Things could not work weirder for Cythi.  She escaped the clutches of the cult and wound up here with her first job as a coffee barista.  Thankfully though that lasted only for a week before a person that worked on a set offered her a job.  It would be glamorous as she might have a chance to be a star.  But her start there was as the person who made and served coffee on site.  Not that she really cared as for skills she had little or no training in pretty much anything.

Still when it was discovered that she might have caught powers that seemed to have been an improvement on the entire situation as in a way it gave her a way to remain safe should the people she left came looking.  And what did she do...well to keep herself busy she did what she could and worked as a barista.

When decision came up on what to do she decided to actually make an effort and maybe meet some people which may help with any of the decisions.  Not sure they knew who she was she approached one of the first people she could which happened to be Alexey, "Hello.  I thought I would take a minute to introduce myself.  My name is Cythi."

So, Cythi was a member of the Craft Servives Team...

Alexey jolted, in the way a child caught with a hand in a cookie jar might.  He glanced nervously automatically to his sides, looking for someone else Cythi could be referring to.  Or an escape route.  He glanced down at her, then shied away from meeting her gaze directly.

"I am Alexey.  Hello."  He replied briskly, shifting his weight in whatever invisible grasp it was held in.  He spoke in a soft voice, but it was still clear that his command of English was partial, with the ghosts of extra sounds haunting his consonants.  "You are need for something?"

Taking a moment to figure out what he meant, "No I do not need anything.  I just figured that this would be the opportune time to actually meet people that were remaining."  Cythi responds trying to figure out why he came off as nervous.  Perhaps he was not used to the 'help' approaching.

"I am sorry if I disturbed you.  Please accept my humble apologies."  Taking somewhat of the submissive response to what happened as bade from her upbringing.  Something slowly that she was trying to phase out.

"Hey guys!" Dylan waved Alexey and Cythi over to the covered end of the tarmac, where he'd set up camp.

He stood, spindly legs in bermuda shorts--it was already cooling down too much to be going tropical.    He lifted the top of the ancient coal barbecue he'd been sitting by and the sultry scent of hotdogs wafted over on the air.  " You any idea what it took to find some damned charcoal here?   I don't think they had much of anybody here before us.  I mean, maybe a cleaning-crew.  Apparently, it was some sort of monitoring station, with all sorts of high-end crypto-computer stuff. But, for me, it's like a ghost-town."

He waved them over again, lifted a set of bright orange-handled tongs and turned over a couple of hotdogs.   Dylan kicked one of the blue plastic coolers and said, "There's beer and pop.  Sorry, didn't get off-base to get wine.  Me, I'm just glad they finally let us outside for our fifteen-minutes of freedom."

It was an exageration.  They had more than fifteen minutes.  In fact, with the questioning done, the Aegis representives didn't actually have anything else they needed the attack-victims for.   Though there was, apparently, a couple of "coaching" sessions to go over talking points with the media again.  Like, they didn't get the message the first four or five times they went over it.

"You is not dis-"  Alexey waved his hands between the two of them as though to dismiss the notion.  Dylan cut him of from the other side of the tarmac, making the Pol flinch.  "We should...."

He led by example, floating at walking pace over to Dylan's location.  It took context and the majority of Liu's rant for Alexey to remember what charcoal was, and there was a visible shift in his expression when it clicked.  He glanced at Cythi before replying, then periodically for encouragement when he finally worded a response.

"Mr. Liu if you are need help I can to look?  Or wood for burn?"  He shifted uncomfortably, feeling obligated to try to offer some assistance but in truth not actually sure of how.  If Dylan Liu could neither find nor convince a local to procure something as simple as charcoal, Alexey wasn't likely to find it on his own.

Cythi too moves over to where Dylan is after the wave of her not disturbing Alexey and listens to everything while noting the Hot Dogs.  Funny enough until recently she never had one as where she was considered them filth and everything had to come from the farm.

"I would tend to agree about this being unplanned and unprepared.  But I imagine they have not had a chance to react to what had happened."  She says as she moves to the cooler opening it up and looking at the contents.  She in the end despite having been out for a while chooses a pop as the rest still rings in her head as the devil's drink. Pulling out a Dr Pepper she opens and tries it.  Finding she likes it smiles and keeps sipping.

Dylan started to stare as Alexey, the normally taciturn production assistant literally walked on air, as he made his way over.  Yeah, this wasn't Kansas anymore.   But Dylan was young and adaptable and--mostly--professional  He stopped himself from gaping after only a moment.

"Oh.  No, man." Dylan waved. "I got it covered.  Had to break into what's left of the commissioned officer's mess.    They had a couple of stacks of charcoal.  And gasoline to get it started.  But what, I gotta wonder, were they planning to do with  thousands of frozen hot-dogs?  the closed the base down and left that?"

Dylan offered a grin and scratched at his chest.   Where he scratched a faint green line showed up, sort of like a angry scratches, but they faded quickly.  "Looks to me like you got the winning ticket, big guy. "  He said after a moment.  "What I wouldn't give to be able to fly.  I got the "talk to plants" schtick, which is just about the stupidest power ever. "

Dylan asked a question, and Alexey felt undeniable pressure to reply despite not understanding what reply might be suitable.  Thankfully, Cythi's reply alleviated the need to give boss-man an answer.

Liu's comment about Alexey's power earned a deep, deep blush, and a few stammered attempts at reply.  With how much Dylan raved about flight, he was going to be in for a real shock if and when he ever found out about the rest of Alexey's powers.  Or if he realized that in the process of evolving his powers, Alexey's colony had also near doubled his physical mass as well.  "Talk plants not stupid.  Haves useful."  He tried to assure Dylan, glancing in Cythi's direction with a plea for help.

In an attempt to protect himself from making further comments, Alexey quickly scooped up a bun and held it out Oliver Twist style, tilting it suggestively as one of the hotdogs.  The sooner he was chewing, the safer he would be.

Nala was, at first, disappointed she wasn't able to go with the first group.  Now, she's totally happy she didn't.  Other than the things they had to go through, she was still trying to figure out why she can't shapeshift.  As well, she had all these new powers.  She was now extremely strong.  Also, she had the power to turn invisible, though there doesn't seem to be much use for it...or is there?

Seeing the group, she joined the group.  She can understand when they talked about their newfound powers.  It's kind of interesting.  She wondered if Alexey always talkedlike that.

"Hey guys!  Strange day huh?  I'm Al...um...Nala." She wondered what the others were planning to do. "What are you guys going to do?  The show's cancelled obviously...so, we're free to go?"

OCC:  I haven't read up too much on past threads, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on something.  I can edit.

Cythi sees the new person run up and introduce herself to which she smiles, "Nice to meet you Nala, my name is Cythi."  She was tempted to introduce the others especially Alexey due to him seemingly wanting to avoid talking but also figured it was rude so leaves it.

She is also tempted to ask for a hot dog but her upbringing taught her to wait and not all of the programming they had done had been broken.

"I don't think we are free to go yet but seems we are free to wander around."  She adds before turning to Dylan.  "He is right talking with plants is useful in so many ways.  I predict any power we have would be useful in some way, shape or form.  We just need to learn fully what we can do.  If it helps I seem to be able to...teleport is the word they used and I hope it is correct.  I can move instantly from one location to another."

You could take the time to read the first two or three messages in this thread for an update on where we stand...   I didn't write for myself only.   :)

Dylan shrugged.  "They're wrapping up.  Kinda goin' overboard with the 'let's keep it all hush-hush', but if there are people actually gunning for us, I don't blame them."   He turned to the grill for a moment, then nodded, satisfied.  "Hot dog?"

He pulled out a bag of buns and motioned to a table with all sorts of assorted hot dog condiments... "Did y'all give any thought to what we'd discussed? They'll give us transport to pretty much wherever we want, but we gotta tell them where we're going."

So... return to Emerald City or go to Freedom City?  Both of those cities have a substantial AEGIS presence which would grant you some increased safety but also visibility.   There's nothing to stop you from going elsewhere...  I am lightly in favor of Emerald city, because I've got the supplement and it would be easier for me to make stuff up as we go.   But this needs to be a character decision.   I can run with almost anything...

Cythi thinks for a moment on his question but as the bun has been offered she goes and grabs a bun and puts a plain hot dog in it with nothing added.

"I am good with going to Emerald City as if I remember from the map that is the most opportune place to go where I won't be found I hope."  Cythi says as she picks up the now in her mind completed hot dog.

"I do not think they are going overboard and can understand why the hush, hush.  They don't want discovery." She shudders at the similarities now to her own upbringing.

"Alexey."  The floating man glanced at Nala for a moment before his eyes diverted to the now-filled bun in his hand.  His stomach rumbled angrily.  The unnatural appetite that had come with his expansion had curbed but it was still far greater than a normal man's, let alone what Alexey's had been pre-transformation.  He took a bite and chewed, forcing himself to take enough his time.

"They told that do different show.  For study to use power.  I to go that if still do.  Otherwise Emerald City."  Alexey offered hesitantly, English breaking more than usual, then hunched his shoulders and hid behind his hot dog again.  Try as he might, Alexey couldn't make it last long, and soon he was reaching for another bun and dog.

She thought about her predicament.  It doesn't seem like she was going to win the prize, so she doesn't know about other motivations for staying in the group.  She supposes they can help her with figuring how to undo her recent loss of shapeshifting powers.  Yet, it doesn't seem like the company is very helpful at all.  She looked at the ragtag group before her.

She didn't offer much decision making, just taking it all in at the moment.  "Plant talking can be useful I guess...  I found out I can turn invisible, but hey...I suppose this is good for a party trick or something.  Check it out."  She does something of a body builder pose.  She does look quite cut, and, suddenly, she turned invisible except her clothes.  "Haha!"  She exclaimed while being invisible in her clothes.

She was quite blunt when Alexey spoke.  The invisible body replied, "You're talking kinda funny.  Did the nanites give you this side effect?"

"I think it's just that English is a second language." Dylan said in an offhand manner.  "Alexey's been solid.  Good worker.  Loyal."

In the west, a couple of planes crossed the air over Mansitique, leaving subtle contrails in the air.

Dylan tried to feign nonchalance, but it was hard to pull it off when a woman suddenly disappears on you.  Even mroe so when she leaves her clothes behind.

Dylan served up hotdogs and put some new ones on the grill. "So, I gotta ask...."  his voice cracked a little as he tried to change the topic of discussion...  "Are any of you hearing voices?  I mean  I didn't exactly get a playbook.   It's not the plants... they've kinda got a language of their own.  But...  I dunno.  Every now and again, I got someone trying to talk to me... up here." he tapped his temple.

Consider the stigma attached to "hearing voices"...  I didn't play the colony communicating with the host so much with the new folks, so it's entirely up to you whether it's a thing or not...
This message was last edited by the player at 02:24, Fri 06 Nov 2020.

They hadn't let her out in days.  It felt like forever.

But the sun on her face was worth it.  All those questions, and needles and big scary mechanical medical equipment.  Why did she need a MRI?  What was the picture of her brain going to tell anyone?

They wanted to take photos of her turning into... that thing.  But she couldn't replicate it.  She couldn't make herself become that repulsive wave of insects.  The very thought of it made her want to throw up.

What disturbed her more than anything, was that her eyes had changed color.  She'd always been blonde-haired and blue-eyed, a perfect little frost princess.  A veritable Elsa with all the arrogant expectations that came with it.  But now when she looked in the mirror and saw hazel-colored eyes staring back at her... Janava didn't feel much like she knew herself.

So, when the Aegis physician said she could go, but that she wanted Janava to wear a specialized fitbit to help monitor physiological changes, she was reluctant.  Still, it was a small price to pay for freedom.

And the smell of hotdogs was overwhelmingly good.  her mouth watered as she approached.  There were some already there.  The big Polish guy.  She'd teased him  so much.  But he'd survived.  She had a dim memory of him...

Janava stopped in her tracks.   Alexey was floating!

It hadn't been a dream.

Janava felt a shiver run through her.  Because if Alexey was floating, then she really did turn into that... cluster of insects.  And hat she did to that soldier...

No.  This wasn't the time or place.   Happy thoughts.

"Well, Hello handsome."  She drawled as she emerged from the mess hall.  "This is what love looks like, right?  head over heels?  WHo's the lucky girl?" she glanced at Cythi and Nala.

Only Nala wasn't there.

Or rather... Nala's clothes were there, free-floating in the air.

Jana paled--not easy for one so fair-skinned.   "N-Nala?"  she asked.  "Do you control this?"

For Jen the last few days had been... strange. First the 'flu' or whatever the hell that was, then the meeting which with her usual luck she'd managed to miss, then the tests and questioning and now...

Now Jen didn't know quite how to feel. Actually was a lie; she felt great. It was just that it was hard to tell what exactly had happened to her. In testing her general reflexes had improved, as had her IQ but both were well within normal human limits. She looked the same. It was only when they tested her combat reflexes that the real change became apparent. She'd cleaned their clocks, despite having never had so much as a self defence class in her life. Jen hadn't consciously known what to do, she'd just seemed to get lucky.

Lucky. That was it. That was why she felt good. Somehow the stars and moons had finally aligned in her favour. Sure the brainy scientific types might have other opinions, some jargon filled gibberish, but what did they know about the way things truly worked? One of them had worn a green shirt. Green! Jen was willing to bet they never even read their horoscopes.

It was a newly self confident woman who strolled into the courtyard in a dark red leather jacket with matching dress and shoes the old Jen would never have dared walk in. Noticing a group gathering in the courtyard she walked over, stiletto heels clicking along. Her hazel eyes widened as she realised certain members as she realised certain members were displaying powers but the newly self confident Jennifer Doyle took it in her stride.

"Hi, can I join you guys?" she said, flashing a smile at the ensemble. "We didn't get much of a chance to talk before all the craziness and I am... was... shy. I'm Jen." 

So much attention fixated on Alexey turned his ears a cherry red, and he tried to hide behind his now half-eaten hotdog.  He nodded bashfully as Dylan answered for him, then took a healthy bite while Dylan praised his work ethic.  Mixed bag, that.  His heart skipped a beat at the praise, but the continued attention on him made him wish he could disappear.

"Is normal."  Alexey timidly responded to Dylan's own question.  His cheeks gained a little of the color from his ears as he built himself up to do something.  He raised his gaze, actively searching for Dylan's eyes, and forced himself to keep looking.  Meeting someone's eyes, especially his boss's and in a public setting, didn't come naturally to the tall Pol.

Janava broke his focus.  He stammered out....something, but it wasn't even clear what language he was trying for.  It looked like Alexey's mind might have shorted out with the very public, very invasive line of rapid-fire remarks about his prospective dating life.  His face eventually twisted into a mortified grimace.

Alexey offered Jen a mouthed greeting and slight wave, but not much more; he was still too busy forcing himself to stay in place instead of bolting skyward.

Unfortunately, Matt's process was a bit more... involved.

The entire process wasn't simple, because they had some questions. That Matt had unfortunately been forced to answer. They had pressed him on how and why he could operate the cold gun, and Matt might not have explained the finer points of what it did. He just basically indicated the obvious features... like, it was a gun. He had used one of those before. Not that he didn't trust the government not to use that bit against him when it was convenient for them, but it really was obvious.

Then there was the testing, and all it showed was that he got some minor bits. He could telepathically sense the locations of individuals, copy skills, and dodge attacks. He could also generate a kinetic field which allowed him flight and limited deflection. Not really all that impressive, all things considered... so a bit player at best, great. The scientists in charge of the testing wanted to do all sorts of things to his brain, and Matt revered to cursing in Cajun to tell them to back the hell off. Like, he didn't get to keep his cold gun, the government types had put him through the wringer, he didn't get anything all that cool, and now they wanted to sit him down for a battery of tests.

Matt regained his composure after that, but he didn't really apologize either. It had been a trying day, and all he wanted to do was rest. And having done so, he simply came down and didn't really have an opinion on anything, at the moment.

So he simply joined the assembled group and Dylan, not really sure what to say.

DYlan wasn't the kind to really push on things.   He was more of a go-along to get-along kind of guy.

But a nice sunny day, beer and hot-dogs.   Even if it was Michigan.  He'd never actually been a fan of Michigan, but what were you going o do?  it wasn't like he ran the show.

Well, not then, anyway.   This... opportunity gave him a real chance to make a name for himself.   But he'd seen too many people get sucked in by the machine and ground up and spat out like soem dimwit farmhand sticking his hand in a thresher-machine.    If these people were going to be the key to his success, then he needed to keep it about them.

St James treated them like a commodity.  Maybe it worked when they were powerless nobodies.  Bu very soon now, they were going to have names and codenames.   And that's how show-business worked.   You remember the people who helped and you remembered the people who hindered.

Besides, it was just too much damned effort and stress to try to treat them like a corral of sheep.  A herd?  a group?  What was a bunch of sheep called anyway?    The fact was, maybe they didn't want to go public.  Who was he to make their choices for them.   All he wanted to do was to make sure that they--like himself--were treated fairly.


"Hey! Matt.   Our resident love interest."  Dylan waved Matt over.  "At least that was the intention back in storyboarding way back when.  But don't worry.  I'm sure we'll find all sorts of awkward situations to throw you into."

Dylan stopped for a moment.  "Nah.  I don't know.  Look... I don't want to make you guys into something you're not.   You don't want to do this... don't.  It's my job, I figure, to help you get to whatever it is you do want to do.   So, work with me to figure it out, and we'll go from there.

In the meantime.  Beer.   Hot-dogs.  What I wouldn't give for a decent barbecued cheeseburger,though..."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:32, Tue 24 Nov 2020.

Matt looked at Dylan oddly, but not unkindly, " You mean more than we've experienced already? I'm half convinced that you guys couldn't have storyboarded anything quite as crazy as what happened."

But he continued, shrugging, "But I truthfully have no quibbles with how I've been treated thus far. Things have been hard, but that's hardly your fault, and you could have done any number of things. The agreed upon payment has been provided... and I don't rightly know what I want to become. To hear the government guys tell it, they had me in that room for hours questioning me about how I knew how the cold gun worked."

"But as far as I can tell, I didn't really get anything life altering. Couldn't even put on a good mentalist act, really. So when it comes to what job I do want... I don't know. So much of my time has been spent putting distance between where I was, and here, that any thoughts of how to proceed still haven't quite made the full circle."

"Not to mention... where the hell do I start? There's not much of a story into the quarter super hero, which is probably the best I've got. 'The World's Most Capable Extra' isn't going to be getting that much positive copy, or so I figure, anyways." Matt said, grabbing some food, and seeing what Dylan's response was to what he had said thus far.

Alexey breathed a sigh of relief at Matt's approach.  With a second staff member - Mr. Liu excluded for his comparatively high role - maybe Matt could soak up some of the uncomfortable attention currently directed at the floating blond man.  Like usual, it took Alexey a few minutes to catch up with the turns of phrase Matt and Dylan were batting around, but he was fairly confident he got it.

"You maked - made - bad man help us.  Is great power."  He protested softly, trying to be supportive to yet another person who was self-conscious about the power he'd been given.  If Alexey understood something, it was self-consciousness.  His ears suddenly flushed red after speaking.  "Just please not to read mind."

OOC:  Consider the scene.   The Effect Matt used has an Insidious extra, so I don't think that Delta's turn on his team-mates could be directly tied to Matt...   As far as anyone else knows, his big contribution to the scene was picking up the cold gun, changing a setting, and firing it off...

So, we'll need to retcon your post...

Currently, Matt doesn't know the extent of his abilities.  We're gonna play that up a bit.

Dylan raised a beer bottle in a mocking salute.  "Actually, I think you're wrong.   Of the one in, what, five-thousand people who might manifest some sort of super-power, most aren't going to manifest anything more than being able to listen to plants."

The fight between Earth-Mover and Cascade?  Media coverage of that was huge.   I figure that, deep down, People want to see the big guns fail and fall.   Not out of any animosity or resentment.  But simply because it reminds them that metas are, essentially, human,  They suffer defeat and loss, because that's simply part of the human condition.


So, The quarter-hero--that's awesome, by the way--that's the guy that people can relate to.   He's the guy who won the lottery and ended up winning a twenty-dollar payout."

"So, Alexey can fly--well float, anyway."  Dylan nodded to Alexey.   "She can turn into a creepy mass of spiders."  He motioned to Janava.   "And she she can turn invisible."  He nodded at Nala.

"These aren't things that make them more relatable.   The powers aren't the sell, here.   It's the watching you try, watching you stumble, fail, learn, and--hopefully--triumph over whatever it is you try,.   This could serve to humanize metas as a whole."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:10, Tue 24 Nov 2020.