In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 171):

Mom looks at you with an odd expression. Like you had just said you were converting to Catholicism or joining the army.

But she shakes her head, scrunches up her eyes, and mutters, "Fine.  Maybe it's for the best.  That way we can know for sure."

The Doctor nods his head.  "There's some paperwork to do.  The test is actually a series of tests.  We'll draw blood and get a urine sample.  But there will also be some interviews that have to be done."

Mom just glares at him and then says, "Fine.  Get it all done."

She takes a deep breath and looks at you.  She doesn't look pissed.  Just worried.  "You hungry or somethin'?  I can got get some nachos or stuff."

When his mother doesn't look mad at him, he lets out a breath of relief. But, he then nods emphatically, sitting up a bit, "That'd be awesome."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Sat 14 Nov 2020.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 173):

She brings you some Doritos and an egg salad sandwich from the clinic's cafeteria.

The doctor keeps you overnight, mostly to collect 'samples' for your testing.  You are dischargerd about 10 the next morning.  Mom keeps you home from school.  She talks normally, but doesn't say a lot.  She's upset obviously.  But when she doesn't want to talk about something, trying to talk to her about it is like speaking to a brick wall.

The hospital calls.  They set up your first round of interviews this coming Saturday.

Levi texts you.  "Someone said you got struck by lightning.  What gives man?"

"I thought it would be faster than that," Tyler comments, when his mom tells him about the appointment. Otherwise, he doesn't bother trying to talk to her about it. He knows that look.

I did! A ghost led me outside, a car horn made me jump and then it happened. The doctor thinks I might be a meta. Don't tell anybody! I think so too. Lots of weird electrical stuff has been happening around me lately, not even counting the ghosts.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 175):

Meta?  U?

There's a long pause.

U gonna get a cape and become Captain Turdburger?

There's another long pause.

Dude. You sure this isn't just all that stuff about

Your phone goes dead.  Just shorts out.

Tyler blinks, then sighs as he realizes what might have happened.

Still, it could be anything, and he knows how much trouble he'd be in if he took it apart to see. So, he takes it out to the living room, "Mom, my phone just died... Like totally, not just put off battery. Can you check it out please?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Wed 18 Nov 2020.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 177):

Mom sighs and takes the phone, giving you the fish eye as she does.  Obviously there's some mistrust at the moment.

She stops after a while, frowning.  "This shorted out.  Were you recharging it or somethin'?  Maybe there was a power surge."

She sighs again.  "Okay.  Well good news is the insurance should cover it.  Bad news is you won't have a phone for a couple a' days."

She tosses the phone back to you.  "You were backing up to the cloud, right?"

Mom frowns harder and then pats the sofa cushion next to her.  "Okay.  Let's get this outta the way.  I'm not thrilled about you doing these tests.  But you do have the right to make the call yourself.  Fine.  But I don't want you telling anyone until we know one way or the other.  Either about getting hit by lightning a second time or the testing.  'kay?"

She studies you a moment.  "Is there anything else I should know?"

For a moment, Tyler looks almost as dejected at the death of his phone as he might a puppy — if he had one. That lightens a bit, at least, when he's reminded about the backups, "Oh, yeah, it's automatic."

Of course, that still leaves the frustration about why it happened.

He sits down beside his mother, then, but he's silent for a moment at the question. There are so many things he wants to tell her, to talk to her about. But, as soon as he thinks about saying any of it, the thought of her hating him rushes back in.

Finally, he says, "Why don't you want me to be tested?" He tries to ask the question calmly, as if he's just curious. He can't really keep the emotion out of his voice, however.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 179):

Mom studies you a long moment, and then reaches over, tousling your hair.

Her voice has a little bit of sadness to it.  "You..."

She shuts her mouth for a moment, takes a deep breath, and opens it again.  You can't hear her because there's a loud crash outside.  Glancing out the window, you see the sky is still kind of dark.  It sounded like thunder.  Another damn storm maybe?

She is staring at her hands when you look back.  Sensing you, she looks up, smiling sadly.

"Sorry.  Just got weepy there.

"I don't want you to feel like a freak is all honey.  You're so bright and funny and great.  But I know you've gotten picked on.  I'm always wonderin' if I should have skipped you a grade.  And now...

"I just don't want you to feel like you're different.  Ya know?  Like you don't belong.

"I'm a Mom.  Moms worry about that stuff."

Tyler is hit with so much relief that he just grabs his mother in a tight hug. (Not that hugs are all that unusual for him. Unlike many his age, he hasn't yet grown embarrassed about showing affection.)

He leans back after a moment, sniffling and wiping his own eyes, but says, as much trying to reassure her as he's looking for reassurance himself, "I'm different already, but it's okay. I do belong anyway, with Levi and Reggie and the everybody from drama. I... I was just scared you'd hate me if the test..." He trails off.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:15, Mon 30 Nov 2020.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 181):

"Idjit..."  Mom returns the hug.  "I could never hate my beautiful boy."

She wipes tears from her eyes.  "Okay.  We're gettin' all weepy and girly.  Why don't we go get some ice cream?"

She goes and washes her face and the two of you head out.  She probably means for you to go down to Nasty Burgers.  Despite the name, they make good sloppy burgers and make great homemade ice cream.

"Who is this Reggie guy anyway?  You told me a little bit about him.  But not much."

And just like that, Tyler is happy again. Smiling brightly at the offer of ice cream, he says, "Yeah."

Totally forgetting that the storm in the sky might be an issue, Tyler happily starts to talk as they walk after the question, "He's my partner in physics, and in gym class. He's huge, when I first saw him I thought he'd be a bully, but I think he's the nicest kid in school. He builds robots, really cool. He isn't as good at designing circuits, I was helping him rewire a robotic arm the other day, but I learned from you and he had to teach himself."

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 183):

Mom stops.  Her eyebrows knit together as she thinks a moment.  "Big guy who likes robots?  Wait..."

She stops just meters away from the Nasty Burger door and taps on her cell.  After a few moments she shows you a Google search.

There's a photo of Reggie.  He seems a little younger.  And meaner looking.  The caption under his photo reads

Boxer/Robotics Prodigy Cleared of Negligent Homicide Charges. Questions Linger

"Is this the guy you helped with the arm?"

Tyler frowns as he sees the picture, and says, "Yeah, but... Why would they think he killed someone? He hurt someone, he said, after his coach gave him some drug, but they're still alive and he's trying to invent something to help them. He won't even go near boxing anymore, scared he'll hurt someone else."

This is all said very fast and defensively, trying to get ahead of any objection his mom might put in.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:30, Sun 06 Dec 2020.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 185):

Mom sighs and pats you on the head.  "All I'm saying is what was in the paper.

"Here.  You can read the article yourself."

She starts to hand it over but then stops.

"Just remember baby. Just because something is in the paper, doesn't mean it's true.  Or that it's the whole story.  I brought it up cos I was worried when you said the name.  But the way you reacted...well.  I'm guessing he's been nice to you.  So I probably shouldn't have.

"You should make up your own mind about people.  But. Sometimes people act nice and really aren't.  You know this kid better than I do.  Decide for yourself if you want to read about it or not."

Reading the story?

Tyler had been reaching for the phone, but at his mother's words, he pauses, considering it. It takes him a few moments, as he struggles with the right thing to do, but finally, he lowers his hand. "It's too much like listening to rumours. I know who he is." He still looks curious, but he seems convinced he made a good decision.

Though he forgot earlier, in his excitement, he does glance up towards the sky now. When he was upset, the storm started, but there's been no thunder or lightning since he cheered up, and he only now is noticing it.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:06, Thu 10 Dec 2020.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 187):

The sky does look like it is clearing up.  Maybe today will be good weather after all.

Mom decides you guys will eat lunch there as well as ice cream.  The burger is a good, greasy mess.  The fries are still hot from the fryer.  And the ice cream is perfect.

---

Later that evening, Mom says she's taking a bath.  She'll take a long hot bath with Epsom salts and flower smelling stuff once a week.  It's her 'me time'.  Whatever that is.

There's a bunch of knocking on the front door.  A peep out the peep hole settles your mind.  It's Levi.

"What the fuck dude? Didja ghost me?"  He nudges past you and sighs.  He doesn't know about your cell phone. "Lemme bunk down here tonight man."

His Dad must be on a tear.

"So go back to what you were tellin' me."

"'Course not. My phone died on me, mom says it was a power surge. I didn't tell her it wasn't plugged in. And yeah, you can always stay."

He closes the door, locking again, then leads Levi to his room, so as not to disturb his mom. Then, he starts to talk, with some excitement, "Anyway, yeah, things like that phone were happening to me all week! A few days ago someone touched my shoulder and got a huge shock, and I didn't feel a thing, and I'd just been touching a metal ladder, so any charge should've grounded out! There's been other weird, electrical stuff lately too."

He sits down on his bed as he continues, pausing for breath for only a moment, "I decided to test it out and did the whole 9-volt to the tongue thing, and I didn't feel a thing! But then a ghost appeared, I think the blue guy that I remember seeing from that day in the summer, he led me outside all Lassie-like and there was a whole crowd of ghosts out there! They kept looking between me and the sky, and then a car horn honked and made me jump, and the next thing I know I was waking up in the hospital. Soon as the doctor that I wasn't hurt, he wanted to start the meta testing. They took some blood, and then I'll go in and answer a bunch of questions next weekend."

His story completed, he finally stops talking. For a moment, anyway.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 189):

Levi looks at you with a look he sometimes gives you.  Like you're an alien or some guy from Uzbekistan who's showed up and started speaking...whatever they speak there.  Uzbekian?  Uzbekieze?

Anyway.  He's looking at you strangely.  When you finish he shakes his head and peels off his coat.

"So you're seein' ghosts huh?"  He scratches his chin.  "I wonder if I am too."

He walks over to your window and looks out of it.  He points to a woman across the street.  She seems high or something.  She keeps walking into a light post like it isn't there.  She seems pretty banged up by it.  Her face is all purple.

"You see her?"  He waits for your answer.

"She followed me all the way over here. I stopped and asked a cop.  Cos she seemed kinda freaky.  He told me he didn't have time for jokes.  Cos he couldn't see her."

Levi is quiet.  He gets quiet like this when he's freaked out.  That usually happens when his Dad really smacks him around or when some of your classmates try to set him on fire.

Third grade was not a pleasant experience for either of you.

"Don't take this the wrong way.  But I hope this is all just cos we're high or somethin'."

Tyler stands up and moves to look out the window and then gives a serious nod. "Yeah, I see her. I think something happened to both of us this summer. The first time we got hit by lightning."

Seeing that Levi is freaking out, he grabs his hand to offer reassurance, like he has since they were small children, and says, "Yeah. Maybe we are, maybe someone poisoned the water supply or something."

After a moment, he continues, though keeps his grip on his friend's hand as long as he seems to need it, "But, that's what the testing is for, I guess. I didn't even tell them anything, yet, just the fact that I was hit by lightning twice and wasn't electrocuted was enough that they wanted to test. Mom freaked out, but I said yes. Getting struck by lightning is annoying. If it's true, maybe they can help me. And I really don't want to keep frying my phones," he adds, giving a tiny bit of a grin.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:07, Sat 12 Dec 2020.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 191):

Levi studies you a moment and then looks out the window at the woman.  When he speaks, he sounds like he's somewhere far away.

"Well.  I don't wanna get poked at or stuff.  So don't mention me when you do these tests, 'kay?  I'd rather stay off the grid for as long as I can."

'Off the grid'.  It's something his Dad will rant about, even when he's not drunk.  How long has it been since you've been to Levi's house now?  Two years?

Levi turns away, punching you in the shoulder.  "Anyway.  I hope they don't find out about your secret power of making smelly farts.  Cos you can cut some mean ones ya know..."

I was going to move us on to the meta testing unless you had something you wanted to touch on first.  We will be skipping about four days in game world time.  Thanks

Tyler gives a quick nod and says, "Yeah, I wasn't going to mention you unless you wanted me to. Promise." He says this last word as if it had all the seriousness and weight of an oath to the court not to lie.

Then, at the joke, he laughs, and says, "I do not!"

I'm good to jump forward!

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 193):

Friday, Mom takes you downtown to a big building near where the government buildings are.  It's not a hospital, which may or may not surprise you.

The two of you ride up to the twenty third floor and take a left out of the elevators.  There's a glass door that reads

OFFICE OF META AFFAIRS.

There's some other stuff, but Mom is pushing the door open before you can read it.

The two of you settle into a waiting room after Mom checks in at a desk.  There's a man reading a magazine.  He has an eyepatch over his right eye.  From under the eyepatch a soft white and red light seems to glow.  Across the room, a heavy set woman frowns at the ceiling.  She mutters to herself as she waits with her arms crossed.  You can hear a few snatches of her ramblings.

"...oh. So they  powder the angel's wings and make tea with it to cure rheumatoid arthritis? I wouldn't have thought that would work..."

A young family sits by themselves.  Between the mom and dad, a girl maybe about five is sitting, watching her shoes as she kicks her legs back and forth. The girl's hair is on fire.  She doesn't seem to be in any pain and the fire emits no smoke.  Her parents take turns glancing down at her with worry spread all across their face.

Finally a woman with glasses hanging from a chain around her neck comes out with a clipboard.  "Tyler Thompson?"

She smiles at you as you come up.  She nods when Mom gives you her name and then replies, "Yes.  I'm Candice Kardell.  I'll be handling Tyler's test for today.  I will be testing him alone, but you can wait in the area I told you about over the phone."

Mom frowns but nods.  She touches your shoulder. "Okay.  Go with Candice honey.  I'll wait for you.  Be good."

Candice leads you down a hallway and into a small room.  There's a short table, two chairs, and some boxes set to one side.  Candice sits down in the chair furthest from the door and puts her glasses on her face.

"Okay Tyler.  Thanks for coming in.  Now.  What I'm going to be doing involves some psychological and risk factor testing.  I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions and ask you to look at some things.  It does take a little while, but hang in there.  'kay?

"But first," Candice sets down the clipboard and takes her glasses off, letting them hang off the chain.  She gives you a big, friendly smile. "Why don't you tell me what you think about all this?  Tell me what's been going on and what's been happening.  I've read the reports and talked to your mom.  But I want to hear what you have to say about it please."

Feel free to just give me a summary instead of a long dialouge block.  I just mostly need to know what you don't tell her.

Thanks

In the waiting room, Tyler tries but can't quite hide his curiosity at the girl with the fiery hair. Otherwise, he just fidget nervously while they wait.

He follows after Candice at a more slow pace than his normal, showing his nerves, but once in the room her explanation seems to relax him.

"I feel... Scared, I guess? Not for me, but what if it happens again and someone's standing beside me?"

Further relaxing with her cheerfulness, he tells her almost everything, as he's been psyching himself up to do all week. Starting with his memories of that day in summer, the blue guy and Levi - though not by name - saying he was glowing and the feeling of being wrapped in cotton, all the way to frying his phone and noticing the weather changing with his mood.

The only parts he leaves out are Levi seeing the ghosts too, and breaking into a crime scene. The former because of his promise, and the latter because he doesn't want to go to jail.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:49, Tue 15 Dec 2020.

In reply to Tyler Thompson (msg # 195):

She makes a lot of notes as you talk. She then glances at a file sitting at her elbow.

"Your medical said there wasn't a history of epilepsy.  That sound right?  You ever have seizures?  Or black outs?  Or moments where you smell things that aren't there?"

She listens as you say no and then picks up one of the boxes.

"Okay.  Now, we need to do some testing."

It's mostly intelligence testing stuff.  Like you've had before.  Candice smiles and nods quite a bit.

"Well that's fine!  You are smart young man!"  She puts away the tangram puzzles she had you completing and picks up a different, smaller box.

"Okay. Now we're going to move to some tests that might seem a little strange.  But part of the tests are for...situations that we can't attribute to genetics.  Okay?"

She opens the smaller box and takes out a small ring.  It's just a band of what looks like bronze with a black stone set on it.

"Put this on please."

The ring is very cold to the touch.  It looks too big for your finger, but it slides on tight like it was a perfect fit all along.  You notice the black stone seems to be more a bluish color.

"Good. Now set that hand flat out on the table.  So I can see the stone on the ring.  Good.  Good."

She taps a finger beside your hand.  "This ring is kinda special.  The short version is:  if you lie about anything, the ring will suddenly glow red.  Go ahead.  Lie about something."

She smiles at you gently.  If you tell a lie, the ring glows a sudden red.

"See?  Now I need you to keep your hand on the table please."  She reaches back into the box and pulls out a pair of brass knuckles.

You are pretty sure that is what they are.  They are definitely made of brass and, as she slides them over her knuckles and makes a fist, you are positive that she has just put on a pair of real, honest to goodness, brass knuckles.

She smiles at you.  Though it seems a bit less...friendly...than it was when you started.

"Now. Answer my questions quickly and confidently.  Are you planning on killing anyone?"