undergrounds | 01 ❄ Magical Grad School [open]

[A] Grading Essays (Redbright)

Elsa is not sure when using proper grammar went out of style, but some of the essays she has to grade are seriously terrible. Why is the Oxford comma optional? And someone actually used the word 'bro' in an attempted serious context. Elsa knows that she's a bit old-fashioned, a bit of a nerd when it comes to grammar, but by God, how hard is it to write properly when writing an essay for school?

She puts down her red pen and rubs her eyes. The dim light in her office (basically a closet) and close scrutiny of the papers in front of her are making her head hurt. And it's been at least 5 hours since she's had any caffeine and she's going to need to rectify that before she starts working on her own research. Elsa carefully packs the essays away in a folder and grabs her backpack, swinging her blonde braid over her shoulder.

In the hallway outside her office, she fights her way against the current of students walking opposite her like a salmon swimming upstream. One of the students accidentally bumps into her, causing her folder to drop to the floor, essays spilling out all over.

"Shoot."

With a sigh, she bends to start picking them all up before they're trampled.

[B] Drinking Coffee (Out and about)

After retrieving the fallen essays, Elsa makes her way to the coffee shop a few blocks over from the University. She likes getting out of the bubble of Redbright and going into the "real world". Being a meta-human, she feels as though she kind of belongs in both worlds, magical and mundane. She has special powers, but the rest of her family does not. And while the relationship between she and her parents is strained, she still speaks to her sister, Anna, on a daily basis.

Which reminds her to check her phone. She fishes it out of her pocket and sees that Anna has indeed texted her. It's typical stuff about school, but Elsa texts her back as she waits in line at the coffee shop. Most of the time their conversations are unexciting, but she enjoys texting her sister and keeping up with what's going on in her life.

When she steps to the counter, she orders a large iced coffee. Even in the dead of winter she orders iced coffee because too much of the hot stuff causes her to overheat very quickly. She needs the caffeine, but not the heat. After the barista prepares her drink, Elsa carries it to a nearby table and pauses to check what Anna has texted her back.

[C] Doing Research (Redbright)

Coffee acquired, Elsa gathers a bunch of books at the library and sits down at a table off to the side. She begins to take notes on anything relevant - specifically related to meta-humans, which is her research area. She hasn't quite nailed down exactly what she wants to research, but she knows she wants it to be about her kind. There are still quite a few questions about meta-humans and how they are created. What makes one sibling "normal" and another sibling have extra-human powers? She wonders if it has to do with genetics and she feels as though the research will lead her there eventually. For now, she's still exploring.

Elsa takes a long swig of the iced coffee and goes back to reading and note-taking. She's technically working but she wouldn't be completely against an interruption.

[OOC: If you would like your character to have previous CR with her at all, just let me know.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mostly Elsa is astonished. "Do you typically enter cafes in London?" She's never met any fae before and she was under the impression that they kept to themselves and didn't interact with mortals, natural or supernatural. But maybe she's wrong. Maybe they hide in plain slight like this woman, though her striking appearance did pique Elsa's curiosity.

"I have had very little need to do so in the past." Translation? No. Though, surprisingly, it seems to be the place to get to know humanity. Much to Mab's chagrin. She isn't overly fond of the places. The young woman takes it all quite in stride. Her knowledge of fae is clearly not as in depth as some of the humans she has approached which is intriguing. That combined with her sympathetic magic make her a delicious morsel of interest for Mab.

"You are meta-human." She repeats, resting her chin on her hand. "I sensed your affinity to cold."

Right. So that's why she followed her here. The woman could sense the magic in her, which made sense if she were a fae.

"And is that the nature of your magic as well? Ice and snow?"

Elsa has never met anyone else like her, meta-human or otherwise.

She was a sweet thing, this girl. So open and inquisitive. Mab hasn't mentioned anything about her own magic so it was an interesting conclusion to jump to, although the natural coolness that surrounded her might have been a hint. "I have been known to toy with ice." She agrees. It doesn't give a lot of information but does at least give Elsa a jumping off point for similarities. Kind of alike a drug dealer giving the first hit free.

She made a small face, a moue of disapproval, "The summer is ... cloying in a city like this."

Elsa has noticed that this woman doesn't actually answer any questions. She merely makes statements that may have to do with the topic of the question. Such is the nature of fae, she supposes. But it makes for a kind of annoying conversation. Elsa exhales slowly.

"I agree. So you prefer winter as well then?"

Well technically they are answers, just very vague ones. She leans in and sets her chin on her hand watching Elsa get frustrated at her answers. It is understandable as the girl clearly showed an interest because she sensed something akin in Mab.

"Oh yes." She smiled at her, "Tell me, do you like games?" It was a non-sequitur and meant to throw her off a little. But the girl did know a bit about the fae. And they were known for loving a good game.

Elsa exhales slowly through her nose. She goes to take a drink of her coffee, only to find that it's a block of ice inside the plastic up. She releases it in the hopes that it will melt and become drinkable again.

"It depends on the game."

Mab's eyes drift down to the frozen cup and then back up to Elsa. Who is smart enough to know games might not be safe when played with the fae. You may ask me a question and I will answer honestly. And for every question I answer honestly you will do the same for me." She lifts her free hand and a veil drops obviously around them so the conversations even nearby are indecipherable, the people a little difficult to make out. It will stop people from overhearing things that oughtn't be overheard and from reading lips.

"Either of us may chose not to answer a question if necessary."

01 ❄ Magical Grad School [open]

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