The Shadow

1. Very little, but he has grown to trust her more. He does not put her on a level with his agents, the way he does Myra or Metody, but he certainly considers her a useful ally. Because of her mistrust of authority, Courtney is on a similar level with him. He recognizes neither she nor Sarah would ever give him the kind of devotion he expects from an agent. Yes, there is a touch of ego to that, but it's also a practical matter where trust is of the highest importance. He'd like to know more about Sarah, but he hasn't had the time to investigate her, so to speak.

2. Almost certainly, yes, but since he left the country Thorn is something of a write-off. There is a slim chance his human adoptive father is still alive, but he'd be very old.
Thorn is around fifty or so, if I remember right. He has all but ceased to age, and might look younger than mid-thirties if he lost the blisters, and did not look so permanantly distressed.
I can see him becoming fairly good friends with Tom, actually. It will just take time. Thorn has an easier time relating to those he sees as lower in social class, which is why he gets along with Rat so well. He should quickly realize Tom is also eking out a living at the bottom of the barrel. Once he gets over his guilt and shyness, they should be fine.

3. It will, simply because it's not our intention for him to die. Tying in Arlen to make an artificial heart was entirely Courtney's player's idea, but it's a beautiful one. Thorn (the younger one) will be acting as Arlen's assistant, because I've been looking for him to get a job again. It ties a lot of characters very neatly together with a purpose. The whole situation came up because I'd been quietly in the background playing him as having some trouble since his blow to the chest fighting Templeton, and then the latest comic came out and said he actually had a heart problem, which is a lot of alarming coincidence.

From:

too-late4tom.livejournal.com

Tired of switching accounts. Forgive me. ;_;

1. Sarah's loyalties definitely lie elsewhere, but she's glad to help medically. If he ever decides to 'investigate' her, he'll be able to find out her life story in, like, five minutes.

2. Sarah still would like to pummel Thorn's dad. She doesn't care if he's a big, bad fae. >:( She never mentioned meeting his alternate's future self, by the way. She decided it would be too weird and potentially distressing to Thorn.

Yay!

3. Whew! Sarah would be very sad if Aloysius didn't make it.

From:

Of course! The computer here is acting up, which is making it tricky, but I think I'm mostly down to Thorn now.

1. He will, at some point, but he's a very busy man. He's got his hands into three different worlds right now, and he's trying to recover. If there is any weak point in his body it is his lungs, since he's a former smoker and has been gassed and waded through smoke countless times. This is not proving an easy recovery, although that's partly so I have an excuse for him to be quiet while the plot with Janitor Thorn is going.

2. It's hard to say which father did him more wrong, really. Both have treated him as a contract to be bargained and battled over, and therefore worthless as a person.
Both versions of Thorn would be horrified if they knew, but I think the blow would be harder on janitor Thorn, who is likely to never come close to attaining that state. I'd prefer to see him take the path of learning to be content with who he is.

3. I didn't realize anyone was worried OOC. I thought it was a bit like a movie. The main characters never die, at least not with any permanancy. It would traumatize Courtney, and she's had enough of that.

From:

too-late4tom.livejournal.com

Sorry for the delay, I had to wrap up at work and come home and then I couldn't get in because the carpenter has my key.

2. Sarah would pummel his adoptive dad, too, but she assumes he's dead, since she knows that Thorn is a lot older than he lets on.

3. I dunno, it all seemed very serious, so I was a little worried. ;)

From:

In the meantime I wandered away myself, and then the keyboard was rather taken over this evening.

The image of her pummeling some frail old aristocrat in a wheelchair is mildly amusing...

Sorry, but it will all turn out all right in the end. We just go in for the occasional melodrama with the Crumrins.

From:

courtneycrumrin.livejournal.com

What does the Shadow think of Aloysius? XD We haven't discussed that nearly as much as his opinion of Courtney.

From:

We haven't, and I'm surprised you didn't ask for the reverse as well. ;-)
He was very quick to catch on to the similarities between them, and has since had the 'very distant parallel alternates' idea pointed out to him. He respects him, for the intelligence and skill he recognized in the warlock, but he's also not quite sure how a more social experience would go. Without ever forming the idea consciously, he has a sense that they just might be too similar in some ways to get along. That he always tells Courtney to send along his best is more a mark of respect and mild concern for his physical health than anything else. He's content to keep a distance. That also prevents me self-threading, of course.

From:

dirk--gently.livejournal.com

Hey big guy, I'm picking on everybody else so I've gotta pick on you, too.

Deep in the dark pit of his crusty old failing heart, does Aloysius like Fisher? Say yes.

Is J!Thorn gonna get jealous now that Rat's got Harley?

The Shadow! Dirk Gently! Together they fight crime! (http://reymonkey.deviantart.com/art/Dirk-and-The-Shadow-126070672)
Sooo... would he really whack him in the head to shut him up?

From:

You're an odd girl.

*Laughs* He doesn't dislike him, except when he finds hairballs on the furniture. He recognizes how devoted he is, in his feline way, to Courtney. That goes quite a long ways in Aloysius' book. He may even appreciate the purr on long cold afternoons.

I suppose that depends on whether he feels he loses some attention or friendship to her. Although he might suffer a pang or two of jealousy knowing he's unlikely to ever have that sort of relationship himself, so he may, yes. On the other hand he wouldn't allow it to poison his friendship with Rat, and he'd certainly hide it all well.

*Groan* I still adore that picture, but I really don't think they'd get along. If quiet was important, he just might.

From:

call-me-rat.livejournal.com

:P *Noogies*

Awww... Fisher just might curl up on his lap someday. And have a hairball there.

Rat's perceptive enough to see that kind of thing coming, anyway. He'd probably be pretty careful to make sure Thorn doesn't feel slighted, because he knows the poor guy doesn't have many friends. He's totally not going to fix him up with anybody though.

Probably not. I just had to pair them up for the big flashes of red and the physical contrast.

From:

He'd better not do anything to jeapordize his priveledges in the Study.

Thorn fixed up on a blind date would go very poorly indeed.

From:

So, uh...what does The Shadow think of Metody?

From:

Metody truly does, in a number of ways, remind The Shadow of Harry Vincent. It's the sheer undeniably likeable quality, and the way he's friendly to utterly everyone. The Shadow can't quite understand how someone can maintain that sort of personality, but he respects and values it as something he's incapable of himself.
The inhuman aspect of Metody is something that interests him, but at the same time it's somewhat confusing and he senses it would be tactless to ask too much about it directly. He hopes to better comprehend it over time, watching and waiting and gathering clues from seeing how Metody does his bonework.
He also finds what he can do terribly useful, on a purely practical level, and he's not above exploiting that.

From:

Part of the friendliness is natural personality, and part of it is lingering brain damage - but he's slowly recovering from that.

As for being useful, Metody would wheedle his way into replacing the skeleton of everyone around him if he could get away with it. It's such a relief to actually use his powers.

From:

Brain damage? I had no idea... what's the story there?

That was a terrible experience, but The Shadow's grateful for it. He's happy to put Metody's powers to use, but I don't think Harry Vincent could stand that kind of full skeletal replacement, at least not in one go. What Metody's doing now will probably drive his blood pressure sky-high for a few days.

From:

When he was seventeen, he was in a car crash that crushed the front of his skull. It effectively lobotomized him and destroyed his human mind - but he's not really human, and so he's been growing a mind out of his bones ever since. It's left him pretty child like in some regards, though he's starting to get over that. A little.

Fortunatly for him, in his world, adopted kids get a major boost to healing, which is what his recovery has been ascribed to. He's actually been written up in a few medical journals as a superlative example of adopted healing, since several of his bones have healed so very well you wouldn't know they'd ever been broken to look at the X-rays.

And poor Harry! Metody had no idea it'd be so painful for him!

From:

Ahhh... I truly had no idea, but that's interesting. I can see where that would further the divide between him and his humanity, if he's grown something else in its place.
You have such fascinating ideas...

Ah well, he'll survive. He just doesn't have the pain threshold or meditative focus of The Shadow, and you'd implied it's extremely painful for ordinary people.

From:

Thanks!

Metody is under the impression that his mind has come back as part of really good adoptive healing - he hasn't quite made the connection between being inhuman and healing up in an inhuman sort of way. He also has no idea of what he is, since things like him are stunningly uncommon and usually assumed to be witchkin.

He'll figure out he's not a witchkin eventually. In about ten or twenty years, when he hasn't gone crazy and killed everything around him.

And...yeah. Everything I've heard of involving bones and healing has said it's astonishingly painful. Bones are pretty sensitive, in their own way.

From:

Now you're going to have to explain witchkin, I'm afraid, but I'm beginning to get a bit of a sense from context. He's anticipating that he's a walking time bomb, I take it?

it's been a very long time since I broke anything, but yes. I had fully intended for The Shadow's coping with the process to be an exceptional feat, but I can see that Metody may only just now be realizing that.

From:

Ack, this is the problem with making things up yourself.

A witchkin is a monster born from humans. It starts off like any other person, but slowly develop monstrous abilities and traits. Generally, they construct things - little animated rag dolls, creatures made of twine and wood, balls of drifting light, things like that. They might start off relatively harmless, maybe even helpful, but they become more and more dangerous as they go along and their powers become stronger and stronger. Eventually, they start altering animals and then people around them, always in very strange, grotesque ways that don't always kill. They're kind of like serial killers, except magical and much more likely to fill your chest cavity with moths and glass.

They always, always go insane, without exception. Those that aren't put down right away become stranger and stranger. Some fade away, some become local monsters. The only good thing about them becoming monsters is that you can construct wards against monsters, but not humans.

So...you can see why Metody, with his horde of constructed bone creatures, is a little worried. He's got a lovely suicide plan worked out for when he finally does start to go crazy. It involves a PIN and the sun.

From:

I think this is partly why I've left Thorn's world historically accurate, by and large. It's less details to worry over.

Poor boy, what a terrible way to live, waiting to go inevitably and incurably mad. The Shadow would certainly begin prodding at and analyzing Metody's situation if he were aware of that aspect. He's too useful to let go, and the experience with Khan has left him leery of the idea of becoming a monster, albeit in a less literal sense.

From:

Heh, The Shadow and Myra have a very special relationship. It's most certainly not Father/Daughter-ly, but I get the feeling it's grown into something a little more than the standard Shadow/Agent thing since their new adventures have started.

For The Shadow: I realize these things are still being developed, but what is your take on the fact that Myra is no longer a real Bureau agent? Her times are a-changin' as they say, and this is only the first in a number of things that are going to be going differently for her world. Would you go so far as to possibly recruit her away from her own world, if you felt that her Shadow had the information he needed, and had little/no need for Myra's skill set?

And also, because of my (evil) alternate identity of

count_zaroff...
For The Shadow: If Zaroff used non-lethal methods, and instead of a hunt, he made The Game more like a massive game of hide-and-seek crossed with tag, would you play?

For Aloysius: What would you say to Courtney's interacting with Count Zaroff?

From:

The Shadow feels very protective and possessive towards Myra, as he does all his agents. It's not precisely father/daughter, no, but I'm at a loss for any other terms to describe it. She has reminded him that he felt perhaps something more for the Myra closer to his age, once upon a time. He dismissed all possibility of a relationship, and he doesn't regret that even now, but he had managed to all but forget it until recently. On the other hand he doesn't feel that way towards her at all, in part because of the extreme age difference. I suppose she's a friend, and that's rare enough for him to be important. It's also extremely awkward for him, even if he tries not to show that.

He would, in a heartbeat, recruit her away from his alternate. He hasn't because he feels that would be wrong of him for several reasons, but if the situation ever changes to where that feels like an option, he wouldn't hesitate.

For the Shadow... it would very greatly depend on what was going on in his life. If he were healthy and his work in his own world was somehow on hold, or he'd be removed from time passing there, then yes he'd be interested. It's very much the obligation of his work that makes that tricky.

Aloysius disapproves. That shouldn't be taken personally, because Aloysius disapproves of nearly everything in the Nexus and usually won't touch the place with a ten foot pole. He also doesn't like Courtney getting herself into violence, but she does, often, and manages to pull herself through and occasionally even enjoy the battle. You must remember this is the same man who grounded Courtney over her birthday for running off to battle Khan's minions without permission.

From:

I think Myra may have something bordering on the Vincent/Shadow level of friendship, at least that's the 'vibe' I'm getting. It's almost an unintentional (though, not necessarily unwanted) friendship, one built out of the fact that both parties are dedicated to each other on a level that's not normally found outside of a militaristic setting.

I don't think his alternate would take too kindly to that, but I don't see how he'd be able to stop her. She's developed a bit of a spark that's finally allowing her to stand up to him, and if she makes a habit out of it, I don't see how he would mind 'losing' an agent that's willing to question him like that.

He he, Aloysius is a very entertaining character. He's such a grumpity old man at times, but he also has this very fatherly side. I love his personality, and I was rather surprised at how long his conversation with Zaroff lasted, honestly.

From:

I'm not sure Myra has the level of hero worship that Harry does, though. She may be just a little too close to him for that. He needs a loose griendship of some kind. Slade Farrow was someone he saw as nearly on his level, even though they weren't close. Cliff Marsland is someone who, canonically, he knew even before he was The Shadow. They're both gone. Harry is the closest thing he's had to a friend for a while, but Harry has this absolute faith that's a little unnerving to stand too close to, and he also makes The Shadow uncomfortably aware of his age.

If she questions the older Shadow like that, there may be sparks too, but he's changed just enough that he might handle it better. He'd also be more willing to take that from Myra than he would from someone like Metody or Courtney.

I find Aloysius very easy to play, and that is precisely why I play him so little. I'm quite good at playing grumpy old men, though, due to personal experience. I think Aloysius was in an unusually charitable mood, too.

From:

You make a very valid point. Myra certainly doesn't have that hero worship complex (for lack of a better word) that Vincent certainly has. There's no doubt they have a friendship, though. (I can only imagine Vincent being slightly jealous when he realizes how 'close' his Chief and Myra are.)

The Nexus and her dealings with the Old Tiger are giving her a bit of a boost, and she's having a bit of a time dealing with the fact that she's now freed from The Bureau, and the rigid structure that went with it. She might stumble a few times as she learns how to accept a different 'governing' body that doesn't have quite so many rules, but she'll eventually find her place.

Heh, I'm glad he was in a charitable mood. I can only imagine how the AVF would have sparked if he and Zaroff had experienced a disagreement.

From:

He's jealous already, in the thread with Metody. He's finding out from a stranger what his Chief's been up to, and that stings. Poor Vincent needs some friends, but I don't feel like investing that much time in playing him.

is she going to need him to put her in her place? ;-D He's willing to let her stumble a bit, though, because he trusts her to find her own way. The Shadow tends to take a slightly hands off approach to his agents.

Oh dear, yes. Aloysius might be ailing, but he's an incredibly powerful warlock, enough that the local coven gives him a wide berth even though they don't entirely approve of what he gets up to sometimes.

From:

I'm reading that thread, and I feel badly for him. I don't blame you though, as the account serves its purpose in letting us toss the agents in when needed, but in the end the RP is about The Shadow.

I don't think she'll go that far, but she might push and stumble a little until she gets where she needs to be. She doesn't intend to cross any set boundaries of "agents don't do/say that", but she's going to explore them a little.

From:

I like having Harry around, to give some illustration for his agents in the modern world, and act as a more sociable source of information. I'm using him to relay things The Shadow wouldn't directly. I also thought it might come in handy whenever an NPC is needed for a plot. I think it's served its purpose well between him and alterna-Cliff and Hawkeye.

The Shadow is aware his relationship with her is different, and he's not quite certain what he feels about it. Those boundaries could use some testing just to establish them for both of them.

From:

Whatever mess we can get Myra thrown into in The Shadow's world (if you'd like to play it out), I'm certain we'll have ample opportunity to explore exactly how these two are able to relate to each other, now that Myra is a dedicated agent, but also a concerned friend.

From:

I'm afraid I really didn't have anything particular in mind with that drug ring bit, apart from that he's ready to throw her at some of the work he's unable to do, and thus into the fray. I'll have to think on it if you want me to produce some scenework for her.

Incidentally, I'm thinking of turning in for the night very shortly. Fair warning that my next reply on the thread will probably be my last tonight.

From:

Now worries then. We can puzzle out their interactions when she reports in from various missions.

Thanks for the heads up! Sleep well and I'll talk to you again soon. (FYI: I won't be on tomorrow until later, past 9PM or so at the earliest.)

From:

Unless you get inspired to write up her spying on a bunch of 80's drug ring leaders.

I consider myself warned. I've been spending too much time online, anyhow. You sleep well too.

From:

The idea is tempting. Very tempting.

Good night.

From:

cailisairgid

*sneaks in discreetly*

What did The Shadow think of ~*RANDOM STRANGER ACCOSTS FOR CLINIC CONVERSATIONS*~, & why did he agree to let her visit?

From: