Long Sample (probably mostly occurs with scene-setting posts or starting posts):

Chase, or Tank when in uniform, sighed as he observed the unfortunate scene around him. He’d been in the middle of making a delicious dish when the call came in about a metahuman incident. He shoved the half-finished product in the fridge, geared up, and made his way over to the area with a policeman who was kind enough to give him a lift. The B Team didn’t have money for a vehicle of their own, so they often bummed rides off whoever could give them one, usually someone from emergency services. Oddly enough, he was the only one called in. Probably for the best. Shadowstrike was once again off on one of her off the books prowling in the slums and Blaster was still recovering from expending a lot of energy the night before. He’d call Kay once he knew the situation.

The police were doing most of the investigating. Tank supposed he was mostly here to help provide crowd control or a shield if whoever did this was still around. He’d be able to take a few hits and buy time if someone more powerful needed to come and take care of it. Either that or Techton Enterprises didn’t think this was a big enough deal for one of the “main” heroes to appear. They certainly liked dumping the non-glamourous or attention getting jobs on them.

He had been talking to an officer when he noticed a car drive up and someone get out. “That would be Ms. Antonia Martinez,” the officer informed him. “The victims’ daughter.”

Now he knew why he’d been called here. No one on Team Techton either had time nor patience to deal with understandably upset and hurt relatives and he was such a good “people person” that this was just up his alley. It was probably a good thing the other B Team members weren’t here. Shadowstrike was often blunt to the point of hurtful even if she didn’t mean it and Blaster was bad at reading the room and might’ve made things worse despite his best intentions.

He barely felt her grab his shoulder plates. He knew how she felt, or at least had once felt the apparent despair that became visible. The officer he had been talking to stepped up to separate them, but Tank shook his head. She wouldn’t do any damage to him with her bare hands. He just wished that someone else would step up and give her the bad news. Someone trained for this sort of stuff.

“Ms. Martinez,” he spoke, softening his voice as much as he could. It made his Bristolian accent more pronounced. “We’re still investigating what happened, but the head investigator has some theories.” He nodded to the officer he had been talking to. The officer headed off to presumably go find the head of the investigation. “While we wait for them, why don’t we go sit down? I know that waiting for news is the hardest part.” His mind flashed back to waiting in a hospital lobby with his youngest sibling in his lap while his dad paced and the twins sniped at each other over a video game system.

He gently removed her hands from his shoulder plates and indicated the bumper of a nearby ambulance. “If it’s any consolation, they only found your parents’ bodies. All indications are that your brother is still alive.” But she probably wouldn’t be happy to hear the head investigator’s theory. “Would you like some water while we wait?” Even if she didn’t drink it, it would be good for her to have something in her hands. He’d even let her throw it at him if that made her feel better. He’d been hit with harder stuff than a water bottle before.

Shorter Sample (probably the length of my average post. Will vary if NPCs are included.)

The guns registered with Allison when he folded his arms and asked his question. She wasn’t sure what this particular ship’s policy on armed passengers had been, but it wasn’t unheard of for ships, especially if they were traveling through rough territory, to let their passengers keep their arms as long as they were visible. She made a note to watch him carefully.

“Well, can you name every planet a ship passes without a map?” She tried not to sound to annoyed that he responded to a simple question so rudely. “I’m Allison and who are…?

Then he started walking toward her, not looking too happy. Of course, the first person Allison could find had to be that way. After all, the universe was clearly against her right now. She scrambled back and to the side, only to realize that he was walking past her. She turned to see the smoking ruin of a spaceship. She was about to follow him when he started yelling at… well, nothing.

That meant two things to her. Either the man was crazy or he had an injury of some kind that was making him hallucinate. He almost seemed too well put together for the latter. Then came what he said after yelling at nothing.

Allison looked behind her. Maybe she should leave him and try to find someone else. After all, he was armed, he could probably take care of himself. But the logical side of her pinged in, reminding her that she was completely lost and not armed. He would be fine alone, but she probably wouldn’t. She almost missed his question.

“A wood and metal cube?” Allison eyed his hand on his holster. “No, I haven’t, at least not in the direction I came from. Did you have it on you when you landed or was it in a bag of some kind?"

Oxi picked up her phone and tapped twice on the blank screen. For just how long had Halo been gone now?

The screen saver image was of her old friends as teens, all huddled together, laughing and smiling. A photo of a photo. It made the scene feel flat and inept despite the warmth and mirth of the young faces that shone from that image. Kind of like trying to recapture lost time with nothing but your hands. Kind of like how she felt right now.

It was 4:15pm. The redhead bit her lower lip and slowly her chin lifted and her blue-eyed gaze fell upon that orange-y bottle with the white lid. It sat there on the counter, away from the rest of her pill bottles, but unlike the scratched out info of those other bottles, this one had its label intact. A shuddering sigh she let out. Her bff said that she would be gone for only 20 minutes. That was over an hour ago.

It was not as if Oxi needed to take the pills right now. Normally she would feel the signs of her 'internal combustions' start to rumble. A little heated tingle at her temples, a little at her tummy, a little at the tips of her toes. It would not be long before a spot just above the top of her head and her eyes would begin to glow. Then she would feel it. The itch between her shoulderblades. Not so much an itch as it was...

Oxi's head snapped back as if she had been slapped. Her eyes and head shifted and darted in multiple directions at once. How the hell did she get over to the window? Why was it open? Was she going to jump?! A shrill squeak she let out as she went to swipe and tap at the controls on her phone to close it. But the pill bottle in left her hand clacked hard against the electronic slab's surface. Big display numbers cheerfully surrounded by her friends faces said it was 4:20pm. She had blacked out for several minutes. No memory of what just happened. This was not normal. This was no way to live.

Oxi was set to put down her phone and pop open the plastic orange-y thing when her phone began to vibrate and ring. It was Halo. "Girl!! Where the actual eff you been...?! I been all stressy and sweatin' like you--"

"Ox. Girl. It's... I don't _{THIIIIIINK...} I'mma-- _{GRIPPERRRRRR!!} She's here--" The line went dead. The redhead's pretty face was skewed with lines and shadows of distress. Her best friend's voice sounded more than just strained. It sounded as if that second voice, that sinister and chilling one, was more intertwined-- No, not more intertwined. More dominant. Oxi had no idea who Gripper was, but she knew for a fact that Halo was losing the battle for control with her inner Daemon. Halo needed her. Right here. Right now.

The tingles heated up not only from her temples, tummy and toes but from her entire being. Oxi took a quick breath and back stepped three times. Her tan chin lowered, lithe body wound up at the knees, slender hands balled into fists. Another breath she took, this time deeper and more profound.

}}~ᚱᚨᛞᛁᚨᚾᚲᛖ ᛏᛟ ᛗᛖ!! ᚠᛟᚱ ᚷᛟᛟᛞ ᚠᛟᚱ ᚨᛚᛚ!!~{{

Light from beyond her own world erupted from her eyes and spun a perfect circle around the top of her head as she launched out the window.

No, she was not at the window to jump out of it and fall to her death. Oxi was at the window to do two things: One, was to toss away that plastic orange-y crutch. And two, was to toss away her doubts, fears and insecurities. Oskcana was at the window to take a leap of faith and fly.

The itch at her shoulder blades was truly not an itch. It was a craving; a craving that was fulfilled the moment her heavenly white wings sprouted from her back and exploded open for the first time in years.