Rebel_Scum

Alright, fair enough. Sorry for assuming. And the D on Virtue is just as bad at times, just so you know. In my experience, such people don't tend to make it as far as the forums. They're fun to mess with ingame though, I find challenging them to arena matches or just invoking the D's 'no violence' thing makes them go away quickly enough.

Interestingly though the Chalet at Christmas isn't that bad, or at least I don't remember it being bad. Did have a lot of fun rounding up as many masterminds as we could find and seeing how many pets we could stuff into the gazebo just below the main chalet though.

I remember that, though I don't think I was involved in the thread. If I recall correctly it sparked a massive argument in one of the OOC threads too. Personally I wouldn't take one person and one incident and label a whole group with it, but some people would. On both sides of the Atlantic.

Dammit, now I have to go dig up that thread and see who that was cause I don't remember.

I'm not forcing anything on anyone, my apologies if I sounded like I was. Always been bad at translating thoughts into words, it's a failing of mine. I do have to wonder though, if the characters were to actually run into each other ingame and I'm acknowledging forum RP while you're not, what happens? Unstoppable force vs immovable object, universe implodes?

Why is that a surprise? We're not big bad wolves over here, you know. We don't (or at least try not to) do that to each other, why would you think we'd suddenly go back on that and do it to you? Differences in RP style aside of course, I know I personally exaggerate things a little more than I should when writing sometimes.

I guess I'm just kind of miffed that no one thought to mention it to those of us not on Union. I know it probably wasn't the intention, but it sends a bad message. Here was I thinking we'd actually taken up that whole 'one game, one server list' thing.

I can't help but wonder, if there were RPers here from, say, Defiant, would you assume them to be non-canon as well?

"Oh", Ildela replied, pulling a small notepad and pen out of a pocket in her armor and placing a note explaining such on one of the Skulls before teleporting the three of them. "Alright then... next time, if there is a next time, you might consider making it so that you can just pull it off like you did on your end."

Ildela paused for a moment, blinking. "Ok... that's weird. Just saying." She could of course still see him, sort of. More specifically she could see the energy that made up his lifeforce - dispersed as it was he appeared in her vision as almost a cloud of ambient energy. Even moreso as she couldn't see the physical components that held that energy. "Anyway. Follow me", she instructed before again flying up to just above the rooftops. She stopped there and looked back at him, mostly to see how fast he got up to her so she'd know how fast she could go without losing him.

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Meanwhile, back with the other one...

Stealthily enough that Ildela never noticed them leaving. She continued to wait for a response from the other guy.

Some people do this on Virtue too, though it's less common than on Union. I personally do, and many of the other forum RPers maintain at least some continuity between forum RP and ingame RP. The main reason for the seperation between forum and ingame is a lot of people who RP on the forums don't even play on Virtue, let alone RP there. Creates problems when it comes to continuity.


As for villains coming out of the woodwork... if they operated out in the open the heroes would've caught them already!

Ildela of course had no way of receiving those transmissions, at least not currently with her anyway. Nor would she probably receive them if she did have such a device, as they weren't aimed at her and they were encrypted regardless. Suffice to say, she heard nothing of it. What she did hear however was the loud metallic clang of the suddenly appeared hero? landing right in front of them.

"And, you are...?", she asked, forgetting for the moment that she and her alien companions were all still invisible and thus the sudden voice from nowhere might give him the wrong idea. Or perhaps she did it on purpose to freak him out, it'd hardly be the first time.

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"Ildela", the woman replied simply, not answering his first question right away in favor of going over to the unconscious Skulls and quietly checking their vitals. Well, checking for a pulse mostly. She wasn't really trained enough to do much more. Noting the still attached tendrils, she looked back at him over her shoulder. "I'm assuming it's safe to just pull that out?", she asked to confirm, just in case it wasn't.

Assuming however that she got an affirmative in reply, she'd calmly pull it out of all three of them before applying a small tag to each one. The Skulls would then disappear one by one under presumably some sort of teleport effect. Some time later, the staff at the Zig would be somewhat confused by three Skulls arrested by a hero who didn't exist. "Right then", she said, standing up. "Portal Corp. Umm..." She looked around, but that was unhelpful as they were surrounded by buildings. Muttering an expletive under her breath, she lifted into the air and shot upwards to look around from above roof height and see where they were, exactly.

"Come on, train's that way", she informed him once she'd come back down, gesturing in the direction of said train as she spoke. "You have any form of travel power, or are we going to have to walk?"

That very definitely surprised the woman, and it showed. She was visibly taken aback by the man suddenly being so reasonable. And not only that, but also having demands that weren't entirely out of the question and the explanation of what he was doing sounding also mostly reasonable. What the hell kind of villain was he? Perhaps not a villain at all? Still, she couldn't help but be untrustful. Something about him just struck her as slightly off. But then, alternate dimension. Of course he was going to be slightly off, he came from an entirely different world - possibly literally in more ways than one.

"Ok... I won't pretend to understand all the fancy words in there cause I don't, but from what I do understand it sounds like you're essentially probing their minds, to put it in simple terms. Just using that instead of psychic stuff like most people do when they do stuff like that. In which case, go right ahead. Just be aware if you're lying I'm still going to arrest you." She paused for a couple of seconds before adding, "And out of curiosity, need to go back where and finish what exactly?" Depending on the specifics of the gateway he required she might even be able to help him with that, she thought. But said nothing of it without knowing said specifics, no sense in getting the guy's hopes up.

"Aww!", came the immediate response, probably somewhat unexpectedly. "But no one's tried to bind me for years! It'd be fun!" Exactly how it'd be fun, who knew. Again, probably never to be found out as the next event struck too quickly after the last.

Ildela promptly vanished from sight, much as the various armor suits did. Hers however was more than a simple optical cloak, should they look they would quite likely notice she'd vanished off their sensors as well. More likely thought they wouldn't even think to look, being more preoccupied with the descending drone. Which looked like a fair bog-standard battle drone to her. No threat at all to her, let alone to the four people present as a group. "Relax, it's harmless. Mostly."

"Same planet, different dimension... got it", Ildela answered, finally moving to get up. "Least I'm still close enough... might be able to get a signal through, if I'm lucky..." What she was talking about however both remained unknown and became irrelvent however, at the very next moment just as she got to her feet. Thankfully without any of the sounds or sudden pains that'd indicate something broken inside.

"Wha... Oh, right. Yeah, I guess", she answered, sounding mildly exasperated. "Would you mind not pointing that at me? Really, if I had any inclination to attack, steal your soul or whatever it is you think I'm going to do, I would've done it when there was only one of you. Since I didn't..." In her mind at least, the logical assumption thus derived would be that she had no such inclination. Of course, aliens rarely saw things the same way humans did. And regardless of what she'd become since, Ildela still thought much the same as a human. A more than slightly erratic (Some would say crazy.) one, but human none the less.

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Yeah, that counted as hesitation. She was still tempted to blast him what with that look in his eye, but he didn't seem to be outright attacking right away so she gave him the benefit of the doubt and paused to hear what, if anything, he had to say.

"Ok, lemme just correct you on one thing there", the woman answered, interupting while he was silent for a moment. "I've been here before. I'm from Praetoria, originally, but I've been living here for years now. I'm a registered hero of this city as much as any other, I can even show you the fancy ID card if you really want it. So yes, I have every right to order you to cease and desist if I think you're breaking a law, which I do. And I have every right to subdue you with all necessary force if you refuse." She didn't mention that the Paragon she lived in and the Paragon they were currently in might not be precisely the same. But it looked the same to her so she assumed the differences wouldn't be too major.

"What do I propose?", she asked, with more than a little surprise. Not often one encountered a villain who actually talked rather than opening fire on sight with whatever powers they posessed. "What I propose is you work with the system, rather than against it. Sure, you don't want to wait five months for whatever. I can understand that, I was never much for patience either. But would you rather spend five years in prison, instead? Cause that's where this is going to end if you keep it up, whether it's me or someone else that brings you in. Impatient or not I can't help but think I'd go for the first option, if it was me."

She paused to breathe before continuing, a bad habit of talking rather fast very much in evidence. "And before you start railing at me again, lemme explain a couple of things. The guys who you beat unconscious, they're Skulls. It's a fairly average street gang, around here. They tend to be violent, your basic lowlife scum that I probably would've beaten up if you hadn't. And I'd point out, if you have no allies or friends here does it not make logical sense to acquire one? Rather than yelling and screaming at me, tell me what you want. Hell, tell me what that little tendril of yours does, more importantly if it'll kill them or leave any permanent harmful effects. Who knows, I might even let you go ahead and do it."

The woman shrugged, the high-collared black cape she wore swishing about behind her as she moved. "Could've fooled me, they weren't moving much." Of course, now that she looked she could see - they were very much alive, she could see the energy, life-force, or whatever you cared to call it running through them, overlaid on their bodies in her vision like she had a build-in HUD. Which she didn't, but it was a similar effect. One of the little side-effects of her powers, one she'd learned to live with.

And while she was double-checking, he moved on.
"Ok... that, is disgusting", she commented, displaying an expression to match before continuing. "And I'd be willing to bet, illegal. So again... stop right there, before you do something you'll live to regret", she told him, clearly not expecting him to actually listen to her. Villains of all shapes and sizes never listened when told to stop, it was the one trait they almost universally all shared.

But still, she gave him a good five seconds to stop or at least show some sign of hesitation at her words before she'd lift a hand, and calmly blast him with what greatly resembled a lightning bolt, though it was a dark navy blue in colour rather than what one would normally expect of actual lightning. It would of course merely sting a little, but that wasn't its purpose. Its purpose was to disrupt his concentration on whatever he was doing with that tendril, by somehow packing enough concussive force to throw him off his feet and land him flat on his back.

And should that too fail, her next move would be to lift her other hand as well and this time fire a pair of the same not really lightning bolts at him. These however wouldn't hit him at all, instead curving impossibly around him to form a solid cage to confine him. The pair of gremlins for now stayed right beside her, but she was prepared to order them into combat if needed as well.

Ildela, in stark contrast, seemed far less concerned with her possible injuries. "Pssh. If I was hurt I'd feel worse than I do... wait. Alien in armor suit. Am I still on Earth?" The architecture looked about right, as she looked around. But the only other creature she was was the aforementioned alien in powered armor.

A better look at her, with normal eyes at least, would provide very little in the way of extra information. She didn't appear to have any external injuries beyond some fairly heavy bruising from the impact. One could logically assume that energy field that'd flashed into existence around her had absorbed or deflected most of the damage before disappearing again. High-tech scanners would confirm it was still there, simply invisible, but would be unable to locate a power source.

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At that, the woman turned and finally paid him some level of attention. With a faint electrical humming, a pair of humanoid creatures that appeared to be made entirely of lightning sprang into existence next to her. Much the same hum announced the creation of an aura of some form, expanding out along the ground from her feet. "Dude, I really hope you're not about to do something you might live to regret to those corpses...", she warned. It would be the only one he'd get.

To any device one cared to scan her with the woman appeared human in every way, with one notable exception. Anything that detected a distortion in spacetime, such as the holes in reality both people present had emerged from, they would see something rather interesting. The woman shouldn't exist. She should've simply vanished in a puff of logic years ago, but hadn't. Somehow, and the scanner likely wouldn't be able to tell exactly how, she was warping reality in close proximity to allow herself to even exist. The scanner would however confirm that the distortion around her was both safe to other entities and unrelated to the portal storm.

Her actual physical appearance, however, was somewhat more plain. Humans would probably consider her attractive, but not excessively so. She was dressed in a battered looking black trenchcoat that may at some point have had sleeves but certainly didn't now, the tattered remnants the only evidence of their former presence. Beneath it was a deep purple bandeau style top which left a good portion of her midriff bare. A silver studded black leather belt held up loose pants of the same colour... or held down, given her current position. Finally she wore a servicable pair of black boots that looked like they'd walked more than a few miles in their time. A thick crop of dull orange hair, currently tied back into two tails though some had escaped in the landing, kept the sun off her head.

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"No ****, Sherlock", the woman replied irritably. "Though they hate me almost as much as you primals, right now. Something about being caught sneaking around an orbital lab looking for documents no one's even supposed to know exist. They tend to take offense to that. Actually... What dimension is this? Gimme a Portal Corp designation, assuming you have a Portal Corp here." She appeared to either have not noticed Amatus at all, or be outright ignoring him in favor of consulting the drone that appeared to have more of a clue to what was going on.

And what happened next was that a second rift not unlike the one she'd just stepped through tore itself open nearby. But this one was different in one crucial property. It was anything but stable. In fact, it existed for a mere few seconds. Just long enough to form, expell a single flying figure, and seal itself up again. The figure in question promptly flew headfirst into the wall, an energy field of some kind flashing violently around her as it absorbed most of the impact.

She slid in an almost cartoonish manner down the wall to lie half against the wall and half on the ground, looking up at her surroundings. From her rather undignified position, they appeared to her to be upside down. The other present occupant of this alleyway went unnoticed, Ildela hardly being in the right frame of mind to be actively seeking out invisible people, enemies or otherwise, right now. "Who in the hell put that there...", she murmured to herself, not moving from where she'd landed. Whether she meant the rift she came through or the building she'd hit was unclear.

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Amatus may or may not have attacked the drone in response, but somone else certainly did. Well... perhaps 'attacked' wasn't the right word. What she actually did, as she came through apparently the same rift Amatus had fallen from, was run straight into the drone as she landed because she was looking behind her at the portal rather than in front of her at where she was going.

"As entrances go.... I've had better", she commented, untangling herself from the drone and getting up. She didn't at first even seem to notice there were others here. No, her primary concern at the moment was that the rift hadn't closed behind her and that the robots she'd been fleeing from would inevitably start spilling through at some point. "Why in the hell did I think that was a good idea...?", she asked of no one in particular. "Should've taken my chances with the mediporters."

(( If either of you object to being interrupted, yell and I'll edit to have them come out somewhere else. ))

Not really... the powerset is ice armor. If you want it to not look like ice, why are you making a character with ice armor? Perhaps another powerset would work better.

The only bit of focus we need on animals is fixing the glaring oversight in the animal pack which restricts the animal fur option to only monstrous gloves and smooth boots, respectively. They need to be available at the very least for smooth/bare gloves and flat boots, if not for all the various options that use the same textures.

This, I could get behind.

I wonder, would you have been willing to wait another however many months for I16 so they could do that? Or would you have joined the many others complaining that it was taking so long?

Good things take time. Be patient, last we heard they were planning on doing it at some point. Of course, if they could move that point forward a bit then they'd have my full support in doing so.