[Poison Joke] a glow, and then a shine...

[ooeeooahah]

[ 20 April, Afternoon, the front garden of 1490 Kramden Road ]

[ The front lawn has been making the slow transition from carpet of green to a plot ready to plant. Ilsa has been adding the seedlings from the kitchen window as they are hardy enough.

However, this morning while leaving to go to work, she spotted something she did not plant in the beds. It did not conform to anything she knew, and at her lunch break, she had checked the library references which had no more information on the plant.

So this afternoon, she changed into her halter top and shorts, and started weeding. She has been careful enough to wear gloves, and to put them in a bucket for disposal, but that doesn't stop them from affecting her. She hasn't noticed that her shadow now includes bat-wings, of sufficient span to be useful.... ]

[[ OOC: Ilsa has been affected by the Poison Joke! Feel free to just be in the neighborhood and point out her new attributes. ]]

Comments

[ooeeooahah]

I'm still not going to jump off the roof anytime soon. Be just my luck they'd disappear just as I took off.

[ Ilsa grins. ] On the other hand, it takes muscles I'm not accustomed to having, much less using.

[ Her wings flex out, then back to a resting state. ]

[helpmeguideit]

Ah, that's true. That could get painful. [ The crashing to the ground without wings. He pulls the sunglasses off and hands them back. ] And I believe these are yours, unless you're intending to give it another try.

[ooeeooahah]

Maybe in a few minutes.

[ She will take the glasses back, though. ]

How are things going since you arrived?

[helpmeguideit]

Manageable. I've met someone from home, and some interesting people. It's not quite as normal here as they are attempting to make it seem. [ That was an understatement, and he knew it. ]

[ooeeooahah]

We keep trashing the glamour, that's for sure.

[ She nods towards the front porch. There's a pitcher of iced tea and some glasses there. ]

Come join me for some tea?

[helpmeguideit]

That sounds great. [ He will nod and follow her towards her porch. ]

I'm sure this place would appeal to someone. [ But it was...boringly normal. ]

[ooeeooahah]

[ Pouring the tea, she nods. ] It does appeal to some people, like my mate. Of course, from what he's told me of the place he was pulled from, he was under threat of assassination from several fronts, and involved a multinational war between mad scientists. Until the resurrection mechanism was damaged, he considered this a vacation. [ She shrugs, handing Charles a glass of iced tea. ]

[helpmeguideit]

[ He holds the glass in both of his hands, considering it. He should consider this a vacation, really. Based on what had happened before coming here, he certainly earned a vacation. ] From what I hear, though, it isn't much of a vacation.

[ He pauses, considers. ] It's a bit boring for me, though. At least right now.

[ooeeooahah]

True, month of boredom punctuated by 72 hours of terror isn't most people's idea of a vacation.

[ She sips her tea. ] But stories of home like his make my goal not to get everyone home, as much as to get everyone out. If I can, I'm going to offer sanctuary to the ones willing to brave the summers in Atlanta.

[helpmeguideit]

It's not really a very good trade-off. I'll take the consistent business at far less extremes than I've heard goes on around here.

[ He takes a sip at his own tea. ]

Smaller doses are much preferred.

[ooeeooahah]

I'm almost as busy as I was at home, but that's because I found some parallels here, at least in my role as guardian. Not as many patients, but plenty of organizing to do.

[helpmeguideit]

I am sorry, but you may have to explain what you mean by your role as a guardian.

[ooeeooahah]

Ah, well - I've been talking around it so long, it's only been in the past year that I've told people not on my patrol about it.

[ Her wings flick and settle as she perches on the porch railing. ]

In my world, there's a balance that needs to be maintained between the the forces that act on it. Now, until the Enlightened Revolution, that could be maintained with a small council, but when the population started growing, the cities began to need guardians to help maintain the balance.

[ Ilsa folds her hands before her, then opens them as one would a book. An image unfolds in her hands of the Earth, with multiple lights on the surface, concentrated in areas close to the population distribution on Earth, but with some differences for Charles. There are more high density spots in the more extreme temperature regions. ]

[helpmeguideit]

So you help maintain balance.

[ He nods, absorbing the information. he's learning a bit more about the other worlds around here, piece by piece. They were so fascinating. What truly fascinated him, though, was the image before his eyes. Not that it was earth, but that she could show him that. ]

So far, though, this [ Nods towards the image in her hands. ] interests me the most. Another skill of yours?

[ooeeooahah]

Illusion - it's one of the first cantrips I learned. It takes a great deal of power to make something appear real, but for holograms like this, it's fairly low-key.

[ The image fades, replaced with an image of three women, one older, and one of them a slightly younger Ilsa, at a table in a nice residential garden. ]

Mage-work is really strong in my mother's family, which is not the normal thing. The extra kick I get from being a guardian in the network came in while I was in high school.

[helpmeguideit]

[ Charles absorbs the knowledge. Oh yes, he's so completely focused on looking at the illusions and listening that he doesn't say a word for several moments. ]

Genetic, then?

[ooeeooahah]

Possibly... to be honest, we've been underground so long, none of it has been tested. But my skills lean towards one-on-one tasks, while guarding a large population. My sister's skill-set revolves around big picture patterns and trends, with less hands-on involvement.

[ The image shifts to a house fire for a fraction of a second before it is dismissed. ]

The mages in my world hide what they do. There were witch-hunts in history, and then the fairy tales give a skewed view of what magic is and can do.

[helpmeguideit]

[ He sighs. He knows all too well about witch hunts. ] I understand witch hunts. I'd like to believe there's a world without them, though.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa's smile is wistful. ] There's multiple dimensions out there. I have to believe the odds favor more than one of them outgrowing the fear. Maybe even our own, eventually.

[helpmeguideit]

I'm optimistic. I want for everyone where I am from to be able to leave in peace - side by side with mutants.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa nods, filing his use of the term away for later. ] I hope so... [ Then she giggles, ] It may take a little longer for the mages to come out. Considering how many people don't have a good grasp of the laws of physics, the laws of magic might throw them.

[helpmeguideit]

[ Laughs. ] I can't imagine. Things that extraordinary people do often defy the laws of science people have come to learn are true as well.

[ooeeooahah]

Silly, really. The Newtonian laws of physics mirror the first laws of magic. Not like someone's got to understand string theory to follow it.

[ Ilsa sips her tea, and makes sure Charles isn't drinking when she asks, quietly ] Are you hiding, as well?

[helpmeguideit]

I am a Mutant. [ Taps fingers to his head. ] A telepath. Normally, at least.

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa smiles, nodding. She has no physical expression indicating surprise or distaste, either. ] Not to worry, it will likely come back. I had my empathy back in pieces, receptive first, then the broadcast.