Question The Boys of Summer

whateleyacademy.net/index.php/original-t...8-the-boys-of-summer

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Nice Speeches! It shows how much thought has been put into the characters' mindsets!

This bears thinking about.

Is that a pun??!



Wait a bit... Got more stuff to write. Reserving space...



Ok... Spoiler Box names can't handle apostrophes...

Hmm... Either this is a bit short, or I'm reading really quickly... ... Gonna edit this repeatedly instead of making a text file... I'm nearly done, anyway... I wonder if there'll be server problems or something, if I make constant editing a habit...

Arrrrrgh!!!! You invoke Samuel L Jackson's most famous monologue and then leave us with a cliff hanger! Shame! Shame ! Shame! On you.

Yolandria wrote: Arrrrrgh!!!! You invoke Samuel L Jackson's most famous monologue and then leave us with a cliff hanger! Shame! Shame ! Shame! On you.

Perhaps, but he gave you (with a well-placed suggestion) a truly memorable mental image of Tansy slipping and falling

Malady wrote: whateleyacademy.net/index.php/original-t...8-the-boys-of-summer

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Nice Speeches! It shows how much thought has been put into the characters' mindsets!

This bears thinking about.

Is that a pun??!

This is working backwards... Cause Im reading my notes from bottom to top... [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Orgasm stuff is funny!

"How will you know…?"

Elaine picked up the fishing rod that was suddenly against one of the trees as she walked by. "Ah'll know," she assured the blonde.

* * *

Elaine wasn't sure why she had bothered to manifest the fishing rod. The cries from the other side of the island made certain that there were no fish within miles of her line.

* * *

... 3 times the normal hormones levels is no laughing matter! I think... ... But then, basically a faux-EX? Unless hyperbole, but Grizzly's a medic, so I'd be leaning on 'not hyperbole'...

Tansy was incredulous." Spirits get horny?" She demanded.

The Amazon shrugged. "I haven't ridden a human in more than forty years, and suddenly I've been bound into a nymphomaniac with the hormone levels of three girls! Horny doesn't begin to cover it!"

Grizzly sort of wandered deeper into the island and faded away at the same time while Tansy moved her glance over to Elaine. "Nymphomaniac?" She demanded. The redhead shrugged with a salacious grin.

"Ah just think Ah have healthy appetites," she replied. Slightly more thoughtfully, the grin died and she asked, "do you think we shouldn't enjoy it? Wasn't that what women's Lib is all about?"

... Need cultural context... I guess perception of Natives as drunkards?

"Are you alright?" Asked Lanie out of concern. Kayda made an angry gesture.

"Native American!" She declared exasperatedly. "Alcohol! Yes I guess I am that much of a cheap date!"

Lol!

Elaine's cryptic refusal to expand on her previous comment made the rest of the meal more than a little awkward. And not just for her, Tansy noted as it became increasingly apparent that Kayda wasn't exactly sanguine about what could be in the offering either. Things came to a head once the meal had been finished and the girls had returned to the car. Elaine drove a little further before getting back off of the freeway and following a set of signs to the parking lot of a Motel 6 at which point Tansy could take things no longer.

"No!" She protested.

"It's not what you think," Elaine started but Tansy already had her phone in her hand was typing furiously.

"I'm not sure that Tansy has the wrong idea all by herself," Kayda supplied causing Elaine to facepalm in frustration.

"Ah am engaged to be married!" Elaine protested, "what exactly do you think…?"

Tansy turned the screen to where Elaine could see driving directions. "I'll be the first to admit," Tansy said quickly. "I may not know exactly what you have in mind, but I can tell you this... whatever it is is not going to take place in a cheap motel room. So this is the only four-star hotel in this part of town and whatever is going to happen is going to happen there. Because I have standards, dammit!"

... There's Paranormal History classes? ... What about the other organizations that could help fight the Bastard, like the Churches?

... Tansy not knowing about Orgasms... Interesting. ... Also, her spirit doesn't show in Dreamspace... No spirit or what?

Wait a bit... Got more stuff to write. Reserving space...

And this is working forwards... [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Horse spirit... Warhorse... Horse rider... Horse control? Tansy has Metaphysical advantage against horsey things? +5?

... Now we know that spirits don't know everything... Or normally, they would, but Tansy has some protection of some kind?

...

Giztech... Well, anyone can buy it... Who is Warhorse working for??

...

June 12th, 2007

Pegasus Aerospace, Ft. Bridger, WY

A cloud of smoke and a fireball erupted on the opposite side of the complex from the main gate with the sound of the massive explosion taking a full four seconds to reach the Animan's sensitive ears. Alarms began to be raised as personnel rushed to try to contain the fire. "Showtime!" He declared and charged the gate.

...

June 12th, 2007

Dream Space of the Ptesanwi

...

Kayda stood woodenly, some part of her noting how regally Tansy sat in the saddle and how flattering the riding habit was to her figure, but before she could pronounce anything her attention was drawn to the east. "Something's wrong…!" She declared.

Did they detect the explosion? Wait... Where is their location relative to Warhorse's? I guess it was planned that he's running an op near them?

And that's a Yes. The trio's current location, near the same Fort Bridger as Warhorse.:

June 12th, 2007

Interstate 80, just west of Fort Bridger, Wyoming

Pegasus Aerospace, Pegasus is a horse... Relevant? Or Red Herring?

... Where's the tracker on Tansy? 'Cause in order for op location to be near the trio, the trio's location has to be known. ... Or not tracker on Tansy, but they're being spied on... Or Satellite tracking, or something...

Ok... Spoiler Box names can't handle apostrophes...

Hmm... Either this is a bit short, or I'm reading really quickly... ... Gonna edit this repeatedly instead of making a text file... I'm nearly done, anyway... I wonder if there'll be server problems or something, if I make constant editing a habit...

I'm on a new tablet right now so deleting the different parts is a pain.
The comment about Natives and alcohol isn't just a perception, many of them get drunk extremely easily because they don't have a genetic resistance to the enzymes. It's one reason alcoholism rates are much higher among Natives than most other groups.

About the story itself, Tansy and a horse spirit, could be interesting. I wonder what their final agreement was?
And having tatanka calling out Kansas envy and self doubt was good. She needed it.

The Boys of Summer Part 1 comments
Nice choice of song lyrics to start the story with. Black Diamond Club which Ms. Hartford is taking Tansy to, wonder who to meet. Dague, enrolled today, what kind of place is this, sounds like a Syndicate front. Old French for dagger and a lot of uses, nice reasoning. Plus making it fit with her Hindmost codename, Hartford messing with her protégé like that is so her. Syndicate chapter houses all over like that to recruit from Whateley, oh boy.

Tansy asking about infiltrating Wyatt's Atlantean League, they have figured out Wyatt is going to war but don't know with who. Once Tansy finds out and informs Ms. Hartford, if she doesn't go pale at learning of the threat they are going to war against she is able to remain calm better even than I imagined.

That portal to the Salt Flats is disorienting to look at, never had it described in such a way before now though. Nothing living around for hundreds of miles, yikes, now that is the definition of desolate. Guess news of the miles per gallon Lanie's car gets hasn't leaked to the campus yet. From 122 to over 200 mph like that, dang, I can understand Tansy's concern, I tend to freak out over 55 mph myself, but I have a minor phobia of riding in cars. 200 mph on the German autobahn with 25 miles per gallon, freeway speeds 34 or so miles per gallon with an 18 gallon tank, yikes. Baby Girl is a powerhouse of a car with impressive miles per gallon, no wonder Lanie likes to open her up when she can. I will never, ever, ever go to Montana or their freeways, no speed limits is a nightmare for me.

Fagin's Pub, little too obvious with that name as a criminal establishment or connected to crime, thanks to Oliver Twist making the term Fagin famous. Tansy knows and revealed about the Bastard to Ms. Hartford and she isn't acting afraid, at least she knows her paranormal history and knows Wyatt is taking him seriously. Ms. Hartford drives the point home that normal forces won't work against the Bastard, that mutants and other superhumans are better for the job.

Okay, that is most shocking of all, Ms. Hartford offering help to Tansy is one thing, but to Wyatt means she knows this is a huge threat, to keep Mrs. Carson out of the loop I expected. She knows Mrs. Carson too well, how she would see their safety as more important, Ms. Hartford wants a true army and nothing to stop Wyatt's efforts towards that goal. Help from the Syndicate and other sources, dang. And still with the stay friends with Lanie and Wyatt while not coming between Kayda and Lanie.

A joke by Tansy about whoring her out brings out Ms. Hartford's true inner fire, stating she isn't her father and not using her, but in this business there are times to put aside your own personal desires and do what is best for humanity. A harsh but true statement Tansy needed to hear, though the part about seducing them, just makes my skin crawl hearing Hartford say something like that. Good lord, she went through that to get Dr. Palms master server, Ms. Hartford will do anything if it means the greater good. Encouraging Tansy by saying she is saving the world, something to be proud of, still doesn't make such things easier to do.

Lumberjack slam, please say there are several lumberjack pancakes with sides of bacon and sausage, the thought of that makes my mouth water. Tansy doesn't understand why Lanie likes girls too, still not having accepted that side of herself, poor girl. Oh, I love how Lanie stops Tansy about the use of the Bible to condemn homosexuality with some facts that few people know or choose to acknowledge. Mega-ouch, Tansy saying she doesn't know what love is because her parents don't love her, nor did the boys she had sex with, no wonder she is such a mess. What the what!?! What is Lanie planning with the motel room?

Tansy and Kayda thinking the same thing about what Lanie meant, which Lanie says she is engaged to be married. Tansy is more upset about it not being at a 4-star hotel, getting a laugh from Lanie and Kayda and even Tansy after a moment. Champagne in a 4-star hotel while toasting to friendship, priceless. Explaining the difference between love and sex to Tansy, while Kayda is talking about being a cheap date due to being a Native American drinking alcohol, which got some teasing from Lanie. Lanie teasing Kayda to show that she loves her and isn't ashamed of what happened, but won't act on it as long as she is engaged to Wyatt and Kayda is with Debra.

Brought to a hotel to go into the dream space with Lanie and Kayda, that explains it. Crude, Tansy's dream space is a nightmare for her right now, stuck in her 10 year old body with nothing but darkness around. Grizzly shows up ala Cheshire Cat and Tansy even compliments her on it. All this to help Tansy, while what Grizzly says to Tansy in response to what offense she could have given her makes me believe Grizzly knows about what happened with Lifeline, how she is infiltrating the Atlantean League and more.

Love means you would unleash your worst on those who harm those you love to gain vengeance. Tansy is shocked love has such a dark side, that isn't even the start of it. Now Grizzly is going to help her to remember a time when Tansy was loved. Dang, her mother did love her, just booze and drugs ruined all that over the years and Tansy forgot. Dang, got me crying along with Tansy there. Believing she was responsible for what her mother did and became, suppressing that and all the pain all these years. Tansy is back to her true self she was before all the pain over the years suppressed it, appearing as a Norman Princess in her dream space.

Tansy shocked by her dream space, much deeper than her mind, and Grizzly has a good guess at the origins of her appearance and that of the dream space. Yeah, Lanie in her Pict warrior appearance is enough to take anyone's breath away. Lanie joking about her appearance which gets Tansy laughing and her joining in. Small island beach in a lake with a little white sailboat is Lanie's dream space, definitely fits her.

Grizzly going to find Kodiak to scratch her itch and Tansy is shocked spirits get horny, wait a minute, Lanie isn't a nymphomaniac, Gizzly is exaggerating otherwise Lanie wouldn't be able to focus on a single project long enough to finish it. Tansy has never orgasmed! No wonder she is in such a bad mood most of the time, yikes. *eyes bug out* Tansy is that sheltered she has never heard of a vibrator at her age, in 2006/2007 that is shocking. Dang, even if it is just in the dream space Tansy finally got some release, enough to scare away the fish from the other side the island.

An invasion from Outer Space during the Cold War in the 1950s and they used Fort Bridger to pass it off as just an Oscar winning George Paz movie, ingenious. Space Defense Command and keeping the secret that aliens have come to Earth from the public, nice world building. And Pegasus Aerospace is now a Goodkind company, ugh. The shadowy watcher is Warhorse, working for someone going by the Commander, while they are plotting against Lanie, Kayda, and Tansy, calling them the targets.

Tansy wakes up in the king-size bed with Elaine and Kayda, feeling awkward about it. Tansy taking in Lanie's facial features and how men would be wanting to get home to a woman like her. Entranced by Lanie's face, she resist kissing her despite a strong urge to. And Tansy having a fantasy of being with Lanie and Wyatt at the same time, oh boy, better watch it or she is going to need a cold shower. Tansy wishing she could be at peace in her own skin and comfortable with her sexuality like Lanie is, times like this you wish you could hug her. And she is even thinking about picking the right spirit and getting Kayda's help with it.

Tansy taking about having an unusually large hallow and wanting Kayda's help, but Kayda doesn't want to anger Mrs. Carson by doing so. But Lanie brings up the facts that she didn't say Kayda couldn't introduce people to spirits and it was part of her job description.

"Now I know why the rules lawyer side of you ticks people off!"

All these months together and she finally sees Lanie's rules lawyer side at its best/worst. Tansy wants an expert, while Kayda has been second-guessing a lot of what happened in her life because of spirits entering her, yikes. At least she wouldn't give them up, not after the hell of being separated from them during the trial. Thus she is going to introduce Tansy to a spirit in the dream space.

In Kayda's dream space and Tansy is back in the princess get-up.

"Tansy, not Buttercup!"

Bwahahaha. Glad to hear Kayda say she is proud of who and what she is. Tansy shifts back to her modern outfit and hair style, but her heels give her a hard time so Kayda says she could be more comfortable.

Tansy frowned. "Are you...taking me to a wigwam, and you're suggesting I get more comfortable?" Kayda laughed aloud at the implication of Tansy's question. "Do you want me to seduce you?" she said with a waggle of her eyebrows and a naughty smile.

Oh my, that is priceless beyond measure, had to catch my breath from laughing so hard.

Kayda getting a wistful expression thinking about what have been, then shocked to see the same expression on Tansy's face when thinking about Lanie. Wakan Tanka shows up and startles Tansy into jumping back, her heels causing her to fall off the rock she landed on and tumbled to the ground in a fresh meadow muffin, ugh. Tansy freaks out until Kayda reminds her it is a dream space, thus she changes her dress into one similar to Kayda's but showing a lot more cleavage.

Tatanka pulled that stunt to gauge Tansy's reaction and what type of spirit would best fit with her. Tansy has a wild spirit, yearning to be free, but all her life it has been chained; by Tansy and her fears, by the direction and desires of others, living so long in these chains she is afraid to be free of them, harsh. Not Wabli, the eagle, or Ceda, the hawk for her spirit. Tantanka grins and unnerves Tansy by doing so, while Kayda spits out her tea at his next suggestion. Maka, the skunk spirit, bwahaha, that is gold.

Sukawakan, they shift suddenly to Monument Valley which Tansy recognized, good at geography. Seeing the horse spirit stirred something inside Tansy, a yearning she hadn't realized she had. Tansy is afraid of what she is being offered. The wild mustang of the southwest, a spirit of freedom, untamed and unfettered, going where it wants. Tatanka shows the different roles that horses play in the world. Kayda tells Tansy that every person has multiple roles and multiple facets to their being, how you can be diligent at work, but a free spirit when not at work, loyal like a good hound, but also playful.

Kayda confirms Tansy has a quite large hallow so few spirits would cause physical deformity, Sukawakan isn't one of them. Some personality changes, including easier to exercise her free spirit, easier to focus on difficult tasks without becoming bored or anxious. Yikes, it is a stallion, meaning she would be more expressive of her sexuality, easier to accept she is a sexual being, and enjoy that aspect of who she is. Yearning for the spirit and the freedom it would bring, but afraid at the same time. At least Kayda tells her to take her time, how time in the dream space is different than in the real world.

Tansy wishes to accept the spirit, this gift from Kayda and Lanie, wondering if she dared to call them her friends. She ask if the stallion can speak and Sukawakan says why not ask him in response in a clear resonant tenor familiar to Tansy but she can't put her finger on why. Mustang knows all her names, even Dague, so the spirits know everything from your own mind and memories while you are in dream space, dang. He even says he can teach her how to read spirits in time. He says he can give her the comfort in her own skin that Lanie has if she accepts his teachings.

Lanie is the first to ask a spirit what the price of the teachings are, impressing Mustang who says everything has a price. He states he will know the very bottom of her soul, while Tansy wishes to know if she can trust him. He was bonded to another human who died in the Vietnam War and it is painful for a spirit when their human dies, so much he has just finally in a place where he considers bonding with another human. He will do everything in his power to keep Tansy alive and whole, well motivated to do so.

He tries to change the subject, asking Tansy what she gets out of this arrangement. But Tansy is too experienced with deception from both sides, asking what he gets out of bonding with her. He turns dark on her, saying serving as his hallow with nourish him. But Tansy shifts the dream space and darts her thumb into her mouth between the gap of his teeth, pinching his tongue and nerve painfully. She has a bridle and rein on him before he even can respond. Tansy calls him a terrible liar, saying if he could see into her mind as far as he stated he could he would know she has ridden horses since she was a little girl and not let her within arms length.

She reveals she has experts manipulating her and is a manipulative bitch of the first order, telling him they can play this as a partnership and play straight with each other or not, giving Mustang the choice of which. She says if she has to he won't be the first horse she has broken, or the last. Mustang misjudged her and they are going to talk about being partners and their future now. Never seen someone outwit a spirit like that before, Tansy is more impressive than before.

Warhorse was ordered to have violence but not a bloodbath by his employer, using rubber bullets and now midmorning the next day for when Lanie, Kayda, and Tansy will show up. Gizmatic 4k stealth field, even if it doesn't make you invisible, making you harder to see can still improve the odds. An explosion and he charges the gate of the complex, at least he was ordered not to kill.

Kayda's mindset is messing with her dream space, afraid of how Mrs. Carson might react to this adventure, how Tansy might come out hotter than ever and confident, believing she will steal Lanie from her and Lanie will abandon her for Tansy in her nightmare images. Tantanka questions her about these fears, but Kayda doesn't wish to talk about it, him saying not facing the truth is a well-worn path for her. List everything good about her and all her blessings, yet she still sees only the worst that could happen. Kayda saying she didn't ask for any of this, reminded again they were gifts freely given and that they are not the issue right now.

She lies about worrying over the punishment Mrs. Carson will give her, but that only upsets Tatanka. It is about fear and envy of Tansy, saying what business is it of Kayda's if Tansy seduces Lanie, saying Kayda loudly proclaims her love for another so what claim does she have to Lanie's heart, or who she shares her bed with. Kayda won't stop lying to herself, how she envies Tansy and Tatanka won't let it continue. Kayda begins to admit it to herself, when Tansy shows up in a riding outfit on Mustang's back on a saddle, but not bit and bridle. They have come to an arrangement and Mustang ask the Ptesanwi for a blessing. But something is wrong and they have to rush back to their bodies.

Wow!

Some extremely interesting rabbits.

Yes , we knew that Tansy was an avatar, and that her hallow was reasonably sized, but just that description of the way that Kayda helped Tansy find the appropriate spirit, shows that Kayda is really growing into her future role, as well as the character development that has taken place with Tansy.

Tansy wouldn't have been willing to accept a spirit before, because she wasn't ready before. I couldn't see the old Tansy behaving like this.

The scenes with Hartford imply that there has been wholesale changes taking place in the last 40 years, with the approaches of the Spy agencies towards mutants and how they could be assets within the lives of baselines, and society as a whole.

Remember how the internet was originally designed for network redundancy during a nuclear war. It's ex-military technology. Army surplus. )

Large amounts of the advances we have had is through the civilian off-shoots of military research.

This applies for psychology, sociology, and anthropology, as well as the material sciences.

The use of MMID's could be seen as a logical extension of the research that Mephisto mentioned in the 1940's.

The way that Ayla is working in the business world, can be seen as the new generation of the commercial expressions of this same pattern. It seems to be more successful, so far, than some of the previous versions, where the inventors were defrauded, and/or targeted for theft.

Imagine how this will play out in the long-term...

Also one of the main implications from the conversation between Tansy and her handler, is that this is not the first time that the Syndicate done this sort of operation. They've already got contingency plans for this sort of thing.

What does this tell you about the stories from the past, that caused them to realise that they needed this form of contingency planning?

There would be a lot of chewy "Golden-Age" stories there.

As well as the "Smilies People" style stories, and the "Man in Havana"-style screw-ups.

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Very nice way of telling more with less.

I'm looking forward to the next part.

Malady wrote: Hmm... Either this is a bit short, or I'm reading really quickly...

12,648 words (by my count) - there are 321 episodes with more words, 100 episodes with fewer.

I'm a lot more comfortable with Hardass' use of Tansy now - it appears as though her motivation is mainly (or purely) to do "good" by unorthodox (aka not strictly legal) means - both reactions make complete sense: since Cody's a loner by nature, why the heck is he suddenly gathering a team of campus heavy hitters, and why the 'proper' authorities probably wouldn't be the best match for The Bastard.

Back to the road trip, and as soon as Lainie suggested a motel, I suspected she was thinking of dream walking rather than practical demonstrations, then with Tansy's personality, descended from Norman royalty makes perfect sense (although I very much doubt she'd try to be an honorary member of the Euro-Promotional League!) - and just typical of her to imagine a Versace dress that makes her look fabulous (although not Absolutely Fabulous ) but is completely unsuited to the conditions.

Sukawakan does seem a good match for Tansy - they're no doubt intruiged by each other and will probably learn a lot from each other. I assume she's made him sign the equivalent of a NDA given she's no shortage of skeletons in her proverbial closet, while in turn he'll not only help her protect herself but help nudge her if she falls into old habits and manipulates people for her own selfish reasons (rather than for The Greater Good).

Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see them in the new school year and maybe get a glimpse of Sukawakan's reactions to some of the other students there - a certain diminutive Poesie springs to mind, especially given a certain sequence of events Tansy would rather forget...

mittfh wrote: just typical of her to imagine a Versace dress that makes her look fabulous (although not Absolutely Fabulous ) but is completely unsuited to the conditions.

I think she was trying to be impressive? Has anyone else managed to make anything as fancy and as complex as that dress?

And then the impressiveness was ruined by the environment?

Also, trying to be humorously melodramatic?

"Eeek!' Tansy shrieked, pulling herself to her feet and staring in utter horror at the dung-covered dress! She looked up at Kayda, her anger rising to volcanic levels.

"Tansy," Kayda said very quickly, hoping to defuse the girl's rage, "this isn't real, remember? It's just dream-space!"

"Look at me!" Tansy fairly screamed. "This dress ... is ruined! It was a designer original! And I'm covered in ... eeewww!"

Kayda took the girl's hand, pausing to glare at the chuckling white bison behind them. "Tansy, dream-space, remember? Think about what you think is appropriate."

The blonde exemplar gawked at her for a moment, not quite comprehending, so Kayda sighed. "Fine," she said, closing her eyes and thinking for a moment. When she opened them again, Tansy was dressed as she was - in a buckskin dress, albeit showing a lot more cleavage than Kayda was - and moccasins. All signs of the meadow muffin were gone from her. "Better?"

Tansy looked down at herself, astounded. After an obvious moment of mastering herself, she shook her head. "Yeah. But ... is this a designer dress?" she asked, shooting a questioning glare at Kayda. She couldn't keep up the pretense, though, and she started chuckling and her expression softened.

As Tansy was trying to be humorous, I think she might have heard Kayda and was just stunned by the possibilities of dreamspace, as it could possibly operate like Whisper's sim space with enough practice...

Hmm... I bet that the vibrator that Loophole conjured was a model that she's used herself, or at least seen, and if she tried to take it apart... Hmm... Would it have realistic circuitry only if she scanned it when she had her Gadg?

Humorously melodramatic? I just thought it'd be funny to dump Tansy in a steaming buffalo turd! And EE liked it so he put that bit in.

Yes, the two of us consult a lot on stories. which is fun - I like working with EE. A lot. And we have more plans

elrodw wrote: Humorously melodramatic? I just thought it'd be funny to dump Tansy in a steaming buffalo turd! And EE liked it so he put that bit in.

Well, Alternative Character Interpretation. So yeah.

elrodw wrote: Yes, the two of us consult a lot on stories. which is fun - I like working with EE. A lot. And we have more plans

Umm... Did you mean for that to be surprising? 'Cause that isn't a surprise, 'cause you told us this. Repeatedly? ... So, it's like, an un-surprise? Like an un-birthday, but with surprises.

Malady wrote:

elrodw wrote: Humorously melodramatic? I just thought it'd be funny to dump Tansy in a steaming buffalo turd! And EE liked it so he put that bit in.

Well, Alternative Character Interpretation. So yeah.

elrodw wrote: Yes, the two of us consult a lot on stories. which is fun - I like working with EE. A lot. And we have more plans

Umm... Did you mean for that to be surprising? 'Cause that isn't a surprise, 'cause you told us this. Repeatedly? ... So, it's like, an un-surprise? Like an un-birthday, but with surprises.

No, it's more like a warning to fasten your seat-belts, because we have a really wild ride coming up. Not saying if it's gen 1 or 2 (or both), but people are going to be picking their jaws up off the floor saying "I did NOT see that coming! Ho. Lee. Fuck!"

"Let's assume you can convince the Colonel over there of the dire threat looming over his unsuspecting head. Now, he's obviously in shape, but I'd say he's at least in his early to mid 40s. He can probably bench press, oh, let's say 225 pounds. Even if I believed your MID that lists you as an exemplar one, which I don't by the way, can you bench press more than he can? What can the normal do, that we can't do better?"

Weeeeeelllllllllll. That depends upon what the Colonel's job is in the military. If he were say a Colonel in the Infantry or Armor, or one of the other combat branches, it's entirely possible that he is better at tactics or strategy than they are, plus he would have a Battalion of soldiers at his command. He is almost certainly better at organizational skills than Tansy, probably not better than Ms. Hartford.

There are other jobs that he could have that would be fairly useless to them, but there are many others that would be useful. Even the advice he could give them might be of excellent help.

Valentine wrote: "Let's assume you can convince the Colonel over there of the dire threat looming over his unsuspecting head. Now, he's obviously in shape, but I'd say he's at least in his early to mid 40s. He can probably bench press, oh, let's say 225 pounds. Even if I believed your MID that lists you as an exemplar one, which I don't by the way, can you bench press more than he can? What can the normal do, that we can't do better?"

Weeeeeelllllllllll. That depends upon what the Colonel's job is in the military. If he were say a Colonel in the Infantry or Armor, or one of the other combat branches, it's entirely possible that he is better at tactics or strategy than they are, plus he would have a Battalion of soldiers at his command. He is almost certainly better at organizational skills than Tansy, probably not better than Ms. Hartford.

There are other jobs that he could have that would be fairly useless to them, but there are many others that would be useful. Even the advice he could give them might be of excellent help.

Some heavy artillery fired from several miles away could thin out the voodoo dogs and other physical threats nicely. And the soldiers would be far enough away to stay sane. Then the mutants could go in and mop up before focusing solely on the bastard.

@elrodw - So, is the big surprise actually unpredictable atm? Mmm...

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That thing with Hartford seducing the passcode from that CreepyOldMan, how old was she? 'Cause if he's great-grandfather age, he can't be young, unless you assume that you're working with as young a set of pregnancies as possible

But, more importantly, why does that guy have the codes? Palm planned it, 'cause they'd be hard to steal if it's that guy that has them? ... That wasn't actual the Palm, right? Palm's younger?

And Tansy's mom... Just naturally prone to depression or something? Will she be important later? ... If she isn't dead, will Tansy help her mother get treatment? ESPer treatment? Well, at least Tansy wasn't the cause? She didn't mutate yet, so no ESPer powers there... Unless time travel to traumatize past self to cause the present to cause a future... :lol

... WMG: Did Mrs. Potter plan this? Potter plans everything You can't go wrong assuming she's got a plan in whatever's going on. :lol

Malady wrote:
That thing with Hartford seducing the passcode from that CreepyOldMan, how old was she? 'Cause if he's great-grandfather age, he can't be young, unless you assume that you're working with as young a set of pregnancies as possible

But, more importantly, why does that guy have the codes? Palm planned it, 'cause they'd be hard to steal if it's that guy that has them? ... That wasn't actual the Palm, right? Palm's younger?

Amelia was not the only person chasing after the Palm, nor was she the most virtuous of them. Suffice to say she was the most motivated.

Malady wrote: And Tansy's mom... Just naturally prone to depression or something? Will she be important later? ... If she isn't dead, will Tansy help her mother get treatment? ESPer treatment? Well, at least Tansy wasn't the cause? She didn't mutate yet, so no ESPer powers there... Unless time travel to traumatize past self to cause the present to cause a future...

If you look at statistics you'll find that people who can afford doctors suddenly seem to have ailments that require doctors care. Tansy's mother was a victim of her own success and doctors willing to cater to her perceived issues.

Will she get treatment? It could be argued she's had far too much treatment, will have to see in future stories. There is no time travel in this universe.

Few points:
- Tansy's mom apparently is alive, because Tansy was disappointed she hadn't come for her upgrade to Senior.
- It's not quite clear if Tansy and Sukawakan finalized their bond yet. They might, they might not. Having been pulled from Dreamspace suddenly could have kept them from finishing the bond.
- Tansy has the hots for Chaka (among others) but is in denial of her sexuality. I wonder how long those closet walls will last after bonding with Sukawakan...
- It's quite obvious that this is just Chapter 1 of the story; not only from the cliffhanger ending, but, well, so far the title does not make much sense.
- Heh, there are at least FOUR horse references in this story -- Baby Girl, Warhorse, Sukawakan and Pegasus Aerospace. I wonder how many more E.E. will work in...
- I hope Lanie did some work on the aerodynamics of Baby Girl. A vintage Mustang is not designed to run at 320 km/h without becoming dangerously unstable.
- Hartford is... a complex character. She has been shown to work for the good, but she has also been shown to deal with unsavoury characters. I think she is willing to do quite a lot to achieve whatever her goals are. It seems that her current goals align with the general interest of the population (stomp hard on the Palm, protect Whateley and its students, save the world from the Bastard) but these might not be all her goals. She might have others that are less benevolent. Notice that none of them are quite altruistic, since they might also be interpreted as important for her long-term welfare (it has been implied in the past that she took a position at Whateley as a protective measure).
- Tansy's unfamiliarity with vibrators: well, I don't think she is that sheltered, but she isn't exactly on first-name terms with sex-shop clerks. She is almost certainly aware of the common bullet-shaped vibrator (even if she has never used one), but the one Lainie offered her is not as widely pictured on popular culture. Her upbringing seems to have been quite conservative in that aspect ("women don't orgasm", "homosexuality is a sin"), the sort of upbringing that tells girls that they should remain virgin until marriage, and calls sex with her (eventual) husband as a "duty" instead of a perk... and then her own father pushes her into whoring herself. No wonder she's a mess.

Sir Lee wrote: Few points:
- It's quite obvious that this is just Chapter 1 of the story; not only from the cliffhanger ending, but, well, so far the title does not make much sense.
- Heh, there are at least FOUR horse references in this story -- Baby Girl, Warhorse, Sukawakan and Pegasus Aerospace. I wonder how many more E.E. will work in...

Well, predominantly the title was to play up on the song, someone lamenting that they didn't understand what love really was. This is where Tansy's emotional state is. Although I will point out that 2 of the horses are stallions and thus boys, just say'n.

Sir Lee wrote: - I hope Lanie did some work on the aerodynamics of Baby Girl. A vintage Mustang is not designed to run at 320 km/h without becoming dangerously unstable.

While Lanie has done quite a bit of suspension work to Baby Girl, if you recall even her own brother pointed out that the car would be the death of her going that fast. And both Stronghold and Sir Lee are correct in this regard.

Sir Lee wrote: - Hartford is... a complex character.

Thanks for noticing! We do try.

I am slightly surprised that nobody (in story or outside of it) has made a What is Love joke yet. So I guess I'll fill in the gap.

There you go =)

I wonder how comes that Tansy hasn't made her goal in her life get her mother back from whatever afflicts her.... she will try, eventually, won't she?

And, considering that this story is the continuation of Pomp and Conspiracy, will we learn more about Lanie's side project involving 'the product of her great-grandfather sins'?.... Or, does that have to wait her getting back home?

Tansy does not see her mother as a victim, not quite. She sees her mother as one more in a long string of people who let her down. She may be beginning to understand that her mother was not a villain, but there's some way to go before she decides to actively attempt to rescue her mother from her own issues.

Rather than "What is love?", I think Tansy's situation was more this

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

The thing about Hartford is that she isn't afraid to be the "necessary evil" it is unknown if she takes justice into her own hands, but otherwise an argument could be made for vigilantism, she walks very close to the line in many respects, however she also needs to, her activities may be how the Whateley protection plan has been arranged

-mock angry fist shake-

he clicked on the Gizmatic 4K stealth field. While not a true invisibility, it would've worked better in the late dusk when the attack was originally scheduled to occur rather than midmorning as it was now, it would be sufficient camouflage, and every little bit helps.

Warhorse’s form shimmered in a hazy, vaguely human-shaped

Are you guys trying to make me make Kara or one of my other DeVille kids into a Major Kusanagi knock off? You just handed me the "thermal optic cloak" or what ever it is in the show.

Cryptic wrote: -mock angry fist shake-

he clicked on the Gizmatic 4K stealth field. While not a true invisibility, it would've worked better in the late dusk when the attack was originally scheduled to occur rather than midmorning as it was now, it would be sufficient camouflage, and every little bit helps.

Warhorse’s form shimmered in a hazy, vaguely human-shaped

Are you guys trying to make me make Kara or one of my other DeVille kids into a Major Kusanagi knock off? You just handed me the "thermal optic cloak" or what ever it is in the show.

I have no idea what or who Kusanagi is so I really can't answer. I was envisioning the stealth field out of Predator.

Cryptic wrote: -mock angry fist shake-

he clicked on the Gizmatic 4K stealth field. While not a true invisibility, it would've worked better in the late dusk when the attack was originally scheduled to occur rather than midmorning as it was now, it would be sufficient camouflage, and every little bit helps.

Warhorse’s form shimmered in a hazy, vaguely human-shaped

Are you guys trying to make me make Kara or one of my other DeVille kids into a Major Kusanagi knock off? You just handed me the "thermal optic cloak" or what ever it is in the show.

Exactly which Kusanagi are you talking about?

Valentine wrote:

Cryptic wrote: -mock angry fist shake-

he clicked on the Gizmatic 4K stealth field. While not a true invisibility, it would've worked better in the late dusk when the attack was originally scheduled to occur rather than midmorning as it was now, it would be sufficient camouflage, and every little bit helps.

Warhorse’s form shimmered in a hazy, vaguely human-shaped

Are you guys trying to make me make Kara or one of my other DeVille kids into a Major Kusanagi knock off? You just handed me the "thermal optic cloak" or what ever it is in the show.

Exactly which Kusanagi are you talking about?

The Major. That's who.

Wow, you need to be fast around here to defend the Major

Well in hopes of not sounding completely lame, I have seen Ghost in the Shell. However the character in question I only remembered referred to as The Major. So that's the disconnect, I didn't recognize the last name. But yes I agree, great movie.

If it makes you feel better, for a moment I thought Kurenai from Gen2 was a reference to Major Kusanagi, due to my tendency to confuse names of similar lengths that start with the same first couple letters. One time I accidentally named two girls in a story I was writing Sal and Sam. Bad idea. If I ever get back to work on that one, I'm changing one of their names. If the author can't even keep them straight, god help the reader.

As for The Boys of Summer, when I saw the line "This bears thinking about," I thought maybe Tansy would end up with a polar bear spirit. I was also rooting for a pig or wild boar, because Miss Piggy is one of my mental images of Tansy (the other being Sparkle from the comics Footloose and Magical Transvestite Cherry). A horse is a good fit for Tansy too, though. They're over-hyped, full of shit, and they've got a whole shoe industry built up around them.

I should be nicer to her. She's trying, but she's such an easy target.

Kettlekorn wrote: A horse is a good fit for Tansy too, though. They're over-hyped, full of shit, and they've got a whole shoe industry built up around them.

-bursts out laughing WAY to hard-

Cryptic wrote:

Kettlekorn wrote: A horse is a good fit for Tansy too, though. They're over-hyped, full of shit, and they've got a whole shoe industry built up around them.

-bursts out laughing WAY to hard-

He left off that they attract flies.

But at least they have their own fly swatters. =)

And a little bump to put your comments here.

Comment, comment, comment, comment, comment.
COMMENT.

Okay - I left some comments

Now, as to the good stuff - you know I like it! After all the reviewing and editing and suggesting. Now everyone else should get off their asses and comment on this part of the tale of Tansy and Lanie.

SPOILER ALERT
Below is a stream of conscious commentary I type up as I read the story. There will details from the story included in it. If you have not read the story yet and don't wish to have details of it spoiled, read no further.


The Boys of Summer Part 2 comments
Tansy being tested by the Syndicate as Hartford's apprentice, hope she doesn't end up in deep trouble. And Hartford spells things out for Tansy, then Tansy goes and ask if these people are so powerful, why aren't they in control. And advice about different types of power and the best being the less obvious ones. Just look at Jade, no one but her close friends and some of the staff know what her powers really are, deception about the true nature of your power can be more powerful than the power itself.

And Lanie heads straight for the source of power in Baby Girl. Ah, so Tansy did get her spirit in her before they were jerked out of the dream scape. Dang, Tansy showing she has the heart of a hero, going straight to rescue the innocents trapped in cars and in danger. Nice transformation into their costumes and power armor, right out of a superhero comic. Ouch, Tatanka cut down like that and Kayda hurting now, we are dealing with a pro.

The Guest, The Old Man, and The Captain watching the fight through a Predator drone feed, calling the girls The Professor's girls, saying Warhorse is better. No audio and wondering what Dague aka Tansy is saying. All this is the mentioned test for Tansy and once cornered where he would have to use lethal means of attack, Warhorse surrenders. Moral implication, uh oh.

Tansy knows about Animen and there reality show, went through an intense horse phase when she was 10 and had her dad get the channel for her, interesting. Oh boy, Warhorse ticks off Lanie with saying he works for her and not giving a more clear answer at first. All this to steal back the plans Lanie made for NASA's Deep Star Ion drive because the company with the blueprints was bought out by Goodkind International to suppress them. All to prevent good press for mutants in any way, Tyrone West is the one who hired Warhorse to do so.

And Lanie gets ahold of Tyrone West to confirm Warhorse's story, saying he only gave bumps and bruises, how out in the real world things aren't so black-and-white and Lanie should stick with Tansy as she will steer her right. Tansy points out what is legal and what is right aren't always the same, something she is beginning to learn herself. And now for the aftermath, paperwork and depositions to give, ouch.

3 different MPs questioning poor Kayda and Baby Girl impounded. Grilled for 3 days just because they are under-age mutants, not listening to Lanie's arguments or Tansy's threats of expensive lawyers. Ms. Hartford shows up to get them out, the MPs only kept them so long with flimsy justification. Tansy passed the test, she is sarcastic about what she gets for that, even makes an Old Man Jenkins reference from Scooby Doo. Tansy is now part of a select Committee that exist in the Syndicate, using and controlling it, dang.

Back to school to catch up her schooling and training she slacked off on for so long, Tansy has learned to read Hartford and know when she has given her all she is going to and further needling won't work. And Tansy feels guilty, seeing Lanie as a genuinely good person and deserves a better friend than someone like she sees herself. Dang, everything she does that interfaces with Mrs. Carson is to help out Carson in one way or another. Telling Tansy to make sure Lanie benefits in some way to assuage her guilt. And don't make an enemy of Kayda, otherwise Lanie will make a choice and it won't be one Tansy or Hartford likes I'm guessing.

Baby Girl mysteriously missing a quarter of a tank of gas, the MPs took Baby Girl out for joy rides! And Lanie isn't ready to hear the world is as 50 shades of gray as Tyrone West makes it out to be. Tansy defending the plans being stolen back, as what Helen Goodkind wasn't right by any stretch of the word. Tansy brings up how tribes would do raids to 'send a message' to a potential foe, which makes Kayda rebut that was a long time ago. The Talk, Paranormals: History and the Law, how deep seeded anti-mutant hate is. Helen Goodkind basically talked about rounding them all up and putting them into concentration camps. And they get to the point, everyone just does what's right in their own eyes, scary but true.

At a warehouse used by the Sioux Falls League, Kayda gets time with Debra but they have to hurry so they can reach Atlanta and Tansy can catch her flight back and get back to Whateley. Oh boy, Debra insisting on a 'ladies night' and Tansy worrying about how Wish List and Card Trick will respond to her. Kayda's mom has a taste for Japanese and Kayda feigns a fit about it, Lanie still wants to leave but Debra takes her aside for a private talk.

Debra is jealous, wondering if Lanie is moving in on Kayda, even talks about her hooking up with Tansy, oh brother. Nothing happened, Debra is worried as they haven't called for 4 days, 3 of those spent in jail, yikes, no wonder she is freaking out. Debra apologizes and says Lanie has to stay so she can make it up to her, dinner and like a slumber party, finally gets Lanie to give up and agree to stay.

Oh boy, Tansy has the hots for Lanie now, all those thoughts brought on by her encounter with Lanie back in January. Dang, Mustang looks like a cartoon minstrel brought to life, didn't see that coming for his human appearance. He is trying to encourage her to join Lanie and Kayda in bed, Mustang trying to get her to accept this side of herself but Tansy cries she isn't gay. And Mustang says she isn't male, bwahaha, that is one way to get her from feeling sad, annoyed and angry.

Dang, Mustang doesn't censor himself at all, candid almost to the extreme to get Tansy to see the truth about herself. Dang, Mustang saying at one point or another all women are bisexual and trying to get Tansy to see that is what she is and it isn't something to be ashamed of, accepting this will bring her peace. Heavy stuff, just dang.

Dang, all those conflicting emotions, falling asleep in her dream space in the arms of Mustang, oh boy, wondering how intimate the others are with their spirits. Ouch, hit by upset and embarrassed Danny as he storms out of the HQ. Gina 'Wish List' Martin chasing after him, seeing the 'teasing' brings out Tansy anger of how she endured such before she manifested. Tansy yells for Wish List to leave him alone, drawing the ire of Wish List and insults. Saying she doesn't like bullies, Wish List tries to defend herself saying it was just teasing.

Oh boy, Gina just won't back down and thinks Tansy is the same as before, just fooling everyone and acting, as Tansy says she doesn't care about any of that, just leave Danny alone. So Wish List storms back into the warehouse, after one last pot shot. Danny thanks Tansy, while Tansy looks over Danny, seeing some form nebulous attraction she can't put her finger on. Calls Danny Mr. Franks, poor boy is so shy around her it is endearing, Tansy tells of her own 'teasing' at the hands of Heather and Connie Goodkind when she was younger. And Danny has a crush on Tansy now, oh boy. Tansy has to leave as her ride is here, she tells Danny to call her Tansy, and he is love-struck.

And driving through Nebraska, Tansy is getting bored by all the wheat fields. Tansy liking the reality of Lanie over the fantasy she had before. And really personal questions from Tansy to Lanie, about to get even more interesting. Talking to her about if she goes to Grizzly when she desires to be with a female, but Grizzly is somewhere between mother and aunt to her. Tansy apologizes for asking, then even though Lanie says it is okay, Tansy books them a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Louis.

Hot tubs and a spa, champagne and impersonation of Marie Antoinette. Tansy actually comfortable nude with Laine in the same room, guess Mustang is already getting her to loosen up. And Lanie is in a swimsuit, used Kayda's memory of the hot tub party to guide her. And Tansy is nervous, feeling she put Lanie on the spot. Candid talk and dang, proves that girls are more open with each other than guys think. Dang, offering Tansy some of her 'toys'.

Tansy is so innocent of these things, given her rep, calling herself the virginal slut. Lanie reminds Tansy everything in the past is water under the bridge, she wishes to help her make amends. Yikes, stumble into a hot kiss between them, Lanie restraining herself before it goes any further due to her love of Wyatt. Dang, Tansy offers to get him a plane ticket and have in there in 8 hours. Another kiss and Lanie has to fight back again, shoving Tansy away, asking God to give her the strength to do what's right.

Tansy actually wanted to be with her, but Lanie's crying and saying if she was single they could be together. Lanie hugs Tansy, saying she doesn't want to take advantage of her, sharing will take time and a whole lot of work to figure out. Tansy saying Lanie hasn't hurt her, not sure if she is into girls, trying to blame the booze, Hercules syndrome, or how the spirit has her riled up. Lanie offers to set her up with a girl in St. Louis who has the hots for Tansy, dang, didn't see that coming.

Only the indoctrination by her parents and the preacher are making Tansy hesitate. A girl from a year and a half ago at one of the hot tub parties, in St. Louis, wonder who it is. Marla Fontaine, wizard, tall brunette, extra curvy. Oh boy, thinking Lanie is trying to whore her out, she is hurt and needs healing. Oh boy, Lanie realizing that Kayda's fear of Tansy becoming a better friend than her might not be unfounded.

And being told by Grizzly that she knows Wyatt wouldn't object to being with both of them. Oh boy, warning her about envy, wrath and lust are deadly sins for a reason, who would Wyatt love more if all 3 are together, Lanie and her kids or Tansy and her kids. And Tansy ask if Lanie could just have sex with someone she just met if she was single, that more meaningless sex with people she doesn't care isn't going to help her understand herself. Very mature with what she says to Lanie about the whole thing, yet Lanie says she thinks Kayda is developing some...more than friend...feelings towards Tansy as well. Watching Tansy walk out of the room, Lanie talks about how she is going to the special hell.

Ooo, Lanie's dream space, on the bow of Lanie's sailboat Picket's Revenge, while in the real world they fell asleep in each other's arms. Half tomboy, half girly girl for Lanie's dream space, interesting. Not even Tansy can say not to Lanie's mom when she ask her to stay a few days and partake of their hospitality. Dang, Tansy actually got a ticket to Wyatt. A racer called the Tansy IV, custom built for a race, wonder how fast it can get. Drinking beer in dream space, one way to avoid the underage charge.

Yachting and polo are Lanie's sports, nice to know, sounds like she has a lot of fun. Practice all year at school, so Lanie, Kayda, and Tansy can take part in the race from Newport to Bermuda in June, sounds like a recipe for adventures besides just the sailing. Suntan lotion on Tansy by Lanie, oh boy. Oh boy, all those emotions from Lanie, and in the dream scape they make love, hope this doesn't blow up on Lanie or Tansy. Just saying it is a dream and doesn't count isn't an answer to those who know how dream scapes work.

The Captain talking in Cyberspace, talk of Lanie being amenable to being turned and Kayda a potential third [at least it feels like that is who he is talking about]. The Professor aka Hartford is there, pleased with how everything went. Gah! The flirting between The Professor and The Captain. Based on him being a head of state and their flirting, plus Gen 2 details, The Captain is Lord Paramount, at least that is what I believe.

Dang, Hartford knows how to control her man, all this flirting back and forth, if the students at Whateley saw Hartford like this they would never think of her the same way again. Dang, he is coming to New England to meet with her, talk about dedicated. All this just makes the scene in Gen 2 where we learn her fiancé disappeared as well more painful.

Dang, Atlanta airport sounds like a nightmare for those new to it to navigate. Waiting for Wyatt at the airport, Lanie is so eager to see him. All those thoughts about what this relationship might be from Tansy, she is over analyzing things, I know that all too well. She knows that Lanie is a good friend with her best interest at heart, happy she is helping her figure out who she is. An intense kiss to Wyatt by Tansy leaves him confused, poor boy. Demanding to know what they are up, they both take an arm and say they have an offer for him. Love how Kodiak teases Wyatt.

Stephen and Marty earned their prize from Mrs. Turner, getting to meet Magno-Man of the Empire City Guard. Dang, grueling training regimen of how to work with a superhero group and Empire City Guard's team tactics as well. All that, they worked hard, learned a lot and earned it. June 19th, 2007 and Stephan turns 16. Themed henchmen and they got to fight them alongside Lioness, sore and bruised after it but they won.

*eyes bug out* Marty Penn waiting for him in the doorway to his room, wearing nothing but lingerie. Kissing him with searing intensity, while singing happy birthday to Stephen and giving a strip tease and tearing off his boxers, dang. A BJ for his birthday, Lanie definitely won't want to hear about this, like he doesn't wish to hear what Lanie is up to.

Poor Wyatt, I remember how it was just moving back from Germany to Louisiana, the temperature differences between the two at different times of the year was a shock at first. Mansions in GA that go from half a million and up, yikes. Down in the root cellar, the family pantry and a dumb waiter, nice. A secret entrance with a fireman's pole hidden behind the dumb waiter, just why was it created.

Lanie found it when she was 14 and is the only one besides Wyatt now who knows about it. Lanie is around 30 feet above Wyatt after he heads down, closing the entrance for now. The Still, a hidden lab for her great-grandfather who was a bootlegger. Fifty-gallon barrel of 83 year old single malt Whiskey, dang, that would be potent. Made with rye, the only other Rye Whiskey like it is called Alberta Premium and oldest they offer is 31 years old, dang. 50k a barrel! Dang, plus all those details about her great-grandfather operated and experimented, *eyes bug out*

Lanie says the money to fund the Atlantean League and make this place their HQ. Standing wave teleport built there and tied into the Whateley system, out of range of anyone on campus and even Fubar spying on them. Talk of Maggie gets Lanie upset, shifts to asking Kayda to make some protection wards and Interface to help set-up the physical and computer security. Ah, get Ayla in on it, as the guy in the letter lowballed Lanie, should be six figures per liter. One hundred and seven million, seven hundred and seventy five thousand dollars, dang. Assuming a mere 50k per liter and minus Ayla's cut.

Flirting as she has got Wyatt all riled up, oh brother, all this flirting, no wonder they have 3 kids by Gen 2. A sidestep to the rules by Kodiak to make no one notice how long Lanie and Wyatt are gone, sneaky old bear. *eyes flare with rage* What the hell did he do to Lanie! He is going to pay for that when her and Wyatt find out. Unless it is to get rid of the Wicked persona's influence on Lanie, which even I agree would be for the better at this point, make her less able to be influenced by Hartford and Tansy's manipulations and attempts to recruit her by the Syndicate.

Dang, Tansy is a lot more skilled than expected, even from the finals. 6 Whateley security guards beaten, humiliated them with how she fought them and made them trip over each other. 15 days of training to get to that level, yikes. Imagine if she has applied herself like this since she arrived at Whateley. Ito worried about how Hartford is shaping Tansy into a devastating weapon and doesn't know what she is in for.

*eyes bug out* Ito is the one who sponsored Hartford to the Syndicate, Mrs. Carson had to bail her out from early mistakes or she would be in a jail cell right now. And from the sounds of it Ito and her were the ones who helped found The Committee. Ito trying to warn that katana can be stolen, referring to Tansy, Hartford tells him to worry about his miracle and she will worry about hers. And she is going to Wallachia, confirming The Captain is Lord Paramount. Make the entire world S.M.I.L.E., why does that make me nervous so much about Tansy's and the world's future?

A wonderful story from start to finish. I never saw the twists in Part 2 coming, especially that hidden lab of Lanie's great-grandfather or how quickly Tansy has improved, especially not Ito having sponsored Hartford into the Syndicate. Can't wait to learn more of how the Atlantean League's new base works out, how Tansy changes and grows along with Lanie and Kayda, and what this S.M.I.L.E. is that Hartford mentioned. Sounds like some super-secret operation that will have repercussions for the whole world.

Dreamer wrote: Can't wait to learn more of how the Atlantean League's new base works out, how Tansy changes and grows along with Lanie and Kayda, and what this S.M.I.L.E. is that Hartford mentioned. Sounds like some super-secret operation that will have repercussions for the whole world.

You're on the Internet, Google it...

I'm pretty sure I've heard S.M.I.L.E. mentioned in a Whateley story before, but I don't remember what it was. Maybe related to Dr. Diabolik?

I did not see Ito being a Syndicate member.

So that was Ayla and Lanie's mysterious project. I wonder if 'Shine will throw a twist on their plans?

Is there something in the air? (I apologize for the ear worm)

It sounds like the 'fiance' mentioned in IDTWIKA was (will be?) Lord Paramount. Hm... I wonder if we're going see how Wallachia is doing without him?

50 Shades of Grey doesn't exist yet, right? This is an unintentional reference by Lanie? Heh. To be a fly on the wall while Tansy reads the book (and admit it, Tansy would totally devour the book - behind several locked doors). Although by the time it's out, Tansy will probably be more comfortable with her sexuality.


All and all, an excellent adventure. And I'm glad that you're feeling well enough to write again.

Kristin Darken wrote: Or, if you want to avoid the potentially mind scaring results of a random search on the interwebs... read: oz-mix.blogspot.com/2012/01/smi2le.html

Thanks, Kristin. That is Dr. Diabolik's stated goal. Just a guess but he is either The Guest or The Old Man, have a feeling he would go by the Old Man though.

Didn't Tansy have a spirit previously? A rating 1water spirit that she ended up destroying out of spite?

Dreamer wrote:

Kristin Darken wrote: Or, if you want to avoid the potentially mind scaring results of a random search on the interwebs... read: oz-mix.blogspot.com/2012/01/smi2le.html

Thanks, Kristin. That is Dr. Diabolik's stated goal. Just a guess but he is either The Guest or The Old Man, have a feeling he would go by the Old Man though.

i'm fairly sure that the guest was Monsieur Tyrone West.

annachie wrote: Didn't Tansy have a spirit previously? A rating 1water spirit that she ended up destroying out of spite?

yes she had a nature spirit, it was mentioned in the Jade story where she captured Jin. She doesn't know what happened to the spirit after she forced it out of her hollow.

in other revelasions Ito is an ex Syndicate member, i did not see that coming. Maybe its been alluded to in a previous story i missed.

I wouldn't go as far as assuming that Ito is a former Syndicate member -- if there is such a thing (some criminal organizations, and some religions, don't allow one to leave their ranks -- alive, that is). He might even be one of the cabal -- perhaps the Old Man?

As for Tansy...yes, she apparently had some sort of weak nature spirit in the past, which she ripped out and possibly destroyed; but I don't think we ever got any details on which exact kind of spirit it was.

Interesting the way the relationships are developing... I mean, there are at least two suggested (but not explicitly shown) three-way relationships here:

1. Did Lainie join Kayda and Debra on their bed? On one hand, she was shown entering Kayda's bedroom; OTOH, Lainie was shown to be willing to betray Kody and Debra.

2. How far went the Lainie/Kody/Tansy triangular relationship? One one hand, they had about twelve days together; one the other, well, they were guests of Lainie's family, and I very much doubt that Lainie's parents would go along with such shenanigans -- Lainie's dad even did the "shotgun speech" to Kody.

On Tansy's personality development... I like that she's finding reasons to not be manipulative. She may be evolving in a direction that's not quite the one Hartford envisioned. Or not; Hartford is a very complex character. The one thing I don't like very much is Tansy seemingly veering back a bit towards heterosexuality at the very time she's admitting to herself her lesbianism. It may be Mustang's influence, though (and yes, I do realize that Mustang's opinions on sexuality aren't the same as the author's opinions).

And, speaking of the influence of spirits... is The Kodiak back to his old tricks? And how come Grizzly didn't block his manipulation?

Am I the only one who kept mentally rewriting the name of Tansy's father's racing boat the Tansy IV by replacing the "sy" with a "tive"?

mhalpern wrote: Am I the only one who kept mentally rewriting the name of Tansy's father's racing boat the Tansy IV by replacing the "sy" with a "tive"?

hehe No! That wasn't deliberate at all! There are couple more easter eggs, bragging rights to those who find them first...

Fire-poles are obviously an Adam West Batman reference..

SMI²LE gets mentioned on the page on Dr. Diabolik and in No Beast So Fierce . For another reasonable explanation head for the Wikipedia page on Timothy 'LSD' Leary.

SMI²LE and Ito and Hartford's interest/role in it is a good opportunity to dabble in some conspiracy theory. Is there a cabal within the Syndicate trying to realize some covert transhuman/posthuman project (let's call it the Detweiler project; led by the Committee)? Is that cabal using Whateley as a sampling pool and powers research station for the project (if so, expect Detweiler plants in power testing and Doyle)

Of course Whateley might not be Detweiler's only mutant research effort. Crucible's efforts might well be part of the project, even if he isn't aware of this. The MCO's forced disappearance of young mutants has been mentioned a few times (Ayla & the Grinch, Kayda 1, others) and it might well be that the Project takes advantage of this for (destructive) experimentation purposes by a suitably infiltrated pawn organization.

The Space Migration part of SMI²LE isn't something we've seen much of and is something that ironically would be best done on the legal side of the law. IMO the first goal of that effort would be to find a way to drop launch costs to low orbit to something on the order of $50 per pound (IRL it is several thousand dollars per pound). This alone would allow lots of currently uneconomical projects to be carried out, including many directly touching on SMI²LE. In my opinion one of the first big projects would be a spacedock (or more than one) serving as a transshipment point between launch vehicles coming up and space tugs moving things (sats, habitats, deep space probes) to and from higher orbits and allowing such things as on-orbit checkout and maintenance/refueling of satellites. A drastically lower launch cost and the availability of tugs would drop sat costs drastically due to them being designed for refueling and maintenance; currently sats are designed built and tested for 10-20 years of almost flawless operation and usually are retired as the onboard fuel (50% of launch mass) runs out. IIRC Regnad gets mentioned as someone who transports and services sats for a fee, IMO he should get his head and business plan examined.

This could also be tied into G2. Carson cs. disappearance could well be the result of the Detweiler project shifting into gear, from a basic research and specification phase and moving into the meat of the project.

"Oh really, Vernon? Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about. You want me to have an abortion."

Surely Sir Lee should have caught this one, but maybe he was just surly?

OK, certain elements weren't to my taste. But it was a good overall story.

A few points:

We can now figure out a few identities of Committee members, along with just whom Mrs. Hartford is in a relationship with. And we get a smidgen more info on Ito's background.

The Captain is Lord Paramount
The Guest is Ty West
The Professor is Ms. Hartford
The Old Man is likely Ito

I'm guessing that Warhorse is Major Pierre Hicks of the PIDF. Although he didn't have an accent in the Paradise Island stories.

Valentine wrote:

"Oh really, Vernon? Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about. You want me to have an abortion."

I'm guessing that Warhorse is Major Pierre Hicks of the PIDF. Although he didn't have an accent in the Paradise Island stories.

Airplane! wrote: It's really the only sensible thing to do, if its done safely. Therapeutically there's no danger involved.

Well played! I thought that one might sneak by people! As touching Major Hicks, he's always had a Cajun accent in my head when I wrote him, I may have neglected that detail. mea culpa

E. E. Nalley wrote:

Valentine wrote:

"Oh really, Vernon? Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about. You want me to have an abortion."

I'm guessing that Warhorse is Major Pierre Hicks of the PIDF. Although he didn't have an accent in the Paradise Island stories.

Airplane! wrote: It's really the only sensible thing to do, if its done safely. Therapeutically there's no danger involved.

Well played! I thought that one might sneak by people! As touching Major Hicks, he's always had a Cajun accent in my head when I wrote him, I may have neglected that detail. mea culpa

I've known some people that in a "formal" setting speak without an accent, and when informal accents and slang abound. Reporting to your CO is pretty formal.

Echo wrote:
The Space Migration part of SMI²LE isn't something we've seen much of

Jadis mentions at one point that her dad built a moonbase with the express a im of letting the US government cspture it, unfortunatly it got nuked instead. And here we have mention that the Goodkinds are deliberatly stalling innovation based on the work of mutants. which goes some way to explaining why a world with gadgeteers isn't way ahead of our reality.

I assumed that Warhorse was playing up his accent to make the girls underestimate him.

Echo wrote: SMI²LE gets mentioned on the page on Dr. Diabolik and in No Beast So Fierce . For another reasonable explanation head for the Wikipedia page on Timothy 'LSD' Leary.

SMI²LE and Ito and Hartford's interest/role in it is a good opportunity to dabble in some conspiracy theory. Is there a cabal within the Syndicate trying to realize some covert transhuman/posthuman project (let's call it the Detweiler project; led by the Committee)? Is that cabal using Whateley as a sampling pool and powers research station for the project (if so, expect Detweiler plants in power testing and Doyle)

Robert Anton Wilson might agree with Amelia Hartford that the Illuminated approach is rarely the most direct in such cases.

Echo wrote: The Space Migration part of SMI²LE isn't something we've seen much of and is something that ironically would be best done on the legal side of the law. IMO the first goal of that effort would be to find a way to drop launch costs to low orbit to something on the order of $50 per pound (IRL it is several thousand dollars per pound).

A much more efficient propulsion system, such as the one Elaine designed for her letter to NASA, might do that. Until/unless that can be commercialized instead of militarized, Regnad still has a job.

TAPS may not be suited for heavy lifting, but if 1/4 ton of Odinsson to Kármán line in 3 min. 47 sec is good enough for a Thor rocket, then smaller, frequent, automated deliveries to low orbit by a reusable platform are very much within its capability.

So, yeah, certain elements of society would be quite interested in an inventor specializing in propulsion systems who has no interest in turning their work over to the Military-Industrial Complex for a quick buck, or their personal Jihad, for that matter.

In a way, it's good to suspect that Dr. Dad's working on en masse I², instead of relying on the random occurrence of an Exemplar effect among mutants. One-off implants strike me as being too intrusive, risky, and slow for mass adoption. Relying on Sidhe genetics for I²LE may have unfortunate consequences (Maybe not in Koehnes' eyes), but at least Princess Jobe appears to be holding on to her intellectual property in Gen 2.

Best way to reduce costs for orbital launching is to remove most of the propulsion paraphernalia (and fuel) from the payload, so you don't have to lift all that crap too. Ideally, an orbital elevator/skyhook would be the cheapest in the long run, but startup costs and technical issues are horrendous. An electromagnetic catapult is thought to be feasible, however. It would still be a very big capital expenditure, but within the realm of possibility, and the technical aspects appear to be within current or near-future technology capabilities.

Actually, depending on how the technology works, the most feasible method of getting supplies into orbit might be gateways . Problems include powering an orbiting gateway, and keeping it steady enough to keep it linked up properly. But if it's feasible there would be a lot of advantages

I was actually thinking in terms of real-world tech, not Whateley-tech. If it's at least theoretically possible in real-world terms, it might be practical in Whateley.

Gateways have serious energy-conservation issues, in that if you are moving somewhere with a higher potential energy, you are essentially creating a "free energy" machine: build a hydroelectric plant, put the "in" portal to capture the water outflow from the turbines, and the "out" portal to dump the water back into the reservoir above. Presto, you can run your hydroelectric plant at full power 24/7/265 without ever worrying about running out of water (other than by evaporation). Of course, you can always decree in your worldbuilding that it doesn't work that way, the gateway actually requires at least as much energy as it would take to raise the water by mechanical means; that would take care of the Third Law issues, but it would still make a gateway way cheaper than other means to raise anything to orbit; the gateway could be horribly inefficient and it would still beat chemical rockets by a large margin.

I would include another problem with a gateway to orbit: leaking atmosphere through it. Even if you don't deem it a long-term environmental problem, you still have to deal with strong winds through the portal. Either that, or build the sending end of the portal inside a vacuum chamber.

There might be other practical problems. Perhaps having the ends of a portal moving relative to each other would make the gateway dangerously unstable. That really depends on the worldbuilding rules for gateways.

Accelerating the transported object to orbital speed, to me, goes in parallel with the "free potential energy" issue mentioned above; if you take care of one, the other can be assumed to be taken care in a similar way. That is, if the gateway requires energy input to raise the object's potential energy to the one it will have, say, a thousand kilometers above Earth, it's not a big leap to assume that it will also require energy to inject the object with the necessary kinetic energy for the object to have the same speed as the exit portal (which would be in orbit).

Sir Lee (as usual) is on the right track. The reason they are called standing wave teleport gate's is because the apertures cannot move relative to each other. This isn't a violation of the third law, but is the only way to get around the Heisenberg principle. Now teleport can be open ended, as you have seen with various characters, but the energy cost on the broadcast end is very high (you did wonder why a small boarding school in New Hampshire had a nuclear reactor, didn't you?) And the reception end cannot be more than a mile or two from the transmitter. So unfortunately, the teleportation in the Whateley universe is not a free ride to orbit.

E. E. Nalley wrote: Sir Lee (as usual) is on the right track. The reason they are called standing wave teleport gate's is because the apertures cannot move relative to each other. This isn't a violation of the third law, but is the only way to get around the Heisenberg principle. Now teleport can be open ended, as you have seen with various characters, but the energy cost on the broadcast end is very high (you did wonder why a small boarding school in New Hampshire had a nuclear reactor, didn't you?) And the reception end cannot be more than a mile or two from the transmitter. So unfortunately, the teleportation in the Whateley universe is not a free ride to orbit.

Unless you are Tennyo the Destroyer, but then again, she is a living matter-antimatter reactor, and requires LOTS of food...

mhalpern wrote: Unless you are Tennyo the Destroyer, but then again, she is a living matter-antimatter reactor, and requires LOTS of food...

We haven't seen her starve like Sara did, right? So we don't really know what depriving her of food actually does to her powers, right?

Although, given WordsFromGods that seem to say that Energizers eating is to maintain their energy taps or something, starvation, even if presuming Tennyo is a normal Energizer, is BAD.

mhalpern wrote:

E. E. Nalley wrote: Sir Lee (as usual) is on the right track. The reason they are called standing wave teleport gate's is because the apertures cannot move relative to each other. This isn't a violation of the third law, but is the only way to get around the Heisenberg principle. Now teleport can be open ended, as you have seen with various characters, but the energy cost on the broadcast end is very high (you did wonder why a small boarding school in New Hampshire had a nuclear reactor, didn't you?) And the reception end cannot be more than a mile or two from the transmitter. So unfortunately, the teleportation in the Whateley universe is not a free ride to orbit.

Unless you are Tennyo the Destroyer, but then again, she is a living matter-antimatter reactor, and requires LOTS of food...

Sure Tennyo, Flashback, and probably other teleporters with long distance capabilities can teleport to orbital distances, and even farther, but how much can they carry? A communications satellite is going to mass from 500-1000 kg, plus they would still need a propulsion system to get it up to orbital velocities.

Valentine wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

E. E. Nalley wrote: Sir Lee (as usual) is on the right track. The reason they are called standing wave teleport gate's is because the apertures cannot move relative to each other. This isn't a violation of the third law, but is the only way to get around the Heisenberg principle. Now teleport can be open ended, as you have seen with various characters, but the energy cost on the broadcast end is very high (you did wonder why a small boarding school in New Hampshire had a nuclear reactor, didn't you?) And the reception end cannot be more than a mile or two from the transmitter. So unfortunately, the teleportation in the Whateley universe is not a free ride to orbit.

Unless you are Tennyo the Destroyer, but then again, she is a living matter-antimatter reactor, and requires LOTS of food...

Sure Tennyo, Flashback, and probably other teleporters with long distance capabilities can teleport to orbital distances, and even farther, but how much can they carry? A communications satellite is going to mass from 500-1000 kg, plus they would still need a propulsion system to get it up to orbital velocities.

Considering Tennyo's flight capabilities, and physical strength, and the fact that if she wanted to she can do a matter-antimatter Orion Pulse Rocket Drive, not an issue, the issue is that Tennyo is THE EXCEPTION of exceptions.

E. E. Nalley wrote: Sir Lee (as usual) is on the right track. The reason they are called standing wave teleport gate's is because the apertures cannot move relative to each other. This isn't a violation of the third law, but is the only way to get around the Heisenberg principle. Now teleport can be open ended, as you have seen with various characters, but the energy cost on the broadcast end is very high (you did wonder why a small boarding school in New Hampshire had a nuclear reactor, didn't you?) And the reception end cannot be more than a mile or two from the transmitter. So unfortunately, the teleportation in the Whateley universe is not a free ride to orbit.

So put your destination in Geostationary orbit. And assuming your platform is stable enough you can use a standing wave teleport gate. They have to have some allowance for movement seeing as the earth isn't perfectly still either.

konzill wrote:

E. E. Nalley wrote: Sir Lee (as usual) is on the right track. The reason they are called standing wave teleport gate's is because the apertures cannot move relative to each other. This isn't a violation of the third law, but is the only way to get around the Heisenberg principle. Now teleport can be open ended, as you have seen with various characters, but the energy cost on the broadcast end is very high (you did wonder why a small boarding school in New Hampshire had a nuclear reactor, didn't you?) And the reception end cannot be more than a mile or two from the transmitter. So unfortunately, the teleportation in the Whateley universe is not a free ride to orbit.

So put your destination in Geostationary orbit. And assuming your platform is stable enough you can use a standing wave teleport gate. They have to have some allowance for movement seeing as the earth isn't perfectly still either.

It's impossibly to have a truely stable geo sync orbit (0 variance perfect circle), because it isn't just Earth's gravity you have to be concerned with, that's assuming space-time variation isn't a factor.

Valentine wrote: Sure Tennyo, Flashback, and probably other teleporters with long distance capabilities can teleport to orbital distances, and even farther, but how much can they carry? A communications satellite is going to mass from 500-1000 kg, plus they would still need a propulsion system to get it up to orbital velocities.

Actually, the geostationary birds mass quite a bit more than that, but I'll ignore that. Of that mass, 50% or so is propellants (typically hydrazine & nitrogen tetroxide; nasty stuff) used to keep the sat in place or (sometimes) move it to a new location.

The big reasons I said that using a LEO spacedock makes sense are:

• In terms of delta V needed to get something to GEO, the leg from ground level to LEO is by far the majority and the hardest to provide with a launch vehicle. (see graphic ; figures are in KM/sec)
Reducing or eliminating the effort needed to provide the delta V to LEO is the biggest win possible.

• Having a spacedock allows you to ship up the satellite in pieces in terms of mass. Ship up the empty sat and tanks of propellants for the sat as well as tanks for the tug that will be used to haul the sat into position. Test and fuel up the sat in the spacedock before hauling it to its intended orbit. Designing the sat for this will probably save money and will allow the sat to be refueled and serviced in space, extending its service life and saving the owner money.
• Depending on how a satellite gets shipped up to the spacedock (standing wave teleport gate; devisor aerospace craft, flying carpet) you might be able to get away with designing it to less extreme tolerances. Launch is a fairly violent process, subjecting the payload to several G, heavy shaking and high noise levels. Not having that probably means a less rugged (and lighter) design can suffice. Once in orbit a space tug can be a lot gentler with the sat, trading thrust level for burn duration, and use easier to handle propellants (hydrogen peroxide and methanol, ethanol or maybe Loophole's single malt whiskey) rather than hydrazine and tetroxide (something best left to a robot to handle).

Echo wrote:

Valentine wrote: Sure Tennyo, Flashback, and probably other teleporters with long distance capabilities can teleport to orbital distances, and even farther, but how much can they carry? A communications satellite is going to mass from 500-1000 kg, plus they would still need a propulsion system to get it up to orbital velocities.

Actually, the geostationary birds mass quite a bit more than that, but I'll ignore that. Of that mass, 50% or so is propellants (typically hydrazine & nitrogen tetroxide; nasty stuff) used to keep the sat in place or (sometimes) move it to a new location.

The big reasons I said that using a LEO spacedock makes sense are:

• In terms of delta V needed to get something to GEO, the leg from ground level to LEO is by far the majority and the hardest to provide with a launch vehicle. (see graphic ; figures are in KM/sec)
Reducing or eliminating the effort needed to provide the delta V to LEO is the biggest win possible.

• Having a spacedock allows you to ship up the satellite in pieces in terms of mass. Ship up the empty sat and tanks of propellants for the sat as well as tanks for the tug that will be used to haul the sat into position. Test and fuel up the sat in the spacedock before hauling it to its intended orbit. Designing the sat for this will probably save money and will allow the sat to be refueled and serviced in space, extending its service life and saving the owner money.
• Depending on how a satellite gets shipped up to the spacedock (standing wave teleport gate; devisor aerospace craft, flying carpet) you might be able to get away with designing it to less extreme tolerances. Launch is a fairly violent process, subjecting the payload to several G, heavy shaking and high noise levels. Not having that probably means a less rugged (and lighter) design can suffice. Once in orbit a space tug can be a lot gentler with the sat, trading thrust level for burn duration, and use easier to handle propellants (hydrogen peroxide and methanol, ethanol or maybe Loophole's single malt whiskey) rather than hydrazine and tetroxide (something best left to a robot to handle).

I do believe that spacedocks have been mentioned a couple times in WU, no I do not remember the exact pages, and they do have a few orbital shipyards, from what I have gathered though, they mostly send up the materials from Earth, makes sense as many of the dropships we have seen are capable of exoatmospheric (but sub orbital) flight, the problem with this (other than the huge operational costs) is that with the possible exception of collecting and recycling space debris, there is little to no in-situ resource utilization, creating a major bottleneck in what they can do, the moon base WOULD have given them some mining and refining capability, but because it was nuked, the goal will be to get them to make their own moon base,

There are several permanent Installations in orbit, from shipyards to the ISS, to commercial ventures such as the Hilton Orbital Hotel and Casino (serviced by Value Jet). These are made viable because magnetic lifters are much more common in this universe than ours. The magnetic lifters Loophole gains flight with in her armor are an off-the-shelf product(!).

They are power hogs, which is why there are no flying cars, but larger craft such as drop ships do make use of them.

As touching Tennyo, she is such an exception, she has her own rule which is:

Any argument using Tennyo as an example of why the argument is correct automatically fails.

This was asked in the comments of the story itself, but I thought it was relevant to add here as well.

Who were the boys of summer? Well, that title was chosen to play up to the Don Henley song bearing the same name. Specifically addressing Tansy's lack of knowledge addressed in the lyrics:

I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?

And so it was through this journey that Tansy discovered what love was. As far as who were the boys? Basically you could argue that the boys of summer were Wyatt and Steve, who's love was strong.

E. E. Nalley wrote: There are several permanent Installations in orbit, from shipyards to the ISS, to commercial ventures such as the Hilton Orbital Hotel and Casino (serviced by Value Jet). These are made viable because magnetic lifters are much more common in this universe than ours. The magnetic lifters Loophole gains flight with in her armor are an off-the-shelf product(!).

They are power hogs, which is why there are no flying cars, but larger craft such as drop ships do make use of them.

As touching Tennyo, she is such an exception, she has her own rule which is:

Any argument using Tennyo as an example of why the argument is correct automatically fails.

plus the magnetic lifters only work within a magnetosphere so they are great (provided the power supply) for getting you into high orbit, and getting you a one way, or free return trip to the moon, but outside of the magnetosphere they are dead weight, and you need a different drive technology.

A lot of these later discussions of mag-lifters, LEO launching, etc, should probably go to a topic on the general forum, so y'all can comment on the story, it's overall excellence, the surprising (and totally unexpected) plot twists and revelations, and so on, while begging EE to write more to follow up the open questions.

Just saying...

I thought I was digging up something a little different, but this tidbit from Carson and Dominus is still relevant:

Five Elements Dancing - Book of the Fire wrote:
“Nimbus? Who’s this?”

“He’s a new player in the Syndicate. He only surfaced a few years ago, but he’s made some serious power moves, while managing to stay very much under the radar. He’s not on the Executive Committee. Yet.”

I wonder if this Committee is the very same as the one we've seen shadows of lately, and how the internal power structure of the Syndicate operates. I think it's fair to assume that Dominus is either part of the Committee or potentially ruling above them, but going down the rungs I feel that due to the nature of the organization that all of the members are anonymous to the rank-and-file - surely also to those of note such as Nimbus, Deathlist and Chessmaster.

Perhaps re-reading the Halloween Invasion with a focus on the reactions of certain characters might be useful...

After learning that Tansy went through a horse phase I'm now imagining an alternate reality where Tansy became an manifaster instead, able to create my little ponies.

konzill wrote: After learning that Tansy went through a horse phase I'm now imagining an alternate reality where Tansy became an manifaster instead, able to create my little ponies.

My mind went to "Manifests as a centaur."

Anyone else think that Tansy and Danny might hook up and Kayda will skin one or both of them?

In that reality, between Mezzo, Ponygirl and centaur-Tansy, there would be enough centaurs to make a training team. Or at least, to develop centaur racing as an intramural sport.

But, regarding Danny...despite Tansy discovering some interest in men, I don't think she will ever be primarily straight. She has been shown until recently as a (highly repressed) Six on the Kinsey scale (exclusively lesbian); E.E. seems to be taking her down to a Five, maybe even a Four, that is, primarily interested in girls but not averse to the occasional fling with a male. I think that bringing her back to Three (equally interested in males and females, which is sorta where I think she would have to be to go after Danny) would be pushing it a bit, dramatically.

By the way, I would class Lainie as a 3, Kayda as a 6. The Kimbas I would put... let me see...
* Fey started assuming she was a 6 and worked down to something like 4, and might be still moving down.
* Chaka is a 3.
* Phase is really a 0 male, but presents as a 6 female.
* Tennyo is probably at most a 1.5.
* Lancer is (I think) a 2.
* Generator is... well, not really sexual yet, but she behaves like a 0 female.
* Bladedancer started as a 6, but found out that she's actually a 4. Maybe even a 3.

^ Since you brought in the Kinsey Scale...

I suppose this quote is saying that the Mustang thinks that all women, even lesbians, are at least 2s?

The Pict Daughter understands that all women are bisexual to some point

And that no woman is a 6??

presented with the right man and the right manhood, any mare will lift her tail

And yet, with this preceding:

Tansy's face contorted. "What kind of misogynistic bullish it is that?" she hissed. "Are you actually claiming that under every lesbian is a panting little whore who just hasn't found the right Dick yet? You think Kayda, who was gang raped, is just cruising around looking for a real man?"

Mustang smiled a salacious grin. "The Ptesanwi isn't my concern, you are.

Is he just saying what he thinks Tansy needs to hear to make her accept herself or something? ... The absoluteness of his statements feels weird, like he knows that he's saying a truth, even though I think there are actually 6es...

... But, enough of that...

Still, she was becoming reckless, trying so hard to emulate the false personae the teacher had made for her. That wouldn't do. Invisibly, the Kodiak wandered over to the pair, so enamored of each other that they would have failed to notice him even had he been projecting himself completely into the real world. It's for your own good, he told himself as he hooked a claw into her aura and, right as their passions claimed them both he tugged at it imposing a simple new pattern on the matrix.

She was lost in the throes of her pleasure and so didn't notice the extra little chill that ran up her spine as his spell took effect.

What did the Kodiak do?? ... Did he make Loophole pregnant?? ... No... But, hey, he's a medical mage, he's got access to their essences and the required biological materials right there, he could?

I doubt that the Kodiak would make her pregnant just yet - he needs her for his war after all, and a pregnancy would be a distraction that they can't really afford.

Malady wrote:
What did the Kodiak do?? ... Did he make Loophole pregnant?? ... No... But, hey, he's a medical mage, he's got access to their essences and the required biological materials right there, he could?

My reading is that he changed her rather then extracting something. Either he did something to reduce her libido, so they stop having sex so much, or he did something to stop her getting pregnant, as that would be a distraction at this point.

Oh! A Contraception Charm could make sense...

But, given this:

Still, she was becoming reckless, trying so hard to emulate the false personae the teacher had made for her. That wouldn't do.

And recklessness is also noted here:

"We're in St. Louis," she declared mysteriously. "If you want, Ah can set you up so you could have a little fling with a girl who Ah know is hot for you?"

Tansy gulped uneasily. On the one hand, Lanie seemed to be almost recklessly rushing her into new adventures - perhaps so Tansy didn't have time to second-guess herself or chicken out, and she had been getting more and more curious.

Maybe a Be True To Yourself spell, or something to stop the recklessness? ... Who is that Teacher of Recklessness??

Some weird idea was that it might be some kind of Emotional Binding, to keep her at Kodiak's side, and not stray to other women or something, as a counterpoint to all her lez-ness in the rest of the story?

What did Kodiak do? As the smuggler once said, "well, that's the real trick isn't it?" There are some very interesting speculations as to what could be going on, which I can neither confirm nor deny this point, but they are in fact VERY interesting.

Just to be fair, I will point out the important sentence you should hang your speculation on:

It's for your own good, he told himself as he hooked a claw into her aura and, right as their passions claimed them both he tugged at it imposing a simple new pattern on the matrix.

As touching Mustang? Well, keep in mind the very word we use to describe a male who is extremely successful with the ladies is stud, which is a horse breeding term, describing the father. And Mustang is very male, which if you ever been around a stallion (and that is a male horse who hasn't been neutered,) they are just about confidence personified. Is he right? That's a matter of some debate which will occur in our next story, The Bear, the Bitch, and Everything.

E. E. Nalley wrote: What did Kodiak do? As the smuggler once said, "well, that's the real trick isn't it?" There are some very interesting speculations as to what could be going on, which I can neither confirm nor deny this point, but they are in fact VERY interesting.

Just to be fair, I will point out the important sentence you should hang your speculation on:

It's for your own good, he told himself as he hooked a claw into her aura and, right as their passions claimed them both he tugged at it imposing a simple new pattern on the matrix.

Based on this quote, plus the details you have about Lanie in Gen 2, that the twins are 8 years old, it would seem if their passions claimed them both and he imposed a simple new pattern on the matrix it suggest he made her get pregnant from the encounter, now carrying the twins. Right amount of time for them to be 8 years old as of Gen 2, right circumstances, and I can't think of what other simple pattern on the matrix of two people could be imposed. At least this is what I think is what happened.

To be fair, my post about them being eight was done before the time was finalized for second-generation so until there is a second GEN story that shows their age, that is still a nebulous point

E. E. Nalley wrote: To be fair, my post about them being eight was done before the time was finalized for second-generation so until there is a second GEN story that shows their age, that is still a nebulous point

Awww, rats. There goes that theory unless shown otherwise by either a Gen 1 or Gen 2 story. Wonder what Kodiak did then, made their emotional bounds stronger between each other perhaps.

E. E. Nalley wrote: As touching Mustang? Well, keep in mind the very word we use to describe a male who is extremely successful with the ladies is stud, which is a horse breeding term, describing the father. And Mustang is very male, which if you ever been around a stallion (and that is a male horse who hasn't been neutered,) they are just about confidence personified. Is he right? That's a matter of some debate which will occur in our next story, The Bear, the Bitch, and Everything.

Is Mustang right? Well, if the mare in question wants to foal sometime down the line, without a visit by the vet, he is. That doesn't mean she has to need or want a stallion around the rest of the time. Other species' mileage may vary.

Now that I think about it Elane ending up pregnant, with twin boys might actually explain the title.

Cryptic wrote: Anyone else think that Tansy and Danny might hook up and Kayda will skin one or both of them?

Pretty much since Elrodw has mentionned that we would be suprised by who Danny would end up infatuated with, I have thought that a Tansy/Danny relationship would be interesting (but the age difference would be a problem, so it might just be a one-sided crush if Elrodw decides to explore this.)

Tansy and Danny could be good for each-other. We have seen Tansy's protective side here, and I am wondering how she will react to Danica (If I remember the timeline correctly, she has not met Danny's female form yet).

So, to refocus, anyone figured out who the mentioned teacher is?

Still, she was becoming reckless, trying so hard to emulate the false personae the teacher had made for her. That wouldn't do.

I like that idea that the Summer Boys are Elaine's twins, and I guess that's the actual thing, if I take E.E's WoG as trying to dissuade us for lols. But, Sir Lee's got a good point for 'not pregnant', the upcoming Battle. Bringing in a preg girl is a bad idea... But... PregnantBadass... And Kodiak might not be thinking of that at the time? ... I think I'll be surprised no matter what happens.

... Pregnancy delaying magic 'cause Grizzly and Kodiak are both Med Mages? It could be a thing?

... How much unprotected sex has been happening in Part 2? Pregnancy might be possible? ... Then again, Mega-Girl is PK, so any pregnancy, if possible, is aborted when the shell cancels?? ... Anyone know anything about that?

That's a very interesting theory.

Birthday Brawl wrote: Elaine turned from where she was working on the harness of her uniform. Again. “She’s kind of upset. Her date went real well, right up until she didn’t want to put out…”

“Oh, I wanted to,” Marty fussed, “But it’s not like I can yet!”

So either Marty's body changed a lot in the previous 6 months or so, or Steve got his pleasure another way.

Valentine wrote:

Birthday Brawl wrote: Elaine turned from where she was working on the harness of her uniform. Again. “She’s kind of upset. Her date went real well, right up until she didn’t want to put out…”

“Oh, I wanted to,” Marty fussed, “But it’s not like I can yet!”

So either Marty's body changed a lot in the previous 6 months or so, or Steve got his pleasure another way.

Let's just say that Marty has a great many oral talents, not the least of which is singing...

Malady wrote: So, to refocus, anyone figured out who the mentioned teacher is?

Still, she was becoming reckless, trying so hard to emulate the false personae the teacher had made for her. That wouldn't do.

Well, If I remember correctly, the teacher was Carson. It's in one of her previous stories, she used an alias (with a compulsion boosting her self-confidence) for a criminal activity ?

Oh! Right! Wicked! ... Calling Carson just Teacher threw me off a bit? And Wicked was just "She sorta exists" and I just filed it away...

Perhaps Kodiak's spell made her more like Wicked? Could he give her a full-on second personality or something??

Or removing her memories of Wicked or something? ...

Loophole had some agreement where he wouldn't mess with her mind? Or she never got a S-Contract, but just relied on Grizzly to shield her??

Wicked was the confident and reckless persona, and Kodiak is evidently concerned about it bleeding through, at least too much.

Is it possible that Kodiak is outdoing Loophole and using the Wicked persona (or what remains) as a technicality through which he could act? Was the agreement even tight enough to limit Kodiak much anyway, beyond having to deal with the reactions of Cody and Lainie? Might be worth digging into and evaluating in light of this new development.