Question I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore

Kristin Darken wrote: All the Gen 2 characters are on the lower side of the power scale equation. But they will probably still give TK a run for their money on snark and genre-savvy.

Tia's snark and pranking power are at amazing levels, easily.

At least a 5 at prank-fu.

Kristin Darken wrote: All the Gen 2 characters are on the lower side of the power scale equation. But they will probably still give TK a run for their money on snark and genre-savvy.

I like the lower power levels, it makes the characters have to think on their feet more.

Kristin Darken wrote: All the Gen 2 characters are on the lower side of the power scale equation. But they will probably still give TK a run for their money on snark and genre-savvy.

Except for Laura, who's just cool and laid-back and rather unobtrusive.

For now.

Dreamer wrote: Flower...manifest flowers and nothing else, beat it isn't that simple.

Well, that depends. Can she manifest a corpse flower ? There are a lot of flowers in the world. Depending on her flexibility and limitations, Krystal may not be as weak as she passes herself off to be.

Never knew about Homer gallery being a dead zone before, at least not that I can recall.

It sounds familiar. I know they've talked about Homer Gallery having defenses before, can't remember if any specific ones were mentioned.

Far too many changelings at once and have everyone worried they will be another Team Kimba, what is going on with the spike in changelings though?

That's easy - we got a new set of authorlords.

Mrs. Horton is still around, yay! Laura either figured it out already or is the most comfortable in her change, a mystery for another time.

Laura was trans before her change.

Calamari part 1 wrote: At least Laura's mother and little sister Julie loved her. That thought brought a smile to her face as she recalled the tears in their eyes as she departed on her trip. The hugs and kisses and promises to call and text and e-mail often. Her little sister's gigantic, loving hug for her bigger sister. And her mom's and Julie's acceptance of her change, even when Larry admitted - reluctantly - that he wanted to change, that he'd always felt wrong.

Flower knows about Laura, wonder how soon Laura will let the others now.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this.

And Sergeant Clauser is off to a rocky start, chewing them out for something they were already chewed out for. Clauser is trying to intimidate them into not helping people when they can, and stating Whateley security can do the job, sounds like they just don't want another Team Kimba on their hands and are trying to scare them out of any notions of being heroes, which is going to backfire. And I was right, trying to scare some sense into them with this tactic, not even a report from New York and probably not authorized to do this by Mrs. Carson either. This little stunt is going to come back to bite Sergeant Clauser in the butt sooner or later.

This wasn't a chewing out. This was an assessment, disguised as a chewing out. He made good points, too. The Kimba lectures often felt hollow because in several cases they didn't have reasonable alternatives. But in this case the situation could have been handled just fine. Of course, they didn't know that, but it makes for a good talking point to emphasize the problems of chronic hero syndrome. But the main point of the lecture was to meet the kids, and see how they react to a bit of pressure, to be better prepared when they end up in trouble again. Clauser knows exactly what he's doing.

Poor Tia, all that meat and she can't eat. Underdog Corner, wonder if any of the past Underdog left any marks behind there that last to this day. Morgana saw through Clauser's stunt as a scare tactic but refuses to be intimidated, knew it would backfire.

Well, at least one did. Remember why the Underdogs sit under an air vent?

Is Krystal flirting with Laura, a sophomore and freshman dating, not unheard of.

A sophmore and a freshman dating isn't unheard of, but Krystal is a senior. Which also isn't unheard of, but is a bit more questionable.

I definitely don't remember Mr. Babich as being a house parents in Poe before now.

There's a reference made to Mrs Horton being unused to there being two house parents, so I'm guessing that this is a new development.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: bunch of speculative stuff

Answers are as follows:

1. Could be.
2. nope, but it's very plausible
3. tradition
4. yup. most comfortable
5. don't get the question
6. bingo
7. hadn't thought of that, but yeah, it sort of is
8. nope
9. yup, it's new

Arcanist Lupus wrote:

Poor Tia, all that meat and she can't eat. Underdog Corner, wonder if any of the past Underdog left any marks behind there that last to this day. Morgana saw through Clauser's stunt as a scare tactic but refuses to be intimidated, knew it would backfire.

Well, at least one did. Remember why the Underdogs sit under an air vent?

Killstench, and occasionally Miasma, would eat under the vents, the Underdogs didn't eat under the vents.

The only lasting mark left by the Gen 1 Underdogs is a half melted seat.

elrodw wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote:

Flower knows about Laura, wonder how soon Laura will let the others now.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this.

5. don't get the question

I'm not sure what Dreamer meant by "Flower knows about Laura", because I'm not sure what Flower knows about Laura. That she's trans? That she's lesbian (or bi?). That she's a devisor/gadgeteer? Some other secret that I missed?

elrodw wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: A sophmore and a freshman dating isn't unheard of, but Krystal is a senior. Which also isn't unheard of, but is a bit more questionable.

8. nope

Do you mean "no, Krystal isn't a senior" or "no, seniors and freshman dating isn't unheard of", or "no, seniors and freshman dating isn't questionable"?

elrodw wrote:

Kristin Darken wrote: All the Gen 2 characters are on the lower side of the power scale equation. But they will probably still give TK a run for their money on snark and genre-savvy.

Except for Laura, who's just cool and laid-back and rather unobtrusive.

For now.

Methinks thou doth protest too much.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: I'm not sure what Dreamer meant by "Flower knows about Laura", because I'm not sure what Flower knows about Laura. That she's trans? That she's lesbian (or bi?). That she's a devisor/gadgeteer? Some other secret that I missed?

I meant she figured out that Laura is a lesbian and wondered how long it would be before Laura would tell her friends about it. Thought the scene the comment was connected to would make that obvious, guess not.

It was subtle, but there. A tiny bit ambiguous about exactly what she was picking up.

Arcanist Lupus wrote:

elrodw wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote:

Flower knows about Laura, wonder how soon Laura will let the others now.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this.

5. don't get the question

I'm not sure what Dreamer meant by "Flower knows about Laura", because I'm not sure what Flower knows about Laura. That she's trans? That she's lesbian (or bi?). That she's a devisor/gadgeteer? Some other secret that I missed?

elrodw wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: A sophmore and a freshman dating isn't unheard of, but Krystal is a senior. Which also isn't unheard of, but is a bit more questionable.

8. nope

Do you mean "no, Krystal isn't a senior" or "no, seniors and freshman dating isn't unheard of", or "no, seniors and freshman dating isn't questionable"?

Does Flower know Laura is a lesbian? Maybe. All will become clear in part 2. Does Flower know Laura is a changeling? Obviously since Laura is on her wing. Is Flower going to get a thing going with Laura? Nope. Is SOMEONE going to date Laura? Dunno. Is someone dating Flower? Dunno. Will Fran tell James that she's carrying his baby? Will Fran's mother survive her emergency surgery? Will the doctor be able to do the surgery on the woman he's been having an affair with? Will James reveal to Fran that he's gay? Will Fran's Mother's third-husband ever discover the affair? For the answers to these and other questions, tune in again tomorrow for another episode of "As the Whateley Turns"

Is it Madaraki Fran?

'Cause I'm a fan of hers.

I dont know why I didn't mention it before but the AI being called a "Cortana" is an obvious Halo ref, so long as it isn't a "Wheatley" or "GLaDOS" we should be fine, (I stand by the theory that another entity is at work for H5 Cortana or that she isn't as whole as she thinks she is, and is therefore malfunctioning), we will also have be concerned if an AI is called Spark or 7³ or the previous letters for the each letter of the acronym name of International Business Machines + a DBZ power level that's frequently surpassed.... But then again, something tells me that all those entities are at the school, or at least very accurate recreations of them....

And WHY exactly am I getting the feeling that both VI and AI are frequently found in Devisor and Gadgeteer powersuits? More specifically that VI are seen as substitutes for full AI, suitable for testing and prototype phase equipment, and for piloting drones and such that can be directed by a full AI but aren't advanced or durable enough to justify the use of such a program, also I am assuming that while an AI could control multiple units at once, directly, that doing so could strain it, so having one command VI in the units (or a biological person command the VI of course) would be more efficient.

I'm guessing that with the exception of some devisors who make AI as more or less a byproduct of their power, by in large the most AI anyone can be expected to have is 1 to 3, hardware and network limitations, and the non-devise AI are really expensive, with anti-cloning safeguards. I also suspect the Palm fear was surpassed by the fact that the best defense against AI (and Cyberpaths) is other AI and cyberpaths.

It is a development that makes me think that Devisors and Gadgeteers are no longer considered as being easy targets, even a low level Gadgeteer would have access to VI, even without a full AI, that could mean minion factory.

Re the Underdogs table and the vents:

The Underdogs table is under the air-conditioning vents -- meaning, air is blown INTO the Crystal Hall.

Killstench and (sometimes) Nate would eat under the exhaust vents -- which blow air OUT of the Crystal Hall.

It makes sense, sort of. In normal days, Nate would sit at the Underdogs table -- where the air current from the AC would dissipate quickly his "minor" emissions. In chili days or such, that wouldn't be enough, so he would be exiled to the exhaust vents.

mhalpern wrote: I dont know why I didn't mention it before but the AI being called a "Cortana" is an obvious Halo ref, so long as it isn't a "Wheatley" or "GLaDOS" we should be fine, (I stand by the theory that another entity is at work for H5 Cortana or that she isn't as whole as she thinks she is, and is therefore malfunctioning), we will also have be concerned if an AI is called Spark or 7³ or the previous letters for the each letter of the acronym name of International Business Machines + a DBZ power level that's frequently surpassed.... But then again, something tells me that all those entities are at the school, or at least very accurate recreations of them....

Cortana is slang on the net for the class/level of AI
To put it broadly
VI, Civilian AI, Military AI.
Personal, intermediate, installation class.
Personal VI/AI's are generally called SIri (Tavi is an example), Peppers (Civilian AI), Cortana (Military AI)
As for your theory... Consdier who her human is, and who the commsioning (ie, the people who paid for Kurenai). As for her 'complete' status, depends what you mean.

All AI's and VI (to a lesser extent) are regulated by most nations and INTERNATIONAL treaties (not UN ran, not MCO ran, usually), and yes, Kureani is gagdetter programmed.

And WHY exactly am I getting the feeling that both VI and AI are frequently found in Devisor and Gadgeteer powersuits? More specifically that VI are seen as substitutes for full AI, suitable for testing and prototype phase equipment, and for piloting drones and such that can be directed by a full AI but aren't advanced or durable enough to justify the use of such a program, also I am assuming that while an AI could control multiple units at once, directly, that doing so could strain it, so having one
command VI in the units (or a biological person command the VI of course) would be more efficient.

More like VI has a LOT less restrictions on it, than AI. AI's are _heavily_ regulated, and the creators/owners are fully liable both CRIMINALLY and Civil for their actions, within some reason, plus several other aspects, as well as military class AI is even MORE restricted and frankly, if not authorized to program one and you do... and keep it without authorization and other issues of a legal nature, a good way to get put in jail for a looong time.

I'm guessing that with the exception of some devisors who make AI as more or less a byproduct of their power, by in large the most AI anyone can be expected to have is 1 to 3, hardware and network limitations, and the non-devise AI are really expensive, with anti-cloning safeguards. I also suspect the Palm fear was surpassed by the fact that the best defense against AI (and Cyberpaths) is other AI and cyberpaths.

There are no legal limits to the NUMBER of AI you are the human of (well, per the AI's anyways), it's more cost/hardware limitations.
Eh, acutally AI per say isn't expensive, at least hardware wise, programming, even not so much. Still pricey, no question, mind you, and most people won't have htem (VI is good enough and FAR cheaper)
Kurenai and her direct sisters, are VERY pricey, but that's their HOUSING/HARDWARE that's the cost, in their case, high end gagdetter. If Kurenai's hardware was the size, of oh, say a full tower PC, figure her cost would be a fifth, easy. One thing to remember, is that the 'kernal' of most VI or AI, can be shared amoung others, though Kurenai's own personality base load is less shared, and her adaptions to Hikaru, can't be copied.

And yes, Palm VI (they're not really AI as the term is) are ALWAYS hunted by ANY AI.
Period. No ifs, ands or buts. To put it midly, Mossad and other anti Nazi groups in the 60's would take notes on how zeolusly and rutlelessy any AI would go after a Palm.
And they usually win.

It is a development that makes me think that Devisors and Gadgeteers are no longer considered as being easy targets, even a low level Gadgeteer would have access to VI, even without a full AI, that could mean minion factory.

Eh, remember above, regulation, and the difference between Civilian applications (Tavi) and military (Kurenai), as well as hardcoded limitations as well as some other things you' will learn.

One additional point (which won't be brought up for a while)
AI's of this generation (G2 WU), aren't 'sentient' on first boot. They have a kernel (most AI's share a very similar one, some differences, but it's not significant), and a 'template' personality they come with, but before and during first boot/intinzation/load, and for a while (varies) afterwards, they _are not sentient by definition_. It takes INTERACTION with humans for them to cross into actual 'begins' and truly thinking and acting AI/individuals. Kurenai has crossed that threshold.

What about sentient devises? I take it there are legal options to protect those and their makers when they become useful byproducts? Or are they not considered the same way as the ones that agree with physics? And made to be kept airgapped when possible? From what I understand, sentient devises aren't exactly uncommon, even when the devisor has no intention of making them intelligent.

The limitation on AI I would expect people to have was mostly cost oriented, also because the students who would have them would mostly be because they were "build a best friend" projects. The legal responsibility for AI and VI is as I would consider them somewhere between a pet or child and tools

AI is AI, is the law. if it's a sentient non organic? You're on the hook under AI laws, no matter how the AI showed up.

Period. While AIs are loved by the military and the majority of their users, the simple fact is, there's (reasonable, fair enough) fear of them. the AI's that you see (Kurenai, and a few others that will appear later) are specifically _not sent out_ 'sentient' for very good reasons. Kurenai for at least (ie, I haven't decided) the first month or so of her existence would not qualify as 'sentient'

And no, the limitation on AI's is three fold: 1: Rarity (even the best AI crèches only 'intinalize' 2-3 a day, at best), 2: Outside Pepper/Cortanas (which ARE VERY costly, as noted, because of the hardware they need, Kurenai is even more costly, given how small her hardware is, and her preloaded expert/skill sets), AI's pretty much have to have their home built AROUND them. IT's possible to refit a house more or less for an AI, mind you, but it's very costy, while building it from the get go for an AI, is about 1/3rd to 1/4th the cost. 3: Demand (Military wants them badly, for example, and you can figure any million or so dollar home is being built "AI ready", at the least, maybe even cheaper houses), then Cost. (which, admittedly, is a function of demand, too, and currently the demand outstrips the supply.)

AI Creches (as I think they'd be called) are HEAVILY regulated, and cannot, cannot, cannot sell/give their AI's until they've been cert'ed by their host goverement.... and this might be one of the TWO things humanity agrees on nearly (and the nations that don't, are HEAVILY watched by cyberpaths, dedicated installation class or better AI's, and elite elite elite hackers) unversially, that _should be heavily watched and monitored and regulated_.

Say, as a hypotethical? Japan has _3_ total that can sell their product/authorized for it outside the lab. 9 AI's a day at most. How many of those are less than a year (hades, less than 6 months, even) gotten permission to release their AIs?
AI's are _new_. As Lapin points out, they're _FINALLY_ making their way out of military labs.
Finally.

Side note: Kurenai (well her crèche group, anyways) was in my mind the first Cortanas released by Japan for non lab testing.
That tells you all you need to know, really.

And yes, the laws, the rarity, the cost, oh, my, the cost, and fear from non users, is why VI is far more popular and more commonly used. AI, without question, is far superior over all, but for what most people want/use? VI gets it done, and it's far safer, and far less regulated/monitored.

MageOhki wrote: AI is AI, is the law. if it's a sentient non organic? You're on the hook under AI laws, no matter how the AI showed up.

Period. While AIs are loved by the military and the majority of their users, the simple fact is, there's (reasonable, fair enough) fear of them. the AI's that you see (Kurenai, and a few others that will appear later) are specifically _not sent out_ 'sentient' for very good reasons. Kurenai for at least (ie, I haven't decided) the first month or so of her existence would not qualify as 'sentient'

And no, the limitation on AI's is three fold: 1: Rarity (even the best AI crèches only 'intinalize' 2-3 a day, at best), 2: Outside Pepper/Cortanas (which ARE VERY costly, as noted, because of the hardware they need, Kurenai is even more costly, given how small her hardware is, and her preloaded expert/skill sets), AI's pretty much have to have their home built AROUND them. IT's possible to refit a house more or less for an AI, mind you, but it's very costy, while building it from the get go for an AI, is about 1/3rd to 1/4th the cost. 3: Demand (Military wants them badly, for example, and you can figure any million or so dollar home is being built "AI ready", at the least, maybe even cheaper houses), then Cost. (which, admittedly, is a function of demand, too, and currently the demand outstrips the supply.)

AI Creches (as I think they'd be called) are HEAVILY regulated, and cannot, cannot, cannot sell/give their AI's until they've been cert'ed by their host goverement.... and this might be one of the TWO things humanity agrees on nearly (and the nations that don't, are HEAVILY watched by cyberpaths, dedicated installation class or better AI's, and elite elite elite hackers) unversially, that _should be heavily watched and monitored and regulated_.

Say, as a hypotethical? Japan has _3_ total that can sell their product/authorized for it outside the lab. 9 AI's a day at most. How many of those are less than a year (hades, less than 6 months, even) gotten permission to release their AIs?
AI's are _new_. As Lapin points out, they're _FINALLY_ making their way out of military labs.
Finally.

Side note: Kurenai (well her crèche group, anyways) was in my mind the first Cortanas released by Japan for non lab testing.
That tells you all you need to know, really.

And yes, the laws, the rarity, the cost, oh, my, the cost, and fear from non users, is why VI is far more popular and more commonly used. AI, without question, is far superior over all, but for what most people want/use? VI gets it done, and it's far safer, and far less regulated/monitored.

So legal difference (for devisors) How do they determine the difference between a Dev AI and Dev VI?

I'm missing some cultural reference here. Siri, yes, Cortana, yes, but why the civilian AIs are nicknamed "Peppers" instead of, say, "Jarvises?" AFAIK (but I haven't seen the latest Marvel movies), Pepper Potts was never an AI.

Jarvis got taken for intermediate class Civilian AI. I haven't thought of better slang yet.

XD

As for how they tell AI/VI apart, assume they have a working 'test' they can do, to see if the 'program' is VI or really AI in disguise.

MageOhki wrote: Jarvis got taken for intermediate class Civilian AI. I haven't thought of better slang yet.

XD

As for how they tell AI/VI apart, assume they have a working 'test' they can do, to see if the 'program' is VI or really AI in disguise.

Ahh, a Turing test then.. but harder to cheat

So, what makes a Palm VI, a VI, instead of an AI?

Just want to politely suggest that the AI/VI discussion be taken to its own thread, rather than cluttering up this one.

Update!

Nice first scene! Funny! ... What are those special cases? ... Will the admin issues be solved in this part? ... I'll read and see!

... So, Laura knows what a Glamour is? ... Did someone else tell her? ... Who else has a Glamour?

OMG! Pat and Chessa! [And the rest of their family...]

"Mganga" ... That's not a typo... Right?

Beaverly isn't an Exemplar, then? [Perhaps I shouldn't edit this post that much...]

I'm waiting anxiously for the first "Holy Crap on a Cracker" reaction.....

elrodw wrote: I'm waiting anxiously for the first "Holy Crap on a Cracker" reaction.....

You may have stunned them into silence...

Holy crap on a Popsicle stick!

OK, not really. But this was a very unexpected surprise. I was expecting something more confrontational.

It brings up a few questions.

How many trustees are left? We had six named from Gen 1, and I'm gussing Stephen Hawking wasn't dragged down into the tunnels.

Which Trustee is Ms. Hartford's fiance? Is it one of the named trustees? Or someone we don't know.


How much will le Compte change how things are run?

And just how did a boob like Forsythe become assistant Security Chief?


On the other front what happened to the SFL? Tractor has that we won, but everything got really fucked up feeling going on.

Valentine wrote: How many trustees are left? We had six named from Gen 1, and I'm gussing Stephen Hawking wasn't dragged down into the tunnels.

Which Trustee is Ms. Hartford's fiance? Is it one of the named trustees? Or someone we don't know.

Two were named to be with Carson... Lord Paramount and Ty West. Of the rest... the remainder of the current roster of them is still around and doing things like asking Ms. Hartford to resign... and appointing new headmasters and other such meddling.
.

How much will le Compte change how things are run?.

Not as much as you may fear... more than you may expect... we'll have to see.
.

And just how did a boob like Forsythe become assistant Security Chief?

You may be thinking of Reynolds... Forsythe was seen as the best of the Gen 1 crop of officers... well, other than Delarose and Everheart.
.

On the other front what happened to the SFL? Tractor has that we won, but everything got really fucked up feeling going on.

More will be told of that soon-ish... the rest will have to wait. If it's ever really talked about completely.

Well, it seems I'll have things to look forward to tomorrow!

Continuing from where I stopped...

***

... Well, that's a disturbing nightmare. Good job! ... Slut-bunny... Like slut-kitty? I guess it doesn't need a lot of imagination?

"The shower head looked a little weird," - Hydroflux showerheads! Or something like them. ... I wonder how Tia'll react when she discovers/hears about, their special features? ... That is, if I'm right, of course.

Nice convo about ronin and stuff, and shows the Hikaru-Taka relationship!

Rumors are forming from misconceptions. Those who've got accurate info are gonna be interesting! ... Who owned that table before??

Bellows! ... Wow. So much thinking! Sneaky good!

"Bear of a man ... redhead"... Oh! Right! This is Tractor and Vanity Girl! .... And noted in-story. ... What are those 'issues' involving Kayda, Kodiak, Loophole, and others? ... Magical? Seed related?

What is going on with Admin??

Prudhomme's the European counselor. Who's the Oriental or whatever one, if it exists? I guess we'll find out with Hikaru and Taka...

It's really funny watching Malady calmly posting reactions, knowing what is coming up in the story.


Speaking of which. figs. When the RAs started streaming out in tears I guessed that something had happened to Carson, but the full scope of this disaster is impressive. Many of those missing could hold off entire armies on their own. For them all to vanish together, without a sound? We're going to need a bigger boat school...

While foul play was definitely involved, I have difficulty imagining any villain or even an entire organization of villains pulling this off. But I can't help but remember a certain mysterious horrible gate that Jade spent some time cleaning ten years ago...

It's good to see more cameos, and old friends becoming teachers. And Pat and the Schrodinger siblings have treacherous journey from fanfic to canon! Three cheers for them! (And yes, I know that the journey is fraught with peril, and they may not be quite like we remember them. But still)

I burst out laughing at learning that Morgana thinks that there's something she wouldn't be able to buy at the school store.

I was a bit confused by the introductions bit, though. Is Misty a sophomore? Because I thought that we had met all the changeling freshthings, but Misty acted like she was new to Poe. Also, my impression was that Mganga (although I didn't know his name) was the only boy present (not counting Pat, who was mistaken as a girl until introduced) in the group, up until Bewitched started speaking, and suddenly there was a second.

Tia is an idiot!* For those that don't know I'm studying to become a mathematician, so I know how math works.

She is correct in that some math at the lower levels is all formulas but that is not true for all math. Starting with algebra math starts being about being able to figure out puzzles, you have a goal and a set number of actions you can do to get to that goal. I will admit there are some formulas which if you memorize than you can pass at highschool algebra (which has very little relation to university algebra) but at any higher level this is considered ridiculous and stupid because of the complexity of the formulas. Being able to derive a formula from the tools you are given is half the point of giving you the tools.

That doesn't even get me started on calculus. The entire point of calculus is that there is no formulas! Well okay there are formulas but no one uses them unless they have to. The formulas can turn a 5 second question into a hour length one. What,you need to learn are the methods, which are simpler, easier to remember, and more useful. The methods are derived from the formulas but still.

*I apologize for my rudeness, it was unnessecarily hurtful. I try not to say anything negative online, in the heat of the moment I forgot myself.

In my mind the events in the tunnels either reek of foul play or GOO/ class x events.

The car accident reeks of foul play, though.

I'm wondering if these will be a separate set of events from the gen1 battle vs the bastard or if the new headmaster is a thrall of him, suddenly making Whateley much less of the "safe haven" we know and love.....

With half the major trustees missing....

Here's what I think happened:

shadeofred wrote: I'm wondering if these will be a separate set of events from the gen1 battle vs the bastard or if the new headmaster is a thrall of him, suddenly making Whateley much less of the "safe haven" we know and love.....

I would bet my right shoe that Mazarin has been quietly been scouted as a possible replacement for Carson for years now, by Carson herself as well as by the trustees. There is no way she would leave the fate of her school to chance if she was gone. I have no doubt that Mazarin will bring about some many policy changes as he decides how the school is best to be run, but I sincerely believe that he has the best interests of the school in mind.

Jarjaross wrote: Tia is an idiot!* For those that don't know I'm studying to become a mathematician, so I know how math works.

She is correct in that some math at the lower levels is all formulas but that is not true for all math. Starting with algebra math starts being about being able to figure out puzzles, you have a goal and a set number of actions you can do to get to that goal. I will admit there are some formulas which if you memorize than you can pass at highschool algebra (which has very little relation to university algebra) but at any higher level this is considered ridiculous and stupid because of the complexity of the formulas. Being able to derive a formula from the tools you are given is half the point of giving you the tools.

That doesn't even get me started on calculus. The entire point of calculus is that there is no formulas! Well okay there are formulas but no one uses them unless they have to. The formulas can turn a 5 second question into a hour length one. What,you need to learn are the methods, which are simpler, easier to remember, and more useful. The methods are derived from the formulas but still.

*I apologize for my rudeness, it was unnessecarily hurtful. I try not to say anything negative online, in the heat of the moment I forgot myself.

Most of math builds on the formula you learn at the lower levels, methods or not. Tia, potentially lacking a few of those and not knowing it, could well be in for some severe pain, but she's stubborn. She wants to do what she was able to do before. Will she be able to pull it off? who knows? But she wants to try, and she has had a few months to study and relearn things she lost.

By the way, I'm not offended. the fact that you picked up on Tia being human means I wrote her well, and you're invested in the character; that's about the best compliment you can give me.

My thoughts exactly. In which case there will need to be a storyline about them eventually
escaping Sarah's intestinal tract.

A quick comment right now, a training team of eleven sounds pretty big. I wonder what the trainers are going to think of that.

So the board and Mrs Carson accidentally released Sara and she was HUNGRY!!!!!! ?

Given the gravity of that situation, not being able to move Tia back to Poe makes even less sense.

Domoviye wrote: A quick comment right now, a training team of eleven sounds pretty big. I wonder what the trainers are going to think of that.

yeah, I was thinking that too. Might as well add in the entire freshman class from poe while they're at it..... if they didn't already. Still trying to keep track of the new names. I have to be bashed over the head repeatedly in order for me to remember names.

Domoviye wrote: A quick comment right now, a training team of eleven sounds pretty big. I wonder what the trainers are going to think of that.

If they are smart they will realize that that training team goes up to eleven.

Finished reading! ...

***

Massive structural reorganization! ... What happened down there??... Not a tunnel collapse? Falcon as Assistant Head... ... Not a big a shock as it would if I wasn't reading the comments... Well. pretty interesting and surprising developments! ... Now to read the comments...

Following up my first impressions post with some additional thoughts.

jmhyp wrote: So the board and Mrs Carson accidentally released Sara and she was HUNGRY!!!!!! ?

What i get for posting without reading is finding out someone else had the same idea.

Given the gravity of that situation, not being able to move Tia back to Poe makes even less sense.

In fact, there should be something in place to do a end run around the computers trying to give you the runaround. Ms Horton should be able to invoke the Pejuta Protocols (I know, should be Tennyo Protocols, but that lacks alliteration) to immediately move Tia back to Poe. It's not hard to break the "sorry Poe is full" issue. Just ask the computer to list all the students in each room. When it starts making up students, you know it is compromised and clearer heads should prevail.

Goodness, I have to say I get a chuckle out of this. It never ceases to amaze me how conservative some of your guesses are when speculating about this universe. Especially the knee-jerk ones, it's almost like as a collective fan base you're afraid to imagine large.

Let me just say there are FAR WORSE things in those tunnels than Sarah.

Or, to quote the movie, "You think that's air you're breathing? Hmm."

Aside from potential Kellith dealings, I did enjoy the scene with Tractor, he seems embarrassed talking about Debra and Kayda.

mhalpern wrote: Aside from potential Kellith dealings, I did enjoy the scene with Tractor, he seems embarrassed talking about Debra and Kayda.

We shall learn much, much more about Tractor. Much, much more. Bwah Hah Hah Hah!!!

jmhyp wrote: Following up my first impressions post with some additional thoughts.

jmhyp wrote: So the board and Mrs Carson accidentally released Sara and she was HUNGRY!!!!!! ?

What i get for posting without reading is finding out someone else had the same idea.

Given the gravity of that situation, not being able to move Tia back to Poe makes even less sense.

In fact, there should be something in place to do a end run around the computers trying to give you the runaround. Ms Horton should be able to invoke the Pejuta Protocols (I know, should be Tennyo Protocols, but that lacks alliteration) to immediately move Tia back to Poe. It's not hard to break the "sorry Poe is full" issue. Just ask the computer to list all the students in each room. When it starts making up students, you know it is compromised and clearer heads should prevail.

An assumption here, jmhyp, is that the 'protocol' doesn't involve the HM, or AHM, who (well, Falcon is, so) might not know the reason behind the move back, or isn't the factor. With the decapitation this close of the senior staff, it'll take time. There ARE other reasons why Mrs. Horton isn't pulling every string, as well, one of which she stated, in the scene.

Valentine wrote: Which Trustee is Ms. Hartford's fiance? Is it one of the named trustees? Or someone we don't know.

Warning: Spoiler! [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Totem would be choice.

Actually, I'm assuming that Lord Paramount might be Hartford's fiancé. I mean, there was some implication in one of the Gen1 stories that she had a "secret boyfriend" who was (a) a big-shot villain and (b) rarely able to visit. Although your suggestion would be good too. Delicious irony.

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote: Aside from potential Kellith dealings, I did enjoy the scene with Tractor, he seems embarrassed talking about Debra and Kayda.

We shall learn much, much more about Tractor. Much, much more. Bwah Hah Hah Hah!!!

Does he walk in on them? That's the only explanation I can think of for his embarrassment

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote: Aside from potential Kellith dealings, I did enjoy the scene with Tractor, he seems embarrassed talking about Debra and Kayda.

We shall learn much, much more about Tractor. Much, much more. Bwah Hah Hah Hah!!!

Does he walk in on them? That's the only explanation I can think of for his embarrassment

Not necessarily. Consider this - the Whateley Universe is not a friendly place for LGBT individuals. He has a student looking at a picture which includes two gals he knows are lovers. She asks questions, which brings out an instinct to cover for his friends. He does NOT know at this point of the student's inclination. Net result - he's furtive and reluctant to answer questions.

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote: Aside from potential Kellith dealings, I did enjoy the scene with Tractor, he seems embarrassed talking about Debra and Kayda.

We shall learn much, much more about Tractor. Much, much more. Bwah Hah Hah Hah!!!

Does he walk in on them? That's the only explanation I can think of for his embarrassment

Not necessarily. Consider this - the Whateley Universe is not a friendly place for LGBT individuals. He has a student looking at a picture which includes two gals he knows are lovers. She asks questions, which brings out an instinct to cover for his friends. He does NOT know at this point of the student's inclination. Net result - he's furtive and reluctant to answer questions.

Hmm but don't all the staff know what being assigned to Poe means?

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote: Does he walk in on them? That's the only explanation I can think of for his embarrassment

Not necessarily. Consider this - the Whateley Universe is not a friendly place for LGBT individuals. He has a student looking at a picture which includes two gals he knows are lovers. She asks questions, which brings out an instinct to cover for his friends. He does NOT know at this point of the student's inclination. Net result - he's furtive and reluctant to answer questions.

Hmm but don't all the staff know what being assigned to Poe means?

Nope. Most faculty and staff do NOT know the secret of Poe. Key people know - like Dr. Bellows, headmaster and assistant headmaster, Dr. Tenent. But not everyone.

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote: Does he walk in on them? That's the only explanation I can think of for his embarrassment

Not necessarily. Consider this - the Whateley Universe is not a friendly place for LGBT individuals. He has a student looking at a picture which includes two gals he knows are lovers. She asks questions, which brings out an instinct to cover for his friends. He does NOT know at this point of the student's inclination. Net result - he's furtive and reluctant to answer questions.

Hmm but don't all the staff know what being assigned to Poe means?

Nope. Most faculty and staff do NOT know the secret of Poe. Key people know - like Dr. Bellows, headmaster and assistant headmaster, Dr. Tenent. But not everyone.

Well, if you're gonna be counseling Poesies, shouldn't you know about Poe? Is there any way that the Secret could be assumed to be irrelevant??

... Well, it's (sorta) Tractor's fault for having the pictures out?

***

In other news. ... Glee... Hmm... There are spirits of human traits like Femininity aren't tied to cultures like Wihanape is tied to Native Americana?

Malady wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote: Not necessarily. Consider this - the Whateley Universe is not a friendly place for LGBT individuals. He has a student looking at a picture which includes two gals he knows are lovers. She asks questions, which brings out an instinct to cover for his friends. He does NOT know at this point of the student's inclination. Net result - he's furtive and reluctant to answer questions.

Hmm but don't all the staff know what being assigned to Poe means?

Nope. Most faculty and staff do NOT know the secret of Poe. Key people know - like Dr. Bellows, headmaster and assistant headmaster, Dr. Tenent. But not everyone.

Well, if you're gonna be counseling Poesies, shouldn't you know about Poe? Is there anyway that the Secret could be assumed to be irrelevant??

... Well, it's (sorta) Tractor's fault for having the pictures out?

So he's a sentimental dude. He has a picture of friends. But there's something no-one picked up on relating to that picture. We'll see if anyone gets it.

And we'll find out more in part 4

elrodw wrote:

Malady wrote: Well, if you're gonna be counseling Poesies, shouldn't you know about Poe? Is there anyway that the Secret could be assumed to be irrelevant??

... Well, it's (sorta) Tractor's fault for having the pictures out?

So he's a sentimental dude. He has a picture of friends. But there's something no-one picked up on relating to that picture. We'll see if anyone gets it.

And we'll find out more in part 4

What? The kids? I was like, "We have Wicked MID/Chara. sheet. So, meh?" ... Well, actually, I just forgot to mention them... ... That can't be it anyway, as they were mentioned in-story...

Which picture? There's at least 3 being talked about in that scene.

So, Part 4. and not Part 3... Hmm...

Also, I brought up Glee in my previous post, and her being a spirit of a human quality, and apparently disconnected from any specific culture.

Well, obviously from the things he said and the way he said it, something... bad happened to Vanity Girl prompting the couple to retire from active heroing. Not fatal -- Barton speaks of his wife in the present, as a living person -- but perhaps disfiguring, since "she doesn't use the Vanity Girl name anymore."
Other interesting points...
- Kayda appears to have become a member of the Sioux Falls League, since she is in the group shot.
- Tractor and Vanity Girl appear to have become good friends with the unnamed couple (which, from the description, sounds like Kodiak and Loophole)
- "Assumed-to-be-Loophole" has a pair of children, which is consistent with the example character sheet for 2016-version of "Wicked/Loophole" E.E. leaked a while ago. (Although in that sheet, Lainie had 8-year boy-and-girl twins and a 6 1/2 son).

And again, those 8-year-old kids would have been born sometime around 2008... which is before Lainie is supposed to graduate. But we still don't know how much of that character sheet is canon and how much is red herrings. We don't even know if that sheet is for 2016 or, say, 2020.

E. E. Nalley wrote: Goodness, I have to say I get a chuckle out of this. It never ceases to amaze me how conservative some of your guesses are when speculating about this universe. Especially the knee-jerk ones, it's almost like as a collective fan base you're afraid to imagine large.

Let me just say there are FAR WORSE things in those tunnels than Sarah.

First, what makes you think we aren't aware there are far worse things in the tunnel, given that someone pointed out the entity that Jade encountered? Second, I was joking, which I thought was obvious from the excessive use of exclamation points in my post. Frankly if it turns out to be Sarah I would be disappointed.

Tangent: Other than rushing to the forums to make a joke, the big event of this episode didn't really blow me away. Probably because I was expecting something big to happen. I so despise spoilers. They create expectations and I prefer to read stuff cold. (Part of why I've been posting a lot less frequently during the G2 ramp up.)

On the nature of Glee... yes, avatars can be spirits of concepts. You'll see more of that eventually.

jmhyp wrote:

E. E. Nalley wrote: Goodness, I have to say I get a chuckle out of this. It never ceases to amaze me how conservative some of your guesses are when speculating about this universe. Especially the knee-jerk ones, it's almost like as a collective fan base you're afraid to imagine large.

Let me just say there are FAR WORSE things in those tunnels than Sarah.

First, what makes you think we aren't aware there are far worse things in the tunnel, given that someone pointed out the entity that Jade encountered? Second, I was joking, which I thought was obvious from the excessive use of exclamation points in my post. Frankly if it turns out to be Sarah I would be disappointed.

Tangent: Other than rushing to the forums to make a joke, the big event of this episode didn't really blow me away. Probably because I was expecting something big to happen. I so despise spoilers. They create expectations and I prefer to read stuff cold. (Part of why I've been posting a lot less frequently during the G2 ramp up.)

Re-read my comment.

First off I don't single out anyone on purpose. It's a general comment directed to the entire fan base which tends to be quite conservative in their guessing. I don't comment on what you know or don't know are in the tunnels, only clarifying there's much worse things than what is been put forward.

So relax there's no finger-pointing it's just something I find humorous.

Malady wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote: Does he walk in on them? That's the only explanation I can think of for his embarrassment

Not necessarily. Consider this - the Whateley Universe is not a friendly place for LGBT individuals. He has a student looking at a picture which includes two gals he knows are lovers. She asks questions, which brings out an instinct to cover for his friends. He does NOT know at this point of the student's inclination. Net result - he's furtive and reluctant to answer questions.

Hmm but don't all the staff know what being assigned to Poe means?

Nope. Most faculty and staff do NOT know the secret of Poe. Key people know - like Dr. Bellows, headmaster and assistant headmaster, Dr. Tenent. But not everyone.

Well, if you're gonna be counseling Poesies, shouldn't you know about Poe? Is there any way that the Secret could be assumed to be irrelevant??

He's only helping with classes, and general stuff, not anyone's emotional well being. Some student counsellors are very hands on and caring, like Barton seems to be, while others aren't (who is Ayla's useless counsellor?). Picking and choosing who knows and who doesn't could easily lead to trouble, So while it might help a little for these counsellors to know, it's better overall to have them in the dark.

Despite the dire reveal at the end...am I the only one wondering if Bianca will find a place to fish on campus, and how the non-Poesies (and a few Poesies too) might react to her having such a "dull and boyish" hobby?

Well Tennyo found a fishing spot, so Bianca can to.
And it's not that odd for a girl to fish depending on where she's from.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: I was a bit confused by the introductions bit, though. Is Misty a sophomore? Because I thought that we had met all the changeling freshthings, but Misty acted like she was new to Poe. Also, my impression was that Mganga (although I didn't know his name) was the only boy present (not counting Pat, who was mistaken as a girl until introduced) in the group, up until Bewitched started speaking, and suddenly there was a second.

Yeah, Misty is new to Poe too... she's a Freshman as well. She just didn't get the tour with the others. Whether that was because of her complicated nature or more confused mental state we can't say...

And, Oops?!?... Noah was there from the start. In writing and re-writing the scene to make sure everyone was accounted for we missed marking him out as having been present. I think it has to partially due with his nature. As a Male he tends to lurk a bit when surrounded by girls. The last thing he wants to do is be forced to be one of the group since he enjoys his time as a male.

I've just finished part 1, just about to start part 2, will post comments on both parts together. It's taken me a while, not only because of RL (I just love hayfever - NOT!) but due to noting down various reference stuff, e.g.:

Staff from G1: Elaine Claire, Mrs Linsford, Bella Horton, Trish Savage

New existing staff/students: Officer Kamos, Krystal "Flower" Barrett, Julian O'Brien (Poe boys RA), Annette Carpenter (Poe girls RA), Tiff Lock (Melville RA), Sergeant Clauser, Officer Kamos, (Officer?) Jenkins, Materielle (Melville fixer), Inkblood (deputy fixer), Mr Babich (Poe house parent), Ms Everette (?), Concierge (Melville house parent), Matthew Woodruff (Melville house parent), Lindy (Melville house parent), Quinn (Automotive Club), Jules Boucher (Gearheads Faculty Sponsor?)

Other new students: Kieren Mason, Leland Patton, Clayton Adams, Terry Adams (Poe boys), Alicia Godwin, Jeanette Quinn (Poe girls), Kareela Greer (elsewhere)

Boys dorms: Taka, Jimmy and Vic
Girls dorms (+ Melville): Tanya, Erica, Cally, Tia (possibly temporarily), Hikaru
Poe: Morgana, Laura, Bianca, Tia (possibly eventually), Bailey

I have a feeling that Tia's situation is not going to be resolved anytime soon and she's going to have to suffer in the lap of luxury for some time.

Which brings up a few questions. She is a known changeling. A lot of her fellow dorm mates are going to know she was once a boy, and those that don't will be filled in quickly.

This is not Poe, they won't be happy with her sharing the girl's washroom, and no way will they expect her to shower and bath with the boys. Seems likely she's going to get access to a one person bath.

Might this result in her getting upgraded to a senior's room? which I'm betting has a private bath.

I'm not sure how much bigotry I should expect. She was clearly transformed against her will. It's hardly her fault. Might be a few girls who see her as a chance to let their inner life coaches out.

A certain type of male might see her as an object of bragging rights. Not to date, just to do.

Others would be totally creeped out by her.

I'm way too far out of the loop to figure out how her association with Playboy would be read. Twenty years ago, sure, Playboy was a thing every hormonal boy was well acquainted with. These days, not so much. though I'm sure it's still part of the male culture to a certain extent. Playboy bunny likely still brings certain ideas to mind.

This might worsen her situation. As a victim she gets a certain amount of slack, becoming associated with Playboy of her own free will will cost her points.

Mind you, again some boys might think taking advantage of having that body to cash in only makes sense.

Girl's might view her in a more negative light for it. Or maybe it will just confirm to them that Tia's still male in mind.

This segment also revealed that Tia is becoming substantially more timid. She's developing a fear of confrontation, like when she refused to join in on Laura's plan to secure a table.

Her new neuroses are really well handled by the authors, with a natural and understandable progression, but it is troubling nonetheless.

Was it just the Jamie nightmare that caused it? Is it something more? Ibby couldn't be less like this though, brimming with confidence where Tia is backing away. Perhaps she's still just not used to herself, yet.

Laura was a excellent contrast to Tia here. Compared to the nervous wreck she was in New York, she's really blossomed into her own. No more fear of being ostracized for being blue? She's recognized that she can re-center herself at Whateley, while Tia is still rejecting it.

mittfh wrote: I've just finished part 1, just about to start part 2, will post comments on both parts together. It's taken me a while, not only because of RL (I just love hayfever - NOT!) but due to noting down various reference stuff, e.g.:

Staff from G1: Elaine Claire, Mrs Linsford, Bella Horton, Trish Savage

New existing staff/students: Officer Kamos, Krystal "Flower" Barrett, Julian O'Brien (Poe boys RA), Annette Carpenter (Poe girls RA), Tiff Lock (Melville RA), Sergeant Clauser, Officer Kamos, (Officer?) Jenkins, Materielle (Melville fixer), Inkblood (deputy fixer), Mr Babich (Poe house parent), Ms Everette (?), Concierge (Melville house parent), Matthew Woodruff (Melville house parent), Lindy (Melville house parent), Quinn (Automotive Club), Jules Boucher (Gearheads Faculty Sponsor?)

Other new students: Kieren Mason, Leland Patton, Clayton Adams, Terry Adams (Poe boys), Alicia Godwin, Jeanette Quinn (Poe girls), Kareela Greer (elsewhere)

Boys dorms: Taka, Jimmy and Vic
Girls dorms (+ Melville): Tanya, Erica, Cally, Tia (possibly temporarily), Hikaru
Poe: Morgana, Laura, Bianca, Tia (possibly eventually), Bailey

You forgot Jake "Tractor" Barton and Valerie "Vanity Girl" Barton in the staff list.

mhalpern wrote:

mittfh wrote: I've just finished part 1, just about to start part 2, will post comments on both parts together. It's taken me a while, not only because of RL (I just love hayfever - NOT!) but due to noting down various reference stuff, e.g.:

Staff from G1: Elaine Claire, Mrs Linsford, Bella Horton, Trish Savage

New existing staff/students: Officer Kamos, Krystal "Flower" Barrett, Julian O'Brien (Poe boys RA), Annette Carpenter (Poe girls RA), Tiff Lock (Melville RA), Sergeant Clauser, Officer Kamos, (Officer?) Jenkins, Materielle (Melville fixer), Inkblood (deputy fixer), Mr Babich (Poe house parent), Ms Everette (?), Concierge (Melville house parent), Matthew Woodruff (Melville house parent), Lindy (Melville house parent), Quinn (Automotive Club), Jules Boucher (Gearheads Faculty Sponsor?)

Other new students: Kieren Mason, Leland Patton, Clayton Adams, Terry Adams (Poe boys), Alicia Godwin, Jeanette Quinn (Poe girls), Kareela Greer (elsewhere)

Boys dorms: Taka, Jimmy and Vic
Girls dorms (+ Melville): Tanya, Erica, Cally, Tia (possibly temporarily), Hikaru
Poe: Morgana, Laura, Bianca, Tia (possibly eventually), Bailey

You forgot Jake "Tractor" Barton and ValerieVanessa "Vanity Girl" Barton in the staff list.

Minor error corrected. Vanity Girl is "Vanessa Miles Barton". I was momentarily confused between Val (Eurydice) and Vanity Girl. Fixed here, and I'll double-check parts 3 and 4 to make sure it doesn't happen again.

E. E. Nalley wrote: It's a general comment directed to the entire fan base which tends to be quite conservative in their guessing. I don't comment on what you know or don't know are in the tunnels, only clarifying there's much worse things than what is been put forward.

Hmm... How about all the disappeared Admin found Nimbus's stuff and triggered a trap, like the stuff from Esoteric. There's enough Avatars in the disappeared set... ... Perhaps some latent traps, if Nimbus is dead in G2.

The Tunnel could be a Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies. ... Body Swap like Crystal Wavers... An Insane Crystal Waver attacks and uses Body Swap as revenge?

Bastard attack?

One of Palm's HAITs somehow got into Whateley and attacked? ... There's so many possible actors. And so many possible outcomes. Even Death might not be Final...

WMG: Magical Baby creation, out of randomized genetic material of the Tunneled. Ala this.

elrodw wrote: But there's something no-one picked up on relating to that picture. We'll see if anyone gets it.

Sir Lee wrote: Well, obviously from the things he said and the way he said it, something... bad happened to Vanity Girl prompting the couple to retire from active heroing. Not fatal -- Barton speaks of his wife in the present, as a living person -- but perhaps disfiguring, since "she doesn't use the Vanity Girl name anymore."

So, Elrod, did Sir Lee guess right? Or are you not gonna say? *shrugs*

I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore Part 2 comments
Laura and Bailey as roommates, didn't see that coming. And Laura outed herself to Bailey, guess she isn't that shy about it, at least with fellow Poesies. And teasing Bailey like that with all those questions, Laura definitely has a sense of humor we haven't seen before now. And Laura is a hugger, wonder if that will lead to confusion with other girls in the future.

At least Morgana is planning ahead, some students don't realize what the school store has and panic, overloading themselves with luggage. Plastic storage bins for under the bed, and Bianca doesn't think the school store will have them. Boy, first time in there is going to be a shock for her. Sound-proofing the room with a spell, always a good idea around a Whateley dorm.

Common room isn't that common in appearance anymore, from what I can remember of it in the older stories. All those m-t-f changelings and only 1 f-t-m, poor guy better watch what he says or the pranks in retaliation would lead to school-wide embarassment.

"And no short, one-word answers."

Already have a reputation with Flower. Okay, actually grabbed my own throat scared when Flower mentioned manifesting flower petals inside your windpipe. I knew she was a lot more dangerous than 'manifesting flowers' first suggested, never underestimate someone just because a low power rating or because their power doesn't sound dangerous at first. Laura is right to be nervous when thinking about the Underdogs, they have gotten a lot more creative over the years, that is for sure.

Geez, I agree with the girl who yell, Laura's dad is an asshole. Great, her dad owns a restaurant chain, and H1 supporter and Big Bob's Barbeque are really big with H1 groups, oh boy, that just lost him some customers. And her mom having to leave with Laura and her little sister Julie, all because her idiot of a father can't figure out being a mutant isn't a choice and not something you can control. And it is good to hear Laura's story and how she is happy with the way she changed, expect maybe the color change, plus she is already making more friends. Can't wait to read the long version of Laura's story eventually.

Toni aka Antonia Warren has a similar tale but came from a large family, with father and grandparents happy to have a girl to dote on. One of her brothers even wishes to be a mutant too, with a family that size wonder if at least one of her siblings might manifest as well. Dang, sponsored by the Windy City Guardians, and a power mimic code-named "Ditto", this Toni is a powerhouse in the making. She mimicked an avatar, ouch, should have a warning about that for power mimics in the school pamphlet.

"I don't have a glamour!"

Smacked my forehead at this, it is Fey all over again. How did Laura get a glamour which makes the girls fawn over her, I wonder. Possibly a devise she made or a relative or friend of the family did something, it couldn't be those mysterious people who are watching it who gave it to her, could it.

Ouch, a changeling from North Carolina, with what is going on down there in our reality, I hate to think how much worse it is in the WA universe. Dang, home-schooling like that I would have loved to have, travel the world for a true education. I hope her mystery father doesn't come back later on as a problem for Bailey. Exemplar 3 and esp 2 with danger sense...where she sneezes when she senses danger. Hope someone doesn't prank her with pepper right before a huge threat is about to show up. And Krystal has a point, didn't even think what people would think if Bailey caught a cold, yikes. Plus a power related to psychometry, that power is a lot more useful that Bailey realizes.

Ouch, Morgana has PTSD and due to the forced nature of her becoming a changeling isn't adapting as well to it as others. Can see why Krystal was made an RA, noticing things left unsaid and realizing when someone needs counseling are important parts of the job. Oddities which the Power Testing wonders will be fascinated with is code for lab rat, all that extra testing just to pin down how your powers work, oh boy, poor Morgana. At least she can joke about her dragon transformation.

A new Misty at the school and the poor girl has been forbidden from seeing her sisters by her own parents, poor girl. A functional hermaphrodite, no wonder, at least she can get the help she needs in Poe. Yikes, Cheri and Deci are that aggressively bi, keep Misty's secret from them at all cost. That many bi girls, dang, hope Misty can adapt to her change before they find out. And no religion should be used as an excuse to treat your child badly, no matter how they change.

Aunt is a fellow mutant and got her sponsored by the Bay Area Mutant Society, at least she has some family who doesn't care how she changed. An Exemplar 2 and PK-4 who can fly, with a neat codename, rarely see codenames in other languages even in comics. Over 200 mph in a dive, Misty has a very dangerous attack move. At least Misty will get counseling, with all her new friends in Poe hope she starts to cheer up more.

Celerity, Christina Cobryn, who goes by Chris. Member of the Capes, wonder how they have changed over the years, plus Exemplar, ESP, and Warp able to accelerate or decelerate things that pass through her warp field, that is a power I've never seen used before in any form of fiction. Laura's musing over what Celerity can do for her teammates barely scratches the surface of that powers potential.

Oh boy, hope no one figures out who Bianca is based on the type of magic she is telling them she can do. Revealing all that about her powers, plus now her history, oh boy. At least she isn't being more specific, though someone with the right drive and resources could figure out who she is based on everything she has said alone. Plus stating Chicago, hope no one here is connected to anyone back in Chicago or Scorn in any way.

Noah aka Bewitched lost his father to a supervillain his family has an old grudge with, yikes. Noah can turn back into a girl!?! Avatar and host to spirit of femininity name Glee who can shift him back and forth, no powers as a boy but can manifest a combat outfit as a girl, plus has to remain a girl outside of Poe to keep it secret, ouch. A little sister Darcy who changes codenames regularly, of boy. Distinct personalities when Noah and Nina, bet that has the Power Testing wonks working overtime to try and figure it out.

Pat Barnes, aka Hat Trick, who is a female-to-male pre-op transsexual and ask everyone to remember that. Only dressed up because he lost a bet with older sister, ouch. Ack! A pink poodle skirt, Pat's little sister is his complete opposite. 'Twin sister' Na'Chessa Rakia Barnes, saying to call her Chessa, codename Maidenclaw. Put same date for birthdays and didn't notice until it was too late when getting new official identities, oh boy. Wait, what, new body hatched?!?

Ah, involves a magic item and unclear wish, those will always screw you up. Chessa sneezes electricity sometimes, plus talk of her father and such makes me think the water tower incident was attempted suicide, yikes. Pat is an empath and Chessa is an energizer, plus tarot reading though that is probably not part of their powers, interesting. Little brother Marcus and a big sister which hasn't been named yet and the little brother has it worse than Chessa, what in the world happened to them. I want to read their origin story, you have me very curious now.

Lesley Wainwright aka Ping, gadgeteer specializing in electronics, and somehow turned into a girl by a devise but doesn't remember that. Damon Carpenter aka Mganga, a female to male changeling. From Denver with parents from Nigeria, parents tried to 'cure' her when she started changing; strong healing and weak empathy, with work-study job in Doyle, nice job if a bit stressful at times.

Beverly Taylor, another victim of a devisor transformation, from her own sister who has promised to fix it but is too scatter-brained to remember. Yikes, no wonder she is pissed off. A devise that caused her to manifest and become a girl in a process, oh boy. Oh boy, get Bianca and Bailey's hopes up about Beverly's sister being able to reverse a BIT-based gender change. At least Krystal warns them about trying such a thing, too dangerous to even try, could end up dead or worse.

Woah, are all those things in the basement from Ayla's renovations of Poe between her 1st and 2nd school year or has further stuff been added on since? Rumors about something involving the staff, this is very bad. No is talking to the students about what happened at the school, something involving Ms. Hartford even.

Laura and Bailey didn't like the movie, plus a warning from Bailey about the old curse of living in interesting times. And Laura thinks just because she has had enough of interesting times that they will stop, too bad the curse is true for more than a few Whateley students. Talk of classes and trying to get them together, Laura planning on testing out of a few classes. Laura joking with Bailey about rooming with her so she could be her private tutor, Bailey needs to learn to understand a joke instead of getting all nervous.

And another kid who doesn't know how to act around other kids her age because of how she was raised before her transformation, oh boy. Bailey saying it is like Laura was always a girl, shocking even Laura to learn this. Lessons on how to be a girl, with Laura stating her little sister says she gets cranky when tired and thus a poor teacher. Off to sleep for these two, where another day at Whateley awaits.

Good lord, that is a grade-A nightmare for poor Tia, dreaming Jamie transformed her fully into a female rabbit and put her in a cage with a bunch of male rabbits. Plus calling her slut-bunny, she needs to be back in Poe for the support she needs, or this will only get worse. Good, she is definitely seeing a shrink, hopefully several times a week. Darn it, Ibby! Replacing her old clothes with new stuff that are analogues to them, she needing something from her old life to help her feel safe as she adjust to her changes.

All those changes to her clothes, dresses and Rogers original Whateley Academy uniforms, plus a taunting note about Tia not being able to be a wallflower anymore. I would have texted Ibby about vengeance as well. At least Ibby wasn't excessively cruel by making some of the outfits pink, Tia would have taken them outside and burned them.

Worrying about her fellow students ogling her, she is going to drive herself nuts with thoughts like that. Going for a run only to see Kenshin with his shirt off and doing advanced and precise katas, impressive to land in the same spot in the air no matter where he started from. 30 minutes for that jog, she is faster than she realizes or the area she ran around is smaller than I expected.

Tia, I would risk being beat up for some of the Crystal Hall pancakes, especially since as long as you don't bump into anyone they probably won't start something. And Tia finds out the one things all the dorms have in common, communal showers and bathrooms. Gold pipes and fittings for the bathrooms and showers, oh brother. All that and no one else showed up once, I would be creeped out like Tia is too. Michelle Brown, a lesbian who didn't want to be in Poe by the way she is acting. Poor Tia has an admirer now.

Yikes, seeing Morgana's scars for the first time would make you curious as to their source. Good to know she and Bianca also have mandatory counselling. Laura talking with Morgana about how her devise functions, nice to see friends have similar interests to talk about. Laura modified her neural neutralizer and now it looks like the Star Trek Original Series phaser, priceless. Plus she read the handbook and knows something that can help them with their seating arrangements, a student who actually reads the handbook on the first day, she is a rarity.

Hope Tia gets away with leaving her ears out on a yellow flag day. Okay, what did Laura learn that gets them a table on one of the upper levels? All standing up for themselves about using the table and Bianca calls Laura Smurfette, she is playing with fire by teasing her with that nickname. At least they all agreed not to use it anymore and Morgana says they will smack anyone who does, oh boy, that is going to start a lot of fights.

Dang, they have stepped up the rules on upper level tables in the ensuing years. But to claim the table, that means they are going to become a training team, that is going to be a big team. Oh course Tanya shows up during the discussion and is confused. Laura, saying it isn't a real team won't matter to the administration, especially when it comes time for Team Tactics classes in the sims. All this talk of eating, wish I could dine at the Crystal Hall. And no wonder the school feels empty, today and tomorrow the rest of them are coming in, which means Melville will be a lot more crowded soon.

Yikes, knew Tanya would be upset about the news of Tia not being in Poe, but not like that, guess she has strong feelings about where Tia needs to be. Laura didn't like the movie because it was the bumbling devisor, at least Tia wasn't there to see it, might have triggered PTSD. Tanya teasing the Poe girls about being known as crazy, which Laura sticks her tongue out at. Ah, so Tanya knows the truth about Poe due to blabbermouth friend back home who was in it.

Can't believe Laura got Hikaru to simply sit down and hear her out. Uh oh, Laura doesn't know about the loophole on freshmen who have already formed a training team being required to train in the sims or she might rethink this plan. Hikaru saying as the most experience Taka must lead them, yet he gives her a good counterpart and she simply nods in response, never thought I would see that. Tanya thinks Whitman is like an insane asylum in a movie, due it to being mostly empty right now.

Talk about their respective cottages and with the way Tia is talking Hikaru thinks she likes it enough she won't want to leave. The Everett Aquatic Center and Pool, that wouldn't be connected to G1 Gloriana would it, hope it isn't a memorial named place. Wonder if the indoor pool beneath Holbrook area is still there.

Tia hearing whispers about New York, hope the story doesn't get blown too out of proportion. Laura wasn't kidding about loving shopping, good grief. Team Squidbusters is bad, the rest would just draw more trouble. Mutant Mayhem Machine, Laura isn't using common sense when she came up with that and now they are using it as a placeholder. Ouch, subject of her burnout still painful for Hikaru. Trying to synch up their class schedules and forming a team, things don't always go as planned. Plus more chatter about them from people who assume they were in the big fight in New York, instead of just asking the rumors are going to snowball.

Yay! Dr. Bellows is still around, just who the kids need to help them. At least someone is encouraging Tia and saying she did the right thing in New York, it may not get the heroes praise but calling the police or other authorities is always the right thing. Good, Dr. Bellows stopped Tia from putting herself down, she needs to realize she can still do a lot of things. Calculus, Tia really wishes to prove she can do at least some things she used to do as Luke even now. Tempting her with candy to test if her medicine is working, sneaky. Depression and feelings of inadequacy, know those all too well. Impulse control worsening, oh boy, he is right to worry but not tell her, that would freak her out more. Wonder what the text from Boucher is about.

Wait, a man of that build and Laura is feeling slightly out of breath after seeing him, Tractor! And says he was drafted into the job of History Department chair, sounds like something he would jump into without learning everything the job entails first. Pain plus issues with several of his closest friends, why do I have a bad feeling about this. A picture of Jack and his wife, Vanity Girl, with another couple, a bear of a man whose arm is wrapped protectively around a stunningly-curvaceous redhead, Cody and Lanie! Another picture with Vanity Girl and Lanie clutching the twins, awww. Debra still and Kayda joined the Sioux Falls League alongside her, yay!

Laura figures out who her advisor is in the photo and he ask what makes her think one of those heroes is him, bad Tractor, no messing with your students. Ouch, angst about Vanessa not having used the codename Vanity Girl in a few years, what happened to her. Retired, the way he talks about it something happened that nearly killed his wife and he didn't wish to risk that ever again, which I understand. Laura asking about the other couple, she is curious and inquisitive. Ah, Thursday night for burgers and explanation of the other couple in the picture.

Don Pardo, the team gadgeteer for Sioux Falls League, and Laura reminds Jake of him. Showing off her new neural inhibitor, which is a good thing, as she now knows she has to register it and take firearms safety classes to be allowed to carry it. Testing out right then and there with no time to cram, good way to see their true ability. And Cornflower and Pejuta, calling them best friends like that, guess he doesn't know who he can trust with their secret. But Laura recognizes the look in their eyes towards each other and wants that kind of relationship. Plus the way Tractor was talking about all 4 of them, that is 4 others confirmed to be alive still in Gen 2. Yay!

With a few exceptions like Crystal Hall, Whateley was proving to look as boringly mundane as any other school.

Had to stop typing for a minute there from laughing so hard, Morgana has no idea what she is in for at Whateley. Freshman due to needing a lot of special tutoring in her powers and magic, plus Whateley always tries to get each student for at least 4 years somehow. All those classes and calculus as well, Morgana is trying to gain back a part of her old life as well. Saturday morning for 3 hours, she says she is okay with that now, wait till she has to wake up early for it. Nice schedule, and Morgana, don't wish for more excitement when it will come to you anyways.

Admin still being pig-headed about the computer system not being wrong about the Poe freshmen rooms all being full, oh brother, no wonder Mrs. Horton is so angry. Even if Tia is stuck in Melville for now, Mrs. Horton still considers her one of her Poe children and will everything she can for her, always good to have her on your side. Miss Bellamy is Concierge's real name and she is the house mother, oh boy. Didn't see that coming, thought she was someone hired to do that job. And saying Tia can visit Poe anytime she likes, so she won't be without her support system all the time. And Taka is with her and didn't leave, Mrs. Horton knows why and says Tia has a lot to learn.

Tested out of 3 classes and has the perfect class schedule, things sure turned around for Laura since we first met her at the airport having trouble with the MCO and a stolen bag. Shock and many openly weeping, what news brought that on, only the loss of one or more beloved staff could trigger this. No, please no, not Carson and any of the others. Krystal unable to walk and an all-cottage meeting, something happened to several of the staff, dead or disappeared, this is major. And why is Brita Baumann glaring at her like that, oh, I get it, she likes Krystal and thinks Laura is stealing her away.

Mrs. Carson disappeared from campus two weeks ago!?! Along with several facility and trustees to show them the state of tunnels, they went in one tunnel and never came out. Including Ms. Hartford's fiancé, yikes. Mrs. Shugendo is an medically induced coma due to a car wreck rushing back to the school and won't be back for months, was wondering why she didn't pick the freshmen Poesies and other students. Ms. Claire is the Dean now and Geoffrey Mazarin is the headmaster, talk about unexpected changes. And he is retired Syndicate, oh boy, even with Whateley neutrality things are going to change around Whateley Academy now.

Retired hero of the Star League is the Assistant Headmaster now, his wife, Lily's mom, continuing as an instructor for the PE department. Missing: Mrs. Carson, Lord Paramount, Ty West, Langley Paulson, Hakim Al Fayez, Drs. Carstaires, Zalman, Quintain, and Hendricks, Dr. Christy McBride. Ouch, several old favorites, including Dr. Quintain and Hendricks.

Strange power surges coming from the tunnels that were causing problems, this is much worse than I thought. All those tunnel sections shut off, hope no stupid or curious students decide to investigate them on despite orders to stay away. Magic and psychic wards to keep them out and warn if any student goes in, still going to have troublemakers who think they know better. What happened in tunnel sections Baker 9 to 12, Charlie 7 to 17, and Moby Dick Avenue from the intersections of Baker and Charlie tunnels? And are their survivors to find, I hope. And Bianca is right, this is the perfect time to strike at Whateley Academy, hope no one tries.

One guess, the strange power surges coming from the tunnels and causing problems, even blocking the security cameras from working, is connected to something from the past. Wouldn't surprise me if Hekate's Master was connected or another supernatural threat of some sort. Either that a mixing of technology and magic that has been dormant for years and went active, causing no end of troubles. With the Whateley Academy universe and its known history, characters both past and present, and the kind of things that exist in it, it is hard to narrow it down until more is known about what happened in those tunnel sections.

Dreamer, I appreciate you writing down your reaction as you read. The tunnel disappearance thing was a "Holy Shit" moment - but it seems that people kind of expected that, or had a "meh" feeling about it.

There are a lot more secrets. We have a 4-year plot laid out with more twists and turns and surprises than you can swing a dead cat at

elrodw wrote: Dreamer, I appreciate you writing down your reaction as you read. The tunnel disappearance thing was a "Holy Shit" moment - but it seems that people kind of expected that, or had a "meh" feeling about it.

There are a lot more secrets. We have a 4-year plot laid out with more twists and turns and surprises than you can swing a dead cat at

Yeah, I don't get the kind of expected or "meh" feeling about the tunnel disappearance. A lot of major Gen 1 characters disappeared, not just Carson but some very powerful individuals. Anything which can do that leave no signs of how it happened or if the people are simply missing in some pocket dimension, dead or sent to another time or place in the process is something to go "Holy Shit" at and something to be very afraid of. Even a team of powerhouses/creative power users like Team Kimba would think twice about messing with something like that.

Well, I was spoiled by the comments... ... Could be some just coincidental Dev+Gadg+Magic accident?

Like the Forger's List Secret's Extra-Dimensional Space, and Admin was just caught in its collapse.

Dreamer, as usual it is a pleasure to read your reaction post to the story. There are however two points I would like to address.

Dreamer wrote: ... Chessa sneezes electricity sometimes, plus talk of her father and such makes me think the water tower incident was attempted suicide, yikes.

ROFL!

Given that Chessa and her family are transfers from one of Wasamon's already published fanfics, I think it's safe enough for me to point out that there was nothing "attempted" about it. She successfully jumped off an actual water tower (if you can really call such a sad thing a success), and despite her attempts to convince people otherwise, it's rather hard to "miss the ground" when you do something like that.

Yes, her backstory is complicated if you couldn't tell, as is the rest of her family's, but if you want any more detail than that, you'll have to ask Wasamon if he'd be willing to share the fanfic again. Although that might be a while, as I do believe he's in the process of editing it to bring it into compliance with these now canon versions of the characters.

Dreamer wrote: Tanya teasing the Poe girls about being known as crazy, which Laura sticks her tongue out at. Ah, so Tanya knows the truth about Poe due to blabbermouth friend back home who was in it.

What makes you think Tanya knows the Poe secret? She knows what the accepted cover story is, but that doesn't mean she's aware that it's actually a cover story. She just knows from experience with her friend (more like aunt, really) that the rumor isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be. The reason she's reacting the way that she is to hearing about Tia's situation is that she was expecting Tia to be in a dorm with other friends she knows will watch out for her, nothing more than that.

NeoMagus wrote: Dreamer, as usual it is a pleasure to read your reaction post to the story. There are however two points I would like to address.

Dreamer wrote: ... Chessa sneezes electricity sometimes, plus talk of her father and such makes me think the water tower incident was attempted suicide, yikes.

ROFL!

Given that Chessa and her family are transfers from one of Wasamon's already published fanfics, I think it's safe enough for me to point out that there was nothing "attempted" about it. She successfully jumped off an actual water tower (if you can really call such a sad thing a success), and despite her attempts to convince people otherwise, it's rather hard to "miss the ground" when you do something like that.

Yes, her backstory is complicated if you couldn't tell, as is the rest of her family's, but if you want any more detail than that, you'll have to ask Wasamon if he'd be willing to share the fanfic again. Although that might be a while, as I do believe he's in the process of editing it to bring it into compliance with these now canon versions of the characters.

There are the archives linked to in my sig... ... Should make those proper links for more visibility... ... Presumably, no one has issues with them being available? Else, talk to me?

E. E. Nalley wrote: Goodness, I have to say I get a chuckle out of this. It never ceases to amaze me how conservative some of your guesses are when speculating about this universe. Especially the knee-jerk ones, it's almost like as a collective fan base you're afraid to imagine large.

Let me just say there are FAR WORSE things in those tunnels than Sarah.

Or, to quote the movie, "You think that's air you're breathing? Hmm."

I jumped straight to the Gate at the bottom of the sewers. I mean the "freaks out Stan and Morrie, the intrepid Whateley Janitors, so bad that they strap on suicide suits, and give one to Jade. Where one previous janitor got pulled in, and repeatedly came back as a zombie for over half a decade. Where 6 months in a hole can do more weathering than a decade of hard weather. Where the small pests are deadly unless you cut them out immediately. If the Sigil of the Gateway went down...


On an entirely different note, I'd like to quote myself from before part two:

Arcanist Lupus wrote:

Dreamer wrote: Flower...manifest flowers and nothing else, beat it isn't that simple.

Well, that depends. Can she manifest a corpse flower ? There are a lot of flowers in the world. Depending on her flexibility and limitations, Krystal may not be as weak as she passes herself off to be.

Do you think Krystal has read Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic? By the later books, Briar is using seed balls of thorny plants than can envelop, impale, and kill a horse.

elrodw wrote: Dreamer, I appreciate you writing down your reaction as you read. The tunnel disappearance thing was a "Holy Shit" moment - but it seems that people kind of expected that, or had a "meh" feeling about it.

There are a lot more secrets. We have a 4-year plot laid out with more twists and turns and surprises than you can swing a dead cat at

That's because you're only seeing us comment after we've had a chance to absorb it a little. I anticipated it a little bit from when the RAs started crying, but even so I got as close to cursing as I ever do.

Yeah after reading the bit with Carson and half the major trustees going missing, my brain was giving me an "Error does not compute" Still I have to push it to the side in terror just so I can work on other theories. We're not in Kansas, but we CERTAINLY are not in Oz, or in Tia's case, Wonderland.. And unless the kitchens have become powered by imagination (the energizers would never stand for such a thing), they aren't in Never-land either even if a fair number of the students can fly.

For me, the news about the administrative turmoil was big. It overshadowed the rest of the chapter, and my brain immediately started ticking over with potential repercussions of the upheaval.

They lost the most influential and supportive individuals, along with a good deal of talent among a few other areas. With things as they are now, Whateley seems to be vulnerable to both outside influences and internal policy shifts which might jeopardize the reason for Whateley's being. Not to mention how crucial Carson, Paramount and Ty West would have been for maintaining neutrality.

Then there's the matter of Wallachia, and whether it can survive without its Lord.

And of course the many questions of "who, what, how" and "why?".

Hmm... Was the Tunnel Predicted? ...

I'd assume everyone had plans incase they were suddenly removed... So things won't change too much, but they will change?

Malady wrote: Hmm... Was the Tunnel Predicted? ...

I'd assume everyone had plans incase they were suddenly removed... So things won't change too much, but they will change?

How deep of failures did they plan? Example - here at NASA, we plan for 1 or 2; the number of combinations and unlikelihood of a triple failure (or worse) are astronomical, and those types are generally very catastrophic. Did they plan for any one of them being out? Most definitely. Two? likely. All three? i doubt it. And in the single or double, one would logically count on the remaining 1 or 2 to provide continuity. that's now gone.

Speaking of tunnels, I wonder whether the intrepid Stan and Morrie are still around, or if not, who their successors are.

Have you guys considered that maybe there's nothing nefarious going on at all, and all that happened is they saw a shiny down a side corridor, went to check it out, and got lost?

And if they are trapped in a pocket dimension or something, well, Mrs. Carson probably needed a vacation anyway.

peter wrote: I have a feeling that Tia's situation is not going to be resolved anytime soon and she's going to have to suffer in the lap of luxury for some time.

Which brings up a few questions. She is a known changeling. A lot of her fellow dorm mates are going to know she was once a boy, and those that don't will be filled in quickly.

This is not Poe, they won't be happy with her sharing the girl's washroom, and no way will they expect her to shower and bath with the boys. Seems likely she's going to get access to a one person bath.

Might this result in her getting upgraded to a senior's room? which I'm betting has a private bath.

Back in G1, both Reach and Jobe publicly turned female, and neither of them got special accommodations other than being transferred to Melville and being made to room with somebody of their new sex who was somehow involved in their change. I don't remember anybody making a big deal about which bathrooms they used except for that one scene with Jobe and Mr. Prickles. But it's been a while since I read those stories.

Tia didn't mention anything about roommates though. Maybe she has a single, or maybe there just aren't enough Melvillians on campus yet for unplanned roommates to be a thing.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: I was a bit confused by the introductions bit, though. Is Misty a sophomore? Because I thought that we had met all the changeling freshthings, but Misty acted like she was new to Poe.

The batch of students who'd routed through New York during that one specific time period got to Whateley a day late, but clearly those were not the only freshmen on their way to Whateley. The people who took a different route or an earlier flight would have arrived on time and gotten separate tours the previous day, as would anybody who showed up earlier on Tuesday than the Mutant Mayhem Machine and associates.

If I remember correctly, Jobe got some shit at first, but it was still while the transformation was going on, Jobe was being obnoxious, and it was Jobe.

I think Reach got a bit of lip from someone, but mostly it was sympathy, and THOU SHALT NOT TALK ABOUT THE SHOWERS! (First rule of Shower Club,)

Speaking of showers, I look forward to seeing the new characters' reactions to the showers. Assuming that they still incorporate Hydroflux tech.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Speaking of showers, I look forward to seeing the new characters' reactions to the showers. Assuming that they still incorporate Hydroflux tech.

Someone spilled the beans in 2012, and in a fit of pique (mostly because Hydroflux hadn't installed one in Whateley House) Mrs. Carson banned them entirely, with a cottage by cottage inspection to ensure that only standard hardware was present.

Yeah, maybe. maybe not. We shall see, I guess.

elrodw wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Speaking of showers, I look forward to seeing the new characters' reactions to the showers. Assuming that they still incorporate Hydroflux tech.

Someone spilled the beans in 2012, and in a fit of pique (mostly because Hydroflux hadn't installed one in Whateley House) Mrs. Carson banned them entirely, with a cottage by cottage inspection to ensure that only standard hardware was present.

Yeah, maybe. maybe not. We shall see, I guess.

Speaking of which, they may cause quite the problem for Tia...

elrodw wrote:

Malady wrote:

elrodw wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote: Not necessarily. Consider this - the Whateley Universe is not a friendly place for LGBT individuals. He has a student looking at a picture which includes two gals he knows are lovers. She asks questions, which brings out an instinct to cover for his friends. He does NOT know at this point of the student's inclination. Net result - he's furtive and reluctant to answer questions.

Hmm but don't all the staff know what being assigned to Poe means?

Nope. Most faculty and staff do NOT know the secret of Poe. Key people know - like Dr. Bellows, headmaster and assistant headmaster, Dr. Tenent. But not everyone.

Well, if you're gonna be counseling Poesies, shouldn't you know about Poe? Is there anyway that the Secret could be assumed to be irrelevant??

... Well, it's (sorta) Tractor's fault for having the pictures out?

So he's a sentimental dude. He has a picture of friends. But there's something no-one picked up on relating to that picture. We'll see if anyone gets it.

And we'll find out more in part 4

I Don't think.... Part 2 said
"And I have to apologize for making you wait. I was ...," his face clouded momentarily, "dealing with some issues with several of my closest friends." Though he tried to hide it, a flash of pain couldn't be completely disguised. He circled to his own office chair and sat down with surprising grace. As he called up a file on his computer, Laura looked around; one entire wall was full of books - all related to history of one period or another, and there were photos of him with a truly gorgeous woman. Judging from the ring on his hand and the setting of the picture, she had to be his wife. There were a few other photographs, one of which was Dr. Barton and his wife and another couple - a bear of a man with his arm wrapped protectively and possessively around a stunningly-curvaceous redhead; all of them were in a park somewhere, and looked to be having a picnic. In another, Mrs. Barton and the redhead were posing with two children who the redhead was clutching lovingly. The family had to be friends of Dr. and Mrs. Barton. Several of the pictures appeared to be a superhero team; it took only moments to pick out which of the heroes was her advisor. More surprisingly, it looked like his wife was also a member of the team. There were several others, including a stunningly curvaceous blond with her arm around the waist of a Native American-themed girl with braided, silky black hair.

So how old are those kids? Wyatt and Doc's kids that is...

Hmm... If the sim makers have learned the lesson of proper evals of sim teams from the Wondercute Incident, I feel I'm making some bad assumptions there... ... Anyway, the SimTeam of Gen2 might have a different experience if it's known that they only made the team for the table.

@Malapern - According to Sir Lee, 8 and 1/2 at most.

I'm wondering if Tia is having memory problems when she is asking to be in Calculus. We know that she has memories missing, So if she is asking to be in Calculus because that is a math class that she remembers coming after Algebra, as opposed to Geometry or something else more appropriate because she doesn't remember the order she should be taking the classes.

Malady wrote: Hmm... If the sim makers have learned the lesson of proper evals of sim teams from the Wondercute Incident, I feel I'm making some bad assumptions there... ... Anyway, the SimTeam of Gen2 might have a different experience if it's known that they only made the team for the table.

@Mhalpern - According to Sir Lee, 8 and 1/2 at most.

Well I ask for obvious reasons

Valentine wrote: I'm wondering if Tia is having memory problems when she is asking to be in Calculus. We know that she has memories missing, So if she is asking to be in Calculus because that is a math class that she remembers coming after Algebra, as opposed to Geometry or something else more appropriate because she doesn't remember the order she should be taking the classes.

Tia wants to take calculus because Luke was going to take calculus next school year. Luke was going to take Calculus next year anyway, and Tia wants to honor that. (sorry, had to edit this, it's early).

In relation to the bathroom issues for Tia, let me go Real World parallel here for a moment:
Yeah, I know that the WU is less tolerant to LGBT*.* than our world...
STILL, if you go to the parallel situation in our world, like the current fuss about "bathroom laws," time and time again it turns out that the people making the fuss are not the ones who actually use the bathrooms.
Predicted reaction about Tia:
"Isn't she the one who was a boy?"
"Yeah."
"Well, even if she is still a boy inside and keeps ogling us, it's not worse than Darcy the Dyke, and we deal with her. Who knows, maybe she and Darcy will pair up and let the rest of us alone."

Sir Lee wrote: In relation to the bathroom issues for Tia, let me go Real World parallel here for a moment:
Yeah, I know that the WU is less tolerant to LGBT*.* than our world...
STILL, if you go to the parallel situation in our world, like the current fuss about "bathroom laws," time and time again it turns out that the people making the fuss are not the ones who actually use the bathrooms.
Predicted reaction about Tia:
"Isn't she the one who was a boy?"
"Yeah."
"Well, even if she is still a boy inside and keeps ogling us, it's not worse than Darcy the Dyke, and we deal with her. Who knows, maybe she and Darcy will pair up and let the rest of us alone."

I was thinking bathroom issues in terms of Hydroflux systems and Tia's medical problems....

I Don't Think... Part 2 said
Tractor smiled. "Cornflower and Pejuta. They're ... best friends. They're damned good friends of ours." He waxed nostalgic for a few seconds. "We can talk more at the get-together," he said with a smile, gesturing again to the computer.

Laura gulped nervously as she looked at the two women in the picture. They looked a lot closer than just best-friends; she could practically read the twinkles in their eyes for each other in that picture. That made her think about what she wanted in a relationship

[/color]
Two things
1 The fact that a picture of those two together is enough to figure out their feeling towards each other is adorable
2 Shipwrites start thinking with the color Blue and fast, because she's looking now.

I ship Blue Bunny, due to Tia's personal issues, she needs someone who will try and see deeper in their partner than sex but we need to see more of all the characters before the real shipping can commence.

I'll do a long-form comment later (on my second-pass read - I always read the stories / chapters first, then go back with Pluma in a second window, noting down dates, PoVs etc. - and in this case, given all the events in both parts, writing comments on some of the major events on each). Oh, and the reason the staff list earlier didn't include Tractor and VG was that at that time, I'd only read Part 1 - needless to say, it will be expanded when I do the second pass for Part 2.

Anyway, the entire tunnel incident is decidely odd for a number of reasons:

1) "Mrs. Carson ... disappeared from campus two weeks ago... They ... never came out of one section of the tunnels."
Although we're told that section of tunnels was fragile, there's no mention of a collapse - the two groups entered the section of tunnels, didn't come out, and the remaining faculty are too scared of the potential consequences to send anyone / anything down that section to investigate.

2) "There was a trustees' meeting, and Mrs. Carson, with some facility assistance, went to the tunnels to show[...] the trustees the state of the tunnels, and how fragile some sections are"
There's obviously more to this than meets the eye - why the heck would the Head, a bunch of faculty, AND a bunch of trustees personally investigate, as a group, a section of campus known to be dangerous? If there was an unsafe building on site, they'd look at it from a safe distance. You can't exactly do that in the rabbit warren of tunnels - besides which, given the regular damage to above-ground structures plus other associated costs of the school, I can't imagine Carson would need to make such an impassioned plea for extra funding for tunnel maintenance.

So either that's a cover story, and they went down to the tunnels for another reason entirely, or something manipulated them into going down into the tunnels at that particular time. In the former case, it's remotely possible they used the tunnels as a teleportation point to go on a Top Secret, Need To Know Only mission (in G1, The Atlantean League was a student-organised group along similar lines, maybe by Gen 2 there's a need for a similar group in Administration) - probably with uncertain survival odds and for an unknown period of time (I'm probably barking up the entirely wrong tree). If the latter case, it required a lot of intelligence, planning and resources - probably including an insider since it would be difficult to remotely implant hypnotic suggestions on such a diverse group of faculty and sponsors.

Meanwhile, Tia's situation suggests that someone with excellent computer skills is exploiting the fact Hartford's not around with their manipulating of the cottage occupancy database. Although Tia's move to Melville is farily minor in the grand scheme of things, going to the lengths of telling the database that every single cottage is at full occupany (something that never happens) should ring metaphorical alarm bells across campus - especially if it's still in place for the inevitable late starters.

Finally (for now) and out of context, it'll be interesting to see how many of the newly introduced Poesies will be 'bit part' characters (with occasional sightings and shower greetings only), how many will be secondary characters (with dialogue but no PoV inserts) and how many will become fully fledged PoV characters. Of course, it's also possible that over time, some characters will be upgraded depending on author availability / motivation...

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.

Regarding Tia being kept in Melville, Hikaru's AI, Kurenai, has been hacking the network already ("permission or not"). Tia was relocated to Melville, and just who happens to be right next door...

Hikaru has been showing an unusual interest in Tia from the first time they met, and already had Kurenai hacking Tia's phone.

The hacking going on seems to be a bit more innocent to me. Just Hikaru and her AI not recognizing boundaries.

Elrod gets the Zuko award of "not as evil as he could have been" for Cornflower and Pejuta apparently still being together.

Katssun wrote: Just Hikaru and her AI not recognizing boundaries.

To elaborate, Hikaru has consistently been shown to be rather "aggressive" in her efforts to befriend Tia. Perhaps to go along with her unladylike behavior with fruits, Hikaru has a secret fondness for kemonomimi?

Since Taka and Hikaru both seemed to know about her, I'm guessing her story went through the Japanese variety shows, with various comedians, idols, and talentos fawning over news of a real life bunnygirl (even though she's not the first). Hikaru has even overcome her distaste for continuing to interact with Taka in order to sit with Tia in the cafeteria.

I'll have to do some rereading of Calamari through the POVs sections when no one knew each other's names to see if there were any other hints.

Katssun wrote:

Katssun wrote: Just Hikaru and her AI not recognizing boundaries.

Try Kurenai herself, alone. More upcoming on _exactly_ what Kurenai is.

To elaborate, Hikaru has consistently been shown to be rather "aggressive" in her efforts to befriend Tia. Perhaps to go along with her unladylike behavior with fruits, Hikaru has a secret fondness for kemonomimi?

>> Excatly what do you mean about Aggressive befriending? I'm not quite seeing this... Aggressive attention to what she sees as her duty/giri/obligation/job, yes, but befriending? Eh.

Since Taka and Hikaru both seemed to know about her, I'm guessing her story went through the Japanese variety shows, with various comedians, idols, and talentos fawning over news of a real life bunnygirl (even though she's not the first). Hikaru has even overcome her distaste for continuing to interact with Taka in order to sit with Tia in the cafeteria.

Spoiler: Hikaru _didn't_ know about Tia. Not until she got the file. Taka, yes, but he's a bit of a chunni, so...

I'll have to do some rereading of Calamari through the POVs sections when no one knew each other's names to see if there were any other hints.

MageOhki wrote: >> Excatly what do you mean about Aggressive befriending? I'm not quite seeing this... Aggressive attention to what she sees as her duty/giri/obligation/job, yes, but befriending? Eh.

Spoiler: Hikaru _didn't_ know about Tia. Not until she got the file. Taka, yes, but he's a bit of a chunni, so...

I'm likely to bounce around in this explanation, so forgive me if it gets a bit disorganized.

Hikaru certainly recognizes Tiff's appearance, so she certainly is at least aware of the more otaku side of Japan's contributions to nerd culture. So she can't be completely unaware of what otaku culture cliché Tia occupies, can she?

While re-reading, I had thought Tanya had given Hikaru the plushie, but it does turn out I was mistaken. Either way, Hikaru and Kurenai were the first ones to start it all, hacking Tia's phone and waking her up. The prank gift really is what starts to tie the two of them together.

I feel a lot of my interpretation comes from what we learn about Hikaru in the Calamari chapters and so far in this arc, and the way she behaves compared to the other RAs.

Hikaru misses Kaho quite a bit, who encourages her to make new friends, and while the scene starts with Hikaru getting a little, it then ends seeing the plushie from Tia. Tia will certainly be the first person that Hikaru thinks of out of all the people she's met on the road to Whateley. Primary target so to speak.

We later have Hikaru briskly heading to Poe to collect her new charge, and then she proceeds to take Tia back Melville, follows her inside Tia's room, and then (amusingly) starts devouring all of Tia's fruit. A sample? An apple, an orange, and who knows how many grapes. That's peculiar behavior for a supposedly high-class Japanese young lady. Overly familiar even (how scandalous!) That scene is where a lot of my impression comes from that Hikaru is trying to "forcibly" befriend Tia. She's very imposing on her charge compared to Flower, who is far more relaxed with her own charges almost to the point of being aloof as they settle into their rooms. Hikaru, by contrast, is almost overly engaged with settling Tia into her room in Melville.

Instead of following up with her duty as an RA, meeting with Tiff and the others for dinner, Hikaru makes excuses to Tiff that she had to take care of Tia with the whole car thing. Hikaru's parting glance at Tia (almost for permission? From Tia??!) left me with the impression that she didn't want to leave Tia on her own. That could be responsibility and duty, but shouldn't Hikaru have been meeting the other RAs and really getting an understanding on her new responsibilities at the school? Instead she spent most of the evening with Tia, joking around with her and poking fun at Tia's "good fortune."

So, while having Hikaru take her responsibility towards Tia as her charge makes perfect sense, in contrast to the other RAs we've met so far in Gen 2, she's a bit...off. Focused on the individual rather than the duty itself. At least that's the impression I got.

Then in part 2, we have Hikaru seeking out the girls including Tia at the cafeteria. The rest of the girls all assumed that this time, Hikaru would be eating with the other RAs, but she shows up with impeccable timing, and even engaging with Kenshin due to his proximity to the other girls, even though she was so insistent that she was only her responsibility until they got to Whateley, one she had been all to eager to shed. It gives off the impression that she is actively seeking them out instead of following the course of action the other girls expect her to as part of her duties. Though Laura cuts her off before we learn which of the two she was coming to see, but the girls speculate she's after one or the other. Hikaru takes the opportunity to chastise Taka once she learns about the training team, something she clearly relishes.

Of course, as I was writing this, all of the above hinges on a single assumption of mine, one I started to realize might not be correct. But it is also a possibility that makes things a lot more interesting.

I had presumed that Hikaru controls Kurenai, and is fully aware of everything Kurenai is up to. While the scenes in Calamari lead the reader to believe that Hikaru does control Kurenai, the ones in IDTWIKA part 1 do the exact opposite. Kurenai just hacks the Whateley network without Hikaru even telling her to do so.

So if Hikaru isn't fully in control of her AI assistant, then does she even know that Kurenai is the likely cause of Tia being relocated to Melville (and right next door to Hikaru)? Furthermore, the entity preventing Tia from being returned to Poe where she belongs as both a changeling and someone in need of close counselling.

If you assume, as I had, that Hikaru had some control over Tia's reassignment as some form of playful revenge for the plushie, then her behavior does tend to look like "aggressive befriending." Moving Tia to her room, under her responsibility, making sure she stayed there in close proximity, and so on. Opportunity to be around her all the time, making herself comfortable visiting her, knowing what she's up to, just hanging out with her. Just like Kaho encouraged her to do.

If Kurenai is simply doing all of this on her own for some manner of presumed benefit to Hikaru, then it ends up looking a lot more creepy despite exonerating Hikaru, who is just being a little overly diligent with her duties.

Hope that helped explain my viewpoint.

MageOhki wrote: >> Excatly what do you mean about Aggressive befriending?

this ?

That too.

Kurenai wouldn't take any action leading to the possible jailing of her master. A little 'white' hacking of the Whateley network, to check things out? Sure.

Forcibly moving a student she as yet has no ties to? A no-go from Kurenai. Hikaru comes first.

Other than that you're not entirely wrong. At the very least, Tia is reading that Hikaru wants to be friends. Whether she's mistaken or not remains to be seen.

Katssun wrote:

MageOhki wrote: >> Excatly what do you mean about Aggressive befriending? I'm not quite seeing this... Aggressive attention to what she sees as her duty/giri/obligation/job, yes, but befriending? Eh.

Spoiler: Hikaru _didn't_ know about Tia. Not until she got the file. Taka, yes, but he's a bit of a chunni, so...

I'm likely to bounce around in this explanation, so forgive me if it gets a bit disorganized.

Hikaru certainly recognizes Tiff's appearance, so she certainly is at least aware of the more otaku side of Japan's contributions to nerd culture. So she can't be completely unaware of what otaku culture cliché Tia occupies, can she?

I was referring to Tia SPECIFICALLY, ie, what's been shown in Down...
Of course she knows what a playboy bunny is, or a bunnygirl is. She's not THAT brainfried.
As for Tiff, if there's a more famous game char, HIKARU doesn't know it.... for more than one reason.
(FF7... )

While re-reading, I had thought Tanya had given Hikaru the plushie, but it does turn out I was mistaken. Either way, Hikaru and Kurenai were the first ones to start it all, hacking Tia's phone and waking her up. The prank gift really is what starts to tie the two of them together.

Kurenai did it on her own, Hikaru makes that quite clear.
And yes, on the prank.

I feel a lot of my interpretation comes from what we learn about Hikaru in the Calamari chapters and so far in this arc, and the way she behaves compared to the other RAs.

1: She's new to Whateley, factor that in
2: Her base cultural programming _isn't_ American.

Hikaru misses Kaho quite a bit, who encourages her to make new friends, and while the scene starts with Hikaru getting a little, it then ends seeing the plushie from Tia. Tia will certainly be the first person that Hikaru thinks of out of all the people she's met on the road to Whateley. Primary target so to speak.

In that, you're reading more than intended, to tell you the truth, more that Hikaru was thinking that dealing with the American teenagers wouldn't be all bad, not Tia spc.

We later have Hikaru briskly heading to Poe to collect her new charge, and then she proceeds to take Tia back Melville, follows her inside Tia's room, and then (amusingly) starts devouring all of Tia's fruit. A sample? An apple, an orange, and who knows how many grapes. That's peculiar behavior for a supposedly high-class Japanese young lady. Overly familiar even (how scandalous!) That scene is where a lot of my impression comes from that Hikaru is trying to "forcibly" befriend Tia. She's very imposing on her charge compared to Flower, who is far more relaxed with her own charges almost to the point of being aloof as they settle into their rooms. Hikaru, by contrast, is almost overly engaged with settling Tia into her room in Melville.

A: she was _sent_ to collect Tia.
B: it's a big basket, Hikaru is an energizer and regenerator. (and there's a second reason that will show up later, that we started as a joke, but will do. Mwahahahah.)
C: Hikaru's also read Tia's file in full, and has a different view of her duties than Flower.
D: There's a difference in being helpful, vs. being 'befreinding'
Hikaru is doing the former, which (admittedly it is somewhat hard to tell), to her means doing what's she's doing. Remember, different cultural mindsets, different view. She views her job as making sure Tia's well taken care of and able to count on Hikaru, as well as being visible.

Instead of following up with her duty as an RA, meeting with Tiff and the others for dinner, Hikaru makes excuses to Tiff that she had to take care of Tia with the whole car thing.

Again, A: it wasnt' a duty, more a meet and greet, and B: Hikaru thinks her duty to her charges is first and foremost.
... and another reason, which will be discussed later.

Hikaru's parting glance at Tia (almost for permission? From Tia??!) left me with the impression that she didn't want to leave Tia on her own. That could be responsibility and duty, but shouldn't Hikaru have been meeting the other RAs and really getting an understanding on her new responsibilities at the school?

Respondent says: "There are other things going on, too, here." Again, the meal above was more a 'meet and greet' As for looking at Tia, it was more 'reassuring' herself that Tia would be fine on her own.

As I've noted, Hikaru has read Tia's entire file.

Instead she spent most of the evening with Tia, joking around with her and poking fun at Tia's "good fortune."

... poking fun?
Uh... NO, more like A: annoyed that Tia has a car, and B: wondering if she should have Kurenai go after Hugh for statutory _rape_. Or at the very least, pulling a Tale of Genji on Lapin.

So, while having Hikaru take her responsibility towards Tia as her charge makes perfect sense, in contrast to the other RAs we've met so far in Gen 2, she's a bit...off. Focused on the individual rather than the duty itself. At least that's the impression I got.

Different cultural bias/background. Hikaru doesn't see a difference between duty/person in this case, and first and foremost thinks she's supposed to be there for the students, as her primary job.
Yes, if there was another student in Tia's situation, she'd have been as attentive. She in a lot of ways is seeing her job as a cross between a class rep and high end hotel staff. (Japanese hotel staff to boot.)

Then in part 2, we have Hikaru seeking out the girls including Tia at the cafeteria. The rest of the girls all assumed that this time, Hikaru would be eating with the other RAs, but she shows up with impeccable timing, and even engaging with Kenshin due to his proximity to the other girls,

A: I refer to above, again. Hikaru sees her duty to look after ALL her charges.
B: She's read Tia's file and a few other files, and information. Tia isn't alone in being hovered over.
C: Kenshin is her countryman, she is keeping an eye on him so he 1: doesn't embarrass Japan, and 2: isn't taken to the cleaners. 3: Additional reasons to come out later.

even though she was so insistent that she was only her responsibility until they got to Whateley, one she had been all to eager to shed. It gives off the impression that she is actively seeking them out instead of following the course of action the other girls expect her to as part of her duties.

As noted above, she has a different impression of her duties, and Tia's one of the ones that 'might' require 'addtional' help to Hikaru.'s mind. (This is actually not a incorrect assumption on Hikaru's part, given Tia's room)

Though Laura cuts her off before we learn which of the two she was coming to see, but the girls speculate she's after one or the other. Hikaru takes the opportunity to chastise Taka once she learns about the training team, something she clearly relishes.

It wasn't... chastising. Not quite. More... mm.. (*following deleted because where Hikaru was coming from both as a person and as a Japanese is to be revealed later*)

Of course, as I was writing this, all of the above hinges on a single assumption of mine, one I started to realize might not be correct. But it is also a possibility that makes things a lot more interesting.

I had presumed that Hikaru controls Kurenai, and is fully aware of everything Kurenai is up to.

... *BWAHAHAH* Controls. *Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha* Um, Kurenai is fully self aware and sentient. And like any good AI 'grown' properly, has a "MY human" view of the world.
Nargij in a reply explained it quite well.

While the scenes in Calamari lead the reader to believe that Hikaru does control Kurenai, the ones in IDTWIKA part 1 do the exact opposite. Kurenai just hacks the Whateley network without Hikaru even telling her to do so.

Kurenai is Cortana type AI. I used that term with forethought.

So if Hikaru isn't fully in control of her AI assistant, then does she even know that Kurenai is the likely cause of Tia being relocated to Melville (and right next door to Hikaru)? Furthermore, the entity preventing Tia from being returned to Poe where she belongs as both a changeling and someone in need of close counselling.

... Um, you realize Kurenai would have had to hack Whateley externally, as well as the moving company, and... Good Kurenai is, admittedly, however, I suggest you look elsewhere for WHY Tia's in Melville.

If you assume, as I had, that Hikaru had some control over Tia's reassignment as some form of playful revenge for the plushie, then her behavior does tend to look like "aggressive befriending." Moving Tia to her room, under her responsibility, making sure she stayed there in close proximity, and so on.

Okay..

Opportunity to be around her all the time, making herself comfortable visiting her, knowing what she's up to, just hanging out with her. Just like Kaho encouraged her to do.

And she's quite able and willing to not listen to her favorite moving target.

If Kurenai is simply doing all of this on her own for some manner of presumed benefit to Hikaru, then it ends up looking a lot more creepy despite exonerating Hikaru, who is just being a little overly diligent with her duties.

Or: Kurenai isn't doing it at all, and as noted elsewhere, it's something ELSE, crossing with a diligent and different mindset RA.

Hope that helped explain my viewpoint.

Mmhmm.

MageOhki wrote: ... *BWAHAHAH* Controls. *Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha* Um, Kurenai is fully self aware and sentient. And like any good AI 'grown' properly, has a "MY human" view of the world.
Nargij in a reply explained it quite well.

So AI are like domestic cats.

mhalpern wrote:

MageOhki wrote: ... *BWAHAHAH* Controls. *Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha* Um, Kurenai is fully self aware and sentient. And like any good AI 'grown' properly, has a "MY human" view of the world.
Nargij in a reply explained it quite well.

So AI are like domestic cats.

If you mean the Siamese group, Maine Coons or other of the more 'doglike' cats... yep.

MageOhki wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

MageOhki wrote: ... *BWAHAHAH* Controls. *Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha* Um, Kurenai is fully self aware and sentient. And like any good AI 'grown' properly, has a "MY human" view of the world.
Nargij in a reply explained it quite well.

So AI are like domestic cats.

If you mean the Siamese group, Maine Coons or other of the more 'doglike' cats... yep.

Dogs can't compare to those groups! But regardless I don't know if I would be terrified of them or saving up specifically for an AI now...

UPDATE!

Even as the number of students on-campus swelled quickly, the anticipated exponential increase in buzz inside the cafeteria didn't materialize. Instead, there was a hushed undertone, a whispered anxiety and tension that couldn't help but be noticed.

Ohh! Nice description, guys!

... Gonna stay far away from this thread until I'm done reading this... Which seems to be sometime tomorrow...

I just had a far more terrifying theory about why Tia is stuck in Melville, Ibby and/or Hugh may have done the initial arrangements, but very few can alter Whateley records to show that Poe has no rooms available, so I'm betting that's the work of Jamie Howe- if your going to tear someone down, you put them someplace they cant hide and keep them there. Hell hath no fury like a female devisor scorned....

OK Elrod, move over.
You've been replaced as head tormentor by Nagrij. Having Jamie there is just sheer cruelty.

I LOVE IT!

Domoviye wrote: OK Elrod, move over.
You've been replaced as head tormentor by Nagrij. Having Jamie there is just sheer cruelty.

I LOVE IT!

I did warn you all.

Character... overload... brain... exploding...

I realize that it's slightly inevitable with a big ensemble intro story like this, but I really am feeling a bit overwhelmed by them all.


More thoughts, in no particular order:

I'm glad that Wondercute, and the Hydroflux showers are still around.

I wonder how many of the Poe kids realize that the example incidents Mrs. Horton mentioned were all real incidents, and all involved the same group of kids? In a single semester no less?

Hah! Morgana thinks that the buzz will go away. For a normal group she might be right, but you are well loved by the authorlords, dear dragon, and your lives will never be uneventful again.

I'm very humored by the polite ultra-violent. Hey, at least she asks before jumping people.

Something is definitely afoot, and it's not a lucky rabbits foot. The Melville switch could be the fault of well-meaning but misunderstanding mentors, but somebody is pulling strings to bring Jamie and Tia together. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. On the bright side, I think that Tia handled herself fairly well in the onsen, despite the overly friendly atmosphere.

Hm... If Laura does have some sort of lust aura, I'd expect Tia to be the first one effected, considering her problems. But I haven't seen any signs of it. Maybe Laura has some unconscious control? Or maybe it's overwhelmed by having to overcome Tia's devisor PTSD. Or, knowing the authors, it's something entirely different.

It would really amuse me if all the girls cottages had Hydroflux showers, and were very carefully keeping it a secret from the other girls cottages. On the other hand, as soon as the other girls started wandering around like the Poe girls were, I think that they'd put two and two together pretty quickly.

I can't wait for more! Excellent job!

How do you like that - I'm nice to my character and nobody notices or comments?

elrodw wrote: How do you like that - I'm nice to my character and nobody notices or comments?

Your just letting her get comfortable for when you stop being nice to her, for maximum shock potential.

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote: How do you like that - I'm nice to my character and nobody notices or comments?

Your just letting her get comfortable for when you stop being nice to her, for maximum shock potential.

Technically I think that's me, actually. Elrod is actually playing nice.

And yes, it can get worse from here for Tia.

elrodw wrote: How do you like that - I'm nice to my character and nobody notices or comments?

But it's so easy to tease you by not doing so.

And I did comment on the Hydroflux showers. Admittedly, Laura is not the only one that the showers are being... nice... to, but she's definitely gotten the most use out of them so far.


And if Laura does have an attraction aura, then she may soon be suffering from too much of a good thing.



On an entirely different note, I want to complement all of the authors for evoking memories of the original Kimbas without ever feeling like they're replacing them. I've said before that Tia gives off some Ayla vibes, and Laura reminds me a little of Jade (needing money, and being the most enthusiastically trans of all the changelings), and I also see some of Hank in Tanya as a fellow big eater brick who likes tussles. But these are but the barest of superficialities, making the characters feel familiar without overshadowing their uniqueness.

Will we be seeing the action from Central Park any time soon?
And i'm glad to see Nick finally arrive. Really love the whole Fantasy Island esque vibe that he and his kind provide. Really loved the original Dr Dna stories and the whole creation. Glad to see it live on.

I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore Part 3 comments
Oh, that is perfect for the confrontation over the able, scare them off after hearing about New York, still not confirming if they are in the big fight instead of lesser one which happened at the same time. And it finally hits them that everyone thinks they were involved in the other fight in New York and it is going to attract trouble. So it isn't well know that Mrs. Carson was Lady Astarte and various other superheroine identities over the years, huh. And poor Laura scared of power testing because of the horror stories she has heard, poor kid. Odd things at Whateley Academy for freshmen to talk about, they could fill up a whole month of conversations and not fit it all in.

Fox Hall, the ultimate story, wish I could have just 2 hours in it somehow and unlimited money to spend. Poor Bianca being subjected to make-up talk, at least classes will give her a break. Dang, Greasy marketed his spray on skin after all, good for him. Hehehe, love Tia's mischievous nature, though she is probably doing it because she thinks Laura should try out the spray on skin despite its cost. Nice distraction by Tia to get her talking about anything but make-up and her.

Tia likes tea, trying to recall if that was mentioned in her origin story. Laura thinking about working for someone in Melville, uh oh. Mini-horde, nice term for their group. *eyes bug out* I know Laura likes shopping but good grief that is a lot of stuff for one trip. Laura is a little too nice for her own good, weighed down like that and letting people go ahead of her because they have less.

And Tia actually explains why she paid for Laura's stuff, with something reasonable so it wouldn't seem like charity which Laura would probably object to, services of a gadgeteer for repair work on high-end gadgeteer stuff is expensive. Though the looking away and whistling a tune, everyone knows that means you are up to something by now. Deposit for cart rental, very useful. Taking advantage of Taka, poor guy needs to learn to say no to pretty girls. And I have to agree with Tanya, on a green flag day I would try to get away with anything within the rules power-wise.

Ouch, Hikaru shuts down talk of Taka being her minion and the school rules on minions, Tia hasn't had time to read those rules yet. Tia wants Taka as her bodyguard and offers to teach him English and keep him out of trouble, oh boy. Hire him and order him to not kill or permanently injure anyone, but this has failed before, at least Tia knows not to push it.

Tia knew an opportunity when she saw one. "Voice of the Heavens, huh? I knew it, you ARE an idol singer!" The couch cushion knocked her back into her chair.

Bwahahaha, I love Tia's way of trying to get Hikaru to lighten up.

Lanie's legend as Loophole lives on at Whateley, so much it used as a cautionary tale to new students about trying to lawyer their way out of things. What the! All those things in the Melville basement are in all the cottages basements except for probably Hawthorne, didn't expect that, guess Ayla went all out with the renovations all those years ago.

And the 2nd floor bathroom on the lesbian wing still has the Hydroflux showers, nice. And Laura fiddling with them until she figured out what they could do, should have known she couldn't resist. Plus Laura knows all the rules for it already, rule 3 in place after the prank Fey pulled on Ayla, ouch. Annette revealing the rumor that Flower has spread about her and Laura dating, plus Annete teasing Laura as she leaves, flirtatious little minx, isn't she.

In Kansas City, Major Smythe-Barnes is talking to Dr. Stauffer, and he has a devisor hybrid pet with a deadly poisonous bite. Calls on guy, Butler, an idiot for believing that people will react rationally to everything; blast another idiot Reineke about his methods going to stir up a riot and get them all killed. And Herr Rolf funding them because their project has the best chance. Oh ****, Projects Phoenix, Rhein Madchen, and Gotterdammerung, I think we've heard Gotterdammerung mentioned before. Fighting for mutant rights, secret organizations and plans, this is bad for everyone. And Stauffer refusing to work with Princess Jobe, at least she has standards. And the experiments, is this the same group that is watching Tia and probably Laura as well?

Tanya already on her third plate when Laura shows up with the other Poe freshmen girls with a silly smile on her face, Hydroflux does good work. Bianca, Morgana, and Bailey eyes glazed and having silly smiles on their faces as well. And Tanya takes the wise move and just leaves without asking what really went on. Uncomfortable out of the sun, makes sense for a goddess connected to the sun and her avatar. Exemplar 1, with much higher coordination and reflexes and the memory stuff hard to gauge due to two burnouts, one we knew of and one when she manifested, double ouch. Confusing results for magic testing, no testing on energizer traits, focusing on memory and skill testing to see how much has changed due to her 2nd burnout.

Wonder what Tanya was going say that post-burnout doesn't before Tia interrupted her. Hikaru is good at leaving out details she doesn't wish others to know for various reasons. Ouch, unique means the power-testing wonks take an interest in trying to figure out how your powers work, no matter how many test they have to subject you to. At least they have a couple classes together, even if they can't all be together in them.

And yikes, 2nd and 3rd period for more testing to determine the extent of the damage the burnouts did, poor Hikaru is going to scream after a month when she hears anyone mention the power-testing labs. Nice to see coordinated schedules so more than 1 are in each class for the most part. Plus Laura getting 2 periods of workshop that are optional, very nice. Jimmy has a point, had a teacher who was nice outside of the classroom, inside it she was sometimes a nightmare to deal with.

Ike Mackay, Timothy King, and Garrett Burke, talking about the girls and how they rate a table on the upper level. Great, an ani-man involved in the huge New York fight, leading to taunting by Ike about Tim being better as a rat-boy. Great, Ike is eye Morgana and Laura, this won't end well if he tries something or is rejected. Tim beating money he will "do" Morgana by Thanksgiving, he is toast if she finds out.

Laura gave herself away as a nerd by the design for her neural inhibitor, thus sci-fi club for her. And teasing from Bailey about watching out for guys dressed up like Kirk who might get the wrong idea about her.

Clubs named: Anime, European Promotional League [figures they are still around, wonder how it has changed over the years], Commonwealth [got Morgana and Cally to react about Britain being called just a part of Europe], Art, Future Superheroes of America [hope they have shaped up and dropped the attitude towards the Bad Seeds], Evolution Rocks [why would any sane mutant join them?], Faction 3 [how has it changed since Thuban graduated], Fliers, Culinary, Gearheads [Still going strong!], Golden Kids, Junior ROTC, Journalism Guild, Whateley Literature Guild [guess they upgraded form a club to a guild], Martial Arts, The Nations [yay!], Pan-Asia, Parkour Hooligans [good to see them still around], Intelligence Corp of Cadets [hope they have improved with time], Southern Heritage, Theater guild, Wondercute [It is still around, that is good news, I hope], and Venus Inc.

That is a lot of clubs, 24 official clubs in total. Imagine being the nut who wishes to join as many clubs as possible at this school. Great, the stories of what they did in New York just keep growing with time, Bianca is right, they aren't like Team Kimba and don't need this kind of reputation. And poor Tia, hearing what the boys are saying about her and her friends, but not wishing them to be hurt so keeps quiet about that part.

Val, another girl with attention on Laura, she is turning out to be very popular already. Flirting with poor Laura who is flustered and unused to all this attention, plus knows some Latin. Wrong place, wrong time, perfect motto for the students of Whateley Academy. Laura doesn't think she is pretty like Val or most of the other girls there, boy, she needs some help seeing how attractive she really is. Uh oh, predatory gleam at the mention of Laura being in Poe, Val knowing several Poe girls, red flag, huge red flag right there. Eurydice, that codename is another red flag for me on Val, that girl is bad news. Plus her being that into girls and not in Poe is suspicious.

Mr. Babich, didn't expect a 5'6 guy with salt and pepper hair in his 50s with a thin, bony face as his appearance, piercing blue eyes fit though. 8 years now, that means he joins in 2008, junior year for the class of 2010. A cat named Bob who doesn't like being pranked, someone is going to try it, it has to happen now. Worked for Dr. Malicious who was smeared by the press and not really a supervillain, proves the bias against mutants. Mr. Babich is a former girl, didn't see that coming.

It is almost like good cop, bad cop, Mr. Babich switching between nice and soft to stern taskmaster at a moment's notice. But after past incidents at Whateley, I can understand the strict enforcement of the Code of Conduct and Rules being needed to prevent any repeats. Half a dozen students expelled a year on average for serious infractions and leaving in a DPA van, yikes, that is news we haven't heard before now. Ah, the legend of Team Kimba and being trouble magnets is alive and well within Poe, hard to forget that group. Mrs. Horton even uses incidents of them as examples of when to call security to do their jobs. Oh course, hearing such stories will probably just encourage some of the new generation to act the same way instead of avoid trouble.

Avoid the Headmaster's office for disciplinary actions, especially since we know nothing of how the new guy will run the school. Nice to see the fixers job explained in such detail. So much stuff to remember, anyone without a Exemplar memory is going to have trouble at first. And Mrs. Horton warding the ballroom so they can't leave until they have gotten the secrecy spell, sneaky.

Melville cottage meeting looking like a business meeting, until Tiff gets involved, swimsuits and towels, I like her, trying to get the stiffs to lighten up. Poor Kelly having to deal with someone with a force of personality like Tiff. Ibby packed Tiff a string bikini, she needs to get reigned in. Michelle doesn't even know what is going on, Tiff has them all confused. Michelle teasing Tia about a guy with snake-based GSD admiring her tail, oh brother. Michelle's little brother Michael admiring Tiff, while their parents named them after angels so they would be perfect little angels, which backfired.

Broom closet that isn't with a holographic wall at the back, talk about secretive. An onsen for Melville normally only for upperclassmen, dang. Kelly mumbling "they're not used to this, it's a bad idea." over and over. What is Tiff up to? Classic hot spring, and she is already bugged by a guy the moment she went in. Willy ogling her like that, wait till Hikaru gets there. And a guy codenamed Meatball blurts out Tia's bust size, 32B, good grief. Who calls themself Meatball? And Tia leaves Willy speechless by saying she hasn't met any bunnygirls and what do they say about them, idiot should have quit while he was behind.

Tiff and Hikaru's suits barely above decency standards in Tia's opinion, making Willy's brain to short-circuit. Oh boy, Tia telling Hikaru what Willy said, that boy is on her shit list now. So intimidated by Tiff and Hikaru, Willy only says bunnygirls like carrots, bwahahaha, any more scared and I think he might have fainted from fear. Ah, a bistable shifter who has a male and female form, whose original gender is male; that explains Kelly being the boy's RA.

Yikes, based on whoever she is near, only once every 20 to 22 hours at most, and based Kelly getting "excited", that must suck at times. And the newbies, especially the girls, sometimes freak out about it and is afraid of being beat up over it; no wonder a junior in high school still has trouble with such a power. Ah, that explains it, sleepy mind, forgetting which gender he is at that time, the girls have beat him up in the past over that mistake, oh boy, poor kid. Plus Tia needs to stop putting herself down, wish she would listen to Dr. Bellows advice on that.

A new Sara, this one Middle Eastern and from her attitude from a rich family, possibly royalty. Dang, Tiff knew Mrs. Carson and just stated it all like that, shrugging afterwards despite how shaken up she is. Sometimes crap just happens, even though it sucks. Tiff certainly doesn't show her pain on the outside much. James, the snake person and Tia thinks they can't be the only two GSD cases in Melville. Hikaru dunking Willy and having to be stopped by Tiff, only to dunk him again when Tiff's back was turned, priceless. Knew that boy would get himself in trouble with Hikaru one way or another.

James is from Nevada but family is originally from Japan, family is 'old money', and he uses the line from Harry Potter to state he is a wizard, groan. Tia ask him not to say that line again, but he says no promises, is I'm also a wizard, Harry or the like going to be popping up more in the stories, oh boy. Japanese boy using Shakespeare to try and woo Tia, only for Tiff to interpose herself between them and scolds him in Japanese, yikes, don't tick her off.

Guy shows up who looks like James Dean, going past Tiff who is still corralling the Japanese boy, still spouting bad poetry along the way, that kid needs a leash. And his last name is Dean, as Sara calls him Mr. Dean. The annoying Japanese student is Ichiro and he has been bothering the female students enough where Mr. Dean or Kelly has had to punish him for it. Dang, he signed up for the onsen at this time, thus they are getting kicked out except for the other RAs who have things to discuss. That poor pool attendant, all nice, clean, and quiet, then all those kids show up.

Antonia inviting Laura to the Poe movie and Laura not hearing a thing because of using the Hydroflux system special option again, talk about embarrassing. Too flustered to keep her towels in place, at least Antonia is nice enough to help. Oh brother, Laura wishes to change clothes in private and Antonia is teasing her about the show she put on in the showers. Antonia is very aggressive in going after Laura, helping her with her bra, circling her arms around her waist, and French-kisses her. Movie forgotten as they make out and cue scene change.

Bailey teasing Laura about what she heard, how Na'Chessa and Chris thought Laura and Toni are a cute couple, and finally teases her about moving pretty fast, getting a response out of Laura. Talking about Mrs. Carson and Laura and Toni were making out for 3 hours, dang. Rumors and ideas of what happen abound: One of the trustees went rogue and kidnapped her, a magic portal caught them all, one of her old enemies with some kind of destruction ray, demons, devisors, good grief. Alien invasion and Mrs. Carson and the others chased them into another dimension to keep them from coming back. Boy, they have far out there theories. Mrs. Carson wouldn't stage the whole thing just so she could be sunning herself in the Caribbean, that is so against her nature it isn't funny. Few days to go until the big Headmaster's address and all-school picnic, hope he doesn't change how things are run too much.

The dreaded physical test, they added goo launchers to the mix, great. Aerys who looks just like the FF7 character and has a weird BIT in her opinion. Yet she is a freshman and hasn't met Tiff yet, this should be priceless for the reaction of each of them when they do. And Aerys thinks it unfair some other girl got to look like Tifa and not her, when you don't have a bunch of idiots talking to your chest instead of your face you will be thankful. Dr. Shandy is new, Dr. Hendricks I recognize the name of, must hurt to have so many friends disappear like that with no answers. Plus one of the people who went into the tunnels that day and didn't disappear, I remember his name among those who went into the tunnels from Part 2, so something is up there.

Dr. Jean-Michael Hewley, where is his partner in crime, Dr. Aranis? Strange mutability in her telomere structure, why do I feel that is a bigger deal that Dr. Shandy is making it out to be. Just short of exemplar 2 right now, potential for exemplar 3 and none of Ibby's other powers yet. I'm betting it won't remain that way throughout her whole stay at Whateley. Dr. Hewley seems to have gotten more focused on the research over the years and less on the people he is interacting with, a result of Aranis not being there perhaps.

A boy who is half Rhinoceros not being the strangest thing she had seen so far, though it was close. Wait until she has to visit Hawthorne one of these days and meets Fubar, who I hope is still around. Jamie is there!?! First offense thus her sentence was reduce pending appeals, she is too unstable to be even at Whateley, ARC would be more fitting for her right now, especially how she is acting towards Tia. This is bad, very bad. She is jamming the cameras with a devise, that is illegal by Whateley rules and for someone with her record an expulsion offense I would think. Whateley is now a nightmare for Tia with Jamie there, this is insane.

At least Mr. Cox recognized Tia and realizes she needs Dr. Bellows help more than he needs to talk with him right now, after how upset he was about taking the redeye to get there he could have insisted on seeing him, yet seeing a child in need overroad that. And he has to go back to give Tia the phone she dropped in her mad dash there.

2 minutes of footage missing, Jamie is in trouble for this stunt. Tia is right, invention oversight is nothing with one that disables security cameras like that. She is part of a pilot program, oh boy, this won't work out well. And Dr. Bellows is ticked about this, if the new headmaster is allowing all this I'm going to be pissed off at him for ignoring the safety of the students. Hopefully Mrs. Horton and Dr. Bellows can get her back into Poe and work everything out soon, otherwise the stress of Jamie being around with no way to stop her because one devise they don't know about or an unregistered power Jamie might have will drive Tia crazy.

Mr. Cox is a Melville cottage mate of Tia's and Dr. Bellows called her a D.I.D. to get him to help her. I think he would have done it anyways, with the state she is in letting her go anywhere on her own right now would be a bad idea at best.

Laura literally bumps into Nick who helps her up, she even recognizes him from Paradise Island. Bermuda shorts and a loud tropical print shirt, yikes, Nick needs help with his wardrobe. AJ is Nick's roommate, should have figured those two would stick together. And he makes the bad joke about Laura being blue on a beautiful day, groan. Nick and AJ ended up in New York and were in the whole fiasco the girls are being mistaken for being in, dang. And AJ knows about Laura and the others taking on squid-boy. All the newbies in trouble with security over something in New York and trying to keep it down a little so others won't cause trouble thinking they are badasses to beat.

AJ has to pick up a package from his mom, yikes, wonder what dangerous thing she could be sending. More teasing about Laura and Antonia, while she wishes to tell who she just met. Dang, Tavi can translate as well, handle little VI there. Bwahahaha, poor translation leads to embarrassment and Jimmy spewing his soda, Tavi needs an upgrade in his translation software. And Laura, they may be laidback but that doesn't mean they don't know how to throw down when needed. Cally is excited to meet Nick because he plays the guitar, possibly the new generations Whateley band.

Someone named Ratel tackled Tanya in the Quad and security holds them to tell them fighting there isn't allowed, good grief, these security guys trying to scare kids straight is just causing more problems. Tanya's roommate is called Sterling, Ratel is an ultraviolent who asked Tanya is she wanted to spar and Tanya said yes, but she thought Ratel meant later, oh boy. Week's detention in Whitman for Tanya and Ratel for the fight, ouch. Never agree to spar, before saying yes state not there, in an official match in one of the arenas. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for them to jump you right then and there.

Alvery Rosseau, only natural fabrics, and her pointed elven ears are revealed, another Faerie mutant into Venus Inc. Elfe de Feu, sounds French, fairy elf, Sidhe. She spent time with the Native American wood elves, having to go nude all the time there, yikes. Lisa Derflin, Jean Smith-Roe2-another Sidhe girl, Meow Mix-exotically beautiful girl with cat spirit and minor GSD, Meredith Tapia-Materielle-ability to 'shape' fabrics into stunning wardrobe pieces in mere moments [she is going to be rich with that ability, custom dresses on demand], Cassie Locke-Model-shapeshifter who can take on any human shape, Melody Sheridan-Chained Melody-absent and a snobbish bitch, various other Venus Inc. girls are missing.

Great, Cassie knows about Tia and now they are going to scout and try to recruit her, which would be a problem with the Playboy contract. Cassie starry-eyed over Taka and saw him working out without his shirt on, oh boy, trying to recruit him will cause all sorts of problems. Of course Taka attracted a lot of girls, I said the Bishonen look was popular even here with girls. And Tina is drooling over him, oh boy, first Laura attracts several girls attention, now Taka has a lot of girls hot for him. Alvery got information about Taka out of Laura, of course a Sidhe girl with her looks could do that. Now they will use the student directory and try to find a way to recruit him, though if they find out about Hikaru and discuss it with her she might blow up at them.

One final thing to comment on, elrod is nice to Laura, even giving her an older girlfriend and having other girls openly lusting over her. Yet Nagrij is mean to Tia by having Jamie get sent to Whateley Academy on some new program and her getting a lesser sentence due to it being her first offense. Seriously, did not expect either of those things, with the relationship with Toni escalating so quick and Jamie showing up.

Hah, I was right! Even the power testers agree with me. Lapin is,the most powerful student currently at Whateley!

Basing all of this off of one off hand comment:

'Get in there before you become the second coming of Champion.'

Yes I realize my head canon has gone to far, but I normally stick so far within the lines, just give me this one.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Character... overload... brain... exploding...

I realize that it's slightly inevitable with a big ensemble intro story like this, but I really am feeling a bit overwhelmed by them all.

Same here, time to make a score card.

More thoughts, in no particular order:

I'm glad that Wondercute, and the Hydroflux showers are still around.

I wonder how many of the Poe kids realize that the example incidents Mrs. Horton mentioned were all real incidents, and all involved the same group of kids? In a single semester no less?

Semester? try 3 weeks. Ninja fight on the 6th, Crystal Wavers on the 11th, and Gothmog on the 27th.

Hah! Morgana thinks that the buzz will go away. For a normal group she might be right, but you are well loved by the authorlords, dear dragon, and your lives will never be uneventful again.

I'm very humored by the polite ultra-violent. Hey, at least she asks before jumping people.

Something is definitely afoot, and it's not a lucky rabbits foot. The Melville switch could be the fault of well-meaning but misunderstanding mentors, but somebody is pulling strings to bring Jamie and Tia together. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. On the bright side, I think that Tia handled herself fairly well in the onsen, despite the overly friendly atmosphere.

Hm... If Laura does have some sort of lust aura, I'd expect Tia to be the first one effected, considering her problems. But I haven't seen any signs of it. Maybe Laura has some unconscious control? Or maybe it's overwhelmed by having to overcome Tia's devisor PTSD. Or, knowing the authors, it's something entirely different.

It would really amuse me if all the girls cottages had Hydroflux showers, and were very carefully keeping it a secret from the other girls cottages. On the other hand, as soon as the other girls started wandering around like the Poe girls were, I think that they'd put two and two together pretty quickly.

I can't wait for more! Excellent job!

Laura's aura could be pheromones, light, or just the color of her skin.

Kristin Darken wrote:

Valentine wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: I wonder how many of the Poe kids realize that the example incidents Mrs. Horton mentioned were all real incidents, and all involved the same group of kids? In a single semester no less?

Semester? try 3 weeks. Ninja fight on the 6th, Crystal Wavers on the 11th, and Gothmog on the 27th.

Ha... joke's on you. Just because those things happened in Gen 1 to TK doesn't mean Mrs Horton was referring to those specific events. She could have been talking about any number of ninja attacks that were part of the last decade or so's pranks by a certain Dojo. There have been demon attacks on campus about 1 in 3 years since its creation. And cults? half the clubs go 'cult' at least once before being officially recognized by the school... it's almost a rite of passage to get a club approved.

Now I want the story of the Underdog's Cult.

Valentine wrote:
Now I want the story of the Underdog's Cult.

Infidel! You are unworthy to hear of the Mighty Scrappy or his indomitable Puppy Power!

So Tia is looking to be the Ayla to Laura's Jade. It remains to be seen how it will pan out.

From the post-Hydroflux daze, it's plausible for a sufficiently-perceptive individual to draw conclusions - likely involving an orgy or similar. It certainly looks like Tanya cottoned on.

Kinda funny how rapidly Tia has become the group's Gossip Report.

Regarding Geoffrey Mazarin... We know nothing about him, but it strikes me as possible that he might be the individual better known as Mephisto. Probably not.

Obligatory "AERIS LIVES!"

Uh oh. Bad news for Tia, but Jamie's presence is just the thing to spice up the narrative. Also bodes ill that it appeared she was waiting by the elevator purely for Tia's arrival. At least Tia's coherent enough to zoom directly to where she needs to be. Oh, and with mention of there being an Evolution Rocks club, that means bad news for Tia.

As for Gerard, he seems awfully courteous and went far out of his way to ensure Tia got her care and phone. Possibly some form of compulsive behaviour? Certainly they're going to feature more in future.

Do enjoy the quip from AJ after Nick and Laura bump into each other.

Alvery - intriguing to see the continuation of a reasonable Sidhe presence on campus - better yet to see her have some restraint in attempts at recruitment, notably the comment about gauging interest before trying to recruit.

Rather disappointed that we didn't get to the Headmaster's speech this part, but I guess that's something to look forward to. Get some insight into the new administration and how things will be handled.

Again, many thanks to all involved in bringing us readers this story.

Nagrij wrote:

mhalpern wrote:

elrodw wrote: How do you like that - I'm nice to my character and nobody notices or comments?

Your just letting her get comfortable for when you stop being nice to her, for maximum shock potential.

Technically I think that's me, actually. Elrod is actually playing nice.

And yes, it can get worse from here for Tia.

That's why my theory about Why Tia's in Melville changed, or at least why she is stuck there, though it could also have to do with Ibby finding out where Jamie is now enrolled and assuming based on Poe's cover story that Jamie would be sent there. If there was one cottage on campus that could be considered "gossip central" it'd be Melville, by its nature of being the "upper class" cottage and I don't mean class in terms of graduation year. Jamie shouldn't be at Whateley, at ALL she got sentenced to Juvenile Hall until adulthood, HOW the HELL was that lowered to house arrest? First Offense doesn't get you that far, especially not after the incident where she lured Tia to her house, violating computer privacy rights to do so. Something is fishy here.

Ugh. Placing quote tags is a chore... And they don't show in the email anyways.

***

"Underclassmen sit on the bottom tier," the guy growled at her. "You better move before whoever ...," he leaned closer to look at the registration label, "Mutant Mayhem Machine? What the hell is that?" he couldn't help stammering.

"Actually," Bailey replied, "it's us."

Nice!

"It's our team name," Tanya said with a smile. "And we registered the team and the table this morning," she added politely.

"Froshies? Registering as a team?" the second guy asked, flabbergasted. "You do know that it's a combat training team, don't you?"

"Yeah," Laura replied lightly. "After our little adventure in New York on the way here, we figured we might as well form a team."

The girl's eyes widened. "Wait!" she began, her mouth a little agape. "You guys ... that mess in New York? That was you?!?"

Tanya smiled shyly. "Yeah, we had a minor ... scuffle. So ...."

And now there's crossing the line from asserting into bragging... Not good... Sets up a rep of like the next Team Kimba, when they're anything but....

"But ... they're gonna think we're really bad-asses!" Tia said, wide-eyed.

Bianca chuckled. "Think of it this way. As long as people think that we kicked some major villain butt, they'll leave us alone. A reputation of bad-assery can really help deter aggression."

"But when they find out it wasn't us ...." Cally stammered fearfully.

Yeah! Appreciate those consequences!

"Yes, they have my brand. It's effective, and most importantly, cheap. Some of the other stuff here, well it's probably very nice, but it's very expensive. Like, look at this! 'Greasy brand spray on skin: it works.' What kind of name for a concealer is that? That's like the worst marketing ever. And the price! It costs more than five jars of what I use."

Nooo! Get the Greasy brand! ... I guess it's sold via rep?

As soon as Laura turned to explain some esoteric goop to her roommate Bailey, Tia snuck the can of spray skin into her shopping cart, hiding it under the makeup and books Laura had already picked. Tanya noticed and raised an eyebrow; Tia hoped the finger to her lips would be enough.

YEAH!

Tia grinned and decided to let her off the hook. "Of course not, I don't need to. Part of my crash course in stuff like this included 'expected feminine behavior' and make up - every day. So now, with no one looking over my shoulder, or yelling at me? A welcome day off. Or maybe a week off, if I can stretch it. Normally I just go for eyeshadow, lipstick or gloss, and mascara anyway."

Huh. Interesting.

Laura's parents were in a nasty divorce, and Laura's financial position was rather delicate.

Well, that's important. Gotta remember to remember that.

Tia waited until Laura was distracted by a tech magazine on the impulse-buy rack, where one would have normally found tabloids and gossip rags, and getting Cindi's attention, pointed to her phone where an image of her credit card was displayed, then back to Laura's basket, one finger on her lips. Cindi nodded knowingly.

Ah. Good sneaking there.

With all the stuff everyone was buying, a cart made sense. Cindi, who had overheard the conversation because her station was idle again, spoke up: "There are cart rentals by the door; all it takes to rent one is a deposit. But if you break it, you bought it."

Hmm... How high-tech is a cart, such that a Gadg might want to break it just for the parts??

None of the group had seen the carts coming in, but it was nearly impossible to miss them by the exit doors; they were set in a rack by the checkout lines. They appeared to be made of heavy gauge steel wire framework set atop large very stable wheels, almost like they were designed to survive a nuclear holocaust. Or a school full of overpowered mutant teenagers. Tia waived her phone again, and struggled to tug one of the heavy things from the rack.

Ah...

"Because this concerns him," Tia answered evenly.

Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"Look, part of the Melvillain thing is to have minions, right? Well, I know he's one of yours, and I want to borrow him," Tia blurted.

Huh. Well, I guess when you're called a Melvillain, the connection forms fast.

Hikaru blinked. "I have minions?" she shook her head and settled her gaze on Tia. There seemed to be actual weight to her disapproval. "No, Melville students do not have minions, Tia. Even if we do, there are numerous school rules and policies pertaining to having minions, and they would have to be of a quality and reputation worthy of us." Taka seemed to shrink under Hikaru's steely gaze and demeaning words.

Wow. Hikaru really studied up on the handbook, huh. I wonder how she compares to Ayla, Loophole, or Jadis...

How does this relate to that girl in CORE who's Dominated some girl into being her minion, I wonder? ... Has there been many mentions of minions at Whateley?

And speaking of mental domination. How's Plastic Girl doing? Did Solange remove the mental conditioning? Or is she still a spy?

Despite Hikaru's intimidating tone and stare, Tia wasn't ready to give up yet. "But he can fight, right? Out of all the people I've met going here so far, the only one he was afraid of was you, and I can't hire you, obviously. I can't fight - I don't know how, and I wouldn't be strong enough anyway. But ... if you order him to help, he will; I know that."

Hikaru face-palmed at the girl's request.

Tia sensed that her points were losing and that another argument was needed. "Look, I can help him too! I know English, and I know other languages. I'm good at learning them, and I can teach him English and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble based on the language barrier, alright?" she practically babbled to complete her thoughts before Hikaru could interrupt her again. "Besides, I have an idea to make sure he behaves while at school, which if I were the Japanese government, would be a good thing, right?" Honestly, the idea Tia had was so simple it had to have been tried before, but maybe it hadn't stuck or something.

Tia, why you care so much 'bout Taka?? Crush??? No?

Hikaru bit. "What's your plan?"

"Simply to hire him, then order him not to kill or permanently injure anyone."

Wha? Are you trying to Bind Kensei via Minion Contract? Or are you actually talking about Taka? 'Cause if you're talking about Taka, needing to 'order' him is a bit much?

Taka chose this moment to interrupt. "I am right here, yes I am."

Lol!

Tia and Hikaru both chose to ignore him. Hikaru shook her head. "It has been tried. He is Ronin by choice, and therefore not controllable. Further, he is not suited to you. He is most definitely not Yojimbo."

Huh.

A rōnin (浪人?)[1] was a samurai with no lord or master during the feudal period (1185–1868) of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege.[2]

In modern Japanese usage, the term also describes a salaryman who is "between employers" or a secondary school graduate who has not yet been admitted to university.[3][4]

Yojimbo (用心棒) means "bodyguard" in Japanese. The kanji (Japanese characters) can also mean "sword/service for hire", befitting his pay-off system.

Huh.

"Don't try to lawyer your way out of things around here," Annette expanded upon her warning, the smile temporarily gone. "There have been students over the years who think they can outsmart the faculty and administration. One of the most famous ones from a few years ago was gifted by the administration with a code-name she hated. So don't try." The pleasant look returned. "If you have questions or think you've got a difficult situation, ask your RA or your cottage fixer. Or you can go talk to the Dean or Assistant Headmaster. Okay?"

I wouldn't call a decade ago 'a few years'... Unless it's not Loophole?

Hydroflux intro.

Huh.

"Rumor is that you and Toni are an item," the older girl said softly and conspiratorially, clearly interested in getting the latest rumors and gossip. ...

Hmm...

Thursday, September 8, 2016 - Dinner
Kansas City, Office of Major Smythe-Barnes

"We're muted and the screen is blanked," Major Smythe-Barnes reassured Dr. Stauffer as the woman entered a somewhat lavish office. He sat behind a modern desk, but seemed old fashioned in his traditional dark gray suit.

Hmm...

"What are the topics?" Dr. Stauffer asked formally as she eased her trim frame into a chair. One might have mistaken her for a librarian, with her glasses, hair in a bun, and extremely restrained jacket and skirt over a plain white blouse. It was as if she dressed to purposefully hide even a vestigial hint of femininity.

Hmm... Someone afraid or something of their own feminimity? A TG via bodyswap or magery or something?

Major Quinten Smythe-Barnes leaned back, smiling pleasantly as he stroked his ever-present long-furred white monk-cat, the devisor hybrid of an Angora cat and a capuchin monkey with a couple of extra surprises. The creature had other secrets - instead of mere sharp canines, it had the folding fangs of a viper, complete with poison sacs containing a powerful neurotoxin. More than one adversary had underestimated the white animal's ferocious loyalty to its master.

Catstroker villain...

Smythe-Barnes chuckled. There was an air about him such that even if one didn't know he was retired military, it would be self-evident. Bald, very slightly overweight, with a jagged scar down his right cheek, if he'd been wearing a monocle, he'd have been passable as a villain from a superspy novel or movie.

Mmm...

"He reminds me of Opa's tales about Herr Speer during the war," she snarled distastefully. "And that idiot Reineke - he's going to stir up a riot and get us all killed!"

Hmm... German or whatever... Eisenmandel-related?

Phoenix, Rhein Mädchen

Mädchen n ‎(genitive Mädchens, plural Mädchen)

girl
maiden

Hmm...

Götterdammerung

Any connection to Gotterdammerung? Unlikely...

"Rolf said he'd get us an expert. And he asked if you wanted assistance with the bioengineering. Specifically, he asked about recruiting Princess Jobe ..."

"Nein!" Stauffer's face flushed crimson, matching the iron in her voice. "I will not work with that ... schwarze Elfe! I don't care how much of a genius she is - that ... abomination can have no part of my work!"

Abomination... Is Stauffer connected to the Sidhe? Or is she calling her an abomination from another perspective?

With a large group of Poe freshmen girls, Laura wandered into Crystal Hall, her hair wet and a silly, contented grin on her face. Most of the other Poe girls also seemed unnaturally relaxed and cheerful - or a little ... distracted.

"Laura?" Tanya, ahead of the Poe group in line, called out to her friend, but Laura didn't seem to notice. "Laura?"

The blue girl turned, and still with a glazed look in her eyes, she turned slowly. "Oh, hey, Tanya!" she called back through her puzzling smile.

"Are you okay?"

A crooked smile crossed Laura's face. "Yeah," she said absently, her mind quite obviously a long ways away.

"You're late!" Tanya exclaimed in disbelief. Around her, not only Laura, but all the Poe girls were equally distracted.

"I can't be too late - you're just dishing up your plate," Laura said.

Tanya frowned. "This is my third helping! Why are you so late? Did something happen?"

Laura glanced around at the other girls, who were giggling lightly through their smiles. "Um," she replied, "we ... um ... we had a ... a meeting."

Well, that happened.

at the gaggle of Poe girls who were blushing, dazed, pleased, embarrassed, and displaying a plethora of other emotions.

Ahegao? (NSFW) No... That's a bit too far?

"Hi, guys," she said innocently, feeling her cheeks burning and knowing that she was blushing. "How was everyone's day?"

"Not as good as yours, apparently," Hikaru smirked, studying the girls with a knowing smile.

LOL!

"For most of the semester," Hikaru said, keeping even the slightest hint of emotion out of her voice, "my second and third periods will be occupied with testing to determine the extent of damage from my burnouts."

Woah.

Tim's cheeks flushed red with anger as he turned on his new friends. "Fuck you guys! You know I mean the girls!" Seeing them back down a bit, he turned his attention back to the redhead. "I'm gonna do her. By Thanksgiving."

"Yeah, right!"

"I am!" Tim declared defiantly. "You wanna put ten bucks on it?"

Huh. This should be fun to watch. ... Is it gonna be a "It was just a bet a first, but then I fell in love?" ??

Okay. Gonna do swaths, 'cause note density is getting tedious.

Club chat.

Nice.

Tia winced; she felt like she was a living remote-listening device for the group. "They were talking about us fighting the MCO and a supervillain in New York," she reported what she'd overheard. There was a lot more, to be sure, but she wasn't sure she should share some of what the boys were whispering.

Mundane Utility? Sorta?

"Damn," Bianca swore softly. "I hope all this talk dies down soon. It's not safe to have a reputation like that. It'll attract the wrong kinds of attention."

*nods*

As she started to walk from the group's table, Laura's eyes were riveted by the curves on the Hispanic girl walking unerringly toward her in a very sultry, alluring manner. The girl's eyes sparkled with life and more than a slight hint of 'come-hitherness'

"I've heard some gossip about you," she said, "and your friends." Her eyes never strayed from their laser-lock on Laura's. "They say you're something of a hero already."

...

Laura's blush deepened; she figured she was a full purple by that point. "I wouldn't say that," she muttered meekly, unable to take her gaze from Val's eyes. "We ... were just in the wrong place ...."

Eye power? Cold Reader? Psi?

For some reason, Laura found the offer irresistible, and she nodded.

Gonna go with PSI.

Laura felt a warm flush; Val was so sexy, and with her Hispanic accent and looks, she was irresistibly charming. "Sure," she answered. "That'd be nice." And from her flirty behavior, Laura was wondering if she should have been in Poe with the other lesbians.

Now, is she gonna be rescued? Or what?

Just walking back to Poe, not a kidnapping or anything. ... Has a 'Spy' command been implanted?

Tia was already moving; did she mean to move this to the pool? And wasn't the RA for the boys supposed to be a boy? There had to be a story there.

Yeah. Wonder what it is...

Oh. So that's Kelly's story. Interesting.

"You're not gonna let any of them beat me up, are you?"

Sad.

"The guys don't mind when Kelly stumbles into the boys' bathroom as a girl, but ...."

"I don't want the girls here beating me up again!" Kelly complained. "Just because I make a mistake now and again ...."

Ah. ... I wonder if there's a way to shrink the cooldown?

Tia heard the guy walking up to her before he came into view; a Japanese boy who looked to actually be from Japan, judging from his accent, intoned: "What light through yon window breaks! She is the sun, and I the moon!"

Puns, and references... Do we have an actual Avatar of Tsukuyomi? I don't think so? ... How common knowledge is Hikaru being the Amateratsu Avatar??

Dean didn't let him finish. "You were. If you're going to quote the Bard, get it right. If you're going to spout poetry, use the good stuff. Put some effort in, man!" Then he turned to them all and raised his voice. It carried clearly over the hush.

Nice.

"Hell, one of the guys was even suggesting that there was some kind of alien invasion and that Mrs. Carson and the others repelled them and chased them into another dimension to keep them from coming back."

Forum ref!

Tia stopped with a glare. They switched the tennis ball test on her; the first time, in California, it was during the obstacle course. This time it was during her dead lift test, and she almost dropped the weights on her foot when she heard the whistle.

Yeah, that wasn't a good choice of timing... But I'd guess they'd compensate if she did drop it... She's not a Regen, so they'd have to stop testing and stuff...

Aerys intro...

Resurrection like New Olympians? Nah? ... Perhaps there's no Cloud? Or he's a girl too? Sephiroth instead?

[Or something like Tennyo and the Star Stalker?]

Tia threw it down the chute. What would she want a form fitting sensor suit for?

I wouldn't know, but better to have it and not need it, instead of the opposite? There's gotta be some line in the future where it's like "I wish I kept that sensor suit!"

Dr. Shandy nodded, and she walked out. Tia's ears meant she could still hear Dr. Shandy clearly, however, when he said: "She seemed downright sad for someone we just told she wasn't going to melt into her constituent components and die."

Mmm...

What was Hewley's reply?!

The elevator opened and Tia stepped out, her eyes landing on a nightmare, something far worse than Rhino boy or anyone else. She rubbed her eyes, but the vision stayed the same through the spots generated.

It really was Jamie.

She was flanked closely by two people but they might as well have been mannequins. She was leaned up against the wall watching the elevator, and as soon as she spotted Tia her eyes lit up ... and her smile became vicious. She pushed off the wall and cut Tia off.

"Well, if it isn't slut-bunny! Hello, slut-bunny, how have you been?" Jamie said it as loud as she could, and while it didn't penetrate the noise far, it was enough. It wouldn't matter if she were whispering however, Tia knew she'd still be able to hear it.

Illusion. Betting on Illusion until physical contact, and even then, really good illusions do all 5 senses...

"You shouldn't be too worried about it Tia. No one could think less of you for reacting like this."

Except for every mutant who thought their powers made them better than everyone else, Tia thought bitterly; but didn't say. It wouldn't do any good, and Dr. Bellows was still typing.

Mmm...

"Hmmm, Jamie Howe is listed as a student, currently on probation and house arrest, released to the custody of the school as part of a pilot program. She cannot leave school grounds for any reason, must undergo complete oversight by staff of all her creations, and she has a security officer she must report to each day."

Tia snorted and reached for a tissue. Invention oversight meant nothing if Jamie could somehow disable security cameras with one. Dr. Bellows looked almost angry as he looked up.

"I'm sorry, Tia. Miss Howe should never have been enrolled here; and I'll handle it. Until then, I'll notify security and take steps to get a new restraining order against her for this state. You won't have to worry about her, Tia."

Any connection to the other Admin issues affecting Tia? Something like the Kayda Expulsion Campaign?

"Didn't feel right to leave it in the lost and found"

Forum ref@!

D.I.D. - Gerard had used the term in an earlier session with the Doc. It meant "damsel in distress". The doc was pushing his buttons, but looking at the girl he couldn't say it wasn't warranted.

Intriguing look into Gerard...

Laura turned from the salad bar suddenly, unaware that the space she was rapidly moving into was already occupied by another person, a much larger person. Not being quantum particles, they couldn't occupy the same space, and so they collided. The laws of physics required conservation of momentum, and as Laura was much lighter than the boy, she was sent backwards, landing in an ungraceful heap on the floor, with food, pieces of plate, and silverware scattered noisily about her.

Physics! hehe.

"Oh, hey," the large horse-like boy boomed down to her, offering a huge meaty paw to help her up. "Sorry! I didn't expect you to dart in front of me like that." With incredible ease, he pulled the girl to her feet so energetically that she was launched a few inches above the floor. He gave her sheepish apologetic look as she regained her balance. "Oops!" he winced. "Didn't think you were so light."

"You're ... I've seen you before ...," Laura stammered, staring up at the large boy. "You're .... you're from that island, right? Paradise Island?"

Nick simply shrugged. He was used to being recognized, after all, even though the omnipresent cameras on the island were just a fact of life to the point that people completely forgot about them. The young Animan also had fans all over the world who followed every one of his arena matches. "Um, yeah. I'm ... the first mutant from PI. I'm Nick," he said, sticking forth his huge hand. "You a fan of the show... or a gamer?"

Ah. He appears! ... I wonder if there'll be more mutants from PI...

"Hey, AJ," Nick called to another boy who was walking past. "Laura, this is AJ, my roommate."

The other boy, a slight kid compared to Nick, turned and smiled at her. "Nice to meet you," he said, and then his grin turned mischievous. "But I do have to ask, on such a beautiful day, why are you so blue?"

And he appears too!

Laura shook her head. "No, I've seen you somewhere else." She thought a few seconds. "New York?" she suddenly realized. "You two were in New York!" She read their stunned expressions. "You guys were the ones in that whole Central Park fiasco!"

AJ winced. "Could you hold it down a bit, please?" he begged. "It's not like we want to advertise that to the whole world! We got reamed by security for that mess!" His eyes narrowed a bit when he saw Laura's expression. "Wait, you were in New York, too, weren't you?" He saw Laura flinch. "So ... you were part of that other mess - the one with the creepy, nutso octopus villain?"

OH! ... Hmm... So that'd gonna be seen in Road to Whateley, or something...

"No," AJ said, an amused, knowing smile on his face. "You don't understand. You don't want to make one of Mom's packages wait for you!"

Laura considered the strange way he'd put that. "Well, we'll see you around, then, I suppose."

Hmm...

No sooner had Tavi translated than Taka frowned. "Excuse please. What ... big like horse?" As soon as the girls realized the gist of his comment - obviously resulting from a poor translation by the ferret VI - they all blushed while Jimmy spewed the mouthful of soda he'd been drinking.

They need a better translator, and Kureani most likely won't be helping?

Alvery Rosseau let her fingers dawdle on the fine silk dress hanging on the dressing room rack, in exactly the same place she'd left it the previous spring after her final photo shoot. She smiled at the memory; that had been a very difficult shoot for a demanding client, but they'd pulled it off - with great effort. She also relished the feel of the silk; even after all these years of wearing only natural materials such as silk, she still delighted in the sensual feel of the fabric.

Sidhe?

"His name is Taka Ono," she announced triumphantly. "The group of them are friends who met on the trip here. So let's go see what we can find out about him. There has to be information about him in the student directory." She grinned. "Then we can figure out how to recruit him."

Innocuous... But, they might be Manipulated Spies for someone else... Who'd suspect the models as spies?

Jamie is DEFINATELY related to Tia's cottage issues, not quite the Kayda Expulsion Campaign, I doubt THAT is the goal, I am placing my bets on it not having jack squat to do with Tia herself... Oh crap, Upper Admin has changed out almost completely, major trustees are gone, and a news worthy disaster is set up to be implemented, with two elements that the media is to get more information about one of which is very volatile and hostile to the other... The Academy itself could be the target.

Malady wrote:

"Hell, one of the guys was even suggesting that there was some kind of alien invasion and that Mrs. Carson and the others repelled them and chased them into another dimension to keep them from coming back."

Forum ref!

"Didn't feel right to leave it in the lost and found"

Forum ref@!

LOL. Sorry to inform you Malady, but even though both of these scenes might seem to be forum references, they were actually written quite a while before the topic came up on the forums.

Vis a vis Hikaru: In Japan, very well known as Ammy's minion, yes.
Outside Japan...

well, how many people here can name a Imperial Princess?

NeoMagus wrote:

Malady wrote:

"Hell, one of the guys was even suggesting that there was some kind of alien invasion and that Mrs. Carson and the others repelled them and chased them into another dimension to keep them from coming back."

Forum ref!

"Didn't feel right to leave it in the lost and found"

Forum ref@!

LOL. Sorry to inform you Malady, but even though both of these scenes might seem to be forum references, they were actually written quite a while before the topic came up on the forums.

Well, then the forum is ingenious.

Edit: Has the lost and found been mentioned before now?

MageOhki wrote: well, how many people here can name a Imperial Princess?

Jobe?

Kristin Darken wrote: A good story is a delicate mix of the reader saying "I knew it!" and "I didn't see THAT coming!" Don't forget in all the breakdowns and digging for tidbits to comment on... to acknowledge the authors for achieving that successful mix.

Mmm. So, who came up with Kelly? And Aerys and Tiff? 'Cause they're pretty nice ideas?

It's easy to point out what we would have only predicted in WMGs (Wild Mass Guesses), but hard to tell what we already guessed... ... Nevermind... ... What did we successfully guess, anyway?

I guess the fact that Melville has an onsen was surprising? But, it's more just new information, as I didn't know enough about Melville to form enough opinions for anything to be surprising?

Hmm... If I had to pick one thing to praise... I guess I'd pick the MMM's evolving social status, mainly the undeserved combat status. ... Might they rise to the occasion? ... Really want to get the sim team's view on MMM.

Have the Sidhe passed the 1500 mark? Fey was 1000... How many new Sidhe can appear in 10 years? It took ~400 years to get to 1000... But then, population growth increases make averaging over that 400 year span, a silly idea...

Praising specific writing styles... That's real tricky... I'd have to go super deep to notice things like that. Like, you could give me Hemingway, and I'd just be like, "Okay, that dude wrote stuff", ... ... Although, how hard would it be to notice his weird perspective changes? ... Always easier to see blatant deviations from the norm, than small ones?

Malady wrote:

Kristin Darken wrote: A good story is a delicate mix of the reader saying "I knew it!" and "I didn't see THAT coming!" Don't forget in all the breakdowns and digging for tidbits to comment on... to acknowledge the authors for achieving that successful mix.

Mmm. So, who came up with Kelly? And Aerys and Tiff? 'Cause they're pretty nice ideas?

Kelly Mishkin is mine. Code name Ping Pong for obvious reasons. We'll see more of him/her too

And Aerys was a concept that Nagrij originally came up with but I adopted. Tiff was all Mage's doing.

elrodw wrote:

Malady wrote:

Kristin Darken wrote: A good story is a delicate mix of the reader saying "I knew it!" and "I didn't see THAT coming!" Don't forget in all the breakdowns and digging for tidbits to comment on... to acknowledge the authors for achieving that successful mix.

Mmm. So, who came up with Kelly? And Aerys and Tiff? 'Cause they're pretty nice ideas?

Kelly Mishkin is mine. Code name Ping Pong for obvious reasons. We'll see more of him/her too

But you already have a character named Ping Pong .

Valentine wrote:

elrodw wrote:

Malady wrote:

Kristin Darken wrote: A good story is a delicate mix of the reader saying "I knew it!" and "I didn't see THAT coming!" Don't forget in all the breakdowns and digging for tidbits to comment on... to acknowledge the authors for achieving that successful mix.

Mmm. So, who came up with Kelly? And Aerys and Tiff? 'Cause they're pretty nice ideas?

Kelly Mishkin is mine. Code name Ping Pong for obvious reasons. We'll see more of him/her too

But you already have a character named Ping Pong .

You're assuming the Gen 1 Ping Pong hasn't died or something

So here I am, reading part 3 and wondering how Jamie might be brought back into the story based on the comments in this thread. I get to the segment about a certain group of Kansas City Evil Germans in need of a bioengineering expert, and their scientist is quite adamant about not working with Princess Jobe or even asking her for help.

Well, who in the 2016 time frame do we know that might be an expert on biological manipulation using a specific prototype beam device? That same person who might also be in prison, and eager to help anyone in exchange for access to a certain someone?

And then you spring it on me! She's already there! Flanked by whom (minions(?), or who knows what (androids?). Jamie was incredibly terrifying. The writing evoked such a casual...malevolence. Jamie's mental issues are only progressing with her obsession to destroy Tia, aren't they?

---

Security wasn't quite right about Tanya. She's already gotten herself into trouble again. How many times will it take before it actually starts to stick?

Katssun wrote: So here I am, reading part 3 and wondering how Jamie might be brought back into the story based on the comments in this thread. I get to the segment about a certain group of Kansas City Evil Germans in need of a bioengineering expert, and their scientist is quite adamant about not working with Princess Jobe or even asking her for help.

Well, who in the 2016 time frame do we know that might be an expert on biological manipulation using a specific prototype beam device? That same person who might also be in prison, and eager to help anyone in exchange for access to a certain someone?

And then you spring it on me! She's already there! Flanked by whom (minions(?), or who knows what (androids?). Jamie was incredibly terrifying. The writing evoked such a casual...malevolence. Jamie's mental issues are only progressing with her obsession to destroy Tia, aren't they?

---

Security wasn't quite right about Tanya. She's already gotten herself into trouble again. How many times will it take before it actually starts to stick?

Mmmmm.... could be. As for the two flanking Jamie, well Tia only had eyes for Jamie, but you'll meet the other two soon enough.

Just wait for that vignette reveal!