Question A Tenuous Blade

So the first story of the Fall 2007 story arcs has started, bring with it another new - though long anticipated - Freshman changeling. Hmmn, that makes, let me see, Roulette, Knockoff (or whatever codename she now has), Shadowdancer, uhm, if I am not mistaken Envy and is a Junior even if she is coming in new to Whateley, and both Ribbon and Karen Taliesin will be a sub-freshmen, so... five MTF froshes this year so far, and eight total new female changelings? Mrs. Horton will be busy even with Lanie's help, just with the changelings alone... of course, that's nothing new after 2006-07.

Notably, none of the Dream Team are mentioned directly, nor is Diamondback - which implies that either Sandra is now with the DTs, or else her astral powers (which she was still unaware of last we'd heard, back in December 2006) have been bound in a more permanent fashion than previously shown. Also, we seem to have indirect confirmation that Nimbus isn't even remotely human, given how Frank/Erin perceived him. I wonder what Ecila might say if anyone bothered to ask her... and if they would be sane after hearing the answer.

You're not including any of Morpheus' characters that are waiting in the wings. Glow, or Sphere, Absinthe, and their small army of supporting fanfic characters. I suppose that technically we don't know for sure that those characters will be arriving, but Kristin did say that "Morpheus has been waiting eagerly to sweep in and fill most of the cottage himself" in last week's update, so I think it's a safe bet.

I think that we've got a lot more than 5 changeling freshthings this year.


Now, on to my miscellaneous stream of consciousness reactions while reading! [with brackets for later editorials]

Major marathons? Are there lesser marathons? Aren't all marathons the same length?

Oooh! I bet it's a boomerang knife! Boomerang weapons are fun. Everyone should have boomerang weapons. [by boomerang weapon I mean one that reappears whenever you lose it]

Oh! Frank is what stopped Kayda when she tried to wander out of school. Which story was that again? Now I'll have track down and reread that scene.
I guess it was before Jamie's murder. [it's in Now the Real Learning Can Begin, Chap 4. Incidentally, there's a timestamp error on the scene right after it]

[regarding Jamie's comment about how sticking around will make it hard for his friends to accept his death] Well, I guess that explains Hank. [Yes, I know that grief is a valid response to tragedy. I'm being flippant, not ignorant.]

Maybe Jamie's being tied to Sara (rather than something malevolent) because she's trapped?
Nope, it's definitely Hekate's Master

April 30th? How'd we go back in time? Oh, wait, that says August. That makes sense now. [Maybe I should learn how to read]

Hm… I wonder what these “events” were that distracted the administration. Sounds like a story!

Wow… for someone who wanted so much to be a better tour guide than Belle, Ayla really sucks at explaining things to someone in the same boat that he was in.

Maybe you should do some tests before using the weird magical knife as a weapon.

Ahh… That ending was adorable. If ever so slightly diabetic.

Just a quickie.
""But just think how much more fun it would be for Erin to play with them if they were larger..."

Should the be Lexie there?

Unless their stories get changed a lot neithr Sphere nor Absynth shoud be there yet. They both arrive after the start of the year. Jinx should be there though.

I will say this though, when word gets out on whom he met in his early visits to the astral plane, things will get interesting

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Wow… for someone who wanted so much to be a better tour guide than Belle, Ayla really sucks at explaining things to someone in the same boat that he was in.

To be fair, there is more than likely a scene right before the "explanation of Poe" that was quite obviously cut to protect the identities other new changeling students (particularly the ones we already know but haven't made it to Whateley in their stories yet), where everything was explained much more clearly, and with more sympathy.

What was it they said about the NSA... don't worry about whether they can get all your data... worry about the day that they can ignore the parts of your data that don't matter.

Can I get a link to that? Or was that just made up for this? 'Cause it sounds like an interesting idea/comment/thing.

Also: Typo:

"undressand" -> "undress and"

Very nice, although I think that for all the questions that this piece answered that I had more questions at the end of it (which may have been the point). And it is nice to see someone who gets to be an Exemplar and gets weaker because of it, which I'm fairly sure has been discussed before but I don't think we had an actual canon example.

Isodecan wrote: Very nice, although I think that for all the questions that this piece answered that I had more questions at the end of it (which may have been the point). And it is nice to see someone who gets to be an Exemplar and gets weaker because of it, which I'm fairly sure has been discussed before but I don't think we had an actual canon example.

Though if you think about it, based on the general trends with exemplar BITs, and what they seem to be influenced by, it actually makes sense in this case, Frank is the child of a competition-centric parent, and while he was athletic, he wasn't competitive, and never wanted to be, so his BIT would reflect what he would view as being non-competitive. Similarly Trevor James Goodkind had the image of his mother as his model for "overcoming adversity and pain through learning and determination", before manifesting, the most significant figures in Al Morgan's life where his kids and grandkids, more specifically his daughters and granddaughters- as they brought happiness to his grim tenure as a cancer patient. I am of course in need of more POV exemplar origin stories particularly for the exemplar changelings that don't identify as the opposite gender to their sex before manifesting and notably the ones that still identify as their original gender after manifesting to round out my theory-crafting about exemplar changes, but it seems to me, exemplar BITs are determined not by the mutant's self image per say, but rather the image that reflects what they want to be, even if that image is more figurative than it is literal, which is where you get the exemplars that disagree with what their BIT says they should be. As for GSD, I have a feeling that it reflects the emotional state at the time of manifesting or GSD kicking in, and the image that brings, Puppet was raised in a family that treats mutation like the plague, a toxic, corrosive sickness in society, Fireball was angry and fighting whom she saw as the devil when Ayla triggered her GSD... Now that makes me wonder, what happens if Phase goes disruption light through a homophobic/transaphobic Exemplar who is associating Ayla with the subject of their bigotry and triggers GSD? We know that another GSD triggering by Phase was at least planned to happen, I mean its a Chekhov's gun for crying out loud...

I almost missed a very important detail!

"If I'm not needed, I think I'd better check on the Sophomore lounge. The Kimba girls have been unexpectedly quiet so far this year and it's making me nervous."

Now this uncharacteristic behavior can only mean a few things unless there was a tragedy and someone died, even then they would be more active.

1. they're plotting
2. they're scheming (plotting looks different)
3. they've made an improvement to their anti-eavesdropping techniques that doesn't associate them with people who like trashy subjects, and this is a trial run.

Phase and Puppet aren't good examples for any theory about BITs, because all indications are that their mutations were artificially induced, and that their BITs are unnatural because of it.

Interesting character, a very light and easy story that was enjoyable. I look forward to seeing how Esoteric develops and to seeing how some of the questions that have arisen are answered.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Phase and Puppet aren't good examples for any theory about BITs, because all indications are that their mutations were artificially induced, and that their BITs are unnatural because of it.

While their genetics were modified, several sources indicate that BITs are not connected to genetics or DNA, so as to if the BITs themselves are unnatural or what would have happened if they manifested naturally, is anyone's guess. All indications are that BITs themselves are prohibitively complicated to mess with with anything that resembles reliability. Also we see indications of the same sort of trend enough to reason that they are good examples despite the nature of their mutations. And Nimbus is in the business of causing panic- mass panic by the looks of things, I think it is more likely that rather than effecting BITs themselves his goal would be to cause them to trigger and do so spectacularly (might explain Tisiphone), and introduce a sort of agent to ensure the genes are there, attempting to turn the Goodkind Family into essentially the Typhloid Mary's of mutation, but we don't have enough information on him to be certain.

From Phase's spin in the BIT-slicer:

Ayla and the Birthday Brawl wrote: Meanwhile, the readings on Phase were getting even more peculiar. It really looked more like Phase had a BIT hacked together from a dozen other people, and they weren’t inter-relating well. No wonder Phase was so uncomfortable in her own body.

There's a couple lines earlier about it too, but that quote really gets to the heart of the matter. Ayla doesn't have a normal BIT. In theory that could be natural (Jade doesn't have a normal BIT either, and as far as we know her manifestation was natural), but considering that we know that Ayla's manifestation was induced artificially (in a Mythos ritual that required the sacrifice of many souls), I think the odds are against it.

After the rebuilding of Poe, they put all the hammocks and ropes and stuff back in the Freshman Lounge?

I do like Fubar's 'constant,' "That's someone you should meet. Introduce yourself." Comments to Frank/Erin.

Okay, there are a few holes in this story to allow other new characters their proper introductions. That's fair. But the "Quick, go to Liz. Tell no one. Pain of death." Transition to Intro to Psi was a large piece of carpet being pulled out from under the reader. Obviously we'll get back to it but that soured me on the story a bit. Maybe releasing it in parts would have been better. Maybe not. As I don't know what goes in the holes yet I can't say. But until those parts goes out, I'm not sure how to feel about this story. But then, I've said before I'm not into teasers.

And for anyone else looking for it. Kayda 4 part 4 contains the scene from the dream.

As for the character, Erin was a good. Already hate Victory. Not understanding what's going on involving "Lexi",

Valentine wrote: After the rebuilding of Poe, they put all the hammocks and ropes and stuff back in the Freshman Lounge?

Actually, after the rebuild, roommates? Still?

I do like Fubar's 'constant,' "That's someone you should meet. Introduce yourself." Comments to Frank/Erin.

But then Erin was probably told not to talk to Kayda or something in the missing scene with Liz.

jmhyp wrote:

Valentine wrote: After the rebuilding of Poe, they put all the hammocks and ropes and stuff back in the Freshman Lounge?

Actually, after the rebuild, roommates? Still?

That was explained previously, that rooms are kept as much double occupancy to keep othe students from trying to transfer in.

I do like Fubar's 'constant,' "That's someone you should meet. Introduce yourself." Comments to Frank/Erin.

But then Erin was probably told not to talk to Kayda or something in the missing scene with Liz.

Most likely Fubar was at the meeting with Mrs. Carson, if just to help with explanations.

Valentine wrote:

jmhyp wrote:

Valentine wrote: After the rebuilding of Poe, they put all the hammocks and ropes and stuff back in the Freshman Lounge?

Actually, after the rebuild, roommates? Still?

That was explained previously, that rooms are kept as much double occupancy to keep othe students from trying to transfer in.

How does that work when there are a whole bunch of empty rooms?

I do like Fubar's 'constant,' "That's someone you should meet. Introduce yourself." Comments to Frank/Erin.

But then Erin was probably told not to talk to Kayda or something in the missing scene with Liz.

Most likely Fubar was at the meeting with Mrs. Carson, if just to help with explanations.

What? Of course Fubar is at the meeting he arranged. I was commenting that because there were some obvious edits to not spoil other things, the juiciest part of the story, Carson and Fubar probably finding out about Jamie's spirit almost getting sucked into some devise on campus. I bet if Erin retraces her steps to that lab, they might get a clue as to who Hecate's Master is (although his soul sucker devise was probably not in a school known lab.)

Kristin Darken wrote:

jmhyp wrote: But the "Quick, go to Liz. Tell no one. Pain of death." Transition to Intro to Psi was a large piece of carpet being pulled out from under the reader. Obviously we'll get back to it but that soured me on the story a bit.

Uh... no. I didn't repeat it with a expositional retelling by Frank because you have already seen those events twice. Once from the Kayda story side of it. Once already in THIS STORY.

All good points (including what I snipped for brevity) but Fubar's reaction implies that Erin was going to be given an order of the type "don't tell anyone X" or "don't tell certain people Y". That part of the scene feels missing. Fubar says "you might be missing some classes" and the next scene is Erin in a class. It was rather odd. Also, if he told them the story of meeting Jamie's spirit, why didn't they have him retrace his steps to that lab immediately? Or warn him not to go looking for that lab on his own. Something.

I don't expect the whole story to just spill out all at once. But you had a transition that went from "OMG move move we need to talk to someone" to "contemplation of the platonic forms of what a 'class' is and how a class about psionics is really no different than a civics class". That is a pacing lurch for the reader.

My sympathy as a write is fully with all that you are juggling. That doesn't mean my view as a reader can't still be reacting to being jostled around a bit.

There was a few transitions that gave me whiplash in this story. First we do Powers testing and totally skip over it, no mention of what his provisonal ratings are or anything,this feels like information hiding. Then we have him arriving at Whateley completly out of the blue, no prior mention of a school for mutants or anything, just bang he's arriving at Whateley. Heck we actually skip over two and a half months there too, the entire summer holidays. Then we have the skipped meeting with Mrs Carson. Sure there is no need to have him repeat in detail, just tell us what was said and then pick up from there, Or just pick it up from him finishing the story, and then continue the converstation, what did Carson instruct him to do, did she specifically tell him to avoid certain students? Or just not talk about it with anyone? What about the lab he saw, seeing theri reaction would have helped smooth things over. At least some narrative summary. Altogher I found the story a little disjointed and confusing, and clearly missing some critical details in a way that seems more frustrating then suspensful.

It could really use some bridging between scenes, sometimes we need a bit of telling to get to the next bit of showing. Or even a few mini scnes, like him saying goodbye to his last firend in Town before leaving for Whateley, just mentioning how they hung out during the holidays even.

Kristin Darken wrote: And THAT is for another story. One that does NOT center on Frank. Given the info that he shares, someone will look. It won't be Frank. Frank is not a security wannabe. He isn't a detective. He doesn't have the skill set to be an investigator. And for him to do what his abilities give him the power to do, he first has to be trained.

Fair enough. And yes he needs training. I liked the "cutting" scene. And the fact that he knows he's behind the bell curve with all the high level exemplars with eidetic memory around.

But you had a transition that went from ... That is a pacing lurch for the reader.

Cool. And that would be useful feedback that I would probably attribute again to the resort in the order of events which I evidently didn't clean up as well as I thought.

Well, others are starting to mention it as well. And admittedly, I don't generally spend a lot of time organizing my thoughts for a forum post.

I could certainly have started out the lesson in psi with some reflection on the whole previous day being a 'wash' because he'd spent it repeating the story over and over, first to the headmistress, and then some woman from security, and even some political bigwig who had been put on video conference call... before settling in to focus on the classes he was in at the moment.

Such reflection would certainly have helped (and made the forum spend time trying to figure out who the bigwig was).

My sympathy as a write is fully with all that you are juggling. That doesn't mean my view as a reader can't still be reacting to being jostled around a bit.

Then talk about being jostled. If you'd presented that as your concern from the start, I'd have nodded, pointed out the re-write and grumbled to myself that I should have spent more time reworking things after restructuring.

So I should follow that with, if only I could go back and restructure my initial post.... right?

As I said in an edit to my comment. Maybe you just need some bridging paragraphs. At the moment you seem to be taking show don't tell to heart a little to storngly. Showing him in the car on the way home with an MID that just said Exemplar 1, and nothing else, would have done the trick, maybe thing about how tiering it all was.

And while yes there is a bit later about Louise saying how he specifically recruted him, we don't actually see the recruiting take place. How did Louise contact Frank's parents and coinvince them to send him to Whateley.

I know that I'd be suspicious if someone contacted me out of the blue and said, Hay konzill, I want you to send you kid to this school you've never heard of. And really the fact that he is only an examplar 1, should have made his parents even more suspcious why is some school desperate to recruit him when everyone else is telling us he is a very low level mutant? What we need to know is not why Louise wanted Frank at Whateley but why his parents agreed to send him.

Kristin,

I don't want to get into any in depth comments on the story but I DO want to tell you that this was a great story and I enjoyed it more than most all of the Whateley stories I've read recently... and I'm not saying that to disparage them. I just think this one is THAT good.

Thanks for the great story.

Makes sense.
Haven't had a chance to read all of it, 3/4's done now, but I'm happy with the story so far. Having the dates really helps, I'm going slowly and digesting it as I go so everything seem to fit together really well. With all the big clues and plot, it's not exactly a story to rush through, important pieces will be missed by skimming it.
When can we expect more?

[satire]But I want another 100 scenes of kids on treadmills being hit in the back of the head with tennis balls.[/satire]

I wonder how astral travel maps onto the real world, I am guessing not that well, especially for people doing it for the first few times. Erin may not even be able to retrace the steps back to that lab.

I'm fairly certain that Kayda knows who the "old woman" is, rather personally in fact, someone who doesn't like to leave anything to chance and is a giver of advice...

A Tenuous Blade comments
Interesting choice of story quote at the beginning, wonder what it could mean for the protagonist's future. Frank reminds me a little of myself when I was a kid and in my teens, loved to run just for running. Plus when you are outside why would you want to listen to anything but nature all around you when you can. A mutant or ghost, wonder which this man could be. Any number of mutant powers could allow him to keep pace with Frank and be completely silent.

3 ghostly figures, with the other runner after them. Who are they and what kind of trouble could they have caused Frank or the other runner if found. An 8" blade made of volcanic glass or obsidian with a wooden hilt, why do I get the feeling it was left there for him and not just dropped. Smart move to wipe off his fingerprints, but I doubt this is the last we've seen of that blade.

3 months later and the poor kid is in bad shape, but with no infection it must be frustrating to him and his parents to deal with, not knowing what to do. Unusual balance of hormones for a teenage boy, that would send shivers down the spine of most teenage boys. Oh, ouch. Hormone levels that out of wack, I can see why they need a specialist for his case. At least even with the news his dad and him can still joke around with each other, good sign of a healthy relationship.

Now we jump back 6 days earlier, to a scene out of a horror movie. Twisted wolves, sounds like the Bastard is up to more evil and Frank if he isn't protected would be the key to destroying everything, physical, astral, dream, spiritual, and any other type of worlds which exist. A vision with the way he reacted, plus eye changes to confirm, at least for the audiance, that he is manifesting as a mutant. Poor Frank has a heavy burden ahead of him and doesn't know a fraction of it yet.

16 days since the doctor appointment, he finally will get some answers from Dr. Kennesly. With the way the nurse reacted to him, has he changed a lot more since last seeing the doctor or is something else going on. Either there are a lot more perverted adult males out there than I ever thought or something else is definately going on to draw attention to Frank. The good doctor is tall and incredibly buxom, yet some idiots can't get over the fact she has short light tan fur!?! Either my taste are unusual or I just don't get other people that well, the fur wouldn't be a problem for me.

Confirmed mutant from a doctor, plus blood type change, don't hear of that change in mutants too often. 2 to 3 years for the total change to take place, that is very slow regeneration indeed. Hopefully that is time to adjust mentally to the idea and prepare for whatever future changes are to come.

27 days later and bigoted bully messing with him. Wish I had known someone like Mr Davids back in high school, the world needs more people like him. Bigots always seem to jump to the conclusions that support their beliefs and allow them, in their twisted worldview, to torture and pick on others for being differents. At least Frank now knows who his true friends were, harsh lesson to go through. And Valerie is very observant, plus pointing out that teenage girls know when someone is perving out and watching them, wonder how many of the jocks know this.

Poor Frank, a dream come true for me, becoming more feminine physically, is a nightmare for him. No matter what someone has done to me, I wouldn't wish the nightmare of being trapped in the wrong physical sex on anyone.

Valerie knows how hard dealing with all the harassment is for Frank, yet teases him about his uncontrolled physical responses. Mixed signals much, leaving Frank even more confused. At least he has a cover story. And Valerie admits to teasing him by messing with his hair, she is a like a cat, when you act like you want to be left alone they come right to you for attention.

Thug attacks him and runs, and they have the audicty to call themselves men. Weird with the double vision, could this be another power triggering, as he seems to be seeing a glimpse of the future with it.

15 days after the attack, still seeing two seperate looks for things and some people. Wondering what kind of power this could be and how batty it is going to drive the testing guys at Whateley just trying to figure it out, let alone any other powers Frank many continue to exhibit. The thug gets off by the school calling it an accident, starting to suspect that beside Mr Davids there are a lot of closet bigots working that school. Oh, if only more people in this world had your attitude, Valerie. It is going to take a miracle for this world to change, for the bigots to not keep getting their way because they yell the loudest or outnumber the minorities. I just hope Valerie can keep her attitude and spirit despite the world around her.

25 days later and another strange dream for Frank. Made to see the scene of Kigatilik's first kill of a shaman upon being released back into the world. Poor kid, at least he knows he must learn so he can be helpful. Is he astral projecting under his own power, as it doesn't seem like he is, like some unseen force or individual or guilding him each time.

A mere 2 days later and another strange incident, this time he felt a hand grab and despoit him at a location. I hope he is telling someone about these "dreams" of his, if not they could start to affect his mental health. The incident with Kayda trying to leave the school but being stopped. Voodoo wolves, The Bastard,something twisted, arrogant and chaotic to the southwest, would that be Unhcegila, and the something vastly hungry but not evil or wrong, Tennyo I believe. Even from the astral plane to sense things that far away, impressive. Buh! He, with the aid of that mysterious blade, was what stopped Kayda from leaving the school grounds! Nice new insight into something that was a mystery until now.

4 days later and once more in the astral plane. Note: Stating these things to keep it straight in my head. Okay, who is this old Native woman and why does she call him weapon? I could see with what was said earlier, about allowing evil to breach into the sacred places, he could be used as a weapon but to just call him that seems a bit callous to me.

Oh god, to be there right after the attack on Jamie happens, to see it like that and be shown it from Jamie's perspective... Oh boy, now we have to wonder if the old woman is part of Frank's manifestation or that Jamie can't see her because she/he is a pure spirit now. What is up with that wall that it could affect a spirit, even a new spirit like Jamie, in such a way and send an astral projector flying back to their body with a jolt of pain.

Dang it! The spirit trap, part of HM's plot having to do with avatars and spirits. And Jamie is trapped in it, all the more reason to hate HM and wish to destroy the monster. And poor Frank just got an astral plane preview of what his body is going to look like when it has changed a lot more.

2 days later. Getting tested at a superhero team's place, a lot less risky than the MCO depending on the kind of agents at the local branch. The old woman and now a man, plus someone else can see them this time, what is going on. And I'm getting annoyed at the old woman calling him weapon, he is a person, no matter what powers he has or purpose he may be destined for. Yikes, just goes right to stabbing through his hand, no explaination, these two need to start explaining some things instead of just showing up out of the blue and expecting him to go along for the ride each time.

Jamie goes and tells Frank about at least 2 people I'm pretty sure Mrs. Carson would want him to stay away from, without knowing more about his powers or how they would interact with Sara or Fey's. Or even Kayda's for that matter. Ouch, Jamie being trapped is what caused such pain for everyone, especially Hank, with letting go and feeling like Jamie was still there. No wonder it got so rough. And he stumbles into the worst place possible, HM's hidden lab. The description of what he felt and saw of HM, doesn't sound like the possess a student theory is right, more like he can change his shape and form at will, probably related to if not one of the GOO.

A devise that twist reality and can draw spirits to it, this is extremely bad. Plus it causes pain in ghosts and probably spirits affected, that is twisted, to take away their peace. Just when you think you have an easy solution figured out, reality rears its ugly head. That could have been a lot worse, at least we know that Jamie's spirit was allowed to cross over, with Frank's help. At least even after all that happened Frank is unharmed, too bad the devise wasn't destroyed, although that would have probably made HM more cautious in the future.

1 month, 6 days later. Uh oh, I was right about Valerie being observant and smart to go along with it. Squealed and mauled him with hugs after saying the word mutant, she is a great best friend. Oh course now comes the part where she ask a million questions about what his power/powers are, etc.

1 month, 17 days later. The gargoyles frowned and crouched forward!?! Proof, finally proof, that they are not just creepy to the students and some staff but something more. Animated guardians by magic or ancient beings vowed to protect the school, I wonder. Uh oh, first person to crash through the gates and now the gargoyles are after them, I don't want to imagine what they might do without human intervention.

Hologram or HUD, based on him sending the gargoyles away and polite manner it must be Fubar. Plus Frank's powers made him think Frank was a girl for a moment there, what in the world are his powers that can fool a PSI-7 like Fubar even for a moment. Wait, Frank broke the gate with his powers unintentionally, plus the double vision, sounds like an unusual type of Warper power at work or something never encountered before. With the kind powers Frank has already shown, having Louis aka Fubar as his adviser and mentor is a good idea.

That double vision of Frank's is helpful and going to get him into trouble a lot, I can tell. Just from what he saw looking at Archon. If he sees a girl in her underwear as one of the images while in public, he is going to have a hard time not reacting. Poor kid has it worse off than I originally thought. Wait, he isn't that far along on his transitioning into a female, so why do they seem to see him as an attractive full female. Wait, don't tell. The strange double vision also works on Frank and everyone else is seeing him as he will be once he finishes changing, but not his current self since they don't have his powers. Another thing to frustate the poor boy with.

Crud, those kind of things are inside the wards and no one knows about it except for Frank now. Tell someone! The wards and sensors to detect such things need to be improved and soon, if such a thing can slink in and out of Poe undetected except for Frank. He is learning a lot of new things though, most people would never believe there are as many changelings as there are at Whateley, let alone the probably countless others unaccounted for.

The knife follows Frank around and it isn't in the physical plane, so that first day running in when the Native guy showed up and left the knife behind, it wasn't physical then either. But that would mean that Frank can interact with the astral while physical or something else unusual is going on. The knife shifted him physically into the astral plane!?! Amazing, as Louise says, but the amount of danger while doing so is mind-boggling. Okay, what is going on with Frank that he can draw out a response like that from Fubar, who is usually so professional and in control.

Erin, forced adapation is going to happen with teenage girls around who know about you, one way or another. That was a simple deli sandwich!?! You had my mouth drooling by the end of the description, Kristin.

At least Vicky is the voice of reason, they should get into the habit of not talking about the secret of Poe outside of Poe. EX-5 or 6, impressive stats for Archon. And now some of the lesbians are trying to push him to change, pushing someone to change when they against it tends to backfire. Frank/Erin is taking the loss of stamina and ability to go on runs worse than changing into a girl, something he had in common with his dad just ripped away. Guess Beth hasn't been told that high-level Exemplars can need a lot of food too. And explaining Frank's powers at his point would give the power-testing guys a massive headache.

Frank considers himself an Underdog...I highly doubt with what he has shown so far that once he learns how to tap into his powers he could ever be considered an Underdog. More testing and hopes they are wrong about his BIT, only to learn it is about his powers. Ouch, the hits just keep on coming.

2 days later. Oh boy, first she teases him and now thinks he is cutting himself when it is part of testing one of his powers. Boy, when the other Poe kids get here and tell stories of last year, no one is going to believe the stuff about Team Kimba. Wonder who the new girl is with the regen Frank is talking to. And she can see the knife as well, stranger and stranger. Plus she seems strangely wise for her age, stating it is a good thing he doesn't believe he knows everything.

Vicky overreacts without listening, I know she is trying to be a good friend and roommate but she could have caused the blade to slip and cause worse injury. "I don't pounce." They need to get video of Vicky pouncing and show it to her. Bwahahahaha! "The Kimba girls have been unexpectedly quiet so far this year and it's making me nervous."And poor Frank has a girl with a crush on him/her and doesn't even know her name. It is like the universe just loves messing with him for its own amusement.

2 days later. Lexi and a Gadgeteer, plus one of the Bi crowd. I have a bad feeling that if she is pranked by anyone that Vicky will help start up a new prank war on campus. Plus she knows just want to say to embarass him, it is like she is someone mentally linked to his best friend Valerie. Oh god, if on Parents Day they bring Valerie up to see him and she ends up scheming with Vicky, he is doomed.

Previous day. Oh boy, stumbling upon Kayda like that and it all comes flashing back. They know about him helping Kayda now and are giving him homework on learning how to use his powers. Plus about him being there right after Jamie died and everything. Louise is right, Frank would be in danger from HM and countless others if they learned about this. This kind of information getting out would be like having a target painted on your back, front and every body part at once.

And back to September 5th again. Yikes, the amount of psychic background noise described is ridiculous. No wonder even someone like Louise has trouble finding others. Having to work with abstract information while still working with spoken languages, wouldn't surprise me if students in those courses have a higher frequency of headaches than almost any other. Ah, visualization techniques, I actually enjoy doing those. The dime memorization is the easy part, oh boy. Those kids definately don't know the kind of training they are in for.

Lexi is going to be working with Lanie on a faster-than-light starship drive, dang. Those two and with Lexi as a freshman, if they continue to collaberate on projects, they could change the face of space travel. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the things we see in G2 are her creations.

A fun read all the way through, thank you for dating each section, it made it easy to follow what was going on. I can't wait to read more of Frank's adventures, along with his friends and classmates at Whateley.

Kristin Darken wrote: And yes, out of all that, I'm just going to respond to the sandwich comment. One must have priorities.

And appropriate apprenticeship before tackling Ayla

Well, I will say this, Lexi's specialization in gravity/antigravity gadgets made me re-read Ayla and the Tests to refresh on how she interacts with gravity, cause Lexi is looking for investors and Ayla was looking for a flight system that he/she could use while heavy, as a gravity based system might be far more ideal for moving a heavy Phase than a propulsion system that operates on traditional Newtonian force mechanics.

OK. I came late because I only had time today to read the story. So I'm going to gloss over stuff that has been commented to death.

But, first a few points regarding technical aspects of the writing... I totally agree with Kristin that the scene with Carson was highly likely to be redundant, and yes, we have seen power testing several times. Still, you can skip over the test itself and go straight to the results, and it works. I sorta missed this here; they test and they test Frank, but we never learn in-story what was _found_. Kristin had to give this info in the forums.

Similarly, yes, the whole rigmarole of finding about Whateley CAN become repetitive, but this story would be a different slant, since my understanding is that Whateley actively sought Frank. It could have been interesting to see the family's reaction.

Going to story events themselves... I see that nobody bothered to parse the things that Frank "felt" in the scene with Kayda at the gates:

Now, he could feel the dark and malignant things… something like wolves just over the hills to the north. That great and terrible beast off a long way to the northwest. Something twisted and arrogant and chaotic just to the southwest. And back not far along the road towards home, something vastly hungry. Not evil or wrong… but no less dangerous.

Let me see...
- The wolves to the north are probably Voodoo Wolves -- the Weres probably wouldn't have been felt as "dark and malignant". Are the VW still around? If so, they are rather quiet.
- The "great and terrible beast" is likely to be Kigatilik. Or perhaps Uhncegila. Or maybe even The Bastard, who is supposed to be based around the Pacific Northwest.
- The "something twisted and arrogant and chaotic..." maybe it's something imprisoned at ARC? Like, possibly, Maelstrom? Or maybe I'm reading the distance wrong ("just to the southwest" seems fairly close to me), and it's rather farther away... that might be the Bastard too, depending on where his home base is. Or maybe even Nimbus, who is supposed to be in-campus.
- Finally, the fourth entity is likely to be Sara -- remember, this happened before she was imprisoned.

Other things... Frank's testing was done in Pittsburgh, which is Ribbon's town. I wonder if he was tested at The Clinic? The paranormals present at the testing were never named -- they might or might not be part of the Freelancers. Still, it's interesting that one of them could see the astral people. That's an important data point that is not mentioned later.

A comment on the mandatory roommates thing:
It's fairly easy to justify not having a lot of empty rooms -- turn the renovations into a two-step process.
First step, which was done over the summer, was to do the main building itself -- walls, floors, roof...
Second step is doing the interior work: interior walls, finishing, adding fixtures... which, in my experience, is the slowest and most expensive part of a construction job.
So what the school could have done is to do only part of the internal renovations -- say, two wings -- enough to satisfy the immediate needs of the student population, and let the other wings to be finished later. Time constraints can be very convenient here -- they HAD to finish in three months, so they opted to concentrate in one part of the building and leave the rest for later.
So there might be a couple wings that are currently closed.

Sir Lee wrote: Going to story events themselves... I see that nobody bothered to parse the things that Frank "felt" in the scene with Kayda at the gates:

Now, he could feel the dark and malignant things… something like wolves just over the hills to the north. That great and terrible beast off a long way to the northwest. Something twisted and arrogant and chaotic just to the southwest. And back not far along the road towards home, something vastly hungry. Not evil or wrong… but no less dangerous.

Let me see...
- The wolves to the north are probably Voodoo Wolves -- the Weres probably wouldn't have been felt as "dark and malignant". Are the VW still around? If so, they are rather quiet.
- The "great and terrible beast" is likely to be Kigatilik. Or perhaps Uhncegila. Or maybe even The Bastard, who is supposed to be based around the Pacific Northwest.
- The "something twisted and arrogant and chaotic..." maybe it's something imprisoned at ARC? Like, possibly, Maelstrom? Or maybe I'm reading the distance wrong ("just to the southwest" seems fairly close to me), and it's rather farther away... that might be the Bastard too, depending on where his home base is. Or maybe even Nimbus, who is supposed to be in-campus.
- Finally, the fourth entity is likely to be Sara -- remember, this happened before she was imprisoned

I know my huge post didn't go into as much details about those. But here is the part where I made my guesses.

Voodoo wolves, The Bastard, something twisted, arrogant and chaotic to the southwest, would that be Unhcegila, and the something vastly hungry but not evil or wrong, Tennyo I believe.

Since he thought the 4th thing was vastly hungry but not evil or wrong, it is most likely it is Tennyo. With Sara he would sense something wrong about her, due to her young GOO nature.

Sir Lee wrote: Going to story events themselves... I see that nobody bothered to parse the things that Frank "felt" in the scene with Kayda at the gates:

Now, he could feel the dark and malignant things… something like wolves just over the hills to the north. That great and terrible beast off a long way to the northwest. Something twisted and arrogant and chaotic just to the southwest. And back not far along the road towards home, something vastly hungry. Not evil or wrong… but no less dangerous.

Let me see...
- The wolves to the north are probably Voodoo Wolves -- the Weres probably wouldn't have been felt as "dark and malignant". Are the VW still around? If so, they are rather quiet.
- The "great and terrible beast" is likely to be Kigatilik. Or perhaps Uhncegila. Or maybe even The Bastard, who is supposed to be based around the Pacific Northwest.
- The "something twisted and arrogant and chaotic..." maybe it's something imprisoned at ARC? Like, possibly, Maelstrom? Or maybe I'm reading the distance wrong ("just to the southwest" seems fairly close to me), and it's rather farther away... that might be the Bastard too, depending on where his home base is. Or maybe even Nimbus, who is supposed to be in-campus.
- Finally, the fourth entity is likely to be Sara -- remember, this happened before she was imprisoned.

If the maps on the Wiki are accurate. The Were village is south of campus, and Dunwich is north.
I agree the 'great and terrible beast' is likely Kigatilik.
ARC seems to be to the southwest
As none of these things appear to be on Campus, it seems unlikely that the fourth entity would be Tennyo or Sara.

That's OK. Ayla can buy her a new RADAR as part of her research funding.

Kristin Darken wrote:

mhalpern wrote: cause Lexi is looking for investors and Ayla was looking for a flight system that he/she could use while heavy, as a gravity based system might be far more ideal for moving a heavy Phase than a propulsion system that operates on traditional Newtonian force mechanics.

Nothing Lexi is working on is man-personal. That's not even on her radar for development.

Think of it as practical small scale Proof of Concept, and market expansion, there ia a very small market for FTL, even if you can do it, until you have a multi planet society, you don't get much out of it, its expensive and there's nothing wrong with using gravity assists for interplanetary travel. however a system that doesn't strain from moving large amounts of mass, quickly, now THAT's marketable, it'd revolutionize the shipping and transportation industry.

Edit: and small field variants would have applications elsewhere- you don't need power armor to get people out of wrecked buildings, just reduce local gravity, to get them out easier.

Yes, I know that, as for why it would work for POC, is that gravitational warping can work in atmos and the real trick with it is power use, it would seem that Lexi DOES have the size down, though those are excellent points, but hey I craft theories like devisors make their devises, when I have one going, I wont stop until its written, or dead ends

Kristin Darken wrote: Yes, the testing was done with the Freelancers and then Frank went over to the MCO offices where they did a little testing of their own because they didn't believe the Exemplar 1 rating... and quickly figured out that it was accurate, with both the on-staff Psychic and Mage confirming that Frank was neither an active Psi or Mage.

This would be the first time that I've read of the MCO actually disputing offical test results. And you didn't think that was worthy of even a paragraph in the story? Frank had to go through testing twice in one day and he din't even grib about it.

The amount of backstory that you've had to give in this forum thread might be a clue that some that story could use just a little more editing.

After reading both the tale and comments, I thought I'd concentrate mainly on the astral events:

06th Oct 2006: Native American runner vs 3 ghosts
03rd Jan 2007: Unhcegila's spawn (I think), the old Native woman, mention of The Bastard and the Voodoo Wolves. The last warning suggests that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for Frank/Erin to get involved with the Atlantean mission to The Bastard.
30th April 2007: Kigatilik - Frank held back by a small girl
01st May 2007: Outside Whateley, courtesy of the small girl - this time to stop Kayda's rambling off campus
05th May 2007: Old woman again, taking him to Jamie's murder. Conversation with Jamie at the site - something odd about one of the walls.

Oh, and: "From here, we must be careful. Eyes and powers watch over this place; but they are not yet prepared to hold against the real darkness. Remind them of that when you come here again in body." So presumably while the Wards can face up to modern magic, due at least in part to a lack of practitioners (never mind sane, helpful ones!), they're rather feeble against Mythos-level magic. Which hasn't really been a problem before - well, not until the second half of the 2006-07 academic year.

7th May 2007: Return to Jamie, courtesy of Old Woman (now calling him "Weapon") and "a hawkish faced man" who demonstrated the dagger travel. Encountering someone who could potentially be Nimbus and/or HM.

"Whatever this is, its going to allow him to draw in and capture ghosts and probably spirits" - I wonder if there's any connection to the earlier Alpha avatar stealing plot (e.g. "recruiting" members without their overt knowledge to do the initial preparatory work)?

30th Aug: Astral gates and barriers at Whateley? Meanwhile, it's explained that Frank didn't internalise the information on Poe as he was rather, erm, "distracted", on the tour. Also, Ayla making notes on Frank/Erin's record (guess: didn't include Frank, so Ayla assuming Frank as a surname?) and presumably changelings that are still in denial over their gender flip are a rarety. Another customer for Dr. Bellows?

Later on, something on the prowl - as Hawthorne is slightly SW of Poe, it's unlikely to be Sara. Perhaps one of the Caliban Skinwalkers that featured in Sandra's tale? After all, they're definitely up to no good, are present on campus, and are pretty darn good at hiding.

As for finding the lab, remember it's been four months so a lot could have happened in that time. Even if Security did find it (tricky, as Frank gave 'as the crow flies' directions, while the various rooms surrounding the arena may be linked to it via a very indirect path of tunnels), there's no guarantee they'd find any of the equipment; even if they did, how could they prove what it was used for or who'd used it?

04th Sep: spying Kayda (and astral Tatanka), courtesy of the "little girl" who intervened when Frank stopped Kayda leaving campus.

So Frank's EX-1, it's possible his stamina may start improving once the gender flip starts settling down - although probably not to its previous level. Full body insertion into the Astral Plane - while potentially very powerful, as Old Woman indicated, it's also potentially very dangerous if malcontent entitites get to learn of it so is probably best hidden from his MID. His new appearance is caucasian (white), but possibly because of his ability, is being recruited to assist in the Astral Plane against the threats from The Bastard / Unhcegila / Kigatilik etc. despite not having the merest clue / hint as to what he's supposed to be able to do about it (yet - no doubt he'll learn over time... gradually, possibly even mainly via accidental discoveries e.g. blade travel, the 'barrier' to prevent Kayda escaping). Presumably as time goes on we'll learn more about his astral mentors ("Old Woman" and "Little Girl").

If he ever plucks up the courage to talk to Kayda, he may (eventually) feasibly be formally introduced to Wakan Tanka and Tatanka (if so, it's likely to be Plot Relevant); while with the mention of the Underdogs, he'll probably meet Anna (although not likely to be so Plot Relevant so could feasibly be off-camera / not mentioned).

Evil thought: with all the mentions of how pretty he's becoming, there's a (very?) small possibility of something occurring out of his worst nightmares...
...someone trying to rush him into Venus, Inc. (oh, the torture!)

A great start to another character. I don't think the concept of losing stamina has been explored yet. Can't wait for more!

Kristin Darken wrote: It's very possible... androgynous waif is a valuable physical characteristic for modeling. Frank could end up wanted by Venus even if they realize he's not 100% girl.

I've been watching the thread for Danny since it started, more or less, amused by how much of what was being suggested to Elrod were things that are in my notes somewhere for Esoteric. Fortunately, there's enough difference that I don't have to hunt him down and torture him for stealing my thunder. Besides, I have lots of different thunder tracks... he could steal two or three and I could still whip up a hell of a stage storm.

Danny isn't going the same path as Frank. The threads of suggestion from various enthusiastic fans would be fun, but I'm working to avoid overlap with Erin/Frank. I've got my own plans for Danny that are amusing in their own way!

And who's to say that your torturing me wouldn't give me more ideas for things to do to Kayda?

elrodw wrote:

Kristin Darken wrote: I've been watching the thread for Danny since it started, more or less, amused by how much of what was being suggested to Elrod were things that are in my notes somewhere for Esoteric. Fortunately, there's enough difference that I don't have to hunt him down and torture him for stealing my thunder. Besides, I have lots of different thunder tracks... he could steal two or three and I could still whip up a hell of a stage storm.

Danny isn't going the same path as Frank. The threads of suggestion from various enthusiastic fans would be fun, but I'm working to avoid overlap with Erin/Frank. I've got my own plans for Danny that are amusing in their own way!

Hmm ...

Now that I know Frank/Erin exist, this sounds almost like a challenge ...

I wonder what percentage of Kristin's ideas I can independently suggest to Elrod before Kristin has the chance to publish them?

FYI I did send to Elrod a post death astral plain scene for Jamie while I was writing Sleep, and got told "something was in discussion" already.

hmm

Valentine wrote:

Sir Lee wrote: Going to story events themselves... I see that nobody bothered to parse the things that Frank "felt" in the scene with Kayda at the gates:

Now, he could feel the dark and malignant things… something like wolves just over the hills to the north. That great and terrible beast off a long way to the northwest. Something twisted and arrogant and chaotic just to the southwest. And back not far along the road towards home, something vastly hungry. Not evil or wrong… but no less dangerous.

Let me see...
- The wolves to the north are probably Voodoo Wolves -- the Weres probably wouldn't have been felt as "dark and malignant". Are the VW still around? If so, they are rather quiet.
- The "great and terrible beast" is likely to be Kigatilik. Or perhaps Uhncegila. Or maybe even The Bastard, who is supposed to be based around the Pacific Northwest.
- The "something twisted and arrogant and chaotic..." maybe it's something imprisoned at ARC? Like, possibly, Maelstrom? Or maybe I'm reading the distance wrong ("just to the southwest" seems fairly close to me), and it's rather farther away... that might be the Bastard too, depending on where his home base is. Or maybe even Nimbus, who is supposed to be in-campus.
- Finally, the fourth entity is likely to be Sara -- remember, this happened before she was imprisoned.

If the maps on the Wiki are accurate. The Were village is south of campus, and Dunwich is north.
I agree the 'great and terrible beast' is likely Kigatilik.
ARC seems to be to the southwest
As none of these things appear to be on Campus, it seems unlikely that the fourth entity would be Tennyo or Sara.

I was rereading Squirrel's Mouth, and there is a scene where the tree guys are telling Aquerna where not go. The Grove is one, the Were village and area, a Portal to Hell, and there’s something in there that’s so dangerous none of the supers at the school have been able to kill it.

None of the last three spots are on Campus. So I wonder if any of those were what he sensed.

The misperceptions about Ayla seems to be similar to Jade. Everyone seems to remember her wacky side, and forget that she has a very dark storyline in places. Mainly because when she appears in other stories she's happy and crazy.

Domoviye wrote: The misperceptions about Ayla seems to be similar to Jade. Everyone seems to remember her wacky side, and forget that she has a very dark storyline in places. Mainly because when she appears in other stories she's happy and crazy.

Part of that is that even when she is dark and slaughtering people left and right, she's still wacky and crazy.

About the only time she isn't wacky is when she is dealing with her TG issues. (Even then she is still a bit crazy.)

Kristin Darken wrote:

I too thought that Ayla was a bit cold blooded in her brief exposure.

I find it interesting that a lot of people think Ayla is an open, friendly person. Especially with people he doesn't know. Add in the factor that both Ayla and Frank are het and both are seeing what they consider a pretty girl while simultaneously aware that they are 'not.' But mostly, I think people just forget that as readers, they've seen a lot more depth to Ayla than most of his classmates. A LOT of what Ayla does that really makes him likable, is handled indirectly if visibly at all.. and with Diane's writing him in 1st person, you've seen his thoughts and motives and his view of himself. From the outside? Elrod's "Wine, Women, and Ayla" was a good take on how outsiders see him. Even the ones that like him.

I don't agree with the "cold blooded." Ayla came across businesslike, factual, and proper. He explained what was going on, offered help, and tried to deal with the situation. Ayla is stuck presenting as female, no matter what he is on the inside. Told that Frank/Erin was a changeling, and given the feminine appearance that Frank/Erin has, Ayla made some assumptions, that were unfortunately not quite true. Or as Ayla put it his first day, "OR, were drafted by the wrong side!"

I hate to ask, but I went searching for the story A Tenuous Blade in order to reread it. And apparently my search-fu failed me this morning so could someone link the story please?

Anne wrote: I hate to ask, but I went searching for the story A Tenuous Blade in order to reread it. And apparently my search-fu failed me this morning so could someone link the story please?

Of course.