Log:Cliquish Behavior

2014/10/04 Annie Matt Raven Tempest

1

Soft white light obscures the Mega Mall, making the bland set seem ethereal and futuristic. Cheap effect, but quite effective. It's Saturday night and teens tend to hang out at the mall, because there's not much else to do for 18 and unders to do. The girls shop for clothes. The guys shop for girls and games. It's a social hangout ground for teens and part of normal teenaged life.

Matt walks in, he's looking for an outfit, something other than the 10 black shirts, and 7 pairs of jeans. No better or perhaps worse place than the Mall, he's got a pocket full of cash, and a small agenda..

Commercial-zoning! Annie loves it, even if she's more browsing for electronics and masses than clothes. Unless her twin is handy to try on clothes for Annie to observe. That could be fun, and got totes interrupted the last time with vil shick. But no, she's just walking through the crowds.

Amelia is shopping for herbs and spices. Evelyn, her Coven contact, is going to be teaching Raven some basic alchemy in the near future. Where't the best place to ,get some of the rarer herbs she's been told ti buy? Is it some tiny out of the way shop in the cobbled streets and allyways of Old Town? Nope. It's in the Mega Mall. So here she is, combining Raven tasks with clothes windows shopping and maybe in a while a eat at the food court.

The sound of breaking glass from one of the skylights can be heard down one end of the mall but out of sight, some distance from the teens. At a T-Junction in the mall's architecture, shoppers start fleeing out and into the rest of the mall in a panic.

Matt begins to do the opposite of the crowd, and begins to run at the sound, if it becomes difficult, he takes to the air, to fly above the crowd to get there faster....

Breaking glass Annie might not notice. A bunch of people screaming and all running the same way? She looks where they're all running to. "Shick! There's totes a sale or door prize, isn't there?!" When she sees people starting to scatter, it must be something else. Now she looks back the way they came, and spots a Matt flying up over the crowds. "Hey, Matt! What's going on?!" She subtlety yells across the mall.

Amelia tears her attention away from a cute party dress as she hears first the sound of breaking glass and then the cries of panicking people. Amelia hurries into the store and grabbing a garment at random goes into a changing room. Raven appears from a short range teleport out in the Mall concourse. Taking to the air she heads towards whatever is causing most people to flee.

Matt hear's Annie, but doesn't verbalize anything, he just makes the motions of 'I don't know' and continues flying towards the sound of breaking glass.

Raven hears Annie's shout and veers slightly off line to swoop down. "Annie! How goes? Do you want a lift?"

Breaking glass? Shopping? What could go wrong here?! Gail was in the fitting room, trying on a black turtleneck she thought was cute and then... smashing sounds and stuff. "Oh... poop." she mutters, not taking time to change back, she comes running out in that and her fluttering miniskirt. "What the hell?!" she exclaims, running towards the exit to get a look at what's going on. And.. oh yeah, as the store alarms start to sound, she whips out her credit card, turns to the nearest employee.. rips the tag off the turtleneck and hands that and her card to the employee, "Ring it up, I'll take it!" she announces.

The young woman at the register is left with tag and card and a clueless expression. Her training didn't say what to do in this situation, so she just rings it up. People who were waiting in line and staring at the chaos look peeved at having someone cut ahead of them.

"Mels! Something's not dozey!" Annie doesn't know what it is, but people are running and it's not a sale. "Thanks, but I totes can do it." She can fly, too... as soon as the white-feathered wings emerge and unfurl from her back. With a hop and a flap, she's airborne and points at Matt. "Follow him!" He seems to know something, if it's just where to go.

Well, Gail doesn't have her costume with her... but.. this is no time to quibble. She leaves the tag and card and dashes out into the mall proper. Soon, the wind carries her aloft and she summons a fog to give her some concealment. Not a ton of it to fill the place... just.. enough. So she's flitting along near the ceiling as she approaches to investigate.

Raven hovers until Annie is flight certified and then flies with her after Matt. . o O(He does look kind of cute from this angle.) Her mind moves off the breaking glass screaming people issue briefly.

Some of the shoppers can already be seen running out of the mall's exits. As the other teens follow the path of the retreating mall shoppers, they can see the entry-point around the corner of the T-junction. A large skylight has been crashed inwards, leaving a big opening.

And that's when they see what the commotion is about. A few stores down, there's a metal platform hovering a foot off the ground, with a squirrely looking girl sitting on the edge of it. Her legs hang off the edge of the platform, feet touching the ground. She's wearing glasses, a mini-backpack, and too-trendy clothes.

The platform also happens to be hovering outside of a jewelry store in the mall with three females inside it. One is happily smashing the casings open with her bare fists with a malicious grin. Her skin is the color of a pink candy shell, and has a lacquered sheen. She wears a torn, very short white tank-top that exposes her midriff, black fingerless gloves, and red dyed jeans. Another teenager, a Japanese girl with a fighting staff and short, dual-colored hair is standing by, rolling her eyes and looking as if she's too cool for this. She eventually follows behind her smashing compatriot, taking diamonds that tickle her fancy and tossing them in a bag. Ones that don't interest her, she just tosses over her shoulder indifferently.

The last girl is schmoozing with one of the store's young clerks, an okay looking guy who seems to be melting (emotionally) at the sight of her, hanging off her every word and seemingly unconcerned with the robbery in progress. She wears a long sleeved, low-cut top that also exposes her midriff, unzipped to near indecency, cut-off shorts, thigh high white stockings, and high boots. Her clothes are generally purple with white accents.

She flirts with the clerk, but doesn't seem too interested. Instead, her attention is on another young man more her age. She flirts with him more, leaning up against him and whispering things in his ear as she giggles sinfully and playfully caresses his chest. Both men seem to be putty in her hands, and appear dazed and out of it, with dreamy expressions on their faces.

Matt doesn't like what he sees. A ninja, a brick, a chick, and their tech. Its the girl's club apparently, he's read enough profiles, and has the memories of his past, he thinks he knows what he's looking at...to him, the most dangerous is the cute girl in the shop. She's a mentalist of some sort...and that's who he targets first. Talk is for heroes, he could waste time, but he's got the drop on them..(maybe) and he's going to use it.

Raven calls out quietly to Annie when she sees the scene, "Hey, Annie. Check out the girl by the counter talking to the guys. I wish I had the nerve to wear gear like that. And the figure to wear them of course."

Annie thinks Matt's scenic, too, and this is a good angle. After they pass the T-junction, however, there's other things to look at. The hovering platform, the fems on it, the-Oooh! Totes arid outfit! Annie points at them and looks to Raven. "Why don't they have those to rent?" Just because they can fly doesn't mean they -have- to. Hover-commercial-zoning sounds like a crash idea. Except these fems are doing alot of five-finger discounting. When Raven calls out and points, Annie giggles. "I can totes help you with that."

Raven grins to Annie, "I don't think my parents would understand if I went home one day looking like that." she says with a laugh.

Ceiling flight is fun and would be more enjoyable if these losers weren't being such putzes. Gail shakes her head, winds carrying her over and up until she's hovering in the middle of the broken in skylight. Overhead... clouds roll in way too fast. Once more, the weather forecasting services are going to fling their hands up in the air as a clear night suddenly sprouts thunderclouds for miles with a centering on the Mega Mall. It's not more than a few moments later when thunder rumbles, lightning begins crackling overhead, and rain begins to fall... conveniently coming in through the skylight. Yup, the forecast called for clear skies tonight but this.. the rain is getting heavy... fast. Raindrops striking the other parts of the mall and the glass skylights quite hard. Making quite a racket. . . Above it all, Gail just hovers there, eyes narrowed. You know when some people get thunderously angry? Well, for her it's quite literal.

If the scenic girl at the counter can't see, she can't pull her mental schick. Summoning darkness, he fires off a blast of dark, as blacker than night, in hopes of it encircling her head, and blinding her.

The looters all look immediately in the direction of the commotion caused by Gail. The clerks stand in front of their Lady Love protectively. The woman in purple shouts with a smile, "Pixie! Jawbreaker! We've got party crashers!""

"On it, Crush!" says Jawbreaker, the one with the hardened skin. She stops smashing glass cases and starts to stomp in their direction.

Pixie, the girl with the fighting staff, throws the bag of loot at the girl on the platform. "Catch, pip-squeak!" she says with severe dislike of the girl. The girl on the platform squeals in displeasure and raises her hands defensively. She becomes semi-transparent, her image flickering like a damaged holo-vid projection. The bag goes through her head and lands neatly on the platform. "STOOOoooop calling me Pip-squeak! It's WALLFLOWER!" she whines, causing Pixie to only smirk at the weaker girl's complaints.

Crush's head is encircled by darkness. "What is this, a blackout sale? Boys!" The clerks continue to stand guard. "We're so sorry, miss! We'll make sure he won't hurt you!" swears one loyally.

Jawbreaker's stomping starts to take her in Matt's direction. "Oh man, I've been ITCHING for someone to try and start something," she grins ferally. Pixie rolls her eyes at the turn of events, seeming bored.

Annie was just using the wings to dodge the crowds. She makes a note to remember that for the next mob or sale. She drops back to the ground, the wings furling and then rippling and folding into her flesh. She points at the stompy, shiny pink itchy one. "Hey, lollipop. You're the ones starting shick, aren't you? Totes love the outfits, but they're wasted on you ain't they?" Annie pick a fight or call someone out? Always.

Jawbreaker's rough and tumble attitude makes her seem like one not too worried about fashion insults. "Your pal there started the real shick. He wants to start something, then I want a piece," she grins as she pounds her fist into her open palm again, itching for a fight.

Besides, Pixie is handling Annie, taking Annie's gloating as an opportunity to slip behind her and thrust her staff into the small of Annie's back, knocking her forward.

Raven comes down to land on the floating platform. "Hi, there. Pip-squeak? Really? They call you that? Although I have to say Wallflower isn't that much better. Seriously, you're a bad as I was until I get powers and a purpose. And it really isn't fair. They'd be sitting in caves cooking over a open fire if it wasn't for tech-savvy types like you. So why don't you toss that bag back into the store, fly away, and put your talents to better use?" After her little speech she lifts her arms and intones a short incantation, summoning forth a swarm of spirits that fly at the other three villain girls. Only Pixie is struck this time but the spirits are still swarming areound.

"I don't even know who you are! Th-they're my f-friends!" the shy Wallflower squeaks, totally believing it despite how untrue it most likely is.

Wallflower clings to the vertical console of the platform protectively. "But it really isn't fair..." she murmurs sullenly.

Raven smiles, "I'm Raven. I'm also the girl who's offering you a chance to fly away from this mistake. And the Witch who isn't directing any of the spirits to drain your essence. Take your chance, Wallflower."

"I'd listen to her." says Gail as she floats up there in the broken skylight. Thunder rumbles above her, lightning crackling in the clouds and illuminating her from behind every so often. "She does have a valid point."

Crush can't see with her eyes, but her mind can see past that. It starts to scan the nearby vicinity, since she knows generally how far to mentally reach to find Matt. And find him she does. Matt can sense the mental intrusion as she locks on. Hidden within the shadowing cloud concealing her face, Crush smiles.

Annie was knocked forward, but she tucked, rolled, and caught herself on her feet. The bruises from the hit are already disappearing. "Oh, sneaky shick, huh? Let's see you sneaky now!" A quartet of tentacles sprout from her back and extend out for Pixie's limbs. Yes, scenic blonde sprouts tenacles that grab for the Japanese girl. Someone, a fanboi might faint.

Matt flinches as he feels the intrusion in his mind, and the 7 voices that live with him rail against the intruder..but to no avail..

At least Pixie isn't wearing a school uniform. Instead, she wears an athletic purple bodysuit with a tank-style v-neck top, and two gold bands around the thighs. Metal shin-guards and steel-toe boots protect her strike zones. She wields a simple metal staff. Pixie is short (as her name implies) and lithe, with short layered black hair with red bangs. And she manages to escape the grasp of the tentacles with a quickly executed back handspring.

"Hey, putrid mas. Attacking crush like that. Pfft. Ain't you got no sense of chivalry?" Jawbreaker tugs down on the fingerless glove on her right hand and cocks her fist back as she begins a running charge at Matt.

Jawbreaker's fist connects with Matt's jaw, sending him flying. So that's how she got her name...

Matt's head snaps back and he's slammed backward, but he catches himself and lands on his feet, he grins, "Not bad.."

"Hey Jawbreaker. You want Chivalry, how about you fight someone your own gender?" says Gail as she lifts a hand and with but a gesture... she draws lightning from those clouds above, sending it streaking towards Jawbreaker down below.

Lightning strikes! It blasts Jawbreaker from behind and sends her flying forward. She hits the ground, rolls along her shoulder, and lands in a crouch with one hand on the ground. "Hitting someone in a duel ain't chivalrous neither, sweetheart. You want some of this, too?" She smirks and eyes Matt. "Looks like the girl's here to rescue you, Damsel. I thought you'd be strong enough to take me on your own. Guess I was wrong," she says as she rises to her feet.

Matt's jaw tingles, it was a good hit, probably a better hit than he's gotten since leaving the academy, still the bruiser is not the problem, the problem is the mentalist that has his number. There will be no defense for that if she gets him, so he's going to try to make sure she doesn't get him. Raising his hands about his head, he summons a giant crystalline shard not sharp, but huge, and he throws it at her sideways trying to maximize his attack.

Crush can't see, and soon she receives an attack that mimics her namesake. Despite the men trying to block for her, she gets smashed by the crystalline shard and slammed back into the rear wall of the store, crushed by the shard. Jawbreaker yells out angrily as her friend gets hurt.

Matt raises an eyebrow, "I just gave her a big rock..does that mean we're engaged?" and without taking his eyes off the situation at hand he says at Jawbreaker, "Wait..you're not my gender?"

The voices in Matt's head seem to cheer triumphantly as they, in a united front, break the hold Crush had on his minds.

Pixie gauges Annie carefully, her body shifting weight fluidly back and forth from what foot to the other in preparation to go on the defensive. "Chigaimasu. I am seriously not going to fight a tentacle monster." She leaps in a backflip and lands on the floating platform, forcing herself between Raven and Wallflower. "Don't give the pipsqueak any ideas. She's OUR pipsqueak!" she announces with a sidekick aimed at Raven.

The platform bobs from the added weight and Pixie's sidekick goes wide.

Annie scared her off already? She didn't even lay a tentacle on her! So she goes to kick at Raven. Yeah, Annie doesn't think so. Forget about her? No way. She sends just one tentacle out this time, one oozing with some kirare-like goodness.

Crush snaps her fingers and her willing slaves come to remove the shard from her and help her to her feet. She's shakened, but not deterred. "I can't believe some people. Don't you know this is a designer outfit!?" she rants and tries to find someone else this time. So many strange minds. One of them should be able to serve her.

Shaking her head, Gail turns her eyes towards Crush. Even blind, this girl has servants moving things around for her. But she's up and not crushed so... apparently she's a threat. Gail is unaware of the whole... mental power thing. But, she knows that this girl got crushed and is worried about her -outfit-? So, another crackling bolt of skyfire... a jagged fork of lightning... strikes down towards her.

Crush's servants interpose themselves between Crush in the lightning strike. They get blasted aside from the electrical charge, bearing the brunt of it, and Crush gets hit as well.

With the lightning coming down, Gail says towards Crush even as Jawbreaker gets blasted, "Designer eh? Shocking!"

Jawbreaker gets fried again, but she's not blown off her feet this time. "That tingles. Maybe you should reconsider life as a hero and think about working in utilities." Then she shoots Matt a glare and a warning. "Hitting Crush again? This is it, fragger. No more playing nice. I'm in the game now, and I play for keeps!"

Raven looks at Pixie and then back at Wallflower. "You're at the start of your lives. You have powers and abilities most can only dream of. Take your people out of here before it's too late and rethink your career paths." she says. Then she ducks down to grab the bag of stolen jewelry and apports into the store.

Matt keeps on task, big mouth small mind, he can take her hits. "You have a Crush on Crush. That's nice. Maybe you're name should be Crush, and her's cutiepie or something...I'm just saying, it seems like it makes more sense."

Wallflower wails, "Crush, they got the lewts!" She's a gamer primarily. Going outdoors? Committing crimes? This is scary! She clings to her console. "Let's just go! She said they would just let us go if we forget about this. C'moooooon."

Pixie groans and mutters, "Knock it off, whiner."

Crush is still blinded. And her outfit is most likely torn a little. Ohhh, it had better not be. There'll be hell to pay. "Fine," she snaps.

"Really?" Wallflower asks, wide-eyed and relieved.

"Really?" Jawbreaker comments with deflated irritation. Pixie decides not to comment, and just looks bored and ready to be elsewhere.

"Girls, pack up. We're going for a spa day," Crush announces.

Matt looks around at the other Heroes..and says the same thing as the 4 ladies, "Really??" His hands were on fire, ready to burn some designer clothes off...

Raven nods, "Really."

Inclining her head, Gail just shrugs and gestures.. as she does so, the sky clears up, the rain stops. "Looks like the clouds are parting just for you." she says towards Wallflower. That said, she drifts over and lands on the edge of the skylight, wind whipping down briefly to help dry out her outfit a bit.

Matt says without looking over, still on the defensive, "Wallflower, I know a girl a lot like you. You can do better than these bullies, these users, its just a choice. That girl, she's got friends, and people who care about her, and back her, even when the shick hits the fan. You need to make your choice. You don't need them. They need you."

Jawbreaker shoots another warning glare at Matt. "She's just a friend," she mutters finally in response to the crush comments he made. Perhaps what he said hit too close to home for the tomboy. Jawbreaker heads for the storefront as Crush's servants escort her out, then Jawbreaker takes over the escort for the rest of the way to the platform. They hope on and join Wallflower and Pixie there.

Pixie snorts at Matt's comments. "Don't be talking to our midge like that. Sure, we tease her, buts he's one of us."

Wallflower's eyes grow wide in surprise as she looks at Pixie. "That's the first time Pixie's said something nice about...anyone. Awww, you really mean it??"

Pixie shrugs. "Sure I mean it. Don't let it get to your head."

Wallflower beams and pats the console of her platform. "C'mon, Boy Toy. Time to go home!"

The platform's console glows in timing with its audio-speech as it buzzes, "Yes, Mistress. Plotting a course now." The platform rises up through the skylight and rockets off with the wannabe vils.

Annie hmphs. So now they're letting them go? No harm, no foul? "You're totes lucky she's all dozey today," she lets the Crush crew know. Her tentacles retract and absorb back into herself. Matt says after the platform. "Make your choice!"

Once the teen vils depart, the two clerks suddenly shake their heads and come out of whatever spell befell them. They wander off into the store to go back on shift and explain all this to their manager.

Any other day, Gail would follow them at a distance... but today, she's just.. wet... well damp. And lacking a mask. So she just sits down up there, hoping everyone goes away eventually. But.. she does have that raw divine magical aura that might stand out just a wee bit to those like Raven.

Matt lands next to Annie. "I'm with you on this one..." he says as the fires leave his hands, nothing smouldering nothing burnt, sometimes elemental magic rocks...well, in this last case crystalizes..

Matt asks anyone..Raven or Annie, "Who was the lightning thrower?"

Raven shakes her head, "A friend I'd guess. I didn't see her clearly." she says, then after a pause, "I hope it wasn't presumptous of me to say they could go. They were just our age. I recognised a couple from my time at Bayside. It's too soon in their lives to ruin their futures by making a bad mistake. So I thought we could give them a second chance. Just the one. Because if there's a next time we'll finish what we started. I hope they'll see sense. Because you all were handling them easily."

Annie shrugs at Matt. "No idea, but I wasn't exactly looking."

Matt nods slowly to Raven.."I understand..but the 3 had no remorse...obviously the brick is just a follower, but Crush..and Pixie..they will be career criminals. I can feel it in my bones."

She wants to meet other kids with powers, but Gail doesn't want the whole ID thing ruined. So... she slips back towards the store and sneaks inside, grabbing her credit card and receipt. Then her backpack where she has her normal costume but... she just takes out her little paste-on domino mask. In a comic universe, that will work. So she smirks and puts it on as she heads back for the rooftop via a roundabout path.. and then she drifts back in through the hole .. landing gently as she gestures up at said hole, "So, letting them go.. after that much damage... we are sure it was a good idea?"

Raven says, "I wouldn't bet against your judgement, Matt. All we can do is give them a chance. Whether they take it or not is up to them... Matt, you concentrated on the girl they called Crush although all she seemed to do was be distracting the sales staff. What did you see that I didn't?" Matt see's the girl from before finally come down. "I have my doubts..but you have to back your brother's play..or in this case, your sister's play..uh..not that we're related or anything." he just decides to shut up..

Matt blinks to Raven.."She's a mentalist...she was controlling those two guys. Its was totes like the way the queen of the undermoon has power over men. She's the dangerous one. At least to me."

"Those guys were also placing themselves between her and any potential attacker." offers Gail. She looks to Matt and nods slowly. "I get that, but.. I just hope the insurance rates don't go stupid on'em." she says with a gesture to the skylight. "At least I can make sure it won't rain here until they get it fixed."

Raven turns to look at Tempest, and then double takes. "Oh, hi, and thanks for the help. You're the lightning thrower aren't you? To be honest, I don't know. I fear Matt is right and we'll see them again. But if even one of them takes the second chance instead of going down the vil track I think it will be worth it."

Matt nods, "The giant crystal should make the shop some money..by the way, My name is Matt, Thanks for the back up there."

"I do think that the computer one might be reachable. Even if she accompanies them in the future, we should be sure to show her kindness and make sure she gets a good view of -how- horrible her other 'friends' are." She looks to Matt and raises a brow, "Not every crystal is valuable. And are you talking before or after they deal with the crushed furniture?"

"Oh... and you can call me Tempest." adds Gail.

"Raven." says Raven, introducing herself.

Matt points at the giant crystal, "Quartz, not worth a ton, but that is big enough to be worth something. Tempest, cool name."

"Well, I seem to have an affinity for the weather. It seemed an appropriate name to use." offers Gail-Tempest. "Raven. And.." she looks over to Matt, "Matt. . . quite a dramatic hero name you've selected there."

Matt chuckles and shrugs.."I actually have a big hero name to live up to...My father was Matthew Regent, some called him the Regent, some called him Exodus. I'm not a hero any way. I'm just a guy with some powers..."

"I never really followed all the super duper news stuff till my own abilities surfaced." offers Gail. She shrugs, "I kinda focused on school and such." She shakes her head with a bit of an apologetic grin, "Sorry?"

Matt shrugs again, not hurt, "He disappeared about 5 years ago..don't worry about it...long story. Thanks again, I hope we see more of you? Can never have too many allies." he says with a smile.

Inclining her head, Gail snickers then and adds, "Five years ago, I just started middle school. I barely remember any of my teachers from then so, don't feel bad. But... maybe you should call yourself like... Crystalline, or Lattice..." she offers.

Matt grins and shakes his head, "Matt will do for now. We'll see though. I lean towards Exodus..if necessary."

Smirking, Gail asks, "Exodii? Plural version?" she asks. "What does that even refer to for your abilities y'know?" She shrugs and gestures skyward.

Matt grins, "Too long a story. More of a legacy you know?" he seems ok with who he is, "Anyway..since this seems sussed out, and there were plenty of witnesses, and since the cops have all my information, I have some clothes to buy. I better get to it." he smiles with a nod to Tempest, "Good to meet you Tempest." he looks at Raven, "I'll see you later, hit me up when you have the chance." and waits for forthcoming goodbyes before heading away.

"I mean, why not just go by Junior then? I mean, your dad was Matt Regent. You're Matt Regent. So... if he used the name Exodus, why are you going the same route. I mean, it seems a bit redundant, doesn't it?" asks Gail before she blushes and stammers, "Er, I mean, please don't take that personally."

Matt shakes his head, pausing before he leaves, "My father was a great man. He did things for not only this realm but for the peoples of many realms. If there is redundancy, then perhaps this would could use more redundancy. I get where you're coming from, but I am very much my father in some ways, and I have a legacy to fulfill." then he smiles proudly, "It is a legacy that I embrace, and one I will hopefully be able to properly honor."

"Okay... I just thought.. most folks want to make their own mark and not live in the shadow of a parent." Of course, the irony is that Gail has no idea who -her- father is... oh well. "But, I'll be around. You be well Mister Regent." And that said, she lifts towards the skylight slowly, accelerating slowly.

Matt watches her leave, give's Raven's hand a squeeze, then walks off towards the stores he was looking to head to originally before all of this took place.