hello skies of blue | Glowfic Constellation

"Oh, good idea!"

Feathers, brown and blonde with touches of red at the tips, stuck into the braid aligning with the smaller bands of hair. And maybe a few coming out of the crown of her head, mostly flat and pointing back, if they help?

The ones in the braid help, the ones on top don't.

Then the crown-feathers can go away. "Hmm... Okay I think I might be about done for today, gonna try one more thing..."

Do gauntlets going a few inches up her wrists in the same red-white-yellow-tooling style as her boots help better than hiding the fingernails, tattoo, and chucking her braclets hurt?

Gauntlets help!

"Cooool. That's good. Okay. I'm happy with this for now, thanks everyone! Someone else's turn now, or what?"

"Yeah, I want troubleshooting on my new casuals," says Jodie, replacing her outfit with something that could just barely pass on the street if somebody who looked like a normal human was wearing it. "I need it pretty enough to keep my second spell, I don't need the third..."

People start critiquing Jodie's costume.

Laura gamely tries to think of something to help, to emphasize the goth look without looking Not Casual - maybe a little deep, dark red on the jeans? - but if nothing seems obvious she's probably too timid in the social arena to actually suggest anything.

There's nothing obvious; Jodie got everything obvious already! People are making very subtle recommendations - adjustments to the knit of her skirt and the flare of her blazer hem.

She has no idea how to help here and will halfheartedly suggest a touch more dark red and then kinda just. Back off.

Jodie adds a little dark red, in her earrings, and keeps it!

...So she did help. At least a bit. Yay!

No other ideas come to her, but she chimes in with support to some of what other people come up with sometimes.

And eventually magic club disperses.

"That was a lot of fun! Looking forward to it next week!"

And then she takes into the air, bearing the strain of doing it in her armor long enough to go home and spend a little time with her family and get another impromptu photoshoot. Then, of course, she flies around some more in her undershirt and a de-armored version of the skirt.

She jogs on the ground a bit and does some push-ups and sit-ups and a few other exercises, because it doesn't do to just do cardio, but after getting the exercise out of her system she showers, has a bit of trouble drying her wings off, and then thinks about stardarters again and googles 'how to make money as a magical girl'.

Here's TOP SEVEN WAYS FOR MAGICAL GIRLS TO MAKE MONEY!, a featured page on newgirlsontheblock.com:

1. Swarm patrol! If you're old enough, you can come along with more experienced squads of swarm hunters to get experience, or bike or fly around your town to be the first to sense a new swarm and call in a squad before it gets too hairy. (Don't try to take on a swarm alone till you know what you're doing!)

2. Healing! It's legal in most states for even young magical girls with healing spells to use their powers in a medical setting.

3. Modeling and acting! They save on costume and makeup budget and pass it on to YOU!

4. Generating biomatter - the most popular options are ivory/horn and coral, but there are also markets for exotic flowers, wood, special feathers and scales, wools, and (if you get the hang of growing it so it'll come off painlessly) fur!

5. Birthday parties! A lot of little kids like having a real dressed-up magical girl at their party. This is best if you have safely demonstrable magic and don't mind all your mods being poked and prodded.

6. Research! Scientists are often looking for magical girl subjects to ask questions and try things with to find out more about magic.

7. Special powers applications - healing's mentioned specifically up above, but lots of powers have applications in the private sector!

She is pretty sure zapping things won't heal them. And that trying to power the house would lead to, at best, a bunch of blown lightbulbs. So, 2 and 7 are out. She's too young for 1. Modeling sounds awful on a visceral level, but it might not be too bad. And it'd be ironic, or something, if she ends up a model.

Making and breaking off horn-and-things might work? If it doesn't hurt her long-term, and it pays... Are people just selling bits of themselves on eBay, or what?

Birthday parties might work, she'd like to show off, but the style she has now is more badass than cute, so maybe not. Doing science sounds almost fun. She tries to find out if anyone wanting to do science is looking for freshly activated 14 year olds right now.

Some people sell bits of themselves on Ebay, especially if they have chosen to sculpt them before detaching them, but there are also middleman services if they look.

The National Institute for Magical Studies will pay her $50 to take a survey if she proves she's a magical girl by presenting state ID that indicates that.

She wants a stardarter and wants it soon and straightforwardly. She looks into the middleman services for the one that's easiest to get started with or contact.

She probably doesn't have a state ID, unless her school ID card counts.

Her school ID does not count and doesn't currently indicate she's a magical girl anyway.

The middleman for magically generated biomaterials that is most accessible to her is called Parker's Ivory (which also deals in things other than, strictly, ivory).

Eh, forget the science.

So is she supposed to call them or email or fly somewhere and go in or what.

They take drop-ins, though they do encourage calling ahead.

She calls them!

"Parker's Ivory this is Yasmin how can I help you?"