The Rec Room has a whole bunch of games in it to pass the time. The walls are lined with Chalk boards, Pool cues, and various other gaming items.

The room contains an
Air Hockey table,
a Pool Table with a red felt top ,
a Ping Pong table and
Foosball table.

There is also another large 55” TV located on the wall and a mini fridge under the TV.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 13:17, Thu 09 Aug 2018.

Lois entered the Rec Room to a) check it out and b) make a quick phonecall.  Dialing Daddy's profile, Lois got an answer straight away.

"Hi Daddy, its me."
"Lois, where the hell have you been?  I've had people turning the city upside down.  Those idiot minders of yours are very expensive... NEVER ditch them."
"Uh I've got some important news..."
"It better be good.  I've half a mind to ground you..."
Lois rolled her eyes.  Really?  She was wasn't a teenager anymore.  Of course her father could actually keep her locked in for a bit.
"Daddy, SHIELD has a file on me.  They know names and I'm damn sure they know who gave the orders."
"..."
"Look, I've got a chance to take the heat off you and me.  I've signed onto a team and as long as we don't Mortis anybody else... they'll probably leave things alone."
"You... you did this deliberately.  Lois I've taken care of you, more than anybody else would have.  I covered for you.  And this is how you repay me?  Running off to SHIELD!"
"Daddy, that's a load of crap.  They picked me up.  I'm still coming home and I've more than earned my keep.  Look have a cigar or something... and I'll see you later tonight."
"Lois, don't you tell them anything.  I can call in some favors..."
"Good bye, Daddy."

Terminating the call, Lois felt nervous and yet excited at the same time.  It was rare that she got her way.  She'd still have to watch that Daddy didn't try anything... but he wasn't dumb.

Deedee followed the scent easily enough, the wolfhound's nose was sharp as ever, and she heard the trail end of the conversation as she approached. She didn't make out thge words, she really wasn't paying that much attention. She just wanted to move, and things were always so much better in animal form.

So she poked her head into the room and then trotted in, tail up and wagging slowly as she approached.

She gave a little gruff and sat down, tail wagging against the floor as she looked up at Lois with her mouth slightly open and tongue out a bit to keep cool.

As she finished up her call, Lois noticed a dog in the room.  It looked friendly, so she knelt down to give it a pat.

"Hello there, are we looking for some attention?  Wait a minute... Dee Dee is that you again?"

After today, whenever Lois encountered an animal... she would now assume it was Darwin in disguise.

"If you ever want to quit this place, you could probably do children's parties for some spare cash.  What child wouldn't want to have a Giraffe in their backyard?  You're so lucky to have such a fun ability... all I got was a power that kills people and breaks stuff.  Its a small blessing that the Task Force got to me first before... I don't know, the CIA.  Do you want some water?"

Deedee cocked her head to the side and gave a little whine as Lois bent to pet her, and then as she realized it must be Deedee the wolfhound opened it's mouth in a pant and sneeze to show she was just playing.

But Deedee morphed back into her human form, trying to answer Scythian more complex than 'yes or no' didn't work in animal form. Well, most animal forms anyway.

"Sorry, I just can't help myself sometimes. I like being an animal," she licked the back of her hand lightly and ran it over her hair in a very feline manner, not even realizing she did so. "I got the simple power, Anna got the really special version. But what did you get, if you don't mind me asking that is. You don't have to tell me if it's something you don't want to talk about."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 10:12, Mon 12 Nov 2018.

“Being an animal sounds nice and simple, who wouldn’t want to take a timeout.  Can you do any animal or are there conditions? And who is Anna?”

Lois found herself a comfy chair.  Until others turned up, this was a great time for her and Dee Dee to bond.

“Well I can’t really demonstrate it fully... but my hands will kill a living creature.  Sort of like a bug zapper.  If I use in on an object instead, ‘poof’ disintegration... that’s perhaps a bit more useful.  So obviously I’m not very big on handshakes.  I’ve got it mostly under control... it was pretty rough back in my teens.  But enough hard luck stories... I’m just eager to make friends, enjoy some freedom, maybe do something good.”

"Everything is more simple in animal form. Anna thought that maybe our brains just...swapped out, kinda. There's always the animal side in my head, in the back. Kind of...looking in, trying to make it's own sense of what's going on, when I'm like this. But when I switch, the animal part is up there, and the human side kind of guides it. Maybe. I'm not really sure."

She sat down in a chair as well, pulling up her legs and tucking them next to her, curling a bit.

"I'm sorry about your power. Do gloves help, maybe? And is it just your hands? I mean, like will getting a hug or something be dangerous?"

If objects disintegrated, what would a person look like after that? Didn't bear thinking about, really...

Then she realized that Lois had asked about Anna, and Deedee flushed just a hair.

"Anna...is my older sister. We got similar powers. We both turn into animals, but she could...what's the word...hybrid them. I can shift into normal animals, I haven't found anything I couldn't be yet. But Anna...Anna could mix and match them. A spider with the size of an elephant, a bear with a scorpion tail, a lion with wings. She didn't do normal forms, ever. It was interesting, at first. We played around together, and she tried to show me how to do it like she did. But I couldn't. We even gave each other our code names, just as a joke. She called me Darwin, and I called her Anamosity. I spelled it wrong, to match her name. It wasn't the best name, but she had a temper. Maybe that's why she left, she just didn't like things any more. She never liked being groomed to take the business from daddy, she hated school, she hated...well...everything I guess. So she ended up with some friends that daddy didn't like, and she ran off with them. The man who came to get me to come here told me Anna was getting into serious trouble."

Darwin's explanation about animal thinking made sense.  Perhaps it wasn't all fun for Dee Dee's abilities.  Lois smiled in a self depreciating manner.

"Gloves don't help, except as a sort of mental 'safety'.  My hands just project this field that kills or destroys.  So at least I can still date people."

Lois listened carefully in regards to the topic of Dee Dee's sister, both out of interest and a lingering sense of familiarity.

"I think I would have liked a sibling, maybe.  Ha ha, I like 'Anamosity' though, great name.  Daddy dubbed me Mortis and it's somewhat fitting... I'll probably be using that on the Task Force.  I'm sorry that Anna's in trouble and all angry... do you suppose that its animal thinking at work?  I know the pressure of a demanding father, so anytime you want to blow off steam... my door is open.  What does you Dad do?"

Deedee nodded at the gloves thing, it made sense she'd already have tried it.

"I'd love to think it's the animal side of her doing it, but she's always been nasty. Even when we were kids. Daddy thought he could knock it out of her with private schools and business meetings and even doctors but she never cared."

Deedee sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"It wasn't too demanding of me. Anna had the real push to be the heir. I was just supposed to smile and look cute. I guess daddy wanted to marry me off eventually. He went absolutely spare when Anna and I started shapechanging. He locked me away once she ran off. Embarrassed I guess."

She sighed. "He liked to parade us around. The smart one and the good one. Showed us off to business partners. He owns Deveroux Electronics. Guess he's going to try and find someone else to run it eventually." Deedee gave a half shrug. It didn't mean anything to her anyway. She had her trust fund set up and she was set for money. Money didn't mean anything to her anyway. She didn't do anything.

Lois thought back to a resort opening a few years back.  Finally she made the connection.  Thankfully her Dad hadn’t viewed Anton as a target...

“Of course, Deveroux Electronics... that’s why things seem familiar.  I’ve met your Dad before and I think your sister too.  It sux that I didn’t get to meet you back then, Dee Dee.  Trust me, being paraded around is nothing new to me either.  Anna did seem prickly now that I think about it.  Can’t say that I know what Daddy’s succession plan is... but he’s got time to have a son.  Or adopt one.  Whoever it is, I’ll probably have to kiss their tail and hope for the best.”

She pulled a face that demonstrated how little she liked that idea.

“It sounds to me like your sister can’t be helped until she wants it... probably after she hits rock bottom.  It won’t be pretty.  Just... be ready and do your best.  Daddy’s gone through one of those with his drinking problem.  You know, that hologram of William’s might know stuff about your sister.  Do you want to ask it?”

"I don't want to call any attention to Anna unless I have to. I mean, I know they already know about her, but what if she really is doing bad things? With bad people? This is some kind of task force, I don't want to turn their eyes on her."

Deedee licked the back of her hand again, and smoothed down her hair.

"And I really don't want to get in a fight with her. She'd tear me apart." Deedee shivered just a touch. "She frightens me," Deedee said in a low, soft voice, almost unaware that she'd even said it aloud.

Then she perked up and looked back up. "What do you think we're going to be doing here anyway? And...they said something about training? How do we train the things we can do, anyway? I mean, I shapeshift. Am I going to just shift into different things for them? That seems kind of silly."

=========> From the Aurora, Darwin, Mortis thread

Kevin caught the tail end of Darwin's comments and replied as he entered, "Well, figure a lot of training would be up to you and what you want to work on.  For my part, I'd want to see you be able to maintain your full human intelligence in different forms.  It won't do much good for you to be a fly on the wall listening to a conversation if you only have a fly-level understanding of that conversation."

"As for you," he told Mortis.  "I'm less interested in your powers than in your background and interaction skills.  As far as I can tell, you're not, like, a ninja or thief or something.  Your targets had to let you get close enough for you to do your thing.  So, you were able to get smart, somewhat paranoid people to trust you enough to get close enough.  That's going to be a lot more vital than the ability to make folks go *poof*"

"Figure most of what we do on this team will involve finding people with abilities who don't want to be found and getting them to trust us so we can help them as need be,"  Kevin told them both.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:31, Wed 14 Nov 2018.

Lois knotted her hands together briefly as she recalled her own misdeeds.  Sometimes those faces came back to her in the quiet hours of the night.

“As someone with a bit of experience doing ‘bad things’, having someone step in to stop you... can also be lifesaving.  You can sometimes get in so deep that it looks impossible to get back out.  But it’s up to you Dee Dee, just don’t be afraid to seek help if or when you decide to get involved.  I’m not exactly sure how the task force will work... but William seemed to sell it as a investigation and prevention job.  As for training, maybe you could learn animal karate?  I was thinking...”

Lois hushed up as Darkstar entered the room and began talking.  Being that he had team experience, she thought it prudent to hear him out.  Lois found herself nodding along to most of his observations.

“We have names, Darkstar... and I don’t *poof* people.  That said, you make a lot of sense about using all our skills... and finding ways to establish trust.  The hardest part to me is determining whether these gifted people will run, talk, or open fire at us.  Sounds like the fly on the wall option might save us some grief.  I don’t suppose Dee Dee could wear a GoPro camera or something?”

Her corrections were curt but not negative.

"A camera?"

She blinked, then shook her head.

"Wouldn't work. Anything I'm wearing just changes with me. Otherwise I'd be leaving a pile of clothing everywhere."

She did have to pause then.

"Although I don't know what happens if I'm wearing something in animal form and then shift. But I'd hope it does the same thing. Otherwise someone puts a collar on me and I choke to death."

"That would be something to find out during training," Darkstar told Darwin.  "Maybe try a collar as a bear and turn into a dog.  Big to small to avoid the choking thing."

"As for names," he turned to Mortis.  "Names are kind of an iffy thing among Supers.  You're probably not going to get Spider-man to tell you his real life name.  It's not rudeness so much as he makes kind of a point of fighting... crime.  And crime is very willing to fight back by hurting or killing the people in his non-super life."

"Beyond that, when you're in the field, you're going to want to be in the habit of using code-names when communicating even if it comes off melodramatic or a little silly," Kevin told them.  "Now, if you want me to use your actual names in private, I will.  You can call me, "Steve" if you want to."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:54, Wed 14 Nov 2018.

"Point taken, Steve.  Privately you can call me Lois, outside I'll be going with Mortis.  I promise not to badger Spiderman for his secret identity."

Given that it was just the three of them, Lois decided to continue the Q&A.  Maybe Allison or Cassie could catch up later... unless they had found something better to do (entirely possible).

"So if we want to learn basic training stuff, who should we seek out?  Do you have any other recommendations for new people like us?"

"Figure Jocasta might have some self-defense or combat routines she could coach you on," Kevin told Mortis.  "Beyond that, a lot stuff is going to be do-it-yourself.  We aren't SHIELD.  We don't have a massive support staff.  If your toilet gets clogged, you don't call "Maintenance."  You grab a plunger and go at it."

"This base used to be SHIELD's, so its amenities are set up for normal humans.  Highly trained, well-equipped normal humans, but still.  It isn't set up with weights designed for people who can lift 10 tons, or targets for people who shoot energy comparable to a LAW rocket.  There is a Shooting range which triples as a close-combat training area and general gym," Kevin noted.  "The thing to remember is that this Task Force is maybe two weeks old, so a lot of stuff hasn't been developed yet.  But that also means that you get to help develop it."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:09, Tue 17 Nov 2020.

"Deedee. I guess I'm using Darwin in the field, I'm kind of used to it in my head."

A collar and going smaller would work as a test she figured. Just in case. But even if it did work, it would be a pain in the field since she couldn't shift into anything that wasn't the same size if needed. Oh well, time to consider that later.

"I might try the shooting thing, maybe. I mean, I can probably hand to hand fairly well as an animal, but I guess it would be a good idea to learn to do things without shifting?"

She really wasn't sure of this, but she wanted to give it a try. The team thing, not the shooting thing. Although she could try that too.

Lois digested the tips that Darkstar had to offer.  Unfiltered advice was sometimes the best sort of information.  At the very least it gave her (and Dee Dee) some confidence...

“Guns are the last thing I want training in.  I’ll consult the hologram later on... and see what things she can teach.”

Aware that she was approaching a potentially touchy subject, Lois spoke softly and tried to read Darkstar’s body language.

“Can I ask about Laredo?  William implied that something went wrong or that the threat was bigger than expected.  Should we expect to meet this D’Yspare in the future?”

"We all have to start where we are," Kevin told them.  "Being able to take care of yourselves in dangerous or at least stressful situations without resorting to super-powers is going to be something we all need to be able to do."

"So, yes, one thing I'd like you both to work on is gaining competence in ranged combat, especially you, Lois, because you have a flat-out lethal power," Kevin continued.  "Guns give you other options.  Especially guns modified to shoot non-lethal rounds like rubber bullets or knockout darts."

"The short answer on D'Spayre is that yes, you can expect to encounter him, most likely at a time and place of his choosing.  He's powerful and right at the moment we don't exactly have a reliably effective weapon against him.  Though we are working on it," Kevin informed them.  "That said, one of D'spayre's alter egos was a drug dealer calling himself Belial.  His drug of choice was DMZ, Demonz on the street.  It gives its users high strength, near-immunity to pain and low impulse control.  And sometimes it gives them superpowers for a time.  The principal component of DMZ was genetic material from certain people, usually Super.  The donors of this material did not survive the process.  You're both Supers, so Belial would have come for you eventually, and you'd likely have been alone against him.  At least this way you're with a team of other who can watch your backs."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:35, Mon 29 Apr 2019.

"Anyway, we've talked a little about the Shooting Range," he told them. "What say we go check it out?"

OOC: Assuming the others agree then =======> Shooting Range.

Although hearing about D’sprayre was grim, she was glad to have the benefit of a warning.

“Right now?  I... guess that’s ok.  Are you coming Dee Dee?”

Lois sounded a little dubious as to the non lethality of guns.  But she followed along anyway.

>> shooting range

"Yeah, I'll come along. I brought up the whole shooting thing, I might as well see it through."

She smiled.

"Besides, it's either learn to use a gun, or I go skunk..."

--> To the Shooting Range!

----> From Hangar meeting

Striding into the room, Bloodrager looked left and right, checking for possible monsters or people. Going from table to table, the big man bent over and checked underneath each of them for possible items hidden, before stopping at the pool table and reaching into the pockets withdrawing balls that he laid out randomly on top of the soft, green surface. The white cue ball he just tossed back into a side pocket; it was the others that he wanted to work with.

All right. He crouched next to the table, sidling from side to side, looking at the balls from different angles. He still couldn't read the numbers at all.

>> from Hangar meeting

Lois entered the room sometime later and went about turning on the TV, just to see if the casino had made the news... and what was being said about it.  She kept the volume low enough so that it didn't drown out conversations.

She also kept an eye on Bloodrager's 'pool' activities.  Lois really didn't know him and thought about remedying that.  She just wasn't sure what to talk about.  For now she just sat down and bled away the tension of their previous mission.

Sword of Cup looked up, hearing the TV softly. He hadn't noticed Lois come in. Oh well. "Hello," the red-skinned man said politely, and stood upright leaning on the edge of the pool table with both hands, peering at the TV to see what Lois might be scrying.

"Hi... I was just watching the news, to see what they were saying about the Casino fight.  Your codename is Bloodrager, right?  I'm Lois... but out in the field you can call me Mortis."

She talked to Bloodrager over her shoulder, keeping half an eye on the news at the same time.  When Lois watched the news, she tended to look for the omissions or the 'spin'.

There was a short blurb that appeared on the TV.
This is Laurie Shank for Channel 3 New York News, The Shamrock casino completely destroyed. Gang war was cut short when a group of yet unidentified powered persons interfere in a Molotov attack, Most of the crowd claimed the group was helping a few said they were in collaboration and helped destroy the Casino.
more on this at 11:00 pm

"This unit is designated Sword of Cup. Codename Bloodrager, ja," the big, red man agreed, paying attention to both Lois and the television.

Lois found the news report fairly standard... and neutral in its judgement of the situation.  The only thing of interest was the casino being 'destroyed'.  It had been damaged, but not wiped off the map when the Taskforce had withdrawn.  Had the Maggia or someone else done that to cover up their secrets (and/or claim the insurance money)?  Lois muted the TV afterwards and turned her seat around so she could chat with Bloodrager.

"Can I call you Sword for short?  From what I've heard and seen of you... you heal people with physical blows.  How does that work when you are fighting bad guys?  Can you turn the ability off and on, as needed?"

He nodded. "'Sword' fine is. William Naslund often calling me that private times. Is not confusing here; no other Blood Red Swordsman unit present."

He seemed to have to think a bit to answer the next part of her question. His ring flickered, brightening considerably before he spoke. "No. Sword of Cup cannot turn graces off. Only Heart of Heart able that doing can. Is not healthy done often. This unit's sword grace is... backwards. Inverting. Other units, sword grace is measure of can done harm others to. Sword of Cup unit heals with violence instead of harmed, but recovering mana from suffering inflicted others by he upon."

The ring dimmed again, and the big man visibly winced, rolling his eyes. ""Sorry, Lois. Heart of Heart did not seem understand your question good. He forgot answering part about bad guys. I mostly rage against teammates in party, healing them when needed. Or innocent bystanders. Against undead or demons, my blade can injure, but am useless trying hurting normal, living folk."

Following Bloodrager's logic was tricky, but Lois felt like she understood the gist of it.

"As someone who can hurt people, I envy your healing gift.  Instead I have to limit my abilities.  I don't suppose you could help a dying person?"

While she finished with a wry sounding question, part of her was serious.  If Lois dealt a killing blow, having someone like Bloodrager could undo her sin.

"So... are you happy here?  I don't know where you come from, but you seem... misplaced."

He looked puzzled, glancing left and right as if thinking the 'dying person' was here in the room with them but he couldn't spot them. "Can try. Some things I no healing good. Only first level, so not managing spells cure poison or cure disease yet."

He pondered her second question. "Happier than was with other units, ja. But... happy overall? Not sure. I wish knew more about past, about home and family. Before I was Sword of Cup."

"With William's resources and contacts, maybe he could set you up with a mind doctor?"

Lois could have said more about how she'd feel having partial amnesia, but it didn't seem helpful to add.  So she stuck to just offering suggestions.

"Have you considered taking on a civilian identity?"

"I second the civilian identity suggestion," Spider-Man says as he gave a wave before approaching the two. "Hey you two, what's going on here?" He asked, happening to enter right as he heard the last sentence from Mortis.

"Oh, Hi Spiderman.  We were just talking about power stuff.  Should I leave you boys alone?"

She had the distinct feeling that maybe some of her suggestions to Bloodrager hadn't gone down well.  But if Lois gave him some space, perhaps that would be for the best.

Deedee darted into the room, a tawny bundle of fuzz of a cat, who skidded to a stop and morphed back into the blond girl. She stayed lying on the floor, licking the back of her hand and smoothing her hair down.

"Secret identities? That would be fun if it worked, wouldn't it?"

She gave a slow blink, very cat-like, before rolling onto her back and stretching in a rather eye-popping (and back popping) way.

Kevin arrived outside of the Rec Room just in time to hear Darwin's last comment.  "Fun, maybe, but part of it's about keeping loved ones safe and the other part's about just staying sane.  Would you really, truly want to be a person who got followed into the bathroom by people desperate for you to sign an autograph to them?"

"If they didn't work, then I wouldn't be running around in tights right now," Spider-Man says simply. "You think I wear this costume full time? I don't even have pockets in this thing." He then answered back to Mortis, "I think it's more up to him than me, I just got here."

The big, red-skinned man was confused. Civilian? He was a barbarian, cleric, Russian... not a soldier or knight. And what did the others mean by identity in this case? He wasn't at all certain that he was understanding.

"Am confusing, Lois. Explained what meaning 'identity' is?" he finally said, looking bewildered.

Deedee rolled to a sitting position and simply nodded.

"I'm just saying. I could identify any one of you right now no matter what you were wearing. I may not know full names or the like, but it's no secret who you are."

She half shrugged, then laced her fingers together and stretched her arms out until her shoulders cracked.

"Well, duh," Kevin replied to Darwin.  "You turn into a bloodhound, give us a sniff and if you sniff somebody in civvies that smells like us, you know who that is."

Looking to Bloodrager Kevin said, "Okay, you say that you're the Russian.  What is the Russian's name?  I'm Kevin."

He pointed at Darwin.  "That's Deedee."

"And she's Lois," Kevin said, indicating Mortis.

"I dunno who he is, 'cause he's being anal about the whole secret identity thing and I haven't bothered to track him down and find out for myself," Kevin stated as he indicated Spider Man.

"So, what is your name.  Not your class like Cleric Barbarian, or your job, which I guess is Blood Red Swordsman, but your name.  What's your name?" he asked Bloodrager.

Bedrooms --------->

Alison appeared in the doorway, waving 'hello' to the assemblage, but saying nothing as there was a conversation in progress.

Her hair was done up in a scarf. She wore a pair of denim cutoffs, and an aqua colored tanktop with the caption 'Parental Advisory: Explicit Content'.

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 42):

"Name? Name?" The big man sounded confused the first time, then very sad as he repeated it and continued. "Not know. This unit is designated Sword of Cup. What was human designation? Not knowing. Other units called me 'Russkie' when was their servant before, but know that not my own designation was."

Kevin gave Alison a greeting wave as he saw her enter (and noted that she filled out that T-shirt quite nicely) but was a little too caught up with the Bloodrager thing to break off and say, "Hello."  He thought for a minute.

"Well, Jocasta might be able to do missing persons facial recognition search through Russian records for missing persons," Kevin suggested and then cried, "Oooh, I got an idea.  I remember this from an old episode of Castle."

Kevin got a sheet of paper and wrote 'My Name is' toward the top with an 'X _____________' at the bottom, presented it to Bloodrager, handed him a pencil and pointed at the line.  "Just sign here, please."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:39, Sat 18 May 2019.

Bloodrager looked at the paper, and at the line Darkstar indicated. He couldn't read the words, but understood that the line marked where he was supposed to do something. But he couldn't write any more than he could read, blast his barbarian nature! Sign? Well, maybe he could do something like that. Draw something. He looked at the pencil. Not colored, oh well.

He started sketching an octagon freehanded just above the line, then filling it in with light strokes.

"Well, since I can pick you all out easily enough I guess it's only fair to spill my secret too."

She rocked back and forth, crossing her legs to sit Indian style and blinked.

"It's easy enough to tell me in just about any form. It's in the eyes."

She tilted her head to the side and widened her eyes.

"Green eyes. Can't really tell if I'm a bug or something, but for the most part my eyes don't change color. You can look at an animal and if it has my shade of green eyes you can go 'Ok, that must be Deedee Deveroux.'"

"Well, to be fair, I'm not super-likely to checking for eye color in every dog, cat, bird, etc. that's around,"  Kevin told Deedee.  "But I guess if you got grabbed by Animal Control that'd be a good way for us to figure out which doggie in the window was ours.  If you somehow couldn't shift to a flea and bust out on your own."

Kevin looked at the weird drawing and sighed.  "Oh, well.  So much for Castle."

He looked at the big red man and explained.  "Here in this world, dungeon, whatever, we have to write our names.  A lot.  Forms.  Registries.  All kinds of things.  We do it so often that it becomes muscle memory.  We do it without thinking about it.  I was hoping you'd be able to do that, but I guess not."

While some of the others had partially answered Bloodrager's question, Lois decided to add her explanation (since she had been specifically asked).

"By Civilian Identity, I meant that you could pretend to be someone 'normal' while out in public.  It is like an actor adopting a role or someone taking on a disguise.  The idea being to befriend other people or enjoy modern activities.  There is an opinion that work should be balanced with some recreation, to stay alert and mentally fit.  Of course some people can function without that.  Nothing I suggest 'must' be adopted, I'm just highlighting choices that you might not know."

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 45):

"Well, it was a good try," Spider-Man says as we watches the going ons. "Maybe he has a living family out here somewhere? Not in New York most likely, but someplace in the world. I'm sure we'd be able to figure out more if we were able to analyze his DNA."

"Act? Theatre fun," he agreed listening to Lois. He liked to dance, and enjoyed music, too.

To Spiderman, he said. "Home was place called Lviv. Not remembering it, just name. And that had mother, sister there. Nothing else."

Kevin pulled out the Freak-fone, the gadget Andru had made for him once upon a time which looked like the bastard child of an I-phone and a Speak'n'Spell toy then looked Lviv up.  "Well, Bloodrager, you're not really a Russian any more.  You're Ukrainian, now.  But overall the news isn't bad.  As of 2017 the population is a little north of half a million and you remember a mother and a sister, so there's a decent chance there's missing persons report on you, which could tell us your actual name."

"Not... Russian?" He tilted to his head to the side, confused but intrigued.

The ring suddenly flared up brilliantly and his head returned to the erect position as Heart of Heart took total control of the body and asked emotionlessly, "What being difference Russian, Ukrainian?"

In a group composed of people with powers both strange and wonderful, Bloodrager had to take the cake as the most mind boggling, Ali reflected.    She didn't understand the basis of his healing through violence - blood? - ability at all. It struck her as something that might be more mystical in nature. But that was only a guess.  She'd only recently begun to accept the existence of the occult, and knew nothing about it. She didn't understand him as a person, either.   Something was different in the way his mind worked.

She was reminded somewhat of a person with autism, who took things very literally.   Though there could of course be other reasons for that. She had to give Kevin an 'A' for effort --  he was doing his best to sort the guy out a little.  And, Lois had the right approach in emphasizing his power of choice.

As it happened, she had a college friend who was Ukrainian.

"Not so much difference between Ukrainians and Russians, in general," she said to Bloodrager.

"Not unless you're speaking of western Ukraine.  And, Lviv is western Ukraine.   A friend of mine told me the people there are nice. They keep their cities really clean, and they're hard workers. Sounds like they have a great spirit.  They're sometimes called Galicians - from Galicia, an older name for the area. They had troubles in the past - attacked and dominated by people who weren't very nice."   

"Do you remember your mom's or sister's faces at all?"

Deedee, your cast box says your eyes are blue, you know --  trying to fake us out, hey?   Ali points at Deedee and cries out 'LIAR!!'   ;D
This message was last edited by the player at 20:28, Mon 20 May 2019.

Kevin felt a literal chill creep up his spine as Bloodrager changed.  Not physically, but in his personality.  Whatever was in his body now was clearly not who they'd been speaking to earlier.

"So I've been doing a little math.  Bloodrager looks like he's maybe in his mid-30s.  Ukraine was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as Russia, until 1991, which was 28 years ago," Kevin said, the chill giving way to anger which he tried to suppress.

"So putting all that together, it means that you stole one of our children from Russia, a child with a mother and a sister, and you turned him into this fucked up role-playing game character," Kevin said, his voice rising some.  "Tell me.  Do you even remember that kid's name?  You know, from before you stole him from his family and turned him into this?"

Heart of Heart listened, Bloodrager's expression neutral and emotionless as the alien hive mind weighed Aurora's words. So many word-symbols for a single thing, with subtle variations of nuance that defied easy understanding. In human artwork, these nuances formed complexities of beauty, but in conversation they were awkward.

Images of Sword of Cup's family? He was aware that the unit did retain a single glimpse of them, but was not certain how to access that memory without handing the body over to Sword's full control. He was certain that the barbarian unit lacked sufficient skill with his magic to project the memory image via illusion to show the others.

Then Darkstar spoke up, clouding the issue of Russian vs. Ukrainian further, and issuing accusations that did not conform to Heart of Heart's own memory of the events when he arrived on Earth. He did not have the freedoms of temporal movement here that he had had in his own reality, when he had many more units without the burdens of individual selves sharing them, but he could still try to extrapolate results of an action. How to answer these accusations in the most productive and beneficial manner?

He spoke two words that he had kept to himself, away from Sword of Cup, since learning that humans were single-unit lifeforms and individual selves.

"Mykhaylo Chornovil."

A blast of mana surged internally as the name registered to the human part of Bloodrager, intense anger and feelings of betrayal leading into emotional anguish. But Sword of Cup had no influence over his body right now, and none of his pain surfaced past Heart of Heart's alien dispassion.

Alison pushed aside all thoughts of standard psychology, as well as geography and history -  because she'd plainly missed a number of things.   Things that painted a very different picture. One that was, amongst other things, disturbing.   Her eyes strayed to Kevin, as he seemed to imply - accuse that Bloodrager was some sort of ET, who'd stolen the body in which he lived.

Bloodrager's total poker face did nothing to convey how he felt about being so accused.   But, his giving up the name, and lack of denial, bordered on admission.

From: Bedroom


Taskmistress slipped into the room looking around. "So what are we discussing? The next step in destroying organized crime? World domination? Cheesecake Recipes?" she asked with a smirk. She judged the expressions around her and frowned .
This message was last edited by the player at 15:12, Fri 31 May 2019.

Lois had dropped out of the conversation when it started going... weird.  Possessions, aliens, Eastern Europe?  None of it made sense to her.  Her face also clearly telegraphed her confusion.  The best she could offer was a shrug to Taskmistress.

“I think it’s a trip down memory lane... or an interrogation.”

She chuckled darkly. "Yeah that street has a restraining order against me."she joked and walked over to Blood. "Is everything ok here big guy?" she asked casually giving the leader an inquiring but not accusatory look. She doubted The leader was trying to cause trouble. Probably just curious about something and the big guy was fascinating.

His head turned to regard her, emotionless and the entire ring bright. "Have I making another mistake, Taskmistress? What being difference Russian, Ukrainian?"

"Russians are people from Russia . Ukrainians are people from the Ukraine. Americans are people from America. Basically humans are diverse different skin color, languages, etc  we're spread across the planet. Where we are born and grow up determines our stats when dealing with things like cold and heat. we learn a language specific to the region. And we get the country name plus Ian behind it. For the most part. To you, being an alien there's not really a difference. It matters more to humans. Let's people segregate themselves into neat little categories." she explained walking over patting him on the shoulder.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:44, Fri 31 May 2019.

Different languages, that he knew. And that not all cultures ended with the -ian syllable; there were plenty of Japanese, Chinese, and Jewish taverns around. "Is difference meant much humans to. Each language own viewpoint having, cultural art expressing unique ways in. Why Sword of Cup much upset?" he said, gaze following her hand to his shoulder.

"I just got here bud you'll have to fill me in on what's going on from context clues. I can only guess that he's proud of his heritage and there was a mix-up and somebody got it wrong and he feels offended. Some cultures don't like other cultures. Like humansa d orcs don't get along or elves and humans. Maybe sword doesn't like Russians or doesn't like Ukrainians and if you call someone a part of a group they don't like they get upset because they don't like them. But maybe if you Tell me what happened I can help more . " she offered her own voice still held a tinge of an eastern European accent though of course she didn't know where it came from.

"Sword of Cup is Russian unit. Darkstar will be saying not Russian but Ukrainian," Heart of Heart stated emotionlessly through Bloodrager's lips.

"Actually, Darkstar," Kevin said, aiming a thumb at himself, "kind of ceased to care about that point quite a while ago."

"If it matters, since the, uh, Russian unit was Russian when he was acquired, he's still Russian, even if the city he's from is Ukranian now," Kevin said in a tight, tense voice as he kept a vicious grip on his emotions.

"Speaking of that, please explain to us all in detail exactly how you did acquire the Russian unit," Kevin told the being in Bloodrager's body.

She looked at Blood. "Basically Our Leader was just arguing semantics. With humans things change. Kingdoms rise and fall. Names change. If you were born an American and america changed to be south canada you'd technically change from American to Canadian. That's all. Nothing for Sword to worry about." she clarified patting the big guy gently.

The big, red man's head turned to look Kevin in the eyes. He showed no outward acknowledgement of Taskmistress' attempt to comfort him as thoughts churned, threading from item to item within Sword of Cup's matrix as the hive mind considered how to answer the order to explain.

"I am on home plane, and horrible vortex form around, fill region my... erm, school? in. Dimension crushing flatten, all 87 units me pulling into this plane. Long plunge through windfire, units ceased like dry ice. One unit survival to hitting house, screamed light for helps. Was ceasing when native unit touches, able absorb six units in house. Are five Americans and they Russian servant-slave. Not knowing that humans single-unit life while I rebuild units, erase most of what inside, building protective matrices from native imagination instances so survival this plane on. Is deadly toxic plane, Earth this. Using matrices design roles for new units, much bad assumptions I needed making amends for. Blood Red Swordsmen not good fits into real human society."

"So, basically, some disaster happened in your home dimension that dragged you here to Earth," Kevin reasoned, feeling his anger die down a little.  "And when you got here, you accidentally absorbed six other human beings into yourself, converting them into, uh, Blood Red Swordsmen."

"Well, can you put them back and let them out again?" Kevin asked him.  "This dimension, doesn't really have dungeons or treasures or a lot of that stuff.  But we do have witches and sorcerers, even if they're pretty rare.  Anyway, the guy who is the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, kind of owes us, really me, a pretty huge favor.  If your dimension exists or there's one similar enough to not be, uh, toxic, he might be able to send you there once we get the people inside you back out again."

"I think at this point removing them is like taking the eggs out of a fully baked cake based on our conversation at medieval times. ". she suggested looking over at the boss and back to the big guy. Will a neutral expression. She preferred to avoid an brain hurting lesson in the physics of Alien worlds.

Bloodrager's head shook 'no' as Heart of Heart answered Kevin. "Too much harming. I wanted return home, but not at price others ceasing more."

She turned to Blood quirking an eyebrow. "Are you saying if you went home they would die? Because death is necessary for life. Immortality is not a blessing  death is release. " she asked confused herself now.

In reply to Taskmistress (msg # 72):

"Not knowing. Humans too much alien. But known that I cannot undone changes will made to they, nor can claiming new units. Without units, I ceasing too."

"It sounds like we've got a bunch of questions with current answers of "We don't know,"" Kevin noted.

"This is where I point out that the best move would be to consult with Dr. Strange and get, y'know, a second opinion," Kevin stated.  "If there's nothing to be done, there's nothing to be done.  But what I'm getting right now is that you'd prefer to go back to your home, you just don't want to kill yourself or anyone else in the process of doing that."

"What about the other minds inside you?  The, uh, Americans?" Kevin asked him.  "I've heard from you and I've heard from, Myk, myrk, screw it, Sword of Cup, but I don't remember hearing from anybody else.  What happened to them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:17, Sun 02 June 2019.

"American units? Are units. Heart of Sword, codename The Cataphract. Way of Sword, codename Worldscar. Sword of Sword, codename Blackblood. Ring of Sword and Mask of Sword not having codenames current."


OOC: I didn't come up with code names for Ring and Mask, leaving them up to the GM's creativity.

"Okay, but you and, uh, Sword of Cup are capable of holding conversations, interacting to some degree with the world," Kevin pointed out.  "Is something wrong with the others that they can't or won't do that?"

"Other units were not in castle," was the quick, simple response.

"So lets see if I can understand. this body is the stage adapting to the play of whichever actor is on stage. your mind is the theater. and wherever the others are lets call it dimension z is the apartment complex that the other actors live in. meaning if you needed to communicate with them youd either have to send someone out of the theater to the apartment. or bring them into the theater I'd go with the castle analogy but my head hurts " she admitted looking at the big guy.

"Much confusion," the big, red man answered after some delay. "Why you thinking entire adventuring party is one unit, Taskmistress? Each human own unit character. Americans still own units in, within me. Is much troubled by other selves in units; that never is back home."

"If you had more, um, material or whatever from your own dimension, could you make more bodies for the other units?" Kevin asked the entity.  "So that way it wouldn't be so crowded in there."

That actually got a confused look on Bloodrager's face. "What meaning, 'crowded?'"

Alison was fully gobsmacked by all of this.    Whatever she could have guessed at, insofar as Bloodrager's origins were concerned, this was way beyond anything she might have imagined.

It did cast him -- them --  in a better light, at least.   It was, apparently, the matter of a really crappy accident, or an assault, and then coping as best as possible.

It would be nice if what Kevin asked was possible.   However -

"You said you didn't know that humans were 'single-unit life,' while you...rebuilt them.  And you erased most of what was 'inside.'   Even if you built new bodies for them...could they ever be as they were before?"   

From what she'd heard, she feared Taskmistress was likely right, in her analogy about extracting eggs from a completed cake.

"No, Alison. Too much selves gone. Maybe Sorcerer Supreme having healing spells can minds fix, but will be beyond my ability repair."

Bits of sadness, of regret, got through the emotionlessness that Heart of Heart normally had.

The sadness and regret wasn't lost on her.    And she took them as positive signs, concerning the nature of these extra-dimensional...refugees?   Yes, refugees, that's what they were.     She nodded.

"I understand.  It sounds like you did the best you could, in a very bad situation.  And, Earth can be a toxic place.  Even for we natives.   We'll help you, if we can, but...I think it would be best if you had someone more qualified."  She looked to Kevin.

"Sorcerer Supreme, huh?  You can hit him up on facebook?"

Spider-Man stood with his arms crossed, just listening before saying, I'd like to say I'm learning so I can give what I think, but I just have far more questions about the guy, I wish I could suggest something though."

"So, where are the other, uh, Blood Red Swordspeople?" Kevin asked.  "Even as weird as New York can be, five guys running around busting open boxes looking for treasure should be, y'know, a little noticeable."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Thu 06 June 2019.

"Where? Sword of Sword asleep in bed. Way of Sword at school. Heart of Sword adventures in sewers, hunting wild ice cream. Ring of Sword questing in garment district dungeon, seeking 'The Yarnum Mysterium Guide to Knitting.' Mask of Sword on bus, do practiced fillpocketing skills bus riders on."

"Ohhhhh well that clears everything up." She said without a hint of sarcasm hopping onto a couch. "It got a bit confusing for a bit there. But now it all makes sense. So boss any plans for the group before the next big adventure?" she asked nonchalantly.

'The Yarnum Mysterium Guide to Knitting.'...

She frowned reflectively, pulled her phone from her pocket, googled.    Arched a brow as she clicked and read.

"So, the one reference I can find to the 'Yarnum Mysterium' is on a page about TV tropes. From a show called 'Dave the Barbarian.'   I think you may want to direct Ring to the cartoon district," she offered with a smile.

"As far as we're concerned, figure William will clue us in later," Kevin replied to Taskmistress, then turned to Bloodrager.

"Do you think you could get those guys to come here at a certain time?" he asked the entity.  "Figure if we bring in Dr. Strange we're gonna want everybody together at the same time."

To Alison, the red man replied, "Will being source. Ring of Sword had episode in her matrix."

And to Kevin... he looked puzzled momentarily. "Can request, but I not liked force Blood Red Swordsmen obeying. Have causation too much harm they already, preference trying permitted they more freedom decide selves lives." A pregnant pause, then he added, "Cannot allowing Sword of Sword freedom though. He being too dangerous, needs kept asleep most of the time. I will suspected that Heart of Sword, Ring of Sword, and Way of Sword do honor request and coming. Mask of Sword maybe honor; thief unit enjoyed do 'rebellious teenager.'"

"Asleep somewhere secure, I hope.  If you don't mind my asking, is the 'Swords' theme something that had meaning back where you came from?   Or, was it adopted only after you came here?"   

"All is here, Alison. I been using only native human imagination rebuild units."

"Well, bringing them all together some place doesn't have to happen immediately," Kevin told him.  "Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme.  Figure he's gonna be too busy to just get over here instantly.  Still, when he does get time, I'd like to be able to get everyone in one place together."

"Okay, moving on to the mission today, we did well.  Everybody lived.  We got a lot of info and money.  So, success all around," Kevin told them.

"As we go forward, I want us to work more on teamwork, covering each others' problem areas.  Stuff like that," Kevin continued.

"Aurora, you've got an ability kind of like mine with the Darkness.  If you use your Flash, you can blind the opposition - and your allies.  Maybe work on trying to create a more focused beam or controlling how big the flash gets," Kevin suggested.

"Bloodrager, I liked what I heard about the magic you used.  I get that your basic function is "Cleric," but sometimes the best way to keep your allies healthy is to bash the hell out of the people trying to hurt them before they get hurt.  So, I'd like you to start carrying some kind of weapon that you can use to injure opponent.  Even in those RPG games with Clerics, they could still carry maces to smack the shit out of the party's enemies," Kevin told him.

"And Taskmistress... you've probably already learned it now, but, and this goes for everybody, don't judge by appearances alone," Kevin her and the rest.  "This is a whole new thing for most of you.  The guy who looks like a standard mook might not be one.  He might be able to teleport, shoot fire out of his ass or turn into a tidal wave and drown you.  Superpowers and training are great, but your biggest weapon in these fights is gonna be the three pounds of meat in your skulls."

"But even with that, you all did well, be proud of yourselves and be aware that I'm proud of you," Kevin concluded.  "I just want to make sure we're readier the next time the shit-hammer falls.  'Cause you know it's coming."

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