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

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

"Him? Him who?"

Freya turned in her seat and looked in the direction Trinity nodded in. It took her a second, but she did remember him. She then turned back to Trinity and pointed over her shoulder.

"The ********' mermaid guy? He was the reason for one of your worst binges. Granted, I didn't help since I drank with you shot for shot, but I was this close to breaking his legs until you bought me a pitcher of Long Island iced tea."

"Are you sure that's what you wanna do? Go back to a guy who can manifest a mistress?"

Trinity had that terrible flashback of discovering him in the bathtub with a mermaid that looked an awful lot like Catherine. He told her over and over that he didn’t know he could do this. That this just happened. She considered her experience with Theo, watching him change throughout the time they spent together. “Perhaps it’s about time that I accept it was a fluke. He did say he didn’t know that he was capable of such a feat. I will admit there is a vain part of me that wondered why the manifested mermaid mistress didn’t look like me. It lead me to jump to the conclusion that he may have a thing for Catherine.”

“Yet I’ve seen my power evolve. I’m capable of doing more with it, even more so with the things Sill has shared with me. I’ve seen Theo’s evolve too, not only his appearance but his power too. Haven’t been with anyone else long enough to observe but Myth was the second longest I was with timewise. Yeah, initially the breakup was rough. Probably because I had something good until that point, kinda like Theo. But Myth and I were able to become friends again. Plus it kind of had to happen, at least to some extent, to maintain professionalism since he was one of my soldiers. It took a long while before he decided to pursue teaching and longer to pursue bartending.”

“Heck, perhaps that’s what Theo and I need. A chance to grow separately and who knows maybe the pieces will fit together once more. Maybe I end up sticking with Myth or someone else entirely. Heck, you know how my love life has been.”

“Long story short yes, I need to try something different. Because I already tried going back to Theonis and right now it just doesn’t work. No matter how much I wanted to.”  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Okami giggled and waved her paw, "Aww, you don't have to thank me. I had a lot of fun. I haven't been hunting and butchering with anyone since my dad died. I'm glad you learned something new and useful. No doubt Freya will appreciate it too. The best way to get on her good side, at least now-a-days, is to feed her. Giving her alcohol is also a plus. Give her both at the same time and she might just open up to you more than last night."

"Speaking of which, I only caught a little bit of the karaoke sesh. How was it spending time with her last night? Tell me everything, because I'm dying to know."

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

Heather pouted playfully and replied sweetly, "Oops, my bad. Here, hand me the card so I can pay him."

She carefully pinched the card between the claws of her thumb and forefinger. She waved it in front of the window and said, "You guys do tap, right?"

David took a moment to take in everything in front of him and nodded. He then grabbed the mounted payment terminal and extended it out the window. She tapped the card against the screen, waited for the beep, and then handed the card back to Liv. Heather's massive eye focused on the name plate. "I hope you're not too freaked out, David. I'm not dangerous, I just wanted to have a little fun."

"Iss'ok." he squeaked in reply.

"Good. We'll be out front waiting for the order. Bring my girlfriend her food first and she'll have a nice tip for you."

Heather shuffled away from the window and made her way into the parking lot. Most everyone had left their cars to get pictures and video of the dragon and her rider. A large group of children had run across the street from the adjacent playground to get a closer look too. There was so much commotion that Heather was barely able to make out what was being said. Since her hearing had exponentially improved in that form, everything for a few miles around was audible. She actually had to consciously focus on a single sound for things to be bearable.

A little over a minute later, David came outside with a bag containing Liv's burrito supreme in one hand and a medium cup of Diet Coke in the other. He cautiously approached Heather from the side and called up to Liv, "Your burrito is ready!"

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

Freya sighed and huffed, "Sounds like a bunch of excuses to me. But, I mean, s**t. The only guy I've ever loved was a genocidal psychopath. Da ******** do I know? I can't even figure Liam out, let alone give you any solid advice. Just don't go blowin' up everything because yer scared. That'll just leave you alone and with a trail of broken hearts behind you, and I'd hate to see that happen to someone so amazing."

She made a face, and mentally went over the last few sentences she said. "Did any of that make sense? s**t, I think I need to stop before I go and say something stupid. Last think I wanna do is piss you off after you were nice enough to cover my tab."

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

Raina watched silently as Kerana went to her father. She was shocked to see her husband reciprocate the display of affection with a genuine hug of his own. Even from where she stood, she could see no hesitation or obligation in his embrace of their daughter. Something must have happened to him in the months they were separated. A few seconds later Raina followed her daughter's example and embraced her husband.

"Lo siento! Lo siento mucho! I was such an idiot!" Leander cried again and again.

The crowd around them began to slowly disperse as the more socially conscious onlookers realized that the reunited family needed a moment together. Those people also took it upon themselves to usher away anyone who wasn't so savvy.  

[Nova Blancke]

Liam washed his hands as Okami asked her question. Freya hadn't crossed his thoughts during all of this despite usually occupying them. Thankful of his meta ability from Alexavier, he remembered her in great detail, the edges of those memories were a bit more blurry. Strange, he should have been able to remember those vividly as well. But perhaps his focus was her on.

Drying his hands with a towel he responded. "It was...something." Liam said. Omitting what happened before.

"We talked at first. She laughed at my reaction to the Sake. Afterwards she said we had to do Karaoke. I don't think my opinion on the matter would have stopped her. It is difficult for me to find the appeal in singing. Don't get me wrong, I understand why people do it. To deliver a message, a story, to put a piece of yourself out there. Something your mother tells me I need to do with my cooking."

"But I digress. It was....fun. Afterwards I told I should be off as it was getting very late and my motorfunctions were being impacted by the alchohol. Freya being Freya said it was bullshit and said there was a big enough bed close by. We stumbled our way there, fell on it."

"There was a....moment where we tripped. She landed ontop of me. Face close to mine. Staring into my eyes, before crawling to her side of the bed."

Liam thought back to that moment. To her eyes. How could something so beautiful be part of a woman that was often so colorful in her speech and actions?

Chuckling at the fantastical display, she sat securely on top of 'her' dragon as she made her way to the parking lot. There wasn't a designated area for Dragons for some reason. They should work on that if they want to be inclusive.

Being a bit more intune with her Beast Master power, she noticed Heather's...not discomfort, something else. Something akin to being overwhelmed?

"Hey...you okay babe?"

David approached and she hopped down from her girlfriend.

"Thanks, now someone mentioned a big tip but she is the one with the money and already paid for it."Liv said and looked over to her Dragon GF." Tell you what, gimme your number. I'll send you some stuff....make sure it'll be worth your time." Liv said with a wink." Say...any idea when my girlfriend over here can get her order? I'm sure it'll be a while."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather sighed and replied, "I'm a little better now. I'm just getting used to these big ears picking up every little noise around us for miles."

David scratched his head nervously and muttered, "It's gonna be, like, another five or ten minutes. We've never made this much food before. Not even for a catered event."

His eyes narrowed as he took a closer look at Liv. They then shot open with the realization that he recognized her. "Holy s**t! You're Helia Blaze!

Bunch of kids gathered around Heather's lowered head to take a group photo; to which she was more than happy to oblige. They reminded her of the Matron House kids. Her heart ached at the bittersweet memories of simpler times.

She took several dozen photos and videos. Most of them were of curious children who wanted to say hello and pet the dragon. A few were of excited teenagers. The only one she out right denied was a young man who tanted to take a selfie from inside of her mouth.

"Please?!" he insisted

"Absolutely not! I don't want someone inside my mouth! It's gross and weird."

"Don't kink shame me!"

"It's a kink?! There're kids here! Go away! Shoo, shoo!" she ordered along with a hand motion to go along with it.

The food finaly started to come out. The manager had decided that it would be better if they brought it out in waves by the tray. Heather was pleased to see that none of it was wrapped. She wasted no time and upended the first two trays directly into her mouth. She also let some of the kids feed her. Their laughter made the slight humiliation of the act worthwhile.

In the far distance, police sirens started to blare.

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

Okami put her paws to her cheeks and gasped, "No way! You guys shared a bed! She must've either been really drunk, or she trusted you enough to let her guard down long enough to pass out from the alcohol."

"You said you love her, right? I've never done mating like a human, but I think you need to take her on dates now. Cooking a good start. You wanna know something funny? You should try to get her drunk on red wine sometime. She gets really silly whem she does. Especially if it's served in a fancy glass."  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Freya sighed and huffed, "Sounds like a bunch of excuses to me. But, I mean, s**t. The only guy I've ever loved was a genocidal psychopath. Da ******** do I know? I can't even figure Liam out, let alone give you any solid advice. Just don't go blowin' up everything because yer scared. That'll just leave you alone and with a trail of broken hearts behind you, and I'd hate to see that happen to someone so amazing."

She made a face, and mentally went over the last few sentences she said. "Did any of that make sense? s**t, I think I need to stop before I go and say something stupid. Last thing I wanna do is piss you off after you were nice enough to cover my tab."

Trinity frowned a little at her response How can it be a pile of excuses if I had literally tried getting back together with him to find it didn’t work. It’s like everyone wants me back with Theo despite that. Even me in some ways but if it’s not working no sense in forcing it. She nodded in agreement for she witnessed firsthand who he was. Liam, huh? Is there something there? … Scared? How am I scared? How is avoiding the inevitable scared? Being smart for once when it comes to relationships... scared? Really? I freakin' faced death himself and didn't blink... scared... that's rich.

She sighed to herself and said, “Fair enough. Now enough about me what about you and Liam? You seem to at least verbally say you don’t care about him over and over. Yet he promised you a meal and suddenly you ‘have trouble figuring him out’? Couldn’t help but think he may be the reason Fenris went into an identity crisis with your first love front and center.”  

[Nova Blancke]

"I do believe it was the alchohol" Liam responded.

"But now that I think about it. I haven't her swear profanities at me since. I suppose that is a step in the right direction. "

When Okami mentioned mating his mind wandered. He had seen the video's online. His curiosity has gotten the better of him. Was that something he wanted with Freya? But he knew the answer to that.

"I don't know much about these dates. About courting rituals. But you are not the first to tell me to use food."

"I shall keep the red wine in mind."



Liv gave David a wink.

"Sometimes, yes." She responded a took a quick selfie with him. "Well there ya go. Something to brag about yeah?"

Looking over at how her girlfriend was fed she wondered what it would be like if she were to turn back into a human now with all of that food in her stomach. Surely there would be no consequences  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya was very much tempted to check the time on her nonexistent watch and excuse herself from the conversation. Her eyes moved nervously after Trinities inquiries as though she was looking for an exit. Instead, she sighed, put her face in her hands and audibly grumbled. She then lifted her hands from her face and began her rant.

"Because the mother ******** ate me, or at least he ate Fenris. I had a chance to stop Eclipse's bullshit, but his dumbass had to get in my way! The only reason Fenris came back was because he wanted revenge against Eclipse! He admitted it! Like that made everything okay! Then, from what I understand, she actually began to tolerate his a**, and I think some of that s**t transferred to me!"

"Plus he, like, ********' Hell, he risked his life for me?! He killed me, and then he helps to save me?! What the ********?! And then he asks for nothing in return? I pressed and pressed and pressed and you know what he finally answered with? 'You, I want you." Like, what does that even ******** mean? I mean, I know what it might mean, but that can't be it! I've yelled at him, cussed, punched him in the face, and even got personal with an insult. Y'know, all the usual s**t I do to keep men from taking aninterest in me. But he still didn't leave."

"Next thing I know, we get drunk together, talk, do some Karaoke, and then next thing I know I wake up next to him in my bed! Thankfully. we were dressed, but I haven't let anyone sleep next to me like that since you, me, and Teshoumaru did wilderness training! Why the ******** would I trust him?! I had to've! Even drunk me let it happen, and drunk me hates men! I can't blame Okami's horny a** self because she's not part of me anymore! So what does that leave? Appreciation? Gratitude? Tolerance? It can't be love, cuz that s**t sank decades ago when I cut Alines' eyes out! So what is it?!"

It only then occurred to her that she had stopped talking about her inability to understand his motivations, and had switched gears to talking about her difficulty in comprehending her own. She put her forehead on the table and let out a palpable exhale of frustration.

"See, this is why you shouldn't listen to me about anything other than fighting. I don't know s**t about s**t."

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

Alec had been internally bouncing with excitement as his place in line got closer. He reach for his phone, but then he paused when he felt Kerana's mental knock. He was happy to hear that Kerana had a happy reunion with her dad.

His excitement had become tension when Kerana's said he'd be meeting her father.

"Oh, yaaaay..." he anxiously pinged back to her.

Leander rubbed his eyes and sighed satisfactorily. "This is wonderful! Now we can go home together!"

Raina tensed up and slowly pushed herself out of his grasp. "Leander, I- we aren't coming back home. Not yet."

"What do you mean?" he asked with a fragile smile. "We're together again. I'm ready to be a better man."

"I know, and I want to believe you, but after everything I've been through I still need time to heal mentally and emotionally. I can't speak for Kerana, but I don't think I can do that at home. I'm sorry, but I'm just not ready to fully trust you again. Not yet."

Leander stammered a moment before he looked to Kerana. "Kerana? I know I was terrible to you, but you'll come back home, si?"

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

Okami grinned and giggled, "Hehe. Awesome!"

She grabbed a large bone from the floor with her teeth and trotted over to a dark corner. She put it down for a moment so she could speak. "Welp, it looks like you've got everything else handled. You've got a date with Freya, and I've got a date with this bone. Imma chew the Hell out of it. Later!"

She then picked the bone back up and sank into the shadows.

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

Heather was about to receive the last of her food when she heard another commotion rise up against the backdrop of the sirens. Voices, angry voices. She huffed in frustration and craned her head toward Liv.

"Ugh, you're not gonna hate this, but those Prometheus assholes are staged up a couple of blocks from here. They're gonna get here before the cops do, and I don't like the odds of the cops not being buddy buddy with them. We should probably get out of here."  

[Nova Blancke]

Liv sighed.

"Part of me wants to stay. There are plenty of people here with camera's out. It's just going to look bad on them. But there's no knowing what they'd do to the kids or the rest."

She scratched the back of her head a bit as she thought about their options.

"I suppose we should load up the last batch and get out of here. You want to Liv Express or just fly off?"

"Enjoy" He responded to Okami before she left. It was afterwards that he realized he would cook for the both of them so it would not technically be a date. Something he hadn't considered. Was this....fair to Okami? It was odd to give her an exact place in his mind seeing as she was intelligent but still behaved like an animal in many aspects. She was half of Fenris but also not as Freya's side was more dominant. Food for thought.  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity listened closely to her answer and quirked an eyebrow as she shared that Liam didn’t want anything in return, just her? Then she went on about the rest of the night. She shared an internal thought with Silhouette. She’s definitely crazy about him but not ready to admit it. Of course, if I say that she would dismiss it harder.

She heard her response and then looked to Freya. She smirked a little as she spoke, “So you found someone who could take all your s**t and you don’t know what to do with him. Perhaps something did start with Fenris and you find yourself shoved in the middle of it and that’s what you need to figure out. Don’t have to have an answer now, just give it time to get to know him better.”  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather considered her options. She looked at the last tray of food that was being brought out. The kids were quick to rush for one last chance to feed the dragon. That's when a devious idea struck her. She gave the same toothy grin from when she came up with the idea to mess with some random drive through employee.

"Aaaactually, I've been wondering something since you ascended. If you control light, can you bend it?"

A few blocks away, several bearded men with sunglasses and MAHA hats (Make America Human Again) loaded their AR-15s with excitement.

"You think these will bring her down?"

"If it don't, we can at least kill the blonde that showed up with her."

"I swear I seen her before."

Their chatter ceased with the sound of heavy wings hung overhead, but when they looked up they saw nothing.

"Does the sky looked weird to you? Like it's moving a little?"

That was when the remainder of Heather's order rained down from the sky and splattered the bigots with cheap Tex-Mex. Heather wasted no time, and flew off in the direction of Valhalla.

"Woo-hoo! It worked! We Predatored them! That was awesome! You're awesome! I feel awesome! Nothing can ruin this day now! Nothiiiii-"

~1 hour later, in Valhalla's infirmiry~

Doctor Rand stepped out of the specialized room and took off the singed headpiece of his full body and flame retardant thermal suit. He looked to approached Liv and sighed.

"Your hunch was right. She's suffering from dehydration brought on from the copious loss of fluids from, well, y'know. She seems to be over the worst of it, but she may still have sudden bouts of, literally, explosive vomiting and diarrhea. We're gonna keep her overnight fore observation, but she should be okay to leave either late tomorrow morning or early afternoon. From now on, make sure she digests everything before turning back into a human. Especially if it's crappy fast food. I already told her, but all that food has to go somewhere."

"Oh, by the way, she feels terrible about what happened. I don't know what you girls' relationship is like, but go easy on her. Don't poke too much fun, okay?"

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

Silhouette chuckle chimed in Trinity's mind. "Indeed. Her denial is the stuff of legends."

Freya grumbled and groaned as lifted her head up with a napkin stuck to her forehead. She let out a puff of air and blew off the offending piece of paper. "When did you get so damn grown up? Making all kinds of sense and s**t. Feels like just yesterday you wandered into my brother's room and woke me up from a nap. Ain't time a mother ******** put her hands down on the table and stood up. "Welp, I'm not gonna figure anything out in this watering hole. Plus, you've got a date. Don't need my drunk a** muddling your head more than what's necessary. Imma go sleep this off, and then see where the rest of the day takes me. That is, if I wake up before tomorrow. Now, come over here and give your fun, drunk, wine sensei a hug."  

[Nova Blancke]

"I mean...yeah, you've seen me change the colors of things before" Liv responded before Heather told her the plan.

"Yeah.....yeah I can definitely do that."

Soon after they flew away with Liv cloaking Heather and with the latter dropping the last of her lunch on her. Though something else was on her mind. Something that didn't come up until a bit later. Or rather...came out a bit later.

Fast forward to the Infirmary, or rather a specialized area of the Infirmary. She nodded at the doctor.

"Yeah I bet. Don't worry." She made her way to her still Dragon form Girlfriend.

"Hey...bet you're feeling a bit shitty." She said and suppressed a chuckle." Okay sorry thats the only one you're getting. How're you holding up? Doc said you should stay like this until it's all digested."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather was in quite a state. The room that she was in, though fireproof, was not optimized for someone as large as her. She was down on her stomach with her wings hiding her face and arms. The lower half of her body was obscured behind several screens and flame retardant sheets to give her some privacy. There were no less than six large bags of saline daisy chained to an IV tube in each of her arms. She cradled a metal garbage can and held it under her panting maw.

There was a retching sound, followed by a plume of flame from behind her wings. A medical assistant that was allowed near her face gave a few small bursts of a fire extinguisher into the garbage can.

"Liv?!" Heather asked between heavy breaths and from behind the cover of her wings. "Oh my God. Don't look at me. I don't want you to see me like this. If I wasn't a monster before, I sure as Hell am now!"

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

Leander felt his heart sink into his stomach when Raina and Kerana shot down his idea. Deep down he knew it would be a long shot, but he had gotten his hopes up when they actually hugged him.

Without much of a fight, he allowed himself to be led by the hand. As he was guided through the crowd, he had a sense of deja vu. Kerana used to do the same thing when she was very small. It occurred to him that she stopped holding his hand like that after some point. Or maybe it was he who denied her desire to be noticed. Something else he knew would require more thought.

There was only one couple left in line before Alec, and then had just sat down to be drawn. All the while, he was busy trying to mitigate his anxiety. Meeting her mother had been one thing, but meeting Kerana's father so suddenly was a whole other monster. He did not have much time to ruminate on it for long, though, because he could see his girlfriend lead a man (who seemed to be much larger in person) toward him.

Leander looked steadily into the gaze of the young man. It was the boy's eyes that he focused on. They were simultaneously off-putting and alien, yet familiar and kind. He had an idea of why his daughter wanted to introduce the boy to him, but he could not help but ask her in a protective, if slightly incredulous, tone, "Who's this? One of your teachers?"

Raina's lips curled in as she felt herself internally cringe. It had been a bit since Alec's transformation and so she had gotten used to his appearance. She had almost forgotten that he looked like he was in his early to mid 20's.