Question Dorms of our Lives!!!

Erica and Calliope arriving at Dickinson, and Erica's augmented image is impressive as ever. Oh brother, getting one of the less nice house mothers to greet them, annoyed they got held up. Miss Tarkisian called down and the older woman is Ms. Plimsoll. Milena has a wicked sense of humor, teasing them like that. So due to the chaos on campus Ms. Plimsoll got hired, just great. Milena Tarkisian aka Sister Secret, freshman RA. Presented with their own ID cards by her, she is good.

That is a lot of staggering for students showing up at Dickinson. Boy, a game I've never heard and probably more referenced amongst themselves. Kareela, two other RAs include Panoptikon and Paint Oracle, interesting codenames. Can't tell if that is actual paint or some form of GSD which Paint Oracle has. All that is normal, Whateley gets you used to weird as part of the everyday in short order.

Hannah Sammish is the brunette freshman, talks about her and Nana rooming on the other end of the floor. And dang, Hannah has a potent ability to detect those things about Erica. And Nana is the red-head, upset at Hannah doing that. But Cally doesn't mind, just a sense for things, still interesting ability. Psionic or empathic and musical, Hannah's ability may not precise details but great for information gathering.

Detects powers and nothing else, kidnapped 7 times last spring, yikes. And Nana is an avatar with a ladybug spirit, interesting. Natalie Bosch, Nana for nickname, Ladybird for codename. Mille Bornes, simulated car race using cards, interesting game. Kareela doesn't take short jokes well, only one who can make them, stuck at 119 cm. Isn't that shorter than 4 feet, no wonder she has an attitude. And she is a PDP who has the main power active unless she uses another power, ouch. And fun game with a lot of twist and turns that can happen with the turn of a card.

Shifted between all those relatives, Cally has had it rough. What Big Change did she go through, thinking she wouldn't be rooming with another girl, finding Erica cute, almost sounds like she is a changeling and kept it secret on her Whateley entry forms. The morning exercise routine, that is going to be annoying to wake up to. Early morning jog for exercise, wish I had the energy to do that. Taka not her type, more clues. Being an empath hard, sensing people's emotions all the time would probably feel like a drain to deal with. Okay, why isn't Cally in Poe, I wonder.

Humming to help block out background emotions, wonder if that is unique to her or could work for other receptive empaths. Cally afraid of society pushing back because their group took a table on one of the upper levels, poor kid. And the scheme to register as a training team as freshmen just to get a better table unfolds once more. And poor Cally not wanting to be a part of a combat training team, dragged along by the others.

Bwahaha, Erica saying Cally should think like a bard, do what bards do, including hitting things with her lute. At least Erica helped to calm her down and process the idea. Mutant Mayhem Machine, bwahahaha, Cally definitely needs to pay attention to what is said around the table.

All those freshmen showing up, and Milena has a favor to ask Erica and Cally, uh oh. Reese trying to warn them off of doing favors for Milena, help 4 junior-high kids with their luggage, doesn't sound too hard. Blonde named Michelle Jarrowitz, brunette named Jessica Ryans but says to call her Jessie. Therese Vitesse, Addy's little sister at Whateley, are any of those girls not mutants at this point. And Natalie MacAuliffe.

Michelle is Tek Witch, Jessica is Acolyte, Therese is Magique, and Natalie somehow doesn't have a codename yet. Guy with armadillo-like plates upon his head nearly got ran over by a rhinoceros-looking black kid because he fell asleep in the middle of the walkway near Twain Cottage. Sixteen junior high kids, yikes. And Erica is good with kids, helping cheer up Natalie by showing her she isn't alone in learning her new strength.

All those things in Tek Witch's steamer trunk, like a small car in size from the sounds of it. Figures out she is a devisor by what she has in her trunk. Anti-gravity projectors that dangerous, daddy made a good call. Natalie back first, finding the benefits of her new strength already. Refurbish the trunk into a bed, that would actually be a good use for Twitch's trunk.

Essemmelle, a stress release to levitate things around her with TK when upset. Kareela almost got trampled on purpose, like to smack the jerks who did that. Oh boy, Cally wishes to take the matter into her own hands and is scary when ticked off. Okay, that is a weird form of empathy, but I can see many uses for it. Poor girl messed with because of her size, at least she has friends to help.

Past with bullies I'm guessing, plus sensing it when others are frightened, ouch. And mess with one, mess with the family, thinking of her friends at Whateley as family, she is going to draw more trouble to herself. An Emerson boy nearly ran her over, Cally not going to start anything, saying she won't need to do more than talk, uh oh. Her ability can do that for them, she is like a bard brought to life.

Being nice to the other 3 boys and ignoring the 'idiot', racking his nerves like that using his friends, priceless. Embarrassing them for an excuse to leave, Cally hadn't thought that through and without Erica would have been in trouble. Talking to boys has her that rattled, poor kid.

Macarthur Price aka 'the idiot', and he is a creep with that kind of thinking about girls. He shoved Kareela aside without thought just to go after other girls, ugh. He deserved to be called an idiot, treating another human like that. Thinking he can seduce and sleep with Cally, sick at the thought of such a creep even touching her.

Kareela has a true dwarf due to her mutation stopping her from growing, it sounds like, but HGH keep her growing. Her mom is 16E and she might get that big as well, dang. And she has been binding them down, that quickly with the fittings, that machine is a wonder. Breasts bigger than Erica's and still growing, *eyes bug out* Caused Cally to get a nose-bleed, hehe. And anyone who mistakes her for a little girl in that bra is blind or stupid. Nooo! Never let Penny into this store, she could bankrupt her new grandparents if given the chance.

Essemmelle [which is her codename, this or Karneela?] introduced to the junior high kids, I have a feeling she would be a bad influence on them. Francesco is Cally's twin, sent on different paths by mutation, sounding more and more like she is a changeling. Poor Cally getting hit by all those emotions due to missing staff and what could have happened to them.

Teasing by Laura over Cally suggesting the Sci-fi club to her. Only talk like that could lead to alien boob jokes, Commonwealth group, Britain not part of Europe, Tanya and Jimmy interested in the Future Superheroes of America, hope they haven't gotten worse with their overzealous members over the years. Hearing about Wondercute, then Cally thinking Venus Inc. [at least it sounds like them] is dedicated to fashionistas and beauty queens.

Futaba-Kun Change in Italian, one of those animes/mangas I need to get a hold of. Milena and Vanessa, RAs of Dickinson, talking about rivalry between them at Whitman in the past, asking them to keep things civil between the two cottages. No eye on Vanessa's right side of her face, just a uniform blank space, dang. GSD that is slow to develop and easy to disguise, never seen that before. Mrs. Selkirk is still the same, good to see another old face.

Milena got out Mrs. Selkirk's good graces, wonder what she did to do that. Elspeth Plimsoll but insist they call her Ms. Plimsoll, don't think I'm going to like her. Doesn't care for children and don't treat them as children, not particularly trusting either, yeah, known I don't like her. Erica hoping they are pulling the freshmen girls' collective chain with campus gossip, rumors and legends. Heh, the sewers are that bad in some places.

A lot of the girls aren't morning people from the sound of it. The way Cally is checking out the other girls, more and more curious as to why she is there instead of Poe. And poor girl on her own as Erica is taken off to powers testing, sounds like she almost stepped on Teri. Waiting for her brother and the bus is 20 minutes late, typical. Guy with thorns sticking out of his face, called Zeke by presumably his little sister.

Victoria Stone, one of Cally's new friends over the summer, shows up on the bus. Devisor and has a cousin, Diana Davies, in campus infirmary due to an incident involving a devise, her cousin is lucky to have not been disfigured or killed. Boy, from the way Cally is thinking about her brother Fra, they don't have the best of relationships. Plus he has an ego and likes showing off, let's hope that he improves with time.

Teasing between siblings and seems like Fra likes to slack off, oh boy. Vicky in Whitman and Fra in Emerson, and Erica shows up while they are on the way. Oh boy, Erica shocks herself by calling Fra hot, poor girl doesn't know how much she has changed and scares herself sometimes. Ouch, poor Cally upset at hearing that.

Erica needs to learn to censor herself better. Upper weight limit for dead lifting still increasing, just how strong will she get. Overloaded her shield, ouch, at least she learned it now and not when faced with lethal weapons. Who is the girl in orange barreling through others and the big guy who stopped her. Gouyasse, the guy, not going to apologize despite his friend saying to.

Oh great, the girl in orange is Ratel, from what I recall one of the Amazons, and itching for a fight. An Ultra-Violent, at least Gouyasse has enough presence of mind to back down and leave. Lucky to avoid a fight with the likes of her. And I can figure out what Ratel's shirt meant, yikes, no wonder Fra or any guy would go pale.

Playing card games with Erica on a bench, cute. Oh crud, Vic and Tanya on the way to Crystal Hall and Ratel intercepts them. The incident where Tanya agreed to a fight but thought it would be later and organized, not a brawl in quad. And agreeing to not let Tanya forget this for a long time, friends can be so cruel sometimes.

Never starting stuff but finishing it, Erica's family are the right kind of crazy. Meeting Nick and finding out where he is from.

Taka asked, "Excuse me, what big like horse?"

Still so funny to read.

Revealing Nick and AJ were the ones involved in the Central Park mess, Cally liking that Nick is into playing the guitar. About to go back to the Ratel fight, only for a grumpy Tanya and Vic to show up. Upset at security for keeping them for 20 minutes, telling them they can't fight in the quad, sigh. A week's detention in Whitman, ouch. Cally worried about run-ins with security, they have gotten overzealous and not actually helping too much from what we've seen.

Erica feeling awkward because of what she said about Fra, strange, scary and embarrassing at the same time, oh boy. Talking to Penny about the matter and she seems to already know what it is about, weird. Penny has vintage Playgirl magazines, dang, and ask if Erica regrets not taking one with her to school still. Never date your friend's brother, plus apologize to Cally and stop it before it stews too long, good advice.

All that to figure out why the concoction did what it did to Erica, that is a project and a half. And used a version of the serum on Penny and it worked, dang. And she might have a danger sense, good thing to have with New Reich scum having her as one of their targets. Cally shows up and uses the excuse that it is dinner time for them to end the call. Aww, poor Erica afraid of losing Cally as a dear friend over this.

I know you, and I know my brother, and so I realize that even if you were to date, you would most likely maim him before too long.

Her brother is that obnoxious, ouch. And the two of them laughing, such a perfect end to that little issue.

Ouch, all that testing for them, no wonder Tia, Hikaru, and Morgana has in a bad mood. And Venus Inc. coming to try and recruit Taka, getting Cally thinking about soap operas. So that is how the story got its name, Cally calling it 'Dorms of Our Lives' after 'Days of Our Lives'. Jamie messing with Tia, another reason she is wreck. And yeah, Cally is right, don't mess with family.

Tempers short early in the morning due to not enough showers for everyone and the crowding, eh, could be worse. Essemmelle coming out and the girl taunts her about falling in, not smart. And the other girl is a tough girl with blue streaks in her hair and eyes of the same shade, keeps taunting Essemmelle about her height and gets called a bitch, that is going to follow her for a while.

Upset another girl named Amy, blue streaked hair and blue eyes girl is Mairead, her unfortunate roommate is Tricia. Nana and Hannah doing fine, Hannah excited about all the people with different powers, a girl on Erica's side codenamed Mouse who can shrink, interesting. Got a kid from Hawthorne to demonstrate his power, produces napalm-like substance from his sweat glands, ouch. In Doyle getting treated for burns, I have a feeling this is going to be a trend with Hannah around. Awww, Erica wishing she was into girls because Cally is like a dream girl, friendly, attractive, and into games and comics.

Cally meeting a new girl at their table, though wishing to get to know Bailey more, cute. Nana having the carnivore special, due hosting the spirit of an obligate carnivore. She wanted to go vegan and can only eat a piece of broccoli before she starts getting sick, dang. Catherine aka Zapper is the girl we didn't know, Erica and Hannah showing up with Vicky. Nana doesn't wish to be a hero, her dad is Thermoclast up in Augusta and she says he is just a big dork.

Tanya says her mom was a hero, only to be asked where it got her, that is cold. She didn't know, at least that is sorted out, still painful subject for Tanya. Cally trying to talk with Jimmy, going to a dorm mixer between Whitman and Twain, Emerson and Dickinson are doing one too. And yeah, a full school mixer might end up with the school being wrecked.

Wondering where they put it all, would love to have that. A girl with light feathers on her head which Tanya calls Whirly, cute codename. Tanya revealing she looks like her mom and feels like she is on a course to replace her, ouch, feeling like you don't have your own destiny anymore. It is good she has Erica to talk to, help her to realize her mom would be happy no matter what she does. Heh, hearing all that from Erica, even if the path is chosen for you you can make it your own. Eat the entire buffet line, I don't think even Tennyo has ever done that.

Cally having to deal with powers testing again, her brother Claudio put her through them as part of his postdoctoral studies on powers, no wonder she is tried of them already. And having to deal with an excited Hannah wondering how everyone's powers work.

The question now was, would she get to the labs with her ears intact?

Hehehe, someone people don't know when to be quiet for even a moment.

Don't recognize this researcher, at least Cally gets out of the full physical exam. Body hasn't changed radically with her mutation, so my guesses about changeling earlier were off. Wait, next part says that Claudio buried details of her physical alterations due to her mutation, so still possibly a changeling. Ouch, no danger sense and a hurdle that suddenly shoots up just as she runs over it.

Hannah is there, codenamed Assay, good codename with her power. Testing her mutation by having her work in the labs and scan the other students, clever plus works as a job for her. That is a peculiar device they had Assay hook herself up to. Telempathic in nature, ah, the device feeds what Assay detects to a monitor for the researchers. Italian lullaby, synchronize her emotions with those represented in the song, doesn't sound easy. Put Assay to leap by the third time she sang it, subtle and impressive. Oh boy, all those songs, Cally is going to want a break from singing for a while after this.

Erica trying to get the others interested in tabletop gaming, sneaky. Oh boy, Erica alone and sees Fra, thinking he looks good today and moving towards him without conscious thought. He needs a special class for English and is upset about it, slacked up for 3 months and complains now, he sounds like a hot mess. Seeing Taka with all those girls, hearing how he handles with less skill in English than Fra encourages the boy.

The treacherous part of her head had temporarily won the war with her panic center, with weaponized hormones streaking like rockets across her subconscious before exploding somewhere deep and squicky inside her.

Poor girl doesn't have a chance. And they are just walking along, he leads her to a less crowded place and kisses her without warning, ugh, guy is an idiot to pull that. Fra doesn't even care that Erica freaked out and ran, starting to hate this guy.

And Hannah isn't even upset about the emotions she was made to endure as part of Cally's testing. Hot blonde in pink top and mini-skirt, poor Cally need to embrace what she is. And the girl is excited about her Tartucci bag, oh brother. Nina Blake, avatar host and her spirit made her excited about the bag. Bewitched, cute codename, poor kid feels like she is possessed some days. Can't believe Cally flirted with Nina like that, even gave her her number under the pretense of talking about bags.

Erica hiding under the bedding like that and pretending the world doesn't exist, she is taking Fra kissing her very hard. Afraid of apologizing Cally again about this, part of her brain tempting her in ways she hates, talk about being betrayed by a part of you. Milena teleports in, having heard Erica crying.

"It's high school," said Milena. "Everything here is stupid, everything is really nothing, and yet it's still the most tragic and important thing to ever happen to anyone ever. So, spill it."

Freaking out over telling Cally or not, Milena telling her she needs a boyfriend, and reminded about the dorm mixer, which Fra will be at. At least Milena can keep at eye on them, make sure Erica is never alone with him, and boot him if he makes a move, good RA. And tempting her with setting up blind dates, *groans*

Ouch, sensing that from Erica, and Cally isn't even in person with her. Only on her first tray, it is a crisis! Psychic backwash like that of so many emotions and stress, feeling drain just being near them, hope she has a good psychic teacher to help her learn how to shield better. Ah, wanting to attract other girls attention and wishing Nia would be there even though she is in Poe. No room for wallflowers, darn. Essemmelle shows up to save Erica from going to see Fra with Cally. Short list of mental exercises to turn down the reception on her empathy, love to know those exercises myself. Alcohol in the punch, wonder who did that, is 'Shine in Emerson?

Essemmelle told by Milena enough to know to keep her company, good. Girl, maybe a sophomore, speaking in French with two Emerson boys and punch flowing up from the bowl into her cup. Thinks they are members of the European Promotional League and goes to meet them. Gouyasse and another guy, Adrienne le Floc'h aka Fleuve Noire. Fortenbras, born Gregory Bertram Frederick Crumbley the Third, Viscount Stratford de Redcliff, no wonder he was reluctant to give out his full name and title at first, that is a mouthful and then some. Emile Duval of Wallonia aka Gouyasse. All three are shocked upon hearing Erica's codename of Eisenmädel, Adrienne saying her friend Kristen is a big fan of a German graphic novel series. This isn't good, leader of the Amazons is Kristen if I remember correctly.

Fra stuck in the middle of a crowd of boys too shy to cross over and talk to the girls. Cally remembers this situation, she is a changeling! Fra sounds like a Casanova, dating girls and never sticking with one for long. All those guys acting as Fra's friend just to get close to Cally, oh brother. Macarthur Price, for what he thought earlier, seems to be all bluster and no action. Fra perking up at the mention of Erica, he has seduced her friends before, another strike against him.

Macarthur is scum, just wishes to seduce and use Cally, not caring for her and thinking she is a slut by the way gabs with the boys. Trying to get to her through Fra by learning things about Cally, makes me want to smack him hard.

Erica not knowing what to do, she hasn't had long to adjust to her changes, do not go with Operation Snowflake, it will get you in trouble here. Janine and Annie, talking about her Rube Goldberg inventions. One girl calling another a bitch, oh boy, drama. A projectile thankfully stopped by her PK field, Mairead is one of those involved, other girl using metal ball bearings as projectiles.

Reese shows up, an RA who leaves streaks of neon rainbows in her wake as she runs, and Mairead says Mags started it, on her case all afternoon. Mag-Lev calls Mairead Multi-Monkey, bluish PK constructs for hands, handy. Multi-Task, and how does Reese yell that loud, yikes. Forcing Erica to attention and making the two girls apologize to her. Erica having to confront Essemmelle about her use of her power on Multi-Task, getting her to own up to what she did and reverse it. And boobs big enough to break her fall all by themselves, lol.

Seeing Mairead crying like that, finally Essemmelle gets that it has gone too far. Poor girl to get others to console her, hope it doesn't stick though or Mairead might get sent to therapy for a problem she doesn't have. Scowling, surly midget, never get on their bad side, always good to make friends with those types.

Finding the music a raucous mess, having perfect pitch and ear for music has it own problems. Not as if she was dancing with other girls if she only happened to be next to them, lol. Dance challenge between her and another girl from her floor, nice. Nefertiti Copeland, mom really into Egyptian stuff. Muse of Dance, Terpsichore, yeah, best to go with an easier name. And warned about the punch being spike, Nefertiti has pretty good regen so isn't worried.

A perv wanting to dance with Cally or Nefertiti, called Jake but insist his name is Rutherford, Cally tries to brush him off and he gets ticked. Grabbing Cally like that, he isn't polite or a gentleman in any way, shape or form. He used a mental power on her! Fra and the idiot are there to help, Jake is messing with Cally's mind so bad she can't even talk to respond. Fra has a PK field, Nefertiti trying to yell at her, and another guy shows up who knows Rutherford, he promised Delarose he would start off this year clean.

He knows how the creep's power works, entire dorm sentenced to an entire week of lectures on informed consent, et cetera because of Jake. Contact High, either Rutherford's codename or nickname. Scared him off by threating to warn everyone about being with Rutherford. That disoriented after being released, Rutherford needs a warning label! Gideon Crawford is the one who helped with the threat. Having to be taken back to her room, poor Cally had the night ruin, aww.

Macarthur, thinking that is how a real man does it, oh boy, he has a lot of learn. Thinking he made friends with Fra and was seen as a white knight by Cally, yet going out to scan the crowd for other likely ladies to approach. *hits head on desk* I know we just met him, but he needs to learn you don't play girls to get what you want either.

Combination of spiked punch and Contact High, no wonder Cally is in such bad shape. Essemmelle tagging Rutherford, hope it is something good that sticks and warns girls away from him. Have the talk with Cally about Fra in the morning, hope nothing else happens in the meanwhile. An email to Penny about the events of the day, nice to have someone to chat with so openly.

Whitman-Twain mixer had a handful of fights and a single explosion, that is slow for them. Kirsten Bischofsheim, a message her phone received. New kids for European Promotional League, thinking foreign kids need to stick together in American countryside. Wondering how Erica got the codename Eisenmädel, Kirstein has every book based on the originals adventures, bleached and dyed her hair to match Eisenmädel hair color until her parents stopped her. After an incident with a street gang and steamroller they forced a codename on her, Wahnsinning meaning crazy or reckless, ouch. So obsessed she has having intel dug up on Erica by a hacker, very bad. Okay, Kirsten isn't who I thought, but still just as bad to be on the radar of.

Interesting story so far, feels like Part 1 though. Curious if it is part 1 or it will be continued in another story.

A ladybird isn't a bird, but a beetle. It's what is called a ladybug here. My understanding is that some time around the Victorian era in the UK, any use of 'bug' in a word was considered a bit to risque, so 'ladybird' became a euphemism and replaced the older name.

Some of the older folk here may know this, as there was some confusion about this in the sixties because a lot of people assumed that Lady Bird Johnston got her nickname from that - turns out, she didn't, and it's actually two different nicknames given to her by different people at different times in her life that got put together by the press so that her initials matched her husband's, but it did bring the subject to people's attention. Before my time, but it still came up enough that I'd run across mention of it in when growing up, so it is possible others around my age did too.

I'm not sure if Wasamon and Souffle Girl were deliberately using this to mislead some readers about Ladybird's avatar spirit or not, but I'm guessing some might be.

Essemmelle's reaction to the synthetics in the bra

While it mostly seems geared towards the Earthen Court, it sounds like there are a fair number of Fair Folk in Australia, too, given how often Koala seems to run into them there - I get the impression that she gets that at home even more than at Whateley. OTOH, I also noticed that they didn't describe Kareela much other than her size, so... given her name, is she possibly of Aboriginal Australian (hmmn, need to be careful there, I don't know how touchy that term is) descent, and the authors have been deliberately avoiding mentioning it? I looked the name up, and it seems odd to name someone after a city, though not unheard of - especially with a name that has a meaning in the original local language.

I wonder if they've tested her for magic aptitude yet? I'm guessing the curses aren't part of her PDP package, assuming that's even correct. I wonder... if we assume Western Court, then given her size, Brownie, Hob, Bwca (Knocker; though for any of those three, I would expect some sort of manifestor or faux-devisor ability, given their association with things like housekeeping, cobbling, mining, and smithing), Pooka (how is she around horses?), Faer Derrig (does she wear red a lot? Mind you, like the Pooka, they aren't always said to be diminuative), Leprechaun (I don't think she'd take kindly to that, ouch), or Clurichaun could all fit, among other things.

Clurichaun would be really, really problematic, though testing for it might be amusing.

Probably not a Pooka, as this group would be missing a beat if any of those showed up and didn't end up in Poe (they tend to be both bisexual and either androgynous or outright sex shifters, and the latter doesn't seem the case with her). Also, most variants of Robin Goodfellow, AKA Puck - the archetypal Pooka - describe him/her as short, but not as short as the others I've mentioned, so probably not.

Erica out for a morning jog with Cally, passed by 4 upperclassmen girls, of course it has to be Brita Bauman aka Stahlfaust and her group. The Amazons, at least Cally has the good sense not to be pleased to make Brita's acquaintance. Valentina aka Eurydice and Kammie, and Muliebris, great, just what we don't need . And Brita seems to insinuate Cally's friends in Poe are keeping secrets, with how she says it's even better if they are completely honest with you. Cally picking up on their emotions but not knowing the source of those emotions, at least Erica takes it as a warning not to join the Amazons which is good.

Eurydice planning on messing with Erica, that girl is sickening and breaking the Whateley Psychic Code of Ethics probably. And Brita talking about Erica and Cally being friends with the changeling girls, a threat to the purity of the sisterhood, if she knew, yikes. Eurydice knows but with the way she is talking, it seems Brita might have revealed the Poe secret at least in part to Kammie as well.

When administration finds out Brita is keeping such an ability secret, sharing Poe secrets with non-Poesies, that is the tip of the iceberg of trouble building for her. Brita's mindset of lesbians vs. everyone else comes across as a barely contained psychopath to me, someone who would kill those who she hates if she could get away with it. The Amazons are starting to come across as a huge building threat that needs dealing with soon before they go too far, imo.

Cally having to deal with all those emotions pushing on her mental shields, ouch. Stress from last night, all the emotions around her, and missing out on cinnamon roll, glad she was able to get one, felt like she was on the brink of breaking from the weight of everything. Kareela, nice to see her again. Magique, Natalie, Acolyte, and Tek Witch, run, it is the new incarnation of the TLW.

Talk from Kareela Greer aka Essemmelle about a party last night, something happening with a guy, ah, the incident with the creep trying his power on Cally. Darcy aka Clobberizer, interesting codename. Marcus and Scheherazade aka Scher for short. Firefly aka Linette as Darcy's roommate in Whitman, Scher having a room to herself in Melville. Breakdance and Heartfinder, Meatball and Hyperactive, definitely junior high codenames. Though curious about Heartfinder.

Breakdance, poor girl sounds like she is stressed out or are her reactions due to her powers. Heartbreaker's eyes are very interesting, her eyes and powers seem connected. Laurent and Jean-Marie, wonder who their sister is Erica is supposed to have met. Hypergolic, very interesting codename and enigmatic comment about why he has plastic gloves over his hands, almost sounds like he is some kind of touch-based transmuter. Marcus's codename is Retrofit, cool codename. And another girl codenamed Time Bomb, don't even want to guess what she can do.

Hehe, love Kareela's attitude about making friends. And Meatball, that boy needs a good verbal lashing for doing that to girls, guessing their bra sizes and asking if he is right right to their face. Love how Cally confuses him with non-American bra size, wonder how long he will be scratching his head about that one. And nice Shakespeare reference by Erica.

Breakfast with friends, Erica and Cally arrive to an already full table of M3. Wonder which clubs Jimmy and Tanya are talking about, what has Bianca and Laura down, and Morgana smoldering, yikes. Poe mixer, there was a mess thanks to Brita and Contact High, it is a wonder that guy hasn't been arrested for sexual assault already. Ouch, Ratel dancing with those poor guys, that would make them gun-shy on dating for a while. Scheduled school assembly, mandatory, rats.

Kirsten Bischofsheim obsessed with Eisenmadel, even her friend Arni couldn't dig up anything, now that is some epic-level security. Great, she has noticed M3's table and is ticked Erica is with them, thinking it is a special privilege to be on an upper level. This girl has serious anger issues involving Eisenmadel, not caring she could have caused an accident and killed someone by throwing her mug like that. Ugh, thinking all she did gives her the right to the codename, to prove she is worthy, and thinks Erica cheated to get it. She is digging herself a very deep hole.

Erica afraid to talk to her roommate about an illicit first kiss, aww. Milena showing up and hopefully the fair warning is enough to keep Erica away from the Amazons. And she knows all the real stuff and rumors about them, really good for Erica and Cally to know. And yup, sounds like Eurydice uses her powers to warp straight girls into lesbians.

Oh boy, Cally is interested in the training for self-protection the Amazons can offer, not good. And daw, poor Erica thinking she would fit in with the Amazons, not be surprised by who she likes. If they knew she was a changeling, they would turn on her so fast I'd be afraid for her life. Aww, poor Tia being reminded of what she can't eat anymore. Ouch, lost taste for pineapple and teriyaki sauce because of one food experiment, Erica had to endure a lot over the summer. Heh, never had a bison burger myself and each time it is mentioned I want to.

Erica and Cally at the P&P Roleplaying club table, codename of Gazebo and he actually did what they think to his little brother, attacked by a Gazebo in an RPG, classic. Whoa, girl's BIT came from her fighter, dragonblooded, exotic beauty imo. Chessa Barnes aka Maidenclaw, loving the codenames. Hehe, new friend and Erica and Penny got Ruby and Matt together, nice.

Marcus aka Retrofit is Cheesa little brother, and Pat her official twin brother, they sorta adopted each other, okay, I want to read the story of their origin and how they came together. Big sister working on campus and all of them in Poe, dang, really, really want to read the story of their summer.

Fra with the Whateley Sports Club, nice students who can't be part of teams otherwise having a place at Whateley. Gardening Club, wonder if members volunteer to help maintain the school grounds. Nana Bosch and Hannah Sammish, poor Hannah being kept from going rushing to meet people with new powers, aww.

Cally having to not be obvious ogling girls, darn, with the new Venus Inc. girls that is rough. And it making her think she would fit in with the Amazons even more, not having to hide her inner self, this is very bad. Euro-Promotional League and Therese Vitesse there, yay, that makes 3 girls from the Vitesse family. Ah, the twin's big sister is Adrienne. Kirsten, jealous girl of Erica having the codename she wants, just what we don't need.

Pins for the girls, Italy's flag is interesting color combination and description. Gregory Crumbley taking Cally behind the booth to meet everyone else, Jeanette and Alvery are there, wonder who "She" is they are arguing about. Nice chat with Jeanette, Irish singing, plus singing from her dreams like nothing you've ever heard, whoa. Alvery seeming to indicate it is something for Sidhe only, at least with the signals she is giving.

Boy, that is a lot of Germans at Whateley. SturmMeister, poor Erica straight and finding him hot. Talk about Germany's stance on vigilantism, yikes that is strict, not even good Samaritan laws. Mme. Prudhomme wishes StrumMeister to be there if Erica has any questions, dang she is thorough. Oh boy, trying to avoid Fra and runs into a mountain, another guy she can't help but check out, her mind betrays her too easily. Andrzej, 4th year, oh boy. Great, I'm curious what this guy meant as well.

Kirsten giving imaginary demerits to Erica over every conceivable fault, good grief. Inkblood is Andrzej's codename, villain's son and Kirsten is a bigot towards relatives of villain relatives, ugh. Great, she knows Abendritter is Erica's last name and going to have Arni dig into that, this girl is psycho stalker obsessed.

Cally sensing the psychic equivalent of Europe within a hundred square feet of grass, interesting. Interesting, never heard of Eurovision contest until now, nice conversation for Cally. Laura showing up, telling about Emile and Dalton, the Unladen Swallows and everyone is putting them down, but Cally wishes to hear them for herself. And get there right as Nick is tuning his electric guitar.

And they don't believe their story about meeting Vanessa Jackson and jammed a bit. Saying Nick can't do Hendrix, never assume you know someone's skill level. Plays that good and still one of the adults says he heard Hendrix live and he could sing as well. Hehehe, teacher tossing her pink bra at Nick, got swept up by his rendition of Purple Haze. Dang, making me wish I could actually hear Cally sing this with the band backing her up.

Dang, everyone responding, not a dry eye, poor Cally, just makes you wish you could help her someone how. Hehe, still funny seeing Cally and the others get Laura to be their techie. Nefertiti Copeland giving her a friendly flying tackle, she has a great mix of friends. Oh boy, hip bump, poor Cally and her inner self might push her into joining something very bad.

Macarthur Price, guy comes across as a creep, friends with Fra but after Cally. The more I read of his thoughts about her, the sicker I get. Oh brother, he feels the emotions behind Cally's singing but is arrogant enough to think she is singing for him.

Erica back and wanting another bison burger, Tanya already digging in, everyone there but Morgana isn't around. Oh boy, going off to see Brita, no one wanting to explain why Brita had a big confrontation with Morgana at the dorm party and Erica thinking she will never find out why. And hearing about the note from another girl to go see Brita sets off Erica's danger sense, in a sense, knowing they need to stop a problem.

Oh boy, Cally coming back and everyone but Vic has gone to find Morgana, so she wanders off and Brita finds her. Brita lying about why she got into a fight with Morgana, typical. Even Alvery is friends with Brita, just great. And of course Brita brings up that story knowing it is about Cally, manipulative b. Great, lured in by Brita's "understanding and compassionate nature".

Erica and the others going into the woods to search for Morgana, what did Erica run into and dang, that sonic weapon Fake Stahlfaust was using is brutal. All of them coming to Morgana's aid while Laura calls security, if I remember correctly. Never make Bianca mad, plus this girl saying she isn't a real girl is showing how arrogant she is, underestimating her opponent. At least security drones showed up before Laura's bluff could be called.

Kammie Ovellette really is foolish for doing this and thinking she would get away with it. Trying to blame it on Morgana, calling her a tranny in her head, ugh, glad this girl didn't get off light.

Oh boy, recapping the fight to Cally and she doesn't believe it was Brita, this is going to cause problems between her and Erica at this rate. Great, Cally is believing the lies of Brita over her friend, this is very bad. And now Cally is upset over what happened and confused, poor kid, it gets worse before it gets better at this rate.

Ouch, Cally avoiding Erica and it is hurting her. At this rate it is going to end up in a fight between friends, I hope I'm wrong.

Poor Cally, she forgets where she is, that faking someone's appearance and voice isn't out of the question. And she has the beginnings of an anxiety attack at the thought of arguing, to go against everyone and say it wasn't Stahlfaust who attacked Morgana, she is worse off with stress and anxiety than I am in some ways. Changing the subject matter and talking about Nick that way, one way to cope with it, but not for long.

Talk with Vickie, nice burger cafe. Vickie Stone, what a minute, is that a reference to Victor Stone aka Cyborg of DC Comics. Thank you, Vickie, for pointing out the obvious things of Whateley and saying Cally and Erica need to make up sooner rather than later..

And Milena shows up to talk to Erica, current leader in the cottage drama-llama races, hehe, love how she put that. Oooo, detention listings and not hard to get if you know how, very interesting. There's a kid in Hawthorne who sweats napalm now, yikes. And at least now Erica knows who really attacked Morgana and can inform the others, plus make up with Cally.

Sister Secret, love Milena's codename. And she goes to confront Kammie about what happen and even knows a secret that Dennon doesn't know...yet, scaring Kammie's roommate out like that, loving her more by the minute. Ooo, talking to Milena like that, Kammie has some guts. I pity her and Brita if they mess without any of the Poesie freshmen again, have a feeling Milena could ruin them without lifting a finger.

Made up and then Erica reveals the kiss between her and Fra, oh boy. *eyes bug out* Cally is very protective of her friends, Fra better lay low for a while. *eyes bug out even more* Okay, that is a nice and twisted way to kill someone, hiding the cyanide in the icing behind almond paste. And Essemmelle under orders to hex Fra if he tried anything funny at the mixer, that guy is going to be in a world of pain if he ever hurts any of the girls in their cottage. Random Italian and German insults, way to make her think you are crazy.

Powers Theory, more interaction with other students, hope Cally can block their emotions better with her mind shield. Darn, entire M3 crew there and first thing teacher does is break them up, Cally needs friends around her. Assay aka Hannah Sammish if I remember correctly, is the teacher's assistant, groan. Groundpounder, interesting look.

Bailey aka Backtrack, Heartfinder, and Pat aka Hat Trick, not a bad group for Cally to be in. So Pat is an empath, Cally is of course and empath and siren, Bailey George is a psychometrist, and demonstrates his power and it is very impressive. And tales of how they each dealt with their form of empath and power, Cally taking months to get her shields right, Bailey having to wear gloves and what he saw with his powers, ewww from the sounds of it.

And Pat's power is interesting to say the least, all that data coming at him, focus for more detail, potent ability with training but no ability to shield, yikes. Bailey trying to tell that Zapper is just a friend, hehe, at least the others agree not to tell what they learn.

And seeing Assay in her Powers Lab Independent Study, fun. Oh boy, flavour of Erica's Exemplar is off to her, she might out her accidentally about not being a mutant. Invictus aka Tanya's PK field is harmonizing on itself, wonder what that means for her. DragonsFyre aka Morgana has an aura that feels like it is more real than her, why do I have a bad feeling about that. Glyph aka Bianca almost glowing when she does something magical, why do I have the feeling that is bigger than Assay or the teacher suspects.

Arbolita makes her think she is a tree, strange. Tidestriker having redundant powers, weird how she describes it, wonder what is going on with him. How she describes Hat Trick's power functioning, very unusual. Have a feeling if she had been in Gen 1 she would have some strange things to say about more than a few students then. That last line though, so ominous, never pondering why someone wants to chat with her about others powers.

7' high doors and Nick still has to duck some to enter a room or building, if that doesn't make you realize how big he is nothing will.

"Rules are rules, young man," the receptionist replied with a bit of a grin at his attitude. Nick shrugged.

Charger, good codename and love the receptionist teasing him. Richard Bergamot, great, he is a fanboy is Dr. DNA's work and even ask if Nick was originally human.

750 lbs. maximum lift, 4 and half horsepower, dang. Interesting how they calculate horsepower as well. Rate as Exemplar 3 for strength and speed if human, impressive. Energizer 2, bio-electricity specialization. And Nick has found out how brutal Powers Testing can be.

Claudio studies science, wonder what their older brother is up to. Aww, getting to call Nefertiti by Neff, cute. Nina Blake, with the fashions on show at Whateley and especially by Venus Inc, poor girl is going to exhaust herself. Vickie in the biology class with them as well, guess she is trying to expand her talents. Ah, counselor wouldn't let her change it, oldest story in the book. Nina and Neff not too upbeat about Survival, wonder if Imp is still subbing for the class sometimes. Boy, everyone is expanding their group of friends quickly, nice to see.

Macarthur Price once more, perving on Cally and whistling at her. To the point Groundpounder says he doesn't have a chance. Mac's arrogance is going to get him hurt at this rate or arrested for sexual assault if he goes too far.

A chat with Penny about the experience of enhancement and how the brain functions afterwards, Erica not thinking it has affected her mental workings, bwahahaha. A German class with the seniors, including SturmMeister, oh boy. Dang, Kirsten tries to punk her but Erica is fluent in German and schools her. Nice teacher, Kirsten needs to keep her big mouth shut though. Karl Auer, 'There are idiots who are teacher.' I like him, he's silly. And Erica has realized Kirsten is targeting her.

A music class but not the regular one, huh. Only in the class by appointment, Emile, Cally, Kieran, and Tobias, nice start, wonder what music they can make together. Boy, Toby has a lot of instruments he plays, not wonder he is late. Nick getting an invite for next semester, nice. Mr. August seems like a nice guy, one of those teachers who loves to help his students learn and grow.

Only now does Erica realize the folly of trying to take on 8 classes a day to get them out of the way sooner. In History class with Jimmy, nice. Mr. DuChamp, someone was going to make an insult, *sighs* Teacher who will provide trigger warnings for students if needed, no idea what some of these students have gone through. And yet Mr. Darby has to be an ass about the whole thing. Considering the school they go to, I would be worried about having a teacher's attention in that way, those brothers are going to learn things the hard way.

And a spider in the slide show to make his point, scaring the Darby brothers, I like Mr. DuChamp, tough love. PTSD, poor Billy Boudreaux. Half the class raised their hand, including Jimmy. Traumatic triggers and yikes, lucky no one got hurt, footage from the Fools Fight triggered someone.

Cally and Erica back to their morning routine of running, with Natalie Macauliffe, junior high exemplar, along. Physique, nice codename, simple and to the point. A girl in a headscarf zooming out of Whitman, wonder who. Chessa and Pat show up, Pat banged up already that early in the morning, seesh. Combat survival course, yikes, sounds brutal compared to normal survival class.

"Hey, I got an 18 in Dexterity, and I plan to enjoy it!" The gamer girl fumed a bit, nose twitching. Then, with a tremulous snirk, she led the others with a loud bray of laughter.

Darn, that fun moment ruined by the Amazon jogging team watching them, not good.

Helping first-time students with German, sounds fun, best time I had in late elementary was tutoring 1st graders. Kirsten messing with her in another way, only having the absolute newbs sent to Erica, just has to be Kirsten messing with her. Oh crud, Saumer, someone who knew Eric, there at Whateley. Ouch, so frazzled by seeing Saumer she didn't pay attention in World History, she is freaking out.

Great, calls Uncle Adolf for help about the situation, tell him Hiram Saumer is there and Adolf just says to hello to him, good grief. At least he gave her some advice to calm her down enough to think on the matter, he is right, only way Hiram can know she was Eric is to tell him directly or someone else to out her somehow.

Nick and AJ heading towards the Back Quad, AJ thinking NIck will get rejected when he tries out for the band, hah. White Stripes for his audition, nice choice. After the horror that is Jericho's outfits, nothing less will faze me.

Lisa Jenkins in the crowd, 'CNR' off the album Alpocalypse. Interesting song from the first lyrics, never heard it myself before. Now that is a fun song and Nick rocked out to it.

Cally trying to calm herself before her audition, poor girl underestimates her epic singing ability. Little imps of her psyche, would like to bop them all on the head. Neff, Nina, and Vicky there for support, and Erica missed Nick's performance, darn. Weird Al song, should have known. Nick helping in her audition, she is going to blow everyone away.

Kieran Mason on the saxophone and Tobias is a Sidhe, didn't wish to assume just because he has pointed ears. Oooo, is the anime theme song it reminds Cally of from Cowboy Bebop, that one has great saxophone that are higher notes performed fast.

*awestruck* Singing that song, a ballad for her, just pulls at the heartstrings. Dang, had me tearing up a bit, reminds me of myself a little, letting fears and insecurities control me too much. Love Cally as a character even more now.

Pat having piano lessons on Wednesdays, and consulting a magic 8 ball on whether to trust Erica with how his powers work, at least some of them, curiouser and curiouser. His power guiding him so whatever his does looks cool, but only when other people are around to watch. Ouch, thinking he is a fraud because of his power. Double ouch, combat androids to determine if he retains anything from Martial Arts class and can barely play Chopsticks on the piano when alone. Can see why he thinks he is a fraud and his power is frustrating. Poor guy, hope things get better for Pat and he can learn things without the need for his power.

Brita storming through the Crystal Hall in a mood, upset about Erica and Cally, thinking they are perfect if it weren't for their friends who are changelings. Scowling at Hat Trick and Pat, if the school knew how much she has dug into the private information of other students she and anyone else involved would probably be facing expulsion at best.

Soon, others would burn.

Okay, she needs to go, now!

Kirsten having all that info dug up on Erica, this is going to backfire on her and possibly the school at this rate, if Erica's unpleasant relatives find out where she is. Great, they are digging up information on her family now, little creeps. Stupid graphic novel collection, that kind of information shouldn't be that readily available. Great, what would she do with that information, spread false rumors of Erica being related to Baron Dammerung, wouldn't put it past her.

Oh great, Kristen wishes to have a word with Erica, blackmail probably. Great, Erica thinks Kirsten knows about her having been Eric, not her ancestry. Yikes, escape, takedown and then run, all because she thinks Kirsten knows something she doesn't.

And Kirsten is arrogant, believing she knows Erica's true secret, overconfident fool. And she thinks Erica realizes she demanded she give up her codename, assuming things left and right this girl. And no, the codename would not be open for you to use, the original owner would never allow that to happen.

Great, Erica only 100 yards from Kirsten at the base of a maple tree, sobbing. Poor girl, thinking she has lost what she sought to protect, all thanks to a girl obsessed with her grandmother's codename and what it represents. A two-headed Boston terrier, oh boy, one guess whose pet this is. And I was wrong, a normal looking boy except for the bright pink eyes.

Okay, saying he is the dog's boy, confused now. Cherry strudel, Daniel Diggens aka Donut can make food or at least pastries at will, nice power. Whoa, guys in the lab don't know how his power works yet. Okay, that is a long name, understand why he just calls the dog Cookie. Boy, with a yarn like that Daniel could be a storyteller. Hehehe, hugged him and kiss on the cheek, because she chickened out of kissing him on the lips at the last moment. Erica's hormones don't fight fair. A date Sunday with Daniel and Cookie, so glad she met these two, she needs a nice boy in her life and the boost in confidence the encounter has given her.

Your second guess is right... sort of. Pat is a FtM transgender MtF changeling. He was male physically and mentally, transformed physically into a girl, but presents as and considers himself to be a boy.

Assay is too much the perfect Sensor Character to seem human. Betting she's labmade or something.

... Gen2 is missing Cyborg / Nanotech characters. Betting she's one.

...

OMG. Gazebo! ... Now I need to check that in Wasamon's other stories too! ... ... I'll just ROFL if that's secretly a Pizza Parlor Princesses ref!

...

Lol if any of the Amazons are secretly Freya, after a rejuv or something.

...

So, anyone think Vanessa Jackson's still operating under the name Vox?

...

Cookie and Donut! Nice!

...

The Witch Quartet... Wait... They're sorta TLW 2.0, but more Team Awesome 'cause they aren't in Wondercute?

But, they're their own group. ... Unless they get tutoring from a former member of one of those groups...

... No... TLW + Mischief isn't TLW anymore, it's the Cutettes? So, this new group of 4 girls is Cutettes 2.0?

Wait... The TLW are running around Gen2 with Adamant wands!

Wait... That Dr. Diabolik Best Lift / AG Tech is Dynamorph-based... Is Gen2 Anti-Grav also mass-produced Dynamorph stuff? Or pure tech, no sentient forces inside?

Cally able to practically taste the energy around Whateley Academy on the weekend, interesting. And processed through her ears no less. Picking all that up with her empathy, Heartfinder with a glazed expression as the other 8th graders help her to breakfast. Already awake for 2 hours thanks to Erica exercise routine, yikes, so not a morning person myself.

Rushing to breakfast for their table on the 2nd floor, M3, wonder when they will find there is a price to making a training team as freshmen. Erica introducing Cally to Donut, forgot he had a puppy named Cookie, good to have an excuse to exercise. Cinnamon rolls from Miz Debbie's recipe, darn you, now I want one. Erica asked him out, cute. And we know why Cally isn't interested.

Erica has butterflies in her stomach and is excited about the date, now there is a shift. And Oma was right about loving being a girl, heheh. Aww, Bianca left quickly, Morgana eating more than Erica, and Laura sketching out some random idea on a napkin, wonder what it is. Ah, Donut only give pastries to people who need a pick-me-up. Revealing she has a date, just how good are those cinnamon rolls.

Yikes, Tanya in a foul mood thanks to roommate issues, whacky floor hijinks, and shakedowns of the freshman girls for 'favors', good grief. A redhead named Scarlyt whose not right up there, that alone would have me upset. Laura reminded she volunteered to help with Cally's band, oh boy.

And from Donut aka Daniel Diggins perspective now. Should have a teacher there to help enforce the 1 per customer rule, coming back for 2nds, 4ths and 5ths is just wrong. That job plus that roommate, poor Daniel. Peter Foley aka Humorless, that personality and temperament with a bright red nose, pale skin with a peachy outline around his mouth, and lime green hair that sticks out that way, yikes.

Good thing Daniel knows his favorite pastry and has it ready to calm him down. English class stuff calms his nerve, weren't kidding about Peter being serious. Doc Talltale made Cookie.

At the shoulder, the devisor's former guard dog stood almost four feet tall and about as broad, with legs that were short only in proportion to the rest of its body. One stubby tail wagged happily while two round heads with mashed in noses and Boston Terrier markings had huge grins. "Warf," they barked in stereo, tongues lolling.

A Cerberus, now there is a dog no sane student will mess with.

And smart enough to understand what Daniel says and concerned for his health, whoa.

The big open field would've been perfect for a baseball diamond, if Whateley did anything so normal. Instead, it looked like a bunch of students were playing catch... about a hundred feet up in the air.

Corporal Jack Ames to train Cookie alongside Daniel, worked K9 training in the past, Whateley gets all kinds for security. And Simms tricked him into it, not telling him the kind of dog Cookie is, heh. No gender and understands every word said, careful about speaking any threats to Daniel within earshot of his dog.

Theater buried under Whateley and connected to the tunnels, very interesting.

At the moment, its only use seemed to be to serve as home to Mr. August's advanced music program and its corollary, the band known as the Unladen Swallows. She had yet to hear an explanation for that name that made sense.

Okay, there has to be a story behind that band name. Ow, ow, ow. The thought of those types of 'musical performances' hurt my mind's ears.

Emile's keyboard, please say that is a devisor design. Able to make shadowy copies of himself and plays a quartet with himself, now that is awesome. Dalton on the drums, Kieron tuning his saxophone, Nick playing his electric guitar. Now this is a band I would like to listen to.

The girl was tall and thin, with long black hair that flowed limply over her shoulders and face. She was dressed for a funeral, almost – all in dark tones to match her hair, but with a low-cut top and a slit up the side. Neither feature did much to reveal anything on her. But then she brought up her instrument, a violin assimilated by a car stereo with a sort of typewriter keyboard and a crank on one end. With a flick of her wrist, she began.

At the first electric note, a ripple of bright yellow raced across her dress and hair. More followed, turning her into a visual expression of chords and measures. Limp tresses gained a life of their own, fanning out and moving in a non-existent breeze as they scintillated.

Ngaire aka Electradyne is impressive. Aww, Electradyne has a crush on Kieron, cute. Electradyna seems annoyed Laura didn't show up, plus the comment about devisors Cally makes. Good they are all making new friends with some of the same interests.

Erica in the languages lab, feeling guilty about having fun without her friends, and finishing her homework before her date on Sunday. She is too hard on herself sometimes. Kirsten shows up and calls her a Pretender in German, this girl has serious issues. Harassing her and saying she is on to her, calling her Von Abendritter, ugh. At least Erica is starting to realize Kristen knowing about Eric is less likely.

Calling up Uncle Adolf to check out Kristen for her, a dossier within a week, whoa, he does quick work. One big gift to make up for eighteen years for her cousin, and need a gadgeteer or devisor for some of the parts needed for the gift, now I'm curious what he is having made.

Back with Cally and dinner at the Crystal Hall, at least the emotional atmosphere is better. Nefertiti Copeland, Victoria Stone [nice devise], Nina Blake, Laura and her roommate Bailey, nice to get friends together. Holo-suits and something like Jem, Vickie watches some classic cartoons.

"Jem and the Holograms! Yanno? Old cartoon about a pop star who used devises to keep her identity secret and fight crime!"

"I'm not sure you're remembering that right," Laura said. Beside her, Bailey tittered.

Nope, that is about the gist of the show. Cally spots her brother Fra chatting up a girl while staring at her chest, only for Fra to get slapped once again, priceless.

Seesh, with the way Reverend Barkus preached it is no wonder Daniel doesn't miss going to church. Daniel doesn't know how he got a date already either, I like it when nice guys are chosen over bad boys. Looks out to see Cookie playing with a golden-haired figure, Daniel nervous over his first date so much Lenape figures it out. AKA Darius who has toxic skin and has to wear gloves, eep. He is right though, if a girl ask you out no reason to be nervous.

Both dressed normally and Daniel is still so nervous, hope he gets over it soon. Picnic and Cookie wants to play catch, nice simple first date. Back area of the quad and meat pies, yum.

"Kay, 'kay," he said. "Um... folks moved us up to this small town in Idaho when I was little. More of a commune, actually. I didn't know the word till a few months ago, but it fits, I figger. The Revered... well, he didn't take kindly to, ah, our sort of people, so when my eyes turned pink, my mom and pop helped me get out quietly. They still live there." His smile had quickly turned upside down at that. Cookie padded over to nuzzle his ear.

At least they got him out of there quietly, plus a friend of his mother's to stay with, so that is who Miz Debbie is.

Erica we know never knew her mom and was raised by her former Nazi-hunting secret agent grandparents. It's complicated, after what happened that is putting it simply.

He gave it a thought. "Prolly, but thing is, I can't produce parts. All or nothin'. And the bigger it is, or the more all at once, the quicker I hit a wall. Little stuff's more easy than a whole cake."

Was wondering what the limits of his power was. Apple fritters, yum. Quadruple puppy eyes, never let Jade meet Cookie, the cuteness overload will cause a rift to open. Now that was the perfect first date.

Whirlibird aka Monica Lawrence, poor girl hiding in bushes to cry. Ouch, jealous of the exemplar girls due to her GSD, feathery down in place of hair. Oh boy, she is watching Erica and Daniel's date and it is upsetting her. Liked Daniel because he was nice to her, double ouch. And can hover, shoot, was hoping she had full flight. Runs back into Whitman and right into Anaïs Carrasco.

Thick, frondlike greenery hung over a happily sun-browned face.

Dragged into the dorm lobby for an emotional emergency, Shisa concerned while sitting in Dawn's lap. Wonder who that last girl is, feel like I should recall her name or codename. Crying it out, the girls in Whitman look out for each other, glad to see that. Ophidian upset because a 'pretty' got Daniel instead of one of the Whitman girls, good grief. Oh crud, they are going to believe what Kristen says about Erica before talking to her,t his is bad.

Cally listening to MP3s sent by Mr. August from suggestions of everyone in the band, interesting how she notes her reactions and the emotions in each song. Oh great, Fra shows up. Wants to talk with her downstairs and fast, getting glared at by Ms. Plimsoll, heheh.

"It is..." He ran a hand through his exemplar-perfect coif. "It is this school!" he finally blurted out in Italian. "This school is crazy and strange and nothing seems to go right. I... I cannot communicate properly and no one ever listens, and, and..."

All this because he is bombing out with the girls, *facepalms*

Ugh, content himself with only looking, Fra is only going to piss girls off if he continues this way. And the attempted seduction of Erica has come up.

"Of course she did! Girls share that sort of detail, and as I am included in that number now I must gossip and gab with them. It has been... an experience," she admitted, "but a good one. You should try it."

Hehe, liking Cally more and more. Makes some friends with boys before he even tries with girls again, good, give the girls a break from him. Bwahaha, what Ms. Plimsoll said to Fra on his way out, too good.

And now Monday morning with Francesco Persico aka Fra. Worst subject is English, should have studied more before coming to America like your sister did. English Language Learners class and thinks he is a dunce because he is in it, everyone learns different things more easily. Wonder who the tiny child girl is, girl with plantlike hair as well. Only Emerson kid in the class, oh well.

Human rhinoceros, forgot his name, talking to Daniel and trying to find out about is date. Peter calling him a goodie-goodie even though he gave all the details of their date, guess he thinks more happened, oh brother. Nice Daniel is able to share donuts with the entire class. Fra needs to learn it isn't all about looks, some girls like guys who are nice and polite. Kenshin still being chased by girls, wonder when one will finally snag him. And Fra is jealous of Kenshin, yes there is justice in this world, especially when it is teaching you a lesson long overdue.

Erica in 2nd period Earth Sciences class, few other students in the class. Powers Theory counts as a science credit, nice. Chessa Barnes and Marcus behind her, goodie, friends in the class.

"You wanna tell her?" The only response from Marcus was rude and nonverbal. "Ha, fine. Little bro's got... let's call 'em issues with explosives and missiles and a lot of other stuff. And he gets panicky over it at odd times. So, when the first slideshow of the semester was about a mutant terrorist attack..."

Yeah, very reasonable to have him change classes at that point.

Chat about PTSD by the teacher to Erica and the rest of the class, certain history classes not until cleared by his shrink, poor Marcus.

Mrs. Carmichael was the sort to get of on tangents – and occasionally rants – about the various aspects of science, and her teacher's bag held a surprisingly large amount of materials for experiments to demonstrate.

Dang, wish I could have had a science teacher like her. Oh god, giving Marcus ideas about explosive power, this is bad. RPG campaign going in October, sounds like fun.

Back with Cally, lunch in the Crystal Hall. Erica chatting with Chessa over a sheet of paper, ooo, character sheet. Pat balancing a fork on his index finger and making suggestions.

"Me? Nah." The young man shook his head. "Me and dice get along a little too well. I'd be rolling high every time unless everyone turned around and trusted me not to cheat when they weren't looking." He swiped a handful of colorful dice from his sister's collection, shook them in his cupped hands, and then released them with a flourish. They bounced and rolled, coming to a stop with the numbers 18, 19, or 20 showing on every single one. "Succeeding on a Hail Mary roll is about as cool as it gets," Pat said, as if that explained everything. "And if it looks cool, I can manage it."

Brita aka Stahlfaust saying she wishes to talk to Erica and Cally about Euro-Promotional League business, yeah, right. Oh, it really is about a meeting on Friday.

You may bring guests if you like, but..." StahlFaust pursed her lips in distaste. "I would be careful of who and what you allow to be close to you."

*tries to strangle Brita with my mind* Bigotted towards changelings, not seeing them as true females, ugh. Dares to call them a perversion of nature, arrgggh!

Makes me sick how she calls it defending her younger sisters from the evils of the world. Pat thinks it is about him, female-to-male transgender with body of a girl, but identifies as a male. Cally not seeing how Pat acts or carries himself as fake, heh. Dang, Pat is good at passing for a boy physically, able to change all that in 30 seconds to prove female physically is impressive.

"It's mostly a matter of observation bias," Pat explained. "People see what they expect to see, and my powers can play on that. I tell them I'm a boy, dress appropriately, and their ideas of what a boy should be reflect back on me. Your brains needed about half a minute to shrug off the impression of a male me, and that was enough time to pop my corset, pin up my hair, and spray on an emergency face." He – yes, Calliope demanded that her brain try to use the right pronoun! – placed a funny gadget on the table. It looked like a combination plastic mask and asthma spray inhaler. "A toy that Marcus made. Nothing fancy, but if I need a bit of make-up in a hurry, it suffices."

That power is very impressive. And the Amazons sound even more nuts than before with how Pat describes them. Cally, you are going to have to trust your friends with your secret sooner or later. And just admit it already, you became a girl but are still attracted to them.

Now with Patrick Dulles aka Pat, Physical Education just as surreal as the rest of Whateley. Ah, Pat is a male-to-female changeling who still identifies as male, interesting. Practice sessions against robots for martial arts, able to 'do' with having to 'learn' as long as he has an audience, would be frustrating trying to learn otherwise. Perfect practice dummy for the advanced martial arts class, ouch. Ooo, palm strike to Stahlfaust's nose, nice.

Not sure if he is really in control, scary thought. Pat, don't taunt the psycho, it never ends well. Kenshin curious why Stahlfaust hates Pat, considers him a traitor to all women, *sigh* Able to duplicate other languages as well, whoa.

It was harder to conceal his build and breasts during gym class, so he largely didn't try. He kept a simple binding and bodice armor under his training gi, so his front wouldn't jiggle around, and used the girl showers with everyone else. No one but Brita really seemed to care, once he'd had a chance to explain his situation.

Brita needs serious counseling already.

Kenshin trying to hit Hat Trick, now this will be interesting. Dang, that close for Kenshin to take him out in one strike. Whoa, Kenshin tagged in 32 seconds, I knew his skill with swords was impressive but that is incredible. Ah, has to rely on his empathy in a fight, no wonder Kenshin was able to hit him. Still, nice to have lasted even that long before being hit.

Erica shaken by the lunchtime encounter, wonder if what Pat does would have been an option for her, at least she realizes quick it was never an option.

Unlike most of her fellow students, Erica could trace her changes to a single moment, when Eric had chosen to take a chance on what he thought was a super-strength serum, and set into motion a cascading series of side effects that had resulted in... her. The tests had been uncomfortably thorough, showing that even brain structure and chemistry had altered in subtle ways. Erica was a perfectly healthy, normal, heterosexual girl... who could bend iron bars with her bare hands. That practically counted as normal around here.

Ouch, never dwell on the might-have-beens, it just hurts more.

Tuesday morning from Cookie's perspective, this will be fun. Okay, based on his thoughts he has the mindset of a young child, still smarter than a normal dog. Erica shows up to run with Daniel and Cookie, even has Physique with her. Cookie is a friendly dog. Alternate between which head rest, interesting. An obstacle course for Daniel and Cookie.

Bird-girl walks by. Sad girl. Smell on her sadness.

Cute puppy eyes. Bird-girl smell less sad.

Good job. Good pup.

Aww, he can smell sadness in others and helped cheer up Monica. Good Cookie.

Cally in the open space, the piazza in front of Melville Cottage.Ooo, major crossroads for the campus and setting up, guess the band is giving a concert. All the band is there and Kieron playing a long number on his sax. *eyes bug out* Whoa, now there is a song with interesting lyrics, wish I could hear Cally singing it. Tia and Hikaru with a good chunk of their floor, most of Dickinson's freshmen floor, the junior high kids, Essemmelle with glowsticks, Fra hanging out with some boys, and Erica sitting with Daniel. Now that is a good crowd for their first gig.

Epic song, what is its name and who played it? And her personal girl squad cheering her own. Aww, still too afraid to tell her friends about who she once was, thinking she will lose their friendship if she does.

Erica saying it was cool, Daniel agreeing, not big on music in the commune, oh brother. To be deprived of music, so sad. Cally going into another interesting song while Erica holds Daniel's hand and sounds like they kiss. Interesting lyrics to end this part on.

Back to Fra, not getting the music because he doesn't get English that well. Another handprint on his face, Fra, you just won't learn. Friends with Macarthur, not sure why he got slapped this time. Oh, learned interesting American idioms and colloquialisms to appear more suave, that was a mistake, sounds like they are pranking their new 'friend'. Fio is right, friends are important. But chose them better.

Back to Monica aka Whirlibird. Absurdly low body weight and weak PK to climb trees fast, likes roosting on a low branch. Are her powers due to GSD or is she an avatar with Spirit Mismatch Disorder? Watching the show from a distance due to being Electradyne's friend, freaks out when she sees Erica and Daniel kissing. Aww, falling out of the air like that, Cookie trying to comfort her. Cookie is really good at cheering others up.

Erica and Daniel show up and Monica unable to flee before they spot her, Erica knows she is one of Tanya's friends from Whitman and wonders if people have been harassing her. Erica wants to walk her back to Whitman, Monica doesn't want that but gives in, girl needs to learn to say no, stand up for herself. Erica hugging and encouraging Monica.

Why oh why did that girl have to be so nice?

At least you realize she is genuinely nice instead of being paranoid about it like some would.

Kristen covering the desk for her friends, actually helping out a freshman with math homework. Seeing Monica arrive with Erica causes her temper to flare as she snaps her pencil, having the urge to punch someone in the face. And the girl she is helping with math, Rachel Altus, oh boy, this is bad. She is going to manipulate Rachel into fighting Erica, using a freshman in that manner, you are looking at severe punishment at this rate Kristen.

Erica alone in the dorm room and getting ready for bed, checks her mail and got two files from Uncle Adolf, that was quick. Calls up Penny who is exhausted from the extra-curriculars, Margit exercising her danger sense and has gotten creative, yikes. Details on how she met Daniel, their first date, 2nd date and 1st kiss.

Yes... Well, tried, like I said. Missed the first time. Um, didn't miss tonight." Erica winced as Penny's raucous shouts of jubilation briefly overloaded her earphones. "...ow. You don't have to be that loud..."

Ah, the infamous teenage girl scream of excitement.

Hehe, insisting it is her 1st kiss even though it is her 3rd, Penny knows how to get to Erica. Bwahaha, Penny thinking she has to give Erica the Talk, priceless. Aww, doesn't know how to deal with dating Daniel and what to do next on their dates. Penny is right, 14 is too young to be angsting at this level.

"Enjoy life, go out on another date, and then let your head decide. Not your heart, because it doesn't know what's good for it. Certainly not your glands, either, because those know what's good for them, and it ain't always good for you. Your brain's the thinky bit, so think! If you think it's going somewhere, then maybe it is. And if you think it's not, then you're probably right."

Penny is good at giving advice.

Cally singing happy songs to herself doing all those things, whoa, guess she is still riding a high from the concert.

"Will you cut that out?" shouted a girl from one stall over. A long arm of bluish PK energy reached over the partition to wave a finger at her. "Some of us are allergic to chipper this early in the morning!"

"It ain't gonna kill ya, Mairead!" yelled another girl from the opposite side.

A round of applause from her fellow Dickinsonians. No longer blushing from compliments about her face or figure, good. Hehe, having to fight not to stare at her friend Neff, poor Cally. Bwahaha, talking about Cally needing to brush on her moves while in the showers. Mairead doesn't seem like a morning person, so grumpy.

Erica finds the team table almost fully populated for breakfast, now that is rare. Bianca and Tanya still not talking, Erica not knowing the reason why, oh boy. Kenshin and Hikaru writing something with a marker pen, all this due to asking why Hikaru has her particular choice of breakfast every day.

"...and the next thing we know, it's a competition to see who can write the most elegant versions of each fish's name in traditional Japanese characters. The really complicated ones, not the ones like letters," Laura explained with a twitch of an eyebrow. "There was even a break to argue which version of the symbol for octopus was correct."

With Bianca as the judge, only at Whateley could this happen.

Stuff available on sushi and Erica calls out Crawdad, oh brother. Bailey wishes to learn calligraphy from Hikaru, Hikaru even going along with the request. Whoa, she drew the symbol for love after only seeing it once, that is impressive. Aww, no Laura to work on Penny's gift. A problem Dr. Speers sent Laura this week, sounds interesting.

Cally once more, fond of her study group in Power Theory where her and Heartfinder work to keep things calm and peaceful. Heartfinder using Pat Barnes to measure how well she is doing, and seems to be flirting with him, oh boy.

Bailey was currently trying to teach her the basics of psychometry, the reading of emotional imprints left behind on common items.

Wonder if teaching Erica that will work.

Pair off with someone else from a different group, uh oh. It is worse than I thought, paired up with Meatball. She would get stuck with the little perv.

The sharpest thing in her bag at that moment was a fresh pencil. It was now pointing straight at Bryon's nose. "Either we do the assignment or you get sent to Doyle," she promised.

I see many painful lessons in Byron's future.

"Sometimes," she said. "The lyrics help set the tone in my head more than anything, but some styles tend to focus on specific emotions as their main theme. Lullabies calm people down. Heavy metal gets them excited or angry. That sort of thing."

Interesting.

Byron Von Deen, 4'9", 120 lbs., healing.

"I, um, increase the healing speed of just about anyone for just about anything by a few levels of regen, as long as I'm... uh..."

She waited impatiently, tapping her pencil on the desk.

"Um, as long as I'm holding their hand," the boy finally admitted.

He is embarrassed by that.

Bryon shook his head. "You're a chick. You wouldn't understand. Us guys gotta at least try and look tough and manly, but holding hands ain't either of those. What are other guys gonna think? What are girls gonna think if they see me holding hands with another guy?"

Man, he has bought into that junk society feeds males. Almost cordial conversation with Byron, will wonders never cease. Uh oh, why does Mr. Bergamot wish to see Erica, hope it is nothing bad.

Erica left alone with Mr. Bergamot and Hannah Sammish, acting TA. Great, false information because she registered as a mutant yet bloodwork shows otherwise. Asking for proof of security clearance, hopefully the new Headmaster knows the truth about her and can cover for her. Drags her to in front of Dr. Mazarin, great. Whoa, that is completely different from how Mrs. Carson kept the office.

Great, she is going to have to tell them everything at this rate. Crud, Mazarin knows who Uncle Adolf is and even his old codename of Taginbert.

"Then please, tell what you can right now, before Mr. Bergamot dies of an apoplectic stroke." The Headmaster pulled a chair out for her to sit upon. The teacher had to fend for himself, once his face stopped making stunned fish impressions.

Was wondering when Erica would have to tell someone in the administration the truth.

"Well then, to start, he and my grandfather were two of forty children created by the experiments of the World War II era theme villain, Baron Dämmerung, to be his next generation of empowered übermenschen. They were the only successes, being naturally healthier, stronger, and smarter than most baselines."

"Five percent success rate..." Mr. Bergamot muttered as he took notes. "Not terribly bad for that day and age..."

Okay, that train of thought of Mr. Bergamot's is sickening. And Dr. Mazarin ends it with that as long as he gets info from Uncle Adolf, I'm liking him more now.

What was that all about? she had to wonder again. Like the Headmaster had said, her set of changes, the official ones at least, mapped so well to the standard mutant traits that they'd been advised by the school's own admissions office to leave it at that. She hoped calmer and more experienced heads could help her figure this out.

Guessing this was arranged by Carson and Hartford before the incident.

Dr. Mazarin's perspective now. Okay, really sickened by Bergamot now.

"But-but! The things she could tell us! The things we could learn by examining her more thoroughly. Why, we could..."

I hope he is fired soon, before he does something that harms the students or school.

"Mr. Bergamot," he said, stopping the man with a simple gesture. "As I have read your file – your complete file – I have some idea of what you have in mind here, and while the previous administration was willing to either overlook or accommodate your personal... quirks, believing your strengths as a teacher and researcher outweighed them, I have yet to reach the same conclusions. You are not helping your case," he added drily.

And Dr. Mazarin keeps being better and better. Apologize to Erica and not make things personal in the future, Bergamont learned the hard way. Elspeth in Dickinson asked to keep a closer eye on Erica, interesting turn of events.

Back with Cally in Dickinson. Just what are they working on that requires they each draw a different piece of it and human as well. Nina Blake, Bailey, Vickie Stone, Tia, and Laura as well. Trying to design Cally a cool outfit for her next performance, heh. Neff helping out as well. Brought Tia in for outside opinion.

Bergholdt Stuttley, a.k.a. Stark.

Stark raving nuts, something built around a calculation of pi based on actual pie, *groan*

Tia and Nina laughing at that, at least it cheered up Tia about her ex. Devises work based on how the devisor thinks it should work, but when other devisors think it is a stretch... Ah, so the portable image cloak uses a lot of processing power to keep up with the wearer, need superprocessors they can't afford right now.

Can do it if Cally stands still and Neff still talking abut her shaking that booty, way to make her blush. Along with at least Laura as well. Notes for a grade in Dr. Speers lab class, so helping a friend and project for a grade. Now that is a brilliant idea Tia came up with, so simply the others overlooked it.

Now we see what Mr. Bergamont is up to. School back-site for rating teachers and the teachers know about it, heh. Sees himself as a good man, good teacher, good scientist. And having to deal with Ms. Howe, Tia's psycho ex.

"I wasn't stalking her! Really! It's just that there are only so many routes between the buildings and our schedules keep aligning in completely coincidental ways that I can totally prove if you give me some graphing paper and about ten minutes." Jamie Howe had that glazed, slightly unfocused look in her eyes that he'd come to associate with mid- to high-functioning Diedrick's cases. There was no doubt that she believed every lie to make it through her teeth, because they suited her current view of reality.

And she has only gotten worse since we last saw her, oh boy.

He treated her with his warmest grin. Her expression remained frosted. "Only that they align neatly with lines of research which I have been entertaining for the better part of a decade. You must admit, the creation or duplication of mutant traits is the hot topic these days."

Oh crud, I suspect he is going to try and manipulate Ms. Howe into going after Erica for 'testing'.

"Your doing?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny..." He could very well lie, though.

Okay, she didn't get herself sent to Whateley and Bergamont seems to be playing her, has me curious who got her sent there now.

"I can neither confirm nor deny..." He could very well lie, though. "Ms. Howe, I am a dedicated researcher, but I am also an instructor. It meets both my interests to enable yours, or even to supply information pertinent to your field of research. For instance..." Mr. Bergamot passed her a page with a list of names upon it. "Here are students whom my personal research has led me to suspect did not come by their powers naturally. Your, ah, friend is naturally at the top of that list."

And you just signed your own death warrant, Bergamont.

Erica and Nightingale, plus other students which he suspect came by their powers the same way Tia did.

"Whatever you will. My interests, as I've said, lie in research and education. I will not stand in the way of yours, though I would love to hear about whatever you may discover."

The corners of her mouth almost lifted. "Finally, someone who gets it."

Yes, he thought as she vacated the office with an urgency born of disturbed inspiration, of the three facets of his life, being a good man was surely the hardest, as well as the first to be abandoned when needs be. But the results would justify it in the end.

I hope Dr. Mazarin finds out about this little stunt Bergamont pulled and throws him to the wolves.

Friday September 23rd now and back with Erica. World History with Mr. DuChamp and Jimmy ask what she is up to. Euro event and Daniel has a movie night, Taka might check out the movie. Cally's band having another show, and Dr. Mazarin was right about her skipping 1st period with Mr. Bergamont.

Eighth period German class with Jimmy walking with Erica, only to encounter Ms. Howe taking a crazy survey as an excuse to bash Tia once more. Pictures of Tia and her old male self, great. Talking about certain things coming to light unless they keep their distance from Tia, she needs to be in a psych hospital. Erica knows who Jamie is, Bergamont needs to pay for using a mentally unstable student like this.

Cally once more, Nick playing his guitar while Cally sees the girls scream and shout if he even looks their way.

Life would be so much simpler if she could just...

Dolled up like that and interested in meeting a fashion-conscious young American lady, oh boy. At least Erica is going with her to the Euro-Promotional League meeting, good to have friends to watch her back.

Great, Brita there with fellow Amazons of European origin, this could be trouble. Leslie from Glasgow, who looks like she might be part werewolf. Oh great, she is upset at Erica for dating Daniel, like the girls of Whitman have some automatic claim to all boys from Twain. Leslie could have been a friend if she had given them a chance. Boy, she really got to Cally, wonder if she will be in a better mood later.

Erica going off to socialize on her own, why do I have a very bad feeling about Erica and Cally not being together constantly at this thing. Greeting senior German boy SturmMeister, at least he is friendly enough. Friedrich aka Thunderous, only using one of the school's legacy names while he is there, curious. Hhm, training program for empowered noncombatants in Germany couldn't accommodate his particular needs. In Hawthorne because an adaptation of his power causes him to snore very loudly, heh. Nearly shook his family's home to pieces early on, that is a powerful snore.

And the best part?" said Friedrich. "The part that these Americans think is oh-so-funny? My surname is Schnöring."

Ouch, that is bad. Sophomore Adrienne Le Floc'h at a table with her brothers, the junior high twins.

Towards the punch bowl, the Belgian Gouyasse stood chatting with Gregory of Britain and Calliope's brother Fra.

And of course Kristen shows up right then. And Kristen is as dense as ever, thinking she knows the truth and trying to intimidate Erica with talk of would-be heroes around them.

Blackmailing and threatening a fellow student, Kristen is getting herself in serious trouble with this stunt. Twisting facts around to try and make Erica look bad, even though Baron Dämmerung was disowned by his family. Leslie blaming Erica for the crimes of Baron Dämmerung, good grief. This is bullying by a twisted, obsessed girl who has twisted others to aid her.

Now with Daniel, a faculty mandate for movie night on Fridays in Twain, seems a bit much. Whoa, a fair number of the boys on his floor in Ms. Barnes's Language Learners course, thought that was mainly English. Boy, when American English is your native language sometimes you forgot how complex it really can be. The Princess Bride, they are in for a treat. Saumer the one with spikey black hair and rabbit ears, the Mongolian Arsi Khan.

From the English Learners class, there was John with his armadillo plate armor, Franklin with his rhino stub, and then the Japanese kid Kenshin with his roommate Jimmy along. A couple of neighbors from down the hall, the musical Tobias and his roommate Victor, stopped by as well. Even the big horse-guy, Nick, was chatting with his roommate and a couple of other kids about his new vlog, whatever that meant.

Good sized group for movie night.

Sam from Poe, has a monkey tail and snuck in to watch the movie, along with Tobias and Victor. Man, the guy at the Twain desk isn't that observant. Aww, Daniel reminded of when his mom read him bedtime stories. Pete cheering for the giant Fezzik and what he says about large women, hehe. Kenshin cheering for the sword fight even though he knows it isn't a real one.

Oh boy, Erica calling Daniel, upset and by Cookie's house. Detailing everything that happened, even who her great-grandfather is. All this because of a girl jealous Erica has the codename she wanted.

"Yer sweet and carin', and ya worry too much what others think, which makes ya about like everyone else, really. Nothin' bad at all."

Just when you don't think Daniel can be a better guy he says that. Aww, not sure she is ready for romance right now with everything else going on.

"I figger..." he said finally. "I figger I don't know what I'm ready for either. Love and romance are 'bout the sorta thing you see in the movies, but dunno what they're like for real. But a friend..." He nodded. "Friends are good."

Friends and a shoulder to cry on when she needs it, if some other girl doesn't snatch up Daniel soon they are all fools or too afraid to take a chance. Erica is feeling better now and Cookie gets Daniel to go on a run to forget about things. Hope they get back together in the future.

Cally trying to explain what happened to the RA about Erica when Erica shows up. RA Milena Tarkisian, finding out who caused the trouble and is shocked.

"All last year. Saw it for myself. The Eurofroshes that year were, like, a complete mess. That French girl with the water powers? Afraid to swim. The Belgian kid? Burgeoning alcoholic. Still is. His Lordship Gregory Crumbley... Okay, so he was, like, okay, but then that French devisor they used to hang with completely balanced out the sanity levels, in a bad way. Kirsten was the only thing that, like, held them together."

Obsession can drive people crazy.

Arrest history as well, vigilante who got arrested a few times, 'steamroller incident', what did she do, if mentioned in a previous story my brain has forgotten it. Good to have more than one than one individual able to check their sources, already like Milena. At least the older German boys stood up for Erica, said the past is in the past and to leave it there, even if Kristen used a cheapshot against them in return.

"Certamente! Didn't your family practically adopt me this summer? I know who you are and where you come from, better than any on this campus. And," she sniffed, "it is not like most family trees are without proper manure at their base."

Dang, Cally wishing Erica had kissed her and was interested in girls, Erica wishing she was interested in girls as well.

Ah, I forgot Milena's codename was Sister Secret. A restricted corridor in Dickinson, interesting. Elspeth Plimsoll, a private apartment that sized and barely anything to fill it with, what a waste. Heh, tasked by the headmaster with keeping an eye on certain students, so Erica isn't the only one being watched. Don't tell me the club she is thinking of inviting Erica into if things get too bad is the Masterminds.

Ouch, Erica is in bad shape to get up at the same time as most of the rest of the dorm for once. 10 am by the time her and Cally got to the Crystal Hall for breakfast. An extra cinnamon roll from Daniel, she needs as much cheering up as possible. Natalie McMaster, one of the four junior high girls in Dickinson, calls out to Erica.

Barely twelve years old, she stood almost as tall as Erica and was more visibly muscular. Only her face was still obviously young, though at the moment it was filled with worry.

Ah, she had to hear from the twins about what happened at the EPL meeting.

Laurent and Jean-Marie le Floc'h, redheaded brothers to Adrienne, Essemmelle, Linette [who needs to learn to listen to both sides first before rushing to a judgement], Acolyte, Marcus, Twitch, and Darcy, sure are a lot of junior high kids. Awww, Cally seems more upset about Erica and Daniel having broken up than Erica does, romantic. And Monica rushes out once she realizes Daniel isn't seeing anyone, hope she doesn't get her heart broken.

Monica has a heart beat like that.

"I am the very model of a modern flightless funny girl..." she sang under her breath, giggling through the lyrics she and her aunt had made up together. Halfway to her dorm, she realized that the words were inaccurate. Her feet had literally not touched the ground since she'd quit the cafeteria, and this flash of insight sent her tumbling.

So she can fly some, just needs to learn how to control it better. Paired up with Tanya for Flight Class, wonder how this will go.

Aww, Monica too shy to talk to Daniel, Tanya suggesting the old note with yes or no boxes, it could work. And the note sounds more embarrassing than talking to him directly, ho boy. Huh, thinking happy thoughts does seem to be the focus she needs to fly, who'd thunk.

"Thanks. I... you... um... wanna-go-on-a-date-sometime-please-oh-no-this-is-so-embarrassing-bye!" She tried to take off, to get airborne again, but her acute sense of self-awareness clipped her metaphorical wings before she got more than a foot. Instead she landed face first in the turf.

She needs help in the confidence department.

Cookie licking her ears and making her snort with laughter, that pup is better at social skills than most teens.

"I just wanna be normal!" She fell back on her bottom and felt the tears flow. "I wanna be a regular girl and not some freak that no one will even look at, and, and..." She stopped as a cream donut was presented to her. "Thanks..."

A friends-date, good, that is a start and Monica is able to feel like a normal girl.

Oh boy, poor Cookie able to smell others emotions and picks up a girl who is always angry, not bad or good, huh. Licked her in the face and she is still angry, oh well. At least Daniel and Cookie are okay.

I knew I remembered Rachel Altus, Ratel, serious temper issues. She wants people afraid of her and stepping out of her path.

At five-foot-two, with frizzy brown curls and a pair of glasses held together by duct tape and gumption, she didn't look like too much of a danger. A person with savvy would look closer, see the feral gleam in her eyes or the obvious armband with the letters UV emblazoned upon it. At the very least, they would see her t-shirt and get the message.

Gah! Any guy who sees that shirt and doesn't run is nuts or has no idea what that expression means in English.

Rachel, avatar of a wayward spirit she knew as Honey-Boo-Boo the honey badger.

An avatar with the spirit of a honey badger, no wonder she is angry all the time.

Rule #1: State intent, as openly or as baldly as possible. Rachel marched right up to the girl, stopping her in her tracks. "We are going to fight," she declared.

And picking a fight with Erica just because some Whitman girls are upset, mainly thanks to Kristen, *facepalms* A planned fight in second subbasement, training hall three, why does that location sound familiar.

30 minutes to get to Dickinson, change into her combat suit, and get to the training hall, great. Cally, Nana, and Hannah tagging along, the more witnesses the better. Picked up Tanya who warns her about Ratel, very nice combat suit. Even special gloves, nice. Ratel in her regular clothes, girl is driven crazy with anger by her spirit from the seem of it. Dang, brutal and quick combat style, she seems to be all offense. Even tried to bite her, brutal if it had pierced the armor.

Leg hook chokehold, brutal, Ratel has a well deserved reputation. One solid punch and Erica knocks Ratel back, oh crap! That only encouraged her. PK field saved her face from brutal attack, those silvery claws could do some real damage. Shredding part of her own t-shirt to try and break free, Ratel is extreme. Slams her face repeatedly into the mat and then sits on her, Erica finished that fight quickly.

And she didn't know Erica and Daniel had broken up, heh.

"Well, huh." Rachel had stopped struggling, so Erica let her up. "Guess I might've overreacted a bit."

At least Erica knows that happens to the best of them, so no hard feelings between her and Rachel.

"Don't you worry. These mats are some kind of special memory foam. Just push their stuffing back in and they'll fix themselves in a few hours. What, you didn't think they'd have something like this, here of all places?" The girl snorted.

Well that is another question answered, how they keep the cost down for those mats with how rough the kids can get.

"Well, I'm starving," Rachel declared. "Who wants to go raid the cafeteria dessert counter?"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Hannah's voice could be heard over the speakers. The thunk of her roommate's open palm across the back of her head was almost as loud and clear. "Sorry, Nana..."

Hey, its the desert counter at Whateley, not sure I could resist that suggestion myself.

Cally of course went with them to the Crystal Hall, open at all hours though the selection may vary, nice. Laura's theory about how the cafeteria works included quantum waveforms, hehehe. 100 different flavors and big red "SURPRISE ME" button, sure, tempt those who like taking a chance.

She'd won the contest of rock-paper-scissors to see who had first choice, and her random number had come up 35. This got her a bowl of almond fudge ripple. Erica's number, 91, delivered English toffee crunch. The two of them headed upstairs to the M3 table while the others got their randomly designated flavors.

"Huh, pineapple," Nana commented as she sat with them. Erica made a face at that, so she continued. "Yeah, I know it's not for everyone, but at least my inner carnivore still considers dairy and some fruit to be edible. What did you get, Sammish?"

"Dunno, but it looks tasty, eh!" Hannah's ice cream was a light purple with chunks of dark violet fruit and thick lines of syrup in the same color. "The Machine said jamun, but no idea what that means."

"Javanese plum, from southeast Asia originally." Hikaru walked past with an economy of motion, not wasting a single step as she slipped into her habitual seat at the table. "Are we having a party?" she inquired.

Ooo, I would like to try the pineapple flavor ice cream myself. Tanya got cotton candy, wonder how many students gadgeteers and devisors want to study that machine to make their own for after they graduate.

That girl was now bounding up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time while balancing a tray on one hand. An ice-cream bowl and spoon rattled upon it... or at least that's what everyone but Tanya assumed. Ratel had procured for herself a large porcelain salad bowl, as wide as a normal dinner plate, and the monstrosity piled up within it was not so much a sundae as it was a month of sundaes. There was fruit, there was syrup, there were brownies and cookies and... potato chips? An alphabet's worth of ice cream flavors was slowly melting together into a gloppy brown mess, topped with a crown of cherries.

Everything in there sounds good, except the potato chips. Why would you do that to ice cream?

And Hikaru already knows Ratel by reputation. Good grief, watching her eat...it's like Tennyo when she is starving. And avoided the subject about Daniel and Erica dating in front of Tanya, nice Whitman girls, way to be united. All about the boy troubles this week, and is it headache inducing sometimes.

Then I am in good company." Hikaru sighed. "There's a well-bred idiot, a scion of one of the old Japanese feudal clans whose family sent him here solely to woo me, and he's getting insufferable about it."

"Would you like it if I did something about him?" Ratel said, anticipation plastered on her smile like another layer of ice cream.

"Oh, how I wish, but no. That would feel too good, I'm afraid. And even with him gone, I'd still have... well, a certain somebody or three would still be urging me to expand my social options in various embarrassing ways."

Rats.

Hannah had been focused on her jamun ice cream, but she paused long enough to chime in. "Are you talking about your spirit? So it's independent enough to hold conversations? That's pretty rare. I mean, I know Nana's ladybug agglomeration barely counts as sentient, and I'm willing to bet that Ratel's, er, ratel isn't much of a talker either, eh?"

Starting to agree with Nana, Hannah blabs too much sometimes. The imperial bureaucracy back home, figures they are pressuring her. And Nana shows common sense! Not bopping Ratel for saying something rude is a self-preservation instinct.

Grape ice cream, must have! The car still hasn't arrived, forget the date it does arrive, that is too long for even a custom order though. Nana annoyed at Hikaru her trouble is over a custom new car when she missed out getting a used clunker when she was sent to Whateley. *eyes bug out* All those vacation times and she has things planned for her already, no wonder Hikaru is annoyed and wants a way off campus now.

Calliope noted Hikaru's distate, and couldn't help but ask. "Pomp and circumstance?" She received a nod from Hikaru. The Italian girl fully understood the Japanese princess's distaste. "You are not an entertainer, nor do you crave the spotlight, but you are forced into it anyways."

Finally someone understand Hikaru's troubles. Cally giving Hikaru the perfect idea, wonder what Tia's time in Japan with Hikaru is going to be like. And Ratel finished all that and wants seconds, her spirit must give her an insane metabolism.

Back with Francesco once more. Looking for advice from older and wiser students, he's in a clubhouse hidden in the tunnels that run beneath Twain Cottage. He has been avoiding the tunnels, but that is a major part of the fun at Whateley, so many places to explore down there. Emerson junior High Gear pulling out beer from the fridge, great. Gouyasse and Macarthur as well. Gouyasse's father going to send him some beer from their brewery back home, packages are inspected if they haven't gotten lax about that since Gen 1.

Outstanding Dudes Club, bwahahaha, they are idiots. Ugh, talking about girls that way, talking to the new guys there like that. Pete is there as well, oh boy. Talk of scoring with 'choice females' on campus including Venus Inc., any female who found out about this place would have news to every other female on campus so fast it isn't funny and required warning to all freshman girls about them each year. Ugh, talking about Kenshin like that. Gouyasse thinks Kenshin is a beta male who will never assert himself, I want to see this creep beaten by Kenshin in a fight now.

High Gear added, "because he's playing the game by their rules. Well, gentlemen, the Outstanding Dudes Society is here to help you learn how to bend the rules, to turn the tables on those females and make them realize what alphas you really are. How does that sound?"

I don't like the sounds of that, almost sounds like part of their plan is drugging the girls. Fra, you are an even bigger idiot than I thought for joining this group.

Erica back on her morning routine with Cally and Natalie for company. Whoa, the girl from Whitman with the headscarf is a speedster. Adrienne le Floc'h not acknowledging Erica, that seems wrong. Aww, going to see Herr Auer about dropping German class due to Kristen. Telling him about her unfortunately family relation, what Kristen is doing.

"Not to mention she takes everything so seriously. Why, last year she called me a clown to my face because of my love of puns." He picked up a framed motto from his desk. "So of course I had this made to tweak her nose about it."

Insulting a teacher to his face, now that is nuts.

Was macht ein Clown im Büro? Faxen. It took a few confused blinks before that one could sink through, and then she groaned. What was the clown doing in the office? Faxing / Pranks. "I think you and my grandfather would get along atrociously well."

Perfect response to have a framed motto on his desk. Ah, letting her do reading by herself for the next week or two, I love reasonable teachers like him. Power Theory with some people who might hate her now for what Kristen revealed, great.

Assay now, feeling like she is walking on air, she must really love the classes and her work-study program. No wonder she is up, Power Theory is fun for her. Aww, blaming herself for how things went for Bergmont, Hannah should know he would have gotten suspicious on his own sooner or later. Figures she took notes on how Erica's PK reacted to Ratel's, girl loves analyzing powers. Hannah is a little naive about how a teacher can get around the rules of the school if they are determined enough, particularly using students. Oh good, Hannah showing common sense in not completely trusting Mr. Bergemont.

Cally at lunch. Eating light to make up for the ice cream, aww. Nina Blake and Darcy, who is the dark-haired girl? Breakthrough, oh boy. Junior high kids have more a grace period before they are stuck with the codename, Darcy on her 5th one already. Cally and Nina going to class together, talking about fashion and then boys. Asking what type of boy Cally likes, awkward.

"Yes, if there was a boy as nice and considerate as you, I might consider," she admitted. "Though I doubt it would end well. Um, are you alright?"

Nina's face had turned an odd color, if only for a brief moment. "Ah, just something I ate, I think. Food's so good, it's normal to eat too much, right?"

Now I ship Cally and Nina, if only they knew about each other.

Tobias, Tuesday September 27th. Interesting in music and instruments, but not the fame, smart boy. Tira teasing him mentally about loving to feel needed, hhm. Victor Rivera is his roommate, no musical talent himself.

Quiet is relative when no words, no notes of mine may sully the tranquility of the breeze, came the reply. And no, I would not in any case. If left to your own devices, you would not go any place. It was trouble enough simply to get you in this school!

Tira seems to be some spirit or supernatural entity, curious. The lady is in the back of his mind, another person with a spirit in their head.

Ah, so Tira is a ghost living in his head, first one of those I think we've seen. Tira is a leannen-sidhe, just what kind of mess did Tobias get himself into. Tirandael nic Mirthriel, why do I feel like I should be scared reading her full name? Teasing Vic about Tanya being his girlfriend. The more I read of Electradyne's instrument and its appearance, the more confused I get. Interesting song Electradyne sang. *groan* Tira has noted Kieron is more interested in the other boys from Poe and says Tobias should ask him out, he must have a strong will not to shout at her to shut up after that.

Cally up next, thinking Electradyne's was a terrible act to follow, thinking she can't match that. Kind of wish Cally would act on the lyrics of this song a little. And that holo projection for her outfit, whoa. Yes, listen to the lyrics. Electradyne upset that Cally upstaged her, that girl has issues. Uh oh, forgetting what Electradyne said to her could cause trouble in the future if Electradyne seeks revenge for this minor slight.

Wednesday with Erica now. In the foreign language lab, working and then relaxing by reading Andreas Eschbach's Die Haarteppichknüpfer. Aww, please say that wasn't Dawn who turned around and left when she saw Erica at the desk. Saumer, Erica knew him when she was Eric. Hiram Saumer aka Playback, says her voice taste familiar, oh boy. Mr. Auer is an...unusual teacher to teach them an expression without saying what it means. Useful for apologizing in Germany, huh.

Great, he has a crush on Kristen. Keeping him distant so he won't recognize her, probably smart with what Kristen has been saying about her. Having to fight back the urge to run up and hug Daniel, aww. Taking Cookie for a walk so Daniel and Monica can have some private time together, hehe. Can't believe he went to get the bat, ball and glove from his house in front of Twain to play catch.

Good, no knocking the ball into the Grove. Uprooted a bush to fetch it the second time, determined pup. Oh boy, still doing Operation Snowflake to try and fit in, she needs a better way. Sounds like hormones are driving her a little crazy with what they want her to do, which she isn't ready for yet. Good to have Cookie to talk to.

Monica now, so nervous about just asking Daniel what subjects interests him to read. No book but the Bible, that Reverend was nuts. At least he is getting to read now and find what interests him. Asking what Monica would recommend, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, now that brings back memories. Tales from back home, flyin' deer of Alder Gulch. Funny how such tall tales can start.

"Only that life was so darn strange that she couldn't see herself when she looked in the mirror sometimes." The boy shrugged. "Guess we all lost somethin' or other on the way here, and it's nice when the days seem like they used to be." Now he looked at her. "That what you meant?"

And she is right, Daniel seems to the biggest gentleman of any guy ever at Whateley.

Cally learning how to follow choreography, give her a break, not every singer can dance. Neff teaching her how to dance, interesting. Cally both in heaven and hell while looking at Neff do all that, poor girl. Gah, if Neff isn't doing that on purpose she is really good at torture, look but don't touch. Whoa, her empathy allows her to sense that about Neff as she dances. *eyes bug out comically huge* They kissed!

Erica cheered up by her little chat with Cookie, he is a good listener. 1 ton! Okay, I knew Cookie was big but good grief. Cally happy and even had dreams that made her happier, hehe.

"Trying to put the negative stuff behind us," she told the junior high girl. "It's only the start of the year, and we've already had so much crap hit the fan. Better not to dwell on it."

Good, plus Darcy and Linette thinking Erica is okay again.

Now Kenshin's turn. Arrive early to English Learners class so you can have snacks before the bell, with Daniel in that class I would be at least 10 minutes early if I was in it. Mr. Barnes late to class by 30 seconds due to bringing in a new student. Daniel Fontenot, with that description no way to mix the two Daniels up. Wilder from Thibodaux, Louisiana, now that is deep in Louisiana.

A seat next to Pete, hope he doesn't think Wilder is teasing him when it is just his accent. No equivalent of a or the in Japanese, no wonder it is so hard for Kenshin. Pete's temper is causing trouble, upset about giving up elbow room to Wilder, *sigh* Ms. Barnes is fast, up that close so quickly and stopping an argument before it could escalate. Oh crud, saying Pete looks like a clown, Wilder shouldn't have done that.

Erica showing up for 4th period English, Rachel bugging her each day about when their next match will boy. *groan* Complaining about security not wanting her to start something, of course they don't!

Frizzy brown hair shook negatively. "Nope. Start a fight, get in trouble. I mean, I guess if someone else's fight happens to fall in my lap, maybe, but..."

*tosses a yellow flag down* You have invoked fate, that is a 10 yard penalty.

Wilder smashed through the newly expanded entrance of the classroom by Pete. And now we know why he goes by Wilder, larger, hairier, and toothier, yikes. Wilder slashing up Pete while Pete tries to fight him off, Kenshin told to get everyone else away from there. Eyow! Now we know how brutal Ratel's bite is, took out a chunk of Wilder's ear.

Pete is torn up and needs a healer fast, Cally dragging Meatball in to heal Pete. Pete steadied that quickly, Meatball has some strong healing it seems. Wait, that young woman with the staff is Myra Barnes, Ms. Barnes, magic I think with the staff she used on Wilder. Uh oh, Rachel thinks Wilder is cute in his human form too, just what we don't need, those two hooking up.

And of course Officer Canterbury automatically accuses Rachel of starting the fight. Multi-rager incident, so Pete and WIlder are ragers, eep. *facepalms* Oh course Rachel wants to hook up with a guy she can fight with who she finds cute.

Officer Canterbury stepped in. "Rachel, unless you want to be in violation of Article 3, item 6 of the school dress code, to whit flagrant displays of wardrobe malfunction, you will go back to your dorm immediately and change into your next spare uniform. Failure to do so will constitute ignoring of a direct order by Security, which in itself is a violation of your current probationary status, and will result in your combat restrictions to be extended indefinitely. Do you understand?"

We know an exact rule of the school dress code now, nice.

Back with Daniel and it is Friday, recalling what happened in class the other day. At least Pete is able to see how stupid that club is.

Pete almost chuckled at that. "Yeah, thought so. Stupid, pointless, meaningless. Just a buncha guys cryin' about how they can't get girlfriends or braggin' how they hooked up with some girl. And me?" He snorted. "They think I couldn't figger it out on my own, cuz I was dumb, but all their 'big plans' to help me were really about me creeping girls out so that the other guys would look better. Hell... er, sorry," he said at Daniel's disappointed glance. "Heck, you've had more datin' success this year than most of 'em. Figger I'll be askin' you for advice from now on."

He may be a rager with no sense of humor but Pete has more common sense than all the guys who are in that stupid club.

Macarthur Price perspective now.

This meeting of the Outstanding Dudes Society was coming along pretty well. Already he was picking up some good pointers from the upperclassmen, stuff that he'd have to try out sometime soon. Maybe on one of those Whitman girls. He didn't really like them fuzzy or scaly, but High Gear assured him that half the dorm was desperate for attention, and that made them easy to catch.

Is it wrong I want to tip off Stahlfaust and the Amazons as to their clubhouse's location and what they discuss there?

Eww, still after Cally, that won't end well for you. Those sleeze are just using Fra to get at Cally, *seeing red* Gouyasse, calling yourself or any of those guys 'real men' is an insult to real men who know how to respect women. Got him drunk just to pump him for information on Cally, I hope these guys get sent to Doyle for this stunt. Manipulating Fra, sucking up to him, *record skips* And Fra let slip the truth about Cally, this is very bad. If they try to hurt Cally over this they are dead meat.

Ooo, almost missed the music credits at the end, nice.

Whateley Academy campus on a weekend morning had a sort of energy to it that was as unmistakable as it was difficult to define. Fiorella Persico, Calliope to most and Cally to her friends, could practically taste it. The fact that this gustatory response was somehow being processed via her ears was just one more thing to add to the list of oddities which was her life.

Tasting with your ears is an 'oddity'. Sweet summer child, so ignorant about how crazy Wateley is.

Her friends had handily abused the system in order to snag a table on the second floor in the name of their training team, the "Mutant Mayhem Machine." She still had trouble believing they'd actually gotten away with it.

Wait for your first simulation, and collective fac-off with the Attack Bitches. Then you cn laugh at how silly and naive that sentence was.

Plenty, Calliope thought but did not say. Or rather, plenty of things contained in one single element that automatically placed the boy outside her sphere of preferences. She was not ready for that conversation yet, however!

It will be coming up. Sooner than you think. Rules of Drama are merciless.

She had a date! That was the only detail of any importance right now. She had a date, and more importantly she'd chosen to ask him out. It was done on the spur of the moment, but unlike any other instance when her body's overdeveloped instinct for romance kicked in, it really was her decision. Just for that, she cherished the thought.

Put like this, it's a big deal. But... Still only first one.

"You don't know the half of it. Hell, I don't know the half of it." The lavender girl attacked her pancake tower with knife, fork, and vengeful gusto. "But if you run into a redhead named Scarlyt, I'd suggest running the other way. That girl's just not right up there."

And we want to know all of it.

Yeah, he could simply magic up more, which he did as necessary, but he needed to pace himself.

Egoist. let the cinnamon rolls flow.

"The usual. Some dick-eating jerkwad makin' fun of my face." Peter Foley's chosen code name was Humorless, which Daniel figgered ought to be more than enough warning that Pete couldn't take a joke. So far, lots of people had proved they didn't have the good sense the Lord gave a possum.

Euh people, I ge the idea of believing the codename is meta, but after the third schmuck sent to the hosto, I'd be asking myself questions.

Peter Foley was the angriest, most serious kid he'd ever met. Unfortunately, his mutation had left him with a bright red nose, pale skin with a peachy outline around his mouth, and lime green hair that stuck out in two huge tufts. Just from the face, he looked exactly like a clown should. Then you had to zoom out a bit to notice that the kid had the muscles of a grizzly bear, and probably a bear's sense of humor to go with it.

Even if the appearance gives him no mercy, sweet Philemon.

No one could say what'd been going through old Doc Talltale's brain – not even the doc himself – when he'd made Cookie, but the results barked for themself. At the shoulder, the devisor's former guard dog stood almost four feet tall and about as broad, with legs that were short only in proportion to the rest of its body. One stubby tail wagged happily while two round heads with mashed in noses and Boston Terrier markings had huge grins. "Warf," they barked in stereo, tongues lolling.

Still not better than Sparky. Or Mouse. Or Koromaru.

"Um..." the man said. "Is this..." He checked his paper. "Doctor's Precious Badass Nihilistic Killer with–"

"Just Cookie is fine," Daniel said, on top of pup's barks.

...What the fuck is this dog able to do?

At the moment, its only use seemed to be to serve as home to Mr. August's advanced music program and its corollary, the band known as the Unladen Swallows. She had yet to hear an explanation for that name that made sense.

Make a list and write them, we could help, if you were fourth-wall aware. At worst we'd get a good laugh.

While the band seemed to be some sort of tradition in the department, its popularity had run into the ground the year before. The two upperclassmen, Dalton and Emile, blamed it on the old guard and their leader, all of whom graduated last semester. Apparently there'd been the sentiment that any sort of conformity to rational taste was a sign of selling out, and the band had famously done performances like belching a capella, avant-garde lack-of-music, and a one-man show based on arrhythmic cowbell virtuoso improv. Her ears hurt at the simple thought.

Art wangsters. Bury their memory.

There were knobs and buttons, levers and pedals, and she could not see how it could be played without the use of three hands, four feet, and perhaps some tentacles.

Hey, iI know it's self-centered, but how poor schmucks with only two legs, arms, hands and no tentacles are supposed to handle that sweet stuff? *See the duplication* Oh come on, really?

At the first electric note, a ripple of bright yellow raced across her dress and hair. More followed, turning her into a visual expression of chords and measures. Limp tresses gained a life of their own, fanning out and moving in a non-existent breeze as they scintillated.

Show-off. Awesome show-off. And beware, sparkling is losing value real quick nowadays.

"Ami-Mädchen." The word sounded like a cute nickname, but the nuance behind it was anything but. American, the other girl was saying. Pretender, fake. "What are you doing here?"

You can't have that stroke soon enough, Wahnsinnig (it's already an insult, why waste effort on that bint to use something else?).

Kirsten claimed to know something, some piece of information which she felt sufficiently disgraced Erica that... well, she wasn't sure just what the German girl had wanted, to be honest. The pounding of her own heart in her ears had made it impossible to hear much of last night's speech. Even the knee-jerk reaction, that Kirsten somehow knew about Eric, seemed so less likely by the light of day.

Get the conversation to go on codenames. In public. You want witnesses that her heart failed on her all by itself.

"Kirsten Bischofsheim. German. Er... maybe the Rhineland or one of the other western states, from her accent. Age... at least a year older, so fifteen or sixteen. I never caught her codename."

I expect this file t be detailed enough to include favorite meals, and this codename thingie. Please do not disappoint, Uncle Adolf (Man must be really salty for nazoids to be beaten because of someone with that name).

"Excellent deduction! I will mail you a list of items. Please get back to me as soon as you can with some estimates on price."

Especially when you get to enjoy Whateley perks.

"Whew, nice view from up here," said Nefertiti Copeland, Neff to her friends, as she stared over the nearest railing. The dark-skinned beauty had arrived from her weekend dance class still dressed in leggings and a jacket over her leotard. Curly hair was done up in a bun behind her head.Adolf's laugh warmed up his voice considerably.

One paranoid check later: Not an Attack Bitch as far we know. Hope is allowed.

"Well, perhaps... Ah." Calliope had a pretty good view of the first floor herself, and right now she could see her brother chatting up a girl with dark brown hair and a pair of boobs that should not have been architecturally possibly to keep aloft without bra straps showing across her bared shoulders. Fra obviously had trouble keeping his eyes off this example of the most common superpower at Whateley, much to the girl's annoyance. Calliope could almost hear the slap through the cafeteria din.

"What's the matter?" asked Bailey.

"Niente," she said. "Only my brother being an idiot."

I had doubts when he dare try the 'beautiful eyes' compliment.

"Good. I figger fakin' it won't get me nowhere anyhow."

You're already in the 10% smarter people with that sentence. Or at least more common sense.

"Kay, 'kay," he said. "Um... folks moved us up to this small town in Idaho when I was little. More of a commune, actually. I didn't know the word till a few months ago, but it fits, I figger. The Revered... well, he didn't take kindly to, ah, our sort of people, so when my eyes turned pink, my mom and pop helped me get out quietly. They still live there." His smile had quickly turned upside down at that. Cookie padded over to nuzzle his ear.

Typo is giving a scumbag far too much credit. Also, what the fuck is wrong with small-towns preachers in this 'verse? And small towns, by the way... Oh right, many old racists (at least according to what I can see back home. And several towns of this 'verse).

"And my distant cousins are actual Nazi villains still, unfortunately." She made a disgusted grimace. "They, ah, tried to force a reconciliation last summer, get us to join them. Or kill us all if we refused. It's complicated."

... Just wait until you discover your mother is with them. Fun times coming for all people.

But watching the date in action had really hammered the spike in her heart. That blonde girl had looked so happy, so carefree with, with... him.

I'm not liking where this is going, especially the flashbacks...

By the end, she'd attracted a few more girls over to hear her sobby mess, and if anything they were angrier about it than she could ever see herself getting, though for different reasons. "It ain't fair," griped her roommate, a snaky young woman who normally didn't have more than two words for her a day. "Yinz know it's always the truth," Ophidian said. "Not all of us are as lucky as Dawn's been so far. Damn near none of us have. Those pretties get almost all the nice guys. And all the bad boys. And half the girls too, these days." She spat, and specks of varnish fizzled off the arm of the nearest chair. "So who's the hussy who's got yinz worked up?"

*Headdesk* Fuck's sake, that's Thunderbird mess all over again. Okay, this time the girls have more of a justification for not moving on, but... You need to learn a secret: Asking. The. Guy. Out. First. Does. Not. Make. Slut. Out. Of. You. Especially when you see the 'alternatives' planned like thhe Parade Of Mock Boyfriends. Just ask, for fuck's sake. And bust the balls of the one not getting the secret aforementionned.

"Oh. That girl." Another voice broke in, and everyone turned to look at the sophomore who'd just walked by. Her words stung with their distaste. "Let me tell you about Erica von Abendritter...."

I can alrady guess who that bint is behind that '''sheep's clothing'''. Random wild crazy question, Wahnsinnig, do you have medical antecedents in your family hinting at cardiac failures?

"It is..." He ran a hand through his exemplar-perfect coif. "It is this school!" he finally blurted out in Italian. "This school is crazy and strange and nothing seems to go right. I... I cannot communicate properly and no one ever listens, and, and..."

*Wincing* I guess... One key hint: Stop staring at the boobs.

"Only that once! And you try not looking when some lovely thing is on display like that! It is a miracle, a feast for the senses this school, but I am forced to content myself with merely looking!"

I think I wasted both a wince and a hint there on a loser. At least try to prove me wrong.

As her brother sullenly exited the cottage lobby, Ms. Plimsoll looked up from her paperback novel long enough to say, "Tieni la voce più bassa la prossima volta. Non abbiamo bisogno di conoscere tutti i dettagli della tua vita amorosa" in the decent Italian of someone who had paid attention in school. Then, for the benefit of every girl within earshot, she translated: "We do not need to know all the details of your love life." Fra's ears burned and his feet hastened after that.

Okay, that one was just unprofessional, and frankly cruel. Especially the translation. Someone, fire her.

The English Language Learners class had the dual embarrassment of focusing on his weakness while being openly designed for students who had issues with the language or its instruction. He felt he was being labeled a dunce just for sitting in the room.

As every single person who began learning a foreign language. You're not an exception.

Another Twain boy, the one who looked like a circus clown but was in no mood to be told so, snorted. "It's no use askin' him. He's as goody-goody as they get."

"But he's the only one of us getting dates!" rhino boy groaned. Fra's ears perked at that.

See the first sentence to get why.

How had Daniel, soft and hardly handsome when compared to practically any exemplar male on campus, scored a real date before anyone else?

Repeatition of former statement.

"Non c'è giustizia," he muttered as he slumped into his chair and faced the day. There was no justice.

... I'm not doing this a third time. If you don't get it when the clue is savaging your skull, nothing will do the trick.

"You wanna tell her?" The only response from Marcus was rude and nonverbal. "Ha, fine. Little bro's got... let's call 'em issues with explosives and missiles and a lot of other stuff. And he gets panicky over it at odd times. So, when the first slideshow of the semester was about a mutant terrorist attack..."

I'd like this kid... If he hadn't just used his arsenal to savage an history class.

"I should come up with someone, too," Erica said. She'd run a game for a while over the summer with her cousin, but the character she'd used then was... had been Eric's. It'd felt weird, to say the least. "Maybe go for one of the weirder classes this time. Shake it up a bit."

May Gygax, Arneson, Old Man Henderson, and Boxcar Joe The Magic Hobo watch over you all.

"Me? Nah." The young man shook his head. "Me and dice get along a little too well. I'd be rolling high every time unless everyone turned around and trusted me not to cheat when they weren't looking." He swiped a handful of colorful dice from his sister's collection, shook them in his cupped hands, and then released them with a flourish. They bounced and rolled, coming to a stop with the numbers 18, 19, or 20 showing on every single one. "Succeeding on a Hail Mary roll is about as cool as it gets," Pat said, as if that explained everything. "And if it looks cool, I can manage it."

Does it work when he needs low numbers too?

She dared look up, seeing the chin of one Brita Baumann, a.k.a. StahlFaust of the Amazons, working its way up and down in the rhythm of a woman holding back a deluge of words. "Might I have a word with Erica and Calliope?" she asked the faux-twins. "In private? It is the business of the Euro-Promotional League."

Man, the standards of the group are really slacking, if they can't do better than Demented Stale Farces...

"Only that there are some who are not what they claim to be, or were born different from what they pretend to be now. They may say they are simply making themselves right, as the inside so the outside, but it is a perversion of nature." StahlFaust's words were directed mainly towards Erica, without even a glance towards Calliope, and yet they shook the Italian girl like an earthquake.

... On the plus side, we just heard any chances a girl of Mutant Mayhem Machine could join the Attack Bitches die in a quite gruesome way.

Calliope wanted to say, wanted to give voice to her fears and suspicions, but to do so would be to expose herself. Silence made her sick to her stomach, but the words might make her vomit.

Doooo it. You'll have a pleasant surprise.

"I'm a female-to-male transgender," Pat said bluntly. "Anatomically, I'm a girl but I refuse to identify as one. The school allowed me to register openly under some legalese version of 'It's complicated' at the spot where you would usually tick male or female, so I am officially a male on the books, but I still have to use the girls facilities to change and shower. Stupid body-literalists," he grumbled.

Like you said, Pat is a ''' VIle Deserter of the Great And Glorious Matriarchy to the Vile Patriarchy''' for the Attack Bitches (Might be giving a purple interpretation the description).

Pat waved a hand in delicate dismissal. "Please. That one's brain got broken long ago, and not by me. Even for an Amazon, she's a bit... intense," he said. "It's like they've all internalized this big dogma of a gender war so deeply that the entire concept of gender has become stuck on a dualistic antagonism with no room for any gradation between them."

Sinfest Sisterhood, to sum... Except the authors aren't on the side of the glitterbags this time. Watching them crash and burn will be fun.

Pat's two Phys. Ed. classes were perfect examples. In the first, early every morning, he had practice sessions against robots, with Sensei Tolman critiquing his performance remotely. In that class of one, he was both the best student and oh so definitely the worst as well. The point was to learn, but that wasn't going to be easy.

It has to help not seeing people one-up you right and left.

The only reason Pat was in the advanced martial arts class this year was because Sensei thought he'd make the perfect practice dummy. He'd survived so far.

I see sadism is alive and well in Whateley combat teaching... Yeah, I know it's a superficial reducing judgement to make.

Drawing without thought upon strings of impressions arriving from the teacher, the classmates, and his opponent herself, he was able to glide an arm down along the inside curve of that blow, slamming the palm of his hand into StahlFaust's nose.

I take it back, yours is an awesome position, made to break the Attack Bitches where it hurts the most.

"Sorry, Sheriff Steely-Fists," Pat teased as he stepped off the mat. "But you'll just have to get your man another day." That got a muted chuckle from the rest of the class, who were all well aware of the Amazon's personal philosophy.

"You, you Geschlechtsverräter!"

"Save the language lesson for another day. And Hat Trick," Sensei Tolman said with a finger wagged in Pat's direction. "Stop trying to get her goat. Now, let's discuss what StahlFaust could've done to get a hit on him."

Cut him some slack, e's honoring the Tao Of Dresden on a sicko who deserves it, and I guess he knows the risks. And consider them irrelevant against the chance of causing her to be punt from the gates of the scool.

"A point!" called out Sensei. "Clocked at thirty-two seconds. Good job, Kenshin."

Valuable lesson to both, and extra salt in Stale Farce's wounds. Everyone mattering wins.

Had that... could that have been an option for her? she wondered. Losing Eric had been hard enough, cling though she did to the things he used to like. Staring at her reflection in the window during fifth-period algebra, she sadly concluded that it wouldn't have worked.

Yeah, given the mental changes involved, there lied a way of pilles glass.

Cookie

... I got nothing, this critter is playing in Mouse's weight category. Mouse is still better though. And Koromaru. And Sparky. You will al be spared when cats finally cast dogs out for good.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring the crowd, Calliope began:

Dreamless dorm, ticking clock,
I walk away, from the soundless room,
Windless night, moonlight melts
My ghostly shadow to the lukewarm gloom,
Nightly dance, of bleeding swords
Reminds me that, I still live...

I will burn my dread!
I once ran away from the god of fear
And he chained me to my despair!
Burn my dread!
I'll break the chain and run,
Till I see the sunlight again.

I'll lift my face, and run to the sunlight...

*Begins to sing along*
Never ever stops to write Whateley stories, people, I love you (why, yes I might be a tiny bitty fan of Persona. What did it give away?).

The song was new to her, something that Kieron's dad had imported on CD years ago, but it had a lively current to it, a rebellious flow that pushed a soul to stand up to, well, anything. Without real context, Calliope could not say what the lyrics were referencing, so she let her heart pick the moods, and what she projected to the audience was courage, hope, and a sense of purpose.

This man has most excellent taste, and Calliope is doing the job of conveying the song's feelings perfectly (played the game, heard it the remix, including the one from the movie. Strangely, the wiki gives me different lyrics than the ones used).

The god of fear... again, she had no context, but she could feel that divinely infernal presence, that shadowy presence upon her heart nearly every day. Looking up again as she sang, the faces of her personal girl squad could be seen cheering her on.

You're joining best authors for me.

"Wow, that was cool."

Appropriate awe. Work the enthusiasm for next time.

Now I face out! I hold out!
I reach out to the truth of my life,
Seeking to seize, on the whole moment, yeah...

Hell yeah!

In fierce competition with Nick's wailing chords, Cally's voice belted out a long sequence of words that were almost rap, then finished with a series of reprises and refrains syncopated with the heavy beat of Dalton's drumsticks.

Yep too, Japanese rappging in English are a bit hard to follow. Still so worth it.

He didn't really get this music. The words came fast and ferocious, twisting the vowels in that idiotic way that English did until his ears, trained in a more sensibly phonetic tongue, couldn't decipher what his own sister was singing. The words simply sped through the air like bullets of emotion, and that part at least he understood. Fear, courage, hope, all in that first song. The second was more filled with hope at its most victorious.

It didn't make the handprint on his face sting any less, but his mood was buoyed.

Philistine! At least you got the mood. And, really, at a concert? Are you trying to collect rakes to the face (we call these failures 'rateaux' in French. Feels appropriate there)?

"Awful timing, F-dude," said the young man standing next to him. Fra wasn't sure how he and Macarthur had become friends, though it had definitely happened at the dorm mixer. Mac was a stereotype of the American exemplar: tall and lean, square jawed with a permanent hint of stubble, and wavy brown hair that never needed combing to look good. Once he grew into it all, at least.

Abort now. That fuckhead isn't worth it, and best you realize it before you see him using you as a springboard to get your sister.

Fio was right: friends were important to have. He needed to listen to them better.

You forgot a key step: Choose your frends fucking right.

No, no, no! she thought. "...okay," she squeaked out. Cookie was looking at her with one set of doggy eyebrows raised, but the dog couldn't say anything. Probably. Monica was almost as mute on the way to her dorm, letting the other two fill the space with words. She could almost be thankful for their descriptions of the short concert, because Electra would surely quiz her on it later.

...Friends don't grill you about concerts like this. You might reconsider your friendship with the girl.

Why oh why did that girl have to be so nice?

...So, you aren't a bitch, so it has chances of not being a complete trainwreck? ... Leave me with my optimism.

"Ja. Ahem, yes..." She shook her head. "I will be, at least. Only, I need to get over the sudden urge to punch someone in the face."

The girl, a plain young thing with frizzy brown hair and strangely intense eyes behind her taped-up glasses, nodded sagely. "I know how that is. The administration's barred me from issuing fight challenges on weekdays for now, but man is it hard to hold it in when you really wanna clock somebody..."

... I smell conflict. And fear a future Attack Bitch in being.

"Well, Rachel, what would you do if..." The conversation continued for another ten minutes, and the girl proved to be quite creative in describing how she'd beat up various people on and off campus. It was likely all bluster, but little Rachel seemed as earnest as anyone could be when it came to brawling. Carefully, casually, and with great circumspection, Kirsten brought the conversation back around to von Abendritter...

Using pasties. And you bint wonder why you coudln't get the Eisenmädel's codename... Wahnsinnig.

Penny didn't laugh, or even chuckle under her breath this time. "Look, cuz. You're all of fourteen, even if it's easy to forget that sometimes, and this is some senior-level dating angst building up here. You would not believe some of the crap that goes on at my oh-so-mundane high school over here, and half of it happens because some kid's got so desperate over dating that others can take advantage. Don't be like that. At your age – and I say this from the lofty heights of almost-eighteen – you don't worry about if it's going anywhere."

"So, what should I..."

"Enjoy life, go out on another date, and then let your head decide. Not your heart, because it doesn't know what's good for it. Certainly not your glands, either, because those know what's good for them, and it ain't always good for you. Your brain's the thinky bit, so think! If you think it's going somewhere, then maybe it is. And if you think it's not, then you're probably right."

People like you should be giving seminaries to the kids of this school.

Neff winked. "No need to worry about that. You got a complete package going on, girl! Voice, looks, style – just need to work on your moves. Shake those hips a bit more on stage, put 'em to good use!"

*'Whispering'*I think you might have your first date here soon...

Bianca and Tanya were still not talking to each other – though that seemed more on the lavender girl than the pale girl from Chicago. They sat at opposite ends of the table, with Bianca's gaze sometimes turning to bridge the distance. Tanya's lightly purpled eyes never seemed to be looking back. Erica still had not heard the exact reasons for this, as no one really seemed to want to say.

*Headdesk* Just talk, dammit! Take care of your fucking problems instead of letting them fester!

"That," Laura continued, "led to a convoluted lecture of the cultural significance of the fish..."

... First step, I guess. Now do it with the problems.

"Witness the perfidy of Americans who think they can improve on perfection," Hikaru said, the sarcasm strong in her voice. After a pause, she repeated herself in Japanese. Her would-be bodyguard shook his head in disbelief.

*Remembers Hikaru's backstory* Yours is a special brand of hypocrisy.

"So hey," the boy called Meatball began. "I googled Italian sizes after that last time, and a 2B is the equivalent to a 34B, so I got it right after all." His chubby cheeks beamed happily, as if this was some great accomplishment.

... I see toilets and sewers in your future.

"Height?"

"Eh... 154 cm."

"Weight?"

"No," she said flatly.

"Okay, okay... so no asking your measurements?"

Asking that one loud tells me enough for a two words report: Darwin. Award.

"What about pop music? Like, the current Top 40?"

"Vapid and dimwitted," Calliope stated with an irritable face. "Now it's your turn. Name?"

Buuuurn. Of course good pop and J-pop aren't concerned.

"Height?"

"Four foot nine."

"Weight?" She screwed her face into a smirk at his reaction.

"Um... one hundred twenty pounds." He shifted his chair, which did nothing to hide how solid (she was being charitable) his belly was.

Not so fun, eh?

Bryon shook his head. "You're a chick. You wouldn't understand. Us guys gotta at least try and look tough and manly, but holding hands ain't either of those. What are other guys gonna think? What are girls gonna think if they see me holding hands with another guy?"

You're shitting me? That's part of the poweer. And a awesome one, to boot. All RPG players of any kind knows it, nothing is better than a healer! A good one, at least.

"On your school application, it clearly states that you are a mutant, and yet I have here..." Sheets of paper knocked against the tabletop as he tapped them into an orderly stack. "Bloodwork results which show that not only are you not an active mutant, but that you lack any of the identified gene complexes associated with mutant powers of any sort. So, why did you present false data, and what are you?"

Duck, guess that had to happen.

"It's okay," Erica told her. To Mr. Bergamot she said, "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not certain how much I can divulge. Do you have some proof of security clearance?"

"What?" Now it was the teacher's turn to look confused. "Fine. Be that way. We shall take this to the top. Come along." He waved Erica to follow him as he headed to the door.

With all due respect, moron, in that school, odds are the first sentence is serious. At least often enough to always check.

"Are powers derived from an apparent non-normative combination of genetic and epigenetic traits," concluded the Headmaster. "And, triggered or not by outside forces, they seem to conform to the same basic form of known mutations. You may leave now, Ms. von Abendritter," he said. "If you hurry, you should be able to make it to your third-period class. Contact your uncle and inform him of the situation. I await his call with interest."

...Tentative yay for you, sir.

"Mr. Bergamot," he said, stopping the man with a simple gesture. "As I have read your file – your complete file – I have some idea of what you have in mind here, and while the previous administration was willing to either overlook or accommodate your personal... quirks, believing your strengths as a teacher and researcher outweighed them, I have yet to reach the same conclusions. You are not helping your case," he added drily.

Yeah, that dude isn't Quintain for me either.

With a heavy sigh, he dialed a campus directory code on his office phone. "Hello, Dierdre? Ah yes, my apologies. Elspeth. How is Dickinson treating you? Oh? Well I would not have asked you to take the position if I thought you could not handle it. But as it happens..." he continued. "I would like it if you could keep a special eye on one of your wards...."

...Fishy. Also, the power of Ctrl+F tells me it's the woman fond of translating private conversations. Classy choice.

"We've gotta design Cally a cool outfit for her performance next week,"

Random wild crazy question... If more Persona is coming, what character will she cosplay as?

Tia gritted her teeth, ears wilting. "I've... got a stalker. Total Diedricks case, and about one degree away from full-on mad scientist. Um, no offense," she said to the devisors in the room.

And while she's not doing herself any favor by behaving this way, unfortunately nothing will ever to the bint truly at fault...

"Bergholdt Stuttley, a.k.a. Stark. He thinks it's an Iron Man reference, but really it's because he's stark raving nuts. His latest masterpiece is built around a calculation of pi based on actual pie."

I call bullshit, that name has to be taken. Several times. With Lawsuits lying around.

"Now or never," Vickie said. "I mean, we'd hit this issue soon enough, and it's not ever going to get easier. Might as well tackle it now and get it over with."

"And turn in the notes for a grade in Dr. Speers's lab class," Laura added.

"Yeah, of course."

Never forget the important stuff.

Good man, good teacher, good scientist. At best, he could manage two out of three in any given situation.

And the student sitting in his office right now was hardly smiling.

I'm nursing heavy doubts Carson ever okayed that fucktard.

"And I am sure you were not," he said, fibbing atrociously. "In point of fact, I wanted to speak with you about your long-term research goals."

Heavy as in "Almighty Gygax, that fucker shouldn't be allowed within 100 meters of a kid (okay, yankees, 300 feet)."

"I can neither confirm nor deny..." He could very well lie, though. "Ms. Howe, I am a dedicated researcher, but I am also an instructor. It meets both my interests to enable yours, or even to supply information pertinent to your field of research. For instance..." Mr. Bergamot passed her a page with a list of names upon it. "Here are students whom my personal research has led me to suspect did not come by their powers naturally. Your, ah, friend is naturally at the top of that list."

Broken record, but... What the fucking fuck is that thing doing rotting at Whateley? Quality of the teaching and research has to take a backseat somewhere. I mean, they didn't let Jobe do everything he wanted either!

Yes, he thought as she vacated the office with an urgency born of disturbed inspiration, of the three facets of his life, being a good man was surely the hardest, as well as the first to be abandoned when needs be. But the results would justify it in the end.

You don't say. It means people would be justified to feed you to a wood-chipper to take you out?

The smile on the girl's face was too broad to look natural, and her eyes had the look of frosted glass lit from behind. "Nothing too much. Just one question, in fact. How do you feel about sharing a campus with a no-good, lying, cheating, amoral freak of nature who couldn't keep it in his pants so he got what was coming to him. Her," she corrected, punctuating with a pronoun.

After being thoroughly fucked with a rusted chainsaw.

"Well and good for yer, but a right number of girls back in Whitman are mickle upset with yer over that. Liken it to stealin' him from under their noses."

Less problems would happen if they got in their heads than making first step does not instantly turn them into sluts. And like I said, break the balls of the morons accepting because of that too. Also, trying it is an important step in 'stoping to give a fuck about how my body is perveived by others and myself'. It's yur life, dammit, never let random losers you'll never see again dictate it for you.

"Still single, huh? Don't worry; you'll find some nice guy to steal away from a poor unpretty girl eventually."

Dude, She's Lesbian. And you're a bitch.

"And the best part?" said Friedrich. "The part that these Americans think is oh-so-funny? My surname is Schnöring."

... I think you can sue someone for circumstances like this. And makes loads of money.

The older girl snorted. "Hmph. I would have thought you would be more circumspect, von Abendritter. There are would-be heroes around. I would have thought," she repeated with voice raised, "that our little conversation of last week had left a lasting impression in that golden head of yours. Gold is the softest of metals, after all." Not far behind her, a group of Whitman girls tittered nervously.

And you still don't get why you're Wahnsinnig. Erica, when she has that stroke? Fucking finish her.

"My name?" A cold burst of panic hit her guts, and she was acutely aware of all the watching eyes now. This was the secret which the sophomore had boasted of? Not Eric at all?

... Sort of good news? a more good one: You have ground to pummel her to oblivion if she survives the stroke... We need Wahnsinnig crushed in a Combat Final by Erica, as soon as possible! (Now that's unreasnoable use. The bint deserves it anyway).

"Just leave, von Abendritter," came Kirsten's harsh consonants. "You are not wanted here."

Fuck this shit. *Fantasizes about bashing Wahnsinnig's head against the hardest wall Whateley can offer until I'm falling asleep... In about 6 hours I think* Illusory, and not healthy way of thinking at the end, I know, but imagining it is therapeutic.

"I figger..." he said finally. "I figger I don't know what I'm ready for either. Love and romance are 'bout the sorta thing you see in the movies, but dunno what they're like for real. But a friend..." He nodded. "Friends are good."

Dang, and he was classy enough for taking this road... You're losing great boyfriend material there. On plus side you gain a friend of equivalent quality.

"All last year. Saw it for myself. The Eurofroshes that year were, like, a complete mess. That French girl with the water powers? Afraid to swim. The Belgian kid? Burgeoning alcoholic. Still is. His Lordship Gregory Crumbley... Okay, so he was, like, okay, but then that French devisor they used to hang with completely balanced out the sanity levels, in a bad way. Kirsten was the only thing that, like, held them together."

Man, the stupid bint must have bust her ass to not look worst than that bunch of misfits... And all of them blow Kismet away. Except Wahnsinnig, of course, they're in the same garbage bin.

Milena laughed at that. "Could be. Mind sending me a copy of that file? I can use it as a starting point for my own checks."

Someone is about to face the other end of a bitch campaign. Just tells me when you bring out the vats of acid... Yes, I'm deluding myself here.

That did not stop her from wishing Erica were interested in girls, all night long.

Nor, though she didn't realize, did it stop her roommate from wishing the exact same thing.

Fuck Nazi '''science'''.

"Report to me if you find anything troubling,' said Ms. Plimsoll. "And... one last question. Were you intending on inviting Ms. von Abendritter to join that club of yours?"

Milena couldn't say she was surprised by the question, even if it hadn't been expected. "I considered it, ma'am. If it gets too bad, Erica's going to need emotional support from people who understand. I'm not sure if the others will see it that way, however."

Cue a Wiki spell to remember the girl is a Bad Seed... Dunno if it would work, there is Bianca's blooper (just fire Gideon out of a cannon, dammit), Erica's family thoroughly fucked the Nazi legacy with a chainsaw, and she's closer to hero than the cliche Bad Seed... Double membership?

"She does seem nicer than that other girl," added Marcus from the far end, where he and Twitch had been sketching out schematics in between bites of cereal.

Thanks fuck someone see Wahnsinnig for the pile of shit she's. Also kudo to the Dickinson ones. Heh, one '''pretty''' wanting to see beyond appearances. Suck it, Whitbitches.

"I never said we weren't still friends. And that's the kinda thing he does when he sees someone having a bad day. I mean, he's given you extra before, too."

They're supposed to be fourteen. Seriously, it's impossible to be friends with opposite sex, fucking has to happen? You're still closer to kids than something else, for Butcher's sake!

The lavender girl twirled in place, rising several inches off the ground. "Well, how about going old-school? Write him a note with two little boxes labeled Yes and No, and have him tick one?"

"Do people actually do that?"

Tanya shrugged. "If after-school specials have taught me anything, then sure. It's worth a try, at least. Something like, 'Hey, my name's Tanya'..."

Nods politely, pretends to follow that, hit abort when she's out of sight, and get her some serious help. Tanya is awfully unprepared for Real Life (we're sure she isn't a changeling too?).

"That sounds awful embarrassing..."

"As bad as talking to him straight?"

"Worse, actually."

"Well then, just ask him directly.

I take it back.

"It doesn't have to be serious!" she squeaked. "Um, I... I just wanted to... Never mind..." She turned to run off again, only to bump into Cookie. Those puppy-dog eyes were irresistible. "I just wanna be normal!" She fell back on her bottom and felt the tears flow. "I wanna be a regular girl and not some freak that no one will even look at, and, and..." She stopped as a cream donut was presented to her. "Thanks..."

"Not a worry," Daniel assured her. "Well, like I said, I ain't lookin' for a date-date right now, but a friends-date, just bein' social and all... we could try that. How's, um, Tuesday sound?"

You're getting second chance here Monica. Don't you fucking wasste it.

Cookie 2

I think we need to know who that girl is.

One of the best things about this school was that people learned fast. That hadn't been true at her old school in Terre Haute, even though it was supposed to be a school for smart kids. A lot of her old classmates had been too smart, but not savvy at all. That had caused problems by the end.

But here? Here, folks were savvy, and fast. After just two weeks, anyone who saw Rachel Altus coming quickly stepped out of the way.

Conflict is coming back. And Wahnsinnig was once again completely wrong, this girl feels like someone with teeth too.

There were a lot of things that could be said about Rachel, avatar of a wayward spirit she knew as Honey-Boo-Boo the honey badger. Most had been said to her face exactly once. Of the few that had survived to be repeated, the frontrunner was 'loyal'. Loyal to friends, loyal to family.

By now, the Whitman Cottage girls counted as both, and somebody had been picking on them.

She might also be better than I thought... once she get better training at target selection... Why am I getting Bedside Rug vibes?

"Got it," Erica said, tugging at her glove straps. The combat suit hadn't seen much use, for all that it was also her registered outfit for school activities. It was the best that her uncle's contacts and grandfather's know-how could assemble, with fabric material that was heat-, cold-, shock-, tear-, puncture-, and bullet-resistant. Her power actually rendered that last one moot, but memories of how power-testing had shown that her force-field trick could be overloaded made her glad for it anyway. The suit had a plethora of pockets for tools and holdouts she had yet to acquire. That was on her To Do list for the year.

As for the gloves... Her friends in Kansas had had a friend south of the border in Oklahoma who'd owed a favor. She couldn't explain how they worked, but anyone punched with those things was going to feel it.

Good start.

Rachel went flying, smacking into the far wall of the chamber with a dull thud, almost a full yard off the ground.

Oh scheisse. Just how tough was Rachel, anyway? Erica's worries ramped up as the girl slid limply down the wall and to the floor.

Then she got up.

"Yanno, that was a pretty good hit," Ratel said as she dusted herself off.

Kodiak 2.0 vibes strengthening.

"Sure. Get some exercise, beat up a bully or two, maybe even break a sweat. It's all good."

Totally Kodiak 2.0.

Calliope would not try to guess how it worked. Laura had tried to explain her personal theories, and it had almost put the Italian off her ice cream completely. Words like quantum waveform collapse had no business in a discussion about sweets. All that she needed to know was that if she entered any two-digit code into the Machine's front display and pulled the handle, ice cream happened. A little booklet hanging to the side listed all one hundred possibilities, starting with 00 for plain vanilla, but many students prefered to hit the big digital button that said "Surprise Me." Some even did it more than once.

My mmother would totally try to see if this machine does passion/geranium sorbet. It better would too (personally, I prefer black chocolate sorbet and raspebrry sorbet).

"I had not realized," Hikaru said drily, "that the US had perfected engines that ran on pure sucrose."

At least they will be free of oil as a fuel soon...

Ratel belched. "Half the freshmen in my dorm are pissed because blondie here asked the nicest guy on campus out before they had a chance to."

Refringshly direct. Since you seems talented for that, suggest they try asking out first.

"I have ordered a car via my cousin, who said she put the order through to Nissan." Hikaru rolled her eyes. "But every time I try to get an answer out of her when it would be delivered, she evades. It does not help that Amazon is putting on a show of Japanese supercars, I admit." The Japanese girl paused. "Though I understand why there's a bit of delay, the motor pool likely is modifying to place armor inserts in the car. But it shouldn't take this long."

Your family did get slaughtered after. It ain't paranoia if they're really out to get you.

His host, a junior from Emerson who called himself High Gear, was demonstrating just how well stocked it was by pulling out a case of beer and handing out cans to his guests.

'older and wiser students'... How can you fail so much at that, Fran?

Fra was inclined to agree with Gouyasse there. Italian beer was nothing worth talking about, which was why he and his friends had stuck with Stella Artois, a product of Belgium. When it came to arguments over beer, he was on the side of anyone whose country had more branded breweries than there were days in the year to sample them.

For fuck's sake, he's fourteen, and even in Europe, minimum age for drinking is supposed to be eighteen. How the fuck do they manage their hands on alcohol so easily? They're still fucking kids. Sixteen, i'd understand better, but fourteen, seriously?

Welcome all to the first meeting this year of the Outstanding Dudes Society!

Cut that crap out, loser. Your name has been voted to be 'Pit Of Braindead Losers Never Getting A Girlfriend Ever' by all the other students on the campus, remember?

"...made average because the kids at this school set the bar too fucking high." I know it seems incredible now, but it is perfectly possible for any guy to score with the choice females on this campus – yes, even those impossible beauties of Venus Inc."

And that would explain why. All of you, go fuck a mixer.

Gouyasse belched lightly. "That's nothing. It is the safety in numbers, hiding behind a safe, compliant beta male who will not assert himself."

Let's make a bet for shits and giggles. All of you, losers badly needing a brain transplantation, against Kenshi. For some reason, i don't think the odds will be what you think.

Fra joined in the chorus of hurrahs, though he didn't quite understand everything that was said, then or later. Even in plain English, he could tell that a lot of the words bandied about were special terms or slang, which he already knew from experience was the most difficult part of the language. As the beer continued to pour and the spirit of the room lightened, he stopped caring so much about the exact meanings and focused on what he could get out of the experience.

Fuck's sake, abort Fra, these guys are the worst pack of losers I ever saw in all my highschooler/student life. Bet if you asked you'd discover none of these shitbags ever had a date.

"Glad to hear it. Now, as to the class... No, I will not let you drop it, even though Kirsten is being awful at the moment. However, I think that for the next week or two, you can handle the reading by yourself. Instead of the usual classes, you can manage the tutoring station in the language lab, and for the days when Kirsten is on duty there, we will arrange something with either Wilhelm or myself. Basically, we will invert your current schedule for the class."

You're a cool teacher, sir.

Another awesome week and a marvelous Monday, too! Hannah Sammish wished sometimes that he could walk on air like some of her classmates, but she could settle for just the feeling. Life was just awesome. Everything was awesome.

Lego Movie reference could be a thing, but I can bullshit here. Nobody like Mondays. Unless eldritch abomination out for gorging itself on human suffering.

The world felt a little less awesome. The freshman hadn't come on Friday, and Mr. Bergamot hadn't commented on that absence, but Hannah couldn't help but feel a teeny-tiny tad responsible for it. Things hadn't gone too well on Thursday, obviously, but she hadn't had the guts to ask Erica about it directly, even when she'd had the chance.

It's all the loser's fault, sweetie. And you really know nothing about nice teacher. Quintain, dunno where, and how you are, but necromancy could be envisgaed with how much that guy sucks.

"Who, Mr. B? Sure. I mean, he must've passed some wowzer background checks to work here, and promised this and that and swore an oath on a Bible or Necronomicon or something, so even if he used to be like, some hero or villain or alien brain in a jar, he'd still need to abide by school rules, and I'm sure that doing naughty awful stuff to students is a no-no."

...Actually logic, leading to ask the question again: How in the name of fuck did Carson ever approve keeping that fuckhead around?

Just to be careful though, she decided to delay her report by a few more days.

I mean even Pixie Girl finds him fishy.

Admit it, Sedrynnor; you love to feel needed.

Who is that aetheric bastard? The fact he remains hidden here only spells bad news for me.

Undoubtedly it would, but he'd rather have it on his terms. The music came first, and it was on himself to determine what that meant.

Good boy. be a better one, and find a way of fixing this aetheric bastard infestation problem. Even edside Rug pays the rent, and I doubt this one does.

the disembodied leannen-sidhe

Fuck. Abort everything, you schedule now only consists of two items: 1)Finding Fey. 2) Fix that infestation problem for yesterday!

The sound of her instrument cycled through the bridge of the song, wrapping the notes into a slowly turning spiral of positive thoughts borne from sadness. There were extra levers on her instrument, pulled or pressed to distort the chords until they wailed along with the words that followed.

Nice song. But isn't Persona... Still, I'll have to search for ore soongs of that group.

As the last notes rang into echoes, she took a bow. And then a more melodramatic second and third.

Vanity detector 1 epxploded, fairly sure she's a vainglorious bitch.

Truer words about the high school experience, she had never heard. Even before she took it to a personal level – and oh, how she could not go back to the way she'd been – wasn't that what school was about? Figuring out who you were and trying to become more of that?

Love this song. And another singer to check out... (and fitting for a changeling)

Electradyne was right there at the edge, eyes sharp and hard. "Just had to upstage me, didn't you?" the girl growled. Gathering up the hem of her dress, she stormed away.

Knew it. This bitch will be problem (the fuck is it than sparkilng go with vanity so often? I blame Meyer).

Not many students had come asking for help, despite Herr Auer's invitation to come ask her. At least one, a young lady with frizzy blonde curls that hung down from her head like a fleece had turned fluffy tail and walked briskly in the other direction at the sight of Erica behind the greeting desk. Bad gossip traveled fast and stayed long.

Patience. Revenge against Wahnsinnig will come.

"Huh. It's just that your voice tastes familiar, but I know I've never heard you say anything... Um, sorry, that sounds stupendously weird."

Taking bets for how long before that reveal happen people! Place your bets, people!

"Tut mir leid, aber mein Englisch is under aller Sau."

She had to keep her expression carefully neutral there. "Did Herr Auer... explain what that meant?"

"Just that it was useful for apologizing if we're in Germany, and that by the time we can decipher it for ourselves, we probably won't need to use it."

'Ecxuse me, I speak English like a swine'... Pretty sure it makes him Best ProfTeacher Ever.

Cookie nuzzled her cheek with one warm nose, wiping off tears as they dripped. She hugged the other head's neck fiercely, whispering every little worry and fear that she'd suffered haunting her for far too long. She even talked about Eric, things that she hadn't mentioned to anyone in months, and the pup simply nodded along and gave puppy-kisses as needed.

Worthy to be spared by the cats indeed. You also need a trainer of high class. Mouse will be perfect.

"Um... how about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? I really liked that one when I was younger, but I think it's supposed to be a 7th-grade reading level book."

Filthy lies, there is no age for fantasy... Okay, that's a flthy lie too. But truer than the one above.

"You're welcome, Monica."

"We should do this again sometime," she said. "Maybe when you're a bit more widely read, so we've got something in common to talk about."

"And maybe you'll find yourself a better guy by then," he said with a wink.

She tittered. "Not likely. You're setting the bar for gentlemanliness pretty high. Um... some of the other girls in Whitman might like a friendly ear sometime. If you don't mind?"

"Never any trouble," he said.

Dawww.

"Huh. This ain't working right. You're nothing but nerves right now! We need to loosen you up." Neff hopped over to the CD player, bending forward enough to give Calliope an eye-opening view of her butt.

It had to be coincidence... She repeated that over and over in her head.

Neff, Calliope is playing blind. Think you need to strip.

Neff grabbed her by the hand, twirling her around until she was giddy, and then somehow the distance between them was gone. The track wound down, and in the brief span before the next song began, it was only the two of them, standing chest to chest and flush with the excitment of the dance.

Calliope could never be too sure who kissed whom first, only that it felt so right in that moment.

Works well too.

"Trying to put the negative stuff behind us," she told the junior high girl. "It's only the start of the year, and we've already had so much crap hit the fan. Better not to dwell on it."

...And you taunted the Ironic Overpower. Expect shitstorm soon, sorry.

But in this class and in his language lab sections, Kenshin felt he might actually be able to master the art of the word. Eventually. As with many things, it was easier thought than said.

Someone who has the advantage of the alphabet over you should take iinspiration from your attitude, Kenshin. And not just in class, now I think about it.

Pete's eyes, normally a bit yellowed and bloodshot, nearly popped out of his face from the force of his scowl. "What. Did. You. Call. Me?"

Clown. Yeah, association with the Pit and attitude here burnt out my sympathy. Coming back after reaching a certain point, with deep and total apologies.

Frizzy brown hair shook negatively. "Nope. Start a fight, get in trouble. I mean, I guess if someone else's fight happens to fall in my lap, maybe, but..."

Up ahead along the busy hallway, the wall next to a door burst in an explosion of plaster dust and wood chips. A body was flung through it at the same time, tumbling through the passing-period crowd and landing on the floor with a thud. Erica didn't recognize the kid, but she did know the face of Daniel's roommate Pete as he loomed through the newly expanded entrance.

"You were saying... huh." Erica didn't have a chance to finish the thought. Rachel bounded over to the fallen kid, saying "Hey! Tag me in! Nod! Anything!"

Making your wishes coming true too, Rachel? Use this ower wisely... Wish for a battle with the Attack Bitches!

"Lemme at 'im..." he mumbled incoherently. His shirt was ripped open, and unfortunately so was part of his abdomen.

...Alright, alright, you won back some pity. And yeah, this kid will never be confused with Donut.

Rachel was watching with curious eyes as the beast reverted to human form, minus any clothing save for a pair of underpants that must have been custom-made by a materials devisor. "Aw, he's cute in this form, too."

Yup, Kodiak 2.0 all the way. With a side order of Murphy

Pete almost chuckled at that. "Yeah, thought so. Stupid, pointless, meaningless. Just a buncha guys cryin' about how they can't get girlfriends or braggin' how they hooked up with some girl. And me?" He snorted. "They think I couldn't figger it out on my own, cuz I was dumb, but all their 'big plans' to help me were really about me creeping girls out so that the other guys would look better. Hell... er, sorry," he said at Daniel's disappointed glance. "Heck, you've had more datin' success this year than most of 'em. Figger I'll be askin' you for advice from now on."

I'm sorry for ever associating you with the Pit, dude. I'm sure you'll do better tha all these losers in the ends... Yes, Fra included.

"And, er, if you could put in a good word for me..."

Daniel sighed. "I can do that much, sure."

Baby steps, he walked away from the Pit, after all.

"Bros before hoes, like the Americans say?" Gouyasse snorted. "It is silly sentiment, and hypocritical. You both want the same thing, and yet he also wants to protect his little sister from real men like us. It is a farce, yes?" He nodded to the couch, where the F-dude was on his third beer. "Now is your chance. I have been watching, and he holds his beer pretty well when it's that cheap American piss-water, but tonight he's into my special reserve. De Struisse Brewery's Black Damnation IV. Thirty-nine percent by volume, but doesn't taste like it. He won't realize how drunk he really is for a few more minutes, so get in there now."

Speaking of thins I hoped never seeing again... What's the worst, MacArthur's hypocrisy with a modicum of decency, or the naked and frank scumbaggery of Gouyasse?

"No... Fio is special."

*Record Needle Scratch* No. Nononononononono...

"Back home, I was the, the, the cool one, the, the, the alpha, like High Gear ways it, and no one looked at Fio much. Just another be-be-beta, could never get a date, and now he is a girl and everyone loves him? Her! Stupid pronouns..."

FUCK! Calliope will be outed before next week, probably after refusing a date under pain of revelation of secret, spiteful harming after beat-up, or just because these fuckers wanted to. And don't think Neff will be taking this well. Not bad per se, but that's still a nasty dirty bomb. The only silver lining is that she'll see the Attack Bitches' true face... As a fucking Prime Target. (Rant following, click if you're unnterested).

*Drags Frack for some violent headbashing along with Wahnsinnig* You stupid, irresponsible sick little FUCKTARD! No matter how stormy it is with my brothers, I'd trust any of them for never revealing this sort of thing, or not ending so wasted they'd spill it like that, especially by the age of fucking fourteen! Spiked beer my soy sauce roasted chicken ass, you chose staying with these fuckheads, when a toddler could figure out what they're worth. No. Fucking. Mercy. On. You. Down in the Acid, with Wahnsinnig and the Attack Bitches. After more beating up.

I'm sorry, my English is just as bad.

I'm sorry, my English is lower than a whore.