You pursed your lips, thinking about what you knew of the Light. "She went willingly?"
Karen nods. "She did."
"What happened to her after?"
Karen's face sours a little at the question. "I know little, not dead, but she is gone forever now." She sighs. "It's a shame, she was such a nice girl."
You cast a glance to your sister out of the corner of your eye, she was sitting bolt straight and her eyes were glued on Karen. She still held you tightly. I'm sorry for getting you involved with my mess. "My sister has the same benefits?"
Morgan looks like you struck her physically with that statement. "Yes. She will always be safe here, whether you choose to stay or go." Karen smiles a little tightly. "We're not heartless."
You dip your head slightly, but don't say anything either way. "As I am right now, I am almost as vulnerable as a normal human. How often would I be expected to take to the field?"
Karen lets out a little huff. "Very few Magical Girls start out tough enough to ignore normal weaponry, you will grow. I'm not unreasonable, you won't be sent into a suicidal situation unless it is an end of the world scenario." She takes a sip of her tea, it must be getting cold by now, but she makes no indication of it. "How often depends on need. Right now, there are only a few serious threats that need attention." Her lips press into a thin line. "I have good reason to believe that will change soon enough."
Mmm. You should probably give her an answer soon. Though... you could ask her for more time, but it probably wouldn't change your answer.
Questions...
[] Give her an answer
-[] Write In...
[] Ask more questions
You let out a long sigh and closed your eyes, you feel your sister dig further into your side and put an arm around her without thinking about it. When you open your eyes an minute later, you've made your decision.
"I accept your offer." At your words, you see a brilliant smile appear on Morgan's face and a smaller one appear on Karen's.
"Good, good." Karen speaks in a much chirpier tone now, like she had when she'd answered the door. The sudden shift is enough to completely throw you off of your game. "Now all of the 'official' business is out of the way, would you like another cup of Tea? Mine is empty and yours must be cold by now." You were so thrown that you just responded on auto-pilot, a neutral polite response automatically coming to mind as you nod. Karen makes her way to her feet and bustles into the Kitchen, where you hear the click of a kettle being flicked on.
You sit there in silence, Una looking up at you hopelessly confused to the backdrop of a spoon mixing sugar into a cup. You shift your eyes to Morgan, almost a little accusingly, staring at her bewildered. "Uh, yeah, should have mentioned. She always gets super serious when she does business stuff-- but most of the time she's really chill! You'll see, she's great." Morgan is interrupted by Karen walking back into the room, fresh Tea and biscuits this time, in hand.
"Ooooh? What was that I heard? Little Morgan complimenting me? You know just the right things to say to get me going dear!" Karen's cheery voice is almost deafening compared to the previous silence, her sudden shift in personality only really serving to make you more weary of her. Does she have some sort of split personality disorder? That... did not paint a good picture, as someone who was going to be handling your livelihood. Regardless of her sudden mood shift, Morgan takes it completely in stride, well mostly. The massive blush that springs up on her face at Karen's words certainly paints an interesting picture.
You sit there to the side, still slightly leaning over to cover your sister and watch them interact. Karen is just... normal now, there is no trace of the person she'd shown during their earlier conversation and Morgan was just happily chatting away with her, as if there wasn't something wrong with her. They eventually cotton on to your wary silence, Morgan sending you a confused look from where she sat as Karen sighs slightly. She gently places her Tea onto the table, on a mat that was slightly different that the others, and looks at you.
"I'm sorry if I caused you any distress earlier, it wasn't my intention. I believed that the best method of talking with you was to be direct and honest, disperse with any pleasantries or lies." She frowns a little, still doing her cheery act. "Despite what it might look like, I don't have any sort of multiple personality disorder or mental health issues. My ability to radically change my personality and outlook on something is a by-product of my long life, I've seen pretty much every different type of person and who they can communicate best with socially." She shifts in her seat slightly. "While you might have been uncomfortable, ever answer you gave was one that you had thought through thoroughly and without lying to yourself at all."
You blink, silently considering her statement, just offering a slight tilt of the head, after which she continues.
"You made this decision whilst considering your options completely, nothing held back because of morals, only what you truly believed was best for you and your sister." She coughs, looking a little embarrassed. "Well, that is my opinion of what you were thinking during our conversation. I apologise if I misinterpreted something and made you truly uncomfortable or compromised your decision making abilities in some way." She settles back into her seat and picks up her tea, taking a sip and releasing a relaxed sigh.
You consider her words for a moment, before realising that for the most of it, she was right. You had thought through every possibility that had come to mind, dozens of different ideas coming to mind, questions asked and unasked. You had asked every single one of them, regardless of how crass or uncaring it made you seem and the two of you had moved through the entire conversation at a blistering pace, it had barely taken five minutes at the most. You look at her, not at her face or her body, but at her. You stretch out a tiny tendril of magic, asking for something you don't have words for and suddenly you can feel her guide you to the tiniest part of her magic. That was all you had needed to feel, you ignored everything but what was her and you understood.
You closed your eyes, a tiny smile coming to your face as you raised the cup to your lips. You'd been keeping it warm with your powers without even noticing. It was good, the taste was excellent and she'd guessed how many sugars you had perfectly. When Una sees your smile, she lets up on the Iron grip she'd held onto you with the whole time. Reaching out to the table and lifting her own tea, her pleased smile letting you know it was just as good as yours. You finally let yourself sink back into the sofa behind you, a soft look on your face as you look at your sister.
You flick your eyes up to Karen, seeing an understanding look on her face as she quietly watches the two of you. She knew, the struggling against the world, the sacrifice. She just sat there, quietly watching before Morgan takes her attention away, a smile sliding onto her lips. It was not fake in the slightest, every part of her was the real her, she was just... Karen.
She had offered you this, yes, because she needed a weapon she could throw at threats beyond normal people. But she also was there as a pillar, something you could lean on if you needed, until you were ready to stand on your own again. She wanted to help you, take you in and give you a home that was more than your next break in. There was no lying about it or double-talk. She was completely honest with her intentions, she wanted you as a weapon and to help you.
You hadn't know that you could learn so much about someone from such a small thing and you don't know how to react to this.
Morgan calls out to you, drawing you from your reverie and back to the world, where she drags you into her conversation. Karen was poking her weakspots, gently teasing her, going only far enough to embarrass but make her remember fond memories. Una gleefully joins in, bringing up the incident where she fell out of the tree, on the first night you'd met her. Karen latches onto the story like a bloodhound, sharing stories of Morgan's younger days. Apparently the habit had formed as a way of her trying to avoid the homework her parents had set her. Seeing her face light up in a flush as the knowledge was shared fulfilled that quiet satisfaction of seeing other people suffering.
Eventually, you see Karen glance at a clock and sigh. You've mostly stayed out of the conversation, so you were aware that time was passing, but Una was having so much fun just talking with someone else that you'd been reluctant to stop her. Still, all things needed to end eventually and while Karen went around collecting your cups you stood and stretched off your stiffness. Karen makes her way back out of the kitchen and sees you all standing in the living room. "Oh well, I suppose you should probably be getting to sleep for now, it's getting late." It was nearly ten.
Morgan makes her way towards the door, picking up her jacket from where she had taken it off earlier at some point. "I'll show you guys to your room for the night, we set one aside just in case." You leave the room, sending a parting look to Karen, the stupidly honest woman that she was. She sends you back a gentle smile and a wave, then closes the door.
Morgan leads you through the still strangely empty corridors, you hadn't come across anyone but the guards at the entrance and it was strange, but you ignored it. She eventually leads you through an unmarked door, which opens into a room that was obviously lived in. There were clothes out on the side, various little things scattered across the tops of the counters. A bed in the room off to the left and a small kitchen off to the right. Do all of the rooms here act as houses? How the hell do they fit this all down here? You see another door leading through the kitchen, bathroom maybe?
After your inspection is finished, Morgan spins on the spot and hold her arms out. "Aaaaand, here is my room! Your room is connected to this one, you get enter through there." She points to a door in the wall that you had apparently somehow managed to overlook. "I would show you where your outer door is, but at the moment it doesn't exist, since this just got assigned yesterday. They'll install the door tomorrow, for now you can use mine and this connecting door."
You open the door and peer around, basically identical to Morgan's, minus all of the stuff lying around. "Are all of the rooms connected like this?"
"Nah, they just linked this one up in case you wanted to get a hold of me real quick for whatever reason. Pluuus, my room is in a pretty central spot, restaurant, gym and rec room's are all nearby. I had to pull a lot of strings to get a hold of this and it's my baby now." She sounds very pleased with her choice of room, though you suppose you'll figure out why sooner or later. Regardless, you make your way into your new home as it were and set your things down.
You... really don't have all that much. The clothes on your back, some spares, three books, a gun on your leg and some money you stole. You share a look with Una, neither of you had really... owned anything or had a space that was theirs. You were a little overwhelmed with the thought to be honest, so you decided to just put it to the back of your mind and get ready for bed. You unpack what clothing you have and put your three books on a bookshelf you see against the wall. Next, you check the fridge and are unsurprised to find it completely empty.
You wander back into Morgan's room and are greeted by her completely bare back, you blink in surprise for a second as she turns around in to greet you, letting you see her bare front. You avert your eyes and quietly say "Shirt." Your voice comes out a little strangled and she looks down at herself, she audibly starts saying "But..." before her words trail off, the memory of what she had told you days earlier on the walk towards Canada. She visibly blushes out of the corner of your eye and quickly throws a shirt on.
"Sorry about that, I didn't think-- I'm used to rooming with Karen and she's like... old y'know." She looks terribly embarrassed by her slip-up, but not as much as you had expected. Was nudity normal for her?
Regardless, you get to the reason you had come here and ask if you can borrow some food, something you've never done before. You insist that you'll pay, but she just says that you don't need to pay for food between friends. You don't know how to react to that, the idea that she's your friend. So you just silently note to replace the food and quickly make your way back to your own room, and share your bounty with Una. Several tomato's later and a packet of crisps each and you are feeling better. A quick drink and the two of you have slipped into your usual sleeping position.
Sleep comes quickly, as used to sleeping in strange places as you are. You are woken violently in the nigh by your sense passively expanding to it's fifty metres and blinding you with the enormous amount of hot things moving around. How on earth did you never notice how many things there were in cities. Still, you manage to get a good five hours, only woken three times more by your sense. Eventually, you look to the clock at your bedside. 06:57. Good enough.
You make your way to your feet, gently waking Una on the way and make your way into the kitchen. Oh wait, empty. You sent a silent look at Morgan's door, but look at the hour and remember what happened last time. So you just migrate to a sofa in the main room, where you curl up with Una in silence, until Morgan quietly pokes her head into the door between your rooms. You greet her with a smile and poke Una awake, from where she fell asleep again.
Morgan makes her way through fully, thankfully mostly dressed, wearing the same short top and shorts she was yesterday. She greets you with a smile and a stretch. "Welp, I'm free for... yeah I'm free till Karen tells me to do something. You should be free for a week or so, to settle in. So, what do you want to do?"
You think about her question for a minute, before you find you answer. At the same time, you think softly to yourself. So this, is the feeling of a new Beginning
Morning Activity...
[] Explore the base
[] Hang out with Morgan
[] Go find Samantha
[] Talk to Karen
-[] Write In...
You should probably have a look around the base for now. It was strangely empty yesterday, but it was still huge, from the parts you had passed through. Actually. "Morgan, where is everyone? This place seems abandoned." It really did.
She finishes a stretch before she looks down to you. "Oh that. it's kind-of standard procedure to clear the halls if we are inviting a powerful magical being into the base, everyone just moved out of sight 'till you passed then went on with whatever they were doing." She yawns. "Just makes it easier, no chance of something going wrong."
You nod your head as you shift Una off of your lap, making your way to your feet. A quick double bath later and the three of you are on your way, Morgan actually dressed in her normal attire now. You take the moment of privacy, your sister is still fiddling with her hair in the bathroom, leaving the two of you alone. You send Morgan a long, searching look as you think about your words. You sigh, catching her attention as you lean against the counter behind you. "I'm... sorry about yesterday. For being so rude."
Morgan looks confused for a second as she thinks over what you did yesterday before she remembers what you were talking about. Karen. Her face smooths out as she looks at you, not looking offended or conflicted but concerned. "No, it's ok. I know what Karen gets like and I didn't warn you, that's my fault." She rubs the back of her head as she ducks slightly. "I am sorry for you getting put on the spot like that. I thought that Karen would just... treat you like me, I guess." She shakes her head and starts smiling again. "Everything is behind us now though yeah? Don't dwell on the past."
Before you can say anything, Una comes out of the bathroom, finally satisfied with her hair. She quickly gets dressed and the three of you set out. Morgan leads you out of her room and back into the halls, where you suddenly notice people. It's not like the hallway is chock-full, but you now see the odd person wandering down the halls, minding their own business. Some of them are wearing the uniform you had seen on Samantha, but most of them were just wearing casual clothes.
Morgan takes the lead, happily talking about everything you pass. "Oh, that's the old Archive Room, they moved it because the dimensional folds were starting to wear for some reason. Now it's over there." She points down a hallway that splits into a T. "Or well, it's that way, then left, right, right and straight on? Eh, I'll just show you if you need to get there." She leads you a little further on, taking the first right from where your room is. "This..." She leads you into a large, facny room. Guess this is the cafeteria? "Is The Pub."
"What? Just... The Pub?" Wasn't that a term for bar in England? They all ate at a Bar?
"Ahh, well, not really. It's just the name we gave it so that we can talk about it normally anywhere." She puts on a stereotypically British accent. "'Hey mate, wanna got get a bite down at The Pub?' Like that." She looks around, the room is fairly crowded, there must be about twenty or so people here. Being near so many people like this makes you a little uncomfortable, you subtly shift closer to Una, but apparently Morgan catches your moment out of the corner of her eye. She looks at you silently, flicking her eyes to glance back into the room, full of probably powerful magical people and you standing in front of your sister.
She frowns a little sadly, but nods understandingly. "I'll grab something to go, you can wait outside, what do you want?" You give her a little smile, to try and show your gratitude to her for being so understanding.
You look down. "Una, do you want anything?" She looks up from where she was idly inspecting a wooden railing next to her and gives you a quick nod. "A sandwich?" She nods again, before going back to poking the padded wood. You look up to Morgan. "Two sandwiches then, how about... Ham and Ketchup?"
She hums thoughtfully for a second before nodding. "Yeah, that won't be a problem. I'll be out in a jiffy, just wait right there." She walks into the room and is shortly greeted by warm calls from people who spot her. She talks back happily, not faltering her walk towards the counter and makes her order. The door swings shut in front of you as you lean against the wall, a metre or so away. Una entertains herself by looking at the fancy artwork that surrounds the door and poking the soft carpet at her feet.
Morgan erupts from the door after only two or three minutes, four sandwiches in one hand and a wrap of something in the other. She hold the sandwiches out for you to take, a 2-2 split you assume and give Una hers. She smiles and turns to get started in another direction, pointing to a set of large double doors as she reaches them. "Just over here is the Gym, got everything you need and there are a bunch of private rooms around it for physical or magical stuff but oh-- Don't do anything too magically intensive down here, if you need to come find me and I'll get us a lift to a practice spot out in the country where you can really let loose." You poke your head into the door, seeing a large room filled with loads of things, a lot of them look like normal Gym machinery but some of it is completely foreign to you.
She continues leading you on, pointing things as you pass them. "This is the Library, new Archive right next to it. That's the main entrance, I'll show you it at some point." She leads you through another area of compressed and twisted space. "This is the Armoury and well... I guess you could call it R&D?" She leads you through the doors of the Armoury and you see so many weapons. The entire room, enormous as it is, is lined from floor to ceiling row to row of weapons of every time you can imagine.
Guns, swords, bows, staves, shields, rocket launchers, is that a Tank? Upon closer inspection, that is indeed a tank, you vaguely remember seeing something like it on a WW2 poster. Morgan sees where you are looking and gives you a slightly giddy smile. "Yeah, that's real. It's not actually in use, but the guys in R&D have been poking it with ideas for years. I think we've got some that actually are useable, but they aren't here." Well, ok then. You aren't really sure how to react to that but it sounds awesome.
She leads you back out of the room, seeing the magically modified tank had gotten you thinking. "How do people normally use Magic then? If they can work together to do something like that it must be fairly similar?" At your words Morgan nods absent-mindedly before shaking her head.
"It's complicated. Everyone's magic and ways of using their magic is different to each other, but at the same time there are some magics that seems to be identical and people seem to have a theme to their magic." She turns another corner now, walking at a casual pace. "Actually, I should probably mention. Everyone has an Affinity, its... basically your theme. Your magic works vastly better within your Affinity, like. If you had a fire Affinity, Fire would come easy but Ice would be a lot harder yeah?" You nod. "We should probably have someone check what your Affinity is-- Actually, I think I remember that Magical Girls have two Affinities or more."
You nod, you were pretty curious yourself. "Are there any sort of Magical schools then? If everyone's magic is so individualistic?"
Morgan bites her lip. "Not really? I mean, there are places where they teach you about magic, but not many that teach you magic. I suppose that Rune Schools do and there has been an idea floating around for a while to create a sort of 'Magical language' that people can learn. Would mean that their spells are more or less all the same, speak the words and cast the spell." She shakes her head. "Not much point to it when your own spells are better than something some-one else could create."
You nod as you turn a corner and Morgan leads you through a door. "Here is 'The Paperwork Division', as we call them. Don't let them hear you say that, they'll bury you in forms." You don't really get her sudden humour as she leads you in. "Heeey, Sammy." Eventually, you see yourself approaching a desk, where Samantha is sitting and typing away on a boxy computer. She looks up when Morgan calls her and gives you a smile, ignoring Morgan completely.
"Good morning Ms. Cerys, Ms. Una, did you sleep well?" She is polite as always.
"Yes, thanks." Una nods next to you, quietly worming her fingers into a stack of papers.
"Good. I will be here most of the time, however if you wish I could move my work-station elsewhere if it is convenient. I am here to be your assistant, I will work through any paperwork needed, research and investigate a subject you request or fulfil any number of smaller errands."
Right, first things first. "Do we have some sort of official identity here?"
Samantha nods as she types something. "Yes, overnight an identity and credentials have been created for you. You are now officially a British citizen and have been your entire life. You've lived in the country with family, being home-schooled until recently." You open your mouth to say something, but can't think of anything. You are actually impressed by both how quickly they'd gotten this done and how well put together it was. "Your name is officially Cerys, and your sisters Una. No second name, registered as a quirk of 'Your Parents' naming sense."
It took a moment for that to sink in. You were actually free. You had a new identity, no names hanging to yours or past dragging you down. You give her a smile of gratitude as you gently rub Una's head. Something she said does stick in your mind though. "Home-schooled until recently" Una had never really gotten an education and yours was severely out of date. You frown as you think about it, but you really should fix. You give a sigh as you pitch your question to Samantha.
"What sort of educational options are there? I've been out for a while." Samantha blinks for a second and Morgan just nods.
"We have a wide range of tutors in a range of subjects available for tuition. It would easily be possible to schedule lessons." She turns to look at Morgan now, reluctantly continuing. "Ms. Grey here is more than capable of covering the basics of most subjects, she passed her grades well and has been accepted for a teaching license." The blush on Morgan's face is burning red, and it turns practically atomic when Samantha mentions the teaching license.
She ducks her head and makes a cute noise in protest. "Why do you have to tell everyone about that." She is actually poking the ground with one of her feet now as she speaks quietly under your gaze. "I always wanted to be a teacher y'know... I can just do more good out there in the world." Your sister is staring at Morgan's blush with a laser like intensity and you can visibly see idea's swirling around in her brain. You decide to save her the embarrassment and divert the conversation.
"You have someone who can teach Una then?" Your mouth twists at the thought of leaving her alone with someone else. Actually, why leave her alone. I need lessons too. I can do it at the same time, same place. That thought goes a long way to calm your rapidly beating heart.
"Yes, we have a number of staff who have been vetted to teach children, only the best. It would be a catastrophe if it was found that a teacher was abusing their privileges, especially with magic involved. They are watched closely." Both Samantha and Morgan have dark looks on their face as she mentions that and continues, quieter. "There will be no incidents."
You stand there in silence for a moment, but eventually Una gently takes your hand from where she is next to you, looking up at you with wide blue eyes. You hug her closer as you change the subject. "I need someone to teach me how to use a sword, is that a possibility?" Samantha nods easily.
"Most enforcers and scouts can use swords or knives to some extent, we have three professional swordsmen on site. If you wish I will request lessons?" You tilt your head as you think about it before deciding to decide later.
You glance up to a clock on the wall, just a little past 12, you send a look over to Morgan and think.
Midday...
[] Questions for Samantha
-[]Write In...
[] Work out Education and Sword lessons
[] Get lunch with Morgan
[] Go to the Gym
[] Go to the Library
-[]Write In what to look up
[] Go into the City
It would be a good idea to learn how to use your sword, and your pistol, now you think about it. You'd been wearing it for nearly three weeks now and you'd just kind of... forgotten about it. It just felt like another accessory that you wore. Actually, you should probably clear that up, before they thought you were being nefarious by hiding it. Though you doubt that it's actually hidden from them, it stands out against your leg when you look for it.
"I would appreciate if you could sign me up for lessons, I can manifest a sword in my transformation and it would be nice to know how to use it. Also, shooting lessons for myself and my sister." The latter half was said a little sheepishly, considering that neither of them blinked at your request they probably knew. Still, you have to go over, ugh education. Honestly, you were really grateful that Morgan was available as a tutor, it would have been incredibly awkward to try and learn from someone else.
Samantha nods at you and quickly types something into her computer, before looking back to you. "Education?"
You sent a look at Morgan, who was shifting in anticipation. "I would also be fine with having private lessons with Morgan, I trust her." It took her a moment to register your words, but you saw a small flush spread down her neck and a smile forces it's way onto her face.
Samantha just nods again, types something to her computer again before taking a sip of a mug of something you hadn't noticed before. "I will deliver you a timetable tomorrow morning. Do you have any further questions?"
You blink as you think. "Just two that come to mind. Firstly, do you have anything on the forest fire I asked you to look for yesterday?"
She nods as she starts speaking. "Yes, there was a significant amount of coverage of it on a wide variety for news channels. The fire originated on the Canadian side of the border and spread extremely quickly. It travelled over one hundred twenty miles south and thirty north, there have been reports of minor injuries such as smoke inhalation or bruises from public panic, but there have been no confirmed casualties." She gives you a searching look. "You mentioned that a spirit asked you to start this fire and gave you their guarantee that no-one would be hurt yes?"
You nod and she sighs a little before typing while mumbling. "Well, at least we know the cause of the rapid spread." She starts speaking normally. "Please, the next time something is requested of you like this, consider the reaching consequences. This has significantly increased tensions between Canada and America, right after they had come to a more stable border agreement. It is likely that America will withdraw their participation and increase their border presence again." She looks a little grim as she starts typing again and Morgan is looking a little guilty, not surprising considering that it had been her advice to burn it.
You swallow heavily, you hadn't thought about it, you'd just been repaying a favour. At least the spirit had kept it's word and kept people safe. "Right..." You let the statement linger for a little while, feeling incredibly awkward for transitioning from that to you getting paid, but eventually you decided to just push forwards. "The second point, how much is Karen going to be paying me?"
Samantha just takes it in her stride as she answers you. "You are currently being paid five thousand pounds a week, this is not subject to change without both your and Karen's approval." The figure she listed makes you choke on air, which you hear Morgan copy before she starts glancing around to see if anyone heard Samantha. Thankfully her statement seems to have passed them by completely.
You do some quick math in your head and the figure that you come up with is... significant. Five thousand times fifty two equals.... two hundred and sixty thousand. Jesus fucking christ Karen. How much money do you have to throw around? That was more money than you knew what to do with. You think about it for a bit more before you realise the reason. A way to keep me on side. With this much no-one could expect to bribe me away and I can pay for both myself and my sister without effort. If I spend to much weekly then I will become reliant on them paying me and not want to break away and lose that income. This was both sneaky and brilliant. She had tied you to her in such a way that didn't even let you resent her for it.
You stand there for a moment, trying to straighten your thoughts when Samantha speaks again. "Your first pay check has been sent through, it will be deposited into a bank account that has been created for you and will be paid into weekly." She shifts in her seat. "Now, if you have any other questions?" You slowly shake your head as you start walking away, Morgan following you in a similar state. Even Una was silently staring at you, aware of just how much money that was.
Your feet take you through the base and by the time you've gotten your thoughts together, you are nearing the Gym. Considering that you hadn't had much of a chance to investigate earlier, you decide to poke your head in and have a look around.
There were exercise machines that you recognised and again, the ones that you did not. There were several doors leading out of the Gym at the far end from the door. The room itself was mostly empty right now, nor surprising since the clock proclaimed it as 12:28, though there were two people working together on a machine in a corner. Morgan takes the lead, walking towards a gym machine you recognise, something to do with the stomach. Morgan takes off her hoodie, leaving her in just that short top and drops it on a table nearby.
"Right, I'm just going to pretend I never heard that. Anyway, this is the Gym, since we're here anyway why not give you a proper tour?" She sits down on the machine and shakes her arms out a couple of times. "I'll use one to show you how, then I'll let you have a go. We'll move through as many of them as we have time for. That ok?" You nod absent-mindedly as you look at the mechanics of the machine, there were some weights and a pulley, a padded bar to put your legs under.
Morgan settles back into the seat and slides her legs underneath the bar, grabbing another bar you hadn't noticed with her arms and pulling. Not with her arms, but with her torso and stomach. The only reason you realised this was that you saw the muscles in her stomach tense and ripple as she pulled, her position excellently showing of her subdued abs. You are only torn away by your sister gently poking you with a smug smile, which you promptly ignore as you go back to looking at how Morgan is doing it.
She eventually stops and waves her arm at the machine for you, thankfully ignoring your short bout of staring, even though you know she noticed. You follow after her as you slide off your hoodie, leaving you in a plain blue t-shirt. You throw it over to your sister, who puts it on a table as you sit down and position yourself. Morgan doesn't say anything, so you assume that you did it right and you pull. The weights are at the same level Morgan's and the first time they lift easily, after the eleventh time you feel a slight burn in your stomach and after the twenty-fith you were struggling to pull as your muscles just twitched uselessly.
Morgan just nods her head and waves you off. "You can stop now, don't need to push yourself, we're just trying them out." You nod as you slide out of the bars, not breathing hard but your muscles groaning in protest regardless. "Looks like you have more burst strength than endurance, though you are no slouch there either. You get a lot of exercise?" You nod again as you make your way to your feet, following Morgan as she makes her way to another machine. "You were pulling at my weight and I've been doing this for years. Using your stomach muscles is hard, seeing as there aren't many normal ways to exercise them. You'll probably do better running or lifting." She wiggles her eyebrows a littler when she says normal, which makes you blush slightly but you ignore it.
She leads you onto another machine, lifting this time and runs you through it. You manage to lift it fine, but once again can't keep it up for as long as Morgan can. You were surprised at your results to be honest, you were lifting heavy loads without much difficulty. Still, Una was quietly moving around next to you as you stood up and it took you a minute of looking at her to read her. "You want to have a go?" You look at the machine and give Morgan a look. She was a little young for this wasn't she? And this was a heavy weight.
Morgan bites her lip as she looks at the machine but eventually nods. "She can try, so long as she uses the lighter weights and only if someone is there to supervise for her." You agreed with her terms yourself and hopped up, letting Morgan move in and show you how to adjust the weight, it was pretty easy. Still, Una looked comically tiny next to the lifting machine, but she still pulled as hard as she can. In the end, Morgan increased the weight twice, seeing as she wasn't having any issues before Una started feeling the weight. It was a small weight even then, Morgan quietly spoke to you as Una rubbed her tired arms.
"She seems a little weak even for a girl of her age, how much exercise does she get?" You grimace a little when the answer comes to mind.
"Very little, she spends most of her time lying around reading."
You see Morgan push her lips together as she looks at Una. "It shouldn't be too hard to get her to build up some muscle, she's still young and it'll be good for her. Can probably teach her some hand to hand too, would do her some good." You blink when she brings that up. Apparently she catches that. "Ah. I had kind of just assumed that I or someone else would be teaching you that? You don't have to if you don't want to."
You shake your head as you speak. "No, it would be a good idea to learn. I already know a little, do you guys have a style or something?"
Morgan shakes her head as Una makes her way over to the two of you. "Not as such, we have people who know a lot of different ones or we'll learn from mundane teachers. I can teach you some of my own, but I'm not verified to teach hand to hand officially. We have a couple of people who can do that."
You nod as Morgan leads you to the next machine and settles into it. "I'm fine with learning from you." Una nods by your side. "As is Una, but I'll need to think about official lessons."
Morgan speaks while pulling the bar with her legs. "It's a good idea, you mostly fight with magic but there are a bunch of things that you have to fight with your hands, other people being one of them." She stops and sits up. "Well, that is if you can't incapacitate them with magic or you gotta do it subtly."
The next three hours passes in a painful blur. You move through most of the Gym, letting Una try some of them at lighter weights until she tires herself out. You make it through all of them, breathing hard and your entire body aching, but you do it. Morgan praises you for making it through, a lot of rookies apparently drop out half-way through. Still, when you shakily make your way to your feet and out of the Gym, Una helpfully grabbing both of your hoodies for you.
You shakily make your way towards The Pub, peeking your head through to see a mostly empty room, though people are starting to filter in. A glance at the clock lets you know it's 3:43, which Morgan helpfully lets you know is just after work lets out. You grimace, but make your way into The Pub and grab your orders, another pair of sandwiches. Food ordered, which was free you noted, you made your way out of the much fuller room, feeling eyes on your back as you walked. You quickly made your way back to Morgan's room, a two minute walk and settled in at her table. The chairs were padded and very comfy.
About half-way through, Morgan stands up and says. "I'm just going to make Tea, want any?" You both nod and eat in silence. She returns a minute later, three mugs in hand. She sets yours down as you migrate to the sofa, having finished your food. Relaxing back into the sofa you listen to Morgan talk about the things she's seen on her travels. "Yeah, if you go up a bit further north you can find Stonehenge. It is magical, which makes it's world-wide tourism position more than a little uncomfortable. We have to keep a group stationed there to make sure no-one tries any rituals or anything."
Una nods while listening closely. "But no-one tries right? That be stupid."
Morgan lets out a laugh and shares an amused look with you, people were stupid though. "You'd think, but last I heard they stopped a guy last month, migrant from France who has ideas he wanted to test. We pointed him towards the Ritual site in Germany and made sure he got there. Why he came here instead of going there is something we still can't figure out." She takes a sip.
Another ten minutes pass before something Morgan said caught your ears. "Yeah, most things have Affinities, so long as they can be counted as a thing. The best we can figure out a tree can have an Affinity, mostly because we've seen golems have affinities and they are just animated rock."
You speak up. "Actually, do you know what my Affinity is?
Morgan blinks before shaking her head. "Nah, you'd have to ask Karen or James to do it. Ah, James is the head of R&D, he's got this thing he uses to figure it out." You nod as another question comes to mind.
"You said you can teach Una how to learn magic." The second you said those words, Una sits bolt upright in her chair and focuses on Morgan like a primed missile, who blinks in surprise.
"Y-Yeah, I can. It's best not to teach her much more than a some weak stuff right now, be best to leave her for another year or so before you give her a boost to start teaching her."
You let out a hmm as Una shifts her pleading gaze to you. "I'll think about it." You're not sure if you want her to learn, but you'll think about it. You do need something to distract her though. "Any idea's for naming my sword?" And just like that her line of thought it thrown off the cliff.
She shifts a little as she thinks to herself. "Uhh, some? I didn't really think about it much." She looks a little sheepish as she says that. "Plasma Edge, Ignition Edge." You give her a surprised look at that, until you remember that you'd transformed in front of her. "I think I prefer Infinite or Infinity Edge though." She uses edge a lot, also your not sure why she uses Infinity, but it sounds right.
Afternoon
[] Chat with Morgan
[] Ask Morgan Questions
[] Find out your Affinities
[] Go outside
[] Go to the Library
[] See if Karen is free
[] Invite Morgan along for
-[] Everything
[] Write In...
Mmmm. "I think I'll go with Infinity Edge." The more you think about it, the more you like the name. It just seems to... fit. "Yeah, that sounds right." You reach over and rub Una's head. "Thanks." She leans into your hand a little like a cat. When you stop, you rest back into the seat, unsurprised when Una climbs over the sofa and drapes herself over your lap. You resume your headrubs absent-mindedly as you continue talking with Morgan. Most of it is just inconsequential things. What's your favourite food? Toad in the hole, whatever that is. When were you born? 03/02/1984. Things like that, you shared your own birthday and Una's, 7th of July and 15th March respectively.
Eventually your conversation turns back around to the Clocktower itself, while thinking about yourself as part of the Clocktower still makes the hairs on your neck rise, you've decided to firmly extend a wait and see approach. You don't think that they are going to screw you on this, but it's better to be sure that sorry, especially when something like Magic is involved. There were so many ways you could be getting screwed here that you just tried not to think about it.
Still, you decide to take advantage of the conversation being where it is to ask a couple more questions. "How long have you been working for the Clocktower anyway? It sounds like it's been always."
Morgan nods from her position, lying on the other sofa and letting her legs hand off of an arm. "Kinda? It feels like it's been forever, my parents are both Scouts so I just kinda assumed that I was a member until like, three years ago or so when I got officially inducted." She shifts down the sofa a little. "Well, I was being trained for the position since birth, it feels like. So not much really changed apart from me getting paid and getting sent on missions directly." She takes an awkward sip of her Tea lying down, it looks distinctly uncomfortable but she bends her neck to do it.
"Not that I really mind, being a Scout is pretty much my dream job and the benefits are amazing." She sighs comfortably when she rests her neck back. "Good money, excellent health service, travel the world, fight monsters, uncover secrets abound." She tilts her head to look at you out of the corner of her eye. "Make new friends." You bite your lip and glance away when she says that, when you look back, she looks a little disappointed but not really surprised. Honestly, she was the closest thing you'd ever had to a friend, but it still felt awkward to think of her as a friend.
Apparently you'd stopped petting Una, since she gives you a sleepy poke that gets you started again. Still, the quiet atmosphere is a little stifling now. Morgan helpfully changes the subject though, you are grateful that she is as good at reading social situations as she is. It makes this whole 'friendly conversation' thing so much easier when the other person understands what you are trying to say, even if you fuck up.
"Anyway, I was basically already a Scout but in name before. It didn't really impact my life at all." She sighs and sits up, apparently it wasn't that comfortable.
"What do you do when not Scouting then?" You were a little curious, she seemed to basically live her job. Which... wasn't bad if she enjoyed it, you suppose.
She hums as she takes a sip. "Not all that much? I mean, I exercise but that's mostly for the job. I like exploring but once again, on the job. I suppose I explore places when I'm not, but most of my free time is just chilling around base or training." She tilts her head as she thinks. "I suppose you could say that the places I get to visit count as vacations, so I get a lot of time off?" She huffs at herself. "I'm being a bit inarticulate here. I just enjoy my work, so most of my downtime is getting ready to enjoy more work."
You can understand that, you think. It makes sense to you anyway. Though, you've been taking up all of her 'free' time lately, doesn't she have anything she wants to do? "is it fine that I've been hoarding you to myself today then? Was there anything you wanted to do?"
She smiles at you and looks like she is going to say something else, but shakes her head and speaks. "Nah, I'd say spending time with you counts as relaxing, it's enjoyable." Stop being so likeable dammit, why are you being so nice? Apparently something of your thoughts show on your face, because she looks at you a little concerned. "Hey, you ok?"
Your lips move silently for a second before you press them together and close your eyes. Several seconds later you open them and try to give your best smile. "It's fine, I was just wondering if you wanted to come with me when I go wandering in a little bit." From the look on her face, you need to practice your smiles more.
She doesn't say anything as she stares at you for a minute, but eventually she dips her head slightly. "Yeah, that's fine. We go out wandering then I'll throw something on for dinner when we get back? I think I have something you'll like." You give her a nod, once again thankful for her silent acceptance of your whateverthefuckitwas and look down at your lap. Una was solidly asleep now and you would feel kind of bad to wake he up. Still, if you were going to go somewhere you needed to put her to sleep. Thankfully, you had a convenient bed all of your own right next door.
You gently carry her in your arms, her form not even waking slightly and place her onto your bed. Your Bed. That still sounds strange to you, but you place her down and watch as she latches onto your pillow and crushes it in a hug. You turn around to leave the room, Morgan standing in the doorway when you see the change. There is a new door in my room. You tense for a brief moment before you remember Morgan's words from yesterday, they were going to install a door for you. You take a quick peek out of it and find yourself in an area that you don't recognise. I'll probably just use Morgan's door, she said it was really close to the centre.
Still, you make your way back through, dropping off your hoodie as you go and locking all of the doors. You don't really need it and you were still a little hot from earlier, though you fix that with a quick application of your power. Apparently Morgan has similar thoughts to you, since she leaves hers behind too when you exit the door. "Do you think I could find out what my Affinities are?"
Morgan nods and points down the hallway, before leading you onwards. Your pace was a little faster than earlier, something Morgan noticed. "Eager to know?" You nod and she smiles. "Yeah, I was too when I was tested. Mind you, I was like six at the time." She leads you further down the corridors, not towards Karen's room but the lab? Guess Karen is busy or something? You give voice to your question to Morgan who just nods. "Yeah, Karen can do it, but she almost always has something to do. You can just walk in and she'll stop to chat with you, but it makes her put off her sleep until she gets her work done." She grimaces and speaks quietly to herself. "Too nice for her own good sometimes."
You stay silent at that, you don't really have anything to contribute and your opinion of her isn't exactly the same as hers. Still, it only takes a minute or so more before you make it to R&D, helpfully signed above their door. Morgan leads you through into a small waiting room, where someone notices you quickly. He walks over and greets Morgan rapidly, sending a look your way. Morgan smiles a little stiffly and starts speaking. "Hello Oliver, no, I'm just here for Cerys today. Affinity testing." The man's eyes move over to you and he stares at you a little threateningly, you feel your magic ripple slightly as you stare him down, making the hair on his arms stand on end. Morgan lets out a single tut and he jumps before walking away, a much more careful eye on you than before.
You look at Morgan incredulously, what the hell? She picks up on your silent words. "Sorry about that guy he's..." She purses her lips together and her eyebrows draw together into a small frown. "A little obsessed, to put it politely." She grimaces and she moved into the next room, well out of earshot. "I'd been hoping that he got over it while I was away." She sighs. "Don't worry about him, while he's valuable we have way too much important kept here to leave an unstable element floating around, he'll be dealt with."
"Creepy stalker not your type?"
She snorts. "No, he's just equipped entirely wrong. Let alone the whole 'creepy as fuck' thing he's got going." That... somewhat surprised you actually, you had just thought that she'd been having silly fun teasing you. Wait was she flirting with me earlier? She notices the blush you are trying to hide and cottons on immediately. Why do you have to be so fucking good at reading me! "Ah, it's not like that, honest!" She looks at you, having stopped outside a particular door. "I was just trying to get to you used to the whole 'Gaia fucked with your sexual preferences' thing." She shifts awkwardly on the spot as you stare at her and she mumbles to you. "I thought it would be easier for you if I let you notice it and deal with it sooner. So you could ask me questions while I'm here."
You continue staring at her, uncomfortable beyond description. You aren't really mad at her, but to be honest you felt like crawling into a corner and hiding, or just pretending this never happened. It was worse because she was attractive and you had so many fucking questions dammit. In the end you just shake your head a little and stay silent. She apparently reads whatever she does from your face, because she turns around without a word and opens the door. You hear her quietly mutter harshly to herself as she makes her way through. "Good job, you lasted an entire day. Some fucking help you are."
You don't have the chance to say anything as you make your way into the room, you put your thoughts out of mind for the minute and look around. The first thing you see is how neat everything is. Everything is stacked just so or it's organised in a sensible looking manner. It looks nothing like the mess you had expected. Sitting in the chair typing something onto a fancy looking computer is a well kept man. His hair is neatly trimmed and his beard is well kept, his clothes have no wrinkles or creases and his arms move with precision as he types. How the hell? You eventually just dismiss his immaculate appearance as some sort of magic, there was no way that anyone could actually look that ordered and perfect this late in the evening.
Morgan quietly makes her way over, before apparently shaking off her self-recrimination and greeting the man. "Hey James, I got someone here for Affinity testing." The man looks up quickly, but smoothly from where he was still typing and stands. He makes his way over to a corner of his office and grabs something before setting it down on the table next to you, he gives you a small nod before returning to his seat and typing again. You blink at his silent interaction but Morgan takes it in her stride and grabs the thing from the table.
Now you can get a better look at it, it's just a rock with some paper attached to it. Completely mundane and normal paper. Another dream ruined, should I start keeping count? You dismiss your internal snark as Morgan holds the rock to your hand. "This is an Affinity Tester. Easy to use, just put your hand on the rock and you'll have your results back in like thirty minutes." You blink at the length of time and grab a hold of it yourself, but Morgan keeps speaking. "It takes so long because it checks all of the Affinities we've ever found, ever. Like, in the last two thousand years." The number catches you completely off guard.
She takes it from your hand and puts it back on the table, starting towards the door. "We can just leave it here, James will send me an Email as to the results or we can come back to look at it ourselves later." You send the man-- James a look, but he completely ignores the two of you and continues typing away. Morgan just shakes her head and walks towards the door.
"He can hear us just fine, he just doesn't have anything to say. If he objected, he'd say something, he's like that." You follow her when she opens the door. You think about asking questions, but he gives off an Aura of 'I'm busy' that makes you reluctant. The two of you just stand in the corridor for a minute, still a little awkward after your earlier... discovery. You eventually just shake your head and sent Morgan a solid look, deciding to ignore what had happened earlier for now.
"Look, let's just... not? Right now I'm out of ideas, so... what do you want to do?" You just turn the last... two hours, a nearby clock states, over to her. You were going to be in bed by, ten, not much reason to stay up right now.
Morgan looks a little surprised at your sudden handing over of the reins as it were but she recovers admirably. "Well, ok then. Mmm" She scratches her arm as she thinks. "How about this? We'll go back to our room and grab some food. When we're done grab out hoodies and go to the surface? I know a good spot nearby, you can get a great view of the lights there." You slowly nod and stake the lead this time as you walk back. Morgan only has to correct your direction once, but you make it back fine.
You walk over to check on Una and find that she's frowning a little as she shifts in her sleep. You've only been gone twenty minutes or so, so that isn't good. Eventually, you decide to drape your hoodie around her shoulders, which she burrows into and settles down. That solved, you walk out of the room to find Morgan waiting for you. She spots your lack of hoodie, but doesn't comment beyond a raised eyebrow. She's already made a quick meal, it's just a bowl of weetabix each, but with some sugar it's pretty good.
When you are done, you quickly wash up your bowls and set out. She leads you back through the corridors, out a side door and a dizzying staircase, where you exit a door oustide.
The sudden breath of fresh air, and the rush of things in even your reduced sensing range makes you stagger for a second. You straighten up and look around. The sun is just setting over the horizon and lights are starting to turn on. There are people everywhere, so many people. Still, you follow close as Morgan leads you through the crowds, keeping a wary eye out around you. You glare off a shifty looking teenager, who shuffles off out of your sight, looking like he wants to be anywhere but right there.
Eventually, Morgan leads you through a fancy looking door and up a flight of stairs into an elevator. You exit it after a solid minute and walk along the fancy corridors until you come to the end. You had climbed four flights of stairs, but you hadn't realised how high the elevator had taken you. Here, was a balcony that overlooked the city, from all the way atop Big Ben itself. You both stood there in relative silence, watching the people come and go, until the sun finally slid over the horizon. The city darkened rapidly after then, but suddenly it was bright again, it seemed like every light in the city suddenly turned on again.
Your position let you see a good chunk of it, maybe three or four miles into the distance and you just watched the lights. So many lights, people, moving around, living their lives. Morgan eventually breaks the silence as you stand there, shoulder to shoulder. "Do you see it? All of the people happily going about their lives? Just doing whatever?" You nod slowly, gently extending your sense to catch the edge of the mass of heat. It was easier at night, but it was still overwhelming, thankfully not too badly. Morgan smiles as she leans forwards on the balcony. Couldn't people see us from here? You dismiss the thought as she stands there, probably some magic or something.
Still, you shift your gaze back to Morgan, seeing her backlit by the lights of the city. Light filtering through her hair. "Is this why you fight then? Your reason for being a Scout?" Morgan looks briefly surprised that you had guessed it, she probably had wanted to do some big enigmatic reveal. You feel a little bad for stealing her moment.
She chuckles as she shakes her head, moving her gaze back to the city. "You would be the sort of person to guess that, your not wrong though. It's part of why I fight and risk my life like I do, I imagine that I don't need to ask you why you are willing to do the same?" She smiles as you give her an amused look. She sighs as she turns her gaze back to you, distant lights reflecting off of her eyes, making them shine slightly. "Are you ready for this? Truly? It's going to be hard, you'll probably want to quit. Everything seems to be coming to a head, sooner or later it's gonna explode."
You turn to face her as you stare her down, a sharp smile growing on your face, more teeth than lip. "There is nothing that can stand between me and my sister. If I have to face the world down alone, I will." Your keep your gaze steady as she stares into your eyes. You almost expected that quiet flicker of her magic, to see if you are telling the truth, but she just smiles and leans back against the stone railing behind her.
She doesn't say anything, but you hear a quiet whisper of words under her breath. The two of you stand there, looking out over the night in silence for at least another hour. You feel the temperature around you drop low, low enough for Morgan to shiver slightly even through her hoodie. You give her a brief wave of warmth that makes her smile, but she eventually pushes herself off of the railing and stands properly. "We'd best be getting back now, we've been gone long enough and you're probably tired after the long day." You don't say anything, but you follow her back into the base and then back into your room. You bid her goodnight and move to the bed, Una still asleep but having shifted across the bed significantly.
You undress and slide in, letting her latch onto you, and fall asleep.
When you wake up in the morning, you poke Una off of you and make your way to the bath. Shortly you are cleaned and clothed, in your clothes this time, and you settle down to wait for Morgan to wake. It doesn't take her long, she pokes her head through in under an hour this time and she is carrying a piece of paper with her. When she spots you, she makes her way over and hands it to you. "Your timetable, for lessons. Samantha threw this together, still subject to change depending on availability of the sword teachers. I'll probably be with you most of the time, so that's not a problem."
You look down at the paper, Una peeking over your shoulder as she does the same.
Monday to Friday Mornings: Standard Education with Morgan
Monday to Friday Midday: Hand to Hand, Exercise and Shooting Practice with Morgan
Tuesday and Wednesday Afternoons: Sword Lessons with Jeanne
"How long would a lesson take?"
Morgan thinks a little. "Depends on how well you do, but let's just say... two hours at most? Hand to hand and exercise mmm." She thinks for a little bit more. "Four hours, two for exercise and a good session of Hand to Hand, another hour for shooting. Jeanne. Jeanne, where have I heard that name before..." She mumbles to herself for a little while before perking up. "Ah yeah! This French chick who swings around a great big greatsword. No clue how long that'll take you, two, maybe three hours?"
You feel a little awkward asking this, but you honestly hadn't been keeping track. "Morgan." You shore yourself up and she perks up at your reticence. "What day is it?" And her arm slips out from her her, making her nearly fall onto you before she catches herself with her feet.
She is laughing quietly to herself but she answers you. "It's the 17th, a Monday." The schedule was... packed, it didn't leave you with all that much free time honestly. "You free today again?" Morgan just nods as she settles down on your sofa, properly this time.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go check in with Karen in a little bit, want to come with?"
You the rest of the week free still, what do you do?
Morning...
[] Go with Morgan to visit Karen
[] Have breakfast
-[] In Morgan's rooms
-[] In The Pub
[] Visit the Library for...
-[] Write In...
[] Poke through your room some more
[]Write In...
You nod. "Yeah, that sounds fine to me." You send a glance over your shoulder, where Una is slouching onto your back. "You want to come?" You feel her sleepily shift against your back and press a nod to your spine. You shift a little to be more comfortable before looking to Morgan, who is looking much more awake this morning than she was yesterday. You wonder how long she's been up.
You all just sit there for a minute, still waking up before you eventually see Morgan shake her head and make her way to her feet. She tilts her head back to look at you. "I'm gonna go make breakfast, want some?" You think for a moment, glancing over to your still empty kitchen before nodding. "Right then, Egg's and Toast good for you?" At that you feel Una look up.
"Soldiers?" Her voice is sleepy, but you can make out what she said.
You see Morgan stop for a second as she thinks before nodding. "Yeah, sure." You see her subtly waving you over and you make your way to your feet, making sure that Una doesn't fall off of the sofa where you stand up. When you get close, she leans in next to you and whispers. "Do you know what 'Soldiers' are? 'Cause I don't have a clue." You stare at her a little incredulously at that, Eggs and Soldiers was an English recipe that you remembered from when you were a kid.
Morgan flushes slightly under your blunt stare, but she waits for you to give her a slow now before she releases a relieved sigh. "Yes, it's where you cut the bread into strips and rather than have it whole. You're supposed to dip the toast in the runny egg." You keep staring at her. "How do you not know this. I've been living in America for the last ten years and I still remember this." Admittedly, you still saw your Father make it occasionally, but you wanted to press the point.
Her flush turns into a small blush as she moves back towards her room. "I don't actually spend all that much time in England and no-one really cooks for me." She opens the intervening door. "Thanks though, Una kind of caught me off guard and I said yes without knowing what it was." She enters the kitchen and you stop at the entrance, not sure if you should continue through to help or not. She spots you standing there after filling a pot with water and waves you in. "You can help if you want, shouldn't be long anyway." You enter the kitchen and realise that you don't know where she keeps anything, thankfully you are used to this, living out of other peoples houses as you did. You guess rightly where she keeps the egg holders and plates, setting them out while she sets the water to boil on the stove.
You reach out and grab a bread-shaped packet, which indeed is bread. You quickly memorise the name of this bread, seeing as you might need to buy some yourself and you put four slices on to toast. That done, you turn around to find Morgan just passing the butter in your direction and pointing you to a draw. "Cutlery is in there." You take the container of butter and flick out the drawer, grabbing a blunt knife and putting them both by the plates. You take the opportunity to grab a sharper knife off of a magnetic rack on the wall, to cut the toasted bread.
You take the bread out when it's done and wait for the eggs, buttering the bread and cutting it into strips as you go. You take the eggs out after five minutes of boiling, faster than Morgan expected apparently, she'd probably forgotten that they needed to be soft rather than hard. Still, you crack the tops open and slot them into the holder, then grab two plates apiece. You carry them to the table in Morgan's room where Una is waiting. You put the plates down on a pair of tablemates, Una probably put them out, you thank her as you quickly walk back to the kitchen, passing Morgan wither her plate on the way. "Ketchup?"
She points over her shoulder as she passes, fingering a cupboard closest to the fridge, where you grab a recently opened bottle and return to the table. You pass it over to Una and then use it when she passes it back. Ketchup applied yourself, you dip your bread in the liquid yolk and then the ketchup, and take a bite. Mmmm, it's good. You hear Una let out an appreciative hum herself as the three of you work towards demolishing your food. When you run out of bread, you take your spoon to the problem and finish it.
Food finished, you lean back in your seat and sigh, feeling much better than you had earlier. Morgan stands and collects your plates and you follow her. She washes, you dry and Una puts them away. Well, you put away the ones she cant reach, like the plates in the cupboard. Still, food finished for the morning you remember the Affinity test from yesterday and remind Morgan.
"Oh yeah, that, give me a second." She moved into her bedroom and starts up a computer there. It's pretty fancy looking and only takes two minutes to turn on, must be pretty expensive. She clicks at it for a minute before looking back to you, email visible on screen. "Yeah, your results came through, took a while apparently." You hear her mumbling quietly as she reads through and then let out a long hmmm when she finishes. "Says here that your affinities are... Beginning and End." You see her blink as she stares at the screen for a minute longer, then stop, looking back at you over her shoulder at you.
"We've never seen these Affinities before, though that's nothing new. A lot of Magical Girls have unique or rare Affinities. But Beginning and End? That's a paired set." She smile. "I bet that the guys down at R&D are going to be poking over this for months." You don't really have anything to say in response to that.
"Is that bad?"
She shakes her head as she stands, turning off her computer as she goes. "No, its nothing bad. Your Affinities are just... concepts that you are most closely aligned too, I guess. I don't really known that much about them."
You mull that over as you set off towards Karen's room. You make pretty good time and Morgan cheerfully greets three people that you pass in the corridor, though they only give you mild nods they aren't rude and they keep their distance. You are still thinking about it, but don't really come up with anything, so you put it out of your mind. You remember an idea from last night and turn to Morgan. "Do you mind if I stop by with Samantha really quick? I just need to ask her to do something."
Morgan things about it for a second, glancing up, before nodding. "Yeah, so long as we're quick we can make it in time." You were on some sort of schedule? Regardless, you walk in the direction you remember, making it to the 'Paperwork Divisions' office without losing your way. You make your way over towards Samantha's desk, somehow not surprised to find her there this early in the morning, it was only Eight. Still, she looks up when you approach, looking as awake as normal. "Good morning. Do you think that you could create and deliver to me a summary of world-wide events magic and mundane every week?"
Samantha blinks in surprise slightly, but nods at your request and starts typing at something after a few clicks. "Yes, that is perfectly possible. Please bear in mind that you are only cleared for semi-classified information at the moment, so the reports might be lacking in detail slightly." It's your turn to blink at her statement. "I will compile it starting today and deliver it to you. Do you want it Sunday or Monday?"
"Monday please, have it ready for me in the morning?" Samantha nods as she continues typing at a furious pace and after a moment of silence you take that as your cue to leave. You quickly walk back out and Morgan takes the lead back towards Karen's room, a three minute trip from where you are. Morgan leads you through Karen's door, smiling cheerfully and a greeting on her lips. "Kaaaareeeeennn, I'm here to visit!" She is practically skipping.
You hear someone moving things in the kitchen for a second before Karen calls back. "Oh hello Morgan, stopping by for a Cuppa?" Morgan cheerfully nods, before remembering that she can't be seen and calls back with a yes.
"Cerys is here too." She turns to you. "How do you take your tea?"
Before you can react, you see Karen come into the main room, wearing a fluffy dressing gown and smiling. "No, need. I remember." She has four mugs in hand and places them on the table. "Morgan, Cerys, Una." She points to mugs in order and you take yours with a thanks. How the hell does she make these so quickly? Must be using magic. That seemed a very... Karen thing to do to be honest. You settle down into your seats and take a sip of your tea, excellent, I need to ask her about what type of Tea she uses.
You and Una sit there, sipping your tea a little awkwardly as Morgan cheerfully chats with Karen about seemingly everything. She doesn't really say anything important, but at some point she manages to coax Una into the conversation, after which point she annexes it and drowns the two of them in questions about magic. You recognise a couple of them from some of the shows you watched together or Manga you've read. Honestly... You fail to resist the urge to sigh, but a smile still forces it's way onto your face.
You listen in, trying to catch anything important, but it was mostly just Una asking a question and getting a yes or no. She was blitzing away too fast for them to explain any reasons. You were happy enough to sit here quietly and enjoy your Tea. Una was practically glowing as she digs further and further into her backlog. Twenty minutes later, she's not let up in the slightest, question after question. Morgan is looking distinctly frazzled as she tries to keep up, but Karen just looks delighted, answering every question that Morgan passes up with a smile on her face. She must have been thinking these up for weeks.
An hour later, you were on your second cup of Tea and you were silently delighting in the Chaos. You take a tiny sip as Una continues at the same pace she had when she'd started, though you can hear her voice is slightly husky from where she's spoken so much. Morgan bowed out of the conversation a little while earlier and navigated her way over to your side as sneakily as she could, which was pretty good in all honesty. Karen was now bearing the full brunt of the Hurricane Una.
She was doing an admirable job honestly, but you knew she was having difficulty because her Tea was getting cold in her cup and she had curled up to rest in her seat more comfortably than sitting. Morgan whispers to you quietly as she takes a sip. "Wow, she can really get going can't she?" She lets out a quiet chuckle. "Never seen a girl that can go like that." She actually seems a little awed as she speaks, it's not that unusual right? "Anyway, I was thinking. Your place is a little empty right now and your kitchen is still barren right?" You hear her grumble about them not even buying cutlery. "You want to go shopping later? We can stop by Sammy on the way and grab your card."
That doesn't sound like too bad of an idea, you don't have anything else to do. Plus, the idea of actually owning things made you kind of tingly, in a good way. You take a quick glance at the clock on the wall, 09:47.
Midday...
[] Go shopping with Morgan
-[]Write In...
[] Do something else
-[]Write In...
You tilt your head for a second, thinking, before you nod. "Yeah, that sounds fine to me." She takes a sip of her tea as she smiles slightly. You both relax for another ten minutes or so, before Una finally runs out of breath. While she is spooling down, you can see Karen giving Morgan a betrayed look, one that she carefully hides as soon as Una sits up again properly. Still, now seems like a good time go. You thank Karen for the tea and prod Una into moving as you leave. Morgan calls out a goodbye and starts walking.
"You got anything you want to drop off before we go?"
You think about it for a second. "No, but I have a wallet in my bag that I'll need to grab." She nods as she continues leading you towards Samantha's office. You just walk in, ask her for the card and she hands it over. Well, she also gives you a folder and a sheet with written instructions on how to use the banking service. Morgan cheerfully lets you know that she can show you how to do anything if you have any questions and leads you off towards your room. You drop off the folder on your table, making a mental note to sit down and go through that at some point, Morgan said she'd help so it shouldn't be too hard right?
Wallets in pocket, you let Morgan lead you through the Labyrinth that is the Clocktower's hallways. Eventually, after a while of light talking, she leads you out to the surface again. You are greeted by grey skies and torrential rain. You her Morgan grumble about something before she turns to you and smiles in a painful way. "Welcome to England, you'd better get used to it." Your snort at that, but she walks back into the entrance and returns with umbrellas a second later. Huh, thoughtful. Since it rains so much they probably keep a stock right by the doors. Smart.
Still, Morgan leads you through the much less packed streets. You keep Una in front of you and stare down anyone who turns their head your way, which surprisingly is very few people. Everyone mostly just keeps their heads down and ignores you. This is weird. In America we would at least attract eyes. Morgan's umbrella is a cheerful bright pink and she's wandering around with her hoodie unzipped, even though you can feel a bitingly cold wind blowing about through your sense.
Actually, she's probably doing it because I keep warming her up. The thought makes you pause for a second, whenever her body temperature had gotten too cold you'd bumped it up slightly so she was comfortable again. Una was close enough that you just kept the air around her at a nice room temperature, but the wind was particularly strong today and kept cooling the area around Morgan down. You could keep it stable, but you'd kind of been doing it on reflex and not thought about it. Huh...
You shake off your thoughts as Morgan points towards something, a quick glance informs you that this something is a Bank. She leads you up to the outside and you join the Queue. Even internally you felt that it was important to capitalise the 'Queue'. There was a clearly defined hierarchy to the Queue and when you looked like you were going to step ahead in the Queue, even though you weren't, you instantly felt the eyes around you narrow and focus. You were feeling distinctly uncomfortable until you stepped back into place and everyone went back to doing their own thing. What the hell?
You send Morgan a questioning look but she just smiles while trying to hold in her laugh. Eventually, when the Queue leads you to the ATM, Morgan walks you through it. You'd never used one before, so Morgan was a godsend in trying to figure it out. A minute later, you leave with £200 in hand, folding it into your wallet and sliding it into your hoodies front pocket.
Cash acquired, you let Morgan lead you through the streets until you reach the shopping area-place-thing. It was a big building that seemed like a Mall, but Morgan had insisted quite thoroughly that it wasn't a Mall. So, when she leads you through the Shopping Centre, you look around as you go. Clothes, gardening supplies, video store, electronics, book-store. Had to drag Una away from that, maybe later. Still, first things first, she leads you to the clothing store.
You let Morgan lead you through the girly section, mildly embarrassed when she drags you over towards the underwear section. Said embarrassment only gets worse when she proceeds to grab the naughtiest and most see-through ones she can find to model. Thankfully she just holds them up to herself, but the mental image was more than enough. After a while of teasing, she eventually helps you pick several sets of underwear, ones that would be comfortable to move around it. A must have, she claims. Which makes sense, considering your new job. Picking something out for Una is much simpler, considering that she isn't going to need a Bra for at least a year or two yet.
Still, underwear in hand, you make your way towards the trousers, picking up several pairs of socks along the way. Morgan takes a look around, huffs and leads you towards the male section of the store. Yes, much better. The trousers her looked like you could actually run in them, for one, instead of tripping over. You grab several tracksuit bottoms and when Morgan leads you back towards the females section, she coaxes you into picking up a pairs of jeans and two skirts.
Next, you pick out several shirts, mostly dark long sleeved ones and a new hoodie. You weren't going to replace this one of course, it was much too comfortable, but a spare was always a good idea. You consider buying a replacement for Una's scarf, it must be getting ragged by now, but you decide not to after you remember her hugging it to herself when she sleeps alone. She's making much better use of it than you ever did.
Clothes taken care of, you go to the counter to pay. It's only then that you realise that put together, your clothes cost more then £200. You almost panic for a second, before you remember, you have a card. You almost hit yourself for your stupidity, but you pay with your card and move on. Next on the list, household supplies. Morgan sharply changes direction and leads you towards a different corner of the Ma-- Shopping Centre. She leads you through what looks like a general store, it has a little bit of everything.
You grab a set of nice cutlery, seven piece per type and a matching set of plates, bowls and smaller cake-sized plates. They are all mainly white, with a single flower on one corner of the plate where they angle upwards from the middle slightly. You also pick up a set of knives, a magnetic wall strip and other things like a cheese grater. You purchase your new belongings and leave the store, you think about buying food but Morgan just shakes her head. "Nah, don't bother, we can just order something and have an entire load of shopping delivered to our rooms." She shifts one of your bags to another hand, the previous one having thin red lines from how heavy it was. "I'll show you how when we get back."
That's... pretty much everything you'd thought of getting in the first place. Una is dutifully walking close, in front of you, never out of your sight. She looks distinctly bored, though you catch her shooting glances back towards the book store you had passed earlier. You think about the cash in your wallet, it was a lot and it was okay to spoil her occasionally right?
With a smile, you set off towards the store. It takes her a minute to notice where your destination is, but she eventually does and you see a bright smile light up her face. When the doors open, she literally skips through, moving here and there poking everything. You just stay out of the way, Morgan bemusedly watching on with you from a seat in the centre of the store. Honestly, this place was more like a library than a book store, the sudden lack of noise when the doors closed behind you and the comfortable reading seats only helped the impression.
Still, while you sat there, Morgan pointed to something in the corner of your vision. When you looked, you saw a man who was the owner, probably. She talks to you in a low tone. "This is one of the places that the Clocktower owns. Useful for catching any stray magical books, since this place also buys any books that are offered." She exchanges a wave with the owner, who looks confused for a second until Morgan does a little wibble with her magic, then he smiles back and gives her a nod.
She next points to the door, more specifically, just above the inside of the door. "Feel that?" You can just about make out a very small magical something there, but you don't see anything. "It's a little signal we use to let someone know that this is a magically owned or invested in shop, stop's people from doing something stupid like trying to confiscate any magical things they find." That makes sense, though... does that mean that there are magical books here, that Una could potentially be looking through right now?
You look sharply at Morgan and speak. "Is there anything else magical here? Dangerous?" She shakes her head and speaks at room volume, since you are the only people here.
"No, they don't keep that stuff out on display. If there was anything it would be in storage in the back, waiting to be transferred to the Archive." You don't have a chance to respond when Una comes wobbling around the corner, balancing several books in her arms as she makes her way over. You take a glance at the names as you help her settle them onto the knee-high table. Harry Potter, Narnia, Lord of The Rings. There are a couple of others that you don't get the chance to look at properly before she sets the, down.
"These are the ones you want then?" Una nods at you rapidly as she shifts in her seat.
"Yes! There weren't any Manga, but these look really good!" She is almost bouncing in her seat as you shift the books into a more easily carried stack. Morgan helps by taking half, and you make your way to the counter. A quick checkout later and you've split the books between your bags. Most of them went towards the clothing bags, since they were thicker than the ones you'd gotten from the general store. I really need to find that places name.
Regardless, loot in hand, you make your way back towards the Clocktower. The rain has stopped by the time you leave and the streets are much emptier. Thankfully most people give you enough room on the street, seeing as you are carrying several bags worth of stuff and Una is skipping around in front of you while peering into the book bags every thirty seconds or so. The sight of it is adorable, and your brace a bag against your shoulder long enough to reach over and ruffle her hair.
Ten minutes later, Morgan is helping you unpack your things into the kitchen. You are mostly copying her kitchens layout, since you don't have 'one of your own'. Once you are done, you settle down with a cup of Tea and a sandwich each on her sofa, Una snuggled against you as she glues her eyes to the book in front of her. You lean over slightly to get a better look at it's title. Dragonheart. You stare at the titles for a minute, thinking. Eventually, you shake your head, you've never heard of that book, though you think there was a movie called that. Whatever.
You relax for a while, rubbing out your arms from carrying the heavy bags as you do. Why didn't I use reinforcement, it would have made it so much easier. You think for a second. Note to self, abuse magic to make shopping easier next time. When your Tea is finished you stretch as you look at the clock. Just going 1. It had taken you longer than you'd though to go shopping like that, usually your shopping trips were over within half an hour. Probably because you had so much to buy and carry. Oh yeah! You prompt Morgan on how to get things delivered to your room.
"Ah, that. You can either send them an email, that's what I do, or you can go and talk to the guys down in supply. I'll show you there if you want to go, but they mostly just keep the place running." She blinks as she realises something. "Oh, you can use my computer and email to order things, just make sure to pay me back right?" She smiles as she says that.
You shift a little uncomfortably and glance down at the empty plate on your lap. "I still owe you for the food I've been eating so far."
She lets out a smaller hum as she thinks about it. "Would it be easier if we just jointly purchased things then? Like, I'll order the food for the three of us and you pay... two thirds?" Two thirds... Ah, of course. There are three of you and you cover yourself and Una, that's pretty fair. Plus, you had the sneaking suspicion that you were actually getting paid more than Morgan was. It was the least you could do for all of the help she's given you without even asking.
You nod and move on to the next thing you had been thinking about. "That's fine. Anyway, you mentioned that there was an off-base place to practice magic?" She nods. "Mine is a little... destructive. I don't really know how to control it yet either, so I would appreciate it if I could get a lift over there to practice for the next..." You glance at the clock, 1:24. "Six hours or so? Be back by eight."
Morgan nods slowly as she thinks, tilting her head before nodding one last time. "Yeah, yeah I can arrange that. I'll need to get us a ride, but Karen thought you might want to go experiment, we've gone one reserved for us." How convenient. Karen was apparently perfectly willing to make your life easy for you right now, no reason to tip that boat. You glance back at Una, still reading while ignoring the two of you and think. You don't want to leave her here alone, but if you take her she'll still just be reading, just somewhere else. Mmmm.
In the end, you decide to just ask her. "Una, do you want to come with me and watch me do some magical training?" The second you spoke the words 'magical training' she damn near threw her book away and jumped to her feet. Well, that answers that. You follow Morgan through the base, turning left here instead of right and somehow ending up on the right side of the base. Still, she leads you above ground and a short distance away, a private parking garage.
She wanders in, greets the man doing some sort of maintenance in sweaty overalls eww and keeps going. She grabs a key from his hand as she passes and moved through to... a perfectly ordinary car. There really wasn't anything strange about it at all. Huh. You sit in the front, Una in the back as Morgan drives. The next twenty minuets are spent being silently frustrated by the endless fucking traffic. It just keeps going.
Eventually you make it out of the city, and Morgan drives for ten minutes or so before pulling into a driveway nearly hidden by nearby bushes. The driveway is fairly long, leading down for what has to be nearly a mile, before you suddenly pass a something made of magic. You stiffen upright and look to Morgan, who just shakes her head. "Don't worry, it's just a barrier we use to hide the effects of out magic on the outside world. It's just blocks anything from inside getting outside, though don't hit it too hard, otherwise it'll break and that would be bad." You nod slowly as you settle back into your seat.
Eventually, the car reaches a small building at the end of the road, where you see a couple of people milling about and several small spikes of magic. When you pull over and get out of the car, Morgan walks over and says something to one of the people there, then comes back. "There is a big space open over here, space seven." She walks you over towards a large and completely barren stretch of land. Nothing grows here and you can see several spots where a hole has been filled in pretty sloppily. If you didn't know better, you'd say that this was a big graveyard, but you know it's probably filled in magic damage.
"This." She spreads her arms and spins. "Is your training area." The field must be at least thirty metres by thirty, big enough that you probably wouldn't damage anything outside of the space. You nod as you think about the ideas you'd had earlier. Morgan quietly walks out of the space with Una in tow, where she settles down on a bench to watch you. Una has a book at her side, but for now she is watching you with rapt attention. You see people who were standing about talking, start looking towards you and gathering at the fences boundary line. Okayyy then, got an audience. You take a steadying breath as you look at the large throng of people. Need to get used to this.
You put them out of your mind as you focus on your magic, bringing it to the surface and priming it for use. You don't miss the slight wave of surprise that travels though the crowd as you bring your magic to bear. First idea. You create your Aura with a rush of magic, significantly more that you would use more most anything else and let it settle. You let your... you feel like you should call it your End Aura, rush out of your body around you. Instantly you feel it go to work, supplying you with magic as everything around you starts breaking down.
You quickly squeeze it small, before it can destroy anything and limit it to just under your skin. You move around a bit while it moves with you, perfectly mimicking your movements. Ok, that works fine then.
You try to create some sort of... appendage? Limb? You don't have a word for it, but some sort of reaching effect to it.
(Cerys: 75 + 5 = 80)
You stretch one part of your Barrier, lengthening it in one direction. It goes well, but after a certain point it just... snaps back towards you. It doesn't recoil on you, but the Barrier just doesn't move any further. You've only stretched it about five metres in one direction before it hits the limit. It's... odd. You know your Barrier can cover more space than this, but it doesn't seem able to stretch further than this. You try again twice, but your Barrier stubbornly refuses to move any further.
Alright then, next idea. You smooth your Barrier to your body again, then extend it very slightly.
(Cerys: 84 + 5 = 89)
You keep it from moving from your feet, so the ground remains unaffected, but you manage to extend it from your entire body otherwise just fine. Just a short distance, but you can already feel it start trickling magic in to you. You don't know what it is destroying for a moment before the thought hits you fully. The air and the heat. You already know it can destroy air and heat, you can feel the temperature around you drop as your Barrier destroys the heat. Thankfully, more air moves towards you as the air near you degrades, so you can still breath fine.
You stand there for a moment, letting your Barrier rest where it is, then smile a little as it doesn't move from where you placed it. Ok the, next. When you turn around this time, you can see that the groups of people watching you are looking considerably more wary than they had before. Can they feel something from my Barrier? Whatever not my problem they keep staring. Next, you are going to unleash your Ignition Aura. It had honestly been too long since you'd been able to do this, barring the one time you set the forest alight.
You reach in and unleash the locks on your Aura, letting it rush out of your body with a load roar. The feeling is slightly muted as it passes through your Barrier, but once it rushes through, barely a millisecond taken, you feel it in it's full. The ground around you is instantly smouldering, little flickers of flame running along the dirt, burning without fuel. The tiny part inside your Barrier isn't working as you had expected, it was trying to work normally, but apparently your Barrier doesn't distinguish your own magic and it drinks from it greedily.
In the end, it just returns the magic to you, but there is almost no effect inside the Barrier from your Aura. Mmm, I can't layer them then? That's a shame. You eye a particular patch of dirt that is burning magnificently, the flame rising higher than you would have expected. You quickly extend your sense to it's maximum and crush the fire out of existence. Now though, with your sense, you are aware of how many people are watching you. Through the mess of heat, you are pretty sure that it's fifteen, not counting Morgan or Una. And you can feel maybe five more working away in their own areas. That explains the magic I felt then.
You shift a little, uncomfortable at how many people are watching you, but you focus back on your experimentation.
(Cerys: 47 + 5 = 52)
You try manipulating your Aura like you had your Barrier and have some success. You already know how to control it's size, but when you try to stretch one part of it too far, you hit a limit of some sort that frustrates you. You give up on that and try moving your Aura so that it lines your body just a few centimetres above your skin and it moves fine, but your still active Barrier just eats it. You huff a little, bumping the temperature inside your Barrier up, since it's dropped nearly twenty degrees while it's been active.
You sigh, but stretch your Aura out to it's full size, then you try to compress it, like you had to create Plasma before.
(Cerys: 19 + 5 = 24)
Ugh. The headache you receive as it warps is not something you want to reflect on. You feel that it worked, kind of. The temperature inside the Aura grew hotter as it was compressed, but at the same time it felt like something inside your brain cracked. Not going to be trying that again any time soon.
You sigh, but decide to just work at it. You quickly bring both your Aura and Barrier into sync at the same space, ignoring the side effects, and flare them completely. The result is... weird. You feel the entire area start to degrade and try to be set on fire while your Barrier eats your Aura's magic. The interaction between the two is seriously messing with your thermal sense, so you quickly stop is as fast as you can. Owwww. You risk a glance up, and see that nearly everyone, even Una, is looking at the space the mix had been in with creased eyes. You see one woman slowly lean against the fence in front of her, then lose strength and slide down it. Note to self, don't do that.
You are much more cautious this time and you flare your ignition Aura, dampen it, then flare your End Barrier. You alternate between the two slowly, speeding up as time passes. You see the people who had been watching you eventually start to leave, a lot of them looking like they have headaches or rubbing their faces. Eventually, you grow tired, even with your Barrier feeding you magic, though most of it was your own. When you move to sit down with Morgan and Una you find them both watching you.
Morgan is looking at you curiously though she still looks like she has a small headache, while Una is clearly planning something. You have no idea what it is, so you quickly sit down next to her before she can do something. Morgan speaks after a moment of silence. "That was... really fucking weird ok?" She shakes her head. "I don't mean that in a bad way, but that thing you were doing, not the fire thing. The other thing." She takes a deep breath. "Jesus fuck that thing."
"I'm sorry?" You can see that she actually has slight bags under her eyes. Those weren't there earlier...
"No, no." She lets out a long sigh. "It's fine just... give me a warning? If you are ever going to do that again." She looks tired, like someone had taken a baseball bat to her brain and then danced on it. That description is probably closer that I imagine it to be. You can't feel what your Barrier feels like to anyone else, but seeing as it's effects involve what they are and it seems to fit with your End Affinity... It probably isn't very good. Una looks fine, but maybe it has something to do with being able to sense magic?
Still, you nod at her words and try your best to smile apologetically. "Do you want to go back early?"
Morgan is clearly reluctant, you've only been here for an hour or so, but she eventually nods slightly. "Yeah..." She sighs. "I would appreciate that. I'm sorry I'm just--" You interrupt her when you shake your head and place a hand on her shoulder. It goes so very against your instincts to do so, but the smile she gives you as she starts to relax makes it worth it, a little. You retract your hand and the three of you silently leave, feeling eyes follow you as you go. The drive back is made mostly in silence, but it's not a bad silence.
When you arrive back at your place, you see Morgan make a beeline straight for her Kitchen, where you hear the kettle be flipped on. Ah, shit. I knew I forgot to get something. I'll get one next time. Morgan calls over to you. "Do you two want a cup?" You look to Una, who just nods from the sofa, already buried back in her book and you call back with a yes.
A minute later, she comes through with your drinks and sets them down, settling into her own sofa and half curling into a ball.
What do you do?
[] Morgan
-[] Leave her alone
-[] Talk to her
-[] Write In...
[] Make dinner
[] Read a book
[] Look at the bank folder
[] Write In...
Alpha and Omega
Level 1 -> 2
[Current Damage: 8]
Ignition Aura
Level 4 -> 5
[Current Damage: 62]
Because of experimentation, lower cost of Ignition Aura: Incineration by 25 xp.
Magic Control
Progress...
Creation of Energy
Destruction of Energy COMBINE IN THE SAME SPACE
You bite your lip as you look at Morgan. She already looks better than she did earlier, but she still looks miserable and an idea comes to mind. You wander off into your room and dig through the airing cupboards, eventually finding your prize, a big fuzzy blanket. You come back and gently cover her, the feeling making her look up and give you a weak smile. She doesn't say anything, just wraps the blanket around her and buries herself into it. You consider saying something, but she looks completely wiped right now and you were at a lost of what to say. So you just smile back and move to sit down.
You are getting a little hungry at this point and seeing as you still lack ingredients entirely, if you make anything you're going to have to use Morgan's. You purse your lips as you look at her. You don't really want to disturb her by asking, especially because you know that she would ask you to let her help, but you don't want to just use her ingredients without asking. In the end, you think that it would be for the best to make something regardless. You decide to make soup and buttered bread. A nice, simple meal that is easy to make and easy to eat, it should help.
It doesn't take long to make, but there was a brief moment of suspense when you turned the Microwave on. You thought that Morgan might get up to investigate the noise, but she stayed curled up on the sofa. I've never seen her this... fragile. It feels strange, Morgan was always so energetic and active, bar the mornings. To see her curled up on a sofa while looking terrible was, wrong. You are brought back to the present when you notice the microwave counting down single digits. You quickly open it before it can beep and manually cancel the timer. A minute later and you've got three mugs of tomato soup and a tray of buttered bread. You'll pay her back for them later later.
You quietly walk from the kitchen into the living room, Morgan half asleep in her seat now, but still aware enough to look up when you move over. You see her eyes look over you for several seconds, not really seeing anything before she suddenly blinks and jolts upwards slightly. She opens her mouth to say something, but you just pass her a mug and a plate with two slices of bread. She looks down at them and then you, silent but for the small smile she has. "Thank You."
You nod and move back to your spot, giving Una her mug and plate, settling the tray on your lap as you eat yours. Before you get too far, you remember the folder you had been given earlier today and quickly fetch it. When you settle back into your seat, gently cooling Morgan's temperature slightly, you look at it. It's pretty small in your lap, but the folds on the side tell you that it can expand a significant amount. You take a sip of tea and look at the paper that was attached to the front. A minute later you are rubbing your nose as you re-read it. It's a pretty well put together guide for how banking works, at least on the basic level. But seeing all of the different things that you had to keep track off was a little daunting.
A quick glance through the folder itself lets you see a bank statement, made on the first day you were paid. Apart from that, it's completely empty. Huh, ok then. You set the folder down and take a long sip of your soup. It tastes different to anything else you've tried before, though you suppose that is the difference between American and English soup. The bread is pretty nice, though it has a tenancy to fall apart in your soup.
When you finish it, you let out a relaxed sigh and look around the room. Una is still reading her book, though she at least finished her soup and bread. Morgan... has fallen asleep in her spot. You can see the bundle of blankets slowly rising and falling, and can just about make out her face, peaceful in sleep. Whatever I did really must have taken it out of her. She is looking better than she was earlier, but she still looked like she was ready to keel over. Probably for the best I let her sleep.
You carefully collected the plates and mugs, washing them in the kitchen before putting them away. You then quietly shepherd Una back to your room, where she wiggles into the bed and continues reading. Once that's done, you move back to Morgan's room, to see her sleeping sideways, her neck bent at an awkward angle. You wince a little when you think about sleeping like that all night and carefully move over to her. You gently pick her up, moving very slowly and using a little Reinforcement to move her slowly and smoothly. You spend the next minute carefully moving across the room, where you gently set her down on her bed. You don't cover her up, the blanket will keep her warm, and you return to your own room.
You spend the next twenty minutes alternating between re-reading the bank leaflet thing and starting over Una's shoulder as she reads in your lap. Eventually you start feeling sleepy, even though it's barely seven in the evening, so you spend the next three hours reading through the encyclopedia. You check in on Morgan occasionally, remembering to turn off the lights when you check the first time, but she remains solidly asleep. Eventually, you decide to get an early night, so you turn in at just shy of ten.
Una decides to stay awake for another hour or so to read, so you keep her company until she falls asleep herself, you nod off shortly afterwards.
Tuesday
[] Give up free time to let Morgan rest longer, before she starts your lessons. (Lessons start 2 hours later, but you have no break)
[] Ability Training
[] Spell Training
[] Skill Training
[] Write In...
Wednesday
[] Ability Training
[] Spell Training
[] Skill Training
[] Write In...
Thursday
[] Ability Training
[] Spell Training
[] Skill Training
[] Write In...
Friday
[] Ability Training
[] Spell Training
[] Skill Training
[] Write In...
When you wake in the morning, you poke your head through to check on Morgan. Unsurprisingly, she is still out like a light. Considering how deeply she normally slept, it probably wouldn't do her any harm to let her a sleep a little more, she was looking much better after a long nights rest. So, you carefully went back to your room and settled down to read and chat quietly with Una for several hours, letting her describe the book that she's reading to you. Dragonheart doesn't sound that bad, thought it's a bit short, you might pick it up when Una is done with it.
Three hours later, you look at the clock, Just going 9... You let Morgan sleep in for another hour before you wake her. Though in the end, she sleepily stumbles into your room just twenty minutes later. She takes a long stretch that lets you heard what seems to be damn near every bone in her spine cracking. Then, when she's finished, she flops face first down onto your spare sofa. "Mmmm." She turns over onto her side and stretches her legs out before resting facing you. "Thanks for letting me sleep in, I really needed it." She flicker her eyes away from you and bows her head a little, trying to hide a small blush. "And thanks. For putting me to bed."
You were surprised she didn't take the opportunity to make a lewd joke about beds, but you just nod. "It's fine."
Thirty minutes later, after you are all properly awake and fed, you all migrate to Morgan's room. She shuffles away and starts digging through her drawers as you sip some Tea. Eventually she returns, stacks of paper in hand and three folders balanced in the other. She sets them down on the table and quickly moves over to grab several pencils before she sits down. "Right then, I might as well start. When did you stop going to school?" She looks at you first.
"Three? Yeah, three years ago." Morgan purses her lips a little as she pokes through the paper she has on hand, before nodding. You speak up for Una next, when she looks over to her. "Never started." At that, Morgan sucks in a little breath, but still nods. She spends a minute shuffling papers, two piles growing out of the mass she has. Before she files the piles into two folders, and slides them over to you with a pencil each.
"These are going to contain all of your work from now on, until they are filled. Write your name on them and don't lose them. In fact, just don't bring them out of our rooms ok?" You nod as you scribble out your name in a rough scrawl, still legible though. Una carefully writes out her name, but it is still difficult to read it, you can only do so because you've been doing it for years. When Morgan looks over your handwriting, she nods but when she looks over Una's she takes a minute to be able to read it. "Una." She looks up. "You are going to have to practice your handwriting at some point, would you prefer I replace some of your work with it or give you extra work to do on your own?"
Una is silent as she looks at the folder in front of her, before she looks to you for guidance. You don't react though, she needs to make her own decision. Eventually, after thinking about it for a little while, she drops her head slightly and says. "Extra work." Good girl. You ruffle her hair a little before you turn your attention back to Morgan.
"Right, we are going to start here. Cerys, for this sheet you need to read through it and point out the spelling mistakes. Una, please complete these sums." Oh, she's giving us different types of work at the same time? That was pretty smart, there was no way they could try and help each other since they weren't even on the same subject. Still, you pull the sheet in front of you are start reading through the words, carefully skimming over them.
An hour later and you are on your third sheet, some of there were tricky. Even more so because this was actual English instead of American English, you'd missed a few that were spelt right to you. Una was powering through her fourth sheet and Morgan was creating questions for her because these ones were too easy.
Eventually, you reach the end of your allotted time, the clock on the wall ticking over. When it does, you drop your pencil with aching hands. God, why does writing make your fingers ache so much. Morgan was looking over both of your sheets, she'd been marking them as you went, and finishing off her tea. When she was done, she moved your sheets back into your folders and slid the entire stack of them into the corner. "There, done. That wasn't so bad was it?" You grumble a little, but Una nods cheerfully.
Once everything is cleared up, you have a small lunch, before moving toward the Gym. It is still as empty as it was earlier, when you ask Morgan, she chose this time because it was usually mostly empty right around now. How considerate. She leads you through the exercise machines again, not all of them, but in a specific pattern this time. Una follows along, Morgan letting her use some of of the lighter loads as you go. An hour later, you are feeling a little tired, your limbs burning from all of the lifting and pulling and stretching you had been doing. When you tell Morgan, she cheerfully lets you know what this was intentional and leads you towards a large set of mats.
She asks you about any hand to hand training, but you've not really had any, so she starts slowly. It's not that bad actually, you were mostly able to keep up with her as she went. Then she backs off and tells you to ready yourself, before coming at you seriously.
(Cerys: +10 Base Damage = 10 Total Damage
Morgan: 15 Base Resilience, -5 Surprise = 10 Damage Reduction
Morgan: 100 - 0 = 100)
You rush forwards, catching her off guard and throw a heavy punch. She manages to shift her arms in front of your fist just fast enough to catch it and though it rocks her back on her feet, she remains standing.
(Morgan: +25 Base Damage, -10 Doesn't want to seriously hurt you = 15 Total Damage
Cerys: +10 Base Resilience = 10 Damage Reduction
Cerys: 100 - 5 = 95)
Her return swing is incredibly fast and though you manage to shift yourself to the side slightly and move with the punch, it still lands solidly in your side. The hit only makes you stumble slightly, but it's more than enough for Morgan to latch onto.
(Morgan: +25 Base Damage, -5 Doesn't want to hurt you = 20 Total Damage
Cerys: +10 Base Resilience, -5 Off balance = 5 Damage Reduction
Cerys: 95 - 15 = 80)
This time, she swings her foot out and hits you in the side of the knee, nearly making you fall over. While you were stumbling she takes two steps forwards and punches, right through the hole in your flailing hands. Her fist slams into the side of your ribs and is more than enough to knock you to the floor completely. As you lie there, an ache spread through your chest, making you wince in pain before Morgan reaches down and holds out a hand. You grab it and let her pull you to your feet easily enough. Damn, she's strong. That felt like getting hit by a metal bar. You quickly start your Regeneration as Morgan begins talking.
"As you can see, while you are good at this, it only takes a few seconds for everything to go to shit. I only had to knock you off balance and the fight was over." You nod as the warm feeling of your regeneration starts flowing through you. Una is sitting off to the side, listening with rapt attention. "Firstly, this is slightly unfair to you." What? "Because I've been using magic for so long, it's made me a decent bit tougher and stronger than a normal human. If I was normal, your first hit would have knocked me off of my feet, it was a good punch." You nod as you look at her, trying to see any blatantly obvious use of magic, but not seeing anything.
"Secondly, your form isn't bad, you clearly know what you are doing. It shouldn't be too hard to teach you." You nod as she brings her hands up into a defensive stance. "Like this, and then move with your waist and back like this." She slowly throws a punch for you to copy. "Us girls have it a bit harder, since our breasts can throw off our balance at inopportune times." That explains the sport bras then. "It would be best if you bound them, but from what I know, Magical Girl Armour does something about that?" You hadn't thought about it, but you guess that your armour, skin tight as it was, kept them from bouncing around everywhere. You nod as she moves on to another punch.
The rest of the lesson went like that, Morgan asking you to do something and either congratulating or correcting any errors she sees. Still you feel like you've been run over by a lorry, so your next task was almost a relief. Morgan leads you through one of the doors in the back to a massive room. It stretches forwards in your vision to an incredible distance, it has to be at last a mile, maybe a little bit more. Ok, now this is seriously impressive. Morgan leads you towards a station after checking in with a guy who is manning a desk.
"Here, we've got this lane free." She waves an arm down the lane. When you look to your side, you see two or three people doing something, but none of them are shooting. "You know the rules, don't point your gun at anything that isn't downrange and be careful." You nod and she continues."Then show me what you've got." She presses a button and a target springs up roughly ten metres away. You look at her a little surprised that she's just like go for it, especially after her previous hands on teaching methods. You smell a trap of some sort. Still, you reach a hand into the waistband on your jogging bottoms and withdraw the gun you had been wearing for at least two weeks. Morgan doesn't look even slightly surprised, so you also grab a magazine out of it's position and hold the magazine out to see.
Morgan blinks for a second before nodding. "Yeah, we'll cover you for bullets" With that conformation, you make sure Una is well behind you and move into position. You load the gun and bring it to eye level and aim. Just when you were about to fire, you have a sudden flashback of the deafening bang that firing a gun right next to your unprotected ears could cause. You lower your weapon and turn, seeing Morgan had slid ear protectors over Una's ears and was wearing some herself. "Huh, you figured it out." She hands you the spare pair of ear protectors she was holding as you glare at her slightly. "Most people just shoot and get deafened."
She smiles a little in approval and steps up next to you. She guides you to aim your pistol, shifting your grip on the handle slightly and she leans in entirelytocloselypleasestop. Eventually she steps back and gives you a nod. You take a moment to regain your composure and aim. You stare down the barrel and take a shot. Even with ear protection, it's deafening and the noise makes you flinch, your eyes closing instinctively. Your shot goes mostly on target, but your flinch apparently threw off your aim somewhat.
Still, not to bad for a first shot. You see other people slowly moving back to their stations after your shot. Were they waiting for me? You huff. Probably for me to deafen myself. You turn back to your target and take several more shots, the bang still making you flinch as you fire. Eventually you empty your magazine, after which Morgan wanders off to find a box of bullets. When she comes back, you load the gun and reluctantly step back, bringing Una forwards.
You have a fresh target placed and carefully guide her through holding it. You walk her through her first shot all the way, only letting her shoot on her own after her third guided shot. The rest of the session goes like this, you swapping between who shoots and Una getting a little competitive. The gun is still slightly too heavy for her though and the shaking throws off her aim, so you win.
After that, you go back to your room and make dinner. Apparently Morgan took the time to order the ingredients for a Toad in the Hole. The name is strange, but the food is good. You still have a lot of chicken left over though. You spend the rest of your evening relaxing, drinking tea and talking about a wide variety of subjects. Honestly, how do you get from making spells to dinosaurs. You think about your statement for a seconds before the answer comes to mind. Una, of course.
You go to sleep that night tired, but satisfied of your progress.
The rest of the week is fairly similar. Get up, bath, eat breakfast when Morgan wakes up, do school work. Then you move on to lunch and the Gym. Your lessons are much the same for the rest of the week, only less actual fighting and more learning. She does teach you some of the finer points of using reinforcement though and you get a lot of use out of your regeneration to ease the strain of training. Una even manages to coax you into letting her be taught a little, under your carefully watching eyes. The hour you spend on the gun-range is always fun, in a weird way. You take the free time you have in the evenings to practice with your magic a little.
For most of the week you were practising how to fly, or well, try to fly.
(Wednesday: 22 + 5 = 28
Thursday: 30 + 5 = 35)
It goes... not badly, but you don't make any massive leaps in progress. Still, you think you are getting close now, even if you couldn't work out how to effect anything else with your weird flight magic. You do take the chance on Friday to travel out to the spell practice range. There you test your more... destructive spells. Your sphere of plasma to be more specific.
(Friday: 5 + 5 = 10)
It goes really badly. Thankfully you don't hurt anyone, or yourself, but it just refuses to work. It is created just fine and it certainly explodes just fine, as you learned to your chagrin. But it's very difficult, moving that much heat without letting any of it spill out. You were told that the holes you made would be filled by next week and to please be more careful next time. You think that they regret making the building there out of wood.
When you wake up on Saturday, you feel that, while your magic has been uncooperative, you've done decently well everywhere else. You were almost called away for something on Thursday, but apparently the Enforcers on the ground managed to deal with the problem, just barely.
Still, you are free to do whatever today.
Saturday...
[] Morgan
-[] More Training!
[] Samantha
-[] Information?
[] Karen
-[]Tea?
[] Write In...
Skills
Hand to Hand
Progress...
Magic Control
Progress...
Abilities
Regeneration
Level 5 -> 6
Reinforcement
Level 5 -> 6
Pre-Flight
Level 2/5 -> 4/5
-Can currently jump 10 metres and fall slowly.
