Question The Writing On the Wall

The Writing On the Wall part 1 comments
Yikes, knew that Bianca was having nightmares related to the death of her family, but almost all of her dreams being nightmares, that is worse than I thought. Both going through horrible situations and suffering nightmares related to them, in for the long haul for treatment and recovery. Not morning people, now there is something I can relate to. Wonder if Bianca is reading too much into Laura being comfortable drying herself in front of other girls. Just wishing to feel normal, even people who haven't gone through such transformations can feel that way.

Bianca still has her old boy outlook about girls and shower rooms, nice to see. D'oh! Would have been Laura if Bailey hadn't spotted the tattoos first. Things she could never let the others find out, meaning before she graduates they are going to come out one way or another. Using the water rune to dry off, nice trick even if it is limited. And Bianca is right about limiting who knows about her tattoos, someone who knows about them and their connection to the White Lady probably goes to Whateley. Or a minion or spy who could relay the information to someone who knows.

Bianca is one of the smart students, proper protection is important, though I wonder how loud Morgana really snores. And now it is time for Bianca's first power testing at Whateley, oh boy. Uh oh, what kind of details she wishes to keep hidden will they uncover and who will gain access to the testing results. Nice bit of teasing about the regeneration test, if they did that to every student everyone without regen would be walking around with one finger missing the tip.

Figures the testers would figure all of that out, Bianca is in for a lot more testing in the future. At least Bianca is seeing other students and realizing she doesn't stand out as much as she thought. Dang, made me wish I could give Bianca a hug to comfort her, painful memories like that only become easier to deal with time from my experience. Oh brother, someone like Bianca gets THE Imp as her faculty advisor, she is in for a ride.

Bwahahaha! Now that is the same old Imp we love. Figures Imp would have known Bianca's grandmother, even showing sadness for her that she is dead. Though they are hear to talk about Bianca, she might wish to talk to Imp about her grandmother in the future. Note from Mrs. Dennon about taking BMA, yet Imp is letting her take Survival instead. Yet Bianca wishes to learn how to fight, determined young lady. Darn, know students need required courses but that sucks for Bianca with her schedule.

Costuming class on Saturday morning, at least she gets to take that class. Evening class for Firearm Safety, poor girl is going to be exhausted at this rate. Hehehe, Imp pushing the art classes, to the point that Bianca figures out who the art teacher is from that and the other clues. Oh boy, never a good idea no matter how hungry you feel to find out which is bigger between your eyes and your stomach. Almost always ends in a stomach ache.

Gideon Crawford aka Esquire, one of the Bad Seeds and trying to make a dramatic entrance. A ferrokinetic with a hollow metal cane full of ball bearings, good grief, that isn't going to end well. Tyler Voight aka Racoon, and Hammer, a big bruiser who Gideon thinks doesn't give him the respect he deserves. Snake-eyes, a guy with pure black eyes who Gideon doesn't want getting bored. Regan Rouvier aka Revel is Snake-eyes partner, an attractive high-level exemplar. Sister Secret, another Junior, and Dragonblade aka AJ Blackstone is there.

The youngest Bad Seed is Michelle Jarrowitz, a 12 year old, junior high student, codename Tek Witch, called Twitch by the others. A violet witch hat with tech she put inside it, plus blonde pigtails. Oh boy, figuring out with freshmen can be allies, which are problems to their plans, and which can be marks. AJ doesn't want anyone messing with Nick, nice to have a friend in the Bad Seeds.

Oh boy, they know about Tia, at least Twitch thinks she is cute and probably doesn't wish to hurt her. *smacks forehead* Hammer is lucky Laura didn't hear him call her a smurf. Dang it! They know about Bianca too thanks to Hammer being from Chicago and stories of the hit on the previous White Lady and her family having leaked out. And they are going to try and get her to join the Bad Seeds, just what she doesn't want.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in original Scandinavian, that power is more impressive than Bianca realizes. Jessica aka Façade, that librarian look of hers probably gets her a lot of attention. The way Façade is blushing and then smiling while talking to Bianca, looks like she has a crush on her. Decibelle, with the way she talks about Façade the seemingly nice girl is a hidden threat, nearly everything about her is only skin deep is ominous.

Not liking rumor and gossips because of how her mom and sister acted, not limit her about to gather information but also will keep her from gathering false information. Dang, wishing to go fishing but it not fitting the image, I would hate to give up something I love to do just to fit an image. Oh bother, worrying that Imp will judge her based upon what the White Lady is supposed to be. Bet Imp would tell her to be herself and not worry what others think.

Dang, made me tear up, still so soon after the loss of everyone she cared about. A Rube Goldberg device to set off a chain of dominos, that girl either has a lot of time, enjoys this, or something else not obvious about it is going on. Elliot aka Weaponeer, a guy who Bianca thinks looks like a demented leprechaun, kicks over some of the dominos and taunts her about not being a real inventor like him. If he is a freshman and carrying that energy blaster around before taking the Firearms Safety course, that is a huge problem.

The other boy, Marty aka Googles is actually codenamed Photech. Blasting the girl's dominos with a burst of flames, trying to bully her out of the lab classes and calls her Tinker. Tinker can sparkle and float in the air, nice power. And Bianca helps out by stopping the flames. Things have changed a lot, though this guy probably will answer to the Order of the Worn Wrench for messing with a fellow lab student like this.

He fired a deadly weapon at Bianca, if security has footage of that Elliot is in serious trouble. Then ice to try and drive her off, doesn't work, Bianca has gotten a lot braver in a short amount of time. An illusion of the Hulk to mess with her, oh brother, not even original. *eyes bug out* Her elemental light can chase away illusions, that is incredibly powerful. With the illusion gone Elliot and Marty run like the cowards they are.

Janine Belle is Tinker's real name, staring for a few moments at Bianca, then turning away and blushing. Wonder if it is just one girl admiring another or something more. Oh brother, both of the guys are sophomores and jerks towards girl inventors, saying they didn't belong in the labs because they would distract the REAL inventors. Hope Lanie comes for a visit in her old stomping grounds and helps in a lesson in humility for these two.

Elliot bashed female inventors, then hits on one of them, that boy has worse common sense than even a dog. Ah, good at troubleshooting and fixing machines, but not creating her own, along with being really good at mechanical sequences. Dickenson, a PK as well but only able to levitate and fly really slow, still a useful power. Figures, right as she is about to show Janine her true magic, security shows up.

*chuckles* Morgana trying to get Laura to get into a fight with someone, since she, Tanya, and now Bianca have done so. *groans* Morgana teasing Bianca about the fight like that, even mentioning the Hulk without point out it was a hologram. Ah, security agreed it wasn't really a fight, good to know. Janine shows up with a cute blonde girl codenamed Giggles, who thanks Bianca for keeping her out of trouble. Gadgeteer and energizer and working on a built in protection field inside her jacket, seem to be more female lab students now. Seems Laura has another person to talk tech stuff with.

Janine wants to see more of Bianca's magic tricks, but Bianca wants to see what Janine's Rube Goldberg device would do. Giggles has Diedricks, ouch. Oh boy, Janine pulls Bianca along to their table, excitable, isn't she. A simple light rune and then a rune to keep something stuck to it for about a minute, handy in the right situation. Oh boy, both Janine and Giggles are inspired by that last rune spell for inventions. An outfit to climb walls like a spider, interesting, and it even draws Giggles away after lunch is finished.

Janine following Bianca and 2 boys a girl following them. Oh crud, the Bad Seeds here to recruit her. Gideon, Tyler, and Twitch, Gideon has no tact and says does she prefer White Lady. Janine thinks they are making fun of her skin color and jumps to Bianca's defense, while Bianca demands to know who they are and what they want. Bianca agrees to with them to talk, but Janine doesn't trust the two boys. Keep calling her White Lady, that is just going to keep upsetting her.

Bianca sets up a spell to prevent eavesdropping, the Bad Seeds are already jamming bugs. Milena Tarkisian aka Sister Secret is the RA and fixer for Dickenson, her father is Mister Secret. Tyler's mom is Madame Midnight, Gideon's mother is Iron Belle, Twitch's dad is Tek Knight, and Hammer's dad is Anvil. At least Tyler understands she is keeping a low profile. And Bianca is surprised to learn AJ's mom is the Witch Queen. And Bianca even reveals she knew Lex in the past, having met him at one of her grandmother's parties, but not saying who she was by name.

"Like meanies, and bullies, and jerks,"

Twitch is so cute it hurts my teeth. Nice read of everyone by Bianca, though it was obvious she would decline. Everyone calm about her decision except for Gideon, figures, that guy is wound too tight. Bianca made the right decision imo, she has friends to watch her back, plus with Hammer there she would never know if she was safe, Gideon I get the vibe he would try to seduce her and get upset and try to retaliate when rejected, and Snake-eyes I'm not sure what to think of.

Well, we know a couple of the techies who will soon have their Order of the Worn Wrench protection statuses revoked, also being good at fixing things and mechanical sequences is rather useful, you wont always find workable electronics around, but you will ALWAYS find stuff you can use for mechanical work, unless there is absolutely nothing in sight in terms of anything but sky and ground. Tinker I can see as being rather deadly, just add a little bit of Hello Kitty, and she will be a terror.

So, all Bianca stories have titles about writing!

Hmm... The Writing On the Wall could be literal, like the Warding that Bianca plans for her room...

Tinker X Bianca ship!

'Lex is gonna figure out that Bianca was Bryan' I guess. ... Lex X Bianca ship?

Imp knows about White Lady, Bad Seeds know about White Lady... Tinker heard them call her White Lady, but misunderstood it... Anyone who eavesdropped on any of those times might gather the info to figure out she's the White Lady...

Girl Techies might band together against sexism? Or they already have, or something?

Another Witch Hat wearing girl in Twitch. ... Has the TLW become an informal group? ... Does Twitch even have the Wizard trait?? ... Have I asked about the size of the Pre-Freshman group in Gen2? I don't think so? ... I think I should, at some point, before or after I hopefully repost this into the Forum Feedback thread...

Hmm... Is Hammer's Anvil the same as the Gen1 Whateley Student ?

Nah. Too young, unless you have him be a dad at 10 or something... Eww? ... I'm thinking different person...

Tinker would be great if she started to make clockwork items.

‘Even bad pizza is still pretty damn good,’

The person that said this has probably never had pizza made in authentic German style.

Is Tek Knight supposed to be Teknight from the Imp story.

I think that the Bad Seeds are going to cause trouble for Bianca. (Morpheus seems to have a fascination with the Bad Seeds, all his student main characters could arguably qualify. Bianca, and Porcelain are children of supervillains. RIbbon is sort of pretending to be, Sphere is "ward" of one. Mischief is being mentored by one or at least an exsupervillain. Only Glow isn't related to a supervillain, yet.)

Someone needs to remind Glyph to start making spell slips.

Valentine wrote: (Morpheus seems to have a fascination with the Bad Seeds, all his student main characters could arguably qualify. Bianca, and Porcelain are children of supervillains. RIbbon is sort of pretending to be, Sphere is "ward" of one. Mischief is being mentored by one or at least an exsupervillain. Only Glow isn't related to a supervillain, yet.)

Don't forget about Absinth who is arguably his most developped character, unless you count her connection to the MCO as an equivalent to a supervillain parentage.

Anyway, I loved this.

Her secret has not held for very long. It's not public knowledge, yet, but the main power players on campus are going to find out pretty soon. It's hard to keep secrets at whateley when there is so much connected individuals, means of espionage or even plain bribery. There is a distinct possibility that she will antagonize both the Cape Squad, the Bad Seeds and the Spy kids. (or at least part of those groups). Have fun Bianca. (Also we now know that the Intelligence Cadet Corps is still in place at whateley. Hopefully they have learned to behave themselves since G1)

The characters you have introduced are interesting. (Twitch ! So cute. The Clover vibe is strong in this one.) I wonder if she will be able to maintain a good relationship with Lex, he is a good kid and even if she does not plan on joining the Bad Seeds, she could benefit from having friends in several circles.

Also, the shipping war has started.

I get the impression that Bianca is going to end up being a bit of Fixer of the Jadis-School (as in, being asked for help whether she likes it or not). Sure, she was just helping Tinker from some jerks, but word spreads, especially since her magic is so adaptable given enough time to write out combinations of glyphs. She has that calm, generally even and cautious demeanor that the rest of the POV crowd tends to...lack, to put it politely. She internalizes so much more of it.

It is a bit of a downer her cover has been blown so early. The Imp of course, knows the importance of privacy, and never would have said anything. But a spurned blowhard like Esquire, not so much. Now Bianca can't really relax, she has to keep up the façade (oh yes, I just did that, and of course so did Morpheus) in front of everyone outside of our protagonist group so that her "professional" reputation doesn't suffer.

Shame about the fishing. Guess it is left to private boat trips for Bianca.

I really liked the way this first segment ended in relation to Bianca as a person. The Bad Seeds of course would be a huge benefit, but Bianca needs people she can legitimately trust, people to actually open up to, and she's already got those.

I don't think that the Seeds will purposely out Bianca, well Hammer might, because they all know that while they are the children of Supervillians, Bianca is the White Lady. She is a Supervillain with an organization behind her, that just might smoosh their family's business without her knowledge. Hammer should be working on befriending, not that way, Bianca, and hope that they can exist peacefully as rival organizations.

I forgot about Absinthe trying to remember Porcelain, but yeah most mutants would consider her dad a supervillain.

With her distinct looks, it's likely that someone in the Capes, Spykids, Masterminds, C.O.R.E., or some other group recognize her, and figure out who she is.

Imp won't out her, because she is a professional, and respects The White Lady (at least the old one).

Valentine wrote: (Morpheus seems to have a fascination with the Bad Seeds, all his student main characters could arguably qualify. Bianca, and Porcelain are children of supervillains. RIbbon is sort of pretending to be, Sphere is "ward" of one. Mischief is being mentored by one or at least an exsupervillain. Only Glow isn't related to a supervillain, yet.)

Actually, the variety among the relationships is more interesting. Bianca was the grandson of one, Ribbon was the father of one, and Mischief is the daughter of a superhero and on her way to having a supervillain as a step mother.

I was going to say that we had forgotten about Roulette, but ... Well i remembered about her father.

Personally I think (hope) Bianca ends up with the bad seeds but not fully. She doesn't attend meetings or hang out at lunch, but she protects them from the sidelines. Or maybe something akin to Lindsay where people 'know' she's a part of the seeds but can't remember well enough to torment her.

Edit: I would like to thank Morpheus for breaking my writers block.

Personally, I never believed that it would take much time for Bianca to be "outed" as the new White Lady. I mean, the look IS pretty distinctive, and she comes from Chicago... the only point in her favor was that her grandmother had been keeping a low profile for decades.

Regarding Tinker... Bianca should have her talk to Imp. Her powers might not be very impressive as gadgeteering goes, but kinetic sculpture IS a valid art form, and she already seems pretty good at it.

Sir Lee wrote: Personally, I never believed that it would take much time for Bianca to be "outed" as the new White Lady. I mean, the look IS pretty distinctive, and she comes from Chicago... the only point in her favor was that her grandmother had been keeping a low profile for decades.

Regarding Tinker... Bianca should have her talk to Imp. Her powers might not be very impressive as gadgeteering goes, but kinetic sculpture IS a valid art form, and she already seems pretty good at it.

I could see that happening eventually, but it seems a bit of a quick jump after just meeting both of them. Bianca needs to see some kinetic art first. She is just a teenager.

I liked this story, and was happy to see a few things I was expecting to happen. The big that struck me as odd was the idea of experienced Bad Seeds just randomly blowing another potential Bad Seed's cover several times in public. It strikes me as about the equivalent of an experienced electrician picking up a fork without a protective glove and then stabbing a power socket. Almost mpossible unless they were doing it on purpose. My personal explanation is that they're trying to forcibly recruit Bianca for some reason, since, from their point of view, if she loses her friends and gets a bad reputation around campus she won't have much of a choice but to spend all of her time with them.

I wonder if they're very interested in Bianca because she's confirmed to be a Wizard. It doesn't go into full detail about each of the Gen2 Bad Seeds' powers, but AJ isn't confirmed to be a Wizard, and it doesn't seem like any of the others are either.

Esquire doesn't use magic, Hammer doesn't, and as far as I can tell, despite her appearance, Twitch doesn't either. Sister Secret might be, I guess.

They may be trying to fill a gap with a known quantity. Since Bianca is official the heir to the White Lady's powers, they have a very good idea of her capabilities and versatility.

Katssun wrote: I wonder if they're very interested in Bianca because she's confirmed to be a Wizard. It doesn't go into full detail about each of the Gen2 Bad Seeds' powers, but AJ isn't confirmed to be a Wizard, and it doesn't seem like any of the others are either.

Esquire doesn't use magic, Hammer doesn't, and as far as I can tell, despite her appearance, Twitch doesn't either. Sister Secret might be, I guess.

They may be trying to fill a gap with a known quantity. Since Bianca is official the heir to the White Lady's powers, they have a very good idea of her capabilities and versatility.

What they want is a big bad name, a lineage to throw around that actually means something to others. G1 had both a certain crown princess whom no-one wanted to be designated as "lab rat" for, and the Diaboliks.

Minor nitpick: there's no such thing as "Scandinavian" language. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are closely related and mutually intelligible (like, say, Spanish, Galician and Portuguese are), but they are not the same language. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was originally published in Swedish.

Otherwise, a few typos, but nothing worth mentioning.

mhalpern wrote: What they want is a big bad name, a lineage to throw around that actually means something to others. G1 had both a certain crown princess whom no-one wanted to be designated as "lab rat" for, and the Diaboliks.

Agreed, but didn't those cause more problems for the others than it solved? The Diaboliks and our favorite crown princess(es?) caused nothing but problems by association for those Bad Seeds who weren't particularly interested.

They ate lunch together, but a lot of that was because Jobe and Jadis were childhood friends. Winter, Nacht, and Lindsay weren't super enthusiastic about constantly getting harassed or treated poorly, though Nacht could certainly take care of herself.

I'm guessing this group isn't nearly as overt about it.

Katssun wrote:

mhalpern wrote: What they want is a big bad name, a lineage to throw around that actually means something to others. G1 had both a certain crown princess whom no-one wanted to be designated as "lab rat" for, and the Diaboliks.

Agreed, but didn't those cause more problems for the others than it solved? The Diaboliks and our favorite crown princess(es?) caused nothing but problems by association for those Bad Seeds who weren't particularly interested.

They ate lunch together, but a lot of that was because Jobe and Jadis were childhood friends. Winter, Nacht, and Lindsay weren't super enthusiastic about constantly getting harassed or treated poorly, though Nacht could certainly take care of herself.

I'm guessing this group isn't nearly as overt about it.

It shooed away the ones that could be intimidated. They already have guilt by association, to those who believe that filth, by virtue of being related to super villains, AJ might have an out there, thanks to his father, but that just makes him "somewhat less likely to follow in his mother's footsteps". Simply put the threat of Jobe, or pissing off "Dr. Dad" STOPPED many problems BEFORE they started. To juxtapose with say Ayla Jane Goodkind, who by virtue of his last name, and birth name, ended up in more fights in a few months than we have seen the Badseeds collectively involved in the entire 2006-2007 school year.

Sir Lee wrote: Minor nitpick: there's no such thing as "Scandinavian" language. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are closely related and mutually intelligible (like, say, Spanish, Galician and Portuguese are), but they are not the same language. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was originally published in Swedish.

Otherwise, a few typos, but nothing worth mentioning.

That was actually done intentionally. Just because Bianca can read a language, that doesn't mean she actually knows what the language is, and she can make her own incorrect assumptions.

As for the comments about Tek Knight and Teknight, they are indeed the same character. Tek Knight is the correct spelling, but some people, such as Crash Test Dummy, hear the name and think it is one word instead of two.

mhalpern wrote: It shooed away the ones that could be intimidated. They already have guilt by association, to those who believe that filth, by virtue of being related to super villains, AJ might have an out there, thanks to his father, but that just makes him "somewhat less likely to follow in his mother's footsteps". Simply put the threat of Jobe, or pissing off "Dr. Dad" STOPPED many problems BEFORE they started. To juxtapose with say Ayla Jane Goodkind, who by virtue of his last name, and birth name, ended up in more fights in a few months than we have seen the Badseeds collectively involved in the entire 2006-2007 school year.

You can't really compare Jadis-led-Seeds to Phase imo. Jadis goes out of her way to keep out of trouble , and keep trouble from coming to her (almost to the point of being obsessed with it). Phase goes looking for trouble constantly. Furthermore, Jadis had to expressly convince a number of people that irking a certain moody crown princess when she is feeling even slightly vulnerable or disrespected is a very bad idea. Jadis avoided trouble on purpose. The lack of fights she or the Seeds got into is directly due to her nearly insane diligence. The opportunity was there, but the will worked deliberately to squelch them all.

Bianca is somewhere even further past Jadis. She doesn't like what she's had to go through, and doesn't enjoy the power she's been thrust into. Whateley is was meant to be her new Sanctuary while she sorted it all out and the chaos in Chicago died down. Where Jadis might lawyer, Bianca would prefer to hide. Morpheus even showed us that she strongly considered taking Survival instead of BMA, but knew she might be forced into combat against her will, as the past has shown to be true.

Even if she chose to fight in NYC, Bianca is nowhere near as forward as Tanya is outwardly, or as Morgana and Laura are all the time.

I guess it goes to show that the Gen 2 Seeds don't know their recruiting pool very well. There is a distinct lack of cohesive leadership there. Jobe threatened, Jadis dominated, and the upper-classmen scare everyone. Raccoon and Esquire are polar opposites that work against each other, and the others (including AJ so far) don't really stand out.

Phase doesn't "look" for trouble, he just doesn't take effort in avoiding it, rather, he prepares for its inevitable arrival, and inadvertently sets up connections that make said trouble regret their actions without his involvement.
"Blood always shows" despite everything, Phase has pride in his upbringing when it comes to general behavior rules, though he can no longer support the ideals he was raised with. That pride is what helps him garner respect and loyalty, that and his business philosophy, he has been taught to NEVER let the ones that have issues with him get to him, and never to cower away, as that just feeds into said people, the one fight he backed down from was Counterpoint, and that was because he only saw Phase as a challenger, as opposed to a target, he can't back down from one that sees him as a target, because those types are like sharks, the scent of blood beckons them.

One thing to remember about the Bad Seeds in both Gen1 and G2... The older seeds have more-or less left the picture from what you're usually seeing...

In Gen1 it was talked about that they had received some guidance but that the older seeds had sort of "moved on" to preparing for life outside the school and hanging-out with people other than the seeds.

In G2, we only know how much has been shown so far... maybe some of these kids are feeling it out on their own, maybe they're pawns of an older seed or maybe They just don't like being told what to do or how to do it... you'll have to wait and see.

Morpheus wrote:

Sir Lee wrote: Minor nitpick: there's no such thing as "Scandinavian" language. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are closely related and mutually intelligible (like, say, Spanish, Galician and Portuguese are), but they are not the same language. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was originally published in Swedish.

Otherwise, a few typos, but nothing worth mentioning.

That was actually done intentionally. Just because Bianca can read a language, that doesn't mean she actually knows what the language is, and she can make her own incorrect assumptions.

As for the comments about Tek Knight and Teknight, they are indeed the same character. Tek Knight is the correct spelling, but some people, such as Crash Test Dummy, hear the name and think it is one word instead of two.

To the Wiiki Robin, there is editing to be done.

I was wondering about the would be minion situation myself. Jadis had to cope with people who wanted to become her Father's minions, but Bianca is going to inherit an entire criminal organization, maybe.

This could be a chance to get in on the ground floor of her new, maybe, inner circle. Or so some might think.

Then you have the would be masterminds who might think they could become a power behind the throne.

Or the scheming type who might think. First I arrange for her to be isolated and vulnerable, peeling off her friends and aiming bullies at her. And then when she is at her lowest ebe, I step in and save the day.

Didn't say they'd be smart plans, or have a chance of working, but there are those who might think they are being terribly clever when they are just trying to pull off something that can be seen coming from a mile away.

peter wrote: I was wondering about the would be minion situation myself. Jadis had to cope with people who wanted to become her Father's minions, but Bianca is going to inherit an entire criminal organization, maybe.

This could be a chance to get in on the ground floor of her new, maybe, inner circle. Or so some might think.

Then you have the would be masterminds who might think they could become a power behind the throne.

Or the scheming type who might think. First I arrange for her to be isolated and vulnerable, peeling off her friends and aiming bullies at her. And then when she is at her lowest ebe, I step in and save the day.

Didn't say they'd be smart plans, or have a chance of working, but there are those who might think they are being terribly clever when they are just trying to pull off something that can be seen coming from a mile away.

Nah I am pretty sure thats on the list of Bad Seeds don'ts, unless they are masterminds as well,

On the "aiming to be the power behind the throne" front... I expect that one or two guys might be thinking of wooing her, assuming Bianca to be your normal heterosexual teenager...

I thought this one was great.
Having Bianca not finding girls going through their usual hygiene routine was amusing, and a fun contrast from certain perverts.
I also like how the different groups we've seen in G2 so far aren't super sophisticated and on the ball. They smart but also seem like teens. That can be hard to accomplish in writing g but you guys seem to be hitting just about the right level.
Good stuff.

After reading this and thinking for a while, i think that Bianca made a poor decision,

Instead of refusing to join the Seeds, she should have said "I'll think about it", and then gone on to consult her organisation for advice/information, so she could leave herself with the largest range of options for the future, without alienating anyone.

But she's a teenager, and i can't say that i would have handled it any better at that age.

When/if she does mention this to her advisors back in Chicago, they will probably give her some salient suggestions for when this sort of thing happens again.

Not a whole lot of stuff going on just yet, but this is only the first part of a story - at the beginning of Glyph's time at Whateley, at that. No, this fragment is to focus on the new characters and their initial interactions and relationships with Bianca. It does it well, too, with some characters having a clear progression in their interactions with the protagonist, while not yet set in stone.

So let's begin with perhaps the most Imp-portant. THE Imp is likely going to be an integral part of how Bianca deals with everything over the coming months, once she can overcome her justified caution and trust Imp. Having an outlet in the form of a mature individual who knows her secret identity will be good for her, as the Bad Seeds appear to be a mixed bag.

While most of the Seeds appear to range from "indifferent" to "somewhat supportive", two individuals are a bit more complex already, having their own agendas. Esquire seems entirely like the sort of manipulative person who uses others, and is probably the most "dangerous" currently, should he not respect Bianca's secret. Hammer I'm not so sure on. He's positioned well to be a natural antagonist to Bianca, but to me he seems uncertain about how to treat her just yet.

Bianca's interactions with AJ are certainly going to be interesting, especially now that he's curious about their prior meeting.

The confrontation with Tinker and the bullies is nice, and I like the thought of a mage making friends with some Gearheads. With regards to Giggles, I presume that she lives up to her codename whilst 'dricking out.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this story unfold.

Ametros wrote:

So let's begin with perhaps the most Imp-portant. THE Imp is likely going to be an integral part of how Bianca deals with everything over the coming months, once she can overcome her justified caution and trust Imp. Having an outlet in the form of a mature individual who knows her secret identity will be good for her, as the Bad Seeds appear to be a mixed bag.

I found it interesting that the Imp tried to steer her toward taking evasion over fighting. Way back when Imp was first introduced and ended up headed for Whateley I suggested that she'd be perfect at teaching an evasion class, specializing in the Loony Toon variation of that.

Drive your chaser so crazy they can't think straight and are easy to sucker into wet cement, pies, buckets of water, and less savory contents, etc, etc.

She's probably a guest teacher a few times a year. Her approach can work, but not all the time, and it definitely is not for everybody, so it shouldn't be the sole topic of the course.

Who is this mature imp that Ametross mentions.

Surely he doesn't mean THE Imp?

Sir Lee wrote: She's probably a guest teacher a few times a year. Her approach can work, but not all the time, and it definitely is not for everybody, so it shouldn't be the sole topic of the course.

She also has very good things, like misdirection, the use of "weak" powers, and all the other ways of distracting pursuers. Remember that she about 30 years of practical knowledge.

Ametros wrote: Hammer I'm not so sure on. He's positioned well to be a natural antagonist to Bianca, but to me he seems uncertain about how to treat her just yet.

"Bianca and Hammer."

Like Romeo and Juliet, with crime families,,,,

This is relevant to nothing in the story, but I really wonder if the girl with the code name "Hermione" is delusional (that is, a Harry/Hermione shipper).


Have we met the Poe fixer yet? Because tracking down the leak seems like the kind of thing you would go to the fixer for. I wonder what the Bad Seeds' reactions will be if/when they learn that a member sold out a fellow Seed.

Methinks that Bianca should be added to the counseling rosters. More friends for the PTSD club! Maybe it's just me, but it seems like G2 has a higher quotient of origins related suffering than G1 did. Although maybe it's just that G1 concentrated the suffering on Kayda and Circuit Breaker.

All in all, great segment.

This is a pretty cool chapter, all the scheming and stuff...

So, I guess calling Crystal, as 'Krystal' is a Bianca's POV thing? Or there two (C/K)rystals and they have some agreement... Oh, wait. Crystal's codename is Flower, so Krystal is someone else's codename? I always get that confused, thinking Crystal's a codename, 'cause it's a noun...

... More Bianca's the White Lady issues!

Well, if Kopy is really Mimeo's kid, then Mimeo had a kid at sometime before Gen1... Does he know? Or does he know and not care??

Oh, right! Morgana's fixated on Cults 'cause they relate to her Activation Event!

"Mafia Princess" ... Has someone been reading the TVTropes Character Page?

Okay, I guess Whateley isn't the place to go if you want get educated in powers while keeping your secrets...

I bet Decibelle didn't hear about the White Lady Rumor... And wanted to talk about something else.

I wonder how her relationship with Janine will change 'cause of this...

Giggles has a massively different Diedrick's manifestation than we've seen previously? No invention fits...

Room warding happens!

Okay. Now I'm betting assassins are gonna come for Bianca. We know that Stauffer can get agents in, why not anyone else? Morgana's really gonna regret not allowing those wards...

And if Porcelain's story stays the same, then we have even more murderers and killers and stuff that can get onto campus.

Malady wrote: This is a pretty cool chapter, all the scheming and stuff...

So, I guess calling Crystal, as 'Krystal' is a Bianca's POV thing? Or there two (C/K)rystals and they have some agreement... Oh, wait. Crystal's codename is Flower, so Krystal is someone else's codename? I always get that confused, thinking Crystal's a codename, 'cause it's a noun...

Um... I'm pretty sure that Flower's name is Krystal.

Kansas pt 1 wrote: "Barrett. Krystal Barrett, also known as Flower, and it's no big deal, but you might want to pick one quickly. If you don't like it later, you can always change it, but not having one makes things a little more difficult around here. You'll need one for powers testing and the MID, if nothing else."

Arcanist Lupus wrote: This is relevant to nothing in the story, but I really wonder if the girl with the code name "Hermione" is delusional (that is, a Harry/Hermione shipper).


Have we met the Poe fixer yet? Because tracking down the leak seems like the kind of thing you would go to the fixer for. I wonder what the Bad Seeds' reactions will be if/when they learn that a member sold out a fellow Seed.

Methinks that Bianca should be added to the counseling rosters. More friends for the PTSD club! Maybe it's just me, but it seems like G2 has a higher quotient of origins related suffering than G1 did. Although maybe it's just that G1 concentrated the suffering on Kayda and Circuit Breaker.

All in all, great segment.

You might want to go back to Team Kimbas origins. Jade was nearly beaten to death and is a penniless orphan, Billie was kidnapped and then attacked by assassins, Ayla was tested tortured and thrown out of her home, Chou had her father dragged off to a hell by a Demon, Toni had to put up with jerk of a brother, Nikki got picked on at school... OK Toni and Nikki didn't have that bad. And Hank was chased around by the Army.

Esquire thinks that forcing Bianca to join the Bad Seeds by outing her will get them a good position with her organization? I think that a more likely outcome is to get AJ and Hammer to leave the Bad Seeds. AJ is already sympathetic to Bianca's position, partly because his father is a superhero. AJ's mother also worked with the previous White Lady, and is not going to be happy. Hammer may not be desirous of having Bianca in the Bad Seeds, but may also have the concept of omertà ingrained into him. Furthermore, Raccoon knows that Esquire was planning something, and I don't think that he would conceal the information from the Bad Seeds.

If we go for the standard tropes, results may include the following.

Esquire finds himself with a big target on his chest and will earn the enmity of the Bad Seeds, the Capes, and members of the Whateley staff.

There will be an attack on Whateley by Scorn's associates and Glyph and Morgana will fight alongside the Capes. Glyph and the Capes will come to an understanding.

Scorn will end up on the run from everyone.

The only reason Esquire survives is that Glyph's associates rescue him.

Esquire just crossed a serious line especially for Whateley, you don't punish people and disrespect their wishes for being non-partisan you need the nuetrals to mediate things.

Malady wrote: Oh, right! Morgana's fixated on Cults 'cause they relate to her Activation Event!

Before I make any other detailed reply about the events of this chapter, I really want to compliment the Gen 2 authors as a group for the way they've been handling the single POV for each of their characters. I was so immersed in Bianca's viewpoint (or Tia's, Hikaru's, Laura's, etc.) that sometimes you forget why one of the others might react the ways they do.

Bianca was more worried that Morgana would think she's a lying villain, but Morgan's was terrified her roommate was a magical cult leader! And Bianca had no idea why, to the point that I forgot as a reader. There's been a few other subtle ones too, like Tia or Tanya stories.

Really well done, Gen 2 crew.

mhalpern wrote: Esquire just crossed a serious line especially for Whateley, you don't punish people and disrespect their wishes for being non-partisan you need the nuetrals to mediate things.

I expect VERY bad things to happen in young Esquire's future.

And I wonder if Racoons comment about bad things happening to the Bad Seeds last time they try to force someone into their little band will ever be revealed in story.

Can't say I'm surprised that the title was played both figuratively and literally, merely surprised that it was only yesterday I realised that it would be.

As for Esquire, while my previous thoughts on him stand, I'm not sure that he isn't a literary scapegoat - too much is yet shrouded behind the veil of Morpheus.

Why did this segment have to end where it did, with my heart bleeding for Bianca? Will we get the third part next week, pretty please?

On a side note... I question the wisdom of doodling runes on one's notebook in a class where essence is likely to float about freely - I can see it exploding in Bianca's face, literally.

I wonder if dr Bellows will try an call up a graduate that had something similar happen to him at Whateley for completely different reasons. Another poesy as it happens...

Malady wrote: Room warding happens!

Okay. Now I'm betting assassins are gonna come for Bianca. We know that Stauffer can get agents in, why not anyone else? Morgana's really gonna regret not allowing those wards...

Morgana doesn't mind Bianca warding the room - within reason.

But she has to draw the line at trying to ward her coffee mug. Some things are a step too far...

I am waiting to see if Bianca can figure out how to use her runes like spell slips. Pull out and add essence. I mean the runes she is drawing not the permanent ones on her.

On a less serious note, there's something I forgot to ask: Penny Dreadful wouldn't be from Nebraska, would she?

Domoviye wrote:

mhalpern wrote: Esquire just crossed a serious line especially for Whateley, you don't punish people and disrespect their wishes for being non-partisan you need the nuetrals to mediate things.

I expect VERY bad things to happen in young Esquire's future.

And I wonder if Racoons comment about bad things happening to the Bad Seeds last time they try to force someone into their little band will ever be revealed in story.

Yeah he's totally large passenger road vehicle projectile speed bump material right now.

If indeed it was Esquire's doing, and if it this ends up general knowledge (at least among the Bad Seeds)...
...one possibility would be a schism in the club, with "pro-Esquire" and "pro-Glyph" factions. One of the factions might even leave and form a competing club -- it has happened (see Dragons and Tigers in Gen1).
If this split does happen, I wonder if, in true Leftist Political Party manner, both resulting clubs will claim to be the "one true Bad Seeds club"...

Sir Lee wrote: If indeed it was Esquire's doing, and if it this ends up general knowledge (at least among the Bad Seeds)...
...one possibility would be a schism in the club, with "pro-Esquire" and "pro-Glyph" factions. One of the factions might even leave and form a competing club -- it has happened (see Dragons and Tigers in Gen1).
If this split does happen, I wonder if, in true Leftist Political Party manner, both resulting clubs will claim to be the "one true Bad Seeds club"...

You're assuming anyone would trust him enough to follow.

I think Esquire has missed the point of the badseeds. They are not, in fact, a group of the children of super-villains who are there to network for their parents/future carreers. They are a group dedicated to the protection of the children of super-villains from the more zealous students. This includes protecting their anonymity if they so choose. Such as choosing not to join the seeds because one of the things keeping you safe is the fact that no one knows who you are.

Jarjaross wrote: I think Esquire has missed the point of the badseeds. They are not, in fact, a group of the children of super-villains who are there to network for their parents/future carreers. They are a group dedicated to the protection of the children of super-villains from the more zealous students. This includes protecting their anonymity if they so choose. Such as choosing not to join the seeds because one of the things keeping you safe is the fact that no one knows who you are.

My thoughts initially as he was explaining it to Raccoon was that Bianca's title as the actual mafia boss meant that as Bad Seeds, they'd have access to a lot of resources in order to use the Book of Dirty Tricks. Like, cars if need be, secretly-sourced electronics, powerful magical...whatevers.

Like, legitimately practical. Not everyone in 2016 has ready access to one of the greatest bio-devisors alive, various regular devisors, or someone as creative as Cheese or knowledgeable as Jadis about law.

...and then Esquire proves he's purely an ass about it the moment Raccoon questions it.

Jarjaross wrote: I think Esquire has missed the point of the badseeds. They are not, in fact, a group of the children of super-villains who are there to network for their parents/future carreers. They are a group dedicated to the protection of the children of super-villains from the more zealous students. This includes protecting their anonymity if they so choose. Such as choosing not to join the seeds because one of the things keeping you safe is the fact that no one knows who you are.

Agreed. And now those sorounding him have every right to carry "I'm with stupid" signs.

The Writing On the Wall Part 2 comments
2 new enemies for Morgana named Antionette aka La Mage Blanche and Estelle aka Hermione. Too many stuck up individuals seem to hate one or more of the girls. And once again even among mutants there are bigots towards those with GSD, good grief. 8 of them in the same martial arts class, good to have friends around. Nice to see the martial arts class from a different perspective, plus I can't believe Bacon said that about Tolman. And interesting mix of matches and how Bianca observed them. Plus seeing the match from Bianca's perspective is definitely different from Laura's. At least she realizes she needs to improve, unlike some students who would probably be arrogant and think their opponent just got lucky.

Penny Dreadful is really creepy, despite hearing from Morgana that she is a manifestor and just makes things that look like zombies. Lol, Morgana teasing Bianca about looking awesome as a goth lolita, which she counters saying Morgana would look good with a pitchfork. Morgana and AJ as lab partners, hope Bianca learns AJ won't out her soon and warms up to him. Practicing her rune drawing in her notebook, hope no errant essence can activate them and that it requires knowing the specific rune and intent to activate it with the essence to do so.

Chained Melody thinks because she can do magic already it means she can fully control her own essence. *smacks forehead* Dang, never seen Grimes talk like that before to a student, she takes learning the basics seriously as should her students. Ugh, acting like she learned her lesson then glaring at the teacher's back, Chained Melody is going to be trouble. Testing their focus by asking questions, if they can't concentrate while doing that they won't in truly stressful situations.

Figures AJ would know the answer to the 3 methods of acquiring essence, being around his mother so much it is probably second nature by now. Figures CM would get the answer wrong about what a wizard rating represents, good to know that Bianca got it right and we are learning more about magic in the Whateley Universe. And CM is a bigoted little *****. The law of precedent, interesting law, wonder if someone could invent a new spell and get a bunch of low-level WIZ mutants to help cast it over a period of time to make it easier and easier.

Grimes has to leave due to a note and urgent business, so of course CM takes that moment to come over and tell Bianca to "learn her place". Take about an arrogant, bigoted snob. Tells CM to study more and CM tries to use magical singing to mind control Bianca, got the other students in a trance staring at her but Bianca is unaffected. Part of being deaf and mute to magic, only read it, makes her immune to such magic. Oh course Melody's concentration is broken and everyone laughs at her because of what Bianca said, only making her more angry.

And Antionette and Estelle get in the act, anti-GSD bigots. If Grimes hears about this, they are in so much trouble. At least Bianca is able to talk Morgana down and Grimes gets back. AJ says Melody used spellsinging and after a few moments it dawns on Bianca why it didn't affect her. An enemy who can't affect her, at least for now with the method of magic she employs, interesting choice.

Gideon spying on Bianca, guy has issues. Though now we know why Racoon chose that codename, cute form and handy for spying as well. He thinks because she has access to those things that if Bianca was a part of the Bad Seeds they would have indirect access to those resources as well, Gideon is arrogant, foolish, and greedy. Convince her she needs their protection, idiot is going to out her and thinks it will drive her into their arms! That is just like trying to force her to join, he is too arrogant to see there isn't a difference. This won't end well for Gideon.

Oh brother, Morgana with an IV drip of coffee would be nightmare to deal with, always hyped up and jumpy even with how she burns through calories and such. Tia living a nightmare with her psycho ex at Whateley, while I wonder what tripped Bianca. With nothing there and Bianca having tripped over something, suspect another student targeting her. Talk of invisible bunnies and urban legends of Whateley, even a little teasing towards Tia about which bunny not to target with a holy hand grenade [Nice Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference].

Yikes! Uncontrollable giggle fits for her Diedricks, poor Giggles. I can understand why Tia ran before hearing whether she was a gadgeteer or devisor though, phobias that bad are hard to control. Oh boy, Bianca has a lot of friends in Power Theory but of course Chained Melody is there as well.

Ah, good to know that Bianca realizes death isn't pretty, thus more caution than many students when they first start the firearms course. Sgt. Miguel Rivas definitely sees firearms experience in Bianca, would be hard not to. Laura I expected to be there, but Jimmy and Hikaru are a surprise. Nice to see Bianca excel at something, Laura and Jimmy will get better with practice. Poor Jimmy, even Tavi is teasing him, though looking cute with that cowboy set up while doing it.

Can't believe that one student, any weapon which has been fired needs proper care, don't want it to foul up due to dirty parts. Oh boy, the talk about the family friend who used to take Bianca shooting. At least it is just because Marcus is her legal guardian and due to her status might not get the chance to do such things again. Ouch, Laura tells of how her dad thought he was a scrawny runt and not worth doing those kind of things with, while Bianca says her mom doted on her sister and not him, bringing tears from memories of their being gone.

Good natured teasing about who was ready first and who was out first. And now we know what Facade's power is, a manifestor who makes shells around herself that look completely and totally real, even clothes. Right now she is a buxom blonde, oh brother. That is a serious social anxiety disorder, to go to such lengths to hide behind new personas. Façade and Skizm do a great job reinforcing Poe's cover story, with those two around almost no one would guess the truth. Uh oh, boy pointing at Bianca and staring, I have as bad a feeling about this as Bianca does.

Cindy Hoffstetter aka Omega Girl, a fairly high level PK supergirl and Bianca's sparring partner in full powers sparring, ouch. Even without powers, then bulldozed Bianca in the 2nd match. 3rd match, Bianca pulls out her air rune power to create a wall of air to block Cindy's punch. Almost blast Cindy out of the circle, but she stops herself in mid-air and throws Bianca from the circle. Though it got Tolman's attention and wondering what else Bianca can do she hasn't shown yet.

Oh boy, thoughts of how her elemental spells aren't useful, instead of how to be creative with them or finding a way to bring more runes with her. Why is Crysis glaring at Bianca like that, did Gideon already leak her identity somehow and he is one of those who knows? Creep smashes in her nose, making Morgana enraged, only held back by Tolman's order and Laura's arm. But Bianca stays, wishing to fight through the pain and not give up. Fire elemental spell and scares Crysis outside the circle.

A telekinetic slam to the ground outside the circle, with more force than needed, what a scumbag. And I was right, he knows who she is, Gideon is toast for this! Her friends try to comfort her, even joking around as usual, but Bianca is too concerned about what Crysis said to her and what it meant.

Oh boy, Bianca becoming more and more nervous as people keep staring at her, this isn't going to end well. Janine nervous about showing Bianca her new Rube Goldberg machine design, hope that is all she is nervous about. Guy named Kopy out and out just goes up to her and says he heard she is the new White Lady, no tact at all. Great, Penny Dreadful thinks this makes Bianca a supervillain and is interested in her now. Kopy says Mimeo is his dad, wondering if that is true or the kid is just delusional.

Idiot talks about joining the Seeds together if Bianca vouches for him, making Bianca start to hyperventilate. Oh boy, Morgana hearing about this and thinking she has a cult. Bianca trying to explain things to Morgana, Tanya walking away from them, if she rejects Bianca as a friend over this I will be disappointed in her. Having to explain all that to Morgana, at least she was more upset about the possibility of a cult than anything else. Bwahahaha! Can't believe Morgana called her a mafia princess.

All that she went through, coming to Whateley just so she could be Bianca and all of it ruined by one arrogant idiot with his own agenda. Going to class and having to put on the White Lady persona, Bianca just had her refuge turned into a nightmare. At least AJ says he is sorry she got outed, leading Bianca to realize one of the Bad Seeds outed her. Oh course Melody is using this to make Bianca look bad with suggestion of what she will do if they upset her, ugh.

Decibelle wishes to talk to Bianca but she just runs past her, oh boy. And all the protection runes, now using her own blood for it, Bianca is panicking and something needs to be done. Morgana thinks she is being paranoid, resulting in Bianca telling her how she lost her family to assassins. Oh boy, she thinks Scorn knows she is at Whateley already and has assassins in place there. That he was the one who outed her. Morgana assures Bianca her friends won't let anyone get to her, finally hugging her as Bianca holds her tightly and cries. So help me, Gideon better be in some serious trouble for this.

Admittedly I haven't read any of Morpheus' fanfics, but given what's happened to Bianca so far, has he been attending the Elrod School of Character Torture? Still, at least (as far as we know) Bianca's "only" got the potential to be targeted by human assassins, unlike a certain Lakota girl who had Class X entitites and Mythos Magic users after her...

As for outing her driving her towards the Bad Seeds, they've forgotten two crucial factors: (a) she's figured out it was one of them who 'outed' her (in the legacy sense) and is even more repulsed at the idea of joining them, (b) she's a Poesie. I suppose attacks on Poesies haven't occurred at a signfiicantly greater extent than other cottages, hence most students could be unaware that the residents of Poe (probably) stick up for each other to a greater extent than those of other cottages. But I digress - hopefully at some point, Krystal will catch the grapevine and check up on Bianca, which could provide her with an opportunity to explain a (lightly censored) account of her background to the rest of the cottage. They're also more likely to recognise she isn't particularly happy with the legacy she's inherited than the G2 Bads and provide a far more effective support group than them.

Not that they'll stop trying to forcibly rush her, of course...

Bianca's roommate is something on the order of a 1.2 Entity (for lack of better terminology), maybe a 1.3? Who's to say that while a certain branch of a certain cult has been dealt with, that attention from other planes hasn't been drawn as a result of that whole Celtic Isle affair?

So, if anyone *else* will be involved in extra-planar teenage angst "issues," it's Morgana's roommate.

mittfh wrote: Admittedly I haven't read any of Morpheus' fanfics, but given what's happened to Bianca so far, has he been attending the Elrod School of Character Torture? Still, at least (as far as we know) Bianca's "only" got the potential to be targeted by human assassins, unlike a certain Lakota girl who had Class X entitites and Mythos Magic users after her...

As for outing her driving her towards the Bad Seeds, they've forgotten two crucial factors: (a) she's figured out it was one of them who 'outed' her (in the legacy sense) and is even more repulsed at the idea of joining them, (b) she's a Poesie. I suppose attacks on Poesies haven't occurred at a signfiicantly greater extent than other cottages, hence most students could be unaware that the residents of Poe (probably) stick up for each other to a greater extent than those of other cottages. But I digress - hopefully at some point, Krystal will catch the grapevine and check up on Bianca, which could provide her with an opportunity to explain a (lightly censored) account of her background to the rest of the cottage. They're also more likely to recognise she isn't particularly happy with the legacy she's inherited than the G2 Bads and provide a far more effective support group than them.

Not that they'll stop trying to forcibly rush her, of course...

Not to mention, if she REALLY wanted protection, I do believe that the most mutually feared club uses Poe as their HQ... their maskot has to do with greeting a young feline....

As for whichever of the people that outed her, "The Stupid is strong in this one!"

They're trying to recruit her for the Seeds, as she has access to a lot of resources that the current crop don't have, so the first thing that they do is to out her in a way that makes it incredibly obvious which group did it, and in a way that pisses her off...

A bad case of Galahad Syndrome methinks.

Given the circles in which The Family moves, once it becomes apparent that (a) Bianca's even less motivated to join the Bads, and (b) Esquire's not going to give up trying to recruit her, it's possible some of the other Bads could take matters into their own hands to discourage him - especially given that by their attitudes in Part 1, several aren't impressed with him (to say the least), and that given the circles The Family move in, some may decide antagonising her may not be a good idea...

I suppose it does't matter who outed her. As soon as the seeds make a second approach she'll think they had something to do with it.

Whilst I suspect that Esquire is quite possibly stupid enough to out Bianca, he is certainly a strong candidate, is he too obvious?

Note that Crysis not only knew Glyph's pedigree but he knew something of her immediate history as well, hence his reference to the Messenger... Is there some personal vendetta going on? He was certainly quite brutal to her in their bout.

Darkmuse wrote: Whilst I suspect that Esquire is quite possibly stupid enough to out Bianca, he is certainly a strong candidate, is he too obvious?

Note that Crysis not only knew Glyph's pedigree but he knew something of her immediate history as well, hence his reference to the Messenger... Is there some personal vendetta going on? He was certainly quite brutal to her in their bout.

Maybe, maybe not, Crysis could have been told Glyph's title, as for the Messenger part, while they made sure to remove any evidence that could conclusively be used against her, (self defense or not, she is technically a mob boss presumptive after all, someone would doctor it up as an act of vengeance) they also let it be known as a warning that the Messenger died by her hand.

To how obvious Bad Seed involvement is in universe
Remember Glyph has a rather distinctive look and powers, technically the capes, or the squirrels could have done it too. For that matter, it could have been the Alphas. Really the only major groups that it likely wasn't are Wondercute, The Nations, (and because they not only have standards but the sloppy execution is appalling and the plan is crude) the Masterminds. Everyone else gets an easy target or a potential new member.

It's entirely possible that Janine, Tinker, accidentally outed Bianca. She was there when Esquire called her The White Lady. Janine mentions it to a friend, and it gets spread around that way.

That STILL counts as Esquire outing Bianca. I mean, HE was the moron who called her by the White Lady moniker in front of a "civilian," wasn't he?

Sir Lee wrote: That STILL counts as Esquire outing Bianca. I mean, HE was the moron who called her by the White Lady moniker in front of a "civilian," wasn't he?

True, but it is not malicious that way.

The more I think about Esquire, the dumber I realize he is. He demonstrates his powers and "secret" weapon when Raccoon surprises him. He outs Bianc. He probably has a sign that says "Bad Seeds Hideout this way."

If Esquire had half a brain, he would have, instead of overtly outing Glyph, he would have casually brought the subject of the White Lady up, claiming that he "heard a rumor that the new White Lady is a student at Whateley" that's high school drama 101, I stayed the heck away from that stuff and I know that.

The Writing On the Wall (Part 2) wrote: “Of course I’m not okay,” I exclaimed, holding up the cup of blood.

So far that is my favorite line of this story. I also liked the bit with Morgana being worried about cults. That was a nice touch.

As for the outing, Bianca's been operating under some pretty major denial. Even if she wasn't the actual White Lady, it was inevitable that somebody would eventually make that assumption. In fact, it's possible that somebody like Chained Melody decided they wanted to start some rumors, scanned through a list of villains, and picked out one they thought looked vaguely like Bianca, totally oblivious to the fact that they'd accidentally discovered the truth.

Kettlekorn wrote:

The Writing On the Wall (Part 2) wrote: “Of course I’m not okay,” I exclaimed, holding up the cup of blood.

So far that is my favorite line of this story. I also liked the bit with Morgana being worried about cults. That was a nice touch.

As for the outing, Bianca's been operating under some pretty major denial. Even if she wasn't the actual White Lady, it was inevitable that somebody would eventually make that assumption. In fact, it's possible that somebody like Chained Melody decided they wanted to start some rumors, scanned through a list of villains, and picked out one they thought looked vaguely like Bianca, totally oblivious to the fact that they'd accidentally discovered the truth.

Yes but ts the speed in which it happened thats unnatural.

And the plot moves further!

Tinker's choice of occupation makes Bianca like Gen2's Ayla, in some respects...

Bianca learns to use pre-made spellsheets! Yay!

In the tunnels, I thought Bianca was gonna run into that Magical Digger, but no.

And we learn more about Crysis!

... Eagerly awaiting Bianca's next MBA class! Spellsheet time! ... Might she eventually come up with laminated spellcards so she doesn't have to fear water dispelling her spells and can use them to repel water in the shower?

I am fairly sure that we already have several violations of the school rules, some of which may come near to expulsion offenses. And if Scorn actually sends someone in to take out Bianca, he won't be a problem for anyone anymore.

Morgana confirmed for best damn roommate. The rest of the friends are about as I expected - Tia being nervous and cautious, Vic being mysterious, Taka showing understanding and perception that seemingly exceeds his grasp of English, and Tanya being distant. Jimmy caught me by surprise a little, but more so from not having much of his perspective just yet - it certainly makes sense given his white hat tendencies from what we know of his pre-Whateley events. Erica and Fiorella absent, but they've not been as much a part of the lunch group as the others thus far, it seems.

Bianca finally realises how to compensate for the drawbacks of having to scribe glyphs, and does so better than I could have imagined. It was a Chekhov's Gun all along, and I'm rooting for a scene involving her explaining why she didn't hand in her homework due to incinerating/exploding it.

While she was understandably distressed at the time, focusing on the worst-case scenario of the Bad Seeds as a whole being behind it all, as opposed to just Esquire as named could prove problematic if Bianca's plan to watch and evaluate the Seeds falls through.

With the reveal of Crysis' indirect link to Scorn, I'm becoming increasingly cemented in my thoughts of Glyph's relationship with Hammer being somewhat alright. At least if the "war" on the Bad Seeds doesn't come to pass, there's likely to be a mutual enemy thing going on.

OK, it's official. Esquire is a dick. He's also extremely stupid. Not only is Bianca going to be after him, I am guessing that several of the other Seeds are going to be at least not talking to him, if not helping Bianca. First he outs Bianca, then he sends someone to rough her up to get her to join the Seeds.

I wonder how long it took him to get out of the concrete.

I guess sonic defenses have gone out of style, or Chained Melody's powers bypass the cheap ones, or those two are just bigger idiots than they look like.

I can understand why Tanya is avoiding Bianca, I don't remember if Bianca knows Tanya's background.

Valentine wrote: OK, it's official. Esquire is a dick. He's also extremely stupid. Not only is Bianca going to be after him, I am guessing that several of the other Seeds are going to be at least not talking to him, if not helping Bianca.

they may call him an idiot behind closed doors, but I'm fairly sure that outside it will have to be a united front. So if Bianca tries to go after Esquire it counts as picking a fight with all the Bad Seeds. Anyone who wants to side with her would probably have to quit the club to do so.

This on its own proably isn't enough but it could be the start of setting up a permenant schism among the seeds, which makes them break into two rival clubs.

Valentine wrote: OK, it's official. Esquire is a dick. He's also extremely stupid. Not only is Bianca going to be after him, I am guessing that several of the other Seeds are going to be at least not talking to him, if not helping Bianca. First he outs Bianca, then he sends someone to rough her up to get her to join the Seeds.

I wonder how long it took him to get out of the concrete.

I guess sonic defenses have gone out of style, or Chained Melody's powers bypass the cheap ones, or those two are just bigger idiots than they look like.

I can understand why Tanya is avoiding Bianca, I don't remember if Bianca knows Tanya's background.

Well I hope Bianca does the smart thing and confronts the Seeds after placing the reverse of the anti-eavesdropping rune in the area, charging it right after or as she gives them context and tells them what she knows, forcing a confession out of Esquire. Bianca currently thinks the Seeds as a whole are responsible, not just Esquire, she knows or should know that going after them directly not only would be difficult, but it would be confirmation bias for the rumors, especially with how weary some of her friends are. Unfortunately however, technically no known rules have actually been violated, except for possibly Crysis telling scorn where the White Lady is, no-ones family has been threatened, Bianca doesn't have family left to threaten, there's the attacks, none of which have been caught on camera, and therefore aren't actionable, as far as we can tell, they hadn't used any powers to identify Bianca as the White Lady thereby violating section 37 para 3 or 6 (I am using the wiki so sue me) as they relate to personal privacy.

The Writing On The Wall Part 3 comments
Good to see the banter between Bianca and Morgana. All the damage done to one innocent girl all because of someone who doesn't take rejection well, ugh. And Morgana continues to prove she is a great friend and roommate, right now Bianca needs to feel safe. Afraid her friends aren't her friends anymore, ouch. Having to explain all this to her friends, hope it helps them to remain friends instead of driving some of them away. Jimmy disapproving with his expressions, hope he doesn't turn on her for something she never wanted. Someone breaking her spell, nosy bunch at Whateley. And the rest of breakfast in silence, ouch, relationships need to be mended.

Oh boy, Mouse, someone Bianca sympathizes with over having her life and dreams shattered and taken away, sees her as a threat due to the rumors. Ouch, right when she needs her friends to stand by her, Tanya is avoiding Bianca and running away. I understand due to her upbringing, but she should at least hear Bianca's side before making such a hasty judgment. The attitude towards supervillains or potential supervillains seems to have gotten more hostile at Whateley since Gen 1, with the way various people don't wish to associate with Bianca due to it or badmouthing her.

Ah, despite her White Lady persona and trying to keep her cool, Bianca still found a way to be petty towards the rude girls. Nice to see she can be a normal teen in that aspect, makes her even more human. More fun banter between Bianca and Morgana, always fun seeing them snark at each other in a friendly manner. Was wondering when Morgana would open up and tell someone the whole story of what happened to her, nice that it was Bianca to help her feel safer at Whateley and proves she is the greatest friend and roommate.

Others thinking you are a demon is much worse than being thought of a supervillain, especially with some of the new students, like the guy who thinks his powers were given to him by God and dresses like a monk. Poor Janine, wishing to remain friends despite the rumors and wondering what she should do. Heh, if Bianca went in front of the school and explained things like she did to Janine, in simple terms, a lot of people might stop giving her attitude or causing her trouble. Oh course it would confirm the rumors somewhat, which could backfire in its own way. Janine making herself Bianca's personal assistant like that, hehehe. Didn't think she had that in her.

Elliot Conner and Marty Prescot, the enemies just keep piling up for poor Bianca. Oh no, Chained Melody making these two work for her and target Bianca. Ouch, no wonder Marty came across so badly in their encounter, Asperger's Syndrome is serious. Calling her a bully after what they were pulling, ugh, no sympathy for these two. Manipulating those two like that, CM is in serious trouble when the staff finds out.

At least Bianca likes the costuming class, even if she has to deal with Tanya being distant. Oh boy, Janine doing stuff like that won't help the rumors, nor Tanya's view of Bianca right now. Oh boy, Morgana might be right, what is Janine thinks she owes Bianca something. Not good. Oh great, hologram of Morgana most likely to lure Bianca into a trap in one of the blind spots.

Oh crud, Photech lured them both with holograms of the other, while a thug Beatdown hired to attack Bianca is heading right for her. Things went from bad to worse really fast.

Elliot and Marty are delusion, seeing it as someone picking on them instead of defending a fellow techie from them. And with a weapon like Elliot has, that is lethal force. Laughing at them because of their geek talk and having worried about a professional assassins and it being just these two, she needs the stress relief but bad idea to underestimate opponents. A rail gun with a metal spike, definitely lethal force, they are trying to kill her! That is straight into MCO hands if found out.

These two are psychotic! Calling her a bully while they are trying to murder her in cold blood. Better to use the runes and survive so she can ask someone else for math notes later than get killed. Hacked the cameras and planning a murder and they think they will be heroes, they are truly insane. And they aren't even looking where they step, for so called geniuses they are idiots.

Oh boy, set up a trap and they come out in front of it. Still calling her a bully, when it is a two against one just like when they bullied Janine. Now they are begging, saying they were just trying to scare her and weren't even aiming at her, when it is obvious they just have bad aim. Nice use of the sticky rune. Destroying their equipment and they whine about it, when she could have done more after how they attacked her.

Oh course Beatdown reveals himself right as she is leaving. *sigh* Great, a force field brick, not good. Dang, I knew when she finally used the earth rune it would be impressive, but that is serious power. Causing him to sink into concrete and trapping him, the potential to kill him even though she won't, yikes. Esquire paid him to rough her up so she would go to the Bad Seeds for protection, Esquire is a Grade-A moron! And now Bianca thinks all of the Bad Seeds are involved, this is something that should be in the bylaws of the Bad Seeds are automatic expulsion from the group.

*eyes bug out* Dang, Façade has one foulmouthed persona right now. Premade runes just needing essence to charge, now Bianca will be prepared for threats in the future and a stronger opponent. Okay, the teasing about Janine being her henchmen, etc., is starting to be seen as less playful teasing and more a painful reminder of her situation by Bianca it seems.

Oh boy, Marcus wishing to pull her out, I understand why but she is safer at Whateley than in Chicago. Ooo, her own ink and chalks, stronger connection so stronger runes for stronger magic, very smart idea. Oh boy, thinking all the Bad Seeds were in on it, not knowing it is just Esquire most likely, this won't end well if communication isn't opened and soon.

Crysis, a TK 4 who actually works out to get in shape, making him a bigger threat. What organization is his dad involved in, I wonder. Roommate Cole Sheppard, Crysis real name is Robert "Bobby" Grace, I can see why he prefers a more intimidating name. *eyes bug out* His dad works for Scorn and he is ratting Bianca out, that is expulsion and straight to MCO hands worthy imo. Endangering the life of a fellow student is one of the big rules you don't break, breaking Whateley confidentiality is another. And he just did both.

Bianca reminds me a bit of Gayle from Morpheus' Touched universe. Both utilize prepared magic, and both have inherited a great deal of rumor because of their sponsors. But after that the similarity ends, and I look forward to seeing how Bianca paves her own way.

Although I'm a bit concerned - she's trending a bit towards intimidation as a method of gaining respect, and that's not going to help the rumors. The cat's already out of the bag, of course, but the more she acts as a mob boss, the harder it will be for her to be accepted again once the rumor mill turns away from her and towards somebody else.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Bianca reminds me a bit of Gayle from Morpheus' Touched universe. Both utilize prepared magic, and both have inherited a great deal of rumor because of their sponsors. But after that the similarity ends, and I look forward to seeing how Bianca paves her own way.

Although I'm a bit concerned - she's trending a bit towards intimidation as a method of gaining respect, and that's not going to help the rumors. The cat's already out of the bag, of course, but the more she acts as a mob boss, the harder it will be for her to be accepted again once the rumor mill turns away from her and towards somebody else.

She's not doing it for respect, she's doing it for information, and survival. Her survival by in large HINGES on apparent strength, if she cant afford to show any signs of weakness, when push comes to shove, also they are already convinced she's a villain, that is something that she can work with when it comes to interrogation.

Why didn't Bianca call security? What is wrong with her? There is no way getting him out of the ground is bad for her.

Yes he gets out of the ground, but he gets out of the ground anyway, there is no way someone doesn't happen accross beatdown and report it.

She just left him in the ground with no way out. Yes she acted in self defence, but now it is her word against his. The word of someone who was left trapped in the ground when people have been known to vanish in the tunnels, vs the word of someone who has all but openly admitted to being a mob boss. If she calls security they at least see compasion on her end.

Most of my comments get pretty much ignored and I'm okay with that but I'm seriously asking this.

Jarjaross wrote: Why didn't Bianca call security? What is wrong with her? There is no way getting him out of the ground is bad for her.

Yes he gets out of the ground, but he gets out of the ground anyway, there is no way someone doesn't happen accross beatdown and report it.

She just left him in the ground with no way out. Yes she acted in self defence, but now it is her word against his. The word of someone who was left trapped in the ground when people have been known to vanish in the tunnels, vs the word of someone who has all but openly admitted to being a mob boss. If she calls security they at least see compasion on her end.

Most of my comments get pretty much ignored and I'm okay with that but I'm seriously asking this.

Yeah, she should have notified security, but I think she should absolutely NOT gotten him out herself. Make him suffer. To quote a movie I loved:

"If he pulls a knife, you pull a gun. If he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way..."

Him being left to be chiseled out by others basically sends a very strong warning to others - "mess with me, and you might end up deeper"

elrodw wrote:

Jarjaross wrote: Why didn't Bianca call security? What is wrong with her? There is no way getting him out of the ground is bad for her.

Yes he gets out of the ground, but he gets out of the ground anyway, there is no way someone doesn't happen accross beatdown and report it.

She just left him in the ground with no way out. Yes she acted in self defence, but now it is her word against his. The word of someone who was left trapped in the ground when people have been known to vanish in the tunnels, vs the word of someone who has all but openly admitted to being a mob boss. If she calls security they at least see compasion on her end.

Most of my comments get pretty much ignored and I'm okay with that but I'm seriously asking this.

Yeah, she should have notified security, but I think she should absolutely NOT gotten him out herself. Make him suffer. To quote a movie I loved:

"If he pulls a knife, you pull a gun. If he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way..."

Him being left to be chiseled out by others basically sends a very strong warning to others - "mess with me, and you might end up deeper"

Yep...

And, look at it this way... she's already upset that knowledge of her is around campus... if she tells anyone or involves security it gets around that it was her that took him down and she puts herself on a number of people's radars even more than she already is and reinforces the views people have about her.

However, if she leaves Beatdown and he gets dug out then the message is just for him and his employer since Beatdown's NOT going to tell people he was beaten by a little girl and ESPECIALLY not the one he was targetting.

DanZilla wrote:

elrodw wrote:

Jarjaross wrote: Why didn't Bianca call security? What is wrong with her? There is no way getting him out of the ground is bad for her.

Yes he gets out of the ground, but he gets out of the ground anyway, there is no way someone doesn't happen accross beatdown and report it.

She just left him in the ground with no way out. Yes she acted in self defence, but now it is her word against his. The word of someone who was left trapped in the ground when people have been known to vanish in the tunnels, vs the word of someone who has all but openly admitted to being a mob boss. If she calls security they at least see compasion on her end.

Most of my comments get pretty much ignored and I'm okay with that but I'm seriously asking this.

Yeah, she should have notified security, but I think she should absolutely NOT gotten him out herself. Make him suffer. To quote a movie I loved:

"If he pulls a knife, you pull a gun. If he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way..."

Him being left to be chiseled out by others basically sends a very strong warning to others - "mess with me, and you might end up deeper"

Yep...

And, look at it this way... she's already upset that knowledge of her is around campus... if she tells anyone or involves security it gets around that it was her that took him down and she puts herself on a number of people's radars even more than she already is and reinforces the views people have about her.

However, if she leaves Beatdown and he gets dug out then the message is just for him and his employer since Beatdown's NOT going to tell people he was beaten by a little girl and ESPECIALLY not the one he was targetting.

Judging from the reactions of the Dynamic Dweebs, Beatdown is a known bully, if not UV. So what we end up with is a case like Bloodwolf and friends. A known Bully left trapped by an unknown assailant. Will Beatdown admit he lost to a freshman girl? Especially one that is known to be just learning her powers and regularly loses in BMA? I doubt it. The two Dweebs will know, but who wins the Blackmail war there might be interesting, but I think Beatdown's threats of physical violence will keep them quiet, although they might get a leave us alone out of him.

Okay so a few things to address based on the reations to my comment earlier.

1. Beatdown is a freshman (or at least in a freshman martial arts class) which means he would have had to work really hard to get a reputation as a bully with security on the second or third week.

2. I never said to get him out, she explicitly says she couldn't get him out. I said she should have called security.

3. I forgot to mention the dweebs and how their situation was different. They were stuck to the ground with a sigil, that will wear off after a while, so there will be little to no evidence of wrong doing. If anything with the past encounters they would appear to be crying wolf.

4. "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"

Ametros wrote: Taka showing understanding and perception that seemingly exceeds his grasp of English,.

It's not so much that it's beyond his grasp of English, it's that he has been given a situation that he can translate easily into his cultural context.

That Family-Feud/Clan-Feud is something that a lot of the old-school nobility over here in the EU understand really well.

We're still fighting wars in our heads that took place centuries ago.

Jarjaross wrote: 1. Beatdown is a freshman (or at least in a freshman martial arts class) which means he would have had to work really hard to get a reputation as a bully with security on the second or third week.

I believe you're confusing Beatdown with Crysis.

DanZilla wrote:

Jarjaross wrote: 1. Beatdown is a freshman (or at least in a freshman martial arts class) which means he would have had to work really hard to get a reputation as a bully with security on the second or third week.

I believe you're confusing Beatdown with Crysis.

You are correct, I was doing just that. Thank you.

Jarjaross wrote: Why didn't Bianca call security? What is wrong with her? There is no way getting him out of the ground is bad for her.

Yes he gets out of the ground, but he gets out of the ground anyway, there is no way someone doesn't happen accross beatdown and report it.

She just left him in the ground with no way out. Yes she acted in self defence, but now it is her word against his. The word of someone who was left trapped in the ground when people have been known to vanish in the tunnels, vs the word of someone who has all but openly admitted to being a mob boss. If she calls security they at least see compasion on her end.

She (he) grew up very aware that the LEAs were corrupt, and even the honest ones were a threat to the Family (and him/her). She has no reason to believe that Security is all that different, so calling them is not a thought that would come naturally. And her interactions with them so far have been less than stellar.

Not only is it already her word against his, but it is her word against all three of her attackers (two of whom delusionally consider her a bully and the agressor). With the cameras spoofed, she is at a significant disadvantage - especially because she (apparently) had no legitimate reason to be in the tunnels at that time.

Isodecan wrote: And if Scorn actually sends someone in to take out Bianca, he won't be a problem for anyone anymore.

Only if they know it's him pulling the strings. If he's smart, he'll make it look like one of his enemies is behind it and kill two birds with one stone.

Kettlekorn wrote:

Isodecan wrote: And if Scorn actually sends someone in to take out Bianca, he won't be a problem for anyone anymore.

Only if they know it's him pulling the strings. If he's smart, he'll make it look like one of his enemies is behind it and kill two birds with one stone.

That is assuming Scorn is acquainted with Whateley's status and is a professional. He could be like those cartel leaders who think they are a law onto themselves and won't shy away from taking out anyone who gets in their way. They usually end up taken out themselves in one way or another.

The White Lady represents the other side of the coin, the criminal's who play the long game, see it as a business and have been at it for generations.

Scorn's tactics in taking out the White lady lend me to believe that he is the former.

I would expect him to get a visit from one of the trustees who will point out that you do not mess with Whateley. Whether he gets to learn his lesson, or just sort of disappears would depend on how seriously the Trustee takes the issue, and what sort of person they are.

On the matter of the feud between Scorn and Bianca in relation to Whateley, I see a few different options.

Scorn could always take direct action against Bianca, whether it be overt or not. Sure, there's Whateley Neutrality, but there are a few things to bear in mind. Said neutrality doesn't help Bianca if an assassin slips through and is successful, it just "promises" vengeance from a number of sources on both sides. Furthermore, Whateley is still reeling from having a solid chunk of their senior staff up and vanish, so security is potentially weaker now than we see in Gen 1, which notably had the Halloween invasion. The havoc wreaked by the disappearances is likely to embolden some who might not have taken direct action beforehand.

Scorn could take more indirect action, likely enlisting Crysis in exchange for favour to mess with/end Bianca. If done properly, nobody may ever suspect outside influences in the matter, let alone Scorn being behind it.

And then there's the scary option, of Scorn targeting what Family Bianca has remaining while she's at Whateley, which would leave her very vulnerable if he can be patient.

Ametros wrote: On the matter of the feud between Scorn and Bianca in relation to Whateley, I see a few different options.

Scorn could always take direct action against Bianca, whether it be overt or not. Sure, there's Whateley Neutrality, but there are a few things to bear in mind. Said neutrality doesn't help Bianca if an assassin slips through and is successful, it just "promises" vengeance from a number of sources on both sides. Furthermore, Whateley is still reeling from having a solid chunk of their senior staff up and vanish, so security is potentially weaker now than we see in Gen 1, which notably had the Halloween invasion. The havoc wreaked by the disappearances is likely to embolden some who might not have taken direct action beforehand.

Scorn could take more indirect action, likely enlisting Crysis in exchange for favour to mess with/end Bianca. If done properly, nobody may ever suspect outside influences in the matter, let alone Scorn being behind it.

And then there's the scary option, of Scorn targeting what Family Bianca has remaining while she's at Whateley, which would leave her very vulnerable if he can be patient.

The thing about Whateley Neutrality, is that it tends to be enforced by everybody that's "in the know", Cape, as well as Syndicate.

Add in, that there's a new headmaster, who hasn't had to make a "show of force" yet, as no-one in the currently-released stories, has tried to push the boundaries yet.

It could be that Scorn ends up being the example that sets the tone for the future.

This would also be another entertaining longer-term plot-thread.

The rumour-mill abuzz, "Did you hear about what The White Lady did next? She mind-controlled some of the faculty into fighting her gang-war for her... "

What if Scorn sends in Tinsnip?

After reading A Teacher's Tail, it suddenly makes a lot more sense that Bianca was paired with Imp as her advisor, and not just because Morpheus writes about both.

Who better suited to assist a young lady who is torn between professional reputation, responsibilities, and just wanting to be who she is without hiding behind a mask, than a teacher who struggled with those same issues when she arrived at Whateley 9 years earlier?

Bianca is worried about the future while Imp has to deal with her past.

Lovely parallels, truly.