Amelia, Ch 309- Dinah
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Amelia, Ch 309- Dinah
It's so boring around here, I sighed inwardly. Sure, I could hang out gaming with Zach. Or spend time with Lisa. But Zach was kinda weird. Funny at times, but 'always on' and not my kind of humor. As for Lisa? She was even more boring than doing nothing most of the time. Oh well, this is still better than watching my parents being so painfully awkward around me, and having to use my power every day to find out if someone was trying to kill me.
Besides, Avalon had the absolutely best food. And the school here was half parahumans, so no one pestered me about what it was like to have powers. I wouldn't mind being pestered more. There was a shifting below me as Typha noted my unhappiness. Her amazingly soft feathers ruffled around me, and a low vibration spread across my whole body as she purred. I smiled. I would die if I was ever forced to go back to a normal bed again in my life.
This dumb movie Zach told me I had to watch, on the other hand, was going to make me carve out my own eyes from sheer stupidity. The whole thing was narrated so, so badly. And something with a giant black slug monster that was so slow that its 'victims' had to force themselves to climb inside it to be 'eaten'. Note to self: offer a free question to whomever it is that can come up with the best revenge against him.
Maybe Trevor's not busy right now?
There was a knock on the door. I sat up and happily turned off the TV, resolving never to turn it on again until I deleted that movie from my hard drive. I hastily grabbed one of my books off the night stand and a bookmark to put about halfway in. "You may come in now," I spoke loudly at the door after a minute. I kept the book neatly in my lap.
The door opened, revealing Missy, and followed by Riley and Theo. They all looked a little worried, Riley looked almost like a puppy that had done something wrong. Oh, so they needed me for something.
"I hope we're not bothering you too much," Missy started.
"It's quite alright," I responded. Certainly beats what I was doing. "I presume you want to use one of my questions?" I didn't need to be a precog to see where this was going. I'd seen that look enough times before from people across the world. The look of someone who was afraid of the answer but more afraid of not knowing. This time it was actually a concern for me since these were people I lived with.
"Yeah," Theo agreed. "I'd like to know-"
"My idea, my question," Missy interrupted. Her ques-? Oh, right, the freebies I offered at the christmas party. They still think I'm going to charge them if they ask for more than just the one? Well, that's probably still a good thing.
"I've still a few in reserve," I confirmed. My power wasn't quite numerical like that, some questions drained more power than others. But unless they needed something huge and worldwide, I could afford a question or two and still be at full strength for Lisa in the morning. Ultimately that was always the primary concern, and every day we used more than half my power on what little I could do to see in Scion's wake.
"Well, a couple people may have realized Aceso is a Tinker," Missy informed me. "We're wondering the odds of it becoming public knowledge that she was Bonesaw. Let's just put a time limit on before Scion does his thing. I don't think anyone will be in a position to care after."
I dipped into my well of information intuitively. It was as natural as breathing, and I pulled the answer out almost instantly. "Seven point oh three nine percent that Riley's identity is discovered by the general public before the end of the world." I paused for a moment, this was odd. "But if it does happen, it doesn't seem to matter. Numbers don't change enough for it to be considered meaningful."
"How's that make sense?" Theo asked. "This would be a pretty big deal."
"That is not how my power works," I responded. It was true, after all. "It's really more Minerva's department for determining why a given outcome is likely under a given circumstance. My power merely tells me what the results should be. We could consult her, if you like. This is a significant enough number that she would appreciate if if she were able be prepared for the event ahead of time."
Missy glanced over at Riley. "It's probably a good idea."
"She'll figure it out anyway," Riley agreed. She walked over to Typha's head, kneeling down near the Gryphon and scratching her behind the ear. The purring intensified. Typha was more like a giant housecat than the jungle predator her form was modeled after. Her way of coping, I guess. It surprised me more than it should that the animal was so responsive to her attention. Normally Typha didn't like strangers. Of course, this girl was the one who created her, of course she wouldn't be a stranger to her.
I tapped out a short text asking for Lisa to call me in my room. A couple seconds later, the screen lit up. Lisa's eyes moved to the others in the room. "Ah, so they came to you first."
"You already know?" Theo asked.
"Your boyfriend snitched," Lisa smirked. "He has an incredibly stupid plan."
"It's brilliant!" A man's voice shouted from somewhere off screen.
"Sadly, it is," Lisa agreed. "Par for the course with Zach's plans."
"I'm going to release a bunch of conspiracy theories online proving that we're all members of the Slaughterhouse Nine!" He declared in the background. "Crystal's actually Burnscar. I'm Crawler. Theo, you get to be Shatterbird. Missy's really Cherish. Lisa's Jack Slash. Amelia used her powers to turn everyone's brains into bugs that Taylor can control and give us cosmetic surgery."
"Zach, that's idiotic," Theo retorted. "None of that even makes sense. Everyone knows who Crystal is, she and Lachesis have been heroes for years. Also, everyone knows how most of our powers work, at least in the basics. There's clearly no way in hell we could pretend to be them."
"That's what makes it brilliant!" Zach argued. "Everyone knows it's all stupid as hell, so they'll ignore the parts that actually make sense. By the time anyone starts trying to connect dots, no intelligent person would ever dare admit it. It's how the government covers up their real secret experiments by forging documents of really silly ones and giving them to crazy people. It's exactly stupid enough to work!"
"That... that..." Theo stuttered. "Dinah, I have to know. I'm burning my question on this, but is that going to work?"
"Ninety seven percent chance that if that plan is implemented, the significant majority of individuals will not believe it if Riley's identity is revealed," I answered. "I... guess that means it works."
"But that doesn't even make sense!" Theo argued. "I mean, maybe it'd be a smoke blind for a bit, but that's all."
"Maybe if there was usable evidence," Lisa responded. "But there's no possible way to prove Clarice is connected to Bonesaw. She has a history, constructed before the destruction of Brockton Bay, that we can show. She no longer even vaguely resembles her old self, except in gender. Thanks to the retroviral treatments she's been taking, she's now a genetically provable half sister to Amelia. Of course, everyone knows that such tech isn't exactly out of our reach, so I doubt they'd bother with that as evidence. If this were brought to trial, no jury on Bet could convict her. Except maybe China, because they're assholes."
"So it really doesn't matter?" Riley asked, looking up from her position using my pet for comfort.
"I wouldn't say that," Lisa responded. "It could cost us a lot of progress. We will not be going public with who you were. Conspiracy bullshit is fine. Then if anyone ever asks the question we can laugh at it and ignore the person who asked without trouble. But we can't risk people actually believing it. You're Clarice, now."
"I'm Clarice, now," she agreed, smiling. "I like that."
"Good," Lisa responded.
"Hey, while we're all still here," Zach spoke up. "I'd like to remind you that this just proves how deserving I am of the title-"
"No, Zach, your title cannot be the Grand Web Poobah," Lisa interrupted. "Nor can it be Imperial Wizard or Super Kami Guru."
"That's w-w-wizard," Zach corrected. "You have to pronounce it right or it loses its effect, High Emissary."
"Actually, the correct pronunciation is 'never going to happen, Zach'," Lisa countered.
"Hey, you guys back me up," he insisted. "I've earned this and you know it."
"It's a bad plan," I responded. "Do you need the exact numbers?" That's for making me watch that horrible movie, jerk.
==================
A/N- My girlfriend promises snickerdoodles for anyone who figures out the movie being referenced.
It's so boring around here, I sighed inwardly. Sure, I could hang out gaming with Zach. Or spend time with Lisa. But Zach was kinda weird. Funny at times, but 'always on' and not my kind of humor. As for Lisa? She was even more boring than doing nothing most of the time. Oh well, this is still better than watching my parents being so painfully awkward around me, and having to use my power every day to find out if someone was trying to kill me.
Besides, Avalon had the absolutely best food. And the school here was half parahumans, so no one pestered me about what it was like to have powers. I wouldn't mind being pestered more. There was a shifting below me as Typha noted my unhappiness. Her amazingly soft feathers ruffled around me, and a low vibration spread across my whole body as she purred. I smiled. I would die if I was ever forced to go back to a normal bed again in my life.
This dumb movie Zach told me I had to watch, on the other hand, was going to make me carve out my own eyes from sheer stupidity. The whole thing was narrated so, so badly. And something with a giant black slug monster that was so slow that its 'victims' had to force themselves to climb inside it to be 'eaten'. Note to self: offer a free question to whomever it is that can come up with the best revenge against him.
Maybe Trevor's not busy right now?
There was a knock on the door. I sat up and happily turned off the TV, resolving never to turn it on again until I deleted that movie from my hard drive. I hastily grabbed one of my books off the night stand and a bookmark to put about halfway in. "You may come in now," I spoke loudly at the door after a minute. I kept the book neatly in my lap.
The door opened, revealing Missy, and followed by Riley and Theo. They all looked a little worried, Riley looked almost like a puppy that had done something wrong. Oh, so they needed me for something.
"I hope we're not bothering you too much," Missy started.
"It's quite alright," I responded. Certainly beats what I was doing. "I presume you want to use one of my questions?" I didn't need to be a precog to see where this was going. I'd seen that look enough times before from people across the world. The look of someone who was afraid of the answer but more afraid of not knowing. This time it was actually a concern for me since these were people I lived with.
"Yeah," Theo agreed. "I'd like to know-"
"My idea, my question," Missy interrupted. Her ques-? Oh, right, the freebies I offered at the christmas party. They still think I'm going to charge them if they ask for more than just the one? Well, that's probably still a good thing.
"I've still a few in reserve," I confirmed. My power wasn't quite numerical like that, some questions drained more power than others. But unless they needed something huge and worldwide, I could afford a question or two and still be at full strength for Lisa in the morning. Ultimately that was always the primary concern, and every day we used more than half my power on what little I could do to see in Scion's wake.
"Well, a couple people may have realized Aceso is a Tinker," Missy informed me. "We're wondering the odds of it becoming public knowledge that she was Bonesaw. Let's just put a time limit on before Scion does his thing. I don't think anyone will be in a position to care after."
I dipped into my well of information intuitively. It was as natural as breathing, and I pulled the answer out almost instantly. "Seven point oh three nine percent that Riley's identity is discovered by the general public before the end of the world." I paused for a moment, this was odd. "But if it does happen, it doesn't seem to matter. Numbers don't change enough for it to be considered meaningful."
"How's that make sense?" Theo asked. "This would be a pretty big deal."
"That is not how my power works," I responded. It was true, after all. "It's really more Minerva's department for determining why a given outcome is likely under a given circumstance. My power merely tells me what the results should be. We could consult her, if you like. This is a significant enough number that she would appreciate if if she were able be prepared for the event ahead of time."
Missy glanced over at Riley. "It's probably a good idea."
"She'll figure it out anyway," Riley agreed. She walked over to Typha's head, kneeling down near the Gryphon and scratching her behind the ear. The purring intensified. Typha was more like a giant housecat than the jungle predator her form was modeled after. Her way of coping, I guess. It surprised me more than it should that the animal was so responsive to her attention. Normally Typha didn't like strangers. Of course, this girl was the one who created her, of course she wouldn't be a stranger to her.
I tapped out a short text asking for Lisa to call me in my room. A couple seconds later, the screen lit up. Lisa's eyes moved to the others in the room. "Ah, so they came to you first."
"You already know?" Theo asked.
"Your boyfriend snitched," Lisa smirked. "He has an incredibly stupid plan."
"It's brilliant!" A man's voice shouted from somewhere off screen.
"Sadly, it is," Lisa agreed. "Par for the course with Zach's plans."
"I'm going to release a bunch of conspiracy theories online proving that we're all members of the Slaughterhouse Nine!" He declared in the background. "Crystal's actually Burnscar. I'm Crawler. Theo, you get to be Shatterbird. Missy's really Cherish. Lisa's Jack Slash. Amelia used her powers to turn everyone's brains into bugs that Taylor can control and give us cosmetic surgery."
"Zach, that's idiotic," Theo retorted. "None of that even makes sense. Everyone knows who Crystal is, she and Lachesis have been heroes for years. Also, everyone knows how most of our powers work, at least in the basics. There's clearly no way in hell we could pretend to be them."
"That's what makes it brilliant!" Zach argued. "Everyone knows it's all stupid as hell, so they'll ignore the parts that actually make sense. By the time anyone starts trying to connect dots, no intelligent person would ever dare admit it. It's how the government covers up their real secret experiments by forging documents of really silly ones and giving them to crazy people. It's exactly stupid enough to work!"
"That... that..." Theo stuttered. "Dinah, I have to know. I'm burning my question on this, but is that going to work?"
"Ninety seven percent chance that if that plan is implemented, the significant majority of individuals will not believe it if Riley's identity is revealed," I answered. "I... guess that means it works."
"But that doesn't even make sense!" Theo argued. "I mean, maybe it'd be a smoke blind for a bit, but that's all."
"Maybe if there was usable evidence," Lisa responded. "But there's no possible way to prove Clarice is connected to Bonesaw. She has a history, constructed before the destruction of Brockton Bay, that we can show. She no longer even vaguely resembles her old self, except in gender. Thanks to the retroviral treatments she's been taking, she's now a genetically provable half sister to Amelia. Of course, everyone knows that such tech isn't exactly out of our reach, so I doubt they'd bother with that as evidence. If this were brought to trial, no jury on Bet could convict her. Except maybe China, because they're assholes."
"So it really doesn't matter?" Riley asked, looking up from her position using my pet for comfort.
"I wouldn't say that," Lisa responded. "It could cost us a lot of progress. We will not be going public with who you were. Conspiracy bullshit is fine. Then if anyone ever asks the question we can laugh at it and ignore the person who asked without trouble. But we can't risk people actually believing it. You're Clarice, now."
"I'm Clarice, now," she agreed, smiling. "I like that."
"Good," Lisa responded.
"Hey, while we're all still here," Zach spoke up. "I'd like to remind you that this just proves how deserving I am of the title-"
"No, Zach, your title cannot be the Grand Web Poobah," Lisa interrupted. "Nor can it be Imperial Wizard or Super Kami Guru."
"That's w-w-wizard," Zach corrected. "You have to pronounce it right or it loses its effect, High Emissary."
"Actually, the correct pronunciation is 'never going to happen, Zach'," Lisa countered.
"Hey, you guys back me up," he insisted. "I've earned this and you know it."
"It's a bad plan," I responded. "Do you need the exact numbers?" That's for making me watch that horrible movie, jerk.
==================
A/N- My girlfriend promises snickerdoodles for anyone who figures out the movie being referenced.
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