Talakat

[Tychomonger]

How does it feel to be immortalized as a maverick nanotech genius, Alikat?

[Alikat]

How does it feel to be immortalized as a maverick nanotech genius, Alikat?

Eh?

[Tychomonger]

Tala sounds like she's inspired by you. I didn't get it 'till the recent authorial self insertion.

[Anna]

Well, if even the "Fab Four" are mentioned in the last chapter..., by the real names...
...why shouldn't they "invite" a friend of the family to join the adventure?

Take it with pride, Alikat/Talakat.

[Alikat]

No, Tala is a real person, an old friend of their family. I'm certain that's who they based this character on.

[Thilia]

No, Tala is a real person, an old friend of their family. I'm certain that's who they based this character on.

I'm not dissin' Alikat when I say that Tala is truly a memorable character who is a real person. Although not exactly like the living, breathing Tala, our Tala has many of her characteristics. Believe me, the original Tala is somebody who most people would never believe existed if they hadn't met her. When she walks into a room, she fills the place with her own power.

Mere mortals like myself and Alikat are far more believable to the average person than the original Tala. You have my word on that. And this is not to say that Alikat or I would not be interesting to meet, as we surely are. It's just that there are a few people loose on the planet who are truly, terrifyingly amazing; and that's Tala, fershure.


-The Other Thilia

[Tychomonger]

Ah, well color me wrong.

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

This is taken from my Transition autobiography http://transsexual.org/mystory.html on my TS site. This is how I met the real Tala that the Tala in Ishtar is based on. To understand one statement in the following, you might need to know that I had just escaped death at the hands of my drug-crazed father, who had moments ago put a gun to my head and nearly blown my skull into fragments. The only thing that saved me was the timely arrival of Sandi, who took me home with her, where she was staying with Tala. We continue just after my narrow escape from being murdered:

My new home was in East Palo Alto. Sandi was staying with a friend, Tala, who had taken her in. Sandi had had a difficult time of things, and was fortunate to have found someone in the bay area to provide her with shelter and emotional support. Tala lived with her lover at the time, Ginna, and my introduction to their home was rather interesting.

My first meeting with Tala and Ginna was also a deliberate character test. As I entered their home, my first image of them was one of two women engaging in something I could just interpret must be some form of sex. Tala had her arm all but up to the elbow inside Ginna, and used the other one to wave to me from the fairly spacious living room floor. This was fine, I really did not expect, nor particularly desire, a handshake.

I was utterly nonplussed. I think the reader will completely understand this. At this point there was little that could shock me, and I was beyond any capacity for surprise. I waved back, as merrily as I could, and did a little half-bow to Ginna. They welcomed me to their home. I said thank you very much, I appreciated their kindness. I smiled. They smiled. They returned to imitating a piston. I followed Sandi to her room.

Tala’s household was a very comfortable place. Ginna, originally from the south, was a wonderful cook, And I tasted my first hush puppies...though I must admit that grits were not to my liking. Ginna was always making delicious treats. She also was very fussy about cleaning, which was not a bad character trait for a surgical anesthetist.

Tala worked in a machine shop. She and Ginna were highly intelligent, and exceptionally well read. They had strong political and social views, and my evenings were filled with fascinating intellectual debate. They expanded my concepts of the world, and helped me overcome much of my remaining narrowness.

One thing I didn't mention in the above is that when I first saw Tala, I thought she was an amputee, that she had only one arm. In the first few seconds, my brain could not process what I was seeing, which is to say, extreme fisting. I briefly thought that a naked woman with one arm was lying on the floor with another woman. Then it gradually dawned on me that her arm was not missing at all. Ginna, unlike myself, knew exactly where Tala's arm was.

At that young age, had I not just nearly had my head blown apart, I cannot imagine that my nonplussed attitude would have been possible. That is a hell of a thing to see for a very uptight, sheltered little girl to stumble across when first entering a house.

To understand Tala, you need to know that she and Ginna set that up deliberately, I later found. It was a test to see if I was going to fit in there. It was planned.

My shock-spawned indifference is the only reason I passed, at the time.

[Alikat]

I'm grateful to Tala and Ginna for taking Jennifer in when she needed it, but otherwise am not a big fan. Tala teaches classes near here in various types of mindfuckery involving BDSM, such as a BDSM hypnosis class, and I'm interested in the subjects, but don't want to spend any time in a room with her.

[Thilia]

Tala teaches classes near here in various types of mindfuckery involving BDSM, such as a BDSM hypnosis class, and I'm interested in the subjects, but don't want to spend any time in a room with her.

She just wants you to 'open up' a little!


-Thilia

[Pharmakeus Ubik]

Alikat is already so open, she's like unto an trombone, topologically.

Tala teaches classes near here in various types of mindfuckery involving BDSM, such as a BDSM hypnosis class, and I'm interested in the subjects, but don't want to spend any time in a room with her.

She just wants you to 'open up' a little!

[Alikat]

A RUSTY Trombone!!!

[Pharmakeus Ubik]

That's because you lack a proper spit valve, making due with only a drool cup.

A RUSTY Trombone!!!