Shenanigans 3 (Part 1) by Morpheus

Crystal Hall, Monday late morning, Dec 17th, 2007

Melissa, finals may suck, but at least you can survive them. Amy, Sapphire, Alyss, Chris, Monkeywrench, and Darqueheart, the gang is all here. More stuff from Monkeywrench, I hope the school can handle it. Alyss is making a project car, dang. Imp shows up wearing a floppy maroon hat, and calls it a raspberry beret, is Imp in a French mood right now?

Imp has a job for the group, uh oh.

“Actually, I’d reserved some time in the arena for a bit of training, when it dawned on me that you kids could probably use some extra practice yourselves. So, I thought, if you were interested, you could take my slot. I’ve already got a mission designed and everything.”

Sneaky way of getting them to test out the mission you designed, Imp.

“Honestly, Shenanigans is officially categorized as a group of trouble magnets. You all have a tendency to get into a bit more trouble off campus than the average student and need more preparation in how to get out of it. That’s one of the reasons you’ve been accepted into Team Tactics early.”

How many groups at Whateley are categorized as trouble magnets at Whateley though? I've lost count.

Melissa, you are more of a trouble magnet than almost everyone in Team Kimba! Seesh, all these incidents Imp is bringing up, Melissa has a lot to tell her friends about her off-school adventures. Captain Kazoo incident, I want to hear what Monkeywrench got up to before coming to Whateley. Wednesday afternoon after classes, I wonder how much trouble they will get into before then.

Once the teacher was gone, Darqueheart cautiously asked, “Am I the only one who thinks we might have just made a big mistake?

Nope, you fell for Imp's bait perfectly.

Monday late afternoon, Dec 17th, 2007

Traci Hoffman aka Starbright meeting up with her group of 'friends', including Gravmax, Drama, Iron, Exquisite, and Kraken. Drama better learn to be nice or at least polite to her roommate and fast. Denouncement, what a pretentious name for their group. Ugh, Exquisite chewing out Gravmax and Iron for losing their combat finals. Great, Starbright heard about Aegis getting private lessons from one of the teachers.

Something to make up for the recent setbacks, I foresee at least one member of this group getting expelled at this rate if they don't wise up. Target Shenanigans for getting in the way of their plans, petty and shortsighted. Target the weak spot and break the group apart, target Roulette, shit. Exquisite knows what her power does to Roulette, if she is caught or found out deliberately using her power on Roulette again I see expulsion in her future.

“Exactly. As we’ve seen, all it takes is enough stress…and she goes into a burnout. I myself have proven that I can trigger her with a good burst of my power…” She held up a hand and sparks shot between her fingers. “I’m certain that I can trigger one of her burnouts at a time and place that suits us.”

This sociopath needs to be in jail, not at Whateley. Burnout in a flooded tunnel, she is talking about murder by drowning! Exquisite needs to be gone from Whateley, past tense. The fact that Gravmax is immediately on board with a plan to kill someone, I hope the lot of them get caught or Traci's conscious finally hits her over the head with a hammer and gets her to tell security or Carson what this group is planning.

Crystal Hall, Monday evening, Dec 17th, 2007

Aww, Chris, just ask Darqueheart out already. I hope Amy isn't ambushed while going to or leaving the arena. Amy admits to having a girlfriend and opens up about Kara, about time she trusts her friends with this. Rats, Melissa is right, without a certain magic item that Fey made talking in the Crystal Hall is too big a gamble for certain topics.

Ouch, Darqueheart doesn't have a home to go back to, what happened? Aww, Sapphire invites her home for Christmas, and yeah, she would fit right in that community really well. Shoot, once Sapphire's mom hears about her situation she might just try to adopt Darqueheart.

Tuesday late morning, Dec 18th, 2007

A deep rumbling outside the garage, oh boy, sounds like Alyss made a great project car. Ways to adjust it so your feet can reach the pedals, I'm sure Alyss modified it so she can drive the car. Aww, Sapphire was busy so couldn't come. Chris, just tell Darqueheart how you feel about her already, the suspense is painful to watch. Breakdown, Kayda, and Knockoff are all there as well, yay.

Dam! Alyss made a great project car, that is something I would love to see in a TV show. Christ asked Darqueheart to go to dinner with him! *sets off fireworks* She said yes! And he isn't messing with you, he really likes you, Darqueheart.

Crystal Hall, Tuesday late afternoon, Dec 18th, 2007

Traci, tell Iron and Drama what you are thinking about the plan, I know you have some good in you and don't want to see someone murdered.

At that moment, Traci wondered if she’d made a mistake by joining up with Exquisite and the others.

Yes, you made a mistake, Exquisite is a sociopath and will do anything to climb the social ladder including murder. You need to do the right thing before it is too late.

Traci, there are other paths to popularity like being kind and helping others, you don't need this group, you just need to change for the better. Great, she is afraid of turning against the group because of what they might do to her. Drama Queen is okay with murder, Fubar should be allowed to do a mental scan of every incoming student for psychotic or sociopathic tendencies so they can be sent to a counselor and monitored. Noo! Don't go back to that type of thinking, you were so close to a real breakthrough, Traci.

It wasn’t until several hours later, while she was laying in bed and drifting off to sleep, when her worries returned along with the realization that she’d been the victim of Drama’s power.

Every student with powers like that and a record of abusing them on other students should have to wear a bracelet that lights up when their power activates.

Tuesday late afternoon, Dec 18th, 2007

Chris says they are just going out on a date, treat her right and you will have a girlfriend, Darqueheart needs someone in her life who isn't just messing with her and likes her for her. Jon! Being Bi doesn't mean you can make that kind of comment without consequences. Interested in everyone, good grief, Jon needs to take a cold shower right now. Okay, Jon is pansexual from the sound of it.

Crazy friends and Chris thinks Amy is normal, oh boy.

“Her mom is a high level devisor,” Jon explained slowly. “With Diedricks. I’ve heard Amy tell some wild stories about things that happened around her house when she was a kid.”

Probably like a mix of living in Maniac Mansion [the TV series from the late 80s, and early 90s] and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids the TV series. Ugh, I wish they didn't have to use that cover story for Poe Cottage.

Whitman Cottage, Tuesday late afternoon, Dec 18th, 2007

Aww, Mina is right, the date will be fine. And it won't be a disaster, only minor things will go wrong and Chris will still want to go on another date when it is all over. Missus Flop, aww. Yikes! Please tell me that Darqueheart is seeing a counselor about her anxiety issues. Darqueheart, he likes you, liking and loving someone has nothing to do with being intelligent or not. Tink trying to be helpful, run for the hills, everyone, or you'll be up to your armpits in glitter!

Tuesday early evening, Dec 18th, 2007

Just how many of these restaurants are there across the Whateley campus? Burgers and shakes is a good first date dinner. Chris is the nicest boy, I hope no one ruins their date. Anyone who ever called her an ugly freak needs to be decked, she is pretty and needs to be told so.

“Cute?” she gasped, looking surprised by that idea.

“A little exotic,” Chris told her with a blush, “but still very pretty.”

Christ has gotten very bold.

Own parents didn't want her anymore, yet due to her being a mutant the authorities didn't arrest them for child abandonment! Ouch, Christ thinks his original parents gave him up because they didn't want him. Her real name is Colleen.

Darqueheart…Colleen gave a nervous smile. “This is the first time that I felt like Colleen in a long time.”

You got me tearing up, I want her to have a family who loves her again.

The Imp certainly had an interesting way of talking Shenanigans into taking that trip into the arena. I'm fairly certain she'll be present for the sim. I'd even hazard a guess that she'll be part of the opposition, rather than being content to be in the control room.

Denouement certainly seems to be on the edge of a moral event horizon. Exquisite has become obsessed with building her reputation and seems to be of the opinion that the ends justify the means. I have the feeling that even most of the academy's black hats would take a dim view to her planning.

It sounds like the holiday break plans for Shenanigans are more or less the typical, even if the trouble magnets are almost certain to come back with another tale to tell (and possibly a detention detail to work off). Saphire inviting Darqueheart home for the holidays is exactly the sort of things friends do. What Exquisite missed about them is that they are there to support each other, not to be used as stepping stones. If Roulette were to meet an unfortunate end, they'd grieve her passing, hug, and move on together (Even if the Imp has to warn them against joining Denouement in the trip across the moral event horizon).

Alyss and her project car sound like a sight to see. Given her stature, the tires are probably about as tall as she is. Nice to see Aegis step up to the plate and show Darqueheart that she has value. He's come a long way since he first trod on the academy grounds.

I wouldn't be surprised if Starbright has thoughts of following in her sister's footsteps. Recognizing that you're staring at that moral event horizon is the first step in backing away from it. Doing the right thing in this case won't be easy, but hopefully she'll have the character to do so. I also get the feeling that Iron may be looking at the same event horizon. The fact that Drama tapped Starbright should be another reason to do some soul searching.

The scenes with both Aegis and Darqueheart preparing for their date is 'fun' fluff, showing that both have built a solid network of friends outside their team.

Hopefully the Imp will be able to help Aegis heal when she explains to him why she had to give him up. In their own way, several of the members of Shenanigans have become one of Imp's children. Aegis by birth, Darqueheart by mutation, and Mischief and Monkey Wrench by personality. If Denouement makes that attempt on Roulette, only Carson or Mischief will be able to stop her from showing her displeasure.