[Previous installment here. This is the first time we've actually seen the other members of Corv's team. The closest before was seeing an ex-member.]
Corv had kept Enzie separated from the others until the last one arrived in the common room, so Enzie's first look at the team was when Corv led them in to begin the meeting. First impression, formed based on a quick glance, was that they were as one would expect. A bunch of people in their mid twenties.
"Everyone, this is Enzie," Corv said with a gesture to Enzie, "'They-them'."
A response seemed appropriate, so Enzie gave a nod.
"Enzie, this is my team. Java, 'he-him'," Corv gestured to the most famous member of the team, and it's leader.
You couldn't come to this city without learning about the guy. First nation heritage --some east coast tribe-- and enough you might guess it if you didn't already know, but no tribal links. Orphan who was taken in by a presumed-rich white guy with a penchant for vigilante activity. For reasons that had never been explained, Java cut ties and hopped to the other side of the continent ending up here.
Real identity unknown, and apparently he wanted to keep it that way since, though he was in his own home, he was still wearing obfuscating headgear. It was a toned down version of what went with his mission attire --probably a non-combat version-- which obscured enough of his face to make facial recognition attempts difficult at best.
"Aster, 'she-her'," Corv gestured to a young woman who seemed to be intent on reading a book, upside down.
Trying to place her within a human geography was something that could only lead to frustration. Her eyes were a bit too orange; human eyes that were light brown, amber, or even some forms of hazel could give an orange appearance, but not that orange. Her skin could pass as dark brown, though the blue tint was there if you knew to look, but the shape of her features called to mind Ireland. Her hair was like unto flame.
The fact that she was an alien surprised no one. The fact that she resembled a human at all surprised a great many people and led to massive amounts of speculation.
"Map, 'he-him," Corv gestured to a native Hawaiian whose body was, at most, half flesh~and~blood human.
The other half was composed of varying levels of prostheses. His below the knee prosthetic on his left leg was a bog-standard civilian-purchasable model. On the opposite end of the spectrum, his right arm and shoulder utilized technology that wasn't even supposed to exist. Sleek, somewhat glowy, and doubtless possessing a strength and finesse mere mortals and mundanes could not hope to duplicate.
Enzie had known about Map before, but still found themselves fascinated by Map's head. The top of Map's head was all machine, everyone knew that. The change from flesh to tech followed a straight diagonal line that started near the crown, cut between the eyes --right electronic, left biological-- narrowly placed Map's nose on the flesh side, and continued to his cheek bone.
If the internal replacement followed the same pattern, there was no way Map should have survived loosing that much of his brain long enough for it to be replaced with whatever kind of computer could manage such a feat.
Enzie had never really thought about that before. Before Enzie had mostly noted the odd hairstyle that results when more than half of one's scalp is no longer organic.
"And finally we have Icelos, 'he-him'," Corv said as she indicated four-foot two Caucasian guy with no features of any real note, in Enzie's opinion.
Enzie knew the name and knew the reputation, though. Hispanic pagan with impressive combat skills who set the uptight white Anglo-Saxon protestant masses on edge before they even learned that he seemed to be able to take on the form of any living creature. Yes that included blue whales; no it did not include redwoods.
"I'm thrilled to make all of your acquaintances, I'm sure," Enzie said, not bothering to sound sincere, while mentally taking inventory of how many arrows were ready in their quiver. If things went badly, it would be very hard to get away.
Names:
As previously noted:
"Corv(ida)" means 'Crow/Raven' and "Aster" means 'Star'.
For the new names:
"Java" is a type of sparrow, the white dude who took him in, and whom he outgrew, was a member of a loose coalition of like minded individuals that pooled their resources (mostly access to incredible technology) so they all fight crime in spite of having no powers. Said coalition is called "The Host", because that's the collective noun for sparrows (think "murder of crows" or "gaggle of geese".)
"Map" → MAP → Mechanically Augmented Person. "Mechanically Augmented Person" is his preferred term for his ... classification of human. (As opposed to, "Whoa, it's fuckin' cyborg!") When it came time to make a code name, he went with it. No, most people do not pick up on that meaning.
"Icelos" is the name of one of the three most prominent children of Hypnos (sleep). He's a god of dream (one amoung many), and in dreams he can take the form of any animal, natural or mythical.
Corv had kept Enzie separated from the others until the last one arrived in the common room, so Enzie's first look at the team was when Corv led them in to begin the meeting. First impression, formed based on a quick glance, was that they were as one would expect. A bunch of people in their mid twenties.
"Everyone, this is Enzie," Corv said with a gesture to Enzie, "'They-them'."
A response seemed appropriate, so Enzie gave a nod.
"Enzie, this is my team. Java, 'he-him'," Corv gestured to the most famous member of the team, and it's leader.
You couldn't come to this city without learning about the guy. First nation heritage --some east coast tribe-- and enough you might guess it if you didn't already know, but no tribal links. Orphan who was taken in by a presumed-rich white guy with a penchant for vigilante activity. For reasons that had never been explained, Java cut ties and hopped to the other side of the continent ending up here.
Real identity unknown, and apparently he wanted to keep it that way since, though he was in his own home, he was still wearing obfuscating headgear. It was a toned down version of what went with his mission attire --probably a non-combat version-- which obscured enough of his face to make facial recognition attempts difficult at best.
"Aster, 'she-her'," Corv gestured to a young woman who seemed to be intent on reading a book, upside down.
Trying to place her within a human geography was something that could only lead to frustration. Her eyes were a bit too orange; human eyes that were light brown, amber, or even some forms of hazel could give an orange appearance, but not that orange. Her skin could pass as dark brown, though the blue tint was there if you knew to look, but the shape of her features called to mind Ireland. Her hair was like unto flame.
The fact that she was an alien surprised no one. The fact that she resembled a human at all surprised a great many people and led to massive amounts of speculation.
"Map, 'he-him," Corv gestured to a native Hawaiian whose body was, at most, half flesh~and~blood human.
The other half was composed of varying levels of prostheses. His below the knee prosthetic on his left leg was a bog-standard civilian-purchasable model. On the opposite end of the spectrum, his right arm and shoulder utilized technology that wasn't even supposed to exist. Sleek, somewhat glowy, and doubtless possessing a strength and finesse mere mortals and mundanes could not hope to duplicate.
Enzie had known about Map before, but still found themselves fascinated by Map's head. The top of Map's head was all machine, everyone knew that. The change from flesh to tech followed a straight diagonal line that started near the crown, cut between the eyes --right electronic, left biological-- narrowly placed Map's nose on the flesh side, and continued to his cheek bone.
If the internal replacement followed the same pattern, there was no way Map should have survived loosing that much of his brain long enough for it to be replaced with whatever kind of computer could manage such a feat.
Enzie had never really thought about that before. Before Enzie had mostly noted the odd hairstyle that results when more than half of one's scalp is no longer organic.
"And finally we have Icelos, 'he-him'," Corv said as she indicated four-foot two Caucasian guy with no features of any real note, in Enzie's opinion.
Enzie knew the name and knew the reputation, though. Hispanic pagan with impressive combat skills who set the uptight white Anglo-Saxon protestant masses on edge before they even learned that he seemed to be able to take on the form of any living creature. Yes that included blue whales; no it did not include redwoods.
"I'm thrilled to make all of your acquaintances, I'm sure," Enzie said, not bothering to sound sincere, while mentally taking inventory of how many arrows were ready in their quiver. If things went badly, it would be very hard to get away.
Names:
As previously noted:
"Corv(ida)" means 'Crow/Raven' and "Aster" means 'Star'.
For the new names:
"Java" is a type of sparrow, the white dude who took him in, and whom he outgrew, was a member of a loose coalition of like minded individuals that pooled their resources (mostly access to incredible technology) so they all fight crime in spite of having no powers. Said coalition is called "The Host", because that's the collective noun for sparrows (think "murder of crows" or "gaggle of geese".)
"Map" → MAP → Mechanically Augmented Person. "Mechanically Augmented Person" is his preferred term for his ... classification of human. (As opposed to, "Whoa, it's fuckin' cyborg!") When it came time to make a code name, he went with it. No, most people do not pick up on that meaning.
"Icelos" is the name of one of the three most prominent children of Hypnos (sleep). He's a god of dream (one amoung many), and in dreams he can take the form of any animal, natural or mythical.
Unrelated question: do you have a Patreon?
ReplyDeleteNo. I've been considering getting one for a long time. You know what? I'll try to figure it out tonight.
DeleteCoolness.
DeleteWhy is Icelos Hispanic rather than Latino/Latinx? Does it have to do with calling him Caucasian, bcuz that confuses me too... Is he like a fairy/elf-type being?
ReplyDeleteAnd how do you pronounce his name?
Why is Icelos Hispanic rather than Latino/Latinx? Does it have to do with calling him Caucasian, bcuz that confuses me too... Is he like a fairy/elf-type being?
DeleteI picked "Hispanic" because it's the term that I hear used as a non-racial ethnic signifier.
Caucasian Hispanic individuals have historically been cast in non-Hispanic roles (and still are) because:
a) Ethnocentrism dictates that Hispanic roles either not exist or be kept to a minimum
and
b) Audiences can't tell the difference because actors routinely play same-race different-ethnicity characters.
Icelos' just a human with shape-shifting powers.
If someone other than Enzie were in charge of the description, he'd have more details given, but for Enzie the reaction was, "He's rather short, he's Caucasian, I've lost interest. Moving on," and then falling back on what they already knew.
And how do you pronounce his name?
For some reason I was making it more complex than it is and thus pronouncing it wrong in my head. It's pretty straight forward (from Latin and Greek so the "c" is hard): Ik-el-os.
And, crap, I wrote "white Anglo-Saxon protestant" out of habit even though the "white" serves no purpose here. Icelos is white.
IDK, there's lots of stuff with those terms. You make a good point that it probably matters how Enzie thinks of it, rather than Icelos or the author or the audience?
DeleteIn my limited and not especially applicable experience/knowledge, some people specifically identify as Hispanic, including some specific communities in the SW USA and elsewhere that want to differentiate themselves from immigrants or folks specifically connected to Mexico or to immigrant communities.
Also I guess the US census still uses it, along with a bunch of gov't forms? And I guess it specifically excludes people associated with other colonial languages besides Spanish? IDK...
Identity and groups and labels, so much detail...