Scene #910: Learning at Brockton Library

Owner	Pose
Defiant	BROCKTON BAY MID-AFTERNOON The thing about being a Protectorate cape is that there's more to it than beating up bad guys and admiration, although that's definitely a large part. All Protectorate capes are expected to ensure that the public has a positive view of the large, powerful organisation. For some capes, like Armsmaster, it is a hated task, a distraction from work they view as more important. For some, like Assault, it's quite possibly the best part. Back when he was Madcap, some part of his community service from being (secretly) ushered into the Protectorate fold involved time at the local library, reading stories to children. Much to the consternation of Battery, Assault was quite, quite good at it. Kids loved him. So, it has become a regular thing. He sits on a chair, in full costume and mask, while kids sit around and listen to him. He appears to be reading from a book called 'Go Dog Go', and he approaches it with the same jovial intensity that he approaches anything else. "'Do you like my hat?' asks the pink dog. 'I do not,' says the yellow dog," Assault reads. He gasps, and looks to the children who are hanging on every word and says: "Now, that's rude isn't it!" When you see things like that, it gives one a much better view of the Protectorate than hanging around Armsmaster.
Ayako Hasekawa	Ayako or... Water Witch, lands lightly on her feet outside the library. She grabs her floating broomstick with her right hand and shoves the handle closer to the brush. Wait. It's collapsable? Yes, of course it is. When she wants the broomstick made of water to be collapsable, it certainly will be. She sticks the broomstick behind her muffler where two small cloth straps hold it in place. And walks cheerfully into the library. Once indoors, Ayako smiles softly as she looks around, liking the quiet atmosphere. She blinks her eyes quickly when she notes Assault, in full costume and mask reading a book to some kids. A pointer finger is raised to her cheek as she thinks to herself... and then smiles softly. She definitely doesn't want to interrupt! The kids look like they're having too much fun.
Defiant	Battery is waiting nearby. Her costume is white and dary grey, riddled with cobalt blue lines that give one the impression of a circuit board. She is masked, too. She stands by the front desk and waves Ayako over. "Mm. Water Witch? I thought I recognised you. Triumph mentioned you about a week ago. How are you finding the city?" Any response is momentarily cut off by a loud roar of laughter from Assault and the kids.
Ayako Hasekawa	Ayako smiles cheerfully when Battery waves her over. "Ah. Hello!" She walks over to her with a slight skip to her step, not quite unlike the children that Assault is reading to at the moment. "Hmmm?" Her eyes narrow slowly, although not with suspicion, but rather amusement. "You recognized me? Ah... Triumph mentioned me." She smiles softly and nods her head slowly. "It's a ni-" And the roar of laughter from Assault and the kids cuts her off."-ce city." Ayako giggles softly as she looks over to Assault and the children he's reading to. "Well, he seems to be good with kids. Makes me want to join them."
Defiant	"He has his moments, to be sure," Battery says, smiling slightly. "Even if he's a total jackass." She gives off the impression of someone who is overly serious, however, despite that smile. "So, you're one of those Multiverse Elites, right? The ones we're not supposed to mention, the ones working with Armsmaster. Just here to sightsee?"
Ayako Hasekawa	Ayako smiles softly and nods her head. And then blinks her eyes quickly and raises a finger to her lips. "Shh... language. There are little kids around." She smiles softly. Her eyes then widen when Battery mentions what she is. "Ah. You know about that, huh?" She glances off to the side for a moment... and then to the other side, as if making sure no one was listening. "Un. Sightseeing... the Multiverse has a lot of neat sights to see."
Defiant	"Oh, not you, too..." Battery mutters as Ayako reprimands her. "We have to know," she says, moving right past it. "All the villains we have in thie city are known quantities, but you guys aren't. Not that I'm saying you're a villain, Witch, but it's our job to protect well..." Battery shrugs. "Those kids. I'm afraid, however, there's not much to see in Brockton Bay. They're still repairing the Gallery ever since the Undersiders and some Elites hit it." Assault taps a forefinger against the cover of the book and the pages turn without him touching them. "Kinetic manipulation," Battery says, for Ayako's benefit. The kids cheer.
Ayako Hasekawa	Ayako giggles softly and bows her head slightly in apology. "I don't blame you. I might be nice, but there's a lot out there in the Multiverse that isn't." She nods her head once. "And if there's one thing the Multiverse is good at, it's being unpredictable." Her head nods slowly and she glances back to the kids. "Oh, I don't know. Seeing so many superheroes and supervillains in costume is quite the sight." She smiles softly, "And you all look so smashing to boot." Her gaze sweeps over to Assault when Battery brings her attention to him and the book. "A-ahh..." Ayako gestures at herself. "Water manipulation. Made of water, and actually a water spirit rather than a human. Wait, you probably already know that." She giggles softly. "I think I'll join your partner over there." Her hand suddenly reach up to her wide brimmed witch hat and... she suddenly ducks while pulling the hat down! The hat completely engulfs her-and then flips back up. Where Water Witch once stood now stand two little girls-twins even. They look like they're about nine or ten years old and look very similar to Ayako. One has a red motiff and the other has a blue motiff. The red one looks bright, cheerful, and super mischeivous. The blue one, however looks calm, neutral, and... bored with her eyes three-fourths open. The red small Ayako runs over to join the children and Assault while the blue one stays by Battery, looking... well, bored and calm.
Defiant	Battery blinks behind her mask, and she gives off a slight, exasperated sound at the sight of Ayako splitting into two other beings. "Triumph said to expect you to be full of surprises, and I see he wasn't wrong," Battery says. Still, that expression of blue Ayako's seems to be a good fit for Battery. Assault holds the book towards the gathered kids. The pages depict four dogs driving cars, looking like racecar drivers from the 1920s - scarves, little hats, and so on. "There they go, look at those dogs go! Why are they goind fast in those cars? What are they going to do? Where are those dogs going?" Assault sounds genuinely perplexed by the four dog racecar mystery, but it is one he'll probably be solving in a few minutes. "He picked that book to get under my skin," Battery states.
Ayako Hasekawa	Yako, the blue small Ayako looks up slowly at Battery. "While true... we're harmless, really." Her voice is markedly softer than Ayako's, and even more so than her red-clothed sister Aya. While her voice has a more slow, whispery quality to it, she enunciates well so it's not hard to understand what she's saying. Her calm gaze slowly returns towards the gathered kids and Assault. Aya sits down cheerfully and pays attention to Assault and the story! Her eyes wide open and clapping her hands softly as she listens to the story. "Go doggies, go!" Her voice is even more brighter and more cheerful than even Ayako's, and her wide-eyed gaze takes in things very quickly. She seems to get absorbed in the story fairly quickly. Meanwhile, Yako turns her amber gaze back up to Battery slowly. "Hmmm? Something about that story annoys you?" She slowly picks up the witch hat Ayako left behind with both hands and hides it; holding it with both hands behind her small body.
Defiant	"When we first met," Battery says, "He compared me to a three-legged puppy - cute, pathetic and adorable were his words. And how he's reading a story about dogs." Assault continues, turning to the final pages. There's a huge cartoon tree with all manner of dogs climbing through the canopy - bouncing on a trampoline, eating cake, swinging on a swing. "A dog party!" Assault gasps. "A big dog party! Big dogs, little dogs, red dogs, blue dogs, yellow dogs, green dogs, black dogs and white dogs are all at a dog party!" He shakes his head, as if he can scarcely believe it. "What a dog party!" After a few moments of letting the children study the pages, Assault closes the book and passes it back to the librarian. "Story time's over, kids- I know, I'm sad too! - but, what's this?" With a gentle flick of his wrist, Assault tosses a variety of lollipops out into his crowd of adoring fans. His power lets them land gently, the kinetic force perfectly distributed. "We didn't talk about /that/," Battery states.
Ayako Hasekawa	Yako's eyes narrow till they're half-open. "Are you sure it's not a coincidence? He might not even remember that he said that to you." Her calm gaze goes back to the group. Aya positvely beams as Assault gets to the final pages. "Yay! a dog party!" She cheerfully raises both of her arms over her head. Her excited gaze quickly looks over the pages and then awws when Assault says that story time is over. And then happily catches one of the lolipops-and cheerfully gives it to one of the children that didn't get one. Yako shakes her head slowly, causing her long black hair to swish softly. Her eyes have gone back to their three-fourths open usual. "I'm guessing this is the type of thing he likes to do?"
Defiant	"You'll see," is all Battery says to Yako. Assault hops out of his seat, slowly and gently extricating himself from the mass of children, as he makes his way over to Battery and Yako. His mask only hides the top half of his face, so, the broad grin is obvious. "Hey there, Puppy," Assault says quietly.
Ayako Hasekawa	Yako nods her head slowly, "I'm guessing I will soon enough." Aya hops to her feet too and skips back over to rejoin her blue twin and Battery. She's careful not to get in the way of Assault, though. Her head inclines to the side gently, "Puppy?" Yako sighs softly and then nods her head once. "I see... so it was intentional."
Defiant	"Just a nickname for my partner here," Assault says to Aya, grinning. He can definitely tell just how much he's getting under his partner's skin, but the little smile on her face seems to indicate that it's an old, familiar relationship. Something beyond just being cape partners. "Everything he does is intentional," Battery states, "Right down to the name." The pair wave to the departing parents and children and Assault says to Aya and Yako, "Anything we can do for you little ladies?"
Ayako Hasekawa	Aya smiles brightly, "Ooohhh... a nickname! That's-" Her bright eyes look back and forth between Assault and Battery. Yako quietly notes the small smile on Battery's face and nods her head slowly. "-nice. I can tell that the two of you make a good team." Both of them smile up at the adults, one brightly and one calmly. It seems when together, Aya likes to start sentances and Yako finishes them. Aya and Yako stand next to each other. "Oh oh! Umm, umm." Aya starts, and Yako finishes. "Hmm... Actually not that I can think of..." Yako takes the witch hat she's holding behind herself and suddenly puts it over both of the twins, causing them both to seemingly vanish. And then Ayako in her witch costume stands back up with the hat on her head, with a soft smile on her face.
Defiant	"I think it's nice too!" Assault says brightly, looping an arm around Battery's shoulders. "That's a neat trick," he adds, as Ayako reforms herself into one being. "Not sure about the witch thing but, well, we've all got to get noticed. And people do like it - not like the whole bird thing, though. That's just gauche." "However," Battery says firmly. "Halbeard has us on a tight schedule," Assault finishes. Halbeard? "The man likes his patrol routes nice and snappy."
Ayako Hasekawa	Ayako giggles softly. "Why thank you." She smiles softly, "Well, I just happen to like the witch motiff since a lot of what I do is magic." A bright giggle follows. "Besdies, the witch style works well outside of Brockton Bay as well." She grins playfully and then inclines her head to the side gently. "Halberd, huh? I take it... that's Armsmaster, huh?" Her eyes close as she nods her head quickly. "Well, don't let me keep you! He's probably the type that gets really annoyed when someone's late." Her eyes slowly open as she smiles softly and waves goodbye cheerfully.
Defiant	"Mad?" Assault asks, and he laughs. "Oh, no, he says everything is fine - and then sticks you with a five AM patrol every morning for a month. Swell guy," he says, with that bright tone of voice that practically states he's being facitious. As they reach outside, Battery stands stock still and the circuit lines on her costume begin to glow. With a sound that's more akin to a thunderclap than anything else, Battery sets one hand against Assault's shoulder and the glow dims. Assault, for his part, begins to vibrate, however subtly. After a few seconds, those same lines on Battery's costume are glowing once again. In a flash, the costumed pair have taken off down the street at speeds that are well beyond any normal person, and beyond most cars too. Which leaves Ayako all the time in the world to explore the rest of the city. The night is still young, after all.