My perpetual youth is an advantage, as you've guessed. I am assuming that Kat will practice when I am not around, yes. I'm also assuming that training her will help improve my martial arts training ability, which as also one of my reasons for doing it.
posted using my mobile phone =]
Katrina seems an eager student, showing marked advancement before a month has passed.
(That is, you made your training skill check, she's 1@2 Gazuntite.)
You've had a very good month otherwise, doing well in school, keeping peace on the playground, and enjoying life at home.
--M. J. Young
Ah, well. Good is a relative term; routine breeds boredom, and boredom has gotten me killed almost as many times as thr local law enforcement. I'll particularly enjoy spending time with Katrina, as that's a pleasant diversion from what i'm used to. A very good thing would be her becoming a close friend of mine. All good things take time. Since she's attained 1@2 i'll try to teach her the leaping kick and continue her training. Also, still going to try for the mind reading and feign interest in her interests.
Ky
posted using my mobile phone =]
She learns that skill quite well, very quickly.
You don't read her mind today.
--M. J. Young
Yeah, that's good and the other is a pity. There will be more days, though, and I will continue to attempt to find out about her. I'll ask her what her interests are, what her fears are, what her goals are -- as well as the ridiculous ones, like her favorite animal and favorite color.
Ky
Well, you know the drill--tell me what answers you prefer and what answers you'd like to avoid. I'd guess that if she doesn't like dogs that's a problem, but what about cats? Do you care about the color? Kids that age tend to have unrealistic dreams and aspirations--model, actress, singer--or very predictable ones--nurse, teacher. On the other hand, some come up with truly interesting ideas--ornithologist, missionary, medical researcher. If I'm to determine who she is, I have to measure it against your hopes and fears and a GE roll, so I need more from you.
--M. J. Young
ok! well, ascribing an alignment to me ICly is pretty difficult given my streak of complete unpredictability. however, if kat was to say she wanted to be a law enforcement officer when she grew up, i would be upset. the worse answers are those that support government or people of this world. the better answers are for those jobs which are more thrill-seeking and/or travel oriented. other jobs don't matter so much to me. fears, death would be the best answer, losing everything she knows would be on the worse side of the spectrum (along with "the unknown", often confused at this age with "the dark"). colors.. who really cares honestly. i believe my character is partial to black for the element of night stealth it presents but he'd be more interested in camouflage patterns for that matter. plain answers are generally run of the mill, and no Kyler likes ordinary particularly much, so the more off the wall, the better. favorite animal, i'd say the absolute 100% best answer would be "does it have to be real?" other than that, any animal doesn't bother me. as for disliking animals, allergies can be dealt with and cured and i will let her know as much.
postscript
IC thought process: it should be noted for your purposes that the primary reason i am asking these questions is to create the illusory effect that i care who she is and what she thinks. at this point i do not -- i would like her to become my follower, at which point i will care what she thinks, but that desire is as you have to some degree pointed out to me rather flexible and contingent on the type of individual she is. the point i am making is that i will ask many questions, .what's your favorite day of the week, what's your favorite flavor ice cream, who would win in a fight, dr. z or daedalus ("nevermind"), what's your favorite number, what's your favorite kind fo cheese... "She answers your question" is fine by me for most questions, as long as she is still convinced that her opinion matters to me it will be fine for my purposes and later game purposes when i can use the knowledge my character has... for that matter, "she provides a dissatisfactory answer to your question" is also fine by me. =P
gosh. it worked. lol.
She would like to be an airline pilot so she can see the world, and maybe she'd be an air force pilot before that, which would be fun and give her opportunities to see the world. She's afraid that life will be boring, that she'll wind up just like everyone else, but also afraid that if she doesn't wind up like everyone else she'll be lonely and unhappy.
She likes horses, and would love to learn to ride, although she thinks that if there were winged horses like Pegasus she would like them even better.
In terms of color, she doesn't think that one color ever really looks good alone, because it takes several colors together to bring out what's good about each other. Her mother doesn't let her wear some outfits she'd like to because she says they clash, but she thinks "clash" is just a word for when different colors fight with each other for attention and so make each other look better.
She sort of collects Superhero bubblegum cards, but she doesn't really have the money to collect them in earnest and she read that some of them don't feel comfortable being on collectible cards and don't think the information is all true (and some don't want the true information on the cards).
She listens to Bias Fried, The Smythe Brothers Band, and of course The Ospreys, but everyone listens to them.
She likes Monday, because it brings her back into things happening, people she knows, and stuff like that. Also, there are never any tests on Monday. She prefers cinnamon swirl ice cream.
Dr Z is really more powerful than just about anyone but maybe Soliton and Dreamweaver, but Deadalus would probably win. That's partly because Daedalus has people like Mentum and Icarus working with him, and Dr. Z is such a loner and makes a lot of enemies. It's also because Deadalus would never start such a fight and that means Dr. Z would start it, and that would almost certainly mean that Dreamweaver and some of the others, maybe Twilight, would come to Deadalus' aid, and Dr. Z can't really fight them all. So Dr. Z would lose.
At least, that's what she thinks, based on reading hero cards.
She likes the number 27, because it's three things in three directions.
Cheese is cheese, unless it has something in it that isn't cheese. Sharper cheeses are better because they have more flavor; it's hard to like something that doesn't have much taste.
She asks you the same questions you ask her.
--M. J. Young
I tell her that travel is a big part of my life, too. I would really rather not grow up, personally, but as far as long term goals go, i want to become strong enough to protect myself and everyone around me. I assure her that as long as sticks with me, she won't ever be bored or lonely. I tell her that I once had to fight a young dragon, so I'd be suprised if I never came across a pegasus or a unicorn. My favorite animal is a chameleon, "I kind of feel a kinship with them." In response to her favorite color I tel her that I think she's awesome and hope her mother's pressure never changes her. Personally, I prefer functional colors that allow me to blend in, but discounting that, I prefer white for its purity. I'm highly interested in her hobby and seriously considering discussing with Mariska the potential of us helping her expand her collection. day of the week wednesday, ice cream chocolate peanut butter cup, i haven't really listened to much music but i'd like to hear, i like twelve because it has the most letters and highest numeric value of all monosyllabic numbers. yeah, cheese may be cheese, but people do have their preferences; you can also dislike (or love) a cheese based on its texture as opposed to its flavor. When I see Mariska I will definitely tell her about Kat holding back no reservation, and focus especially on the idea of trying to expand her collection of hero cards. after all, while we're here it will be good information to have, and if we leave this world, we really won't need the information anymore anyway, unless we're planning to create magical summoning skills at a later date.
double posted
"How do you expect to be strong enough to protect everyone if you don't grow up?"
She thinks the reason you like twelve is cool; she'd never thought of that.
--M. J. Young
"the ant, though small, is able to lift much more than its own body weight; some snakes, though small, can kill creatures much larger than they with their venom. size is not an indicator of strength; it would do you well to remember this as you continue your training. the man with the large muscles and years of combat training will not necessarily defeat the mysterious boy with the stick, and in some cases, the tiny spider may kill the grown man. your determination, your strength, your speed, your ability to think on your feet, all of these are important; a large size just makes you a bigger target."
i'll ask kat to see if her guardians will let her come to my place or vice versa. figure that's a good step. either to practice martial arts, or, well, just to hang out. i tell her she could also meet my younger sister.
at least all my double-posts seem to be confined to my thread =P
She'd like to meet your younger sister, and asks about your parents or, noting your use of the word, "guardians", asking whether something happened to your parents. She can probably come over, depending on where you live, although her parents will want to talk to whoever is your guardian to make sure it's all right.
--M. J. Young
"no, nothing happened to my parents that i know of. It's been a long time since I thought of them." "well, actually, i'm my own guardian. i live with my younger sister at (my address). I'd be more than happy to meet your parents any time, but it might be better if they meet my younger sister; she looks older, and it might raise less questions if your parents didn't know that i'm an independant."
"How does someone our age become independent? And why does your younger sister look older than you?"
--M. J. Young
"Well, I'm sure there are emancipation laws in this city, but I'm originally from another place called the verse, and it's normal for my kind to be very self-sufficient, regardless of our age. There wasn't much time for education in my case, though... we lead very fast paced lives where I'm from. I should show it to you someday. I think you'd like it. My sister looks older than I do, but there's not really any reason for it; I guess it's just because that's the way things are."
She thinks about that, and nods, apparently satisfied that that's a reasonable answer. Then she asks, "So, how old are you really?"
--M. J. Young
I'm a little suprised by the question, but I answer her honestly. "I hope this doesn't change anything between us. I really like you as a friend, Kat, which is the main reason I don't want to lie to you about any of this."
I answer her honestly.
How old does that mean you say you are? Or is your honest answer only that you're not going to lie?
--M. J. Young
The honest answer is "between forty and fifty, but I don't keep track of it well enough to know any better than that."
"Wow," she says, and thinks for a moment. "You look good for your age."
She shrugs. It doesn't seem to bother her--you might be fifty, but you don't look older than her, in fact you don't look quite as old as her, and she's not uncomfortable with that.
--M. J. Young
Well, that's about perfect. So... home, so I can tell Mariska that we should be helping Kat flesh out her collection of superhero cards?
"Superhero cards? You mean, like baseball cards, only with superheroes on them?
"That sounds like a mistake someone made. I mean, what a fabulous resource for knowing all the strengths of the good guys. Or do they do villains, too?
"And if they do heroes, did they add us to the list from when we stopped the giant robot ant?"
I'd be interested in what you think your hero card in this world reports about you, if there is such a card.
--M. J. Young
"My understanding is that they do heroes and villains; I guess they may either have come out with ones based on us, or will come out with ones based on us in their next edition, probably." I would assume that the card manufacturers really do their homework, but don't have any super-powered information gathering equipment. The most they could know would come from the public record and news reports; their job is to put two and two together, so they may know: my name is Kyler, hers is Mariska, we're travellers from another dimension stranded here, we can both fly and telekinetically lift objects, she uses a handgun very well and I am a melee combatant, using a style of fighting from another dimension (unless they have people in this world who use Gazuntite), she works at Daedalus Corp and I did before, too, and single-handedly stopped 12 neo-ninjas but left the job shortly after and now go to school among normal kids, I have defeated Silverblade (the news said a kid stopped him, and then I popped up) and we both took down that doctor with the giant ants whose name escapes me at the moment; I have the intuition that I may have noticed a private investigator on my tail, but there are supers here, so they may also think that I'm in collaboration or discussions with Dr Z, and that he's changed what I look like in subtle ways for reasons unknown, that sometimes I wear a black mask when fighting, and they could easily figure out where I live with Mariska; who knows what they would say about my decision to not stop Toller and his boys when I ran into them, even though I break up just about every other criminal activity I come in contact with. Beyond that, I can't really see any reason they'd know that I can read minds, or use cryogenesis and pyrogenesis, or use the Wu Jen spells I know. Oh, they would probably believe that my weapon of choice is a very nice-looking lajatang, and that I carry the bo stick and bag with me wherever I go, and possibly know from the public record that I'm older than Mariska is and considerably older than I look. I have before called myself "The Interminable Inconvenience" and "The Interdimensional Irritant", but I thus far only to Daedalus, who told at least Icarus, who could have told x, y, and z. That's probably everything I could possibly think of, and having never actually seen a hero card, I don't know how much of that they would be able to fit on a card or what of that they would want to.
double-post
I think that hero cards would not give the home addresses of heroes unless these were commonly known (The Multiversal Man has his apartment in center city and does not allow anything bad on his block; the girl with the brush whose name again slips my mind lives in an extradimensional castle only a few know how to find; Daedalus owns Daedalus Corp and his home address is probably a matter of public record). You're in the awkward situation that you don't really have a secret identity--your hero identity is yourself, so you're probably known as Kyler and Mariska. Also, although they wouldn't publish that you live in the Verser apartment at such-and-such address, it is the case that Michael di Vars created that location as a bolt hole for versers (a bit more comfortable than the one he left on NagaWorld) and so it wouldn't take much for them to deduce that you are versers, with what little they know about them--not much, but certainly that you are dimensional travelers, probably that you don't age and that you might have powers and equipment that are unexpected.
In fact, there are such cards for you and Mariska, and although they don't give your address they do say that you live in the verser apartment at an undisclosed location downtown, and give the name of your school and Mariska's job at Daedalus Corp. Most of what you indicated is on the card, although not the material about Dr. Z changing you, only that you were involved with him occasionally. (There's only so much space on the card, and of course some of what is there will be removed if you do more feats, so you'll then have an old card and a new card.)
"Wouldn't you think," Mariska says, "that a lot of that information would be in the database here in our apartment? I mean, if I were a visiting verser who created his own bolthole for others to use, I think I would want to provide them with whatever information they might find useful--who to trust, who to watch, what they might do."
--M. J. Young
Her name is Dreamweaver; we've met :P She invited me to her dimension and I know how to get there -- first national savings bank, talk to the picture, or something along those lines; we will boot up the computer and see if we can find information, first on Toller to check the villain database, then on Twilight. Then Silverblade. Just for frame of reference.
Of Toller it is said that he has the ability to become incorporeal, apparently a psionic skill believed to have been acquired while working for Dr. Zhorbhakian. More significantly, he can strike while noncorporeal, probably a psionic force generative skill. No other abilities are known. He is arrogant but only average in other areas.
Twilight might be mentally unstable, or it might be that several people have been him over the years, like Green Lantern or the Phantom. He is one of the earliest heroes mentioned in connection with Northgate, and has the ability to move from shadow to shadow anywhere within the city and its immediate surrounds, at least. His other skills are difficult to identify with any certainty.
There's nothing on Silverblade; it asks whether you mean any of several others who use either "silver" or "blade" in their names, or any who are known for using blades of various sorts.
--M. J. Young
Am I in the database?
You would not be in the database unless either you or Mariska added you. It is clearly something that a previous verser began (probably not di Vars, all things considered) and that those who have stayed here have maintained.
Of course, you could add yourself if you wish.
--M. J. Young
No, no need to add myself. Maybe a later verser will find my card and put it in. I'm a little confused; do Mariska and I somehow know that there exist cards of us out there? Or are we just establishing for the sake of being on the subject that they exist?
Good point.
I think the answer is that your characters, not having known the cards exist at all until today, do not actually know whether there are cards representing either of you; but that the material concerning those cards is the reality outside your knowledge. If you buy a lot of cards there's a decent chance you'll find your own in the mix, and that's what will be on them. If you don't investigate the cards further you won't have that knowledge.
--M. J. Young
I want to, but Mariska has been seeming reluctant. I point out to her, "We don't know how current this information in the computer is, but the cards will supposedly evolve over time with the heroes and villains. That's a good reason the cards are better than our database here; also, I'd like to try to find if Silverblade is actually somebody, or if he was one of the mookiest mooks."
"Well, I guess," she says. "It's just that to collect those kinds of cards you have to buy a lot of bubblegum, and get a lot of duplicate cards. I mean, let's say that there are two hundred different cards currently in bubble gum packs, and they put ten in a pack. So the first ten are all different, but you might get a duplicate with the second ten, and by the third or fourth pack you're certain to get some duplicate cards. And to get all two hundred, you have to buy a lot of packs that contain nothing but duplicates. And then there's the problem that we don't know how many cards there are. It could be that Silverblade would be in the first pack, and then we'd know. It could be that we never see his card, which means either he doesn't have one or we just had the bad luck never to get it.
"You might ask Kat whether she has seen a card for Silverblade.
"But sure, we'll buy the cards. How much bubblegum can you chew in a week? I don't want to rot your teeth--I'm not sure you're immune to dental problems."
--M. J. Young
"We could always donate all that gum to less fortunate kids," I grin at her. "I'm not much of a gum chewer. It's unnatractive and potentially unhealthy in ways other than rotting your teeth." I'm excited to get my hands on the cards, though; I want to see for myself the powers the people here are touted to have, and this seems like a much more reliable way than picking fights with people. Asking Kat is a good idea though.
Mariska laughs at your comment about giving it to the less fortunate. "You could take it to school, and when the teacher asks if you've got enough of that for everyone, you can say yes and pass it out."
The two of you start joking about how you can use the bubblegum.
"I think that the girl scouts use bubblegum to patch canoes if they spring leaks on wilderness trips. We could pack it up in canoe repair kits and send it to them."
"Ship it to Holland, and they can use it instead of the Little Dutch Boy's finger to patch the dikes."
"It makes decent waterproof emergency insulation for exposed wires. Maybe there's a department at Daedalus that can use it."
In the end you agree that the bubblegum isn't really important and you can find a way to dispose of it.
--M. J. Young
Yeah. "We could always take it to another world with us and try to pass it off as currency from a foreign land."