The Micro-Scenes Thread

You should read the previous micro-story before reading this one. Not strictly canon, but it's related to the story Making a Noise in the World.

Outside of Phoenix, Arizona
March, 2011

Saul looked up at the red headed monstrosity who loomed over him, it was coated in blood and gore that had been his guards and men only minutes before. They'd given their lives so his family could escape the ruined mansion that they had believed would keep them safe.

“So this is what fear feels like,” he muttered to himself. He had to admit, he really didn't like the sensation. Dropping his empty pistol, he drew a knife and got ready to die.

A glowing white figure fell from the sky landing on the giants head, stabbing a long knife directly through its skull. The giant screamed for the first time, reaching for the mere mortal that dared to harm it. The woman leapt away, seeming to fly through the air. She drew another smaller knife from her brilliant white dress, motioning for the giant to come at her. In the moonlight her misshapen face looked monstrous.

For the first time since the drug war had exploded, Saul allowed himself a smile, his La Llorona had arrived in the proverbial nick of time. He also ran for his life, putting as much debris between himself and the giant as possible.

From a safer distance, he watched his adopted daughter fight the giant. It was like watching a matador fighting a bull, La llorona used agility to avoid the pulverizing blows of the giant, hiding her movements with her flowing dress, and lashing out with her knives deeply cutting into the monsters flesh.

It wasn't enough. The giants wounds healed almost instantly, and when his blows connected, she was thrown back leaving her bruised and bloody. She healed like he did, but not as quickly, and if he could grab her, it would almost certainly be over.

Saul stayed low, trying to stay clear of the fighting, as he searched through the wreckage and bodies. Finally he found what he was looking for. Taking a plasma cannon from a dead body, he quickly checked to make sure the devise still worked. When the self diagnostic glowed green, he raised the weapon to his shoulder and took aim at the giants back. Pressing the trigger, he felt an intense wave of heat. A ball of plasma connected with the giants hip, evaporating the flesh.

The monster shrieked, falling to its hands and remaining knee. Blood dripped from the wound, but it was already healing. La Llorona took the open and began hacking at the giants neck.

It shook her off like a dog, then used its hands and foot to leap away into the night.

La Llorona started to head after the giant, then stopped and ran to Saul's side. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“I'm alive and only a little bruised, thanks to you,” he replied. “You are supposed to be at school.”

“When I heard about the war, I asked for a week off. I got back yesterday morning,” she said.

“Then why did you only get here now?” he asked.

She grinned. “I thought it would be better if they didn't know I was here. It let me work from the shadows, where they weren't expecting anything.”

“And what did you accomplish?”

“I got you a present.” She ran off into the darkness, returning a moment later with a backpack. Opening it, she pulled out a head still wet with blood.

Saul's eyes widened in shock, recognizing the leader of the enemy cartel. “You killed Mateo Cano.”

“The Cano's are happy to kill their rivals leaders, I thought I'd return the favour,” she said, grinning mercilessly. “It was through him that I learned they were planning on attacking you tonight. I tried to phone but couldn't get through, I had to steal a car and drive here. I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner.”

He gave her a hug. “The family is safe, and you saved my life, you don't need to apologize. I want you to know I'm proud to call you my daughter.”

She began crying into his shoulder.

“Now I want you to go to the ranch, bring the head, and tell them what happened. I'm going to talk to the police, so you are now in charge of their safety until I get back. With you here and Mateo dead, we can force the Cano's to negotiate before both our families are destroyed,” he said.

Her face seemed to glow at the trust he was putting in her. “No one will hurt our family as long as I'm alive,” she said.

Watching her run off into the night, Saul shook his head, he had never expected his decision to help a thirteen year old runaway would turn out like this.

"Man, those Lit Chix are crazy..."
"And that's news why?"
"No, hear me. Do you know that girl Fractious?"
"The OCD queen?"
"The same."
"What about her? Other than the usual, I mean?"
"Well... she decided to rewrite the Harry Potter books..."
"Uh, why?"
"...in the superhero genre."
"Wait, WHAT?"
"Yeah, you know how everybody jokes that Whateley is sorta like Hogwarts? She is doing it the other way, like Hogwarts is a superteen school like Whateley."
"And... how is that going to work?"
"Funny thing, it's working. Hermione is a devisor, Harry is a brick, and Ron -- who is the main PoV character, by the way -- is a Batman-type planner. And so forth."
"Oookay..."

Tuesday, November 29th, 2016
Simulation suite briefing room

"What is she doing here?"

Thanagila looked over at the bulky exemplar asking the question. After mentally counting to five, she responded. "Thulia expressed a desire to keep up with her bow hunting. She is here on a trial basis to see how she can do in a bison hunt."

The exemplar scoffed at the idea. "And just how will a girl like her pull that off?"

Thulia shrugged and spoke up. "1200kg of draw strength."

The silence was deafening.

cprime wrote:

Tuesday, November 29th, 2016
Simulation suite briefing room

"What is she doing here?"

Thanagila looked over at the bulky exemplar asking the question. After mentally counting to five, she responded. "Thulia expressed a desire to keep up with her bow hunting. She is here on a trial basis to see how she can do in a bison hunt."

The exemplar scoffed at the idea. "And just how will a girl like her pull that off?"

Thulia shrugged and spoke up. "1200kg of draw strength."

The silence was deafening.

 

Hehehehehehehe!!
(starts filing off the serial number...)

Tuesday, November 29th, 2016
Simulation suite debriefing room

The simulator instructor paced in front of the gathered members of The Nations. After a moment of consideration, he turned and spoke. "Well, that was a real cock-up of a simulation. Where do we begin..." His gaze traveled across the somewhat dismayed students.

Thulia shivered as he gave her one of those looks that Master Siveth was wont to give her when she made a serious mistake. "Let's start with you Miss Firedrake. What on earth were you thinking when you decided to fight hand to horn with that buffalo?"

"That I had it's attention and it couldn't be that much harder than a Jednorog."

(Microscenes are sans-serial number)

cprime wrote:

Tuesday, November 29th, 2016
Simulation suite debriefing room

The simulator instructor paced in front of the gathered members of The Nations. After a moment of consideration, he turned and spoke. "Well, that was a real cock-up of a simulation. Where do we begin..." His gaze traveled across the somewhat dismayed students.

Thulia shivered as he gave her one of those looks that Master Siveth was wont to give her when she made a serious mistake. "Let's start with you Miss Firedrake. What on earth were you thinking when you decided to fight hand to horn with that buffalo?"

"That I had it's attention and it couldn't be that much harder than a Jednorog."

(Microscenes are sans-serial number)
 

A perfectly reasonable answer...

(And something a bit more random, in honor of awards season)

"Did you hear what happened at last night's Whateleys?"

"That was last night? Damnit. I was working on my homeworkinator and lost track of time. What happened?"

"The Imp stole the show."

"What's so noteworthy about that? I think she was nominated for half a dozen awards."

"She literally stole the show. As in, she took all the statuettes that they were going to be handing out."

"How'd they know she did it?"

"The row of troll dolls left in their place were a pretty good clue."

A funny story I wrote years ago, that I just found again tonight.
It's rough but silly enough to share.
**

"Now remember Fox," Mom told me, "We've go you a reservation at the youth hostel in Virginia Beach right beside the train station. They know all about your... condition, and are OK with it. They expect you to be there around 8pm. I'll phone you at five in the morning, so you can make your train at what time?"

"Six thirty," I said trying my hardest not to sigh. "And then I stay at the hotel just across from the Boston train station and get on the train to Whateley around noon the next day. Mom it's just a train ride and two hotels, I'll be fine."

"I know dear. I just wish I could go with you," Mom said, hugging me. She'd become a lot more clingy since I'd gotten a spirit. Admittedly one reason for the clinginess probably had to do with the fact I went from a strapping... well built... ok, completely average boy, to a short, skinny looking, fox girl. I was actually stronger than I had been, could outrun practically anyone, and had a set of vicious claws that were currently painted a hot pink, but Mom still saw me as a helpless little girl, with the added problem of looking like a miniature werewolf.

"You have to keep your job," I told her. "I don't want you losing it just because of me."

Mom is a speech therapist, which is why I'm able to speak so clearly even with a thin fox muzzle. She'd used up all of her sick days, vacation time, and the goodwill of her boss, when I first started changing a few months ago. She was so far behind on her work, that there was no way she could go with me, and that unfortunately meant I had to get off the train in a strange city and get back on the next morning, as it wasn't safe for a minor to travel overnight on the train. Don't ask me how that logic works, because I have no idea. But there wasn't much choice if I was going to go to a safe school, and even though I was terrified, I had to at least appear confident if I didn't want Mom freaking out and panicking.

I gave her a kiss, which was actually more of a lick, on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?" I grabbed my bags and headed for the door. "Now come on, I can't miss my train."

**

Virginia Beach

"Come back here!" Threads shouted at the escaping suspect in a triple homicide.

Even riding her motorcycle at dangerously high speeds, the dog like mutant was staying ahead of her. It was obviously a speedster, and an agile one at that. She swerved to avoid a city bus, materializing another thread that raced after the mutant trying to loop around one of his limbs, at this point she wasn't picky how she caught him, so long as he stopped.

Just as the thread was about to snap around the perps ankle, he grabbed a light pole, swung around and was racing right at her, claws out and ready to kill.

The superhero created a wall of incredibly hard fabric, while bringing her bike to a sliding stop. The razor sharp claws went through her barrier like it was paper. She got out a short yell, but it was brutally cut off when the mutant punched her in the gut, sending her flying through the windshield of a parked car.

As she lost consciousness, Threads had never so happy to hear the sound of police sirens.

**

I was sitting next to the window with my nose in a book, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. This wasn't so easy wearing a baggy hoodie, which had me panting a little even with the A/C, thanks to having a permanent fur coat. But it was the only way I could at least try to keep my fox face and ears somewhat hidden. I already had every seat in my immediate area empty, the last person who had tried to sit beside me, a nice little old lady, had taken one look at my white muzzle, made the sign of the cross and hobbled away.

Hopefully Whateley would be better.

I really wanted a boyfriend now that no one could laugh and call me a fag. I had a great figure, if you ignored the tail. Sure I didn't have big breasts, but I had four of them, that had to count for something, The lower ones weren't really noticeable under most shirts, unless they were really tight, and they were all nice and firm. There wasn't a trace of fat on me either, Mom said I had a dancers body. So hey, a girl can hope, right?

The train came to a stop at Virginia Beach Station, and I hopped off with my bookbag. Thankfully I didn't have to worry about my big suitcase, it would go straight onto the next train. I could lift the suitcase fairly easily, I was as strong as my old gym teacher, but since it went up to my chest, manoeuvring the thing was a pain in the tail. That was the one really bad thing about my spirit, she thought vixens were suppose to be tiny things. I'd gone from being five foot six, and growing, down to four foot ten. She seemed happy with the changes, at least I guessed she was, since once I'd stopped shrinking, she'd been mentally wagging her tail and jumping around for joy, which had left me wagging my tail and grinning like an idiot for a week.

In the crowded station it was easier to get lost in the crowd. Most people saw me in my hoodie, ankle length skirt, which was great for hiding my tail, and knee high boots with only a tiny heel, and thought I was a ten or eleven year old girl. So I only really had to worry about pervs hoping to get me up into their hotel room, and that was a very small number of adults, who I could deal with easily.

I had enough snacks in my bag to keep me fed until I reached Whateley, but I wanted some real food, and my spirit wanted something bloody. Taking a short trip to a restaurant wouldn't be too bad. I had my MID, and I was in the middle of a city, as long as I kept my head down nothing could go wrong.

With my stomach growling, I saw a fairly busy fast food place that was just a few buildings from the youth hostel. Perfect.

**

"Threads, you alive?" the radio crackled.

"Yeah," the hero said, getting off of her couch with a wince as her ribs, spine, stomach, hips, neck, shoulders and arms let her know they were REALLY unhappy with her, and the pain pills weren't helping at all.

"We've got a report on the werewolf from earlier," the police contact said. "It's eating supper near the train station, looks like it's trying to be inconspicuous."

She jerked up, groaning at the tapestry of bruises that made themselves known. "I can be in the area in ten. What's the address?"

**

Licking my fingers, not totally satisfied with the meal, but happy enough at having real-ish meat in my belly, I walked out onto the street and made my way to the hostel. I was thirty minutes behind schedule, but Mom realized that things happened so wouldn't be expecting a phone call for another twenty or thirty minutes.

The next thing I knew, I was tied up in thread, hanging in mid air, with my skirt around my head showing my lacy pink panties to the world.

I did what any person would do in the situation, screamed at the top of my lungs.

"OH SHUT UP!" a woman shouted. I couldn't see who was talking, since I was trying to look through the hem of my sky blue skirt, but she sounded pissed and scary. "You're coming with me and if you try ANYTHING, I'm going to beat you to within an inch of your life!"

That was enough for me. I didn't know what was going on, but when people talk about beatings, and taking me somewhere I did NOT want to go to, it's time for me to get out of Dodge. My small frame was good for something, I was a lot more flexible than I was before. Nearly popping my shoulder out, I managed to get my hand twisted around, letting my claws slash a bunch of the threads holding me. With the extra room to move, I was able to cut more with both hands and slip through the rest as they loosened.

Pulling off a roll as I fell towards the sidewalk, I landed on my feet. There was a supervillain in a costume with all kinds of wormlike things hovering in the air around her. She looked angrier than anyone I'd ever seen before. With a literal yelp of fear I was off and running.

Using my size to it's fullest, I was diving between legs, making hairpin turns around corners, jumping obstacles and basically doing dozens of things that I would never have dreamed of doing as a boy. A quick glance over my shoulder, showed the kidnapper limping as she ran after me.

I really wished I knew what the hell she wanted me for. Actually, as I thought of the hundreds of pictures I'd seen of dog women and what boys wanted to do to them on the net, I really didn't want to know.

Slowing slightly, I grabbed my phone and dialled 911.

"911, what is the emergency?"

"I'm being chased by a supervillain! I'm near the train station, and some freak woman is right on my tail," I shouted.

"We have units in the area. Do you see any landmarks?"

Looking around, I saw a restaurant. "I'm running past a place called Leo's Sandwich Shop. I just got into the city, where can I- Crap!" I screamed as a rope almost wrapped itself around my neck.

Haphazardly shoving my phone into my bra, it was an expensive phone and I really didn't want to lose it, I began immediate evasive maneuvers.

**

"Threads. Do you see a young girl being chased by the perp?" her contact said over the earbud.

"No, but the suspect is so fast, I'm barely keeping him in sight."

"We just got a 911 call, young female being chased by a supervillain at your location. She sounded scared and legit."

Threads cursed silently. Was this girl another target for the killer? "Where the hell are you guys? I'm injured here."

The contact sounded embarrassed, "After the beating he gave us yesterday we're staying back and acting as crowd control."

"Well get off your asses and help me out. At least pen him in a little," she demanded, her abused ribs burning with exertion.

**

My burning muscles were thrilled to see some police cars pull to a stop. Bounding off of a news stand, I landed right beside the officers. "Thank god! You've got to-"

They took off running.

"-help me." I squeaked.

The crazy villain was right behind me, almost in spitting distance now. My tired brain briefly wondered just how evil this woman was to make the police run away from her. Then survival instincts kicked back into gear and I was off and running again.

**

"Jesus, guys! Really! I thought you were suppose to be working with me here!" Threads yelled into her radio.

"The killer came out of nowhere. We know bullets won't hurt it, what did you want them to do? Die valiantly?"

She didn't have the breath to waste on a retort.

**

A couple stepped out of a taxi, not realizing a crazy persistent supervillain was in the area. Pulling a last little burst of speed from somewhere, I jumped into the backseat just avoiding getting my tail caught in the door.

"HOLY SHIT!" the driver yelled.

"GO! DRIVE! DRIVE! DRIVE! OR WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" I screamed.

He started driving, talking a mile a minute, almost sobbing, the woman was throwing her threads at the car, shouting and cursing loudly enough that I could hear her over my ragged breaths. That had to be like the scariest supervillain in history to have everyone running away from her.

My phone started ringing.

Reaching into my bra I pulled it out. It was Mom.

"Mom! You won't believe what I've just done!"

"Fox! What have you done?!"

"I just ran away from a crazy supervillain!"

"They're saying you're a supervillain!"

"WHAT?!"

"WHAT?!"

Mom took a deep breath, getting her sobs under control. "I'm watching the news. They're saying that a mutant who looks like you is wanted for murder. They're showing live video of you running away from the local hero and attacking police and stealing a taxi. And a girl called 911 saying you were chasing her."

"Oh god! I was attacked by a crazy woman, and I called 911! I'm gonna die!"

"Fox! Focus on my voice. I'm going to hang up in a minute. I want you to call 911 back, and tell them that you are surrendering. Do exactly what they say, and I'll see what I can do from this end. Can you do that for me honey?"

"Ok," I squeaked.

"Alright, don't do anything stupid, just follow instructions, and you'll be OK. Love you."

"Love you," I said. "Um, sir, are the police chasing us?" I asked the driver.

"N-no," he said.

"Oh good. Can you please pull over. And how much do I owe you?"

"It's on the house."

"Thanks."

Stepping out, I dialed 911 again.

"911, what is the emergency?"

"Yeah. Funny thing happened tonight," I told him, feeling just a little overwhelmed. "Apparently people think I'm a supervillain for some reason, and I'd like to surrender. You can't miss me, there are a couple of helicopters in the sky right now looking at me. I'd really appreciate it if you told them to not shoot me. I'm just fourteen and trying to get to school. The worst thing I've done is accidentally shoplifting a chocolate bar when I was ten, and I paid them back when my Mom found out. And I really don't want to get shot, because the MCO said I don't have regeneration and I'm not bulletproof. Sorry, I'm nattering aren't I? Mom says I do that when I'm nervous. I'm going to shut up now."

"Uh, Ok. Just stay where you are, police are on the way. Are you armed?"

"I have a rape whistle, and claws. But I mostly use the claws to open bags and cut loose threads. They're also really good for sharpening pencils."

"I'm contacting police now. Keep your hands in the open and don't make any sudden movements."

Thirty seconds later about a dozen police cars came to a stop around me. "The police are here. Thanks for the help. You did tell them to not shoot me right?"

"Yes I did. Just do what they say and you'll be ok."

"Thanks," I hung up and raised my hands in the air, staring at the many armed and scary police officers.

Then the crazy 'superhero' got out of a car, she was surrounded in a cloud of threads. For the first time that night I got a good look at her. She was wearing a costume that had three shades of blue, covered in a strange pattern of threads that glinted like they were made of metal.

"Jesus!" she swore, looking at my face without the hoodie in the way. "You're not him?"

"Him who?"

"A murderer who is a small humanoid dog, and almost beat me to death this afternoon," she said.

I got a little angry. "Do I look like a guy to you?! The pink panties you made me flash to the world should be a pretty obvious clue! Christ, get some glasses! You get to explain this to my Mom."

**

At six the next morning I walked into the train station. I was seriously thinking of taping a sign to my back saying 'NOT a supervillain!' but figured it would raise more questions then it solved.

Threads had offered to meet me at the hostel so that she could make sure I'd get there safely. I told her if I saw her again I'd be calling my Mom's lawyer and suing her ass.

Picking up a paper, I saw that my little run yesterday was front page news. I was never going to live this down. At least once I got to Whateley I could relax.

Trying to ignore the rest of the passengers, I sat down and kept an eye out for crazy heroes, supervillains and threads.

cprime wrote:

(And something a bit more random, in honor of awards season)

"Did you hear what happened at last night's Whateleys?"

"That was last night? Damnit. I was working on my homeworkinator and lost track of time. What happened?"

"The Imp stole the show."

"What's so noteworthy about that? I think she was nominated for half a dozen awards."

"She literally stole the show. As in, she took all the statuettes that they were going to be handing out."

"How'd they know she did it?"

"The row of troll dolls left in their place were a pretty good clue."

Gen 1:

but not conclusive, It could have been mischief

Gen 2

but not conclusive, it could have been karma

DF, Erica asked, do you know why Hikaru solar flared Thulia yesterday?
Sure, Thulia was complaining that she felt a bit a cold, so i suggested that she should call Hikaru a flea bitten bitch, that would warm her up quickly.
And as you saw it really helped

Berlin Movie House

The clock on the wall of the ticket booth read 7:05. Perhaps surprisingly for a Friday night, the lobby was fairly quiet. Two teenagers entered and made a beeline for the booth.

"Two tickets for the 7:10 showing of Sonic 2, please."

The clerk looked up at their approach. "May I see your student IDs?"

Said IDs were presented, and he frowned. "I'm sorry, Due to concerns on the part of management, we are unable to sell tickets to this show to Whateley students. They are afraid that some of you might get ideas from the movie."

"Damn tunnel dwellers."

As they were speaking, a middle age woman entered the movie house behind the two students. As she approached the counter, the clerk commented. "Unfortunately, the same goes for you Mrs. Hastings."

The science teacher sighed. "I was afraid of that."

The MCO interviewer exploded with outrage "You cannot select that as our code name"

The student smirked "I am pretty sure that your own regulations say I can."

"A bunch of numbers is not a name."

"It has to be unique and pronouncable. A number is pronouncable. I'm allowed to use m native language but you should be grateful I decided against using Hebrew."

"Don't play games with me, you freak." The agents screamed at his face. He had gotten on his feat and loomed menacing over the table, his hand reaching for a weapon that Whateley security had not allowed him to carry on the campus.

The barely powered mutant boy was trying to scoot back his chair, obviously scared by the sudden aggression.

"There has to be a character in the name as well."

"Just add a 'B' then."

This infurriated the MCO officer even more. He had his chair over his head, ready to slam down on the boy, when securiy burst through the door and dogpiled him.

* * *

"What did you do to piss him off so badly?" the Whately securty officer asked as he and the boy watched the MCO officer being escorted off campus with a firm request to never even try to get back..

"I noticed that he was angry about something, but when I told him the codename I had chosen he lost it."

"Just your code name?"

The boy nodded and told him.

The security officer frowned "Just a bunch of numbers then? That's unusual, but hardly reason for .. this."

The boy shrugged like only a fourteen year old can. "I don't think the goon knows, but ... there is rumoured to be an actual name associated with that humber."

The security officer merely raised an eyebrow.

"It's supposed to be the number that Simon Wiesenthal had."

The security guard, plus the two who were within hearing distance could not help themselves from whistling.

"Well, mister not Wiesnthal, I guess that if in the next couple of hours the roof blows off from a random office building you will have succesded in exposing the secret hideout of the 'kill them all' faction of the MCO."

He paused for effect. "Also, you are going to have a meeting with chief Delarose and mrs Carson for covertly declaring war on the MCO. I think they will want to tell you personally how not impressed they are with that.

Arena Briefing Room

The quartet of members of the still unofficial 'Fast and Furry-ous' training team gathered as requested. Of the group, the calmest member was Karkadann, who had simply settled in a seat near the front of the room. Ratel was bouncing from foot to foot in anticipation. Zapper too was standing, trying not to pace out of nervousness. The lone male of the group had also settled, though he played with the end of his braid, for lack of anything better to do.

About a minute later, a member of the arena staff entered. The two standing members of the group took seats after he gave the group a hard look. A moment later, he spoke. "Now, I know you ladies are trying to get into the training rotation. Unfortunately, the composition of your team has made this somewhat difficult." Wilder visibly winced at the statement, while Ratel's non-verbal response was more defiant. These reactions were ignored as he continued speaking. "After several very long discussions, we finally came up with a halfway sane way to do it. Unfortunately, it means putting your team on the Zeta active track."

Zapper was the first to respond. "Zeta track?"

"Zeta track. For those teams that believe they will potentially go into the business after graduation, the combat coordination office has several different active tracks. Alpha track is for the future superheros. Beta track has a search and rescue focus. Omega track is for military, and Zeta track is for the Syndicate." He held up an hand to forestall Zapper's retort. "I know, you don't have any plans to put a red border on your MID. I've been assured that only a fraction of the students who join the Syndicate actually engage in active villany."

The speedster gave a wary nod as he paused for a moment before continuing. "The role that we see your team playing in the sims is that of a cannon ball crew. Basically, a group that causes general mayhem while the actual instigator takes care of something in the background. Until you ladies take team tactics, you'll be taking direction from a faculty member. Mrs. Hastings and Mrs. Imp have both expressed an interest in working with you. In exchange for agreeing to the plan, we have a few things to offer."

This time, the looks exchanged between the team members were dubious at best. "First, we'll fast track your team application. Second, Mrs. Hastings is willing to put together a communicator pack that you ladies can use for coordination in the sims. Zapper, the skills you'll learn will allow you to get a jump on miscreants. You'll also have a chance to understand what they might be thinking and better predict their next move. At some point, we'll introduce your team to the VR simulators. One little publicized capability is for an actor to control an avatar that has a different form and abilities. Wilder, if you like we can do a few sim runs where your shifter ability includes a female form."

Post-Commencement, 2020
The graduating seniors and their guests milled around the reception. For the majority of the graduating class, this was the last time they would see each other on a regular basis. Off to one side of the room were DragonsFyre, Glyph, Tinker and Thulia. Accompanying them were their assorted families.

Marcus took note of the melancholy look on Bianca's face. "Penny for your thoughts?"

The pale lady took a sip of punch before responding. "I'm just wondering what the others would have thought. I know it's not what any of them would have expected, but...."

The loyal nodded in understanding. "So, feel ready to take on the world?"

The question yielded a minute shrug in response. "It doesn't matter. The world has decided to take me on, and I shall arise to the occasion."

"And I will be there with you." The interjection came from the normally shy devisor girl.

Further wool gathering was interrupted when one of the members of Thulia's party slipped away from the knot with Morgana and injected himself into the conversation. Unlike the other members of her party, he wasn't obviously related to the student. He was dressed in a black and white suit, with the only splash of color being a pin composed of a triplet of flames. "Miss St. Clair, Miss Belle. Might I have a word with the both of you?"

"Yes?" was Tinker's puzzled response, while Glyph simply nodded. Taking the nod as acceptance, he continued. "Thank you. I am lead to believe that your organization has done business with the brokers in the past."

Sensing the turn of direction the conversation had taken, the activation of the privacy spell was second nature to Bianca. Once done, she responded. "I do believe that is a possibility."

Reading something in her posture, he continued. "While there are many things that they can arrange, there are some things that require a more personal touch."

The response to the statement was a measured nod of the the head. "And I would surmise that you wish to speak of one of those things."

If the acolyte was surprised by the statement, no sign showed in his expression. "You would be correct. A handful of the youth in our academies have expressed a desire to study abroad. Given your experience with entities from our plane, we wondered if you and your partner would be a suitable host family."

Bianca and Janine exchanged glances before the former spoke. "Give us a few years, and we might be ready. That said, I'm not certain how normal of an experience we can offer. There is a certain amount of occupational hazard just being a part of the family."

The matter of fact statement lead to a slightly arched eyebrow on the part of the acolyte. "We will take that under advisement. Anything else?"

There was a moment of hesitation before Glyph answered. "Yes. I would suggest choosing someone who identifies as female in the event that something unforeseen occurs. Ideally, she should be comfortable casing without the use of her voice."

A second arched eyebrow joined the first. "An odd set of requirements. Why a girl?"

Janine spoke up for Bianca. "She doesn't have to be a girl, biologically. She just has to identify as female. The distinction doesn't matter to most, but it is understood by those to whom it matters."

In the back of his mind, the acolyte was already writing the couple off as candidates. Still, he would report his findings when he got back.

October 4, 2017
MMM Table, Crystal Hall
"Thulia?"

"Yes, Laura?"

"I've mentioned Valerie before, right?"

"One of the children you watch if I'm not mistaken."

"Correct. Anyways, her birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and I could use your help with her gift."

"What sort of help were you looking for?"

The devisor's cheeks took on a tinge of purple. "She wants a dragon."

"So get her one from the store."

"She wants one she can ride through the sky."

Thulia's eyes grew wide at the additional detail. Cerulea continued her explanation. "Morgana let slip that you have such a form. I was wondering if I could talk you into giving rides to the kids at her party."

The Welsh dragoness muttered "Sorry, love."

After a stunned silence, Thulia responded. "Give me a chance to consider it?"

Laura grinned. "Ok! Word of warning - if you do it, they'll probably touch your nose before climbing on your back."

"Huh?"