Light the Signal New IC

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Bryn goes down as Herald telekinetically pins her foot to the ground, but not before Michelle from 3 yards away manages to stretch out and snatch the ball from the healer's hands, and starts down the field with abnormally long strides, heading towards the three Willows. Shaking her head to clear it, Bryn gets up again, a puzzled expression on her face as the effects of Vera's spell wear off, and she finds herself not where she thought she was.

It takes Thomas and Garrett both try to keep Rebecca, but Rebecca's able to distract the gravity manipulator enough that Jeff is able to wing back up and get back into the action of the play.

[hairy-joe]

as Isaac projects the the path the ball should follow keeps an 'eye' on his surroundings, as Ellen approaches he switches the majority of his processing power to focus on her, stepping in to meet the charging lycanthrope with an equally enthusiastic grapple, the cracking noise of the arcing taser in his right knuckles and a savage headbut.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Michelle laterals the ball over to Jeff, who flies over the heads of the three Willows and Vera, and scores the goal. "Well played!" he calls back to his teammates.

[Anyr]

Rebecca didn't notice the victory immediately. She was too busy grappling with an increasingly smug Thomas. Why couldn't she get past this guy? He didn't even seem to be using his powers much. By all rights, she should be curb stomping him with her Vampiric mojo. Eventually Rebecca just had to ask:

"Okay, how? I'm way stronger than you! I know I am! So how do you keep stopping me?"

Thomas smirked condescendingly. Humility definitely wasn't one of his virtues.

"Brute force will only get you so far. Your lack of training is painfully obvious."

Well, he did have a point.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Bryn comes up to where Thomas and Rebecca are talking. "Well, that's why we're here, isn't it? To get trained? Got any tips you care to share?"

[Anyr]

Thomas' smirk widened. Ah, a chance to display his obvious superiority.

"Why certainly. Come here, my dear, and I'll give you a quick overview of the basics."

Rebecca reluctantly obeyed. The 'teacher' started guiding her through a few useful movements and stances, while explaining the principles behind them. Surprisingly, the lesson turned out to be really well structured and informative. Annoying as this guy was, he knew his stuff.

[Rhyvurg]

Herald jogs over to the group. "That was fun, are we going again?"

[Wiz0rd]

Charlie watched the ball glide smoothly over the goal posts into the evening sky. Jeff, looked suprisingly graceful and retained as he flew. Charlie mentally dispelled the iron around him and stood on the turf smiling. The first play of the night couldn't have gone better, and no injuries as far as he could tell. While he struggled to monitor each of the players and the simulteneous use of powers, the linesmen grappled and stood their ground and we managed to overcome a series of malicious arcane spells. No doubt Coach will have a few things to say.

He walked over to the bruised, puffing and panting group.
"Well played everyone. I'm seriously impressed with everyone's powers out there on the field. Seriously impressed." He patted the back of a couple of the doubled-over stars.
Just a little more time, and he'd be sure they'd be ready for any other team out there. He had only two concerns - firstly, keeping the team together: Ellen was sporting a minor bloody nose and pacing saying various quiet expletives about robots, and the conversation between Tom and Rebecca could only be described as icy. They weren't a team just yet. He thumbed his chin in thought, fishing for inspiration for this clash in personality.

He looked to Coach and the team and nodded at Herald. "Rest up, we've got enough time for a couple more practice plays; what do you guys want to do?"

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

The team continues to practice for another 90 minutes. By the end of it, there're still a few elements of rivalry or dislike between some of the players-- it's going to take more than a single session to get this group to be a real team. But there's time yet, before the first game of the season. One thing Charlie notices at the end is that Bryn is neither winded nor worn out-- apparently her regeneration ability keeps her feeling as fresh and ready to go as she was before the first play started.

----

Saturday morning: While there are a few local kids who go home every night, or even just on the weekends, given the unique nature of the students of the school, there are many who are semi-permanent residents, going home only for major holidays and the summer. So the school is just as busy Saturday morning in the cafeteria as it is any other morning. The cafeteria provides an all-you-can-eat buffet; expensive, but necessary, given the number of supers who have high-powered metabolisms and can eat 10 pizzas without feeling overfull.

Bryn isn't quite in the 10 pizza category, but she definitely has a fuller than average tray as she sits down at a table, and pulls out her smartphone, finding a youtube channel to watch while she tucks into her breakfast.

[Rhyvurg]

Herald walks into the cafeteria, looking annoyingly chipper for a teenager on a Saturday morning. He grabs a plate and piles it with pizza, breakfast burritos, and strips of bacon. He sits next to Bryn without stopping to ask. "So, got any pans for the weekend?"

[Wiz0rd]

Saturday morning. November. Still months away from any serious exam, still weeks away from any holidays. The homework was unexpectedly light this week, so the weekend screamed "free time".

Charlie work up in his quiet dorm before Sturm as usual. His late nights were a bi-product of listening and acting upon creative mechanical genius, something that Charlie appreciates but doesn't share. He tip toed and collected his running gear and loped down to the running track to start the typical morning jog. Heading outside the dorm building, one of the things you notice is the deathly quiet, the slightly whistling wind. It was cold, but sunny. The kind of weather that threatened to give you a chill if you didn't keep moving.

He threw down his bag and overcoat. After a quick stretch, he jogged. Presuming his run would be typical and quiet, he saw few other students milling about - many of the other students had left for the weekend. Charlie didn't mind staying - Signal was a cool place to be at any time.

He waved at Bryn through the cafeteria window as he passed. He made a mental note to catch up with her later, see if she slept well today, and to see what fun they can bring to the day.

Edit: and Herald, of-course!

[Space Lawyer]

Indira makes her way over to the assembled group, with a bowl of yogurt and muesli in-hand for appearance's sake. She is fully dressed-up for a Saturday, which of course meant going out in the highest fashion to be seen perusing the highest fashion. The heels add a good six inches to her height, but she walks briskly as if she isn't propped up far above her normal height. Usually, she would have just skipped this part altogether, but the metaball team seemed like a nice enough group of people. Plus, it was either that or Farseer would have her trying to make friends with that psychic in Tokyo again. Making a link to her mind was like shoveling raw sugar and sunshine into one's brain; not a fun experience.

"Good morning . . . Bryn and Herald."

[Rhyvurg]

Herald leans away back in his seat, a piece of bacon halfway sticking out of his mouth. He finishes the bite and asks, "How do you walk in those shoes?"

[Anyr]

Rebecca rarely ventured beyond the UV-shielded campus of Signal. Every trip to the outside world was a new opportunity to be killed by that flaming death ball in the sky. But in this haven for supers, she could thumb her nose at her celestial arch-nemesis. At this very moment, in fact, she walked undaunted beneath the morning sun: Safe from its effects.

"Augh! Itchy itchy itchy itchy!"

...Well, mostly. Rebecca darted beneath the shade of a nearby tree, scratching furiously. Such was the price of joining the sporting world. Not all the matches her team played were going to be conveniently held at night, or indoors. Unless she worked on boosting her solar endurance, she'd be a joke on the field.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Bryn waved back at Charlie as he ran by. She rather liked the tank-manifester. At the very least, he's a good team captain. Turning back to Herald she responds to his question to Indira first, "With practice. That's how. As for plans, probably some homework and some practice. Being on the swim team *and* the metaball team is going to eat up a lot of free time. You?"

[Rhyvurg]

"Well, once I find out who's throwing a good party tonight that'll settle my evening plans, but before that I need to swing by a gun store and pick up a few things. Ammo, fresh cleaning kits, the usual."

[hairy-joe]

Isaac unplugs himself from the specially adapted wall socket in the school's Auto shop. he threads his way through the collection of sleek sports cars and beefy trucks that make up the school's motorpool, several of which are still showing signs of wear and tear from defensive driving training, or are half dismantled. when he arrives at the workbench set asside for him he settles down to install some new leg servos that should be more efficient than his current set. when they're installed he sets off to put them through their paces.

during the run he spots charlie and puts on a small burst of speed to catch up

"hello Charlie. how is your run?"

Isaac has been looking forwards to catching up with the group, ever since he arrived at the school about a month ago he has been treated as much like a curiosity as a student by most of the more mechanicaly minded teachers, and the metaball team is the first group that has looked to include him as a peer.

[Wiz0rd]

Charlie saw Bryn wave through the window just as Herald and Coach took their places at the table, he'd send them a text later to catch up. Charlie thought about the little squad quite a lot, between class, training and homework there seemed seldomn little time to sit back and really get to know one another. Perhaps it's Signals policy.

--edit: to include Issac's post.
While running, there was a quickly growing sound of servos and motors and running steel. Charlie turned and had a breath of relief: Issac.
"Hey Issac, good to see you. How are you today? I presume you're testing something or scanning me as you're not doing this for fitness, right?" Not that Charlie minded, he began to quite like Issac during his time with him. He carried a strange sense of humor that hovered between literal and sarcastic, but not in a malicious way. Besides, he'd been inviting people to join him for the morning jog for a while now, but early starts and teens usually don't mix very well.
"Hey Issac, after the run, are you heading tp the tech labs? I need to run diagnostics for today. Power-suit mandatory."

He'd carry on running around the spacious, pristine campus when he caught a glimpse of Rebecca in the not-too-distance background. He ran on over. She looked irritated. Like a survivor who'd just washed up on shore of a tiny island. Except the sand is shade.

"Morning Rebecca! Hey, what are you doing up so late? I thought you were nocturnal and all that jazz?"

He took a seat on the grass next to Rebecca in the shade, he'd run far enough for this morning. (Just needed to remember to go pick up his gear in a bit.)

[Space Lawyer]

Indira nods in agreement to Bryn's answer. "After a few years wearing shoes like this, I don't even notice anymore. As for parties, I know a few, though I wasn't planning to go to any of them."

[Mekboy]

Willow liked weekends. Schooldays (as she'd discovered to her horror upon first arrival) meant she actually had to get up some time vaguely approaching early, but weekends were a natural return to the status quo of sleeping till gone noon. Today however, Willow found herself awake at what most people would term a normal time. After a good half hour of lying in bed and hoping to get back to sleep and failing, she finally convinced herself to get up. Breakfast was calling, and what human food lacked in sophistication, it made up for in novelty and taste.

Her roommate was long gone, of course. Despite sharing Willow's penchant for late nights, the girl seemed to be able to subsist on a couple of hours of sleep at most. Maybe she should ask her about it some time. Seemed kinda cool.

Having made her way to the cafeteria and filled her tray with a slightly esoteric collection of foods in an attempt to at least try a bit of everything, Willow made her way over to the group she recognized.

"Hey people. Whatcha talking about? I heard parties."

[Anyr]

Rebecca brightened up immediately when Charlie sat down beside her. He was a living reminder of the upsides to this itchy endurance trial. Like it or not, most of her friends were daywalkers. At least now she'd get to spend more time with (among others) the boy who'd inspired her to go this far.

"I'm nocturnal, but Metaball isn't. I need to get used to being up in the day."

She absently scratched her bare leg. Even in the shade, occasional itches still persisted. Why oh why had she been bold enough to come out here in a sundress? A shirt and jeans would have been fine for this first test run.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Bryn slides over to make room for Willow. "Weekend plans. Although parties aren't really my thing. I always seem to end up in a corner somewhere just taking video on my phone."

[Mekboy]

Willow grinned and wrapped an arm around the fish-girl's shoulders in an attempted gesture of solidarity. It worked less well than she'd hoped, considering the height difference, but she soldiered on. "C'mon, it'll be fun! You stick with me, you'll have a great time! People love me at parties."

Of course, Willow's past experience of parties was mainly based on the fact that at home she was usually the most important person in the room.

[Wiz0rd]

Charlie nodded while she scritched at her leg, "You're right. Meta-ball waits for no person. I suppose it's just one of those things, you know? Like heroics, you never know when or where we'll be needed. That's why I train to run.

Anyway, I can't sit here and watch you suffer, and the sun's only going to get brighter as the morning goes on. Did you want a ride?" Charlie blushes and coughs and splutters, "Lift. I meant lift. Did you want to sit in my tank and we could roll back to campus? You've given me an idea. I think I can help. Hear me out."

He offered the sundress-clad girl a hand up as he stood up next to her. The November breeze seemed to whip colorful leaves around them silently.

[Anyr]

Rebecca hesitated a moment before taking Charlie's hand. When she eventually did, the source of that hesitation would be easy to guess: She was as cold as the grave. Plenty of living people were creeped out by her lack of body heat. She tried to gauge Charlie's reaction as he helped her up. Even if he took it badly, though, his next offer would wipe all that away. Rebecca could overlook a lot of things for the sake of a tank ride.

"Do you even need to ask? I've been looking to try that thing ever since you first showed it off."

[Rhyvurg]

"There's an inappropriate joke here, I just know it."

[Wiz0rd]

Charlie smiled as she took his hand, his smile only slided very slightly as he grasped her strong, fine fingers and soft hand. Her skin felt cool and soft to the touch. He'd never really thought about it too much before but it was curious, interesting really.

He didn't dare to hold onto Rebecca's hand longer than what would be akward, though he considered it.
He smiled again after regaining the full passage of his thoughts.

He took a step back, "Hold on a sec," after a brief double-check to see if he weren't about to crush Issac or anything else, the teenage boy was wrapped by a large metallic shell. The tank had arrived.

The hatch over the turret creaked open by it's own accord seemingly.
"Climb in. I'll tell you more of my plan on the way!"

[Anyr]

Here was one thing about which Rebecca definitely didn't hesitate. She was down that hatch before it even had time to finish opening. Finally, a chance to see what this amazing device looked like from the inside! She just hoped this wouldn't be weird for Charlie. How did it feel to (as Charlie had put it) 'swallow' another person?

"Onwards!"

[Mekboy]

Willow rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Herald.

[Rhyvurg]

He grins back. "If you're jealous, I'll take you on a date if you want."