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The boys knew their origin, it was hard to miss. Particularly for the one, Marcus, because he had that pesky photographic memory. Several others in their project also displayed such a feature. So the scientists at Black Mesa's biological research department decided to place one of those types in each grouping sent to different schools. So many of them, spread out like that? At first when the project had been proposed, there was a little bit of push-back on it - people would notice, wouldn't they? But in small doses, someone else claimed, a little here, a little there, integrating these kids into society was going to work just fine. And they do: sure it's pretty rare to have triplets but there was that one time four sets of twins had come to Carramba and they were all basically from the same dad (they were not, in fact, the ‘same' dad - they were from other dimensions versions of that guy! no really!). Plus at least in places like Carramba, there were whole ‘spawn groups' of lizard kin, the typical duality of a few aliens that bred only in pairs, and - these MAR kids were far from the only clones that were attending just this year! They did have both yearly and monthly get-togethers; once a month the MAR group had to sit down and face-time with their keepers and creators, and then again at least once a year they all gathered physically for their ‘birth'day celebrations. Markie and Martin would show off their new baseball caps, Marlowe and Marvin and Maruf tended to gloat about their romantic ventures once they'd realized they could have them, Marquis or Marston could claim that their new pet dog was better than Marat and Marceau's admittedly-pretty cats. When Marcela declared herself a she/her, Margarite followed suit. Marley and Mario kept beating each other's high-scores on video games (knowing full well how hilarious that was for one of them). Maram and Mardun worked on a big writing project with Marduk and Marzell doing illustrations for them. It was all very confusing for anyone else watching all of this - even their keepers often mixed them up. There were, after all, only so many names you could make... And they all still looked like the same single handsome dark-skinned man they used for their sample. Yes, yes he knew he had clones, and wished people would stop asking... So the trio at Carramba absolutely knew that their next meetings - with either their keepers or the group as a whole - would be... fascinating to say the least. Marlon had been the first to be approached, of course, because of his class with Davis-Dawg. But it quickly escalated, thanks to him attempting to get that important field trip waiver signed. The local scientist assigned to Carramba to monitor things had a bit of a breakdown - they wanted to what? Where? With whom? But the moment that Lane got involved, everything went so much more smoothly. He was in good with that professor, he'd had tutoring and encouragement from Keenan and now it looked like he absolutely had their backs. Marshal's clone teacher, that Fettel guy, seemed so like Lane? Carver teaching that camo class? And even their one fur-side instructor Kale-Baah? They were all so much like Lane. Marlon brought that up once. Only Marcus remembered what he'd said, yes he had been spying, no he wasn't going to apologize. Lane told him the truth and all of it. He just... proceeded to wipe Marlon's memories. Marcus did get the strange side-eye from the man, but then was told, “you're just like Melissa, that's fine,” and left it at that. Marcus could keep his secrets, that was fine with him. They shared classes here and there, including their Nexus Geohistory class with ms Kshau. And in fact that was the only time aside from going back to their shared dorm that they were often seen together at all. Marlon and Marcus had their Theoretical Physics course together, and Marcus and Marshal had Linguistics with that Fur-sider version of Lane, Marlon and Marshal had a Topography math class with the dark and pretty human Varnhagen. (... They also knew that she too had a fur-sider type teaching on the Magic campus, but they were pretty far from magic students and had never been through that part of the school campus at all!) The trio met up with their other companions for this weird journey during their formal ‘search' process. Alicia Davis-Dawg, Marlon's instructor and sponsor for this trip, seemed a little weepy to Marcus, but their bro Marshal assured them that she was happy-weeping, not sadly so. There would be time for any kind of emotional outbursts later - maybe if they came home with dragons, everyone at their next birthday bash would want their own!
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 | | Name | Marlon (MAR series, designation LON) | | Gender | Male, he/they, ace | | Homeworld | Twoarth, Black Mesa (skinside) facility | | Class | Freshman 20kk+6 | | Nut | Allergic | | Totem | Chinchilla the I Am Sneaky But Please Do Not Immerse Me Fully In Water Or All My Fur Will Fall Out In Clumps totem, secretive, quiet little freaks, the chinchilla often manifests itself in the form of the Dark Arts: skullduggery, subterfuge, telemarketing +1 Bod, +1 RWP, +1 Luck, -1 Drive, +2 Looks
| | Smarts | 5 | | Bod/Feet | 3 | | RWP | 3 | | Luck | 3 | | Drive | 5 | | Looks | 7 | | Cool | 3 | | Bonk | 6 | | Powers | Teleportation - Marlon is adept at moving between spaces without physically traveling. In other words, he seems to have a ‘built in teleportation device' somewhere in his DNA. His works very well for short range localized distances, he is seen to pop across a room numerous times in a row and not even seem to notice that he's done it. For longer distances, over 50 meters, he requires a little bit of effort and can only do that range about once every minute. But he also can do very long range ports - anything from a mile to 500 miles - that exhaust him proportionately, from ‘needing to sit down and breathe a little' to ‘collapse unconscious for a full day'. He can however return to their ‘home' in skin-side New Mexico 's Black Mesa facility without more than a moment to recover, and with practice he has been able to reduce his cooldown and recovery times for classes and locations at Carramba. It's unknown whether he will be able to break the interdimensional barrier and return to these places from off-world. He cannot currently take more than half again his own body weight/mass with him, so his briefcase and maybe a backpack with stuff in it, perhaps a small pet? He will be working up to being able to take along his two on-site bros, but that will be a ways off for him to develop fully
Stealth/Invisibility - Sometimes, a scientist needs to observe without being observed, and this comes in the forum of remarkably good visual invisibility that bleeds into the video and electronic spectrum. Even eyes or sensors that are able to see heat signatures cannot detect him, though he still has mass and weight, so any weight detection or movement he does can still be faintly heard and definitely noticed if he lands on something that crunches. His ability to elude electronic detection is equally good, he is likely also going to be able to actively manipulate electronic images or data. He can only hide what's near him, so his clothes and gear, and if he tries very hard (and wraps his arms around something) he can block out a smaller item or person
It is for those reasons, that he has become... Favored by Lane: not just the Carramba instructors, but Black Mesa's local version too. Given that he is a teleporter that can manipulate electronic devices with ease (being an energy-based species, the Convocation, even if he is in humanoid form), he wants to make sure that this clone gets the right attention and training. Lane seems to take particular delight when the boy realizes some new way to do those things, and has begun placing challenges in the form of cryptic messages in his briefcase... yes, the kid also wears a tie and carries a briefcase, can he be any more endearing to Keenan? ‘Find x thing, solve for y', and a series of coordinates on campus - some of which are unreachable just by walking around, but visible through heavy security glass or behind layers of scanning equipment... And Marlon comes through. Marlon does know that Lane is responsible for these challenges, but perhaps hasn't had a talk directly about it yet. Maybe he will, at some point, just come up and ask why all the mystery. The Mystery will grin and tell him everything if he asks the right question.
| | Clusters | Location Location Location +3 Marlon knows exactly where he wants to be, and how to get there. He seems incredibly well tuned to ‘don't materialize inside other people/things' and ‘moving past observers without being noticed'. Not just with his teleportation, but with everyday walking around or crowd weaving. Even if he seeks to avoid those hallway crowds, if he has to carry a tray of delicate experiments around he has never once let anyone else's elbow hit him or prank tripping screw that journey up. He can read maps like nobody's business, though don't ask for directions from him, they will be very complex
| | Skills | SCIENCE! +3 If there's one thing that Marlon likes, it's scientific research. He isn't the ‘smartest' of his group but he definitely loves the theory and research angle more than the others do. He knows how to apply the scientific method to his daily routine, memorized safety procedures (even without having to take Dr Beck's lab safety class - that's just for the losers who can't pass the entrance exams for the classes that require it!), and gleefully reads test results with an eye to seek out new questions to ask
Computer Subterfuge +3 Even if he's been seen on camera, he can make sure that those images don't get viewed by anyone else. Surprisingly sneaky, though not for negative purposes, Marlon can use code brilliantly and develops quite a number of programs in his spare time. Some of them might garner him a lot of money, if he'd be able to do it without notice... huh, imagine that, a guy capable of going unnoticed, with three separate bank accounts that not one of his superiors at Black Mesa know about...
| | Knacks | Why DON'T We Have To Wear These Awesome Ties +3 He remembers hearing those scientists back at Black Mesa complaining that they all ‘have' to wear those ‘ridiculous' ties... Well dudes get used to it, science should be formal! At least ‘business' attire! Not necessarily a suit jacket or whatever? But he dresses well and holds himself in a manner that is quite professional all the time
Read Legalese +2 Marlon considers contracts to be quite fun. But then he also likes sudoku and word math, and wouldn't a contract kind of be like those two fused together? Don't let him make puzzles. They would wind up being just exactly as horrific as you'd imagine...
| | Period | Class/Instructor/Grade ^ w/Marcus # w/Marshal @ w/both | | 1 | Teleport Practice / Lane / Superb | | 2 | Theoretical Physics / Freeman / Excellent ^ | | 3 | Topography Vs Topology / Varnhagen/skin / Excellent # | | 4 | Anthropology of Earth / A.Davis-Dawg / Decent | | 5 | Nexus Geohistory / T.Kshau / Decent @ | | 6 | Penmanship and Calligraphy / Feliciane / Excellent | | 7 | Camoflage for Better Living / Carver / Excellent | | 8 | Concealment and Stealth for Heroic Purposes / Dane / Excellent | | Pets | No, and you might want to make sure of where your lab rats are... | | Parents? | Only the one, from whom he's cloned | | Siblings? | .... In addition to his two bros here? 17 others all MAR*** names | | Image From | Meiker Character Generator |
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 | | Name | Marcus (MAR series, designation CUS) | | Gender | Male, he/him, bi | | Homeworld | Twoarth, Black Mesa (skinside) facility | | Class | Freshman 20kk+5 | | Nut | Dark Chocolate Covered Hazelnut | | Totem | Jackal the Scary Harbinger of Death totem, scary. Dark. Misunderstood. Slobbers when happy or upon hearing a dinner bell +2 S/Gm, -1 Luck, +1 Looks, +2 Cool, -1 Bonk
| | Smarts | 7 | | Bod/Feet | 2 | | RWP | 2 | | Luck | 1 | | Drive | 6 | | Looks | 6 | | Cool | 5 | | Bonk | 5 | | Powers | Defensive Adaptation - Marcus is fully capable of entering the worst locations Black Mesa has to offer, and come out with maybe a small hole in his shirt, or singed shoelaces. These adaptations occur without needing concentration, and seem to be proximity-activated. He's been known to walk through a series of increasingly improbable obstacles and quickly adjusts between them. Water? No problem, that's why he likes to start the day with swimming! Electrified water? Pfff, it might kill fish, but it won't hurt him. Boiling lava? Intense pressure? Any and all of the above. The only limits he seems to have is if he's also having to run and dodge or exert himself in physical ways, but that only slows his adjustment time, not the effectiveness of the adaptation. (So he can be going full breaststroke in swim team, and maybe only miss two paddles between boiling and freezing, electrical or sudden vapor.) He cannot extend this to anyone else, but he can and does shelter others if he can, lifting them above electrified surfaces or blocking intense X-rays (he doesn't conduct electricity or carry any radiation). Also this doesn't really confer any immunity to diseases, but he hasn't ever carried a parasite of any kind through a room while he's using this ability, they cannot keep up with him
Photographic Memory - Ever since they were released from their cloning tubes, Marcus is the one who remembered all the voices, could identify footsteps outside the room... But he does also remember the trauma of being exposed to broken glass, forced under water, made to hold his hand on fire... All in the name of science of course, all because they knew he could handle it. But he was just a kid (they were children-sized when they originally ‘hatched') and he can't say he liked it very much. He knows now that they were just doing what they thought was right, but it doesn't remove those memories. If you need something brought up at the right (or wrong) moment, tell him a secret. Though he's not ‘bitter' he definitely will want to use those things to his own advantage and that of his bros, before anyone else can
Spoilsport - While he might use those powers... he can also make sure that other people can't. Anything that could be considered an ‘external' power, within about a 10 meter sphere from him, he can simply cause to stop working. This notably does not work on his bros, nor can it stop inherent abilities such as a winged creature flying, but it could stop a bird-person from using a sonic scream in class when they're not getting a good grade! He is on hand to keep kids that have lost control over their powers in the Danger Room from getting too ... dangerous, and his Powers and their Use class he's definitely at the top. This ability also seems to allow him a slightly more intimate knowledge than just observation might allow, but he cannot control or trigger other people's abilities, just turn them off. He can do this to whoever is in that sphere, though ones who are quite powerful might require touch - it's a good thing he can withstand fire blasts and laser eyes to get close enough to a kid who's lost his self-restraint...
| | Clusters | Moody Heroism +3 Even if he's the Spooky Goth Type, he's definitely a hero through and through. Because what else would he do with those abilities of his but serve to protect others? He's dark, he's not evil . He doesn't have any classes with Dane, the superhero (bro Marlon does), but Dane does act as a guidance councilor when needed, because they definitely have that in common. He will spot ways to use the environment or other people's abilities to this advantage, and then write poetry about it later. Any time he's in a situation where someone else needs help, he will definitely be hustling to do ‘something', whether it's throwing himself into the fray, or barking an order to someone else to do it, it'll get done
| | Skills | Organizational Skills +4 Because of his memory, he knows just how to arrange the pieces of any given puzzle, and this applies to jigsaw pieces up to space armadas. He knows how to mitigate weaknesses in people and get them to the right partner in a science project, can go through papers that have been through a literal shredder and put them back together again, and remember just how many syllables go into that poem he wants to write in a specific style - all of these things, done with a distinct flair, not just by rote
Social Confidence +2 He is a natural leader, but never seems to admit it until shit starts hitting the fan. He knows that he's good at things, he also knows he's among the smarter of the kids in the MAR project - though not the smartest, which keeps him in check. He has a commanding presence, but not a blustery one. People will give him a wider berth when he's in a mood, but don't stop listening to his advice or instructions just because he's got a nose piercing...
| | Knacks | Make Yourself Useful +3 Even with his off-putting occasional grumbly-growly personality, and even though he's rarely ‘first choice' on any given team, he finds ways to fit in with almost any group, and offers aid, advice, the right tool for a job, or an anecdote or meme he just found - always at the right time for the best impact; he also finds it amusing that he's both the one who looks like a social outcast, and is definitely the most social of the group
Yes He's Got A Tattoo +1 and yes he's way too young to have gotten it ‘legally', and no it's not their barcodes which they do have too... Those piercings are self expression that a few of the scientists at Black Mesa didn't much care for, but they were told not to interfere with personal development. These are quite personal, thanks
| | Period | Class/Instructor/Grade ^ w/Marlon # w/Marshal @ w/both | | 1 | Swim Team / Hilton / Excellent | | 2 | Theoretical Physics / Freeman / Superb ^ | | 3 | Way Off Base-10 / Saiintenella / Excellent | | 4 | Linguistics / Kale-Baah / Excellent # | | 5 | Nexus Geohistory / T. Kshau / Decent @ | | 6 | Fiction Writing / Gray / Superb | | 7 | Danger Rooms and Reset Buttons / Moonrose / Excellent | | 8 | Powers and their Use / Ramrod / Excellent | | Pets | He has groupies, do they count? | | Parents? | Only the one, from whom he's cloned | | Siblings? | .... In addition to his two bros here? 17 others all MAR*** names | | Image From | Meiker Character Generator |
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 | | Name | Marshal (MAR series, designation SHAL) | | Gender | Male, he/him, gay | | Homeworld | Twoarth, Black Mesa (skinside) facility | | Class | Freshman 20kk+4 | | Nut | Shelled Spanish Peanut | | Totem | Poodle the Bad Haircut totem, likes to bitch, don't like to get involved. I just want to get my car out of this bad area. +1 S/GM, +2 RWP, -1 Luck, +2 Looks, +3 Cool, -1 Bonk
| | Smarts | 6 | | Bod/Feet | 2 | | RWP | 4 | | Luck | 1 | | Drive | 6 | | Looks | 7 | | Cool | 6 | | Bonk | 5 | | Powers | Telepathy Though he often looks like he's chatting on the phone or using an ear-bud (and the motion is common to all of them, as you can see from their pictures...) Marshal is actually just a telepath with a very good range and a strong depth to the information he can detect or convey. He has been known to ‘ping' another telepath at the edge of his limits around 50 miles away, but also to converse to a hundred kids at once while ‘speaking' in Speakers Square. He can single out one mind from a large group, ‘whispering' to them, or even stealing secret thoughts from even well-protected minds. Though he can't read minds like Lane's or Paxton's, they find his own mind to be very strongly constructed and he can resist their invasive digging (to a degree). If you need something quickly understood, he's your guy, he can blurt out things to any available biological mind and...
Talk To Machines/Electronics Also to technological ones! His power to commune with things that have minds doesn't stop with them being encased in brains. He can easily tell a computer from a stopwatch, but they both would eagerly ‘tell' him things. He can read data and even dead hard drives, and seems to be able to sweet-talk broken devices into telling him just what their problem is in order to fix them up. Marshal can sense devices that have actual ‘thinking' going on with the same distance and intensity as his biological telepathy. Those that do not have artificial intelligence, however, he has to be around 20 meters or closer, to really ‘read' them. He must be touching a device or computer to actively force his will on them, but he definitely can do so, writing data and turning machinery on and off without needing to flip switches or type
*Grease Monkey This might be an extension of his command over such machines, but he intimately understands machinery and devices without having to read the manuals. Anything from cars to space stations, gears and hinges - if it's mechanical he can fix it or break it. While he can coax diagnostics out of a modern vehicle's onboard computer chip, things without such digital components must be fiddled with manually, and he does that amazingly well. This power includes 3 points in his engineering cluster, as a ‘freebie' skill set
| | Clusters | Effective Engineering +5* It's not just a power, it's a way of life for Marshal. He's always considering just how to implement something, always looking for the right tool for a job, and thinking of a bigger-picture for what happens with his constructed or repaired items once he is finished building them. He wants to branch out into civil engineering and large scale industrial work, in addition to his little fiddly computer projects or small devices as gifts - and he'll be able to do all of that with ease!
| | Skills | Surprisingly Softhearted +3 Of this group, Marshal is good with people to a very strong degree, enough that even Marcus comes to him when he needs relationship or friendship advice. Because he can reach into minds and clearly see emotions and thoughts, he has had to develop ways to get around anxieties, fears, or bad memories, and as such thinks hard about how to converse with someone in need. He is not a pushover, but he is empathic enough that he can't help but want to console or encourage those folks with emotional or mental trauma. He knows he can't just ‘fix' people the way he does a machine, but with the right tools, even that's within his grasp; that said he's unlikely to pursue a proper psychology degree, but he has been told by Mandragora that his work with her augmentations combined with this interest in emotional stability might make him an ideal therapist for folks requiring replacement parts!
Color Coordination +3 Even if the machines he builds or computers he talks to can seem cold or ‘just' devices, he will always be able to spice up their appearances, and his own, or the spaces that they are working in, with his own bit of flair. Whether that means a shiny new chrome frame for someone's photo, or the right color on the HEV suit to match the personality of its user, he's got a sort of interior-decorator's style sense, and isn't afraid to use it
The Right Man In The Right Place +2 He knows where to be, and when to be there, it's almost like clockwork! He is precise and prompt, though also a little on the stiff side in terms of flexibility, if you need to cancel a meeting you'd best tell him as soon as possible because he will show up right on time until told not to
| | Knacks | Doesn't Need A Hair Net Thanks +2 he's got the longest hair, and the most stylish look, but still doesn't have a problem getting any of it tangled up in machinery while he's working. In fact it doesn't even get dirty. None of him gets dirty. He and Reiko are definitely a matched pair for this!
| | Period | Class/Instructor/Grade ^ w/Marlon # w/Marcus @ w/both | | 1 | Practical Augmentation Control / Mandragora / Superb | | 2 | Robotics / Wheeler / Excellent | | 3 | Topography Vs Topology / Varnhagen/skin / Excellent ^ | | 4 | Linguistics / Kale-Baah / Decent # | | 5 | Nexus Geohistory / T. Kshau / Decent @ | | 6 | E/A Lit / Leland / Passing | | 7 | You And Your Clone / P. Fettel / Decent | | 8 | Mech Suit Piloting /Valarian / Excellent | | Pets | He might make his own little clockwork creatures | | Parents? | Only the one, from whom he's cloned | | Siblings? | .... In addition to his two bros here? 17 others all MAR*** names | | Image From | Meiker Character Generator |
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Zekiran
MAR series clones