A ding echoed into the empty rooms of one of the penthouse suites in the heart of Founders Falls, signaling the arrival of the suites private elevator. Three figures emerged from the elevator into the sunlight rooms of the penthouse. The lead figure moved quickly through the small entry hall at the elevator and into a large open room with hardwood floors that was situated in front of two massive windows that each formed half of a large arch. Sunlight poured in through the windows into the large empty room.
Much of the large room was open to the cavernous raised ceiling, though a loft area was visible above, a spiral staircase up to the upper floor off to the right of the room against a wall. A few thin columns were to the left of the room, below the loft above, beyond was another smaller room. A counter separated this room from the kitchen that was visible beyond.
Turning back towards the two trailing figures, the lead one extended out her arms to each side, indicated the penthouse as she asked. Well? What do you think? The lead figure was an attractive nineteen year old woman, with long blond hair that went just past her shoulder. Two locks in the center of her forehead were dyed light green, one hanging down in front of her face, the other combed back with the rest of her hair. Standing about five foot seven inches, she was dressed in tight black jeans with a short white T-shirt that reveled her midsection and pierced bellybutton. Partially visible on the small of her back was a tattoo of a black circle with thorns pointing both inward and outward around it.
Her question was mainly focused on one of the other two women, the older of the two, who was rather easy to identify as her mother. The older woman, Tabatha Farrington-Donalds, was looking about the penthouse with a somewhat skeptical look. Thougn in her late forties, she was very attractive as well, with a very confident baring. Looking back at her daughter, she finally said. I guess it is somewhat quaint, but are you sure you want to live here while in college Dawn? You can always use it as an investment property and just stay with Harold and I, you know we have plenty of space.
Dawn Farrington, frowned slightly at her mothers suggestion and use of her full name, when she much preferred the nickname of Dee. Harold Donalds was her mothers fifth husband, a wealthy investment banker. Her mother had made something of a career of marrying rich and successful men and then eventually leaving them, often with sizable divorce settlements, dragging her daughters with her from city to city over the years. Not that she really needed more money, coming from a wealthy Boston family.
I know you and Number Five, Dee began to reply, causing her mother to frown as well at her use of the nickname Dee had come up with to describe her mothers current husband starting with the third when Dee had been ten, have plenty of space, but thats not really the point. You two really didnt like me around when I was in high school, I doubt you will want me around any more now. Besides, it should be good for Maya and I to have a place to ourselves as we start college. Not to mention that I spent quite a bit of the money I made from licensing my patent earlier this year on the place, and I think it is a cool place and a great location.
Tabatha walked out into large open space, looking out the windows at the city outside. Well, it was your money to spend as you wish, your father and I were both proud of you accomplishment at your age. And its not as if you dont have plenty of money waiting for you in trust funds once you reach twenty-one. But please lets try to put my mistake of sending you to live with your father behind us. I acted hastily, but over all it seems to have been good for you. And dont forget you would never have met that wonderful Trevor if I hadnt done so.
Dee shook her head slightly at her mothers mention of kicking her out to live with her father in Seattle about a year ago. While Dee had to admit there had been much about the experience of living with her father again that had been good, not the least of which was her boyfriend Trevor Rosenthal, she still had not fully forgiven her mother for her falling into her typical pattern of pushing away a problem instead of find a way of actually dealing with it.
The older woman scanned the loft area above from the large space below before continuing. I guess I can understand your wanting to have your own place while you go too school. But I am not so sure that it would be a good idea for Maya to be here with you. As she spoke, Tabatha turned back towards the third figure, who had slowly been following the other two, her younger daughter, Maya.
Girl Genius lauched herself into the air, just in time, but barely. Behind her the pavement shattered into pebbles as the enormous metal sledge impacted it. A moment later the shockwave caught her, spinning her like a toy in midair, and she hung there for a moment, stunned. The jetpack could be finicky at such times, its jets automatically shutting down for safety's sake, but the antigravs were solid as ever, holding her in midair, above the street and momentarily out of reach while the furious gang member looked to see where she had gone.
As a rule of thumb, Girl Genius tried not to pick fights in places like Founders Falls. Not only was there collateral damage to be thought about, but there were sections of the area which were inhabited by the ultra-rich, people who she had found to be more litigation prone than the general population.
Now, however, she had little option.
It was the Stunner that spotted her first. "There!" He howled to his companions, and shot after her as she shook off the shockwave, re-engaged the jetpacks, and rose to meet him.
Though she loved her jet-packs, arial battles were not her favorites. The Freakshow could be particularly troublesome about it, as they were proving this afternoon. The Stunner gave her an insane, maniacal cackle as he raised his fists, and filled the sky with lightning.
The insulation of the suit absorbed the most of it, and the grounders in her boots took the rest of the load. From the alarming way that her power reserves dropped, though, it was clear that she wouldn't be able to take too many of these hits.
She pointed her fist. The ice suit was one of her favorites; it was fortunate that it had been the one she was testing when she had come across the Freaks. Now combat data raced across the inside of her faceplate. Nano-gyros whirred into action as targeting icons locked on her opponent.
The blast made surprisingly little noise. The air temperature dropped as crystals of ice formed, flying through the air to plaster themselves around the head of the stunner. "Yaaaaaa!" He yowled, and dropped, giving her a moment to breathe. The members of the Freakshow were generally too drugged up to notice much pain, but the ice around his head had caught him by surprise. It would take him a moment to break it off so that he could see again, but it gave her enough time to let loose a second shot, icing up some of the equipment bolted to his frame.
It was the combat AI that alerted her to the movements of the Smasher below. She turned to see the headlights and grille of an old, rusty Buick sailing at her, looking ridiculously out of place some fifty feet in the air. For a moment she stared at it, thinking, He couldn't have thrown it, not with one hand... he must have hit it, like a golfer. The enormous dent in the side of the Buick, making it almost boomerang-shaped, seemed to support the conclusion.
Then reason caught up with her eyes, and she cut power to both jetpacks and the antigrav, dropping abruptly as the Buick missed her head by inches. Once clear, she re-engaged the antigrav, turning in time to see the car smash through the plate-glass windows of an expensive building; it looked like an apartment complex of some sort. That's torn it, she thought grimly. So much for trying to avoid collateral damage...
Then the AI beeped at her again, and she dodged the enormous metal hammer as the Smasher leaped in the air, trying to knock her down...
((OOC Hiya! 
I have been hoping for a new RP thread! I hope you don't mind some excitement right off the bat?
PS. Also, I imagine that the broken windows don't necessarily have to be yours - perhaps they are just nearby. ))
(ooc Hello Jennifer8, for various reasons, Radical Dreamer and I will not be jumping into action right off the bat. Your action will have to be taking place elsewhere in Founders. Hopefully our characters can meet up in another situation.)
(OOC Yeah we're just getting back into Paragon. Fighting crime will begin once we get our characters resettled but glad to see there is interest already. Glad to have you on board.)
Maya wore an unamused expression on her face as her mother turned toward her. Her green eyes stared through her thin rimmed glasses and met Tabatha's gaze head on. Crossing her bare arms in front of her burgundy colored halter top she took the stance of someone who wasn't planning on backing down.
"Mom, I can't believe you're going to try and make that argument with me." Maya said with a huff and pushed back her long auburn hair with one hand before returning it to the crossed position. "I'm 18 and in college too. Don't you have a little faith that you raised me to be smart enough to make good decisions? Besides it's not like I havn't been living with her for the past year."
"I suppose but.." Tabatha started to say but paused for a brief moment as she searched for a reason.
"But you don't want to let your children go because you're experiencing empty nest syndrome." Maya seized upon the pause and interupted her mother, injecting her own opinions on the reason Tabatha was so interested in wanting her two daughters to stay with her. She was momentarily stunned by the comment and opened her mouth to respond though didn't say anything.
Maya continued the hard look for a few moments longer before dropping her arms to her side. She gave her mother a warm smile as Tabatha quickly closed her mouth. Right or wrong she had made her point about staying at Dee's refurbished suite. "Don't worry mom. I'll be sure to visit and I'll even bring Dee."
Her sister gave her a very doubtful look for the remark. In truth Maya wasn't sure she could get her sister to improve her relationship with their mother. However, it was worth a shot. Afterall Tabatha was always the one who always fought for full custody of the two of them. Maya was sure that there was genuine love there even if it was hard to see at times.
After a little longer Tabatha managed to collect herself enough to speak. "Well I suppose you've made up your minds then. I really am glad you decided to move back to Paragon and I look forward to your visits." She then turned her gaze back towards Dawn. "Shall we continue with the tour?"
Dee watched quietly as her sister quickly quieted their mothers suggestion that Maya shouldnt be staying with her here in the city. In some ways Maya had long been caught in the middle in the conflicts between her older sister and their mother, but over all she came down on Dees side on most things. That was likely due to the fact that through the many years of different step-fathers and living in different cities, the one solid constant each of the two girls could count on was each other.
Relived that their mothers objections had been silenced, Dee was glad when Tabatha brought the issue back to the tour of the penthouse. Yeah, quite a bit more actually. Dee said with a slight grin. She was very pleased with the purchase of this place, and was glad to finally be showing it off to her mother. Though she might not agree with her two girls living her together unsupervised, even she would appreciate some of the luxury that the space provided. Dee lead the two towards the right from the entrance, towards a spiral staircase that was against the far wall of the living room.
Well, this is the living room, obviously, and you can see the dinning room over there and the kitchen beyond that. She pointed back behind them to the left before starting up the stairs. The stairs rose up to a large loft area, which covered the half of the living room near the entrance and covered all of the dinning room and kitchen, making a huge open space. This can be used for whatever we want, though I was thinking part of it would make a good lab, and maybe we could use some of the large part for a workout area, or just a great party space. She had a sly smile as she made the last comment, looking at her mother in hopes of getting some reaction from the older woman.
Though the comment did seem to bother Tabatha, she didnt react quite as Dee would have hopped. Well, it would be a far stretch to expect you not to hold some sort of functions in such a large area for entertaining, but I would hope that such parties would not be too common. After all, you are going to be in college, and that will require a great deal of work for both of you, unless you are just planning to waste four years of time and a great deal of money partying.
Dee smirked again as she lead her mother and Maya over towards a door near the top of the stairs. Dont worry mom, I plan to make quite a bit of my time in school, while enjoying myself as well. Stopping at the door, she looked back at her mother as she continued. At each end of the penthouse are two bedroom suites, on the floor below us, each has a large bathroom, complete with large oval jet tub, and large walk in closet. ON this floor is each bedroom loft, a very, very spacious area for each, with great views out the arching windows. But this was what really sealed the deal for me.
Opening the door, she lead the other two into large room, light from the skylight above reflecting off the water of the pool taking up most of the room. The pool was not a complete rectangular shape however, up next to the windows, as section of the rectangle was out, with a good sized hot tub positioned right up against the glass of the large arching window. As you can see, the pool and hot tub just make everything about the place so much better.
At her mother's comment about possibly wasting four years partying Maya had to force back a comment about how their mother had made a pretty good career of it. Her greatest source of income in recent years was divorse settlements. As a socialite Tabbitha didn't work a real job. It was all about parties, talking with people, attending charity benefits and the like. Some of it was for good causes but it was hardly what you would consider work.
Besides, if she knew anything about Dee she would know that the comment was not needed. Maya's sister was a genius in all things except social settings. Of course that was more by choice then lack of ability. Dee had been modifying their vehicles for years now, not to mention designing a few other devices that would raise more then a few eyebrows in the academic community if they knew she were responcible.
Maya on the other hand was a different case. Smart, yes, but no more then an average person. She did well in school but only through a lot of effort and hard work. If there was anyone here that would do poorly in college because of parties it was her. Of course she didn't plan on letting that happen but it would be a serious balancing act.
While Dee continued the tour Maya turned her gaze out of the window. Their new penthouse was situated in the corner of a building that gave a gorgeous view of both the canal that ran through the center of Founders Falls and the hilly areas surrounding it. Despite the area's developed nature the designers had managed to work in the natural surroundings with the water ways. The view would be perfect if it weren't for those war walls.
Walking closer to the window Maya started to make out the little dots moving on the walk ways below. Every so often she could see a slightly more colorful dot or a blurry streak moving faster then the cars on the street. The heroes of the city were always active, something she had no doubt her sister would be getting into. Casting a half hearted glance at her right hand she frowned.
Continuing in thought for a moment longer she quickly turned back toward her mom and sister, the frown replaced with a smile. "In fact I would say it has everything your house has mom only minus a few bedrooms and bathrooms." Maya added after her sister's comment about the pool and hot tub.
As Dee and her mother were talking, Dee caught a glimpse of her sister looking out one of the windows with a sad look on her face. For most people, the brief glimpse would not have allowed them to see the girls emotion, but for Dee the glimpse was more than enough to have a permanent record of the instant thanks to her photographic memory. It was easy enough to study the memory to see Mayas sad face reflected in the window. But when the younger girl turned back towards the other two, she had a smile on her face.
Yes, it would seem too. Tabitha replied to her daughters comment about how the penthouse had most everything her mansion did. Looking back at her older daughter once more, she realized that there was obviously no more point in trying to fight about this issue. This is indeed a rather comfortable and usable space you have gotten a hold of Dawn. I can understand the desire of wanting to be in the city, closer to school and to the other activities the area has to offer.
Dee couldnt help but grin slightly, if there was one thing her mother understood, it was the importance of placing yourself in the correct location. They had never lived anywhere that was not one of the most desirable locations in the city, and usually situated very close to any sort of center for upper class social life. At least her mother seemed resigned to the fact that her daughters were ready to move out on there own, which most likely she would find the better arrangement for them all. For many years, Dees less than lady like behavior, and eventually Mayas somewhat similar behavior, had made them something of an embarrassment to their mother in social gatherings. Due to that, it was a rare occasion that their mother would make them go to some social event with her. With the two of them not living with her, it would be far easier for her to continue her busy social schedule without having to get them out of the way.
Well, now we just need to start moving things in. Dee said with a smile. With classes started soon, we dont want to have to be trying to get the place in shape once we start having studying to do. For herself though, Dee was really more looking forward to getting her equipment set up so she could work on her own experiments, she wasnt overly concerned about most of the homework any of her classes might give her.
A wide smile came to Tabithas face as Dee mentioned moving in. Hooking one arm around one of Mayas she did the same with Dee with her other arm as she started back towards the door with the two girls. Yes, you do need to get to moving in, but the two of you dont have anywhere near what you need to set this place up right now. So that means it is time to do some shoping.
Maya was a little taken aback by the sudden change in her mother's mood and even more so by the fact that she was pulling her and her sister toward the door. Leave it to something like shopping to have this kind of effect. She flashed a quick look of confusion toward her sister who answered the look with a shrug that seemed to say 'just go with it'. "Um. Sure mom."
Their mother was right about the need to go shopping though. They had all of the stuff for their own rooms but the rest of the penthouse would be bear. There was no couch for the living room, not to mention the lack of a big screen television for such a grand room. The kitchen was pretty much bare of things like dishes and silverwear and the walls were devoid of everything but the paint. They also needed extra linens and countless other little things to make their new home feel just right.
Within minutes the three of them were back down on the ground floor and inside of their mother's car, leaving their own vehicles behind for the time being. Tabbitha was driving, as would be expected since it was her car, with Maya in the front seat next to her. Dee had taken to the back seat as she prefered to keep up the show of defiance by not sitting next to her mother.
In no time at all they had driven their way through central Founders Falls to the biggest commerce section of this part of the city. "So what do you want to go shopping for first? Furniture? Kitchen ware? Electronics?" Tabbitha added the last suggestion with a smile that remained hidden from Dee as she kept her eyes to the road. She knew of her eldest daughter's love of all things technological since the day she took appart most of her toys just to see how they worked.
(ooc I am starting this thread for myself and Radical Dreamer to reintroduce two of our characters into Paragon City. In a previous thread on the old boards, the two characters left the city, but are now returning to go to college.
)
We would post in Paragon University, but that is a little big and crowded with storylines at the moment. Perhaps there can be some cross over at some point. Anyway, people are welcome to join in but if things get a bit crowded, might close it to new people.
I am reposting the old thread here: http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.asp...opicID=1290374
Thanks