Masks: A New Generation of Heroes

Game Master Cwethan

"No, that bit comes next," Cassie replies to Alexis' mention of dew on flowers. "The questions help me know what I need." Head down, she scribbles in her notebook. OK, so I shouldn't be surprised at yours Shay," says Cassie, Lots of air. You should avoid carbonated drinks - just kidding, it doesn't work like that. And we're up high so, that's more air.. so very, very sanguine - blood's easiest for that. Just a drop, and its all about the mouth and breath so,... uhh, awkward... Ummm, I'm going to have to kiss you. Nothing weird, I promise. And for you Alexis" she says, turning to the other girl. "You're more choleric, which is not a huge surprise, although.. a bit melancholic which is earth. Still air in there because of the location though, so,.. alcohol will work Scotch is perfect, and, ummm. I'll have to pinch you.. doesn't have to be too hard. Just enough to hurt a little bit. Is that OK with you both?

Shayera is wide-eyed and attentive as Cassie explains what has to be done next. She doesn't react with any reluctance or surprise at what's being asked of her. She simply pays attention as if Cassie were explaining how one would bake a favorite cake recipe and was interested in seeing the results.

"Blood. That's fine. How much do you need?" She holds out her arm and poises an edged metallic feather over the bare skin.

Alexandra stalls a little, as Kaoru takes her bait, and... offers to let her meet his mom. Umm... Why not. she'll likely have to meet me eventually. I'm not to indecent. she ofers, Glad she won't have to subject Kaoru to Dad and Gill.

Is there... like... Anything I should know, or not say, or... She says, now taking Kaoru's hand as they were out of sight of the others.

Another hacker... pimped out? Who? I could...Like, help you find them, put the hurt on them if they don't back the f@!+ off. she says You shouldn't have to do this if you want a normal life. She says, trying not to think about the flashing Hypocrite sign overhead.

Kaoru snorts, "As long as you get good grades, I'm not sure she'd really care if you were indecent. Though then you'd have to endure pointed remarks about how 'young ladies should present themselves to get ahead in the world' or comments about how it'd look to college admissions boards."

She pauses at Alexandra's next question. Both because she had only ever worried about what her mom would say to other people and never the other way around and because she now had a distractingly warm hand holding hers. She spoke slowly. "She...doesn't know that most people think I'm a guy here. I mean, she's seen how I've been dressing and all. But in her mind, I'm still...the person I was back in Sioux Falls. And she doesn't know about some of the extracurriculars I've been participating in."

Kaoru smiled at Alexandra, squeezing her hand lightly as she offers to help deal with Delphi. Her eyes sparkle slightly as she responds, "Oh, been brushing up on your IP tracking? Read a book or two about spoofing, so it can't be traced back to you?" She shakes her head, face taking on an expression suggesting a foul taste in her mouth. "Naw, Delphi's...good. Way better than me. Better even than this other hacker friend of mine, I guess. I know literally nothing about them. No real name, not their sex, not even what country they live in though they're fluent in English, not that that means too much." She pauses. "Though the handle is kinda girly, so they may be a she."

Their lyft pulled up, and Kaoru opened the back door to let Alexandra in first. Not sure if you had more you wanted Kaoru and Alexandra to talk about on the ride over or if you just want to skip to Kaoru's house.

He goes quiet for a moment. "...I was ta' biggest problem in ta' team meetin', wasn't I? F'all my talk about Kaoru bein' a dick, I was ta' one who made everybody mad." He shoots Bronwyn a sad, crooked smile. "Ye' can be honest. I've been called worse than a pain in ta' ass."

"I think the real biggest problem is that not everyone trusts each other yet. But I do think that you're not great at reserving judgment before you're certain, and that makes you jump in whenever you see something you don't like.

"That's fine when you're working alone; you have no one else's judgment to trust then. But when your team isn't jumping in yet, you've gotta think through whether you've noticed something that everyone else is blind to, or if they might know something you don't. You've gotta trust that sometimes you're in the wrong.

"Like with Kaoru. I don't know what's going on with him, but you know there's something there, right? But as much as he'd tell you otherwise, you only have to look at what he's done whenever people are in danger to see that we can trust him. Not trust him to do whatever I might want him to, but we can trust him to help when people are in trouble." She gave Shaun a teasing smile, [b]"Just like I can trust you with the important stuff, but you're not getting any 'you're the only one who knows this' secrets from me."

Shaun sighs. ”I hear ya’, but...I guess I just got so used ta’ everybody tellin’ me I was wrong about everythin’, I just got more n’ more...stubborn.” He rolls his eyes. ”It’s funny. I always saw myself leadin’ a team of my own someday. Never really gave any thought ta’ how I’d get one, let alone get one ta’ like me.”

”Hell yes I know there’s somethin’ up with him. Bastard tries ta’ act like he doesn’t care, then he goes n’ dresses me down f’takin’ a damn second ta’ change into my uniform, meanwhile he’s clearly spent God knows how many hours tryin’ ta’-!” He cuts himself off mid-approaching rant. ”Oh God damnit! Ugh! What is it about that guy that gets under my skin so bad?” He rubs his brow as the hangover starts to slowly make its dreaded return. ”...do ye’ really think we can trust him? If it came down ta’ us or his safety, can ye’ really say he’d choose us?”

He looks away guiltily when Bronwyn mentions secrets. ”I’m sorry, again, about that. I was just...off-it.” He sighs again. ”Guess I’m better at keepin’ my own secrets than other’s...” His hands start running over his neck again, seemingly searching for something that isn’t there.

Alexis nods, though a lot of what Cassie is saying goes over her head, as flowery as the language of Shakespeare. "I'm okay with pinching. Needles don't bother me anymore," She says to her. "But, um, how come she gets a kiss and I don't?" She asked. It was a little unfair, since Cassie was really pretty.

"Not your blood," Cassie said, with a grimace, "Mine.” But its just a drop so not too bad. At Alexis' question she paused, looking at her for a moment, as if considering something. "Well, like I said, its all really complicated, but... Well," she turned her notebook so that Alexis could see the strange symbols and squiggles, pointing to various shapes as she explained. "So this is Shay's, OK? See how all these symbols are bunched up in the circle? That's because she's, like all about air, there's not a lot of other stuff there,.. and air is related to blood and passion and pleasure, that kind've thing. I don't know why. And all of that's exaggerated because of where we are,.. in her home, her place. And all of that means that a kiss or, well more than that, is the best way of forming a connection between us."

She flipped over the page. "OK, see how this one is different? The symbols are more spread out, so some are here in the top left and others are down here? So that's 'cholor' and 'melancholy' - They don't necessarily mean what you might think though. Anyway, cholor is more,... painful? I could slap you instead? And whiskey (its for me) is a mix between air - the alcohol, because of where we are but its tinged with earth because of the grains that go into it. Its really a lot more complicated than that, but that's the gist. Do you want to go first?"

OK then," Cassie had Alexis to sit in front of her on the floor so that they were facing each other and placed the scotch and her charm on the floor between them. Reaching forward, she took Alexis' hands in hers "So, you should listen to this too Shay. Whilst I'm doing this you need to look at me, OK? But, like not at me all at once but sort of bit by bit. So concentrate on just my eyes, then just my nose, just my mouth and so on,.. not just my face but, you know, all over. It'll be done when I pinch you. When I do that, you need to concentrate on the feeling, OK?"

Cassie waited for Alexis to indicate that she's ready, took a sip of scotch, and then closed her eyes.

"Μαύρη χολή, κίτρινη χολή, φλέγμα.
Απελευθερώθηκε και με πόνο.
Βλέπεις για τον εαυτό μου."

Pierce the Mask (Alexis): 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

She finished by closing her hands on Alexis' pinching the skin painfully between her thumb and middle finger and then opened her eyes. "And that's it." she said with a smile and turning to Shayera. "Your turn."

Once again, had Shayera take a seat facing her. Before clasping hands she drew her small bone knife, and used it to prick the thumb on her left hand. "OK, remember, look at me bit by bit. Again she closed her eyes. This time the words were a little different,...

"Αίμα, αίμα και αίμα.
Απελευθερώθηκε και με ευχαρίστηση.
Βλέπεις για τον εαυτό μου."

Pierce the Mask (Shayera): 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

She finished by leaning forward and planting a fairly demure kiss, just a peck really, on Shayera's lips....

Cue someone walking in? I think Bron and Shaun are both in the building?.... :)
Bugger, I was hoping those rolls'd come off. Ahh well, marking potential!

"Shaun, I've seen Kaoru choose us over staying safe, twice. I trust what I've seen." She grinned again, "I've also seen both of you go after each other, so don't think I'm putting your whole testosterone-thing only on you. But I can't change how Kaoru treats you by talking to you. I can want to save the world and still work on it in bite-sized chunks.

"I know you're sorry, and I really do forgive you. I know that your mistakes aren't everything there is to you. Try to see the rest of Kaoru too."

She surreptitiously checked her phone and made a face.

Darn. Okay... probably still fine, Mom might not be home yet, so Papá will still be buried in his study.

"Hey, I've gotta go. Usually I hit my Rustside forge around midnight when I've got a project, just let me know when you'd like that to be, and I'll meet you there. Good night for now though."

I think I'll let Shaun wander back in to see 'the kiss' if he's interested. It'd give Shayera a reason to feel like she should tell Bronwyn about it if nothing else :-p
If Bron saw it for herself then the lack of romance is too obvious, especially since she'd see the spell being worked.

Alexis stares unflinchingly into the face of the young mage, not even blinking when her skin is pinched. A pain like that wasn't so bad for her. She could easily deal with all that. Especially looking into such pretty, mesmerizing eyes.

She still felt a little left out when it was Shayera's turn. She wanted a kiss - a real romantic kiss, not a kiss from someone bunking with her, but something sweet and chaste and fuzzy. Though watching the two girls kiss made her want to bunk somewhere as well.

"...Everybody gets kisses but me," Alexis complained, huffing and crossing her arms. "...Shayera, tomorrow, can we go and shop for new clothes? Cassie and Bronwyn can come. Kaoru and Alexandra too if they want. I want more dresses. And a haircut." She added, touching her hacked up hairdo. Perhaps she was getting a little spoiled thanks to Shayera's wealth.

I do... what's the point of a genius-level IQ if it doesn't let you breeze through school. she says Oh... she and My dad would get on, I'm sure... "in a fair fight, you lose. never fight fair", "They're faster than you, stronger than you, every one of them can do things you can't, so you need to be smarter than all of them.", "sometimes, the only vulnerable spot is in their mind, by psychoanalytic." she does a mocking impression of her father as she delivers these lines.

Okay, feminine pronouns, and I'm just a friend. She says nodding.

I am a private... well, shit, that's not much to go on. We might need to do some legwork if we want to figure out who she it.

ready!

"What is it 'bout ye'n' my testosterone?" He returns the smile. "I'll...give it my best shot. I doubt it but...let's see if he can prove me wrong."

"Yea' I'll text ya'. See ya'round." He waves at Bronwyn as she exits.

- - -

Later...

"91...92...93...94..."
...I should do something for them. Try to make some peace with them while I'm here.
"95...96...97...98..."
I don't have money to buy gifts, but I could probably do some favors for Wingblade. What about for Alexis? What does she like?
"99...100!" With a satisfied grunt he clanks the squats bar back into place on the machine. As he does, a lightbulb goes off in his head. "Shakespeare..."

I really shouldn't. The poor thing is old, probably super musty by now, falling apart, and, well, do I really want to tell her about that?
But what harm could she really do with it? Alexis was curious, but she wasn't nosy like Alexandra. Besides, just giving her the book won't be so bad. It's not like he was gonna start reading it again.
True, but still...
Did he wish to make friends, or not?

Wiping his face with a towel, Shaun opens his bags, rummaging through them till he finds it. His good luck "charm," the one thing he'd never let anybody get rid of. It was heavily worn, its cover torn and eroded, its pages yellowed and curled, notes in pen and pencil scribbled all over the margins, but it was still clearly a sizable book.

He slips the tome into his waistband underneath his shirt, walking carefully so as to not dislodge it. He creeps his way up the stairs, trying to act as much as possible like he doesn't have a book on his butt. "Lex? Ya' still here? I wanted ta'-"

He freezes as he looks out at the balcony. There, mid-kiss, was Shayera and Cassie. "...UH...TA' F@#~!?"

Drama, BEGIN!

It's shocking, but there are absolutely no dinosaur-related attacks on the lyft ride to Kaoru's house. Apparently the dino-quota has been fulfilled for the day, hopefully the week. Soon the car stops in front of a relatively small, completely unremarkable house within walking distance of Halcyon High. Kaoru grabs her bag and holds the car door open for Alexandra before leading her up the short path to the front door. As she pulls out her keys and begins unlocking it, she firmly affixes her neutral mask. She once again holds the door open for her companion, waving her in.

Immediately on the other side of the door is a small entryway with racks for shoes on them, and Kaoru immediately removes her to place them neatly on an open spot to continue in her socks. Based on the shoe sizes, it seems it's just her and her mother living here. There's the soft sound of paws hitting the hardwood floor before a big, black tom cat bursts into the entryway, announcing himself with a plaintive, "Mraoooow?" As soon as he sees Alexandra, his ears immediately go back, and he hisses at this intruder bold enough to tresspass on his territory. Kaoru bends down to affectionately rub his head, despite his now aggressive posture. "Be nice, Shadow." She freezes, suddenly realizing what she said, and then tries to play it cool. "Ummm, yeah, maybe don't pet him? He doesn't really like people who aren't me." It seems to be an accurate statement as he graciously tolerates Kaoru's head petting, all the while glaring at Alexandra, tail flicking back and forth in aggitation.

For the record, definitely named the cat during recruitment before I realized there was a hero named Silver Shadow. And didn't make the connection until a few days ago when it seemed possible Alexandra might be coming over to Kaoru's place.

Rising she heads down a hallway towards the back of the house, waving for Alexandra to follow her. The hallway passes by a bathroom before opening up into a larger area with a high ceiling and a carpeted set of stairs leading up to the second floor. She looks like she's about to dash up them when a woman's voice calls out from the top. "おかえりなさい, Kaoru. I need to head out to meet my team for a conference call with our clients in China, but how was the-" Standing at the top of the stairs currently finishing putting on an earring is an older Japanese woman in her early to mid-forties. She's dressed professionally in stockings, a gray pencil skirt with matching blazer, and a white blouse. Her dark hair is neatly cut into a chin-length bob and her makeup is simple.

Kaoru freezes. "This is...my friend Alexandra. She was one of the people I went to see the movie with."

The woman's eyes light up when Kaoru identifies Alexandra as a friend, and she gives the younger girl a warm smile as she slowly makes her way down the stairs. "Oh, and were you not planning on offering your guest a refreshment? I thought I raised you better than that. 行く" Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she makes a shooing gesture towards Kaoru, who demurely heads off somewhere, as she leads Alexandra to an adjoining living room. "Please excuse my daughter; you're the first guest we've had since moving here, and I'm afraid in all the chaos, she must have forgotten her manners. My name is Naomi Miyamoto. I'm Kaoru's mother." She indicates that Alexandra should sit on the couch and then does likewise, keeping a moderate distance between herself and Alexandra to avoid crowding the newcomer too much. "But Kaoru said you were at the movies with her. How was the show? Did you two have fun?"

Not far off cabinets can be heard getting opened and closed and there's the soft clinking of glasses being removed.

I have a description of the room as well as a couple of things Alexandra would notice about Naomi, but I'll put those on the next post to break things up a bit.

Shayera gives Alexis a thumbs up. "Sure. But it'll have to be early. I've got that--" she uses finger quotes-- "'date' with Devaun in the afternoon. Where I'll let him down that I can't see him anymore." Then she gets ready as Cassie begins the ritual for her.

Wingblade wasn't really good at zeroing in on a specific body part. Her training had left her with the instinct to remain aware of every limb and possible source of attack, so even as she looked a person in the eyes, she was alert to the position of their hands, legs, feet, arms, stance and other subtle clues. So really focusing on one part took longer than she intended and felt strangely foreign.

When the spell was completed with some sort of incantation and a gentle kiss, she hadn't been aware that Shaun had stepped onto the balcony. She stays frozen in place, her lips on Cassie's, not wanting to risk breaking the spell by withdrawing from the kiss too soon.

Just great. Now Shaun's going to think I just go around kissing all the girls. Maybe I should plant one on Alexis just to round out the evening.

Bronwyn's Lyft pulled up to a house that - phew - only had one car in the driveway. It seemed so quiet. There was actually a bunch of hammering away, probably their next door neighbors' seemingly never-ending kitchen remodel, but the house seemed dangerously still.

You are being crazy.

You're just psyching yourself out! Think about how great it felt to just hold her hand and not worry. Think about how great you feel just telling people she's your girlfriend. Just think about how happy she'll be.

She set her phone to not display any part of her messages while it was locked and headed in, dropping it off in the key bowl near the door. "Papá? ¿Estás ocupado?"

Good. I need a moment

She'd ditched her earlier outfit in a dumpster. It was way too damaged to avoid questions, but her arms and legs still didn't look great, so while she was still relatively private, she quickly jogged up to her room to put on some loose sweats and long sleeves, each quick step sending a line of fire racing up her now unsplinted arm.

The house seemed somehow even quieter now. The banging from next door was so loud that it drowned out any of the quiet creaks and groans she expected, the noises that had told her where everyone was in her home since was a little girl.

She opened her door and everything got even louder and even more muffled. That can't be next door, I can feel the vibrations!

Eyes alert, she rushed over to her window to see a team of men with tools and ladders, working quickly and professionally to mount... something on Gabby's window. "¿Que demonios?"

She tried to get a closer look, to figure out what on earth they were doing to her home, but her window didn't budge.

She looked down at the frame, the basic flimsy window lock that was all she expected was still there, but just on the other side, it was sealed shut. Precisely drilled holes, plastic sheeting, and adhesive showed the preparations for what was already going up over the window to her sister's old room.

Oh my God.

A ladder unfolded beneath her, and a harried looking worker began to climb, each step bringing him closer with the bars for her window.

Fair, but I thought we weren't... Alexandra's mind throws up before Kaoru clarifies. Alexandra was about to pet the kitty, when Kaoru warned her off. and she retracted her hand out of laceration range quickly. She hears someone moving nearby, and compulsively fixes her shirt and hair quickly.

Hi. good to meet you. You needn't worry so much, I'm no stickler for etiquette. she says Establish who you are immediately. don't play at being prim and proper. she quietly thinks, trying not to lock her stare onto the woman... adults didn't like kids doing the whole "stare into your soul"

Eh... it was Bron who picked the Movie, and ... eh, a little too rom-Com-y for me. But apparently Psychological horror is too much of a downer for Friday night. Alexandra gives an exaggerated eye roll. be what she expects to see. be kinda glib, sarcastic, and a little vapid. be the teenage girl stereotype.

In addition to the couch currently occupied by Alexandra and Naomi, there's another one angled perpendicular to it with a coffee table settled in front for them both to share. Both roughly face a decent-sized flatscreen tv with some bookshelves behind it. To one side of the tv, next to two large windows that currently have their blinds drawn sits an upright piano with a closed violin case resting next to it. The room as a whole has a rather empty feeling. The walls are bare and the only real decoration are the series of photos lined along one of the bookshelves, though oddly several seem to have been knocked down. Too many for it to have been an accident and too carefully done for it to have happened in some fit of rage. A closer look at the tv quickly reveals it's hasn't actually been plugged in to anything yet. This is probably the first time since moving in that this room has been used, and apparently no one had made it a very high priority to make it feel homey or welcoming like you might otherwise expect for a room clearly meant to entertain guests.

Naomi smiles as she accepts Alexandra's face-saving comment. "That's very kind of you say. Is Bron another one of your school friends? I'm afraid Kaoru has told me very little of what she's been up to at school. I had almost started to worry she had dived a little too far into academics at the expense of getting to know new people. Changing schools is always difficult, and she's always been a rather shy child." Unconsciously one of her hands goes to her throat to fiddle with the simple gold chain necklace hanging there. There's a brief glimpse of a man's wedding band hanging from it before she returns her hands to their folded position on her lap. Despite the lack of any signs of a male presence in the house, she's still wearing her wedding bands. Most likely she's a widow and hasn't moved on yet, though it's at least been long enough for her to have shed typical mourning clothes.

Kaoru then enters the room, carefully carrying a tray with a variety of biscuits and appropriate implements for preparing and serving tea. In a well-practiced motion, she gracefully descents into a kneeling position on the other side of the coffee table and places the tray down. She frowns briefly as she adjusts her position, moving her knees further apart to take on a more masculine profile, before starting to pour dark liquid into one cup.

"Kaoru, you should have invited this 'Bron' back here as well to thank them for inviting you on this movie expedition. The rest of the group as well. Perhaps you could invite them to come over and study some time?"

"Perhaps another time, mother."

"Alexandra, what kind of drinks and snacks do you like? I'm afraid we don't have much variety in stock right now, but if you let me know, I can be sure to stock up for next time. For now, I'm afraid your options are limited to-" She frowns slightly as she notices Kaoru hasn't brought out a tea selection, but before she has a chance to say anything, Kaoru is holding out a cup of coffee prepared with four sugars and cream to Alexandra. She looks surprised by the gesture but says nothing, instead watching to make sure this is an acceptable beverage for the guest as Kaoru begins preparing a cup of green tea and a cup of matcha tea.

Just above the thumping of her heart she finally heard it. The creak of that spot near her room, the scrape of a loafer on the carpet.

She turned to see her Papá in the doorway, his face still and complicated.

"¿Qué hiciste Papá? And why? Why would you-"

"Gabriela told us about your friend, Bronwyn.

"Why would you think that was acceptable? You frightened your sister very much, mijita. As far as Gabriela knew there was some sort of super-powered prowler rifling through her clothes!" His voice sped up and his brows knit together in anger, "Maldición! There was some super-powered prowler stealing her clothes!"

Bronwyn tried to stay calm, to explain why this was all an overreaction, "Shayera wasn't stealing anything. I told her she could borrow a dress. A friend of ours-" "You don't get to give your sister's things away, Bronwyn!" He interrupted, "Your friend doesn't get to come into our house whenever she pleases!" "So... what? If she'd borrowed my key instead, you still would have put bars on all the windows?"

"We should have put them up anyways. It's safer. But Bronwyn, that girl is not just 'some friend'."

"You're right Papá! She's not just some friend. She's-" "Sí, sí," He rolled his eyes, "ella es tu mejor amiga. Siempre eliges los diferentes para hacerte amigo. Mira, if she wants to come into my house, she can knock. I don't want to hear any more about this, Bronwyn. We're doing this to keep the family safe. Oh, your sister is furious with you by the way. She loves that dress."

"She never wears that dress. That's why she left it at home in the first place! She doesn't love that dress, and you're not doing this to keep la familia safe! You're only doing this to keep her away."

"She can use the door."

At the conclusion of Shayera's ritual, during which she hadn't been very aware of her surroundings, Cassie heard Shaun's voice invade her consciousness. Shit, how'm I going to explain this?.. Can't trust him with knowing about the charm - especially since there's something odd about how it affects him,.. she thought, as she debated with herself how to react. For a moment, she sustained the kiss, before breaking it off and looking up at Shaun and fixing him with a look, waiting to see how he, or the others would react.

When Cassie's lips leave Shayera's, she assumes the spell is completed and she's free to move. She looks over at his stunned face, looking exactly as she imagined him when she heard his voice.

She smirks at him. "Hi, Shaun. We're doing magic. But it's a coven thing. No boys allowed."

She turns to Cassie, suddenly curious. "But, I'm sure there's a spell that can make him a girl, right? Do you know that one?"

Cassie grins at Shayera. "I'm sure I could manage that." she says, giving Shaun a considering look. "It wouldn't be too hard I think.... I'd just need some newts and a good cauldron. What do you think Shaun? Time for a change?"

"I think that it's nicer to be a girl than a boy. But I think it's all right to be either," Alexis comments from her position. And sees her opportunity as Shayera and Cassie had broken apart from the kiss.

She sneaks forward and plants one on Shayera's lips. They tingle. Her whole body tingles for a brief moment. Then she pulled back and smiled at Shayera. "It feels nice to kiss. Almost better than bunking together." She says, looking at Cassie. "Do you want to bunk with me tonight?" She asks innocently, half-biting her lower lip. That usually worked in the barracks.

Provoke Cassie to agree to bunk with her tonight: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 4) + 1 = 7

Add a Team to the Pool if she does it.

Okay... widow. cares about appearance, not functionality... what to give her... She takes the cofee, and smiles at Kaoru. Thanks, just how I like it. She says.

Well, Bron and I run in the same circles. Ap classes aren't that big, you know. she says. It was true, and She and Bronwyn both took AP classes.... not the same AP classes, but... Oh, She's not so bad. she was a little standoffish the first day, but we dragged her out of her shell. Alexandra smiles.

I'm sorry it's so late, But Kay and I have a history project to work on. Project about legislation regarding capes in the past 50 years, really cool stuff. she says. We should probably try to make progress before it is unreasonably late, But I'm glad to meet you.

Shaun was frozen mid-shock. "...I...uh..." A blush spreads through his face. "Let's uh...let's not jump t-ta' action here..." He clears his throat and takes what he thinks is a more relaxed stance. "Look, I was just lookin' f'Lex. When ya' got a minute I wanna talk w'ye', a'ight? No need ta' be...hexin' me r'whatever." He shoots Shayera a significant look before walking back inside...backwards. They'll never suspect anything...

As soon as he's out of the "coven's" line of sight, he scrambles for his phone and texts Bronwyn.
(HOLY F@@@ING SHIT)>
(I JUST CAUGHT SHAYERA AND CASSIE KISSING)>
(FIRST OF ALL WHAT THE F!*&?)>
(SECOND I FEEL WAY MORE SAD ABOUT THIS THEN I THINK I SHOULD)>
Why does this feel like such a let-down? I mean yeah, it sucks that apparently Wing is completely untrustworthy (seriously what the f*#+ with that?), but its...more than that...something with Cassie? He's snapped out of his thoughts by the book deciding it wanted to be closer to his pant legs than he would have liked. Oh damnit! Now you decide to cause trouble!?

Anybody who walks inside at this point is going to catch Shaun trying to wrangle a conspicuously large box-shaped object in his pants. Take that as you will.

Shayera's amusement at her jest at Shaun's expense is suddenly interrupted by Alexis's lips on hers. Her eyes go wide and her body rigid until she breaks the kiss.

Her eyes track Alexis as she moves back and invites Cassie to 'bunk' with her. "Again with the bunking. She's mentioned that a couple times. I'm afraid to ask what it means, she thinks.

With the kissing apparently over (mercifully), Shayera stands and walks closer to the railing of the balcony. She was curious about the spell to make Shaun a girl -- she had joked and wasn't sure if Cassie was serious or just following along -- but it caused Shaun to retreat, so it pretty much worked.

Naomi smiles. "That's good to hear. Kacchan's really such a good girl once you get to know her." Kaoru flinches slightly at the nickname but hides it with a sip from her cup of matcha. "I should be going anyway; I have a meeting I must attend. It was lovely to meet you, Alexandra. I hope to see you again, and as important as school work is, it is a Friday night, so try not to work yourselves too hard." She smoothly stands, nodding to Alexandra before turning to Kaoru. "いってきます"

"いってらっしゃい" Kaoru automatically responds. As her mother heads to the front door, she begins clearly up the mostly untouched biscuits and teacups. When she hears the front door close, she adds "Let me put this away and feed Shadow, then we can check out what we got last night." She smoothly rises with the tray and heads back to the kitchen where more clinking sounds can be heard.

Not sure if Alexandra would like to try snooping/wandering about at all during this time. If not, Kaoru comes back in about 5 or so minutes, pulls out her laptop, and sits down next to Alexandra on the couch (close enough that it won't be awkward looking at the same screen) as she begins pulling up relevant files.

Cassie grined at Shayera when Shaun hurridly escaped, sharing a laugh at his expense when, suddenly, she was surprised by Alexis stepping up and planting a kiss on Shayera. The kiss seemed innocent enough,.. maybe Alexis was just messing with Shaun? Then she'd pulled back and asked Cassie to 'bunk' with her. "Umm,.. bunk with you? Well, I was going to head back to the place I'm staying but, I guess it is kind've late... If there aren't any spare beds and you're OK with sharing then that'd be great. I'd be happy to just crash on the floor or a couch though." Cassie replied.

Shayera's grin fades a bit, but she doesn't appear upset at all that Alexis invited Cassie to stay. "I've really only got my bed, which is big, but I've never shared it with anyone. You can crash on any of my couches or chairs if you want. And I guess the beds in the medical suite would work, too, if you didn't want a couch. I gotta go out this evening, but I'll be back later tonight. I'll sleep wherever you're not."

Alexis flushes and glances down at the floor, drawing a circle around her knee with one finger. "If you don't like it, I can always leave. That's how it was in the barracks. People would bunk with others after lights out and slip back to their own before revel. I haven't bunked with anyone since I ran away. So, um...are you sure it's okay?"

"We're not going to take your bed! Why would we share a bed in the med suite if there's more than one?" she replies, turning to Alexis. "Yeah, it was kind've the same at my old school. You wouldn't believe how cold it got in winter! Sometimes we'd share to keep warm or if someone'd had a tough day with one of the teachers or broken up with their boyfriend or something and just wanted a hug. It was totally against the rules though. I think they thought it'd turn everyone, like, instantly gay or something. I guess, if you want the company, we could both crash on the couch. Might be a bit tight though?"

Shayera gestures back inside the apartment. "Check out the third level. There's more than one couch. And the chair in front of the main Abacus console is pretty comfy. I've dozed off in that a couple times."

Alexis listens, nodding along, getting that Cassie was familiar with bunking. She'd done it with other classmates, so at least this was pretty good. "I'd bunk with Shayera but I don't want to get in the way of her wings," She suggests, glancing at where Shaun has rushed off. "Um, we can share a couch. Anywhere that's comfortable for you. I do get why it was only done after lights out. Our owners and trainers didn't like us openly fraternizing." She was still a bit nervous thinking about this.

"I need to shower before we sleep, so find a nice couch, okay?" She said, getting up and moving out, pausing as she looked at Shaun furiously texting. "...You might make a pretty girl." She suggests before heading to the bathroom to wash up.

She wanted to smell nice for Cassie now. It would help her forget her frustrations with Kaoru.

Cassie, you may take Influence on Alexis.

Cassie nods and turns to Shayera as Alexis heads to the shower. "Umm, thanks for letting me stay. You're sure its OK?.. And, umm, ... you wouldn't have something I could borrow to sleep in would you? Pajamas or a nighty, or just a t-shirt or something?"

"Does Mom know you spent thousands of dollars on bars?"

"Of course Bronwyn. She'll be home soon enough to discuss it. We aren't the ones keeping secrets though."

"How is this me keeping secrets?!" "Well, since you've gotten home, your phone has kept buzzing. That pendejo bellaco, Shaun, keeps texting you. Do you want to unlock it so we can both see what he's texting you? No? No me hables de secretos. Dios," he held up the cracked screen, "What happened to your phone, anyways? ¿Qué te ha pasado? Why don't I know what's happening with you Bronwyn?"

Because if I told you, you'd probably bar the doors too.
She could feel the scream building up inside her, the scream that would mean he'd never look at her the same way again. The scream that would make her mom cry. It felt like shattered glass, but she swallowed it.
"Papá... Lo siento. I fell when I was getting out of a car."

He barked a mirthless laugh that set her insides roiling again. "Claro. My Bronwyn just fell over getting out of a car. Your mother and I, we were going to talk about ending your punishment tonight. But now?"

I'm a hero.

"You put bars on my windows tonight." I'm gay. "You were going to do that at the same time you ungrounded me?" I'm in love with Shayera

"Grounding isn't forever, mija. The bars are."

She stood there breathing for what couldn't have really been more than a couple seconds.
I love him too much to tell him while I hate him.

"Are we done Papá? I have homework."

"Si. Dinner in an hour."

Shayera smiles. "Sure you can stay! And I've got lots of clothes. What do you prefer? You want to check out my closet?"

She leads Cassie past the texting Shaun and takes her into her bedroom. Skipped during her tour of her apartment, Shayera's bedroom is large and dominated by an oversized bed. A well-stocked vanity is the dream of any professional makeup artist, and the adjacent walk-in closet is cavernous. Lining the walls are hanging clothes of all sorts and a truly stunning array of shoes. "It's a lot, I know. My dad set me up with this place and went a bit overboard on making sure I didn't run out of clothes."

She goes to one section of the closet that features a selection of comfy pajamas and other night clothes. "Most of these have holes cut in the back, so you'll probably want an oversized T-shirt? Or just grab whatever you want."

Ok, well, if Alexandra wants to snoop around, we can do some retconning. But for now, moving things along.

The sound of Kaoru rummaging through her backpack announces her imminent return and a moment later she's entering the living room again, sans tray and with her already unlocked laptop. She sits down on the couch and then shifts closer to Alexandra. So it won't be awkward for her to read from the screen while it's on her lap. Definitely that and not...other reasons.

There's one of those sliding webcam blockers covering the computer's camera and a post-it note stuck to the space to the left of the built-in trackpad that simply has written "im!Nid10t" on it. She begins navigating through the Japanese file system. "Even when we find something, we might not actually want to do anything about it. Just yet anyway. I'm not sure about the SCA, but that Whippoorwill seems to be on top of things and her Japanese is surprisingly good. I think anything we released now would be too coincidental of timing to be overlooked. So we might want to sit on it a bit." She finally reaches a series of folders labeled in English, the files copied from the SCA, and pauses, chewing on her lower lip.

"Are...you ok? It seemed like you didn't really get along with everyone back at 'HQ'. And you seemed..." she waved her hand vaguely, uncertain how to finish that sentence. "I wanted to check in with you there but didn't want to put you on the spot in front of everyone, especially since I figured you might not want to talk in front of some people. Not that we have to talk about it now." She added quickly, still looking at the files on her screen. "But if you wanted to talk about something, I could listen...if you wanted." She scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "I mean, listening is probably about the only thing I could do since I'm not good with advice or anything. Or if you don't want to talk about it, I could just distract you with files." She waves absently at the computer. "Or I guess video games or more movies if this is too work-y." She shifted awkwardly as her ramble ran out of steam, glancing at Alexandra out of the corner of her eye.

Tech support, influence: 2d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2, 5) + 1 + 1 = 9

Part of her wanted to say more. She wanted to tell her that her dad was wrong, and she didn't need to be perfect or to always be the smartest. But she couldn't quite help but agree with his assessment of a non-powered person fighting superhumans. She just...wished he didn't put as much pressure on Alexandra as he clearly did. She shouldn't need to feel like she had to constantly hit such an impossibly high bar. Everybody had off-days. And if she could still be nice to Kaoru after all her failures, she should be able to be nice to herself 'cause she was way better at all of this. But...she wasn't sure how to really express that. And if she tried, she was fairly confident she'd only mess it up and wind up insulting Alexandra or hurting her more. And that she really didn't want.

Her phone was going to have to wait.

She didn't think he was going to lock it up or anything, so it would be simple enough to grab it once her parents were asleep.

Shaun's got an earpiece now. If it were really an emergency, or if it weren't too private to talk about, he could have just used that.

Her arm hurt.

It was tolerable; even before she'd gotten powers, pain was something Bronwyn pushed through instead of shrinking from, but that didn't make it fun.

So she got up to go to the door, glad to see that their hadn't been any last-minute carpentry to remove her lock, secured it, and sat back on the floor, replaced in a flash by Bran the Blessed.

So what now? Homework for real? I can't do smithing or anything as Bran, or with my arm. I could open a private channel to Shayera? No.

I don't want to tell her I failed.

"I'd love to see your closet" Cassie says, following Shayera past Shaun. When she sees the bedroom, she looks impressed, but its the closet that really captures her attention. "Wow! I thought I used to have a lot of clothes but this is,.. amazing!" she says, moving right over to the clothes and examining them and listing the designers. "De Luca, Moreau, Dalton, Cancio, Vasiliev . Oh wow. Is this Tanaka?" she asks, holding up a jacket. "Its gorgeous! I bought one a bit like it just before,.. but, I had to leave everything behind. Now I don't have anything like as nice."

When Sahyera shows her where the night clothes are, she pulls herself away from the other clothes and heads over to that section of the wardrobe. "Thanks for the lend," she says, selecting some pajamas consisting of shorts and a button-up shirt, despite the holes sewn into its back. "So, your dad gave you all this? I thought,.. you know, that you wouldn't have had a dad?"

(BRONWYN???)>
(BRONWYN!!!)>
(U ALIVE?)>
He grunts and moves for his comm, then stops. I can’t use the earpiece, Shayera’s computer runs those! What if it’s programmed to record all transmissions!? I’d be in such shit with her!
(DAMIT BRON!)>
(I THOUGHT U WANTED ME KEEPING HER HONEST?)>
(fine dont reply n brood if that’s wat u want!)>
(just dont use comms to get in touch)>
He pauses, thinking for a moment.
(im sorry)>

He locks his phone, nearly biting through his lower lip in worry. It’s only then that he registers that the Coven’s left. He briefly checks to make sure everything is...still there, then extracts the hardcover volume and slips it under a near-by couch. I’ll give that to Alexis once she isn’t with Cassie and Shayera. But in the meantime...what the f@#* am I gonna do? I need to cool off, but I just got my workout done (way later than I wanted, but still). Patrol’s probably a bad idea after what Whippoorwill just did for us. I need to breathe for a bit...

He blinks, then starts searching the penthouse.

A question for the esteemed owner of our base: what does this place have in the way of office supplies? Post-Its, printer paper, a whiteboard and markers maybe?

Alexis pops out the shower feeling good. She's folded up the dress that she borrowed from Bronwyn's sister. This was probably something that she needed back after all. She threw a towel around her body and tucked it in as she stepped out of the shower, going up to Shayera's bedroom still damp. She needed some sleepwear too, though she felt that it was at least warm enough in the apartment that it really didn't matter, except perhaps for needing to move out of there quickly in case of an emergency.

She moved past Cassie, giving her a smile that looked genuine, as she found a decent long T-shirt to put on, as well as some shorts to go along with them. Once she was properly attired for bed, she stood by the other girls patiently. "The sooner we get to bed, the sooner we can wake up for the shopping trip," She said with joy. "Good Night Shayera. Can I have a hug?"

Alexandra looks over the files, and immediately looks to the ones on the team. He was right, of course. they couldn't release anything in here any time soon.Yeah... but we still have files on everyone... may as well look.

but Kaoru distracts her. Look... A lot of it is wanting to... I liked what Bran and Wingblade and I have had for a few months. and they picked up Puppy girl, and I had snagged you, and we would join up for big stuff, but you and I would be mostly be behind the scenes, they would be there for crises. she sighs I had a plan. and I wouldn't drive another team apart. I figured I could make one relationship work. 6 is too many. And Wing is pissed at me cause of the Break in, and Bron is pissed cause of the locker room, and Bran if probably upset cause Bron is, and Shaun is just... well, he and I aren't ever like to see eye to eye. I take this whole Hero thing pretty seriously, and people like Him and the Saurians and Kanga Ronnie... like this is crime and law enforcement. people get hurt, stuff breaks, have some level of ... acknowledge that we're doing something with stakes and consequence... I'm not expressing this well. she said

And, Puppy girl is upset with me because... well we should maybe talk about that... She says.

Kaoru drummed her fingers on the computer. "I don't know about Wingblade, but Bronwyn doesn't really...seem like the type to hold a grudge." I mean, she wanted to apologize to whomever got her grounded after all. "I think she's just got a lot going on right now."

She felt a slight stab of guilt about how much Alexandra cared about being a hero and how seriously she took it. How did everybody manage to care so much? Was there just something wrong with her for not caring? No, there can't be, or more people would be running around trying to be heroes. And hey, at least you're not a supervillain or anything? Her guilt only increased at the mention of Alexis, with a nice side-helping of sudden anxiety and dread.

"Alexis is mad because of me." She said quietly, leaning back against the couch. She chewed on her lip as she tried to figure out what else she was supposed to say. "I just...I don't understand why interacting with her always feels so hard. And I nearly always come away feeling like sh*t. And she just...I don't think she respects me. She asks me out. I say no. Then 3 fking hours later she's asking me out again. Like the fact I already said no didn't matter to her." She rubbed her face vigorously with her hands. Thinking about it, along with Shaun's comment earlier that night, made her feel sick. There was an unvoiced fear clawing at the back of her head, trying to demand attention. She tried to ward it away by wrapping her arms around her midsection. She couldn't ask. She couldn't find a way to phrase it that wouldn't sound terrible.

"I'll apologize to her on Monday."

Shayera lights up when Cassie admires her clothes. "Totally nailed it. I knew you'd fit in with Portia, Renae and the other fashionistas." She runs her hands through the various outfits. "I get quite a bit of help in all this. I wish I was a natural, but Dad hired me a consultant."

She stifles a laugh when asked about her dad. "Yeah, well, I'm just lucky, I guess." An easy smile grows on her face. "If it weren't for him -- well, and Whippoorwill, obviously -- I'd probably be worse than Alexis. If I was even on the side of the good guys. I can't imagine going through what I did without him."

She's interrupted by Alexis returning from the shower, also looking to pick out something to wear to bed. "Hey. Yeah, sure." She gives Alexis a good-night hug after she's dressed.

"Uh, you two can go ahead and take my bed if you want. There's plenty of room for you to bunk together on it. I can find a place elsewhere in my apartment, if I even come back tonight." She feels a wave of excitement-slash-anxiety as she reminds herself that in a short while Bronwyn will be telling her parents about them. She knew it wasn't going to be easy, but she knew she needed to be nearby for her.

Being a very modern apartment, I don't think there would be much in the way of stationary. Any large presentation would be projected up on one of Abacus' large screens. I think you might be able to at most find a pad of post-its and some pens.

As she exits her bedroom, she hears rummaging around near Abacus. "There's no more scotch, Shaun," Shayera calls out.

There's a loud bang. "OW! AH YE' BASTARD!" Shaun emerges from rooting about in a small cabinet, rubbing the top of his head. "Jesus Shayera, warn a lad next time!" He walks over to her, a strange, quizzical expression on his face. "...hey, ye' got anythin' better than these tiny-ass thin's around?" He holds up a stack of yellow post-its. "I was thinkin' of workin' on some team names, but these thin's won't hold much." Should I ask her about it? I mean, Bronwyn was just talking about me jumping to judgement. Maybe they were just...I don't know...exchanging lip balm?...no, that's really stupid...

The bars were tightly secured around her window, and the workmen had gone home.

Bran sat in Bronwyn's room, idly whittling a block of wood that might turn into something eventually as he focused on the slowly diminishing pulse of pain at the back of his awareness.

Over the quiet carving, he heard the jangle of keys, the soft thump of the door, the brief smack of a kiss, and the scrape of a chair as they sat down to talk.

"... So tell me, mi amor, I know we didn't get to talk much today; are we being too hard on her?"

"What's the point? She only uses it for supplies for her extra-curriculars anyways. We're trying to make sure she doesn't throw her future away, punishing her won't help with that."

"Oh. Uh, not really. Umm, hang on." She says a few words in Chinese, and Abacus comes to life. "There. It's on dictation mode, so you can go ahead and toss out whatever ideas you've got, and Abacus will write them down for you."

She pauses before she heads over to the balcony. "I'm going over to Bronwyn's. You okay? I was kidding about the girl magic thing. I mean, we were doing a spell, but I was kidding about what I said. Not sure if Cassie was, though. Anyway, you should probably take a shower. You worked out and you smell like you're really stressed. But not in mine; the girls are bunking in my room. The chem lab has a shower. It'll work just fine for you."

"Well,.. If you're sure?" Cassie replied doubtfully. The oversized bed would be a lot more comfortable than the couch but it was Shayera's after all."It looks big enough for three without any problem. I'm sure we'd all fit. Umm,.. I'll just go change."

Cassie headed for the adjoining bathroom and quickly slipped off her clothes and into the borrowed sleepwear. When she emerged, she had her hair up. She walked over to a chair and bent to place her clothes, now neatly folded, onto it. As the fabric of her top opened a little, both Shayera and Alexis could see the top of a nasty looking scar running down her sternum, just visible above the top button of her shirt.

Alexis was intrigued by it as she took her seat next to Cassie, looking at the scar that was exposed for her. Shayera was off, leaving her with the bed. She liked Shayera's bed. It was the biggest bed she'd ever slept on. But she wondered now why Cassie had such a prominent scar like that.

"...I don't scar." She informed as she reached out, her finger touching it at her sternum. "I've heard that they don't hurt so much, or at least you don't feel along them as well. This seems like a bad one. I'm sorry. I hope that it doesn't hurt you," She told Cassie, fidgeting as she took her hand.

"So...um...it's been almost a year since I've bunked with anyone. Not counting those people on the street, because they weren't allowed to bunk with me even though they tried anyways. But I'm rusty. Do you think that you can take the lead? I don't want to accidentally hurt you. The other kids I've bunked with were as strong as me, so I didn't have to worry as much..."

Shaun gives the computer a look. ”Uh...thanks...hope this thin’s good with accents...”

”A spell? Wait, is that why ye’ were kissin’ Cass!?” A wave of relief washes over his face. ”Oh thank f***in’ God! Ye’ had me worried there lass! Thought ya’ were everythin’ Bron was sayin’ye’ weren’t!” He dons a crooked smile. ”Good ta’ hear that ya’ still stayin’ta’ course w’her.”

He considers something for a moment. ”...Wing, I wanna ask ye’somethin’, an’ I’d like ya’ta’ be straight w’me.” He takes a deep breath. ”Do ya’ want me here? Like, I know ye’ were nice enough ta’ let me stay, but I know I’m no easy guest ta’ host. It’s just...I feel bad, bein’ here n’ not bein’ able ta’ do much f’ya’.”

I think she resents... well, I think Branwen might be, and I'm not 100% sure who's driving. She says back to him, before remebrring he isn;t in her head... she hopes. Like Bran is a host with an alternate form that goes to some ethereal realm when he isn't iin use, I think Bronwyn is host to Bran's sister, Branwyn. a sorceress who met a sad fate. Yes, I know she wasn't a sorceress in most version, but....

I mean... yeah, I think she hasn't been great, and I think a lot of it has been... well, I think that place f#+!ed her up good and proper, adn she hasn't learned to be a person really. but that's not on you, I don't think you did anything wrong. She wraps her arm a little more around him, pulling him closer But, I might be Biased.

And, that's not what I meant... I meant... we should talk about... well, we're going to eat, and we broke the law together, and we... well, what happened after that. and then after the movie, you hugged me and said those things, and held me hand, and... what do you want to be?