chase

Every hair on Tabby's body went on end, briefly making it look like the sundress was several sizes to small, and her tail was on the verge of perma-bristle after this whole experience. Tabby wasn't unfamiliar with strange sounds- her aura sight came with a side of synesthesia - someone's aura would often "sound like" iron or "taste blue" or any number of confusing combinations - so a voice that sounded not unlike a semi-moistened pile of tentacles wasn't alarming. The fact that she so instantly recognized it as such, though... that caused something of a psychic break. The sensible part of Tabby (admittedly, a very small part) said "nope" and left. Didn't wait for the rest of her. Didn't try to gather consensus with the other parts or even say goodbye, she just "noped" her way back to the apartment, packed her things, went to the bus station, and chose the most normal-sounding destination on the list. She'd seen enough catgirl dojinshi to know that when tentacles talk, it's time to leave. She'd stop "nope'ing" somewhere west of Ohio. The rest of Tabby suffered through the psychic break rather quickly, in part focusing on the mental math she'd done on the wad of cash she was holding. Besides, the disembodied voice made her totally vindicated in her "invisible man" suspicions, and she hardly ever got to bask in her victories- however disturbing their implication may be. Plius, she now had a voice to go with mister-handsy, or tentacle-y, or whatever. She relaxed. Her fur smoothed- even her tail relaxed, and her response was even, if not clinical as her eyes remained fixated on the wad of bills, doing another quick tally. "... So, is that Al Rabinowitz, or Spanky Rainowitz.... and do you have any ID? This is an AWFUL lot of cash. and I should probably hold on to it until someone shows me some ID."

Tabitha's eyes widen when she sees the ID in Paul's possession, but since he doesn't seem to care she figures it's one of those "if you're old enough to protect and serve, you're old enough to be served" kinds of establishment. *Best hero perk yet!* She initially gave Paul a wary eye over the money fold. She'd read a great deal online about catgirls in clubs and bars, and although nothing really covered strangers practically tossing cash in their direction, it certainly wouldn't be out of place- kinda like someone placing quarters on the pool table to claim the next game or something***. She wanted nothing to do with that. Once she slid her ID back into her phone holster and discovered her missing money, the pieces fell in place and she took the cash back with a smile. "Oh, moonshine shot whiskey? that sounds great! I can handle it*. Don't worry**." Her eyes fell back on the money clip beside her, extremely curious to take a look, but still wary of what it may mean. She looked around the room once more, reached out, hesitated, then grabbed the billfold to study it. "Ok, so anyone know an Al or.... maybe a Spanky****?" OOC: * she can't * * do worry. *** Tabby's not happy about the feliform life, but she's done a lot of "opposition research" on the Internet to understand how people perceive her kind. Ever since she realized that the school internet filter blocked 95% of the search results for "catgirl" she was determined to learn why... then permanently scarred when she did. **** In case anyone else's mind was in the guttter , I seriously didn't intend it, but "maybe a spanky" does sound sadly like something a barhopping catgirl would suggest.

why do I imagine a whole channel full of names that are variations of pirate phrases Random general chat poster: Ahoy! It's pirate week. Ahoy: Arr, I know already. Why does everyone keep telling me? Arr: Aye, right? Aye: Avast, ye speak the truth. Avast: Huh? Wha? I didn't say nothing I was just drinking my rum! Arrrrr: [[Pinnacle Veteran??]] Avast: Aye! Aye: Ahoy! Ahoy: Arr [r]: if (CHT.GEN.LFT(3)='ARR') CHT.GEN='Avast'

It a little bit of a mix. Pocket D and Atlas Park are probably two of the easiest "introduction" roleplaying scenarios, followed by watching broadcast for events, like Jokers Wild hosting something in their SG base. Roleplaying during missions is great fun, but it's important to broadcast that interest in help/lfg when looking for a team. It does make missions take longer, so if other players were more interested in steamrolling for XP or inf, it can lead to both of you being frustrated. I've heard of players that go so far as making AE missions for a player-as-GM moderated roleplaying story module, even, so it's out there. Use the OOC channel (I also saw a "looking for RP" channel, but haven't seen activity in it) to help find people sharing your interest. You'll find it.

Tabitha studied the other members of the bar, trying to get a feel of the room, and -more importantly- how she should behave. The sundress discomfort had settled- even after all the years of getting used to school uniforms, the pressure where it rested against her fur was magnified, and she had to concentrate to not keep plucking it away, potentially giving a view of cleavage or down her lower back. Modesty was a strange thing- she was fine with things being visible when she was wearing nothing, but now that she was covered up, she feared showing even a hint of it. She was so lost in the introspection that the loud clank caught her off guard. The hair along her spine had just recently settled, but now rebounded into a full ridge. Where the sundress met the lower back, the hairs strained against the fabric, giving the feeling that someone had placed a hand there. Her tail bristled out to triple its normal width. As she registered the money clip in her peripheral vision, she figured out what was going on. *Some arrogant rich prick was making a play.* She’d planned for the situation, imagining brushing off unwanted suitors with some reference to swiping left/right, coming across as a seasoned no-nonsense person that wouldn't take their shit. Unfortunately, when the moment arrived, she couldn’t remember which direction meant what in the app (she’d never even downloaded it, let alone used it) and realized how terribly bad it would be to get the directions wrong in this context. She hesitated- maybe too long, but eventually mustered the state of mind to improvise, “Look, if you think I’m the kind of girl that’ll be impressed by a wad o cas… “ … and noticed the denomination on the top dollar in the fold… “Holy forking shirtballs!” Yet, when she spun around to face the source of unwanted attention, there was nobody there. Her tail thrashed furiously with enough force to move furniture, and now all her hairs stood on end. “um… are we sure that the power suppressors are working? because I’m getting a serious ‘invisible man’ vibe here?” She looked back at the money clip. *rich creepy invisible man with an apparent thing for catgirls. I should’ve stayed home today.*

There have been real economic studies on this, and generally speaking in relation to the game's economy "high end" inf sinks server little to no purpose. 1) "Hoarding, but not using" inf is, for purposes of the game economy, very similar to that inf not existing. it's not circulating, so it's not having any real impact. There IS a risk that it could enter back into circulation, of course, but only if there are things that arise worth buying- and even then, there's a limit to that. 2) If you make a "1 billion inf" sink, the people who are going to buy it are not going to make themselves broke by buying it early. They're going to wait until they have enough BEYOND that amount to cover all their foreseeable needs OR they'll work to rapidly regain their losses, both of which negate the impact on the economy. These do have value as prestige items, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason why devs are so willing to just make a new currency to deal with the new expansion's rewards (vanguard merits, Astral merits, Emperyan merits). It prevents the out-of-control hoarding of the old currency from wiping the value in the new achievements. all that said, I sure wouldn't object to something that converts inf to incarnate-related stuff.

OOC: working on a response, but gotta say I love sparkle... yes, Tabby's money wad would have been far, far less. That means its still somewhere out on the floor, too.

I really like seeing the hard analysis. thanks. I've never broken it down but generally this has been my process for quite a while, maxing out the inf on several characters. When I started, the ATO's almost all went for 10m alone, converters were over 100k, and catalysts were over 4m, so much crazier profit margins then. Used to do it with insane frequency, but as more people have been stocking the market this way I've pared back to posting 200 once or twice a week. I don't think I've ever sold an ATO for under 8 million, but it's good to know I could. If there are too many for sale (>15 for most sets, >10 for dom, sentinel, or epic AT's) I burn a converter and try again. Never have had to do that more than three times to get something that was in low enough supply that 8m would be a reasonable sell within a few days. When there's a gross oversupply of an ATO (>25) I sometimes put up bids to see what I can get for 5-6m, convert it to something in low supply, and put it back out. By far the most profitable tactic is still a half-year away for anyone to try, though: During the winter event, I bought >600 winter packs when they dropped to 10m. Now that the event's over and prices have again normalized to the 25m cost, I've been breaking them up on occasion and reselling. Same process as before: If over 20 of an item, I use a convertertill I get one in lower supply.

Tabby nodded at the two as they left, thankful that the attention had passed but still struggling with the ribbon (*no... don't get started on that song!*) Normally, she wore gel caps over her claws, keeping them extended and serving as the final joint on her fingers, but she'd left them behind during her afternoon parkour, leaving her either struggling with making knots out of claw-tips or clumsily working without her topmost fingers. It didn't hurt that her fur was practically standing on end- every brush where the fabric touched felt like a little needle jab... and that's not even mentioning the goddamn giant of a mosquito that she kept feeling buzzing near her- she couldn't see it, but dammit, it caused just enough of a disturbance in the air for her hairs to pick up. If she wasn't fuddling with the ribbon, she had to stop to swat away at it when it got too close. *damn, this drink better be worth it- which reminds me...* "So, Paul, do you, uh... have anything you'd recommend? I'd like to try something new." Left unsaid, of course, was that ANYTHING would be new to her. She hadn't touched liquor since she stole one of her dad's bottles of black label the night of everything in her life went wrong.

Most of the risk is whether the submitters of user generated content were the actual creators of it- in this case, plagiarism or heavy lifting from other sources. Some of the community-vetting can detect things that go beyond homages. In many ways, Kallisti Wharf with community-driven content wouldn't present much more risk than AE already does. It's still content in the game directly delivered by the game to other people in the platform. Making it "official" makes very little difference- particularly when you consider that community-driven aspect of this could be as well-hilighted as AE content is.

I think this needs to be level 40-50 content as originally intended, not incarnate. I agree with the people that things like the Rikti, Nemesis, etc are a bit overdone. Currently in the 40-50 range, we have The generic hero-battling-larger-threats zone of Peregrine Extradimensional zones in portal Climbing the machinery of the massive villain organization of Arachnos Massive alien (alternate-reality, really) warfare with Rikti. We lack a good morally-grey more "street level" narrative. Not just vigilante/rogue types of content, though this is also an area where for the whole cycle of changing roles could flourish. What I'd do: Primal hero/villain forces should also take a back seat. Arachnos has a toehold here, sure, but we have Grandville for the "rising up through Arachnos" narrative. Let less established crime syndicates shine. Forces like longbow and or wyvern have a similarly muted presence- their focus is elsewhere and they want the new locals to prove they can police themselves. It's not uncommon for immigrant groups to look to "police" and "protect" themselves, so it's easy to see how factions that may have existed in Praetoria may take similar-but-different roles here, or even fragment differently. It's also not uncommon for "host nation" criminal groups to want to get a piece of the action, and all that jockying of power can lead to strange bedfellows and shifting alliances. Chaos, with no dominant faction would be my way: It's easy to see tales of corporate warfare as organizations like Syndicate fragments teaming with/jockeying against Crey, Family, and Tsoo. Resistance (crusader) and destroyers could mix with up-leveled Warriors, Family, and Tsoo. Resistance (Warden) and Loyalist (Responsibility) factions may find common goals working together if they can overcome some of the bad blood and conflicting priorities. Other organizations may be interested in assuring they don't. Freed seers will be invaluable assets to organizations that can snatch them up, or they may band together in a paranoid alliance that "takes care of their own" and finds threats in the minds of everyone everywhere. That's just a short list, but it should already be apparent where each of these conflicts could lead to arcs where heroes, villains, rogues, or vigilantes may reasonably have an interest. This broad, chaotic set of stories helps us also navigate the development of it: we crowdsource: Define the various top-factions of interest and the general tone you're seeking. Then hold "contests," with people coming up with their own stories using AE (and maybe supplemental docs for things that can't be done in AE yet) following your framework. Make sure contestants know that their work may be modified to add consistency or to work with the zone.

Excellent, thanks. Since the original archival paragonwiki still existed, I wasn't sure if we were keeping record here or just referencing the original source.

Stupid question here on intent/process of this: I'll use this page as an example: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Emotes It breaks down the "unlockable" emotes by the pack that they were part of (or whatever unlocked them). Many/most/maybe all of these are just available now with no unlocking. Is the desirable to clean this up and just put all emotes in a master list (maybe replace the "issue" column with a flag on which are avaiable under quickchat and which are not...) since that's how they're experienced in Homecoming, or just focus on adding the missing (text, cellphone, liedown, etc?)

One of the now-older mentors in a never-completed comic was a former childhood-tv-show-star, "Penny Powers" fighting crime with her "Pink Pompoms of Doom!" Her agent/brand manager was so SOOO pissed at her- she was supposed to say "Pink Pompoms of Pummelling"-- he had a thing for alliteration.

This one's a bit situational- needing a high perch that's still close enough to the ground to be audible. (Creative Foraging) /em binoculars /em texting /em cellphone Yeah, this is Grace at Accounts. Did someone just place a huge order from City of Gyros on their CreyCorp card? Samantha Hardy? for her whole team? Just delivered? No, I'm, just doing a quick fraud check fraud check. One minute /em plot /em cellphone just a moment /em text ok, they're gone. Look, Cate, we had ...visitors... here asking about Samantha's project. Right. You said it. Keep this to yourself, please. Don't let anyone know I'm involved. Thanks. Be careful. Bye. /em binoculars. Wait for i... wow, that's fast. Look at em run. I didn't think that many people would FIT in that building. ... and they totally forgot about the Gyro platters. Such a shame. /em knuckles ... guess it's time to rescue some Gyros. /em binoculars ... I did not expect the fire though. /em grief ... or explosions. /em afraid /em text ok. let's just pretend that never happened. Ooo still Donut Day down at the docks. Shame about that rumored customs raid....

"Oh, I'm fine. Honest. Totally my fault- not looking where I was going." Tabitha seemed to shrink from the attention- or was it just her diminutive appearance near the burly scotsman. As Hagis told of the perils of the true kilt-wearer, her tail involuntarily bristled and wrapped tighter against her leg. Despite doing her best not to imagine it, memories of an old "scotsman" song that the upperclassmen would play on the long bus ride home kept infiltrating her thoughts, leaving her imagining a leaping Hagis exposing a blue ribbon tied to... nevermind. *Purge that thought. BURN IT.* She tried hard to focus on the picture, stretching to get a good look without getting too close to the hulking frame. "Rictus? Latin for open mouth. Either got that name for always smiling or never shutting up, I bet." The tattoos are familiar- might be someone I ran into at High Park last week, but it's hard to tell." If she could blink out of existence, she would at that moment. Too much attention, no matter how nice it is, isn't her thing, particularly when it emphasizes her (lack of) attire. Instead, she gave her best graceful smile and accepted the dress. It was nice lightweight dress with a blue ribbon around the waist (*"see yon sleeping scotsman... DAMN IT!*) The smile turned into a grimace as she slipped into the dress in much the same way someone with a really REALLY bad sunburn might try to dress. If the dress was made of sandpaper or thumbtacks... or bees. Lots o Bees. She was still working getting it on, still fumbling with the ribbon (*..tied into a bow.. around the bonnie... STOP THAT!*) when she caught the tail end of the whisper And she bristled. Even here, the reputation of catgirls precedes her. She can never get a break [[OOC: If you've never heard the old phrase "rubbing a cat the wrong way"- well, it applies triple to Tabby, Her coat is incredibly sensitive to the touch, so moving when fully clothed can feel like needles brushing against her where they rub against the grain. Also, if you're unfamiliar with the classic earworm that's got Tabby so flustered:

Tabby's tail curled around her leg and the fur on her cheeks stood on end, an apparent equivalent of a blush. "Yeah, I guess with Drones around I can't just assume that the tallest roofs are safe for sunning." "I'm Tabitha, by the way." One of his earlier remarks sank in, "Power dampeners!" She touched her ears, tail, then stared at her hands, studying them for any change. A hint of a subvocalized "please please pleasepleaseplease" could be made out. After a moment, she gave up, "Guess that was too much to hope for. Probably for the best. It'd be an awkward time to lose the fur... I guess." it was a weak self-deprecating laugh of someone that was still a tad disappointed. "You don't happen to know of any dampeners that nullify transformation spells, do you?"

The door opens just enough for a diminutive form to slip in, cellphone in hand, and flatten herself against the door frame as she uses the phone's camera as a periscope through the barely-cracked-open doorway. A half dozen civilians scurried by followed by what could have been a drone. "God, I'm gonna hate convention season. I can already tell." she muttered. Turning to face the room, her ears perked up and whiskers curled forward as her eyes somehow appeared to double in size "Oh, A Bar!". Her demeanor immediately shifted into an absolutely terrible facsimile of a more seasoned adventurer. "I guess it's not too early for one or two, but I may have..." She started with such promise, casually slipping her phone back into a one of those nylon arm-holsters that joggers seem to love, but her toes struck war mace before she finished and she was sent stumbling forward, desperately juggling the phone in front of her. "...left..." (batted it overhead) "...my..." (left hand, barely missing the wall.) "...ID..." (right hand, knee level, ...just saved it) "...in..." (ricocheted off her chest) "...my..." (now off an elbow) "...other..." (almost there) "...pants..." (caught it!) "(Phew)" She didn'ts eem to notice the PCU freshman ID and a (very) small pad of dollar bills were flung free of the armband during the scramble. A hero registration card was precariously close to joining them. She just focused on reaching the bar, absently fishing out an earbud (wrapped in cotton balls and masking tape to fit) and giving a hopeful smile. A hint of confusion joined the smile as realized she hadn't a clue what to ask for. [[OOC: Anyone following memes online may recognize Tabby as an (unwilling) meme-sensation- to the point that the "Tabby Tracker" gives out weekly pizza prizes for submissions in various categories. Current top-voted post of the week is pretty weak- just a "hang in there..." variant of what appeared to be her dangling from the monorail over water somewhere off Talos Island. It doesn't have nearly as many votes as last week's first Tabby encounter with the Carnival of Shadows: ("it's not a real party till there's naked catgirls on the dancefloor") but many suspect that carnies manipulated that vote for the pizza.) Dom may recognize the faint bass from the headphones as one of her band's songs. Your choice on whether it's actually one of hers or those of Carrie Crew- a lame Poseur band from Rochester, NY that (poorly) mimics their performances and style (without paying royalties). ]]

(Besties 1) /em cellphone Hi, Flambeaux. It's Tabitha. Tabitha Lachann... we both go through the probationary hero program... Yes. Tabby, but I prefer... ...nevermind. I just hadn't seen you since I got rescheduled. You're not going anymore? Really? I... I... That's a big step, isn't it? I mean isn't this "our last chance to clean the slate and make amends for our past?" I'm pretty sure that was in bold- in RED- across the top of the paperwork. No, I don't want to be a downer. So... uh... new and exciting directions for you... I guess? Really? REALLY? /em text /em phone Uh, really? /em text /em phone Ah, I found it It's... it's just like you described. Kinda. Mostly. Well, you know how the news can be... No, I believed you, I just wanted to see the headlines. Not many of my friends make the paper, particularly like that. Well, yeah. ... I wouldn't go as far as saying besties- I mean, we shared a waiting room in the program and grabbed grub together, but we never did what "best buddies" do- ...like pajama parties or sneaking into clubs underage or spontaneously dancing in the street or whatever. I dunno, never had any besties, I just go by what I see on TV. Well, the last time you invited me to a party it got leaked to naughtyneko.com. I couldn't get anywhere near the place with those stalkers everywhere. No, I'm not blaming you. No, I'm not suggesting that you leaked it to get more people to show up to your party. You said that, not me. Maybe. Look, um, I know friends shouldn't let trivial things like this get between them, but I'm really hurting for cash this month. Any chance you could pay me back? Yeah. 50 would cover everything. Really? So just meet you where? Another party? Kallisti Wharf? No. that... that's fine. I can do that. I guess I'll just see you there then. I can't wait either... bestie. bye /em text ok. wait for it... 3 2 1 ... and there it is. New post on naughtyneko. Tabby attending can't-miss party with bestie Flambeaux in Kallisti Wharf. Posted by Flamin Hot Ass. /em dustoff No better name for ya, girl. Well, I guess it's another month of ramien. /em text ... a supergroup recruitment drive next week.,, /em hmmm (Recruitment 1) /em cellphone Hi, I saw your post about a supergroup recruitment event next Tuesday. Is it catered? Is that before or after the recruitment test? No, I just wondered... Lusca? Probably not good to do that on a full stomach. I gotta doublecheck my schedule, but probably. Bye /em text Ok, so that's a no for Tuesday, but if I wrangle things right, I can hit the Monday afternoon and evening events. Palm some leftovers to carry me over till Wednesday. Now... weekends... why doesn't anyone schedule anything for the weekends...

It has a lot of potential and helps make sense out of requests I've seen for die-rolling mechanics in-game (or in discord) to support the RP community. It balances structure with maintaining the flow of collaborative storytelling. One observation regarding the working title: I like to imagine that this is the carefully-honed TTP paranoia from my time tangential to the game industry and not my own inner 13-year-old, but any game title that includes "rising" with anything remotely phallic (like some meanings of "pinnacle") will... inspire... some players. 😄

Interesting idea. I can even see how a person could reference another RPG list, like GURPS advantages/disadvantages for inspiration into other positive / negative traits while keeping it all streamlined like this. (using your "enemies" example, you could use it to represent allies/mentors/dependents very similarly). So, looking at Tabby- a kinetic melee / willpower stalker (with the melee part representing close-range spellcasting). The game mechanics would suggest a high physical and technical would be appropriate, but at barely 4' and not even 75 lbs, she's not exactly that intimidating or car-lifting sort. The knockback in her spell-blasts, on the other hand...) So I could pick something in the middle for general purpose. then: - specialize "Die Hard" to reflect willpower's channelling of her innner John McClain, then possibly, with GM help, make a negative (or neutral) trait - come up with a negative trait like "kawaii- intimidatiion suffers a -x penalty, the more she tries, the less seriously she's taken. (maybe a neutral trait with a particular +to social there.

When I saw the legendary Ascendant memorial in-game, I wanted to do a kind tribute. I had a script I'd previously used to keybind banter among soldier mastermind pets and recently rewrote it in PowerShell and have been testing it out. It takes a text file and breaks it up into a sequence of lines and keybinds to cycle through the conversation. I've been paranoid about spamming chat too much, so for the most part, I've only run them in steel canyon near Ascendant when local chat seems totally dead. (LANDLORD CALL) /em cellphone Hi, it's Tabitha Lachann. Room 327. I prefer "feliform" rather than catgirl, but yes, that's me. I want to change the label on my mailbox. It doesn't have my full name, for one. I understand it's policy to have all lease-signers on it, but Allison Katzoski doesn't live here. Leave her off and there's plenty of room. Misleading? You abbreviated it to "Tabby - Alli. Kat." How is that any better? No. Reversing things won't help. Well, I might as well just greet everyone, "HI, I'M TABBY THE ALLEY CAT" No, that doesn't have a nice ring to it. Yes, it's better than Pizzacat. or Lolcatgirl. I'm not affiliated with that either. I've seen the memes. And the website. /em facepalm /em cellphone That was deepfaked. /em doublefacepalm /em cellphone That one's real. Look, can you help? I.. I have a hard enough time being taken seriously looking this ridiculous. Couldn't we just make this one exception? Yeah, the memes probably have a lot more to do with it than the name, but I'll take my victories where I can, no matter how small. Small defeats, too? Classy. Thanks for your time. /em frustrated /em text (CASEWORKER CALL 1) /em cellphone Yeah, Tabitha.... Lachaan. What do you mean, you can't find it? Try Tabby. Yes. that Tabby. No, I can't help you get a free pizza. I'm not affiliated with the site. /em waiting /em cellphone (sigh) Figures... can we get that updated? I prefer Tabitha. No? great. Whatever. So my normal caseworker's on maternity leave and somehow my community service project got shifted to Venice. Right- Crey's Folly. Someone should update the assignment forms. Yeah. A HAZARD ZONE. First thing I noticed, too. That was the second thing I noticed. I work solo. Who assigned me to this team? Have you even looked at my file? I'm pretty sure I saw "doesn't play well with others" stamped across a bunch o pages. An area of personal growth? Seriously? Like working off ten goddamn thousand hours of community service isn't character-building enough? Well, can we at least take baby steps here? They were feliform. You might need a new stamp "REALLY doesn't play well with furries" for my file. Yes, I mean catgirls, OK? Whatever happened to being PC? Ok, Well, 3 ...catgirls..., a foxgirl, and some kind of cat-dragon chimera guy. We weren't sure if he was officially with us or not. He just kept following us around and yiffing. No, of course none of them complained. They're catgirls. I was just amazed that they waited until after the patrol before yiffing back. Much. No, because I'm not a catgirl. Not all feliforms are catgirls. Well, what's the first few things that come to mind when you hear "catgirl?" /em facepalm /em cellphone /em afraid /em cellphone ... I'm a bit amazed "cat tail and ears" didn't make your top 5, but yeah... that's what everyone thinks- accurately, probably, but not all feliforms are that... sociable. Think of catgirls as a subset of feliforms- ones that really like the horizontal hula. Yes, it does seem to be a large subset. No, you can't just say other feliforms are catgirls with a repressed se... who don't like playing hide the cannoli. Because... for one... that's a fundamental contradiction in terms. like "dry water" No, I don't have issues with it.... I'm just in a public place. Do you have any idea what happens when a catgirl mentions... that... in public? Crowds form. Sometimes lines. My point is "feliform" describes physical characteristics whereas "catgirl" is a lifestyle choice with some negative connotations. Yes, there could be biological predispositions, too. I get that. I'm not judging. Ok, so "negative connotations" sounds a bit judging. I'd just like to go down the street without random strangers approaching with pickup lines like, "I'm a pony, ride me." Just before this call, actually. Yeah, he seemed shocked and disappointed that I turned him down. Well, shattering his worldview sounds a bit extreme. Human. To be fully honest, I wish people would just see me as a normal human female. I'm working on that. Yeah, I realize that. Some creeps are just creeps, but I hope there would at least be fewer people shouting, "WANNA DO THE NASTY?" from across the parking lot. /em afraid /em doublefacepalm /em cellphone I... I said that way too loud. A catgirl just shouted about doing the nasty in a monorail station. What do you think? YES, feliform, thank you. /em batlookout /em cellphone I gotta run. Can I just get assigned another neighborhood and team? PLEASE? I swear, last time I'll ever ask. White Plains? Haven't seen that on the subway map. Can you text me the directions? Ok. I'll check for it later. Bye. /cce 2 CCSmokeBomb

I thought that billboard (and the "still among us" billboard) came with Issue 10, but I may be wrong. I made a point of including it in the comic guide back then because it was hilighted to me by other players as something new. I called it part of Vanguard's PR (Paranoia and Revenue) program.

(thread formerly called "the hunt" - renamed it for the upcoming Pt 2 and made a few editing tweaks that didn't make it in the original text. ) So I haven't had a chance to roleplay much lately, and when I did, Tabby's current focus on not-being-noticed really limited the potential for chance encounters. I'd intended to play out the evolution of Tabby for a while longer, but I decided to move it forward. Below was originally intended as part 3 of a story, but with parts 1 & 2 lost, I adapted it to serve as an introduction. Officer Joji Ito shielded his eyes with an envelope marked “evidence” as he started at the cathedral’s main bell tower. It was 10 minutes after mass had ended. Maybe his hunch was wrong. Maybe his quarry wasn’t inside. Maybe this is all a waste of.. There she was. A small form blending in Slipping out of the steeple, darting along the steep-sloped ridges. The backpack and jaunt made it seem like Resurrection parish had its own hunchback- a tiny, nimble hunchback… with a tail. “Tabitha!” The silhouette froze, then ducked behind a winged gargoyle. A few seconds later, the glint gold-green eyes emerged from the shadows. He tucked the envelope under his other arm with the others and waved back. “We need to talk.” The eyes blinked, then disappeared. “Is this business or pleasure?” she called back after a bit of a hesitation. “Business. The alley’s clear. Keegan’s watching the other side.” He could hear some scrabbling sounds then caught a good view of her silhouette as she leaped across the alley onto a fire escape. Cat-themed heroes and villains existed on a spectrum, with one side just having costume accessories or behaviors resembling something feline. The middle might add a real tail, ears, or catlike eyes to an otherwise-human body. Tabby... err… Tabitha fell closer to the cat side. Although her build was appreciatively feminine, the cat tail, ears, eyes, and whiskers accompanied a coat of grey/black/white fur that evoked images of an american housecat all packaged in a lithe form under four and a half feet. She opted to skip the last two flights of stairs on the fire escape, landing beside him in the alley, carefully assuring that Ito remained between her and the alley entrance. She kept focusing around him, rather than on him, searching for the first sign of trouble as she shrugged off her backpack and dropped it at his feet. While she rummaged through the backpack, she never went long without nervously looking toward the entrance, around one leg, then the other, sometimes ducking to see between them. Some part of Ito finally registered that he had a naked catgirl squatting in front of him- and even though her pelt left as much to the imagination as a leotard or scuba suit might- he quickly filled with the anxiety of a teenager presenting at the front of class and getting an... "...baseball, think of baseball" he whispered to himself. "Huh?" Eye contact. It should have made things easier, but in this position, with her wide inquiring eyes meeting his from where she was, her lips slightly open, wavy hair cascading over... *BASEBALL.* he mentally screamed to himself. Fate intervened, mercifully sending him into a coughing fit before he could stand there under any more scrutiny. She stood, holding a oversized zippered hoodie and sweats, "Sorry, it's safer to go roof to roof like this. It's... weird... I know, but I can barely stand wearing this stuff when doing normal stuff. When it rubs the wrong way, it's like needles, and its CONSTANTLY rubbing." *Cold Shower. IcebucketChallenge* Joji did his best to focus on the fire escape… or the brick wall… or anything but the cute catgirl now dressing inches away. He could barely register a thought, but had to say something, stammering out, “So… out of curiosity… why did you ask if… if this was business or pleasure?” She froze balanced on one leg, halfway into her the frayed lounge pants. Her tail pulsed into full bristle, then back again, then bristle, her pupils had grown to engulf her whole eye and from this angle, he could see a ridge of hair rise and fall in sync with her tail. The rest of her was as immobile as a statue. Finally, the moment broke, everything returned to normal, and she hammered out a quick and unconvincing staccato, “It was just smalltalk.” His heart was pounding. This probably wasn’t the right time but he had to seize the moment, “So, if this had been just for pleasure….” “Joji,” She interrupted... that's bad... but she's using firstnames, so... good? “I’ve read the fanfic.” It was his turn to freeze in time. He briefly considered running for the squad car pretending there was an emergency on the radio, but his feet were cement. He thought about several dozen other scenarios to extract himself from this situation, but unfortunately all involved moving… and he couldn’t. He was pretty sure he'd stopped breathing in this eternity of paralysis, which must mean he'd be dead by now. His life mercifully cut short to avoid the humiliation, but there was no bright light- no escape there either. All he could do was stand there and weakly deny it. He didn’t even get a word out before she continued, “I know it was you- the whole ‘If I was gonna be a supervillain’ exchange- that was our thi--- I mean that was between you and me. Nobody else heard it. And really- Callie the catgirl with the calico-fur pattern wasn’t exactly THAT big of a stretch from… well...Tabby.” Just play it cool. Deny everything. You can get out of this. Just don't make it weird. It was already weird. in the time he'd been standing there, Tabby'd completed dressing, now just a set of glowing eyes in the shadow of a way-too-large hoodie. How long was he frozen? How’d he miss all that? Why’d he miss all that? Granted, he’d have preferred playback in reverse, but... “Look, don’t get me wrong- it’s good writing. The whole ‘cop drawing out the villain's compassion while she pulls him out of the doldrums of his life’ is a great trope for a reason. Your storied had romance, drama, humor.. taste… A lot of the other stuff lacks...” “.. a plot, punctuation, spellchecking?” “... not to mention consent, but yeah, those too.” Ito flinched, “you went to THOSE forums?” “... to know your enemy, read the thoughts that even they label with trigger warnings.” She said with a mock sage bow. “Sun Tzu would’ve said that if the internet existed back then, I’m sure.” He laughed, but decided it was best to navigate far and away from the those topics. Maybe all was not lost. “... but you LIKED my story?.” “It was good but… but that’s not me.” “No, it wasn’t, I mean, yeah you kinda inspired me, but I wasn’t implying that you were… or we were.. Or…” “That’s not what I mean. I mean, I don’t even know what I really mean. I just… You obviously like catgirls. You’re attracted to this,” she said with a sweeping hand over a body now enveloped under folds of excess fabric. His mind flashed back a few minutes to fill in the blank. “Lord knows why, but this is… well, not me. I’m the girl that messed up and got temporarily trapped like this. This is an… an interruption of me… and it's not sticking around. “I’ve been stuck this way for four long years, but only because they wouldn’t let me study spellcraft after I blew up a dumpster behind the cafeteria. I get it. I wasn’t using the best judgement there. I accepted their punishment, but I never stopped planning to change back. Heck, my only plan when I got out of placement was to keep as low of a profile as possible until I got this reversed. I wanted people to know me as me, not ‘that girl that used to be a catgirl.” She forced a laugh. “That plan kinda blew up too. I think that’s my superpower. No situation that can’t be made worse by adding Tabitha to the mix.” That weak half-smile always accompanied her self-criticism (a pretty common occurrence) with the fur on her cheeks fluffed- a blush, probably. Her eyes flitted away from making contact, then back, looking for something- maybe confirmation, maybe a rebuttal- and ready to take it in stride or laugh it off like a joke. “It’s been an… eventful few weeks.” He had to admit, “but you stopped a mugging and you saved Ms. Rodriguez’s life. Heck, Keegan and his ex are even talking again because of you. That’s not making things worse. Well, maybe for Keegan.” “I fell into a mugging and transformed it into a hostage crisis- got a concussion and ended that night handcuffed to a fire hydrant if memory serves. Then I picked a fight with someone far tougher than me, survived it by clinging to his back for dear life until Artificer rescued Ms Rorriguez AND me. THEN I try to out-troll online trolls and that went oh-so-well. "Making. Things. Worse." She accented each word with a poke to his chest. “Odds are I’m going to have to go halfway around the globe to not be known as “Tabitha the former catgirl.’” Joji briefly thought about pointing out the folly in that thinking- catgirl-pizzeria-themed hostess clubs were popping up all over his parent’s home country largely due to her celebrity status- then thought better of it. The night Tabby rescued councilman Willard’s husband from a mugging, word got online about her. The internet’s a weird place with many corners dedicated to many strange interests. “New mystery heroine, catgirl, handcuffs” hit a few too many keywords, it seems, and started a feeding frenzy. Everyone was competing to get firsts- first sighting pic, first interview, first tuft of hair, first selfie taken in secret lair/apartment/bedroom closet- as mentioned- MANY strange interests. It must’ve been a slow week, because ALL the crazies came out. That was (coincidentally) the same night they met. Officer Keegan- his partner- was partly… mostly...responsible for the “handcuffed to a fire hydrant” misunderstanding, but they both did help shield her from the fan frenzy and get her home undetected. Unfortunately, rather than defuse the crisis, this just increased the intrigue. The longer Tabby hid, the more crazed the fans became. This just wasn’t something they were used to. If you show up at any nightclub frequented by “supers” and pull out a camera, catgirls practically jump into the shot. Catgirls and spotlights are like cats and sunbeams. People just couldn’t conceive of one avoiding them. Intrigue grew to obsession. Competing fansites entered into competing bidding wars on bounties for whoever delivered the first pictures. Prices rose to the level that professional paparazzi got involved. More mainstream news shows even spared a few seconds to report on the furor. And Tabby remained hidden. Well, she remained hidden long enough to realize how much it sucked living that way. When she needed to go out, he, Keegan, and Artificer made distractions both in the real world and online- all four had accounts on the fan sites to feed false leads or get an insider's edge on what was planned next. Eventually, Tabby decided that claiming the photo bounty for herself would go a long way to paying restitution she owed while simultaneously denying it from the people who made her life hell. Her winning “first photo” was a selfie holding the sign “Satisfied? Now go away!” (Probably not the first catgirl to utter that phrase, but certainly different context). A more thorough examination might show that she held the sign with just her middle finger on display as a more subtle jab. The delivery was carefully timed- She’d read online that one of her more annoying stalkers was bribing deliverymen for access to her apartment complex, so once the payment was in escrow she ordered a pizza. With the forums already buzzing about the discovery that there was a catgirl in their midst, posting in their forum, and however negatively acknowledging their existence, she opened the door to the pizza paparazzi, tipped him, and made a huge production of savoring the first bite in the freedom of the open apartment lobby, declaring victory. Battle won. War lost. Within an hour memes based on her selfie were trending. Within a day, practically every frame of the pizza-eating video was put to use in the most provocative way. At the start of day two someone uploaded footage of Tabby’s "fight" that saved Ms Rodriguez from a council soldier. Apparently he bribed the clerk at the PPD evidence locker just hours too late to win the bounty. Before day three those grappling scenes were cropped, edited, and looped into a series of far less innocent-looking bounces, bumps and grinds. Then came the inevitable mashups: Take the pizza-eating, the battle remix, add audio from an infamous When Harry Met Sally scene, and cap it off with the breathy “Tastes like victory” utterance at the end, and your already-viral memes reached mainstream. By the end of the first week an entire online industry had arisen. Meme sites. A “tabby tracker” offering free pizza prizes for the top weekly uploads. “For what it’s worth DiGinelli really didn’t know… y’know... the details behind the meme before getting the new pizza boxes printed. The guy’s like 80 and can’t even do email. People kept coming in saying “tastes like victory” so his grandkids showed him the more family-friendly cut. He thought you were a fan and ran with it." “Well, at least the cartoon catgirl is generic enough to be anybody, I guess. I’m still glad he took down the lifesize cardboard cutout.” “He had to. Family establishment. It wasn’t quite life-size and at that height, it was too easy for people to pose with it at crot…” “I get it.” Ito coughed into his hand, “Back to topic- so you’re thinking that I’m only into the catgirl (not)-part of you, and not you as a person? I admit your looks did catch my attention, but I’ve gotten to know you and..” Her ears flattened. “Look, I don’t even know me anymore, so you sure don't!" she interrupted, looking very frustrated, "and I’m not even sure what *me* will be when I change back." She’d started pacing, her tail was thrashing so hard it worked itself free of the baggy pants and whipped around furiously. "I... I never wanted to admit it, but this form… it isn't just a physical shape. it... it interferes with MY thinking. I.. I..” She’d started pacing, her tail was thrashing so hard it worked itself free of the baggy pants and whipped around furiously. “I… I like sunning!" She stared directly at him, guilty at the admission, but ready to face judgement like her revelation would explain everything. She must have read the confusion on his face, so she went on. "I mean, I *really* like sunning. Never did growing up- always seemed a waste of time even without considering the cancer risk but… now… on the rare occasion the sun's out and it starts heating the fur and the warm glow just flows all over me... God, it’s like a slice of heaven. It’s soo tough to resist. I could just melt.” It wasn't what he expected, but he started to piece it together, “So... you're worried that this... temporary... state of being in a catgirl body is affecting your mind? If you’re worried whether any feelings- if you have feelings-for me are a result of your feline state, my dating success record will testify that’s painfully unlikely…” His joke did get her to break out of that furious energy, “I never told anyone that before. It’s been bugging me for a long time. It's not just that. I… I sleep in tiny bursts, too, and…” she plucked at her hoodie, “and this stuff… when I’m going rooftop to rooftop in the buff, the wind whipping the fur, it’s like extra senses open up. It feels free and so RIGHT. On top of the constant discomfort of these clothes rubbing the wrong way, they just feel wrong. It’s not being nak… geeze, I can’t even use that word- it’s not that being undressed freaks me out, it’s knowing that it DOESN’T freak me out that freaks me out.” “I may admittedly be speaking with a tad of self-interest here, but there’s plenty of examples of other extrahuman capes that go… well… capeless. It wouldn’t be so scandalous to go au natural, given your condition, Tabitha. ” “That’s the problem, though- EXTRAhuman. I want to be human, and these things… it feels like it’s just chipping away at the parts left that let me feel human.” “I just really need to focus on figuring out who I really am- and recovering who I am right now. That’s been hard enough without worrying what... others... might want me to be.” “I understand.” He tried to mask his disappointment. Part of him wanted to admit he'd still like her her no matter how things ended out, but part of him would be disappointed when she changed back. The brutally honest truth was that he knew it wouldn't be fair to expect her to stay like this, and he couldn't tell right now how much he'd miss this part of her. "I’d still like to get to know you better, but I do understand how you feel. Focus on you becoming you. I’m here to help- no complications, but when you change back and you're confidently you, maybe we can go out to celebrate? Deal?” “Deal.” As frustrated as he should be with the situation, it was impossible to feel anything but happy watching her smile. “It’s a date, then. No… not a date. Totally not a date. Just friends out celebrating. I’ll keep an eye out for lingering effects like snoozing under a heat lamp or trying to do parkour in the buff or anything like that. Not weird at all. Not a date.” Her cheeks fluffed again, clearly a blush, and it was so soft that it may have been his imagination that she whispered shyly. “ ...might be a date.” They stood there in silence for a bit. The conversation didn’t go as he’d hoped, but standing there with her made him feel like she must feel in a sunbeam. Nothing could ruin this, except: “So, what was the business part of this discussion? Is it about that council guy?” There’s no good transition for what’s to come, so he opted to just hesitate and pretend that he didn’t hear her. Maybe it’d just go away. It didn’t. Tabby just took his silence of confirmation. She wasn’t wrong. Her ears perked in excitement as she practically bounced agaist him, “Is he going to trial? I already gave my statement and all but I hadn’t heard back. I know potential witnesses aren’t supposed to talk, but I really have a lot of questions. How’s Mrs. Rodriguez? Do I get to testify? I’ve never been part of a trial before- well, except my own- and juvie’s different and I was preoccupied and. Oh! What’s this? For me?” He couldn’t react fast enough to prevent her from snatching the envelopes he had tucked under his arm, but he was fast enough to stop her from opening them. “Tabby, don’t open those. We probably don’t need them. Keegan said you would, but. Just… just listen: Mrs. Rodriguez is fine. There won’t be a trial. The guy you caught- Michael Byrne- is dead. Suicide in his cell.” He took a deep breath, “and he wasn't’ council. He was a cop. I went to the academy with him.” “Oh my God. The council is infiltrating the PPD?” Her eyes- already proportionately large for a human- somehow grew larger. Adorably larger. “No, at least we don’t think so. He took the suit from evidence- probably wanted a disguise with some protection. Byrne was broke and couldn’t afford his own stuff. He worked every OT shift he could just to cover child support and alimony. Didn’t have much of a life outside the force, and nobody inside the force really recalls him saying anything that’d suggest he was at risk of this. Nobody that’s talking at least. ” “You think other cops are involved. Mrs Rodriguez did say she saw more.” “She counted 5 or 6 together at one time. The profilers think the actual number may be 2-3x that for this kind of operation to work. At least some of them have got to have ties to the force. I’m not privy to the details now that IA’s involved, but his death doesn’t pass the sniff test. None of this does.” “Byrne just passed his quarterly screening. His personal life was shit, I know, but… who knows what it takes for someone to crack, but I can’t imagine what it’d take to do this. Why copycat the blue bolts?” “The what?” “Years ago- before most people on the force today- there was a string of murders- kidnapping-murder, really. They took people that weren’t likely to be reported missing- homeless, prostitutes, immigrants- and they… hunted them for sport using crossbows. The bolts were always cobalt blue. It went on for months- the media dubbed them the “Bue Bolt Society” since that was all that was known about them. Many speculated that they were privileged thrillseekers preying off the dregs of society and that people in high places were protecting them from prosecution- Might be some truth to that, given how redacted even the cold case files are.” He pulled the envelopes from her hands, picked a relatively safe one, and opened it. “After you stopped their hunt and took down Byrne, we made the connection. We started thinking of other cases differently. So far, we have eight probables in the last 6 months. All identified by their prison or detention dentals. Homeless, prostitutes, immigrants again, All likely killed by a projectile like a bolt, and traces of blue carbon fiber were found on three. “ He fed the packets over to her one at a time, watching Tabby as she scanned over them looking increasingly uneasy. Each packet contained photos of evidence, identifying records, and the mugshots of each victim. The first two contained X-rays, but the third included shots of the partially liquefied corpse over a month into decomposition. At that, Tabby turned and puked behind a dumpster. *Damn it, I shoulda known that would be too much. She’s just a kid. She doesn’t need to see this.* “Chief assigned a protective detail on you right after the arrest, but your travel habits made that a bit tough. They spent more time searching for you than protecting you. Now IA wants you in protective custody.” “What? Hell no!" She'd been using her sleeve to wipe her face clean, but little droplets of saliva still clung to her whiskers. "You just got done telling me that you think the people doing this are cops…” “SOME. Some are ...probably... cops” “... and you don’t know which ones they are, and you want me to just trust them with my life? Sounds like Russian Roulette to me. If they’re having such a hard time following me now, I should just stick with that.” “They won’t be local cops or anyone with any risk of being involved. I don’t know the whole plan- probably bring in the feds or we even have special programs to bring in supergroups for this sort of thing. You’ll be in good hands.” “...and why would I be at risk, anyway? I only saw one of them, and he’s dead now. It’s not like I’m some sort of lynchpin in a trial anymore.” Ito hesitated, then handed over two more packets, watching her carefully as she opened them. “That’s Rocco-- the raccoon-boy. Not too bright- had the IQ equivalent of a chimp and couldn’t say much more than his name. He lived around the Faultline ruins- would come up to the park and dance for food when he got hungry. “ Time of death is 5 days after you apprehended Byrne. Her face was stone as she studied the photos- a sharp contrast to her tail whipping about in a fury all its own. Raccoon boy had been pierced at least six times and had escaped to the Faultline cliffs before succumbing to his wounds. Three of the bolts were still piercing his corpse when a team of heroes found it. She didn't wait for him on the last one. She popped off one of the gel caps she kept on her claws and tore through the envelope. Each claw was about an inch long, but when retracted behind her actual fingertip, her hands appeared to be a knuckle short and knobby- still too long to be considered "paws" but far shorter than a human's hands. The gel caps kept her claws extended and resembling natural human hands. “That’s White and Silver. They were rescued from a black market bio lab in South America- been in-country in foster only a few days before they disappeared. They didn’t even have names registered- the fosters were waiting until they gained a better grasp on the language so they could choose their own." The two fell in the same area as Tabby on the catgirl spectrum- Fur-covered, whiskers, tail, the works. Silver had longer hair and a bushy tail. White shorter hair. They died shielding each other. Several of the bolts pierced both bodies, practically stitching them together. “We found them yesterday.” She wouldn't pry her eyes off the pictures, so he took a knee and bent them back. He wanted eye contact to drive this home, “Serial killers tend to have patterns, but sometimes they evolve over time. It’s hard to confirm a pattern with just these two, but we don’t want to wait for any more. We think you struck a nerve when you got Byrne, and now they're targeting people with animorphic traits. Like you." Her hands trembled as she turned every page. The tail thrashing had reached an impossible crescendo and although her face remained expressionless, her eyes and whiskers darted over about every detail of the images. When she finally spoke, it was strained, holding back a tide her emotions,"“3 conditions. " Then with more conviction, "I’ll do it on 3 conditions.” “Let’s hear em.” “One- I pick the supergroup.” “Within reason, Tabitha, I like you, but I can’t just pull Freedom Phalanx for this kind of op. “I think you’ll find my request very reasonable. Two- I pick the police liaison. I need someone I can trust.” “Liaisons go through a special program. They need to be trained in the legal ins and outs of working with vigilante groups. It can’t be just anyone.” “Your partner qualified for it, didn’t he?” “Yeah, Keegan’s one of the few non-powered officers to take the course, but he’s never had an assignment-- and no offense to him, but you’re going to need someone with at least enough firepower to keep up with the supergroup that… wait. What supergroup were you thinking of? Not... “ A wave of realization swept over his face. Keegan’s old crew. “No. I... I can't agree to it. I won't. They’re friggin college students- and not only are they just a student-based "club" masquerading as heroes, they’re not even the best student-based supergroup on campus. Half of them have no powers at all, and the other half are practically out of their minds DUE TO their powers. That’s… that’s not a protection detail, it’s... it's a national disaster waiting to happen.” Tabby took a defiant stance, “My conditions. I need people I can trust, and I trust them. I could leave right now and ask them and they’d help me without the PPD, but I know you’re right- they’d do better with the PPD backing them up. Keegan brings that. Besides, Artie and Keegan have some unfinished business and maybe this can help straighten this out.” “This is a life-and-death situation! This isn’t a time for you to help mend Artificer’s and Keegan’s bromance!” He thought about going on, but it was clear by her total body language that this was a lost cause. “Ok, fine. I’ll make that work, but I’m staying around as Keegan’s backup. What’s the third condition?” “I want to see everything the PPD has on the Black Bolt Society. Everything.” “Normally witnesses shouldn’t see evidence that could impact their testimony, but since Byrne’s dead, you're not a direct witness-- and it may spark something. I’ll get it approved and have it waiting at the safehouse.” “No. No safehouse.” Things were going too smoothly. I should have expected something. “That’s what protective custody is, Tabby. We take you to a safe house and keep you hidden until we get these guys into custody..” “No. You don’t get it, and you know better than to call me Tabby.” She shoved the stack of crime scene photos back into his hands, pulled back her hood, and started unzipping it. “When I hide… when they can’t find me, they kill someone else." The jacket fell off with a shrug and the pants dropped with a shiver, then she was packing them both into her backpack. “I can’t live with that.” As serious as this conversation was, Joji didn't really need to think about baseball. He did anyway, just in case. For a moment, Joji thought Tabby was cracking her knuckles, then he realized she was snapping off her remaining claw pads. With them off, the inch long talons reminded you that- as tiny as she might be- a 70-lb wildcat would still be a dangerous encounter. “I don’t have the luxury of hiding anymore. They took that from me. "If they want to lash out at the damn catgirl that ruined their little sport, I need them to know EXACTLY where to find me.” The hairs on ito’s neck stood on end as he watched her trace arcane patterns in the air. A violet-hued light danced between her clawtips, growing bigger and more radiant increasing from the size of a gumdrop to a softball, then to a melon, wisps of it curling off like flares on a miniature sun. As impressive as it was to see her power manifest, it was the way that she transformed when lost in casting that truly awed Ito. She was confident, poised, totally in her element, with an incredible presence that just exuded command. It left him wondering how, just moments ago, he ever mistook her for just another college kid. It also left him wondering what to try when baseball failed. “And once they do find me, I’ll make them regret it.” With that she turned towards a pile of trash perhaps 20 feet away and released the energy bolt. It fizzled- rather explosively- just an arm's reach away- nowhere near the target, and with enough force that it knocked the files from his grip and sent them flying down the alley. “I’m… uh… still working on that.” Backup. Yeah, Ito was going to line up a LOT of PPD backup.

Work has taken its "Late August timesink" early this year and shows no sign of abating. Been trying to get time for a single post for over a week. If anyone wants to take over the characters to keep the thread moving please do. I don't see escape in the foreseeable future