xp_logs | For Cata! Enter the A Team

Amanda and Megan are waiting by the campfire as Clea, Sebastian and Stephen finally make it back after their last grand adventure.

Clea was holding the now small Cata in her arms as they headed back to camp. "Well. We did it. We saved her. And that meanie head is probably still chasing ghosts." She was tired and hungry, maybe dinner hadn't been served yet. "Should we get some food?"

"I think we missed dinner," Bas answered, sounding apologetic as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and checked the watch he was just putting back on, having removed it and stashed it in his bag before changing shapes. "Everyone's probably at the talent show by now." He wrinkled his nose in disdain for talent competitions. "But let's sneak into the kitchens and find something." He really needed to eat. "Hey." He stopped walking and held a hand out to stop his friends. "Do you guys see that?" He could see smoke coming up from the direction of one of the fire pits on the camp grounds a short distance away. "Campfire. Maybe someone's got hot dogs? Should we check?"

"It can't hurt," Stephen agreed as his stomach rumbled, "It's better than risking the wrath of the cooks if they catch us in the kitchens...again." He reached over to scratch Cata's back, "After they caught us last time I was sure they were gonna make us clean out all the pots, and that was on chilli night, it's impossible to get rid of those stains."

"And I am too tired to run." Or even cast a spell, Clea thought to herself as the broke into the clearing of the one lit campfire. "Next time we go on rescues, we need to make sure we pack snacks." Clea paused as she came within a few feet of the two strange people, she leaned over and whispered loudly to Bas, "Do you recognize them?"

The oldest of the two women sitting by the campfire snorted and glanced over to the small group. "Don't bust your brains trying to figure us out," she said with a grin. Her accent was English, East London by the sound of it, and there was a certain hint of amusement in her voice. "Come and sit down - you must be shagged after all you've been up to. I'm Amanda, and this is Megan. We're not here to give you any trouble."

"Hello," said Megan, looking up from the fire, bringing her marshmallow up with her gaze. "Who wants this one?" With her free hand, she grabbed another marshmallow from a container.
A shawl was draped over her shoulders. It had an odd shape to it, and the light from the fire made it look like wings beneath.

Frowning as hard as he possibly could, Bas held up a hand and took the marshmallow. He didn't sit down, though. He wanted to stay alert and stay close to his friends, intending to shield them in case either of these women tried to hurt them. "Who are you?" He asked Amanda, trying his best to sound bored and uninterested. "And how do you know what we've been up to?"

Amanda repressed a grin at the tone. Teenagers. "Well, you don't think with the amount of magic you lot have been tossing around in the past few days that no-one would notice, did you?" she replied smoothly. "As for who we are... well, I guess you could say we're like social workers for the magically gifted, checking up on things."

Clea reached over and took Bas's marshmallow right off the stick and right into her mouth. She was so hungry from all the magic she had to summon. "Magical social workers?" She took a seat as Cata wasn't making any threatening noises, so they had to be okay - right? "So, you can sense magic?" They had used a bit of magic today, more so than lately. Especially with the spell to shrink Cata.

"How come we've never heard about you guys before?" Stephen asked a little suspiciously as he moved up next to Bas to stand just between Clea and the two women, "If you were really magical social workers wouldn't we have heard from you before now?"

"We're *like* social workers, but we're not," said Megan. "And if you've heard of us, then we haven't been very good at protecting ourselves or the other students, have we?" She rubbed her own shoulder, trying to direct the uncomfortable feeling away from her chest. Ever since Belasco, her heart seemed to react to magic that was strong or close by. She masked this action by straightening her shawl. Her eyes looked intense, but her face relaxed when she looked to the cat.

"Given enough time, in an ideal situation, you'd be able to learn to control your magic on your own. However, that's not the reality," she added softly.

Clea finished chewing the marshmallow, "Wait students? There are others like us?" She looked at her boys, "I guess we can't be the only three right?"

"I'm not a magician," Bas said in his quiet, bored tone. "Can I bugger off?" These ladies didn't look super threatening, so he was less worried about his friends' safety now.

"Maybe not, but you are a mutant." Amanda snapped her fingers and summoned George the werelight, sending him over to bob over the three teens' heads. "Which is what we are as well. We're from a school that teaches people like you to use your powers - magical and mutation - and gives you a safe place to live while you're doing that." She glanced over at Megan. "Why don't you show them?"

Megan couldn't have been more dramatic if she'd tried. Her pale hair illuminated by the fire, she freed her wings from the shawl. The threw off some light in tiny sparkles. "This is my reality. I'm a mutant and I have to hide my mutancy. I'm a student and I'm learning to control my powers - both mutant and magic." She let the glamour from her eyes drop and fixed Bas with her all-black stare. They reflected a faint green light as she summoned her Will O' Wisp. It was a relief to drop the glamour - if she were telling the full truth, she'd admit that she'd been neglecting her magic studies a bit. Tonight's events made her feel more connected to her magic side.

"I..." Stephen's voice trailed off and a smile blossomed on his face, "Wicked! That is so cool, can you teach me to do that! Both of them, the glowy light and the illusion?" He could feel the magic, but had never even heard of a spell like that...or well any spell to be honest. Finding real magical texts wasn't easy.

"Stephen. That isn't an illusion. Those are real." She looked at the winged woman in awe. "Ooooo Bas....show her." The red hair teen was getting exited.

"Show her what?" Bas asked Clea, shooting her a 'do you know what you're doing?' look. "Look, what you do is cool, but can we cut the show and tell crap?" he asked Amanda, since she appeared to be in charge. "Who are you? What's your deal? Why are you here?" It was more than he usually said in a month in one of his classes. But clearly his friends weren't going to ask the important questions.

"Sorry, enough of the cloak and dagger." Amanda held up her hands in a conciliatory gesture. "Like I said, my name's Amanda. Megan and I are from a school in the States, a school for mutants. But we both are magic users as well, and one of the things I do is run a sort of magical hotline. With all the magic you three were throwing around in the last few days, it pinged someone's radar and they got in touch. So I decided to bring Megan over and check things out."

Clea frowned at Bas as she stood up and Cata jumped from her arms. "We were trying to save our friend from being exposed on the telly." She pointed to Cata. "She is normally the size of a large car and would keep getting bigger." Explaining the large amount of magic. "And Bas...Cata isn't giving threatening noises towards them." She looked over at the cat who was sniffing Amanda's shoe.

"She has marshmallows," Stephen pointed out, "You know know how Cata gets around treats." He loved the cat but she did have undeniable sweet tooth. "Do you have some kinda way we can check out what you're saying?" he asked apologetically, "Only it's a lot to take in a school for mutants, and magic. It kinda sounds like Hogwarts to be honest."

"It's not quite like Hogwarts. If you research the school, you'll find it's totally real. And accredited - I was able to transfer some credits to college," Megan replied matter-of-factly. "But the best part is support.You can try and muddle through on your own, or you can study with the best teachers and fellow students and really master your powers."

"Do you actually want to go to this place?" Bas asked Clea and Stephen. His tone wasn't accusatory or incredulous, just curious.

Clea shrugged, "It isn't really up to me to decide. It is my mum and dad. Plus they have been discussing on what to do with training. My magic does cause some problems at school."

Stephen echoed Clea's shrug, "My parents don't even know about the magic or anything. I'm not sure how they're gonna take the whole mutant magic thing."

Amanda bent and scratched Cata behind the ears, noting the slight tingle of not-from-this-earth energy in her fingertips. "Well, none of you have to go. Or even tell your parents what you can do," she said, straightening back up. Cata jumped into her lap, rubbing her head against the witch's hands to insist on more pets and Amanda obliged as she talked. "But there's a couple of things you should probably think about. First is... magic - and mutant powers - always makes life weird. I'm not exactly sure why, but every magic user and mutant I've ever met winds up attracting some kind of trouble. So the better equipped you are to deal with things like what happened here the last few days, the better. Second... I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, and Pixie, if you tell Summers I said this, I'll think of something horrible to do to you... but, you lot have power. A lot of it, each in your own way. With that sort of power comes a responsibility, to learn how to use it, to control it, and maybe even to make life better with it. Things are pretty bloody shite for mutants right now, no matter where you are. At the school, we try to make it better."

Bas shrugged as well. Things weren't bad for him as a mutant, because no one knew he was one. And, if mutants were hated so much, it seemed like moving to a school where they were in high volume would just make things bad for himself. Why invite trouble? Why not just stay here under the radar?

But, if his friends went, he would follow. He could handle a little trouble. It would keep life interesting. And being with his friends all year round would be great. The only thing, other than the two of them, keeping him from packing up and leaving home was the air cadets, and he could do that in America. Plus, it wasn't as if his father would care. One boarding school would be no different from another. "I'll go if they go," he said, indicating Stephen and Clea.

"We'll have to ask our parents." She turned back to Amanda and Megan. "Do you think talking to them would help?"

"We can let them - and you - know all about the place," replied Amanda, glancing at Megan as if to say "don't you dare laugh". Apparently she was about to wind up with at least two new students. Cata was still in her lap, purring insanely.

Megan smiled, dimples in both cheeks, but had nothing more to add to her magic teacher or soon-to-be new classmates at the moment. There was something pulling on her mind about Cata... She looked at the cat and blinked slowly - it was how she always said "hi" to feline folk. "Hello there, Cata. I have the feeling we've met in another life..." she said softly.

"You think we could stop by a chemist on the way home?" Stephen piped up with a grin, "I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need some smelling salts for my mum, and magicing them there probably wouldn't help my case any."

"And one more question, can Cata come too? I would hate to have shrunk her to a normal cat size just to leave her behind. She will never forgive us." Clea asked.

At this, Cata sat up in Amanda's lap and gave the witch a Look which clearly said 'you are NOT leaving me here, monkey'. Amanda chuckled. "Yeah, Cata too. And since we're random strangers, it's better we don't just appear at your camp tomorrow to pick you up." She passed Cata back to Clea and pulled a small notepad and pen out of her jacket pocket. "There's a pub in town," she continued, scribbling down a name and address. "We'll meet you there to go over everything - from what I could see, it's fairly quiet and private. And booze works as well as smelling salts as a restorative," she added with a wink before tearing off the paper and handing it to Stephen. "See you tomorrow."