 'partner' he's about to falter. That definitely sounds like a fair deal.
David-Visage: "And when I get to zero you can slow to a walk for a minute while I give you." The voice offered then began to count slowly, "Sixty…"
Wage|Heah: *blinks* *He pushes a bit harder, since there's a countdown… only 60 seconds left… time to run past the finish line…*
David-Visage: (( I meant more that in sixty seconds you can slow down and you'll get healed/defatigued… ))
Wage|Heah: ((Ah, cool. That works. Adjust above to reflect. I need to afk for a smidge))
David-Visage: (( We can fade there? I need to go in twenty minutes so if you're gone for long… ))
David-Visage slips from the scene and eyes variations on the background for this.
Wage|Heah: ((Back, and fading it out there is good. Sorry about that))
Wage|Heah is also curious about this, but doesn't want to ask too much because that can spoil the fun.
David-Visage: It was just the thought of diverging from it being someone with that power and more part of a large… contest. Possibly between spirits as they each try to shape a 'champion'..
Wage|Heah: I was going to ask "What do you get out of this, invisible friend"?
David-Visage: *deadpans* "Sponsorship deals."
Wage|Heah: That would probably raise an eyebrow but not kill things. The other idea I had was the possessor was trying to hold on to masculinity,the problem being that it does that but it takes a toll on the host…
David-Visage: Hmm…
David-Visage eyes the time and did intend to head off, "I'll be sure to elaborate this another night, but I should be going. I'll try not to let this go the way of the last 'empowerment' idea I had with you."
Wage|Heah: Fair enough. Get some rest. I'm off all week and don't have any plans in particular. If so, I'll be noted for it.
David-Visage nods and makes a note, "Good night then."
David-Visage fades to RL.
Wage|Heah: G'night. Get rest.
David-Visage pauses, "If you have an idea about this in the meantime, including what you might end up as/like, then feel free to make a note of them for next time. And sorry about that, but bye."
Second
David-Visage eyes a superhero setting sort of built around some of what was discussed last nigh.
David-Visage: Last night, I mean.
David-Visage: Amusingly, I had started thinking about such spirits as the 'source' of powers in a way. With various unlikely, ironic, or interesting events attracting one for a while. And the spirit being intent on making a hero or villian…
Wage|Heah: And not particularly caring (though a little empathy at first would go a long way, obviously) what the 'recipient' thinks?
David-Visage nods, "The exact number if uncertain, and they don't always reveal themselves even to those being changed, but they have their limits. Often agreement, or being invited, is one but if you concider that someone desperate not to die might be effectively giving an invitation out…"
David-Visage: The ones who have greater interaction are most often the ones who the spirit basically 'settles' into as a sort of 'comfy chair without easy view of the screen'. But even they can't manage to tell anyone else.
Wage|Heah: For some reason they just can't seem to form the words to tell folks what is going on with them?
David-Visage: It's a little deeper than that. They can be aware that they'd want to tell someone, but something stops the idea from reaching realisation. Even the attempt is denied to them.
Wage|Heah: "Shouldn't my folks know about this trip to the woods, just so everything is okay and they know I'm alright?"
David-Visage: "If you really think that you have a good explaination which doesn't get them phoing the closest looney bin to book you a nice white jacket, why not run it by me first?"
Wage|Heah: "I need some time to get away from it all, away from cel-phones and computers and stuff to get my head on straight?"
David-Visage: "Let's just finish up here and we can see about that in the morning. I mean, the run down would be a nice morning jog. Right?"
Wage|Heah: *The thought of running all the way back down to get a call in is enough to kill the conversation for now. 'Nice morning jog'? No way in hell. "Sure sure… how much farther is it…"
David-Visage: "Keep heading uphill until you hit a clump of trees on your right against the shadow of the cliff where they can get some shade. Go past that a bit and I'll point out how to slip inside."
Wage|Heah: *It takes a bit to find the location indicated, and barring any complications he will look around to make sure he's not being followed, then look for the entrance as indicated. Something this hard to find by someone who knows how to find it sounds very… primitive.
Third
David-Visage quietly plots upgrades.
Wage|Distracted: I am feeling better, yes. *is not privvy nor wants to be privvy to said upgrades until they become available*
David-Visage: Actually, I'm mostly just trying to work out which one would… fit you best.
Wage|Distracted: Would a description help, or no?
David-Visage: Would you want ones with or without spoilers?
Wage|Distracted: No spoilers, if possible? More fun to engage in a course of discovery?
David-Visage: The first powerset would be a more physical one: Physical capabilities comfortably into the superhuman range, an 'inner fire' which keeps you warm and you can tap to breathe 'fire', and a few tricks other about that fire which are pretty draining.
David-Visage: The second would be more adaptible but more active: general fitness on par with an Olymic athlete, limited receptive telepath and empathy, being able to gather a well of 'psychic energy' then use that for more impressive psychic tricks from full blow telepathy to healing to telekineis.
Wage|Distracted: *nod* Sort of like a Fire tanker on the first one, a psychic blaster on the second one?
David-Visage: In a way. With the second if you have sufficent energy then you could, for a brief time, almost play Green Lantern with 'psychic constructs'. But that'd use up energy really quickly.
Wage|Distracted: And probably be quite taxing.
Wage|Distracted: So what other 'options' were in range?
David-Visage: Those two options were the ones which I had thoughts of the most (admittedly just while on buses travellin today) as either could easily be fit into the given scenario.
Wage|Distracted: "It's quite alright, David. as far as it goes, an earth spirit or a wind spirit could also be a motivator/trainer, too, based on the remote locale… just a thought?"
David-Visage: The spirit isn't an elemental one but more of a 'little god' in a way. God with a small 'g', but knowledgable about things which might be around and ones of those who had made arrangements in the past to set up the current part of the 'Game' it is involved with.
David-Visage: The interaction of heroes and villians is a more modern version of something which has happened for a long, long time with such 'spirits' finding or making entertainment for themselves and far better than them deciding that it'd be fun to watch a natural disaster…
David-Visage: With their presence, a lot of things which might have gone horribly wrong end up getting some sort of 'intervention' occuring or just having 'coincidence' strike.
Wage|Distracted: Pearl Harbor, The Battle of Leningrad, Dunkirk?
David-Visage murmurs, "AIDS is a disease which merely causes sterility, rather than death, if treated. The Black Death was horrible, but it's reoccurances were far less. It's amazing how many people who were involved in concentration camps either had 'accidents' or have ended up very twisted villians (and how many 'daring escapes' occured without notice)."
David-Visage: Something 'unfairly' killing humans would be aided against. Humans chosing to conflict with humans is cause to get the metaphorical popcorn. Which isn't nice, but…
Wage|Distracted: …that's the way the game goes sometimes.
David-Visage nods, "Mind you, villians who are entertaining (rather than slaughterhouse addicts) tend to get better support from a spirit than other ones. After all, it can be annoying to see the 'cast' change too regularly and they'd have to train up a replacement…"
David-Visage: Then again if it was entertaining or inventive enough…
Wage|Distracted: Thus explaining the rather obscure and sadistic methods utilized by some of the 'butchers' in the annals of human history?
David-Visage murmurs, "To a degree, yes. Isn't the modern version of their game, not that it's known about beyond them, better?"
Wage|Distracted: "Oh, definitely, though there's probably a few that aren't 'quite on board' so to speak.
David-Visage nods, "Not all of those who get 'sponsored' actually get talked to. A fair number just find themselves with powers because they managed to be at the right/wrong place and express a 'wish' where the spirit could use it as an excuse."
Wage|Distracted: I think, between the two, fire is the better of the choices. If only for the fact that picking up on everything a person is thinking or not thinking could induce anneurysms.
David-Visage: You'd have better control than that (at least after you've been trained out there in the wilds).
David-Visage: But it's fine for you to pick fire. ^_^
Wage|Distracted: The other flavor-text conceptualization is that *burning* sensations in the arms and legs could be precursors of impending firedom, but would be written off as just tired and sore muscles. =)
Wage|Distracted: I have to disconnect for a few. Be right back.
David-Visage murmurs, "Actually, that's just part of the spirit making preperations and doing some final tests to see if you really are a good vessel for power."
Wage|Distracted: And failing those final tests would really suck, wouldn't it. One of those bodies found in the woods years down the road with no explainable cause for their death, or a common cause?
David-Visage: Actually, in this case, there would be no bodies. If you were somehow unsuitable, and keep in mind that it has had millenia of practice plus would have studied you for at least a week before making an offer, then it would have turned away from its plans in regards to fire and simply 'give' you power. Pour increasing ammounts through you until either it had 'washed away' the blockages which were making you unsuitable or you flared to less than ash.
Wage|Distracted: Now, does this thing understand the concept of mercy?
David-Visage: Of course, thus the process would be painless. But it had said it would give you power and it keeps its promises…
Wage|Distracted: I'm just picturing an explanation for 'spontaneous combustion' episodes.
David-Visage grins, "Anyway, you're safe from that as you are quite suitable."
Wage|Distracted: "I guess, then, the effort would be on attempting to excel."
David-Visage nods.
David-Visage: You'd have about a week of gradually harder and harder exercises, getting worked to the bone physically and drilled with seemingly nonsensical mental exercises. Pushed to your limits then supplied with a little more energy so that you can keep going despite -feeling- like your body was going to give out.
Wage|Distracted: ie, like the run up the hill.
David-Visage smiles, "And around it. And over uneven ground then climb a tree then down and run some more… Carry this rock, grab that backpack and start running. Add another rock every so often."
David-Visage: After about the third day you'd be sure that it's only the spirit supplying you with energy which was keeping you from just collapsing entirely. But on the seventh day or so it'd have something… easier for you to do, albeit involving waking before dawn and following some very precise directions.
Wage|Distracted: Testing the mental acuity under a condition of extreme physical and mental fatigue?
Wage|Distracted: a la S.E.A.L.s or Royal Commando training?
David-Visage: Yes. Except that they can't stop your body from going over the edge into collapse, even when your body -should-, while still keeping you working. The actual purpose here is not just to test you, but to make your body accept and reliant on 'extra' energy so that when the right moment comes and the spirit removes its own your body will basically accept another source.
Wage|Distracted: And not blow out all the circuits doing so.
David-Visage conciders the situation of that seventh day, waking before dawn, and being directed out into the fading darkness. Of being directed to one place and told to pick up an oddly light 'rock'. Then onto a quiet place to sit while you are to carefully break open what turns out to be a very old and dried out clump of mud rather than a rock.
Wage|Distracted would follow the directions indicated, they haven't been false so far.
David-Visage: The air was warm and still, having cooled through the night from the scorching hot days, as the light of false dawn began to illuminate what the man was working on. If an outside observer had been there they'd have seen how… fey he seemed. A little drawn but full of energy, exhausted but with no sign of it in his actions. Then the clump of mud broke a little further and the glimmer of gold could be seen…
David-Visage: "That is what you need." The voice murmured to him even as he worked a heavy gold ring free of the mud, "The ring is important and nessisary."
Wage|Distracted: *The fey-ish young man would clear the ring respectfully as best he could in the early morning light, looking at his hands to see if it is to be worn, or simply held.
David-Visage: (( It'd look a bit like http://www.timelineauctions.com/upload/images/items/small/1480-s.jpg except heavier and with an inscription on the inside. ))
Wage|Distracted: *He will also resist the urge to make 'One Ring' jokes.
David-Visage: The dirt fell from the ring easily, a slight touch all that was needed to make it fall away from the band, and it felt oddly warm between his fingers. Softly the voice explained even as the sky began to brighten, "To do this I will need to withdraw the power I have in you. This is going to -hurt-, but you need to don the ring after I've done that and just as the sun rises. It goes, for now, on the ring finger of your left hand and you need to say and -believe- that it is yours when putting it on."
David-Visage: (( A careful look at the inscription would show that it is 'Für die Braut des Drachen.' but the light makes that hard to make out. ))
David-Visage: (( *apologises for the bad translation there* ))
Wage|Distracted: *He would nod as the gold warmth fed back to his hands, and hold the ring tightly with his right hand at the very end of his left ring finger so even if the pain caused him to drop it, it'd fall right into place. After the torture of the week before he's a little bit frightened by the idea of things hurting *more* but is also comforted by the warmth of the ring.
David-Visage: The spirit let seconds trickle by, obviously wanting to cut things as close as practical and still make them work, then he could feel it withdrawing its 'power'. The coolness which he hardly noticed any more, which had soothed away pains, cramps, and burning muscles pulled away like a bandage being pulled from a scabbed over wound. It was as though his body felt once more all the exertions of the past week and had been hollowed out to boot, but the stone close at his back at least gave him something to sit back against even as -everything- protested.
David-Visage: Then light, like liquid gold, shone in his eyes blindingly as the sun moved just above the horrizon.
Wage|Distracted lets the ring drop into place as the agony flew through his body… molten fire matching the warmth of the rising sun and the cuddly gold ring. "This… ring… is… MINE!". And if ever there was a moment of belief for him… this would be it.
David-Visage: Something seemed to wake up when he made that announcement, made that claim with the belief and need behind it, and the heat of the ring flared up into what felt like a searing heat while the metal contracted to fit such that removing it would involve removing the digit in question. Fire seared through him, following the 'paths' which the spirit had previously filled, yet soothed outraged and power deprived tissues as it soaked into them.
David-Visage: Distantly he could feel the intentions of the mindless power, what felt like vague irritation at so much to fix, and the bundle of instincts which it carried even as they merged into him. The pains were forgotten as the brilliance of the sun filled his sight and, with flare of flame which felt almost orgasmic, the power -fixed- what it saw as wrong.
David-Visage: It was unclear how long had passed when thought became an option again, but the sun was well over the horizon and the possessor of the ring felt wrung out but tingled -nicely- in unfamiliar ways. And a little lower than the belly was a feeling of heat and latent flame.
Wage|Distracted: *Having this fire rush into him…no, that wasn't right… her with the force of a volcanic eruption dazed her, then the wash of heat left her nearly breathless. Labored and slowly healing lungs pounded along with a heart as she flopped against the rock. She resisted for the moment, at least, the urge to poke at that warmth between her legs. The rock she was propped against, the
Wage|Distracted: stone she was sitting on… while bumpy, they did not gouge and rip at her. She lets out a slow shuddering breath as she examines herself visually.
David-Visage: It was noticable how easily her now more slender fingers (one still bearing the ring) dug into the ground as she pushed herself up right and she could see how her legs were long, slender, and smooth, but many other details were beyond her due to the lack of a mirror. From what she could make out though she was, quite obviously, 'blessed with substantial assets' and pulling a strand of her hair into her line of vision showed that it was black with hints of red when held up to the light.
David-Visage: The cool presense of her previous 'rider' slipped carefully back into her, twining around the fire (was that a little large than a few minutes ago?) rather than opposing it, before murmuring, "You did well there."
Wage|Distracted: *Part of the discipline and conditioning process is keeping her from doing things that typically result from such a transformation, as she slowly lets out a breath and blinks at the sudden arrival of that which was visiting before. "I… thank you?" She doesn't want to contradict the hitchhiker, but that pain… even with her pre-planning she's not sure how she was able to do it on her own.
David-Visage: "You are quite welcome." It replied polite then seemed to be paying attention to something else for a moment before it continued, "You did turn out rather well. The ring does not appreciate those who try to claim it with deception in mind and the result is rather… impressive. Luckily there isn't much to burn around here."
Wage|Distracted: *The distracted attention doesn't get missed by the newly forged woman. "What… is something wrong?" That's an inquiry with.. not a lot of panic to it. After the melting sensations of not too much earlier, not much *could* be wrong with the world right now. She lets out a slow breath and looks at the spot where her thinner fingers dug into the ground… the solid stone on which she was resting…
David-Visage: "You are still alive, rather than having gone up in a pillar of dragonfire, so everything went fine." It assured her even as it explored her body, the sensation far more apparent to her than it previously had been even as the cool tingling touched parts which reacted -quite- different now, "You have been acknowledged as the rightful owner of the ring and it has 'fixed' what was wrong with you."
David-Visage: Playing with what was on the ground showed that, when she wished to, twigs put up less resistance than cobweb had previously and that exerting some pressure had her nails leaving scratch marks on the stone. And she still felt warm, heated from within by that inner fire.
Wage|Distracted: "Dragonfire?" She mused absently as she played with the ground. Such raw power… and so warm… almost enough to shed her clothes.. if any of them remained. For modesty's sake she leaves them on for the moment, though. "Are you a dragon?"
David-Visage: A careful check revealed that while most of her clothing was scorched, it was still vaguely intact despite the flame and the change of her form. There was one part of her trouser leg burning though, something which had only registered as a vaguely pleasent warmth against her calm, and what she wore was uncomfortably tight in some places.
David-Visage: The rider laughed softly then assured her, "No, I am not. However the one the ring was made on the behalf for -was-. Technically you might get to know him at some point in the future, but…"
Wage|Heah reaches down and pats at the fire, attempting to beat the flames down experimentally. "Do you have extra clothing stored for this sitatuation? At the sake of sounding silly and self-conscious, the idea of running around in the woods naked even if I'm durable is not a good idea?"
David-Visage: After a few attempts, and the confirmation that the flame didn't hurt hand at all, the fire went out. The voice seemed a little amused by how tentatively she had touched the fire even as it replied, "Well, I was thinking that you might have to work for that. After all, you are tougher now and you need to now your limits…"
Wage|Heah: *There is a bit of a grumble from her as she stands up and dusts herself off. "I'm hardly going to be able to train in ill-fitting clothing that does more to distract than anything else, and not having any clothing isn't going to help either given certain things I've.. just gotten." On one level she almost wants to scream at the 'sidekick'/'mentor' but she's beginning to realize
Wage|Heah: that's not going to help. Keeping the fires inside dampened down some is called for on this delicate issue.
David-Visage: Ash flaked as she brushed herself off and part of her t-shirt, already strained by the new volume it was intended to cover, fell away entirely. Feeling angry, even if she didn't express it, seemed to add slightly to the fire inside her and helped her feel a little… warmer in more than one way.
David-Visage: As though obvious to this reaction the voice replied, "It was actually dealing with your feelings about your body and your sense of modesty which I thought we coudl start with. Until you get a more… permanent costume, clothing will simply be repeatedly ruined by what you will be practicing."
Wage|Heah: *She lets out a slow breath, then takes it in again. "Is that in the works? The permanent costume? I'm trying very hard right now to not be very irritable at you, you know that right?" Her chest is thudding as she sees more of herself exposed by the disintegrating t-shirt. Exposed flesh probably tingles on the contact with the air, especially the newer skin areas.
David-Visage: "It couldn't be started until after you changed and your precise sizes could be judged." The voice stated, infuriatingly reasonable as it was about the topic. As her skin tingled there was an urge to see how else it could tingle, one which conflicted with another to let herself get angry and a third which was an odd longing for the flame which she had patted out, "It seems that you will be quite a well… admired heroine."
Wage|Heah: *She takes a deep breath again, then shakes her head and just lets it out. "You mean I'm going to be pin-up art for drooling fanboys is more like it, right?" She feels that anger and heat building up, even as she wonders if she's picked up some pyromania. She rides it. Why the heck not!
David-Visage: The flame inside her burgeoned, chasing away the traces of chill from her skin with its heat, and she can feel her body becoming steadier as it shook off the shock of the transformation. The urges mixed and merged unpredictably, a brief image of someone setting fire to the voice tempting her, but were just something in the back of her mind.
David-Visage: "You could try for the 'secretive urban myth of a hero', but I doubt that you would have the temperament for it any more." The voice stated before suggesting, "You might want to get back to the cabin. The water for the bath will be hot down and you'll need either than or a little 'private time'."
Wage|Heah wants to scream and throw something at the voice inside her head. Is this what women have to put up with all the time from 'normal' guys? She clomps down towards the cabin, rather unladylike as she goes. Some things take time to get used to, after all. Her direction is the bath… because cooling down and not burning down the cabin would be a good thing.
Wage|Heah hasn't even thought of 'private time' yet, she's still steaming from the other issues at hand.
David-Visage: Each angry step almost threw her forwards, covering the distance in near bounds far faster than she could have sprinted before let alone simply walked, and the heavy door of the cabin soon greeted her. Before she had wondered why it might have needed such a heavy duty door then had put down its weight and reinforced hinges as just one more exercise, but as she grabbed the handle and it didn't tear off she could see why it might be needed…
Wage|Heah: *She blinks at the extreme speed she makes it to the cabin in, not quite expecting the trip to be so sudden. And then the door swung freely but did not break… this was the place that someone had built *for* this. That thought just pisses her off more as she looks to make a bath to quench some of the fury she is feeling.
David-Visage: In the small partioned area of the cabin, was the tub. The voice had prompted -him- to fill it, and set a fire going in the space beneath it, while he had been still waking up and now the water was steaming to say the least. The fire was down to coals yet the tub wasn't -quite- bubbling into a boil at the bottom.
David-Visage: "Put some more wood in then you're going straight into the tub." The voice said, less a command and more a statement of fact. After obeying it so often over the past week she found herself reaching for the nearby stack of wood before she even thoughts about the matter.
Wage|Heah: *She shoves wood in, a lot of it, with incredible ease given greater strength. After piling it as high as the space would allow, she takes off her clothes and hops in. Right now, the idea of a soothing soak to take some of the edge off just sits right with her, sidekick voice merely emphasizing what her goal was.
David-Visage: Heat! Glorious heat engulfed her as she slipped into the bath, the pile of nearly shredded clothing forgotten entirely as she found herself settling up to her neck in the cramped tub. The bottom should have burnt her but instead she found herself wriggling about a little in order to maximize contact with the scorrching metal even as her ill humor began to fade.
David-Visage: Inside her a flame began to grow once more.
Wage|Heah wraps the warmth of the water around her like a cloak or a bathrobe even as she has to fidget to get into a good spot to enjoy it all. That flame growing inside her she reached out for as she closed her eyes to relish the sensations.
David-Visage: (( And fade there for now? ))
Wage|Heah: ((That's a very good spot to fade it, yes.))
Third Discussion
David-Visage slips OOC, "Well, it was a sudden change and a good… hint about things?"
Wage|Heah: ooc "Yes. I hope my grasping at the 'heated' part was appropriate?"
David-Visage nods, "Basically, the power inside you would recharge either through heated emotions or physical heat. And it's pretty low just now."
David-Visage grins, "Did you check what that phrase meant?"
Wage|Heah: "As far as?"
David-Visage offers you http://translation.babylon.com/german/to-english/ and Für die Braut des Drachen.
Wage|Heah: "Hahhahahaha"
Wage|Heah: "Interesting times are certainly ahead.
David-Visage grins, "Effectively, when you claimed it was yours, the 'magic' in it woke up and went '…hey, why is the bride not a part dragon any more? And why is she a male? Best fix this…'."
Wage|Heah: "And probably also sent out a ping to the husband-to-be, as well. "DING! Your bride is almost ready!"
David-Visage: Actually, the voice has a few things to reassure you about that. There would be a statement that the dragon in question hasn't been around in about six hundred years (and the implication that it is dead), an explaination that the ring is yours of the rest of your life but will only turn against you if you marry someone else, and a quiet reassurance that any dreams you have about your 'husband' are from the ring or its power rather than anything else.
Wage|Heah: "So in theory, as long as there's no love for someone else along the way that would undermine the binding tie of the ring, everything is golden?"
David-Visage: It doesn't stop you from 'dallying' with anyone you want to any degree, but if you formalise a marriage with anyone bar the 'husband'…
Wage|Heah: Annnddd… since the ring is on the finger… odds are that folks are going to consider that a warning sign?
David-Visage smiles.
Wage|Heah: I'm just picturing the 'cover' story. "So, what's your husband like?" "Oh, firey, intense."
Wage|Heah: fiery, even
David-Visage notes that the voice is quite serious about the dreams, "You'd never again have an erotic or romantic dream concerning anyone bar the husband (and since you don't know what he looks like, it'd just be a man you 'know' is said husband) and you'd even find your -daydreams- or idle fantasies had a tendency to divert that way."
David-Visage: That and the urges when you're low on 'heat' are about all the disadvantages that the situation offers.
Wage|Heah: "So in a pinch I could shove my hand into a steam bath to recharge?"
David-Visage nods.
Wage|Heah: What would the upper level of heat absorption be? Kiln of molten steel? Or is that too hot?
David-Visage: After a certain point you stop absorbing it, but pretty much anything you might encounter on Earth isn't going to hurt you. The voice would seriously advise against taking a dip in molten metal or lava, but that's on the grounds that it'd be too easy to be encased in it after you got out and it cooled.
David-Visage: OTOH, this is comic book physics. While immune to heat and fire you're not immune to, say, lasers (despite the fact that they work by burning).
Wage|Heah: So *if* in lava or metal or the like, don't go under the surface if it can be helped and don't spend a lot of time there.
Wage|Heah: And no skinny-dipping on the Sun.
David-Visage murmurs, "With the sun you'd die due to suffocation and the radioactivity. In regards to diving into the others… Think about your relative density and what that'd do to your effective boyancy." ^_^
David-Visage notes that you don't outwardly -retain- the heat either when you lose contact with such extremely hot things.
Wage|Heah: Ouch.
Wage|Heah: But it could make for a dramatically cool 'save' at some point… standing *in* the flamethrower arc while laughing, etc.
David-Visage nods, "You start to see why making your costume is harder than you might have initially thought?"
Wage|Heah: "Yes. Because it has to be durable enough to stand up to insane levels of heat without suffocating the wearer."
Wage|Heah: "Or preventing the capability of absorbing heat from ambient sources."
David-Visage notes that the voice won't explain how to breath fire until you're not getting too angry and won't explain how to do 'higher things' until close to the end of your time being taught.
David-Visage grins, "One explaination for skimpy costumes: less hard to make fabric used…"
Wage|Heah: *nod* That only makes sense. Don't want a pissed off out of control student blowing everything up.
David-Visage murmurs, "And all this isn't shaping her into being a nice potential… protagonist. Really."
Wage|Heah: Well, the whole relation of heat=personal comfort is probably helping take the edge off. And shotgun-voice is probably tweaking the edges of any serious tg-trauma for the time being—just a thought.
David-Visage: Well, it does need to make a femal protagonist and this way was quite acceptable. It should make for pretty good viewing too…
David-Visage: Any questions about things?
Wage|Heah: And if it can work on the modesty thing…
Wage|Heah: Oh, just wondering what the antagonists are going to be like in such a setting.
David-Visage: Comic book villians. Complete with melodrama and schticks.
David-Visage: They might not know that they've been shaped and guided as well.
Wage|Heah: And in true comic book fashion, keeping as much of one's power 'under the covers', as it were, will help in the long run, right?
David-Visage nods, "Exactly."
David-Visage: It is also probably for the best to not be aware that even your 'private' life is an issue of entertainment for the spirits.
David-Visage does wonder about those dreams though.
Wage|Heah: "Four times? No way! You got so lucky, dude! Spirit High-Five!"
Wage|Heah: *ahem*
Wage|Heah is kind of curious about them too, and if perhaps they aren't quite as… innocuous as shotgun-spirit may be indicating…
Wage|Heah: ie, over time if there are markings to indicate a growing hold that being 'the Bride of the Dragon' imparts, or if there's an urge to find the partner.
Wage|Heah: Something that the spirit may not have been entirely aware of.
David-Visage: Technically, all they do is what was said. But think about the implications of how they effect you when your erotic dreams feature such a man and they are -good- while your fantasies also end up having him there instead of whatever man/woman/whatever you'd otherwise have thought about. And your new body is responsibe and feels -good-.
David-Visage: Sorry, responsive.
Wage|Heah: That could form an obsession over time. "If the dreams are this good, then… what would he be like in reality?"
Wage|Heah: It would also turn 'average sex' into a joke.
David-Visage: It'd be a nagging thing, but not a true obsession. OTOH, it'd cause interesting repercussions with sex (by yourself or with someone else).
Wage|Heah: I think it'd lead to personal pleasure moments, but with someone else it'd probably be a disaster waiting to happen.
David-Visage: All too easy to imagine, or want, someone else there.
Wage|Heah: "Oh Drake… Oh Drake!" "But… my name's Ron…"
David-Visage grins.
Wage|Heah: "I'm picturing a different situation." "She jumped into the steam return pipes… we lost our head of steam, we're dead in the water."
Wage|Heah: *meanwhile* "Oh yes yes yes!"
David-Visage laughs.
David-Visage: Not quite. High heat helps fill the flame and thus would lessen the more… unusual urges.
Wage|Heah: "And in the news today. Dragonbride. Sexual predator or local hero? We'll talk with three supervillains who were defeated by her and then assaulted in ways that men should not be."
David-Visage murmurs, "Rather than being angry with them?"
Wage|Heah: "I was just thinking… energy at a low level after a fight… urges to do *something* to stoke the back up high… there's a guy right there… totally helpless…."
Wage|Heah: "SHE beat me up, then she *RAPED* me!" "Wasn't that *your* crime, Mister The Rapist?" "Yeah, but… but…"
David-Visage hmms, "That seems a bit much. Look at how you weren't overwhelmed even at this early stage."
Wage|Heah: "Good point."
Wage|Heah: "Just going on a tangent there… and wow, it's been a while since I've eaten.
Wage|Heah: Can we tie this up for a bit here so I can go grab something?
Wage|Heah: Alrighty. It is getting late for you, so if you have to go to bed that's okay. I'm fiddling with a character designer.
David-Visage returns and hmms?
David-Visage: Mind if I ask what you thought of this idea for a 'power source'?
Wage|Heah: Oh, I have CityOf… and I was fiddling around with it based on an attempt at visualizing the character from the above rp.
Wage|Heah: Novel concept.
Wage|Heah: As in, innovative and drawing upon legendry and myth.
Wage|Heah: Was trying out different looks, etc, as a fire/fire tanker. Unless a different AT would apply if she even fits in one.
Wage|Heah: This, by the way, is a very good thing. You've got my brain wrapped around it enough I want to see what she looks like.
Wage|Heah: (done rambling for the moment)
David-Visage: You would end up using fire less than a Fire Tanker does as it's draining. Not too draining, but spamming it would exhaust you and fine manipulation is beyond you for the most part.
Wage|Heah: So more Fire as an energy source, not as something to be spilled out willy nilly?
David-Visage nods, "Also there are 'tricks' that you can only try when you have sufficent power available even if that is far more energy than they'd consume."
Wage|Heah: So more Super Strength/Invulnerability with *Fire* as a power supply.
David-Visage: Basically, yes. Less activated Invulnerability and more passive effect. But one of the 'tricks' I mentioned is a full body healing effect which will fix a -lot-. Even things like being the wrong shape/form… ^_^
Wage|Heah: The ring would help guilde the form back to normal?
David-Visage: It 'burns away' what it thinks shouldn't be there and 'purifies' in the same way.
Wage|Heah: So over time, I'd be becoming more and more the ideal stored away in the ring?
David-Visage: The ideal is more of a template than a specific person. Your initial change basically 'reset' you to it or close enough.
Wage|Heah: So if someone tried to push a different form on.. *poof* not so fast, jack.
David-Visage: As soon as it has enough power, yes. ^_^
David-Visage murmurs, "In case it wasn't clear, the power it had/has is the pool which is now inside of you."
David-Visage eyes the other possibility for power. And a third which didn't actually fit this particular approach.
Wage|Heah: "Oh, yes, and I can see how it would tear someone apart if they were untrue to it. Painfully."
Wage|Heah: What was the third?
David-Visage: It concerned a mistaken delivery of a crate containing some… armor of the high tech kind into the appartment of someone who just moved in there.
Wage|Heah: Ooh, neat. And if it was uncrated and examined… they became the owner by default?
David-Visage nods, "Of course, the maker was a little… bitter towards the intended recipient so gave them what was agreed albeit with a few tweaks."
David-Visage notes that, as with a number of empowering magic items, various 'one single genius invention' things are more a cover for how the spirits get props into play.
Wage|Heah: And that armor would have some extreme life-changing effects, wouldn't it?
David-Visage murmurs, "A few, yes. The… interface method has been tweaked a bit."
Wage|Heah is intrigued, but at the same time is already sort of locked in on a course of destiny.
David-Visage: Sorry…
Wage|Heah: No, don't apologize, it's cool.
Wage|Heah: I'm sure the suit has subsystems that will specifically reconfigure the wearer to optimal combat efficiency and interface worthiness.
David-Visage murmurs, "Actually, the main trick is that the interface injects 'nanites' to form its other half inside the intended user. Except that the creator (supposedly) added a few other things for them to do to her and the idiot things just look at someone elses body as 'further from what we're supposed to change it to'."
Wage|Heah: "We can fix this, it will just take a bit more work and energy. Start the nanofactories, let's get this system online"
David-Visage grins, "Exactly."
Wage|Heah: So a longer duration transform, with only cold logic to deal with it, versus the somewhat (barely) more empathetic trainer with the dragonbride ring.
David-Visage nods, "While technically the ring is more of a problem, the utter lack of the husband (or even any idea of what he looks like) removes most of that."
David-Visage: As opposed to the 'interface' being designed with malice and careful concideration to be… irritating.
Wage|Heah: And… the interface/armor probably would not want to be taken off/altered beyond certain specific preset conditions. Whereas the ring-bearer can wear pretty much anything (as long as they're not fighting?)
David-Visage: The ring-bearer could wear or try to do about whatever she wants to (although the spirit has been… nudging things so that she'll act towards the heroic side) with the single practical exception that she can't marry anyone except her 'proper' husband.
David-Visage: Some things might just go up in smoke when she's exposed to flame, but that's nothing to do with the ring.
Wage|Heah: Exactly.
David-Visage: It has it's limits and it's problems but, at it's base, it seems to be something designed to give the 'bride' a fraction of the power of her husband so that she'll be safe. Maybe with a few things to help her be… happier with her marriage, but nothing major.
Wage|Heah: Especially given the time that the ring was made, it is minor.
David-Visage: You could even concider that a sort of gift to her, to help her feel close to him still even if they were parted.
Wage|Heah: And.. in some ways, it may be a gift to future wearers.
Wage|Heah: To help them… 'remain focused' on what they've got.
David-Visage smiles, "Anyway, I imagine that you'd end up relying on your boosted physical capacities for the most parts in fights and save the fire breath or 'tricks' for emergencies or as finishers."
Ditto-slp is now known as Ditto
David-Visage: Hey there, Ditto.
Ditto: Hiya.
Ditto skims backlog, notes armor and things?
Wage|Heah can imagine the bad guy, smitten with the dragonbride.. coming up to kiss her *FIREBREATHFACEMELT*
Wage|Heah: *innocent whistle* *points at Ditto*
Ditto: ^_^;
David-Visage: Fire breath is actually simple to do. It's 'inhale, reach for power, exhale power/fire/burning stuff!'.
Wage|Heah: *nod* Ditto was asking about armor and stuff! *glee*
David-Visage: It is honestly a little late to go into much detail about it. I mentioned the very basics of how it'd be… obtained, but if you were asking about what it would do?
Ditto will admit to some curiosity. ^^
David-Visage tries to think about how best to describe this.
David-Visage: As a powerset it has: flight, basic instrumentation, and a forcefield; a variety of solid weaponry available on demand; the ability to 'bud' off parts of the liquid metal suit to perform limited activies (such as act as a remote camera, tie up someone, and so on).
Ditto: Ooooo
Ditto: So, Iron Man meets T-1000, in a sense? I like.
Ditto: With shades of the Engineer, too.
David-Visage smiles, "Not quite as powerful, but…"
Ditto grins. "And I find this in a package in my new apartment?"
David-Visage: You just moved apartment, having gotten a good deal due to the last renter departing hurriedly for some reason, and come home to find that someone had delivered a -crate- about four foot high and barely fitting in the door in the other dimensions.
David-Visage: If this gets followed up then it wouldn't look like a suit initially… ^_^
Ditto nods. "And naturally, the packaging has little in the way of identifying marks or contact information… so after waiting a day or two to see if the courier returns, pop it open and see what's inside. Maybe an invoice or summat?"
David-Visage did mention that he doesn't have time to go into this. ^_^;
Ditto grins. "Fair enough. To Be Continued…"
Fourth
David-Visage smiles then conciders the 'bride of the dragon'.
Wage|Wakening: I've been considering it as well.
Wage|Wakening: Drache-Braut
David-Visage: The voice would, quietly, suggest that you choose a less related name. Just in case someone somehow gets an Idea.
Wage|Wakening: A direction I thought of as a tangent that would have fit the timeframe… Vlad Tepes was also known as 'Dracul' (Blood magic/enhancement) *ahem*
David-Visage grins.
Wage|Wakening: "A different name. Hmmm. I want to honor/respect the source, though, do you have ideas on how to do that without being too obvious?"
David-Visage grins, "It'd probably say something along the lines of 'Well, I doubt that 'The Magnificent Scrooge!' would fit you that well…'."
**Wage|Wakening:* "And… if someone got an idea and started thinking that'd be related too. Dragons of legend were miserly greedy creatures."
Wage|Wakening: "Something that shows honor/respect but isn't so related."
Wage|Wakening: "As well as something that sounds better than a thing that a fifth-grader could come up with."
David-Visage murmurs, "I'd have thought that you'd be more interested in how to explain the change to any family you might have…"
Wage|Wakening: "You *had* to remind me of that, didn't you? To be honest, I hadn't figured that one out, or work when I get back from vacation, or…"
Wage|Wakening notes that'd be directed to 'inside voice' not at you.
David-Visage quietly notes that the spirits occasional presense which explain a lot about heroes with a habit of 'monologing'.
Wage|Wakening: "Explains it rather well, actually. They're not allowed to talk to *others* but that doesn't stop them from talking 'to themselves' "
David-Visage smiles, "The spirit might no always be there. But if you 'ask yourself' questions and it's there then it might give some advice…"
Wage|Wakening: *nod* "Soooo… how do I broach this with everyone back home? I can't just die on them… but if they know *everything* then they'll be in danger…"
David-Visage: "You found this strange ring and things happened? It has happened to people before that they found some sort of item… Alternatively you could cut ties and get an entirely new identity. It's easier than you think for the more 'supernatural' heroes."
Wage|Wakening: "But at the same time, having folks to help me kind of stay grounded, that would be very helpful, especially given… certain feelings I've been having. Hmmm"
David-Visage slips OOC, "Sorry, but it can be a little disconcerting to jump into character when just quoting what someone might say." ^_^;
David-Visage: In general, do you see what sort of 'hero' you could become from this though?
Wage|Wakening: Are we talking general types like 'Brick', 'Blaster', 'Supporter', etc? Then yes… this is a brickish sort.
David-Visage: That and the general attitude. I'd assume that you'd be a showy and public sort rather than a 'dark avenger'.
Wage|Wakening: Oh, definitely. This is not the skill-set/power of someone who lurks in shadows. Well, not under 'normal' operating circumstances.
Wage|Wakening: And would probably find distaste with having to be too 'shifty' about certain methods.
David-Visage grins.
Wage|Wakening: I'm envisioning Direct, To the Point, yet Thoughtful.
David-Visage nods, "I would suggest trying -really- hard to get one well with the fire department of wherever you set up in."
Wage|Wakening: Hmmm. A fire department radio band scanner to go to fires before the fire department gets there and puts them out, or to sign up with them?
Wage|Wakening: Given the physical capabilities, it sounds like our hero could easily pass a fire department physical test.
Wage|Wakening: And the ability to 'consume' fire/heat could be a nice added job bonus when the rest of the crew isn't looking.
Wage|Wakening: (done rambling)
David-Visage: I wasn't thinking of employment as one, but more for the fact that you'd be well suited to working along side them in many situations. You could walk through a burning building and even a minor collapse wouldn't slow you down.
David-Visage: You don't have the sort of reputation, or background, to try getting a place as an official 'civic defender' but…
Wage|Wakening: On the plus side, with a waiver of liability, they don't have to *pay* for one?
Legal Stuff
David-Visage: The position of 'civic defender' is something which has come from, supposedly, the champions of the Greek city states. In the modern day America the position is usually only found in the larger cities and is one part a sign of trust for -that- hero, one part honoring them, and one part getting a liason between other heroes and the authorities. Typically there are non-heroes who act as liasons, but they're officially subordinate if there's an official defender.
David-Visage: Plus it is a paid position.
Wage|Wakening: So it's one of those things that could happen *in the future* if an opening came up, but for the now, it's more 'outside consultant'/contractor?
David-Visage nods then hmms, "Do you want me to describe how heroes get known and or registered in terms of interaction with the authorities?"
Wage|Wakening: "That might be a good thing to know."
Wage|Wakening: "So yes, I would"
David-Visage: To start with, due to tradition, there are strong laws in -many- countries concerning rights to defend others or prevent ongoing criminal activity. The former actually can be stronger than the right to self-defense in some places. Similarly, laws which are meant to prevent reprisals against those who helped convict or catch them have evolved into the so-called 'Mask laws' which permit someone to act entirely within their chosen person/identity as a hero.
Wage|Wakening: "So long as they are not actively using the laws to break other laws, such as 'robbing a bank' or 'kidnapping'?"
Wage|Wakening: -"
David-Visage nods, "That wouldn't trigger things simply on the basis that 'robbing a bank' doesn't really help convict or catch someone. One part of the law does extend to how heroes, or villians, can end up gettign prosecuted as their masked person without the true identity coming out until a positive conviction has been obtained."
Wage|Wakening: Thus side-stepping the "Right to face one's accuser"
David-Visage nods, "You -are- facing your accuser. Which is the persona in question."
Wage|Wakening: A hero could show up to court, would almost be COMPELLED to do so, testify without fear of compromise of privacy, and that testimony would be accepted as much as Joe Citizen?
David-Visage notes that some cases have gotten complicated in the case of people who own items of power which are masks or who use battle suits, but then a substitue must get provided.
David-Visage: It seems to work…
Wage|Wakening: It actually makes a lot more sense than some treatments of such I've seen in such genre.
David-Visage: This way othing actually prevents you putting on a mask then going out and catching muggers or burglars like this. Technically it's a form of citizens arrest, albeit with parts (including reading of rights) put off until the police handle them.
Wage|Wakening: AND…. it would also provide leverage for a prosecutor to get a plea bargain from a villain if 'preserving the private identity' was included as part of the plea bargain?
David-Visage nods.
David-Visage: People without powers, or training enough to subsitute, usually have more -sense- than to try playing hero randomly though. 'Playing hero' has got a definite death toll due to Darwin awards.
Wage|Wakening: So they pick their fights, not just random street violence (though it could erupt to that in a 'hot pursuit') which in turn lowers collateral damage.
Wage|Wakening: ie, like most recent James Bond openings I've seen.
David-Visage nods, "That is being a hero completely off your own bat. Now, if you want to interact with the authorities beyond reporting how/where you caught people then you need to make things a little more formal."
Wage|Wakening: Well, yes, because if you establish a relationship with authorities, then legally they can be culpable for actions you take since they 'know your modus operandi'?
David-Visage: In a way, yes.
Wage|Wakening: It also gives them an avenue (if done correctly) to *contact* local heroes and prevent them from interfering with an on-going investigation or to ask them to help.
David-Visage: If you more formally 'make yourself known to the authorities', and there are several ways to do it, then they start keeping a record of your persona and a little about your publicly known powers and activities. They'll also want some way of contacting you (although the better your rep, the more hoops they might be willing to jump through) and they'll give you a couple of ways of contacting them.
Wage|Wakening: And reputation could be related to stuff as "Makes an effort to minimize collateral damage" to "Never uses lethal force on suspects"?
David-Visage nods, "For you they'd also probably make the notes about you being immune to fire (since it is important in regards to what matchups might happen and it is something they could have easily seen) and that you're the brick type. And, as you said, bit about your reputation being part of that file."
David-Visage: The trick here is that if they -actively- call you into a situation then they're responsible for what might happen (within limits allowed by insurance companies and the laws generally). However as a 'trusted citizen' they can allow you access to information so long as they don't actively give it to you specifically. Which used to be a case of things like certain rooms and filing cabinents, which you'd be made aware of, happening to have files placed in there at the request of an 'annonymous' note.
Wage|Wakening: Which preserves the identity of any officers involved while also protecting 'sources'.
Wage|Wakening: "I found a file in a cabinet. It had the information I was looking for. After confirming the information, I took appropriate action within the bounds of the law to apprehend the suspect.'
David-Visage: There are also certain 'radio codes' which you'd be informed of which are purely internal things. Really. Or, in modern times, the encryption key for a 'backup channel' where certain information is echoed might happen to fall into your hands.
Wage|Wakening: Not any one person giving it, of course, and kept on the down low as much as possible to prevent other issues, right?
David-Visage nods.
David-Visage: You'd also start to be described to officers in general as a 'citizen who is known to lend assistance' so even if they don't -ask- you…
David-Visage murmurs, "You know how heroes go in before the police or duck out to do their own thing just as the officer looks away? That is -deliberate- here."
Wage|Wakening: Without even saying it… "I'm already gone"
Wage|Wakening: "We have two villains inside, they have a dozen hostages, and we're bringing in a team to negotiate. We'll start the negotiations within the hour…"
David-Visage nods, "The alternative is for the hero to listen to the 'hyothetical planning' of the police then simply state 'I'm doing this' then let the police arrange what they want for themselves."
Wage|Wakening: "If only we had someone who could sit on the firebomb they're holding the hostages with. If only…"
David-Visage: It'd probably be phrased like 'But that firebomb is the key', but you seem to get the idea.
David-Visage: Of course, once you're 'known' there is one additional benefit if you're a competent hero.
Wage|Wakening: Oh?
David-Visage: Insurance companies like statistics. And they are quite aware that having active heroes reduces claims due to injury (taken during crime), loss of property, and even distaster. If you're a 'known' hero who hasn't picked up a reputation for unreasonable damage (the companies are quite aware that if the choice is 'rampaging monster for a day or two' or 'a couple of buildings busted due to monster slammed into them' then the later adds up to less) then insurance companies tend to donate a modest sum to your persona.
David-Visage: Heroes often use this simply for maintance of their efforts, but some shuffle off money to charities as a matter of course.
Wage|Wakening: As they get more and more established, probably. But that also makes a great deal of sense.
Wage|Wakening: If a hero did a good enough job, they may even get a policy, right?
David-Visage grins.
David-Visage: That is about as high as I'd need to describe it for the moment. Formal teams and positions like 'civic defender' don't need to be detailed quite yet.
Wage|Wakening nods.
Wage|Wakening: What else do you have worked out?
David-Visage: More on that, but I don't want to go into too much detail there. Thoughts on other known heroes. How informal partnerships operate between heroes.
David-Visage: And a little about how you might interact with a civic defender.
Wage|Wakening: Cool.
David-Visage: A 'team' of heroes has a specific formal definition, and a degree of legal collective responsibility, so most heroes that you see working together can be talked about as a partnership. Mostly these are two heroes working side by side, typically because either their powers completent each other or just because it's good to have someone at your back.
David-Visage: As a partnership, there is no legal relationship between you. You just happen to be doing the same thing at the same time in a similar way to how you might be doing that with the police or other emergency services.
David-Visage: Informally there is a vague expectation that you at least try working in partnership with a few of the others in your area if only to ensure that you can cooperate properly when a larger hazard crops up (re: giant monster).
Wage|Wakening: *nod*
David-Visage: Not trying a few times would make other heroes wonder a little. Make them look at you a bit more closely. Just in case.
David-Visage switches subjects a bit, "Amusingly, there are sort of… traditions about the media concerning reporting and merchantdising for heros. At least 'known' ones."
Wage|Wakening: Oh? Like certain products that are never endorsed?
Wage|Wakening: Or media reporters don't go to the houses they suspect are the civilian aliases?
David-Visage: The later is true. The media has, in general, more self perservation than to make villians think that they can identify heroes real IDs for them and a few incidents in the past have proved that -some- villians would just demand answers if they thought someone had them.
Wage|Wakening: Or, on the other side of the coin, overzealous heroes?
David-Visage nods, "Although that'd shade towards more villanous. OTOH, there is at least one case of a 'tell all' reporter coming down with an odd case of amnesia…"
David-Visage: In terms of product endorsement, that is actually a case of your 'persona' having obligations. Unless directed towards charity, rather than the persona's account, payments are taxed pretty heavily (in absence of evidence they can only assume that you fall into the worst tax bracket). OTOH, people trying to use your image without permission get looked at by the authorities.
Wage|Wakening: So it's kind of built into the law a 'fraud protection' clause?
Wage|Wakening: I'm sure that's popular with more recent heroes/villains. "No, you can't take 'Vermillion Vindicator', that's already copyrighted over in Kansas City."
David-Visage: It is generally 'image' rather than simple name. There are a number of 'White Knight's in existance, but…
Wage|Wakening: "They have different identifying characteristics?" "The White Knight of Harlem is actually a bit of a misnomer, a power armored hero who wears bone-white armor painted with markings of death, as contrasted with the White Knight of London, who goes into combat in ancient medieval armor and a lance, etc, etc?"
David-Visage nods…
Wage|Wakening: "Which could also lead to amusing team-up possibilities. "Yes, we are Team Firebrand. That's Firebrand the Fisticuff, I'm Firebrand the Flayer, and this is Firebrand the Forecaster. We're super-effective."
David-Visage douses you with water.
Wage|Wakening: Ackkk pfffthhh pfthhhh
David-Visage murmurs, "As a side note, Playboy (and Playgirl) do have some 'special issues' done on occasion…"
Wage|Wakening: Both the "Good Girls/Boys" and the 'Bad Girls/Boys'?
David-Visage just smiles…
Wage|Wakening: I honestly don't see our hero(ine) doing that right away, even with some gentle guidance from inner voices.
Wage|Wakening: I'm picturing a 'fair game' sort of understanding between villains and heroes, too. That they *don't* go after each other in 'civilian' time/areas, understanding that it isn't profitable/endangers bystanders.
David-Visage: There is a sort of… dividing line in villians. Some are more homicidal than others and a few just bypass violence almost entirely.
Wage|Wakening: I could see a 'succubi/incubi' type not even *going* to violence, just getting busted for immoral/illegal carnal acts.
David-Visage: Hmm. Not exactly the type you'd combat though. Not unless they were doing so lethally.
Wage|Wakening: Someone who had 'Purity/Clean Thoughts' as their schtick might, however.
Wage|Wakening: Though something just came to mind as well.
Wage|Wakening: With the number of 'sponsored' floating about, it's largely a free-for-all, the ones who have put 'rules' on it besides the basics are actually humanity, right?
David-Visage nods, "There might be some support, or distain, for a few things done but generally they want to be an audiance or player rather than tweaking the details. It's -interesting- when there are customs come up with by the people rather than the spirits."
Fifth - Ditto Stuff
Wage|Wakening: Ooh, you can take Ditto! and that thing about the thing and the thing!
David-Visage made up a superhero setting with ulterior motives contained within ("We want to watch something -interesting-!").
Wage|Wakening: And with differing methods but the general gist being that superheroes are *made* not born.
Wage|Wakening: From my understanding.
David-Visage nods, "In born powers simply don't happen, although there are cases of powers seemingly following a family line. But apartent origins vary a lot."
Wage|Wakening: It's a rather interesting setting, with legal traditions and customs that are much more reasonable than some settings.
David-Visage: Thank you?
Wage|Wakening: You're welcome.
David-Visage eyes Ditto and hmms.
Ditto meeps!
David-Visage: I was just concidering a situation with an appartment, a previous tenant, and a few things arriving for her…
Ditto: Like some random bits of mail… and eventually, a largeish crate?
David-Visage: No return addresses on anything and a couple of the envelopes seemed a little… hefty.
Ditto: Hefty?
David-Visage: More than just a letter inside of them.
Ditto hmms and idly flexes one, just to see if there's a hint of what's inside.
David-Visage: It would be padded, but the bend is a bit like paper. No real feel of a spine though so it'd not be a book.
Ditto nods and would likely leave those be, as opening someone else's mail is generally frowned upon.
Ditto: But a few days later, there's a crate?
David-Visage nods, "The crate is pretty big. It'd sort of fit through your door and, at the moment, is about blocking the corridor. Honestly, you could fit a -coffin- in the thing with room to spare."
Ditto: Well, I've only just moved in, so it might be a couple of days before I start really thinking about it.
David-Visage murmurs, "Ignoring it is pretty hard though…"
Ditto: After a couple of days, though, the bulk of it is going to make getting everything else sorted away kind of difficult… and shouldn't someone have come to claim it or pick it up by now?
Ditto eyes a prybar and the crate. "Maybe there's an invoice or something inside…"
David-Visage: The crate was oddly hard to open for something made of simple wood, but the hiss when it was pryed open proved that it was actually something more… advanced indeed. The side of the crate, the only part which had turned out to be removable without trying to utterly break it, fell down and on the inside was stuck a plain envelope and a small plastic pill bottle.
David-Visage: Inside the crate proper, a plastic bag rippled as though filled with liquid… but somehow failed to collapse out of the crate despite the lack of support.
Ditto picks up the envelope (and gives the bag a cautious prod with a finger) ,then stands up, looking over the outside of the envelope before opening it.
David-Visage: Whatever was in the bag accepted the prod as the finger easily dented the contents, but then seemed to try to squeeze around it through the plastic for a moment before smoothly pushing the probing figure out. This was, to say the least, not natural at all. Looking at it closedly did show that there was some sort of catch which would lift the top of the crate off though.
David-Visage: The envelope is plain, like the thousands of cheap white envelopes throughout the country, and the flap is simply tucked in rather than sealed.
Ditto: Well, that'll make it easier to put back without looking like it's been tampered with. I open it up and look at the contents?
David-Visage: A tray of components formed the top of the crate beneath the lid, preformed plastic holding individual parts clipped in place. The sight of the part was a little startling though as they held a smooth and rounded look despite being obviously artifical. And, more importantly, two of the parts were pushing up in the clips and starting to make the tray rise now that it was no longer held firmly down…
David-Visage: "This is what you asked for." The note said in anonymous printer generated letters, "Put it in a big enough tub, with the components, then take the pill and get in. The suit will form itself around you as the pill gets you ready for interfacing. If I hear from you again then I'll concider your word to be no good and come to kill you, consequences or not."
Ditto: Okay, that's kind of… disturbing, especially with the whole 'kill' thing. Seems like getting in contact with the shipper is out of the question… not to mention that it seems like this might involve some sort of under-the-table business. But what's this about a suit and components? I try levering off the top, eyeing the components and reaching out to feel one or two of them with bare fingers.
David-Visage: The metal was warm under his fingers, not hot but simply warm as though it had been in use just a moment ago, and thrummed ever so faintly in a way which left an impression of power. The way that two other components were seemingly trying to make like balloons, despite also being made of the same pale grey metal, did suggest that this wasn't normal technology.
Ditto: Okay, okay. I try to think. This is serious ultratech stuff. Like, probably the kind of thing people kill for, or would do unpleasant things to if they found out I had it or knew where it went.
Ditto: So… clearly the best option is to take it for myself, right?
David-Visage: The side of the 'bag' in the crate rippled for a moment, due to no obvious cause, then went still.
Ditto: After all, if I have it and someone comes after it, I doubt they'll want witnesses. If I get rid of it somehow, people will likely try to get information about where I sent it to… and then get rid of witnesses. I try grabbing the bag and tugging it out of the crate?
David-Visage: Getting the bag out of the crate was an odd experience. There seemed to be a lag between when it was pulled or pushed and when it seemed to realise that it should be move, causing it to flow a few moments later. While heavy, it wasn't as heavy as it should have been for the size and felt closer to trying to wrestle an oversized bean bag around.
Ditto: I wrestle the non-newtonian goo into the bathroom, plug the drain on the tub, and then figure out how to open the bag and pour the stuff in.
David-Visage: Scissors, or a knife, seemed the best bet as the bag looked to be completely sealed and fluid tight.
Ditto: The bag gets left in the bathroom as I go out to get some scissors, then return. I carefully cut the bag open and do my best to pour the stuff in so it doesn't splash or get on me.
David-Visage: Having been cut open, the contents of the bag doesn't splash or spill out and seems to take active effort to persuade it to leave the bag at all. When it doesn, however, it flows as a mass and draws itself into the tub… only to pile off to the far side for several seconds before flowing more smoothly. It was, however, somewhat suspicious how it filled the tub almost exactly despite that not matching the volume which you knew had been in the bag.
Ditto eyes it for about twenty seconds to make sure it doesn't go all 'smart' liquid like helium and start crawling out of the tub. Then it's back to the other room for the component trays and the pills.
David-Visage: The only change which occured was that, with that extra time watching, the fluid level rose just enough to -exactly- fill the tub and no more or less before it stilled and the surface became mirror smooth.
Ditto: Once I'm back, it's time to start taking the components out and putting them in the tub, carefully at first to make sure the fluid doesn't spill over. Sure, it's probably not going to, but no sense in not being careful.
David-Visage: Each component floated on the surface of the liquid for several moments after being placed before sinking slowly, not causing even a single drop to be spiltm and somehow this even occured with the two components which strained against your hands to fly upwards.
Ditto: Can I make guesses as to what sorts of things these components are for?
David-Visage: (( They're mostly flat or oddly curved plates of pale grey metal with the occasional protrusion which looks like onyx. Except for those two components which are definitely anti-grav units of some kind. ))
Ditto: ((*nods*))
Ditto: Once they're all in, I take a look at the pill bottle, turning it over in my hands before opening it.
David-Visage: The bottle was generic and the labeless, although it did have a childproof cap on the top. Inside a single pill rattled about on its own, vaguely visible through the brown plastic, and once the top has been openned it could be seen to be colored black on one side and white on the other.
Ditto: I shrug and tip the pill into my hand, then dry-swallow it. Bottoms up!
David-Visage: The pill goes down with surprising easy, just slipping down without trouble. There was no obvious effect aside for a vague thought that it didn't even have a taste to it.
Ditto: I eye the tub for a moment. Probably going to want to ditch the clothes first…
Ditto: Yeah, definitely ditch the clothes. Strip down, lock the bathroom door, and then cautiously dip a foot into the tub.
David-Visage: The liquid yeilds without rippling or spilling, feeling neither warm nor cold but simply a little… viscous as you put your foot into it. Whatever had happened the components there was no sign of them at all as you put your foot down inside the tub.
Ditto: First one foot, then the other… and then I settle down to sit in the tub, dipping my arms as well.
David-Visage: The fluidic metal shifted, giving room and helping softly cradle your body rather than allow it to sink entirely to the bottom. It felt like being gently supported from each sides, like being weightless, and oddly pleasent. The sudden urge to yawn, however, came as a complete surpiseas did the realisation that those areas of skin still exposed to the air felt rather cold.
Ditto: Eh, might as well yawn. I try to lift a hand out of the fluid to cover my mouth.
David-Visage: The hand which emerged was covered, literally, with what had to be a finger thick layer of the fluid. It was less that the hand had come up out of the liquid than the surface had reshaped itself to keep it covered even as it was raised. The yawn was obviously a precursor to something else as a feeling of fatigue, of exhaustion, washed over you and the support of the liquid round your body was just so darned -comfortable-…
Ditto: "Mmmm…" I yawn, giving in and leaning back, letting myself 'soak' in the fluid.
David-Visage: Cradled by the comfortable and seemingly warming fluid, it was just so easy to just relax. To let the tiredness wash over you. To close your eyes for a moment and relax.
Ditto: Wriggle a little and slip deeper in the tub…
David-Visage: Darkness and slumber claimed you as, slowly, you slipped beneath the surface yet still breathed. The fluidic machine began its work immediately, preparing to work with the signalling nanites which had been in the pills, and if it had truly had a mind then it would have been horrified at the 'damage' which must have obviously taken place to cause it's user to diverge from the rough profile which was in storage. Her skeletal structure was odd, entire organs were incorrect, and the user was even the wrong -height-.
David-Visage: As it was, it didn't panic. It didn't question. It simply began work at 'fixing' its user to fit the proper profile then readying the adjustments which it was to integrate into her.
Ditto: Given how I had to bend my knees just to fit all the way in the tub, it's not surprising…
David-Visage slips OOC.
David-Visage: I would do something about you waking up, but it's sort of late. I hope the ending hints at some of what will happen?
Ditto grins. "Wake up in a tub I can fit in comfortably, well-rested and all?"
David-Visage grins in returns, "Amongst other things. It's got a 'message' to play to explain a few things to 'her'."
Ditto grins. "You mean him." ^_-
David-Visage just smiles.
Sixth
David-Visage: It was actually more a random thought. Sometimes powers, adn power sets, can be… odd.
Wage|Wakening: Yes, they can. *prepares to jump in the randomizer/oddity device*
David-Visage: Hey, you're not getting out of your marriage -that- easily… ^_^
Wage|Wakening: Oh, thought it was a different tangent. All good. What would be next on the training agenda then, from an ooc viewpoint?
David-Visage: That was a tangent which became a vague pondering as to what you'd do when you met such a person. But I'll leave that aside for now.
David-Visage: The training would primarily be getting you used to, and used to using, your new physical capabilities. Especially to do things which you'd not have contemplated before.
David-Visage: Roof jumping, how -landing- isn't something to worry about, how punching solid objects usually has the object yeild…
Wage|Wakening: I'm sure energy conservation is part of this procedure?
David-Visage nods, "It would stress conserving your fire, because getting it back through emotions may not be the best idea when your in a fight and through actual fire can be… adverse unless it's actually there. Feel free to tire yourself out as about the easiest 'trick' after fire breath is self-healing (including banishing fatigue)."
David-Visage conciders what tricks you have available to you, "You're pretty limited in some ways, simply because you don't have proper instruction or the couple of centuries experience to do anything too much more than what it is 'aligned' towards. It's dragonfire, dragon's power, and is pretty straightforward."
Wage|Wakening: What other talents related to strength? Falling? Flight at some future point as a trick?
David-Visage: From easiest and least power consuming to hardest and most draining the basic continum is something like : fire breath, resisting cold, self-healing, brief enhancement of physical capacities, temporary manifestation of draconic abilities (from flying on wings of fire to taking damage as though you were a supernatually tought critter of several tons in mass rather than a flimsy human form).
Wage|Wakening: So in other words, the higher up the chain, the closer to a 'finishing move' they are?
Wage|Wakening: Or a 'save the ass' move?
David-Visage nods.
David-Visage: It says something that the brief enchancement is additive while the 'draconic manifesation' can be multiplicative.
David-Visage: And, yes, they can be stacked if you really want to exhausted your power that much.
Wage|Wakening: So 'in case of emergency break glass' versus 'first aid kit'?
David-Visage nods.
David-Visage: Unless, of course, someone tries something like fighting you in the middle of an inferno…
Wage|Wakening: Would that extinguish the inferno by extension, or comic book physics?
David-Visage: Your absorption isn't ranged so it's more that you'd be regaining power just moving about in it. And, primarily, comic books physics. ^_^
Wage|Wakening: I could picture that being a rude surprise for an opponent who attempted to burn her up. "She's NOT DYING! OH GOD, she's INVINCIBLE!"
David-Visage: If you're using that then word will get around though. But against the unprepared…?
Wage|Wakening: I could see an effort being made to 'pretend' like the fire hurts and is painful, etc, just to throw observers off.
David-Visage: Not planning on helping the fire department then?
Wage|Wakening: Oh, dangity. D'oh. <.< >.:** Gotta be splashy and help the fire department, stop thinking like a shadowrunner!
David-Visage laughs.
Wage|Wakening: You laugh, but you know what I'm talking about.
David-Visage: I do. I definitely do.
Wage|Wakening: It's a hard thing to do sometimes.
Wage|Wakening: I think our heroine would be doing much more help with fire-fighting rescue/aid than trying to be all sneaky like
David-Visage nods, "Being so… helpful does help with your reputation."
Wage|Wakening: I'm just imagining the 'introduction' being her going in and rescuing a few trapped firefighters.
David-Visage nods and listens to what else you were concidering.
Wage|Wakening: Well, given that firefighters actually *have* flame-resistant/retardant clothing, they would be the best folks to look to for outfits. Drawback, because most of it tends to be thicker and stiffer, any such things would be items like jackets or such.
David-Visage blinks, "I did mention, IIRC, that a costume is being 'arranged' for you."
Wage|Wakening: You did. This is more one of those 'with grateful thanks from firefighters everywhere' sorts of gestures I was thinking about.
Wage|Wakening: Sort of like John McClain in Die Hard 2, wearing the firefighting jacket through the movie, etc.
David-Visage murmurs, "It'll be a wahile before it becomes 'everywhere'. Everyone has to start small."
Wage|Wakening: True. There's more marketability on growing the product versus mass-saturating the market with it.
David-Visage: And, to be frank, despite your abilities you're simply not a 'big enough fish' to make a splash like that from the start.
Wage|Wakening: True. And that much press that fast could be bad for other reasons as well.
David-Visage nods, "Villians would… notice."
Wage|Wakening: "If that person is getting that much attention… WE should start paying attention." yeah, that'd be BAD
David-Visage conciders the training and the point at which the voice would speak less and less.
Wage|Wakening: Well, she *would* have to be weaned from the habit of having someone there *ALL* the time, that'd be bad in conflicts or in discussions with other people.
David-Visage: Well, she'd know that it'd happen. That eventually it'd only be able to occasionally intervene with a comment or short bit of advice.
Wage|Wakening: *nod* Because to it, where would be the fun of observing if it has to tell everything?
David-Visage nods, "It would mention vague things about 'agreements' and such, things that it says that it's not supposed to tell her of."
Wage|Wakening: I think with the rapport built by that point, it'd be "I'm not cleared for that, less said, the better."
David-Visage smiles, "This is actually modelling how, in comics, those who gain powers seem to suddenly learn/gain competence pretty darned quickly then level off…"
Wage|Wakening: And then at random points have either 'upgrades' or 'alterations' as fits the story?
David-Visage: There is some slow advancement, or broadening of skills, but that's more natural than the sudden spike.
Wage|Wakening: Well, yes, because introduction stories are what get the viewer's attention.
Wage|Wakening: But they can't be tedious and slow
David-Visage grins.
Wage|Wakening: Not that she'd be looking for it, but can she become pregnant, or is that locked off due to her power source? (ie, only her husband could do that, but he's dead)?
David-Visage: While technically possible, she'd find that she's incredibly infertile with anyone who isn't a dragon or closely related to one (mystically or via blood).
Wage|Wakening: That is actually rather comforting.
David-Visage murmurs, "Of course, -with- that group of people…"
Wage|Wakening: Hyperfertility?
Wage|Wakening: In particular anyone directly related to the husband?
Wage|Wakening: Which brings up a whole other concept that didn't get mentioned, the husband is gone, but is there a legality that might come up that a future brother/uncle/etc may be obligated to take on all wives of the deceased?
David-Visage: You'd have no idea. It isn't as if you -see- dragons around in the modern day…
Wage|Wakening: True. If they are around, they're hiding really darn well.
Seventh
David-Visage: Consciousness returned slowly, curled up in a warm and comfortable darkness as you had been, and temporarily without worries. Panic was literally not an option under this artifical calm and pleasent twinges along your body coaxed your mind back from its enforced slumber.
David-Visage: A voice had spoken to you, the words lingering and still clear as if just been said when your mind was once more fully alert, but what it had said was a little… ominious.
David-Visage: "Wakey, wakey, Samantha. It's time to get up, Sammi, and for my favourite little blackmailer to do penance for everything. And, yes, this means that you're not going to be able to become a villian like you might have planned."
David-Visage: "By the time you hear this I won't be around any more so I don't care much -what- you might do with those pictures. Your suit is going to work like you wanted, from anti-grav and shields to the programable projectiles, but I've added a few extra… undocumented features into the interface nanites. Which may just have rebuilt your body a little."
David-Visage: "You're going to be a hero, Sammi, like it or not. I'll not mention the carrot, but the stick is that you'll need to use the suit regular and won't be able to do anything… too unethical in it."
David-Visage: "The tutorial will show you how to use it for the most part, but expect a few more messages as you trigger stuff. Have fun…"
David-Visage: Fluid shifted around you, freeing up your lungs and supplying air for the first time in too long, then gently boyed you upwards until you lay on the warm metalic surface of the 'fluid' in the tub which yeilded just enough to support you comfortably.
Medley: Nnnn. Sleep is nice… and it's so nice here. Go away, person, I'm not Samantha…
David-Visage: Slumber refused to return as neurochemistry was carefully, but relentlessly, tweaked to enforce wakefullness and proper recall of that speech. And, more than anything else, the air in the bathroom was a little cool on bare skin…
Medley: "Mmmmr." I open my eyes a little, staring up at the ceiling and blinking a little as things come back. Being in the bathroom, the crate… the -suit-! I try to jerk myself to a sitting position, looking down at myself.
David-Visage: Sitting up was a little harder than usual, but the motion was just as thoughtless as it would normally have been. That fact stood out as odd when looking down to show how your chest now curved out in quite impressive, if you'd been looking at it from another point of view, way.
Medley: "I…" I stare down at… boobs? Heat flares to my face as I poke at it with a fingertip.
David-Visage: The contact was felt on both sides, flesh yeilding a little at the contact, and the voice she had heard before spoke once more. Or, perhaps, she just suddenly 'remembered' it speaking, "A touch bigger, a fair bit more sensitive… If you're going to lure men into situations with them then I thought that you might as well have better 'bait' even if you had mentioned about maybe wanting a reduction."
Medley: "W-wait…" I murmur, one hand sliding down to check other areas. "…hello?"
David-Visage: The swell of her hips and the feel of her legs seemed to fit with your other changes, helping form a rather nice whole, while a glance in the bathroom mirror revealed a round and open face which seemed to almost invite interest or protective instincts… except that the expression it wore was a little panicked.
Medley: "…oh. Oh, geez…" I watch as the girl's lips mirror what I'm saying, watch her hand come to her mouth and feel my fingers there… "What the fff…"
David-Visage: Your voice was different now, even thought it likely would sound different again to those outside of your own head, and those fingers bore an attractive green glaze on the nails as though they were perfectly painted. Other details were starting to register now, despite having felt perfectly natural before, such as the way your hair brushed against your neck to the fully charged status of the suit you were touching to how your lips seemed fuller than you remembered them being.
Medley: I shiver a little from the chill in the air and quickly push myself up, moving to stand in front of the bathroom mirror.
David-Visage: The mirror only confirmed what you had so far seen about yourself, but the few steps towards it also confirmed that your coordination was not in the least impared despite the change in height and build. Losing contact with the metal, however, caused the awareness of its status to suddenly cease.
Medley stares at the attractive girl in the mirror and watches her blush before quickly grabbing for a towel to wrap around herself. She looks back at the tub, moving over there again and leaning down to touch the surface with a single fingertip.
David-Visage: Awareness of the metal returned as thoughyou were simply recalling something said a moment before or suddenly realising that you had a third arm which had somehow escaped your notice. The armor were fully ready, anit-gravity and inertial dampening shields were at 100%, psuedo-independant mass was ready, spacial fold was holding excess mass excised from the user during recent emergency reapirs of her, and did she want to armor up now?
Medley: I'm naked except for a towel, in a body that I didn't have a few hours ago. Armor would be very nice, yes please.
David-Visage: The metal almost leapt out of the tub, flowing and reshaping itself to wrap around her before she could even react to the motion. It pulled tight around her body, the volume somehow compressing down until it became a thin silver-grey body suit with a belt and 'bracers' which matched some of the previous seen components and a pair of wrap around sunglasses concealing her eyes.
David-Visage: A -very- snug suit in fact, which clung in all the right places and -just- concealed things enough to prove that it wasn't body paint.
Medley: I stare at my hands in shock, then look down at the plane of my chest, touching the material there with a fingertip.
David-Visage: The material of the glove merged with that of the chest upon contact, like two pools of mercury touching, and allowed skin to touch skin. Pulling away caused them to seperate once more as though they had never intermingled. A corner of her awarness offered to remove the armor from the indicated area if it was desireable?
Medley: I try to think, wondering if that affects the suit integrity or is just a visual thing.
Medley: ((Since the suit seems to be thought/intention controlled))
David-Visage: It was just like remembering information told to you just a minute before as the 'realisation' came that this wouldn't effect integrity of the armor except during such merging. Or, if desired, it could be set not to merge like that. Indeed, given a few hours the suit could also rearrange itself to make up to a certain percentage of it seemingly transparent.
Medley: "How about clothes?" I wonder. The stuff seems to be able to alter volume and consistency. Could it do something less form-fitting/appropriate for streetwear?
David-Visage: The idea of making the suit turn into something like that seemed… repugnant as soon as you concidered it. It was like someone had offered you a platefull of maggots and mold before scooping up some to push it into your mouth. You were aware that there was some leeway, but…
Medley: I shudder, shifting my train of thought to wearing something -over- the suit.
David-Visage: "I seem you've found one of the lesser 'sticks'." You recalled the voice saying, "This one is a warning to help guide you onto the straighty and narrow but also to make your life… interesting."
David-Visage: Doing so would be possibly, you realise, but the effect of the boundary of the inertial field would be… detrimental. You'd be replacing the other garment every couple of days unless you kept the defensive field shut down which would also negate flight.
Medley: Meaning wearing clothes has the choice of either destroying the clothes or leaving her defenseless?
David-Visage: That seemed… right. No new nuggest of knowledge manifested though.
Medley looks down at her hands, makes a face, and wonders what else this suit can do…
David-Visage: Memories dropped themselves into her mind like stones, continuing on in increasing detail as though she were trying to recall -everything- about the suit: the flight systems, the inertial field, the accelerator arrays, the spacial fold for material storage, the programable psuedo-independant budding systems, various preprogrammed drones and remotes, ECM and ECCM, vibrator, wireless capacity, thermal imaging system…
Medley: …vibrator?
Medley: no, wait, I don't want to think about -that-!
David-Visage: The response to -that- was frank, impersonal, and said a lot about what could be done with a dirty mind, a fluidic metal capable or rearranging itself, and someone whose nervous system was laced with nanites linked to said metal.
Medley goes pale, grits her teeth, and does her very very best to focus on turning that -off-. The question of who designs a futuresuit with -that- sort of equipment will have to wait until later.
David-Visage: It was quite obvious that the system wasn't just not on, but hadn't been shaped just yet like several of the others already were. It was, for the moment, simply software yet to be run on the medium of the 'suit'.
Medley relaxes at that, shaking her head a little to get that momentary panic out of her head as her imagination ran away with her. "Why would you -want- that?" she murmurs, thoughts racing as she tries to decide what to do.
David-Visage: A memory about deliberately 'upgraded' endorphine and nervous reactions drifted through your mind along with the voice adding, "I'd advise against trying to use sex as a weapon, Sammi. I suspect that you'll loose focus."
Medley: I frown a little, getting up and moving into the bedroom to check my drawers for clothes. "So, uh… you mentioned something about 'putting Sammi on the straight and narrow'. What's with that, Mister Suit?"
David-Visage: You find yourself realising that the suit itself doesn't have that sort of information stored in it. Although it does have images, and a few medical scans, of its current user 'Sammi' which were used in the recent repairs of said user.
Medley: "Like before and after?" I dig towards the back of the drawers, looking for something… well, kinda disposable. If the suit destroys it, fine… but I'm not feeling secure enough to go out without the suit, and I'm not feeling like going out wearing -only- the suit.
David-Visage: A chunk of knowledge, almost large enough to induce a headache, offered itself in terms of what repairs were carried out. It was a laundry list and more of everything from 'genetic damage' to 'missing organs' to 'skeletal distortion'. All of which the suit had apparently fixed over the previous ninety seven hours.
Medley: FOUR DAYS! "Oh, CRAP!" I yelp, dropping the boxers I was holding. I was supposed to have job interviews! At places I actually wanted to work! "Crap, crap, -crap-!"
David-Visage: A GPS system helpfully unfolded along with the awareness that Google Maps, or other forms of navigation, was available…
David-Visage: Which places did you want to go to again?
Medley: I step back and sit on the edge of the bed. "Oh, just shut up…" I mutter, trying not to think about how I'm totally screwed. Someone else's body, someone else's armor, in a town where all my networking and connections have just become useless, missing interviews I can't go to because I'm now someone else. And it's not like I have ID so I can get a job like this anyways…
Medley: a bit of black humor about 'being equipped to rob banks' probably springs to mind.
David-Visage: The impossed memories and awareness didn't retreat, obviously unaware of how to do so. Instead it just had begun to helpfully point out various forms of ID in the apartment, including some still in the 'misdirected mail', when the idea about robbing a bank occured to you. What struck then was somewhere between a savage toothache, a full body migraine, violent nausea, and creeping dread of the very -concept-.
Medley: "N-nnn-" I whimper, trying to curl up into a ball tight enough to squeeze all the pain out.
David-Visage: The 'discomfort' vanished within seconds, disappearing swiftly after the thought which originated it was dismissed from her mind. When it had gone a memory remained of the voice exclaiming, "Bad Sammi! You started planning doing something naughty, didn't you? Don't worry, I figure that after a few weeks your thoughts will just naturally veer away from such subjects."
Medley: /me groans, pushing herself upright and hugging herself. "Someone doesn't have a sense of humor…" I murmur. "But with ID, I'm certain I could find a -honest-, -legitimate- job that doesn't break any laws." I get up and go over to pick through the piles of envelopes, seeing what my options are.
David-Visage: Most of the envelops were anonymous and thick ones, padded on the inside to boot, but a few were more offical ones. Including a notice from the DMV…
Medley: Likely addressed to a 'Samantha', no doubt. I peel it open and take a look at the contents.
David-Visage: You'd always heard that heroes had unlikely things happen to them, but this was possibly the first time that it had seemed to be true. How likely was it that the envelope would contain a replacement ID for one 'Samantha Honeycot'?
Medley: "…" I look at the picture (which probably matches my new face… and I start thinking, wondering who the 'real' Samantha might have been. What her public history was, that sort of thing.
David-Visage: The only memory which came to mind was the medical files and images which the armor possessed. The licence didn't have any points or cavets on it though.
Medley: "You mentioned wireless. Can you google her?"
David-Visage: Rather than inserting the information into your mind, this time the results displayed themselves on the inside of the sunglasses in the form of a 'projected' screen. Which showed exactly what was asked for…
David-Visage: (( http://www.google.co.uk/search?gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=her ))
Medley blinks and barks a laugh. "Okay, uh… 'Google 'Samantha Honeycott'.'"
David-Visage: (( Fade there to IC browsing? ))
Medley: ((*nods*))
David-Visage slips OOC, "Sorry to end it there, but 'research is downtime stuff'."
Medley nods. "Makes sense."
David-Visage: I hope that was a good start though.
Medley grins. "It makes me curious about who this Sammi was. And what she did. And how that's going to affect me trying to lead a normalish life. ^^
David-Visage smiles, "A not very nice woman who looked very attractive and friendly?"
Medley: Any hints on how she was employed?
Medley is now known as Ditto
David-Visage: Independantly, although there are hints she held lots of jobs for short periods under different names.
Ditto: Ahhhh. So I have some leeway there. ^^
David-Visage: Any comment on the above?
Wage|Rewaking: I think I got very lucky in comparison? And you'd mentioned I need to get a name. And wow, kind of neat just the same for 'Sam'.
David-Visage grins, "Thank you."
Ditto: ^^;
David-Visage: Both of you need 'hero names' though.
Ditto whimpers.
Ditto: Not even gonna -think- about being a hero. ^^
Ditto: Honest. :D
Wage|Rewaking: But… don't you dream of helping people out and making things right? I mean, like…
Ditto: Yes, but that doesn't mean I have to go out actively -looking-, right?
Wage|Rewaking: Well, I dunno. What does your heart tell you?
David-Visage murmurs, "Wait until the carrot starts being used."
Ditto: My heart tells me that I need to listen to my brain and get a job so I can live somewhere and eat food.
Wage|Rewaking: And now you have plenty of skills and talents to make that happen that you didn't have before, on top of what you already knew.
Ditto has two… very large talents.
Wage|Rewaking: You have a lot more than that! A lot! Think about the possibilities.
Wage|Rewaking: And… if no one else suggests it… Iron Maiden for you, Ditto.
Wage|Rewaking: Or… something else suitable.
Ditto would rather not infringe on a band name. ^^
Wage|Rewaking: Okay.
Wage|Rewaking: What else could we come up with? Unless David wants to play with something else? And you may want to find out about that carrot, too. =P
Ditto coughs and glares at david. "I think I have a good idea… ":P
David-Visage gives you a chance to talk or ask questions.
Ditto assumes it's related to a certain 'vibrator' option?
David-Visage: Not exactly.
Wage|Rewaking: See?
Wage|Rewaking will have to step away from the seat for a few moments, there is to be thick steak, crisp asparagus, baked potatoes…
Ditto: Probably brain-stimulation rewarding. Like with the bank robbery thing but in reverse.
David-Visage: Enjoy that, Wage.
David-Visage nods, "A 'pat on the head'. Of course, over time, both will be a little more eratic and downscaled."
Ditto grins.
David-Visage hmms.
Wage|Rewaking returns from tasty, tasty meat. Nom nom nom.
David-Visage: Welcome back.
Wage|Rewaking: Thank you.
Wage|Rewaking: Oh! What does the new status do as far as normal eating and stuff? Higher food consumption, less, something else?
David-Visage: You'd be eating an ammount more suited for a larger and heavier man, but not outside human consumption. OTOH, meat would be a higher priority…
David-Visage murmurs, "As opposed to the 'suit' which is perfectly happy scavenging 'reactor fuel'."
Wage|Rewaking: Meaattttttt
Ditto: ^_^;
David-Visage: Rare or well cooked, either is fine.
David-Visage grins, "So, any thoughts about what sort of city you'd be in? I should mention that there is a tendancy towards larger cities in this world which may just be due to a need/desire for a single champion of sorts… Small towns tend to be -really- small towns and the biggest cities aren't much biggere, but in the middle things tend towards the higher end. If that make sense."
Ditto: Big sounds good?
Wage|Rewaking: Well, I'm partial to Chicago, however, that is a rather *large* city and probably already has a guardian set.
Wage|Rewaking: Alternatively, there is Milwaukee and Indiannapolis, which are smaller but not towns or villages.
Wage|Rewaking: I'd like to avoid much smaller communities, simply due to the fact that in a smaller community, everyone knows everyone else?
Wage|Rewaking apologizes for ramble.
David-Visage: By the above I was meaning that what would be 'small town' tends to have more conglomerated into a single location for a more reasonably sized city.
Ditto: Less urban sprawl?
David-Visage: To step back a little into meta, the spirits nudge things a little because they want a number of 'stages' to set their little games up on. Very small towns aren't conductive to such things for the most part and larger places are easier to 'pay back' for their use.
Wage|Rewaking: And as far as cities, a small city is a better start?
Wage|Rewaking: Or am I misunderstanding the concept?
David-Visage nods, "Yes. What is a small city in our world would be larger in that one simply through conglomeration."
Wage|Rewaking: "So where will fate put us, and will we both be in the same city?"
Ditto murmurs that travel was easier when it was just a winged magical girl… ^_^
David-Visage says nothing about the differences between 'fate' and 'central casting'.
Ditto grins.
Wage|Rewaking: I like this idea, but go on. Where we at?
David-Visage: Discussion of what you might do there and how you'd start. I don't have the time to start a scene proper, but if we want to bounce about ideas…?
Wage|Rewaking: Well, we know what my deal is going to be… not so sure about Med/ditters?
Ditto: Mew?
Wage|Rewaking is going to try and help the fire department, at least, that's what looks t obe the working idea?
Ditto: Oh, in terms of what we're going to be doing?
David-Visage nods, "Any specialities or things to focus on? Like being a regular patroller or, as Wage is, working closely with the fire department."
Ditto: Well, I'm approaching this as an 'unwillingly drawn into the action' sort of deal.
David-Visage hands you a suit which can -easily- listen to police bands…
Ditto: so I think there would have to be some kind of inducement as to why I would want to do so?
Ditto was thinking a 'it's not enough to 'not be bad' sort of goal from the suit's designer.
David-Visage: If you want to elaborate on the idea?
Ditto: Well…
Ditto: you can easily not think of bank robberies and muggings and avoid doing criminal things.
Ditto: but I think the suit's inventor wanted Sammi to be -more- than just an ordinary citizen.
Ditto: so it would make sense that she has some sort of compulsion in place to encourage her down that path, as well as the 'reward' for doing so.
Wage|Rewaking: Perhaps things 'unlocking' depending on how… altruistic she is?
Polk_Kitsune is now known as Polk_Kitsune
Ditto: hmmm.
Ditto: Not as blatant as that?
Ditto: But more a nudging. A niggling sense of 'hey, I should do something nice'.
Ditto: and then when you finally do find something, you get the reward aspect, but it also reduces the compulsion tingle.
Wage|Rewaking: Positive reinforcement via 'carrot' but not a brutal one.
Ditto: And it's not quite gamified like what you're thinking.
David-Visage listens and makes notes.
Ditto: Part of the whole counter blackmail thing is 'you were a calculating villanous blackmailer, and I wnt to turn you into a hero'
Ditto: at least, that's the way I'm interpreting the evidence.
Wage|Rewaking: "Because I *do* care, moreso than you *used* to.
David-Visage murmurs, "Don't think about blackmail. -Really- don't think about blackmailing someone."
Ditto: and saying 'if you be nice, then you get rewards ' plays into her old calculating self.
Ditto: but getting to her on a baser level.
Ditto: not saying anything explicit or providing anything in the way of instructions?
Wage|Rewaking: So subtle nudges of "I have something I could do to help out here" versus "I MUST I MUST I MUST MAKE THAT DRUG BUST!"
Ditto nods. "I imagine it'll escalate over time if you don't act on it."
Wage|Rewaking: Or even "I wish there was something I could do" Suit interface brings up a list of positive options that could be done with ease?
Ditto: but it's not so much a 'be nice, get powerup' cycle.
Ditto: It's more that you have this -feeling- that you want to be nice. And if you follow that, you get rewarded.
Wage|Rewaking: And probably not something *huge* but… something to make life easier?
Wage|Rewaking: Like the Stones said… "You can't always get what you want…"
Ditto: I'm not envisioning any sort of specific threshold?
Wage|Rewaking will be back shortly
Ditto: but the suit and your wiring both know when you're being honest.
David-Visage nods, "The maker didn't want to bruteforce you or addict you into being a hero, but is fine with stomping with cleats over being a villian."
Ditto: and it doesn't have to be -grand-, just sincere.
David-Visage notes that he did accidentally leave a hole in this though.
Ditto: Ah?
David-Visage: Technically there's nothing against you plotting to get someone else to do illegal stuff for you.
Ditto: Conspiracy to commit is a crime. ^_^
Ditto: But yeah. See where I'm going?
David-Visage nods, "It's the start of a hole though because he couldn't block certain thoughts else you get the problem with hostages and perception of blame/crime."
Ditto: so best to stomp it down good and hard.
Ditto: and make it look like the door's well-closed.
David-Visage nods.
Ditto: But getting back on track.
Ditto: having something like that in place as an encouragement mechanism?
Ditto: Might help her do a 'patrol' of sorts.
Ditto: you know, an area she traverses just to see if there's altruist acts she can do, even if it's not proper crime-fighting per se.
David-Visage: And an approving nudge?
Ditto: and knowing this area, there's always the possibility of a criminal element coming around.
Ditto: which would be a good lead-in to a more classic heroing.
Wage|Rewaking: And not only that, but would she be using a mask of some sort, a helmet, something to conceal her identity?
Wage|Rewaking: If not, she may have *other issues* to deal with as well
David-Visage: Actually, she already has those 'wrap around sunglasses' and the interial field can be set to distort the look of her face if so desired.
David-Visage: In general, identify protection against recording methods is easy to obtain but is far harder against live people.
Ditto nods.
Wage|Rewaking: Which is something that'll have to be worked on for Lady Brick. (working name, that isn't going to be the real name)
David-Visage: There is also a little 'Clark Kenting' going on which explains how Playboy can have a 'heroc' photoshoot for charity every year.
Ditto grins. "Ohhhhhhhh no."
David-Visage notes that the regular issue which featured 'Abyssal' is now a collectors item.
Ditto: Noooooooo
David-Visage: Ah?
Wage|Rewaking: I think some folks are going to find that concept… unsettling.
Wage|Rewaking: I'm actually in agreement with Ditterz atm.
David-Visage: Hmm?
Wage|Rewaking: Being a centerfold.
Ditto: Although I'm certain our handlers would find… inducements. ^^
David-Visage: It's purely a private matter and I doubt that you two would be interested. Only the… best end up featuring in such.
Wage|Rewaking: And we've got a long, long, long way before that.
Wage|Rewaking will have to corner the outfit at some point (which is in progress) but wonders what sort of other things we should be touching on for the town. And yes, it is rather late for you, David. UK doesn't have Daylight Savings Time, does it?
David-Visage asides, "Abyssal is a major NYC heroine who is said to be a partial inspiration for the 'Portal' game but isn't so limited. She has been active about thirty years, hasn't appreciably aged, and flirts and flusters her way through life. No hints how she is 'normally' or if she is bisexual or just a tease."
