littleladylord:

The team had been working on things. Cindy had meant it when she'd asked Gauntlet to leave and resolved that the team's period of complete incompetence and injuries-waiting-to-happen was over.

A lot of the security equipment she'd commissioned could double as obstacle course material, and there were several other workout options. And, for more direct combat-defense lessons, there was Saishu.

Cindy'd suspected that her own training sessions with Saishu had been, from a Bana perspective, the heavily toned-down version. And that had been extremely challenging for someone with nearly two year's training. So she'd tried to help rein things in a little, though Saishu was right. The bad guys wouldn't.

And there was improvement. There really was. But they had to keep working on it.

Andy's personal adjustment to learning to function hadn't gone well. Andy was now in a secure location. Andy would be safer and more comfortable there for now. That was all Cindy was going to say about that. But the six of them persisted.

She'd made sure everyone had a good chunk of their calendars cleared today. Now it was a matter of seeing who'd show up.

lantern_corps:

The island was nice enough, a tropical climate.  Ganthet had brought them to the beach there, and began his instruction.

"Consider, if you will, the different emotional entities, how they are paired, and from where they arise," Ganthet began.

"Rage and Love, for example, are emotions that are directed towards something.  You feel love for your companion, or rage at those who have wronged you.  They sit the farthest from the center of Will that is at the core of the Emotional Spectrum, because they are emotions of passion, here in one moment, gone in the next, difficult to sustain and yet able to consume one if left to flicker and burn for too long by themselves.

"Greed and Compassion, move closer to the center, and act as more intrinsic emotions.  Greed is a desire for more, never satisfied with what you have, always seeking to possess and control more.  Compassion is the empathy for the suffering of others, the understanding of other viewpoints and situations, feeling for them and seeking to mend them.  These emotions exist more solidly, more states of being that flare-ups of passion.

"Fear and Hope just left and right of center, are different in that while those are emotions that may be felt, as the Emotional Spectrum understands them, they are emotions that can be caused in others.  The Fears that claw at us in the dark, the Hope that tomorrow will be better.  Those who wield the Lights of Fear and Hope are beacons of these emotions, fanning the flames of those emotions around them.  They know them, and how to wield them to best effect.

"Willpower stands at the center, and stands alone.  It is the ability to overcome fear, to turn hope into action.  It is the ability to fight to make compassion a reality and to resist greed's temptations.  It is the ability to temper the fires of rage and the passions of love with the need for clarity and reality.  Though my brothers are wrong in ignoring the other Lights, they were correct when we believed that the Light of Willpower has the potential to be the strongest of them all."

He looked them over.  "To know your Light is to know yourself.  Think, and search within you.  What about you drew your Light to you?"

lantern_corps:

Ganthet had, due to his dealings with the leaders of the various Corps, left the New Guardians alone for far longer than he would have preferred.  He had been there to offer the occasional piece of guidance and philosophy, but was well aware of how much had transpired in his absence.

He was, however, immensely proud of them all.  They had risen to the challenges before them like he knew they would, like the heroes he knew they could become.

Now, however, he had appeared in their home. 

"New Guardians," he said, using his power so that his voice would reach each of them.  "I would speak with you."

dc_misc:

Cain had been planning this for months. The Chicago art museum had in it's possession some artifacts that they knew little of worth of having only exhibited them once before placing them in storage. These artifacts had come from Enoch the scared city that Cain had founded and he would not let them rot in some museum backroom like that. Especially when they might hold the clues to him finding the city at long last.

He had dispatched Brother Phlegethon to Chicago with some of his best stealth teams to take care of all of this.

Soon after arriving in the city and casing the museum the city was rocked by a series of explosions set up of Phlegethon. It would be all over the news in no time. But the figured they could get in and out without any trouble.

loveontherocks:

So, they had agreed to go the charity ball.  Heather recognized a few people, she thought.  The mayor, for one.  Maybe a couple local celebrities.  And sadly, a fair amount of media coverage inside, though the team had managed to escape at least some of the attention.

She was carrying  a drink.  Not because she could drink it, but because it at least gave her something to do with her hands.  She was a little uncomfortable, she had to admit, with this much of an overt display of wealth and power.

But it was good for them and good for the city and, more importantly, good for the people they'd helped.  She just had to keep telling herself that.

loveontherocks:

"Okay!" Heather called into the rest of the complex. "DVD player's finally set up! We've got movie night!"

Things had been going rather well for her and her fellow Lights. The art show had made her more money than she'd ever had at one time in her life, her parents had somehow managed not to find out, she'd sold a piece to Ralph Dibny and his wife who'd happened to be in Chicago and had used to live in Opal, and had spent a portion of Valentine's Day faintly high off the love fumes.

Which really explained the charge she sometimes got around Cindy and Saishu or Harry and Jess.

Ganthet showed up on his own schedule, getting them to work with their powers or offering some kind of abstract philosophy.

And most of the time, she didn't feel like crying when she looked in the mirror. Pretty good.

dc_holiday:

They were the newest team to form, but it wouldn't stop them from celebrating the holidays The headquarters of the New Guardians was decorated to the hilt. A large tree had been decorated and presents had been placed under it. Holly decorated the halls and mistletoe was placed in strategic places. Lights twinkled and shined brightly. It was the season of joy and togetherness and this year faces that had been missing last year had returned. It was a time to celebrate and a time to enjoy the company of friends and loved ones.

Snow had fallen on Christmas Eve blanketing the city of Chicago and gave the city a festive air. Despite the cold weather and snow the people were out and celebrating the holiday.