Caemgen

Wow, I've spent about 15 minutes starting about 4 different replies and then self censoring each and every one of them.

All I'm going to say is:

Sorah, you've got some great pieces both here and on your DA page. When I do break down and commission some pieces I'll definitely give you a consider...

As for prices: I think whenever anyone is buying anything they should comparison shop and go where they think their money is best spent for what they want.

As for criticism: I'm a newb here and just basically have an outsider looking in perspective but I do find this board a bet of a love in where negative comments really don't seem welcome. Personally I would prefer a bit more openess about how piece x, y or z could be improved and such (once thinking I had enough talent to be an artist I still find myself interested in those who are and their techniques and such) but basically I figure that if the choice is between a love fest with no criticism and a tear down everything we see fest... Well then let the dirty hippies win!

Arc Name: Daybreak Patrol Needs Help
Arc ID: 321834

Synopsis: The Daybreak Patrol, a powered armor team connected with the PPD, has been hacked and someone has taken control of their suits. Trapped inside their own armors they need some outside assistance to save the day.

Not robots, more Iron Men

Arc Name: Daybreak Patrol Needs Help
Arc ID: # 321834
Faction: Freakshow & Crey
Creator Global/Forum Name: Caemgen and @Caemgen
Difficulty Level: Hopefully challenging
Synopsis: Daybreak Patrol, a group of Tech Armored superheroes connected to the PPD, has had their armors hacked. Being trapped inside their own suits of armor they are counting on someone else to save the day.

Any comments or criticism welcome as this is my first attempt at an AE story arc...

Arcs by genre. This thread differs to the CoHmatoes thread as it links to authors' information (sometimes posters!) instead of reviews. Also, some of these genres are not superceded yet by the MA search keywords. But the links were a mess, formats varied, and some arcs no longer exist. So I tried to clean it up a bit. If it says post ID "@Someone" (a broken link) instead of a proper link, then the author should find their old thread and update the link. All internal forum links were broken in the forum migration.

Bullets colored for heroic/neutral/villainous. Non-existent arcs removed. Lists alphabetized. Arc IDs updated.

AE System

• 15+ Min TUTORIAL = Knowledge is Power: Architect Entertainment & YOU! (I15) #28470
  
• 5th Anniversary Flashback Smackdown #126896
  
• 'Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face' - Tryouts #190069
  
• Death for Dollars #1050
  
• Signal to Noise #67277
  
• Welcome to Architect Entertainment #1004

Character/Supergroup Origins

• A Hero is made, Not Born #20863
  
• A Mother's Nightmare #6955
  
• A Rose's Thorns #113224
  
• Birth of a Fossil #18632
  
• Jumping in Feet First #1345
  
• Midnight Bells Toll #?
  
• New Flame Rising #161066
  
• Noah Reborn [post=lost]#2370[/post]
  
• Polar Emergence Neutral Government User Interface Network (PENGUIN) #29205
  
• Secret Origins(Tech) The Snake Women of Epsilon V [post=lost]#42221[/post]
  
• The Amazing Rat Race #1144

Classic Super-Hero/Super-Villain

• A Crusher Crimewave #1 : Crisis at The Citadel #179354
  
• A Crusher Crimewave #2 : Escape from The Zig! #83458
  
• A Crusher Crimewave #3 : The Fall of Mocker #123613
  
• A Show to Die For! [post=@Thalomarre]#30645[/post]
  
• Check... and Mate #15095
  
• Daybreak Patrol Needs Help # 321834
  
• In The Shadow of Statesman [post=@Decaying Rose]#1160[/post]
  
• Marketing Opportunity #83747
  
• Paradox Paradox #69221
  
• Sidekicks Can Be A Pain In The Cape #28430
  
• Teen Phalanx Forever! #67335
  
• This Life Immortal #5756
  
• 'Tis Nobler in the Mind [post=@LaserJesus]#257226[/post]
  
• To Save A Single World #83744

Comedy

• A Translator is the Wind or the Thunder in Turns #2936
  
• City of Norms #132944
  
• Daytime Divas #94504
  
• Death to Disco! #84420
  
• Doctor Nadir and the Hellion Heist #49661
  
• Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662
  
• Gnomish Madness #30204
  
• Hail to the King [post=@Antigonus]34640[/post]
  
• Invasion on Earth BX1132! 98943
  
• Jerk Hackers! [post=@Heraclea]#162482[/post]
  
• Laugh? I Thought I'd DIE! [post=@Decorum]#68429[/post]
  
• MacGuffin Delivery Service 1567
  
• Martian Chimpanzees and the Cyborg Cheerleaders of DOOM! #69947
  
• Mean People. #16690
  
• None More Black, Dude! [post=@]#86312[/post]
  
• ParaCon [post=@Vanden]#1684[/post]
  
• Rise of the Drakule [post=@LaserJesus]#51357[/post]
  
• Return of the Revenge of the Son of Drakule Part 2: First Blood [post=@LaserJesus]#84543[/post]
  
• Shirley You Jest [post=@Leather Doll]#25474[/post]
  
• Shortbow #143566
  
• The Extadine Lab [post=@Vanden]#2595[/post]
  
• The Fire Bunnies #10377
  
• The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076
  
• The Invasion of the Bikini Clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space! #61013
  
• The new and improved Lord Recluse Strike Force #7901
  
• The P.U.G. Strike force #35585
  
• The string thief. #15726
  
• Too Many Bunnygirls! [post=@Clave Dark 5]#101165[/post]
  
• Trademark Infringement #2220
  
• Walk On the Wild Side [post=@Fireforged]#3580[/post]
  
• What's in a Name? [post=@]#?[/post]
  
• You Say It's Your Birthday! [post=@Witty Librarian]3630[/post]

Comedy/Drama

• Cause of How Some Silly Stealed My Wings [post=@Paula]#1481[/post]
  
• Death by Snoo-Snoo! #247372
  
• Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare -- Neutral #?
  
• Fashion Apocalypse [post=@Vinique]#14840[/post]
  
• Females for Hire #110723
  
• Fishing for Fame with Red Herring [post=@Igniitus]#66861[/post]
  
• Freaks, Geeks and Men in Black #161629
  
• Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! #2019
  
• How to Survive a Robot Uprising #12669
  
• It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding [post=@]#9059[/post]
  
• Kidnapping an Idol [post=@Ryo Takenoko]#136188[/post]
  
• Putting Out Fires: A Corporate Satire [post=@Cannonfodder]#20100[/post]
  
• Rum Runners of Bloody Bay [post=@Witty Librarian]#3691[/post]
  
• The Cat's in the Cradle [post=@Ulli Lad]#8776[/post]
  
• The Running of the Bulls [post=@Zubelnelgenubi]#29973[/post]
  
• TURG FICTION: Ghost in the Machine, Act I #1013
  
• The Toypcalypse! [post=@McNum]#49280[/post]

Crime/Gangs

• A Little RnR [post=@Thornster]#17523[/post] click for Promotional Poster
  
• Battlin' Tom's Murder Extravaganza! #99803
  
• Bricked Electronics #2180
  
• Fatale Attraction - Part 1 of 3 #181264
  
• Fatale Deception - Part 2 of 3 #227466
  
• Fatale Corruption - Part 3 of 3 #232783
  
• Females for Hire #110723
  
• Mechanical Mayhem [post=@Devcon]#76721[/post]
  
• Meet the Demon Spawn [post=@Alari Azure]#151099[/post]
  
• Slash DeMento and the Stolen Weapons [post=@Alari Azure]#100045[/post]
  
• Plastic Pistol Peril [post=@Palette]#1135[/post]
  
• The Bravuran Jobs #16809
  
• The Internet is for Crime #53385
  
• The Superadine Revolution #262739
  
• Whitehawks #113811
  
• [ZQ] Power Play #187269

Drama

• 7662 - The Fan Club [post=@Rush Bolt]#5898[/post]
  
• A Flame the Burns Bright #112548
  
• Clonus, Parts 1 & 2 #21499 & # 21290
  
• Digital Love [post=@Aoide Muse]#3571[/post]
  
• Matchstick Women [post=@Bubbawheat]#3369[/post]
  
• Of Mentors and Legacy #1589
  
• The Conciliators: Simone [post=@Haterade]#4010[/post]

Global Domination / Destruction

• Axis and Allies #1379
  
• The Twilight of this Blue Orb [post=@Ulli Lad]#98529[/post]

Heist

• Celebrity Kidnapping [post=@PW]#1388[/post]
  
• Easy Money [post=@Basilisk]#31490[/post]
  
• The Great Diamond Heist [post=@Se7enFall]#96169[/post]

Historical (Realistic)

• A Wrinkle in Time #266880

Historical (CoH Lore)

• The Consequences of War #227331 and 241496
  
• The War on Superadine [post=@Obsidius]#151088[/post]
  
• [ZQ] The Once and Future King [post=@Sumerian]#71601[/post]

Holiday

• Battle of 15 April #72140
  
• City of Ho Ho Ho, or A Claus in Paragon #18775
  
• Hectic Holidays #36999
  
• Santa's Missing List [post=@Red Zero]#34961[/post]
  
• Santa's Workshop of Misfit Toys #134140

Horror

• Astoria in D Minor #41565
  
• Creepy Crawlers #82553
  
• Dark Dreams [post=@Dumok]#3615[/post]
  
• Die Count Daddy Macula Die! [post=@Spiral Architect]#10619[/post]
  
• Don't Play With The Dead #260107
  
• Duality [post=@DK242-B]#84105[/post]
  
• Hunting the Hunters [post=@MistressOfMagic]#93362[/post]
  
• I Will Dance On Your Grave #92630
  
• Lights, Camera, Scream! #177826
  
• Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit #3586
  
• Small Fears #12285
  
• Something Comes to Yarmouth [post=@Oliin]#58812[/post]
  
• The Amulet of J'gara #1709
  
• The Children of Astoria 217499
  
• The Zombie Apocalypse Task Force: Something wicked this way comes. [post=Ozmosis]#91456[/post]

Large-Scale Crisis

• Akhdar Blood [post=@MM3 Squints]#247198[/post]
  
• Alpha and Omega [post=@dramacus]#60015[/post]
  
• Bleed the Freak [post=@Grimlek]#6919[/post]
  
• Flight of the Valkyries - Precursor [post=@Leather Doll]#20272[/post]
  
• Is it Live or is it Memory-X #70210
  
• The All-Seeing Eye #57352
  
• The Clockwork War [post=@Basilisk]#18672[/post]
  
• This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral 1356
  
• War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 1 [post=@DeathSentry]#15006[/post]
  
• War of the Worlds - The Anakim Invasion - Part 2, The Terran Revolt [post=@DeathSentry]#46711[/post]
  
• Win the Past, Own the Future
  #1429
  

Magic

• A Deal with Destiny [post=@ObsidianDevil]#61748[/post]
  
• A Dream of Awakenings #132616
  
• Chains of Blood #4829
  
• Croatoa's Great War: The Parfait Family Reunion [post=@Kay Parfait]#71880[/post]
  
• Deal with The Devil's Pawn [post=@Alari Azure]#207266[/post]
  
• I Will Dance On Your Grave #92630
  
• Rex is Missing! [post=@ShadowVulpine]#51702[/post]
  
• The Magical Miss Fitz [post=@super fitz]#5079[/post]
  
• The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks - A Moth Cemetery Tale #124319
  
• The Tannhäuser Gate [post=@Aisynia]96322[/post]

Military

• Axis and Allies #1379
  
• Red Typhoon #4912
  
• Redoubt Operations #1: Fires over Kalago #1297
  
• Redoubt Operations #2: Wrath of the Imperium #269283
  
• Whitehawks #113811

Misc. Adventure

• Impossible Kung Fu Mission #111367
  
• The Portal Bandits #3326
  
• A Glitch in the Wyre [post=@Gulver]#73197[/post]
  
• The Council Cargo #36951
  
• Hero Therapy! (TM) #119228
  
• The Second Coming of the Mega Mech #122274

Mutant

• The Legion of Mutants vs. the Iron Agents #200364

Mystery

• Blowback #4643
  
• Dream Paper #1874
  
• Females for Hire #110723
  
• Hunter of Beasts: It begins with a riot... [post=@Lycanus]#110465[/post]
  
• The Fireside Poet #189439

Mythology

• Atlantis Attacks! #30898
  
• Madness And The Minotaur #90124
  
• Rites of the Maenads [post=@SoulTrain2]#61159[/post]
  
• Tales of Cimerora, volume 1 : Of feathers and fur #12647
  
• The Aegis Affair [post=@Lycanus]#16376[/post]
  
• The Four Treasures of the Tuatha De Danaan #164100
  
• The Parable of the Fruit Salad #65369
  
• The Seeds of Yggdrasil #48907
  
• 7662: The Seelie War [post=@Fleeting Whisper]#2462[/post]
  
• 7662: The Unseelie War [post=@Fleeting Whisper]#2453[/post]
  
• Ecloga Prima (Haec excursio in lingua Latina) #309162

Nemesis Plots

• Brass Reaver: Part 1 [post=@Turbo-Ski]#244755[/post]
  
• Rise and Fall of the Iron General [post=@fra diavlo]#142200[/post]
  
• The Handbag Plot [post=@Jock Tamson]#36414[/post]

Player-Chosen Outcome

• Hunting the Dark Dragon -- Heroic #2922
  
• Playing Gods #51106
  
• Time's Maelstrom #182874

Public Domain Characters/Literature

• The Praetorian Invasion of the Land of Oz [post=@Sakura-Kishi]#168841[/post]

Puzzles/Riddles

• Grim Riddles #1396

Sci-Fi

• Above Mars - Part 1: The Wellington [post=@Yumii]#159769[/post]
  
• Adventures of the Space Marines #2133
  
• Adventures of the Space Marines 2 #2171
  
• Assault on Aru Prime #174856
  
• City of the Apes [post=@Nylonus]#171184[/post]
  
• Spaced Invaders #77971
  
• That Mysterious Buzzing Sound [post=@Red Zero]#12774[/post]
  
• The Adventures of the United Earth Rangers #29549
  
• The Balance of Power [post=@Xer'Tul]#26931[/post]
  
• The Continuing Adventures of the United Earth Rangers #70237
  
• The Fracturing of Time #171031
  
• The Knights of Rularuu #75386
  
• The Nemesis Theory - [post=@Red Zero]#171203[/post]
  
• Welcome to Donut World! [post=@Ridiculous Girl]#1233[/post]

Shiver me timbers and blow me down!!

Very cool.

At first glance it looks great. At a closer look, as mentioned, you do start seeing sizing/perspective problems.

Cute kitty... But is it huge or is the garbage pail that tiny? The cats farther away from us than the can but is still about 3/4ths the size of it. Most kitchen garbage cans I have seen are much larger than cats.

Again as mentioned, once you start comparing size of fridge versus other things, it's a midget fridge. The bowl of fruit must be huge to take up almost the entire center island.

All in all, I think each individual piece is great (for a sketch of this type) but combined there are definite sizing problems. Also, it does seem to be a very tiny kitchen overall... Such things exist though so I can't blame that on you.

Thinking about it, it almost seems to me as if you started the sketch on whichever piece and made it too big to make the whole of the rest of the kitchen fit in so, consciously or not, the rest kind of got squeezed in.

Promises, promises...

(Though not really sure what is being promised...)

very, very cool...

((Once again, thanks to my editor Typo Cop for catching at least most of my mistakes... And as always commentary is welcomed.))

Sharing Beers


“Never pegged you as the type to be left speechless,” she said while standing in the middle of my living room and staring at me. “Don’t tell me being caught out as a common criminal has left you bereft of witty commentary.”

I glanced down at the parcel she has tossed at me as she walked in moments earlier. Sure enough, it was the bag of circuits, wires, processors and assorted other high tech doodads I had “confiscated” after subduing a small pack of Freakshow who had hijacked a Crey Corp van. The items inside were from both Crey Corp and the Freakshow and it was the similarities between the two which initially sparked my curiosity. I casually tossed the bag onto the table next to the door which usually held an assortment of junk mail and turned my attention to the woman awaiting my reply.

She was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. She was no supermodel, she was too short and somewhat lacking a full figure for that. Instead, she was the embodiment of cute; I was always a sucker for that. She stood about five-five or maybe five-six in the high heeled leather boots she wore. Her jeans were just tight enough to hug shapely and surprisingly long legs for her height. Her leather bomber jacket hung open and the plain white t-shirt beneath it revealed that, while on the small side, perky wasn’t just a description of her attitude.

Her face though - her face is what really had my jaw hanging to the floor. Free from the black sunglasses I had never before seen her without, her face just caught my attention and refused to let go. She was currently scowling at me but the squint of her eyes couldn’t hide their amazingly bright green color or that certain spark which a very few women have which just makes you go weak. Her button of a nose, a feature I had noticed and admired before, was slightly wrinkled as she scowled at me, but its slight upturn at the end and the very small dash of freckled across its bridge, just magnified the cuteness factor and ruined any sternness she was trying to pull off. And her lips? Well, quite simply, I was just dying to figure out a way to get those lips to smile - for starters, anyway.

To top off the perfection, her hair was probably a shade too red to be real; but natural or bottled, I was always a sucker for red hair. The question of its origin just added to the appeal. It hung to just above her shoulders and had just enough of a curl that I couldn’t help but imagine it curling around my fingers as I ran my fingers...

“So?” she asked, interrupting my thought process.

“Oh… Um, yeah. Errr, so what?” I asked; ever the master of wit and repartee.

Rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh, she crossed her arms in front of her and actually started tapping her one foot in impatience. I had to struggle to contain a grin – acting tough just made her cuter.

“So, do you want to tell me why you’re speechless all of a sudden?” she continued firmly.

“Oh. No. Not really,” I answered and turned away to head for the kitchen. “You want a beer?”

“Hey! I just caught you red handed. The evidence is right there. And you’re offering me a beer?” She sounded a little upset.

I pulled a couple of cold bottles out of the misused crisper in my fridge and walked back into the living room. I flipped the cap off of with my thumb (having cybernetic hands does have some benefits), and tipped the other towards her by way of asking again if she wanted one.

She blew a stray hair out of her face and sighed again. “You’re really not going to explain that bag?”

“I never said that.”

“You just did!”

“No. I said I wasn’t going to explain why I was speechless,” I teased. “They’re two totally different things. I’ll tell you about the bag, but first I need you to answer a question for me.”

“What’s that?” she asked, her stance relaxing just a bit but her eyes staying narrowed and suspicious.

“Who are you here as?” I asked. She didn’t quite get what I meant so as I opened the second beer and put it down on the table closest to where she stood and then went and sat down in my favorite recliner.

“Are you here as a Crey lackey readying to turn me into the guys upstairs? You here as a concerned citizen about to make a citizens arrest? Or perhaps a worried coworker about to stage an intervention over my sudden life of crime?”

“You don’t think Crey already knows and that they’re the ones who sent me?” she asked.

“Nope. No business suit,” I answered referring to the black suit which was all but 24-hour wear for all Crey enforcer types.

I sipped at my beer as I watched her mull that over for a bit. A short time later her shoulders relaxed a bit and for the first time she stopped staring me down and instead turned to grab the beer I left her.

“Honestly? I don’t know yet. I think it’s going to depend on your answers,” she said and then took a swig from the bottle.

“An impasse then,” I suggested continuing my best to look relaxed. Truth be told, I was anything but. On the one hand, she obviously had me dead to rights. Sure, she must be interested in more than just revealing my indiscretion to Crey Corp or she would just have done it and not come here to confront me. Still, if she knew about it then I couldn’t really believe I had been as devious and subtle as I had hoped. I had to believe Crey was at most one step behind that of their employee here.

On the other hand, I could remember the last time I was alone at home with a beautiful woman. It was almost twenty years ago. The woman had been about to become my fiance. Not long after, that woman, Wendy, had been murdered while we shopped for the ring. I had honestly believed I would never think of another woman in that way; but watching my guest grab a chair from the kitchen, put it down in front of my recliner and then straddle it so her arms could rest on the back of it while she studied me while taking the occasional sip of beer… Well, I wasn’t as comfortable as I was trying to look.

“You forget,” she said between sips. “I have all the cards here. I found your stash of goods. I have video of you taking it and secreting it away. Quite frankly, I have you under my thumb, Mr. Michaels.”

“Not exactly the part I want to be under,” I replied. It got me that smile I was thinking about earlier. It was as spectacular as I had imagined.

“Well it’s the only part you’re getting,” she said. After another sip of beer, she added, “For now.”

Half my brain suddenly woke up and got excited, the other half panicked. I may be big on the double entendre but when push comes to shove I am far more shy and reserved than I let on.

“You once said you didn’t belong to Crey. What did you mean by that?” she asked, hurrying it out. Perhaps to cover the slight blush I noticed on her cheeks?

“Well, you all seem…” I started but stopped and corrected myself. “Most Crey employees seem - I don’t know. Dedicated? No. More than that. Most seem enraptured with the Corporation; blindly loyal to it - as if they live to serve Crey Corp, not like they just work there.”

“But not you?” she asked skeptically.

“No. To me it’s just a job. A means to an end.”

“What end?”

I walked right into that one, didn’t I? I could try to just wave it off and say money, of course, but she definitely wasn’t dumb enough to buy that at this point. The question was, which angle did I want to take now? I could always go with the truth; but while I suspected she wasn’t the typical Crey employee, I couldn’t be sure just what her angle was yet and until I was, it could be dangerous to be too truthful. Well, when in doubt, delay. Swigging down the last of my beer, I stood up and asked if she was ready for another. Chugging the last of her own she nodded and gave me a quiet “sure” as she handed me the bottle.

I rooted around in the fridge for the two more beers longer than necessary but it still didn’t give me enough time to decide on the proper tact to take here.

“You OK with the bottle or would you prefer a glass?” I called out from the kitchen as I popped off the caps.

"Do I look like I have a stick up my butt?” she called back and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, not in those clothes,” I answered as I walked back into the front room. I paused in mid-step as I noticed that she had shed her leather bomber jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch, and that the t-shirt she was wearing was quite tight.

She definitely wasn’t built like a supermodel. She was built more along the lines of some woodland nymph – small and sleek certainly, but daring, tempting and promising as well.

“One of those mine?” she asked with a teasing smile.

“Of course,” I answered, shaking out of my thoughts and going over to hand her the beer.

She was still sitting astride the kitchen chair so I resumed my place on the recliner but sat more on the edge of the chair rather than leaning back to it. This put us at a more natural eye level even if perhaps a bit too close.

“So, you were saying?”

“You want to know why I am working for Crey?”

“Yep.”

“Would you buy that I’m in it for the money?” I asked jokingly.

“I know what you make. It’s not that good.”

“The fame?”

“You wear a mask and haven’t given any interviews to the media despite them forwarding requests through the PPD.”

“True, true. Maybe I do it for the chance to help people?”

“Maybe you could try the truth?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe I could, but should I?”

She thought about it a second and then said “Yes, I think you should.” Then, with her wrists crossed over the back of the chair, she leaned back and arched her back in a very intriguing way. As I was studying the way this caused her t-shirt to stretch across her body, she appeared to be gathering her thoughts.

Taking a deep breathe and closing her eyes, she went on: “Crey will figure out exactly what I figured out once they go over the data your suit constantly sends back to them. You simply have no idea how many sensors, cameras, microphones and other gear they have packed into that armor of yours.”

“I figured it out before they did simply because I was the one on monitor duty last night. They’ll figure it out once they read my report. I suspect we have about an hour before that happens. Unless...”

That brought my eyes right back to hers, which were now open again and had been obviously watching me check her out.

“Unless?” I asked.

“Unless I decide I don’t want Crey to figure it out.”

I thought about it a minute. “You sure it’s your thumb you have me under? It feels more like your boot heel,” I said.

“Whatever turns you on, Mr. Michaels.”

I smirked at her. “Well, the way you call me Mr. Michaels is a start. You make it sound naughty in a very good way.”

She smiled at me but otherwise just held her position and waited on me to give her more.

“About an hour, you said?”

“Uh huh. Unless I call someone I trust and have them substitute the alternate report and data streams I prepared before I came here.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll just give you the short version. After that, you can either call your friend and I’ll give you more details if you want them or you can not call your friend and we’ll just see how it all pans out.”

“Sounds like a plan, Mr. Michaels,” she said. Then a little mischievous smile came across her lips. “Hey, you got any popcorn? I always like to snack during story time.”

I would love to demand more now but being the slow and lazy writer I am I couldn't rightfully do so under the best of circumstances...

Very sorry to hear about the job situation. You have my best wishes on that situation being rectified as quickly as possible. I suggest you concentrate on finding a job first, on keeping your sanity second and on writing for the masses third.

But I will also save some of my best wishes for hoping you get time to work on third!

Well in that case, please downgrade my comments from slight criticisms to things to think of in the future. I was grading you against a tough curve since star Bright is really well done. Besides what I mentioned, I do really like Fro though. I like the highlighting on the body and gloves which still makes me think you could do the cape and hair a bit more detailed...

Very nice...

But you can do better. Don't get me wrong, I really like it... There's just a couple minor things I don't particularly like but they may work better in others eyes...

To me the flat lime green background is a bit much. I'm guessing you wanted something flat and bright to make the character really stand out? But almost neon is just too much for me.

I also think there should be _some_ shading and/or highlights in the hair and cape. The flat black, to me, makes it look a tad unfinished.

But past those minor details, I very much like... I probably wouldn't even be nitpicking the above excepted I peeked into your gallery and comparing Fro to Star Bright I can't help but think Fro got a little less attention to detail... (Star Bright is great btw... As are your sketches.)

I'll throw Fibber McGee into the hat... And since he's just 4' tall he's easy to throw:




Being a bit of a split personality, he's on Red and Blue side (Fibber MacGee on Blue) - Ever since he's had his pot of gold stolen he's just not been himself. Sure, he's always a bit cranky, perverted and rude but he's got to replenish his pot of gold somehow, thus he travels on the red side... Without his gold he can't tap into his normal magics so he's had to resort to getting physical (Elec/Elec Brute, Invuln, Energy Tanker) in order to get it back.

I could easily picture Gray Huntress holding him up in the air triumphantly as McGee looks all disgruntled at being caught.

All you people and all your talent are starting to annoy me.....

((Nice thing about servers being down? Gives my editor time to edit!))


Journal Entry Part 2

The realization that I was hungry dawned on me and I idly wondered if I had cereal at home, but then quickly decided I had more pressing concerns for the moment. Leaning into the van as the Freak had been doing not long ago, I checked over the other two Freakshow which had stolen the van. They were both out for the count. My armor’s sensors picked up life signs and one was pretty stable but it didn’t look good for the other. I didn’t allow myself to get too upset over it, but I did call it in to the police dispatcher; giving her our location and situation.

While waiting for the police units and ambulance to arrive, I looked over the scene, the fallen Freakshow and the van. The scene was about what one would expect: busted up van, glass littered about and a few scorch marks over where I had originally laid. The back of the van had toppled boxes all around, many of which had busted open and spewed forth their contents. Many individually wrapped, labeled and bar-coded circuits, wires and other components were lying about, as well as other Crey products, possibly components identical to those which made my armor work. A close look at the Freakshow really got my mind racing though.

Taking a good look at the mechanical and cybernetic implants they had, I couldn’t help but wonder at just how closely they resembled some of my own. Coincidence? I certainly didn’t see Crey logos stamped into any of them but then again only my helmet carried the logo and that’s on the inside. I hadn’t heard any rumors directly linking Crey to the Freakshow, but I did know Freakshow raids on Crey were not entirely uncommon. Even if there was nothing more sinister than that, I couldn’t help but wonder just how compatible the pieces might be.

My conscious thought at the time had been that it would be interesting to compare Freakshow and Crey components to one another to see just how they stacked up side by side, and see if they were compatible. The idea of somehow, someway having a second Powered Armor Suit built had crossed my mind on more than one occasion. Heck, I could do the actual building of it given the right parts and blueprints. I could build things - design, components and money was what I lacked. Still, honestly I don’t think I consciously connected the dots between the down for the count Freakshow and the boxes of Crey components, with my own desire for vengeance and the means to carry it out.

Not consciously.

By the time the first squad car screeched to a halt at the scene of the accident, there was nothing for them to see but what I had radioed in to the dispatcher: One crashed van, three unconscious Freakshow and one so-called superhero in slightly dented and scratched battle armor.

I imagined Crey would have little choice but to believe the Freakshow had stashed or discarded a few of the boxes that had been in the van before they were apprehended. Maybe they’d even suspect a bit of larceny on the part of the cops who did the inventory, I hear Crey components are like gold on the black market. As for the Freakshow, I couldn’t imagine how they would complain about missing parts as they were being charged with a long list of felonies and misdemeanors.

As for myself? Well, I like to think I am not stupid. My armor was powered down, and shut off before I so much as moved a thing. I would have preferred to strip it all off but I knew I didn’t have that much time before the PPD arrived. Moving was a bear in the suit with no power but I couldn’t risk any sensors still recording and transmitting back to Crey Corp. I forced myself not to be greedy and took only a few of the smaller parts and those from the more hidden items rather than what would have been in view of my visual sensors when I first looked them over through the armors cameras. I was a bit less careful with what I took from the Freakshow. I really couldn’t imagine them complaining anyway. Plus, it wasn’t like I was going to cut them open for parts; I merely took a few items which were easily removable and hid without difficulty.

When that first squad car arrived, I was all powered-up. The armor’s sensors were all aimed externally, not internally, so Crey Corp would never have a way of knowing that inside the armor I was grimacing due to the way the small bag of bits and pieces I had collected were digging into the small of my back. After making a mental note to myself to not hide this stuff in my own apartment, I strode over to the arriving officers and explained the chain of events which led to the scene before him. If a couple minor details at the end were edited out, he never suspected. Why would he? I was a superhero.

After that, I called it quits for the night. Sure crimes were still being committed and somebody should stop them, but I had my own illegal loot to stash. I was in desperate need for a beer and some sleep. The Daybreak Patrol was due to begin their duties less than five hours and that buzzing in the middle of my brain was still there. It was definitely time for me to go off the clock for a while.

I made a mental note stash my goods someplace they would keep for a while, so I stopped once on my way home. My sensors would record where I stopped, so it had to be someplace it didn’t look like I was stopping at for an unusual reason - I decided on McKings.

McKings is a bright, flashy fast-food joint that specializes in cheap, greasy food. It’s my typical fare. They were proud to remind everyone that they had been the first to introduce the Fly-Thru window to Paragon City but I opted to go inside instead. Stopping first to place my order and paying for it (thank god my belt had a couple compartments for essentials, like some cash and my Hero I.D, it would be annoying to have to take off the armor just to buy junk food) I then headed off to the lavatory.

After locking the door, I made a show of hanging my head, delicately taking off my helmet and rubbing my temples. I would include in the report to Crey I would have to file about my activities the weird static buzz in the center of my brain. By this time it had all but gone away and I was willing to write it off as a side effect of being hit by a van and then shocked half to death but it was still troublesome. The main reason, though, was it afforded me an explanation for shutting down my armor a couple of times outside of my apartment. “I was hoping disconnecting would fix it,” I would explain easily enough. I was hoping it was due to an armor issue, not a me issue so that wasn’t totally untrue.

Once the armor was shut down and I had as much off as I could reasonably take off in a fast-food joint’s bathroom. I started looking around for a place to stash my stolen property. I immediately wrote off the obvious places such as in the tank of the toilet or on top of one of the ceiling tiles, but I quickly realized there just weren’t that many places to hide stuff in a public bathroom, so above the ceiling tiles it was. After slipping one off its track and putting my small bag of goods up above the drop ceiling, I slipped the tile back into place and then went about getting back into my armor and powering it up.

Minutes later, I stepped out of the bathroom, left McKings and was halfway back to my apartment before I realized I forgot to pick up my food. I grimaced a bit at that but more because I was starting to get hungry than concern over how it would look. That was as easily explained by concern over my head as everything else was. No worries. Besides, all I really wanted at that point was a shower and grab a couple hours of sleep. My brain hurt. My body ached. I had to be at work in about 4 hours. I definitely needed some downtime.

Back at the apartment, just before jumping into the much desired shower, I decided to check the news feed. Most of it was more of the same but there were two items of particular importance to me. One was about the Daybreak Patrol getting our very own base of operations at some secret, hidden locale. So secret and hidden that I knew nothing of it. Still, it would provide me a place to hide out from Crey any time I wanted, I figured. If it was a secret base they’d hardly give access to every corporation submitting a prototype to the Daybreakers - Would they? I figured this base was something I should definitely check out, and soon. It just may be the hiding spot I needed for my ill-gotten goods and who knows, I might even be able to talk to some of the other Daybreakers and see just how much they knew about the designing and building of the armors they wear.

The other news item that caught my attention concerned Malfearance. Apparently he was trying to pull off some major mystical/necromantic/crazy as all get out ceremony that brought the dead and rotted back to some semblance of life. For what purpose, who besides some crazy criminal could ever guess? The Buffalo Brawler, the hometown hero of my native city, had stepped in and stopped him; but let the ******* get away. I had mixed feelings on that last bit. I wanted Malfearance myself. I wanted my vengeance. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill him or not, but I definitely wanted the choice. That would be tough to do if he was actually behind bars before I got to him. Still, he did have a way of piling up the body count so I couldn’t totally just want him roaming free.

Anyway, the shower finally called me from my thoughts and I answered. Once I had drained the building of hot water I wanted nothing more than to take a nap before I had to report to duty for the Daybreak Patrol. I figured I could still get a good solid two hours in. My brain was better, the static buzzing was gone, but my body was still sore and I needed the sleep. Instead, I wrote my report for Crey.

I didn’t want to do it but I figured it was for the best. There was no way they wouldn’t know most of what I had done and I was actually a bit shocked they hadn’t contacted me, and contacted me quite irately, already. Best to do everything I could to keep everything looking above board. The only items I left off were about the few items I had taken and the real reasons for powering down the suit. I did want real answers about the brain issue. I did go out of my way to explain the sleeplessness and anxiousness to wear the armor as my reasoning for going out in the first place. (Is cybernetic addiction a real thing? Was sleeplessness and wanting to be connected symptoms?) I also played up the heroic way in which I recovered their goods from the Freakshow carjackers.

I read the report over twice before finally encrypting it and emailing it off. If anything, it would be suspicious because of just how detailed and complete it was. By the time I was done there was no time left for my nap but Crey Scientists and their Field Agents hadn’t shown up so I had at least that to be thankful for. I estimated I wouldn’t have to deal with them until after the Patrol. Speaking of which, I had just enough time to eat a bowl of Rice Krispies and to don my armor before I had to take off.

The run with the Daybreakers was easy compared to my earlier adventures. I was able to not think and just go bust the heads I was aimed at. I looked out for my teammates and they looked out for me and there was comfort in that. I was able to put my worries and concerns and questions out of my head for several hours. I was exhausted at the start and even more exhausted after smacking down a bunch of Hellions, several packs of Trolls and even more than a few members of the Lost but I was doing good work with good people. I felt something pure in that.

Sure enough, before I was home ten minutes, Crey showed up.

I pointed out to them that I was already writing my report of my activities with the Daybreakers and apologized for going out alone earlier but pointed out I had already reported on that as well. I got much silence in response. Silence was the basic default position for Crey employees so I wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad sign.

A couple Crey Technicians had passed by me without acknowledging my existence and were no doubt going about tending to the Daybreaker Alpha Power Suit – downloading its stored date, checking its systems, uploading any updates they may have for it and so on. As the Crey Scientist and Medic subjected me to the usual indignities, pokes, probes and so on, I tried to figure out if these were the same ones as always. It was impossible to tell beneath their ubiquitous uniforms of protective gear. Giving up on that, I examined the Field Agents. They wore the uniform of the Men in Black – black suits, ties, shoes, white shirts, dark glasses – but at least you could see most of their face and pick out some individualities besides gender if you looked closely enough. The redhead with the cute little upturned nose wasn’t here this time. I found I was disappointed about that. Odd.

As the Scientist and Medic carried out their examinations, the Technicians came and went several times. On one passing one mentioned that the armor had been dented and those pieces of the shell had been replaced. I asked if they were painted or not, the Daybreakers colors are blue and gold, but the Technician never slowed and never answered.

Eventually all the tests, all the updates and all the silence was over. As the Crey personnel packed up and were about to depart the Scientist turned to me.

“Once all data is analyzed you will be contacted about your moonlighting.” And with that, they departed.

Moonlighting? It wasn’t as if I was working for someone else, I had been out saving lives. Still, no use worrying about it until they contacted me, I supposed. I sat on my couch for a good ten to fifteen minutes just relaxing after they left. I still had my report to finish but they had seen me working on it so I was in no rush now. I just took some downtime and tried to empty my mind. I was doing quite well at it too, so well I had nearly fallen soundly asleep but just before I reached that much needed state the doorbell rang.

I groaned a bit at losing out on the sleep but got up and went over to the door.

“Hello?” I asked as I opened the door.

A girl in blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather biker’s jacket stood in front of me. She was stunningly cute, even more so when I noticed her red hair was pulled back into two pony tails. She also had a little button nose the turned up a bit at the end.

“Did you lose this?” she asked and before I even recognized her, her clothing was so incongruous to how I was used to seeing her that it took a while, she tossed my bag of “misappropriated” salvaged items into my stomach and walked into the apartment.

Without art I don't think we can help

(might want to try a forum more applicable to your problem?)

((Couple of notes before I give you the latest installment:
First, let me thank Typo_Cop for volunteering his editing services to my meager little work. I appreciate his efforts to try and make my writing better, as I imagine so will anyone else who is actually reading this! This segment is the first upon which he's worked so don't blame him for the many, many errors above. Actually don't blame him for ny errors below either - Even if he finds 99% of my mistakes that will still leave plenty left for the readers to find.
Second, below is not the full installment and actually cuts off at a less then prferred spot... The rest isn't quite finished being editing yet but I was getting restless to post and rather than put pressure on Typo who is being so kind I instead decided to just post the partial. If nothing else, I wanted to let anyone who is reading know that this story is not abandoned and will continue as frequently as I can force myself to write...
Third, as always feel free to give me any commentary you wish, pro or con...

And with that, on with the story!))



Daybreak Alpha: Journal Entry

After putting a stop to the bank job the Lost and Echidna had been trying to pull off, my emotions were on fire with exhilaration and I was floating on quite the high. Before I even knew it, I was volunteering my services to the PPD and lending a hand with everything that came up that I could get to in time. I ran my butt ragged what with crisscrossing Steel Canyon non-stop, and taking down everything from purse snatchers to a trio of Freakshow that had the balls to carjack a van belonging to Crey Corporation.

Most of it was little more than showing up and putting the smack-down on lowlife thugs. Getting there was often more tiring than the fights, but a couple of the battles had been touch and go for a bit.

Truthfully, the hardest part was often the decisions I had to make: Do I put a stop to this Troll playing tug of war with an innocent woman over her purse or do I rush right past in order to more quickly respond to a breaking and entering call at a private home? Should I assist with the call about the possible jumper standing atop one of the cities many towering skyscrapers or do I instead answer the call about the gang fight between the Skulls and the Hellions?

I guess I had never thought on it much but I had always assumed the gig of a superhero would be pretty straightforward – Spot the bad guys. Beat up the bad guys. Go home and celebrate. Turns out there is a hell of a lot more moral ambiguity about the job than I ever imagined. Once you realize that crime literally never stops; that there is always a wrong to be righted; or a life to be saved, you start feeling selfish for even taking time to sleep, nonetheless having a personal life or taking a night off. All this was just starting to dawn on me.

Most of my decisions that night turned out alright, or at least unremarkable, but responding to the gang fight instead of the jumper was going to gnaw at me. The fight turned out to involve nothing but two different bunches of suburban poser wannabes trying to act tough and cool while hurling insults at each other from opposite street corners. Either I’m getting older a lot quicker than I realize or the eldest of the group was 14 and should have been in bed hours ago if they had parents who actually did their jobs. Most scattered as soon as I got on scene. Three hung in there and walked up to me and tried to start giving me attitude. Once I energized my armor’s gauntlets and let them glow with power, even these three little braves realized they had curfews and hightailed it away.

The jumper, on the other hand; well, it turned out it wasn’t just a possibility. I don’t think I even want to know why someone would swan-dive off a fifty story building, and what could have gone so wrong in their life that suicide seemed a viable option. Then again, maybe I knew already. Until I had settled my mind on figuring out a way to avenge the death of Wendy, I myself had had some even darker thoughts after waking up in the hospital with half my body missing. It wasn’t something I tried to think about much, but still I knew I would be scanning the news reports in the days to come to see what details emerged about the jumper.

Another bad decision involved the Freakshow carjacking. I couldn’t help but respond to that one once I heard that the vehicle belonged to Crey Corp. It was their Powered Armor Battle Suit I was wearing, after all. It wasn’t loyalty that demanded I respond however, I had never been comfortable about the corporation ever since I woke up in that hospital bed with their cybernetics replacing half my body and with their chips implanted in my head. My distrust of them had only grown since I signed up with them to wear this armor and try to win them Paragon Police Department's next contract to build Powered Armor for the boys in blue. The other heroes I occasionally ran into and talked with had some mighty disquieting things to say about Crey - so no, it wasn’t loyalty, but rather my own self-interest.

In a very real sense the armor I was wearing was stolen goods. Sure, my job was to pilot it for Crey Corp in the Daybreak Patrol to showcase it for the PPD but I had no license to use it outside the Patrol, in fact, I was under strict orders not to. Yet here I was scouring the streets and smacking down criminals with it anyway. Go figure. I knew there’d be no way to hide this little bit of moonlighting from them so when I heard the call about the carjacking I figured perhaps me capturing the scum who had done it and recovering their goods might just be enough to keep me out of their doghouse.

Needless to say, things didn’t go exactly according to plan.

Barely aware I was even doing it; I listened in to the Police band and fed the street names the squad car in pursuit of the van was giving to the dispatcher into my internal computers. They in turn plotted the chase out on a city map, calculated the quickest possible route I could take to intercept and continually made adjustments as the fleeing carjackers made seemingly random turns trying to lose the pursuit. It was almost scary how natural my interface with the computers was while I wore the suit, how automatic the interactions were.

Mentally kicking on the speed boosters which allowed me to run at amazing speeds, I cut through backyards, hopped fences, and even at one point jumped off an overpass to land amongst what must have been very startled traffic and eventually made my way to within visual sight of the pursuit. Just as I took a moment to consider the best way to assist, a bolt of electricity shot out of the back of the van and struck the police car pursuing it. The driver of the cop car must have panicked for it immediately started fishtailing and did a full 360 before sideswiping a bunch of parked cars and coming to a stop. Before I had to decide between checking on injuries and continuing after the stolen van I could see the cops climbing out of their squad car and staring after the fleeing subjects. My computers still had an active trajectory which would allow me to intercept the van, but if it got out of sight, I would likely lose it for good, so I took off after it with a vengeance.

Trying to tackle a speeding van is not a good idea. It is, in fact, a bad idea. A very bad idea.

Looking back at it, I would have been smart to leap up onto the roof of the vehicle. Even though my armor is not particularly agile, I would have been able to get up there and since it is quite strong I should have been able to punch through the roof and keep myself from sliding off. I then could have used my other arm to tear a bigger hole and drop right down into the van itself. Sure they would have heard, if not seen me coming and possibly had time to prepare - yeah, if I actually had, I wouldn’t have been hit by the freaking van doing 60mph!

Still, what’s done is done. What was done was a lot of pain to myself and a complete system crash for my Powered Armor. I knew from simulations as well as regular software updates that my systems could reboot in under a minute under optimal conditions. These conditions? Less than optimal. So I lay trapped in the tin can cage praying they would be back in 50 seconds or so, but fearing that they wouldn’t come back online at all. At least not in time to do me any good.

With such a complete system failure I was blind - literally. The suit was light tight and all visuals came from sensors, scanners, cameras and the like. The armor was airtight as well, but I had been assured on numerous occasions that I had at least a good 30 minutes of viable air inside the suit in case of emergency; that is assuming one trusted Crey Corporation technicians. My cochlear implant, while patched into the armor, was one of my own cybernetics and was still operating. It was impeded by being encased in a metal tube (which is all my armor was at this point), but it provided better than normal hearing at all times and I was a good 70 percent certain that I heard a crash after the van had sent me flying. At this point, my best hope was that the freaks in the van crashed into a building and all died on impact.

C’mon, reboot you *******, I said aloud within my suit as I laid there motionless and useless. Hurry the frig up and reboot! With my cybernetic hearing I heard what I was pretty sure was a door being pounded on and eventually opening with a complaining squeal. I started colorfully cursing my armor, my stupidity and the whole chain of events which landed me sealed up in the useless tube of metal even as I heard the sound of hesitant footsteps falling on broken glass.

“Goddamned capes!” I heard someone scream out. “Always interfering. Always!” I didn’t wear a cape myself but I was pretty sure he was referring to me.

My mental heads up display twinkled into life even as I heard the first crackle of loose electricity outside my armor. “Hurry up, dammit!” I growled as I could do nothing but watch the rebooting sequence play out in my head.

To say I felt the electricity shock through me is a thousand-fold understatement. While the metals of my suit may be conductors there are several layers of insulation between it and my body. Not being a technological genius or even having taken no more than basic high school science, I don’t know if the insulations need the armor to be active or not but the electricity that shot through me made me wonder if I wasn’t strapped to an electric chair instead of laying in a street in the Canyon.

Then again, perhaps the insulation is designed to protect the suit’s systems more than the operator for the rebooting process didn’t seem to flicker at the onslaught.

“This’ll show you,” the voice said from somewhere nearby and I was jolted again and the pain was just simply indescribable. I thought my body would be cooked in its own juices - possibly that I’d just simply explode. Still, the reboot was 87 percent complete.

“You two better crawl the hell out of there quick if you want a piece of this guy ‘cause I am going to fry him but good!” the voice yelled, presumably to his pals still in the van.

Reboot 94 percent complete.

I heard the third jolt of electricity powering up before I felt the pain and anguish of it flowing through me. I screamed so loud within my suit it’s a wonder I didn’t make myself go deaf. I’d have wanted to die right then if the reboot wasn’t now 98 percent complete.

“Seriously guys, you better come take your shots now. I’m not even sure this cape is still breathing as it is.”

Reboot Complete.

Initializing.

ARGH!!!!

“Hey guys? You coming or what?” I heard footsteps on the broken glass again. I was afraid it might be wishful thinking but I was pretty sure they were walking away from me this time.

Initialized.

Systems Powering Up.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon….”

“Hey guys? You two coming? You two alright?”

Systems Active.

Well, it was about friggin time!

Slowly and as quietly as I could, I climbed back to my feet. I quickly spotted the crashed van, it had gone head first into the corner of one of Steel Canyon’s many skyscrapers and the skyscraper won that battle. The front end of the van was accordioned all the way back to the front seats, steam was rising from where I could only assume the engine now sat. Various fluids were pouring out of the undercarriage. As for the Juicer Freak who had so enjoyed lighting me up like a Christmas tree, he was leaning inside the smashed side passenger window, presumably checking on his “guys.”

I mentally checked my defensive systems. Good to go. Offensive systems were also online. There was an annoying buzz of static somewhere deep in the mid part of my brain that I hoped signaled the failure of one of the lesser systems rather than damage to one of my implants, or worse, my brain; but for now there was little to do but try to ignore it. As for what shape my own body was in, that would be determined once I could strip off this armor and check myself out. I knew that everything hurt. Hurt a lot. So far though, everything seemed to be intact and working.

“Guys? Guys, wake up! Seriously!”

It was almost touching how upset the Freak seemed about the condition of his gang mates. OK, not really, but it was surprising.

I got a good look at him as I slowly approached; ready for him to remember me at any moment but hoping I could get nice and close first. He had what appeared to metal poles sticking out from his shoulders, a metal ball atop each and electricity jumping back and forth from ball to ball. There were electrical wires, electrode and emitters sticking out of his flesh, even from his head, and buzzing with electrical energy.

I knew little of the Freakshow. I had always intended to review and even study the PPD’s files on them since I knew I would undoubtedly run up against them sooner or later, but I had always put it off. Even without the review, I knew that they all had mechanical and cybernetic implants to various degrees. It seemed like they were crazy with them, addicted to them. A part of me had always wondered how they had gotten started down that road, how they found new recruits, but a larger part of me obviously didn’t want to know. Perhaps that larger part was afraid it would identify with them too closely.

I was a freak myself, wasn’t I? I needed my mechanical implants, my cybernetics to survive. They were put in by qualified experts. There were a million differences. Weren’t there?

As with so many other questions I found myself asking as I walked down this path of pseudo-cop/superhero/seeker of vengeance, I pushed them aside and decided to answer them another time.

“Guys! You can’t be dead, guys! We don’t die. Not really. Guys? Guys??”

“Excuse me,” I said after mentally flipping on the speakers which broadcast my voice outside my armor. “Perhaps I can be of some assistance?”

The Juicer Freak turned toward me with a look of relief on his face. My fist replaced it even before it could dawn on him that I wasn’t offering the kind of assistance he wanted. He dropped and dropped hard.

“That’s it?” I thought to myself as I looked at his unconscious body. That’s all he had?

Even as I asked that, the electricity started crackling once more from his body and started to rise back to his feet. I didn’t wait for him to get back to his senses, I lent him the assistance of my fists in his face again and again and again until I was sure he wasn’t going to snap back awake, wasn’t going to crackle back to power, and pop back up to his feet.

Haven't gotten too involved with the RP on the forums or in game yet (mainly due to writing my mains story and, well, learning/playing the game as well as just not stumbling across Rp much since I have tended to be on mission maps mostly) but I'm thinking I like Union's way better... If I'm going to involve my main in something I'd going to adapt it both on the forums and in game.

But then again, I think virtue's way allows a certain amount of freedom (and possibilities for just good old fun) that Union doesn't since one can go off the wall on the forums but keep their in game RP "straight laced" for lack of a better phrase.

All in all, I suppose one I do jump into the RP with more than Alpha's backstory I'd probably adopt the Union way for my mains that I take seriously and opt for Virtue's stance with my more "throwaway" toons.