Bronwyn gave Kaoru a sympathetic smile, "I totally get it. I love my parents, but they make me nuts sometimes. They're big planners, and no matter that the plan they have for me would mean a really good life, it's not always what I want. Like I actually had to fight really hard to get them to go along with me spending a lot of time in the hamster wheel. They were really worried it'd take up all my time, and my grades would fall apart, or I'd be relying on athletics to take care of the rest of my life and all that, but it's worked out so far. And I kind of love it. Running and jumping and throwing are just some of the purest expressions of how to take everything you are, every part of your body, your mind, your will, everything, and unify it all to one purpose.
"It also helps that I'm pretty good at it; you know, it's a very positive feedback-loop." Her smile turned a little self-conscious. "Not that track & field is some religious experience for everyone, but everyone's gotta find their passion, right? I mean, look, you've got music, you've got a tree, you're obviously set, but is there something you want to do that isn't in your mom's plans? When my parents and me are butting heads, I always find it a lot easier to fight for something instead of against them, even if it's either fight or knuckle under. I dunno, I feel less like I'm abandoning them and being a bad daughter if I really do have a path that goes somewhere."
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hey there. Alexandra says, starting to lean against the tree, dark coat contrasting the snow around. Disarm them, make a joke. don't reveal how much you just heard. What's this about Rodents? Are we talking about pets?
You guys meet the new Nutter Teaching history? She asks, effortlessly climbing up to join them. He is a little... much for me, personally.
She could feel the mystery girl's eyes on her, staying far enough away that anyone with normal senses wouldn't have a clue that she was there. She'd followed her, then circled around as Shayera had sat waiting. Then it took longer than she'd expected for the girl's curiosity to override her caution. The place was set; the invitation obvious.
The package of tea striking her head was a surprise. She glances behind her to see the girl taking off in the opposite direction. Dang. I misread that. Hope I'm doing the right thing here.
Moving quickly, she grabs the package of tea but leaves the cups of hot water. A few glances tells her of the security cameras arrayed at the bus stop, the coffee shop, and a nearby dentist's office. She then moves quickly to the most likely blind spot and says, "揭示," while tapping her new and improved charm.
Her wings are back in reality and her qipao is in Otherspace, swapped with her usual action outfit of a black tank top and cargo pants. Her strappy heels are gone as well, with her usual heavy combat boots in their place.
She launches herself into the air and with a few strong beats is skimming over the decorative trees and low buildings of Northside.
Wingblade picks up the scent and is quickly able to put eyes on her target. The girl is moving fast, and if it weren't for her wings she wouldn't be able to keep up. But flight > feet, and soon she's overtaken the girl. She flies overhead past the girl by a few hundred feet and takes advantage of a blossoming tree to drop ahead of her out of sight.
She says, "偽裝," to her pendant and suddenly she's back in her qipao. She steps out to meet the running girl with a smile, holding out the bag of tea. "You dropped this. It's yours. I gave it to you."
Kaoru tenses a little when Bronwyn mentions music. How did she... Oh right, the headphones. That's what she's talking about. It was a good question though; what did she want?
She jumps slightly as Alexandra appears seemingly out of nowhere and her tree manages to get even smaller. It could be worse though; it could have been the angry Scotsman. Her voice returned to a more normal, flat tone. "Just trying to decide who is more likely to find their way out of a maze: a rat or Shaun the Scot. And yes, met the history teacher. He didn't really seem to do much my period. But I may not have been paying much attention. Heard from his son he's a hardass though. Obsessed with fascists or something. What he do your period? Anything interesting?"
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No bet. Fergus MacSheep-Shagger is at a terrible disadvantage. She says, giggling she pours more coffee, and twirls her pen.
he just kinda... went on. he sees history a little too Black and White, in my opinion. But we're covering the peloponnesian war, dude brought an honest to god Gladeus and hoplite shield as props. Never liked history. Was always my worst subject. She says
Yeah. Herman. real peice of work. definitely has powers. don't think he can fly, but he is probably invulnerable, and strong. Maybe eye beams too? or ice breath? Gods, super-powers are tricky. she mutters You follow Capes much? You should probably start in Halcyon. Want to know who, exactly, is flying over you. tells you when to dive for cover. She giggles again, the textbook halcyon collateral damage humour.
Kaoru straightens slightly, pleased that she managed to get a laugh out of the other girl. Wait, he brought weapons and armor to her class? No fair! "Sounds better than mine. I think we're doing WWII. Why do we need to hear propaganda about how terrible Hitler and the nazis were? If the Allies hadn't been pissed about the first war and demanded reparations, he never would have been able to rise to power in the first place." Wait, maybe she shouldn't have said that. Did that mean she knew too much about history? Alexandra had said she didn't like it (which really, was the only reasonable feeling to have about such a dry subject).
She turns sharply to Alexandra when she mentions the possibility of Herman having powers. "What? No way he has powers! He said..." She thought back. Technically he had just said he couldn't fly. That didn't actually mean he didn't have other powers. It was classic misdirection; she should have seen it. "...that he couldn't fly at least." The second half of the sentence sounded undeniably less certain that the first half.
She gives the other girl a dazed look as she talks about people flying overhead and diving over cover. Did she realize how insane she sounded? And she said it all like it was the most normal thing ever! "That doesn't actually happen does it? I mean, sure there are powered folk here. But you're not likely to actually run into them are you?" She really hoped the answer to that was 'No'. She wasn't ready to run into warriors of old or flying ninja lab experiments or super soldiers yet. She would probably never be ready.
Alexis never expected to the girl to chance up to her. It was a complete impossibility in her dress and heels that she would be able to race ahead of her. So when she stepped out in front of her a couple of blocks away from where she had last been seen, Alexis skidded to a halt, her eyes wide as saucers as she reflected on how this was possible.
When faced with impossibility, check:
Are your senses dulled, disorientated or not as precise as normal?
If so, you are dealing with a psychic or magician. Eliminate before you are further compromised. If not, move on to:
Have they moved in distances they should not have been able to cover without assistance?
If so, they have abilities such as teleportation, superspeed or flight. Neutralize the advantage by anchoring them with a standard issue dimension lock (Single Use Only), or if not teleportation, neutralize their movement by removing the source of their abilities. Then eliminate the threat. If not, move on-
The second one was most likely. Her senses were not marred in any capacity, so this wasn't an illusion. She came to the conclusion that this girl must have teleportation powers. It was a shame she no longer had a dimension lock, since most of her standard equipment broke in her escape. But she was certain she was dealing with someone with power. Judging by her looks, she seemed like some kind of sorceress. Alexis took a wary step back, feeling out her surroundings as she tuned out what Shayera was telling her.
No support. Long sight lines. She stepped closer towards the nearest cover, the tree that would have been pretty if her battle instincts weren't seeing it objectively. She needed to change the rules of the conflict. She's not threatening you. She could have a tactical team on standby, there were at least six good sniping positions from here, and the tree only blocked four of them. Stop panicking. You'll hurt her! She needed a weapon. Nothing but dirt and rocks. A rock would do, as she scooped up a jagged piece of granite, yanking it free from the dirt.
She shuddered, and tried to focus. Get out of this trance. Stop reacting and think. She stared at the girl, trembling all over. She barely noticed the rock she was holding crumbling in her grip until it burst into dust and pebbles. "Stay away!" She screamed, before flinging as much that was left at Shayera to obscure her vision, before bolting again.
She needed cover. But she'd also been tracked. Clothes? Tea? She was in such disarray that she barely registered that she ran into someone, as they were knocked down hard and cried out. She didn't look back as the man and his friends looked back at her, shouting angrily before a couple started running after her.
Alexis ducked into an alley, and leaped to the fire escape, climbing up as fast as she could. She could cut across the buildings this way. She couldn't go back to her camp until she knew she was no longer being followed.
And her stomach growled again. She was starving.
Bronwyn made a face, "If he brought a gladius to the Peloponnese than he's not as attentive to detail as I'd hope. I mean I guess a proper spear would be hard to maneuver around in the halls, but it's not like all swords are the same..."
Not quite as quickly as she would have preferred, Bronwyn realized that she was alone in her sword critique. Quickly she shifted gears to WWI
"There were definitely a lot of missed opportunities after WWI, but just because mercy would have produced better results doesn't mean that we shouldn't learn to recognize the monsters that exploited the aftermath."
"What? I like history."
"And I wouldn't worry too much about powered people. It's kind of like listening out for a tornado siren, or getting alerts about earthquakes, if you pay attention, you'll be fine. Just make sure-"
"Okay, gotta run." She smiled at her own joke. "Call or Snap me later if you want, okay Kaoru? I insist that you have at least a few people in this zip code to talk to. Catch you later Alexandra."
This could hurt a bit, Shayera thinks as the girl pulls a big chunk of granite out of the ground and threatens her with it. She stays still, however, determined not to make a threatening move at this point. The girl still seemed more scared than aggressive, so Shayera wasn't going to tilt that balance the wrong way.
Unfortunately, her pacifist efforts were not getting her anywhere.
With the granite reduced to rubble in the girl's trembling hands, the shower of stones wasn't much of a deterrent though it did succeed in putting some awful tears in her pretty qipao.
"Dammit," she mutters as the girl then bowls over a random bystander. I'm going to have to get more aggressive.
She again activates the magic of her pendant and takes flight once more. The girl ducks down an alley, so Wingblade angles her trajectory to skim along the rooftops. Catching sight of the top of the fire escape rattling hard like someone was climbing it, she drops out of the sky and switches back to the qipao.
"Will you just stop for a moment?" she says as soon as the girl's head appears up the fire escape. Shayera holds her arms out wide while studying the panicked girl.
Eh. I wouldn't call it propaganda. but I did think we skated over WWI, and kinda spent a little too long on WWII. but, well, that was a pretty formative time for society... eh, whatever. I'm done with that class. she says
I've lived in Halcyon my whole life. it's not as hard as you'd think to spot a cape. They have a way they move. tends to correspond with their powers. hard to explain. but dude is packing. he is Ms. Fantastic's Kid, after all. treading close to oversharing, ease off.
well, 2 months ago, a bunch of goblins and robots duked it out in halcyon centre. and two nights before that, a lava monster and giant robot had a Brawl. all because the D&D club over at the Eldritch School of Magical Learning happened to leave some of their "High Immersion" game kits where their kid brothers could use them, without knowing the safe way to. Super stuff happens. you roll with it.
Kaoru blinks at the sword commentary. Sure, she liked swords (she had probably read a bit too much Rurouni Kenshin not to), but why would a track person not only be interested in them but know that level of detail? She didn't have time to contemplate as the girl quickly shifted gears to more modern times. "Is there going to be a test on this later? Or do you just want an essay on the pros and cons of showing mercy to your enemies?"
She then watches as the athlete is summoned back to practice and goes running off. "I think this is where I'm supposed to shout after her 'Wait, just make sure what?'" I wonder if she realizes she didn't actually give me her phone number...
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”What...fightin’ style?” Herman’s response blindsided Shaun. EVERYBODY he had talked to about the hero thing had asked about what powers he had, and when he told them he didn’t have any, they always told he was some version of stupid, rash, or crazy. But here, right in friggin’ front of him, a super-powered great-grandson of one of his personal heroes was 100% cool with him being powerless. More than that, he was interested! ”Uh, Judo an’ SBS CQC mostly, bu’I focus’d on swordplay, like...”, he briefly extends his hands about 4 feet apart, ”...SWORD play.” Even as he kept talking, Shaun kept thinking back to the moment just before, where, for the first time, someone actually didn’t care about his powerless-ness. ”Hey, uh, would ya’mind givin’ me ya’ number? You can have mind to o’course!”
Kaoru tilts her head and Alexandra talks about spotting capes. People didn't actually pay that much attention to others, did they? The thought made her uncomfortable.
She tries not to freak out too much as the other girl nonchalantly talks about crazy events that happened only a few months ago. It's just like a tornado siren. Hear it and run in the other direction. Unless the rest of Bronwyn's sentence had been to definitely not run in the other direction? But still, the mention of 'high immersion kits' catches her attention. She briefly wondered where on the dark web she'd have to look to acquire such a thing before discarding the thought. No way would she have the cash to pay for such a thing. Though she could probably rob a bank. If Delphi wasn't paying too much attention. Which probably meant in a few months when hopefully the hacker had lost whatever weird obsession with ruining her life they had.
I am gone for just a few hours, and not only do all of you post right then, but y’also start raggin’ on my boy. >:/ (jk love this so far)
"Yeah, of course!" Herman hands Shaun his phone. "Sweet! Swords rule. You should see my Dad's katana. He says he got it in another dimension but he says weird shit when he's stoned."
Alexandra watches Kaoru's face go through a number of subtle emotions. Alexandra worries she might have scared him.. well, scared too much. gotta put him at ease. soemthing Low-key...
You hungry? I know a nice little cheap diner not too far from here. could dodge your mom a little longer. She smiles at him, eyes piercing his.
Kaoru flinches slightly. Fk, she heard that? How long had she been standing there? Her mind quickly tried to retrace what exactly she had said to Bronwyn. She was pretty sure it wasn't anything too bad. Or revealing. It probably came off too needy for approval though. Fkkkkkkkk. She glances at the other girl and gets pinned by her intense stare. She forces herself to break eye contact, insides a twisted mass of nervous emotions. "Yeah, I guess I could eat. Food any good?" Her leg had stopped tingling painfully anyway. And she did have a point about dodging her mom.
Alexis was sure Shayera had been on the ground when she'd started her climb. Seeing her on the roof was causing her much more alarm and distress. It was now official to her that she wasn't going to escape as long as her pursuer wasn't stopped first.
She didn't want to hurt her. She was pretty and nice. But she could be with them. She might have fallen for a trap. Why else would she be chasing her so far? She been tricked, tearing up as her fists balled up.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE NICE!" She shouts in a very confusing statement, especially as she launches herself straight at Shayera. She practically flies up over her, before coming down like a missile straight at her.
She lands heavily. So hard that the roof buckles and cracks and all of a sudden collapses, dropping both of them into a thankfully empty dance studio.
She rolls out of the dust and looks around in a blind panic. She'd screwed up. This was too loud. She might even be dead! "Extraction...need to extract..." She muttered to herself as she tries to find a way out of the studio. She doesn't want to search the rubble and see what her panic did to Shayera.
She deserved to be hungry.
it's not gourmet, but the burgers are good, the shakes are cold, the fries are crispy. Alexandra says
Do you have a car? She asks
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”Oh dude, if y’can swin’ it I GOTTA meet ya’ fam’ly! Espec’lly ya gran’mam!” After trading numbers, the school bell rings. ”Ah, sorry dude, hate ta’ run, but I got...lit cross ta way. Talk later!” With that, still buzzing from Herman’s (unintentional?) compliment, Shaun jogs off.
- - -
”71...72...73...74...”
The street lights bellow buzzed on as Shaun finished up his pre-“game” workout. Currently, that mean 200 push-ups.
”...81...82...83...84...”
He’d chosen a spot on top of a building near the school. As much as he hated to admit it, the area around the damn place was good for patrols. Lots of different spaces and alleyways, lots of good rooftop positions.
He wasn’t in full hero garb yet. He had taken off his hat, jacket, and shirt (Yikes! Hello east coast cold!) for the workout, but everything to be put on was still sitting in the Kit nearby, rested on an AC unit.
”...95...96...97...98...99...100...”
Thump!
He paused. What was that?
”Will you just stop for a moment?”
Shaun peaked his head around the corner of the AC unit, just in time to see homeless girl come plumMETING FROM THE SKY!?!?!
”I THOUGHT YOU WERE NICE!”
Shaun’s jaw dropped. ”OH FU-!!!” He just managed to grab the case before everything fell away.
"I'm not here to--" Shayera starts, but is cut off as the girl launches herself at her.
She was fast. Wingblade might have been able to dodge had she not switched back to the qipao, but as it was her heels and dress were not meant for high-stakes combat. She took the full brunt of the attack which carried them both through the ceiling, through the attic and into the bottom floor.
I'm really messing this up. But she is TOUGH.
Coughing, Shayera pushes herself up off the piece of crimson metal protruding from her midsection. "I hate rebar," she mutters as she holds her side to keep the blood loss at a minimum while her insides stitch back together. "揭示," she says to her pendant, but nothing happens.
She looks down at the pendant with a big scratch across the main Chinese symbol. "Damn. Stupid magic charm." But before she can do anything else, she hears crashing and the girl saying something about "extraction," then she sees her and a civilian. She picks up a weapon-sized piece of debris and pops her neck. Her heels were gone in the fall and her dress was in tatters anyway.
"Okay. My turn."
"I...no." Her old town was small enough that you never really needed a car, so she had never bothered to ask for one. Or to even bother learning to drive. On the few occasions it was warranted, Chloe had always driven them about. And then later Jack, though she suspected it was more because he was trying to show off his car than because they really needed to. "Do you want me to call a ride?" She started to pull out her phone to download and open some ride-sharing app. How far away was this place? I guess 'close' probably means something different in a large city than what I'm used to.
Geometry was ...geometry. Herman could hear his mom, though. "Throwing a semi ain't worth much if you got no idea what your angle is." So he took notes. The highlander seemed nice. Took guts to go out there with no powers, like Dad and great grandpa. But eventually the school day was over. His father was grumbling about having spaced out and bringing the wrong ancient weapon for a lesson, but seemed enthused enough. He asked after Herman's day and he reported the highlights, including the young swordsman.
"Ready go home, son? Or you wanna explore. Best thing to do in a new city-"
"Is to walk around. So, yeah, I think I will."
Herman walked up and down and around and about and frankly wasn't impressed. Sure, Halcyon was cleaner than home, but that wasn't exactly a priority of his. Food was, though. Another of his Dad's favorite tips about new places was "find a greasy diner and enjoy." So he googled and found one not too far away.
Alexis only got a small hint before whirling around, shocked first to see that Shayera was alive. Second to see a bit of steel rebar being swung out at her. She felt it connect, felt her flesh tear and blood flow as a nasty gash appeared across her cheek. She stared back at the girl she'd thought of as a princess, terrified even as her flesh started to stitch itself back together slowly from the blow.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE NICE!" She screamed again, attacking wildly, her blows sloppy enough for someone of her level to block. Which was good, since those attacks all had enough force to bend the steel she was holding and rattle her body. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
A part of her wallowed in misery. Of course this happened, because she deserved it all. She abandoned everything she knew. Everyone she knew. Misery was all that she deserved.
Wasn't this her fault, though?
She stumbled and rushed right past Shayera, slamming into the full mirror that cracked and showered her with glass bits and shards. The bleeding cuts she got from them healed up within seconds. She knew her clothes were ruined. She was making things worse. She didn't know what else to do. Her fists lowered to her sides, hope broken in her.
"I won't go back with you. Never again." She told her, before picking up a long piece of mirror in her hand. "You'll just take me back if I die again. I can't let you do that," She said, eyes glancing over and seeing someone else in the dust and debris. "Why couldn't you have just been a dream?" She begged. "Why did you have to come after me?"
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Shayera was getting exasperated, but the bit of no-holds-barred combat was cathartic. She felt better, working out her anger, though she still wasn't sure how to get through to this girl that she wasn't her enemy.
Half of what she yelled at her made no sense (or, she hated to admit, made too much sense), but the question about why she came after her was clear enough.
"Because I wanted to have tea with you!!" she yells back. She throws her weapon on the floor panting. "I'm not taking you anywhere. Nowhere you don't want to go, at least."
She reaches down and pulls a jagged piece of metal from her foot that she'd stepped on during the fight. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I scared you. I thought... I thought you might like a tea party. I never had one growing up. Something tells me... you haven't either."
A sudden stabbing pain reflected into Bronwyn's side, so she peeled off from the track for a quick moment to catch her breath.
Okay - Ow! That wasn't like, train bad, but clearly the something that came up isn't going like she planned.
Cautiously she reached up to her ear and tapped twice. "Hey, you okay over there?"
Alexis finally took the time to look and really observe. Her dress was ruined (Her Fault), this space was smashed up (Her Fault), she'd caused pain and chaos (Her Fault), and she'd misunderstood Shayera's intentions (Her Fault).
"This is all my fault," She said, observing also the fact that this girl who'd she had been fascinated by was shockingly healing at a pace not unlike her own. "I don't recognize you. But...you're Triakosia?" She asked, using an unfamiliar word. She winces and hunched over, her stomach pains great now. It was always bad for her when she hadn't eaten in a while and had to heal. Her body needed a lot to maintain itself.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought you were going to take me back," She cried, cradling her head in her arms and curling into a ball on the floor. "I wanted you to smile at me more. But I was scared and I screwed it up and I ruined your dress and I deserve to starve in a hole. Stupid Alexis. You're so stupid," She berated herself.
Shaun opened his eyes. By some miracle, he wasn't dead.
"NICE...LEAVE...just take me...Why did you have..."
"Sit up soldier!" He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and senses. Surprisingly, he didn't feel nearly as worse for wear as the last time he'd fallen off a building...well, technically into a building this time. He slowly sat up, a shower of dust and rubble falling off of him. The creaking beneath him queued him into how he had survived: the AC unit. It'd acted (somehow) like a cushion for his fall. A cushion that had completely bruised his back and tore a stitch back open, but that wasn't anything new.
"Because I wanted to have tea with you!!"
He snapped out of his stupor. Two girls, one in a kimono who was currently talking about a tea party (The hell?) and ripping a chunk of rebar from her foot (THE F*+$?), and the one from before, the homeless stalker, who was currently wielding a shard of glass.
"Stop dawdling! Find the most dangerous foe, and neutralize it!" The homeless stalker had just busted through a ceiling (with her F&#+ING FISTS!?!) and was the only one with a weapon. Correction, the only other person with a weapon.
With a semi-painful kip, Shaun was back on his feet. "Yo Chinatown! I'don'know who ya are, but ge'outta here! Now!" Blood leaking from his side, he reached down into the dust and grabbed the Kit. No time to change, just armed. The quick-release wasn't a pretty trick, it basically just dis-assembled the Kit and let it fall apart, but it did leave him with one important thing in his hands: a 3-foot-blade claymore made of a high-density carbon core and ceramic steel blade, one of grandpa's last gifts to Shaun.
"I've got this."
EDIT:
The civilian -- Omigosh! The lumberjack! He's some Scottish sword-guy! -- appears wielding a huge claymore and stepping into the fray.
"No, dammit! She's--" Shayera starts, then interposes herself physically between the two.
Thankfully, that throws off the Scotsman's swing and no one is hurt. Well, any more than what they've already been.
”SSSSSSSSHIT!” With a scatter of rubble skidding under his boots, Shaun comes to a stop, just barely managing to bury his blade in the dirt. ”WHAT THE F@$& ARE YOU DOING?!?! Get out of ta’...way?” He looks back at the homeless stalker, now crumpled on the ground. The tension releases from his shoulders somewhat. ”Uh...what?”
The dirty, bloody half-Chinese girl in the tattered dress folds her arms and glowers at the broad-chested youth with the giant sword. Though she has to look up at him and is barely a third of his weight, she doesn't appear cowed at all.
"It's in hand. Thank you for your service, but please be aware that it's illegal in Halcyon to commit acts of vigilantism. You can go, now."
She starts to turn around to tend to the crying girl, but pauses. "Oh, and you should say, 'Miss' or 'Ma'am.' Not 'Chinatown.'"
Alexis was muttering to herself, the glass knife in one hand. "So stupid. So stupid!" She hissed, not even paying attention to the large man with his claymore. "Made it all worse. Made everything worse for everyone. Should have left it a dream. Dreams can't hurt you if they don't come true," She whispers, clutching onto her head. The glass is sawing against her scalp as she rocks back and forth, the cuts healing and opening back up again in rapid succession.
Shaun blinks a few times. ”It’s also pretty f~%+in’ illegal ta’ do mass property damage, doll. And also, WHO TA’ F#$* ARE YOU!?”
The girl turns back around and faces him again. "Someone whose bad side you do not want to be on." Gritting her teeth, she lowers her voice. "Look at her. She doesn't need a sword, she needs a friend. Now GO."
Shayera spins back around and tries to coax Alexis' attention while whispering to keep the Scottish guy out of the conversation. "You're not-- you're not stupid. Certainly not any dumber than me. Look how bad I messed up. I was trying to be nice and I made you think I was... what'd you say? Traiksa? Trakosia?"
"Shayera? Sweetie I know something just stabbed you; you've gotta answer."
”F%#&in’ hell! I’m jus’mindin’ my own business, get dropped into a f@&!in’ disco club outta nowhere, an’ that apparently makes ME ta’ bad guy!” With a half-defeated, half-angry thrust, he plants his blade in the floor and takes a shaky seat next to it. ”Oh, an’ta’ sweeten ta’ deal, I was tryin’ ta’ be NICE ta’ little miss KNETIC MISSILE here! I spotted her in school and tried ta’ be friendly but NOOOOOOO, ‘cus as we’ve f*!&in’ figured out, I’M THE BAD GUY HERE! F#*@!” With a weak flop he goes flat on his back, trying to get the last of the room to stop spinning.
Shayera pinches her brow -- an affectation of Whippoorwill's she'd picked up -- as the Scot ranted behind her. Alexis is on a thread, I can't soothe them both, what do I--?
The beeping in her ear finally catches her attention and gives her an idea. She taps the device three times and whispers, "I could use some help."
"You don't know. You don't want to know. I broke this place." She lifts her head, and Shayera can see her scalp stretch out briefly before it stitches itself back together. She looks behind at the shattered reflection, the monstrous visage she sees awful and condemning. There is the sound of sirens outside, as people are starting to investigate the commotion on the rooftop. "If I'm taken, they'll find me. Everyone will die. I don't want anyone to die anymore." She drops the knife, and notes how ruined her own borrowed outfit was right now. It was another twist of a knife for her.
She seemed to be more coherent now, looking at Shayera. "I have to go. Please don't follow me. I'm so sorry for everything. I ruined it all. I wish you were just a dream," She says sadly. She looks at the odd man with the sword yelling and complaining. She bristles slightly as she stares at him, but notes his odd, rather huge sword. Forgetting the need to rush away, she walks over and grabs the handle. Despite it being absurdly long and heavy, she easily plucks it out of the ground with one hand.
"...You've never killed with this. I hope you never have to," She tells him sadly, sticking it back where he'd put it and heading towards the window.
Shayera felt a whirling storm of emotions and a strange sense of deja vu. The overwhelming familiarity of this scenario and the strange role-reversal of her and what Whippoorwill had to have gone through dealing with her in those early days felt incredibly surreal.
She takes a single step closer and offers her blood-streaked hand. "Please wait. Please. I think I'm a lot like you. Or I was. I was made to be a weapon and to kill for bad people. I escaped, like you did.
"But I didn't do it alone. I had people to help me. I think you want that. You don't have to be alone."
Oh. Oh jeez. I thought she was just going to tell me it was fine!
"Got an address?"
A quick turn around a nearby bush, and Bronwyn was gone, legs flashing in what wasn't quite a full on sprint for her. Okay, I'll have to take a bit of a windy route there, but as long as I don't stay in anyone's line of sight for more than a block, no one sees me sprint for too long.
Then she found out Shayera was only a few blocks from school.
Oh. Really could have transformed to Bran earlier.
She ducked down an alley, already reaching for the toothpick-sized spear that hung from a bracelet on her wrist.
Her words barely register to Shaun. ”Don’t...touch...my sword...oh god I’m gonna spew...!”
"Oh, just everyone--" Shayera tries to keep the powder keg from going off.
"Bran? Code White."
What emerged was a towering figure in gleaming armor, almost half again the height of anyone else on the street, with a much, much larger incarnation of his dread spear to hand.
The dust rising from the dance studio gave Bran a strong suggestion of where to arrive, but Shayera hadn't been able to tell her everything that was going on.
Okay, Code White, the building doesn't need a new hole, but if she asked for help... well I'm not going to waste time climbing up to the hole in the ceiling so- wait, who the heck is that?
The window was small and raised, designed to make it harder for any burglars to get in unless they were quite physically able and small. Bran would never have been able to get in. However, he could look straight into it, where he saw a tattered, bloody looking girl about to wriggle through it. But as he looked more closely he saw an all too familiar sight: blood, but no wounds.
She's like Shayera.
"Hello," he rumbled, the bass of his voice echoing out his greathelm, "Are you who I am here to help?"
Shayera quickly jumps up and waves. "Everyone's fine! Slight misunderstanding, but everyone's great! Captain Scotland, meet a legendary Welsh warrior of old! See? I think you're a good guy! I'm sure you two'll get along famously!"
She gives Bran a wink and then refocuses on trying to keep Alexis talking with her.
”Name’s The Kilt, and what?” Shaun lifts only his head, finding the armored face of a giant staring back at him. ”...I’m done. I’m f!&%in’ done. This day is a f+#*in’ disaster, and I’m losin’ it. I’m done.”
She wanted to believe it. There was a solution here, and she only needed to hold out her hand and take it to solve all of her problems. She was going to be rescued by a prince, like the princesses in the storybooks she loved, not just for the simple words but bright and happy pictures. She struggled to calm down, to let her hunger pangs subside. Shayera didn't seem to be lying to her.
"If I'm alone, then when they find me no one else will get hurt. If you escaped, would you really risk having to go back? They'll make sure I can't run away if I'm caught again. They'll do the same to you. You have a life now. I don't want to tear away what you've gotten-"
Then a terrifying giant knight, like the evil one that kidnapped princesses in her storybook, with a vicious looking spear appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Alexis stared and gaped and panicked. Was this a trick? But Shayera seemed to know them. Not an enemy, then? That was probably a good thing.
"...I...will stay. I don't want to hurt you. You'll keep chasing me if I run," She concludes. "...I ruined this place. And the mirror. I'm sorry. I do that a lot."
Why aren't her wings out? Oh. Oh damn. The enchantment is stuck. We've got a little time before the SCA shows, but without her wings, it'll be harder to explain that she's Wingblade. Those thugs don't always stop to ask questions.
Oh, and of course that's Shaun. No wonder his rib was cracked.
"I am glad to hear that you will not run. We seek no violence here, and we will not permit you to come to harm unduly. Either of you. I am Bran the Blessed, and - A moment, Kilt. Should you not be wearing your namesake?"
”Well I would be, if I hadn’t been given neg’tive 7 seconds ta’ get ready. I was in ta’ middle of my warm-up f’f+!~’s sake!” He pauses, then sits bolt upright. ”OH SHIT, MY STUFF!” Scambling on all fours he starts going over the rubble. ”Nononononono no no no! Shit! I had my gran’da’s cap! F!!#, where’d it go?!” With a clatter he stacks the pieces of the Kit into a pile. ”Least this is all still here...”
Then, out of nowhere, a chill runs down his spine. He freezes, body still but eyes darting around wildly. What the f*!+!? What was that!?
@Bran: Your magic sense suddenly pings. Not for long, it disappears within a second, but was potent, and localized on the other side of the rubble.
With a rustle of metal on metal, Bran's attention suddenly becomes deadly focused.
Okay, don't call her Shayera, but should you call her Wingblade? She doesn't have them out. Just skip it "Is there anything here that must be guarded aside from our new acquaintances? Time is not our ally this day, but we have gained the interest of something arcane. We should quit this place soon, if we may."
Cassie had been just left her meeting in the school's music department. She'd managed to organize bass guitar lessons, and was carrying a temporary loan instrument as she headed towards the bus stop. The day had been fairly uneventful. There was always the risk, living in Halcyon city, that supers would, somehow, intrude on everyday life, but she'd seen no sign of anything strange, which was a relief. Anything super-, meta- or , extra-natural could draw Circe's attention, and so, was best avoided.
Cassie's thoughts were interrupted by a tingling surge of magical energy from a nearby building. Something, or someone had used mystical energy nearby. Hesitating for a moment, Cassie considered ignoring the spike in magical power. Curiosity piqued, however, she began walking around the block where she'd sensed the magical energy. Doing her best to appear to be nothing more than just another student.