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

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

She craned her head to face Liam with her own raised eyebrow. "Mother ********, I know that! I was being- Ugh, nevermind! I'm not drunk enough to deal with this s**t right now!"

She power walked to the door and opened it. Without turning around she yelled back, "I'll be back in an hour when the ham is done!" She then slammed the door and stormed back into her own dorm.

Once she was in, she huffed in frustration. It was too easy, she thought. She then popped open her last bottle of sake and began to pregame.

An hour later. She put the empty bottle down and steeled herself once again. A few minutes later she knocked on Liam's door again. "La-la-la-Liam!" she called out to the tune of the chia pet jungle. "I'm back and ready to dig into that sweet meat!"  

[Nova Blancke]

He was about to respond before she already left. To get drunk once more. That couldn't be healthy. Perhaps he would need to look into food that were good for the liver. Liam put on some background music. With the time he had left, started to steam the vegetables, make the mashed potatoes and set the table. In the time he had left, he just sat down and started watching part of a documentary. A bit later, he heard knocking on his door. Turning off the TV, he got up and opened the door for Freya.

"Right on time Freya." He let her pass and closed the door after her.

After he had put the mashed potatoes and the green beans on the table, it was time for the main star of the evening. The Honey Glazed Ham. The aroma hit him as he opened the oven. Putting it down on the table, he sat down and began to cut it into slices. Not too thin, he had a feeling preferred the thicker slices. He plated everything for her and put it in front of her.

"Well....enjoy"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya sat and gazed at the plate of food. Her mouth watered, and she felt her pulse quicken with anticipation. She swallowed hard and picked up her fork. She was pleased to find out the meat was tender enough that she did not need a knife to cut it. She pierced the cut piece of meat and followed up by scooping some of the mashed potato on it. Finally, she pierced a green bean and lifted the contents to mouth level. Freya took one last look, and then she put the fork in her mouth.

Her diamond eyes glisted with delight. At that moment, in her drunken state, she did not care about keeping up appearances. She brought her palms up to her cheeks, squished them, closed her eyes, and squeaked, "Oishiiiiii!"

She chewed the food thoroughly, swallowed, and sighed with satisfied grin. In a moment of clarity, she went back to her normally confrontative state and glared at Liam. "No one will know about what you just witnessed. Got it?!"

With that out of the way, she ravenously plowed through the rest of the food on her plate. Then another plate. And another. And another. It may have looked to some like she ate to fast to appreciate the flavor profile, but they would be wrong.

Finally, she could hold back no longer. She stood up, grabbed the platter with the ham on it and brought it toward her open mouth. She stopped just short of tearing into it, though. She heard her mother's voice in the back of her mind. It was a memory of when Lokelonni would scold Frey for her lack of manners. She looked from the ham to Liam, then from him to the ham, and then back to him.

"My bad. Didja want some?" she asked.  

[Nova Blancke]

Seeing her appreciation and enjoyment in her voice felt good to him. Liam started eating and enjoying the various flavors. Then he watched her simply devour plate after plate. Did he under estimate how much she could eat? Her stomach should be the same as any other person. As her mother stated, she would no longer burn it all off when transforming because she no longer would be.

"Yes, it is also my dinner Freya. Slow down or you won't be able to move afterwards. A..food coma they call it? You no longer eat for two nor will you burn off all of those calories instantly." Liam said and took the plate back to cut off some more pieces for himself.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya rolled her eyes and thought, "s**t, he had to go and ruin it by talking" She then opened and closed her left hand to simulate a mouth and said, "Myeh myeh myeh! That sounds like a future Freya problem. This Freya is drunk and starving. All I've had today is a hot pocket and alcohol. Speaking of which, you know what would go great with this? Red wine! You got any?

After his reply, Freya put another piece of food in hed mouth and thought about what he'd said. She hated it, but he was right. The curse was gone. Okami was her own person. That part of her life was over. Just like she'd always wanted. However, it wasn't her or Okami that had crossed that finish line.

"So...about Fenris. What...what was she like?" she asked.  

[Nova Blancke]

"Yes,I do" Liam responded. Okami had told him that she would like red wine so he did get some beforehand. With his telekinesis he got her the bottle and glass.

He was about to put a piece of ham in his mouth as she asked the question. It stopped him. Fenris had not crossed his mind since last night. Was that bad? Putting down the fork, he gathered his thoughts.

"She could be...intense. Very much like you. But more agreeable...tolerant. Aspects of Okami I suppose. But for the most part she was like you. Strong, independent, cared for her students, kind to those close to her. Vulgar and prone to violence to anyone not on her good side and...quite a drinker."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya poured her drink as she listened to him speak. She didn't stop until there was less than an inch to the rim. She put the bottle down and looked down at her reflection in the wine.

"s**t...she sounded awesome. Would've been a blast to party with her." she said with a hint of regret.

She then remembered what she had said the night before. That's when the feeling of regret became remorse. She ran her fingsers into her scalp and rustled her already wild hair. "Augh! I'm such a b***h!"

She put her hands back down and sighed heavily, "I'm sorry that you lost a friend that was so important to you. So much so that your invincible a** actually got wounded. I'm also...really sorry about what I said last night. About...y'know."  

[Nova Blancke]

"Thank you. Freya." Liam responded but his eyes lingered a bit before looking at something else. Nowhere in particular.

"What I said to you last night was....unfair. I meant it and still do but it was not something I should have said. Not to someone who doesn't know who, essentially doesn't know me. "His hair had a gentle color shift before turning back to normal white. "I cared about her but I never saw her as a different version of You." Liam looked down a bit and for the first time sighed.

"Emotions are so.....illogical. It is hard to even put into words."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya seemed to space out for a moment as she went through her own conflicting emotions. If she did not know better, she swore she had an angel and a demon on her shoulders. One told her to at least let him have a pitty let him have a kiss. The other told her to give him a pitty handy. While one was definitely worse, she did not like either idea.

"Yeah, no kiddin'. They can be a real painus in the a**s."

She lifted her wine glass and held it toward Liam. "To emotions, and the many ways they ******** with our heads."  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Freya gave a dismissive shrug and scoffed, "Psht, whaat? I didn't even notice the savory aroma of baked sweet meats."

Trinity smirked and quirked an eyebrow with an expression that said ‘sure you didn’t’.

Rikki Tikki Travi

Her eyes darted from left to right guiltily. Freya then turned Trinity around and playfully guided her to the door. "Oh, get out of here and quit teasing me before I rap your knuckles, you little turd."

“Alright. Till next time.” Trinity walked into the shadow of the door.

Rikki Tikki Travi

Silhouette had remained mostly silent through the reunion. Once Trinity was good and clear of Freya's doorway, she decided to speak up.

"She made a good point, you know. It was addled by her inebriation, but she stumbled into it."

“Which part, that she may not be the best to give me solid advice? That she tends to be better at advising one in combat than in one’s love life?”

She was obviously avoiding the point she made about ‘blowing up everything because she was scared’.

She sighed, “Is this about trying to get back with Theonis again? You were there when we tried a second time and you saw it did not work.”  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Alec watched patiently as Kerana helped Deora. Every few moments he looked over to Rydia and Ravan. Rydia was in near hysterics, apologizing over and over again. Ravan just stood there with her orbit of snacks, staring hard eyed while Kerana worked.

Alec had promised himself weeks ago that he would never look into the futures, or check thei lifetime, of his friends. It would be too easy to get hung up on, and he would be tempted to always check. But when Kerana looked confused for a moment, he allowed hinself to check Deora's lifetime. He was glad to see that she was not meant to expire there in the middle of the fair grounds. Then he noticed something peculiar. It was winding down faster than it should be. His eyes went dark and he looked into her future.

"Oh s**t! Stop, Kerana! Stop!" he shouted as he put his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders. He yanked Kerana back and gelped her stand up. He looked in her eyes and frantically said, "I'm sorry, but the bullet wound is healed, and we need to get her to an oncologist, now."

He asked Ravan to lift Deora with her power. Before he could finish his sentence, she had complied. Alec cut another rift, that time directly to the Valhala ER. Ravan placed Deora onto a bed, and Rydia called for the staff. Alec went over to Kerana and spoke quietly to her.

"I know I said I would never look, but I slipped. She's sick. It's leukemia. It's not your fault, none of us knew. Hell, she probably didn't know."

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

"Yes, yes, and I remember. No, what I speak of is the topic that you're dodging. I've only been with you for a short while, but from waht I've heard you say it seems you are the one who breaks up, and not the one who is broken up with. I don't know how many men you have dated, but I sense that this has been the way of things for quite some time. I believe it is this denial that has delayed the manifestation of your mask. If you cannot be honest with yourself, then you cannot become terminal."  

[Nova Blancke]

Liam also poured a glass of wine. Not nearly enough as Freya did however. He had discovered that while he did not mind getting tipsy or drunk, he preferred having full control over his faculties. Raising his glass as she did, they clinked glasses and he took a sip before something clicked.

"Is...that why you drink so much?" Liam asked  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya had just finished her glass when Liam posed his question. She shot him a hard look and slammed her glass down just hard enough not to break it. "I drink so much because ******** YOU that's why!!! Getting right to the heart of s**t, huh?! Gotta get right up in my little ******** up brain pan out the gate!" she shouted.

Freya stood up quickly and knocked her chair back. She paced a few times while swearing audibly under her breath. She put her hands on her hips and stared at the floor. "You wanna know why I drink? Course you do, it's why you asked. No games with you, Liam. Too ******** new and honest. Fine, since we're being honest, and I'm drunk enough to tell you with as little pain as possible, here's why."

She turned back around and hiccuped. Partly because she was very drunk, and partly because she was fighting back tears. " No doubt you've heard about what happened when I was a kid. Probably from Mom or Rydia. Doubt Fenris would've just blurted it out. I've killed a lot of people. Innocent people. Men, women, children, the elderly, it didn't ******** matter. I did it, gladly, because it's what we wanted. Those screams, those eyes and faces, they don't go away. When my sister brought me back, I almost killed myself to atone for my sins. I wanted to spill my intestines a thhousand times for every innocent life I took. But I would only be able to do it once. I had to live, I had to suffer with my guilt. That would be my punishment. Then I tried to atone by killing bad people, but the screaming still didn't stop. It never stops. So I hit the bottle."

"Then, inevitably, some guy would catch feelings for me, or me for them. And I would think about the first and last time I was in love. Then I would realize that I can't let it happen again. Not because I thought I'd go murder happy again, but because I don't deserve to feel that warmth again. I can't, not after what I've done. It's only when I'm fighting that I don't touch it. That's when I need to feel everything. Especially now that my power draws energy from my emotions."

"You wanna know why I drink, Liam? It's to stop the screaming. It's to stop myself from feeling because I don't deserve to feel happiness. And when I do, it's gone and forgotten the morning after. It's so any love I feel is lost in the haze. Because what I deserve, is Hell."

She hiccuped again and dug her nails into the palms of her balled up hands. She did it hard enough to draw blood. She did that to distract from.the pain in her heart amd to keep herself from crying in front of Liam. Even then, at what she felt was her most vulnerable, she refused to completely let her guard down.  

[Nova Blancke]

Liam had crossed a line with his question. It was a flaw of his. It wasn't a lack of empathy. Simply the urge to know was greater than his need to collect his thoughts and be logical. She went off at him as she rightfully deserved. His heart felt like it stung and twisted like it did before when he had accidentally hurt her with his words. But it wasn't him that caused the pain. It was her past and despite her anger, she did not leave. Emotions and human behavior was still relatively new but he knew this meant something.

But with everything going on, his mind raced and felt like it just shut down. He got up and gentle grabbed her hands. Squeezing his fingers past hers so she wouldn't hurt herself more than she has. She could still squeeze as hard as she could. His own vision was a bit...watery?

"Freya....don't say that. You've died twice. You're doing everything you can to atone. You're doing enough. You don't deserve hell, to torture yourself like this."