The Micro-Scenes Thread

2017
GoodTube Video
The video opened with a solitary padlock, resting on a desk. A moment later, a girl's voice began to speak. "Hello, GoodTube land. It's time for some more lock karma. Call me Karma."

The voice paused for a moment as a small pair of hands picked up the lock and pointed the keyway towards the camera. "Today, we have a devisor special from an acquaintance of mine. While I know some of you are itching to pull out their stop watches to see how fast I can pick this, I have a different tool in mind today."

A quick motion, and the lock was held in one hand, broad side up. "That's right, it's time for Mr. Smiley to come out and play. Say hello to Mr. Smiley everyone!"

After a moment of quiet, a rubber mallet slid onto the screen. Plastered on one face of the mallet's head was a large smiley face sticker. In an imitation of a deeper voice, she spoke again. "Hello everyone. Are you ready for a smashing good time?" A momentary pause, then she responded in her normal voice. "We always are Mr. Smiley. For those out there in GoodTube land wondering how Mr. Smiley greets a lock, here's how."

The hands on screen shifted slightly, before she gave the lock a firm tap with the bestickered face of the mallet. In response, the lock popped open. This opening was accompanied by the quip, "Child's play, isn't it." The mallet and opened lock were set down on the desk. "In other news, I'm getting ready for my monthly field trip so all my viewers can see locksport in the wild. In honor of my five thousand subscriber milestone, I'm taking suggestions. Got a lock you want to see me pick? Hit me up in the comments. And remember, lock picking is child's play."

May 2006

Imperious paused in eating for a moment, as a vision of goat-men and a stolen champagne flute filled his vision.

"Someone... I don't know who... just earned my wrath", he said with an eerie calm, uncertain as to just what to do about that.

Sunday, April 17, 2016, after services.

"But, Mum, why can't we come along with you and Tabbs?"

Chevelle Dieulafoy stared down at her two youngest. Thick as thieves, those two were. "I don't know, Anthony. David. Maybe the better question is when is my microwave oven going to start cooking food, as it's meant to, rather than playing Baby Shark?"

Davie had the grace to try looking repentant as he said, "Ummmm. We didn't mean to break it." Not that his Mum was having any of it.

"Then you'd better mean to undo whatever you managed to do, much sooner rather than later."

Once the rest of the family was on their way home, she told her youngest daughter, "Don't tell them. But, if we were going to an MCO testing center, I might have brought them along to set loose on the Septic wankers."

Tabbie held her tongue and counted her blessings that so far had kept her mother from hearing the added "Pedo shark" verse.

She walked through the meadow clear to her. Above reigned a massive spire, a circular tower constructed of coral and glass rising well over a hundred feet in the sky. Forms shifted above as a massive winged entity dove over her. She let out a loud clicking sound, repetitive and suddenly increasing in frequency. With a snort she heard a reply farther up as a door on the spire opened and a loud piercing wail was heard. Three forms dove from the door as great black draconic wings flapped to allow the person to land, The thump of boot clad feet on the ground and the folding of wings was all she needed to know.

"Nimweh, why do you come?" came the hissing voice as the figure drew closer. Scale mail shining like burnished brass fit the chest as a leather kilt guarded their legs. Bare arms crossed as the feminine voice repeated the question.

"I wanted to speak, Eshtar," she replied, "I came beyond the tree to here, in Kad`ath to speak to your Kyn."

"You mean your war against the Summer." Scoffed the woman, her throat emitting a loud hiss as she shifted her stance, wings snapping open to let out a rattle of frustration.

"I invoke my debt," Nimweh growled, "Your oath to mine, must be fulfilled."

The sharp features of the opposing fae twisted into a grimace of rage. Ears twitching as they lower and the woman flashed her fangs, "FINE. By Kith and Kyn, what do you want? Lady of the Lake."

14 February 2008

With a happy wave, Anna called Rhia and Teddy over to join her and Jerry near the entrance to the new Bistro place.

"Hey," said Teddy, looking a bit sheepish. Rhia reflected that awkwardness - this was their first date, and she wasn't really sure how she felt about the older boy yet. Anna had offered to a double-date was to support her, but she wasn't so sure about that. This seemed awfully fancy for a first date, especially for Valentine's Day.

"Hi, Rhia!" Anna replied. "Isn't this exciting? I can't believe Ayla got us in here! I've heard so much about this, it's supposed to be really special and everything. And I've never had fondue before, I wouldn't have even thought of trying it if Ayla hadn't told me they were doing it tonight, and..." she trailed off for a bit. "Anyway, it's exciting!"

"Uhm, yeah," replied Rhiannon, "I don't really know what this stuff is, it's some kind of cheese and bread thing, right? It sounds like a strange thing to make a whole night out of, but everyone knows that Phase has really extravagant tastes, and I guess she's the one who came up with the idea?"

"That's what I heard, yeah," Teddy piped in. "And fondue is more than just cheese. My folks sometimes go to a place near, our, uhm, near where we live, and they told me that they do all kinds of dips, with this hot oil thing for cooking meat and vegetables in, and the cheese fondue, and even a chocolate dip fondue. It's supposed to be really good, but, like it's usually pretty expensive."

"Uh-huh, that's what Ayla told us," Anna said, then lowered her voice a bit, "She even got special permission to have some non-alcoholic wine to go with it. It's all way cool."

Just then the head waiter, or maitre-de, or whatever it is, called their reservation. Holding Jerry's hand, a deliriously happy Aquerna walked into the special restaurant followed by her equally excited, if somewhat more hesitant, best friend and Teddy.

12 March 2010
Externally, Marisol was casually coloring in the coloring book the policewoman had given her. On the inside, though, she was furiously computing the meaning of recent events.

Ever since the authorities found her, and took her from the home where she was being taught to be useful for a businessman who could not hide how disturbing he found her, she'd been careful to listen to what the adults had been saying. Her hearing was better than they realized, and she understood far more than they might have guessed.

The word clone kept coming up. The reason had become obvious after they introduced her to a new woman today, the old lady they called 'Gabriella'. Even a casual glance in the mirror now - the special one which the adults on the other side of the wall were watching her through - made the resemblance plain.

The question now was, what could she do about it?

---

Gabriella Guzman watched the child through the one-way mirror. While it would seem to most people that she was simply enjoying coloring, the girl had a look of intense concentration that she recognized in herself. Is the girl already swimming - or perhaps drowning - in the same sea of probabilities and projections which she, Gabriella, had living in most of her life?

"The experts call it Precocious Partial Manifestation," she finally said, adding, "It seems to run in my family. Both my brother and I experienced some degree of our powers well before we fully manifested."

"Oh?", said the Child Welfare bureaucrat standing next to her. "We were puzzled by that, actually, no one here had ever heard of such a thing. I guess it must be nothing new to you, though," he added uselessly.

The police detective who stood on her other side then chimed in. "We were wondering if you might shed some light on just why someone would go to such lengths to clone you specifically, Ms. Guzman."

Mentats, she thought to herself, they want to breed a race of Mentats. She kept the thought to herself - she had no way of knowing if the two officials had ever even heard of that novel. The worst part is, she had predicted this possibility years before, and had tried to take some reasonable precautions to prevent it. Clearly, those steps hadn't been enough.

"They wanted my talents," she finally said with a sigh. "While my abilities are not unique, they are unusually strong, and thus uniquely desirable. Unfortunately, it would be easy for anyone who wanted to exploit them to manipulate a child her age into doing their bidding." Something she knew all too well from her own childhood, though she didn't say so.

"And just what, I mean..." the detective stammered a bit.

"What are my powers, you mean? To begin with, I am an Exemplar, though not an especially high-level one. It is my mental abilities which excel well beyond that of an Exemplar-2, however. I possess a highly eidetic memory, almost photographic, and what could be described as a vivid imagination." She paused a moment, then proceeded, "My real strength is in computational forecasting. While I lack the specificity of a true precognitive, I can project the likelihood of overall trends and processes, see the probabilities and pick out statistical anomalies."

"When I was a child...", she started, then paused again. How much should she reveal? "When I was young, my uncle Eduardo discovered my abilities, and used them, used me, to predict the outcomes of sporting events. He made a great deal of money before the bookies decided he was a threat to their business." She let the implications of that hang in the air.

"I'm sorry for your loss, then, you must have been very close," said the DFCS drone.

"I'm not. He used me like an adding machine, and worse. I was glad to see him gone. Fortunately, once the authorities in my home town learned of my gifts, they saw to it that I got set on the right track from then on." She frowned, and then continued, "Which brings me to the next step. I will sponsor this girl to go to Whateley Academy, and see to her upbringing myself." She smiled for a moment, then added, "She is not the first youngster I have fostered, you see, and well, after all, she is my own flesh and blood."

Inwardly, she worried at that; Whateley was the best place for the girl, she was sure of that, but after what had happened to Jamie, she did not, could not, have the total faith she'd had in the school before.

She also shied away from thinking of why she'd never had any children of her own, though having already mentioned her uncle, she couldn't avoid the subject entirely. Damn that man to Hell for what he did to me, she thought. While she'd been cured of the illnesses he'd given her, she was left infertile as a result of them, and even her Exemplar healing wasn't enough to fix that.

And I was the lucky one, for all that, she reminded herself.

After a moment, her thoughts returned to the present. "We need to find out how many of these clones there are, and who it is who have enslaved them like this," she added, with a tone of bitterness she couldn't restrain. "No one would go to the trouble involved in such a procedure to create only one such child - there must be an entire black market for them. Worse, I will not be the sole victim of this gene piracy. It is imperative that we get to the root of this before events spiral even more out of control than they are now."

Peter looked over at Benjamin, watching him watch the crowd for new threats. Why go to all the trouble of getting fitted for suits and showing up, only to sit and watch other people have fun? Not that he didn't feel like an outsider looking in too. But, Hell, it wasn't like anyone was watching them.

The rising and falling cello line in the next song's intro sounded familiar. Good enough for a "white-boy shuffle"?

I'm standing on a bridge / I'm waitin' in the dark...

That was true enough.

"Come on."

Benjamin startled, asked, "What? Where?" Ever looking for threats, was he?

"Let's dance."

"But, I, I mean, we just got here."

Stop looking for the exit.

"No excuses."

Peter guided his bemused partner to an out-of-the-way edge of the dance floor. He took a calculated risk in placing his hands on Benjamin's hips. Would he follow his lead?


"It is a damn cold night, isn't it?" Benjamin mused. Peter's body felt warm in his hands. Nothing wrong with just disappearing into somewhere new. Benjamin's hands glided ever so slowly up Peter's back, pulling him closer until he could rest his head in the crook of Peter's neck.

I'm with you

Spring, 2017
Nations Combat Simulation

"Where the hell are we?" That question, and several variants thereof were asked as the team rezed into their simulation. It was a wonder that anything green grew in the field they were standing in, given how hot it was. It didn't help that the landscape was just plain alien. The answer came from what in retrospect was an unsurprising source. "Looks like the Elysian Fields on the plane of fire. Probably means that we're set to go on a Jednorog hunt. Also known as unicorns, for those unfamiliar with the name."

Thulia grumbled under her breath in a language that was unknown to the rest of the team. After a moment she regained her composure and resumed speaking. "Ok, let's try doing this by the rules. I'll take the flack if we fail. Dump or stash your devises. Traditional weapons only, bows, arrows and knives. Magic users, conserve your essence. Survival and healing magics only. Assume you won't be able to gather any essence while you're here. Fliers, you won't be able to sneak up on them from above. They're used to being hunted by dragons. And Slink?"

"Yes?" The were-feline was puzzled as to why she was being called out specifically.

"Don't try to pull a Doolittle. The Jednorog will bite your head off rather than trying to listen to whatever you have in mind to tell them."

The wondercute member pouted. Her animal empathy talents just weren't appreciated.

A Little Chat

“Hi,” Emiko said, closing the door to the roof behind her.

The teen who was sitting on the edge of the roof, staring at the street several stories down, didn't look at her. “What do you want?” he asked. His voice was soft and low, his shoulders slumped, his arms limp.

“I saw you from the street. It looked like you needed someone to talk to,” she said. “Can I come over?”

“It's a free world.” He still wasn't looking at her.

The bells hanging from her windbreaker and bag jingled as she went to the ledge and sat down a few feet away from him. She made sure to keep her feet firmly planted on the roof. “Nice view.”

“Yeah. I come up here a lot. How did you get up here? I know you don't live here.”

“Magic.”

He snorted. “Stop shitting me, I'm not in the mood.”

“If you look at me, I'll prove that I know magic.” Tapping the bell on her bag, she channelled some essence into it, just like Baby's Breath had taught her. A faint yellow orb appeared in the air, she felt a wave of calmness flow over her just from looking at it. It was even more potent for anyone else looking at it.

Finally he looked at her. He wasn't bad looking, just a typical older teen. She wondered what had made him come up to the roof. The tightness in his jaw eased a little as he watched the orb. “You really can do magic.”

“Yeah. I'm Emiko, what's your name?”

“Carl.” He looked down again, sighing. He looked tired. “Did you call the police when you saw me?”

“No. Usually I would, but they wouldn't be able to help you. I'm hoping I can.”

“You saw me from the street, and you came up here thinking I'm going to jump, and you want to talk me down?” This time he snorted in disgust. “This isn't some stupid school video.”

“I know. Those videos always made me laugh. They're so lame, I don't know who they actually help.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“I don't want to see anyone become street pizza. What's the problem, parents? Assholes? Love? All the above?” she asked.

He shifted a little closer to the abyss. “I don't want to talk about it. Get out of here, you shouldn't see this.”

“How about this. You come with me for a coffee, I'll teach you a spell. It will make people ignore you. You won't be able to do anything to them while being ignored, but you can use it to slip away from a bad situation, or give yourself a chance to think.”

“You can teach me magic?” There was a hint of interest in his voice now.

“Yeah. It's easy. You saw my light spell, I can teach you my 'ignore me' spell.” She held out her hand, “If you're willing to give me a chance, Carl.”

They sat in silence for several minutes. His face twisted, like he was arguing with himself. Finally he took her hand, swinging his legs back to the proper side of the roof. “OK. I think you're the first person to offer me help in my entire life.”

“I'm sorry to hear that. But if you need anything, you can phone me,” she said, smiling at him.

Together they made their way to the door, when Emiko opened it she was all alone. “Tenth times the charm,” she whispered to herself. Heading down the stairs, she made a note to come back the next day to make sure Carl really had passed on.

Careful when you read this, it's involves suicide, kind of. I have weird and scary mind.

A Game For Two

Interest should have been home. It was after dark and she still had to pack her bags for Whateley, but she didn't want to. Walking through the streets of Montreal, her face hidden by her high collar and her baseball hat that was pushed low reminded her of the freak she'd become. Looking up at all the people who towered over her was nothing new, she'd always been short. But now she knew she'd never get any taller.

And now her face and skin had changed. They'd become smooth, not quite the right shade, not quite real looking. Her little sister said she looked like a plastic doll.

That was all she was now a tiny doll. Looking at the traffic, she smiled.

Turning the corner she blinked, and there were two of her. They were identical in every way right down to their memories. They smiled at each other and split apart without a word.

The Interest that stayed on her side of the street didn't know if she was the original or not. It really didn't matter. She waved at herself and the other Interest waved back from across the street.

Now the game had started.

The St. Lawrence River was just a block away. Taking off at a run, she made it to the river bank in no time thanks to being an Exemplar 3. She didn't slow down, and dove headfirst into the deep water about ten feet below. She vaguely heard the screams and shouts from onlookers, she didn't care.

Just as she hit the water, ready to take in a lungful of the water, she felt a part of herself return to her. Silently cursing to herself, she didn't take the final breath.

Swimming up to the surface, she took a big gulp of air, then dove back under and swam away. Only coming up for a breath of air every minute or so, she made it to a low part of the bank where she could climb out, much to the astonishment of late night walkers.

Unconcerned about her soaking wet clothes, she headed back to where she'd parted ways with herself. Then she went looking to see what had happened. A block away a car was about to be towed away, there was a large dent on the hood and the windshield was broken. There wasn't any blood on it, and a couple were telling a police officer that a child had jumped in front of their car and vanished.

Interest felt sorry for the people. The other Interest had been pretty selfish to bring them into their game. She shouldn't do that in the future.

Still the sadness that she'd been dealing with was gone. It should stay gone for a few weeks, maybe even a month or two. And except for a damaged car, no one important had been hurt. It was time to head home, she could handle anything now.

*inspired by discord discussion*

"So why does Whateley bother with such high end food that's just going to be vacuumed up by teenagers and teenage energizers anyways? I mean REAL Maple, that stuff isn't cheap..."

"Well for one we have to avoid synthetic stuff because it isn't great for our Sidhe students, but there's also the exemplars who have enhanced senses,"

Context: "In a last ditch effort against the alien siege, humanity releases the most eldritch horrors Earth has to offer."

General Wallace wondered how it could have come to this, that he'd ever use the telephone number that DARPA wonk had given him. Then again, Reilly's daughter was one of the most powerful Sidhe mages in millenia. That carried its own sort of clout. He picked up his desk telephone's receiver, wondering how many times he'd use it again.

"Hello, this is Elizabeth Carson. What have my students done this time?"

"Ma'am, this is General E. B. Wallace, at the Pentagon. We have a situation that wasn't caused by any of your students, to my knowledge, but which does affect them and their families."

"You have my full attention, " Lady Astarte assured the officer, "Please continue."

"The Tiq'atill'k Imperial Navy and Mining Fleet has taken position in high earth orbit."

"So my instructors have informed me."

"They have?"

"Yes. Our campus telescope isn't only here for show. Circe has already vouched for an extraterritorial threat." She had hoped that the planet could avoid such attention, other than from the Martians, for a few decades longer. Wishes and fishes... "Who do you need, General?"

"The Scourge."

"You do realize that if she loses control to the Isokist intelligence, too many Mythos beings reside on Earth for her not to continue her intended task? There is no way to predict the outcomes from that."

"Understood. We are also asking for the Kellith."

"Very well, then. In her case, I should advise you that even if she chooses not to risk her mortal form, you are thereby also consenting to her father Gothmog's and grandmother Shub-Niggurath's involvement."

"The Tiq'atill'k plan to extract the planet's mantle, leaving the core's heat to melt any remainders of the crust."

"That would release entities imprisoned from before the time that Gaia walked her gardens."

Wallace shook his head even though Mrs. Carson couldn't see him do it.

"I do not think they believe, let alone care. We certainly won't be left in a position to mind either way."

"Shall I issue an off-campus pass for Athena and Ares? You can't ask for a better strategist than Ms. Masa, and Christopher has been acting out again from boredom."

They had classical gods attending that school? Reilly owed the General more than a few explanations if they survived this.

A knock at the door before it opened gave the Academy's Headmistress warning of a newer, hopefully minor, crisis.

"Please give me a moment to tend to something, General."

"Of course."

"Amelia? Do you, by any chance, have some good news?"

"I'm just informing you that Mason Goodwin was just rushed to Doyle Medical Clinic."

"I'm surprised that it hasn't happened more often."

"This should be a one-off. He's sprouting wings, one pair feathered, the other more leathery."

"I owe Reverend Englund ten dollars, then. He thought it suspicious that a community of Luciferians refused to discuss the boy's natal parents."

"Just another Monday, then. I'll leave you to your call."

"Thank you."

Her assistant left, one task completed and forgotten, ten more to wrangle.

"General? Do you know if one of the Nephilim is needed? I suspect the Vatican may volunteer him anyway."

Order of the Worn Wrench 2016-17

person 1:"So how we considering our newest candidate? Her lightsaber works"

person 2"It's cheating"

Person 1: " You're a devisor, one could argue everything you do is 'cheating', besides her's actually is pretty accurate, even has a spall minimization feature so it actually could be used to cut through steel safely "

Person 2: " it uses magic, that's cheating "

Person 1: "that's her specialization, we don't begrudge anyone over their specializations, besides we are talking about an object based on a franchise about space wizards,"

Jedi Dragons?

Astrodragon wrote:

Jedi Dragons?

Well, she does wear robes...