Morose

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

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April Flynn

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Location: the Field (School Carnival) - Agatha's Tent
Skills: N/A
~First Day Fit~

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The tent flap fluttered shut behind April, as the young girl gasped in astonishment. She had never taken any courses with Professor Harkness, but she had heard a lot about her from her roommate, Mads. "This is just like Doctor Who!!" April couldn't help but squeal. The tent was far bigger on the inside than on the outside - it was bigger than even their dorm rooms at AA, and those were (as April's mother was fond of reminding her) incredibly spacious. Crystals floated through the air, reflecting the light and casting rainbows. Books and potions and candles and cards and other magical tools drifted about, enchanted by the master sorceress herself, Agatha Harkness.

"Hi! It's so good to meet you! Well, um, we have met before but, like, not officially. Or not for a long time. Anyways. My name's April Flynn - my roommate's in your class, or was in your class, Mads? She said that you are, like, THE witch. Thank you so much for doing readings, I'm so excited!!" April chirped.

The candlelight flickered as Agatha peered at the young girl, the light source casting long shadows on the back wall of the tent. Through Agatha's mystical senses, she could see the third presence in the room - a grey warrior with the sharp keen eyes of an owl, her gaze boring into Agatha's. "Γκρίζα κυρία."

"Bless you," April immediately chimed in, assuming that Agatha had sneezed or something.

"... Thank you, child," Agatha replied after a short pause. Her eyes flickered back to the shadow on the wall of the tent, before resting on April again. "I believe I met your sister earlier, Zelda...? At any rate, what is it that a Mistress of the Mystic Arts can do for you? What forbidden secret shall we conjure up from the ether?

April's heart began to pound, as a million different questions went through her mind. Unlike her besties, she had never really gotten her fortune told before. Yes, there were a few witches in her family, but April was estranged from them at best. She had never had information about her destiny given before - what sort of person would she be? Would she be a hero like her parents... or a villain? Would she fall in love? Would she get married? Would she finally manage to take home the crown in the Contest of Champions - would she check off everything on her high school bucket list, Prom Queen, Class President, and so on? Would she, Dorian, and Danni stay together as a trio? Would something tear them apart from each other? Was she fundamentally destined to be good or bad? And then... Then there were things she did not understand about herself, feelings she hadn't examined, hints of something...

Agatha Harkness probably knew more about April than she did herself, April figured.

"So, like, I have tons of questions but I think the most important one - when you're talking to like one of the most powerful witches in the world, so you need to make the question count - is... What kind of person am I going to become? There's... there's some bad people in my family tree. I guess I just want to know... if I'm going to be good enough..." April asked softly, blushing bright red. She didn't have a famous last name, but she did have a famous grandfather. And aunts and uncle. And cousins, too, with the way things were working out for the Minimoff twins.

"Mmm, yes, I see," Agatha said, fixing April with a somewhat pitying gaze. There was more than just one legacy that this child had to bear. "Not everyone in your family is wicked, my dear. And perhaps those you believe to be are falsely accused. Now, let's see what the Cards have to say..."

April cringed in embarrassment and shame, about to trip over her words, only to be cut off by Agatha raising a finger, indicating for her to be quiet.

"Not now, dear," Agatha said. The tarot cards began to dance and swirl through the air, crossing back and forth, forming strange shapes and patterns. They cascaded down to the table in the shape of a helix, before bouncing back up into the air to continue the dance - only one card fell out, hitting the table directly in front of April - the High Priestess. April wasn't quite sure, but she could've sworn she caught Agatha rolling her eyes??? But then, three cards darted out from the shuffling pack, coming to a rest on the table.

"There we are," Agatha mused. "Now, I have done for you a simple past-present-future three card spread, although as I am quite sure you observed, the High Priestess insisted on making herself known. Your mother has the blessing of the goddess Athena - this perhaps is her making her presence known. However, it also speaks to distance from the spiritual influences of your family. You are disconnected from them, the people you are so afraid to become like... and yet, you have much to learn from them. Seek out those connections, my child. And grow."

"As for these three cards, in the past, you drew the Eight of Pentacles. This is a card of effort and dedication, of perseverance, work, and reflection. You have been striving towards your goals for quite some time and have set yourself up for success. In the present, you drew a card of major spiritual forces - the Devil, Reversed. This is a card of freedom, releasing yourself from chains that bind you. I sense that these chains may be your own preconceived notions of yourself and what you are expected to be," Agatha explained somewhat sharply.

"Which then brings us to the question of your future and who you might become... the Empress. Again, this card speaks of a major spiritual force. The Empress is the divine feminine, compassionate, caring, and free. That is the person I see you becoming, my dear. A good, kind person."

April was too overwhelmed at first to speak. She hadn't known what to expect when asking Agatha that sort of question - what to expect from any question - but she felt like her spine had been twisted. Everything about the reading felt... wrong. It felt uncomfortable. It was like Agatha had pinned her to a wheel and started throwing knives of accusations at her. The admonishment for her fears about her family stung, but truthfully, it was the last thing Agatha had said that felt just... wrong to her.

April didn't know what it meant, but she didn't want to be the Empress. But hadn't she always wanted to be a hero? Hadn't she always wanted to be a symbol of female empowerment, just like her mother? Shouldn't be told that she was going to be some divine feminine, good and caring and kind, be the ultimate win from this reading? Why did it make her feel sick and twisted inside? Why did it make her feel like running away from the tent? Why did the eyes of the Empress feel like they were boring into April's skull every time she glanced at that card?

Why did it feel so wrong?

"I, um, wow, thank you!" April forced herself to say, feeling like the silence must've stretched on for an eternity. "I'm sorry if I, like, offended you with the stuff I said about my family - I know you know a lot of them - I just... Yeah I've never really met them and you know what's on Wikipedia and all about what some of them, well most of them, have done and I... Yeah, it was stupid of me. I'll do better. I promise!" April's heart wasn't really in it, though. She couldn't help but fixate on that Empress card, it was eating away at her, and she had no idea as to why.

"Um, can I ask another question?" April added. "I probably should've gone with this one instead, it's not nearly as heavy, totally chill if you like don't wanna and just want to have me leave so the next person can come in, but... What do you see for my love life - like, am I gonna find Princess Charming?" While she was deeply curious about this, it was also just a distraction - something to take her mind off of that reading and then have something she (hopefully) would be more comfortable sharing with her friends.

"Of course, child - you may ask as many questions as you like. Space isn't the only thing that operates differently within this tent. Time does as well," Agatha explained. "We could talk for hours and to your friends outside, it would be just ten minutes. Now, let us see what there is for your love life..."

The cards danced again, the Empress card and all the others shuffling themselves back in. This time, no extra cards forced themselves to appear. The three cards Agatha drew were the only ones that danced down to the table, coming to a halt in front of the two women. This time, the cards were Four of Wands, Temperance Reversed, and the King of Wands. Agatha chuckled slightly.

"What?" April asked, rapidly turning pink again.

"Oh, you drew the Honeymoon card - rather appropriate," Agatha explained, tapping the Four of Wands. "This card is for a joyous celebration, a momentous occasion filled with love and beauty. At any rate, Temperance in its reversed position here indicates a period of realignment in your life, one that is often needed in order to bring balance and equilibration to you, body and soul. And then the King of Wands is a card of fiery passion - but more critically, asks for you to manifest that which is needed. In short, you will find love, my dear... but only if you choose yourself to pursue it. It will not come to you unbid."

"So I have to make the move?" April repeated, having gone from pink to fierce crimson. Her thoughts immediately went to Sabine. Would Sabine like that, being pursued? Or would Sabine want to be the one doing the pursuing? Could April even muster up the confidence to ask someone that perfect and beautiful out? Sabine barely even knew who she was! Maybe Danni could wingman her? But then her mind went to what Dorian had said, was he right? Would Danni get upset about all of this? The more she thought about it, the more confused she felt. "Well, um, thank you so much! I'm gonna - I'm gonna go and I can leave the flap open or closed? And I can tell the next person to come in?" she said, standing up and getting ready to leave.

Her brain felt like contradictory mush.

"One moment, my dear - you see, I am trying to leave the students of this institute better than I found them. And today, that means distributing a variety of magic items to those who come to see me, ones that I hope will aid you on your heroic journeys of self-actualization," Agatha explained. She snapped her fingers and a tiny vial of a clear, shimmering liquid appeared. The glass vial had a small hole at the top, allowing a silver chain to be threaded through it. "This water comes from the River Styx. There is enough for just one use, but I hope it will serve you well."

April stared intently, taking the fragile vial into her hands. She could feel the water inside of it and it felt... strange. It felt almost hot and yet hardened at the same time, slippery and static. She knew enough about Greek myth thanks to her mother to recognize the Styx as the river Achilles had bathed in, the river that flowed through the Underworld. What Agatha thought she could do with the water of the damned, she didn't know...

It made her uneasy, but she put the vial's cord around her neck anyways.

"Th-thank you, Agatha. I hope you have a good time at your new school and... and I'll think on what you said," April said, before remembering. "Oh, also, I almost forgot, but do you have, like, a dragon care manual for Danni? He's kinda losing his mind out there."

"Hmm? Oh, yes, yes," Agatha said, giving her familiar Ebony some scritches behind the ears. "There should be information in the occult section of the school library. Ms. Crane can show you to it."

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

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@BlueSky44@Nallore@Trainerblue192@Achronum@PatientBean@Forsythe@Ogobrogo@Blizz@Ever Faithful@Kirah@Natsu

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1:50 PM - Mon. Sep. 13th, 2038 - Margaret Carter Institute

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@Kirah@Blizz: "Il-il-ilegal? Me? What? No! Never!!" Ed insisted, practically tripping over his own tongue at Leah's playful accusation. If it hadn't been obvious yet, it would be now - this guy was a geek. He probably had never even gotten so much as a detention at the Institute, and if he had, it probably would be for something like getting too high of a score on a math test. His glasses almost fell off of his face and he frantically pushed them back on up. "S-sorry, just a little bit jumpy," he apologized, as Leah told him to relax.

At Andy's question though, he seemed to become more confident and engaged. "It's called the Framework. Basically a totally immersive virtual reality, simulates your powers and different scenarios. It's like the Danger Room the X-Men use, but better, because no one gets actually sweaty. I've been... well, I've been porting in a bunch of my favorite video games into the software, some of them are pretty retro, but I've always been really excited by the idea of actually playing my favorite games. Like, can you imagine being Link instead of just button smashing?" Ed explained excitedly.

"Oh, uh, that's too bad," he then said, as Andy made her excuses to leave. "Wait, here, this is my SuperLink - hit me up if you ever wanna try something out with the Framework. We aren't supposed to use it without the teachers but... where's the fun in that?" he said, before giving both of them his social media info. "My handle's @ArcadeAA."

@BlueSky44@Forsythe: The King's shoulders didn't slump until Vicky's particularly withering remark. They dropped the faux-Medieval act quickly. "Look, I'm just trying to do something nice for people here, okay? You don't need to be nasty and insult me," King told Vicky, clearly hurt. "There's an anti-bullying initiative here at the school. I think you might want to consider looking into some of the resources for it, maybe you'll learn a thing or two about how to treat other people."

@Ever Faithful@Natsu@Ogobrogo: Ogo is back, so have fun you three! :) Maybe this could be the start of a beautiful friendship - or maybe not. One thing though that would occur to Teddy however is that Mary Sue's last name, Sullivan, is the same surname as one of the new teachers at the school - Oliver Sullivan. Sullivan is supposed to be helping out with the speedsters on campus, as well as teaching some math/computer courses, so Teddy is likely more familiar with him in the former context rather than the latter.

@Trainerblue192@Achronum@Nallore: When Mads took out the deck of Tarot Cards, she'd notice (likely for the first time) that they weren't exactly standard cards. There was an odd sort of magical resonance about them, a sort of magic that she had never felt before. It was almost like they hadn't been crafted by someone from this dimension.

"Here, I can go and ask her if she has, like, an instruction manual - it's my turn anyways and I don't wanna hold up the line too much if someone else shows up wanting a reading, I'll be right back, Dee, I promise," April swore. "And up to you if you wanted to do a movie night, Dorian - it's your day, I'm down to do whatever you wanna do," she said, before heading into the tent.

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Percy Novikov

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Location: Carnival - Food Trucks
Skills: N/A
~New Outfit~

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Percy rolled his eyes at his sister's aspirations - because that was how siblings behaved. Truthfully, he thought his sister would make a good Avenger. Or maybe she'd even decide to get involved in mutant rights and go join the X-Men. The only thing she could really do to piss him off would be to join the Fantastic Four - Percy hated the Fantastic Four. Well, he really hated Mister Fantastic - the rest of them were okay. "Not going to found your own team, sis?" he teased gently. "Could do an entire theme of bow and arrow based heroes. Get both of the Hawkeyes on it with you."

Zelda's answer interested him, mostly because it was surprising. Basically everyone at this school he had assumed would want to be on one of the prestige superhero teams. The Contest of Champions, in which high schools had to participate, was basically an elaborate scouting opportunity for the Avengers, the X-Men, and so forth to find new recruits for their ranks. "So you want to be Edna Mode?" Percy asked, referencing an old superhero movie he had watched a lot as a kid. It held up pretty well for something made over thirty years ago. "This isn't me being an asshole, but what is your opinion on capes? As much as people joke about them, a lot of heroes do wear them. Are they even functional anymore?"

Song of Heroes - a Percy Jackson RP (Morose & DragonicQueen)

The Pavilion...

Lorna barely managed to get to the pavilion in time to get an actual seat at the Hermes Table - and even then, it was one of the ones on the end. It could've been worse though - some of her siblings had essentially just a single butt cheek on the bench, half squatting in place just to be able to eat at the table. The unlucky ones who didn't get there fast enough groaned and sighed in disappointment as they ended up with a floor seat, a position that required you to watch your fingers constantly and protect your plate and cup, as people would (whether or not it was on purpose) kick them routinely.

She glanced towards the middle of the table, where Luke was sitting and chatting with Percy. He did have a certain resemblance to Kitty, she had to admit. They had the same sort of restlessness in their eyes that reminded Lorna of the choppy waters of the sea. She wondered what that would mean, however... There was a reason there weren't very many children of the Big Three at Camp - the last one before Kitty had gotten turned into a tree. And then, there was the prophecy - one that Lorna had never heard herself, only that she knew it referred to a child of the Big Three...

Did it mean Kitty... or could it actually refer to Percy?

At the front of the pavilion, Chiron stamped his hooves, calling everyone to attention. "Listen up, demigods! I have a few announcements that I would like to make, before this evening's meal."

Bounties of Space

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"I missed two of the cute little shits, that's probably why, Dee," April explained over the comms, frowning. It was going to be almost impossible to shoot them off the side of the ship with the guns - and probably stupid to try, with the damage the shields were taking. Their eyes darted over towards the ice chunks and it gave them an idea - maybe they could use that water source to grab the stupid buzz droids and get rid of them? But before April could give it a shot, the ship shook as Danni took immediate evasive action. Where before there had been nothing, April saw on the viewport a Ravager ship. "Dank farrik," they muttered under their breath.

It wasn't like they should have been surprised or anything - Ravager scrapper droids didn't just travel by themselves. And the Belt probably was ripe with the destroyed vessels of idiots that the Ravagers could go pick apart for valuables. April wondered how long these assholes had been up to this - if they were a large part of the reason almost no one survived the Belt. The odious voices of the Ravagers filled the ship and it made April's skin crawl. In that moment, they wish they had the abilities of their grandfather - that they could just crush that stupid tin can of a ship like a bug. "Fat chance they'd put us in an escape pod - there's no way they're letting us get out of here alive," April muttered.

The ice chunks were looking really tempting. April loved guns.

But make no mistake, they themselves were a big gun.

Reaching out with their power, April felt the solidified water crystals out in space. For a brief second, an intrusive thought suggested to them that maybe they ought to throw those popsicle corpses at the Ravagers ship. Instead, they let their powers wrap around a chunk of ice - it was difficult and weird, manipulating something through the vacuum of space, taking more concentration than they could really afford away from the guns... It felt like trying to delicately manipulate using a pair of tongues attached to your tongue while balancing on a spinning top. Almost impossible.

They tightened their mental grip on the ice chunk, hoping to drag it - but instead, like squeezing a bar of soap in the bath, the chunk shot upwards. Cursing, April spotted another chunk - fortunately, they were everywhere - and repeated the process. It was a little easier this time, but still, not a simple ordeal. This time, they didn't use as much pressure, focusing more on the fling part of the movement than the grab - and the chunk shot off in the direction of the Ravager ship.

Before they could cheer though, the Ravager ship avoided it.

April groaned. "You have got to be kidding me!" This they didn't say over comms.

Star Crossed: a Star Wars Story (BlueSky44 & Morose)

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Raynor Blake, Jedi Knight

25 pts (Light-Side)

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"Dank Farrik, I hate a monologue," Raynor complained. He especially hated that Jarothe hadn't understood his clear sarcasm, but whatever. As annoying as a monologue was, at least it was a clear confession. Of course, Raynor hadn't been recording it. And he doubted Jarothe had been. But still, his word as a Jedi ought to be enough. Had he been cynical, Raynor might've figured that the Senate would be glad to seize Colbol Corp by any means - but for now, he was still optimistic and blinded to the corruption of the Republic. Many of the Jedi were.

His lightsaber deflected most of the blaster shots back at the droids, damaging a few of them. However, they were still greatly outnumbered. He couldn't just stay on defense forever - and it wasn't just himself he was worrying about, he had to make sure that Shakka got out okay. "Damn, nice shot," he commented, as Shakka took out one of the droids. "I sense there's more coming. Is there another exit, besides that door?" Raynor asked. Sometimes, people like Jarothe had secret exits and entrances. Raynor wouldn't have minded one of those right now.

He glimpsed an opening and rushed forward, sweeping his lightsaber dangerously, decapitating a small portion of the droids - but it left him vulnerable, a bolt hitting him in the shoulder. He grimaced in pain at the burning wound. He was just lucky it wasn't the side he carried his lightsaber with.

Bounties of Space

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April's hands rested on the grips, their fingers resting gently on top of the two triggers. Usually when they were down here, it meant they had pissed off the wrong person and were desperately trying to get out of the situation while a hyperspace jump was calculated. That or their bounty had escaped on a ship and they were too impatient to just let them slip away and go through the work of tracking them down again. The gunnery bay was probably one of the quietest and most peaceful spots on the Excelsior. Through the scope, April could see the vast expanse of space beyond them, stretching out to infinity.

Dorian tended to meditate to find a sense of peace - but for better or worse, this was where April found it. They had inherited their family's warlike nature. They weren't a pacifist. They weren't good at staying still. But they were good at this. Through the years, their aim had only gotten better and better; they understood the weapons more, to the extent that the ship's guns felt almost like an extension of themselves.

Danni's voice them chimed in over the intercom, filling the bay with noise. April rolled their eyes, chuckling. a bit. "Maybe you'll find the Kirkwood gap you're looking for at the Weighing Stones, Danni," April replied over the comm system. At Danni's insistence, April realized that they hadn't actually strapped themselves in yet, and they quickly went about to it, just finishing right as Danni hit the thrusters - which was lucky, as otherwise, they probably would've splattered up against the wall.

April screamed slightly from the rush and the intensity of the acceleration - not a fearful scream, more of the sort of scream appropriate at like an amusement park ride. Gods, April missed Disneyland. They fired off the guns, blasting the smaller bits of debris and whatnot that they could, reducing them into bits of dust finer than sand. Each bit of ice that they passed by called out to April, a little tug at the edge of their consciousness, the water screaming out for them to manipulate it. But they ignored the siren call. They had to stay focused - if they missed just one bit of debris in their way that Danni couldn't clear out, it'd be trouble. Their shields would be shot at best - and at worst, they'd all die.

They frowned, hearing over the intercom that something was wrong with the scanners. Swiveling around with the viewscope, they tried to get a look at anything that might've been messing with them, but there was nothing - well, nothing aside from the flying space rocks trying to kill them, of course. "I don't see anything weird, might be a malfunction?" April suggested.

Got six bogies portside! Launched straight from the damned asteroids.

"On it," April verbally confirmed. They weren't surprised to hear Dorian's voice in their head. It wasn't anything new. They swiveled again, and this time they were able to spot the objects. April blasted four of them to bits, without any hesitation. Whatever these bastards were, they didn't care to find out. They did however manage to catch a glimpse of painted flames - Ravagers. "Fucking hell. They're Ravager scrapper bots!"

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

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☀️ Nancy Parker ☀️

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Location: Train Station PA -> Burger King
Skills: N/A

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Nancy had been in the modern world for a few years now, but she still had trouble when it came to adapting to new slang. It mostly happened because one of her best friends also happened to hail from the 1980s, and the slang she picked up at Camp Jupiter tended to be demigod slang. She understood most of the new terms - like yeet and bae and kms - but they didn't always feel natural to her when she used them. So at her half-brother's prompting to get a new catchphrase, Nancy flipped him the bird. "It's a common expression, you grody bitch," she complained. Had anyone else commented on her outdated slang, Nancy probably would've actually been angry.

No one seemed to know what a long bun was, so Nancy was expecting to be disappointed. "Kinda like a hot dog bun, but it's not, like, connected in the same way. It's really just a hamburger bun... but it's long," Nancy explained. "But it's whatever, if it's not a thing anymore then that's fine, I can live with that." A lot of things that she had grown up with weren't around any longer. She didn't talk about it much, but it was one of the reasons why she liked Camp Jupiter so much - she didn't have to deal with how drastically the world had changed while she was in the Lotus Hotel.

She didn't protest too much when the split was proposed, heading off with Kristin and Janelle to get there ahead of the others. Joanie was still perched on her shoulder and Nancy gave her another few scritches, hoping to keep the dragon happy and content during the walk.

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🌈 Leda Storm 🌈

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Location: Under the Sea
Skills: N/A

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Whatever that magic weed had been, it also was preventing the weight of the ocean from crushing Leda, so that was really nice. Her eyes stung at first from the salt water, but she quickly grew use to the feeling. She remembered when she was little how much she hated having her eyes open underwater - her kid self would have been horrified. As she walked, her blonde hair flowed in the water around her, taking on a slight green-ish tint. "Oh shit, Imma look like seaweed for a week," Leda complained with a giggle. She didn't actually mind that much.

Sera looked like she had gone really great work with the coral - and other people were working on it as well. "Think you can teach us two how to do it, eh?" Leda asked, figuring it might help build up Sera's confidence some. Or at least, give her a moment to bond with Kiera. She was distracted, though, as something started to brush up against her leg. Had she been a jumpy person, she might've screamed. Instead, Leda glanced down and saw a cute little sea lion. She hesitated for a moment, before kneeling down, and petting it the way she would pet a friendly dog or cat. "Uh, hey there, little fellow," Leda greeted. "What's your name?"

Bounties of Space

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"So you want to run the Belt on purpose, even though barely anyone's done that and lived to tell the tale - and those who did had one of the best ships the Empire could buy and probably one hell of a healing factor - all for fifteen million credits?" April summarized. "Fuck yes. Let's do it. If anyone can run the Belt in a hunk of bolts like this, it's us." Was it reckless? Sure. But so far, life had more or less taught April that there was nothing their little trio couldn't handle. Hell, they even had a pet theory on a way they might be able to survive the cold vacuum of space if it came to it... not that they were exactly eager to test it out.

Maybe it was really stupid. But if they didn't do it, then there was no way they were going to be the ones to get that bounty. Someone else would beat them there. So this was it. Run the belt or give up entirely. And while April wasn't one to chase fame, they also couldn't help but think of how insanely epic that story would be - the Triumvirate blasting off through the Belt, nabbing this doctor, and getting that fifteen million credit payday. That was the stuff legends were based off of.

"I'll go get in position then," April said with a mad grin, before giving both Dorian and Danni a kiss on the cheek, and running on down to the turret room. They were so excited to blast some asteroids. They hadn't been into guns growing up, but ever since being in space, they had gotten very into firepower. The turret room was easily one of their favorite spots on the Excelsior.

X-Men: Cosmic Crusades 👽

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Guin Stark

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Location: the Mall!
Skills: Telepathy, Telepathic Attacks, Psy-Blasts, Unarmed Combat
~Fit Check~

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While Phantazia sent pain rippling through Guin, with both her powers and her read, Guin's attention was more focused on the horrific scene going down with her husband. The crazy pink guy, Exodus, was crucifying him. It was absolutely terrifying and horrendous. Tears sprung in the corners of Guin's eyes out of sorrow, but mostly, righteous fury. She wasn't going to let anyone do that to Pietro and just get to laugh about it. Get back to the mansion, you need to heal, now! Guin urged Pietro. It wasn't a request. She didn't care about Phantazia right now, not at all.

She put a hand to her head and concentrated, sending off a psy-blast of purple-pink psychic energy rocketing towards Exodus. However, the psy-blast wasn't very strong and didn't even hit him. Even in her worst days at practicing this skill, she usually could do better than that. And then she realized why, the person preventing her from protecting Pietro, was Phantazia.

Ugh.

Guin really did NOT want to let Exodus just get away with this.

She wanted to wipe that stupid smug grin off of his stupid pink face.

And probably rip off his dorky white cape and donate it to GoodWill or something where it belonged.

"Fine then, bitch - you want my attention? You've fucking got it," Guin growled, before darting towards Phantazia and punching, aiming for the throat, but she had telegraphed too much and Phantazia dodged, meaning Guin only punched her in the shoulder. However, Guin took advantage of the momentum and used Phantazia's own body against her, flipping her over onto the ground. "Now stop this and go back to your guest judge spot on Drag Race, okay, asshole?"

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Neil Spellman

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Location: the Mansion
Skills: Telekinesis, Necromancy
~Fit Check~

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Neil was beginning to wish that he had gone to the mall with the others after all.

Despite throwing Frenzy away from him telekinetically, that didn't do much to slow her down. And hearing her call them all collaborators - what was that supposed to mean, he had no idea - stunned him temporarily. The next thing he knew, her firm hand was gripping his throat and he found himself slammed onto the ground, gasping for air. In a blind panic, he did what was (unfortunately?) instinctual. He could sense when there were dead things around, things that he might reanimate and bid to serve him. He didn't like doing it - mostly because it was difficult to get consent to turn something or someone into a zombie. But right now, things were dire. This woman was going to kill him. And Neil didn't know how many times he could just shrug off death.

Unfortunately(?) though, there were no dead things in the Mansion's front lawn for Neil to work with. Necromancy wasn't an option here.

So he did what had only somewhat worked for him last time - he telekinetically flung Frenzy off of him, hoping this time to knock her into a tree or something. Gasping for breath, Neil clutched at his own throat, feeling the bruises already forming. "Does anyone - wheeze - know why - wheeze - they're kicking - wheeze - the shit out of us?" Neil asked. He tried to put his hands up in a rough imitation of a boxing pose, to try to preemptively brace himself for Frenzy's next attack, but his form was poor. Still, he was doing his best to not be killed outright. He was so focused on keeping his eyes on Frenzy that he didn't really look around at the others for more than brief glimpses, seeing that the new girl seemed to have sprouted wings, and the old wizard now had an ancient looking weapon on him.

Bounties of Space

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April's blaster hit the holo table, thankfully not firing off, as Dorian barreled in and pulled them all into an intense hug. They couldn't help but jump up and down, returning the hug to the people they viewed as brothers. The amount of money offered up on this chit was life changing. They could do anything, go anywhere. They could go to the spas on Chandilar that only the richest in the galaxy could afford; they could buy those spas and relax, letting their purchase generate more money for them. They could build a palace on some moon somewhere, rename it after themselves, and relax. They could drink every waking hour of every day, and never run out of money. And the clothes. They could get some of the good stuff. The galaxy's finest designers would stock their closets, and gods, the holopics they'd take...

"We find this guy, ice him, and then we're fucking rich! I don't think anyone in the galaxy could find a way to spend 15 million credits, but by the gods, we're going to find it!!" April said ecstatically. They loved the idea of an AI assistant - only the fanciest people had those around, and April was enamored with the idea of that being them. They'd be princesses and princes with that sort of money - hell, maybe even kings!

"Is there any way we could go faster, Dory?" April asked. "I know you hate gunning it, but there's bounds to be loads of fuckers trying to find this guy, and I really really really don't want to be the last one there. And what if some of them are already on Titan? What if we lose our chance at 15 million credits because we're too slow? Please? Please? Can we gun it?" This wasn't the first time April had asked for them to go faster - they found the ship almost always to be a bit too slow, preferring to really push the engines to the max and then some. Patience wasn't their strong suit.

"Though, I'm surprised you two don't remember him - Haggar's the guy from the Nilix incident. Y'know, with all the creepy experiments that got loose and made a mess of things - remember the flora colossus we brought in a few years back, with the cybernetics that ate shit once we caught him? He was from this guy's lab. I'm surprised the Empire hasn't killed him already, to be honest. Heard from La'sara he got a new employer, but y'know how her info is, hit or miss." La'sara was a dancer at a joint on Arakko that April was really found of - although that was mostly because La'sara was there. There had been many drunken nights where April proclaimed that La'sara was the love of her life, but things had never really worked out between the two of them.

"Def think this is an imperial job, at any rate. But I don't care. Fifteen million credits is worth doing almost anything. And I don't have any sympathy for a fucked up scientist." Yes, they had heard the rumors that Dr. Haggar had been trying to save the experiments. But April didn't care about a rumored change of heart. A job was a job.