The Crystal Hall forums still being offline, today's story release of Elrod's "Wine, Women, and Ayla" (Part 2) can be commented on here. Once we get a working non-hackable forums and commenting system up and going, we'll transfer details over. In the meantime, we'll do what we can to ensure our authors receive their regular feedings of kudos and praise. Enjoy:
http://crystalhall.org/WineWomenAyla-2.html
If you haven't seen part one yet, it is also available at the Crystal Hall site... (just change the 2 in the above link to a 1, for a short cut).
Thanks everyone!
Enjoy!
Kristin Darken
Comments
Tin Cook Whateley
It's on!
Well Addie gets her date, and a new outlet for her father's Cognac.
Charmer gets a new outlet for her father's wine.
Alya gets more money, and a date.
BTW is Charge's cognac in the same closet that Speakeasy hides his safe of Sara's essence? And could that contaminate the cognac?
PS Thanks for keeping up the posting of stories despite all the problems.
the closet
Yes, but as this story predates Riddle of Sappho, it's in there hidden when Speakeasy hides the safe. See how nicely I set it up for someone to find the safe at a later date?
But Speakeasy was so paranoid about the serum that it's multiple sealed in an air-tight G-safe, so no, it won't contaminate the cognac.
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
I was just wondering, because
I was just wondering, because Whateley probably has about 100 little rooms like that one. I checked the timeline, because I was fairly sure this was set before Sappho.
Oh, my confused time sense
I was confused about the timeline and all though the hiding of the cognac in the closet, I keep thinking someone would find the safe. And when the two girls went into the closet I thought they would find the safe and get exposed to what is was holding and how that would work out. With the other story coming out first it though me off as I didn't compare dates between the two.
Oh well, it just added extra fun to the story for me, still Ayla has me thinking that that is one dense boy at times.
I just went back to compare
I just went back to compare the never-visited room as described here with the never-visited room as described in Riddle of Sappho. The next time Adalie wants to use her cognac, Trews will not be able to retrieve it since Reach moved it. When he goes to retrieve a bottle, he should notice that someone had been in the room since the last time he was there. Although, it's hard to tell if Reach was male or female at the time. The male Reach doesn't have the photographic memory of an exemplar like female Reach does.
I don't think the male Reach
I don't think the male Reach could lift and move the half case of cognac very far. So I am guessing that he was female at the time.
Happy Birthday, ElrodW!
Happy Birthday, ElrodW!
Vox's Vexation Unveiled! Hazzah!
Some assholes hacked your
Some assholes hacked your forums? The fuck.
As I understand it
They hacked the Crystal Hall forums hosted BC.
Then they hacked the replacement forums that were being worked on.
Then they hacked EE's forum.
Then they rehacked the forums that Piper had so nicely fixed.
The order might be off, but you get the idea.
some script kiddie...
seems to not like things associated with BCTS.
Nice Glimpse Into the Characters
I hope you had a happy birthday, Elrod. This was a great story and kept on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next and if things would work out all through it. The sign of a true master storyteller.
Finally finished it, glad to see a happy ending for everyone.
Nice part with Hartford being into kinky stuff. Never expected that.
Adalie's Aunt Teri stands out, knowing her niece better than Addy thinks she does.
No matter what high school you go to, there will always be teenage girls who ruin others lives for their own amusement or to get their own way. Having superpowers just makes the fallout tend to be much, much worse.
Bwahahahah! "Ayla has a girlfriend, Ayla has a girlfriend."
Vamp Snark-O-Matic, please never have Ayla say this to Vamp or within hearing range of Vamp. Vamp would just become even more insufferable.
Seriously, someone needs to teach Kismet a lesson about messing with others emotions. I've seriously wanted to slap her several times in this part of the story alone.
A first for Whateley Academy, a cooking challenge to resolve a conflict. Didn't see that coming, nice surprise.
Gordon, as in Gordon Ramsay!?! Dang, I knew Hartford was connected but to know him as a personal friend.
After Charmer slapped him and Ayla actually ask what did I do, I smacked my forehead in frustration. He is dense when it comes to girls.
Finally! Took Kayda and Fey spelling it out for him, but at least now Ayla knows Adalie likes him.
Very interesting
Very interesting story of how girls will go about to either do a business deal and try for the affection of a boys.... I mean girls attention. I'm surprised that the headmistress would allow the bickering that both girls did without flaying the two of them before it could escalate to such proportions. But that's just an opinion and how I've been catching up of Whateley story history.
To read of Ms Hartford's bedroom preferences in not so hard to believe from what I've read of some comments. How much of what she demands of it is another story. Foreplay is just that - foreplay and very invigorating if not done to the extreme in my opinion, 50 shades or not, but I digress.
Then there is the dealings that Ms Hartford is asking of Charge. Now I'm sure she is 'building' something as she also has incorporated Tansy.
I'm speculating here, but there are things afoot and I'm sure that certain folks may be aware of her doings on the inside of Whateley and a need for discretion and outside forces may also be called for, but not so much in the roles of either a Hero or Villain but for a bit of inbetween help. Also will she and her other associates still be going after Loophole as they seem severely interested in her also.
That's my A.D.D. and I'm sticking with it for now.
A puzzle is just that, pieces scattered about without meaning or purpose until put together and when done the true picture unfolds.
*********************
My memory may be getting short but so is my height.
Ibi
Merry Birthday, ElrodW!!
While I wasn't a fan of the farce as presented in part 1, as a whole it works much better. In fact, Mr W, what have you done to our Pile-torment-onto-torment-ElrodW? This had a happy ending. I'd begun to think those were gone for good.
I'm kidding. The only thing this farce is missing was a side character, who it turns out, put the idea into Charmer's and Adalie's heads that they were rivals (and that person getting caught and properly punked for being "so mean"). Kismet might have been good for this role. But I digress.
In my rereading of the stories in release order I just finished The Big Idea, so it was nice to see Harlan and Jenny again, though at times I could not tell if Reach was male or female (although when it was important, it was mentioned, so no big deal).
Although in reverse order, Ms Hartford now has Tansy and Adalie in her small but growing network of sneaky students whose purpose remains unknown.
Was there supposed to be something more to Carson finding Adalie crying alone in the Beret Mafia clubhouse? That section seemed incomplete.
I had a feeling Ayla would need a clue-by-four to the head to find out what the ladies wanted him for. I also always assumed he would find liquor importing was profitable so he would get into it eventually.
I hope someone write a small vignette showing Fey and Chaka discussing Ayla's love life.
We finally know what actually happened to set Vox off. Though we still don't know why she didn't believe Ayla and his old friend are just friends.
Random thought: Ayla catches Adalie working on something secret with......... Tansy Walcutt?!?!?
the WHY about Vox and the Mrs. Carson scene
Compare the wording in the prologue about what Vox is saying in her distress to the story Jadis tells. There is a HUGE hint there about why Vox is acting the way she is.
If you still don't see it, I can drop another hint.
As to the scene with Mrs. Carson finding Addy, it's a note that a LOT of people are looking for Addy, and that the administration is concerned. And Mrs. Carson recognizes that, after the blowup and challenge, it's probably something for her friends, not for the administration. It's all a setup for Addy getting the news, and then kissing Ayla before she realizes what she's doing - and so stunning Ayla that Ayla doesn't respond before Addy runs off, thinking she really blew it again.
I WAS going to end this on a scene like Diane did with Vox and Ayla, but ... it would have sounded "me too". Maybe have some canoodling hints in future stories...
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
But given
But given how the students are required to keep their MID cards which can be used to track a person on their being at all times, it seems that there should have been no problem in finding her. Of course students don't always follow some rules and she may have also just had it in her purse or other being as she was cooking in the kitchen. Then this leaves the security camera's and so forth that has been mentioned many times over. I would just hypothesize that Mrs. Carson has her own reasons in allowing Addy to be found so late. Perhaps to allow some 'me' time knowing that it would be she who would find her in due time and thus alert the others when she felt it necessary. But then I'm just postulating on such and have no proof to back up my theory.
As for Ayla. She is pretty dense when it comes to women and relationships from what I've read on her profile.
EDIT: Corrected to show MID not BIT.
_____________
My mind is a blank slate with sharp nails running across it.
What's a BIT card? Student
What's a BIT card? Student IDs can be tracked but there's no explicit requirement to carry it around. Mutants are required to carry a MID out in public but those cards contain no tracking devices. If they did, the MCO's job (and H1 folks and the Knights) would have a much easier time taking out Mutants.
Hadn't noticed we could
Hadn't noticed we could comment here.
Learning about Hartfords sex life, EEK!
I was hoping for more chaos with the cooking scene, but it was well done.
Vox has some serious trust issues.
And Ayla not being perfect, but doing the right thing in the end, was quite nice to see.
All in all quite good.
And happy birthday Elrod, may you have many more.
So...
Is Ayla going to be distributing both Vera's wine and Adalie's cognac?
Resolution was a bit faster than I was expecting, but it was still a fun ride. Though I can see some unpleasant encounters between Ayla and Vox in the future...
And this summer ...
Already have plans for Charge, Headrush, Pejuta, and Fey. And a bit of Phase popping in here and there - and you probably know what that means. But yeah, Vox is not going to be happy.
Hmmm - I wonder if she'll get despondent, trying to tell Addy that she's no good for Ayla either, and end up in a duel. In teh melee, Vox gets some sense knocked into her, they come out of it, and the two girls realize that they find each other attractive. And both are attracted to Ayla. So it works out perfectly. Then they go on vacation in a fun little threesome with Ayla.....
Hey, it COULD happen!!
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
Of course with you writing,
Of course with you writing, they would go on a luxurious trip to Hawaii, and get caught in a killer blizzard or something.
It wouldn't be a killer
It wouldn't be a killer blizzard. It would be a manifestation of the Goddess Pele. Those three would have to find what angered her and resolve the issue.
Pele?
God of soccer?
Hawaiian volcano goddess.
Hawaiian volcano goddess.
Who knows - I might write it
Who knows - I might write it as a hermaphroditic soccer-playing Goddess of lava and volcanos.....
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
Really liked the story, as I
Really liked the story, as I do with almost all the things you've written.... however...
You putting Gordon into the story drove me nuts due to being able to picture exactly how he looked and sounded as he said it.... which kind of broke my internal story-o-vision with the difference of clarity between two characters talking with eachother..... at least.... that's what I THINK was driving me nuts. Maybe it was just the injection of something firmly based in reality into the whateley-verse.
Just finished it early this
Just finished it early this morning but did not get a chance to comment until after work. Whimsical was my thought about this story. It was very good story because it was light but also complex as well. I also rather enjoyed some of the teasing with the "Closet" where Sara is hidden and the use of "Chef Gordon"
Just finished...
...over 29,000 words - no wonder it took me several evenings to read through (in between FB / YouTube / dinner etc.)!
As usual, the FanWiki List of Canon Stories and stats spreadsheet have now been updated (we've now got 7.9 million words across 375 episodes of 191 stories by 32 combinations of 19 authors - but still no partridges or pear trees [unless as part of Sara's menu] :D Oh, and ElrodW's now fourth in the league table of total number of words committed to canon [including headings / subheadings / scene change indicators / lyrics - which can't be easily detected and discounted by an automatic algorithm] and joint fourth [with Heather] in the number of episodes / installments / chapters committed to canon - so evidently has plenty of time, motivation and inspiration to write more Whateley goodness!)
-oOo-
Anyway, it's nice to see that everything turned out well in the end - even though Ayla needed a clue-by-four to work it out. No doubt eventually Vanessa will recover - although her situation's likely to be far harder to resolve than the rivalry between the two Berets.
Unsurprrisingly, Amelia's spotted an opportunity to expand her intelligence network - as she's been given a brief outline of the purpose of the Atlantean League (as Cody approached her to get it set up on an official basis so they could access resources e.g. the simulators), she no doubt has an interest in the group and its members both from her Whateley and Syndicate / Mastermind roles; while keeping tabs on Kayda outside the context of the Atlantean League may also be related to her long-running feud with Charlie Lodgeman (if I remember correctly - although if true, I can't remember if we've been told the basis of it).
Finally, after a round of Masterchef (checks Wiki - yes, the format has been exported to the US, alongside Gordon effing Ramsay), I wonder if there is an elective for cookery in the curriculum? Maybe at some point we'll see The Great Whateley Bake Off (derived from the name of the original and most international versions, rather than the US version, which would be the rather more modest sounding The Whateley Baking Competition).
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Whateley does have cooking
Whateley does have cooking classes, at least as part of Home Ec. They also have Cuisine classes, Charge took Scandinavian Cuisine over Winter Term.
I would guess that they also have standard cooking classes like many high schools do. At least my high school did.
Thank you!
I loved the story. It's been a little while since I read a Whateley story but I'm happy to see that the quality of stories has remained stratospheric. Thank you for writing it!
Has anyone figured it out?
I haven't seen any guesses or speculations or theories on what happened between Vox and Jadis. What happened to Vox? So - any thoughts here?
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
On the surface, she found out
On the surface, she found out Jadis and Ayla kissed and overreacted. Her insecurities about being "good enough" for Ayla are well documented in Diane's stories. And her roommate's bile against Ayla doesn't help.
Not sure what else there could be to it. There's no implication that she confronted or even spoke to Jadis directly.
Ah, Grasshopper, look again
Ah, Grasshopper, look again at the scene where Jadis is explaining it to Addy.
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
My Guess
I figure that during the play, there was a kiss, that was either overly or underly passionate, and Jadis and Ayla were demonstrating the proper way that the kiss should have been done. This got back to Vox that Jadis and Ayla were kissing after the play. Vox over reacted, as she usually does.
Evidently...
I guess I was wrong in recommending we leave it with that, El.. I could have sworn some of our savvy word hunters would dig up the relevant scenes and do a comparison and figure it out. The ones that didn't just remember enough to compare without the research. Some of you people have scary accurate memories for the published material. :)
Kristin
yeah, apparently no-one
yeah, apparently no-one thought to compare what Vox said to Jadis (according to Jadis) and what Vox was saying about herself in the prologue, and thought of what, precisely, Vox's powers are...
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
So, hint hint. Vox didn't
So, hint hint. Vox didn't break up with Ayla, Ayla broke up with Vox when he caught her voicing Jadis?
She couldn't have accidently
She couldn't have accidently used her own siren power on herself when she yelled at Jadis that there wasn't anything she could ever do to make him love her. Or is Vox not completely immune to her own siren powers?
She couldn't?
It's not like we've seen Jadis use charms or spell defenses to redirect other attacks on her in the past... oh wait...
;)
to do that
she would have to perceive Vox's comments as an attack, not the ravings of a nutcase.
Jadis has never had any interest in Ayla other than platonic friends, after all, she isn't les or bi but is completely hetero from that Diane has written.
In one story Jadis dismisses the thought of a romantic relationship with Ayla.
as far as the Vox Ayla relationship goes, Alya stated to Team Kimba " I do NOT want to talk about it, it is between Vox and myself"
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
DING! DING! DING! DING!
We have a winner. In the story treatment Diane was writing, Jadis had a magic protection, and when Vox tried to 'voice' Jadis, it was reflected and Vox was affected by her own commands. Vox voiced herself, so now she has to stay away from Ayla, and believes she can't ever make Ayla love her.
This WILL come up again, I promise. Not quite sure how to handle it, but it WILL come up in a future story.
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
Did Jadis' magic
do something to Vox's powers? All the other times she is shown using it, the effect only lasted a short time. She had Ayla pick his nose, he did so for a moment then stopped. I can see the second command lasting with the inclusion of the word "never," but the first part "Leave him alone" doesn't seem like it should last.
Now I am trying to figure out if Jadis knows what happened. If she does, I can see her not telling anyone, as punishment for Vox trying to use powers on her. On the other hand, I don't see her doing anything that she can see is hurting Ayla, or could get her in trouble with Ayla when Ayla finds out she knew and didn't do anything to fix it. Given her intelligence and info network, I do have a hard time seeing Jadis not knowing or figuring out what happened.
Jadis' demon
reflected what Vox attempted to 'voice' Jadis with. So Vox is preventing herself from dealing with Ayla?
I can't see Jadis putting up with someone using their powers on her, so I am guessing she doesn't even realize what happened.
Could be Jadis' demon but we
Could be Jadis' demon but we still have no concrete information on what it does or why it was placed in her in the 1st place, only vague hints. And it could be the demon or it could be being raised the daughter of Dr. Diabolic she has learned to have a passive defensive item on her at all times that protects her mind, like one of her charms or a magic item she made or had made for her. It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you.
The big picture?
Thanks for a fun read with a genuine happy ending. Not just the characters magically accepting to their fate, thanks to their mutant brain adaptations.
I'm a little saddened that the original "season two end-boss fight" will most likely remain a noodle incident at best. I mean the spring break Friday the 13th incident.
- Fey was hit with the nerfbat and of campus
- Tennyo was in outer space
- Whisper was eating pizza
- Imp was aware of an "all hands on deck" in NY, but had other priorities.
-All precogs had been eaten by Phase's favourite tentacle monster? the day before (real MCO)
We will never know if someone/something came to open the portal in the sewage or just to steal all the gold in Homer gallery.
favorite tentacle monster?
you mean the one they made in the arena when fighting the goobers?
( the one Sara called DADDY!!!!!! at )
Sara herself is TK's favorite tentacle monster, and she wouldn't eat all the precogs. [ they taste bad ;) ]
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
BKCRMWDJVG
No, not Sara. BKCRMWDJVG from 'Ayla and the Grinch'.
I think
Sleethr is going to have to rewrite much of Whisper 2. Too much just doesn't fit the timeline. Friday the 13th was the last day of Springbreak, so there would be few students around, and no classes. No one has mentioned an attack in any of the other stories.
just finished
after reading this I noticed one small thing
only what? 3 odd days from Fey doing a HUGE gut wrenching funeral for Aung she is just fine?? no tears???
physically impossible
To cry for three days straight. Most people doing so for even a couple hours will be physically exhausted. In most cases, Fey's reaction to having lost Aung is that she is walking around in a haze, lost. She mostly needs someone to keep her on task or focused on something else. Even in the absolute pits of depression, people can say and surprise us into laughing. We feel devastated when we do so, that we could have the audacity to laugh while mourning/grieving... but our body doesn't work that way. It reacts to funny by laughing. And doing normal things actually does take our mind off our loss, for whole minutes at a time, even. That's WHY your friends and counselors tell you to take your time to grieve... but also don't close yourself off to doing things. By engaging in the rest of the world, in normal things, you will recover far more quickly than if you spend all your time crying into a pillow. No matter what your loss.
Also, remember that you're not seeing Fey's perspective. You don't know about the forty times she broke down crying that day... how many times a member of the J-team pulled her back out of bed and got her face washed up and made up so people won't know all the time she's spent crying. You just see the moment where she appears to be functioning normally and the character who sees her with you isn't immediately aware that she's recovering from something terrible. So don't be too quick to judge external (and often flawed) perspectives of narration. Remember that most of these characters whose perspective you are sharing are teens with little grasp of the world outside their own domain... being aware and sympathetic to someone else's loss of an avatar? Too abstract. Too distant.