ic Conrad and Cooper Incorporated.

[TheAbsurdist]

"Oh c'mon Hannah, why you gotta be like that, I'm just being appreciative.  What I gotta be all 'Forsooth' and pining like some fedora wearing neckbeard geek?"  Sal certainly wasn't unattractive, but he was also pretty damned prideful.  "Tsh, what about you pretty lady?"  Their attention shifted from both to Corinne solely.

 

For her part, she released Hannah and frowned a little bit, before she looked up at him, and stopped with her theatrics.  "Ahm... I am, like fine.  Thank you for the interest, but... ah...no?  Little skeeved about by like... five dudes?  Unless, wait, is this like Multiplicity starring Michael Keaton?  Which one of you is the dumb clone?"  Her eyes narrowed, a bit, as she asked that question with complete seriousness.

 

This of course confused, and vaguely annoyed Sal, who blinked and then all of his duplicates started to merge together, until it was down to one, where he seemed a little bit bigger than when split up, though it was hard to tell.  "What are you talking about?"

[Thunder King]

Hannah rolled her eyes again. Sal was a jerk. Still, she was slightly concerned about fighting if Sal chose to get extra confrontational. She wasn't really afraid of him, not with what she could do, but she didn't know what Corrine could do. There were far too many unknowns, but, Hannah was nervous. 

 

"Maybe, um, maybe we should just go." She suggested, helpfully. She knew neither of them were interested in Sal, so why bother with him?

[TheAbsurdist]

She frowned as he pressed the advantage, and then she moved her hand, seeking out Hannah's and taking hold of it, as her fingers laced with the smaller girl's.  And then she narrowed her eyes, as she rose up to her height.  Imperious, as she looked at him as if he was but the buzzing of flies to her.  "My name is Corinne, you will call me that.  You will be nice to Hannah, and you will comport yourself in a better manner than you have.  Because, and I will phrase this simply, I have five inches on you."  Her voice dipped down low, not with malice, there was more smug that that, as she had a small little regal smile, placing him firmly beneath her.

 

While she made a very showy, and roundabout entendre at him, and then blew a kiss. Yes, Corinne could be a bitch.  All 90210 style.

 

Sal blinked a bit, as he tried to register what exactly was said, and the intent behind it a bit.  "Are you making fun of me?"  His brows knitted together as he looked at her, and stepped towards her a bit.  He did give up a good couple inches to Corinne. 

[Thunder King]

Both of them were taller than Hannah, but she had an edge that neither of them had. Or at least an edge on Sal. She could defuse the situation with her powers quite easily if it came to that. She couldn't lie, though, Corrine had him good. She didn't laugh, however, she needed to defuse things.

 

"Look, it's obvious neither of us are into you, so I think this is a waste of time." She said, less meekly than usual. She supposed worrying about a fight or getting in trouble was her primary motivation. They really, really didn't need this. Not here, not with him, not with Corrine being new.

[TheAbsurdist]

Y'see Corinne was quite skilled at being Queen Bitch, well she felt she was, it was just rare that she had to pull it out.  But she was big, and while one would describe her as willowy, she had some measure of mass.  She was imposing.  Though she was not the best at employing it yet.  Though it seemed like she would have to have to learn it some to be able to make it here already.

 

So while Corinne wasn't backing down, and keeping that smile affixed to her face as she looked at him, that serene, 'don't-you-dare-mess-with-me' face, though she was not being aggressive.  She might have found his cheekiness cute but... really?  Not at the moment.

 

For his part, he didn't know much more about her other than what he could have done an internet search for, however... he knew about Hannah.  He knew what she could do, so the nervous glances were to her.  "I..."  He closed his mouth firmly, for a moment, before he broke his eyes from them.  "Yeah... fine Rainbow."  He tried to recover some measure of pride.  "Fine." It might have been a little different if his buddies were around, the Bro Squad, but he didn't have to try and justify his getting shot down to anyone but himself at the moment.  He turned and raised a hand in a dismissive gesture as he walked away.

"Charming."  Corinne demurred, as she glanced to Hannah, and slowly released her hand, before she moved to continue on her way.

 

Two things that Hannah noticed, once was that the ground beneath where Corinne had been standing was rippling out from where she had been standing.  The other was the aforementioned other buddies of Sal were laughing at him, shaking their head as his abject failure of getting the girls.

[Thunder King]

Hannah sighed, glad to get on their way. She felt a little self-conscious about the nervous glances, and wondered what Corrine thought about that. It was obvious that Sal was mostly worried about her, not Corrine, despite the height difference. She wondered what Corrine thought about her in that sense, whether Corrine thought Hannah needed protecting.

 

As shy as she was, Hannah wasn't afraid of Sal like that, not if things got rough. It was the social side, the confrontations, the pushiness, the aggression, those made her nervous. Her powers would keep her safe from physical harm, but not mental or emotional.

 

"So, I'm hungry." She said, somewhat shyly. 

[TheAbsurdist]

Her eyes were locked on the group, and her eyes narrowed a bit, as she gently released her hand.  "So... awkward."  Referring more to the situation, and then she shifted her expression off of the other group and back down to Hannah for a moment, she didn't add that she noticed that the other person was visibly afraid intimidated by Hannah.  That much was clear, and Corinne knew she had her height to help her be imposing and nothing else.  She frowned a little bit, as she stepped  towards the entrance to the school, and then walked with her away.

 

"Well... good to know there are some universal standards for students... and he is far from the worst here.  The giant bird dude was way more awkward, not mean spirited, but like... just...  Well, like how many aliens and stuff do we have?  Y'know that have completely different cultures? "  She glanced at the street when they came to it, and waited for the crosswalk.

[Thunder King]

"Quite a few. This is Freedom City, there are all sorts of people." She smiled, shrugged. She'd gotten used to how downright strange Freedom was. "Aliens, cyborgs, probably cyborg aliens. I've heard all sorts of rumors and it's impossible to know what's true." Hannah was already done worrying about Sal, but she wondered what it was Corrine did. She imagined it was something Corrine wasn't comfortable with. If she could do something cool, like, say, shooting rainbows, Hannah was pretty sure she'd know. Corrine wouldn't have bragged, she thought, she would just have been excited to share.

[TheAbsurdist]

She started to dance again, with an exaggeratedly long step, and a slide of her rear foot through the crosswalk, grinning back to Hannah as that happened. "Yeah, Claremont has some Harry Potter BS happening.  I mean... less Nazi analogies... more like, the houses and st-!"  It was a sudden lurch to the girl, as she cut of and then she dashed into the street, towards an old woman falling, with an oncoming bus heading towards them.  Hannah would get her wish.  

 

The dive was sudden and fast, what happened in transition if what made it all slow down.  Corinne exploded.  The space between her and Hahhan filling with what looked a bad edit job of corrupted footage, as light blasted outwards from her, and the blonde was someone, something, else now.  Eyes of pure light, and her clothes a variegated dress with shifting colors of the dawn.  She was scooping up the old woman with one arm on her knees on the asphalt which seemed to pressed down, to dent from the gravity of her.  "I will not allow this!"  She bellowed it out with a harsh voice, that sounds as there were multiple layers of her voice at once.  Her free arm was thrust up, palm aimed at the bus.

 

And it exploded, as a stroke of that distorting white light it with a crackle.  The bus was reduced to it's disparate parts.  Body, chassis, engine, everything were ripped apart with the people there, ,seemingly unaware as the cloud of the bus hit whatever field was around Corinne, twisting and snaking before it all coalesced behind her back into the bus.  Whole, swerving, and snaking as brakes were hit too late to have avoided Corinne and the old woman.  The inertia did seem to push at them, dragging Corinne's knees along the ground, leaving scorch marks before it was all said and done.

 

There was a moment, and Corinne stood, as she helped the old woman across the street, finding a bus stop bench, and urging her down on the seat.  "I recommend calling an ambulance..."  There was a glance towards Hannah, and then she threw an arm up and vanished swirl of light.

[Thunder King]

Hannah pulled out her phone and took a deep breath. No serious injuries, no problems. "Hi, uh, can you come to this address? There was an incident with an older woman, some superhero saved her but the bus is...well all the people appear to be fine. Um, thank you." Hannah turned around and started walking, somewhere, anywhere, out of sight, out of mind. Get away from the people, get away from the situation, get away from anyone who might ask her questions about what happened. The ambulance would be there soon, she couldn't, she didn't.

 

She wrapped herself in a cocoon of scintillating colors and took off into the air, looking all the world like a rainbow football. She wasn't in costume, she couldn't let anyone see. She didn't know where Corrine was, she didn't understand what happened. She landed on top of a nearby building and dismissed her field, curling up into a corner, knees tight to her chest. 

 

Okay, take a moment, breathe. Wherever Corrine went, whatever she did, Hannah had absolutely no way of dealing with. Invisible, teleporting, invisible and teleporting? No idea. So, she sat there, for a few minutes. She'd wait for Corrine to find her or, barring that, head back to the school and wait there. 

[TheAbsurdist]

In Dickensian coincidence Hannah ended up on the building where Corinne was.  Though it was not immediate thing to notice.

 

Though after a while, she'd see her, dancing barefoot on the roof, using her ability to stand on the air to move through the routine.  It was unfettered, and primal.  Without anything holding her back, as where they were afforded a bit of privacy, and even with what she was doing.  Including using her powers, in adding and removing platforms and things to work through her routine.

 

It was a moment of repression broken away, and she took it  Until she stopped, looking at Hannah, those eyes as apertures of light, narrowing a moment as she looked at Hannah.  

Edited May 24, 2017 by TheAbsurdist

[Thunder King]

"Hey, it's okay." Hannah said, raising her hands. "I understand. Powers aren't easy to control." She was nervous, but, trying her best. "I'm not afraid, I'm not upset." She took a deep breath. "I, um, had to get control of things myself, and I know people who still don't have a good grasp on things." She was thinking of Winifred Wei, who's rampage was still fresh in her mind. "It's okay, that's what Claremont is for." She smiled. 

 

She felt a little guilty, though, because she couldn't quite relate. Her own powers were nowhere near as challenging to nail down as say, Winnifred's. It was more about getting precision and control, and less about risking, say, disassembling a bus with her mind or turning into a rage monster.

[TheAbsurdist]

"I do not have... her reservations.  That was the most expedient way to resolve the matter, harming the least number of people."  She looked down, physically, at Hannah as she approached her.  She watched her, shifting from foot to foot as she regarded the girl the girl, her arms folded across her chest.  The platforms she had made dissipated behind her.  Corinne seemed different, and not just what she had said.  Her posture, how she held herself, her expression were all different.  Though she did look different to some degree, enough she wouldn't be recognized, but... Hannah saw her change... so that helped here.

 

Still...  There was a moment, and shimmer, and she... diminished?  Her clothes reforming back to their original shape, and Corinne sagged a bit, and staggered a little before sinking down to her knees, her hands going to her face.

[Thunder King]

Hannah had seen something similar to this before, someone who was more two people than one. That wasn't something she was totally unfamiliar with. However, watching Corrine's mannerisms shift suddenly, with her hands to her face, made Hannah's instincts kick in.

 

"Hey, you okay?" She said, walking towards Corrine. "Everyone down there is okay. I'm sure superheroes mess with the buses all the time, it's just a thing." She wasn't positive of that, but, better not to worry about it. "Um, wanna still do Mexican?" She said, smiling gently. "If you need to talk, I can listen. I mean, you're not the only person at Claremont with powers or the only one that changes, um, form. Not by a long shot."

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne sank down onto her heels, as she closed her eyes, as she was breathing heavy.  When Hannah drew in close, and she could hear the grumbling of Corinne's stomach.  "I know... I am fine.  I am fine..."  She pushed herself up to her feet slowly, straightening her legs as she let her hands fall from her face, before she lifted her face and looked at the girl.

 

"Guac soothes many problems.  Just... I need work out my powers... Yeah.  I am, not, like...  Food, then other serious talks.  Yes."

[Thunder King]

Hannah nodded. "Good plan."She smiled. "Uh, well, I can fly us back down, if you'd like. Or make a ladder, or...um, however you'd like to do that." She looked over the building. "I am absolutely starving, myself. I kinda studied through lunch." She was trying to stay calm, trying to stay light, knowing that it would help Corinne the most.

 

She was glad that Corinne understood that her powers weren't inherently evil, some people struggled with that. Hannah struggled with other issues, like how her powers were so shiny and bright, when she herself was not.

[TheAbsurdist]

"I... I would need you to fly us down... I mean... that... isn't an other person... that... I don't know how to works.  When I get... upset or... stuff, I can do more."  She lifted the collar of her jacket a bit, and turned her head to speak into it, "Like a lot more..."  She turned to look to her and she frowned still.

 

"Ten years in ballet and every other kind of dance... I am used to control.  Hah.  This... this is like trying to grab an eel, and it... yeah.  Anyway.  We can talk later, and I'll probably end up with a therapist or something."  She laughed and tried to shift this to somewhere else.  "So let's land, and we'll have some food... and get this worked out."

[Thunder King]

"Sure." Hannah said, concentrating for a moment. She summoned what looked like a disc, roughly ten feet in diameter, with a pair of comfortable looking seats, entirely out of some sort of rainbow energy. The colors shifted constantly in waves, as if it couldn't decide what color it wanted to be. Hannah sat in one of the seats, and pointed Corinne to the other one. "I could pick up a car with this." She said, reassuring. "They're strong." And with that, she gently deposited them on the ground, away from prying eyes, and the platform vanished as quickly as it appeared.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Thunder King

[TheAbsurdist]

"Well, I can... walk down so I am not worried..."  She grinned a little, not showing any trepidation over Hannah's abilities, as she moved to sit on the seat, before Hannah moved them off of the roof and to the ground.  The energy certainly seemed sucked out of Corinne, of course she just expended a lot of energy, so she was ravenous.

 

"God, I am sorry..."  As her stomach made another gurgling rumble.  "I could eat a village... if they don't have pitchforks and torches..."  She glanced to her, and grinned a little, trying to keep it light, as she still felt embarrassed.  She waited for Hannah, and then continued on their way to the restaurant, though without any of the previous skipping and occasional chanting regarding Mexican food items.

[Thunder King]

For Hannah's part, she made no further mention of the incident. "I hope they have good tamales." She said. That was her intended order, tamales, a big plate of them, she was hungry, and now, both of them were. She walked by Corinne, a little worried that she was still upset. She imagined she would be, but, Hannah was not going to bring it up. Let Corinne discuss it at her pace. The walk was nice, she was glad to get out of the school for a bit.

[TheAbsurdist]

It was a normal tacqueria, so fast over fancy.  But it was just what Corinne wanted, nay, she needed at this point in time, as stepped up to the lady at the counter.  "Hello!  Carne asada fries, extra pico and guac, and like four chicken tacos, and a large horchata.  And I got whatever she's having!"  Said as she stepped off to the side, grinning all the while.  She wasn't independently wealthy, by any means, but she had enough cash to pick up their food.  

 

Which looking at what she ordered, it was no surprise, "Oh... wait... can I have Jalepenos on the side?"

 

Immediately looking happier and happier at the prospect of, and then the growing time to receiving, food.

[Thunder King]

Hannah hadn't expected that, but, she took it with grace. She imagined Corinne had already decided to a while ago and didn't want an argument. "Hi, I'd like three tamale, um...some tortillas and salsa, two of those beef tacos, and a large Coke, please. Thank you." The food smelled delicious. She had seen the portions, large enough. Both of them would be full of delicious food with a nice, long walk back to campus to show for it. All in all, averaging out to a good day.

[TheAbsurdist]

Of course Corinne thought nothing about it, and didn't make it an issue.  Really, she felt like she was the one intruding on the setup that Hannah had.  So she tried to over compensate, maybe a little, aware of the clash of styles.  She wolfed her food once she had in, tearing through a mound of Carne Asada fries like it was nothing, and then she was sucking down the rest of her horchata with Hannah probably not even done with the tamales.  She blushed a little bit, as she looked down, fidgeted with a fork.

 

"It... ahm, gets me hungry.  It's all... I... it first happened with the whole thing, I was at the beach when that fish-person thing happened... I... I didn't realize... until my mom was arguing with me, she was upset over my grades... and..."  She frowned and moved to fidget with her drink.

 

"Then I got mad... and it was fuzzy... and somewhere she screamed at me... and like it was all glass.  The kitchen. And sharp and... aimed at her, and I could see myself, but it wasn't me... it didn't look like me...  So... like I can do little stuff, I guess... until I just... give in that, and there is so much more."  She frowned and then shrugged a little bit, and laughed softly,  "It's... like, I am used to control, the whole dancing thing, and then this situation where I don't, and there is more, so much when I just sorta... give in."

[Thunder King]

Hannah was tearing into her tamales, perhaps, not as fast or as aggressively as Corinne, but she was quite hungry. Hannah listened, quietly, and nodded. "Lots of people have trouble getting control. That's half of what it's all about. Education, and control. You're probably not the only person who eats more after using powers either. I'm not a scientist, but energy is energy, and maybe some people burn through it more than others."

 

She could tell Corinne was struggling more than she was even letting on. Hannah had no intention on judging her for it.

[TheAbsurdist]

"Well... I eat a lot in general.  Ha.  Mum says I eat more when I am growing.  I really hope I don't get bigger.."  And then her eyes widened as the horrific realization set in, and she jerked her hands forward to grasp at Hannahs.  "I don't wanna be a kaiju!  Not like that!"

 

It was hard to tell sometimes whether she was being serious or not.  Of course this was Freedom City, so this was not an invalid concern.  She calmed a bit, with a few breaths and she smiled at her brightly.  "I... I understand.  But acceptance is harder, yanno?"