Kid_Whip

@Everyone: Thanks for the information! I do indeed have a p/s2 connection and if my motherboard is on its way out, then I'll certainly have to start saving for a new computer soon and begin expanding my vocabulary with some very colourful words!

@T_Immortalus: It's a wired mouse, one of the really old ones that goes in the green port (sorry, I'm really bad at technical terms) taking it out and putting it back in did improve things, but not by much.

@WanderingAries: this computer does fine with any other usb device, it just seems to fail to upload software for mice of any kind aside from this one.

@T_Immortalus: It could possibly be my mouse, since it started opening three firefox windows at once a few days after I first encountered this problem, but this computer won't recognize any other mouse.

@WanderingAries: I think the option you're thinking of is 'lock powers in trays,' which does exist, but isn't terribly helpful right now.

A few weeks ago, I encountered a problem with my additional power trays, nav bar and pretty much every window in the game. If I tried to move them, they'd stay locked in place, or they'd move a tiny amount and then stop where they were.

The problem has mostly fixed itself now, but I'm still having trouble with my extra power trays and my email window on some of my toons. As far as I can tell, it's not my mouse that's causing the trouble, so what do you all think?

Well, since all the other Artful Dodgers are being LAZY or too busy with work or something, I think I should make a word or two about what this crazy band of angst machines has brought me.

It started simply enough, when I noticed that JB HI-FI (a rather large store that we Aussies have) happened to have time cards that could be used for City of Heroes. Seeing as I'd had to quit some time ago when I couldn't find any more time cards, I immdiately jumped on this opportunity, since I had fond memories of back in the day when city of villians required an additional purchase. Good times, good times.

Anyway, I begin playing again and I realise, 'hey, this was way more fun when there were other people with me,' given that I was mostly soloing with an MA/SR scrapper a few levels before they get truely awesome and the sg I was in either fell apart, or they kicked me for being inactive. Thus, my search for a new sg was on.

I searched...

And I searched...

And I searched some more...

Until, by chance, I stumbled upon a character who belonged to The Artful Dodgers on virtueverse. A few clicks later and bam! I was in an sg with crazy fun people. It seemed like every time I logged on, someone was there, ready to lend a hand.

Soon enough, I created an alt to go in with them...and another...and another...and some more. There's just that much creative energy in the room! Never a dull moment either, for that matter.

So, Artful Dodgers, as a guy you assimilated on the other side of the world, I say, HAPPY THIRD ANNIVERSARY!

P.S: does anyone have some steel cable that we can use to somehow tie Quiet American to a chair so that he'll log the heck on?

I'm back in my pants!

I know what you mean. My main, while he does have exceptional, near magical skills in marital arts, his real powers come from the bursts of magic that shoot from his feet in different forms.

As for the super reflexes? He can see a little bit into the future from time to time and can react if he makes sense of what he sees. The rest, well, a wizard did it to be honest. A group of five to be exact.

Dammit, where's a bank robbery when I need one? I wants me some jetpack, baby!

[ QUOTE ]
“Oui, he was speaking to himself briefly just before” Hali hurriedly recited the words, though not accurately she got the general meaning across. She continued to rub Kia’s shoulders as her strength came back slowly, but was again sapped by the psychic emanations (When Edward shoved the guard).

[/ QUOTE ]

Doc Talos furrowed his brow. "Not good. I'll have to research this a little more. But first: return!" he said and with that, one of the many seals on his body flew off and literally tore apart, with each piece landing on a mysterious mark. As soon as they were all in place, the marks and seal vanished.

"Now that that's taken care of, I need to figure out what managed to slip through our security system. If you want to visit Whip before he gets out of his room, he's on the fourth floor, room forty two," Talos said as he vanished in a puff of purple smoke. Whatever had gotten into Whip, it was clearly an important matter...

Meanwhile, Whip slept in his room. It wasn't that much different to anyone else's room, aside from a large map of paragon city that hung up on one wall. There were five circles on it, three of which were crossed out. What the circles meant was beyond anyone's imagining, but to Whip, they represented victories. The arrests of certain members of the circle of thorns occoured in the places with crosses on them and those members, well, let's just say Whip had a personal vendetta against them.

((Note: Don't expect to see much more of the good doctor, I just needed someone to...y'know, be Whip's doctor for the time.))

[ QUOTE ]
Since Whip seemed to be doing better Hali left him to go attend to her friend Kia. She watched Kruth’T and Sis excuse themselves to investigate the source of the disturbance. It was about this time that the medical staff started to arrive on the scene including Whip’s doctor.

[/ QUOTE ]

Whip smiled as he saw the familiar purple eyes of his doctor. He wasn't the head of magical medicine, but he did have experience with magic that would make some high-level magi look like mere apprenticies. Most of his body was covered with seals and trinkets, but it was clear that he had something to do with Whip's treatment, judging by how the two reacted.

"I heard something going on from my office. What've you been up to?" the doctor, who seemed to have no form of identification on him asked as he ruffled Whip's hair.

Whip shrugged. "Dunno. Whip go sleep and then all this happen," Whip replied as he pointed to several magical burn marks that were just starting to show up. With a look of shock, the doctor cast a teleportation spell that sent Whip back to his room in a somewhat sedated state (for once).

He stood up and faced the remaining heroes. "Forgive me, I am Doctor Talos and Whip is-hm, how can I put this...the circle have a great interest in his potential magical power. Was he having some sort of monologue with himself just before?" Talos asked as he rubbed where his chin would be, if not for a series of seals that covered that area. If he didn't get to the bottom of this, it could be dangerous.

((Sorry I haven't been around much, but I have assignments and junk...))

As the final psychic wave passed through the hot tubs, Whip slowly woke up, as though something had activated his mind. As he opened his eyes, he let out a yawn that was slightly reminiscant of a puppy, with little fangs and all!

"Hm? What happen? What going on?" Whip asked as he sat up and looked around. There were a few people missing, that was obvious. However, all he could remember was falling asleep after he was thrown across the room. Had something so seriously bad happened to him that he forced it out of his mind? No, that was impossible.

As he attempted to get his balance back (he fell forward a couple of times) he realised that his tail was now more usable-and his glowie was very bright-this was more than likely due to his unknown battle with that shapeless form that he ejected from his body, not that he would know.

"That normal?" he asked as he pointed to the glowie with his tail, an act that was previously impossible. Besides, now that he had his tail in some sort of working order, he could easily hold onto anything he chose and that was a major victory for him, even if he couldn't remember how it happened...

((Hmm, it'd either have to be the head of magical medicine, the head of psychiactric care, or at least someone with a magical background...unless you intend for me to bring said person in, I'll leave it in the hands of someone who has a more 'official' touch.))

[ QUOTE ]
“Whip, are vous okay?” She stayed back a few feet to make sure that he didn’t feel threatened by her presence. “Whip? Dear can I do anything to help?” . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

Whip clutched his head as a strange, black glow began to cover his body...it was trying to take over again...

"You're mine now!" Whip said. However, it didn't really sound like the carefree person he was just moments ago...no, this one sounded more sinister!

"No! Get out! G'way!" Whip said as he began to writhe around on the floor...

"Go? Me? You stole my power-now, I'm taking back what's mine and with that supression unit on your ankle, there ain't a thing you can no about it, small one!"

"Lepxe"

"What?" the other Whip asked as the strange word exited Whip's mouth.

"Lepxe! Lepxe! Lepxe!" Whip said over and over, until the black shadow finally expelled itself from his body.

This is far from over...I shall have what's mine!" The formless...thing said as it dissapated into the air. With that out of the way, Whip crumpled into a heap and closed his eyes, only slightly aware of the commotion going on around him...

[ QUOTE ]


What happened next wasn’t Ella’s fault. She did know better, it was simply something beyond her control.

As usual the first sign was in her eyes. A flash of fear was quickly replaced by the onset of sudden anger. Her brow furrowed with rage, while her eyes became pained and apologetic at once.

A bright golden glow surrounded Ella as her strength surged well beyond the realm of normal. Her vice like fingers pried Whip off of her. The force applied by her fingers was enough to bruise Whip’s arms. Golden bubbles flowed from her hands as she flung Whip away. The bubbles again ‘popped’ in golden light healing the bruises instantly.

“NEVER DO THAT!!!!”

[/ QUOTE ]

Whip could feel the claws reach out for him. The next thing that he realised was that he was soaring through the air, until he slammed into a wall of some kind...in a most painful manner. Even though there were more bubbles to heal his physical wounds, an old, psychological one had opened up in the meantime.

After Whip managed to get himself 'upright,' he scampered to the other side of the hot tubs. He didn't know what had caused her to go all crazy like that, so he put it down to what he called 'bad magic,' much like the kind that the circle magi and other such villianous groups utalised.

As he sat, huddled in a corner, Whip tried to figure out what had gone wrong. All he had done was thanked her for healing him after his mysterious fall...what was wrong with that?

You are bad...

There it was again-that voice! Luckily, Whip managed to ignore it for the most part, but whenever that voice sprung up in his head, he would find himself being, well, unlike himself to be honest. He knew that voice, that terrible voice belonged to whoever owned his powers last, but they were his now and no matter what was said, he wasn't bad.

But that wasn't the problem-the fact he was being attacked for saying 'thank you,' was. How could Ella do that? Was it even Ella who was doing it? It was hard to figure out, but the whole ordeal had shocked Whip and as such, he didn't much want to leave this corner for now.

[ QUOTE ]
Ella rushed to his side. Her hands glowed with golden light. Golden bubbles of light floated from her hands towards Whip, specifically to his head. As the bubbles ‘popped’ (inaudibly) his head started to feel immensely better. (Heal Other).

Ella stood over Whip and gently (yet with very strong hands) pulled his hands away from the wound. She brushed his hair gently with her fingers making sure that wound was cured.

“Ohhh Whip are you alright?” She continued to pet his head. Slowly the golden bubbles stopped as the wound was completely healed.

[/ QUOTE ]

At first, Whip was confused. How she manage to heal him like that? Still, at least the constant pain in his head had been replaced by a mild numbing sensation-same as always for him. Within seconds of the final bubble popping, Whip seemed to explode into a massive grin!

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Whip said as he pretty much latched onto Ella in what he assumed to be a hug. Not many people had done that for him (in battle, he was usually the last to be healed) and when it happened, he was undoubtedly greatful to those who did it for him.

Also, the blow to the head had unlocked something-he remembered how to play checkers! Okay, it wasn't much, but he at least remembered something now...

((Gaah! Must...post...something!))

Whip was very much enjoying his overhead view of the hot tubs and listened relatively well to the conversations of his new friends. However, when Whip heard Kruthy mention the world 'stars,' his tail immediately unravelled. Unfortunately, he hadn't noticed this until it was too late to react, resulting in his head slamming right into the floor...and the floor recieving a nice new dent.

"Owowowowowowow!" Whip exclaimed as he rolled upright, gripping his head. It wasn't often that such a situation would have happened, he could usually just thrust his arms out and flip over, no worries...either it was what Kruth'T had said, or that wierd glowing thing that was interferring with his skill, but one question still remained...how did his tail lose its grip like that?

All the while, Whip kept on making a strange, groaning noise...

Whip was initially nervous to go into the hot tubs, but at the same time, he didn't want to be alone outside, so he quickly dashed in and climbed up as high as he could, away from the steam and heat. Sure, he could hold his own against scores of undead, mechanical fiends or even arachnobots-but steamy locations always made him nervous for some reason. He didn't really notice that he wasn't taken notice of when the Hali-person came over, but there would be more time for getting to know people later-when they were finished in here...

As he watched Ella skip over to the checker board, something clicked in his mind...checkers...there was something about checkers that he couldn't quite remember. For once, he seemed to remain completely still as he pondered what this could mean.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, Whip got bored and decided to go looking for the others. It wasn't his fault that he was so fast and hard to catch (although, that got him in as much trouble as it got him out) but it was so hard to slow down sometimes, especially when he was hungry.

By following the exact way that he had come, Whip eventually found the others, as well as a now happy Ella. "Come, come! You take too long!" Whip said as he beckoned the others towards the hot tubs. Why people had to stand around talking for so long still confused him, even though he could probably talk the hind legs off a donkey if he had the words...

Whip hadn't noticed that Ella had let go. He seemed only to stop every now and again to either check his bearings, or say hello to some staff member who he knew for some reason or another. Soon enough, his feet landed in a pool of water-that usually happened when he was near a hot tub.

"We close. Not long now!" Whip said as he began to slow down to a normal walking pace. He turned a final corner and right in front of them was a large building, the kind where hot tubs would usually be housed.

"Well, here hot room," Whip said as he climbed up a nearby tree. He didn't much care for going into those rooms-it was far too hot for him-but that didn't mean that they couldn't...

[ QUOTE ]
"We were looking for the 'Hot Tub', that we had herd of. If you would like to join us we could go there, or if there is another location that would be better for you we could accompany you there."

[/ QUOTE ]

Whip smiled broadly as soon as he heard the words 'hot tub.' He knew where that place was, although he didn't much care for going inside, he could still find the place easily enough with a little help from his nose.

"Whip know where that is! You follow, you follow!" Whip said as he turned and began to walk out of the building, while inadvertedly dragging poor Ella behind him. Still, that was the price of leaning on Whip-you'd either get dragged on some crazy mission, or you'd end up in a heap.

((Sorry for the small amount of pp there, but I couldn't resist.))

"N-ice to m-eet you Ella," Whip said in what could be considered his best attempt at speech towards a newcomer, with those small words that he had nearly forgotten and everything. When she started leaning on her, Whip could nearly recognise her, but he couldn't tell where from. Odds were that she was one of the many that had been in the hospital with him from one time or another-to say that he was reckless in battle was more than a small understatement.

When he heard that she had been unwell, he managed to put one of his hands on her shoulder, to show her that he wished her well too, even if he didn't know the words for it just yet.

Upon seeing Ella, Whip waved back at her. Granted, he had no idea who she was, but a friendly face was a friendly face and Whip never passed up a chance to make a new friend. When the two-person suggested that they go over to her, Whip didn't even have to wait for him to finish the sentance-mostly because Whip had already started moving over to her, by way of the exposed pipes above them-they reminded him of tree branches in a way, just colder.

"Hi," Whip said as he landed back on the floor, much like a cat, or possibly a monkey would do, just with a little less balance than one of said animal would have. He hoped that he could become friends with this new, white girl-she seemed kind of nice.

((Oh, probably forgot to mention-Whip has a pretty acute sense of smell, but I guess a warshade woudl pick up on that.))

"Hi!" Whip said to the newcomer. Now that he was a little closer to the one who smelt like one of the council, he could see that he wasn't a threat. After shaking Void's hand, he could feel something...strange about him, but he shrugged it off as not knowing much about the two-people heroes.

"You need know where something is? Just ask Whip. I know way around," Whip said as he gave his trademark grin once again. He waited for their reply, since he pretty much had nothing else to do, until something else happened...mind you, since these were the first people who hadn't gotten all panicky about him breaking something, he was already liking them.

[ QUOTE ]
"Hello, I am Kruth'T. Are you alright?"
((Welcome to the clinic Kid))

[/ QUOTE ]

Whip looked up. The one who didn't smell like this world had come over and was trying to help him up. Well, Whip wasn't really one for accepting help, or walking on just his feet, but he knew that this was one time that he'd have to. With one hand, he grasped what he hoped was the hand of his new friend and clamboured to his feet in an uncoordinated display of standing up.

After he managed to stand up (which was hard enough, seeing as his tail was next to useless here) Whip grinned, which showed off a pair of small upper fangs, much like a young vampire, or something-although nothing could be further from the truth...

"Hi Krut-Kruh...Kruth'T! I Whip!" Whip said as he shook his hand in the fashion that he had been shown by several other heroes, so that he could show this newcomer that he didn't mean any harm, unlike the villians that plagued this world. Still, that was something else that was far from Whip's mind for now...perhaps staying here wouldn't be so bad after all...

((Kay, got it.))

To most people who came to the clinic, it was like paradise. For the hero Kid Whip however, it was like torture...

Why? Well, the second that he had arrived here, he'd had some stupid glowing thingy on his ankle and now, he couldn't use any of his powers-even his demonic tail (which today, had chosen to be white, much like the generic hospital clothes that he was forced to wear) was limp and useless...how could he have any fun like this?

Sure, the food was good and the people who talked to him about that small fragment of his life that he couldn't explain were helpful (he at least knew a little more than before) but without his powers, his ability to leap over buildings, his powerful kicks...everything was gone-how could anyone relax without their abilities?

However, he still had one thing that he could do-after living in Perez for so long, his body had changed so that he moved with ease on all fours. Nobody could take that (or his crude mop of dirty brown hair) away from him!

After patrolling the front yard for some time, Whip eventually saw two other residents to follow-one smelt kind of like the galaxy cronies from the council, but the other one...he didn't smell like anything he'd smelt before!

With great care, Whip followed the pair into the 'ahd-minn' area, as other people called it. He kept his curious, pointy ears out for any sign of danger, or of security who would think that he was a spy or something...he just hoped that he wouldn't be found out...

ACHOO!

Something had landed on his nose, possibly a feather or something, but that didn't matter- his cover was blown! He didn't try and escape, but he did try to put the pot plant that he'd knocked over back up. It was after all, a very powerful sneeze.

((Would it be too late for me to join? If it is, I'll just mosey on over to another rp...))