Ravenswing

Seven shrugged. "Perhaps I need more hard-hitting repartee." Fairly convinced that she was wasting her time, but at least happy he wouldn't be dodging much, Seven unloaded a string of rapid-fire kicks at Edward's head and upper body. (Usual array of MA strikes, the odd stun, an immobilise that sucks, that kind of thing.)

Aha... rather Marvel-ish then... The Outsider, wasn't it? Possibly one of the suckiest storylines I ever saw Marvel write. Your story can't possibly be worse at least.

There was a moment of confusion showing on Seven's face as her positional sensors followed the arrow's arc. Then her face brightened. "Oh... I get it..."

Ignoring the debate and taking the thing at face value:

Jason Caine would tell the looney to get lost, he doesn't like gods. If said looney kept it up for any length of time, or it was affecting one of his 'loved ones', Jason would arrange to call in sufficient beings of godlike power to trash the moron. He has connections. It'd cost him, in spades, but he'll stop at more or less nothing to protect people he cares about.

War Crow... would probably trip over into his own god-mode, destroying the world and the godlike entity.

Nitoichi would be one of the mindless chanting people. She's a normal human with a lot of self-taught powers. Pretty much the same is true of Velvet.

All in all, don't use my characters as examples, they tend to either be normal people, or the kind of people who you don't want messing about with your god plot, or fiction. If you plan to use anyone else's characters in your story, I suggest you make darn sure you have permission, and a plot twist where it all turns out to be a horrible nightmare would be a good idea.

Theoretically. We wait and see.

Once upon a time, we thought the Arenas would be excellent settings for RP, but in those days Roleplaying was considered by some at Cryptic to be the absolute last thing to consider when doing design work.

Seven turned as the Skulls fell. "It appears that Doctor Johnson wishes to win the challenge." She decloaked, stepping forward, quite aware that Edward could probably level her with a single punch. "Good morning, Doctor. I do hope that you have kept well since our last encounter. I am sure you be happy to know that Ms Stoneberg has been freed from incarceration."

Personally, I don't RP missions much. The most successful ones work when everyone is all action a lot of the time and a bit of idle chatter goes in when resting.

Plus, RP can be just playing your character out. We had one guy that insited on tackling computer terminals, because he was the tech expert.

I do most of my RP at the Galaxy Girl statue, where you can play out actually being a person, rather than a lot of power descriptions.

Seven put a sub-process on writing a thesis on the strange strategies heroes appeared to use for coping with stressful situations. A bullet whined past her left ear, and she spun, executing an elegent Scorpion Kick to the gunman. "I learned that watching The Matrix," she informed the falling man, but she suspected he was ill fit to appreciate the remark.

Her analysis of Crash's gunshot wound indicated that it would be painful, but not debilitating. She would determine whether first aid was required at a more appropriate moment.

Turning, she identified more targets, optimised the path between them, and set off.

[ QUOTE ]
"Anyone keeping count?"

[/ QUOTE ]

"I was unaware that there was a scoring system," Seven's voice issued from the dispersing smoke, "but I can review my core memory afterwards and calculate rough counts if required." *Thud, thud*

Post deleted by GhostRaptor

Within the cloud of smoke, unhindered by it thanks to the infra-red vision mode on her visor, Seven quietly began felling Skulls. She registered a shape outside the cloud as it passed, but largely ignored it. She designated a sub-process to searching for an image match.

Axe kick, roundhouse, one went down to a couple of swift jabs to the jaw, but when the fist behind it has an impervium alloy skeleton, it has to hurt.

By now the smoke was thinning, but Seven just kept on going, thinning out the ranks and trusting to Arrow and anyone else out there to do their own jobs.

[ QUOTE ]
"About sixteen in total... wait, eighteen, two of them are -really- short... and they've got some girls waiting nearby."

[/ QUOTE ]

"I'll never understand the gropies," Seven said, totally unaware of the mistake, and stepped out to join Arrow. She looked at the gathering crowd. "Do you happen to have something wide area and somewhat disabling in that quivver?"

She switched her optical camouflage back on and took off, leaping toward the crowd of oncoming Skulls.

If you can't handle 30 seconds wait, you need to re-assess your priorities in life.

And we did explain why it's as long as it is.

Fighting Fantasy books were not exactly lacking in popularity. Some people still use them for RPG scenarios. Run with it, says I.

"I believe the correct term is 'incredibly foolish display of mental instability,' Arrow." She located some cuffs at the back of her belt and attached the Skull to his shopping trolley. "I believe that should hold you for long enough that the uniforms can take care of the issue.

A sound made her turn, and she spotted movement in the back of the shop. Cutting over to light-intensification, she spotted anothe Skull, hiding, pulled her tazer and launched a pair of darts, trailing wires behind them, into the man's shoulder. He jumped up, twitching violently and trying to speak, but all he could really manage was to raise his middle finger at the operative.

Seven clapped her hand to her mouth and what she hoped looked like mock surprise. "Shocking!" she said.

[ QUOTE ]
360 days for all the day job badges? erhhmm what? maybe thats abit too long

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably not much longer than trying to get the Illusionist badge.

I've always said (and some PvPers even agreed) that half of the restrictions only need to apply to rated matches anyway.

Seven shook her head. "They still sound better coming from you. I will examine the deliver variation and attempt to enhance my socialisation routines."

The Skull looked at the two of them as if they had both gone entirely off the deep end.

4:05

The cab of the Skull's truck collapsed under her considerable weight as Seven landed on it. She back-flipped off onto the road and engaged her optical camouflage systems.

"What the f-" the nearest Bonedaddy began, just before Seven's foot hit his jaw. He went down like... well, like a sack of bones. Three TV sets hit the ground almost simultaneously, their screens imploding with a trio of dull thuds, spraying glass over the sidewalk.

"Cease and desist all criminal activity immediately and prepare to be taken into custody." Three Skulls took aim in the direction the voice had come from and opened fire, but by now Seven was behind them. They went down almost as fast as their boss had. Several remaining skull-masked buffoons took the hint and ran for it.

Seven stepped through the shattered window and planted a hand on the shoulder of the one Skull remaining, who happened to have found a loading trolley and was backing through the debris with four sets in boxes balanced on the platform. "I'm sorry," she said, "this edition of Supermarket Sweep has ended and your prise is a one way trip to Ziggursky Penitentiary." She paused as the dumbfounded Skull looked at her. "What?" she said. "I understand I have some work to do on these witticisms, but I thought that one worked quite well."

Seconded, but not with any hope.

Even if I used the Arena last night for roleplay, that was mostly because I wanted PvP available if required. I wrote the Arenas off for RP when they announced that maps would be randomly selected and haven't been bothered about them since.

[ QUOTE ]
I thought the logout delay was to stop people starting a fight, realising they can't win then logging out to prevent a defeat. Your character stays ingame for that 30 seconds.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty much exactly what the reason is, yes. It's nothing technical, it's a social rule. If it was technical, there would be no Exit Now button when you logout to desktop.

Unity Tower, Skyway City, Saturday, October 11th, 3am

Annette turned over, slipping her slim legs from the bed and standing. She looked back to the bed, to the pool of blonde hair, the shapely back, the tanned skin. She's asleep, don't sweat it. Sure? Quite sure, I don't see what the problem is anyway. I don't want her involved, not yet. Your choice.

She slipped silently across the carpeted door and out into the lounge. She really needs to tidy up once in a while. Tell me about it. Annette cleared a space on the floor and sat down. Okay, here we go...

Meditation had always been easy for her, and she had spent long hours in her own mind, working to build her defences. Now she stepped in and opened everything up, all the doors, all the walls. There was nothing but darkness all around her until Nitoichi stepped out of the shadows. They sat down, in lotus position, facing each other.

"So, what do we do now?" Ni asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me, you seem to be in charge."

"Ha! You think so?" Ni grinned and leaned back, propping herself on her arms.

"You've been running around doing pretty much whatever you want."

"When you sleep, or let me out. Or let go." Ni smiled bleakly. "If you call that 'in charge' then I guess I am. I guess we talk. You learn to be more like me, and I learn to be more like you."

"And we meet in the middle. Okay. Where do we start?" Annette looked at Ni, and Ni looked back.

"Confidence," Nitoichi said suddenly, sitting up straight. "That's your real problem, it's always been your problem."

Annette nodded. "Yes, so... I've lacked confidence since I was a kid. I was fat..."

"You were never fat. You were plump, you didn't have much body definition. You were so not fat. See, that's my point, you're shy, you lack confidence in yourself. You always excused the fact that you just didn't want to talk to people by saying you were fat and they weren't interested." Ni sounded just a little angry and Annette began to lean back, unconsciously. "And that changed before you left school. Last couple of years of high school there were guys absolutely crawling all over you..."

"There so were not!" Annette broke in, looking offended.

"Jerry Manaheim, Darren Barker, Phil... whatever-his-name-was, there was even that jock, the football quarterback..."

"Gary? Gary Martlett? That was so going nowhere, he was, like eight inches shorter than me!"

"Hardly the point. They were there, and you were sunk into mental training and teaching yourself how to swing swords, and having a 'higher purpose.' Hell, look at what you decided to do to make ends meet, I mean, how geeky can you get? Shop assistant in a comic store? You might as well have painted a big sign on your chest saying 'not interested in relationships.' They'd have all seen it, they started being unable to look you in the face when you hit sixteen."

Annette hung her head. "Okay, okay, I'm a wallflower. What do we do about it?"

"Start listening to people? Lin, Richard, Dinah... Dinah, now there's a case in point. I mean, look at her." Ni raised her head and waved her arm in a somewhat over-dramatic and unnecessary motion. A patch of light appeared off to her right, the 'floor' of their dark, inner mindscape became the flagstones of the Galaxy Girl plaza, and on them stood Dinah Ewers.

Both girls looked at her as her image played out. She was walking. Just walking, nothing more. Even in this simple action she was all confidence, all dignity. Every movement showed her body off to perfection. Her hips swayed, her feet following a line which exaggerated the swaying into something both ladylike and erotic all at once. Poetry in motion, as the song said.

"She woke up in a swamp," Ni said, "with plants growing out of her. She learned to harness all of that, and she can do amazing things, but that's not what gives her power. She's learned to make her body into a weapon that's sharper than our swords. It's all down to confidence, and it's all learned."

"I can't do what she does," Annette scoffed. "She's... she's just, Dinah. I've not had her training, her life experience. I don't think I want either."

"You don't need it, ditz! But you can learn from her. You started. You went shopping and you bought that red dress. It took her ages, but you bought it. And you felt good wearing it, didn't you?" Annette nodded in reply and Ni grinned. "You enjoyed the attention, for the first time in years... first time ever. And now look how you're treating those kids in the shop. You're a damn hero, girl! They read about heroes all the time and when they get to meet a real one down the comic shop, she's a mouse. You'll shatter all their illusions."

"I'm not a hero, Ni," Annette replied, almost automatically. "You're the hero."

"I'm a psycho, girly. If I didn't have you to keep me in check I'd have been locked in the Zig by now. I don't take prisoners, I don't defeat criminals, I carve things up. The only time you can really let me off my chain is when we're fighting non-sentients, or it's really life-or-death."

"The Hellion..."

"Yeah, him, for example. The fight at the Towers on Wednesday. We didn't hurt any of those girls Richard has been looking after, y'know? I think we were trying to help them, actually, just before everything 'ported out. You can probably access the memories, if you want. I'm not hiding them any more."

"I'll do that... later."

"Frightened to find out what I've been up to?" Annette blushed slightly in response to the question. "Oh... want to be 'alone' for Thursday night with Lin? Fair enough."

Unconsciously, both girls turned to watch the image of Dinah again. She was sitting now, her posture perfect, a precise model of ladylike elegance, but with that added touch or erotic energy just waiting to be unleashed. "So, I let myself be more like you again," Annette said, "and I learn a few things from Dinah..."

"And I stop pretending you can't do without me and let myself go back to being the little sub-personality you draw on when you need to be a bit more of a cold, callous, heartless..."

"You aren't heartless! You might not be the glorious, perfect heroine like Lin, but you're not heartless. If you are, then I am, and I don't believe that." There was a hard edge to Annette's voice that stopped Ni in her tracks.

"Now..." Ni began. "Now, that's more like it. If you'd talked to me like that after the Samantha business we probably wouldn't be in this mess."

Annette grinned, a little amazed at her own reaction. Then her face straightened, her expression bleak. "Ni?"

"Yes, Annette."

"I'm not... You're not going to fade away are you? I'm not going to lose you?"

Ni blinked, looking surprised. "I guess I'll go if you don't need me any more."

Annette smiled. "Good, 'cos that's never going to happen. I like having you there to poke fun at me."

"Okay, I'll stay." Ni suddenly grinned a little mischievously. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you let me poke fun at Lin sometimes as well."

Annette giggled. "Deal," she said, and the 'room' faded into total blackout.

Annette opened her eyes, took in a long breath through her nose, and allowed it to escape slowly through her open mouth. She did not need a clock to tell her that it was almost five in the morning. She stood and stretched. Joints popped.

"Is everything all right, Annette?" The voice came from what Annette assumed to be hidden speakers, but appeared to just float out of the air. It was quite low, BODICIA obviously did not wish to risk waking Linda in the next room.

"Dinah ask you to keep an eye on me, BODI?" she responded.

"I keep an eye on everything, Annette. You are not one to normally sit stock still in the middle of the floor for over an hour in the middle of the night. Also, your breathing and heart rate fell to abnormal levels. If it was not for my observation of your previous meditation sessions, I might have woken Linda and called paramedic drones."

Annette grinned. "I always knew I had good autonomic controls, but it's nice to have it confirmed. I'm fine, BODI. I just needed to have a long talk with Nitoichi."

"I was under the impression that you were Nitoichi, Annette."

"No... not quite, but we're getting there. Night, BODI, I'm going to get a bit more sleep."

"Goodnight, Annette. And say goodnight to Nitoichi for me, we do not want her feeling left out." There was a little edge of humour in the AI's voice, as if she was fooling with Annette.

"She won't be, BODI," Annette replied sleepily. "Not ever."

Not really... it's finished.

12:07-ish

Annette blinked in the smoke and looked around at the chaos. She could not really remember much of what had just happened, an found herself wondering where Linda was.

"Oh boy... someone's got a lot of sweeping to do," she muttered and then touched her finger to her ear. "BODI, if you've got a second, do you happen to know where Liberty Girl has got to?"

As she waited for a responce, she headed toward Unity Tower... or what was left of it.

Was wondering that myself.