[] Weekend trip to Aleph's Japan with Missy, Kayleigh and Laura
Realign 14.15
Saturday, August 18
The invitation to hang out at Kayleigh's house the day after the attack on the Fallen is unexpected but not unappreciated. You still remember her face when she exploded the cultists she was fighting, and you were wracking your brain last night for something to do that is sufficiently non-cape that it would take her mind off that. Unfortunately, your lack of any capeless social life is coming back to bite you in the rear.
Just chilling at her place is not something you would have thought of anyway, but it will certainly do the job.
The familiar flash of orange light deposits you in her backyard, and glancing through one of the windows you can see not one but three teenage figures piddling around in the kitchen. Not just you, then. You slide open the door into her home and make your way over to the kitchen to see Kayleigh grabbing bags of chips and jars of salsa and cheese while Missy and Laura are both sitting at the table looking at their phones.
"I hope you're not texting each other from across the table," you tell the pair, alerting the others to your presence.
"Hey, Taylor! Take a seat. I'm just getting something for us to snack on."
You follow Kayleigh's directions and settle yourself at the table, but your smile fades when you see the look on Laura's face as she slides her phone over to you. You take a look at the screen only to see the familiar layout of PHO. "What's this?"
"That's the Arcana thread." The smile on her face is twisted slightly. "Looks like we made a splash, alright."
Your face pales, and Missy chooses that moment to chime in. "It's not that bad. Opinion is definitely split for any number of reasons. Parents of young children and the Youth Guard are up in arms about us leaving severed heads where little kids could see them. Some independent heroes and even members of the Protectorate got upset over the fact that we killed them at all. On the other hand, the Protectorate and PRT branches in Kansas City and Houston applaud us for taking them down, and the official stance of both organizations is that sometimes there is no feasible way to capture villains like this alive so what we did was justified. Haven went on record to thank us for
'saving the innocents these sinners would have murdered' but don't know what to make of your comment at the end that the same end awaits anybody who behaves in a similar way." The younger girl shrugs. "And then of course there are the random people who either call us super-hardcore or are perving on the idea of a group of five heroines who can kick their asses. You know, how the Internet normally is."
"Now I don't know how I feel about Sam picking up the bounties," you tell the three after a minute to think about the ramifications of that. A look back over to Missy, now dunking a chip into the jar of cheese, and you ask, "You said Kansas City was one of the cities that was congratulating us?"
"Mm-hmm. It's like the guy at the desk said. They've lost capes and troopers to the Fallen, so us killing a bunch is getting justice for their buddies."
"Then hopefully nobody will give her too much trouble." The others shrug, not knowing any better than you what will happen. "Kayleigh, since you're the one who invited us over, did you have any specific plans, or were you just wanting to hang out?"
"Dunno. I mean, I'd be totally fine with us chilling out or going to see a movie or something, but…" You give the girl a raised eyebrow when she trails off, and she blushes in mild embarrassment. "I was also wondering how far that teleportation of yours can go?"
"Anywhere in the world. Missy and I took a world tour one night."
"Cool, cool, cool. Then I was hoping we could maybe, just for a little bit…" The flush grows larger. "…pop over to Japan?"
Laura sighs long and loud. "You want more of that magical girl stuff, don't you?"
"I'm not the one who suggested it!" she protests before pointing at your neck. "It was Perfect Storm who gave me the list of anime to watch! That has to mean something!"
"Earth Bet folklore and traditions analyzed," your Device says before anyone else can chime in.
"Suspect 'magical girl genre' influenced by cultural memory of prior mages. Similarities to records of Al Hazard society."
"There, see! There's a purpose to it." Kayleigh flipped her hair back and sniffed imperiously. "The problem is that all the stuff I can find is from the nineties. There's nothing modern, so I want to see what I can find if I go to the source."
Missy sighs, pulling your attention to her. "That might be difficult. Remember how Leviathan attacked Japan and sank Kyushu back in '98? Their economy all but collapsed after that. You probably can't find any more because they aren't making it."
"…Oh."
The redhead looks so disappointed that you feel like you are looking at a kicked puppy. The fact you wanted to cheer her up only makes if worse. If only there was some way to turn back time to go to a Japan that had not collapsed—
That thought triggers another and then a third, and you turn your eyes from Kayleigh to Missy. "Maybe we just need to go to a different Japan, then."
"What?" It takes a long moment for her to catch up to where your mind went, but you can see when it clicks because Missy's eyes grow wide. "Oh. Oh!"
"What?!" Laura asks in exasperation.
"I just think that's a great idea. Let's do it." You stand up from the table, and while Kayleigh and Laura put the food away again, you reach out to Samantha to tell her what you are about to do. You do not want her to worry for no reason. When the others are all ready, Kayleigh now with a bright pink purse over one shoulder, you give them a sly smile, activate Perfect Storm's normal form, and tap the butt of the staff against the swirling sigil that formed below you.
All of you look around you as the kitchen is replaced by a small side street surrounded by tall buildings. The meaningless chatter of a large crowd and honks from car horns hits you from the opening to the main street. When you peak out, you find that the sound is from a bustling street, with pedestrians wandering around beneath enormous electric signs and screens that flash as they shift through a litany of advertisements. Something in the sound of the noise changes, a couple of words suddenly coming through clearly, but the majority is still incomprehensible.
"What the…" Laura turned to stare at Missy. "I thought you said Japan's economy collapsed. This doesn't look collapsed!"
Missy points at you, and you shrug nonchalantly. The staff vanishes in a flash, and your necklace reappears. "Their economy
did collapse. If we want to get the full experience, we needed to go to one that was still functional." You spread your hands like a showman or a stage magician. "Welcome to Earth Aleph."
"Earth… Aleph?" Kayleigh's eyes are wide as she stares at you. "You can jump between Aleph and Bet whenever you want?"
"I can jump between a number of dimensions if I want."
"How many?!"
You stop to think on that. The world where you met the Enforcers, Cauldron's base, the volcano world with the ruins, the world where you defeated the bug goddess… "If we include home? I've been to six different dimensions."
Kayleigh and Laura stare in awe before the former's eyes turn to Missy. "You aren't surprised," she all but accused.
"Nah." Missy buffs her fingernails on her shirt and then fiddles with the bracelet on her left wrist, turning her hair from blonde to bloody calico. "This is the third dimension I've been to. Taylor took me to another one a while back."
«
Storm, could you look for something that would match what Kayleigh said she wanted?» Your Device now occupied with that search, you return your attention to the others. "It's a good thing you all have Devices. They will translate Japanese to English and back, so we can actually talk to people around here. Reading is…" You hesitate and think for a moment. "…more complicated. They can do it, but unless you want them to read everything to you, you'll need to pull up a screen to translate the text. And it won't help with writing. Other than that? We're as good to go as four teens from the States can be in the middle of Japan."
"What about money?" Laura pulls her pockets out. "I don't have a ton of foreign money on me or anything."
"That's… actually a good question," chimes in Missy.
"I know Perfect Storm can hack credit card readers. He's done it before, when I didn't have any cash on me. Back in Australia," you add when Missy looks at you strangely. "I'd rather we not create money from nothing and effectively steal, so it should come out of a real bank account."
"Oh, cool! Our Devices work across dimensions?" You give Kayleigh a look of confusion, and she says, "My checking account is back on Earth Bet, duh. If money needs to come out of there, then I can get to it, right?"
Your mouth opens and closes. You had not thought about that. None of the other dimensions you visited needed anything in the way of digital money.
"Maybe?" Everyone looks over at Missy, and she shrugs. "We have some degree of trade with Aleph. It's all digital, but if there's trade there has to be some way to transfer money around."
You are not sure you could get to that, not easily or without the chance of someone tracking down who was moving money around. "Or maybe just make sure it vanishes from your account when we get back. As long as it appears here and disappears there, it's the same thing as it moving from place to place. I think."
«
Location found, mistress. District named… Akihabara?» You do not think you have ever heard Perfect Storm sound this unsure, though it is a strange name, you will give it that. «
Moderate distance from current location. Recommend teleportation or use of rail system.»
"We can figure out more of it later," you tell them. "Storm found someplace for us to go, so let's head out."
Another teleportation, and you look out at a similar square to the one you saw when you first arrived. One thing, however, is distinctly different, and you feel the urge to deploy your Barrier Jacket before it settles down. At first you thought you were about to walk into an entire district of capes, but the more you look at it, the less you think that is the case. It just does not have that feel. If the hundreds of people around you – and those are just the ones you can see! – are not capes, though, what in the world are they doing walking around in costume?
"Oh my god," Laura says in a voice of disbelief. "It's a city-wide nerd convention."
Golden light flashes behind you, and you whip around to find that Kayleigh has transformed into her own Barrier Jacket. "Come on!" she cheers, grabbing Missy's hand and skipping into view of the crowd.
"Kayleigh—"
"Don't be a spoilsport," she tells Laura before the other girl can say another word. "I'm not going to stand out. If anything, I'll blend right in."
You shake your head and begin to follow the pair that are charging away. A few seconds later, Laura steps up beside you. "What are we doing here?" she asks in a quiet voice that should not draw too much attention but is still audible among the general rumble. "This doesn't look like it's your jam any more than mine."
"It's not. That's not the point." Laura gives you a quizzical look, and you nod your head in the direction of Kayleigh and Missy. "Yesterday was rough. Could it have been worse, absolutely. Was it something you, Missy, and I are used to? Pretty much. But Kayleigh doesn't have the same history we do, and still yesterday she wound up blowing people up. I wanted to make sure we did something she would enjoy to make it up to her." Your eyes look ahead and find her bright yellow and purple outfit. "Of course, with how easily she bounced back, maybe I didn't need to worry after all."
"Don't take her at face value." You glance over to find a strange look on Laura's face. "I've wondered more than once myself about whether her attitude is an act. Or, well, maybe not an act," she adds with a frown, "because that bubbliness she has would be too much effort for her not to feel it at least some of the time. It's more that I think she maybe forces herself to act that way even when she isn't really happy."
Your opinion of that you want to keep to yourself, but something about it must have leaked onto your face because Laura asks, "Have you ever seen her dig into something and figure it out when you were sure it would have gone over her head? That's what I mean. Sometimes she is as dumb as she acts, but sometimes she figures stuff out about other people just a little too quick. As if she doesn't want people to figure out how smart she really is so they'll take her at face value.
"I've been her friend for…" She trails off with a blink. "God, for eleven years now. Even after all that time, I can't say for sure that I can read her perfectly. It makes me wonder, that's all."
«
Guys guys guys! They have comics about magic ninja and swordsmen and stuff over here! You need to come look!»
The blue-haired girl sighs. "And then there are times she acts like this, when I don't know if she has the focus to be a master of deception. Come on, we might as well catch up before she decides to just keep pestering us in our heads."
We are at the end of the week, so all non-template mages get 1 XP.
If anyone was thinking about going to manga/anime for spell inspiration, go ahead. It's now justified in-character.
Now it's time to pick out next week's chaos, whenever I get around to writing it. Vote for 2 main activities…
- Final Frontier, part 3 – The
Triumvirate Dynamic Duo is interested in what resources Earth Bet would have access to with convenient interdimensional transport. Go back and check on Earth Vav. As an Iron Age world, most of its resources are untouched.
- Bone of the Father, part 3 – The view you got of the Wolfheads' cape was far too familiar to powers of the Empire for your tastes. Take the rest of the Arcana on a wolf hunt.
- Daddy's Little Girl – It's been a while since you last checked on your dad. It hurts to see him and know that he doesn't and probably never will recognize you, but you should probably stomach the hurt and go to his nursing home.
- Burn the Sinners, part 3 – The Simurgh branch is dead as doornails. That can't possibly have any negative outcomes, like, at all. Right?
…and 2 social activities.
- Participate in Final Frontier as a social activity instead of a main activity.
- Build a template for somebody. Specify which character and which template.
- FORMALLY bring Standstill on as a liaison between the Protectorate and the Arcana
- Hang out with another character(s). This is by definition a non-combat activity.
- Go on patrol. You can bring 1-3 other characters with you if you want.
- Make yourself available to help Operation Pentagram.
- Explore somewhere on Earth Bet. A location must be included. You may bring 1-3 other characters with you.
- Explore another world. If you do not select a world where Taylor has been or already knows about, one will be selected randomly. You may bring 1-3 other characters with you.
- Train, either in the real world or in Perfect Storm's simulator. SPECIFY which spell or skill to work on.
- Write-in (subject to my approval)
Once again, let's have a 24 HOUR moratorium to think things through.
