She let out a choked laugh as she opened a door on the entertainment center. Doing her best "Price Is Right Prize Girl" impression, she motioned to a large line of carefully labeled DVDs. "Daddy video taped every single performance. Then had them transfered to DVD before I moved out so he wouldn't have to give up his copies. Got every era of Haalima from ballet and tap to salsa to Middle Eastern."

Haalima smiled, looking a bit embarrassed.

Mittens giggles at the impersonation and admires the vast collection.

"Wow!" she exclaims with an amused gawk, "Fantastic!  I'd love to see a little of each!  Your favorites!"

Mits plants herself opposite the TV, setting her backpack on the floor and wiggling the bag-o-sweets again.  She puts on an eager smile, ears tilted forward and tail wagging, waiting for Haalima to fire up a DVD.

"Hmm, my favorites, huh? Alright." She picked a few DVDs of what she considered were her best performances. Some were from her childhood years, some were more recent. She put one of the earliest ones in the DVD player and loaded it up. Once she hit play on the menu, a smaller Haalima in a ballet outfit came on the screen. She began to dance around the stage with several other girls (about half her size at the time, though all the same age).

"You know," Haalima said with a laugh, "I was able to go en pointe almost as soon as I started ballet." She lifted one of her legs and waggled a shiny black hoof. "Makes it easy when you don't have to worry about toes being too weak for it."

Mittens awwws at the adorable dancing ballerinas on the TV screen and frequently shoots a smiley glance at Haalima.

"So ^cute!" she squees with an uncharacteristically girly squeal and wiggle, enjoying the video immensely.

"Daaang you're good!  Oh!  There she goes with the tippey toes!"

Mits glances at Haalima's hoof with a grin.

"Hadn't thought of that!  Good pointe!  But seriously.  You're talented!  More!  Show me more!"

Haalima giggled at the pointe joke before getting up and popping in another DVD. "This one's tap. Which isn't my best. I didn't stick with it for very long though. Just didn't enjoy it as much as other types of dance."

A slightly older Haalima came on the screen just then and began tapping away to a classical movie number. The grown-up Haalima was feeling a bit embarrassed at showing all these videos to Mittens, even though she had asked to see them. She felt like she was bragging or something.

Tapping horse!  'Nuf said!  (( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz-Xrg8Gly8 Interestingly enough...  There's a Tiger involved too.  Coincidence?  Perhaps. ))


Mittens is all grins, cheers, and claps!

"Fantastic!" she commends, "You're amazing!  I'm surprised I haven't seen you on TV yet!  Well I aim to fix that.  If you don't mind me discussing details while I watch the next one, I'd like to know if you're ready to jump in both feet.  I'm talking full scale.  I've even got plans to make a movie and I'd love to have you in it!  Fighting water monsters isn't all the Citizen Patrol will be doing, ya know.  I'm putting together a band with the others for instance.  You happen to have any musical talent on top of your cart loads of dance talent?  Or are you gunna undersell yourself to me 'cause you're too modest?"

((OOC: That cartoon is really cute!))

Haalima stares at Mittens for a moment in stunned surprise. "A movie? Really? Wow..." Her expression changes to embarrassment after a moment. "Uhm. Well there is one musical kind of thing I can do. It might be alright in a band, I guess. Want to see?" She gets up off the couch and rummages in a box on the top of the entertainment center. Haalima pulls out a set of finger cymbals, called Zils, and slips them over her thumbs and index fingers. Then she turns and clangs them together so that they make a chiming noise.

"These are usually for accompaniment though... Especially while dancing."

"Yup!" Mittens answers as she watches Haalima with a head-tilt as she retrieves the mystery musical instrument, "Specifically I was thinking a West Side Story of sorts.  Lots of singing and dancing.  You fit right in."  When the tall dancer demonstrates the Zils, Mittens near falls over.  Then she perks back up, cocks her head and raises an eyebrow, her eyes shifting.

"That..." she thinks out loud, "That...  Well now that I think of it...  Perfect!  Of all the unique sounds!  I'm no musical genius, but I know I'd love listening to a band with an unorthodox sound like that."

She rubs her chin, brows furrowed like she's in intense thought.

"How are you for singing?  Ever try more than just casual singing?"

She kind wiggles in place as she snaps her fingers, imitating Haalima's finger cymbal dance.

(Needs more cowbell)

Haalima shook her head. "Never really tried singing... Well, other than in the shower or in the car. It's something I enjoy doing, I just don't think I'm very good at it." She didn't want to admit that she also didn't think she'd have the nerve to get up in front of a crowd and sing. Singing was different than dancing.

Mainly because she knew she was good at dancing...

"Emerald's aspiring to be a singer, so we've got that covered," Mittens reminds, "But since she's probably better a judge of such things, I'll let her get with you about the potential of you being backup vocals.  Oh wait... I don't think I even told you what I'm up to!  I've noticed how talented our members are, so I was going to put together a band with them.  I already knew your dancing would be the perfect compliment to their music, but I tend to think about overlap hence the question of how you are at music.

"Back on the topic of your dancing.  Any chance I could get a demo disc from your collection?  Something you might show to an agent?  Boy I'm getting ahead of myself again!  I was thinking of taking advantage of our wave of popularity to advance the personal goals of the members.  And I figured you'd appreciate some exposure toward being a pro dancer.  Did I guess right?"

The expression on Haalima's face could have lit up a room when Mittens talked about an agent and dancing professionally. "You bet!" She exclaimed as her tail swished behind her and her ears perked forward. Then she looked a bit embarrassed. "Actually, that's sorta the only reason I joined at all. Figured that if I couldn't find a job on my own that I could use the inevitable exposure."

Mittens gives a blushy smile to Haalima's enthusiastic then embarrassed reaction.  While she was expecting members to have personal reasons for joining such as advancing their careers, she wasn't expecting any to be so blunt about it.

"Only reason?" Mittens asks with a head tilt, "While I appreciate your openness about your motives, I would like to think that the Citizen Patrol has more to offer you than just the one thing.  Companionship for starters.  Where else are you going to find a group where girls can wag their tails together without being called a zoo?"

Mittens turns a bit to wag her tail at Haalima and gives her a lip-nibble smile.

"Where else are you going to have a such a chance to be a good role model for little kids who went through the same struggles you went through growing up?  Or to make your community a better place to live for everyone?  Helping your dreams come true is just part of what I have to offer.  Giving you the chance to help someone else have their dreams come true...  That's what it's really all about.  I'll be there to applaud your debut!  It's what I live for!"

She gives a bright smile and a cute little clap for Haalima.  ( http://animalol.com/wp-content...abbit-cute-claps.jpg )
This message was last edited by the player at 13:53, Fri 24 Sept 2010.

Looking embarrassed, Haalima ran a clawed hand through her hair. "Well, to be honest I wasn't expecting others who are... uhm... able to wag their tails... to be here. I probably should have, but I wasn't. I must admit though, from what little I've seen of everyone, I do like you all." She chuckled. "It makes me feel pretty silly for joining for such selfish reasons, actually. But you and I seem to have some pretty similar views on things, and I am looking forward to getting to know everyone." She smiled.

Mittens giggles at Haalima's describing herself as selfish.

"If ambition is selfish, then I'm the most selfish person I know!" she answers, "But it's not selfish to form or join a group to further your goals.  Heck, even altruism incarnate Jesus described self love as a good motivator for doing the world some good!  'Love other people as much as you love yourself,' he said.  So don't put yourself down.  On the contrary, build yourself up!  I'm glad to hear you like the group.  And you know what?  I like you back!"

She can't help but be tempted to quote the ancient wisdom of Barney at this point, but restrains herself.

"So on those similar views.  What did you have in mind?  Don't suppose you were talking religion or politics, were ya?"

She shook her head. "No, not exactly. But, the whole making your dreams and others dreams come true? Or making the community a better place? I definitely like that. If we could make the world a place that isn't afraid of me, that would be nice too." Haalima smiled.

Mittens nod-nods.

"I don't want us to be a product of our environment," she says, "I want our environment to be a product of us!  And together we can make it happen!  Heck, it's already happening!  News about what we've accomplished so far has spread across the globe!"

She roots through her backpack and digs out a printout of a Japanese newspaper with the team's picture roster on it.  And there's Haalima's smiling face right there among them!

"Kinda makes me wish I could read Japanese, heh, but I get the impression that what they're writing is positive.  Don't get the wrong impression from those protesters the other day, the vast majority of the city, and the rest of the world, loves us!"

She pulls up another printout.  This time in English.  "Who's the hottest Citizen Patrol Member?" is the title of the web poll.  Haalima's not top of the list, but she's not at the bottom either, with thousands of votes.  Perhaps not surprisingly, topping the list by a noticeable margin is Joe, and bringing up the bottom of the list are the youngsters Timothius and Cell.  Except for Liberty who's somewhere in the middle.

The giant tiger-horse stared in amazement at the printout of the Japanese paper. "For real? Holy crap, I'm in a newspaper?! This is awesome!" She reached out a furry, clawed hand. "Can I see those? I haven't been in a newspaper since I was born..."

Mittens hands over the articles with a proud grin.

"That's just the tip of the iceburg!" she boasts, digging up a stack of articles from her backpack and offers them as well.

The Japanese article almost looks like a fighting game line-up.  Each member has a stat block including height, weight, list of powers, zodiac animal, blood type, etc.  How accurate any of this information is anyone's guess.  In the stack of articles, there's selections from Iran, Russia, Italy, Germany, etc., each with their own style of conveying the message, "Holy cow, real live superheroes!"  Of course, not every article is entirely positive, but it would take a considerable amount of reading and translating to find the questions of "Is this the debut of an American super soldier project?" or "Was that water monster planted there to make them look good?" and other such speculations.

Haalima sat down and looked through the articles, smiling at even the ones that weren't positive. She had always known that, with fame, came criticism. There was no way to make everyone love you, especially not if you were... her. Just the fact that anyone was writing about her at all was a treat. And writing about her without tabloid-esque headlines! That was what really made her smile.

"This is incredible," she said with a grin.

Mittens smiles and nods.  "You said it!  The phone's been ringing off the hook you might say.  As good as that is, it means we've got lots to do and little time to do it if we want to surf this wave of popularity.  I've had lots of offers to outsource some that stuff, but I want to keep as much as possible insourced.  Joe already offered to deal with the news angle of things, I was wondering if you'd like to dip your toes in the entertainment angle.  Accepting offers to appear on talk shows or late night comedy shows for example.  Not likely to include dancing, but will definitely include exposure.  I'm guessing you already have a full time job judging from your nice digs, but any amount of time you're willing to volunteer would be appreciated."

She would have blushed through her fur if she could, but it was obvious from the look on Haalima's face that she was embarrassed. "Actually, I don't have a job just yet. I'm paying for this place with the inheritance I got from my mother. It should last me about six months provided I don't go too over on my calculations for electricity. But," she said, looking happier, "I would love to do the entertainment side of things! It's right up my alley, after all."

Mittens lights up at the revelation!

"Really?" she asks, "That's great!  How'd you like to work full time for the Citizen Patrol then?  It's no six figure job, but you'll have piles of job satisfaction to look forward to knowing you're working for a good cause.  Looks good on a resume, and with all the entertainment related stuff that's piling up, that's a full time job as it is.  No obligation.  You find a better offer I'll understand, but may as well be doin' something in the mean time, right?"

She reaches into her backpack, takes out a job application form, and offers it to Haalima with an eager smile and tail-wag.

Haalima blinked in surprise at the job application. Then she grinned and took it with one white furred and clawed hand. "I would absolutely love to. Heck, it might pay enough on its own to at least keep me going." She winked. "And if not, it's always easier to find a job when you already have one, right? I'll go get a pen and fill this out for you right now."

She got up and headed in to the kitchen, grabbing a pen from the "I <3 Bellydance" Cup on the counter.

"Happy to hear it!" Mittens says, "Keep in mind low pay.  Dunno how much a place like this costs, but I'm sure there won't be much left over for that custom sports car you've been saving up for.  But yeah, since you volunteered already to take care of the minutes, I take it you don't mind paperwork?  'Cause I can't stand it.  Seen the movie 'Monsters?'  Roz is the paperwork monster.  If you're willing to be our Roz, that'd be fantastic."