Ceta de Cloyes

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 27th, 2019
1:24 PM, ET
GCU Library, Gotham

@The Whacko

---

Hex

Before, Tommy would have considered more magic to be a good thing, but now that there was more magic? It was one disaster after another, and every single time magic was to blame. His usually mediocre heating runes now started fires and boiled water, his enchanted skateboard literally disintegrated beneath his feet, which sent him rolling into Bex’s art project, utterly ruining the thing - he wasn’t really sure what she’d made but it’d shattered like flimsy glass under his weight. That had only been the beginning; now Bex was pissed at him, Anna was suspicious of him, he hadn’t spoken to Pads in ages, and now this.

What the fuck is that supposed to be?

It was seven feet tall at least, clearly undead and reeking like a corpse, and it was disgusting. What the hell?! This was not a flesh golem, this was an abomination straight out of Hercules’ trials. They were supposed to fight this thing?

At least his dad seemed to know what he was doing, though it was clear the situation hadn’t meant to be this dangerous otherwise Tommy wouldn’t be here in the first place.

He threw something, a half formed spell of fluorescent pink energy that caused spots on the golem’s flesh to blacken and char, but his next spell went directly into the ceiling when he slipped on a pool of blood, landing on his back, brand new outfit covered in sticky red, and broken plaster falling towards his face. He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the debris, righting himself as his dad distracted the creature. Good to see the man had survived getting batted across the room, not that Tommy had doubted his father’s chances.

The Nail, huh? But… did that mean...? It wasn’t just a flesh golem, it was possessed, probably by a fucking demon because yay magic, the ley lines were jizzing all over the planet anyway so why the fuck not?

Tommy shook his head, looking at the creature in a new light. It wasn’t a pitiful golem dialed up to eleven, it was a legit threat to their lives, to the entire city’s lives probably. He began backing off, not at all eager to turn his back on the demon despite the need to make haste, and with good reason; as he neared the door and turned to run through it, a broken chair came flying at him. He didn't see it coming until it was too late, the force of the projectile carrying him clean through the door and out a window across the hall.

He was disoriented, and shuddered as the pain registered in his brain. Something was broken, but he didn’t know what and he didn’t exactly have time to figure it out. He didn’t even try standing, knowing it would only end badly, but he needed to help his dad and get the Nail. There was a way of course, with magic there was always a way… He forced his mind to focus, to pull on that energy within and see it; an orb with an oddly textured surface, and two rings making an ‘X’ in orbit around it, everything in shades of violet. He didn’t know what it was, but he saw it every time he transformed, and felt it’s energy pull at him.

The pain became muted as his skin darkened, color and sound became sharper as his eyes and hair reformed into violet light, and his mind found clarity as he found his Anodite form.

He was outside, surrounded by the remains of the chair that had hit him, and the shattered glass of the window he fell through. That didn’t matter now though, he rose into the air effortlessly, his movement easy in comparison to the struggle it’d been to even breathe moments before. He spied the car nearby, thankfully the parking lot was on this side of the building, and he zoomed towards it, popping open the trunk and locating the Silver Nail. He didn’t bother grabbing it with his hands, instead surrounding it in a violet aura, a glowing telekinetic spell, and flying back towards the window he’d fallen from, then through it and into the library again. As soon as he found his father and the monster again he threw the Nail with all his mental might at the back of the creature’s head.

But he missed, an awkward dizzying sensation causing him to lose focus, and the spell dropped the Silver Nail to the ground, landing perfectly between his dad and the golem. He dropped too, the energy that gave him his Anodite form felt thin and stretched, like it was threatening to rip at any second. He let it go, receding to that far away place, and he fell to his knees, human once more and breathing hard, but whole, whatever bone, or bones, had been broken before were now fine.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 30th, 2019
5:35 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City

---

Echo

Ezra hadn't been expecting an immediate reply, Benji would likely spend a few hours doing research before responding, and Jessie was definitely sleeping, she wouldn't reply until the morning. Or so he'd thought, but either she was already up or she was much more sensitive to her phone going off than he was, because when he picked up his phone a few minutes later there was a notification that she'd replied.

He'd not even noticed the time really, he hadn't been able to sleep since he got home so when he’d finally motivated himself to do stuff he'd simply done them and not thought about how early it was. He was surprised then, and a little touched, that Jessie had bothered to even look, much less reply to his message with concern. Not that that was- was- he sighed, he didn't know where that train of thought was going, but he couldn't let the actions of a few tarnish his opinion of his friend; Jessie may be human, but she wasn't a murderer, she- probably- no, she wouldn't turn on him for being an alien.

But still… it wasn't safe to drag her into this, and his disguise was thoroughly wrecked for the night. It'd be better for both of them if she remained oblivious and stayed away for a bit. With that grim and disheartening thought in mind he sent a short reply; thanks, but I'm fine, he began, its just contagious is all, not a big deal. There, downplaying the symptoms to relieve concern, playing up the risk of infection to warn her off, perfect excuse for… hiding on the roof away from humanity for a day or three.

He sighed, unsure how long he'd be able to stay here- and wasn't that a whopping question and a half? He was pretty sure he'd gotten home untracked given that no one had turned up yet, but the risk remained. It was unlikely any identification programs they had would be able to identify him if they managed to get a picture, unless they'd managed to get the technology to account for energy beings… He was probably safe, finding an energy weapon was easy compared to that kind of tech. It was still dangerous though, there were federal alien hunting agents in Coast City, so he should probably get out right? It wouldn't be hard, he could just fly away, but he'd have to leave so much behind that way, and then what? If America wasn't welcoming aliens then what about the rest of the world? Should he leave the country? The planet?

Good luck with that; this planet was obscenely difficult to get off of, there was absolutely no traffic beyond the occasional smuggled refugee, whose ship quickly left after dropping the passenger off. No one on Earth who knew anything about aliens had access to the right kinds of currency or resources to properly pay for transport back to civilized space, so they didn't linger. It was infuriating, and the brevity and infrequency of such visits meant it was impossible to contact them, predict them, or even notice them until months or years after. Ezra was also pretty sure this was a restricted planet, meaning that it was known, but peripheral and far from anyone’s focus, and also off limits to more advanced species until they reached a certain level of technology or awareness, whichever came first.

No, for now he had to stay on Earth, probably in America as well, and he didn't have to leave Coast City just yet. He did have a life here, as difficult as it had been to get attached to such an alien lifestyle it was now just as difficult to get unattached. He liked this city, it's people, or he had, but now it was just a little… scary.

Maybe he should be scary too. To protect himself maybe, but mostly to feel safe again. His eyes were drawn up from the carved ecto-plate in his hands, landing on a black and white suit hanging in the life pod. Maybe it was time for Echo to appear…

He let the idea float around in his head, but returned to tinkering rather than acting on the thought. He'd considered becoming a hero before, taking up his true look as a kind of disguise and working to give aliens a good name. Now he didn't think about that persona he'd created and think of freedom and hope, instead he thought safety and power. If he was Echo he wouldn’t think of running from those agents, he'd want to fight them, make them stop, force them to see how wrong they were, and just… fix everything. That's what Echo was supposed to be anyway, now he had different thoughts, less kind thoughts that rang clear with notes of finality and anger.

...but he wasn't at that point yet. He left the suit hanging where it was and refocused on his work. Regardless of what Echo could do, Ezra needed an Ectonian shield generator now, the rest was just wishful thinking.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

All is not as it first appears o.o

Unless it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 29th, 2019
9:15 PM, PT
The Small Café, Coast City

---

Echo

Something was very wrong here. Ezra knew it the second he turned down the alley behind the The Small, the one that led to the unfinished subway entrance and the secret door to the alien bar. It felt like eyes were on him, a predator lurking around the corner, ready to catch him in it’s web and burn him up like a halsa’s favourite snack. It was not a pleasant feeling, and he slowed his steps as the tension mounted. He almost shrugged it off, putting it towards a return in his paranoia, which had begun to taper off over the last month, having gotten used to Jessie’s motor mouth, Yoski’s jokes about whatever was on TV, Benji’s frequent messages about new safe spaces he’d found as he moved across the country, and Lauren’s comforting smile and no-nonsense mothering she applied to everyone she met…

But he didn’t shrug it off, because there was blood in the alley way. Blue blood. Alien blood. He quickened his steps, gripping tightly to the straps of his backpack and pulling his beanie further down his face, hiding his white hair. Oh no, he thought worriedly, what happened? Is someone hurt? Were we discovered? He hurried down the steps into the subway entrance and froze at the sight that greeted him; the walls were smeared with dark blue blood, and the gory remains of a familiar yellowish-green alien, torn tentacles and mushed brain matter scattered outside the door, which had been forcibly pried open and now hung from it’s hinges awkwardly.

He didn’t bother checking on him, Yoski was definitely dead, and there were sounds coming from within the now revealed bar. He almost didn’t notice the burning green energy that gathered in his fists or burned within his eyes as he stepped faster towards the door, entering the dimly lit room. The one safe place for people like him, and now it was exposed, violated- invaded.

There were people within, and bodies. There was a dark skinned man dressed unsurprisingly in a dark suit and very clearly armed, and there were two light skinned men in unassuming hoodies and caps, looking like standard pedestrians he’d see on the street. They looked up at him as he entered, immediately going for their guns- but they didn’t get the chance. Ezra saw Lauren, and Kyle, slumped over together in a corner, they were whole, unlike Yoski, but lifeless. Ezra threw his ecto-blasts before he’d even fully comprehended their deaths. “You killed them?!” He cried out, he’d intended the words to be angry, but instead they were shocked, still reeling from the scene he’d barely had a chance to process.

One of the plain clothes men ducked behind one of the many upturned tables even as the other went down from a solid blast to the face. The man in the suit raised his gun and fired three times, each managing to hit Ezra in the chest. Overall the entire encounter took maybe three seconds at most, but while the men went to check on their fallen comrade, assuming by the lack of moving, or even breathing, that Ezra was dead, he instead was already beginning to regenerate the wounds to his form and recover from the shocking pain. After a moment of his vision spinning riotously, he simply vanished, turning intangible and invisible.

When he reappeared, leaking neon green blood from the still closing bullet wounds, he was behind the men, and absolutely furious. This time when he threw his energy attacks they caught the men off guard and were thrown to the ground without cover. He threw a few more even after they stopped moving, but managed to repress his emotions enough to stop attacking. Eventually. Even as tears were gathering his eyes, grief pushing past the rage, he knelt down and dug through the suited man’s pockets. He needed to know who had done this, and why.

He managed to get the man’s wallet, but before he could open it someone else charged into the room, a dark skinned woman with her sidearm already drawn and pointed at his head. He threw a bright green burst of energy directly at her face, turning invisible and intangible as she fired her gun. If backup was already arriving he needed to get out, now. He flew through the roof, managing to get up into the alley above in time for his stress-induced lack of focus to force him to become visible and tangible again. A pain shot through his chest as he leaned against the alley wall for support, and he saw a large hole punctured straight over where his heart would be- an energy weapon, the woman had shot him with an energy weapon.

Luckily he didn’t have a heart, or he’d be dead now. He started running, hearing boots pounding towards him from the subway entrance. Who were these people? How did they get energy weapons on Earth? How’d they find this place? Why were they killing aliens?

It was late, and Coast City was no New york, no Metropolis, but it was very big and very busy. His disguise was ruined, his eyes aglow in the rapidly approaching darkness, leaking more glowing blood from the four holes in his chest, and somehow he’d lost his beanie, revealing stark white hair to every pedestrian he pushed past. He could hear someone running after him, and he threw a glance over his shoulder to see the woman who shot him racing full tilt after him. He waited until he ploughed ahead through a street crossing, not bothering to even look for cars, and then threw an ectoblast over his shoulder, causing the woman to shout and jump out of the way as it landed at her feet. The street shortly erupted in a round of screams as pedestrians scattered in all directions. Ezra used the chaos to run straight through a building and escape to a new street, jumping into the air to get further away. The pedestrians were too distracted by the commotion to look up as he flew quick and fast towards his apartment.

Once he finally set down on the roof of Satomi Towers, he collapsed, clutching a wallet in his hands and breathing hard. He forced himself to focus on the wallet, to calm down, and study the information within. He wasn’t surprised by what he found, all his fears proving true; a symbol, an eagle- how American - overlaid on an ID. DEO. DEPARTMENT OF EXTRANORMAL OPERATIONS. Agent Hamilton. He sneered, Humans! he thought, a viciousness and resentment attached to their name he hadn’t felt before. The government did this? Of course they did, there was a reason there were a billion movies painting aliens as the bad guys, why they were always being dissected and hunted down by government agents. Because it was true.

He looked around, feeling… lost, angry… afraid.

He couldn’t do this alone.

---

November 30th, 2019
5:17 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City

He called in sick today. Well, he called in something. He’d been very evasive but also very tired and wretched feeling when he’d talked to his manager, something the man seemed to pick up on and let him go without too much fuss.

There was nothing in the news about Yoski, Lauren, or Kyle, or about any aliens at all, which was expected, but even his mad dash through a crowd of pedestrians and blatant use of powers refused to show up. On the TV anyway, in his ‘trending in your area’ feed he managed to find a few conversations had about that ‘glowy green dude that got chased through the street.’ Already those posts were getting random bloggers asking questions and scratching their heads. Mostly there seemed to be a lot of confusion, disbelief, and general indifference. No one seemed to have gotten a video or picture of him, yet anyway, he hoped he hadn’t run in front of a traffic camera or past a store’s security camera, and it had happened very quickly, so it was unlikely to catch anyone’s attention unless they were looking for it. Good.

He’d already redyed his hair, dug up his old pair of hipster square glasses he’d first worn when blending in on this planet, and thoroughly locked himself in his one room apartment where no one could find him. He probably wasn’t going to come out ever again.

A thought occurred to him suddenly; he should get the word out. His phone was already in hand, and he snapped a quick picture of the government agent’s ID. He sent it, and a text message, to Benji. People had to know they were actually being hunted, it wasn’t paranoia anymore, it wasn’t enough to trust no one was looking now, they had to be on their guard.

He lingered a moment on Jessie’s name, Jessie Beedle just above Benjamin Bello in his contacts list. After some hesitation, some thought, he sent her a text: won’t make it to gym today, not feeling well - better than just dropping off the face of the world with no warning, the energetic woman might come looking for him if he wasn’t where she thought he was supposed to be.

Putting it out of his mind for the moment, mostly because he didn’t want to think about how she was human and thus likely to run screaming from him, turn him into the government, or beat him up with a bat- or all three, he refocused on more important things.

He needed his people’s technology, he’d held off because he got comfortable, because the tech was complicated and dangerous… he couldn’t wait anymore. So, heavy hearted but determined, he went to the roof, slipped into the small shed, and began tinkering in the faint green-tinted light of the life pod.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 4th, 2019
6:32 AM, ET
Burnley, Gotham

---

Hex

Tommy waved off his father’s advice, ‘man this, man that, adulting,’ he meant well, but Tommy had his own ideas about what he should be doing, and he knew his limits plenty well, some random dreams weren’t his priority. No, his priority was hitting the swim team hard and fast, so fast Bex wouldn’t be able to rope him into chess club. He didn’t mind GSA, and he found endless amusement in D&D, but chess? He rolled his eyes just thinking about it; that was a dying art, just let it go already.

He was also going to have to see about stirring up some fun on his own, it was only monday, no way was he waiting a whole week for his dad to take him after some grave robbers- though getting off the leash, so to speak, would be fun. Speaking of leashes, he sent a quick text to Pads, he was going to drop by the Stadium after school, that’d be fun. “Cool,” he cheered, his brain already multitasking to envision how the weekend would go down, in addition to planning his schedule for the day. “It’ll be fun- and Dad, first day, y’know? I’ll be late- clubs yeah? Bex is already onto me, and Anna won’t join any unless I talk her into it.” he explained, carefully concealing his secret plans with Pads with his less nefarious plans with Bex and Anna as he shoved a last piece of bacon into his mouth and then darting towards the stairs.

“Oh,” he paused, turning back around, “and next time you smudge my warming rune I’m etching an ice one into your headboard!” He warned, referring to the heating hex he’d placed on the shower, drawn in permanent marker on the shower head, yet somehow always managing to rub off by the time he went to take another shower. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was his father, but who else could it be? If there was some kind of magical rat skulking about eating his runes he was going to be pissed.

Regardless of if his father was actually innocent he spun back around and hopped up the stairs to get ready for school.

Worlds Apart

"Ya sound pretty ballsy, kid. Smart thing would be gettin' back on the platform," Koda huffed at the girl’s words, was he missing something else now? Were they all going or not? Was the train the important bit or the dying? Or was there really an option to leave? Not that he’d take it but, it just seemed… unlikely anyone was escaping this mess, "but that's ya call to make. Just like s'mine and, uh, whoever this dude is. Who are ya, anyways?"

”I’m Koda, nobody is really getting out of this are they?” He asked skeptically, he certainly didn’t think that was in the cards anymore.

Koda’s attention had split once he’d clambered down onto the tracks, but it wasn’t the platform he was watching closest, rather the direction the train would come from when it- well, this really was a terrible idea, really he should just go home and get a bunch of equipment and take a fuck ton of readings all over this place then go sit safe and sound in his lab back at Talos. He wasn’t going to do that though, even if his nerves and indecision were bleeding through in the way his eyes flickered just a bit too quickly and his fingers tapped along his crossed arms anxiously. Tabitha’s question pulled his eyes back to the platform though; what was going on up there? ”Er I’m thinking a lot of things, but it wasn’t really about them- is that a gun?” How did he not consider the police officer in their midst- how did he not consider there might be other armed loonies in the station, this was totally a situation loonies would be drawn to- and he would know, he was pretty sure he was one of them now.

That said, he wasn’t the kind of loony who wandered around with weapons on his person, he was actually rather anti-violence so the whole… thing, that went down in very short, very violent, order, was not helping his nerves in the least- the fact that someone- or a couple someones, might actually be dead over… this, whatever this was. “Dude,” he muttered, wincing in sympathy at the cop who fell onto the tracks. He wasn’t the only one to approach the downed man, a red headed girl hurry to help him too, even going so far as to mess up her skirt and press it against the wound. In comparison to her usefulness Koda simply hovered nearby a little concerned over what to do.

"You have to get up!" The girl said, frantic, "The train is almost here!" Like that was going to help, no way were either of them getting off the tracks in time now.

”Here,” he cut in, ”let me,” he offered, kneeling down next to the cop. He didn’t really know what to do, but he had some training with treating injuries, though usually those were chemical related, or minor cuts, not something so serious, and he didn’t have a med-kit on him or anything but at least he was stronger than the girl and could put more pressure on the wound, maybe that would be enough to keep him alive until the train came and the Ghost Girl did her thing.

… he really had no idea what he was doing did he? His mom was going to freak, and Kenan’s birthday- oh right, pressure on the wound, try not to think about infectious diseases he could be getting from the blood on his fingers. Too bad he wasn’t working on that Mo-Fern project anymore, then he’d probably be walking around with morphine in his bag, enough to ease this man’s pain. Ugh, how stupid was this, why had the officer come if he wasn’t going to go along? Why start something that could end like this? He glanced over to Tabitha, concerned and looking for answers, and that one seemed to be the most sane, if bitter, of them, she was one who knew more than the rest of them did, and wasn’t useless like the Ghost Girl was proving to be. ””what do we do?” he asked her, forcing his voice to not give away the vulnerability he felt.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

I have no idea if you're a villain or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, nice face claim though ;)

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 4th, 2019
6:30 AM, ET
Burnley, Gotham

@The Whacko

---

Hex

Barenziah huh? And the vampires… maybe he should wrangle something else out of Pads, maybe something Elder and stake-like? Maybe a cold iron grip… but damn, wands were so Harry Potter, he wasn’t sure he’d ever actually be able to wield one without descending into a geekgasm.

Despite his words, Tommy didn’t believe his father actually knew anything about Anna looking at anyone any kind of way. It was a proven science, studied by teenagers everywhere, that parents didn’t actually know anything about their kid’s love lives. Or he hoped that was the case anyway, if Anna really did like him like that… nah, no way.

Somehow his dad seemed to know about his weird dream, but again he wasn’t sure how much stock he was going to put in the man’s knowledge when it wasn’t even his dream. “I dunno, probably just the runes,” he offered, dismissive. It wasn’t a big deal, and he was decidedly not wishing his mom was here thank you very much, she was dead and that was how it was, otherwise you end up with things like zombie moms or possessed dolls. No thank you. “I’m good dad,” he said, giving him a more earnest look and an unconcerned smile, “really.”

He snatched up his phone again, typing out a few quick responses one handed so he didn’t get food grease on the screen. “So, when's the next time I get to go out with you? I got a new suit and everything, it’ll be great!” Said suit was a bit trenchcoat-y, which he wouldn’t admit was inspired by his dad’s own, but it also had some of the more glowy cartoon hero vibe, except darker and less flashy. It was painstakingly bartered for, the price of which he wouldn’t divulge under pain of death, but well worth it.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 4th, 2019
6:20 AM, ET
Burnley, Gotham

---

Hex

There were so many, bright and burning and so, so far away. They called to him, beckoning, they wanted him, begged him, just for a minute, come and stay for a moment, just come and see us.

There, a planet, big and bright and purple, with two rings of violet energy orbiting it in an ‘X’ pattern. He was on the surface, a great big… thing was… pushing buttons? On a large featureless disk. It turned, and another entered, this one was not a machine, it was- it was a- her eyes!

”You are not ready.”

---

Tommy jolted up, sweating and breathing hard. Just a dream. A very freaky dream. Maybe he should stop falling asleep with magical runes scattered everywhere. All across his sheets were torn out pages of incomplete or incorrectly designed runes, arrays, matrices, and off to one side, teetering on the edge of his bed, was a sketchbook filled with the actual correct ones he’d managed to make.

He groaned and flopped back down bonelessly. Magical rune induced nightmares, great… he actually did feel kind of great, despite the weird dream he felt oddly more refreshed than usual.

He shot a suspicious look to one of the closest pages. Magic rarely did favors, best not to let it happen again.

"C'mon on, Tommy! It'll get cold soon!" Right, his Dad was calling him, and judging by the smell it was time for breakfast. He rolled out of bed, scattering papers everywhere, but only rolled his eyes and ignored them. He’d pick them up later, in the meantime he was he was hungry. He didn’t bother dressing appropriately before heading downstairs, simply pulling on an oversized tee he definitely hadn’t stolen from his dad, and a pair of basketball shorts. He could change after he had a chance to shower.

He hoped forward with a slight grin, shoving a slice of bacon into his mouth in the same breath he offered a nonsensical morning greeting.

At some point his phone appeared in his hand, and he began checking messages and chat boards. Someone was trying to tell him about Ando again, a lead he’d investigated, but dismissed; Ando had nothing to do with Anodites. Pads had a new design for him, some kind of odd bat inscription at the base of it, but the runes checked out after a quick glance. Anna had texted him, she’d be in most of his classes this semester- she was smart, and she’d liked their first geometry class together, and then Tommy had waxed poetic about hexecontahedrons, and stellations, and sacred geometry and corrupted her into as big of a shape geek as he was. Oh, and look at that, another email from Bex demanding he sign up to all three clubs she was currently leading; D&D, GSA, and the dreaded chess club. With any luck he'd make the swim team this year, whose meets always coincided with chess clubs meetings.

He could dream anyway.

He rolled his eyes, pretending he didn't have a fond smirk on his face, and set down his phone, giving his breakfast and his dad his full attention; “Anything interesting?” He asked after noticing the paper, resigned to the fact his dad would probably never use the app instead.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

November 4th, 2019
7:30 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City

---

Echo

“Hiss reeyee shuks.” Ezra tried, words muffled by the damp wash cloth hanging from his mouth. He was sitting cross legged on the floor beside his bed, facing a large mirror leaning against a corner. His hands were buried in his hair, and stained completely black. This was a simple process, he had done it many, many times, but somehow he had managed to burst the bag of hair dye, sensing sudsy black splotches all over himself, the floor, and, of course, his new starry space themed bed sheets.he used to do this in the bathroom, where it was safe, but nooo~ he's done this a million times now he could do other things too, it'd be fine- bam, ruined sheets.

He sighed, giving up on his half dyed hair, there simply wasn't enough dye left to cover it. Usually the dye would fizzle out in a day or so, the ecto-energy gradually burning it away, but he had a way of expediting the process: a sudden ring of intense white energy appeared around him, forming at his waist and splitting into two, one going up and the other down. By the time the two finished spewing large amounts of ecto-radiation all over him his hair was once again white, the dye burned away, and his clothes were cool to the touch, but smoking slightly as if singed by heat.

“Well,” he said to himself, “guess I should try and clean this up.” He inspected the spilled hair dye on his sheets before sighing again and shoving a grey beanie on his head. He wasn't going to class today, not after that disaster.

---

8:45 AM, PT

An hour and so later and Ezra was heading to the roof. Living in an apartment with only two rooms, one of which was a tiny bathroom, did have its advantages; mainly being cheap, but it also had drawbacks; there was nowhere to hide his stuff! The roof was the only place he could work with, he'd actually managed to hide his pod up there by breaking the locks and jamming the roof access door, meaning only he could reach the tiny shed that was up there.

Really it was a lucky find, but he'd had his share of close calls, and now everyone thought the building was haunted because he'd worked so hard to keep anyone and everyone from getting up there. It was worth it though, and a few seconds after floating straight through the ceiling and landing on the roof he was walking through the door, not bothering to open it, and was met by the low glow of bright green emitting from his old pod. Hanging on to this thing had been a pain, but it was one of his only pieces of Ectonian tech and thus invaluable.

It also had another invaluable function; ”Pod,” he addressed, in Gholish, ”scan system for ecto-signatures.” Given ectoplasm was in everything on Ghol, from their bodies to their technologies, the presence of ecto-signatures would stand out as an unmistakable sign of his people. After a few minutes, during which Ezra opened a panel on the pod and began studying it’d internal functions, the pod let out a trill, a mix of Gholish words he barely heard anymore. He'd long memorized the response; two external ecto-signatures, one of which was him, the other was his Zon Tube. He wanted to improve the range, maybe piggyback off someone else’s network, so he could scan further, but even if he could it wouldn't be easy to get off Earth.

He ended up wasting another few hours there, tinkering away with the pod and trying to sketch new plans for improvements or technologies he could recreate.

---

10:00 PM, PT
The Small Café, Coast City

The front entrance was nice, all long windows, dark wooden tables, very open, and bright lighting, but Ezra didn't go there, instead he turned invisible and walked down a side alley, only appearing again when he was underground, slipping down an old subway maintenance entrance that had never been completed, and there in the corner was a door into the lower level of The Small.

The door had no handle, it was featureless and made of a dark metal, but there was a slightly raised square where the handle would normally be. Ezra touched it for a second, waiting until there was a soft ‘click’ and the door opened a smidge. It was a scanner, determined if the touched was human or not, and while humans were allowed in theory, none had ever been invited in, and that was the unspoken rule; a human needed an alien to trust them to get in, but while a few had human friends who were in the know, no one would be happy to have one turning up in their one safe space.

The lower level has a similar theme to the first, with dark woods and nice open space, but the lights were much dimmer, and there were no windows, instead the walls were painted with alien motifs and icons and scenes from a wide variety of worlds, species, and cultures.

Ezra shook off his nerves about being scene, forcing the lingering paranoia out of his mind and taking a steadying breath as the door closed behind him. He could finally relax, at least a little. He removed his sunglasses, which he'd worn despite the darkening sky and his invisibility trick, and allowed his glowing green eyes to see the room unfiltered, and he pulled off his beanie, letting his snowy white hair breathe.

“Ayyy! Ezra!” A gruff and cheerful voice called from the behind the bar as he approached, taking note there were a total of four patrons today, only one of which he knew, and the lone barman- which was a surprise.

“Yoski, you work here now?” Ezra asked with surprise. It shouldn't be that surprising, this was literally the only place he knew of that an alien like Yoski could work at. He was a small alien, essentially a yellowish green octopus or jellyfish, with stubby tentacles aplenty, and a convenient ability to float in Earth’s air as if it were water. There was no passing him off as an Earthling, even if he did speak with a ridiculously American accent and used all the slang perfectly.

“Man, are you out of the loop or what?!” Yoski exclaimed, soft jelly-like skin vibrating cheerfully. Ezra gave a small bemused smile as he settled in at the bar to hear the latest gossip, out of the corner of his eye he caught the approach of a red-skinned Lauren as she abandoned her table to come say hello. He had promised her he'd turn up hadn't he? Well here he was...