Masquerade Mingle

[thespaceopera]

[The night has finally come--the Gravity Rush is nearly upon us! What normally serves as a large performance hall has been gutted, emptied of its boring furniture and rigged up into a fantastical mismatch of technology and old culture. No matter where you go tonight, you're encouraged to move around, dance, play games, whatever helps you sleep in late tomorrow morning.

If you aren't one for scurrying around a ballroom all night, there's always plenty of people-watching to do. After all, so many people are wearing extravagant costumes and elaborate masks. How can you even tell who is who? Get lost in a crowd of sequins, chatter with a sun and a moon, or try to beat the guy in the monster-mask at a game of cards. Meet your friends or make some new ones--this masquerade party has begun!]


[[ooc: All sections are up now, have fun! A related ooc post is HERE for any questions or plotting you'd like to do.]]

Comments

[experiencepoints]

... Oh.

[Awkward, but it's not like she's the first assassin Nightingale's met. Hell, at least two of her teammates were assassins of some kind. So was Belt. And all of them gave a much different impression than Laura had.]

"As a child" means not anymore, though?

[girlverine]

No. Not for several years.

[Which wasn't to say she wasn't murdering her way through the world. She just was doing it for her own reasons. Or the X-men's reasons anyway.]

[experiencepoints]

[She nods, not even breaking step in the dance through this entire conversation. Apparently that is all the assurance she needs.

(One day, someone is actually going to lie to her about this sort of thing, and she'll fall for it long enough to get stabbed in the throat.)]

Then that's good.

[girlverine]

[Well, that was certainly one reaction. Better than most, really.]

What do you...do? Kitty mentioned you have some type of magical ability?

[Small talk while dancing was probably better than normal small talk, right?]

[experiencepoints]

That's right.

[She lifts a hand long enough to wave, causing some brief sparkles and lights to flash through the air around her hand, then resumes the dance.]

I was an adventurer at home. [Then again, that's a useless explanation to someone who doesn't know her world, she's found.] That's... We explore ancient ruins or other dungeons, seek treasure, fight monsters, things like that. I specialized in offensive magic- I was the strategist and... Basically the party's heavy artillery. I can do a little healing magic, too, but I'm not suited for it at all.

I can show you more later, if you're interested.

[There's a lot she's not mentioning- How she quit adventuring, how she lost most of her spells, and all sorts of unpleasant things. But that can wait. Besides, she's being given the chance to show off about magic, and she does love that.

(And it's probably amusing to hear a 5'1 twig of a girl calling herself 'heavy artillery', yet here we are.)]

[girlverine]

I would like to see that, yes.

[Magic was something she didn't know much about. It didn't quite worry her the way telepathy did, but it was still a thing that needed to be assessed.]

Is it safe to use it in the atmosphere of the moon?

[experiencepoints]

It is. Magic doesn't interact with anything besides what I want it to. You can stick your hand in my fire spells, and if I didn't target you, you won't even feel it.

[girlverine]

...I have never heard of magic like that.

[experiencepoints]

It's how basically all combat magic works in my world.

[girlverine]

I have never seen magic...referred to that way. Magic something Doctor Strange does. Or the Scarlet Witch. Not...

[She has no frame of reference for this, not really.]

I would like to see it, as I said.

[experiencepoints]

I don't mind. Not here, since this isn't a good place for it, but... There's a training room on the Iskaulit I use sometimes.

But more importantly... "Doctor Strange"?

[girlverine]

It would probably not be a good way to ruin the dance.

[A joke? And even a small smile.]

I have never met him, but...he is one of the most powerful sorcerers in my world.

[experiencepoints]

Oh, I don't know, I can't think of any better way to ruin it.

[She's giggling, though.]

Most powerful sorcerer, but he goes by that?

[girlverine]

I think they would be upset if we ruined it. They spent a lot of time on it.

[So serious.]

He also goes by Sorcerer Supreme. I think.

[experiencepoints]

I'd be sad if I ruined it, too, I'm having fun here.

... That guy sounds like a tryhard. A tryhard who sucks at names.

[girlverine]

...So am I.

[She was pretty sure, anyway.]

I have never met him. I don't know how true any of it is.

[experiencepoints]

[Even with the mask, it's pretty obvious to see Nightingale perk up when Laura admits she's having fun. Honestly, bird mask or no, she resembles nothing so much as an excited puppy. If she had a tail, it would be wagging hard enough to send people flying.]

I think, just for the sake of the reputation of magic-users everywhere, I'll hope that's exaggerated.

[girlverine]

[Laura does notice that, through body language and her ridiculous senses. But she doesn't comment, because...well, because she's her.]

Magic is not common on my world, so I don't believe they have a...reputation.

Mutants and others with more mundane powers are far more common.

[experiencepoints]

I'm not sure if that's better or worse... I don't want magic to be judged based entirely on someone who calls himself that.

Mutants have a pretty wide variety of powers, right? How does that work?

[girlverine]

Mutants are born with a specific gene, the X-gene. It causes shifts in a person's genetic structure, inducing various mutations. Powers, or shifts in appearance, or both. Some from birth, others as people grow.

[experiencepoints]

... One gene mutation can cause that many different effects?

[girlverine]

Yes? [Oh right, maybe not in other worlds.]

The gene is the catalyst for random mutation. Somewhat random.

[She hadn't heard of any mutants coming out as blobs of goo or anything.]

[experiencepoints]

I see... That sounds pretty interesting, but I don't think I have the expertise to understand it.

[She's a mage, not a geneticist.]

[girlverine]

That is the extent of what I know to explain, also.

[A faint smile, maybe?]

My education was limited to...necessary skills.

[experiencepoints]

I won't ask any further, then... Besides, it might just work differently on different worlds, anyway.

[She nods at the last part. She's tactful enough to not express envy no matter how superfluous most of her education was, considering their earlier talk, but she doesn't exactly know what to say instead, so she just doesn't say anything.]