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She gives the address!

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"Awesome.  See you in a bit."

Later that afternoon, a gaudy matte-gold Jeep pulls up next to Raine's place.

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Raine comes out to greet her.

The place is a pretty isolated house in the woods - you can see the neighbor's roof kinda, but that's about it. The house isn't very big, but it looks homey. 

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"Hey, Raine.  Nice place.  Is Bryce around?"

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"Thanks. She's in her room; she likes to rest a bit after fights. Oh, come on in, make yourself at home, all that."

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"Yeah, thanks."

She enters, takes a look around, drapes herself comfortably over a couch.

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The living room's a bit eclectic, most things in it brightly colored and patterned, which mostly doesn't manage to clash. The couch is very comfortable, with a surfeit of pillows. Overflowing bookshelves line the walls not taken up by furniture, and two side tables have been taken over by book stacks. There's two doors leading out of the room, in addition to the front door, both of them shut. 

"Want anything to drink? There's water, a couple sodas, some fruit juice."

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"Soda sounds good, thanks."

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Sodas can be produced! There are options; Raine seems to have a passion for odd sodas, though there's also Bryce's and a few popular brands kept around for occasional visitors.

"There's not any TV, sorry about that, and the place isn't really big enough for a guest room, but the couch pulls out and we have spare bedding," Raine says after getting Tobi and herself sodas (hers is in a glass bottle, light purple, and probably homemade, and smells faintly of lavender).

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"No worries," she says, "I'm okay as long as I can plug in my smartphone."

Tobi's pretty middle-of-the-road as far as sodas go.  She pops the top of her can and takes a sip.

"So what brings you guys out to the country?  I didn't think there was a lotta witch traffic outside of cities."

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"Not a huge fan of large crowds of people, honestly. Places like this - there's a lotta despair, a lotta people going nowhere. Tends to attract witches. We're between some cities, too - I picked this place partly because it's kinda a thoroughfare, we get a ton of migratory witches. Plus with my flight, it's pretty easy to maintain a large enough territory."

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She nods.  "Do you and Bryce hunt in the cities too?  Any competition, or is it just you and her out here?"

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"We don't hunt in the bigger cities, but there's - pretty much a town that outgrew its britches we occasionally hunt in. There's another girl there, she trades letting us hunt every now and then for heads ups about big witches swinging her way. And alcohol. Not too many magical girls over 21 out here."

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She laughs.  "Man, I've had really good luck with running into random strangers lately.  You hear all these horror stories about super territorial lone wolves with enormous witch farms, but this is the second, like, healthy well-adjusted not-at-each-other's-throats magical girl network I've run into in, like, a month."

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"One of our neighbors is like that; I'll point out her territory on a map so you don't run into her? But, wow, there's a network? Where?" Not that she'd be letting Bryce anywhere near it, unless something truly bizarre happened.

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"Up in Jackson.  They're run by a twentysomething named Mallory, call themselves the League of Magical Girls.  I didn't think teams ever really worked out, but they seem to be pulling it off so far."

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"I've heard of other duos once or twice, isn't ultra uncommon if two girls knew each other before wishing, but a proper team sounds - a lot rarer. I heard a rumor of one up north, like Oregon area once back when I was traveling more, but never spoke to anyone who'd actually met them."

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"Shit, long as they stay together we're two for two, then.  Maybe I should settle down here," she jokes.

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"Maybe you could." Assuming she's not a 'personality mismatch' that is.

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Bryce emerges from around a corner, then.  "Hi Raine, hi Tobi.  Mind if I join you?"

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Tobi makes room on the couch.  "Hey, fine with me."

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"Hey! Want something from the kitchen, Bryce? I'm still pretty thirsty, so, as long as I'm up... Same for you, Tobi."

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"I'm okay.  Thank you, though."

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"I'll take another soda, sure."

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Raine fetches another soda for herself (blueish purple) and Tobi. "You holding up okay?" she asks Bryce as she gets settled back in.

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