Aging is a weird thing all around. Alycia is (by fiat) 17, as Jason was. But 18 is going to come up some time this year (to the extent that we're kindasorta mirroring real time passage, not endlessly stretchable comic book time [which works much better in comics with adult characters because, as an adult, really things just kind of blur from year to year, other than birthdays, while kids have this "I am in the Xth grade" counter turning over year after year]). That instantly changes a bunch of responsibilities and rights. And if this really is the 2nd semester of the senior year (looks across the room at his own senior), there's a major life event coming up. At the same time, similar to what's noted above, Alycia is only 17 (or even 18). She's not going to be taken seriously, as a super-hero let alone as much anything else (and, as she's recounted, it was even worse when Dad was sending her out at 14-15 to run operations with mature mercs and mooks and assorted sociopaths). Indeed, for her, there's probably been reinforcement of "I need to come across as either a disturbingly stone-cold killer, or else a crazy young psychopath, or else the Smartest Person in the Room (-so-maybe-listen-to-me)." Aria and Summer both have a chance to actually change that in their lives, though not without cost both financial and personal cost. Unlike others, they have the opportunity (and so responsibility) to choose what age they see themselves as. They'll also potentially face -- if they are closeted -- the "immortals who must keep up a masquerade" trope, way down the line. I like your thoughts on traditions. One question I have is why those traditions would hew to human standards. To fit in, perhaps, but I suspect over time there would be more radical changes enabled by the choices they have.
