1144/Faeries, Chimera, and Magi, Oh My!

Faeries, Chimera, and Magi, Oh My!
Date of Scene:	25 June 2017
Location:	Metropolis
Synopsis:	Paisley introduces Traci to Vanya, and a roadtrip is planned.
Cast of Characters:	Feral, Traci 13, 267

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Feral has posed:
    It's a warm day to be outside, a warmer day to be drinking something hot. But for some people there's no curing an addiction. Sitting on a metal chair in the fragrant shadow of a tea shop, a dark-dressed woman is sipping from a steaming cup while watching the cloud pass overhead through yellow-tinted sunglasses. A breeze runs down the sidewalk and ruffles the black leather coat she's left hanging on her chair back and cooling the light sheen of sweat that's glistening on her face.
    Vanya's dressed properly for once, though her bare feet are resting on the chair opposite her rather than in her shoes. With the warm summer weather, the feral woman has the area to herself. Reaching into a small bag beside her, pulls out a large ball of aluminium foil and unwraps the top of it to snack on a baked potato. The hand that reaches down for it shows more than a few nicks and cuts running up her arm and there are even a hint of bandages peeking out of her tank top by the brawler's opposite shoulder. Fighting for a living has its downsides, but the chimera isn't about to complain.

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci had taken Paisley out for the day, to show her some of Traci's hangouts, and get her more familiar with the city through the morning. But now, they're both starving. And, what better way to fill one's stomach than with some delicious sandwhiches and tea at one of Traci's favorite restaraunts. "Little more pricey than where we ate at with Nico, but, we can splurge this time. I've got it worked out," she tells the other girl, carrying a brown paper bag with her that's weighted with a few books from their scores at the used book shop.
    She sees the other people at the various outdoor seating, and notices Vanya almost immediately. The woman kind of stands out. "Where do you want to sit?" She asks her partner.

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "Okay," Paisley agrees mildly, allowing for Traci to lead the way without any resistance. Vanya might notice the stark difference- Paisley isn't ordinarily a follower, and certainly not this... Demure. It's a pretty classic pose, really. The social dynamic places Traci at the top of their little pecking order. Pais scans the cafe over idly, shifting her weight to left foot as she pauses in midstride.
    "Hey, V! You look like you had a fight with a weed whacker and won. Feeling good? Hey, Trace- this is Vanya. She's cool." Now Paisley is grinning, bright blue eyes dancing between the two. "Fancy meeting you here of all places. GUess the world is trying o tell me something. Mind if I steal half of your table from you?" Four chairs, two occupied by Vanya... Easy math.

Feral has posed:
    Vanya's nose twitches and the sun-glassed woman looks to the pair with her dark eyebrows raised in surprise and an amused smile forming on her lips. "A werewolf actually, then some demon-wolves, then..." the feral brawler chuckles to herself and stops there, pulling back her feet and tucking them under the table like they belong.
    "Sure, take it," she offers easily as her eyes move to Traci and stare at the youth through blue-blocker lenses. A hand is offered, calloused on knuckles and palm... and a little sweaty. She's been outside for a while.

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci is pleased. She hadn't met any of Paisley's friends, before, so she gravitates over towards the table readily, "Hi," she greets Vanya, warmly. She blinks, pausing some at Vanya's words, "That's eerily specific," she says, with a half-smile, not thrown off by the girls words. But. Curious, more.
    She slides into one of the seats, making herself comfortable and looking between Paisley and Vanya, letting Paisley kind of introduce them to each other, and her to take the lead socially in the moment. She clearly doesn't want to get in the way between Paisley and her friend.

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "Oh, yeah. V's not very shy about the whole powers thing. She knows that I've got weird magical powers and shit too," Paisley tells Traci conversationally, gesturing vaguely as she does. She pulls out a chair for Traci before sitting herself.
     "Vanya helped me get my head on straight after I first stumbled onto this- stuff. Really, we fucked around. But I needed someone to talk to. She's pretty cool. And this, V, is my girlfriend, Traci. She's all kinds of amazing. "We listen to the same music," she notes significantly.

Feral has posed:
    "I've got a few tricks myself," Vanya adds with a smirk that flashes a pointed canine. The were-woman's head bounces back to Paisley like a dog that just heard a keyword. "Huh? 'Girlfriend'?" There's a pause as she looks back and forth between the pair, then shrugs and takes another sip of tea. It's a milky black brew.
    "Priyatno poznakomitsya," she offers casually in her native tongue. "Nice to meet you."
    

Traci 13 has posed:
    "Demon dogs?" Traci asks, then. "Hell hounds? Or...?" Yes. Traci knows about Hell Hounds, it appears. And does not question their existence. "So, you're a Sorceress, too?" She glances aside to Paisley, nodding and smiling some, taking the other girls hand affectionately. "Paisley is pretty awesome," she conceeds. "As you probably already know. It's cool to meet one of her friends. Especially someone who helped her."

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "No, Vanya's- different. She's a therianthrope. Like werewolves and weresharks and things, except... More. I got that right, V?" Paisley's brow furrows as she casually throws out a word far longer and more complex than any she ordinarily uses.
    "Anyway, since she spilled the beans I can say that Trace is a sorceress. And I'm, like, a Faerie or something." Paisley makes a face at that but there's still a grin on her lips. "What the hell've you been up to while I've been wandering, Vanya?"

Feral has posed:
    "Whatever you call over one hundred kilos of fur, scales, and acid for blood," Vanya answers Traci as she turns her attention back to her potato. "She knows some fun spells... want to throw another panther at me?" the were-woman asks while her eyes slide from one young woman to the next with a gamely smirk.
    The hand holding her food grows needle claws and tiger fur, then recedes to matte grey sharkskin, before reverting to normal as the Russian shape-shifter talks. "Fighting things, eating, sleeping... it's been great but I miss winter already," she adds, tugging uncomfortably at the front of her shirt.
    "You don't look like a fairy, or are you just hiding the wings?" she mentions curiously, scanning down and up Paisley in a new light.

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci looks to Paisley as Vanya mentions 'throwing panthers at her'. She looks back towards Vanya, then, some measure of interest reflected in her expression as the woman displays her abilities so openly. "Well, if you ever need help," she offers, "Just let us know. I know a fair share of spells, myself," she says warmly. She squeezes Paisley's hand, and then moves to take the menu up, to peruse it thoughtfully. "A lot of creatures blend in that don't belong here. And they're not all easy to spot. But, ...," she looks to Paisley. Does she have wings? That's a good question. Traci doesn't seem to know.

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "Oh, right. I tried to tell you the other night but you are very distracting. I can- um. Do illusions. Powerful ones. You saw one the night we met?" Paisley looks sheepish as she turns toward Traci but her expression is one of earnest contrition, not shame. She wasn't 'hiding' anything. The squeeze is returned. "I'd do it more but you said I should hold off on the magic." The girl gestures vaguely then. "All five sense.s I had a panther jump out at V from behind a tree. It was pretty awesome."
    There's an almost wickedly delighted laugh from Paisley. "And, um. No. I do NOT have wings. Jeeze. Maybe someday, though.. You never know with these things." She shrugs slowly. "So anyway, what's up with the missing Winter thing?"

Feral has posed:
    "It's too hot, and all the bugs are out," Vanya grumbles. "I can put on a fur coat if it's cold, I can't shed skin." The shape-shifter pauses to think about what she's just said. "Well, it doesn't help..."
    "Do any of your spells summon food or beer?" she asks the sorceress-apparent.

Traci 13 has posed:
    "Weelllll," says Traci towards Vanya, thoughtfully, "Not really. That's more apparition, creating nothing from ether. And that takes a -lot- of power. Like, it'd be easier for me to literally blast the roof off this building than to apparate food. Now. I -could- summon, say, something like the iced tea out of my fridge here. Because, however small, I have a connection to it. I know where it is. Magic is - tricky like that," she explains, some, to Vanya.
    "But."
    Traci touches the glass of water that had been set in front of her, and she looks at the glass briefly, and after a few brief silent moments, crystals begin to form along the glass itself, and the water suddenly turns into one giant ice cube. She slides this over to Vanya. "Maybe that will help?"

Paisley (267) has posed:
    Paisley is watching the exchange with a sly grin on her lips, eyes flicking back and forth betweeen the two. Her brow furrows slightly when Traci does her magic but then she is nodding her head, reaching over to place a hand casually on the other girl's arms. "Look at you go," she murmurs, a soft laugh coming along with the words.
    "I could make us all feel cool but we'd still be melting and that could cause people to do stupid shit and, like, die of heat exhaustion or something .So I won't." Paisley shrugs at that, tilting her head slightly to the left. "Trace here is the real deal though."

Feral has posed:
    The were-woman watches as water draws together into ice and overflows the glass in a towering berg. "Okay that is cool," she blurts, taking the glass in hand as she looks at Traci. "Can you do that to me too?"

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci looks at Vanya, curiously after her own sly grin over to Paisley. She nods in affirmation to Paisley's understanding of her own powers. She makes another thoughtful expression, "I could," she hedges, "But, to do it on that sort of level would be pretty unpleasent for you. And, I've never really tried it on large scale. Never had the occassion to," she admits. "Practicing spells like that on the street is - at best, difficult on that sort of scale. Elemental magic isn't hard, but controlling the elements to a specific, refined outcome? That takes a little more finesse." She smiles, sheepishly. "Sorry."

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "And I'm just here to watch the fireworks," Paisley offers helpfully, shrugging her shoulders as she does so. "I mean, I dunno. I don't think that's the kind of thing I can do. Mostly I just make bad jokes and make random panthers appear or something." She shrugs again, slowly. "Actually, I don't know what all I can do."

Feral has posed:
    "You can't just make your hand cold? Or my shirt?" Vanya asks, cocking her head in confusion. She might be a shape-shifter but the arcane is a little beyond her ken. Speaking up draws the were-woman's eye again and she turns back to Paisley. "The dancing tattoos were a nice trick."

Traci 13 has posed:
    "We'll figure all that out," Traci promises Paisley, warmly, leaning over to kiss the cheek of the other girl. "I promise. You're doing good with it, I think. All things considered." LIke the fact that Piasley has had to mostly figure it all out herself, without any help.
    Traci considers a way to explain it to Vanya. Then, offers, "Think of it this way. Magic is kind of like explosives. It's like trying to throw a grenade at a shack. It's a -lot- easier to blow up the entire shack with the grenade, but instead of that you want to try and -only- blow off the door. You can do it. You just have to - perfect a complete understanding of how the grenade is going to explode, control the explosion and manipulate it to your advantage."
    She pauses, looking sheepish. "Best example I've got," she says, laughing a little. But then then she asks, interest piqued, to Vanya, looking between her and Paisley, "Dancing tattoos?"

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "Oh, yeah. My, um tats. I just kind of laid an illusion over them so they'd be able to shift," Paisley responds quietly while discussing what is actually a fairly technical and precise use of her illusion making. The girl gives a slow shrug.
    "The explosives example is okay. Or, like. Let's say you want to make a painting," the girl starts. She places her hand on the table and a plain sheet of paper appears. "I want to draw something really small, like a stick figure." A stick figure appears on the paper, about an inch long. "But the only 'brush' I have is-" Paisley holds out a hand and a paint roller appears, as broad as her sheet of paper is. She holds it over the page.
    "See? That's what using magic for small stuff is like. You have to learn how to, um, make a smaller brush. It's not a perfect metaphor." Paisley smiles sheepishly then glances over at Traci as if for confirmation.

Feral has posed:
    Vanya smirks at the illustration and nods a couple times to the two magic users. "I think I understand. So if you tried to 'cool me off', you might turn me into a ice cube."
    "That would be funny," the Russian considers, turning her hand over and sprouting a set of wickedly long claws to study for a few seconds. "I think we have that in common. Mixing animals in little doses takes practice. It's not as hard as hunting them - but that's a lot more fun."

Traci 13 has posed:
    "Yeah?" Traci considers Paisley a bit more, at the girls admission of her dancing tattoos, and she nods affirmitively at the other analogy, "Yeah, kind of like that, too," she agrees.
    "Well, regardless, I'm really grateful you helped Paisley out. So, you mimic animals? I know Vixen, from the Justice League, can tap into an animal's power, but I don't think I've ever heard of someone who can do what you can do. That's - pretty cool," she states, with earnest interest.

Paisley (267) has posed:
    Paisley listens intently, shrugging her slender shoulders as she does.. her illusory paper and paint roller just vanish and she grins briefly before leaning all the way back in her seat. It tips backward slightly and the girl is left taking a deep breath- and holding it. "You've both helped me a lot. You're amazing. I want you to know that. I mean, if I had to pick out a family to have out here... This is pretty fucking close."Then Pais israppign her fingers against the edge of the table restlessly.

Feral has posed:
    "Mimic? I'm the real thing." Vanya scoffs with a barking laugh. The were-woman's claws stay out for illustration, likely making an alarming show for anyone passing by. "These are a golden eagle's," she explains before the sturdy talons thin and refine themselves to needle points that poke out the ends of the shape-shifters fingertips. Skin and bone fur and thicken to more closely match - a little morphing bleed-over. "These are a Siberian tiger's..." The needles expand back out to great, thick, scimitar-like claws as a heavy coat of brown runs down to her wrist. "And a bear - I think from Siberia too."
    "And I can do plenty of others too," she adds as her sunglasses slip slightly down the were-woman's nose and an eye the colour of burnished bronze winks at Traci.
    
    Turning back to Paisley, Vanya pushes the glasses back up with the heel of her palm to avoid opening her face and chuckles in amusement. "What does that make me, your crazy aunt who lives in the woods? What did I do?"

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci has the good graces to not inquire further on Vanya, but she may consult some of her occult book when she gets home. Instead, she looks very curiously at the primal women with some interest which quickly fades into amusement at her comment to Paisley, whose prior comment has Traci smiling all the wider. She leans over and kisses the girls cheek on impulse, "You're worth it," she tells Paisley, warmly.
    But, she's interested in the further details of exactly what Vanya did do, for Paisley.

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "You kept me from going out of my skull a night or two," Paisley responds wryly. "I didn't have anyone I could talk to or trust and I sure as fuck didn't have any friends out there. You pretty much kept me from explodinginto a million pieces and spontaneously catching fire." The girl gives a slow shrug at this statement.
    "Really, you were just being my friend. And yeah, that makes you the crazy fucking BADASS aunt," Pais offers, smirking. "And worth it or not most people don't go out of their way to help strangers anymore. or evne just hang. So you two are some of the best."

Feral has posed:
    Vanya smiles toothily at the crass complement, shark-toothily in fact as grey sandpaper scales spread from her mouth. "It's your fault for throwing rocks at me," she teases before reigning her feral side back in and returning at least ostensibly to human. A little pointedness remain in her teeth as a hint to her lunch partners that she's only *just* restraining the urge.
    "And what do you think of a road trip on that bike? I have a shopping list I want to go hunting for..."

Traci 13 has posed:
    "Her bike is pretty fun," agrees Traci, towards Vanya. She crosses one leg over the other, and steals a sip of water from Paisley's glass, since she froze her own to help keep Vanya cool. She looks to the girl sitting beside her, not interjecting at the prospect of a roadtrip. Simply curious as to what Paisley's answer would be.

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "Road trip sounds fun," Paisley observes with a grin. She glances between the two women beside her and then shrugs. "If Trace is in then I am," she announces simply. The girl tilts her head to the left and reaches up to draw her fingers through her blue tresses, pulling them away from her face. "Otherwise, well. We can still work something out. I want to see this, honestly."
    Now Paisley is looking for Traci's response.

Traci 13 has posed:
    "That depends where we're road-tripping to?" Traci pauses, but adds, "But, I'm probably in, sure." She pauses, looking between the girls again, asking, "See what?" All these things she isn't clued in on! At least she's not getting driven nuts, just yet. She figures eventually it, like some of the other things, will come to light.

Feral has posed:
    "I was thinking we go out west first and see some desert," Vanya begins with an excited gleam in her eyes that makes her toothy smile look truly predatory. "Then if you two are feeling brave, cross the border, visit Mexico, and go to South America."

Paisley (267) has posed:
    "I'll have to grab a side car. Or a real car. We could make it four if Nico wants to come along.. I bet I can score a reliable one on the cheap,"Paisley muses now. "I mean, if you want he bike it'll just be us three, of course." There's a soft laugh following that and then Paisley is twisting. She sips her drink and then offers he cup to Traci so that they can share. "Car would let us, like, bring stuff with us. Especially if we want to go all the way down to South America."

Traci 13 has posed:
    Traci frowns a little at the revelation of where this planned road trip is, but she conceeds after a few moments, "SUre. Let's do it. I'm sure Nico would be up for it, too. And, yeah. A car. Defintely a car if we're all going," she insists. "And that far." She sticks her tongue into her cheek, thoughtfully, "But, sure. Let's do it."