_Essex_

Inside the bag there were only a few items. A thick stack of flat bags filled with Pop Rocks tied together with a ribbon. A little plush border collie with soft, curly fur, Rosie's old collar draped loosely around its neck, heart-shaped tag dangling cheerfully from the front. And a small, silver dog whistle with a four-leafed clover engraved on the side, a tag hanging off it in her messy handwriting.

Call me anytime!

-------------------------------------------

Rosie hustled back to the SPC offices, smiling to herself.

[censored], maybe Valentine's Day didn't suck quite as bad as she thought.

Halo, you get an awesome point for taking it so well. :3

Oh wait. Wrong thread? D:

Still. <_<

Lord Diov: 21
Khellendrosiic: 23
Hallucinogen: 21
Essex: 26
Prodiguy: 20
The Soviet: 25
Lazarus: CRY MOAR'D
Devious Me: 22
Burning Brawler: 18
Arashi: 20
Halo Inc: PAIN TRAIN'D ( But +1 Awesome)
Billy Boy: 15
Leo Gunner: ARROW'D
Pheonyx: 20
Mithral Zeta: 20
Cowman: TROLL'D
Moiread Scott: 22
Seikon: MENTAL BLAST HEAD EXPLODE'D
Coldfire Kaiser: HEAD SHOTT'D
Mr Grey: 19
Ozell One: 21

Rosalind knelt there with Bear's package on her lap.

"........"

She couldn't help it. Her cheeks tinged a deep pink, and she carefully undid the buckle in the back of her collar, taking it off.

The were-human examined the old collar offhandishly. Address tag, medical tag, and a heart-shaped tag that just had her name on it.

Looking down at the new collar, there was another tag - a shiny, silver star. Where the heart-shaped tag was a dull red and said "Rosalind", this one just said "Rosie."

"....Awesome." she said with a little smile, putting the collar on. It fit nicely, and she could feel the difference in the material. She put her address and med tags on behind the star, and stood, holding her old collar in her hand. She put the piece of candy and the dog treats back in the box - for later - and held the arrow with a look of thought on her face.

------

When Bear returned to his barracks, there was an arrow (of much lower quality than those he used, and fired rather inexpertly) stuck in the door. A gift bag was hanging from it cheerily, loud orange and black tissue paper coming out the top.

-------------

"Thank you sir! Happy Valentine's Day!" Essex said, waving a hand over her head as she was escorted from the building. Once she was out, she walked with the Marcones for a little ways out to the docks, hugging them goodbye, and slipping into the shadows.

Lord Diov: 21
Khellendrosiic: 23
Hallucinogen: 20
Essex: 25
Prodiguy: 20
The Soviet: 25
Lazarus: CRY MOAR'D
Devious Me: 21
Burning Brawler: 18
Arashi: 20
Halo Inc: 3
Billy Boy: 15
Leo Gunner: ARROW'D
Pheonyx: 20
Mithral Zeta: 20
Cowman: TROLL'D
Moiread Scott: 23
Seikon: MENTAL BLAST HEAD EXPLODE'D
Coldfire Kaiser: HEAD SHOTT'D
Mr Grey: 18
Ozell One: 21

"Huh?"

Rosie paused at the box that had just clattered to a stop at her feet. She bent down, and examined it for a moment.

"...Awh..." she murmured. "Big Bear..."

With a little smile, she opened the package....wondering what in the world...

((Devious -

The link in your sig made my brain explode. D: ))

"For me?" Rosie chirped, all malice gone from her voice as she dropped Experiment like a lead weight. "Gosh, thanks, Z."

Trotting off to the exit of Pocket D, she waved behind her. "See you guys around! I gotta go catch a buddy of mine."

With that, she was gone in a flash, and leaping back towards the offices of the Soul Police Chapter...

Locria's eyes widened.

If she was one to fidget, she would have fidgeted, but as it were she remained rather rigid, just looking up at Redd with an expression mirroring a somewhat pretty, rather lost goldfish.

"This Unit..." she began, though she had not considered how to finish.

Daniel Garner and the Painkillers. A concert. One hour. The Master had invited her to go. A concert!

"This Unit..." she finally continued, a little breathless. "...would like very much to accompany the Master to the concert. Requesting permission to utilize GSR-allowed civilian disguise."

-----------------------------------------

Rosalind twitched at Experiment's words.

"Hahahaha...."

She waltzed over to the scrapper's side, slinging an arm around his shoulders. Her ears were pinned back aggressively, and she was grinning hard, her elongated canines clenched.

The laugh she had just given off began to show red flags to anyone around who had more of a passing knowledge of her.

"Oh, Experiment, Experiment, Experiment." she said, wagging her opposite finger, bearing a single sharp claw. "You should really learn your spirit terminology better. I am a were-human. I am a dog given a human form by magical circumstances, in this case strong loyalty in conjunction with an equinox moon."

Her arm around his shoulders tightened.

"I've also learned a lot of things about bein' a human girl, if you know what I'm sayin'." she said, falsley conspiratorial, as she tapped his neck with her hand, the claw tapping against his armor right where his jugular vein would be.

"And if you say something like that again..." she said cheerily, "You'll have your own problems getting kisses due to the fact I'll have RIPPED YOUR LIPS OFF YOUR FACE AND SHOVED THEM UP YOUR URETHRA. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

Lord Diov: 21
Khellendrosiic: 22
Hallucinogen: 20
Essex: 24
Prodiguy: 20
The Soviet: 22
Lazarus: CRY MOAR'D
Devious Me: 20
Burning Brawler: 19
Arashi: 19
Halo Inc: 13
Billy Boy: 15
Leo Gunner: ARROW'D
Pheonyx: 20
Mithral Zeta: 19
Cowman: TROLL'D
Moiread Scott: 19
Seikon: MENTAL BLAST HEAD EXPLODE'D
Coldfire Kaiser: HEAD SHOTT'D
Mr Grey: 20
Ozell One: 21

Healed Khell because he kept healing me. D: Healing the healbot? Yay.

Hurt Prodiguy, because Rosalind made me. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Experiment, she made me do it, I swear. D:

Rosie blinked as Power Breaker helped her off.

Then she started laughing.

"HOLY [censored]!" she yelled, walking over to Toy and slapping him on the back. "I've kissed a lot of people but nothin's ever EXPLODED before! That was the COOLEST THING EVER!"

As her outer clothes reformed, she tipped a nod to DJ Zero and grinned.

"I gotta test this theory. Come on, more explosions, more explosions..."

She glanced around, and pouted. "You know, of all people, I'd hoped to at least see Ghoulie...or Big Bear....Or Allen.... or Kreiggy...though, not surprisingly, Emry hasn't shown HIS face around for a while."

The were-human folded her arms, sulking.

"Now hold on a second!" Rosie said, placing her hand on her hip and pointing forward dramatically.

The acid bomb exploded in front of her, coating her with acid.

"OW OW GET IT OFF." she growled, shaking herself off angrily and ripping off her outer layer of clothes, wiping her face off with the clean end of her scarf.

Standing there in a camisole and a pair of boxer shorts, she pointed forward dramatically once again.

"Don't give me that 'immortals can't love' [censored]. I'm an immortal too, you know? And look over there at TD. He's a robot. And look up there at Ozzy. He's 'artificial', whatever that's supposed to mean. NONE of us are 'supposed' to love. But you know what?"

She tossed a look down at one of the music mixers, who nodded and turned up some background music.

"Being immortal doesn't mean we have to find immortal love! It just means we have our whole lives to experience as much love as we possibly can! And that doesn't mean to throw our loved ones away or not to mourn them. It means that we can practice love, live it every day of our lives, not just on Valentine's Day!

"In fact, Valentine's Day is the day when we should be celebrating the fact that we have the opportunity to love so much and so often! The opportunity to experience love throughout time, love as it is expressed century after century, and a love for who we are and what we stand for!"

"And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." Rosie finished, grabbing Poe by the ears and giving him a big smooch.

"What the hell kind of spirit creature would I be if I let your posion affect me?" Rosalind snarled, attempting to wrestle Poe to the ground.

"You know, most of you losers would spend today trying to get a girlfriend, but no. You had to go and ruin things for everyone else. Well, lah-de-[censored]'-dah! There's a [censored] ton of people around who ain't got significant others either, so suck it up and DEAL WITH IT!"

With that, she let loose with a flurry of claws at him, finishing off with a hard headbutt aimed at the underside of his chin.

Lord Diov: 20
Khellendrosiic: 20
Hallucinogen: 20
Essex: 21
Prodiguy: 21
The Soviet: 20
Lazarus: 8
Devious Me: 20
Burning Brawler: 18
Arashi: 19
Halo Inc: 15
Billy Boy: 18
Leo Gunner: ARROW'D
Pheonyx: 17
Mithral Zeta: 18
Cowman: TROLL'D
Moiread Scott: 18
Seikon: MENTAL BLAST HEAD EXPLODE'D
Coldfire Kaiser: HEAD SHOTT'D
Mr Grey: 19
Ozell One: 21

----------------------------------

Healed Moiread, because little pink robots always keep their word. :3

Hurt Burning, because honestly that's the only hit I'll ever score on him. <_<

"OW." came Natane's muffled voice from the dirt.

She pulled herself back up to her face, miraculously not hurt more than a few cuts and bruises.

"Never thought I'd be thankful for training in gravity rooms for all that time." she muttered.

When she saw the centipedes headed her way, she frowned. "That's not kosher..." she muttered, releasing a wave of explosive arrow blasts to burn the insects.

Rosalind growled.

"Just because you're too much of a pansy to take V-Day like a MAN, you gotta take it out on the D, which, I will remind you..."

Rosalind snarled violently, her eyes beginning to glow subtly.

"...Is a NONVIOLENCE SECTOR!"

With that, she was on him again, attempting to get him in a headlock and force him to the ground on his face like an angry cop.

"That ain't how you use caltrops, you stupid [censored]." Rosie jeered. "And by the way, you ever hear of autohypnosis?"

Seemingly unhampered by the little spikey triangle blades raining down on her, she leapt up again, trying to grab and fasten herself onto Poe with her claws where he hovered.

"So you're having a bad Valentine's Day and wanna take it out on everyone!?" she smirked, wrestling with him to try and pull the ball out of his hands. "Better take a seat somewhere. Hey Bartender! Pity party, table of one!"

Lord Diov: 15
Khellendrosiic: 20
Hallucinogen: 18
Essex: 20
Prodiguy: 17
The Soviet: 19
Lazarus: 13
Devious Me: 20
Burning Brawler: 17
Arashi: 18
Halo Inc: 12
Billy Boy: 16
Leo Gunner: 13
Pheonyx: 15
Mithral Zeta: 17
Cowman: 12
Moiread Scott: 15
Seikon: 3
Coldfire Kaiser: HEAD SHOTT'D
Army of Grey: 15
Ozell One: 20

Yay Moiread! I look forward for the opportunity to play with you. :3

But I promised Khell I'd heal him next. <.< So I shall heal you next next. :3

Rosalind pivoted to the side, with one nimble move throwing DJ Zero free of the land mine's path.

"Toy!" she called warningly as the man slid towards the android. "Make sure my man Zero here gets out of this bubble, it's gonna get hot up in this [censored]."

As Zero phased out of the bubble, Rosie tensed as the landmine clattered to the floor in front of her, and the fireball Poe had flung connected.

A massive explosion made the sides of the force bubble shake, filling it with smoke and fire.

When the smoke began to clear, Rosie stood there, a little singed and rather bleeding, but not looking impressed, her arms crossed.

"Efreet." she muttered. "Fire elementals. Greater demons. This is what I -do- for a living, you stupid [censored]. Now then."

Pausing briefly to allow her claws to gather light, she leapt forward, her eyes hard. The first claw slashed hard at Poe's chest, and the second plunged forward to pierce deeply into his stomach, Rosie's ears aggressively back against her head.

"Just pissing me off more for making me work on my day off!" she snarled.

Rosalind rolled her eyes as she got off of Ozell and nodded to Toy. "Thanks, TD." she said. "Now hold on a sec. I gotta take care of this."

"I wouldn't be so hasty." she called out to Poe. "DJ Zero is a lot stronger than you're giving him credit for. You think a multidimensional spin doctor is going to go down with a head blow?"

She began to stalk towards the offender with a lazy grin.

"And what the hell kind of poorly-run security system would go down if -one person- drops? The Pocket D power dampeners are designed specifically to keep you crazy supervillains and supervillain towel monkeys from exactly this kind of 'fun.'"

The were-human's right hand extended to the side, and her claws shot out with an audible sshnk! noise.

"And quite honestly, this Valentine's Day has been a pile of [censored] in a shredder, and I was looking forward to relaxing and having a good time at the D where I don't have to worry about any [censored] from [censored]' jackasses like you. And now, you're playing these games with me."

She eyed Poe, the vermilion pupils of her eyes glistening.

"...So are you gonna keep playing these [censored] games with me, or are we going to have a Valentine's day this year where everyone keeps their limbs?"

Lord Diov: 15
Khellendrosiic: 18
Hallucinogen: 18
Essex: 20
Prodiguy: 17
The Soviet: 19
Lazarus: 13
Devious Me: 20
Burning Brawler: 17
Arashi: 17
Halo Inc: 13
Billy Boy: 16
Leo Gunner: 13
Pheonyx: 15
Mithral Zeta: 17
Cowman: 12
Moiread Scott: 15
Seikon: 4
Coldfire Kaiser: HEAD SHOTT'D
Army of Grey: 15
Ozell One: 21
-------------------------------------

Healed Ozell because he makes me smile. :3

Sorry Khell, you were a victim of the Random Scrolling Shot. D: I'll heal you next!

((lol, typo. Fixed now.))

((I give Khell, Hal, Diov, and Soviet each 1/4 of an awesome point because I can only hand out one at once and I like everyone. D:

Now, who can I use as a Godmoding character?

...I know. The one. The ONE.

The one I have been roleplaying for over ten years.

The one who has visited so many alternate dimensions and has taken so many forms and defeated so many gods, her strength is limitless.

The one who's still afraid of spiders.))

The girl stood quietly, overlooking the carnage with a neutral eye.

She had worn many uniforms, and the one she took now was a combination of the ones she had worn over the years. Green and gold breastplate, a pearlescent katana strapped to her back crossing with a matching green and gold bow. Runes on the back of each of her hands, and one on her forehead as well. High boots with tiny wings on the ankles, and a large, strappy trenchcoat with more pockets than she knew what to do with.

Natane Sasaki.

Star Warrior of Mariposa and Avatar of the Goddess Aurora. Preserver of the bonds between the worlds. The Omnus Soul. The Bearer of the Runes. One half of the Veil of Truth and bearer of the Universe Blade.

Mistress of the Phoenix. A star incarnate.

And a pretty damn good cook.

"...Where the heck am I?" she wailed.

((WAAAAH, I WANNA PLAY WITH GREY. *throws tantrum*

And I asked Emry what he would do if people were beating up metahumans outside the SPC base. The conversation went like this:

Me: Looks like Balsk is calling you out to deal with the Malta.
Em: What're they doing?
Me: Trying to kill a bunch of heroes outside the tabloid building.
Em: Is he within line of sight?
Me: Who, the Malta?
Em: No, Balsk.
Me: <_<;;;;

Apparently he's not concerned. <_< ))

Finally, Rosie emerged in Pocket D. She'd hit the wrong teleporter, but that's where Kathode said she'd be heading anyhow, so she figured she'd meet up with her later.

Imagine her surprise when the club was filled with -...hallucinogenic gas?

"Awh, hell, did Emo Kid explode in here or something?" she grumbled, putting her hands on her hips. As a spirit creature, she was naturally immune to such things - but her sharp eyes caught Ozell wandering towards the railing looking lost.

"Oh, [censored] no. OZZY!" she yelled, sprinting towards the balcony and making a strong leap up to the second level, knocking the boy down on his back and crouching over him.

"Heights are bad." she said, grinning down at him.

----------------------------------------

"Sir Marcus!" Essex cried, running to the Family boss and throwing her little arms around him affectionately. "I don't get to see you as much any more! How are you doing? How are operations? You haven't gotten into any large altercations recently, have you?"

Pulling a box out of her tactical belt, she offered it to him.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" she chirped, opening the box to reveal a row of cigars. "I'd get you real ones, but...ah...they won't let me buy them. They're made of chocolate. But I got into Dr. West's cabinet and made the filling with some of his tequila. Don't tell him." the little android said with a sheepish smile.

Bringing out another, larger box, she set it on the desk.

"These are for your men..." she said. "I know most of them probably have girlfriends, but I...well...I didn't want anyone to be left out."

Essex wiped her forehead with a little smile. "I spent all day yesterday making chocolates! I have a lot more friends than I did last year."

-------------------------------------

Locria hesitated a second, before entering Walter's room.

"Apologies rendered for disturbing Master." she said with a slight tip of her head forward, her deep, magenta-colored hair shifting down and forward in turn.

"This unit...requests permission to present a Valentine's gift."

With that, she carefully pulled out -- a CD case, sliding it forward. Inside was a burned CD, a hand-drawn cover on it decorated with skulls, roses, guns, and guitars, but in a strangely organized and technological design.

Locria remained silent, her head tipped a little, allowing Walter to have his time to examine it. It seemed to be a mix CD, painstakingly put together for the best musical flow. The tracks were labeled on the case - but appended by designations. Master's Theme, Lyden's Theme, Aolen's Theme, Phrygen's Theme, Locria's Theme, and so on.

Essex sighed in relief. It was so much easier when they already knew her. She pulled the cowl down a little and tipped her hat up to show her face, pushing the goggles up to rest on her forehead.

"Yes sir!" she chirped. "Happy Valentines' Day! I ...ah... I tried to make cannoli, but it exploded, so I had to settle for chocolates instead. I hope you all don't mind...Could you take me to Marcus?"

GSR Unit Locria's containment tank hissed open with a burst of air. The young woman inside allowed herself a brief moment to rub her eyes - Locria had overslept a bit. Unacceptable - this was no way for a proper --

Her thoughts were interrupted as a small plush kitten fell neatly atop her head.

Quick as a flash, Locria whipped the kitten off her head and examined it.

It was cute. Adorable even. The fabric used to make it was the softest she had ever felt, and it looked up at her with shiny black-buttoned eyes.

Locria glanced back and forth. She knew the security feed was always on to the room, but she wasn't worried about the Master seeing her. Aolen and the others - they were more harsh of her varied tastes.

Upon confirming that no-one besides the cameras were watching her, she snuggled the kitten with almost mechanical affection. She hurried to her locker, placing it on the top shelf with a group of other stuffed animals, though these were inferior - obviously drastically inferior to this gift - and set it near the forefront.

She ducked down to the lower portion of the locker, decorated with heavy metal posters. Locria rifled through some of her neatly placed belongings at the bottom and came out with two boxes - one marked 'Lyden' and one marked 'Master.'

Lyden's box contained nothing more than a small trinket - but one that Locria hoped would be meaningful. She had watched Lyden observe a children's soccer match with more interest than was accorded to such things....and had deduced that he enjoyed the game. The box contained a small, circular charm shaped like a soccer ball and attached to a keychain, the keychain in turn clipped onto a smaller box. Inside the box was a small fuseball figurine - painted in Locria's precise hand to look similar to Lyden. The normal workers had a fuseball table in their break room, and Locria had considered replacing it as a surprise, but immediately dismissed the possibility of it being ruined.

Her work in that room being done, the GSR unit moved to the door of Walter Redd.

"...Master?" Locria called with a sharp knock. "Unit Locria reporting."

Off the ferry to the Rogue Isles came all sorts of unsavory folks. Large, hulking masses of pain incarnate, seductive femme fatales, and the like.

Among them slipped a very small, very slight little figure.

Essex stood to the side of the ferry, stock-still, watching the people dismounting. She was glad she didn't need to breathe, carefully gripping the handles of the knives held flush against her arms.

The little android was terribly glad that the Malta had sent her to train with the Knives of Artemis to learn some self-protection. She'd been afraid of it - terribly afraid - at first, but they had all thought she was just the cutest thing, and before long the small squadron she'd trained with had affectionately deemed her a mascot of sorts.

Finally, slipping off into the shadows, she skimmed along near-silently, hat tipped low over her eyes. There was a cluster of Family up ahead -- perfect. But she knew better than to sneak up on them.

"H-hi!" she hailed them, waving her arm over her head.

This was really odd, seeing as she was dressed as a miniature member of the Knives of Artemis.

----------------------------------------------

Truefeather began gathering herself back together, carefully stacking everything again in a way that would be easy to pick up and maintain...but the letter in her lap had piqued her curiosity. Carefully running her finger under the seal to break it, she opened the envelope and began to read...