Sincerely

Children of the Zodiac (Open)

Hey! I’m definitely still interested in this

Young Avengers

I’d rather wait a few weeks until things stabilize than retire the RP.

Young Avengers

I’m cool with the transition

Young Avengers

Hunter's Point South Park
Long Island City, Queens, NY, USA
July 4, 2023 @ 9:40 PM EDT

If this were any other sort of situation, Samira would be laughing. The super soldier serum? She doubted its existence. It wasn't hard to. If Americans had come up with something that incredible their technology would be on par with Wakanda's, but it was nowhere close. Now she was being told that it was real. Even worse, it was real and the 2.0 version exploded above everyone in the park tonight. No consent involved, no trials to work out the kinks. A wave of disgust rolled over her when she realized that they were the trials. God only knows what was going to happen to her in 24 hours.

With her phone still in her hand, she unlocked it and opened up a blank text message. "Add your number." She said, handing her phone over to Caty. The rest of the survivors were surrounding them asking a million questions at once. She couldn't even hear herself think right now. She knew she wouldn't get much more of an answer tonight. The crowd in front of them were impatient enough. If the 911 operator was correct, then ambulances would be arriving any second. It would only get crazier from there.

Samira took back her phone right before the park lit up on a flood of lights, some from the ambulances and cop cars, others from the cameras of news crews. They were like vultures. Wasting no time clamoring over anyone and everyone that they could talk to. Samira grabbed Caty's arm to capture her attention for a brief moment. "Thank you for trying." She squeezed her arm with a sad smile on her face. It was obvious to the young woman that Caty and her friends tried to stop this from happening. She wanted to alleviate whatever guilt the poor girl had.

One voice rose above all the rest and demanded the reporters back away. Stepping out of the thick wall of bodies was a guy in a suit. With a flash of his badge, Samira was finally starting to understand just how serious this all was. FBI, science divisions, news reporters, super serum. She looked around the park to see how many ore agents were corralling the reporters away. That's when she noticed the triage. People who seemed fine were getting into police cars and being taken to hospitals. Those with major injuries were being loaded onto gurneys. Samira thought she saw the boy on the docks being loaded into an ambulance on one. But the worst part were the tarps. Giant tarps laid out all over the park. Every time they confirmed another death, they moved the body onto the plastic. She choked out a sob, no longer bothering to wipe the tears from her face. It didn't matter anymore. There were so many more tears to come. "I'm sorry, but I have to go." Without a backwards glance, she ran off to where her father laid. Most of the lives lost would be laying on a tarp, but not her father. Samira would have no problems demanding more for her dad, given his status.

Meanwhile, Cam couldn't decide if he was lucky or unlucky. He should probably start at the beginning. Tonight was the first night he wouldn't have Bob leaning over his shoulder critiquing his every move. He could actually prove that he was more than this punk kid who got lucky on a dare. He knew there was a lot riding on tonight, but he was ready. His first real night on the job was going awesome. He flirted with these models from London. He liked their accents, they liked his hair. He made a ton of tips. This wasn't like bartending at a hole in the wall sort of place. Casa Enrique was pretty expensive. 20% of pretty expensive meant more cash thrown his way. Even the shitty tippers usually tossed him a dollar or two. His award winning smile kept people coming back to the bar for more. At one point he was sure that he had at least ten drinks lined up, each of them different. But it didn't matter. He was on a roll.

Well, he was until he broke the glass in the ice tray. The clear glass blended in perfectly with the ice, so the whole thing would have to be tossed out. Bob fetched a new one and told Cam to take a break after he dumped the ice outside. When he stepped out into the alleyway there was some homeless guy puking by the dumpsters. "Gross." So he decided to carry the tub over to the park. It wasn't too heavy to walk a block away. He could dump the ice out onto the grass for it to melt. He'd even dump it in a corner so the broken bits of glass wouldn't be in the middle of the lawn. But, most importantly, he could sneak a peek at the fireworks. Back home on Long Island people would buy tons of illegal fireworks and shoot them off in the streets. But seeing some sparklers from your backyard versus a totally professional display on the water were two different levels. His snap story would make all his friends jealous.

When Cam arrived at the park, he stood near the back. He couldn't be here too long, and didn't want to have to fight through people to get back to work. The first firework looked really weird. Setting down the tub of ice and glass that was beginning to melt, he reached for his phone to record it. "Maybe this is some new thing they're trying." By the time he had his phone out trying to record the fireworks the fog settled over the park and he couldn't breathe. Doubled over and coughing, Cam could feel the cold through his sneakers. His eyes were watery with tears, but he forced them open to look down at what was causing the cold. He had stepped into the ice tub. Shit.

As quickly as it started, it was gone. The fog cleared and Cam could see again. Great. Now he'd have a wet shoe for the rest of the night and whatever pepper spray he inhaled made him miss the fireworks. His break time was probably up by now anyways. Dumping the tub out onto the grass he stood up and saw people dropping like flies. Was this some kind of a joke? Like those flash mob things? Then he saw the seizures and knew it wasn't a joke. A baby near him started to cry as their mother dropped to the ground. Everywhere he looked people were bleeding and seizing on the ground. He was starting to think he was having a seizure too because his thigh was vibrating. Wait, no. That was his phone. Answering the call without looking at it, Cam was frozen in place.

"Carmine, where are you? You better be back here in five minutes or I swear to God-"

His job! Right. "Bob, I can't. Something really freaky has happened down here at the park. I think people are dying. The fireworks started and then there was this fog and now people are bleeding and having seizures and I can hear the sirens coming. I-I can't come back. I gotta go to the hospital. Whatever made all these people sick, I inhaled it." He didn't even wait for an answer before hanging up. He switched on the camera on his phone and started to record...all of it. Bloody faces, crying family members, stranger seizing on the ground. He even caught the news crews forming a crowd over by the docks. They must've found people to interview already. Then a guy in a suit from the FBI stepped in front of him and demanded that he stop recording.

Cam slowly lowered the camera and ended the video. "I gotta go to the hospital. Get checked out. I was here when the stuff exploded." He quickly turned away from the agent and headed towards an EMT who directed him to a cop car. Cam was terrified that the fed was gonna take his phone. He knows how this works. People record UFOs and the government hacks the videos and messes them up. Well that wouldn't happen to him. He had proof of what happened. Emailing himself the video, he then called his mom. After all, he was going to the hospital to be checked out after inhaling poisonous gas.

"Ma! Ma! I swear I'm fine. They've got me going to the ER at Bellevue Hospital. I promise I won't leave until they check me out. Ok. Love you too." When he stepped into the ER things were crazy. Hospitals were already crazy, but this was on a whole different level. It was like they didn't know what they were looking for. They just knew that people were sick. Cam didn't have much time to observe it though. His family and friends were blowing up his phone with texts asking what happened and if he was okay. Unsurprisingly, his mother told the whole world that he was at the park. Italian families were no joke about drama. He heard from more cousins in the last hour than he had in the last ten years.

Young Avengers

<Snipped quote by Sincerely>

Interesting. Didn’t know that.

@Crimson Flame

Honestly, I didn't either. I had to look it up.

Young Avengers

<Snipped quote by Sincerely>

I’m not the GM, but I question the 18 year old bartender. Drinking age in the U.S. is 21.

@Crimson Flame

Drinking age is 21 in the US, but oddly enough in NYC you only have to be 18 to bartend.

Young Avengers

I LOVEEEEEE Great Comet!!! If all that drama surrounding the show didn't happen I'm sure they could've had a nice, long run.

I just posted my Iceman character, so I'm gonna take a break before I write up my IC post. Hopefully tonight, maybe tomorrow.

Tabitha's Character Sanctuary

Iceman (Carmine Benvenuti)

Carmine "Cam" Benvenuti

Alias: Iceman
Age: 18
DOB: October 31, 2004
POB: Long Island, New York, USA
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 190 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Occupation: Bartender

Special Talents & Skills

Athletic (Lacrosse)
Charming
Fluent in English and Italian (read, write, and speak)

Powers & Abilities

Cryokinesis
Immunity to cold temperatures
Thermal Vision (the ability to see the heat signatures of others)

Biography

Cam's life has been unwaveringly normal. He grew up with a mom and dad, two older brothers, and a dog. Everyone in his neighborhood on Long Island lived identical lives. His father, William, worked as an accountant in the city. His mother, Madeline, worked as a teacher a few towns over in Hauppauge. Even with them raising three boys, their lives were comfortable.

As the youngest of the three, Cam found it easy to get what whatever he wanted from his parents. Those were the perks of being the baby. But, he was always chasing the respect of his brothers. So he did everything they did. When they tried lacrosse, so did he. When they would spend all their time playing 2K on the PS4, so did he. It wasn't until middle school that Cam started to branch out and become his own person. He became more outspoken. Not nasty, or disagreeable, just honest. One could always tell how he was feeling. Eventually his family would come to rely on him whenever they needed someone with brutal honesty.

Around this same time Cam started to take lacrosse seriously. As a kid, it was just something he did to follow his brothers, Antonio and Giovanni. Then he hit a growth spurt. His coach started to take more interest in him and show that there was a future available for Cam if he wanted it. By then, Ant and Gio had quit the sport already. So Cam took the opportunity to shine. And shine he did.

High school was the only time he really found himself struggling. Honest, athletic, charming, and good-looking, Cam easily became one of the most popular kids in high school. Everyone wanted to be friends with the kid who made varsity his freshman year. But social media can be a real bitch. While away in Vermont on vacation, Cam had a friend, Jonathan, that he would only see when they would go to Vermont. Their families rented neighboring cabins, and they were around the same age so the boys hit it off. Every year they would look forward to spending time together. One night of stolen whiskey and stolen kisses and suddenly Cam had a lot more reasons to want to vacation in Vermont. It worked out perfectly too! He could sneak off to make out with Jonathan on vacation and come back home, and no one was the wiser. Until his brothers invited their friends to join them for a week over the summer.

By the time Cam made it back to Long Island the crystal clear video of him kissing Jonathan had already circulated through the school. His mother begged him to stay home for a week, hoping that everything would die down. But Cam never shied away from a challenge, and he wasn't about to yet. His family was incredibly supportive of him during that time, even though every weekend they were scrubbing painted slurs off their garage door. When people realized that Cam being gay didn't make him any less of a talented athlete or a kind person, people moved on. There was always someone who'd say something offensive to get a rise out of him, but Cam never took the bait.

Now, he graduated high school a month ago. He had all summer to do whatever he wanted before going to Yale in the fall on a athletic scholarship for lacrosse. He wanted to enjoy the summer, but in order to do that he needed some money. On a night out in the city with friends he was dared to go behind the bar of a fancy restaurant and act like he belonged there until he got kicked out. So he strolled into Casa Enrique and started going to work. He made almost $100 in tips before a manager questioned who he was. The guy wasn't even that mad about the whole thing and offered him a job.

If he could just get through the summer he has his whole future lined up waiting for him.

Young Avengers

I listen to a little bit of everything. My music on shuffle goes from Veggie Tales to Eminem to Phantom of the Opera to Green Day and everything in between.

I’m gonna work on my Iceman character before I post. Figure now is still enough time to work him into the fold without having to backtrack too much.

Young Avengers

We can definitely have Caty and Samira exchange numbers. Once the ambulances begin to arrive Samira will want to leave to make sure he's declared legally dead and arrange to have him transported back to Wakanda. Plus, she'll have plenty of questions once the shock wears off.