FINNED: Meet the Normals--Meikle Martinez, Witch

Today, lovely readers, we meet our first Normal. Meikle Martinez is known for being very dark, unemotional, and quite intimidating. Try not to hide behind your coral couches, readers! Here we go…

Hi Meikle! I’m Clarissa Smoggrove, chief reporter for the #1 selling merperson magazine, Sandierays. Thank you for taking time to answer some burning questions for our curious readers!

Meikle [swinging her illustrious purple sequined bag]: We’ll see if you still thank me by the time we’re done.

Uh, right. [wipes brow]

Meikle: What is that thing? Looks like some sort of elongated hourglass that spits out…sandpaper?

Oh, it’s a Sandblastwriter. It transcribes everything we say—even my mental notes—and automatically sends it to my editor, so she can read it in real-time. She can even send her suggestions or questions. See this slot on the right side? If she wants to insert thoughts, small blue clouds will puff from there, transform into lips, and ask you questions. Don’t let it frighten you.

Meikle: Nothing frightens me.

Yes, well, shall we begin?

Meikle: Thought we already had.

[nervous laughter] So, when did you first realize you were different from other children?

Meikle: I was five. This little jerk named Tommy McMathers shoved me into a hornet’s nest behind the school playground. I turned the hornets into dragonflies…which mysteriously attached themselves to Tommy’s head and face. One even went up his hairy nostril. Did I mention he was deathly afraid of dragonflies?

Uh, no, you didn’t mention that. How did Tommy react?

Meikle: Oh, he screamed like a little girl. It was great.

Is that how the Imperia found out about you?

Meikle: Doubt it. Tommy was too afraid of me to tattle. Besides, according to Trey, the Imperia has some kind of early warning system. Basically, anyone who’s different is institution-bound.

Life in the institution must have been awful. Would you like to talk a little about your experience there?

Meikle: No.

Oh. Um. Maybe just a brief statement of your experience for our readers?

Meikle: Sucked.

Well…

Meikle: You did say ‘brief.’

I did, didn’t I? All right, then…can you tell us a little more about Madame Helena Hambourg? She’s the founder and principal of The Helena Hambourg House for Maladies, but she also heads up The Hoodoo Council, is that right?

Meikle [glaring murderously at the Sandblastwriter as a puff of blue smoke emerges and begins floating around her head]: Yep, she’s the head hag of both. Helena’s House of Hell was the first institution created for our kind. It filled to capacity pretty quickly as more and more kids emerged with unexplainable gifts. I think our government thought it was an anomaly at first—just a weird transmutation in a containable group that would go away with treatment. When our kind grew exponentially, the government crapped a brick house and opened lots of institutions. The Hoodoo Council oversees them all. What does this annoying thing want? It’s pissing me off. [gestures editor’s floating blue puff]

My editor would like to ask a question.

Meikle [tightly gripping her bag]: Then stop circling my head and ask the damn question.

Editor, in the form of blue puff lips: Does The Hoodoo Council hear every Normal transgression, or is there another deciding body?

Meikle [shaking head]: Didn’t I just basically answer that?! Your editor needs to be timelier in her inquisition. Uh, yeah, they preside over every Normal in every institution. Everything goes through them.

Helena Hambourg’s a pretty big deal in the movement against your kind, then.

Meikle: Ya think?

But she possesses powers as well and, I understand, uses them. Is that not a bit hypocritical on her part and that of your government?

Meikle [one corner of her mouth curling into the slightest of grins]: The world is full hypocrites and contradictions. But…one day, it will happen. One damn day…

What will happen one day?

Meikle: Tables will turn…and I’ll be doing the turning.

What are three words that best describe Madame Helena?

Meikle [grinning]: None are safe for your publication.

Next week: Meikle talks about being a witch!

NOTE: Once again, there are big gaps between paragraphs. NO CLUE how to fix it; they don't show at all in the preview or in the 'compose post' screen. :/ I'm so sorry about that. :/ Maybe it's how Meikle wants it to look, who knows?! lol