[hr][center][i][H3][color=00ffff]Shieldmaiden[/color][/h3]Victoria van Dyne[/i][hr][b][Color=00ffff]Location:[/color][/b] Dorm > Framework lobby 
[B][Color=00ffff]Skills: [/color][/b]None
[B][Color=00ffff]Equipment gained: [/color][/b]Powerglove[/center][hr]It was one of those nights Victoria decided to spend actually pretending to sleep. The inactivity helped her to sort out her thoughts somewhat. Or in this case, run through her audition several thousand times, trying to come up with what she could have done better. The car crash, that was just unfortunate. Sadly, not every time are they going to get on site while there is still someone alive to need help. Move on, or you're not cut out for this job. Victoria had every bit of belief people who wished to save everyone were going to end up neurotic wrecks before graduation. Still, could she have plugged the leaks? Welding was out of the question, she was trying to prevent fire and explosion. Pinching the cistern shut? That assumed she would not just tear it somewhere else. Did she even have time for it? Not likely, people were drowning and suffocating. She was happy with how she handled that. Much like the building that was set on fire.

The flooded area she felt could have done better. She had half a mind to break a few walls with her forehead for the stupid, idiotic, moronic, rushed decision to blow apart the building with a spheroid repulsor field. Spheroid! Over a basement! Did she have a glitch?! As if the first thing James told her when she took the first steps in the suit was to mind her weight so that she did not sink into some terrain. No, here the time pressure did not justify the rash action. She would have to do better next time. Check the water level in the basement perhaps? Yes! She could use a ground penetrating radar pulse to detect the air cavity and measure it's size. [color=00ffff][i]Good. It was an abysmal error, but I'll learn form it. Better a few bits in the Framework drowned than a real person if I did that in the field.[/i][/color] she mentally nodded.

But, she kept coming back to the collapsed building. And she was drawing blanks. The radar pulse would not help her there, not enough resolution. There was just no way she could think of to accurately map out the internal structure of the collapse. Nor was any idea of how else to dig up the survivors safely. Maybe there weren't any? Maybe she took too long? She spent a couple of hours in the night reviewing materials on earthquake rescue. Usage of dogs lead her to an idea of using smell, but she could not reasonably do that without revealing her superior senses. Good for an actual situation, not for her audition where VEIL protocol still applied. She also found there were more hazard factors than she thought of too - Broken gas pipes, fallen power lines... [color=00ffff][i]Baaaah! That S&R class better deliver![/i][/color] she groaned inwardly, [color=00ffff][i]Maybe I could ask someone? But who would have the experience here? ... Oh screw it, I am so starved for ideas that I might just ask the next person I meet![/i][/color]

Before she realized her introspection dragged on for so long, it was morning and someone was knocking at the door. Getting up from the bed, she walked over and opened: [color=00ffff]"Yes?"[/color]

"A package for miss van Dyne?" the courier said, waving a small box in front of her face. Signing for it, she closed the door and walked halfway back before the knocking sounded again. Opening the door once more, she saw no one in the hallway. [color=00ffff][i]Ha, ha. Children, please...[/i][/color] she pouted, closing the door again and only then noticing the envelopes on the ground. Picking them up, she saw one addressed to her and the other to Zari. Setting the latter one on the desk, she plopped down on her bed and looked up over the parcel first. Noticing the return address, she smiled. [color=00ffff][i]Cool! Something from home![/i][/color] Tearing into it quietly, a note was folded on the top:

[color=f7976a][i]Hi Tori!

I noticed you were working on something to help you respond more quickly if you find yourself unsuited and in a pickle. Great idea! You should hang around those guys more, if they help you improve like that. However, I need to point out a couple of things. One, using a pistol grip is not going to help you to shorten your learning curve too much. It is a completely different position for aiming. Second, under California law, you won't be able to carry anything resembling a pistol in concealed or open carry before you're 18.

Don't worry, I got you covered! Cassie is no doubt going to continue with that team of hers, but I have no doubt that you will ace your audition and deserve equal treatment. I don'T have the clout to do that, but... I can even out the playing field a little bit ;) Put it to good use and show the rest what you're made of! (Well, not literally, but... you know...)

You two come visit soon!

Love, Hope.[/i][/color]

As she read, a smile was growing on Vicky's face more and more. She really felt lucky. Everyone else, they would have created her for a purpose, and that purpose would be the forefront on their interactions with her. The van Dyne household treated her like a person, [i]like family[/i]. She still kept her purpose in mind, but she was allowed choice to pursue it, and do so because of her own beliefs, not because of being told to, with only minimal restrictions put it.

Unable to contain her excitement any longer, she bit her lip and reached into the box, pulling out a contraption. Upon seeing it, she instantly knew it was better than her design, and for a few simple reasons. The device was made like a glove, with a slot for the multi-field projector in the palm. At exactly the same place as with her armor, sans some thickness. Not looking at just the plain better ergonomic and the exploitation of the loophole in the wording of the law that would actually allow her to carry this thing around, another thing also came to mind - The glove part covered her skin, so she would be able to easily transform that hand into an interface mode, further easing up control. [color=00ffff][i]Still some way to go to besting the master.[/i][/color] she thought, testing the contraption on. It fit, well, like a glove. She would have to get Hope something very nice for birthday.

Reaching for the envelope, she checked the contents of the letter. Ah. Well! The team she was assigned to looked quite like a powerhouse on paper. Between herself and Leah they could move building if it came to it, and they seemed to have serious brain power behind them as well. She was a bit saddened by the lack of a magician, but she supposed she could not have everything. The giant red flag was the Arcade guy, who, to her horror, was almost unknown to her. Did she miss a recluse even worse than herself? Well, at least she would have an opportunity to correct that mistake this year.

[color=00ffff]"Aigh't, back into the tank we go..."[/color] she noted, briefly looking over the shield from Agatha. Nope. She first needed to figure out how to make it last, without revealing her nanite skin. [color=00ffff][i]Next time, baby.[/i][/color] she smirked and headed to the workshop to pick up one of the M-F generators before heading to the Framework lobby, seemingly ahead of anyone else.