(no subject)

[goldpaw]

Who: Professional Science Leopard Vanessa Goldpaw & any unaffiliated superheroes
Where: Anywhere around the city – and perhaps beyond.
When: Any time mid February to early March, pretty much
What: Apparently being a celebrity science genius and running a hugely successful business is no longer enough for Ms Goldpaw: she's looking to pick up unaffiliated heroes to run her own team.
Warnings: None yet.

Goldpaw Industries hasn't been up to much significant business lately. Vanessa has been busy enough – she always is – but she hasn't been working on anything terrifically interesting. Which is probably why she's been planning a personal project.

So far no one else is on it. But she's hoping that soon they will be...



Over the next few weeks Vanessa will be snooping around after unaffiliated superheroes. Generally competent ones are ideal, but what she's looking for above all else is 'undiscovered talent' – she's looking for lesser-known heroes to pick up and make big by cramming them into her GOLDPAW-BACKED COOL SUPERHERO TEAM.

Despite being a shapeshifter, she has been choosing to do her snooping in her usual leopard woman guise – even for top secret projects like this, she never uses her powers. She has probably been wearing a wide brimmed hat and high necked coat, though. Sooo surreptitious.

Feel free to either have your character notice she's been surreptitiously following them around or repeatedly lurking in the background while they do hero stuff and thus confront her or specifically attempt... to hide... lmao, or just be going about their business with whatever degree of obliviousness is appropriate while she approaches them! This is open to any unaffiliated superfolk, even if you think they would make terrible team members or you plan to have them refuse an offer – PM me or hit me up on plurk or AIM if you want to work any specifics out.

Comments

[reluctantproxy]

After the UCLA sinkhole incident, Neku has been much more relaxed about his powers. He's even been training a little bit, getting a better feel for his telekinesis.

Today he's out in the field, hiding out in one of the many back alleys that he tends to frequent, practicing his shockwaves against a propped up old couch.

[goldpaw]

This is the first time Vanessa's come across this particular superpowered teen, but a quick check of some of the footage on her phone, as she lurks, watching, from the end of the alley – as a cat, of course, she is light on her feet and good at sneaking – confirms that it's one of the people who was caught on camera at the sinkhole.

She thinks about keeping an eye on him for longer, coming back another time, but all considered the circumstances really couldn't be more ideal. Nobody else is around, and he's busy with practicing rather than anything more serious or urgent...

"Hello there," she calls, her voice friendly, "Don't worry, I'm not a supervillain or anything..."

[reluctantproxy]

Startled by the sudden appearance of... well, anyone sneaking up like that would probably shock him pretty efficiently, but someone showing up suddenly and asserting that they were most definitely not a super-villain right off the bat was highly suspect as far as he was concerned.

He stops what he's doing and turns around in the direction of the voice, freezing defensively. "....That's exactly what a super-villain would say." probably. He was clearly attentively listening, nonetheless.

[goldpaw]

Vanessa laughs. "I suppose it is," she says, stepping out of the shadows. "I'm not one, though! I promise. I just caught sight of you practicing and, well, I've been keeping an eye out for superpowered talent lately... I wanted to make you an offer."

[reluctantproxy]

Okay, so he's a little bit startled at first by the fact that he's apparently being approached by what appears to be an anthropomorphic cat, mainly because he just wasn't expecting that, but he gets over it pretty quickly. Not like he hasn't seen weirder stuff in this city. He feels like maybe he's heard of some prominent scientist or something with such a condition before, but lets face it, he kind of lives under a rock.

A quick scan doesn't reveal any sort of ominous vibe or intent, but he maintains an outward appearance of cautious skepticism anyway. "What kind of offer...?"

[goldpaw]

"I'm interested in putting together a superhero team," she explains. "And I'm looking for undiscovered talent – any age or experience level." She smiles. "I'd want to know more about your powers and a little more about you, but if you were interested... besides getting to work on a team you'd get technical support, a uniform, healthcare..."

[reluctantproxy]

Superhero team? She's gotta be joking. He tilts his head curiously, face hiding behind his cowl slightly. "Sounds like a generous offer, but.... I'm not exactly what you would call the world's best team player. And I don't generally make a habit of trusting strangers right off the bat," he says carefully, doing his best not to sound rude. Not that he doesn't want to be rude, in fact that's his initial instinct, but he's at least trying to change his people habits a little bit.

[bombsheltered]

Lately, Milly really feels like she's been getting out there with her superheroics. Not just with Teddy -- although teaming up with him so far has worked out spectacularly -- but she just feels like she's really been putting herself out there -- getting exposure, so to speak. Of course, that's not why she does it -- punching bad guys comes with its own satisfaction -- but Milly's pretty sure she's noticed someone following her lately. At first she thinks she might have a fan -- that's so exciting! -- but then it occurs to her that there could be other reasons why someone might want to follow her. Other, less positive reasons. It makes Milly a little apprehensive, but she decides not to worry too much about it -- after all, CONDOR doesn't seem to be in the habit of arresting vigilantes as long as they're not stepping out of line, and Milly's never done anything wrong. She figures that if anything comes up, she'll deal with it.

Today she's just finished helping rescue some civilians from the wreckage of a nasty car accident on a nearby bridge. Nothing supervillainous about it, but Milly certainly couldn't ignore the cries of helpless people in mashed up cars that were threatening to drop right off the side of the bridge! By now the medics have shown up to take care of any injured people, and Milly's work here is done. Probably time to get going, too, before she has to answer too many questions -- but she touches down on the bridge's surface with a little flutter of her costume, just so she can catch a glimpse of the medics and make sure everything's really all right.

[goldpaw]

"Nice work," says Vanessa earnestly, from a few feet down the bridge. She recorded the whole thing on her phone. "It's Starbreaker, isn't it?"

[bombsheltered]

Aha! So maybe she is a fan.

She's...certainly distinctive-looking. Wait a minute! Milly's pretty sure she recognizes this woman -- is't she one of her father's competitors-slash-professional colleagues? Maybe this isn't a fan type of deal after all. If she knows Milly's civilian identity...

But she called her Starbreaker. It must be a coincidence, right? Milly decides to give Vanessa her hero smile, hands on hips, nodding confidently. "That's right! And you're...aren't you the president of Goldpaw Technologies?"

[goldpaw]

Vanessa beams. "I am," she says, holding out a paw to shake as she walks towards her. "But I'm actually not here on behalf of my business right now. I'm looking for new names in the superhero scene to support as a new team, and I was wondering if that's something you'd be interested in."

[bombsheltered]

Well color Milly totally fucking starstruck. She's not even sure she heard Vanessa right at first. Someone wants Milly -- for a superhero team?

This is basically her dream come true.

"Oh -- oh my gosh! Wait -- really?" Milly exclaims in a girlish squeal, her hands going to her face. Is this superhero behavior? Who cares. "You want me?"

[goldpaw]

Fantastic – this is exactly the kind of reaction Vanessa's been hoping for.

"That's right. I'm interested in bringing together and funding a new superhero team, and you'd be one of my top picks."

[superball]

Eusine can't shake the feeling that he's being watched.

It starts nagging him somewhere between muggers #1 and #2 -both dispatched with classics such as "having the guy run face first into an invisible glass pane" and "smoke bombs 101" because the Mysticalman is in no way a goddamn cartoon character [citation needed]- and only goes downhill from there. By mugger #3, he's even managed to get a glimpse of a mysterious figure in a hat. He was already big on dramatic entrances before, but knowing he has an audience somehow amps that up to eleven: from then on, he makes sure to stay in sight of his secret admirer, as he's unaware of what kind of powers they may or may not have. He is an entertainer, after all, and what kind of entertainer leaves his audience in the dust?

Besides, you can't exactly keep an eye on a mysterious pursuer without being somewhat close to them. He's far from being paranoid but he's curious.

When mugger #4 has been neutralized (poor chap with a knife, will go on to forswear alcohol forever because he could swear he got arrested by a goddamn peacock that one time, for real), he lingers on the crime scene just a little longer than usual...

[goldpaw]

“Bravo!” Vanessa calls, dropping out of the shadows to – well, she doesn’t clap, because her paw pads aren’t very good for that. Small sacrifices. But she looks and sounds impressed, is the thing. “You’ve really got a flair for this.”

[superball]

"I know," he says with the tone of someone for whom modesty is some kind of disease that only happens to other people. "How delusional the evildoers, if they think they can defeat the Mysticalman!"

He throws his cape back for good measure. It's very dramatic, and the tiny glass particles floating around him seem to glimmer in approbation. The fact he hasn't ever defeated any "evildoer" stronger than petty thieves and the odd aqua or magma team grunt doesn't seem to bother him, really.

And now that he can take a good look at his mysterious admirer... his face lights up in recognition. He's a gadget aficionado; a lot of the technology he uses both in and outside of costume is from Goldpaw Technologies, and there is no way that woman isn't its founder. There really aren't that many anthropomorphic leopards around.

"And you..." A short pause, for extra dramatic effect, "are Vanessa Goldpaw, are you not!"

He completely fails his suaveness check on that last sentence. He just sounds excited.

[goldpaw]

Oh, she likes this guy. He's certainly a character. Not that she didn't know that already, but she's pretty impressed by his commitment to being so ... intense.

"That's me." It's always nice to be recognised – she is more often than not, of course, but when someone's this enthusiastic about it it's hard not to smile. "I take it you're a fan of my products?"

[superball]

"I'm quite familiar with some of them, yes." He pats one of his gauntlets. They're pretty big, but their size is impressive considering how many gadgets are crammed in there - some of them from Goldpaw Technologies.

His phone and laptop are also from Vanessa's company, but that's a bit too mundane to mention.

"Of course, this doesn't explain why the head of Goldpaw Tech decided to follow me around!" he exclaims with a laugh. He's not surprised that people would want to watch him do his amazing feats of superheroism, but the fact someone so important came in person does make for a rather unusual situation.

[goldpaw]

"Well," she says, "I'm not here on behalf of my company. It's more of a personal endeavour – I'm looking for new, exciting names on the LA superhero scene to recruit for a new team."

[scribes]

Di had no super powers, but she was a troll and with that came several benefits. A particularly strong troll to boot and while she tended to keep to the streets so as to not pull anymore attention to her, on less crowded days she could be spotted leaping from building to building, with all the grace and ease someone would expect from a person raised by a giant purrbeast.

The olive troll was starting to get out more, and she had noticed Vanessa on several occasions. It would be difficult not to, and in truth Di probably had just as much, if not more interest in the leopard lady than said leopard lady had in her. It was hardly a secret that Di was biased towards felines of all sorts, and someone like Vanessa was hardly an exception. Di had never approached her before, but perhaps today would be different.

She wasn't doing anything special, not showing off any of her skills. In fact she was completely mundane in that she was just stepping out of a building where she had had a job interview. Di didn't feel particularly confident about her chances. Thus far her job search hadn't been going especially well and once the interviewer had caught a look at her she knew her esteem had dropped significantly. That seemed to be the case in most interviews she had undergone.

Still. Di wouldn't let that get her down. She would find something eventually. She supposed it wasn't really necessary, given how she had most of what she needed, but Di hated having to depend on someone else so much.

As she made her way back into the streets that's when Di noticed Vanessa once again. It wouldn't be the first time someone had followed her. Di was just grateful that this time it wasn't some giant talking truck. Nice as her encounter with Orion had turned out, she still felt a little wary about the technology of this age, much more so sentient machines.

Di slowed to a stop and cast a glance back at Vanessa, wondering if she was just curious about her being a troll or if she had other motives.

[goldpaw]

Seeing people leaping from building to building wasn't extremely unusual around these parts, but it was, nonetheless, the kind of thing Vanessa was keeping an eye out for. She can't deny it helps a little that the woman is an Alternian – she hasn't been having excellent luck in her search so far, and knowing the current climate isn't particularly welcoming to refugees from the Alternian Empire, she suspects a job offer might be more eagerly appreciated.

When the Alternian woman actually looks round at her, she's pleasantly surprised, and decides not to bother with further secrecy. She lifts one paw and waves at her.

[scribes]

Simply friendly, or perhaps Di's suspicions were right. In the end it didn't matter too much to her (though it really should) and she returned the wave, giving a faint smile.

Di made her way over, unable to find it funny how much the two of them stood out. A troll and bipedal, sentient purrbeast with a lovely coat that Di hadn't seen on any of the ones she had encountered on Alternia. A very bright, vibrant golden color--it was lovely.

Di may still be backlogged in her research but she was fairly certain she knew who this was. After all, she was the only person in the city that looked that way. At least, as far as the newspapers seemed to claim.

"Vanessa Goldpaw, is it? Hello." She extended a hand out to shake.

[goldpaw]

She looked a little surprised, but not very surprised – she expected to be recognised most of the time, just not generally by space aliens.

Vanessa took the proffered hand in her own pawlike one and shook, smiling. "It is," she said, and glanced down at their hands. "Do you shake hands on Alternia, too, or are you picking up on Earth customs?"

[scribes]

"We do it on Alternia too." Some gestures spanned worlds, it seemed. Admittedly perhaps it wasn't done as often on Alternia as on Earth, but that was attributed to the significantly less trust there was between strangers on her home world.

"My name is Magdal Leijon I've...been seeing you around?" The end of her sentence was raised slightly, questioning while trying to avoid being confusing. Maybe it was just her imagination, or perhaps Vanessa was simply interested in a troll. Di wanted to avoid seeming confrontational.

[goldpaw]

"Ah, yes," she said, with a smile and only a hint of shame over the fact that Magdal was one of the people she's been following around. "You caught me. It's not for no reason, though, I promise – I'm... talent scouting, you could say."