There are three cinemas in Cambridge in 1978.  The Regal in Regent Street, the ABC in the Market Square and the Art Cinema.  The first two are commercial cinemas, the other well, isn't.  It was the venue for the first Cambridge Film Festival.

Still in form a cinema is a cinema.  The commercial ones sell popcorn, hotdogs, ice creams and the like in the Foyer and both have two screens.  The Arts Cinema sells only tickets in the foyer and sometimes have queues all around the block, sometimes stretching as far as the Pickerel bridge across the Cam.

>>> From Maunder School >>>

Ann stood in the lobby of the ABC. Having learnt from her previous experience of fighting a vampire, she'd dressed down: flared jeans, a jumper in case it got cold, and a T-shirt under the jumper in case the outer layer got cut or bloodied in fighting. Not that she expected to fight tonight, but she did want to be ready just in case.

As she waited, she wondered just what Inoue had meant. Had she seen something in the cards? Something about Ann being the Slayer? Or was it just superstition? Ann tapped her fingers against her leg as she waited to find out.

(( Entering scene from Maunder School. ))

Inoue had changed into the nicest clothes she had that were not her school uniform. She had precisely two sets of clothes that met the lattermost requirement and they were still not particularly nice. She would have to check out the local secondhand stores and soon if she didn't want to look like some kind of vagabond. She was probably going to look like some kind of vagabond no matter what she did, but that was a problem for future Inoue. Present Inoue had to make a good impression for Ann with something that wouldn't get the YMCA mad at her for trashing her new uniform on the very first night if something bad happened, and if the cards were right (and they were very rarely wrong) bad things just happen around Ann.

Thus, she returned to the outfit she had when she first arrived in this strange land:



It wasn't an unstylish outfit, with consistent themes and coloring throughout. It was just... a little past its expiration date is all!

Inoue spots Ann almost immediately on entering the theater, waving enthusiastically. "Ann! Annnn~! Konnichi wa!" She merrily skips to her side. "You're here alone?"

Ann greeted Inoue with a Konnichi wa of her own.

"Alone? Well, I was alone until you showed up. Did you think my parents would have to be here to keep an eye on me? I'm not three anymore."

She led the way to the ticket queue. "Thank God It's Friday is us. I wish it really were Friday. Then we wouldn't have double PE tomorrow. Apparently, Donna Summer is in the film. I hope she sings I Feel Love. Though if she does, I warn you that I might stand up and start dancing."

Once they'd bought their tickets, she looked around them then said, "So what did you see in the tarot cards at school? Something seemed to freak you out. Or were you just jealous of the tall, dark stranger you saw in my future?""

Or had Inoue seen something about her Slayer side? Ann needed to know.

Elissa had come to see Jubilee for the third time. It seemed like a great way to get out of the stress that had just been dumped on her. It was with some surprise, and not a little bit of worry that she say Ann in the queue too. And talking to ... oh fuck ... it was that crazy woman again.

"Hi Ann" Elissa said as she approached "I see the person who was looking for you has found you." she looked at Inoue wondering. Crazy woman? Vampire? Faeires? Stalker from hell? Leaning against a wall with her arms folded she assessed Inuoe and addressed her "Ann looks just like your pencil drawing doesn't she... I didn't catch your name earlier when you asked me where you might find her"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:44, Fri 14 Jan 2022.

Inoue blushes a little. "I- I did not mean it like that. I thought that you might have other friends, classmates, etcetera."

Ann wishes it was Friday? Oh right, weekends. Those are a thing that normal school girls look forward to! PE... physical education? That sounds like fun to Inoue. She giggles at mention of dancing. "I hope she sings too, I would like to see you dance!"

Inoue surveys the area. People on dates. People with friends. People not paying attention to them. No need to be too discrete. She'd been thinking about how to present the situation since that morning; it seemed like it would be better to broach the subject now then wash away the bitterness with a movie, rather than get Ann in a good mood with a movie then shatter it with doomsaying. Best they buy their tickets first so that they would be committed to the movie, otherwise Ann might just walk out if she hears something she doesn't like.

Buy. Tickets. Inoue looks down at her paltry collection of stamped metal and pretend-paper. This was going to eat into her clothing fund. She somewhat morosely hands over her pounds for the ticket.

Inoue is about to open her mouth to reply to Ann's questions, grateful that she hadn't needed to be the one to broach the topic herself, when suddenly they have an Elissa! "Oh, hello Elissa," she greets with a guarded smile. "Elissa, this is Ann, whom you yesterday told me you have never seen before. Ann, this is Elissa, I met her in fencing club; she said she was going to make us tea and then walked out. I am Inoue; you are the one who asked my name. I suppose I must not have been very memorable. And it is a charcoal sketch." Inoue's smile was virtually nonexistent by the time she finished.

Inoue turns back to Ann, confident and friendly smile immediately springing back to existence. "Would you like to see, Ann?"

"Inuoe was very interesting in the lesson, Ann. It was almost magic really. She arrived in the lesson without coming through the door, and had a picture of you that she was asking people for. Said she saw you in a dream" Elissa said totally unaffected by the attempts at friendliness and attempts to deflect "Almost as though she was hunting you. I thought you were cop, Inuoe. But you're not are you?  What are? Who do you work for and why are hunting Ann?"

"Did she just 'randomly' bump into you Ann, or did she introduce herself saying 'Hey girl, I've been asking all around time looking for you. Glad I found you at last'. Thing about stalkers... usually they aren't stalking for nice reasons."

Inoue's eyes flick back to Elissa. "Friend of yours?" she asks Ann. "Do you trust her?"

Ann had watched the exchange between the two girls, growing more and more confused.

"There's a drawing? Let's see if I have this right. You two met at fencing and hit it off like Tom and Jerry. And Inoue entered through the window? She is a bit strange, but I think that's because she's new to the country. Oh, and Elissa didn't make any tea."

Then more facts clicked in.

"You had a dream about me?" She remembered that both Elissa and she had had dreams before their new abilities showed. Was this the same sort of thing?

She looked at Inoue. "So you were looking for me before today? We only met this morning. How did you get accepted into the school at such short notice? And why did you act as though you didn't know who I was?"

She took a step back, her body loose and ready for combat. She'd seen Inoue in the sunlight earlier that day, so she could rule out her being a vampire. "Who are you? What do you want with me now that you've found me? Do you work for the fae?"

"No Inuoue entered by magic not through a window, and had picture of you drawn from a dream, and was hunting you and has found you." Elissa clarified. She didn't really feel she needed to say much more. Ann had already got the gist of it.

There's a drawing? "Hai!" Inoue removes an envelope from inside her leather jacket, inadvertently revealing that she is also carrying a stake, survival knife, and several small wooden talismans under the bulky garment. She removes and unfolds the paper to show a fairly skillful charcoal rendition of Ann at the grocery store where she works. In the sketch Ann is looking back in the midst of stacking boxes, as if turning in surprise to look at the viewer.

You two met at fencing and hit it off like Tom and Jerry. "No, there was no ice cream involved."

You had a dream about me? "Hai." And why did you act as though you didn't know who I was? "Because I didn't! I knew you were important and that it was vitally important that I find you, but nothing about who you were or your temperament. I did not want to walk up to you and say... heeeey gurl, you an' me oughta go somewhere private and talk about mah magic ghost cult, herp-a-durrrr~!" Inoue gesticulates vapidly as she puts on the voice, and puts on a sheepishly apologetic smile. "I never lie, but I know when not to tell the whole truth. But when I drew that fortune for you this morning, I realized that there was little time to feel you out. So... here I am, re-introducing myself I guess."

"I am Inoue... student of an ancient Japanese order of mystic warriors dedicated to maintaining the balance between the physical and spirit worlds, and warding against the intrusion of evil spirits. It is actually pretty cool!" She offers a big smile. "As for how I got here, or how preparations for my enrollment were prepared so quickly... eeeeee-to... eeeeeeee... tooo, if you look at things a certain way, ah... _{t-time isn't linear???}" She shrugs apologetically. "Look, a wizard did it okay?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Fri 14 Jan 2022.

"If you had... I would have thought you were even more insane than I did." Elissa said slowly "And I'd have been wrong. OK... so wizards and ancient spirit worlds are true as well...sheesh... can I go back to last week" She assessed Inuoe. Ran through scenarios in her head. Paranoid wanted to win, but then she remembered what her dad had said about Trust.

Elissa held out her hand to Inuoe "Sorry if I gave you a hard time, girl. The names El. I'm her sidekick. As long as Ann is OK with you, I am"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:06, Fri 14 Jan 2022.

The Ticket seller said, "Film's starting in eight minutes, do you want a ticket as well?  Fifty pee each."

Ann grabbed the picture out of Inoue's hands and studied it as the other two spoke. There was no denying that it was her face. Finally, she looked up.

"This is bad. This is really bad."

She turned the sheet around to face the others.

"Does my hair really look like that from that angle?"

She raised a hand to rearrange it.

"So you're one of the good warriors, are you Inoue? I don't suppose you have any way of proving that? And what exactly have you come to Cambridge to do? And how do you do it? Fight? Cast tarot cards? And what do you know about what I am?"

She was comforted somewhat by the sight of the stake. It was an anti-vampire weapon.