Degeneration

I want to start by saying that it's sheer coincidence that Keen Frost and E-VAC are both dying slowly. We did not get together and decide to do it at the same time, and I think he's as surprised by E as I am by Frost. Unfortunately, it means we're competing for the same spot on stage. Not actively or intentionally competing, mind you, but I gotta tell you: nothing makes me feel as foolish as hearing Keen Frost say "the radiation is killing me" only to have E come out and essentially say "me, too". Or vice-versa. We're not trying to do it, and we're both taking different tacks on it, but still...

The day before yesterday, I decided E was going to be starting on drugs. Up until then, he was trying to do without, confining himself strictly to experimenting on the radiation and injecting himself with different substances designed specifically to target the radiation. But the pain is getting worse and worse. His empathic powers don't trigger it, but every time he uses the radiation, it's new worlds of pain. So he started to take something for the pain. Naturally, my very first outing after making that announcement, I started screwing up. It was a series of total accidents, but it quickly made sense there were side-effects of the medication, making E get sloppy, lose control, lose concentration.

Let me explain how I envision E's powers actually work. RP-wise, his powers basically fall into five categories, and they don't necessarily fall where you'd expect.

Containment Suit
Power Blast: Kit apparently installed a few extra gadgets in the containment suit she built. A hidden trigger inside the gauntlets sends out pulses of energy.

Empathic
Accelerate Metabolism: E once had refined his empathic powers to where he could actually stimulate the adrenal glands directly, one of his favorite beneficial uses of his empathy. This is much harder with the radiation interfering, but he eventually learned to combine the empathic stimulation with a "squirt" of radiation, making this a "combo" power.
Blind/Spectral Wounds: E's oldest and most-used power is to use his empathy to make his victims feel pain. He either takes pain they're already feeling and amplifies it, or he makes them feel injuries they don't have.
Deceive: One of E's favorite tricks is to insert paranoia into his victim's mind. This tends to work best with villains who already have reason to distrust their companions.
Mutation: Another "combo" power, E uses his empathic powers to reach in and re-stimulate his fallen comrade. A little burst of radiation causes the process to happen more rapidly as well as invigorating the body at the same time.
Radiant Aura: Yes, I know this is a radiation power mechanically, but to me (RP-wise) it's his old empathic healing aura.
Spectral Terror: E summons up (in his words) a wad of pure fear and tosses it up in the air. Since it's just a raw emotion, the victim's minds will sometimes conjure up mental images to rationalize the sudden fear.

Haunted
Phantom Army/Phantasm: The spirits of the people E killed during his criminal career have been raised to serve as bodyguards. As spirits, they have powers they did not have in life (PA) or altered versions of the powers they used to have (Doppleganger).

Mutagenic Radiation
Accelerate Metabolism: See above.
Choking Cloud: Most the time, E is holding in the radiation his body produces. When he relaxes his control, this poisonous, mutagenic radiation leaks out into a cloud around him. In my mind, it should affect friend as well as foe, but mechanics don't allow for it.
EM Pulse: By concentrating on forcing his body to produce more radiation, but holding it in for a few minutes, E can do a quick burst, causing an electro-magnetic pulse as well as shooting out radiation in all directions.
Enervating Field, Lingering Radiation, Radiation Infection: E sort of... squirts some of the radiation from his own body at a target, coating them with a specific radiation type, generally harmful.
Mutation: See above.

Pocket Dimension
Group Invisibility: With a little effort, E can nudge friends around him part way into his pocket dimension. This causes them to be harder to see and harder to hit (yes, I slot GI for defense).
Recall Friend: E can reach through his pocket dimension, grab a friend, and yank them over near him.
Teleportation: While in L.A., E was able to go virtually anywhere he liked just by stepping through his pocket dimension. Unfortunately, the dimensional instability of Paragon City only allows him jumps of about 200 yards at a time.

Now the other four "categories" work just fine, but his radiation-based powers hurt. The radiation courses through his system and generally comes out through the marks on his hands and arms. But this is not a natural process and his body has to heal itself every time the radiation comes through his pores. This is part of why his regeneration is burning out. In addition to having to constantly repair him internally, he's also been forcing it to constantly work on him externally as well. And the more he uses his radiation, the more it builds up in his system and hurts him.

But now, rather than risk hurting the people he cares about or innocent bystanders, he's refusing any more pain medication. So last night, as people in a lot of pain often do, he went back and forth between quiet and sullen and grumpy and rude. He was more uncomfortable than he's ever been, and I tried to make it show.

And at the end of the night, he noticed his hands are bleeding again...