More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[BeaMichelle]

Theresa lurched forward from the pressure blast. Her mind began to work overtime as he made his followup. She managed a quick, but unsteady, back step that was just clipped by Theo's foot. He was much faster than Luna, who was the only one of her sisters that regularly flew. She needed something to match that. The only person who could outpace Luna was Chariot.

An idea hit her like a bolt of lightning. After her death, Theresa was able to comprehend Chariot's configurations. The arena was large and open enough to really let loose with anything she wanted to try.

The fabric of Theresa's pants ripped apart as her legs below the knee reconfigured into Chariot's wheel's. She caught herself and struggled to balance for a quick moment as her wheels put some distance between herself and Theonis. Once she was upright, she reconfigured her right arm into a smaller type of Gatling gun that still needed to be steadied by her left arm, but allowed for more mobility. She unleashed a barrage of chalk rounds as she strafed around Theonis.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Rydia's ears immediately dropped. "Did sh-...oh wow. Calling what Freya went through 'a bad experience' is like calling a nuclear detonation a small explosion. If my mother and grandmother's recollection of events was remotely accurate, the first and last time Freya fell in love set off a series of events that ripped our family apart for nearly two decades and left a city in ruins."

Rydia pondered for a moment before she spoke again. "You said Fenris was drinking with Trinity? Then she's probably getting black out drunk to phase out the memories of what happened, even if for a little while."

The princess shifted in her seat uncomfortably as she considered divulging any more information on the topic. "Like I said, I only know what my mother and grandmother told me. The worst of it happened before I was born, and it really isn't my story to tell. However, Freya was never forthcoming with anything about that time. I doubt Fenris would be any different. No doubt it's a deep, untreated, emotional wound that's festered over the last few decades."

"What do you plan to do with this information?" she asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ilex was indeed annoyed at first, but her mood quickly improved as Kerana explained the situation. "You need not worry. Your desire to spread joy to those around you gives new life to the planet that sustains us all. A type of reciprocation, if you will. Not a distortion. However, if that desire is not tempered, it can run amok. A lack of control can also be attributed to disorder of the heart and mind. A thought that lingers, or a wound that still aches."

She relaxed her posture and thought back to the children that would visit her garden, and the problems they shared with her. She doubted the struggles of the young had changed much in the time she had been asleep.

"Tell me about your family." she calmly asked without asking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heather thought about what Liv said. She thought back to the first man she killed with her newly awakened fire abilities. He may have killed her brother, but the act of killing him had been all too easy. And again, the day before, she crushed the spine of a woman that was attacking Kerana's boyfriend and did not hesitate to immolate the enemy. Liv was absolutely right. It was easy. Too easy.

"Liv...you're right. Let's get out of here. I'll be damned if I'm going to let them ruin our day. We should hurry up and get dressed before they get brave. How far does your blink go? I've always wanted to visit the Mall of America in Minnesota."  

[Nova Blancke]

"To understand. I have been told I act all-knowing despite being as dense as a rock. Something along those lines." Legio responded.

He felt something move in his chest. A strange sensation. Nothing physical moved but still..something moved. The man felt compelled to expand on his answer.

"To.....make sure I never make the mistake of hurting her by accident again. I find myself wanting to know more about her." Speaking honestly felt liberating despite not knowing why.

"Well we should at least get dressed first. I can take us anywhere where there is light. I don't even know my limits at the moment. You'd think one boon would grant a big boost but....two at the same time and being Ascended ontop of that? I need to work out some kinks."

So close

The more this went on the more he realized she truly was his sister. Just like him , she was quick on her feet or...wheels with thinking. He twisted and turned with his leg swipe to get up with the same momentum. His hand flung out and put up a barrier around him to protect him from the chalk bullets.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Silhouette placed the fingertips of her right hand confidently on her chest and proudly stated, "There's no need to worry about that. We are in my domain, where I draw power. As such, I can place you in stasis and supplement your biological needs by giving you my nigh limitless power. Just as I did with Freya when she needed to recover in the shadow realm. You wont even need to expel waste. This way, you can focus on helping Fenris."

She then clapped her hands and dispersed the butterflies into the shadows. "There, now that those are out of the way we can help Fenris come to terms with the memories she's inherited. So long as she's in this fugue state, it'll be easier for us to guide her without resistance. Still, we must be careful not to drive her so hard that she becomes catatonic."

"Those voices she heard were most likely from some of the most significant moments of her life. There are of course others, but one of those might be a good place to start."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rydia studied Legio. Every micro expression. Every emphasized word. The words he chose to use. She could tell he had been talking to people other than her aunt and grandmother. Interesting, and equally troubling. At least he seemed to be trying to make amends.

"As far as I know, there was a boy Freya had a crush on when she was a preteen. His name was Alines. The son of a friend of the family. He was also a metahuman. One that possessed, what could be called, demonic powers. Years later, his sister was brutally murdered. He went insane and blamed the entirety of humanity for what'd happened. At that time, Freya's crush had grown into an unrequited love, and she had her own axe to grind with humans. The way Mom told the story, he took advantage of her love and anger. Both emotionally and physically. Grandmother says it was the death of my grandfather that drove Freya to mass murder, and that she volunteered to help Alines. I suspect they're both right"

"Freya did anything for him. Anything. She killed thousands of people without hesitation or remorse. It wasn't until she'd almost killed my uncle, Teshoumaru, that she snapped out of whatever hold Alines had on her heart and mind. She thought my uncle was dead, and so she left him to confront Alines. They exchanged words, and then she killed him."

"That about summarizes it. To Freya, romantic love was madness, pain, betrayal, and death. Basically Hell. It would seem Fenris has inherited her sensibilities. Though I'm surprised. From what I've heard, Freya would've rammed your pelvis into your shoulders for suggesting such a thing. The fact that Fenris only slapped you suggests that she's more than just the sum of her parts."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heather nodded and covered herself with the damp towel that she'd discarded shortly after they entered. "Best not to chance crossing state lines then. I still think we shou-" Heather stopped mid sentence and put her hands up.

She'd just opened the door into the locker room to find that one of the staffers had just locked them out of the main building. She turned and revealed that she had a grenade clasped in her trembling right hand with her left index finger hooked around the pin.

"Are you kidding me?!" Heather exclaimed with an expulsion of small flames from the corners of her mouth.

The woman, whose name tag read Melanie, frantically shouted, "Stay back, kill me and you'll die too."

"We aren't- ugh! You must've tipped off The Watch. Look, we aren't going to do anything to you. We just want to leave without hurting anyone."

"And the guy that went in there?" Cindy asked with a motion to the sauna.

"...Without hurting anyone else."  

[BeaMichelle]

Theresa continued to strafe and test her shots in hopes that there's be a weak spot in Theonis' defenses. Yet no matter how much she increased the velocity of her mechanics they would, at best, be diverted rather than deflected. She started to become frustrated. She could go harder, and she knew of one type of weapon that he wouldn't be able to divert with his pressure. Her eyes narrowed, and she grit her teeth as she began to configure her left hand into something that hurt him.

Hurt, maybe even kill.

Her eyes snapped wide as she realized what she was about to do. Her focus was disrupted enough that the spin of her wheels angled and collided with one another. Sparks flew as she went airborne and landed hard on her left side. She slid for several yard before she hit the wall with her back. Her body shifted back to normal as she laid still for a moment. She then groaned and sat up against the wall she'd just hit.  

[Nova Blancke]

Liv did not expect the woman to be in it as well.

She learned something about herself. Grenade's did not scare her at all. She could teleport both of them out of here before it even went off.

"Do you expect people that get shot to not retaliate?" Liv asked. "You think it's fair to kill someone who just wants to live their lives? Who had no say in becoming a Meta like us? You're not going to pull that pin. You're not going to throw away your life in vain. In case you are not aware...I can teleport. You pull that pin and all that will be left of you is regret. You're just stalling for your buddies to come in."

She sighed.

"Please don't make a permanent decision in a moment of your life."

Legio listened and took it all in. He looked down for a bit and responded.

"I see. I did not know. I used to but she wanted me to forget her memories from myself. I should apologize when she is done drinking and recovered from that."

"There is something else I would like it ask. I have retained all of the knowledge that Freya had about her land, culture, people, foods, festivals Everything. But I know not of what she likes. Do you know what....food she likes?"

Theo made his way towards her after she sat up again.

"You alright? Not used to those wheels yet huh?"  

[BeaMichelle]

Theresa looked up at Theonis and shook her head while she replied, "No. Well, yes, but that isn't why I fell. This body is weird."

She softly bit on the inside of her bottom lip while she contemplated how to tell Theonis she slipped and almost became lethal for a split second.

"Also...I think you're right. I'm still too dangerous to spar with you or the others. Just before I fell, I realized that if I was going to get past your air shield, I was gonna have to make something dangerous. Maybe even deadly. I almost did it. It was easy. Like thinking about walking. But then I remembered that I didn't want to hurt you...so I fell."

She looked to the ground in shame and huffed, "Even after that Damien guy fixed my brain, I still think like a bad person. Can I ever be fixed for real, or am I going to be broken forever?"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Melanie trembled as she looked from Heather to Liv frantically. She didn't want either of them to leave her line of sight. "Y-you're bluffing. If you could teleport, you would've done it."

"Naked?!" Heather asked incredulously. "You're scared, I get that, but it's making you act crazy. You don't want to die, right? Just to maybe kill two metahumans who could teleport before the count of three? C'mon. Put the grenade down and let us get out of here before more people get hurt."

Melanie hardened her gaze and took a deep breath, but unsteady, breath. She carefully placed the grenade down on the nearest bench with the pin still in place. Heather took a deep breath and put her hands down.

"They're gonna be mad at me. Paul doesn't like cowards." Melanie lamented.

"Can they really blame you, though? Especially when you're afraid of getting eaten." Heather replied

"Why wou-"

Heather opened her mouth wide and let out the loudest, bellowing roar she could possibly manage in her more human state. That triggered something primal in Melanie, who scrambled to to unlock the door and get away from the couple as quickly as possible. She frantically fumbled with the simple turn bolt until it finally clicked and allwed her to run away from Heather as auickly as she could.

Heather coughed a few times, cleared her throat, and looked to Liv with a sweet smile that starkly contrasted the animalistic sound that had just exploded from her. "Well then, now that she's gone, let's get out of here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rydia's ears tilted in a combination of shock and confusion. "Hold on. Let's back this up just a bit. You're asking me what her favorite food is? That's..."

Rydia leaned forward and placed her forearms flat on the table. "I'm not sure how familiar you are with the customs of humans or elves, but there are a few things that overlap. One of those customs is the act of making a favored meal for a friend to show appreciation, or a potential mate to show interest. Fenris is certainly not your friend, and I think I might actually go mad if I entertain the thought of you attempting to court her after everything you've done."  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Silhouette placed the fingertips of her right hand confidently on her chest and proudly stated, "There's no need to worry about that. We are in my domain, where I draw power. As such, I can place you in stasis and supplement your biological needs by giving you my nigh limitless power. Just as I did with Freya when she needed to recover in the shadow realm. You won’t even need to expel waste. This way, you can focus on helping Fenris."

She then clapped her hands and dispersed the butterflies into the shadows. "There, now that those are out of the way we can help Fenris come to terms with the memories she's inherited. So long as she's in this fugue state, it'll be easier for us to guide her without resistance. Still, we must be careful not to drive her so hard that she becomes catatonic."

"Those voices she heard were most likely from some of the most significant moments of her life. There are of course others, but one of those might be a good place to start."

Trinity listened to Sil and felt relieved with her solution. She nodded at Sil’s suggestion regarding the voices. “Let’s start with her first love. His voice seemed to have come up the most. I feel like the root may start there. Got to get a better understanding of what drew her to him in the first place. Perhaps let’s see how they first met.”  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Ilex made no outward expression, and she did notice the words that Kerana chose to describe her family. She nodded to Kerana, but it was also a self confirmation to what she thought may be the issue. It did not matter the age. Parents would often vex the young. The wind blew through the clearing as Ilex thought back to her own parental issues.

"My father, Vale, was the Ancient of steadfast Earth. He tried his best to bring me up as a warrior. Someone imposing and powerful. Fortunately, I was too much like my mother, Vivi. She and I loved live to it fullest. I became powerful, but not in the way my father wanted. He wanted the Hicce, that is humans, to fear me as they did him. 'Nature is meant to be respected through fear.' He would tell me. Almost as often as he vocally lamented that his kin were only allowed to have one child among each couple. I tried to act as the child he wished he had. If ancient humans acted in such a way as to egregiously harm the planet I would act to make sure they would not forget the potential wrath of mother nature. It was tiring, less because they did not learn, and more because nothing ever seemed to please him."

"But as the years went by, I found joy not in adoration, but in the smiles of those who loved the world as I did. Vale would admonish me for spending more time teaching the children of the world to love and respect the Earth than 'working.' To the day I went to sleep in the Matron tree, he never told me that he loved me, or that he was proud of me. In fact, he..."

A tear fell from Ilex's face and landed in the grass between her crossed legs. A small moonflower grew where it fell. She rubbed her eye and took a breath. "My point is. The more I tried to please him, the more difficult it became to not only reign in my power, but to discover who I am and what makes me happy."

He looked down at the flower between her leg, sighed, and tapped it. It's stem shot up until it was eye level with Kerana. The pleasant white flower stood upon vine that looked less like a stem and more like barbed wire with vicious red thorns.

"The power of life is tied to our very emotions and desires, Kerana Carter. In my case, anger and resentment causes my beautiful flora to become dangerous and frightening. If I had to venture a guess as to why you cannot control the growth of flora when you come into contact with it, it is because you have been working feverishly to accomplish a goal that may not have a clear end. If you wish to control your power, then you must let that go and set new expectations for yourself. Think not of the things others want from you. What do you want from you. What is it that you love about yourself. Once you have that in mind, try and touch the grass again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silhouette nodded and waved her hand as though she were trying to separate fog. The world around them became the back alley of a fairly serene suburb. What was not so serene was what was playing out before Sil and Trinity. Four older boys had a twelve year old Teshoumaru pinned to the ground by his arms and legs. Freya was being restrained by a large boy that had her in a full nelson, and two girls that had a hold of her legs. Freya's face, arms, and exposed stomach were bruised and bleeding, but she was still defiant and fought against the people that held her. There was another girl, about Freya's age, that had a fresh black eye and stood next to a pile of rocks the size of golf balls. She held the hair extensions that Freya would wear to hide her ears in one hand, and a rock in the other.

"Not so funny now, is it dog-girl?"

"Get yer fatass brother offa me and I'll give ya another shiner to go with the one I gave ya yesterday. Then I'll be laughing my a** off" Freya yelled back defiantly.

The girl scowled and threw another rock square into Freya's forehead. That last one caused Freya to lose a lot of the fight she had in her. Her knees buckled and she groaned as the blood trickled between her eyes and down her nose. As a result of her injury, the scene around them became hazy and dark. The girl wound back to throw one more, but was surprised when she found her arm stopped by a vice like grip. She turned around and looked up at an older boy who she'd seen come in and out of the high school across from their middle school.

A tall and thin seventeen year old boy with long golden blonde hair that was tied back into a low pony tail, glared down at the girl and tightened his grip until she finally released the rock and screamed at him to let her go. She pounded her fist on his chest as he stared down at her with pale green eyes. He only let her go when he looked up to see that her older brother had put Freya down and made a run for him. It happened quickly, but it was when The blonde boy flicked the brother's nose so hard that it popped up like a flap valve with a spray of blood. That caused the others to quickly let go of Freya and Teshoumaru. They wasted no time in scrambling off in every direction to get away from the obviously dangerous teenager.

A moment later, He was carrying Freya home as Teshoumaru walked beside them. She came to and looked up at him through her swollen eyes. "Who're-"

"Don't talk. He's an old friend. Remember Sarah's older brother?"

"It's okay. It's been a few years, I haven't really come by to say hi since I came back last month."

Freya remembered. His name was Alines. "Wha' happen'?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm taking you home so your mom can help you."

"...'Kay."

Freya stayed silent the rest of the way, but there was one thought that ran through her mind the whole way home. Didn't he use to be mean, and when did he get hot?  

[Nova Blancke]

She would have had no problem teleporting naked. After all...plenty of places they could go to while naked. Their room for starters.

"Sending people to gang up on two naked women....yeah....does sound like a cowards move." Liv responded as she was already opening her locker and getting dressed. This woman was no threat anymore.

Especially after Heather's next move.

"I'm glad you weren't that loud last night."

Theo helped her get on her....wheels.

"Well...it's gonna take time to get over that. I mean you were basically conditioned to be that way. But you're not a bad person. A bad person wouldn't have stopped themselves. And...you still could have fired that railgun at me. Just barely missing would have gotten the job done as well. Especially if you just wanted to break that barrier."

"So...round 2 or wanna call it quits for now?"

"I am familiar with your customs. While I do appriciate her, I know that it is currently not my place to show....affection in that manner. Not will I make any attempt in courting her. Granted I am curious about that aspect but I will not submit her to that simply out of curiosity."

"I would like to have Trinity give it to her or perhaps, have her make it instead."  

[BeaMichelle]

Theresa was about to call it quits when she realized something about the floor they were standing on. She was struck with a brainstorm and barely contained a smile.

"I think I'd like to try for round two."

She configured her wheels back into feet and walked back to where she initially started. She took a deep breath and raised her hands in front of her as if she was about to clap them together. What she did instead was slam them into the ground. A loud crackling sound trembled through the floor, walls, and ceiling of the room. The area around them rapidly reshaped itself into a labyrinthine maze of walls, pillars, posts, and other various obstacles that would. There were also structures that looked similar to hand holds, ladders, or poles, and parallel bars.

"We did things your way the first time." Theresa's voice echoed. "But now we're not playing tag. This is hide and seek."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather's face immediately turned beet red. She covered her cheeks with her hands and squeaked, "Omigod, Liv! You can't just say things like that in public!"

She also moved as quickly as she could to get dressed. It did not take long for the sounds of an angry mob to echo through the halls that led to the locker room. Heather had not had time to put her boots on. She looked from her footwear to the door leading out to the rest of the spa. She bit her inside of her bottom lip, inhaled through her nose, and grumbled, <******** it."

Her lower legs hissed, released steam, and covered themselves in red scales. If it had not been for the fact that her feet had become more draconic as well, it would almost look like she had boots on.

She moved over to Liv and wrapped her arm around her girlfriend's elbow. "These animals aren't screwing up our day. What say we go to the far side of town hit up the Galleria? Valhalla is nice, but I'd like to pick out my own clothes for once."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every fiber of Rydia's being told her to let it lay and not involve herself anymore, but then there was the part of her that could not help but put herself in a situation that piqued her curiosity. Her lips tightened as she considered Legio's suggestion of making Trinity present his apology meal.

Nope.

"Absolutely not. Ugh, I can't believe I'm helping you with this. If what you want is to apologize to Fenris, then it has to come from you, not a proxy. Look, it doesn't have to be complicated. I can assure you that neither Freya, nor Okami, were that complex. Fenris may be different emotionally, but I'm willing to bet that some things haven't changed much."

"Freya liked things that are slathered in cheese and meat. Nachos, hot dogs, pizza, various pastas. The worse for her heart it was, the better. Mother figured that the only reason Aunt Freya wasn't overweight and hadn't died from a heart attack by the time she was thirty was because the monthly transformations consumed every calorie possible during the new moons."

"One thing they both had in common was a love for meat. Jerky was their favorite snacks. Sausages, meat sticks, a bag of sliced pepperoni, it didn't really matter so long as it kept Okami fed and satisfied enough for her not to want to hunt outside of the woods. She also loved the dental bones that you find in the human markets, specifically the ones that don't contain corn, soy, gluten, extra fat or sugar, or animal byproducts. Grandmother was very specific about that."

"If there was one thing I could say would be their absolute favorite, it'd be the meat from a species of boar that only existed to our island. The three months following the hunting season were the only times their meat could be eaten. But, they certainly died when my home fell into the Atlantic Ocean."  

[Nova Blancke]

"Hardly a public place baby." Liv responded as she finished dressing herself. She was always fast with getting dressed. Something she picked up from her college days.

"Might wanna give our limo driver a call."

"We could also just go to New Vegas but....I actually do not know why I have in my account at the moment." She said before they both turned into light and were transported to the Light Realm. The ladies materialized there. Infinite strands of golden light surrounded them. Strands that were weaved into others to form a larger one. At some places threads detached itself and went off to somewhere else. A process that seemed to go on forever.

"Welcome to my place. Where do you want to go?"

Legio nodded as he listened. Interesting, Simple things that were high in calorie and considered unhealthy. For Okami it was more....dog like snacks. Interesting. Seemed like it could be easy to combine.

"Yes, I know about those boars. They seemed quite resilient. Perhaps if I search the surrounding islands. Some might have survived."

"But if that would not work.....maybe I search your mind for the memory of how they tasted? That way I would have something to work with."

"Well alright." Theo responded as he saw her face. She had an idea. This should be good.

Almost losing his balanced as the ground suddenly shook and rumbled before rising up to form this maze.

Theo laughed with excitement. She really was his sister. It was fun to spar with someone who was as creative and quick thinking as him.

"Well alright then!" He responded and started to float. Removing any sounds he could make while walking.