The Unnatural Disasters

1,p1. All the reasons not to trust strange women: Decibelle

Decibelle

I'm running across the industrial estate, chasing after a guy in a bear suit yelling honey themed puns at me, whilst playing ABBA's 'Waterloo' on a flute and mentally revising for the spanish test tomorrow.
Just another tuesday, I guess.

The Bear is one of the most annoying 'villains' I have to deal with on a regular basis, and I'm using quotation marks for a good reason. Essentially, he's a guy who finds it fun to occasionally dress up in a bear costume (looks like a faux-fur tracksuit dragged straight out of Cruella De Vil's exercise wardrobe) in order to steal purses. He's not particularly good at it, because he spends more time thinking up bear-themed jokes than actually planning his heists, but he's just enough of a threat for me not to trust the police with him.
So yes. That explains that.
Spanish test? Fairly obvious to explain. Nobody wants to face the wrath of the disappointed asian mother™.

And now I'm running the length of this random warehouse, not doing exactly what I should really be doing, which is focusing. It's partly this- and partly the large steel wall- that means I don't notice the bear diving out in front of me in a surprisingly athletic manoeuvre. He attempts to tackle.
"Time for a bear hug!" he screams as he pins me to the wall, sour breath reaching in through my mask.
Did I mention this guy's puns suck?
And now: yep, arms are pinned, back's on the wall, chips are altogether down. But Bear has forgotten the same rule that they always forget:
If I was playing my flute, you've probably already lost.

I turn my head to the side and grin. Spotting my expression, Bear looks round: it takes moments before he gets hit by a literal tonne of bricks. Well. I hope he knows a good dentist.
Turning away in a manoeuvre that I hope looks cool and not hopelessly weird, I play a couple more notes and will the bricks to form a more prison-ey structure. I had picked them up a while ago. seriously; who tries to fight a girl who can move things with sound, in an outdoor space, filled with heavy and unsecured objects? Walk far enough away from Bear that he's out of earshot.
"You can come out now," I say to the stranger hiding in the bushes. The person comes out, smiling.

She (and I'm going with 'she' for now) looks exactly how I anticipated her to look: nondescript. Brown hair. Vaguely grey eyes. Plump. She reminded me of some random friend's kindly mother- not the sort you'd expect to find spying on me in the bushes. But hey! I was here, and she was here, and she was-
Wait what was she doing here.
I very suddenly realise that I have no idea who this woman is. My flute noticed her a while ago (little perk of my Hga). Before I can do anything, like slam her into the wall and demand why she's here, the woman speaks.
"Very impressive."
The voice doesn't exactly fit the person saying it. it's soft, and velveteen, and genuinely just doesn't work with the image my eyes are seeing. I cross my arms, the blue-silver diamond pattern of my outfit glinting in the streetlamps.
"Who are you then, exactly? And what are you doing here? This seems like a pretty long way to go if you're trying to sell me makeup."
She laughs, and it feels good. For a shining moment I want to make her laugh again. But I shake the feeling off, and stare her straight in the eyes. It probably doesn't count for much- my mask hides my eyes behind the lenses of white mirror sunglasses pretty well- but I stand my ground. One of Grand's quotes wriggles its way into the forefront of my mind:
'Everyone's a bastard until proven otherwise. Until proven, make sure they know it.'
Grand was never much into the whole 'inspiring grandparental quote' thing. But he did have good advice.
Feeling like an incompetant substitute teacher, I raise my eyebrows. Again, under the mask, I keep forgetting this.
"Well? I did ask a question. I'm kinda expecting an answer."
"The name? It's Luda."
"you know, in acting terms? That's called blocking. You're blocking me here. Can you give me just a bit more context?"
She throws her head back and laughs again.
"I like you, kid. Well, okay then. If you must know.
'I want you to join a team."