[IC] MIRC-ISP

[TenSARS]

Magic Institute for Research and Control of Inexplicable Supernatural Phenomena

OOC thread is here (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17418)

---

Today would be ‘moderate’ according to the weather forecast. Unlike other weather forecasts, which seemed to just be horoscopes with clouds, the forecast actually came directly from the guys at ‘climate control’ for the entire city.

Thankfully this means that today’s new arrivals will go as planned thought a blonde haired man standing outside of a pyramidal building: the Hub. This was a room full of portals that linked MIRC-ISP to the outside world.

He was looking through all of the new underage arrivals that he’d have to look after until they were taken to the dorms. Today was going to be a good day for him, because there was only one of them, so he wouldn’t have grow a few extra eyes to keep track of the kids if they got overexcited. The last time he did that, he came home with a massive headache.

Canada... Canada... Alex Bouchard should be arriving within the next few minutes, he thought.

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"Right, so they told me to go to the local airport and pick up a payphone... Hmm..." Will Bouchard was walking around in the airport near the payphones. One rang. He picked it up.

"Hello?"
"Hey, Don, we got the money. Let's head back to headquarters."
"What?"
"You're not Don! ... You didn't hear anything, kid."

Will hung up and looked around for another payphone. He found one ringing and picked it up.

"Hello?"

He was then transported to the Hub, where a blond haired man was waiting.

"Nice."

[TenSARS]

The blonde haired man was watching the hub's numerous portals for the latest arrivals, whilst at the same time, he was reading the newspaper when the new arrival came. Several Shinto Paper Seals burned to a crisp in thin air.

"Alex," said the man in slightly accented English, holding out his hand to shake. If one listened carefully it had a hint of French in it. "Hello, I'm Monsiuer Roquefort. I will be looking after you and guiding you through your registration process today."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

Will shook his hand. "Okay, thanks." Then he thinks, 'Did he just call me Alex?'.

[TenSARS]

((Awkwaaard... Okay, we'll just call it an MIRC-ISP screw up for now. I gtg sleep. Will post in the morning.))

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

(So it wasn't on purpose? It would have been a really nice comic relief part of the storyline if it were on purpose.)

[TenSARS]

((Nah it was an honest mistake... or was it?))

Monsieur Roquefort lead 'Alex' Bouchard out of the Hub, and towards the bustling road below.

"Mister Bouchard, I trust that you will not be too bewildered. The general affluence of the population in this city is a little above what you may be used to. But don't worry too much, we have arranged suitable accommodation for your price range, and there are plenty of opportunities in this city to earn a little extra for the advancement of science."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"I didn't understand a word you just said, but it sounds good." Will Bouchard followed the man.

[TenSARS]

The streets just outside the hub were packed with traffic. Buses almost deadlocked the roads, as they all tried to manoeuvre to their stops . The walkways were mercifully la little less crowded, but no one on the pathways seemed to even know where they wanted to go.

Fortunately, Roquefort did know, and he looked across the closest path towards the Resident Registration Office. Personally, he still didn't know why they didn't simply have the office and the hub in the same building.

"This is our first stop on the tour of the city," said Roquefort, dodging past a skater with a distinctive blue cap, who shouted a vague apology as he deftly slid past Will. "It is here that you will register your arrival, and where we shall arrange somewhere for you to live here."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"Okay, I understand... so do I just go in?" Will asked the man.

[TenSARS]

Roquefort nodded. He nodded, because at that moment a bus chose to shoot past the two of them, and he would have been drowned out as the noise...

Noise? Buses here are specifically designed to reduce noise...

"Hmm... Just go talk to front desk. They'll assign a number to you, and when you're called up, they will tell you where to go. I will be unavailable to help you for a few minutes, I have to make a call inside."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

Will goes inside the building and talks to the front desk. They assigned him a number, as the french guy who's name Will didn't remember said. He sat down and waited around.

[TenSARS]

Several minutes passed in the waiting room of the Registration Offices, whilst Roquefort disappeared off to the side after showing a badge to the receptionist.

"Number two hundred and forty six?" called the receptionist. "Please make your way to room number 32."

---

"Head office? Yes, I believe there may be a problem with service number 623 from the Hub to the Southern residential area... it sounded like a mechanical fault..."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"Number 246? Is that me?" Will felt his pockets for his number and looked at it. It said...

[TenSARS]

The receptionist looked around, a scanning for Number 246.

"Ahem... could the person holding ticket number Two Hundred and Forty Six make their way to Office number 32. Your advisor will see you now."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

It said... 246. Will stood up and somehow found Office number 32. He went in and just stood there.

[TenSARS]

The desk in Office 32 was manned by a lady called Cassandra Eberhardt: it said so on the plaque. On the desk itself was a massive collection of stationery, various paperwork trays, a 19 inch LCD monitor, an a keyboard and mouse to match.

The 30 something saw the young man enter, and gave her best smile.

"Hello," she said, standing and extending a hand over the desk. "I'm Cassandra Eberhardt, and I'll be helping you to find suitable accommodation whilst you're in MIRC-ISP. May I have your name please just to confirm who you are?"

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"My name is Will Bouchard... Um, I think the escort called me Alex, though." Will looked around as he talked to the woman.

[TenSARS]

'Aww, he's kinda shy,' said Cassandra

"Alright then Will," she said looking over the records. She kept searching...

...and searching...

...and searching...

"There isn't a Bouchard on the list... oh dear, the servers must be acting up again. Second time this week... could you give me the name of the man who escorted you here?"

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"I think it was, uh, Mon... Monsiuer... Rockfort, or was it Roquefort? Roque, Roak... err... rock?" He mumbles to himself as he tries to remember the escort's name.

[TenSARS]

"Rock... Rocka... Lockon... Ah!" said Cassandra, continuing to scan through a list of designated personnel on Minor Escort duty that day. "Luiz Roquefort... hmm that's strange, he should be in the office, but his Babel Translator specifically says he's in District 42... Hey, Will, listen, because you're not on this list, I can't do anything from this terminal. However, if you can find Luiz, I can have him authorize your entry into MIRC-ISP as a resident."

Cassandra stood up, and reached for her coat with her arm, which progressively darkened as it stretched for the other end of the room.

"I think it would be best for you to come with me," she said. "Roquefort's safety is tied directly to you being allowed to stay here, and you can learn a little about MIRC-ISP, and possibly test your powers a little. Don't worry, I'm a trained professional in conflict resolution here."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

Since Will is already standing up, he just waits for Cassandra to lead the way.

[TenSARS]

Cassandra had sent a quick message to the front desk, telling them where she was. The red and white coat fit snugly as she darted out of the door, her office heels lying abandoned under the desk as she walked at a brisk pace towards the back of the building, a veil of shadows covering her feet, apparently protecting them from harm, Will apparently in tow.

There in the parking lot, she had a white Toyota Supra.

"Will, get in," she said, as she unlocked the car.

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

Will obediently gets in the car, not knowing what else to do.

[TenSARS]

"Alright," said Cassandra, keying up the ignition. "Hang on tight, I'm gonna go catch him, and drag him back here for causing so much trouble."

Ignoring the fact that she was causing most of this trouble for herself, the engine roared into life, a flame flicking out of the exhaust for a split second, before it howled out of the parking lot.

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

Will had nothing to do, and being in that car for a while, he was getting bored. He attempted to make small talk.

"So what's your job like?"

[TenSARS]

"Me?" asked Cassandra, casually weaving between two trucks. "I'm usually just a desk girl who sorts out incoming underage accommodation, but as you can see, I've got a few special skills that means I occasionally get called in by management to help resolve cases. It's great, because I can leave my job at the drop of a hat to go help people."

The speedometer climbed and climbed as the highway straightened out. The roads in MIRC-ISP always seemed to be clear, despite having Tokyo levels of traffic.

"Also, another perk is that the cops can't stop me, because if they do, I just pull the 'Emergency Assignment' line and they let me go."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

Although Will payed attention to less than half of what she said, he replied, "Oh, sounds fun."

[TenSARS]

Totally oblivious to the fact that Will seemed bored, Cassandra picked up the pace until they eventually took the intersection off the highway, and rolled into District 42, searching for the exact place Roquefort left his Babel Translator... and they found it.

"Will... get out of the car," she said as she stared at the 623 bus ahead of them, smoking, windows whited out, standing still in the road "I have a rough idea what's happened, and I think you're going to need to stay away from my car."

Where's Roquefort!?

She signalled to Will to come towards her, and to keep close. A mass of shadow began to form at her feet...

"So," she whispered. "What special talents do you have?" This was almost as if she were making light conversation.

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

After hearing that command, Will gets out of the car. Soon after, Will comes towards her.

"What special talents do you have?"
"Well... I can really eat. I ate, like 35 pancakes once."

[TenSARS]

"Huh? No, I mean, what special abilities did the MIRC-ISP research staff say you had? It should have been in your letter of invitation." she asked, drawing closer and closer to the unmoving bus.

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"I- Uh, have acid spit." Will looked down at his feet and moved them around.

[TenSARS]

"Ooh," replied Cassandra as she stopped just outside of twenty metres of the bus. "A physical attack. That could do some good."

Putting her arms forward, she began to probe the area around the stationary bus. Everything inside was almost perfectly still. Too perfect.

In fact, even when a shadowy arm reached out through the air towards the bus, it seemed to stop moving once it reached a threshold.

"Hmm... but I can still feel it moving forward... Will, I think we have the situation under control," said Cassandra. "So, here's a little intro quiz for you, seeing as you're going to be studying Magic here at MIRC-ISP. Firstly, can you suggest a mechanism for something like this happening? I can feel my arm moving, but I can't see it."

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"Uhh..." Will stared at her arm, or where her arm should be, amazed. "If you can't see your arm, why don't we make a hole so that we can see it?"

[TenSARS]

Her shadowy arm had entered within range of the bus, and though past the threshold the shadowy arm appeared perfectly still, Cassandra had pulled it back to be sure nothing would attack it.

"The thing is," she said looking at the bus. "Making a hole in that would require me to see what's causing the disturbance inside. I haven't developed enough control over the shadow arms to accurately manipulate them without visual aid. So, this comes to you... what can your acid spit dissolve?"

[VerifyinTr1gIDs]

"I really don't know. First time I used it was at the park that one time." Will looked down at his feet again, feeling ashamed.