Question Myriad Meetings

Hurray, we finally get to see Neo's contribution.
I like the introduced characters, 3 catgirls, some cool GSD, some heroes kids, and a wolf girl.

The short bit about Twain has me suitably intrigued, and do we have a jerk who will make the characters lives miserable with Red?
I'll wait for more people to have a chance of reading the story before I put in anything that could be a spoiler.
Great story.
NOw off to catch up on the stories I haven't had a chance to read for a month.

I know that specific mutant powers don't usually run in families, but... am I the only one who has a sinking feeling about who Sterling's father might have been?

Schol-R-LEA wrote: I know that specific mutant powers don't usually run in families, but... am I the only one who has a sinking feeling about who Sterling's father might have been?

Funny you should say that given what's already been revealed about Tanya's powers...

Erk! I really hope I'm wrong... crap, that sicko's been an empty husk sitting in Black Section for ten years and he's still causing trouble?

Totally agree with Dom. Lots of interesting characters and interactions. I find that I especially liked Parker for some reason... not entirely sure why...

Love the all the little hints into Tanya's personality and character, specifically the various posters...

A flyer who likes parkour... definitely want to see her do some of the flying games from the last story...

Definitely a lot of unanswered questions though...

ShockHawk wrote: Definitely a lot of unanswered questions though...

Well I've got to give you guys SOMETHING to keep y'all coming back...

Myriad Meetings Part 1 comments
Nice to see how things have changed over the years from someone who heard about how the school grounds were in the past. Tanya has more common sense and seems to be able to restrain herself when she understands the situation, such as not flying up to see Whitman cottage from an aerial view. Hope Tanya can make friends in Whitman.

First a great description of the exterior and now of the interior of Whitman cottage, can see why freshmen sometimes stop to gawk when they first enter their cottage. Holographic fire in the fireplace, very nice. Tanya meets what appears to be a large gray-furred cat, betting it is a student messing with her. Heh, cat got her to pet it, sneaky little thing. Startled by upperclassman, red hair, strong athletic build, and tall, around 6-6'6". Rachel aka Sequoia, wing advisor in Whitman.

Ah, so that is why no one was downstairs, all the delays and they thought she wasn't showing up today. D'oh! Should have remembered Shisa, too distinctive to forget. And Telekat, wonder what she is like. Ah, can understand wanting comfort in your own home. Funny interaction at the end with Shisa saying Tanya has nice hands. And Sequoia's reaction to how Tanya is reacting is the icing on the cake.

Now for Vic in Twain. Boy with black fur and canine head, another who is a horse-boy but younger. One with monkey GSD, one who is a living shadow from appearances, and one with his description I'm guessing is Franklin Post from the final part of IDTWIKA. And another boy with crystalline growths on his hands and face. Interesting bunch. Nervous about making friends, not sociable, I can relate to Vic a lot there.

Long, pointed ears, blood-red hair, and sharp teeth, wonder why he has such an attitude though. Long arms and clawed hands, yeah, sounds like some type of goblin. That black kevra suit is going to save his life sooner rather than later. Ouch, flashback to a past incident and how close Vic came to death, harsh. New development for his powers, Bianca saying the numbers don't add up to what he'd been tested as so far. Vic's powers and how they develop seem like a mystery we will learn clues towards over time.

Zephyr here to talk with Vic, sounding upset and possibly misunderstanding Vic's stand-offish nature. GSD case with taloned hands and feet, jet-black raven wings, and eyes like a hawk. Uh oh, a wing advisor calling him a pretty and having a smug grin on his face, this isn't good. Talking about GSD cases and others who can pass for baselines like that, doesn't seem like a good idea for a wing advisor in Twain to have such an attitude. Cornering him about Red, Red saying Vic bothered him instead of it just being a mutual accident. Zephyr basically stating if any pretties are "found out" to be harassing any GSD cases, he is going to do something. Talk about abuse of power.

Ah, Zephyr's real name is Michael and he is called out by another wing advisor. Shawn showing up stopped Zephyr's plans in their tracks, here to deliver bed sheets and a comforter to Vic. A message for Zephyr, whom Shawn annoys by calling him Mike on purpose. Menehune [interesting codename] and Size wish for Zephyr to talk to Red as he is more irritable the past couple of days and might try to pick a fight with someone. And someone who Shawn calls Pops wishes to talk with Zephyr and go over a few things with him before the big meeting with admin tomorrow morning.

Ah, Mr. Filbert the cottage parent or one of them is Pops. Oh boy, Zephyr still going to keep an eye on Vic, not good. Ah, so he has personal issues to work out, plus was forced to be an RA when he didn't wish to, no wonder Zephyr is in a bad mood. Yikes, having the house parent, a fellow student he respects and Mrs. Carson encourage him to be an RA, must have felt like he didn't wish to let them all down. Poor guy, under all that pressure, plus with Mrs. Carson and others he knew disappeared, yikes.

An enforcer of sorts of Faction Three, wonder how the group has changed in all these years. Shawn Padilla, unusual last name. Shaggy as a nickname, his BIT keeping his hair like that, oh boy, from his description earlier just add a small beard and he is Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Talk about a contrast in RAs, Zephyr who is under a lot of stress with his GSD and trying to protect other obvious GSD cases, then there is Shaggy who looks like a normal kid and is so laid back if he was driving the police might assume some things.

New clothes from Carol for Vic and the poor boy is embarrassed as she even knows his underwear style and brand. Ah, so technically his legal guardian, from the sounds of his history she is probably Syndicate, poor boy has it rough. A blue debit card and a red charge card from Carol's employers for only school necessities, nice gifts. Ah, Carol is a mother and is treating him like her son despite how she came to be his legal guardian. Stepsister was the one who thought up the phone, hope Vic calls her sooner rather than later. Sounds like they have a lot to discuss.

Ronni aka Veronica, his stepsister who was away at college when he ran away, the only one in Dad's family who understood him. Mention of Oliver and Vic's thoughts reveal he died, ouch, to lose someone you care about who understands you, plus have the only other one who understands you go away, no wonder he ran away after hearing his dad and stepmother talking about him.

Yikes, all those conflicting thoughts and feelings about what might and might not happen, Vic needs to see the school counselor as well. Ouch, a picture to remember the good times and a picture of his mom. Dang, got me tearing up from reading Vic talking to his mom through the picture. Losing first his mom, then his brother, and then his best friend, his dad thinking of him as just a burden. No wonder he is such a mess. At least he feels better after talking to his mom like that, enough to call up Ronni and reconcile.

All that in Whitman and Tanya is missing being around people, as the place feels empty. Sequoia says it is rather easy to mistake Shisa for a cat, I'll say. Boy, Sequoia is very insightful to get all that from what Tanya said, most teenagers would have missed something or misread it. Shoot, I would have loved to have a friend who is honest and real with me like Tanya is, so Sequoia is right and she is going to make plenty of new friends.

Tanya freaking out about going up to meet the other girls so soon is kind of endearing. And ouch, figured Shisa didn't have anywhere else to go. Still must be hard on her. A shy show-off, first time I've heard someone called that.

That is a very unusual card game they are playing. Older looking girl with icy blue hair as her only apparent oddity, handing out penalty cards and Tanya guesses she must be one of the RAs. Another girl who looks like a werewolf but without a snout, having a strong Irish or Scottish accent. One girl with thick, bushy golden hair and goat legs, another girl with the fur of a giant panda, one with black spiraling horns on her head, a normal looking girl with jet black hair in a pixie cut, a younger looking girl with golden locks [weird, this one gives me a Goldilocks vibe], an Arabic looking girl with a dark green head-wrap, and two apparent cat-girls with distinctive ears and fur. Give in a hoodie with the hood up, looks like scales or something on her hands.

Shisa is the only one who noticed they entered, while the other girls continue to play until she calls their attention to Tanya and Sequoia. Oh boy, I know how it is to be that shy when meeting new people, I'm almost that bad still. Girl with the goat legs goes and hugs Tanya, making her tense up, not used to such things. Dawn aka Toison. D'oh! We met her in one of the chapters of the IDTWIKA already, didn't we. French for fleece, as she has golden fur on her legs.

Dang, 3.12 tons, stop low to mid-caliber bullets, and fly at 45 mph but might get faster with training, that is impressive. That dark haired, normal looking girl is impressed, name Kara O'Keegan aka Nightingale, shadow manifestor, esper, and low level mage and not a mutant, yikes. Black choker that grants her powers, aunt was previous Nightingale and once the choker is on it is bonded until the day they die. Friends who are mutants who helped her steal back the choker from a villain who is still after her, so Whateley cut some slack and let her enroll. Hope the new headmaster continues to honor that, since it isn't in the normal rules.

Yikes, the little girl with golden locks is Darcy, her father died fighting the supervillain and her mom is out looking for the guy who did it, while Darcy and her big sister are at Whateley. Ouch, Tanya telling how her mother died trying to save people after a fight with a villain, crushed by a collapsing building. Teared up as she recalled it, plus her pushing through her own pain to help someone else in a similar situation.

Tanya hugs Kara and is thanked by her, Shisa goes over and purrs, letting Darcy pet her. Sequoia even gives Tanya a tearful nod of approval. Janette McDonald aka Polar Vortex, a junior and RA of the northwest wing plus the girl with icy blue hair, breaks the mood by sending out an icy breeze, chilling everyone and blowing up all the girls skirts, except Tanya who wore shorts. Tanya, after feeling how cold her hands are, says it's 'cool' to meet her, getting Janettte to act silly and say the bad jokes wound her so, getting Tanya and several others to giggle.

Only for the older cat-girl to playfully punch Janette in the shoulder and say if that was true she would have died of blood lose ages ago from her own sense of humor. Telekat is her codename, goes by Kat, Kate, Katherine, or even TK depending on who she is talking to. RA for the northeast wing. Yikes, Tanya finds out Telekat is her RA and acts all shy and nervous. Evaluating Tanya from what she has observed so far, everything is nice until she says she is kind of short and scrawny and a little bit flat but has time to grow out of that. No censors on this one.

Oh boy, an RA and Sequoia has to point out people can be sensitive about that kind of thing to get Kat to realize it and apologize. *sigh* Kat is a little dense sometimes when it comes to what might upset others, it seems. Marcie Blovotsky aka Bai Yun, from California, the big girl who is part panda, the 3rd junior RA on the floor on the southwest wing. The horned girl, Caroline aka Malefis, says the sophomores have experience and are willing to help. To which the other cat girl, Lillian aka Mad Cat, who has snow white fur, says to speak for yourself to Mal. And Mad Cat is a teleporter, oh boy.

The girl with the head-scarf is Avsel, from Kurdistan and only in the States since June and having trouble with English, poor kid. Sillaw is hello in Kurdish, interesting. Lesley, the not quite a werewolf girl, scared her appearance frightens others. Tanya tells how Nemean came to last birthday party, Lesley confused by it until Ekene explains to her about Nemean's appearance and powers. Dang, he sounds a lot like Killer Croc in appearance but without the alligator face. If Tanya isn't scared by him, there are few if any things at Whateley that can scare her based on appearance alone.

Ekene has bright green scales on parts of her body, but has dark, chocolate colored skin otherwise, but we only saw a glimpse of her arm before she covered it back up. Ekene is so scared how the new girls might react, she is hiding herself under clothing, instead of opening up like Sequoia encourages her to do. So afraid she is crying, finally lowering her hood with encouragement from Sequoia.

Six green-scaled snakes instead of hair and hostile towards Sequoia's hand on Ekene, now I see why she is so afraid. Too many idiots many comparisons to Medusa, calling her a monster and such, instead of seeing the real her instead of just her snake hair. Ah, affected by he emotional state, figures. Dazzling green eyes that match her scales, calmed down thanks to Sequoia's encouragement, Dawn rushes over to hug her while Lesley puts her hand on Ekene's shoulder.

Tanya understands why she would be worried about scaring people, but thinks it is kind of cool. Strong paralytic venom, plus she can sense any danger they detect and can look through their eyes in 360-degrees in infrared when she concentrates, that is impressive. Bwahahahaa! Had to look up moggie, oh that is a good snark from Lesley at Mad Cat. Back to the game but why is Kat reacting that way to having to introduce Tanya to her roommate. Just how bad can it be?

Automatically using her powers, this doesn't sound good for Tanya. Her new roommate needs to open up more, something to do with Tanya's power testing which confuses her as to why. Her roommate is Sterling, which Dawn has never heard of a girl by that name before. Not good signs.

Each RA in the 1st room on their wing, smart design. Mentions the restrooms and parlor rooms, and now for Tanya's room with Sterling. Yikes! Some power which causes Kat pain enough to clutch her head, yet Tanya only felt a slight twinge just behind her temples. Oh boy, Kate says she gets headaches from time to time, something to do with her telekinesis, yet from how she isn't talking about Sterling and how Sequoia reacts it seems like a psychic attack. Could that mean Tanya's PK field resist psychic powers to a degree?

Kat seems to think Tanya has the room to herself, just rambling on, yet Tanya sees a young woman sitting on the right-side of the bed, arms wrapped around her knees. Skin deep forest green, Tanya is jealous of her figure, and hair falling down her back like a sterling silver waterfall. Poor girl is crying, Sequoia steps past them to go hug Sterling, while keeps talking and not noticing this. Psychic ability to make others forget you even exist, from the look of things. And she can't control it yet, automatically using it when startled it seems.

Oh crud, none of the other girls have learned how to block her power and thus don't remember her, this is very bad. Once Sterling is calmed down and Kat remembers her, she rushes over to hug her, apologizing and crying, saying nothing she does to build her mental defenses works. Though Sequoia points out she has improved, she used to not remember even after the effect was let down. And Tanya seems immune to her power, so perfect roommate.

Rebecca Sawyer aka Sterling, only at Whateley a few weeks and yet living like that, with almost no one able to remember her because of her power and not being in full control of it. Oh crud, mention of Dawn gets Sterling upset again and Kat forgets her, so Sequoia will have to help her settle in. Oh boy, going to see Wyatt for counseling, which Sterling doesn't think will help. She relents after Sequoia says she will carry her, leaving Tanya feeling helpless, unsure of what to do or say.

But Sequoia says she did better than they hoped, but Sterling's situation is going to be tough. Poor girl is living a nightmare and doesn't see any end to it, that can batter down anyone's spirit quickly. Tanya is going to be told more of what is expected of her as Sterling's roommate, this is going to be a learning experience for Tanya.

Okay, the 1st 3 posters I would expect Tanya to have on her, but the Eowyn from Lord of the Ring movies I didn't see coming. Nice reason to put it up though. Nice set-up for her side of the room, though done with all that and it has been 2 hours. Guess Sterling needs a lot of counseling, any idiots pick on her once she gets better control over her powers are getting hurt.

Yikes, Tanya is overthinking things and working herself up, worrying about all these things and feeling like they are coming too fast isn't going to help her any. Ah, at least she knows the friends she made in New York care and want her around, that helps. Ah, just like a dad to worry about their daughter, Tanya better hope her friends don't find out his nickname of pumpkin for her or there might be some teasing in her future.

Motorcycle paramedic, never heard of that job before now. Dear family friend Parker, laid up with a back injury and not able to do as much as he wants, ugh, never fun being laid up no matter what the cause. Joking about Parker going even crazier, if he did he would talk about aliens using strange portal devises for thousands of years just so they could taste our chocolate or something. Tanya's dad doesn't know how close to the truth he is on that one.

Aunt Jorunn, interesting name. Hehe, nice tradition to mess with her godmother/aunt about her cooking. Sylphie didn't think they did the kind of renovations to the Crystal Hall to add waterfalls, guess she hasn't heard anything about it in years. Talking with her godmother about her concerns, at least she is getting it off her chest now instead of letting it fester for days/weeks before asking for advice or help. Rattling off all the people she has met and their problems, how is she supposed to be friends and support so many people, the stress in her voice obvious.

Ah, sound advice from Aunt Jorunn, Tanya doesn't realize you can't be friends with everyone in high school, trying to do so would drive someone nuts. She is a wise woman and tells Tanya just what she needs to hear, what more than a few kids in high school need to hear. From what she said, it all boils down to one thing: Just be yourself, don't put on an act. Took hearing the same advice from her godmother that Sequoia gave to Ekene to have it sink in. Almost curfew and they aren't back yet, so Tanya settles in. Talk about a hectic day.

Ouch, walked into the pile of books and woke up Tanya, in a silver-colored satin nightgown, when she gains more control over that power she is going to fighting the boys off. Oh boy, upset she woke up Tanya, the stress of just a few weeks at Whateley and however long before she got there since her power manifested have taken a huge toll on her. Tanya tries to assure her it is okay, but due to multiple thing she is still upset. Silver eyes with flecks of green, Tanya tells her how she feels the same way about if she messes up doing something and it affects someone else.

Tanya just sits with her and lets her deal with it, until she talks, not wishing to let the house mothers, Sequoia, Telekat, or Dr. Cody down. Tired of being alone. Sterling suddenly embraces Tanya and starts crying into her shoulders, Tanya letting the poor girl do so as she knows this is what she needs right now.

Sterling cried herself to sleep, Tanya feeling regret and sympathy for the poor girl, as she uses her PK to gently put her to bed. Tanya talks to God, saying she knows this is the opposite of what Aunt Sylphie told her to do, but she knows how it is to feel isolated and alone, but not even close to what Sterling is dealing with. Asking God to help her be a good friend, to Sterling, to Tia, Laura, Morgana, and the others. She has set herself a huge but rewarding task, she is going to need all the help she can get to succeed.

Kind of surprised me that you posted your comments so soon, Dreamer, but as usual I definitely enjoyed reading them. It's always a treat to read your reactions to a story, and I'm glad you seem to have enjoyed the first part of this one.

Hahaha, I just learned that game last winter when my brother decided he needed to torment our dad and step-mom with it while we were up there visiting. It was great. We tried it with our nephews too, but they were just a little bit too young. Well, one was; the other probably would have done better if he hadn't had a broken arm making things difficult and earning him lots of overtime penalties (which would then be promptly compounded by other penalties, as tends to happen). Hopefully Grandma will be back from out west next time around; I bet she'd get a kick out of it.

I didn't know motorcycle paramedics were a thing. Awesome! And when checking Wikipedia to find out whether that was real or Whateley-specific, I found out that fire bikes are also a thing, though mostly in non-USA locations.

Getting to see some more Vic was nice, since he's mostly been in the background so far. Looking forward to more.

It was an enjoyable read, as always (well, pretty much) i am hooked. You have introduced a bunch of interesting characters, you have put into the spotlight some characters that were more or less in the background until now (it's always a good thing.) One of the thing that i found admirable in the beginning of this new gen is the fact that from the get go we have an anchor in more or less each cottage and not only Poe.

If i remember correctly, one of your goal for Tanya was to depict a person in search of herself, trying to define her own identity. (It is the case for most teenager but for her, her family background and manifestation is really part of why she has doubts about herself). And in my opinion you have definitely been able to show that aspect of her. She is shy, doesn't know exactly how to interact with other and people have expectations of her (ok, i read too much into the last part for now, it was only the staff and it was the normal Whateley policy to put "a normal with a freak" like for Jobe and Oak in first gen).

Her code name seems like a set up for faillure, she might have second guesses about it latter. The problem when you are named something like "the unconquered", the "undefeatable", "the invicible" or something like that, it's that at one point you don't live up to your own code name. And it might even give others idea to mess with her to prove that particular point. (And it might be my twisted mind but to conquer can have another meaning than just to defeat someone ...). Well, as always i might put too much thought into it and it doesn't mean you have something like that in mind (i think that i point that out only because i remember one of Morpheus's character, called "Unstoppable". It didn't go very well for him after his first defeat).

The Vic POV was unexpected, or rather when i began to read it i though it mean that we would explore more characters. Vic's part was small and yet i convey a lot of information. If i remember correctly we only knew that he was a runaway, here we have a glimpse of his family and his situation. I wonder who are his employer and whereas or not his missions will be related to whateley (it might just be "train here and then after you graduate you work for us"). It seems the probability that he will get harassed in the future because he is not a GSD is not null (and we now know that Faction three is still in place at whateley).

Is it possible that there is connection between Tanya and Vic stories ? or maybe the goal was only to show us two different approach to the GSD ? (In twayn for now it's more or less "in your face, don't mess with us" whereas in Whitman they have developped a sense of community for the whole cottage ? It is too soon to tell and we have only seen one scene in Twayn, Zephyr might be the exception and might calm himself with time).

Also, a lot of catgirl.

Thanks.

Would it be reasonable to guess that Red's full codename is Redcap , and that he is in fact a Powrie or (if he also wears red clothes) Fir Darrig fae? While tradition says that Redcaps are named for their habit of dying their woolen caps with their victims' blood, having blood-red hair may well count, too. His height sounds more like a Fir Darrig, though.

Speaking of Fae, are gorgon-type mutants like Ekene also Faerie, and did they ever figure out why Gerald wasn't a changeling (since all other known gorgons were female)?

A Mad Cat, and a timber wolf who is also a highlander - will one or both of them be taking Advanced Defensive Tech come Winter Session, I wonder?

And I'm still hoping that Mr. Maxwell isn't going to turn out to have been Sterling's father, but I know that some of the CC sadists are too likely to do that not to expect it. OTOH, that may mean we'd find out what happened to Dorothy, so it might not be so bad.

But you mentioned Tanya's powers, which I assume relates to her mother, but are you hinting at something else? What were Captain Courage's powers (aside from being an Exemplar and probably having a Glamour), anyway?

Well there's some hinting for Vic's backstory, and it is almost enough to drive theories (or it is enough but I am not fully awake to run with it) i like Shisa.


Is it bad that Sterling makes me think about Strats and the Memory Worm?

Having a senior moment here... What was the name of the story with the attack on the dam and all that?

joreymay wrote: Having a senior moment here... What was the name of the story with the attack on the dam and all that?

DamBusters *snerk*

Let me think... attack on the dam... possibly this?

That game seems to me a relative of Mau Mau (which I played a lot as a kid -- we didn't have a TV at the beach house). It might be Crazy Eights, UNO, Flaps, Switch or some other game on the shedding family.

I don't remember if it has been explicitly said, but I think Invictus is a legacy codename -- it was probably Tanya's mum's codename. And since Tanya apparently has the same powers, and (after manifesting) looks very similar to her mom (at least according to the Gen2 Launch), well, it wouldn't be surprising if she took the same codename.

As for her being a flyer who likes Parkour, that's easy to explain: she did Parkour BEFORE manifesting.

No, the WU story. Boy and his devisor friend living in a warehouse. He's avoiding his super (FSHA?) stepsister, although they get along. Comes into contact with an organization that trades "favors". Trades his participation in a large scale operation and two more favors for getting into Whateley and fees and expenses paid for transportation and the first year. Operation involved something in a secret room inside a large scale dam. Things go wrong, but he still gets his "payment".

May have originally been a fanfic?

The story you're thinking of was a fanfic one. Can't recall the name.
It was the second Whateley story I read.

joreymay wrote: No, the WU story. Boy and his devisor friend living in a warehouse. He's avoiding his super (FSHA?) stepsister, although they get along. Comes into contact with an organization that trades "favors". Trades his participation in a large scale operation and two more favors for getting into Whateley and fees and expenses paid for transportation and the first year. Operation involved something in a secret room inside a large scale dam. Things go wrong, but he still gets his "payment".

May have originally been a fanfic?

Domoviye wrote: The story you're thinking of was a fanfic one. Can't recall the name.
It was the second Whateley story I read.

Thanks, you two! I think I've found it:

Malaqua - Ripples - (2nd Gen)

"Ripples" is indeed where Vic's character concept originated, but his story has changed quite significantly since the fanfic was written, though yes, there are still some similarities.

Who's this Malaqua and why is he stealing my work! I mean um, what fanfic >>?

*hides in a box

Here is a picture of Shisa.

Nice artwork, Dom. I'm guessing you had it commissioned?

NeoMagus wrote: Nice artwork, Dom. I'm guessing you had it commissioned?

Yes it is. Since I can't draw a straight line, I found an artist on Deviant Art. She's got some interesting artwork coming along for me, which should interest people when I finally show it. And then I'll provide a link to her stuff.

NeoMagus wrote: "Ripples" is indeed where Vic's character concept originated, but his story has changed quite significantly since the fanfic was written, though yes, there are still some similarities.

Will there be a proper origin story for this version?

joreymay wrote:

NeoMagus wrote: "Ripples" is indeed where Vic's character concept originated, but his story has changed quite significantly since the fanfic was written, though yes, there are still some similarities.

Will there be a proper origin story for this version?

There might be eventually...or there might not...or Mal's been working on it on the down-low and that'll be what you guys get to see next.

It'll probably be one of those three options...

NeoMagus wrote:

joreymay wrote:

NeoMagus wrote: "Ripples" is indeed where Vic's character concept originated, but his story has changed quite significantly since the fanfic was written, though yes, there are still some similarities.

Will there be a proper origin story for this version?

There might be eventually...or there might not...or Mal's been working on it on the down-low and that'll be what you guys get to see next.

It'll probably be one of those three options...

Damn it, you are making me question the reliability of Elrod's BC release schedule, as it relates to Whateley releases....

Hmm... is Ekene a codename? And is she an Exemplar, or something, that just looks like Medusa-ish, or does she have some petrification powers or something? if it is a codename, it reminds me of Ekans , in pronunciation at least...

Nemean, like the Lion ... But not leonine, but similarly invulnerable, I'd presume...

Sterling can't use ESP suppression equipment like Frank does? Then again, that might be a devise, and/or specially made for projections...

mhalpern wrote: Damn it, you are making me question the reliability of Elrod's BC release schedule, as it relates to Whateley releases....

Why would whether or not Malagua's character Vic gets an origin story any time soon cause you to question Elrod's release schedule?

Is sterling related to my favourite character from I looked into the abyss and it winked? They have very similar powers.

What was her name again? She was one of Suzan's friends I think. She had that scene in the police station that explained her powers and back story. What was her name again?

Malady wrote: Hmm... is Ekene a codename? And is she an Exemplar, or something, that just looks like Medusa-ish, or does she have some petrification powers or something? if it is a codename, it reminds me of Ekans , in pronunciation at least...

Nemean, like the Lion ... But not leonine, but similarly invulnerable, I'd presume...

Sterling can't use ESP suppression equipment like Frank does? Then again, that might be a devise, and/or specially made for projections...

"Ekene" is from the Igbo language used in Western Africa, and it means "praise." Her parents immigrated to the US from Nigeria before she was born. And yes, I did choose this name for her in part because it reminded me of Ekans, though there is no connection like that in-canon. Her codename, by the way, which I thought for sure I included at least once in the story, is "Ophidian," the Latin word for snake.

Yes, "Nemean" is taken from the Nemean Lion. As for the reason...

As far as whether or not Sterling can use a similar kind of helmet to what Frank uses, let's just say that the kind of passive psychic manipulation she's doing is rather more complicated than just projective empathy. Whateley is working to see if something like that can be developed, but it's going to take them some time, and she's only been there a couple of weeks.

Small point: since Shisa is original art, can we please have author attribution and licensing terms for the Wiki, please?

Misc thoughts as I read:

Costume class has really gone downhill if they can't design comfortable clothing for Shisa. Is Celia not around anymore?

What are the chances that Red is Vic's roommate?

Ooh, Morgana has company in the PTSD club! Just what she always wanted!

Given the line of work that Vic's sponsor is in, I'd be more concerned if she didn't know exactly what his clothing choices were.

Ah... that game. Haven't played it in years. I'm very humored that Tanya got pulled away before she could ask someone to explain the rules...

I would have thought for sure that Nightingale would be held by Marvel or DC. Is it really available, or is it generic enough that as long as she as dissimilar powers they can't come down on her? Or have the copyright threats been softened over the past decade?

Heh. I kind of wonder what Ekene would have thought of my reaction to her... hairdo, which would be something along the lines of "You have snakes! Are they safe to touch? (If so, can I touch them?) Can they think on their own? Do you have to feed them? <continues asking questions excitedly>"

Hm... this sounds like a memory power. That sucks.

Welp, Tanya, it's a good thing that you are interested in being a superhero, because it's going to happen whether you want it to or not. You care too much.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Costume class has really gone downhill if they can't design comfortable clothing for Shisa. Is Celia not around anymore?

It might not be that the clothes are uncomfortable but rather that she isn't comfortable with the idea itself of wearing clothes ?

Since I'm not as good with all the lore from Gen 1, is the reason Tanya is immune to Sterling's power because Tanya's are PK based alone? The RAs mentioned something in Tanya's file suggested she'd be the perfect person to automatically ignore Sterling's powers, but it wasn't really explained.

If so, is Sequoia similarly immune because she has similar powers, or because she knows what to expect and focuses super-hard on Sterling so she can't have her memories wiped.

Either way, the whole exchange made me feel really bad to Telekat. Maybe even moreso than Sterling, because she wants to help her.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Welp, Tanya, it's a good thing that you are interested in being a superhero, because it's going to happen whether you want it to or not. You care too much.

This is why Tanya has started to become one of my favorites out of the new group. Her strengths (strong empathy and desire to help) are also what end up being some of her weaknesses. She expressed that she doesn't want to come off too forward, and is nervous about whether she'll be able to help, whether they'll like her, whether she'll come off as rude. Her empathy and want to socialize ends up feeding her insecurities. She cares too much. About everything. But you'd never know it when the scene isn't coming from her perspective, because outwardly, she's very similar to Laura.

Contrast her to Laura who acts before she thinks, Tia who thinks too much and fails to act (same with Bailey of what we've seen), or Hikaru who can't let herself just go and do. They all balance each other out pretty nicely. It's why I love the group as a whole, and am eager to learn more about the rest who haven't had much focus in the arcs so far, like Tanya here.

Tanya really needed that reminder from Aunt Joruun and her father to just be herself.

Tanya's outward enthusiasm and concern for others makes her endearing, her insecurities make her adorable.

Tanya is such a well-rounded character already...except in the way that she actually cares about it.

Katssun wrote: Since I'm not as good with all the lore from Gen 1, is the reason Tanya is immune to Sterling's power because Tanya's are PK based alone? The RAs mentioned something in Tanya's file suggested she'd be the perfect person to automatically ignore Sterling's powers, but it wasn't really explained.

Now that you mention it ... it seems rather strange/odd. I may be wrong but one of Lancer's major weaknesses was psychic power (His fights against Lady Dark, Sim Cytherea and Dark Fey to name those that i can remember) and if we look at the information we have so far, Lancer has "better stats" than Invictus ...

Esar wrote:

Katssun wrote: Since I'm not as good with all the lore from Gen 1, is the reason Tanya is immune to Sterling's power because Tanya's are PK based alone? The RAs mentioned something in Tanya's file suggested she'd be the perfect person to automatically ignore Sterling's powers, but it wasn't really explained.

Now that you mention it ... it seems rather strange/odd. I may be wrong but one of Lancer's major weaknesses was psychic power (His fights against Lady Dark, Sim Cytherea and Dark Fey to name those that i can remember) and if we look at the information we have so far, Lancer has "better stats" than Invictus ...

Given Tanya's upbringing, living with the various Supers, it is possible that she has been dealing with various Aura's and/or other mental effects for her whole life, giving her a bit of mental resistance. This would be like the defense Phase developed from dealing with Fey, Carmilla, and the others that he mentioned after fighting BRKHDHGHLMN (sp?). Phase used the training he had gotten in childhood and built on it, Lancer didn't have the foundation to build on.

Rather, it's possible that Tanya's powers include an increased resistance to mental-based (telepathy/empathy) powers. She wouldn't be the first -- if memory serves well, Seraphim's roommate was chosen precisely because she had some natural resistance. And of course, Jimmy T is a psychic null.
Why is it in her file? Well, take your pick:
* Her mother was known for it, and since Tanya seems to have inherited her powers...
* One of the River City Guardians is a TP/EMP and noticed Tanya became hard to read after manifesting
* It simply came up in the testing
It may be one or more or the above, or maybe something different.

OK, major thoughts on this story.
Do I recall correctly that there is a cagirl in Wondercute? If so with three catgirls in Myriad Meetings, and that one, we've got a minimum four cat girls in Twain. I think you've reached your quota for catgirls.
Sequoia is a fabulous advisor to have, the rest range from good to nice but clueless (Telekat I'm looking at you).
On the Twain side, you definitely need a werewolf who is called Dude, with the nickname Scooby Dude. And I want to know why they thought Micheal would be a good advisor for the students. There had to have been some better choices.

Neo, despite trying to pass yourself as a nice, compassionate author, you can be pretty sadistic at times (that is a compliment), looking at what you have done with Sterling pulls the heartstrings. That is well done. Children of the fallen heroes, that was touching how the other girls supported the youngest one. And just what horrible stuff have you planned for Shisa's past? Living at Whateley, with that kind of GSD, wanting to make people think she's a cat, her past has to have been bad.

With Vic, we now see why he's afraid of water. Nearly drowning like his memory showed would be pretty traumatic. At least he's not horrified of water, just swimming. It looks like his backstory has been pretty tragic. I wonder how he had such a big falling out with his family. Can't wait to read it.

Tanya is definitely setting herself up to fail. Taking all of that pressure on herself. She's an honourable character for trying, but out, she has Gallahad Syndrome pretty badly. It's nice to see her so self conscious, but still trying.

I wonder if the newcomers to Whitman will be as friendly as these ones? And will Twain improve for Vic or get worse?

Domoviye wrote: Neo, despite trying to pass yourself as a nice, compassionate author, you can be pretty sadistic at times (that is a compliment), looking at what you have done with Sterling pulls the heartstrings. That is well done.

I AM a nice, compassionate author.
It's just that you also have to have the more negative work in order to really highlight the good stuff. Or so I'm told at least.

Also...you haven't seen anything yet.

And just what horrible stuff have you planned for Shisa's past? Living at Whateley, with that kind of GSD, wanting to make people think she's a cat, her past has to have been bad.

As if you don't already know all about that...

With Vic, we now see why he's afraid of water. Nearly drowning like his memory showed would be pretty traumatic. At least he's not horrified of water, just swimming. It looks like his backstory has been pretty tragic. I wonder how he had such a big falling out with his family. Can't wait to read it.

Vic is an awesome character, and you'll be finding out more about him soon enough.

Domoviye wrote: And I want to know why they thought Micheal would be a good advisor for the students. There had to have been some better choices.

The impression I got is that they intend for the job itself to help him grow. He might be prejudiced right now, but it doesn't sound like it's the sort of blind idiot prejudice that can't be fixed. Shaggy says he's a good guy, and Carson believed in him. He seems to be a protective person with a strong sense of duty. All together, that tells me that he's the sort who will eventually adopt the Pretties who have been put in his care. He's basically a big brother at heart, so he won't be able to help it. Even if he initially sides against them during GSD-vs-Pretty conflicts, the pretties will have plenty of problems that don't involve GSD for him to help them with, and through helping them he will bond with them. (It doesn't work this way for everybody, but it does for some.)

Unfortunately for Vic, that could take a while unless things go wrong in the near future and rush the process. (E.g., Micheal might not like or trust Vic, but he's more likely to side with Vic than with random bullies from Emmerson.)

Kettlekorn wrote:

Domoviye wrote: And I want to know why they thought Micheal would be a good advisor for the students. There had to have been some better choices.

The impression I got is that they intend for the job itself to help him grow. He might be prejudiced right now, but it doesn't sound like it's the sort of blind idiot prejudice that can't be fixed. Shaggy says he's a good guy, and Carson believed in him. He seems to be a protective person with a strong sense of duty. All together, that tells me that he's the sort who will eventually adopt the Pretties who have been put in his care. He's basically a big brother at heart, so he won't be able to help it. Even if he initially sides against them during GSD-vs-Pretty conflicts, the pretties will have plenty of problems that don't involve GSD for him to help them with, and through helping them he will bond with them. (It doesn't work this way for everybody, but it does for some.)

Unfortunately for Vic, that could take a while unless things go wrong in the near future and rush the process. (E.g., Micheal might not like or trust Vic, but he's more likely to side with Vic than with random bullies from Emmerson.)

Also its a good lesson for the Pretties he presides over, authority figures wont always side with you, even if you have justification to think they will.

Domoviye wrote: With Vic, we now see why he's afraid of water. Nearly drowning like his memory showed would be pretty traumatic. At least he's not horrified of water, just swimming. It looks like his backstory has been pretty tragic. I wonder how he had such a big falling out with his family. Can't wait to read it.

All things considered, it would be ironic indeed if he was afraid of water. I didn't read it as being horrified of swimming, just uncomfortable. As to the falling out, there doesn't seem to have been one. He overheard a conversation between his father and stepmother which he interpreted (correctly or not) as indicating that he was such a burden that the family would have been better off if he had never been born. He left to relieve that burden. There were more details in the fanfic, but they may not apply to the canon version.

Sterling's certainly an interesting character, even though we're currently only seeing her from third person perspective. So she has a powerset similar to Dorothy Maxwell from G1's Abyss (who, ironically was rather neglected story-wise after her one plot-significant moment), and after noticing an earlier comment about her heritage, did a Wiki search which turned up a certain G1 character with the same surname.

Given what the Wiki mentions about that G1 character's ancestry, it's not inconceivable that they're siblings and their father meted out similar abuse to Becky as Dorothy's did to her. Also, given Tanya thought she was at least three years her senior, it could indicate that Becky's of Junior or Senior age, but due to the circumstances surrounding her manifestation / arrival at Whateley, is enrolled at 1st / 2nd year level (Freshman / Sophomore).

Considering that Mr. Maxwell was in the habit of sexually abusing his students, (one of which was pregnant in "Abyss"), it's quite possible that Becky is an illegitimate child of his.

That pregnant student was also named Becky (Becky Brown). Probably coincidence given the ten year gap, of course. If nothing weird is going on, Sterling would have been somewhere between four and eight at that time.

My theory is that Sterling is a full-blooded sister of Dorothy Maxwell. We know that Dorothy's mom left some time before she manifested, and Dorothy's theory is that she was at least somewhat aware of what was going on and that that's why she left. But my theory is that the knowledge alone hadn't been enough motivation up until that point, and that it was the discovery that she was pregnant again that finally gave her the kick in the ass she needed to take action. (Too bad that action was to run away from the problem instead of just killing Maxwell in his sleep.) This theory assumes the name Sawyer is just something she picked after fleeing to make it harder for Maxwell to track them down, and not any relation to Reach.

Incidentally, I realized while re-reading Dorothy's bit of the story that she and Jobe were in the same fanfic ring online. I wonder if the Lit Chix know about that particular hobby. Arachne in particular might find some of Jobe's stories interesting; according to Dorothy, there was a lot of detailed spider anatomy.

“Heh, definitely right. Any crazier and he'll be talking about how aliens have been using strange portal devices to visit our planet for thousands of years without our ever knowing it, just so they could taste our chocolate or something like that.”

I really loved this reference.

NeoMagus wrote: Kind of surprised me that you posted your comments so soon, Dreamer, but as usual I definitely enjoyed reading them. It's always a treat to read your reactions to a story, and I'm glad you seem to have enjoyed the first part of this one.

It was a good thing I got the story comments done and posted before going to sleep. Left my computer on, running Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and woke up to find out because stupid Windows Defender had refused to update for over a week freaking ransomware messed up my comp and even back-up external hard-drive. Had to get recovery disk to format the computer from HP company and only now starting to get back a lot of things I had on it, in part thanks to an older external hard drive with everything up to early November 2014 on it.. Almost finished going through the threads, copy and pasting the long comments I did each week for week story/story part into rich text documents like they were when I first typed them up. Need to get a second larger back-up external harddrive, one to keep hooked up most of the time, the other only plug in once a week so it is safe in case of infection like this. Oh well, live and learn.

OMG! Losing ~2 years of stuff! Well, at least it wasn't everything? ... How'd you get infected?

Try Microsoft Security Essentials? It updates every day?

Edit: But what do I know? I thought I was using MSE, but actually had Defender...

Backup is the only way to deal with ransomware, and you have to back up frequently. I have a 4 TB external drive that I back up my family's desktops and laptops. I does not stay on-line, but is connected periodically to do the backup. The threat environment on the Internet is so dynamic and dangerous that anything BUT backup is going to have "zero-day" vulnerabilities. (Zero-day refers to the first detection of malware before the antivirus companies can analyze and update their AV detection databases and/or software.)

To be really safe, I'd get a second one to rotate backups so if something hit while I was backing up, I'd still be safe.

elrodw wrote: To be really safe, I'd get a second one to rotate backups so if something hit while I was backing up, I'd still be safe.

Going to do just that on the 1st when I can afford it.

And thanks for the information, Elrod. Foolish kept the external HD hooked up constantly before, now only going to hook it up once a day and only after running virus scan and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program.

At Frys down here, I can get a 1 TB USB drive for $49 on sale. At that, it's not too expensive to have dual drives.