|
Anna Lee At the back of the auditorium, Anna tries to squeeze herself into a seat without folding her feathers like origami. Resisting an urge to sit on the back of the seat, to... perch there and stick out like a bruise-blackened thumb, she manages to spread them out along the rear surfaces of nearby backrests. It's not very comfortable, but that discomfort makes her concentrate on the House Mistresses' presentation as if she could make it go by quicker. Points? Jeez, it's like a video game. Achievement unlocked: Television! (20 Gamer Points)' The schedule is really what catches her hard, though. Eight until seven? Eleven god drat hours? That's crazy! Ms Frost continues, and clarifies. Crazy, maybe; still prison, definitely. Just one where she's treated more like a person than the ones she's seen on TV. This isn't Oz, though she's seen a few girls of different colors.  pre:Code Name: Real Name: Anna Lee Age: 16 Height: 5'6" Weight: 110 Eyes: Brown Hair: Black (feathers) Skin: Pale white Power Level: 8 Power Points: 125 Abilities: 10 points STR -1 (-1) -2 points CON 0 (+0) points AGL 0 (+0) points DEX 0 (+0) points FGT 0 (+0) points INT 2 (+2) 4 points AWE 1 (+1) 2 points PRE 3 (+3) 6 points Saves: 27 points Toughness 8 = (con) + 0 + Protection Fortitude 8 = (con) + 8 8 points Dodge 8 = (agl) + 8 8 points Will 8 = (awe) + 7 7 points Parry 4 = (fgt) + 4 4 points Combat: 0 points Attack: 0 points Reflect +6 Grapple: Oh god, no. Initiative: +4 Powers: 52 points Probability Control 8 36 points Total Cost: 4/Rank Base Cost: 3/Rank Action: Reaction (pasv.) Save: None Range: Personal Duration: Instant Extras: Affects Others (+1/rank) Power Feats: AP: Blast, AP: Deflection, AP: Move Object, AP: Snare Effects: Each round, any one of Anna's die rolls has a minimum result of 7. This effect cannot be used in any turn that an alt power is used. The effect can be used on a friendly target, by touch. The... engine of Anna's peculiar powers are strong, but her understanding of its workings, and her fine control, Sometimes she perceives 'strings', but has difficulty articulating how they connect. Catastrophe 8 * points Total Cost: 3/Rank Base Cost: 3/Rank Action: Standard Save: Toughness Range: Perception Duration: Instant Extras: Indirect 4 (+4), Subtle 2 (+2), Variable Descriptor (Accidents) (+1) Effects: Anna twists the threads of causality tightly around a target, bringing freak accidents down upon their heads. Only sometimes they trip over the carpet instead. Fate is funny that way. (Effect is proportional to the damage inflicted; Dodge vs. DC 18 halves the damage effect.) Deflect 8 * points Total Cost: 2/Rank Base Cost: 1/Rank Action: Standard Save: None Range: Ranged Duration: Instant Extras: Reflect (+1/rank), Subtle 2 (+2), Accurate +4 (+4) Effects: Defend others against Dodge and Parry-targeted attacks. Minimum die roll is 10 (plus 8) on the defense check. Modifiers are standard for range. Does NOT work on area or Perception-range attacks. As a free action, can reflect attacks back at the attacker on a successful Deflect, attacking at +8 and dealing damage as per the attacker's power. Like Anna's other powers, this one seems to be a subtle manipulation of luck. It's hard to say though whose luck she's pushing: the person narrowly missed, or the foe facing an attack that's blown up in their hands. Move Object 7 * points Total Cost: 4/Rank Base Cost: 2/Rank Action: Standard Save: None Range: Perception Duration: Sustained Extras: Subtle (+1/rank), Precise (+1) Effects: 35 STR for purposes of moving an object. Garden-variety psychokinesis, unusual for the fact that Anna exhibits no other psionic abilities. It may be that her powers all derive from it, but that her subtler and more profound abilities are channeled reflexively, rather than controlled consciously. Snare 8 * points Total Cost: 4/Rank Base Cost: 1/Rank Action: Standard Save: None Range: Perception Duration: Sustained Extras: Perception range (+2/rank), Cumulative Affliction (+1/rank), Extra Condition (+1/rank), Resisted by Dodge (+0), Limited Degree (-1/rank) Effects: Restrain a target with sheer foul luck. Dodge vs DC; one degree of failure leaves target hindered and vulnerable, two leaves target defenseless and immobilized. Effect can be broken via Damage or Sleight of Hand-- basically grabbing on and yanking oneself free of the area. One of Anna's most spectacular looking powers, this effect is a direct attack on causality in a limited area. Footing becomes treacherous as friction becomes spotty, and both sound and light in the area become an eerie murk of Dopplering flickers, murmurs and shouts as sound and light filter through in globs and dribbles that show glimpses of fitfully shifting probability strands. Precognition 2 points Total Cost: 0.5/Rank Base Cost: 1/Rank Action: None Save: None Range: Perception Duration: Permanent Extras: Uncontrolled (-1/rank) Effects: Limited capacity for perceiving potential futures, triggered by GM fiat. May require Perception check with DC 15-30 or more, for specific information. Divination is like particle physics: the act of observing can affect the ultimate outcome. A successful precognitive episode is something like a Magic Eye puzzle with a side of synaesthesia, looking without looking, echoes of potential events filtering through five senses that weren't designed for that kind of input. That's Anna's take; time will tell if she develops a proper sense and degree of control over this talent. Vision (Counters Illusion) 2 points Total Cost: 1/Rank Base Cost: 1/Rank Action: None Save: None Range: Perception Duration: Permanent Effects: Automatically succeed on resistance checks vs. visual illusions. Illusory constructs lack a certain... complexity, or weight, compared to real entities, according to Anna's deepening awareness of probability. Their passage isn't fringed with the quantum butterfly's wing effect that physical or self-willed actors have. Near Miss 8 8 points Total Cost: 1/Rank Base Cost: 1/Rank Effects: Protection 7. Anna's powers grant her a charmed life-- charmed, by the standards of people who engage in superhuman combat on a harrowingly regular basis. Blows tend to glance, when she doesn't slip and fall under the swing at the last moment, even when she's immobile and unaware. Flight 2 4 points Total Cost: 2/Rank Base Cost: 2/Rank Action: Move Save: None Range: Personal Duration: Sustained Effects: Fly at up to 25mph on feathered wings. Feats: 4 points Fascinate (Singing) Uncanny Dodge Improved Initiative Sidekick (Lenore) (kitty) (:3) Skills: SKILL MATH 32 points Athletics 1 STR + 2 1 Deception 11 PRE + 8 4 Expertise - Arcane Lore 4 INT + 2 1 - Pop Culture 6 INT + 4 2 - Art 6 INT + 4 2 - Theo. & Phil. 4 INT + 2 1 Insight 9 AWE + 8 4 Investigation 7 INT + 6 3 Perform - Singing 11 PRE + 8 4 Perception 9 AWE + 8 4 Persuasion 15 PRE + 12 6 Drawbacks: points Totals: Attributes: 10 Combat: 0 Saves: 27 Powers: 52 Feats: 4 Skills: 32 Total: 128? Unspent: 12 Lenore: STR -4 STA -2 AGL 2 DEX 0 INT -4 AWE 0 PRE 0 Fort: -2 Will: 0 Dodge: 6 Tough: -2 Advantages: Evasion 2 Powers: Low-light vision, Acute Smell, Safe Fall, Shrinking 8 (permanent) - Size rank -4, -2 STR (included), -1 Speed rank, +4 active defenses, +8 stealth Skills: Acrobatics +2 (+4), Persuasion +2 Obvious Mutant in America While not a cause for real concern on school grounds Anna's wings, and to a lesser extent her claws and the occasional feather growing through her hair, mark her as something well outside the human norm. If they were white, she might have been able to pass herself off as an angel. No such luck. Developmental Difficulties Anna's powers have only recently manifested, and with them have come striking changes in her body. The wings are most obvious, but small feathers have sprouted on her scalp, and her feet are reshaping into something like those of a bird of prey. Being a girl with bird bits is cool --she can fly, after all-- but what if the changes don't stop there? Something Wyrd More than one mythology describes women with the ability to control fate by means of 'weaving' and otherwise manipulating strands of the stuff. Two of the pantheons containing such women are known to be very real. Is Anna somehow related to them? It's vastly more likely that her mutant power is just that, a mutation that lets her observe and pluck at the webwork of causality, but likelihoods have a way of skewing around her... Hero Points: 4 Bieeanshee fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Oct 29, 2015 |
#
¿
Aug 3, 2012 02:53
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 17:39 |
|
|
Anna Grumble. Mutter. Half a day in classes! Probably won't let her fly. Going to have to ask, she admits to herself. Maybe they'll have something goofy set up in the gym. While she considers these things, and debates going straight to the house and waiting or trying to find her other housemates. That's about when all Hell breaks loose. Anna stays right where she is. It was her fault, the last time chaos ensued in an auditorium she was in, so she doesn't want to give anyone the idea that it's her doing it this time. Not that Ms. Frost couldn't verify the truth with a glance, but rumors are something else. Rumors don't give a gently caress for truth. Besides, getting a wing tangled up in people running past would be bad. With most of the other students dispersing post-haste, Anna gets a good look at the creeping carpet as it climbs up and down the sides of chairs. It makes her think of waves at the beach coming in, only with black edges instead of whitecaps. A fringe of black rises on the back of the seat in front of her, like weirdly waving lint, and tells her that they're someone named Tara. Tara, from Blue House. Great. The panic isn't her fault, but she's still going to be complicit. When the spiders have passed (she wouldn't want to step on any of them, that's just clumsy and cruel), and things have subsided to an echo of a roar, the goth detangles herself from the chairs and makes the short trip even further back to the back of the auditorium. "And I thought I had 'spookiest girl in the school' in the bag," Anna says as she joins Tara and Cecilia. She offers a brief, wry smile. "I'm Anna. Bloo house."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2012 05:45
|
|
|
Anna "I meant the 'goth' thing," Anna tells Tara, though her long flight feathers spread out like fingers. The goth thing, and being able to make accidents happen, but there isn't any point in comparing levels of hosed-upedness. They all hosed up, that's why they're here. She'd ruminate more on the topic, but one of the other girls (Patricia) (Rickie!) just held up a whole bunch of high-fives, all but one hanging in midair like a handprint on glass. Anna reaches up and gently high-fives one (bright yellow), not wanting to look like an idiot if it's just an illusion, nor wanting to smash it if it's real. And finding out it's some kind of liquid crystal sweat makes her really glad she didn't touch it for too long. "Blue House, Anna," she nods, and again, not wanting to think about Rickie's floating funk-- which doesn't really smell, and does look pretty cool-- and instead trying to get a handle on the other girls. Pretty disparate group: Cecilia looks like she wants to crawl under the carpet, and Tara seems nice... but the trick that emptied the auditorium? Girl's going to need some lessons in subtlety. And that's coming from a drammy! Sarah seems nice, and Crystal-- huh. She's never met somebody from that far south of the Mason-Dixon line. "Ms. Slider? You just know she was on the cheer squad in-- the Hulk? Really?"
|
|
#
¿
Aug 4, 2012 08:24
|
|
|
Anna Talks to computers. Wait, do they talk back? The thought that they might take offense to being called 'you stupid thing' will give Anna pause the next time one throws an error while she's working on an essay. And Tara's hand fell off and crawled away? She's probably here because that scared somebody into a heart attack. Cecilia and Crystal don't seem like they want to talk about why they're here, and Anna isn't going to pry. Guessing from their House Mistress's display on stage, they're going to have some 'round the room introduction stuff when they get to the house. That'll be a whole boatload of fun. "Yeah, we might as well. Don't want--" Cecilia starts coughing, and Anna gives her a look of concern that peeks out from behind feigned annoyance. "You going to be okay, Wallflower?" she asks, ready to deliver a clap on the back if it looks like the other girl's swallowed her tongue or something.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 5, 2012 00:59
|
|
|
Anna It was air-conditioned in the auditorium, but cool, open air has a quality to it that the confined and refrigerated stuff just can't match. Anna picks up on the prevailing quiet as she meanders out with the others, keeping her thoughts to herself and loosening her wings just enough to let a soft breeze rustle her feathers. It's not flying-- nothing's like flying except, well, flying, but she's not going to press her luck by lifting off. Maybe there's spaces for that in the gym. She was wondering about that earlier, wasn't she? Bah. Inside and... no House Mistress. Mother? Matron? Anyway. Probably at a staff meeting. Hopefully nothing to do with Tara's thing, if she is. Anna looks into the kitchen, and smirks at the thought of how her mother would react to the small space. Not really a homemaker, Mom, but she knew the value of a good workspace. A couple of the other girls head upstairs to their rooms. It's tempting: Anna's stuff is still packed up, but the temptation to stay in there and just cocoon would be even stronger. Avoiding things... eh, she'd probably get interrupted by Ms. Caida just as soon as she settled. And while there isn't a TV down here (yet) ((hopefully)), there's books! A couple of the other girls have noticed that too, apparently. She sidles over, careful of her wings, and skims the titles. Most she doesn't recognize. There's a thick tome marked 'War and Peace' near to two similarly sized ones, collections of Shakespeare, though there are smaller, single-play folios as well. One of them catches her eye: The Tempest. She cracks a smile. "O brave new world, that has such people in it," she quotes. "Oh yeah, someone chose that one on purpose."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2012 07:37
|
|
|
Anna Anna turns her head toward Cecilia, and smiles. Maybe the other girl isn't as shy as she thought. Jeez, it's not like this wasn't a huge shakeup for like... everybody. "You're probably right. I just spotted a copy of Little Women." She rolls her eyes dramatically. But no TV? "I don't think I'd go that far... though I guess it depends on what channels we get." Anna gestures to the book in Cecilia's hands. "You read a lot?"
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2012 09:29
|
|
|
Anna That tone isn't hard to catch. Anna just nods and tucks it away. A lot of the girls here probably got splashed up in the media-- she made the local paper, and heard the front page of the school newspaper was just a photo of her. Meh. She brightens. "Cool! I read... some. I'm into drama, so lots of memorizing lines, you know." Anna nods quickly and shallowly. "I've tried writing a little... just some poetry, but it wasn't any good. You have that kind of trouble too?"
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2012 09:46
|
|
|
[05:42] <Bieeardo> !r 1d20+6 [05:42] <Maidbot> Bieeardo, 19+6 = 25 [05:42] <Bieeardo> Well, gently caress. Anna It doesn't take a telepath to tell Cecilia's getting flustered. It's pretty obvious her power isn't walking through walls, or she'd probably be in the basement. Anna shrugs, bobbing her head and taking a step back, offering some space to the other girl. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. I kind of got sent here because of something I liked to do too, if that helps any." Still, who gets sent to prison --well, prison in America-- for writing something? And who has powers that work like that, outside of educational shows where the Word Wizard writes 'C-A-T' in the air and a confused-looking marmalade kitty appears in a puff of smoke? Thoughts of writing-powers bend over the fresh memory of seeing herself in the papers like a lever and fulcrum, dislodging months of accumulated trivia. There is something, something familiar about Cecilia, that look of bewilderment that stared out from the TV and made her think that is not the face of a serial killer. Click! A bare bulb goes on in the disused spaces of Anna's memory. "Holy poo poo," she whispers, then furtively raises a hand in a stopping gesture. She draws the back of a fingertip across her lips.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2012 11:02
|
|
|
Anna "Wait, I didn't mean anything! I'm sorry!" Anna calls to Cecilia. The look she offers is genuinely apologetic, unlike the ones that get littered about after a casting call. "Please?" She ducks and swivels her head, frowning in frustration. "We're stuck here together. It'd really suck if we were all walking on eggshells."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2012 06:04
|
|
|
Anna Anna's eyes go wide. Oh, what the!? "I didn't--" she protests, voice rising sharply. Thud! interrupts the door. Anna looks toward it, startled. She looks back to Tara, and whispers. "I didn't do anything! Swear!"
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2012 07:43
|
|
|
Anna Anna is more worried about Tara biting than Ms. Caida. She holds her breath as Cecilia seems to weigh her options, then grudgingly decide to follow Rickie. Eyes focused on Tara and her spidery hair, Anna still can't help perceiving other gossamer strands that coalesce from nothing, like sunlight glinting down a sharp edge. Strands that trace their way from Tara to places like the ceiling light fixture, and the peculiarly arranged mirror over the nearby entertainment center. The feathered girl closes her eyes with a snap and squeezes them tight as she ducks her head. "I did something by accident that made Cecilia upset, and I was trying to apologize when you came in, Ms. Caida."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2012 10:23
|
|
|
Anna "We were talking about books, and I recognized her from the news. It startled me, and I guess she thought I was going to flip out, but..." Wait, what? Anna swivels her head toward Occupy Loveseat and cocks an eyebrow. The other one isn't loaded. "Political prisoners?" she asks. Her other eyebrow goes up, this time just for show. "I--" she stops for effect, faking confusion as she sweeps her gaze back and forth across the room. "Don't tell me anybody here is into what that Magneto dude is selling. This is a guy who walks around in a helmet with the shape of a guy's parts cut out of the visor!" For emphasis she draws an outline best left undescribed over her facial features. --- He totally does! http://cybermancer.net/magneto.jpg
|
|
#
¿
Aug 8, 2012 03:05
|
|
|
Anna One second Anna is about to thank Ms. Caida for the oblique warning not to diss Magneto in front of some of the other staff, and in the next things have unspooled far beyond the scope of her weird causality sense. "Only this time, both sides have nukes, some of which are walking around in tights, and there's probably some on both sides that'd be happy to just watch the fireworks from the Moon or something."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2012 03:17
|
|
|
Anna Oh. Oh god. That one pizza is piled so high, the grease is soaking through the box lid. The thing's probably a health hazard and a fire hazard all by itself. Anna stares in awe as quiet Tara takes the plunge and a defiant bite out of the decadent pie. Crystal reaches out for a slice of the terrible --in multiple senses of the word-- pizza and it occurs to Anna that eating it could quickly turn into a rite of passage. The strands of fate, or maybe evaporating fat, waft above the table with import. "At least they didn't call him Galactose." Anna leans forward, then stops and rounds on Tabby, snapping her fingers and grinning. "I thought you were on cheer squad!"
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2012 09:58
|
|
|
Anna Pizza beckons. Beckons, and maybe leers. Anna shovels a slice of the topping-heavy pie onto a plate, with bits falling and bouncing off here and there, and to reward herself she snatches up a piece of the garlic bread while Tara's stealing away toward the stairs. She looks up to call the other girl back, but Tabby's already done it. Done that, and sprung the worst part of meeting a new class: telling each other about yourself. One might think that a drama kid would be all over that sort of thing, but for Anna it's an annoying formality: nobody ever remembers that kind of stuff. Most probably don't even remember the names. Very few, on the other hand, are in a tiny class where everyone's had some kind of screw up with their super powers. So. Play it cool? All shrugs and welps and no fucks to give? Anna could. Any kid could, it's like a gift that comes with puberty to balance out the amazing capacity for histrionics like the ones that... yeah. "I wrecked the school play," Anna begins, grabbing some napkins. Crystal had a good idea, mopping up like that, so she follows suit. "And the auditorium. And some people got banged up running for the exits." She reaches for the pizza, but looks back up with a frown. "What I hope to gain? School, I guess. The district probably wouldn't ever let me back. Figuring out how what I do works? I've got mad and ripped up my room before, same as anybody else, but if I knew I could do what I did... maybe I wouldn't have." Anna looks back down as she eases her fingers under the poorly-defined edges of her pizza slice. Oh god, the crust is damp straight through! "I have to say 'maybe', because there's a reason why they call what we do 'drama'." Cracking a thin smile, she takes a bite of pizza.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2012 13:50
|
|
|
Anna Anna tries to smile wryly as she chews and chews. Finally, she speaks. "I was pissed off." As admissions go, it's to the point. "We were doing the Scottish Play, and there were little accidents sometimes. I figured out I was causing some of them, and I tried to stop. But it was opening night, and the girl who got to play Lady Macbeth was an even bigger stuck-up bitchzilla than usual. So when she swanned back onto the stage at the end after eating the scenery and crapping it on everybody backstage, I couldn't handle it." Anna looks down, noticing for the first time that her free hand is clenched tight. "All of us had busted our asses to make that show work, and she rode us with spurs and got all the applause. I wasn't really thinking, I just angry. Ms. Frost thinks I wanted respect, but I wasn't thinking that way. Maybe she's right."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2012 15:03
|
|
|
Anna "I wanted to trip her up, or something," Anna admits, ducking and swerving her head as she breaks eye contact with Tabby. "Maybe make her slip and bust her ankle, so we'd go on with an understudy who wasn't treating the whole production like her personal toilet. I didn't want to wreck the show, but I was so... pissed off, I couldn't control it when it started coming out." Anna gives Sarah a blank look, shifting focus to the illusion Rickie's thrown up about about her. Marquees: now that's speaking her language! Penny Stocks from Heaven! A Sale of Two Cities! Risky Business! She catches Rickie gesturing toward her and carefully turns to look at the field of falling stage dressings that hang like a diorama around her. "That's the short of it. Maybe a facepalming drama mask." "Ugh," Anna says, though whether for the bite of pizza she's just had or Crystal explaining her Dad's brand of politics is an even guess. "Stained glass window," she suggests to Rickie. "Saint pocketing the collection dish."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2012 19:12
|
|
|
Anna "Heavy stuff," Anna says. She's not quite sure what else to say, only somewhat aware of the reality of politics, and from there dimly aware that the personal is political thanks to the occasional odd note plucked on a ghostly strand between one person and another. That and campaign-time attack commercials. Those things are almost as bad as school drama. So she looks over to Tara. Everybody else has screwed up somehow or another (and she knows what people think Cecilia did, so that counts too), but she gets sent here because she's been sick in the head. There might not be a lot of difference between prison and a mental hospital, Anna wouldn't know, but that's still seriously unfair. "Anything you'd want help with, Tara?" Anna asks, perking her eyebrows. Most of the other girls seem to have their stuff together, but Tara and Cecilia seem to her like they might want some... well, if they're all in this together, then they should help each other out. Like being part of a cast. It only makes sense.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 19, 2012 12:35
|
|
|
Anna Eyebeams with hearts and sparkles? That'd make a totally awesome cartoon, even though Anna doesn't watch cartoons any more. Ever. Not even on the weekends when she happens to wake up at single-digit-AM. But anyway, she listens, and while the talk about frigging around with the stock market and stealing things doesn't sit well with her, Rickie's encounter with bigoted policemen plops down on the mass of pizza that already sits heavily in her gut. She'd had it easy until recently, until she started getting... birdy. Not any more. Anna nods in agreement with Tabby and opens her mouth to offer support, but Tara beats her to it. She smiles at Cecilia instead. "What she said."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 21, 2012 07:06
|
|
|
Anna "Besides, if you really want to test it, ask her to write the Powerball numbers." Anna folds her hands into her lap and smiles gently at Cecilia. "Rickie beat me to what I was going to say. I remember seeing you on the news and thinking 'there's no way she did that stuff', and I still think that."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2012 02:15
|
|
|
Anna Doggies and kitties?! Strays, probably. Poor, homeless critters who were probably going to meet a sad fate one way or another. Still, Bambi Syndrome strikes a sour note in Anna's breast, and those chirping spiders from the auditorium didn't look like they'd hurt anything... except flies, and definitely not cops. Therapy? She couldn't have known what she was doing then. Like Cecilia. An icy-hot splinter in her belly melts away even as it's begun to form. Her eyes dart away as she realizes she's been staring at Tara. That probably wouldn't help with the therapy. "Maybe?" she suggests to Cecilia, shifting her attention and absently cocking her head. "Are people going to notice as much when a happy story comes true?"
|
|
#
¿
Aug 26, 2012 04:05
|
|
|
Anna Need to apologize to Tara, but she's even jumpier than Cecilia. Probably a good idea to wait until later, so she doesn't feel like the spotlight's on her. "Uh, what about dress code? Because I, uh..." raising a hand to scratch at the back of her scalp, Anna digs for a... polite phrase. "Poise I can fake, but if my power's like Murphy's Law on turbo, then the first wardrobe malfunction I have while dressing like Ms. Frost is going to take out at least three people."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 27, 2012 16:06
|
|
|
Anna "When you can balance this hardcover on your head for ten steps and a curtsey, then you may leave, Grasshopper."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 27, 2012 23:10
|
|
|
Anna Taken aback by Tara's spill and Ms. Caida's quick save (and not to mention the quiet girl's sudden display), Anna falls quiet. I could have done something to help, she realizes, though unable to articulate how beyond a vague coalescence of intent around the bannister. She's okay though. Good thing Ms. Caida thinks fast! "Art's cool," Anna enthuses. "I could--" she stops in midstream, wafting a hand and shaking her head. "Nah. Nobody likes poetry recitals."
|
|
#
¿
Sep 1, 2012 01:00
|
|
|
Wow, now that's an impressive looking schedule! Anna Anna turns her hands out with a flourish and a laugh at Rickie's response. "Okay. Okay. Just let me find a rubber chicken to wear around my neck. I've got the wings figured out already." Her pinions shift in shruggish emphasis, long feathers spreading and relaxing. A House arts thingy? Anna nods enthusiastically to Tara. "Leadership and initiative, and something to do for ourselves?" Anna suggests, looking to Crystal as she leans over and takes one of the schedule forms. "The nickel's a side benefit. Like the... TV." Anna trails off as the schedule leaps out at her in a rush of color and complexity. "Oh. Oh, oh, I get it," she nods to herself, realizing shortly that each class period breaks down into a smaller chunk. It's probably something to do with the limited number of teachers on staff. And a free period with two meal breaks makes the eleven hour day seem at least a little shorter.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2012 15:03
|
|
|
Anna There's enough pizza in Anna's belly, greasemonster and merely greasy, to make her feel like she won't be able to fly for at least a week. With all of her energies devoting themselves to digestion too, it feels like a good time to go to sleep before sleep comes to her. So, she picks herself up and tucks her wings neatly one over the other, and leans over to close up one of the empty boxes. And then Ms. Caida begins to share her story, and Anna sits back down to listen. It sounds familiar, powers manifesting in high school, accidents and acts of petty pique, and Anna feels a note being plucked in her being as she finds herself sharing a smile with Ms. Caida. The feathers sprouting from her back and the stubby beginnings of wings were frightening at first, freakish even, but she'll never forget the night she snuck out to the park and took to the air for the first time. But then the tale turns darker: frustration, anger, acting out and causing harm: that carries a pang of familiarity as well. Only the beginning of the descent, Anna listens as Tabby's life goes further awry. What if-- would she have done the same thing, if push had come to shove? Her stomach turns at the tale of the Hulk, his offense and Ms. Caida's retaliation, and she remembers some rear end in a top hat at school slipping and spraining his arm. That hadn't been her, had it? And then Ms. Caida's tragedy reaches its catastrophe. It's almost impossible to reconcile the bright, bubbly woman with someone who had killed several people, intentionally or not. Almost, but how close had she come to doing the same thing? How many stories are there of people being brained by sandbags or spotlights, and people being trampled in a race to too few, too narrow exits? That's why, when some of the other girls start cleaning up, Anna hurries to catch up with Tabby before she retires to her room, and gives her a hug. There are wings involved too, in a somewhat awkward, sort-of-like-a-cape gesture. "I'm glad you're here too," she confides to the (slightly) older woman, before letting go and returning to help with the culinary aftermath. --- HP added to my first post.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2012 22:21
|
|
|
Anna Yeah, well, Ms. Caida's room is at the end of the hall on the first floor, and Anna's pretty sure none of the other girls were watching, and she's not going to tell, so there's no need for either of them to be embarrassed. And she meant what she said; it's good having someone who understands in your corner. Anna heads upstairs and unpacks just as much of her bedtime stuff as she needs, then hits the hay. It takes her a while to get comfortable: it's an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar space, and her wings keep getting in the way as she tosses and turns. Eventually, sleep claims her. The alarm rings all too soon, rousing her from bed and into the bath for a quick shower, followed by a quiet plod downstairs. The scent of food, not just reheated pizza or a school cafeteria's meager spread, meets her halfway down. She hangs back in the kitchen doorway for a short while, staring around at the buffet arranged on virtually every flat surface. Ms. Caida didn't do all this, did she? Anna steps closer to read the note near the grapes. No, apparently not. Vzzz! Tires spin at the end of tiny electric motors and clever little servos, carrying... well, if Mickey Mouse had his own branded lunar rover, this little thing would look very much like it. Anna stares as it rears up on its hind wheels and stretches out like a cat about to claw the upholstery... and orients itself to roll up the kitchen island as if the furniture exerted its own gravity. She puts a hand against it, just to make sure that it doesn't. "Gym's first?" she asks muzzily, not having memorized the schedule yet. Protein, then. A couple of sausages, a bit of eggs, a slice of the pizza so it doesn't go to waste... hmm. What'll they do with all the food that's left over? There's enough to feed two houses, probably. Maybe some of the other girls have higher metabolisms? "Probably regular gym. The state probably makes it mandatory for schools. Might be different for the girls who can throw medicine balls overhand though," she opines. --- Oop. Added 1 HP to first post.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 11, 2012 02:57
|
|
|
Anna "Aw-waw-wah?" Anna's jaw hangs open and wags loosely, impersonating a Sesame Street alien. It takes a second for her to translate, even after Rickie continues on about super-names. "Oh! Albatross!" She smiles, and there's a shrug with a tilt of her head for small emphasis. "Better than 'I'm So Raven!' at least." Anna sets to noshing after she finds a fork in one of the drawers. Crystal's question comes as she's polishing off a sausage. "Probably another helping for me. Eat like a bird, you know." Bieeanshee fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Sep 12, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2012 03:42
|
|
|
Anna What?! Anna looks toward the clock. "Aw, dammit," she says, grabbing another sausage before hurrying out.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2012 19:13
|
|
|
Anna Bolting the last of her breakfast, Anna runs across the small campus and fights an urge to fly the rest of the way. It'd be faster, but she doesn't know what the rules are about flight, and even if one or two of them got there before the others, the House would lose points as a group. They might lose less points though... if the gym instructor wasn't the scary-as-heck Purple House mistress. Anna decides to keep running, looking back every so often to the girls behind her. The gym is a lot bigger than she expected, and appointed more like an athletic club than any school gymnasium she's ever been in. There looks like there's more than enough weight machines and stuff to keep all of the Houses occupied at once, maybe looking forward to more Houses, or expecting girls who can duplicate themselves. The majority of her curiosity is focused on the area surrounding the climbing wall, with its three stories of open air. Maybe they'll let fliers practice there? It's a little cramped, but it'd be better than nothing. The basketball court, or gym-gym, or whatever the technical term might be is occupied by what Anna presumes is Red House, but fortunately for whatever reason not the teacher. She hasn't got a really good look at any of the other girls at the school yet, and in the first moments of meeting some she has to struggle to drag her gaze away from the quiet, psychedelic gal. Smiling a bit as she sees Rickie and her paint pals try to make friends with the blue-eyed girl and her charges. Crossing mental fingers, Anna keeps checking out the other House with polite curiosity... until her gaze falls on Jean. Her first feeling is one of inadequacy: Jean's wings are bigger, her plumage is a more neutral shade, she has proper hair without any feathers to get mixed up in a brush. Anna's next is a smile, because... because! Because this is the first person she's met who presumably knows what it's like to spread your wings and take to the air. Anna wiggles her stubby-clawed fingers cautiously and introduces herself. "Hi. I'm Anna. Do you know what the rules are about flying around here?" she asks Jean, unconsciously puffing her plumage out.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 17, 2012 04:14
|
|
|
Anna Blurty and blurry, Bo grabs Anna's attention and drags it around the knot of other girls. They're Red House, right, that's what it said on the list! There's Bo, and there's Jean again, and Gabrielle on her forbiddingly billowing flame, and Seren with her tan(?) and luckily normal looks, and Alice with her tiny farm, and Samantha, who Anna only manages to look away from again when Jean swats Bo as she waxes even more enthusiastic. She flinches and winces, though it doesn't look like a very violent gesture. She looks back to Jean when the other girl begins to speak to her. "That's what I was wondering about. I want to get exercise, but I don't want to make the teachers angry, you know?" Ms. Frost would be able to easily confirm she wasn't trying to escape, but rules are rules are definitely rules when you're in a gilded cage of a prison. Anna flickers a smile as she tilts her head back and forth in short, sharp motions. Anna's smile returns, bright as her eyes. "I saw you too, but I almost got in late to the assembly, and then everyone--" ran screaming "--split up and went to their Houses, so I didn't get a chance to say hi." She tosses her head, a shrugging motion and suggests, "Maybe they were thinking 'birds of a feather' flocking together." That might have been nice, sure, maybe. She chuckles, then raises her eyebrows when Jean compliments her wings. Black pinions lift and spread subtly as Anna feels a little rush of pride and disbelief. "Mine? Oh, no way! Yours are bigger, and they've got that cool, natural pattern. I'm just like, you know, monochrome."
|
|
#
¿
Sep 19, 2012 05:40
|
|
|
Anna "I hope so! Threat of having to fight fruit flies for airspace is bad enough." The pun could be worse. There could have been schemes hatched together. Anna looks back at one wing, rather down and to the side as she lifts it forward. "I guess so. But if I want to wear anything over them, I have to buy in Nonexistent Varsity Boyfriend sizes and wear a trenchcoat over that," she says, turning to the side to show how feathers still poke down past her waist when her wings are folded in tightly, unless she hikes them up high. "I either get to be the Raven, or Hop-Frog." Anna smiles though, turning back to Jean. "Okay, uh, if mine are 'cute' and 'small', then yours are 'proud' and 'majestic', which is why they're always standing out." She nods in complete agreement with herself. A chirp of a giggle accompanies an idea. "Ever tried to dye your feathers?" The self-described raven looks over at the other girls tossing the ball. "We should probably join in, shouldn't we?" asks she, dubiously.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2012 21:14
|
|
|
Anna Running out of bright sides to show and ways to deflect Jean's friendly envy, Anna resorts to a wan smile and nodding. She strengthens her smile and waves off the other flyer's flirtation with defensiveness. "I get what you're saying. I don't get it as much, but... still." Anna skips an allusion to growing up and filling out, instead laughing sympathetically at the image of mauve feathers splotted with pink. Blunt Trauma finally arrives, or appears, popping up at the perfect moment to catch that ball and save Anna from having to decide between running her conversational repertoire even thinner, or abandoning Jean to join the others. Laps around the gym on pain of angry, really big teacher who could probably snap her like a twig wins with no context... though five of them, right after breakfast? She's going to feel this by the end of the class.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 26, 2012 00:15
|
|
|
Uh-oh. Athletics -1. Running is for the other birds.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 26, 2012 18:19
|
|
|
Anna They say that even with hollow bones and prodigious lung capacity, it takes a lot of muscle to carry a body aloft. Anna... doesn't have that, though she is startlingly light. A slow start leads to a slow progression, which leads to a muffled groan as Bo laps her. By the time Anna finishes, her wings and legs feel like dead weight, threatening to stay right where they are instead of sloughing off like good little masses of misery. Her feet... oh god, her feet. The less said about her feet, the better. Lined up with the other Blues, she takes deep, deep gulps of air. Criminals? Well, yeah, technically. And there would be people outside who would never accept an apology for what Anna did. Not that arguing with Ms. Sanders would help. She seems to be half irresistible force, half immovable object. Everyone outside wants to kill them? That's... right, Trauma's probably one of those ex-Brotherhood people. Anna schools her eyebrows to stay down, but disbelief is hidden behind a faintly green wash of nausea. Trauma's going to teach them to kill people? On purpose? ...because she's right. Half right. Not everyone outside wants to hurt them, but there are a lot out there who do. Anna stifles a noise as she crouches down and stretches out, keeping her wings straight and aligned down her back. Even before she pushes up the first time, her toetips feel like they're going to tear through the front of her poor trainers.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 29, 2012 01:38
|
|
|
Anna It's tempting to just drop flat on the floor after the twentieth pushup. It'd be theatric, drat it. Ms. Sanders would probably give her more, or take points from the House, so instead Anna carefully folds herself backward, arms throbbing and bangs matted down with sweat. And now situps. Stifle that whine! She can probably smell fear. Anna weighs the risks of asking a question, then goes for it. Fate is usually on her side. Except when it isn't. "Ma'am? Should I pretend my wings have fallen asleep?" Anna asks. She doesn't know what might happen to them if she had a nullifier put on, but neither wants to think about those things or rile Ms. Trauma by making her think about them.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2012 04:05
|
|
|
Anna Anna briefly smiles thanks to Crystal, but returns her attention to Ms. Trauma. Good advice, but apparently not what she was looking for. She nods and chirps a thank-you to the teacher, then returns to sitting, silently glad for the few seconds of rest between exercises. Owing to their relatively small size, Anna folds her wings as tightly against her back as she can and starts her situps. It's hard, even from the start. She hasn't done the things, the stupid things in ages, not since before her wings began to grow in. They're awkward like this, and it's increasingly uncomfortable as she hoists herself forward and shifts slightly, making sure she doesn't crease any feathers on the way back down. Because of that, each repetition takes slightly longer than it otherwise should, and when she does finally finish it's noticeably longer after the others.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2012 03:29
|
|
|
Anna She made it. Did she make it? Oh, she made a mess at least. Anna nods and manages to croak out an affirmative to Ms. Trauma. First she'll take a minute to survey the damage and allow her muscles a fantasy of rest. And turn to look at Rickie when the teacher singles her out next. "Hooooooly crow," Anna says, a smile stretching some of the few muscles that haven't been terribly abused over the last hour. "Andrew Lloyd Webber, you can go eat your heart out, because we've got Rickie and the Amazing Technicolor Gym-Clothes!"
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2012 19:42
|
|
|
Anna "You're using your wings?" Anna asks Jean. There's a cringe in her voice. "Um, if you want to make a pile, I'll scoop them up and put them in the trash," she offers. Toward the discussion, Anna suggests, "Maybe she's a hardass who knows how to modulate? Whatever it is, I'm going to try and stay as far off her bad side as I can."
|
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2012 03:15
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 17:39 |
|
|
Anna Anna crosses her fingers on the flying front, and waves the Reds goodbye. Just meeting up after classes would be cool too, though. You can see too much of people sometimes, not that her fellow Blues have given her any reason to be prickly. "Yeah, let's go. Maybe we'll get a chance to scope out the next group before the teacher arrives." She smiles at Cecilia. "I wonder what they're going to start us out with. Maybe Little Women." Snerk. "Les Mis."
|
|
#
¿
Oct 13, 2012 23:23
|
|