The same isn't true about the wind.

[mage_see_mage_do]

Witches aren't troubled by the cold, but the same isn't true about the wind.
Temperance wasn't afraid of falling from her brand new cloudpine branch, but she might drop her books and that was nearly as bad. She decided to land until the weather quieted down.
Instead of quieting it down, the weather got worse, snow started falling and it was hard to navigate even with Faramund covering her with his wings.
Temperance didn't hear anything, just saw a glimpse of the thing, just enough for her brain to register the combination of snake and mirror and...
...then she found herself under warm sunlight, feeling a gentle breeze over her skin. Blinking away the sudden light and the melting snow in her eyes, she found herself surrounded by a green woodland that was too warm to be anywhere near she remembered being.
In short, Temperance and her daemon were very confused.

Comments

[iamnotpolaris]

Emily will pay for the stuff! It is a shame, but Temperance doesn't have to personally handle the money, and it could be argued she's paying the school with magic.

[mage_see_mage_do]

It is all nicely symbiotic like that, they should finish their shopping with quite enough time to return home, unless something goes wrong.

But what could go wrong?

[maggie_of_the_owls]

That guy over there could go wrong! He's looking a little shifty.

[iamnotpolaris]

Emily notices the shiftiness! She leans over to Temperance. "Does that guy look to you like the kind of shifty that's our problem to you?"

[mage_see_mage_do]

Temperance looks discreetly.

"Maybe?" Temperance ponders "Back home that is the kind of shifty that means he won't mess with me because I have magic, but he is unlikely to know that I do even he isn't a mutant-hater, a mutant or something."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Mm. Well, no one here is going to guess the full breadth of your abilities, but you're dressed atypically enough that people are likely to assume that you're not only a mutant, but, well...your world has the idea of superheroes, right? Most of the teachers and a handful of the older students here form what one couldn't help but call a superhero team. And people are probably going to assume that's some kind of hero outfit."

[mage_see_mage_do]

Temperance looks down at her black silk dress. She doesn't think it looks like a super-hero costume, but she would be hard pressed to remember more than three female super-heroes (and two of those are female counterparts to male ones).

"Do I need to dress more... normal?" Temperance says "I am more open to the idea than most witches but I don't consider ideal. At least I will know to invest on shoulder pads in the future."

[iamnotpolaris]

"You certainly don't have to, it's just that people will make assumptions. If someone confronts you about it you can just say you like dressing that way or something."

[mage_see_mage_do]

"I will see what works in the future. Should we do something about the shifty guy?"

[maggie_of_the_owls]

As though to pre-empt any response Emily might make, the man dissolves--turns his body into water--and slips through the back door of the store they just left.

[iamnotpolaris]

"Shit. Definitely our problem."

[mage_see_mage_do]

Someone dissolving into water is impressive even for a witch.

"My power isn't that great to direct combat," Temperance says quickly "mostly witches enchant stuff and use that to fight, but I could try make us invisible."

[iamnotpolaris]

"That would be great. How long does it take? How long does it last?"

[mage_see_mage_do]

"The fastest one requires me to speak the incantation repeatedly," Temperance says "but I can invisible you too and prepare a new spell while keeping the old one. It is a mind trick not actual invisibility"

Unless Emily objects, Temperance starts preparing the spell, she takes a bottle of honey and draws three runes in each girl. She will then say the magical worlds...

...and vanish from sight. Emily might hear a quiet murmur where Temperance was standing, but it isn't very noticeable.

[iamnotpolaris]

Emily absolutely does not object. A mind trick is more useful than actual invisibility; Emily knows this from experience. Actual invisibility would be discouraged by a closed door.

[mage_see_mage_do]

It is a visual only mind trick. Emily's eyes can't notice her arm being tugged, by the tactile sensation is there. Still better than nothing when dealing with an unknown enemy. Better start moving.

[iamnotpolaris]

The door the other mutant went through is locked. Then it isn't. Emily opens it and looks around to see if she can see their shifty fellow.

[maggie_of_the_owls]

The shifty fellow is visible as a vaguely amorphous blob of water that appears to be trying to open a crate. It stills as the door opens but resumes its activity after a pause, apparently concluding that the door had been left unlocked and was blown open by the wind. Or something.

[mage_see_mage_do]

That is the plan.

Temperance stays close to Emily keeping her eyes open and trying to find hostages if there is any, or a good place to cover.

[maggie_of_the_owls]

There are no hostages! Well, there's that uniformed employee tied up over there, but it looks like that's more of a "keep him out of the way so he doesn't interfere" kind of situation than a "threaten him so no one else interferes" kind of situation.
There are a ton of crates that would make good cover.

[iamnotpolaris]

Emily begins feeling around for what metal is available. There's a not inconsiderable amount on her own person, of course, and some equipment she'd rather not cannibalize, and the nails in the crates, and some merchandise she would also rather not cannibalize.
Well, she can make it significantly harder to open a crate while she thinks of a better idea.
Meanwhile she is thinking very hard at her sister and cursing the distance between town and the school.

[maggie_of_the_owls]

The shifty fellow observes the difficulty. He does not immediately seem to attribute it to the work of other mutants, but he does burble in a manner suspiciously reminiscent of the utterance of profanity.

[mage_see_mage_do]

Help the employee or attack the mutant?

She can't really help the employee with the mutant there.

Temperance will find a crate to hide herself and will starts her spell casting by drawing runes on it's surface, it should take a only a minute, but a lot might happen in a minute.

She remains invisible but this spell will require her to break the invisibility first.

[iamnotpolaris]

This would be so much easier if she didn't have to worry about property damage.
Emily doesn't have nearly enough metal to contain someone who can slip through arbitrary spaces. She has no idea if it's even possible to kill this guy in this form, which means she doesn't know how not to do it. She's seriously considering commandeering some metal implements that she can probably fix later.
But shifty fellow seems pretty distracted for now.

[maggie_of_the_owls]

Emily spoke a bit too soon. She can perhaps be forgiven since the only person who could hear was her sister who was miles away. And it wasn't actually speaking. The point is, Shifty Fellow has grown tired of trying to disassemble the box and is now trying to smash it on the floor. If they don't take care of him right quick they are going to get all kinds of unwanted attention.