FEI: The Enhanced - Roleplay Thread

"What do I do?," Jeremy broke out in a grin, took a deep breath and then transformed. He shot up a foot in height and gained over a hundred pounds of muscle then fur started sprouting from his skin and head, flowing into a lion's mane as his canine's grew out and his fingernails turned into claws and his eyes turned yellow with catlike slits.

"This," he said in a guttural but still understandable voice, leaning forward, his grin seeming a lot more ominous now that it sported inch and a half long fangs. "Meow."

Then he backed up, not wanting to get tased or shot, clasped his hands over his head and turned slowly around.

edited 27th Oct '17 2:59:32 PM by tricksterson

FEI Tower - Lobby

The male receptionist simply raised an eyebrow at Jeremy's incredibly overdramatic transformation and swivelled back around to his computer.

"Let's see, 'Clawmark'...ah. L1. Expected with physical transformations. Not bad at all. Please wait with the others by the benches for the introductory meeting."

He leaned over and whispered to Darian: "Thanks for the save. Are you actually gonna greet any of the newbies, or are you gonna do the usual Darian behaviour I've grown to know and cheerfully insult them from a distance?"

edited 27th Oct '17 3:31:22 PM by Enirboreh

FEI Tower - Lobby

Lea moved a few steps back as Rebecca walked up to her, eventually matching her movements to a point where she managed to keep the distance between them satisfactory at best. "I... live here." She said, pointing to the ground and smiling again. "My name is Lea. I live here. I already said that, didn't I? Sorry."

Seeing Karen moving up to them, Lea took a few steps to the right so that she had the same amount of distance between her and the two other girls. "Hi. My name is Lea, and I live here. I already told her that, but I didn't tell you about it, so now I'm talking about it again. Sorry, Rebecca." She moved her hands as if to grip an invisible granola bar in front of her chest, her smile widening. "I hope we can be... f-f-friends?"

Once her fingers touched the palm of her hands, Lea looked down and frowned. "Sorry. I live here- I said that three times now, sorry- and I don't talk to a lot of people. I'm very sick and people can't get near me. So even though I live here- fourth time- I don't talk a lot. My throat gets rusty from how little I talk. You two are the first ones I've talked to in a while. Apart from the nice woman who cleans my room when I leave... since I'm sick, and I can't let the other people who live here like me get the same sickness."

Lea looked back up at the two and smiled again, before slapping herself on the forehead in slow motion, to a point where the slap was turned into a light pat. "S-sorry. Fifth time. I don't usually repeat myself like this!"

Okay, Jacques had an in here. He couldn't be incriminated on this, but he could absolutely communicate what he wanted now. So instead of saying anything, Jacques just pursed his lips, frowned, and turned his head to one side.

"Yeaaah..." he said, slowly, "I think a strong sense of justice is a pretty apt way of phrasing it. I need to be able to control my powers better if I want to make the world a better place."

He'd never be so stupid as to write it down, but yeah, Jacques had The List. Currently it had the President, of course, which was easy because he was a fascist, but he had a few other people too, and demonstrations vaguely planned out. All stuff very far down the line, and if he planned that out too much his plans would become vulnerable to the volatile times they lived in. President was easy though.

Jeffrey nodded, changed back, just a little bit slower than he could have and found a bench to sit on..

edited 27th Oct '17 5:07:31 PM by tricksterson

FEI Tower - Lobby

"Very noble." Dexter said sincerely. "I look forward to working with you, Jacques. Hopefully they call us into the meet and greet, soon. No new entrants have appeared, so it shouldn't be much longer." Dexter rolled his neck, which was slightly stiff from how he'd been looking at his tablet.

"If all our comrades are as agreeable as you, I think our group will work out swimmingly."

"What sort of group? You know more about the meeting than it just being a thing that's happening?" Jacques asked the dude back. Hm. Seemed the guy might be down for this. It wasn't clear, though, just how smart Dexter was—if he'd grokked exactly what he was going for here. Probably not though. Hopefully not. "I don't doubt they'd try to pull some kind of Avengers Initiative with us. Maybe FOXHOUND is the more accurate comparison though."

Takami - Job Well Done?

Takami sat in front of his father - in any other circumstance this would resemble a father and his son sitting down at the dinner table to discuss the day. In the current circumstances, however, it was the crime boss father sitting with his accomplice son and discussing how things went on the trip to deliver steroids to a young athlete.

Takami related how the man treated him, and his misgivings, "You know, they don't respect us any more. Its all about heroes and villains now. Ever since that day in the seventies..."

Takami's father, Takemitsu Inagawa, watched the TV for a moment, left running on a fencing match, and then sighed, "...Son, I know you want to help, but please. Try and live a normal life. Become a doctor like your mom wants...I'm sticking with this because I've put so much time and effort in, I can't leave this life. Don't let that be your story too."

Takami looked down, breathing and thinking about options. Father seemed to have a similar opinion about Yuuta and his membership in the gang - "too much time and effort". And much as Takami knew his father had his best interests in mind, Takami couldn't just sit back and let this enterprise fail.

"I know you're wary about me using my...ability, but like it or not this could be the only shot we have at rebuilding. Its not overwhelming, but I think—-" Takami then looked out, wondering when brother was going to come home. Probably being his usual, overenthused self.

Takemitsu promptly put his hand on the table and rolled up his sleeve, showing a number of scars, "I don't want you suffering through wounds like these. Back in the day, I tried to fight the heroes. But I've no Enhancement, so every time...I lost. We all lost. Whole teams of my men captured or dead."

The masked young man stood up a bit and put a hand across the table, "I could...you know..."

Takemitsu rolled his sleeve back up, "...but I don't want you to. These scars are lessons, hard learned ones. Ones I don't want you having to learn through experience."

Takami looked down, and then grit his teeth behind his surgical mask. Father, though you may believe in such strongly enough, I disagree on what is for my own good. These heroes...are like overpowered characters in a once normal, mundane game. They're malignant tumors, unhealthy, deeply, deeply unhealthy...but what can even be done at this point? They ARE the status quo now.

FEI Lobby

Darian took in another mouthful of smoke as Clawmark transformed before her eyes, his human features giving way to claws and fur and fangs. She observed the process with a tepid interest, as if he were a brightly coloured fish in an aquarium. "Neato, a werelion."

Without turning away from Clawmark she leaned in to hear the receptionist, one eyebrow raising as he made some (rightful) insinuations about her behaviour. As if to answer his question, she called out after the retreating lion-man-turned-man. "Hey, mind not to shed too much in here. We already underpay the cleaners!"

Then, as an actual response to the receptionist: "Sam, my man, what if I went with option C and took a nap, right here, on your desk?" She stretched, and then folded her arms behind her head. Now that the nicotine was combating the adrenaline from her jog, and her built-up voltage had all but left her body, Darian was starting to feel the heavy exhaustion that had prompted her to exercise in the first place. "Still dog-tired from all that work last night. And I figure, y'know, seeing how they react to a faux pas like that, might do something to liven up these meet-and-greets. Horrific monsters from the beyond are so old hat."

Lobby With Smelly Lady and Sick Lady

It seemed Lea was less of a student and more of a patient. She certainly had a little too little confidence to be the former. And, apparently, she didn't really see much human-on-human contact.

Karen thus decided to ignore usual conventions of behavior and came in close, arms pulling Lea close for a hug. "Friends friends is good. I repeat myself a lot too. Nothing weird about about that." She assured in a low drone, patting the other girl on the back.

FEI Tower - Lobby

"Actually I think 'Justice League' would be more apt." Dexter looked around the room at all the new prospects. "Put us in a public spot, train us to be paragons of virtue. Heroes, whom people can point to and say: 'this is what the Enhanced should be like.' That encourages more Enhanced to join the FEI, and conserves the governments monopoly on power. Though, as I mentioned, most people here wouldn't threaten said monopoly, given most of the Enhancements I've seen don't make the person bulletproof. And those that do rarely make you tough enough to take an anti-material round to the face. Regardless, that seems to be the purpose of this recruitment drive." Dexter smiled bemusedly, and shrugged.

"Or, well, it's what I 'speculate the purpose to be. I don't actually know for certain. But it's the most likely scenario based on the information I have at the moment. We'll soon see, either way."

FEI Tower - Lobby

Feeling the weight of Karen's fingers wrapping around the soft fabric of her shirt and just rubbing against her skin was enough to cause Lea to freeze up. All she did in reaction was breathe right in Karen's ear, though that might have been due to the fact that Lea hadn't moved at all once Karen had initiated the hug.

Then, once the patting began, Lea let out high-pitched squeaks (they sounded like a part of her wanted to scream and the other part didn't want to embarrass Karen and so contained said screams to squeaks). "P-please, you're going to be sick, please let go of me." She whispered, her fingers trembling as her eyes stuck to Rebecca of all people, as if she couldn't bear to look at Karen. "Please, you're going to be sick, just let go of me before he gets you sick too. I don't want you to be sick."

Slowly, tears began welling up on Lea's eyes, as Karen would feel sobs struggling to leave her throat.

Jeffrey turned but instead of replying directly to the insult said "Don't you know smoking is bad for your health?"

FEI Tower

The receptionist facepalmed.

"First of all, it's Steve. Not Sam. Second, there's no point in you asking me since you'll do it anywa-there you go, and third..."

He made a gesture like he was going to continue, but his face was so hilariously scrunched up with irritance that there was practically no way to take anything he said in his rant seriously.

"You're incorrigible" he finally gave up. "And I think you're aware of it, which makes it worse."

Supporting his head with his hand, he glared at Darian.

"You're actually staying there, aren't you?"

"Thank you so much!" Maddie says a bit late.

...

After a small bit of silence, she walks over to the bench and looks over anyone else who may be there. A big smile on her face.

edited 28th Oct '17 1:32:56 PM by Beverly

FEI Tower - Lobby

“Oh.”

Kind of a weak response, yeah, but how else was someone supposed to respond after hearing something like that?

... By hugging her against her will, apparently. And now Lea was looking straight at her, which Rebecca interpreted as silent pleading for help. Well crap, now what? She could try and pull the girl off, but Lea clearly didn’t want people to come close to her for any reason.

Wait, Rebecca had an idea. It wasn’t a very good idea, but it was something. Rebecca’s aura tripled in both intensity and radius as she activated her enhancement, before she consciously dialed it back. Snaking her aura toward a nearby trash can, she used her powers to telekinetically grab a small, flattened cardboard box out of the waste, and use it as a lever to try and pry the other girl off of Lea.

“Stop it! Can’t you see she’s clearly uncomfortable?”

FEI Lobby - Reception Desks

Raising her hand just far enough above her head for Clawmark to see it, Darian aimed a finger gun and a wink in his direction. "S'what they told me, but sweet release hasn't seized me yet."

With a chuckle she resumed her original pose, closing her eyes and letting Sam's, er, Steve's words intertwine with the general hubbub of the lobby. The noise all washed over her, drawing her even closer towards sleep. "Steve, I didn't listen to a word you just said, but I'm sure that none of it was important." A spasm nearly caused the cigarette to fall from her mouth, and she paused a second to re-adjust it with her tongue. "You know this desk is comfier than the mattress I had in my old place? Crazy."

Where No Friendship Is Possible

"Hush hush hush." It didn't seem like Karen was very concerned about the possibility of falling sick. It was simple, really. The girl here had some kind of Enhancement that she could not control or perhaps even worse: the one that controlled her. Some "he" she mentioned. "I am impervious to sickness sickness."

She was about to let go, seeing as the hug made Lea more nervous than before - not the intended plan - but then the odor attacked her nostrils, together with the cardboard box pushing her away. She turned to Rebecca and her smile briefly vanished. "She has trouble with her her powers." Karen droned,looking idly at the box as a part of her face caved in without a warning, revealing teeth and eyes underneath. "And I was just just trying to be friendly. She said she had no no friends." The blonde idly rubbed one of the sharp teeth growing from where her hair was a moment ago, seemingly completely unaffected by this sudden distortion.

FEI Tower - Lobby

Steve groaned, reluctantly accepting that nothing he would say would change her mind from sleeping on the desk.

"Fine. But if I get fired because of this, I'm pinning the blame on you. You get away with murder, Darian, you know that?"

He paused, suddenly realising something.

"You... know you have a dorm, right? With no rules against smoking? And a bed? A soft, cozy, non-varnished bed with no sharp edges, like say a desk?"

FEI - Lobby

With Karen no longer hugging her, Lea went about brushing herself so as to return her clothes to their original, unhugged state. Neither the smell nor the sudden appearance of teeth all over Karen's body distracted her from task. Only when every crease and every bump had been brushed out did she look back at the two, wiping the tears from her eye.

She sniffed the air... and she looked at the teeth... and she smiled.

"You smell good." Lea said to Rebecca, pointing at her before slowly moving her fingers towards Karen. "And you look beautiful." She pointed at herself. "If he wasn't going to get you both sick, I would like to be around you two. But my sickness is not a normal sickness. You can't be impervious to it. That's why you can't touch me. Sorry."

Lea looked down and then slyly looked up at Karen for a brief moment. "Hug felt good too. Thank you. But now you might be sick, and no hug is worth that."

FEI Tower - Lobby

Rebecca felt like an idiot. A cardboard box, really? That was the best course of action she could come up with? Even the girl she was trying to pry off of Lea was looking at her like she was- HOLY SHIT!!!

Rebecca stumbled back in shock at the nightmarish visage, dropping the cardboard box as she did so. The girl was saying something about being friendly, but Rebecca wasn’t really listening, too focused on the eyes and teeth that hadn’t been there a second ago.

... Did Lea just say she smelled good? And that that thing was beautiful? Either she was lying to Rebecca’s face, which was unbelievably condescending, or she was even less right in the head than she thought. Wait, “he” was going to get them both sick? Yeah, it was definitely the latter. Why had she thought joining up with the FEI would be a good idea, again?

Then again, both of these girls seemed to crave friendship, and Rebecca sort of enjoyed the idea of someone who actually liked her odor.

“Well, do we have to touch you to get sick? We could be your friends without touching you.”

Shoggy

A predictable reaction. Karen could not help but laugh quietly as her face rearranged back to normal without any adverse effects. Satisfied with this, the blonde looked back at Lea. She said she's beautiful. Well, not she, but the form underneath. She also said that the smelly girl actually smelled nice. "Not feeling sick yet yet. I will take my chances." She replied, reaching back and bopping the sickly girl's fingers with her own, as if to oppose the "sickness" within Lea out of spite.

"Smelly smelly girl is right. We can not touch you. It's a shame, but but we can do that and still be friends friends."

Cass, Lobby

Cass looked around and sighed. So many people. It wasn't as if she wasn't already a fixture here. She walked over to Lea, and looked at her. "You really need to be more confident, Lea," she said. "Also, you need better taste. You," she said to Rebecca, "smell disgusting, and you," she said to Karen, "look kinda awesome, but I wouldn't say beautiful by any means. Still, I suppose you really could use some friends," Cass said, sounding a little kinder.

   You really know how to make an impression."   

Do you think I care?

   Point. Though that girl reminds me of home.   

How nice for you.

   You should hug her.   

Oh?

   She looks like she needs it.   

And you're totally not trying to get me killed by what's-his-name.

   Addar.   

Yeah, him.

   Worth a try.   

Yeah, right.

edited 29th Oct '17 3:54:51 PM by secretlyasuperhero

"The monopoly angle was something I'd been thinking about myself actually." Jacques responded, raising his eyebrows. "I figure if anyone uh, chafes on the government's influence though we could easily use our own judgment. That's what superheroes do after all, operate independently." He pursed his lips again. "I think our own independence will be super important, personally."

Now, Jacques was specifically thinking about Portugal's Carnation Revolution, the one where the army got accidentally stuffed full of a bunch of badass progressives. He wasn't sure he wanted to bring up a whole historical angle to this, but this was definitely a thing that was happening—he had one ally at least, against a fascist regime that was potentially just going to escalate its own revolution by training them like they were.

FEI Tower - Lobby

"Naturally." Dexter continued to look bemused. He stared at Jacques' face a moment. It was now fairly obvious that the other Enhanced had some apprehensions about authority, or perhaps about government authority specifically. Perhaps he could ease those worries just a bit.

"We're essentially specialized law enforcement, though I suspect we'll actually perform some traditional law enforcement roles as well - stopping conventional crimes, unEnhanced robbers, things like that - and that means exercising our own judgement at times to uphold the law. For instance, we may need to go against unlawful orders, or we may determine deadly force to be necessary even if we weren't necessarily authorized to use it. Though hopefully superheroes lead more exciting lives than your average beat cop, hm?"

Dexter smiled at Jacques again. Hopefully he'd read the other man well enough that that would set him at ease.