Question Pomp and Conspiracy

Hmm... I had thoughts, but I lost them. ... Shame.

Who's who on the Committee?

Hartford = Professor

Protege = Solange... ... Solange = Committee Member in Gen 2?

...

... What's this?

Once or twice, members had not even been on the Earth while they dealt with the various minutiae of their far flung empires to further their goals.

I assume they mean Moon or a 'near'-Earth Satellite? ... No one's done interstellar travel yet, right? ... Okay, yes, Tennyo, but other than that!

Malady wrote: ... What's this?

Once or twice, members had not even been on the Earth while they dealt with the various minutiae of their far flung empires to further their goals.

I assume they mean Moon or a 'near'-Earth Satellite? ... No one's done interstellar travel yet, right? ... Okay, yes, Tennyo, but other than that!

I'd assume dimensions.

Pomp and Conspiracy comments
Interesting song lyrics to start off the story with, wonder who if it means someone is digging into matters best left alone or someone wants something kept secret that will come out. Shaping the future of mankind, already feel the Committee needs to be exposed, don't like conspiracies shaping mankind's future to their own ideas and goals. The Old Man, the Professor, and the Captain, wonder what their real names outside of this meeting are.

And now I remember the Professor, or at least think I do, the creep Hartford was talking to about Lanie and Tansy. He is watching Tansy as a prospect, but is also interested in bringing Lanie into the Syndicate, both of which I'm sure Mrs. Carson would be upset about. And planning out a mission to test her abilities, is it Tansy or Lanie who is the protégé the Professor is testing?

Ah, graduation ceremony with the song everyone knows. After the school year they had, with two murders near the end of it, I can understand the bitter sweat smile. Cap and gown, wonder how many customized theirs. Graduation, darn, forget which of the students won't be returning as they are seniors and graduated. Poise, darn, I really liked her and will hate to see her gone from Whateley Academy, but such is life; hope she goes on to do great things.

Life, the harshest teacher of all; Mrs. Carson is right about learning from your mistakes. Nitro dating Alexis Waldner, glad to hear he listened to Mrs. Carson about having a good thing. Wish I had heard that speech about not being timid when I was younger. Tansy thinking about her time with Wyatt with the pain of regret; guess it is going to be a while before she accepts her lesbian side. And the class of 2007 is going to be gone now, but not forgotten; hoping their might be some stories about them after they leave the school or at least call-outs to them.

That is a school tradition I've never heard of, interesting way of doing things. Wraith graduating, I need to look up the school year for the students more often. And having an official photographer so the parents won't fight for a spot to get the best picture of their kid, excellent idea. Ouch, reminder of Wyatt having to stay another year due to his changes in powers. Ah, so that is what 'senior emeritus' means.

Stan and Morrie dressed up in fancy suits, that is almost more shocking to see than any of Jericho's outfits. The new seniors, Eruption is forgetting what school he goes to with that swagger, I doubt senior year will be easy or anything to be cocky about. Ouch, Tansy became twisted at least in part due to bullying by Nightshade her freshman year. Only to become the bully, like that which she hated, no wonder finally being shown how bad she had become was such a shock. And ouch, not even her own mother attended her graduation, that family is messed up.

Mrs. Carson has been more of a true mother to Tansy than her parents ever have; she cares enough to teach her hard lessons when needed and encourages her when she takes steps on the right path. Maybe more encouragement from Mrs. Carson might change Tansy's path away from the Syndicate. Different colors indicating different things, never knew that about graduation robes and such. Salima Al-Kazzan now a junior, wonder how things will change for the Tigers in the coming year.

Hindmost made a request to Tansy on 'short notice', so she is the Professor's protégé, should have known from past stories. Ouch, Tansy pushed Lanie and Maggie apart but hated having to do it as part of her plan. And I hope that is just a rumor about the Literary Club, they were Lanie's friends and for them all to turn on her and side with Maggie, that would make the existing pain far worse.

All those things for Lanie, she definitely has worked hard since coming to Whateley. Yet having cried recently, I'm guessing the rumor about the Literary Club is true, how could they. At least Tansy sees the damage she has done and promises to make it up to Lanie, but can she while she is working for the Syndicate through Hartford. History of the dress of the scholar, interesting read.

Britomart got Sensei's achievement award, very impressive, don't want to underestimate her in a fight. Poor Tansy, figuring out how to do the request without causing more damage, she has changed but is stuck between a rock [Ms. Hartford] and a hard place [the Syndicate]. Dang, I expected some of that from Kayda but Honor Roll and Dean's List, she worked hard to get those. And SDSM&T March Award for Graduate-level Mathematics, I don't think even college-level students cover the stuff she worked with. And they still didn't fix that English II credit problem, thought I doubt she would get out going to Whateley for 4 years either way.

Hindmost is at least smart enough to know that trying to break-up Lanie and Kayda would backfire big-time. But now Tansy has a plan and I fear it will involve getting Lanie and Kayda involved, that little adventure mentioned in the 1st part of Kayda 8 was part of Tansy's scheme all along, I suspect. And though they are graduating, Mrs. Carson and the rest of the staff will still see them as their students, nice end to the graduation ceremony.

Nitro meeting with his family, including his cute and curious 7 year old sister. Wondering about Tissy and asking so many questions, like a normal child. And mom fearing that Tissy might harm her, oh boy. Ugh, they know their son is a mutant but have a problem with GSD mutants, this isn't going to end well if they don't learn to accept others who look different quickly. Nitro calls them out on their bigotry and his dad tries to threaten him for 'daring to talk to his mother that way'. Respect is a two-way street, if you don't respect your kids and who they care about, don't expect respect in return.

Further calling out his dad on being in H1!, how he was ashamed of his own son when he manifested but could still pass for a baseline and pretend he was normal. How Nitro manifesting upset his tidy little world, instead of caring about his own son and his feelings. Yet instead of feeling ashamed of how they treated their son, his father tries to threaten him more. This isn't going to end well. Telling his father to apologize to Tissy, while Mrs. Carson ease towards the annual graduation event of a loud event with a family.

Showing his true colors, Nitro's father calls the mutants a freak-show, storming off with his wife and daughter. Mrs. Carson is proud of Nitro, standing up for a fellow student, him getting together with her was the best thing that ever happened to them. A man a head taller than Nitro, now that is a big man, and he is Tissy's daddy. Tissy is of the Charleston Waldner's and her family is worth over a billion dollars, dang. Didn't see that coming. Oh boy, Nitro talking about how special Tissy is to him and now meeting both parents, with the way things are going I wouldn't be surprised if they get married after senior graduation.

Poor Nitro having to explain about his parents and finding out what they are really like. I like Tissy's dad, Nitro and his buddies started out as bullies in the stories but have grown and changed, Nitro showing true character even in the face of his parent's hatred and bigotry. And now Nitro has a means of staying at Whateley with the help of Tissy's dad, even if they break up, which I doubt will happen.

And Tissy told her mom a lot about Nitro, boy, Tissy has grown a lot since she first appeared too, interacting with her parents she seems like a normal teenage girl, including being excited to talk about her boyfriend. I like her mom, too. Getting him to stay with them over the summer and even giving him a job so he doesn't feel like he is taking advantage of their hospitality. And Tissy teasing poor Nitro, you are going to be her husband one way or another, better get used to it now.

A gift from Ayla, which angers Tissy at first, thankfully Nitro snaps her out of it. A key that seems familiar, I can already guess at what it is for. The key to the room they had the group date in and theirs until graduation, plus meals twice a month from the chefs, yet Ayla still thinks it isn't close to making up for what happened. The guilt over changing Alex still weighing heavy on Ayla and Nitro and Tissy acknowledge his gesture.

Darn, no wonder Lanie and Kayda are so down, parents couldn't come up due to using up the funds on the previous incidents. Lanie not sure if she should take Baby Girl on a road trip home and Kayda curious what Tansy has planned, still suspicious of her. Talk of Tansy taking the summer semester and make up for slacking off in the past, while Lanie wants her to have a vacation, and Tansy talks about not wanting to go home, poor girl probably can't stand to think of what her father would try and get her to do over the summer.

So of course Lanie talks about having a road trip, getting Kayda upset over mixing up North and South Dakota, of course Lanie was just teasing her. Talk of dropping Kayda off at home, then driving all the way to Georgia, just Lanie and Tansy. Tansy agrees to it and Kayda is in, now they just have to plan what to take and when to set off. But we all know it doesn't go according to plan.

A trustee who I'm guessing the reason Tansy feels like she should know is he is Hindmost. And Hartford gives Tansy her approval, oh boy. Ouch, Hank being reminded his parents aren't there for him, plus feeling awkward and out of place, I hope Hank will be spending summer with Lily and her family. Poor Wyatt, parents not there and hoping next year will be the year he expected this one to be, things never go as we plan. Bwahahaha, Wyatt teasing Hank about him spending so much time with his girlfriends and all the other girls.

Hank wants to learn from the best and Wyatt misunderstands at first. Telling Hank he needs to be in a controlled fury in a fight, yet he can't teach Hank that. And gets Hank into an arm lock where he could break his arm easily, telling him how he doesn't have any finesse, relying too much on strength and nothing else. Hank talks about his paper sword trick, not realizing he needs training to truly harness it. And Wyatt tells Hank the hard truth, how he needs to master himself and not compare himself to others. And Hank still wants Wyatt to teach him, committed to improving himself.

Ayla calls out to Lanie, breaking away from Mrs. Carson and two other women talking to him, having to wear lip gloss as one of the indignities to keep up the ruse for the school. Paperwork for a side project, a lot of funds which need Ayla's help with, Lanie upset about what she has to pay but Ayla saying the amount with figures that large are almost inconsequential. What are they working on? And Ayla is right, trust but verify.

A name for a brand, plus she is still a minor and actually owns the property whatever they are talking about was found on. 8 ounces of Jack Daniels and thought it was just like beer, yikes. Stomach pumped due to alcohol poisoning, but impressed her great grandfather who changed his will and left something to her, probably illegal alcohol with the way they are talking. And Lanie can trust her family, they won't challenge her over something like money, ruining a family and friendships over money seems like an idiotic thing to do to me.

Warhorse gets a call, figures he is an Animan. A deal to lose something and Warhorse is set up for the little adventure the girls barely talked about. Can't wait to read what happened finally.

Heh. It was fun comparing this to my high school graduation. I liked the "incremental graduation" tradition, although it seems like it would be humiliating to students being held back. (On the other hand, maybe that was the point.) On the other hand, I can't help but picture my 3,500+ student high school trying to do such a thing. I'd still be there graduating!

Two minor questions to the author:

1. Which Charleston are the Waldners from? The two major ones are in NC and WV, a bit out of range for Nitro to be aware of them unless they are pretty famous nationally. There's a bunch of other Charlestons, including one in Iowa (Nitro's state) but it's pretty small and unlikely to be used as reference about billionaires.

2. Should we consider this as being the "Solange vol. 4" story?

Sir Lee wrote: Two minor questions to the author:

1. Which Charleston are the Waldners from? The two major ones are in NC and WV, a bit out of range for Nitro to be aware of them unless they are pretty famous nationally. There's a bunch of other Charlestons, including one in Iowa (Nitro's state) but it's pretty small and unlikely to be used as reference about billionaires.

I let Elrod field that one because those were his bits.

Sir Lee wrote: 2. Should we consider this as being the "Solange vol. 4" story?

Close enough for government work.

Sir Lee wrote: Two minor questions to the author:

1. Which Charleston are the Waldners from? The two major ones are in NC and WV, a bit out of range for Nitro to be aware of them unless they are pretty famous nationally. There's a bunch of other Charlestons, including one in Iowa (Nitro's state) but it's pretty small and unlikely to be used as reference about billionaires.

Charleston, SC. They're well-enough known that Nitro knows of them. Not like the Goodcreeps, but well enough.

The Professor is likely to be Amelia Hartford, and The Captain may be the Trustee.
Remember, Hindmost IS Amelia (ref: As Beauty Does).

Meanwhile, apart from Tansy, two other students have been 'flagged' for contact by representatives of The Committee - who it could perhaps be inferred are intending to pursue goals which may be for what they consider to be the greater good, but involves breaking the law (hypothesis from both the Committee meeting and Amelia's chat with Tansy when recruiting her).

It's certainly possible that Tansy's being eyed up with regards to a specific task (or specific tasks) to further the aims of The Committee - but until we know more (likely to be revealed at some point in future!), we're left with the distinctly uncomfortable position of a senior member of staff blackmailing a student into doing her bidding - and she has the knowledge, resources and contacts to carry out her threat if Tansy (or anyone else she recruited) bailed. Whether she'd do so in the extremely unlikely event of a 'recruit' bailing is another matter entirely, as the threat alone would probably make almost any student comply.

-oOo-

Away from Tansy, it was interesting learning about the origins and symbolism of academic dress; while presumably if Truck's parents turned up and were introduced to Alecto; or Tee-Kay's parents turned up and were introduced to Megaera, they weren't as phased as Nitro's...

I enjoyed seeing Nitro stand up for his girlfriend. He's really developed from being a simple bully into someone who's a jerk but stands by those he cares about, even if it hurts hiim. I can respect that.

mittfh wrote: It's certainly possible that Tansy's being eyed up with regards to a specific task (or specific tasks) to further the aims of The Committee - but until we know more (likely to be revealed at some point in future!), we're left with the distinctly uncomfortable position of a senior member of staff blackmailing a student into doing her bidding - and she has the knowledge, resources and contacts to carry out her threat if Tansy (or anyone else she recruited) bailed. Whether she'd do so in the extremely unlikely event of a 'recruit' bailing is another matter entirely, as the threat alone would probably make almost any student comply.

To be fair, Tansy was given multiple opportunities to say, "You know, this is more than I want to be involved with I think I'll just pass... " Hindmost went out of her way to tell her that she could back out anytime up to a point, and even stressed before hand what that point was before Tansy crossed it. Tansy chose to proceed, she's not technically being blackmailed.

E. E. Nalley wrote:

mittfh wrote: It's certainly possible that Tansy's being eyed up with regards to a specific task (or specific tasks) to further the aims of The Committee - but until we know more (likely to be revealed at some point in future!), we're left with the distinctly uncomfortable position of a senior member of staff blackmailing a student into doing her bidding - and she has the knowledge, resources and contacts to carry out her threat if Tansy (or anyone else she recruited) bailed. Whether she'd do so in the extremely unlikely event of a 'recruit' bailing is another matter entirely, as the threat alone would probably make almost any student comply.

To be fair, Tansy was given multiple opportunities to say, "You know, this is more than I want to be involved with I think I'll just pass... " Hindmost went out of her way to tell her that she could back out anytime up to a point, and even stressed before hand what that point was before Tansy crossed it. Tansy chose to proceed, she's not technically being blackmailed.

Huh. ... Given Tansy's thoughts about Hindmost's task and how they seem to segue into thoughts about Elaine and Kayda in this one, I thought the task would be about stealing something from Kayda or Loophole or messing with something near them...



But, I was wrong:

Kayda8 wrote: "There was a research lab in Colorado, and a mercenary called War Horse stole some gadget," I began a narrative. From the pair's reaction, they were in a state of shocked disbelief, which seemed to grow as I told the story. "So we got it back, but he got away," I finished the tale. "And then we met a guy from the government who took it, barely said 'thank you', and sent us on our way."

***

So, is the retrieval gonna be another snippet? Or are you guys just gonna rely on us to put the pieces together?

Just thought: by the time of G2, a certain Julia Terry will be 16 years old - something to file away in case a student by that name turns up...

Domoviye wrote: I enjoyed seeing Nitro stand up for his girlfriend. He's really developed from being a simple bully into someone who's a jerk but stands by those he cares about, even if it hurts hiim. I can respect that.

Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Malady wrote:
So, is the retrieval gonna be another snippet? Or are you guys just gonna rely on us to put the pieces together?

Well what you see here was originally part of a larger story called The Boys of Summer. But because of my health issues it had stalled a little bit. But those scenes were already done, and since we had nothing for first Generation this week the guys asked me to break it off as a vignette which I've done.

The larger story detailing the misadventure of the road trip will be completed as health allows.

Hmm... So, does that title still have meaning in its new form? Hmm... There are some boys, and it is set in the summer...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_of_Summer

Well, from what I could discern between this vignette and Kayda 8, the story will be about the (mis)adventures Kayda, Tansy and Lainie got into on the road from Utah to South Dakota. A road movie with girls, sorta like a teen mutant version of "Thelma & Louise", only with a third girl instead of Brad Pitt. And no driving Baby Girl into the Grand Canyon. I'm guessing.

Sir Lee wrote: Well, from what I could discern between this vignette and Kayda 8, the story will be about the (mis)adventures Kayda, Tansy and Lainie got into on the road from Utah to South Dakota. A road movie with girls, sorta like a teen mutant version of "Thelma & Louise", only with a third girl instead of Brad Pitt. And no driving Baby Girl into the Grand Canyon. I'm guessing.

Well maybe. You never know with this crew.

A few things to mull over in this vignette, largely revolving around the Syndicate.

First off, I didn't realise Hartford was quite that senior in the hierarchy, if The Committee denotes positions of power. To continue with that group, "Old Man" might feasibly be Mephisto. We have a mostly-reliable source in Carson that he doesn't appear to age normally, so it might lend credence to facets of his narration in Razzle Dazzle, and indeed the self-styled goals of these elite members seem in accordance with the "Red Brotherhood" mentioned therein.

Of course, whether The Syndicate is a continuation of such an order, or merely an arm of it, or if the Red Brotherhood is pure fabrication in Mephisto's narrative, based upon the Syndicate's tenets is unclear.

It was really awesome seeing Nitro stand up to his parents like that, even if the interactions with Tissy's father are a bit... cliché?

I did like the narrative in this used to avoid and excuse the drudgery of listing every student.

Also Hank. Getting tutored by Wyatt will make him a force to be reckoned with.

I don't take as a given that the Committee is the same as the heads of the Syndicate. It may be a separate cabal, perhaps plotting to take over the Syndicate, perhaps only overlapping in membership with the Syndicate but with different goals.

Strong is Sir Lee with The Force…

Ametros wrote: A few things to mull over in this vignette, largely revolving around the Syndicate.

First off, I didn't realise Hartford was quite that senior in the hierarchy, if The Committee denotes positions of power. To continue with that group, "Old Man" might feasibly be Mephisto. We have a mostly-reliable source in Carson that he doesn't appear to age normally, so it might lend credence to facets of his narration in Razzle Dazzle, and indeed the self-styled goals of these elite members seem in accordance with the "Red Brotherhood" mentioned therein.

Of course, whether The Syndicate is a continuation of such an order, or merely an arm of it, or if the Red Brotherhood is pure fabrication in Mephisto's narrative, based upon the Syndicate's tenets is unclear.

As Sir Lee said (and EE corroborated) I don't think we're seeing the leadership... this seems like a group of puppetmasters and inside-men... Which Hindmost definitely would fit into...

That said, it makes sense to me. Lady Astarte is a senior hero, so it makes sense that Hindmost would be a senior villain to maintain neutrality.

Kristin Darken wrote: Baby Girl is more likely to end up in a low earth orbit than at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Sorry.

Especially if she gives the car an on-board computer and patches Carmen into it...

Kit Car?

Baby girl getting a nightrider?

Phoenix Spiritus wrote: Kit Car?

Baby girl getting a nightrider?

Not exactly, as I'd assume Carmen wouldn't be a permanent feature of Baby Girl - just the USB stick copy of her inserted and removed when Lainie was around.

(And you at the back, yes, you, stop giggling! You know perfectly well what I mean and it's not that!)