Hero TV

[rocklobster]

This RP is inspired by Tiger and Bunny, but we won't be playing along with it. It just gave me the idea.
Welcome to Kirbyville, a town where superheroes are so popular, they're even on television and do celebrity endorsements. In this game, you can play either a superhero, a Rogue (the bad guys) or one of the personnel at Hero TV, the cable channel that broadcasts the exploits of the heroes live, 24/7.
Sign-up sheet:
Name:
Superhero/Supervillain name:
Costume:
Physical Appearance:
Powers:
Bio:
Personality:
Sponsors: These are the company(ies) sponsoring you.
So, here's my hero to get you all started. (I'm also playing someone at Hero TV, but that'll come later)
Name: Ben Tesla
Superhero/Supervillain name: Voltage
Costume: A black bodysuit with lightning bolts forming a V
Physical Appearance: He has blond hair and blue eyes. He is somewhat skinny.
Powers: Voltage can conduct lightning and control anything that runs on electricity. He can even hack into computers just by touching them.
Bio: Ben was subjected to several experiments, giving him his powers.
Personality: Ben is a bit on the stubborn side and quick-tempered.
Sponsors: Kirbyville Electricity and Telecommunications

[sarahleinaar]

Ohhhhh, Sounds awesome! I'm game!

Name: Rose
Superhero/Supervillain name: Sapphire
Costume: Something along the lines of this
Physical Appearance: Long, slightly curly, dark brown hair, brown eyes and tan skin.
Powers: Rose has several abilities. She can fly, turn invisible, shape shift into other human or animal forms, and has super strength and speed.
Bio: Rose's mother died while giving birth to her. Since she was a single mom, she was adopted by a man who just so happened to be a head scientist. He loved and cared for Rose, but he also performed several tests on her. As she grew older, she began to do crazy and un-explained things. It wasn't until she was thirteen years old and turned invisible while playing man-hunt with her friends, that her dad told her the truth.
Personality: Rose is a really sweet girl. She likes using her powers for good and would do anything to protect her family and friends.
Sponsors: (Not sure???)

[Diamond Dragon]

Love this!!

Name: Luz Blackwell
Superhero/Supervillain name: Sketch
Costume: She actually doesn't really have one. She dislikes that fact that superheros dress up. She regards it as an ego thing. As a result, she simply wears whatever she feels like at the moment, which can range from casual, to flashy, to grungy, but all having a tomboyish basis. There's only one thing they all have in common...they are bullet proof. How come? Well, Luz draws the outfits herself, so she makes sure they are made that way. But one thing she always has is a black and blue messenger bag which contains her essential drawings pads, and pencils.
Physical Appearance: Luz has a rather strange appearance that looks half asian, half african american, She has toffee colored skin, upward angling green eyes, and long , wavy black hair that comes down to her lower back, and the ends are dip-dyed an icy blue. This is the major way most people in Kirbyville will identify her as Sketch.
Powers: She can make her drawing and writing come to life by will.
Bio: Interestingly, Luz has had a pretty normal life, living with both parents in Kirbyville. It is currently unknown how she got her powers, as it just manifested one day as she was drawing.
Personality: She is very friendly and laid back, though she has a strong tendency to be sarcastic. She sometimes coming across as naive. She really isn't though.
Sponsors: Mostly art supplies-related companies, which gives her the art supplies she needs.

[DecooPunk]

Name: Eywn Blake
Superhero: Frost
Costume: Blue and white dress with white leggings and a star pin in her hair.
Physical Appearance: White hair, green eyes, pale skin, on the short side. Has blue blood.
Powers: I posted that in the picture of her.
Bio: She is a alien who moved to earth with her parents when she was 8 years old, in human years that would be 2 I guess. (She is now 17 is human years.) She now is a super heroine.
Personality: Extremely shy of people she doesn't know, she tends to think the worst of things, assuming that if she tried becoming friends with people, they would be annoyed or think she was being annoying. However if someone approaches her first, she will gladly talk to them. Her best and only friend is her cousin who she has never met in real life, she keeps contact with her using a device rather like a cellphone. She really likes fish. She is also very kind-hearted.
Sponsors: A ice company.

[rocklobster]

Great job! But what's this? No Rogues for the heroes to beat up? I fix!
Name: Lucy
Supervillain name: Spellbinder
Costume: Orange costume with concentric circles all over it
Physical Appearance: No one knows.
Powers: She can control every aspect of your mind, both your actions and perception. It is nearly impossible to overcome her influence
Bio: Lucy was part of a travelling show with her family. Her father was a stage hypnotist and passed on his talents to her, but also abused her in the process with his own methods of mind control. This in turn warped her morals and now she uses her abilities for nefarious schemes
Personality: Lucy is a mystery. Everything she does is all part of a plan, and she constantly shifts her plans if she feels the needs to do so. She operates like an expert chess player manipulating everyone, even her foes, as if they were pawns.

[Davidizer13]

Name: Unknown
Superhero/Supervillain name: The Fiery Fist of Justice
Costume: A black luchador mask, with matching stretchy pants and a yellow cape, gloves and shoes, and nothing else.

Physical Appearance: He is a large man with tanned skin, his abdomen thick with muscles, the only part of him not covered by the costume. His eyes are dark,and his mask is tight against his scalp.
Powers: Chargefists - His gloves have thick plates across his knuckles, with an energy-conducting layer on their fronts. When he makes a fist, it activates a hard layer of energy around his hands, amplifying the striking power of his punches to superhuman levels.
Bio: He has shown up in several hostile situations when no other super was likely to help, and has gained a reputation as an avenger of the people in the crime-ridden parts of Kirbyville.
Personality: He rarely speaks, and when he does, it is only to announce his name and his intentions to help the people of the city, and publicity is not an important factor to him. His mode of operation is to punch a malefactor in the face with his chargefists, drop a business card with his name and sponsor on it, and disappear back into the city. No explanation, no negotiation, just punching people in the face.
Sponsor: Reginald's Gyros and Melts, a hole-in-the-wall family restaurant on the east side of town.

---

Name: Jackson Stafford
Superhero/Supervillain name: None
Costume: None
Physical Appearance: Jackson Stafford is a nerdy sort, glasses and slicked-back hair added to button-down shirts and the slacks the company makes him wear. He's a tall, Middle Eastern-looking man with a bit of extra bulk around the waist, and carries a heavy camera rig when he's out in the field.
Powers: None.
Bio: Stafford is one of the crack camera operators at Hero TV, chasing down heroes whenever they show up and getting the big shots that bring in the viewers. In two years, he's worked his way up the ladder and into the good graces of the network's close-knit field crew, infamous in the network for its hazing antics. He's the local stats nut, tracking the heroes obsessively and being able to build heroes' narratives out of hours of footage and his intimate knowledge of their backgrounds.

Personality: He's a quiet man and all business, not speaking much about his life outside of work. He comes across a little cold to some people, but within the field crew's fraternity, he's respected for his ability to dependably get things done, and get them done fast.

[rocklobster]

Accepted, Davidizer!
and here's my final character
Name: Iris Lois
Physical Appearance: Stands about 6' 7"
Bio: Iris was given a new job in Kirbyville as a reporter for Hero TV.
Personality: Iris is new to Kirbyville, so she has no idea what she's getting into. She's already met a few of the heroes before she started work, and has a good friendship with Sketch (is that ok, Diamond?).

[Diamond Dragon]

That's ok with me Rock! :3

[sarahleinaar]

Are we still doing this?????

[rocklobster]

I'm going to start after I get back from Thanksgiving.

[sarahleinaar]

Ohhhhh, I figured it was something like that. Happy early Thanksgiving everyone!

[rocklobster]

OK, everyone, time to start.
Iris Lois was ready to begin her new job. She walked out onto the street and the perfect opportunity arose.
A criminal was running with a purse that obviously didn't belong to him. Voltage was literally riding a lightning bolt after him.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to this." Iris thought.

[Diamond Dragon]

Ooc: I think I'm going to change sketch/Luz's hair to being much shorter, since I have an idea for her.

'I'm still not used to this, and I've been living here almost my whole life.' Luz thought, watching Voltage going after another criminal. It was weird, but anyone would think that the more petty criminals like that guy would just steer clear of this city, especially since it was almost overflowing with supers. It was just common sense. rolling her eyes, Luz walked down the street. Today she was wearing acid wash jeans, an electric blue tank top, and a white fur collared vest over it. She also wore shades and a long blonde wig. She had no desire to be hounded by anyone today, and this was one of the only ways to make sure that wouldn't happen.

[Davidizer13]

"'Scuse me, coming through," said Jackson, running along the sidewalk with a large camcorder and a full bag of equipment in tow. He kept one eye on the viewfinder as he tried to center up Voltage in his sights, and the other looking for pathways through the small crowd that had stalled on the path as Voltage crackled overhead, riding the lightning. Taking a quick look around, he bet that the perp - why hadn't Voltage just zapped him when he had the chance - that he would be rounding a corner and coming back to try and hide from the eye in the sky. Pushing his way past a woman dressed in some sort of costume carrying a sign that said "VOLTAGE WILL YOU MARRY ME", Jackson went through a dingy side alley, coming out on the next block, and sure enough, here came Voltage along the other side of the street, whizzing past a smartly dressed woman Jackson was sure he recognized from somewhere, but Voltage had the purse snatcher in his sights.

Jackson tracked Voltage with the camera, making sure to get the mask and the V's going down his suit front and center. The guy had quite a following, and getting a shot of him in action was pure money, perfect for the Voltage documentary he had planned. Everyone loved a good hotheaded do-gooder, electric or not. The crim took another turn, down another street, the purse still swinging behind him. Before he disappeared out of sight, Jackson swiveled down to get the panic, the raw adrenaline pouring through his system. The guy was going to get torn a brand new bodily orifice, and he knew it. Perfect.

[rocklobster]

Voltage circled the perp.
"You know, I actually did kill someone once." He taunted. "You ever heard of Anton Mesmer, the serial killer who was behind some suicides a few years back. He convinced me he had nothing to do with his clients killing themselves, so I let him go. That was a mistake."
"Oh come on!" said the criminal. "I'm not even in that guy's league."
"Oh sure, you say that now." Voltage rolled his eyes. "Ah, screw it." he delivered a charge and knocked out the criminal. Then he noticed Jackson and Iris.
"Oh dear, you caught my confession about Mesmer, eh?" he said sheepishly.

[sarahleinaar]

OOC: If it's all right, I'm going to have Sapphire be new to the town. So she's just meeting everyone for the first time.

"Rose Nightingale?" Sapphire lifted up her head. "That's me," she said stepping forward.
A lady motioned her into an office. Once they had both been seated the lady cleared her throat.
"Well Miss Nightingale, it seems like you have some amazing powers here. You do know why you are here right," she asked.
Sapphire nodded. "I was told I would work together with other heroes to combine our powers and use them for good," she said.
The lady nodded. "That is correct. As far as we know, you will be working with Voltage, Jackson, Sketch, Frost, and any others I may have missed.
They are all great and I'm sure you will enjoy working with them," she said. Sapphire gave her a small smile. "Thank you mam. I'm glad to be here," she said standing up. She looked out the window and just happened to see a man run past and several people right after him. She looked at the lady who smiled. "Why don't you go meet your soon to be new friends," she said. Sapphire smiled and ran out the door. She used her super speed and followed the thief and his corrupters. She eventually caught up to them just as one of the guys, who she assumed was Voltage, knocked the villain out.
He faced two of the other heroes. "Oh dear, you caught my confession about Mesmer, eh?" Not really sure what to do or say, Sapphire just watched the group.

[rocklobster]

OOC: Just a FYI, Iris isn't a superhero. She's just reporting. She's the Lois Lane or April O Neil of our story.

[Diamond Dragon]

Well, I wonder who that is? Luz wondered as she saw another super join Voltage and the reporters. She didn't recognize her from anywhere, so Luz guessed she was a newbie. That would definitely be interesting... but right now Luz wasn't interested in meeting her. She knew she would have the chance soon though. She began to walk away, heading towards the Paint and Paper, one of her sponsor art stores.


Ooc: I want to add a normie as well! XD

Name: Sadie Emerson
Physical Appearance: She has light caramel skin, brown frizzy hair, and dark brown eyes behind square-rimmed glasses.
Powers: None, but she's pretty talented with the yoyo.
Bio: Sadie recently moved to Kirbyville with her single mother. Ever since then, she's been fascinated with the superheros there. She always dreamed of being a superhero herself, so this was the perfect place to observe them, and maybe even one would be willing to let her become his/her sidekick!
Personality: Very enthusiastic and a bit bubbly, she always tries to look on the bright side of things.

[Davidizer13]

Jackson took it all in, the realization of what Voltage slowly setting in as a couple other bystanders - C-list, no-name supers, anyway, they might as well have been bystanders, really - came in for cleanup...or Voltage's autograph or something. He quietly backed away from the scene, getting a couple quick, sweeping shots of the people who were there before the big crowd showed up. With a map of the area in his head, he angled off across the street, and towards the metro station a couple blocks away. The network van was locked up, it would be fine until he could come back and pick it up tomorrow. Besides, it would be safer down there, more witnesses in a space hopefully too enclosed for a flyer like Voltage. Who knew that a routine super sighting could have turned into one of the year's biggest scoop? His mind flashed through thought after thought about how they could spin it a few different ways - he was a killer-killer, they could play up the fallen hero angle, the real costs of super-powered masked vigilantism...and that was before the trial even started!

[rocklobster]

OOC: OK, I guess Voltage needs some representation. I fix.
At that moment, Dewey Murdock, Voltage's lawyer, was among the crowd. He'd heard Voltage's "confession." and immediately pulled him aside.
"What do you think you're doing? You'll ruin everything!" he chastised. "Save it for the trial next week!"
Iris whispered to Jackson. "Since I'm new here, can you give me Cliff Notes on this Mesmer guy?"
OOC: Davidizer, can you make something up?

[Davidizer13]

But Jackson was nowhere to be found, by the time Iris turned to look, he was headed down the stairs to the underground, camera bag in tow. He pulled his phone out as he waited for the next train, barely taking a moment to breathe before dialing the network office. "Hey, Randy? Yeah, this is Stafford. ...Uh, right now, I'm at Banner Street station, there's been a change of plans. ...Yeah, of course I'm coming back with footage, who do you take me for? It's of Voltage, top story, front page news! ...That may be, but this time I really mean it. Catch you in a bit. Oh, and get me the files on an Anton Mesmer while you're at it. ...Yeah, that Anton Mesmer. See ya."

---

"Anton Mesmer," said Randy, flipping through the file before he handed it over. His office was dingy and cramped, stacked full of cabinets packed with file footage and paperwork, located on the border of the cool concrete calmness of the archive room and the sleek newsroom, flashing with screens on every desk. The smell of burnt tobacco permeated the room, thanks to the cigar in Randy's mouth, burning away with a will, and all the ones that had preceded it. "Went by the name Mesmer."

"How original," scoffed Jackson.

"Anyway. He was a rogue super from about five years back, using his powers of hypnosis and suggestion. The cops think they have him pegged on six different murders, worming his way into some rich folks' wills and offing them, shuffling the money between different identities. Sure, he did some other supervillain things along the way that he never really got away with, but it was all side stuff to keep people distracted from his real money maker; that was his M.O., keeping his purpose opaque, putting up smoke screens, blah blah blah. Long story short, they found him dead one night, they were never quite sure who did it, and the case went cold. Until now, based on this footage. What's more, from that footage, I think one of the witnesses is on our payroll."

"Oh yeah? What department?"

"It was the really tall chick, the knockout with those incredible legs. I saw her around the other day before she did a stage test; she's one of the reporters, lemme see here, new hires..." Randy dug through some personnel files; how did he get his hands on those? Jackson wondered, and more importantly, who would trust him with them? "Yeah, here you are, Iris Lois. Just got hired a week ago, she starts, ah, today, actually. Unless more super fights keep her away, that is. Anyway, take the file, you need it more than I do, just bring it back all organized, all right?"

"Sure thing, you're a peach, Randy."

"Save it for this Lois chick," he said. "Oh, and get me her number while you're at it!" Jackson shuddered a little as he left the office. The reporters were just...different from the field crew, they always felt a tad full of themselves, sponging off of the real news peoples' work and looking pretty, with nary a thought in their heads. Sure, a couple of them were all right, but not the ones that he had to come into contact with every day, and a newbie like Iris would be around every day to ask questions every single time something came up. Hopefully she would grow out of it - most didn't, though.

He stepped in the elevator back up to the upper levels, where the real grunt work happened, all the editing and chopping of the raw footage into stories and news bits for the audience, paring the more brutal fights into something they could show on TV without grannies writing nastygrams back asking the heads to think of the children, pushing certain supers' better deeds forward when their sponsors were running ads on Hero TV, tossing some mud on others whose sponsors' payments were late. As he ascended, he flipped through Mesmer's file, searching for encounters between the stiff and Voltage, looking for some sort of history between the two. There were two incidents, both back when Voltage was an up-and-comer. Mesmer never rose up beyond cannon fodder for the heroes, someone to get kicked around a bit, all smoke and mirrors despite his actual success in his criminal endeavors. They weren't huge encounters anyway, but someone had to have filmed them to get recorded in the network file. Jackson made a mental note to look them up when he had the time.

The elevator reached his floor. He made sure his tape was labelled, tagged, all that, then set it up in the machine to get uploaded onto the company's database. The deed was done, and oh, how the mighty had fallen.

Jackson liked Voltage. So did a lot of Hero TV's fans. Sure, he was an angry hothead type, but he wasn't a huge jerk like some of the other supers, and really, didn't everyone want to be the jerk, deep down? The guy had some legit hero credentials, and it was a shame to watch him go down in some stupid thing where he couldn't stop himself before he screwed up. But the law was the law, and even if he was innocent, his career might get scrubbed, or at least his popularity. And besides, there was always some other radioactive freak hero to take his place at the top.

[Diamond Dragon]

The Paint and Paper wasn't a particularly big store. It was more of a cozy shop off the main street, holding a friendly, casual atmosphere. That was exactly what Luz liked about it. As she entered, she looked through the aisles of canvas, paper, and other art supplies. Finding the brands she wanted, she picked up two sketchbooks, and a box of leads for her mechanical pencil. Then she went to the counter, where she found the manager ringing up a customer's order. Luz waited until the customer left the shop, then approached. "Hi Mrs. Dwight." The manager blinked at the familiar voice, then peered hard at Luz. "Sketch!" She exclaimed when Luz removed her shades. "Shh!" Luz cautioned as she replaced her glasses. "Oh, I see. Hiding from the paparatzi?" Mrs. Dwight asked, grinning. "Well, why do I want to be followed by a crowd just to get supplies?" Luz snorted. "Well, it would bring quite alot of business!" Mrs. Dwight pointed out. "True...but really, I just didn't feel like being hounded today." Luz sighed as she pain for her items. She had 50% off anything in the store automatically, and she was pretty happy about that. "Thanks. See you later!" She continued as she picked up her bag and began to leave. "Bye! Maybe next time you CAN bring in a big crowd!" Mrs. Dwight called. Luz rolled her eyes as she left.

~

Sadie fought her way through the crowd to get close to Voltage. She wanted to get a close look at him! And she wanted to ask questions too, but she learned quickly that most supers didn't like a fan asking so many questions. When she finally pushed her way to the front, she saw Voltage talking to a well-dressed man. She wished she could hear what they were saying...

[DecooPunk]

Frost walked through a park with her rabbit Cody, ignoring the strange looks people were giving her. She flipped open her phone reading a text her mother had sent her. She sighed, Em (her mother) wanted her to stop by a local bakery and pick up bread to bring home, but she was enjoying being by herself. Her parents seemed to always have friends over. "Oh well Cody, time to go home." She said scooping up her rabbit and heading downtown.

[rocklobster]

OOC: That wasn't what I had in mind for Iris, Davidizer.
Iris sighed. She wasn't sure why Anton Mesmer's name sounded so familiar. Oh well. Then she noticed Sadie, the first Super she'd met when she got in town.
"Sadie, how's it going?" she asked. "Don't worry, my cameraman's gone missing. So, you're not on camera. Unless you want to be, that is."

[sarahleinaar]

Sapphire watched as everyone slowly disappeared and couldn't help but laugh. So that was the way it was in this town huh? Track, Fight, Split.
She slowly made her way back towards the crowd and left the scene. Not sure where to go she just continued to walk the streets.

OOC: If someone wants to come up to her, that would be awesome. Or I'll just wait until someone posts a post that I feel she can intrude. Haha, it's great so far! I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving!

[rocklobster]

Iris noticed the new arrival. She waved to her. "Hi there, I don't think we've been introduced."

[sarahleinaar]

Sapphire looked up and saw a girl waving at her. She smiled and walked over to her. "Hello, I'm Rose. Though my superhero name is Sapphire so you can call me either. What's your name," she asked.

[Davidizer13]

OOC: That wasn't what I had in mind for Iris, Davidizer.

OOC: What didn't you like? Was it the fact that I described her as tall? Because the only description I got was that that she was 6'7", which, after seconds of research, I determined was taller than Michael Jordan (6'6") - if journalism doesn't work out, she might have a future in the WNBA!

If it was the fact that Randy described her as hot, or that Jackson was dismissive of her intelligence for being a reporter, well, that's those characters' opinions, and it's not necessarily the truth. I'm sure Iris Rose is meant to be a reasonably intelligent, self-starting person, the same as all of your other characters you've roleplayed, but she hasn't proven that to Jackson in any way, so until that happens he will fall back on the prejudices he has from the other reporters. The Iris in his mind is different from the Iris in her own mind, and from all the other Irises in other peoples' minds, while the true Iris is a sum of all of the Irises everyone has in their minds. I mean, you saw the last couple episodes of Evangelion, right?

Furthermore, the opinions I have of other people are not always the truth, and it should be the same way between different characters, where they each have imperfect knowledge of each others' true selves. And this not only extends to the characters, but their handlers as well. My experiences, my opinions my ambitions and desires, are not the same as yours, and so I will likely have a differing interpretation of your character from what you probably intended, the same as my character not having the same interpretation of your character. It's all part of theory of mind, where I see the world differently from you, and it extends to fictional characters too. Some may see a protagonist as a hero, others might see him as the true villain of the story.

And speaking of theory of mind, how was Iris supposed to know Jackson? It's her first day on the job at Hero TV, and I don't see any indication that they've met in the past, and in fact, I don't see anything where she's been to the studio yet. From the sound of it, she just woke up, stepped out on the street, and bam, superheroes everywhere. Though I can't say I wasn't expecting it, because your RP characters have the habit of teleporting around a lot to different people, knowing things they shouldn't because other characters far distant from yours brought it up; maybe it's that if you don't see your characters as being in their own world with their own thoughts, you just map your own thoughts and knowledge onto them regardless of what they should know in their own existence.

Anyway, there's that. Back to your normal lives, citizens.

---

BIC: Jackson sent the edited video with Voltage's confession down to the finishing department, where they would add music, add effects, make it suitably overdramatic, and get it ready for the big show if it came to that. He leaned back in his chair, stretching far and wide before popping to his feet. His phone buzzed in his pocket - the boss was on the line. "Stafford here. ...Yes, sir, I'm ready to go, where did you want me this time? ...All right, and I assume I'll be picking up the van on the way back? ...That's not a problem, sir, I will be out as soon as I can. And about the other story I had today, you might want to look at it, sooner rather than later; it's about Voltage. ...Yes sir, that's perfectly fine. Thanks, I'll be right out, bye." He sighed, long and loud, and went to retrieve his camera bag. Another trip back to Banner Street Station, and hopefully Voltage wasn't around, that or he wouldn't realize who had filmed him the first time. It was times like these when he wished he had a mustache to shave off.

Then he had a realization of his own as he rode to the ground in the elevator - they would probably have a reporter on scene, and since they were probably too cheap to send another one out, he'd probably end up filming this Iris person for himself, in her first field session. This could be really bad, or really good, he thought. He shouldered his camera equipment and stepped back out onto the sidewalk, took the metro across town, and found himself back where he started once again. Sure enough, as he stepped out into the light once more, he got a text with a phone number, someone from higher up found it fit to send him Iris' phone number, so he gave it a dial. Hopefully she hadn't gone too far...

[DecooPunk]

OOC: Oh my word. I named my rabbit Sadie. *Facepalm*
I'm going to change her name.

[rocklobster]

OOC: Whoops. Sorry I drifted off. Maybe I can get this back on track.
Iris noticed her ringtone had gone off.
"Jackson, you'd better have a reason for ditching me in the middle of a scoop." she said angrily.