Super Heroing 101 (Nadia)

It had been a relatively peaceful day, after Callie had talked to Gabe she'd head off towards her little hidden place in East Eden and spent pretty much the entire day there. It was a nice break from the city, it was quiet and peaceful and all round an excellent place to think. There was a lot to think about, but for some reason Callie couldn't get the worry about how Gabe was talking earlier out of her head. There was clearly something up, she had no idea what but she felt bad that she couldn't help out in anyway. On top of that, that group he'd mentioned, the Platinum Playhouse or something like that, the way he talked about them made them sound like true undercover superheroes. It was super exciting to think people like that actually existed.

These kinds of thoughts played on the young girls mind the entire time she was walking back home, she'd thought to herself right from the time she awakened to Terra with 8D and Zavie that they were like a small group of super heroes out to stop demons. Though in reality, they had only done very little. It had become very late, despite her best efforts to not stay out too long, it seemed her daydreams had lasted way longer than she had originally thought. Though she was close now, it felt that way at least. As the ideas of what kind of secret place these super heroes had themselves came to mind, Callie would step inside to what she thought was home, but upon breaking out of her deep thought and looking around wasn't even close.

To describe what the girl saw would be to describe a comically over the top hero lair you'd see in some silly kids cartoon, there was monitors displaying what seemed like gibberish information, many flashing buttons on consoles and in the center the seating area the group of super heroes would conduct their next plan of action to save the town. Callie merely stood motionless, unable to process what she was seeing to know how to appropriately react. Fortunately for her, Terra was given a real strange feeling about this place and chose to adopt Callie into her alternate appearance, changing her hair, clothes and eye colour just in case anyone was to see her in here when she wasn't meant to be, not that Callie even noticed for now. All she could do was take an awe stricken step forward and declare.

Nadia didn't always enter the Playhouse from the front. Espeically since she'd started watching some of the anime on the Funtindo's "Luhu" streaming service, she'd tried to adopt a few more dramatic habits for Nightingale to further separate her from the quiet and bumbling Nadia. Among those habits was entering the playhouse from different alleyways to throw off any surveillance or followers she may have attracted at any point. The abandoned warehouse that at night became the "Platinum Playhouse," had a fire escape on the side of the building that wound up the side, but this time when Nadia passed by the windows she saw that they were obscured by what looked like the backs of Monitors. That wasn't normal.

With her intend mode of entry denied her, she considered going in through the front like normal, but then another though crossed her mind. Something she'd been playing around with in her solitary time at home. She giggled to herself as she climbed further up the fire escape. She clamborred up onto the roof of the building, and to her elation, there was a Skylight that looked down into the playhouse from above. Like most panes that looked into the playhouse, the visibility inside was hazy, unfocused, probably to keep prying eyes from seeing what was really inside. Quietly, the girl threw open on of the flat paned windows and dropped herself in. Only a moment's hesitation, and then she was falling feet first towards a...table? There hadn't been a large round table in the middle of the foyer any of the times she had been there. It shortened her jump, and she had to act fast.

This was so exciting! As she fell, she threw her hands up over her head. "Ereshkigal!" She called, and broke the chains around her wrists. Her persona appeared behind her, wings outstretched, dress billowing, porcelain face blank, and summoned a burst of wind beneath Nadia. The wind caught up Nightingale's cape. Slowed her fall, and the girl landed with a three-point landing in the center of the table. That went so much better than it had at home in the living room. A longer, straight fall was easier to manage than the arcing short fall she had achieved in her living room.

Now that she was in the room, Nadia stood up and looked around. Residual wind from her Garu spell was still rustling her hair and rustling the feathers on the left side of her mask. The inside of the Playhouse looked like the inside of a Superhero's hideout. There were monitors, and a big round table for sitting and discussing things...the bar in the corner was outfitted, but looked more like the display cases you always saw holding the hero's old costumes...

And there was a girl with white hair and cat ears standing in the doorway, looking in awe. Nadia's eyes brightened. Of course the Playhouse must look this way for a new arrival. Someone who didn't know it's typical appearance. Striding confidently toward the girl, Nightingale hopped off the edge of the table, her heels clicking on the ground. "Hello, there. I'm Nightingale. I haven't seen you around before. Are you new to the Playhouse?" She asked casually as she neared the white haired girl with cat ears.

As if the place itself wasn't enough to leave the girl in awe, not a few moments after she had attempted to calm herself down to figure out what to do had someone made quite the dramatic entrance to the place. From the way they were dressed... And the fact they'd clearly done something supernatural, was this one of the superheroes!? Callie could feel the wind reach her and rustle her clothing and hair as well, though something felt off, her hair felt shorter. Giving a quick moment to look down at herself, she'd quickly realize what had caused this change, the girl made a mental thank you to Terra for the quick thinking. Because... Who knows how superheroes would actually react if you found their lair. Those things are meant to be secret you know!

However, at least for the moment it seemed as though she was more being welcomed than told off for being here, not that it stopped Terra from feeling on edge. "Oh-ack!" She'd choke lightly on her own voice as it changed mid trying to reply, Terra wasn't going to take any chances of Callie being found out who she really was here. Man though she hadn't felt her voice do that in a while, she doubted she'd ever get used to it. "N-nightingale?" Was she just dreaming this right now? Had she already gotten home, fallen asleep and ended up dreaming about finding the Playhouse of superheroes? She'd believe it to be true if she couldn't feel Terra tensing up so much in her mind, that feeling above all else was too real to not be true. Gahhh! What to say! How do you introduce yourself to a superhero!? This is way too much sudden and not expected pressure!

With a deep breath, Callie would try to calm her nerves a little, this was all just too out of the blue for her. Deep down she could feel the excitement of it all building up, she wanted to explode with questions and explore the entire base, it was only the strange feeling Terra was giving her that was stopping her from doing so. It made her feel different from normal. E-either way, she had to introduce herself!

"Do NOT use your real name Callie. These are superheroes remember? They use code names, you can't be a superhero if everyone knows who you really are." Terra would explain in the girls mind, he knew the real dangers of it all, but this was the best way he could think of to explain it to her in a way she'd understand and go along with. Though he'd add to be sure. "Besides, it'd put yourself and everyone you care about in danger if the villains end up knowing who you are, right? Neheheh."

With an affirmative nod to show she understood, Callie tried her best to think of a name on the spot to use as her alter ego... And to hold back her excitement. "This is really the Playhouse!? I can't believe I just stumbled into here... Y-you aren't mad about that, right? Oh! Uhm. I'm C-... Cylla! It's nice to meet you, uhm, Nightingale!." The girl would say with a timid yet cheery tone, a small smile of her excitement creeping onto her face. Now to just make sure she actually stuck to using that secret name, she'd have to be super extra careful!

Nadia couldn't help but smile at the girl's wonderment. She remembered her first time finding the playhouse, and how she had snatched information out of the leading man - Shotaro. He was here most of the time when she arrived. But this time he was strangely absent. That was okay. It couldn't always be his job to introduce new people, after all. Nadia had to carry her own weight.

There was a welling in her chest of excitement. It was strangely engaging to be on the opposite side this time. It made Nightingale feel like she'd come from somewhere. Like she'd made progress in her own personal story. She was no longer the bewildered newbie, but a full-fledged member of the playhouse. And as such, she had to do her part for this new person. She put her hands on her hips as she regarded the girl who seemed to be coming up with a name on the spot. Nadia had come up with her own name - Nightingale, after playing the song for Cecil when he'd been forced to spend the night in her room at the Inn. It was a fond memory, even now. "Cylla. That's a pretty name. Are these ears real?" She asked suddenly, curiousity bubbling out in lieu of common courtesy.

There was a flash of awkwardness as Nadia struggled to maintain her composure as "Nightingale." But she recovered quickly enough. "Ah- I mean, Welcome to the playhouse. Don't worry about just stumbling in...I did too, sort of, my first time here. See, once you know about the playhouse, if you're friendly, it guides you too it on it's own. It's a powerful magic, isn't it?" She smiled warmly at the girl, trying to keep her eyes from darting from one ear to the other. They weren't...real? Were they? Could a persona give you working animal parts? Or were they just part of her Terrorist Disguise? Her curiousity was evident on her face, despite trying to hide it.

Callie's left ear would visibly twitch as its existence was brought into question, she'd open her mouth instinctively to say something but no words came out straight away. Instead she found herself reaching up with one hand around the side of her head to find that it was true she was no longer wearing a hood atop her head. The girl had forgotten that her appearance like this didn't hide them away like she usually would. To this realization, the young vixen would also awkwardly try to steady her tail which had began moving on its own due to her internal excitement. "O-oh! Uhm, hmm." She'd begin trying to fill the silence as she thought up an actual reply. "W-would you believe me if I told you they were fake?" Man, way to make introducing yourself to superheroes even more awkward! Though... Maybe she should just embrace them? It was like her own unique thing, ya know? What makes her special as a hero! It wasn't like she looked like herself anyway at the moment thanks to Terra.

Either way, the girl would giggle softly to try and lighten the awkward mood, there was way too many exciting things to talk about and to see to let something like that ruin the moment! "S-so, the place guided me here on its own? Does that mean that it wants me to be here!? The Playhouse wants me to be a superhero too?" The childish enthusiasm was overwhelming in the girls voice, what would she tell the others back home when she got back? No, wait, she shouldn't say anything to them at all. That could end badly. BUT MAN how was she going to keep a secret like this! It was going to be tough, that's for sure. "So is it true that you guys save people? That's what I heard at least! What kind of things do you do to protect people? Or help the city? Is it fun, or is it more hard work? I can probably make it both if needed! How many heroes are there? Do you all have cool costumes like yours? A-am I asking too many questions?"

Nadia wasn't sure if she was actually trying to convince Nadia that the ears were fake. If they were, they certainly were convincing as they twitched around. And that tail too. Nadia couldn't help a moment of distracted amusement. Finally, she decided that the girl was probably used to hiding her nature in the world outside the playhouse. if this is what she looked like at night, it was understandable without a refuge like the Playhouse. "No, I wouldn't." She giggled. "But you don't have to worry, nobody will judge you here. We're all a bunch of misfits, as far as I can see, anyway." Nadia reached out and patted the girl on the head between the ears. She really wanted to touch them...but she thought perhaps that would be in poor taste, so she refrained.

"Yup. It guided me here too. I guess we're both supposed to be 'Heroes' though, to be honest, I'm not sure everyone here will appreciate being called that...." She trailed off as the slew of questions came. Nightingale did her best to keep her face calm and smiling as she logged each question. When Callie was finished, Nadia counted the questions back on her fingers. "Yes, though I am new and haven't been involved with saving people. We fight demons. It is both fun and hard work. I know of nine or ten, but there may be more I haven't met that come and go. Yes, we all have outfits, and you're is pretty cute as well. Aaaaand no. I probably would have been fine with a couple other questions beyond that!" She was a super hero afterall. Remember and answering a string of questions wasn't hard compared to some of the things she had done both as a regular student and as a Terrorist. And she had little doubt that she would do some more dangerous and hard things in the future. Would this girl be able to do them as well? She looked young. Definitely younger than Nadia. She was concerned, but then so many of the Playhouse were children. maybe that was why it was called the playhouse, because it called to children and the young at heart. It was as good a theory as any. In any case, Nightingale kept her smile friendly, and didn't let her formless worries manifest on her face. She owed the new girl a good first impression, as it is. "There's a bar here, and a training room, and this meeting room here. We'll sometimes meet up here to talk about missions and things." She explained, gesturing to the bar and the door to the training room in kind.

Callie would naturally tense up as she was patted on the head, she was so used to having to try her hardest not to react in a way that revealed her abnormalities that it just sorta happened naturally. Though, after realizing what she'd just been told and the fact that Nightingale could viably see her ears anyway, the girl would loosen up a little. "R-really? That would be a first, that's for sure. Hehe." The vixen would giggle softly, she guessed this whole power thing that everyone at the playhouse must have in some capacity was bizarre enough on its own to over shadow what was strange about her. It was certainly an odd position to be in though, unlike anything she'd ever experienced.

"Oh...?" She'd sound surprised with a light tilt of her head to company the confusion. "Does not everyone here consider themselves as such? That's a shame, this place looks perfect for it! A real super secret, super awesome, super base lair... Thingy!" She'd call out excitedly. Though there were some stubborn people out there in the world, and even people like that could want to help deep down. So maybe there were just a few here that wanted to do things in a more serious fashion... Which was fair enough, if not a little dull. The white haired girl would nod along to each answer she received, making mental notes here and there about the information she was learning. Not that most of it would probably stick, but still she had to try! "Awesome! How often do you go out and fight the bad guy demons? Cause not all demons are bad, does anyone else here have a friendly demon?" Cylla would ask, wide eyed with innocent curiosity. Granted, yes this wasn't usually the sort of question to come out with right off the gate, but considering where she learned she was and how the person she was talking to entered the room... It was probably within reason.

Turning her attention to the bar then the training room, Callie couldn't help but laugh. Even though she wasn't home, there was still a bar here. Honestly it made it feel more homely in a strange kinda way. "Training room...?" A bar was a bar, and she wasn't old enough to drink anyway. But the sound of a training room was way more interesting! "What kinda training~?"

Nadia giggled at the girl's enthusiasm. It reminded her of Kendra, fondly. The question about not everyone thinking of them as heroes reminded her of something she should explain. It would make sense that she would think it was odd that people didn't see themselves as heroes with a base like this. "Well, actually, the playhouse looks different based on what you're expecting to find when you come. Because you were the first one here, and nobody else was already here, it took the form of what you expected to find - or what you wanted to find." Nadia explained, motioning to the room around them. "Which was a super-secret hero base. This is absolutely going to be what I think of from now on. This is great." She smiled, moving over to one of the comfy-looking chairs around the circular meeting table and taking a seat. It bounce comfortably when she sat on it, and she eased back like a proper hero.

The next question caught her off guard a little. She looked up, curious dark eyes scanning Cylla from behind her dark-colored mask. "Friendly Demons?" She thought about it for a moment before she snapped her fingers "The owner of the playhouse is a Demon named Larsinny. He isn't around right now, but you should meet him some time. I've only seen him once or twice myself." She replied, "Other than that, I think Dante has a small crow demon that talks. It's sort of cute too." She sounded a little amused as she giggled at the recollection.

"Yes, our training room is through there." Nadia pointed to a door further down the far wall. "given your setting, it will probably look like a high tech training area with flying villain bots to destroy!" She giggled.

Wait, so the entire place could change what it looked like just based on what someone wanted it to look like? It sounded near unbelievable, though with everything else that had been going on recently, was it really that big of a stretch? It's super awesome if it was true though, yet kinda scary at the same time. What if one of the villains stumble upon the place, walk inside and find a whole bunch of weapons of mass destruction because that's what they wanted to see!? Would that actually work? Or was she over thinking this...

"Well, I had heard about this place as being basically super heroes who saved people. So that makes sense! But, does that mean you're telling me that it isn't always a super secret, super awesome super lair...? That's, kinda a shame, it looks super cool like this! Though I bet the place is awesome no matter what~!" Callie chimed enthusiastically, taking a moment to go and investigate one of the monitors. It was filled with gibberish, and despite her desire to start senselessly pushing random blinking buttons on the control panel for it, Callie would at least try to seem at least reasonably sensible and refrain for now. "So what about you? What did this place look like when you first arrived?" The girl questioned, turning back away from the monitors and heading over to find a seat of her own. If the whole place could really look like anything, the possibilities were quite literally endless... It was so exciting to think about!

The owner of the place was a demon them self? That wasn't something Cylla had expected to hear when asking the question, though if it was run and made by a demon, that would explain why everything was so mysterious about it. "Awesome! My demon is- uh..." The girls voice would trail off for a moment as her shadow weapon mentally told her to be quiet, she wasn't sure why he was still being so defensive... It at least seemed to her like she was being welcomed here instead of anything bad happening. "Is, uh, a little concerned about this whole thing." She continued with a short slightly awkward chuckle as she rubbed the back of her neck. "He's a little over protective sometimes~."

That aside though... "Flying villain bots!?" Any and all previous awkwardness to the girls voice was completely and utterly outclassed by this new found excitement. "C-can we fight them whenever we want?" Saying she didn't want to go and try that straight away would be a lie, though asking to directly seemed a little rude given they were still talking about how everything worked.

Nadia shook her head, amused by Cylla's questions. "When I first got here, Gabe was already here. The playhouse had it's "typical" appearance of a bar. That's it's usual form. But I agree! it's kind of a shame it doesn't always look like this." Nightingale looked around with a smile.

when she mentioned that her demon was concerned, Nightingale cocked her head to the side, considering. She would ask herself if it was okay to let in a demon, but then, Larsinny was one so they couldn't all be bad. The playhouse only allowed those to find it who were aligned with it's goals, so she didn't have to worry about this person being a spy either. She decided an overprotective demon wasn't that much of a stretch. "That's okay. He doesn't need to worry though, only people the Playhouse trusts are allowed to find this place. Anyone wanting to do us harm will never find it. We're genuinely safe here." She explained, leaning back into her comfy chair a little. This hadn't been why she came to the playhouse today. She had actually been hoping to find Gabe. But in lieu of that, this wasn't bad.

"It's only a guess, though now that I've said it, it's more likely that that's what you'll find. And yes, we can fight in there whenever we want. It's not exactly the same as fighting real demons, but it's good practice." Nightingale said, eyes travelling to the door. Now she was curious. She tapped her finger on the table a couple times. "Do you want to go find out?"

Callie considered this for a moment. So only people who the Playhouse itself trusts will find it? That was good, the chance of a bad guy finding a bunch of bad weapons here suddenly seemed a lot less likely. Though that also meant that the place itself trusted her, which was more sudden responsibility that the girl could have expected. What if she messed up? Did something wrong? Would the place instantly know and chuck her out!? Now she was really glad she didn't just stand mindlessly pressing buttons earlier... "That's reassuring. I'm sure he'll come around eventually to not be such a stick in the mud." Though that left Callie with something to think about, who was it that wanted to cause the place harm? Well, if there was super heroes... There was probably super villains. So that made sense.

"S-so, even whatever kinda training you think will be there will be? So cool..." Cylla herself would stare over towards the door, trying to imagine all the possibilities that could lie beyond, but there were far too many to count. The girls ears would flick up right once more as she caught the suggestion of checking the place out. "... Yes. Very much yes!" It had been quite a while since the vixen was able to test out her fighting, she wondered if she would be out of practice if the real thing ended up happening. So honestly this looked to be a great opportunity to take!

Nadia shrugged as she stood up from her chair. When she had done her training, there hadn't been any moving parts to it, it was simply straw training dummies like she had seen in old movies. In this setting...it could be almost anything. And there was only one way to find out for sure. "I have only done it once myself, and there wasn't really anything but simple training dummies. But who knows what we'll find this time. Let's give it a shot!" she was getting excited now, too, and was hurrying toward the door to the training room. As she stepped inside, it was pitch black. The ground, from where she stepped, radiated grid lines like you might expect from a virtual hyperspace. As the grid lines ran around the room, the shape of the room became obvious, contoured by the grid lines. She took a few steps forward, looking behind her to see if Cylla was still in tow. There didn't seem to be anything in the room yet...

Cylla would excitedly follow along, trying to think about whatever it'd be they encountered. What she'd do to fight them off, she hoped she wasn't completely out of training. Though, she was sure Terra would push her in the right direction if she was a little sloppy. "It should be fun no matter what we find in there~! I do hope it's something cool and exciting though, I haven't gotten to fight in a while." The girl tried to psyche herself up, make sure her mind was in the right place. This was for fun, yes. But she needed to make sure she took it seriously still, she didn't want to get used to not taking fights seriously after all.

Following close behind Nightingale, the young vixen's eyes would take a moment to adjust to the strange presence the training room took. It was a little creepy if she was being honest, though it was supposedly safe. So for now she just tried not to get left behind. "Robot monsters? Monsters in the shape of robots?" Callie would continue the call out to see if anything would appear.

Stats:

The lines of the training room seemed to stretch on forever, illuminate lines framing what looked like a passage through the stars, stretching into an infinite dark that twinkled with tiny lights. The room's boundaries still remained, but you would be hard pressed to believe it unless you crossed it to touch the opposite wall.

As they called out, the two hear what might be a hint of a voice, one that one of the duo might even find familiar - and then, mechanical legs step out of the the dark expanse, the bright lines of the grid tracing their shape and filling out its form until some form of spider droid has emerged fully formed in the room. A hologram of what might be a priest of some kind projects itself from the top of the droid, and it casts its hands out, causing two spherical droids to eject itself from the main robot and hover before it.

Rabbi v2 - Level 9:

Subdual Sphere - Level 7:

Support Sphere - Level 7:

Nadia jumped a little at the noise, looking to see the shape of the spider drone arriving from the shadows. She blinked. Nope, that wasn't any demon she expected to see. She had to laugh a little bit at how much it looked like drones from a child's super hero show.

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