Snippet #2675631

Shortly after Minori walked off to stand back with Cedric, Maric resumed talking. It probably said something in regards to Gatewatchers hiring policy that hearing a nine year old voice talking about espionage didn't sound out of place to her, but she didn't take an active interest in paying attention until Project Icarus was mentioned. A project to go through a gateway and explore the other side. A project that practically had Minori drooling at the mere thought.

The only downside so far was that Maric might be involved. She pondered for a moment how difficult learning spatial magic might be considering her grasp on phyics was probably far stronger than hat of the twenty six year old toddler. When the question came up for whether or not Minori was in, she nodded, but pointed a finger at Maric.

"I'm in, but only under the conditions that he stays on the other side of the gateway, or is placed with a seperate exploration team than myself. I refuse to have such a monumental moment spent babysitting, or feeling someone's gaze on my ass the whole time. I actually have a few candidates in mind for an exploration team from the science division, if you'd like me to send a list for your approval. One of which being Aldred... we could use someone who's magic is inwardly focused since we have no idea how mana will be affected by being inside of a gateway..." Minori mused, though snapped her fingers and smiled as an idea hit her.

"I'd also like for Sillo to be at the testing grounds. Not for the exploration team, but to teleport nearby. I have a suspicion this hub may be the dimension he teleports through when he uses his powers. Anyone else I'll trust to your discretion, mam" Minori said, looking over her shoulder as she noticed the bartender arriving with a replacement of her order. She smiled contently as she sat at a booth that wasn't covered in glass, and happily resumed her meal. It was clear that she could care less now about what happened unless more information about the project was provided.

"There are plenty of RaMESSES agents that will be just as good for the job." Cedric piped up, "I'm not working with him. No offense Maric, but you offend me just by being near me." it was clear he wasn't interested in being convinced as he turned his back to the conversation and leaned on the bar with his drink. "Besides, there's no such thing as a perfect bridge. Come talk to me if you actually get Zane, I won't hold my breath."

His phone began to vibrate as a message came through. Pulling it out he read through the details quickly, recognizing the origin point as the museum the others had encountered Rose in. "Minori, did they let a Tyrannosaurus Rex lose at the museum?" he cast a raised eyebrow at her, "You don't already have one of those in your personal petting zoo do you?"

Minori raised her head as she thought, chicken tender hanging unceremoniously from her teeth.

"I went through the Japanese exhibit so I can't say for sure, but that does sound like something we'd do. We barely made it out alive, no way in hell we were doing a perimeter sweep before going back to base," she said, punctuating her sentence by tilting her head back and devouring the tender.

"Well, as much fun as it has been having my private life interrupted, duty calls." he wagged his phone in the air before slipping it back in his pocket, "Want to tag along Minori? I'll even do my best not to annihilate it so you can add it to your collection." He nodded at Artemis as he passed, ignoring Maric completely as he pushed the front door open. Next to Minori's car now sat a low, sleak, black AMG GT, which only served to highlight the fact that not that long ago Minori had had one of the richest people in the world driving her around in her little car. "So your car or mine?" Cedric asked with a hint of a grin crossing his face, walking out on a regional council member had put him in a good mood. "We'll need to head to Alleytown, someone there should be able to give us a lead on where to start looking."

"Alright... though I do have a bit of business to attend to if you wouldn't mind. I'm a bit nervous about it and could use a friend... though you'll do," she joked, though the humor was to hide the nerves shaking her voice. Whatever it was she needed to do in Alleytown, it definitely had her worked up.

Looking from her own humble Mazda to the vehicle beside it that was worth a decade's salary for her, she couldn't hide a slight grin.

"Well, you did drive my car here. Only fair..." She said, holding out her hand to accept the keys, to which Cedric shrugged and opened the drivers door, which unlocked as his hand touched it. "This one doesn't use that kind of key." He smiled and motioned for her to take a seat. "You also can't ruin the seating, it remembers."

-=-

The hustle and bustle of Alleytown was both foreign and welcome to Minori. On every corner was a different aspect of mana, either being studied, taught, or sold outright. Minori giddily pointed out the different spells and disciplines to Cedric as they traveled through the neighborhood,

"Oh! Cedric look!" Minori cried, slapping Cedric's shoulder as she pointed off to a woman dancing on a street corner, water gracefully snaking through the air around her in time to the music playing from the guitarist off to the side. During a particularly dramatic sting, the water exploded into mist arund her, concealing her form in the mana laced vapor, only to shift just so and produce a rainbow around the dancer as she bowed.

"Do you have any idea the technicality of those spells?! The physics she is managing to calculate and manipulate at will, and in time to music no less. Why just the feat of producing that rainbow would take umerous calculations... and exact knowledge of the vapor density required to reflect the light, the positioning of the sun, the shape of the vapor... and did you see the control of those spells? I just... ugh! No one in Gatewatchers thinks of mana being used like this. It's all about combat application and secrecy..." Minori said, voice shifting from that of a giddy schoolgirl to an uncharacteristic melancholy in a matter of seconds.

"Without culture such as this, mana is merely a weapon, and Gatewatchers is filled with child soldiers. If not for the budget for my research... Cedric, why do you stay with the organization?"

"Convenience I suppose. Certainly not the paycheck. I suppose it's got some perks, access to some good mana researchers for one thing. I only came on because I hoped someone could help with the mana reaction, I guess I stay because it's something to do. Cedric Valentine, action hero..." He smiled, "Or overly qualified animal control officer, which ever way you want to look at it." Minori was right though, the organization was all business, all about efficiency and execution. They didn't take time to step back and marvel at what could be done. "You know she's probably not doing any of those calculations." he commented as he nodded towards the dancer, "She's on the opposite end of that spectrum, if anything she just knows, deep down, how to do it. She might know it if you asked, but she's not thinking about it. That's what the organization is missing, they think to much." He cast a glance at the researcher, adding "But in a bad way, not in a productive way."

Minori gave a thoughtful nod, but smiled as she returned her gaze back to the road.

"True, she's probably not, but that's what makes it an art and not a science. A healthy appreciation of the one is necessary to do the other, I think, but I have to come here to see any art. I sneak here on lunch breaks to just watch, sometimes. I've frozen time to study feats like her dance on more than one occassion. The performers being cute certainly helps," Minori said, her grin shifting to a smirk.

The wonder of Alleytown could be captivating, but it also came with dark shadowy bits. The black market dealers, the less than trustworthy magical 'problem solvers', the types of people that normal people generally avoided. "What was it that you had to get? I've got to find some folks who tend to dislike being questioned, so it might get a little hairy, if you're looking to shop around we should do that first."

Finding an empty parking spot outside of an Irish pub boasting 'Magically Delicious' food, Minori took great care to park Cedric's ride before considering his query.

"Well, it's actually to get a tattoo. A magic square made of mana infused ink, like the old runes you find in museums. It should streamline my mana a bit for when the enemy comes around for round two... but I've never gotten a tattoo before. I don't suppose you'd be willing to pencil that in to your investigation time?" she asked innocently, though if Cedric looked past her, he would notice the bright neon lights advertising the tattoo parlor the researcher apparently had in mind.

"By all means, the black market won't be going anywhere any time soon. They don't know I'm coming yet." Cedric nodded as he saw the lights, "Don't ask for advice though, never got a tattoo. Who knows, might see something I like."

Cedric's response was a sigh of relief to Minori as she opened the door to the car and stepped outside, inhaling deeply as she felt the air of the mana around her. Not ten feet from where she had parked, a man was using mana to hold a bucket of molding clay in the air beside him, dabbing globs of the stuff into the space before him, starting his sculpture from the top. Behind him, a group of teenagers were using mana to recreate a scene from a tv show.

"I AM MELON LORD!" one cried, throwing flaming canteloues at her friends as they laughed and dodged the hostile produce. A nine year old near by was playing hopskotch, her set of hopskotch squares snaking along the sidewalk and up the side of a building.

"There's a beauty and simplicity to this place. I think after Project Icarus I might take a leave of absence for a month or so and just hang out here. I could learn so much... I could open a pet shop," Minori said, smiling as she looked back over at Cedric, but quickly regained her focus. She could play tourist once they had finished with their business here. Work to be done, and all.

The tattoo parlor lacked a creative name, the sign merely reading 'Tattoos', but examples of the artwork the artist within had done were moving, the animals acting like animals within the confines of their pages, the faces of people watching with a smile as people walked by, some even giving people directions after being asked. The only sign that didn't move or have a living entity within it was one that hung on the door, which simply read, 'No tribal tattoos. Violators will be prosecuted'

Minori regarded the sign for a moment, and nearly jumped when one of the faces lining the wall beside her looked over and began to speak.

"Vera got tired of drunk frat boys coming in wanting barbed wire and random designs they could get out of a gumball machine," The face, an elderly woman's face, politely explained. "First time, dear?"

"Yes... a little nervous, but I brought a friend so I think I'll be fine," Minori said, patting Cedric once on the shoulder. The old woman's face smiled warmly at the duo before the door gently swung open for them. Minori bowed her head and returned the smile in thanks before pressing inside.

"She's not going to be happy to see you boy." the warm smile turned into what could only be explained as an old ladies polite scowl, the kind that only old ladies were truly capable of that showed a particular level of distaste no other single look could show. "It was one time." Cedric said waving off the comment as he followed Minori into the parlor.

A bell overhead rang out, a gentle ring in the otherwise quiet parlor. A woman stood behind the counter, drawing on a sketchpad before looking up to see who her new client might be.

"Welcome! Be forewarned, if you get a dolphin on your ankle, it WILL need water every day," she started, though stopped and looked Cedric over, recognition taking over her facial features. She didn't seem particularly enthused to see him.

"Cedric Valentine... Of course you'd walk in today. This isn't a Watcher shake-down, is it?" Vera asked, crossing her arms and scowling at the man. "Because my permits are air tight, and so is Felix's, so you can shove whatever warrant right back up your ass."

"Nice to see you too Vera. Calm down, unless you've tattooed a large extinct reptile recently I'm not interested in your permits. And for the record, that suspects 'pet' killed a kid." Cedric responded with a mix of his general polite nature over a much darker tone, like an animal who isn't interested in a fight but still needs to send a reminder of who's who, just enough to ruffle feathers.

"Actually... I'm here to get a tattoo..." Minori interjected, timidly stepping between Vera and Cedric, the former reluctantly taking her eyes off of the man. Vera studied her customer for a moment as Minori dug out her phone, moving to stand beside of Vera to show her the picture of the artwork she wanted. Vera looked down at the screen but occassionally looked up to scowl at Cedric, though once she realized what it was Minori was wanting her eyes lit up.

"Magic square, huh? That's, what, one of Abramelins?" Vera asked, snapping her fingers three times as her sketchpad lazily lifted off of the counter and floated to her waiting hand, the artist immediately sketching out the design.

"So where we putting this bad boy? Shoulder? Thigh? Lower back? I love making tramp stamps out of ancient mystical runes. Highlights of my fucking day," Vera said, slapping Minori on the back and nearly causing the researcher to drop her phone.

"I was thinking of putting it on my back, actually. About the size of your sketch, but I need you to use your best ink for it. I plan to use it as a focus."

"Understood. I take half up front, and half when the job is done. For simple line work like this, I usually only charge about fifty bucks, seventy five for the scale. For the ink you're wanting, it's going to cost 275 for the whole thing. I only accept cash, and I only accept cash from hat ATM in the corner over there," Vera said, pointing to the machine positioned off in the corner behind the duo, in a place where Vera could see it from her counter at all times. "You wouldn't believe the problems with counterfeiting we have here. Not that some dick holes need an excuse to barge in and demand shit," Vera added, scowling at Cedric again, who waved a couple of fingers at her and shot a raised eyebrow across the room "Who, me?"

Minori withdrew the full sum of the estimate from the atm, wincing at the dip in her balance, but decided that living would be quite worth the cost, and handed Vera te first payment, which the artist took with a wide grin.

"Alright, chair is over here," Vera began, sweeping her arm off to the side room where her actual tattooing set up was located. "Going to need your bra out of the way, and your shirt off of your back so I can work. I'm not sacrificing quality just because a strap kept getting in the way, and for almost three hundred bucks I doubt you want that either."

Without a second thought, Minori reached up the back of her loose fitting white shirt, fidgeting for a moment before she began to follow Vera to the chair, which the artist was repositioning so that Minori could sit comfortably on her stomach while she worked. By the time Minori got to the chair, her bra was in her hand and her shirt was pulled over her head, though she kept her arms in her sleeves, using the shirt itself to cover her chest, and Cedric had found himself interested in a number of sketches on the counter. He had been caught off guard by the general lack of concern for his presence, though Minori didn't actually look at him until she knelt into the seat and crossed her arms on the headrest. Even then, the look was not one of modesty but one of anxiety, the researcher's gaze shifting between her friend and that of the needle Vera was preparing.

Once everything was set up, Vera excused herself just long enough to dig in what Minori assumed was her supply closet before returning with a dark blue ink, though the ink glowed so long as Vera made physical contact with it.

"This color fine with you?" Vera asked, and Minori gave a solemn nod as Vera grabbed her needle and made the final preperations. The researcher cast a nervous glance at Cedric as Vera rubbed a cleaning solution on Minori's back, squeezing the headrest tightly.

"Now this is going to sting, but the line work isn't the bit that really hurts, okay? I'm not going to be staying in one spot for very long so t won't have much time to make the skin raw. That said, if you need me to stop just speak up, okay? I'm just going to make the square, and then the letters, and at most I might go over everything twice to make sure enough of this ink gets in to get the job done. We're talking forty five minutes if I take my time, okay?" Vera said softly, her rough voice actually quite soothing when she wanted it to be. Minori nodded, body gently shaking as she glanced back over at Cedric, holding out a hand expectently for him to hold.

Cedric paused for a moment, smiled at the irony, and walked over to extend a hand. "See Vera, I'm a big ole teddy bear once you get to know me." the artist gave an indignant snort in reply.

"I'm scared of needles..." She said softly in explanation, though Vera only waited a few seconds for Cedric to move before she got to work. The pain made Minori jump at first, but she settled once the initial shock was over, squeezing the headrest tight enough that it might have bruised a person, her grip on Cedric's hand a similar vice. Vera hummed quietly to herself as she worked, carefully making the initial square which would encompass the rest of the tattoo, making sure to go over each line two or three times to enforce the mana being stabbed into the girl's skin, as well as make sure the lines were nice and solid. After that came the lines for the grid, which weren't as thick but still required an additional pass before Vera was satisfied.

"Okay... I'm ready to start the lettering. Halfway there, kid. Going over them twice each to make sure they're nice and bold and powerful, okay? You're doing fine," Vera said, her voice almost warm as she looked back to her sketch for reference. This would be the part where the actual spell would come in, and a mistake from Vera would undo everything her client wanted.

As Vera resumed her work, Minori looked back over at Cedric, obviously trying really hard to keep her tears internal, but was only mostly succeeding.

"You said you were interested in a familiar? What sort of creature did you have in mind?" She asked, wanting something to take her mind off of the pain on her back.

"Oh, I hadn't really thought that much about it. Obviously something that has a natural mana tendency, probably something brooding and spiky, like Vera," he shot a glance at Vera whos eyes narrowed, though she never skipped a beat in her work. "So you get to do what you want with gateway creatures while you hassle everyone else over them?" she growled.

"Yeah, pretty much. Perks of the job. I suppose that's another reason I stick around." he turned his attention back to Minori, referencing her question from before, "Anyway, there are any number of possible creatures, like I said, it's really a matter of getting one powerful enough to be worth it but not so powerful that I couldn't subdue it fully."

"Alright.. last pass and then we're done. The ink should react to your will when you focus with it, and if it doesn't I know some tricks to fix it up, which I can do free of charge if youcome back in the next week, okay? I also sell the stuff to clean this, but you don't need anything mana specific if you aren't local and can't mae the trip back whenever. Got a few touch ups to make, but ou'll be all done in about five minutes, alright?" Vera said, the warmth in her voice replaced with some pep as the worst of the ordeal was over for her client.

When all was said in done, Minori stood at the counter, properly dressed once again, but was still shaking like a leaf from the experence. Vera seemed t be amused, albeit sympathetic, as she accepted the rest of the payment for her work.

With the transaction complete, Vera put the money in her till before glancing over at Cedric, her scowl prominent once again.

"I don't suppose you came in here to do anything besdes loiter," she spat, punctuating her sentence by slamming her register drawer closed, never breaking eye contact with the man.

"Like I said, perks of the job." Cedric tipped his hat slightly and flashed a sarcastically polite grin, "You stay out of trouble now Vera, wouldn't want that old lady out front to have to remember any more unpleasant visits."

"You leave my grandma out of this you piece of shit," Vera snarled, electricity crackling in the air around her head. Minori, sensing conflict was inevitable, thanked Vera for her work, and grabbed Cedric by the arm as she made a run for the door.

She was now as ready as she was probably ever going to be for her next fight with Rose.