<div style="text-align: justify;">Apologies for the continued lull in activity.  I'm slowly regaining some energy, but am still very lethargic - especially mentally.<br/><br/>But hopefully I can provide a little bit of assistance.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Educational Insitutions - Character Affiliations</strong><br/><br/>* <strong>Arcadia</strong>: Iona Eckholm (Marie), Mephistopheles  / Hitomi (Muse), Doctor Yalda Graham (NPC; guest lecturer on communal identity and conflict)<br/>* <strong>Emerald City Community College</strong>:  Claire Inanis (Elayne), Doctor Yalda Graham (NPC; lecturer on communal identity and conflict)<br/>* <strong>Emerald City University</strong>: Valerie Hobson (Callie), Michelle Viator (Elayne-NPC; missing after lab accident), Doctor Alexis Pelke-Eckholm (Marie-NPC; para-science faculty), Doctor Cory Eckholm (Marie-NPC; Genetics department)<br/>* <strong>Malory College</strong>: Amber Powers (Avernale); <em>formerly </em>Hitomi (Muse)<br/><br/>* <strong>Academically Unaffiliated</strong>: Ms Venus (TFCommando)<br/><br/><strong>Other possibilities</strong><br/><br/>Over and above simple possibilities like a couple of characters happening to favour the same coffee shop, there are a few areas of easy overlap.<br/><br/><strong>Sports</strong>: Emerald City is more of a 'sports town' than most, given the comparative novelty of having top-tier teams to cheer for - and in one case, the still-more-recent transformation of a team so bad that they were dubbed "the Emerald City Munchkins" into a team actually <em>worth</em> cheering for.  ;)  At the non-professional level, some of ECU's teams are popular enough that people with no connection to the university at all will go along to matches to support them.  And if Amber were to compete on behalf of Malory, she could start to draw some significant attention if she's not careful.<br/><br/><strong>Martial Arts</strong>: the Emerald City Tournament of Martial Arts has become a city-wide festival of everything remotely related to its original (simple) concept of a few local dojos organising an open tournament.  TV, film, anime, comics, computer games, and more are all linked to it - along with meet-and-greet sessions, panel discussions, exhibitions, and a host of forms and styles of actual martial arts competition.  For any character who practices, watches, plays, or dresses up as any part of this, it could be a source of connections,.<br/><br/><strong>Modelling</strong>: Iona (Marie's character) is set to be a cosplay model and costumier, while Valerie has 'formal' modelling experience (partly under pressure from her mother).  Do either of them want to delve into the other's side of things?  Have any of the others taken pictures at events or followed them on social media or the like?<br/><br/><strong>Cryptid Tours</strong>: Have any of the charatcers gone on one of Hitomi's cryptid tours?  The girl in the cat-ear headband would be hard to forget, if so - and both new arrivals and longer-term residents might have reasons to sample one of Emerald City's more unusual industries.<br/><br/><strong>Music and Nightclubbing</strong>: I'm wary of fleshing out this side of things at all, since it can easily lead to the GM and a couple of players vanishing down a rabbit-hole of discussing the precise nature of bands, clubs, and venues... but if characters enjoy recreational dancing and / or drinking in social environments, then this could be a source of bonding.  Likewise for other forms of cultural expression, though few characters have the sort of Expertise skills that would seem to suggest a serious dedication to any particular 'scene'.  Still, if Claire dances where others can see her (and doesn't hold back), she's likely to draw a <em>lot</em> of attention - even if there's not a friendship there, anyone who's seen her perform (or cut loose on a nightclub dance floor) is likely to remember her.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>There's no <em>requirement</em> for characters to know each other - my hope is that the opening scene will provide you all with reasons to collaborate with each other.  But there being a few "hang on, I know you!" links between the characters might be fun.  :)<br/><br/>One <strong>confirmed</strong> connection is that Dr Graham has been providing Claire with advice and support in the aftermath of the laboratory incident (in which Claire gained her powers, and her girlfriend Michelle vanished).  Dr Graham is herself a (covert, and currently retired) super, and is old enough that she can clearly remember Ms Venus's period of activity: if she sees Ms Venus in action, she'll stand a good chance of identifying her.</div>