Epic Crossover IC - Hub City Freeplay

[Michale CS]

Hub City. Not exactly the pride and joy of Illinois. One thing you can say about the people here though.
They're adaptable. Of all of the cities since the 'change' that some people talk about openly and most just try to ignore, the people of Hub City have embraced it the most readily. You can walk down the street in a costume and no one even bats an eye anymore. Trouble is, no one really cares, either.
If you've got money, it spends the same whether or not you're in a cop's uniform or a business suit or spandex. And that's what's really king here. Money talks and everything else walks.
Still, there are some here trying to make it a better place. Losing battle if you ask most. You're welcome to your crusades, as long as you keep them away from the average person who wants to keep their head down and go on with their life. Just never ask for an extention on paying the rent because you lost your job due to you being late for work on that little crusade of yours. World's smallest violin here. Playing just for you.

Like what you see? Join Epic Crossover to join in!​

 

[Michale CS]

He had noticed that there was something off about Glimmermoon. Perhaps she was a meta-human or something. He was a power enhanced man, so it wouldn't shock him. Meta-humans were everywhere.

@Michale CS

Just as Nate was getting his key and moving over to the stairs, another man came in. Huge, and... monochromatic. As in, other than his clothes he looked like he had just walked out of a black and white movie.

I ride for a little bit, easier than walking. I find this nice little motel. Good, need my meds now, probably be better in the morning. Sometimes I get confused see...

Marv walked in and Glimmermoon looked over. "Just buyin' a drink or do ya need a place to stay?" She asked him.

@Gands @LuckycoolHawk9

 

[Gands]

Marv

" Well Ma'am, lets start with the roof and end with the drinking"

The big man looks around, too much color he thought to himself, Maybe something wrong with his meds tonight.

@Michale CS

 

[LuckycoolHawk9]

Just as Nate was getting his key and moving over to the stairs, another man came in. Huge, and... monochromatic. As in, other than his clothes he looked like he had just walked out of a black and white movie.

Marv walked in and Glimmermoon looked over. "Just buyin' a drink or do ya need a place to stay?" She asked him.

Nate looked over at his key and noticed that another man had walked in and he had no color to him. He was wearing color, but he himself had no color. That felt strange and different to the man. That wasn't a meta-human thing as it would seem.

He knew that it was rude to stare, but he just couldn't help himself. He wasn't about to figure this thing out if he was silent, but he choose to remain so.

@Gands @Michale CS

 

[Ms.Ezra]

While Wendy would have given Nate's words were full attention, the feeling of his fingers tracing her skin was just a little distracting for her. But she heard and understood all the same. So Nate needed help with his experiments? How funny. Wendy had been an experiment in cell regeneration herself. Which succeeded, with multiple unforseen consequences. The idea initially caused her some concern.

"Being able to soar through the air is good and all, but if it costs me what qualms I still have, I'm out. And if you press me harder, I won't be responsible for what happens." She looked into his eyes and shrugged. "Ya know, just how I operate. Any man who deals with Wyld Wendy gets to scream in pleasure and pain, or just pain. Their choice."

@Michale CS

 

[Michale CS]

"Being able to soar through the air is good and all, but if it costs me what qualms I still have, I'm out. And if you press me harder, I won't be responsible for what happens." She looked into his eyes and shrugged. "Ya know, just how I operate. Any man who deals with Wyld Wendy gets to scream in pleasure and pain, or just pain. Their choice."

"I won't ask you to do anything you wouldn't normally do. You become a living advertisement for me, Wendy. You just keep your ears open, and if you hear anyone who might be looking for a little extra, or who wants to shed their extra that they have? You just show em what I did for you. Then... give them one of my cards. I get even one client? We're square. Any more than that? I pay you. Does... ten kay sound like a fair amount?" Essex continued, finishing up the intricate pattern that he was drawing where the wings would be.

"You're not a press gang - I don't work on people that don't want to be worked on. So, if you don't find my offer appealing? I'll just give you an ordinary tattoo instead of a magical one. On the house, for listening to my offer." He finished up his offer and moved around in front of Wendy.

"You just have to realize that it's hard to advertise something that isn't able to be publicized, at least not without risking my legitimate business and possibly my license to practice in this state - when I moved here from Connecticut I had to swear that I wasn't going to engage in any procedures not approved by state law. State law in Illinois is silent on this, and silence is not consent. It's not denial either, but the last thing I need is to be tied up in court when my practice is in it's infancy. But, the choice is yours. Help me help others and make money, or don't."

@Ms.Ezra

 

[Gands]

Marv


Marv noticed the other man, but otherwise didn't pay him much mind. He went upstairs to his room, ate and drank a little booze. This was a strange place and Marv figured he needed his wits about him.

The next morning, simple things, showered and wearing his new clothes, jeans & t-shirt, he cleaned his boots and jacket while laundering old clothes . The not so nice young men had donated plenty of money for his cause so after his chores, he simply drove around town exploring. Gradually, by late afternoon he ended up in a gin joint, that served food and had plenty of pretty girls.

@Michale CS

 

[Ms.Ezra]

"So long as I'm not a press gang, I'm game. And I'll just settle for the wings right now." Wendy straightened her back and reached back to unclasp her top, but kept the front on with her hands. She winked at Nate.

"Well? Make me a pretty set of wings and later I'll take ya to heaven. Hope your needles work on stubborn skin."

@Michale CS

 

[Michale CS]

Marv


Marv noticed the other man, but otherwise didn't pay him much mind. He went upstairs to his room, ate and drank a little booze. This was a strange place and Marv figured he needed his wits about him.

The next morning, simple things, showered and wearing his new clothes, jeans & t-shirt, he cleaned his boots and jacket while laundering old clothes . The not so nice young men had donated plenty of money for his cause so after his chores, he simply drove around town exploring. Gradually, by late afternoon he ended up in a gin joint, that served food and had plenty of pretty girls.

@Michale CS

That place by coincidence, was the Blue Moon, and a certain redhead was there again. She noticed Marv - most people did and then tried their best not to. Face it, Marv was the kind of guy that looked like something bad would happen to you if you happened to say things to him that he didn't like. But unlike the others for the most part, except Glimmermoon who seemed tougher than the nails her hotel was built out of, she kept noticing him during her set...

@Gands

 

[Michale CS]

"So long as I'm not a press gang, I'm game. And I'll just settle for the wings right now." Wendy straightened her back and reached back to unclasp her top, but kept the front on with her hands. She winked at Nate.

"Well? Make me a pretty set of wings and later I'll take ya to heaven. Hope your needles work on stubborn skin."

@Michale CS

"Don't worry... the ones I use for the special tattoos are special themselves." Nate replied, gathering a leather case from a countertop nearby. He pulled up a rolling table and opened the case on the top of it. Several needles of a dull grey metal lie cushioned in velvet there, along with about fifty or so small corked bottles. "If you're as tolerant to pain as your skin is stubborn, I can do this in one go, but it will take about two hours. You just tell me if you'd like me to stop."

And as he started first with drawing the pattern with a grease pencil, then starting to apply the ink, Wendy realized how special those needles were as they seemed to have no problem at all with her problem skin.

Presuming that Wendy persisted the whole two hours, at the end of it, as the last bit of ink was applied, the pain instantly vanished entirely once the magic kicked in. Swirling around in her mind was a pattern, hidden behind her eyes whenever she closed them along with an urge. An urge to stretch out. Funny, Nate never seemed to go below her waist when he applied his needles, but now the tattoo went all the way down to her behind. Some of where the tattoo was she knew was still covered by clothing the entire time. Well, that's magic for you...

​

@Ms.Ezra

 

[Gands]

Marv

The big man signalled the waitress.

"Honey, could you make sure the red headed Doll gets whatever drink she wants, my treat".

With that he left the waitress a fine tip and continued to watch the redhead.

@Michale CS

 

[Ms.Ezra]

And as he started first with drawing the pattern with a grease pencil, then starting to apply the ink, Wendy realized how special those needles were as they seemed to have no problem at all with her problem skin.

"Ow..." Wendy said with a wince and grunt. She had expected some kind of resistance, followed by pain. But then she should have expected his needles were something special for what they were intended to do. But she had endured worse and for longer, so she had no issue persisting through the whole two hours it took for him to tattoo her wings. She could see them in her mind's eye. And when she closed her eyes, was surprised to feel them as they formed. Like they were really becoming part of her being and not simple ink on skin.

"You weren't kidding......this feels......great." The woman said with an air of almost giddy delight. Which was strange for her, being 'giddy' or anything of the like. But Wendy couldn't help it. It was coming stronger as he applied more ink. Her healing factor didn't reject the ink, as she had feared, but it did heal any irritation and redness so that when he was done, his work was clear. Wendy stood and reached back to feel the tatto running from her rear and up to her shoulder blades. She closed her eyes, spread her arms, and when she gave in to the feeling of elation, she felt her feet leave the ground and heard the fluttering of wings as the tattoo sprung off her back and became more corpeal, but were translucent like those of an insect.

@Michale CS

 

[Michale CS]

She closed her eyes, spread her arms, and when she gave in to the feeling of elation, she felt her feet leave the ground and heard the fluttering of wings as the tattoo sprung off her back and became more corpeal, but were translucent like those of an insect.

@Michale CS

"The first time they'll last a full hour for sure before you'll be able to put them away, as the magic settles into your mind. After that, you can call them as often as you want, but the longer you rest between calling the longer they'll last. And don't worry, you'll get a feeling in your mind a few minutes before they disappear. I don't intend you or my work to come crashing down out of the sky unexpected." He appraised his work and nodded.

"Your healing ability is impressive. I almost had to go over parts of the tattoo twice." Nate added, with a smile. "That bodes well for our future... interactions, yes?"

@Ms.Ezra

 

[Michale CS]

Marv

The big man signalled the waitress.

"Honey, could you make sure the red headed Doll gets whatever drink she wants, my treat".

With that he left the waitress a fine tip and continued to watch the redhead.

@Michale CS

At the end of her set, the waitress went over to her and when the redhead asked, the waitress indicated Marv, so she came over to him and sat near him. "I didn't mean to stare, honey, but I'm sure you're used to people noticing your distinctive looks. I like them by the way..." She sipped at her drink, a Bloody Mary that she'd added a bit more Tabasco to, and grinned.

"I'm Scarlette Rider." The entertainer added.

@Gands

 

[Gands]

Marv


" Nice of yah to say Scarlet Rider, real nice. I have tah be honest though. Awful rare to hear that kind of kindness from a dame. My name is Marv by the way. "

As Scarlet got close it's quite evident the Marv is no stranger to a brawl. Plenty of faint scars and a slightly crooked nose.

Anything I can do for yah ?

@Michale CS

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Wendy settled her feet on the floor and looked at her wings. Her top fell as the hands keeping it up reached out to touch the wings. They reacted and felt like a heavy mist when touched, but when flapped still produced a good gust that pushed at the door, windows, and made her hair flutter back. She listened to Nate outline the timing of her new ability, smirking and walking closer to him at the last remark.

"May not be on the same level as some of those boys I heard about, but Wyld Wendy can take a lot of abuse and shrug it off. I been shot with pistols, rifles, a shotgun at close range.....that really hurt...stabbed all over, but as you can see....not a scratch to tell." She waved her hands over her bare front.

@Michale CS

 

[Michale CS]

The Nation's Newspaper

Strange Anomaly Has Experts Baffled
​

Today at exactly noon GMT, timepieces all over the world stopped for a full minute. Not only that, it appears from preliminary reports, that everything and everyone stopped as well. People report a strange paralysis in which they were aware of the world around them but were unable to move. Religions and cults across the world are heralding this as the start of the end times or some apocalyptic event, and financial markets worldwide are in an uproar, with both the FTSE and the DAX halting trading for the day while the futures markets for the NYSE, NASDAQ, TSE, and SEHK are all wildly volatile.

Experts in Astronomy and Physics are baffled, so some are turning to other explanations - either some sort of divine intervention or, strangely... Magic. Special divisions of SHIELD and other international organizations focused on such things are working diligently on an explanation.

More as this develops​

 

[Michale CS]

Marv


" Nice of yah to say Scarlet Rider, real nice. I have tah be honest though. Awful rare to hear that kind of kindness from a dame. My name is Marv by the way. "

As Scarlet got close it's quite evident the Marv is no stranger to a brawl. Plenty of faint scars and a slightly crooked nose.

Anything I can do for yah ?

@Michale CS

"Let's just say, where I come from, looks are nowhere near everything. And what you could do for me? Keep me company in the long walk home from this dive to my apartment. Maybe come in for a cup of coffee. Don't read anything into that, coffee means coffee on the first day I meet a man."

Wendy settled her feet on the floor and looked at her wings. Her top fell as the hands keeping it up reached out to touch the wings. They reacted and felt like a heavy mist when touched, but when flapped still produced a good gust that pushed at the door, windows, and made her hair flutter back. She listened to Nate outline the timing of her new ability, smirking and walking closer to him at the last remark.

"May not be on the same level as some of those boys I heard about, but Wyld Wendy can take a lot of abuse and shrug it off. I been shot with pistols, rifles, a shotgun at close range.....that really hurt...stabbed all over, but as you can see....not a scratch to tell." She waved her hands over her bare front.

@Michale CS

"I can see that. Well, I need a little rest and in about three hours you're going to need rest like you haven't slept in a week once the magic fades and settles in. Get some rest, Wendy, and talk with me soon, yes?"



[[ OOC - This is about 2 hours behind the Missing Minute event, so this is to bridge to then. Assume any posts after this are after everyone realized a minute just hung there in space. some won't notice a missing minute at 4am local time but I imagine Wendy and Marv may still be up ]]

@Gands @Ms.Ezra

 

[Gands]

Marv

On the inside Marv is surprised at this welcomed turn of events. His outer demeanor is a complete gentleman during the walk home. As always, he cuts an imposing figure and no one bothers them. He spends as much time as Scarlet allows him talking about this city, this world that they find themselves in.

When the time pause happens, Marv notices, though it doesn't seem to bother him outside of a few moments of wonderment. This is followed by a dose of good whiskey and the inner idea that there isn't much he could do about it.

@Michale CS