Ebonsnap

Name	Ebonsnap (Heroic Name, has not chosen 'regular' name, but possibly Bonni)
Gender	Female, gay
Homeworld	Paragon City RI, Earth Heroic Prime
Class	Junior
Nut	Walnut, tough to break, watch out for the shards of that shell, and be prepared for an allergic reaction
Totem	None, clone sponsored by Wilson Carver ^note skill download set
Smarts	3
Bod/Feet	9 (dexterity 8, agility 9, strength 4)
RWP	0 / (5 with mentors and group)
Luck	4
Drive	1
Looks	3
Cool	4
Bonk	6
Powers	'Street Justice' Scrapper - Ebonsnap is very quick on her feet, and has powerful punches, kicks, and body slams to prove it. She knows just where to do the most damage or place exactly the right pressure to stun an opponent, and loves being up close and personal to do that. Her variety of punches and kicks are trained directly from her mentor Wilson, and she can spar with him (when he's holding back a bit, she's still just a kid...). She knows that normal people should be stunned and 'super' people might be able to take the full brunt of her abilities. She can do a spin kick that is terrific for those groups of enemies closing in on her! 'Super Reflexes' defenses - She relies on not getting hit, because getting hit means getting hurt, and while she is certainly more durable than most humans, she's not necessarily able to tank more than a few hard hits - and definitely not bullet wounds or laser fire. So she prefers to not get hit, dancing around opponents quickly and decisively, herding them to where she needs them to be with her taunt. Note that her reflexes are what makes her 'fast on her feet', she's not a speedster otherwise Taunt - Something about her presence alerts 'bad guys' and fighting-types, and she can hold their attention while others get away, or prepare their own attacks. She can actively attract 'one Boss-level, two lieutenants, and three minions' to focus on her and her alone, regardless of how much else is going on around them.
Clusters	Anatomy Is As Important As Ability +4 Ebon is attentive to her surroundings as well as those she's fighting. She puts her fists, elbows, fingers, knees, and heels into places that some combatants don't even realize they have... Thus she needs to know what the effects of those brutal beatdowns will have. Will they be fatal if she does it wrong? Can she stun without leaving too much lasting damage? She is concerned about the damage she can do, but only in as much as throwing a wild punch that may land an innocent in the hospital - she wants to avoid that at all costs ^Combat Training +3 Her main skill downloads include not only language and basic knowledge, enough to start as a kid in high school, but a variety of moves and tactics that were recorded by Wilson and several sets of other people at the Rookery decades before now. It means she knows the moves, and can tap information about where they came from or what their purpose is, but must practice as hard as anyone else to get all the muscle memory working in her favor. This cluster simply allows her to learn far more easily and thoroughly
Skills	Steps Up To Lead When Needed +3 Though she's no Tank, she can fill the role if she takes a moment to reflect on the makeup of the team she's on, and what they'll be going up against. She knows better than to just claim the leadership spot, because sometimes you don't want to be the one calling the shots, if those shots must be done by someone with a very different set of fighting or exploration skills. She handles mitigation duties very easily, and will keep her eye on everyone on a team to make sure they're all doing what they're supposed to, and are in good positions to take advantage of those she's Taunting Friend Or Foe +3 When you live and work in an urban area, and there are threats like thieves, muggers, carjackers, armed robbers... you have to know who they are, before they start taking hostages or even lives. With a glance around an area, Ebon can roughly assess who is about to throw hands, and who is diving for cover - both before they do a single thing. She can tell by talking to a person whether they're likely to become angry when they shouldn't, or if someone else is shrinking because of longer term issues with those around them. She will not hesitate to help those in need, and always makes the effort to slug the right enemy rather than the wrong face in a brawl Attention Getting Taunts +3 Ebonsnap can 'rap battle' like an absolute pro, and can aim those taunts precisely at the right ear to get the best results. No 'yo momma' please, though, some folks don't have moms in the first place and that's never 'funny'. This skill actually helps her in her Journalism class, though it helps others more - because she can both deflect insults as well as attract attention with a stinging question in a rally, but she also sort of loses the ability to then actually journal those results... Leave that to others, she's not going to become a reporter anyway, but she still definitely lands the good questions, and will listen for anyone who isn't being called on, pointing them out as the origin of some of them to make sure that those 'not' calling on them, get called out for preferential treatment
Knacks	Is A Snappy Dresser Too +3 when she's not in costume ("uniform?") she likes looking her best, and prefers dark colors and blacks over bright or pastel shades. She makes a dramatic entrance like nobody's business! Lacks a 'Travel Power' -2 This doesn't impact her terribly much right now, but she's looking at ways to get around town to rapidly assist her team. Some of them can fly or zip around with running, but she's still mostly normal speed for running around town
1	Super Team Tactics / Wesson / Superb
2	Battlefields of (multiple)Earth(s) / G.Fettel / Decent
3	Careers: Men In Black / Lane / Excellent
4	Journalism / Cannon / Decent
5	Martial Arts for the Fasion Conscious / Carver / Superb
6	Practical Anatomy / V.Sanger / Superb
7	Betting And Odds / Haital / Decent
8	Snappy Comebacks and Heroic Banter / Carver / Excellent
Pets	None, but she might see what comes of being on another dimension for dragons might yeild. They'll have to be kinda tough and hold their own, right?
Parents?	No parents known, as she's spliced from an existing hero or more than one; is being Mentored by Wilson Carver for the Protectors
Siblings?	Considers all of the Protectors her 'siblings', even if they have no genes in common

** some bits from Acicade pairing **

Everyone was apt to stare at Bonni but she was growing more used to that. Not a tank, nor a brute, she could field the attention in the same way that she could aid a full strength Tanker in a combat practice: while they taunt the main baddies, she could sweep in and keep the more fragile ranged folks out of harm from any minions.

Eventually, after a fair few demonstration sparring matches and one or two 'polite' discussions about her not wanting to 'date' any of the guys coming up to her... thankfully, the drak mother announced that her small brood were ready to find their pairs.

The moment the Deep Cavern area was opened, it was quite clear that the first to shoot out of it would go straight up to Bonni.

"I chooz you!" he cried, "My name is Roisra!"

He hardly allowed a moment to process this, and started nudging his pair toward food trays - but Ebonsnap did kinda want to watch who the other two went with! A matching sort of pair of females, with wildly different 'knights'... since one was human, and the other another drak! It was after they'd paired, and now everyone got to settle in for the celebration feast, when the newly paired folk were approached by their trainers.

Bonni had... like. Half a dozen offers. This one, that one, the other one... but eventually she sensed that this one man, Develin by name, and his fire drak Enash, would be the ones best likely to give her the training she actually would need.

But their training would wait, at least for a few nights. Even if the draklings had been out of their shells a little while, they were still wobbly, tiny things that needed more sleep and food than anything else.

**

As Roisra grew, somewhat more rapidly than Bonni expected, they began their training more in earnest. However 'earnest' was about as far from the truth as it could get, since her ... 'Knight' trainer was a bit skittish about his past. Or at least, to Bonni's thoughts, he was definitely lying about it. When she would overhear other people chatting about this or that, and his name was dropped she noticed that they often had wildly different ideas about what he actually did for a living, before becoming a Knight.

But he did know how to ride, how to indicate which directions to lean, how to hold on to the narrow shoulders of the drak, how to get them to imagine where to teleport. His own drak was a similar 'rank' to hers, but wildly different in appearance. So he explained how he had come to be upon that one, while others looked this way or that. Different breeds.

Like he was also, a different 'breed' than those locals to this world of Icarus. She was also such a person, though, and she did confide in the man that she had no 'parents', knew only the friendship and comraderie of a team, and that she was pointedly a hero.

In training, of course. She was still 'young', even on the world she'd be returning to. Younger than that. No, really, younger.

The look on his face when she told her trainer, "I'm only three years out of the vat, now!" In the year that she had been training, she'd watched her Knight zip off with his drak, and would sneak back into the Castle only when he was 'sure' no one was looking. And as such, she too started to wonder what he was up to, Roisra hinted that 'something' was up about them.

So one night, they followed. Roisra was probably not old enough to do the Portaling he managed that evening, but he swore that he understood it 'since there was stuff left in the air' for him to follow. Smell? Sparkly 'magic'? There was no magic here, Bonni knew that much because magic did exist where she was from. But in any event there were traces of something left just long enough to follow behind the Knight.

They landed quietly, making every attempt to be stealthy and careful. They didn't know where exactly this place was, but for some reason Bonni knew that Roisra would be able to portal them back to Acicade unerringly. He'd be very good with that ability!

"What isss he doing?" the drak hissed softly, and Bonni shook her head and shrugged.

"I don't know, wait what is that, is he holding something?"

It looked like a pile of something, cloth, or perhaps... no, it was furs, a bundle of them that barely could be contained by his strong arms. But why would he have gotten them in the middle of the night, somewhere rather far from Acicade?

When the Knight and his drak flapped up and portaled away, it was Bonni's turn to stealthily investigate. She came back to her drak's side and told him to return to their Castle, somewhere around the field rather than the courtyard.

And it was there that they discovered Develin and Enash tucking those furs away into a secret stash, in one of the grain silos.

They watched this with interest, but the question, "why" would be on their minds for quite some time to come.

Over the course of the next few weeks, they would train in earnest and work hard at their studies. Roisra grew stronger with each day, finally 'successfully' using a Portal 'for the first time', as others including the leaders of the Castle watched.

When they had dispersed, Roisra had an idea, and Bonni was aware of it in the back of her mind. She rolled with it, he was clever. The drak gave off an excited chirp that roused the other drak's senses, 'a hunt' it seemed to say, 'something tasty'.

So the drak ran off, followed by the much larger older one, and shortly, by their riders. But it was to that same silo, where Ebonsnap - not just Bonni - leaned up against the hidden compartment 'tired out'.

She could all but smell the worry coming off of the Knight, when she 'accidentally' leaned with her elbow onto the 'secret' panel that popped open.

"Oh! whoops, what is this now?" She said, and before Develin could possibly respond, she reached right in and grabbed not just the furs he'd first been seen with, but there were other things there too, a goblet, a tool kit, the silver handle of what was probably supposed to be a cane. "It... looks like someone's been holding things here, I wonder where they came from?"

She did not turn to look at the man, but Roisra had his eye out. The color he turned was impressive, not just red from having run from the castle to this field quickly.

"Well that is an interesting thing to find in a silo," he tried to say, chipper and 'curious'. But maybe he saw Ebonsnap's muscular torso flex just a little. Her shoulders moving under her 'professional hero' outfit that she'd donned for the demonstration in the courtyard.

"It. Certainly. Is." She spoke carefully, knowing that if he meant her harm, she'd be able to dodge easily. She turned very slowly, and saw that the rider was in fact opening and closing his one hand, a hand that for sure would have had a knife - or a gun - in it had he been any wiser about this trip. He saw how stern she looked, her handsome face with oddly blue eyes against the black skin would be quite intimidating.

"Don't lie to me, any more," she growled, low and quiet. She read his expression correctly - the way he blinked a few times, glanced even momentarily away or around, and his fingers kept fumbling for a weapon that was not there on his hip. "I've seen you stealing these things, heard their owners wonder where they've gone missing to. A thief in the night, and a Knight in the day. That's you."

With that, he actually chuckled, "now there's a line worth repeating," he muttered.

"This isn't funny," Bonni said, "how long have you been stealing things? What else have you done?" She very pointedly looked at his still-empty hand.

"Nothing you need to worry about, hero, you'll be returning to your own homeworld soon enough, isn't that right?" He recovered quickly. "And - plenty. I've done plenty."

"You're a villain," Ebonsnap said, cold, "I should bring you to the Castle."

"And do what?" He replied, flippant. "They trust me, at least in so far as they know me. I've proven myself in battle with creatures and people alike."

"But you don't belong here, do you," she added, "you're not from this planet at all, as much as I'm not."

With that, he drew in a long breath. She decided to hear him out, at least whatever lie he would come up with might be entertaining.

"My ship crashed, yes. Not around here, but since you've followed me, obviously, you should know where to look for it."

"That old ruin," she breathed, "there was an unusual smell that Roisra detected. That was burnt metal and rubber, wasn't it. A starship."

He gently shrugged. It appeared there was no point in hiding it any longer. "I am a Ninja, what do you want from me," he said. "We're supposed to be sneaky, smarter than the Mobs, it's a good gig. Leave me to it."

"Is that a warning or a threat?"

"Both," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, put those things back where I placed them and head home to your weird school and cities. I haven't had to do any real damage to another Knight since getting here, and I don't feel like starting with my student."

One of the things she had learned, from Wilson actually, was to assess threats before they got out of hand. And she didn't detect any serious problem right now, he wasn't actually lying this time. If she remained, it was clear that he'd want to keep her silent. But if the word from any given citizen or Castle member was to be believed, he had actually been very good at protecting their interests. He just... had his own to look out for too.

Finally she stood more relaxed and looked over the pile of other people's goods. "Keep it to things people won't miss, then. But you already know how to cover your tracks ... mostly. I might check back though. So you should keep yourself clean."

The way she said it, bristling with the skill she'd already picked up from a year at Carramba and her own tutor Wilson, that was what set Develin's nerves on edge. She meant what she said. So he merely nodded, and waited for her to leave before he pushed the furs and goods back into their hiding place.

**

"We'll be sad to see you go," one of the locals announced, when Roisra and Bonni were ready to go home. "But you should visit!"

"Oh," she said, taking a very brief narrow-eyed look over the woman's shoulder at her trainer, "We will."