Virtue Is Its Own Reward

[firvulag]

The trip to New Jersey had been easier than I had been worried about. You don't need id get a train ticket, unlike air, and teleporting across the border was quite simple. The biggest headache was the cold when I had to make those brief trips outdoors. Ottawa'd just gone into a deep freeze and most of Hex's outfits aren't designed for warmth.
They aren't designed for modesty either, which is something of a problem for someone who's self image is that of a nerdy little shrimp who'd done his best not to be noticed all through grade school. Thankfully Hexane's about the same height that I am, was, and I've got a few things that are, or were, a little too big for me and I'd been able to cobble together a passable mundane outfit.
Anyway I was sitting on the train trying not to think about how to convince my mother I was me by listing the ways it could have been worse. I could have been playing the Third Shadow, or Toluene. All in all, being turned into a selfish, slightly larcenous woman with a pack of assasins at her beck and call is much better than an eight foot tall demon from the depths of someone else's psyche, or being driven slowly insane as nanomachines rebuilt my body around me, isn't it?
I sighed and pulled a printout from Google maps out of my pocket. Another hour or so and I'd be teleporting into the Schroeck's front yard.
--
Personally, I wouldn't say that using exit() in an asynchronous
signal handler is an "appaling perversion," but the only thing that
stops me from doing so is that I know how to spell "appalling."
Eric Sosman in comp.unix.internals

[Logan Darklighter]

Just a fun little throw-away. I started just rummaging through my files to see what would keep Lora'Lai entertained on a long cross country flight in the way of music, and keeping in the theme of course.
1. John Williams - Superman Theme (4:28 )
2. Soundtrack - Michael Kamen / From The Earth (2:01)
3. Cowboy Bebop - What Planet Is This?! (Long Version) (4:31)
4. Juno Reactor - Hotaka (8:20)
5. Enigma - Gravity of Love (3:58 )
6. Vanessa-Mae - Storm (3:42)
7. Juno Reactor - Guardian Angel (7:13)
8. Big Country - In a Big Country (4:44)
9. Evangelion BGM - EVA-02 (1:59)
10. Megazone 23 - Eve's Song (3:46)
11. Queen - Princes Of The Universe (3:36)
12. Justice League Unlimited Theme (1:00)
13. Joe Satriani - Surfing with the alien (4:25)
14. Stan Bush - Dare (4:01)
15. Rob Dougan - Will You Follow Me? (3:50)
16. Queen - Hammer To Fall (3:40)
17. Lolita Ritmanis - Justice League (Theme) (1:00)
18. Joe Satriani - Up in The Sky (4:09)
19. The Cult - Rise (3:39)
20. Peter Schilling - Major Tom (5:00)
21. Various Artists - Moldiver 2 Goo no thema (2:13)
22. Macross Plus - Sharon Apple - Information High (8:05)
23. Enigma - Pure Moods II - (Enigma) Beyond the Invisible (3:39)
24. Craig Safan - The Last Starfighter Main Title(2:35)
25. Maurice White + Bill Meyers - Gatchaman Main Title (4:13)
26. Various Artists - Moldiver (2:53)
27. Akira Inoue - Lensman BGM - Worsel's Theme (6:15)
28. Smash Mouth - All Star (3:19)
29. Thomas Dolby - Flying North (3:54)
30. Various Artists - Thunderbirds March (3:38 )
31. Spin Doctors - Jimmy Olsen's Blues (4:38 )
32. Stan Bush - The Touch (3:54)
33. Fuel - Walk The sky (3:17)
34. Yokko Kanno - Pushing the Sky (4:06)
35. Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F1-11 (3:49)
36. Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra - Giant Robo Vol 2 Soundtrack - Rush! Issei & Yohshi (3:14)
37. Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 In D Minor Op. (12:35)
(Edit - For somewhat more entertainment value, imagine Lora humming along or even singing along with some of the ones with lyrics as she flies along.)
(Further Edit: Why yes! Yes I WOULD be geek enough to hum or sing along while flying through the air. ^_^)-Logan
-----------------
"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
-----------------

[Ebony]

Are we, for the terms of this particular rabbit, sticking with Virtue toons?Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Logan Darklighter]

---

Are we, for the terms of this particular rabbit, sticking with Virtue toons?

---

So far as I know, yes.
-Logan
-----------------
"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
-----------------

[Foxboy]

-Setting Guru-
Mostly Virtue. In fact, I'd prefer it to be only Virtue if possible. If you must have a char from another erver, we can fudge the author rerolling a favorite toon to play with the Legendary.
-Setting Guru-
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[The Hunterminator]

---

(Further Edit: Why yes! Yes I WOULD be geek enough to hum or sing along while flying through the air. ^_^)

---

I don't see what's so geeky about it. I mean, what better time to hum along to songs than when there are no people around to be annoyed by it?
Oh and, for some reason, I really hate my two previous posts, I get the feeling that the story telling is haphazard and with little direction, which tends to happen to me when I have too many ideas and too little room.

[Drenivian]

This post has also been ret-conned by the author to write something better...... Eventually.When engaging, nothing beats a full frontal.
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

[Bob Schroeck]

You got lost in Cleveland?
Watch out for pink-haired tomboys -- I hear they're murder.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Ebony]

---

Watch out for pink-haired tomboys -- I hear they're murder.

---

And ducks. Never forget the ducks.Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Valles]

---

I passed out when the Moment hit.
It didn't, in retrospect, take long for me to wake back up - no more than a minute or two - but once I had, it took me a moment to realize that something was amiss.
I sat up, then glanced down to try and figure out what w-
wobble
Oh.
Um.
Wow.
These things are huge.
...As 'embarrassing reactions' go, I've gotta say that that rates somewhere high on my list.
I stared for a moment while the image computed, then noticed a detail. I had been playing CoH, running Brightsky, whose costume was essentially a white unitard with sky-blue starstreaks.
Boobs. Check.
White spandex. Check.
Sky blue, eight-pointed star. Check.
Suspicious lightness at the nape of my neck. Check.
...I needed a mirror.
Standing up... should have been a production, complicated, awkward. On top of being seven inches shorter than I... had been... her - my skeleton was arranged different, my weight was distributed differently...
No ballast jokes from the peanut gallery.
...my body should, by all rights, have been completely unfamiliar.
And instead, I felt completely at-ease, like nothing had changed at all.
It was enough to put my hackles up, until I turned to the mirror and completely lost track of everything else.
Which sounds rather narcissistic, come to think of it - and honestly, really was exactly that.
I still have trouble reconciling the idea that that gorgeous girl in the mirror was me.
She stood rather shorter than I had until then - five feet, five inches, from what I remembered of... representing? Creating? ...building her in the game's character design engine, trim and sleekly muscled like a competitive swimmer. The unitard helped that impression, a surprisingly thick layer of stretchy white fabric, more like an arctic diver's drysuit than the stereotypical spandex bodyglove, but the bustline did at least as much to take it away.
I suspected that I would shortly have cause to regret not having made more than a token effort to control my hormones' effects on the design screen.
Her face was stunning; perfectly regular, with a sharp chin, high cheekbones, and wide silver-blue eyes, framed by a feathery, burgundy-red sheaf that looked, at a glance, like someone had compressed all the style and elan of the eighties into a single hairdo without getting a single drop of the absurdity.
I already knew what I'd see, but I still twitched my head to the side to check. The confirmation that my hair was well and truly missing did nothing for my mood - I think I can say with complete honesty that the stuff was my one physical vanity, and with nine years of growth and pampering it was long enough to reach my calves when I let it out and well worth the trouble of caring for.
And now it was gone.
Dammit.
breebeebeebeebeep!
I had turned and punched the phone on on reflex; it didn't occur to me that answering it might not be a good idea until after I had already spoken. "Hello?"
Hmm. Alto. And if I hadn't felt it coming from back in my chest rather than higher up, it almost might've been something I would have said before.
"Nathan? Is that you?" My mother sounded a lot more tenative than I could ever remember her being.
"...I..."
"There's a story on the news, about that game of yours. About people being..."
"Different. Yeah. It's kinda wierd."
"Are you all right?"
I thought about it for a moment, but it wasn't really a hard question. "I think I am, actually. It's... not really that different? I mean, a lot's changed, but... I still feel like me."
"As long as you're okay," she whispered, and I made a decision. Mom was one of nature's worriers, and having me in the middle of this was going to bother her terribly. I couldn't trust myself enough to stay in contact well enough to help her feel better, so...
"I'm fine, don't worry. And... do you think I could come home?"
"As long as you're safe to drive..."
"I'll see you in a few hours, then. I love you, Mom."
"Love you, too, honey. You be careful out there."
"I will. B'bye."
"Bye."
Hang on, Mom... My car's tank was less than half-full, I'd need gas, but I had cash and wasn't likely to get pulled over, so the driver's liscence not matching shouldn't be a problem... A t-shirt I could wear too large, but none of my pants would fit. A shame I didn't have a belt... unless something else here would do?
I rooted around my dorm room for a bit; came up with a sweater and a spare computer power cord. The bodysuit's gloves were seperate pieces and the boots could pass as civilian, so with my smallest pair of pants narrowly held up and the shapeless knit thing swallowing most of the rest of me, I looked... well, mostly like a model for the Salvation Army, but passable enough to go out in public.
Keys, wallet, toiletries, meds - would I even still need those? - current and spare paperbacks...
A minute after that I was sitting in my car while it warmed up, trying to get the seat and mirrors adjusted.
Then I went home, hoping I'd be able to stay awake for the whole trip.

---

---

So, the Moment is 10pm on Friday, right? Legendary meeting is Saturday afternoon?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Logan Darklighter]

I note with increasing amusement that more of us wind up gender switching than not.
I wonder if that would be typical of the COH/COV population? Would more men wind up as their female characters than the reverse?
I wonder how that affects the population of newly created supers? Is it something the media and public is going to notice?-Logan
-----------------
"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
-----------------

[Morganite]

[Author's note: The phrase "seize the wind" should be in latin. But I don't know latin, so it isn't. So just imagine it that way. '.' ]
I suppose you could say I got off pretty easily. I was, after all, playing an avatar character, so it wasn't surprising that when I dehenshined, I looked like myself.
(Alexis in the game usually had another transformation layered on, so that when she wasn't 'Pretty Lexi', she'd be 'Morgan-chan'... but that was mainly due to the fact that different costumes can't be different genders. Still, it was consistent with things she'd done in RP before. Unfortunately, I didn't have the device to do that here. Pity, being able to genderswap other people would be all kinds of fun.)
There was one noticible difference - I didn't need glasses anymore. I've never figured out why. I don't look like myself to me without the glasses, but my avatars don't have them.
Being a girl part-time? No big deal. I'd been convinced I was part female for years, it was about time my body got with the program.
Anyway, I could have sat back and acted like it never happened except for two things.
One, Alexis had long ago solved the random clothes-disappearing problem. Now, it would only happen if something went wrong with a transformation upgrade. But she still had a habit of switching forms unconciously, and usually without even noticing. Which could be difficult to explain at work.
Two, I was certain that something stupid was going to happen that would make that no longer an option.
So instead, I was heading to the meeting at Bob's. Or rather, trying to figure out a way to get there. Alexis may have had a long history thanks to all the IRC RP I did, but she was relatively new as a CoH character, and wasn't quite high enough for a travel power yet.
Though... maybe there was an angle I could work on that.
I put the wand back into maintainence mode and started looking for parts that weren't attached to anything. And there it was. A chip bearing that logo I'd spent so much time in PSP to get looking right, and labelled:
MORGAN & ANTARES
WEAPONS TESTING DIVISION
FDRI-0488
FIELD DYNAMICS GRAVITIC IMPELLER
"SEIZE THE WIND"
All hail the R&D department, for they are always one step ahead of you. I started wiring it up.
***
I looked ridiculous.
Okay, it was nice that all my clothes still fit in girltype. My habit of setting the height slider in CoH to my own height had paid off, and I usually wore shirts that were loose enough that having breasts wasn't an issue. Unfortunately, most of the powers don't seem to work unless I'm wearing the fuku. (Or at least a fuku... I'm not certain how that part's going to translate.) And it was a bit cold to be going around in a short skirt. So I had to put on pants under the skirt, and figure out some way to get the bows stuffed under my coat...
Okay, so I lied. I looked *really* ridiculous.
I got a bag with my usual convention stuff (maps, notebook, camera, snacks, nagging feeling I forgot something) and set out.
***
I wonder what super jumping feels like to other people.
I already know what it feels like to me - standing still while the world moves past you. It gets the job done, which has always been my primary consideration, but it's a bit boring.
Or at least, it was boring until the moment my clothes disappeared and I started plummeting towards the ground. I had a moment to shout something that might be obscene if it were an actual word, and then-
I suddenly came to a halt about a foot above a picnic table, bounced up a ways, and hovered there.
Well, I'm not stupid enough to complain about not falling to my doom, but this wasn't exactly my idea of fun either. The cold *shouldn't* hurt me significantly based on what I remembered about my defense fields (which thankfully stayed online even in an error state), but it was still far too cold to be comfortable out here naked. And let's not even get into the possiblity of getting arrested for indecent exposure...
At least it turned out to be a fairly simple fix, and I was able to get my clothes back and get moving again without getting too much frostbite.
Maybe I should just have called and asked if anyone there had recall friend?

---

-Morgan."I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, or espers here, come sleep with me."
---From "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
-----(Not really)

[Morganite]

---

I note with increasing amusement that more of us wind up gender switching than not.
I wonder if that would be typical of the COH/COV population? Would more men wind up as their female characters than the reverse?

---

Well, I know on FFXI at least that a number of guys choose female characters with the basic attitude "If I'm going to be staring at this ass all the time, it should be one I find attractive". I don't know of any female players who have male characters though. I've heard of them, but I haven't met any. (In fact, for a while everyone I knew who was female in RL was playing a mithra (catgirl, basically). Of course, in FFXI the race you choose has an impact on your stats, and since mithra and galka are each only available in one gender, that has an impact on things.)
Of course for Alexis, the "Starlight transformation" thing has been part of it long before there was an actual game system to consider.
-Morgan. Ack! Time to go to work!"I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, or espers here, come sleep with me."
---From "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
-----(Not really)

[Ebony]

The cops are hauling down I-35 at at least 120 miles per, and their still losing the speedster.
Im standing at a rest stop, somewhere in the middle of Southern Kansas, watching the chase through a pair of borrowed binoculars. The birder standing next to me was a little wary of handing his optics to a guy wearing a bright orange tank top with a nuclear trefoil on it and a pair of orange cammo pants, but I did say, please, so I guess he thought I was harmless enough.
Harmless. Heh, thats funny.
I gotta say, it couldve been worse. I mean, I could have decided to pull up the sonic freakshow, Baron Bedlam last night. That wouldve been fun, metamorphosing into a shadowy demon that feeds off the energy caused by destruction. Yeah, a lotta brooding and fist-talking woulda come outta that one.
No, instead I decided to pull up old Frankie Fallout. The Atomic Punk had a little dust on him, but we were rolling along fine, hammering the Pantheon and doing some serious damage. And then, whammo! Im ten years younger, thirty pounds lighter, atomic powered, and my hair has more Crisco in it than my grandmas apple pie.
Fucking Mohawk. Got rid of that thing damn quick, let me tell you. Took half a bottle of shampoo, but I got it combed down before I left this morning. I think it looks better as a warriors queue, but thats me, not Frankie. Frankie likes his Mohawk.
Its not like Frankies in my head or nothin. But I can tell what is Frankie and what is me. Im coarser, cruder, and louder, but Im still the lit-geek and writer that I was before. But the memories and preferences wash over me sometimes. I can see Frankies momma in my head, a generous and pious lady, full of love for her fellow residents of the Row. I was humming riffs from Black Flag over Tulsa without realizing it, and I dont even own any of their albums. And I find myself craving a cigarette and a Budweiser every now and then. That aint happening. No fucking way.
Speed-Boy is getting closer. Hes got a pillowcase over his shoulder, packed full of money, and hes got that weird, streaky lightshift that Superspeed gives you. He robbed a bank down in Northern Oklahoma, according to the police band in the birders RV. Theyve tried spike strips, but hes too nimble for them. For now, the cops are just following him. About six highway patrol interceptors, and a helicopter out of Kansas City.
It had to happen. Some idiot punk with more power than sense thought he could make it easy. Dumbass didnt realize that theyd bag him off the surveillance cameras. At least he didnt kill anybody. When they pulled up outside his house, he got scared and ran, and the cops gave chase. Theres four pileups down I-35, and one of them involves a Greyhound full of people. Time to put him down before anyone else gets hurt.
I hand the binoculars back to the birder and take a breath. The powers there, deep in my chest, like a heartbeat. A few moments of breathing and then I tap it. Theres a flash, and I can hear the birder gasp. He just saw the light flare from behind my shades, and the fire race across my body. My senses sharpen as everything along the highway goes into sharp focus. The speeding figure catches my attention and I lock onto him. I can feel the power doubling back on itself in my chest, growing in strength. The boost wont last long, but I only need the one shot. I extend my arm towards the punk, focusing on him, and only on him, while letting the energy pool at a spot somewhere behind my elbow and build into a warm pressure.
Space seems to shrink and its just me and the idiot. I cant hear the birder, the sirens from the copcars, or even the wind. When Im ready, I extend a finger and thumb in an imaginary pistol and point at the road beneath his feet, releasing all the energy with a single word.
Bang.
Im not sure what the white light is, but it puts forth one hell of a punch. I miss the idiot, but I wasnt really aiming at him. The sudden explosion of asphalt right in his path blows his feet out from under him, and he goes flying. The road turns away, and he sails off into the brush. I watch, waiting to see if he gets back up, but the cops are there before he can recover. Theyre on him quickly, and I see one of them dodge a flurry of punches like theyre moving in slow motion and tackle him to the ground. Looks like some of the cops play City of Heroes. Good; they need all the help they can get.
I can see a patrol car heading my way. No time to deal with the cops; I gotta be in Jersey by dinner. Time to go. I push the energy down, through my feet, and I rise away from the ground. Flying is, by far, the best part of this thing. I toss a salute at the helicopter and then accelerate away to the northeast. Jerseys a bit of a hike, even by air.
Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Drenivian]

No, i took a wrong turn OVER Cleaveland. I didn't get lost there. But when you find nothing but trees for hours (Don't ask me how, I think I was blocking everything mentally) you do tend to get lost. Don't ask me how I found that many trees, I kinda wasn't paying attentiuon. Happens when I read things.When engaging, nothing beats a full frontal.
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

[Ebony]

Which is why Frankie ended up in Kansas. Following a four-lane blacktop from Dallas to Kansas, and then turning right is easier than trying to figure out where you are from the air when you go cross-country.Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Logan Darklighter]

Right - so, where do we go from here? Don't wish to see this thread fail now. Not when we're about to get to the potentially really good stuff!
Suggestion - Now that some of us are at Bob's house, we get to see reactions. Bob's, Peggy's (Stilletto), etc. And those of us who haven't had a chance will get to see the news and see what the rest of the world thinks.
To that end - is it possible to cover any of this up, at least at first? As in - no-one will initially take any of these reports of weird stuff seriously. What will it take for the news organizations and the public at large to realize that, yes, in fact, the world has had an influx of honest-to-god SUPERS.
Oh yes, then we get to this part -

---

Arc 2: In which PVP freaks, griefers, and generally power-hungry jerkwads start to go off the rails as they realize what they've stumbled into.

---

-Logan
-----------------
"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
-----------------

[Logan Darklighter]

BTW, Acyl? You did a REALLY bang-up job with your selection. Sad as I am that Superball wouldn't be part of things, it may be more interesting in the long run to see what you'd do with the situation handed you. -Logan
-----------------
"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
-----------------

[His Lovely Wife]

---

Right - so, where do we go from here? Don't wish to see this thread fail now. Not when we're about to get to the potentially really good stuff!

---

Agree wholeheartedly!

---

Suggestion - Now that some of us are at Bob's house, we get to see reactions. Bob's, Peggy's (Stilletto), etc. And those of us who haven't had a chance will get to see the news and see what the rest of the world thinks.

---

So I guess the ball is in Bob's court. Or Peggy's. Bob? What are you doing working today? You should be writing! :-)
-C-

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, I could always abandon any plans to release chapter 3 of DW5 within the next couple days, if you really want me to switch my focus...
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Logan Darklighter]

---

Well, I could always abandon any plans to release chapter 3 of DW5 within the next couple days, if you really want me to switch my focus...

---

NoooOOOO!!!
-Logan
-----------------
"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
-----------------

[Bob Schroeck]

Snikt-snikt.
Snikt-snikt.
Snikt-snikt.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Peggy," I said in as soft and calm a manner as I could manage, "would you please stop that?"
Snikt-snikt.
Snikt.
I looked up from the table where I'd been laying out paper plates, napkins, cups and cutlery. Peggy was staring down at her hands, wonder/confusion/fear/curiosity still on her face as it had been for most of a day now, apparently completely absorbed in studying how the 8-inch metallic blades emerged from between her fingers. "Peggy?" I repeated, a bit more sharply than I'd intended.
She started, and looked up. Snikt. "Huh? What was that?"
I sighed, and she frowned just a little. She doesn't like it when I sigh too much. "Never mind. Not important now." I waved at the dining room table. "Help, please? Our guests will be showing up any minute now."
At least she wasn't going nuts cleaning, which is what she usually does when we have company coming -- pails and buckets and brushes and scrub cloths, right up until the moment the doorbell first rings, and once or twice not even stopping then. But this time the lead time was too short, and (more importantly) she was too gobsmacked by her change.
Her change.
I'd been playing "City of Heroes" the night before. Peg had been in the living room watching one of her crime shows on the new HDTV we got just before Christmas. She has a positive addiction to those procedurals, the ones that aren't afraid to show a lot of gore and yuck. (I don't watch them -- I'm way too squeamish for it.) I don't know what she was watching, "CSI Boise" or "Law and Order: 4WD" or something, on one of the basic cable channels.
So anyway, at about five of ten I'd typed the critical phrase into the team chat channel: "BRB, BIO". I /afk'ed Evangelia and trotted off the master bathroom, since Peg had a couple of vases filled with bleach water in the hall bathroom and I didn't want a face full of chlorine while doing my business. (Why? Christmas greens were left too long in their water and got a little moldy. Peggy's not satisfied just to scrub that out with soap. She disinfects. With bleach. Over several days. No comments, please -- we all have our little neuroses.)
So I'm still in the master bath at just a hair before ten, and just barely over the ceiling fan I hear Peg call my name. Then there's a flicker in the lights like a near-brownout that makes the fan rattle, and a muffled "zorch-zap" kind of noise at the same time.
And about thirty seconds later, Peggy starts screaming.
At thirty-two seconds, I'm stumbling across the master bedroom trying to zip my fly and close up my belt at the same time; I carom off the corner of Peg's bureau, putting what I know will become a huge bruise on my left hip, then all but fall into the hallway. The doors of the master bedroom and the library are at right angles to each other at the end of the hall, with a little bit of wall between them, but because of the way the doors are hung and the arrangement of furniture in the bedroom -- I can't actually see her until I'm out in the hall proper.
By the time I got my first look, she'd stopped screaming -- but only because she'd gone into shock.
And I couldn't blame her.
"Peggy?" I asked, being rather naturally uncertain at that point, because the woman standing in front of the computer bore only the faintest resemblance to my wife. When I didn't get a response, I called her name again, a little louder.
Slowly, she nodded. "I... I think so."

---

...And that's all I managed to compose before lunch. I'll complete this when I get a chance, but between the double XP weekend, Peg's brother and sister-in-law being in town, and trying to release DW5-3 hopefully on Monday, I'm not sure I'm going to have the time to add to this until Tuesday or later.
For those who want to work up stuff happening in the house, here's a quick rundown of how things look. Our house is a one-story ranch, L-shaped, sage green in color with brick red accents. The front door is in the inside corner of the "L", off a recessed porch. One wing of the house, the one with the porch in it, is mostly the 2-car garage. The other wing extends toward the street, parallel to the driveway.
Go in the front door, and you're in a little foyer, created mainly by an L-shaped double closet that sets it off from the space beyond. Go around the closets to the left, and you're in the dining room and by the entrance to the kitchen. Go to the right, and you're in the living room with the hall to the bedrooms and bathroom to your right.
The living room and the dining room flow into each other as one big space, but we've laid out the couches such that it's functionally divided. We have two big couches -- one long sectional and an old couch that used to belong to Peg's mom -- facing each other, along with an armchair, a few tables, a credenza and several lamps, creating a "conversation pit". China cabinet, formal dining table and about 7 chairs in the dining room area. One big bookcase. Entertainment center with HDTV and stereo, visible from most of one side of the conversation pit, against the back side of the double-closet. Behind the side of the conversation pit that can see the TV is a mirrored wall between two windows.
Down the hall is guest bedroom on left, bathroom on right, then closet on left, library in middle front, and master BR on right. The library would have been another bedroom, but someone who owned the house before us panelled it in dark wood and put sound absorbing tile and dark wood beams on the ceiling. Library has many many bookshelves, big desk with computer, and lots of boxes. Oh, and a nice big leather chair for reading in. You can fit about 8 people in the library at once, more if they're friendly.
There's a second computer in the guest bedroom.
The yard is huge. If it weren't frickin' cold, you could put a hundred people in the back yard easy.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Foxboy]

[Setting Guru] Minor quibble: For Peggy to get turned into Stiletto, she has to be at the character select screen, or running her. Otherwise, as written, she'd be turned into Evangelia. Easy fix, have a connection hiccup and get to the select screen before the Bio break.[/setting guru]
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[ECSNorway]

Travel powers, hah. Who needs to waste chakra on travel powers when you've got a perfectly good car? I smiled pleasantly to myself as I pulled the car in to the side of the road, just past the foot of the driveway of the nice little green ranch house, and parked. It had been a pleasant enough drive, time enough to think and sort through a few of the more unusual things that had come to mind since the night before... time I'd badly needed.
I'd sat there frozen in shock for about twenty minutes when it happened, staring at the computer screen, watching the questions and comments of those who'd been quicker to recover (or panic) fly across the chat channels. It wasn't just me, or even just people I knew, it was everyone. This is going to get messy, some part of me insisted, and that broke me out of the stupor I'd been in. I don't know whether it was my own natural cynicism, or Misao's ninja training, but it did tell me that I had to do something more than just sit there and stare.
The first step was to take stock of just what I had become. A look in the mirror confirmed my initial suspicion, I'd gone from thirtyish, overweight, and male, to fifteenish, athletic, and female. Not that I objected much. My skin problems were gone, my back problems were gone, hell, even my teeth were fixed. No objections there, I told myself, and given how much Ranma fanfic I'd read - and roleplayed - I was better prepared than some for the idea.
So, what else have we got to work with, I thought, contemplating what being a ninja would entail for me. Misao was only a genin, but still, she'd have had all the basic training. Taijutsu, heck yes. Genjutsu? Stealth was one of her specialties. I paused as a name came floating up through my memory - kagegaidou no jutsu. Okay, stealth was covered. I spent a few minutes experimenting with the basics - henge, kawarimi, bunshin - and confirmed that they all worked as Misao expected. (And took a picture of a couple of bunshins henge'd into Akane and Ranma-chan, but that's in my Private folder, not to be shared....)
By the time I thought to check the computer again, the general consensus was panic. People were afraid that their old identities would be lost. That would definitely suck, I agreed, but I'd already tried henge'ing into my old self and it worked fine. Okay, fingerprints might be a - no, wait... It wasn't too hard to confirm what I suspected. A chunk of sticky-tack I'd been playing with had a nice impression of my left thumbprint in it, and a few moments with some paper, a drop or two of paint, and a henge, left me with no doubt. My prints were unchanged, and I could convincingly apply them while in henge. The only question would be how long I could hold one.
The consensus of the discussion group, by this point, was a meetup at Bob's place in Jersey, which meant a long trip for me and an even longer trip for others. Fortunately, I had the car, I had dad's Mobil card for gas, and I had Misao's rather pleased disregard for general ethics. I grabbed one of my shirts from the closet to cover Misao's fishnet top, tied the now-well-oversized garment around my waist, and added a similarly-too-large jacket over top. A few books in a bag, some CD's to keep me awake on the drive, and my wallet, PDA, and celphone (thank the kamis I'd changed into my sweatpants before sitting down to play!), and I was off.
Several hours and several hysterical news reports on the radio later, I was in Grover's Corners, New Jersey, parking the car. --
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[ECSNorway]

Oh, and do we have pictures of Stiletto, Nogitsune, et al?
On the fingerprints thing: Fox, feel free to tell me no, but I figure that any character the player has some personal identification with would hold over some of the player's identity... I tend to identify with characters I roleplay a lot, so I went ahead and took it. It may or may not hold true for others, up to them. --
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.