Alaine was early. The receptionist had her sign in then told her she could wait in the lobby, so that was what she did -- of course, she picked the farthest corner of said lobby. Back in a corner without windows, next to some kind of big, potted plant that added a touch of nature to the otherwise sleek, modern interior or the building.
Wearing a black jacket that matched the theme of her uniform, at first glance it might've looked like she was in a jacket and some kind of weirdly-patterned leggings, but a second glance would probably make it obvious she was already suited up. She wasn't sure how they were supposed to show up for this on onboarding thing, nor if they were supposed to be unmasked or not; she knew some heroes showed their faces, but she wasn't one of them. Even before John had gotten her the suit, she'd kept at least part of her face covered. Would she be expected to unmask around hee coworkers?
For a while she just watched people come and go; heroes mostly, some she'd heard of and some she hadn't... A few un-costumed employees, who she assumed were civilians who worked in the apartments that didn't need superpowers. Like records or dispatch... Though being able to work in those departments was a kind of superpower on its own, in her opinion.
Leaning back against the wall in her white and black uniform, mask already on and arms crossed, she half-wished she was going to work in one of those behind-the-scenes positions. She wasn't entirely sure she deserved to be on the frontlines, as if she was some pristine hero -- what if she messed up? She felt fairly certain her coworkers would be hardy enough not to be severely injured by her, but what about civilians? What if she went to pick someone up off a burning building and her adrenaline was too high and she wasn't focused enough and she accidentally gutted them instead?
Alaine shifted a little where she leaned back against the wall, too uncomfortable in her unfamiliar surroundings to take a seat. Instead of letting the uncertainty overwhelm her, she focused on the ever-present, study hum of cosmic energy in her body.
Steady, even, otherworldly. Alaine closed her eyes briefly.
Breathe in, breathe out...The sound of someone else entering the building brought her attention back to the room and she opened her eyes again, straightening slightly and remaining leaned against the wall in the corner, hopefully not gaining much attention. An easy enough goal when the first new onboarding employee to take a seat looked like a Victorian witch. Alaine wondered if the book -- that she'd bet twenty bucks was a grimoire-type situation -- was a necessary part of the girl's ensemble.
More eventually came. Another girl, this one wearing a more normal-looking hoodie and sweatpants; she carried a few bags with her and soon began the process of applying makeup and curling her hair while they all waited. Alaine found that an odd time for it, but what did she know?
Then there was the flashy one, livestreaming with his phone. Alaine grimaced inwardly, careful to keep out of the view or at least turn her head away whenever the phone's camera threatened to catch her. He didn't plan to stream the onboarding process, did he? That couldn't be entertaining content... Though he was narrating to whoever was watching like it was.
She took another deep breath and let it out again, refocusing on that cosmic energy as heroes continued to arrive and current employees continued to come and go. She could minutely feel them all, even when she had her eyes closed. There was a little of that mysterious energy in everything, everywhere, everyone. Like cosmic dust.
Her eyes snapped open when the receptionist ran over. Before Alaine had a chance to process what was being said, there was suddenly a bedraggled-looking dude in the lobby -- and then the lobby was gone.
Her body reacted before her mind caught up with the situation so she was already hovering a few inches off the ground when she and her fellow new hires found themselves in another part of the city -- which spared her an awkward stumble like the livestreamer, or a case of disappearing-chair like the witch-girl.
The others jumped into action like professional heroes. The streamer -- she was sure she'd heard of him before, but she couldn't recall the name. Something-light. Searchlight? Sunlight? Sunlight or whoever he was made some quippy remark and suddenly had a shield and spear on hand, the latter of which he threw right at the dragon they were suddenly faced with.
That made Alaine's heart jump into her throat briefly, but she hardly had time to worry about it as the others started gearing up. The witch girl said something about a tall order -- no kidding -- then something about needing strong magic to kill the dragon.
Kill it? Why was killing the thing apparently everyone's first instinct? Clearly they were in an unoccupied, abandoned part of town. There were no civilians in immediate danger, and she could've been wrong but the dragon didn't seem like it was in a rush go eat anyone or anything since it was taking the time to demolish old factories.
Alaine hesitated as the brick wall formed, created by the Victorian girl; the one in a hoodie was ditching said hoodie and sweatpants to reveal she was also in uniform already before climbing to the top of the wall and looking... a little manic, and ready to shoot something from a contraption on her arm.
And -- wait, who the heck was that? A new woman was there, exhaling a puff of fire as she strode past then all towards the dragon, each step accompanied by the magical appearance of armor and weapons on her body.
And there was that guy over there, with the hat. Why was he there? Who was he?
Alaine inhaled sharply, a flicker of cool, starry light briefly sparkling around the white eyes of her mask. If nothing else, she could at least attempt to distract the dragon from the very random squad of heroes that had just appeared out of nowhere.
Pushing off the ground like she was jumping, Alaine failed to return to the ground and instead took off, zipping up into the air. Getting up on eye-level with the dragon, she wordlessly manifested her cosmic blades -- two small bursts of dark, crackling energy at her hands.
With a little mid-air twirl that made the flash of her blades more of a spectacle, Alaine attempted to catch the dragon's attention as she darted to the side. Hopefully, being in the same airspace as the monster would make her more of a priority to it, despite the fact people were throwing spears made of light at it.
"Hey, big guy! Over here!" She waved her arms, cutting in close and pulling away again.
"What are you doing way out here? Let's leave the people alone, yeah?"
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