Nine-colored Roses (Princess: The Hopeful) IC

[Nerd-o-rama]

Session 1: Blooming Spring Flowers

April 24, 2015

Friday, Friday, you all know the annoying song. It's a rainy day in Portland today, probably one of the last all-day showers until fall. It's good for the flowers - the one's it's not smashing the leaves off of with the occasional gust of wind - if not for the traffic. Downtown, the difference isn't really noticeable beyond the crowd of rushing people on the sidewalks being covered with umbrellas and the occasional panhandler sheltering under his sign instead of waving it around.

At 3 o'clock, Carrie Andrews, Shira Rosenberg, and Giovanni Minotti are all in downtown for various reasons - Shira and Giovanni respectively attend and teach at Pioneer High School, first off - they're here every day. Carrie, for her part, has only recently been invited to town by another Noble who, thankfully, put her up with a few days' worth of motel room so she doesn't have to sleep in her car.

School's just let out, meaning all three nobles are free right now, but all of you (separately) have appointments at the confusingly-named Washington Park in two hours. There is some time to look around right now - at the high school, most of Giovanni and Shira's students/friends are still around chatting and trying to avoid walking home/to the bus in the rain: Will Ray is predictably holding some poor kid's umbrella hostage, but most of the kids are behaving. The adults less so, since Giovanni can see Walter quietly getting into an argument with some well-meaning soul who asked if his back was feeling alright in this weather.

Carrie, meanwhile, doesn't have many friends here outside of some names of acquaintances from the Noble social network, but she does have a homeless man playing the violin for her on the sidewalk, and really, what more can you ask for on a rainy day?

As it is, there's a couple of hours before anyone has a commitment. How's everyone spending their afternoon?

[theUnearther]

Rain was always awkward. He was no stranger to dirt or the elements, of course, and his pants...
Giovanni took a quick glance to check that he was wearing the right pants.
...his pants were watertight. He figured he shouldn't go diving in them, but they could take the rain.
The problem was his bike. As a cyclist, rain was an unacceptable obstacle: reduced vision, reduced traction, perhaps even reduced grip on the handle. It did not look quite that bad, yet, but it would simply be foolish to even try.
His home was about half an hour away, by bike. Make that about forty minutes by foot, and an hour or so by foot while carrying the bike. Add maybe twenty or thirty minutes on account of the rain, with the subsequent traffic and crowds and the like.
Not bad by any means, he had done it many times before; but today he had somewhere to be, and he'd be arriving at home just in time to be late to the park.
Which meant he'd have to take the bus, which meant he'd have to chain the bycicle somewhere inside the school, which had never actually been forbidden but was discouraged, but oh well.
With a little shrug, he walked out to retrieve his bike from the outside of the school's fence.

Spoiler: OOC

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Could you tell me/us what my/our character knows about his/their appointment?
Also, are little semi-related spoilers like this acceptable, or should I have taken this to the OOC thread?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Small notes like that are fine. I'm not some kind of rules-lawyer for thread format, I just have some preferences on what info goes where. And in this case, the information goes just fine as an IC response.

The meetup later is something that's been ruminating around Noble internet venues (and a few messages in the Dreamlands, though those were of course significantly less reliable) for a while now. It's being loosely organized by a woman named Allison Tellings and amounts to, as far as has been stated, a roll-call for people interested in being part of a larger organization of Radiant Princes and Princesses. Naturally, no one reserved the local Masonic lodge or expects everyone to show up in a big group, but instead the plan is to meet as Nobles usually do, as a kind of open secret with no obvious connections to their real task of banishing the Darkness.

It's also entirely possible there's something more significant, but at the moment, the established Hopeful are apparently just trying to get a headcount.

It could be described as a pain, but on the plus side, if Giovanni's willing to schlep a few blocks with his bike, he can probably squeeze it onto a train and get to the park via light rail.

[MReav]

Upon seeing William's antics, Shira rolls her eyes, walks over to him, yanks the umbrella out of his grip and gives him a glare. Without taking her eyes off of him as the rain pours down on her naked head, she gently plants the umbrella across the victim's chest and nods at him to get moving.

Taking a deep breath that would normally be reserved for an epic chew out, she simply says in a soft tone like a mother gently voicing her disappointment to a misbehaving child, "You could be so much better than this, you know." She then turns away and rejoins her friends.

"Hey Anne, hey MH. Want to join me at the gym?" she says in her usual quiet, neutral tone. A really observant person would note her lips being very slightly upturned, the most of a smile anyone can expect of her under normal circumstances. The gym was near the school, so it wouldn't be too far out of her way when she needed to get to the meeting.

[Nerd-o-rama]

The best William can do to that is splutter and look offended. He doesn't want to end up on the floor at the hands of a girl who carries a stuffed animal around again. His victim quietly nods thanks, then ducks out of the situation as fast as he can.

"Sure!" Marie-Helene replies.

"You going to practice some kung fu again?" she adds, casting a meaningful glance and a smirk in Will's direction.

"Going to the gym implies you could work out yourself...," Anne observes. She moves along to follow Shira before it escalates into an argument, though.

"Are you calling me fat? You're calling me fat, aren't you."

Well, she tries.

***

Meanwhile, Giovanni finds his bike, along with an unfamiliar man in a ratty coat trying and failing to figure out how to undo Giovanni's bike lock without a key. He looks up as Giovanni approaches, and immediately starts to bolt off toward the street.

[theUnearther]

Giovanni sighs softly as he watches the man run off.
"Guess I have to report that. While I proceed to park it in a not-quite-illegally-but-frowned-upon way. Wonderful."
He pulls his key, careful not to touch the keychain even though he is very aware that it does nothing if he does not will it, unchains the machine and pulls the handle up, to roll it off its back wheel alone.
He takes it to the stairwell, climbs the first section and chains it to the handles, then heads to the headmaster's office.
On the way he decides he does not want to actually talk about this, so he pulls some paper and a pen off his suitcase, and writes:

Esteemed Headmaster:
I saw an unkempt, homeless or pretending to be homeless, man trying to steal my bycicle. He ran, but it may be prudent to keep an eye out for further events. Probably.
- Giovanni Minotti
P.S. I am leaving the same chained to the stairway, on account of the rain. Sorry.

He slips it under the headmaster's office's door, then leaves to find something to eat.

Spoiler: "OOC

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I just arbitrarily decided the headmaster was a man. Sorry if anyone had plans otherwise, english doesn't really do gender-neutral. We can retcon this I guess.
Giovanni uses a normal lock and about 2m of chain, because bycicle chains are dumb.

[MReav]

"You going to practice some kung fu again?" she adds, casting a meaningful glance and a smirk in Will's direction.

"It would be nice to have a sparring partner." Shira says, "But if the two of you would prefer something else, I wouldn't mind. No swimming sadly. I haven't been able to get a new suit, and the lifeguards get ever so flustered if you try swimming without one." Given her tone of voice and expression, a casual observer would be hard-pressed to tell if she was joking or being serious.

[Beans]

[Streets]
Spare drops roll off Carrie's faux-leather jacket, old and battered but still in good condition; the umbrella Christin lent her when they last parted ways does a good job of keeping the rain away. Rain---yeah, she knows rain. Spend enough of your time out in the woods in Northeast Ohio---or just in Northeast Ohio in general---and you know rain.

She gives the violinist a smile and some change as she passes on her way to the meeting. His music is good, but she's already got a head full of Bowie.

Pushing through the market square, so many mothers sighing...

She doesn't really know her way around town, but checking her phone's GPS app is good enough for her anyway. She's not hurrying, as there's time to spare, but she doesn't have much else to do. No sense in going back to the motel---she has to find out who paid for that and thank them, by the way. While she's grown very used to her sleeping bag in the back seat of her car, a real bed and the opportunity to take a real shower is something glorious.

Think I saw you in an ice-cream parlor, drinking milkshakes cold and long...

As she walks, she notices a pretty face in a passing window and... yes, here we go again, the roll call of faces and names passing before her eyes. Amaya, Cassy, Erin, Kary Pamyu Pamyu no that was a dream, Drifa, Sasha... Christin... and Vo.

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes; five years, what a surprise...

She has to stop doing this. That's for sure---but what does she mean when she says 'this'? Does she mean she has to stop falling into the arms of every pretty girl who has them open? Does she mean she has to stop guilting herself about? Maybe she just means she has to stop wondering about this.
She keeps walking.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Giovanni and Shira

Spoiler: OOC

Show

We can skip ahead an hour if you like. Giovanni can get something to eat and Shira can make a roll for Wisps using her Circle.

Carrie

The gentleman with the violin nods in appreciation and keeps playing.

As Carrie wanders along, lost in thoughts about the one thing arguably greater than hope and faith, she notices something odd. Namely, a few windows down from her latest Dulcinea, a black cat is sitting in the outside windowsill. Somehow, it appears to be completely dry despite the all-day rainshower, currently sheltered by the recessed window setting.

It's also very clearly staring directly at her.

[theUnearther]

Spoiler: OOC

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I think I'll decline the timeskip in favor of some light recon.
And I've another rules question: you are supposed to be able to transform without parts of your regalia, which is important to me on account of huge conspicuous gun, then swap parts in and out with "a transformation action".
Can I spend a wisp to reflexively get/ditch the gun, or is that just for mortal-to-Princess changes?

Giovanni emerges from the shop carrying a hastily microwaved sausage, an apple and a can of tangerine soda. He'd really wanted donuts or fries, but the rain would ruin them.
He then immediately goes to the bus stop, having decided not to even go home and that waiting on the school grounds would not really help much.
A short wait later, and then a slightly shorter bus trip later, he arrives at the park. He finds a secluded space, touches his knife with a single fingertip and dons his supernatural clothes, but not the weapon. No sense in showing his original face to the others if he does not yet know, for sure, that every single one is trustworthy.
Well, they are the same face really. But, magic.
He then walks around the park, looking at nothing, enjoying the sight of the raindrops in his normally immaculate white jacket.

[Beans]

Carrie looks at the cat a bit more intently, amber eyes flicking over it. Dry, okay, well, cats are good at finding places to stay out of the wet---though you'd think it'd prefer to get inside, or at least somewhere more surely covered.
Staring at her? That's... weird. Not enough to start turning over stones and screaming about how it's a Golgom Darkspawn plot, but not something to brush off.

"Hello, kitty." Sure, talking to cats is odd, but not quite so odd when you're just saying little things. It'd look more convincingly normal if she, say, went up and petted it, but she's not going to jump in just yet. Besides, even a normal cat might get bitey.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Giovanni

Spoiler: Whoops, missed the OOC note

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Yes. I'm going to say any "transformation action", even a partial one, can be done automatically and reflexively by spending a Wisp.

The beginnings of the afternoon rush hour keep Giovanni en route longer than he'd probably like, but he arrives at the park early with no problems, around 4:00 pm. It's still drizzling and therefore the park is mostly empty save for dog-walkers, a few dedicated Ultimate Frisbee enthusiasts, and at least one couple on their way to the Zoo with a half-off coupon they were damn well going to use today. He has no trouble finding a place to transform, and only one of the dog-walkers gives him an odd look for walking around the park in an all-white tuxedo in the rain when she happens to see him - he's just another eccentric hanging around the park.

Washington Park is, for an urban park, enormous, and has numerous different sections, including two different gardens, an arboretum, and a zoo. The front section of the park by itself has two large monuments (one in honor of Lewis and Clark and the other for remembrance of the Holocaust), a playground, and picnic areas, and just behind it is the International Rose Test Garden, where the Nobles were encouraged to meet.

Carrie

There doesn't seem to be anything unusual about the cat itself, although she (well, probably she, Carrie's not a vet and she's not that close) does seem to be sitting on something. Upon closer inspection, it's a plain white mailing envelope. Once the cat is sure she has Carrie's attention (you guess), she meows loudly, turns around deliberately, and after staring at her own reflection for a second, walks through the window. There's no bump, or crash, the cat just steps into the glass pane and is gone, leaving just the envelope.

[Beans]

[Streets]

... Wwwwwwelllll theeennnnn.
Carrie watches the cat walk through the glass and considers the likelihood of Mirrors horse-hockey being involved. Of course, the Heirs aren't the only one to take Speccio, but it is still the Invocation that drives you insane.

Carrie walks over and picks up the envelope. She turns it over before pocketing it; for now, she just wants to get to the park for the meeting.

[MReav]

Shira has a really nice time with her friends at the gym. Inari for his part was able to pass the time played with that second-hand tablet she got for him while she was in public. The sounds were obviously off.

It was probably not the best arrangement, but the wounds were still relatively fresh, and Inari served as her security blanket.

However, as the time drew near, she informed them that she needed to attend to a personal matter.

I got 3 Successes on my Circle roll.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Carrie

Envelope successfully pocketed, Carrie can make it to the park with no further trouble. It is more or less as stated above for Giovanni, although there is a strange man in a white tuxedo exploring the place as well.

Shira

Shira's friends say goodbye, Anne thankfully changing the subject back to Marie-Helene's non-existent weight problems to distract her from following you or asking prying questions. M-H does tell Shira to be careful, though, before spitefully crunching some potato chips in Anne's face.

Everyone

Five o'clock is approaching, and the rain lightens up to barely a drizzle. Everyone's arrived at the park, which is more or less empty except for the three Nobles headed for an appointment in the rose garden.

Spoiler: OOC

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Now's the time for IC introductions, if anyone's aware enough to notice they're all headed for the same place at the same time. Next GM post will be everyone arriving at the rose garden, so let me know if you want to do anything else first.

[theUnearther]

Spoiler: OOC

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I want to know, how old is miss Tellings? As soon as I can plausibly tell, I mean.
Also, I just realized transforming so far ahead was probably a bad idea. The limit is per scene OR per half hour, so doing this demanded two rolls from me. My pool is good and I got 4 and 2 successes, respectively, but still.

Giovanni throws the empty soda can in a trashcan and heads to the designated meeting spot, with a little feeling of dread. Every time he's met another of his kind, it has been a child. Hopefully he simply has had bad luck, so far...

[MReav]

Shira makes her way to the rose garden. She maintains a bit of awareness in case it was a trap (or at least, someone else intercepted the information and would take advantage of the congregation of Nobles). At some point, when there's no one in earshot, she opens her bag and peeks in.

"Are you okay in there?" she asked Inari, who seemed enraptured with the tablet.

"I got to level 400 mistress! But it seems like a waste to crush all this perfectly good candy!"

"It's good that you're able to enjoy yourself given the circumstances. What can you tell me about this meeting?"

[Beans]

[Meeting]
Carrie sees a white-tuxed man and is reminded of her own Regalia. She remains untransformed for now, though, and simply looks around at her fellow Nobles, trying to pick out any she knows.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Inari closes his little bead-eyes and thinks. He'd learned something about this, hadn't he?

"The closest this city has to a leader will be there," he replies in the offhandedly weird way Shikigami sometimes have. "She can definitely help us if we help her."

At any rate, the trio reach the International Rose Test Garden at the appointed time. Even as a subsection of the park, it's quite extensive and, it being spring, filled with a riot of colors and scents from blooming roses cultivated from across the world. Red, white, yellow, pink, and colors in between grow in tasteful, ordered arrangements everywhere, only slightly battered by the day's soaking rain.

The area is also completely abandoned, as far as is possible to notice, except for three people standing around a fountain that stands like a memorial near the center of the gardens. As Shira, Carrie, and Giovanni approach the other trio, each of them first notices that they're standing in a Blessed Place, somewhere innately connected to the Light. They also, naturally, notice the people they're approaching - all in civilian garb and holding umbrellas, but nonetheless almost certainly other Nobles they are meant to meet.

Standing in the middle is a serious thirty-five-ish red haired woman named Alison Tellings, or at least she's recognizable as such to anyone who pays attention to local politics. To her left is a Vietnamese man in his late twenties holding a briefcase, and to her right is a blonde woman, also in her mid-30's, wearing a slightly bemused smile and giving Carrie an awkward sort of finger-waggling wave. Carrie knows she's Christin Svenja, although no one else would.

[MReav]

Shira approached the garden with Inari on hand.

"This is the meeting place?" Shira asked, knowing the obvious answer, but at least trying to break the ice.

[theUnearther]

Spoiler: OOC

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Fun fact: I spent so long crafting Giovanni's lament that the forces of Good be full of children that I didn't even think about what his reaction should be otherwise. Sorry for the delay.
Also, MReav, I need to know if Shira's in her civilian identity, because if she is, he's going to recognize her. Not right now, but later, when he sees her at the school and remembers he saw her here. Unless you're going to drop out of school or we all die here or something, obviously.

As he approaches the three waiting figures, Giovanni feels something about the place. It is not really descriptible, and he is perfectly certain of it, which marks it as a supernatural phenomenon; and it feels right. This is strange, and definitely welcome. More supernatural things should try not being enemies of humanity.

"This is the meeting place?"

Such a young kid, as usual. But the ones in front, at least, appear to be adults. It is perhaps possible that they too were drafted as children, and merely have lived as such, but at least they exist. This is, indeed, a good day.
"Good evening."
The one in the middle looks vaguely familiar, actually...

[Beans]

Okay. Um. Okay. Alright.

Carrie could run to Christin's arms, bury herself in her hug, but... nnno. Too... desperate.
She could trot right over and talk... but still, she doesn't know about that.
Instead, she decides to kind of mosey over to the tux guy after shyly returning her mentor/lover's wave.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"It is," the serious-looking woman says, inclining her head to the group. She looks at the man, who holds up a small prism, concentrates for a second, and nods.

"Three Nobles, rank two-ish, can't speak as to Courts," he replies. "And one Shikigami, obviously."

"Obviously? My disguise is perfect, thank you," Inari chimes in.

"Thank you Mark. And welcome," the woman says again. "My name is Alison Tellings, a Commissioner of the city and a Grace sworn to the Queen of Clubs, and you're standing in the court of the Enlightened Nation of Portland."

"That being metaphorical," Christin adds, playfully. "Alison hasn't quite gotten her paperwork in order to secede from the republic."

Mark glares at her, but Alison cracks a smile. "We can see about that when there's more than six of us. Actually, I was expecting a few more..."

"They'll show eventually," Christin says, then turns back to the group. "Oh, by the way, Christin Svenja, semi-professional Troubadour of Spades. I just sort of blew in for this venture. The rock-faced guy over there is Mark Nguyen, who's the kind of person who gets magical powers and uses them to supe up computers."

Mark just sighs. "There are other supernatural beings out there. I could have wound up being in a group with an innate sense of propriety, like horrible reanimated corpses," he fake-laments.

[MReav]

Shira gives a slight bow, "Shira Rosenberg, AKA Blazing Striker, Champion of Swords." she says to introduce herself, "And this is Inari, AKA... something I can't pronounce, my Shikigami ally." The Royal Tongue as he called it was something that was hard for her to pronounce.

Somehow, you could tell it was capitalized just by hearing it.

"What is this meeting about?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

The Meeting

"Hey, someone who wants to get right to business," Mark says, "Imagine that."

Alison gives him a fond but exasperated look, then turns to address the Shira, Carrie, and Giovanni. "The reason I asked you here is that there hasn't been an organized presence of the Hopeful here in too long," she begins. "If you've ever wondered why Portland is one of the nicest, cleanest, most peaceful cities in the United States, it's not a matter of coincidence or luck. It was the guiding hand of the Hopeful at the end of the last century. For a solid decade, while other cities were being driven into the ground by creatures of the night or plain human greed, a great organization of Princes and Princesses, which we call a 'Nation', guided this city to an Enlightened age under the tutelage of the Radiant Queens, who I'm sure you all know."

She turns, spreads her arms to gesture to the fountain, and turns back to continue speaking, face serious. "This was not without response, obviously. Wherever there is enough Light, the Darkness is drawn to it. The little golden age ended when the city's greatest Princess, who we call Rose Heart, sacrificed herself on this very spot to defeat a great army of the Darkness, and the remaining Radiant Princesses scattered. As of October 4, that will be 20 years ago, and in the meantime the city has...stagnated. Plateaued. Been less than it could be. What children of the Light have been here have been scattered as lone, confused vigilantes, points of light in a sea of darkness."

Alison takes a long look at Shira in particular.

"And as some of you know, violence between the more...extreme factions of Princes and Princesses has caused more obvious damage than even the Darkspawn in recent years," she says, then looks up again, once more giving a speech rather than reminiscing or expressing tacit sympathy. "That's why we need to organize. Rebuild the presence of the Radiant Courts here. Take those points of light and make them into a bonfire. Take control of our city's destiny with a guiding hand for the innocent and a prudent defense against the Dark. I've called you all here to be a part of it, and I very much hope we can work together."

She pauses, and smiles expectantly. Mark quietly moves behind Christin to restrain her from bursting into half-sarcastic applause.

Mana

Mana Nanmen is, of course, a very busy person with a wide variety of responsibilities. However, when Aya asks her to clear her schedule for an hour or two for what she calls "royal business", it's almost always worth a little schedule rearranging. And besides, no one wants to meet professionally on a Friday evening.

That's why Aya is expecting her on a quiet (and more importantly technically publicly accessible) rooftop of a building near Washington Park at a bit after 5:00 pm, already kitted out in that impractical dress of hers that never seems to get in the way or get dirty in a fight, looking out at the park with an anticipatory smile. Hopefully Mana shows up, or she's going to get a real earful.

[Beans]

[Meeting]
Carrie listens to Allison's spiel---it's a good one, she feels. It all makes sense---after all, Nobles are supposed to work together, isn't that the point?
She can't really think of anything to say in response, though---she glances at the tux guy and the girl before her eyes slide back over to the three veterans, lingering visibly too long on Christin before returning to Allison.

[theUnearther]

Giovanni is briefly distracted by the young girl looking intermittently at him. Should he recognize her?
She looks a bit old to be a student, and definitely too young to be a classmate. A former student, perhaps? But then, Noble or not, she should not recognize him right now.
And she seems to be looking at everyone. Probably just nervous, then.

As for the speech...
Something was off. Too much trust on the ghosts of fallen heroes, who may or may not be more than the dreams of the living. He'd never been one for fealty.
Still. A Grace among the government was definitely a good thing. And her proposal seemed a good wait no. Nothing had been proposed yet; her pitch seemed to be for a good, upcoming, proposal.
But then, she held an official position and was well used to dealing with the bureaucracy, so the difference was probably academic? What would be proposed should be obvious.
Shouldn't it? Should he press the point?

Giovanni waits in silence, with a conflicted look on his face, his curiousity definitely piqued.

[MReav]

Shira considered the speech for a little while. She was used to working alone or with Inari, at best hanging out with her friends preferably in the aftermath while Anne patched her up.

However, there was one thing she wanted to know.

"What sort of resources can you bring to the table?" she asked. She was hoping to know if they could do anything for her parents. She didn't really feel confident with trying to use magic to help them, and she had a sinking suspicion that the Tempesta magics that were used that night weren't going to be fixed so easily...

[Felyndiira]

If she seemed irritable in the evenings, the blame was often with herself. Every single moment of her day was chosen precisely to fit some transient ideal that no one could really understand, but that she pursued with fanatical passion as if it had been the only road in the dead middle of a maze. When responsibility appeared before her, she accepted it and went about her life without another word, not saying a word or showing a measure of complaint to anyone else. The accumulation of her own choices left her here, sprawled clumsily on her bed with only an empty talent for smiles to accompany her. Her rest would only be fora few moments; then, her responsibility begins anew, and she must return, again, to the accursed rain.

Water was supposed to be her element. It was revered as a metaphor for knowledge for the court of Diamonds, but that moment, the incessant sound of rain hitting her window was more like a nuisance than some form of higher learning. It reminded her too much of her blossoming - of responsibility and her own stress, and would conspire to keep her awake until she sat wide-eyed in her queen-sized bed, her hair tangled, and with an annoyed scowl replacing her normal, faux-serene smile. "S**--," she grumbled, catching herself at the last second. Absentmindedly, she grabbed her pylactery from the nightstand and stuffed it carelessly in her purse, then stumbled to the bathroom while muttering almost-obscenities under her breath. "Drat! Darn it! Urgh! Something something or other! Stuff of some stuff! Insert swearing here! Who was the idiot that just randomly decided that swearing is a criminal offense against magical powers, anyhow?"

"Deep breaths, Mana," she added, making a forced, exaggerated sigh before the mirror. For a moment, she stared blankly at her reflection, as if somehow expecting it to suddenly jump into existence and assuage her frustration. Her mouth twisted into a cartoon scowl, her body into an exaggerated pose, and the mirror responded in kind. Somehow, this bout of childishness was amusing to Mana, and was followed by increasingly preposterous poses and faces until the girl finally bursting into laughter. "I'm just a college student," she whispered, reassuring herself. "It's okay for college students to complain or be immature once in a while."

Then, she began to play with her makeup; it took a full forty minutes before she left the bathroom, and a intricately detailed portrait of "Magical Girl Mana" was left on the mirror in pink lipstick. She'll clean it up later - for now, it has served its purpose, and would stand proudly in her bathroom as a testament to bad art, viewable by no one in particular.

****

Her makeup - and her hair - were once again ruined when she reached the meeting place.

She was fully drenched, but it was not due to negligence; rather, she had given her only umbrella to an old violinist in the park, rationalizing that she was still young, didn't mind the rain, and thus the poor man needed it more that she did. Somehow, the weird jittery feeling of the area must have contributed to this line of thought, but Mana didn't really mind. It felt nice to be self-sacrificial for once, and it's the little nice feelings that makes life worth living in the end, magical girl or mundane.

Of course, Aya had to choose a roof for the meeting place - Mana was never physically fit in the first place, and the added weight of rain in her dress and stockings only made the trek that much more of a torturous journey. Two flights, and the girl paused to catch her breath; she was tired, cold, and barely able to see from her water-coated glasses, but it was all worth it for an important social responsibility.

Hanging out with her friend was fun, after all. When the enemy isn't around, at the very least.

Eventually, the girl did make it to the roof, panting heavily - though remaining within cover as she surveyed her surroundings. Aya was there first, as usual - already transformed, even though there was not a single threat in sight for miles.

"You look ready for war," she laughed, brushing rainwater from her eyes. "So, um, what's up?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

The Meeting

"Well, I've got a few mundane resources from my office, obviously, that I'm always ready to devote to a bigger cause," Alison replies. "If we're talking about magic, my specialty is pretty much support and making other people better at what they do. I have to listen to the military lobby call me an REMF every day anyway, so I've pretty much embraced that."

"I'm uh...more the organizational guy, but if you need data on what's going on in the city or a magical patch job, that's pretty much my department," Mark adds.

"All three of us are willing to share information, inspiration, a cup of coffee, whatever. You guys all drink coffee in the Northwest, right?" Christin says.

"If you're looking for some specific help, though...," Mark continues, addressing Shira directly, "I might know of some--"

He trails off and puts a hand to his head about half a second before Shira is hit with a multiple whammy of sudden head pain that she recognizes as her innate awareness of Taint - there are things crossing over from the Dark World nearby, though she can't tell where.

"Ugh, wow," Mark says, rubbing his eyes to get over the sudden onslaught of not-rightness, before seriousing up again and rattling off information. "I just felt two different crossovers inside the park - one west, one southwest."

Alison immediately scowls. "In the park? I've kept this place scrubbed clean for months now..."

Surprisingly, given the last five minutes, it's Christin who starts giving orders. "Right. The park's almost empty right now, but we still need to corral and get rid of these things before they spread out. If it's two groups, we should split three and three."

She gives Shira, Giovanni, and Carrie a once-over (resisting the urge to give Carrie a twice-over). "Okay, Champion, Mender, and...really prepared guy. That's a good setup. You've all fought Darkspawn before, right?"

Mana

Aya gives her best and most practiced smile to Mana as thanks for making it up here. The rain, of course, hadn't touched her at all in her magical girl form, water beading elegantly and sliding off her hair and dress as if they were coated in Teflon. That's a trick she hasn't been able to get Mana to get the knack of, unfortunately, and it's easy for Mana to see how sorry her old friend is for her clothes and makeup getting messed up like that.

Spoiler: OOC

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Specchio has the best and dumbest Charms.

"Ah, sorry, sorry," she says, still smiling. "I should have picked somewhere under cover to meet, but I didn't think we'd have any privacy. At least you're in your element, though, right?"

Lame joke done with, she continues a bit more seriously, "I've got very good intelligence that Creatures of Darkness are going to show up in the park any minute now. There's something going on there right now they won't be able to resist crossing over for."

She closes her eyes, and concentrates. "In fact, I think they're arriving now. Want to spread out and go hunting?" she asks with an eager smile.