Avatar of Roman

Status

User has no status, yet

Bio

Watch out.

The gap in the door... it's a separate reality.
The only me is me.
Are you sure the only you is you?


DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL NOW, WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED

Most Recent Posts

"Oh." Sia said, sipping her cola. She wasn't sure what conversation she had expected to get out of Simone, of all her teammates, but it was worth a shot. Or at least it would have been, had Luke not arrived and instigated the shortest seduction Siamese had ever seen. It seemed only a few short seconds of Simone putting her back toward Sia in favour of some drunken desert, and then they were winding their way to the dorms.
"Oh." Sia said again, this time emphatically, putting annoyance and incredulity into her voice. Not that anyone was around to hear it. She sighed at herself, and then turned around to lean against the wall Simone had just vacated and watch her sister. She was playing Guitar Hero, awkwardly, holding a beer in her strumming hand and giggling with each missed fret. Her opponent, the Bat, mopped the floor with her, but from here, Gem was having fun. Sia smiled. Gem so deserved to have fun. Gem graciously handed off the controller to the speedster, who'd suddenly appeared - as speedsters are wont to do, Sia supposed - and then giggled some more as she watched the two battle on-screen, fetching a few more beers as they swapped songs and controllers. Sia went to bed while Gem played on, sleeping well on the thought of her smile.

She was woken up by whispering.
"Si. Si. Check it out! Come on, I know you're awake."
"What is it, Gem." Sia groaned, rolling over. Gem was holding out one of the controllers from the game last night. Or, it used to be. In its place was something that shared the shell, but a crude blade had been fashioned out of a long strip of metal and affixed around the edge of the bottom. The neck was reinforced, and wires ran up and down its length, attached to each button.
"Look!" Gem exclaimed, swinging the modified controller up onto her shoulder. She pressed one of the fret buttons - somehow still intact - and the blade sparked. Electric. Gem pressed another button, and the sparking stopped, but the metal began to glow with heat. Of course. "Get it?"
"Get what, Gee." Sia said flatly, already knowing the answer but not wanting to say it.
"It's an axe!" Gem grinned, delivering her punchline with gusto.
"Gemini." Sia replied, and Gem dropped the controller, her face falling. Gemini was only used when she was in trouble. "Why."
"I...thought it'd be funny." The weapon fell to the floor completely, clattering.
Sia didn't have time to respond before the emergency call went out. She looked at her sister. Her sister looked back, hurt and apologetic. Sia sighed.
"C'mon. Armoury."

Gem and Sia stepped into the armoury and suited up. Is was almost their favourite activity. They both favoured lightweight combat armour - stuff that could block a bullet, but wouldn't mess up their mobility. Rose's training had shown them how important mobility was, and with their powers they needed all the extra skills they could get. Dark gear, a few bits of gray digital camo here and there, and only one small patch per outfit: Gem's was a small padlock, sewn onto the right sleeve of the black undershirt she wore beneath her tactical vest; Sia's was a pistol mag with a single bullet hovering above. Beyond that, both vests and trousers contained pockets, clips, sheaths and holsters, from the torso to the back to the arms to the hips to the thighs to the shins to the boots. But only Sia's were filled with anything - a modern, lightweight sword across her back, a rifle to accompany it; a few knives here and there; a pistol loaded with live rounds on her hip, and another loaded with tazer rounds on the other side; and finally, a little gadget knocked up by Rose and her affiliates that had been appropriated: a small, oval-shaped disk, thick and light, and no bigger than Sia's forearm, with a single button in the middle. That one went on her abdomen. Gem's armour stayed empty, apart from a few canisters on a belt that contained resources difficult to find on the field - gunpowder, ball bearings, adhesives. All of Gem's holsters were waiting to be filled. Gemini and Siamese suited up quick; when they left, Lock and Load stood in their place. The hangar was the next destination. They arrived there after Max - 'Stunt Devil' - but not too late to hear his question.

"T-wing it, Devil." Siamese said, Gem staying quiet, a strange mixture of shame and sheer euphoria etched across her face. "Though Rose usually flew." Sia watched as JC ran off toward the plane. "Unless Thermo's feeling brave. Come on!" She said, running after JC to board and strap in, Gem close behind.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I'm old(er).

Nightrunner, I assume you're challenging Gem to Guitar Hero? She's the one on the sofa watching; Sia has left to mingle elsewhere.
Sorry, I took the last two slots.
Failing that they could all just be day drinkers. Gem sure is.
Dude, come on.

It's me.

In all seriousness, thanks. I know a big concern of Twin Charas is 'playing with yourself', but I'm conscious of this, hopefully as evidenced by my immediate splitting of them as the team start to better acquaint themselves with each other. And hopefully I will continue to show Gem and Sia as unique individuals, despite similarities. So far I've gone for a polarised dynamic while sharing similar speech patterns. I'm certainly going to try and avoid tripping into the cliche pitfalls that you've mentioned can come from this sort of character.
That's nice to hear! What makes you cautious about twins anyway?
Grounded.
Grounded.
Grounded?!

Gem was furious.

They were Teen Titans. She could build a warhead out of cardboard and tape, and her sister could make it strong enough to level the moon and take out Superman if he got in the way, and just because she'd had an 'episode' - god forbid that constantly seeing how to turn everything into a WMD would occasionally become a bit stressful - they, the both of them, had been grounded. Confined to the dorm floor, barred from missions, taken from quarters to training and back again. Escorted.

"You can't make nuclear explosives from cardboard, Gem." Sia said, reclining on her bed. She didn't even open her eyes. "And I don't have the time in my life to hold a WMD until it vaporizes the Man of Steel." She sighed, crossing her legs and bringing her hands behind her head. "Quit pacing."
"How did you know what I was thinking? You're not doing that freaky twin thing again, are you?" Gem said, brought out of her tantrum by her sister's words.
"No." Sia replied, smiling. "You were muttering. You mutter too loud. Go stew if you have to but be quiet, at least."
Gem just huffed. Sia said nothing, and for a few seconds, it was peaceful.
"But we're GROUNDED." Gem yelled, and Sia opened her eyes this time. No use anyway.
"Yep."
"And we're TITANS."
"Uh-huh."
"And we didn't even do anything wrong!"
"That's a matter of perspective."
"They just went on a mission without us!"
"Mmmhmm."
Gem sat on the floor, crossing her arms. "It's not fair."
"Wrong." Said Sia, standing up and walking over to her sister. She held a hand out and Gem looked at it sullenly, before accepting it and pulling herself up. "We have to learn. That's why we're here, after all. The world needs protectors, and that's what the Teen Titans are for, but sometimes we need protecting as well. You don't realize how wired you get when you're stressed out, Gee, and that leads to episodes, and that leads to bombs." Sia put her hands on Gem's shoulders. "We're not grounded, that's just what Rose called it so she wouldn't seem nice. It's a vacation." Gem sighed, and Sia pulled her into a hug.
"If you say so, Si." Gem conceded, returning the embrace.
"I do. Now be quiet so I can rela-"

There was a rumbling as the T-Wing returned, and Gem and Sia heard echoes of Rose chewing out the team. There was the sound of breaking glass, then they heard Sentinel's dorm door open and slam, and then there was a knock at their's, and Rose opened it.
"Your team is back. You're un-grounded. But the team's on orders to take some downtime. You guys are the newest - so get to know your teammates. They're upstairs."
Gem pulled out of the hug, and looked from Rose to Sia, and then gave Sia a grin that almost frightened her. She shot past Rose and up the stairs.
"Thanks, Rose." Said Sia, sincere.
Rose didn't say anything before she left.

Sia joined Gem upstairs. She'd already grabbed a beer, and was sat watching the Guitar Hero proceedings. Sia settled for a can of cola, and stood behind said sofa.
"Dibs on next game. Winner stays on?"
"Si, you only say that because you always win." Gem said, smirking at her sister while playing air-guitar to the riffs coming from the TV.
"Because I'm good, Gee. Natural talent."
"I'm not sure superpowers count as talent, hun'." Gem remarked, pushing playfully.
"It's not my fault those controllers are so simple. Things practically play themselves."
"They do after you've been holding them for a few minutes." Gem said, and Sia threw her hands up in defeat, walking away as Gem remained.

Sia stopped beside Pistole-Simone. Man, really gotta learn actual names.
"So..." She started, unsure of her words. Simone was rather...imposing. "...how was the mission? We heard Rose yelling...and apparently we've been ordered to 'take downtime'. That bad, huh?"
Thanks, NR. It wasn't intentional - I wasn't aware of an imbalance in the first place - I just tend to play a lot of female characters. I don't know why.

Is there a beer stash in the tower? Can Gem have one if there isn't?
Grounded


That's not half bad...
So as far as I understand it, being caught up on the IC, you're all hanging out int he tower post-mission on orders to get to know your team better. Cool.

Just gotta figure out why Lock&Load weren't sent on said mission.
© 2007-2026
BBCode Cheatsheet