A large estate on the edge of town, with access to the waterway as well.  The house looks unassuming, a four bedroom, two story house with a lovely greenhouse on one side, externally.  Inside the house, there is far more space than it appears, but only if you have been invited within by the owner, one Megaira Kattakara.

  Meg was setting out her picnic tables on the lawn, enough chairs for all the New Age Defenders and anyone they wanted to bring a guest with.  She had the big brick barbecue fired up, and had a selection of barbecued chicken, hamburgers, bratwurst, and Gyro meats for the gyros.

The bus pulled up in front of Meg's new house and Bill, with Darren in tow, stepped off. Walking hand in hand they moved over to Meg. "Hi Meg, this is the place huh? Nice/"

  Meg laughed, and said "Got it exactly.  Come on in, I have picnic tables and folding chairs.  We can all eat good barbecue, and then play in the pool.  I want to have a tour of the house once we all eat."

Ozzy, having moved in after things heated up at Gysbourne Manor, was manning the grill while Meg took a break. He turned and waved at Bill and Darren, grill spatula in hand as he said, "Dudes! Sup? How are ya?"

There was the roar of a motorcycle heard before a harley pulled into Meg's driveway parking to the side to allow anyone else with a vehicle plenty of room. The rider reached up with both hands removing his helmet and shaking his hair a bit before turning and smiling at the girl behind him. "Alright so time to meet your family, y'know most girls settle with just meeting the parents, not everyone at once"

  Bella laughed as she took her helmet off, and handed it to Aaron.  "MOST girls don't have two Dads, and an Aunt, as well as a whole bunch of other aunts and uncles that aren't technically blood.  Come on, we'll have fun.  Meg has a pool, so I had to do some fast shopping this morning."  She grinned at him.

  Meg chuckled, and said "I think we timed the grilling perfectly, Ozzy.  It will make it a LOT easier to have barbecue parties with two of us switching off on cooking."

In reply to Bella Masters (msg #7):

"Alright point taken." Aaron said as he placed both helmets atop the bike. "A pool? Shopping trip? Is this something I should be looking forward to?" He chuckled as he moved toward the barbecue setup.

  Bella giggled, and said "I didn't have a swimsuit.  So I had to go get something to swim in, Aaron.  Come on, my Dads are over there.  Yes, I know, I look about as old as they are."  She held his hand, and bounced over, moving at a speed he could easily match.  "Heya Dads!  I brought my guest along.  Meet Aaron."

Bill smiled as Bella approached. He gave Aaron a long look before finally saying. "Nice to meet you Aaron. I'm Bill"

  Darren smiled, and offered Aaron his hand.  He said very conversationally "Pleasure to meet you, Aaron.  Break her heart and I promise you will be a very, very sorry young man."  Which made Bella facepalm.

A Prius pulled into the driveway parking on the opposite side of the motorcycle. Jack stepped out of the drivers seat and stepped over to passenger side to open the door for Penny. He held his hand out to her to help her out of the car.

  Smiling as she put her hand in his, Penny said softly "The food smells great, doesn't it?  Lets find a good spot to sit, Jack."  And leaned against him, her arm sliding around his waist.

Ozzy grinned, turning all the way around this time to wave. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, as befit the weather, with a bright red apron that declared that 'This Shit Is Going To Be DELICIOUS'.

"Jack! Penny! Wassup? Hey, anyone particular about their burgers? They're about to the point where I can take 'em off, if anyone likes 'em to still moo on the bun!" he called.

  Penny giggled, and waved at him as she answered "We came and we brought our appetites!  You better have lots of food!"

"Food? I'm cooking? I thought I was making a burnt offering to Loki!" he said in a joking tone before answering seriously, "Yeah, no worries, we got lots of food. We were expecting a bunch of hungry teens, after all. Not to mention Andy."

  Andy and Vic arrived on a big Harley.  He'd found one and been puttering around with it.  The paintjob still looked like hell, and the exhaust system wasn't done yet, but the motor was purring.  He had no helmet on, but he had Vic behind him and grinning as the pulled up.  He called to Ozzy "Hey, throw these on the grill!!"  And heaved a zippered cooler-bag at Ozzy, the thing spinning to land about a foot from Ozzy's feet.  Inside were several porterhouse and t-bone steaks.  He liked a LOT of meat.

Ozzy nodded, catching the bag in midair with a paint-appendage. Wouldn't do to have it bust on the lawn, after all.

 "You got it, Andy! Let's get these things cooked up!" he said as he started to put the meat on the grill. Once that was done, he turned and said, "So, you want me to paint your bike for you, once you get the mechanical stuff done? I figure it'll be faster and cheaper than any body shop, not to mention the fact I can put stuff on there they only WISH they could."

  Andy grinned, and said "Sure.  I'm not done cleaning the engine, exhaust and all out, but once I have it running the way I like it, then you can paint it for me.  I'd love a portrait of Vic on the tank, and maybe a Demon on the other side.  Strikes me as appropriate."

"I've heard about and seen some of your work, Ozzy. I look forward to viewing the finished product." Vic said, getting off of the bike.

Ozzy nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Just say the word, and I'll get it painted."

They would indeed have seen some of his work, especially if their duties took them in the alleyways of the city. Several walls in Weston had beautiful graffiti on them. Some were original, and some were modern re-imaginings of classical paintings, but all had a 'signature tag' that Vic would've likely recognized as a mage's mark. Specifically, it was the same rune that adorned the chest of his Painter armor, just in different colors.

  Meg laughed, and teased "Oh, like me telling you I wanted you to paint all the ceilings with skyscapes isn't enough work on your plate?"  She'd requested sunsets in the west, sunrises in the east, starscapes with the aurora borealis in the north, and a south-pole version for the rooms on the south side of the building.  And in the center, sunny noontime skies.

"Psssh. Skyscapes. For daytime? Some blue, the sun, a happy cloud or two Bob Ross style, and BAM, done. This house has been done for how long now? And I'm already mostly done. Just gotta get the blending PERFECT between rooms. Have the whole ceiling be one big work of art. I even went so far as to get images from various locations to use, to make things more difficult."

Which was true. To make the home fit the owner, the 'eastern' rooms were pictures from various locations in China, with the sun rising over the Great Wall, Beijing, and Mount Everest. For the west, he was working on sunsets behind the Parthenon, Mount Olympus, and Navagio Bay. The 'aurora' rooms had photos from expeditions to the Poles. Of course, the more western rooms were still works in Progress, since he'd been travelling from East to West, much like the sun did.

  Bella grinned, and went to check out the pool.  As she went, she pulled off her t-shirt to reveal a skimpy little purple and black bikini top.

  There are times where you just gotta walk.  These times include when you don't have a car nor motorcycle, and more acrobatic forms of travel are less than a good idea considering the drinks you are carrying around in a cheap plastic cooler... Wait...  In hindsight, Matt could have done a triple back flip off a trampoline onto an inflatable moon walk and still leave the soda in a condition it would not explode, doh.

  Matt is still wearing his usual generic clothing goodness of his hoodie, jeans, and sneakers combo.  Though he's taken advantage of convenient alien technology to actually have a face today.  Not his old one of course, he didn't quite feel ready to walk around sporting a look last seen in an obituary photo.  Just an average generic white male look like several stock photos had offspring.

  "I come bearing sodas and chips with ridges.  I guarantee not a single broken chip among them.  Also bugles, for anyone who wants to beat 'most stacked bugles eaten at once' records or something."  It's no array of high quality meats, but at least he's not throwing it at people?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:17, Sat 26 May 2012.

  Meg laughed, and waved him in.  "Come on over here, I have the non-refrigerated stuff over here, there's a table under the collapsible gazebo-tent."  She'd worked with Jack and Ozzy both to get the whole back yard set up for this, with two tent-gazebos up to cover the food and umbrella shaded tables for everyone else.

Ozzy grinned and waved, "Matt, 'sup? How the hell are ya? Welcome to the party, cop a squat!"

Aaron shook both hands before Bella left him alone with both her dads. "Nice  to meet you both. Now if you'll excuse me" He went to follow Bella out towards the pool.

  Bella kicked her shoes off, and slid her jeans down, revealing that the BOTTOM of the bikini, while not a thong, was pretty damn skimpy.  She called "The water feels great!  I'm going to take a dip before we eat."  And 'climbed' two steps into the air, and 'bounced' on a nonexistent diving board, then went into the water, splashing with a grin.  The one end of the pool WAS ten feet deep.  Megs had a damn BIG, nice backyard pool.

Regina arrived not long after Matt did. She was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and white tennis shoes, carrying a duffle bag. A far cry from the Air Force uniform she would normally have to wear.

"Um....hi. I received the flyer for the big BBQ.."

Bill frowned as he saw Bellas 'swimwear'. He leaned on Darren {{Do you SEE how  tiny that is? Where is she getting all these clothes?}}

In reply to Bella Masters (msg #30)

"Sounds like a plan to me." Aaron replied as he removed first his shirt, then his shorts revealing a black speedo before he jumped in after her.

  Meg waved, and said "Come on in, as long as you're not hostile, you're welcome in."

Ozzy turned and waved, "Hola! Welcome to the party! Name's Ozzy Gysbourne! If you want a burger done in any way other than Medium Well, speak now or wait 'till next time! This goes for the rest of you as well!"

He then returned to the grill, flipping a few burgers and messing with the other meats, making sure they were all cooking nice and evenly.

Regina nodded and walked in slowly. It had been years since she had seen this many teenagers gathered in one place.

"Hi....my name's Regina Cordoff.."

Jack walked into the yard hand in hand with Penny walking over to the grill. "I'll take a burger Ozzy, how do you want yours Penny?"

  Penny tilted her head, and said "Cheese, ketchup and mustard, please?  In a bun?"

  Matt shrugs,  "Doin just fine, getting out more in the recreational sense is always nice."  He proceeds to deposit the snacks in their designated areas.  As Regenia shows up, waves hi in her general direction while he finishes arranging snacks.  "Hey Regina.  Good to see yah."

  He wanders back over so the Star styled lady had someone more familiar on hand, while also ensuring his influence would vastly extend the 3 second rule if need be in a food droppage emergency.

"Hi Matt, it's good to see you too," Regina replied.

She leaned in to whisper "How are our other friends doing? Are they OK?"

  Andy peered over Ozzy's shoulder at the steaks, and said "Toss em my way when they look like they're about body temperature.  They don't have to be done.  I've found I like them to bleed these days."

"Welcome to the party, then, Regina! No need to be so shy, we don't bite. Well, except for Andy, but he won't bite you unless you're a Demon or a vampire or something. But, given that you're standing where you are when you are, I doubt that you're a vampire. And Demon is right out, you don't have the aura," he said with a grin.

He then nodded to Penny and Jack, paint appendages getting plates and buns for them, his normal hands flipping the patties onto the buns with a bit of flourish. He handed a plate to both Jack and Penny, saying, "There's the burgers, fixins are on the table. Lemme just plate the rest of this up, and it'll be over there in a second."

With that, his extra appendages went to work gathering serving plates for the various meats, Ozzy plating them up as fast as he could.

"You know, extra hands can be really useful sometimes. Especially in the kitchen!"

  Archeirae came slouching in the gate, she'd brought a bag of 'edibles' from the bunker, and she'd been trying to find a proper source of some of the more exotic nutrients she and the others might need.  She peeked around and spotted Matt and Regina, and hesitantly came on in.

Regina smiled and waved at Archeirae. She briefly remember their "sniffing" lesson where the cat-like woman had appraised her, but the seemingly awkward experience was long forgotten.

  Bella paddled through the water, then seemed to vanish for long moments, then reappeared at the far end of the pool, standing up.  She flipped her hair back, and grinned as she hopped out of the water to come get a burger.  Dripping wet and looking like a really sexy hot body in her little bikini.

Ozzy nodded at Andy and, checking the temps on his steaks, plated them up, too, carrying them with another paint appendage. While he looked a bit overloaded, Ozzy made it easily to the tables and set the plates of meat down before retracting his appendages, nodding and looking pleased with himself.

"There we go. Looks like we're about ready, yeah?"

It was then that he saw Archeirae.

"Um... hi! Welcome! So you are...?" he asked. While seeing a feline humanoid was a bit odd, even by his standards, he'd had enough experience in dealing with the odd to cope.

  Matt shrugs, again.  It seems to be a habit.  "Fine last I saw em."  That said, Archeirae showed up almost on cue.  "Looks like you can ask now."  He comments as he digs a hand through a pocket for a bottle.  "Picked up some of your favorite supplement on a trip into Chinatown."  Weston City has a china town right?  Sure, probably.  "Just make sure nobody swipes your food."

  Archeirae gave a tentative smile, and came closer, standing up straight.  At roughly eight feet tall, she was definitely NOT your typical human, or even humanoid.  She said shyly "Umm.  Hi.  We're Regina's friends?"

Ozzy nodded, "Cool, cool. Oh, I meant, um... name? What's your name? Mine's Ozzy, Ozzy Gysbourne. Nice to meet you."

He smiled as best he could, though he still couldn't deny the fact that was odd. Though, thankfully, he seemed to be more curious as to what was up with Archeirae than he was repulsed or enraged or anything.

  She bobbed her head at him, and said "I am Archeirae.  Did I forget to turn on my holo-generator?"  She gave Matt a smile, and said "Thank you.  I really DO need the arsenic."

"It appears that we're among friends," Regina told the cat-lady.

Jeff soon arrived with various assortments of snacks to go with the burgers: BBQ chips, potato chips, cookies and ice cream bars.

"Kept the ice cream bars frozen all the way," he said chuckling.

  Andy laughed, and said "Jeff!!  Why don't you make a big ice-chest along the table to set all the frozen and refrigerable stuff for everyone else?"

Oh. I thought it was kind of weird she'd show up in cat-form, but meh. Whatevs.

Ozzy smiled, "Yup! You are indeed."

He then turned to Jeff and said, "Jeff, bro! You're just in time. I just finished cooking the meat, bro. The apron says it all. This shit is going to be delicious!"

  Candy stepped out of a cab, strolling into the yard with a couple big bags.  She called "I brought some pies for everyone, and doughnuts and hard candy!!!"

Jeff made an ice chest with his ice powers to keep the frozen things frozen. He smiled and waved at Candy as she came up.

  Candy kissed Jeff, then set the chocolate silk, lemon meringue, and key lime pies into the ice chest.  The apple, cherry, and peach pies she sat on the table.  She said "Hope we got hungry folks!"

Ozzy grinned, "We have how many teenage guys around here? I'm pretty sure we'll finish most of it off. How are ya, Candy?"

He started to look around for Clarissa, wondering where she was at. She was hardly the shy type.

Aaron pulled himself out of the pool after Bella following her towards the food.

Jeff grinned shortly after Candy kissed him.

"Heh...she...she does that a lot," he said, chuckling.

  Candy giggled, and said "I'll have to blip so I can get MY swimsuit.  Nobody mentioned it's a pool party!!"  She gave Ozzy a friendly shoulder-bap, and swiped a bratwurst right off the grill.

  Clarissa came padding out in her own bikini, a pretty soft lavender and white item, which let her show off Crystal Rose too, (she was currently decorating Clarissa's back) with a pitcher of something pink, glasses, and ice.  She said "I have sweet pink lemonade for anyone who wants it."

Ozzy grinned and said, "Thanks, babe, sounds wonderful. Grilling is thirsty work!"

He then turned to Candy and said, "You may wanna finish cooking that one, Candy. The done ones are over here."

  Candy grinned, and seared her brat a bit, then slapped it in a bun with a giggle.  She said "Thanks Ozzy.  So how did you get assigned chief cook and bottle washer?"

"Aside from my mad cooking skills? Im staying here, and I insist on helping out. I know Megs doesnt need the money, but Id hate to be a leech when I can afford to help, you know?" he said with a grin.

  Clarissa giggled, and said "Not to mention Megs has like, your dream kitchen, with everything a person who cooks would love to have and then some.  I didn't even KNOW there were so many kitchen gadgets in existence!!"

Ozzy grinned and replied,"Very true. I am an artist, and the kitchen inside is the perfect studio. And with the interior decoration project, my creative side's been running wild!"

  Andy had a bite of his steak, and grinned, speaking via mindworm.  {{Yeah, lets you run rampant since she asked you to, right?  Nobody can complain about an artist working on commissioned pieces!}}

Jack took both burgers and put Penny's requested condiments on hers and also putting the fixins and his own. He took a seat next to her at one of the picnic tables placing her hamburger in front of her. {{So how long you want to wait till we tell everybody the news?}}

Aaron took both a burger and a hot dog sitting down next to Bella, he flashed her a grin before he began eating.

  She located her burger with a smile, and answered {{Oh, let's give everyone a chance to eat.  I do want a couple burgers.  I'm hungry!}}

{{I'm sure you are, you are eating for two now.}} Jack flashed her a grin as he started eating his own burger.

  Penny nodded, giggling a little, and she asked {{Do you think that they'll be happy for us?  I know I'm delighted.  It's brought us a lot of good changes.}}

Bill took a burger for himself and sat down with Darren. {{You do see what she's wearing love? Hell look at what HE's wearing. It's like they're both showing off for the other}}

  Darren chuckled, and said {{Yes.  I see it.  You have to admit, he DOES make nice scenery.  I'm all yours, but if someone's going to flaunt it, I'm not above looking.}}  He patted Bill's thigh, and then leaned over to offer Bill a potato chip with a kiss.

In reply to Seer (msg #73):

{{We can only hope. We've got to be ready for someone questioning our decision though}} He reached over putting a hand on her shoulder squeezing it lightly as he ate his burger with one hand.

In reply to Fluid (msg #75):

{{Yes, he's cute, and he has a killer body, I admit that. But that's kind of WHY I'm concerned, that and Bella's looking to flaunt just as much as he is.}} Bill ate the chip from Darren's hand before kissing him.

Ozzy chuckled, "Yeah. Thats the bad thing about a graffiti habit. People complain, no matter how nice you make their building look."

  Bella brought her plate over to sit with her Dads, since there were four seats, and said to Bill "You know, this one isn't as concealing as I was hoping, but the other one Grandma presented was just not going to fly.  A white thong?  Noooooo way."

"A, white, thong." Bill said with disbelief. "Your grandma wanted you wearing a white thong?! I am going to need to talk to her about appropriate clothing...."

  Bella nodded, and said "Yeah.  A white thong.  I'm way not into buttfloss, and I don't like white.  I mean, you know, white just doesn't HIDE anything, at least black and purple do!!"

  Matt nodded and handed the bottle of delicious poison to Archeirae, "Enjoy, though at this rate I think you better grab some food before it's all gone."

  He turned to face Ozzy and commented "Some people just want their dumpster alley ever just so, it takes them ages to get all the discarded bottles just right after all."

In reply to Bella Masters (msg #81):

"So she really went with the better option." Aaron said before wilting under a glare from Bill.

  Bella gave her Dad-E a look, and asked "Shoud I even mention the bag I haven't opened from Victoria's Secret?"

"Victorias....secret.....No I think it would be best if you didn't."

  Bella said defensively "I don't know what's in it.  Grandma just gave it to me and said I should like it."

Bill place his head in both hands. "She just, gave you a victorias secret bag? Oh my god, what is she trying to do?"

  Bella shook her head "I don't know.  I at least got to pick my swimsuit.  There is NO WAY I'm wearing buttfloss in public."

"Well at least that's something we agree on."

Ozzy chuckled, "I guess I should leave people's dirty walls covered in hateful scrawls alone, then. I refuse to call that shit graffiti, that's like taking a spot on the wall where a monkey flung shit at it and calling it fine art."

Of course, there was always 'modern' art, which even Ozzy didn't get.

He decided to stay out of the conversation about Bella's clothes, though. The whole thing was complicated enough without him throwing his two cents in. He was just the 'uncle', and it wasn't really much of his business.

  Meg chuckled, and told Ozzy "Well, absolutely NOBODY can complain about you getting put to work on pieces commissioned.  I know the ceilings are a huge project, but I love the turnout so far."

Aaron ate his burger in silence wisely deciding to stay out of this conversation. He DID however look incredibly uncomfortable.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:34, Sun 27 May 2012.

Ozzy smirked and replied, "Yeah, true that. If this whole Masks, Inc. thing falls through, I could always take pictures of the inside walls and stuff to use in my portfolio. Who knows, might even get another commission or two."

Regina decided to stop by and get plates of food not only for herself but her new friends as well.

"She's awesome, isn't she?" Jeff said chuckling, gesturing to Candy.

"This is a very magical occassion," Victoria said.

Ozzy nodded at Jeff, "I know what you mean, bro. You and me are lucky guys, to have found such great girls that'll put up with us, hehe," before giving Clarissa a quick kiss.

He then turned to Vic and said, "Yeah, it's great! Everybody's here, just hanging out, no drama or bad guys or anything like that. It's good to just relax every once in a while, you know?"

Victoria nodded.

"Oh yes....it's brief moments like this when people like us can enjoy at least a momentary respite. I, for one, welcome it. We've been through the ringer the last few weeks."

  Archeirae helped Regina set up the plates, and said "This is a social gathering of parahumans?  Do they mind extra aliens?"

  Clarissa giggled, and gave Ozzy's butt a slap as she said "Absolutely we like putting up with you.  Some of us want even more of our chosen fellows."

Ozzy chuckled, "You want more of me? That can be arranged."

With that, he formed a golem that was an exact duplicate of himself, which proceeded to wrap its arms around her in unison with Ozzy.

"How many more you want?" they asked in unison, grinning.

  Clarissa laughed, and whispered something in the fleshly Ozzy's ear, then giggled.  Giving his butt another grope as she did.

In reply to Archeirae (msg #99):

"Somehow...I think this group is alien in its own way," Regina said. "But...I think they have an open mind at least."

Ozzy grinned from ear to ear, as he and his clone continued to hold her tight.

  Candy grinned at Jeff, and asked him "Did you bring your swimsuit?  I brought mine."  She tugged her t-shirt off to reveal a hot red bikini.

  She grinned and tickled his belly with a wink.

Aaron glanced at Bella before attempting to change the subject from inappropriate clothing choices. " So, you guys have any...hobbies?"

Ozzy blushed but grinned as he whispered back to her.

In reply to Candy Michaels (msg #105):

Jeff's eyes went wide, seeing Candy's bikini.

"Um....swimsuit....um, yeah....I brought my......WOW..."

  Darren half smiled, and said "Actually, yes.  Even though I rarely admit it.  I like gardening."  He didn't often admit it, but he'd gotten the apartment well-planted.  Aloe, basil, oregano, mint, lavender.  All sorts of aromatic houseplants that made it smell good too.

"Oh, okay. How's that workin out for you?" Aaron asked awkwardly. Man this was not going well.

  Darren smiled, and said "Not too bad.  I'm working with the houseplants, getting them all healthy and with lush growth.  Slowly repotting them as we go.  I have the feeling that things are going to change a bit though, since Meg's got this huge party on.  There is something here not as it seems, and I bet she's going to tell us all."  He offered Aaron a refill of his glass silently, arching an eyebrow at him.

Ozzy, trying to throw the poor guy a bone, said"Hey, Bill, you still read comics and stuff?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:21, Sun 27 May 2012.

  Andy grinned, and gave Ozzy a wink as he added "Aaron, who does the work on your ride?  I'm a decent mechanic.  If you need it fixed up, let me know.  I never lack for welding equipment . . ."

In reply to Ozzy Gysbourne (msg #113):

"When I get the time Ozzy, I'm not as caught up to current storylines as I like to be. I get a few titles mailed to the house but I just don't have time to even read all those."

In reply to Andy Black (msg #114):

"I do most of the maintenance myself. When there's a big problem I can't wrap my head around I have a friend of the family that does most of my major repairs. I used to hang around his shop when I was a kid, so I'm pretty knowledgeable myself."

Ozzy nodded, "Yeah, I hear ya, Bill. It's hard to keep up with them when you've got as much on your plate as we do. That's one thing the comics get right, being a superhero is *not* easy."

He then smiled at Clarissa and continued, "But it's worth it, to protect the people we love."

  Andy nodded, and said "I got into cars and motorcycles when I was a kid.  One of the local mechanics didn't mind me hanging out there, and as long as I got my chores done before I went there, my grandparents didn't care.  I always though they might have preferred I didn't come back."

In reply to Ozzy Gysbourne (msg #117):

"One of the occupational hazards that is well covered in all forms of superhero media is the lack of time. Peter Parker almost dropped out of college how many times? The only job he could hold down was photographer just cause he couldn't have the time to sit at a desk every day."

In reply to Andy Black (msg #118):

Aaron nodded. "Yeah my uncle was kinda the same way to be honest. Long as I took care of what he wanted me to he didn't really give a &%#$ what I did."

Ozzy nodded, "Yeah, it's a good thing I got on with Masks, Inc. There, they understand the demands on a parahuman's time... and the compensation is WELL worth the occasional risks. After all, when the client wants superhuman results, they're going to pay through the nose to get them."

  Andy said dryly "Part time mechanic is feasible.  Especially if you can do your own lifting.  I can pick up engine blocks no trouble now, so I don't need a gantry to get the engines out of cars anymore."

In reply to Ozzy Gysbourne (msg #121):

"Yeah thats why I figure writer'd be a good choice, get to work on my own schedule. That is if I can get past this writers block. You'd think once my life turned into a comic book I'd have something to write about."

  Bella snorted, and said "Dad, your life is a SOAP OPERA.  Not a comic book."

The Ozzies chuckled, "So is this the Young and the Restless, then?"

Ozzy Prime then turned to Clarissa, putting on his best 'melodrama' voice as he tried to keep a straight face, "I can't believe you thought my duplicate was me! And when I'm carrying our child!"

At that point, however, both Ozzies started snickering, before devolving into a full-blown case of belly laughter. After a moment they recovered, though, and turned to the rest, saying in stereo, "What? M-preg is ALWAYS funny. It's like the bad fanfiction equivalent to a pie to the face."

  Meg laughed, and said in a mock evil tone "No, you are BOTH carrying MY love child!!"  She made a 'poke' motion, and two ball bearings lightly poked him in the bellies.

Both Ozzies chuckled and gasped, "What a tweeest!"

He then smirked and said, "You know, we could sell this idea to some station. Maybe MTV or something. And people would watch it."

  Meg laughed, and said "Well, that actually brings me to the subject of this barbecue.  ALL of you, New Age Defenders and your partners, are welcome to move in if you need it.  Once we do the grand tour, you'll see why I can make the offer.  The house is NOT the small and modest affair you see before you."

Jeff's jaw dropped, as he was struck speechless by this announcement.

"You.....HUH? We....can move in...HERE?"

  Meg nodded, and said "Trust me, there's plenty of room.  You have no idea how much room I have just looking at the place.  It's far less modest than the outside facades appear!!"

Jeff nodded at that, then turned to Candy.

"Well....what do you think, Candy? Now I can tell you that I can be a little bit of a pain the ass....according to my sister, anyways...but...ya think ya might be able to room with me, just to try?"

  Candy kissed him, and said "I like this idea.  Let's try it.  You can chill me out, and I can heat you up!!"

Jeff smiled at Candy, then blushed at the thought of being "heated up."

  Candy giggled and handed him a candy cane to suck on.

As Meg finished her announcement Jack stood up. "We have an announcement as well. Penny, is pregnant, and we're keeping the baby. And because of this some plans need to be sped up a bit." Jack reached into his pocket pulling out a small black box as he got down on one knee. "Penny, I love you, will you marry me?"

  Penny blushed, and said softly "It is my dearest wish, and my pleasure and privelige, to be your wife, Jack.  I will most certainly marry you."  She had tears of joy sneaking down her cheeks though, to match a million dollar smile.

Jack smiled as he opened the box revealing the one of a kind ring Meg had made and slipped it on her finger. He then stood placed both hands on either side of her face and kissed her.

"She's, PREGNANT? But, I thought, she wasn't, weren't you gonna, buh?"

  Meg nodded, and said softly "Correct.  Penny is pregnant, I can confirm."

"When did this happen Meg? I thought they were, yaknow, waiting...."

  Meg said "While they were at Builder's.  No.  You don't want the details, Bill.  But lets just say that if someone hadn't SHOT Builder, I might have seen if I could use him to splatter into Jupiter."

Ozzys jaw dropped, "Wow! Thats awesome, guys! I mean, not the whole Builder bit, but still. I gotta admit, I gotta admire your guts in taking on this responsibility at our age."

  Penny smiled, and said "Well, Jack chose to protect me from a worse option, and since I wasn't on any sort of birth control . . . . "

"I'm pretty nervous to be honest. Didn't really have a dad most of my life so I'm pretty much making this up as I go." He placed a hand on Penny's shoulder. "But she was, very convincing."

Aaron leaned over to Bella asking in a whisper. "So is this one of your 'cousins' being announced?"

Ozzy grinned, "Well, hey, if you need help, let me and Clarissa know. After all, it takes a village..."

  Bella grinned, and said "Older cousins.  I have a number of them.  But the ones I knew, don't exist here.  So it will be very different for me."

  Penny giggled, and said "We'll be glad of any help you guys want to chip in, you know, babysitting and all."

In reply to Bella Masters (msg #147):

'Is that a, they don't exist yet, or they prolly won't exist? Does this match up with what you were told as a kid?"

In reply to Seer (msg #148):

"But that won't be neccessary for at least 9 months, until then if anyone's got any, sage advice I'll take it."

Ozzy shrugged, I know jack squat about raising kids. Grandpas got so much sage advice he cant contain it all sometimes. Even when nobody asked..."

  Bella looked away, and said softly "I don't remember anyone ever mentioning me, or mentioning seeing me before I was born.  So in the timeline I'm from . . . I never went back in time.  And it doesn't exist any more any way."

"So you don't know exactly HOW different this timeline is from the one you grew up in?"

  Bella nodded, and said "Every day I'm here, the differences grow.  I am immune to temporal paradox.  I've lived days, even weeks and months, doubled in my normal timeline.  But I don't exist yet here, and I may never.  I may have destroyed my OWN timeline BY trying to save it."

As Bella started talking about whether she'd exist or not Aaron took her hand in his squeezing it lightly. "Its not all so bad right?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:04, Tue 29 May 2012.

  She signed, and looked down, admitting "I try not to think too hard about it.  I mean, I'm fifteen.  Almost sixteen.  I might BE sixteen by now.  I don't even know.  I don't . . .  time isn't linear for me.  I don't know anyone else who can do what I do.  I'm immune to paradox, and I can simultaneously exist in one timestream multiple times.  Do you know how HARD it makes it to keep track of actual age?  I probably know more about time travel than the leading quantum physicists of the age, just because I can do it.  And it makes MY head hurt with the permutations and possibilities and potentials."

In reply to Ozzy Gysbourne (msg #151):

"Well it was worth a shot. You realize this idea of yours could make a reality t.v. show right Meg? What happens when you stick a bunch of superpowered teens under one roof? This is where crimefighting gets real."

Ozzy smirked and replied, "You do realize that if some cameraman tries to poke his nose into our private business, I'm likely to kick their ass? I'm just thankful that there haven't been any so far."

"Yeah I'd rather not be featured on one of those. Have you SEEN those shows? They even have cameras in the BEDROOMS. I prefer privacy in my bedroom thank you very much"

In reply to Bella Masters (msg #156):

"I can imagine. Hell its making MY head hurt, and we haven't even got too far into it." He squeezed her hand again before he went back to eating.

In reply to Excelsior (msg #159):

"Of course, on the upshot, we'd get tons of hate mail. Then we could just get it all into a big metal drum, burn 'em, and roast marshmellows. Turn those flames into ACTUAL flames, hehe."

"If you wanted a hatemail bonfire all you had to do was ask Ozzy. We've got plenty."

Ozzy grinned and said, "Dude, bring it! We should totally do it. That would be hell of fun, don't you think? Hey, Candy, can you summon marshmellows?"

"Do you want JUST the hatemail or should  I bring the creepy fan-letters as well? We've got both, and it is hard to tell which one is more troublesome."

Ozzy chuckled, "Hatemail, fanmail, bring it all. We will burn that shit and make turn the flames into tasty, tasty smores. Maybe we ought to tape it, and send it to the news stations, heheh."

  Candy tilted her head, and then closed her eyes, concentrating.  After a moment, chocolate swirled marshmallows began to pop into existence, as big as pop cans, all over the tables like some strange alien fungi.  She was still concentrating, so she didn't see them as she asked "I get anything?"

  Bella nodded, and popped a french fry into her mouth before she glanced around, then she formed a little hologram of her Dads, a 2-D one, that was shielded in her hands.  She said "That's how I remember them.  I can't do too many, or they'll be visible to everyone else."

He leaned over looking into her hands.  "Oh okay. Much more parental looking." He looked over at the conversation between Bella's Dad and her Uncle. "Hatemail bonfire? Are they being serious?"

In reply to Ozzy Gysbourne (msg #165):

"I can be back with a bag of em in no time flat long as its okay to fly out of here. I mean we do have some very inhuman looking guests but not sure how much of on the down low you want to keep the 'there are paras living here' thing meg."

  Bella's expression hardened as she nodded, and she said "As serious as a bullet to the heart, Aaron.  You have no idea how much hate mail they get, just because they're not man and woman.  Nevermind BOTH of them are willing to put their lives on the line for these ungrateful jackasses, and they can only worry about the fact that both of my parents are DADs."

Ozzy grinned, "Hmmm... wonder what we could use for roasting sticks?"

  Meg waved a hand, and a metal bin with all sorts of metal camping implements came out of the shed, including a bunch of toasting forks.  She said "Just no actual skewering anyone with them, okay?"

Bill was suddenly replaced by Excelsior. "All right, I'll be right back." And he flew off.

>>FEtching hatemail>>

Ozzy looked taken aback, "Why, of all the things! I'd NEVER skewer anyone with a toasting fork!"

He then grinned, forming a paint spear and saying, "I'd at least have the sense to use something a bit bigger, heheheh."

  Andy chuckled, and said "Coulda used these if you hadn't had toasting forks, Meg."  And held his hand out.  The 'normal if long' nails he had lengthened into the six inch scythes that were still black as onyx.

In reply to Bella Masters (msg #170):

"Oh wow. Well there's some very opinionated people in the world and they are all too happy to voice their opinions. What about the uh, creepy fan mail?"

  Meg giggled, and said "I never said you couldn't skewer the letters, Ozzy.  Besides, if we want to skewer people, I have stakes in the shed.   Both short ones and long ones.  Although they're designed to be fenceposts."

Ozzy grinned and said, "Well, when Bill gets back, we can get started roasting these awesome marshmellows. And I have just the way to get the fire started, too!"

With that, Tats slid up off of Ozzy's arm and snaked around his shoulders, asking drolly, "You rang?"

Ex returned carrying a large duffelbag and a smaller gymbag. He tossed them both on the ground before landing next to Darren. "There hatemails in the big bag, creepy fanletters are in the smaller one, in case anyone wanted to read a fanletter or two, some of them are quite funny. Others make me want to write back with a very simple message. 'Stay away from my man'."

Ozzy chuckled, "I hear you. I swear, if I end up with a mob of squealing fangirls, I hope none of them tries anything. I am quite happily taken."

Golem-Ozzy let go of Clarissa and started to prepare the bin for use as a fire pit, unless there was something else available. Once the box was cleared out, he'd dump the hate mail into the box, though he did look through one of the creepy fan-letters first, wondering just how creepy they were.

  Clarissa giggled, and reached up, snagging Tats to hold in her arms, stroking him like a cat.  She grinned at Ozzy as her own familiar, Crystal Rose came sliding up her back (she had a bikini on) and then came off, and hopped onto Ozzy's shoulder to lick his ear.

  The letter read:

   Oh my dream-lover Excelsior, you are everything I ever wanted in a man.  You're strong and sexy and I just want to feel your body rubbing against my own.  The scars are almost healed now, I had to amputate my breasts, I know they were too big for you, I'm doing my best to become as male as I can.  The doctors say I'm not a good candidate for transgendering, but I know you really love me.  I will be ready for you, my love.  I found a perfect donor to give me what you need, and here in some time, I'll have the transplant done and I'll be able to give you the love I know you need, and receive all the glories of your love.  And if the doctor does it right, I'll even still be able to carry your love child in my belly, if you can stand it.

  Your one true love, and undyingly yours, Kameron Ostrander

Both Ozzies tilted their heads, stammering in unison, "Dafuq did I just read? That is literally insane. That poor girl needs her head examined, and maybe a bit of Megs' healing touch."

  Darren said "That, my friend, is why we call it creepy fan mail.  Gives ME a serious case of the creeping chills, let me tell you."

"Yeah like I said CREEPY. This girl doesn't even know what I look like behind a mask and she's talking about THAT kind of surgery? Thats life altering stuff. And We announced our sexuality TOGETHER, as a COUPLE, why is that so hard to understand?"

  Meg said "I could heal the physical damage, but oh gods that poor person is nuts.  I can't cure MENTAL insanity."  She shuddered, and said "Creepy and SICK fan mail."

Ozzy nodded, "I can see why you didn't want to write back, though. Let her down too hard, and she's a suicide risk. Not to mention that even if she didn't outright KILL herself, she might start cutting herself. Which does not make the pain go away. In fact, it really only hurts like hell."

  Andy shook his head, and said "Okaaaaay, that one needs serious psychiatric care.  Now.  Did she give you a return address, Bill?"

"That and I just have no idea how to RESPOND to something like that. I mean really, what do you say to someone willing to drastically change their body for you? ESPECIALLY when they've probably only seen you on tv?"

  Andy said "I was thinking more you might want to call the cops on her, Bill.  That one's more than a little scary sounding."

  "Yeah, I wasn't expecting any of us to be the more low key BBQ participants, but there you are."  His expectations there would have been such even if he Hadn't been concealing his current looks with fabcypants space holograms.  Matt faces towards the house at Megaira's announcements of vacancies.  "I've got a place these days fortunately.  I figure it's safe to assume you're cheating the real estate taxes via Bigger On The Inside shenanigans."

  Suddenly, things got legitimtatly serious with... That guy he just met proposing to a girl he just met...  Okay, that kind of lessens Matt's emotional investment, but it was still a touching scene.  Which would be why he's managed to refrain from explaining How Babies Happen to Bill.

  Matt tried to ignore the time travel talk because while he no longer got physical headaches, metaphorically they could still be an issue.  "How would you burn the hate Emails though?  Print them out just so you can?"

  Another person who looked like Meg's almost-twin came out of the kitchen door as she said "I think one would not offer a publicized email to receive such things.  Welcome to Megaira's home.  And yes, it's bigger on the inside than the outside.  Sorcery is handy with that.  But only if Megaira invites you inside."

Ozzy nodded, "True. She/he could show up at your door one day with a knife and stab Darren when he's not expecting it, or something. Stalkers tend to be good at finding the stalkee, after all."

He then turned to Lin and smiled, "Hiya, Lin! How are ya? Great spell-work by the way. I know you don't need to be told, but I figure even you can use an 'attagirl' every now and again, yeah? 'Bigger on the Inside shenanigans' are definitely something I can't do... right now, anyway."

  Lin smiled, and admitted "It took a couple centuries to get the perfect knack down.  It's even more complicated when you're layering different things.  Now, did you get a walk-through before Meg gave the official invite?  If not, let me know, so I can show you.  I can switch between the two easily.  Meg's not yet begun to study enough sorcery to get good at it."

  "Despite which the Spam Emails find us all in the end.  And of course I wouldn't go inside uninvited, it'd just be rude if I did."  Manners were handy like that where sorcery would fail.  It kept Matt from doing things like showing off by entering and stealing sofa cushions just to see the look on Lin's Good-For-4000-Plus-Years face.

  Matt would make such a terrible Supervillain with "dark" ambitions like that.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:30, Wed 30 May 2012.

Ozzy replied, "I've been given a tour, yeah. I'm sure you've noticed that the walls are being painted."

Tats smiled and sighed contentedly for a while under Clarissa's ministrations. However, at this point he stood up and said, "If you will excuse me for a moment, dear lady, I believe I have some things to burninate."

With that, he hopped down onto the table and walked towards the metal bin that was being used to hold the letters. He took a deep breath and blew a small line of flame at the paper once he was in range, igniting the letters so they would start to burn.

  Lin surveyed Matt, and said "I think we're fortunate none of the other Cthonic entities found you.  They'd snatch you up and try to train you to hate all still-normal life and to consider us all ants beneath your feet to be smashed to goo.  As it is, I can tell you're a good influence on things.  I'm Megaira's mother, Lin, if you hadn't guessed already, young fellow."

  Matt waves hello, "Nice to officially meet you, I'm Matt Matthews."  Don't ask his middle name... Hint, it's Matthias. Yup.  Somewhere an Alliteration meter kills itself.

  "Life hating would seem somewhat hypocritical given my situation... So far as anyone, self included understands my situation."  Oh hey, I'm not dead... RAAAARGH! LIFE BAD!  "Even with my influence, I got my limits you know?  I'm no city crushing force of devastation waiting to happen, That's where most of the more well acquainted with eachother people in this party come in.  I'd have to do it all slow and methodical one brick wall at a time.  Like an irate Kool-aid man but without the free drin-"

  He turns to face the sodas.  "Okay, maybe with the free drinks.  I think the hardest part so far has been keeping myself from putting the usual privacy lid on myself and the local population. Matt felt mind readers might develop trust issues when they lost their ability to bypass the need for trust in the first place.  He was probably wrong though...  Please tell us he's wrong.

  He points at Andy.  "Besides, look at the examples walking around if I did go down the path of crazy.  Oh hey, the Demon's less of a murderous asshole than you are.  Good job Matt!"  Matt gives a self depreciating thumbs up.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:10, Wed 30 May 2012.

Ozzy couldn't help but snicker at Matt's antics. "Nice one, dude. Yeah, destruction's not really my specialty, either. No Explosive Runes for me just yet. Workin' on it, though."

  Andy laughed, and said "Oh, I don't know, I have my crazy moments.  I think I scared the hell out of everyone last time I got blown up."  He didn't LOOK like he'd been blown up.  He LOOKED, aside from the nails that would make a manicurist die of horror, like a stacked young man who had the muscles of a nascent bodybuilder.  He didn't look as lethal as his nails did.  Not right now, anyway.

"The cops? I don't know you think that wouldn't just make things worse? Like push her over the edge?"

  Andy shook his head, and said "You tell me, Bill, what man in his right mind is going to be a 'donor' to give her what she 'needs'?  Sounds like someone's in danger of, well, being knocked out, cut up and turned into frankensteinian fodder!"

Ozzy shrugged, "Hey, you never know, might be some guy who wants to be a girl. Maybe they're trading, his junk for her tits? She did mention a doctor, after all."

He then sighed and said, "Of course, that sounds stupid now that I've said it. Yeah, I'd call the cops, to be honest."

Bill sighed. "I really hoped I wouldn't have to...get involved, but yeah I'll go to Jordan with it when we're done here, I should probably save that particular letter though."

  Meg shook her head, and said "I'd hate to be the one to find the body after she got what she wanted from it."

"And I'd REALLY hate to be responsible for that." He walked over to Ozzy taking the letter. "I should probably keep this one, show it to the cops."

Jack sat down back next to Penny wrapping an arm around her waist. {{That went well.}} He sent as he kissed her cheek.

  Penny kissed him, and whispered {{That it did.  And I love you so much.}}  She nibbled on her chips as she listened to the others.

Ozzy nodded, "Yeah. Better check for any more like that, too. Lucky I only put in the hatemail so far."

  Meg said "Okay, everyone grab a letter and read, if it's REALLY disturbed sounding, call out and then we can read it off.  Then we can take a group vote, pitch or call."

"Oh joy everyone gets to read through the creepmail. Mind you they're not ALL for me, Darren gets his share as well." Ex said as he walked over to the smaller bag and picked up a letter at random.

"I'm guessing Penny's out of this activity, unless some of those letters are in braile. Which I doubt. It okay if I sit this one out too? REALLY don't want to read some psychos ramblings if I can help it. No offense Bill."

Ozzy nodded, "Makes sense to me. I can multi-task enough to make up for it. Tats? Other Me? Get to work."

With that, Tats and both Ozzies started sorting through the letters, looking for any candidates to be shown to Captain Jordan.

  "I doubt cremation is an experience anyone would care to repeat Andy, yeah."  Matt pauses for a moment, then stares at the crazy mail pile.  "This BBQ went to a strange dark place fast."

Ozzy nodded, "Yeah. Stuff tends to do that. At least there's no Lovecraftian monsters or Ancient Titans of Shadow involved. Konnish and his croney were a real bitch and a half."

He then shrugged and said, "Just the world we live in, I suppose. Shit gets crazy, so we've got to take the good crazy bits and enjoy them, and deal with the bad crazy."

  Andy said absently as he sorted "It's not fun.  Neither is being flayed alive, ripped to gobbets, and flogged with a cat o nine tails with metal barbs multiple times.  But you can get used to it."

Regina shook her head.

"The audacity of people never ceases to amaze me."

Ozzy smirked, "Being a fairly audacious person myself? I have to agree. I'm just not batshit insane to go with it."

He then whistled and said, "Well, here's a good one for the burn pile. You two got a fairly... descriptive invite to a four way. Problem is your hostesses are, well... hostesses. As in girls. I'm guessing that's a no."

  Darren shook his head, and said "No.  Thanks.  Girls just don't do it for us."

  Lin held up a letter, and said "There's a couple real weird ones.  They want you to come and beat them up and then leave them tied up together??"

Ozzy smirked and said, "Figured. Ah, well. They're not sounding dangerous, so burn!"

Ozzy grinned as he opened the next letter, then laughed a bit.

"Oh, wow. Crazy is right. Geeze, I knew that gay guys are popular with some girls, but dude! Also, what part of 'does not like girls' do they not get?"

He then threw it on the table and said, "Still, I'd say call. She talks about how if you won't give her a child willingly, she'll TAKE one from you. What's she gonna do, swab down your bedsheets and stick the Q-Tip in her lady bits?"

"Tie me down or something? I don't know how that'd work, I have superstrength and provided she finds something that CAN hold me I can always, ya know, not get it up."
This message was last updated by the player at 04:49, Thu 31 May 2012.

Ozzy's  cellphone rings. It is his boss, The Rocket.
This message was last updated by the GM at 00:56, Fri 01 June 2012.

Ozzy groaned and flipped his phone open. He lost the attitude quickly, however, knowing that this was probably important.

"Hey, Bossman! What's up? Got something you need done?" he asked.

  A long black limousine drove up and onto the driveway, and three lawyers stepped out.  Carrying briefcases.

  The legal trio came around the back, and one of them accosted the nearest person, asking "Can you direct me to one Megaira Kattakara?"

Golem-Ozzy stopped them and asked, "What do you want her for, huh?"

  One of them said "We have legal business with miss Kattakara.  It is of the utmost importance."

Golem-Ozzy didn't take its eyes off of the Legals for a second, but called back, "Hey, Megs. You got some stuffed shirts here to see you."

  Meg came around, one eyebrow up, and said "May I help you?"

  One of them flipped his briefcase open, and said "Miss Kattakara, we are here on behalf of the Estate of one Darius LeCarde.  He has named you in his will, and we simply need to verify your identity and have you sign a legal document accepting the items he has chosen to leave you in his will."

Both Ozzies blinked in confused unison. Golem-Ozzy then proceeded to march to where the sodas were, take one, open it, and drink some down. He then turned to where nobody was in the line of fire, and did a spit-take.

"WHAT!? Don't do it, Megs, that snake in the grass probably set a trap for you! You know what he did to you last time!" said Golem-Ozzy, while fleshy Ozzy was doing his best to not let this conversation bleed over into his work conversation.

  Megs held up one finger in a 'in a moment' motion, and said "Give me a moment to consult with someone here."  She turned, and yelled "MOTHER!!"

  Lin looked up, and then headed around.  Just as tiny and unintimidating as her daughter, until she spotted the legal eagles.  Then she adjusted her posture minutely, and Ozzy (and everyone else in line of sight of Lin) felt like they were in the presence of ROYALTY.  She said "Let me preview all legal documents for my daughter."  And waited for them to hand them to her.

  The legal eagles handed Lin several documents, and she read through them, then stopped, read through them again, and said calmly to Ozzy and Meg "Everything here is in order, there's no legal loopholes, this is all legitimate, mundane, if a bit surprising, legal documents.  He apparently left Meg something in his will, and she has to verify her identity, which I can vouch for, and accept the inheritance, signing a legal document accepting her inheritance from LeCarde's Estate.  Which does NOT have any magical ramifications."

  Meg nodded, and said "Since Mom says you're legit, I will sign your papers.  I have no idea why Darius LeCarde would have left me anything, but okay."  She accepted the documents, signing them, and then a case with her birth certificate and such came floating out of the house to her hand, and she let them photograph them.   Then she signed the documents.  Once that was done, she handed them back.

Ozzy still didn't look happy that LeCarde had decided to give his friend something, but it seemed that it was legit, so he stayed quiet... for now.

  The only other verification they asked for was her thumb-print, which she gave.  Then one of the legal eagles opened his briefcase, and withdrew something Ozzy recognized as a last will and testament.  He straightened his glasses, and said "Miss Kattakara, Darius LeCarde had a very specific, very binding will.  The Probate Courts have reviewed the last will and testament of Darius LeCarde, and have upheld his will, which makes you his sole heir of his entire estate.  This includes all physical properties, including estates in England, Switzerland, Russia, Australia and South America, numbered Swiss accounts, accounts in the Cayman Islands, and his entire collections.  Madam, you are now the sole heir of Darius LeCarde's considerable fortune, and worth well over ten billion dollars."

Ozzy really didnt like this. He smelled a trap, but he didnt know where it lay. The only thing he knew was that LeCarde had been a real snake in the grass, and couldnt be trusted.

  Clarissa poked Ozzy in the ribs, and asked him "So what do the stuffed shirts over there want with Meg, since you have a golem over there?"

Once he was done talking to The Rocket, Ozzy turned to her and said, "Le Carde left Megs his fortune. The whole damn thing. I dont trust it as far as Tats could throw one of those lawyers."

  Clarissa blinked, and said "Isn't Meg already rich?  I mean, that isn't going to actually change anything, really, is it?"

"LeCarde was the mage who attacked you the other day. He also attacked Megs a while back. Like I said, TRAP." said Ozzy, looking worried. This clearly was not sitting well wih him.

"But he's dead now right? How's he got a trap from beyond the grave?"

  "Well, you know.  From what little I can put together of what even I know?  Zombie wizard would be one way, advancing down that progression path of evil wizardry from 'Dark mage doesn't want to die' to 'Dark mage is a malevolent skeleton'."  Hey, if they were talking about it openly then why not him too?

  He considers things for a moment, then says "Dealing with the physical locations would probably be the real hassle though."  Even beyond having to deal with the various bills of 19 spooky mansions, it probably wouldn't be very safe to just leave them to the average demolition service.

  Andy frowned, and said "LeCarde is dead, and his soul was last seen in possession of the Demon he failed to satisfy.  Which means he's either a shade in Hell waiting to be eaten, or he's being recruited for a Demon, or maybe he's a big pile of crap by now.  But he's not here right now."

Ozzy shrugged, "Dunno. I mean, maybe he had some kinda soul swap contingency to swap Megs soul for his? I just dont see a legit reason for him to leave his whole gorram estate to Meg. Im not an expert on Infernomancy. "

  Andy half smiled, and said "I'm probably the closest thing you got to an expert on Demons.  Aside from your friend Oorthos."

Ozzy nodded, "Well, what do you say, Andy? Is it a trap, do you think? Or did he just do something nice out of left field?"

  Andy cocked his head, and said "I think he actually meant to leave it all to her.  You recall his shocked expression when I ripped his heart out, and the other Demon yanked his soul to him?  I think he thought he had more time on this plane.  And I'm going to venture a guess:  A Demon can permanently steal another person's body.  Perhaps LeCarde planned to do that to Meg, and then 'die' and leave her, now him, all of his accumulated wealth, and we basically shortstopped him?"

  "It's starting to sound like one of those things only hindsight, or convenient notes laying around to find will ever get a clear answer at this rate.  Victor had stuff, now Megaria has stuff.  Likely fifty percent creepy stuff mixed in with the hot tubs, chandeliers and mid life crisis quality sports cars."  The LeCarde Lamborghini, because the road paved to hell needs some fancy wheels.

Ozzy shrugged, "Makes more sense than anything I've heard. And to find and possess an immortal body like Meg's sounds like something he'd try. I still don't completely trust it, but that's now more because who knows what kind of creepy stuff he had in his houses? I know Grandpa's got a secret lab under his, LeCarde coulda done the same easy. Hells, he might have a whole goddamn private island or something."

He then smirked at Matt and said, "Yeah, more than likely. Though some of those 'mid life crisis' cars might be really vintage. LeCarde was fuggin' ANCIENT. Well, not as old as Grandpa, but still really old. Like, more than a hundred."

"Whoa whoa whoa....time out!" Regina exclaimed after hearing all of this talk of monsters, demons and just about everything else under the sun. "Just....who in the world are you people? Dealing with monsters, creatures...?"

Then again, in their defense, she had been harboring several alien refugees in an old command bunker.

"Superheroes." Bill told Regina with a smile. "You didn't know?"

  Andy chuckled, and said "Bill's nailed it dead on the head.  We're all superheroes, or pretty close to it.    I go by Gargoyle, when 'in costume'.  Meg is Erinyes.  Bill is Ex.  Darren's Fluid.  Ozzy's Painter.  Candy's Fyre, Jeff is Icepick, Bella is Ex and Fluid's daughter, Vic's my sorceress, Iris is our resident speedster . . .  you get the idea?"

Ozzy shifted into his more famous Mark One Painter armor, and offered Regina a handshake, saying, "Yup. Painter of the New Age Defenders, and Masks, Inc. at your service."

Regina nodded.

"Well....as long as we're playing show and tell.." she said, chuckling. "My name is Regina Cordoff...Colonel, United States Air Force...and I also happen to be a.....a superhero...well, after a midair collision with an alien stardrive...long story."

She smiled for a moment.

"You can call me...Starshard...when I'm in costume."

  Meg came padding back over, having told the legal eagles to talk to her mother, and she said "Welcome to the Weird But Real club, Regina.  And as Andy said, I'm Erinyes in costume, daughter to an Immortal sorceress and an Incarnate from the Greek Pantheon, also known as Zeus.  I'm also one of the group's two 'indestructibles'.  Bill, do you count as a third, or not?  I know Andy and I are both pretty hard to stop, when we really want to keep moving."

Ozzy nodded, "Yup. And while were in the process of introductions? Magic? Totally real, if you didnt infer that already from Vic being a sorceress. Thats actually how my powers work, too. Im a wizard who has a talent for runes, which can do some really nifty shit if youre creative with them."

"Not really sure. We haven't found much that can hurt me for long."

Victoria nodded when Andy spoke about sorcery.

"Magic is very real....and is also helping to keep some unwelcome elements out of our universe."

She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Hmmm....interesting. You have star-born energy all throughout your body, as that isn't energy indigenous to Earth."
This message was last updated by the player at 16:03, Sun 03 June 2012.

"Well, that's interesting," Regina said, looking visibly more relaxed. "Look.....um....I have a small group of friends who are from....well, out of town, and I don't want to impose.."

She looked down for a moment, and the others could get the impression that she wasn't a woman who had to ask for help often. This was definitely an exception.

"My friends are....on the run from bounty hunters....and while they are safe, the accomodations are all right, but not as comfortable as they should be."

Ozzy grinned, "Hey, long as those friends arent, you know, evil troublemakers, Im good. Bounty hunters don't worry me too much. Heck, maybe I can talk to tem Merc to Merc, hehe."

A dark haired approached the lawn. He was 'wearing' a polo and a pair of khakis. Those familiar would still recognize Halkor as he'd only changed his skin tone and eyes keeping as close to his original features as possible. Spotting Regina he walked over to her. "Hello, Sorry to come empty handed but I wasn't sure if anything in the bunker would be appropriate, and I don't have any usable currency."

"So... define 'Out of town'. Cause Im not hearing any accents. Whats the deal?" asked Painter, still in his armor.

"Telepathically absorbing a language tends to eliminate any accent issues. As for defining out of town, well its a rather long story. The short being  we are not from this planet, or this galaxy. My crew and I are fugitives from our respective planets for crimes we did not commit, except for Archeirae, but I'll let her explain that, its not what you think. We had a group of bounty hunters on our tail for quite some time. We got hit going through a warp jump and ended up crash landing here."

Painter nodded, "Ah, yeah. We have something like that on our hands already. So what'd Archeirae do, wear purple on the emperor's birthday or something?"

"Her government assigns everything to its citizens from career, to living quarters, even mates. She went outside her lot in life by taking up art. She was sent to the prison mines of Arcturos as punishment. Thats where the four of us met, Me, Archeraie, Azrith, and Barklee." He looked around for a minute before sighing. "Speaking of Azrith I suppose it was too much to hope that he'd be here. He doesn't do well with those he's not familiar with and he has a hard time trusting people, but there is a reason for that."

Ozzy reabsorbed the armor, his face shocked. "Wh.. what? Dude... Id go nuts if I couldnt do my art. Hell, Ive even broken the law myself doing art. Several times, in fact."

"Be glad you live in such a society where you are free to choose. Some species aren't so lucky."

Ozzy chuckled, "There are societies like that here, or have been. Its not a species thing so much as a 'the king is a fink' thing."

"Multiple governments? I didn't realize. We haven't been outside the city yet and we haven't had much time to study much of the planet. On my world the planet is ruled by 9  noble houses overseen by an emperor....I was once the Patriarch of House Maranth."

"There are times that the governmental structures work and times that they don't, but for the most part, we do very well," Regina said.

Soon, a rather tall, long dark-haired bearded Caucasian walked into the midst of the barbeque.

"Um.....hello..." he said, appearing to be somewhat reluctant to engage in social activity.

"Every government has its difficulties I believe my situation is proof." As he finished talking he turned to see the bearded man walk up. He smiled immediately stepping over to him. "Good to see you my friend, I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to see you here but I have been pleasently surprised. Come my friend let us try sampling these earth foods."

Azrith smiled back at Halkor, which was rare for him. "Though I enjoy the comforts of our lodgings, a large part of me yearns to walk this strange new world we find ourselves on. Yes...let us sample of the Earthen foods..."

Ozzy chuckled, "If by 'most', you mean 'most modern', yeah, maybe. God, if next year we don't stop 'learning' about how barbaric and oppressive so many ancient societies were, I'm going to scream."

He then turned to Halkor and asked, "So, court intrigue, eh? That sucks. At least you're still alive, yeah? But, yeah, there's a ton of governments on this planet. The one you're in now is called the United States of America. It's a democratic federation made up of 50 states. Some of our states are bigger than entire countries, though. European ones, especially."

  "I'm still just Matt Matthews, the friendly face Regina and the rest ran into first." Hah, face joke. Will those ever get old? Will this stop him? Yes, No.  "Good to see you all around now Halkor, Azrith, nice place with a nicer BBQ."

  He turns back to Ozzy "Yeah, I had a feeling Archeirae's <airquotes>crime</airquoutes> would hit a very special place with you.  Watch out, she's got a landscape sketch!"

OOC: Airquotes is a real BBcode, I swear.

In reply to Ozzy Gysbourne (msg #277):

"Something like that. I still have no idea who framed me for treason against the empire. I wouldn't count that as a good thing. I think I would have preffered death to my children thinking their father a traitor." HE then turned to the spread of food. "I'm uncertain where to start, does anyone have any suggestions?
"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Sun 03 June 2012.

"Burgers are good, and they're fairly traditional at these sorts of things. We also have bratwurst. And you should DEFINITELY try the veal." he said, pointing to each item as he named it.

OOC: I did a little look see as to what 'gyro meat' was, and it listed veal as a traditional option. Therefore, we have old and overused <airquote>joke</airquote>.

  Meg said "It's easy.  You start by collecting a plate, like so." She led the way to the buffet of foods, and picked up a styrofoam plate, and handed it to Halkor.  "Then you fill it up with anything you think looks tasty, you find a spot to sit, and enjoy."  She demonstrated by collecting a couple burgers for herself, and some chips and other stuff.

Halkor followed after Meg doing as she instructed and taking each of the items Ozzy suggested as well as a helping of potato salad. Before taking a seat near Archeirae

Regina smiled, grateful that the meet and greet between her new friends and her newer friends.

Azrith followed after Halkor, getting some generous portions of burgers and chips and taking a seat with his fellow cosmic brethren.

Ozzy smiled, "Eat up, guys. Don't want anything to go to waste. And there's more to be cooked if anyone doesn't get enough from what's been cooked."

Halkor lifted the burger first smelling it first before taking a bite. A look of pure pleasure crossed his face. "This is amazing, you have no IDEA how long its been since I've had a cooked meal."

Ozzy chuckled and said, "The apron never lies. Though I do imagine that your judgement might be a bit biased, hehe."

Still, as the one who'd manned the grill, Ozzy did seem to take pride in the fact that his friends and the newcomers were enjoying what he'd cooked.

  Archeirae smiled, and added ketchup and cheese to her burgers, then sprinkled something else on them.  She said "It smells delicious, but yes, I need to add the arsenic.  And Halkor explained it very well, Ozzy.  I am a criminal in my own world, and I am not ashamed to admit it.  I committed the heinous crime of painting without it being my designated lot in life."

Azrith soon began to eat, a grin coming over his face.

"Not since we stopped at the rings of Rigel 7 have I tasted such a delicacy."

In reply to Archeirae (msg #288):

Ozzy chuckled, "I know, right? Well, like I said, I've broken the law for my art a few times myself. There are those who call themselves graffiti artists who paint horrible <airquote>pictures</airquote>, or just scrawl racial slurs and epithets on buildings. Then there are those like me, the actual graffiti artists, who do very nice murals and such. The law makes no distinction between the two. Only recently have a very few artists begun to be commissioned for their work, and thus able to do it legally. Of course, I've always followed the most important rule there is in our society. Don't get caught. Because if they don't catch you, then as far as society's concerned, you've done nary a thing wrong."

He then turns to Azrith and said with a grin, "I'm glad you like it. If you need more, just say the word, and I'll grill something up however you like it."

Regina was gratified that this was going well, as she sat with Halkor, Azrith and Archeirae. In a way, this ragtag group of cosmic misfits had become a family to her. Even Matt in an odd and good sort of way.

  Archeirae asked Ozzy "Can you make these with arsenic mixed into them, and not just sprinkled on top of them?"

Ozzy nodded, "Sure. I can knead it into the patties if you want. Just let me know how many you need... and I'll have to make sure and wash my hands really good afterwards. Or maybe wear gloves."

  Archeirae purred, and said happily "It will stick better then, so I don't go having my arsenic falling off my food.  It is an essential nutrient for me, I am afraid."  She ate her two burgers rather quickly, then looked thoughtfully at the tray where more waited, then shrugged and helped herself to three more.  She admitted "My race are more carnivore than omnivore, so high protein is essential, but we can handle some vegetables."

Ozzy nodded, and headed over to the grill to hook Archeirae up with some poison-burgers. Once he got the meat ready to be shaped into patties, and properly seasoned, he turned to Archeirae and asked, "Can I see your 'supplement', then? So I can mix it into the burgers?"

  She ambled over, and offerd him the little tube of arsenic.  She said "I know, strange dietary needs, but I cannot help it."

Ozzy shrugged, "Meh. Besides, technically, humans need a little arsenic, too. That's why this shit is available at pharmacies. Most poisons are actually necessary for biological processes, it's just that, when there's too much, it gums up the works."

  Archeirae smiled, and said "But what you can tolerate, and what *I* can tolerate, dosage wise, is wildly different!  We require arsenic for the sheathing for our nerves."

Ozzy nodded, "Makes sense. And we don't need to ingest much, I don't think. I don't hear of many folks taking arsenic supplements. I dunno, whatever. Lemme focus on cooking. Don't wanna burn your burger. You want it actually cooked, or do you like it to bleed a bit?"

  She grinned, and said "Bloody to barely seared works.  We ARE a predatory species.  You realize the only  bones we have are our jawbones?  And we can unhinge and separate those."

Ozzy nodded, letting the poison-burgers cook a few more seconds to allow the seasonings a bit more time to cook into the meat before he flipped it up onto a plate for her, saying, "Here you go! And interesting. So the rest of you is cartilage, then? Or what? How do you stay upright?"

  She chuckled, and said "Watch."  She flexed, bending like a boneless octopus for a moment, then she straightened, admitting "We choose to stand and let other races THINK we have skeletons.  It's all muscle power."

Ozzy chuckled, "Oooh, sneaky. That's pretty awesome. Nothing I can't do with my paint, but awesome."

  She chuckled, and said "You think that's cool, you should take a good look at my claws.  They're lethal."  She held out her hand, and extended her claws.  He could see the serrated, monomolecular edges that just screamed lethally sharp, and then she let them slide back into their sheaths in her fingertips.

"I take it we don't need the holographic inducers judging by Archeraie not having hers on?" He pressed a button on his wrist and his form shimmered the normal looking man replaced by a blue skinned red eyed humanoid wearing black and gold robes with a deadly looking sword on his hip.

Ozzy smirked and flexed his hand, paint swirling over them to become perfect copies of Andy's claws.

"Again, cool, but nothing I can't do. Unfortunately, the 'doesn't freak out' crowd also tends to be the 'hard to impress' crowd. Lucky you, there's no real need to impress us, at least. Still, if I could study them a bit? That would be awesome. I can copy stuff pretty well."

  She grinned, and said "If you want to study them, I will be glad to let you, but you have to agree to make me these things a couple more times, on other days!"

"Done deal! I'll be more than happy to cook for you," he replied with a smile.

"You think you might have room in this bunch for a soon to be ex-Air Force Colonel who is on leave?" Regina replied as she walked to the cat-woman and Ozzy.

Ozzy smirked, "Hey, my sire's a lawyer, I figure we can handle a soldier. You retiring, or getting the boot?"

  Lin added "Megaira's got Demons, wizards, sorceresses, superheroes and parahumans, I'm almost certain that she can handle some aliens and an ex-air force colonel."

"Are you certain that would be wise? Our pursuers are on the planet as well and we do not want to drag you into our battle. That and this place seems a tad...open for my tastes nor particularly secure."

Ozzy chuckled, then said, "Dude, I make my living getting into other people's battles, and more or less make a hobby of it, too. They wanna hunt you guys on OUR planet? They're gonna have to deal with the locals. And these particular locals can open up some industrial-sized cans of whupass."

  Meg said "You haven't been inside yet either, Halkor.  And yes, I DO mean the invitation.  Would you like an example of WHY I'm generally almost always doing SOMETHING with my abilities?"

  Matt turns to Regina and comments "You crash one jet and you never hear the end of it I guess?"  Of course, if she had been good enough to dodge then Regina would be out some free super powers.

  As for why Megaria was always doing something with her abilities, Matt would assume some combination of boredom and the age old reason 'Because I can, duh'...  Or maybe Megaria's mindset wasn't the same as his would be.

"It is more secure...from the inside?" He asked genuinely perplexed. "I am still quite unfamiliar with these 'para abilities' your species seems to possess."

  Lin smiled, and said "Without Megaira's invitation, most people can't GET into what's really inside.  They don't end up where invited guests or residents end up.  So the interior is MUCH more secure than it looks."

Regina turned to Matthew and told him "I'm pending an honorable discharge. Not something I wanted to happen, but I have a feeling that you guys may need me more. But yes....the top brass feel that I am not competent, which really irks me."

She smiled at Lin and Meg's approval. "Thank you...it's nice to be able to fit in, but not just for me. For my new friends too."

  Meg explained "Most humans can't do the things that almost everyone here today can do.  All of us have different abilities.  Mine happen to cover magnetic fields, manipulation, generation thereof, gravity manipulation and generation, and I can regenerate and heal like nobody's business.  I'm almost always using my powers to make 'ball bearing roller coasters' along  the ceilings about anywhere I go just to burn off energy.  Watch."  She half turned, and a line of about forty ball bearings in a perfect 'snake' formation came racing along, the fine control perfectly clear as they zoomed up and around, then Meg said "Clicking is a normal noise too around me."  The ball bearings clicked a bit as they pulled to a 'stop' before them, then hovered.  She waved a hand for him to check them out.

Ozzy snarked, "Hey, when you don't fit in with the normies anymore, that's when you come hang out with us oddballs. There's a bit of prejudice and fear aimed at us from the para-fearing normies, but other than that, it's all good. Well, except for the occasional 'world-ending-monster', but those are more annoyances than apocalypses, really. We stomped the last two that came our way."

  Clarissa giggled, and said "Uh-huh.  The world hasn't ended yet!  So you'd BETTER be reporting in tonight.  Don't MAKE me come hunting you down."

Ozzy blushed and grinned as he replied, "Yes, ma'am! I'll be there."

  Andy rumbled a laugh, and said to Vic "I think we need to throw Ozzy a Bachelor Party sometime.  He's a had lad."

Ozzy chuckled, "Dude! A bachelor party before I'm eighteen? The hell are we gonna do?"

  Andy looked skyward, and said "Well, let's see, Ozzy.  I'm eighteen, I can hire the strippers, Jeff can check out the cakes, Bill and Darren can check into the decorations, and I imagine I could probably beg Lin into buying you some booze.  How hard will this be?"

Ozzy shook his head, "Okay, item number one and item number four on that list are officially vetoed. I appreciate the thought, and a night out with my bros does sound good. But you know me, Andy. I'm not really a 'strippers and booze' kind of guy. Maybe we could all go out to a good sports bar, and get wings or something. I'll even let you guys drag me to Hooters, if it'll make you happy."

He then grinned at Clarissa and said, "Besides, Clarissa isn't really what I'd call 'uptight'. It's hardly like I'm getting together with Mrs. Cleaver, hehe."

  Andy laughed, and said "Nah, actually we'll probably just hire a DJ and throw another shindig like this, but with more playing in the pool.  And less lawyer types pestering.  I'm sure that would work.  But Clarissa still gets to be your stripper."  He grinned teasingly.

"Sounds like you're stuck, Ozzy," said Victoria chuckling.

Ozzy grinned, "Hells yeah, bro. That sounds more like my kind of party. And you're right, Vic. I'm stuck, and loving every minute of it."

  Andy chuckled, and said "I got told that she was going to be your stripper, so if I wanted to hire you any, talk to her first or I'd be a 'sorry neutered son of a bitch', I think she said."  He kept his voice low enough Clarissa didn't hear him, but he was clearly amused by it, before he added "You've got one with sass and balls, Ozzy."

Ozzy chuckled and whispered back, "Just the way I like her. She knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to admit it. Or to take steps to get it."

He then grinned and said, "Still, I think we might need to worry about a party for Jack first, given that he's the first of us to be tying the knot. So, Jack, what kind of party do you want?"

"Well strippers are definitely vetoed, probably booze too. We could just do a guys night out or somethin, I'm not picky."

Ozzy grinned and replied, "That sounds like a party, bro."

  Meg shook her head at them, and said "We just do another barbecue like this one, but with more time in the pool and less legal-shark type visitors."

Ozzy smirked, "Amen on the no lawyers rule. Well, maybe if Grandpa chills out, but that aint likely."

  Meg tilted her head, and said "Oh, your Grandpa would be welcome, Ozzy.  Just make sure he knows it's an 'off duty' party.  Clarissa and you are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need it, and I'm NOT revoking the invites.  Clarissa's adorable."

Ozzy sighed, "Its just that, well... he and I had words about Clarissa and her leaving home, which is part of why I accepted your invite, so things dont boil over to the point that they did with my sire."

  Meg said "You never know, Ozzy.  Things may come up that give her an excellent reason to be where she is.  Or they may bring your grandfather around to a more accepting attitude."

Ozzy shrugged, "Who knows? I just hope its nothing bad. Clarissas folks arent BAD. Just.. protective, and overbearing."

  Meg chuckled, and said "I certainly don't want anything bad happening to the two of you!"

>>>>>>>>>>>From The Timeskip>>>>>>>>>

Regina spent some time getting settled in to this strange and wonderful new abode that she found herself in. The sorceress...Lin, was it...had been very accomodating. And though her power source was from the stars themselves, the long-lived sorceress seemed to have an insight even into that.

She had made several discoveries along the way, one being able to put up a blast field which seemed to protect her, almost like she did when she first met up with the alien bounty hunters. She also had taken a jaunt around the solar system, finding that she could fly at astounding speeds. But the most profound discovery that she had made....was that she became weakened without the presence of starlight.

Waking up and getting accustomed to another day without being at the Air Force base, she began to wonder what Colonel James Thompson was doing. Even though they parted ways romantically, they both kept a keen interest in each other's lives. But that begged the question....what would happen now?

From the Streets >>>

Ozzy landed with a 'THUMP', though thankfully it was a 'straight down' kind of landing and not a 'crashing' kind of landing. He'd have to work on being quiet and touching down softly, though.

After a moment of screwing up his courage, he walked towards the door and opened it, wondering who was still up.

  Meg was in the kitchen, she blinked at him, and told him "You look like it's been one hell of a night, Ozzy.  Go get some sleep."

Ozzy smirked, "I'm glad you guys at least recognize me in this form. I'm hoping I can 'sleep this off', but... I dunno. This may be the new me. Only time will tell. Honestly... I'm just glad you didn't scream. Let's just hope there's another not-scream, yeah?"

He then plodded over towards his and Clarissa's room, gulping as he reached for the doorknob.

  Meg tapped her nose.  She patted his shoulder on the way by, and said "I'm thinking she might just surprise you, Ozzy.  Have faith."

  The door opened before he could quite grab it, and he got, well, the only word for it is mugged.  Clarissa wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed.  "Ozzy!  What happened?  Are you okay?  Get IN here!!"

Ozzy turned and smiled and said, "Thanks, Megs. I'm trying. I just... well, it's kind of hard, being on this end of the monster. I'm getting a bit of a taste of what it was like for Andy, when we first found him. Sans the gunshot wound, thankfully."

Ozzy grunted in surprise when Clarissa threw open the door and glomped him. He slowly, gingerly, reached down and put his massive hands on her back and said, "You... heh. You always surprise me, babe. Though, technically, I can't claim to be 'drug free' anymore. Not by choice, though, I swear. Kinda got shot with it."

  She hugged him, and said "Just get in here and come to bed with me, love.  You so look like you need a hug!  Get your ass on the bed."  He felt a kiss pressed against his skin as she hugged again, wrapped right around him.

Ozzy smiled and nodded, "Yeah, kinda could."

Afraid of moving with her attached to him like that, he picked her up and gingerly held her to his massive chest as he ducked through the door. His tail, which had been corked so he wouldn't drip mutagen on the carpet, closed their door behind them.

  She felt tiny, in comparison, and she kissed his chest as she told him firmly "Get  your butt to bed, love.  I can tell you need some serious snuggles."

Fading to black!!

Ozzy smiled, and did as he was told, a big, stupid grin plastered on his face the whole time.

"You never cease to amaze, love..."

Fade to Black...

  Megaira was talking to her mother as they considered Clarissa and Ozzy's room.  Lin finally said "I'll fix this.  We're already bending the laws of physics pretty heavily, may as well break them wide open."  She lifted her hands, and wove a new enchantment into the fabric of the house.

  Meg looked at Lin, and said "Ozzy and Clarissa are getting married.  Want to attend?"

To which her mother replied "Absolutely.  Let's make it there.  Tell them I will handle Clarissa's dress."

And they both vanished, reappearing in the hospital chapel,

----------------->> Hospital

  At Meg's, the Imperial Dragons were busy.  One of them fired up the big brick grills as another one was in the kitchen, getting the lasagnas out to be heated.  Two more of them were setting up chairs and tables and a huge tent for shade over the eating and buffet tables.  A fifth one was setting up an area under a white gazebo that was chilly enough to keep cold food good and cold!  It's white hair was an indication it was an Imperial Ice Dragon.

---> From Hospital

On the back of Wind-in-Bamboo, it appeared that Fiona had beaten everyone else to the reception; when they arrived, there were only the dragons still preparing everything, causing Fiona to once again go wide-eyed at the sight. If it all didn't feel so undeniably real, she'd been convinced she was dreaming.

"Thanks for the ride," she said to Wind-in-Bamboo with a friendly smile as she dismounted and lightly patted his giant snout.

  Just after Fiona arrived, everyone else did too.  The Dragons, who had been setting up,  all seemed to vanish, aside from Wind, transforming into little versions that streaked toward Lin.  Settling down onto her robes (she was now in a set of peacock Imperial Robes that looked like something out of the History Channel), they 'vanished'.

  Wind settled to the earth, and let Fiona dismount, and then shrank to a two foot long version, and perched on her shoulder.  "Go talk to Lin, she can tell you more about us.  She's older than I am, you know."

  Andy fired up the grill, knowing that they would all be hungry, and asked Vic "Do me a favor, love, and see where Meg has the grillables stashed so I can get some stuff started."

Victoria nodded, then went to go find Meg and some grillables.