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jadedmusingsThis is just a draft of something I'm working on for a toon on City of Heroes. I'd love to rp with her, but we'll see if I can ever break into any rp group on Virtue rather than having it be a pipe dream.
It needs work and cleaning up and I'm mostly posting it here to see how it reads to me.
Aiode Emerald finished reading the short obituary and crumpled the special edition of the Paragon Times (it was titled: "Remembering the Fallen") between her hands. Black ink stained her palms as she squeezed and pressed the paper into an ever smaller ball until it was roughly the size of her fist. With a snarl she hurled the ball toward a burning trash bin. It missed, hitting the rim and bouncing onto the ground.
Well, what did you expect? The voice in her head was smug, heavy with condescension.
I thought they'd wait longer than a week. The dead haven't all been identified and it'll still take weeks to recover all the bodies, if they can ever get to them all.
How long was it before they sent you away to Galaxy City to be studied--oh, pardon me, to further your education and career? The only difference is this time they don't have to pay for the privilege of being rid of you, and they get to fool everyone into thinking their precious daughter died some sort of hero sacrificing herself in defense of Paragon City.
Aiode wiped away a sudden tear and didn't bother to respond to herself. Like it or not, her parents would derive some sort of twisted peace pretending she was dead. Or perhaps they did believe her to be dead; after all, there was so much destruction from the Shivan's initial attack and Lord Recluse's opportunistic maneuvering.
And in her more level-headed moments, when she wasn't busy feeling sorry for herself, she could place herself in her parents' shoes. As hard as it was for her, it couldn't have been much easier for them. Before her mutations became apparent, she'd had a happy childhood and wanted for nothing. Even her little brother had been a joy to be around and she reveled in her responsibilities as a big sister. Yes, life was great before she became a freak.
They tried to adjust, and it was easy to adjust when the worst that happened was a blown lightbulb or a fried television. They took her to research scientists, spoke to other mutants, and they even tried to help her practice controlling her powers. It worked for a time, but then she put her brother in the hospital after a fight over a video game. It didn't matter that it was an accident, that she hadn't meant to lose her temper. All she'd done was put a hand on his shoulder while angry, not realizing her anger was fueling enough voltage to effectively give him a massive heart attack. What mattered was that Josh nearly died and her parents were given the choice of sending their daughter to a place where she'd have less of a chance of inadvertently harming herself or others.
Logically she knew it was a hard choice. She knew in their position, she might have made the same decision, and it wasn't as if they didn't try to maintain a relationship with her. But it still felt like a rejection. It still hurt.
The so-called school she went to managed to meet her physical needs and the education provided was top-knotch. However, her emotional needs were ignored. Her instructors, the scientists and nurses, and her doctors all looked at her as different, as something other than human. In her time there she developed a strong empathy with lab rats and guinea pigs. She knew what it was like to be watched from behind a glass divider, to be put under a microscope and asked to run through mazes and obstacle courses.
Worse were the broken promises. She could go home for Thanksgiving if she showed X amount of control. At Christmas she could visit her grandparents if she managed to perform Y tasks. She applied herself, pushed her body to its very limits, and always there was some stupid excuse as to why she couldn't go home this time. Next time, she could go home. Next time she could see her brother on his birthday and teach him that song on the piano he mentioned in his e-mails. The trouble was, there never was a next time.
By seventeen, Amelia was escaping the facility whenever she could. She'd find her way to King's Row and developed something of a friendship with a few Skulls. The worst she did was smoke a few cigarettes and drink the occasional beer. For all their talk, the Skulls she hung out with rarely did anything. Once she spray painted her new name on the side of a building: Aiode Emerald. Emerald because it was her favorite gem and Aiode for the Greek muse of song, though later she realized she'd mixed up the order of the I and the O. She kept the name as it was because it was a little messed up, just like her.
At eighteen years old, a few months before what would be her senior graduation, she demanded to be released from the facility. Although she was failing every class (it's difficult to pass when you skip school three time per week), her instructors weren't thrilled with the prospect of another year with her. The staff eventually released her on the condition she join the GIFT division in Galaxy City and work with them. She agreed because she had no other way of making money, plus GIFT provided her with living space, tiny though it was. In her downtime, she was still going to Kings Row, occasionally popping into a karaoke bar just to remember what it was to sing in front of a crowd.
Her parents and brother sent the occasional holiday card or email, but their exchanges grew increasingly infrequent and impersonal. It wasn't possible for Amelia to keep her anger at them from leaking out, and after one spectacular screaming match over the phone with her father, she told them never to contact her again. Not even Josh, her baby brother she adored so much. They accused her of being selfish and mean, but the truth was it hurt her too much to speak to them, to be reminded of what she missed by not staying home.
Then came the Shivans. In a few short hours Galaxy City was reduced to mostly rubble. Chaos reigned and admist the confusion Amelia Candice Gibson, 22, of Galaxy City, ran headlong into a Shivan ambush along with several other panicked and injured citizens. In the official account--the one her family chooses to believe--Amelia used her powers to protect the others to give them a chance to escape to safety. Their numbers were too great, and she perished along with the others after being overwhelmed.
The truth wasn't nearly so heroic or fantastic. She fought out of self-preservation. Crappy though it was, Amelia wasn't eager to give up her life, especially not to invaders from another planet. Once a path was cleared, she barreled forward, not realizing she'd been followed by those who'd mistaken her for a savior. What happened next is still jumbled in her head, but she knows one of Paragon's precious heroes came to aid her right as another meteor fell and triggered a minor explosion. They were thrown by the blast into a cement wall. The hero was unable to push himself back to his feet having suffered a broken leg, possibly a hip too. He called out to Amelia for help.
Injured but alive and mobile, Amelia had a choice: help the hero to his feet and likely die at the hands of another group of Shivans heading their way, or flee on foot and leave the hero behind to slow the Shivans down. It shouldn't have been such an easy choice. It should have bothered her how little she cared for a fellow human being, but it didn't. After all, what had humanity ever done for her?
Things become a blur after that moment and it's difficult for her to ascertain what, precisely, happened. Later she learned the memory loss is probably the result of a head trauma. She knows she found an Arachnos evacuation team and, according to Arachnos reports, she killed one Wolf Spider and injured several others who tried to prevent her from getting to the copter leading back to Rogue Isles. Impressed with her desire to do almost anything to survive, a Fortunata assigned to the unit called off the attack and allowed Amelia, now Aiode Emerald as she told the pilot, to board.
In Arachnos, there's no rest for the wicked, and after only a day to recover Aiode received her first orders: help control the Longbow population in Mercy Island. For the first time, Aiode unleashed the full potential of her powers to conduct electricty and energy through her body without fear of reprimand if someone died in the wake of her destruction. Killing was encouraged. More than that, word quickly spread that Kalinda was watching her and there was speculation that Aiode might be one of the Destined ones.
Where her family shunned her and pushed her away out of fear, Arachnos welcomed her with opened arms. Those arms came equipped with knives and poisonous barbs eager to find purcahse in her back, but they were still open and still encouraging of her "freak powers" as she called them.
Let her family think her dead. Let them bury everything about her but her body. Who needed them anyway? She has a new home in Rogue Isles and a new family, or at least as close as she's going to get. And that body count that's piling up? She'll think about that later. Perhaps she'll even shed a tear or two. Maybe.
It needs work and cleaning up and I'm mostly posting it here to see how it reads to me.
Amelia Candice Gibson, 22, of Galaxy City, passed away September 13, 2011, during the Shivan attack. Born in Steel Canyon, Amelia relocated to Galaxy City in 2005 to further her education and career. At the time of her death, she was employed by GIFT. Amelia was a gifted singer and musician who wanted to share her love of music with the world. She was preceeded in death by her maternal grandmother Candice Wilson.
Surviving are her parents, Michael and Melinda Gibson of Steel Canyon; her younger brother: Josh T. Gibson of Steel Canyon; paternal grandparents: Hank and Deidre Gibson of Independence Port; maternal grandfather: Melvin Wilson.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the Galaxy City Survivors Fund in Amelia's name.
Aiode Emerald finished reading the short obituary and crumpled the special edition of the Paragon Times (it was titled: "Remembering the Fallen") between her hands. Black ink stained her palms as she squeezed and pressed the paper into an ever smaller ball until it was roughly the size of her fist. With a snarl she hurled the ball toward a burning trash bin. It missed, hitting the rim and bouncing onto the ground.
Well, what did you expect? The voice in her head was smug, heavy with condescension.
I thought they'd wait longer than a week. The dead haven't all been identified and it'll still take weeks to recover all the bodies, if they can ever get to them all.
How long was it before they sent you away to Galaxy City to be studied--oh, pardon me, to further your education and career? The only difference is this time they don't have to pay for the privilege of being rid of you, and they get to fool everyone into thinking their precious daughter died some sort of hero sacrificing herself in defense of Paragon City.
Aiode wiped away a sudden tear and didn't bother to respond to herself. Like it or not, her parents would derive some sort of twisted peace pretending she was dead. Or perhaps they did believe her to be dead; after all, there was so much destruction from the Shivan's initial attack and Lord Recluse's opportunistic maneuvering.
And in her more level-headed moments, when she wasn't busy feeling sorry for herself, she could place herself in her parents' shoes. As hard as it was for her, it couldn't have been much easier for them. Before her mutations became apparent, she'd had a happy childhood and wanted for nothing. Even her little brother had been a joy to be around and she reveled in her responsibilities as a big sister. Yes, life was great before she became a freak.
They tried to adjust, and it was easy to adjust when the worst that happened was a blown lightbulb or a fried television. They took her to research scientists, spoke to other mutants, and they even tried to help her practice controlling her powers. It worked for a time, but then she put her brother in the hospital after a fight over a video game. It didn't matter that it was an accident, that she hadn't meant to lose her temper. All she'd done was put a hand on his shoulder while angry, not realizing her anger was fueling enough voltage to effectively give him a massive heart attack. What mattered was that Josh nearly died and her parents were given the choice of sending their daughter to a place where she'd have less of a chance of inadvertently harming herself or others.
Logically she knew it was a hard choice. She knew in their position, she might have made the same decision, and it wasn't as if they didn't try to maintain a relationship with her. But it still felt like a rejection. It still hurt.
The so-called school she went to managed to meet her physical needs and the education provided was top-knotch. However, her emotional needs were ignored. Her instructors, the scientists and nurses, and her doctors all looked at her as different, as something other than human. In her time there she developed a strong empathy with lab rats and guinea pigs. She knew what it was like to be watched from behind a glass divider, to be put under a microscope and asked to run through mazes and obstacle courses.
Worse were the broken promises. She could go home for Thanksgiving if she showed X amount of control. At Christmas she could visit her grandparents if she managed to perform Y tasks. She applied herself, pushed her body to its very limits, and always there was some stupid excuse as to why she couldn't go home this time. Next time, she could go home. Next time she could see her brother on his birthday and teach him that song on the piano he mentioned in his e-mails. The trouble was, there never was a next time.
By seventeen, Amelia was escaping the facility whenever she could. She'd find her way to King's Row and developed something of a friendship with a few Skulls. The worst she did was smoke a few cigarettes and drink the occasional beer. For all their talk, the Skulls she hung out with rarely did anything. Once she spray painted her new name on the side of a building: Aiode Emerald. Emerald because it was her favorite gem and Aiode for the Greek muse of song, though later she realized she'd mixed up the order of the I and the O. She kept the name as it was because it was a little messed up, just like her.
At eighteen years old, a few months before what would be her senior graduation, she demanded to be released from the facility. Although she was failing every class (it's difficult to pass when you skip school three time per week), her instructors weren't thrilled with the prospect of another year with her. The staff eventually released her on the condition she join the GIFT division in Galaxy City and work with them. She agreed because she had no other way of making money, plus GIFT provided her with living space, tiny though it was. In her downtime, she was still going to Kings Row, occasionally popping into a karaoke bar just to remember what it was to sing in front of a crowd.
Her parents and brother sent the occasional holiday card or email, but their exchanges grew increasingly infrequent and impersonal. It wasn't possible for Amelia to keep her anger at them from leaking out, and after one spectacular screaming match over the phone with her father, she told them never to contact her again. Not even Josh, her baby brother she adored so much. They accused her of being selfish and mean, but the truth was it hurt her too much to speak to them, to be reminded of what she missed by not staying home.
Then came the Shivans. In a few short hours Galaxy City was reduced to mostly rubble. Chaos reigned and admist the confusion Amelia Candice Gibson, 22, of Galaxy City, ran headlong into a Shivan ambush along with several other panicked and injured citizens. In the official account--the one her family chooses to believe--Amelia used her powers to protect the others to give them a chance to escape to safety. Their numbers were too great, and she perished along with the others after being overwhelmed.
The truth wasn't nearly so heroic or fantastic. She fought out of self-preservation. Crappy though it was, Amelia wasn't eager to give up her life, especially not to invaders from another planet. Once a path was cleared, she barreled forward, not realizing she'd been followed by those who'd mistaken her for a savior. What happened next is still jumbled in her head, but she knows one of Paragon's precious heroes came to aid her right as another meteor fell and triggered a minor explosion. They were thrown by the blast into a cement wall. The hero was unable to push himself back to his feet having suffered a broken leg, possibly a hip too. He called out to Amelia for help.
Injured but alive and mobile, Amelia had a choice: help the hero to his feet and likely die at the hands of another group of Shivans heading their way, or flee on foot and leave the hero behind to slow the Shivans down. It shouldn't have been such an easy choice. It should have bothered her how little she cared for a fellow human being, but it didn't. After all, what had humanity ever done for her?
Things become a blur after that moment and it's difficult for her to ascertain what, precisely, happened. Later she learned the memory loss is probably the result of a head trauma. She knows she found an Arachnos evacuation team and, according to Arachnos reports, she killed one Wolf Spider and injured several others who tried to prevent her from getting to the copter leading back to Rogue Isles. Impressed with her desire to do almost anything to survive, a Fortunata assigned to the unit called off the attack and allowed Amelia, now Aiode Emerald as she told the pilot, to board.
In Arachnos, there's no rest for the wicked, and after only a day to recover Aiode received her first orders: help control the Longbow population in Mercy Island. For the first time, Aiode unleashed the full potential of her powers to conduct electricty and energy through her body without fear of reprimand if someone died in the wake of her destruction. Killing was encouraged. More than that, word quickly spread that Kalinda was watching her and there was speculation that Aiode might be one of the Destined ones.
Where her family shunned her and pushed her away out of fear, Arachnos welcomed her with opened arms. Those arms came equipped with knives and poisonous barbs eager to find purcahse in her back, but they were still open and still encouraging of her "freak powers" as she called them.
Let her family think her dead. Let them bury everything about her but her body. Who needed them anyway? She has a new home in Rogue Isles and a new family, or at least as close as she's going to get. And that body count that's piling up? She'll think about that later. Perhaps she'll even shed a tear or two. Maybe.
