Application: Brenda Amparo (Blue Beetle III comic)

[ibrokeaplanet]

"Mrs. Reyes, are you sure I can't help -"

A thin girl with carrot-red hair and freckles turns around, school uniform skirt swirling around as she does. She's startled to find a stone wall behind her rather than the kitchen door she was expecting.

"Oh brother. C'mon, I didn't even pick up a weird alien artifact this time or anything!" She walks

Comments

[makeminemayday]

((Couldn't resist.))

For the heck of it, May had been out patrolling the rooftops, needing to get some air time after being cooped up for so long. So she was therefore in full costume when she came in through a window and was only mildly surprised to find herself in the Sorting Room.

Oh well, it wasn't like she couldn't find her way from here. She jumped nimbly to the ground and picked up a copy of the application. As she read the Hufflepuff answer, she grinned beneath her mask. "Hey, helping out the caped set? Let me tell you, that's the definition of useful right there." She shrugged. "Not knocking the driver's license either. Driver's Ed can be an ordeal in itself." This might have been influenced by learning to drive in New York, of course, but still.

[ibrokeaplanet]

"Um. Hi." Brenda waved. "I'm thinkin' you're the voice of experience there. Justice League? Outsiders? Or d'you just work solo?"

[makeminemayday]

"That obvious, huh?" May said, glancing down at the red-and-blue spandex. "Never heard of them. Avengers reserve, but I work solo most of the time." She cocked her head. "This is one of those alternate universe things again, isn't it?"

[ibrokeaplanet]

"Yeah, unless Mexican wrestling's gotten really strange." She grinned. "Sounds like it. Wait, what - again?"

[makeminemayday]

That got a snort, only because May had heard exactly how her Dad had first tried to use his powers. "Hey, you never know. They'll do anything to sell tickets nowadays."

"Yeah, again. A lot of people from different universes show up here. It's almost commonplace at this point, which ought to tell you how bizarre this place is." She offered a hand. "Spider-Girl, hence the really obvious symbol. Anyone explain to you about the school yet?"

[ibrokeaplanet]

Brenda shook the offered hand, then held hers up and wobbled it back and forth.

"Sorta. Kinda. Maybe. I've got a friend at home who was here, then he wasn't and told us a little about Hogwarts - sounding totally nuts, of course - and now he's here again. And so am I. Magic school, got that part, but needless to say I'm pretty confused about the details."

[makeminemayday]

(( Assuming that the convo with Jaime happened first, and that he's explained Sorting and the houses.))

"You've already got a friend here? Nice." May chuckled. "Yeah, I'll bet he did sound nuts. I thought I was used to the weird before I got here, but this place tested even my limits." And short of the Hat, she hadn't met any non-humans at her Sorting.

She wanted to ask who the friend was, but it was probably someone she'd met in civvies. Alternate universe thing or not, she had to at least try to keep the secret identity secret.

"For a school, there aren't that many classes. There's class signups once in a blue moon around here. But you can pick up a lot from independent study, and all of the professors I've had are really good about one-on-one help outside of class. I spent a lot of time in the library my first few weeks here." Well, after the Christmas fiasco at least.

[ibrokeaplanet]

Brenda's eyes brightened. "Library? Is it a good one? Or just, like, 50 copies each of 'The Old Man and the Sea' and 'Light In the Forest' like my old middle school had?"

[makeminemayday]

Well, this Sorting vote wasn't going to be too hard to figure out.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I think it's bigger than the one at Empire State University," May replied. "Nope. Haven't seen any copies of those, or any copies of 'The Scarlet Letter.'" Thank God for that. "Pretty much most of what they have, you can't get in any public library back home. Of course, I think their selection of non-magical reading is just a little bit outdated."

[ibrokeaplanet]

"Well, the magical reading's gotta be the good stuff anyway..." She raised an eyebrow. "How outdated are we talking here?"

[makeminemayday]

((Mask is still on, but icon is appropriate.))

May snorted. "I had to help somebody check out that non-magical section for stuff on marriage. One of the few things we could find was this housewife guide from the 1950s. It was bad. Hilarious, in a frightening, oh-thank-god-I-don't-live-in-that-era sort of way." She thought for a second. "Edinburgh's not too far away, though, if you need non-magical stuff."

[ibrokeaplanet]

"Oh, man. The wizards think we're all Ozzie and Harriet? That'd be funny if it wasn't, you know, really appalling!"

Non-magical stuff. For that matter, magical stuff. She hadn't thought about provisions yet. "Um. I didn't bring much money. Is there like a work-study program or something? Jaime said people show up here like this all the time, surely they've thought of this problem. Right?"

[makeminemayday]

"...I just don't think they get out much beyond the regular people who show up here. There's a class called Muggle Studies - 'Muggle' being non-magical people - and I think they basically cover how people do stuff without magic. Cars are like this big unknown here. Electronics has issues around Hogwarts, although there are ways around that." She was still working on getting that transfigured stereo to work. Maybe Brice could tell her how he managed to get his set up.

"The money thing's probably not gonna be an issue. Most of the essential stuff you can get around here. And I think there's a fund set up for students who land here with no cash. Some people get by with bribes from applicants, but... I'm not much for bribes myself."

[ibrokeaplanet]

"Hmm. That bribe thing again. Doesn't seem ethical, does it?"

She's tempted, under the circumstances. But it's a slippery slope from the moral high ground to La Dama territory, and she's scared to death of going there.

Vote: Ravenclaw

[makeminemayday]

May shrugged. "Honestly? I don't get it myself. Most people aren't really big on taking bribes anyway, myself included. You do kinda have to bribe the Hat, though - it usually goes for shiny things."

"I think you're a Ravenclaw, because in spite of the bar, there are a lot of really smart people there. Some of the better professors, too. And this place isn't really that stringent about sticking with just your House. I think a couple people have moved into Houses other than the one they were Sorted into, for whatever reason."

Re: Vote: Ravenclaw

[ibrokeaplanet]

She looked at her backpack. She had a few buttons and pins stuck on there for flair, maybe one of them would do?

"Okay then, Ravenclaw's a good place for me to visit even if I don't get placed there. Good to know. Any professors in particular I should look out for?"