Question Dorms of our lives Season 5!

Monday, October 3rd, 2016
--Calliope

I know how Cally feels, had days where you just want to stay in bed. Smacking her forehead to dislodge memories she doesn't want to recall, yikes. Ugh, the girls staring at her like this, as if they don't realize being a changeling isn't a choice any more than any other physical changes that come with manifesting as a mutant. Alvina needs a harsh lesson and fast.

And the bitch attacks Erica just for standing up to her, Alvina needs some detention in Hawthorne or the tunnels to think over how she responds to confrontations. Erica blocks the attack and RA Milena is already there, I love how she handles Alvina so well with just the right choice of words.

Ouch, Cally having to deal with all these emotions coming at her.

Instead of the usual, her plate held a surprise: genovesi, a sort of pastry named after her own hometown, made of two soft cookies sandwiched over a cheese custard filling, baked until crispy on the outside. Her grandmother had made them, in the past, but she hadn't seen anyone make them in years.

*tries to avoid drooling on keyboard* Sounds so good. Daniel is the nicest boy at Whateley, no wonder so many girls are interested in him.

Good, no one trying to trip her yet, hope that keeps up for her sake. And MMM at their table, Bailey, and Zapper holding hands beneath the table, aww. Wonder what Tanya and Vic are discussing. Ouch, Vic leaving and still upset, hope he listens to Tanya and lets Cally make amends. Cally envying Bailey and Zapper, she needs to find someone who doesn't care who she used to be, only who she is now.

Security for their room and Erica thinks of tech surveillance, wards from Bianca and Morgana, how many of their rooms are going to have such wards by the end of the school year at this rate?

Amazons morning meeting

--Eurydice

Ugh, Val. I really hope someone figures out how to detect what she has done to all those girls soon. Grrr, Val sitting by Nef after what she did to her, wish to tear this psycho's hair out at least. Yikes, all of the Amazons at the same place, bad place.

Brita's shrug made her sports bra stretch in marvelous ways. "Leave her alone, same as the bunny girl? She's neither aggressive nor a threat as she is now. Not as... intrusive as others, either." The German was staring at Val as she said it.

Brita the voice of reason about Cally, color me shocked. Val brainwashed Nef thoroughly for her to be talking about Cally like this. Dealing with Jack-in-the-Box, that is something everyone on campus besides his little group should get behind.

Now with Erica, worried so much about Cally and having to keep Poe's secret from Tanya, Jimmy, and Hikaru, ouch. Laura, no, never volunteer someone to join something like that, Morgana is going to be upset. You can be confident and not shy about many things but have one thing you are shy about, people are complex. I hope they drop the matter for Morgana's sake.

Aww, poor Cally feeling all alone up on stage. And how bad is Erica's singing? At least Cally has Claudio to talk to and to get Fra to realize how badly he screwed up.

Wahnsinnig

Oh great, the nut who thinks she has a right to the codename Erica was given by her grandmother.

Adrienne le Floc'h, also known as Fleuve Noire

Interested why she called herself River Black, or would it be Black River? And Kristen upset that Erica isn't German yet gets to use such a great legacy codename, *sigh*

Pantagruel, so supervillain named himself after a giant in a French story, interesting. Gouyasse's part in revealing Cally's secret, he is going to come to regret ever being involved in that group of idiots. Ugh, Wahnsinnig thinking of Erica as a Nazi and Cally as a sexual deviant, this girl needs a brutal lesson. Fortenbras, I wonder who his cousin his. Wahnsinnig, you need to let this go or it is going to end up ruining you.

Powers Theory
--Erica

"Today, in our exploration of infinite diversity in infinite combinations..." began the instructor, Mr. Bergamot, "we look at the extremes to which the human form may shape itself. Over half of you all possess an Exemplar trait -- not for nothing is it called the most common of all mutant expression! -- but what does it really mean to stretch the limits of this facet of mutation?

Why do I have a bad feeling about this line of discussion so soon after Cally was outed?

"Um, like you said. It's all about, um, being you. Ex-1's are just themselves, but a little better. Er, healthier, maybe kinda fit without working at it, a little handsomer or cuter, but otherwise pretty normal."

"Everything the Ex-1 is," he said, "but taken up a notch. Athletic at a competitive level, not just in one aspect, but in most or all of them. They're able to do a lot of things, and do them well, but it's still stuff regular folk can manage. Just more of it altogether."

Nice and straight to the point, good.

Now time for Assay to answer a question about Exemplars, yay!

"First off, the one thing all exemplars have in common is the Body Image Template, or BIT. This is full-stop, absolutely, positively something every EX-rating should have, because it defines the form their mutation is putting them into. To date, there have been three identified cases out of thousands where an exemplar lacks a BIT, and in all three the trait was initially misidentified as a funky and poorly controlled Shifter power, because they just couldn't hold onto a single image of what they should look like.

"Second! Because the whole BIT thing has you stuck in a particular range of form, you get a lot of what they're calling 'morphic inertia' these days. Simply put, your body likes the way it is or is going to be eventually. This is part of why so many high-level exemplars also have a regenerative factor, because the BIT wants the body to stay all healthy and in one piece. Any effects that push you towards that ideal get accelerated, and any that try to change it or regress it either don't last long or get messy."

Interesting, but now I'm curious who those 3 identified case were of exemplars who lacked a BIT.

Gross Structural Dystrophy is most often cosmetic -- fanciful colors of hair, eye, or skin -- but any mutation that greatly alters your physical capabilities will also alter you physically, which means that once you pass Exemplar stage three, and thus the limits of human potential itself, your bodies perforce begin to adapt in ways that are strange and unpredictable. This is, of course, independent of any other changes necessitated by a plethora of possible mutant traits.

Nice to learn more about GSD and other mutations which can alter you physically.

"Yeah, does turning into a tranny count as GSD?" The sniggers that accompanied the question were unfortunately familiar.

I would have sent whoever said that to the headmaster's office, the Darby twins are lucky they didn't get punished for this.

"I assume," the teacher said, finally mowing down the quiet, "that you are referring to the case of Calliope, who is not here today to speak for herself, largely because of asinine questions such as yours intruding on the everyday discourse of regular school, to whit she has taken the day off for reasons of nervous exhaustion. Well, to answer the question which provides façade to your bigotry, GSD refers solely to alterations outside the human base state. Novel color palettes, extra organs or appendages, scales or claws -- these are GSD. Enhanced muscular development, facial reconstruction, regenerative repairs, or, yes, gender reassignment are considered base state alterations within the norm. That Calliope's case is an extreme outlier is not of consequence."

Okay, this was better than punishment, a dressing down in front of the class and a lesson for everyone as well. Mr. Bergamot is an interesting teacher, would love to know more about him if possible.

Kenshin gathering notes like this, I hope it doesn't change his opinion on those he knows as friends. Ah, Koichi, poor kid got thrust into the deep end before he could fully wrap his head around what was happening. Yikes, that big a difference in how classrooms work between Japan and American schooling, no wonder Koichi is a little bewildered. Heh, Kenshin is right, we scream about privacy yet some of us have multiple social media accounts and post about our day on it. Jamie Howe slipping into the Powers Theory room, what is she up to?

Ouch, poor Cally having breakfast sit on her stomach like that, stress can really mess you up.

Claudio Persico was tall, lanky, and of a nervous temperament that kept him from ever eating much at one time, or gaining any grams if he did. There wasn't much of a resemblance between them any more, though traces were still there if one looked hard enough.

Poor guy getting the staredown from Elspeth Plimsoll. Translating the rise and fall out emotions as music, and Cally is having trouble blocking it in her current state, I hope she isn't prone to stress headaches.

Ugh, that cat-like speedster needs to learn to respect others. I see the headmaster calling for an assembly to discuss this matter if it keeps up.

"The more the people remain idiots," her brother ad-libbed. "First rule of public relations: assume the mean brightness of a group is equal to its dimmest bulbs."

Unfortunate, but true. And Claudio has gone to Doyle to check on Fra, at least Cally can wait outside.

Her friend Bailey, a psychometrist, had once said that she couldn't get a dozen meters inside a hospital-like place of any sort without feeling like screaming, though shielding lessons had helped. Pulling her own mental shields around as close as she could, Calliope took a deep breath and passed through.

And the huge downside to psychic powers like receptive empathy and psychometry are revealed, yikes.

Lunchtime
--Erica

Trying to find a quiet place to de-stress at Whateley, sometimes I hear the Mission: Impossible theme music when someone thinks or says this. Good grief, the new Wondercute don't even have half the common sense of the original it seems. Thinking Morgana killed more than one invisible bunny and from the sounds of it thinks she did it on purpose. Ack, not the YOLO philosophy of life.

And Laura notices that Koichi was staring at her again, how long until she figures out why. Laura blushing is so cute. Yikes, Sakura emails her five to ten times a day, talk about obsessed.

Berlin, NH
--Calliope

Transit to or from Whateley put one through the residential areas, the sections that did not take part in the façade, and her battered senses could feel the disconnect between the town-as-presented and the town-as-it-was. What exactly she was feeling, it was hard to say, but the contrast was there.

Yikes, do all receptive empaths pick up this kind of thing if not shielding strongly or does Cally's form of it work in a unique way in this sense?

The Miskatonic Valley! That is the last place a receptive empath in Cally's shape should be right now.

"I asked a colleague of mine at ARC that exact same thing," said Claudio. "His reply was that in a worst-case scenario, at least the trigger-happy students could get some target practice. I, ah, hope he was joking."

I don't think his colleague was joking.

"Do I have anywhere else to go?" she asked. "I came to this school in part because I could not stay at my old one. But new school, same problems. At least here, I have friends in whom I can confide." The glare she sent him should have frosted the glass of soda he'd ordered with his meal.

Good thing she doesn't have a Wiz-trait. Meant to protect her and it leads to this, the old expression of the path of good deeds. *eyes bug out* Cally might be one of the most dangerous students of Gen 2 Whateley when she is angry or upset. Good to see Cally doing better after a chat with Claudio.

Why is Erica's current German language class schedule reversed from before? Ah, to avoid Kristen and her being in the same classes, forgot for a moment about that incident. Hiram Saumer, Eric's old best friend who she now has to pretend not to know.

For the mutant code-named Playback, it was simply a matter of sitting there for a quarter hour with the headphones over his rabbit ears. After that, his mutant power allowed him to repeat the clips from thin air, with perfect fidelity.

So that is how his power works, interesting. Grimm's Fairy Tales in the original German, now there is a fun reading assignment for a German class.

So close to figuring out that clue as to who Erica was before, Hiram is going to be trouble for Erica if this keeps up. Ack! Being late for Mr. DuChamp's history class sounds like a form of torture.

Cally with Claudio the whole afternoon, trying to ignore feeling guilty about it.

The local museum of weird phenomena, the aptly titled Odditorium, was a trip through the bizarre imaginations of 19th-century New England farmers with little to do for the winter months, which resulted in all manner of taxidermic grotesques and unsettling artwork.

Darn you! I hate to travel and yet now I want to go see the Odditorium.

At the cinema, they caught an early afternoon showing of the latest massive action blockbuster, based loosely on the events that had resulted in a small Central Asian city turning into an impressive crater.

And once more reminded of how dangerous life in the Whateley Universe can be.

An actual video arcade, dang. now there is a rarity nowadays. Sounds like they had a very fun day. And figures, several of the older girls checking out Claudio, at least they didn't get a chance to crowd him to ask questions. And Cally got Milena a small cake, a nice gift. Ouch, knocking on the door with your forehead is not advised. Yay! Video chat on the computer with Cousin Penny, nice to see her again.

Cousin Penny lived with Erica's Uncle Adolf and Aunt Margit, two of the... if she were to be polite, two of the twistiest people Calliope had ever met. Five minutes of conversation with them was enough to keep one confused for hours, even as they figured out more about you than you'd ever want in turn. She could only imagine what it would be like as their adopted granddaughter.

Yeah, that is definitely being polite about those two, they would make even Nick Fury frustrated.

"That it is! But hey, looks like I might get to tag along for Parents Day next month. You two can show me all the neat stuff my school will never, ever, not in a million years, possibly ever have."

"Oh, sure," said Erica. "Like the Olympic-sized swimming pool..."

"The three-story cafeteria!" Calliope added.

"The stack of gold bricks on display."

"The giant robot in the science lab!"

"The mystic circles for demon-summoning."

"The miraculous every-flavor ice cream machine!"

Cousin Penny's mouth had skewed into a blend of amusement and annoyance. "I honestly cannot tell which parts are true and which are you two just messing with me," she said.

The funniest part is they aren't messing with her about any of those things.

Dang, Penny's school life is so normal, even the bomb threat, compared to her cousin. Another town with a video game arcade, lucky. Almost forgot they need something from Vicky for that surprise birthday present for Penny, still wondering what it is.

Tuesday, October 4th, 2016

--Calliope

Ouch, skips going to the cafeteria for breakfast with her friends, this is serious. Rushing off to class with only 10 minutes and all her friends waiting to give her hugs, good thing Pat is there. Ugh, those Darby twins again and their slurs towards Cally.

"I would hope you two would get the message yesterday," the teacher said sternly. "Alas, I cannot say 'five points deducted from Emerson,' because this is Whateley, and not Hogwarts, so instead I have one word: detention."

Thank you again, Mr. Bergamot.

"And repeat offenses shall progress the punishment," Mr. Bergamot added.

In other words, keep your bigotry to yourself or things will keep getting worse for you.

Good thing Cally has Bailey and Pat with her, plus Heartfinder seems concerned about Cally at least.

"Only to those who can feel it," Bailey assured her. "Heck, I'm not even a hundred percent real empath, but you're leaving a small trail of misery on everything you touch, and that I can read."

Serious situation was an understatement, really wish Fubar was still around to help out. Aww, sounds like Bailey and Zapper have a great relationship going. And Koichi shows up to join the group, but his form of empathy works differently than a normal projective empath does.

Good, they can understand each other well enough despite some language difficulties for Koichi.

The book stopped at the picture of a stuffed bear, a round fuzzy doll with button eyes and a raggedy bandanna around its neck. Just to look at it, Calliope felt calmer, safer, happier.

She blinked herself back to sour and unhappy. Those had not been her emotions.

Rats, wish it could have helped Cally more. Bailey touching the drawing and gets that much information out of it, whoa. Since Cally didn't as much detail as Bailey I guess it was Bailey's power that allowed it. *eyes bug out* Pat's power can allow him to speak other languages when needed too, impressive.

A drawing to help out Cally made just for her, Koichi's powers get more and more impressive each time I see them used. Bailey is curious what a portrait of her would feel like, only to get Zapper's attention and sounds like she is a little jealous too, oh bother.

Fra now and still healing bruises, at least he is mostly fixed up. At the door for the English Language Learners class that quickly, at least it ensures he gets his choice of desk. Yikes, Kareela ticked off at Fra, not a good place to be. Anaïs and Avsel joining her soon after, nice group of friends. Arsi might be Fra's only friend right now who isn't avoiding him due to what happened. Oh, Peter Foley aka Humorless is still talking to Fra, guess I was wrong. *sigh* Fra, you have to learn you can't finish all your own fights, especially at Whateley. And Daniel gave Fra the same treat he gave Cally, that boy is sweeter than his codename.

Third Period, BMA
--Calliope

Crud, Alvina there and with her attitude towards Cally I think she will try to put Cally in Doyle.

The blonde girl's aunt had been as strict an instructor as Tolman, though more willing to teach the dirty tricks up-front as well. Hit hard, hurt hard, before the other person could; that seemed the woman's motto. Calliope wished she had paid more attention to those summer sessions.

I hope she's in shape to learn more from Aunt Margit during holidays. And the first real match between Cally and Rah-Rah aka Alvina, d'oh.

Alvina is fighting brutal already, even without powers.

And quite deliberately grabbed Calliope's groin, in a way that would have certainly hurt far more if there'd been anything hanging there.

Okay, if Tolman saw that it should have gotten Alvina automatic detention, imo. Ah, leaving it in Cally's court if she files a complaint or not.

Powers now, Cally avoiding PK-energy sheathed first from Alvina who goes for crude taunts and insults again. *eyes bug out* And this is why you shouldn't anger the quiet ones, you never know what kind of anger, what rage might have been building them and ready to come exploding out. Crap, leaves Alvina is bad shape but blacks out herself.

"Battered, bruised, and in need of an ego transplant," said Sensei Tolman. "She was threatening to report you for this, but I told her I was already writing her up for gross provocation and whatever regulation best matches to being an asshole."

And reminded once more why Tolman is one of my favorite teachers at Whateley. Ah, so Tolman should have dressed Alvina down for that stunt immediately. And Cally doesn't know who her therapist is, glad Tolman knows enough about them to suggest Dr. Shu for Cally. Cally is a mess after that incident, seems scared of what she is capable now.

The instructor sighed. "Empaths. You're either the worst at hitting people because you feel them too well, or else you're the nastiest bitches in the fight because you feel everything too much and can't stop feeling it."

Yikes, that is detail about receptive empaths that could scare some others to know.

Erica at a little diner, Vicky asking how Cally is, Twitch there as well as Marcus Barnes, at least he is improving even if slowly. *sigh* 3 devisors and plans for Penny's gift, at least Marcus knows not everyone loves Megaman as much as he does.

"If it helps," she offered, "Penny's more of a sneak-and-shoot type, so maybe something more stealth-minded? And she's got a danger sense thing going on, but I'm not sure how strong it is. Oh, and I haven't confirmed, but I'd be willing to bet she'll get my aunt's -- her grandmother's -- code name, Silberstern."

"Silver star?" Twitch asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Six-pointed silver Star of David. They're Jewish," she added with a shrug.

Interesting codename. The eldest Barnes sibling talking with Erica's uncle, this will be...interesting to say the least.

Dr. Shu seems interesting already, either good at predicting how patients will act or some esp ability and could tell Cally was outside his office door. A Snorlax and My Neighbor Totoro beanbag chairs, I would have a hard time choosing between them. Yikes, so many things to talk about, why wasn't she assigned a therapist when she got to Whateley!?!

Oh boy, Cally running out of breath like that talking about the incident, I know the signs of an anxiety attack starting from experience. And it all comes rushing out, finally. A first-degree rager episode, much worse than expected.

"No one's does," said the doctor. "That is something of the point. There is no clinical definition used for Rager ratings as a thing in and of themselves. It is a syndrome, but not a sickness, if that makes sense. Something brought on by hormonal flux, by traumatized reactions, by emotional overload..."

So anyone could become a Rager at one time or another with the wrong stimuli, dang.

"Yes. But as this is the first time you've shown this issue, and it does not appear to be primarily biological, and the traumas involved are both identifiable and fresh, I feel we should be able to head this off and avoid a Rager-1 rating on your MID. If you're willing to work with me?"

Thank you. Dr. Shu. Light at the end of this particular tunnel. Now I want to know who his grandfather was, sounds like an interesting man.

A rumbling laugh shook the beanbag chair. "He would certainly be amused by the life I live. But for now, I would recommend resting for the remainder of the day. They let you come back to class too soon, in my opinion."

On this I agree with greatly, too much of American society is about pushing through trauma, pain, etc. and keep going as if nothing is wrong instead of addressing and dealing with it properly.

Erica going to the teachers' office complex in Schuster Hall, and now I'm curious about that one door. Ah, going to see Herr Karl Auer, the German instructor.

"Fraülein Bischofsheim is as vocal as ever," he confirmed. "For our last group discussion, it was her turn to choose the topic, and she decided to debate the question of what makes someone German."

Kristen needs counseling already. Erica knows more about Germany than I do from having lived there for 3 years decades ago. *groan* I can't believe even in German they have bad puns like that. Learning a language by reading novels in it, interesting approach.

Cally in the freshman devisor lab space watching Vicky working for earned lesson credits in a way I wish I could have in school.

She held her breath in as she watched the other girl carefully weld a flexible matrix of circuitry into a matte black material using a gun that shot miniature rainbows.

That sounds so fun.

"It's a specialized force-field projection circuit that mimics certain aspects of PK, specifically this sticky effect that my art teacher can do," said Vicky. "I've been wanting to give it a try, and that project of Erica's gives me the excuse to add it to my docket."

A very interesting devise, I could see many applications for it.

Material from Electrodyne, nice to see the tradition of trading favors for goods still works. Oh crud, dragged over to see Electrodyne, please let her be understanding about Cally's situation. Ngaire, forgot that was her real name. And an interesting way to make the material. Huh, Electra being nice to Cally it seems, saying she will walk with her to music class and have girl talk.

Heh, I never thought about it that way on wishing people fun or smiling so much, talk about insight.

"That he's queer as a football bat? Yeah. Finally. And, well, new school, new life, trying to live a little after all the shit that came before, and there you were, minding your own business. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. And, well, you've got enough shit going down as it is. I owe it to my brother to make amends if I can."

Calliope replayed the last sentence in her head a few times. "Ah, your brother?"

"Jimmy. Well, James. Best big brother I could've had, took me in after I got disfellowshipped for reasons that absolutely had nothing to do with my mutation." That last phrase proved that Calliope's sarcasm scanners were in fact fully operational.

Oh crud, her family is Jehovah's Witnesses. Whoa, brother is female-to-male trans, awesome. And it looks like this might be the path towards Electra and Cally becoming friends.

Wahnsennig aka Kristen, she sees Erica as a scab to be picked off, that is a very unhealthy way to think of a fellow human. About to sign a contract like that with Annalee Newton aka Osmic Ace and Deduce, this is going to blow up in all their faces if they try and mess with Erica. Trace is a part of the group too, just great.

"The Card Sharps Detective Agency is at your service, Ms. Bischofsheim. Expect our first report by tomorrow afternoon."

Yup, just want to bet they are going to cross some people you don't want to cross trying to dig up information on Erica.

Macarthur Price (formerly known as the Idiot; Backlash)

He'd learned the truth and seen the need to share, so all those dudes out there who didn't know better yet wouldn't walk into the trap he'd so narrowly avoided. Really, he'd done the male half of society a favor.

He is still an idiot if he thinks like this about Cally or others like her. And he thinks Fra not talking about his assault on him is building his reputation, the rumors will turn on him sooner or later.

Gouyasse and the rest of the ODS all need to be punished for their part in this whole mess.

"And so they have," Gouyasse confirmed. "This is why you will not be seeing Rutherford ever again. I simply wished to pass on a word of advice, as a sophomore to a freshman: leave it be. We do not bother the Italian. Not directly, and not for a while to come. Anything like the attack last Saturday is simply out of the question."

Ah, the old 'lay low and no one will connect us with what happens later' idiocy.

"Only she is off limits. The ones around her? Those are new situations. Be careful."

These guys are all looking at jail time at this rate of stupidity.

Aww, shows up for dinner with her friends, yet can't keep all the bad emotions away and has to leave early. Yes, the positive emotions from Cookie would pick any empath up. Anais out on a date with Daniel, so cute. Poor Cally having to sense those emotions from some of the Twain boys. Good dog, Cookie, helping Cally with positive emotions and distract her from the creep calling her a freak.

Oh boy, Cally almost did that to Warthog and only realized it when Cookie nudges her with his wet nose. At least they got to play with Cookie for a while.

Cookie treated them to a double-wide grin, woofed, and retrieved its toys, carrying them carefully in both mouths. Pup escorted them all the way to Dickinson, growling as necessary to let people nearby know they should think before opening their face-holes. For a creature without proper gonads, the dog was a more proper gentleman than any male in Calliope's recent experience -- save, perhaps, for Claudio. She felt that her older brother would be honored by the comparison.

And that is why Cookie is the best dog.

Panoptikon at least said hi from Milena.

The first thing she did upon reaching their room was to check the square of black, to find a time, a place, and a name written on it in dark violet letters. Her breath caught in her chest. Those had definitely not been there earlier in the day.

Okay, I want to know how Milena did that. 35 messages from anonymous senders, cowards don't even identify themselves. And based on how Erica reacts them some of those are sick things and at least one death threat, hope the school IT department can identify all of the senders.

11 PM and Cally slips out to meet with Ms. Plimsoll, who leads her to a secret stairwell descending into the earth.

"I swear, this school has more secrets than a cathedral of confessionals," the woman muttered. Calliope giggled her agreement, the sound bubbling from fizzing nerves.

Hehe, wonder how many secrets they don't know about yet. Oh boy, tricked into a meeting with Vic Rivera. And Patience wants them to hear her out, I wouldn't interrupt her.

Patience steepled her fingers. "In one of my other unofficial capacities, I brokered a plea deal to ensure that a student would not see punishment for his actions in exchange for the equipment which he used to offend. At the time, I was not aware of the extent of the actions in question, nor what plots he had already set in motion. By the letter of the rules, I did my job as required, but I cannot approve of how this young man bent the spirit of the system."

Please let this mean she is going to help them get Jack-in-the-Box dead to rights for what he has done.

"The question is, Mr. Rivera, Ms. Persico, are you willing to work together, work with me, to take that little jackass down a notch?"

I would be on this deal so fast, Jack needs to be taken down at least 10 notches. And Cally is in, Jack is in serious trouble now.

Wednesday, Oct. 5th, 2016

--Erica[/quote]

Mittwoch. The German word for Wednesday was simple, concise, and accurate.

Heh, 3 years in Germany decades ago and I didn't remember that. Going out for a morning job with Cally, and poor Erica is still dealing with her time of the month, ouch. Joined by Physique, Time Bomb, and Nina Blake, great to see they still consider Cally a friend. Nina has a good idea of Cally hanging out with them, the more friends people know she has the better. Heh, poor Cally having to deal with Nina having a crush on her, that little ball of excitement might be just what Cally needs right now though.

Yikes, I keep forgetting what a nightmare scenario Daniel grew up in, at least it would be a nightmare to me. No education and having to catch up now all because of Reverend Barkus and his 'cult'. Daniel is a good friend to Pete, anyone who ever picks on or dares to attack Daniel is going to have a lot of people coming after them. Honey-glazed old-fashioned donuts, ack, every time Daniel is in a story I get hungry.

I like Daniel even more now, true gentlemen have no need to brag about kissing or anything else they do with their date. *eyes bug out* Daniel dated that many girls already, extremely popular is an understatement. Fra learned his lesson well, don't be like the ODS. Poor Wilder, just had to have Ratel fall for him.

"Just common sense, yanno? Be nice, be honest. Walk, talk, share thoughts. Unnerstand that ninety percent 'a the time, it ain't goin' nowhere, so don't get mad when it don't. I mean," he said with a shrug, "we're all, what, fourteen? Fifteen at most? Got all the time in the world ahead of us. No point in rushin'."

Daniel is very wise for any age.

Hehe, saying his date with Avsel was just him chaperoning her date with Cookie, funny. Sam put on the spot about his luck with girls, yet he is in Poe, so either a changeling or most likely gay and trying to hide it. Well, that is one way to get them to hang out with Daniel.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" announced the teacher, Ms. Barnes, from her desk. "It shall take me exactly twenty seconds to finish off this delectable donut which someone has left for me, and you had better be ready to start class by then!"

A teacher who gives advanced warning, those kids are lucky.

Cally going to visit Dr. Shu's office instead of BMA for the immediate future, hope it will give some of the idiots in that class time to cool down.

"It's a good word, certainly," said Dr. Shu. "But to address your true question, these meditative practices are as good as you make them. Zen is not, as many assume, about living in serenity. It is about living in the moment, unfettered by the past and uncaring of the future. A sort of serenity just seems to follow from there."

Eep, I practice meditation but that form sounds tough. Okay, that is a Pokemon I've never heard of before today, interesting toy.

"Bodhidharma," said Dr. Shu, "also known in Japan as Daruma-sama, was a man of fierce passions. Much like our plastic friend here, he was a force to be reckoned with, for his strength grew in step with the heat of his heart. At his worst, he was described in language not unlike that said of Ragers nowadays. But then he found a new channel for that passion, placing it into the focus of his meditations. According to the tales, he sat in a cave for seven years, until his arms and legs were practically useless and his body was like a stone." He paused to place the rounded pebble shape of the transformed Darmanitan back on its shelf.

Now that is an awesome tale and person to base a Pokemon on. And giving Cally a Meloetta figurine, Dr. Shu knows how to deal with patients as individuals well.

StahlFaust aka Brita, from the description of her it sounds like she loves forcing her Opinions on others by force which we have definitely seen. Ping having to deal with Brita, oh boy.

Brita had to remind herself that Leslie was a) straight, b) not looking, and c) formerly a boy, even if the sophomore herself couldn't recall the details of her former life.

And her psyche is messed up.

Once a boy, always a boy.

Ugh, just sickens me.

Having to go to Ping for helping to find Jack-in-the-Box, the little weasel is going to wish the headmaster knew what he did and been turned over to the MCO before they are done with him.

"Devisor prerogative," said Leslie. "All they have to do is declare they're working on a Big Idea, and they can lock themselves up with minimal oversight for days on end. Of course, usually they actually mean it when they do, but..."

That seems a very dangerous rule to have, more oversight to make sure the student is safe would be better imo.

Jack had a worm program in Nef's phone to spy on what they were texting each other! Lack of response to text messages by Cally, could Jack have blocked Cally from getting the messages somehow?

"Oh yes, you certainly can. The rest of them will follow as you lead. Even Macha, mostly. So, here's the deal: in exchange for my help in pinning down Jack-Asshole and making him pay for his assorted assholery, you call off any plans you have this year for harassing the TG students."

Nice leverage by Ping. But will Brita take the deal?

Lunchtime and Cally isn't used to eating on the first floor of the Crystal Hall.

She still was not sure what to make of this newest twist in her personal life. The break-up with... no, to put it fairly, the denunciation by her now ex-girlfriend Nefertiti Copeland had been the touch of sandpaper on top of already raw nerves, and she was afraid to ever return to those emotions ever again.

Now that is a pain that will take time to heal, I just hope she doesn't hurt Nina inadvertently. Cally picks up Nina's emotional changes and good grief, that would give me a headache to be around.

Good to have something which can anchor your emotions, especially for Cally right now. Darcy, Time Bomb, Kara from Whitman, and Time Bomb's sister, Velvet, yikes. Pat and Chessa Barnes, Chessa excited about Dr. Shu's weekend Zen class.

"Nina's spirit is... a big influence on her mood," Kara began. "Normally Nina's really quiet and nervous, especially these days, but when Glee -- the spirit -- gets going... whew..."

And Glee is out, eep, poor Nina with Glee sounds somewhat like being bipolar, seen it with my own sister.

"Oh." The simple syllable fit perfectly to Velvet's mouth as she made a face halfway between puzzlement and enlightened realization. Her eyes had rolled up and inward, until she was squinting cross-eyed at some conceptual point only she could recognize. "Well then, the first thing to do is to identify variables and change or eliminate them until the proper equilibrium is attained, which for Nina would have to be a level at which she feels she has a modicum of control over her situation without fear of giving a poor impression so publicly, and thus perhaps..."

That is what a devisor trying to figure out how to fix a social issue sounds like, or at least Velvet. A sleepover, nooo! We all know those end in chaos before everyone is too exhausted and have to go to sleep.

Good suggestions from Pat and even Velvet, too bad Glee overheard the talk of a sleepover, she probably won't let it go now. Michelle showing up to chat with Liz aka Velvet, and whoa, sounds like a huge falling out between them and due to Michelle having a mental disorder which she is on meds after the incident happened. Michelle does all that and Velvet doesn't wish to talk about why, someone drag the answer out of her!

Macarthur Price aka Backlash and he is upset Cally waked by him, yet she didn't recognize him. And he is an idiot with how he thinks about girls. The idiot has a girl checking him out and yet he checks out her friend instead, Knock-Out. *eyes bug out* I can't believe she slipped him that piece of paper, I just hope it is a trap as they wish to fight him and not something else.

7th Period with Erica and reading a book of jokes for German schoolchildren, sounds fun. Saumer shows up and hates his first name, and it sounds like he is asking Erica on a date! Red alert, red alert, put all defensive barriers up immediately! And Erica doesn't think she is ready for dating yet still, Saumer just wants to hang out even with a group of friends, nice guy. Ouch, losing Eric like that, then manifesting himself and all his other friends were told not to talk with him, adults can be such idiots, that is how you mentally mess someone up. The Dark Eye RPG in German, now that is just cruel to someone still learning German, Erica.

Dinnertime

--Wahnsinnig

And she is receiving her report from the investigator teens, Osmic Ace delivering it and dang he goes into way too much detail on stuff that is personal. Kirsten has no reason not to believe Erica isn't a girl now at least. Crud, now Kirsten is going to chat with Saumer, very bad for Erica and Saumer.

Back to Cally after having to deal with her remaining classes of the day.

Calliope was not sure there was any other way to describe the feeling of going through Math and Biology, Powers Lab and Classical Literature, with the constant feeling of judgment, odd curiosity, and detestation that continued to swirl around her.

They need an assembly about this matter already. A reprint of W.I.T.C.H., wish I could read that.

Morgana shows up and Erica's line to her, excellent. Time to ward their room, hope it isn't too late to prevent more secrets from getting out.

"It's okay," said Morgana. "I didn't pack a lily pad, so she's safe. For now." She gave the blonde an extra-evil look.

Ifor, no one would suspect such a cute dragon plushie of being part of the magical warning system.

Calliope didn't bother trying to follow the ensuing lecture on the topography of mystic wards and why certain numbers worked better in certain situations. The information seemed common-sensical where it was not esoteric to the point of resembling devisor-speak. She simply nodded along, moving posters and furniture as directed until all six of the graffiti strips were set to the planes of the cube that was their bedroom.

Hehe, wonder how many non-Wiz types at Whateley have tried to make sense of their Wiz friends discussion on magical subjects and left themselves with a migraine or worse.

Erica needs to drop talk of the bunny soon, a grumpy Morgana you don't wish to deal with.

"Well, not physical ones, but it should stop magic or powers from seeing or hearing what you're up to in here. and yes," she said, hand forestalling the next question, "you can hear people knocking on the door. We, ah, made that mistake the first time, but not anymore."

Recharge every new moon and full moon, nice and makes sense.

Ooo, what are they up to here? Ms. Myra Barnes with Marcus, Twitch and Vicky Stone, plus the kids' science advisor, Dr. Speers, this is going to be good. Ah, the chat between Myra and Uncle Adolf. Retrofit, Tek Witch, and Power Stunt, a nice codename for Marcus. Heh, having to deal with the Headmaster on this, smart move when dealing with outside individuals. And Adolf got Myra to have a wide grin on her face, guess she knows what dealing with devisors is like all too well by now.

Cally slipping out of Dickinson down to Poe, and she's never been to any other of the dorms yet, dang. Flower on duty at the dorm's front desk, and it sounds like Nina is having a bit of a panic attack due to Glee agreeing to this meeting, poor kid. Cheesa going to take Cally up to the Barnes' and check on Nina, Cheesa sure has a silly sense of humor.

The humble portal was obscured by layer upon layer of decoration and construction paper, forming chaotic blooms of color that extended past the actual door frame. In the middle of it all, a miniature whiteboard sat ready to take messages. Above that was a hand-crafted sign which read "The Barne," with an e.

Bit of time on her hands indeed, Cheesa's door decorations are wonderful. Pat chatting with his girlfriend, I hope she is doing okay.

"A fortune-teller I knew once predicted we'd end up at the same school by next January," Pat explained. "So Dina's convinced that means she's going to mutate soon. But since it's not happened yet, she's trying all sorts of things, just in case."

"You never know, right?" said Dina. "Maybe if I squint harder I'll shoot lasers or something."

And Dina is still the same loveable goof. Ouch, memories of Grammy hit Pat hard. Pat doing a reading with the cards for Cally, please don't predict anything bad, she's had enough to last a long while already. A reading of Mind, Body, and Soul, uh oh.

"Representing the Mind, we have the Ace of Cups, pointing away from the others, so it's in reverse." The card showed a gilded goblet, like a communion cup at church, filled to the brim and over it, red liquid spilling to the ground. "It doesn't take much to guess this one."

She nodded mutely. Too much, too fast, all the emotions pouring in from every direction at once, until the vessel of her mind had trouble not sloshing it all over everything.

"So the Ace of Cups is about being overwhelmed," Pat continued with the obvious, "of feelings suppressed or repressed. Good thing you're seeing Dr. Shu, right?"

Pat has gotten good at doing readings.

"The Swords are often about the tough moments in life, and of getting through them. This lady's well armed, but she can't see, and she's as likely to hurt herself as anyone else unless she puts one of them down. The Two's the card of decisions and options. Which to choose, and which to toss? It's a tough call, and you might avoid it for as long as you can, but you still have to do it eventually."

That is what the Two of Swords means, yikes. But Cally already went through a huge change due to her mutation, what choice could she have to make, this one is going to bug me until we find out.

"The big one. Be who they want you to be, or who you want yourself to be. The most important choice for a trans kid. Take it from me."

Ah, should have known, makes so much sense in that context.

Domain of Spirit, Two of Coins, a young woman on the card this time, those cards sure have an attitude.

"The Twos of any suit stand for duality, but Coins are usually about value, worth, and results. And in the reverse, like this one is, it implies that even when you have choices, deep down you know they're not equal ones. Don't think about it too hard; that's the Mind's job, and the Ace of Cups shows that it's too busy as it is. Don't trust your Body to keep on with both for too long, either. Your heart, your Spirit knows the weight of the options, so just choose."

Be true to your heart, heh, easier said than done sometimes.

"I shall..." she finally began, hiccuping the words. "I guess I shall have to try."

"That's all we can do, really," said Pat. "But friends help."

I wonder if Bianca or Morgana have something they can tell Cally which would help. And Nina/Noah has issues even other changelings don't, oh oh. Noah having to talk with Glee, having a spirit like her must be trying.

Bending down to give a hug to comfort Noah, aww.

"It's... it's just a little crash," they tried to explain. "If, if Glee's running things for too long it, it screws with my, like, brain chemicals? I think? Doctors still aren't sure, but it's all glands and hormones and endorphins in their discussions and, and..." Their sigh ended in a sob. "I pushed it too hard today, let Glee ride me too long."

Definitely sounds like a manic high followed by a depressive low, would not wish that on anyone. And nice to see something bad for Cally being used to help out Noah, sometimes even bad experiences can teach us lessons.

How she had still tried to hide it, only for perfect strangers to address her as signorina, even before her genitals had finished retreating inward. How hard it was to accept how things had changed, or later to accept how they had not.

And just from that short paragraph, I can feel how much torment Cally has been through due to her changes, well done. And Noah stuck with Bewitched as a codename, they both needed this right now. *eyes bug out* Can't believe Cally just kissed Noah, definitely wasn't expecting that.

The basements of Melville and Janet Chorley aka Knock-Out is in the Bohemians' little hideout watching reality television from the BBC. And Scarlyt slept with Backlash and he doesn't know how to use his exemplar stamina or anything else well yet, heh. And Scarlyt letting Knock-Out attack her to test her borrowed PK field's strength, including bending steel rebar into knots. Bet Scarlyt can borrow powers without having to sleep with her target, she just likes to.

That almost made Janet wince on the outside as well as the inside. One of Scarlyt's first such experiences had been with an energizer calling himself Hot Stuff. Thankfully they'd pinned the blame for that fiasco on him, got him sent to Hawthorne for a month as a precaution against 'bed-wetting.' She and Karel had been careful to research and vet Scarlyt's potential power donors ever since.

These two are going to get caught by someone wise to their scheme sooner or later.

Thursday, October 6th, 12:03 AM

--Ping

Good grief, a stubborn devisor who doesn't wish to sleep because it gets in the way of her work, Leslie is going to get herself hurt that way. What are you about to set in motion, please be good, Leslie.

The small devise affixed to the back of her skull, legacy of an experiment she couldn't properly recall even if she wished to, served to keep her linked into her phone, computer, and assorted other digital companions at all times, and now it allowed her to send a text message with but a thought.

I wondered what that devise might allow her to do. Jack about to make a meal run and they plan to hit hard and fast, not sure he will even survive this. And she was calling Cally! Oh boy, can't wait for the next part of this story, hope we get to finally see Jack get taken down. It would certainly help out Cally, imo.

Wednesday, October 5th, 2016; 11:56 PM

--Calliope

She'd talked with Noah for hours, literally up to the moment the RA had come around to escort her out of Poe Cottage. A lot of it had been on Noah's side: their old life, their old interests, and all the myriad issues that came from having an entity called Glee in their head. But a lot of it had been from her as well, stories from her old life in Italy, that she never told anyone else.

This is a huge step for Cally on the road to accepting all that she has been through, glad to see it happen with someone she can truly trust and who can relate to what she's gone through.

If she can't sleep at least she now has something do to do. And Cally is ready to get back at Jack-in-the-Box, can't wait to see the first step in taking down this a**hole. A combat suit with a force-field helmet on command, very nice.

Thursday, October 6th, 2016, 12:10 AM

--Vic Rivera

And Vic off to the meeting place now. Patience, Cally, and Groundpounder are there, wondering why Groundpounder is there myself. Ooo, covering it up as a training exercise, ingenious. Ah, hired GP to brick off an exit so Jack can't escape. And it seems like Groundpounder wants a chance at Jack as well, creep has made a lot of enemies.

"A reservoir belt. Holds three liters of water, easy access. It's yours to keep, so make good use of it."

Excellent gift from Patience.

Now with Jack.

So if he needed a few days -- or weeks -- to hide until the more notorious tempers on campus cooled, it was as easy as locking himself in an anonymous lab in the depths of Whateley's infamously unmappable subterranean zone and messing around with his toy boxes.

He really thinks this will blow over in a few weeks, he must think he did a lot less horrible things than he actually did. *blinks* A delivery driver got institutionalized bringing pizza to Whateley, good grief.

Nukemburgers, Whateley's in-house energy drink, not legal in seven states, and Cryo-Cola. Interesting food items they have there. All that white noise dulling Jack's senses, perfect opportunity to ambush him. And he runs into Muliebris of the Amazons, projective empathy can be harsh to deal with. And StahlFaust is there as well, he would have been better off if Cally and Vic got to him first.

And the Worn Wrench won't do anything if Jack is attacked, he brought this on himself. Nef's there with SF letting her do the honors of beating this worm into pulp. Techno-bracers with force-fields all protecting Jack from serious hurt by Nef as she strikes. Knee to the groin, just what I was waiting for and what Jack deserves in spades. And Jack escapes using a flash bomb, rats.

And he runs right into Groundpounder as he tries to escape, too perfect. Masterminds working for the highest bidder and Jack is screwed, love reading the panic in his voice, everything he's done coming back to him. Bwahaha, idiot controls the sprinkler systems to weak GP, only to have Vic show up and he just gave Vic a lot of ammo.

A giant water hand smashing Jack into a wall, I'm loving this. Vic won't kill him, but he is taking him somewhere, let Jack stew until he finds out is like torture. Letting him loose for Cally to deal with next, Jack is either going to learn not to f*** with people after this or try and seek revenge but have it backfire on him even worse.

"You." The word was softer than the hiss it replaced, but it pressed harder into his brain. "You were the ringleader. You made the decisions. You made the plans. You violated Vic. You attacked me. You arranged the email to the campus..."

I would be terrified right about then, Cally hitting him with all the emotions she's felt due to his actions.

"You hurt Neff." Three little words bore more emotion, stronger emotion, than all the rest combined. He could not move, could hardly begin to think, as the trap stepped in close, took his head in her hands, and screamed.

There was no thought after that.

*eyes bug out* And this is why you should fear the soft-spoken, quiet ones.

Brita stays back hearing all that and having to hold Nef back, whoa.

"I'd, I'd make Cally tell me why," Copacetic finally said.

"Why what?"

"Why the lies. Why the tricks. Why the... why the everything!" An inhabitual frown had installed itself upon the girl's face.

"I would assume," said Brita, choosing her words carefully, "that it was to avoid the very series of events she has been living for the past four days."

"Wish I'd know before... well, before anything," said the girl. "Could've avoided some of the weirdness. Prolly some of the trauma, too."

Brita had to stop to hug the girl properly. No one should have had to go through what she had at the hands of Dick-in-the-Box. And now, no one would, ever again.

It sounds like Nef might wish to repair, if not their relationship, at least their friendship so she and Cally can talk about. At least I hope that is the case.

12:40 AM

--Calliope

Start to finish in less than 44 minutes to take down Jack-in-the-Box. Cally that clearly upset and in that state, talking to Erica about it and neither of them sleeping much of the early morning. Sounds like she either put Jack into a coma or killed him, yikes.

Meanwhile, at Castle Groenwald...

Gina Winifred Greenwood, Danielle, and her husband have a two-month-old now...great. All those specialists just to keep the look of her military jacket perfect, oh brother.

The man known publicly as Brian Greenwood, also as Bernhard von Groenwald and Agent Sänger, graced the hand of his wife, Agent Miene, with a kiss before she led the way to the mission staging zone. This was her show, and he knew she was going to kill it.

You just know whatever they are planning is going to affect the students at Whateley somehow.

Whateley Security, 6:00AM

Student in the hospice for the foreseeable future, so Jack isn't dead but in very bad shape, good. Jack was dumped 3 corridors from the convenience store alley, anonymous tip called in at 1:30 am. And Ping gave security the full log from Jack's little love nest where he almost raped Nef, very good. Jack in a coma and at the center of multiple criminal investigations, couldn't have ended a better way. Do feel sorry for his poor mother.

First Period, Powers Theory

Erica let Cally sleep in and just went to breakfast, now that is stressed and drained.

Arbolita was up in front of the class demonstrating how fast she could grow a flower from a seed with the right conditions while everyone took notes.

An interesting power, I wonder with training what she will be capable of. Talks to Vic about how much Cally appreciates his help, I hope this whole mess doesn't affect the friendships in the group.

Second Period, not BMA

--Dr. Shu

Dr. Hortensio Shu, his first name is Hortensio, now that is unique. Cally early for their counseling session, in much worse shape than even the talk with Erica made appear. And speaking her native tongue, saying those words but no translation, eep.

"A fairly normal teenager who has been mistreated and harmed, then given a chance to strike back," he said. "I would find it stranger if you had done nothing with such an opportunity."

A psychologist who actually treats teenagers like teenagers instead of expecting them to respond to things like adults, Shu could teach some of the people I saw when I was younger a thing or two.

Revealing how Meloetta changes to teach a lesson, so awesome.

"Just like that, she switches from lyrical and psychic to a flamenco-kicking fighter. We adapt to our situation, and sometimes that means temporarily becoming something else in order to deal with it all. The trick," he concluded as he flipped the figurine back over, "is to learn how to change back to our earlier state, if we can, or strike a balance if we cannot."

I like his own take on Yoda's saying, rings more true to me.

Third Period, Earth Science

--Erica

Hehe, Rah-Rah aka Alvina having two black eyes from BMA and little sympathy. Gets to sit by Chessa and a chance to game next week with Gazebo, fun.

"A new pilot aired last night, two-parter. One of those themed mystery detective shows, yanno? Only this one has a devisor for a hero."

Judging from the look on the boy's face, this was not a positive. "Um, and the problem is...?

"The title of the show is Drick."

Blue eyes blinked as the brain behind them processed that. "Oh. Is the, ah, the main character..."

"A genius who's prone to ranting and raving at the drop of a hat," Chessa confirmed. "Like, literally, someone knocked his hat off in the first five minutes of the pilot, nearly got a death ray to the face while he was spitting and screaming at them."

Now that show is just in poor taste. And messing with Marcus with dricking jokes even though he doesn't have Diedrick's, kids can be so cruel.

Mrs. Hastings even brings up the show and ask who watched it, half the class raising their hands.

"Let it be known," said the teacher in heavy tones, "that anyone caught making a drick joke or other reference tò̸͝ t͝͠h̷̛͘at͝ s̛͡h̷͟͝ow ͟will be treated to a close and personal demonstration of what a real Diedrick's Syndrome episode is like, ending in extirpation."

"Um, what the heck does that even mean?" asked one of the boys in the back.

That sawblade smile turned his way. "Would you like to find out?"

Very good reason not to make such jokes, eep.

"Grab your lab gear, ladies and gents! There'll be no namby-pamby sugar solutions today, oh no! We're heading out to the quad to blow some shit up!"

Boy, when Mrs. Hastings is in a bad mood and wants to cheer up she becomes even more of a fun teacher.

Lunch Period

--Shawn Barker, former ODS dud

Hehehe, love that is scared into avoiding the quad on his way to lunch, just because Mrs. Hastings did a laugh like that. Macarthur calling Shawn by the nickname, getting called a stupid nickname back, and then is told about what happened to Jack. And Backlash thinks Shawn is the one who ratted on Jack, even if they find out attacking her would make them dead men walking.

Gouyasse trying to grab him, a lot of arrogance in members of the ODS to think they can just push around others, even one of their former members. Arsi Khan and Saumer, telling them what is going on so of course, Arsi uses it as an excuse to convince him to start up the wrestling club again.

"American Mongolian Wrestling Federation,"

Cool name. Arsi doing Buzz Lightyear's expression, too perfect.

just before 7th period, Music Class

--Calliope

Nice that everyone is so chill about Cally in Music Class, knew Nick would be, he is just a chill guy. Just what kind of undergarment are they fitting Cally for?

"It's an MATD thing, they think. You know, Manifestation-Augmented Tissue Deformity? Instead of keratin, my hair up there's made up of these weird polymer strands that are each essentially a single long chain. I just let it grow out to the necessary length, chop it off, and send it through the machines I invented to process it." She beamed happily, though the intensity dimmed as she noticed the mixed expression on Calliope's face.

So Ngaire is the source of some of the material she uses in her own inventions, now that is useful.

And her hair is even cooler than I already thought. Weaponized femininity, I love Erica's aunt. That outfit and the attention Cally got in it lifting her spirit, she deserves everything nice which comes her way. 'Assault accordion', smart move by Cally not taking it to the firing range. Could be worse though, image a weaponized bagpipe.

"And getting extra practice in," Ngaire admitted. "Materielle's been giving me pointers."

Whoa, nice person to get pointers from, wonder if she will be made TA of the costuming class.

"My outfits usually hook directly into my musical engine," the girl began, "but for Cally, I've set up a series of miniaturized sound sensors tied into a central processor via bluetooth. The processor analyzes the emotional pitch of her singing in real time, then translates that into color images upon the dress material."

Now that is some next-next level work for a singer's outfit. And ouch, the pain in Cally's song, I hope all that's happened to her doesn't scare her off of relationships. Cally crying now because Nef doesn't love her anymore, like a stab to the heart reading that.

also 7th period, in the library

--Erica

Her first cultural mentor is Brita!

"Oh, do not fret. You make mistakes, but they are German mistakes, not American."

Seeing Brita be polite is strange for me. Ouch, had to watch Disney cartoons in German at her friends' houses because of her grandmother. *starts screaming profanities at Brita's mother* Just leaving her daughter with her mother like that, good grief. *winces* Brita's oma sounds like someone stuck in another era, sinful until proven otherwise just for being mutants is so backward.

Just when Brita was showing more of her background, to connect with Erica, she has to get that predatory look in her eyes while talking about not dating men anymore. Aww, Erica admits if she was attracted to girls she would be dating Cally right now.

"She will be amused at how the legend grows. But no, Val is perceptive, and a strong empath, but her ability to suggest directly with her power is limited. But you would be amazed at what people can be convinced into doing when they believe they can blame it on outside control... But alas, no. She can sense interest and encourage you to act on it, but she cannot create that interest in the first place."

If that is the truth of how Val's power works, then I've have been wrong about her brainwashing girls.

And Brita reveals she saw what Cally did to Jack, uh oh.

She eyed the other girl. "I was given to understand that you do not approve of..."

"Of transgender folk. No, I do not. The majority are a medical oddity at best, a psychological issue at worst. Calliope's sort is rarer, and far more female than most, but it is still..." Brita balled a fist. "It is... it still feels wrong to me. I may think it over a hundred, a thousand times, and it still feels so. It is not within me to accept your roommate for what she wishes to be, but that does not mean I cannot like her as a person or respect her for her actions."

Hhm, seems Brita is learning to tolerate others and control her emotions better, at least based on how badly she reacted to changelings in earlier stories.

Brita got up to leave, shaking her head. "I told you; Val can suggest all she wants, but she has to work with what's already there. That much vehemence does not just happen in a few hours. No... it is a sad truth of this world that we cannot know how people, how our friends or family, will react to our inner selves, should we reveal them. That is what makes such revelations so difficult. That is why there are things about me which my own Oma shall never know. No matter how well I might predict the response, I still fear what it may be. Ask your roommate; she will understand."

Dang, I couldn't have put it better myself. You can hope for a good reaction, but fear how they will react to your inner self when you reveal it.

Now with Saumer in Language Lab, I would go nuts with a memory for songs like his. Kirsten being nice to him, helping him with his German, but once he mentions Erica recommended the book to him her mood sours. Ugh, blaming Erica for her Nazi relatives, Kristen needs to learn not everyone ends up like their family. Kristen hasn't heard of Das Schwarz Auge aka The Dark Eye RPG, sounds like she is more into video games from her response.

Pre-dinner free time

--Calliope

Back at Dickinson and Alvina is hiding her face in a book from Cally. Milena and Ms. Plimsoll in a conversation and Cally is waved over, brought to an apartment which seems to be Ms. Plimsoll's. Detention for a known offense for an anonymous admission of guilt for Jack's state, only if Cally wants it. Yikes, all that just to do this and Ms. Plimsoll having to deal with it.

"Because you are hurt. Because you are angry. Those are not good things for a good person to be, because you have little experience working through it, and it will do more harm to you than anyone else. What the Masterminds offer you, Calliope, is a means of releasing those negative moods, to be the bad girl in a controlled, constructive manner, so you can continue to be the good girl in public. An opportunity to learn, to flex your mind and body in new ways, to gain new skills which shall serve you later in life. I have checked; fewer than one-third of the Masterminds alumni have turned to active villainy, and several of those were under duress. More have become actual heroes, applying what they learned here and being all the more effective for it. Like the assistant Headmaster's wife, to provide one example."

Cally learning that Tabby Cat was part of the Masterminds while at Whateley, hehe. I guess Cally could be helped by joining the Masterminds, never thought of it that way before now.

Erica trying to focus on her World History reading.

Approaching it from this new angle did not help, and so she let go of the book. Perhaps direct facial application would work better.

It did not. She groaned her annoyance through two and a half pounds of printed paper.

Bwahahaha, you have to wonder how many frustrated students have tried this. Erica convinced to go out, ends up in the common room where Nana greets her, there with her roommate Hannah, Mouse, Essemmelle, Mairead 'Multi-Task' Macadam, Tinker, and Giggles.

Great, DRICK is on the tv, 2 part pilot. When someone who is a part-time devisor actually gets a headache from how ridiculous the show takes things, you know it is rubbish. Those idiots at Castle Groenwald hacked television signals! And calling mutants a scourge sickens me. And this bitch is pretending to be the Green Cross when the real one is probably still on the loose, bad idea. She is trying to encourage people to expose the identities of heroes and villains alike, this would lead to all-out war!

Calling mutants accidents of nature and saying all secrets must be abandoned, the world's nations are going to be targetting her organization now. Unmasked and stating her name, Erica has to find out this nutbar is her own biological mother. Erica back in the dorm room so fast, crying into her pillow and Cally concerned, Milena sent to check on her.

"She... I..." The lump in her throat was impossible to swallow, so she coughed it out instead. "Ech. You... you can tell Hammer that I officially qualify for membership in your little anti-social club now."

"What do you... oh." One could almost see the brain cells working behind Milena's John Lennon spectacles as they compared the memory of one face, briefly seen, to the girl before her. "That was your mother," the RA said. "Well, damn."

And once more Cally has to comfort a friend as they cry. Cally is right though, they will get through this like they have all the other troubles so far, with friends and true family by their side.

(I think she threatened Nick with it when he wouldn't cooperate, which led to Tip declaring him a non-human and thus one of Skin-Horse's clients)

But a lot of it had been from her as well, stories from her old life in Italy, that she never told anyone else.

How much did they teach you about the glories of vendetta?

The donkey is leaving the stable. Sensible words in a nonsensical context. Much like everything else these days. She dialed back the number immediately.

Not bad, buuuut... Nah, I'll stick to Jack-In-A-Cage.

His roommate Tobias mumbled a "Good luck" as he left. Vic could only hope the words were heard by some higher power.

Author is on your side dude. They are usually vicious pricks, but they will give justice in the end. Usually *cough*Wildbow*cough*

Next to her was his partner in this current fiasco, Calliope. While they were technically on the same team, the so-called Mutant Mayhem Machine, the fact that the M3 hadn't actually done any sort of training together meant he was completely in the dark about what she could do in a fight.

And that needs to be fixed. Team Kimba 2.0 needs to get the 0.76 version of Don Assholo's group, the Attack Bitches.

A sharp clearing of the throat brought them both to attention. The woman called Patience directed them both to sit. On the wall, a flatscreen blinked, and then displayed a map of the local underground. "If we're all ready..." said the metallic voice from the phone conversation earlier. "Jack-Asshole is taking his own sweet time getting out the door. Estimated time of arrival at the convenience store is ten minutes. Security cameras in the corridors nearby will go out in fifteen."

Welp, I guess Mrs. Crocodile Tears remembered the Syndicate updated its policy for recruitment with a 'Unprofessional Losers Welcome (for being fleeced to the bone then discarded). Still, point for that one too, but professional pride exige I stick to my personal creation here.

Not that he hadn't considered inventing some sort of tele-pad, as much for escape as for ducking out to get a pie, but the initial tests had convinced him to can that one. He didn't want to go out for pizza, only to look like the pizza afterwards.

And i just bet that loser goes for Hawaian pizzas anyways. Serve him right.

It was a long list, but a quick search. Lashandra Washington. Muliebris. Exemplar 4, Empath 1, blanket projection. Amazon.

Hands off, Attack Bitches! This degenerate is reserved already.

There was a clap of hands behind him. He didn't dare turn to look. "Bravo, Dick-in-a-Box."

Totally impartial opinion? That one is pure shit. Way under Mrs. Crocodile Tears' level.

Oh-double-shit, that was StahlFaust. He didn't need his brain to pull up the details, though it did anyway: Brita Baumann, Exemplar 1, Telekinetic 4 brick, and built like a brick house.

But that is a given for someone doing only Stale Farces, eh?

Nefertiti Copeland, his brain provided. Copacetic, Exemplar 2, Regeneration 2, Paragon 1, dance and gymnastic focus. Skin like mahogany, lithe and supple, the face of an angel and the body of... well, he'd had high hopes of getting to know all of her better last weekend, before the Amazons had busted in. From the expression on her face, she was remembering that time as well, and not so fondly.

Can't even turn it off in mortal danger. Darin, explain this shit to me, please.

"Good going," said StahlFaust. "Now, ruin that face of his. We've had enough of that smirk to last us forever."

I wish the same could happen to your degenerate ass too, Stale Farce.

It was a shame about the groceries, though. He never had the chance to enjoy his Cryo-Cola.

Evil vs Evil, and it is still a loss for everyone who matters. Happy to know you still all know how to disappoint, Copacetic excluded.

"That's not all you got," Ground Chuck replied, in that voice that wasn't nearly as deep and menacing as the frosh would have liked. "Lotsa people aren't happy with you."

"What else is new?" he quipped. "Come on! Masterminds help each other out when the heat's on!"

*Shout across stories* Ditch that carpet, Glyph. Not only he is Mastermind, but he is letting that shit crawl in! Gideon was at least useful as a meatshield.

"We also work for the highest bidder, and she doesn't like you at all."

All is hopefully not lost though.

In the spray of the sprinklers, the new kid's face was hardly visible, but Jack's brain just wouldn't stop feeding him the details, as much as he'd like to tell it to shut the fuck up: Victor Rivera, Tidestriker, Telekinetic 4, hydrokinesis with a tactile limitation... His brain halted so fast that his ears hurt from the phantom record scratch.

I think Brainy also needs to tell you you just got baited. Hard. (See voctor? That's how you game tactile hydrokinesis).

He could see the kid's eyes now, because they were flashing blue with rage in the darkness. Then the light faded, and he heard Vapo-Rub say, "No. You're not worth killing."

Also, no killsteal.

Who... was walking in from the other corridor, skipping over the puddles as she made a beeline for him. For the last time that night, his brain spent precious seconds processing instead of doing anything useful: Fiorella Persico, né Fabrizio, Calliope, Exemplar 2, Empath 4, sonic component. The trap. How'd she...

Oh, it is doing something useful. It is telling you how fucked you are, and irritates you. Win at all the important levels.

"You hurt Neff." Three little words bore more emotion, stronger emotion, than all the rest combined. He could not move, could hardly begin to think, as the trap stepped in close, took his head in her hands, and screamed.

Feel the pain, motherfucker.

"Why the lies. Why the tricks. Why the... why the everything!" An inhabitual frown had installed itself upon the girl's face.

"I would assume," said Brita, choosing her words carefully, "that it was to avoid the very series of events she has been living for the past four days."

"Wish I'd know before... well, before anything," said the girl. "Could've avoided some of the weirdness. Prolly some of the trauma, too."

Yees, and I just bet that when she is between the Screeching Bitch's claws, the hurt just seems to fade and is replaced only with happinness?
No brainwashing, my soy-sauce roasted chicken ass.

She would still need to keep an eye on Calliope, though.

Afraid she'll smell the Screeching Bitch's work? You should.

She... she... her hands trembled as she stared at them. What had she done? Why... why had she liked it, rejoiced in it, even as the worst of all emotions poured from her? What...

Because he is a subhuman reject who deserved it all.

"I... I..." Tears were streaming, and her throat was closed by sobs. "I did something... something terrible..."

Terribly awesome. But I guess that pain is why you are a good person.

It was almost midnight. A low, plaintive cry broke the silence of the lower halls, where few busy drones still worked at this hour. The owner of those lungs did not care who heard, so long as they were heard, and they continued until a response was received.

A warm response, a safe response, smelling faintly of sweat and soap. Strong arms cradled, rocked, and a full breast was presented. Gina Winifred Greenwood, two months old and already a little commanderette, accepted it gladly with loud slurps and gurgles as milk went in and around her greedy mouth.

There was no noise at all for many minutes, not until a satisfied belch punched the air and a happy infant was laid down in her crib to sleep once more.

"Mission accomplished?" her father asked with a grin as her mother left the nursery.

*sigh* One more kid to deprogramm after your little wacky nazi scam is ruined, I guess. How the shit did she ever find her way with... That? It's not like she had an immediate family to glorify that shit.

Blue eyes, more sapphire than ice, showed her smile more than her mouth did. "Yes... How I would have killed for a break like this in L.A. So." Danielle inhaled deeply. "Shall we go knock them dead?"

Urge of discovering the Wolfenstein series rising.

"I hate this fucking school sometimes," he muttered into his coffee.

Only sometimes? Darwinian shit got to be more lethal than that in frequency.

"Anonymous tip-off at half-past one," Canterbury began, her eyes closed as she recited from memory. "A specific set of coordinates in the underground. Officer Pipps was first on the scene." Now she grimaced.

Lafayette chose not to recall the exact reasons why Pipps was on graveyard shift. Not pertinent at the moment. "Go on."

"The Thawne kid was found unconscious at the intersection. Beaten up, but no obvious reason for a K.O., according to Tennant. Lots of kids walk out of Tolson's AMA class with more damage. She's thinking some sort of power's in play."

Why complain? it's Jack-In-A-Cage.

"One last thing," said Canterbury. "Aster over in Cyber Security sent us an update about half an hour ago. Someone's produced a full log from the domestic system of that little love nest where the Copeland girl was being coerced last Saturday..."

"Do we know who that someone is?"

"Aster's not saying, so it has to be one of her protégés. My money's on Ping. But guess who's in all the footage?"

Now he leaned forward, feeling a thrill of vindication and thus more human than before. "Not the Grimsby kid, then."

And he is about to deserve his name. I'd say all is perfectly well.

"Okay..." A sigh flowed from his lips. "Don't, ah, mention this to Tanya just yet, please? It's, ah..."

"Gotcha." Grabbing his hand, Erica gave it a good, strong shake. "My lips are sealed."

Why? You delivered true justice, or at least as close as it would get, to a degenerate. Figured she'd be proud.

Though there was indeed much one could tell at a glance. The awkward, nervous girl of their first session was back in force after the more relaxed experience of the previous day's meeting. If anything, Calliope was even more withdrawn in her rocking chair, with her knees brought up against her chest and her face planted squarely down upon them. She'd been that way for twenty minutes now. His entire shelf of anime figurines was taken down, sorted, and re-shelved before she said her first word of the day: "Belin."

Sweetie, compassion, or at least grief and regret after chosing violence, is a nice thing to have, but don't waste that much of it on Jack-In-A-Cage. I can just bet you you weren't the first one.

That was not necessarily intended as a request, but the girl took it as such anyway. "L-last night, or perhaps rather this morning, I... I... I was given an offer, a chance to hit back at one of those boys who had made my life so terrible last weekend, and I, I..."

"Took the opportunity?"

"Si..." When she lifted her head again, he could see the tear streaks. "I... I am..."

"A fairly normal teenager who has been mistreated and harmed, then given a chance to strike back," he said. "I would find it stranger if you had done nothing with such an opportunity."

What the Wise Guy just said.

"Meloetta is special," he explained. "Just like that, she switches from lyrical and psychic to a flamenco-kicking fighter. We adapt to our situation, and sometimes that means temporarily becoming something else in order to deal with it all. The trick," he concluded as he flipped the figurine back over, "is to learn how to change back to our earlier state, if we can, or strike a balance if we cannot."

Calliope? Here is a role model.

"Did you get an email from Gazebo?" Chessa inquired. "We might have a chance to game next week."

"Um, haven't checked my inbox recently," she admitted. "It's been a crazy day."

"What, already?"

"It started early."

May Gygax and Arneson be with you. I already read the whole piece.

"I am sorry to be late," announced the science teacher, Mrs. Hastings, from the door. Eyeing Marcus as she passed, the teacher added, "I am guessing some of you watched the latest big detective program last night? A show of hands."

About half the class acknowledged, though no one seemed happy to admit it at the moment. Mrs. Hastings was usually a fun teacher to have, but this morning, her grin was like two sawblades, and her eyes were sharper still. Under one arm, she carried a box with far too many warning labels plastered upon it.

"Let it be known," said the teacher in heavy tones, "that anyone caught making a drick joke or other reference tò̸͝ t͝͠h̷̛͘at͝ s̛͡h̷͟͝ow ͟will be treated to a close and personal demonstration of what a real Diedrick's Syndrome episode is like, ending in extirpation."

Welp, Mutants also get insulting shows about their conditions... Huzzah for equality?

"Um, what the heck does that even mean?" asked one of the boys in the back.

That sawblade smile turned his way. "Would you like to find out?"

"No, I'm fine," came the hurried response. Nervous giggles across the room were quickly choked back.

Inch by inch, the stupid is scared away.

"Good." Inhaling deeply, Mrs. Hastings appeared to count silently, and her overall mien softened by a few points on the Mohs scale. "All things considered, I am changing up the lesson plan for today. I've not been in the best of moods since last night, so..." The teacher struck a pose, spearing the air with a finger as her lab coat flared out behind her in a dramatic fashion that must have been engineered into it. "Grab your lab gear, ladies and gents! There'll be no namby-pamby sugar solutions today, oh no! We're heading out to the quad to blow some shit up!"

Actual huzzah for the show I guess.

"Hey, Shake'n'Bake," the younger of the two said, moving in to block the way.

"Hey yourself, Mac'n'Cheese," he replied.

"It's Macarthur," the boy snapped. "Or better, Backlash. Show some respect."

No, it's The Idiot, period... What? I'm not using Attack Bitches things, were did you get the idea my standards would drop to the point I'd draw from Jack-In-A-Cage's garbage?

Muscles tensed -- to run, not to fight. He didn't doubt the outcome. "Respect comes to those who give it," Shawn said. "So call me Shawn, or Tremblor, or something else besides that stupid nickname. Jack gave 'em to both of us, and neither of us like it, so screw him."

"Someone already did. He won't be nick-naming anyone any time soon." That was from Gouyasse.

PLease, as if anybody had standards low enough for that.

The trick, he was learning, was to push the shakes in a direction they couldn't be seen, in that spot perpendicular to reality. When the Belgian attempted to grab him by the arm, he shook himself farther that way and slipped through Gouyasse's fingers, quite literally. From the look on the other boy's face, it hadn't felt that nice.

Pretty sure I want to understand exactly what that mindfuckery is... Do it again to him or another of the Pit's Losers.

"We saw MacMoron and Monsieur Drunky try to pin you," Saumer translated. "What's got their dander up?"

Nice spirit, people, and nice finds. PLease keep them and cherish them.

Arsi's eyes tracked back and forth as he attempted to figure out what to do. Then, with a shrug he lifted his cup and proudly stated, "To infinity, and beyond! Um, I am the doing it right?"

His roommate's grin could light a room. "Don't ever change, dude."

"Okey and the dokey!"

This is precious and must be protected at all costs. Preferably the trespassers and threateners' life though.

Nick was one whom she'd worried about, not knowing much of how the lumbering horse-boy thought of anything, but he'd only given her a very large thumb's-up in encouragement.

I'd say being a horse-boy open up horizons.

"Every morning," the devisor confirmed with a nod. A careful nod, what with the likely weight upon her neck. "It's an MATD thing, they think. You know, Manifestation-Augmented Tissue Deformity? Instead of keratin, my hair up there's made up of these weird polymer strands that are each essentially a single long chain. I just let it grow out to the necessary length, chop it off, and send it through the machines I invented to process it." She beamed happily, though the intensity dimmed as she noticed the mixed expression on Calliope's face. "Um, I didn't weird you out, did I? Oh no, I did..."

Shame Kaiju couldn't do something similar with her carapace.

Assistance could come in many forms, so when Ngaire suggested she make the walk to the Music Class mini-auditorium in the performance suit prototype, Calliope was in no position to refuse. The material was sheer but layered, shimmering darkly as she moved, and if it showed more on top than she would prefer in public, that was as much the fault of the push-up brassiere she had chosen for the day. Weaponized femininity, as Erica's aunt had called it when they'd gone bra shopping at the nice stores in New York City.

Eh, it works on more than 50% of the planet, so it is a go. Yes more than 50%, huzzzah to lesbians.

"Lo no sapero lusinghe d'amore... Canzione d'amore... veleni d'amore..." The words were true -- perhaps too true -- She'd known not the delightful temptations of love, the songs and the poisonous nature of love, until it was too late to avoid them. At home and at Whateley, she'd thought it come, only for heartache.

Nothing that breaking the Attack Bitches and their brainwashing bitch can't fix.

It should have been a quiet period. She should have spent it in Herr Auer's office, discussing her latest homework and compositions. That was the current plan, to ensure she did not become the receiving end of Kirsten's ire yet again. Much good that it had done.

Wasamon, please tell me we get to see that Wahnsinnig bitch gets to learn about Erica's grandmother. I want to see the moment her soul just burns.

"Gutentag," replied Brita Baumann, code-named StahlFaust. "Though to call it good," the upperclasswoman continued in German, "is something I am unsure of."

Yeah, I know. Nice day and all, and bam, Attack Bitch Alpha is polluting my scenery.

"Mostly Disney in German," Brita admitted, making an exaggerated grimace of shame. "And mostly at friends' houses. My grandmother, she did not approve of such things."

You're not excusing being Attack Bitch Alpha with shitty grandparents, Stale Farce.

Erica grimaced. "My own mother, she... when she learned about some parts of the family history..." The Nazi science experiment parts, not to mention being a designer baby herself. "...she did not take it well, and left. Went to seek her fortune in Hollywood or somewhere. She only came home once, to sign over custody of me to Oma and Opa, and in the decade since then we've only heard from her a few times."

if only it was only that... YOu are the fucking daughters of the ultimate Nazi Hunters! Just. Why?

"I believe I know what you are thinking," said Brita.

"What?" Erica wanted to know as well.

"How did someone with a grandmother like that end up here, at Whateley, and with the Amazons?"

Pretty sure the answer is precisely 'a grandmother like that'.

"Yes. Perhaps under similar circumstances to your own. We might even be teammates, in the future."

Argh, my soul, my brains, they burn! Please, Brain Bleach! I need to purge that vision at all cost!

"It might," Brita agreed. "Of course, our offer for you to join the Amazons is still open, even though we understand why you might not wish to."

Hopefully you never get the whole story, Stale Farce... This is totally happening next chapter uh, Mr. Ironic Overpower?

"So did I, at one point. Or so I thought. I've learned better." A predatory look had settled into the older girl's eyes.

Euh, can borrow a Creep/Rape-O-Meter? Mine exploded for no reason.

"There's not," Erica affirmed. "Not unless Valentina really does have the power to turn girls lesbian -- and even then, I doubt it."

Another laugh and slap rattled the table. "I shall have to tell her that one," chuckled Brita. "She will be amused at how the legend grows. But no, Val is perceptive, and a strong empath, but her ability to suggest directly with her power is limited. But you would be amazed at what people can be convinced into doing when they believe they can blame it on outside control... But alas, no. She can sense interest and encourage you to act on it, but she cannot create that interest in the first place."

Not with the power, you mean.And that's assuming you (or Screeching Bitch) are telling the truth.

Every instinct in Erica's hindbrain was screaming that it would be a bad idea, a terrible idea, a magnificently disastrous idea to punch the junior in the face. She almost did anyway, only redirecting the vector of her fist towards the table surface at the last blink. The crater it left on the fake wood went on to crack the unfortunate piece of cheap furniture all the way across.

What did this poor table do when a perfectly smug and repugnant Attack Bitch is there to punch? I cy would give you a medal.

"Of transgender folk. No, I do not. The majority are a medical oddity at best, a psychological issue at worst. Calliope's sort is rarer, and far more female than most, but it is still..." Brita balled a fist. "It is... it still feels wrong to me. I may think it over a hundred, a thousand times, and it still feels so. It is not within me to accept your roommate for what she wishes to be, but that does not mean I cannot like her as a person or respect her for her actions."

Euuuuuuh–

That was a large load of scheisse, but Erica let it slide down into the toilet of memory to be flushed away.

Danke schön, Erica.

Brita got up to leave, shaking her head. "I told you; Val can suggest all she wants, but she has to work with what's already there. That much vehemence does not just happen in a few hours. No... it is a sad truth of this world that we cannot know how people, how our friends or family, will react to our inner selves, should we reveal them. That is what makes such revelations so difficult. That is why there are things about me which my own Oma shall never know. No matter how well I might predict the response, I still fear what it may be. Ask your roommate; she will understand."

Erica understood all too well herself, for reasons she would never say to the junior. There was no doubt in her mind how that revelation would be received. So instead of speaking up, she let the Amazon leave, taking the few extra minutes to inspect the damage to the table before going in search of someone to report it to.

Conneries. That shit was there to influence thanks to Jack-In-A-Cage, tiny seeds that bitch could water all too easily, precisely because of that sea of little hurts always percolating inside the mind. Like I said, Pavlovian conditionning and emotional manipulation for vanilla brainwashing, with Screeching Bitch as a catalyzer. Disappointed you're not seeing it, Erica.Your world is more familiar with brainwashing than mine.

Tutoring sessions with cute German girls went a long way towards explaining the rest.

Some motviations are universal.

Erica wasn't there, of course -- she operated on a different schedule for some reason -- but neither was Brita.

That was too bad; the Amazon was actually quite a good tutor.

Still got to teach him a few fundamentals though. His ability to detect subhuman bitches is still lacking.

Though he was more of an audio man, there was no way his eyes could miss how Kirsten's smile morphed into a tight frown. The tones of her voice supported the shift. "I see. Well, I would be careful with that one. The apple does not fall far from the trunk, and the tree of her family has terrible roots. She is nothing but trouble."

Progress are ongoing though.

"I'll take your word for it," he said politely. In his opinion, anyone who liked role-playing games couldn't be that bad, and Erica certainly seemed nice enough when he'd seen her around campus. "Oh, have you heard of a game called Das Schwarz Auge? A friend recommended I look into it, since I'm studying German."

"No, I can't say that I have," Kirsten admitted. "It is a video game?"

"Tabletop," he said. "With dice?"

"Oh. One of those games. No, definitely not." She opened the book to the first story, 'Der Froschkönig,' and gave it a quick skim with her eyes. "So, where shall we begin?"

I like Saumer even more. Wahnsinnig? I'm not even surprised you find new ways to sink even lower.

Judging a person by their interests was about as useful as judging a book by its cover. In either case, it gave you a pretty quick idea of what their life was all about. Saumer was pretty sure in his judgments. Kirsten was a great tutor, skilled at explaining why sentences were arranged as they were, and good at answering any questions he might have.

He still liked Erica more, though.

Progress are ongoing, like I said.

"I thought as much. I take it you told him?"

A nod.

"And he is not taking this to Security?"

Another nod.

"And you're considering to do so anyway?"

A hard slump back into the chair, her teacup abandoned on the table.

Come on, the dirty little degenrate totally had it coming!

"Calliope..." The brief flash of concern came and left the woman's face faster than the eye could perceive, but she heard the accompanying jingle of emotion clearly. "If it is punishment, expiation that you require, then I can arrange that. I would be utilizing the same avenues which Mr. Thawne so abused, in fact. Provided it is accepted, you would receive detention for a known offense -- beating Alvina Baxter senseless, for example -- in exchange for an anonymous admission of guilt for Mr. Thawne's state."

"Would... would that work?" she asked.

"In most likelihood it would," said the woman, now speaking as Patience. "Especially as you did not kill the young man. I would strongly advise against testing the limits of this particular set of rules, however. As it stands, Security would be assured that the culprit was caught and punished. They can certainly figure out who did it, of course, but they shall let it lie. The doctors at the hospice would likely wish to know what sort of power did the damage as well, to adjust their therapeutic regimens. And I will most likely be having more than one uncomfortable conversation with the headmaster or assistant headmaster on my role in this whole sordid mess. I would much prefer not having to repeat the experience too often, if you understand my meaning?"

You gave him the out, Crocodile Years. You can pony up.

"Because you are hurt. Because you are angry. Those are not good things for a good person to be, because you have little experience working through it, and it will do more harm to you than anyone else. What the Masterminds offer you, Calliope, is a means of releasing those negative moods, to be the bad girl in a controlled, constructive manner, so you can continue to be the good girl in public. An opportunity to learn, to flex your mind and body in new ways, to gain new skills which shall serve you later in life. I have checked; fewer than one-third of the Masterminds alumni have turned to active villainy, and several of those were under duress. More have become actual heroes, applying what they learned here and being all the more effective for it. Like the assistant Headmaster's wife, to provide one example."

Tabby Cat felt more like an outlier for that crew, and she is slightly forgetting Jack-In-A-Cage was here too. On the plus side, you can tell Glyph about Carpet if you accept.

Patience saluted her with a teacup in hand, a rare smile gracing her lips.

She fixed your mess, Crocodile Tears, forget the smug.

"Woo-hoo! How do you do!" Hannah added. "Here for TV night? The show's about to start!"

She glanced at the TV. "What show... oh." The word DRICK had appeared on the screen, in neo-futuristic chrome letters reminiscent of 1950s science fiction. "My science teacher had some interesting things to say about this one."

Well, technically, it is all good. You got to blow up stuff thanks to it.

"Uh-oh, Tommy's having a temper tantrum..." came the line, spoken by one of the secondary cast members as the hero suddenly snarled and spat at... pretty much everyone, once the enemies had all been one-shotted by suspiciously accurate marksmanship. Apparently that was another symptom of Diedrick's, as far as the show was concerned. So was the ability to create a devise capable of breaching a vault door, using only sundry office supplies.

So MacGyver had Diedrick's? Explain many things.

The eisenkreuz, the Iron Cross, was one of the most recognizable emblems of Germany, right after the historically problematic hakenkreuz. Like four sharp arrowheads oriented to a shared center point, its design was stark and distinct. In this instance, it was also an emerald green.

Eh, get the show back! Hastings still hasn't reached the point where she'll allow the use of nitro for next lesson!

"People of the United States! Of Canada and England, of France and Germany!" The words were spoken with a German accent. Standing full center-screen, the woman wore a military-styled jacket with gold fringe on blocky shoulders and strange insignia on the chest. A gilded valkyrie mask gazed out at the world. "I speak to you today of a subject which affects us all, of a threat which for too long has been neglected, left to its own devices to fester and rot our beloved nations from within. This illness this blight, this worm in the apple of the tree of life itself weakens us as nations, as people, and as a species.

Je t'emmerde, connasse. Also, didn't need you to know about the Nazi Blight.

"I speak of course of the mutant scourge..."

Funny how your Führer had brown hair and everything. Must mean he was a nazi mutant, henceforth you are mutants too to be purged by your own logic... And I now need brain bleach for forget I was thinking like that bitch for a few seconds.

"That's not the Green Cross," she said. "I, I've met the real deal, last summer. We're like third or fourth cousins, something like that."

Oh, the petty bitches go for 'One Identity For All'. Budget couldn't get you more?

On the screen, the Green Cross was only getting warmed up. "And who is complicit?" she charged. "Who allows this genetic filth to spread beneath the surface, hidden in plain sight? None other than our heroes, they who rely on an unnatural culture of secrecy to maintain their masquerade. Capes, cowls, masks... what use are they to hide our identities in this day and age of smartphones and biometrics? No, the very mechanisms of law and culture which lead us to look the other way, to ignore the familiar faces behind the gaudy adornments, to overlook the obvious, to turn blind eyes to even the most blatant of secrets. In truth, we have it in us to expose every hero, every villain to ever hide their face, and to do it by the end of the following day!

Like your mask, bitch? Yup, Blatant Hypocrisy, alright. Nazis. I hate these people.

"How much harder, then, should it be to expose the unnatural posing as natural, to root out the changelings hidden within our midst?"

I so wish Erica don't get to have a face to face with you any time soon.

"And so, to all who would call themselves heroes, I lay down this challenge. Serve your species rightly and quit enabling this threat to our existence. Quit the pretense, the cheap charade of mask and cowl, so that the law may be properly applied. We work for a better tomorrow! A safer tomorrow, when no accidents of nature may destroy a house with a simple sneeze, or kill their friends with a touch. They hide in secret, and so to defeat them, secrets we must abandon."

Like you and the other bitches using that mask and identity?

"My apologies for not introducing myself immediately, but when I first appeared to you this evening, it was as the Green Cross. Now do I declare that my name is Danielle von Groenwald, for I would live in a world without lies, a world without threats, a world without the pollution which lies beneath the surface of society.

The acid vat is that way. You and the other goons can jump in, if you're last, you'll get your wish for the last seconds of your life.

"Cosa!" Cally was at her side in an instant, pulling her up and holding her tight. "Erica? Erica! What is it? What happened?"

Family hurt, and that is pretty much the worst that can happen. That shit should never be allowed to become a possibility.

Cally let her in, and the RA snagged a chair to sit down and stare at them both. "I swear, you two," she groused. "Why is it that you attract so much drama?"

You can lower it a lot by disposing of one Attack Bitch or two.

"She... I..." The lump in her throat was impossible to swallow, so she coughed it out instead. "Ech. You... you can tell Hammer that I officially qualify for membership in your little anti-social club now."

You totally need to cumulate that one with membership in the Capes, Erica.

"It will be all right," Cally promised in a soft whisper. "We will survive these troubles, you and I."

"Y-you think so?" she hiccuped.

"Certo che si, amica mia. Certo che si."

I suggest punching Nazis. It always feels right. And friends able to shore up for family members lacking in anything looking like decency.

Friday, October 7th, 2016

--Wahnsinnig

Ouch, having to be awake before the sun is up, I pity Kristen right now. Talking to someone online named Arni who is in Germany, trying to find out what he knows about the broadcast done by Danielle von Groenwald and anything he could find on her. And there is nothing on her, uh oh.

das Grünkreuz

know how to cover their tracks well. Crude, she had Erica's picture and Danielle's analyzed and knows they are related.

"Nein," she said. "Not yet, at least. She is a student here, and the school administration has made... well, they have made it clear that sharing student details on a public forum is verboten. If I am going to get into trouble for doxxing the von Abendritter girl, I want it to be for a good reason."

Dox Erica and there will be few places you can hide from the wrath of her friends, Kristen.

Erica trying to stay with her morning routine despite everything. Nice to see her jogging with Cally still. Just how fast is Avsel? Joined by Natalie 'Physique' MacAuliffe on the second lap, Erica has good people watching her back. That Emerson idiot trying to hit Kenshin with a cantaloupe, only for Kenshin to slice it into 8 pieces, one still on the tip of his sword. Now that is impressive.

4th lap and all those guys outside Emerson, Saumer, Arsi, Peter, Cookie, and even Fra. Wrestling and it is a match between Arsi Khan and Pete Foley, and Physique might just have a crush on Pete, she likes clowns, poor girl. Saumer as the announcer for the matches is too perfect. Hehe, wonder if Saumer heard Erica's comment about him watching too much WWE, could clue him into who she was before if he did.

*eyes bug out* Dang, Arsi is good. Did Arsi just manipulate the air, can't tell what he just did. With Arsi's training the others will become more dangerous in a fight, that is for sure. Bwahaha, Cally bopping Fra on the head for being an idiot brother, about time. Hugging and Cally giving Fra a noogie, adorable and sweet.

First Period, not in a classroom

--Wahnsinnig

Kristen meeting up with Trace of the Card Sharps Detective Agency when she should be in science class, she just can't stay out of trouble. Bergamot's personal file on Erica, ugh, Kristen, you are going to regret all this in the end. Ugh, she's one of those idiots who think Erica stole Daniel from the girls of Whitman, plus thinks the child will be like the parent. Oh crap, stuff on powers profile, please let it not be about Erica being a changeling.

2nd Period, Math

--Bewitched

The former Noah, now Nina, wondering if the troubles she had in school in the past were biological, heh. But realizes it was Noah's own bad attitude which had been the problem, good, someone who can accept the good and bad about themself. Old Mr. Boyd is the math teacher, those poor students. Having Glee talk in her head must make life interesting.

Hypatia is one mean-spirited parrot. Sam and Dave Darby and their cohorts, figures they would have issues with the class. Whoa, didn't think Glee would say something like that about anyone, guess she has her limits on niceness. Ms. Liebeck continuing the math lesson, are there two teachers for this class?

Hypatia has red feathers on her wings, a mutation for the grey parrot species. Though her point about the quizzes, good grief, she is brutal. Hypatia is the TA for math class, ack! Sam insulting both Hypatia and Ms. Liebeck, those two have serious issues. Idiots, thought Whateley was just a school for learning about their powers and they could avoid regular school stuff.

Great, backward idiots who don't respect females and bash on anyone who is different from 'normal'.

"Can't wait till we get on a real training team and have a chance to whup her gay-ass fake girl butt, aight?"

The Darby twins need a very harsh lesson and soon. Glee is pissed off, talk about hurting Cally has her upset and angry.

Uh oh, Glee has taken control and these two have in trouble.

The school uniform's skirt had gone from pleated to slatted, with stiff strips of leather like some sort of battle kilt. The blouse turned long and flowing, while the jacket molded itself into a breastplate. Her reflection in the window revealed a luminescent tiara encircling the space just above her head, with a central crest running to a point behind her. And there were big, poofy ribbons everywhere. They could probably blame their sister and her love of Japanese cartoon shows for that.

Now that is awesome, Glee has gone full magical girl battle-mode.

"We are the Instrument of Happiness." The plural came naturally; Noah couldn't rightly say in that moment where he ended and Glee began. "We are the Champion of Cheer, the Bastion of Bliss." How someone currently topping five foot five could loom, they did not know, but that was what they did now, standing high above the Darby boys. "We Are Not Happy With You."

Just, just so wonderful, like a love letter to shojo anime and manga.

Tried to hit her with a bubble of hardended air and it does nothing, whoa. And Glee pulls forth a weapon too which is barely held off by invisible shield, they really shouldn't have upset her. Darn it! They ran off right as she was about to punish them. Close the door in her face only for the Glee/Noah gestalt smash right through it.

"Incorrigible." The word shot from their lips. "Ignorant little chauvinists who pervert the concept of happiness with your base desires and puerile fantasies..." In their hand, the scepter glowed and altered, lengthening into a javelin. "You would hurt others just to laugh at their pain..."

They are in for a world of pain if someone doesn't intervein quickly.

The javelin duplicated and formed a cage around them, now that is fantastic. They are so stupid they don't even realize how they have insulted teachers, students, and females in general. The gestalt is about to fry them with Chill-Out shows up, upperclassman part of Security Auxiliary. Mention of detention, plus seeing the destruction they have caused, causes the gestalt to break apart.

"Just... walk me to Security," Nina said to the upperclassman. She turned away, not wanting to spare the twins another look. "Get me there before I have a complete breakdown, please."

Poor Nina, all this and those two still haven't learned their lesson.

3rd Period, Security

--Assistant Headmaster Falcon

Poor Nina broke down over 5 minutes and is crying her eyes out.

"According to her file..." said his wife and better half, Tabby Cat, "Bewitched experiences moderate to severe shifts in brain chemistry while under the direct effects of her spirit. She is already seeing Dr. Phillips on a regular basis."

"And what does the doctor say?"

"She says that Bewitched would be a textbook case of extreme bipolar disorder if she were a baseline." Tabby scrolled down the screen of her tablet. "Also, got some alerts. The folks in Doyle put a monitor on her -- with permission -- to measure the intensity of the mood swings. They say she just broke the damn thing somehow."

Okay, poor Nina isn't strong enough, Noah/Nina is living with something very serious and coping as best they can with help.

"You said alerts, plural?"

"Yeah..." She tapped open the other one. "It doesn't specifically mention her by name, but the Mystic Arts Department is making a polite inquiry into what the hell just happened and who the hell it just happened to."

Just what kind of power did the gestalt of Glee/Noah have to get that kind of response?

"According to initial estimates," said his wife, "but as they could not firmly identify what Glee actually is... it's likely they're about to revise that estimate upward."

What we just saw seems like Avatar 4-5 at least to me, could Glee be some ancient goddess who doesn't remember her true nature?

*rolling on the floor laughing* The Darby brothers codenames are Gassy and Sigh. Scared kids with powers who can fight back against those who treat them as if they aren't even human, boiling over is an understatement for attitudes on campus, more like a bomb waiting to go off.

His wife was giving him a Look. "No offense, dear, but you didn't grow up in this situation. The old chestnut about it not being paranoia if they really are out to get you? It applies to all mutants, sure, but doubly or even trebly for the TG kids. Threats from baselines, threats from other supers, threats from their supposed friends, if they're really unlucky -- that's a helluva lot to live under. Friends make it better, but..."

"But?" he prompted. This was the very reason he'd asked her to shoulder part of the load, when he'd accepted the position. Her perspective was invaluable.

"I mean, I was the only one in my grade year, and I doubt we had more than five in the entire school at any point during my stay. I had to keep my head down and get along because I knew I couldn't count on any of my friends outside of Poe to have my back if they found out -- and some of the other Poesies weren't too comfortable with me, either."

Yikes, Tabby Cat went through a lot, even other Poesies not having her back because she was a changeling, sickens me every time I hear about something like this. Two dozen TG kids across 4 grades, I knew the number was high but not that high.

A community so they have to a side and those to back them up when they choose to fight back, something the TG kids have needed at Whateley for a long time, imo.

"Risks fracturing our delicate little masquerade all the more. Those two boys already have detention detail from four teachers this week, twice from Bergamot. And DuChamp has noted their pronounced phobic reaction to spiders. He's addended a potential correctional course plan to take advantage of that."

Okay, no words can describe the Darby brotehrs, just how dense do you have to be to keep pulling the same shit and not expecting punishments.

"It's the Class of 2010, all over again."

"Oh dear, I hope not," said Tabby. "I fear so, but I hope not. As it is..."

We know the Class of 2010 has had their issues, but how bad will it get for the TG kids that Tabby hopes it isn't that all over again? Aww, Hawthorne and with Coldsnap, they are giving Noah/Nina an easy detention which might help each of the kids involved, glad to see Mrs. Carson's tradition continues.

3 days of not attending Basic Martial Arts class and Cally is missing it, ah, she is missing her friends in the class. Seeing Dr. Shu and at a Zen garden, and this is her detention, hehe. An hour or so cleaning the school, Cally got one of the nice detentions. WHATELEY ZENDO, excellent name for such a building. Dr. Shu showing the impermanent nature of the sand patterns in the zen garden, a pointless task to help focus the mind. A Zen class on Saturdays, that would be interesting to attend.

Not able to read his emotions, Dr. Shu is more certainly a fascinating individual. Saumer tried to explain to him the taste of his own voice, got Dr. Shu thinking about what is the sound of the color blue and such mental exercises.

Lunch period now with Erica and a squad of sophomore girls give her the stinkeye, one calling her a Nazi, ugh. Erica, I don't suggest family reunions with that branch of the family, for your sake and that of your friends. Kirsten greeting her like that, then bringing up who Erica is the daughter of, that bitch needs a lesson already. Kirsten, revealing you know she isn't a mutant just might get you expelled for having the information you couldn't know without theft of school documents.

"Let's get things straight," she spat. "It's Erica von Abendritter, because for all its baggage, that's still the name my grandparents gave me. And no, I have never denied having distant relatives that were Nazis, and while I could have wished to find out under better circumstances, it's still a relief to discover that my mother is even alive after not hearing from her for over a decade! And if she's a von Groenwald now, so what? That doesn't change how I was raised, or where, or by whom. My grandparents were heroes, and I can only dream of living up to their example.

"And as for this..." She ripped the file from Kirsten's hands and then tore it in half. "I don't know how you found that, but all I can say is, one day I was normal and the next day I was not. The reason was completely within my own DNA. I'm a teenager who can bend iron bars, and if all that isn't enough to qualify me as a mutant, I don't know what does! So, verpiss dich, du Fickfehler!" she finished in German.

Now that is how you stand up to someone like Kristen, with the truth. Glaring at Cally and saying that to her, Kristen needs some teeth knocked out already! And the B is oblivious to the fact 12 TG kids were nearby and could have ganged up on her, instead they chose restraint.

Bianca's Cone of Silence spell, so useful. Morgana is right, Kristen was extremely insulting to Cally and should have to pay for it somehow.

"Well, if she's saying stuff like that, all regular-like, then what might happen is she decides she doesn't like you, either? Or, or..." Bailey's face was all screwed up, and Erica could appreciate the feelings as she herself strained internally, doing her damnedest not to show how hard the sophomore's little slip had actually hit a majority of the girls at the table.

That attack on Cally was an attack on all the TG kids there, Erica is right, Kristen won't learn on her own, too stubborn and believes she is always right to admit when she is wrong or change her opinion.

Vic suggesting an ambush, Laura suggests luring her to one of the security camera blind-spots, Tanya thinks good guys shouldn't act like this and Bianca doesn't like the idea either. Rachel Altus warning them about the more severe penalties for student ambushes now, good to know. Ratel could read their body language and figure out they were talking about beating someone up, she is good. Oooo, a proper fight challenge for Kristen with the help of Rachel, this should be fun.

"What, everyone at once? No can do. That's a dogpile; not allowed. One after another? Good idea; it would wear her down, but... Section 1, paragraph 8, a student can only be challenged a certain number of times in a week, and not by members of the same training team successively. And this is assuming she's registered as personally open to challenges. Not all students are, even in the upper grades."

Dang, the staff have had this happen before. Western European Alliance and five-man team, easy for this group to match. Cally, Erica is right, the insult was to you, to get Kristen to back off you need to be part of the team which faces her team or it will mean nothing to the B.

So Cally, Erica, and Vic so far for the team, good bunch and Vic has gotten better at fighting. Tanya is so cute hanging on Vic's arm and joining the team for the match. And Morgana makes five, hope those on the other team don't have the means to push her and make her lose control.

At Whateley Security and they are watching MMM's table in the Crystal Hall, Canterbury worried they are planning something, Sgt. Lafayette worrying what will happen if they let them continue.

"Three faculty members are discussing where Ms. Bischofsheim might have come by her information, if it was accurate, and what to do about it. The leak, not the information, I mean. Two Security Auxiliaries have expressed concerns that a fight might break out in the next few minutes, and have announced their readiness to contain it. And..." His brow furrowed at the newest section of text. "And our group of lovelies has just been declared a Group of Interest by someone in the upper administration."

Wonder if it Tabby Cat who decided to be MMM's patron. And yes they are trouble magnets, hard not to be with the number of bigots and bullies on campus. Canterbury is Ratel's adviser, that poor, poor woman and the amount of headache medicine she must have gone through already.

Fourth Period, English

--Shawn "Tremblor" Barker

Sit silently and just read, even as a kid or teen I couldn't be quiet for a whole hour and I was a quiet child. Oh, there is one good thing about the rule, Darby twins have to be quiet for once. And Ratel is there to ask him a few questions.

"Fine. Condensed version: Gouyasse got Fra drunk. Fra blabbed. Upper membership went nuts. Crazy things were said. I can't confirm anything past that point because I spent all of Saturday watching other people, and camera footage contradicts most of what I could say. Happy?"

Well, that sure condenses everything from that meeting down. I have a feeling Gouyasse is going to have trouble from Ratel or she is going to tell MMM this and he is on Kristen's team, so they can avenge themselves in the match.

Music class

--Calliope

Ngaire can play a rondo with herself, what is a rondo? I tried looking it up but found nothing. Cally, these are the times you lean on your friends for support.

"Both, really. Most days he's a receptionist, working towards getting a medical technician certificate, but on the weekends he does amateur stand-up. Comedy," she explained to Calliope. "Jimmy's got a lot of haters, and not all of them are as polite as the Witnesses when it comes to shutting up and pretending he doesn't exist. So he gets up on stage and talks, makes jokes, normalizes himself to the audience while demeaning his detractors. If you're out, then stand proud -- that's the lesson he taught me. Either way, you'll be a target, so be a target that fires back."

Wise words. Introducing Cally to diss rap, this could go many ways. Lessons from Zapper on how to weaponize her music as diss rap, the bullies are going to be doing impressions of frogs trying to catch flies at this rate.

Fra out of classes for the day, at least he bruises have faded that much. Trying to wrestle with Pete and thrown to the ground, at least it is a friendly match. American Mongolian Wrestling Federation, Daniel's job in the cafe made him have to leave early but Cookie licks all comers into submission, who could resist such a cutie. Sam against Cookie and Saumer leaps into the fray, Pete and Arsi in a match again, they are having fun.

Shawn faced off against Pete, yikes, no wonder he is looking a bit ragged. Macarthur Price, just how many girls is he dating, creep needs to pay for what he did. Shawn is right, Mac has to have a weakness or limit to his power, wonder if the power testers have found it. Fra, stick with these guys, they are true friends you need. And Cookie knows when someone needs a good licking to take their mind off something, good dog.

Dinner

--Wahnsinnig

Kirsten seems to think all she did will result in Erica losing the codename she has and Kirsten being allowed to have it, she is in for a massive disappointment. Adrienne trying to be the voice of reason to Kirsten, a rough job. We know why you think Erica is bad news, Gouyasse, because of the friends she keeps. Fortenbras actually wants a match for their training team, your wish has been granted. Oh, going to try and use the rules for the team combat arena against MMM, doubt that will go over well.

Dickinson Cottage, 7 PM

--Erica

Erica crying into her pillow in private, I knew all the stress was getting to her more than she lets show. Talking with her Oma about this whole mess her mother and Kirsten got her into, and put on speaker so her Opa can join the chat.

Erica, when I was your age, I was designing surface-to-air missiles for the Fourth Reich. Your grandmother was in training to seduce me away from the dark side, or to browbeat me into submission if she couldn't. Neither of us ever had a chance at normal, but we still did our best to give that chance to Danielle, and then to you. And look what has come to pass. Some things are inevitable, perhaps?"

Hard to fight against destiny. Ooo, tactics chat with the grandparents, Kirsten and her team are going to have more trouble than they expected.

Fleuve Noire aka Adrienne le Floc'h and she can reverse the flow of tides, great. a natural counter to Vic. She can manifest and control water, uh oh. Can breathe underwater but panics if she is under for too long, a psychological limitation, but a harsh one. Kirsten helped her pass the swim test for their school.

Strong, helpful, friendly... that was the Kirsten she knew.

She wondered where her friend had gone lately. Ever since the start of the year, it had all been about the von Abendritter girl and her code name, to the point where she worried for her friend's sanity.

Obsession can destroy people, Kirsten needs to be in counseling for this already.

Ri So-yeong is her roommate, works in Doyle, at least Meatball is learning to behave better. Adrienne's brothers joking and laughing with Tek Witch, Magique, Acolyte, and Physique, and all the girls are glaring at her for what Kirsten did to Erica. Laurent and Jean-Marie, taken into one of the study rooms where she learns what la Boche[/quote] has done this time and worried she will drag their sister down with her.

And MMM are airing their grievances openly.

"Third paragraph," said Jean-Marie. "Read it aloud, please."

Her eyes flicked down, just to humor him. "Ahem. 'The sole purpose of this challenge is to address complaints against specific parties: Kirsten 'Wahnsinnig' Bischofsheim for her gross slander of Fiorella 'Calliope' Persico in declaring her a sexual deviant and pervert in a public space, and to Emile 'Gouyasse' Duval for his part in the activities leading up to the malicious attack on Fiorella 'Calliope' Persico this previous weekend... Quoi!?"

And it seems Adrienne didn't know what either of her teammates did. I like her brothers, they know if Adrienne keeps supporting Kirsten like this she will only be dragged down with her. What can Adrienne say to get MMM's trust but doesn't wish to, something for the boys' protection and protection of their family, this must be huge.

8PM, Twain

--Francesco

Movie night and Fra is having a hard time forgiving himself for what happened, always hardest to forgive ourselves. What the! Dumbo banned from school libraries for 'promoting the mutant agenda', good grief. Dumbo visiting his mother in the cage gets many to tear up, I know I'm one of them. Pete booed the circus clowns, heh. Sam walking with Fra as he heads out, and Sam is that scared of being out on a Friday night, what's happened to him?

Figures this group would hang out where the path splits to Poe and Emerson, former OGD idiots, hope this isn't an ambush. Sam's codename is Tiptoe, no wonder he can be so quiet you don't notice him. Moving through the hedges, smart, seems Sam has a power which can dampen noise, a warper effect, very useful in many situations I bet. Chat about their powers, Fra is right, super strength probably takes a lot to learn how to gauge the right level to exert on various things. Heh, should have expected a kiss on the check from Sam at this point, Fra. Just hope none of those OCD creeps saw that.

9:30 PM in Poe and Bianca ask Morgana about the freebie form-fitting outfit she got for the match, not the best but better than nothing. Morgana is going to use a color-changing spell on the outfit, royal blue, good color to go with her red hair. Wonder how long it will last during the match though, the outfit itself I mean. Unless you are invulnerable to fire most people will flinch back from it.

Morgana gave her friend her best innocent look -- which sadly for her wasn't that good. "My image?"

Bianca snorted. "The one you've been putting on, in BMA, about being a loose cannon who likes fighting and attacks without thinking? That image. And of course I knew, I'm your roomie."

Hehehe, figures Morgana was hiding her true potential, always good to hide things from potential or actual enemies. And once more mention of bunnies, until she learns who caused her to mess that spell up it will keep being a repeating joke. At least Morgana can joke about herself.

10PM, Dickinson

--Calliope

Cally has a very tall order in front of her, learning to diss rap overnight and one made specifically for their targets. I don't want to see Cally joining the Masterminds, she is too nice to do such things on a regular basis without it breaking her. Milena outside the door and wanting in, let in and she has someone else with her, could it be Ratel here to tell them what she learned? Oh, it is Adrienne, wonder what she can say to convince them.

Obsession with the codename, she has in the past obsessed over other things, sounds like a mental health disorder to me. And Milena prods Arienne to tell them. Jean-Marie was Marie-Éloise and part of the twins' mutation is they grow even more alike physically. Family more important than friendship, what she is saying targets Jean-Marie, wonder how Kirsten would react if she knew. Put on a show and use gossip from Arienne and Milena about Kirsten and Gouyasse, this is going to be better than I first thought.

Saturday, October 8th, 2016

----Poe Cottage

--Bewitched

Noah waking up as Nina, Glee saying she didn't think a late-night snack would hurt after all the energy they expended. Nina is so tired she just wants to stay in bed, can't even move her limbs, know that feeling all too well myself.

--The doctor-lady told us we need to keep to our daily schedule-- Glee reminded. --Getting up, good! Sleeping in, bad! Hup-two, hup-two, up, up, up!-- The spirit fluttered about the little space inside her soul, but couldn't raise enough lift to get Nina out of bed.

Nice to have someone to motivate you.

Chessa asking Pat to do his thing, the old jimmy the door lock with a card trick, fun. Ouch, prescription not taken since yesterday, not good. And some potent meds they have Noah/Nina on. Waffles, if that can't get you to wake up for breakfast then something is seriously wrong. A cinnamon roll from Daniel, Nina really is a mess to not perk up more being given that.

Myra's codename is Moonbrook, not sure if I recall that from an earlier story or not, cool codename. Jean-Marie le Floc'h is like Pat, interesting there is more than one student like Pat at the school.

The boy nodded. "That's why the two of them approached me first. Whateley Transgender Alliance, remember? I was able to talk them through it, vet their friends for reactions, and help things along. The system works," he finished with a thumb's-up.

And very glad the WTA is working out so great.

Danny 'Wilder' Fontenot having fried chicken for breakfast, yum. Poor Wilder getting teased by Chessa about Ratel being his girlfriend, without Myra there it could have been worse. And Nina gets caught up on what happened yesterday which she missed, including Sam kissing a boy he likes and it worked out and the challenge match M3 is in. News is easy to get around Whateley.

Tanya having to deal with her Saturday schedule being disrupted, thanks to Ratel setting up their challenge match. Jimmy can't believe he missed one cafeteria lunch and they did this, he should know what M3 is like by now. Ouch, that hitch in Tanya's voice when she mentions following in her mother's footsteps, some pains never go away.

Tavi in a cheerleading outfit because he thinks it is adorable, I've missed the little guy.

Tavi paraded its way around the table, skipping and jumping, doing handstands and then bouncing on its tail, and occasionally manifesting sparkly little pom-pom analogs to shake as it sang: "Fricka-fracka-firecracker! Shish-boom-bah! Invictus! Invictus! Punch 'er in the jaw!"

Bwahahaha, Tavi is priceless. Ack! The thought of Rachel with a VI like Tavi but in honey badger form is scary and funny.

Three Whitman girls blocking Tanya's way to chat, Caro aka Malefis, Bai-Yun the freshmen RA, and Thanagila the hummingbird avatar. And of course it is about the upcoming challenge match, saying it is bad for the cottage as well, Kirsten's rant giving the whole cottage a bad name...just great.

"We'll be cheering for you," said Thanagila. "But not for her. Do us proud, okay?

Kirsten really stuck her foot in her mouth deep this time.

Saturday 8am, Breakfast, Crystal Hall

--Erica

Erica wants Bianca, Laura, and Morgana to skip costume class to strategize for the upcoming match, when she takes something serious she goes all in.

Beside her, Morgana snorted in amusement. "Yeah, just remember to stop her if she tries to cast some on your coffee mug!"

Vic gave her an odd look. "You're joking, right, Morgana?" The redhead just gave him a look, then shook her head.

Okay, Erica is being a bit paranoid to cast such spells on a coffee mug, even with the enemies she has. Dropbear showing up to give words of encouragement to Morgana, heh, guess he isn't all bad.

Dropbear palmed Morgana something, curious what it is myself. And Morgana knows about the gambling about matches and those trying to get inside information to use.

Laura was still looking surprised. "Wow, I never thought I'd have anyone betting on me to do anything!"

Morgana just nodded. "Of course not, Laura. I mean, we won't even mention the Poe girlfriend stakes..."

"Hey! They don't have them...er, do they?"

Laura wasn't really comforted by the smirks on the rest of the Poe contingent.

Oh, who is Laura kidding? This is Poe, of course, they have girlfriend stakes which are bet on there. Wouldn't be surprised if there is a betting pool on which outfits people will wear each day.

Bianca and Morgana's room, Poe Cottage, 8.30am

--Morgana

A USB stick with data on their opponents, their powers, usual equipment, and their favorite tactics. Dropbear just made the odds for M3 a lot better.

Erica looked over her shoulder, then pointed to a folder notation. "It says something about Combat Final Data. What's a Combat Final?" Her query only gained a set of shrugs and puzzled expressions. "Never mind, now we can plan properly!"

They read about Combat Final and still have no idea what it is, love it, just because you know the name of something doesn't help you figure out what it is.

Kirsten going to see Étienne at what sounds like his private lab, well-hidden secret lab too. Pile of Nukemburger packages, good lord, there is unhealthy eating and then there is this.

"Do I? Do I really?" Étienne replaced the goggles over his eyes and turned back to the whatever-it-was that was his current project. "I see my faculty adviser -- in the flesh -- three times a week, and all my unavoidable course requirements are available by telescholastics now. Those Hawthorne students don't ask too much of me, either."

This guy makes me look like an extrovert, someone needs to drag him out of that lab for his own good.

Their team is the Western European Alliance, WEA, Étienne is right about finding a better name. And Kirsten trying to get Étienne to go along because he is part of the team, and lies to manipulate him, oh brother. Can't believe he would fall for such an obvious lie, guess Kirsten knows him too well.

Adrienne's information checks out, hope she quits the WEA for a better team after this incident is over. Gouyasse runs on booze! No wonder he can get alcohol so easily.

"Yup, there it is. Assisted metabolic boosting, temporary muscle enhancement via Shifter trait, secondary endocrine response, all ethanol-based."

Great, so he is a booze-powered Popeye. Moderate skin reaction to rubbing alcohol, wonder what kind of skin reaction. Kirsten is an inertial force and mass warper, this is bad.

"The Honorablee Gregory Bertram Frederick Crumbley, Viscount Stratford de Radcliffe. an honest-to-God peer of the realm. Or at least he will be once Daddy's finally passed the spot in the House of Lords to him, over that brother of his."

Gregory has a mouthful of a name and potential title. PK prosthetic arms, curious what kind of limits those could have. Étienne codename is Nonpareil.

"Devisor 4, electromechanical specialization."

Dealing with him is going to be tricky, no telling what devises he could bring. And the list of devises he's used in the past, that last one could disable Laura from the fight.

Rats, Laura's neuralizer impounded, that would have been perfect for taking out Gouyasse and probably Kirsten too.

"Um, which is why I'd like to revisit that allergy of his. The note says that it's a mild contact allergy, gives him a rash, maybe some muscle cramps. Any way we can leverage that?"

Yikes, now that is allergic reaction. Tanya has a very good point, don't use someone's allergy as a weapon against them, so many ways it can go wrong. Though I can see Cally's point too, after what he was involved in last Saturday I would have a holdout just in case. It may be a challenge match but I wouldn't put it past him to try and kill one or more of them and say it was an "accident".

Nina checking ou the floor mural in front of the main entrance to Hawthorne Cottage, made by the Class of 2012. Very interesting piece.

--Oh, silly-- Glee giggled between her ears. --That's all rumor, like how Poe's supposed to be for the really crazy ones.--

"That'd be more comforting if it wasn't the voice in my head saying it," she replied under her breath, then glanced around anxiously to see if anyone was nearby.

Oh, listen to Glee, she is right about Hawthorne. Just avoid the bathrooms in the 3rd basement. A good word from Mrs. Horton plus the two boys messing with the Hawthorne kids means it is going to be a nice stay for Nina.

Deborah Bardue

They finally married, yay!

What happened with Cold Snap, so many things which my mind is imagining right now. A fur coat to go into Noelle's room, uh oh. All that heavy shielding and that last device by the TV, just how powerful are Cold Snap's powers? Noelle has a spirit named Geniève.

"Ah! I'm so... Geniève... she, she just won't shut up sometimes. Oh, God... Half my family thinks I've got bilingual Tourette's or something..."

Now I see why they sent Nina to chat with her, issues due to their spirits in common.

"I wish Geniève was more like that. Truth is, she was kind of trying to kill me and my uncle before my Avatar power hoovered her up, and she's still a bit pissed about it."

Crap, no wonder Noelle is having issues, Geniève might be trying to drive her into suicidal depression with that history between them. Noelle is transgender, bet due to Geniève, triple-whammy on the poor kid.

--Ooh! I can help with that! Why, I know everything there is to know about make-up and styling and girl talk and sleepovers and...-- Glee was making Nina wish for a pair of mental ear plugs.

--C'est quoi cette connerie?-- Geniève demanded. --Tais-toi espèce de bruit pénible...--

The girlish litany paused in Nina's head for a second, and then: --Hey! I think she heard me, too!--

Now, this is intriguing, spirits able to hear each other and their host able to hear each other's spirit as well. And Geniève giving people a cold reception so Noelle doesn't even know how to properly take care of her hair, this must be corrected immediately! That hug Nina gives Noelle brought a tear to my eye, this girl needs all the friends she can get.

Those mats in the practice areas are great, I wish technology that can repair itself existed in our world. Those poor mats though, Ratel as M3's personal trainers must put them through a brutal regime. Nice suits for all of the team, though I hope Morgana can design her own soon. Erica, you have to understand there are some things people won't do even if it means losing, Laura doesn't wish to use such a thing so I would drop the matter or carry it yourself. At least Brita is being nice to Erica, similar history and all.

"Ah, danke," said Brita. "I honestly do not know how I would react either way, but... danke. And... go punch out that Arschloch Gouyasse's teeth for me. That's the least that drunkard deserves."

I hope he is put in Doyle for all the shit he has done.

12:15, P.A. System

--The Announcers

Every television on campus had a connection to the public address system, though few knew the override codes to forcibly change the channel. For an announced event such as a long-awaited grudge match, there was no need to force anything, and TV sets in every dorm were tuned in.

Didn't know the PA system could do this, very useful in an emergency. Playback from Twain the announcer, Combat Match Arena 22, just how many are there are on campus, the highest number we've seen is 99.

With me are my roommate, Salkhitai-khûn..."

"Sain uu!"

"...that's 'hello, y'all,' in Mongolian, I think. Anyhoo, also with me is our fellow Twainee, Sedrynnor."

Good group of announcers so far. Tidestriker is Sedrynnor's roommate, so we have another rooting for M3.

"That's right, roomie. So let's announce our competitors! In the blue corner, we have the Western European Alliance! That's Wahnsinnig, Gouyasse, Fortenbras, Fleuve Noire, and Nonpareil!"

The way Playback is announcing M3 you'd think he has a crush on more than one of the girls. Either that or he is mimicking professional wrestling announcers.

Nina and Noelle watching the match on the TV in Noelle's room.

"I, I wasn't sure that was an option..." Noelle finally said for herself.

--Quoi!?--

"Honestly, it's probably safer to be out as a lesbian than as trans," Nina admitted. "But yeah, Cally... I was, ah, having a really bad time of it a few days back, and she sat with me and just held me all evening. And gave me a goodnight kiss," she added.

--It was a goooooooooooooooooooooood goodnight kiss!-- said Glee. --So good that I was feeling it, and I don't have lips! Let's do that again sometime.--

And the other side of having a spirit, like having a constant sibling around who can embarrass you easily.

Ouch, Adrienne not worn her combat suit since the combat finals last June and filled out more since then. Kirsten that cocky must not have heard some of the chat about her since the morning incident. *facepalms* Can't believe her younger brothers did that, as if this whole thing isn't embarrassing enough already they draw attention to Adrienne by only cheering for her along with their junior high friends.

Kirsten waving off Adrienne's concerns because she is the more experienced of the hydrokinetics, experience counts but sometimes power and ingenuity count for more. Tidestriker tearing through her water barrier that fast, so they met and hide within a swirling wall of water to keep Kirsten or the others from knowing what is going on.

The discomfort in her stomach was appeased by the realization that she might not have won, anyway.

Like I said, experience matters but enough power can tip the balance.

A waterspout at the center of the arena, dang, Adrienne and Tidestriker together are potent. Kirsten trying to adapt her plans, Tanya hits Gouyasse hard but he doesn't feel it for now, rats.

Étienne's combat suit was sporting a partial exo-frame, a sturdy skeleton of metal bits and plastic joints designed to absorb and redistribute the recoil from the many guns he had attached to it. She had intended to overwhelm the von Abendritter's defense with them -- and still could, hopefully -- but they had to deal with the immediate threat.

If those weren't rubber bullets...

Erica going to help Tanya only to be blocked by Fortenbras, his PK gauntlets are impressive, glad Erica caught his attack. Darn, PK finger just fades out with no harm to him. Erica calls in Morgana to take care of Nonpareil, goes to kick him in the groin, and broke her foot on the force field he had protecting that vulnerable spot. Surprised more guys don't find ways to protect themselves like this actually. *winces* It seems Morgana hit hard enough to short out the force field device and now Nonpareil is in pain.

Loving the announcers commentary, such a welcome change from Gen 1 with Peeper and Greasy.

Why is Tidestriker's right arm itching in the same place it has for the past week, could something have happened in last Saturday's fight and he needs to go to Doyle to have it checked out? Who is Gouyasse going after, why would someone tell Morgana to flame on? Things have gotten hectic really fast.

Gouyasse bearing down on Morgana, so that was Vic saying he was on his way and to flame on, what has he got planned? A torrent of water like that hitting right after Morgana got her flames going that hot, there is going to be a lot of steam in the arena soon.

A massive rush of steam bubbles needing to go somewhere, right now. Vic needs training in seat-of-your-pants strategy. *eyes bug out* Dang. That was a big steam explosion, Gouyasse blasted hard and Morgana's training outfit doesn't sound like it survived intact, hope it isn't completely trashed.

Kirsten going to try and take down Tanya with beanbags and hackie-sacks.

Long and dedicated practice had given Kirsten a fastball pitch worthy of the American minor leagues at the least, and her warping talent magnified the little projectile's inertia to heights not accountable by the standard model of physics. When the little beanbag hit the flying purple brick, it was carrying far more kinetic force than was necessary to smack the girl out of the air.

Crud, her power can make a beanbag do that, potent power. At least she caught Adrienne and doesn't suspect a thing.

She had opened herself up to it, lowered her shields, and the emotional notes of everyone in range had come rushing in to perform a symphony within her skull. The ears on the other side of her brain heard the clash of Erica and Fortenbras's dominating personalities as a crash of cymbals, while Vic and Adrienne's cautious dance was a minuet of suspicion and care. Kirsten's personality advanced itself in grand notes, many of them out of pitch and off-key, while Gouyasse... She shied away from that one, keeping one layer of mental shielding up to filter out as much of his input as she could. It was almost a relief to feel the chaotic jumble that was his confusion and pain.

This is such a wonderful description of how Cally senses emotions around her. Woohoo! Cally's rap is amazing, I don't want to imagine how long it took to get right. With the distraction Erica is able to take him down with one punch, loving this fight.

Whoa, the rap at Kirsten is just plain brutal.

"You ugly, awful fake-girl!" the sophomore screamed. "You ridiculous caricature of a female with who-knows-what between the legs! A freak! A perversion! The title of das Eisenmädel could never belong to one who would befriend the likes of you, you..." Kirsten's rant slowed as it dawned on her that the challenge fight was still being televised live on campus TV. "What are you making me say!?" she demanded.

"Nothing that's not already in your heart," said Erica, facing off against her. "And we've never had to make you talk about anything. You run your own mouth off well enough, Miststück."

And of course she tries to blame someone else for what she says, Kirsten has serious issues with not taking responsibility for her own actions and words.

Erica trying to go after Kirsten only for Kirsten's beanbags to hit hard, but Erica is focused on defense and testing Kirsten's defenses. Ouch, Vic slightly boiled, at least Tanay got him to the student medic before going to help out Erica. Crap! They are doing good against Kirsten until Cally is suddenly cut off. Gouyasse looming over Cally, fueled by 3 empty flasks, things are looking very bad.

Erica kept the surprise bomb in case but it seems to have slipped off in the chaos of the fight. Tanya spots the bomb and lobs it into Gouyasse's back, causing a severe reaction and he falls to the arena floor in pain. Kirsten demanding what they did, Tanya didn't want this and emergency medical coming in.

In the arena's changing area Vic tries to comfort Tanya despite his own pain, while Morgana is having an emergency cast placed on her foot. Tolman there and upset they knew about his allergy yet not how severe it was, and yet used it anyways. Tanya on the verge of puking after what she had to do, she will need counseling for this. Separately debriefed and detention detail, better than I thought would happen.

After that, we shall see to the detention details. I believe Mrs. Bardue would welcome some more help in Hawthorne. And after that, we can discuss the real punishment detail."

Eep. A Pyrrhic victory, this didn't solve their problem and just caused more.

Geniève isn't wrong, what kind of bullshit is this, Whateley is a crazy school. Geniève causing trouble for poor Noelle, wish there was a way to reign her in so Noelle could have a life outside her room in Hawthorne.

--That is not nice!-- said Glee. --Bad bitter disembodied spirit! Bad!--

The two fully corporeal members of the conversation giggled as the frosty ghost sputtered with indignation.

I hope we get to see more of Nina and Noelle together in the future.

Great, I knew this would happen, now Kirsten is more determined than ever for another future match between them and M3.

"Does there have to be a next time?" asked Adrienne. Her red hair was still frizzed from the steam treatment. "Can't we just let it be for a while? This is getting tiresome, Kirsten."

"This is a point of honor!" the German girl declared. "Of duty! We must defend ourselves and our school from von Abendritter -- no, von Groenwald's infiltration! If we cannot drive her from this school, I do not know what..."

"Enough, please," said Adrienne. "This... this is... I am tired," she said lamely. "My brothers are having a party out there for the little concert. I think I shall join them for a while. Au revoir, Kirsten. Gregory."

Like I said earlier, I hope Adrienne gets onto a better team and some better friends as well.

Oh brother, her back-up plan is to go to security about Erica and her "threat" to the school. And she went to Commander Everheart, she just made a critical mistake.

A deep breath helped fuel the outpouring of words to follow. "I regret to inform you that a Fourth Reich organization, das Grüne Kreuz, has successfully infiltrated the freshman class." She presented her folder at arm's length. "Here is all of the data that I have available, collected over the last three weeks. You will find it all quite damning, I am sure."

I hope Everheart doesn't fall for this, she is better than that.

"Why, expose her! Remove the infiltration, root and branch!! Inform the German Volksherrenbüro of her perfidy, that she may be stripped of any honors or trusts bestowed upon her!!! She is a threat to us all!!!!"

"You do realize," said Everheart in too calm a voice, "that much of this data is taken from the school itself?"

"But there is other data which provides new perspective."

"Perhaps." The commander closed the file and placed it on the desk. Steepling her fingers, she stared at Kirsten. "What of Ms. von Abendritter's family?"

Kirsten seems to be digging herself a very deep hole here.

"Ms. Bischofsheim, you do realize that up to now you have been skirting dangerously close to the edges of the infamous Whateley Neutrality Agreement, yes? Simply put, we do not bring family into the picture. Your performance in the cafeteria yesterday toed the very line of the letter of the rules, and today your toe is touching that line from the other side entirely."

The words did not quite fit together straight in Kirsten's head. "Excuse me, commander?"

A loud sigh of annoyance swept the last of the silence from the room. "Have you had your annual school psychological exam yet, Ms. Bischofsheim?"

Good, very good, someone finally tells Kirsten how far over the line she has gone and she needs a psychological exam, it is about time. And she actually believes this is all to protect her from being discredited and prove she is of sound mind, Kirsten is so far gone it isn't funny anymore.

The Music Department's portable stage is so handy.

It was such a relief when Nick placed a yellow plastic bucket with a smiley face over the old founder's head.

Never did like that Noah Whateley statue, like it always watching. Ngaire in her Electradyne performance outfit, Dalton on his keyboard, this is going to be a great concert. Friends from M3 and Poe Cottage holding the middle ground of the audience, Tanya and Vic off on their own, so cute. Adrienne with her brothers and the junior high faction, Fra with his new group of friends.

Crud, the Amazon corps there, just what isn't needed right now. At least Nina Blake cheering her on helps Cally focus again, I hope they can date eventually.

Look inside...
Look inside your tiny mind,
Now look a bit harder,
'Cause we're so uninspired
So sick and tired of all the hatred you harbor.

So you say
It's not okay to be gay
Well I think you're just evil
You're just some racist who can't tie my laces
Your point of view is medieval...

Fuck you
Fuck you very, very mu-u-u-u-uch
'Cause we hate what you do
And we hate your whole crew
So please don't stay in touch.

Fuck you
Fuck you very, very mu-u-u-u-uch
'Cause your words don't translate
And it's getting quite late
So please, don't stay in touch.

Na na na na na na, na na na na na...

I guess I just lost my girlfriend
I don't know where she went.
So I'm gonna stick with my friends
I'm not gonna take her shit.
I got a brand new attitude
And I'm gonna where it tonight.
I wanna get in trouble.
I wanna start a fight!

Na na na na na na na, I wanna start a fight.
Na na na na na na na, I wanna start a fight!

So, so what?
I'm still a rock star.
I got my rock moves,
And I don't need, you
And guess what,
I'm having more fun
And now that we're done
I'm gonna show you tonight
I'm alright, I'm just fine
And you're a tool...
So, so what?
I am a rock star.
I got my rock moves,
And I don't want you tonight.

Na na na na na na na, she's gonna start a fight...
Na na na na na na na...

Now that song shows how much Cally has grown and changed since coming to Whateley, so perfect I could feel the emotions while reading it.

More than two dozen students joining her in the refrain, now this is epic.

As the song ended, she replaced her microphone and ran out to her friends, who were laughing and crying and cheering her on. She hugged and was hugged, kissed more than a few faces, and reveled in the rush of positive emotions like nothing she'd felt in the longest time.

"We're not going to let them get to us, are we?" Erica asked her.

"Certo che no," she replied.

The perfect way to end this story. All of them have been through so much together, but Cally has grown so much it is amazing.

The whole story arc of all the Dorms of Our Lives stories, it is the kind of tale I love to read and enjoy. To see characters grow and change over time, learn new things, sometimes abandon old things which aren't needed anymore or hurtful now, and simply to live life as it comes with the help of your friends and family. I'm so overwhelmed by this final piece and how it wrapped so many things up nicely I can't think of more to say.

But I will say I can't wait to read more stories in the future, including with the newly introduced Noelle. Her part may have been small but it had an impact. And especially want to see what happens in Cally and Erica's lives in the future.