2014-11-04 - A Magickal Tale Begins

The time? A day or so before Halloween. The reason? Clothing. Because seriously, someone in the group has a serious attachment to her sewing machine. And Halloween is coming, so Nico Minoru has gone absulutely berserk with plans. So. With a major set of costumes on her plate, she has draaaagged Richenda out to a place where things get bought for that kind of event.

YARN BARN!

No seriously, Nico is in yarn barn looking at all the things. She's carrying around a basket with like ten types of black, some glow in the dark varieties, and so much purple! "My most, wonderful time...of the year...." she sings, in christmas carol tune.

It was something of a drag, too: Several thousand miles west of Chenda's most recent address! Fortunately, she had a friend she could call: Kara Zor-El. Needing to visit a friend gets a lot easier when a mutual friend also wants to see her, and easier yet when said mutual friend can fly. So one long, chilly trip later, two very different girls are venturing into the depths of Yarn Barn, just in time to hear Nico's delightful singing voice. Chenda can't help but giggle, trying to adjust her wind-mussed clothing. "Is trick-or-treat time /that/ important to you, Nico-chan?" she teases gently.

Kara Zor-El waves to one of the salespeople as she looks around in the Yarn Barn. They don't actually seem that surprised about Supergirl, in costume, in their store. She's there a lot. Kara has a thing for sewing - because Kara is boring.

When she's not saving the world or whatever.

She looks over at Richenda as she's introduced to Nico. "Are you both sewing your own costumes for Halloween too? I love this holiday. I mean last year it was sort of ... meh.... because I had to get called away to fight vampires in London, but the rest of the night was great." She waves at Nico. "Hi there. Kara."

Nico eyes Kara, still not really sure if the girl is actually Supergirl or if she's just got a serious jones for high level antipsychotic medications. She hums amusedly, changing to 'take me out to the ball game' for some reason and leans to one-arm hug Richenda.

"I am a sewing MONSTER. But this is for knitting, I'm doing all Harry Potter and I neeeeed the scarf and I think I can have it done in time. Got the rest of the outfit set and of course I make it myself. Harumph." The Harumph is noticeably overacted, oh drama, oh the drama.

Nico mumbles 'take me out to the yarn barn' as she reaches into a bin for a treasure, hoping to find some godawful orange if possible, as she's bumped from behind by another shopper and kind of overbalances and falls into the bin.

One of the supervisors comes over to Kara. "Hi Ms. Zor-El, we got that order in of the waffle weaves for you, but it's on the truck and some of our back workers were out sick today so it might take a little while."

Kara smiles. "Thanks Linda. Want me to help with the unloading or something?"

"Oh no no, I was just saying it might take a while to get your order out and-"

Kara: "No really, it's fine." She pauses and looks over at Richenda and Nico. "Be right back."

There's a blur and she's gone, for about 20 seconds. Then she's back. "Done Linda! I saw you had looms too while I was unpacking, do I need to pre-order those too or could I buy one of the ones in the back?"

Linda smiles. "Thank you! Tell you what - the ones in the back are already reserved but I'll make another order for you and give you 10 percent off."

Chenda smiles at Kara. "My costume's made. But it never hurts to be prepared for next year, and Christmas. This is the perfect place for that. Funny, I would've thought London would be the place for werewolves," she adds teasingly, recalling one of her favorite classic rock tunes. A-hoo.

Making little headway in the midst of conversation, she pauses to answer her friend. "A whole scarf in two days? Wow... you're good!"

Which leaves her close, but not close enough, when Nico suddenly takes a yarn-dive. "Hey! Thanks a lot, jerk!" she snaps at the klutzy shopper, moving to try and rescue the Goth girl. She grabs two handfuls of belt and pulls. "Nico! Can you breathe?"

Kara Zor-El looks back at where her friends were 20 seconds ago. Instead she sees two feet sticking out of a pile of yarn, with Richenda pulling on a belt. Kara pauses and watches. "Um.... whatcha doin?"

Coming up for air, Nico refuses to let her spirits be dampened. She comes up victorious, with a ball of orange in her fist and Richenda's hand helping pull her to safety. Not that there's a lot of danger of drowning in a yarn bin but the thought is awesome anyway.

"For the win!" she exclaims, extending her hands to her friends to help her out again. "Who hit me anyway? Not sure I can climb out in this skirt without flashing panty."

There is a person nearby, the one who nudged Nico. Boy, about ten or so years of age and wearing all black. He looks bored and is proceeding to walk away into the crowd.

"Just going extended deep-yarn diving, Kara." Chenda takes Nico's hand to draw her out of the bin. "Climb out /out/ of the skirt?" she suggests teasingly. "I didn't get a good look, but Mister Rudeness looked just as goth as you, and small," she replies. "He couldn't have gotten far..." She glances over her shoulder, trying to look around, and sees him. "Hey, that's the guy!"

Kara Zor-El rubs her head a bit, watching this. "Well at least you didnt lose your pants for a change, Chenda." She looks around. "That's what guy?"

Nico Minoru waves off Linda the helpful store worker as she gets out of the bin. "Not my fault!" she says, blushing a bit. "No seriously, I don't want to get banned from here. I got bumped and knocked into the bin, Kara. Didn't see who."

Linda, still a big grin on her face from the help Kara gave, seems in a forgiving mood and says, "You're with Kara? Don't worry too much, just don't bend the bin? Do you need help?" Nice lady.

Nico says, "I am NOT taking off my skirt to climb out of here, Chenda. You perv."

Kara Zor-El continues to watch the situation. "Er... want me to help get you out of there?" She looks around. "Pretty sure we don't need a manhunt for who knocked you in there. I mean it's not like he knocked you into lava. It's yarn. Oooh...." She reaches in to take out two shades of green yarn. "Have a friend I'm making a sweater for. He's into green."

"I /did/ see who," Chenda says, blushing a little at Kara's mention of her wardrobe curse, and Nico's sudden lack of a sense of humor. She moves to intercept him. "'Scuse me, kid? Do you normally go around crafts stores shoving random girls?"

The boy looks at Richenda as if amused that she'd get in his way. He has a CAT. In the store. He's petting it. "Oh look, someone who desperately needs some fashion advice," he says to his cat. Doesn't respond to Richenda, though he does look at her in an arrogant, and highly amused fashion.

Nico says, "I was holding out my hands for help getting out," not entirely sure if she is out or not, but willing to work with the pose either way. (Richenda posed drawing Nico out already but I missed it, my fault entirely.) However as Nico is removed from the bin by either of her friends her stocking catches on the footing of the bin and she has to bend over to free it. "One second."

"Says the kid who looks like somebody's hearse drapes decided to come to life and give him the boa constrictor treatment?" Chenda ripostes. "I'd suggest an apology to my friend, who you pushed into a yarn bin back that way. Seriously, even your cat has better manners than that."

"Aww, it's talking to me," the kid says to his cat, still treating Richenda like a non-entity. Looking around her, the boy spots Nico and Kara and says, "Considering what I could be doing to the three of them." He looks up at Kara and says, "Gather your pet female before I have to put it down," to them, then grins. "Or spay it."

Kara Zor-El walks over to Richenda and the kid with the cat. "You know, you don't have to be so rude. Cmon Chenda. He's a kid. A really rude kid. Par for the course." She takes her hand. "Lets go fish Nico out of the yarn bin."

"Hey, he pushed..." Chenda sighs, seeing Kara's firm gaze. "You're right. He's emphatically not worth getting this upset about. Nico's a lot more important." She moves to rejoin Nico at the yarn bin, offering her hands. "Let's get you out of there, Nico-chan. I can only imagine the static electricy at this point."

Nico cuts her ankle on the footing of the bin getting her stocking free, having already been helped out of the bin. Not much, but it's enough, and Klarion's eyes widen as he sees the Staff of One emerge while Kara and Richenda are dealing with him. "Oh," he says, his grin widening. "Oh really. Well then. Isn't that interesting."

"...staff of One emerge," Nico finishes, then uses the staff to hold herself up. Some cursing ensues, as her good mood vanishes.

"Hey, he pushed..." Chenda sighs, seeing Kara's firm gaze. "You're right. He's emphatically not worth getting this upset about. Nico's a lot more important." She offers Kara a wry half-smile as she steps casually around The Brat In Black. She doesn't offer him an apology, though.

And then she sees Nico, already out of the yarn bin, holding a staff she's never seen before. "I didn't think the store sold those," she murmurs in surprise. And the words of The Brat In Black suddenly send icicles down her spine. This kid was just creepy before. Now she's not sure he's not some kind of monster in human form. And his little cat, too.

Nico looks at Kara and Richenda, holding a very distinctive staff. "What?" she asks, as if it's the most normal thing. "Never seen a witch before?" She's literally wearing a t-shirt that says WITCH across her boobs.

The child however, raises an eyebrow. He saw the blood activation, and he puts down his cat a moment, freeing his hands, and says, "Gotta get me one of those." That's the spell he casts, his hands glowing blue and circles of power appearing in front of his hands, hovering in the air like holograms.

Nico, looking annoyed, sees the spellcasting and says, "Kid!" in an attempt to warn, lifting her staff in both hands. And a bolt of light zaps out of the staff, hitting Klarion's circles and rebounding back into the three girls, knocking them out.

Kara is the first to wake, barely a second later. She's not even had time to fall to the ground, but she did lose consciousness for a moment. Klarion is wandering over, looking a lot taller than a moment ago, and he has this huge grin. "Oh. This will do," he says, chuckling to himself as the other two girls start to wake up as well.

Kara Zor-El sits up. "Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" She rubs her head. "What happened?" She pauses. Then gets up to her feet. Things seem a lot bigger. Weird. "Something hit us?" She looks over at Linda who's looking wide-eyed. "What?" She feels at her face. "Do I have something on my face?"

When did Linda get a foot taller than her?

Startled at the sudden flash of light, Chenda had taken an involunary step back... a step she never finished, struck down by the bolt of light. The world goes dark!

It's a second before she begins to come around. "Did someone get the license number of that... truck?" she murmurs, wincing and rubbing her head as she sits up. "I think I saw headlights..."

Then, seeing the look on Linda's face, she blinks. "Are you okay, miss?" she asks, beginning to get up. And then she sees The Brat In Black. Funny, she doesn't remember him being this tall before. "What'll do? What are you talking about?" she demands.

Wait... her voice wasn't this high before. What just /happened/? "Kara? Nico? Something's wrong!"

Nico seems to be a japanese schoolgirl sprawled unconscious on the floor. Her face looks kind of silly in the goth makeup she was wearing. She kicks her legs once, not even awake yet, and tags Teekl as the cat is inspecting the damage done.

Klarion scoops up his 'pet' in his arms, then says, "Well if you're going to be like THAT..." and zaps her once more. There seems to be no actual effect but he did something.

Nico sits up suddenly, completely awake, and says, "I gotta pee!" as she stares straight ahead. Blinks. Pauses. "Wait, where am I?" She appears to be around 8-10 years old, like Kara and Richenda. And Yarn Barn may never be the same.

Kara Zor-El looks at the Nico and Richenda, then looks at the reflective surface of one of the columns in the Yarn Barn and sees a 9 year old girl looking back at her. "Aggh!" Like people didn't already treat her like a kid enough! "What happened! I'm a little kid! Rao I hate magic!" She spots the gothy kid and in a blur is by him to grab him. "What in Rao's name did you do? Who are you?"

shake shake shake

Kara was always so impulsive when she was growing up on Krypton.

Chenda, more focused on Nico, doesn't so much miss Kara's exclamation as not realize how important it is. She moves to the side of the girl wearing the out-of-place Goth makeup, kneeling and clasping her shoulders. "Nico! Are you all right? You seem..."

That's when Kara's words sink in, looking into Nico's too-young face. "Nico, you're a kid!" she exclaims, the knowledge sinking in like more ice water down her back. "Oh, fudge... /I'm/ a kid, too!" Even at that age, she was quick on the uptake.

But she was also kindhearted, and she moves to help Nico up. "Was it that kid? I think Kara has him..." The sounds coming from nearby clue her in. "Yup. Kara has him."

Shake shake shake

Klarion the Witch Boy is up against something he's not really ready to handle. Angry preteen kryptonian. "AaaaAAaaaAaaaa.." he says, trying to cast a spell. Trying to get a word in. Pretty much anything. His cat however takes the moment to protect him, leaping at Kara's face. With lots of sharp bits.

Nico closes her mouth, looking at the scene around her. She looks at Richenda, spotting Kara in the background, then herself in a mirror. And she starts to cry, the Staff of One sitting on the floor beside her.

Kara Zor-El is yelling at Klarion while shaking the heck outta him repeatedly, "I can't be a kid again I just got a boyfriend, Turnmebackturnmebackturnmebaaaack!" And she keeps shaking him until the cat leaps at her, and scratches her on the face with magic sharp claws.

"OW!" Kara yells before blowing at the cat with a burst of superbreath, sending it flying into a pile of pincushions - sans pins. But she does wind up dropping Klarion as a result. "You jerk! You little jerk! Turn us back or I'm gonna tell!"

Tell?

And they say teenagers are dramatic... but when you're a kid, things are pretty simple, and Important Things are IMPORTANT, RIGHT NOW!

To Chenda, Nico's the important thing. Kara seems to have The Brat In Black well in hand for the moment. So when her friend bursts into tears, she's quick to draw her into a hug. "Oh! Oh, Nico..." she whispers. "Don't cry! There's gotta be somethin' we can do about this. At least, I hope there is. I don't wanna hafta grow up all over again..." She's starting to feel tears in her own eyes at the thought.

Then Kara gets a faceful of angry cat. At that angry cry of pain, Chenda looks up and sees Kara blow it away, literally. But cats always land on their feet! She grabs up several skeins of yarn from a nearby bin. "I'll be right back!" she promises Nico, and moves to bury the naughty cat in yarn to keep it from attacking Kara again.

Not quite bawling, but definitely crying, Nico seems to be nearly useless at the moment. She gets hugged and hugs back quickly enough, but as Kara drops Klarion and Richenda moves to handle the cat, Nico looks down at the Staff of One. Looks, and inches slowly away from it. Kicks at it a few times to make it further from her. She looks like the thing scares her.

I'm guessing she wasn't a brave kid at nine years old.

Klarion the Witch Boy shakes off the supergirl shake as well as he can, and says, "You get some too," as he zaps Supergirl with that same beam he hit Nico with earlier. Nothing actually seems to happen, and it feels like being hit by a normal bullet to Kara. So, like nothing really, and she can ignore it.

Klarion calls out, "Teekl, let's go, these kids are dumb." And as Richenda starts to try and bury the cat? The cat looks out of the bin, looking a lot like a sabretooth tiger. Which it proves to actually BE as it springs out toward Klarion's open arms.

Kara Zor-El was a pretty brave (and exceedingly reckless) kid when she was 9. Doing stuff like reprogramming the family robot so she can sneak off with Thara to the fire cliffs to scale them without a harness, and then there was that attack by Brainiac's robots on Kandor a year later. Kara frowns when she gets shot with the harmless light and in a flash and flies at him to grab him again ... in order to resume shaking the heck out of him.

Chenda tosses the skeins into the bin. "Naughty thing! That oughtta..." Blink, blink. Those angry green eyes staring out at her shouldn't be /that/ big, should they? And then they move! Right at her!

Chenda squeals in terror and backpedals, tripping. Her backside meets the hard Yarn Barn floor for the second time today, and she almost bites her tongue. The smilodont named Teekl sails over her head to rejoin its master, big gnashy magic claws and fangs and all. "Whoa..." Chenda murmurs, blinking at it. "And I can't even have a /dog/..." The things you remember when you're suddenly 8 again.

The cat, or big cat, or gigantic cat, becomes a normal black cat again as it leaps into the kid's hands. Suddenly he pinches his right hand's index finger and thumb in a circle, and becomes ethereal just as Kara reaches him. His glowing form laughs, the cat's eyes glowing a demonic red, and the voice of the young male says, "And I didn't even have to do anything. Lusciously fun, eh Teekl? And to think we came for yarn." Then he vanishes.

Why? Why would a lord of chaos want yarn? Seriously?

On the floor, Nico starts to get to her feet, gulping away her crying fit a bit at a time, and looks at her friends. Standing up, she is apparently kind of short even for her age. Late bloomer. But she walks over to the Staff on the floor and bends over, picking it up. Even though it is WAY too tall and drags on the floor.

Kara Zor-El flies to grab Klarion, and instead gets a big handful of air as Klarion turns incorporeal then vanishes with his cat. "BOYS SUCK!" Kara yells, floating there. She then thinks. "Hey.... wait...." She flies over to the teary-eyed Nico and lands lightly on the ground. "You're a witch right? That's like... magic stuff too? Can you turn us back? Cause I have a boyfriend and he's supercute and if I'm a little kid, he won't want me to be his girlfriend anymore!"

Reasoning that's wrong on so many levels as to what's important and what's not. Not to mention she JUST said boys suck.

"Totally scary cat," Chenda murmurs, getting to her feet and rubbing her sore backside. "And the kid's just plain creepy."

She looks around, hearing Kara's cry, and the following entreaty to Nico. "Are you okay, Kara? Nico? I mean, I know you've been crying and all... not you, Kara. But your face is scratched and all. Maybe we should find a bathroom or something," says the talkative but oddly mature girl. Since they'd have water and paper towels. And Nico /did/ need to pee...

Kara Zor-El sighs a little and touches her face. "ow... I did get scratched up!" Her lip quivers.

Nico Minoru sniffles, looking up at Kara. Yes, up. She was short when she was her age. And apparently a bit shy. She looks at Kara, then whimpers and clenches her knees together a moment in the classic pose. Then, suddenly, she takes Richenda's advice and dashes past Linda, through the shoppers looking on, and into the little girls' room, the door slamming behind her!

Kara Zor-El flies off after Nico. "Wait for me, I need band-aids!"

Chenda blinks and looks after the two for a moment. "Hey, wait for me!" she yelps, dashing after them. Only to have the door slammed in her fact after Kara. "Or not, I guess..."

Nico Minoru comes out of the toilet shortly thereafter. It's very likely Kara came out first since Nico apparently had to pee, and to wipe her face, and then wash her face, and then try to make herself look normal, and then cry some more. She didn't get it all done, so she basically looks like she's not got makeup on. Which looks FINE, really. Someone tell her she looks fine so she'll stop looking so sad. She's not dragging the staff with her though, must have left it propped up on the toilet.

Kara Zor-El must have also forgotten that Kryptonians heal incredibly fast - probably because it's so rare that she actually gets hurt since she came to Earth. She took a band-aid out of the first aid kit in the bathroom to put on her cheek where she got scratched, even when it looked like the scratch was already almost healed up. Why?

It's a hello kitty bandaid. Why not.

Kara looks at li'l Nico. "Um.... I think you left your magic wand thingy in there." She sighs and takes the corner of her cape to dab Nico's eyes when it looks like she'll cry again. "It'll be okay...."

Kara had experience in babysitting. She babysat Kal alllllll the time, and he was such a little crybaby. Cause he was a baby.

Chenda, waiting nearby (but not /completely/ patiently, since she's tapping her foot in time to the catchy song she's humming), moves to meet them both when they come out. "Ooh. Cool band-aid, Kara. Did they have any more?" Hey, who really cares what's under a band-aid that cool? Li'l Kara's eyes are better than hers for the staff. But Chenda notices the lack of makeup right off. And the potential for more tears. She holds off 'til Kara's done dabbing, then smiles at Li'l Nico. "Your face looks lots better! I'm glad you're okay, Nico. Here, let's go get your staff. Don't want to leave that behind, not here." Somebody might borrow it for a winding-staff or something.

Nico Minoru says, "'s not there," and tries to stand up straight. Which still isn't very impressive. "Vanished into me, tha's what it does." She pokes herself in the chest with a finger tip, giving Kara a smile for the help. She seems to mature mentally, just a little, as she wipes her nose with her arm. "The staff vanishes if I don't use it, got to cut myself to make it come out again. It's blood magic." She tries to look stern and defiant and fierce and soooo cute because it just doesn't work from someone that short.

Linda and a couple of the salesworkers come over hesitantly, Linda saying, "Kara? That IS you isn't it? Is there anything we can do?" She motions to the group, all friends. Even if they are mildly out of their depth here, with three super-powered and bewildered children in place of the clients they had a moment before.