Electra

"I mean anyone," Erin said more forcefully, pulling back from her task when the rag began to smoke slightly. "It's easy for you to go out and have fun with Mark and kiss him, because you don't really need anyone else that you don't already have." She concentrated all her attention the rag, folding it in quarters and squirting Windex on it to cool it off. "We talked about it before, remember, how it can be just for fun with him, because it doesn't matter very much, and neither of you will feel that bad when it's over. I don't have any fallback position, or any psychic link, or anything to pick me up again if something goes bad. If I started going out with anybody and it got to be more than going out and playing baseball or watching a movie or stupid stuff like that, it would mean a lot more to me than it would to them. I'm not going to risk that with anyone, especially not somebody like Mark, who I don't think even can really care very much about people, because he never worries about anything." Keeping her face turned toward the shelves, Erin neatly scaled the structure again, pretending to look for places she'd missed. She hadn't really meant to say all that, but that was one of Alex's talents, prying things out of you that you didn't even know were there. She'd be a great shrink one day, if she didn't go into heroing.

"But we've beaten them twice now," Erin pointed out, "and we've only been in hero school for a few months. Another two years, who knows what we'll be able to do?" She ate a mozzarella stick in two quick bites, thinking about it. "Looking back, I now a lot more now than I did at the baseball stadium. I think we probably all do. If we had it to do again, you and James I would probably work much better as a team, and Mark would help us, and Alex would coordinate, and Eddie and Chris would be distractions to the bad guys. It would be sort of like what we tried to do there, but much smoother and faster. We're getting better."

Erin kept her eyes focused on the spot she was cleaning. "I dunno, I need to get myself in order first. Thinking about guys like that would take up more time and energy than I've got to spare, and then you start worrying about them, and if they like you back, and what you're supposed to do with them once you've got them." She scrubbed vigorously at the spot, till the metal made a squeaking noise of protest and started to smell hot. "And then if you make this, this big investment in falling for somebody and then it goes to hell, you're worse off than before you started. Mike's okay, but he's yours in the long run. And I don't think I want any learning experiences."

Erin jumped out of the car and followed after Alex, shaking her head. "I don't think they're going to have any of those in stock," she pointed out, trying to curb Alex's enthusiasm. "And we don't really want to have to wait for something to get painted up and delivered, right?" She detoured from Alex's path when her eye was caught by a gorgeous-looking extended cab in a deep metallic blue. It demanded closer inspection. Erin walked over and hopped into the bed to look in through the back windows. It looked a lot like the one they'd just been driving, maybe even a little nicer. The price tag made her flinch a bit, but numbers like that hardly even seemed real. And it was a very pretty truck.

"Hey Mark," Erin said, giving her classmate a half-wave. "We were just going to grab something to eat. I figured people might be around." She looked relieved to see him; being sociable with strangers wasn't exactly Erin's long suit. "The caf here is pretty good," she told Jason, "mostly healthy food most of the time, but it tastes pretty good. And there's vending machines and stuff, and fast food off campus, but the caf itself is free."

"He seemed to be doing okay," Erin said with a shrug. "We had a pretty good time talking anyway. I don't know that it was very, you know, date-ish, but it wasn't horrible and awkward like I thought it was going to be. I mean, you know, mostly. It's just I don't want to be anything more than friends with him. Or anybody." She shrugged and attacked another spot of rust on the shelves.

She laughed and framed his face with her hands, looking at him for a minute. "Yep," she decided with a nod, "you're adorable. Just about perfect. So," she added, leaning in to put her lips close to his ear, which coincidentally brought their bodies into an even closer alignment and brought some things he'd been gallantly avoiding looking at right up towards his face, "what do you want to do now?"

She grinned at that. "I don't know why anyone would want to try. Even if you did, it would probably just make them put on something even weirder, to stay ahead of the game. At least they're always easy to spot in traffic and in crowds. I don't really know when that would ever be an issue, but I guess you never know. And anyway," she added suddenly, "if the Freedom League picks us up, they've got their own uniform colors already. You wouldn't want to get too attached to a high school costume. It'd be like wearing your hometown jersey when you've gotten to the major leagues."

Stesha grinned, pressing herself up against him as she rested her forehead on his. "I like you," she told him with a laugh in her voice. "You're really smart." She kissed him again, trusting that his hands on her bottom would hold her up as she threaded her fingers through his damp hair. "And cute," she added as an afterthought, punctuating it with another kiss. "And, though I haven't really got grounds for comparison, really good in bed." Saying that had her blushing, but the whole situation was pleasant enough that she didn't care at all.

Erin shrugged. "A lot of them have families that live in the city, even some of the ones who stay here on campus. Some of them go home on weekends. Otherwise there's field trips, training missions, or people just go do stuff in Freedom City. Are you from around here?" She tossed her very full backpack onto her shoulder like it was weightless, then started heading in the direction of the caf and the dorms. "I was going to head over to dinner pretty soon anyway, there's always some people around there. You hungry?"

Erin made a face that was half amusement, half disgust. "Cause that would really be efficient to fight in, or walk in, or do basically anything in," she pointed out. "I could see some of the girls at school wearing something like that, but they're not normally jumping around or doing flips or kicking people. I'd probably get arrested." She took another drink of her milkshake. "I guess if everybody was going to start wearing costumes, I'd just wear my workout clothes. They look sort of costumey, and I've already got them. Those could just go under regular clothes, especially in the winter. But I still don't really see the point. People are probably going to realize you're a superhero when they see you go flying past overhead, even if you're wearing street clothes, right?"

Stesha shrieked with laughter and squirmed in his hands, hampered by the swim fins and the fact that she still couldn't touch the ground. Tugging them off, she opened one of her flowers and shoved them inside, along with her mask, then turned to wrap her arms and legs around him and do some tickling of her own. "Got you!" she announced, pulling off his mask and tossing it aside with her own, then took advantage of her position to turn tickling into kissing, which was even more entertaining. "And you better not dunk me either," she warned, chuckling as her lips met his.

"Nah," Erin replied, wiping her fingers on her napkin. "I don't really see the point. I don't need one for armor, and I'm not looking to get famous, and nobody's going to connect me with any civilian identity." Plus she couldn't afford normal clothes, let alone a costume, but there was no reason to dwell on that. "I figure a costume is just more work, so that if you get into a fight, you have to worry about having it with you, changing into it, all that stuff. Costumes are cooler on TV than in real life."

Assured that he was just making small talk, Erin refocused her attention. "I'm a junior," she told him. "More or less. They'll probably give you your class list first thing on Monday morning, I don't think any of the guidance people are here on weekends. But if you didn't get a map or anything, I can show you around the place. Or if you'd rather, it's pretty easy to find what you'e looking for. Dorms, caf, classes, administration, gym," she explained, pointing at the buildings surrounding them.

Stesha still wasn't a great swimmer, but her grace improved dramatically when she could start swimming with the fins instead of walking on them. Pulling her mask and snorkel into place, she gave Derrick a thumbs up and face-planted into the water. They stuck close together while they explored, sometimes holding hands, sometimes brushing bodies, but mostly concentrating on the wildly colorful world beneath the waves. They swam around, exploring and collecting seashells, for several hours before Stesha started getting bored and began a nudgey-splashy contest.

Erin turned her head to look in the direction the wind was coming from, checking for anything approaching, then sniffing it to see if it smelled weird. But it just seemed like a normal breeze to her. They'd been getting them all afternoon, and it was starting to make her wish she'd worn a headband. "Um... I guess so?" she said, a little hesitantly. "It just feels like wind to me. Do you think there's something strange about it?"

She nodded again, taking an onion ring and tearing it into stringy little pieces as she talked. "You could promise your mom that no matter what, you will always be kind to dairy cows," she joked halfheartedly. "They're probably both really proud, even if your mom is too worried to think about it right now." Her voice was undeniably wistful before she turned the topic of conversation yet again. "Are you going to get a costume?"

"I'm Erin," Erin replied, taking his hand and shaking it. She had a very firm handshake, but not painfully so. It seemed like she was deliberately keeping it under control. "I started this summer. What grade are you in?" When he stood, she sized him up automatically. He was shorter than she'd expected, but well-muscled in his arms, and with a very square jaw that gave him a sort of stubborn look. It wasn't a bad attitude to bring to a place like this, honestly. "Have you gotten your room assignment and stuff yet?"

Erin watched the new guy for another few minutes, but after he sat down, he didn't look like he was about to get up again for awhile. She debated going back to her textbook, but that was hideously boring, and she was curious. Besides, it would give her something to tell Dr. Marquez about, and maybe get him off her back for another week. Rising, she stuffed the book back into her knapsack and walked toward where the new guy had sat down. She saw his eyes were closed when she got closer, which made her rethink her strategy. It was not necessarily a good idea to surprise anyone around here, she knew that full well. Stopping a few feet away, out of arm's reach, she asked, "Hey, are you new here?"

Here's a Claremont Intro thread for Jason, all Claremont students and teachers welcome: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=2613

This is the thread for the introduction of Jason, The Entropic Cerberus, to campus. Any Claremont student or teacher is welcome to drop in and say hello.

The school year had barely started, but Claremont was already a busy place, with all the students returned and classes already back in session. It was a little quieter on the weekends, with some students off training, others enjoying the city, and the day students not even on campus. After a morning spent on group training with Young Freedom, Erin was happy to take advantage of the nice weather to spend a little time outside by herself. The campus was attractive at any time of year, but it seemed at its peak in the fall, with the gardens still showing some flowers and the grass still brilliant green, even as the leaves on the many trees began turning colors. She had her physics textbook with her, unfolded on her lap, but didn't pay it much attention. It was nicer just to sit and relax for awhile. Erin was just thinking about leaning back for a little nap when a new figure caught her eye. She was getting used to seeing people she didn't recognize walking around on campus, but this one seemed like he didn't quite have his bearings yet. She kept an eye on him as he got closer.

"That would make a big team even bigger," Erin said a little dubiously. "It's hard to feel like I'm getting to work with everybody even the way it is. But I guess Mark's sort of the one who deals with all that stuff. He's the only one who's got experience with any of this superheroing stuff, anyway." She selected another onion ring from the plate. "Have you told your folks about the stuff with Young Freedom? What do they think?"

Stesha duck-walked towards the water, keeping a hand on his arm for balance. "It's strange to think there's so much out there that almost no one on earth will ever see or hear about. I guess maybe it's good. Knowing that there's so much out there, so many worlds and people and things beyond people, it sort of makes the everyday lives of most people seem small. But I think it's really a question of perspective. One life is as important as any other, no matter what world they're on, or how far apart. I think it's kind of nice, really. Less lonely." She shuffled into the waves, splashing up water with every step, wobbling dangerously but not falling yet. "I mean, I don't want anything to happen to Earth, but if it did, there would be someone to notice. And we'll always have the world of fuzzballs." She laughed.

Erin nodded thoughtfully. "Alex has some ideas about her. It's sort of hard to know what to think. I guess she's definitely keeping busy, I haven't seen very much of her since she arrived. What about that other new guy?" she asked. "I saw there was a new student came in just ahead of everyone else coming back, but I haven't done more than see him in the hallways. Things have been pretty busy. Have you met him?"