Kallisti Apartments [IC]

[TheBlindGirl]

 

Nicknife pursed his lips, crossing his arms and leaning back against his seat. "God, I hate these stakeouts. Nothing but taking the piss waiting for more nothing. Hey you, girly," He turned his attention back to Violetta. "That's one fucking creepy mask. What's the deal with that?"

 

Hard pass on opening up about potential vulnerabilities to the guys who used other villains' minions as trophy gimps. "I found it in a Halloween shop I hit first night out and thought it brought the look together," Violetta said, which was technically true, "never did like the manager of that place," she added, which was a bald-faced lie to hopefully distract anyone from asking why she decided her first ever crime should be robbing a Halloween shop.

 

"Boss, problem. The lady in green across the street is an incarnate and just announced it to the world."

 

Violetta's instructors at the Initiative had always told her to avoid incarnates. One of them had even threatened to make memorizing a complete list of them - hundreds of supers long at this point - a pre-requisite for graduation. They had also told her not to avoid getting on Longbow's radar, though, and blowing up their secret office over in the Etoiles had worked out great. Ultimately. Things were kind of touch and go, admittedly. The point here is that the Initiative instructors' advice was hit or miss and Violetta wanted the power in her apartment on bad enough to risk throwing down with an incarnate. She should probably demand more money for it, though. That's what Boba Fett would do.

 

"Ah shit. Take us away nearby, two blocks down." Vaunt groaned. The limousine interior shifted as the vehicle accelerated abruptly. "Alright, change in plans. Hidreon, Vankbliss, creepy mask girl - you'll take the Flambeux automaton and get to work. Figure out what the score is with that massive 500,000,000 debt she owes one of the tenants, and stay out of trouble. Stay away from the incarnate.

 

Oh. That would also work.

 

"Alright, Flambot, try not to fuck this up," Violetta said.

 

"Hey! Don't you - ERROR: STRING-RETORT NOT FOUND."

 

"Attagirl," Violetta said, emerging from the limo with Hidreon, Vankbliss, and the glitching bot. "Alright," Violetta said to the bot, "find the cape you owe, demand to know why you should have to pay so much, and try to keep the conversation within a hundred yards or so. I can only hear the Motley Crue for so far." Even someone who'd seen Hellsing Abridged probably wouldn't catch that reference, Violetta thought as she walked away to find a wall to lean against, but goddammit, it was funny in her heart, and that's what mattered.

 

A sudden scent stopped her dead in her tracks for a half-second, before she started walking again. Someone was bleeding nearby, but it didn't smell like it was all that much. So someone had cut themselves on something, whatever, Violetta told herself, job first, eat later. Even so, after she found a wall to lean against, popping out her dead phone to start at its blank screen and pretend it was holding her attention, she stole a sidelong glance towards the source of the scent.

 

Hang on, was that the one cat girl from the pizza ads? Fuck the mission, Violetta thought to herself, she needed to get a selfie with-

 

Wait.

 

God fucking dammit.

[Terminal]

With that' date=' she stepped out of the hatch, adjusted her hood and sunglasses one last time, and then proceeded on a path that should cross Flambeaux's without looking like she was trying to cross Flambeaux's while doing her best not to look in their direction.[/quote']

 

A sudden scent stopped her dead in her tracks for a half-second, before she started walking again. Someone was bleeding nearby, but it didn't smell like it was all that much. So someone had cut themselves on something, whatever, Violetta told herself, job first, eat later. Even so, after she found a wall to lean against, popping out her dead phone to start at its blank screen and pretend it was holding her attention, she stole a sidelong glance towards the source of the scent.

 

Hang on, was that the one cat girl from the pizza ads?

 

The enchanted penny, containing only faint trace amount of copper for its given year, was an extremely inefficient ritual catalyst for what Tabitha had been trying to do, unbeknownst to her. However, the added jazz of blood magic to the mix amplified the power in the enhancement itself exponentially. Without a stable circuit to ground and channel itself through, that much power simply sat and stewed in Tabitha's pocket, causing the penny to superheat drastically - and would continue to do so until all the power Tabitha had dumped into it was spent.

 

Tabitha had not used too much of her own blood - a single drop. Under normal circumstances, even that would not have made for an actual spell. The difference of a drop of blood would have been negligible to, say, a mage throwing a giant explosive fireball. But Tabitha had not been trying to cast what amounted to an actual spell - her 'trick,' such as it even was, would not even have rated as a minor cantrip. Moreover, what power her blood had provided the trick had been focused into a highly concentrated point, which was for the sake of comparison conveniently the exact size of a penny.

 

The binding energy of the spell itself was generating so much heat not because of the power of the effect, but because the enchantment was struggling to forcefully bind itself to the inefficient catalyst of the penny. So much so, in fact, that even once the spell's effect had played, the latent energies would still attempt to ground themselves into it, making it heat up even further after the fact. Tabitha, due to her thick fur, would not even notice the extra heat until it was far too late.

 

So right as Flambeaux, Hidreon, and Vankbliss all cross her path, the psychic message blared out to its intended target - the Flambeaux automaton.

 

NO MORE GAMES. WHEN YOU HAVE MY MONEY, CALL ME.

 

"Alright' date='" Violetta said to the bot, "find the cape you owe, demand to know why you should have to pay so much, and try to keep the conversation within a hundred yards or so. I can only hear the Motley Crue for so far."[/quote']

 

The Flambeaux automaton had no real way of knowing who exactly it was supposed to find - only the broad parameters of the related inquiry. Thankfully, it was just intelligent enough that it could infer that anybody who was demanding money from it was likely its target. So the moment its mechanisms registered the psychic message from Tabitha's penny, it immediately rendered its line of questioning. An internal countdown for its personality buffer also started to tick down - for the next 30 seconds it would be almost entirely lucid before devolving back into an incoherent mess.

 

[glow=red,2,300]"Heeeey fam, like, could you tell me why I have to pay you so much again? I'm like, way too cool to have to owe people like you anything."[/glow] Flambeaux said, side-stepping in front of Tabitha and pointing finger-guns at her with a wink.

 

And then Tabitha's pants were suddenly on fire, and a voluminous billowing cloud of black smoke from the built-up fumes of burning jeans wafted up around her body.

 

Vankbliss, backpedaling rapidly, was silently mouthing an inquisitive invective as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plantes. Hidreon, leaning back from the scene by exactly a centimeter and a half, reached into his coat-pocket and began unwrapping a stick of chewing gum as he watched with some interest.

 

"Oh my gods, did she just set that girl on fire?" Vankbliss screamed.

[chase]

 

[glow=red,2,300]"Heeeey fam, like, could you tell me why I have to pay you so much again? I'm like, way too cool to have to owe people like you anything."[/glow] Flambeaux said, side-stepping in front of Tabitha and pointing finger-guns at her with a wink.

 

 

*Why do I even bother with a disguise?* Tabby berated herself- not for the first time- even before Flambeaux finished speaking.  Then the words sunk in.

 

*...people like you...*

 

She'd dealt with such derision her whole life, even before the change.  From other kids on the daily torturous hour-long school bus.  From grown-ups, talking too loud to one another while in line at the store or theatre or even church.  From her rich bitch classmates in the boarding school.  From fans online.  From her own inner voice.

 

*...people like you...*

 

Her eyes immediately welled up... or was that from fumes from... is someone burning trash around here.

 

*...people like you...*

 

She just wanted to disappear- shrink to nothingness- and escape the moment.

 

*No, if she's here, then so are the cameras.  This is probably livestreamed online already. * 

 

*Do*

 

*Not*

 

*Give*

 

*Them*

 

*The*

 

*Satisfaction*

 

She threw back her hood and tore off her sunglasses... or tried to, the glasses- again tangled in her loose locks, snapped out of her hair, rebounded up to hit her chin, then dangled across her chest as if on a tether.  She fumbled with it momentarily, gave up and tried to swing it behind her, at least, but it only hit her on the ear before falling back into place.

 

"No.  You don't get to play that 'I don't remeber oweing you anything' game with me.  You borrow, you pay back." *you overpriveleged BITCH* she so wanted to add, but she bit her tongue.  She was already saying more than she ever had the nerve to say before.  Those words really lit a fire in her belly- she'd always thought the term to be metaphorical, but she did suddenly feel warmer.  a LOT warmer.

 

"You think you're better than me?  I've dealt with..." 

 

Her eyes were tearing up so much her vision was blurring and her... not just in the pain and anger.... something was burning.  Something close.

 

*my pocket.!the penny! something went wrong!*

 

The fake fingertips were never good at sensing temperature and the folds in the baggy pants had been keeping the superheated one-scent piece from contacting her thigh but it had grown too hot to miss now.  She started batting the pocket. trying to knock it away while defiantly facing Flambeaux

 

*don't stop.  stay on target...*

 

"I've dealt with enough rich bitches..." *ow. too hot.* 

 

She'd imagined up a powerful speech about elitism and the rich n famous not even being willing to pay back something as basic as cab fare, but  With the smoldering now even more pronounced, she was could barely remember what she was talking about. *Where was I going?  um.. rich bitches...*

 

"The Fitzpatricks...  The Patel twins..."

 

The best she could manage was listing the rich bitch tormentors from St. Ives.  The elite "boarding school" served as the juvenile placement facility for the daughters of some of the nations' most elite.  Tabby had been "sponsored" to addend there and the girls never let an opportunity go by to remind her that their family's daily earnings exceeded (sometimes grossly exceeded) her family's entire net worth. 

 

She was now batting the smoking pocket with both hands, turning slowly while doing so, like a cat lazily chasing its tail. 

 

"...Zane...Insane Mary Zane!"

 

With the name of her academic archnemesis, she saw flame erupt..

 

*F**k! Stop drop and roll-- wait, no-there!* She spotted the fountains by the apartment entrance and determined to make a casual and discrete move in their direction... as casual and discrete as you can be when your pants are on fire. 

 

...Meaning she practically dove in. 

 

Emerging, now drenched and becoming the catgirl analogue of every angry-cat-bath video online- if the cat had an oversized soaked hoodie practically sliding off it and steaming/smoking pants.  Sunglasses still dangling by a hair.

 

"So lay off your diva shit- you're small time compared to them!"

 

[TheBlindGirl]

Pizza cat had set herself on fire and dove into a fountain, so of course today was the day Violetta's phone was out of power. That video would've gotten literal millions of views.

 

On top of that misfortune, the gambit to have Flambot provoke the cape into spilling the details on their outstanding debt hadn't worked, and Violetta was now fighting the urge to smack the cat girl upside the head for whining about "rich bitches" in the same breath as she demanded five hundred fucking million dollars. A couple of these names rang a bell - weren't some of these guys Carnies? The cape's nemeses, probably. That 'Insane Mary Zane' stray was probably either a Carnie Violetta didn't know about or else just some other random villain. Christ, with a working cell phone, Violetta could be crawling through Wiki pages and news articles looking for any heroes known to have fought them and start narrowing down who this cape might be. That could provide a lead on how she and Flambeaux had crossed paths.

 

No phone, though, and Flambot's instructions had run their course, which means it was about to start glitching out. It would be kind of funny to watch the cape react to a Flambot meltdown, but it wouldn't make the job any easier. Violetta pushed off from the wall and started walking towards the cat girl, holding her phone up as though she were recording. Just how attention seeking was she, anyway, Violetta wondered? That inspiring speech punctuated by being set on fire and diving into an apartment fountain could stay meme-relevant for weeks and this cape would be the butt of the joke, but would she actually take that as a threat? Or would she feign anger for the drama and secretly be elated that she'd blundered into another few weeks of relevance? She'd apparently spun her internet fame into hundreds of millions of dollars that she could toss at - for some damn reason - Flambeaux, but so far as Violetta knew, it was mostly in the "adorkable cat girl" genre rather than "diva meltdown YouTube drama." With that kind of money on the line, the smart thing to do in response to a threat of posting a massive YouTube video would be to laugh all the way to the bank, but Violetta didn't have any other leverage, so it was time to take a shot in the dark. The metaphorical dark. Violetta could see perfectly fine in the literal dark. It's a good thing she had the mask, or everyone could've seen her opening and closing her mouth three times while she stumbled over a metaphor in her internal monologue.

 

Finally, she shut her mouth and kept it shut, just holding up the dead phone as though to film what was going on. If the cat girl freaked out, Violetta had her hook. If she didn't, at least she hadn't embarrassed herself with a failed gambit.

[Kallisti]

[This is a bit domestic, but hopefully entertaining in its way]

 

The lift up to the top floor was crowded but jovial. Kallistis Red and Scarlett were joking about the way the Crey had backed down on realising the Firar was an incarnate while Gold maintained a friendly chatter of nonsense. Bronze was looking at her tablet,  seeminly oblivious to the rest of them. Green watched their new friend closely, her eyes missing no movement, like a hunter watching her prey. However it was Kallisti the Friar who was the most disconcerting, she smiled along with the jokes and made some comments, but there was an intensity and stillness about her, unlike the other girls. Then suddenly, it was gone as the left doors opened at their floor and Gold linked arms with her.

 

"Welcome to our humble abode in the sky" Gold said, opening the door to the apartment and graciously allowing Metal Kali to enter. "Time to put the kettle on!" They all went inside and Scarlet kicked the front door closed, not bothering to check if actually closed properly.

 

Inside there was a short hallway that led to the large lounge that had a very interesting and colourful view to the south, the most prominent feature being the picturesque park down below which also contained a Vanguard encampment for some reason. The lounge was rather untidy with mugs, magazines and some pizza boxes strewn around haphazardly. One corner had a green canvas tent covered with camo net and a large white wolf lying in front. As soon as it saw Gold, it wagged its tail and bounded over, ears pricked and alert. "Ooof! Good boy Snowy!" Gold said as the wolf jumped up at her in a friendly greeting. From out of the tent another Kallisti appeared, still with blonde hair but in a ragged pony tail. She was slightly shorter than the others and covered in fur! She wore some boxer shorts but most striking of all was the bushy tail that stuck out from a slit in the back of the shorts.

 

"Thats Kallisti Wolf", whispered the Friar standing beside Metal Kali. "We're not sure of her story yet..."

 

"Hybridized DNA", muttered Bronze, still looking at her tablet as she walked past toward the other side of the apartment where there seemed to be a number of bedrooms.

 

"Did you say you prefered alcohol to tea?" called Red heading that way as well. "I've got some Laphroaig if you'd prefer?"

 

There were bangings and cursings from the kitchen "No bloody garibaldis! Who forgot to shop?" called Gold crossly. "There is a reason for having a rota! Oh bugger it was Sapphire - anyone seen her lately?"

 

Kallisti the Friar shrugged and smiled at Metal Kali. "Would you like to sit down?" She scooped some fashion magazines off the couch and tossed them behind it. "Do you need to sit down? I don't understand technology yet - where I came from we didn't have electricity, we had Holy Mystics who used magic but it was not like this. I much prefer it here..." she glanced towards the kitchen and smiled. "The clothes are much nicer for a start!"

 

There was a crash from the kitchen "No Snowy DOWN!" came a shout. Kallisti Wolf ran into the kitchen growling and barking at her wolf companion.

 

"We are trying to teach her English - she's got as far as 'DFB' but we're still not sure what that means yet!" Friar explained.

 

Gold emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray with a teapot some cups and saucers and a plate of biscuits. "No garibaldis but there are the Apple and Custard biscuits that Mum sent over last week. They are bloody awesome! Mum keeps us supplied with the absolute essentials, Tetley tea, biscuits and Marmite!"

 

"Ugh I still don't know how you can eat that stuff, its revolting!" Red also arrived carrying a half-full bottle of Scotch and some glasses. She had changed out of her red and white armour and instead now wore red leggings and a baggy off the shoulder t-shirt.

 

"Philistine! Marmite is proof that God exists!" Gold harumphed. Friar screwed her face up, showing her opinion in the eternal Marmite debate. Gold set out the cups and saucers and poured the tea while Red set the glasses down and poured a generous measure of scotch into them.

 

"Cheers!" she said, picking up her glass.

[Terminal]

Outside, on the Streets

 

"No.  You don't get to play that 'I don't remeber oweing you anything' game with me.  You borrow' date=' you pay back."[/quote']

 

Very few of the onlookers to the event paid much attention to the exact nuance of what Tabotha had said. But Hidreon had. Popping the stick of gum into his mouth, he casually approached the automaton from behind, lodged the balled-up wrapper behind one of its ears with a deft plucking motion, and then joined an arm with it.

 

"We've all had an exciting day, and now's the time to run away." He indicated nonchalantly. "Come along and be good little brassy."

 

"The Fitzpatricks...  The Patel twins...Zane...Insane Mary Zane!"

 

"Wait...I think I know those names..." Vankbliss muttered as he recovered his poise from having witnessed the ongoing chicanery.

 

"That's lovely. I'm getting this little brass tack out of here, be a shoulder for the kitty-cat to cry on." Hidreon similed faintly as he hurriedly approached, practically dragging the Flambeux automaton along by the arm. "I left Redcard's party favor in that box-hedge over there. Act confused and affronted at what I'm saying, go and get it in case you need it, then see what you can find out. I'll be in touch."

 

Vankbliss hardly even had to act confused and affronted as Hidreon and the automaton swept pass him down the street, giving the enforcer a look of bemused contempt.

 

"What." He seethed.

 

He then quickly hurried off out of line of sight of the fountain Tabitha had taken a tumble into and retrieved the pipe-bomb Hidreon had hidden from a nearby box-hedge. Taking care to conceal it inside their surplus military jacket, he then rushed back out into plain view to approach Violetta and Tabitha by the fountain, adopting a not-entirely faked expression of concern and confusion.

 

"My gods. Miss, are you ok? Did that woman in the fire-alarm tights set you on fire just then? I swear I saw all of it. Do you need a witnewaiiiit a minute." He squinted carefully at Tabitha. "You that pizza-cat?"

 

Meanwhile, Hidreon, hurrying to get the automaton as far away as possible, whipped out a burner phone and speed-dialed the only number on it. "Boss, this is Hidreon. We've found a good prospect on the Oregon trail. Flambeaux apparently borrowed the five-hundred, wholesale - and the lender mentioned some familiar names, and also appears...pliable. We could be looking at a double payoff here if we can also find Flambeux."

 

He paused for a while as the person on the other end of the line spoke.

 

"Uh-huh. Yes. Alright. I'll look out for you when you get back. And I'll keep surveilling our new target..."

 

---

---

 

The Christie Apartments

The Kallisti Girls' Penthouse Suite

 

"Did you say you prefered alcohol to tea?" called Red heading that way as well. "I've got some Laphroaig if you'd prefer?"

 

"Is that...some kind of Whisky?" Kali appeared hesitant. "I prefer gin honestly...but that still sound lovely, so sure, I'll have some."

 

"Do you need to sit down? I don't understand technology yet - where I came from we didn't have

 

electricity, we had Holy Mystics who used magic but it was not like this. I much prefer it here...The clothes are much nicer for a start!"

 

"Yes, thank you." Kali said, settling down onto the couch and crossing her legs idly. "And you know, I make all of my own clothes...I sort of have to. Weird proportions." Kali waved a gleaming metal hand at the Friar as if to indicate her own inhuman nature. From what little the Friar could see of what was exposed, Kali appeared to be made up a a number of smooth, immobile plates all interconnected by a network of mechanical cords and cabling that seemed to be capable of moving in a prehensile fashion. "Maybe we could go fabric shopping sometime, and I could show you my studio? Ah...sorry, I'm being a little forward."

 

Kali smiled at the Friar widely. Her eyes, which could not move, did not exactly close or blink - the lights at their core merely dimmed or focused in certain ways along with accompanying oral expressions.

 

"No garibaldis but there

 

are the Apple and Custard buiscuits that Mum sent over last week. They are bloody awesome! Mum keeps us supplied with the absolute

 

essentials, Tetley tea, buiscuits and Marmite!"

 

"Oh my, I feel so rude." Kali muttered faintly. "Ah. I can eat and drink, but it doesn't really...do anything for me. My catalytic processor basically just atomizes everything that goes into it, and I can't taste most things. Alcohol is one of the weird exceptions, like I mentioned earlier. My maintenance team has absolutely no idea why that's the case. They say it makes no sense whatsoever." Even as she explained, Kali nonetheless took one of the preferred cups and saucers, along with one of the biscuits. She then perked up considerably however when Kallisti Red came by and liberally spiked all the tea with scotch.

 

"Oh, thank you." She said, the lights in her eyes momentarily switching off entirely as she smiled appreciatively at Red. "And yes, cheers!" She raised her own cup appreciatively, and then took a long and careful sip from it. Her posture as she sat on the couch and drank was, surprisingly, not perfect - there was a slight curve and lean to her back as she rested back against it. But her arm was carefully poised and precise in its movements.

 

Kali also seemed to completely ignore that the tea was still far too hot to drink in such large quantities immediately, but nobody is perfect.

 

"Ah. That was different. I've never had...did you call it Laphroaig earlier?" She murmured. "Anyway - I suppose all of you are still crimefighters, then? I'm afraid I don't keep up with the news as much as I should - and while I'm a registered hero myself, I don't do as much of that work as I used to. I'm focused on mainly being a good student these days."

[chase]

On The Street

Violetta pushed off from the wall and started walking towards the cat girl, holding her phone up as though she were recording.

 

Tabitha's hoodie had done what hoodies did when wet... soak up fifty times their weight and stretch out.  The hood was still pouring out the excess over her face and into her eyes, the sleeve cuffs now dangled inches past her fingertips and it hung down even lower to her knees... which was good, because her pants under the hoodie were barely staying up.  Everything felt crushing against her- like swimming in wet cement.

 

Trying to blink away the water, she became more cognizant of her aura "sight."  Flambeaux's aura had an acrid smell to its color that she didn't remember before, but the others approaching were too fuzzy to get any sort of reading.  One's got a blue warmth to it and there's something coppery in feel coming off the one holding the phone, but lord only knows what that means.  *Its tough enough to divine meanign from auras without synethesia... wait... PHONE!*

 

Tabby whipped around and gave an accusatory shout at Flambeaux, "I knew it! You had to try, didn't you!?"

 

The loose tendrils of wet hair and a sopping brow still made it tough, but her sight was far more reliable than that stupid other "sense."  *Creepy mask.  Is that some kind of oni or Kabuki mask?  Some kind of Cthulhu-like cultist? Something western?  Cthulhu kabuki? Cthubuki!  It'd be a rule 34 thing for sure- Japanese with their tentacles and all, but no... that doesn't seem right...*  Tabby tried her best not to apply broad generalizations to other nationalities, but she'd once accidentally discovered Japanese catgirl dojunshi with safesearch disabled at school, and it had permanently scarred her. 

 

A lump formed in her gut.

 

"Please tell me that you're not posting to that naughty nyan site." she said dryly to the Cthubuki girl.  Probably not Cthubuki, but can't be sure and she was growing increasingly convinced that her worst fears were all being met.

 

"We've all had an exciting day, and now's the time to run away." He indicated nonchalantly. "Come along and be good little brassy."

 

"Oh, so I was right- not even ready to pay?  Just show up, get your laughs, and run off?  OUR... FRIEND IN CITY HALL IS NOT GONNA LIKE THIS!"  Even with all that went on, Tabby still didn't want to say "case worker" or "probation officer."  Part of it was selfish- she didn't want her neighbors to know of her past, even if she was straightening it out, but Flambeaux was working with the same contact, suggesting that they might be working on rehabilitating her as well.  As fragile as that effort may be, she really didn't want to hinder that.  Everyone deserves a second chance.

 

"My gods. Miss, are you ok? Did that woman in the fire-alarm tights set you on fire just then? I swear I saw all of it.

 

*OhGoshSomeoneElseSawThat... well, at least he doesn't know who I..*

 

Do you need a witnewaiiiit a minute." He squinted carefully at Tabitha. "You that pizza-cat?"

 

*...GODDAMMIT*

 

"oh, ah, don't mind that, please.  Just another life in the day of... I mean...  I dunnowhatImean.  I'm soaked, smouldering, smell like burnt hair, and am probably being streamed to thousands of lonely  sukebei salarymen.  Tastes like victory.  Whee." She half mumbled to  the stranger with the blue-sounding aura and hoarse voice.

 

She did a double flip-off in the direction of Cthubuki  (or would have, if her sopping wet sleeves hadn't obstructed the view and flopped anything-but menacingly at her target) and gave her best attempt at  "F... you" in Japanese (see OOC)

 

"Can we please turn that thing off?"

 

With that she trundled from the fountain toward the apartment entrance, leaving a long wet trail behind her, too exhausted and frustrated to care.

[Kallisti]

Justin checked the settings on his camera - it was a PROPER camera, not a phone, he was a proper photographer, not an amateur! He looked back through the most recent shots... wow he managed to get a pic of FIVE Kallistis and that weird metal girl! What a stroke of luck he just 'happened' to be in the car park of their apartment block! This would be a great shot to sell to the fan sites!

 

Now what did that cleaner say - they were in the south-eastern penthouse suite. He hunkered down by the wall opposite the fountain and unhitched his backpack. Opening it, he gingerly extracted the small drone he'd saved his pocket and yard cleaning money for. If he could get some shots through their windows, that would be a HUGE scoop! It might even answer the most important question the gossip sites had been speculating on for months! Real or fake?

 

There were some old photos from a few years back before she became a hero and they were not like they are now... Then again the transformation that turned her into a superhero might have enhanced them? There were some early hero pics as well but they were often of her in action with energy blasts masking some of the details in the photos. Then there was the major wardrobe malfunction a few years back but nobody got photos of that! It was before all the phones had good cameras. It was the burning question on EVERYONE'S mind - were Kallisti Gold's bunny ears real?

 

The camera drone would provide the answer! Justin set the drone down on the tarmac and got the remote control with the built-in screen out from the bag. Turning everything on, the 4 plastic blades of the drone buzzed into life and then he heard some shouting and a splash from the fountain. He'd been vaguely aware of other people on the street as he had stalked the Kallisti girls, but had ignored them, focused on his prey like a good paparazzi should be! He looked up to see a soaking bedraggled figure climbing out of the fountain with their pants still smoking even after the drenching. Standing on the other side of the foutain was a woman with a very odd face and holding up a phone, recording the figure trying to scramble out of the fountain.

 

"I knew it! You had to try, didn't you!?" the figure spoke, a female voice and then the sopping wet hoodie partially slipped of her head and he could see that it was a very wet catgirl.

 

A man arrived from the side by the hedge "My gods. Miss, are you ok? Did that woman in the fire-alarm tights set you on fire just then? I swear I saw all of it. Do you need a witnewaiiiit a minute... You that pizza-cat?"

 

Pizza Cat? Is that the catgirl from that old pizza meme? What was the name? Of course - Tabby!!! Oh wow this could be his big break, okay not as big as the bunny ears, but you had to take your chances!!! Scrabbling for his camera, he dived behind the stone bench as the catgirl shouted something unintelligible at the girl with the phone and started walking towards the apartment block entrance. He lifted the camera and started taking photos, moving slightly to his right and accidentally kneeling on the drone remote. The height controller was pushed fully forward and caused the small drone to shoot up in the air with a buzzing sound. The noise attracted the attention not only of the catgirl but the man across the other side of the fountain...

[TheBlindGirl]

 

"Please tell me that you're not posting to that naughty nyan site." she said dryly to the Cthubuki girl.  Probably not Cthubuki, but can't be sure and she was growing increasingly convinced that her worst fears were all being met.

 

"Ooh, that's a good idea," Violetta said, pretending to tap at her phone, "I was just gonna put the first part on YouTube, and then if my luck with the frailties of your wardrobe holds, have a link to the bigger, longer, and uncut version on RedTube. I'll probably get more hits if I doublepost to a specialty site, though.

 

She did a double flip-off in the direction of Cthubuki  (or would have, if her sopping wet sleeves hadn't obstructed the view and flopped anything-but menacingly at her target) and gave her best attempt at  "F... you" in Japanese (see OOC)

 

"Can we please turn that thing off?"

 

"We haven't even gotten your pants to fall down yet," Violetta said, following after as pizza cat headed towards the apartment. "Help me workshop a title. 'Naughty Cat Bath?' 'Hot Cat Girl With Soaked Panties?' I feel like these are too obvious, help me out here. Hey, don't go, I haven't posted anything yet. You're walking away from your last chance to talk me out of it."

[chase]

"Help me workshop a title. 'Naughty Cat Bath?' 'Hot Cat Girl With Soaked Panties?' I feel like these are too obvious, help me out here. Hey, don't go, I haven't posted anything yet. You're walking away from your last chance to talk me out of it."

 

Under the soggy sleeves, Tabby's fists clenched.  She just wanted to crawl into a corner and die.  Everything since coming to the city had gone so wrong.  She was supposed to have come here, found some expert to reverse her spell foul-up, go to college, pay off her debt to society. basic stuff.  Her plans to keep a low profile blew away with the viral videos.  Her first apartment, demolished.  Her secluded community service job, revoked.  Her student loans- still not approved, and not a damn person has been able to help her clean up her friggin transformation mess!  She'd weathered it all- sometimes with a good cry or shout into a pillow or punching a wall- but she took it all in stride.

 

But nobody mocks her to her face- especially some bitch calling her a "catgirl."

 

She stopped and turned slowly, her grip tightened to the point that several claw caps popped off, allowing her claws to dig into her palms, drawing blood.  The energies started forming even before she started the gestures- the traces of blood mixing, enhancing, and perhaps corrupting the spell.  she pulled back her sleeves and traced the spell.

 

*This is gonna work this time.  I know it is.*

 

Tabby had studied this spell several times- she loved seeing the arcane blasts of energy on heroTube.  Bright energy arcing from the caster, unerringly homing in on their targets.  It was ... well... magical.  Unfortunately, all her attempts failed- the energy formed easily enough but kinda just popped as they left her hands.  This one was different, though. It was gonna work.  It had to.

 

She'd intended to aim for the phone, bump it out of her hands or something harmless, but the energy here was too much.  She worked frantically to contain it, to siphon energy off, but it just kept growing.  Her sleeves fell back over her hands and were now flopping along with the gestures and making it tougher to fine-tune the spell.

 

*I'm gonna get in trouble for this.  This is assault.  I can't be shooting this at her*

 

*no.  There's no backing down now.*

 

The noise attracted the attention not only of the catgirl but the man across the other side of the fountain...

 

*What the?* The Cthubuki bitch hadn't mentioned that!

 

She diverted all her built-up rage into repeating her Japanese F-phrase, " Sekkusu shimashou!" and released the spell after the drone.

 

It burst a few feet from her hands, nowhere near the drone, but precariously close to the fountain, where the blast of kinetic energy turned the pool of water into a large airborne arc in the directions of both her unwanted videographer and the unknown photographer.

 

[Hyperman]

[Deleted]

 

 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Hyperman

[TheBlindGirl]

The fountain water surged outwards, directly towards Violetta and her unwitting accomplice. Her phone was dead and useless anyway - God, of all the days to have no battery - so Violetta sprang sideways towards the camera guy. Her body slammed into his just before the water crashed into him and his delicate electronics, spinning herself around him so that her back caught the wave, shielding the camera from damage. Violetta's foot and knee slammed into the concrete, she winced at the scrape, then half-dropped the camera guy so she could check the camera. Not a drop of water on the equipment. Violetta dropped the camera guy the rest of the way to the ground and stood straight, shouting a triumphant "bam!" as her spare foot hit the concrete, her heels together and her arms outstretched like a gymnast sticking a landing.

 

A split second after that, pizza cat's blasted-off pants wrapped themselves around her face with a wet "thwack." With a sigh, Violetta peeled the soaked pants off and dropped them on the floor before spinning around to face the catgirl. "Are you getting all this?" Violetta asked the camera guy, with a gesture of her head towards the shredded remains of the catgirl's outfit, "'cause this whole fiasco is a viral video gold mine. Hey!" She cupped her hands to make sure her voice carried to the cat, "say something dumb and endearing!"

[chase]

Normally the kinetic "pop" from the mana blast was mostly directed outward.  A little good footing to brace herself, and Tabitha would be fine.
Normally, she hasn't dug her claws into her palms and added to blood to the enchantment.
Normally, she didn't have flopping sleeves interweave with the spell energy.
Normally, she wasn't compromising her footing so badly by taking an ever-widening-squat-stance trying to hold her soaking wet thirty-sizes-too-large jeans from sliding further down her thighs.

*What am I thinking?  Nothing ever goes "normall" with me.  Typically, things don't go normally.*

So, in a very typical way, things went the Tabby way.   She didn't have to worry about the sleeves any more, as the energy surge did a good job of making the hoodie more of a muscle-shirt/skirt.   The shockwave also blasted off the claw-caps on all her fingertips, save one thumb, where it was canted back in a grimacing position, had it been a real finger.   She'd been flung back HARD and fast, landing on her backside on something hard, but not hard enough to be the ground.   Stunned, she sat there a bit gape-mouthed as her sunglasses- still tangled in her hair- managed to land (a little off-kilter) on her face.

 

Quote

Hey!" She cupped her hands to make sure her voice carried to the cat, "say something dumb and endearing!"

 

She really wasn't liking this Cthubuki chick, or whatever that mask thingie is.   Probably doesn't even know Japanese...  she thought about shouting it out again, but couldn't form the words.
 

[chase]

Meanwhile, in Kallisti Lobby.

 

Thanks for coming with me, Ito.   I really wanted to do this for Mira, but I've never really had to hunt for one myself."  

 

"Not a problem, Keegan.  Just... level with me.  The two of you aren't ...dating, are you?" 

 

PPD Officers Ito and Keegan had only been partners for a few months, but it hadn't taken long for the 4-year vetern Ito to learn how to read Keegan.   The rookie with the irish name and latino features embodied all the outgoing, brash, and overconfident machismo stereotypes from both lines of heritage and wore them proudly.   Even a right arm immobilized in a sling and a green-hued slowly-healing bruise over half his face didn't slow him down.

 

"What? No. NO! not...  I mean, sure, there's some chemistry there... but we don't use the job as a personal dating service.  Right?"

 

"Because you two seemed to really hit it off..."

 

"Dude, it wasn't like that, it was...."  one read of Ito's face and Keegan knew he wasn't convinced, "Ok, it WAS like that, I mean, she's so hot, and even though she was getting into you, I figured with your furry thing you wouldn't mind if I worked a little Keegan charm and...  then we started talkin and... well, she knew my great grandmother, Ito.   Like- they played together as kids- my great nana!   I mean, I know she's like 20 in her mind, but she's like... 90... and I... I don't know how to feel about that."

 

"The perils of dating supers," Ito kept up the cool veteran act even on this topic despite his own dating life being non-existant (supers or otherwise) "... time travel/stasis/suspended animation.... speaking of time travel- let's go back about twenty seconds. My *furry* thing?"

"Yeah, your furry thing.  Everyone in the precinct knows you crush on the critter capes."

 

"I do not ha-- what do you mean *everyone knows*?"

 

"It's cool.  I mean, it was the first thing that they told me about you- that you start actin up, trying to impress them the moment they show up.   It's like me and..."

 

"Smokin' Mira? Bewilder? Lady Tyche? Glimmerin? Reyana Frost? Kallisti Gold?"

 

"Exactly- except I haven't met Kallisti Gold- or any of the rest of the Kallistiverse  -and probably never will- but if I did... man," Keegan scanned the lobby with a hopeful look, " No chance of that happening, I guess."  

 

"Stop pretending you don't know that they moved into the penthouse here."

 

"That obvious?"

 

"I kinda figured you knew when you asked about the penthouse space for Mira. No way she could afford that."  He knew before that- ever since the squad chatter had remarked on the limo unloading, he'd been expecting something from Keegan- a lunch break nearby, maybe a stop at the community college for some paperwork, a trumped up visit to Crey tower... something.

 

"Ok, yeah, I just thought it'd be neat to meet them.  From a professional standpoint."  

 

"Professional like the Gold pinups in your locker?  Like the way you volunteered overtime on NINE different crowd control watches because she might be there?  Like how we went twelve blocks out of our patrol range when that APB came up?  Dude, you'd probably trip over yourself and forget how to speak if you ran into them."

That went too far.   Although neither of them were deluded to think imagine they'd have much chance with a super, you never called them out on it.  Casting stones in glass houses and all that...   "Well, better than posting fan-fic online the first time one shows the slightest interest in you..."

Ito had one of those faces that rarely showed any emotion, but the tips of his ears flushed when he was embarrassed.

"What?"

"Callie, the Calico cat?   Tabby / Callie, both cat markings.  First half of it read like your police report with our first run-in with Tabby.  Second half and all the other posts... I'm pretty sure that there was some creative license there beyond just the name and the fur pattern. "  

There was no denying it.  "Does Tabby know?"

"She spent enough time on that forum when I pulled guard detail-  opposition research, she called it, but we never spoke much.  She and RT hit it off.  Me- she just looks at me like the guy who glue grenaded her to the wall."

"First impressions are a bitch... but fan-fic aside, my relationship with Tabitha is  purely professional.   The PPD is not a dating service, remember?"  Lee started heading for the exit. Fast.   He wanted to edit his latest entries before there was any chance it could get tied back to him by anyone else.

"So you're not interested at all?"

"She's made it clear that she's not interested in me.  I'm not dwelling on it."

As they passed the security office, a great deal of chatter caught their attention.   

"Something's going on. Outside."

Keegan had his good hand on a small baton that he'd hidden in his sling.  After their last "super" run-in, he certainly wasn't ready for another fight.   He reconsidered, sliding the baton back into the sling, "Maybe we can scout it out for them-  maybe from a Penthouse?"

 

Ito was just happy for the distraction. "Nice try.   Let's go."

The distraction didn't last as Keegan jumped immediately back, "You're telling me that if she showed up right here, right now, and said, "Let's do it?' You'd let the chance pass by?"

"Never gonna happen.  About as likely as you and the Kallisti gir..."

"Sekkusu shimashou!"

Ito was sure he'd just imagined that until Keegan spoke up, "Dude. That sounded like Tabby?... speaking Japanese?  Do you know what she said?"

Ito couldn't answer.  His ears had gone crimson red.

Keegan took one last look at the elevators before heading outside.   He wasn't sure why, but it seemed like the odds were in everyones' favor today.
 

Edited July 30, 2019 by chase

[Kallisti]

 

Kallisti Green, stealthy hidden in the shadows of the building foyer watched the two men dressed in blue. She knew they were talking the language of her tribe, but the words were strange and the meanings were beyond her experience. She had heard them mention the name of the Gold one who looked just like her, which is what caught her interest. They were herd-people, their pale skins marked them out as the lower caste, so it was her duty to protect them from harm as instructed by The Masters. As yet she had not felt the call of The Masters, but she was sure they would locate her here, wherever here was.

 

This place had obviously been left without its Guardians for a long time as the herd-people had become much more independent. This made sense to her, she remembered the more intelligent herd-people, some of whom were trouble-makers sometimes agitated the herd, claiming that they should not be food animals at all. These had to be weeded out and culled for the good of the herd. So, she supposed, if there were no Guardians to do the culling, these would become herd-leaders.

 

She wondered who had built all these structures – it couldn’t have been the herd-people, they were not intelligent enough for that. Maybe The Masters had been here before and left the structures behind. It was all very strange. This whole place was strange, a jungle of stone and metal with small forests – they were called ‘Parks’ here – and they didn’t hunt the animals that lived in them. She had been chased out of one of the parks after she had shot a large rodent-like thing they called a ‘dog’ and made a fire to cook it. The one they called Friar had tried to explain it to her later when they received a complaint that there is no need to hunt, they can get food from ‘shops’ or ‘restaurants’. She liked the Friar, she too was a hunter, even though she was a herd-person. If her skin had been green, she would have been a good Guardian. She also liked the colour green!

 

She scowled, chiding herself for daydreaming as the two dressed in blue walked past within a few feet. Her stealth hid her, but a noise from outside caught her attention. The two men also heard it and reacted, rushing toward the lobby doors. Moving out from her concealment, she quickly crossed the open space following them. She was so focussed on what was going on outside that she failed to realise they had stopped in the doorway and so walked straight into them...

[Terminal]

Vankbliss audibly swore aloud as the two uniformed police officers came rushing out of the Christie Apartments. Vankbliss was a known junior member of Vaunt's gang - a known quantity. And there was no way that most of the cops from down at the KWPD didn't have his charming mug memorized from the picture of it posted on their information board.

 

Not that they could actually take him in - given he was not presently wanted for any crimes. As long as he played nice civilian, they wouldn't have any reason to arrest him.

 

"Officers! You have to hurry! That poor Pizza Cat was just set on fire a second ago by Flambeaux! She took off when she realized you were coming." He gestured to the corner of the large concrete divider that separated the main street from the Apartment plaza and parking lot "She took off down that way - you'd better get a handle on her before she starts causing more trouble somewhere else!" He hesitated, then kept going.

 

"Or...if you can't leave here for some reason, at least put out the alarm! She allegedly owes this pizza cat money, but it seemed she was more interested in trying to burn her down than pay it off.

[Kallisti]

Justin couldn't believe his luck! Pizza Cat! Flambeaux! Weird mask girl!

 

He got off the ground where the weird mask girl had dumped him to avoid the water splash and looked to who the man on the other side of the fountain was talking. The two cops stood in the doorway but Justin's eyes widened as he saw a blonde-haired figure behind them - oh my god, it was one of the Kallistis - the green one! Instinctively he sent the drone heading over toward the  apartment block to get a better picture, completely oblivious to the weird mask girl who seemed to be struggling to pull some wet pants off her face while operating his DSLR.

 

The drone hovered above the entrance as the cops came further out into the forecourt, their hands automatically moving to their guns. Justin could now clearly see the green girl and sent the drone to get a good picture. In a blur of movement, suddenly the drone was flying through the air in the wrong direction, skewered by an arrow through its body, shorting the battery. It landed just next to the fountain, sparking wildly and starting to smoke. He watched as Kallisti Green leapt through the air and landed on the top of the concrete bench beside it, a bow in her hands with a arrow knocked and aimed at the smoking drone.

 

"That cost me a month's wages!!!" he wailed.

[Cyrickain13]

On 8/15/2019 at 3:07 PM, kallistiuk said:

Justin couldn't believe his luck! Pizza Cat! Flambeaux! Weird mask girl!

 

He got off the ground where the weird mask girl had dumped him to avoid the water splash and looked to who the man on the other side of the fountain was talking. The two cops stood in the doorway but Justin's eyes widened as he saw a blonde-haired figure behind them - oh my god, it was one of the Kallistis - the green one! Instinctively he sent the drone heading over toward the  apartment block to get a better picture, completely oblivious to the weird mask girl who seemed to be struggling to pull some wet pants off her face while operating his DSLR.

 

The drone hovered above the entrance as the cops came further out into the forecourt, their hands automatically moving to their guns. Justin could now clearly see the green girl and sent the drone to get a good picture. In a blur of movement, suddenly the drone was flying through the air in the wrong direction, skewered by an arrow through its body, shorting the battery. It landed just next to the fountain, sparking wildly and starting to smoke. He watched as Kallisti Green leapt through the air and landed on the top of the concrete bench beside it, a bow in her hands with a arrow knocked and aimed at the smoking drone.

 

"That cost me a month's wages!!!" he wailed.

Brittany Thompson was glad that her over-protective Guardians had let her move out of Kings Row.  She was almost 18, almost a registered hero, as her Guardian’s had put it when she got her hero's permit, "Barely Legal".  The name instantly stuck and that’s what she would go by when her Guardians and her mismatched family would go on patrol.

Brittany’s Guardians had plenty of money. They owned their own Gym and a few side businesses in Kings Row. They could have sent her to the University, even with her grades, had they wanted to. She could be living in a plush dorm hanging out with young adults her age, enjoying the life of a college kid. Her guardians were very insistent on “keeping it real” and that she would learn more in the “real world” as opposed to academia.

As the cab pulled around the corner, she could see the Police cars in front of her new apartment complex.

“Great. Just what I was looking for.” Brittany mumbled under her breath. “Just stop here, I can walk the rest of the way.” She told the cabbie. Once the cab stopped, she got out and went to the trunk of the cabbie. “Open sesame.” She said as she slapped the top of the trunk. She pulled out her old Army duffel bag that contained all her possessions in the world and the handle of her telescoping staff. “Time to meet the neighbors.”