Toad, Salina Toynbee

When nostalgia attacks

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 07:36:46 GMT

I was looking at A Softer World and there was a link to a story one of the creators wrote about this blind girl and her high school boyfriend.

It made me think of Destiny. If I read him that story would he say "Yes, it's like that" or would he say "No, that's romanticized bullshit"? Although... I don't think I've actually ever heard him swear.

The first time I met him was the first night I came to the United States. Magna, Mystery and I had taken a plane from London. Mystery had put makeup on me and bought me a Walkman and Gameboy to make me look like a normal teenager. He looked like a 40 year old woman and spent half the flight complaining to the granny across the aisle about how I never talked to him any more and he hoped I wouldn't spend our entire holiday glued to my video games.

After we landed Mystery rented a car and drove us to a little house in a suburb and Destiny opened the door. He turned in my direction and said "Hello Sally. You go ahead into the bathroom and get that makeup off before it really gives you a rash. It's the down the hall on the left."

I was so busy wondering how he knew I wanted to tear my face off just then, and how he had managed to get soap and lotion that wouldn't make it worse, that I didn't notice he was blind until the next day. The jet lag probably had something to do with it too.

Magna and Mystery were doing something important somewhere and I was left at the house with Destiny. He took off his sunglasses so I could see his eyes. He told me what his power was and made some classical mythology references I didn't understand at the time. He sighed a little at that and had me start up the old warhorse of a laptop that Mystery had. Then he showed off his power by directing me in playing the most perfect game of Minesweeper in history.

Later I asked him what made him waste his time playing a frivolous game with a little thug teenager and he said he knew that if he didn't something valuable would have gotten broken. It was another couple of years before I realized that he wasn't necessarily talking about wineglasses or furniture.

Imaginary Diary: Have I become thirteen again?

Mon, 28 May 2007 22:07:28 GMT

Seriously. I feel like it. Stupid crush on this guy.

He's freaky, he's not a lookist, but he's a hero type.

And he's in the Nexus, so he's probably gay.

I never used to think having a vagina would be a detriment to getting laid.

OOC: Warning label

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 06:16:33 GMT

((For lilbluassassin))

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:38:01 GMT

There is an oak tree that seems to be the size of a small mountain in the middle of a grove of oaks only slightly smaller, overlooking a large field with the remnants of some sort of trade encampment. There are several buildings and walkways built into the trees, Including the pub that Sally provided coordinates to.

The wood, metal and glass structure has obviously been there a long time; parts of the tree have grown over it near the trunk. There are a few different decks, both open and enclosed, clustered around a central bar and kitchen area. Sally is sitting at a table on an open deck. She is indeed green and wearing a gray sweater. She is also wearing dark gray calf-length pants and well-broken-in knee high black boots. She is playing with the straw in her drink and trying to watch everything at once.

Personal ad replies go here

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 12:24:11 GMT

The email address is from an anonymous free email provider and is a nearly random string of numbers and letters. There is nothing special preventing people from tracing it, and it is from an Earth variant that is just starting (in the last couple generations) to experience super-human activity.

Also, non-email replies might just be translated into email because Nexus.

Who the hell did I talk to when I was't coming to the Nexus?

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 09:47:51 GMT

I met a Transformer or something who's a whale. ~~Is it bad that I've thought a lot about how to deal with that kind of problem?~~

Thankfully he wasn't a moronic hetero-phobe like that other one.

Speaking of stupid, there was some testosterone-addled ass who thinks non-standard hair color = lesbian.

And I know I'm a complete dork for even reading this webcomic, but if I ever have kids I would be amused if they were something like this.

((Weird, when I previewed this entry, it showed it as if it was in the journal of the last character I was logged in as before Sally. O.o))

((Open to Sabercat))

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 04:49:57 GMT

Sally sat in the kitchen of the safe house with some tools and a broken toaster oven spread out in front of her. She had found it in the garage, and it looked ok except someone had sliced the cord off, so she had taken the cord from a coffee maker that had fallen victim to someone's (Magna's, by the look of things) temper tantrum the last time the last time the safe house had been occupied, and was splicing it onto the toaster oven.

It was better to jerry-rig it than risk going to Walmart for a new one, and she needed something to keep her occupied. This waiting for word about the boss was driving her insane. Mystery checked in regularly, but he never had anything to say besides "I'm working on it."

She made quick work of cord, wrapped the join in electrical tape and plugged it in. "Time for a test run!" The fridge should yield something that would make a decent toasted sandwich.

It's hard to tell, with my sense of humor

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 00:58:38 GMT

I'm still trying to decide if it would be worth it to email a file of Eyeball Kid to Cyclops or not.

Hell, who knows? She might even like Tom Waits.

Imaginary Diary

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:42:54 GMT

We finally got in touch with Mystery. He's going to keep pretending to be that Senator. That means Cat and I have to keep laying low, or get some freelance stuff.

My burns are just about healed, so I don't have much excuse for laying around.

Imaginary Diary: It's been an eventful couple of days.

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 09:40:29 GMT

I met a couple guys from an alternate Xavier's. They seemed like ok guys. I suppose most of them would.

Then I met some Muppets and scared them with Darth Vader music. I felt kinda bad about that.

I got a good food recommendation that I should look into.

I have an appointment for a massage with a legendary swordsman, and I met a man who smiles like Cat.

Meme-ness! IC or OOC

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 05:28:49 GMT

Ask Sally ((or me re: Sally)) about each of the following-

1. Friends
2. Sex
3. Music
4. Drugs
5. Love
6. LiveJournal
7. Porn
8. The Future

Please specify if you're asking IC or OOC.

Narrative: Rescue

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:00:59 GMT

It had taken a lot out of Sabercat to not go after Toad when that haughty bastard had blasted her. She could hear Toad's radio sparking, but there was a sound behind it that could have been a scream.

The kid's tough, she told herself. She can get herself through. It would have to be true, because Sabercat had no choice but to guard the damn X-Men so Magna could work on that power-sucking boy. And here was the lightning-thrower, sweat beading on his handsome face, the whites showing all around his eyes, fear-scent reeking from him. It would have been enough to make her purr, any other night.

"You owe me a scream," she growled slowly, almost teasingly. He better hope he didn't owe her a teammate, but there was no way she was going to show him he got to her.

She got to watch him struggle to control his breathing for another moment before she heard the snickt! behind her. So the runt had the clever idea to bite the bullet and free herself. She wasn't surprised. She had the Wolverine pegged as a stubborn one from their short fight in Canada. Damn. She didn't want to fight, she wanted them to shut up and let the boss work so they could get this over with and she could go find Toad. And Mystery too, maybe.

Later she told herself that was the reason she had lost to the runt, that she just wanted the fight over with. It might have even been true.

***************************************************

She wasn't sure how she managed to find Toad before the harbor patrol got their shit together, but she somehow sniffed her out, got her into a car, and hauled her to a doc she knew. This guy had kept her secrets before, and if he decided not to... well, she knew where to find him.

He knew his stuff and worked quickly. Called her Ms. Lion and didn't look twice at Toad's boobs or her warts.

"I want your friend to stay here for a couple days, Ms.Lion. I want to make sure her burns are kept sterile. Also, she cracked a few ribs and I want to keep an eye on that. I gave her some pretty strong painkillers. She'll be out of it for a while."

"This all going at your usual rate?" She wouldn't have any problem affording it, but it was best to make sure.

"Of course. I know you're good for it."

Sabercat spent the next three days watching over Toad as the doc looked after her burns and changed her fluid hook-ups. The doc wasn't kidding when he said she'd be out of it. Mostly she slept; once in a while she would wake up and try to speak, only to whimper in confusion and pain and begin gesturing anxiously until Sabercat stood over her or she passed out again. Apparently her tongue had been burned.

The doc started decreasing Toad's painkillers on the second day, and by the end of the third day she was lucid. Sabercat watched tensely as she woke up and her eyes focused. "Vic... wha' happen?"

She walked over and lightly touched the younger woman's hair. "The boss didn't pull it off, Sal. But we lived through it and we're not in prison." It seemed like that was all there was to say.

Imaginary diary P.S.

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 08:26:56 GMT

I talked with the sexy green man.

Still green. Still sexy. Still really a snake. Mystery would go nuts.

Toad's Imaginary Diary

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:00:33 GMT

Salina would never create something as incriminating as a diary, but if she did have one tonight's entry might look something like this:

I can't believe it. I found it again, with another invisible door in the back garden just the like the one when I wa a kid. Haven't seen any sexy green men yet though.

I hope Cat can hold it together while we're waiting to hear from Mystery. We saw him on the news, pretending to be that pig senator. Had to be him though.

I need to give Cat more credit. She saved my ass.

Mystery should get in touch with us soon. Maybe he'll have a plan to get the bosslady out of prison.

Februrary, 1996

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 09:57:46 GMT

Screw it, it's not coming back. There's no wonderland between the oak trees. No place full of snake men and comic book heroes and people who don't look twice when you're green.

I know what I want and I know I'm not going to find it here. I know what I want to do, so I should stop being a coward and do it. I need to leave this damn school, go some place where I'm not just another defective.

Narrative: First Meeting ((THNMY: this hasn't happened to Sally yet.))

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 05:45:23 GMT

Magna picked her way disdainfully past puddles and garbage and tried not to laugh at the ridiculous accent Mystery was using to go with his pensioner on vacation disguise. It coordinated vaguely with Magna's own childhood accent that she had drug out of mothballs, so to speak, for this little play, but it wasn't actually Polish, or German, or Austrian.

If she hadn't known him for so long, she might suspect that he wasn't taking this mission seriously. Perhaps he was trying to amuse her, or perhaps he merely had that much contempt for the Londoner thugs they were trying to fool.

She hoped they were trolling the right block, she didn't want to be at this all night. Mystery had received that telephone call from Destiny right before they left the hotel, but that wasn't a guarantee. The pre-cog might have just been saying hello for all Magna knew. Ah, there we go. Some skinny, dirty teenagers were beginning to clumsily close in on them. One of the smallest was a girl hiding in a large hooded sweatshirt. Their quarry? She could be.

One of the teenagers, probably the ringleader, sidled up to Mystery, a toothpick of a knife gripped in his hand. "Give us your wallet, Grandad. This can go easy."

It was a struggle for Magna to pretend to be frightened with the cheap steel of that knife whistling it's familiar little tune in her mind. Of course, Mystery made it look easy as he clutched a wallet to his chest and quavered fearfully in response with his fake old-man voice and even more fabricated accent. Please take pity: they would be stranded without that money. And so on.

"Sorry Grandad, things are tough all around." The boy signaled to the hooded girl, still a few meters away, and she leapt at them, reaching for the wallet. The girl was quite agile, and apparently quite strong, at least in her legs. On any other night she would have succeeded, but there was no wallet, really, there was only Mystery. He grabbed the girl's arm and twisted it around her back, drawing her to him in preparation for a leg-lock.

The other teenagers scattered and the girl released a long green tongue from her mouth and whipped it at Mystery's face. The blow barely connected; she seemed to be striking wildly for shock value. Good, this is the one we want.

Mystery laughed and, seeing that the girl's partners in crime had fled, dropped his disguise to let his natural blue form show. The girl stopped struggling and her hood fell back revealing blemished green skin and wide, inhuman eyes that stared at Mystery in shock. He set her on her feet, but kept a hold on her arms. She seemed calm enough, and Magna took that moment to study the girl as she looked at Mystery in rapt fascination.

She was young, barely developed. Her hips were beginning to widen, but her breasts were invisible under her sweatshirt. Her hair was dull dark green, with brighter green roots. She must have tried to cover her natural color with cheap dye. Her skin was a more yellow-ish green, and peppered with warts or moles. She was short and stocky. Underfed, but with wiry muscles visible where Mystery's hold had pushed up the sleeves of her sweatshirt. Her eyes had almost no whites, yellow irises, and large, strangely shaped pupils. Magna hoped they had some interesting abilities to go along with their strange appearance. And then there was that unexpected tongue. Such potential.

Mystery caught Magna's eyes with an I Told You So sort of look. She looked back at him archly, conceding nothing. The exchange seemed to break some sort of tension in the girl, who was still staring at Mystery. "You have yellow eyes too," she blurted.

Well, thought Magna, it's always the little things that seem so important.