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12 mos ago
Current A Perpetual Motion Engine of Anxiety and Self-Loathing

Bio

So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, looking for one thousand brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night. So, Jeff Beck pops his head 'round the door, and mentions there's a little sweets shop on the edge of town. So - we go. And - it's closed. So there's me, and Keith Moon, and David Crosby, breaking into that little sweets shop, eh. Well, instead of a guard dog, they've got this bloody great big Bengal tiger. I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shopowner and his son... that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business, really. But, sure enough, I got the M&Ms, and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.

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C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
T H E F A N T A S T I C F O U R

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:


R E E D R I C H A R D S / S U E S T O R M / B E N G R I M M / J O H N N Y S T O R M
S C I E N T I S T S / E X P L O R E R S / C O S M I C N A V I G A T O R S
B A X T E R B U I L D I N G , F O U R F R E E D O M S P L A Z A , M A N H A T T A N
F A N T A S T I C F O U R / S T O R M – R I C H A R D S S C I E N T I F I C S O C I E T Y


C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:




“You may tell your boss that we're tremendously honored by his gracious gesture-- but we're not yet done exploring. What gives this family its purpose and its joy isn't the destination... it's the journey.” – Reed Richards


“ You have these doubts...Constant and unrelenting. Some large and some so very small. Am I being too strict? Am I too lenient? Do I praise too often or not enough...Being a parent, having children...it's a constant war between uncertainty and hope. So you live in fear...and there are these doubts... Science is much the same. The child of the mind. Left untempered it can do the unconscionable. But if you try to hold it and keep it safe, you deny it’s true potential. Love, life… it’s all a balance.” – Sue Storm


“Sure, around this family I might be like the dumb kid in science class… But maybe I’m too dumb to know when to quit as well. FLAME ON!” – Johnny Storm


“Yer know what? Mebbe if you connect the whozzits to the whatsit over there, then run a conduit through to power the weapon… Yer know what, forgeddaboudit Stretch, I’m gonna just play to my strengths… IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!” – Ben Grimm, Sensitive Yancy Street Citizen







C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:


Latching onto the First Family to tell some BIG universe expanding stories, organically open up some crisis/event level threats, and tell some (hopefully interesting) cosmic/global level sci-fi family stories and character work.


C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:


Some years ago the exploratory space mission crew which which gave birth to the group who would go on to be called 'The Fantastic Four' disappeared, presumed dead. The world grieved, Latverian based financial backers lost money and face (and many suspect the failed mission was to blame for the recent political turmoil in that Nation since) and humanity started to turn away from the stars...

But now they're back! A wormhole generated by lead scientist Reed Richards brought home these wandering heroes... And now they have kids!

But their return raises many more questions... what cosmic force changed these four heroes so dramatically? Reed Richards is now capable of amazing feat of strange elasticity, Susan Storm is now able to tap into some kind of power allowing her to create force fields and make herself invisible, pilot Benjamin Grimm has now become some form of rock-based monster and Johnny Storm is now fully combustable, able to generate high levels of heat and flame. And what of the children? Does some hidden power or force lie dormant within these doe-eyed kids? Reed Richards left this world as one of this world's smartest people, but since his return his intelligence has increased exponentially beyond what it was and he has become more distant from his fellow man. What has he learned in his time away? And why does it seem like his daughter Valeria has developed similar traits despite her so incredibly young age? Could this be why Sue Storm has taken on more of a leadership role since their return?

And most important of all... Are these really the same people who disappeared all those years ago?


Character and Equipment:



S A M P L E P O S T:


Then...


The booming voice of the man who would be DOOM.

“Ten... Nine... Eight…”

Victor’s sharp eyes made another final sweep across the whole control panel. They had cleared every check and test. But what man could leave the fate of so much to another’s vision? A lesser mind’s decision? To do such a thing, one might as well leave such a thing to the winds of chance.

“Seven…”

Ben Grimm flexes his fingers for one last time as he prepares to white-knuckle it, and grips the controls in sure, steadfast hands. He wouldn’t want the responsibility anywhere else. Ol’ blue eyed Benji has their lives and his in his hands, knows exactly what it means, and the whole damn universe couldn’t pry him off his duty. So just let ‘er try.

“Six…“

Reed and Sue lock eyes lovingly. After these years the married couple share the mutual knowledge that whatever comes next, whatever they now face, they have the strength for what comes. Together.

“Five…”

The young lovers hands embrace. Even through the suits, Johnny Storm could swear he could feel Valeria Von Doom’s warmth radiating through, as in all things.




Five Hours Ago…


Children playing in the sparse green fields of Central Park. A tour group rides by on bicycles. College students with books spread open come to grips with their course load whilst talking about the day to day frivolities.

All interrupted by rolling thunder. A space between places opened by an explosive cacophony of sound. Feet touched down on Earth’s soil which hadn’t known it for well over a decade, as well as three who had never known it as home. The tall bug said something in Sue Storm’s ear. She looked concerned, and replied, as people raced towards them. But none could hear over the sound of the cosmic gateway. The bug confirmed, and Sue swept her hair back, deep in thought over the meaning of what she had just been told.

People were racing towards the five strange humans, their robot and one strange rock monster. The bug gave a final wave, walked between the humans and their means of arrival. Shielding itself from the sight of other people and used a small box to open a similar portal to return, presumably, from wherever they came.

The blonde haired youth looked at his craggly compatriot and noticed no change in his appearance.

“Hey? Looks like our powers are still kicking in here too.” He said, flicking a finger off of his compatriot's rocky shoulder and setting his finger aflame.

People ran to the group on the grass, but then kept their distance. Standing in stunned silence, the crowd was seemingly scared of the strange man with the stony flesh.

“So…” Ben said, breaking the awkward silence. “Whaddid we miss?”




P O S T C A T A L O G U E:


Post 1 - The Return


Then...



The booming voice of the man who would be DOOM.

“Ten... Nine... Eight…”

Victor’s sharp eyes made another final sweep across the whole control panel. They had cleared every check and test. But what man could leave the fate of so much to another’s vision? A lesser mind’s decision? To do such a thing, one might as well leave such a thing to the winds of chance.

“Seven…”

Ben Grimm flexes his fingers for one last time as he prepares to white-knuckle it, and grips the controls in sure, steadfast hands. He wouldn’t want the responsibility anywhere else. Ol’ blue eyed Benji holds their lives and his in his hands, knows exactly what it means, and the whole damn universe couldn’t pry him off his duty. So just let ‘er try.

“Six… “

Reed and Sue lock eyes lovingly. After these years the married couple share the mutual knowledge that whatever comes next, whatever they now face, they have the strength for what comes. Together.

“Five…”

The young lovers hands embrace. Even through the suits, Johnny Storm could swear he feels Valeria Von Doom’s warmth radiating through, as in all things.


Now…

"Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five…” The producer counted down, before reverting to silent hand signals, and finally shooting a pointed finger towards the people in front of the camera.

The bright lights were nothing new, but the makeup and activities of so many people scurrying around in service of a single goal - interviewing the new Head of the long thought lost mission - certainly were. So many people, after so long without seeing another human than their own small group.

Of course ‘Not another human’ certainly didn’t mean ‘Not another person’. Nor did it mean that they were alone.

Unfortunately, the truth was far from that reassuring...


Five Hours Ago…

Children playing in the sparse green fields of Central Park. A tour group rides by on bicycles. College students with books spread open come to grips with their course load whilst talking about the day to day frivolities.

All interrupted by rolling thunder. A space between places opened by an explosive cacophony of sound. Feet touched down on Earth’s soil which hadn’t known it for over a decade, as well as three who had never known it as home. The tall bug said something in Sue Storm’s ear. She looked concerned, and replied, as people raced towards them. But none could hear over the sound of the cosmic gateway. The bug confirmed, and Sue swept her hair back, deep in thought over the meaning of what she had just been told.

People were racing towards the five strange humans, their robot and one strange rock monster. The bug gave a final wave, walked between the humans and their means of arrival. Shielding itself from the sight of other people and used a small box to open a similar portal to return, presumably, from wherever they came.

The blonde haired youth looked at his craggly compatriot and noticed no change in his appearance.

“Hey? Looks like our powers are still kicking in here too.” He said, flicking a finger off of his rocky shoulder and setting his finger aflame.

People ran to the group on the grass, but then kept their distance. Standing in stunned silence, the crowd was seemingly scared of the strange man with the stony flesh.

“So…” Ben said, breaking the awkward silence. “Whaddid we miss?”


Now…

“So, Doctor Storm, the world wants to know. How exactly you all survived that disastrous mission and where you have all been for so many years?”



Susan stopped and thought for a moment. She took a long draw from a glass of water and smiled first to the interviewer and then to the camera as she formulated a considered response.

“We were remarkably fortunate all things considered. And as for where we’ve been? The Negative aperture that we were testing worked a lot better than our ship did. A credit to both Reed and Victor for their theoretical work. If anything, it worked even better than we were expecting. Thankfully.”

“When you speak of ‘Victor’ you are of course referring to…”

“Victor Von Doom. Naturally.”

“You are aware that since your departure he has become something of a… controversial figure... at the centre of massive upheaval presently taking place in the Balkans?”

“I’ve been told something along those lines, but we don’t really know anything about that. The Victor Von Doom I have known is an honourable friend and colleague. But I can attest to the fact that whatever is going on with him has made him extremely difficult to get a hold of. As his position in the mission dictated, he was the first person we’ve tried to make contact with since our return. We’re nowww… five hours later, and unless Reed’s had more success since I left him to come here, we’ve yet to have any luck on that front.”

The interviewer leaned in closer holding a prop pen to his lips. There were of course no notes to be taken, his questions were rehearsed and this was purely for television.

“And as for your return..?”

Sue smiled playfully. She picked up the glass again, but this time didn’t drink.

“Ah! That’s the crux of the matter isn’t it? How did we survive..?”

She turned the glass upside down over the desk between them, but the water held to the lip of the glass as if some strange invisible force had formed a lid on it.

“Let’s just say, the disaster you spoke about did not exactly leave us all unchanged...”

The interviewer looked on stunned, before gesturing to the camera operators to make sure they got the glass rather than his reaction.

Sue put the glass back on the table, without a drop out of place.

“And as for where we came from? Quite simply, the aperture did so much more than was intended. It didn’t merely enable us to catch a glimpse at a theoretical sub-space testing ground across dimensional planes. It opened a gateway there. My family and I have spent our entire time there. In this Negative Zone, which we were merely meant to view by experiment.”

The interviewer dropped the pen that had mindlessly been tapping and was stunned into silence for a few seconds. Until Susan’s decision to take another drink of water snapped him back to reality, stammering wildly.

“W--W--Wait, so… So-- so you’re telling us that you’ve all spent this time-- in another universe?”

Sue placed the glass back down.

“Well, technically no…”

The interviewer leaned in to ask a follow up question, before Sue finished the thought.

“...the Negative Zone is more an adjunct of THIS universe. We weren’t crossing multiversal lines. Merely dimensional ones. We breached the surface tension of the fourth dimensional planes. That’s what the Aperture does.” Sue flicked her hair back out of her face and tucked it behind her ear, after it had escaped and got in her face leaning forward with the glass.

“Dimen-- Hmm.” The interviewer took a few seconds to think of a new question, after Sue’s explanation. “Forgive me if I’m being ignorant, but I was under the belief that ‘Time’ was the fourth dimension. Wouldn’t that make this the fifth?”

“Well, we’re splitting hairs now. But the first three dimensions are all spatial. This breach, also spatial, allowed us to travel through a shunt in dimensional planes to another zone that we can now prove exists. If you were going to group the dimensions doesn’t it make more sense to bundle those dealing with space together before time? For what it’s worth, Doctor Reed Richards has also hypothesized a further fifth dimension whilst we’ve been away. Which would make ‘Time’ the sixth. But since it is at this point merely theoretical, I think it makes sense to consider ‘Time’ the fifth dimension for now until practical physicists can determine experimentation to prove the theory. I’m sorry if this is more boring shop-talk and semantics than your viewers were hoping for… This hypothetical further Fifth dimension is hardly a point of focus for us right now. If you’ll pardon the pun, the Aperture has opened up enough for us to think about right now with knowledge of the Fourth.”

The interviewer steered the conversation in a different direction.

“Yes, I’m sure you’ll also have your hands full coming to terms with everything that's changed in THIS world as well, and returning to a sense of normalcy.”

Suddenly two children run up and jump on their mother’s lap as their father let them go away from the other side of the camera. Valeria hugs her mother, then turns and looks down the barrel of the camera. Franklin hugs Sue as well, and is content to just look around from the other side of the lights.

“I can only imagine how much pressure it must alleviate to know you’re able to raise your family back at home.”
Screaming. Running. Powers flaring.
Spatial anomalies initiate. Conquerors callously hurl unthinkable dispensible numbers chasing total annihilation. Gods struggle for omnipotence over all things.


Sue gave her kids a gentle squeeze and responded. “It does feel good to come back home, and we do have a lot to catch up on. But we’re not hanging up the lab coats… or form-fitting all purpose suits, just yet.”

Her husband Reed walked around from behind the camera as well, and took a place behind Sue’s chair. “That’s right. There’s still plenty more to be done. We're not yet done exploring. What gives this family its purpose and its joy isn't the destination... it's the journey.” He said. Sue seemed to agree, warmly tapping the hand he held her seat with.

“The FANTASTIC FOUR still have much more to accomplish!”
Well, you're doing a good job so far...
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
T H E F A N T A S T I C F O U R

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:


R E E D R I C H A R D S / S U E S T O R M / B E N G R I M M / J O H N N Y S T O R M
S C I E N T I S T S / E X P L O R E R S / C O S M I C N A V I G A T O R S
B A X T E R B U I L D I N G , F O U R F R E E D O M S P L A Z A , M A N H A T T A N
F A N T A S T I C F O U R / S T O R M – R I C H A R D S S C I E N T I F I C S O C I E T Y


C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:




“You may tell your boss that we're tremendously honored by his gracious gesture-- but we're not yet done exploring. What gives this family its purpose and its joy isn't the destination... it's the journey.” – Reed Richards


“ You have these doubts...Constant and unrelenting. Some large and some so very small. Am I being too strict? Am I too lenient? Do I praise too often or not enough...Being a parent, having children...it's a constant war between uncertainty and hope. So you live in fear...and there are these doubts... Science is much the same. The child of the mind. Left untempered it can do the unconscionable. But if you try to hold it and keep it safe, you deny it’s true potential. Love, life… it’s all a balance.” – Sue Storm


“Sure, around this family I might be like the dumb kid in science class… But maybe I’m too dumb to know when to quit as well. FLAME ON!” – Johnny Storm


“Yer know what? Mebbe if you connect the whozzits to the whatsit over there, then run a conduit through to power the weapon… Yer know what, forgeddaboudit Stretch, I’m gonna just play to my strengths… IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!” – Ben Grimm, Sensitive Yancy Street Citizen







C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:


Latching onto the First Family to tell some BIG universe expanding stories, organically open up some crisis/event level threats, and tell some (hopefully interesting) cosmic/global level sci-fi family stories and character work.


C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:


Some years ago the exploratory space mission crew which which gave birth to the group who would go on to be called 'The Fantastic Four' disappeared, presumed dead. The world grieved, Latverian based financial backers lost money and face (and many suspect the failed mission was to blame for the recent political turmoil in that Nation since) and humanity started to turn away from the stars...

But now they're back! A wormhole generated by lead scientist Reed Richards brought home these wandering heroes... And now they have kids!

But their return raises many more questions... what cosmic force changed these four heroes so dramatically? Reed Richards is now capable of amazing feat of strange elasticity, Susan Storm is now able to tap into some kind of power allowing her to create force fields and make herself invisible, pilot Benjamin Grimm has now become some form of rock-based monster and Johnny Storm is now fully combustable, able to generate high levels of heat and flame. And what of the children? Does some hidden power or force lie dormant within these doe-eyed kids? Reed Richards left this world as one of this world's smartest people, but since his return his intelligence has increased exponentially beyond what it was and he has become more distant from his fellow man. What has he learned in his time away? And why does it seem like his daughter Valeria has developed similar traits despite her so incredibly young age? Could this be why Sue Storm has taken on more of a leadership role since their return?

And most important of all... Are these really the same people who disappeared all those years ago?


Character and Equipment:



S A M P L E P O S T:


Then...


The booming voice of the man who would be DOOM.

“Ten... Nine... Eight…”

Victor’s sharp eyes made another final sweep across the whole control panel. They had cleared every check and test. But what man could leave the fate of so much to another’s vision? A lesser mind’s decision? To do such a thing, one might as well leave such a thing to the winds of chance.

“Seven…”

Ben Grimm flexes his fingers for one last time as he prepares to white-knuckle it, and grips the controls in sure, steadfast hands. He wouldn’t want the responsibility anywhere else. Ol’ blue eyed Benji has their lives and his in his hands, knows exactly what it means, and the whole damn universe couldn’t pry him off his duty. So just let ‘er try.

“Six…“

Reed and Sue lock eyes lovingly. After these years the married couple share the mutual knowledge that whatever comes next, whatever they now face, they have the strength for what comes. Together.

“Five…”

The young lovers hands embrace. Even through the suits, Johnny Storm could swear he could feel Valeria Von Doom’s warmth radiating through, as in all things.




Five Hours Ago…


Children playing in the sparse green fields of Central Park. A tour group rides by on bicycles. College students with books spread open come to grips with their course load whilst talking about the day to day frivolities.

All interrupted by rolling thunder. A space between places opened by an explosive cacophony of sound. Feet touched down on Earth’s soil which hadn’t known it for well over a decade, as well as three who had never known it as home. The tall bug said something in Sue Storm’s ear. She looked concerned, and replied, as people raced towards them. But none could hear over the sound of the cosmic gateway. The bug confirmed, and Sue swept her hair back, deep in thought over the meaning of what she had just been told.

People were racing towards the five strange humans, their robot and one strange rock monster. The bug gave a final wave, walked between the humans and their means of arrival. Shielding itself from the sight of other people and used a small box to open a similar portal to return, presumably, from wherever they came.

The blonde haired youth looked at his craggly compatriot and noticed no change in his appearance.

“Hey? Looks like our powers are still kicking in here too.” He said, flicking a finger off of his compatriot's rocky shoulder and setting his finger aflame.

People ran to the group on the grass, but then kept their distance. Standing in stunned silence, the crowd was seemingly scared of the strange man with the stony flesh.

“So…” Ben said, breaking the awkward silence. “Whaddid we miss?”




P O S T C A T A L O G U E:




' T H E E M B A S S Y ‘

Present Day | Manhattan, New York

Ted was hyperventilating. Tora patted him on the back on the lounge and tried to soothe his spiked anxiety. The others looked on at the Blue Beetle with perplexed expressions, not understanding his severe reaction to the news.

Bea just looked slightly amused at the overreaction, before uttering “I don’t know what you’re freaking out about. I’m the one who’s going to be expected to babysit him…”

...but we’ve gone too far. Let’s back up a bit.




Most of the team was sitting in the main lounge. Tora and Ted were curled up together on the lounge watching the television. With big bowls full of mixed nuts, popcorn and potato chips sitting on a central coffee table. Janet was sitting on another sofa watching the same TV whilst Hank had his nose deep in some science periodical or another and Scott was at the adjoining kitchen, making himself a sandwich when the news came in.

Beatriz walked in the room on her phone and made the announcement.

“I know this isn’t exactly what we do… But my stepmother’s tearing her hair out. My stepbrother has caused some ‘issues’ at his company. And whilst he’s going to have to eventually step into the role, he’s irritated enough of the senior board that she needs to get him out of their hair for a while before they kill him.”

“Is this really the right place for him?” Janet asked.

“Well, I can understand if none of you want to have him here. I don’t really either… Little jerk… But she wants me to ask, since he is technically a metahuman, and I don’t think she really understands what we do here either.”

“Well, now I don’t know about that.” Ted said earnestly, getting to his feet. “We are here to better human/metahuman relations and where better to start than family? Bring him on over. What’s the little tyke’s name.”

“Lee-ttle Bobby.” She said condescendingly to the Blue Beetle, before she sighed and returned to her stepmother on the phone. She spoke rapidly in Portuguese to her stepmother about ‘’Berto’, she’d been hoping for the request to quickly be turned down so she wouldn’t have to put up with him.

“It’s fine.” Ted said to the others, reaching for a handful of mixed nuts and throwing them down his mouth. “I had this place built with more than enough spare rooms, we can easily take little Robert DaCosta off their hands for a few--”

He stopped. The pallor dropped from his face.

“Bobby… ‘Berto… Your brother is Roberto DaCosta? DaCosta Industries, Roberto DaCosta?”

“That’s right.” Bea smiled, taking some glee at seeing the omnipresent goofy grin drop from Ted Kord’s face, and no small amount of joy in the fact that she was no longer the only one who seemed to be bothered by the thought of her stepbrother’s presence.

Ted started choking and coughing up clouds of nut chunks. Falling back to the lounge. His breathing started to rapidly accelerate. The others looked on at the Blue Beetle’s severe reaction to the name ‘Roberto DaCosta’ with perplexed expressions. Tora started patting him on the back, to make sure he’d coughed up all of the chunks, and to soothe his breathing.

Bea looked slightly amused at his reaction, uttering “I don’t know what you’re freaking out about. I’m the one who’s going to be expected to babysit him…”

“Who’s Roberto DaCosta?” Janet addressed the elephant in the room. It was becoming abundantly clear that only Ted and Beatriz had any familiarity with the name, or the company.

Ted got back to his feet and pushed his way past Scott to get to the kitchen. He opened the pantry and grabbed a few cans and tossed them to Janet, Tora and Scott. Hank still had his nose in his science journal, completely disinterested in the current conversation.

No thanks. I don’t want creamed corn on my sandwich… Scott winced, offering to toss the can back.

“Look at the back on the label.” Ted directed the three.

“They’re cylindrical cans.” Hank said, not prying his view from his reading material, as he turned a page. “Technically there is no ‘front’ or ‘back’.”

“Thank you for your semantic lessons in geometry, Hank. Very helpful. Just look.” He directed the others.

“‘Distributed by DaCosta Industries’ So they, what, make canned vegetables? Makes the cans?”

“They don’t make anything… Except for the odd container ship every few years. ‘Industries’ is a misnomer, but there’s no law against his company using it. They’re a logistics company. Emmanuel DaCosta, their father, is... sorry Bea, was probably the richest man you've never heard of.” Ted said, exasperated.

“So what? He just ships canned food? I don’t see your point.”

“I pulled that can out at random. I could have pulled out pretty much anything in there. Or the refrigerator. Or the freezer. 90-95% of everything in there has that logo on it. Produce as well.”

“Not my produce at home.” Janet said. “I buy it fresh from the supermarket. Not this canned stuff.”

“‘Fresh’ supermarket produce gets stuffed in a refrigerator or cryo container and sits on one of these ships for months, bobbing around in the ocean before they pull the container, thaw it and lay it out in your fruit and vegetables aisle. They just thaw it and spray it with water so it looks crisp.” Ted corrected.

“But why?” Tora asked.

“Money. Supply/demand. The ships are cheap warehousing, most of them are either fully automated, or are at least close to so little to no expenditure in wages. And when it comes to buying off of the farmers, it drives the prices down. They’re able to get it for pennies on the dollar.” Ted said, putting the cans back as they were returned to him.

“So you want me to tell her ‘No’?” Bea asked, her hand on her holding her phone out.

Ted’s mind race as he considered everything.

“No! No, we’re here to help people. How’s it look if we won’t even help family? Tell her we’ll take him. Just let me… Give me a few minutes.” He swept up his laptop and disappeared out back.

“Where are you going?” Tora asked.

“Starting a share buy-back!” He yelled out, from another room. “The last thing I need is to piss her stepbrother off telling him he’s taking too long in the bathroom or something and have him retaliate in other ways!”

Bea sighed and dropped her head at the news she’d have to put up with her half-brother. She begrudgingly spoke in Portuguese to her step-mother, a disappointed acquiescence. Before she heard something that caused her to burst forth a stream of angry obscenities.

She hung up the phone with a slide of her finger, a humorously dainty movement given her furor. She swept her green hair out of her face and looked at the others who were waiting for an explanation.

“Sorry. She said the car is already here. It… bothered me, because I realised she wasn’t asking for permission, but telling me what was already happening. She’s sent my little praga of a half brother here. He’s been waiting out the front in his chauffered car.” She walked over to one of the Kord Omniversal hubs on the wall, checked the car was indeed there and buzzed them up the driveway of The Embassy.

Suddenly Ted swept back in the room, presumably having already started the Kord Omniversal share buy-back.

“It’s OK.” He said vaguely, leaving the others unsure if it was to the others or for his own reassurance. “This just means we’ll have to tighten the belt somewhat.” He swept up the bowls of nuts, popcorn and chips from the table. “Cut back on our expenditures and luxuries. You’ll all still be getting paid, I’ve just got to run the numbers on--” The doorbell rang, interrupting him but Ted was in a hyperactive autopilot mode. Still flustered by the news.

“It’s alright. I’ll get it.” He ran to the front door, still carrying the bowls.

He opened it and was met by the sight of a perfectly manicured nineteen year old Roberto DaCosta, the smirking prince of DaCosta Industries, standing there in a white suit with a pair of sunglasses which Ted guessed cost more than his one-of-a-kind Blue Beetle goggles folded up and tucked in the top of his shirt. He let out an involuntary yelp at the sight.

Don’t you think you’ve had enough there, chunky? Bobby said, grabbing a potato chip from the bowl balancing on top and walking past him into the Embassy.
ah man I actually get involved, just realized how many advanced rps i have I cant juggle too many


We're not the most fast paced.

As a thought/suggestion... what you could do is throw up some early stuff to establish/introduce your character to the world, and then involve him in the major event that kicks off the next season.


' T H E E M B A S S Y ‘

Present Day | Manhattan, New York

Tora walked the grounds at her new home. She marveled at the amount of effort and the finer details that Ted had considered with this new place, whilst still being customizable if the decisions he made didn’t suit. It seemed to factor in equal parts functionality and very much allowed for the human touch. Entertainment facilities, the pool, a state of the art laboratory set up, sizable bedrooms for each and every member including Ted himself who split his nights between here and Boston.

The Embassy was, in many ways, the perfect extension of Ted to Tora. Eager to please, functional yet fun, and full of wonderful ideas yet considerate and willing to make change to suit others. They’d been seeing each other, when their schedules would allow, for a few months now and she really couldn’t be happier so far. She was also excited about the prospect of this new ‘Super Buddies’ work, yet a little worried she wasn’t ready for it. When she was in the Global Guardians she was trained rigorously before released in field work. Every operative was absolutely confident in their own abilities to do the job because every scenario had been drilled to the point that agents would often dream through set scenarios of assassination attempts. But this? Superhero work? How could a person possibly train for the unexpected and unexpectable.

Ted had a training simulation room - he’d made some kind of comparison to Star Trek when he described it, and seemed immensely proud of it. But the team was still in the early phases and hadn’t been putting together any team training exercises yet.

“Oh, hey, pretty lady.” She heard Ted say as she walked past. He was staring at the sky and fiddling with his glove.

“I was wondering when you’d eventually find your way around here.” He shot her a smile before returning to what he was doing, which seemed to take some degree of concentration.

“What are you doing? What have you got there?” She asked.

His smile broadened at her interest. “Doodlebugs!”

“What?” She laughed. “What’s that?”

“I’ve been working on some support tech for the Bug. I landed on these drones. Minitiarized some of the more rudimentary defense systems that the original Bug has and applied it to them. There’s six of these, they stick magnetically under six ports I’ve added to the Bug, I’m just getting familiar with the controls for them at the moment. Seems a lot simpler than the controls for the ship itself.” He spoke very quickly, as he often did when he got excited about what he was talking about.

Tora looked up and saw a blue drone hovering and doing various manouevers.

“They’re mainly good for giving me extra sets of eyes. But they have other advantages too. You’ve given me some ideas.”

“Me?” She asked.

“Yeah. Let’s just test something out together, I was going to ask you about this eventually anyway. Just give me a second.”

Ted lowered the drone to about eight feet high a few yards ahead of the pair of them. He stepped behind Tora and hugged her with his left arm and held his right arm out for her to access the remote controls.

“Hold that button there down for about three or four seconds.” He said.

“This one?” She checked.

“Ah-huh.” He confirmed.

She gently pressed her finger down on the small button he’d indicated. A growing puff of white vapour was emitted from the Doodlebug drone.

“Oh! Like sky writing!”

“Yup, or cloud seeding. That’s right. I was just thinking about your powers the other day. What kinds of applications there could be for them. Now I want you to reach out with them. Reach into the cloud. Start gentle and we’ll see how fine your work can be with them.”

Tora stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth slightly as she concentrated. Gently she pushed until she made a visible indent into the cloud like someone poking a dot in snow.

“Oops…”

“No, that’s ok. You’re getting your bearings. See what you can do with it from there.”

He gave her a squeeze from behind with his left arm. She smiled and changed the dot into a straight vertical line. She started on another line, and then a third. A dot, a circle. The water vapour was very malleable. Ted watched as she worked, until she was finished.

T.O. + T.K.


Ted gave her another squeeze. “Hey, good start, can you--?”

“I’m not done yet.” She said, the tongue once again protruding with contemplation.

She brought her arms into her work. Moulded the shape, and as letters began to get squished, chose instead to do away with excess water vapour like a sculptor chiselling something from marble, rather than a clay-worker shaping a pot. When she was done, the cloud had formed a heart shape. She went back over her letters to make them cleaner.

“Now I am.” She finally said.

“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Ted said. “And the cloud’s pretty good too.” They kissed on the lawn as the Doodlebug hung in the air.




K O R D O M N I V E R S A L - E A S T D I V I S I O N

About Two Weeks Post-Crisis | Boston, Massachusetts

Murray Takamoto strutted up the executive hallway of the main administration building in his best suit and tie. He pulled his glasses off and gave them a final clean before placing them back on his face. Everything pristine today. Today’s the day he’d make his run, best make sure he can see clearly when he’s talking to… her.

He sped up as he saw her walking towards her office. She was looking down at printouts she’d retrieved from the shared printer. She walked back into her office and closed the door behind her. Leaving the new “VERONICA SINCLAIR - CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER” sign on her door hanging right in front of his now spotless glasses.

Murray looked down the hallway to Angela Revere’s desk. He raised a finger and opened his mouth to ask the receptionist a question.

“No.” She said simply, cutting him off without even looking up from her work.

“Ah.” He replied, dropping his finger. He looked down the hallway at Ted Kord’s door which was open a crack.

“How about Ted? Is he in?”

“Yes, but he’s very busy and he’s NOT TO BE DISTUR-- HEY!”

Murray heard enough from the first word and decided to drop in on his friend.

“You’ve gotta introduce me, man!” He burst into Ted’s office, with an exasperated Angela Revere in tow.

Ted looked up from his reports and calmed the situation with a single hand.

“I’m sorry, Mister Kord, he burst right in.” Angela apologised.

“I know, I know. It’s OK. I’ll handle this.”

“Are you sure, Mister Kord?”

“Weeeeell--” He looked at Murray. “--Maybe send up a security guy to stand by with a taser.”

“Sir?”

“No. No, I should be able to handle it just fine, Angela. Thanks. Maybe close my door on the way out to make sure it doesn’t keep happening, if you could, please?”

Angela closed the door behind her and Kord put the reports to one side as he leveled his eyes on his friend.

“Now… How may I help you?” Ted smiled broadly and somewhat sarcastically. He had a pretty good idea what this was all about.

“Come on. Don’t jerk me around. You’ve got to introduce me, man.”

“Would I be right in assuming this is about our new Chief Financial Officer?”

“Dude… Duuuuude!”

“Geez, you’re going to be a walking talking H.R. issue for me, aren’t you?” Ted pinched the bridge of his nose.

“She’s soooo hot! Wearing those tight…”

“I can’t be hearing this…” Ted closed his eyes and winced.

“...and those chopsticks in her hair. She’s got that whole ‘Dirty Librarian’ look that I love!”

“Alright, first of all… I’ve told you this before. If you could steer clear of referring to any female employees of my company as ‘Dirty’ or 'Naughty' or 'Nasty' that would just be fantastic. And second of all, those are hairsticks, not chopsticks. I mean, you of all people…”

“Me of all people??” Murray rocked back.

“Oh, yeah. Because I’M the one being offensive…”

“Well, you can make it up to me… Just introduce us.”

“What part of this conversation should give me any faith in you whatsoever to introduce you to ANY members of the fairer sex, let alone our new senior executive who happens to be a family friend?”

“A family friend? Great! You’re in the perfect position to introduce us!”

“Are you… are you incapable of listening? What are you on heat or something? I’m not going to have to start spraying you to get you to not hump the furniture, am I?”

“So you’re saying you are not going to introduce us?

Ted shrugged as if there were any doubt on his position.

“‘Can’t’ or ‘won’t’?” Ted stared at his friend for a beat or three, surprised he still had to explain his position.

Ted got to his feet and walked Murray out. They congregated at his receptionist’s desk.

“Definitely ‘won’t’. Thought that was abundantly clear. You know I don’t have any brothers or sisters, Murray. But Veronica’s pretty much the closest I’ve got to that. And when you’re running your mouth like this, drooling. I’m not comfortable doing that.”

Angela spoke up with what seemed like actual work. “Mister Kord, you had a message delivered for you in person from a Beatriz DaCosta.”

“Beatriz--? I don’t know any Beatri--”

Angela pointed Ted’s attention down the hallway to the green haired woman who was walking away. Murray’s eyes almost fell out of his head, and he ran down the hallway to get a closer look at the woman.

“Oh… Bea.” Ted stated in recognition. “What was the message?”

“She was organizing a meeting for you and some 'tawdry Olaf’s daughter' for this Wednesday night. Does that make any sense to you?” Angela read off her handwritten card.

“Perfect sense. Did she leave a phone number or say where this was to take place?”

Angela passed the message cue card to Ted, who took it and committed all the details to memory. Murray gradually started to walk back, looking over his shoulder all the while.

“Was that the model Stark was with at the New York Expo? ARE YOU SEEING the model Stark was with at the New York Expo?!?”

“No. Well, yes. Well... Maybe, but not the one you’re thinking of.” Ted stammered out a reply.

Murray folded his arms and awaited an explanation.

“Do you remember the white haired girl he was with at the Expo?”

“No.” Murray said. “No. Right now, all I can see is that green haired goddess.” In fact…”

Murray closed his eyes. “Yep… even when I close my eyes, she’s still there. Presumably to haunt my dreams forever. Which I am okay with.”

“Alright, well, Stark was also there with a white haired girl. Very cute. Very sweet. Kind of shy. She sort of suggested she was interested, but I mean, I kind of just thought she was just being nice so I forgot about it. Well, not forgot, but… you know what I mean. Anyway, as I said, she’s kind of shy, so it looks like she got her friend to deliver a message for us to go out this week.” Ted said, holding up the message card.

“So you’re saying you’re not seeing this green haired girl… and that you would know her well enough to introduce us…”

“Ha! No. No, that would not be a good idea.”

“‘Can’t’ or ‘Won’t’?”

“This one’s ‘Can’t’. In fact, worse than can’t. Believe me, any mention that you know me could only hurt your chances there.”

“She did seem rather irritated to be delivering the message, Mister Kord.”

“Yeah. She-- She doesn’t like me very much.” Ted explained.

“Any of you planning on doing any actual work today?” Veronica Sinclair asked, head deep in her previously printed report as she retrieved another fresh stack of paper from the printer. She kept reading the whole way back to her office, closing the door behind her again.

Murray gave Ted a pained look.

“Ugh… Fine. I’ll introduce you to her some time. But not now. And don’t be all weird about it.”

“‘Weird’. When am I weird about anything?”

“Five minutes ago, in my office. None of that. And don’t do that fake cool, bullshit nonchalant thing you try and do. That’s weird too. Just... be a person.”

“I don’t have to fake being cool…” Murray said, breathing on his nails and pretending to shine them on his suit.”

“That. You’re doing it now. Don’t do… any of this.” Ted waved his arms around gesturing at all of Murray. “Thanks again, Angela. Looks like I’ve got a call to make...” He stepped back into his office and closed the door behind him.

Murray leant on Angela’s desk.

“Soooo… do you know if she likes… anything?”

“No.” Angela replied bluntly.

“Well, I suppose she hasn’t been here long. Can take a little while to get to know--”

“No. I mean, ‘No. Don’t try and involve me in anything you’re planning on trying.' I don’t want to be held responsible when you crash and burn.” Ms Revere replied, not looking up from her work.

Murray walked away. “Crash and burn… I’m not gonna crash and burn… Pfft…” He walked down the hallway, pretending to yawn and raising his hand to his mouth, checking his breath.
Hillan was playing Eobard Thawne as the Flash... so, yes. It can be done.
I hate doing this, I thought my boner for this was back, but apparently I just can't get myself down to write without forcing it.

Consider me gone, and I'll stay out of it for good this time. I mean, honestly I have ideas I have concepts I love and I wanna do but without the will to write its unfair to go back and forth for all of you guys.


Well, I feel a bit guilty for this. I said I'd sit down and come up with a lead-in for you and have been a bit under the pump with work the last few days and finally have the time to sit down and have a crack at it today.

Do you want to have one last shot at it today, or are you sure that's it?
Stay tuned in the coming days, @HenryJonesJr and I are gonna whip this thread into shape...

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