(Are we just picking random times? They don't correspond at all.))
Early morning (not wee hours), Northdale, Australia.
A tall, winged woman with wings staggers to a normal-looking house. While the house looks normal, anyone entering the property would know that something is different, even if they can't say what. The "what" is, as it happens, magical defenses set up due to the seeming vulnerability of the most famous of the inhabitants. Within the borders, nearly all magic was disabled. The only exception was a narrow subset of autotransfiguration.
The woman slams the door open. She flops down on the couch, exhausted from a night of partying, before shifting into a ten-year-old girl. Angel Carlson, easily the most famous child in the world due to having saved the world from Layar several years beforehand and helping deal with other threats in the meantime. She was also a child prodigy, being in ninth grade despite her young age. She got off the couch, closed the front door, and quietly crept to her room to prepare for her school day.
Her mother knocks on the door. "Was the night alright?"
"Yes, Mom. Nuriel knows the rules, she hasn't violated them for a while."
"I'm just checking, sweetie. Prepared for the test today?"
"Yes, Mom."
"I'm glad to hear that. Don't forget to take out the trash when you get home."
"Yes, Mom." Angel loved her mother, but as all children do, she resented her a bit. She was starting to grow into her rebellious phase.
And so, Angel headed off for school, checking texts and such on the bus.
Early afternoon, near Brisbane.
William Warren was frustrated. Many people tend to be, but with Will typical frustrations rarely occurred. His power let him glide through typical daily issues like misplacing keys, annoying acquaintances, and computer problems. He could find keys, divert pests, and diagnose problems as easily as anyone else could guess that a ball thrown off a cliff would fall to the bottom. He used his gift for tougher tasks, tasks which challenged him some--for instance, earlier that day, he correctly guessed that Wal-Mart stock would be rapidly dropping in value that afternoon, reaching a trough sometime the next evening (probably around when investors heard the firms he controlled or advised were buying, Will mused) before shooting back up; he ordered a systematic series of sales, distributed enough through the day that no one but the cleverest and most determined--or insane--could hope to guess that they were connected, and through enough intermediaries that even if a connection was discovered, Will would almost certainly not be found as the root. He had been briefly held on charges of insider trading, before precognitives and such became common enough for Supernatural Abuse of the Economy and such became crimes in their own right, and Will had no interest in having further brushes with the law.
Indeed, to all the world, Will looked pretty normal; he held stock in several financial and scientific corporations, but he never sold it and rarely bought new stock. These corporations were, of course, his links to the rest of the world. They, along with the occasional research grant, consulting fee, or the like, provided him with quite sufficient money to live comfortably on, all above-board. Known to none but his closest friends, however, he was among the most powerful people in the world. His influence was subtle, slow, and clumsy, but given time and reason, he could change the fate of the world. A few times, Will guessed that he would be able to devastate major multinational corporations or minor nations if he desired...but he didn't. He desired much greater, more complex things. Things that would leave Will's mark on the world, things which could bring mankind into a new era of prosperity, and--above all--things that challenged Will's ability.
This is what frustrated him. Global economics, socio-political issues, the global ecological crisis, and--Will's favorite--determining the nature of magic and how it could be used. But for today, Will was trying to deal with something much simpler: How to twist the world just right to promote socially responsible microchips over those using metals mined in Murder Night's large empire. Murder Night, being generally xenophobic and violent, was not only a blight on the world but a complication in Will's calculations. Any damage he could do to her was worth it, especially if he could slip in some other benefits. And he usually could.
Will felt something...odd. He glanced at a clock. Stella should be getting home soon, but he was sure that wasn't it. What could it be?
Will skimmed the paragraph he had just read--something comparing Murder Night's policies to the actions of smaller so-called "supervillains". There it was, again. He couldn't place it. It wasn't anything with those, he was sure. Not directly, at least. Will connected his knowledge of such people to other things he knew, trying to figure out what it was.
He saw it, and smiled.
"I think the old days are coming back."
Author
Topic: Rise of the Magic Girls v3 IC: Poof. (Read 747351 times)