It's A Kind of Magic

Log Info

Title: It's a Kind of Magic
Emitter: Jack
Characters: Claire, Alia and Jerry
NPCs: Malvolio the Magnificent and his Fricking Sharks with Frickin Fire Breath
Place: Cove City Zoo
Time: The Afternoon of May 31, 2010
Summary: The kids go out for a bit of Memorial Day fun and run into a Mad Morphing Mage with Malignant Machinations.

It's Memorial Day in Cove City, and the populace is out in force. Various sales, street parties, barbecues, and events are peppered throughout the city, and the nice day is allowing the citizens of the city, including students of The Steranko Institute, to enjoy the holiday. The students are currently on one of the city's main thoroughfares, and while there's no parade going, there's enough people soaking up the atmosphere.

Jerry is out and about in his civvies with Alia and Claire, with him explaining the holiday to Alia and seeing if they have something similar on her world. Otherwise, he's just soaking up the freedom of post-exam, pre-summer-semester goodness. Relaxed, would be the word.

Alia nods, "Well, yes, we have the festival of the Fallen, to honor those who died in service to mnhei'sahe." She gestures a bit, "It is not quite the same as this, however, this seems a little more patriotic." Her hand idly scratches the back of her neck, as she takes care to keep her hair covering her pointed ears.

Walking along on the other side of Jerry from Alia, Claire has decided to add a touch of Patriotism to her usual outfit. Of course, her outfit today is out of the usual. She's traded jeans for a long, pleated skirt that reaches to her ankles. The skirt is black with a frill of black lace around the hem. Her 5" platform wedge heels poke out from beneath while up top she's got on a red, loose and flowing peasant blouse with black lace frills around the neck and cuffs. Her pigtails are held in place with red, white and blue ribbons and an American flag armband is wrapped about her forearm. She's carrying her black lace parasol as well, which is open and held over her head to keep the sun off her pale flesh. "It's amazing how many people celebrate the dead who gave their lives for their country. In Japan they have a shrine devoted to all those who perished in war, including a few not so savory types from World War Two. It's kind of strange how one person's hero can be another's war criminal."

It's not that bad. A lot of red, white and blue considering the part of the world they're in, but it's not as pervasive as it will be another month from now. Still, there's throngs of partygoers moving around, people hawking memorabilia, shouting and screaming in fear…

The shouts come from the Cove City Zoo, in fact. Yelling, the sound of bars of cages clanging against each other. Alia and Claire are the ones to hear it, initially; for Jerry, the shouts are covered by the general crowd noise around them.

Jerry oohs over a float as he walks with the two girls. "Yeah, it's all in the perspective, I suppose. We still have nation states, so.. I'm guessing with a one-world thing like you guys seem to have, there's little point to patriotism when everyone is part of the same team?" he says, oblivious to the screams. He thinks it's probably some schoolkids or something.

Alia tilts her head, "Wait… screaming? That's not normal for this event, is it?" She glances at Claire, and suddenly she shimmers, becoming living light as she looks over towards where the screams are coming from.

Claire reaches out to snag Jerry's sleeve. She'll need him for a second. "Jerry, hang tight for a second." She shifts her vision over to the zoo, towards the source of the screams. Her eyes grow vacant and unfocused, her expression faraway and vague as if she's suddenly no longer there. She wants to see what they are going to get into. "Alia, let me see what we're getting into before we rush in."

"Wait, what, scream..those are../jeez/ Ally, tone that down!" Jerry says as Alia's form changes. "You'll cause a riot!" he hisses, hoping everyone's attention is on the floats. "Claire, wha..?"

Alia looks over at Jerry, "I think that plane has sailed, honestly. Claire?" She tones down the glow a bit, looking much like… well, a holographic projection of herself, eyes narrowing a bit.

Claire snaps back. "Something stinks in Denmark… or Cove City. There aren't any animals, just people. People outside the cages and people INSIDE the cages who look about ready to kill anyone who gets too close. My guess, someone turned the animals into people." She takes off running, clomping towards the scene of the weirdness as quickly as she can in her impractical footwear. "Everytime we leave campus, something like this happens. I really need to get out more often!" Yes, she's smiling like a madwoman.

Inside the zoo…as a matter of fact, the cages have not been broken open resulting in animals roaming the grounds around frantic zoo-goers. The citizens are there, but they're pointing and staring, because in the cages are people. The lion cage has a couple of shaggy-haired people in loincloths. The polar bear exhibit? White-haired people, also in loincloths. The monkey exhibit? Small dark-haired people. Thankfully, in loincloths.

"Do not worry, my dear friends," says a man addressing the crowd, where people are edging away. He's takk, dark-haired, and sporting a tuxedo with a red carnation, slicked back hair and pencil-thin moustache, top hat, magic wand, the whole nine yards. "We are merely providing the entertainment. You don't see this in the zoo every day after all. However, I am all for returning things to what you feel is normal. For a fee. All your valuables." He waves the wand in his hand, and a large chest appears in front of him. "Checks and cards accepted to the name of Malvolio the Magnificent!"

Jerry hears this and it's just what he's been waiting for! Heart pounding, as Claire runs, he follows and peels off, slips into a public restroom, and emerges after the second quickest clothes-change he's ever done. Pays to wear the thing under your clothes after all. He does a quick leap-and-land flight to where the others are, dropping beside CLaire in a dark purple costume, with boots and gloves, his features concealed behind a black domino mask. He folds his arms as the man makes his demands. "Yeah, that doesn't work for me," he says.

Banter 101 grade: C-.

Alia just glows brightly enough that her features are hard to distinguish, as she flies into the air, hands outstretched as she gathers and focuses the light around herself. She then says, "How about, you surrender and turn these animals back to their original state, and in return you save yourself a lot of punishment?"

Looking over to Jerry as he leaps to her side, Claire grins. "Costume is a win there, total win!" She increases her speed, her pigtails bouncing wildly, her skirt flapping about her ankles. She skids to a halt in front of the entrance to the zoo and strikes the most actiony, badass pose she can. This involves standing with her legs apart, slightly bent. One hand is balled into a fist and rested on her hip, the other is entended, all the fingers slightly bent aside from her index with points towards the nefarious n'er-do-well. "Enough with the Monkey Business Mage! Cease your Nefarious plans or face the wrath of your betters!"

"Now, my dear, where is the entertainment value in that?" Malvolio the Magnificant sighs dramatically. "Young people these days have no appreciation for the finer arts. It's all rush rush rush. But the dark lady here," he indicated Claire, "knows her drama." He brandishes his wand, setting people's wallets, cash, and pocket change to animate and come out of their pockets and purses, walking Broomstick-like to the large chest to throw themselves in.

"Now, now, three-to-one is hardly fair odds," Malvolio adds, and looks to one side where his smile widens. "Ah, perfect," he says, and points the wand to the aquarium section. One of the sides bursts open, and out walk…half a dozen shark-humanoids. One of them opens its jaws, and emits a short burst of flame. "Much better odds, wouldn't you say? Stop them!"

Shatter's hand's clench into fists as he sees the malific mage animate the various monies, then starts to follow up with a rather nice quip until he sees the sharks. Walking, flame-breathing sharks. "Aw, man, that is all kinds of messed up. We're gonna have to take him to a nut farm instead of jail, aren't we?" the teen super says, then opts for the quick attack. He stands there and shows people why he named himself Shatter. VVRRRAAAMMMM! Two ear-splitting blasts of vibro-energy from his fists lance out to the first shark-man and slam him backwards, down and out. "Once we deal with the sushi, we can take out Nutso the Magnificent, here."

Lumina hrms at Shatter, "Not a bad idea, but sometimes you have to go for the source." She flies by, and unleashes a blinding flash of light at Malvolio's eyes. Though she hits squarely in his face, he seems to close his eyes at the last minute, as he blinks a few times and looks remarkably unaffected by the burst.

The fire-breathing man-sharks spread out from their entrance hole, water swirling around their feet from the break in the aquarium. Three of them, seeing one of their brothers fall, focus their fire on Shatter, but…well, have Stormtrooper School skill, breathing three jets of flame which don't come close. Limuna is also unaffected by one fire jet, but Claire is hit dead-on by the one aiming fire at her. The lace on her clothes bursts into quick flame, and that looks like it had to hurt.

Voyeur drops to the ground and begins to roll, to put the flames out. "Goddammit! These aren't cheap you bastard!" She eventually just gives up and teards her skirt off and tosses it. Fortunately (or unfortunately for the teenage boy audience) Claire is wearing some old-fashioned 19th Century bloomers under that skirt, black of course with nice purple stripes. They gather about her knees and pretty much billow out about her thighs before cinching again about her waist. They are perhaps even more concealing than her skirt in a way. "That tears it, I was going to go easy on you for the compliment but you've ruined my outfit."

Malvolio, seeing the shark-men advance, tosses his hat up into the air, where it enlarges and falls over him, covering him completely before it disappears, and the magician reappears on top of one of the buildings, looking down on the grounds below. "I am not some common miscreant, to let my friends do my fighting for me!" He unleases a blue bolt of energy at Luimina, but does not seem to affect her. "But discretion always applies."

Shatter see this isn't going so well as they get Claire; he starts to check on her, but if she's fine enough to complain about her clothes, then she's OK; he kicks off into the air to hover about 15 feet up and spreads his arms slightly - a deafening VVVAAAAWWWW of kinetic energy ripples out in a cone, cracking paving stones and such, to wash over the three shark-men who tried to set him on fire - two of them drop, overloaded from the conflicting wave patterns, leaving one almost unscathed. He glances around as the magician teleports, then looks back to the business at hand.

Lumina frowns, "Your Earth magics are weak, that is why you lose!" She then soars around towards the magician… and someone should really tell her not to mimic the villain lines for her quips, as she unleashes a blast of red light at Malvolio. The blast impacts the wizard, hurting him but not nearly putting him down.

The sharks are getting decimated, and Malvolio shouts as the alien girl hits him with her blast, smoke rising from his clothes, which have not protected him as well as he has wished. The sharks turn their attention to the kids, one firing on Shatter which seems to hit, and 2 on the flying Lumina, which doesn't even hit the proverbial broad side of a barn.

Voyeur jumps up from where she was rolling, crouching and staring up at Malvolio. She raises a hand to her head, touching her fingers to her temple and then throws out her other hand towards the man. One might be forgiven for thinking that they see a slight distortion in the air in front of her forehead and rushing down her arm and Claire narrows her eyes and sends a psychic shockwave of pain, agony, regret, desire, anger and humiliation from deep inside her psyche to the mind of the mage. "Ruin my clothes and I will tap dance on your brain with stiletto heels you sideshow phony!"

Malvolio surveys the battlefield, and starts to focus on the young man before a bolt of mental force rips through his mind. He clutches his temples, and it seems to hurt him, making him see stars, which he fights off with an effort of will, before turning his wand to Jerry. However, the pain has screwed with his aim, and he misses cleanly. The ground stuck by Jerry turns into Vanilla Pudding, a foot diameter circle.

Shatter scrambles back into the air as the ground around him begins to transform, and he sees the wizard throw more magic around. "Time to end this, freakshow!" the young hero snarls, and sends a peircing bolt of virbro-energy at the man, blowing a corner of the building into concrete dust instead. He growls something under his breath and stays aloft, aiming at the magician again.

Lumina does an Immelman in the air, then suddenly glows a brilliant ruby color before unleashing another blast, this time at the remaining fire-breathing sharkmen. The blast engulfs them all, knocking them cleanly unconscious as she then glances back towards Malvolio, "Don't say we didn't warn you, you Criss Angel wannabe."

Voyeur stays in her crouch and concentrates again, shooting out another blast of pyschic agony. She can sesne resistance though and snarls, knowing that the enemy most likely is ready for her this time. "Next time, Malvolio, Next Time!" She clenches her hands into fists and seeths in impotent rage.

Malvolio looks as his shark-men go down, and the three super-teens begin to orient on him. He takes out a long wand and taps his hat. "Indeed, my dear, it must be 'Next time', as I'm afraid I have to run. But this is far from over! The show must go on!" he laughs, and jumps into his own hat, which accomodates him though it has no right to. The hat pulls in on itself, and vanished with a *POP*, leaving the dancing wallets to suddenly fall flat and lifeless.

In the surrounding cages, there is a popping sound, as animal-people transform back into animal-animals, looking quite confused and bewildered. They stalk around, looking nervous, wondering what in the world just happened to them.

Shatter drops to the ground and looks around, smacking one fist into his other palm, his expression angry. "Show must go on.. I am SO punching his ticket next time." Then: "Man, that would have been perfect to say.." he mutters.

Voyeur sighs and looks around, her skirt smouldering over in the bushes. "Well, that's 40 dollars I'll never see again." She grabs her parasol and slings it back over her shoulder before casting a gaze at the other two. "No comments about my bloomers, either of you or… or… I'll say mean things about you on livejournal!" With that, she marches back towards the Memorial Day festivities, heels clomping on the pavement.

Lumina flies down and lands by Voyeur and Shatter, her glow fading as she resolidifies, "We need to get the fish back into their tanks before they asphixiate. Any ideas?" She looks rather concerned for the previously-transformed critters.

Shatter looks over at the large sharks flopping about, and concentrates, sliding a purple plane of solid energy under them, and gathering the snapping fish without touching them. A good idea, considering they're sharks. He flexes and raises his arms, and the squirming sharks slide back into the tank they were pulled from originally. That done, he drops the construct and puts a hand on Lumina's shoulder as he staggers a bit. "Holy.. that takes a lot out of me, not just blowing stuff up.." he groans between clenched jaws. "Gimme a second.."

Alia puts an arm around Shatter, "Easy there, easy…" Without the glow around her, it's pretty easy to tell this is Alia supporting the neohuman. "Interesting trick, though… I should try to learn something similar with my light generation. 'Solid light constructs'…" She looks thoughtful, considering the matter.

Claire stops where she is and looks over her shoulder. "All your showy powers. Sometimes I'm glad mine are all invisible. Makes me less of a target for most villains. Most." She seethes about the loss of her skirt some more and comes back over to the other two, offering her shoulder as well and giving Alia a tiny smile. "Let me help. A burden shared and all that."

Shatter whews as he's helped up by the pair and it's easy to see that he blushes a bit, and tries to straighten up. He rolls his shoulders and mmmphs. "It's OK, I'm good," he says to the pair and disengages himself after a minute or so. "Lemme go change back" he says, pushing off to float a foot or so off the ground.

Alia glances wryly over at Claire, "Tell you what, we can go shopping for a new skirt, after you get changed." She smiles, "I haven't been shopping in ages, and I'm sure there are some good sales for Memorial Day, yes?"

Claire brightens at the mention of shopping and grabs her burned, tattered and dirty skirt, sliding it back on to cover her bloomers as best she can. She's not exactly ready to change into anything and it gives her the look of having just been through a worse fight than she was. "Great idea! You know Alia, you'd look pretty awesome in a few things I've got back in my closet. You ever consider trying a darker look? Maybe with some lace or a corset?"

Shatter resigns himself to carrying a ton of packages and bags back to the school, and arcs into the air, coming down a short distance away to retrieve his clothing and go catch up with the girls.

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