Year One

V"I should probably get going. I have to work tomorrow."

Dalia saw the news in her living room, taking slightly more interest as she suspected that she had been nearby at the time of the shootout.

"Well, I should head home," Jin looked from the sea to Eve. "My parents will get worried if I am out for much longer. It was cool hanging out, we should do it again some time!"

*Eve nods*

<Yeah, I had a lot of fun too, but my parents want to be getting home. Do you have a cell phone? We could exchange phone numbers.>

"Ah, yeah," Jin nodded enthusiastically, taking a marker pen from her bag and grabbing Eve's hand. She wrote her number on Eve's palm. "There you go!"

Taiyo: "Oh. Okay. We can hang out again, right?"

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Azuma: "One mob shooting. Oddly uneventful day."

Mimiru: "City hall will probably be burned down tomorrow."

Azuma: "I could see it. Not tomorrow, but someday."

V"...Okay."

*Eve smiles, then writes her phone number on Jin's hand*

<Alright, catch you later!>

*Eve waves before handing up to her parents, who have been waiting in the car for the last 15 minutes*

Taiyo waves to Ven, her number written on her hand.

Taiyo: "She's so awesome! I can't wait to see her again. ...Oh crap, I have to get home."

Fast forward to the next day, Taiyo wakes up to Kitters standing on her chest, apparently trying to stick his nose in hers.

Taiyo: "I thought you stopped doing that years ago. Silly kitty."

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Mimiru: "Wake up!"

Mimiru pulls Azuma off his bed with a thud.

Azuma: "Ow! Why are you here? How did you get here?"

Mimiru: "Kari let me in. Hurry up and get yourself together."

Azuma: "Screw you, I'm sleeping."

Mimiru: "It's one PM!"

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Elsewhere in the city, in a bookstore a few blocks from the construction site no one can answer what's being built, Hitomi is dusting. A frequent task due to the amount of dust brought in from the streets.

Hitomi: No good will come from that place.

*Since it's 1 PM & they aren't slobs, both girls are awake, & dressed. Aroma is watching television, while Thiera is making sketches on a piece of paper.*

*Eve has just gotten back from going out to lunch with her mother,vand now sits on the couch. She grabs her phone off the charger, turns it on, and goes to Messages, then selects Jin's name*

Hey, this is Eve! I'm just testing to make sure I entered your number right.

Dalia was on a walk to the library.

Jin, who had just unceremoniously fallen onto the couch after a run, received the message and replied quickly.
Hey, Eve. Yeah, this is me.

Taiyo: "Okay, I'm up. Get out of my nose."

Taiyo sits up, and Kitters jumps to the floor. Following him out of the room to the kitchen, there's a mess on the floor where he spilt his food.

Taiyo: "Really? Why can't you clean up your own mess?"

Taiyo sets to cleaning the mess, a television set on the counter left on to the news which is in the middle of the weather segment with its female reporter.

News Anchor: "Still mild like its been all week, cooling down in the evening. This has been the most uneventful summer in terms of the weather in years. Back to you, Ryle."

The scene transitions to a middle aged male in a grey suit.

Ryle: "Thank you, Janet. Last night at approximately eleven thirty, three men were found beaten and handcuffed to a parking meter a block away from Manderlay Police Headquarters. The three men whose names have not been released are suspected in an ongoing investigation the DEA has been working on relating to the surge in crystal meth over the past year. Commisioner Grant Morrison was not available for comment."

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Azuma: "What's so great about today? Besides I should be looking to become a contributing member of society since graduation. But haven't because I'm a lazy sod."

Mimiru: "That's about it, but that's not what I'm here for."

Azuma: "Then why are you here?"

Mimiru: "Grandma wanted me to pick some things up for her and I'm enlisting you to help."

Azuma: "Because?"

Mimiru: "I said you'd help. As you know, some means quite a bit. And you make a great pack animal."

*Aroma switches to cartoons.*
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*Thiera knocks on the basement door.*

"Mom? Could I talk to you, for a minute?"

<Of course, honey. I'll be right up.>
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*Ven is eating a burger on a park bench.*

Awesome! So whatcha up to?

*Eve goes and grabs a drink of water before returning to the couch*

Taiyo switches the tv off and goes about getting showered and dressed.

Taiyo: I wonder if Ven's off work. I should have asked that yesterday.

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Azuma looks at what appears to be a list. The writing is quite illegible.

Azuma: "What the hell is this? Do I have to be as old as her to read this?"

Mimiru: "God, you're an idiot. How can you not see that says a pound of saffron?"

Azuma: "Because I can't read these runes that apparently only you two can. A pound of saffron? What the hell is saffron?"

Mimiru snatches the list from his hands.

Mimiru: "A herb, dummy. Our first stop is the bulk store."

*Ven goes back to work.*

Dalia arrived at the library and let herself in.

Sure, why?

OOC: Six more posts 'til the end of the arc as it's overdrawn as is.

Taiyo gives Ven a call. Not getting an answer, she leaves a message and hangs up.

Taiyo: I guess she'd still be at work. It is pretty early in the day still.

With nothing else to do, Taiyo decides to go about a walk downtown.

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Azuma: "Is she an apothacary or something? I will admit, she is probably old enough to be knowledgable of the profession."

Mimiru: "Shut up."

Mimiru adds a bag of something to the basket Azuma's carrying already full of other bags of herbs and spices.

Azuma: "Twenty three dollars for a bag of pennyroyal? My God."

*Binah & Thiera are sitting across each other at a coffee table, drinking tea.*

"I just think mutants need a public face that says they can do good with their powers."

<But you could face a great deal of persecution if you went public with your abilities. Even if we trust the Mutant Busters, which I'm not sure I do, there's still politicians, angry teenagers, & "concerned parents.">
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*Aroma laughs at an anthropomorphized animal being hurt by an event unlikely to occur under Newtonian Physics.*
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*Ven goes back to work.*

Dalia found a book and a seat and began a relaxing afternoon of reading.

Absolutely nothing. I might start looking for part time work eventually, but that would be a bore. How about you?

Fast forward through summer and into the end of the year.

In November, Henry Philips was inaugurated into the White House winning in a landslide victory over his opponent. In other parts of the country, Mutant Buster units are being trained and deployed in cities where Mutant related crime has began to appear.

The Tyranno Boys are still at large, having issued another threat on the Commisioner and his family's life.

Six more Mutant criminals were captured and imprisoned out of the city and word of a faceless male in a trenchcoat and fedora spread throughout the city.

Construction in the center of the city continues with no word on what is being built, but the current progress point to a skyscraper of sorts.

Act One: End. Next: Year Two.