Crius

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My take on the hero thing is that their vulnerability makes them all the more heroic. Any indestructible demi-god can break up a fight between flame-throwing gang-bangers, but it takes guts and brains to do it if you're more than likely to get killed should anything go wrong. The fact that they get knocked down, then get up again, is part of what makes them heroic, I think.

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I think this is the part that makes me dislike "god" characters the most.

In a universal way: What's more profound? Superman getting up from an injury and finishing a fight, or Batman doing the same?

I think this is why Batman is so insanely popular (ignoring the movies for a while). He is human. Completely. He might have shed loads of money and technology at his disposal but at the end of the day, if the Joker, or Riddler, or Killer Croc really got lucky, Bruce Wayne would be dead.
It's the courage and heart he has to keep getting up, keep fighting for Gotham that makes him so popular, and such a good character.

Whereas you look at Son Of Ares, or whoever...someone who could wipe out Gotham City in a breath. Silly mortals. He only saves them because being a God and beating everything got so boring. And if you knock him down, he'll come back more powerful than you could possibly have imagined.


In an RP sense, it's the characters who have that human side that really do well. The ones who are a hero for a real reason. The ones who actually "fight" rather than "win".

Unity Tower, 9:24am


Danny slowly squirmed himself awake, coughing quietly as he jolted from his snoring.
He tilted his head to look across at Soaring Horizon, laid on top of his outstretched arm, her long frame curled up and facing his way in a deep, happy sleep.

Smiling to himself, he stared up at the ceiling and sighed a long, contented sigh. He was looking forward to a nearly perfect Christmas. One spent lounging about, eating lots of food, then retreating back to spend a long happy night cuddled in his new love's arms.

He sighed happily once more, casting a glance over to the present tucked away in his bookcase: something he'd had made up especially for H.
Can't wait to see your face when you open it... he thought to himself, eyelids slowly falling back into place.


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An apartment, Kings Row. 7:47am.


Lee "Lucky" Luckett slammed a hand down on to his alarm clock with alarming speed.
Rubbing a hand furiously over his eyes as he sat up, he let out an early morning groan. His mouth opened in a huge yawn as he stretched his arms, eyes flickering in pain as the morning sun streamed through his groggy curtains into his face.

He kicked the covers off him, sliding from his makeshift sleeping-bag bed and over to his only other posession: A small, worn cardboard box.
Lifting open the lids, he smiled down into it, sliding his hands in before lifting out his hero outfit, the black and lime green instantly recognisable.

Cocking his head to one side, he grinned weakly, admiring what he held in his hands for a few long seconds before he let out a deep sigh.

"Christmas Day...business as usual."

He stepped to his feet and began donning his second skin.

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Horizon looks down from the briefly much more threatening ceiling and putting a hand on Danny waist and another on his shoulder "Don't worry" she says "It's not like she'd get close to hitting me, you'll just have to follow my lead. Not allowed to get shot either remember?"

It takes a lot of effort to dance to a banghra pop song you've never head before, but Horizon was going to give it a go. Watching the pair on the dance floor it wouldn't be hard to believe dancing was all a complicated ploy by Horizon to test Danny for motion sickness, but the pair seemed to be having fun regardless.

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Danny was doing his best to keep up, but to any observer it probably looked like he was ready to give up and collapse from exhaustion.

He did his best to keep a tight grip on Horizon, his feet working at double time but trying desperately to slow the dance down. When the music changed, he let out an audible sigh with a grin.

"It's the suit, I swear. I can't dance in a suit."

Ok, some more!

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pride And Joy is now for Joey/Melphon. He'd be singing it about his guitar, and SRV is one of his idols


Lust For Life - Iggy Pop is for Ms. Demeanor, my low level Mastermind. She loves life, and she takes what she wants, when she wants.


We're Not Alone (Remix) - Peeping Tom is for Kahi, my new Mutant Tanker. He's a newly awakened mutant, and firmly believes all mutants should stick together with each other..."We're not alone".


I Just Wanna Live - Good Charlotte is for Blitzfreeze. She's still young, and she's an up-n-coming hero. Everyone's asking her stuff, and she just wants to get on with her life!

[ QUOTE ]
Annette chuckled. "You should have seen me in late summer. And no... I don't think they were really holding back. Well, Star probably did, otherwise she'd have kicked you through a wall, but she was asking for tips on fighting martial artists, so you obviously had her going."


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Danny coughed a little to swallow his food, shocked. Slowly grinning, he cocked his head to the side.

"She was? Well...I don't mind training some more. I usually am anyway, and I can do tips and training easily. But then she'd beat me!"


He smiled and winked cheekily at Annette, making sure he wrapped his arm reasurringly around Horizon's waist at the same time.

"I look forward to summer next year then."

Danny grinned uncontrollably as Annette passed on her comments.

"I'm sure they were holding back. They had to be...I mean, I guess they were."



Taking another bite from a small sandwich, he grinned and shook his head.

"I just hope Joanna doesn't come after me for hitting Jamie! You're looking great too. Makes a change seeing you in something that isn't armour, skin tight or has its own heating system!"

Danny flinched, expecting time to freeze and the plate to come crashing down, causing everyone to look his way.

Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief, a grin gradually growing across his face as he took all of Horizon's tall form in.

"As if I would..." he grinned, quickly grabbing some food off his plate before it's all gone.

"You look fantastic. But then, you always do."

Quickly tilting his head away as his cheeks turned pink once more, he nodded to the assembled crowd. "Tonight should be great."

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We Care a Lot by Faith No More is probably a good fit for Firearm.

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Faith No More were much better once Mike Patton took over vocals Great song either way though!


Great choices here...I'm doing my best to think of more but failing miserably.

Danny McAvoy, known on his license as Bassai, slowly stepped through the elevator doors, his cheeks already a slight shade of pink even though no one had looked his way.

Dressed in a tailored tuxedo he'd bought only two days before, he smoothed his hands over his jacket. You look stupid... he thought, ducking his hands into his jacket pockets before remembering that wasn't good etiquette.

His arms hung, shaking nervously as he made his way into the crowd, smiling at random faces as he looked for anyone he could be pulled into conversation with to try and hide his embarassment.

Instead, he headed straight for the buffet and grabbed a plate, quickly piling on some food and tasting it all, pulling strange faces at some of the more "acquired tastes", before slowly turning back to the crowd.

Bassai/Danny is definitely Stinkfist - Tool (Probably NSFW, in some senses...you have been warned)
Ignoring the sexual side of the song, it's about being so unable to feel anything, you resort to extremes. Something Danny has felt numerous times before.
The lyric that seals it is "How can it mean anything to me, If I really don't feel anything at all?"


Melphon/Joey is Born For This - Paramore as it easily covers being in a band, and the fact he's finally coming to terms with being a hero.


Culpeo/Gabriel is Like Toy Soldiers - Eminem. A former Government assassin, he saw his friends turned into enemies, murdered and killed for no reason, and he had to watch them "all fall down".

The others I still need to think about...it's harder than I thought!

((Ok, this is pretty much the first fictional piece about any character I've written, so I hope it's alright!
He recently got injured in a fight he should have stayed away from, and this is his first real training session after healing up.))



Tuesday, 16th December. 2.21pm. Training Room 3, Unity Tower.



Danny stood still in the center of the brightly lit training room, his eyelids pressed tightly closed.

His balled right fist slowly rotated in circles, the light ripplings of his t-shirt the only noise that could be heard in the room. With a long, slow breath, Danny clenched his fist and held it steady.

"BODI...could you give me a minute?"

He breathed softly, talking straight ahead into the room.

"Of course, Danny," came the reply, in a strangely emotional electronic voice. "Visual observations will be turned off until you leave, vital signs are still being monitored. Try not to hurt yourself."

Danny nodded once, eyes still closed as he rotated his neck, loosening the muscles.

"I won't. Thanks BODI."




A couple of seconds passed before Danny opened his eyes once more. Tilting his head, he gazed down at his mended wrist. Fingers flexed and stretched, before balling once more into a fist, testing it out. He sighed as his eyelids fell back into place, body shifting almost serpent-like into a fighting stance. Taking a deep breath and holding, Danny did his best to focus. The soft hum of the air conditioning held the air.


With a sharp breath, Danny launched his body into the air with extreme grace, contorting and twisting in an impressive Butterfly Kick before landing back on his feet. Visually superb, but not very useful.
He landed soft, but not quite soft enough, aggravating his healing ankle. Danny sucked some air sharply between his clenched teeth and held his place, trembling like a leaf in an Autumn breeze.

His eyelids squeezed as the sudden pain rushed through his body. Pushing on and ignoring it, Danny ran through some motions, arms forcing into blocking stances, legs gracefully kicking and spinning across the padded floor.

All the while, Danny tried his best to concentrate, but his mind hadn't been the same for a long time. Not since the accident.




It had been three months by now. Easily. But the consequences of that day still affected Danny's life now, in a tremendous way.

The war walls going down had been his first sign. As he clambered into his car and sped off down the street in Steel Canyon, his eyes were glued to the skies, tinted in the disturbing green he, as well as all Paragon City knew, was the sign of an attack.
He'd been too busy looking out the side window to notice the lumbering Rikti warship in the sky, floating slowly down the street, raining its payload down onto the helpless civilians below. It wasn't until the rumbling in Danny's eardrums reached painful levels that he turned his head back to the windscreen.

A Rikti bomb had landed on a passing tramline, starting a game of bowls with a tram, sending it careening off into the street. Danny's car was unfortunate enough to be passing under it at the time.

He woke in a hospital bed three days later. The doctors had to use a new method to control his pain during the twenty-seven hour operation, implanting a chip to dull the nerves in Danny's brain. It was a new procedure, but was deemed necessary to save his life. It did.
It also meant Danny couldn't feel at all. Full stop. Only now have his feelings truly come back, but some days are worse than others.




Danny's feet came to a rest at the edge of the cool training mat, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. They slowed, eventually coming to a stop, before Danny curled his body into a rotating backflip, continuing his training back across the floor, legs spinning and twisting his body in various kicks. His mind continued racing.



You'll never amount to anything. You're worthless.
That sentence had stuck with Danny forever. At the time, it was what he needed to hear, but the niggling doubt had buried itself into his brain like a tick, ready to strike at any point the iron was hot. And recently, it had been.

Danny knew he had been reckless when he tried to tackle the thugs a few days previous. He had the scars to prove it.
At the time, it looked to be a simple heist by nothing more than street thugs. After being tossed through the air into a van like a rag doll, by a man he can only describe as a wall of muscle, Danny was left hospitalised with a fractured radius in his right forearm, and a badly sprained ankle. But that night as he laid in the hospital ward, he was counting his blessings. He'd never been confident before, and this was another blow to destroy the work his new friends were doing.

Joining the New Vigilants had given Danny a new focus. He was now tied directly into something, not just another 'worker'. His work with Vanguard had been greatly commended by Serpent Drummer, but now he felt a true sense of being. He felt worth.
His blossoming relationship with Soaring Horizon helped broaden his feelings, and something in his brain had slowly but surely ticked over while he laid in hospital. He stood here now fresh and exhilarated.
His twentieth birthday was only three days away now. The teenager excuse wouldn't work anymore, and Danny finally realised it was time he grew up. He was someone's "world", and those words gave him the boost he needed.


As his feet touched down on the opposite side of the mat, Danny breathed out a long sigh, his body frozen in a ready fighting stance. Eyelids gradually receeded back, and Danny's eyes adjusted to the light again. A slow, gradual smile spread across his lips as he span, kicking with extreme force into the air, the snap of his training pants echoing through the room.

Legs flew through the air with incredible speed, Danny's body twisting in unusual ways to deliver more power to each blow, invisible enemies falling one by one. The ballet-style session ended with a huge Axe Kick forcing down through Danny's invisible demons, his heel digging into the padded mat at his feet.

Chuckling softly, he balled his fist once more, rotating it around at the wrist before shaking it loose, a huge grin now plastered across his rugged face.


He was home.

Danny flew through the air, clattering against the truck back first, bouncing off it with what seemed like incredible force.

Rolling into the street, his arms pushed and struggled to get him back on to his feet as Leah's actions were unsuccessful.

His body unable to feel the damage within, Danny turned back to face the thugs, almost ready to fight again before his heartbeat monitor beeped rapidly, starting off his emergency teleport.

Danny could be seen collapsing as his body phased out into a medi-bay in the nearby hospital.

Danny scanned the battlefield, his eyes recognising the New Vigilant uniform of Psysan among the carnage.

Realising she was shouting for her partner, Danny sprang into action. Even though he'd only met Reggie once, he knew what he had to do.


Breaking into a sprint and aiming for the hugest gang member, he launched into the air, his body twirling majestically in a graceful flying kick most commonly known as the Eagle's Claw, aimed for the brute's head and neck.

Bassai, more commonly known as Danny McAvoy, clambered up on to a roof overlooking Gemini Park, Galaxy City.


He always had a scheduled break from 1:00pm to roughly thirty minutes later. A decent enough rest to recharge his body and grab some food, before getting back to work.

Shuffling around in his seated position, he tried his best to get comfy. His new outfit, given to him after joining the New Vigilants, was still extremely tight in some uncomfortable areas.
Tugging at his outfit, he took a bite into an apparently "healthy" sandwich option from Up-N-Away.


His look of disgust and distaste was broken when his pager started to bleep rapidly. Looking down at it on his belt, the PPD radio feed coming through and reporting the incident happening a few blocks to the South West.

Throwing the poor excuse for a sandwich down towards an open bin on the street in front, he misjudged the distance and almost hit what looked to be a female student.


"Sorry!" came the call from high above as Danny smiled, trying to hold back a laugh. He gave a short wave, intended as an apology, before he turned and sprinted towards the edge of the building. Leaping from the edge, he made best use of his athleticism and agility, coupled with his limited knowledge in Parkour, to traverse the rooftops and come to a rest on one just further down the road from the store with a truck now parked in its window.


Creeping slowly across the roof with the gracefulness of a drunken lout, he surveyed the situation below.

Spotting only a few lightly armed thugs, he thought the situation could be easy to get under control. Stepping to the edge of the roof, he lowered himself down before leaping off into the street, ushering a nearby civilian away before turning to the thugs.

Just have to say thanks for an awesome night!

And well done for constructing such a good looking base! I never thought it'd be possible, but that place is incredible!

Very nicely done, Zortel.

A new poster appears across Paragon.

Billboards appear in major locations, and television advertisements begin to appear, promoting a one-off, special event:

Rock For Rafters
A beneficial concert to aid the Rikti War effort
Saturday December 13th

The concert stage on Talos Island Beach was already being prepared. Joey's plans had finally come to fruition, and he hoped it could make at least a little bit of difference.



((...And that's it! Well, part one anyway. If people want to post IC reactions, feel free Or IC accounts of people visiting...small descriptions of songs can be found on the Union Wiki for most bands, I imagine. If people whose bands are attending want to post a small description of their act, also feel free
And if anyone needs more info about anything involved, PM me...I've left out loads, because I suck at this.

I'll give this a legitimate bump in a week, when I finally get around to writing the "review" of the concert. Until then, have fun! (Please )))

Joystiq Interview with Posi/Mat Miller

NCsoft will issue its thirteenth major update to City of Heroes this week.

Suppose it's about time I put myself up here!

Global Name: @Crius
Server: Union
City of Heroes/City of Villains
RP Characters:
Bassai - Taekwondo practitioner/teacher turned hero thanks to a chip in his head
Melphon - Lead singer of the band "The Pipedream" and part-time hero
Blitzfreeze - Fun loving Scottish girl with an internal thermostat

Mistress Rad - Former model turned villain after being bombared with radiation during a photoshoot.
Culpeo - "South American Wild Dog". Government agent turned hitman for The Cadre
Type of RP: Up for anything. Mostly enjoy good IC missions, plots, TFs, forum RP.
Can be contacted: PMs here or Militia Forums , or in game on any of my characters/Global.
Times on: Pretty much every night, depending on how real life treats me.
Timezone: GMT

A poster appears across Paragon City. In music shops, monorail stations, Pocket D, outside local stores, covering University campuses and in all known recording studios.
Joey made sure his phone was on all hours of the day, and waited.




((Alright, thanks for all the replies! I'm still thinking over the fine details, so this is to get a basic IC-Response from any who want to take part. Phone call/visit, etc, we'll assume they met up and agreed to the concert.

Also: I'd love those who want to take part to post a small description of the act. For example:

Band/Act Name: The Pipedream
Genre: Rock/Metal

...And anything else you can think of that might be useful! ))

Evening all!


Christmas Day is almost upon Paragon City. It's probably really cold out there (I know it is here ) and the Rikti are still being pretty nasty. As are the recent Zombie invaders.


...I'll get to the point.
A while back, I had a character who was involved in the Paragon music scene. His name was Joey, and he was in a band called The Pipedream.
Joey had aspirations of being a big time rockstar, but they had to take a back seat because I had the same aspirations in real life, getting a job and the like.



Now...finally getting to the point.

Question 1: Is your character/s involved in the Paragon City music scene? In a band/DJ/Record Label/etc?
Question 2: Are they alive/well/still in one piece?
Question 3: Would they be able for a concert some time in December, near to Christmas?

Answer to all 3 = yes, then:

How would your character (and their band, if applicable) like to be involved in a charity concert, to raise money for the damages of the Second Rikti War?


I'm still plotting and planning how it would work (initial plan is simply to have a forum post, stating the concert site, the bands, the times they play, etc. Then people can post reactions, RP being there, whatever). Joey and his manager would be in contact before, obviously.

This is basically to gauge how many people would be up for it.

So...I hope there's a few!

[ QUOTE ]
Grinding toward the last few laps now...

Sketch #37: Bambi Delight & Mistress Rad

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That's so good. Like, really, really good.

I dunno what to say!

Except: Oh my god! How good?! It's absolutely amazing. And fantastic. And I can't think of stuff to say cause I'm too busy looking at it, and how good it is.

Thank you, thank you!

I'll go for one as well then!
Awesome work so far!

Mistress Rad

Anna + Bambi could be quite interesting!

Mr Maniacal raised a hand to shield his face as the truck plowed its way through the wall, sending debris flying his way.

It distracted him long enough. One of Efranof's blades caught Maniacal's face as the other found its target, burying itself in his neck.
Stumbling ever so slightly, he had no time to think as Momo's arrow punctured his chest, directly on target in his heart.

Grinning a little as the room filled with flames, he gave one last look around at all the people involved. He'd had fun, but he couldn't help thinking they hadn't.


Coughing hard, blood surged from within his lung and escaped as he gripped the arrow, wrenching it from its new home in his torso. He let it drop to the floor with a clatter, following it moments after.

Falling flat on to his back with a sick grin on his face, he stared up into the sky viewable through the hole in the roof. His view was soon obscured, however, by the spread of the flames, covering his body.

Coughing once more, he gently tugged and pulled the blade from his neck. Slowly, coldly, he started laughing. Louder and louder as the flames took hold.


"I...I haven't got long left, party-goers!" he screamed through the horrendous roar of flames.

Forcing himself up, still on fire and bleeding profusely, he rested on his knees, staring down and breathing heavily.

Lifting his head, another sickening grin plastered on his face, he called out.

"But BOY! Did I have fun?!"

The goggles could be heard to smash quietly as he collapsed on to his front, face first.

((Events about to happen have been talked about between me and Elky_))

Mr Maniacal grimaced and grinned as the tentacles slowly faded away from around him, his grip on Holly tightening once more.

Mechano's intrusion seemed to have given him enough time to regain his thoughts, and his goggled eyes slowly scanned the room.

In front of him stood Momo, arrow notched and bow taught. He smiled a little, wondering if she had the nerve to release her grip.
Next to her, Calm waited. The healing energy she had thrown at Holly removed Mr Maniacal's mark on her face. Something he wasn't best pleased about.

To their side was the interesting lot. Captain Fireflash, now pinned against a wall. Dr Mechano and his family, shouting out threats. And a, what seemed to be, mortally wounded Pious.

Head craning, Maniacal scanned above and behind. The figure on the roof was now somewhere in the rafters, but he couldn't see him.
And behind, Ef still sat, taped and bound in the middle of the other hostages.




Cracking his neck, he grinned and took one step backwards, taking Holly with him: eyes scanning for every movement the heroes made, gauging how far he could push.

The lights flickered and spluttered, all shattered from the fire ball explosion moments before. The shadows they cast were frightening, flashes of light causing unearthly patterns to be formed on the walls.


The cold steel of the dagger again pressed against Holly's throat, slowly, as his grip around her tightened. He grinned as she squirmed, trying to escape. Leaning around, he gave her a kiss on the cheek, grinning as he pulled away.





Suddenly, in one swift movement, Holly had been spun around to face him. The grin on his face made her squirm, but it was all for nothing.

The dagger found its target within seconds, buried deep into Holly's stomach, her white shirt turning crimson around the wound. Grinning again, he held Holly steady for a few moments, watching her pain, before letting her fall to the floor.

Looking around the assembled people, all wanting a little piece of him, he shrugged and smiled.

Taking another step back, he craned his neck up to the sky, threw his arms out to the side, standing in a mock crucifix stance.

And he waited.

Mr Maniacal smiled again, holding Holly's throat tight with one hand as he pointed the knife at the young girl taping up Ef.

"And grab those weapons...whatever you can see. Throw them over there" he waved towards the opposite side of the room.


After finishing her task, sobbing uncontrollably, she turned to the door and began to sprint.


Within a split second, Mr Maniacal had dropped Holly Steel's lifeless body and outstretched an arm, gripping the terrified girl by the arm. She screamed in terror as he stepped in close, holding the knife to her throat and looking towards the hostages.


"You -weren't- just going to run and leave your boyfriend, were you? We can't have that...at least leave him something to remember you by..."

He gently took hold of her hand, gripping tight as he lowered the knife.


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The girl ran screaming and sobbing, clutching her bloody hand as Mr Maniacal gleefully bounded over to her boyfriend, still bound and crying.

Crouching down, he placed the 'memento' on the boy's lap, smiling to himself as he stood up and made his way back over to Holly, his right leg leaving a bloody trail of his travels.

He grabbed Holly's arm and pulled her up once more, tutting playfully as he dusted off her shirt.

"So dirty...shouldn't be laying on the floor!"