Framing A Moose

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Base of Mount Othrys -> Garden of the Hesperides
Skills: (RR: Stealth)

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Waverley's body went rigid as Emily tossed her into the spotlight, telling the group about their exploits in the forest that surrounded them. She shifted her weight to the right, sidestepping out from behind Em to give the rest of her companions an awkward wave. At first she was unsure about the sudden attention from the people who'd just seen her have a panic attack and run away, but as words of encouragement began to come her way, a bashful smile rose to her face as a blush warmed her cheeks.

"Oh, um, I really did next to nothing. Em was the one to pin it so it wasn't able to sting," she added, soaking in the validation. Her smile wavered, however, when Nancy spoke her part. Her smile stayed on her face, though it was now accompanied by a brow furrowed with confusion and eyes that betrayed her attempts to hide the hurt the comment had caused her. She'd been so blindsided she'd simply forgotten to drop her smile.

"Um, thank you, I guess? I suppose I should've expected less..." She mumbled the second part. The word 'useless' had been thrown at her a lot in her life, often from cops and often followed by words like miscreant, thug, and a number of much less PC insults. But it stung much more when it was from Nancy. She'd never talked like that during training, or Karaoke Dodgeball. With the way she was acting, it was like she was drifting in a gray area between friend and cop. The thought dissolved into an unsettling tenseness in her head as they began to make their way up the mountain.

She followed a few meters behind Em and Marco stewing in her own anxiety. She usually didn't mind being the third wheel, as long as she could be everyone's third wheel, something that didn't seem to apply anymore. So rather than wearing her third-wheeldom like a badge of honor, she wallowed in it, soaking up the loneliness of being the Third-Wheel Club's sole member. She contemplated on inviting Niah into the club for a moment - she seemed to qualify, and she could write up the TWC's oath while Waverley made the t-shirts - but she was quickly pulled out of her self-pitying thoughts as the group waded into a radiant garden. Waverley seemed to light up, excited to see something borderline magical that wasn't trying to kill them. Her joy melted to horror, though, when she saw the massive reptile curled up around the base of the tree.

"Oh my God, is that the thing that froze Hermione? And why the hell are those apples so shiny?" she whispered, her voice in a low, hushed whisper to match the others.

Roll Request

If stealth rolls are required to keep from waking the slumbering beast, Waverley does have a stealth skill she can use

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: In the Van
Skills:

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Waverley's gaze shifted back over to Sapphire as she spoke, her forehead crinkling in concern as she heard that neither Sunshine nor Max had made it back to the Underground hideout. She let out a worried huff from her nose, lifting her thumb to her mouth to lightly chew on her nail. It was a bad habit, but one she often took to when nervous. Where could they be? If they hadn't made it back into the Underground, then where could they possibly be? Then she felt the blood drain from her face.

"Do you think Max teleported her to the Hellfi-" just as the girl was about to string together yet another theory, she was interrupted by the loud crack of Glimpse's nose shattering under Jack's fist. She tensed up, her eyes going wide at the sudden combat, her body going still. Before she could jump into the fray herself, she saw Jack's hand speeding towards her. She heard the sound of the attack hitting her head before she felt it. In fact, it wasn't until she was on the ground that the injury began to make itself known, throbbing with intense pain. When she raised her hand to touch the wound, it felt like moving her arm through water, slow and weightless. And when she opened her eyes to check her hand for blood, her vision was blurry, and stars seemed to dot her peripheral. Even with the visual impairment, however, she could see the fuzzy outline of her hand drenched in bright red. She tried to push herself up off the floor, but the dizziness kept her grounded as she scrambled to get up. Her eyes turned to slits as she squinted, trying to understand what had just happened. Her vision sharpened a bit, just enough to see Jack trapped in one of Veil's forcefields, his hair all weird. "What's...?" she asked, her mind scrambling to put itself back together enough to think clearly.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Iris Rivers

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Location: Blackbird Hangar -> Living Room
Skills: (RR: Survival Skills)

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"Oh, yeah, you got it!" Iris shouted down to Neil, ceasing her struggling to keep herself from swaying. It took a short while for anyone else to have another swing at getting her down, long enough for blood to begin pooling to her head, making her face go red. But eventually, a soft orange glow began to shine around her, severing the vines that held her. She let out a scream, one more of excitement than horror, as she plummeted towards the ground. When her fall was cushioned, the scream turned to a laugh as she sat up.

"Aw, dude, that was fun." She then looked back over to Ed, casually adding in, "I'm telling you guys, fire is never a good idea. You should just hire me on as a fulltime gardener instead!" as he rolled the dice. Suddenly they were back in the living room. Iris got to her feet, immediately looking to the table to find her still-smoking pot. She yoinked it up and shoved it between her lips, before looking at the other X-Men all gathered there, silently scanning the room. Her eyes eventually landed on Mira.

"I guess this means we lost, doesn't it?...Best two out of three anyone?" She asked, her lips twitching as she tried to fight back a grin. Eventually she couldn't hold it back anymore, and her lips stretched wide in her usual mischievous smile. She wordlessly stepped up next to Annie, wordlessly getting ready to help her with any first-aid she might need to do.

Roll Request

Iris would like to use her Survival Skills skill to help Annie with any first aid stuff she might do

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Somewhere in the Forest -> Hunters' Camp
Skills:

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"Oh, uh, wow, I don't know what to say...Thanks...but I think I'm okay. Go ahead and hold onto it, since you're better with stabbing and shit," Waverley insisted, holding a hand up to politely decline Emily's offer. "Besides, giving me a stinger that could kill with the smallest graze? I'd probably get myself killed in days." She quickly sauntered over to the giant boot's giant aglet. She began to fiddle with it, before it, and the rest of the boot, began fading away, leaving her lips jut out in a second-long pout before she began walking alongside Em back towards the Hunters' camp. She listened Em, letting the silence fill the space between the girl's words and her own response. When she finally spoke with a small, seemingly grateful smile.

"On the road, making family is a fast process. Takes maybe a fortnight or so, sometimes less. So yes, I think of you all as my kin...but that doesn't necessarily mean I fit in. I'm glad you do, and I'm glad you've found a home, but for me, I don't think that's New Rome. I can't fight, as anyone can see, and I'm not really good with authority. I'm not a soldier if we're to be completely honest...all I do is sing, wish, and let the universe do the rest." She said, before letting out a soft laugh, her shoulders relaxed, something not common for the anxious girl. "Longest I've ever lived in one place since joining the vagabond business, but even after all this time, I'm still homeless." She paused for a few more seconds, before furrowing her eyebrows together and looking back at Em. "Wait, hold on, say that again...there's such a thing as a dragon?"

After short while the Hunters' camp began to come into view between the array of trees that made up the forest. Waverley, who'd seemed calmed all the way back, suddenly tensed back up, her breath hitching in her throat. She'd never try to claim that the post-panic attack confrontation of those who'd witnessed it was as anywhere near as bad as the panic attack itself, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. Her pace slowed a bit, allowing Emily to take point as they arrived back at the camp.

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: In the Van
Skills:

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Waverley gave a small nod when Veil voiced the soundness of her theory, her lips twitching up into a smile. As much as she tried to hide it, she could feel the joy such validation caused bubbling up inside her, causing her to lightly bounce on her heels. The excitement simmered down, though, when others of the mutant Underground begun to file in. She stood awkwardly to the side as Echo embraced Veil, sharing quiet words, only some of which Waverley could understand. For once, she was glad that she hadn't paid much attention in her high school French class. She already felt intrusive, and she didn't even understand what they were saying. Thankfully, and also disgustingly, Callie served as a distraction, beginning to nibble on Waverley's locks.

"Um, Callie, bud, let's maybe try practicing a little personal space, yeah?" Waverley suggested, leaning away from Spark Plug as she chewed on her hair. As soon as the blonde pulled her mouth away from her hair to vomit, she took a large step back. "Especially when you're vomiting your guts up." Her attention then turned to Sapphire, perking up as Veil asked the woman to go fetch James and Luna, seconds prior to Luna coming into the picture.

"Oh, and could you please get Sunshine too while you're at it?" She didn't have anything she actually needed from Sunshine, other than to make sure she was okay. But she figured that was enough. She then looked over to Luna, watching her mentally assess Jack, before pulling away with an answer. One that made her jaw drop. "Wait...September? He's had a mental worm in his brain for..." she had to pause a few seconds, quietly mumbling numbers as she did the math. "...for five months? That's...fucking not good at all. Can we fix it?...And what would Mister Sinister want with Sunshine? Is he trying to clone her?"

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Iris Rivers

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Location: Blackbird Hangar
Skills: Pyrokinesis

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"Wait, what? I thought ten thousand bucks would be, like...a hundred times what I'd need! Gods, why does everything have to be so expens-" Iris' words and rhythmic banging were interrupted as a pair of monkeys pulled her to the ground. As soon as they were on top of her, she began to wildly swing her hunk of rubble at them, spitting out a number of curses with more positive words like "adorable" and "lovable" sprinkled in as well. But with one bright flash of light, the pair were thrown off of her, allowing her to crawl back to her feet, somewhat wobblily so due to the knife wound in her leg.

"Ey, thanks for the assist Stark. I owe you a plate of cookies when we're done...but you have to share them with everyone," Iris said with a smile, before her attention was snagged away by Ed. She tilted her head to the side when she heard the man mention something about a song written by monkeys, but before she could inquire further, Bethany rolled, and vines crept forth from the ground. Iris looked uncertain when Ed suggested she use her fire, but she gave an reluctant thumbs up.

"Right, yeah, totally...need something torched, Hellfire's ya girl," she awkwardly replied, her enthusiasm wavering. She didn't love being asked to use her powers. She much preferred to be the freeloader of the X-Men, living rent free in a mansion and paying for it with positivity, wisecracking comments, and the occasional world-saving mission. But she clapped her hands together and stepped forward, taking a deep breath. "Alright, I guess it's time to face down my arch nemesis - actual responsibilities. Upsilon-AGH!" before she could give her powered delusion any commands, one of the vines curled around her, yanking her up high in the air. She felt like a beehive hanging from a tree.

"UPSILON, UPSILON, GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!" she screamed out as she hung upside down in the plant's grasp. Perhaps it was her heightened heart rate and intense emotional state, but blue flames began to whirl around her without a second's hesitation. Unfortunately, as the flames wrapped around the plants, they seemed to be less effective than one would've hoped. For perhaps the first time in the history of fire versus plant battles, the plants were winning. Her eyes flicked up to the fire dancing along the green vines, barely scorching them, before dropping her eyes back down to look at Upsilon on the ground. "Seriously dude?! You burnt down half of Oregon, but you can't even take out a vine? Don't tell me you're having performance anxiety!"

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Somewhere Alone in the Forest with Jinxing
Skills: Musical Mystiokinesis, Combative Magic, Singing, Guitar

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Waverley stumbled back as she watched a small forest of vines burst forth from Emily's thrown seeds, wrapping around the pit scorpion and holding it down in a tight grip. As Emily rushed forward, sword in hand, Waverley pulled out her own weapon, a small baton crafted from imperial gold, and she held it out in front of her. She visibly cringed when she saw it. Still she held onto it, though, right up until the moment Emily took a breather and spoke to her.

”Uh, stabbing's not really my thing...but I guess I could go ahead and sing. I don't know if I can kill it, but I can try. Let’s just hope it doesn’t going awry,” the young probatio replied, shoving her blunt weapon back into her belt. She then swung her hand out in front of her, summoning her real weapon: her instrument. The massive church organ stirred as its musician called it to her hand, inching toward her slowly, before quickly picking up speed until it was flying through the air. Admittedly, an organ flying through the air at her made Waverley clench her eyes shut tight, flinching backwards. But as it flew, it morphed, shrinking back to its guitar form, landing snuggly in Waverley's hand. It stung, like a baseball thrown too fast, but it was better than being crushed by an oversized piano. Waverley's eyes flickered open, and as soon as she saw the guitar in her hand, she got into a playing position and began to play.

These boots are made for walkin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you

As Waverley's fingers danced along the strings of her guitar, resulting in a melodic rhythm filling the air. As she played, she poured her wish into the music: she wanted the gross bug thing dead. She didn't care how it was done: a massive can of Raid, an enormous rolled up news paper, or - or a giant boot, which was what began to form. It stitched itself together above the creepy crawly, starting with the thick metal toe, followed by the gargantuan leather body. Within seconds, it was a full boot, just as oversized as the pit scorpion. The shoe dropped down forcefully onto the creature, delivering a crushing blow to it. But even after the scorpion was pinned under the weight of the boot, it twitched and struggled, trying to escape its botanical prison.

The boot sat there unmoving as it struggled, causing Waverley cringe as she played, looking on apologetically as the creature writhed in pain. She'd been hoping for a clean kill. She hated seeing anything resembling an animal suffer, even if it was a monster. The universe seemed to hear her pity in her music, for, within a few seconds, the boot flew back up into the air, and fell once more, this time flattening the monster with one final strum of the strings from Waverley.

"Woah...was that me?......Nifty," she mumbled, breathing heavily from the encounter. Most of her combat experience was from training, and while this wasn't her first showdown with a monster, it was most certainly her first showdown with a big monster.

The Gifted - Concluded

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Location: In the Van
Skills:

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"Yeah, I get that. It's not for everybody," Waverley commented, continuing to comb her fingers through her her purple hair. Making casual conversation helped make it feel less like she was suspiciously watching her teammate, and more like she was simply engaging with her friends. And it seemed to work externally as well, as no one appeared to notice her staring. The conversation got less casual, though, when Veil dropped the bomb on what had happened while they were gone. Waverley wasn't sure she'd heard her right at first. She took her eyes off of Jack for a second, looking over to Veil with her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Magneto?! The Magneto?! Oh man, holy shit, this is fucked! This is super fucked!" Waverley mumbled out, slumping back in her seat. They'd had run-ins with some baddies, but Magneto? Magneto was a certified super villain. If she'd told her seventeen-year-old self that she'd be part of a team going toe to toe with Magneto, she would have laughed...and then had a panic attack. Even as it was, she could feel one coming on, but before it good dig its claws into her, she began taking deep breaths to sooth herself as they pulled into the Underground base.

It made sense why they staged a kidnapping. But why Sunshine? There were easier targets they could've taken.mThe new kids, Casper, Waverley herself, all of them would be easier to kidnap than Sunshine "Ready-To-Stab-A-Bitch-At-Any-Given-Moment" James. Not to mention the fact that they had her father do it. If it hadn't had been for Waverley waking up while Jack was doing the deed, they might've assumed the pair just went out for ice cream, and might've just waited for them to come back. Something...something didn't fit. But as she watched Veil step out of the van, followed by Callie, it snapped into place. She quickly followed the two out, gluing her eyes back on Jack through the car window as she did.

"Guys, guys, I got it," she spoke quickly, wanting to get her theory out before Jack got out of the car. If he was still tethered to Frost, she didn't want him to hear her crack the case. She huddled up close to Veil and Callie, before promptly backing up a few feet when Callie hurled blood onto the cement floor. "...We probably shouldn't've let you drive like that. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is this: I think they took Sunshine because they're afraid of her. I mean, think about it: she wouldn't be the easiest to kidnap, and using Jack to kidnap her wasn't a great idea in terms of raising suspicion either. The only reason to do it would be to...to make sure Sunshine didn't try to escape! To make her feel safe, so she wouldn't run back to the Underground and disrupt their plan! There must be some aspect of her power they're afraid of...but what could it be?"

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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Location: Somewhere Alone in the Forest with Jinxing
Skills: Creativity, Musical Mystiokinesis, Combative Magic, Singing

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It's not a pleasant experience, being in desperate need of breath and not being able to obtain it, no matter how much you scramble and grasp for it. Waverley had done it before, and her review of it remained the same as it always had: big, whopping zero star rating. Though in the past, she'd never had to worry about it making her a sitting duck. So when the soft sounds of crunching twigs wrung out beside her, she flung her head up, turning to face the noise. But her body relaxed a little when she saw it was only Emily. The false alarm actually seemed to help, for as Emily began to speak, Waverley managed to get her lungs to start taking deep breaths. When the other girl went silent, Waverley nodded, holding a shaky finger up as she struggled to regain enough air to speak. Eventually, the tremor softened, and she raised her head, her watery eyes looking up at Emily as she shifted positions, her knees tucking under her chin.

"S-sorry for running away...I just needed to get away from all the eyes...A-and it's okay, you don't have to apologize. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, especially not a friend, but I guess that's what happened in the end..." Waverley sighed, lowering her eyes back to the ground for a moment. Her breathing had reached a relatively normal pace, so, after rubbing the tears out of her eyes, she crawled up to her feet, croaking out a half laugh, the kind people make when they're starting to move past sorrow. "Sorry for the dramatics. Anxiety attacks fucking suck. But the worst is over, much to our - FUCK!" Waverley was cut off as she felt her body be swept up in an enormous and rough claw. A new panic arose as she stared at the massive creature who'd just snatched up her and her friend and began pulling them deeper into the forest.

She belted out two loud screeches separated by a whimper. The screams rhymed, funny enough, and if she weren't in the claw of a massive scorpion, she'd have wondered how exactly that worked. Instead, though, she put her hands on the cold, hard pincers of the creature, trying to pull herself out, but it was no use. The monster's grip on her was too strong. Then, as she looked down at the guitar pushed tight against her front, she got an idea. She never really used her guitar's magical abilities, since guitar was the only instrument she knew how to play. But it seemed that its enchantment could have more...combative uses. She grabbed onto the neck of the instrument, commanding it to shift. In a sparkling dark purple flash, almost reminiscent of the starry sky on a clear night, the instrument changed shape. It grew, and grew, and grew, taking the form of a full-sized piano that Waverley was sure would disable its claw. Unfortunately, it did not. It continued to race through the woods, unimpeded by the weight of the piano.

Alright, too small. So she tried again. This time, she closed her eyes, bringing to mind the immense instruments she used to see at church, much greater in size than its current form. It began to change again, growing even more. As it changed its form, it shoved Waverley out of the creatures claw, causing her to hit the ground with a hard tumble. When she raised her head, she found that her plan hadn't just worked: her guitar, now a massive organ, crushed the creatures claw under its weight. She only allowed herself a heartbeat's worth of time to feel victorious, as Em remained in the creature's claw. Waverley reached out her hand, and she begun to belt a melody, one that she didn't recognize. Likely something she heard on the radio once or at a coffee shop open mic night and had long forgotten. She wasn't sure what she was trying to do, or how she would do it. All she wanted to do was save Em. And the universe listened. As Waverley sang, dirt rose up from underneath Emily's feet, forming around her shoes. It grabbed hold of her and pull, resulting in a tug-o-war of sorts between the strange animated dirt and the scorpion. Eventually, the dirt one out, pulling Emily away from the claw. As soon as the girl was free of the monster's grasp, Waverley stopped singing, and the dirt crumbled back to the ground.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Iris Rivers

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Location: Blackbird Hangar
Skills: Pyrokinesis, Percussion

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As Iris defended Annie, Ed, and Runa, a literal deity, she was surprised when she felt a hand grasp tightly to her wrist. When she turned to find Mira there, her mouth open and prepared for a scream, she instinctively flinched, her eyes squeezing tightly closed and her face contorting into a fearful grimace. But when she heard the scream without the pain, she cautiously peeled open her eyes, finding Mira facing a number of downed monkeys. When Mira spoke to her without a single insult or her normal malice, it caused Iris to smile. She gave a quick, small nod, not saying anything out of fear that it would hurt the small sliver of healing they'd managed to get between them.

Iris' lips jutted out into a pout when she heard Bethany respond to Runa's lie, though the pout didn't last long. She had hoped to be the one to help Runa complete her fun lying trick, but she'd settle for being the idea girl. Sometimes it was nice to break the illusion that she was the 'dumb' X-Person in some way other than an literary reference...and then immediately reaffirm that illusion as soon as their resident bajillionaire made a bribe.

"OOOOH, I could totally buy the New York Botanical Garden with that kind of money! Then they'd have to let me stay there overnight! Oh, and I could use the leftover money to put up plaques of what I think all the plants' names are!" she excitedly cheered, dancing through the chaos of battle towards one of the Blackbirds. The young hippie had no actual grasp on the value of money, so she had no way to know that $10,000 would not have the buying power to purchase a 250-acre property owned by the city itself. But the thought of it was enough to get her ass in gear, grabbing a hunk of roof rubble as she got to the Blackbird.

"Upsilon, you get the lights, I'll get the sound. And don't hurt any of them!" Iris called out, before beginning to loudly bang on the Blackbird's metal with her hunk of rubble, the rhythm in time with the music blaring through the hangar. A long, almost serpentine string of fire began to form in the air, seemingly dancing along with the music that filled the room. It slithered through the monkey horde, getting just close enough to freak a good number of them out. The direction which it moved guided those monkeys out of the hangar, guiding seven of them to scamper safely out of sight, and therefore out of mind.