I was listening to the radio during a quick dash out to the bank in the rain about half an hour ago. As most folks here know, I'm in the New Jersey area,
so I tend to hear a lot of NYC stations, and in this case I was listening to WCBS 880 AM, an all-news station. There was a piece about a group of college
students advocating the right to carry weapons on campus, their activism no doubt timed to coincide with the Columbine anniversary, and their relatively
civilized conflict with a group of opposite opinion. I wouldn't have given it much thought except my mind -- which is constantly playing with words and
numbers in anagram/acronym/shuffle kinds of ways -- converted the name of the group to an acronym and I said to myself, no way in hell did no one try to
abbreviate and pronounce it.

The group is the New York Students for Concealed Carry on Campus -- NYSCCOC.

I am reminded of the group founded by Rimmer in Red Dwarf: the Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms etc.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

This is for at least the "Myths of Fenspace" page, if anyone wants to actually use them in a story, feel free.
Republic Commando Team Alpha
It started with a small group of real-life soldiers who got their hands on Karen Traviss' "Republic Commando" novels and liked what they read. Some versions of the story paint the group as American soldiers - Rangers, SEALs, Delta Force - others as mercenaries of one stripe or another or even Russian Spetsnaz commandoes. It varies a lot, depending on who tells the story.
In any case, they embraced their newfound fandom, even going so far as to create suits of Commando armor and appropriate accessories, build a prop LAAT/i, and stage little demonstrations for conventions.
Then they went to THAT con.
Today, they make their living as they can. Looting Boskonian storehouses. Rescuing people from slavers. Exfiltrating Fen from the more oppressive areas of Earth. Whatever pays well in the Fennish underground.
If you're in trouble... if no one else can help... and if you can find them... maybe you can hire
The A-Team.
(insert pic of black LAAT/i with red stripe...)
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

One of the more influential authors who almost nobody's ever heard of, James Graham Ballard passed away on Sunday...

http://sfwa.org/news/2009/jgballard.htm]SFWA news posting
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/20 ... _obituary/]Obituary on The Register
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Leon McNichol stepped out of the elevator and looked around the room curiously. Terrence Knight had said it was somewhat urgent, but so far, the only other
people present were Terrence himself... and a very well built black-furred catgirl. Long legs, small waist and a large chest that the body armor failed to hide
in the slightest, long blonde hair and an oddly familiar face that all added up to one hell of a sex kitten.

Smiling, he stepped forward, already preparing the McNichol charm. "Morning Terr," he said with a polite nod, before giving a more respectful bow to
the catgirl. "Pleasure to meet you ma'am," he smiled. "Detective Leon McNichol, PSI."

The catgirl blinked slightly, before a faint smile appeared on her face. "Hello Detective," she said, her voice sounding oddly familar as well. She
glanced past him as the elevator doors opened again, and Leon turned to see Mag Flashlight and Smoldering Decay arrive.

A part of his mind classed them as no threat as he turned back to the catgirl. "You don't have to be so formal kitten," he chuckled.
"Friends call me Leon. Detective is only for the folks I'm arresting," the officer added with a friendly grin.

Terr made an odd coughing noise, but Leon paid it no mind as the catgirls smile widened. "I'll stop calling you Detective when you pay back the money
you owe me," she said playfully. The police officers mind paused for a minute as he searched his mental databases and found no matches for the woman in
front of him.

"... you're not the woman I met backstage after Priss's concert?" he asked after a moment. Terr made the strange cough again, this time
clearly holding back a laugh. The catgirl merely raised an eyebrow.

"Surely you didn't have so many jello shots that night you'd miss the fur?" she teased lightly.

"I doubt he was in any state to pay attention to fur," Decay snarked, getting a snort from Mag and an outright laugh from Terr now. Leon shot them
all annoyed looks.

"No, I wasn't that girl, although we were drinking together that night," she smiled. Her ears twitched as the smile became slightly evil.
"I'll give you a hint. You owe me the money because a Cadaver puked all over your pants and melted them. I lent you the cash to race into a clothing
store and save what was left of your dignity."

Leons friendly flirting smile was washed away by a wave of embarrassment and horror. "... Rob?!"

Knight of the Peace grinned even wider, pulling out her hero license and confirming that she was indeed one of his favorite drinking buddies in the Legendary,
now somehow feline and female. Behind Leon, the other three heroes broke down laughing, Decay leaning against Terr for support (And a quick grope).

A moment later, Knight joined them in laughter. "The look on your face!" she cackled as she leaned against a computer terminal for support. "I
think you just found another way to be shot down!"




Leon was so stunned his missed his usual response entirely. "Uh, about the kitten comment," he managed weakly. "I..."

Rob laughed again. "That's alright. After all, I am a kitten right now." She looked at him for a long moment, watching him try and collect his
bearings, then smiled and patted his cheek. "Besides, you're cute when you're embarrassed," she added, walking on past and pretending to
ignore the shocked squawk he made (Not to mention the other three heroes all give up and just fall down laughing).

***

For Leon, the day didn't seem to get any better. Going up against the elite soldiers of Romulus, emerging through a hole in time into the tunnels under the
Hollows, was bad enough, but Robin, as she was calling herself at the moment, seemed to be in an odd mood. Or perhaps she was just touched by the evil of her
future sister-in-law, and was simply going after Nene's favorite target.

"You know Leon, my eyes are a little above your line of sight," she laughed as he looked her over yet again, trying to wrap his brain around the
concept.

"I, uhm, I, sorry," he said. "I'm not trying to be a jerk, but how can you be so... calm about it?"

She leapt onto the back of a Roman that Terrence had punched their way, buried her claws in his back a half dozen times, then let him fall. "What, would
you prefer I curl up on the couch at home and sulk?" she asked with a shrug. "Hope they find a way to reverse the Yarnball and put my life on hold in
the meantime?"

"Well, no," he admitted, firing on another Roman, only to have him charge through the gunfire and smash his shield into the police officer, bouncing
him down the cave. As he groaned, he could hear Robin snarling as she lunged at the time travelling centurion. After a few pained yells from her target, she
was bounced down the cavern next to him. Leon swore, rose to his knees and switched his rifle to buckshot. The sneering Cimorean ran at them, only to have his
kneecap explode in a shower of blood and bone.

"I guess when you put it like that, you're making the right call," he continued. "Although I'm surprised you used the same hero name.
People are gonna remember this."

She smirked as she stood up and stretched. "Mmm. Probably. So be it. If they can't handle the fact I'm female, that says more about me then
them." Leon found his eyes roaming again as she stretched, noting she was indeed female, then scowled and turned back to the main fight, noting that she
was also a guy he'd had beers and played darts with on a regular basis, and regardless of how well she was taking it, that was just plain creepy.

"Besides," she added, brushing past him. "It does give me the ability to appreciate that cute ass of yours." As she popped her claws and
dived back into the fight, Leon was briefly frozen, his brain having stumbled and fallen over at that comment.

"... She's joking... right?" he managed after a moment.

"Glass not too sure," Glass Lass admitted as she walked past. "Glass think Knight need therapy."

"She's right though," Emi Arizona added with a soft laugh as she returned to the fight. Leon watched her go, then bowed his head and sighed. He
was getting a damn headache from all this.

***

"Brief break?" Terrence mused.

"Oh yes," Cy Berr agreed, rubbing at her forearm, where a Cimorean sword had cut rather deep. Behind her, Decay sat down on the front of an old car,
resting her legs.

Leon sat down near Mag, removing the clip from his rifle and doing a quick field check. Satisfied it was in working order, he looked around the cavern... and
his eyes locked on Knight, who had briefly unsealed her armor, doing a quick stretch, then began to clean herself in the manner of cats and catgirls
everywhere, seemingly unconcerned about the detective staring at her.

As she lifted her leg up, he briefly began to imagine just how flexible she was, before Mag nudged him in the stomach and pulled him back to reality.
"Look, burning barrels," Mag said dryly, pointing at something on a completely different line of sight then the black-furred catgirl.

"Yes, very interesting," he agreed, directing his eyes at the barrels, but not before accidentally catching Robins eye and seeing the knowing smile
on her face. "Dammit," he muttered. "She's doing it on purpose."

"Course she is. She's a catgirl that associates with Romanova on a regular basis," Mag deadpanned. "You're an easy target for
that."

"Better you then me for a change," Terr said as he walked past, completely unsympathetic. Leon gave him a filthy look.

***

"Enhanced senses have downsides."

"Really?" Emi blinked.

"Yeah. I can smell just how bad these romans are in their leather and metal suits, what with the sweat and mud and blood and the fact they don't have
washing machines in ancient Cimorea. I can smell the Yarnball they had you processing at the police station..."

"Yeah, dump the long boring work on the new girl immune to the stuff," Emi grumbled. "I had catgirls following me all afternoon."

"Not surprising," Robin said. "That smell triggers just about every single pleasure receptor in our brain." She glanced over at Leon and
grinned. "Leon smells nicer though." Leon closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Get a room you two," Cy Barr said, rolling her eyes.

Emi snickered and leaned in close to Robin. "So... are you just messing with Leon or actually flirting with him?" she asked quietly

"... you know, I'm not sure," she replied after a moments thought. She spent the next five minutes or so considering this, giving Leon a much
needed break.

***

"So, that's what ancient Cimorea is like?" Robin asked as they left the Hollows and returned to the much more civilized Atlas Park, all the
Romans suitably beaten up and tossed back through history. "An endless horde of disturbingly large men in bulky armor with swords and shields, all of them
stupidly powerful and dedicated to killing us in painful ways?"

"That's what I've been told," Leon agreed.

"Those were the elite soldiers of Romulus," Mag pointed out. "Most of the soldiers are much more human."

Robin shrugged. "I dunno. I can see Terr's fascination with the place. Give him people to hit and he's happy."

"I am a man of simple pleasures," Terrence replied with a dry smile.

The catgirl laughed, then nudged Leon in the arm. "Come on, I need a beer." He gave her a cautious look. "Oh relax, I'll cover you a few
rounds. It's the least I could do after playing Net and Terrence with you all day."

"Oh wonderful, the game has a name now," Terr chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"... okay," Leon replied, surrendering to the power of free beer.

***

Miranda Barnes looked up from the circuit board she was working on, as her sister came in and headed straight to her room. Curious, she looked back at the door
to see a familar officer standing there. "Heya Leon," she said with a grin and a slight wave. "Whatcha doing?"

"Rob's buying beer," he replied. "I'm planning on drinking it."

"Ah," she said. "So... I see you've seen the new look."

Leon shrugged, hands in his jacket pockets. "Would've appreciated it if someone freaking warned me."

Mir paused, then her eyes glowed with a purple light as her partner took control. "Are you implying what I think you are?" Shade asked, before the
light faded and Mir snickered. "You tried to pick her up, didn't you?"

The detective paused, looking for a way to save face, then slumped slightly and replied "... yeah." Mir put the soldering iron down, then allowed
herself to crack up laughing. Leon patiently waited for her to calm down. This took some time, as every time Mir looked back up at him, it set her off again.

The Warshade was still giggling helplessly as Robin came back out in jeans and a shirt. "...Do I want to know?" she asked Leon, which only set Mir
off again.

"Ah, she's just being her usual charming self," he scowled.

Robin nodded in understanding. "Mir, I'm going out and getting drunk," she said. Mir managed a weak wave as she gasped for air. Robin rolled her
eyes, fetched her jacket, and headed for the door. Behind them, Mir coughed and wheezed, then pulled herself out of her chair, fetched a glass of water, then
went and called Nene.

"Hey Nene, it's Mir. Listen, I've got some material you need to know before you see Leon tomorrow..."

***

She was still working on the circuit boards a few hours later when the sounds of stumbling footsteps got her attention. Curious, she pulled up her goggles and
went to the window.

"I am so drunk," Robin giggled, leaning against Leon for support. "And I was sticking to light beer. That's depressing..."

"You're what, half your old body weight?" Leon replied, guiding her towards the door. "You'll just have to be careful about how you
drink in the future."

"And I suck at pool now," the catgirl sighed.

"You were always crap at that," Leon disagreed, fishing through the woman's jacket pocket for her keys. "You kicked my ass at darts."

"Sniping. I'm good at it," Robin smiled, stumbling slightly. "I had fun tonight, even when that jerk got pushy."

"You think he'd know not to mess with a catgirl," Leon snorted. "Dumbass," he added as he put the key in the lock.

Robin giggled. "You were gonna deck him," she noted, laughing. "Oh noble man, protecting the girl."

He turned and gave her an odd look. "Last time I checked, you didn't need protecting."

"True, but it was very sweet. I should thank you for it," she declared, and before Leon really had time to register it, the woman had wrapped her
arms over his shoulders and pulled him down into a deep kiss. His eyes went wide as his tried to get past the alcohol in his bloodstream and remind his body
that even if Robin was currently a very hot catgirl with a great figure and a huge chest, he should really put a stop to this...

Thankfully, Miranda apparently took pity on him for once and raced to the door, swinging it open and pulling the catgirl off. "Okay then, someone's
properly plastered and is ready for bed," she declared. "Get in there and sleep it off," she ordered, pushing her towards the hallway.

"Ohhh... fine," Robin sulked, making her way towards the hallway in a sort of straight line.

Mir watched her go, then turned back to Leon, who was still standing there, frozen in an odd mix of surprise, horror, and lust. "I'd invite you in for
a much needed coffee," she said, studying him. "But I think I'm going to need to make sure she's properly tucked in and sleeping this
incident off."

Leon blinked a few times. "Uhhh... yeah," he agreed, wiping at his mouth. "... You won't mention this?"

She gave him an amused look. "I have some sense of mercy," she snorted. "Nene won't hear it from me. Night Leon."

"Yeah... bye," Leon said, watching the door close. He stood there for a long moment, still wiping at his lips with his thumb. "... This city can
be freaking weird," he sighed, turning and heading for the train station.

***

The following morning found Leon sorting through a pile of paperwork that was strange, even by PSI standards. How was he supposed to get signatures and
evidence logs from the officers on the other end of a suspect transfer, when the other end was two thousand years in the past, and any paperwork would be in
Latin?

He was about to shove the documents into a folder and go find someone at the Midnight Club to properly abuse over this, when he heard a familiar voice say, in
a tone he'd come to dread "Oh Leon-pooo..." Slowly, he looked up to see Nene standing there, a faintly bemused looking Ifrit standing behind her.

"What is it Nene?" he asked in a weary voice, already guessing what was coming.

"Oh, I just heard about your day yesterday, and I thought I should swing by and make certain that your intentions towards my future sister-in-law were
clean and decent," she smiled cheerfully.

One desk over, Daley Wong blinked and looked over. "I thought Miranda already had a girlfriend," he said.

"Oh, she does," Ifrit replied with an amused shake of her head.

Wong considered this, then smiled at Leon. "You were hitting on Knight of the Peace?" he chuckled.

"You knew about that?" Leon blinked.

"If you bothered to read the police reports on Yarnball, you would have too," Daley told him. "So... if you're willing to chase after a girl
that was a guy a week ago, does this mean I'm in with a shot?"

"Don't start with me Wong," Leon growled. Daley merely smiled and leaned back in his chair to watch the show.

Nene smiled. "I know how lacking your love life has been lately-"

"Hey!"

"So I know you might be considering introducing Robin to some of the more... exciting elements of her new gender," she continued as if she hadn't
noticed his protest. "But they're looking for a way to reverse it, so any more little adventures like last night-"

"Hey, she kissed me, not the other way around!" Leon exclaimed, starting to mentally curse Miranda, then stopped dead as Nene and Ifrit both suddenly
turned much more serious looks his way. "Uhhh..."

"Robin kissed you," Ifrit said softly, her face intent.

"Well... she was drunk, and a little out of it."

Nene looked over at Ifrit, the pair seeming to share a conversation in a few expressions. "Well then, that changes things," she nodded.

Leon glanced between them. "... It does?"

"Hmm," Ifrit agreed. "If Robin is interested in you in that manner... well, she's a grown woman, she doesn't need her sister keeping an
eye on her. That said, should you hurt her..." her eyes lit on fire for a moment as she continued in a sweet voice. "I will burn the flesh from your
bones, leave you blind and helpless, and then I'll let Nene do whatever she wants to you."

"Remember what I said about Priss?" Nene asked with a cute smile. "Well, have fun Leon-poo!" she said, turning and walking away. "Be
sure to take her somewhere nice!" Ifrit followed, giving Leon a cheery wave that had embers floating in the air behind her hand. Leon watched them head
towards the base teleporter, then groaned, his head dropping onto the desk with a painful sounding thunk.

Daley studied him for a moment, did some mental calculations of Leons frustration meter, and said "You do realize that this provides more evidence that
you should just join me on this side of the fence?"

"I will end you Wong," came the pained response.

"Promises promises."

Wednesday, 4:30 pm

Atlas Park



Dark Seraph sat down at his battered old desk and let out a sigh. It seemed like forever since he last took on a simple case, what with being a hero and
family matters taking up nearly all his time he hadn't really taken on any jobs of late. Hell, he couldn't even remember the last time he actually came
to the office.



As he filed away some paperwork that he had left sitting on the desk since he started the agency months ago, he heard a gentle knock at the door. "Come
in." he called. He was surprised to see a short figure in a trenchcoat and large fedora hat enter. The figure padded across the room, their feet hardly
making a noise, as they reached his desk, a brown furred hand reached out and placed a piece of paper on the desk. Seraph picked it up and read it.



"Sorry for the note, but I have a speech impediment. I wish to hire you to investigate a new drug that's been hitting the streets. It goes by the
name 'Yarnball', and is a highly addictive substance that has some major side effects."



D.S. looked back to his potential client. "And the reason you came to a PI instead of going to the cops?" he asked.



The figure pulled of there hat off and revealed that she was a catgirl, Siamese by the looks of her. She let out a string of meows before getting a note pad
from her pocket and writing another message. Seraph took the note.

"The cops are taking too long, and you have a rep for getting the job done quickly."

Seraph thought about this, it would be nice to get some normal work done.



"Okay. I'll do it, but there are some ground rules. First I need to know who I'm working for. Second, I need all the info you have. And
thirdly, I would like forty percent of my fee paid in advance. I've heard of this Yarnball and what it does, so call it hazard pay. "



The girl quickly wrote another note and handed it over along with a vial of greenish white powder and a cheque. Seraph gently put the vial down and read the
note.

"This is a sample of Yarnball I obtained while helping some heroes take down a local ring. As for my name, call me Purrfect Catgirl."

He carefully wiped his hand. "Okay, ma'am, I'll get on it right away." He said as he stood up.



P.C. let out a happy mew and bowed before leaving.



Seraph smiled to himself. It looked like his first job in a while might be an easy one



***

Kings Row, two hours later



Seraph swore violently as he ducked behind a shipping crate. This was not going as he expected. It had been a simple thing to cast a homing spell on the
sample that P.C. had given him. The spell led him to the closest stash of Yarnball. Instead of finding a drug ring, however, what he discovered was a warehouse
full of doped up catgirls. Unfortunately, they discovered him at the same time. Now, he was doing his best not to avoid being their new "scratching
post".



He quickly looked around the crate and let off a blast wave of arcane energy before running back down the hall. He had tried to fly out earlier, but had
nearly got flayed alive by a pair of cats lurking in the roof. What he needed was a plan, and more importantly he needed some room to come up with said plan.
He ran around the corner and ducked as another cat girl lobbed a bag of Yarnball at him.



"MOUSIE!" a voice bellowed. Seraph popped out his head and saw a massive catgirl, she could almost pass as a troll she was that big.
"MOUSIE!" she yelled again. "I know you wants our Yarnball, why run from it? We will not hurt you, share it and know the fun."



Seraph swore. They weren't trying to kill him, they wanted to dope him up and make him a kitty! He was in no mood to go through that sort of shit.



Now it was time for "Plan W": Wing it. Jumping out from behind his cover, he summoned a snowstorm around the giant cat. She yowled in anger before
charging at him. Seraph covered himself in a coat of ice as she slammed into him. "Mousie has ice…too bad I have fire," she cackled as flames
surrounded her hands and she brought them down in a viscous swipe. Seraph failed to dodge in time and yelped as the claws tore along his back. "This stuff
is great, Mousie, but it's even better when mixed with 'Dyne." She purred as she tore another strip out of Seraphs back.



"What the…you mix it?" seraph gasped as she picked him up.



"Oh yes, speed and grace of a cat with the power of a troll…it's gonna be the next big thing."



He could see her face clearly now. Vestigial horns poked through the fringe of her hair, and her face looked more like a lion than a cat.



"So, Mousie want to be a kitty?" she purred.



"How about I split, instead?" he let off a small blast of light in her face and hit the ground running. The cat-troll roared in pain and confusion
before flinging fire balls at him. Seraph tried to duck and weave, but with his back torn up the best he could manage was a drunken stager. The girl had gone
berserk, flinging fire balls all over the place, She's insane! Seraph thought. She's not watching where she's hurling those damn
fireballs! One misfired ball and she'll bring the whole place down around our ears! Seraph watched as one of the fireballs hit a propane tank.
"Fucking Murphy." He swore.



The resulting fire ball picked him up and slammed him back into the catgirl with enough force to wind her. Slowly, he got to his feet and tagged the nutter
for the Zig.



As she beamed out, he turned to see fire burning everything in its path. The remaining catgirls were running for the exits. Seraph was about to join them
when he heard a scream. Looking back, he could just make out a figure behind a wall of flames. Without even pausing to think, he cast Flight and shot through
the flames. He landed on the other side, just in time to see the figure collapse. Running over, Seraph checked to see if the figure was okay, and was mildly
surprised to see it was a fully clothed catgirl. Carefully, he picked her up. She still had a pulse witch was a good sign. Looking around for a way out, he
could just make out a skylight through the smoke. Hunching over to protect the girl from the worst of it, Seraph shot straight up through the air, smashing
through the glass with his back. The pain was excruciating as the glass shattered around him. As soon as he was clear, he shot down to street level where
emergency crews where already gathering.



The girl stirred in his arms and looked at him. "Who... who are you?" she asked.



"Just a guy that happened to be in the right place at the right time." Seraph replied as he touched down on the pavement.



A paramedic ran over to take the girl from him. "You okay, sir?" One of them asked.



"Huh?" Seraph was having trouble thinking straight with the pain in his back, not to mention he was feeling kind of lightheaded.



"Sir, your back is pretty badly messed up." the medic replied.



Looking over his shoulder Seraph could see his back was a rather horrid sight.



"Um…ow!" He said before passing out.



***



Atlas Hospital - Several hours later



When he came to, Seraph realised he was in a hospital bed, which meant he overdid it… again. Sighing, he sat up, his back screaming in pain as he looked
around. It was night time from what he could tell, which meant he missed most of movie night. Gir was going to be upset; she had been so looking forward to it.
As he hunted around the room for his clothes, the door opened and a nurse came in.



"Oh, I didn't know you where awake yet. How are you doing?" she asked



"Okay I guess, I mean I wasn't hurt that badly." He replied.



"Well, you did come close to severing several major blood vessels in your back, along with some minor burns and smoke inhalation. It's a wonder
you're even standing."



"Meh, it comes from being stubborn."



The nurse giggled at his remark. "Oh, and I have your blood tests. You'll be glad to know that they all came back negative for Yarnball."



Seraph gave a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed in his life was a sudden change of gender, especially when so far there looked like there was no way
to reverse it.



"So, am I free to go?" he asked the nurse.



"I'll have to double-check with Doctor Brown, but I don't see why not." As she turned to leave, she paused. "Oh I almost forgot, the
young woman you saved today asked me to pass this on." She handed Seraph a "get well soon" card. When she left he opened it and read the
message. It was the stranded gift shop "hope you feel better soon" stuff, under it was written the following:



"I wish I could think of something better to write than thank you, but I'm not very good with words, you saved my life today and I can't thank
you enough for it.

From Michelle Taylor."



Seraph looked at the card. It was kind of odd, he never been given a thank you note before. When the nurse returned with Doctor Brown, he gave Seraph a
quick once over before giving him the all clear to go home.



On his way out he stopped by the gift store and got a card for the girl he saved. After all one good deed deserved another. After filling it out, he dropped
it off at the reception desk and headed home.



* * *



Dark Seraph's Apartment Building - Minutes later.



The upside of his current housing was that it was right behind the hospital. He headed in the door and walked over to the elevator, put in his key, and
tapped the button for the penthouse level. He was still somewhat amused that Silicon had just given the place to him. Seraph stepped out of the elevator into
near total darkness. As he suspected the household was asleep. As he had suspected, he had missed movie night, and he was going to have to spend tomorrow
apologizing to his daughter.



The only light in the room was a static-like flicker from the living room. Seraph entered the room and discovered the TV had been left on, and that Gir and
her new girlfriend Patti had apparently fallen asleep watching it. However, as he got closer, he realized there more to it than that. Both Gir and Patti were
half-naked, their shirts were nowhere to be seen. Gir had apparently fallen asleep in Patti's lap, and had snuggled into Patti's bosom, using it as a
makeshift pillow. Likewise, Patti had Gir in a loose, yet intimate embrace. Her head had rolled forward in her sleep, coming to rest lightly on the top of
Gir's head. Both had happy, content smiles on their face and almost seemed to glow.



Seraph sighed, a little relieved when he noticed both Patti and Gir at least still had their pants and bras on. Still, that kind of behavior on the couch
wasn't exactly appropriate, and he would have to discuss that with Gir tomorrow…er, later today.



Seraph walked down the hall to a closet, and pulled a spare blanket out of storage, his mind momentarily thinking more of the events in the warehouse than
the two figures on his couch. He'd nearly gotten himself killed, and he was still no closer to finding the source of Yarnball, or who was smuggling it into
Paragon City. He ran the information over in his head a few times, as he covered up the two lovers and let them sleep.



He retired to his own bedroom, the case still on his mind as he dressed for bed, gingerly moving his back as he did so, and climbed in.



Sleep would not come easy that night.



****

writen buy me with a lot (and i mean alot) of help from Ran.

enjoy

So. I'm sure folks know I've been having issues with my laptop shutting down on me, though now it just took things too far. Last night when it did
this on me, (Sorry by the way Valles) Windows decided it didn't want to boot.

In order to get the thing to boot, it went through some sort of 'Startup Repair' and in so doing, apparently it restored the system to a point wherein
my user/password is not valid. So, until I can get this thing working (or beat into a mess of wires and ruined parts), I'll be out of touch. Hopefully it
wouln't be too long.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

Quote: "BUSTER!" Nanoha shouted as a pink beam of energy thicker than a telephone pole lanced out and struck the Kull Warrior with such force that it was
picked up and slammed against the end of the hall. Jack and the others stopped firing at the strange sight and just watched as the Kull Warrior was pushed
into the wall, cracking the reinforced cement behind it.




When the stream of power ended, the Kull Warrior fell forward, leaving a noticeable fracture in the wall.




"Warning, target still functions," Raising Heart announced just before the Kull Warrior moved its arms, "Let's do it: Starlight Breaker."




"Okay, Raising Heart," Nanoha turned to Jack and said, "Pin him down for 10 seconds, please!"




Jack, Tsurugi, Teal'c and the remaining soldiers again opened fire. Jack kept his shots in short controlled bursts between the blasts of energy that
Tsurugi and Teal'c launched. Keeping his shots close to the central mass of the Kull warrior as it stood up, one arm passed over its body. The other
soldiers had taken to 'spray and pray' responses to the Kull Warriors in a mild panic, but Jack remained sharp.




A three round burst struck the blaster on the left arm as it rose, deforming the weapon and launching sparks into the air. Jack wondered if Nanoha's
blast had damaged the Warrior's shielding. Its body armor remained intact, but parts of their collective shots were getting through.




The light from Nanoha's staff grabbed Jack's attention for just an instant. In the glimpse he gave her, he saw a sphere of pink energy gathered
before her, held within a spinning circle in front of Nanoha that was bigger around that she was tall that soon filled the entire hallway, calling an end to
the barrage.




"STAR LIGHT," Nanoha shouted as she raised her staff into the air, "BREAKER!"




Nanoha brought the staff down on the sphere with all her might as it launched towards the Kull Warrior as it used its remaining strength to look up to its
doom.




The hallway was enveloped in pink light for a good 13 seconds before the light dissipated. An acrid burning smell filled the hall.




When it did, the devastation was astounding. The entire hallway had been burned wider by almost 3 inches, while the hallway itself had been extended another
hundred feet.




Two ports opened on Raising Heart and let out twin jets of steam.




"Target Neutralized." Raising heart said.

I've noticed a real lack of posts despite a lot of news and politics going on. Is this just

people burning out or is there something else going on?

When Mission Design content is unlocked with tickets, is it unlocked for the toon, or the player?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

After the craziness that was Terr's Ride of Roman Death, Largo had 16 million in Infamy. However, he also had a good deal of lack of slots, because going
from 45-49 in one map will give you the sea of red right quick.

So, I try to IO out his build, using just generic IOs. I note, my seed money for this was 16 *million*. This would not be difficult blueside. I'd want,
say, 20 mil to be sure of it, but I'd feel just fine about making the conversion from SOs to IOs.

I am now down to 4,000 some inf. I've *almost* got all the End Reducs I needed, and a handful of SOs are green now. However, about half his slots are still
red. I note, I concentrated ONLY on the End Reducs for IOs, figuring the rest could come later.

And most of those IOs were bought as recipes rather than the 500K a pop asking price for crafted IOs. Which lowered the price to 92,000 a pop, plus the
salvage. The silver wasn't bad(500 a pop for 10 pieces), but the Nevermelting Silver, common arcane salvage, apparently rings up for 50,000 a piece. @_@

Needless to say, I'm grateful that I'm perfectly fine with SOs most of the time. Otherwise redside's market would probably kill me.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."