You are seated among less than a hundred students in a massive auditorium within the Phillip J...
The Young Avengers Initiative
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001 - Orientation A
- Location
- The Trash Pile
You are seated among less than a hundred students in a massive auditorium within the Phillip J. Coulson Memorial Academy. This day has been a long time coming for you, and frankly, it's hard to contain your excitement. You manage, of course. You didn't get where you are today without being able to keep your cool, and being on the verge of becoming a real-life super-hero is the one place where you REALLY want to stay in control of your emotions.
But then HE walks onstage, and it's all lost.
You make a small noise. Small, but audible. You're not proud of it, but you just couldn't contain yourself anymore. You're fairly sure nobody else heard you... and if they did several others around you made similar sounds of enthusiasm to themselves so they're probably not going to judge. Who would? After all, on the stage before you is Anthony Edward Stark; the first super-hero of the modern age. He spreads his arms wide at the applause, and smiles, but it fades before the clapping stops.
"Thank you.
Two years ago, in the middle of one of the most trying times of my life, I met a young man who's the reason you're all here today. You all know him as Spider-man, and I'm sure you've seen his... Tweets and YouTube videos and... Vines."
You remember the Spider-man Vines. They gave you life. Rip in pepperonis, Vine.
"I'm sure you've seen him saving New York City once or twice, too. Helluva kid. But at the end of the day, that's what he was when I met him two years ago; a kid. Now, legally speaking he's an adult. You're all adults now, and you have the right to use the abilities you've developed to fight and… maybe die in the service of defending the world. But! To a celebrated industrialist-slash-inventor-slash-playboy like myself, you're all still... just kids."
He pauses, pressing his fingertips together as he looks out over the audience.
"When I became Iron Man I was in my thirties. I'd lived a good portion of my life, had a lucrative career, and already made more than my share of mistakes. You can ask my wife about that last one, I... still make a lot of mistakes.
But Spider-man was young! He hadn't made it out of high school when I met him, much less had... over a decade more of life to experience that I had. And here he was, making these same sacrifices. Putting himself in the same kind of danger. Worse, sometimes... ...
The kid wasn't even old enough to drink. None of you are old enough to drink, either. Don't get any ideas!"
That gets a small laugh as he feigns some sort of authoritarian glare at a few of your peers in the auditorium. Can he even actually see them past the stage lights? must be those fancy glasses he's wearing. He shakes it off with a smile, trying to keep the mood light while discussing the very serious life-or-death future that sits before you all.
"Yeah. Well.
You didn't come here to listen to an old man talk about how much more there is out there to experience. You came here because life gave you an advantage over the rest of the population, and you wanna use it to HELP people. That's admirable. You also came here to get an education, and I think that's MORE admirable. As much as some of you might hope this is gonna be just like the Teen Titans where you go gallivanting on world-saving adventures every week, that's just… not the case. This is a center of LEARNING first and foremost. We've hired some of the best teachers and professors to make sure you leave this place with the tools you need to build a life out of if the whole... super-powered government agent thing doesn't turn out to be your bag.
We're here to help you learn more about your abilities... what you can do with them, what your limits are… and how to know when to back away from the edge before your hurt yourself. We want you to be a safe, functional member of society like any other human being out there. Not somebody who's gonna flip out on some jerk in traffic and set his car on fire with your pyrokinesis."
Another laugh. Someone near you gets elbowed in the ribs and grins sheepishly.
"Because from this day forward... you're Avengers. Young Avengers, of course. This is the Young Avengers Initiative. So you're like... junior members. Avengers-in-Training. College students 75% of the time, and Avengers about 25%. 'Cuz unless something's seriously gone to shit since I started this speech, it isn't so bad on the streets of New York that we need eight dozen of you stomping around on a regular basis. Besides which, we're Avengers. We react. We don't starts fights where there aren't fights… and we try and keep people safe. That's priority one."
He strikes a bit of a pose, one arm behind his back and the other holding up his index finger... then seems to realize what he's doing and relaxes, returning the hand behind his back.
"You'll all be organized into… squads, about six people each. You're gonna room together, train together, patrol together… Each squad will rotate patrol duty, and sometimes we might even have a special mission for you... but your focus should be on your education, and learning to master the gifts you've been given so you don't become the exact kind of people the Avengers are here to stop."
Mr. Stark rolls his teeth over his lower lip. His posture shifts suddenly, and he trots over to the edge of the stage and sits down, the spotlights following him as smoothly as if it were a planned portion of the speech.
"You get it. I know you do, I know you're hearing me... and I know you're not gonna listen. Most of you, anyway.
Look, we're gonna do everything we can to make sure you guys have opportunities out there… but you're here by choice. And you're HERE instead of Harvard, or M.I.T., or Julliard... because you want. To do. Good. You want. To be. Avengers. So... if I have any piece of advice for you, assuming you're going to blow off EVERYTHING else I've just said... and don't."
Another stern finger point.
"... you have to trust your team. Even if they're annoying, or borrow your stuff without asking, or if they it's Laurel when it's OBVIOUSLY Yanny... they're your PARTNERS. They're your LIFE-LINE in the crisis situations you're volunteering to be put in. You HAVE to trust them. I know each of you have code names to protect your identities from the public, something to go on media records without putting your families at risk. I know some of you have uniforms with masks on them for the same reason, and I get it. You wanna be able to stop by Starbucks for a flat white with soy milk without feeling like you're making the entire building a target for some super-powered psychopath. But in here? Inside this academy? No secrets. Your teachers, the staff, your squad... you're all on a real-name basis starting from day one, because someday TRUST is the only thing that's gonna save you out there."
Mr. Stark stares out at the crowd with soulful brown eyes, looking at the faces watching him, listening. You yourself can't take your eyes off of him; his personality is magnetic and he puts so much weight into his words, even his silly little side jokes. He sits up suddenly, opening his arms to the room of Young Avengers before him.
"Any questions?"
Dozens of hands shoot up in the air, your own among them, but Mr. Stark just hops down off the stage and makes his exit to the left.
"Good. Question everything. That's how you make good science."
OOC: This is an alternate universe Marvel quest largely rooted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many things are different in ways that were inspired by how the MCU handles new origins, character interpretations, power sources, and so on. You'll also find plenty of adaptations and characters taken from comics, TV shows, and other forms of Marvel media. If you read from the beginning you should be able to participate in the thread just fine if all you've seen are the mainstream movies.
You'll find our version of the Timeline of Events as they transpired by clicking on the link. Below beneath the Spoiler Tag is an explanation of how the events of the Marvel movies and shows differ from the events in this quest in roughly the same order as the timeline. They may contain spoilers for the Quest and their origin media, so if you aren't current on either of those things click with caution.
I intend to update this quest once a day, usually between 12 AM and 6 AM Eastern Standard Time, though voting stalemates and real life issues can often delay my posts. Occasionally I will attempt to "make up" for this by posting twice in one day, with approximately 12 hours between posts. My individual posts aren't usually very long, so I hope the frequency makes up for that; I like offering decision points and glossing over unnecessary details and small talk, though there will be plenty of options for deeper conversation. Fights, specifically, tend to have shorter updates because we operate on turn-by-turn decision-making, so especially if there are only a few people involved in a scrap there will be less that needs relaying for every post.
The intention of this quest is not to 'test' for you to pick the 'right' answer; there are no 'trap' answers, and while any choices the voter-base makes will have consequences that are potentially favorable or unfavorable, they're not going to outright kill you or something silly like that. I want to run a quest thread and I like creating a shared narrative. That's hard to do without a main character. This quest is not me vs. you; it's a story where we use dice and game components to fill in the variables. That being said, I don't like fudging dice as a DM, so... making smart decisions, thinking carefully about your choices, and avoiding death and danger is wise.I don't like to give out too many 'hints' and I don't often explain my motives or detail the rolls I make; I use the official Wizards of the Coast die roller and the results tend to be fairly middling. BUT~! I do love answering questions and providing context. Never be afraid to ask.
This quest will feature a LOT of background characters who are named or briefly conversed with and never seen again. It will feature a few guest stars/minor characters who you work with for a mission or two, but overall don't see. Don't get intimidated by the number of named NPCs in the world; it's just something to keep the universe feeling fresh and lively. We don't have to explore the intricate backstory of each of these people, and frankly we don't have the time to do so. YOU have the power to decide who we'll spend most of our time with throughout the quest.
This is not the original introduction to this thread. It's contained in the below spoiler tag for context, if you care about that sort of thing.
You are a student and Avenger-in-training at the Phillip J. Coulson Memorial Academy in an undisclosed location in New York. Ever since you were young, you had a strong desire to be a super-hero like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Like the real-life hero of the 40's, Captain America. Like Iron Man.
Choose Your Origin...
[ ] Street urchin.
Strength - 1
Athletics - 3
Endurance - 1
Accuracy - 2
Perception - 3
Aptitude - 2
Will - 1
Charisma - 3
[ ] Academic.
Strength - 1
Athletics - 1
Endurance - 1
Accuracy - 2
Perception - 2
Aptitude - 4
Will - 3
Charisma - 2
[ ] Vigilante.
Strength - 3
Athletics - 2
Endurance - 3
Accuracy - 2
Perception - 2
Aptitude - 1
Will - 1
Charisma - 2
But then HE walks onstage, and it's all lost.
You make a small noise. Small, but audible. You're not proud of it, but you just couldn't contain yourself anymore. You're fairly sure nobody else heard you... and if they did several others around you made similar sounds of enthusiasm to themselves so they're probably not going to judge. Who would? After all, on the stage before you is Anthony Edward Stark; the first super-hero of the modern age. He spreads his arms wide at the applause, and smiles, but it fades before the clapping stops.
"Thank you.
Two years ago, in the middle of one of the most trying times of my life, I met a young man who's the reason you're all here today. You all know him as Spider-man, and I'm sure you've seen his... Tweets and YouTube videos and... Vines."
You remember the Spider-man Vines. They gave you life. Rip in pepperonis, Vine.
"I'm sure you've seen him saving New York City once or twice, too. Helluva kid. But at the end of the day, that's what he was when I met him two years ago; a kid. Now, legally speaking he's an adult. You're all adults now, and you have the right to use the abilities you've developed to fight and… maybe die in the service of defending the world. But! To a celebrated industrialist-slash-inventor-slash-playboy like myself, you're all still... just kids."
He pauses, pressing his fingertips together as he looks out over the audience.
"When I became Iron Man I was in my thirties. I'd lived a good portion of my life, had a lucrative career, and already made more than my share of mistakes. You can ask my wife about that last one, I... still make a lot of mistakes.
But Spider-man was young! He hadn't made it out of high school when I met him, much less had... over a decade more of life to experience that I had. And here he was, making these same sacrifices. Putting himself in the same kind of danger. Worse, sometimes... ...
The kid wasn't even old enough to drink. None of you are old enough to drink, either. Don't get any ideas!"
That gets a small laugh as he feigns some sort of authoritarian glare at a few of your peers in the auditorium. Can he even actually see them past the stage lights? must be those fancy glasses he's wearing. He shakes it off with a smile, trying to keep the mood light while discussing the very serious life-or-death future that sits before you all.
"Yeah. Well.
You didn't come here to listen to an old man talk about how much more there is out there to experience. You came here because life gave you an advantage over the rest of the population, and you wanna use it to HELP people. That's admirable. You also came here to get an education, and I think that's MORE admirable. As much as some of you might hope this is gonna be just like the Teen Titans where you go gallivanting on world-saving adventures every week, that's just… not the case. This is a center of LEARNING first and foremost. We've hired some of the best teachers and professors to make sure you leave this place with the tools you need to build a life out of if the whole... super-powered government agent thing doesn't turn out to be your bag.
We're here to help you learn more about your abilities... what you can do with them, what your limits are… and how to know when to back away from the edge before your hurt yourself. We want you to be a safe, functional member of society like any other human being out there. Not somebody who's gonna flip out on some jerk in traffic and set his car on fire with your pyrokinesis."
Another laugh. Someone near you gets elbowed in the ribs and grins sheepishly.
"Because from this day forward... you're Avengers. Young Avengers, of course. This is the Young Avengers Initiative. So you're like... junior members. Avengers-in-Training. College students 75% of the time, and Avengers about 25%. 'Cuz unless something's seriously gone to shit since I started this speech, it isn't so bad on the streets of New York that we need eight dozen of you stomping around on a regular basis. Besides which, we're Avengers. We react. We don't starts fights where there aren't fights… and we try and keep people safe. That's priority one."
He strikes a bit of a pose, one arm behind his back and the other holding up his index finger... then seems to realize what he's doing and relaxes, returning the hand behind his back.
"You'll all be organized into… squads, about six people each. You're gonna room together, train together, patrol together… Each squad will rotate patrol duty, and sometimes we might even have a special mission for you... but your focus should be on your education, and learning to master the gifts you've been given so you don't become the exact kind of people the Avengers are here to stop."
Mr. Stark rolls his teeth over his lower lip. His posture shifts suddenly, and he trots over to the edge of the stage and sits down, the spotlights following him as smoothly as if it were a planned portion of the speech.
"You get it. I know you do, I know you're hearing me... and I know you're not gonna listen. Most of you, anyway.
Look, we're gonna do everything we can to make sure you guys have opportunities out there… but you're here by choice. And you're HERE instead of Harvard, or M.I.T., or Julliard... because you want. To do. Good. You want. To be. Avengers. So... if I have any piece of advice for you, assuming you're going to blow off EVERYTHING else I've just said... and don't."
Another stern finger point.
"... you have to trust your team. Even if they're annoying, or borrow your stuff without asking, or if they it's Laurel when it's OBVIOUSLY Yanny... they're your PARTNERS. They're your LIFE-LINE in the crisis situations you're volunteering to be put in. You HAVE to trust them. I know each of you have code names to protect your identities from the public, something to go on media records without putting your families at risk. I know some of you have uniforms with masks on them for the same reason, and I get it. You wanna be able to stop by Starbucks for a flat white with soy milk without feeling like you're making the entire building a target for some super-powered psychopath. But in here? Inside this academy? No secrets. Your teachers, the staff, your squad... you're all on a real-name basis starting from day one, because someday TRUST is the only thing that's gonna save you out there."
Mr. Stark stares out at the crowd with soulful brown eyes, looking at the faces watching him, listening. You yourself can't take your eyes off of him; his personality is magnetic and he puts so much weight into his words, even his silly little side jokes. He sits up suddenly, opening his arms to the room of Young Avengers before him.
"Any questions?"
Dozens of hands shoot up in the air, your own among them, but Mr. Stark just hops down off the stage and makes his exit to the left.
"Good. Question everything. That's how you make good science."
---=====---
META-INTRODUCTION
META-INTRODUCTION
OOC: This is an alternate universe Marvel quest largely rooted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many things are different in ways that were inspired by how the MCU handles new origins, character interpretations, power sources, and so on. You'll also find plenty of adaptations and characters taken from comics, TV shows, and other forms of Marvel media. If you read from the beginning you should be able to participate in the thread just fine if all you've seen are the mainstream movies.
You'll find our version of the Timeline of Events as they transpired by clicking on the link. Below beneath the Spoiler Tag is an explanation of how the events of the Marvel movies and shows differ from the events in this quest in roughly the same order as the timeline. They may contain spoilers for the Quest and their origin media, so if you aren't current on either of those things click with caution.
Captain America : The First Avenger - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; namely the Tesseract (and thus the Space Stone) were not present in the timeline and another, alternate power source was used by Arnim Zola and Johann Schmidt.
Agent Carter Series - Probably Canon
I have never seen this show. It was long enough ago in the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events.
Iron Man - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
Iron Man 2 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
The Incredible Hulk - Probably Mostly Canon
I have never seen this movie. I know enough about it that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the film would not make sense in relation to other events. I can say, at least, that the fight with Abomination was not quite as public and destructive as it was depicted in the film; it likely happened at a more remote location with fewer witnesses, and so anything that led to that encounter would've had to be slightly altered.
Thor - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
The Avengers - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; since the Tesseract was not involved, Loki's assault was done entirely through the use of his powerful magic and not in a bid to aid Thanos. This was the public's first major exposure to The Hulk, and the Battle of New York didn't happen against a horde of Chitauri invaders, but an army of Loki's clones. It was overall far less destructive, and there was a much smaller loss of life and impact on the people of New York. Loki was presumed dead after the events of this battle; killed by The Hulk.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Series - Probably Mostly Non-Canon
I have seen little of this show. Something similar has been going on, but the details remain murky. Assume nothing specific about it is canon unless I mention otherwise.
Iron Man 3 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline. The biggest change is that Iron Man's psychological state is not as fragile since the ending of The Avengers was altered; he is less self-destructive through the course of this film, and he and Pepper are married shortly after it.
Iron Fist Season 1 - Almost Entirely Non-Canon
Very little of what transpired in this show occurred except the most bare-bones concepts, thus it is not listed on the timeline; Danny Rand came back to America and established himself in New York as the Iron Fist.
Daredevil Season 1 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Jessica Jones Season 1 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Luke Cage Season 1 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Daredevil Season 2 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Captain America : The Winter Soldier - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; namely that no major HYDRA infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. is ever uncovered and exposed, thus most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s activities remain publicly classified and Nick Fury never had to fake his death. It generally would've been a shorter, less-interesting movie about Captain America making friends.
Guardians of the Galaxy - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; namely that the spectre of Thanos does not loom over everything as there is no narrative need for the Infinity storyline to be set in motion. As such, Ronan the Accuser does not use the Orb and thus the Power Stone in his assault; the damage and death toll is less severe, including the survival of Ronan himself. While Star Lord, Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Gamora continue to work together as a mercenary group following these events, they have no reason to call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Punisher Season 1 - Possibly Canon
I have never seen this show. It's separate enough from the events of the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events. Since its veracity is up in the air, it is omitted from the timeline for now.
The Defenders Miniseries - Almost Entirely Non-Canon
Very little of what transpired in this show occurred except the most bare-bones concepts, thus it is not listed on the timeline; Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Daredevil have worked together a few times. Punisher may or may not have been involved.
Jessica Jones Season 2 - Possibly Canon
I have never seen this season. It's separate enough from the events of the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events. Since its veracity is up in the air, it is omitted from the timeline for now.
Ant-Man - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline, except that Yellowjacket survived and is in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
Captain America : Civil War - Almost Entirely Non-Canon
Very little of what transpired in this film occurred except the most bare-bones concepts; Captain America and Iron Man had a disagreement about Winter Soldier that led to a falling-out, and during this time Tony Stark met Spider-man. With no Sokovia Incident, no Wakanda involvement, no S.H.I.E.L.D. declassification, and Tony being in a place of better mental health, things didn't fall apart quite as hard. It remains on the timeline because enough of its tentpole moments occurred to bear mention.
Spider-Man : Homecoming - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; since there was no alien tech involved in the Battle of New York, Vulture's wings and other weapons involved in the movie were invented by characters like Herman Schultz and Phineas Mason and/or 'salvaged' from lost or stolen pieces of StarkTech.
Doctor Strange - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
The Runaways Season 1 -Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the season to our timeline. I'm waiting to finish Season 2 before I decide where on the timeline it should sit.
The Runaways Season 2 - Possibly Canon
I have never seen this season. It's separate enough from the events of the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events. Since its veracity is up in the air, it is omitted from the timeline for now.
NON-CANON
The events of these films and shows have not transpired AT ALL, either because they have not yet come up in our timeline, or the events that would have led to their plots unfolding did not transpire in the first place.
- Thor : The Dark World
- Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
- Avengers : Age of Ultron
- Thor : Ragnarok
- Avengers : Infinity War
- Inhumans
- Iron Fist Season 2
- Daredevil Season 3
- Cloak and Dagger Series
- New Warriors Series
- Black Panther
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; namely the Tesseract (and thus the Space Stone) were not present in the timeline and another, alternate power source was used by Arnim Zola and Johann Schmidt.
Agent Carter Series - Probably Canon
I have never seen this show. It was long enough ago in the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events.
Iron Man - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
Iron Man 2 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
The Incredible Hulk - Probably Mostly Canon
I have never seen this movie. I know enough about it that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the film would not make sense in relation to other events. I can say, at least, that the fight with Abomination was not quite as public and destructive as it was depicted in the film; it likely happened at a more remote location with fewer witnesses, and so anything that led to that encounter would've had to be slightly altered.
Thor - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
The Avengers - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; since the Tesseract was not involved, Loki's assault was done entirely through the use of his powerful magic and not in a bid to aid Thanos. This was the public's first major exposure to The Hulk, and the Battle of New York didn't happen against a horde of Chitauri invaders, but an army of Loki's clones. It was overall far less destructive, and there was a much smaller loss of life and impact on the people of New York. Loki was presumed dead after the events of this battle; killed by The Hulk.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Series - Probably Mostly Non-Canon
I have seen little of this show. Something similar has been going on, but the details remain murky. Assume nothing specific about it is canon unless I mention otherwise.
Iron Man 3 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline. The biggest change is that Iron Man's psychological state is not as fragile since the ending of The Avengers was altered; he is less self-destructive through the course of this film, and he and Pepper are married shortly after it.
Iron Fist Season 1 - Almost Entirely Non-Canon
Very little of what transpired in this show occurred except the most bare-bones concepts, thus it is not listed on the timeline; Danny Rand came back to America and established himself in New York as the Iron Fist.
Daredevil Season 1 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Jessica Jones Season 1 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Luke Cage Season 1 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Daredevil Season 2 - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline.
Captain America : The Winter Soldier - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; namely that no major HYDRA infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. is ever uncovered and exposed, thus most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s activities remain publicly classified and Nick Fury never had to fake his death. It generally would've been a shorter, less-interesting movie about Captain America making friends.
Guardians of the Galaxy - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; namely that the spectre of Thanos does not loom over everything as there is no narrative need for the Infinity storyline to be set in motion. As such, Ronan the Accuser does not use the Orb and thus the Power Stone in his assault; the damage and death toll is less severe, including the survival of Ronan himself. While Star Lord, Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Gamora continue to work together as a mercenary group following these events, they have no reason to call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Punisher Season 1 - Possibly Canon
I have never seen this show. It's separate enough from the events of the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events. Since its veracity is up in the air, it is omitted from the timeline for now.
The Defenders Miniseries - Almost Entirely Non-Canon
Very little of what transpired in this show occurred except the most bare-bones concepts, thus it is not listed on the timeline; Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Daredevil have worked together a few times. Punisher may or may not have been involved.
Jessica Jones Season 2 - Possibly Canon
I have never seen this season. It's separate enough from the events of the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events. Since its veracity is up in the air, it is omitted from the timeline for now.
Ant-Man - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the show to our timeline, except that Yellowjacket survived and is in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
Captain America : Civil War - Almost Entirely Non-Canon
Very little of what transpired in this film occurred except the most bare-bones concepts; Captain America and Iron Man had a disagreement about Winter Soldier that led to a falling-out, and during this time Tony Stark met Spider-man. With no Sokovia Incident, no Wakanda involvement, no S.H.I.E.L.D. declassification, and Tony being in a place of better mental health, things didn't fall apart quite as hard. It remains on the timeline because enough of its tentpole moments occurred to bear mention.
Spider-Man : Homecoming - Mostly Canon
Some moderate changes from the film to our timeline; since there was no alien tech involved in the Battle of New York, Vulture's wings and other weapons involved in the movie were invented by characters like Herman Schultz and Phineas Mason and/or 'salvaged' from lost or stolen pieces of StarkTech.
Doctor Strange - Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the film to our timeline.
The Runaways Season 1 -Almost Entirely Canon
Very little changed from the season to our timeline. I'm waiting to finish Season 2 before I decide where on the timeline it should sit.
The Runaways Season 2 - Possibly Canon
I have never seen this season. It's separate enough from the events of the timeline that it's probably safe to assume its contents are canon unless I mention otherwise, or some aspect of the series would not make sense in relation to other events. Since its veracity is up in the air, it is omitted from the timeline for now.
NON-CANON
The events of these films and shows have not transpired AT ALL, either because they have not yet come up in our timeline, or the events that would have led to their plots unfolding did not transpire in the first place.
- Thor : The Dark World
- Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
- Avengers : Age of Ultron
- Thor : Ragnarok
- Avengers : Infinity War
- Inhumans
- Iron Fist Season 2
- Daredevil Season 3
- Cloak and Dagger Series
- New Warriors Series
- Black Panther
I intend to update this quest once a day, usually between 12 AM and 6 AM Eastern Standard Time, though voting stalemates and real life issues can often delay my posts. Occasionally I will attempt to "make up" for this by posting twice in one day, with approximately 12 hours between posts. My individual posts aren't usually very long, so I hope the frequency makes up for that; I like offering decision points and glossing over unnecessary details and small talk, though there will be plenty of options for deeper conversation. Fights, specifically, tend to have shorter updates because we operate on turn-by-turn decision-making, so especially if there are only a few people involved in a scrap there will be less that needs relaying for every post.
The intention of this quest is not to 'test' for you to pick the 'right' answer; there are no 'trap' answers, and while any choices the voter-base makes will have consequences that are potentially favorable or unfavorable, they're not going to outright kill you or something silly like that. I want to run a quest thread and I like creating a shared narrative. That's hard to do without a main character. This quest is not me vs. you; it's a story where we use dice and game components to fill in the variables. That being said, I don't like fudging dice as a DM, so... making smart decisions, thinking carefully about your choices, and avoiding death and danger is wise.I don't like to give out too many 'hints' and I don't often explain my motives or detail the rolls I make; I use the official Wizards of the Coast die roller and the results tend to be fairly middling. BUT~! I do love answering questions and providing context. Never be afraid to ask.
This quest will feature a LOT of background characters who are named or briefly conversed with and never seen again. It will feature a few guest stars/minor characters who you work with for a mission or two, but overall don't see. Don't get intimidated by the number of named NPCs in the world; it's just something to keep the universe feeling fresh and lively. We don't have to explore the intricate backstory of each of these people, and frankly we don't have the time to do so. YOU have the power to decide who we'll spend most of our time with throughout the quest.
This is not the original introduction to this thread. It's contained in the below spoiler tag for context, if you care about that sort of thing.
OOC: This is an alternate universe Marvel quest inspired by both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the comics, but not paying TOO close attention to either. I will be using a heavily bastardized version of my own personal homebrew system that consists of eight fairly self-explanatory Attributes and revolves entirely around d12 rolls. Attributes go from 0-8, because 8 + 12 is 20 and that's a nice round number for determining max difficulty. I'll be handling all of the crunch behind-the-scenes, but Attributes and character advancement options will be presented up-front for the sake of keeping things dynamic. I intend to try and update this thread at least once a day, but character creation is going to run a little faster so we can get into the meat of the story sooner.
I'd like to keep some things close to my chest to keep the story interesting, but suffice it to say Infinity Stones aren't a concern at the moment, the incidents in New York and Sokovia never happened, and as such neither did many of the chain reactions set off by of those events. Earth has seen very little of the Hulk and Thor, and is largely unaware of the wider Cosmic side of the Marvel universe, although recently information about the X-Gene has spread thanks to the power of the internet and "Mutant Panic" is among the most hotly debated social issues of our lifetimes.
… also this is my first time. Have patience with me while I figure out this site's magnificent built-in questing tools and manage this thing in general. <3
I'd like to keep some things close to my chest to keep the story interesting, but suffice it to say Infinity Stones aren't a concern at the moment, the incidents in New York and Sokovia never happened, and as such neither did many of the chain reactions set off by of those events. Earth has seen very little of the Hulk and Thor, and is largely unaware of the wider Cosmic side of the Marvel universe, although recently information about the X-Gene has spread thanks to the power of the internet and "Mutant Panic" is among the most hotly debated social issues of our lifetimes.
… also this is my first time. Have patience with me while I figure out this site's magnificent built-in questing tools and manage this thing in general. <3
---=====---
You are a student and Avenger-in-training at the Phillip J. Coulson Memorial Academy in an undisclosed location in New York. Ever since you were young, you had a strong desire to be a super-hero like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Like the real-life hero of the 40's, Captain America. Like Iron Man.
Choose Your Origin...
[ ] Street urchin.
Strength - 1
Athletics - 3
Endurance - 1
Accuracy - 2
Perception - 3
Aptitude - 2
Will - 1
Charisma - 3
[ ] Academic.
Strength - 1
Athletics - 1
Endurance - 1
Accuracy - 2
Perception - 2
Aptitude - 4
Will - 3
Charisma - 2
[ ] Vigilante.
Strength - 3
Athletics - 2
Endurance - 3
Accuracy - 2
Perception - 2
Aptitude - 1
Will - 1
Charisma - 2
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Character Sheet
- Location
- The Trash Pile
CHARACTER SHEET
Vilina Laghari/Fortune
Female [Origin Unknown] Academic - Medical
5'6"/Average Build/Black Hair/Brown Eyes
Born in New York City, New York, USA
Strength - 1
Athletics - 1
Endurance - 2
Accuracy - 3
Perception - 3
Aptitude - 8
Will - 5
Charisma - 5
Total: 27
Wrist-Mounted Weapon
Scattershot - 6 cartridge capacity.
- Reload 1 as an Indirect Action.
- Full reload as a Full Action.
- Non-lethal, though may cause excessive damage on headshot.
Stun Dart - 3 dart capacity.
- Reload 1 as an Indirect Action.
- Full reload as a Full Action.
- Target takes reduced damage, but must pass a Stamina check of 13 or be Stunned for Vilina's Accuracy in turns. (3)
- Can load more potent darts; increases Stamina check difficulty to 15.
Scattershot - 6 cartridge capacity.
- Reload 1 as an Indirect Action.
- Full reload as a Full Action.
- Non-lethal, though may cause excessive damage on headshot.
Stun Dart - 3 dart capacity.
- Reload 1 as an Indirect Action.
- Full reload as a Full Action.
- Target takes reduced damage, but must pass a Stamina check of 13 or be Stunned for Vilina's Accuracy in turns. (3)
- Can load more potent darts; increases Stamina check difficulty to 15.
Muscle - 0
- Base Check 4.
Agility - +1
- Base Check 4.
Stamina - +2
- Base Check 5.
Manual Dexterity - 0
- Base Check 6.
Awareness - +2
- Base Check 6.
Memory - +8
- Base Check 11.
- Checks related to Medicine are now considered Precise.
Focus - +6
- Base Check 8.
- Checks made to resist mental status effects are considered Precise.
Persuade - +2
- Base Check 8.
Luck - +8
- No Base Check.
- Base Check 4.
Agility - +1
- Base Check 4.
Stamina - +2
- Base Check 5.
Manual Dexterity - 0
- Base Check 6.
Awareness - +2
- Base Check 6.
Memory - +8
- Base Check 11.
- Checks related to Medicine are now considered Precise.
Focus - +6
- Base Check 8.
- Checks made to resist mental status effects are considered Precise.
Persuade - +2
- Base Check 8.
Luck - +8
- No Base Check.
Initiative: 3 (ATH, PER)
Grip Bonus: +3 (END, WIL)
Energy: 16 (CHA)
Willpower: 5 (WIL)
Carrying Capacity: 40 lbs. (STR)
Speed: 20 ft. (ATH)
Alternate Speed: 10 ft. (ATH)
Duration of Strain: 6 Turns./1 Minute to Hold Breath (END)
Aim Damage: Severe. (ACC)
Proficiencies: Unarmed Combat, Wrist-Mounted Ranged Weapons, Pistols (ACC)
Grip Bonus: +3 (END, WIL)
Energy: 16 (CHA)
Willpower: 5 (WIL)
Carrying Capacity: 40 lbs. (STR)
Speed: 20 ft. (ATH)
Alternate Speed: 10 ft. (ATH)
Duration of Strain: 6 Turns./1 Minute to Hold Breath (END)
Aim Damage: Severe. (ACC)
Proficiencies: Unarmed Combat, Wrist-Mounted Ranged Weapons, Pistols (ACC)
Weakling - Negative Passive Trait
All melee and thrown weapon attacks are rolled off the Minor Melee table. This trait is imposed by having a low Strength; increasing it to at least a 2 will get rid of this Trait.
Adept - Passive Trait
Memory checks made to recall information in the field of Medicine are Precise.
Learning Experience - Passive Trait
The first time you retry a failed Skill check it's considered Precise.
Polymath - Active Trait, Passive Action
You can force a knowledge-based Memory check as you would with a Willpower.
Cost: 1/4 of your max Energy.
Indomitable - Passive Trait
Focus checks made to resist mental status effects are considered Precise.
Deep Reserves - Passive Trait
Spending a Willpower to restore your Energy now completely refills it instead of only returning 1/4 of your max Energy.
Radiant - Passive Trait
END doesn't contribute to your total Energy; double the amount received from CHA.
All melee and thrown weapon attacks are rolled off the Minor Melee table. This trait is imposed by having a low Strength; increasing it to at least a 2 will get rid of this Trait.
Adept - Passive Trait
Memory checks made to recall information in the field of Medicine are Precise.
Learning Experience - Passive Trait
The first time you retry a failed Skill check it's considered Precise.
Polymath - Active Trait, Passive Action
You can force a knowledge-based Memory check as you would with a Willpower.
Cost: 1/4 of your max Energy.
Indomitable - Passive Trait
Focus checks made to resist mental status effects are considered Precise.
Deep Reserves - Passive Trait
Spending a Willpower to restore your Energy now completely refills it instead of only returning 1/4 of your max Energy.
Radiant - Passive Trait
END doesn't contribute to your total Energy; double the amount received from CHA.
Fortune-Favored - Passive Trait
Things seem to go your way more often than not; minor story events will be tailored to impact Vilina less than those around her. Situations with an even likelihood of certain events transpiring will slightly err in Vilina's favor. Vilina has no control over this aspect of her power; sometimes bad things seem to happen because they set off a chain of events that will eventually lead to very good things. She is somewhat aware of this, and it is a source of optimism for her. She radiates good fortune, granting a +2 bonus to Luck checks made by allies within 30' and forcing a -2 penalty on Luck checks made by enemies.
Just Lucky, I Guess - Passive Trait
Enemies must pass a Focus check of 13 to specifically target you and/or any individuals you're directly interacting with when there are any other targets worth attacking. This includes team members whose injuries Vilina is tending to, or civilians she's leading to escape. Even when they do, all attacks made against those targets are considered Clumsy.
Tilt the Scales - Active Trait, Indirect Action
This can do one of the following;
- Make an attack Clumsy or Precise.
- Cause a Skill check to become Clumsy or Precise.
- Use this ability on her turn to apply the effects of Just Lucky, I Guess to all allied targets within 60' for her CHA in turns.
- Using this ability for at least a few hours during Downtime allows her to influence an event happening up to 12 hours later.
Vilina can use this ability as a Reaction by forsaking her next Indirect Action.
She can use this ability over very long distances, though the more she is aware of the circumstances the greater success the power has.
Cost: 3 Energy.
Lucky Shot - Active Trait, Indirect Action
Vilina's attacks are considered Precise for up to her CHA in turns.
Cost: 1 Willpower or 1/4 of your max Energy.
NOTE: Vilina neither warps reality, nor is she guided by a force that allows her to use her abilities as a form of divination.
Things seem to go your way more often than not; minor story events will be tailored to impact Vilina less than those around her. Situations with an even likelihood of certain events transpiring will slightly err in Vilina's favor. Vilina has no control over this aspect of her power; sometimes bad things seem to happen because they set off a chain of events that will eventually lead to very good things. She is somewhat aware of this, and it is a source of optimism for her. She radiates good fortune, granting a +2 bonus to Luck checks made by allies within 30' and forcing a -2 penalty on Luck checks made by enemies.
Just Lucky, I Guess - Passive Trait
Enemies must pass a Focus check of 13 to specifically target you and/or any individuals you're directly interacting with when there are any other targets worth attacking. This includes team members whose injuries Vilina is tending to, or civilians she's leading to escape. Even when they do, all attacks made against those targets are considered Clumsy.
Tilt the Scales - Active Trait, Indirect Action
This can do one of the following;
- Make an attack Clumsy or Precise.
- Cause a Skill check to become Clumsy or Precise.
- Use this ability on her turn to apply the effects of Just Lucky, I Guess to all allied targets within 60' for her CHA in turns.
- Using this ability for at least a few hours during Downtime allows her to influence an event happening up to 12 hours later.
Vilina can use this ability as a Reaction by forsaking her next Indirect Action.
She can use this ability over very long distances, though the more she is aware of the circumstances the greater success the power has.
Cost: 3 Energy.
Lucky Shot - Active Trait, Indirect Action
Vilina's attacks are considered Precise for up to her CHA in turns.
Cost: 1 Willpower or 1/4 of your max Energy.
NOTE: Vilina neither warps reality, nor is she guided by a force that allows her to use her abilities as a form of divination.
This is by no means a comprehensive list; simply ideas and options based on our current Traits.
New Trait: Insight - Focus checks made to see through lies or divine someone's true motives are Precise.
New Trait: Death Proof - Increase your Grip check by +2.
New Trait: Hard to Kill - Increase your Grip check by +2.
New Trait: Heroism - You earn a +2 bonus to any brave, selfless check that would likely kill you if you fail. This only counts for matters that would directly end in your demise; not ones that may eventually lead to it.
New Trait: Skill Training - You gain four Skill Points to distribute among your skills as you see fit. Each skill can have a max bonus of +8.
New Trait: Survivor - You take no Grip bonus from END; instead double the bonus you receive from WIL.
New Trait: Unshakeable Focus - +2 to all Base Focus checks made to maintain your concentration.
New Trait: Insight - Focus checks made to see through lies or divine someone's true motives are Precise.
New Trait: Death Proof - Increase your Grip check by +2.
New Trait: Hard to Kill - Increase your Grip check by +2.
New Trait: Heroism - You earn a +2 bonus to any brave, selfless check that would likely kill you if you fail. This only counts for matters that would directly end in your demise; not ones that may eventually lead to it.
New Trait: Skill Training - You gain four Skill Points to distribute among your skills as you see fit. Each skill can have a max bonus of +8.
New Trait: Survivor - You take no Grip bonus from END; instead double the bonus you receive from WIL.
New Trait: Unshakeable Focus - +2 to all Base Focus checks made to maintain your concentration.
This is by no means a comprehensive list; simply ideas and options based on our current Traits.
Augment: Fortune-Favored - A minor version of the effects of Fortune Favored apply to up to her Charisma in allies with whom she has at least a 40% positive relationship.
New Trait: Force the Scales - Active Trait, Passive Action
Once per issue, the thread can vote to use this ability. For the remainder of the scene, all checks Vilina makes are considered Precise.
Cost: 1 Willpower
New Trait: Last Chance - Active Trait, Reaction
Once per Issue, pass a Luck check of 13 to have an enemy's weapon jam, break, or otherwise malfunction just as they would attempt to harm her with it.
Augment: Last Chance - If she passed a Luck check of 15, all enemies in a 30' radius who witness the malfunction are Stunned for a single turn.
Augment: Fortune-Favored - A minor version of the effects of Fortune Favored apply to up to her Charisma in allies with whom she has at least a 40% positive relationship.
New Trait: Force the Scales - Active Trait, Passive Action
Once per issue, the thread can vote to use this ability. For the remainder of the scene, all checks Vilina makes are considered Precise.
Cost: 1 Willpower
New Trait: Last Chance - Active Trait, Reaction
Once per Issue, pass a Luck check of 13 to have an enemy's weapon jam, break, or otherwise malfunction just as they would attempt to harm her with it.
Augment: Last Chance - If she passed a Luck check of 15, all enemies in a 30' radius who witness the malfunction are Stunned for a single turn.
- Vilina was a good child who did her best to behave. She loves her family very much, and they are incredibly supportive.
- She quietly comes from affluence, but was raised to pride herself on her work ethic and her accomplishments more than the circumstances of her birth.
- Vilina doesn't have obvious/strong connections to her cultural heritage. Her parents moved to America to escape difficulties back home that they don't like to talk about. They embraced American ideals and cultural traditions as a strong way of separating themselves from the past, and so Vilina was raised primarily with American culture in mind.
- Vilina likes super-hero stuff. Comic books, movies, TV shows, etc. She's not quite an expert, but she's not a casual fan either. She likes them enough that it has informed her career path. She likes the Lantern Corps most, but more as a concept than any specific character.
- She has been described as an "IronStan"; a big fan of Tony Stark.
- Her favorite colors are gold and white.
- Vilina wears a padded gold and white uniform with a deep hood and a domino mask when on the job.
- Not really into casual swearing.
- When not fighting crime, Vilina tends to wear soft, but fashionable clothes; a lot of the stuff in Victoria's Secret PINK line and similar casual, comfortable, yet trendy designs.
- Vilina likes cocoa with coffee, but would take just cocoa over just coffee. As far as her tastebuds are concerned, a mocha is "not the same, but close enough" in most cases.
- She prefers mild foods, loves fresh vegetables, and ironically doesn't care for super-spicy food. If she had a favorite cultural cuisine, it'd probably be Greek.
- Her favorite genre of video games is strategy/tactics, including 4X, MOBA and RTS. She doesn't really care for shooters.
- She has a very eclectic taste in music, but prefers to relax to a song more than dance to it.
- Players incline her personality toward a strong moral core, but she knows her limits and is pragmatic when push comes to shove.
- She quietly comes from affluence, but was raised to pride herself on her work ethic and her accomplishments more than the circumstances of her birth.
- Vilina doesn't have obvious/strong connections to her cultural heritage. Her parents moved to America to escape difficulties back home that they don't like to talk about. They embraced American ideals and cultural traditions as a strong way of separating themselves from the past, and so Vilina was raised primarily with American culture in mind.
- Vilina likes super-hero stuff. Comic books, movies, TV shows, etc. She's not quite an expert, but she's not a casual fan either. She likes them enough that it has informed her career path. She likes the Lantern Corps most, but more as a concept than any specific character.
- She has been described as an "IronStan"; a big fan of Tony Stark.
- Her favorite colors are gold and white.
- Vilina wears a padded gold and white uniform with a deep hood and a domino mask when on the job.
- Not really into casual swearing.
- When not fighting crime, Vilina tends to wear soft, but fashionable clothes; a lot of the stuff in Victoria's Secret PINK line and similar casual, comfortable, yet trendy designs.
- Vilina likes cocoa with coffee, but would take just cocoa over just coffee. As far as her tastebuds are concerned, a mocha is "not the same, but close enough" in most cases.
- She prefers mild foods, loves fresh vegetables, and ironically doesn't care for super-spicy food. If she had a favorite cultural cuisine, it'd probably be Greek.
- Her favorite genre of video games is strategy/tactics, including 4X, MOBA and RTS. She doesn't really care for shooters.
- She has a very eclectic taste in music, but prefers to relax to a song more than dance to it.
- Players incline her personality toward a strong moral core, but she knows her limits and is pragmatic when push comes to shove.
NPC Tracker
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System Rules Rundown
- Location
- The Trash Pile
SYSTEM RULES RUNDOWN
After attempting a bastardized version of these rules for the first five issues, I realized I needed to use the real thing to prevent problems that were starting to crop up all around me. This is a system I've built from the ground up over the course of about 15 years or so. A lot of this is copy-pasted directly from the book-in-progress, so let me know if something doesn't make sense or uses terminology you're unfamiliar with and I'll do my best to clarify.
There are three types of Traits; Passive Traits are always in effect, or are always in effect under specific circumstances. Active Traits take a specific amount of time to activate and often have a resource cost like Energy or Willpower. Augments change an Active Trait in some way to make it more powerful, cheaper, or somehow different. You don't always have to make use of a Trait's Augments, and some might give you a variety of options instead of just one. New Traits can be earned at the end of the Issue, typically at a rate of one Trait per issue, though special circumstances might dictate you earn more.
Carrying Capacity - The amount of weight you can lug around, lift, push, pull, etc. without a check. If you want to lift a little more, you can roll a Muscle check of at least 10 + your STR and you can carry 1.5x your Carrying Capacity for your STR in turns.
Speed - How far you can move in a single Indirect Action. The parenthetical number is your Alternate Speed, used for other forms of movement, like swimming and climbing in non-dramatic situations.
Initiative - Who goes first in combat. The higher the better!
Duration of Strain - How long you can perform any long-term, strenuous task before requiring a Stamina check every turn to continue. The QM determines the check's difficulty, depending on the circumstances. The parenthetical number is how long you can hold your breath, and once this time expires you have to pass Grip checks every turn or asphyxiate. If you're forced to employ both Durations of Strain at once, each value is halved.
Grip - Probably the most important check in the game. You roll this when something happens that could cause your character to die. The difficulty of a Grip check starts at 10 and increases by +2 each time it is invoked until proper healing can be attained.
Energy - The main resource for activating Traits. Energy replenishes in full every time you rest for at least three hours during a game. Once per in-game day you can return ¼ of your max Energy (rounding down) by taking a 15-minute rest. Add this bonus to the bonus from Charisma to get your total Energy.
Aim - Spend a Full Action concentrating. The next unmodified attack you roll will deal the listed damage instead of all damage below it so long as it doesn't Miss. This effect fades if the target moves beyond your line of sight. You can only Aim at one target at a time; if you Aim at another you lose the benefit against the original target.
Proficiencies - Proficiencies determine the unique weapons or similar weapons in a group that your character knows how to wield. If you attempt to use a weapon you aren't proficient with, the attack is Clumsy and it requires an Indirect Action to draw or otherwise ready for attack. Every creature is proficient with its own natural weapons.
Willpower - A powerful resource of sheer tenacity. Spend a Willpower to force your best efforts into any non-Grip check, adding 12 to whichever is higher; the associated Attribute OR your Skill points and any similar bonuses. You can also spend a Willpower to refill ¼ of your maximum Energy (rounding down.) You get Willpower back from the QM as a bonus reward for a job well done, and gain at least 1 back at the end of every Issue.
Speed - How far you can move in a single Indirect Action. The parenthetical number is your Alternate Speed, used for other forms of movement, like swimming and climbing in non-dramatic situations.
Initiative - Who goes first in combat. The higher the better!
Duration of Strain - How long you can perform any long-term, strenuous task before requiring a Stamina check every turn to continue. The QM determines the check's difficulty, depending on the circumstances. The parenthetical number is how long you can hold your breath, and once this time expires you have to pass Grip checks every turn or asphyxiate. If you're forced to employ both Durations of Strain at once, each value is halved.
Grip - Probably the most important check in the game. You roll this when something happens that could cause your character to die. The difficulty of a Grip check starts at 10 and increases by +2 each time it is invoked until proper healing can be attained.
Energy - The main resource for activating Traits. Energy replenishes in full every time you rest for at least three hours during a game. Once per in-game day you can return ¼ of your max Energy (rounding down) by taking a 15-minute rest. Add this bonus to the bonus from Charisma to get your total Energy.
Aim - Spend a Full Action concentrating. The next unmodified attack you roll will deal the listed damage instead of all damage below it so long as it doesn't Miss. This effect fades if the target moves beyond your line of sight. You can only Aim at one target at a time; if you Aim at another you lose the benefit against the original target.
Proficiencies - Proficiencies determine the unique weapons or similar weapons in a group that your character knows how to wield. If you attempt to use a weapon you aren't proficient with, the attack is Clumsy and it requires an Indirect Action to draw or otherwise ready for attack. Every creature is proficient with its own natural weapons.
Willpower - A powerful resource of sheer tenacity. Spend a Willpower to force your best efforts into any non-Grip check, adding 12 to whichever is higher; the associated Attribute OR your Skill points and any similar bonuses. You can also spend a Willpower to refill ¼ of your maximum Energy (rounding down.) You get Willpower back from the QM as a bonus reward for a job well done, and gain at least 1 back at the end of every Issue.
Making a Skill Check
If you don't have any points in a skill you get a default score known as a Base check. This shows that even if your character has no proper training with their skill, they still can rely on their natural ability. The formula for a Base check is below;
So, if you're attempting an Awareness check to see something in the distance but have no skill points in Awareness, you'd add your Perception +3. If you have any bonuses from Traits or other sources (such as the Base check bonus provided by Eagle Eye) you'd add that in as well. Some Negative Traits and statuses inflict skill penalties; these are applied to the result as you'd expect.
If you do have points in your skill, this allows you to attempt to roll for it. You roll a twelve-sided die (d12) and add your points in that skill to the result, plus any available bonuses or penalties.
Roll + Skill Points + Bonus = Check
So, let's say for example you're using Correction to provide information to your party after an ally within earshot botched their Memory roll; you'd roll a d12, add that result to the number of skill points you have in Memory, plus the +2 bonus from Correction! What's more, you can never do worse on a rolled skill check than your Base check, no matter how low your die roll. The difference comes in between the skill points and the die roll; with a base check you're only ever achieving a check of 13 at the highest, whereas a maxed-out skill roll could potentially result in a 22 or higher!
Sometimes you'll have to make a skill check against someone else's skill, as with the Trait Snarl. Each character simply makes the check on their own, and the higher value passes the check. If they are equal, the higher Base check passes. If all values are the same, simply re-roll the contested checks and try again until one character or the other succeeds.
Precise and Clumsy
Precise is a condition where your skill or attack roll is rolled twice with the better result taken and Clumsy sees you roll twice and take the worse result. No matter how many sources might provide you Precise or Clumsy status to your skill, you never roll more than two dice for any given skill check and attack roll unless explicitly mentioned otherwise.
Check Difficulty
While many checks are standardized by Traits and the like, some your QM will have to invent on the fly. This simple rubric should help, without needlessly overcomplicating things.
Simple Task: 8 or Lower - Super-heroes are a cut above your average citizen; it's unlikely you'll need to roll a check for any feat of this difficulty unless they're particularly deficient. Examples include; breaking down a door, remembering knowledge that is common in their field, jumping over a foot-long gap, spotting a person in the distance at dusk.
Difficult Task: 9 - 12 - While many will succeed with flying colors, perhaps an equal amount have a chance to fail. This is the average range of a feasible skill check. Tasks that fall under this purview include; discerning if a client is lying to you, picking a common lock, or comforting a traumatized individual. Most skill checks involving status effects will fall in this range.
Heroic Task: 13 - 18 - Training in your field is required to pass skill checks like these, usually set forth by very specialized or incredibly difficult tasks. Performing surgery, tapping into esoteric knowledge, or bending steel bars might all fall into this range, as well as resisting the effects of the more dangerous abilities of supernatural foes.
Improbable Task: 19+ - You'll have to be the best of the best to even consider attempting this, and even then you'll need a lot of luck and maybe a Willpower to pull it off. Seducing a faithful lover away from their marriage, locally hacking a government security system, or keeping your thoughts hidden to a prying telepath might all fall into this range.
If you don't have any points in a skill you get a default score known as a Base check. This shows that even if your character has no proper training with their skill, they still can rely on their natural ability. The formula for a Base check is below;
Attribute + 3 + Bonus = Base Check
So, if you're attempting an Awareness check to see something in the distance but have no skill points in Awareness, you'd add your Perception +3. If you have any bonuses from Traits or other sources (such as the Base check bonus provided by Eagle Eye) you'd add that in as well. Some Negative Traits and statuses inflict skill penalties; these are applied to the result as you'd expect.
If you do have points in your skill, this allows you to attempt to roll for it. You roll a twelve-sided die (d12) and add your points in that skill to the result, plus any available bonuses or penalties.
Roll + Skill Points + Bonus = Check
So, let's say for example you're using Correction to provide information to your party after an ally within earshot botched their Memory roll; you'd roll a d12, add that result to the number of skill points you have in Memory, plus the +2 bonus from Correction! What's more, you can never do worse on a rolled skill check than your Base check, no matter how low your die roll. The difference comes in between the skill points and the die roll; with a base check you're only ever achieving a check of 13 at the highest, whereas a maxed-out skill roll could potentially result in a 22 or higher!
Sometimes you'll have to make a skill check against someone else's skill, as with the Trait Snarl. Each character simply makes the check on their own, and the higher value passes the check. If they are equal, the higher Base check passes. If all values are the same, simply re-roll the contested checks and try again until one character or the other succeeds.
Precise and Clumsy
Precise is a condition where your skill or attack roll is rolled twice with the better result taken and Clumsy sees you roll twice and take the worse result. No matter how many sources might provide you Precise or Clumsy status to your skill, you never roll more than two dice for any given skill check and attack roll unless explicitly mentioned otherwise.
Check Difficulty
While many checks are standardized by Traits and the like, some your QM will have to invent on the fly. This simple rubric should help, without needlessly overcomplicating things.
Simple Task: 8 or Lower - Super-heroes are a cut above your average citizen; it's unlikely you'll need to roll a check for any feat of this difficulty unless they're particularly deficient. Examples include; breaking down a door, remembering knowledge that is common in their field, jumping over a foot-long gap, spotting a person in the distance at dusk.
Difficult Task: 9 - 12 - While many will succeed with flying colors, perhaps an equal amount have a chance to fail. This is the average range of a feasible skill check. Tasks that fall under this purview include; discerning if a client is lying to you, picking a common lock, or comforting a traumatized individual. Most skill checks involving status effects will fall in this range.
Heroic Task: 13 - 18 - Training in your field is required to pass skill checks like these, usually set forth by very specialized or incredibly difficult tasks. Performing surgery, tapping into esoteric knowledge, or bending steel bars might all fall into this range, as well as resisting the effects of the more dangerous abilities of supernatural foes.
Improbable Task: 19+ - You'll have to be the best of the best to even consider attempting this, and even then you'll need a lot of luck and maybe a Willpower to pull it off. Seducing a faithful lover away from their marriage, locally hacking a government security system, or keeping your thoughts hidden to a prying telepath might all fall into this range.
Initiative Order
Your Initiative is derived from your Athleticism, Perception, and possibly some Traits. The person with the highest Initiative goes first, then the next highest, and so on and so forth. If there is a dispute between two people with the same Initative, the person with the higher ATH goes first. If they have the same ATH, they make a contested Agility check until one wins. When the person with the lowest Initiative has completed their turn, we start over at the beginning.
Your Turn
Each character's turn is about six seconds of time split up into actions; typically a Direct Action, an Indirect Action, and a small amount of passive actions. Once that is resolved, the end of the turn is when a number of effects from Traits or enemy abilities expire.
Direct Actions - Ordinarily determined by directly interacting with an enemy. This includes attacking an enemy or object, performing a physical skill check against an enemy, or activating a Trait that takes a Direct Action. You can also opt to instead take a second Indirect Action.
Indirect Actions - Typically defined as any action taken that doesn't directly harm or impede an enemy. With an Indirect Action you can move at your Speed, interact with unattended objects like opening a door or turning on a computer, performing a physical skill check that doesn't directly impede an enemy, or readying a weapon you aren't proficient with. Many Traits will only take an Indirect Action when they should probably be better suited to Direct to showcase your character's speed or deftness.
Passive Actions - Actions that can occur while doing something else. Typically you shouldn't make more than three different kinds of these or have a complex conversation within a single turn, but it's ultimately up to the QM's discretion. A few examples include talking, making a mental skill check for any reason, or readying a weapon you are proficient with. Dismissing certain ongoing states can also be done as a Passive Action, but you can only dismiss your own powers in this way. Anyone attempting to force your power to end by "dismissing" it as the text reads would have to have some sort of supernatural sway over your thoughts and actions. As with an Indirect Action, a Trait may say you can take an action that ordinarily requires a Direct or Indirect Action as a Passive Action to showcase deftness and speed.
Reactions - Some Traits and abilities are performed as a Reaction, meaning you can interject them at any time during the Initiative order without affecting your own Initiative or requiring it to be your turn. You can only use one Reaction per Initiative order.
Full Actions - Full Actions are either complicated or exhausting actions that take your entire turn to perform, allowing you only the use of Passive Actions and Reactions for that turn.
Holding Your Initiative - You can elect to hold your Initiative to see how certain plans fare, or how certain characters react in combat. You can only take Passive Actions on that turn, and when any character has completed their turn you can elect to insert yourself into the combat at that point. This will establish your new Initiative between that character and the next for the rest of the encounter, or until you hold your Initiative again.
Outside of Combat
The Initiative order is a handy way to keep the party organized when they split apart to handle different facets of a mission or personal errands while still tending to all their needs. But additionally there are a few units of time that are larger than the flow of combat.
Scene - Sometimes referred to as an encounter or battle, a scene is a flexible length of time where a certain series of events takes place. A fight would certainly be considered a scene, as would investigating one specific location for clues, or the events of a post-mission celebration.
Issue - Issues are documented by the Threadmark number and title, and typically revolve around a month or so worth of events. Some Traits can only be activated once per Issue as a means of measuring out their power or as a stylistic choice. You always gain a new Trait and regain 1 spent Willpower at the end of an Issue.
Downtime - Any period of game time where your character is not otherwise occupied with actively pursuing the plot, fighting in combat, or healing their wounds. Light socializing can occur during downtime, or it might use it for research or attending to personal affairs. Many Traits' effects require the freedom downtime allows to execute their benefits.
Your Initiative is derived from your Athleticism, Perception, and possibly some Traits. The person with the highest Initiative goes first, then the next highest, and so on and so forth. If there is a dispute between two people with the same Initative, the person with the higher ATH goes first. If they have the same ATH, they make a contested Agility check until one wins. When the person with the lowest Initiative has completed their turn, we start over at the beginning.
Your Turn
Each character's turn is about six seconds of time split up into actions; typically a Direct Action, an Indirect Action, and a small amount of passive actions. Once that is resolved, the end of the turn is when a number of effects from Traits or enemy abilities expire.
Direct Actions - Ordinarily determined by directly interacting with an enemy. This includes attacking an enemy or object, performing a physical skill check against an enemy, or activating a Trait that takes a Direct Action. You can also opt to instead take a second Indirect Action.
Indirect Actions - Typically defined as any action taken that doesn't directly harm or impede an enemy. With an Indirect Action you can move at your Speed, interact with unattended objects like opening a door or turning on a computer, performing a physical skill check that doesn't directly impede an enemy, or readying a weapon you aren't proficient with. Many Traits will only take an Indirect Action when they should probably be better suited to Direct to showcase your character's speed or deftness.
Passive Actions - Actions that can occur while doing something else. Typically you shouldn't make more than three different kinds of these or have a complex conversation within a single turn, but it's ultimately up to the QM's discretion. A few examples include talking, making a mental skill check for any reason, or readying a weapon you are proficient with. Dismissing certain ongoing states can also be done as a Passive Action, but you can only dismiss your own powers in this way. Anyone attempting to force your power to end by "dismissing" it as the text reads would have to have some sort of supernatural sway over your thoughts and actions. As with an Indirect Action, a Trait may say you can take an action that ordinarily requires a Direct or Indirect Action as a Passive Action to showcase deftness and speed.
Reactions - Some Traits and abilities are performed as a Reaction, meaning you can interject them at any time during the Initiative order without affecting your own Initiative or requiring it to be your turn. You can only use one Reaction per Initiative order.
Full Actions - Full Actions are either complicated or exhausting actions that take your entire turn to perform, allowing you only the use of Passive Actions and Reactions for that turn.
Holding Your Initiative - You can elect to hold your Initiative to see how certain plans fare, or how certain characters react in combat. You can only take Passive Actions on that turn, and when any character has completed their turn you can elect to insert yourself into the combat at that point. This will establish your new Initiative between that character and the next for the rest of the encounter, or until you hold your Initiative again.
Outside of Combat
The Initiative order is a handy way to keep the party organized when they split apart to handle different facets of a mission or personal errands while still tending to all their needs. But additionally there are a few units of time that are larger than the flow of combat.
Scene - Sometimes referred to as an encounter or battle, a scene is a flexible length of time where a certain series of events takes place. A fight would certainly be considered a scene, as would investigating one specific location for clues, or the events of a post-mission celebration.
Issue - Issues are documented by the Threadmark number and title, and typically revolve around a month or so worth of events. Some Traits can only be activated once per Issue as a means of measuring out their power or as a stylistic choice. You always gain a new Trait and regain 1 spent Willpower at the end of an Issue.
Downtime - Any period of game time where your character is not otherwise occupied with actively pursuing the plot, fighting in combat, or healing their wounds. Light socializing can occur during downtime, or it might use it for research or attending to personal affairs. Many Traits' effects require the freedom downtime allows to execute their benefits.
Status effects are common situations and conditions that effect a character for good or ill. Usually ill. Some of them only come from one logical source (you can only be set On Fire… by fire), but others may have a myriad of sources and situations that produce their effects.
Physical Status Effects
These status effects have an impact on your flesh, blood, or some other aspect of your physical form. Creatures with unusual origins may be immune to such effects, and some Traits and abilities can cleanse them or help you overcome them while having no influence on mental status effects.
Blind - All targets have Full Cover against you, and any checks made that would rely on visual perception automatically fail.
Bleeding - A bleeding wound causes Severe damage at the beginning of a character's turn, every turn. Bleeding wounds can be bandaged by taking a Direct Action with a successful medicine-related Memory check of 10 or greater. A character can only suffer one Bleeding wound at a time.
Fatigue - Extreme exhaustion. A Fatigued character can only make a single Direct or Indirect Action on each of their turns, not both. They cannot take Full Actions, but can perform Passive Actions and Reactions as normal.
Mental Status Effects
These status effects have an impact on your spirit, emotions, or other facets of your mentality. Creatures with powerful minds will likely have defenses against such effects, and some Traits and abilities can cleanse them or help you overcome them while having no effect on physical statuses.
Berserk - When falling Berserk, a character can no longer fully control their actions, too furious to consider tactics or discretion. If a player character, they should surrender their actions to the QM for the duration. In any case, they will attack threatening or hostile targets closest to them first, and move on to neutral targets if no hostiles remain. They will not knowingly attack their friends and allies, collapsing Unconscious if only friendly targets remain.
Calm - A Calmed character can take any action so long as it's non-violent. This status ends if the character is assaulted or harassingly provoked, allowing them to attempt a Focus check of 8 to end the effect.
Cowed - The character is terrified and will drop Prone if they do not move 30' from whatever Cowed them on their turn. They must maintain this distance until the effect ends.
Distracted - Grants Tactical Advantage to all.
Provoked - This character's attention is drawn to the source of the provocation; they may attack (if able) but can't ignore the source until acted upon by another character. If a target is both Provoked and Distracted by the same source, that source does not earn Tactical Advantage unless it's granted by a separate effect.
Other Status Effects
Finally, this set of status effects doesn't have any specific group source, themeing, or restorative conditions. Many of them are actually beneficial!
Clumsy - Less of a status effect for a character and more for a skill check or attack roll, you roll the die twice and take the worst result. You never roll more than two dice no matter how many sources make a roll Clumsy unless specifically noted. If a roll is rendered Clumsy and Precise at the same time, they cancel each other out and it becomes normal.
Fast Healing - A target benefiting from Fast Healing recovers all Minor damage at the end of their turn (six seconds), one hit of Severe damage every three turns (18 seconds), and one hit of Critical damage every five turns (30 seconds).
Hurt - The results of being beat up rather severely. All Minor and Severe damage the target takes upgrades to Critical, and all physical skill checks are considered Clumsy. This condition ends after three days' rest, or when all the original wounds have been recovered via Fast Healing or Regeneration.
Injured - An injured character is considered Hurt, and all Critical damage now provokes a Grip check to stave off death like Dire damage. This condition ends after at least five days' rest with some kind of medical attention or accelerated healing.
Intangible - An intangible person or object cannot be touched or interacted with by any normal means, including being physically Stuck, moving over Difficult Terrain, and avoiding velocity damage. This effect works in favor of the person who employed it; a creature who renders themselves intangible can move through walls or avoid an attack, for example, but won't uncontrollably fall through the floor.
Infravision - Typically a natural state of being; a creature with Infravision ignores all penalties incurred by darkness, but any attempts at differentiating color in such darkness are Clumsy.
Invisible - You are Stealthed and don't break Stealth by walking through someone's line of sight. Even if your target passes a non-visual Awareness check against your Agility to notice you, you still have Full Cover.
On Fire - This character is literally on fire, suffering Severe Fire damage every turn until they (or an ally) use a Full Action to extinguish the flames.
Precise - Less of a status effect for a character and more for a skill check or attack roll, you roll the die twice and take the better result. You never roll more than two dice no matter how many sources make a roll Precise unless specifically noted. If a roll is rendered Precise and Clumsy at the same time, they cancel each other out and it becomes normal.
Prone - A character lying on the ground may only crawl 5 feet in an Indirect Action. Any attacks made with firearms while Prone are Precise. Foes attacking a Prone character with melee weapons are granted Tactical Advantage, and foes attacking a Prone target with ranged weapons from more than 20' away treat the target as though it has Partial Cover. It only takes a Passive Action to drop Prone, but an Indirect Action to get back up.
Regeneration - A Regenerating target ignores all Minor damage, heals one hit of Severe damage at the end of their turn (six seconds), and one hit of Critical damage every three turns (18 seconds).
Shut Out - A Shut Out target cannot use their Energy on supernatural abilities for the duration. If a target has a separate, non-Willpower resource they use for their supernatural abilities, this is also affected. This has no effect on Willpower.
Stealth - A Stealthed character has avoided detection by those around them. The character remains Stealthed until they pass through someone's line of sight, or if they take an action that would cause someone to notice them such as making a loud noise or physically interacting with them. The potential observer must pass an Awareness check against the Stealthed character's Agility to detect them, otherwise they're unsure of the exact source of the disturbance.
Stuck - The target cannot move any Stuck limbs or body parts, and can't take an Indirect Action to move. What parts are stuck are determined by the source; for example, a character's arms may be trapped in a grapple but their head and legs are still free to headbutt and kick. If one's ankles are shackled, their arms are still free to use weapons. In all non-grapple situations, a Stuck character must pass a Muscle check of 8 to break free. At the QM's discretion, they can instead use an Agility check to finesse their way out. Often, if enough damage is dealt to the character's restraints they can escape.
Stunned - Incapable of acting or reacting at all. A Stunned character skips their turn, breaking any abilities that required direction, focus, concentration, or upkeep but still suffering negative effects such as Bleeding or being On Fire.
Tactical Advantage - All attacks against a target granting Tactical Advantage are Precise.
Unconscious - The character drops Prone, is Blind, Stunned, and is generally unaware of their surroundings. An unconscious target who isn't being actively kept unconscious by outside forces may choose to make an Awareness check on their turn to wake up from noises in the room, or a Focus check to force themselves to awaken.
Physical Status Effects
These status effects have an impact on your flesh, blood, or some other aspect of your physical form. Creatures with unusual origins may be immune to such effects, and some Traits and abilities can cleanse them or help you overcome them while having no influence on mental status effects.
Blind - All targets have Full Cover against you, and any checks made that would rely on visual perception automatically fail.
Bleeding - A bleeding wound causes Severe damage at the beginning of a character's turn, every turn. Bleeding wounds can be bandaged by taking a Direct Action with a successful medicine-related Memory check of 10 or greater. A character can only suffer one Bleeding wound at a time.
Fatigue - Extreme exhaustion. A Fatigued character can only make a single Direct or Indirect Action on each of their turns, not both. They cannot take Full Actions, but can perform Passive Actions and Reactions as normal.
Mental Status Effects
These status effects have an impact on your spirit, emotions, or other facets of your mentality. Creatures with powerful minds will likely have defenses against such effects, and some Traits and abilities can cleanse them or help you overcome them while having no effect on physical statuses.
Berserk - When falling Berserk, a character can no longer fully control their actions, too furious to consider tactics or discretion. If a player character, they should surrender their actions to the QM for the duration. In any case, they will attack threatening or hostile targets closest to them first, and move on to neutral targets if no hostiles remain. They will not knowingly attack their friends and allies, collapsing Unconscious if only friendly targets remain.
Calm - A Calmed character can take any action so long as it's non-violent. This status ends if the character is assaulted or harassingly provoked, allowing them to attempt a Focus check of 8 to end the effect.
Cowed - The character is terrified and will drop Prone if they do not move 30' from whatever Cowed them on their turn. They must maintain this distance until the effect ends.
Distracted - Grants Tactical Advantage to all.
Provoked - This character's attention is drawn to the source of the provocation; they may attack (if able) but can't ignore the source until acted upon by another character. If a target is both Provoked and Distracted by the same source, that source does not earn Tactical Advantage unless it's granted by a separate effect.
Other Status Effects
Finally, this set of status effects doesn't have any specific group source, themeing, or restorative conditions. Many of them are actually beneficial!
Clumsy - Less of a status effect for a character and more for a skill check or attack roll, you roll the die twice and take the worst result. You never roll more than two dice no matter how many sources make a roll Clumsy unless specifically noted. If a roll is rendered Clumsy and Precise at the same time, they cancel each other out and it becomes normal.
Fast Healing - A target benefiting from Fast Healing recovers all Minor damage at the end of their turn (six seconds), one hit of Severe damage every three turns (18 seconds), and one hit of Critical damage every five turns (30 seconds).
Hurt - The results of being beat up rather severely. All Minor and Severe damage the target takes upgrades to Critical, and all physical skill checks are considered Clumsy. This condition ends after three days' rest, or when all the original wounds have been recovered via Fast Healing or Regeneration.
Injured - An injured character is considered Hurt, and all Critical damage now provokes a Grip check to stave off death like Dire damage. This condition ends after at least five days' rest with some kind of medical attention or accelerated healing.
Intangible - An intangible person or object cannot be touched or interacted with by any normal means, including being physically Stuck, moving over Difficult Terrain, and avoiding velocity damage. This effect works in favor of the person who employed it; a creature who renders themselves intangible can move through walls or avoid an attack, for example, but won't uncontrollably fall through the floor.
Infravision - Typically a natural state of being; a creature with Infravision ignores all penalties incurred by darkness, but any attempts at differentiating color in such darkness are Clumsy.
Invisible - You are Stealthed and don't break Stealth by walking through someone's line of sight. Even if your target passes a non-visual Awareness check against your Agility to notice you, you still have Full Cover.
On Fire - This character is literally on fire, suffering Severe Fire damage every turn until they (or an ally) use a Full Action to extinguish the flames.
Precise - Less of a status effect for a character and more for a skill check or attack roll, you roll the die twice and take the better result. You never roll more than two dice no matter how many sources make a roll Precise unless specifically noted. If a roll is rendered Precise and Clumsy at the same time, they cancel each other out and it becomes normal.
Prone - A character lying on the ground may only crawl 5 feet in an Indirect Action. Any attacks made with firearms while Prone are Precise. Foes attacking a Prone character with melee weapons are granted Tactical Advantage, and foes attacking a Prone target with ranged weapons from more than 20' away treat the target as though it has Partial Cover. It only takes a Passive Action to drop Prone, but an Indirect Action to get back up.
Regeneration - A Regenerating target ignores all Minor damage, heals one hit of Severe damage at the end of their turn (six seconds), and one hit of Critical damage every three turns (18 seconds).
Shut Out - A Shut Out target cannot use their Energy on supernatural abilities for the duration. If a target has a separate, non-Willpower resource they use for their supernatural abilities, this is also affected. This has no effect on Willpower.
Stealth - A Stealthed character has avoided detection by those around them. The character remains Stealthed until they pass through someone's line of sight, or if they take an action that would cause someone to notice them such as making a loud noise or physically interacting with them. The potential observer must pass an Awareness check against the Stealthed character's Agility to detect them, otherwise they're unsure of the exact source of the disturbance.
Stuck - The target cannot move any Stuck limbs or body parts, and can't take an Indirect Action to move. What parts are stuck are determined by the source; for example, a character's arms may be trapped in a grapple but their head and legs are still free to headbutt and kick. If one's ankles are shackled, their arms are still free to use weapons. In all non-grapple situations, a Stuck character must pass a Muscle check of 8 to break free. At the QM's discretion, they can instead use an Agility check to finesse their way out. Often, if enough damage is dealt to the character's restraints they can escape.
Stunned - Incapable of acting or reacting at all. A Stunned character skips their turn, breaking any abilities that required direction, focus, concentration, or upkeep but still suffering negative effects such as Bleeding or being On Fire.
Tactical Advantage - All attacks against a target granting Tactical Advantage are Precise.
Unconscious - The character drops Prone, is Blind, Stunned, and is generally unaware of their surroundings. An unconscious target who isn't being actively kept unconscious by outside forces may choose to make an Awareness check on their turn to wake up from noises in the room, or a Focus check to force themselves to awaken.
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001 - Orientation B
- Location
- The Trash Pile
Winner: Academic
Number of voters: 8
OOC: I'm so excited! I was gonna consider it a success if I got five votes in total! Hooray!
That's a bit too much to consider right now. Too grave. It's cramping the incredible excitement. You look back, to the past. To the steps you took to arrive where you now are.
You might've had dreams of becoming a super-hero, but for a long time they were just that; dreams. When you were in elementary school you knew kids who wanted to grow up to be a giraffe, and that just wasn't probable even if it was medically feasible... and you were pretty sure it wasn't. In the time before Iron Man it just made the most sense to pursue something else in life. Even after, it seemed so unlikely that something like that would happen to you of all people. If what you had to settle for was living the runner-up for a stargazer's dream, that was good enough for you. You had the perseverance, determination, and set your sights on something you were passionate about. With your parents' staunch encouragement, you knuckled down and did your best in school. "Straight-A Student" was a bit inaccurate as there was the occasional "B" and there always seemed to be one subject you just couldn't excel in… but you had the grades to get into any university you wanted.
And then it happened; you got super-powers.
At first, it was terrifying. You'd spent so much of your young life so carefully planning what would be your college years, your career, the entirety of your future! But suddenly you were burdened with glorious purpose it seemed like you'd have to make a very difficult decision between what you had worked so hard for and what you'd spent so many years of your life dreaming about. Of course, then the Young Avengers Initiative happened and you got to put that decision off for a little longer, exploring what both options had to offer. Who knows? Maybe you'd be the next Tony Stark, juggling a life as a successful genius AND saving the world from certain doom!
Choose Your Specialization...
[ ] Engineering
+1 Accuracy
+3 Aptitude
[ ] Medicine
+1 Perception
+2 Aptitude
+1 Will
[ ] Law
+2 Will
+2 Charisma
Number of voters: 8
OOC: I'm so excited! I was gonna consider it a success if I got five votes in total! Hooray!
---=====---
As you're herded with your peers out of the auditorium and toward the dormitories, your mind dances between Mr. Stark's words and the path that brought you here, to this opportunity. He's not wrong. It would be hard for him to be wrong when he's been so right about so much in his life, but specifically as it pertains to you and this future you've chosen… it's scary. It's exciting. It's breathtaking. It's something you dreamed of long before you even considered it could be a Real Thing Real People Can Do, and now it's here and that's terrifying. The weight of your actions… you'll impact lives. You'll save lives! … you might even end up having to take lives. All in service to protecting the innocent, of course, but when evil will not heed, well…That's a bit too much to consider right now. Too grave. It's cramping the incredible excitement. You look back, to the past. To the steps you took to arrive where you now are.
You might've had dreams of becoming a super-hero, but for a long time they were just that; dreams. When you were in elementary school you knew kids who wanted to grow up to be a giraffe, and that just wasn't probable even if it was medically feasible... and you were pretty sure it wasn't. In the time before Iron Man it just made the most sense to pursue something else in life. Even after, it seemed so unlikely that something like that would happen to you of all people. If what you had to settle for was living the runner-up for a stargazer's dream, that was good enough for you. You had the perseverance, determination, and set your sights on something you were passionate about. With your parents' staunch encouragement, you knuckled down and did your best in school. "Straight-A Student" was a bit inaccurate as there was the occasional "B" and there always seemed to be one subject you just couldn't excel in… but you had the grades to get into any university you wanted.
And then it happened; you got super-powers.
At first, it was terrifying. You'd spent so much of your young life so carefully planning what would be your college years, your career, the entirety of your future! But suddenly you were burdened with glorious purpose it seemed like you'd have to make a very difficult decision between what you had worked so hard for and what you'd spent so many years of your life dreaming about. Of course, then the Young Avengers Initiative happened and you got to put that decision off for a little longer, exploring what both options had to offer. Who knows? Maybe you'd be the next Tony Stark, juggling a life as a successful genius AND saving the world from certain doom!
Choose Your Specialization...
[ ] Engineering
+1 Accuracy
+3 Aptitude
[ ] Medicine
+1 Perception
+2 Aptitude
+1 Will
[ ] Law
+2 Will
+2 Charisma
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001 - Orientation C
- Location
- The Trash Pile
Winner: Medicine
Number of voters: 14
OOC: Just to ease some hearts and minds, choosing medicine indeed does NOT mean you stay back at base and act as a healer, exclusively, nor does it mean you're tied to only healing others in combat. It's an academic specialization that supplements your character and nails down their theming. Think of it as your Background in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, while your power set is your Class. ALSO while sorcery, tech, and other options might become available in the future, they're not at present. Something to work toward with in-game decisions, if the opportunity arises!
Before you know it, you've reached a stopping point. Quite literally before you know it as the rest of the students sort of lull to a halt around you and it's the only inclination you have that you're supposed to stop walking. You look up, and the two people who have been leading you all this way are now facing you. The man on the right you recognize; Colonel James Rhodes, better known as War Machine. You've seen him out of the suit for interviews before, in his Air Force dress blues, but he doesn't have the same presence here in a cable knit sweater and jeans. There's something so relaxed and gentle about him despite him possessing a very fit physique and almost haunted eyes. He seems fatherly, in a way.
The woman to the left is more like a fun aunt. Tall, blonde, and a bit more muscular than Colonel Rhodes, also wearing jeans with a black tank and white leather jacket. Her face would look at home reading on a porch swing during a mid-autumn evening with a glass of wine in-hand, or kicking ass in a bar after some drunk and his goon friends got a little too fresh. She introduces herself as Bobbi Morse, codename Mockingbird, and explains that she and Colonel Rhodes are co-Deans of Students.
"Now, just 'cuz we have one man and one woman, don't feel like you can't talk to both of us. We want you all to feel comfortable regardless of your background, your gender identity, your abilities, or anything else. So if you'd rather speak with me about a subject, or you'd rather speak to Ms. Morse, or maybe get both of our opinions, please just ask. We're here for you. In addition to being co-Deans of Students, Ms. Morse and I are also teachers here. I run the courses on Practical Engineering, which will be useful for any of you who use advanced technology in the field to keep your gear operational, educate and train you in its capabilities, and help you know how to perform emergency repairs. Ms. Morse teaches a variety of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, and the most basic course is required for students here, so you'll all be seeing a lot more of her."
She smiles somewhere between coy and appraisingly threatening.
"So, you know where the cafeteria is now, as well as the gym, the pool, the laundry room, administration offices, and… all our other major facilities. Through these doors are your dorms. Just in case you forgot what the outside of this place looks like, the elevators go down, so this is Floor 1, 2 is below us, then 3, 4, and so on… each dorm has six bedrooms, a common room, kitchenette, and two bathrooms."
"Let's get this outta the way right now; yes this is a co-ed school. I believe Mr. Stark described the intention as 'giving the next generation the kind of freedom he wished he'd had'. But since you're all technically government employees and ostensibly supposed to be smart enough to save the world, we'd also hope you're smart enough to be careful who you... uh... y'know--"
"--lend your keycard out to." Bobbi grins and holds up one of the white, plastic cards from a small tote full of them. "There's a foyer in each dorm before the door to the main room; keycard access only. Each individual room has its own access as well, but while all six squad members can access the dorm with their cards, your card is the only one that can open the door to your room, aside from mine and Colonel Rhodes'."
"Yeah, an' these things aren't cheap, so don't go losin' 'em. Not only will we dock your field pay to replace the tech, it's also government property so there'll be a hefty fine, and disciplinary action if it becomes a problem."
"When we call your name, come up and get your card, then head to your dorm. We've done our best to organize your squads based on whose abilities would complement each other, but those were our only criteria, so expect to be living with a diverse bunch of people. I'm sure you'll all find ways to get along."
"You guys have a week to finish getting everything set up here; classes start next Monday. If there's a serious problem with one of your squadmates please talk to us before then so we can get you or them relocated. And it had better be a SERIOUS problem. Don't forget to sign up for any elective courses you're interested in, but mostly take the time to get to know each other and the Academy."
"All right, let's get this started! Alleyne, David… ... Astrovik, Vance… ..."
As Ms. Morse continues to read off the names of students to take their keycards, your mind wanders to your own abilities and you wonder who you'll be partnered with, and how what they can do will compliment what you can do…
Choose Your Power Set...
[ ] Animal Empathy
A minion-based power set. You can talk to a certain type of animal to be determined later. What's better is, they listen to you! They like you. They seem to be willing to do whatever is needed, and you're rather good at making sure they stay out of danger. They're excellent at running recon, and can certainly help in a fight! You also have a few lesser additional powers relating thematically to the animal.
[ ] Energy Projection - Pink
A "blaster" power set that grants the ability to produce destructive bio-energy explosions of varying sizes and intensities. Prolonged use can be exhausting as it seems to draw the required energy directly from you. At present, you can readily manifest a "Big Boom" and a "Little Boom".
[ ] Energy Projection - Rainbow
A "blaster" power set that grants the ability to harness and focus ambient photonic energy into prismatic lasers. You can reliably fire smaller blasts without getting tired, but your accuracy can be an issue as they travel like projectiles.
[ ] Enhanced Physique - Offensive
A power set that encourages front-line melee combat. You are stronger, faster, and more hardy than most humans. Your body heals much faster than normal, and you have retractable blade-like spines that emerge from your forearms.
[ ] Enhanced Physique - Defensive
A "tanking" power set. You are stronger, faster, and more hardy than most humans. Your body heals much faster than normal, and you've begun to develop a mastery over the rhythms of your body, using these vibrations to repel attacks and make yourself more of a target.
[ ] Luck
A curious and potentially diverse power set. You're not sure how long you actual had enhanced abilities before you realized what they were. Things always just seemed to work out for you… and then one day you found, that with a little concentration and exertion… you could tip the scales.
[ ] Matter Manipulation - Earth
A potentially diverse power set that grants you the ability to manipulate dirt and stone. Some types of earth are harder to manipulate than others. You aren't sure exactly why. At present you can reliably shoot an earthen projectile at someone, or vibrate the ground to disrupt footing and spread panic.
[ ] Shape-Shifting
A social/stealth power set. You have control over your physical features in a way that allows you to alter your appearance. Small changes you can force quickly; you can change skin tone, eye color, and the hue of your hair by clearing your head and just thinking about it… but other features need input. Growing out your hair means you need to pull on your actual tresses; moving other features around requires pushing, pulling, squeezing, and so forth. You can even influence your height and weight, but that takes a lot of time and energy.
[ ] Teleportation
A high mobility/stealth power set. You can travel a short distance in the blink of an eye without physically passing through the spaces in-between. Moving to a location you can't see is currently very difficult, though perhaps it's more of a psychological barrier than an actual limitation of your abilities. When you teleport, the effect produces an odd smoke that you also have a modicum of control over.
Number of voters: 14
OOC: Just to ease some hearts and minds, choosing medicine indeed does NOT mean you stay back at base and act as a healer, exclusively, nor does it mean you're tied to only healing others in combat. It's an academic specialization that supplements your character and nails down their theming. Think of it as your Background in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, while your power set is your Class. ALSO while sorcery, tech, and other options might become available in the future, they're not at present. Something to work toward with in-game decisions, if the opportunity arises!
---=====---
Before you know it, you've reached a stopping point. Quite literally before you know it as the rest of the students sort of lull to a halt around you and it's the only inclination you have that you're supposed to stop walking. You look up, and the two people who have been leading you all this way are now facing you. The man on the right you recognize; Colonel James Rhodes, better known as War Machine. You've seen him out of the suit for interviews before, in his Air Force dress blues, but he doesn't have the same presence here in a cable knit sweater and jeans. There's something so relaxed and gentle about him despite him possessing a very fit physique and almost haunted eyes. He seems fatherly, in a way.
The woman to the left is more like a fun aunt. Tall, blonde, and a bit more muscular than Colonel Rhodes, also wearing jeans with a black tank and white leather jacket. Her face would look at home reading on a porch swing during a mid-autumn evening with a glass of wine in-hand, or kicking ass in a bar after some drunk and his goon friends got a little too fresh. She introduces herself as Bobbi Morse, codename Mockingbird, and explains that she and Colonel Rhodes are co-Deans of Students.
"Now, just 'cuz we have one man and one woman, don't feel like you can't talk to both of us. We want you all to feel comfortable regardless of your background, your gender identity, your abilities, or anything else. So if you'd rather speak with me about a subject, or you'd rather speak to Ms. Morse, or maybe get both of our opinions, please just ask. We're here for you. In addition to being co-Deans of Students, Ms. Morse and I are also teachers here. I run the courses on Practical Engineering, which will be useful for any of you who use advanced technology in the field to keep your gear operational, educate and train you in its capabilities, and help you know how to perform emergency repairs. Ms. Morse teaches a variety of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, and the most basic course is required for students here, so you'll all be seeing a lot more of her."
She smiles somewhere between coy and appraisingly threatening.
"So, you know where the cafeteria is now, as well as the gym, the pool, the laundry room, administration offices, and… all our other major facilities. Through these doors are your dorms. Just in case you forgot what the outside of this place looks like, the elevators go down, so this is Floor 1, 2 is below us, then 3, 4, and so on… each dorm has six bedrooms, a common room, kitchenette, and two bathrooms."
"Let's get this outta the way right now; yes this is a co-ed school. I believe Mr. Stark described the intention as 'giving the next generation the kind of freedom he wished he'd had'. But since you're all technically government employees and ostensibly supposed to be smart enough to save the world, we'd also hope you're smart enough to be careful who you... uh... y'know--"
"--lend your keycard out to." Bobbi grins and holds up one of the white, plastic cards from a small tote full of them. "There's a foyer in each dorm before the door to the main room; keycard access only. Each individual room has its own access as well, but while all six squad members can access the dorm with their cards, your card is the only one that can open the door to your room, aside from mine and Colonel Rhodes'."
"Yeah, an' these things aren't cheap, so don't go losin' 'em. Not only will we dock your field pay to replace the tech, it's also government property so there'll be a hefty fine, and disciplinary action if it becomes a problem."
"When we call your name, come up and get your card, then head to your dorm. We've done our best to organize your squads based on whose abilities would complement each other, but those were our only criteria, so expect to be living with a diverse bunch of people. I'm sure you'll all find ways to get along."
"You guys have a week to finish getting everything set up here; classes start next Monday. If there's a serious problem with one of your squadmates please talk to us before then so we can get you or them relocated. And it had better be a SERIOUS problem. Don't forget to sign up for any elective courses you're interested in, but mostly take the time to get to know each other and the Academy."
"All right, let's get this started! Alleyne, David… ... Astrovik, Vance… ..."
As Ms. Morse continues to read off the names of students to take their keycards, your mind wanders to your own abilities and you wonder who you'll be partnered with, and how what they can do will compliment what you can do…
Choose Your Power Set...
[ ] Animal Empathy
A minion-based power set. You can talk to a certain type of animal to be determined later. What's better is, they listen to you! They like you. They seem to be willing to do whatever is needed, and you're rather good at making sure they stay out of danger. They're excellent at running recon, and can certainly help in a fight! You also have a few lesser additional powers relating thematically to the animal.
[ ] Energy Projection - Pink
A "blaster" power set that grants the ability to produce destructive bio-energy explosions of varying sizes and intensities. Prolonged use can be exhausting as it seems to draw the required energy directly from you. At present, you can readily manifest a "Big Boom" and a "Little Boom".
[ ] Energy Projection - Rainbow
A "blaster" power set that grants the ability to harness and focus ambient photonic energy into prismatic lasers. You can reliably fire smaller blasts without getting tired, but your accuracy can be an issue as they travel like projectiles.
[ ] Enhanced Physique - Offensive
A power set that encourages front-line melee combat. You are stronger, faster, and more hardy than most humans. Your body heals much faster than normal, and you have retractable blade-like spines that emerge from your forearms.
[ ] Enhanced Physique - Defensive
A "tanking" power set. You are stronger, faster, and more hardy than most humans. Your body heals much faster than normal, and you've begun to develop a mastery over the rhythms of your body, using these vibrations to repel attacks and make yourself more of a target.
[ ] Luck
A curious and potentially diverse power set. You're not sure how long you actual had enhanced abilities before you realized what they were. Things always just seemed to work out for you… and then one day you found, that with a little concentration and exertion… you could tip the scales.
[ ] Matter Manipulation - Earth
A potentially diverse power set that grants you the ability to manipulate dirt and stone. Some types of earth are harder to manipulate than others. You aren't sure exactly why. At present you can reliably shoot an earthen projectile at someone, or vibrate the ground to disrupt footing and spread panic.
[ ] Shape-Shifting
A social/stealth power set. You have control over your physical features in a way that allows you to alter your appearance. Small changes you can force quickly; you can change skin tone, eye color, and the hue of your hair by clearing your head and just thinking about it… but other features need input. Growing out your hair means you need to pull on your actual tresses; moving other features around requires pushing, pulling, squeezing, and so forth. You can even influence your height and weight, but that takes a lot of time and energy.
[ ] Teleportation
A high mobility/stealth power set. You can travel a short distance in the blink of an eye without physically passing through the spaces in-between. Moving to a location you can't see is currently very difficult, though perhaps it's more of a psychological barrier than an actual limitation of your abilities. When you teleport, the effect produces an odd smoke that you also have a modicum of control over.
Last edited:
001 - Orientation D
- Location
- The Trash Pile
Winner: Luck
Number of voters: 11
OOC: This was a hotly contested one. I really appreciate the discussion brought to the front on this vote. I'll do my very best to keep this power interesting and something you can actively use instead of simply being a purely passive ability. Moving on! This vote is going to be left up until I wake up 8-10 hours from now.
The metallic elevator doors hush open and you're painfully aware of the sound your shoes make on the white-glazed concrete of the third floor hallway. With as many students as are filtering into the dorms, you expected the halls to be much more noisy, or at least full of life. You've seen movies, aren't people supposed to be hanging from the light fixtures and beer-bonging in the doorways or something? Then again, you are the first class at the Academy, and the other colleges you toured were much more… sedate than Hollywood comedies led you to believe.
You finally arrive at your dorm; 3-F. The foyer door zips open and you step through, taking a deep breath before inserting your keycard into the slot. The light above the dormitory door glows blue as the door in front of you opens and the one behind zips closed. Before you is a fairly large room with a light hardwood floors, white walls, a white sectional couch, and a few potted plants. Behind it, you can see a dimly-lit kitchenette in dark colors and steel, and you assume the door next to that leads to one of the bathrooms. A hallway entrance is on either side of the room. Seated on the sectional and chatting is a young man with a bright pink lazyhawk, dressed somewhere between Morpheus from the Matrix and a young Johnny Rotten with a certain ironic indie flair. He smiles at you from behind tinted glasses and stands up.
"Well, here's our fifth!" He extends his hand to you, "Quentin Quire. Or Kid Omega. I'll let you guess which one is my code name. I'm a mind-reader, and a very good one. It's literally taking all of my restraint not to go poking around in all your brains, but Tony did make a big deal about trust, didn't he?"
Something irks you about the way he calls Mr. Stark "Tony" so casually, but you're not fully sure why. You have little time to ruminate on it. He puts an arm on your shoulders and gestures to the couch. There's a blonde guy with sparkling blue eyes and the kind of face that epitomizes the 'boy next door'; existing in that perfect space between rugged and cute where a five o'clock shadow could turn him from a young man into a man. An open, button-down blue dress shirt with a white tank underneath and black slacks suggest the image of a model, but the woven hemp-and-bead bracelets and necklace suggest perhaps he's just dressed up for orientation.
"This Teen Vogue coverboy over here is Speedball."
"Robbie Baldwin," he flashes a peace sign… or maybe a V for Victory. Does it really matter? "I go fast, hit pretty hard, I'm hard to hurt, and uh… … these things." He points to the multicolored, transparent bubbles floating around him like a living Snapchat filter. "I'm not 100% sure what they do," he muses, "but I like them."
"I like them, too!" giggles the curly-haired brunette next to him, poking at them as though they might pop. Her eyes are dark, but sparkle with joy. Her smile is contagious. She's sitting cross-legged on the couch, with what are presumably her flip flops on the floor in front of her. In contrast to Robbie, she's wearing pajama pants with cartoon cats all over them, a gray hoodie, and a red Phillip J. Coulson Memorial Academy T-shirt. Where did she even get that? Are they selling those somewhere? You kind of want one… "I'm Kitty Pryde," she offers, "or Shadowcat. Because I can phase through stuff and become intangible, like a shadow!"
"Oh!" She demonstrates this by thrusting her arm through Speedball, who exclaims with mild shock before calming into a smile. "It's… kinda warm." She retracts her arm, and he pats the area where it just was. "Tingly…"
"Also, my name is Kitty. So, like, cat."
The woman next to her raises a hand with a small wave. She has a warm smile and piercing, gentle eyes. Her entire body also appears to be made of a shiny, mineral substance. This is contrasted by her clothing, which exudes a low-key goth/punk air; a soft, black cami dress over ripped stockings, chunky boots, a wide, white belt and a black, glittery hoodie. Her body shines much more than the glitter of the hoodie, though, as the colors of Speedball's bubbles reflect off the different facets of her form.
"I'm Bling!"
"Bling?" you ask, unsure if you heard her correctly.
"No, no. Bling! With an exclamation point. Like, every time you say it you gotta sound excited to see me." Quentin puts his fingertips to the bridge of his nose and shakes his head, prompting Bling to glare at him. "Don't you look at me like that! Your name is Kid Omega and you're an adult just like the rest of us!"
"Oh, come on." He crosses his arms, sneering. "Billy the Kid was twenty-one. Kid Cudi is thirty-four! Shawn Michaels still goes by The Heartbreak Kid and he's in his fifties! It sounds cool."
"So does Bling! Step off my gimmick." She rolls her eyes and turns to face back to you. "You can call me Roxy. Roxanne Washington is my real name." There's a hesitation after that and she eyes you warily, but apparently her concerns pass and the room is quiet again.
Realizing you're the only person who hasn't introduced themselves, you speak up.
"I'm…"
Choose Your Identity...
[ ] "Fate", Felix Park, ♂
[ ] "Fortune", Vilina Laghari, ♀
[ ] "Tilt", Destiny Gilmartin, ♀
[ ] "Twist", Angel Espinosa, ♂
[ ] Write-In
Number of voters: 11
OOC: This was a hotly contested one. I really appreciate the discussion brought to the front on this vote. I'll do my very best to keep this power interesting and something you can actively use instead of simply being a purely passive ability. Moving on! This vote is going to be left up until I wake up 8-10 hours from now.
---=====---
The metallic elevator doors hush open and you're painfully aware of the sound your shoes make on the white-glazed concrete of the third floor hallway. With as many students as are filtering into the dorms, you expected the halls to be much more noisy, or at least full of life. You've seen movies, aren't people supposed to be hanging from the light fixtures and beer-bonging in the doorways or something? Then again, you are the first class at the Academy, and the other colleges you toured were much more… sedate than Hollywood comedies led you to believe.
You finally arrive at your dorm; 3-F. The foyer door zips open and you step through, taking a deep breath before inserting your keycard into the slot. The light above the dormitory door glows blue as the door in front of you opens and the one behind zips closed. Before you is a fairly large room with a light hardwood floors, white walls, a white sectional couch, and a few potted plants. Behind it, you can see a dimly-lit kitchenette in dark colors and steel, and you assume the door next to that leads to one of the bathrooms. A hallway entrance is on either side of the room. Seated on the sectional and chatting is a young man with a bright pink lazyhawk, dressed somewhere between Morpheus from the Matrix and a young Johnny Rotten with a certain ironic indie flair. He smiles at you from behind tinted glasses and stands up.
"Well, here's our fifth!" He extends his hand to you, "Quentin Quire. Or Kid Omega. I'll let you guess which one is my code name. I'm a mind-reader, and a very good one. It's literally taking all of my restraint not to go poking around in all your brains, but Tony did make a big deal about trust, didn't he?"
Something irks you about the way he calls Mr. Stark "Tony" so casually, but you're not fully sure why. You have little time to ruminate on it. He puts an arm on your shoulders and gestures to the couch. There's a blonde guy with sparkling blue eyes and the kind of face that epitomizes the 'boy next door'; existing in that perfect space between rugged and cute where a five o'clock shadow could turn him from a young man into a man. An open, button-down blue dress shirt with a white tank underneath and black slacks suggest the image of a model, but the woven hemp-and-bead bracelets and necklace suggest perhaps he's just dressed up for orientation.
"This Teen Vogue coverboy over here is Speedball."
"Robbie Baldwin," he flashes a peace sign… or maybe a V for Victory. Does it really matter? "I go fast, hit pretty hard, I'm hard to hurt, and uh… … these things." He points to the multicolored, transparent bubbles floating around him like a living Snapchat filter. "I'm not 100% sure what they do," he muses, "but I like them."
"I like them, too!" giggles the curly-haired brunette next to him, poking at them as though they might pop. Her eyes are dark, but sparkle with joy. Her smile is contagious. She's sitting cross-legged on the couch, with what are presumably her flip flops on the floor in front of her. In contrast to Robbie, she's wearing pajama pants with cartoon cats all over them, a gray hoodie, and a red Phillip J. Coulson Memorial Academy T-shirt. Where did she even get that? Are they selling those somewhere? You kind of want one… "I'm Kitty Pryde," she offers, "or Shadowcat. Because I can phase through stuff and become intangible, like a shadow!"
"Oh!" She demonstrates this by thrusting her arm through Speedball, who exclaims with mild shock before calming into a smile. "It's… kinda warm." She retracts her arm, and he pats the area where it just was. "Tingly…"
"Also, my name is Kitty. So, like, cat."
The woman next to her raises a hand with a small wave. She has a warm smile and piercing, gentle eyes. Her entire body also appears to be made of a shiny, mineral substance. This is contrasted by her clothing, which exudes a low-key goth/punk air; a soft, black cami dress over ripped stockings, chunky boots, a wide, white belt and a black, glittery hoodie. Her body shines much more than the glitter of the hoodie, though, as the colors of Speedball's bubbles reflect off the different facets of her form.
"I'm Bling!"
"Bling?" you ask, unsure if you heard her correctly.
"No, no. Bling! With an exclamation point. Like, every time you say it you gotta sound excited to see me." Quentin puts his fingertips to the bridge of his nose and shakes his head, prompting Bling to glare at him. "Don't you look at me like that! Your name is Kid Omega and you're an adult just like the rest of us!"
"Oh, come on." He crosses his arms, sneering. "Billy the Kid was twenty-one. Kid Cudi is thirty-four! Shawn Michaels still goes by The Heartbreak Kid and he's in his fifties! It sounds cool."
"So does Bling! Step off my gimmick." She rolls her eyes and turns to face back to you. "You can call me Roxy. Roxanne Washington is my real name." There's a hesitation after that and she eyes you warily, but apparently her concerns pass and the room is quiet again.
Realizing you're the only person who hasn't introduced themselves, you speak up.
"I'm…"
Choose Your Identity...
[ ] "Fate", Felix Park, ♂
[ ] "Fortune", Vilina Laghari, ♀
[ ] "Tilt", Destiny Gilmartin, ♀
[ ] "Twist", Angel Espinosa, ♂
[ ] Write-In
Last edited:
001 - Orientation E
- Location
- The Trash Pile
Winner: "Fortune", Vilina Laghari, ♀
Number of voters: 14
OOC: As I said above, the next vote following my post would be the last. Sorry, Corvo. Small edit to previous posts; had Speedball's last name wrong. Should be fixed now.
"My name is Vilina Laghari," you announce, "Fortune is my code name. I… often have luck on my side, and can tilt the scales in my favor if need be." You manage to hold up a relatively stony exterior before breaking into an exhale and beaming smile. "It's so good to meet all of you! Today just feels like it's been a whirlwind--"
You stop short as you hear the door open behind you and a tall, broad man squeezes in. His musculature and definition seem too cultivated to be your age, some of the lines of his face are too hard, and his dark eyes are too piercing. He stands stoic for a moment as everyone watches him, an awe of his sheer size. He takes a long, calming breath, and when he opens his eyes again much of the intensity is gone.
"'Sup? I'm Elvin Haliday. They call me Rage, 'cuz the madder I get; the badder I get." He smiles, clearly aware of the cheesiness of his catch phrase. "This the whole team?"
"Yeah! Welcome!" Quentin rushes forward and engages Elvin in an elaborate handshake before everyone re-introduces themselves.
The six of you make small talk and shake off that tension of getting to know one-another for an hour or two. Kitty is full of enthusiasm, but quick as a whip; she got into the Academy on her grades, the same as you. She's not sure about her major, yet, but you're sure she'll excel at whatever she chooses. Elvin was recruited after publicly using his powers, as was Quentin, though he admits he's still not sure how the Initiative agents picked up on him. He jokes about a mutant observation conspiracy, but you detect a tone of earnestness somewhere behind the jest. Robbie was recommended to the program by the man who "helped" him gain his powers; an experimental physicist named Dr. Nicholas Benson, and Roxy… well, she wasn't quite as forthcoming, but seemed to imply she was also suggested to the Initiative by an influential party. Talk turns from school to life to pop culture, and before long you all seem to realize it's been a while since breakfast.
"I'll tell you what," offers Quentin, "since you all just so happen to be some of the loveliest people I've met, I'll treat us all to lunch in the cafeteria."
"I don't know if you wanna do that, Q. With a body like mine, I go hard on some food, man!"
Elvin starts a contagious laugh, but despite your own hunger pangs your mind rolls back to something else you wanted to accomplish today; signing up for your electives. You have a very full course load between being pre-med and your eventual patrol duties, and really only have room for one elective. You and your parents decided it would be best if you stuck to one field of study for your electives every year, and you have the classes you're interested in earmarked but still need to actually sign up. The rest of your subjects you already secured a month ago, but this one you've kind of been trying to make a final decision on and the longer you go without doing so, the more likely it is you'll have fewer options to pick from. This might be a very specialized institute of higher learning, but professors still have max classroom sizes, and you don't want to miss out on having your pick. At the same time, Mr. Stark did put a lot of emphasis into team bonding. Continuing the conversation over a meal would be a great way to start off on the right foot, and you are SUPER hungry…
Make Your Choice...
[ ] Join the others for lunch.
[ ] Sign up for electives.
[ ] Write-In
Number of voters: 14
OOC: As I said above, the next vote following my post would be the last. Sorry, Corvo. Small edit to previous posts; had Speedball's last name wrong. Should be fixed now.
---=====---
"My name is Vilina Laghari," you announce, "Fortune is my code name. I… often have luck on my side, and can tilt the scales in my favor if need be." You manage to hold up a relatively stony exterior before breaking into an exhale and beaming smile. "It's so good to meet all of you! Today just feels like it's been a whirlwind--"
You stop short as you hear the door open behind you and a tall, broad man squeezes in. His musculature and definition seem too cultivated to be your age, some of the lines of his face are too hard, and his dark eyes are too piercing. He stands stoic for a moment as everyone watches him, an awe of his sheer size. He takes a long, calming breath, and when he opens his eyes again much of the intensity is gone.
"'Sup? I'm Elvin Haliday. They call me Rage, 'cuz the madder I get; the badder I get." He smiles, clearly aware of the cheesiness of his catch phrase. "This the whole team?"
"Yeah! Welcome!" Quentin rushes forward and engages Elvin in an elaborate handshake before everyone re-introduces themselves.
The six of you make small talk and shake off that tension of getting to know one-another for an hour or two. Kitty is full of enthusiasm, but quick as a whip; she got into the Academy on her grades, the same as you. She's not sure about her major, yet, but you're sure she'll excel at whatever she chooses. Elvin was recruited after publicly using his powers, as was Quentin, though he admits he's still not sure how the Initiative agents picked up on him. He jokes about a mutant observation conspiracy, but you detect a tone of earnestness somewhere behind the jest. Robbie was recommended to the program by the man who "helped" him gain his powers; an experimental physicist named Dr. Nicholas Benson, and Roxy… well, she wasn't quite as forthcoming, but seemed to imply she was also suggested to the Initiative by an influential party. Talk turns from school to life to pop culture, and before long you all seem to realize it's been a while since breakfast.
"I'll tell you what," offers Quentin, "since you all just so happen to be some of the loveliest people I've met, I'll treat us all to lunch in the cafeteria."
"I don't know if you wanna do that, Q. With a body like mine, I go hard on some food, man!"
Elvin starts a contagious laugh, but despite your own hunger pangs your mind rolls back to something else you wanted to accomplish today; signing up for your electives. You have a very full course load between being pre-med and your eventual patrol duties, and really only have room for one elective. You and your parents decided it would be best if you stuck to one field of study for your electives every year, and you have the classes you're interested in earmarked but still need to actually sign up. The rest of your subjects you already secured a month ago, but this one you've kind of been trying to make a final decision on and the longer you go without doing so, the more likely it is you'll have fewer options to pick from. This might be a very specialized institute of higher learning, but professors still have max classroom sizes, and you don't want to miss out on having your pick. At the same time, Mr. Stark did put a lot of emphasis into team bonding. Continuing the conversation over a meal would be a great way to start off on the right foot, and you are SUPER hungry…
Make Your Choice...
[ ] Join the others for lunch.
[ ] Sign up for electives.
[ ] Write-In
Last edited:
001 - Orientation F
- Location
- The Trash Pile
Winner: Join the others for lunch, but bring up electives- Might as well see if there's common interest.
Number of voters: 5
OOC: I think I'm gonna try to update about every twelve hours? It seems around when the votes run out of steam and I... enjoy updating? Lemme know if that's not cool. I went back and edited previous vote tallies to say "winner" so it stopped counting my post as a vote toward the next action. Still learning, after all. This was an interesting choice! I really liked you guys thinking outside the box and cobbling together both answers. I would encourage clever thinking like this in the future as it makes the story we're telling together more interesting. As an example of my methodology here, planned elective options would've disappeared the longer you waited to explore the options. For a normal person, perhaps one of those classes would no longer be available later this afternoon, but for someone like Fortune... as luck would have it they're all still available. I don't plan on being quite so explicit about this sort of thing in the future, but I just wanted to give you guys a peek into the way I think and the way I'm trying to run this quest. <3
The six of you traipse through the halls of the Phillip J. Coulson Memorial Academy in the general direction of the cafeteria. Picking an elective is still pretty heavy on your mind, but your mother always said people make bad decisions on an empty stomach and your father always said to never turn down a free meal, so here you are. There are many more students about, now; talking, laughing, exploring the smooth, clean corridors as you and your squad do much the same. It feels less intimidating with other people acting natural and calm around you, as opposed to the very organized and somewhat tense orientations. Order is important, of course, especially when trying to inspire, instruct, and corral roughly a hundred super-powered young people. But feeling like you can really breathe and be yourself... not just in your dorm, but throughout the entire school? That's the kind of feeling that's going to make this place a home.
The cafeteria is fairly active; it seems many other students had the same rumbly-tumblies. The food here is much more impressive than what you had in high school, and everything looks and smells so appetizing! Elvin gets three massive cheeseburgers with the works, and a generous side of fries, while Robbie opts for the sane man's version; one cheeseburger and a reasonable amount of fries. Kitty takes her time deciding but finally settles on an egg salad sandwich and some grapes, while Roxy immediately gravitates to two BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. As for you, something about the shawarma is calling to you and you're not sure why, but you go with your gut and order it. Quentin seems to feel the same way, as he selects that for himself before paying for everything, true to his word. You take your meals and make your way to an empty table, settling into the chrome, almost egg-shaped chairs before tucking in.
"D'you think they have this much variety all the time?" Bling says between bites, "Or is this just a 'first day feast' kinda thing?"
"I seem to remember seeing a menu rotation listed somewhere on the school intra-net," responds Quentin, "they certainly have enough cafeteria staff to accomplish it. It's nice that they bother instead of just... y'know, sending us out into the world to fend for ourselves."
"A high security place like this?" Kitty laughs. "I'm more surprised they give us the option. A school full of super-powered teenagers is, like, the perfect place for snoopy paparazzi to get a scoop. Or super-villains!"
Quentin coughs a laugh around his shawarma. "Oh, sure, because the wisest place to stage an attack would be the building full of self-important college students that can shoot lasers out of their eyes with itchy trigger-retinas!"
"And what makes you so different from the other 'self-important college students'?" You ask playfully, only a little offended.
"Because, my dear," Quentin taps his finger on the side of his nose and looks at you over the rims of his glasses with a wide grin. "I'm a self-aware self-important college student. I have immunity to criticism through ironic detachment!"
"Even your own?"
"Especially my own!"
Rage barks a throaty laugh. "Man, you can ironically detach yourself from whatever the hell you want as long as you keep footin' the bill on meal-time! Anyone tries to say otherwise? I'll kick their ass!"
"I would prefer not to have to buy you off to win your support, but I will keep it open as an option!"
The six of you finish your respective meals over memes and witty banter, relaxing in the full-tummy bliss, when finally your sense of duty gets the better of you and you speak up.
"So... I was planning on picking my elective classes today, before all the good ones are snapped up... if they aren't already. I thought it might be fun if we could all go? Maybe we could coordinate them a little, that way we have more class-time together."
"You said you were pre-med, right?" Speedball shakes his head. "A course load that hefty, I'm surprised you have time for electives."
"Not a lot, admittedly, but I can squeeze one in. What about you?"
"Oh, sure! I'm looking into quantum physics and multiplanar theory and stuff right now, so... I could use something a little lighter as, like, a palette-cleanser."
Kid Omega pipes up after sucking down the last few drops of his soda with that godawful empty-straw noise. "Well I'm just here to get my English Literature degree so I have something to frame on my wall at home while I'm dominating bad guys in the field, so I'm down for whatever. Kitty, you're undeclared, right?" She nods in response. "What about you, Roxy?"
"Same as you, except I'm looking into Art History. I'm here to help people and learn stuff. Be a better me, y'know?"
"I love it! Elvin?"
"Shit," Elvin just laughs, chewing on a toothpick and rubbing his full stomach like a cartoon character... which is kind of an amusing sight because the man has abs so well-defined you can see them through his Childish Gambino shirt. "I've barely had time to think about all that. I'm not stupid or nothin', but all that... medicine an' quantum physics is way over my head. So... I guess I'm undeclared, too?"
Quentin claps. "Then it's settled! Let's head to the administration offices and see what's what!"
The squad cleans up their trash and heads out, and you silently hope in your head that all the classes you'd earmarked are still available. Reducing the number of choices might make things easier to decide, but having a full compliment of options open makes it more likely you and your peers can agree on what class to take together. To your delight, all of the options you were hoping for are still available! You have little trouble convincing the group to sign up for all their electives for the year all at once, as you are, and they defer to you to make the final decision on what everyone will pursue.
Choose Your Electives...
[ ] Art Classes
Gain +1 Perception at the end of the year.
Bling will enjoy this.
Speedball will dislike this.
[ ] Behavior/Social Science Classes
Gain +1 Will at the end of the year.
Bling will dislike this.
Kid Omega will enjoy this.
Rage will dislike this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
[ ] Communication Classes
Gain +1 Charisma at the end of the year.
Kid Omega will dislike this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
[ ] "Fun" Elective Classes
+1 to an Attribute, determined by other actions taken over the course of the year.
Less pressure and stress from class load.
Rage will enjoy this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
Your mother will dislike this.
[ ] Humanities Classes
+1 Will OR +1 Charisma, voted on at the end of the year.
Bling will dislike this.
Rage will enjoy this.
[ ] Information Literacy Classes
+1 APT at the end of the year.
Rage will dislike this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
Number of voters: 5
OOC: I think I'm gonna try to update about every twelve hours? It seems around when the votes run out of steam and I... enjoy updating? Lemme know if that's not cool. I went back and edited previous vote tallies to say "winner" so it stopped counting my post as a vote toward the next action. Still learning, after all. This was an interesting choice! I really liked you guys thinking outside the box and cobbling together both answers. I would encourage clever thinking like this in the future as it makes the story we're telling together more interesting. As an example of my methodology here, planned elective options would've disappeared the longer you waited to explore the options. For a normal person, perhaps one of those classes would no longer be available later this afternoon, but for someone like Fortune... as luck would have it they're all still available. I don't plan on being quite so explicit about this sort of thing in the future, but I just wanted to give you guys a peek into the way I think and the way I'm trying to run this quest. <3
---=====---
The six of you traipse through the halls of the Phillip J. Coulson Memorial Academy in the general direction of the cafeteria. Picking an elective is still pretty heavy on your mind, but your mother always said people make bad decisions on an empty stomach and your father always said to never turn down a free meal, so here you are. There are many more students about, now; talking, laughing, exploring the smooth, clean corridors as you and your squad do much the same. It feels less intimidating with other people acting natural and calm around you, as opposed to the very organized and somewhat tense orientations. Order is important, of course, especially when trying to inspire, instruct, and corral roughly a hundred super-powered young people. But feeling like you can really breathe and be yourself... not just in your dorm, but throughout the entire school? That's the kind of feeling that's going to make this place a home.
The cafeteria is fairly active; it seems many other students had the same rumbly-tumblies. The food here is much more impressive than what you had in high school, and everything looks and smells so appetizing! Elvin gets three massive cheeseburgers with the works, and a generous side of fries, while Robbie opts for the sane man's version; one cheeseburger and a reasonable amount of fries. Kitty takes her time deciding but finally settles on an egg salad sandwich and some grapes, while Roxy immediately gravitates to two BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. As for you, something about the shawarma is calling to you and you're not sure why, but you go with your gut and order it. Quentin seems to feel the same way, as he selects that for himself before paying for everything, true to his word. You take your meals and make your way to an empty table, settling into the chrome, almost egg-shaped chairs before tucking in.
"D'you think they have this much variety all the time?" Bling says between bites, "Or is this just a 'first day feast' kinda thing?"
"I seem to remember seeing a menu rotation listed somewhere on the school intra-net," responds Quentin, "they certainly have enough cafeteria staff to accomplish it. It's nice that they bother instead of just... y'know, sending us out into the world to fend for ourselves."
"A high security place like this?" Kitty laughs. "I'm more surprised they give us the option. A school full of super-powered teenagers is, like, the perfect place for snoopy paparazzi to get a scoop. Or super-villains!"
Quentin coughs a laugh around his shawarma. "Oh, sure, because the wisest place to stage an attack would be the building full of self-important college students that can shoot lasers out of their eyes with itchy trigger-retinas!"
"And what makes you so different from the other 'self-important college students'?" You ask playfully, only a little offended.
"Because, my dear," Quentin taps his finger on the side of his nose and looks at you over the rims of his glasses with a wide grin. "I'm a self-aware self-important college student. I have immunity to criticism through ironic detachment!"
"Even your own?"
"Especially my own!"
Rage barks a throaty laugh. "Man, you can ironically detach yourself from whatever the hell you want as long as you keep footin' the bill on meal-time! Anyone tries to say otherwise? I'll kick their ass!"
"I would prefer not to have to buy you off to win your support, but I will keep it open as an option!"
The six of you finish your respective meals over memes and witty banter, relaxing in the full-tummy bliss, when finally your sense of duty gets the better of you and you speak up.
"So... I was planning on picking my elective classes today, before all the good ones are snapped up... if they aren't already. I thought it might be fun if we could all go? Maybe we could coordinate them a little, that way we have more class-time together."
"You said you were pre-med, right?" Speedball shakes his head. "A course load that hefty, I'm surprised you have time for electives."
"Not a lot, admittedly, but I can squeeze one in. What about you?"
"Oh, sure! I'm looking into quantum physics and multiplanar theory and stuff right now, so... I could use something a little lighter as, like, a palette-cleanser."
Kid Omega pipes up after sucking down the last few drops of his soda with that godawful empty-straw noise. "Well I'm just here to get my English Literature degree so I have something to frame on my wall at home while I'm dominating bad guys in the field, so I'm down for whatever. Kitty, you're undeclared, right?" She nods in response. "What about you, Roxy?"
"Same as you, except I'm looking into Art History. I'm here to help people and learn stuff. Be a better me, y'know?"
"I love it! Elvin?"
"Shit," Elvin just laughs, chewing on a toothpick and rubbing his full stomach like a cartoon character... which is kind of an amusing sight because the man has abs so well-defined you can see them through his Childish Gambino shirt. "I've barely had time to think about all that. I'm not stupid or nothin', but all that... medicine an' quantum physics is way over my head. So... I guess I'm undeclared, too?"
Quentin claps. "Then it's settled! Let's head to the administration offices and see what's what!"
The squad cleans up their trash and heads out, and you silently hope in your head that all the classes you'd earmarked are still available. Reducing the number of choices might make things easier to decide, but having a full compliment of options open makes it more likely you and your peers can agree on what class to take together. To your delight, all of the options you were hoping for are still available! You have little trouble convincing the group to sign up for all their electives for the year all at once, as you are, and they defer to you to make the final decision on what everyone will pursue.
Choose Your Electives...
[ ] Art Classes
Gain +1 Perception at the end of the year.
Bling will enjoy this.
Speedball will dislike this.
[ ] Behavior/Social Science Classes
Gain +1 Will at the end of the year.
Bling will dislike this.
Kid Omega will enjoy this.
Rage will dislike this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
[ ] Communication Classes
Gain +1 Charisma at the end of the year.
Kid Omega will dislike this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
[ ] "Fun" Elective Classes
+1 to an Attribute, determined by other actions taken over the course of the year.
Less pressure and stress from class load.
Rage will enjoy this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
Your mother will dislike this.
[ ] Humanities Classes
+1 Will OR +1 Charisma, voted on at the end of the year.
Bling will dislike this.
Rage will enjoy this.
[ ] Information Literacy Classes
+1 APT at the end of the year.
Rage will dislike this.
Shadowcat will enjoy this.
Last edited:
Attributes
- Location
- The Trash Pile
Sure. I'll also Threadmark this as Informational for future reference.
Strength - Using muscle and applying it to objects or people.
Athletics - Moving with fluidity and grace; also useful for stealth.
Endurance - Taking hits and pushing through exhaustion.
Accuracy - Hitting things, hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity.
Perception - Observing things with your senses.
Aptitude - Your ability to absorb and retain knowledge.
Will - Your mental fortitude, both in seeing through manipulation and resisting mental/emotional super-powers.
Charisma - Your force of personality and personal "aura" which can often influence super-powers.
Strength - Using muscle and applying it to objects or people.
Athletics - Moving with fluidity and grace; also useful for stealth.
Endurance - Taking hits and pushing through exhaustion.
Accuracy - Hitting things, hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity.
Perception - Observing things with your senses.
Aptitude - Your ability to absorb and retain knowledge.
Will - Your mental fortitude, both in seeing through manipulation and resisting mental/emotional super-powers.
Charisma - Your force of personality and personal "aura" which can often influence super-powers.
Last edited:
001 - Orientation G
- Location
- The Trash Pile
Winner: Information Literacy Classes
Number of voters: 8
The squad all signs up for information literacy classes, which include introductions to topics like philosophy, law, and and mass media. Kitty seems excited by the prospect, but Elvin seems more hesitant. Still, everyone agreed and everyone is a good sport about taking this new experience together. The group returns to the dorm for now, and the six of you set about unpacking and making the space your own. Those extended hallways lead to a semicircle of seven doors; each door except the one opposite the entrance leading do a bedroom while the final one leads to the second bath. That first week without classes seems to drag on and fly by at the same time. Getting to know your squad over that period reminds you a bit of getting to know new coworkers. You had a summer job one year at a candle store in the mall, and there's a very similar vibe to understanding the ins and outs of how to cohabitate with them. At the same time, it's a bit like an extended sleepover. You were an only child, and most of the time it was just you and your parents, but there were periods where your friends came over for the weekend and you really felt like you knew them much better after experiencing that. Sometimes it meant you weren't so much friends with them anymore. With your squad, however... you don't exactly have that choice. You want to do your best to get along with all of them; Colonel Rhodes made it clear it was only very serious situations that would necessitate moving squads, and rocking the boat like that just isn't your style anyhow. But all people have their own idiosyncrasies and you're sure your roommates are finding their own struggles living with you as you are with them.
Then again, you're incredibly pleasant and sometimes these assholes... !
I mean, let's take movie night for example.
Kid Omega came back to the dorm from wherever it is he vanishes off to during the day with a copy of The Death of Superman. The film was fine, of course. Animated comic book movies are for some reason always better than the live-action ones. What an awesome reality that would be where live-action comic book movies were reliably good and fun to watch. Oh well. Maybe Image Comics will start making movies or something, you've heard about a new Spawn film but it sounds like a major re-imagining. Do we really need that when we barely explored the Spawn universe in the first film? And it was years ago. We've seen Batman's parents die seventeen times, but it's already time to take a drastic spin on the MacFarlane cosmology? And where the hell is the Youngblood movie they keep talking about!? It can only be terrible and hilarious. That's almost as good as actually being good.
*coughs* Anyhow.
Everyone had a good time watching the film, but the post-movie superhero discussion was where things went sour. Because things went where they always go with new people when you talk about DC; who would win in a fight?
"Look, I love Batman. I do. He's entirely my aesthetic, and Grant Morrison's work on the comic is some of my favorite stuff in super-hero fiction. But Superman would take him down in a real fight, every. Time." Quentin had a way of weaponizing intonations to make himself sound right no matter what he was saying. It made him a great Devil's Advocate, but also made it frustrating to try and have a conversation with him.
"WRONG." Rage wasn't mad, he was just insistent. "Batman ALWAYS has a plan to take out the whole Justice League! Remember Justice League : Doom? He'd take out Superman before Supes knew what hit him!"
"Are you nuts!? Superman can hear someone crying for help across the city, do you think he wouldn't hear Batman clomping up behind him with a fist full of kryptonite?"
"Yes! Batman's a NINJA, man!"
"A ninja in clunky boots and body armor! Look, he can sneak up on common crooks and psychopaths just fine, but a super-powered being with super-hearing isn't gonna fall for it!"
"All right, all right. Hold on. Does Batman have--"
"Don't even say 'prep time', Elvin. If Batman gets prep time, Superman gets to juice up on yellow solar energy and it still ends the same way."
"How'd you know I was gonna say 'prep time'? You takin' a little peek inside my head?"
"Of course not!" Quentin actually sounds a little offended. "Every Batman fan brings up prep time! Of course Batman wins if he has an unfair advantage. That's how the stories work!"
"It ain't an unfair advantage, man, he creates it for himself. It's, like, part of his superpowers! It's that Sherlock shit!"
"Okay! I'm officially full up on all of this." Kitty rises from her comfy little cove on the couch, dragging her blanket with her back toward her room. "The movie was fun, guys. Thank you for bringing it, Quentin. Good night."
"Look, I hate to play to type," Robbie interjects, waving to Kitty, "but The Flash would take care of both of 'em. And if he didn't, he'd use the Speed Force to go back in time and do it better."
"What about Martian Manhunter?" suggests Roxy. "He's like Superman, but with, like, more powers!"
Kid Omega scoffs. "Please. Superman just has to turn on the heat vision and J'onn is toast."
"Yeah, I could take out Manhunter with a Zippo," adds Elvin.
Robbie offers a sleepy smirk and turns to you. "You've been characteristically quiet as usual, Vilina. Do you have anything to offer to the conversation?"
The Most Important Decision Of Your Life...
[ ] Batman would win.
[ ] Superman would win.
[ ] The Flash would win.
[ ] Martian Manhunter would win.
[ ] Why would they even fight?
[ ] This conversation is stupid.
Number of voters: 8
The squad all signs up for information literacy classes, which include introductions to topics like philosophy, law, and and mass media. Kitty seems excited by the prospect, but Elvin seems more hesitant. Still, everyone agreed and everyone is a good sport about taking this new experience together. The group returns to the dorm for now, and the six of you set about unpacking and making the space your own. Those extended hallways lead to a semicircle of seven doors; each door except the one opposite the entrance leading do a bedroom while the final one leads to the second bath. That first week without classes seems to drag on and fly by at the same time. Getting to know your squad over that period reminds you a bit of getting to know new coworkers. You had a summer job one year at a candle store in the mall, and there's a very similar vibe to understanding the ins and outs of how to cohabitate with them. At the same time, it's a bit like an extended sleepover. You were an only child, and most of the time it was just you and your parents, but there were periods where your friends came over for the weekend and you really felt like you knew them much better after experiencing that. Sometimes it meant you weren't so much friends with them anymore. With your squad, however... you don't exactly have that choice. You want to do your best to get along with all of them; Colonel Rhodes made it clear it was only very serious situations that would necessitate moving squads, and rocking the boat like that just isn't your style anyhow. But all people have their own idiosyncrasies and you're sure your roommates are finding their own struggles living with you as you are with them.
Then again, you're incredibly pleasant and sometimes these assholes... !
I mean, let's take movie night for example.
Kid Omega came back to the dorm from wherever it is he vanishes off to during the day with a copy of The Death of Superman. The film was fine, of course. Animated comic book movies are for some reason always better than the live-action ones. What an awesome reality that would be where live-action comic book movies were reliably good and fun to watch. Oh well. Maybe Image Comics will start making movies or something, you've heard about a new Spawn film but it sounds like a major re-imagining. Do we really need that when we barely explored the Spawn universe in the first film? And it was years ago. We've seen Batman's parents die seventeen times, but it's already time to take a drastic spin on the MacFarlane cosmology? And where the hell is the Youngblood movie they keep talking about!? It can only be terrible and hilarious. That's almost as good as actually being good.
*coughs* Anyhow.
Everyone had a good time watching the film, but the post-movie superhero discussion was where things went sour. Because things went where they always go with new people when you talk about DC; who would win in a fight?
"Look, I love Batman. I do. He's entirely my aesthetic, and Grant Morrison's work on the comic is some of my favorite stuff in super-hero fiction. But Superman would take him down in a real fight, every. Time." Quentin had a way of weaponizing intonations to make himself sound right no matter what he was saying. It made him a great Devil's Advocate, but also made it frustrating to try and have a conversation with him.
"WRONG." Rage wasn't mad, he was just insistent. "Batman ALWAYS has a plan to take out the whole Justice League! Remember Justice League : Doom? He'd take out Superman before Supes knew what hit him!"
"Are you nuts!? Superman can hear someone crying for help across the city, do you think he wouldn't hear Batman clomping up behind him with a fist full of kryptonite?"
"Yes! Batman's a NINJA, man!"
"A ninja in clunky boots and body armor! Look, he can sneak up on common crooks and psychopaths just fine, but a super-powered being with super-hearing isn't gonna fall for it!"
"All right, all right. Hold on. Does Batman have--"
"Don't even say 'prep time', Elvin. If Batman gets prep time, Superman gets to juice up on yellow solar energy and it still ends the same way."
"How'd you know I was gonna say 'prep time'? You takin' a little peek inside my head?"
"Of course not!" Quentin actually sounds a little offended. "Every Batman fan brings up prep time! Of course Batman wins if he has an unfair advantage. That's how the stories work!"
"It ain't an unfair advantage, man, he creates it for himself. It's, like, part of his superpowers! It's that Sherlock shit!"
"Okay! I'm officially full up on all of this." Kitty rises from her comfy little cove on the couch, dragging her blanket with her back toward her room. "The movie was fun, guys. Thank you for bringing it, Quentin. Good night."
"Look, I hate to play to type," Robbie interjects, waving to Kitty, "but The Flash would take care of both of 'em. And if he didn't, he'd use the Speed Force to go back in time and do it better."
"What about Martian Manhunter?" suggests Roxy. "He's like Superman, but with, like, more powers!"
Kid Omega scoffs. "Please. Superman just has to turn on the heat vision and J'onn is toast."
"Yeah, I could take out Manhunter with a Zippo," adds Elvin.
Robbie offers a sleepy smirk and turns to you. "You've been characteristically quiet as usual, Vilina. Do you have anything to offer to the conversation?"
The Most Important Decision Of Your Life...
[ ] Batman would win.
[ ] Superman would win.
[ ] The Flash would win.
[ ] Martian Manhunter would win.
[ ] Why would they even fight?
[ ] This conversation is stupid.