OPEN

[blahblahboom]

WHO: Rita and friends
WHERE: Maurtia Falls, all different porter cities
WHEN: All throughout September
WHAT: September catch all + some open threads
WARNINGS: n/a for now

[A. SOME ALARMING BACK ALLEY IN MAURTIA FALLS. 1/9

As usual, it's overcast and gloomy in Maurtia Falls. Today though, looks like it'll be a little more damp than usual so already people are ducking for cover and getting out their umbrellas for what looks like a miserable commute home. If you're caught up in the rush of people trying to get to cover before the rain hits, you may come across a particularly noisy alley way, where cats seem to be happy to wander in and out while meowing.  If you investigate further, you may see Rita herself, dressed in an oversized red sweater and a short skirt, crouched amongst several loudly purring cats, looking particularly pleased with herself. There's another meow--though it doesn't look like it comes from any of the cats--and suddenly another cat appears at your feet with a yowl.

Investigate before the rain hits?

B. WHILE SHOPPING IN ANY PORTER CITY 2/9

If you're out and about Friday afternoon, buying up some groceries or other things for dinner, you might notice Rita walking down the aisles with a trolley overfilling with all sorts of odd...things. Chemical-y things. Things that when combined together, can go 'boom'. She pauses by the baking aisle, picking up a bottle of green dye and squints at it.

"I wonder if I can use this..." Rita mutters to herself, not at all concerned the rest of the contents of her shopping trolley would put her right on a government watch list in any other world. She drops it into her shopping cart and rolls on.

"Now I just need to get some dry ice and...." 


C. WILD CARD FOR ANY DAY OF THE WEEK

Want to encounter Rita anywhere else? She can be at school, blowing things up in the science lab or getting into arguments with teachers. She can be found in a library, stealing every science book off a shelf or she can be found in a park, practicing her artes and blowing things up in a different way. She can also be found lurking near the porters, taking notes and generally creeping people out. You decide!]

Comments

(CLOSED TO MANOLO)

[blahblahboom]

[School, apparently, does not suit Rita's tastes at all. She had been surprised formal schooling had existed to begin with but she had not expected how slow, boring and annoying it'd be, being grouped together with people she didn't like and learning a bunch of things she could either teach herself or didn't care about. She doesn't even bother attending the rest of her classes, leaving well before the end of the day, storming off in a huff as she heads for the library, muttering angrily to herself.

That's when the music catches her attention]

[matadorable]

[He's sitting under a tree, guitar cradled in his arms. Although his future album keeps him busy these days, today he's taken time for himself to enjoy the weather...and polish some new songs that he's not quite ready to share with anyone who's actually friends with him.

Like most of Manolo's songs, it has a distinct ranchera flare to it. The lyrics are personal, sincere and purely from the heart. This particular tune is upbeat and energetic, invoking feelings of hope in the people around him, and maybe even thoughts of a special someone they might have. Thematically, it's a little bit like this tune here.

Strangely, several birds and squirrels have made their way over to him, perched along the branches right above him, and, in the case of one bird, even his knee. It's almost as if they're attracted by the music.]

[blahblahboom]

[It's music Rita has never heard before and even though she's never paid much attention to music before, it sounds good.

Without thinking about why, Rita finds herself drifting closer to the source of the music, feeling the day's irritations ease away as happier--more hopeful feelings--take their place. She can think about things more clearly. Some hurdles are just hurdles. Estelle's here, so everything is that much better. The music is nice.

But not nice enough to override the rational, I-want-to-interrogate-everything part of Rita's mind completely. She might be in a good mood now, but she's still curious.

She steps around the animals carefully and stares at the man with the guitar]

Hey, are you doing that?

(CLOSED TO EMMA)

[blahblahboom]

What do you mean, someone's already taken them?

[Rita practically explodes, slamming her hands on the library counter, much to the poor librarian's exasperation. "You see, you hadn't placed the books on reserve properly so--and yes, but--you forgot to finalise it, which is why they were free to be taken by other people. It'll only be two weeks at the most, and that woman would surely return them before then--" The librarian tries to explain. Rita blinks and narrows her eyes.]

What woman?

["That blonde woman right there, leaving the library." The librarian points at the figure just exiting the doors. Rita whips around. Sure, she could wait...but if she could just even copy a few passages from those books on magic, she wouldn't have to put off her research.]

Wait up, you!

[She calls out, chasing after the woman, hoping to grab her before she disappeared. This was the worst]

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG

[dreamcatcher]

( it's not really her fault that she can't hear someone calling after her. she's stuck with her nose in the book — man if that isn't the most Disney Princess thing she's done all week, she doesn't know what is — as she makes her way down the street, back to... well, her housing, technically, but anywhere more accurately.

finally, she's found a book that seems to relate the tone of what she's feeling. how uncontrollable magic can feel, simmering insidiously under her skin. maybe this one will finally help her control the curse, because every day she feels closer to losing the battle with it.

she doesn't hear Rita calling, and she doesn't see the danger coming until it's too late. on the one hand, she can see why this place is in need of Heroes. even with the imPort machine dragging them in by the dozen, there are still a few stupid enough to attack random citizens, in broad daylight and surrounded by people. she doesn't see it coming with all her attention on the book, but the quiet demand in her ear to hand over whatever was in her pockets is hard to ignore.

the sheriff in her wants to deck him and slap the cuffs on, citizens arrest. the lost girl in her wonders why he's turning to this, because she's been this desperate before. and the monster in her, the one that screams for a chance to finally react, lifts him up and away, thrown through the air and sealed against the wall as unseen pressure tightens at his throat. the roar of magic is loud and delightful, loud enough that she doesn't even hear the other pedestrians and passerby panic and run away. Rita's voice snaps through it and the mugger slides to the ground, coughing and wheezing, Emma stuck in the headlights. )

I didn't— ( Emma stares at her hands, fear cutting through her normal inclination to pretend everything is fine. if Rita was stopping her for attacking someone, Emma doesn't have any defense for it. she should be stopped. )

<3 ALL IS WONDERFUL

[blahblahboom]

[Years and years of working with blastia, with aer, with mana has given Rita a very fine tuned sense for magic, even if how it was used was unfamiliar. The rush of magic through the air makes her skin tingle and the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. That was like nothing she had seen before. Nothing at all.

Things weren't suppose to end up like this.

Her first words ("I needed those books too, you know!") catch in her throat and her mind works furiously to say something in response. Never let it be said that Rita didn't know how to think fast on her feet]

You didn't know what you're doing? Yeah, I can see that.

[It's the fear on Emma's face and the memory of Emma helping her that first day on the beach that has Rita stepping in between Emma and the would-be mugger. She kicks away his knife, watching as it disappears down the street and falls into the drain]

That's one thing out of the way. As for the other...

[Rita frowns at the gasping and wheezing man. She doesn't feel much pity for him and even if she did, healing spells were not her specialty. She could call Estelle but the time Estelle would take to get here would most likely lead to a number of people running off before she could speak to them. So she hauls him up and shoves an apple gel into his hands and looks around for any pedestrians rooted to the spot.]

Hey, you! You with the goldfish face! Take this idiot to the hospital, would you?

[And when that is sorted, she finally turns to face Emma properly]

So.

CLOSED TO ANYONE WHO HAS A REASON TO BE AT MAURTIA FALLS #005

[blahblahboom]

[One thing Rita did not miss during her two day holiday from this world was a certain someone's cooking. Each day was like playing russian roulette and to be frank, Rita was 10000% sick of it.

That Saturday morning, Rita creeps down the stairs, still dressed in her pajamas, looking around warily. The kitchen seems quiet, but that doesn't mean anything. Maybe he went out to buy food and would be back soon. And in that, case, well...]

[leonized]

[Leon got up shortly after Rita did, soon enough to see her creep down the stairs. Now that was suspicious. He wasn't exactly predisposed to liking Rita, what with how she'd treated him on their first real meeting, admittedly, but she was still his housemate, and she seemed to know Flynn— who he generally liked, even if he couldn't quite admit it yet.

He doesn't even bother to head downstairs to call after her (although fairly softly, since it was still early):]

What are you doing?

[blahblahboom]

Wh--

[Rita jumps, and whirls around, grabbing the banister to keep herself from falling]

Oh. It's you.

[She looks around suspiciously]

Flynn isn't making breakfast, is he...?

...afternoon??

[renamaer]

[Someone has been pretty upset you've been missing, Rita...]

Rita! Where have you been?! [She's not letting go. Ever. Okay, until you complain, but still.]

Re: ...afternoon??

[blahblahboom]

Ack--

[Rita freezes, not really sure what to do with the hug. But she does feel bad she made Estelle upset so she pats Estelle's back nervously]

S-Sorry, it looks like I got ported out for a bit...

[protagerrant]

[And then Yuri walks though the other entrance, dressed like he just came back from a run. Which he did.]

Hey, you're back. Nice slippers.

[blahblahboom]

[DON'T DO THAT, Rita looks like she's about to have a heart attack. She shoots him a grumpy look. It was nice to be welcomed back though]

Shut up. They're comfy.

B

[quaerit]

[ Gansey's grocery shopping is heartbreakingly boring. He even knows it. Every time he comes in here, he buys the same food, the same brands, and generally speaking, he does so in the same order. So far, his cart contains an extra large carton of juice, a multi-pack of those little yoghurts with the fruit at the bottom, a family sized carton of gelato (mint chocolate chip), and several boxes of puffed rice cereal. A significant number of people would think this grocery haul insufficient to meet the standards of a balanced diet.

Compared to Rita's, however, he's actually doing well. He turns his head when she mentions dry ice, responding automatically. ]

They sell dry ice here? I didn't think that was the sort of thing you could pick up on the normal grocery -

[ And then he breaks off, because he's noticed the rest of her cart. Now, that's really something you don't see every day. ]

- run. Christ, what fresh hell are you planning to cook up? It's not even touching and it already looks volatile.

[ He went to school with Joseph Kavinsky. He knows the ingredients for explosives when he sees them. ]

Re: B

[blahblahboom]

Huh?

[ Distracted, Rita blinks over at Gansey, as if trying to figure out who he was and why he was talking to her. She quickly realises she doesn't have an answer to either of those questions. She looks down at her shopping cart. Then at Gansey's. She doesn't see anything wrong with what she has]

Nothing. It's for a project. [a pause] A school project. [Yes, that sounds totally legit and not at all suspicious.]

[quaerit]

[ Gansey frowns at her. The things is, he only just graduated a few months ago. This is his first semester as a free man, which is to say it's the first one he's ever spent filling up his time with employment to the exclusion of education.

It's not exactly wonderful.

But, it means he has a fair idea of last year's syllabus, and so he is unconvinced, sadly. ]

What kind of school project? We never needed to get dry ice.

[ He points at her contents and lowers his voice, eyes fierce. ]

You do know how dangerous those could be.

cats!!

[psychofailed]

[Kogami has a motorcycle now, because he's Super Done with public transportation, but there are still some days he prefers to walk to and from work. This is one of those days, and he already has regrets. At least his helmet was waterproof.

You know what he has even more regrets about, though? Investigating the strange noise in the side alley and discovering it full of cats. Now, Kogami pretends to be a total hardass, but he already took in one stray cat on a rainy day. An entire alley full of them, however, is entirely too much.

...Especially when more appear out of apparently thin air. So he's, uh, kind of relieved when he spots a girl amidst all of them.]

These yours?

Re: cats!!

[blahblahboom]

What?

[Rita doesn't think there's anything weird with sitting in an alley full of cats. The cat she had just summoned seems content to wind itself around Kogami's legs while the others wander around, and then start circling Rita even more when she opens up a can of fish for them]

Not really. I just started petting one and the rest starting coming out of nowhere.

[psychofailed]

[Unfortunate....so much for walking outta this alley guilt-free.]

Strays, then.

...It's going to rain soon. Might be best to try to find shelter now and let the cats do the same.

C...

[knightunerring]

[Flynn wakes to weird sounds coming from the living room, something like scratching and the occasional thump. His sword is in his hand before he's all the way awake, but really, intruders aren't a very typical problem in obviously imPort housing. Who would normally want to risk it? More likely it's Yuri letting himself in for something, although he can't imagine what he'd want in the middle of the night. He gets up to investigate, holding onto the sword just in case.]

[blahblahboom]

...what are you doing?

[Rita, newly returned from the porter, levels Flynn with the most unimpressed look she can muster. It's Flynn that's the weird one, not all the cats curled around her]

[knightunerring]

The person sneaking around in the middle of the night isn't the one that should be asking that.

[But he vanishes the sword quickly, smiling a little in relief. He'd been worried about Rita, it's good to see her again.

Her and... quite a lot of cats...]

B!

[glitterateur]

[Mabel’s also hanging out in the baking aisle, stocking up on edible glitter and funfetti products. She’s just begun climbing up one of the shelves to get at the prime glitter high up— on foot on the floor, one foot on the bottom shelf— when she turns her head at Rita’s muttered question.]

What’re you using for what?!

[And as she rolls by Mabel uses her new height advantage to peer at all the things Rita’s bought. Someone’s nosy! And her name rhymes with “table.”]

[blahblahboom]

Are people always this nosy here? I'm trying to create ap--

[Wait. Where did that voice come from? She looks up and.

S T A R I N G. What.]

...what are you doing?

[glitterateur]

Getting stuff! They put all the best glitter colors up here. [Helpful. Mabel shoves some brownie mix over so that she can perch more comfortably. So what're you trying to create?