Electra
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It only took a moment for Danica to pick up on Neko's discomfort and intuit at least a little of its source. Yeah, that would be awkward, she realized belatedly, and launched into her own story with gusto that would hopefully move the conversation well past anything that could press a sore point. "I'm the earthly avatar of a tortoise god!" she told Tori cheerfully. "My mom officially likes tortoises more than anybody else in the whole world, or she did thirty-five years ago, anyway! So when the turtle god wanted to have an earthly avatar, they sent me to her! She was pregnant for eighteen months, it was a whole entire thing!" She scooped up a forkful of noodles, twirling them slowly as she spoke. "I'm super-duper hard to hurt, and I have a pocket dimension inside my shell that I can use as a spare bedroom, and I can make spirit turtles bite people if I need to. Plus I age really, really slowly. I move pretty slowly too, but that's why Ryder and Eira and their science friends built me my scooter!"
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"Um, yes, that's true," Jessie said awkwardly. "You should definitely try not to go to prison, it's not a place most people want to be. Not that we thought that was a possibility anyway," she added, her tone and look suggesting she was trying to remind Aquaria of that more than anybody. "You guys seem like you'll do great at, um, hero work or whatever you decide to do." Even as she was speaking she was trying to keep an eye on the two students, her roommate, the dog and all the robots all at the same time. It was enough to give her a headache. "Anyway, we thought you might like a trip off campus for the afternoon?"
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Okay, Paige is just going to straight up try to nail this dude with a telekinetic rock to the center of his semi-metaphorical forehead. (Damage 12 (Entropokinesis/Telekinesis; Extra: Range [Perception]; Flaw: Action [Full]; PFs: Knockback 10 [Total 20], PFs: Precise, Stunning Attack, Subtle) {40/40})
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Jessie scrambled to her feet when the teens approached, a graceless gesture that was nonetheless superhumanly fast. Her plan for an introduction was completely derailed by Ryder's opener, and the way Utsawa was staring didn't help. "She's my sister," she finally blurted out, long after the conversation had moved on. "Erin Hunter-White. I mean, she's not really my sister, we're dimensional doubles, but sort of. It's why we look alike." She crossed her arms and concentrated on the comforting feeling of Baxter pressing up against her legs. "We have most of the same powers, but she went to Claremont. She said it's nice here," she added, miserably hoping to move the topic along quickly. "Is it?"
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"That's cool!" Danica enthused, looking over the flowers with no evidence of concern. Of course not a lot seemed to concern Danica, so that wouldn't necessarily be reassuring to Neko. "I love nature control powers, they're so fun and heroes can do bonkers conservation work with them sometimes and it's totally wicked!" A belated glance towards her new roommate reminded her that Neko probably was going to have a very hard time translating that. "I mean, your powers are really great, thanks for showing us! And your great-grandparents are famous! I read about them in school!" "So everybody in your town had ears and tail and cats made of light and small-item teleport?" she asked with curiosity after Neko spoke. "That must be an interesting place to grow up. When did you meet Owain?"
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"It's hard to explain an extra sense to people," Stesha agreed. "You can really only give them an approximate idea of what it's like, and they may never really understand." She made her way to the propagation bench and its shallow tables of dirt and fertilizer, trailing her fingers through the mix as though testing it. "I don't typically talk to plants, though I can sort of look through them and get impressions from them if I need to, but I do feel all the plants around me. It can get a little overwhelming if I don't shut it out most of the time," she admitted. "Do you get many calls for help in a typical day?" Where Stesha's fingers had been in the dirt, there were now a row of small lettuces growing, visibly getting larger by the second. When the largest was the size of her fist, she plucked it and offered it to Tori. "Maybe some food will help? The rabbits where I live can't get enough of this stuff."
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"Don't even worry about it," Stesha assured her with a wave of her hand, pushing herself to her feet with a discreet assist from the plants. "And please, call me Stesha. It's so nice to meet you, I've heard a little bit about you from Headmaster Summers, but I'm looking forward to working with you. I don't get to meet many people on the fauna side of nature heroes!" She took a few steps forward to get a better look at the hare. "Poor little guy, I bet there's a lot more going on here today than usual. Is he going to be all right?"
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The touch of new magic sent a shiver of interest through the plants, some of which acquiesced to the new influence while others remained under the growfastergetbiggogogo impulse of the overarcing magical aura. The conflict was enough to nudge Stesha awake, which both curbed the errant growth slightly and substantially increased the ambient magic level in the room. Even when she wasn't really doing anything, the plant controller was startlingly powerful. "Ugh," Tori could hear from behind the curtain of plants. "I can't take you anywhere, I swear. Why don't you ever sleep?" The verdant growth, already calming to Tori's influence, began to subside all over the greenhouse until it was lush and green, but not quite so overwhelming as before. With the green curtain pulled aside, Stesha became visible on her impromptu couch of leaves. The first look was not exactly heroic, a small and enormously pregnant woman in leggings and a green maternity smock with a half-dozen leaves caught up in her green hair. She sat up and rubbed her face, then gave Tori her best "real adult person prepared for a scheduled appointment" smile. "Oh hello! Sorry about that, I was just taking a quick rest. You must be Kid Celtic?"
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The fairy ring situation was getting out of control. Stesha kind of hated to admit it, especially when the rest of her pregnancy had gone so well, but it was definitely a problem that wasn't getting any smaller. With Amaryllis it had been mostly the funny kind of annoying, a couple months of extra mushrooms in the yard and the flower crowns she wore becoming lush cascades by the end of a day. She'd never started growing mushrooms in pile carpeting or made exposed wood surfaces start sprouting that time. This kiddo was apparently of a different temperament than her sweet and stable Ammy, even before birth. The good part was that the one surefire cure for excessive plant growth was tiring herself out, and that got easier and easier the bigger Stesha got. Today, for instance, she'd planned on puttering in the Claremont greenhouse until her new mentee arrived, but a morning full of harvest season activities on Sanctuary meant that all she wanted to do now was take fifteen minutes with her feet up and relax. A chaise made of plants gave her the best of both worlds, a chance to lay down and a chance to let the hungry greenhouse foliage absorb some extra energy. It was nice. She didn't really mean to doze off, but it wasn't exactly surprising when she did.
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"Exactly!" Danica agreed with Tori. "Cute but prickly, but probably okay underneath. I like that. And Ryder is awesome, he helped make my new scooter, and he's got the best robots at school! There are a lot of really cool people here, I know you guys will both make friends fast. I'm going to be trying to make some new friends too. All my friends from my first two years have graduated by now and it's kinda weird not having them around." Her face fell briefly before she deliberately cheered up. "So it's a good thing you guys seem rad!" She took a couple minutes to give them the rundown on teachers, who gave homework and who did not, who ran a tight ship and who did the fun field trips. "You'll probably get put onto a team pretty soon too, that'll help you meet people. It's not like Sorting Hat or anything, just the kids you train with most often, do simulations with and stuff," Danica added. "And if your team doesn't work out you can always change it, but they do an okay job grouping people up. It depends on your powers, mostly. What all do you guys do?"
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The pool area was deserted, the pool itself covered with a sturdy winter tarp for the season and the chairs around it put away. Jessie wondered idly if it were a new addition, since it was something Erin had never spoken of. Being at Claremont was especially weird because it had so much of her double stamped on it in her mind. This was Erin's place, never hers, even despite the traces of memory that tried to make certain buildings and faces familiar. She'd already gotten a couple of weird looks from adults around the place, though at least it had been long enough that no students would remember Wander. Even covered, the pool sent a trace of chlorine smell into the air that reminded her of summer and better times. Sitting on the wide concrete apron was not bad, especially with Baxter lounging next to her. The golden retriever appeared ready to chill out and let her pet him all day if necessary, which in turn was making Jessie feel a little bit less like sprinting home at the speed of sound. He didn't wear a vest or a bandana, but Baxter knew what his job was and he was good at it. "I think Baxter does enough things already," she offered thoughtfully. "And it's not so much a question of what it means as how it feels. Coolidge painted the dogs mostly to sell cigars, but it connected with people because we want to see ourselves in the animals we love most. Pretending that dogs can play card games or stay up late telling stories and drinking means that they really, truly understand us. It speaks to a really deep need in humans to not be alone in the world, back before we knew there was more than one world out there. Plus it's funny," she added. "Are you sure your kids are going to know where to find us?"
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Danica shook sand out of her hair as she entered the cave, then ran the little fan-cycle that would blow any stray particles out of her scooter's inside parts. "Blah, now I know what a sandblasting cabinet feels like." She looked around, her all-black eyes wide and shining a little in the low light. It was bright enough for her to see quite a way, but she pulled out a headlamp anyway, just in case, and another little light to mount to her handlebars. "Here, Heroditus, stay close to me," she offered, "and you won't be so hot or thirsty. It's just a little power, and I can't even turn it off," she added a little stubbornly for the benefit of anyone who might quibble. "If we're going to make this our camp for a little bit, we probably need to get the lay of the land. Do you think the magic is dangerous, or can we go back and take a look?"
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Mentors: Fleur de Joie: A powerful plant controller and member of the Freedom League, Fleur's maternal attitude will make her a good match for some students, but possibly too cloying for some. She's also very pregnant right now, so will be busy soon! Wander: A Claremont alum, Wander had a tough time at school as a dimensional refugee and not-great student, but she managed to save the multiverse, graduate, and get a job and a life afterwards. Has been known to mentor students having a difficult time adjusting to a new world or to greatly enhanced dangerousness. Singularity: Wander's dimensional double from an even more unfortunate universe, she will show up to mentor day as a drag-along with Aquaria and would probably only be a suitable mentor for purposes of character shenanigans. Soft-spoken, shy, a graduate student in fine arts at FCU, and incredibly violent if sufficiently provoked. She's been working on it.
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"Tattoos are fine," Danica promised as they walked, "they're used to the kids from Claremont being a little different, plus it's a generally cool neighborhood. They just still have to follow the health codes, and we can't advertise the school too much, you know?" Slipping out of her shell was an easy, if slow, process for Danica and soon they were all seated comfortably in a booth. "I'm not sure Utsawa likes anyone," she offered to Neko, picking up her menu. "But lots of boys are like that at his age, just downright crabby. They usually grow out of it. Let's see... what do you like? The sushi is good, the curry is good, they have a very nice spicy coconut soup. I'm just going to get the pad thai though, because it's my favorite."
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"Look at you!" Danica sing-songed to the little snake, cupping him in her hands with ease that spoke of practice. The snake seemed to like Danica's slightly-warmer-than-human skin, unbunching a bit to maximize surface area contact. "You're just a little bitty bit!" Baby-talking the snake took most of her attention for a little bit, but she smiled in response to Neko's joy at finding someone to talk to. "That's great!" she enthused. "I didn't know anybody on campus this year who speaks cat, that's lucky!" Winding the snake around her neck like a scarf, she gave Tori a smile as well. "We were just heading out to dinner off-campus, do you want to come with? Your friends probably can't come, but maybe they'd like to get settled in anyway? And I'll be happy to give my mom a call tonight about Fang or Monty or whatever name he comes up with, and he's welcome to hang out on the warm rock in my room."
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"I know it's hard to believe right now, but these folks are about the nicest people you'll find anywhere," Raina added to Neko, leaning against the wall in a way that was sure to leave a Raina-shaped print of dust behind. They joke and tease, but they want you both to feel safe here. It's okay if you don't, but just let them know what feels bad so they can back off or change stuff or leave you alone or whatever. Or if you just want to wash dishes because you really like it." She shrugged, leaving a smear on the wall, and switched back to English. "Anyway, Merlin and I are hitting the shower and the sink, but let him know when you want a lesson. Don't put the food away, okay?" she asked Erik and Talya. "I'm starving."
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Danica cooed over each of the animals as they were introduced, but her interest was definitely with the snake. "Can I hold him?" she asked eagerly. "He's so cute, it's so mean if somebody dumped him on purpose! My parents are reptile specialists at the Freedom City Zoo, I'm sure they'd be able to help find a good home for him, if you want. Are you going to do rehab out of your dorm room? That's really neat, do you need an incubator? We have one at my house that we don't really use, it's from when I was little and used to hibernate if I got cold at night. Do you have any other pets? Have you been doing this for a long time?" Her torrent of words cut off when she noticed Neko. "Um, you're not going to try and eat that bird, are you?"
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"See, the romantic part is great, it's the bloody part I'm having a hard time buying into- oh!" Neko's sudden stop had her braking hard, the compensators in the scooter itself enough to make up for her own slow reflexes and avert an accident. "Sorry about that!" she said, almost over the stranger's own apology. "Guess there's just a lot of traffic today!" She smiled at the new person. "Hey, I'm Danica and this is Neko! I love your bird! Is he a familiar, or is he just your friend?" Danica had seen some of both with animals on campus over the years, and the bird had a canny look in their eye. "Oh!" she said again, getting a better look. "You have lots of friends! Look at that cutie," she cooed, smiling down at the snake. "Poor sleepy thing."
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Danica's first impulse had been to simply enlarge her shell and offer to let everybody inside to ride out the storm and maybe watch a movie or something, the way she had on a few Nicholson field trips when they'd gotten rained out. But this was a minimal-powers survival exercise, according to the instructions, and that meant only using powers if they were inherent or if somebody might actually get hurt badly or die. Leon's masks were a good idea, but she suspected that "magical tortoise shell house" was a bridge too far. It was okay though, because desert sand and heat had never bothered her, and her new scooter was soooo much better than the old one about operating in bad conditions! Even now it was trundling along like a champ, chewing up the uneven ground under its thick treads and keeping sand out of its intake with a series of solid-light baffles. "The cave looks good!" she agreed, shouting over the storm. "Stick close together, if we get spread out, somebody could get lost!" She kept to the back of the group herself, ready to pick up anybody who started floundering. Heroditus looked pretty rugged already, but he was still walking so she let him be.
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"Nah, I'm an upperclassman this year," Danica explained, looking extremely proud of this fact. "I don't have to be in until ten on school nights, and if you're with me you'll be fine. They just don't want us out and getting into trouble. Patrolling is different, there's all sorts of different rules for that, but you don't have to worry about any of that yet." Danica concentrated and suddenly the shell on her back was shrinking, forming itself into a large black and gold backpack that looked almost too big for her short frame. "Let's do Thai," she decided. "It's got some noodles, but it's also got rice and vegetables, and amazing sauces with spices and coconut milk and good things. You'll like it," she promised. "And I'll buy this time, my folks paid me to work at the zoo this summer so I'm good for awhile." Climbing onto her scooter, she touched the controls that covered some of its more fantastic accessories with plain white panels and hung a blue handicap placard on the front. It seemed much plainer that way, and Danica had explained that the blue card let her take the scooter to places it would otherwise not be allowed. "You ready?"
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"That book is creepy," Danica complained, rolling out of the beanbag nest she'd assembled under her loft bed and climbing to her feet. "If you love somebody, run away and find a way to be with them! And don't let anybody pick who you're going to marry!" She stretched, her movements fluid but slow as always. "I was thinking about just going to the caf, but we can maybe get something else if you want. There's a pretty good pizza place around here that delivers, and a Thai place that has good curry. If we're gonna go out-out, we probably have to wear disguises."
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"You mean World War Two?" Danica guessed. "Sure, that was a long time ago. My grandpa fought in the war, but he went to Europe, not to the Pacific. But it's okay now, the US and Japan have been friends for a really long time now." She opened the door of her closet and pulled out a sturdy cardboard box full of more posters and pictures in lightweight plastic frames. "Oh, here's the rest of my decorations. Want to help me hang them up in the room?"
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"Well that sounds terrible," Raina decided, incinerating the used wipes with a brief puff of smokeless flame. "But call if you need a distraction or something." Turning her attention back to the new boarder, she cocked her head thoughtfully for a moment before choosing her tack. "Not hurt you, not most of them anyway," she explained, "just think of you as something to want instead of as a person, and behave like assholes because of it. There's a whole sex-fetish thing with catgirls that you're going to have to deal with if you go around without the illusions. Knowing how to tell a guy that-" Raina paused, visibly remembering the age and experience of the person she was talking to, and rethought her sentence before going on. "-that you wouldn't date him if he were the last guy on earth is useful, especially if you can follow it up with a kick to the balls if he won't take a hint." She shrugged. "And if you really want to learn the internet, Merlin will teach you."
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Danica grinned at Magenta's reaction to the present, then turned her attention back to her other guest. "No, I don't have any servants. Hardly anybody with super-powers gets servants," she explained, trying to guess at what Neko might know or think. "You have to be very rich to afford to pay servants. But I've got this cool pocket in space where I can hide if I need to, or just keep my stuff. It even has power outlets, but please don't ask me how they work." She laughed and went to the mini fridge. "Do you want a drink or a snack? I've got water, Dr. Pepper, Capri Sun, and Yoo-hoo, but... hmm. I ate most of the snacks," she admitted. "Do you like pretzel sticks?"
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"Big ears, little ears, whatever works for you," Raina offered to Neko with a shrug, then reconsidered. "Erik's told you what kind of conventions to stay away from, right? Or at least given you a can of mace or something? Cause there are some people who might like that whole deal way too much. You want to make sure you can lay them out if you need to." She considered the question about the spell for a moment. "The version I've always used is just for me. I could maybe rig something up in a pinch that would work on several people but it's a spell that works on your brain and that gets weird in groups." "If you're offering me shoes, I'm not going to say no," she told Talya, switching seamlessly back to English. "And there's not really much to report. I met this guy in my Western Political Theory, hot as hell, and he doesn't act like a complete douchenozzle so he's head and shoulders above most guys in that class. I did a scrying bowl that says he's probably not evil, so we're gonna hit some clubs and see how it goes. You need some help tonight?" she asked, switching topics suddenly. "If you give me fifteen I could be in something less incriminating." Merlin, apparently having had enough of language exchange time, informed Owain in his usual manner that he was not an ape, that apes lacked tails and possessed appendixes, both of which were traits he was pleased not to share. He went on to offer that his name was Merlin and that the dust he and Raina were covered with contained too much plaster to probably work for a spell.