((ooc: Continued for Maxine from Secret organizations are secret.

Future Sight and its employees borrowed from the Oracle Plot.))


The Oracle from Delphi: Curious about your future? Get answers NOW. Come consult the oracle to get a head start on what's a head.

Maxine lowered the newspaper clipping out of the mirrorwalker’s face, with a shameless grin. “I know, it sounds cheesy. My friend swears by the place, though. I’m guessing this ‘Oracle’ is a precog mutant.” Then again, Myra Stephens might just be in love because the Oracle had predicted fame and fortune for her novel. In any case: it couldn’t hurt.

Besides, the walk would give them time to talk. Maxine had called Gawain over, and it wasn’t just to weasel in another date. The red head’s eyes wandered to the teen as she put on her shoes.

Still skinny. Shoulders weren’t as broad. Chest was about the same. Still cute, in a tomboy way, for any guy that was into that.

…Yeah. Definitely not a date.

This was weird. Had anyone ever told Gawain that this was weird? As the girl with paperclip tentacles curling out of the back of her grey hoodie, Maxine didn’t think she was the one to raise the subject.

“...So what am I supposed to call you, Lady Gawain?”

Maxine had put on heels: Lady Gawain was in off-the-street, grungy old sneakers (so not cute on a girl). The sometimes-Knight still had an inch on her.

Maxine hated being shorter than other girls.

The Oracle from Delphi: Curious about your future? Get answers NOW. Come consult the oracle to get a head start on what's a head.

Maya actually snorted at that. How did it come to this, all the way from a marble temple to a printed ad? Sic transit gloria mundi. That's Latin for 'so sad.'

"What happened to 'Know thyself?" she smirked.

>>“I know, it sounds cheesy. My friend swears by the place, though. I’m guessing this ‘Oracle’ is a precog mutant.”

"That could actually help us." Maya agreed, putting on her shoes "Except, we have no way of telling if she is. Is there a way to test precogs?"

>>“...So what am I supposed to call you, Lady Gawain?”

Oh yes. Maxine was definitely checking her out. Not in the way she did with Gawain. But she was. Maya let her without commenting on it; everyone did the same when they first met the other half.

"Maya." she sighed "My girl name is Maya. Veils, illusions, that kinda stuff. Ready?"

Something was nagging at the back of her mind. It was probably Rex.

“Well,” Maxine said, grabbing her purse and artfully ducking it under the tentacles, “either this Oracle will know their crap, or they won’t, Maya.” The red head smirked a little at the name. Maya. Why was that name familiar…? Something about white hair, and a Brit. Meh. It would come to her.

She shut the door behind her, and locked it. Oh, locked doors: possibly the most overrated security feature known to mutant kind. Still, it kept out the humans, mostly.

They acted like normal people in the stairwell—no running, no banister sliding—and found their way out onto a sunny side walk. The oppressive summer heat was starting to lift a little, heading into Fall.

Maxine brushed a paperclip tentacle out of her face like other girls brush out a lock of hair.

“Gawain. Maya, I mean,” she said, as they walked. “I know I asked already… but are you sure you want to keep poking into this?”

She said it like a girl who’d found something that another girl might not like. She might not like at all.

>>“Well, either this Oracle will know their crap, or they won’t, Maya.”

"Thanks, Master Yoda" Maya smirked as they left the apartment. Either the Oracle was real, or was a fake, they had to give it a shot. There were not so many other options.
There was a lot less talking and absolutely no flirting. That either meant that Maxine was still adjusting to the whole gender-difference, or she had already made up her mind about the new rules, and this was part of them.
Even Rex seemed confused.

>>“Gawain. Maya, I mean, I know I asked already… but are you sure you want to keep poking into this?”

Maya sighed and glanced at Maxine.

"Have you ever lost someone? Someone that you really, really loved?"

Less flirting leaves time for more talking.

“No,” the redhead answered simply. What more was she going to say? Hers had not been a traumatic childhood. Three of her grandparents were even still alive, and the fourth had died before she was old enough to understand it. She had vague memories of cigar smoke, an arm chair with gray fabric, and a scratchy beard. Hell, she hadn’t even had a dog growing up, not that she’d wanted one. Slobbery, bitey mutts. She’d had Rex. Much more hygienic.

She took that for his—for her—answer, though. Not something Maxine was going to argue with.

The redhead stuck her hands in her hoodie’s pockets, as Rex stretched out a tentacle to wrap towards the other girl’s hair.

“All right,” she said. “Then I know where your mother is.”

>>“No,”

She did not argue. Maya did not elaborate. She hated telling her story. It sounded really David Copperfield from the outside.
Rex reached over; Maya smiled and poked at the tentacle. Mini high-five. Rex was a nice octoclip when he was attached to someone else.
(He?...)

>>“All right. Then I know where your mother is.”

Maya almost tripped over her own foot. But because that would have been very cartoon-ish, she just stopped and stared.
Leave it to Maxine to make statements like that out of the blue. Without missing a beat.
Maya almost wrinkled her nose. Women.

"You do?!..." blink "But... then why are we going to the Oracle?"

Oh that reaction was cute. Not that she’d planned for it to be, not that this was a situation where she should be grinning at cuteness, not that Maya was someone who could even qualify for Maxine’s cuteness scales—

(Though out of the corner of her eye, it was easy to forget she was with Maya. All Gawain’s little quirks and mannerisms were there, and as adorable as always.)

--aaand enough of that.

Maya didn’t immediately ask where her mother was. That was good, because Maxine wasn’t planning on answering yet. As soon as Gawain—as Maya knew—she’d probably be on the next cab to the airport. Or the next mirror to the West Coast.

“We’re going to see the Oracle,” Maxine explained, with an air of great common sense, “because you and I are not exactly a combat team.” She didn’t explain that line. “If we can get a precog’s advice on how to go in, we stand a lot better chance of getting out of this alive and with your mom in tow.”

Of course, it was assumed that Maxine would be going as well. Gawain had enlisted her help: a little Maya wasn’t about to scare the red head off from seeing this through.

…The octoclip’s poke was met with a poke. If Rex could understand this sensation as familiar, then it certainly was… familiar. A bipedal who baffled its tentacles. But that other person was a male. This person was a female. This was the superior gender, in what passed for a tentacle monster’s mind.

Rex brought another tentacle to bear, and tried to get enough of a grip on Maya’s shirt to drag itself onto her shoulder.

>>“We’re going to see the Oracle, because you and I are not exactly a combat team. If we can get a precog’s advice on how to go in, we stand a lot better chance of getting out of this alive and with your mom in tow.”

Maya wrinkled her nose. That did not sound all that good. Actually, it sounded like something out of a bad action movie. Famous last words.

"That... sounds very serious." she muttered once they started walking again. Rex was trying his best to crawl over onto her shoulder. Of course, with Maya balancing on the edge of personal space and way farther than Gawain would have been, made quite a sight, with a chain of clips streeeeeetching out to reach her. She was just glad she'd recently cut her hair again.

"So... since ya're not gonna tell me the whole deal... are you?... I'm gonna guess." she glanced at Maxine. She was all business. "You know where my mother is. And it's not going to be easy to get her out of there."

That seemed to be the gist of it.

"Yeah. Well, we'd better make damn sure it's a precog before we build a combat plan on what he says."

They walked on.

"It doesn't have to be the two of us."

It could be three. Or one. Depending on how Maxine decided to react to that.

>> "Yeah. Well, we'd better make damn sure it's a precog before we build a combat plan on what he says."

“And that,” the red head said, “is exactly why I’m not going to tell you anything. Fake precogs are like fake psychics—they work off what people give them. We’re going to have you sit in that chair knowing nothing, and I’ll see if what he’s saying makes any sense with what I know.”

It wasn’t fool-proof, but it was as close as she could get. They’d see whether this Oracle knew his stuff.

It was clear that Maya’s next question got Maxine’s attention. And her hopes up. “Do you know anyone who could help?”

Personally: Maxine didn’t. That was always the problem, when your day job included alienating every contact you made.

Two tentacles had failed. Rex retracted its arms, curling up into a brooding mass in Maxine’s hood.

>>“And that, is exactly why I’m not going to tell you anything. Fake precogs are like fake psychics—they work off what people give them. We’re going to have you sit in that chair knowing nothing, and I’ll see if what he’s saying makes any sense with what I know.”

That. Was quite a good plan. Even if it was annoying to play the knows-nothing part, Maya had to agree that was a possible way of making sure the Oracle was real.

"Except if he is a psychic and reads your mind" she smirked "But that's the beauty of the mutant world, right?"

One can never know.

>>“Do you know anyone who could help?”

"I... might." Maya nodded "I had... someone I know helping out with the investigation. He is also a mutant. And could be very useful in a fight."

Because he is an assassin, apparently.

Maya chuckled as she glanced at the octoclip.

"Rex seems to like me more in this form."

Maxine smirked. “Rex is a lady’s octoclip. Really, you get off easy, when you’re Gawain. He’s usually not so friendly with the gents.” Thus began and ended her dating history. Minus a few nights where strong magnets had been involved.

“So. What does this other person do? Who is helping out with the investigation.” The redhead casually glanced at Maya, then turned her gaze just as casually ahead. It was the mirrorwalker’s investigation. He/she could invite in as many people as she/he wanted, and forget to tell Maxine about it if he/she/it pleased. No hard feelings. Certainly no pangs of professional competition.

“Did he find anything out?” Another casual, casual question.

Down the block, a sign board was coming into view: Future Sight.

>>“Rex is a lady’s octoclip. Really, you get off easy, when you’re Gawain. He’s usually not so friendly with the gents.”

Maya chuckled at that. It only made sense. Rex was like a jealous little poodle. He wanted to keep Maxine's attention. Maya could not blame him.
Reaching over, she picked up the octoclip.

"Might as well enjoy it until he figures it out."

>>“So. What does this other person do? Who is helping out with the investigation. Did he find anything out?”

"He's... quite effective, in his way." Maya smirked "And yeah, he found stuff, but as you said, you are better off not knowing. We can compare notes after the Oracle."

That. Was totally the truth. Not a jab or anything.

"He can turn into a lion. Partially, at least. And can be quite scary when he does."

“Right. What a good idea.” Maxine gave a little, I see what you did there smile. “Whoever came up with that must be one smart girl.”

The shop was in clear view now. It was a little place, maybe two stories, tucked in along a line of other businesses. Through the windows was a scene not unlike a lounge in a college dorm: bookshelves, tables, and mismatched overstuffed chairs were sprawled around. They’d be there soon.

“Is he decent in a fight, though? Any formal training?” Lion shifting—partial lion shifting, no less—was all well and good, but the people they were up against weren’t going to care how scary his kitten-growl was. If he wasn’t actually trained, they should probably leave him at home. A half-trained X and a journalist with pepper spray would be bad enough without tossing another amateur in the mix.

Rex was picked up. The writhing ball of tentacles transferred from hood to hands, and wrapped itself firmly in place, like a semi-sentient bracelet.

>>“Right. What a good idea. Whoever came up with that must be one smart girl.”

"She is" Maya grinned. Which one of the two girls that was, remained unsaid. Rex wrapped himself around her wrist. Maya admired the nex accessory. He was quite adorable when not in a guy-hating mood.

>>“Is he decent in a fight, though? Any formal training?”

"Oh believe me, he is" that was all she said before they reached the shop "You'll see."

Or, hopefully, not.

The shop was small and surprisingly mundane for an "Oracle" with a capital O. Maya looked around curiously. He was supposed to know they were coming, right? or was that just one of the old fortune-teller jokes?

There was a dusty crystal ball on one of the tables, and a teenage girl behind the counter on the far side of the room. She was on the phone.

“Eros is out,” she was saying. “What do you think? Alistair has him riding the subway from here to the other side of the city. I don’t know why. You’d almost think it was just to get him out of the shop for a few hours. What? Yeah sure, I’ll tell him when he gets back.” She grabbed a pen, and scribbled a note. “See you, Crow. Have fun on the play date.” There was no way to tell whether that last line was sarcastic or not, without knowing her better. Maybe not even then. She hung up the phone, and looked up as the bell rang.

“Can I help you?”

Maxine tucked herself around Maya’s arm. “Yeah, we were hoping—you know—to get a reading? For my friend. She wants to know what her mom’s up to.” A slightly nervous college-girl giggle accompanied this. The girl behind the counter showed them a price list, ranging from a surface reading to the annotated bibliography of their futures.

To Gawain, this place might have looked familiar, though he’d come through the back door last time. Maybe Maya would recognize the joint, too, even if she’d never made it to the front rooms.