Anthem City: Fall of the Possum

[Harri-chan]

Georgia felt a little warmth spread over her cheeks as Eliza called her the guest on honour, but she flashed a shy smile and walked ahead of the two girls. She really was quite hungry, and tried to concentrate on that, rather than her worries about Alicia as she made her way into the living room. She tried to tell herself that Alicia was just a kid, younger than Georgia should have been, but it was hard to hold that thought when Alicia was looking down on her.

[Blaze]

Into the living room, they go the room occupied by other cheerleaders. Several chairs and bean bags have been set up so everyone has a place to sit, and the coffee table in the center has had snacks and cans of soda set up on it. Through the archway on the other end that leads to the entrance hall, Georgia can see Alicia, smiling as she chats to Eliza's parents, hidden behind the wall.

[Harri-chan]

Georgia smiled and nodded her head to the other cheerleaders as she stepped into the living room. A few of them she even greeted by name, but she hadn't managed to remember them all yet. The idea that she might actually get to call them all her friends made her a little giddy.

Making her way to the table in the center, she reached down and picked up a can of cherry soda, popping the ring pull as she spotted Alicia across the other end of the room. Her nose wrinkled a little, and she brought the can to her lips, taking a sip of it before looking back around for Dana.

"This is far more relaxed than I'd always imagined parties to be... ", she murmured. "I like it".

[Blaze]

Dana smiles and puts an arm around Georgia's shoulder as Eliza's parents come in, her father a tall, balding man with tan skin and graying hair, dressed in a nice suit. Her mother... Georgia recognizes her. Inspector Martha Harock, a high-ranking woman in the police, specializing in crimes involving metahumans... and one of the most vocal opponents to masked vigilantes, the Possum included. The two had almost come to blows over arguments in the past.

They go over to Eliza and wish her a good party, giving her a kiss on the head each and greeting te other cheerleaders by name before Martha's eyes fall on Georgia.

"Why hello there, I don't think we've met. Are you the new cheerleader?"

[Harri-chan]

Georgia leaned into Dana with a great big smile, and was about to take another sip of her soda when Eliza's parents came into the room, and she actually missed her mouth, spilling it down over her cream t-shirt. She barely noticed, her wide eyes gazing up at Martha Harock. The woman had made Georgia feel small plenty of times before... but never as literally as this. Her cheeks went bright red, and a shiver ran down her spine as she gazed up at the woman she knew so well, but had never seen through these younger eyes.

"Yes... M-Miss... ", stammered Georgia, stumbling over her words, her head spinning. She nodded her head, and wiped the back of one hand across her chin to clean away the soda.

"I'm Georgia Hepkins. I just started school with your daughter today... ", she introduced herself, her voice trembling a little as now her heart was racing inside her chest. Even though she looked quite different now to how she had for all those other meetings with Martha, the idea that the woman would figure out her identity was scary just to imagine. She'd find it even more amusing than the Hellchemist had.

"You... have a lovely home here, Ins... I mean, Mrs. Harock".

[Blaze]

The woman tsks at Georgia spilling her drink onto her shirt.

"Oh, that will stain... Eliza, could you let Georgia borrow one of your shirts and soak hers?"

The girl heads upstairs as Martha smiles kindly down at Georgia.

"Am I really so scary?" she asks. "She probably just recognizes you from the news, and is intimidated by a policewoman." her husband says with a dry chuckle.

[Harri-chan]

Georgia cringed as the woman noticed she had spilled soda onto her shirt, and she glanced down sadly at the cream cotton and the sparkly star before lifting her head again, meeting the gaze of Inspector Harock, blushing at the smile. When Eliza's Father came to her side and suggested that Georgia was nervous because she had seen Martha on the news, she eagerly nodded her head.

"Th-That's right. I've seen you on the news a whole bunch of times. You're involved in all the super hero cases", she explained. "Did you get any leads on the Hellchemist yet? I heard she robbed a bank the other day, but the Possum almost got her... ".

[Blaze]

Martha smiles and nods, frowning a bit when Georgia mentions the Possum.

"Yeah, she went in before we could get all the facts. We dunno what went down, but the Hellchemist got away and Possum had so muc egg on her face she just stormed away. I got there too late, I would have ordered her arrested if I hadn't. Don't believe what you hear kid, criminals should be dealt with by those who have been entrusted by the state to deal with thin, not every cocky idiot who can make a costume and come up with a stupid name."

Her husband hooks an arm around Martha's and smiles at her.

"Now now, we have a lovely dinner date planned. Unless you would rather argue the ethics of crimefighting with a teenage girl."

[Harri-chan]

Georgia felt her hands clenching at her sides as Martha gave her the sort of talk she'd heard before, but this time she didn't dare argue with the woman, or correct her on why the Possum had really fled the bank that day. To make it sting even more, Eliza's Father than dismissed her opinions as unimportant due to her apparent young age.

"Enjoy your dinner Mr. and Mrs. Harock... ", she said through a smile that was so forced it probably showed. Folding her arms across her chest, she turned to Dana and muttered in a quiet voice.

"The Possum is not an idiot... and it's not a stupid name", she huffed, doing a poor job of hiding how personally she had taken Inspector Harock's comments. "She'll show them by taking down the Hellchemist eventually... she probably just needs a bit of extra time to prepare".

[Blaze]

Dana giggles and pats Georgia's shoulder soothingly.

"Hold on..." Martha says, kneeling down to look Georgia hard in the face. Georgia recognizes that face. It's the face she wears when musing over the facts and is trying to figure out who perpetrated a crime.

"You look a lot like her..."

[Harri-chan]

Georgia turned into Dana, and was sliding both arms around her friend's neck to hug when she realised that Martha hadn't walked away. Her heart skipped a beat, and her head turned, wide brown eyes looking into the woman's face as she knelt and studied Georgia as she had many times before. Her own knees felt weak, and a dizziness came over her as those words passed through Martha's lips.

"Wh-What? I'm not even half as old as she is... ", she muttered. "I mean... that's my guess. I always figured she was about... thirty... ", she said, looking rather frightened. "I'm thirteen... it was my birthday two days ago... ".

[Blaze]

"I'm not saying you are her... but you could be rel-" Martha is interrupted by her husband tuging on her arm lightly.

"You're being paranoid dear. Let's get going and let the girls enjoy their party."

Martha nods and gives Georgia a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Eliza comes down with a new shirt for Georgia. Her parents give her a hug each and bid farewell before leaving them all... with Alicia.

[Harri-chan]

Georgia winced as she realised that Martha hadn't been suggested she was the Possum, but had she now put that thought into the police woman's head? She just hoped the idea was too crazy for a sensible Inspector like Martha to actually believe.

"It's fine, Mrs. Harock... enjoy your dinner", she said, and this time she came off far more genuinely polite, as she was so relieved that she hadn't just been outed.

"I think I need to sit down... ", she said to Dana once they were gone, her heart still not back down to it's regular rhythm as she saw Eliza with the shirt. Turning to look for a spare seat, she remembered they were now under Alicia's authority, and something told her that things might not be as relaxing as she'd hoped.

[Blaze]

As soon as the parent's car has pulled out, Alicia comes into the room and looks impassively at everyone.

"Look, I know I was being a pain to you all earlier, but I keep school and this job separate. I'll be firm but fair, as long as you promise to not make up lies to make me look bad to my employers, got it?"

The group glares at the older cheerleader, a few muttering assent.

[Harri-chan]

Georgia takes Eliza's shirt from her, and she held it up to look over it when Alicia walked into the room and spoke to them all. She glanced to Dana, and then Eliza, before shrugging her shoulders. When the others muttered their agreement to the elder girl, she turned to meet Alicia's gaze and nodded her head.

Chewing her bottom lip, she looked back to the shirt Eliza had given her. Undressing in front of others still didn't feel entirely natural to her, but she'd done it a couple of times at school already, and figured she had to get used to it at some point, so she begins peeling the cream t-shirt over her head, dropping it to the floor, exposing her white silk bra, and then started to pull on the borrowed replacement.