Electra

Erin spent a few minutes in the changing room, trying on the shorts and looking at herself in the mirror. The bright green color was more something that Alex would like, and did absolutely nothing flattering for her pale skin, but they were sturdy and relatively inexpensive. And she could wear them if she was ever lost at sea and hoping for a plane to find her. They were certainly a lot cooler than her patched blue jeans, and with a white t-shirt proclaiming that she survived Physics Day at Ocean Heights Amusement Park, she looked almost like she was just on vacation. That worked. She changed back into her normal clothes and folded the new things over her arm, then went back to the clearance rack and added another pair of shorts that were the same except electric blue, and two more t-shirts the same size. After a little thought, she shrugged and added the sunglasses to her pile as well. They blocked the sun, and they were cheap. "You guys finding anything good?" she asked Alex as she rejoined them nearer the front of the store.

Stesha hurried over as they returned to the ground. "Fleur called the police," she told Dark Star as she approached. "They're going to pick him up again. Ah, Fleur says that you should try and take those weapons off his costume. He could hurt somebody with them, or try and use them to get out of jail. He already escaped once this month." She gave the Beekeeper a look of intense dislike.

Alex could hear Erin consider the offer in her head, be tempted by it, and then reject it as too embarrassing, even before Erin managed to get her thoughts organized into a coherent reply. I'm sure you'll find plenty of stuff to spend it on. Buy some souvenirs, or one of Freedom Cityopoly games they're selling. I'm just expanding my wardrobe a little. Aloud, she said, "I think the stars really add a lot, but I just want something to block the sun. And hey, they've got shorts, too." That was very nice, since she hadn't brought any of those to school with her. And maybe they were bright green and had the Ocean Heights logo stamped across each pocket, but they seemed sturdy enough. "I'm going to try these on, be right back."

From the bushes, Stesha gaped as the Beekeeper made his macabre reentry upon the scene. She hadn't realized he'd be able to cut his way out, hadn't realized he'd even try! While Dark Star tried to negotiate with the crazy villain, she reached out with her powers and healed the grievous wound that had been done to the poor tree, before it could lose any more of its vitality. Suddenly, she didn't feel at all bad, if she had before, about the malicious bees getting incinerated.

Stesha didn't know much more about the Terminus Invasion and the Moore Act than what she'd learned at school and at the Super Museum, but she nodded along. "I decided to move to Freedom City because it's such a gathering place for people with powers, and because it's got so much history. I can't imagine what it would be like without the heroes around." She grinned wryly. "I could do without the villains, but I guess it's hard to have too many of one kind without the other being attracted. Do you really think it's a lot different than the way it was before the Terminus invasion?" As they walked through the garden, she extended her powers almost instinctively, giving little boosts to whatever seemed to need it. The garden was beautifully maintained, but there was hardly a plant anywhere that didn't appreciate a little perking up. When she realized the plants around her were rustling and turning greener, she stopped abruptly. "I'm sorry, that was rude, I should've asked first. It's sort of gotten to be a habit lately."

Erin grimaced. "Cotton candy? In this weather, you'll wear more of it than you eat. If I get anything, it's going to be ice cream." She didn't respond to Mike's predictions of doom and decapitation, though she wasn't entirely ignoring him either. Things were still a little weird between them, with a lot left unsaid, but this wasn't the time to be saying any of it. Leading the way into the store, she made a beeline towards the back corner where the clearance racks were always located. Most of the clearance items were for Fourth of July events or even earlier, with a small smattering of Christmas 2008 merchandise still hanging disconsolately at the back of the racks. Even if they weren't timely or stylish, at least they were substantially cheaper than the rest of the branded merchandise on display. She tried on a pair of sunglasses with red, white and blue frames and temples, blinking over at Alex. "What do you think? Good disguise?"

"I'm not just going to leave you here," she protested, even though she might have liked to do exactly that. Being brave and heroic wasn't easy. "I'll just hide behind the bush and try and help from a distance, so he doesn't see me. He's looking for Fleur, not for Stesha. He shouldn't be able to break out, anyway..." The revving noise sounded again, and she darted back behind the bushes to a more secure vantage point.

Erin waved her map, showing that for once she was as prepared as her brilliant roommate. "Let's go to the shop first," she replied, "there's one right at the front here, and you'll burn your face without it. His hat will fall off on the first ride. If we get anything else, we can rent a locker for it." She herself was more eager to check out the clothes she could acquire with the park card than in any of the rides, but agreeing with Alex let her avoid saying that. "You in too?" she asked Mike. "We'll catch the rest of you later," she told James and the others before heading in the direction of the big gift shop at the front of the park. "It's been a really long time since I've been to one of these places," she admitted as they wove through the crowd to the store. Erin kept both her eyes open for any trouble, but the distraction of a fun day was enough to have her relaxing a bit more than usual around lots of people. "At least, not one that was working. What about you?"

Stesha put her hands up to cover her face as the bees attacked, that useless reflex trumping the smarter idea to transmit out of range. She'd gotten no more than a sting or two, though, when the bees began dropping... well, like flies. She looked up and saw the bees disintegrating around her in a rather disturbing yet satisfying way, and breathed a sigh of relief. It took her a moment to parse why Dark Star was treating her like a stranger, till she realized that he was in his hero identity and she certainly wasn't in what passed for hers. But it looked like the battle was over, and with hardly anyone the wiser... She took a few steps back towards Derrick, hoping for a confab on what to do with the villain she'd just captured for the second time in hardly more than a month. The revving chainsaw noise had her jumping before she could so much as open her mouth. She grabbed for Derrick's arm, but of course her hands passed right through, leaving them tingling as though asleep for just a moment. "I don't know what that is," she told him, hugging her arms to her own chest. "What can he be doing in there?" She wasn't panicking, yet, but it was close.

Stesha was starting to wish she had a notebook to jot down a few things about all these amazing plants, but she was sure she wouldn't forget any of them. "Mostly I beautify the local parks," she told him. "It's sort of my hero work-slash-hobby right now, while the weather's so warm. Between that and my day job and my own gardening, I keep pretty busy, then spend a little time relaxing or out with friends." She grinned and shrugged. "It's not very exciting, but I like it. Do you spend much time in Freedom City these days? I hear stories from all over the world, but you never know what's true and what's total garbage. Your house here is gorgeous."

"It's a shame when that happens," Stesha murmured, looking over the graceful little plants. "There's a fine line between a plant that has a use and a plant that's marked for destruction because it's a bit too attractive. Plenty of plants go extinct that way. And yet plants like the dandelion, that have more uses than I can count, are destroyed wholesale and always manage to come back again. If someone got enough people to believe that dandelion salad improves your sex drive, I guarantee they'd go for more per ounce than marijuana. Both weeds, after all." She chuckled, then crouched down next to the plants, looking at them more closely with a scientific eye. "They certainly could have hallucinogenic properties, they look to belong to the right family. Probably not the sort of thing you want to go playing around with, even if you do have a few years to spare." Stesha sat back on her heels and looked up at him. "Okay, I know this sounds stupid, but I just have to get it said. When I was a kid, my sisters and brothers and I all used to watch your old cartoon show on Saturday mornings, when it would air before the sun was even up. And we played Johnny Danger Family out in our treehouse. It was my favorite show till I was about ten years old." She smiled, looking kind of embarrassed. "So anyway, it's really extra neat to be out here and see all the things you've collected all these years."

"Sounds like a good time, but I think I'll avoid touching it," she said with a chuckle, observing the vine without getting too close. "My mom's been a gardener since way before I was born," she explained. "She's a midwife and does complementary medicine, grows a lot of her own teas and supplements. My dad's a professor of botany, and I've got my degree, but I love the growing and arranging and showing off more than the studying. Not that I'd turn down an opportunity to get a look at a new rare plant," she added. "Freedom City's a great place for it," she added, taking a couple of steps closer to look at the way the vine anchored itself to the wall. "It's got so many different schools and parks and arboretums. You see something new every week for a year and probably not cover everything. Tomorrow my boyfriend and I are going out to the South Street Neighborhood Festival and look over some of the community gardens they've got going down there. It should be really interesting." Okay, maybe that hadn't been a seamless way to work that in, and maybe they were mostly going to the festival for the music and fried foods, but she did want to look at the community garden. "Did this come from the grave of a witch doctor?" she asked, trying to turn the conversation back to the tour, "or is it a cutting from another specimen?"

Stesha makes her save!

Since it would be impolite to just ignore his arm, and not a blatant enough gesture to warrant the "I'm seeing someone" speech, Stesha put her fingertips lightly on his arm. "I noticed the plant guarding the door earlier, I don't think I've ever seen a vine quite like it. I'd love to get a closer look at that. But I'm sure you know all the best parts of your garden layout to show off," she acknowledged with a smile.

Stesha watched as Derrick ran away, chased by hundreds of bees, even as another mass of them closed in on her. She wasn't in any urge to face them! She directed the branches to retract into the tree and swallow the Beekeeper, for safekeeping. Before even watching to see how well it managed that trick, she vanished into the grass, zipping over to where she'd seen Derrick run. "Are you all ri-" she began, trailing off when she saw her date exploding into pure energy. "Derrick?"

Stesha uses her dimensional pocket! A 17 should hit.

"I'm fine, thanks" she told him as she preceded him out the door. "I only eat recreationally most of the time. And I'd hate to be the delivery person trying to find your house, after this afternoon," she added with a laugh. "But I definitely need to wash up." She scrubbed the dirt off her hands in the sink, leaving nothing but faint lines of dirt under her fingernails. "Does your house do that naturally, by the way?" she asked as she dried her hands. "Or is it a security measure?"

"Bye?" Stesha said uncertainly to Angel's retreating back. "Nice to meet you!" Angel may well have been out of the house by then, but it still seemed the right sort of pleasantry. Moira sure did seem to know all the interesting people in Freedom City. Stesha decided to just be grateful that she'd been dressed when Angel had wandered on in. It might be better not to change into her street clothes until Moira arrived with the seamstress. She'd keep an eye on the entertainment channels for awhile, she decided, and maybe she'd see someone she'd actually met in person for once. That would be pretty cool.

Stesha startled out from under Derrick's arm when the picnic was so rudely interrupted. "Not you again!" she cried, her voice half a moan. "You ruin everything!" She looked around at the park full of people. Running away wasn't an option, if he was trying to catch a superhero's attention, he'd just go harass someone else. "Anyway, she might be closer than you think!" Stesha ad-libbed. "She could be right behind you!" She gave the tree they were all under a bit of a nudge, and suddenly its slender branches descended like arms, wrapping around the yellow and black villain.

Stesha attempts to snare the Beekeeper! She rolls an 18, a far more promising start than last battle. ;-) She also attempts to bluff him into thinking that his nemesis is RIGHT BEHIND HIM!

When the potting was finished, Stesha filled a watering can and gave the bucket a good wetting, then put some water into the original planter as well, though it was nearly moist enough already. "I don't want to heal them up too much right now," she explained, "because part of the reason for splitting older plants is to shock them into new growth. If I just heal everything up, it won't get as much of a benefit. But I can stop by next week to check on it, just to make sure it's recovering all right. We could kill two birds with one stone, I could check in on it and pick up the papers at the same time?" Right now both plants looked pretty good, if quite asymmetrical, but the next few days would tell the tale on how well the split had been tolerated. "Sometimes the best thing for a plant is just to leave it alone and not mess with it too much." Despite that bit of sage wisdom, Stesha couldn't help fussing over the plants a little more, patting down the soil lightly and double-checking the moisture and fertilizer levels. It was such an amazing plant, a privilege to work on it, really. She wasn't sure she'd even fully wrapped her mind around the idea of having one. "In a year, they'll both be in great shape." She couldn't help but smile again at Ace, he was the sort of man who made it easy.

Stesha's Initiative: 18

Erin put a hand on the ledge around the pool and jumped out, scrubbing herself down with a beach towel, then wrapping it around herself like a sari. "Candyland should work pretty well for everyone's attention span," she suggested as she followed Alex and Mike towards the house, veering over at the last minute back to the snack table. With a can of soda in hand, she stretched out on one of the beach chairs as well, pretending like she had some chance at actually tanning. As far as she could tell, the weather would need to be much more supernova-y for that to happen. Still felt nice, though. Turning her head, she looked over at Mark in the adjacent chair. "So what did you get Alex for her birthday?"

"You've taken amazing care of it," she told him with a smile. "I'll make sure to do the same thing. And it's my pleasure to be able to help someone cure a sick plant. There's nothing nicer than seeing a sickly plant reach its potential." She shifted from foot to foot momentarily, wondering if the signals he was giving were just habitual flirting, or if he meant something by it. Surely not, she decided again. While Ace prepped the pot, Stesha began doing the actual split, carefully tugging apart and extricating the tangled mass of roots into two separate bundles. She used her powers carefully as she worked, healing torn edges of roots and strengthening the ones that threatened to break. It had obviously been split before with apparently mundane techniques, but it never hurt to take a little extra care. As she worked, she asked "Would it be possible for me to get copies of the care instructions you have for it? I'm good with plants, but I've never dealt with one quite like this before."

Stesha gaped at him, the offer taking her entirely aback for a minute. "Me?" she finally managed, her voice squeaking a little on the end. "You're giving it to me? I don't know what to say. I mean, I'll take great care of it, of course, it would be the prize of my garden. But... wow. Thanks doesn't seem like enough."