Miras

[Raveled]

Index

 

I. HellQ

Edited May 28, 2015 by Raveled

[Raveled]

Introduction

 

1. Who are you? Sum yourself up in one sentence.

I am a kick-ass hiphop star, that’s who I am.

 

2. Do you have any nicknames, street names, titles, or nom de plume?

Woman of many names, that’s me. Let’s see, I usually go by Asli, but my first time in college I went by Sophie or Sophia. On stage they call me DJ Eclectic. And when I’m out kicking ass on the streets most folks call me Miras.

 

3. What is your full birth name?

I was born Asli Saffiyah Sadik.

 

4. Where do you live?
In Greenbank, in Freedom City.

 

5. How old are you? What year were you born (if applicable)?

I am just 31 years old. I was born in summer of 1983.

 

Physical Traits

 

6. What is your gender? If not applicable, please explain.

I’m a woman.

 

7. How would you describe your heritage?

Californian. Though if you want to know my ethnicity, I’m a full-blooded Turk.

 

8. How tall are you?

A couple inches over six feet tall.

 

9. What is your body type?

Awesome, that's what my body is like. I guess most people in fashion magazines would call me fat, but screw them, right? I’m carrying a few more pounds than I should, but life is too full and too wonderful to worry about a little chub around your waist.

 

10. Do you have any particular weaknesses, such as allergies or physical disabilities?

I’ve never run into a food allergy or the like, but I guess I could be allergic to something out there. I’m not as strong as I could be, I guess, but overall I’m pretty healthy.

 

11. How do you carry yourself? Are you graceful, or heavy on your feet? Can you be stealthy, do you walk with confidence?

Oh, I’m always walking confidently. I know more than a little bit about dancing, so I always move gracefully.

 

12. Describe your skin, eye, and hair color.

To stay away from coffee metaphors, my skin is dark enough that I don’t tan and my hair is even darker. My eyes are bright blue, and that’s a pretty striking feature.

 

13. How do you wear your hair, if applicable?

I keep my hair long enough to put into a ponytail, but that’s about all I do with it.

 

14. Do you consider yourself attractive? Do others?

I am a knock-out, and anyone who can’t see that is a waste of time.

 

15. Do you have any scars, tattoos, piercings, or birthmarks?

I have some track marks on my arms. I’m not proud of them, I wear long shirts to hide them, but they are there. I have pierced ears. I used to a Jesus-fish tattoo on the inside of my wrist, but I got that lasered off, so there’s just a scar there.

 

16. Do you resemble anyone famous?

There aren’t many heavy ladies in Hollywood.

 

17. Do you have a dominant hand?

I’m left-handed.

 

18. What kind of clothing do you wear?

Heavy stuff, stuff that covers me up. Some pretty punk stuff, to be honest.

 

19. Do you wear makeup?

Not unless I’m on stage, and then it’s more like face painting.

 

20. What is your vocal range? Is your voice distinctive in some way?

My voice is wonderful, is what it is.

 

21. Do you have any distinctive habits, nervous tics, or mannerisms? Where did they come from, and what causes them? Do other people notice and remark on these habits? Do they annoy you or other people?

Talking too much? Asking lots of questions? I dunno, some people would say I’m nosy, but I have opinions and I’m gonna let you know about them!

 

History

 

22. Where do you come from?

Los Angeles, California.

 

23. Have you made any major moves, or do you live in your hometown?

I moved across the country! It’s probably the biggest move I’ll ever make.

 

24. Do you feel loyal to your country of citizenship? Do you consider yourself patriotic? How do you feel about the government of your country?

I like America. I think it’s the only place in the world where I could do what I do and have such a diverse crowd of fans.  But, Americans have a lot of problems, and the government doesn’t seem to care about it.

 

25. How do you feel about the place you come from?

California’s a great place to grow up. Beaches, sun, water, and lots of great people.

 

26. Where is your home town? What was/is it like?

Los Angeles, city of smog and dreams. I guess LA’s like any big city, with lots of friction and lots of opportunities and a lot of dark alleys. I kept to my neighborhood, though, and didn’t have a lot of trouble.

 

27. Growing up, were most of the people you knew similar to you, or were you somehow a minority? How did that affect you?

I grew up in a Turkish neighborhood in LA. Almost all my neighbors spoke Turkish as easily as they spoke English, and we all cooked the same food and went to the same school and the same mosques. Leaving that and being dropped into a city like Freedom City was like dropping into a pool of cold water, it was hard to keep breathing while I tried to assimilate it all.

 

28. Is there something you've always been really good at or really bad at? How has that affected your life?

Singing! Man, if I couldn’t sing like I do then I don’t know how my life would have gone, but it would be very different. Singing has lead me to every good thing that’s happened to me in my life.

 

29. Were there any traumatic experiences in your early years?

The most traumatic thing would be the Terminus Invasion, I guess. The fight in LA didn’t compare to the fight in Freedom City, but I remember being at school when it started and they moved us all to the earthquake shelters. We stayed down there for hours, not knowing what was happening. One of the teachers had a radio, and he sat by the door so he could poke the antenna out and kind of get a signal. It was terrifying and gut-churning to hear about the police fighting Omegadrones at a certain intersection or landmark, and trying to figure how far away that was and whether the fight was getting closer or moving away. I never want to be that scared again.

 

30. Briefly describe a defining moment in your childhood and how it influenced your life.

When I was fourteen, the jazz group I sang in put on a musical production and I got to sing a lead part. Being up on stage with the lights and everyone looking at me while I sang was the best thing I had ever known.

I’ve never wanted anything else as badly as I’ve wanted that moment back.

 

31. What stupid things did you do when you were younger?

Nothing compares to wheat I did when I was twenty, which is when I got into drugs really badly and really just destroyed my life. Sometimes even now I feel like I’m still working off that debt.

 

32. Where did you go to school? How much school did you have, and did you enjoy it?

I went to public school in LA, and attended FreeSA for two years. I really only got a year or so of real learning in before I got deep into drugs, though. After I got clean I did a fast-track, three year degree at FCU.

 

33. Do you have any mementos of your childhood? What are they, and why did you keep them? If you have none, why not?

If I kept anything, I sold it or abandoned in my dark years. I still have a few photos of when I was in jazz and in high school, but those are reprints I begged off my brothers.

 

34. When did you decide to become a hero? Why? Did anyone influence you one way or another in the decision?

I could talk about zakat and sadaqah, but the truth is simpler than that. When I was just figuring out my magic, I ran across a street hero breaking up a corner drug buy. When he had finished beating on the drug dealers, he started on the users. I zipped down and started yelling at the guy, trying to tell him how addiction is a disease and these people are victims themselves. He didn’t want to hear any of it, though; to this guy, anyone with an illegal drug in them or on them was a criminal and fair game.

I’ve been there. I’ve been the druggie just praying that the superhero would pass me by. I became a superhero so everyone would have a protector.

 

35. Is the reason you give people for becoming a hero different than your real reason? If so, why?

Usually I just talk about zakat and sadaqah. I don’t need to get into the politics of addiction while I’m in the middle of a patrol.

 

36. Do you have any deep, dark secrets in the past that may come back to haunt you?

I was a drug addict. That’s the sort of thing that hangs over you for a long while.

 

37. Do you represent yourself as being different from who you really are? Why?

I wouldn’t know how to.

 

38. If you do have these secrets, what do you fear would happen if the truth became known?

I’ve been preparing to own these secrets my entire adult life. If a mistake like that pushes someone away from me, then I don’t need their time.

 

39. Do you have any sort of criminal record? If so, is it public knowledge?

Drug possession and the rest, yeah. I wasn’t a kid when it happened, so it’s all public record. I don’t scream about my jail time, though, like some rap artists, but it’s all out there if you search public records.

 

Family

 

40. What are your biological parents' names?

My father is Kemal, my mother was born Fehime Uzun.

 

41. Were you raised by them?

They raised me, yes.

 

42. What was their standing in the community? What did/do they do for a living?

My dad was a venture capitalist. He was great at talking people into investing in whatever pie-in-the-sky project his client needed money for, and he seemed to have a knack at finding the next weird thing that would take off in a big way. I don’t know if my mother ever had a regular job; mostly I think she kept the house and raised us kids.

All I know about them now comes from Aydin. I think they were planning a cruise or maybe another hajj awhile back.

 

43. Where are your parents now?

Still in LA, last I checked.

 

44. Did your family stay in one area or move around a lot?

We never even left California for vacations.

 

45. How did you get along with their parents? How do you get along with them now (if applicable)?

I was the golden child, the oldest child and one with all the responsibility and all the promise. Now, though? I haven’t spoken to them in years. I just know they’re ashamed of me.

 

46. How do your parents view you now, or how would they?

I’m a goddamn screw up, the biggest mistake they ever could have made. When I started getting into drugs I would hit them up for money and say it was for rent or school stuff, but now they know I was just snorting it or smoking it or putting it in my veins. I cost them -- Prophet, I don’t want to think about it. Way too much money, for nothing.

 

47. Do you have any siblings? If so how many and what are their names? Describe your relationship with them.

I have two brothers, Mohammed and Aydin. Aydin is the one that sent me the photographs and I still see stuff he puts on Facebook, but I’d never try to force my way into his life. Mohammed, though, he told me that it would’ve been better if I had never been born.

 

48. What was your birth order in the family?

I’m the oldest. Then Aydin, and Mohammed was the last one. I think they named him that because the doctors didn’t think my parents could have another kid, so he was a gift from Allah.

 

49. Where are your siblings now (if applicable)? Do they have families of their own? What do they do?

Aydin’s a doctor, with a practice in LA and a family in the suburbs. He’s got a pretty wife and a couple kids of his own. Mohammad joined the Army and became an engineer. I’m not sure what part of the world he’s in right now, but I think he’s engaged.

 

50. Do you stay in touch with them or have you become estranged?

I’m Facebook friends with Aydin. His little girl’s into ballet, and his son does karate and Boy Scouts. Everytime Caden earns a new badge, Aydin puts a picture of the kid in full regalia up on Facebook.

Mohammad, though, he hates me. I don’t think he’d ever want to talk to me again.

 

51. Do you love or hate one member of the family in particular?

I love my whole family. I wish I hadn’t caused them so much pain, but I can’t change the past.

 

52. Is any member of the family special to you in any way?

Aydin is my little window into my family. If he turned on me, I think I might go a little crazy.

 

53. Are there any black (or white) sheep in the family (including you)? If so, please explain.

I’m the worst of the lot. Big, confident Asli, who went to the East Coast and had the full ride and became a druggie, anyway.

 

54. Do you have a notorious or celebrated ancestor? If so, please explain, including how it has affected your life.

Not that I’ve ever heard of.

 

55. Do you have a partner and children currently? If so, please describe them.

No. There’s no one in my life right now, at least not like that.

 

56. If you do not have a partner or children, do you want them someday? How firm are you in our opinion on this, and what might change your mind?

I do, yeah. Some day. Just, you know, not today. And probably not tomorrow, either.

 

57. What type of person would be your ideal mate?

He’d have to be a man of principles. I wouldn’t want to be with anyone who didn’t know what he stood for. And he’d have to keep up his end of an argument. And he’d have to know that just because I’m arguing with him doesn’t mean I don’t love him anymore. So maybe what I’m saying is that I’m waiting for a patient man.

Oh, and he wouldn’t necessarily have to be Muslim. He would have to be okay with us raising our kids as Muslim, though.

 

Relationships

 

58. Do you have any close friends? If so, please describe them, and how you came to be close to them.

It’s hard to have really close friends when you’re mining your whole life for stories to tell other people.

… You know what, scratch that. A little bit back I met this woman, Sam. She’s another superhero, and we helped take down this yuppie drug dealer. She mentioned that she was homeless, and now she’s sleeping on my couch. I guess that’s pretty close.

 

59. Do you have a best friend? If so, how did they become your best friend? How close are you to your best friend?

By process of elimination, that would be Sam. But the truth is, I don’t really know a lot about it. I know she used to use, and I know whatever her powers are she can’t -- literally cannot -- get high anymore, and I know she was homeless. But past that, she’s a mystery.

 

60. If you were to go missing, who would worry about you?

I think Sam would have some vested self-interest in finding me if I suddenly disappeared.

 

61. Have you lost any loves? If so, how did it happen, and what did you do?

I’ve had boyfriends. I don’t think I’d be dramatic enough to call them lovers, though.

 

62. Do you have any bitter enemies? If so, please describe them and their history with you.

There I people I’ve worked with that I don’t like, but I wouldn’t call them enemies. That’s pretty dramatic.

 

63. If you have enemies, how do you think they might attempt to work against you in the future?

Uh, review-bomb me on Amazon? What do you think they’ll do, they’ll try to attack me and kill me! What else do supervillains do?

 

64. What is the worst thing someone has done to you?

… I’m not going to say that it’s the girl who handed me pills at that party when I was a frosh at FreeSA. I’m not going to say it was that bunch of ‘friends’ who handed me all their money so I could buy drugs for everyone, and so I ended up being with intent to distribute instead of just possession.

I’m not going to say anything, because you want to know what was done to me. I did all those things up there, those were my choices. I’ll own them.

 

65. Where do your loyalties lie? In what order?

Hm, I guess in order it would be my family, my music and Allah, and then maybe Sam.

 

66. Who or what do you trust the most? Why?

Allah. Islam is submission to the will of God, after all.

 

67. Who or what do you despise? Why?

Can I say all religious fundies on every political spectrum, full stop? Religion is supposed to be a way to live your life, not a stick you use to beat other people until they agree with you. If your God is right, then you don’t have to worry about how many other people are on the ride with you.

 

68. What qualities do you admire most in other people? Are these qualities you possess?

Perseverance. Honesty, especially self-honesty. And kindness.

I’m trying to have all that. Some days it’s harder to have one of them, some days it’s easier.

 

69. What qualities do you hate most in other people? Do you have any of those qualities?

What sort of qualities does a drug dealer have? Greed, irresponsibility, an inability to see how your actions affect others, or just not giving a damn about other people.

I… used to have those. Certainly when I was on drugs, I didn’t care about who I hurt, as long as I got my high. I’m trying to be better than that these days, though.

 

70. Do you have a secret identity? If so, who knows it?

Oh yeah, not just anybody knows that Miras and Asli Saddik are the same person. The only person who really knows it would be Sam, I guess.

 

71. Do you work well on teams and in groups? Are you a leader or a follower?

I work well enough on teams, I guess. I definitely would want to be the one that set the agenda, though.

 

72. Are you on a super team?

Nope. I don’t think the Freedom League is look for a drug addict.

 

73. Are you a member of any church, fraternal organization, club, committee, political party, or other group? How much time do you spend on that?

I’m still in Narcotics Anonymous, because you never really stop being an addict. I go to meetings at least once a week, and I try to make it a different day of the week every time so I can see different faces.

Oh, and of course there’s my mosque. I pray there at least once a week.

 

Personality & Beliefs

 

74. Who are your heroes?

Empress Theodora. Khadija. Aisha bint Abi Bakir. Lindsey Stirling.

 

75. Did you ever become disillusioned with former heroes or idols? If so, why and what were the circumstances?

Most of my heroes are dead, so that’s stops them from disappointing me.

 

76. Do you like being a hero? If so, what is the most rewarding part?

It’s pretty damn fun beating up drug dealers, yeah.

 

77. Is there anything that would make you give up hero work, or even switch sides?

Man, the only reason I’d switch sides is if the Freedom League started handing out benzedrine.

 

78. What are your short term goals (what would you like to be doing within a year)?

Get my new album out and pay down my credit cards.

 

79. What are your long term goals? What would you like to be doing twenty years from now?

Become a rap sensation, of course. Get married and start a family and become the biggest thing to ever come out of Greenbank. Go on hajj.

 

80. What is your greatest fear? Why? What do you do when something triggers this fear?

An addict never stops being addicted. I’m clean now, I don’t even like taking aspirin or Tylenol, but one slip up and I could be back in that hole. I would like to say that I just stay away from things that make me remember those times, but I can’t if I’m going to be better. I have to confront what’s making me afraid, get past it, and be better when I’m on the other side. I have to faith in myself that I will get through the other side.

 

81. Is there anything you would give you life for?

I hope I would give my life for someone else, or for Allah. I can’t say for sure, though, until it happens.

 

82. How do you feel about money and material wealth? Do you desire it or disdain it? Are you miserly with what you have, or do you like to share? Is it a mark of success, or a means to an end?

Am I going to make it rain? I have no freaking idea. I think I’d like to have my own gold or platinum record, and be able to own a car and a bigger apartment, and not have to budget for months if I want to go out to eat. I sure as hell don’t think cash is evil by itself.

I’ve got an almost-stranger living on my couch. I think that shows how much I share things with people.

Money is nice to have, but having money just for the purpose of having money makes a person evil. I hope I never get to be that way.

 

83. How do you generally treat others?

Golden rule. I talk, and I listen, and when they’re being stupid I try to set them straight.

 

84. Are you a trusting person?

Again, I’m letting a woman whose last name I don’t know sleep in my house. Or not really sleep, since she doesn’t sleep, so I trust her not to mess things up while I sleep! That’s pretty damn trusting.

 

85. Are you introverted (shy and withdrawn) or extroverted (outgoing)? Do you have a lot of self-confidence?

You’ve been listening to this for how long and you don’t know the answer to this question?

 

86. How do you act around attractive, available members of your preferred sex?

I argue with them and I preen and I show off.

 

87. What are your most annoying habits?

Me? Annoying? Who told you that?

 

88. Do you feel contempt for any general category of people?

I… try really hard not to deal with people that broadly. Everyone is different, everyone deserves a chance to make their case. Only once I’m sure that a given person is an asshole, then I punch ‘em.

 

89. What is your favorite food? Do you prefer any particular type of food? Do you take the time to enjoy your food, or do you eat as fast as you can?

… My mom used to make fresh simit with sunflower seeds, and orange marmalade. That was delicious. And for special dinners my day would make an Uzbek pilaf, with spiced lamb. Prophet, I’m drooling just remembering it!

I try to make a lot of food that’s mobile. Not fast food, but burritos and shwarma and gyros, food that’s wrapped up and can be eaten on the move.

I always eat my food slowly. Unless I’m in a hurry to get to a meeting. Or a recording session, which is just a more fun and useful sort of meeting. Or if I’m trying to get somewhere and make a sale.

 

90. What is your favorite drink?

Lantern Hill has the best tap water.

 

91. What is your favorite treat?

Frozen yogurt. I want to buy a machine to make it myself, so I can crush up different kinds of fruit and make my own frozen yogurt.

 

92. Are there any specific foodstuffs that you find disgusting or refuse to eat?

Well I’m a Muslim, so I don’t eat any alcohol or anything with pig-parts in it.

 

93. What is your favorite color? Are there any colors you dislike?

I like green. It’s nice and relaxing and usually it’s around in the springtime, which is when I can be outside my tiny little apartment for a long time.

 

94. What sort of music do you like? Is there any that you hate?

Ha! I like my own music! Is that a trick question? I guess I usually gravitate towards all sorts of hip-hop.

… I don’t listen to gangster rap. It seems weird to say I listen to hip-hop and not gangster rap, I know, but those songs are all about killing cops and abusing women, and glorifying drugs and crime for the sake of some macho, neanderthal definition of worth. I hate it all and all that it stands for, and it gets me really angry when people lump my stuff in with 50 Cent or whatever.

 

95. If you have a favorite scent, what is it?

Baking bread. I used to love to open the oven when my mother was making simit and just breath in the smell.

 

96. Do you have a favorite animal?

… What’s the opposite of mice? Cats? Then cats, sure.

 

97. What is your most treasured possession? Why?

And this is where things aren’t just private, they’re privileged. If my apartment building was on fire and I could only grab one thing, I’d go for a cardboard box in my closet marked ALBUMS. It doesn’t have music or photographs in it; it has more than fifteen leather-bound journals, all hand-written by an Englishman, Lord Deosil. Deosil was the Master Mage of his day, the most powerful magus in the world. Deosil’s particular specialty was time magic, and he wrote down a bunch of prophecies in his diaries. Some of them have already happened, some obviously haven’t, and most of them I can’t make heads or tails of until just before something bad erupts.

Now, there’s a lot of translations and copies of these books, but what I have is the original set, written down by a freaking Master Mage. And, this is way more important, the only complete set of his diaries. I found the box when I moved in, I have no idea where it came from, and I sometime have nightmares about someone coming in to snatch it. It’s important to me to keep it, though, and so I hide it the best way I know how to.

 

98. Do you enjoy "roughing it", or do you prefer your creature comforts?

I like hot water and air conditioning.

 

99. Is there a job or a task you would absolutely refuse to do?

Doing a photo shoot in a bikini.

 

100. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? If so, how do your beliefs affect your life? How important is it to you?

Allah and Islam saved my life. If I hadn’t been able to reach out to God, I don’t think I could’ve kicked my habit. So, now I live my life by the Qu’ran.

 

101. Was your faith influenced or molded by anyone special?

Arthur Sinclair was my sponsor in NA, back when I was still in jail. Nobody else believed in me -- hell, I didn’t believe in me back then -- but he did. Through God’s grace he saw something worthwhile in me and fought to keep me from backsliding, fought to get me to accept NA and accept God back into my life. He was even the one who got me a scholarship to get back into FCU.

Of course it’s kind of weird, since Art’s a really strident Baptist and I became a practicing Muslim again, but I still think I’d be dead, or at least still in prison, without him.

 

102. If you belong to a religious organization, how often do you attend? Do you have a specific place of worship, or friends within the organization? How much do you agree with the beliefs of your organization?

I go to a mosque near the boardwalk, the Hawwa mosque. It’s a rather liberal one, and after prayers there’s always a time to discuss the news and anything happening in the world.

I broadly think of myself as Sunni, but that’s not a hard distinction. I spend a lot of time reading the Qu’ran and trying to decide for myself what Allah would want. There’s a lot of folks who claim they are following the will of God and do things that I think are monstrous. I guess it’s a lot of what a liberal Christian feels when he looks at what the Religious Right is doing.

 

103. Could you kill? Have you killed?

I have never intentionally taken the life of another person. I’ve handed drugs to other people, though, and I can’t say if I saw all of those people afterwards.

 

104. What circumstances led to you forming that conviction, or taking that action?

I didn’t care. It’s that simple, I just did. Not. Care.

 

105. Are there circumstances under which you believe it is permissible to kill? What are they?

Killing is never permitted.

 

106. How would you react to watching someone kill another person? Would your reaction be different if the killer was a friend or an enemy of yours?

I’d try to stop anyone from killing another person.

 

107. How would you react if something important was stolen from you?

I would try to get it back? I guess that would depend on how important the thing is. If someone stole my coat, I can buy another one. If someone stole the Lorcano Diaries, I’d probably end up going to the Freedom League.

 

108. How would you react to public humiliation?

Heh, probably sing about it. That’s sort of what happens when you make a songwriter mad.

 

109. How would you react if a good friend or relative were purposely or accidentally killed?

I… would try to make a good memorial to them. I wouldn’t try to get revenge. That’s just a cycle, and it eats everyone involved with it.

 

110. What do you consider to be the worst crime someone could commit and why?

Drug dealing. It doesn’t just hurt a person’s life, it kills them slowly and drags everyone they know into their orbit of self-harm.

 

111. If your life were to end in 24 hours, what five things would you do in those remaining hours?

Uh, try to set things up with Richard Cline and my agent so that Sam has somewhere to go after I die.

Drop off the Lorcano Diaries with the Freedom League and trust them to give them to Eldritch.

Really drop off about half the diaries with Richard Cline, and leave a note in the box telling Eldritch that.

Run to Jerusalem and see the Al-Aqsa Mosque at least once in my life.

Go to LA and try to see my family one last time.

 

Career & Training

 

112. Do you have any special training in your hero skills?

Special training? Above and beyond being able to cast magic?

 

113. Who taught you the most about your heroing abilities? What was your relationship with that person?

That’s a loaded question with a lot of different layers to it.

I learned time magic reading the Lorcano Diaries. They are the private memoirs of Lord Deosil, a mage from the Victorian era. I didn’t have a ‘relationship’ with him, because he’s been dead for a hundred and fifty years.

I also have a few other spells that aren’t strictly like the stuff in the Lorcano Diaries, but those are just basic illusion and fire spells that I’ve learned on my own.

 

114. Do you have any particularly unusual skills? How did you acquire them?

Again, do you mean the magic bit or am I supposed to have something else?

 

115. Do you do something besides hero work for a living? Have you ever done anything else, or do you plan to?

People can do this for a living!? Hell, and here I am singing my heart out every record.

 

116. What is your preferred combat style?

My preferred style is Too-Fast-To-Be-Seen Fu.

 

117. Have you ever received any awards or honours?

My records are commercially viable...ish. And that’s all I really want, just to sing my music.

 

118. What skill areas would you like most to improve in? Is there anything you can't do that you wish desperately you could?

I guess I could stand to learn how to really dance. It would help me make some amazing videos, at least.

 

119. How do you act around people who are more skilled than you in areas you'd like to improve? Are you jealous, or do you try and learn?

If they are legit better than me, then I get jealous and try to learn from them.

 

Lifestyle & Hobbies

 

120. What is a normal day for you? How do you feel when something interrupts this routine?

People have routines? That must be weird. My day is so packed full of stuff I have to do, but every day is different.

 

121. Do you have any hobbies, or interests outside hero work? What are they, and where did you pick them up?

My music is a little bit more than a hobby! It’s my life. Between being a hero and being a singer, I’ll pick being a singer in a heartbeat.

 

122. What do you do for fun?

Sing. Trash-talk people more popular than me. Troll Beiber fans.

 

123. Do you have a costume? What does it look like?

Amazing, of course, since I designed it. I’ve got a spring green robe underneath, and then over that is a purple stole with white writing on it. The writing is in classical Arabic, and since it reflects what I’m thinking it’s usually just looping prayers. The robe has a hood, and I wear gloves with five stars on the back of my hands.

 

124. How do you normally dress when not in costume?

Jeans. Leather. Boots. Stuff tough enough to kick someone’s head in.

 

125. What do you wear to bed most nights?

As above, minus jeans and boots and maybe plus PJ bottoms if it’s cold.

 

126. Do you wear any special jewelry? What is it, and what does it look like?

I don’t wear any jewelry, period.

 

127. Do you have a special place where you keep your valuables?

The only thing I have that’s valuable are the Lorcano Diaries, and I keep them in my closet. It’s probably not the smartest idea, but at least I always know where they are.

 

128. What's your preferred means of local travel? How about long distance?

Local travel, I either run somewhere (very, very fast) or take the rail line. If I’m traveling long distance I’m probably doing it for a concert, and if that’s the case then Stone Soup is paying for my ticket however they want to.

 

Miscellaneous

 

129. Have you ever made a will, or tried to make arrangements for your death?

I don’t have nearly enough money to worry about that.

 

130. If your features were to be destroyed beyond recognition, is there any other way of identifying your body?

Uh, DNA? I don’t have any tattoos or piercings or anything.

 

131. What would you like to be remembered for after your death?

Amazing music, of course.

 

132. Do you believe you pose a threat to the public? Why or why not?

Only a conservative could think I’m a threat to the public. I just sing and punch drug dealers.

 

133. What do you perceive as your greatest strength?

Most people don’t know how to deal with time magic and time travel and all that funness. It puts people off.

 

134. What do you perceive as your greatest weakness?

I don’t have weaknesses, I have places where I am not focusing my awesome right now.

 

135. As a player, if you could, what advice would you give your character? Speak as if he/she were sitting right here in front of you. Use proper tone so they might heed your advice...

You’re too focused. You can’t see the forest for the trees. Sometimes a hero, a person who is in the proper place to affect things, has to make a hard decision that will hurt people, will hurt them very badly.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Raveled

[Raveled]

June, 2010

Freedom City, New Jersey

 

The day had been sweltering warm, but with the sun on the horizon there was a chill in the air that promised a cooler night. Asli Saddik stood in her tiny living room, working by the light of the setting sun. She was surrounded by books and weird markings on the shag carpet. Since drawing on the carpet was out, the starving artist had bought several rolls of painter’s tape and used that to create a pair of overlapping triangles, a hexagon, and a few other significantly occult markings. She held a leather-bound journal in her hands, lips moving as she considered the last few words of the spell carefully. Finally, convinced that she was ready after months of preparation, she put the journal on the couch and stepped into the hexagon. She big woman closed her eyes and breathed deep, then exhaled while counting to five. A few more meditative breaths put her in the right frame of mind, and then she spoke the words under her breath. “Tempus fugit and Hermes rising,” she whispered. “Speed be mine at time of sun’s dying. By ancient words and to my last gasp, spell slow them down and make me fast!”

 

There wasn’t any rolling thunder or bright flash of light, there wasn’t any sulfurous smoke or sinister laughter, there wasn’t even any distant chiming of ethereal bells. All Asli felt was a tingling in her toes and fingers, like the beginnings of pins and needles. She opened her eyes and looked around the apartment, but nothing was different; her tentative steps outside of the circle were like any other steps she took into her kitchen. There was something, though, something that pressed on her ears and tugged at the edge of her mind. She finally realized it when she was kneeling at the edge of the kitchen sink, watching a drop of water fall in slow motion; it was silence. The whole city was quiet, all the noise and bustle of an urban center the size of Freedom City quiet now for maybe the first time in history, as it was frozen in this timeless moment. She giggled, a distinctly odd sound coming from someone of her size, and poked the water droplet, watching it shatter into dozens of reflective spheres, spalling away from the point of impact. Asli did it – she had just cast a magic spell.

 

Of course she wasn’t going to just leave it at that. In a few moments she was climbing out onto the fire escape, reveling in the fact that the iron grating wasn’t shaking under her boots. As she descended towards street level, she slowly realized that the sound wasn’t entirely gone, but it all sounded muffled and distorted, like it was all happening at the other end of a long tunnel. Finally, she was bouncing her toes on the sidewalk, checking carefully that the road was clear. There was another component to the spell that she couldn’t test in a one-bedroom apartment. She picked her direction and started to run, and after a moment she ran.

 

This wasn’t like anything she’d tried before, with her heavy boots slamming into the ground with each stride and her chest heaving to get enough air into her lungs and her jacket hanging off her shoulders like a ton of weights. With the magic she was light, she was quick; it was like someone was behind her pushing, or like she was riding some kind of moving sidewalk exclusive to her. Her vision narrowed and her awareness expanded, letting her see a traffic jam blocks ahead and deciding how she would get around it. She slowed with a thought and stepped around the crowd on the streets, imagining their shock as someone ran past them faster than thought. She laughed as she sped up again – this was magic, this was power, this was freedom. This was everything she had worked towards for months.

 

And she kept running, until something stopped her cold. Asli was somewhere in the Fens, staring at an alleyway, watching a person in silver spandex beating a thin man in ratty clothes. There was another person in the alley, indeterminate in their big jacket, laying in a pool of blood and not moving. Something gripped her heart right and she stepped forward, grabbing the silver man’s arm; she felt another electric surge go through her, this one almost painful in its intensity, but she braced against his arm and let everything go fast again.

 

The silver man lurched as there was a sudden weight on his arm, holding him back. He glanced back, surprised to see a big woman in a hoodie holding his fist back. “Let me go, citizen,” his voice booming like something out of a newsreel. “I’m in the middle of punishing these criminals!”

 

Asli let his arm go and moved to interpose herself between the man in silver and the man in tatters. “I think you’ve done enough punishing tonight,” she said, glancing at the bloody figure. “This guy isn’t going to hurt anyone else, are you?”

 

“Nuh, nuh, nuh, no, no I won’t!” The man in the worn clothes did his best to scramble away from the man in silver, covering his face. “I juh, juh, just wanted buh, buy some junk! I don’t wanna hurt anyone!”

 

The man in silver gave a dismissive snort. “Degenerates like those,” he said, pointing a finger past Asli at the sniveling man on the ground, “is the reason scum like that can thrive.” He jerked a thumb back at the motionless figure. Then he leaned in close, dropping the announcer voice and speaking to Asli in a voice that sounded halfway between a cop and a used-car salesman. “Listen, chick, I’ll lay it out real simple-like for you. If there aren’t any drug users, then there won’t be any drug dealers. I’m just handling the root of the problem, you understand?”

 

Asli felt the tightness in her chest, the tingling in her fingers and her toes, and a heat rising in her throat that spread to her head and pounded in her ears. “I understand just fine,” she hissed. “I think you’ve done enough here. Just go home, Captain TV Dinner.”

 

The silver man’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “You know what? I was raised not to hit a lady, but I think I’ll make an exception for you.” He drew his fist back, a nimbus of energy growing around it, and Asli willed everything besides her to go slow.

 

The whole tableau froze in front of her, giving the woman time to consider. She couldn’t run away, or this wanna-be superhero would probably beat the user to death. She didn’t give two shits about the dealer, but a couple years ago that druggie could have been her. With a couple years of help and rehab, who knew what this person could achieve with their life? She couldn’t let them be another nameless casualty of the street, couldn’t let them die because someone who ran around in spandex decided that they were ‘part of the problem.’ She only had a few moments to work out how to save them, though.

 

To everyone else, it happened in the span of a few blinks; silver man pulled back to swing, then the street went dark and he was surrounded by the stench of rotting things. He tried to swing, but he couldn’t get up any distance; he tried to blast, but something was siphoning his electricity away. “Where’d everyone go,” he shouted, running forward.

 

Asli smiled and stuck out a leg, tripping the man over. There was a thunderous cacophony as he fell, the tin trash can that pinned his hands to his side (and neatly grounded any electrical superpowers) denting as he fell against it. She kicked the can, sending him rolling down the sidewalk, caterwauling as he went. Satisfied, Asli turned back to the sniveling drug-user as he watched the trash can bounce and roll down the street. She helped him to his feet, dusting him off and fixing his jacket up as best she could. “What’s your name,” she asked him, feeling the heat and tension drain out of her.

 

He stared at her like she had just grown a second head. “Puh, people call me Jack.” He paused and added, “Muh, my mom used to call me Johnny, though. You can call me that if you want to.”

 

Asli took a hard look at the man; drugs always made it hard to tell, but he couldn’t have been older than thirty. If he’d been using for awhile, he might not even be twenty. A different kind of pain grew in her chest and she had a suddenly instinct to go kick the dealer a few more times, but Johnny needed her attention right now. “Okay, Johnny,” she said, keeping her tone gentle. “Let’s go get you a sandwich. I think we need to talk.”

Edited June 16, 2016 by Raveled