Time passes and stuff happens.  The people involved in the heroics saving the city are invited to receive various awards.  Movie production is moving right along.  Mits becomes increasingly scarse from all the traveling, interviews, and public speaking, and she winds up hiring a secretary, an elderly lady named Roz, to keep track of it all.  But Mits keeps in touch with texts, calls, and video chat.

Emerald is asked to go to a meeting to head up the recruitment drive there.  When she arrives she finds that the auditorium is nearly overflowing with hundreds of people applying to join the Citizen's Patrol.  Roz is there, helping to hand out reams of sign-up sheets.

"Remember to fill out your paperwork legibly.  Share pens.  I don't have enough to go around."

A white-haired girl (young lady? hard to tell if she's a teen or an adorable 20's) enters the place looking around curiously. She had heard this was a place where people were signing up to be heroes. But she herself wasn't 100% sure what that meant. She knew she was different and that "different" people came here to become members of the "Citizens' Patrol".

She approaches Roz and says, "Um... I was just passing through, so... I have a question; What is the Citizens' Patrol?" she looks at Roz with a bright smile.

---

Chris explained to me this is the "introduce your miscellaneous characters here" thread. So any new characters or "threw them in for this chapter for silliness" characters or whatever that you want to throw in, Emerald or Roz will likely interact with you. Obviously having my characters interact with Roz since I'm not gonna RP with myself. :)

Of course, if Joe is at this shindig and helping new recruits, could also interact that way.

  Because he doesn't have anything better to do at the moment, Joe has opted to try and help Emerald out with the crowd.  His lazier tendencies are cursing his conscience right now.

  Still, he thinks with a crowd this size it is probably for the best to have someone with her that can, you know, actually see more than three feet off the ground.

"'The Citizen's Patrol is a volunteer community service organization with a focus on enabling persons of diverse genetic makeup,'" Roz recites from rote memory, "If you want to know more, have a seat, hon."

There aren't many seats left.  Looking at the crowd, the "diverse genetic makeup" is apparent.  Some have slight differences like pointy ears or ridged brows, others look like human-animal hybrids much like Haalima, still others are so strange looking they look like aliens from a Star Wars movie.  The lights dim making a person at the far end stand out because he glows in the dark.  Another, seated behind where Beth is standing, becomes a lot more apparent because his scalp is on fire.  To either side of him are two of the few seats left.

A recruitment video begins playing on the huge screen behind the stage.

"THE CITIZENS PATROL.  REAL LIFE HEROES DEDICATED TO YOUR COMMUNITY..."

The video continues on, with fancy graphics, music, interviews, and whatnot.

Bethany sits next to the fiery-haired one with a bright smile and watches the video.

Among the human-looking ones present is a little boy with brown hair. He's here with his parents, but seems very shy. He sits on his mom's lap.

Among the different, animaly people, a kangaroo-looking gal with red hair is present. She sits somewhere in a back corner with her back against the wall so she can see everyone.

Among the very different sorts are a pair of plant-looking kids who just sit on the floor with anxious smiles, wiggling their leafy ears.

All of them enjoy the video to some degree, though the kangaroo is hiding her enjoyment.

  Joe finds the collection of visually distinct and sometimes strange compared to his generic self people a good sign.  Because it means the world just doesn't care enough to hate them if it took so long to notice 'guy who is on fire' among others in the world.

  Hey, sometimes Apathy is a good thing.  And sometimes we are reminded that Joe's standards can be a bit off.

  "I'm glad the idea of filming before and after videos of how much less I get hit by cars wearing reflective vests was just a joke"  Here is Joe, Joe hates his reflective veOH MY GOD.  Good thing Joe can survive his face being run over by a truck.  Let's see that again with a reflective vest... See, now he was only hit by a Smart Car!

  OOC: Eli looks nothing like Maverick... Unless that is a shy Maverick in which case OOPS.

Roz laughs like a dying raven at Joe's comment.  Fire-head smiles back and gives Beth an aloha sign.

Joe tends to be depicted as "the cool guy," in the video where it implies "even 'the cool guy' will pitch in with chores like cleaning up after a party."

After the video a friendly looking middle-age man with an eye patch steps onto the stage.  http://ginnodangan.files.wordp...2009/11/fma32-21.jpg

"Hello and welcome to the very first official Citizen's Patrol recruitment drive.  I'm Colonel Bradley, code name Cyclops, commander of the UN anti-terrorism special forces.  My mission today is to help you find the right place within the Citizen's Patrol where you can best contribute to your community with your special talents.

"We have a famous guest helping out today.  The lovely and talented Emerald Haynesworth!"

The crowd erupts into applause and cheers!  After cheering with the crowd, Fire-head offers a handshake to Beth.

"Name's Kevin.  Like, nice to meetcha!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:45, Thu 20 Feb 2014.

Emerald blushes and waves. "I'm not alone. That same Cool Joe you saw in the video is here also!"

Bethany smiles, copies the aloha sign, and then handshakes. "I'm Bethany."

After any cheering done for Joe, Emerald speaks into her mic, "Remember; There is no such thing as a stupid question. Bradley, Joe or I will all be willing to answer any question you may have. We have wifi up and running, so please visit our website's faq before asking questions; your question may be right there! Our site is up on the overhead projection: CP.com"

If Emmy knew Joe's thoughts, she'd be glad he's so optimistic.

Bethany raises a hand that quickly. "How exactly are you going to help us find our place in the Citizen's Patrol?"

  Joe is as surprised as anyone he's being depicted as cool.  But of the average looking people it was that or the twelve year old girl.

  "It would probably involve a boring form, and asking you what you think you are good at, and seeing what we can set you up with.  I'll admit this many people probably goes past the whole 'see what happens as it comes up' method we started out with."

"Thank you, Emerald," Bradley answers, "We have a lot of ground to cover, so we'll be taking questions at the end of the presentation.  Our first topic is how we'll be helping you find your place.  The first tool we use is the ultra-simple, user-friendly form being handed out right now.  I'll be walking you through each field to ensure an accurate snapshot of your potential.  Don't worry about mistakes.  They can always be corrected.  And we understand that there are some things about you that cannot be put into words or fit on a form.  Isn't that right, Emerald?"

The overhead shows a picture of the form, already filled out with a fictitious John Doe's information.

Kevin is super pleased with Beth and he smiles brightly.  "Woah!  Dude!  You a boarder too, Bethany?  Radical!  Love the hair, by the way, babe.  Reminds me of the slopes.  Hahah!"

Bethany giggles from the insinuation she's a boarder and headshakes as Kevin asks that, but then blushes and gives an endearing awww? expression. "Like the snow? Thanks! I wanted to learn boarding, but never had anyone who knew how to show me..."

Emerald, meanwhile, is more than happy to help anyone who needs it. Bud and Lumin are the kinds of twins who are ALWAYS talking in concert; be it in unison, or finishing each others' sentences. They soon tell they have some really interesting powers.

Ariel:
Power) Kangaroo - Ariel seems to just have all the capabilities of a kangaroo.

Bethany:
Power) Glow - Bethany can make any or all of her body glow, including "dead" parts like hair or fingernails.

Bud and Lumin:
Power 1) Shape changing - Bud and Lumin seem able to change their shape. Though not their color.
Power 2) Regeneration - If given time to sit in some water, any wounds they have will heal quickly enough to be good as new within a matter of hours.

Eli:
Ability) Eli is listed as not technically having any "powers", but is also listed as being a super genius and having total recall.

  Joe makes a mental note, check later just what percentage of Mutations result in people out of a children's cartoon.  The answer could both be hilarious, and useful against doomsayers unable to say 'rainbows and lollipops are ruining our country!'...  Great, now Joe is worried somebody will crush the white house with a giant tootsie pop.

  "Okay, so Eli is on the growing list of 'people I know smarter than me'...  Don't tell my Dad I said that."

  Papa Darkthorne sense is tingling.

“No way!” Kevin answers Beth, “I'll totally teach ya, babe!  Like... any special kind of boarding you wunna learn besides snow?  Skate?  Surf?”

About 3/4 of the way into the presentation, all the power goes off!  The room becomes completely dark with the exception of the glowing person and Kevin's head.

Bethany makes the rest of herself glow so as to provide more light. She looks around.

Emerald says, "Someone open the doors." halfway expecting this to be just a power-outage. However, she does pull out her cell and texts Mittens with "Power outage. Could be nothing. Could be an attack. Will text in 2 minutes." she figures if this IS an attack, 2 minutes should be all it will take for whoever to assault the place and achieve the objective. So if she DOESN'T text Mittens back, then Mittens will know the place is in danger.

The text is, of course, sent to all current core members.

  "Right, next time. Better windows." Joe's mental standard of 'Auditorium' seems to differ from the actual case it seems.

  At least the freakin special forces guy didn't see this coming any more than the rest of them did?

  Doors wise, Joe will make his way towards the nearest annoying alarm equipped emergency exit provided none of the several dozen forms of violent interruption happen.

Nothing violent happens unless the alarm from the emergency door counts.  The door opens to a relatively clean alley.  A gentle rain is falling.  Roz calls the fire department to let them know what's going on.  Emmy doesn't get a reply from Mits.  The crowd is nervous and begins to murmur.  Bradley took a side-step when the lights went out but quickly calmed down.

"Attention!" he hollers, "We are experiencing technical difficulties.  Please be patient while we restore power.  Those seated near Joe who are unwilling to wait for the kinks to be worked out may exit after returning their application form.

"Is there anyone in the audience able to stand in for the PA system?"

Seeing the rain, most decide to stay seated but a few hand in their forms and exit.  Kevin smiles at Beth.

"Woah.  Glow!  Hah!"

Emerald steps over to where she heard Joe and says, "Joe, I'm gonna step out for five minutes. If I'm not back within five, you can assume something went wrong."

Unless Joe objects, Emerald heads out.

Meanwhile, Bethany smiles and nods at Kevin while going around offering people use her as a beacon.

  Joe is impressed the ones who still left bothered to turn around and hand their forms in first.  "More wrong than now, but hopefully less wrong than I am expecting Emerald."

A short man in the audience, less than 5' tall, steps up to the stage.

"I CAN STAND IN FOR THE PA SYSTEM," he bellows in a voice that would rival a sound system twice his height.

"Good," Bradley says, "Just relay to the audience what I say and we can continue with the presentation, lacking only overheads."

"Tech support says it sounds like our equipment tripped the main breaker," Roz relays to Joe, "They say we need to unplug everything then go to the breaker to flip it back.  How 'bout you take one of the light-maker people to flip the breaker while I pull the plugs."

She offers him the phone with tech support on it.

Emerald sneaks outside and puts her training in stealth and hiding to good use, looking for anyone or anything out of place. When it comes to dark places, she is sure to STILL use cover in case someone has a mutant power that lets them see in total darkness, and she uses her ears to listen for anyone. Outside of that, she is sure to use all senses.

Bethany, meanwhile, is excited to help when she finds out she can be useful. She jogs in place with a bright (haha) smile on her face!

  "Thanks Roz.  If I'm not back in ten minutes, assume gremlins or some other ridiculous problem of the sort us glorified crossing guards have to keep dealing with."

  At Bethany's enthusiasm, Joe decides to keep Mr. Keychain Flashlight (keys sold separately) pocketed for now.  "Thanks for the help, sorry you have to deal with a hassle already."  That said, Joe shall head forth for breaker box puzzle segment... Or just flipping some switches, this is an Auditorium not an Umbrella Corporation building.

Emerald finds some weird looking smattering of mud leading down a concrete stairway to the basement of the building like someone had carried a large object dripping in mud down the stairs while somehow managing to not track any mud with his shoes.  Perhaps whoever it was came down before the rain started.  She notices a light approaching through the glass window in the door.  Soon she can see Joe and Beth entering the basement from the inside.

“No telling how much clutter's down there by now,” the maintenance guy on the phone says, “But the fuse box should be somewhere on the opposite wall from where you're standing.”

It's a big basement.  And very cluttered.  It'll take a while to get to the opposite wall.

Meanwhile, Bethany follows Joe and says, "You know? This is kind of exciting. I mean, it's sad that some people decided to go home, even in the rain. But this is different and adventurous... and maybe the others'll come around."

Emerald meets up with Joe and says, "I found some mud tracked on the steps leading from outside... they also go into the building from here. Odd part is, it's not like the person had muddy feet. More like they were holding something that was dripping mud. So there's a chance someone did tamper with the fuse box."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:45, Tue 08 Apr 2014.

  Joe nods to Beth, "I figure if they wanted to do this sort of thing, they'll come back later."

  He takes Emeralds explanation like any rational person would.  "Right, if it turns out we're dealing with mud people then we are just turning around and the fusebox can go screw itself."  Or was that Irrational?

If it's mud people, they're chihuahua sized judging from the small diameters of the mud smears.  As the group approaches the halfway point they can hear the familiar buzz of a transformer.  There's the sound of a small spark and the far end of the basement flashes briefly with white light.  The smell of smoke and ozone becomes gradually more pronounced.  The far wall begins to glow slightly with a dim, flickering, yellow light.  Something shuffles about in the clutter behind the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Wed 09 Apr 2014.

Emerald turns and says, "Come out. We won't hurt you unless you intentionally try to hurt us."

Bethany turns around, curious what could be going on.

  Mud Midgets sounds more like the sort of things they would end up dealing with than Mud Man, yeah.  Also Mud Vertically Challenged doesn't sound as good, okay.

  "Am I the only one more concerned with the fact it seems like the place is about to catch fire?"

The rustling stops.  When the maintenance guy on the phone hears Emmy, he tries to assure, "It's not uncommon for a stray cat to..." but stops himself when he hears Joe mention a possible fire.

"Fire?!  S-stay c-calm.  There's p-probably a fire extinguisher right next to the fuse b-box."

Emerald says, "You're not alone, Joe. But you won't need my help with that. I can barely hold a fire extinguisher as it is. So I'll keep tracking down Mystery Mud while you all take care of the fuse box and smoke."

And with that, she heads off.

Bethany continues glowing and looks around for an extinguisher.

  Where is a random firefighter handing out extinguisher backpacks when you need one?  "Thanks Beth, hopefully it doesn't take to long to find, if it is even down here."  Joe is perfectly calm.  Well, okay.  He's more annoyed than calm, but that isn't up there with panic.

OOC: Why is my brain suddenly expecting Katy?  Probably because despite all the hairy people already wandering around, she's the most 'stray animal'.

Beth and Joe find the expected fire extinguisher next to the fuse box.  Sparks occasionally shower down onto a burning cardboard box of spare fuses from a badly mangled thick cable that feeds the fuse box from outside.

Meanwhile, Emerald finds a dog sized roach with mud caked on its underside.  It takes a few nervous steps back, furtively wiggling its antennae that course with an electric arc like a Jacob's Ladder.

"D-did you find it?" the maintenance guy asks.

Bethany eeps and goes to grab the extinguisher and spray the burning box! "We found the fuse box! Someone ripped a big cable from the fuse box and it caught a box on fire!"

Bethany IS in partial panic mode. At least it's not full-on panic?

"EEEEK!" Emerald's voice can be heard screaming, "GIANT ELECTRIC BUG! GIANTBUGGIANTBUGGIANTBUG!" she is running back to the others, scared. At her size, "dog-sized" means the bug is bigger than her. Emerald can be seen flailing her arms at herself as she runs to the others, as if trying to swat invisible insects off of her.

OK. So it's full-on panic now. Bethany's eyes go wide at the screaming.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:07, Sun 13 Apr 2014.

  "So, if you can hear me over the screaming.  Mr. Maintenance person, do you have any advice on Cockroaches the size of Dobermans with that both eat, and spit electricity?  Because remain calm seems to have been thrown out the window."

Joe is going to guess no.

The box fire is extinguished easily enough.  Simply sliding it away from the fuse box will likely prevent it from catching fire again.  When Emmy scrams, the bug Eeeees! as well and runs to hide.  Emerald is able to tell the sound it made was more like a "yikes!" from a unique language than just animal noise.

"W-what?!  You sure?  Animal control?" is the best advice the maintenance guy can think of.

Emerald's ears perk up. She says, "Hold on! That thing just spoke its own sentient language!"
She quickly says in EEE-speech, "Hold on! I didn't mean to scare you, I was frightened and thought you were going to hurt me! Are you friendly?"

Bethany gives a "wha?" expression as she hears insect squees coming from Emerald.

  "Well I was going to suggest we just get out of her since we cant' fix the power anyways, not spend time trying to smash."  Well, okay it was more because he'd expect the electric bug to explode than any concern for it's buggy health.

"EeeEe," the overgrown bug answers, roughly translating to, "OK.  I'm hungry.  Let's find food."

It skitters over to the base of the stairs and hesitates, wiggling its zappy feelers.

"E," it says, indicating that the coast is clear and it's safe to follow.  It then skurries up the stiars that head inside.

Maintenance guy says, "Waait.  Did I hear right?  Talking bug?  What did it say?  'Try the fuse box, it's delicious?"

Emerald says, "Close. It said it wants food and offered we go looking for food together." she then calls out to the bug, making clicking noises and eees. Translating to "Wait! Danger that way! Stay with me. I know this place. I will get you food." and turns to the others, quickly translating what she just told it.

Once she is sure the bug can see her and is following her, she leads it back outside while dialing the colonel on her cell.

  "Fuse box is a lost cause at the moment anyway.  Thanks for trying to help though."

  He looks over to Beth, and comments "You okay now that we know the giant bug isn't about to eat your face?" For NOW.

 Emerald winds up having to raise and wiggle her arms to communicate the parts of her message that require antannae wiggles.  The roach pauses, wiggling its antannae in a "oh... uh..." manner.  It then follows her lead but warns her to "watch out for the aggressive, noisy, four-leg bug outside," that chased it.

"Uh... you're welcome," Tech Support Face answers, "Thanks for putting out the fire.  And dealing with the giant talking roach."

Colonel answers his phone.  "How goes it, Emerald?"

Emerald answers the colonel with, "I have a giant, sapient cockroach with me. It wants food but is otherwise harmless. So I'm going to take it to the food storage area. However, it warned me of another large bug having chased it in here. Could be referring to a dog, or another actual giant bug."

Even as she's on the phone, she is heading towards where she remembers the food storage being kept. "Please advise."

Meanwhile, Bethany is just watching this while holding her breath. Then lets out a sigh of relief when Emerald and the bug are out of sight. "That was scary..."

The little boy from earlier peaks inside the basement. He cautiously goes down the stairs and seems to have a flashlight of his own.

  Even if she glows in the dark, Joe isn't going to leave Beth alone in it.  "Honestly, I'm kind of surprised it went that well."

  Suddenly, more flashlight!  "Oh, Hi.  The fusebox is out, of the wall."

“If there is any means of containing the creature, I would advise you do so,” Bradley answers, “Bring it back to the basement to 'hide you both from the other bug' it warned you about.  Lock all exits.  I'll call for backup.  Otherwise, people outside will assume 'monster' if they see a giant roach.  And people could get hurt in the panic.  Ask your bug friend for more detail about the other bug.  Where, when, and description.”

A blond human named Raymond came with Eli.  “Dang.  What coulda done that?”

Emerald returns and looks at Bethany and Kevin. "Maybe one of you could bring some food? The roach is hungry and Bradley's asking me to keep the roach here."

Bethany goes back to tensing up at the sight of the bug.

Seeing Raymond and Eli, Bethany says, "Don't be alarmed, but that giant cockroach over there did... I think it was looking for food."

Eli looks at the cockroach a moment, eyes wide. "...woah..."

Bethany nods and begins heading out.

Emerald then turns to say to the cockroach, "Alright... tell me more about the other bug. What does it look like?"

Meanwhile, Eli looks at the fusebox, scrunching his face. "...yeesh." Then gets to examining the box with rubber gloves on. "What can you tell me about this fusebox?" Eli asks the technician without looking at him. Eli also looks for the information that is normally written right on the thing, such as the specifications, wattage, ohms, voltage, anything on the wiring of the building. He at least, doesn't seem to be jumping into the wiring or anything yet. He just looks like a curious kid.

  "We might need to get a crate of batteries for it to suck on, if the fuse box and electric antenna are any hint."

  He looks to Emerald, and says "As concerned as we are for the thing, a more important question is probably are there more of them."

"I can tell you that fuse boxes are too dangerous for little girls," the tech help guy on the phone answers Eli.  But Eli is quickly able to figure out all the tech specs of the fuse box without the techie's help and it is, in fact, dangerous.  Especially with an exposed main line.  The sooner the power company turns it off, the better!  Sparks for effect!

Ray ohs.  "Thanks for the update, Miss.  Don't worry, I'll protect you."

He interposes himself between the bug and Beth, hoping to make her feel safer.  The bug watches him hungrily.

"That bug feels like yummy buzz box," it tells Emmy, its antennae zapping a bit, "The loud bug was brown and black.  Had four long legs.  Long sharp teeth."

The roach gets distracted by the sparking power line.  "Eee!"

Eli blushes. "...not a little girl..." he grumbles.

Emerald ohs... first, she answers the bug. "That bug is not food. But I'll ask him if he has any."

Then talks to her phone. "The bug said giant bug it met was loud, brown and black, had long legs, and long sharp teeth. Could be a dog..."

Emerald then looks at Raymond, still talking into the phone. "A blond teen boy and a brown-haired little-boy entered the room. The roach says the fuse box was yummy and that the blond 'feels' like the fuze box. There a reason a roach that eats fuse boxes might think the blond looks yummy?"

Eli says, "Tell the techie I'm not a girl, and we need the power to this area turned off as soon as possible. The sparks could set a fire."

  "As someone who had needlessly adorable curls at a very young age, you have my honest sympathies kid."

  Joe facepalms at this escalating into bugs saying people look delicious.

"Don't know," Bradley answers Emmy.

"I have electric powers," Raymond adds.

"Already called the power company," Techie says, "They said they'd get a man down there ASAP."

"Fuzzy ladybug," the roach addresses Emerald, "What are those sounds you and the other bugs make?"

"There's a knock at the basement door.  "Fire department.  Anyone down there?"

Emerald covers the phone and yells up, "Come on down! Be aware, there are multiples mutants and a harmless giant roach down here!"

She then looks back at the bug and answers, "It's how we talk to each other. Everyone here has something they can do that the others can't. I can talk to anyone that can talk, even if they talk different."

Emerald looks at Raymond. "Electric powers... good. You might be the bug's only chance at getting more food."

Eli, meanwhile, peaks up at the door from the bottom of the stairs to see if the main coming is, in fact, someone from the fire department.

  "Are rechargeable batteries to suck on in short supply, or something?  Could we not refer to a person as a food source for giant bugs here even if you meant it harmlessly?"

  He blinks, figuring the fire department would care less about manners and more about checking for fires and unconscious people near fires.  Of course it's been a strange day  "No fires yet, but I have no idea how long the torn off fuse box can or will remain safely that way."

"Just great..." the person upstairs grumbles as he descends the stairs.  He pauses at the bottom and stares at the scene, fire extinguisher in hand.

"Wasn't expecting to see so many young people down here...  Well I need you kids to clear out.  Could be dangerous and it'll get crowded once the other firefighters catch up."

He begins to work his way toward the fuse box, giving the roach a wide birth.

Roach zaps his antennae happily.  <squee>"Yay!  Useful symbiotic survival strategy!"</squee>

Raymond glances at Joe.  "Thanks."

Emerald says, "Alright. C'mon everyone, now that the firefighters are here, we can go back. Although..."

Emerald asks the bug, <squee>"Are there other bugs like you around here?"</squee>

Bethany and Eli start to head out.

Crystal pulled on her moms arm and pointed at the purse that sat beside them. She had convinced her mom to let her come and find out about being part of the citizens patrol, but all the lights had gone out shortly after they had found their seats. Her mom reached into her purse and pulled out the small flashlight she had there. The 10 year old brunette smiled and pulled out the pamphlet she had gotten in the mail.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:41, Fri 20 June 2014.

The pamphlet is a glossy three-fold flier.  The title fold has the Citizen's Patrol logo on it and in huge, bold letters asks the question, "What does it mean to be a hero?"

When opened, the full-page splash has silhouettes of everyday heroes in the background.  ( Kinda like this: http://www.redcross.org/images...salute-to-heroes.jpg )  In typical flyer style, it starts with a quote and then moves into a sales pitch...  "Norman Mailer once said 'For what does it mean to be a hero? It requires you to be prepared to deal with forces larger than yourself.'  Today's heroes are as diverse as the people they serve but they all have one thing in common - giving of themselves for others..."

Key words such as, "bravery," "noble," "dedication," "character," "inspire," etc. pepper the invitation to "Come learn how you can join the Citizen's Patrol and help make our community a better place to live in with your own unique qualities."  Time, place, and directions along with contact info and how to pre-register are on the back two folds along with pictures and short lists of the accomplishments of the speakers, Emerald and Bradley.

Meanwhile, Bradley struggles to hold the attention of the audience without video or slides, but there's a short man on the stage with a voice strong enough to stand in place of a PA that has volunteered to echo the speaker's speech so everyone can hear him.

"...yet still willing to help with everyday problems.  For example, even as I speak, Joe Darkthorne, the famous mutant who defeated the Monster of 11th Street, is downstairs with Emerald helping to troubleshoot our power outage..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:36, Fri 20 June 2014.

  Joe overhears...  Whatever Loud Mc Loudenheimer's name is, and mutters "Well, that's one way of putting 'Get yourself electrocuted', and 'hold a flashlight' I guess."  Joe, lots of people become famous for moronic self inflicted injury.  You just happened to take a monster with you in the process of electrocuting yourself, instead of riding a shopping cart down an Up escalator.

  "We were just on our way back up, thanks for coming down so fast."  He comments to the firefighter.  On his way up he pauses, and adds "So, any suggestions on how to not have people freak out over buggy here?"  Sure, it's an auditorium full of assorted mutants and normal people.  But, you know.  Giant cockroach.

Raymond keeps an eye on the bug and waits for Beth to be closer to the exit than himself before heading out with her and Eli.

Big Bug wiggles a leg, watching Raymond.  <roach speak>"Nope."</roach speak>

The firefighter stares and slowly shakes his head.

"Uh...  put a cardboard box over it?  There's bound to be one big enough down here."

Beth and Eli more or less disappear from the scene.

Emerald looks down at the bug with a smile and says, <Squee>"I'm going to give you some cover so my fellow bugs won't be scared of you."</Squee>

She then covers the bug with the nearest BIG box after poking peep holes for it. Then leads it upstairs.

  "Well, it's a better plan than I had.  Thanks."  Joe's life is so incredibly stupid some days.

  There's the whole saying about truth being stranger than fiction.  This is more like truth making him feel dumber than fiction.

"I like hiding," the roach answers Emmy in bugspeak before boxed.

The language is heavily dependent on body language so the roach won't be able to communicate clearly now that it is under a box.  It follows along in short bursts.

"Sure..." the fireman answers Joe.

A few others pass Emmy and her pet on their way to the basement, giving them weirded out looks.  By now Bradley is finishing up the presentation.

Emerald goes to Bradley, grabbing a mic on the way. "Heh... we have people taking care of the power outage. Turns out there was a mutant who likes the taste of fuseboxes... he's hiding here under the box and means no harm. Was just hungry."

Emerald grins up at Bradley. She offs the mic and says, "Any time you're ready. I already promised it some food and I'd like to deliver on my promise without causing another power outage..."

  "I'm still kind of waiting for this to get out of hand despite it all.  Not really used to problems being reasonable...  So far as fusebox eating is reasonable."

The mic didn't work since the power is still out.  Bradley smiles at Emerald.

"I'll be sure the audience gets your update.  Thank you for dealing with that, Emerald.  The others who helped have my thanks as well.  Please don't be long feeding your friend.  The people will be expecting autographs after the presentation and we're almost done."

A man wearing rubber gloves, harness, and filter mask approaches Joe.  "Somebody call for the exterminator?  I happened to be in the area.  If the building will be vacated within the hour I can get started.  Otherwise...  Well I'm booked for the next three weeks."

Emerald looks up at Bradley, "It eats electricity, Bradly... what am I supposed to do to feed it without causing another blackout? Right now, it's trusting me and following me to the "food" I promised..."

 "Uh, maybe?  Who exactly called you and could I see some credentials?  Since it's the one thing we appear to be looking at catch and release options right now."

Bradley smiles and shrugs.  "I hear you're quite resourceful.  I'm sure you'll figure something out."

The exterminator answers Joe, "Casey Milton.  Pest B Gone exterminator.  My work van has all the licenses and stuff...  I've never had anyone ask to look at them.  Anyway.  Guy from this building's maintenance department called.  Jim Anderson I think.  Said there's a giant roach problem destroying your wiring."

Emerald sighs. She REALLY hopes this isn't a case of "they feed the roach, it becomes bigger, now it needs MORE food."

She taps her foot to let the roach know to follow her and she heads to the kitchen, hoping NORMAL food will satisfy it. Once in the kitchen, Emerald takes the box off the bug and says, <Squee>"I'm showing you the food bugs like me eat. It doesn't taste like the black box, but I hope you will like it."</Squee> Hey. Just because it LIKES electricity and fuse boxes, doesn't mean that is all it can eat.

Emerald hands the bug an apple.

  "Well, I guess that's true.  But it turns out it can sorta talk to somebody, so killing it would feel like killing a very ugly lassie.  Our lives are very strange.  I am so keeping you in mind if it decides only the national power grid is to it's tastes though instead of a bowl of D batteries."

Access to the kitchen would have cost extra so the doors are locked.  Vending machines are all over the place.  Whether Emmy buys the roach a snack or picks the lock to the kitchen, the bug will be very happy with any food it is offered.  <Squee>"Squee!"</Squee>

The exterminator chuckles.  "Wow.  That's a new one.  Thanks for the vote of confidence.  Here's hoping this isn't the start of one of them monster movies.
Well good luck to you."

Unless Joe stops him, he heads out.

Emerald considers picking the locks because she CAN and this is an "emergency", but since vending machines are an option, she does just feed it snacks for now. She lets out a sigh of relief, then smiles at the bug and pets it. She flops against the wall and sends a text to Joe and Bradley that says "Vending snacks work. Bug is happy."

  "Well, the Exterminator was basically the only competent and intelligent person in Arachnophobia, if it helps."  Such a bad movie.  But at least they didn't pull the 'exterminator killed by bugs' gag.  They saved that for the spider expert scientist.

  He checks his phone, and is glad to see the bug did not decide the lightbulbs inside the machine were better than the regular snacks.

Bradley checks his phone and begins wrapping up.

"You are a good bug, Emerald," the roach says, wiggling antannae happily, "I will team up with you, share food, and help you hide from predators."

A firefighter approaches Joe and lets him know that the basement is off limits for safety reasons.

"That was a close call.  If you hadn't extinguished that box when you did this whole building could have been ablaze by now."

Emerald smiles over at the roach. <Squee>"Thank you, that was a nice thing to say. I am happy that you are teaming up with me."</Squee> She cautiously reaches to pet the roach and says, <Squee>"Me and my fellow bugs will let you stay at our nest. But our kind of bugs are very different from what you know. So we will be telling you new things, so you can live better."</Squee>

Emerald then hits "send to all" option for texting and texts, "New member to our club; a giant roach. He or she, I don't know yet. But it can communicate and likes me."

  "Well, that would have sucked."   Understatement.  "Think we should mention that, or wait until we don't have a dark auditorium still half full of people?"

The roach's antennae perk up.  "I can stay with you and your friends!?  Yay!"

The firefighter shrugs.  "You should be fine if you want to make an announcement to the crowd now that the danger has passed.  But if you'd rather, I can make an announcement myself."

Either way the presentation eventually wraps up and most of the crowd heads out.  The rest chat with one another, ask questions, and ask for autographs from the famous heroes Emerald and Joe.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:50, Mon 08 Sept 2014.

Emerald is flattered and blushes from the attention, but is sure to be friendly and personable the whole time. She is also sure to sneak some noms to the bug every once in a while.

Eli left a while back, unsure of his future with the group.

Bethany stuck around and seemed curious about how things would turn out. Once she sees everything is fine, she signs up to be a member and then heads out.

Bud and Lumin go to Joe and ask in unison if they can join.

Ariel is nowhere to be found, but her sign-up is found in the turn-in box.

  On seeing the plant looking kids again, opts not to mention the giant fire that almost happened.

  "Of course you both can."  Their standards were pretty low, they let him in after all.  Nevermind the roach that almost burnt the building down.

Roz wheels her cart o paperwork over to Emerald and Joe.

"We'll need a sign up form filled out even for those who can't fill one out for themselves," she drones, offering more sign-up forms to Emmy and Joe.

Kevin stuck around for autographs from the radical heroes and like, totally thank them for all the awesome junk they do.

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OOC: Looking to wrap this chapter up.

(Chapter wrap-up it is! Now to see what Chapter 7 brings...)