Hope For Tomorrow: Hero TV Live!

Martin felt like he was going to be late, but he could hardly say it was his fault. Two cats stuck in trees, five old ladies who needed help crossing the street, and a mugging that cleared off right away seeing as how most of them didn't want to fight someone who had made a visible dent with his landing into the alleyway. They had opted to accept cuffs and just wait for the police as he continued his journey. "Going to be late, going to be late." He entered the building quickly enough after showing his letter of acceptance and made beeline for the staircase, grabbing the railing and launching himself up to the fifteenth floor, making a roll back to solid ground and making a quick walk toward the room, opening it up with a bright smile despite the slight exhaustion from his run here.

"Sorry for being late, you won't believe how many cats end up stuck in trees between here and main." the man who entered the room looked every bit the typical 'hero', tall and built strongly without being overly muscled, short blonde hair and a bright smile showing a row of white teeth. Power without arrogance, honor with mercy. He wore his hand crafted hero outfit, a blue full bodysuit with the names of various charitable organizations and numbers to them across the outfit, a red cape dancing behind him. The only mark on his was a burn scar on his face, but even that seemed to melt a bit before his otherwise boyish charms. "Promise it won't...well I'll try to do a bit better."

Ashley, Meeting Room

"Mm. Thanks." The small form didn't grace Elena with a look, only nodding in confirmation as it curled up on the couch after sitting down, idly taking in presences showing up in the room. "It's empty, is what it is." S/he replied to Anna's comment with a shrug.

Then something fluffy showed up and Ash couldn't help but squirm and frown. So much fluff. The girl probably couldn't come anywhere near a cooker without a risk of spontaneous combustion. Now that's a funny thought. All the sizzling and popping... Ashley shook their head and instead focused on other people coming in, idly shuffling away from where Fluffy landed.

People began to slip on the patch she left and this was something interesting at least. Ash couldn't help but giggle a little each time somebody slipped, culminating in a short, barking laugh once Bay tripped in fully. "Ah... do you think we can do away with that already?" S/he asked the fluff, the little flame flickering on the tip of Ash's index finger.

Then another doofus tripped. "...actually, let's keep it some more. I wanna see who else trips." Ashley smiled thinly, just in time for a load of bull to come crashing down upon the others. She regarded Paragon - currently the last man to enter - with a mildly amused glance, and couldn't help but snort derisively when he listed his reasons for being late. Well, at least he was being honest about it?

Okay so full disclosure, yeah, Alicia was a little bit glad there were more people making their own entrances in a more flashy way than her. She was for sure initially worried the pro Heroes would be a bunch of cold tools and that a little bit of tummy and thigh would scandalize, only for multiple costumed folks to come through for her. Her own suit was too awkward and heavy outside of her transformation to be worth an entrance like that, and she smiled at these people rocking a look themselves. Momorin, right, was the sexy maid, she was fairly certain, and... Paragon, that was the guy in the armor who just skidded in. And she wasn’t sure about the pyrokinetic asshat but they were at least rocking a Brand too.

“That’s cute, you two. No matter what the pyro says.” she nodded to both Bas and Paragon, then tapped through Twitter rapidfire to try to find more out about them. “Fun to see some of you in your ‘’costumes’’ early. They look good on you.”

She saw what Elena was doing—trying to control language to control the narrative. Fuck that shit. They were wearing costumes, and they were awesome.

"I'm fine, sweetie," Danielle responded to her girlfriend's question, rubbing her lower back as she sits up. "Nothing hurt."

Except my self-esteem, maybe. Dang it, I wanted to make a good impression...

Paragon gave a nod and a smile at that. "Thank you, part of being a hero is showing off, how else can you be remembered?" through a more humble sort he knew that if his message was going to get out there he needed to be a shining star. Even if he saved a thousand cats from trees it would be even better to make sure there was someone else doing that down the line. "But I am glad to see other people wearing their costumes, it would be at least a little embarrassing right?"

Soma shook his head slightly, not necessarily in disapproval. But just because he still didn't know how to handle this sort of thing, especially since this morning he'd been under the impression this was a 'serious business meeting'.

"I thought we were supposed to be avoiding showing off the costumes until after the opening ceremony" he said to nobody in particular, then glancing to the yellow maid seated next to him and the other costumed heroes Soma added "But fun is good, I guess"

Fluffy responded to Elena's scolds with a giggle. "Don't be like that; no harm in having fun on the job!"

The sudden pile up of bodies immediately provided evidence to the contrary. "...errr, sorry 'bout that, all~ ehe, was just a wee bit too excited about actually being here... here, lemme clean that up~"

Practically bouncing over, Fluffy's foot stepped on the ice patch, which shimmered and abruptly shifted to water, flowing back into the bottle from whence it came. Hopping back over to the couch she retook her seat, her poofie costume gradually decreasing in volume from the literal fluffball it was a moment ago.

Meeting Room.

If Max was in a better mood, he would've gave a slight smirk at Elena's mindset on people who weren't going to pull their weight but simply responded with a small nod as he gave a shrug in response to Soma.

"No-one's really above making cheap or cliche ones, some try to be 'creative' or use their 'gimmick' so their excuses might sound somewhat justifiable. Tch, if you screw up, just friggin' admit it like a man and not go all 'humble' with that overly apologetic crap" Max cynically remarked, folding his arms.

Of course, with the loudmouth 'rock-star' sliding into the room with the volume of his voice set to 11, his right eye twitched at Bas as he contemplated giving a snarky and caustic remark but dropped it, deciding not to waste the energy as Paragon had to go and say something with an even easier and deadpan answer.

"Or, you know, actually being a hero. Regardless of whether you succeed or screw up for the sake of 'comedy', you'll leave an impression. I mean, sure, you could show off with glitz and glamor will have people remember you as how NOT to be a hero when a villain with half a brain decides to put a bullet between your eyes when you're making a dramatic pose."

edited 24th Nov '17 3:20:14 AM by TheRealWren

Pyrokinetic Asshat

"Cute enough for Scouts." Ash shrugged slightly, seemingly not interested in defending their opinion much beyond a commentary. "Costumes are nice though. Make for a good distraction for others to sneak in and do the do. Teamwork, and all that."

Then Ashley looked over to Max and smiled. It would be a nice smile if the burn wounds in the corners of their mouth didn't scar it into a ghoulish grimace. "You. I like you."

Meeting Room

Elena nodded in wholehearted agreement at Max's words. At least someone had sense. Some of these people were giving her a migraine.

"Acting for an audience is fine, that's half our job, but if you don't take things seriously people won't take you seriously either. You won't be a hero, you'll be a clown, a stooge."

Here she gave both Miss Shepherd and Mr. Bove pointed looks.

She turned to look at Soma. "It's supposed to be a business meeting..."

She supressed another sigh, but at that moment the door to the office slid open and two people walked in.

A man and a woman, both in their mid-thirties, dressed professionally. Scott and Karen O'Neil, heads of Hero TV.

Karen, the redheaded woman who used to be the superheroine Lady Luck, smiled at everyone and gave a little wave.

Her husband, Scott, spoke: "Well, sorry for being the last ones to arrive, but we had to drop our daughter off."

He looked towards Elena. "I'm sorry, Elena, Henry can't make it today, something came up."

Elena didn't react. Typical.

Scott smiled and pulled out his Quill. "Well, let's get this show started. First things first, I've sent documents to your Quills, check it out, it's your contracts, read through everything before signing. After that, we can talk about the upcoming season."

Meeting Room.

...Annoyed at the ones in charge of all this for taking their time, he simply grabbed his Quill, wanting to get this over and done with. ...At least it was...'nice'...that Elena had a similar mindset and if Max looked amused, perturbed or somewhat surprised by Ash's outburst, his deadpan and straight-faced expression hadn't changed in the slightest.

"...Right. Let's not get all buddy buddy yet, I'm not here to make friends. Associates, maybe. That's it."

Meeting Room

Denki Girl whips out her Quill and begins reading carefully. Her eyes shift to blue and she reads more slowly.

Interesting...

Alicia squealed with laughter and leaned back in her chair as some shitlord sitting at the table seriously fucking said “tch,” out loud, unironically. Holy shit. She kept laughing through the introductions, and as they got the time to read through the documents she raised one hand while the other absently popped her Quill out and navigated to the documents. “Is—is nobody gonna respond to the little edgelord over there? Holy shit. You know, I was just thinking between me and Momorin we were holding onto the aughts kinda strong but holy sh—wow, dude.” Almost for emphasis, Alicia readjusted her ear headband slightly and crossed her legs before reading.

"I just meant a little fun-" Soma started to reply, but as much as he might have wanted to say even business people need some fun he cut himself off as the O'neils approached signaling a somewhat official start to the meeting with a fresh batch of legal documentation on their Quills.

The would-be hero simply nodded and started reading carefully though the contract, it wasn't like skimming the annoying digital contracts some companies insisted on putting on games to try and hammer in the fact you only payed for the opportunity to play the game instead of ownership of literally anything. It was actually kind of intimidating, but his time at KEU should have prepared him for this, if nothing else he could to manage not breaking a contract...

Bas Apologizes and Doesn't Read the Contract Yet

Bas stared at Ash for a second before frowning, that definitely wasn't a good first impression for her at least. Basil gestured to Fluffy that it was okay. "Nothing to worry about, just try to notice these kinda things ya know? Stuff like this can be an actual danger"

The Tauren looked towards Bayard, scratching his hair and speaking "Sorry man, but I can't really do anything about that now, I'll try to pay for it when I have something to actually pay you with, deal?"

Meeting room

Ann read through each document carefully before signing off on each individual one as she sipped her drink. "So what are we doing about this season? Hopefully not too many scripted events I really much more enjoy styling on hapless thugs who weren't prepared to have their crime stopped. I mean sure it's hard to find them what with everybody running around, but their expressions? Priceless."

Meeting Room

Hm...nothing perverse, at least overly so, half Denki's shtick is sex appeal...maybe a tournament at some point? Or perhaps...

Momo blinks as she hears Alicia. And there's the cold sweat.

Gah! How does she know my name?! I thought my identity was secure!

Deep breaths.

Ok...chill out, just...talk to her afterward...

She finishes signing her contract, then looks up. "I'm also...", she realizes her tone and swaps back to Lightning, "Yeah! I'm curious too!"

Meeting Room

"Glad to hear it. Now then, lets check our Quills for those contracts...", Jules said as she tried to lead her girlfriend to a seat before taking out her Quill and reading over the document that was sent to them all.

Meeting Room

Elena quickly read over the contract that was sent to her Quill, although she already knew it by heart.

She tried not to stew over the fact that her father hadn't shown up, even to his own daughter's-

She shook her head with a growl, nope, not thinking about it.

Scott, himself rapidly flicking through his Quill with one hand while running the other through his immaculate dark blonde hair, turned to look at Ann and replied.

"Well, no, there's not much scripted for the season, regarding criminals anyway. We figured since it was your big debut and all, we can just let you guys do what you will, for the most part. However, we've also taken the liberty to write up some character interactions with your personas."

"....I'm not doing a romance." Elena declared immediately.

Karen laughed. "Figured you'd say that. But no, we were thinking more of a rivalry in your case."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Rivalry?"

She looked over at her Quill and scrolled down to her script. Sure enough, there was going to be a marketed rivalry, maybe even staged tensions with.... "Lady Asmodea? Well, I suppose you were going off the angel/demon contrast motif."

Elena couldn't say that it was shocking honestly.

Scott nodded. "Yes, you've got it. Now, keep in mind, that isn't final, we're open to suggestions. Just remember how your Gifts interact and things like that: for example, pairing Ashley with Anna or Felicity would be a right disaster. And of course, Max needs a partner."

He glanced at Felicity. "Also, we're thinking of putting Fluffy with Crackdown. Contrasting old school optimism with the anti-hero movement."

Then he looked at Neil. "Lastly, Neil, you're an Evans now so you've got the spotlight on you: the one that Wrath himself adopted. You're going to be under constant scrutiny, you have to be ready, be on your best behavior."

Pyrodouche

So those were the O'Neils. Ashley vaguely remembered unpleasant memories regarding Scott; something about near-throttling him. Felt like it was such a long way back, when she was still a social no-one. It felt good to be useful and someone now. No doubt he had Mr. Kaminsky to thank for that. In any case, Ash was requested not to start trouble with the hosts unless they had any objections to the contracts. Even then, moderation was key.

Also, Max was being an asshole. "You try to be friendly and the other side's a douchebag." Ash grumbled and then paid him no more mind, instead focusing on the contract on her (fireproof) Quill. Everything seemed to be in order, strangely enough. Well, most things. Reading the damn thing was a chore, that was certain. As far as Ashley was concerned, it was a matter of whether she could burn some baddie and be praised for it, not much more. What else?

Slowly, Ash raised their hand. "I'm fine with not being in the spotlight. Also solo, if you please. Probably better for everybody that way." Then something crossed Ashley's mind. "What is your policy on villain casualties and collateral damage?" The question was asked in the most casual tone she could afford before a coughing fit forced him to use the inhaler again. "My Gift doesn't do non-lethal well, see."

Meeting Room

Hm...rivalries and partners huh...

Denki nods her head. Then waves her hand.

"What about me? I can do rivalries or partners or romances or~-"

Gah! Light, calm down!

She shrinks back.

Sowwy...

Meeting

Ann finished signing off on her papers and began walking a shock disc across her knuckles. "Personally I quite like the thought of romance, but I really wouldn't want to do it as a storyline per say. More fun if it grows naturally or if I can just go around winking and flirting with people we save. I mean after all, that's part of the whole fantasy of superhero life isn't it?"

Meeting

Neil rolled his eyes as Scott threw his comment in Neil's direction. Twirling his quill around his fingers, even pulling a fancy trick where he would phase out specific fingers in order to the quill pass through them, he let out a yawn. "Yeah, yeah... I know what's expected of me, and the responsibility, and all that smooth jazz. Though I gotta say, in regards to the relationships idea, I definitely agree with the girly over there." He said, pointing the quill at Ann before pulling out the contract and signing it nonchalantly. Contracts were mostly stock standard "don't do this" stuff anyways.

"Definitely needs to be natural. Definitely need to flirt. A cute kiss of gratitude from a cute damsel you saved, or hell, flirting with the handsome villain just before you punch him in his perfect jawline."

"...Just making it clear, kid. Don't exactly have a history of workin' well with othe-"

That laughter from Alicia was getting annoying. The fact it was coming from a stuck-up and arrogant woman was even worse as his attempts to simply focus on signing the contract on his Quill just didn't get anywhere with her outright irritating attitude.

Max didn't even say a word as his aggravated glare fell on Alicia, not even making a move as something about him seemed...different with the Dragon Queen feeling a slight chill, as if a needle lightly pricked against her skin. ...Only for it to be swiftly followed by the annoyed young man to subtly flick one of his fingers beneath the table

...And cause a ghostly set of draconic claws to flick Alicia's Quill out of her hands and send it flying to the other side of the room.

"If you're going to go bark like a dog, go and play some fucking fetch and think before you go runnin' your mouth again."

edited 25th Nov '17 7:19:28 PM by TheRealWren

Oh shit, he'd done it. Alicia absolutely expected him to pull some shit, but she didn't see that coming. Which did, in fact, have the intended effect of sending the Quill flying through the air. She fixed him with a glare. She was not about to let this boy push her around, and Alicia knew that a single inch of ground given would ruin everything. She could give him one chance. "Are we going to do this then? Is this's what's happening? Because I can do this. Or you can apologize, and get me my quill, and we can go on with the meeting. We want some heat and we can play it like this but I'm more down for what you were suggesting, man," she nodded to Neil, "and you." she pointed at Denki Girl. Her voice got a little intense and clipped as she forcibly tried to not lose her shit at the tryhard. "People would love it. I'd love it. Just not with the demon lady. No offense, but your powers are too close to my mom's, and it's kinda weird. Maybe people are into that though. I'd love like, anything right now other than putting up with this kid here."