6234/Just What the Neuroi Girl Ordered

Just What the Neuroi Girl Ordered
Date of Scene:	20 January 2019
Location:	Mont-Saint Michaels
Synopsis:	Dr. Strange visits the home of the Strike Witches and Evangeline.
Cast of Characters:	Neuroi Girl, Doctor Strange

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Neuroi Girl has posed:
     When the Doctor emerges from his portal he would find himself in front of the grand cathedral turned airbase that is Mont-Saint Michael's. An airstrip stretches out into the ocean, and high walls surround it on all other sides. It is fairly quiet for an airbase, though. No planes, few soldiers milling about, and no apparent exercises going on.

     But, sharp ears might notice the buzzing of World War II era engines in the distance despite the lack of planes. And very sharp eyes might notice specks in the distance, flying around over the forest that surrounds the base outside of a roughly one mile perimeter that is clear of foliage. There is also the sound of gunfire.

     Depending on whether Strange emerges at the front gate or within the compound, he finds himself greeted by either cautious but amicable guards or...an air raid siren.

Doctor Strange has posed:
     Strange does indeed emerge within the compound. Why would he go to the front door? He's the Sorcerer Supreme, and this is simply the way he does things. The air raid siren is met with a frown of mild dismay. "Oh." Well, it'll probably be fine. It's probably not even because of him. He has no cupcakes with him, and he's dressed in his usual attire.

     A subdued blue tunic, a pleated, high-collared cloak of vibrant red, and cloth bracers which guard his wrists. The tunic is held to his body with a few leather belts and cords of numerous mystic and mundane weaves. He spends a moment looking around, clicking his tongue, emerald eyes flicking conspicuously from spot to spot on the landscape.

     This'll blow over if he can just find Evangeline and get indoors--so he makes an effort to do that, casting his sight into various buildings from a top-down perspective until he can find one that says 'front desk.' Of course, if anyone is laying down, reclining in a chair or just bored and looking at the ceiling, they'll spot an eye-shaped glyph of burning orange sparks peering down at them.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     That eye will notices several interesting things. One, that there is a rather buxom young lady with long red hair lounging on the runway nearby. Two, that another much skinnier and younger girl is asleep in a tree. Three, that yet another young woman who is older than the others is rushing toward Strange's position with a kitana at her side. Four, armed men are headed toward him as well.

     There are other interesting things, such as a white-haired girl asleep in a completely blacked out room, and that he doesn't see a single plane in the entire base. In the hanger there are instead what look like plane engines without the planes themselves, held in mounts with steps leading up the backs and handheld weapons racked beside them.

     Perhaps the most interesting thing is that after a few moments there is a blur of blackness in front of Strange as Evangeline suddenly appears. Her feline tail gives a light swish. "...you should have come to the gate..." she says, her voice once again coming from the red watch around her right arm. She then rotates in place to face the base with herself between it and Strange, then her ears twitch. "...please...everyone stand down...it is a friend..."

     If that eye is still watching, it would see that those heading toward Strange slow only slightly, but the siren does shut off. Evangeline then turns back toward Strange and tilts her head slightly. "...It is good to see you again...are you having the cupcakes delivered after all..?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
     Stephen sighs, waving a scarred hand to dismiss his scrying spell. The entire time that people are approaching him, his fingers are bent into mystic mudras. To the untrained eye, it'd simply look like he's making some sort of strange gesture. There is no other attempt from Strange to defend himself, no sudden movements which might incriminate him. A visit for giving a co-worker some sweets isn't worth flexing the Wizard Muscles. The look of complete non-concern on his face despite being surrounded by armed guards is probably annoying to said guards, though.

     When Evangeline arrives, it takes him a minute to recognize her, his emerald eyes momentarily hardening. He eases up when he realizes who that black blur is, and scoffs at her suggestion. "What," says the Doctor. "And walk? No thanks." He's only somewhat serious. "Besides. I knew even if it..." The sorcerer gives a pointed look towards the woman with the katana. "...raised eyebrows," he rumbles on, "You'd handle it before I had to." It's a big 'if.'

     He clears his throat, lifts a hand, slowly. Palm out. Evangeline and the guards close enough can see it's just as much a patchwork of scars as the back. This place has a French-sounding name. So, he goes for an old-fashioned but nevertheless respectful formal bow, hand upon his chest. That might mitigate all the disrespect his Wizard Hubris has shown. Maybe.

     "I've got the goods," he says as he rises. "Cupcakes," calls the sorcerer so everyone can hear. "For Evangeline. I'm going to appear them now. Everybody cool with that?" His eyes dart from face to face--those he can see from his position, anyway. With Evangeline bodyblocking, it shouldn't be too big an issue if people freak, but it's still a mess he doesn't want to clean up. There now Exists a brown paper bag, tall, cradled against his chest by one arm.

     "Where you wanna eat these?" he asks in a more conversational, less 'don't have a cow' tone.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     The older young woman of obvious Japanese descent and long black hair in a big pony tail comes to a stop a short distance from Evangeline, her hand still on her sword. She has an eye-patch on her right eye and looks like she might be the commanding officer for the base, or perhaps second in command. "...you...brought cupcakes..." she says, relaxing a bit but still with a hand on her sword. "...in the future, please enter through the front gate. This is a military base, not a public park."

     Evangeline relaxes as well...maybe. It's hard to tell with her. "...forgive me, Major Sakamoto...I didn't realize he would appear so quickly...I invited him here after he offered to bring cupcakes..."

     The Major sighs heavily and finally fully releases her grip on her sword, then signals to the armed guards that it is alright. Then she approaches the pair, and...suddenly laughs in a rather forceful way before giving Evangeline an overly firm pat on her back. "Ha ha ha! It is wonderful that you are still making new friends, Evangeline! I was beginning to think that your squadmates were your only friends!" She then looks up at Strange with a serious gaze that no 18 year old girl should have. One of a soldier who has seen a lot of action and who wouldn't hesitate to end someone who was threatening her squad. "Doctor Strange, is it? I believe I have heard mention of you on the radio and Evangeline has talked of you a bit. Please, behave yourself while you are here."

     With that, she makes her way back inside. "False alarm everyone! Stand down!"

     Evangeline's tail flicks lightly before she rotates in place again. "...sorry about that..." she says, then reaches out and her hand emerges from her sleeve to take the bag. "...the mess hall is this way..." But, rather than lead him...she teleports. He seems able to do the same, after all.

Doctor Strange has posed:
     "Yeah..." Strange gives the Major a sedate shrug, slowly shaking his head. "...kinda my thing," he says, motioning with a nod towards Evangeline. He cants his head slightly, squinting. "Appearing quickly. Not cupcakes." He watches her sword arm. When she relaxes, she will notice that the fingers of his free hand also relax.

     Strange can't even manage a weak smile when she forces her enthusiasm for his arrival. His expression is at least a relieved flavor of his usual dry, humorless frown. "Yeah... yeah. That's me. Doctor Stephen Strange, hi." A brief, half-hearted salute. "...I've heard about you, too." 'Major,' though? She's half his age. Either she's really skilled, or... she's been through a lot of shit. Possibly both. That's a very weathered look she has in her eye.

     "Sure," he says in plainly evident faux-cheer. It's a wonder he even raises his eyebrows--but his eyes say 'I'll behave' even if his tone doesn't. With the Major on her way, Strange waits to be led as the red alert dies down. ...only for the little machine to just disappear on him. Well, that's fair. Strange shifts the bag to his other side, and traces a circle with the opposite.

     Anyone watching will see his method--creating a burning ring of sparks, a literal hole in reality, and stepping through to the other side. It closes behind him, and at his destination, he looks around for a spot to put the treats down.

     "That was fun."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     "...yes...the Major is very fun..." Evangeline answers when Strange appears. With her lack of overall inflection it is pretty hard to tell if she is serious or sarcastic.

     They are now in the mess hall, which...looks more like a large dining room of a well off family. There's a long, well-made wooden table surrounded by sensible but nice wood and metal chairs, and visible past the bar is the kitchen. It is also large, but not nearly as large as one might expect if it is supposed to be servicing the entire base.

     Evangeline floats in front of the table for a moment, then turns to look at Strange. "...what kind of cupcakes did you bring...?" she asks, looking closer at the back in obvious eagerness despite the lack of emotion in her voice.

Doctor Strange has posed:
     The Sorcerer Supreme reaches into the bag and produces a plastic tray with many little slots, each holding a cupcake and preventing it from being jostled by traffic, bumpy roads, or bending of the laws of space. "Nothing too special," says Strange, placing them upon that long table. "You have a favorite kind?" He approaches the table and takes a seat, pushing the container towards her.

     He also takes a moment to look around. "Y'know," admits the doctor conversationally, "This place doesn't seem very... air-forcey. ...at all. I mean I heard the planes. And the air raid sirens. But." Strange taps his fingers on the table. "I feel like I'm in a Vincent Price movie. Is Dracula about to come out? Do I have to fight him?" A squint is leveled at Evangeline, and it doesn't look to be entirely in jest. "Because I don't want to."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline 'sits' as well, hovering just barely above the seat of the chair beside Strange without actually touching it yet still in a seated posture with her long, stiff, airplane engine legs sticking out beneath the table. She opens the container and takes out a cupcake. "...favorite...I like...the ones with lots of that sugary pink frosting on top..." she says as she looks at the cupcake she is holding. She doesn't mention a flavor. The cupcake in her hands is surrounded by a rather sinister-looking red energy, and simply...disappears. "...mmm..."

     The questions about the base cause her to tilt her head slightly. "...it...doesn't...?" she asks when he mentions the lack of airforce atmosphere. "...I guess it is because this is not a standard airbase...it is the base of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing...there are no planes...just the Strike Witches...the Neuroi...they cannot be defeated by conventional military might..." She looks around slowly, turning only her head, then out a window before back at Strange. "...what is your favorite cupcake..?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
     "Sugary pink frosting, got it," says Strange. The moment Evangeline's finished with the one she takes, the rest of them are suddenly switched out, with nothing but a nod towards the container from Strange. In their place are cupcakes with hefty peaks of pink frosting, each capped with a small 'cherry' made of fondant. He figures she probably won't be able to eat a real one, since her tastes are so specific.

     "I haven't heard of the Strike Witches," admits the sorcerer. It isn't often that he admits something like that. Thankfully, it's more because he's traveled and less because of his ego. But if there's no planes... that must mean the noise he heard just before the air raid siren was those same Witches. Maybe. He's not sure.

     "My favorite..." Strange rests an elbow upon the table and strokes his chin, thumb scratching at the bristles of his goatee. "When I'm in a cupcake mood, I go with the classic." He nods towards the little container. "I know that's, like, heresy for a New Yorker to say, with all the bakeries in town, but..." He shrugs his shoulders. "Not a big cupcake guy. Gun to my head, fanciest I'll go is... red velvet, with cream cheese frosting, but I don't go out of my way to get it."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline starts to reach for another cupcake when she notices...they are all her favorite cupcakes! The little Neuroi isn't sure how to process this and ends up freezing in place for several moments before finally resuming (albeit slowly) her reaching. "...they changed...that is neat..." she says as she picks one up carefully with both hands as many small children do with such things. "...red velvet...I am not sure I have tried that kind..." she says as this cupcake too is engulfed in that red light before disappearing, flowing into her as pure energy. "...thank you for bringing me cupcakes...I don't know of many that would do so on such short notice..." she says as she reaches for another.

     "...Strike Witches..." she continues after a moment, "...are what the humans of this world call the young girls who serve in the military...and use the strikers to battle the Neuroi..." Her current cupcake vanishes and she reaches for another. "...they use magic to run their striker units and help power their guns to penetrate Neuroi defenses..." Another cupcake is disintegrated, and another claimed. "Major Sakamoto is our squad leader, and Commander Minna is our base commander..."

     She looks out the window after that. "...Yoshika and a few of the others are on maneuvers right now...that is who you heard..." she says, then looks slowly toward Strange. "...what is a Dracula..?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
     Strange shrugs. "Already got my Christmas shopping done," he admits. "Wasn't a big deal to stop by." He gives a humorless chuckle. One single chuckle, one single shake of his body as if the very act were an obligation. "Beats breaking up fights on the radio." Apparently, he thinks he's the one responsible for breaking the earlier discussion up, all from just coming in and being vaguely condescending. Evangeline may become disillusioned with wizards as she grows older.

     Despite his passive arrogance, he actually listens quite intently to Evangeline's explanation of the Strike Witches, even sitting up straight when the topic turns to magic. It looks for a moment like he's about to remark on that, but he falls silent. Perhaps now isn't the best time to talk shop.

     When Evangeline slowly turns to look at him after watching the window, there's a lot of things Strange expects. The question 'what is a Dracula' is not one of them. For a moment, the sorcerer peers /through/ Evangeline, or at least seems to. Searching the distant horizon for something. "He's--" Pause. "I mean..."

     "That's a complicated answer," he says. "The short version is that he's a vampire, a... creature, that people have been afraid of for a very long time. A man named Bram Stoker wrote a book about him. In some worlds it's fiction, but in others, it's real. If you were around back then, he used to be... the boss of the Confederacy, or one of them."

     "I... mostly said it as a joke. This place looks like a place he'd be in. It's... old-looking. And probably spooky. At night."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline considers a moment, her cat tail wiggling lightly. "...oh yes...I never met him..." she says finally, and in the same moment the last cupcake in the container disappears in her red glow. "...a vampire..." she repeats. "...they are...creatures that feed on human blood...?" she says, her voice containing just enough inflection to make it clear it is a question. Her head lowers a bit after that. "...humans of this world...are much more afraid of Neuroi...we are in a war...the aggressive Neuroi wish to eradicate humans...if not for the Strike Witches and other squadrons like them the humans would likely be extinct now..."

     She looks up at Strange again. "...I was sent by a splinter faction of Neuroi to try and find a diplomatic solution...and to assist the humans...since Neuroi like me would be destroyed by the other Neuroi simply for entertaining ideas of peaceful co-existence....the first Neuroi Girl they sent was destroyed by a Super Hive...and I was imprisoned in a device created by humans in the hopes that it could overpower the Neuroi...luckily my squadmates and friends from the Multiverse were able to free me..."

     At the mention of this place being spooky at night, Evangeline's head lowers once again. "...I have...accidentally scared many of the men on base...and some of my squadmates...when they stumble upon me at night..."

Doctor Strange has posed:
     "Wars are scary," agrees the sorcerer in an open, honest tone. "Uncertain. People don't know if there's gonna be a tomorrow." She may not express them in the same way, but Evangeline seems to have emotions as real as anyone else's. "I think that's why people are scared at night, too. They don't know what's out there. Then, all of a sudden, someone's there." Strange taps his fingers on the table in thought, emerald eyes peering at the grain of the wood.

     Evangeline bears the brunt of his gaze for a moment. "That's why people are afraid of Dracula, too. In the original story, his castle is the only place for miles, and some travelers really need a place to stay the night. It's dark, it's scary, but Dracula, he's really nice. Welcoming, you know?"

     "And he looks totally normal. So... some of the travelers don't realize it until it's too late, and the others..." Strange frowns slightly. "They realize this guy they thought was really nice is actually a monster, and they're trapped in his castle. They thought they were safe... but they weren't. I think fear, when you get right down to it... no matter the specifics, it's rooted in uncertainty."

     He pauses, running a hand across a greying temple and exhaling. "I just told a kid a horror story and gave her a boatload of sweets. I'd better get the hell out of here before--" He abruptly stops himself. "Hey, what is it with authority figures and eyepatches? You know what, nevermind." He opens a portal to Greenwich Village, the mess hall momentarily host to a window into New York.

     "I'll see you later. Don't tell the other girls that story."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline looks up at Strange as he talks about fear and uncertainty and the links between them, then nods slightly. "...that makes sense...and I think it would be scary to be trapped in a big castle with a mean monster..." she says.

     She tilts her head at the last few things Strange says. "...I am not a kid...Neuroi do not have children..." she says. Of course, it is obviously only technically true. Her manner, her lack of knowledge and understanding...it pretty much makes her a child just as she appears to be. She nods lightly when Strange warns her not to tell the others the story. "...I won't...thank you for the cupcakes..." she says.

     Once Strange has disappeared into his swirling vortex of fiery sparks, the little Neuroi is left alone. She sits quietly in her chair, and for a moment it seems she is truly alone.

     But, a few moments later voices of various young girls can be heard headed toward her. The loudest one is also the youngest-sounding one. "Evangeline! Major Sakamoto said you had a visitor! Are there any cupcakes left?"