Emerald Blast
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Rhea in clubbing gear (photo courtesy of @Acyl) | |
| Emerald Blast | |
| Player: @Sofaspud | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Defender |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Rheabeth Samuels |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 26 |
| Height: | 5'11" |
| Weight: | You're cute. |
| Eye Color: | Hazel, mostly green |
| Hair Color: | Dark red, almost brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Superhero! |
| Place of Birth: | Near Atlanta, GA, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Complicated. |
| Known Relatives: | More complicated. |
| Known Powers | |
| Empathy / Radiation Blast / Power Mastery | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Fully qualified US Army Combat Medic | |
| Equipment | |
| Mr. Whiskers -- she doesn't *need* anything else | |
| No additional information available. | |
The Interview
Tonight, on Hero Spotlight: Emerald Blast! With the recent launch of her toy line, and syndicated children's cartoon show, she's truly vaulted into superstar status. And we have her here in the studio, folks -- with her companion, Mr. Whiskers! Let's give them a round of applause!
Wow... that's very flattering, thank you! I'm a bit nervous, but I'll do my best to answer all your questions. *waggles Mr. Whiskers paw* And so will the fuzzy one, here.
Let's start off easy. Are you with a supergroup?
Oh, absolutely. The best one out there! *laughs* We're called The Legendary, I'm one of the junior members -- my rank is Rumor.
Any heroes you hang out with in particular?
Of course! Two of them are very special to me, as a matter of fact. Gamma Emission is amazing. She and I have some very similar powers, but she's a lot better at using them than I am. She's been trying to teach me better control of the radiation stuff lately, but it's slow going.
Oh, and, I'm her girlfriend. *winks*
The other one I spend most of my time with is Terrence Knight. He's Gamma's boyfriend... kinda makes him mine, too, I suppose. *grins* I really love his voice -- it's all deep and rumbly.
Other than that, I'm usually with someone from the supergroup, you know? We're all friends... family, really. A big, dysfunctional, loving, kinda scary family, but a family. We've even got the crazy uncle. That'd be Superball.
Mr. Whiskers wants me to point out that we're very cat-friendly, too. I'm not sure what he means, but there you go. He's probably talking about Purrfect Archer.
Any bad guys out there you have problems with? Nemesis, maybe?
Well, I don't like Nemesis, of course, but they aren't that bad. They make for a good fight, even if I can't figure out half the time what their Evil Plan of the Day is supposed to be.
I try not to dislike people if I don't have to. If I had to pick a group, though, I think it'd be the Circle of Thorns. They really don't like me, either; last time I went up against them, they kept ignoring teammates to pick on me instead. Poor Mr. Whiskers had one of those thorn vines go right through him! It took a good hour to sew him back up....
So, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Not much to tell, really... I was born and raised in the southern U.S. -- Georgia, actually. I entered the Army when I was nineteen and trained to be a combat medic. Those were ... interesting times.
As for what I'm like... that's always a hard question to answer. *laughs* I mean, I like to think I'm a nice person. Optimistic. I've been told I'm cheerful all the time, which is kinda true -- I have to be, or Mr. Whiskers might lose control of his powers. And believe me, you don't want to see that.
Speaking of powers, do you mind telling us what you do?
Well, it's not me with the powers, you understand. I just channel Mr. Whiskers' powers. Yeah, I know, he looks like a stuffed cat. He IS a stuffed cat. But he's also Mr. Whiskers... I'm the only one he talks to, though. Poor lonely kitty... I need to find him a girlfriend.
Anyway, what I do is heal people, and zot the bad guys, with green glowy goodness.
Let's tackle the heals first. Can you expand on that?
Sure! M.A.G.I. classifies what Mr. Whiskers and I do as belonging to the Empathy set of abilities. It's pretty straightforward, though. I can blast a circle of healing energy around me, which is pretty handy in a fight, and I can also heal someone directly. Two ways of doing that, actually, but one of them hurts me, too. I'll take the pain if I need to, but I'd rather use the other, even though it doesn't help as much.
I can buff people up, too. Mr. Whiskers says we're magically enhancing their existing abilities; I just smile and nod and channel it the right direction. I'm not sure how it all works, but we can make you faster, stronger, better... *laughs*
Let's see... he's also got a nifty trick that clears up headaches right away, and... I think that's about it.
Oh! I almost forgot. If someone gets knocked out -- yes, Mr. Whiskers, or badly wounded -- I can bring them back. If I have to use that one a lot it's a sign that we're in trouble, heh.
... and to 'zot the bad guys'?
These are the ones that Gamma and I have in common. M.A.G.I. tells me it belongs to the Radiation Blast group; I'm not sure about that, because there are things Gamma can do that I can't, but whatever. I don't pay much attention to M.A.G.I. anyway.
So where was I?
Oh, right! So, basically, Mr. Whiskers and I blast the snot out of the bad guys with concentrated doses of high-energy particles. And before you ask, no, I'm not emitting anything right now. We don't do that. Again, it's magic... Mr. Whiskers either can't or won't explain it any further to me.
He's stubborn like that.
Anything else in your bag of tricks?
Sure. We play taxi a lot.
What do you mean?
Well, we can fly, which makes it really easy to get around Paragon City -- especially places like Perez Park, the Hollows, or Skyway City, because YIKES are those a pain in the neck if you're stuck on the ground. And Mr. Whiskers can pull people from one place to another, as long as I know where they are. A teleport, just like the Medicom system... except you don't have to get beaten senseless first and it doesn't take you to the hospital. *grins*
One thing I really like doing is to hover waaay above a group that we need to take down -- the bad guys are SO dumb, they never look up -- and teleport a friend in right above them. Only somebody really tough, of course. Usually it's Emet or Mag Flashlight. They land in the middle and just start knocking them silly -- looks just like a bunch of pins hit by a bowling ball, it's great! -- and I stay overhead and zap them alot. It works pretty well.
Anything else?
Mr. Whiskers got more powerful recently. When we need to, we can concentrate and make our next heal or attack, like, twice as powerful. It's pretty neat. And he's learned how to get the same effect with less effort, too... very handy, especially in long fights, because before we'd get too tired to go on and have to rest.
Oh, and, he came up with this nifty glowing shield-thing for me. I think he was tired of seeing me get hit all the time, heh.
How about non-superpowers? What else can you do?
Well, I was a fully-qualified Combat Medic... you don't just forget all that when you get discharged, you know. *laughs* Aside from that... I'm learning to cook, but I'm not that good at it. Macaroni and cheese from a box is about my limit, so I eat out a lot. I've had to learn to sew -- Mr. Whiskers keeps getting roughed up in battle -- so there's that.
I have a knack for finding things. Especially bad guys -- like when we have to go find Circle mages or Carnival freaks or whatever? Yeah. I'm usually the one who spots them. It's a curse, really... I tend to find them by tripping over them. Oops.
Tell us a bit about Mr. Whiskers?
Not much I can tell. He likes his privacy. He's linked to me, and me to him; my mood affects his control over his powers. So I need to stay calm and cheerful as much as possible.
Why's that?
If I didn't, it would be Bad. Next question? *grin*
How did you become a hero? Was it deliberate?
Not really. It's a long story; I don't think we have time for me to tell it all here. Honestly, we don't even have time for me to tell you how I got involved with The Legendary.
What about your relationship with Gamma and Terrence?
*laughs* Oh, I'd love to talk about that, but again, we don't have time. It was mostly a happy accident, honestly. One that I'm glad happened and wouldn't trade for anything in the world, but WOW was it confusing at the time.
Okay then, next question. What do you do for fun?
Oh, wow, too many things to describe. I like dancing... I'll drag Gamma and Terrence out to Pocket D whenever I can. Terrence usually just stands around looking pleased with himself while Gamma and I do the dancing, but it's still fun.
I like good food. I've set myself a goal to eat at every restaurant in Paragon City by the end of the year. I'm about halfway through... I'll need to get a move on if I'm going to make it!
I like movies, especially things like Indiana Jones or anything by Mel Brooks. Dunno if there's much else people would be interested in...
Oh! I almost forgot. If people back home are watching, this is for you. *looks straight at the camera with a mock-scowl* GMV, whoever you are, RMS is coming for you.
Uh... care to explain that?
Sure! I like arcades... and whoever GMV is, they've been totally kicking my butt on the high-scores lists of every CyberTroopers game I've found. I want my top spot back. *grins*
How's your toy line coming along?
It's going great! I don't have to worry about it much, except to sign off on the new models when they come out. We just launched the Mr. Whiskers Shoulder Pet line... they've got little magnetic clasps so you can stick them to your shoulder, just like Mr. Whiskers rides on mine.
And of course, The Mr. Whiskers Power Hour just went international. The writers are amazing... I watch every show I can and they're constantly surprising me. In a good way, I mean. Can you believe it started out as a puppet show?
So what's next for you?
I've been approached by a, um... friend, about a new product line. I'm not going to give any details, but I'll say this: if it hits the shelves, it'll knock your socks off!
Sadly, we're just about out of time. Anything to say to the folks at home?
Thanks for watching! *waves goodbye with Mr. Whiskers' paw*
Notes from the Studio
Attached is an incomplete list of documents detailing Miss Samuels' adventures in Paragon City. These were invaluable during our research, and are made available here as a service to the public. Our reporters will continue to locate these transcripts and will add to this list as necessary. We here at the studio appreciate all the hard work done by heroes like Miss Samuels, and will continue to run the Hero Spotlight program as often as possible. If you know a hero who you think deserves his or her own Hero Spotlight, please send a letter to us care of this station and a reporter will contact you as soon as possible. Thank you!
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