Coile

All that and I decided to pull Numina duty later on as well.

The Commander's puns and jokes really were each bit as legendary as I had been lead to believe. Too bad that Coile missed most if not all of them, but I had a good chuckle.

It is within possibilities that Coile will show up, provided that the visiting hour in Talos jail is over by then.

Andre's journal has moved and for now is part of Nightsparrow's Scrapbook. In practice I make the journal entries and comment on the paper clippings. Sparrow makes the pretty pictures and thus far the clippings as well although I may start contributing to writing them too.

With Melanie in jail and trial pending it is left for Andre to keep the diary up to speed.

(( Jiffy's round of interviews are on a small break. The biggest obstacle is that the interviews require IG time and currently that is scarce. The main reason for this is that Melanie (Nightsparrow) was arrested in her and Andre's (Coile) wedding and there is no immediate resolution in sight. As the risk of getting a jailtime conviction is real I better play characters that can affect the situation meaning mostly Coile, and if Jiffy is about, he has a vested interest in this as well.

By the by, I usually try to avoid getting my characters too much involved in each others' affairs or at least defaulting into helping each other. Enmity or polite distance are my preferred ways of handling the relationship between whichever of my two characters. However there are times when they IC just would work together because nothing else would make sense. Now I have ended up in a situation where both Coile and Jiffy are working towards the same goal. *grumble*

Jiffy will resume the interviews when I have the OOC time for it, which is around the time that Jiffy has IC time. Or was it vice versa? ))

[ QUOTE ]
((... someone's going to be a little cranky!))

[/ QUOTE ]

(( You don't say?

I'll write a recap, hopefully, but atm I'm swamped with a meeting. So, here's what people do, today. I'll neclect discussing events from last night and leave people to draw all the conclusions they like from the setup presented...


In the morning around 8 am Coile gets out of the bed and gets his combat armour on. No shower, no breakfast, just a quick goodbye to Nadia.

Then Coile phones to Cobra and asks about Melanie and if she can be negotiated to get out.

After this Coile contacts Omega commander and informs him that they have a new member who accepts the agenda. A meeting is set up for later.

Around 10 am Coile will go to Diana's school and learn she is not there. Worrisome. Extremely. He will whisper into the winds Keening Banshee's name and ask her to meet him in Atlas Park. They will go outside Bright apartment and Coile wants Aria to feel Diana's presence, and teleport her out on the house's roof. This is effectively a kidnap.

After Diana is sorted out one way or the other Coile goes to see Melanie.


Elsewhere in the city Zirgei locates ND-Nightsparrow who is duly offlined. For the time being. Also a Hand of Andros teleconference is held.


Jiffy will commence his investigation on how this arrest came to be right then and there. Coincidences happen to other people. He has some contacts inside the police and even if he rues to admit it, he also has a contact in Inquirer's staff like in most papers in the US. Detective Byrd's claim that the tip about Nightsparrow's identity came from Inquirer is tested.


Somewhere in the city a girl awaits a call from Fiona Sinclaire. She has a story to tell. No action goes without a consequence. Sometimes it just takes that much longer for the impact crater to form. ))

(( Apologies to those who attempted to take part in the wedding celebration in Pocket D last night but as we all know there's no such carefully crafted OOC plan that can't be hosed by sudden IC actions.

Last night Nightsparrow's past caught up with her. PPD came to arrest her and the character that could maybe have prevented it was not present. Thus a short lived escape attempt ended in surrender and the bride was locked up. At this point the groom sort of forgot to turn up in Pocket D. (Although someone popped by to inform the guests.)

Just to mention, I had no prior knowledge of this developement and that's the way I like it. Granted it changed the plans for the rest of the night considerably and surprised some thirty people, give or take, but this is how it should be. Out of the blue, between the eyes. Some of the things that were planned will now never materialize, and some were set in motion carrying on until the inevitable end, be that whatever.

All in all an exciting evening and I went to bed after half past four. More coffee please. ))

(( Regarding the ceremony. If folks have the time, there's no fault in arriving an hour early and socializing with those who are early too. For example with Jiffy and Zirgei that is the best time to meet anyone. They will be firmly in the background most of the time otherwise.

Pocket D in another chance to meet the alts but they'll have only a little screentime even that way. ))

(( Takes place in the early evening on 20.1.2007 ))

Family Bright

The front door was intimidating. It did not look particularly malevolent but still Coile had this uneasy feeling down in his gut about approaching it. It was almost a herculean task to reach the doorstep and it took an additional effort to force his hand to knock. Then he waited.

A woman with blond hair and classy dress opened the door. "Yes?", she said and held the it barely wide enough for Coile to see her eyes. "Mrs. Bright? I am Coile, Andre Kraft. I called." The door was allowed to open more, cautiously and under control. "Yes, you did.", she said. "Come on in, please."

Feeling being under utmost scrutiny Coile stepped in wearing his full Silent Tempest combat uniform and looked around. What he saw was a regular apartment that was tidy. The lack of pink surprised him, and put a definite dread into his mind. Diana's room was bound to contain all the pink for one whole apartment. A tall, skinny man appeared from the living room with his hand extended. "Welcome, Mr. Kraft", he said in his sharp business suit. It was clear that Coile was in presence of people who took care of appearances.

"What can we do for you, Mr. Kraft?", asked the woman. They stood side by side blocking the entrance further. Coile cleared his throat. "It's about your daughter, ma'am. Diana." The shift in mood was immediate and noticeable. A touch of worried concern descended on the parents. The man motioned towards the living room. "Why don't you step inside, Mr. Kraft? We were having coffee."

Coile nodded and followed the pair into a room filled spaciously with antique furniture, a few carefully selected paintings and a bookcase filled with decorative plates. In a central position was a velveted showcase with trophies and medals. Without asking Coile knew them to be Diana's from the time she competed in archery. There were many.

While he took a seat the woman walked to a cupboard and took out an extra cup and a plate. They looked like what he would describe as fancy. Rare. Expensive. Precious.

"You can call me Andre.", he suggested. Seeing the matter at hand he wanted to cut down the level of formality as much as possible. There were uneasy smiles and wary glances exchanged between the master and mistress of the house. This sudden familiarity was both enexpected and unwanted, but forced on them nonetheless. To avoid appearing rude, heaven forbid, Diana's mother lifted her hand for another half-hearted shake. "Jane.", she said. Diana's father smiled with a touch more sincerity. "Nigel.", was his reply.

Coffee was poured while silence stretched towards a point where someone was oblidged to say something. They were staring at him. Coile lifted the cup full of steaming hot coffee to try and sip it if only a little just to have more time to figure out where to start. He had known it would not be easy but not even Diana's warning had prepared him for the polite distant superiority he was now facing. Jane spoke first. "What about Diana? Is she in trouble?"

"Oh no, nothing of the sort!" He wanted to dispel any misuderstandings as quickly as he possibly could. "She is doing fine, she is fine.", he continued hoping it would sooth his present company. It did not. Nigel looked directly at him and intoned, "Why don't you lay out the facts Mr. Kraft and after that we can see what kind of a situation we are in?" This spoke volumes of his conduct in big business. Present your offer, if it is not satisfactory, off you go.

Coile had considered multiple angles to go about this, make a speech about heroism, laudate the efforts of the younger generation, draw parallels between school achievements and results one got on the streets, or even just congratulate them on how wonderful a child they had who cared about the world and everyone in it. Each approach felt so terribly inadequate now. He would have to sell his case.

He had no clue how. "I am the leader of a supergroup called Silent Tempest. It has been going on since last May and we have accomplished things." This was a part of one angle that he had rehearshed in his head. "Your daughter Diana is in my team as Love Angel and she has been doing a terriffic job." They wanted facts, he would give them facts. One upside of not being completely on the level all the time was that one could bypass hindering formalities like sound explanations without much care and just present the bottom line. Much like Nigel had asked.

His piece said Coile fell silent and awaited for a reaction. Any reaction. From either one. Either at all. Any other reaction than the disbeliving cold stare that he got from them both. The lack of voices dragged on and somewhere in the room or in the house or in the world a clock was ticking away seconds. The scene reminded him distantly of the time he had gone to meet Nadia's parents to tell them that their girl had died in an avalanche.

Jane was shaking. Nigel drank nervously more coffee. While it was not unreasonable to deduce by how they sat or stood or acted that Jane was the leading figure in the family she was now simply too shocked to take the initiative. Finally Nigel spoke. "Are you telling us that our daughter is some kind of a licensed hero?"

A nervous smile was the only thing keeping the growing feeling of panic at bay. Coile fought to maintain it while he assessed just in how deeply he was over his head here. Jane and Nigel were people who were used to getting what they wanted. Their world was in order because they would not have it any other way. Now there was a breach, a breach uparalalled in severity and magnitude. Their secure and secured world was suddenly being shaken from beneath the base stone.

It was like handling an over-saturated solution. The liquid was clear and serene but the slightest shock could start the lightning fast crystallation sweep over. In the worst case the whole decant glass could burst apart.

Coile nodded.

A shock.

"My daughter will not be a hero!" Jane was now standing, leaning her hands on the table and shaking not a bit less than before. "Heroes are people with too much time in their hands, parading around in their ridiculous costumes." She was looking straight at Coile and was not fazed at all by the fact that he was wearing a costume. "They are generally uneducated, ignorant, juvenile delinquents or freaks with delusions of grandeur and they most certainly are not proper company for a girl who should be studying hard and planning for her future." She drew breath.

And continued. "As for you Mr. Kraft I cannot begin to describe your irresponsiblity in this! Taking along a minor without the consent of her parents, subjecting her to numerous dangers, risking her life and most importantly risking her future by allowing her to waste her precious time in expense of these frivolous pasttime activities."

Coile opened his mouth. He was not allowed to say anything. "I am not finished." Now she straightened her back, the flair of defining the world around her taking over once more. "This will cease immediately. You will cease all associations with Diana and tomorrow we will have that idiotic hero license revoked. She will stop wasting her life in folly. Is this clear, Mr. Kraft? She is no longer a member of your organization."

The silence felt almost cacophonic in his ears. Coile wetted his parched lips and tried to shake the sudden terror out of his mind. This was too important to get clogged down now. "She has been doing a wonderful job and we are proud to have her in. She has helped many people, saved lives. And she studies too, she really does. This does not take away from her studies."

Before Jane could present a full fldged rebuttal of such nonsense Nigel cut in. "Mr. Kraft, while Diana's grades are decent at the moment they are declining. Or will. I have discussed on one occasion with the headmaster and it seems like Diana has some problems concentrating in class. As if she did not sleep enough. Now I think I see why. If such continues, her grades this semester will drop, and her chances to get into a good university will lower significantly. Her investment into future until now will be in vain."

"NO!", bellowed Jane, face now pale and almost contorted. "Her grades will not drop because these lies and shenanegans will stop here and now! Curfew at seven. Grounded for three months. Oh no, if she can not control herself then her parents have to fill that role."

Earlier in the day Coile had pondered what was the worst that could happen. He had thought of many scenarios but this exceeded his wildest speculations. Even in the worst case he had thought he could sway the parents to see that Diana was doing an important job and she was being a responsible girl about all of his duties. This catasthrope was just so unseemly that nothing had prepared him for this. He was fast losing a team member and more importantly the contact to a dear friend.

He stood up. So did Nigel. As Coile had made sure that Diana was out of the house it was left for him to defend her position. Standing up like this was very foreign to him but if there ever was a situation where it was needed it was now. "With all due respect she is adult enough to make her own choices. When she came in she was a bit of a kid but she has since shown just how capable she is. I would trust my life into her hands any day. She is a great hero and saying she shouldn't be doing that is robbing her of a chance to make the world a better place. You can't stop her!"

Jane's voice became a shrill shriek tainted with the mother's primal fear for her child. "She will stop! She will, or I will throw her out. My daughter will not be a hero!" Nigel Bright looked at her wife and opened his mouth to voice an opinion. Maybe he declined to say anything. Maybe his opinion was the silence. Finally he said, "Mr. Kraft, you would better leave now." His voice was quiet, sad and defeated. Jane's eyes had a wild look and the arms were trembling, that hard she was gripping the back rest of the chair.

"Get out!", she snapped coldly. And that was that. Nothing Coile could say would now change a thing. He turned around and walked to the living room door. One glance backwards into those cold blaming eyes. There was hate there, hate for destroying Diana's life. Or maybe Jane's own life. The only thing that could salvage the situation was if the parents accepted that their daughter now would not grow up just as they had planned.

The outside air was refreshingly chilly. Coile breathed deeply and his head started to clear. This had gone so wrong. But he had done his best. Right? It was the stuckup parents who had turned it into a nightmare. Anyway it would be up to Diana now. She could convince her parents that she was making the right choices. That, or move out. Nadia could use the company. If that didn't work, there was the his and Melanie's penthouse too.

If Diana's parents maintained their stance she just would have to grow all the way up very fast and decide her future for herself. It would be rough, but not really that bad. She had friends. How bad could it be, in the end?

(( Takes place 20.1.2007 ))

Face of evil

Traditionally the room would have been shrouded in deep shadows with ominous whirrings emanating from the machinery. The form present would have been crouched over a monitor or a crystal ball whispering mad words to no one in particular. However times change and so does the face of evil. Sometimes so much that in the end it becomes an excercise in futility to try to define evil itself.

Zirgei Kraft was sitting relaxedly in his reclining chair and sipped whiskey occasionally. He had a tobacco jacket and his hair and moustache were as black as ever. A perfectly enviable theaterical level surround system was playing soft jazz and out of the sixteen monitors on the wall ten was on. Nine had a head on it, the tenth was displaying a football game. Paragon City 49'ers versus Pittsburgh Steelers, the current champions. The rest were on but displayed only the letter A surrounded by a circle.

Two heads were talking in rapid success. They were arguing. Zirgei paid attention only so much that he appeared to be listening. This was the beginning of a meeting and this dance had long since become a permanent feature in the coreography. This time they were bickering over hardware wiring. Ever since Darksparrow had shown to Zirgei how to speed up his machinery these two computer experts had had a divided vision whether or not it was a feasible solution in the long run. Zirgei smiled by himself. Baby sparrow. Her scan data had been most intriguing.

Three minutes had been wasted and Paragon City 49'ers had got a touchdown. It was attributed to Samuel Blayne. Zirgei checked his notes and nodded. The bet was going well so far. Michel Sanders cut in. Dark skin, golden yellow hair combed half over her face to create an image of shyness. She was nothing but. "Stockmann! Kawamura! Enough! Continue your disagreement later. We have matters to discuss." Everyone fell silent instantly.

Michel continued. "Kraft, you called the Hand of Andros to convene. What was the reason?" With a flick of a finger Zirgei activated his microphone. "I have analyzed the preliminary data from our time traveling friend. It seems likely that Darksparrow was enhanced partially with the ND technology. Her own account suggests that my son will enhance her to ensure her survival." He kept a small pause noting that Magnus Strong was paying special attention now. That was expected.

"There is also evidence of your work present, Magnus. The cybernetics in baby sparrow remind me of the eye plates you made for my children. She needs to regulate her power flow just as my son. Your work will live on fifty years into the future." They both smiled. It was a goal for each of them, to see their work and accomplishments as scientists and inventors outlast themselves by decades. "Which reminds me.", continued Zirgei, "My son contacted me this morning. He took last night to a hospital a girl that he thinks has also energy output regulation problems. First name Nicole, license name Royal Flush. He asked if I could make her an eyeplate too if she needs one." It had been decided to leave Zirgei's children to think that it had all been their father's inventions.

Magnus nodded his bald head and almost flung his thick glasses to the floor. "I will consider it. I am currently working on something." Michel cut in again. She had a tendency to compress the meetings and was the almost sole reason that they lasted only a finite time. "How is your operational ND unit performing, Kraft?"

Now Zirgei had to think just how much to reveal. And how much to keep to himself, for now. "There are performance issues with the ND core embedded in the positronic brain. I will go to Paragon City to my son's wedding tomorrow. I will take a look at ND-Nightsparrow at the same time." There was, he reasoned, no need to share what exactly he thought was at fault with the ND unit. A purged memory core would work as an explanation with baby sparrow and so it would with the Hand of Andros.

Ontario's Voice spoke, represented this time by a still image of Max Headroom. "What of Steel Guard's replacement? We need a foothold in Paragon City." Michel agreed. "Losing Irons was a hard blow. You claimed your offspring warranted monitoring, Kraft. Is this under control?" Once again Zirgei weighted half truths and omissionable facts. "I have enough surveillance presence. Do not worry." There was now less need to monitor the events with Andrea gone. Such a shame.

An old but yet ageless Delhian man lifted his gaze. An outsider would have said that he had been sleeping but the group knew that Ken Sawaputra had just been biding his time. "Leave Irons's replacement to me. I have it covered. I will present a name for a review in a week." Three sentences. It was acknowledged that Ken had now done his part of the meeting. From now on he would listen only.

It was Kawamura's turn to speak. "I have now three operatives trained and prepared." With the Japanese businessman it was likely to mean conditioned. "Have you recruited yours yet, Kraft-san?" There was a slight nervous vibration in the fingers holding the whiskey glass. "My son is not yet ready. He will need the approval and backing of his woman. It should be easier with Melanie, his Nadia was too restrained and unpredictable. Give it more time, first the wedding. Then I will talk to them." His hopes had been with Andrea. Now they rested with Andre.

"Is there anything else to talk about for now?", queried Michel. No one said a word. The Max Headroom image came alive and soundlessly shook its head. "We will convene when needed.", she concluded. "A for Andros." All the screens went black with the red anarchy-like emblem shining on them. Zirgei finished his whiskey and got up. Maybe he should travel to Paragon City already tonight. There were quite a few affairs to tend to.

(( Growing feeling of flu allowing I try to manage a whole lot of interviews tonight. The next time will be next week as Coile will be a tad busy during the weekend.

The scope of the article is underage heroes, so basically anyone who started out before 18 years falls within the limits. ))

[u]Easily obtainable information about Jiffy.[u]

Name: Jiffy Blakes (original given name Jeffries, has been officially changed since then)
Age: 45 years (DoB 15.3.1961)
Marital status: divorced (ex-wife Beth Masters, re-married)
Employment: reporter for 'Heroic Affairs' section of Daily Coment, columnist writing 'Ground Zero' that is published mostly in Daily Comet
Appearance: gray hair in ponytail, smokes cigars non-stop
Career: Jiffy's own resume states 30 years worth of experience in journalism. No degrees in school. Has worked all around United States as well as elsewhere, most of the time for US papers. Some awards for his work, nothing too big or prestigious so far.
Quote: "Pulitzer. If not this year, then the next."

(( 18 is too old, sorry. And this angle is a heroes only thing. I usually login around 19-20 GTM and log out when I have no alternatives left.

Depending on what is going on I can log Jiffy in, but he is not a priority as such. I aim to gather enough material during this week and the next.

Thank you for the interest and let's see what time I can meet you all (one by one). ))

The word spreads that Daily Comet's reporter Jiffy Blakes is interviewing heroes who are not yet 18 years old for an article. He has been seen frequenting Pocket D on a few nights weekly but his phone number and email address are freely obtainable from Daily Comet's web page.

There are a few columns by Jiffy Blakes under the heading Ground Zero available too.

(( People interested in this should either reply here, send a PM or contact me IG by sending a /tell to @Coile. If you don't get a reply to a /tell, persist. There are technical difficulties. ))

I'd like to add that Militia are a nice bunch of people and they keep having a lot of fun. Forum is active, the SG is active, creativity soars and overall their community spirit seems to be top notch.

Strongly recommended.

Been a while since I tried to recap anything. Writing the journal has taken some of the creative juices and just trying to juggle a whole lot of characters takes its toll. Let's see what we got. Again, this is either from my point of view and in some cases from the characters' point of view and thus hardly the unbiased truth.

Lightspeed love! (Coile)

"Would you do it with me
Heal the scars and change the stars
Would you do it for me
Turn loose the heaven within"
- Nightwish

Considering Coile has no superspeed he sure is moving fast. When Nadia Forester (Sword of Truth) walked out of their apartment in mid-December without a promise of marriage something fragile inside him cracked. Never having been independent and insecurities plaguing him he was looking for certainties that the woman he loved could not give to him at the time. When the door closed an era came to an end. For the first time in his life Andre Kraft felt to be alone.

Things were piling up. Nadia walking out. Kitia dying. Visiting his old home on the robot farm refreshed memories of an abusive girlfriend. Love Angel found out that Coile's sister Coila had been a construct instead of a born human and that the ND-units that had taken care of Andre and Andrea since they were babies were no mere robots at all but contained the personality emulation of their dead mother. Add a confession of love by Nightsparrow, mix carefully and let simmer over Christmas.

Andre was hellbent on fixing his life, thinking things through and making choices. But as it was the home was no place for this. Too many distracting memories. Prior to leaving Paragon City for the funeral a pale white girl Kacey (Stormrise) had asked if he wanted to go to a scuba trip to Caribbean for new year's. That sounded to be ideally away from everything and everyone. However the few days in-between were spent in Paragon City and that's where Nightsparrow was too. A kiss was exchanged. Then it was time for deep waters and deep thoughts.

It was working. An underwater hazard situation occurred and with one affirming tap from Kacey Andre managed to follow a set of instructions he had gotten just two days ago. Remaining calm he offered a woman who was stuck in seaweed his oxygen to keep them both breathing while he cut away the restaining strands. This lead the rescued woman to come to Paragon City as ShadowWoman and offering her help to Silent Tempest. Another proof of a development was seen when Andre had to share the bed with Kacey and to up the stakes she chose to sleep naked. At an earlier part of life this would have sent the guy in sheer panic and probably through the door but now he had collected enough wits and guts to have a level approach to uncomfortable situations.

The plan was to finish the scuba trip, then go back home to confront his father Zirgei and ask questions about his mother and machine sister, then go offer his old girlfriend Emmily a chance to get into a theraphy and finally go to Madison to meet Nadia in order to see where they stood now. Oh well, the best made plans of simian bipeds and cheese consuming rodents. A call came.

It was Melanie, Nightsparrow. She had left things unsaid. She wanted a family. She wished for a marriage. She hoped for children. During those few seconds all the myriad plans, chances, options and alternatives started to shake and collapse. When the world had turned only one path remained, clearer and stronger than any other. It was a path to a life where he would be happy. If other options would have offered the same was no longer a question. The next day Andre flew back to Paragon City and became an item with Melanie.

The quest still remained, just that instead of going alone he now had a woman by him. The direction was back to North Dakota and the childhood stomping grounds. The first order of business was to seek out Emmily and get her some help. It went wrong. While Andre went into Emmily's room to talk Melanie remained behind the door, listening in. Emmily had never been quite right in her head while Andre had known her. When they had last seen each other Andre had run from her accompanied by various curses. Still Emmily had thought that they were still together. Now it dawned on her that it was not so, Andre was leaving her. A pull of a trigger and Andre went down like a bleeding sack of potatoes. Melanie crashed through the door and kicked Emmily to the head once. Broken neck, dead before hitting the ground after hitting the wall.

The wound was almost fatal (much dice were rolled to keep the uncertainty element in) but doctors succeeded in what they were good at. However a prank stemming from intuition had lead Melanie to claim Andre could cause a quantum burst if his plate was removed. This lead him to be shipped back to the farm when the immediate danger to his life had been negated. After two days of delirium and caretaking by Melanie a "Freedom Corps" healer came by, using Zirgei's weirdass equipment and took care of the slowly healing bullet wound. The bluish show of light and energy was seemingly quite painful and tempted Melanie to interfere with the process at one point, causing yet unknown effects (and another dice roll of D100 that was just 4 points shy of something very very bad). However, healed, they both returned to Paragon City with no confrontation with Zirgei having taken place.

Returned to Paragon City where Nadia had also returned. An encounter on Talos beach was full of deep hurt, anger, shouting and tears. Once again goes to show that you can't necessarily fix something that has been broken. The evening ended with a downer. However, as much as the dreaded confrontation had caused hurt it was now over and the situation with Nadia had been resolved, or at least was known. The uncertainties were abolished. There was nothing to stop the new couple from going at their own speed now.

That same night Melanie got pregnant (I just have to mention that we used an outsider GM to determine if it was a "hole in one" and will be using the same system for all pregnancy related mattters). The next evening Andre went on one knee presenting a ring and a proposition which Melanie accepted. Some days later Xan (Star Crusader) did a bloodtest and concluded that Andre and Mel were now a family of three. This fact was broadcasted loudly to all in Pocket D immediately and then the news spread fast. Nadia didn't take it all too well. The building emotional turmoil caused her to faint a few days later which resulted in Andre spending the night by her bed although he had the wits not to be in it.

Now the fast paced dash towards something that hopefully is happiness is reaching another landmark with the wedding coming this Sunday. Some have suspected that the wedding is of the shotgun variety due to the pregnancy. Some have wondered how long such a rebound relationship will last. Some have wondered would Nadia take back a man that has caused so much hurt and damage if there was yet another change of heart. Lots of questions, lots of speculations and only the future will show what will be.

The latest thing to take place is both Andre and Mel getting a job with Hero Corps. Mel will be teaching martial arts mostly to fill her days now that her vigilante days are over due to the pregnancy and Andre will be a sort of councelor to upcoming HC recruits with as of yet undefined scope of responsibilities.

Things unmentioned: Xan will be the family doctor as well as a godfather, Diana (Love Angel) will be a godmother and Nene Ninnezt will officiate the wedding.

Shakedown! (The Silent Tempest)

"Time pays us but with earth & dust, and a dark, silent grave."
- Nightwish

Having barely adjusted to the fact that Kitia was gone another tragedy hit from the blind. Thomas Irons, Steel Guard, committed a suicide by shooting his brains out. The poor man had stayed detached emotionally from the team since the beginning but Love Angel's membership some two months back proved to be too much. The young, energetic girl reminded him too much of his dead daughter, the Silver Sentinel who had also worn an armour and had perished in the Rikti war.

Finally the festive season and induced extra loneliness had gotten to the drunkard who chased his maid out, went to his study and held both his and Silver Sentinel's helmets on his lap. Facing a painting of his daughter Thomas took the small firearm and left this world. Goodbye, Steel Guard.

Other roster changes to occur were Phiseeque taking a leave of absence following the death of her brother and induction of four new members, namely Hand of Sorrow, Kitalia, Mesoc and ShadowWoman.

On the current agenda is holding a charity ball to start a foundation that the Silent Tempest will be running. A proposed link to a rather shady plan by Lady Cobra of using such an event to get a district attorney to drop charges against Nightsparrow was discarded when most of the Tempest saw it as unethical and perhaps also criminal.

Future imperfect! (Coile, Zirgei, ND-Nightsparrow)

"This is the birth of all hope
To have what I once had
This life unforgiven
It will end with a birth"
- Nightwish

During the following days Coile ran into a teenaged girl in Pocket D who displayed similarities in features and manners to his wife-to-be. When he learned that the girl's callsign was Darksparrow alarms went up. Just a week before Melanie had told of two kids in Militia who supposedly came from the future where they knew a girl who was a granddaughter of Andre and Melanie and was also following on the footsteps of her grandmother. Coincindences exist but some of the things that the girl was saying were confusing and finally Number Nine's scan of the girl exposed her true nature of a time traveler. From fifty years into the future. Same as Tygerboy and Juniper.

Andre made a leap of faith and concluded Darksparrow to be family. A threat to life by him from previous night transformed into a pledge of allegiance and reluctantly Darksparrow revealed more things. Yes, she was from the future. Yes, Andre was her grandfather. Her name was Angelique Kraft. In the future Nightsparrow's consciousness would be transferred into an AI construct and Andre himself would be officially dead in the Rikti invasion. According to rumours he would be alive and work behind the scenes, committing deeds that were both good and bad.

The future would be a dark one where a new Rikti invasion would demolish much of Earth's defenses and the following Jondahl invasion would decimate both Rikti and mankind to near extinction. The Rikti invasion would start due to someone opening a wrong portal. There was also a persisting rumour that it would be Coile who brought the Jondahl to Earth to wipe out the Rikti and at the same time cause the humanity to be overrun. Angelique was not certain but she also thought it was Coile who gave her her cybernetic enhancements to help her regulate her powers that would otherwise kill her.

Coile was immediately reminded of the work his Omega Task force was conducting right now in the present day, opening portals to different worlds in order to hunt new information on the Rikti. The situation with Melanie being made an AI was very similar to what his father had done to her mother, except with technology that was fifty years more advanced. Despite being just a load of uncertain rumours and flimsy assumptions all this cause Coile to start brooding about possible consequences of the actions her took and actions he did not.

Angelique needed to see family Kraft's grand old man Zirgei and Andre provided her the means and directions to make it happen. When she got to the robot farm a new unexpected chain of events was pushed into motion. She bartered with Zirgei and information was exchanged, one of the most important facts being that Darksparrow carried the compressed AI of Nightsparrow in her head. She needed a mainframe where she could load the AI so that her Caliburn 14 unit would function with full power without the AI hogging a lot of resources. Zirgei promised parts for the mainframe from himself and others in the scientists' network of his, the Hand of Andros. However, he had also a better offer to make.

Following Kitia's death and Kitalia's emergence Coile had asked his father to construct an ND unit for Kitalia to take care of her. When he learned that ND's were no robots but representation of his mother he was shaken, and the newly constructed ND-2+ had a major faul in it. It contained only the last memory imprint of the previous ND-2. That was from the time when they left for paragon City the last year and the ND that accompanied them had been ND-3. Now ND-4 was lost in the world and the chronological memory cory was outdated. In other words, ND-2+ was no longer his mother. Her existence felt wrong. Andre demanded that Zirgei do not actiavte the unit. Zirgei had, for two weeks but now the unit had been offlined and wiped.

A host body that could sustain a true AI with a passing ability to emulate a personality. So it became that Nightsparrow AI was uploaded from Angelique's storage chip into ND and ND-Nightsparrow was born. Whether or not Zirgei and Hand of Andros would leave a time traveler and her very advanced AI to walk around unsupervised is left for the persons involved to be discovered. I'm however inclined to mention that an additional ND memory core was was detected within the unit. Also, Darksparrow's agenda is to prevent the dark future from taking place. it will be seen later if ND-Nightsparrow has her own goal to fullfill in the past. Much information from past years were lost so Angelique had not many details to offer and Nightsparrow AI has parts of her memories locked for some reason. What lies beneath is as of yet anyone's guess.

Now the very weird and unlikely mix of allegiances, promises of help and mutual co-operation between Darksparrow, ND-Nightsparrow, Zirgei Kraft and a probability affecting girl Chaos Augury is ready to start affecting the world with blissfully not fully informed Coile providing protection to his family at any cost.

Notepad, beer and cigars! (Jiffy Blakes)

"I only wished to become something beautiful
Through my music, through my silent devotion"
- Nightwish

A talk with Melanie "Merry" Nightsparrow made Jiffy want to write a column about underage superheroes and the responsibility of the hero community and the society. However his one viewpoint was proven to be invalid and the refocus has been taking place during the two - three weeks that the story has been cooking. The scope has long since spiraled beyond the Ground Zero and the finished work is likely to be a full blown article in Heroic Affairs. What is now needed is wider range of material and more kids to be interviewed at lenght.

On a peronal front Jiffy is just glad that the Juletide is over. The holiday blues got to him just as it got to Steel Guard, only with less suicidal results. Still missing his divorced wife from fifteen years back he found solace in massive amounts of alcohol and some deep conversations with his new drinking buddy the Merry vigilante who by the end got entangled in her romances and frequented Pocket D less than before. Good banter with other patrons of the said watering hole offered a plausible distraction and the article under works keeps giving the life some meaning.

The younger generations that carry on the traditional heroing in Paragon City are nice to talk to but not very attractive to a man nearing the fifty year landmark and preferring female company in his own age bracket. A pleasant surprise was an aging teacher Ms. Gale who had become a widow in the Rikti war, and even more pleasant surprise was her accepting an invitation to a nightcap with some, honestly, expected results. There are no guarantees of there ever being a second time, but in life there rarely are guarantees of anything.

Wild magic! (Winter Heart)

"I'm a priest for the poorest sacrifice
I'm but a raft in a sea of sorrow and greed"
- Nightwish

Mom missing for months? Tough. Still waiting for a court date for theft and assault? Distant concerns. Suspicious dealings with the shadier inhabitants of the most volatile city in the world? No worries as no one gets caught. A best friend getting dumped by a no-good boyfriend? The gloves come off, girlfriend! There is a certain grasshopper who better not come back or he gets his antennas ripped off as well as a few other unspecified bodily protrusions.

An upside of this rotten development was a move from a nice hotel into the vast apartment of a celebrity football star Samuel Blayne. There Pyranha and Winter enjoy the life in luxury while mending broken hearts and eating loads of chocolate. Nothing helps to forget a treacherous boyfriend quite like enticing company and a jacuzzi with all the works.

All throughout the weeks and months Winter has been studying, something she never was fond of in the school. Maybe that's why she and Pyranha dropped out and both sought their own fortunes, Pyr with her powers in Paragon City as a hero and Winter in a local drug house from which Pyr dragged her out of last summer. Well, slacking off is now a thing of the past. Having been taught word magic by Spellsong Winter has found learning an educational, and just maybe a profitable, activity.

Some would say it is a major disaster waiting to happen. They might be right...

Related material

PLEASE NOTE! Not all the links are suitable for everyone, and some bloody well are not recommended to be clicked without a good tolerance for adult material. Those will be specially marked with **.

* The Big L **
* Scrödinger's grandchild **
* Kraft penthouse
* Shards of A
* Journal of A
* Diana's secret diary
* CALIBURN 14 system logs
* Nightsparrow's scrapbook


These recaps cover more or less two weeks although older occurrences have been referred to in order to offer better understanding where decisions and opinions come from.

And yeah, I'm having a blast!

I can but blink in amazement. What catches me in every picture is the face. By sky goddess you have managed to create some very outstanding expressions. I think one reason is the lively eyes but something about the mouths too just clicks.

Moonshade
Am I imagining or do the legs seem a bit short? Be that as it may the hands are good and the pose as well. The mouth is done with only a few lines but somehow it's the best single detail for me.

Chiefette
This one bristles with energy. There is a story in that one picture. A thousand words, one just has to imagine them. Very classic superhero setting which is made original by the expression on her face.

Healing Spirit
Here the eyes set the scene. The pose and expression build on them. That guy has a mood and he's going to some place specific. Again a story behind there. Leaves me wanting to see the next panel in the comic just to follow up on what's he doing.


Catz, if you don't win Creative Genius from last month, you will ACE it this month. You have made wonderful progression as an artist and you're starting to be at a point where a commercial career could be one option. Keep at it, and keep getting better. Fame and fortune will be yours.

(( This invitation will be delivered to the following people by any conceivable means. If your character is simply unable to receive this, disregard.

TO: Nene Ninnezt, Star Crusader, Subaiku, Sword of Truth, Love Angel, Rakila, Dustine, Phiseeque, Kitalia, Dark Rose, Hand of Sorrow, ShadowWoman, Mesoc, Lady Cobra, Jessica Chang, Jiffy Blakes, Pyranha, Inago, Doctor Temporis, Chiaroscuro, Samuel Blayne, Odurson, Bettie Bimbeau, Honooko, New Moon, Keening Banshee, Stormrise, Amber Banshee, Vigilante Storm, Wild Child, Tygerboy, Gauisus Somnium, Silver Steel, Zirgei Kraft ))

<<<<< Invitation card >>>>>

(( There is also a public message available to pretty much anyone. ))

"Melanie Aveline and Andre Kraft wish to invite all of their friends and associates into Pocket D to celebrate their wedding this coming Sunday at 9 pm. The party will be held in second floor bar, blue side. Food and drinks will be available on the far end bar counter throughout the night.

- Melanie Aveline & Andre Kraft"

Was nice to meet John Wolf the wrestler and the Scottish plant man was a cool guy too. I hope to see you around, mate.

A Silent Tempest member Steel Guard, born Thomas Irons, has passed away.

Obituary in Paragon Times

His team has held a small memorial. There is no official word when the estate will hold a proper burial.

Rest in peace, Thomas. Sky goddess see that you get to where the dead go.

My list.

1. Pocket D. As a bar it became a somewhat natural place to quiet down and arrange to meet with people from both sides of the bank heist fence. I almost exclusively use the hero side bad, either floor depending on where the peeps I'm likely to interact have gathered.

2. The Silent Tempest base. It used to be that we only had weekly meetings there but the location has grown in importance. I've also used it as a fudge location for various indoors locs, like Andre's old home (Zirgei's study, Zirgei's workshop etc.) It's a good place to meet SG members to discuss things that are not to be discussed in public places.

3. Missions. For example clues and advances with Nadia being a clone plot took place on missions. There is a balance to the chatting while fighting but after the mission is done there is ample time to discuss what was found and RP looking for more.

4. Outdoors all over the place. Talos beach, the blue flower, Steel Canyon university park, Perez Park fudged to be any forest, random locations wherever where you can bump into acquaintances and complete strangers.

5. Stories. I sometimes gather facts, opinions and infos from others and then write a story about what happened. Allows for a good measure of descriptions that can make the scene come alive and be IC-wise very important to those involved. My case in point would be "Touch the Sky" were Sword of Truth seemingly perished.

Outside top 5.

6. Forums. A few RP threads, and a lot of PMs to settle what happened where and how.

7. MSN. Not my preferred medium but is more accessible than game engine and sometimes the only workable option.

Nothing wrong in making a new post and using more words, if you feel like that, Chiefette. It's great for the artist to hear ALL the reasons they are appreacited for. Too rarely people say what's good, usually it's just what's bad.

So, if you have good words, let's hear them. <smile>

What or who is Inny fiddling with?

What!? He turns 13 already? Conga rats, Jest me old mate!

Time for a new Jesty & Inny show?

Pistol's post makes me want to look around Pocket D for paparazzi as well as check my living room for a hidden webcam.

I thought Coile was more or less squeezed dry until the new year's issue about him pimping heroine look-a-likes. So I better not expect anything.

Maybe after he settles with married life he becomes too boring. One can always hope.

My nomination goes to Nightsparrow for her excellent Nightsparrow's Scrapbook. The actual Scrapbook can be found on Militia forum.

The Scrapbook is original and fresh. The creator combines In-Game events into nice graphics and produces material that makes the world come alive on a new level. The press coverage gives meaning to the actions that the characters commit and enhances the reality feeling.

I was personally very excited to get my character's picture into the Scrapbook for the first time. It gave him and the supergroup he belongs to a public face. Later on the character got entangled with various libelous claims that had some long running In-Character consequences.

I know that the Scrapbook has touched the In-Character lives of quite a few people and even more are aware of the material. To me the Scrapbook represents the current highest manifestation of CoX creativity.

This months long and still on-going creative work well deserves the attention and Nightsparrow deserves the Creative Genius title for her immense, dedicated and in-depth work.

Disclaimer: The following linked story is not for all ages or reader types. It contains a description of an act of sexual nature. If such things bother due to any reason please do not click the link.

A for Android: Schrödinger's grandchild

As a side note, afterwards an outside GM decreed that Melanie had been impregnated which gave the story's ending that much more meaning. The mentioned character Darksparrow is a possible granddaughter of Coile (Andre) and Nightsparrow (Melanie).

As per usual, feedback is welcome.