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Barton Town consists of a small village fortified by square stone walls, complete with a jewelry store, a “Love Shack” for those romantics, a shopping center, a bar, various houses and a fountain in the middle.

*Mori looks around the fountain* The town was quieter than usual, the only sound was that of the tress leaves rustling and the breeze blowing around her. "I wonder where everyone is?" she said. She decided to practice some of her water manipulation abilities and summoned a sphere of water from within the fountain. As it floated upwards she waved one hand in its direction and it started emanating a rainbow of light from within. She twisted her index finger in a circle with the hand she had used to summon it and it began to twirl around. She couldn't help but admire it's beauty.

Mori had been distracted by the sphere of water until she heard someone walking towards her. She kept her hand raised in order to steady the sphere and looked in the direction of the person approaching her. It was a man, his attire indicated that he was maybe a warrior of some sort. He addressed her questioning how she was able to manipulate the water. She didn't like discussing her abilities very often but he seemed interested enough that she decided to discuss it with him further. " I have been training to learn how to embrace divine manipulation of the elements. With a little practice this is what I have learned so far.."

Still stabilizing the sphere with one hand, it had almost a prism effect of colors flowing through it. She studied him a bit further he did not seem to be of any threat to her even though he suddenly pointed his finger at the sphere of water and sent a burst of energy towards it popping it. As it popped the water turned into a waterfall of sparkles and colors and splashed into the fountain below. " Arghh," Mori said as the water splashed her as well. It wasn't enough to soak her but enough to surprise her to say the least.

The man starts laughing, She then splashes some of the water back towards him and let out a giggle as well. " My name is Mori," she says as she stands to greet him. "It's nice to meet you, sort of!" She says looking down at her wet clothes.

Location: The Love Shack

"....to look at myself in the mirror anymore," a middle-aged man in a cheap suit weeps into his hands, distraught over some transgression that had been troubling him. Seated beside him, a young woman gently caresses his back, attempting to console him. "It's okay. You're only human. Mistakes happen," she reassures but her heart is not in it. You see, this man is but one of many she's met with over the last few months since she's taken the job as a "Cuddle Companion" at the Love Shack. It's not exactly the most demanding job she's ever had, but it's taxing nonetheless. Today, she is dressed as some lewd approximation of a nun. The habit she's wearing plunges far too low beyond her neckline and rises far too high above her thigh. Her "hair", a lengthy auburn wig that extends past her feet, is far too disheveled and long to be in line with modesty. But there are crosses on her thigh-high, high-heeled boots and she wears a crucifix pendant on a black necklace so surely she must be a lady of God. At the very least, she'll do her best to pretend. A gimmick isn't necessary for her current line of work, but it helps. Standing out from the crowd can be a struggle if you don't have any particular thing that's special about you. For some it's their ethnicity. For others, it's their skillset. For our nun, it's this costume. It appeals to the kind of clientele that is drawn to establishments like the Love Shack, but feel guilty about it. A lot of the time, they aren't exactly single. That doesn't matter, she won't pry, won't judge.

Forty more minutes pass and the once sobbing man is now smiling. "Thank you for your time, sister." He initiates a hand shake, timid at first, but swiftly finds the confidence to transition into a hug - his wide 5'10" frame completely engulfing his 5'3" companion. They embrace for what feels like an eternity, and then he places her compensation into her hand. As he turns to leave, she thumbs through the cash and inserts it into her bosom - the costume doesn't have pockets, after all. "I fare thee well." She does her classiest curtsy just as the man disappears from her sight and then glances up at the clock. "Ugh! That felt like forever! I need a smoke break." She gives it five minutes, hopefully enough time for her guest to be well on his way by now, then starts making her way toward the entrance. She passes through the main lobby and just as she is about to make her way past check in she is stopped abruptly!

"PRU-NELLE!" There is a harsh amount of emphasis placed on the first syllable of her name. "Just where do you think you're going?! You've still got two hours of your shift left!" Impeding her path is one of the managers, an older woman in business attire that seems far too corporate for a place like the Love Shack. If it were up to her, a woman as unappealing as Prunelle would never have been hired in the first place, therefore, as far as Prunelle could tell, this manager was always looking for a reason to get rid of Prunelle's chubby a**. If Prunelle so much as breathed too heavily, this manager would berate her for it.

"I'm just stepping out to have a smoke break. Won't even be gone ten minutes." Prunelle forces her way past the grumpy manager and power walks the rest of the way to the door. Behind her, yells of how much of a good-for-nothing sorry excuse she is, and how she better be back in exactly five minutes! Sheesh! Once she's finally past the threshold of the building, she leans against its walls, retrieves a pack of cigs from her titty stash and places one of the cigs between her lips. She doesn't appear to ever produce a lighter, but the cig is lit regardless. While smoking, she starts to reflect on just how she ended up where she is today. "...to think, just five years ago, I was starting lessons at the academy." She had always imagined her life would turn out much differently than how it is today. But motherhood has a way of changing things.

‘We?’ he thought, peering down at Mori with those big yellow eyes. As she held her palm out, he mirrored the motion, putting his own right hand out palm first. Just then, through his ‘Spirit Sense,’ he rediscovered the spirit ball behind him, deducing that it must have come from a portal or something; yes, rents in the fabric of spacetime, ‘so the Seer saw.’ Just before the ‘Shot’ could hit him, he put up a barrier of blue chi which blocked the orb, and then it poofed out of existence. He expected a chi blast from Mori’s hand, but that could be deceptive.

Nonetheless, he continued to feed energy into his body, which took the form of a translucent blue sphere about his person. Ready to block whatever this lady threw at him next, he also seemed to want to know more about her ‘god-like’ manipulation of the elements, as he, too, could do similar things. He smiled, showing his pearly white fangs, and thought about picking up the pitchfork.

Mori touched his right palm through the chi barrier. Small arcs of electricity crackled in the space between their bodies. As she pulled her own hand away, a bright white orb manifested between their palms with more electricity, golden-colored, ensconcing their hands. Occluding the sun, rainclouds formed, and then Mori fired the electric energy between them into the sky. Thunder boomed, lightning crashed and then it started to rain.

“I have a similar technique. Atmokinesis. See?” The rain falling above his head bent around him, as if he put up a forcefield while the chi barrier disappeared. Now, what about that golden stuff in their hands, and the globe of light between them?

“Got anything else up your sleeve?”

Prunelle exhales a large puff of smoke and pouts at the sight of it. She'd been attempting smoke rings damn near since the moment she picked up her first cigarette, but for some reason she could never manage to blow one. One day, she thinks to herself. Just keep at it and eventually it will happen. Yeah...just like having a career in wizardry was supposed to eventually happen. She stands there, puffing away and feeling sorry for herself, when she notices a sudden change in the weather. It had been relatively pleasant outside, and that was another reason why she wasn't in the greatest mood. Instead of enjoying the weather she had to go to work, and by the time her shift is over the majority of the day will be done. Now though, the sunny, blue sky had become cloudy and gray and raindrops were quickly descending. She'd be upset about it if it weren't for the fact that her five minutes were almost up, which meant that she had to be back inside anyway. She sighs, then takes a long drag of her cigarette before tossing the butt onto the ground and mashing it out with the toe of her boot. She'd be just about to make her way back inside when she takes another glance at her surroundings and that's when she notices something strange about the rain. It was only affecting a small area, as if clouds were forced to converge directly overhead. Glancing just a bit further out, she could see that the rest of Barton was still enjoying a clear sky and warm weather; the arena was practically gleaming in sunlight. "O~kay..." Weird didn't even begin to explain it.

Investigating never really crossed her mind, and yet she starts piecing it all together. Nearby there's a man with a pitchfork, apparently hydrophobic since the rain seems to be falling around him in a way that's so noticeable as to create a dome of negative space around him. And within a few yards of his location, a woman that is collecting the rainfall into a sphere. Hydrokinesis, maybe? Stranger things have happened, surely, but Barton is mostly full of normies. Yeah, Ian has a talking cat but that's like the most whimsical thing you'd ever encounter in Barton. Hydrophobic "devils" and Hydrokinetic "fox girls" - definitely tourists. Tourists...that could probably use a companion! Now, Prunelle isn't wearing a watch, but even though her break was only supposed to be five minutes, her next client isn't due to arrive for another twenty. And yeah, her boss could be a real b***h, but surely she'd forgive a small transgression like returning from a break a bit late if she returned with new clients, right? She steps away from the Love Shack, out from under the protective awning of its entrance.



"You two aren't from around here, are you?"