They're not misadventures, they're her duties as monitor. =p=p=p=p=p

I raise an eyebrow at the "reasonably well" part and stare at her for several seconds. I have been known to intimidate actual angry grizzly bears with a glower.

Yeah, Sera will tell her parents about all of the various incidents, sticking to the most important details unless they ask for more. She's feeling quite taciturn due to Oltham's damning with faint praise.

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 951):

Mother harumphs.  You get a few "Well Seraphina.  That was a good effort. But maybe next time, try..." from Mother.

Dad is beaming at you.  He seems pleased.

Mrs. Oltham excuses herself.  Someone else has shown up and she has to go try to make them look bad in front of their parents now.

Mother cocks an eyebrow at the retreating woman's back and murmurs, "She must have her doctorate in passive agression."

"Pot...Kettle...have you met?"

Mother ignores Dad.  She instead gives you a smile.  If you didn't know Mother so well, you'd say it's an almost mischievous one.

"She seems very pleased with herself.  What do we do when they're too pleased with themselves Seraphina?"

Apparently we're nearing the 1000 post limit and I'm supposed to ask for a new thread. I didn't even know there was a limit. This is by far the longest RPoL game I've ever been in. Or any RPG I've been a player in, actually.

I diligently take notes on Mother's suggestions, out of a combination of habit and having little else to do while being belittled.

"We demonstrate why we are better than them," I reply to Mother. It's what she always told me, after all.

As irritating as Oltham might be, she was far enough beneath me that I haven't felt the need to knock her down a peg yet.

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 953):

Yeah, I noticed we were getting to the limit too.  I usually don't start a new thread until we either get to the 990s or we get to a spot in the story where the change over won't be quite as confusing.

Thanks by the way.  I've been blessed over the years to have good players.  So I've been able to keep some games running for long periods of time.

Mother nods.  "Exactly.  The only question is how to go about it?"  She looks over at you.  "Or did you want to handle it yourself?"

Maybe it's because I've only ever lived in my own head, but I think a good GM, like yourself, is more rare than a good player.

If I can admit weakness to anyone, it's the woman who gave birth to me.

Well, I assume she gave birth to me. At this point, I think it's possible I was a foundling. Or a faerie. Or a clone. Or something.

"I could use advice, I admit. I'm still not used to subtlety. It may never be my strong point."

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 955):

Thanks

Dad groans.  "Why do you have to encourage her?" he mumbles.  Though whether he means Mother encouraging you or you encouraging Mother isn't clear.

Mother ignores him.  She smirks and raises a finger.  "The first rule is...everyone has something to hide.  Wait here."

She disappears.

Then she's back.  Holding a small duffel bag.  "Took a while to find her address.  Here."

Inside the bag is a dress.  Not a normal one.  It's heavy on the sequins and too frilly to be believed.  You realize it looks like something worn by a five year old in a Miss Baby Beautiful Beauty Pageant.

There's also a picture.  Of Mrs. Oltham dressed in it.  She looks like a geriatric Shirley Temple.  And there's an old guy standing behind her.  With a paddle.

Dad rubs his eyes.  "You didn't just do this."

Mother ignores him again.  "Now what is the best way to make use of something like this Seraphina?  I want to hear your opinion."

For clarity, was Sera's mom able to enter Limbo without Sera being able to react reflexively to that?

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 957):

You could I suppose.  But, using the logic of the power, it's quite likely that by the time Seraphina acted reflexively, Mother was already stepping out of it.

Did you want to follow Mother in?

No, it's fine. I wanted to clarify how it worked. I recall writing that the time powers gave her impossible reflexes, but it's come up a few times now and been a narrative problem, so it can be dropped.

"This whole academy seems contrived to teach me to move away from hitting people and calling a debt settled and towards being sly."

I stare at the picture for several seconds. On the one hand, it's hard to believe. On the other, no it's not. The harshest people are often the most accommodating in their private lives.

"First, I would need to determine how exactly this would be a problem. Does it threaten her employment? Her social standing? Her image? Who is the man in the photo? Does it compromise him?"

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 959):

"Well I don't know the answers per se.  My guesses are:

"Maybe it could threaten her employment.  Depends on how it's used.

"Ditto on the social standing and image.

"No idea who the man is.  But he's willing to let himself be involved in leaving a record of their activity.  So he's either trusting.  An idiot.  A trusting idiot.  Or someone powerful enough not to worry about something like having this photo go viral."

Dad groans and reaches out for the photo.  "This has gone far enough-".

Mother snaps the photo out of his reach.  She shoots him that look.  You know. That look.  And clenches her teeth.

She's really angry.

"This is Seraphina's choice.  She should make it."

Dad says nothing.  He usually backs down when Mother gets this angry.  This time...he sort of doesn't?  Maybe?

He doesn't say anything.  But he stares back at her without flinching.

Finally he says, "Sure.  It's her choice.  We both agree with that.  Seraphina gets to choose."

Mother's facial expression relaxes.  She shrugs.  "Of course."

She turns back to you and smiles.  "So what do you want to do?"

We could just say Mother is the only one who can beat her.  Which would make some sense.  Mother is more experienced with the power after all
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 03:21, Tue 19 Sept 2023.

Well she's had her reflexes beaten a few times now, but we can say that if you want. It's your game, after all, and besides that, Sera's power is clearly rather different than what I initially thought it was.

In the inspirational material for the character, she only really came into her own after she had a direct confrontation with her mother and found out that her powers were stronger. But the relationship between my character and her parents is much better than the inspirational material character's was, which is neat. I've liked the surprises so far.

"I should keep it, but somewhere hidden rather than my room, unless and until I know how to use it." I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"They've taken it as a kind of personal mission to cause as much difficulty and inconvenience for people who want to help others as they can manage here. They're sticklers for rules unless they're not, and whether they are seems to be arbitrary. It would be foolish, if I want to make a positive difference in the world, to refuse to use peoples' hypocrisy and corruption against them."

Brief pause.

"Was there a voice in your head telling you not to go somewhere when you pinched those?"

It's our game.  Don't forget you have a say too.

It will be interesting once you master time travel

Also, couldn't you just store stuff in the Grayscale place/Limbo?  It'd be like your personal Bag of Holding.  Just an idea.


Mother looks confused.  "Voice?  What are you talking about?"

Dad looks worried.  "Have you been hearing voices when you...ya know...go into that time whatchamacallit place?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:50, Wed 20 Sept 2023.

Sera didn't originally know, and neither did I, that it was a separate plane of existence. I/she thought she was moving through a different time, not a different space, so if she left a box of stuff in place, it'd be there in normal time.

"Not specifically. There's some kind of psychic field thing that tells us we're not supposed to be there when we go places we're not supposed to be on campus. It works in the shadow world. I really need a better name for it than 'Limbo.'"

I shrug.

"Guess not."

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 963):

Good point on the bag o' holdin' idea.  Just thought I'd pitch it

Both of your parents seem to relax visibly.

Mother resumes her upright posture.  "Good.  Glad to know you're not going crazy.

"But no.  I heard no voice.  It must be something that only works on students.  It makes sense when you think about it.  Trying to cover everyone who comes and goes would be taxing, even for a professional psychic."

Dad nods.  "Most of the Head Cases I know all say stuff like that.  That it's easier to mess with one mind than a large number of people.  The more you spread it out, the fuzzier it gets.

"What I don't get is why they would do it like that.  I mean, isn't a warning like that the same thing as saying "there's something important here"?"

Mother looks surprised.  <red>"That's actually a good point.  You aren't as dumb as you look."</blue>

Dad just waves her sarcasm aside.  "Anyway.  Whatcha gonna call it then?  Your...uh..."over there" place?  If not Limbo than what?"

I don't know entirely how the power works and finding out is part of the fun, right? I'm just not sure how much I'm allowed or asked to dictate about it, especially after the reveal.

Anyway, it's a good idea.

"I want to try something."

I blip over to the...whatever it is, set a blank notepad down on a table, draw a stick figure on it, and then re-enter the regular world.

"Since I know it's not just stopping time now, I've got a lot of experimenting to do. And yeah, that warning is very much a 'pay attention to this' alert."

I think for a few seconds.

"I've always called it 'orthogonal time' based on the linear transformation I thought my powers were making between my own personal timeline and the rest of the world. It's not that, though. I just don't like calling it 'Limbo.'"

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 965):

Mother shrugs.  "Suit yourself."

The note pad disappears from where it was and reappears where you placed in OT I'm not going to remember how to spell "orthogonal" each time

But the stick figure isn't on it.

Mother notices the note pad.  She studies it, and then asks, "I'm assuming that was you.  When you moved the note pad, did you think about leaving it in the space?  Or did you just think about moving it to see if it moved in real time?"

*does the math dance*

"Oh, I plan to use it. I just don't know how yet."

"I wanted to know whether I could store things in Sideways. So I was thinking about leaving it there, in a way."

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 967):

"Hmmm," Mother hmmms.  "I think you need to be more deliberate about it.

"For some reason the drawing wasn't made, right?  Try to figure out why the notebook moved, but the drawing didn't occur.  You might want to check that the drawing is still there in...what did you call it?  "Sideways"?  Alright.  See if the drawing is in Sideways."

It is.  Just assuming you check real quick.  Mostly in order to move things along

As you step back out, the buzzer chimes.  Time to move on to the next class.

By the end of the day, Dad and Mother have grilled your various teachers and you about everything.  How is Seraphina doing in class?  Does she wear clean socks?  She's not hanging around any one weird is she?  Etc. Etc.

All the various parents and students start to move to the auditorium for the presentation.  From what you can gather, it's an awards program for scholarships granted to ongoing students from last year.  As well as the typical "see how great we are for your kid!" presentation.  There's a reception after.

As the three of you settle into your seats, you see that Nazi guy.  Edwin Kampf.  Herr Beil.  He's standing near the stage, speaking to some of the teachers.  They seem to be having a grand ol' time of things.

Mother stands.  "I need to use the powder room.  Save my seat."

Dad watches her go and then asks, "You dating anyone?"

Good assumption!

I'll need to try more experiments later. The chorus of teachers selling themselves, for whatever reason they feel the need to do so, is too much of a distraction to learn anything insightful. I take notes on my experiments anyway.

I used to take for granted that I had all the time I wanted, but that might not be true.

Does this mean ghosts exist without experiencing the passage of time?

"I went on one date. I'm honestly surprised I haven't had more admirers. Did I get less pretty when I wasn't looking?"

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 969):

Dad narrows his eyes.  "Who was he?  What family is he from?  He didn't try anything, did he? Who-"  He stops, pinching the bridge of his nose between two thick fingers and sighing.

"Sorry.  I kicked into mode there."

He looks up, glancing over to where Mother is.  He doesn't turn as he says, "Listen.  If you wanna leave St. George's, you can do so.  But I want you to stick with it for one year.

"And I know you want to...make a positive change in the world.  And I think that's great.  But I wanna ask you to do something for me.  Ask other people what they think a "positive change" is.  Anyone.  Everyone.  And really think about why they said what they said.  Just...think it over.  'kay?

"Since I'm on a roll, I don't want you to sign with any of the networks.  Especially Rigney.  You're smart as they come. But they're slick.  All of 'em.  You might wanna read up more on contract law.  And business psychology."  He pauses.  "The Sociology of Advertising too.

"Just to be clear.  I trust you to use your best judgement to make a decision.  But."

He looks at you now.  Dad looks very serious.  Like those moments on sit coms where there's no laugh track because one of the characters is telling another character they're an alcoholic.

"No matter how good your judgement is, sometimes it gets hamstrung cos you don't have the experience to back it up.  I just want you to get some experience before you make the big decisions.  You know what I mean?"

"Thanks for caring about me, Dad," I reply, sweetly. I make sure to smile. Sure, we both know I could throw any guy who "tried anything" at escape velocity, but that doesn't mean I can't indulge my father wanting to protect me.

"I don't know if I should leave. I don't like it here, but if this nest of vipers is how the world really is, I can't bury my head in the sand. I wasn't planning to sign with any agencies, but I'll be sure to remember what you said."

I shake my head in response to his question. "No, I don't, but I think that proves your point. How do I know what counts as a 'big decision?'"

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 971):

Dad considers your question carefully.  Then he says, "I'd say if it's something that will take up more than a week of your life, it's a big decision.  Deciding if you want to go to Hawaii might seem like a big deal, but at the end of the day it's just a vacation.

"Deciding to go to Hawaii because you want to study volcanoes would be a big decision.  That's an investment of your time and energy.

"I guess that's more a rule of thumb.  Sometimes the big decisions may seem like really small things. And you don't know they're big decisions until later on.  But you deal with the consequences and you find out they were worth it.

"Anyway.  I didn't mean to get too heavy.  Just do your best.  'kay?"

Before you can respond, there's a sudden loud bellow of feedback over the PA system.

A voice that's heavily disguised through a modulator comes on.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.  THIS IS NOT A PRANK.  BOMBS HAVE BEEN PLACED ABOVE ALL EXITS TO THIS BUILDING AND THEY HAVE BEEN TURNED ON...NOW!  ANYONE WHO TRIES TO EXIT WILL CAUSE A BOMB BY THAT EXIT TO DETONATE

PLACE ALL YOUR VALUABLES ON THE FLOOR AND THEN BACK UP AGAINST THE WALL.  YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS TO COMPLY...

There's a moment of silence before the crowd reacts.

Is this for real?

They're really trying this when like fifty percent of us are metas?

This has gotta be a prank.  Look for whoever's filming this with their phone.  It's probably a Tik Tok or something.

Dad sighs.  "Right.  This is the world we live in.  You wanna take a look around honey?"

I maintain my composure in order to not laugh at Dad's unintentional dad joke about volcano energy.

"Yeah, I understand."

Then a bomb threat.

Facepalm.

"We should."

Pause. Time to look around, I suppose. I pull Dad into Sideways so he can help. It wouldn't be the first time.

In reply to Seraphina Martel (msg # 973):

Most of the crowd are kind of confused.  They really can't seem to figure out why anyone would try this.

Dad looks around.  "I can never get used to this place.

"Alright.  I guess we should look to see if these bombs are real or not."

Surprisingly, they are.  You find one right away.

It is set up over a fire exit.  Built into the signage that reads EXIT

Dad studies it.  "I'm no engineer.  But I've taken apart enough of these to at least be able to say this is pretty sophisticated.  I think it will do what they said it would do.  Motion sensitive."

Every exit you check has one.

"Hey, ghost guy who follows me. You've invisible in the material plane, right? Can you move stuff? Ghost-i-kinesis or whatever?"