(8/7/09 9:30 AM)
Fate wound up calling me just after business hours started Wednesday morning. Actually, I should rephrase that. In one set of memories, Fate is the daughter of
my girlfriend, the precognitive telepath Cassandra. And a very dysfunctional mental basket case. Of course, being screwed over by the Hound indoctrination
program after SWAT Anti-Mutant kills your father can do that to a girl. But I digress.
So it was that I stumbled to the phone and saw my sister was calling from work. I had about two seconds of "oh
shit" before I turned it on. "Hello?"
"So have you seen the news? A guy in tights and a cape saves a kitten from a tree and flies away?"
I blinked. "No cable, remember? I haven't checked the news yet."
I heard a sound of disgust over the phone. "This sounds like the kind of thing you'd be all over, and you're missing it?"
I hesitated for about a moment too long. I've never been able to hide things from my family, and they're pretty good at picking apart my silences.
After a moment, she came back with, "You are involved, aren't you?"
"I checked the time again. "You're kind of at work, right? Shouldn't we save this for later?"
"Stop stalling. Give!"
I sighed and explained the basics about what City of Heroes was, and how it worked. I kept it short because I knew that really wasn't what she wanted to
know. Finally I got to the important part. "The thing is... something happened last Sunday. One of the servers the game is on... the character I was
playing that night was somehow infused into me. Memories, powers, abilities, skills, gender... the whole thing!"
She of course immediately hit on the most important point. "Gender?" Her voice took on a playfully teasing tone. "Were you playing a girl?"
My sigh answered the question and resulted in a really evil laugh on the other end. "I didn't just get the game version though. She was based on a
character I'd played about ten years ago in another local game. And that character was a shapeshifter." I switched forms (and studiously ignored the
pyjama shorts falling to the ground.). "This is Kara," I began. "I created her in both games with the shapeshifting power, either as a power, or
in her bio." I pulled up the shorts and switched back. "It's probably the only reason your eldest brother isn't speaking permanently soprano
now."
She chuckled again, with a knowing tone to it. "So... looked yourself over yet?"
I could feel the heat rising off my face as she made that comment. "Sis!" Her laughter filled the receiver
again. "This is hard enough to deal with without getting into all that."
"Hmmmm," she said with an obvious grin on her face. "But if that's permanent, you're going to have to. You can't get squeamish about this. You have to take care of your new look. Better care than you do your old
look!" She paused for a moment. "Tell you what. Head over to my place after work today. We'll size up your new look and see what she needs."
She got that teasing tone in her voice again. "I'm looking forward to it."
"I'm not," I said softly, prompting another chuckle over the phone. We said our goodbyes and hung up.
I leaned back against the bedroom door and sighed, looking up at the sky. "You've got no sense of proportion,
you know that?" I also glanced around the room, settling on the framed picture of a Kitsune that a friend had given me one year, and gave my personal
quixotic angel a Look. "And you're no better."
The kitsune statue in the photo didn't answer.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
Fate wound up calling me just after business hours started Wednesday morning. Actually, I should rephrase that. In one set of memories, Fate is the daughter of
my girlfriend, the precognitive telepath Cassandra. And a very dysfunctional mental basket case. Of course, being screwed over by the Hound indoctrination
program after SWAT Anti-Mutant kills your father can do that to a girl. But I digress.
So it was that I stumbled to the phone and saw my sister was calling from work. I had about two seconds of "oh
shit" before I turned it on. "Hello?"
"So have you seen the news? A guy in tights and a cape saves a kitten from a tree and flies away?"
I blinked. "No cable, remember? I haven't checked the news yet."
I heard a sound of disgust over the phone. "This sounds like the kind of thing you'd be all over, and you're missing it?"
I hesitated for about a moment too long. I've never been able to hide things from my family, and they're pretty good at picking apart my silences.
After a moment, she came back with, "You are involved, aren't you?"
"I checked the time again. "You're kind of at work, right? Shouldn't we save this for later?"
"Stop stalling. Give!"
I sighed and explained the basics about what City of Heroes was, and how it worked. I kept it short because I knew that really wasn't what she wanted to
know. Finally I got to the important part. "The thing is... something happened last Sunday. One of the servers the game is on... the character I was
playing that night was somehow infused into me. Memories, powers, abilities, skills, gender... the whole thing!"
She of course immediately hit on the most important point. "Gender?" Her voice took on a playfully teasing tone. "Were you playing a girl?"
My sigh answered the question and resulted in a really evil laugh on the other end. "I didn't just get the game version though. She was based on a
character I'd played about ten years ago in another local game. And that character was a shapeshifter." I switched forms (and studiously ignored the
pyjama shorts falling to the ground.). "This is Kara," I began. "I created her in both games with the shapeshifting power, either as a power, or
in her bio." I pulled up the shorts and switched back. "It's probably the only reason your eldest brother isn't speaking permanently soprano
now."
She chuckled again, with a knowing tone to it. "So... looked yourself over yet?"
I could feel the heat rising off my face as she made that comment. "Sis!" Her laughter filled the receiver
again. "This is hard enough to deal with without getting into all that."
"Hmmmm," she said with an obvious grin on her face. "But if that's permanent, you're going to have to. You can't get squeamish about this. You have to take care of your new look. Better care than you do your old
look!" She paused for a moment. "Tell you what. Head over to my place after work today. We'll size up your new look and see what she needs."
She got that teasing tone in her voice again. "I'm looking forward to it."
"I'm not," I said softly, prompting another chuckle over the phone. We said our goodbyes and hung up.
I leaned back against the bedroom door and sighed, looking up at the sky. "You've got no sense of proportion,
you know that?" I also glanced around the room, settling on the framed picture of a Kitsune that a friend had given me one year, and gave my personal
quixotic angel a Look. "And you're no better."
The kitsune statue in the photo didn't answer.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.