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Current Energy: 12
Current Emulation: Crafter - lvl 13
[X] Yes
Sunday, January 9th, 2011
Immaculata Dorms, Brockton Bay
I scrambled to grab my phone off the nightstand and hurriedly answered it. "Hello, just a moment."
"Who's calling at this time of night?" Mary complained next to me.
"Only one way to find out," I smiled. "Go ahead and go back to sleep, I'll take the call to another room."
Mary mumbled something in response, clearly halfway there already. I carefully disentangled myself from her and carried the phone out into the hallway. It wasn't until I had locked myself in the bathroom however, that I allowed myself to answer it again. "Okay. What is this about?"
"First, can you confirm who I am speaking with?"
I pinched at the bridge of my nose. I had been given an identification code by the PRT, but trying to remember it having just woken up… "P-12571325. Now can you tell me why you're calling me at two in the morning?"
"There's been an incident in Boston. A number of heroes have been injured and are being transported here for urgent medical treatment. Are you able to assist?"
My eyebrows shot up. They were bringing people in clear from Boston? The city was relatively close, I suppose, but it was still a good hour's drive, at least, and that was assuming no traffic. A long way for someone in critical medical condition.
"I can help, but I don't have reliable transport at the moment."
"We can provide a van for pick up. Please provide a location."
"I'll meet them at the corner of Miller Avenue and Spring Street," I said, giving a location a good four blocks away. It would be a bit of a walk to get there, but it should hopefully help obscure my location.
I waited for the acknowledgement before hanging up and sneaking outside. This late, pretty much everyone was asleep, so at least I didn't need to worry too much about anyone seeing me. Still, I made sure to be as quiet as I could be as I made my way back to the clocktower to grab my costume.
It was odd being out and about this late at night. The city lay strangely still. A veneer of peace had fallen over it, if only for the moment. Snow still covered the ground, catching and reflecting the moonlight. There was a strange melancholy to it. The ground bright despite the darkness that hung up above.
For however deep the void, or wide the expanse, there is no shore so distant as to be beyond the reach of light.
I sighed and brushed a hand through my hair. Now wasn't the time to be reflecting on something like that. I had a job to do. A duty to uphold.
The van was already waiting when I arrived. Several troopers were scanning the area and raised their foam sprayers as I approached. I raised my hands and said, "It's me, Legacy. I've been working on a new costume."
They relaxed at that, and perhaps more importantly, upon seeing Eos flying alongside me. One nodded in my direction. "Sorry, things are a bit tense at the moment. You ready to get going?"
Nodding, I hopped in the back. They wasted no time in ferrying me towards the Rig, but no one seemed in the mood to explain what was going on. Everyone sat silent, hands holding tight to their weapons.
The Rig itself was a hive of activity, despite the late hour. Troopers and staff seemed to be moving everywhere. Even a few heroes, who weren't from Brockton.
"What's going on? What happened exactly?"
The trooper guiding me through the hallways took a deep breath, his face grim. "Some tinker in Boston apparently went off the deep end. They're trying to quarantine the city, but we're afraid that a lot made it through the net. Everyone's retreated up here for now."
"Quarantine the city – What?" They did that for Endbringer attacks sometimes, when the Endbringer had gotten to too many people, created too many Mastered thralls. But for just a single tinker?
"It's Nilbog all over again. Monsters covering the streets. It's all we can do to try and evacuate people right now." He pushed the door to the infirmary open, revealing bed after bed full of injured people. Some troopers, but heroes as well. Lightning burns. Acid burns. Flesh torn apart by fangs and claws.
My stomach clenched and I was forced to take a deep breath of my own. It was horrific, but I couldn't allow myself to hesitate.
These people were counting on me.
******
Once again, my phone woke me up.
Groaning, I blinked grainy eyes and stretched out, trying to straighten the kinks that had formed from having fallen asleep in a chair. I'd been at it for a good five hours before deciding that any injuries left could wait for tomorrow. Now, looking at the clock, I was wondering if I should have even bothered. I'd gotten a whole three hours of sleep.
Raising my phone to my ear, I answered groggily, "Hello?"
"Taylor? Where are you? I thought you were just taking a call last night, and then you never came back, and you haven't been answering your phone at all!"
"Mary? Sorry, it's been something of a late night." I bit my lip before continuing, knowing that I would have to lie. "Got an emergency call, my Dad's in the hospital right now."
"Oh God, is everything alright?"
"Yeah. It was a bit of a scare, but I think everything is going to be fine now."
"That's good. Let me know when you're back, okay? I was worried that something had happened to you."
"Will do, Mary." I hung up and closed my eyes. It was… strange, having someone actually be worried about me. Sighing, I leveraged myself up out of my chair and stepped out to flag down the nearest PRT Trooper and see if they still needed me.
It turned out they didn't, but I did get a short meeting with the Vice-Director, who thanked me for my time and gave me two-thousand dollars for my work. Not a terrible windfall. I could pay for two months of school with this… or do some shopping, get some materials to actually work with.
I'd have to think it over.
Regardless, a trooper gave me a ride out and I asked him to drop me off by the Boardwalk. I'd have to take the bus to get back to Immaculata, but I had an errand I'd planned on running.
I wanted to meet Parian.
[X] Parian might be interested in some sort of affiliation as two Rogues.
[X] [Craft] Clothes with a warming enchantment.
The cloth-controlling cape was one of the only known Rogues in the city, after all. She'd gotten her start doing puppet shows for children on the Boardwalk, but had recently opened her own clothing store. It was a bit overpriced, but cape tourism brought in people who wanted to wear clothes made by a parahuman, regardless of cost.
The Dollhouse, as she'd called her store, was a surprisingly small, brick building a little ways off of the main Boardwalk. It didn't even really have proper signage, instead relying on an oversized plush animal outside to draw attention. It honestly didn't match my expectations for the Rogue, and I found myself a bit hesitant, even as I pushed my way inside.
The inside proved just as unassuming as the outside had been. Rows of clothes lined a surprisingly small area. Most of the clothes had a flair for the extravagant – fancy dresses, embroidered skirts, shawls, that sort of thing. None of it was the t-shirt and jeans that I tended towards myself. I could spot a pair of doors near the back, that presumably led to dressing rooms, and near a staircase leading up was Parian herself.
The cape in question dressed a bit like the doll her store was named after. Victorian style dress, full of ruffles and frills. Golden curls spilled out around her mask. She was already turning as I entered, the bell above the door announcing my presence, but she stiffened as she took in my appearance.
"If you're with one of the gangs, I already made my stance clear that I'm not joining and you can leave now."
"Whoa," I held my hands up. "I'm not with any of the gangs. My name is Legacy."
"The Healer?" Her head tilted as she examined me. "I liked your old costume more."
I couldn't help it. I smacked a palm against my forehead and muttered, "Apparently, I can't please anyone with my costume design."
Parian giggled in response. "You can't listen to the naysayers too much. What's important is that you find a style that works for you. The cloak isn't too bad as a base to work off, I suppose, you just need to add more underneath it. Maybe add a mask though? I'm not sure how you managed the whole shadowed void effect, but it'll probably unnerve people. That's fine on a cape like Eidolon, but well, if you're a healer…"
I winced. The Eidolon comparison was more true than she realized, but I still wasn't sure I wanted to come across as… unapproachable as the hero had been rumored to be. "Thanks for the advice, I suppose? I'll keep it in mind."
"Not a problem at all. So, what can I do for Brockton's latest sensation?"
"Latest sensation?" I asked skeptically.
"Of course. PHO is all abuzz, wondering what you're going to do next."
"Great," I groaned, "Just what I needed. More pressure."
"It's just how being a new cape on the scene goes. They'll get over it eventually." Parian paused and then asked, "So?"
I furrowed my brow. "So what?"
"So what
is the enigmatic Legacy going to do next?"
I huffed in response, but couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. "Well, I was actually hoping you would help me with that, Parian. I've a few other things that my powers can do besides healing, and I was hoping to, well, partner up with you and perhaps help with the clothing business a bit?"
"Legacy…" Parian hesitated, her voice troubled, "You seem nice enough, but… We just met, and I'm not sure my business can really support a second cape."
"Can I at least show you what I can do?"
"Okay," Parian sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I have some materials in the back that you can work with."
Nodding, I followed her back, Eos trailing quietly in our wake. The room she led me to was exactly what I was hoping for. Bolt upon bolt of different colors of fabric, threads, even some bits of leather to work with. My fingers itched to do something with all of it, even as I considered what could possibly impress the cape beside me.
A dress? It would fit Parian's sensibilities, but my mind drifted to something more seasonal. A jacket, to help deal with the cold weather? It seemed reasonable enough, and not terribly difficult.
I found myself with a hide knife in hand, already working the leather by the time my mind had settled on a design. Thread and needle followed, precise stitches, cleverly turned to hide from plain view. Attaching the bits of metal: zippers, buttons, and so on was honestly the hardest part, and even that went simply.
All the while, Eos whispered into my ear. Weave a bit of fire aether here, ice there. Earth to help smooth the leather. Wind to help guide the thread. It was more complicated than the glamour I had laid over my cloak, but not by much. The end result was smooth, black leather, with a design that put me in mind faintly of a dragon burned into the inner lapel. When had I even added that?
-4 Energy
+1 Energy (Aetherflow)
Shaking my head, I glanced back at Parian, doing my best to get a read on her through her mask. A long moment stretched, both of us silent. Ugh. This had been a mistake. Of course Parian wouldn't want to work with me.
Finally, the doll-dressed cape stepped forward. "May I?" she asked.
I nodded and she took the jacket from me, holding it up as she inspected it.
"Honestly, you were astounding to watch. I doubt I could have made anything half as quickly as you did, even with my power. Your seamwork is flawless, even if the final design is a bit drab." She looked back towards me. "Are you some kind of Tinker?"
"Not exactly. It's complicated. If you put it on though, it's designed to regulate temperature to a certain degree. It won't necessarily protect you from a fire, but it should keep you warm on cold days, and cool on warmer days as well."
Parian sighed and handed the jacket back to me. "Look. I can't do a full partnership. I honestly can't afford it. What I can do is reserve some shelf space for you and give you a commission for any items you send me that I sell."
"That seems… fair?"
"Good. If there's enough demand, you might eventually start getting custom orders. I'd recommend working on your style in the meantime though. The jacket doesn't look bad, per se, but it doesn't look unusual either. Most people who buy something from a cape want it to stand out in some way."
"Any suggestions?" I asked.
"That's for you to figure out, I'm afraid. The Legacy brand should stand out from my own. At least, it should if you want to be doing this regularly. In any case, feel free to send your first batch along whenever you get the opportunity."
I nodded my assent and shuffled my way back out of the store.
That… hadn't been quite so horrible as I expected. Sighing, I shrugged the jacket on under my cloak, letting it warm me up. The snow from yesterday was already starting to melt. I closed my eyes and tilted my head up to simply enjoy the sun for a brief moment.
Blue skies and only faint traces of clouds. We had been graced with another beautiful day. And yet, I could not shake the premonition that existed over my heart.
Change was coming.
Current Energy: 8
Current Emulation: Crafter - lvl 22
Tomorrow is Monday. Choose 1.
[] Craft or Enchant Something
-[] Craft What? (Write-In)
[] Respond to cape healing requests.
[] Respond to cape modeling and advertisement request.
[] Respond to warehouse security request.
[] Respond to AllSeeingEye.
[] Respond to Uber & Leet.
[] Shadow Stalker patrols around the Docks. Go look for her.
[] Sere is supposed to be a veteran. Might be worth contacting him?
[] A bodybuilder… Well, you'll take what you can get at this point.
[] There's two monster capes that were sighted Downtown…
[] Put an ad for heroic team ups up on PHO. Maybe you'll get lucky.
[] Go shopping at the Boardwalk.
[] Go on patrol.
-[] Alone
-[] With Symbiote
-[] With Victoria
[] Spend time with Someone.
-[] Dad (2)
-[] Eos (1)
-[] Victoria (1)
-[] Symbiote (1)
-[] Amelia
-[] Mary (1)
[] (Write-In)