Crim?s costume is intended to be practical (as much so as something like this can be), although he would get a hell of a workout by lugging around as much as it would likely weight.
The main body of the suit is layered Spectra and M5 fiber cloth, making it very bullet and heat resistant. Originally, there was also an anti-friction coating over most of it, mainly the front of the costume, to help him cut through the air, but I?ve decided to remove that in favor of a friction-reducing aura like that used for most speedsters in the comics. Most of his mask (except around his mouth and nose, to allow for easier conversation and to pull his mask up when needed) and the area around his ribcage have an extra layer of Spectra or two.
The bolts over his ears are actually antennas, with tuners built into the disks they attach to. They are simple copper within a gold-colored aluminum alloy shell, with an anti-friction coating (extending away from his aura, as they do). If there would be an emergency radio system in place in Rhy?Din, he would likely have the radio receivers pick up on that; but other than that they are probably just a fancy iPod. The disks also contain earphone speakers and a mini computer, which has a navigational program and a sound-enhancing system installed. The input for the computer is a flexible keyboard built into the lower portion of his left sleeve, and is usually covered by his left glove. The display is projected onto the inside of his lenses, when used.
The lenses themselves are built into an aluminum frame, which is sandwiched between Spectra layers. They are constructed of bullet-resistant glass, under a layer of aluminum oxynitride, which is basically another form of bullet-resistant glass (as a reference, the Army is considering using aluminum oxynitride as the outer layer for windows on armored vehicles, from what I understand). They are also coated with an anti-friction material, as they extend far enough out to not be caught in his aura. It's not used much, but the display on his lenses does have a few special properties - light amplification and a distance finder are the most used, though they're rarely mentioned directly.

Any inaccuracies when it comes to the properties of these real-life materials are either a result of my doing all of my research on them over the course of one night, on Wikipedia, or a result of materials like these operating just a little differently in comic books than in reality. Probably the latter, since that makes it seem intentional.

-------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------

His actual powers are relatively straightforward. With the exception of his jump through time at the beginning of Secret Files and Origins, he will not be doing very little time travel (which, while tricky to begin with, would be downright insane to deal with in a shared setting like Rhy?Din - I have no plans for any time travel after the Returns thread).
He is fast. It's possible for him to break the light barrier, but he will rarely, go much faster than he does in the last portion of Secret Files. Faster than a bullet is enough, for most things. He does not have unlimited energy for such activities, and breaking the sound barrier most definitely tires him significantly, though it doesn't quite exhaust him in short bursts. Approaching light speed exhausts him no matter how short a time he spends at such high speeds (actually passing light speed, which he's done once and will quite possibly never do again, launches him through time and space and is quite capable of removing him from existence).
His aura protects him from the effects of friction and wind resistance when he is moving at super speed (and only then). It also protects him from impacts at super speed (such as his feet hitting the ground and, in the case where he needs to, striking villains and what not). Again, this only works when he is moving at super speed. For the purposes of these powers, super speed is anything faster than he was able to go before finding the formula.
The formula, as designed by DC, seems like anyone speaking it would be given super speed. I am not using it this way, as that is a bit excessive. There is a concept in DC comics called ?hypertime? (the basics of which are explained in the first post under Secret Files, this is my take on the DC version), and one needs to be holding a picture of certain aspects of that in one?s mind when applying the formula. It doesn?t need to actually be spoken, but it works better that way because of the added focus. That's not exactly how it was originally used, but then, originally, anyone would get super speed, just by stumbling across the formula. I don't think that's the current way it's done, but since I'm not sure of that, I'm going with this.

"Live and Let Die" is done, so here's some extra info about it.

As may have been noticed, each of the posts in that story had a different subject, all of which where song titles. I'm not sure why I decided to do that, but I did.
"Live and Let Die" is pretty straightfoward, for Dean. He was more innocent when he first came to Rhy'Din, and just wound up being beaten down, in a fashion, by the world around him.
"My Evil Plan to Save the World" is a Five Iron Frenzy song, and amuses me. I don't think it actually fits that well with Dean's plan, such as it is, but it is an evil plan, with the intention of "saving" the world.
"Just Another Day" is not meant to be the John Mellencamp song. It's the Oingo Boingo one, with lyrics like "It’s just another day / there’s murder in the air / It drags me when I walk / I smell it everywhere / I do not trust my ears / I don’t believe my eyes," which makes a lot more sense for the story than the Mellencamp song does.
"High Speed Dirt" is there because of how Dean is taken down, as it were, and because I wanted something that referenced speed.

Dean does still have his powers, though he lost all the energy he was holding on to, and I do have plans for him (assuming no one else wants him). This being a comic-book inspired folder, jails and what not will not have a great track record for holding the bad guys, for the most part. If anyone does want to play Dean, send me a PM. There's info about him that isn't in the stories yet.

So, that's that.

Random OOC addenda:

I’m still not sure how I want to handle guest appearances here. I’m certainly not opposed to them, but it’s not like Crim has a specific location for people to stop by or knock on his door. If anyone wants to post here, I’m fine with that, just so long as you send me a heads-up so I can be ready for it.
Also, since Crim is established now, and has been seen on an occasion or two at the RDI by other characters, I may look into possibly getting him involved in other storylines. Nothing definite on that, and only one real set of vague plans so far, but it may happen in the future. Especially once I work out more exactly how I want to work his power, with the question of technology/magic/whatever-science. I’ll contact people if he may wind up in their folders.

There may be a bit of a dry spell, for a time. There are two main reasons. The first is, I’m not sure what to do with him next. I don’t want the extended stories to all be, introduce new member of rogues gallery, explain new rogue, defeat new rogue. So, I need to actually come up with something to write about. The other is that I don’t want to do anything major until certain plans are taken care of (also known as, “No, really, I do have a reason to procrastinate.”) That’s just for extended stories. I’ll still toss in vignettes (I may make a second vignettes thread, or something like that, shortly, to make for less need for scrolling just to read one post) as I come up with little scenes and chats with Ibis if/when warranted.

As usual, comments and criticism (constructive, destructive, or otherwise) is welcome here, or in PMs, or both. Whichever.

Yeah, I don’t really like how “The Ogre, the Necklace, the Ship, and the Captain” turned out. I feel like there should be a freeze-frame with everyone laughing at the end there (preferably like the old Police Squad show, where everyone just stops moving, instead of an actual freeze frame), it seems so pat. This is apparently what happens when I don’t have a plot in mind when I start a story. I just had a version of the title in mind, and kind of ran with it. Now I know to throw together an outline, at least.
Captain O and the Anglia will be back, at some point. I do have plans for them, which didn’t really fit in this story. I wanted to do a mystery with them, with Crim trying to figure out why they were up there, what their mission was, etcetera and so forth. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pull that off when I put together an outline and, you know, actually plan something.

No, no. I won't be deleting comments.
(Especially nice ones like this. :D)

I appreciate the praise, and I'm glad you like.

I'm honestly surprised there aren't a lot more OOC comments here. ::looks around for where they're hidden::

Anyway, I wanted to drop a line and say that I'm enjoying "Falling Star." I'm just using the edge of my seat at this point, since there seems to be some pretty crazy things that are about to happen.

So, amazing work! I can't wait to read more when I have the chance. ♥

I guess I can finally start defiling this folder with my presence now.

*stretch, lean, settle, defile*

This is a great folder. I haven't been able to read everything yet, but I'm really enjoying your work. Great job!

Grem,

Look into slaving off your hard drive and not using it as a master drive. If you're not computer savvy try googling it. Basically you hookup your old Hard Drive to the new one with the cable, and switch the jumper on the back end of the hard drive.

I've done that with drives that were believed to be "shot". Also try maybe throwing your drive in your freezer overnight before trying to get some of the data off.

I'm an IT guy, I've got a lot of little tricks. :)

Maybe hit me up with a PM and I'll see if I can help you further. Good luck!

O_O What was in the room with the throne?!

Hard drive update*:
It's looking like it'll be at least a month, probably more, before I'll have funds to do the data recovery thing.
I'm mostly broke right now, and will be spending a a couple weeks abroad (Germany and England) soon - after that, I'll have redefined "broke." So it'll be a while before I can build up my bank account again.

What does that mean to you, my faithful readers? It means that I'm not (just) being lazy. I'm just busy, and what I do have ready (or nearly ready) is inaccessible.

*"update" used in only the loosest sense.

I don't know if there'll be any follow-up involving the drow woman in the most recent one shot. That post came about because I was bored and wanted to write something with Grem in costume since it's been a while, and because I've been playing Hordes of the Underdark (that led to wanting to write something, of however little substance, involving drow; and to considering how it would actually feel to be holding a "+1" sword - how one would describe it without holding the sword in and of itself making one a better swordsman).

If I don't follow up on it, and anyone's curious, the drow was exploring a section of Underdark when she was teleported to Rhy'Din, where people started bothering her - some human appearing out of nowhere in front of her was enough for her to snap a bit, hence the swipe with the sword. They'll hook her up with a woman who speaks drow to teach her common and get her acclimated to non-drow society (and/or try to find a way get her back home). She'll eventually, if she stays in Rhy'Din, become a productive if irascible member of society. If I ever do post a follow up, that all might change.

As to the bit of flesh that got shaved off of Grem's hand, it was later found and eaten by a rat. This rat was the escaped pet of a child named Miguel Gonzales, and continues to call himself, if only in his own mind, by that surname. He will gain super-speed temporarily, and become something of a hero among rodents (and bane of cats). Tragically, his super-speed will wear off in a week or two, at the worst possible moment: while he is crossing the street. Confused by his sudden lack of power and unable to react with super-rodent speed, Gonzales will meet his fate under the hoof of a Clydesdale. Fret not, his death will be swift and he will not suffer more than an instant. As no other rodents will be there when he meets his end, none will know of his demise, and he will remain a legend for generations of rats.

If I suffer temporary insanity, I may at some point in the future consider writing the brief, heroic, tragic story of the speedy rat Gonzales.

Gonzales the speedy will be missed, it is true.

Instead of spamming my own OOC thread, I'm going to edit this entry with each post of the story I feel like adding any explanation to when I make the post.

I hope I got the science (er...what science I didn't make up, anyway) right in the first part of Returns. More than that, I hope it makes sense - enough for it to be clear, in general at least, what's happening to Grem, anyway. Hard for me to tell, since I know what I'm trying to get across.

If it doesn't make sense, or the bits of real physics are blatantly wrong, feel free to let me know. I can see about fixing anything too messed up.

...

I'll leave it open to interpretation whether parts two and three actually happened or were hallucinations.

A number of the scenes referenced in part two show up in posts, either in this folder or elsewhere. If anyone wants to cross-reference, let me know - I can direct to the specific posts, wherever they are (for now, I'll just mention that anything pre-Rhy'Din, if I ever touched on it before, is in "Of the Wolf, and of Mistakes" - which I'm going to edit a bit, if only to fix some of the formatting).

Elements of part three (one theorized final fate of speedsters, along with Crandall and his blond friend) are based on things from DC Comics. Specifically, the idea of speedsters winding up in their own sort of afterlife, an extradimensional somethingorother, is inspired by this idea.

...

I don't intend to use time-travel much, because it presents enough problems for just one writer, and in this environment could only really be used in cases where it sets up a predestination paradox. Time travel's been used a lot in Flash comics, ranging from decent stories (though most involve a bit of ontological paradox - like one of the Flashes, either Barry or Wally, causing their own origin story) to complete WTF-ery (Linda's pregnancy falls under that category).

These events were alluded to in a prophetic comment not too long ago - like most prophecy, it was vague and cryptic enough to be entirely useless and relatively meaningless until after the fact.

...

I did my best, since I first mentioned Anna's suicide, to avoid there being a paradox when Grem used time travel to save her. That wouldn't necessarily have been hard (her death didn't lead to his becoming Crim, and didn't have any direct influence on his going time-tripping when he broke the light barrier), but it would have required retroactively changing Grem's attitude over the time since he found out she died. Which affected his interactions with a lot of people. So, without <i>everyone</i> agreeing to assume those interactions turned out at least slightly different, it really wouldn't work.

So, there was a suicide note. She jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge (leaving behind either some item that could be identified as hers, or someone up on the bridge who saw her jump). In the original timeline, she died, and the East River disposed of her body - it was never recovered. In the new one, no death so no body. Since she's leaving Earth, the end result is the same: it's assumed she died. Net result on Earth of this time travel: a few dozen liters of matter isn't there any more, and there was a minor effect on the ecology of the East River and surrounding environs (along with a pair of pants and a bit of food and drink being lost, and some Rhy'Dinian coins showing up) In all, very minor changes, though of course the butterfly effect means they could have made a big difference somewhere down the line. I'll comment on the net result on Rhy'Din when I put up the next post.

...

Yeah, there've been two Grems around for the past six months. No overlap when it comes to interaction, though - after the last full moon, about three weeks ago, it's been the Grem that had already went back in time. Before that, it was the one that hadn't broken the light barrier yet. The unnamed small town's timeline has changed, perhaps significantly, via the addition of one long-term resident and one who was there for five months.

"Femme Fatales 'r' Us!

Your wish we'd be glad to fulfill,
If you need a dangerous hottie;
Whether you've someone to kill,
Or you're just feeling naughty!

Looking for the young and sexy, if a little crazy, daughter of an oil tycoon? Our Carmen model is perfect for you!
If a sexy (we hope you notice the theme!) convoluted con girl is more to your taste, try our O'Shaughnessy model!

Who can resist smoldering silver eyes and gams up to here?
Tell us what you need, and we'll send her straight there!"

...I couldn't resist.

I don't know if there'll be any follow-up to the invisible woman in the latest "One Shot." Maybe she's lying, and she's got a personal reason for trying to shoot him. Maybe there really is someone pulling her strings. If I do follow up, I'll pull that post out of "One Shots" for its own thread.

I debated putting "Watch Brutality" into "One Shots" instead of making a new thread for it. There's a chance, probably a relatively small one, that I'll revisit it, though, so I decided to put it on its own. The brutality involves what is being discussed, as opposed to what happens in the post, but that may be all that's said on the subject here.

I loved She Died in Leather! First person narrative doesn't always do it for me but it works really well for following the case with Grem and seeing how he's able to piece it all together. Looking forward to reading more of Grem on the beat!

The Void Cries' events begin next week, not today.

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

I don't know how often I'll be posting to that thread, but it will probably be similar to One Shots, but more related to the investigation business. Some cases might not even stay open - I'll probably use it for any one-post investigations I do in the future, unless they're a part of a larger story.

I don't...um...actually remember whether or not he knows how to tango (I've got a list of the dances he knows, somewhere, but I'm not sure where, exactly), but he could learn.

I *want* to say that he does know, on account of those dancing lessons he and Lydia were taking for a while. I know for certain fact they would know waltzing as that was the main thing, but I seem to recall something about them moving on to tango at some point... My memory isn't exactly the best though, so take that as you will.

If that's the case we likely discussed it in the RDI chat, as opposed to AIM. I checked my history and searched for "tango" but that only came up every time you said "Whiskey.Tango.Foxtrot". :P

Also: I really liked some of these choices! I'm rather partial to what you picked for his fight and unique theme. I had forgotten about the Ballad of Barry Allen completely. It was nice to be reminded of it again.

Don't have time to look at all of those right now, but I wanted to tell a little story about one of them.

A while back, Grem was in the process of explaining to someone (Issy, I think, but I could be wrong) that he was a werewolf. It wasn't going that great, due to her not quite getting it, and also what she was getting freaking her out a bit.
At which point Toby, at the piano, decided to play Werewolves of London. Both to help along the explanation and because it was funny, I assume. And got a massive bitchface from Grem for his troubles.

So, yeah. I like it. Grem, not so much.