Phase, the Delinquent

[dunderklumpen]

LANI MORENO AKA "PHASE"

THE DELINQUENT

HERO NAME: Phase
REAL NAME: Lani Moreno
LOOK: Female, hispanic, defiant eyes, rebellious clothing, no costume
ABILITIES: Teleportation, gadgetry and hacking

LABELS

 

DANGER	FREAK	SAVIOR	SUPERIOR	MUNDANE
+0	+1	-1	+2	+1

CONDITIONS

X	AFRAID	-2 to Directly Engage a Threat
	ANGRY	-2 to Comfort or Support or Pierce the Mask
	GUILTY	-2 to Provoke Someone or Assess the Situation
	HOPELESS	-2 to Unleash Your Powers
	INSECURE	-2 to Defend Someone or Reject Others' Influence

 

BACKSTORY

• How did you get your powers?

The short answer: genes and hard work. My blinking powers manifested when I was able to be somewhere else just by thinking about it. With a lot of practice, and some scratches and bumps, I learned to control it pretty well.

As for my gadgets, I've always been pretty good at science, though you wouldn't know by looking at my grades. That's me, lousy at sitting through a test, but give me a chance to blow something up or build a drone that can graffiti all your hard-to-reach places. That's where I shine. One of my science teachers used to say "awful at theory, scary at practical application".

• What do you do for fun?

You're going to think I'm a nerd (screw you), but I really like to build stuff. Muck about with electronics and digital. More than that I want to use them. Make some noise, get a laugh, and cause a scene. Show everyone that you can get away with shit. Whether it's an alien or a stuffed shirt, I just like it sticking to the man.

• Who, outside the team, thinks better of you than you do?

Nathan Lucas is a social worker in the projects where I grew up. He's helped me out with some juvie trouble before everything went sideways. He's the only one I've trusted with who I am and what my powers can do.

Nathan is always pushing me to "do the right thing" and "stand up for your people". He doesn't always get the way I like to work, but we're simpatico on keeping what's left of the projects safe

• Why do you try to be a hero?

My hood was run down before the dust-up in Halcyon city. No one gave a damn about us before, and they gave even less of one about what was left of the projects after the smoke cleared. Life got a whole lot harder for a lot of people.

I can't fix that, but  I can help protect what's left. Maybe get some payback, and not just from the beaks.

• Why do you care about the team?

It's not like I'm going to trust the G-men. I'm going to break out in hives every time I have to take an order from a suit or a uniform, but some looser types, who know some kids who know the score. I can work with them.

Hang together or hang separately right? 

WHEN OUR TEAM FIRST CAME TOGETHER...

We totally broke some major rules to win the fight. What rules did we break? Whose rules were they?

 

RELATIONSHIPS:
You keep trying to impress _________________ with your antics.
You and ________________ pulled an awesome (if illegal) stunt together.

 

INFLUENCE:
You care way more than you let on. Give three teammates Influence over you.

 

MOVES:

Team? What team?

When you use Team selfishly, clear a condition or mark potential. The first time in a session that you use Team to help a teammate, take +1 forward.

Troublemaker

When you help a teammate through destructive, criminal, or rule-breaking actions, you can give them a +2 instead of a +1 when you spend a Team from the pool

Are you watching closely?

When you mislead, distract, or trick someone, roll + Superior. On a hit, they are fooled, at least for a moment. On a 10+, choose three. On a 7-9, choose two.

• you get an opportunity
• you expose a weakness or flaw
• you confuse them for some time
• you avoid further entanglement

On a miss, you’re hopelessly embroiled in it and under pressure; mark a condition
 

 

PLAYER QUESTIONS

• What kind of player are you?

I like narrative games. I particularly like the collaborative nature of games where everyone together helps build the story and the setting. One of the reasons I really like Pbta games is the heavy emphasis on this sort of collaborative storytelling.

• Why are you excited for this game?

I like Masks a lot. I've run it quite a bit and I'd always like to play it more. I'm intrigued by the Iron Red Soldiers alternative setting for Masks. I think it could be a lot of fun.

• What are your expectations for this game?

I hope that we get a group that works together well and that we have some fun. I think a game runs best when everyone feels like they've got an equal stake in the story. So I hope the spotlight gets shared around, and everyone is a fan of all the characters and the story.

• Why do you think you would be a good fit for this game?

I can definitely keep the posting rate and think that  I can bring some interesting ideas to the table. I really appreciate the teen hero genre that Masks fits into and I'd hope to stay true to the entertaining bits of the genre.
 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Morphling (see edit history)

[dunderklumpen]

More on Phase's Look

"Costumes and hero names are soooo golden age. I'm trying out 'Phase', but don't you dare laugh."

Lani hasn't been operating long enough to have a costume or a M.O. and is still trying different looks and styles. For the moment she has settled on comfortable street ware with freedom of movement, lots of pockets (for gadgets), and a hood for anonymity.

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by dunderklumpen (see edit history)

[Morphling]

Some things I wouldn't mind seeing developed further:

What is Lani's family life like? Who raised her? Who are her parents? Does she have siblings? What about extended family? Do any of them know about her powers? What about her rebel activities? How do they feel about her... well, delinquency?

How has she managed to survive as a subversive element in Tangee-occupied Halcyon City without getting thrown in a cell? Did her rebellious activities just start? Is she in hiding?

Under what circumstances did she meet Nathan Lucas? How long have they known each other? Why does she trust him so much? What kind of hero does she think he wants her to be? Does she feel she's living up to those expectations?

What about the projects makes them worth protecting? What elements of her neighborhood are not worth saving? Is there a person Lani knows that embodies either of these extremes? What about a place?

All in all, solid effort. I would like to see what more you can come up with.

[dunderklumpen]

• What is Lani's family life like? Who raised her? Who are her parents? Does she have siblings? What about extended family...? 

Lani's family includes her father Luis, and her younger brothers Angel and Oliver. Luis raised by her father since Lani's mother left years ago.

Luis Moreno works shifts doing security guard work. The family lives in a tiny apartment in the projects. It's way too small, but with half the projects in ruins, space is at a premium and landlords can charge what they want. As the only girl Lani gets a small room to herself, but as the oldest she often has to take care of her younger siblings.

Outside of the immediate family there are a host of not-actually related aunts, uncles, and cousins who look out for the Moreno kids where they can, but this is nothing special, it's just how the projects work.

Despite struggling to make ends meet, the Moreno family is happy enough. They are tight, happy, and except for Lani, open with each other about everything. Lani is known to be secretive and to sneak out at night. Luis isn't happy about his daughter's behavior, but he struggles with raising a teenage girl. 

• Do any of them know about her powers? What about her rebel activities? How do they feel about her... well, delinquency?

Luis hit the roof the first time that the cops brought Lani home with a vandalism charge. She was grounded for months, but he knew he wouldn't be around to enforce it. He's got to put food on the table so he has to let stuff slide and hope it's just a phase.

No one in her family knows about her powers. She was still working out how to use her powers a few years ago when the battle for HC kicked off. After that, she's kept that little secret real close. No one except Nathan Lucas knows what she can do. Not her family, her friends, or her gang.

• How has she managed to survive as a subversive element in Tangee-occupied Halcyon City without getting thrown in a cell? Did her rebellious activities just start? Is she in hiding?

Lani's activities to date have all been strictly small-time juvenile delinquent activities. Social activism and with a conscience. She ran with a gang doing graffiti and petty civil disobedience. As far as her gang is concerned she's mild-mannered Lani Moreno. Sure, she has a knack for machines and drones, but nothing extraordinary.

They've been busted a few times, Lani included, but the punishments have never amounted to anything more than fines, warnings, and threats to talk to their parents.

As far as she knows, Lani Moreno is still flying under the radar of anyone important.

• Under what circumstances did she meet Nathan Lucas? How long have they known each other? Why does she trust him so much? What kind of hero does she think he wants her to be? Does she feel she's living up to those expectations?

Lani knows Nathan Lucas from his youth outreach work in the projects when she was forced to spend time working there as community service for one of her vandalism busts. Nathan took on Lani as a cause. Wanting to channel her destructive energy into positive work for the community.

Nathan's conversation with her about figures like Malcolm X, Tupac, The Black Panthers, Mandella, Biko, and Ghandi really inspired Lani. Nathan has become a bit of a big brother/mentor to Lani, to such an extent that Nathan is the only person that Lani has trusted with the secret of her powers.

Nathan feels like she hasn't quite got the idea yet. In his words, Lani is "Too much rebel, not enough cause."

Lani feels that Nathan's ideal involves too much organization and not enough fun. Because "Sometimes you just have to blow sh*t up or make some noise to get your point across."

• What about the projects makes them worth protecting? What elements of her neighborhood are not worth saving? Is there a person Lani knows that embodies either of these extremes? What about a place?

If you ask anyone outside the projects, they'll probably tell you that they aren't worth saving. They're done, they perpetuate poverty and petty crime. It'd be better to finish the job that the Tangee started and rebuild something that works.

But for many residents inside the projects, it means home, community, and dignity. Poverty is real and so is the crime in the projects, but at their best, the residents of the projects have always banded together to help each other. Even more now with the destruction wrought after the Battle of HC.

It's an ideal instilled into Lani by the quiet efforts of her father to keep the family together and the help from the many aunties, uncles, and cousins of the extended family that is the home in the projects.

Location: The Headspace Youth Outreach Center

A drop-in center for the local youth and the focus of the very few social programs that the city still funds in the projects.

Nathan Lucas coordinates the day-to-day operations and volunteers from the neighborhood help keep it running. Some uptown town bureaucrat is supposedly in charge, but he only turns up when they need a photo-op to highlight all the good programs the city runs.

It's a dingy rundown office building, colored up the wazoo with graffiti and street art. It's open late, and usually has snacks and a lounge to crash on if you need one. There are some basketball courts and some opportunities for skating nearby, so as a focus for kids Lani's age, it can't be beat.