Category: Core Chapter

A New Home: Chapter 2.3 (Michelle)

~ Nerathul ~ Leave a comment

When the students were brought to their house Michelle desperately needed space, after more than ten hours of transit first by plane and then by bus next to Freyja she was all out of spoons.

As people piled into the kitchen to enjoy pizza left for them Michelle quickly explored the house, getting the lay of the land. The first floor had a kitchen, dining room, two living rooms, an exercise room, and a study room. At the back she found a patio door leading to a large wooden deck beyond which was a large garden with a pool.

She went out, badly needing to stretch her legs and wings. 

A few people joined her, a pair of young boys sitting on the deck and throwing sticks to a small dog, while a pair of older students had somehow clambered onto the roof and were smoking. 

Michelle looked at them. There wasn’t a door she could see, how had they gotten there? Maybe they could fly. 

Fly… Michelle had never gotten to fly, in all the confusion and danger, it had fallen to the wayside. She looked up at the sky, the sun was slowly setting over America, she could do it. How hard could flying be?

She stretched her wings out, letting them unfold completely, each over two-meters in length. 

She went running, picking up speed, letting her wings beat at first slowly, but then faster, when she felt ready she leaped! 

…and landed face first into the dirt.  

“Are you okay?” Michelle blinked, a pudgy white teen with short purple hair had come to her side, kneeling down. 

“Ja,” Michelle got up, dusting herself off. Why didn’t it work? 

“I’m Avery,” they spoke with a soft Canadian accent, “Are you german? Your thoughts are in— Sorry, I can’t help but overhear them…” They winced visibly.

“You can read minds?” Michelle asked. “That’s so cool!”

They blinked. “You’re not angry?”

“Why would I be?” It was Michelle’s turn to be confused it seemed.

“People usually get mad,” Avery said.

“But you can’t help it?”

Avery shrugged, “Doesn’t matter to them.”

“That’s dumb.”

Avery giggled, “Thanks, I guess. You didn’t tell me your name.”

“Michelle Weiss.”

“Are you German then?”

“Ja, from Munich.”

“I’m from Edmonton, Canada.”

 Michelle smiled, “I’ve heard Canadians are very nice,” she joked.

“Psychic’s confession? We’re polite, we can be real dicks inside, we just prefer to smile and apologize.”

“Noted.”

“So, what were you doing?”

“Trying to fly, I just got my wings.”

“Oh, that is so cool,” Avery looked to the sky, “Flying must be nice.”

“Reading minds would be nice, I wouldn’t read people wrong again, know what they mean when they say things.” 

Avery laughed, “Can I ask something?”

“Of course,”

“Well, it’s direct, but are you autistic?”

Michelle blinked, she hadn’t expected the question, or being clocked so quickly. She nodded. 

“It’s just, your thoughts, they’re different from other people,”

“Different?”

“They’re windows, we’re Linux?”

“We’re?”

“I never met another autistic person before,” Avery confessed, “Well outside of those awful therapies I had to attend as a kid…”

“I’m sorry,” Michelle answered. 

Avery ran a finger in the dirt, tracing circles, “I should go back inside,” they mumbled, “But I’ll see you around?”

“Of course,” Michelle smiled.

Avery got up and Michelle watched them leave. They were strange but friendly, there was a certain loneliness in them that Michelle recognized well… 

“Good luck flying!” Avery said from the door.

Michelle waved them goodnight and turned back to the yard. Flying… 

Michelle took a deep breath. If at first she didn’t succeed, she had to try again. 

She took another running start, beat her wings… And fell down again. She tried again, and again, the only thing improving was her landings. 

What was she missing? Why couldn’t she fly? She kicked a rock in frustration, it was dumb, Valkyra had made it seem so easy. 

She contemplated giving up, but then the people on the roof shouted; “You can do it, pretty angel!” The boy said, “Fly little bird!” the other answered. 

Her mom’s voice came to her. “Giving up is not an option, if it doesn’t work, try something different.”

She tried a different strategy; she climbed one of the yard’s trees, a big and mighty oak, stood on top of a large branch and jumped off, her wings beating furiously. 

Once more she crashed on the ground. 

A few weeks ago a fall like that could’ve hurt, but now she was a Valkyrie she barely felt it. 

“Gottverdammt!” She screamed. 

It was then she noticed Freyja was standing there. 

“The fuck are you doing?” Freyja asked in their native German.

“I’m trying to Fly, why isn’t it working?”

She laughed, “Michelle, you’re six-foot three and two-hundred pounds of muscles, these tiny wings can’t lift you off the ground with just muscle movement.”

“But Mom—”

“You don’t get to call her mom,” Freyja snapped.

“Valkyra could fly.”

“Yes, that’s because she was trained,” Freyja came behind her, “You need to use the wing’s magic to carry you.”

“Magic… But how?”

Freyja sighed, “Your wings are more than just bones, muscles and feather, they are a physical link to all of the Nine Worlds,” she said, “Njord blessed us with the winds of the nine worlds, close your eyes.”

She did. Freyja went behind her and gently unfolded her wings, “Feel the worlds in your mind; the eternal frost of Niflheim, the raging fires of Muspelheim, feel how the wings connect to your body, your spine is Yggdrasil, the world tree.” She spoke softly, “Climb out of the depths…”

Michelle could feel a buzzing pass through her, she could feel something above, no beyond. 

“Good, you can feel it, that is magic, the power of another reality. Now, bring it to bear, let it out of your body and into the world. Let the winds of Njord carry you into the air, visualize it.”

Michelle did as she was asked, and great powerful winds appeared, filling her wings. 

“Now, fly.”

Michelle beat her wings and she took to the sky, light as a feather, a great wind carrying her upward. “I did it!”

“Congrats,” Freyja said in English without a hint of enthusiasm. “Alright, come down now.”

But Michelle had other plans, she beat her wings and flew around the yard, letting the winds carry her like a kite. She felt weightless, like floating in the ocean but lighter even. Flying was the best thing!  

The people on the rooftop applauded and whooped. 

“Knew you could do it!” They said cheering. 

She grinned and waved at them. 

All she had to do now was land. It couldn’t be that hard, right? She aimed at the ground and beat her wings. She tried to right herself but her feet skid on the ground, she lost balance and slipped, falling down on her belly again.

“We’ll practice landings.” Freyja sighed. “Alright, you’ve had your fun.”

Michelle got back on her feet, still grinning from ear to ear. “I flew!”

“You did, now let’s get in and unpack, jet lag is kicking my ass and I don’t want you barging in late because we have to share a room.”

Michelle didn’t argue, she went in and grabbed some cold leftover pizza from the kitchen and her baggage, going upstairs to find their shared dorm room.

A New Home: Chapter 2.2 (Riley)

~ Nerathul ~ Leave a comment

Riley was the first of their class to make it onto the house, hurrying inside with quick bouncy strides and a big smile on their face. They found their way into the kitchen where a dozen boxes of pizzas of various kinds were stacked, to which Riley added their cookie collection. 

“My cookies!” Teddy complained. 

“There’s enough for everyone!” Riley said, patting their friend’s head and feeding him his favorite, slightly burned snickerdoodles.

A white kid with long champagne blonde hair in a braid followed soon after, his face covered in colorful band-aids. “We got pizza,” he says “Oh, man that is beyond cool!”

Riley grinned at him and pointed to the Tupperware full of snickerdoodles they just brought out at him, “Wanna cookie? I baked them myself yesterday!”

“Ab-so-lu-tly!” Axel answered with a grin, “I’m Axel! Strongest hero you’ll ever meet.”

Riley giggled, “I’m Riley! It’s nice to meet you!”

A tall Indian boy with coppery-skin, dark hair came in next. His face bore makeup; black mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick. He was wearing a dog collar and a mesh shirt under a black tee.

“Did I hear cookies? Nice.” He said, “I’m Ethan…” then his eyes fell onto Teddy. “You have a weird naked monkey-cat thing on your shoulder, is that normal?”

Riley’s eyes went wide and they leaned forward excitedly. If they weren’t still holding the snickerdoodles they might have grabbed Ethan’s hands, “You can see Teddy?!”

Teddy hissed at Ethan, “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“What monkey?” Axel said looking back at the two, unable to see Teddy. “Your eyes okay?”

“There’s an imp on the kid’s shoulder, it’s invisible to most people,” said a black girl coming in, she had Amazonian stature, over six feet in height, but what drew Riley’s eye was the pregnant swelling of her belly.

“Ugh, imagine wasting your time making a pact with an imp of all things,” Another voice said, that of a posh Englishman. Riley looked around for it, and saw a weird thing in the reflection of the stainless steel fridge;  a cartoonishly deformed and slender English gentleman with a hat and bugs crawling along his skin.

“What do you have against imps, huh!?” Teddy hissed. Riley picked him up off their shoulder and hold him in their arms. 

“Shut up Jack,” Ethan muttered under his breath. So the bug-man was definitely with him.

Teddy shouted a string of insults at Jack, but Riley ignored the demons’ fighting, turning their back to Jack’s reflection so that Teddy was blocked from his view.

“Please ignore Jack,” Ethan asked.

“I am soooo confused,” Axel says.

The pregnant girl leaned against the counter, she looked rather pale and sweaty “Please tell me there’s some sprite in the fridge before I puke.” 

“If there’s not I got some!” Riley offered, pulling a sprite out of hell.”I’ve only ever met one other person who could see Teddy and now two in one day!”

The girl took it, “It’s piss warm.”

Riley pouted, took the Sprite back and it back through the portal, “well excuse hell for being hot.”

Next to come in was a Tzari, a race of tall aliens that are sometimes described as ‘space orcs’. Riley had never seen one so close. He wore human clothing; cargo pants and a t-shirt. He went to the fridge and took out soda.

“You wanted a drink of Sprites?” He said.

She gives him a look, “What a tusky gentleman, what’s your name handsome?”

“I am Danalar, son of Neetarin of Clan Vinek,” He offers a deep bow.

“Polite, helpful, and handsome? I like that.” the girl said, grinning and looking the Tzari up and down with hungry eyes. “I’m Freyja.”

“It is quite the honor to meet you, miss Freyja.” Danalar smiled.

“Okay, I am so uber-mega confused now.” Axel said, shaking his head, “We’ve got invisible monkeys, an alien, a pregnant chick, and inter-dimensional cookies…” Riley was about to try to comfort him when his expression changed to a grin. “This year is gonna be so AWESOME!”

A bipedal white wolf turned their head inside the kitchen, wearing a pretty flowered sundress. “What’s that about dimensional cookies?- Oo peanut butter!”  She took a peanut butter cookie and throws it into her mouth whole.

“Hell sprites and cookies,” Axel took a snickerdoodle, “Well tell the demon bakers they’re f-n good!” he said before looking at the newcomer “And now we have furries!” Axel said, “Even better!”

“Well I’m the demon baker I guess. I tried to get Teddy to help me once but he ruined that batch… way too much salt… and now he won’t try again.” 

“You got yelled at! I’m not going to be the reason you get fucking yelled at!” Teddy said, somewhat defensively. Riley gave him a loving squeeze and he scrambled back out of their arms to perch on their shoulders once more.

“You made these?” Kayla asked, taking another peanut butter cookie, “pretty good but what’s this about demons?”

“I got a demon on my shoulder. Some people can see it, some can’t.” Riley answers with a shrug. 

“This place is nuts,” Axel says, “Love it, speaking of nuts I’m allergic. Nuts are the only thing that can defeat the mighty Blademaster.” Riley felt a thrill of panic at the word ‘allergic’ and mentally ran through what they saw Axel eat.

“Blademaster?” Ethan says.

“Don’t you have a cape name?” Axel asks back.

“No?” is all Ethan answered to Axel’s question. “Am I supposed to?”

“Every hero needs a name, you haven’t thought about it at all?” Axel asked. 

“This wasn’t exactly planned,” Ethan answered.

Riley tapped on Axel’s shoulder, getting his attention again. “Well steer clear of those, those, those, those AND those. The rest should be nut-free.” Riley pointed at a few separate containers, relieved that they knew Axel hadn’t already tried to eat one.

Axel looked at the snickerdoodles, eyes narrowing. “I was playing Russian cookie roulette here, wasn’t I?” He covered his face with his palm, Riley gently patted his shoulder.

“Yes… you really shouldn’t eat random baked goods. If I wasn’t concerned about cross-contamination when making them then you’d probably be having a reaction.”

“Oh, boys playing heroes,” Freya said mockingly. 

Kayla cocked her head to the side while looking at Freya, “Ain’t ‘playing heroes’ what we’re here for?”

“Do any of you have any training?” Freya asks. 

“I do, I’ve been training for years!” Axel said. 

“Real training.” She corrects, “With an actual teacher, learning how to fight.”

Axel went quiet. 

“I trained with Tohu-wa-Bohu for a bit!” Riley said cheerfully. Tohu-wa-Bohu was one of the Legion bigshots, just like Riley he could connect to hell! 

“I am a trained Armored, all Tzari are trained for battle,” Danalar said, as he took some cheese pizza. 

A pretty person in a pastel pink lolita style dress with a cupcake pattern walked in. Despite their Asian features, their hair was blonde with no dark roots and coiled in beautiful, doll-like ringlets.

“Yo,” Axel says to the newcomer. “There’s pizza and magic demon cookies.”

“Hi! I’m Angelo!” they smile at Axel, clocking him rather quickly as the most normal in the room.

“Want a cookie? I made them myself?” Riley offered.

“Sure.” Angelo looked carefully through the Tupperware and grabbed a sugar cookie. Their gaze went to the pizza with a frown, “so greasy…” he muttered, shaking his head.

“Do they have coffee in this place?” Danalar asked, looking around and finding instant coffee. He plugged in an electric kettle.

 “Sir, would indulging in coffee be wise at this time?” The staff on Danalar’s back had come to life and was now speaking.

“Talking stick!” Axel said, “That’s new.”

“Am I known for my wisdom, Bardiche?” Danalar answered by putting Bardiche off his shoulder and leaning it against the kitchen counter.

“My data on this subject is insufficient to come to a conclusion.”

“Can I touch you, Mr. Bardiche stick?” Axel asks. 

“This is a strange request, sir.” The AI answered.

“Oooo alien tech.” Kayla also came over to Danalar. Poking Bardiche without asking for permission. “Sweeeeet.”

“Hey! I asked first,” Axel pouted.

“Sir, please do not touch me without permission,” Bardiche says. “Sir, please assist me with these rogues.” 

“I’m not a sir.” Kayla pouted.

“Bardiche does not understand the difference between males and females,” Danalar explains, “He is very young,”

“What is the individual addressed as if not a Sir?” Bardiche asked

“A Miss I guess?” Kayla’s tail wagged with excitement as she spoke with Bardiche

“I think that’s a lady,” Axel whispered to Bardiche.

“Analyzing data,” Bardiche declared. “Honorifics of Madam, Lady, Miss, Mrs and have been found. Please input appropriate honorifics?”

“Miss works for me!” Kayla answers cheerfully

Angelo leaned in towards Ethan and asked, “This is… weird right?”

Ethan looked at Angelo. “I mean I have an evil bug demon living in my head, I don’t know what’s weird anymore.”

“Bug demon?” Angelo shivered in horror, “sounds terrible. I hate bugs”

“Same, unfortunately,” Ethan said, “I’m Ethan,” he offered a hand to shake.

Angelo shook his hand, “Angelo!”

Everyone took the chance to re-introduce themselves to those who hadn’t yet caught their name.

Axel’s attention is drawn away from Bardiche. “Okay, names are cool and all, but have y’all picked your cape names?”

“You try to find something cool themed around bugs and disease.” Ethan joked.

“I’m not here to be a superhero, I’m just the hanger-on,” Freya said.

“Hanger-on to what?” Riley asked

“I’m sure you’ve seen my sister, can’t miss the wings,” Freya says, “No idea where she went.”

“That is the worst attitude, come on!” Axel said, “You have got to have something to show.”

“I can punch your fucking face,” Freya answered, “Break your nose.” 

“See, that’s a start,” Axel grins, “you can surely try.”

 “Hey, no violence guys!” Riley scolded, getting another round of pizza. They had already had too much, but they couldn’t stop. Hopefully, everyone would get all the pizza they wanted.

“Hey, I wouldn’t touch a pregnant chick that’s just unheroic,” Axel defended himself, “She is welcome to try to punch me.”

“Well right now I’m more likely to throw up on you,” Freya said, only half-joking. 

Danalar finished making his coffee. “Well, then this is quite a strange group. Would anyone like some coffee?”

“Wait,” Ethan says, “Isn’t coffee a narcotic for Tzari?”

“Indeed it is,” Danalar says, “What of it?”

“Lucky bastard,” Freya joked, “wish I could have a drink.” Riley looked down at her pregnant belly when she said that.

“Drinking and drugs the night before the first day of school? I like partying but even that seems too much for me.” Kayla said.

“You’re pregnant, you can’t drink!” Axel says. 

“Mind your own fucking business kid.” Freya snapped. She gets up. “I better find Michelle and lie down.” 

Danalar chugged his cup of coffee and grabbed Bardiche. “I must attend to certain personal businesses as well.”

“Guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow then?” Kayla said, more interested in getting more pizza now.

“Unless I get kidnapped, you never know,” Freya says.

“So boring,” Axel said, turning to the people remaining, “So you got bug powers, what do y’all have?”

“Well, you already saw the portals! That’s the main thing I can do.” Riley answered, wiping pizza grease off their lips with the back of their hand.

“I’m a hypertech! And I gave myself this beautiful body, amazing right?” Kayla flexed, her ears wiggling and tail wagging.

“So you are a total furry?” Axel raised his eyebrows at  Kayla.

“Yep! A furry through and through!” Kayla answered, pride in her voice. 

“And you?” He asked Angelo.

“Wind powers.” Angelo sends a breeze Axel’s way, tousling his hair.

 “Oooh, nice breeze.Thanks, girl.”

“I’m a boy.” Angelo corrected patiently, moving aside his white sweater to show a little heart-shaped pin with he/him written on it in cursive.

“Oh, well thanks, dude?”

“That’s an interesting choice of outfit,” Ethan says to Angelo. “Do you always dress like this?”

Angelo smiles, “Yeah pretty much. I have a few more classic lolita style dresses, some Ouji style outfits, and some casual lazy outfits that are more masc.”

Axel looked back at Kayla. “Okay, for curiosity’s sake on a scale of 1-10 how soft is that fur?”

“20. I made a special shampoo formula to make sure it’s the softest it can be. You can touch it.” Kayla offered an arm.

Axel took the offer. “Ah, man, I want a blanket made of that.”

Kayla scratched her throat with a claw as she thought about it, “I might be able to engineer that.”

While the others talked, Riley finished off their sixth piece of pizza while Teddy began to look concerned.

“Awesome,” Axel grinned. “Oh, I just realized I haven’t shown off my power yet!”

Axel put out his arms and a selection of swords, polearms, axes appeared out of thin air floating above the ground. “Ta-da!” He twirled a finger and the weapons started to slowly spin.

“Weapons? Doesn’t fighting with them get kinda bloody?” Riley asked with a frown.

Axel made a motion with his arms and the swords were replaced with batons and other non-cutting weapons. “I’m very versatile.”

Riley still frowned with their brow furrowed, “I guess that’s better?”

“Can you summon any kind of weapon?” Kayla asked, touching one of the weapons with a finger.

“Any I’ve touched,” Axel said, “But I’ve been working on expanding my arsenal.” he waved his hand off and the weapons disappeared.

“Fascinating,” Kayla said.

Riley throws their now empty plate away in the trash can and yawns, their stomach aching,”I need to go find my room and unpack a bit. See you guys tomorrow!” 

Riley hopped out of the room, only to catch Axel’s words. 

“See you later cookie-girl-boy-person?” He said, “I better pack my stuff and get my jogging done.” 

“Person! And it’s Riley.” Riley pokes their head back in to say

“Righto!” Axel says, making finger guns, “to the bedrooms!”

Ethan got up following Riley, “Well it was nice.” He grabs his bag, “better go see who my roomie is.” 

“That Axel kid is annoying, we should curse him with disease,” Jack said, making Riley frown again.

“We are not doing that.” Ethan sighed. “I hope there’s some place far away from mirrors,”

Angelo finished the single sugar cookie he took and headed out as well, “see you tomorrow!”

While the others checked their room numbers and grabbed their bags left at the bottom of the staircase, Riley slipped off to a bathroom. “Riley…” Teddy started to say something but Riley didn’t stop to listen, as they stuck a finger down their throat.

A New Home: Chapter 2.1 (Avery)

~ Nerathul ~ 1 Comment

As Avery was listening to the Raven’s welcome speech they felt a presence in their mind. “Hello?” They thought, “Is someone there?” 

A perky and cheerful male voice answered,  “A friend! You’re only the second person to talk directly to me with their inner voice!”

“Are you psychic too?” Avery asked, “I’ve never met another psychic!”

“Yes! I’m 1-Z but you can call me Onez!” His voice exploded with excitement.

“Uh, hi? I’m Avery,” They answered looking around trying to find him, “Who are you? I mean in the crowd?”

Following the connection,  Avery’s eyes ended up on a strange-looking kid with giant golden wings who was looking directly at them. The kid waved a weird talon-like hand, “I’m waving do you see me?!”

“I think… are you a… bird?” They asked, their words a little awkward, not wanting to offend.

“I’m like a griffin!” Onez tried to worm his way through the crowd towards Avery but knocked a few people with his wings, making them wince.

Avery waved at him, “Uh, hi?” they said out loud.

“Hi!” He responded out loud, finally getting to them as people who had been hit by the wings were glaring at him, he turned to the nearest one and sheepishly said, “sorry.”

“Are you alright?”

Onez tilted his head and looked at Avery quizzically, in his head he said “why wouldn’t I be?”

“You kind of bumped into a few people,” Avery says, trying not to stare at the griffin boy, they’d never seen a paramorph in person before, they didn’t want to be rude.

“Well it’s crowded and I got big wings. It’s hard not to bump into some people!”

Avery snickered, “I can imagine… I’m Avery… I said that already, didn’t I?”

“And I’m Onez and I said that already too.” Onez smiled brightly and offered his bird-foot-hand thing for a shake.

Avery took it, “Are you a paramorph?”

“Not exactly… I was kinda made like this.”

“Oh…” Avery frowned, Made? Not born, not transformed but made? “That doesn’t seem good.”

Onez just looks at them a little confused.

“It’s nothing,” Avery said

Onez smiled again

“So… are you excited to be here?” Avery asked. 

“Yes! I wanna make friends with all sorts of people and do all sorts of things!”

Avery smirked, “Kind of the same, my dad… he never really let me do things, meet people…”

Onez lion tail swished, “I was only ever let out for missions… still managed to make a friend! Sniper! but…” Onez trailed off and his prior enthusiasm disappeared, Avery could feel… shame? Self-hatred? 

“Missions?” Avery asked, immediately worried.

“Yeah,” Onez answered quietly

“Onez… Did you work for bad people?” Avery asked.

Onez nodded, “I think so? That’s what people tell me… and they did make me… hurt Sniper so… probably bad… very bad.” A sense of panic filled Onez, which then filtered into Avery, he was afraid of judgment…

“I’m sorry…” Avery said, tearing up, they weren’t sure if it was theirs or Onez’s emotions they were feeling, but they were strong. “Can I give you a hug?”

Onez nodded.

Avery gave him a hug, and for a moment a powerful mental loop occurred, a painful burst of feedback like when a microphone held to a speaker shook them both, but Avery held him tightly until it passed.

“You don’t have to do any of that anymore,” Avery thought, or was it Onez? Physical contact made it hard to tell who is who anymore, thoughts becoming tangled into one.

Onez wrapped both arms and wings around Avery, careful to not scratch them with his talons, “I don’t like hurting people,” was Onez’s quiet mental response

“Nobody does, at least not good people and I can feel you’re good people Onez.”

Onez’s —and by extension Avery’s— thoughts became happy again, warm and fuzzy and he squeezed Avery tighter.

“He’s really soft!” Avery thought, surprised at the feeling of feathers brushing against their skin. 

Onez’s ruffled his wings a little happily, “I take good care of my wings!” He telepathically answered quite proudly 

“I can see that,” Avery said, laughing, “You’re kind of strange, but I guess so am I.”

The Raven started calling up people by name, and students were assigned to one of five classes.

“Oh, darn it, hope we’re in the same class?” 

“Yeah me too!”

When the teacher called Avery to class one, they went along turning to Onez, “See you soon?”

“Yeah! Even if we are in different classes I’ll come find you some time!”

“Alright!” Avery waved goodbye, leaving with a big smile on their face.

As Onez was called to class four Avery’s heart sank a little, another name soon came up: Sorensen Thor, Avery’s other friend! At least these two were together?

So Avery sent a message to Onez. “I’m sad we aren’t together, but you’re with another friend of mine!” they try to send a picture of Thor, “He’s really nice, tell him Avery says hi? Oh and ignore Bastard, he’s a bastard.”

“I will! So… What’s a bastard?”

“You’ll regrettably see.” They said before shifting their focus, “Thor?” Avery tried to communicate, “Can you hear me?” 

“Whoa, where even are you?” Bastard’s voice came through as well, “The freak is back! Where is the freak?!”

“Shut up Bastard,” Avery answered, annoyed to hear it again, “About twenty meters behind you?”

“Still don’t see you… too many people…”

“It’s okay, so you see the big bird-griffin person?” Avery asks

“It’s kinda hard to miss them.”

“Well, his name is Onez and he’s really sweet, can you try to watch over him for me?”

“Sure thing!” Thor answered, bringing a smile to Avery’s face. 

“Great another freak and this one is such a garish yellow color.” Bastard whined.

“Where the fuck did you even learn the word garish?” 

Avery tried to focus and sent Thor the sensation of a hug. “Psychic hugs!”

Thor’s thoughts got a tad flustered for a sec. Ragnarok made a retching nose in their head.

Thor’s thoughts devolved into a petty argument with his resident Bastard, and Avery cut off contact, a headache beginning to form once more. 

Avery giggles, drawing attention for a second. So maybe they weren’t in the same class as them, but Avery had made not one but two friends! Maybe they’d make more soon in their own class?

Previous

Chapter 2.0: A New Home

~ Nerathul ~ 2 Comments

Just shy of a hundred students assembled at the gates, a group of porters came and claimed everyone’s baggage. Most had come by bus, but a handful had come on their own or accompanied by parents. 

As students from the parole bus stepped off, under the glares of regular students, a security guard unlocked their collars. 

The gate of Ravenhold, an elaborate wrought ironwork with the academy’s logo, swung open and a man came out in full costume; it was the Raven himself, dressed in his dark armor and cape, his face hidden behind a raven mask. 

Whispers coursed through the crowd, for many it was their first time seeing a famous superhero in the flesh. 

“Students, if I may have your attention” He spoke, his voice naturally booming, and quickly the voices quieted. “Let me welcome you to Ravenhold academy. I know you’ve come from far and wide to be here and the journey’s been long and tiring so I won’t hold you for long.”

He came forward and paced before the mass of assembled new students, like a drill sergeant inspecting the troops.

“Each of you has been selected by the Legion; because we think that you’re worthy, that you have the heart to be a hero, because you want to make the world a better place or because you needed a second chance to become better. Whatever the reason, Ravenhold welcomes you. Over the next four years, we’ll make heroes out of you, it’ll be hard, it’ll be dangerous, but I know you will persevere.”

A half dozen other men came forward and one of them handed a tablet to the Raven. “When I call your name, you will go to your assigned guide.”

The Raven began listing off names from a list and those called joined their respective groups, divided into five classes of students, each sixteen pupils big. 

“Please follow your guides, they will show you around.”

And so they did, passing through the gates into the academy ground. At the heart of it was the administration and classroom building, a large multi-storied brick building, to its right was the gymnasium and training center, and to its left was the recreation center. They passed between two buildings and toward the back of the grounds, a large manicured park was behind the classroom building and to its sides was the dorms building. 

At the heart of the park was a large memorial, dedicated to those students and graduates who had made the greatest sacrifices.

And soon enough the students found themselves led to their dorms.

“Classes start tomorrow at nine, rest up and enjoy tonight, you’ll find your schedules, uniforms, and welcome package in your dorms.” Their guide said.

And so the groups broke up, each heading to their new home.

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Arrival: Chapter 1.17 (Kiyoshi)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

Kiyoshi rode in the back of the most unheroic looking hatchback Audi driven by the Raven himself, Ian Coleman. On the backseat beside him was the Raven’s adopted daughter Charlie, glaring daggers into the back of Kiyoshi’s head. Kiyoshi kept his eyes firmly pointed out the window for the 15 minute car ride from the Raven’s home to Ravenhold Academy, the school for heroes. Kiyoshi could almost hear Aaron’s excited voice in his head… and the desolate sadness in his voice that always followed. 

The Raven pulled through a gate into an empty parking lot and turned off the car, “Here we are kids, Ravenhold!”

“I’ve been here many, many times dad.” Charlie said, bored.

Kiyoshi froze, his black cat’s tail in his hands as he wringed it nervously. He stared out the front windshield of the car, straight up at the dozen or so large red brick buildings that made up the Ravenhold Academy campus, larger and more grand than anything Kiyoshi had a right to be a part of. He wanted to flee, he itched to turn invisible to teleport away but the more he desired to do so the more his brain filled with the static of the power suppressing collar.

Raven and Charlie both got out of the car, going for the trunk to get their bags. With the car doors left open, the Raven’s voice traveled to Kiyoshi,  “Now, Kiyoshi, I got you the basics of what you’d need; a few uniforms shirts and pants, a few casual outfits, underwear, pajamas, toothbrush, et cetera,” Ian said, “Also what you were taken into custody with.”

Woodenly, Kiyoshi stepped out of the car and took the bag offered to him. “Sorry.” He mutters. The bag is heavy in his arms, way too much to give him for free, he’s done nothing to earn it, he needs to do something to earn it.

“No need to apologize,” The Raven gave him a warm smile, Ian wasn’t what one expected of a hero, he wasn’t buff but had a slender and fit build like an acrobat, he was quite tall, but he had a soft face with short hair and a patchy attempt at a beard. Worse, he wore a sweater and jeans, hiding his physique. 

“I haven’t had the chance to see the class breakup, but maybe you two will be in the same class.”

Kiyoshi hugged the duffle bag in his arms tighter, looking utterly terrified of that possibility. He cast another glance up at the closest Ravenhold Academy building and then immediately looked back down at his bare, cat-like feet. He could still feel Charlie’s glare on him.

The Raven paused, “Try to get along?”

“He’s the one who was stealing from us,” Charlie shot back, annoyed.

“Just things, we have plenty of things, we don’t need them.”

Kiyoshi felt his ears flatten a bit and his shoulders raise, “sorry.” He really didn’t earn this bag in his arms.

“It’s fine,” the Raven took a step closer, “Can you raise your head so I can take that collar off?”

As he waits for Kiyoshi to raise his chin, he asks his daughter, “Do you remember how I became the first Magpie?”

“I’ve heard the story a hundred times.” Though Kiyoshi wasn’t looking at her, he could hear her rolling her eyes. He raised his chin up to give Raven access to his collar. 

“Well, here it is again; I stole from the Raven, lifted his wallet in fact, and he took me under his wing. Stealing doesn’t make someone a bad person.” He explained, reaching for the collar and unlocking it.

“You weren’t his guest.” Charlie answered and Kiyoshi could still feel her heavy, heavy glare. 

Once the collar was off and Kiyoshi’s head cleared of the white noise, he took the opportunity to flee from that glare, turning invisible and almost teleporting away. This wasn’t where he belonged, he really shouldn’t be here. 

“Now, Kiyoshi,” Raven’s voice cuts through Kiyoshi’s thoughts, “If you run off you know this chance will pass by, just wait here with Charlie until the other students arrive, give Ravenhold a chance, give us a chance..”

“Does he deserve it?” Charlie asked, sulking a bit.

“Everyone deserves a second chance, sweetheart.”

Kiyoshi took a deep, steadying breath, thought of the way Aaron looked when he said he would join Ravenhold Academy, and let himself become visible. He hadn’t yet moved an inch.

Like the broken voice box of a toy that has only one line he repeated, “sorry.”

Raven smiled, “Good boy, I need to get in costume for the welcoming speech. It is technically my academy, but I’ll be back soon.”

Charlie walked slowly over to a bench overlooking the gates and sat down. 

Kiyoshi felt his chest and cheeks warm and his lips curl up into a smile at being called, ‘good boy’

After standing for a bit, watching the Raven leave, he jolted out of it, realizing Charlie had walked away. He teleported to her side when he spotted her at the bench.

Charlie wasn’t all that much physically, slightly under five feet tall, a young latina girl with tanned skin, she wore masculine clothing and her dark brown hair was only two inches long or so, but Kiyoshi had seen she packed a lot of fury and strength in such a small body… 

Charlie had taken out some cookies from her backpack, and was eating them absently. When Kiyoshi teleported to her side, her arm moved towards him and he flinched, expecting a hit. When he saw she was just holding out the pack of cookies to him, he gingerly took one. “Sor- thank you.”

Charlie sighed, “Stop apologizing,”

Kiyoshi lowered the cookie he was about to bring to his mouth, “sorry.”

Charlie facepalmed with an audible sound.

“I’m sorry!” Kiyoshi panicked, his hands hovering near Charlie’s face wanting to see if she had hurt herself but scared to touch her with his dirty hands.

“Relax,” She sighed again, “and don’t say sorry.”

Kiyoshi nodded uncertainly and carefully said, “okay.”

“Relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw,” She said, her tone less harsh than usual.

Forcing himself to physically relax was something Kiyoshi was used to, it made things… easier.

“Alright, now breathe in through the nose, but using your belly not your shoulder to draw air in,” Charlie said, “slow and deep, hold it three seconds, then let it out.”

Kiyoshi followed her instructions, breathing along with her. Instructions were easy, there was a clear right and wrong way to do things.

Charlie smiled at him for the first time, “There you go,” she pulled two cans of Dr. Pepper out of her backpack, opening one and handing Kiyoshi the other. 

Kiyoshi took it but didn’t open it, just holding the lukewarm soda in his hands

“You remind me of when I was young,” Charlie mumbled, “Afraid of everything.” 

“There are a lot of things to be afraid of.” Kiyoshi muttered his first full sentence of the day, as he rubbed his thumb along the edge of the can. 

“Then you have to become stronger,” Charlie stated, “So you don’t have to fear them.” 

I want to be a hero but I can do nothing but hurt people. Kiyoshi thought of Aaron’s words, of what he had to prove to him and nodded resolutely.

A few buses started to pull in through the gates, “About time,” Charlie chugged the rest of her drink and tossed it in a garbage bin.

Kiyoshi tucked the unopened can into his bag and zipped it back up.

“Alright, just join the group like we’re meant to be there,” Charlie said, “Dad will do his little speech and then they’ll call classes, so don’t panic.” 

As people poured out of the buses, Charlie melded into the crowd and Kiyoshi followed along behind her, holding on tightly to his resolution.

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Arrival: Chapter 1.16 (Gabriel)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

Gabriel hated cars. He had to sit too far forward with his tail bent at an awkward angle because the base was too thick. And the person who was always driving the cars Gabriel was in didn’t help.

Hatred was a feeling that was very new to Gabriel. Papa never gave him the option of hating anything. But now he was separated from Papa and it was all the fault of that woman and her friends.

That woman opened her mouth and spoke up, “We’re almost there, Gabriel.” Gabriel looked up from staring down at his tail that was laying across his pale pink thighs and his white floral skirt. He glanced at Dana behind the wheel, who quickly turned her head back to the road when Gabriel looked up. Then he looked out the window at the huge and wide open gates and the dozens of red brick buildings beyond them.

Dana drove in through the gates just as various buses pulled out. She parked in one empty spot amongst many and glanced at her watch, “Shit. We’re a bit late.” She opened the car door and looked back at Gabriel, one foot out of the door, “Wait here for a second, okay?”

Gabriel didn’t respond. He stopped responding to her at all when he learned she was keeping him away from Papa. Dana got out of the car and walked off. Once she was gone, Gabriel opened the door and climbed out, moving his tail to work out the stiffness. He thought of walking off at that moment but he had no idea how far this “Ravenhold Academy” was from his home. 

Dana returned a few minutes later, her long, wavy brown hair now pulled up in a bun and some papers in her hands. “We missed the opening speech but I got your information, I can help you get to your dorm.” She popped open the trunk, setting Gabriel’s suitcase down on the ground and slinging his other bag over her shoulder. “Follow me.” She started for one of the buildings past the main one, occasionally looking down at the paper or glancing back to make sure Gabriel was still there.

And Gabriel followed her, his pink axolotl tail dragging along the grass as the two of them cut through campus. Dana finally stopped. She pointed at a building that a few teens were filtering into. It was two stories tall with five numbered doors, there were clear seams in the walls between the large numbered section, each section looked as big as his home with Papa. “Those are the 1st year dorms. You’re in class 4 so go in door 4, okay?”  She set his bags down in front of him.

She took a step towards him and Gabriel backed away. She sighed, her eyebrows knitting together. “I just want to take your collar off.”

With a stubborn pout to his lip, Gabriel stepped forward and lifted his chin to let her remove his power suppressing collar. The second it left his skin the annoying buzzing in his head ceased and he unconsciously untensed.

“Also, here,” Dana reached into her pocket and pulled out a cellphone, “my number is in there if you ever need me. But you don’t need to call if you don’t want to,” she said, pressing it into his hand.

“I won’t need you,” Gabriel declared, turning on his heel towards the dorm building. Dana didn’t stop him as he took his bags and marched into the dorm. With her out of his sight completely, his anger started to melt away. Papa would come get him soon so he would just do his best to stay happy until then. 

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Arrival: Chapter 1.15 (Angelo)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

Angelo sat in the backseat of a rented Lamborghini, his back straight and his head held away from the seat to avoid messing up the perfect curls in his blond wig. The skirt of his baby pink and lacy lolita dress was arranged in a slightly inelegant way in order to fit in the car without warping the hoop skirt. In a small travel cage on the seat next to him was his pet chinchilla, Cookie.

The small clutch purse in Angelo’s lap vibrated. Angelo unzipped it and took out one of the very few things that fit in the bag, his phone. He played the voice message from his mother, “Hello my darling boy!” Angelo’s mother’s voice spoke in Italian, “I know you must be on your way to school now! Your father and I wanted to let you know we are very proud of you! Love you so much!” Angelo listened a second time, took a deep breath and put his phone away.

He looked up and out the window in time to watch the wide open Ravenhold Academy gates as the car went through them, amidst the parade of buses and other vehicles entering the gates. The car slowed to a stop.

Angelo took a steadying breath in and got out of the car. He patted and shook his skirt until it fell properly and then ducked his head back into the car to grab his parasol. Once he was sure he looked presentable, he looked up. All around the car were people flooding out of the buses, some of them strange-looking paramorphs, some of them all too normal looking. There were a few people staring at Angelo as well. Angelo raised his hand in a small wave.

The driver came up to Angelo’s side, “What would you like me to do with your bags, sir?”

“Just wait here with them for now. I’ll come back and find you when I know where my room is.”

Angelo started walking, following the stream of students. He paused briefly when he saw a single file line of students exiting a bus and getting power inhibitor collars removed. Angelo forced his expression to remain neutral when looking at those criminals he may have to share not only classroom space, but living space with. He forced his gaze away, pointed his nose in the air, and continued on his way. 

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Arrival: Chapter 1.14 (Kayla)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

As Kayla came to the hangar and saw people mounting on the bus, she gave her ID and was given a ticket, “Bus two,” the guard said. 

“Oh, I have my own ride, that’s fine right?”

“So long as you get there.” The guard shrugged. 

Kayla grinned from ear to ear. She had been practicing that expression a lot so she knew it would look right.

Steve the driver was waiting outside, cleaning her father’s brand new Porsche, removing the empty food wrappers of Kayla’s road snacks, and trying to remove the fur from the seats.

“We can take the Porsche,” she declared. 

“What about the bus, young master?”

“First off it’s miss now, second busses suck, they’re crowded and it probably smells like dirty unwashed teen B.O. in there!” Kayla answered, “Move aside, I’m driving.”

“But—” Kayla snatched the keys from his hands. “Sir—”

“It’s Miss Kayla now,” She said, practically shoving him into the backseat. 

Kayla rode along, going only twenty mph above the speed limit, and dodging around slower cars, the wind gently caressing her fur. In the backseat Steve kept admonishing her for her careless driving, getting more and more annoying by the second. It wasn’t her fault he drove like an old granny heading to church! What’s the point of a stealing, ahem, borrowing ‘daddy’s’ Porsche if she couldn’t even attempt to crash it. 

As she came to a red light, another sleek sports car smoothly slid into place next to hers, a model she didn’t recognize, certainly nothing available on the market. Inside she spotted a young black boy, he looked at her, she looked at him.

He raised his sunglasses and grinned, making his engine roar a few times.

A Challenge! Kayla had always wanted to do a little bit of street racing, the road was practically deserted anyway! She met his challenge, revving the Porsche’s engine.

In the back the driver recognized what was happening; “Please, no, sir—” Too late. The light turned green and both drivers hit the accelerator as hard as it would go. 

Kayla and the other driver raced through the streets, a long straight line of highway for two miles. Although she pushed the Porsche to maximum performance the boy’s beast of a car beat her. He turned into the Ravenhold lane, much to her surprise and she followed.

They parked in front of the gate of the school, in a little roundabout where cars could turn around if they had to.

The boy came out of the car, giving her a good look at him; a tall  light-skinned black boy, with piercing blue eyes, light brown afro-hair puffed to one side and kept shaven close to the scalp on the other. He wore white pants, a tan sweater and over it a colorful African print jacket. 

The boy sat on the hood of his car grinning at his victory. Kalya hopped out of hers, grinning widely and tail wagging. She barely paid attention to Steve as he came out of the back seat and vomited all over the asphalt. 

“I concede! Your car’s real fast. What kinda car is it?” Kayla asked, looking at it carefully. It had a horse logo but it wasn’t a mustang. 

“It’s a Dongola,” the boy said, full of confidence, an Afrikans accent to his words, “All mainstream tech, thorium powered, the pride of African engineering!”

“Ah, one of those Union cars.” Kayla walked around it, looking it over, “Engineering and mechanics aren’t really my sciences but I can appreciate a beauty in those categories when I see one.”

“And it might be cheating,” the boy admitted, “She’s a top-tier experimental racecar and you have a stock model.”

Kayla let out a good natured laugh.”Definitely cheating.” 

The boy popped open the hood where a micro thorium nuclear reactor laid, Kayla had read about them but never seen one live. “And she’s carbon neutral unlike that gas guzzler.” he then bragged. 

“You sound really proud of her. Work on her yourself?”

“I did! It was my first official job for the bureau of consumer engineering.” He smirked.

“Nice! You from the Union then?” The Union was one of those new countries, an “African technological dictatorship” or something along those lines according to her father’s newspaper headlines, politics weren’t Kayla’s favorite subject. “I’m Kayla by the way. Kayla Walker.” Kayla held out a paw for a shake.

He shook it, “Born and proud! I’m Charles, Charles deKlerk”

Kayla’s eyes widened, “deKlerk? like the deKlerk?” Hector deKlerk was the ultimate ruler of the Union. He fashioned himself the Grand Technocrat or something. 

“Yes,” Charles sighed, “that deKlerk, he’s my father. Now you said you are  Kayla Walker, the Kayla of Walker Pharmaceutical? I’ve read some of your work.” He smiled.

Kayla’s tail wagged again, it was rare anyone outside of the pharmaceutical industry had heard about her! “Really? Of course, of all my projects I’m most proud of my new body!”

“It is quite the achievement, so beautiful and masterly crafted.” Charles answered, evidently flirting a tad, not that Kayla minded. “Shame about the ethics and science board throwing a fit over unsanctioned and illegal chimerization, but fuck them, it’s your body.” 

People had had the absolute gall to have Kayla arrested for “breaking laws on genetic experiments!” Her eyes itched from how much she wanted to roll them. Of course she’d been acquitted from all charges eventually, but the ridiculousness of bioconservatives still gnawed at her. “Exactly! Chimerization laws are meant to protect those chimerized against their will! Ethical, consensual chimerization should be treated like any other body modification.” 

“Damn right!” Charles said, “You know if you ever tire of working for corporate profit and with all that red tape I could put in a good word for you back home.”

Kayla laughed as she thought about her father on his knees begging for her to not leave. They both knew damn well it was Kayla that kept the lights on at Walker Pharmaceuticals, “I’ll keep it in mind.”

Charles looked at the empty road, not one bus anywhere in sight. “Looks like we’re way ahead of the others.”

“Guess that’s what we get for racing… unfashionably early.”

Charles took out his keys, “I reckon we have twenty minutes, want to take her out for a ride?”

“Sure.” The driver returns from rinsing his mouth out and approaches Kayla, “shall I take the car to the garage, sir?’

“Ma’am!” Kayla barked harshly.

Charles gave her the keys. “Sir? He must not have gotten the obvious memo,” he took the passenger seat. 

Kayla happily climbed into the driver’s and adjusted the seat.

Charles buckled down carefully. “Just take her easy, she takes some getting used to.”

“Of course, ” Kayla reassured him, from the look on his face he didn’t believe her. Oh well.

“Well, we’ve crash tested it and the nuclear reactor shouldn’t explode on a crash,” Charles joked.

“Wonderful to know!” Kayla said, before flooring it

Kayla took her out of the cul-de-sac and onto the roads, pushing her to her limit and cruising way faster than any other car on the road. A roadside camera caught them, making a big flash. 

“Well, sorry for the ticket, is that going to get on your license?” Kayla said, slowing down. 

“I have diplomatic immunity.” Charles shrugged, “What are they gonna do about it?”

Kayla laughed heartily. After a moment she pulled into the parking lot of a 7/11 to turn around. 

“I’m starving, want to get snacks?” Charles asked.

“Sure!”

They parked and people immediately came and oohed and ahh-ed at the Dongola, almost certainly the best car these people had ever seen. Charles didn’t seem to think twice about leaving the car there unsupervised so Kayla shrugged and followed him inside.

“You’re the expert, what do you recommend?”

“Well you gotta get a slurpee,” Kayla said, then ranking all of the candy bars and snacks from best to worst. 

“Gotcha!” The two went inside and proceeded to raid the shelves of one of everything, then Charles stopped in front of the hot food counter. “yo what the fuck they have fried chicken and pizza? I thought this was like a place where you get snacks and coffee?”

“Yeah, pizza and fried chicken are important American snacks.”

“Big country,” He shrugged, “guess you need that to keep rolling,” He then brought his massive pile of stuff to the cash register. Looking at the man, “They take credit, right?” he asked.

“They should yeah.” Kayla got her own slurpee and snacks.

Charles took out an ultra-elite black pass credit card, the kind reserved exclusively for stupidly rich people like them; a credit card without any spending limit. 

Kayla grabbed her stuff, “I’m guessing you don’t want to eat this stuff in that beautiful car.”

“It’s a self cleaning smart material interior finish,” Charles said, grinning, “but I’m driving.”

Kayla gave him a sloppy, loose salute, “Roger that.”

Charles drove more reasonably, if still fast, back to Ravenhold, the buses had yet to catch up. So the two of them sat in the car, roof open, as Kayla got Charles to try all manners of American snacks; sweet and salty.

“Y’know, America’s pretty chill so far.” Charles mused, a fried chicken drumstick in one hand, slurpee in the other.

“We’ll see how long that opinion lasts.” Kayla laughed, “Though I don’t know much about what daily life in the Union is like… mostly only read about the tech on the news.”

“I mean I dunno, how often does politics come into people’s life, like y’all vote what once every few years and that’s it?” Charles said. “People in the Union; they work, they live, they socialize, and all that stuff you do, we just have a different system of making big decisions based on competency rather than popular support.”

“Well I’d love to visit sometime and check it out.” Kayla smiled. 

“I’d give you the VIP experience, you can even crash at my place, just don’t expect a palace, we turned those into civil service offices.” Charles joked.

“Sounds great!”

As they talked the rest of the students arrived and started disembarking, “Well, time to join the queue then,” Charles said.

Kayla shot her garbage into a trashcan like a basketball, “let’s go! Hopefully we can chat some more sometime. I’d love to hear more about Union tech straight from the horse’s mouth.”

“And I’d love to learn more about America from the pretty wolf’s mouth,” he winks.

Kayla waved him goodbye, a wolfish grin on her face.

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Arrival: Chapter 1.13 (Michelle)

~ Nerathul ~ 2 Comments

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Michelle’s fingers repeatedly tapped her thigh, the stim bringing some sense of control. Her life had been thrown upside down and she was trying to hold it together. 

Two week ago Michelle had been nobody, just an average adopted teenager living her life back in Munich, oh sure she had Olympic aspirations as a weight lifter in a few years… But now… Now she was on a bus to Ravenhold Academy, having learned her birth mother was the great Valkyra, and she was the inheritor to her powers… Which unfortunately had drawn the ire of a crazy transphobic witch…

This was too much. Way too much for poor Michelle to handle at once.

“Stop it,” Freyja said, “Your wings keep fidgeting.” 

Wings, right… When Valkyra had died Michelle had inherited her powers, growing large swan wings, and now the damned things wouldn’t do what she wanted!

“I’m sorry!” Michelle said, “They do what they want.”

Michelle tried to keep them still, it was hard keeping them comfortable in such a confined space already… 

Freyja sighed, “You have so much to catch up on…”

Michelle nodded, she hadn’t asked for this… She looked back at Freyja, the two of them were fraternal twins but one could mistake them for identical; both had medium brown skin, wavy hair, deep brown eyes, they were both built solidly over six feet in height… There was one thing that separated them; Freyja’s belly was swollen from pregnancy, already in the third trimester… 

Of course the two were twins only in blood. They had met for the first time less than two weeks ago and this was the first time they truly had a moment to sit and talk alone.

“You’re staring,” Freyja said.

“Sorry, it’s just… I never thought I’d have a sister.”

“We’re just strangers, we just happen to have the same parents,” Freyja sighed. She looked so tired, with heavy bags under her eyes, she smelled faintly of alcohol. 

She wasn’t handling her mother’s death well, and she’d been passed over for Michelle when the powers had chosen its next host. Everyone knew the powers of the Valkyra passed from mother to daughter, but Michelle was trans, it was why she’d been adopted out.

“What are you going to do?” Michelle asked.

“Do?”

“If you aren’t the Valkyra…”

Freya shrugged, “Look after mom’s legacy is all I can do,” she said, her voice distant and bitter. She’d trained all her life for this eventuality, now it was gone, had passed her by… 

“Do you… do you hate me?”

Freyja looked at her surprised, “No, Mom cared for you, even if she kept her distance for your safety, I can’t bring myself to hate you.”

Michelle fidgeted. “I just feel like I stole this from you…”

“You didn’t, if I was bitter I could’ve helped Wycked.”

Wycked was the leader of a Radical Feminist “Hero” group, and when she’d found out Michelle, a transgender girl, had inherited the powers she’d flipped out, tried to force Michelle to give them up, tried to kill her even…

“But you didn’t.”

“Mom cared for you, and I don’t agree with Wycked’s dumbass bigoted ideology.” Freyja shrugged, “That’s all there was to it.”

Michelle looked away and out the window, Freyja went back to her phone. It would be a difficult journey, Freyja might claim not to hate her,  but she definitely didn’t like her either… 

Maybe things would get better, she sighed, breath fogging up the window. Maybe one day they could be sisters…

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Arrival: Chapter 1.12 (Luciana)

~ Nerathul ~ 2 Comments

When Luciana came to the hangar, it was with a hurried step as she tried to keep up with Mr. Kibble, her service dog. Of course Mr. K wasn’t an ordinary dog, not anymore anyways, after an accident that had awakened her powers he’d been transformed into something… more than a common dog.

“So many people!” Mr. K said, using his mutant dog-hands to sign the words. 

Mr. K lacked the proper vocal cords to speak human, but he’d learned sign language a long time ago. Luciana wasn’t Deaf, but her parents were.

“Puppy, slow down!” She asked, carrying some heavy luggage, she had definitely over packed, but she hadn’t wanted to leave anything important behind.

Mr. K stopped and she caught up, giving him a scratch on his head. At a glance he looked like a giant German Shepherd but the proportions were all wrong. He had hands and thumbs, and could even walk on two legs, at least when he felt like it. But most importantly Mr. K was smart, he could communicate, he could even read and do math!

Luciana registered and went to her assigned bus, she looked for a seat when Mr. K’s tail went full wag and he barked excitedly. 

“Look, another dog!” 

Toward the back of the bus, a black labrador hung partway in the alley, lying under a bench. Mr. K went over to greet his new friend. Luciana followed him with a sigh, Mr. K was a very friendly dog.

While Mr. K greeted his new friend, who was very hesitant to interact, Luciana gave a look to the dog’s owner. On the bench itself sat a black girl, about fourteen, with dark brown skin, her hair was tied into many braids, and her face framed by round glasses.

“Hi, I’m Luciana, people just call me Lucy tho,” She said with a smile, extending a hand.

The girl’s expression remained flat. She took her tablet and typed something, the tablet reading it outloud. “What do you want?”

Lucy blinked. Okay, that had been a little rude, but she had just sort of walked to someone on public transport and started a conversation, which was a big taboo usually.

“Sorry, I just thought I should say hi since our dogs are getting acquainted.” Lucy said, “This is Mr. Kibbles, what is your dog named? Mr. K say hi.”

Mr. K popped his head above the seat, gave a little wave. 

“She’s Nimue.” Her tablet read out. Before it was finished she typed another message, “You named him Mr. Kibbles?”

“I was two years old when I named him,” Lucy shrugged, “He used to be called Rover but Mr. K stuck.”

Mr K pouted, signing to Lucy. “We don’t speak that name!”

The girl blinked and typed fast. “Did the dog just use sign language?”

“He’s a very special puppy,” Lucy answered, “Can I sit here?”

“Why not.” The girl answered. 

Lucy sat down. Maybe the girl was mute? She seemed to hear fine but knew sign language?

“What’s your name?”

“Kavin.”

Lucy arched her brow. “Kevin?” Had she mistyped? Kevin wasn’t a very feminine name at all!

“K-a-v-i-n.” She spelled.

“Never heard that name.”

“It’s Tamil, and was my mom’s high-school’s best friend’s name.” Kavin replied. 

“Oh, cool!” Luciana said, “Do you speak ASL?” she first asked out loud then in ASL.

“Some,” Kavin replied using her table, “Don’t like it.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Takes too much focus, it’s tiring.”

“Oh, well that’s fair,” Luciana shrugged. 

Silence fell between them, and Kavin started chewing on her collar. All throughout this time Kavin hadn’t looked at Lucy, who was starting to clue in. Perhaps Kavin was autistic like her brother? That’d explain a lot, Lucy thought.

Lucy opened her backpack, taking some sweets out. “Candy?”

“Sure,” Kavin answered. 

Lucy took out a bag of mixed candies and chocolate bars, letting Kavin pick from them. She quietly ate some while focused on her tablet. Luciana took a peek and saw she was working on blueprints for something.

“Wow, that looks like smart-people stuff! Are you a hypertech?”

“I’m working on the heat-transfer system of Pridwen.”

“What’s a Pridwen? Wait, isn’t it the brotherhood of Steel’s ship in Fallout?”

Kavin gave her a quick annoyed look. “It’s my mecha.”

“You have a mecha that is so cool! What does it look like?”

“You talk a lot.”

“Oh, Sorry?” Lucy answered, “Would you rather I not?”

“It’s fine.” Kavin sighed. 

“Where is it?”

“Back home.”

“Where’s that? I’m from Miami.”

“New York,”

“Oh you’re a local, that’s cool.”

Kavin didn’t answer, going back to her work. She’d probably seen this conversation thread as done, and Lucy decided it was maybe better to give her some space and time, not be too overbearing. 

So instead she took the hour-long drive to work on the most important thing; her social media pages. She had fans to update after all!

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