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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.

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"Well... I'm putting together a superhero team," Vanessa explains. "I'm looking for exceptional individuals who've yet to make a big name for themselves to make up the roster... and from what I've seen you seem quite athletic."

Well, Di hadn't been expecting that. She had always taken a bit of pride in her skill as a fighter but as of late she had begun to wonder just how much she merited that pride. She had no powers of which to speak. No super strength or speed, no ability to fly, transform, or make things move with her mind. While she still felt she could hold her own, she doubted she was really good enough to be on a superhero team of any sort.

Not to mention she had no idea how she would balance something like that with what she already had going on with the Sufferists.

"Is there a specific cause you are hoping to address?" While doubtful, it wouldn't hurt to at least ask and see if there was any way their goals intersected.

You hush, Di, Vanessa totally saw you leaping across roofs, that's superhero qualification if ever Vanessa saw it

That's a question she wasn't expecting, though. The only cause she's really hoping to address with this is keeping herself occupied and maybe generating some publicity for her company... but that's hardly an appropriate answer.

There's a little pause before she replies, "I'm interested in helping to support a group of heroes – financially and technologically – to make a difference in LA... there's no specific cause, of course; I just want to contribute to making the city a better place."

The fact that there was no specific goal in mind other than to make the city safer actually did make her feel like it was more doable. As long as there wasn't a lot detracting from her own goals something could be managed.

She was especially made interest by the fact that there would be technological support. Di had heard enough of this Vanessa to know that was not an empty promise, and right now that was something she felt she could really use. Di wanted to be able to do more than hold her own--she wanted to be able to protect those important to her. To keep history from repeating itself, and to keep from suffering through the same failures of her past.

As she was, she could not do that, but perhaps with the right equipment...

"Is there somewhere we could talk at length?"

Vanessa smiled in satisfaction. "We can stop for coffee – or would you prefer to go somewhere private?"

If this discussion did in fact yield some beneficial opportunities, Di knew she was going to have to explain some of her circumstances to Vanessa. Even now she was accustomed to having to do so much in secrecy but in truth...it was nowhere near as needed as it used to be. They weren't on Alternia.

The humans around them, even if they overheard would probably not care. What would most of them know of Alternia and its politics? Who could they run and tell? Certainly she wasn't going to be giving out details but who knew. Perhaps she would be sympathetic to the cause, and a figure like Vanessa Goldpaw could be a welcome addition.

"Stopping for coffee would be fine."

"Excellent!" said Vanessa brightly – although she did insist, when they reached the coffee shop she had in mind, on an out-of-the-way table that wasn't visible from the window. While her project wasn't exactly top secret, she certainly wasn't seeking publicity.

"What would you like to know?" she asked, folding her tail comfortably over her knees.

This was a bit strange. A bit strange, but also a bit nice. It was the first time she had really gone out somewhere with someone, and if all went well perhaps she'd finally feel like she had progressed in something.

"Protecting the city. Ok. So I assume in that you mean from just about anything. To regular criminals to whatever else might pop up?" While she hadn't been here long enough to experience anything herself, it was pretty apparent that this city in particular seemed to attract a lot of attention.

"I can do that. But I also have my hands invested in another cause and I don't want to detract from it. Will that create an issue?"

"Exactly," Vanessa replied. "I want to build a team with diverse strengths, to make sure that they can handle diverse threats, of course..."

Another cause, though – that's not what she expected. She'd anticipated an Alternian on Earth would be simply a refugee, trying to find a place for herself and build a new life.

Interesting...

"It wouldn't be a full time job, if that's what you mean," she said, leaning forward a little, clearly curious.

A part of Di feels maybe she should consider this more at length, but she feels that's all she has been doing. Thinking, thinking, thinking, never actually doing. Instinct tells her it is okay to at least speak to Vanessa about what is going on. At worst she'll be disinterested.

"That certainly sounds doable then...but I should tell you what it is that I'm already involved in. Do you know much about Alternia?"

Vanessa's ears, already swivelled forward in interest, prick up a little further.

"I'm afraid not – only what most humans know. The invasion attempts were a little bit before my time..."

The motion made Di smile a bit, and she went on to explain.

"Alternian society directs its violence internally, just as much as it does externally. There is a caste system based on blood, as trolls have 12 blood types defined by color. All trolls fit into these twelve types...with one exception."

She had been shocked when she first learned that humans, while they too had types, all had the same hue, and that hue had matched Signless' almost perfectly.

"It is called the hemospectrum and the divide between those higher in the caste, and those of warmer hues is astronomical. It has been this way for a very, very long time."

"Oh, yes – I know about the castes," Vanessa said, nodding. "At least, a little – I'm not an expert, of course – but I know you have them ..." Her knowledge was a pretty standard human grasp of the matter – that there were castes, that troll society was fairly rigid about it, and that bluer colours were 'better'... and that those who suffered under the Alternian Empire's terrible oppression frequently came to Earth to escape it. Earth sources tended to be quite pleased with themselves for that one, and so that angle got a fair bit of coverage when it came to talking about Alternian refugees – at least, when the people talking about it weren't the ones who were convinced that any Alternian on Earth was probably really a spy.

"What was that you said, about an exception –?"

Di nodded. Technically there were two exceptions now but Karkat was one subject she'd definitely avoid talking about. Not until she had his permission anyway.

"A long time ago there was a troll who went by the title of Signless. Trolls that come from the same," she paused, trying to find a suitable human term, "lineage, bear the same symbol. As he was the only of his kind, and no had no known ancestor, that was the name he took up. His blood color was a bright red, not dissimilar to that of humans, and thus it marked him as a mutant, a pariah, and slated for culling. He was a peaceful man who started to peacefully speak out against our world's system, and instead tried to teach trolls about equality, peace, and compassion."

Vanessa nodded, slowly, beginning to get the shape of this situation, from the context of what her potential recruit had said before.

"So a sort of – Alternian Ghandi?"

Di smiled. While she didn't know the details of that man's campaign, she knew the basics. He was a hard figure to miss.

"Like an Alternian Ghandi. Sadly, in his time he was not successful, but his message lives on today and there are many who continue to practice and spread his teachings. Myself being one of them."

"So you teach other Alternians who've fled the Empire about this... way of life?" Vanessa prompted her. "Or is this some kind of... resistance movement?"

"More of a resistance. We go by the Sufferists," Her nose wrinkled at that. She hated the name, just like she hated the title of Sufferer but there was little she could do to change it now, "While it did begin as a peaceful movement, it has gained loftier goals, though there are some divisions as to what exactly those goals are, and how the Signless is viewed."

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