Owner	Pose
Nico Minoru	Nico Minoru has been on one of her patented road trips. Which is to say she's been hitchhiking about, saving up her remaining teleportation spells, the all too familiar curse of a style of magic with limited uses... and an unwillingness to test if the Staff of One is willing to consider 'Teleport me to outside a specific address' as being too similar to 'Send me to Gotham'.     And so she's arrived in Gotham's dark, broody streets, all the better to get some serious goth on. Or at least, to wander around and look for magical artifacts and the like. And caffeine. Today's mission is really more caffeine than magic, at least having stopped in at Harold's House of Oddities. It turns out all the oddities are in fact just odd. Or fake. Or odd and fake. But for all the talk of 'curios' it turns out they're more actual curios than lost enchanted items. And so now Nico's working on a cup of black coffee as she scrolls through her phone, lips curving into a severe little frown. Because the internet's blowing up about a big crisis back in Manhattan, and Nico's not even done moving into her apartment. Figures. She's going to get a good deal on a couch and a barely used Ikea entertainment centre, and then the city's going to explode.
Toni Monetti	"Oh my god! Nico!" says TONI MONETTI From like three feet behind Nico, having come up behind her. Toni is in slightly less muffled clothing now, with a black sweater with a big applique ankh on it because she is apparently being GOTH today, which mostly means black lipstick since the rest of her clothing, demeanor and accesories is exactly the same. "Am I interrupting or something? Wow! Did you have to evacuate? Imagine this, huh. Though I mean you did kinda seem like you'd be into this kind of a place."
Nico Minoru	Nico's so cool. She's so composed. She doesn't even consider leaping up to the ceiling at the sudden crying out behind her at all. It just looks like she does because she's so calm and collected it tricks your mind! She shakes her head quickly and smiles, shockingly brightly, it might be the most genuine smile in this half of Gotham for a week! "Heyyy! Toni! No no, not interrupting anything... I mean... it's just like..." She screws her face up, hand that was holding her coffee gesturing vaguely, "Doomscrolling social media. Like literally, right?" She sighs and shakes her head, "Nahhhh, the... curio part in back is like, all weird creepy like... Wednesday Addams strange freakshow shit! I'm more the doom and gloom sort of goth, you know?" She snorts softly, eyebrows perking, "And what about you? Just wandering around? ...Oh god, do you have some kind of Nico sense that drew you to me?"
Toni Monetti	"RIGHT? It's horrible! I heard the archangel landed at the cathedral, at least, so I guess I should thank my mom for making me go to Mass," Toni continues. She is kidding, mostly. "Do you want a hug?" she asks, more quietly, and authentically. Then the brass comes up. "And NO I do NOT I was just wandering around! I actually kind of live in Metropolis but it's not really my scene and the shopping's kinda mediocre if you're not a tech head so I come up here sometimes, or I got on the thing to New York, since I got family further upstate and everything. But I mean right now I do NOT want to go north, AT ALL, you know? Is the coffee good here? Be honest. I can always get tea." ("I sound like my mom now don't I. OH MY GOD," Toni continues, in smaller letters, despite the caps.)
Nico Minoru	Nico laughs out softly and shakes her head, "Well, I mean... yeah, I've never really... uhh, been much for religion." She stifles a sigh, no need to burden Toni with all the drama of family and their cult history. No no, better to just shrug, and eye the coffee, "It's... uhh... well, it doesn't tast like it's burnt? It's pretty... run of the mill for coffee?" Shoulders rise and falls and she doesn't stifle the next sigh before it fades into a little laugh, "I mean, I'm mostly just drinking it for the jolt. Got a long night of heading back north ahead of me probably. You know, make sure my apartment's okay... going to have to sneak in to Manhattan do it though." Not that it's going to be that difficult... invisibility, teleporting, flight... she's got options!
Toni Monetti	"That's good. There's a lot of shitty coffee out there," Toni says. She doesn't go to order just yet, instead settling back down. "Uh... so you're gonna sneak back into Manhattan to check on your apartment? I don't want to say that's a bad idea but like, are you sure you're gonna be cool with the, angels? Like, I'm just gonna say that I get the feeling maybe you haven't gone to confession in a minute, and I am not gonna go to New York AT ALL." A beat passes. "I guess maybe it won't matter," she says, looking aside, smiling but with effort. "Who knows. Maybe Superman'll talk 'em down or something."
Nico Minoru	Nico frowns thoughtfully and sighs out, "I mean, I've got some friends there who are... uhhhh... _involved_ with the whole big furball I guess? I can't just let 'em handle it alone. Plus, I mean if I was so bad I was on the angels' radar, I doubt they'd be leaving me alone 'cause I'm over the state border. Sot hey're probably not going to care about me. Bigger fish to fry! Plus, I mean..." She grins crookedly and perks her eyebrows up, "What, I'm going to start making good choices? Not fight a bunch of angels? Like, this isn't even a once in a lifetime chance, it's like a once in a... EVER chance!" She sighs and stares down into the dark void of her coffee, "But I don't think anyone's going to be talking them down. I mean, like... it's... if they're invading New York or whatever, that's gotta be way past the 'talk it down' level, like, what, two thousand years of people worshipping them and they don't show any sign of existence, and then they show up as an army? I don't think they're here to talk."
Toni Monetti	"Well see that's the funny thing cuz you're saying lifetime," Toni says, "so I'm like, *exactly*. Like, if you get in a fight with angels, do you get in trouble with their boss? You know? You follow me, Nico?" A second or two passes. "Can I tell you something personal? About me, I mean. Which I'm worrying about a lot, after what I heard, uh, the archangel say."
Nico Minoru	Nico snorts softly and rolls her eyes with a heavy sigh, "Oh, it's not the first time I'll have pissed off... huh, okay, yeah, I guess there's like... god with a capital G, and then there's gods... I've dealt with one of the two... like, not Wonder Woman or Thor, like... weird... higher plane bullsh-... uhhh... nevermind, I'm good." She snaps and points and does her best to put on a reassuring look, "Of course, hit me with it... I mean, I haven't actually really paid attention to uhh... okay, any of it really... but hit me with what's got you worried, Toni, I'm sure I can help."
Toni Monetti	"Oh, yeah, I met Wonder Woman once," says Toni, "but that's its own story." She takes a deep breath and lets it out. Then she looks at Nico and says, "So about me." "I'm actually an alien," Toni says. "Like, I mean, my real dad is a space alien. I never met him, technically it's probably an engineered thing, whatever. It's a long story. They tried to abduct me, it didn't work out. It's like, Space North Korea or some shit as best as I could figure out." A second passes. "This guy says he's here to judge humanity," Toni says. "Right? So..." She turns her hand around, spreading it as if to evoke a shrug. "... You get me?"
Nico Minoru	Nico's eyebrows lift slowly... not so much at the 'I am actually an alien', because hey, her _best friend_ is also an alien! And like, there's Raven and Starfire, and clearly that means there's some sort of universal constant of 'Goth magicians hang out with aliens', so like, that's all cool. No no, the eyebrow lifting hits at that last part, "I... you... that's... waitaminute... like... aren't all those wackadoo human supremacy dorks also always railing about how like, mutants aren't human either? What if they're right? What if like... the angels are causing all this goddamn drama and it doesn't even apply to a bunch of people? Do you think anyone tried to point that out to them?" Her fingers fly, tapping away on her phone, "I'm totally going to ask about this at the next meeting. Like, maybe no one pointed this out to them... and... like... uhhh... sorry Earth's so... weird? I mean, I guess you're still an Earthling, 'cause like... you live here right? Maybe that's more what they're on about?"
Toni Monetti	"Yeah I mean people assume I'm a mutant sometimes cuz of my skin if they look close," Toni says, gesturing at herself, "and that's way easier than trying to correct and no mutant chick has tried to kick my ass over it yet, so, you know, I let it ride." A second passes. Then two, then three. "Meeting?" she asks. "Are you, uh... with people? Please don't go telling them about me here, I'm trusting you because I don't want to be dishonest and you seem pretty honest yourself, but if you put this on Instagram I will blow up your phone."
Nico Minoru	Nico snorts and giggles and shakes her head quickly, "Oh no no no, it will be totally anonymous... I mean, you know, not because I'm going to claim credit for wondering about this, but I will totally keep your alien secret! I mean, I already know like... one... two... yeah, two aliens! I mean, one's like... an Asgardian so I don't know if she counts as an alien or a god or half of both or whatever." She heaves a sigh and shakes her head, And I mean, the meeting probably won't... like... I'll probably just sit in the corner. Everyone else is way more..." Her hands sort of vaguely wave, "Like, they know what they're doing and stuff, I'm just like... stumbling through this crap. I'm sure they've got plans and counterplans and stuff! ...Also I think I migh t get to meet Wonder Woman too? Like, if this all involves gods, she's got to show up sooner or later."
Toni Monetti	"Well... thank you, I appreciate that," Toni says, blinking a few times. "Sorry, this is just... dunno, you know? It's hard out there. Maybe I just grew up too soft and now I don't know how to hustle it. Listen, if you do go there, just be careful, alright? You're -- you know, you're cool, I appreciate you." Did I just flirt with her? Toni thinks. ugh!!! "I can try to introduce you if you want but she's probably busy right NOW," Toni continues. "But, you know, we're tight. I know people."
Nico Minoru	Nico nods her head with a crooked little grin, "Oh, I imagine she is! I mean, hey, we can like... introduce one another to... no no, that wouldn't work, you know Wonder Woman, and she _totally_ already knows Zatanna, and she's like... the only other famous person I know? She's pretty cool though. Super fashionable. Like, not just the hat and the stage outfit! She's _cool_!" She fingerguns and grins brightly, "And hey, if a Wal-Mart full of demons never got me, I don't care how arch they are, no angels are gonna get me either... you know, 'cause I will totally run away real REAL fast. I've got _experience_ running away from the wrath of angry gods! It was a whole thing. I'll tell you sometime!"
Toni Monetti	"I remember you brought her up, but I still think the top hat is corny," Toni says. "But definitely. If we don't end up dead, I'll set you up. Did we swap numbers? Let's do that. Right now." AND SOON ENOUGH: Coffee and looking at Solomon Grundy's hand!
Nico Minoru	Nico sighs and rolls her eyes, even as she scribbles her number on a napkin... only to then cringe, realizing Toni is just going to have to type it into her phone, which she could have done if she just _said_ it. "No, really, I'm telling you, in person? The hat's totally like... dapper. stylish. It's awesome. So cool." Nico will die on this hill. Sure, she's said maybe two dozen words total to Zatanna, and six of them were 'No, I've never shopped in Japan', but still. Nico gonna stan. And also check out that freaky hand. Because hey, you gotta check one weird thing out before you head back to New York to fight angels, angels that might know about that time you got offerend a contract by a demon and kinda sorta almost considered taking it. But that's a problem for Tomorrow Nico.