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

[nicknamegirl]

Lola saw the name in the Sorting Room and instantly got curious. Jaime had mentioned Brenda's name from time to time, so Lola was fully prepared to welcome the new girl with all the enthusiasm she deserved. So she grinned widely at Brenda.

"You seem plenty useful to me." She extended a hand, smiling, for the other to shake. "Hi, I'm Lola Sanchez. I'd hoped some of Jaime's friends would show up here... It's really nice to meet you!"

Really, she had hoped that. Being the only one from a certain place, surrounded by strangers, that wasn't really fun. That had been the case with Mel here for a while, before Brice showed up.

[ibrokeaplanet]

Oh. Brenda hesitated. She remembered Jaime mentioning a girl at magic school, but Jaime's always meeting girls. She hadn't expected it to be a West Jessicabielburg girl, and got the usual twinge of jealousy those girls always gave her.

But only for a second. Honest. Because Happy Jaime is a Good Thing in Brenda's books.

She shook Lola's hand and smiled. "Thanks. Nice to meet you too. Jaime told me about you - I think - it got a little confused after 'I just went to magic school'."

[nicknamegirl]

"It's a pretty confusing way to explain something," sighed Lola and rolled her eyes a little. "Then again, this whole place is really confusing. I've been here for..." She blinked as she realised. "...Wow, almost a year, and I still haven't figured everything out. The basics are, 'Wave a stick, say some words in not-really-Latin, and stuff happens.'" There. All you needed to know to get through Hogwarts.

"Guess you're used to weird, though, if you help the Blue Beetle," she added after a moment, lowering her voice a little. Hey, Lola respected the need for a secret identity. She was... kind of a superhero, after all.

[ibrokeaplanet]

Oh, again. Had Jaime told Lola his secret identity? This must be some girl, then.

"Yeah, El Paso hasn't been the same since he hit town. You never totally get used to it, but it's worth it. He's done a lot of good work back home. He says he needs a lot of help 'cause he's so new at the hero game, but I think he's been doing just fine."

She grinned. "Not-quite-Latin is my specialty. Much to the dismay of a teacher I had in ninth grade who kept trying to get me to stop mangling it. This might just be fun at that. What kind of spells do they teach here?"

[nicknamegirl]

Lola smiled. Her face softened a little. "He's doing fine here, too." They'd had an emergency or two around here, what with Maia and all... But Jaime had managed just fine. An honour to the... cape. Did he wear a cape? She had never seen him in complete armour, and Lola was a little fuzzy on what was normal for superheroes. The only real source of information had been in her brother's comic books after all, and that had been a long time ago

[ibrokeaplanet]

Oh yeah, the girl was pretty far gone on Jaime. Good for her.

"Well, I guess it's less cruel than just exterminating the beetles," she pointed out. "At least this way they're theoretically still alive."

She hesitated. "Jaime voted Gryffindor. I'm not really sure what the other houses are about."

[nicknamegirl]

As an angel, Lola opposed to beetle transformations out of principle. Unless they were evil beetles from hell, of course, that was a completely different matter. An odd mental image of Maia's little demon flies being turned into buttons drifted through Lola's head, and was filed under Ideas So Weird They Might Just Work.

"I guess," she admitted with a little shrug. "Or they could not do either, and take the beetles outside."

Lola tilted her head thoughtfully. "Well, Gryffindor's for the brave, generally. Hufflepuff is for the loyal ones, Slytherin is more cunning, and Ravenclaw's clever. Though Ravenclaw's apparently got an open bar, so make of that what you will... It's your choice, really." She grinned a bit. "I personally recommend Gryffindor, though. I have to stand up for it, it being my House too and all..." Represent.

[ibrokeaplanet]

"...Gryffindor. I think."

Couldn't hurt to be nearby, keep an eye on things. Eventually she'd have to give Lola the 'hurt my friend and I kick your ass' speech - hey, she'd already given it to big scary soldier of fortune Peacemaker and meant it - but she'd like to see what they're like as a Couple first.

Vote: Gryffindor!

[nicknamegirl]

It hit Lola then and there that she was probably being scrutinised right now. Brenda was one of Jaime's best friends, so she had every right to. Mel had done the same thing, so Lola wouldn't expect anything less.

It didn't stop her from getting nervous.

"Okay, Gryffindor it is!" she said with only slightly forced ease and cast her vote. "Good luck with it! I guess I'll be seeing you around a lot, then?" She didn't particularly mind. Jaime's friends were her friends by default, in her mind at least.

Re: Vote: Gryffindor!

[ibrokeaplanet]

"Thanks," she replied. "Sure we will!"

Not that she was worried or anything. So far Lola was passing the Friend Test. But Brenda was nothing if not cautious (see also, Gryffindor test answer).