Paint the Town (IC)

[Tiffany Korta]

“You’ve obviously never been on a night out in Cardiff, there this is just a quiet night.†Blodeuwedd replied in her dry tone “But generally most people just do the drinking and the dancing without encounters with a minor supervillain.â€

Looking at the poor disheveled form of Sam, she concentrated briefly to transform her cape into a long coat before offering it to Sam.

“Her wear this for now, it thermally insulated among other things. I guess you’ve still not forgiven me for upsetting a major spirit, I just think we should both stay away from boats and ships for a while.â€

[Thunder King]

Mali climbed into the front seat of her car, and hoped that Tona, this time, would be a little more comfortable in the vehicle.She had already done a few things like this night, so she wasn't as wound up about what happened as the rest had been. Though the reason was that she'd kinda sorta engaged in a little unsupervised hero work...and lied about her age. Ah, well, everyone came home safe and sound, and that's all that mattered.

 

They pulled into Claremont and Mali turned the car off. She was actually kind of hoping they'd run into trouble. That would let her get an assessment of what Tona, Cerys and Sam could do. All of them certainly had skills and useful abilities. They were also nice people, which was also very important. She'd fight beside any of them again, if that's what it came to. There was no doubt about that.

Edited March 13, 2013 by Thunder King

[Raveled]

Tona had endured the car ride by nibbling on a jelly bean and focusing her thoughts inward. The Freedom League had recommended that she lie about where she was from, but she didn't feel good about it. Mali and Cerys and Sam had all gone out of their way to make sure Tona had a good time, and they had risked their lives alongside her. She couldn't just leave them to think she was just another rural girl. No, that wouldn't do at all.

Tona jumped out of the car and looked around the campus. It was dark and almost looked deserted, though there were still some lights on in the dorm. "Alright," she said suddenly, holding the bag of sweets up high. "I've got something to show you, but first! Last one to my and Cerys's room doesn't get any jelly beans!"

[Blue Rose]

Aside from the chill, Sam isn't exactly too off-put by the affair. She'd done as interesting with Fox, though it was the first time anyone tried to drown her. It beats getting shot.

She accepts Cerys' coat with thanks, and while she isn't holding that grudge, she's not about to let Cerys in on that little secret.

Before the group leaves, she returns the coat and retrieves her bag with her original clothes and ducks inside a nearby building to change, drying off as best she can with paper towels, as much so that she doesn't drip all over Mali's car as to get mostly dry. Not that she's the only girl who needs to change.

When the group gets back, Sam goes for her stuff, only to see with annoyance some little thief is advertising her ill-gotten gains. "Hey, those are mine!" She chases after, but she knows Tona and Cerys' room number, and she's studied the layout of the school for home field advantage. It's not long before she slips into the long nighttime shadows and reappears inside her friends' room to wait in the dark room.

[Thunder King]

Jelly beans were technically something she should usually avoid, but she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to have fun, to race. She bolted through Claremont's hallways, jumping tables and avoiding obstacles. Her natural agility and acrobatic training came in handy as much in play as it did in combat. She assumed she would be in last place, simply because she hadn't been to that room nearly as much as the other two, and Sam, well, Sam had her powers.

 

Still, it was a valid reason to have fun.

[Raveled]

Tona had no intention of racing Mali up the stairs. She had her own, special entrance to the room. She rolled the jelly bean bag into a tight curl and stuck it in her belt, then grabbed the stone of the dorm building and began climbing. The rain had made the walls slicks, and in fact it was still spitting down intermittently, but Tona just took that as one more challenge this night. Well, one more physical challenge, anyway.

The archer ascended smoothly and confidently, finding the room with no trouble -- and finding the window closed. A few exploratory tugs confirmed that it was locked, as well. She looked inside and saw Sam, somehow already inside, and tapped on the glass.

[Blue Rose]

Having a couple minutes to herself just to wait, Sam had to find some means of occupying herself through the wait, and a ponderous pause before flicking on the lights only stretches so far. She actually has time to go back to her room and swap out the last of her wet clothes, and drop off her wet ruined outfit, before coming back, just in time for Tona to tap on the glass.

She gives a smile and a wave, before finally opening the window for her. "What kept you?" she asks, mainly to fill her quota of cliche for the encounter as she offers her friend a hand climbing in.

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd wasn’t overly bothered by the prize, she was more a Jelly Baby person. But it was the principle of the thing, she just didn't want to be last. She knew she couldn’t beat Sam, after all she could teleport but she knew she had a chance against the other two.

The first chance she could she used her grapple to take to the roof of the schools buildings. She knew just about every inch of the roofs of the building and the best routes between them. She enjoyed the challenge of climbing the buildings, despite the school trying to discourage such activities.

She dropped into the room to find that Sam wasn’t yet there, which to her was a bit of a surprise. So she hid herself in the corner and waited for first Sam and them Tona to arrive.


“Yes what took you?â€

She stepped from the shadow’s acting as if she’d been there for quite some time.

[Raveled]

Tona looked between Sam and Cerys, grinning at them both before taking Sam's hand and letting herself be pulled into the room. "Cheaters," she said, still grinning fit to burst. She pulled the bag of candies free and set them on the dresser she shared with the Welsh ninja, then went digging through her bags. As Mali entered the room she came up with a pair of squares wrapped in wool. "I have something I want to show you all." She unwrapped the objects, revealing them to be glass plates with grainy black-and-white photographs embedded in them.

"This is me pere," she said, handing the first photograph to Sam. The man in it was tall, with a long, roguish face and big ears that stuck out of his head. His long hair was held back by a man with a star on his chest, and another held a plaque with the name ROBERT BAUDUIN in front of him. Apparently this was some kind of old-tyme mugshot, but if it was then ROBERT seemed pleased as punch to be going to prison, judging by his wide grin. "And this is ma mere." Tona handed this photo to Mali; it showed a woman in Native American dress, with a rounded face and a harsh expression staring out at the audience. She held a pair of long-handled axes, heads resting on the ground and hafts crossed.

Tona sat on the couch and let the girls hand the photos around for a minute. When she spoke again it was slowly, picking her words with great care. "I lied to you earlier tonight," she admitted. "When you asked where I was from. I'm not from Maine. I'm from the Terminus."

Edited March 14, 2013 by Raveled

[Thunder King]

Mali, well, she was surprised and not surprised. She wasn't surprised because Tona was pretty ignorant of certain things that someone from Maine wouldn't be ignorant of. She was surprised because the Terminus was the last place she thought Tona would be from. She was stunned into silence for a few moments, before saying.

 

"Okay...that's an interesting story, I'm sure." She said, measuring her words carefully. "I can't even begin to imagine the world you grew up in, Tona." She shook her head. The Terminus was a land of nightmares and monsters to her, not a real place. She'd never been there, and she hoped she never would be.

[Blue Rose]

Sam secures her wrongfully-procured jelly beans before taking a look at the pictures. Family resemblance had always been fascinating to her, having never known her own family. She particularly hogs the picture of Tona's mother, and might be staring when Tona brings up her big reveal.

At least, Sam's pretty sure it's a big reveal. She hadn't exactly grown up with the threat of Terminus, though she did know a T-baby or two. She'd always thought of Terminus as a group, more than a place, but they're sure to have a... planet? Space? Dimension? Whatever.

History isn't her subject.

"And now, you're here," she says simply and carefully, trying to make it clear that she's not about to shun her for this, or force her to say more than she means. After all, she's not exactly fond of discussing Dis.

[Raveled]

Tona let out a long breath she hadn't known she had been holding. She almost felt giddy; she had been prepares to be rejected, to be ostracized, as a liar even if not as a Terminus native. The simple and frank way the other girls handled the information was a lot better than what she had dared hope for. "Merci," she said. "I mean... Very much, thank you. When I came to this planet, the people with the Freedom League suggested that I not tell people that I was from the Terminus, but I've never been very good at lying." She slumped slightly, tension going out of her body, then she suddenly sat up straight again. "Um. Can you not tell anyone else?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd had heard about Terminus like most people her age it was something terrible that had happened before she was born, like the Second World War. Whilst she had been taught about Terminus it somehow had never seemed quite real, she had less trouble believing about someone coming from the land of the Fae or one of the multitudes of Hells...

“We’ll always be here for you Tona, we’re your friends.†she gave one of her rare smiles “And trust me keeping secret’s is my specialty.â€

She looked down at the deurgotype that Tona had given her and a horrible thought crossed her mind.

“These people in these pictures, are they okay? Are they still over there?†she waved her hand vaguely in the air.

[Raveled]

Tona dropped her hands in her lap and looked down at them, fingers twiddling. "They are. Me pere is... He runs... A lot of people in the Terminus have given up all hope. They... They worship Omega and their Annhilist." She spat the word angrily, her hands curling into fists for a moment as righteous anger boiled up in her. "But on every world there are some people who fight. Me pere leads the fight against that all. He leads the Resistance on my home world.

"Ma mere..." Tona's shoulders slumped and she spoke slowly, haltingly, dredging up bad memories and tip-toeing around the worst ones. "I was born after the invasion. I learned that most of the people with... special powers died then. But not ma mere. She was strong, tough, could fly, could rip whole trees out of the ground. She was --" Tona glanced around at the other girls, suddenly grinning, as a bright memory temporarily pushed by the black emotions. "She was Lady Liberty. And after the invasion, when was the most powerful person in the world."

Tona looked down at her hands again as clouds drew over her expression again. "But she got angry. Got dark. She would go out with very little backup, or with none at all. And one day she... never came back." Tona squeezed her eyes shut against a rush of emotions, as for a moment she was six years old again and wishing more than anything that her mother would come home just one more time.

[Blue Rose]

Sam doesn't let herself laugh as Tona decries her talents at lying, and finally pops a jelly bean. "Yeah, you do suck at that. Don't worry. I'm better."

Of course, she has plenty of questions floating around in her head on the matter, but she knows first hand that it's not the sort of subject you discuss just for idle curiosity, having lived in three different rings of Hell in her lifetime.

But hearing about Tona's mother going off to die? At that, she feels power drawing into her body, and her feet flickering out of this plane in the shadow of the bed, as if ready to give chase, but she releases the pent up energy in a puff of hellfire that fades harmlessly into the air. "And you're training to go back," she says at last, having a pretty good idea how she feels.

[Raveled]

Tona took a deep breath and got ahold of her emotions before she broke down sobbing. She turned a smile on the other girls, hugging herself tightly. "I'm sorry," she said. "You all had a great night planned out for me, and I had such fun tonight! So I didn't want to be lying to you anymore and I thought I would tell you all everything, but I'm just dragging everyone down." She leaned forward and hugged each girl in turn. "I had a really, really, really great time tonight. Thank you, all of you."

[Blue Rose]

Sam wishes she had more to say, but what do you say to something like that. But after the third 'really,' she just has to ask, "Really?" with a chuckle.

Hugs go around, and the night seems over. Sam grabs what little remains of her jelly beans and offers them out to anyone who wants more before popping the rest in a single mouthful and tossing the bag in Cerys and Tona's trashcan.

"Let's do this again some time," she says as she turns to the door. "I'm gonna go turn in. G'night, all."

She heads back the old fashioned way, hands behind her head, towards her room in no particular hurry.

[Thunder King]

Mali sat back and let the other girls comfort Tona in their own way while she thought on their discussion. "You ask me not to reveal this information, and I won't. There's no reason to." she said with a smile. "I mean, everyone has secrets, things they just wouldn't feel good letting other people know. I thank you for trusting me with that, and I swear I will not violate that trust."

 

"...thing is, you trusted us enough to tell us this, all you've done is make us feel closer to you and each other. That may not be 'fun' but it definitely isn't a waste of time or anything like that. Tonight was for you, and if doing that made you feel better, then good. We'll keep your secret, and we're your friends, no matter what happens."

[Tiffany Korta]

Unless she was playing the part Blodeuwedd wasn’t normally a tactile person, she didn’t normally hug anyone unless she considered it important. This was one of those occasions she gave her friend Tona the biggest warmest hug’s she could manage.

“Friends are always there for the good and the bad, hopefully mostly for the good. I’ll be there for you through the whole thing.â€

There would be another time to discuss about her home and how she could help Tona out, but first there was something and someone else she need to deal with first. She put  Dyrnwyn carefully back on it’s stand, she wouldn’t need it for the rest of the night or any equipment except one thing.

“I’m just going out for some air, don’t wait up.â€

And with that she went out of onto the roof and across the top of their dorm building, then down on her grapple until she was outside the room she was after. She gently tapped on the window of Sam’s room.

“We need to talk.â€

[Blue Rose]

Sam makes her way down the hall, considering the night's revelation, which forces her to think back to when she was a little kid. Something she tries her best not to think about, so she has every intention of letting Tona do the same if she so chooses.

She gets to her room, Kristin still out, and greets her black cat, Soot, eager for some attention. Though before she can get around to that, there is the immediate rapping on the window. "Can't anyone use doors around here?" she sighs and peaks through the blinds. Not that there are very many people who would knock on her window.

"Hey, Cerys," she offers unsurprised as she offers a hand getting her in. "I was wondering how long it'd be before you said that." Of course, there is still not impossible this can be about something like manners or fashion. But from a resident monster hunter? Fat chance. "What's up?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd accepted Sam help and entered into her room, she could have easily entered the room by herself but she wanted to keep the whole thing polite.

“Seeing as this is a night for revelations I wonder if you’d like to tell me how you came into your powers?â€

She took a relaxed pose and a friendly attitude, she didn’t want Sam thinking she was about to attack her.

“Or not, we may not always see eye to eye but I still like to consider you a friend. And what you pulled back, with the shadows, you gain by dealing with some very dangerous beings.â€

[Blue Rose]

Of course this is the topic. Sam takes a deep breath, in some ways relieved, but she still isn't sure where to start. With Fox, she hadn't cared where her powers came from, just that they worked and were reliable. AEGIS got all the information they needed from Mouse, and both Claremont and Miss Vance got all of the uncomfortable details from the AEGIS report and their own research. This is the first time she'd really had to talk about it, especially to someone she'd cared about.

"Thank you," she starts. "I... I was worried this conversation would have more, you know, flaming sword. This is... well, it's kind of a long story." She paces a bit, then decides to just start in the middle of things.

"I'm not from Earth," she blurts, forcing a start she has to explain as fast as she can. "I was born in Malebolge, in Dis. But not the one you know. Well, it is and it isn't. Dis is a prison planet, but they've made so many deals that it's part of the real thing now. I... I never knew my parents, but they're the only ones who could have done this..."

She undoes her scarf and turns around, letting Cerys get a good look at the mark on her back in more than just passing during a fight. To say it has any shape as humans understand it would be inaccurate. It seems to shift under scrutiny, but even that is inaccurate; rather, the mind's failure to interpret the impossible geometry of the mark makes it appear to move. She waits just long enough for the effort of looking at it to become dizzying, then covers it back up and faces Cerys again.

A demonic brand, marking one whose soul is sold. Exactly how much Cerys knows about it, Sam is unsure, but she's not planning on elaborating. "I escaped before they could collect, and the brand lets me channel my powers. Believe me, I know what my magic can do if I don't keep it in check. I've spent my entire life learning to keep them under control, so you don't have to worry."

She opens her mouth to keep talking, but then just closes it, suddenly stopping her high-speed meandering ramble. "So... yeah."

[Tiffany Korta]

“Well I’ve gotten into the habit of not attacking my friend before they give an explanation.†she was using her normal deadpan tone, but a faint smile suggested she was joking.

Blodeuwedd dealing with Infernal powers had been limited until now, but she had studied enough to know the risks and pitfalls associated with the power. But she also felt she knew Sam well enough.

“I’m more worried about something trying to collect on that bargain. If that happens you’ll need all the allies you can get, lucky you’ve got good friend’s around you.â€

WIthout much warning she gave Sam a big hug.

“Don’t worry I’m good at keeping secrets. But don’t think I’ll stop calling you out if I think you’re wrong.â€

[Blue Rose]

Sam smiles and returns the hug, letting it all sink in.

"Huh," she says, accepting that it really is that simple. "Y'know, I guess I never really had friends before. Fox didn't exactly stay on good terms with many folks for long, y'know." And before that goes without saying.

She lets go and backs away to scratch her head. "But I think I can get used to it. Thanks. I'll keep you on speed dial if I can't run. And if I'm ever wrong, I'll let you know."

The notion of fighting demons and it possibly being a good idea is a harder one to buy. Staying away's usually the better idea, though it seems a lot of the Claremont crowd are fans of the more direct approach.

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd didn’t reply straight away instead giving the other woman a warm smile.

“I promise I’ll be there when I can, but it’s getting late I’ll let you get some rest.â€

She resisted the urge to disappear into the shadow’s, she didn’t need trick to earn Sam’s respect. Instead she just climbed out of the window, giving Sam a final wave before leaving the room, before making her way back up the roof.

As she made her way back to her room she couldn’t help but smile, the night hadn’t been much more enjoyable than she had hoped. Hopefully they could have another night out soon.