A fantasy addict triggers with the world's most inconvenient Tinker/Thinker combo, and finally gets a chance to use all those fencing and HEMA classes she took in high school. In a city infested by nazis, human traffickers, Fury Road rejects, and Max Anders's All-American hero team, maybe what Brockton really needs is a knight in shining armor.
But be wary: with great knowledge comes great clarity, and sometimes there's a reason no one looks behind a curtain. Maybe, just maybe, it might be better that the stagehands wear all-black.
A fantasy addict triggers with the world's most inconvenient Tinker/Thinker combo, and finally gets a chance to use all those fencing and HEMA classes she took in high school. In a city infested by nazis, slavers, and a PRT that acts more like a gang than some of the actual gangs, maybe when Brockton really needs is a knight in shining armor.
But be wary: with great knowledge comes great clarity, and sometimes there's a reason no one looks behind a curtain. Maybe, just maybe, it might be better that the stagehands wear all-black.
It's time to get medieval on Brockton's ass.
Of all the Tinker powers in the world, why did I have to end up with this one?
Why couldn't I be one of the normal Tinkers? Hell, I don't even need my specialty to be particularly strong, just not… this!
Armsmaster can make incredible miniaturized pieces of technology, like a sci-fi swiss army knife.
Dragon can build whole armies of mechas and battlesuits strong enough to tangle with an Endbringer.
Hero can build just about anything, and even String theory (villain that she is) an build lasers strong enough to shoot down the moon.
Even Squealer can take a dumpster full of old TVs and turn them into a hovercar.
But me? I get to build swords made from other people's body parts.
…
Okay, it's not that bad.
They don't have to be dead or anything, or even seriously injured. Just a little blood will do, and then I can incorporate some of the "essence" of their powers into my blades.
I mean, without a significant sacrifice those weapons won't be very strong, but still.
And as to how those powers get connected to the weapons?
Well… I'm half-convinced it's just me seeing what I want to see, given that I've always had a soft spot for Glaistig Uaine, but, well… I can see Faeries.
Yes, Faeries. The invisible, supernatural "agents" of powers that the Faerie Queen attributed all parahuman phenomena too, whose bargains would let mortals channel their great power in exchange for feeding the Fae's amusement…
I can see them.
Okay okay, I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out.
Even before all this, I was always skeptical of the stigma aimed at "magic-y" capes.
Because really, who's to say that powers aren't granted by Faeries? They say that sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic, but they forget that means the opposite as well: magic is just insufficiently understood science. The alchemists of medieval Europe were wizards as well… up until they gained a good enough understanding of their craft that "alchemy" became "chemistry", and entered the realm of serious, respectable fields of study.
Whatever the source of powers is, it's obviously so far beyond our understanding that we have no way of even beginning to approach it, so why not use the schema of magic, instead of the one of quantum physics? It's not like one is going to be any more accurate than the other: it's like we're all just cavemen, having serious, reasoned discussions to figure out whether thunder is caused by the snoring of Frost Giants or Raijin beating on his drums.
Also, y'know… I can see them.
That kinda blows any theorizing out of the water.
But regardless of what they are, the core of my power seems to involve the Fae: seeing them, hearing them, speaking to them, and above all pacting with them.
Yes, that's the real core of my power, granted to me by my Faerie: the ability to use the blood, bones, or other body parts of any cape to connect with their Faerie and create a pact with them, letting them bless a forged tool with a fraction of their power.
This can range from a mild blessing, gained with a small bit of blood, to powers that could make the career of a low-level hero or villain, gained through a sacrifice of a bone or a limb, to a masterwork ken blessed with abilities that can rival the stronger capes in the city, created by quenching my works in the blood from a cape's heart.
Yes, like I said… swords made from other people's body parts.
Moving this quest over from ficlive, because my work schedule makes a forum quest easier to manage.
Votes NO VOTING BY PLAN
First Name (none from popular canon characters for the sake of clarity):
[ ] Octavia
[ ] Guinevere
[ ] Dakota
[ ] Alexandra
[ ] Write-In
Last Name:
[ ] Ravencroft
[ ] Frost
[ ] St. Cloud
[ ] Knightwood
[ ] LeBlanc
[ ] van Leeuwenhoek
[ ] Write-In
School
[ ] Arcadia (Wards, Vicky, Amy, virtually no OCs)
[ ] Brockton University (Crystal, Sabah, Othala, Bakuda, Professor Annette Hebert (RIP Danny), a few OCs)
[ ] Winslow (Taylor, Sophia, Wards!Emma, some OCs)
[ ] Write-In
Who died to make our first masterpiece? Warning: powers will NOT be a one-to-one equivalent in the slightest, there will be massive differences in power expression. For instance, killing Clockblocker would get us an Alexandria-tier invincible sword, not one that can freeze things in time. See "Forging Mechanics" for more info. No write-ins
[ ] Crusader (Empire)
[ ] Oni Lee (ABB)
[ ] Vex (Teeth)
[ ] Grue (Marche)
The power of the crafted item depends on the "significance" of the sacrafice used to forge it, which is determined via a combination of how difficult it is for the victim to lose, and how difficult it was for us to obtain.
For example, a normal cape's arm would make an extremely powerful, high-level blade (Masterwork Quality), since it's a huge sacrafice . But Alabaster's arm would offer us shit-quality blades, since it's really easy to chop his arm off, and he regrows it in 4 seconds. Lung's arm, on the other hand, would produce somewhat powerful blades, although nothing too powerful, because Lung's ability to regrow his arm would be balanced out by the difficulty we'd have in separating it.
Also, having another cape like Othala or Panacea will lower the significance, but ONLY if the body part is still difficult for us to obtain. So no organ farming.
Items can also be used by the "donators" as a way to focus, refine, strengthen, or otherwise channel their powers. It is unknown to us at this time if this will help capes with unstable powers gain control.
Items come in three categories: Weapons, Shields, Armor, and Jewelry/Accessories
The tiers of sacrifice (and the resulting blades) are as follows
Beginner Quality
options: nothing
no parahuman material required, but can only use very basic cantrips
Cantrip Enchantments: 1, and that's ALL we get
Power Rating: 1, 2 if you're lucky
Novice Quality
options: blood, skin fingernails, etc.
Cantrip Enchantments: 1
Power rating: 1 (depending on power of source shard)
Apprentice Quality
options: teeth, chunks of flesh, etc
Cantrip Enchantments: 1
Rating: 2-3 (depending on power of source shard)
Journeyman Quality
options: ear, large chunks of flesh, large quantity of blood, etc.
Cantrip Enchantments: 1
Rating: 3 (depending on power of source shard)
Professional Quality
options: minor crippling (nose, fingers, hand, foot, massive quantity of flesh, near-fatal quantity of blood)
Cantrip Enchantments: 1
Rating: 4-5 (depending on power of source shard)
Expert Quality
options: major crippling (arm, leg, eye, both hands, etc.), or the body of a cape not killed by us
Cantrip Enchantments: 2
Highest level of power, item has power equivalent in strength to full-strength power of host.
Rating: 5-6 (depending on power of source shard)
Supreme Masterwork
options: a human life, taken by us
Cantrip Enchantments: 2, quality increased
Initially identical in power level to a normal Masterwork, a Supreme Masterwork blade distinguishes itself by being able to slowly grow in power over time, unlocking
A weapon is useful but not necessary. A gun will allow us to kill the vast majority of capes anyway even without powerful swords and stuff. But a strong armour is harder to get mundanly. I chose Oni Lee because whatever fraction or twist of his power we get, it should all be very useful.
I dont know about our name. Guinevere is a good first name but the last names are all way too mundane, so i combined two of them for more style
The best way I can describe the Fae are… strange. Strange and, more than anything, diverse.
If I ever had any doubts about the sources of powers being inhuman, triggering laid them all to rest. After all, it's a bit hard to think of the being behind someone's powers as an "agent" (the "logical and rational" scientific name for faeries that totally isn't referring to magical power-granting beings at all, guize, we promise) when you can actually see them.
An "agent" is a nice lady in a yellow skirt who helps plan your vacation. A Faerie is a blob-like, thousand-limbed biomonstrosity named Queen Shaper, constantly weeping blood and ooze that exists in more dimensions than the human mind can comprehend, a trillion tiny hairs inside each of a hundred misshapen mouths ready to rend living things to bits and reshape them in its own unholy image.
Yeah, I am never looking at Panacea the same way again.
Good god girl, how do you fit all that junk in your trunk?
By "junk" of course I mean "raw power" and by "trunk" I mean "decision to act solely in a limited capacity as a healer".
Also, ass. Say what you will about Amy Dallon, but that girl is thicc.
That's just one of what are doubt doubt a nigh-infinite number of Faeries though, each as different from the others as a zebra is from a shark. For example Luminous Archer, the Faerie that pacted with Laserdream (saw her patroling my neighborhood) was about as far from her cousin's as it's possible for a Fae to be.
While of a much lower rank, as indicated by the lack of titles in the name of his current incarnation (don't ask me how I know, I just know), he was a lot more… well, normal-looking, if it's possible for a Faerie to look normal. Instead of an eldritch horror like her cousin's, Laserdream's Fae was a lithe, semi-human figure, like one glowing mass of crimson and pink light, whose hands seemed to be constantly pulling at a bow.
He also seemed more passive than the near-overbearing Queen Shaper, content to gaze over his host's shoulder while offering neither help nor harm, bane not boon.
Don't mistake this for me saying the most powerful Fae are also the most active or eldritch though, I think the case of New Wave is a mere coincidence. For example Fleet-Footed Messenger of the Scales, Velocity's contractor, is one of the weakest I've ever seen, barely a page even in the lowest Fae court, and he looks like a blurrier Hookwolf: a barely-perceptible blur of constantly-shifting spikes and edges.
But that is the nature of my power: to take these multifaceted beings and harness their power, forging them into new forms to suit my needs.
I smile as I look down at her, my weapon, my masterpiece… Mirror Devil.
Unlike the other tools I've forged — things with minor cantrips at best — this blade was powerful, as fitting of one blessed by the whole of a Faerie's might.
Forged in fire, quenched in the cooling heart of a slaving gangster and former head of the Japanese Triads, it captured his last dying breaths in in the smoky metal, trapping his spirit and using it to forge a link between the steel and his Faerie.
I have to hide a smirk. I couldn't think of a more fitting end for the bastard
When I first started mixing bits of his fat into the molten steel, I thought I'd get a mace that could shoot clones of itself, or a helmet that would let me teleport.
But no, it seems that when I used his blood and bone to seal a pact with his Faerie, something in the process fundamentally altered that connection. Pattern Alchemist of the Self, as I divined her name in this incarnation — I don't know if it's part of my power of just my imagination, but their genders and the name of their current forms just come to me — seems to be a tricky sort, and one who would never make the same pact twice.
I must say, working this closely with a Faerie is an illuminating experience. If I thought I could gather details from observing the Fae as they empowered their contractors, that was nothing like what I could glean from a full, uninterrupted scan of them when they're still lingering around their previous host's corpse.
Apparently, despite common misconceptions, Oni Lee's power wasn't really teleporting. No, it seems the "teleportation" aspect of it is more incidental than anything, a little treat Pattern Alchemist gave him to make his power more versatile. If anything, the Fae seemed almost sheepish about it, like it was tacked on at the last minute and not very well thought-out, which-… which actually goes a long way towards explaining just how robotic Oni Lee seemed, like a barely functioning automaton: I can't imagine going through a wormhole is easy on your body, let alone one as jury-rigged as Pattern Alchemist of the Self is making hers out to be.
What? Just because I believe in magic doesn't mean I can't talk about wormholes. Sufficiently advanced science, people.
Anyways, regardless of Pattern Alchemist's reduction of her contractor's brain to a ball of gelatin with the consistency of melted beeswax, her main purpose was actually something I didn't expect.
It's… there's no real word for it in English, but the closest I can get to the concept is something like "pattern imposition".
It takes the higher-order pattern (or "vibe", if you're one of the cool young'ins) of something more complex (like a human mind, a body, or a set of grenades) and superimposes it over something more simple (like a lump of carbon ash), letting the latter temporarily function as the former despite possessing none of the physical parts.
In any case, I think it's less appropriate to say Oni Lee made "clones" of himself that disintegrated into ash, as is stated on his entry in the PHO wikia, and more that he created piles of ash which he temporarily possessed by a spirit of himself (and whatever he happened to be carrying).
I would reckon that if Pattern Alchemist had been feeling a bit different on the day Oni Lee triggered, he very easily could have ended up with a Tinker power, something which let him raise inanimate objects into sentience.
How this ended up manifesting in the end product is a bit complicated, but I'm happy with the result.
Mirror Devil can "copy" the pattern of anything it touches, and store it within an internal memory. Later, I can shoot out projectiles made of the thing it's copied, made by applying part of that pattern to ash to form a construct.
For example, once I finished my masterpiece, quenching it inside Oni Lee's heart, I stuck it inside some of the molten iron from one of my other projects.
Unfortunately, Mirror Devil couldn't actually absorb the iron — I expect I'd need to form a contract with a different Faerie to add that effect — only copy it once placed inside… but that didn't matter as much, given how once I lifted it out I could make gouts of molten iron fly across the room.
Hmm, I wonder, would this apply to the effects of parahuman powers as well? I get the feeling that it does.
Wait, does that mean Oni Lee could have replicated Tinkertech?
I shudder at the thought of an infinite army of Onis kitted out like Hero.
Unfortunately, my initial excitement with the discovery died down some when I realized I wouldn't be finding Clockblocker and getting a shortcut to invincible quantum-locked waves of ash.
It seems that the patterns get stored in a pool of sorts within the metal, one with limited capacity. Some patterns, like the heat of a candle flame, took up barely any space at all, while others, like the red-hot molten metal of my forge, took up quite a bit more. Some, like — I suspect — Clockblocker's frozen objects, would take up the entirety of the pool, if not exceed its capacity entirely.
AN: Yes, I decided to make Oni Lee's shard something more than bog-standard teleportation or cloning, given his ability to replicate the effects of Tinkertech. What do you guys think of the solution? Oni Lee's shard, [Overlay 178.Carbon 2], is intended as a sort of quick patch for injuries in the entity, like a temporary stem cell to keep things functioning until a more dedicated fix can be implemented.
For reference, if Crusader had won, the result would have been a intangible sword-whip which would only become tangible when standing still, giving it insane telefragging abilities. If you're thinking "this sounds like Shadow Stalker's power", you're right! They're siblings, which would drive Crusader insane if he knew.
There was a tie in the voting between Arcadia and Brockton U… but then I remembered hey, Vicky canonically is dual-enrolled and attends a parahuman studies class at BBU, so we can get the best of both worlds!
Minor Effect Addon
[ ] Ash Control
[ ] Recall to hand
[ ] (WHIP ONLY) Telekinesis to make whip prehensile
[ ] Disguise for civilian identity
[ ] User Strength Enhancement
[ ] User Dexterity/Accuracy Enhancement
[ ] Write-In (cantrip-level effects only)
Weapon Style (think practically about how we'd use the weapon to shoot bolts/gouts/slashes of fire, water, etc. guys, not just the coolness factor)
[ ] Sword
[ ] Whip
[ ] Axe
[ ] Bow (energy arrows)
[ ] Write-In (subject to veto)
What to copy? Mirror Devil Capacity is 0/100, so we can fill it to the brim with mundane stuff.
[ ] Write-In
Family
[ ] Orphan
[ ] Arrrrrphan (Orphan, but one of our parents was a Pirate)
[ ] 1 Parent
- [ ] Single Dad
- [ ] Single Mom
[ ] 2 parents
- [ ] Mom and Dad
- [ ] Two Moms
- [ ] Two Dads
Friends/Associates (1st place will be our BFF, 2nd will be a normal friend, and 3rd will be and acquaintance). If you pick a villain, they'll have a sympathetic backstory. this definitely isn't a shipping poll in disguise
[ ] Crystal Pelham / Laserdream
[ ] Vicky Dallon / Glory Girl (dual-enrolled)
[ ] Sabah al-Basri / Parian
[ ] Grace Tanaka / Bakuda
[ ] Izumi Eguchi (Lung's daughter, Azula expy)
[ ] Eve McCarron / Othala
[ ] Prof. Annette Hebert
[ ] Sherrell Bailey / Squealer
[ ] Write-In (must be a character at Brockton Bay University)
[X] Ash Control
[X] Sword
[X] Arrrrrphan (Orphan, but one of our parents was a Pirate)
[X] Izumi Eguchi (Lung's daughter, Azula expy)
Control of ash synergizes well with the Mirror Devil ability shoot what you feed it including ash and molten metal.
Having a sword that gives you decent ranged options would be really useful.
A bow that gives control of ash and shoot energy arrows synergizes well with the blade Mirror Devil since that shoots what you feed it including ash and molten metal.
Hmm just found this and am interested to make a few builds but I have no particular interest in the family section tho.
If we want a melee build, then the only choice would be sword and recall to hand. If the recall to hand teleports the sword, then we don't need civilian disguise as we could just leave it at home and then call it if we need it. For the copy, we need to test how powerful it can shoot stuff. If it can shoot bullets at lethal speed or if it is adjustable, then it's simple enough to copy buckshot or bean bags to shoot out of. For more firepower, we could just copy a cannon ball from a museum. To improve our melee combat, could we electrify our sword? We could make it flammable simply enough with storing lighter fluid and a candle flame so I am wondering if we could make it electric. This is a fairly well rounded and versatile build with good options for melee some ranged combat as well as make use of our HEMA background.
For a ranged build, I am split between bow with strength or with accuracy. The strength would make the bow viable against heavy hitters like Lung or Hookwolf, while the accuracy would help with non-lethal shoots on mooks. The strength allows us to shoot solid metal arrows the size of swords with the power of a ballista while the accuracy turns us into Green Arrow or Hawkeye, but we'd need trick arrows to compensate for our lack of power, which Bakuda could provide for us.
[X] Plan Modern Knight
-[X] Recall to Hand
-[X] Sword
-[X] Bullet, Shotgun Slug, Bean Bag, Petroleum Jelly, Candle Flame, Electricity from outlet, and Cannon ball?
-[X] Orphan
-[X] Eve McCarron/Othala
[ ] Plan Archer Emiya
-[] User Strength Enhancement
-[] Bow
-[] Metal Arrows, Boxing Glove Arrow, and Sword Arrows
-[] Orphan
-[] Crystal Pelham/Laserdream
[ ] Plan Hawkeye
-[] User Dexterity/Accuracy Enhancement
-[] Bow
-[] Modern Arrows & Trick Arrows
-[] Arrrrrphan (Orphan, but one of our parents was a Pirate)
-[] Grace Tanaka / Bakuda
Out of the 3 I like being a knight more than an archer since a lot of Parahumans in BB are fairly mobile and good in melee combat.
[X] Sword
[X] Recall to Hand
[X] Arrrrrphan (Orphan, but one of our parents was a Pirate)
[X] 2 Siblings
- [X] Boy and girl
AN: We had some ties and tangles with the friend and parent votes, so I'm going to do a re-vote at the end of the next update. Meanwhile, I'm going to introduce you to another one of our friends, someone I've been meaning to bring into my fics for a long time.
[X] Sword
[X] Recall to Hand
[X] Arrrrrphan (Orphan, but one of our parents was a Pirate)
[X] 2 parents
[X] 2 Siblings
- [X] Boy and girl
AN: since I know people only voted for the Pirate option because of the gimmick, I'm going to combine it with the #2 option, which was both parents being alive.
My name is Guinevere de Winter, and I'm a parahuman.
I know, I know, with a comic book name like that how could I not be one, right? Trust me, I've heard it all before.
Scratching my sides, I sit up in bed, yawning, still tired after my long night of building my equipment. One thing they never tell you about being a Tinker? It's damn hard.
I may be lucky with my materials — it's not exactly hard to find scrap iron in the bay, after all, and my power-granted knowledge of metallurgy makes it a breeze to refine it into something usable — but industrial forges don't exactly grow on trees, you know? I had to break into something like two dozen warehouses to find one that fit me needs, and even after I found it I had to spend a good week and a half constructing some very basic noise-dampening charms to place around the anvil.
The last thing I want is to have some homeless guy hear me banging away, and then run off to tell the March, Empire, or (god forbid) the Teeth.
Unfortunately, all that precaution takes time, and a whole lot of sleepless nights, and I've been more oozing out of my bed than anything these past few days.
I groan something unintelligible as I stumble down the stairs, almost running in to my younger brother Patrick at the bottom.
The first thing that most people think of when they see Pádraig Sétanta de Winter is "tall". Standing at six foot five at the tender age of sixteen, he takes after our Dutch father more than anyone in the family, with sandy blonde hair and light green eyes.
Despite this, he has the most Irish name out of all of us, although he usually chooses to go by the English version when not talking to our mother's side of the family. What? Our mother is very proud of her culture, and she felt the need to to overcompensate after my father got to name me, and chose the name of one of his oldest friends who happened to be *shudder* Welsh.
But c'mon, "Patrick Setanta"? A bit on the nose there, ma, might as well name him Finn McCool or something.
"Guinevere? Patrick says, snapping his fingers in front of my eyes, "you in there?"
I grumble, shoving his arm away. "Fuck off, Pad."
"Long night?" he says with a smile, handing me a cup of coffee.
God bless this boy.
I close my eyes in ecstasy as I gulp down the black brew. Ah, coffee, nature's sweetest narcotic.
I groan once I finish the cup. "Like you wouldn't fucking believe."
"Anything I can help with?"
I have to hide my grimace, cursing my self. Shit.
"Ah… no, it's just college stuff. A lot of shit to study, you know. Calculus is kicking my ass".
Patrick just hums, clearly skeptical, but gives in with a roll of his eyes once I make it clear no answer will be forthcoming.
"Gwen…" he eventually says, pursing his lips, "you know, if you're… involved in anything, anything you want out of… I'm here for you, alright?"
Sweet Christ he thinks I'm falling in with the gangs.
"Pad…" I say.
"It's just… You've been really distant really, and I know you've been staying out late. You know you can trust me, right?"
I envelop him in a hug. "I swear Patrick, it's nothing like what you're thinking. It's just… it's complicated. Give me a while, ok? I'll tell you when I'm ready."
He bites his lip. "…are you seeing someone? Because you know I know you're gay, right?"
I roll my eyes. "No little brother, I promise I'd tell you if I was seeing someone."
"Alright…" he says, clearly uncertain, "just… just make sure you tell me before anything happens you can't take back, alright?"
I grimace, but nod.
"Speaking of girlfriends" I say, trying to break the awkward silence, "what is this I hear about you and Victoria Dallon going to a party together?"
I huffs in exasperation, but can't prevent a red tinge from coming to his cheeks. "Honestly, it was nothing, really. Dean was busy with his dad's company, and all her other male friends were on vacation."
I huff. "I still can't believe you get two weeks off for Spring Break."
He raises an eyebrow. "You guys only got one?"
"One?" I snort, "we got five days."
He crosses his chest solemnly. "God bless Arcadia's lottery system, I guess. Or Gallant, since the only reason they picked me was because they needed a few other tall blonde white guys. Otherwise I'd have to slum it at Winslow with you filthy peasants."
"We're literally from the same family."
"I've always thought aristocracy was more a state of mind than anything."
"Huh, no wonder the Empire's costumes look like shit, then."
He chuckles, and we fall into a comfortable silence.
"Dean…" I say eventually, "that's Dean Stansfield, right? The son of the investment banker?
He nods.
"Jesus Chri-"
We both stop wide-eyed, eyes darting around looking for our mother, despite knowing she's out at work. Constance O'Connolly is a very devout woman, and tolerates no blasphemy in her house.
We both relax after a second, suppressing shudders at the memories of spoon-whippings.
"Seriously though" I say with a roll of my eyes. Do the the lunchladies serve escargot and caviar, or something? What do rich people even eat?"
"It's nothing like that" he says with scoff, "normally, we get basic stuff, like fillet mignon, or organic beef noodle soup, nothing special."
My jaw drops, before his blank looks breaks and he bursts out laughing.
"You asshole!" I shriek, hitting him on the arm, "you honestly- ugh!"
"Y-You honestly thought-…"
I roll my eyes as he doubles over in laughter, giving a huff of fond exasperation.
A minute or so later he's calmed down, wiping tears from his eyes. "F-Fillet Mignon, really?"
"Shut up" I say with a pout.
"Make me."
Before I can slap him again, a voice pipes up from the top of the stairs.
"Hey! What are you two laughing about in there!"
I roll my eyes as Patrick snickers. "Nothing, Rosie!"
With an incredibly adorable growl, our little sister stomps down the stairs. "You better not be talking about me, you hear?"
Roisin (or "Rosie", as everyone calls her) is an adorable little nine year old, with our mother's bright red hair, and a matching temper.
She harrumphs, tilting her head up. "I don't know…"
I roll my eyes. "Is there anything I can do to convince you?"
"Well…" she says, an expression of concentration on her face, "a forehead kiss might help…"
I snort, leaning down, and pressing a kiss to her forehead as she beams.
She looks up at me with an angelic expression. "Okay big sister, I forgive you now!"
Patrick snorts, but obligingly leans down to give her a kiss. "Thank you big brother!"
"No problem, Rosie."
"Alright!" she says, clapping her hands together, "now what's for breakfast!"
"You're nine Rosie, you can make breakfast yourself."
She turns to me, eyes wide. "B-But b-big s-sister… the counter… i-it's so far awaaaaaaay~… Can you pleeeaaaaassssseeeee make me some Cheerios?"
I try to hold out for as long as I can, but her puppy dog eyes are strong. "T-The counter is closer to you, Rosie."
"B-But you're so tall, and I'm a shortie! I can't r-reach all the way up there!"
Finally, as her eyes start to water, I give in. "Fine. I'll make you cereal."
She brightens up instantly. "Thanks big sister! You're the best!"
I roll my eyes at her very obvious duplicity, but move to make cereal anyways.
Damn brat.
Also, the friend votes were all tied up, so we're having a second round! I'm going to add a bit of specificity, because — for example — I know some people wanted Annette in a more mentor-ish role, but NOT a BFF Annette.
Before voting on Laserdream, just be aware our brother goes to Arcadia, and runs in the same social circles as Vicky and Dean. In case you're voting for her so we have the New Wave connection.
