Sometimes friendship conquers all. The experiment had some good outcomes after all.
Aftermath. It looks like Alycia isnât interested in a male Summer after all, but it was still rough to find out.
I think this fits into the middle of the sequence there (between SUMMER07_007 and _008)
ALYCIA: (Cocks head, looks Sunny up and down)
SUNNY: (Smiling)
ALYCIA: Nope. Nada.
SUNNY: And thatâs okay. Relationship, friendship, does not need to involve sexual attraction.
ALYCIA: Of course. Plus, by analogy, youâre sort of like a brother; thus, due to powerful societal and cultural restrictions, sexual attraction would be taboo.
SUNNY: So ⌠if Iâm like a brother to you, that must mean Summer is like a sisâ
ALYCIA: THATâS ENOUGH OUT OF YOU, MISTER.
Baby steps, Alycia.
1 Like
I donât imagine that anything in this whole sequence would ever change status quo. Jasonâs awkward teenage libido aside, I imagine a feeling of taboo is part of it, but Iâd prefer to think that everyone is just happy with what they already have, and theyâre mostly doing this to goof around and figure themselves out a little better.
The other universe I could do in comic form would be something like the âMean-agerieâ, where our teen heroes were villains instead. They canât be the sort of world-dominating villains that some of their powers or background might indicate - you sort of have to be able to laugh at them, so I can imagine them doing petty or amusing things rather than (say) mass murder or mind-wiping. I donât really know how youâd turn Harry evil, except maybe Hecate revealing the extent of his familyâs involvement in morally shady affairs and then using that weakness to put a whammy on him, but I can easily see a villain trajectory for everyone else that still keeps them part of a (sort-of) team.
Sounds legit. It helps that we sort of left people in a pretty good state, so nobodyâs actively looking elsewhere.
Harryâs not evil. He just goes along with his friends who are (and plies them with chips, which he shoplifts from the local 7-11).
I see what you did there.
Weâd teased them assessing each otherâs fighting potential, but this is one of the few things I could think of thatâd actually make Alycia throw down. 
Presumably Alycia would figure out what happened pretty fast and nobody would get seriously hurt as a result.
Heck, perhaps the âfull fighting powerâ he is pointing at is Using Her Head, being less complacent than (he feels) sheâs become. Thus revelation, surge of anger, wait this guy is just as sneaky as Father taught me, hmmm, he would know my reaction, and how it would knock me off-balance, dammit Alistair âŚ
Not that sheâd be happy about being manipulated by Alistair (even if she determined he was doing it âfor her own good,â which, of course, is what she always wants to hear), but she might then intentionally seem to go after him, all angry and reckless, and wait for him to try and use that ostensible state against her âŚ
Alistair might, in turn, anticipate that sheâs seen through it, and feint a reaction to see if she takes it. Alycia might, of course, count on that, and exploit it in return âŚ
Throw in all the SGHG cognitive stuff, and you could have the equivalent of a grandmaster chess game, only in ten seconds of hand-to-hand.
Which of course is Alistairâs point, and Alyciaâs real motivation in making him eat it. 
1 Like
Only then Alistair threatens to goose Summer for real, so the pair go over Reichenbach FallsâŚ
1 Like
Wrapping up the Experiment story here.
The thing I found about these characters is that no matter how weird any given characterâs story might be, you can have them play off their other self, because thereâll always be differences, and the alternates of other members of the group always change the dynamic (even if itâs just Jason stammering his way through talking to Leah, for example). We didnât hear much from Charlotte or Harry, but only because I donât feel I have license to write for them. There was plenty of potential material for everyone.
Iâm pretty sure @fragolakat and @Margie wouldnât mind, but Iâll tag them just in case they want to say so.
I have to say, I have a vague interest in a ânext roundâ of MASKS thatâs in the Pidgeverse, just because it offers an opportunity to shake things up a bit. But, as I said, âvagueâ.
The Pidgeverse is full of people youâd thought were one gender but who were actually another, and it turns out it makes no difference to anyone. So in that sense itâs almost too close - do you just play the gender flipped version of your old PCs now?
Oh, I know, on reflection it probably doesnât make any sense. Except that there enough little differences to provide some amusement. Or at least a series of entertaining comics.
So the other neat thing is that the âmainâ universe had like a 2:1 female to male ratio, setting aside our one known NB character. So ironically thereâs more men active in the Pidgeverse.