Every Rose Has Its Thorn *HF* Chapters 1-4

By LeBeau

Rogue gave him a look, then sighed and shook her head.
"Want to trade?"  DarkWolf offered, "You can look at the suggestions box for a while."
"I didn't know we had a suggestions box... Doesn't that make us seem a bit... um... like a town committee or sewing circle?  We had suggestion boxes in high school."
DarkWolf pounded a hand over his heart dramatically as he declared, "Yes, but I care about what my loyal subjects think!  Nothing better than happy members!  Unless they were happy members with spatulas... Could we get some spatulas?"
"Wolfy, there's only one suggestion in the entire box.  And it's the same one that's always there. It says 'REOPEN STUDIO 54!!!'."
"I know, I know... who keeps doing that?"
"You don't know?  I figured you'd recognize Bursty's handwriting... she's in some weird 70's phase."
"Of course I knew... I was testing you.. Congratulations, you passed, I'll have my monkeys get you a spatula."
"Gee, I think I already have one... Hey--I'm not a big classical music fan, but who is this?  I saw you put a CD in, but I didn't see which one it was.  It's really great."
"That would be Mufasa.  I, um, borrowed it from his 'work' room last time I was at the White Mansion...  I gave it back after I burned a copy of it, so don't call me a thief!"
"Whatever...  I'm going to get some lunch, wanna come?"
"No, I'll read some more of these applications... have fun!"

***


"Rose Goodfellow...  It's a weird name, but her application looks pretty good.  She's 22, comes from a wealthy background, and she appears to be an elemental.  Right now she's enrolled at some art school,"  Havoc1 said as he read off the paper DarkWolf had given him, "I wonder how a college student found out about the Hellfire Club...  It's not like we pass out fliers at the mall or anything."
"Well, who are her parents?  Maybe they have ancestors who were members,"  replied Nate Sommers with a shrug, "Most of the people who join the Hellfire Clubs either join because it runs in the family, we approach them, or they have friends in high places."
"Her father's name is Rob P. Goodfellow... there's no mention of her mother at all, which is odd.  It doesn't even say 'deceased.'  Her father was never in a Hellfire Club.  There's no mention of what he even does for a living, but he's apparently pretty wealthy.  Current whereabouts are unknown, but he's rumored to be living in England, in a mansion hidden in the woods,"  Havoc1 answered with a yawn.
"Well I don't feel like dealing with another mutant who probably couldn't stop the Olsen twins... They get so emotional when you tell them they've been denied."  Nate smirked.
Havoc1 laughed in reply, "Well to be honest, I don't feel like doing it either...  Who can we sucker into doing it?"

***


"You want me to do what?"  Outburst said dubiously, looking at Nate Sommers over the rim of her sunglasses, "I don't think this is in the job description... I'm in charge of records and stuff, not interviews.  I'm not a people person."
Nate pushed her argument aside.   "Sure you are!  Just look at that winning smile!"  Knowing that flattery could get you a lot of places with Outburst, Nate grinned and pushed on.  "Besides, there's a reason we chose you for this."
"And that would be..."
"She's just your type.... Australian."
Outburst rolled her eyes, fighting down a tiny surge of interest.  "Oh really?  Then how come these papers say her family is in England?"
"As far as we can tell, which isn't much considering how vague this information is, once she moved to New York, her father moved to England.  She's reportedly lived in Australia most of her life."
"Uh, okay... so what am I supposed to do?"
"Just meet her for lunch or go shopping.. whatever it is you do in your spare time.  No, don't tell me, I'm better off not knowing with you.  Talk to her--don't interrogate her--and see if she's good for the Black Hellfire Club."
"Define good...  and remember who the King is.  Good may just be somebody who wears a cowboy hat or plays with spatulas."
"Oh just meet her, see what that 'super thief instinct' tells you.  Take Phantom with you if you want."

***


"Phantom, you have to stay here.  I don't need the pound grabbing you or anything... This is important... If she turns out to be some evil demon from Hell I could need your help.  Sit here on the table and I'll let you have some of my lunch."
{{Like you could stop me from just taking your food. What time is this Rose girl supposed to be here?  It's cold.}}
"Yeah it tends to get cold in New York during Winter... Sorry, I asked God to change it but he was a little busy.  Between your fat and your fur I'd think you'd be fine."
{{I'd be a little politer to me if I were you.  Most humans are much nicer to their owners... Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong in your training.}}
Outburst rolled her eyes and lowered her sunglasses to look around.  She had no idea who exactly she was looking for.  When she called Rose, she described herself, what she would be wearing, and told her that she would have a cat with her (Phantom's abilities were left out of the conversation).  Rose also described herself.  She was supposed to be tall, with short black hair, and she would be wearing a red dress.  Outburst still wasn't thrilled about this new "job".  As Black Scribe her duties entailed keeping track of records and doing the more important paperwork (or so she assumed), and keeping DarkWolf out of trouble.  Whatever her duties actually were, babysitting wannabes was not one of them.  But Outburst told herself it was part of being the "new her", which did include being nicer to people and more easy going.  She'd joined the Black Hellfire Club, changed her look and her basic views of life, so there was no reason she couldn't talk to some Australian mutant.  Afterall, this girl could know Heath Ledger.  Okay, well that was a bit far-fetched, but the idea would make the 'interview' bearable.
She took a deep breath and sighed as a young woman sat down in front of her.  Her jaw dropped slightly as she looked at the stranger.  Outburst wasn't one to admit it when people were better looking than her, but the young woman had to be the singularly most beautiful person she had ever seen.  If Winona Ryder were several inches taller with purple eyes, maybe she would begin to compare.  As it was, Outburst fought down a surge of immediate dislike.  She had on a short red Chinese-style silk dress (with a mandarin collar and those cool buttons), which only emphasized her perfect, pale skin.  She didn't seem to notice the cold.  Lipstick that shade of red would have made anybody else look tacky, but it seemed perfect on her.  The only thing that came close to marring her beauty was the fact that her ears were sort of pointed.  Outburst thought they made her look more exotic, like an elf in one of the many fantasy stories she'd read.  Outburst looked down at her own all-black ensemble of leather pants, shirt, and leather jacket, and suddenly felt very plain.  She self-consciously tried to wipe away any cat hairs on her shirt.
The young woman flashed a bright white smile.  "Good morning, love!  You're Outburst, right?  You must be, with that beautiful cat next to you.  I'm Rose.  Pleased to meet you."


***Chapter 2***

Outburst looked doubtfully at the hand Rose had extended toward her.  She then scolded herself for being rude and shook the offered hand.  "Yeah, I'm Outburst.  This is Phantom."  Rose smiled and gave Phantom a scratch under the chin.  "How are ya t'day, Rose?"
"Oh, she's apples!  And how are you th' sarvo?"
"Uh... what?  Sorry, my Aussie slang needs some polishin'."
"Oh, I'm sorry!  She's apples-- that means I'm fine.  And arvo is afternoon. I said 'how are you this afternoon'."
"I'm a'right... Please, have y'self a seat an' I'll call de waiter over'ere."  If Rose could use stupid Australian terminology, then Outburst could certainly turn up the yat-speak.  In her opinion, a thick Cajun accent was much harder to understand than an Australian one.
After Rose had ordered a salad and glass of water (Outburst looked at her cheeseburger, fries, and ice tea, then sighed), she turned to Outburst, smiled, and said, "Well, where do we start?  I'm afraid I don't much about these kind of affairs.  Can I ask why you're wearing your sunnies?  It's a bit cloudy out today, isn't it?"
"I assume you're talkin' about my sunglasses, an' I always wear 'em.   You're da one wearin' a short dress an' no jacket."
"The cold doesn't really bother me.  You're the one who chose to eat at an outdoor cafe in December."
"Touché.  A'right, anyways, what makes you t'ink you be good for d'Black Hellfire Club?"
"I don't know, what are the requirements?  What makes you good for it?"
"Le's just say I got good relations wit' de royalty.  Not to mention my experience, my history wit' de Hellfire Clubs, my family ties, an' my abilities.  You got any experience?"
"Well, no...  I rarely ever use my 'powers,'  just enough so that I could make sure I knew how to use them."
"So den why you wanna join anyways, eh?  You will have to use 'em if you get accepted."
"I don't really know... I suppose I want to feel useful.  This is the only organization that's good enough for my father.  Why did you join?"
"Runnin' wit' de wrong crowd runs in the family."  Outburst thought about the ironic statement she'd just made and laughed.  "But dis ain't about me.  I ain't the one tryin' ta get in.  Askin' me questions about m'self ain't the way to do it.  Go ahead an' tell me about ya'self.  How didja even find the Black Hellfire Club?"

***


After leaving Rose, Outburst turned to Phantom.  "Well, whaddya think?  I'll tell you one thing, even if she gets accepted, I don't think I'll be invitin' her to come shoppin' with me an' Rogue.  She's snobby."
{{To be honest, she reminded me a little of you...  Though, like you said, there is something about her that rubs me the wrong way.}}
"Good, I'll tell Wolfy she's no good for membership."
{{Isn't that a bit harsh?  She's young and full of herself.  You'd probably be like that too if you'd been raised under different circumstances.  She seems like she's been spoiled all her life, and you haven't... well, not as much.  Give her a chance.  After a fight or two I'm sure she'll be humbled.  One thing did bother me about her, however...}}
"And that is..."
{{I couldn't read her mind.  It's sort of like when I try to read your mind...  only different...  When a telepath tries to read your mind, they sort of hit a... mental glass wall.  They can almost see what's in there, but they just can't get past that wall.  With her mind, it was a complete mystery, like a solid brick wall... did her application say anything about telepathic abilities?}}
"No... but then again her application didn't say much of anything... And she's not very familiar with her powers.. All she knows is that she can affect the weather, but she's never tested the limits of that power.  Which is probably a good thing... She seems intelligent as far as book-smart goes, but I don't know about common sense...  And is it just me, or did she take the 'Aussie slang' thing way too far?  Avalon doesn't talk like that.  Even that Crocodile Hunter guy doesn't lay it on that thick...  Did I sound like that before I started trying to lose the Cajun accent?"
{{No, your accent was heavy, but it just seemed natural... and you didn't use a bunch of words and phrases that were completely alien to everybody else around you...}}
"Now that I've gotten used to speaking without much of an accent, I don't really like it when I do have an accent... Makes me feel sorta uneducated.  I guess I'll never get rid of the southern twang, but at least I don't sound like a reject from 'The Waterboy' anymore.  C'mon, let's go give our report to DarkWolf an' Rogue."

***


"So you think she's good enough to be brought here for a real interview with DarkWolf and Rogue?"  Havoc1 questioned, glancing over the (very short) report Outburst had written.
"Yeah, she woulda been perfect for the old Hellfire Club--rich, snobby, beautiful, and a mutant.  I wasn't too thrilled about the snobby part, but Phantom said to give her a chance, and--"
"And we all know you roll over and bark when Phantom tells you to.   Alright, I'll tell 'their highnesses.'  Thanks, Burst.  Take the day off." 
"Like I had anything planned anyways.  I'll be in the library for a while if ya need me."
"Seeya."

***Chapter 3***

"DarkWolf, Rose Goodfellow is here to see us,"  Rogue said, holding the door open for the young woman, "but there's been some sort of accident in the danger room...  Psishot said that everything suddenly started going haywire, none of the controls are working properly.  I'll go check it out, you can interview Rose.  Try not to ask her any questions about monkeys."
DarkWolf grinned and looked up from his computer screen.  "I'll try.  Good luck with the danger room!  Have a seat, Rose, I--"  DarkWolf then got his first good look at Rose, and he froze.  "H-hi, I'm D-D-DarkWolf, Black King, at your service."  She was beautiful!  Elle McPhereson couldn't hold a match up to the woman sitting in front of him.  Waitaminute, Elle who?  At that moment he couldn't remember.  "W-welcome to the Black Hellfire Club... I trust you've been treated well since your arrival?"  Why was he stuttering?  Why was he actually speaking like a King? 
"Oh yes, everyone's been lovely to me.  Outburst was especially nice, during our meeting the other day."
"Who?  Oh yeah, her... Yeah Outburst's alright."
Rose leaned forward over DarkWolf's desk, smiling.  "So what did you want to ask me?  I'm all yours... For questioning, of course."
"Oh, right... umm..."  DarkWolf fumbled around with the paperwork that had been neatly stacked on the desk only moments earlier.  "Let's see.. I had some standard entrance questions here... where is that paper?  I know I just saw it, it's like it disappeared into thin air!"
"You seem a little stressed...  Anything wrong?  D'you have shagger's back, love?"
"Shagger's what?"  DarkWolf realized what she was referring to and blushed.  "No, I'm just tired.  Running my own international, centuries-spanning secret cabal intent on amassing political and ecnomic power and influence by illicit means wears me out a little sometimes.  Most men wouldn't be able to handle it.  I guess I can thank my strength and stamina."
Rose smiled.  "Maybe that's the problem... with all those muscles, you're probably tense... I took a few courses in massage therapy,"  she laughed lightly, "maybe I could help?"
DarkWolf clenched his teeth.  A tiny little voice in the back of his head told him that letting some strange girl (no matter how how she was) give him a massage was wrong.  Especially when Outburst was in the same building... But everybody kept telling him not to listen to the little voices in his head.  But it still wasn't right!  But she was hot!  Well, what could it hurt... people got massages all the time, and nobody made a big deal of it then.  He wouldn't care if Outburst went to a masseuse!  Okay well that was a lie.  But there was nothing wrong with a massage when it was for health reasons!  "Uh, okay...  but only for a few minutes since I have stuff to do...  and just my shoulders!"

***


Outburst considered herself a reasonable person.  No matter what anybody said about her temper, she was not prone to uncontrollable fits of anger in which she stormed through the door and ripped off somebody's appendages.  But that was exactly what she was ready to do, if she heard one more... moan of pleasure from DarkWolf.
"Wow, Rose, where'd you learn to do that?!?" came DarkWolf's muffled exclamation through the heavy doors of his office.  Rose's laughter soon followed.
"ROSE?!?"  Outburst grabbed a vase and it began glowing green with kinetic energy when she felt a sharp pain on her leg.  She looked down to see Phantom, biting her.
{{Don't be stupid.  If you walk in there right now as mad as you are, you'll do something you regret.}}
"Ya mean I'll do something he'll regret.  Leggo o' my leg, dammit."
{{Nope.  Uncharge that vase and step away from the door.  Come on, we'll go get some Ben and Jerry's, your treat.}}
"Like hell!  I ain't puttin' up wit' cheatin', an' if he t'inks I am den he got anotha t'ing comin'!"
{{Your uneducated Cajun accent is coming back with a vengeance, dear.  Put the vase down.  He is not cheating on you.}}
"Right, like you know, you're a smelly old cat."
{{A telepathic smelly old cat.  I just peeked into Justin's mind.  They're not... uh, you know... she's giving him a back rub.}}
Outburst's eyes bulged as she hissed, "Well maybe somebody should tell him that they make massage parlors for that.  He doesn't need some stuck up Australian with weird eyes to do it!"  Outburst sighed and put the vase down, mentalling pulling the kinetic charge back out of it.  "Just wait'll later, I'll show him.  I'll go find Heath Ledger and make him give ME a massage... Yeah, that's it!"
{{Great, let's plan that over ice cream.}}

***


Rogue closed the small door on the underside of the Danger Room's control panel.  "Well, I wasn't trained in 'Holographic machinery 101,' but I can't figure out what's wrong here.  Everything's the way it oughtta be... I'll call Daemon later, see if he can come over and look at it.  We need to figure out how to get Torn Rain out of there... I don't know how many more lasers and droids he can fight off... Can't somebody STOP THIS THING?!?"
Rune surrounded Torn Rain in a protective aura, then magically pulled him out of the danger room, slamming the door behind him."
"I could've handled it!"  Torn Rain declared.
"Sure you could have,"  agreed Rune, "if you hadn't been fighting for hours against a screwed up machine on overdrive."
Suddenly the danger room was quiet again, returning to normal as if nothing had happened.  "What the hell?  This has never happened before... I'm definitely going to have somebody check it out... I'll go tell DarkWolf, I know he was concerned,"  Rogue sighed and scratched her head as she headed back towards their offices.


***


DarkWolf cursed and put his shirt back on as Rogue strolled into the room.  She looked around at Rose and DarkWolf, then strolled right on back out.  "Oh CRAP!  Oh man I am in so much trouble... oh no..."
"What, is Rogue your girlfriend, then?"
"Uh, no, but--"
"Well then, no worries!  Why are you in trouble!"
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned... especially when it's Rhiannon."
"Who the bloody hell is Rhiannon?"
"She--"
"Anyways, what about this interview thing?"  Rose smoothed a wrinkle out of her dress and smiled.
"Oh, right... Uh, yeah.."

***


"Well, I guess you pass 'inspection'.  You'll have a trial membership for a month, and if you stay you'll become a full member.  Welcome to the Black Hellfire Club, Rose Goodfellow."  DarkWolf extended a hand towards Rose, who took it, used it to pull him closer, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you, DarkWolf... I'm at your service."
"Oh, right... I'll have somebody show you to a room."  He opened the door for her, as she winked at him and walked out into the hallway.  Rogue and Havoc1 were standing there, looking over a few papers.  Rogue glared at DarkWolf and left as Rose giggled.
"Hey, Ben, would you take Rose here to a room?  We'll move her stuff in tomorrow, it's getting late."
"No problem!  Come on Rose, there are a lot of empty rooms...  Right this way!"
Rose waved to DarkWolf and followed Havoc1 through the corridors, where they bumped into a particularly irritated Outburst.  Phantom looked up at all of them, licking the remains of Mint Chocolate Cookie ice cream off of his face.
"Hey Bursty, you wanna do me a favor?"
"Depends."
"Would you take Rose to a spare room?  Isn't there one next to yours?  I've got something else that needs taking care of."
"Sure, I'd love to.  Let's go, Aussie.  We can spend some quality time together."

***


"That DarkWolf's cute, isn't he?  I'd shag him in a heartbeat, wouldn't you?"
"I b'lieve he's taken, Rose dear."
"By whom?  Oh right, that Rhiannon girl...  She's probably a yobbo anyways, I'm sure I could convince him of that."
Outburst gave Rose a level look.  "I'm Rhiannon.  Convince him of anything and we'll be having strong words, you an' me.  Here's your room.  You've got your own bathroom and the kitchen is downstairs to the right.  Good-bye."
Rose watched Outburst leave, then laughed quietly and went into her room.  Turning DarkWolf's head would be easier than she'd thought.


***Chapter 4***

Greg was given the... fortunate... task of giving Rose an official tour of the Black Hellfire Club mansion.  He didn't see why anybody really needed a tour.. He showed her the coffee maker (he was trying to convince everybody that they needed a cappucino maker as well) in the kitchen, and the location of the danger room (though she seemed to already know where it was), and the war room.  She already knew where the King and Queen's offices (*ahem*), the bedrooms, and the bathrooms were.  But DarkWolf insisted that she be treated with the highest respect, especially when she had such a wealthy father (Well, that was the reason DarkWolf gave, but Rogue implied that he had other ideas)
"And this is the garage.  Everybody here has a car.. some of us, two or three."  He shrugged.  "We like to spend money I guess.  Since you've already got that '69 Charger, we just have to get you one of the keycards to be let in.  DarkWolf's in charge of that."
"Somebody say my name?"  replied the faded-blue jean and work boot-clad lower half of DarkWolf, sticking out from under his Dodge Viper.  He wheeled out to look at them, grinned at Rose, then said, "Hey Greg!  I was just making sure there wasn't any, y'know, dirt, on bottom of my precious car.  What're y'all doing?"
"I'm giving the Aussie a tour of the place... There's not really much to show her... I still have to show her the gym, the pool, and the athletic courts, but that's all that's left.  And I haven't had coffee in," he looked at a clock on the wall, "37 minutes."
"Well, uh," The Black King scratched the back of his head, then glanced at some car oil under a fingernail, "I could finish giving her the tour.. I'd hate to keep the 'Godd of Coffee' from his coffee."
"That'd be great, thanks oh great King Man!"  Greg all but sprinted to the kitchen, leaving Rose alone with DarkWolf.  Despite the near-freezing weather, Rose had on a green and blue striped tube top and dark denim bell bottoms.  The Texan Black King greatly appreciated her blue leopard-print cowboy hat.  The rather large choker she was wearing sparkled with emeralds and--were those real diamonds?--as she smiled again and came closer.
"You don't have to give me a tour if you're busy... I understand wanting to be with your cars."
"Really?"
"Are you kidding?  I love cars!  I don't know as much as I should, but I'd like to learn!"
"I keep trying to teach Outburst about cars, but she never remembers any of it."
"Well some of us are smarter than others."
"Hey!!! She's--"
"Anyways, do you mind giving me a tour?"  Rose crossed her hands in front of her lap, her upper arms pressing together and doing dangerous things to her chest.
"Not at all!" DarkWolf wiped his hands off on a rag, then opened the door for her, gesturing towards the hallway.  Rose took his arm (he resisted at first, but she refused to let go) and said, "Can we see the gym first?  I'll bet you could teach me a lot of things about using the weight machines... You use them a lot, don't you?"  She batted her eyelashes and patted his bicep.
"I...  uh... the athletic stuff's on the second floor, let's go find an elevator."

***


DarkWolf tried to warn Rose.  He even yelled.  But that didn't stop her from falling into the pool after Psishot pushed her.  Why Psishot pushed her, the world may never know.  What happened afterwards, Psishot would never forget.
After DarkWolf pulled Rose out of the pool (with one hand, no less!), Rose pushed him aside and stalked towards Psishot.  Torn Rain, already in the pool, fished Rose's most-likely-ruined cowboy hat out of the water and placed it on the edge, quietly backing away again.  After hesitating a moment, Rose laughed, slapped Psishot on the back, and declared, "Psishot, you silly boy!  Next time warn me so I can take off my hat!  Good thing I wasn't wearing terribly nice clothes!"  She smiled again, then turned to DarkWolf, "Justin, love, why don't you go ahead and go on without me?  I think I'll hang out here with Psishot and Torn Rain for a bit, I don't want to keep you from your kingly duties!"  Her eyebrows rose delicately as she looked at something behind DarkWolf.  "Well hi there Outburst!  How are you th'sarvo?"
Rose smirked and Psishot gulped as Outburst slowly looked at each of them.  When her glance reached Rose, her eyes briefly flared red before resuming their natural gray-green color.  Outburst's mouth turned down slightly as she looked at DarkWolf, and Torn Rain thought she looked genuinely hurt.  Wordlessly she turned around and left.
"Rhiannon!  Now just hold on a minute here!"  DarkWolf yelled as he dropped the towel he'd grabbed for Rose on a chair and ran after her.
As soon as DarkWolf was out of sight, Rose turned again to Psishot.  "Listen here you little creep... This outfit is probably ruined.  Maybe you aren't used to having clothes that actually require care, but some of us like to look decent.  You've smudged my bloody make-up.  If you make me look bad like that again, I'll kill you, understand?  As it is..."  Rose appeared to glow slightly as she sneered at Psishot, and he was hurled across the room into a wall.  "Stay away from me, little boy, and I'll stay away from you."  With that she dropped him into the pool with a large, painful splash.  "Ooh, landing on your stomach hurts, doesn't it?  If you tell anybody about this, you'll be very, very sorry."  She smiled venomously and left the pool room.

*****


"Rune, can you give me a minute?  I wanted to ask you about something."
"Sure, Rogue.  What's the problem?"
"Does our new recruit seem a little suspicious to you?"
"I assume you mean Rose.  There's something slightly unsettling about her, and I think the way she tries to get DarkWolf's attention is disgusting, but I wouldn't say she's evil... just a spoiled little rich girl."
"I guess.. I just think we should keep an eye on her... I mean, Phantom said he couldn't read her mind at all, plus..."
"Plus what?"
"Well... I don't know if I should tell you this...  I doubt anybody would believe me... but you kind of have that 'everybody is a possible threat' outlook, so maybe you will.  Yesterday I was walking by Rose's new room, and her door was open a crack.  I was going to knock and see how she was, but I heard her talking to herself.  For one thing, she didn't have an Australian accent."
"Are you sure?"
"Rune, I probably couldn't describe in detail every accent around the world, but I do know the difference between an Australian accent and an English one.  I think she's lying about being Australian.  She's British or I'll eat my hat."
"Why are you telling me this?  Maybe she just doesn't like being English.  Outburst is obsessed with Australia too."
"I know.. and the accent thing concerns me, but I'm more worried about what she said.  She was talking to herself... Something about how 'Rhiannon is going to be harder to fool than I thought,'  and 'I've almost got DarkWolf in my grasp,' and most importantly, 'Getting rid of the queen shouldn't be too difficult.'   Sorry, but that has me a little concerned."
"You're right, that does bear investigation."
"Is there anything you can do?  She's an elemental, and your powers involve that, is there some way you can test her without her knowledge?"
"That shouldn't too difficult... I need to flip through a few spellbooks though, because I have my own suspicions about her."
"Really?  Like what?"
"I shouldn't share them until I'm positive... but a lot of things about her kind of indicate something to me.  Like I said, I need to brush up on my knowledge of the subject, first.  I'll tell you once I know."
"Great, thanks, Rune!  Let me know if you need any help, okay?"
"Sure."

*****

*OUTBURST*
STILL The Girl You Want
Teamless, Positionless
Mufasa's #1 Fan

"Karate isn't effective unless it's accompanied by yelling." ~Catwoman (in the old 1967 Batman and Robin serials)