LogFAQs > #968154208

I mentioned the stutter earlier, because there are times when its very pronounced, and then there are times when Ari starts to build her confidence, and the words flow like theres nothing stopping her at all. Its in those moments when you might realize that theres more to Ari than meets the eye. Shes not just some nerdy bookworm with a bit of a bratty, self-centered streak. No, its in these moments that an untapped power seems to emerge from deep within her. Remember the horrific painting she created back in Brentwood? Well, it turns out she painted that with a little help from the voice in her head that provides her with friendship in her darkest and loneliest of days. Its with this knowledge that suddenly, all of the pieces begin coming together to craft a fascinating character with a future I cannot wait to see.

VERY early into her time in Campaign Two, we began to get hints of a darker entity manipulating Ari beneath the surface of her timid exterior. Every so often, shed get into situations where someone would either annoy her or upset her in some fashion, and her eyes would flash yellow. Suddenly, Ari would zero in on the persons biggest insecurity, and shed shine a spotlight on it with complete precision. Worried about your family? Ari will remind you that theyre probably Equated or dead. Worried about your memory being erased? Ari will remind you that you were a horrible person before and might just become that way again? Concerned about the circumstances that allowed a criminal like Lex Luthor to so easily amass power, both before AND after his presidency? You bet your ass Aris going to remind you of how easy it was for him to manipulate the system and gain absolute control.

While most conversations with Ari eventually feature some sort of moment where the yellow glow takes control and terrifies everyone around her, theres clearly something extraordinarily sinister at play. When performing a routine check of new residents of Zonn Zorr for Star Sapphire potential, Starsa shivered and hid, rather than interact with Ari directly. In the Lantern/Ring world, after all, Yellow is the antithesis of both Green AND Pink, and something about Ari just sends up a ton of red flags for the most in-tune among us when it comes to emotional cores. Its because of this that Pepper began actively seeking Ari out beyond the sort of surface-level teenaged girl friendship stuff shes attempted with others around Zonn Zorr.

You see, that little voice in Aris head? I initially thought that it was Sinestro, attempting to break through the Green Lanterns barrier around Earth, in order to sway another being to the cause of the Yellow Lanterns. But it turns out that the voice is instead that of Parallax, and even more powerful entity of Sinestro that was able to take over Hal Jordan and wreak havoc across the galaxy (causing the current crisis where the Green Lantern Corps largely distrusts Hal, and humanity as a whole for the untold damage he did to their number via his uncontrolled actions). The fact that such a powerful being has his hooks in Ari is TERRIFYING, but at the same time, Pepper cant help herself but want to save this poor girl from the monster inside.

In a way, this allows for an intriguing storyline to develop, because Pepper similarly has a bit of darkness deep inside. Its not as extraterrestrial as Aris but theres a villainous streak in Pepper all the same. Whereas most would be frightened of Ari above all else, Pepper looks at her as a decent person who simply has developing powers that make people uncomfortable. With proper training and just a general atmosphere of people willing to work with her and maintain bonds with her, Pepper believes that Ari can be saved from whatever malevolent influence Parallax might have on her. Its with this in mind that Pepper went to Ari, humble, and tried to get her to engage in training and practice to hone her burgeoning skills, rather than letting them grow frenzied and unchallenged.

This all led to an interesting scene, because Pepper has been having a great deal of internal conflict over her role and her general sense of self. The role of Pepper Spray was thrust upon her, but is meant to be a force for good, while the role of Biohazard was her chosen persona, while serving as a force for evil. Biohazard is like kicking a baby bird from its nest and allowing Alyssa Davenport to spread her wings and soar, unconstrained by the morality of society. When shes acting as her villainous alter-ego, Alyssa is more confident, more charming, and just generally stronger as a person, even she even acknowledges this when the costume is off and shes back to her true self.

But Ari sees things differently; Ari hates timorousness and cowardice, as a result of her connection to the Yellow Lanterns and the power of their fear. In one of her moments of lucidity, she called Alyssa out, saying how she hates Pepper and wishes she could be brave like Biohazard. And in that moment, Alyssa could not disagree with that assessment. Recent events, like the general terror of a hallucination in Lamumba, and her prudish nature with regards to her boyfriend, left her wishing she could harness Biohazards confidence, even outside of her false persona. She begged Ari to practice control over her own powers, supplicating herself as she attempted to master her fear. But Alyssas Willpower is a terrible stat, and Ari just about broke her with the repeated images of her family, dead and violated, with no way to prevent it. In that moment, Ari took control and proved herself a potent force in Peppers mind.

Though Pepper experienced pure terror from Aris unbridled abilities, the end result was a similar situation to that of La Damas bloody display of power and authority. The terror of losing her family dwarfed any of Peppers other insecurities, and shes made an effort to overcome them all, spending time in Oblivion and getting over her sexual hang-ups with Half-Life. I havent had the chance to really interact with Ari since this scene, but that moment of her ordering Pepper to beglest she continue to inflict untold psychic damagestill lingers as such an intense moment that has me wanting more as a player. Aris story is SO interesting, and though Ive been more disconnected from the space storyline thus far, I can see myself getting invested once we have greater connections to the Yellow Lantern Corps, if only to further Aris storyline. For now though, shes just a great source of drama, and shes always great for putting PCs in their place, whether she means to or not.

Hint for #4: Has received a gift of some kind from Pepper.