[IC] Modern Day Magic

[Sazama]

The bus creaks as it makes its final stop at the heart of the Nijmegen. Mirela spent the entire ride only looking forward, metaphorically and literally. As there was something strange about the man seated at the back of the bus. It seems like no one else felt the presence the man was giving off but she could feel something sinister. That feeling was there even when she was on the plane. Anxious, Mirela wonders if this has something to do with her leaving 'home'.
"Home" was called 'The Commons' was a magic exclusive town hidden from normal human eyes. But with a town chock full of just magic users, there's bound to be tension and pressure like no other. Her family had a big influence in The Commons. They practically own the place, and operations outside of that involved other magic sanctioned areas. It wasn't until she was old enough that she'd learn what other business her family was involved in…

So as soon as she turned 22 she ran away as far as possible. It was then she heard of a skillful information broker that could give you whatever information you needed to know. After some research, Nijmegen turned out to be their base of operations. The questions she had were churning inside of her ever since she had learned of her family's true intentions. She prepared a cover for herself and enrolled in the local university under the guise of a medical student. Since all her life Mirela has been isolated from humans, she has never learned to live amongst them.

She suspected her grandfather would send people to bring her back. Which is why she's been constantly on the move for the past year. So when the man at the back of the bus gave off an ominous feeling, of course, she has every right to be on guard. As soon as the bus came to a complete stop, she decides to finally take a glance at the back of the bus. It was that moment, her eyes began to feel a weird and sudden pressure as she wa able to see a slight red aura emmiting from the man. She blinks her eyes as hard as she could before opening them again, making the aura seemingly vanish.

As soon as the bus doors flew open, Mirela did not hesitate to grab her things and leap into the bustling crowd. She was suppose to make her way to her new apartment not far from the university campus when she realizes that she had no sense of direction in this new city. But she knew she couldn't stop, especially with whatever was on the bus that might have followed her.

After a few more minutes of speed walking she spots a convenience store tucked between two taller buildings and makes a mad dash to enter inside. It was then her view of the inside of the store turns on her and reveals itself to be an alleyway. Panicking, Mirela realizes she just fell for an illusion and whips around to see the man dressed in all black and his face hidden beneath a cloak, stand before her. His face lifts up just enough for her to see beaming red eyes.
Shit was all she could think to herself.

[Blue2]

She knows why she felt like taking this alley route to work the moment she turns the corner. In front of her she sees a young woman in a staring contest with what she knows is a demon. A glimpse of the red eyes tells her all she needs to know and she quickly averts her eyes. Making eye-contact with those eyes will cast you under his spell, ready to do his bidding so long as your eyes lock.

The girl is already stepping towards the demon, fully under his influence. The demon has to concentrate to keep the eye contact, though and he doesn't seem to have noticed Rachel yet. She pushes her back against the wall behind a container and rumages in her purse, qyicly finding what she's looking for. She pulls out the bottle, takes a deep breath and the pushes herself away from the wall. She runs a few steps towards the couple then throws the potion at the demon's feet while shielding her eyes. The glass breaks and a blinding flash appears. It works. It breaks the demon's eye-contact and the demon screams, bring a hand to his eyes.

Rachel hurries towards the woman and gently starts pulling her back. "Come on, we need to get out of here." She looks at the woman uncertainly, wondering if she was blinded by the flash as well or if the demon's gaze protected her until it broke.

[Sazama]

She had felt herself being pulled towards the red-eyed stranger. Each step towards this man felt heavy and forced. Inside Mirela was screaming at herself to stop and run away. The people passing by the alleyway don't even notice them at all. The closer she gets to the man, the more inhuman he looks. Did this man really come from The Commons?

Every possible scenario rushes through her mind. Magic user trafficking? Or could it be someone placed a price for her head?
Would grandfather really enlist the help of a demon to bring me back?

She didn't notice the faint footsteps close behind her but then a glass bottle breaks between her and the demon. It emits a blinding flash that breaks the concentration and frees Mirela (and also blinding her in the process). She feels a slight tug on her back and a woman rushing her to get out of the alleyway.
Though it was just another stranger, it was someone who felt like they didn't mean any harm. Mirela stumbles but runs in the general direction where the woman is leading her. She glances back and although it was still blurry and bright, she doesn't see the demon there anymore.

Once they reach a safe enough distance Mirela stops quickly to catch her breath and trying to get her eyes to focus.
"Thanks for your help back there, but who are you?"

[Blue2]

The woman took the time to catch her breath as well. "Just a friendly passer-by" she said with an accent, looking around. She had led the woman to a street of restaurants, where plenty of people were walking this way and that, looking for an inviting place to eat dinner.

"What is a witch doing walking into an alleyway?" The woman asked. when her breath was caught again.

[Sazama]

"W-witch? Does that mean you're also...one?" Mirela was reluctant to ask, knowing full well the consequences of letting a non-magic user know of their world. It wouldn't be surprising, however, if someone were to know. As it always seems to get harder to hide magic around a modern and growing society such as this one.
"I'm actually here for university...I'm actually a medical student. A lost one at that."

[Blue2]

Rachel nodded. "The red-eyed guy only targets magical creatures." She answered. "He feeds on their magic to replenish his own. If he'd got to you, you would have died." She frowned,blooking around her again. They usially operate on the other side of town, though. Across the river. I wonder what it was doing here."

Then she heard the comment about a medical student. "You live in one of tge student houses then?"

[Sazama]

The thought that Mirela could've easily fallen into the hands of a demon shook her core. When the girl asked if she lived in the student houses Mirela nodded,
"I do, I'm moving in today but... I'm actually a bit lost." She takes a look around at all the restaurants around her, a bit marveled at what the city has to offer.
"I'm Mirela Walker, are you a student at the university too?"

[Blue2]

There was plenty of choice for food, and most of these restaurants had people of student age to do the serving. But all of them seemed regular, not one of them had a hint of magic about them.

"No, I'm not." Answered the woman. "I work. But if you're lost, where do you need to go? I'm well-known around here." She thought about that sentence for a second. "I mean, I know my way around here. Sorry, bad English. I'm Rachel. Nice to meet you."

[Sazama]

"Where do you work?" Mirela asked out of curiosity. She then realized it was a bit too sudden to ask a stranger that especially in the world they lived in. She then remembered why she came to the city and wondered if Rachel would happen to know where the information broker operated. Of course, that would raise some questions between them so Mire brushed it aside.

"I just need to head to the apartments and move in for now. I don't want to trouble you much, but would you mind pointing me there?"

[Blue2]

Rachel asked which street you were on as the students lived all over the city. When you named it she agreed to take you there. "It's not too far off for me." She said as she started walking south. "I work at a theatre." She then answered the first question, pulling a folder out of her purse. "I was on my way over there when I ran into you.

"Here." The playbill showed a staged forest and several people dressed up in flimsy dresses and unrealistic clothing from another age. But there were also fairies on the pamphlet -real fairies, not actors playing them. With green sparkling text the pamphlet read 'A SUMMER'S MIDNIGHT DREAM' Below that it said in smaller, slightly pulsating letters 'Now playing at The Bazaar' the address and times were listed on the back of the playbill.

"What we're playing now is basically A Midsummer Night's Dream, but then the fairy version, not tge human Shakespeare one. It's quite funny, it mocks the human version a little. Any magical creature can buy a ticket, so long as they vow not to fight, maim or kill inside the theatre."

[Sazama]

Mirela walked along as Rachel handed her a playbill detailing a theater that was catered to magical creatures. She couldn't help but be amazed that the city offered something like this.
"I'll definitely need to check this out, have you been living here long?"

She had a feeling that befriending this person could be beneficial, but she will have to tread lightly...
One never knows if you could be scammed into something, especially in the city.

[Blue2]

"A while." Rachel answered. "I moved here about... Seven years ago." She turned lwft and then right. "This city has quite a large magical community. The university is a regular human facility, I don't know about tge magical community there so you'd need to be careful. But if you want to blow off steam, there's a bar for the magical community down that alleyway, round the corner." She pointed to her right, down a street almost as narrow as the alleyway you'd just got caught in, except that this street was curved so you couldn't look down it very far.

[Sazama]

"The bar?" Mirela pondered out loud. It would seem like the place a broker would work out of but Mirela didn't want to be too sure.
"Do you happen to know if they're hiring there?" Mirela asked as they walked the other direction.
She had a hunch that the magic community bar would be a good place to start, plus the money would help her survive this city.

[Blue2]

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know." She answered. "You can always ask. It's a blue door and when you knock on it you'll be asked for a password. You just need to say something. The doorman, Tom, he can see if someone has powers when they speak."

She turned another corner. "Your room is three blocks further." That meant Mirela lived close to the bar

[Sazama]

"Okay, I guess it's worth a shot." Mirela nodded, mentally adding a note to stop by the bar sometime soon.
When Rachel mentioned that her apartment was just a few blocks more Mirela's hands tugged tighter on her luggage. She knew she was going to be sharing the room with another student. Most likely they would be non-magic so Mirela would have to be extra careful even around private quarters.
She did not want to solely rely on her magic since she has seen firsthand how dependent it can make people. Living with a non-magic roommate would be a good chance for her to practice other skills.

[Blue2]

The other witch talked a little about stuff they passed on the way to Mirela's new bar, such as a gay bar, a restaurant where students could get a decent meal for a normal price (regular restaurants were too expensive to visit often in this country, even if most of them offered a studrnt discount), the best place for pizza around here. Finally they reached a street with old manors.

Rachel looked at the numbers and stopped in front of the middle building. At the door hung 9 doorbell buttons, most with anothe nametag next to it. "This is it." She said. "Number 58. Your room should be here."

Mirela had been told to ring the 'general' bell when she arrived.

[Sazama]

Mirela thanked Rachel as they reached the building, and pressed the general doorbell to be let in.
"Thank you for saving my life back there. Let me know if there's any way I can repay you." She set down her bags and extended a hand out for her to shake.
"I'll definetely hit that theater up for the show soon, see you around?" She asked with a hint of uncertainty. She didn't know anyone in the city, hopefully the woman that saved her would be willing to keep in touch.

[Blue2]

Rachel nodded. "I can usually be found at the bar on weekend days after the show if you need anything else." She offered, then said het goodbye and left you to your new living arrangements.

Upon ringing the doorbell the door was opened by a woman introducing herself as Sonja, the keeper of these appartments. The ground floor of the mannor held a living room and a kitchen. These were shared by the students living there. To the back was a garden where several bikes were placed. In the Netherlands students usually rode bikes everywhere, including to the university. The first floor ((I'm going whith Dutch names here, first floor being up one flight of stairs)), and second floor each held 3 rooms, each room belonging to one student. The third floor, which was the top floor, held two rooms. One of them belonged to another student, one of them would be Mirela's.

The room was about 9 square metres (100 square feet). Because she was an international student she had been elligable for a furnished room and this room held a bed for 1 person with storage boxes beneath it, a small desk and a pretty large closet which could be used for a mixture of wardrobe and personal affects. She'd been expected to bring her own laptop and a letter with Wifi instructions was placed 9n the desk.

Sonja told her that this was a mixed student house, meaning it housed men and women. The other person on the third floor was also an international student in a furnished room, the other floors held Dutch people. But everyone in the Netherlands spoke English so she should have no trouble communicating. Three of them were at home and Mirela was introduced to them. The others would probably stop by some other time to introduce themselves.

Basically if you kept the door to your room open it meant anyone could come in and say hi, if you closed the door it meant you wanted privacy. That was the main rule in the house.

Sonja explained how things worked in the house, what was taken care of collectively and what you had to provide for yourself, who had to clean which area when and how use of the kitchen and bathroom worked. If you had problems with any other student in 5he house, Sonja was the person to go to. But generally the students lives in good spirits together and she experienced few problems.

((I hope you don't mind skipping a little here, right now I don't have immediate plans to include the non-magical people in the house. If we want to do that later, we can always go more in depth, but I'd rather not riak this getting boring with unneccesary details in the beginning of the play. Or would you like one of the appartments having anothe witch, or perhaps a demon? Hmm, could be another plot twist.))

[Sazama]

Mirela walks through the house with Sonja, getting a tour and an introduction to most of the faces living in the building with her. When it was informed that her room was on the third floor, she couldn't help but internally groan. She could think of a dozen ways to get up all those stairs using magic. Of course, this wasn't an option. Mirela had to do things without using magic now. It would take time getting used to but in the end, Mirela was happy for it. Upon settling in, Mirela had left the door open for anyone to converse themselves with her. She stares at the door opposite from her room and wonders what the person living there would be like.

[Blue2]

It's not long before someone there shows up. Carrying a plastic grocery bag, a woman about Mirela's age comes up the stairs and heads towarrs the door of the other room. The woman is dressed in a long, green skirt with a flowery pattern and a white blouse. Her long, brown hair hangs loose past her face, but when she turns towards Mirela's room, two small braids become visible, lining a face with a large nose and some not-too-subtle eye-shadow which matches the green skirt.

"Oh, hi" the woman smiles and then goes into her own room where she drops her bag and then turns around to come to Mirela's room. "You must be the new international student?" She holds out her hand, introducing herself with a name that's hard to pronounce. "But you can call me Gosia." She adds luckily. "I'm from Poland. Where are you from?" She asks as she looks around the room.

((Can you describe what personal affects Mirela brought?))