Electra
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Erin stepped back and watched the display of... hairobics, she guessed, with her mouth slightly agape. She'd seen some unusual powers on display in her months at the school, but nothing quite as bizarre as this. But it certainly was eye-catching. She was quiet for a minute after the display ended, trying to think of something to say. "I guess nobody would forget that lesson," she finally managed, scratching her head. "Um... the dorm is this way."
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"Well, it's this weekend, but Derrick and I have plans," Stesha said, a little uncomfortably. "So I guess next Saturday, but I'm not sure I should. I mean, I really appreciate the offer, don't get me wrong. I've been wondering where everybody gets those awesome costumes. But it seems like it's safer to go out in civilian clothes, don't you think?" She spread her hands. "If I go out at night in a costume, maybe somebody will try and pick a fight with me who would just ignore me otherwise. On the other hand," she answered herself before Ace could interject, "last time I really did have to fight a villain, I did it wearing a plastic bag and goggles. That was really stupid. Maybe I could go and just look?" she decided hopefully.
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"It sounds kinda fun," Erin replied, more interested than she was maybe ready to let on. "Is anybody else we know getting into that stuff? I'd think most of them would want to be actors instead of backstage, but you never know. "And you actually get course credit for it? Or is it an afterschool thing, like being on a sports team or doing a club?" She bit thoughtfully into a cookie, wondering if it would be worth it to try and chip out room in her schedule for one more activity.
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"I've mostly driven Jeeps because they're good for offroad, but a truck would be useful," Erin agreed, finishing up a second granola bar. She shoved the rest into her knapsack, where they would eventually make their way into the box under her bed. "Couldn't carry everybody, but you can squeeze a surprising number of people into your car. Trucks take a lot of gas, though. Driving it too much would be expensive." She shot a glance at James, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "If that matters."
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"That's probably just as well," Stesha agreed with a smile, "since my costume is pretty much just a sweatshirt and leggings and hood. I don't think it would really fool much of anyone, much less a god. I picked it more because it's sturdy and no one would notice me." She ate the last bite of her cheesecake and wiped her fingers with the napkin in her lap. "And I'd be thrilled not to have to go out of this dimension or world or whatever to try and get Moira back. It seems a lot safer to stay here and be penpals. I'm kind of risk-averse, for a superhero," she told him with a chuckle.
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1d20+13=18 Erin stops to tie her shoe, and to hopefully get one crap roll out of the way early.
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The cheesecake was excellent, as always, and despite the end of her lunch hour pressing close, Stesha took the time to enjoy it. It was technically a meeting with a customer, after all. "If we go," she asked, tracing the edge of her spoon through a chocolate swirl, "to Mount Olympus I mean, do you think we should use our secret identities? I mean, will it make a difference? I don't want them knowing my family if I can help it, but I don't know how much good a domino mask is against the power of gods."
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Erin finally hurried in, looking harried as usual, and grabbed a handful of granola bars and a milk carton off the breakfast line before joining her friends. "Sorry I'm late," she told the others, sitting down and dropping her heavy bag on the floor with a thud. "Trying to finish up a book report, and I lost track of time. Algebra's looking like a sure loser," she admitted with an apologetic glance at Alex, "but I can still pull English out of the bag." She put a granola bar away in three bites, washing it down with the milk. "I'm ready whenever you guys are."
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"I'm taking Spanish 1 again, because I forgot how any of it went," Erin replied, scooping up some fruit salad. "And Alex and I are both taking driver's ed. Should be a pretty easy course since I already know how to work a car, but it's still a credit. Even if we have to take it with the headmaster. What are you going to do in the theater department?" she asked. "I didn't know this place was big enough to do lots of shows and stuff."
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Erin stopped in order to make introductions, though she'd rather have just plowed her way through the rest of the campus tour. "This is Dr. Haviland, she's new here and she's going to teach chemistry or biology this fall," she told Eddie. "This is Eddie, he goes to school here too," she told Estelle. "We're on a training team together, so we do group workouts on the weekend and stuff."
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"Sure," Erin said. "I don't know where the teachers live, I guess maybe some of them live on campus. But there's a student dorm where we all live, I can show you that." She led the way back down the stairs and out of the building, school replaced once again by summer as they emerged into the August afternoon. More students were around the grounds now, heading to the cafeteria or out to the field for sports. Erin nodded once to a familiar face as they passed. "Hey Eddie."
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"That shouldn't be a problem," Erin pointed out, "Alex probably has both of them down already by now. I don't know why they have her take classes at all, except I think she likes them. I don't think anyone can do physics in the middle of a fight, but if you can figure out ahead of time how fast you have to be going to knock over a wall or make something fly up into the air, you can practice it till you get it, without a lot of trial and error." She grinned a little. "Besides, if all you guys pick chem because the teacher is hot, you're not going to learn anything."
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Erin wasn't sure she could see the value in getting meditation advice from someone with as many hang-ups as Mike, but today her head was cool enough to let her keep her mouth shut. It wasn't like she had a lot of room to throw stones. "I'm stuck in algebra with the sophomores," she admitted, "but I caught up close enough to grade level to be normal everywhere else. Trying to do two years of school in one summer, I guess getting everything but math caught up isn't too bad." She shrugged, loading her plate with fresh fruit and veggies, then a couple of big cookies. "I met the new chem teacher the other day," she remarked offhandedly as they walked to a table. "She's got hair like six feet long. Taking chem might be interesting, but it seems like physics is more useful. You'll use that every day to see what happens when you hit something or bounce off something."
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Stesha followed behind him, looking avidly at the varied contents of the shelves as they passed. "Wow, I could spend all day in here, just looking around." She leafed through a blank book of thick paper, testing the texture. It wasn't as though she knew what to look for, but the thick paper seemed to match the formality of nib-pen calligraphy. "Oh, I like this one," she said, picking up a silver nibbed pen in a wooden box. "That's gorgeous. Chloe will get a kick out of that." Discreetly she turned it over, checking the bottom for a price tag. She wasn't poor or anything, but she did have to be a little careful with her extravagances. "How's the rhododendron doing this summer?"
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Teach me not to use skill mastery. 15
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"You can only do so much meditation practice at once, or your brain starts going funny, looking around for something else to do," Erin replied, pushing open the door to the cafeteria. "Least mine does. I can do maybe an hour on a good day. By the time I'm thirty, maybe I'll have it down like you do, but in the meantime, I'd still like to be able to work." There were a few other students in the cafeteria line, more than usual as the regular year population started filtering back in for fall, so she changed the subject. "You gotten your course schedule for fall yet?"
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Wander nodded. "I'll go first," she told the others, "Edge and Gecks, you should try and stay behind me until we know how hard these things can hit. I imagine Phalanx will fight from the air," she added, looking to Mike for confirmation, "but either of us are better able to take a hit. We haven't got any backup or any hospital or any fast way out, so be as safe as you can." She waited impatiently for the porthole to signal ready to open, face and body already set for a fight.
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Stesha was about ready to pass up the dessert tray for once, after a bigger lunch than she was used to, but the cheesecake caught her eye immediately. The distinctive crust and swirled strawberry topping were unmistakeable, and for a moment her throat closed. She merely pointed to it for the waiter's benefit, then took a sip of water. "I don't think Moira ever mentioned where she got her great desserts from," she told Ace when her voice was clear again. "We always ate cheesecake in her kitchen, practically every time I visited. It was nice of you to think of that." Even knowing Ace only a little bit, she didn't suspect for a moment that it was a coincidence.
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"I'm not hungry," Erin assured James as they walked, "I've been eating at almost every meal for weeks. One day doesn't even bother me." She looked down at her bags, her pale face coloring slightly. "Clothes, mostly. Souvenirs, you know? It's nice to have something to remember a trip by." She wasn't so deluded as to not realize that everyone would notice she always wore the same few clothes, but she still wasn't about to admit it out loud if she didn't have to. "Did you get any good birthday presents?" she asked him instead.
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"I don't think we'll need a car," Stesha agreed, smiling into the phone a little as she hugged the couch pillow. He certainly sounded normal now, and surely if there was anything weird going on, they could settle it this weekend. "Then I suppose I'll see you on Friday at four. I can't wait. We're going to have a great time."
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"That's assuming you have time to get a meditation technique or something up and running before instinct takes over," Erin replied, heading out of the main building and off towards the cafeteria. It was nice out, if hot, and a few people were outside playing games, but no one nearby enough to overhear them. "Whatever works for you, I guess. You did a good job with that flaming guy in there, getting him away from the ship so I could get in there." She'd been relieved that Mike had been ready to jump in and actually fight today, whatever his hangups sometimes were.
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She chuckled. "That's good. I look good in green." Rather than expand on what she said already, she left it to his imagination. "I'm taking off early on Friday, so if you want to come by my place around four, I should be packed up and ready by then. I'll probably have the picnic hamper and a big duffel bag, if that's not too much to carry."
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Erin shrugged. "I only know how to fight one way," she told him. "Just to hit things and hope they stay on the floor. When it works, it works pretty well, but if it doesn't, then I'm screwed. I don't have any powers, just being really strong and pretty fast. If I want to be able to keep up, I need to be able to do more than slug things." She hesitated for a moment, then admitted, "And it makes me feel better. If I can always always hit the dummy in the training room exactly as hard as I want, then maybe I won't hit a bad guy too hard even when I'm really caught up. Meditation helps too, kind of, but mostly you have to feel it in your body before you can do it, you know? Training with someone who really knows how to fight is a lot different than training with Archer. They know how it feels when your adrenaline is going and it's hard to think straight."
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"Yeah, me neither," Stesha said with a laugh, relaxing just a little. "Skip the grilling then, we'll just picnic. If the fruit's taken care of, I'll pack veggies and sandwiches and things like that, maybe a few treats." Since the distraction made her feel better, she decided to take it a little further and see how that went. "I'm going shopping for a new swimsuit tomorrow," she told him offhandedly. "What's your favorite color?"
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Erin nodded in complete agreement to that assessment of Archer. "It seems less like he's teaching us and more like he's measuring us to see how fast he can make us screw up. I'm just glad to be getting outside training with someone else, or I don't think I'd be learning a thing except group tactics." She grimaced. "Even if a lot of my training is just learning how to not hit a training dummy. You gotta have a teacher that's helping you to get better, not just hoping you flunk in an interesting way. They say he used to be a hero or a sidekick or something, but he got too old. Maybe he's just bitter."