ic Old School Spirit

[Tiffany Korta]

Claremont Academy, Freedom CIty

10am 15^th March 2021

 

As you entered the secretaries room of the Headmasters Office, to which you’d just been mysteriously summoned, a strange an unusual sound was drifting from the imposing room, that of laughter. Even stranger on being waved in it was the Headmistress herself that was laughing, a sound you’d never thought you’d hear in all your days.

 

“Ah Mr Landers, Mz Sceadusangere, please come in I have someone I wish to show around.”

 

She gestured to the relaxed looking woman in the chair opposite her.

[Nerdzul]

Now of course there was no reason for Luke to be worried about getting called to the Headmasters Office wasn't it? Yeah  his week of detention after the little mishap with the New Young Freedom was over (finally) and there hasn't been any new disaster recently as far as he knew at least. Besides, Muirne was there too and he couldn't imagine her getting into troubles.  Unfortunately they didn't have time to share more than a smile before te Hadmistress herself called them in. 

 

"It wasn't me Ms. Summers..." He joked, grinning playfully, before bowing his head slightly to the Headmistress to salute her. "I mean, Hello Ms. Summers."

 

"Sure thing." He nodded. "Luke by the way." He introduced himself to the woman. "Nice to meet you." He added offering her a confident handshake.

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne nervously returned Luke's smile. She wasn't sure why they'd been called in and it was worrying at her in a fairly stressful time. She'd been experimenting with her powers like her future self had advised and while her control had advanced in leaps and bounds she was losing control over her Shadowbeast form, which had always been her fear when it came to her powers. Still, she took a deep breath and stepped into the office, giving Luke an incredulous look as he joked about doing something.

 

She sighed in relief as the Headmistress only said that they were to show someone around. "Of course Síþwíf¹ Summers." She bowed slightly as she said this before turning and repeating the gesture to the stranger. "I am Muirne Sceadusangere. Is there anything in particular you are here to be shown?"

 

¹ A noblewoman or Lady

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

The woman in question took the hand with a smile, showing more eye teeth than was standard. You could tell she was cool, or though so at least, because she was wearing shades indoors.

 

“Why haven’t you managed to teach your students so manners. I’m Betsy Brooks.” the Afro-Carribean woman spoke with cut glass English accent “In case your wondering your headmistress and myself went to the same school, briefly for myself, though there was a few decades difference.”

 

Murines introduction caused a different kind of smile

 

“Bloody hell thats Anglo-Saxon! Sorry that I don’t speak it but we had to study Beowolf this one time, don’t remember much of the text but the teacher had a good bum…” she shook her head to clear an apparently good memory and get to the point.”

 

“So I’m up from Vibora Bay…” she did a terrible Southern accent before falling back to her own accent “… so I don’t know Freedom City, figured I’d call in a favour and see if I borrow a few students for a field trip. You two in?”

[Nerdzul]

On one side, Luke definitely didn’t mind the idea of going into town with Muirne, although admittedly, it would have been just the two of them.

 

Then again, it was the Headmistress asking… Plus this Betsy Brooks seemed intriguing, besides any schoolmate of Ms. Summers much likely had a few fun stories to tell. Plus she seemed laid back enough, in fact her words when she addressed Muirne did manage to get a chuckle out of him.

 

“Sure thing. Do you have anywhere specific you’d like to go?”

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne assumed there was more to the trip into town, it tended to be the case with Claremont after all and she was capable of pattern recognition after all. Nonetheless she wasn't about to turn her down given it was both a request from the Headmistress and also a possible learning experience, even if the individual in question was a bit... Strange.

 

“Yes, it is." She was not entirely sure how to respond to this latest brand of oddity, but she supposed she'd get used to it like everything else. Regardless, a question had been asked. "I would be happy to help Síþwíf Brooks."

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

“Excellent I shall issue you both with a pass for the day.” from her drawer she draws several sheets and fills hands them over, obviously having them filled out already.

 

“However after whatever you encounters today, I do expect a full report on your experiences, this is still in school time after all.” she shoots a look at Betsy before adding “You will not of cause use any of the more… colorful languages that Ms Brooks commonly uses!”

 

She then goes on to other work, the Headmistresses way of telling you all that it was time to leave the office.

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne took the pass from the Headmistress with a quiet nod, choosing not to comment about the 'colourful language' that she would apparently be exposed to. It wouldn't be diplomatic to mention it.

 

She bowed slightly before retreating from the room upon dismissal and turning to Betsy, “As Luke asked earlier, is there anywhere in particular that you would like to go, Síþwíf Brooks?" She may not be particularly sure how to respond to the woman herself yet, but she had a job to do. Besides, this 'Betsy' person seemed interesting. Muirne didn't disagree with Aoife's comment, it seemed to her that she might learn some valuable things from Síþwíf Brooks, and Luke would probably get himself in trouble asking about the Headmistress' school days.

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

“Your to be my bridge to some of the supernatural figures of the city, you’ve been here long enough to smell right. Going to have to deal with some of the big guns, y’know those that exist up on… Lantern vale or something like that?” she sounded incredibly confident even if slightly wrong

 

As she spoke Betsy bought them down thorough the corridors to the entrance of the school, where she’d parked there transport for this journey a ‘68 Dodge Charger, obviously in black.

 

“Had to borrow this from a friends, another offered his bike but I didn’t think that was appropriate. Three might be a magical number but not on a motorcycle!”

[Nerdzul]

“Supernatural figures? Like who?” That was gonna be cool though, so far Luke hasn’t exactly met any of the city supernaturals (that didn’t work at Claremont at least). It wasn’t exactly clear to him how they were going to be able to help Ms. Brooks getting acquainted with people that they didn’t exactly know themselves, but whatev’. 

 

“You have a sweet ride you know?” Although the vehicle looked like it was older than his dad.

 

“Yeah of course.” The young man nodded as he ruffled the hair on the back of his neck, it was not like he had been on a bike with two more of his friends already in his life yeah… never… obviously... Well…

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne's smile turned a little fragile as Betsy talked about meeting with 'supernatural figures'. "Eaw God...¹" She whispered. Still, she'd agreed to help and Luke was going along, and given how their patrol with the Freedom League had gone she wasn't exactly willing to leave them alone. We need to protect them. They are ours. Muirne scowled slightly at Aoife's comment as they walked to the car. It reminded her of some of Dee's fancy cars, but she wasn't familiar enough with them to really comment. Still, she didn't want to seem rude. "That's a really nice car, Síþwíf Brooks." Luke got a suspicious look at his agreement that being on a motorcycle with three people was a bad idea. If you let me transform we could take a motorcycle, it'd only be two people physically.

 

Muirne ignored Aoife's comment.

 

¹ Oh God...

Edited May 3, 2021 by Kaede Kimura

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

“I’m sure you’re not going to listen, but its Besty. My mother is Mrs Brooks, well Lady Jacqueline Brooks, but that’s beside the point.”

 

She helped the teens into the car before turning the keys making the engine roar to life like a caged animal.

 

“This is a loaner so try not to damaged her in any way, I’m not sure my insurance will cover its lost.”

 

With some care she took the car down the long drive of the Academy and out towards the roads of Freedom City.

 

“So we’re going to talk to some of the bigwigs in the local supernatural world, the Master Mage isn’t returning my calls so we’ll go talk to someone bigger.”

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne nodded slightly at Betsy's admonishment and was about to reply when she overheard the quieter comment. The car was comfortable and reminded her of Dee's cars, or a slightly safer version of El's Painkiller. She hadn't been planning on damaging the car, but now she was thinking about all the ways she might accidentally damage it. What if something attacks the car? If something wanted to make life difficult for Betsy they could attempt to destroy the car. Muirne decided not to air Aoife's thoughts. She didn't want to upset Betsy.

 

She wasn't sure who was considered bigger than whoever was called 'The Master Mage' but she could guess that she didn't want to meet them. And yet here she was. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, not that it helped much.

 

You could transform. That way you won't need to face the magic.

 

I'm not running away, Luke might need me.

 

I can protect him.

 

Muirne shook her head slightly, continuing her calming breaths. She had to try to do this on her own.

[Nerdzul]

“Betsy, got it.” Luke nodded. Perhaps going around town with the headmistress friend wasn’t going to be that bad in the end. At least they had a sweet ride, right?

 

“Someone bigger than the master mage?” Now, he didn’t know who was the master mage actually, but the title sounded important didn’t it?

“No wrecking the car… Noted.” He nodded again, grinning playfully this time.

 

His gaze though crossed Muirne shortly thereafter, he could sense the uneasiness under the surface and while sure he had no idea of the conversation going down with her shadowy companion, one he didn’t even know existed in fact, he could take a guess of what was going on. Magic. They were going to have to tangle with the supernatural community of Freedom City. Yeah.

 

He moved a few step closer to his girl, gently squeezing one of her hands in his own, like if to silently say that he was going to be there for her. No matter what.

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

Betsy drove in silence for a few minutes, making sure to remember to drive on the wrong (or right) side of the road. Once she was sure she wasn’t going to panic some other drivers, or her teen passengers.

 

“I guess we should start with the basics. I’m doing a favour for a friend of mine, who lost a bracelets in a card game. What they forgot to mention is that it was magical, which was a real surprise when the recently deceased man got up at his own funeral.”

 

She paused for a few minutes to suggests some very unladylike activities to a drive that cut her up.

 

“So as far as I can tell our zombie boy has come here to lay low, but Freedom is a big place with far to much bloody magic zipping about if you ask me!”

[Nerdzul]

“Woah. Lost magic trinket to a cardgame?” Luke chuckled. Then lowered his eyes. “I mean that must have been terrible.” He quickly added.

 

Another chuckle followed during the torrent of expletives. Maybe this Betsy Brooks was going to be a fun one.

 

“And it can animate the dead? Zombie? I mean like the walking dead zombie or is he gonna be a smart one?” Looks like he did, right? Especially given the whole ‘came to freedom city to lie low, thing.

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

“Guy probably cheated, he wasn’t exactly a good little boy. Hence why we need to stop him before things get out of hand.”

 

She weaved through the traffic, carefully keep to around the speed limit. She wished the bloody speed limits was more like home (home) everything felt so much slower.

 

“He had enough smart to flee all the way to Freedom City, but it could be much worse if he’s possessed by something much more insidious…”

 

Hopefully it was just smart zombies, ancient evils were such a pain in the butt. They had such attitudes thinking they were all that, but they were a dime a dozen.

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne stared at Betsy as she explained that the guy cheated. She wasn't exactly an expert but... "If something this valuable and dangerous was bet on a game, wouldn't you use magic to detect cheaters?" She was not sure if Betsy's friend was the smartest, or if magic just couldn't do that? But if Dougal could undo her transformation, surely detecting cheating wasn't that complicated was it?

 

She looked to Luke with a slight sense of dread as she mentioned him possibly being 'possessed by something much more insidious. "Shouldn't we run on the assumption that whatever it is is more dangerous rather than less?" She asked nervously.

[Nerdzul]

The young man nodded, at his girlfriend words, yeah, it would made sense that a mage would check if he had been treated like a fool. That said people with power... overconfidence wasn't exactly scarce among them. (the fact that it frequently applied to him as well of course, eluded Luke for now).

 

"Got it. Can be worse than just zombies." Luke  shrugged, still feeling confident however, after all, his hide was pretty tough against magic...

 

"Anything else we should know?" He tossed shortly thereafter. 

 

The boy's gaze met with Muirne as he smiled reassuringly. Don't worry we can deal with this. He leaned a bit closer to her and offered to squeeze her hand. 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

After crossing the river Betsy turned off the freeway towards the Lantern Hill, one of the oldest parts of Freedom City. Betsy had been on her best behaviour for most of the trip, keeping the swears to the minimum. Though she did dig out some of the more creative terms, its amazing what you pick up on your travels. As the streets begin to narrow and weave more, much closer to those back home, she though of something.

 

“Just out of interest do either of you have an aversion to religious sites or symbols?”

 

She was on to like plan E or F, hopefully she wouldn’t have to go a letter or two down.

[Nerdzul]

That was... a weird question wasn't it? Now Luke wasn't particularly religious to be honest, but then again faith is not exactly an easy matter when you are a supernatural creature (and a teenager at that). 

"Nop, nothing wrong with that..." He tossed a quick reply. "How come? I mean, where are we going exactly?" Fighting zombie in a church maybe? That would have been pretty metal. Luke chuckled at the idea, picturing al album cover with a black dragon fighting hordes of rotting undead with a stained glass window as a background. Yeah definitely. 

 

"How far is this place by the way?" He added shortly thereafter. God I must sound like my little bro.

 

 

[Kaede Kimura]

Muirne's thoughts were a bit less... metal cover than Luke's thoughts. She wasn't vulnerable to anything like that, but she did have some weaknesses that it might be good to bring up. "Uh, I don't have any aversion to anything holy, Síþwíf Brooks but I am vulnerable to silver, and when I'm using my powers I can become weak to fire and light." She quietly breathed out a sigh as she leaned back into the chair, trying to dispel her worry about the magical things she was about to face.

 

Transform. I will handle things.

 

Scowling slightly, Muirne ignored Aoife even as shadows ran over her body before she got them under control. "Out of curiosity, what is the possible worst case scenario outside of being a zombie?"

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

“There are old vengeful creatures, from when the universe ran differently, that wish no more than to tear everything down and recreate there old worlds. They’re always looking for a way into this universe to wreck havoc on things. Luckily things don’t seem to be that far along, yet.”

 

Betsy spoke matter of fact as she parked the car, putting it in park and gathering her supplies.

 

“As it happens we’re here. Take in the view a moment I need to get my bearings.”

 

On the bonnet, hood she guessed, she laid out a large map and began to study it intensely.

 

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

The car had made its way up Lantern Hill, the oldest part of Freedom City. Up here you could see the city sprawling below them. Nestled up here was a small colonial church, St. Stephen’s Church, a tall narrow building kept lovingly order since the 90s. It overlooked Lantern Hill Cementary, where the oldest inhabitants of of Freedom City were buried.

 

Indeed it was rumoured that one of the oldest, and most elusive of Freedom Cities superhero dwelt here. They were probably also one of the most powerful supernatural being, which generally meant they were unlikely to help without some coercion.

[Nerdzul]

"Nice." Luke replied dryly at the mention of the things they were going to wait for them. "They are like nostalgia demons." He chuckled. It was somewhat funny that he himself was a creature of the 'old world' after all, wasn't him? Well as far as he knew his species was common whenever he had been snatched from. 

 

"Whatever that is we are gonna kick their vengeful asses to where they come from." He added confidently. turning toward his girlfriend and smiling at her.

 

Finally there they were, a part of town that, honestly speaking, the young man wasn't very familiar with, a bit too fancy to be honest, although he could appreciate the 'spooky' vibe a bit, given the whole, overlooking the graveyard thingie. Whatever. It was time to slip back into superhero mode which meant keeping his eyes open...