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May 11, 2019 20:35:24 GMT
Post by Madison Ardnell on May 11, 2019 20:35:24 GMT
Madison's source for smoking materials was Matt the janitor, who always kept a pack or two in the box on his cart two which Madison helped himself whenever he got the chance. Students weren't supposed to smoke, but Matt was the kind of guy who saw all such rules as more or less bull and Madison had shared a few with him and eventually become something like friends. In all honesty, Madison didn't care much for the guy. He was a lanky, older man with a perpetual gray five o'clock shadow, balding and with those extra folds of skin around the neck that old people get. He had been a hippy or something during whenever the last hurrah was of that movement whenever it had been- Madison didn't really care and hadn't been paying attention- and though he would refrain from too openly helping students flaunt school rules he also had a strong streak of “eff the Man” which Madison, with the help of his ability, could reliably use to score smoking materials. He suspected Matt used harder drugs as well, but those didn't interest Madison. Relatively safe stuff for him, thanks. Despite not particularly liking most of the school staff, Madison had gone out of his way to make friends with as many of them as possible. He'd learned long ago that a lot of real power in these sort of places was in the hands of the menial labor, and if you intend to break rules about smoking or drinking or slipping into a girl's room at night for sex, having the staff on your side could be the difference between a wink as you left by the window and a stern call that brought you into the Headmaster's office. The one problem with Matt, from Madison's perspective, was that the guy had something against alcohol. Tobacco and marijuana were fine, more than fine, but the one time Madison had raised the possibility of a beer he'd been forced to abort from the violence of Matt's reaction. Matt hadn't explained, but reading between the lines Madison guessed that Matt had had a wife or a girlfriend or a child or something die in a car accident due to a drunk driver and refused to touch the stuff thereafter. It was too bad, really. Madison wasn't a huge drinker- he drank to break the rules, not because of a deeply abiding love for alcohol- but he had felt the urge a few times lately and been frustrated when Matt hadn't delivered. Since then he'd been making other plans. Headmaster Buckley was known to have an extensive collection of adult beverages, consisting not only of his own stock but also drinks confiscated from students. This was probably a violation of some code of ethics or other, but Madison had learned long ago that (a) nobody else actually cared about those things and (b) that he didn't either. What mattered was that it provided a target. For the past few days, Madison had scouted the edges of Buckley's property, using his ability to get a feel for the layout of the house. He could fit the entire house inside his range fairly easily and was sure he had located his target after a day or two. Buckley lived there with his wife and son, who, being only six, didn't go to EMBA but to a primary school several miles away. Madison's power detected two rectangular, dense, and metallic objects inside the house that he thought were reasonably likely to be refrigerators and thought that the one downstairs in the garage was probably the beer fridge. It made sense for family things to be upstairs in the kitchen (Madison had spied on this through a window two nights before), and the lower fridge had objects of higher density inside than the upper, which might be glass bottles of water-like liquids, the most dense thing you were likely to find in a normal fridge. All of which was to say, he knew what he wanted and where to get it. Now all he needed was a plan. It was really a question of how blatant he wanted to be. Worst case, he could break the glass in the door to the garage, unlock the door, grab something from the fridge, and be off, but broken glass would undoubtedly be noticed and lead to investigation. In the worst-case scenario the police might be called. No, what he needed was a way that Buckley might not even noticed he'd been robbed. He was walking across campus, pondering the matter, when a ripple in his ability made him look up. There was someone leaning against the far corner of the Humanities building, either one of the smaller guys or a girl. Probably there to catch a smoke- it was a popular destination, since it lacked the CCTV coverage of much of the rest of campus. Out of curiosity he moved towards the corner, sniffing quietly. Yes, someone was smoking all right. He considered, then took a step forward and went around the corner himself. Why not. Not like he had anything better to do. It was, as he'd suspected, one of the girls. “Oh, hi Melody,” he said, pausing as if surprised. “I didn't expect to find anyone here.” He hadn't spoken much to Melody, but his ability had told him that she had a thing for cigarettes and since he had a source in Matt he'd been parceling out a few to her here and there, just to stay on her good side. That was his policy- always stay on everyone's good side if at all possible. It always paid off in the end. He put on a conspiratorial smile. A smile that said, We're both here for the same thing, aren't we? Reaching into his pocket, he drew out a marijuana cigarette he'd liberated from Matt earlier that day. If she was rebelling, he would rebel just a tad more. “Got a light?” he said, still smiling. Melody Newton |
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Post by Madison Ardnell on Mar 29, 2019 2:43:15 GMT
“Distracting? Nah, being outside is fun.” Of course it was going to be distracting; that was the whole point. Well, that and making sure he was the one doing the distracting. “Weather's nice.” He smiled, trying to disarm her. It seemed to be working.
His trick with the goggles went wonderfully. Her frustration was obvious and the moment when he came in to save her was perfect. He could almost physically feel her warming up to him. Her half-groaned whisper came after the teacher left. Madison half smiled and shrugged. “Hey, it came out all right.” Casually (but secretly very deliberately), he touched her arm. A comforting touch, so he intended. Just at the moment when she was feeling down. Yes, this was going well.
The rest of chemistry was boring. He kept up his act of being friendly but a little aloof, and afterwards Madison and Keira went their separate ways. He did remember to stuff her goggles in her bag when she wasn't looking, though. He doubted she would notice anything suspicious; things got lost in bags all the time.
3:30 rolled around and Madison was waiting by the tree, as he'd mentioned. He felt her approach in his power before he saw her. He'd put on some cologne he kept in his room; not much, just a bit. Too much hurt you in these situations. There was a bench under the tree and he sprawled in it, hands behind his head, legs out. Perfect. Confident and relaxed. Exactly what people found attractive. He tested the pose, frowned, then rolled up his sleeves to expose his forearms. He wasn't a bodybuilder, but he had some muscle there. Perfect. He held that pose for the next several minutes, waiting for her to arrive.
“Hey Keira. Or should I say, 'Hola'?”
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Dec 18, 2018 16:20:51 GMT
Post by Madison Ardnell on Dec 18, 2018 16:20:51 GMT
"Awesome," he said when she agreed to meet him. She was giving off signals of attraction but no signals that she knew if he reciprocated. The game now was ambiguity. Be just nice enough that she thought he might find her attractive. Keep her in suspense until she simply had to know. With the right moves he could wrap her around his little finger, become her secret obsession. He rather liked the idea of that. But that would take time, and for now the key was to be just a little aloof. Keep her guessing.
"Meet at 3:30 maybe? Under the big tree near the pond?" His choice of an outdoor, "Romantic" location was not a coincidence in the slightest. Oh, no. But his body language and smile were merely friendly. He changed the subject to the day's worksheet and they had begun going through it when the professor came in and instructed them to get ready and turn on their Bunsen burners and put on their goggles.
And here came the first problem. Keke had put hers on the work bench, and, when she hadn't been looking, Madison had hidden them. This caused a bit of a scuffle that ended with the professor saying sternly, "Miss Matthews, surely you know to be prepared when you come to chemistry lab," and at just that moment Madison had said, "Wait, I actually think I might have an extra," and reached into his backpack and pulled out his spare and presented them to Keira.
See, that was how you did this. When a girl was uncomfortable, she naturally gravitated towards the person who got her out. You didn't need big acts to wrap them around your finger, most of the time. Just little nudges.
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Post by Madison Ardnell on Nov 2, 2018 2:08:56 GMT
As he approached, nervousness seemed to break out of her emotions like the sun breaking through the clouds. Interesting. She really hadn't had a good day; he knew that from her face before she said it in words. But the slight attraction was still there; he saw that too. Of course, slight attraction didn't necessarily mean anything; he knew he was attractive and that females often noticed this, but it took work to leverage that into something more concrete. It was a tool, that was all. At her comment about local flora he found himself raise an eyebrow. “Local flora? You think the grass can't handle it? Won't it grow back?” He felt her notice and his body and stretched his shoulders very slightly, emphasizing his pecs. It gave him a thrill to unbalance people in all the right ways: a dozen little pushes, a swathe of tiny things, each amplifying discomfort until the victim's cheek were burning and she couldn't say a word without stumbling. And all the time he'd play innocent and happy, as if he was blissfully unaware of what he was doing to her. It was fun. When she described her day so far he nodded sympathetically. “That sounds like it sucks. Hey, we could work on Spanish sometime if you wanted; I'm decent at pronunciation.” That was true, though he was weak in other areas, which he didn't mention. Why put down yourself if you didn't have to? He moved himself closer to read the paper which was on the table, in the process, and being very aware he was doing it, moving himself closer to Keaira without quite touching her. He scratched at his chest, making the motion look perfectly natural. “Let's do binary first. I think that leads into the other stuff? This is the AB, CD to AD, CB thing, right?” Keaira Matthews |
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Post by Madison Ardnell on Oct 8, 2018 14:50:47 GMT
To Madison's eye, Keira was practically screaming information about herself. Her nervousness, her feeling of awkwardness, her... dislike of Madison? What had he done? It annoyed Madison that she already had an opinion of him; he much preferred to be the person in charge of forming such opinions. If someone was going to dislike him, he at least wanted the pleasure of earning it! But he knew enough to know the proper next step. Keeping a smile on his face, he chuckled at her awkward greeting. "I got the picture. Damn, it's nice out today. Too bad they won't let us do this outside, huh?" He was facing her, face and posture carefully calculated to show what he wanted her to see. His shirt was just tight enough across his chest to make his pectoral muscles visible- her awkwardness was the sort that would bleed easily into noticing such things. It never hurt to be hot. "What, just because you dropped these?" he said, bending down to grab the tongs. "Surely it's not that bad." Setting the tongs down, he took his seat next to her. "What do we have today? Binary chemical reactions? Oxidation and reducing agents? Okay, not so bad, I guess." Keaira Matthews |
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Sept 22, 2018 12:19:43 GMT
Post by Madison Ardnell on Sept 22, 2018 12:19:43 GMT
Madison was not late. Madison was never late. It was a deliberate choice, stemming partly from his desire to do what he had to do with complete accuracy and partly for the favor, however small, it gained him with the teachers. He was scrupulous about doing his homework, keeping to the dress code, never getting caught breaking a rule. (That last was made much easier when you had a power that prevented people from sneaking up in you.) After all, when something came before the attention of the teachers, who were they going to believe- the kid who'd always been good, or the troublemaker? The HFT of offenses (that's "holy freakin' trinity", except "freakin' was not usually the word used) at EMBA was smoking, alcohol, and sex. Madison was so far only guilty of the first two, but the semester was still young. He had stepped over from hus assigned lab space to have a few words with another on-time arrival when his lab partner arrived. Keaira looked flustered, clearly trying to make up for her previous record of lateness in getting here soon enough. Madison internally shook his head and chuckled. Excusing himself he went over to the space assigned for the two of them. "Afternoon, Keaira," he said. "How are you today?" Keaira Matthews |
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Sept 10, 2018 13:45:16 GMT
Post by Madison Ardnell on Sept 10, 2018 13:45:16 GMT
Ballet class. To tell the truth, Madison wasn't a fan, but he kept his face carefully composed into a light smile as he entered. No point in giving the teacher a reason to dislike you.
He surveyed the room, sizing up the competition. Melody was here and he gave her a nod as he came in. He had pegged her as the sort of girl whose desire to be independent sent her headlong into the arms of the nearest bad boy. He'd be sure to offer her a cigarette later.
It was freestyle ballet, an obvious attempt to get the students engaged through freedom that would only result in more of them thinking the class was stupid. He almost pittied the teacher her task of stirring up interest. Almost. If it didn't promise to be so entertaining.
The dances went one by one. Ivy went up and did her bit, a gymnastics-like routine that Madison had to admit was pretty impressive. That sort of flexibility would sure come in handy in bed.
She finished and sat down with a cliched admonition to just be themselves. Madison almost rolled his eyes. "Sure," he said, much louder than Ivy had. "Be yourself. But what if you suck?"
He cast a glance in Ozma's direction as he said it.
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Post by Madison Ardnell on Sept 2, 2018 2:22:14 GMT
[nospaces] [attr="class","hopelove"]
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[attr="class","hopelovename"] [attr="class","hopelovename2"]
Madison Ardnell
[attr="class","hopelovelyric"]
[attr="class","hopeloveleft"]
ALIAS // Madman, Mad dog, other such variations
[attr="class","hopeloveleft"]AGE // sixteen
[attr="class","hopeloveleft"]GENDER // male
[attr="class","hopeloveleft"]GROUP // student
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[attr="class","hopelovetitle"]APPEARANCE [attr="class","hopelovetop"][attr="class","hopelovesub"]
HAIR // brown[break]
EYES // blue-gray[break]
SKIN // peach[break][break]
ATTIRE[break][break]
Madison is about simple but stylish clothing. His most common outfit is a T-shirt of a solid color or maybe two colors (purple being his favorite) and a paor of jeans. Nothing fancy, but he keeps his clothes new, clean, and striking.
[break][break]
GENERAL[break][break]
Madison is tall and lanky, and the sort of person who smiles a lot. His hair is slicked back and always in place, kept trimmed and neat. His nails are always clean. He's not exactly buff, but he has a runner's body- thin and without much body fat on him.
[attr="class","hopelovetitle"]PERSONALITY [attr="class","hopelovetop"]
Madison is the sort of guy who always feels like he has something to prove. It's the name, probably: it's traditionally feminine and he'll never forget it. (If you listen carefully, you can hear Boy Named Sue playing in the background right now.) He's learned, however, not to be too overt about it in places he can get caught, so to most of the adults in his life he tries to maintain a veneer of respectability, whatever else he's doing. This tends to make him deceptive and manipulative.
[break][break]
He's good at knowing what he wants and how to get it quickly, though he's not always good at doing so in a kind or ethical manner. He tends to view problems as things to be broken down and gotten through and as a result can run roughshod over other people in pursuit of his goals.
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What are his goals? Interesting question. What you've got to understand is that, at some level, Madison is fairly insecure, and as result seeks to establish himself through his actions. Before his peers he tends to act tough, and he can be very manipulative in his attempts to rise to the top of the social hierarchy. Combined with a general perception that other people's emotions aren't worth bothering about, this can lead to some worrying results. His treatment of women is especially deserving of note: though he often plays the part of someone who cares, he really doesn't respect them much, if at all- and he's more than willing to be pushy and manipulative to get into their pants.
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Though he's a rule follower when authority figures are around, in private Madison tends to do his own thing, being perfectly willing to experiment with drugs or vandalism so long as he doesn't think he'll be caught. And for the most part, he wasn't, at least not until the events that brought him to EMBA...
[attr="class","hopelovetitle"]HISTORY [attr="class","hopelovetop"]
Left at the local library as a baby by a mother he never knew, Madison spent his early years in and out of various homes. A quiet but troubled kid, Madison sometimes got in trouble for bullying younger children and quickly learned to put on two faces- one for the adults, and one for the other kids.
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Growing up, Madison quickly learned the power of words and generally relied on manipulation rather than force to get his way. He was the sort of kid other kids would go crying to the adults about and then when asked be able to say only that, “He- he- he LOOKED at me!” accompanied by a burst of tears.
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At the age of nine, Madison was adopted by a loving family, and for a while his behavioral problems lessened. However, with the onset of his teenage years they began to emerge in the form of secretive and antisocial behavior. He took up smoking, first tobacco and then stronger things, stole money from other students, and continued to lie to and manipulate his teachers and other adults. On the plus side, he also became an accomplished track and field athlete.
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Madison's first manifested after the event, when he began realizing he had a heightened awareness of the things and people around him. It was intoxicating; he felt invincible, and he didn't hesitate in leveraging his power to improve his abilities as a bully. He did make A mistake, however: for the first time in his life, he let the mask he showed the adults in his life slip (feeling invincible will do that to you) and his teachers and parents began to notice. The rapid unraveling of his carefully planned deceptions caused more than a little stress, and ended with a group of boys from the high school (possibly with Madison at their head) vandalizing the house of Madison's parents, someone (possibly Madison) stealing a car and driving it into the school wall, and someone (possibly Madison) stabbing a teacher through the bicep with a pen. Rumors contradict each other, and the exact details are sealed under the juvenile offender privacy laws pf the state of Washington. Either way, Madison quickly found himself no longer welcome in his old school, and rapidly being sent downstate to a school for people with powers like him...
[attr="class","hopelovetitle"]POWER [attr="class","hopelovetop"][attr="class","hopelovesub"]
Proximal Material Sensing[break][break]
Madison's core ability is the power to draw on immense wealth of information about the area directly around him. This ability can be conceptualized as a constant radar or sonar that is active in Madison's mind at all times, but is really much broader than that. With his power, Madison can determine the difference between living and non-living matter, the location, density, and structure of objects around him, and the shape and weight of objects he can't see. This gives him different information then looking at an item would- for example, if he was standing near a closed box, his power would tell him the distribution of density in that box and the shape of items in it, but he wouldn't know what color the items were. Through practice, Madison has learned to make a good guess of what certain items are by their characteristics and context: he can be pretty sure that the flat rectangular object in your pocket is a cell phone, and that the metallic object under the coat of the suspicious-looking man is a gun.
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Empathy[break][break]
Madison’s empathy works as an offshoot of the part of his mind that is coordinating the massive amount of information obtained from his material sensing power. It’s an extension of the usual human ability to read the emotions of others by their body language and facial expression, only the massively enhanced calculating capabilities of Madison’s mind give him a use of it far beyond any normal person. From the tiniest indications and facial microexpressions, Madison can have a virtually flawless appraisal of how a person is feeling. This doesn’t let him know thoughts, but it gives him a very detailed impression of how a person is feeling at that very moment. He also gets some knowledge of more subconscious emotional associations a person may have; for example, he may be able to notice by the way a person pronounces their parent’s name that they have a negative association with that parent.
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Superhuman Reflexes[break][break]
Another power resulting from the enhanced information processing Madison’s brain requires to use his material sensing power. It gives him the ability to respond quickly to new stimuli entering his field of knowledge (hearing, touch, or material sense). This doesn’t make him superhumanly fast at other times- only in direct response to new stimuli. In those cases his reaction time is about twenty times faster than normal human speed.[break][break]
LIMITS[break][break]
Material sensing only gives him a limited amount of data. Just as looking at something doesn’t tell you everything about it, so Madison’s sensory power doesn’t tell him everything, either. He knows the general shapes of things in his range, where vibrations inside that area are occurring, how dense things are, their general shape and their layers, and similar information. He can’t perceive things like what color they are, or very fine details of their texture. He might be able to guess that the thing inside the box is a book, but he couldn’t read the pages. It also requires them to be a certain minimum density: he could sense a bullet entering his range, but not a laser, and he couldn’t tell you what was playing on a TV screen or anything like that. The range of this ability is about 100 yards.
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Empathy is similarly limited in what it can tell him. Though it gives him very detailed ideas about the emotions someone is experiencing, it only tells him emotions and not necessarily their sources. The range is also more limited; he needs to be close enough to see the details of someone’s face and hear their voice, around ten feet or so. It doesn’t work over the telephone, but it can work over skype with a good enough connection. It can’t tell him anything that a person isn’t aware of on at least some level, though it can show him emotions they’re ignoring or suppressing.
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His superhuman reflexes only apply in the same circumstances normal reaction time would: they don’t make him superhumanly fast whenever he wants. They can be defeated by things which move fast enough that he can’t avoid them- lasers would be an example, maybe superhumanly fast punches as well.
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WEAKNESSES[break][break]
Knowing other people’s emotions can be really tiring and annoying. Madison sometimes has trouble sleeping if too many things are moving in the area of his ability, for the same reason you would have trouble sleeping with extra noise.
He’s just as squishy as a normal human.
[break][break]
[attr="class","hopelovebot1"]
PLAYED BY Two McMillion
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