His path is a bit slower one, actually taking the time to look over the exhibits, read the plaques and reflect on his own travels.  Finally he comes to the statues of the Defenders, listening to Lucas speak to himself.

"Sound like you almost know them.  Sorry, just seems like you care about them."

He offers his right hand towards Lucas, the emerald stone seeming to flash just briefly as it catches a bit of light in the movement.  Though the light coming from deep within the stone, not on the surface.

"Name's Greg.  They save your life or stop your store from being robbed."

Lucas briefly seemed surprised at that the newcomer spoke up. Most people looked in awe and wonder, usually speechless, but this man was quite the exception.

"A few of them, yes. One of them was a student of mine, who has grown far beyond what I could ask or imagine."

He then turned to the newcomer, returning the offered handshake. Noticing the stone for a brief moment, he dismissed it for the moment.

"My name is Lucas," he said. "And you're right...they can save your life. They can also stop you from making one of the biggest mistakes of your life. Yet they can be as fragile as you or I could ever be."

He put his hands in his pockets, looking back again at the young man. "First time seeing the Museum?" he asked.

"Yeah, just moved to Weston a few weeks ago.  Between job hunting and getting myself situated, I haven't had the time to really look at the history.  Figured if I was going to be here though, I should change that.  And I can understand that, despite their abilities, they're still very human."

He trails off just a little bit at the end there.  For a brief moment he got a far away look in his eyes before snapping back in to that relatively aloof persona.

"Dated a parahuman once.  Ultimately she and I had to part ways though, was a little bit ago.  She could do amazing things but at the end of the day..."

His face drops just a bit and he shakes his head slowly, forcing a smile to go back over his lips.

"What do you teach?"

Ozzy had his own section of the exhibit, depicting the different styles his armor took as he grew in power and experience, as well as specialty forms like the defense armor and speed armor. It also contained a depiction of his monster form as well.

"Painter was the leader of the New Age Defenders with Excelsior and Erinyes as sub-leaders. The three remain close friends to this day. From a long line of mages Painter was trained in his abilities as well as combat and tactics from a young age, making him the most experienced of the New Age Defenders and a natural choice for field leader. In non-crisis situations the group was mainly democratic in nature.

Painter is both his codename and the variety of Mage Oswald Gysbourne is. Painter is a sub-class of the Conjuror discipline which focuses on creating magical paint which the Painter can then shape and manipulate.

Now Painter is a member of the Global Guardians and does occasional work for Masks Inc, though he has spent less time working for the Parahuman Mercenaries to focus on his art career. He is married to Clarissa Gysbourne, a reserve member of the Global Guardians."

In reply to Kevin Jordan (msg # 426):

"I teach martial arts," Lucas said. "I originally started off in Goju-Ryu, but I have incorporated other styles into my teachings. Pretty much, it's to show that there is not just one path to take...not just one avenue to victory."

He looked over at Ozzy's section of the exhibit. "Painter....Ozzy...was always destined for the spotlight. I was only a small part in him getting to where he is today. But he has done quite well for himself."

He then turned to Kevin.

"What about you, Greg? It takes a keen eye to notice how much I care about these young people,so I'm guessing that you can read most people fairly well. It's a talent that is not easily acquired or taught."

"Have any room in any of your classes for a new student?  Been meaning to look in to getting set up with a Dojo.  Studied Martial Arts for most of my life, part of that is reading people.

It really is impressive to see these stories.  How people react to incredible circumstance pressed upon them.  There is a lesson there for all of us in our lives.  We all deal with that in our own way and it that lesson is relative to each person.  Not different.  Relative."

The smile on his face remains friendly, but there was something to his eyes that darkened just a bit.  The silent weight that those that carry it make sure to wield it themselves.

"Might be wrong, but I sensed a bit of a kindred spirit, too.  Been walking a path to victory by myself for a while now.  With the introspection, inspiration I was looking to find here...  it has been a dark and lonely path.  Sometimes you need to remember where the light is.  Where sparks you have helped spread started."

"I believe I can make room for you, Greg," Lucas said. "Who knows? With what you've shown me in this short time, there may be things that you could teach me. My sensei imparted on me that you can still learn from others, even as you are well advanced."

Lucas' eyes narrowed slightly. This young man seemed to have wisdom beyond his age, and when he mentioned a dark and lonely path, that thought seemed to resonate with him.

"Interesting that you mention about remembering where the light is. I've been in the dark for so long that it's taken me this long to come out of it. If I am even out of it at all. And not by my own hand....I had some good friends who helped me to see that I don't have to go through any of these hardships alone."

Lucas sighed, putting his hands in his pockets and looking all around the museum. "When I look around here, I not only see the displays. I see friends....family....compatriots...sometimes it is best to go back to the beginning. To remind oneself of what brought you to this point. And then pick yourself up and continue on. God knows that it has not been easy, but we are placed in our respective positions for reasons that we ourselves are unaware of."

"There is a lot of light to be seen here."

And that relaxed look returns to his eyes and while his hands do not go in to his own pockets, there is noticeably a relaxing to his stance as well.  His eyes still move around the area but not to the point of looking at the displays, more looking to the people that were there.

"Friends can be excellent for that, still their timing has to be just right.  If they reach out too quickly, they just manage to push you away.  And if they wait too long, you may be beyond their reach."

He frowns a little as he hangs his head, seeming to consider his next words carefully.

"Even Champions bathed in Light can falter, our faith in them can be lost.  It's most difficult then, when our heroes fall from the pedestal we have placed them on.  Maybe the most difficult part for them climbing back up from the fall is from those of us that refuse to see their efforts to restore that faith."

There was a change in his tone, a bit more softness to it, speaking more out loud for himself at that point.

Lucas looked at Greg for a moment, noticing the sage-like nature of his words. The more he talked to him, the more that it seemed that he had more than just a passing knowledge of the struggle that heroes went through.

"Look Greg....I appreciate your words. They're very well-meaning. Almost as if you needed to say them. Both to yourself....and to me."

He looked intently at Greg.

"Do you know someone named Lin?" he asked.

A smile forms across his lips, a split second there is a slight smirk before it goes back to just a full smile and he nods his head slowly.

"Excellent hospitality, she certainly knows how to make a stranger to this city feel welcome.  I met her at her Café and I have to say, it had been a long time since I felt like anywhere I was at felt like home.

She certainly serves well as the heart and soul of this city, in her own way."

Somehow the smirk still manages to be good natured.

Lucas couldn't help but chuckle. Those who came across Lin could not deny her presence. And she always left her mark on everyone she met.

"Lin's like that, it's in her nature. I've known her for a long time, and I am proud to say that she treats those she meets with the utmost dignity and respect. Her daughter is also keeping that tradition alive, albeit in her own way."

He shook his head, smiling as if in on some sort of cosmic joke.

"You probably didn't intend on being a messenger, and yet you somehow end up as one. Thank you."

He gestured towards the rest of the museum. "Looks like you've been upgraded to the Twenty-five tour, Greg. What say that we explore the rest of the museum, and I can answer any additional questions that the plaques can't answer? I have....firsthand experience of most of the events depicted here."

"I had a feeling that was the case, Lucas." In response to his first hand knowledge of the events.  "No problem at all.  This is a difficult life, we all need people to support us.  Lin and her daughter are definitely special people.  Met them both about a week or so ago.  Helped get me more situated here."

As they continue to move, he does go under his breath again, to address something.

"I do want to apologize.  I did not mean to step on your toes as the new guy on the block.  If you come up with a plan first, I will follow your lead, until the plan goes sideways and we need to throw out the plan."

Lucas glanced over at Greg as he offered his apology. Then the memories came back. He was the newcomer in black at the museum. When the mummies rose.

"Greg....you have nothing to apologize for. You saw a situation...you saw a solution, and you implemented it, and it ultimately ended up minimizing damage as well as saving lives. I have to admit, I still wasn't thinking straight at the time, so I wasn't at my personal best."

He smiled.

"Ego, I've learned, gets in the way of being able to do the right thing. It can dim our vision, and cause us not to see what's in front of us, or even to hear the well-meaning words of those closest to us."

He sighed as they continued to walk through the display.

"I've lived in Weston all my life. It may sound crazy, but I feel like she is a live entity. There are times when she is tranquil, other times angry, and other times sad. But at the end of the day, she is my city, and I would do my best to see her protected."

He turned to Greg. "Where did you call home before you came to Weston?"

He nods easily at the explanation, but it was still needed.  There was a lot of respect there for the veteran hero.  The question at the end visibly gave him pause though, his thumb absently rubbing at the ring on his hand.

"It does not sound crazy at all.  Where I did my training, it was not home, but I still protected it.  I needed to protect it.  There was certainly a living entity vibe around it, too.  As for where I called home, it was on the West Coast.  I was visiting my girl friend just a little south east of DC when an alien wiped out where I called home.  It did not make the news here.  People that did read about it, they just thought it was fictional.

I do not blame them for thinking that.  It has been five years, feels strange that Weston is starting to feel like Home."

"I had never heard of that event," Lucas said. "Still...I'm sorry for what happened, it's unfortunate that someone felt it necessary to cover it up, or at least play it off like it was something fictional. Something that big....everyone deserves to know the truth."

Lucas looked away for a moment.

"Looking at these displays...these plaques....sometimes I wonder if I am truly worthy of the praise that they bestow. Loss is a part of what we do. It can spur us to go on...or to go to a dark place that we would not have entered otherwise. A dark place that I was in until recently. Now, thanks to my friends and teammates, I find myself coming out of that place, but...there's still a lot for me to do as far as getting the public's trust again."

"To be fair, it was not covered up.  And the people I have talked about it here with, they believe it happened.  It was known as Coast City."

Listening to Lucas, he nods slowly.

"Trust..  is a difficult thing to rebuild after it has been damaged."  He takes a breath, shaking his head.  "They forget you are still human, capable of making mistakes.  Capable of having your emotions overwhelm you."  He thinks on his own words more, his relatively positive outlook slowly changing to despair for just a moment before looking back to Lucas, shaking his head to clear it a little.

"You do deserve this though, to be remembered.  To be honored.  It is being done properly, too.  And the success and stories are being shared with those that were there as well.  My Uncle Barry had a museum dedicated to him and it was always blew his mind each time he walked in.  The important part of having trust be rebuilt, is you taking that first step to try to repair what has been lost.  You made some mistakes, everyone does.  But there is still plenty of opportunities to fix them."

"You must have had one amazing teacher to help you gain such insight, Greg," Lucas said. "He sounds a lot like the sensei who taught me when I first started practicing the martial arts."

He then began to walk towards the other exhibits. "So...what's next? The Hall of Villains? Or would you like to take a guess as to which member of these teams I am a member of?"

"My Mentor did not teach me that.  My Uncle did."  Clenching his right hand tightly into a fist, there was just a glimpse of that rage brewing under the mask of calm as it cracks just a little before he expels a breath.  Relaxing his hand.  "He killed a lot of people.  Tried to kill a whole lot more.  And I did not just have one teacher."

His voice quiets through that, shifting just a bit.  The smile returns to his lips as he tries to put on that mask again.

"Figure I already took a guess, so the Hall of Villains sounds like a good next stop.  I wonder though, there are many paths that can be taken.  Did they have to be villains.  Some times there are other ways and there is a certain level of escalation that needs to be recognized in the situation.  Some times you do not have the luxury of time to discover the avenue to de-escalate the situation of course."

Lucas nodded, noticing briefly that Greg had tensed up, only for a moment. Explaining about the death of multitudes of people.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to dredge up anything unpleasant."

He then gestured towards the Hall of Villains exhibit.

"The villains that we have fought against....and still, in some cases, continue to fight against...each have their own unique reasons for going down the path that they did. Some thought that they could make the world a better place, albeit with themselves at the head of things...others tried to make humanity better through unethical experimentation...others felt that society had disowned them, so they wanted to burn it down."

The last phrase Lucas uttered seemed to resonate with him, bringing back memories of the villain known as Flamethrower. The only person to die by his hand. And that death still haunted him.

"I'm sure that the plaques for the Villains will be very informative."

One of the first exhibits they come across depicts an African man with a shaved head dressed in a military uniform with a long tan coat. The Plaque read:

Rehab

Born Chibundu Okafor in Nigeria, the man who would become Rehab was recruited as a child soldier and spent most of his young life in the military. During one conflict his best friend was shot and his abilities awakened. Rehab possesses the ability to manipulate biology allowing him to heal his allies as well as paralyze and debilitate his foes. After healing his friend Chibundu was found by the leader of his faction and locked up and used to heal injured soldiers.

After three years in captivity Chibundu escaped along with other parahumans who had been enslaved. Okafor escaped to America early on in the parahuman boom, before the parahuman rights act and hate crimes were commonplace. Witnessing slavery in one country and hatred and discrimination in another Chibundu became enraged.

Taking the name Rehab, he founded the New Parahuman Army, a terrorist organization that clashed with both The Legacy and The DPA. Rehab has not been seen in the U.S. in years, focusing his efforts on third world nations, but the NPA has a worldwide network and still maintains a presence in the U.S.

"It is fine.  There does come a point when you need to stop running and face what torments you."

That gets a legitimate smile from him and as Lucas speaks as to their motives he gives a slow nod.  These were all very familiar to him.

As they get to Rehab's exhibit, he takes special care to read over the plaque.  Going so far as to remove his cellphone if the museum allows pictures to take one of Rehab as well as a few 'bullet points' of information shared within.

"This, is a prime example of someone that could have taken a different path.  Who maybe still could.  I am sure he and this group he founded have done countless horrific acts of their own, still."

"This one here is a prime example of a blurred line between villain and hero," Lucas said, lso looking at Rehab's exhibit. "A lot of things that he is fighting for are good causes, however his methods...they tarnish whatever good he wants to do, and that is all that anyone sees at the end of the day."

Setting his cellphone back away he listens to Lucas, slipping his hands in to his pockets.  Idly his thumb brushes against the ring on his right hand.  Lost in thought as he reads the plaque for Rehab again.  Though his eyes were open, it was clear he was miles away from the spot they were in.

For the faintest of moments, if Lucas blinked he would have missed it, the brown of his eyes shift to a pale green color then back to brown.  Closing his eyes, when he opens them, he's back from whatever thoughts that had picked at his brain.  His relatively relaxed stance falters just a bit, betraying that feeling that the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

"Actions taken with the best of intentions can take a heavy, gruesome toll on the world around you.  Fighting injustices, facing a corrupt system; it is a very fine line between savior, vigilante and villain.  Even doing what you feel is right, is sometimes the worse thing you can do.  It doesn't excuse their actions but it helps put them in to context.  Actions that need to be stopped by force or through attempting to reason with them.  Realizing one can be needed to quickly replace the other."

Kevin looks over the display, to the area around them, and then to Lucas.

"Maybe we should go somewhere a bit more private.  As educational as this place can be, it is a bit to exposed."

Lucas looked warily around, now aware of the public venue they were in. What had turned into an introspective trip turned out to be something a lot more educational. Perhaps Kevin would be a great asset in the days to come.

"We could go to the dojo if you would like. I know that my partner Grace is finishing up the last class right about now, and will be locking up soon."

"It'll be nice to see the area."

He had to internally smile, going to the Dojo secretly ran by the premiere Martial Artist hero of this world, it felt right.

>>>> Dragon and Tiger >>>>
This message was last edited by the player at 00:09, Wed 15 Jan 2020.