Electra
-
Posts
11,284 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
Gallery
Events
Everything posted by Electra
-
"Mr. Archer gave me access so I could train without breaking the gym," she told him as they headed for the main building. "But since we're actually an official team now, I'm pretty sure we all have permission to use it. I hate it down there, but it's the safest place to use all your strength, that's for sure." She tucked her bottle under her arm as they walked into the main building and over to the metal-faced elevator that led to the basements. Flipping open a panel next to the doors, Erin put her face close to the wall and opened her eyes wide as a light shone into them. The elevator door slid open and, blinking, she walked into the elevator and held it open for the others.
-
Erin showed up not long after Mike was finished changing, walking into the gym with only a plastic water bottle. She'd already changed into her workout uniform too, her hair pulled back with the matching headband. She looked more peaceful than she had an hour ago. She smiled at Alex and gave a smaller smile and a nod to Mark. "So, Summers said it would be good for both of us if we work out together. But I'm not sure we won't give this place a beating he wouldn't appreciate." She looked around skeptically at the all-too-flimsy cinderblock and rebar walls of the gym.
-
"Oh, Angel Marks!" Stesha's face lit up with recognition. "Of course! I saw you on the Style segment of Channel 23 news last week. I didn't realize you knew Moira! Wow, small world, huh? I think I did the flowers for one of your cousins' wedding. Or maybe a second cousin, I can't remember. But it was a huge wedding. Two thousand guests, just crazy. Gorgeous, though. How do you know Moira?"
-
"Maybe you could go find him," Erin suggested, "and I'll meet you in the gym in maybe an hour?" An hour would give her some time alone to make sure she wasn't about to snap any more pencils or equipment, or worse, just because she was feeling a little more off than usual. "If nothing else, we can tell Summers I followed his advice before we start classes with him."
-
Erin batted the ball back when it came in her direction, but wasn't interested in bumping it off her nose or spiking it into the water. She dug into the plastic basket of toys that was sitting by the pool, tossing the floatable toys into the water. A trio of foam balls, a rubber duck, a swim ring, a dive flag for snorkeling, and some other odds and ends went into the water. When the shallow end was lousy with toys, she picked up the basket itself and pulled it into the pool, holding it up to invite someone to make a basket with the beach ball.
-
"I know he's strong," Erin said dubiously, "I saw him push over the jumbotron at the stadium. But he doesn't seem like much of a fighter." She waved a hand, impatient with her own words. "Not in a bad way, really. Who wants to fight in every situation? But I don't know that he would really fight in a sparring match. And I really don't want to hurt him on accident. The first time they had me up against a live trainer, she told me to come at her with everything, and I almost put her down on the mat. And she was really, really strong." She raked her fingers through her hair, disordering it into strange waves. "Make you a deal, okay? I'll follow you if you go on a date with Mark, and make sure no one messes it up, if you come out when I spar with Mike and make sure I stop if I need to. I know you can get into my head, and his. You'll be able to tell if things are going bad."
-
"Oh," Stesha said, backpedaling quickly. Apparently Angel wasn't that kind of friend, not a superheroing friend to know about the Knights. "Yeah, they really are," she agreed. "I was reading an article on them in some magazine while I was at the dentist the other day, I thought that was maybe where I saw your picture. But that would be weird, wouldn't it?" She laughed, and it only sounded a little forced. "But still, you do look really familiar. Did you happen to get married lately by any chance?"
-
"I think you're probably right, it's just a sophomore level class." Erin unfolded herself from the floor and went over to the large schedule chart she'd tacked to the wall. She snapped the first pencil she tried to pick up with one careless flick of her fingers, but was more cautious with the second as she started moving things around on the list. "Working with Summers will be weird, though. I guess it's better than Coach Jones or something like that." The calming aura Alex was projecting seemed to be helping some, especially as Erin finished regaining the appearance of composure. "Summers wants me to start sparring with Mike. I don't know if that's a good idea," she told Alex. "What do you think?"
-
Erin flinched at the touch, a movement violent enough to draw an alarming creak from the bunk bed she was leaning against. Even without reading her, Alex could feel her roommate rejecting the contact, or the comfort, or both. A moment of quiet stretched into a few minutes while Erin laboriously pulled herself back together, tucking away the impact of what was, after all, merely a terminal diagnosis for a world that was long dead. She started taking deeper, more measured breaths, running through the meditation exercises she was taught, just enough to get by. Eventually, she raised her head again, her face composed and dry. "I'll have to talk to Quark, I guess," Erin told Alex, her voice distant. "He seemed to think the theory was different, but he was vague on how it would work. I don't even know how I would go about figuring out what to change. But I guess we've got all the time in the world, if what you're saying is right. That world's not going anyplace." She picked up the book again, leafed through it. "Did they tell you what time the class is going to be meeting? I'll have to write it in on my schedule."
-
Stesha rolled her eyes. "Blind date, God help me. Moira's setting the whole thing up because... well, it's a really long story. But she's got this friend, and she swears I'll like him. I'm not even sure I ever actually said yes, but here I am!" She gave an open-arm shrug, which lifted the entire yoke of the dress, arms first. As she got a better look at Angel, she narrowed her eyes a little. "You know, you look really familiar. Are you one of the Knights?" she guessed.
-
Erin pulled away, wrapping her arms around her knees. "It wouldn't fix anything," she said again. "There's already an Erin and a White family that didn't live through any of that. What good would it do to make another one, or a hundred other ones? It doesn't change a goddamned thing." Her voice was no louder, but the color was creeping back in, anger and bitterness. "The most I could do would be to finish the job, make it so all the people who died really were just a bad dream, and take the world away from whoever was fighting over the bones. What's the point?" She dropped her head to her knees.
-
"It all sounds exciting to me," Stesha agreed, lifting her glass a few inches in tribute. "I'm not sure I even understand, though. How can a planet be sentient?" she asked. "Do you mean sort of metaphorically, where the different parts of the ecology work together so seamlessly that they seem like symbiotic parts of one organism, so that it seems nearly intelligent? Or are you talking about a living creature that hangs in space, as big as a planet, and has things living on it?" Both ideas were fascinating, really.
-
Something about the name seemed really familiar, but Stesha just couldn't place it. "I think Moira might have mentioned you," she said, figuring that's where she would've heard it. "My name is Stesha. Moira's going to be back soon, she went to pick up the seamstress to do the alterations on this thing. Something about a flat tire and a bad spare. You can probably wait around and catch her if you want."
-
Erin was silent for a moment, staring at the diagram with an expressionless face. "So I could shut down that timeline, so it doesn't exist anymore. No more dead world. But it wouldn't bring anyone back." Her voice was very quiet, and if they hadn't had their heads together, it might have been inaudible. "Not even time travel, even if it worked perfectly, would fix anything."
-
"Do I look like I'm breaking in?" Stesha demanded, waving her arms and making the sleeves flap again. They really were very long. "Do you know many people who break into people's houses and try on evening gowns that don't fit, then stand around waiting to see if a seamstress is going to show up? Because if you do, you need to start spending time with a better class of people!" She tugged at the sleeves, which only made things worse. "As it happens, I'm a very good friend of Moira's," Stesha continued more calmly, "and she invited me here to try on a dress. That still doesn't explain who you are, though."
-
"I asked you first!" Stesha pointed out, her sleeves flapping. "The person who owns this house is really good friends with... ah, with the police, you'd better believe that. And she'll be back any minute now!" Belatedly it occurred to her that this could just be another friend of Moira's dropping by, but in case she was wrong, maybe a little bravado wouldn't hurt. She reached up and touched the miniature yellow sunflowers braided into her hair, reminding herself that she wasn't entirely helpless, just in a rather foolish situation.
-
Erin stared at the diagram, then at Alex. She repeated the procedure a couple of times. "All right... I think you're saying it won't work like I think it will, but could you do it again more slowly and in English?" It wasn't the first time they'd had that conversation, sometimes Alex got carried away enough in helping her roommate study that she forgot Erin wasn't anywhere near her mental plateau. "I mean, if I went back and kept myself from getting the shot of vaccine that I got, wouldn't it never happen, and I'd just dissolve?"
-
Erin rested her chin on her fist, elbow balanced on her upraised knee. "It's something I've been thinking about for a few weeks," she admitted. "Darian, Quark, the little guy who makes all the gadgets, says that he can rig up a machine that's a dimensional transporter and a time machine. I could go over, and then back, and try to find where it all went wrong." She closed her eyes. "He opened a portal to my dimension. Right in front of my house. The front door was open, and I could've stepped through and been there in twenty paces. But I couldn't make myself move." She let out a long breath. "I feel like a coward. If there's a chance, I have to take it. What could go wrong that's worse than what already happened? The only thing more that could possibly go wrong would be that I eradicate myself somehow, and that doesn't matter so much. But I'm afraid to go back, because I like what I have here. If I go back, I don't know what would happen."
-
The house wasn't empty, though. Angel followed some noises to the master bedroom, where she found a young woman with green hair braided around her head, apparently trying on a red evening dress. It was a pretty good fit, except that the sleeves were too long, and the hem just a bit too long as well. Stesha was very absorbed in her self-study in the mirror and didn't even hear the front door open. Moira had gone off to pick up the lady who was supposed to be doing the alterations, leaving her to pick over herself in the mirror. She still wasn't at all sure about this date, but she figured she should make the best of it. When a stranger suddenly appeared in the mirror, she yelped. Turning to face the stranger, she wished very much that she hadn't left her knapsack in the bathroom. "Who are you?" she demanded.
-
"And a flying machine," Erin agreed with a nod. "But also a girlfriend, from what he's been saying. Doesn't hurt to look, though. I'm not sure I could deal with anyone who flat out wouldn't listen when I tried to warn him about something, though. There's no trust there, if you can't give and take warnings." Erin closed her book and stared at it for a minute. It didn't take a psychic reading to see that she was wrestling with something. "Can I ask you a weird question?" she finally asked, looking up at Alex. "If you had the opportunity to go back in time and fix a mistake, and you knew that nothing you did would make things worse, but that it could make things very, very different... would you fix it?"
-
Erin shrugged. "I dunno, what do you think? I mean, Chris isn't very much to look at, but he's got a flying machine. And, well, I don't know what it is, but you want to listen when he's talking. I haven't spent that much time with him, though, and I think he might still be pissed at me for spoiling his special moment at the concert." She rolled her eyes. "And Eddie just wants all the attention he can get, all the time. He's cute enough, but just being around him is kind of exhausting. I know who your top two are already, but how about the others?"
-
Erin pursed her lips, looking like she was deciding whether to answer at all, then shrugged, grinning a little. "Well, like I said, it's hard to beat Mark just for cute. He could be on TV if he wanted to, I'm sure. But it's hard to even work up a good fantasy when he doesn't give me the time of day. I guess I like spending time with James the most. He and I play video games at night when I've finished all my work, and it's fun. He's got something big bothering him too, but neither of us really have to talk about it. And that's good. You should hear him play guitar."
-
Erin paused for a minute, still looking down at the book, then shook her head. "Not really, not for real, I mean. The last thing I need right now is getting close to anybody else and having to worry about them. You and all of them are already sneaking into bit parts in my dreams. Even if I had any time or energy for that stuff, I don't think I could do it. You've seen the inside of my brain, you know how messed up it is." She met Alex's eyes and smiled in a way that seemed just a little bit forced. "I'd much rather watch what happens with you and all the guys."
-
"I totally agree that it's hilarious," Erin replied, flipping to the appendices and practice tests at the back of the book. "And that Mark is cute. I'd be a big liar if I said it wasn't fun just to watch the guys around here, even when they're behaving like morons. I swear it's the only good part of those stupid uniforms they're putting us in. But if you go out with Mark, I'll try and babysit the others and keep things from getting out of hand." She studied the book for a minute. "Ahem. 'It is important to slow down A: on narrow or winding roads, B: at intersections or railroad crossings, C: when the road is wet or slippery, or D: all of the above.' This might not be a test that takes a lot of studying for."
-
Erin grimaced at Alex's description of her relationship with every nook and cranny of Mike's brain, but decided not to comment. That, she was entirely sure, was none of her business. "It's your choice what you want to do with Mark," she said, leaning against the bed. "I just figure it's something you shouldn't dismiss right away. Besides, it's fun to watch, especially with all the guys starting to get in on it. If I had any money, I'd bet you a dollar that if you go on a date with Mark, they'll try and do something about it."