dark_slippy_thing | Second Floor Common Room, Friday mid-afternoon

At a point in the afternoon when the common room was quiet and all of his damn heroes were free, Valentine called a meeting.

Valentine (importantman)	"Alright!" Valentine took a deep breath, looking at the random band of heroes gathered around him. "We're going to be going to my world. And we're going to be doing as I say. Because if we don't, we will not be coming back, and I rather enjoy living." He started pacing back and forth, looking from face to gibberish maskless face anxiously. "The shadows are the issue, but they're not the only danger there. Gryphons will devour you alive if you can't answer their riddle. Sphinxes aren't big, but in mobs they are dangerous. Monkeybirds are mostly harmless, but if you make them angry, they'll give you a whomp in the back of the head to remember." He took a deep breath and abruptly stopped pacing. "But we're not going for the monkeybirds or sphinxes. I trust all of you can hold your own in a fight?" He allowed only a moment's pause for anyone who wanted to nod to get their opportunity before he continued to plow on ahead. "That's nice. We'll be running more than fighting. We're all going to continue breathing through this, understand? Bring a weapon, yes, but bring a light if you can. And wear your good running shoes. If you get touched by this thing, you're dead and gone." He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out some hastily-made paper masks with ribbons on the sides to tie them on with. "Remember, where I'm from, you're all the ones with the odd faces. We don't want to stand out while we're there, so you're going to have to put these on." He paused and looked at the turtle. "Except for you. You're more normal than all of these maskless people combined.".
Buffy (1ordinarygirl)	Buffy put her mask on. "I feel like a superhero. I think you should call me Pom Pom on this trip," she grinned.
Donatello (turtle_techie)	"Pom Pom?" Donnie grinned. "You'll cheer the shadows into submission?"
Buffy (1ordinarygirl)	"Pom Pom Power was my name in Superhero class," Buffy explained, before grinning widely. "And I bet I totally could cheer the shadows into submission." She might have taken that as a challenge, yes.
Donatello (turtle_techie)	"Just don't get too close," Donnie said, smiling. "You know, just in case it doesn't realize what cheering is."
Rikku (the_merriest)	"I think cheering is a totally valid attack style," Rikku said, fixing her mask in place. "There's bouncing and yelling and kicking, and really, if you aim that at people? You're set."
Valentine (importantman)	If Valentine was at all quiet up to this point, it was because he was busy marveling at how simple paper masks somehow had the ability to turn hideous incomplete faces into attractive young women. He'd have to hand out masks more often around here. "If you can bounce and yell your way through this and we all get out of this alive, I'll call you Pom Pom or Boom-Rah-Rah or whatever you'd like."
Buffy (1ordinarygirl)	Buffy beamed at him. "I'll hold you to that. Okay, where do we go?"
Valentine (importantman)	"I suppose we'll grab anything else we might think we need, and then Will can take us there," Valentine said uneasily. "Maybe get some rest and some food first. We don't know how long it's going to be when we get there before we can find a relatively safe place to lay down and, well, anything at all to eat."
Will (notawitch)	Will took a paper mask from Valentine, but didn't put it on right away. "I can teleport us there using the Heart, but we'll have to make a stop in Candracar in between. No biggie, it's just that I need to go through there to get to other worlds." She rubbed the back of her neck. "And I, uh, need to transform into my Guardian form first which is a really embarrassing transformation sequence I don't want other people to see. Is there like a closet or something I can use quickly?"
Valentine (importantman)	"We could always cram you into a broom closet," Valentine said with perhaps the hint of a cruel grin. It was entirely possible that he'd be bitter at Will for this whole mess for a good week or so. The only thing that could make this better was cookies, and she didn't appear to have them, so she was rather out of luck, wasn't she?
Will (notawitch)	She might have grumbled a bit but she still headed for the closet and shut the door behind her. There was about a minute of bright lights bursting out from there, before she opened the door and emerged in her Guardian uniform.
Buffy (1ordinarygirl)	"Pretty wings," Buffy said, grinning.
Will (notawitch)	"Thanks," Will said back with a smile. "They don't actually do anything, but they look pretty."
Valentine (importantman)	"Why yes, excellent," Valentine said. "When shadowy death comes chasing us down the street, we can point you at it and we'll just razzle-dazzle it into submission. Bonus points if you use pom poms." He stretched and yawned-- quite indicative of the fact that there had certainly been issues sleeping this week, and shook his head. "But not right now. Let's all rest up, grab what supplies we can, and attack this thing tomorrow. Better to at least go with a fighting chance."