SlickRiptide

I've been wanting to do one of these palette heroes for awhile. First attempt - The Quantum Striker. Maybe later I'll get fancy like some of the folks here and do one of those montages from a half-dozen angles. *heh*

First lesson learned - Make sure your screen shot is saved as Targa, not JPEG format.

Wow! Are any of the old sci-fi rags still around? That's the sort of cover they'd hand to a writer and say "Give us a story about this."

Classic look. If Asimov's or one of those venerable old mags is still around, I'd submit it to them.

It wasn't really about Rikti specifically. The Internection stuff, for instance, has nothing to do with Rikti. When it got raised from the dead, I used the Rikti connection in the first post to expand on some characters that interested me from a story I'd published here and the posts after mine seem to have had a Rikti War theme in them someplace.

The original theme was "let's tell one or a series of events from different perspectives" or so I understood it when I made my contribution. It wasn't specifically "Let's do the Rikti War".

[ QUOTE ]

I cannot think of any definition of the word pervert that would make sense in this context.

[/ QUOTE ]

It WOULD technically be necrophilia...

[ QUOTE ]
Yes and no, anyone can find this joke funny. but it becomes a LOT more humorous when you know the backstory and history of the joke.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm afraid to ask... though I generally go with the credo that if you have to explain the joke...

Probably not attending Pax but certainly interested in any off-site M&G that happens.

[ QUOTE ]

I really wasn't sure what to make of your post Riptide. Wasn't sure if you were critiquing the art or calling me a sl-t :P
Which i'm not!


[/ QUOTE ]

Ha ha ha! I'm laughing for real right now!

Um, firstly, I separate people from their characters. If I WAS somehow making a statement about Rowr, it wouldn't be a statement about whoever's behind the alias Rowrsie. I don't know that person from Eve (Adam? )

Secondly, I don't really know anything about Rowr other than reading a few of your posts and seeing your art commissions over the years. Whether she is or isn't a **** (something I highly doubt) isn't within my purview. I was mostly suggesting that you can take the tiger out of the jungle but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger.

The rest was more a comment on the catgirl meme than on Rowr specifically. Anyway, if Rowr was to be tossed back into the jungle for good, I'd see her pulling off that bikini or whatever and saying "Welp! Don't need these any more!"

Consider that it was basically armchair art critique and that's pretty much the bottom line. Y impression of the piece was that it was focussing overly much on those attributes of Rowr that make her a sexual being as opposed to those attributes that make her a person. It was Mssr. Rhardo's fantasy, basically. Well, somebody's fantasy, anyway.

My age must be showing. It's interesting to me that so many of the posters in this thread are women who are saying "Tha's Sexay!" Well, I know a few of you wimmin avatars are wimmin behind 'em, anyway. *heh*

I personally don't find that pic all that "sexay". (40-some male speaking.) Rowr, especially "Skimpy Bikini Rowr", tends to get the pinup treatment anyway. Something like this, that is practically saying, um, "I am hot and bothered, please do something about it" is just too over the top.

It crossed the line between "hawt" and "teenage fantasy" at the point that Rowr's, uh, bosoms turned watermelon-sized. I don't think Rhardo neccesarily intended it that way. He got a little carried away with the proportions to start and then he tried that horizonal line on the bikini top to give it some depth or perspective and the result is um, well, let's just say that it's not quite as bad as David Nakayama's Dominatrix with the breasts bigger than her head.

I think he would have done better to bite the bullet and draw her "au natural", and used her fur to define and contour her shape. Of course, the whole bare skin stripe down the middle (that, intentionally or not, just accentuates the whole focus on Rowr's genitalia) may have been a misunderstanding of the character or maybe just an experiment that turned out to be not such a great idea in practice.

The challenge of a character like Rowr is that her sexuality is already fundamental. She's a cat girl. She's a tiger. We all know that those skimpy bikini's are just there for the sake of propriety and that she'd lose them in half-a-second if she was "released into the wild". That means that a really good depiction of her is one that draws your focus to her personality and lets the sexuality speak for itself. Making it this blatant just shows that the artist is zeroed in on the wrong aspects of the character, IMO.

[ QUOTE ]

So it's OK as long as it's part of the game. Phew.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't make that assumption, IMO. I'd ask for clarification. Here's why:

1) Rules excerpt that I didn't bother quoting the first time: "With the exception of those elements which are contained within the Selected Games and incorporated into your Video, your Video must NOT contain:
"

The word "elements", as used earlier in the rules, was a reference to graphical elements, not gameplay elements. It MIGHT refer to gameplay elements in this context, but it could as easily refer (as I read it initially) to the graphical elements referenced previously.

2) The list of prohibitions was not complete. It was just the most egregrious. For instance, the first two that I didn't list:

<ul type="square">[*] any dialogue or vocal effects from the Selected Game;
[*] any content which endorses or condones illegal drug use or alcohol abuse;[/list]
We don't have any recorded dialogue in the game, but if we did, it would be forbidden desipite being "a part of the game". Likewise, we have Superadyne junkies and dealers, and we have beer mug emotes, bars, and other alcohol-related elements that would get your film disqualified despite being "part of the game".

I really hope Zloth is right. I just would advise erring on the side of caution until Lighthouse or another official person gives a clarification. Contest rules judges are notoriously picky due to all of the legal ramifications of doing it wrong. If you're questionable, you're disqualified.

If it says "No destruction of property", I'd say that setting it in a mayhem mission is a likely to raise an eyebrow at the judges' table.

[ QUOTE ]

Actually Slick, after watching the video, I can confirm that, besides the transitions (and the Chinese take-out), that's all based of of in-game elements, either generated live or through a demo.

[/ QUOTE ]

They need to turn that talking hand thing into a real emote then. Where does that appear in the game?

On another note, is it me or does it seem a little ironic to be sponsoring a contest about superheroes/supervillains, whose theme is "Bring out your dark side,", and have rules that say you cannot use

<ul type="square">[*] any nudity, profanity or violence;[*] any display of physical injury, death or property damage or conduct or activity that could cause physical injury or property damage or that is reasonably likely to do so;[*] any... content that displays, appears to display, encourages or implies that any activity or conduct that is otherwise unacceptable in reality, has been or could have been involved;[*] any use (or display of use) of equipment, facilities or property... that would reasonably be considered unsafe; [/list]
Kinda lets out doing anything other than standing around talking. My heroes do at least a dozen unsafe things before breakfast...

Never mind then. I think I was reading the rules too strictly.

My advice is that you read the EULA closely and attempt to understand it rather than depend entirely upon answers here.

That said, this is a much discussed topic, though it may be a sign of the game's age that it's been awhile.

In a nutshell - The EULA says that City of Heroes is NCSoft's intellectual property. Anything created in City of Heroes is likewise their property. By creating a hero in the game, you consent to give NCSoft full rights to use your hero in any way they see fit without further compensating you for that use.

For instance, if they took it into their heads to publish another novel or maybe a new expansion to the CCG and include your hero in some fashion, they have the right to do that without having to ask your permission. The character belongs to them.

Now, if you have your own "original character" as you put it, and you choose to recreate that character in City of Heroes, your character becomes subject to the EULA. In this case, the EULA can't take away your rights to the character, because it already belongs to you (assuming you can show in some fashion that you really had created and used the character before its appearance in City of Heroes). However, the EULA DOES still grant the rights to use the character however NCSoft sees fit without your consent. By creating the character in game, you essentially grant them an unlimited, albeit non-exclusive, license to your character.

Historically, it has yet to be a problem for anyone that I know about. All that NCSoft really wants is to avoid a situation where, say, they show your hero in a cameo in the comic book (which happened a lot) and you then turn around and sue them for compensation for unlicensed use of your intellecutal property. They really aren't interested in stealing our character from you.

Fhyrstar must be an empath - I'm not sure how else she convinced herself to see the beauty beneath the beast's exterior. *heh*

I'm noticing that the Justice Knights are turning Sin Stalker into the hub of the Supergroup. If he turned up all dead for some reason, I expect they'd fall completely apart. Maybe future issues can deal with group members forming some real friendships (grudging ones, maybe, in the case of annoying head cases like Patman) beyond "I owe/love/respect Sin Stalker so I won't rip your head off. This time."

Good work! Let us know when Issue three is published.

FYI - Formatting like font faces and colors are specific to your word processor. If you paste here, all you'll get is the plain text.

It's easy to add formatting to your posting here, but you need to learn UBB code.

A simple example:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
this is italic
this is bold
[c0l0r:red] this is red [/c0l0r]
</pre><hr />

Will look like this on the forum:

this is italic
this is bold
this is red

Note that I cheated on the code example - I had to use zeroes instead of o's on the color example because the code block went ahead and interpreted the color code instead of displaying it. Doing it for real, you would go ahead and spell out the word "color" correctly.

Thanks for the encouragement and positive feedback.

I have to agree that Bobbie is mature for his age. I don't really think he has a heart of gold, so much as a fierce devotion to his home and family.

I was a bit puzzled by him, to be honest. He wasn't in my initial conception of the story. When he popped up, he was originally supposed to be a few years older and not much more than the local Fonzie who pronounced Captain Blastoff as "okay" when the neighborhoood toughs decided to hassle him. When push came to shove, however, he insisted on becoming something else altogther.

The survivor interview gave me a bit more insight into what makes him tick. The Rikti War forced him into a position of responsibility that he took seriously, and was barely prepared for. A lot of his world view comes from what glib remarks he remembers his father making, usually with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He's got a bit of skewed idea of the world and Life, but he tries to rise above it when he can afford to.

I think some bad things must have happened to him in the King's Row refugee camps during the war. He did some evil things for what he saw as good reasons, and built up a lot of pent-up anger as a defense mechanism; never mind the anger from the loss of his father. That carried over into his post-War life. When the Skulls moved in and solidified their hold over the Row, he became somewhat like The Operative character in Serenity - An outsider who does evil things for the greater good because someone has to do them, yet he feels that he himself is already too far gone to deserve any of those benefits he's trying to procure for those he cares about.

As for "greater good", that only applies to you if you live in his gang's turf. Everyone else can go hang themselves. Part of the conflict of his character is that he and his friends ARE a gang with all that implies. I think he may have some problems to deal with if Michael takes it into his head to start emulating him. For that matter, Michael may be his best bet to lead the gang according to his ideals when he and his friends eventually "retire". THAT's a tough thing for him to deal with, I think. The desire to see his work preserved and continued, versus the desire for Michael and Elizabeth to achieve "better" lives than his.

Yeah, it turns out he's rather more complex than the throwaway guy who was supposed to just smack his buddy in the back of the head for suggesting they go blow up cars while a hero was standing ten feet away. I imagine that's why he comes off the way he does. Whatever depth he has is only hinted at here. Maybe it'll be revealed more effectively down the road someplace. *heh*

Excellent! I'd judge that one of the best-written origin stories I've read. The Dark Watcher bait-and-switch was a nice bit of misdirection. I guess the foreshadowing about the new apprentice makes sense now. *heh*

[ QUOTE ]
Your certainly getting the speech rythmns and emotional content down quite well. Looks more professional than a lot of the novels out there these days. &lt;cheers&gt;

[/ QUOTE ]

(( If this was directed to me, then thank you! ))

*applaud*

((Oh, man! I had no clue this was another necro-thread! No wonder Damaa wasn't keeping track of it!

Oh, well, at least it gave me an idea for a High Park story.

The John Ballard radio program was entertaining. I liked the difficulty he had keeping his characters straight during the "interview". *heh* I was actually getting interested in E2.0's story at the end there! ))

Thank for the kind words.

Figured I'd pop in and say "Thanks for the spotlight!" I still enjoy reading that story, myself. *heh*

Accidental necro-post then. Well, if you're going to necro, at least you showed good taste.

I'm not one to normally "bump" a thread, especially my own stuff. However, this story was spotlighted in the City Scoop this week (Thanks, Mr. Grey!) and, in a strange and entirely unplanned coincidence (Seriously, it was serendipity) I had just last night posted a new story concerning the lives of some of the characters introduced here.

If you enjoyed Legacy of a Space Ranger, then you may find Survivor - Interview #1 to be interesting as well. It's a different format, as well as being rather shorter. *heh* There are no superheroes in it anywhere, though, so consider yourself forewarned.

Like every other author on the forums, I enjoy reading the feedback. I think we all hope to touch someone else enough that they'll put fingers to keyboard and say a few words, whether it's praise or criticism.

((This is a response to the original post. Hopefully, I didn't take too many liberties with Damaa's characters. Looking back to Damaa's original post, I see that I may have somewhat misinterpreted her(?) goal, but I was so pleased with how this came out that I'm posting it anyway. Bobbie Mercado and Marigold Madison and family were originally featured as supporting characters in Legacy of a Space Ranger. ))

* roll film *

* An empty chair is set in front of a backdrop of Paragon City. A young man of perhaps 19 or 20 years of age and dressed in jeans, tee-shirt, and leather biker's jacket walks in and flops into the chair. He looks around arrogantly.*

"So, what is this, some kinda documentary?"

*A muffled affirmative is heard off-camera*

"And you wanna hear about what I remember about the invasion?"

*another affirmative from off-camera, followed by a query *

"[irritated]Who am I? I'm Bobbie Mercado, [sarcastically]of the High Park Mercados. That answer your question? That pedigree good enough to be in yer movie?"

* soothing noises *

"Alright, I'll tell ya what I remember. I remember running to Mary's place because Mikey's dad was working with my dad and they was both stuck in Baumton. "

* The interviewer asks a question *

"[angrily]Look, are you gonna interrupt about every little detail? Mary was my mom, alright? The closest thing I had to it, anyway. She was adopted; meaning that I adopted her and she always treated me like family, even after she got married and had Mikey and 'Lisbeth. My real mom died when I was born. Are we talking about that instead of the *bleep* war? I got better things to do than be grilled about my personal life."

* placating noises from off-camera *

"[mollified] "Alright then." * Bobby listens and nods * "Yeah, I wasn't sixteen yet, so Mikey would have been, like, nine and 'Lisbeth around four."

"* indistinct questioning off-camera *

*Bobby rubs his forehead and is quiet for a moment* "I think the first I heard about it was when the portal showed up near Everett Lake. That was before the war walls, y'know? You could see from the Row into Perez Park or even Liberty Harbor if you climbed up onto the roofs of the right buildings. 'Lisbeth and the other kids her age don't remember a time without war walls. That just seems weird to me."

"Everyone on the street was talking about it. My friends and me, we thought it was cool, at first. We rode our bikes down to the old refinery, figuring that we'd sneak up onto the roofs of the warehouses and see if we could get a look over the Park wall. It turned out when we got there that a bunch of guys had cut the chain on the refinery fence and climbed up into the storage towers. We dumped the bikes and climbed up there too. You could see the lake easy. Hell, half the Row was spread out like a game of Sims or somethin' from up there."

"Anyway, there was this Portal sitting there by the dockhouse, just like they'd said. It was like one of those cartoons where the rabbit has a hole in his pocket and he pulls it out and hangs it in mid-air. 'Cept it was this fiery red color and it looked about as inviting as a blast furnace. The police were escorting people out of the park, but nobody looked like they was in a panic about it just then. From up high, though, we could see things that the people below wasn't seeing. That Portal wasn't the only one. As we watched, another appeared out over the the park, then another and another. They started popping up over towards Atlas Park, and out towards the harbor. It was like 5:00 then, an hour or so since the first portal appeared. More and more of the portals were popping up every couple of minutes."

"We was getting worried by then. One of the men up there had a radio and the announcer was crying about how a traffic copter had been eaten by one of the portals. The streets were starting to fill up with cars, and the traffic was gettin' choked up. I saw a car hit a loaded pickup down the block and the drivers got out and started pounding on each other. The reporters on the radio were saying that it was bad everywhere. The city was gridlocked; nobody was moving anywhere."

*Bobby shifts uncomfortably and looks around* "Can I get a glass of water?" *A bottle of water is produced. Bobby stares at the floor, then swallows some water and looks at the camera.*

"The guys on that tower was talking about getting guns and getting out of the city no matter who got in their way. I looked over at Patrick and he was about to *bleep* in his pants. I couldn't blame him. I felt the same way. "

"Just then, one of the guys, he says 'Holy *bleep*!' We look down where he's pointing. A portal had opened right at the base of the tower we was standing on! That was it for me. All I wanted was to be someplace safe, with my Dad telling me it was gonna be alright! Pat and I took off as fast as we could, and most of those grown-ups was right on our heels. I swear, we got within ten feet of that portal and I could feel it wanting to suck us in and eat us! It was a hungry monster, worse'n anything that ever lived under my bed. I grabbed my bike and lit outta there. Patrick was already running down the block; he was too scared to come close enough to the portal to get his bike. I was off like a shot and I expected at any second to be sucked in like that helicopter on the radio. I never even thought about my other buddies and I'm pretty sure they weren't worrying about me. We was that scared of the things."

"Since I was on a bike, I was able to ride on the sidewalks and through the back alleys. The streets was full of cars going nowhere. Horns were honkin', people were yellin', and sometimes they just abandoned their cars in the middle of the road. I heard what sounded like a couple of gunshots at one point, but I wasn't about to go check it out!"

"The cops was tryin' to keep people movin' but there was no way for anything bigger than a motorcycle to get through. Some of the gangs had figured out that the cops was hogtied and were looting the pawn shop and a grocery store not far from home."

* a question is asked off-camera *

"I only saw a couple of the portals on my way home. A soldier told me a few months later that the aliens was 'focusing on targets of strategic importance'. All I can say is that for about the only time in my life I was happy I was living in King's Row, a place even the aliens didn't want."

* more questions *

"I didn't know what a Rikti was back then, but I'd seen enough movies to know an alien invasion when it conked me on the head."

* something about the Freedom Phalanx *

"I dunno what the heroes were doing during all this. I was focussed on getting home; I wasn't watching out for no superheroes. It's not like they give a *bleep* about King's Row when it's normal circumstances. They was probably all off trying to figure out what the portals was all about. They let the police and the National Guard handle the people."

* someone rattles off a list of hero names *

*[irritated]*"I can only tell ya what I saw. If they was there then they was off in some part of The Row that I wasn't in. Like I said, I wasn't looking out for heroes. I was trying to get home without gettin' run over."

"Anyway, I made it back to High Park around six o'clock. From what I'd seen on the streets and heard on the radio, I figured there was no way that Dad would be home. I ditched the bike and ran straight up to Mary's place, like I said at the beginning. I wasn't about to spend the night alone in my apartment!"

"I didn't even knock, I just burst in like all the aliens in the world was on my tail! Mary was on the phone. Mikey and 'Lisbeth was sittin' on the couch, reading a book or somethin'. Mary dropped the phone, stepped to the door, and grabbed me and swung me into a huge hug, crying 'Bobby! Thank God!' I hugged her right back! I'll kick the *bleep* out of anyone who calls me a momma's boy, but I ain't ashamed to say that right then that was exactly what I needed!"

"After scolding and hugging me a bit more, Mary dried her eyes and picked up the phone. 'Paul, tell Preston that Bobby's here!', she says. Paul was Mikey and 'Lisbeth's dad. Preston was my dad. I said, 'Yo!', or some other smart-alec thing into the phone. Mary smacked me on top of the head, and pushed me towards the couch. 'Idiot!', she said, but she smiled when she said it and everything was suddenly alright again. I grinned and went over to tell Mikey what I'd been seein', and try and keep the little kids distracted so's the grown-ups could do their grown-up thing. S'long as I was in a safe place and my dad was okay, the portals didn't seem so bad, after all."

"I didn't know that the invasion would be landing for real in just over an hour."

* A minute passes. A question is asked off-camera. *

* Bobby looks up and down and up again, struggling with some inner turmoil. After a moment, he resumes his original posture, once again the arrogant street tough. *

* Shaking head negatively *"Nah, it's alright. I... thought it would be easier to talk about."

* Bobby pauses, focussing on some spot beyond the camera. He resumes speaking; his voice assuming a faraway quality as the story progresses. His eyes, naturally flinty, take on a painful intensity, as if he could break the time barrier and look directly upon those past events once more, if only his will was powerful enough. *

"It was 7:30. Paul had hung up the phone awhile ago, so other people could use it. He and my Dad was going to stay at the worksite until there was some way to actually get out of Baumton. We was watching the news, which was all about the portals and how some hero had gone into one and they were waiting for him to come out. "

"I was playing around with 'Lisbeth when Mikey said 'Something's happening!' I looked up as something came through the portal, then sucked in a breath as it stepped into view. It wasn't no hero. It was a monster; an inhuman thing in armor and a big glowing raygun. All of the TV people stepped back. It didn't say 'Take me to your leader!' It didn't say anything at all. It just opened fire as every portal in sight of the TV camera started vomiting aliens!"

"All of us was in shock, I think. We just sat there, staring at the TV, as the cameraman ran here and there, still taping. Mikey said 'Mom?' like he expected her to explain that it was just a movie or somethin'. The phone rang just then and I nearly jumped through the roof. Mary sprang up and grabbed the phone. 'Paul?', she yelled into the phone, like she was afraid he couldn't hear. 'Paul, what's happening?'"

"Mikey and 'Lisbeth had huddled up by me. 'I'm scared, Bobby!', he said to me. I was just starting to notice that there was a lot of noise going on outside; explosions and gunshots. Way more than the usual evening noises of the Row."

"On the TV, the camera guy was hiding behind a trash dumpster. A news guy at the station was trying to get information from him. One of the aliens pointed at the camera and I got a cold feeling in my gut. I turned Mikey away from the TV and made him look at my face. 'Don't worry, twerp!', I said. 'I won't let any monsters get in here.' On the TV screen, there was a green flash, and the screen went blank. The announcers was screaming and making no sense. I felt dizzy and my stomach heaved. If I hadn't been putting on a brave face for the little kids, I think I woulda thrown up right there."

"Mary was screaming into the phone. 'Paul? You're breaking up? What's happening? Paul? Paul!' She was screaming his name into the phone now. I was suddenly afraid to change the channel, but I knew I had to see."

"A ground crew was broadcasting from Baumton. It was worse than anything on the other channel. The aliens were everywhere; people were running and screaming. A huge fire was burning over a three or four block area. A woman was screaming and tearing at the rubble in front of her, even though it was burning and the fire was scorching her. They panned around and I realized with a sick feeling that I should be able to see the worksite where Paul and my Dad were."

"I looked over at Mary. She was staring at the TV, horrified, with the phone limp in her hand. I could tell she was coming to the same conclusion I was. We searched madly for any sign that it was a different place; that we were wrong. In the distance, a gigantic flying saucer dropped out of the sky. It hit in a blinding fireball and the explosion rocked the news crew. If that was what had dropped on my Dad..."

* Bobby talks a bit faster, and his hands begin clasping and unclasping. He seems to be unaware of it. *

"I might have passed out, but Mary beat me to it. I saw her keel over and I sprang up and grabbed her and we both ended up on the floor. I was afraid she'd had a stroke or somethin'. She went totally rigid, then she relaxed and opened her eyes. She sat up, grabbed me in her arms and started bawling like her heart had been ripped out and kicked across the floor. The monsters had landed and taken the love of her life, randomly and meaninglessly, in the blink of an eye."

"I held her and soothed her as best as I was able. The news crew had moved up near the woman in the wreckage, and she was sobbing hysterically, like some weird echo of Mary. 'My baby! My baby girl! Help me! Help! My baby!' She just kept repeatin' it, over and over. The camera panned briefly over a body in the wreckage. It was hard to tell how old she was, maybe twelve or fourteen; maybe younger, but it was clear she was hurt bad and she wasn't moving. The police were shooting, and shouting at the news crew to get outta there. They finally dragged the woman away. I think she really wanted to just die there beside her daughter, rather than leave her to the aliens."

* Bobby is rubbing his hands on his pants now, rhythmically, slowly. He rocks ever so slightly in time. He still appears oblivious to it. *

"The noises out in the Row was starting to sound a lot like what we'd been hearing on the television. There was a bright flash outside, and the TV picture turned to snow. A couple of seconds later, the power went out. People in the apartment building were yelling and running around. I was terrified, thinkin' to myself, 'This must be what the end of the world feels like.'"

"Mikey and 'Lisbeth were every bit as scared as I was. Mikey looked at me, his mouth quivering, and wailed 'Bobby, I want my Daddy!' and they both burst into tears. I tried to lie, to say it would be alright, but all I could do was motion 'em over to where I was holdin' Mary. We all held onto each other on the floor there; all of 'em crying and me on the verge. There was nothin' left to do. There was a hole in my stomach, an aching emptiness. I felt the tears wellin' and my chest knotted up until it seemed like it would never unknot again."

"That's when my Dad said 'DON'T YOU DARE!', in that voice he used when I got caught shopliftin' at the pawn shop."

* Bobby sits stock still. His eyes focus, and he looks directly at the camera. He speaks lowly and evenly, his conviction unmistakable. *

"It wasn't in my head. I heard it, plain as I hear you now. 'Don't you cry!', he said. 'A man ain't got time for cryin'. A man takes care of his family and leaves the cryin' to the women.'"

"'But..', I said, and he said 'No Buts, Sport! Swallow those tears down deep in your gut. Hold 'em there, and use 'em. It ain't fair, but I told you plenty of times that the one thing life ain't, is fair. It's time to man-up and look after your family. Ain't no-one else gonna do it for you.'"

* Bobby looks down at his hands, as if seeing them for the first time. Lifting his right hand, he rubs his eyes briefly, then runs his fingers through his hair. With a sigh, he leans back in the chair, drops his hands to his lap and looks at the camera. *

"I wanted my Dad to be there. More than anything else in the world, I wanted him to walk through that door and take charge. I knew the truth, though, deep in my heart. I didn't need to see it with my own eyes."

"I blinked a couple of times and my eyes cleared. I made an effort and pushed my fear and my sorrow down into the pit of my stomach; down into that empty hole. It didn't hurt any less, but suddenly it wasn't so empty. Suddenly, I had something I could work with, even if that something was powered by fear and anger."

"Mary had wound down and was shaking a bit. I took hold of her shoulders as gently as I was able just then, and I looked at her. She looked back at me strange, like she was seeing me for the first time ever. I don't know if she felt the change in me or if Paul had spoken to her the way my Dad spoke to me. Whatever it was, we both seemed to sense that a shift had happened. She never stopped being my "mom", but she never treated me like a kid again. From that day on, she treated me with the respect of a grown-up, even when I sometimes didn't deserve it."

"She wiped the tears from her eyes, then hugged Mikey and 'Lisbeth and kissed each of 'em on the head. Mikey should have been passed the age when that would fix all your problems, but he looked better afterwards, just the same."

"She asked, 'What do we do now?'. I thought a second, and said 'We should pack up some food and all the water we can carry.' She looked surprised, and asked 'What made you think of that so fast?' I got annoyed and I guess it showed when I replied 'Geez, Mary, didn't ya learn nothin' from all those end-o'-the-world movies that were all over the TV a coupla years ago?'"

"Her jaw dropped open and she stared at me for three full seconds before she burst into laughter. She went on and on and after a coupla seconds I started chuckling along with her. It was stupid, when you thought about it. When the real alien invasion finally landed, I knew what to do because Hollywood had shown me over and over again how to survive it. I burst out into a real, honest-to-goodness belly laugh. We leaned on each other, laughing like it was the best joke anyone ever told. Right at that instant, it felt like it WAS the best joke anyone ever told. Mikey and 'Lisbeth were more confused than ever, but laughin' was a whole lot better'n cryin', even if they didn't understand why we were doin' it. The knot in my chest unwound, and I felt like I was finally ready to face whatever it was that was happening out there."

"It must have sounded like a real commotion. Someone pounded on the door and shouted 'Everything all right in there?' I stood up and opened the door. It was a guy from the fourth floor who I recognized but had never spoken too. 'We're good', I said. He looked at Mary, holding the little kids, and she nodded at him and smiled. Nobody can resist her smile when she turns it on. He looked unsure still, but he decided he had other things to worry about. 'Better get out of here pretty quick!', he said. 'Whatever's going on, the National Guard is evacuating everything within six blocks of here. They're trying to setup a command post down in the courtyard.' I told him, 'Thanks, we'll get outta here quick.' He looked around the apartment, then decided he'd done his duty and whatever else was goin' on wasn't his business. He waved to us, and headed to the end of the hall and down the stairs."

"Mary sighed, and stood up. I don't know how, but she was her old self again, in spite of everything. I've learned over the years that, despite what he liked to say about women doin' the cryin', my Dad didn't really appreciate what the women could do once the cryin' was done. I remind myself occasionally to tell that to my future son when I'm teaching him about life."

"She knelt down with Mikey and 'Lisbeth, taking each by the hand. "We're going to play a game, kids. We're going to pack your backpacks for a camping trip. Michael, you need to help Lizzie choose one stuffed animal and her two favorite books. You pick out two books for yourself and bring your electronic games and a deck of cards if you can find it. Don't forget Lizzie's blanket. I'll be there in a minute to help you pick out some clothes." Mikey looked upset and Mary smiled at him. "Don't forget ScooterBear. He wouldn't want to be left behind." Mikey beamed at her and took 'Lisbeth's hand. 'C'mon, Lizzie, let's get your backpack stuffed.' He led 'Lisbeth to their room and Mary looked up at me. "Bobby, I'll pack whatever I can find of Paul's clothes that might fit you. Can you start getting the water? There's a thermos in the cupboard, and an empty milk jug in the recycle bin that should be pretty well rinsed out already. There's a jug of milk in the fridge that you can dump out and fill up also.' "

"I nodded and we all did like she'd said. Paul had liked camping, and he had a real frame backpack that made it easier to carry the food and water than it might have been, otherwise. It was ten minutes later that we took one last look at home, stepped out into the last gathering dusk, and followed the other refugees to whatever was waiting for us as the end of the world raged in the distance, just out of sight."

* Bobby stops and looks thoughtful. He shakes his head and looks up at something beyond the camera *

[pensive] "Listen, I'm gettin' tired and I got someplace I gotta be."

* some discussion and a question *

"Sure, okay, I'll come back tomorrow or the next day. Assumin' I got nothin' better to do than yammer on for an hour, that is."

* He stands up, stretches, and looks around. For a moment, a wistful look replaces the arrogance. The moment passes, and Bobby waves at someone off-camera. *

"Hey, Beautiful! Yeah, hi! What's your name? Hey, don't walk off... "

* Bobby saunters off stage-right. *

* End Film *

Hmmm... Interesting setup. One of Penny's friends should be telling her to get a psychiatrist for Sam. Penny apparently is one of those people that thinks that the rain clouds of depression can be whisked away if you just shine enough sunlight on them.

I'm curious what relationship these two had in school that paved the way for Penny to become yet another "foster family" and why Penny is willing to assume that responsibility for a grown woman? Penny probably knows exactly what kind of life Sam has had and that's probably the reason why she's allowing Sam to use her in this fashion. Co-dependent supers. Gotta love 'em!

I agree with J-Man about the Mayhem. I like it when bits of the game world work their way in naturally. I was expecting Mako to have Lawrence for dinner anyway and chase it with the booze. *heh*

One suggestion - Sam sure does "moan" a lot. Maybe she could switch that up with whining or being dejected or something.