9CR: Before and Beside

[Nerd-o-rama]

This is a thread for stories before the beginning and to the side of the present.

Namely, it's a place to play out scenes for Nine-Colored Roses (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?402180-Nine-colored-Roses-(Princess-The-Hopeful)-IC) that don't fit into the main IC thread timing-wise. For example...

Session 0.5: Blazing Striker vs. the Bully - for MReav

February X, 2015

"Hey, nerd!"

As far as insults went, it wasn't very creative, but William Ray's voice had a way of carrying. Frankly, it was his only qualification as a football quarterback, but he was the sort of person to gravitate to that position anyway - very much the traditional high school bully and very invested in the traditional signs of status, such as expensive clothes, sports positions, and looming over people shorter than him like he was doing to Shira in the cafeteria right now.

Typically, he pitched more creative insults from farther away, but this time he'd made the effort to put himself between the new girl and the door, with a couple of his hangers-on idling behind Shira - no one close enough to say that a fight was about to start, but no one there coincidentally, either.

[MReav]

Shira gave her usual neutral look. She was she didn't really care for the verbal barbs. After the fire, she wasn't going to let some trumped up jerk bother her.

"Is there something that you want, William?" Shira asked, a slight tinge of tiredness modifying her voice.

In her head, she was mentally considering the angles. Being surrounded was not an optimal place to be.

Remember, William is supposed to be holding Inari hostage, though without realizing just what he has, Inari is really good at playing his stuffed doll role, and Marie-Helene is supposed to see at least part of it, probably Shira will ask "are you okay?" like the weirdo that she is, only for the little plushie to give a slight nod.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Hey, don't be like that," he said, "I found somethin' of yours earlier, and I thought you'd like to know."

He pulled a slightly squashed plush animal from where it had been stuffed in his pocket (thankfully, he's not a skinny jeans guy). Inari, recognizing that he's in public, remains limp and lifeless, although Shira knows him well enough to see the vague glint of panic behind the little bead eyes.

"I didn't know you still played with stuffed animals!" William continued, feigning (very loud) interest and surprise. He held Inari up around the middle and waved him around. "Imagine that, a sixteen year old girl who carries a little stuffed animal to school. Your mommy make this for you, Rosenberg?"

[MReav]

He pulled a slightly squashed plush animal from where it had been stuffed in his pocket (thankfully, he's not a skinny jeans guy). Inari, recognizing that he's in public, remains limp and lifeless, although Shira knows him well enough to see the vague glint of panic behind the little bead eyes.

"I didn't know you still played with stuffed animals!" William continued, feigning (very loud) interest and surprise. He held Inari up around the middle and waved him around. "Imagine that, a sixteen year old girl who carries a little stuffed animal to school. Your mommy make this for you, Rosenberg?"

Concern crept ever so slightly on her face when she realized she left Inari alone and unsecured. Still, it was the most noticeable reaction she had given in response to William's harassment.

"Please give him back." Shira said while still maintaining most of her usual vocal distance, trying to grab Inari out of the larger teenager's hands. She still kept her wits about her. She didn't want to be caught flat-footed, but she also didn't want to throw the first punch.

If we're aiming to make William/his goon squad as unlikable as possible, then when Shira moves to grab Inari, either William will hold out his hand on Shira's chest to keep her at arm's length, or his goons will try to hold her back, again in groping position (though the positioning was somewhat accidental)

Either way, someone with a proper handhold will say something like "Huh, I'd never have thought a freak/nerd/weirdo/*generic high school taunt* like this would have such a nice rack. At which point the violence will ensue.

I guess this would help serve as a combat tutorial for everyone, and probably have Invocations thrown in for good measure. Shira is both protecting someone who cannot defend himself and on behalf of someone she deeply cares about.

Edit: I've made a few edits based on UnEather's suggestion.

[theUnearther]

I don't think this group should be made unlikable in that way. For one, it's been established that Ray still lives.
More seriously, it was part of your backstory that what is about to happen here was an overreaction on your part, no? So you should probably stop piling up the justifications.
Methinks it's enough if they start passing the "plush" to one another whenever you reach to grab it, until one or more of them get beaten up for their trouble.
Also, it'd be pretty stupid of them to try to hold someone without holding the wrists.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Initiative Order (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18924224&postcount=13):
-Punks
-Shira
Will skips back out of Shira's reach, already prepared for this, while both of his friends attempt to grab her from behind, not knowing what they're getting into. One of them, Shira dodges easily, almost instinctively, but the other one fails in a much more impressive way - rather than getting an effective hold, he gets two handfuls of something else. He doesn't seem to mind...yet.

"Wow! Didn't think a freak like you would be this stacked..."

No one can tell the difference between it and a random movement as Will waves him around, but Inari covers his eyes in anticipation of the reaction to that.

Rolls (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18924236&postcount=14)

Will moves and leaves his action open for Dodging.
Will's Friend 1 attempts to grapple Shira (Str+Brawl-Defense) and fails.
Will's Friend 2 attempts to grapple Shira (Str+Brawl-Defense) and Dramatic Fails, getting in a good grope, but not grappling her at all and losing his Defense for the next round.

[MReav]

Initiative Order (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18924224&postcount=13):
-Punks
-Shira
Will skips back out of Shira's reach, already prepared for this, while both of his friends attempt to grab her from behind, not knowing what they're getting into. One of them, Shira dodges easily, almost instinctively, but the other one fails in a much more impressive way - rather than getting an effective hold, he gets two handfuls of something else. He doesn't seem to mind...yet.

Shira effortlessly dodged both attackers, keeping them from getting any sort of tactically advantageous solid grip. However, The second one, while he overextended himself and was not in any sort of position to defend himself, actually did manage to get a solid grip on part of her. Her face twitched at the awkward positioning of his hands, and she was only brought out of it when he opened his mouth.


"Wow! Didn't think a freak like you would be this stac..."

Her elbow came flying up into his nose, cutting him off.

I roll 2 successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18924377&postcount=15)

Also:

Brothers Daryl and Daryl? Or is that supposed to be Daryl's brother... Or is Daryl William's brother, and the other Daryl is not related like that.

Edit: Realized I linked the wrong roll.

Edit: I changed up the fluff a bit, but it means the same thing.

[Nerd-o-rama]

In initiative order:

William - undamaged, Def 4, Knocked Down
Punk 1 - undamaged, Def 0 (all-out attack)
Punk 2 - 2 bashing damage, Def 0, Beaten Down
Shira

So I think what I'm going to do is Combat Status OOC blocks like this where I'll list Tilts and factors that would be relevant. In something other than a straight-up fistfight, I'd also list things like Resolve, Composure, Concealment, and Supernatural Tolerance so you can modify dice pools.

Also the names were a joke based on an obscure TV show, ignore them.

Shira's flying elbow whacks the offending groper mid-sentence, and he staggers back grabbing his nose.

"W-what the hell?" Will says. He really hadn't expected any physical resistance, let alone martial arts. Blood up, he goes in for a punch, only to miss entirely and rather embarrassingly go sprawling on the floor.

However, the crony not grabbing his face and checking if he's bleeding follows up by trying to clobber her while she's distracted, throwing a solid haymaker at the back of her head.

Rolls (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18925438&postcount=18)
Re-rolls (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18925438&postcount=18)

Combat with minions is a comedy of errors. Mook 2 takes no action, Will is Knocked Prone, and Mook 1 deals 2 Bashing damage unless Shira wants to negate it.

[MReav]

Shira noted that one of the goons seemed out of the fight, so she turned towards William as he made an attack... only for him to slip on some soda the janitor had yet to clean up and he ended up landing on his face. Unfortunately, this made for a neat little distraction, and she took a nasty blow to the back of the head from the other brother. However, she's had worse both in the course of her duties as a Noble and in her mundane life, so she quickly recovered. In response, her foot slams into his gut hard enough to send him flying into the trash bins.

Shira's retaliatory attack: 4 total: 3 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18925667&postcount=23) and 1 on reroll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18925679&postcount=24).

I think I can only negate damage while Transformed.

Also, onslaught penalty?

[Nerd-o-rama]

William - undamaged, Def 4
Punk 1 - 4 bashing damage, Def 3, Beaten Down
Punk 2 - 2 bashing damage, Def 3, Beaten Down
Shira

Said goon went flying. He wasn't injured in any permanent way, but like his friend, he chose to recognize the fact of being way over his head and stayed down for the moment.

William stood up, face contorted with rage, and brushed himself off before squaring up again. "You wanna go? You wanna go freak? That damn karate or whatever's not gonna cut it anymore!"

The rest of the students in the cafeteria are just staring now, though whether at Shira's skill or Will's looking like an idiot is hard to say.

William loses his action standing up, so it's Shira's turn again.

[MReav]

With William's friends out of the picture and William too distracted with getting himself off the ground, Shira presses her attack without concern for herself, going so far as to channel her magic to help hersave Inari from his clutches.

While she gets a decently solid hit in, she was hoping more for something along the lines of what she did to goon #2.

Rolls (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18925922&postcount=25)

1 Success.

Dice roller not impressing me so far...

Edit: I think we said we'd ignore my claim on the All-Out Attack in the OOC thread, chopping the extra dice off at the end of my rolls.

[Nerd-o-rama]

William - 1 bashing damage, Def 0 (All-out Attack)
Punk 1 - 4 bashing damage, Def 3, Beaten Down Surrendered
Punk 2 - 2 bashing damage, Def 3, Beaten Down Surrendered
Shira

The kid's knocked back just hard enough to start seeing red.

"That all you got? Huh?!"

He swings at Shira again, missing with his wild attack and leaving himself vulnerable.

You can roll if you like, but as he's at a chance die to hit and too pissed to use social maneuvers, you have my permission to narrate the end of the fight now.

[MReav]

Shira easily side-stepped the flailing strike, spun around, grabbed William by the back of his shirt, lifted him up over her head, and slammed him into the ground on his back.

With him now sprawled on the floor, she quietly walked over to where Inari ended up after he was knocked from William's hands, picked him up, and asked him, "Are you okay?"

Inari nodded, to which Shira reacted by shaking him to make it look like she was the cause of the motion.

Holding him gently and petting him almost like one would a pet, Shira walked back over to William's dazed body and knelt down next to him.

"Thank you for finding Inari for me. He was always a great comfort growing up back in St. John's, where if I didn't want to be a victim for muggers, or gang-bangers, or drug dealers, or just plain violent and crazy people, I had to learn how to fight. So you can understand why I wasn't that concerned with you and your idiot goon squad's pathetic attempts to attack me." Shira's voice retained that quiet serenity it always had, though she did touch the part of her head where William's friend struck her, "And after the fire that destroyed my old home, killed several of my neighbours, and nearly burned my parents to death, I've been such an emotional wreck. I can still hear their screams and see their faces, you know. He's been such a comfort in these trying times. I don't know what I would do without him..."

Her hand then shot out and grabbed him by the shirt, and she yanked him to less than an inch away from her face.

And without changing her inflection or expression, she added, "... Pray that you never find out."

She then slammed him into the ground, got up, and after considering for a moment, slightly slumped like she wasn't going to get what she wanted, readjusted where her feet were, then gave one more kick into his side for good measure.

She then walked over to Anne, with Inari in tow.

"Can you please take a look at this?" she asked, rubbing the bruise at the back of her head.

She didn't notice Marie-Helene staring at Inari.

Now that's more like it! 4 Successes on the attack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18929684&postcount=27), and 5 Successes from Intimidation. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18929781&postcount=28)

I'm also seeing about regaining my spent Willpower by way of Arrogance.

[Nerd-o-rama]

That looks good, but to be clear for the future, despite saying "mundane skill rolls", after reading over the rules, I am almost positive Charms can only be used while Transformed, even Permanent ones. Likewise with Invocations, and even if they weren't, both are magical effects on par with Transforming in obviousness anyway.

All that said you got it completely right for a case where you had been transformed, and more importantly, you got the same amount of successes with just Strength+Intimidation+Specialty+Willpower+Practica l Magic-William's Resolve, so the results are unchanged.

Also, combat ended, enemies Surrendered. Shira regains a point of Willpower, not that it necessarily mattered.

William said nothing in response, only stared goggle-eyed at the girl who'd just almost literally wiped the floor with him, and proceeded to wet his pants.

The fallout from this day was extensive, if mostly short-lived. Teachers intervened after the fight was over, as they were wont to do, and everyone involved ended up with a three day suspension - along with a mandatory detention-lecture on sexual harassment for Captain Handsy, per state law. Fortunately, there was no damage that couldn't be patched up at the nurse's office, although William spent most of his suspension lying on ice packs after that blow to his back. The faculty was mostly sympathetic to Shira as the attacked party, although both students and teachers began treating her as someone not to be messed around with, no matter how much of a weirdo she was. And, naturally, Grandma Goldie would have a solid half-hour lecture ready by the time Shira got home.

More important for the long term, of course, is the fact that Marie-Helene was clued into the fact that her friend was not just suffering from poorly-understood stress disorders when she had conversations with that stuffed animal...

Shira gains the Condition Notoriety (Pioneer High School), but the penalty applies only to Socialize rolls. Her Circle is exempt.

And while I'm talking about Conditions, add Legal Minor [Persistent] to your sheet, if you don't mind.

We can play out a follow-up scene with M-H and Anne or just leave it here.

Also, take one Beat for roleplaying.

[MReav]

-April 25th, 2015. Shira's home.

Shira got Giovanni's email from Anne without much hassle and shot him one.

"Mr. Minotti,

It's Shira. I'd like to talk to you about yesterday. Can I meet with you?

Shira Rosenberg."

Simple message.

"And now we wait. So, what games have you downloaded this week?" Shira asked Inari to pass the time.

[theUnearther]

Shouldn't this be on the main thread? I had thought this one would be for time-displaced scenes.
Also, behold the power of ranting!
Rosenberg. The name does ring a bell. Giovanni remembers reading it, specifically, but it's not one of his current students, no past student as far as he can recall, no famous person that he can think of...
Wait, yesterday. That'd be one of the Nobles he met then, the one that claimed to be a student at Pioneer High. The one with the fox familiar, if memory serves.
Still curious that he'd recognize the name if she's not on his classes, but there are any number of ways that could have happened. Giovanni starts composing a reply.
...then stops. This, too, may well be a trick, against him and/or miss Rosenberg. Should he reply?
Well, yes. If it is a trap, it is important to spring it and try to learn who or what is behind. Crucial, even.
And if true, it is equally important that they communicate. So he starts writing his answer.
...then stops. The mail doesn't give a reason for wanting to talk. General social call, or a specific secret bussiness? Or a dark plot under the pretense of either, of course. If it is a trap it would be irresponsible to spring it in a populated area, but the real miss Rosenberg would be too young to be meeting him in secret. Or at all, really, and damn the Light again for drafting children into its army. And of course, whatever reply he gives must also seem innocuous, in case her machine is compromised. Too many constraints to even begin choosing.
...no, that's not true. Not risking humans must come first, surely a fellow Noble would agree. A servant of the Darkness may or may not try to argue against it, but that would be evidence at least. They could coordinate their secrecy and damage control afterwards.
Then he has a better idea, and finally sends his reply.
"Sure. I was going back to the garden. See you there?".
Then he deletes both messages, closes everything and starts going, groaning a little when he realizes he'll need to walk and/or take the bus.

[MReav]

While waiting for the response, Shira and Inari were playing on an old game console that she picked up at a garage sale for cheap.

"Can't let you do that, Star Fox!"

"Do you have to say that every time we play this?"

"Only when I'm not player one."

Shira rolled her eyes, then executed a maneuver.

As if on cue, Inari said, "What the heck?"

She shot the little computer graphic plane a little when she heard the email notification sound. Pausing the game, she stood up and noticed that it was from Giovanni. She read the message, and wrote back a response:

"Right now/ASAP?"

While she was doing so, Inari cheekily unpaused the game.

"Looks like we win today, Star Fox!"

[theUnearther]

A while after, Giovanni arrives back at friday's meeting point. After some consideration, he decided to show up in his human form this time, since the young girl knows his name and might call him out before thinking about it.
He is also carrying a party-sized bag of chips, as a sort of peace offering.
Well that was uninspired, sorry.
Also, I want it on record that this instance of miscommunication isn't on me. I clearly said Giovanni was closing his computer and leaving immediately on my previous post.

Also also, I'd like to know how crowded the area is, please.

[Nerd-o-rama]

It's a Saturday and sunny, so there's quite a few people around the park in general, although the Rose Test Garden is currently only home to a couple small groups of tourists who aren't really paying attention.

[MReav]

She waited about 15 minutes before deciding that now probably was the time to go.

Shira wrote a note for her napping grandmother before grabbing a large backpack to hold Inari in. She made her way to the meeting place from yesterday. It took a bit of time, but she eventually was able to find that teacher from her school.

"Mr. Minotti, thank you for meeting me." Shira said as she approached him.

[theUnearther]

"Mr. Minotti, thank you for meeting me."
You're welcome. Chips?
Giovanni opens the huge bag and extends it towards the girl. Nothing fancy, the kind a street vendor would have and sell in smaller bags near a school or a church or a theathre or somesuch.
MReav, I have to ask. What form?

And NOR, blessed places are supposed to be able to give you a bonus vocation. What would it take to know what vocation is offered? That was my original motivation for returning to the garden, but then I forgot to mention.

[Nerd-o-rama]

It'll take some specific study (or maybe just asking Alison), but a Wits+Occult+Sensitivity-Shadows Extended Action would let you meditate on it and figure it out. How long do you want to spend studying the place?

[MReav]

Shira takes a few chips. "Thank you." she said as she too a few chips. She could feel Inari bumping into her back. She'll have to get him a few too when they get somewhere private.

"How are you?" Shira asked, making awkward attempts at small talk, but feeling that she should get this over with as soon as possible, and checking to see that no one but them was in earshot, she said, "I'll cut to the chase. What's the deal with you and that magic I saw you use yesterday? The black stuff."

Shira is in her Mundane form. She does have Inari with her, but he's stuffed in her backpack.

[theUnearther]

Black...? Do you mean my, er...
Giovanni looks around at the onlookers discreetly, or rather a very poor attempt at such.
...let's say, "ammo". Is that it? Because I know I claimed I would teach if you would learn, and I stand by it of course, I am a very good teacher, you should have heard about it...
He pauses to eat a single chip.
Well, I guess you'd have heard I'm "talented, but lazy", I know Walter thinks that. Mister Davon, that is. And of course it turns out I have a rather good excuse for that, you have probably noticed, but. Well, I don't...
He pauses again to scratch his temple, and then take another look at the sparse crowd in the area.
The thing is, I don't think it's possible to learn, well. "Ammo". I certainly never learned, by any reasonable definition of the word, so I wouldn't know how to start, er...
He starts looking around yet again, then stops and presses the bridge of his nose with his fingers, eyes closed.
...and of course constantly checking for eavesdroppers is the most suspicious thing I could be doing, isn't it? We should have a series of codewords, but it's probably too late to negotiate a set right now...
He then looks directly at the girl, while he reaches into the bag for a handful of chips.
Peut parler français pas, peut on? Car ç'aiderait.
And he keeps his eyes on hers while he stuffs his mouth full of chips, mostly to signal that he's ceded the ground.
"We can't speak french, can we? 'Cause that'd help."

Sorry I've been missing again. I kinda started rereading Ranma, heh.

Also, I'm still assuming we the party can recognize one another on sight because of magic and/or plot, that's why Giovanni's paranoia went down hard when Shira arrived, but I forgot to write so that day because I was distracted, I don't remember with what. Sorry.

Also also, regarding the garden: my first instinct is to go around collecting Vocations, because there seems to be no downside to them either. And this one is probably about gardenning, I'd guess, so it's relatively easy for a teacher to spearhead a "let's have more flowers" innitiative. But that's my mmorpg instincts talking.
In-game, I established that Giovanni hadn't ever met a blessed place before, so of course he'd be curious and go do science at it. I figure he'll want to keep poking it until he has a more important thing to do, be it good, evil or mundane; that is, gaining a vocation, monsters attacking or work.
Not right now though because he's in the middle of a meeting, of course, unless it can be done during a chat AND Shira doesn't want to relocate.

And on that matter, what does it feel to gain a magical vocation? Like a compulsion to do the whatever it is? Or the knowledge that the magic of the place "wants" some deeds done in its name? Maybe even knowledge that you'll be rewarded with power for doing so? All/none/something else?
(the book doesn't say either way, by the way)

[MReav]

Shira thought for a moment. "I don't know French, but I do have a tablet. We could pass it back and forth between us if you're that worried. Afterwards, we could just delete whatever we wrote." Shira offered. A foot kicked her in the back as hard as it could (which, given that it was that of a small plushie, barely made an impact), signalling Inari's displeasure at having the prospect of his tablet taken away from him.

"I'm not actually interested in learning how to use your 'ammo'. If anything, I'm a little worried about the fact that you have it. From what I hear, that 'ammo' is dangerous stuff. Can make a whole neighbourhood 'polluted'. I know for a fact that there are people out there who would very likely shoot you for having it, and if they found you were using the... higher caliber... versions of the 'ammo' they might come by to burn down the school, and execute the survivors."

Shira's face made a twinge. Given how expressionless the girl is under normal circumstances, that said something.

She took a chip to cede the floor.

[theUnearther]

Giovanni looks at nothing in particular for a while, considering.
I suppose I shouldn't give the "guns don't kill people" spiel, because that's idiotic, yes they do that is the point, but... I don't really see how you'd go about "polluting" a whole neighborhood. Unless you mean in the "drenched in blood" sense? But that's hardly special of the, ah, "ordnance" in question.
His free hand starts waving around and he slowly walks to the apparent edge of Shira's field of vision, apparently without noticing.
And of course you can always find people willing to shoot you for any reason, no matter how unspecial, but still, I get the feeling that you have something more specific in mind? And so I suppose I should ask whether this is a thread, reassure you that I'm extremely responsible with my, um...
He scratches the back of his neck for a moment, then sighs.
Bien, I officially declare this metaphor stupid. And not an actual metaphor, really. Tablet motion is seconded, if you'd be so kind?

[MReav]

Shira took out the tablet much to Inari's grumbling, then opened up a text editor. She quickly typed, so not everything was prim and proper

"Lacrima is used by the Cour of Tears. I told by crazzy lady that it steals souuls and malkes the world worse. Crzy lady part of Coutt of Storm, and they trioed to brn down my olld neighborhoood and killl anyone becase they wouldd be infected. Neighbrhood was craphole that was getting worse. Not sure to compllely disbelieve.

Don't think youu're bad. Woild get headaches.

------------------------"

She handed it over.

[theUnearther]

Giovanni takes the computer and, since they apparently will be spending speaking for a while, he puts the chips bag on the ground and sits with it in front and to his left, signaling the girl to sit facing him.
He sets the machine on his legs and reads her message. Twice. Then he deletes it and starts writting.

i know writting on a touchscreen is annoying, and cannot request capitals or full punctuation but
this is not a race
at least spell things right

now, if this is about dream politics
the answer is simple, my magic is mine and i bow before no queen
i was not lying, i never learned, simply had it one day
not sure who else may use similar elements or how, but i at least have no powers that would let me corrupt anything, to my knowledge
i am a teacher and a hunter and a spiritist, and that is that
the specific power i used for destroying those things is the same that i need for seeing ghosts, which i also tried
there was none by the way
may that be what gave you worry? if so, rest assured that it is harmless
by which i mean, the bullets made of it are rather harmful, there is a reason why i use them, please do not jump in my line of fire, etc
but the power itself has no spiritual toxicity, nor has it ever given me cause for suspicion

also i want to say, you should probably not trust me on account of your lack of headaches
people can be evil without being supernaturally evil, even those who are otherwise supernatural
and a truly dedicated monster may well develop a means to evade or trick your perception

on the other hand, you should probably trust me
on the grounds that i have been a teacher at your school for years
all of your life, it seems
and i dare guess you have not heard anything worth worrying about, have you
should you look into my past my record will continue being clean
if you dig far back enough my divorce was irregular, i guess, but i do not think it reflects poorly on me
and in my childhood i was somewhat antisocial, but frankly who even cares, three decades thence

and on the third hand, which i now have for some reason
you probably know your own powers better than i would
and if you have a functional evildar which leaves you little to fear from counterintelligence, i must ask
would you say all the others we met yesterday are trustworthy?

[MReav]

Shira obeyed his motions and when he was done, took the tablet and read it over. She didn't react to Giovanni's comment about her spelling. Instead, she added a few spaces and continued her conversation, without deleting it. She takes some time to clean up her punctuation and grammar for his sake, but she could tell Inari was a little upset at the whole "doesn't have his tablet" thing and the extra time she was taking.


this is not about your politics. this is about
crazy people who might see what you have and get
the wrong idea. they want to destroy the darkness
and anyone that gets in the way or might be
working with it or might be infected with it is a
valid target. given their history with the tears
people, they probably wont care what you use it for
or how you got it, theyd still say you suckled at the
teat of the traitor queen. they were willing to burn
an entire neighbourhood and kill anyone trying to
escape. i and my family only survived that night
because i first transformed to fight one of them off.
she seemed to have second thoughts especially
when we were interrupted by a darkspawn and we
teamed up to beat it. not sure if she survived that
night, and most of storms seemed to burn
themselves out that night, but im worried that they
might get out of towners who wont have second
thoughts. maybe they wont go after the entire
school, try not to get too much attention, but at
least i am giving a warning about what could
happen given what were dealing with.

i dont know much about lacrima (what you have)
but its not well liked by the other courts and it
gives me the creeps.

more clear: i dont think youre some soulsucking
monster or do crazy evil ritual magic, and you dont
have any bad reputation around school. though i
only transferred there a few months ago.
i wanted to tell the meeting
organizers yesterday but decided if that is an issue,
you should be the one to say something.

my take on the others is that i dont think theyre
bad. any mistrust would be about judgement not
malice or dark magic. weve only met once so
i cant tell you much more about them.

[theUnearther]

After a moment of thought, Giovanni does not clear the text this time.


-----------
see, i do not know what to do with those statements
i have known that life is harsh and people can be violent and evil, and that our kind is not immune
that was a harsh realization, but obvious on retrospect

but i cannot help but think your experience cannot be representative
i have been active for almost a decade, now, without any trouble so dramatic
not that such things cannot happen, they can and they do, but not so often as to always be surprised they have not yet
so if you have any particular suggestion for improving security, that interests me, yes
but if all you have is fearmongering, i refuse to live in fear

on happier news, that is not what i was asking about
you called me because your senses told you something that made you worry, and that is also interesting
in as much as you and your senses are reliable, what you say they say is important information, which i would like to have
so i was asking if anyone else present also triggered this
though on second thought, i will understand if you do not wish to say

one more thing, are you leaving the text in place because you want to keep this log?
because if so, please be careful who has access to this

I had trouble thinking of a way to reply to this. I'm still having trouble, but it's about damn time this scene advanced.

I think I know what to do with my next xp. Safe Place for Pioneer High. Maybe.

And I'd still like to know what magic vocations feel like, please.

[MReav]

Shira read the text that Giovanni wrote, and gave her response.


i guess the only thing i can suggest is to not get the
lacrima charms that let you eat peoples souls or whatever
it is the storms people say they do. what i went through is
probably not normal, they probably would have hit the
place a lot earlier if it was, but i did go through it and i
dont want anyone else to. do you plan on telling the organizers
about what you have?

if any of them have what you do or any of the other
powers of the twilight courts, they didnt use them where i
could see them. that doesn't mean they dont have them,
just that they probably had better options. so they didnt do
anything to make me uncomfortable like you did.

im not deleting this because deleting long messages on a tablet
is a pain in the ass and i want to make sure im not forgetting
something when i write it down. im not a great student.
show me a fight routine and i could do it better than
most m.a. teachers, but reading and memorizing is not my strong
suit. i can delete it when were done if its that big a deal to you.

[theUnearther]

----------------------------------
organizers? miss tellings et al? calling them organizers is a tad generous, no? i do not feel particularly organized
anyway, i think no, no
no real reason to call a witch hunt on myself

as for the messages, it is important that no humans read this, in theory
it is they we protect, you know
from others like us that would do them harm, mostly, but also from losing control of their world, which it seems like learning about ours would do
of course it is not likely that anyone reading this would belive it, but still
no reason to risk it, i think
------------------

[MReav]

Shira looked over the tablet.

She wondered what she should tell her friends, and if she should tell him about them. She can't help but think she would get chastised for involving them (though that wasn't her fault... entirely).



very well. i will not tell the meeting organizers about you.
still, its something that you should keep in mind.

my fox plushie inari knows about you and lacrima. if its
okay with you, i will show him the contents of this
conversation before deleting it. its not like hes going to
freak out at the existence of magic.

[theUnearther]

---------------
your fox is plush? it looked more real
well not real because that is not what foxes look like, but you know
nonplushy
but yes you should share relevant information with your allies
i take it he is also a creature of the light?

also, i did not say you should not say anything, only that i had no cause to
if you believe you have concerns and that they are worth trusting, go trust them
i would also say you should be more cautious before completely trusting the more politically inclined among our kind
but neither is this the time to go sowing discord, their project can be a very good thing if it works

i must also admit i have not done a very good job reassuring you
cannot think of anything else i could do
can you?
i would like to eventually count each other as allies, i think
especially if you are going to hang around in "my turf", you know
speaking of which, what year are you on again?
---------------

[MReav]

inari transformed doesn't look like a plushie,
but in his mundane form he looks like one and
in public acts like one.
he is a shikigami. they are servants of the light.
im surprised more nobles dont have them.
a lot of magical girl shows have them.
and thankfully, hes not like kyubey from madoka.
kyubeys a jerk.

im in grade 11. im surprised you dont recognize me.
most teachers there know me as the girl that beat up
william and the daryl brothers.

what do you mean your turf? i wasnt aware stopping
people eating monsters was something we
were competing for.
as for what you can do, i really dont know.
i dont know anyone that could help
teach you while staying away from the
soul eater stuff. be careful.
-------------------------

[theUnearther]

Giovanni looks at the message and smiles briefly, but then his face turns serious, and he writes.

i was being facetious with the turf thing
thence the scare quotes
the fact remains that i was at pioneer long before you arrived, and will stay long before you are gone
but yes, you do not need to worry about stupid competitions
from me that is

and that does ring a bell, yes
mister ray claimed to have thrown the fight, out of some remnant of chivalry, you know
i guess that was not true?
also, i guess you were already a princess that day? you really should not have fought them, if so
it is not our place to fight humans

but if you will only pay attention to one thing today, make it this
this is important enough that i will use proper writting, behold!
You should not take advice from television.
Don't take law advice from police procedurals.
Don't take medical advice from medical dramas.
Don't take sex advice from porn.
Don't take relationship or scientific advice from anything Hollywood may have so much as looked at.
Do not, under any circumstance, take advice on ANY subject from a sitcom.
Et cetera, and in our case, don't take advice on magical subjects from basically any series.
The same is true of all forms of entertainment, and doubly true for secret bussinesses such as ours, but television is particularly guilty of several things that make it an unreliable witness.
This much I will encourage you to save, print it or write it on your walls or something. Maybe frame it and hang it above the tv set.
...minus the "magic" parts, of course.

about your specific example
not sure why you would assume a 38 year old man would recognize cartoons by name
but i do have a young daugther so i know enough to tell you
series marketed to girls tend to have adorable mascots purely to increase marketability
it is known that some authors have tried to make things without, and been forced by their company to include something
so that would explain the overrepresentation you would find in fiction
He checks what he wrote and then passes the machine to the young girl, still with a stern expresion.
Then he helps himself to some more chips.

[MReav]

Shira looked at Mr. Minotti as he gave the stern look then read the tablet.


he would say that. and there are limits to what i would tolerate.
they stole/kidnapped inari and when i tried to get him back, they
tried to tackle me, only managing to grope my breasts. i might try to
keep the princess stuff out of my mundane life, but i am not going to
let someone walk over me and the people i care about. he knows that
inari is a doll i use for an emotional crutch, but he doesn't know
that inari is anything more than a stuffed toy.

i guess that bit about the magical girl stuff makes sense. personally,
i wasn't into that stuff until the whole 'became a magical girl' thing
happened. i figured more people like us would be at least be aware
of those shows, even if they're probably about as accurate as star trek
is for hand to hand fighting, twilight is for vampires or disney is for
fairies.

anything else you want to talk about?
--------------------

[theUnearther]

my point was more subtle, sadly
we are not human anymore, but something greater, meant to defend and nurture humanity
all of it, all of them, even the worst human to ever have lived, they all should be counted among our charges, and you should extend great leniency towards them
of course, life is not always so simple, there are no easy answers, probably not even hard answers, but regardless
i do feel you should hold yourself to a higher standard
ask yourself this, did your violence upon those three kids help them? are their paths now straighter, perhaps?
can you think of a better response you could have given? did you even try?
will you try, next time it is required of you? and will you work to improve your own ability for such decisions?

as to the trusting television bussiness, yes, that is a common mistake
you are about the age where you would start making your identity, and i take it the light is your first experience with being different?
it should certainly be the most salient
most or all kids go through similar stuff, only naturally less so, and a number of them do seek what i imagine you sought
to not be alone, to not be outside, to know what will come, and so on
i was already an adult when chosen, but sadly most are not, and so you may be right that they would be drawn in that direction
it would probably be common ground, and maybe i should indulge
though still i would expect most simply see the inaplicability, having first hand experience
and so i am both proud and sad to have been the one to share that insight with you
keep it in mind, at least, so that the next time your life takes a turn for the uncommon, you know not to do that again

also, the cullens are faeries, come on
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...are you getting bored with the scene? I sense some mild discomfort, but cannot tell if it's entirely in-character.
I for one am liking this, but if you wanna end it we can contrive a way to cut it short.

[MReav]

Shira's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at some of the comments.


i disagree. i did not give up my humanity when i blossomed
i am still shira rosenberg. i am still the daughter of my parents and
my family is still my family. i just become another person
when i need magic to save people. as for will and his goons,
i asked them to give him back and they responded by trying to
dogpile on me. i didnt do it to teach them a lesson. i did it to
defend myself and protect someone i care about.

She paused for a little after writing that. It's an easy enough justification, but it did weigh on her more than she'd care to admit.


i dont know what you mean by different. there are many ways
of being different. i grew up in a poor and violent neighbourhood and
was an expert in martial arts even before blossoming, and i became
very emotionally withdrawn over things that were only tangentially
related.

though you claim most who blossom are young. how many roughly my
age have you run in to?

still, not bad advice regarding the tv stuff. but theyre still fun.

faeries do make sense for them.

I am getting a little bored with this scene, but if you're enjoying yourself, we can go on for some more. It's just that it's dragging on a bit, since it can take days to get a response. Though I get it, RL and stuff, so I don't hold it against you personally.

That said, Shira's main goal was to talk about the Lacrima stuff, and sussing your character out over it. Having largely accomplished that, she's not one for small talk with a relative stranger.

[theUnearther]

Giovanni sighs deeply and starts writting what seems to be the start of a long argument, then stops cold.
He blinks slowly, twice, then hands the machine back to its owner, without looking at her.
...battery died. Wanna call it a day?

[MReav]

"Great. Inari's going to be very annoyed with me." Shira said as she took the tablet. She could already feel him kicking in the back though it quickly stopped.

"Thank you for having this conversation with me." she said, "While we obviously don't see eye-to-eye on certain matters, I do feel that the concerns I came here with have been addressed and you have been made aware of my concerns. Good day Mr. Minotti. I will leave you to whatever else it is you plan on doing."

Shira herself was thinking about what she was going to say to her friends. She obviously didn't want to tell them everything for the sake of Mr. Minotti's privacy (and paranoia), but they were her friends and were more aware of the supernatural than most and she did get them somewhat involved in this already.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Session 2.1 - The Other Yellow Roses - for Sith_Happens

April 28, 2015
Round Rock, TX
(No one lives in Austin, it's all freeways and government buildings)

It's been a rough week for the Lone Stars of Light, less personally and more because an uptick in Darkness-related activities as the heat and craziness of summer kicks in and things around the world start pulling senior members of the relatively well-developed organization away from local issues. With junior-ish members as skilled as the Red Hot Rose and the coordination of an established Nation, however, that's seldom a problem. The past few nights have been rough, dealing with minor Darkspawn crawling out of the woodwork, but thanks to teamwork and raw literal fire power, all Zelda's showing for it is eight hours of sleep in the past 48 and the warm satisfaction of a job well done.

That does make it difficult to concentrate in school, though, and also makes it slightly difficult for her to register her father Michael trying to get her attention when she gets home from school. Even if it's actually pretty weird for him to be home before her. By the time she really notices, he's resorted to telling awful computer puns in the effort to snap her out of her fatigue-induced haze.

"...so you know you can count on them when the chips are down. I'll stop if you answer me, promise," Zelda eventually hears him saying.

[Sith_Happens]

Zelda blinks a few times to get her bearings.

"Oh, sorry, could you repeat that? End-of-semester crunch has been starting, guess it's already getting to me."

The young girl yawns into her hand.

"You're home early, by the way. Something happen?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Yeah, good news," he says, grinning now that he has his daughter's attention. "Great news, in fact. How much have I told you about the new facility in Portland?"

[Sith_Happens]

"Uh, I don't think you've mentioned it at all. What's so important about it though, we're not even in Portla—OH G-D, please don't say what I think you're about to say."

If Zelda's still tired she definitely isn't showing it any more.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Watch your hyphens young lady, and...yeah," Michael says, a little disappointed that his attempt to pitch this as good news has been shot down pre-emptively.

He rallies, though he still looks apologetic. "It's a senior management position up there. It's not really something I can pass up," he says, "and more importantly, I've got a couple months lead time, so I'm not going to be yanking either of you out of school, and you've got some time left with your friends here."

[Sith_Happens]

"Aw, seriously? I mean, that's great news, really, but... But still... We don't know anyone in Portland! What do I tell everyone? What am I supposed to do all summer? Have you told Rachel yet, is she home? I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"

Having thoroughly worked herself up, Zelda starts yanking her own hair and immediately turns her back to her father so he doesn't see that she's barely holding back tears.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Ah, the joys of teenage girls. Not that a teenage boy would honestly be less dramatic, or so Michael assumes.

"I already let Rachel know, yes. If she hates me for it, she's going for the silent treatment instead."

He sighs. "I don't mean to spring this on you, hon, but it's happening either way. I figured I'd tell you about it as soon as possible so you'd have time to say goodbye. I know you've got a lot of friends and projects here, but there's plenty of nice people and way more community service stuff up in Portland. Heck, they even have the same unofficial motto as Austin up there. Not that I really want to keep places weird, but I figure you probably do..."

[Sith_Happens]

Zelda takes a few deep breaths.

"...I know, I get it. I just... Need some time to process this is all. I'll be in my room if you need me."

She promptly runs to her room about as quickly as possible without knocking anything over and slams the door shut.


Most teenagers' first reaction to this sort of news would be to complain about it on Facebook. While Zelda Rosenthal often acts like most teenagers, this wasn't one of those times. Still having work on the brain, she instead immediately mass-texts the other Lone Stars:

[[MOVING TO PORTLAND THIS SUMMER, WHAT DO]]

Sure, Portland sounds like a nice place, but what if it's only like that on the surface? What if she turns out to be the only Radiant Princess in a city crawling with Darkspawn (or worse, Twilights)? Sure, that seems incredibly unlikely, but Zelda still can't help but imagine the worst-case scenario.

Mind churning with emotions, she lays on her bed and stares at the ceiling, waiting for a reply.