NVAE, MAIN ENTRANCE (Dwight Kowalski; Roger Murphy, Stephanie Yavorshak)
“I believe he’s expecting me. My name is Dwight Kowalski.”
Stephanie trembled. “As in… Matt Kowalski?”
Dwight nodded glumly. “My brother,” he said.
Stephanie sighed. “He was my step-father,” she said.
That seemed to take Dwight back.
Stephanie offered out her hand in greeting. “I’m Stephanie Yavorshak. I can show you to the headmaster’s office.”
“I’ll go with you,” Roger said.
Stephanie raised a hand to him. “It’s all right, Mister Murphy.” The formality stung. “Like I said, I’ll have Peter get ahold of you.” That hurt more: he was “Mister Murphy”, but the school’s chaplain was “Peter”? “Have a good day.”
As she retreated, Roger began to grind his teeth. There was a part of him who knew what had just been said: Dwight was Matt’s brother; Matt had been married to Stephanie’s mother. That made them as good as niece and uncle. They were related… kind of… but Roger couldn’t help but feel jealous.
He had to be with Stephanie. He had to have her. If Dwight was going to get in his way, Roger was going to have to deal with him…
NVAE, GIRLS’ DORMS (Dennis; NPCs: Beatrice)
“Can I come in?”
Beatrice held the door open and stepped aside. “Is zis going to take long?” she asked. “I ‘ave plans to meet my boyfriend for breakfast…”
NVAE, BOYS’ DORMS (Otso)
Otso listened in on the phone, eavesdropping on his girlfriend’s conversation with Robyn…
NVAE, FRONT QUAD (Lex; NPCs: Kirstie, Steven)
“Right on cue,” Steven spat. “My big brother—always ready to take things away from me. He took away my home, my friends, my father…” He turned and looked to Kirstie. “I won’t let him take you, my love.”
Kirstie looked helplessly to Lex. “What the bloody hell is going on?” she asked.
Steven grabbed her hand. “I love you, Kirstie. I always have. If it took losing everything to find you, it will have been worth it.”
NVAE, MAIN OFFICE (Violet; NPCs: Lillian Murphy, Newton)
Opening the door a smidge, Violet saw the headmaster cornered by the office administrator. One of her arms was on the wall beside him, keeping him from escaping. “Missus Murphy,” he said, “if you’re not feeling well, perhaps a visit to Doctor Bacon-”
“I’d hate to bother him. Why don’t you give me an exam instead?”
“Er, well, I’m not a doctor…”
“I suppose I could give you one.” The woman grabbed the headmaster’s crotch with her free hand.
Sir Newton’s hands flew down to hers and fought to get her to release him. “Madam, you’re not acting like yourself. I fear you may be under some sort of psychic assault-”
“I’m not,” she said. “I’m just free, Isaac. For years, my husband lied to me about what he was. Thanks to him, I had to leave my home—my friends and family… I was kidnapped by terrorists because of him. I had an explosive device surgically implanted in me because of him. My son is miserable because of him.
“You, though? You’re a good man. You’re a caring man. You’re a gentle man. You’re someone I could spend the rest of my life with.”
As she moved to kiss him, the headmaster pushed her away. “Missus Murphy!” he shouted, dispensing with any sense of sincerity, “this is not professional behavior! I insist that you return to your residence until it can be determined what is to be done with you.”
That’s an impossible roll for Lilian. Newton has a slight chance:
Newton - Notice - DC 24:
1d20+5 16 Nope! No one notices!
NVAE, BOYS’ DORM (Jack; NPCs: J.R.)
J.R. rolled his eyes at Jack. “Yeah,” he said sarcastically, “I’ll get right on that.” He moved to shut the door on the American.
NVAE, CAFETERIA (Tamati; NPCs: Shelby)
“Love potions?” Tamati asked. “Really?”
“My card.” Robyn set a copy of William Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the table. “You don’t believe me? Here.”
Robyn floated out of the seat that she hadn’t really been sitting in. Tamati couldn’t recall ever actually seeing the girl’s feet touch the floor or her seat in a seat. She always seemed to just sort of… hover... over whatever surface she was on.
She made her way down the table, to where some of the freshmen boys were eating. Despite their surnames, Tamati had learned that Patrick Brown and Royce Brown were not related. Patrick was an Esper who could act as a language bridge any two people he touched; Royce was a Neo-Sapien who could make animals grow. With them was Barney Balough, a Hungarian boy who could create blue flames and transform into a snake.
Today was only the first full day of classes and already friendships were being formed. It was kind of nice to see that despite the horrors he had encountered yesterday, there was some measure of good in this world.
“Hey there, boys,” Robyn said as she leaned over the table. “Do you think I should leave this button unbuttoned or buttoned?”
As she flashed them a look at her cleavage, she shook a flower over Royce’s glass of orange juice. The boys made clumsy advances; Robyn smiled, thanked them, and floated back to where Tamati and Shelby were sitting.
Royce took a drink of orange juice and then set it down slowly. He smiled at the boy sitting across from him—at Patrick Brown. He reached across the table, put his hand over Patrick’s, and winked.
Patrick ripped his hand away. He was out of his seat in a flash. He dove across the table and punched the other teen in the eye. As the rest of the room moved to break them up, Robyn grinned at Shelby. “So, what do you say? Want me to make your mom and dad fall in love?”
NVAE, GIRLS’ DORM (Martin; NPCs: Tatjana)
“I know the situation is weird—there being two Shelbys and all—but Big Shelby has been such a sweetheart. She’s been babysitting Little Shelby to give Sarah alone time. This trial has been weighing on her and she’s been using that time to process this. Big Shelby is a part of our family, and I don’t agree with holding her back… but Viktor and Mira don’t know about her, Martin. I mean, Sarah’s lawyer said that the DeGallows may try to use the violence in the refugee camp to their advantage—saying Vienna isn’t safe and Little Shelby will be better off in Spain… Maybe Big Shelby’s status as a refugee just makes that case for them?
“Uncle Terry said it’s because we can’t really prove Big Shelby’s identity. Sure, you were able to tell just by touching them that they’re the same person, but… how do we prove that? Even if they swab the inside of their cheeks, the DeGallows can just say that we faked it. Viktor and Mira know about you; they’ll just say that you changed the results. I mean, there’s no legal precedent for someone’s future self testifying in their own custody hearing. Who would believe us if we said Big Shelby was who she is?”
Tatjana looked like she wanted to scream, but she had been showing more and more restraint lately. Her medications were really helping. “Viktor has money. Sarah’s still a child. He’s going to win this. He’s going to take Little Shelby away and Sarah is going to be devastated.” The redhead sighed. “There has to be something we can do…”
Love Potion Victims
- Roger Murphy > Stephanie Yavorshak
- Lilian Murphy > Isaac Newton
- Steven Murphy > Kirstie Arnett
- Royce Brown > Patrick Brown