Thread:ThisIsXenon/@comment-32273133-20181231004208/@comment-32273133-20190105235904

that last one took me nine? days? i probably spent an unhealthy amount of time brainstorming but oh well


 * they're underground somehwere*

I got one of Theodore Gray's "The Elements" calendars for Christmas and was honoured to see Xenon featured for the month of May

Fun facts about xenon from said calendar:

—xenon is the most expensive of the noble gases [I have expensive tastes, evidently] [this may make it difficult for me to get my hands on, unfortunately]

—xenon is a rebel! it's a noble gas and shouldn't be able to form bonds with other elements but it does, with the halogens [ergo, the "rebel" part in my old forum signature]

—xenon is used in lightbulbs--headlights for cars, flashbulbs for studio photographers, and short-arc projector lamps in Imax projectors. some of the lightbulbs are at such high pressure that of touched or looked at the wrong way, they'll explode [also definitely me, these elbows are dangerous]

—it's this fantastic purple colour when electrified

it's such a cool element and I'm such a chemistry nerd

— Micah was ten and Clay was nine when Hester employed/kidnapped them, within the year both of them had successfully completed several assignments.

—Hester's "minimum" for everyone was an assignment a week --> meet that and she'd pay for your expenses

—exceptions included long assignments or

assassinations of important people that took a lot of planning

—usually though, she filled up your schedule so you only had time to work and train and sleep, and most of the nine had three assignments a week after their first year

—to average it out for extra assignments I'm putting 4

— 4 assignments a week × 52 weeks in a calendar year × 8 years × 4 teams in the elite =  at least 6656 people dead by the hands of the ennead

—the total death toll of the KGA looks more like 2 assignments a week × 52 weeks in a calendar year × 8 years × 110 members of the KGA = 91520 people dead at the hands of the KGA

—holy shit

—that's like a small city

—this doesn't take into account missed assignments or group assassinations or Hester's initial wipeouts but it's an average

me:  [accidently draws Oganesson with normal eyes]

me:  he's evolving

—I was drinking the last of the sparkling grape juice from New Years straight out of the wine-type bottle because I didn’t want to waste a cup and one of my irls walks in and is like “you look like an alcoholic” and I laughed but then they said “or like Damian” and I wHEEZED

Looks like a cinnamon roll, is actually a cinnamon roll:  Clay

Looks like a cinnamon roll, can actually kill you: Delphi

Looks like they can kill you, is actually a cinnamon roll:  Calidi

Looks like they can kill you, can actually kill you: Micah

Sinnamon roll:  Damian

I’ve got two ideas for what happens if/when I return to the forums and ggad

—One is that everything has been mostly level, Delphi has been trying to train Micah on how to get over fears from past trauma

—the intro for that [which I’ve already written] is in Illakhana, where Delphi is trying to get Micah to go in the Keep.

—Micah refuses and shuts down

—Clay takes him on a walk through the city and says Delphi’s missing a key component:  an anchor, which he suggests to be Damian

—small discussion that’s basically Micah convincing himself that Damian has forgotten about him but Clay poking him until he admits that he still loves Damian

—Clay’s like “fuck Delphi, we’re gonna find your boyf” and the thread ends

The other idea is a little less positive but generally more friendly towards Delphi

—this one comes after watching Captain America civil war [i still haven’t seen winter soldier so shhh no spoilers]

—Micah’s been missing for however long I’ve been gone, as has Oganesson; we can assume they’re together

—Micah now has what I’ll call a “Bucky Complex” —he’s been brainwashed [but not chemically altered] by Oganesson so that a trigger word sequence will activate a supersoldier type person who does whatever Oganesson wants

—Real Micah takes a backseat

—his emotions and personality [pathos] is deactivated but his intelligence and reflexes [logos] is still active

—I’m thinking the trigger sequence is like “XE, eighteen, eight, fifty four”

—something Xenon related

—to put him back to normal it’s either hard reset [knocking him out, though with the number of concussions he’s had in the past, that may not be a great idea] or a release word, one I haven’t figured out yet

—Oganesson refers to Micah as “XE” to give commands

—he’s pretty sure his system is foolproof and that he’s got complete control over Micah

—he doesn’t, not really, because Delphi knows everything about everything and is hella inventive

—She and Clay have been looking for Micah tirelessly ever since he went missing

—Along the way, she’s started teaching Clay runic magic, so he has control over his magic circle and knows a lot of earth-based  runes

—Delphi’s also been asking her father to scour forengard to find Micah

—he hasn’t really been answering so Delphi instead starts looking through timelines to figure out where he’s been and where Micah would be

—This is slightly more successful and she and Clay manage to find a spot where Micah and Oganesson will show up

—the thread starts with XE activated and Oganesson is with him

—Oganesson congratulates him for a job well done, tests him to see if he’s actually activated [paranoid that he’s faking it], then releases him and disappears

—as soon as he’s released, Delphi and Clay burst into the scene and ask him what happened, what’s going on, is he okay

—Micah is overwhelmed

—intro ends here, other people jump in, and once enough are around, Oganesson comes back, activates XE, tells him to kill everyone, and disappears

—the remainder of the thread is spent trying to figure out how to deactivate XE and get Micah somewhere Oganesson can’t control him

—Oganesson can activate XE from almost anywhere, Micah doesn’t even have to hear him

—[we learn this when Micah covers his ears trying to block out Oganesson’s commands but still turns into XE]

—So Delphi teleports everyone who wants to come with to the outskirts of a town

—everyone is confused, until they get in the limits of the town and anyone with magical abilities can no longer use them

—If you’ve read Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, this may sound familiar

—The town is located in a dead spot—a place that sucks up magic and depleted the reserves of any magic users in the area

—this means no shape shifting, no godly power, no runic magic, nothing

—so, to Oganesson, who’s got a magic tracker on Micah, his precious split-personality super soldier has just dropped off the map

—there are lots of dead spots all over forengard and the one over this town is relatively small

—they’re naturally occurring and appear as the fabric of magic starts to wear

—though some are artificial, like the one at the Endless falls where the Freedom Sword is hidden

—artificial ones can be overpowered but natural ones cannot

—anyway, whoever is in this dead spot is safe, and Delphi drags Micah and whoever else wants to come to the tavern because it’s loud and hard to overhear anything

—Delphi wants to know what happened to Micah but he’s not talking and things can go wherever from there

I like both of these ideas and the second one may help me get some character arcs but I’m really not sure which one to use

—Clay knows ASL

—he used to help translate CPR and other first aid courses for deaf people