Desolation Creek IC

[Mr. E]

It was raining when it started, a thick grey rain that was almost a mist. Water coated the windscreens of the utes parked on the main street, or bedraggled the dogs sitting in the cargo bay. A few figures stumbled from building to building, dressed in gumboots and heavy rain jackets. Over it all the mountain loomed, thick chunks of cloud congealing on its flanks.

A soft wind blew along the main street, whispering to itself, while the people ignored it, too wrapped up in their own affairs. It whispered and muttered to itself as it rippled the tops of the beech trees on the steep slopes above the town, and spoke into the cloud as it ran through the tussock slopes and spare uplands of broken rock. The wind blew, and the rain fell, and they pushed ever so gently against a round smooth boulder of rock, no larger than a man. The stone was grey, the colour of the mist already smoothed and prepared by centuries of such days. Slowly, slowly enough to be almost unnoticeable, at least at first, it came loose, and rolling with unhurried pace, came down the slope slid into the river with a splash, and was washed downstream.

It came, as had been planned, to a place where the river narrowed and narrowed again, and the water washed under a tunnel of rock. From here, the stone came slowly downhill, through the deep darkness under the mountain, till the river narrowed a final time, and the boulder, caught between two outcroppings, was pinned and held. There, buried deeper than any soul could see, it came to rest, and Desolation Creek began to come into its name.

Not, of course, that any of you are aware of such momentous happenings. No, even as the trap was set, you remained tied up in your own petty loves and lies, your hates and your joys.

@Alashanee, Hana, Rosa: The rain drives you inside the nearest building available. It’ll probably blow through in half-an-hour or so, but for now you are pinned inside the ‘Gold Mine’. This is only the late afternoon, so business is poor, except for one passing truckie that’s sipping a coffee in a paper cup. Behind the counter, a bored woman languidly scrubs the plywood countertop, while a few greasy pies slump inside the warming oven.

It’d be the ideal, albeit boring, place to wait out the water, if not for the annoying fact the several other people have had a similar idea. Tania something-or-other is leaning against a table, ostentatiously smoking a thin cigarette. Curls of bluish smoke rise in front of the sign that declares ‘no smoking’, while she extends an upraised finger to the final occupant of the store.

The Redeemer, a girl wearing farming overalls and an angry expression, glowers at her. She can’t be that much older than you, if she’s older at all, but nonetheless she looms over the entire gathering. There is a certain crudity to her features, as if they were sculpted by someone who’d had one too many drinks last night, meaty hands attached to thick wrists.

“Make her stop,” she whines to the woman manning the counter, “it’s against the rules. Make her stop…”

Really, it’d be quite comical, if the lady behind the counter wasn’t cowering quite so much. She looks around the room with the air of someone who is looking for a saviour. After all, if the irrefusable asks the impossible, what else would you do?

@Catherine, Hayley: You two, meanwhile, are driven into the old station, while the rain falls greyish outside. The old musty building creaks amicably as you enter, plumes of dust bouncing around your feet. Graffiti coats the walls in dull greens, blacks, and lurid reds, while occasionally faded NZR decor peeks through. In one corner, miraculously untouched by decay and teenagers, a poster advertises holiday’s to Coronet Peak, a luxury unaffordable by almost every resident of Desolation Creek then, and probably still just as impossible now.

It is strangely warm in here, as if the fire in the brick chimney has only just been extinguished, and some amiable conductor might, any second now, step through the door and whisk you away to Coronet Peak, or some other exotic locale. Instead, however, the only sound is the rain on the roof, and your only companion is the Morepork huddled in the darkest corner of the rafters, watching you with one half-closed eye.

@Hayley: As pleasant as the station might be, you have a problem. Somewhere along your maniac dash for shelter, a certain note of no small importance left your pocket. You can see the rain falling outside, though, even as you check your pockets to make absolutely sure. Do you return to the cold and wet, in search for a bit of paper that could be anywhere, or will you just hope that nobody finds it?

@Catherine: Tell me, Cath; what brought you to this abandoned place? Curiosity, a certain kin-ship to a disused relic of a past age, or something else? Do you show yourself to Hayley when she hurries in the door, and what do you make of her sudden interest in the inside of her own pockets?

@Collette: You, at least, need not worry about the rain. Sure, it might wet you, but the pressure in your head tells you that this is your time. The rain falls, the wind blows, and his power waxes strong. There is a faint feeling of acid on your tongue, like electricity is building inside your body.

Go on, it urges you, take risks, seize what you want, what you need. What, in this tiny place, could possibly stop you from getting what you deserve?

And on that serendipitous note, you find a piece of paper lying in the middle of the rain sodden street. It, by now, is soaked, but the words scribbled on it are still barely legible.


“Meet me at the legs”

It might be for you, it might not, but you could take it, anyway. After all, what could possibly stop you now, as the rain comes misting down on the wings of the wind?

[Thanqol]

"Tell me what you want, what you like, it's okay..."

Morning. Wakeup alarm music plays directly into her skull through headphones. The music is rich and languid; sunlight reclining atop a boiling sea of razor edges. Dry white hair clumps and frays and delicate fingers pick broken strands off the pillow. Bleaching hair is like cutting a human away to its skeleton - plus it doesn't get oily or gross, minus it's fragile and dry. Ensocked feet delicately trace their way through bottles across the carpet and Alashanee verticals and face to mirror.

Worth.

Black t-shirt is a kill. Just enough rump and just enough metal to make it look like she's some bad bitch up from partying at the Firestation all night - as opposed to the reality where she was editing AMVs too late. That, too, was worth. Season three was screaming for her to assemble it, filter it, set it to Linkin Park and call it art. No one will contest her ships now.

Coffee was expensive, so 'Nee just does that kung-fu trick where she rubs the soles of her feet until the adrenaline hits. Then she takes her laptop and runs it by the extension cord outside, out of her mom's snore radius - well outside, in other words. Then it's time for star jumps. She's only got the one workout video - like, who needs more than one workout video? Memory card space is precious. - but she's diligent by it. Lotta star jumps. Couple of kicks. If she doesn't get a good sweat up now she'll spend all day on edge, heightened senses, werewolf style.

When she's done she face to mirror and eyeballs her stomach. It's okay. Could be thinner. She heads back out and suffers another dozen crunches. God she hates crunches. Still. Could be thinner.

She treks to the bathroom block, and then treks back because she forgot her towel and it's too damp to borrow Josie's laundry from the line. An extremely mediocre shower. Redress in a sharp neon pink and black-violet outfit she got cheap on account of the wine stain you can barely see anyway. She finishes it with a French beret, like a special forces artist. Sharp corners, bare limbs. Dangerous?

Enough?

Enough to get a couple of eyeballs, she reckoned. Enough to turn people gay? Maybe not. Some eyeshadow then, and a little makeup. Not much. Subtle touches keep it looking natural and also keep mom from noticing she's using her makeup.

Gloves. Bag. Laptop. Out. Sun. It's blackberry season - a proper breakfast for a change, and a cheap way to give her lips some colour and flavour. Forecast was wrong, take that idiots.

Soon: Turns out scientists are not idiots.

She's soaking wet when she comes in through the door to the sh*thole Gold Mine. Trembling legs, aching lungs, feels like her saliva has transmuted into crystal sugar and is trying to choke her. And hey, guess what, she's still soaked through and is ugly aware of the fact that she's wearing a black bra under a neon pink shirt.

What the hell. Play it cool. If you don't comment on it no one else will, probably. That's theirs to deal with.

She immediately checks her laptop - it's fine, safer than she is and with good reason. If her body dies, it dies, but as long as her laptop survives her fanfictions will live on. Then she ID's Hana, Rosa, and some chick who looks like she's the reason N-Z has a reputation for interbreeding with sheep.

She hits the bar.

"Hey," she says. "Hana. Rosa. Do you have a towel, or failing that, like a billion paper towels?"


[Turn Someone On:
Hana: 10 - I take a string on you, choose a reaction
Rosa: 11 - I take a string on you, choose a reaction
The Redeemer chick: 5]

[Esprit15]

"Christ..." Catherine mumbles as she rushed into the first building that jumped out at her. The rain, she could stand. That's what an umbrella was for. Fog, she could stand. Hard to see, but not too bad. This, this was bull. Within minutes of leaving the school, she was soaked to the bone, hair pressed to her face making her look like something out of a horror movie.

It was only after she slowed down and was able to shake off some of the water that she paused to look around. Huh... She could have sworn she had seen the sign flipped to open, but when she turned to double check, the open sign was turned off, and nobody was standing at the register... Huh. Weird. Taking a seat, she watches the bird in the corner for a little bit until suddenly hearing the sound of more footsteps outside. Getting up, she quickly goes to unlock the door and let the other girl inside. "Drier in here than out there!" she calls out.

[spinningdice]

Rosa

The cold didn't really bother Rosa, but the social convention was to get out of the rain - and so she ends up in the gold mine.
As the conflict breaks out she struggles to process an accepted course of action. The sign is clear, Tania is breaking the rules and should be stopped? But no-one else is moving, is the large girl intimidating? Is the rule not really a rule?
As she struggles to process her course of action Alashanee speaks and her attention snaps to her. Was that a real question or rhetorical? Why would she be carrying a towel? "I don't... I could go look for some?" she glances over towards the restroom door trying to remember if it has towels or a hand-dryer in there...

[Thanqol]

Rosa

The cold didn't really bother Rosa, but the social convention was to get out of the rain - and so she ends up in the gold mine.
As the conflict breaks out she struggles to process an accepted course of action. The sign is clear, Tania is breaking the rules and should be stopped? But no-one else is moving, is the large girl intimidating? Is the rule not really a rule?
As she struggles to process her course of action Alashanee speaks and her attention snaps to her. Was that a real question or rhetorical? Why would she be carrying a towel? "I don't... I could go look for some?" she glances over towards the restroom door trying to remember if it has towels or a hand-dryer in there...

"I am hearing words, and yet my body remains un-toweled," said 'Nee. "I bid you leave to embark upon your quest. Go forth! Go forth and find the mechanisms by which I may be made dry. Thou needst tarry here no longer."

[spinningdice]

Rosa heads to the restroom, somewhat flustered, wondering why she is suddenly doing Alashanee's bidding - she could just have easily have come here herself? Was Alashanee establishing a role in the social hierarchy? Should she have said no? A bit late to consider refusal now.

Her thought process grinds to halt as she considers the antiquated air dryer on the wall, this will be of no help while Ashashanee's in the other room, does she bring her here, or seek a new solution.

With a deep sigh, she heads back to the front and cautiously approach's the bar, eyeing up the three involved in the stand-off, electing to ignore the brewing conflict she directs her attention to the harried woman at the counter "Excuse me, do you have a towel I could borrow for my friend, she's not been enjoying the weather."

[Raine_Sage]

Part of the benefit of her... pact? Agreement? Mentor-ship? Whatever it was, one of the more esoteric perks was always knowing when a storm was about to blow in. Colette finally understood now what people meant when they said they could feel the weather in their bones. The sort of dull pressure not quite an ache but not quite comfortable either.

Of course the irony was now that she was a human weather forecaster, she had no real desire to avoid being caught in a storm. After a lunch consisting mostly of burnt toast smeared generously with peanut butter, she'd immediately ventured outside more or less just in time to greet the rain as it seeped through the town. It was hard to describe the absolutely sublime feeling of knowing there was something out there looking out for you. Of having something bigger and badder backing you up. Like a....

Like an older brother...

The thought is like the mental equivalent of putting her hand on a hot stove, she recoils from it almost immediately. No, that's not right. Don't think about it.

The note on the ground provides a welcome distraction, a sad soggy square of white sitting in the middle of a puddle. She picks it up curiously. Meet me at the legs? How juvenile. She doesn't really consider the idea that the note could be for her. You don't generally want to leave things for people in the middle of the street during a rainstorm. The handwriting is pretty FUBAR by this point though, no real making an educated guess at who wrote it. Would they already be waiting there? Or would they bail because of the weather?

She tucks it into her equally soaked back pocket. Something for later. Maybe she'll check back to see if anyone's come looking for this. If not well.. it probably wasn't really important anyway. More stupid small town games.

The taste of burnt toast still lingers unpleasantly in the back of her mouth. If the world is her oyster right now then the first thing she wants is actual food. Then maybe she'll climb the water tower and watch the front come through. That's the one frustrating thing about having so much raw potential and almost nothing to spend it on. It made her feel pent up and twitchy. Better to enjoy the rush somewhere no one was liable to notice.

She heads towards the gold mine for the purposes of a hot meal and somewhere to eat it without it getting soggy, the dairy is faster and cheaper but doesn't have much in the way of indoor seating.

[Eldest]

Hana started the day off, as she had been recently, with a cup of coffee and a sullen resentment of her mother. Her mother, of course, had left for work by the time Hana got up, but she'd made sure to leave a cheerful note on the table about upcoming rain and wearing a coat. Didn't look like rain at all, no clouds in sight, so Hana had ignored it in favor of a beaten up demin jacket, band shirt, heading out early in a vain hope of finding something interesting to do today.

Her day had rapidly gone downhill from there.

Her makeup might as well not have been there, she couldn't afford a sealer that would have help up to this downpour, so there goes that money down the drain. Her hair is past "soaking" and into "drowned rat" territory by the time she's stumbling into the Gold Mine, and it's not helped by the first person she saw inside being a religious sports nut. Sighing, she pointedly looks away, stepping to the side.


She hits the bar.

"Hey," she says. "Hana. Rosa. Do you have a towel, or failing that, like a billion paper towels?"

Hana's head snaps up from where she'd been wringing out her jacket forlornly, giving a puzzled look that turns into an awkwardly drawn out stare as she registers the translucent pink and.... oh, wait, Alashanee had said something. "Uh, what?" She replies lamely, flushing as she finally looks her in the eye.

Took an extra day with it, but I wanted a good intro.

[Thanqol]

Hana's head snaps up from where she'd been wringing out her jacket forlornly, giving a puzzled look that turns into an awkwardly drawn out stare as she registers the translucent pink and.... oh, wait, Alashanee had said something. "Uh, what?" She replies lamely, flushing as she finally looks her in the eye.

Alashanee leaned forwards, eyes wide, almost a little too close. "You... are..." she said softly, almost seductively, "a... riveting... conversationalist."

She suddenly leaned backwards in her chair, rolling her eyes dramatically for effect. The stool legs rock precariously from the motion. "Listen, Davis, bae - don't take this the wrong way but some days you have all the gravitas of a dead body. Now are you going to do my hair or what?"

[Spending a String: Giving Hana the condition Insecure.]

[Sahe]

Hayley was sitting at the table, ignoring her aunt since she started the conversation with "Good morning Micheal". She could've corrected her for the nine hundred thousands time or ignore her, flicking through old messages and pictures on her phone. Pictures of her band colleagues and friends at the party they had before she left, pictures of her mum, smiling and happy, not hooked up to machines.

"Micheal, are you even listening to me?", Lisa asked prompting Hayley to reluctantly look up from her phone. According to her aunt she was 'supportive' of Hayley's 'decision', in reality, Hayley felt little of that support.
"It's Hayley now...", Hayley sighed, "I only told you that like...a thousand times or so."
Lisa took a sip from her cup of coffee and gave Hayley an apologetic and at the same time condescending look, "it's difficult for me and your uncle too. We raised you as Micheal and then you moved to your mom and now you're back saying you're not our Micheal anymore"
"Gee, I guess why that is?", Hayley commented with a sarcastic tone in her voice.
"Also...it's like your uncle said...legally you're still Micheal", her aunt said in a voice as if that was the end of the discussion.
"Oh...f*ck legal!", Hayley said with an angrily raised voice and got up, grabbing her bag and leaving the house slamming the door in anger. She was sure her aunt was calling something out to her, but she couldn't hear her. It would also probably have consequences later, but Hayley didn't care. She had to get out of there. School was starting soon anyway.

--------------------------------------------

Consequences did occur, but in a different way than Hayley expected in the form of a heavy downpour against which she was woefully underdressed with her black 'T-Blockers' shirt, red-and-black flannel and the stylishly torn-up black jeans. Granted she probably wouldn't have thought about packing something against rain even if she didn't leave the house in anger this morning.

Soaked, Hayley ran through the rain towards the nearest shelter, the old abandoned station. Miraculously the door opened for her when she came close and barged in.


[...] Getting up, she quickly goes to unlock the door and let the other girl inside. "Drier in here than out there!" she calls out.

"Huh?", Hayley said, taking a moment that the door had not opened at it's own, but by the hand of a girl about her age. Had she seen her before? Maybe. "Oh, yeah...and also weirdly warm, don't you think?", Hayley continued the conversation while wringing water out of her short cut hair. "Name's Hayley by the way", she greeted the other girl extending a hand.

[Esprit15]

The girl takes the outstretched hand, her own still wet and cold from outside. “Catherine. Some people try to abbreviate it to ‘Cat.’ It’s not. Just Catherine.” Haley... Haley... she felt like she should know that name. It’s not like there were a bunch of people at school to mix her up with.

Letting the door close, Catherine heads back to her relaxed staring contest. “Warm though? Huh... I suppose.” She shrugs. That’s what heaters were for, right? “What brings you out this way in a storm?”

[Sahe]

Catherine, not Cat, well...that's kinda weird, Hayley thought while letting her backpack drop to the floor and get out of the soaked buttoned up shirt, when Catherine was posing her question. First Hayley wanted to answer with a snarky "I was in the neighborhood", but everything in Desolation Creek was technically "in the neighborhood", but that actually wasn't the reason why she'd been here. The note...the goddamn f*cking note Hana had left for her. "Meet me at the legs" and for a moment she panicked, frantically searching all her pockets in the hopes to find the probably soggy note by now...but no. It must have fallen out of her pocket when she had been running. "Sh*t!"

Hayley turned to the door and looked outside, for a moment considering to run out there and look for the note but then dismissing that thought. She could barely see anything out there, how was she supposed to find a tiny note that had dissolved by now anyway. And why was it so important to her? It wasn't like you needed an invitation to the Legs...it wasn't a Rock concert, now was it? Well, cause Hana is an old friend and she reached out to me with that note despite me being ****ty for basically leaving her in this dumb with no word from me for years...you're a sh*tty BFF Hayley. You didn't even have the guts to tell her you were back to present her the real you, yet she recognized you anyway...f*ck probably everyone can tell.

Lost in thought it took Hayley a moment to realize that there was still Catherine and she hadn't answered her, "well...home sucks balls and I was gonna meet a...friend at the Legs."

[Esprit15]

“Mm-hm...” Catherine says as she watches the other girl remove her soaked shirt. Her build seemed... off, somehow. Shoulders too wide? And poor birthing hips. Still, the girl didn’t look too bad, sort of a masculine charm to her... Snap out of it! She’s talking to you!

“Oh, did you lose something?” Catherine asks, having completely blanked out at the actual answer she was given. The girl had returned to her observation of the bird in the corner. “I could help you look if you want.”

[Sahe]

"And go out into that again?", Hayley said pointing at the door, "nah...I don't think so. It wasn't that important, I guess." She shrugged and followed Catherine's eyes to where they were looking. Some kind of owl-thing was dozing up in the rafters, seemingly annoyed by the disturbance of the two teenage girls

"So...you like birds?", Hayley said not quite able to hide the amusement in her voice looking at the other girl. She looked like an outsider, a dark wallflower that nobody really payed attention to. She wrung out her buttoned up and hung it over an old rusty steel barrier so it could dry better. Her black band shirt was clinging to her body and after just a moment of hesitation she took it off as well, "I hope you don't mind", Hayley said as she did so revealing a simple black sports bra and a lean muscled body. She wrung out the shirt as well before hanging it besides the other one and looked at Catherine.


To get some rolls in here...let's do a Turn on on Catherine.
[roll0]
- well that didn't work.

[Esprit15]

Catherine coughs and clears her throat. “Um, you need an, ah... a shirt or something? Here, I’ve got my jacket, an- and have been in here longer, so it’s drier,” the girl says as she hops over a counter, fumbling around for it. That was clearly intentional! Quick! Find something else to talk about! “Kinda like birds, yeah! Didn’t have much to look at in here, and she kinda stuck out.” Ah-hah! Popping back up, she tosses the other girl a slightly old but comfortable looking jacket. While it wasn’t completely dry, it at least felt like it wouldn’t sap heat if it was put on. “You- you know, in case someone else came by.”

[Mr. E]

@Ala: It takes a while, either due to the general slowness of her brain, or distraction with Tania and the woman behind the counter, but the thuggish outline of the teen looming over the bar rotates slowly to look in your direction. She sizes you up for a long second, then glares in your direction with a judgemental air.

"That's inappropriate. You should get changed. Immediately."

Looking at you with an expression that suggests she imagines you have a change underneath your beret, she looms over to where you stand. Lips compressing into a slightly less thicker line than usual, you think that she may be attempting to frown, if she could make her forehead wrinkle like that. Rosa is talking to the lady behind the counter, you've just been rude to Hana, and Tania is currently tapping away at her remarkably swish I-Phone. Which puts you alone, with a girl who is just slightly larger than you. Just slightly, like a foot or a bit.

Mark the condition "inappropriate"

@Rosa: The lady behind the counter, momentarily freed from the imminent threat of the Redeemer, looks up at you with a harried expression, then relaxes slightly. Apparently you aren't quite as intimidating as some around here. She is a short, slight woman, with brown hair now streaked with grey.

"Ah, we'v something 'round back, maybe. I go get you?"

She has a thick french accent and a face that is worn like wind-blown rock, the hair clustering around it rather suggesting the fog usually associated with craggy peaks. Vanishing into the back room, the staffer returns a few seconds later, clutching a tea-towel in one hand. Decorated with pictures of Princess Diana's marriage, it seems as beaten down as the person carrying it, but who knows, it might remove some moisture from Ala's sodden clothing?

@Hayley: You know, especially now that you're a werewolf, you notice things that you didn't before. There's a funny smell around here, lingering around the doorway and hunkering down in the rafters. It's not quite a people smell, but it's definitely not a animal either. Something around here, or maybe someone, is listening, and possibly watching you, as you have such a pleasant conversation with Catherine. Which is not, of course, worrying in the slightest.

Something's going to take a string over you, whatever it might be.

[Raine_Sage]

"That's inappropriate. You should get changed. Immediately."

"What's inappropriate this time?"

Colette speaks up, having chosen this moment to walk into the saloon with a faint air of disdain the moment she lays eyes on a redeemer trying to menace one of her friends. Colette herself is fairly soaked in a way that speaks to more than just getting caught out in the rain, but her clothing also seems more weather friendly than Alashanee's or Hana's. Fabrics picked with an eye towards what's likely to dry off the fastest once the rain stops, and water proof sandals like what might be worn to the beach. That doesn't mean that the black tanktop and shorts combo doesn't absolutely cling to her. Colette doesn't have the most impressive figure, but there's very little that doesn't look good draped in wet fabric.

As if to punctuate this she wrings out her long dark hair unceremoniously over the hardwood floor, creating an impressive cascade of water and a sizable puddle on the floor. "Is it breathing? Existing in the same room? Getting caught in the rain while also being female? I'm just dying to know."

I don't know if she's shutting down the redeemer just yet but I can definitely roll to turn on Alashanee. [roll0] Haha wow. Well hey exp point for me.

[spinningdice]

Rosa
Rosa looks at the diminuative teatowel "This isn't going to be very effective..." seeing little alternative she returns to Alashanee and dutifully attempts to rub her down with the towel.


Adorkable turn on, or embarrasingly awkward [roll0]

[Thanqol]

@Ala: It takes a while, either due to the general slowness of her brain, or distraction with Tania and the woman behind the counter, but the thuggish outline of the teen looming over the bar rotates slowly to look in your direction. She sizes you up for a long second, then glares in your direction with a judgemental air.

"That's inappropriate. You should get changed. Immediately."

Looking at you with an expression that suggests she imagines you have a change underneath your beret, she looms over to where you stand. Lips compressing into a slightly less thicker line than usual, you think that she may be attempting to frown, if she could make her forehead wrinkle like that. Rosa is talking to the lady behind the counter, you've just been rude to Hana, and Tania is currently tapping away at her remarkably swish I-Phone. Which puts you alone, with a girl who is just slightly larger than you. Just slightly, like a foot or a bit.

Mark the condition "inappropriate"

Urgh. Yeah. I get it. I'm my mom's daughter and I'm not gonna ever fit in here. My fault for not growing a fleece like all the other sheep -


"What's inappropriate this time?"

Colette speaks up, having chosen this moment to walk into the saloon with a faint air of disdain the moment she lays eyes on a redeemer trying to menace one of her friends. Colette herself is fairly soaked in a way that speaks to more than just getting caught out in the rain, but her clothing also seems more weather friendly than Alashanee's or Hana's. Fabrics picked with an eye towards what's likely to dry off the fastest once the rain stops, and water proof sandals like what might be worn to the beach. That doesn't mean that the black tanktop and shorts combo doesn't absolutely cling to her. Colette doesn't have the most impressive figure, but there's very little that doesn't look good draped in wet fabric.

As if to punctuate this she wrings out her long dark hair unceremoniously over the hardwood floor, creating an impressive cascade of water and a sizable puddle on the floor. "Is it breathing? Existing in the same room? Getting caught in the rain while also being female? I'm just dying to know."

I don't know if she's shutting down the redeemer just yet but I can definitely roll to turn on Alashanee. [roll0] Haha wow. Well hey exp point for me.

'Nee's internal monologue lurches out of it's downwards spiral when Colette enters the room. For a moment her eyes light up as she absorbs just how cool Colette is - that's total confidence. That's magical. That's - that's...

As familiar as the cycle of breathless awe is to her, as intense as the clenching in her throat and wide-eyed observation as she studiously tries to absorb Colette's mannerisms and tone of voice, to maybe learn enough of that power to someday copy herself... it doesn't click. What? The feeling didn't come. Her eyes were elsewhere. What was -


Rosa
Rosa looks at the diminuative teatowel "This isn't going to be very effective..." seeing little alternative she returns to Alashanee and dutifully attempts to rub her down with the towel.


Adorkable turn on, or embarrasingly awkward [7]


- Oh. Oh. She was just - going ahead and - she was just going ahead and touching her, wasn't she? Like, like - personal space wasn't a thing here. But the firmness and diligence with which Rosa was doing this it was like she was a servant. Like she'd just made an offhand comment and a slave had come to make it so without question.

Was this what it was like to be Colette? Had she actually demonstrated some of that preternatural confidence that had just bent the whole world around her? Had she got it right? Was this what power felt like?

She looked down at Rosa as the girl was kneeling down before her, as she ran the towel down her legs.

Could...

"Kiss my feet," she said.

Offhand. Casual. Idle. Like she might be joking. Something so unexpected it might not even be heard, and if anyone asked 'what?' she could plausibly deny ever mentioning it. Something so beyond her she didn't even believe that it had actually passed her lips. A command voiced only to check that the world was still sane.

[Spending a String: Tempting Rosa to do what I want]

[spinningdice]

Rosa

Rosa looks up at Alashanee, her face oddly blank as she tries to process what the other girl means? Was that a joke? Sarcasm - had she already gone too far, too much touching in public was frowned upon... Flirtation? It was tempting to just do as she was told, making decisions for herself was hard - but she was trying to fit in and not be weird... Barely a second passes as she tries to work out how to react, but it feels like an eternity. In the end she blinks and smiles up at Alashanee, "I don't think that would be appropriate, do you?" not really expecting an answer she gets back to her feet and offers her the towel, "Do you want this, or should I put it back?"


Rejecting the XP, but Alashanee is probably aware that Rosa at least considered just doing as she's told...

[Thanqol]

Rosa

Rosa looks up at Alashanee, her face oddly blank as she tries to process what the other girl means? Was that a joke? Sarcasm - had she already gone too far, too much touching in public was frowned upon... Flirtation? It was tempting to just do as she was told, making decisions for herself was hard - but she was trying to fit in and not be weird... Barely a second passes as she tries to work out how to react, but it feels like an eternity. In the end she blinks and smiles up at Alashanee, "I don't think that would be appropriate, do you?" not really expecting an answer she gets back to her feet and offers her the towel, "Do you want this, or should I put it back?"


Rejecting the XP, but Alashanee is probably aware that Rosa at least considered just doing as she's told...

She saw that.

Like, it was a ludicrous request. Obviously. In public? Anyway. But. Rosa had thought about it. She had seriously given it more consideration than Alashanee ever had, probably, and she had to visibly logic herself out of it. And when she managed that she answered with a polite deferral rather than a wisecrack, or a clarification that she was straight, or any other reasonable human response.

That fit. That fit with this weird fake vibe Rosa had been giving off since she got here. Was she autistic? Submissive? Brainwashing victim? Space alien? What was up with her face anyway?

Maybe those of you reading at home think that resolving to stalk a girl based off a weird hunch after a weird, uh, joke is a bit naff - but you probably don't realize how boring Desolation Creek is as a place to live. Alashanee has something to do today - and that fills her with more vigor than she's had in a while.

She smirks, brushes some hair out of her face, totally playing it cool. "Psh, if you haven't heard I'm Princess Inappropriate," she said, nodding towards the Redeemer. "But fine, I suppose I'll give you permission to put it back."

[spinningdice]

Rosa
Rosa's smile remains as she nods and turns to put the towel back, but drops when she turns to see the Redeemer... fortunately Collette seems to have attracted her attention for now, so she quietly slips around and drops the towel back on the counter.

[Mr. E]

@Collete, Rosa, Ala: The Redeemer glares at the three of you, but reserves especial bile for Collete, fixing her with a gaze fit to boil lead. She takes a menacing step in your direction, one hand extending to point a thick finger at your chest.

"You are being sarcastic," she intones, voice curiously monotonous, but still with a distinct undertone of anger, "you should stop. We don't like it when people are sarcastic."

The girl behind the counter makes a sound that is best described as "mwimble" and steps backwards hurriedly, disappearing behind into the kitchen. Tania puts her phone down slowly, with just the faintest hint of an amused expression on her face. Her eyes zero in on the scene, like someone watching a tennis match, or possibly a boxing bout. The towel, left on the counter, drips slightly, just as Collete's hair does, drops hitting the floor in neat, regular intervals, like the ticking of a clock.

[Thanqol]

@Collete, Rosa, Ala: The Redeemer glares at the three of you, but reserves especial bile for Collete, fixing her with a gaze fit to boil lead. She takes a menacing step in your direction, one hand extending to point a thick finger at your chest.

"You are being sarcastic," she intones, voice curiously monotonous, but still with a distinct undertone of anger, "you should stop. We don't like it when people are sarcastic."

The girl behind the counter makes a sound that is best described as "mwimble" and steps backwards hurriedly, disappearing behind into the kitchen. Tania puts her phone down slowly, with just the faintest hint of an amused expression on her face. Her eyes zero in on the scene, like someone watching a tennis match, or possibly a boxing bout. The towel, left on the counter, drips slightly, just as Collete's hair does, drops hitting the floor in neat, regular intervals, like the ticking of a clock.

"Collette is being sarcastic because you literally could not handle her being real with you," Alashanee cut in abruptly. "She's the coolest thing to ever happen to this town and you are a nobody. Get out before you embarrass yourself further."

Shut Someone Down: 6

[spinningdice]

Rosa

Rosa's mind flits between possible courses to take, it seems that the opinion of the tall girl had fallen massively, Collette and Alashanee had both arrayed themselves against her. Where should she stand? Her mind made up she quietly moves back, standing a pace or so behind Alashanee and towards Collette. Hopefully a larger crowd standing up to her would preclude the large girl from further inadvisable acts...


Not really doing anything action wise, just moving around the scene and making my prescence known.

[Sahe]

"Oh, thanks", Hayley said as she was tossed the damp, but at least not soaked jacket. Not quite the reaction she had hoped for, but then again, what reaction had she hoped for anyway? "I doubt anyone else will come though...", she continued the conversation trailing off at the end of her sentence and sniffing the air. Something was off, she noticed, something was strange here and she felt like it was watching her. A feeling she did not like at all, a feeling she knew all to well. That feeling to be seen as freak, a pretender, an impostor. It had been more common earlier in her transition but even now it crept up every now and then. This time however it was almost tangible.

"Birds...huh", she said focusing on the sleeping owl-thing (and now Hayley actually had the suspicion that this was no mere owl). "Is it normal for a bird to just...sit there not being spooked by us at all?", she asked and before getting an answer, "I don't like it, it looks like it's watching me...do you think it's watching us?"

"SHOO! F*CK OFF!", she called out at the bird-thing and made wide waving motions with her arms, which probably looked really stupid while stomping her foot on the ground causing a loud and flat STOMP! to sound through the old station.

[Mr. E]

@Collete, Rosa, Ala: The Redeemer looks at you three, then shakes her head slowly, one meaty hand slowly curling into a fist.

"I'm not a nobody," they say, dull anger undercutting their words, "I have friends." Behind them, with unnerving synchronicity, the door bangs, as two more Redeemers pushes into the room. They are equally large and brawny, skin smooth like wet clay, with flat noses, strangely pale faces and undersized eyes. One of them knocks over a chair with a clatter as they fan out behind their leader, brushing past it without really noticing. Taking their positions, the two look at each other for a moment, then join their leader in glaring at you.

"Yeah," one of them says, "she has friends."

@Collete: You feel a pressure behind your eyes, the idea of thunder growing stronger in your head. 'Enemy', it whispers to you, as you look at the three Redeemers in front of you. Even as the rain pours down outside, it encourages you to defiance, the energy of the storm breathing itself through you. You could beat them, it hints, if you strike now. Crush them, show them why they should fear you. C'mon, how hard could it be?

@Hayley: The Morepork looks down at the two of you, with insouciant eyes, seeming slightly amused by your antics. The warmth in the room seems to rise slightly, then recede, as the presence moves back, giving you a wider stage on which to act. But yet, and it was probably just the wind blowing through the flax outside, you could have sworn you heard something, somewhere, chuckle slowly and softly, still watching over you all.

Take the condition Funny, as the price for your successful Shut Down.

[Esprit15]

Catherine jumps at the sudden outburst. Was she in here with a crazy person? “The hell’s wrong with you, screaming at the poor thing like a banshee!?” The girl carefully approaches the bird, reaching a hand out to pat it on the head. “It’s okay dear, she didn’t mean anything by it. She’s just mad at the rain. You didn’t do nothing wrong.”

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

"Hahahahaha", Hayley laughed a fake laugh, when Catherine asked her what was wrong with her. So much honey.
"Depending on who you ask there is plenty wrong with me...", she made a pause and looked at the other girl, as she tried petting the stupid bird. Weirdo.

[Esprit15]

“Really? Aside from screaming at harmless animals, you seem like a normal enough girl.”

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

For a moment a small smile could be seen on Hayley's face. Living with her aunt and uncle who kept deadnaming her, she sometimes forgot that by now most people saw her for who she was.

"Normal huh? That how you see me, like you see yourself? Normal? Lemme tell you something: Normal is for boring people...you know for how not normal this sh*tty town sometimes is it sure is filled with a bunch of normal squares"

[Esprit15]

“Offended when I call you weird, offended when I call you normal.” Catherine looks into the bird’s eyes. “There’s just no pleasing her, is there?”

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

Hayley snickered, "oh I can be pleased, alright and I wasn't offended. I'm just not normal."

Hayley looked at one of the windows against which the storm was raging heavily and let out a deep sigh. Maybe we can make this more interesting.

"Wanna play a game? I tell you three things about myself. Two truths, one lie. You gotta determine which is which...here I'll even start.
One: I...was the drummer in a rock band. Two: When I was a kid I once got lost in the woods around here. Three: I'm actually trans."

[Esprit15]

Catherine rests her hand on the beam that leads up to the bird as she listens to the girl. She wasn't paying particular attention to the other girl, but she seemed like she needed some sort of acknowledgement... Like there.

The girl thinks over the options thoughtfully. "You don't have the arms of a drummer."

[Thanqol]

@Collete, Rosa, Ala: The Redeemer looks at you three, then shakes her head slowly, one meaty hand slowly curling into a fist.

"I'm not a nobody," they say, dull anger undercutting their words, "I have friends." Behind them, with unnerving synchronicity, the door bangs, as two more Redeemers pushes into the room. They are equally large and brawny, skin smooth like wet clay, with flat noses, strangely pale faces and undersized eyes. One of them knocks over a chair with a clatter as they fan out behind their leader, brushing past it without really noticing. Taking their positions, the two look at each other for a moment, then join their leader in glaring at you.

"Yeah," one of them says, "she has friends."

"Oh, please," said 'Nee. She stood up, swaggered up to them, hands on hips. "Three losers is just three times as pathetic. It's not like any of you are brave enough to do anything about it."

[spinningdice]

Rosa

Rosa felt herself get warmer, why didn't one of the other girls just pull away - this didn't have to be a confrontation. Still she couldn't back out now. But what would she do if it came down to a fight? What would the others do?
She remained quiet, her hands curling into fists.

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 2/5 Conditions: N/A

"Alright, I guess this is happening now..."

She supposes it's her own fault, just a moment ago she'd been frustrated with how boring this place was. Now Karma has seen fit to spice things up a little. That was fine though, it's not like she didn't know how to play this game, and with the storm roaring in her ears her body almost unconsciously draws itself up into a posture that effortlessly communicates how beneath her this all is. Like she's doing them a favor by acknowledging the heckling at all.

"Nee's right you know. You're going to, what, punch one of us? This town's got one cop and she's as bored out of her mind as the rest of us. The hostess is probably ringing them up right now. Assault charges aren't a good look for the moral purity brigade." She steps forward, and it's like something changes in the air. A static tingle, the smell of burning ozone, and as she locks eyes with the lead Redeemer for a moment it's like something behind them flashes warningly.

"But I'm feeling generous. You want to make this a thing? Go ahead, first shot's on the house." She tilts her head back almost coyly as if to give them more jawline to potentially connect with.

Back from the land of spreadsheets, and Colette will "Let the Power Flow Through" her for a +2 on her shut down roll and a new string for the dark power. [roll0] what even is my rng luck, well this clearly isn't about to deescalate the way I was hoping.

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

Hayley was pretty baffled that Catherine so easily, seemingly effortlessly caught her (half) lie. "Wow", she said and couldn't help herself but give the other girl an impressed look, "you're right, I played guitar and bass. That was us", she made a lazy gesture towards the 'T-Blockers' shirt. "So yeah...your turn Birdie Girl."

[Esprit15]

“Everyone gets lost in the woods here at some point, and you wouldn’t list something as serious as trans unless it were true. It also explained your, um... not quite feminine build.” Not particularly liking the moniker of Bird Girl, Catherine moves over to a countertop and takes a seat, crossing her legs and sitting upright. “Okay, let me think a moment... Two truths and a lie.

I have a horrible memory.

I sleep on the street.

I’ve never been skinny dipping.”

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

After a moment of thinking Hayley voiced her thoughts out aloud at Catherine.

"Your memory can't be that terrible and that would be a super boring lie."

"Your clothes are to clean and you look to...tidy to sleep on the street, but it's too obvious a lie."

"So you've never been skinny dipping. Were would you even around here? The Old Lagoon's been dried up since forever and you don't look much older than me."

[Esprit15]

Catherine laughs. "So? Which one is it?" she asks, tilting her head and smirking. "Since none of them fit as lies." Hm. She could have worded things differently, just for added fun. Oh well, can't change things now without giving things away.

[Mr. E]

@Collete, Hana, Rosa: Well that tears it. For a long moment, your smart words hang in the air, and then the lead Redeemer rotates on one heel, half turning away, before her fist rises, and it slides neatly through the air to connect with Collete's jaw with a meaty thud. Behind you, Tania taps the record button on her smartphone, while the woman in the kitchen takes cover behind the bench, just in case. The other two Redeemers surge forward, bull-rushing the three of you, while the rain pours down with sudden heaviness, wind whipping up into a frenzy of thrashing branches.

@Collete: You know what hurts? Getting punched hurts. In fact, it hurts like getting hit by a truck, as your assailants left connects with your face, snapping your jaw around.

'Told you so,' something doesn't quite say, as the acid of electricity is mixed with the iron tang of blood on your tongue.

Take 1 harm, courtesy of being punched. Also, what the flying flip is up with y'all's dice luck? I did not plan for this to get violent at all, but since you could not succeed on a single shut down roll...

[spinningdice]

Rosa steps forward, her body acting almost of it's own accord, as her mind still tries to process a course of action. It looks almost absurd as the tiny girl puts a hand on the redeemer's chest and surges forwards - hurling her backwards.


Lash Out [roll0]

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

Hayley shrugged, "You don't sleep on the streets. I've spent a night or two outside, you don't like that if you regularly do."

It was the most obvious lie, but also the most plausible one. Even soaked Catherine didn't look like she was homeless to her.

[Esprit15]

“Good guess. Though it depends on your definition. I am homeless, but I don’t sleep on the streets per se. You’d be surprised how many comfortable hiding places there are in the school. I did go swimming topless with friends though when we took a road trip to the ocean, which some would call skinny dipping. So really, it was one truth and two half truths,” the girl says with a bit of a grin.

[Thanqol]

@Collete, Hana, Rosa: Well that tears it. For a long moment, your smart words hang in the air, and then the lead Redeemer rotates on one heel, half turning away, before her fist rises, and it slides neatly through the air to connect with Collete's jaw with a meaty thud. Behind you, Tania taps the record button on her smartphone, while the woman in the kitchen takes cover behind the bench, just in case. The other two Redeemers surge forward, bull-rushing the three of you, while the rain pours down with sudden heaviness, wind whipping up into a frenzy of thrashing branches.

Oh hey this is happening oh man oh golly oh goodness gracious was I not standing up a second ago.

[Lash Out: 6]

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 2/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

Given how awful our dice are being I'm almost afraid to roll this but 'lash out' is the only real option at this point so... [roll0] and the dark power gets another string. Will tailor post accordingly. Edit: Oh thank you sweet baby jesus.

She can taste blood in her mouth, she's not sure if it's her nose bleeding or a split lip though because right now her whole face is a mosaic of pain that makes it hard to pinpoint the source with any accuracy. It's like getting hit by a fleshy baseball bat and she goes reeling back onto one of the nearby tables, upsetting the silverware in the process.

If she was feeling confident before now she's just pissed. And in a burst of strength that's half adrenaline and half something else she picks up a chair and comes back at her assailant with it.

The feeling it makes when it connects is beyond satisfying. She can feel the impact vibrate back up her arm. There's a sharp crack as the sturdy wood connects, at the same time there's a peal of thunder outside. Close enough to make the building shake.

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

"Two half-truths...clever girl", Hayley grinned at the other girl. She wasn't mad, "sooo...you sleep at the school? Wanna switch? Or got room for one more? Cause my aunt and uncle pretty much suck and I don't really wanna go back...", she looked at the window again. The rainstorm was still hammering against it and the wind rattling the door, "I guess we could also just stay here? It's surprisingly warm and cozy for an abandoned station and...I mean with that storm outside I'm not going anywhere anytime soon anyway."

[Esprit15]

“Bit too early to settle in for the evening, but I’m sure I could scrounge up some extra stuff for you there...” Catherine says, trying to gauge time of day from the light. “I take it they don’t exactly approve of your, um... nonconformity?” To be fair, Catherine wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about it, either. She knew that it was something people did, like Roberta Cowell and Marie-Pierre Pruvot, but it wasn’t something she had ever really... well, thought about.

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

"Noncomformity?", Hayley echoed Catherine's words, "c'mon...you can say it...I'm trans...or you got a problem here? If you do...just say so."

[Esprit15]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 1
Conditions: Funny

"Noncomformity?", Hayley echoed Catherine's words, "c'mon...you can say it...I'm trans...or you got a problem here? If you do...just say so."

“Well it’s not something I even thought about. How the heck am I supposed to know how to feel about guys dressing themselves up like girls, putting on makeup, and calling themselves Abbey?”

[Mr. E]

@The Brawlers: Confusion reigns, in among the tangle of limbs and fists and blood. A chair shatters with an explosive crack, splintering as the thunder rolls. Someone staggers backwards, landing heavily on their back, spread-eagled over a table. Blood splatters from someone's damaged nose, hitting the floor in a spray of reddish drops.

The scene resolves itself into order as the words cut the air and thunder booms again, lighting up the room with a bright flash of lightning. The Redeemer sprawled over the table rolls off sideways, landing on the floor with a heavy crunch. They pull themselves upright, glaring at Rosa with a renewed expression of anger, undercut with sudden surprise, then, more warily, advance back towards her, cautiously moving in. Another shakes her head like a dog, flailing around blindly with oversized fists, even as they reel from the impact of the broken chair.

@Ala: Well, for you at least, the fight is simple and easy to follow. You throw a punch, which bounces off the chest of the Redeemer in front of you with a faint thunk, and they casually extend one hand, wrap it around your neck, and lift you off the floor. The girl in front of you is strong, and not in a burly farmhand kind of a way. Indeed, she's more of the inhumanly strong kind, as your feet find nothing but air underneath. You know, rather than suspect, that they could break your spine like you'd break a stick, if they felt like it. A pair of eyes peer at you from under crude eyebrows, and, for the briefest flash of a second, something closer to real intelligence glares at you.

"Huh," it says, with the dull voice of the Redeemer, and then the intelligence fades, ordinary stupidity taking it's place. They give you a little bit of a shake, but seem not quite sure what to do with you, even as you hang from their fist.

Guess what, yet another something takes a string over you. There's a lot of those going around, right now, but I wanted to make it clear that these things are more than just a crude physical threat. Nothing like mercy to make you a debtor, after all.

[Thanqol]

@Ala: Well, for you at least, the fight is simple and easy to follow. You throw a punch, which bounces off the chest of the Redeemer in front of you with a faint thunk, and they casually extend one hand, wrap it around your neck, and lift you off the floor. The girl in front of you is strong, and not in a burly farmhand kind of a way. Indeed, she's more of the inhumanly strong kind, as your feet find nothing but air underneath. You know, rather than suspect, that they could break your spine like you'd break a stick, if they felt like it. A pair of eyes peer at you from under crude eyebrows, and, for the briefest flash of a second, something closer to real intelligence glares at you.

"Huh," it says, with the dull voice of the Redeemer, and then the intelligence fades, ordinary stupidity taking it's place. They give you a little bit of a shake, but seem not quite sure what to do with you, even as you hang from their fist.

Huh, thought Alashanee. So this is how I die.

She isn't exactly unused to the ideas of total powerlessness, physical violence, or the prospect of never making it out of this one-shop town. In fact, thoughts of despair, gloom and panic aren't really setting in. They're there somewhere as she's being choked, sure.

But the dominant emotion is genuine surprise. Holy crap. Aliens? She's going to be killed by aliens?

Her gaze softens. This whole thing - this is her fault, really. She had nothing going for her, nothing more than looking up to the girl who's just slightly above average. She didn't believe there was anything higher. Not - not like this. To be that strong? Powerful? She was dirt beneath their feet and she was so sorry for making them mad.

When she met eyes with the Redeemer, her strangled gaze wasn't pleading for mercy.

It was asking: Make me like you.

[Sympathy Is My Weapon: forgiving their base nature to gain a string on them.

Immediately spending that String to Tempt them into inducting me into their weird superstrength alien cult thing.]

[spinningdice]

Rosa
No longer moving unconsciously Rosa's mind reels and churns with a chain of thought ...she's slow but strong don't get hit I can't afford to take damage it may reveal my nature I'm going to be in so much trouble if my parents find out about this watch that blow keep a distance look for a weapon to counter her reach advantage...


Rosa backs off while looking for an opportunity to Lash Out [roll0]

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

Despite the initial burst of action Colette can feel a jittery sort of panic setting in. She tries to take stock of the situation. She feels like a human wire, like she downed a gallon of energy drink and is about to vibrate out of her own skin. Powerful but not sustainable. Sh*t one of them's got Nee by the throat. And Rosa... is actually kicking a surprising amount of ass. Not what she'd expected.

She decides on take two at deescalation, no petty grudge is worth serious bodily harm and that's the position one of her friends is in right now. Drawing herself up again she brandishes the splintery broken chair leg at them like a weapon, voice hard and commanding but lacking the oomph from earlier all the same.

"Alright, lets try this again. You trolls have like, five seconds to crawl back under whatever bridge you came out of before we start entering into grievous bodily harm territory. You're going to put her down and leave. Now."

Attempting a shut down, though perhaps unwisely I'm not giving the dark power yet another string. I will sacrifice a goat to the RNG for something above a 6 though. [roll0] -Heavy Sigh- Should have used the power.

[Mr. E]

@The Brawlers: For a long moment, the three Redeemers look at you, wary like whipped wolves. Despite their dull eyes and slow, heavy hands, there's a certain animal intelligence to the glitter in their eyes. The one lying on the floor, having met it's match with Rosa again, picks itself up off the floor slowly, grasping a table to tug itself upright.

The leader looks at Collette with eyes squinted into nears slits, then shrugs slowly. Off to her left, Nee drops with a crunch, slamming into the wooden deck.

"Fine," the Redeemer says, and then the sharp, lupine mind presses through, even as it speaks through the clumsy mouths of the three girl. "We'll be back, lightning girl." One's mouth moves in a way that could be construed into a lazy grin, if you had to guess the meaning of the muscles, before, with heavy but rapid steps, they turn and head for the door.

@Nee: You hit the floor, which is as hard and wooden as you might expect. There's going to be some funky looking bruises on your neck tomorrow, and also some more on your butt, considering the wooden nature of the deck. But, for a brief surreal moment, you feel something press down on your mind. It's like a headache, if a headache had a smile with far, far too many sharp teeth.

'Meet me at the legs,' it says, before the sensation recedes. One of the Redeemer's throws a glance over it's shoulder as they shamble out the door, fixing you with two wolfish eyes.

Nee takes one harm, which I feel kind of bad about, but it makes more thematic sense that hitting Collette with another negative affect. I think this fight scene has run it's course, anyway, so time to move on. Certainly that's thrown out a few plot-hooks for people to bite down on.

[spinningdice]

Rosa spares a quick glance at Collette, but she seems fine, so she rushes to help Alashanee, one hand moving to help her up, the other gently brushing her hair aside to examiner her throat "I'm sorry, are you okay? I tried to help, but I couldn't get to you."


Turn On? [roll0]
Also not 100% sure Alashanee has a hair style that would need to be brushed away, if not then assume she gently checks her neck instead.

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

Colette lets out a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding in as she watches the redeemers file out of the place, at which point she discards the broken chair she'd been holding and hurries over to Nee and Rosa.

Lightning Girl

It wasn't really a question of "do they know" at this point, really more a question of "how." Clearly there's weirdness on both sides, but they know hers and she doesn't know theirs. This is a problem. Not as immediate a problem as Nee's rather harrowing experience though which is what Colette elects to focus on for the time being.

"You didn't have to rush in like that. I was the one who picked a stupid fight." Colette takes a moment to run a couple fingers over her own face and winces at a point of tenderness on her jaw. She's going to have her own impressive bruise there, and that's definitely a split lip. "Don't go getting your neck broken over me."

Rosa conspicuously doesn't get the same admonishment, and it's easy to infer why. Rosa wasn't the one who needed rescuing. In fact Rosa is the only one here without a scratch on her.

I'll spend one of the strings I have on Alashanee to give her the condition "Damsel"

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 2
Conditions: Funny

Guys dressing up like girls...the words echoed in Hayley's head for a moment and she felt anger welling up in her...what a f*ckin bitch!

She got up and started pacing, like a trapped animal, her hands balled into fists to prevent them from shaking. So much for acceptance...why did I have to tell her...f*ck I'm stupid.

Suddenly she turned around looking at Catherine and started talking with barely contained voice, "For the record: I'm not wearing makeup and I'm not a guy dressing up like a girl. I'm a girl and I'm not pretending or trying to trick anyone or...what have you. I'm just me!"



Guess this is a Shutdown: [roll0]
Well, at least I'm getting experience for this.

[Thanqol]

@Nee: You hit the floor, which is as hard and wooden as you might expect. There's going to be some funky looking bruises on your neck tomorrow, and also some more on your butt, considering the wooden nature of the deck. But, for a brief surreal moment, you feel something press down on your mind. It's like a headache, if a headache had a smile with far, far too many sharp teeth.

'Meet me at the legs,' it says, before the sensation recedes. One of the Redeemer's throws a glance over it's shoulder as they shamble out the door, fixing you with two wolfish eyes.

Nee takes one harm, which I feel kind of bad about, but it makes more thematic sense that hitting Collette with another negative affect. I think this fight scene has run it's course, anyway, so time to move on. Certainly that's thrown out a few plot-hooks for people to bite down on.

Alashanee gasps desperately for breath.

Her life had flashed before her eyes and it had been boring. It had been boring up until the moment a telepathic monster had spared her and given her a command. She could feel the bruises on her neck burning like a collar.


Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

"You didn't have to rush in like that. I was the one who picked a stupid fight." Colette takes a moment to run a couple fingers over her own face and winces at a point of tenderness on her jaw. She's going to have her own impressive bruise there, and that's definitely a split lip. "Don't go getting your neck broken over me."

Rosa conspicuously doesn't get the same admonishment, and it's easy to infer why. Rosa wasn't the one who needed rescuing. In fact Rosa is the only one here without a scratch on her.

I'll spend one of the strings I have on Alashanee to give her the condition "Damsel"

Despite the new, shocking realizations 'Nee had just come to - despite her mind's attempts to broaden itself, to acknowledge the existence of the actual supernatural - Colette... just... walked over her. The whirlwind of her mind just flattened. She stopped gasping in case it was annoying Colette. She let her eyes fall downcast as the words sank in. The implications, too - she wasn't yelling at Rosa. What was she thinking? That she'd get stronger? Ha! As if! The best she could hope for is to find someone who'd protect her.

"Yes, Colette," she mumbled meekly.

She didn't touch her neck, letting the raw, red bruise show. She didn't pretend she wasn't anything other than just a frail, broken victim, on her knees in front of her betters.

[Turning Colette On: 10]


Rosa spares a quick glance at Collette, but she seems fine, so she rushes to help Alashanee, one hand moving to help her up, the other gently brushing her hair aside to examiner her throat "I'm sorry, are you okay? I tried to help, but I couldn't get to you."


Turn On? [roll0]
Also not 100% sure Alashanee has a hair style that would need to be brushed away, if not then assume she gently checks her neck instead.


Rosa.

Alashanee looked at her. Really looked at her. Saw the plastic-y sheen to her skin that she'd thought was just lingering dampness. She'd just gone toe to toe with three... three... three people and she'd gone through them like a bulldozer.

She didn't have a mark on her. She wasn't even out of breath. Alashanee's mind reeled again. She felt like she was falling into an uncanny valley. Rosa wasn't a person. She was less of a person than the Redeemers. She had no idea why she came to that conclusion but all her instincts were screaming danger at her in a way they hadn't even been doing when she was literally being strangled.

With a trembling hand she accepted Rosa's hand. And she wished that the coldness of it was just the rainwater. And she looked into Rosa's eyes, terrified of what she was going to see there.

[Gaze Into The Abyss: 6]

[Conditions: Inappropriate, Damsel
Harm 1/3]

[Esprit15]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 2
Conditions: Funny

Guys dressing up like girls...the words echoed in Hayley's head for a moment and she felt anger welling up in her...what a f*ckin bitch!

She got up and started pacing, like a trapped animal, her hands balled into fists to prevent them from shaking. So much for acceptance...why did I have to tell her...f*ck I'm stupid.

Suddenly she turned around looking at Catherine and started talking with barely contained voice, "For the record: I'm not wearing makeup and I'm not a guy dressing up like a girl. I'm a girl and I'm not pretending or trying to trick anyone or...what have you. I'm just me!"



Guess this is a Shutdown: [roll0]
Well, at least I'm getting experience for this.



Catherine watches the... girl, pace back and forth, more than a little confused. "I didn't say you were. All I am saying is I don't get it. Guys get all the breaks in life, not sure why you would want to be a girl. Not even saying there is something wrong with you. You're the one who took offense and started throwing accusations." The girl seems thoroughly unfazed, if slightly offput by the outburst. "But, like... you're a guy. Biologically. Your body makes sperm, not eggs. If you want me to call you she and stuff, fine. No skin off my back. Like I said, never met someone who was trans before."

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 2
Conditions: Funny

Every word out of Catherine mouth was like poison. She had these conversations before or some variation of it. Sometimes, rarely, she managed to keep her cool and try to reason with them. Bring forth arguments, disprove theirs and trying to change their viewpoint. Pointless, usually as with this one, "I'm offended by your f*cking ignorance. I don't want to be a girl! I. AM. A. GIRL. That's the point you keep missing. F*ck biology! F*ck the patriarchal society we live in and you know what? F*ck you too!"

And with that gotten out of her system, Hayley got up and stormed out of the door and into the rain.

F*ck the rain.


Not sure if this is a Run Away or not, but I'll roll.

[roll0]
Hayley left her T-Blockers band shirt, her button up and her bag.
She still has the jacket offered by Catherine though.

[Esprit15]

Catherine watches, still very confused, as the girl runs away.

In her jacket.

Considering her options, she starts toward the door to call for it back, but thinks better, and locks the door again. Huh, well she certainly has a taste in music, she thinks to herself as she notices the forgotten shirt and other belongings. Still too wet to bother wearing, but it looked like it might fit her. Hm...

Sighing, she picks up the bag and takes a seat again, staring up at the bird again. "Am I crazy?" she asks the animal. She didn't lie. She didn't even make any moral judgements. She just described what she saw, and apparently that angered Hayley... Ignorance. The shouted word replayed in her head. That was the word she chose. But she was the one that wanted to be called what she wasn't. Haley was no more a girl than a flying fish was a bird.
Does Catherine find anything interesting in the bag?

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

There's something about the way Nee says it, the soft whispery quality to her voice that might be deference or might be a bruised larynx. She just looks so...small and frail and trembly and Colette is struck by the idea that she just kind of wants to wrap her in a blanket and...comfort her? For a while? She is having an emotion.

"Just don't scare me like that," she replies, softer this time. "This place can't afford to lose one of the few cool people left here. Look I've uh, a cold compress at home that might help with the bruising if you want it?"


Nice roll, Colette will offer what she thinks Alashanee wants, namely a bit of reassurance and some first aid.

[spinningdice]

Rosa backs away as Collette approaches, let real people do real people things - she's gotten too close already. Be friendly, act natural but don't get too close or they'll see the flaws.

She checks on herself - there's no visible damage, but her insides feel like they're on fire, everything is running at 110%, overclocked and more responsive than she'd felt. Was this intentional, or did her creators just try to simulate the rush of adrenaline a human would feel? Was she built to fight or just for emulation? I am more than the sum of my parts... it doesn't matter what I was built for She feels she can almost grasp... something, but it slips away.

She glances longingly at the other two girls, perhaps if she had been wounded they would show her the same care? If it happened again should she let herself be hit? That's too big a risk... it might reveal something, scare them away. She exhaled slowly, and started towards the door, this had all been too much, she needed somewhere to sit and process.

[Mr. E]

@Nee: You look in Rosa's eyes, and see nothing. Blankness lurks behind the perfectly round orbs of her pupils, and the smooth, veinless whiteness of them is as unreadable as a wall. Whatever is written on them, it is not for eyes such as yours to read.

Of course, there is a problem with looking into someone's eyes. You might see their soul, but they'll certainly see yours. Whatever is written on the inside of your mind, Rosa just got a good look at something you never intended to reveal.

@Rosa: You might not be great at reading people, but, for a brief moment you get perfect glimpse of something. It's just a flash, but in that second of eye contact, you learn a fascinating fact about the girl kneeling in front of you.

So, we're going to turn that gaze around. Rosa, what is one thing you want to know about Nee? Nee, you have to answer that question honestly, whatever it might be.

Sorry about the delay, btw. I was flying on Wednesday, which cut into my response time significantly, surprise, surprise.

[spinningdice]

Nee's eyes are so intense as they try and dive down to Rosa's deepest secrets and Rosa can barely pull herself away.

As ever Rosa is less concerned with the details of others, and more concerned with how she's supposed to be... so her only question is what do you want from me?

[Thanqol]

Nee's eyes are so intense as they try and dive down to Rosa's deepest secrets and Rosa can barely pull herself away.

As ever Rosa is less concerned with the details of others, and more concerned with how she's supposed to be... so her only question is what do you want from me?

Alashanee wants you to be dangerous. When she's looking, she's not looking for softness, or kindness, or an ordinary person. She's hoping desperately she doesn't see any of those things. She wants to see a freak - a monster - a threat.

She feels trapped by this town - it's a prison to her. Every aspect of it grates on her and none of it more than the grim knowledge that she's never going to get out - at least, not under her own power. She's desperately searching for anything that might threaten the stifling mundanity she's drowning in. Something that'll shake her reality because there's nothing in her reality she likes. She's drawn to danger like a moth. She's hoping that you - someone - anyone - is a flame.


Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

There's something about the way Nee says it, the soft whispery quality to her voice that might be deference or might be a bruised larynx. She just looks so...small and frail and trembly and Colette is struck by the idea that she just kind of wants to wrap her in a blanket and...comfort her? For a while? She is having an emotion.

"Just don't scare me like that," she replies, softer this time. "This place can't afford to lose one of the few cool people left here. Look I've uh, a cold compress at home that might help with the bruising if you want it?"


Nice roll, Colette will offer what she thinks Alashanee wants, namely a bit of reassurance and some first aid.

And Rosa, you see the faint edge of resigned disappointment in 'Nee's eyes at that offer. She covers it up well - a flicker of a smile because this is the closest she thinks she'll ever get to what she really wants. "Thanks, Colette," she croaks, and leans heavily on the other girl's arm as she's helped up. "You're hurt too."

[spinningdice]

Rosa's mind reeled. she'd spent all this time trying to fit in, be normal. This girl wanted the opposite, to be the outsider, under threat.

Could Rosa be dangerous for her? Is it worth the risk to let her in?

Why did this girl being happy even matter? She's here to blend in and hide not be some beacon of joy.

Of course it mattered. She doesn't know why, but it matters. On sudden impulse she pulls 'Nee close and whispers into her ear, "Find me later"

She then finally flees the building finding somewhere to be alone to process...


Turn On? [roll0]

[Mr. E]

@Cath: The bird fluffs its wings up, looks at you impassively for a second, then, in response to your question, slowly pivots round to look the other direction, straight at the wall. Tragically, neither it nor the bag are willing to share their opinions on your sanity.

Inside the bag's rather scruffy folds, you find a untidy heap of different things. Most of them are what you'd usually expect, a like note-pads from before the holidays, or a Pump bottle, now heavily dented. Further down, some keys, a dismally uninteresting wallet and a pair of scissors linger. In a separate pocket, and on a more interesting note, sit two small containers of pills, one white and one blue, with a medical script declaring them to be something unpronounceable. Next to them sits something that's a bit like a walkman, only much larger, and with a black plastic cover on the front. It has only a few buttons, and you might not have guessed it was the same thing, except for the headphone jack at the bottom.

While you rifle through someone else's things, the rain begins to slow, and the sun comes out with bursting suddenness. It glows, bright as gold on every dripping leaf and lingering droplet, while the town, for a moment, seems almost beautiful in its decay. Outside a few girls stumble down the street. All three look a little worse for wear, and one is practically being dragged by the other two. Considering their size, it's pretty impressive that anyone managed to put the hurt on them.

@Hayley: The weather does it's very best to undercut your anger, being so unreasonable as to come out nice after you slam the door behind you. It's hard to really maintain a good rage in the bright sunshine of a suddenly sunny day. It gets even harder, too, when you realize that you've left your bag behind, and you're still wearing her jacket. Awkward, especially since you need your meds soon...

Which is why, when you see a young girl slip out of the Gold Mine, and, with furtive steps, retreat in the direction of the Legs, you are presented with a conundrum. You see, you could follow her, and see the only interesting thing to happen all week, or you could go back for your meds. How soon do you need those, really?

[Esprit15]

That is a weird looking Walkman... Huh. Well, they would probably meet again at school, before or after. She could meet the girl there and return her stuff. After all, don't want to leave it somewhere that it could be stolen. Putting Hayley's stuff mostly back where she found it and shoving the mostly dry shirt in the bag as well, Catherine waves to the bird and steps out through the back of the building, before turning and coming back to the front along the side.

Half walking toward the girls, half just walking away from the building, Catherine looks them over a little more closely before deciding whether it would be wise to interact with them.

[Mr. E]

@Rosa: It seems, for the moment, that Collette and Nee are distracted by their own affairs, so you can slip out the door, the weather now, with exquisitely poor timing, fining up. Shreds of misty rain blow away down the valley, while the sun erupts suddenly from behind a cloud, bathing the street in sudden golden light.

The wind, however, continues to flap is gusty bursts, whipping your clothes and tangling your fake hair. Further down the street you can see another figure emerging from the old railway station. Theoretically the building is deserted, and no longer has any useful purpose. Which, of course, begs the question of what they were doing inside in the first place? Whatever it was, it appears to have left them not entirely pleased, judging from the way they slam the door...

@Cath: The three girls, as far as you can tell, are farmhands of some kind. They wear identical denim overalls and thick, rubberized gumboots. You'd guess they were sisters, as well, judging from the strange flatness of their faces and the heavy, over-large shapes of their hands. One of them staggers a long, clutching their head in both hands, while the other two lift her up, each with one arm under their shoulder.

At a wild guess, you say that they were Redeemers, although they look far too hammered to be doing any Redeeming right now. Which is strange, because last you checked, they were the toughest people in town. Huh.

[spinningdice]

Rosa tries to duck out of sight, she needs to process a little after the chaos of the Goldmine.
But she is curious.
Taking a moment to file away the previous events for later study she contemplates... follow the girl or investigate what she was doing?
She's angry already, doubtless I will cause more offense... leave her be, she's probably just going to go home anyway...

Her mind set, she waits a few more minutes before heading over towards the station.

[Esprit15]

Slowing down, Catherine calls out to them. “Hey, you guys alright? Something I should avoid up that way?”

[Thanqol]

Rosa's mind reeled. she'd spent all this time trying to fit in, be normal. This girl wanted the opposite, to be the outsider, under threat.

Could Rosa be dangerous for her? Is it worth the risk to let her in?

Why did this girl being happy even matter? She's here to blend in and hide not be some beacon of joy.

Of course it mattered. She doesn't know why, but it matters. On sudden impulse she pulls 'Nee close and whispers into her ear, "Find me later"

She then finally flees the building finding somewhere to be alone to process...


Turn On? [roll0]


Oh, she would.

Alashanee suddenly had a very cluttered evening. Date with mysterious creepy voice in the Redeemer girl's head, date with the mysterious creepy submissive vampire(??), and... well... Collette wanted to dry her off.

She bit her lip for a moment. She was going to make all three.

She looked at Collette. Her first... it was still Collette after all. But she was going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on here.

"Let's go," she said.

[Take a String on Alashanee]

[Mr. E]

@Cath: The Redeemers stop mid-street, the wounded girl in the centre swaying back and forth slowly. The two unwounded teenagers look at you, eyes narrowing slowly, appraising you. One of them spits in the dirt, while the other spits out words like they disgust her.

"Some f***ers are crazy. Youse best stay out of their way." The staggering girl in the centre raises her head suddenly, voice slurring and hard to hear. "She broke a chair over my head..."

[Esprit15]

@Cath: The Redeemers stop mid-street, the wounded girl in the centre swaying back and forth slowly. The two unwounded teenagers look at you, eyes narrowing slowly, appraising you. One of them spits in the dirt, while the other spits out words like they disgust her.

"Some f***ers are crazy. Youse best stay out of their way." The staggering girl in the centre raises her head suddenly, voice slurring and hard to hear. "She broke a chair over my head..."

“O... kay...” disconcerted, Catherine turns to avoid the direction that the Redeemers seemed to be leaving. God, there was nothing in this crap town... Hm, might be smart to drop off the bag at the school. Casually, Catherine heads that direction, though only enters the building if nobody is around to see.

[Mr. E]

@Cath: The girl in the centre nods slowly, and then the three shamble past you, making their way to a beat-up ute down by the corner. As you slip towards the school, you can hear it start with a growl, then, turning in a wide circle, bowl out into the country with a burst of diesel coloured smoke.

The primary school, such as it is, looks dreary and deserted, although it tends to look that way at any time of the year. A low fence surrounds the single building, a sand-pit strewn with broken toys and a single, unclimbable kowhai forming the two main attractions. The school-house itself is low, single story weatherboard building, with a tin roof that is now rusting around the edges.

At this time of the day, the streets are utterly deserted, so to subtly slip into the building is easy enough. Passing through the white-painted walls, you find yourself inside the three room structure. A narrow corridor separates the 'office' from the two school-rooms, marked by plain green doors labeled "1" and "2". At the end of the corridor is a single window, the mountain gazing down on you, peak still wreathed in cloud. The whole place is dark and deserted, except...

Except for the office. While the door to it is closed, you can hear the faintest traces of scratching from inside, as though someone is moving something along the linoleum floor, or some animal is trying to get out.

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 2
Conditions: Funny

It was almost like the rain had actually been insulted by Hayley's thoughts and gone off to pout somewhere as the clouds broke up revealing the summer sun, causing the air to quickly fill with the typical smell. She already gone a few moments when she noticed that she had forgotten something...or more like...everything pretty much and was still wearing Catherine's jacket. How could she be this dumb? She should go back and get her stuff. But she really didn't wanna go back there...just the thought of dealing with Catherine was aggravating, but she also needed her meds. Torn and angry at Catherine, but mostly at herself Hayley kicked an innocent lamp post. Hard. It hurt. Pointless too, because that certainly didn't bring back her stuff.

Cursing, Hayley was about to turn around and go back to see if Catherine was still chatting up the local bird population or had moved on from that to squirrels or whatever, when she saw someone leave the Goldmine (which reminded her of her aunt and didn't exactly improve her mood) making a beeline towards the Legs. She didn't recognize the girl, at least not from this distance anyway, but whoever she was, interesting stuff always happened at the Legs and while she needed those meds (and her other stuff), they could wait till next morning. She'd be able to track the little Disney princess, down again. As of late she seemed to have a nose for that. As of now, she could really use the distraction and so...she followed the unknown girl.

[Esprit15]

Hm? That's... odd. Catherine sets down the bag under the teacher's desk. Out of sight at a glance, just out of habit. "What the hell?" she whispers to herself as she walks over to the scratching sound.

After a second, she knocks on the door. "Hello? Who is in there?"

[Mr. E]

@Cath: The scratching stops abruptly as your words fall into space. A band of cloud hurtles across the sun, darkening the sun-lit hallway. The silence is as sudden and total as dying (and you would know), before, with hesitant softness, it begins again.

The sounds are sharp and raspy, like nails being dragged down a wooden door. As you listen closer, you can here faint thuds, as if something was pacing inside.

*Spooky Music Plays*

@Rosa: You might want to avoid the girl, but it seems she doesn't want to avoid you. From here your eyesight, calibrated for optimum efficiency at usual visual ranges, can detect an expression suggesting interest, even curiosity. She, a tall and remarkably muscled youth, has the beginnings of broad shoulders and narrow hips, with a solid, out-thrust jaw. The jacket over her shoulders is not a good fit, suggesting it is either not hers, or her muscle growth is recent. Her hair is still dripping wet, stuck in lank blonde lumps around her face.

There's something rather, for want of a better word, predatorial about her, as she watches you from across the street. It seems that investigating her actions from a distance is not an option. What now, prey?

[Esprit15]

The girl instinctively recoils from the door. Was this really a good idea...? Feeling her own heart beating as loudly as it was useless in her ears, Catherine floats up into the ceiling. Holding her breath nervously, she slowly peeks down into the office. Hopefully the adage that nobody ever looks up would remain true for her.

[spinningdice]

Still a little fired up from her encounter with the redeemers, Rosa decides to approach the girl, intimidating as she is. A friendly smile slipping back onto her face (probably a little late for that) "So, what brings you out on this ill-weathered day? Anything I can help you with?" what was that - that's not how normal people speak....

[Mr. E]

@Cath: You float up through the ceiling, stick your head through the plain white wall, and gaze down at the strange scene in the office.

The room is as boring and practical as you might expect. Walls painted a dull white, with an out of date calendar decorating one, and a picture of what appears to be Tahiti on the other, the place is furnished in the typical bureaucratic style. A bench, now thickly coated in dust, sits in the centre, with a computer on top, although the screen has been shattered, shards of glass sprayed across the desk and onto the office chair nearby.

Filing cabinets line the back walls of the room, one torn open and its contents spilled across the ground, 2011 report forms covering the dark grey carpet. A microwave sits on a high shelf, spared the havoc wreaked on the rest of the room. A window in one corner has been part pried open, wood frame torn around the edges and, in next to the doorway, crouches a thing.

It is wearing grubby jeans and a torn T-shirt, fraying strings of red cotton dangling from its wrists. The head is hairless, pale white and plastic skin slick like damp clay and earless, featureless except for one eye, set into the right side of the face. Crouching at the door, it scratches at the wood with one hand, flat, three-fingered hands tearing gouges out of the plywood.

Roll to Keep Your Cool - this thing is rather spooky. Also, if anyone finds these things are creeping too close to bio-horror, do feel free to tell me.

[Esprit15]

Catherine watches the creature, trying to make sense of the scene before her. She doesn't, and with extreme haste decides that maybe she should leave. Immediately. The only thing that she pauses for is to grab Haley's bag.

I don't know what that was, I don't want to know what that was. That is beyond what I deal with... I should... Tell someone, probably.

Quickly leaving the school and landing into a brisk walk, she heads back in the direction of the Redeemers.

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

The way back to her house isn't far, and as the rain dies down it's significantly less wet. Colette's place is nothing special but nothing particularly shabby either, a one story house with two bedrooms and the sort of "open concept" layout that spoke more to it being the cheapest construction option as opposed to any real aesthetic benefit. The lawn had grown out a bit since her parents had gone since she largely couldn't be bothered to maintain it on her own, but the inside of the house itself was the sort of carefully arranged neat of someone who didn't want to give the neighbors (such as they were) cause for alarm.

She rummages through the freezer for a moment before pulling out a long thin gel pack and wraps it in a towel before placing it carefully around Alashanee's throat. "There. Better? Worse?"

She decides to put a kettle on for tea in the meantime, might as well make an attempt at being a halfway decent host. "Figures the highlight of the day so far is a bar fight. Says something about where we ended up doesn't it?"

[Thanqol]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

The way back to her house isn't far, and as the rain dies down it's significantly less wet. Colette's place is nothing special but nothing particularly shabby either, a one story house with two bedrooms and the sort of "open concept" layout that spoke more to it being the cheapest construction option as opposed to any real aesthetic benefit. The lawn had grown out a bit since her parents had gone since she largely couldn't be bothered to maintain it on her own, but the inside of the house itself was the sort of carefully arranged neat of someone who didn't want to give the neighbors (such as they were) cause for alarm.

She rummages through the freezer for a moment before pulling out a long thin gel pack and wraps it in a towel before placing it carefully around Alashanee's throat. "There. Better? Worse?"

She decides to put a kettle on for tea in the meantime, might as well make an attempt at being a halfway decent host. "Figures the highlight of the day so far is a bar fight. Says something about where we ended up doesn't it?"

"Better, thanks," croaks 'Nee.

This place might be nothing special to Colette but to Alashanee it's awesome. Last year when Colette and her family went away for the weekend she fantasised about breaking in just so she could have a shower, a bath, a heater and a bed all to herself. Even the fact that she had a gel pack in her freezer that hadn't been traded to Luke Skiv (along with dinner for the week) for some extra smack was enviable.

The main reason she'd turned around back then was the thought that she might not leave if she moved in.

And now she was here anyway.

"Yeah," said 'Nee, feeling the chill run up into her head through the cloth. "That was scary. I didn't think they'd actually... I mean, maybe I pushed the line too far today. Maybe I should try and fit in more."

[Sahe]

Still a little fired up from her encounter with the redeemers, Rosa decides to approach the girl, intimidating as she is. A friendly smile slipping back onto her face (probably a little late for that) "So, what brings you out on this ill-weathered day? Anything I can help you with?" what was that - that's not how normal people speak....

The other girl seemed to have spotted Hayley and came up to her. Not how she had planned this at all and then she opened her mouth and Hayley rolled her eyes. "Ill-weathered day" great another weirdo...isn't anyone normal left in this town? Should've just gone back for the bag.

"I just want to be anywhere but home...or there", Hayley said and pointed over to the Goldmine, chances where that her aunt was currently working there. "But were where you going? The Legs?"

[spinningdice]

Rosa blinks, the girl did not actually want interaction... oh.
"I was..." she hangs her head a little, attempting to look sheepish "Attempting to avoid people, I find them difficult. Not really paying attention where I was heading. Sorry for interrupting you - I thought you were trying to approach me." Rosa wasn't sure where to look, when Alashanee looked into her eyes, something happened - she's still not sure what, but that's where you're supposed to look when talking to someone isn't it? After flicking across the rest of her body she settles on looking at her mouth.
"I'm Rosa, by the way."

[Mr. E]

@Cath: Something about the sudden blur of movement above its head seems to attract the attention of the creature squatting on the floor of the office. As you whip backwards towards the wall, the mishappen head of the child-thing snaps up, and, for one unnerving second, the red-pupiled eye makes contact with yours. It appraises you, with sudden intelligence, before, as you slink back through the wall, it throws itself at the door with sudden fury, tearing at the soft wood with long, sharp nails.

As you flee back out of the school, dragging Hayley's bag behind you, the sounds of scratching follow you, seeming to grow louder rather quieter, or maybe that's just your fear talking. Up ahead of you, you can see Hayley, looking as irritated as ever, in close conversation with another girl, who's expression suggests that she too is on the wrong end of your mutual acquaintances temper. On the other hand, the street remains as deserted as ever, so if you want backup, this may be the only game in town...

Quick and dirty, but a post is a post, and it gives the story a place to go, so that's something.

[Esprit15]

Wide eyed and panting, Catherine takes the welcome chance to pause, holding out the bag to Haley. “You... forgot... this...” she gasps, glancing behind herself. The thing seemed trapped, but if it realized that she left the school, that open window was right there, so caution was... warranted.

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

"I feel like that's overrated. I mean all it takes is one slip and you get your 'fitting in' privileges revoked more or less instantly. I don't need that kind of stress..."

The kettle starts whistling and she pours the boiling water into a pot full of plain black tea. Setting a small egg timer for four minutes because she's forgotten a steeping pot and been greeted with bitter over steeped tea one too many times to eyeball it anymore. "It's not like the redeemers "fit in" more than anyone else here either, they're just too big to mess with usually." Colette glances back over at her, and there's a faint sense of triumph behind the disillusionment.

"You've got like, f*cking insane hustle though. You're looking at University right? Or like, vocational stuff?"

[Thanqol]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

"I feel like that's overrated. I mean all it takes is one slip and you get your 'fitting in' privileges revoked more or less instantly. I don't need that kind of stress..."

The kettle starts whistling and she pours the boiling water into a pot full of plain black tea. Setting a small egg timer for four minutes because she's forgotten a steeping pot and been greeted with bitter over steeped tea one too many times to eyeball it anymore. "It's not like the redeemers "fit in" more than anyone else here either, they're just too big to mess with usually." Colette glances back over at her, and there's a faint sense of triumph behind the disillusionment.

"You've got like, f*cking insane hustle though. You're looking at University right? Or like, vocational stuff?"

"Jesus, Collette, out the gate with the big questions, huh?" said 'Nee, flushing and staring at the egg timer. "Any plan I have is made harder by having to include a step where mom doesn't OD after two weeks alone. I know you've bitched about your parents but at least they're functional enough that they can take a three month cruise without you having to cache CPR websites from the hotspot."

Holy sh*t. A three month cruise. Wouldn't that be the life - even if it was just mom that was going on it.

"Guess they'll be back any day though, huh?" she said a bit wistfully, eyes straying towards Collette's bathroom where the faintest outline of the shower could be seen.

[Sahe]

Hayley, the Wolf
Harm: 0
Experience: 2
Conditions: Funny

"Name's Hayley", Hayley said and noticed that Rosa wasn't looking her in the eyes but instead seemed fixated on her...mouth? Oh well, maybe she was deaf and was lip-reading? Before she could say anything else Hayley saw Catherine approaching them, even paler than usual and shooting glances behind her back as if she was being followed. Hayley scanned the street behind Catherine but couldn't see anything but the old school building. She did notice however that Catherine was carrying her bag, at least that was something.

When Catherine reached them, Hayley nodded when she took the bag from the other girl, "thanks...would've been really f*cked without this. Oh, still got your jacket..." And with that Hayley proceeded to quickly slip out of the jacket and into her still damp shirt she had found in her bag. Catherine was maybe a weirdo and somewhat transphobic, but at least she gathered up all the stuff. "What's up with you? You look like you've seen a ghost."

[Esprit15]

“W-was going to... l-l-leave it at... the- the school... s-since I t-told you... it’s where I stay....” Catherine says between gasps. Particularly keen would notice that she’s not actually sweating from running, and seems to be more mid-panic attack. She takes a second to try and compose herself before continuing. “There was something... something scratching from in the principal’s office. I looked through the window, and there was... I don’t know. It looked human, but... anyways, it turned and saw me, and started digging at the door faster, and... well, that brings me up to here.”

[spinningdice]

Rosa steps forwards to stand between the girls and the school and looks over in the direction the newcomer came from. "Are you sure it wasn't just a trapped animal?" she asks distractedly as her eyes flick between possible approaches.
Seeing no immediate danger, her curiousity is peaked, still turned towards teh school she absently queries "Why do you have each other's things? Are you... involved?"

[Esprit15]

“I saw it,” Catherine says defensively. “I know what I saw. That was no animal.” The girl takes her coat and puts it back on. “No, she joined me in the same building while we hid from the rain. She borrowed my coat while her shirt dried, somewhat.”

[spinningdice]

"oh", that was disappointing, she would like to observe couples behaviour... Not the main point right now.
Rosa's brow furrows slightly, the lines all neat and defined, "why are you staying at the school?"

[Esprit15]

"oh", that was disappointing, she would like to observe couples behaviour... Not the main point right now.
Rosa's brow furrows slightly, the lines all neat and defined, "why are you staying at the school?"

“Because I do,” she says simply.

[spinningdice]

Reflecting that her previous query may be construed as offensive Rosa turn to face the newcomer. "Sorry, I'm Rosa. I don't mean to be rude... where will you stay tonight? Are you planning on going back there?"

[Esprit15]

Catherine shrugs. “Dunno, I’ll see when it comes to that. Right now I would like to see if I could find someone to get rid of it.”

[spinningdice]

"Did you have anyone in mind - I don't know how much use I'll be, but I don't mind going back with you to take a look?"

[Esprit15]

“Was going to try and find Officer Arona. If not her, maybe some Redeemers would be willing to take a look,” she says with a shrug. “I don’t intend to go back without some help.”

[Sahe]

"I'll go", Hayley said, her eyes fixed on the school building. Before that she had listened with half an ear while checking if everything was still in her bag.

Now she was curious and she started leading the way to the building.

[spinningdice]

Rosa shrugs and falls in behind Hayley.

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4


"Jesus, Collette, out the gate with the big questions, huh?" said 'Nee, flushing and staring at the egg timer. "Any plan I have is made harder by having to include a step where mom doesn't OD after two weeks alone. I know you've bitched about your parents but at least they're functional enough that they can take a three month cruise without you having to cache CPR websites from the hotspot."

Holy sh*t. A three month cruise. Wouldn't that be the life - even if it was just mom that was going on it.

"Guess they'll be back any day though, huh?" she said a bit wistfully, eyes straying towards Collette's bathroom where the faintest outline of the shower could be seen.

"Yeah well as far as I'm concerned they can take their time." She says as the timer dings and she pours it out into mugs, there's a lull in the conversation while she fishes out sugar and sniffs at the cream to make sure it hasn't turned before setting it out too.

"I mean, do you ever think it would just be... kind of a relief sometimes though?" She says it kind of abruptly, while she's in the middle of spooning three teaspoons worth of sugar into her drink. "If she did do something like that. Do you ever feel like it would be just so much less to deal with?"

She gives Nee a kind of sideways glance. "I wouldn't judge if the answer was yes you know. I think airing that kind of stuff is important."

[Thanqol]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4


"Yeah well as far as I'm concerned they can take their time." She says as the timer dings and she pours it out into mugs, there's a lull in the conversation while she fishes out sugar and sniffs at the cream to make sure it hasn't turned before setting it out too.

"I mean, do you ever think it would just be... kind of a relief sometimes though?" She says it kind of abruptly, while she's in the middle of spooning three teaspoons worth of sugar into her drink. "If she did do something like that. Do you ever feel like it would be just so much less to deal with?"

She gives Nee a kind of sideways glance. "I wouldn't judge if the answer was yes you know. I think airing that kind of stuff is important."

"And go into the f*cking system? No thanks," said 'Nee without thinking. Then her brain caught up with her Freudian slip and she said, "Oh - crap - I didn't mean it like that. Oh hell, that probably sounded horrible, no, I wasn't trying to say that..." she said, clearly not having processed that last bit about not being judged.

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

"Hey seriously, it's fine. I'd be more surprised it it wasn't something you'd thought about. I mean, its your life that gets affected either way." she takes a sip of her tea, leaning against the kitchen counter top. "And there's nothing wrong with wanting a break."

She can't really tell which would be harder, a parent who simply can't take care of themselves much less their kid, or a parent who willfully and knowingly makes their kid miserable. She has to conclude though that Nee probably has it rougher, helplessness engenders a certain amount of sympathy that keeps you coming back for more. Colette's reserves of filial loyalty had burnt out nearly completely and honestly it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Her friend was still on the hook.

"I'm just saying, by the time university rolls around being in the system stops being a concern." It's hard to tell how serious this is, but she smiles a little like it's a very dark joke. "Seriously though if you need to not be at your house for whatever reason you can come bother me. It's not like I have to run it by anyone else right now."

[Thanqol]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

"Hey seriously, it's fine. I'd be more surprised it it wasn't something you'd thought about. I mean, its your life that gets affected either way." she takes a sip of her tea, leaning against the kitchen counter top. "And there's nothing wrong with wanting a break."

She can't really tell which would be harder, a parent who simply can't take care of themselves much less their kid, or a parent who willfully and knowingly makes their kid miserable. She has to conclude though that Nee probably has it rougher, helplessness engenders a certain amount of sympathy that keeps you coming back for more. Colette's reserves of filial loyalty had burnt out nearly completely and honestly it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Her friend was still on the hook.

"I'm just saying, by the time university rolls around being in the system stops being a concern." It's hard to tell how serious this is, but she smiles a little like it's a very dark joke. "Seriously though if you need to not be at your house for whatever reason you can come bother me. It's not like I have to run it by anyone else right now."

'Nee's mind crashed. Straight up total blankness and a paralysed, breathless stare.

"oh no," said a voice like a sparrow with laryngitis

"i couldn't possibly"

[Mr. E]

@Hayley, Rosa: The school is squat and boring as ever, clad in plain white weather-boards. A few windows look at you between the barred fence, kid's pictures, now age-yellowed, papering over the cracks. The shoulder high fence separates the school from any passers-by, at least deterring any teenagers from excessive interest. Over the building hangs a dark green roof, brooding like a thunder-cloud. As if to make the simile more explicit, the sun is shut behind a sudden burst of cloud, and a soft spattering of rain begins to fall.

Right now, this is not a terribly nice place to stand, so you'd better get over that fence, firmly closed and pad-locked as it is, before the weather really packs in for the second time in a day. Or retreat - it's not like you can hear anything funny going on from here...

You may think I'm going overboard, changing the weather every scene, but that's legitimately what it's like...

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

Colette raises an eyebrow. She hadn't expected an open hangout invitation to prompt Nee to freeze like she'd just been asked to rob a bank. "Uh it's fine? Really? Are you alright?"

[Thanqol]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

Colette raises an eyebrow. She hadn't expected an open hangout invitation to prompt Nee to freeze like she'd just been asked to rob a bank. "Uh it's fine? Really? Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah," said 'Nee in the manner of someone who was probably definitely fine. "Uh-h-h,"

f*ck it yolo

"Can... I use your shower?"

[Mr. E]

@Cath: The 'office' of Rena is on the north edge of the town, a single roomed pre-fab built on the front lawn on her house. Through the window, you can see the untidy mess of a desk, several days of coffee-cups accumulating on the centre, while paperwork mounds up over them. Taped to the sliding door is a note stating, in a messy scrawl, that the resident will "be back later - gone down to the 'Mouth".

Otherwise, the place appears deserted, with the gravel spot usually occupied by the patrol car left vacant and muddy. From inside the house, though, you can hear the faintest sounds of humming, as one occupant, as far as you can tell, indulges their love of Queen.

Right, now that that spot of confusion's been sorted out, here's a new post for you. I should probably say, in the interests of full disclosure, that I'm not going to let you off-load such eldritch business onto NPC's. If you want something done in this town, you'll have to do it yourself (or manipulate another PC into doing it for you..

[Esprit15]

Catherine slowly walks up to the door, slightly nervous about asking for help. The whole thing sounded a little weird, and more than a little suspicious on her part. She could already hear the words in her head. Why were you at the school? You expect me to believe that?

The girl takes a deep breath, nervous as ever.

Knock knock knock

[spinningdice]

Rosa looks at the fence, trying to evaluate whether it would bear her weight. She wasn't all that heavy, mostly lightweight plastics as she understood it. But there was only so much efficiency you could eke out of high capacity batteries - so she weighed a lot more than a skinny 5'2 girl should. it would probably hold... as long as she didn't wait on it too long.
"Probably best not to break in, if the other girl has gone to get the Sherrif?" she doesn't look at Hayley when she speaks... the question asked isn't even the one she's really asking are you sure you want to do this?

[Mr. E]

@Cath: The battered red paint of the door flakes slightly under your fist, small fragments cracking off and landing on the ground. Indeed, the whole place smells of disrepair, from the broken guttering to the rust-streaks around the hinges. For a moment the humming continues as normal, before, slowly but surely, it begins to get louder. It bursts into singing with a rattle and clang, as the door is ripped inwards.


"Is this the real world
is this just fantasy?"
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality..."

The smiling woman on the other side of the door is badly out of tune, and has a certain roughness to her voice, probably a product of the cigarette dangled in one hand. She grins a nicotine stained smile, and Tania chuckles to herself.

"Wouldn't ya like to know, girl?" Her words are thickly laid down with that lower class sound, and the smell of cigarettes fills the air with just that faintest touch of blue smoke. "Whad'are ya here for anyway - Cathy, ain't it." Tania jabs a finger in your direction, then smiles again. "Come to buy some weed?"

[Esprit15]

“Thanks, but not today. I was actually looking for Arona. I... take it she’s not home?” She almost felt more comfortable being at the school than she did around Tania.

[Sahe]

Hayley's brow furrowed as she stood in front of the school. The gate was padlocked and she couldn't see a tear in the fence anywhere. So how the f*ck did Cathy get in and out when she stayed here? Maybe if they circled around the building, but as if to dissuade them the clouds cowered the sun again and it started raining again.

Hayley looks over to Rosa and then shrugs, "nah...I'm going in, not going to run around the rain anymore. You can stay if you cold feet", she said and with that started to climb over the fence onto the side, then turned around to Rosa giving her a are you coming or not look and then went for the main doors, half expecting them to be locked.

[spinningdice]

"I'm right behind you", Rosa heaves herself over the fence, more jumping than climbing, trying not to put all her weight against it. "wish she'd told us how she get's in and out, I'd rather not do any damage."

[Mr. E]

@Hayley, Rosa: The fence creaks ominously under your weight, both of you a little oversized to be climbing it, but its apparently of sturdier stuff than you might expect. The rain begins to thrum down in earnest as you trudge through the sandpit, where discarded toys lie wheels up, water pooling around them, and over to the plain wooden door. It is, as you might expect, locked and bolted, unyielding to your attempts to work the metal handle.

From here, under the porch, you are barely sheltered from the rain, which, with the aid of the wind that gusts up the valley, splatters around your legs and smacks into your faces. But, and it's hard to tell from between the drumming on the roof and the rushing of the breeze, you can swear that you can hear something moving around inside. Soft scratching noises seem to creep under the door-frame, interspersed with the dull thud of feet on carpet...

Dun, dun, dun...

@Cath: Tania raises her cigarette to her lips, then smiles again.

"Relax kid, I'm just f***ing with ya. Nah, Arona's not here right now. Didn't ya see tha note on her office, ay? She's down at the Mouth, some kind of meeting. Be back sometime this evening, she said. What's got ya all in a twist, anyway? If it's the brawl, I'll be passing that on to her myself. Got it all on here, I did." She digs around in one pocket, then pulls out an I-Phone, the screen shattered by a large crack in the centre, but still working well enough. Raising the cig one more time, Tania takes a long drag, before, with another grin, blowing the cloud out straight at you, blue and cough inducing.

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

"My.. shower?" Colette blinks like this wasn't what she was expecting but... well alright that's kind of weird but also not really any trouble to accomodate. "I mean yeah I guess. Hang on let me find you a towel."

She finds two towels, and a bathrobe about a size or two too big for Alashanee. Probably belonging to one of her parents. "Actually it'd be kind of sh*t to change back into wet clothing, you can throw them in the dryer and I'll run them through."

[Esprit15]

Catherine lightly waves her hand at the smoke, still coughing a little. “Actually, no, I noticed a break in at the school. Or something like that. Some humanoid shape rummaging around in the principal’s office, I didn’t get closer in case they were dangerous.” It was a mixture of lie and truth, enough to hopefully get someone to investigate but not enough to suggest anything particularly odd or suspect on her part. She’d just have to find a new haunt for a while. “Mind passing that on to her as well?”

[spinningdice]

Rosa freezes, standing still and silent, seeming like she's not even breathing as she strains to listen to what is moving around. She looks over at Haylee questioningly. Something about the danger gave her some kind of thrill, like it was something she was made for, "I'm going to have a loop around the building, there must be some way in." Almost reluctant to leave the padding steps alone she proceeds to check for unlocked windows, or other overlooked entrances.

[Sahe]

Rosa freezes, standing still and silent, seeming like she's not even breathing as she strains to listen to what is moving around. She looks over at Haylee questioningly. Something about the danger gave her some kind of thrill, like it was something she was made for, "I'm going to have a loop around the building, there must be some way in." Almost reluctant to leave the padding steps alone she proceeds to check for unlocked windows, or other overlooked entrances.

"Sure there is", Hayley said and picked up a part of a loose and broken stone tile. Before Rosa could do anything Hayley had already smashed in the window, pulled the flannel shirt out of her bag and wrapped it around her hand so she could remove any remaining glass splinters from the window frame without cutting herself. It was pretty clear that this hadn't been the first time Hayley had broken into something. She looked at Rosa "what? It was the storm!", she said with jest, "and I've really done enough runnin' around in the rain today and I wanna know what got Catherine so spooked...probably just a raccoon..." And with that Hayley began climbing through the now permanently opened window.

[spinningdice]

Rosa was conflicted, on the one hand she knew breaking and entering, property damage and trespassing was illegal. On the other hand wasn't she supposed to be emulating human behaviour, and this real, live human was behaving this way? She nods, more to herself than to Hayley and follows her through the broken window.

[Thanqol]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

"My.. shower?" Colette blinks like this wasn't what she was expecting but... well alright that's kind of weird but also not really any trouble to accomodate. "I mean yeah I guess. Hang on let me find you a towel."

She finds two towels, and a bathrobe about a size or two too big for Alashanee. Probably belonging to one of her parents. "Actually it'd be kind of sh*t to change back into wet clothing, you can throw them in the dryer and I'll run them through."

"yeah thanks," said 'Nee, pushing through an embarrassed blush through sheer fixation on having a warm shower to herself.

In the park there was a limit to how much hot water the tank generated every night - so of course, people get up earlier and earlier to get use of the heat before it's gone. The arms race had continued to the point where if you're not up at six you might as well resign yourself to a cold shower and that was not a fight 'Nee could sustain. The idea of having a room to herself without a timer or a line outside, and without the sounds of three other people showering in a two meter radius, and oh my god actual proper cleaning products...

<3

She emerged, eventually, like a nymph, still wet underneath the bathrobe. Soaked through with a deep, saturating warmth she collapsed onto the chair alongside Collette. "I would sell my soul for a shower like that," she murmured contentedly.

[Turn on: 5]

[Raine_Sage]

Colette
Exp: 3/5 Conditions: N/A Harm: 1/4

While Nee is washing up Colette runs her things through the dryer, turning out pockets to make sure no phones or wallets get sent on a spin dry (Thanqol: Does Nee have anything interesting tucked away?). Vaguely she remembers the note that she tucked in her own back pocket earlier that day. The one that mentioned a meeting at the legs?

When Alashanee emerges squeaky clean and dripping wet her clothing is still going. Colette grins as she sinks into the chair next to her. "Careful you never know what's listening for that kind of thing. Hey I just remembered, you didn't drop any notes did you?" She produces the soggy square of paper. "Somebody's trying to meet somebody at the legs but they left their invitation in a puddle."