savetheearth | Video: the beach

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Video: the beach

[Masked men are an unusual sight on a public beach, but if you're going to be playing with superpowers what good alternatives are there? Fred's attracting some attention, but he's found a reasonably remote area and most people seem to get that they shouldn't bother him.

The connection is propped up on something a little way back from Fred himself, so as to show him and the ground he's standing on.]

Hey, guys. I think I just figured out what one of those last pulses was. It's... a power, I guess.

[He shrugs; not much else to say before he demonstrates. By which we mean crumbles; in a moment he's replaced by a small pile of sand, pretty much indistinguishable from the sandy ground. The pile wiggles a little and lurches to the side, and then un-crumbles back into Fred.]

And that's about it. I'm pretty sure I should be able to move around like that, if I can figure out how. [He sighs.] It just feels lame, you know? I can make rocks show up, and heal, and... turn into a pile of sand.

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[ BLINK. You know, Neil shouldn't be surprised at this point, all things considered. Yet here we are. ]

I dunno, that could be pretty useful, actually. How much can you move around after you change?

[Have another shrug.] Not much more than I just did, at least so far. It's probably like learning to walk, figuring out what all the magic muscle things do and how to use them together.

Even if you can't, that could be useful for a quick getaway, eh?

[puzzled:] How so?

Lots of ways. Someone's chasing you? Duck around a corner, behind something. Who's gonna suspect the pile of sand? Or drop through a sewer grate, or... hell, there's a ton of ways to use something like that.

Oh.

[He thinks about that for a few moments.]

I'll have to see if I can get it to work when I'm not already on sand, because so far it hasn't.

...so you can only do it when you're touching it, and just sand specifically?

Yep. So far, anyway. Which is why it took me so long to figure out what it was - I got the pulse feeling about a week ago.

Hey, at least it was something on you. I get those stupid things all the time and sometimes don't know what it was until me or the FBI's researchers have poked around my Gundam enough to know it got an upgrade.

[Blank look.] What's a Gundam?

[ He cocks a grin. ]

Remember the giant robots? That's one of 'em.

You got a giant robot? [Yep, that's envy in Fred's voice. Face, too, but he's still got the mask so it doesn't show up.]

Yep. Fought that big snake and everything.

If you ever saw the green and white on on the news, that's it.

Wow.

So what kinds of things can it do?

[Giant robots gotta have some kind of cool abilities, right?]

Mainly, it seems to be a ranged unit. Came with a huge sniper laser rifle, and has equipment built just for using it. Plus, I echoed back the ability to shoot like you wouldn't believe unless you saw it.

Cool! How well does your aim translate to the robot's controls?

That one I haven't really gotten to try first hand since that echo. I gotta imagine it's gotta translate pretty well, though - the way the thing operates, it relied on my aim before. That can only help, I've gotta imagine.

What, they don't let you try out stuff like that when it shows up?

Heh, a college campus - hell, a city - ain't the safest place to try firing off a giant laser rifle.

You've got a point. Though there is the ocean right over there. [He gestures.] Not a lot to hit if you aim that way, right?

Heh, you'd think that, but then I'm also not sure how far these damn beams carry. Either way, not something they seem to be itching to jump at.

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Video: the beach

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