"How much trouble are you trying to get us in this time?"
"How much trouble you got?"
It's a new school year, and with it a bumper crop of interesting and entertaining young students just brimming with potential. The main story sequences of the Second Generation narrative are busy enough as it is without going into the details of each and every side character, but that doesn't mean we can't explore a bit of what makes them tick.
And thus, we have an anthology for you all today. Five stories about five kids at Whateley, from before they ever arrived at school. Each of them has appeared in the main story before, sometimes in major roles and sometimes not, and now's your chance to get to know them a little better.
I hope you all enjoy.
--Wasamon
Not everyone looks their part. Some don't even look for their part; it just comes for them.
"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
I ask that of all my prey. "
— Joker, "Batman"
Thursday evening, January 10, 2008,
The Nations Encampment, Whateley Academy
"How did I let myself get roped into this?" Mads 'Metro' Møller-Jensen asked himself as he trudged through snow in the early darkness of the New England winter.
Oh, right. Having the head of the Whateley Academy Mystic Arts department just happen to be where she could overhear his discussion with Ben Donner the other night left few excuses to be a no-show. Considering that it was her class that he'd have to be excused from to attend, an acute case of death might even be insufficient. It wasn't a matter of Mads having anything against the school's Native American cultural club; far from it. Maybe it was last night's replay of the loss of Vinland that kept him spooked? He hadn't had that set of nightmares for a couple of years now.
The longhouse fit in with the wooded setting, but the hide-covered tipis had been meant for a nomadic Plains way of life. Mads winced at the wiigiwaam covered in hides instead of wiigwaas and lake grass. Or was this meant to be a mide-wiigiwaam, but the builders ran out of birch bark? No. It was easier to come by here than, for example, in Manitoba. Nevertheless, the outer door flap was open, the fires were going inside, and having run out of every delay and distraction he could think of, he entered the longhouse.
++++++1505080630it1++++++
--WEE-ORRR-- The foghorn bellow of the alarm clock rattled the house, or at least the corner of it belonging to Les Wainwright. It forced its way in through the ears and then refused to leave, echoing back and forth inside his skull. The alarm clock had been programmed to be as loud and difficult to ignore as possible. Dad had been rather proud of his work there. With a groan, he pulled himself out from under the covers and stared at the ceiling. The pin-up poster of Power Salvo, a superhero from nearby Portland, stared back.
"Good morning," he mumbled, and then slid out of bed.
----Wednesday, July 6th, 2016
--- Grammy
The clock struck ten in the evening, and she had the house to herself, as far as consciousness went. Young Patrick had gone down hard, once the adrenaline of the day wore off. She'd heard tell once that nervous energy burned more calories than anything else, and while she doubted it was true, the child was skinny as a stick with no sign of changing. Even the copious lunch Grammy had treated him and Lara to after mass didn't leave an ounce on him.
Sunday 9th October, 10am, outside Crystal Hall
I was sitting on one of the benches outside Crystal Hall, drinking coffee and chatting with Adam while we waited for Toison to join us. I'd been wanting to pick her brains about some stuff, and while out in the open, this was actually more private than talking about stuff after Magic Class - there were far too many pairs of inquisitive ears, some with evil intent, for my liking there.
--- Sunday, July 3rd, 2016
Rockets raced glaring red trails as they ripped across the dusky sky, and distant booms sounded a few seconds after the full light and power of the bursting bombs became apparent. It was the light show to end all light shows in the skies of St. Louis that afternoon, and it was a pity the villain known as the Malypense had no concerns for the festive calendar of the United States, because this performance left the pyrotechnics of that day and the next looking decidedly inferior.
Part 4
Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - Late
Devisor Labs, Whateley Academy
Bobby Earl glanced up and stretched when a chime sounded to announce a visitor to his lab, someone who did not have access. He glanced at his watch, surprised at the lateness of the hour. It hadn't seemed like it was almost ten! Stretching as he walked to the door, he looked to the side to a video monitor fed by a hidden camera near the door so he could tell who was calling on him. Surprisingly, it was Alexis.
----Monday, July 4th, 2016
--- Marcus
Whew, what a day. This Fourth of July had been light on the explosions, but oh man, what fireworks! Once the buzz over his adopted broth... er, Ches's big exit from his incubator had subsided, Dr. Dork had made Ches repeat that sneeze cannon trick over and over in the testing lab, until nothing more than sparks erupted from that arched nose. He'd helped out with the scanning equipment, which was the coolest part, and technically it'd been him who found the extra lump behind Ches's nasal arch. Dr. Dork said that it must be what allowed Ches to stock up electricity in there, but Myra said it just made him -- her -- look like a Bajoran, and then the whole thing turned into a "What Marcus needs to watch next" conversation for a while. Deep Space Nine sounded cool.
It was pretty late now. Myra'd ordered him to take a nap in the afternoon, and now he was glad she'd done that. There was no way he wanted to miss this! And the ice cream was good, too. He was trying that purple sweet potato stuff now, and it was alright, but he liked the salted caramel better. Ches was sitting nearby, finishing up his -- her! -- fourth bowl, though.
Sunday 2nd October, evening, Poe Cottage, Bianca and Morgana's room.
"I guess I'd better make some more popcorn for you pair of gannets, hadn't I?"
Both Laura and Bianca nodded with the innocence of girls who hadn't just helped demolish two bags already. We'd been discussing the unexpected events regarding our teammates, and so far we hadn't really come to any real conclusions as to how it was going to affect us. We'd have included Bailley as well, but she had begged off muttering something about having to go talk to Zapper.
"I wonder how many other undeclared changelings there are hanging around?"
I shrugged at Laura as I ripped the top of another bag of popcorn and poured it into the bowl. "No idea, really. Did any of us suspect Cally and Erica?"
Bianca looked thoughtful as she snagged some of the fresh popcorn. "I don't know. I suspected that Erica might be hiding something, but not Cally. And anyway, with all the weird things going on here, and some of our unique...origins, I'm beginning to think that anything might be possible."
Page 7 of 88
Print
Recommend
Feed Entries