Connie weeps.
It's quiet at first, but she's in racking sobs by the time her face smeks against Percy's scales.
"I don't-" **snff** "I don't f*+$ing deserve this from you. I- f!%~."
After a while she reaches into a pocket and pulls out a pack of tissues. "You're less absorbent now and I'm streaking snot on you."
"Okay. Okay. You're very sweet, and I needed this, but you keep saying it's not my fault. Percy. It is. I- I..." She looks up and away, eyes suddenly filling with a frustration that dries up her tears. She's silent for a long moment.
"You're letting me off the hook too easily. Especially 'cause you don't know the whole story."
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Percy pulls the wing back slowly, turning it to his face so he can exhale a freezing puff of air across it before shaking the snotty bits off. "Yeah scales and all, leathery exterior isn't exactly as absorbent as skin and hair."
"I mean yeah you're my friend after all, do you really think that knowing the 'whole story' is going to change that? Whatever crimes you think you've done against me. Well I get to decide how to forgive or punish them, and I am choosing to say you're forgiven. Even though I don't think you did anything wrong at all."
Craning his head back he looks to the mattresses and slides one over using his tail. "So come on take a seat and tell me what's up."
He also eyes the boxes with Femtite's gifts and shifts awkwardly to move them gently with his tail as well. The whole process was very good to help practice his fine motor skills with the new limbs.
Isaiah had been pushing his mana on Siphon? That he pocketed in his folder of clues to figure things out. Further discovery would have to wait though as his mentor stepped in to speak to Valerie.
"...sensei, Valerie and I were discussing that very incident before you came in. There's something strange about how everything went down. More than just the lost memories. It's like we were all under some kind of influence that pushed our boundaries and drove us to our worst selves. We've been puzzling out the pieces..."
He sighs. "I think we're stuck on the bad feelings involved. And the heartbreak. The team shouldn't have disintegrated like that. But I think that a lot of our...my personal relationships with everyone caused more dissonance. She's not to blame for what happened. I would stake my career on it."
He stands tall next to Valerie to support her when she's feeling trapped, hoping she understands that Shin is in her corner.
Siphon steps away from him instinctively. "I told you what I did, and you're being stupid if you ignore it! I'll just drag you down!"
Whippoorwill starts to pinch her brow, but stops herself with effort. Instead, she waves both of them down. "How about we not rush into anything? Ms. Tepe, your parents are being detained, briefly, while we can sort out the reasons why their boat is in the middle of Kirby Plaza. Let's use this time to... sort out everything in a nice, calm fashion."
She gestures to some comfy couches set up in the common area of Unity Base. "I'd like very much to find out where you've been. How Horizon and his new team found you. What involvement Manticorp has in all this, and there's also something about another dragon that you might know something about." Whippoorwill's voice is conciliatory, but with an undercurrent of grave concern. "Unity Base has plenty of space for you to stay a few days. Rest. Get your bearings. Decide if you'd like to cooperate. And be the hero that your sister thinks you can be."
Valerie narrows her eyes at Whip's manipulations. "Yeah. Stay a couple days, let the powers I've taken fade, then you can catch me that much easier, is that it?"
Whippoorwill sighs with a slight roll of her eyes. "Stay a day so you can rest. So you don't make a rash decision that you could regret later! Horizon's backing you up here, so I am too. Does that mean nothing?"
Siphon looks unsure, her head turning to Whip, to Victoria, to Horizon, and then back. "I... fine. All right."
Shin is glad Whippoorwill is here. More than that, he's glad that she's got a better handle on Valerie than when Silver Shield was approaching the subject. He just hoped the retired hero wouldn't hear anything about this.
"I'll set you up with Victoria in your own room. The place is a home away from home, so you'll have all the amenities that you need." He looks at Valerie and her sister, feeling good about what he's done today for them. Now, though, he's considering other priorities.
"I should check in on the rest of the team. I'm sure they're worried about where I've disappeared," He says as he goes back over to his workbench to grab a comm and get to sending out messages to everyone.
"...I just realized I need to put a shirt on."
Connie takes a seat, but is slow to speak.
"If I were to just tell you, I don't think it would make things any clearer. I've told you how I learn; I look for weaknesses within myself or others, and figure out how to strengthen them, cover them, or exploit them. I'm not totally averse to planning based on nothing but abstraction. I know you're primarily a savant; I know you studied too. What was the hardest thing for you to learn, the idea that you never could have come to in the beginning? Sometimes you can't just tell someone the answer, even if you wish you could."
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Percy tilted his head away from Connie making sure not to aim his crest or horns in her direction.
"Well for me it was control... Eh well no, I guess that came easy at first up until..." He trails off for a moment his eyes briefly glancing down at Femtite's gift to him, before snapping back up to Connie.
"I never touched anything that would manipulate the mind, protective magic came fairly simple, teleportation is more about knowing the place than actually knowing the spell. Illusions can be tricky especially deep ones and for a very similar reason so are. Hmm transmutative magic I guess? Shapeshifting is a very new thing by the way, usually I'd stick to simple stuff earth to mud and such. Temporal magic is also strange. So i'd have to say those two are pretty closely tied for most difficult."
The Halcyon Convention Center's President's Ballroom is bedecked with frosted evergreens, glittering tinsel, and colorful lights. Fog machines create a low mist that cause the dancing lights to play merrily among the guests.
It's the Alliance Christmas Promenade, a chance for the heroes of Halcyon and beyond to mingle, socialize, and celebrate the season without worrying about villainous plots, mad schemes, or worldwide threats. It's a chance to focus on hope and optimism as the new year approaches.
First Class is invited to the exclusive event along with plus ones for each member of the team. For security measures, the exact location and time of the event was a closely-guarded secret until the last minute.
Upon arrival, the sounds of a live band playing jazz renditions of holiday classics fill the crowded air over the murmur of numerous conversations. A large disco ball throws colored lights throughout the room.
Femtite is clad in the glittering gown of a Christmas Angel, complete with golden gossamer wings. She glides alongside Chastity Robertson, delicately holding her hand. Her aura is a vivid pink…
“I’m so happy you were able to come—especially with the last-minute reveal of the venue!” Her smile is giddy and warm as she gazes into Chastity’s eyes through her own pixite eyes. She was not expecting her girlfriend to sort her identity in only a couple of weeks. “We can dance, or I can introduce you around… and myself as well since I don’t really know most of the hot shots…
“Well, it’s really up to you, Chas. What would you like to do first?”
Horizon: Anyone on the team planning to attend and not bring a plus one? If it's all right with you, I'd like to ask a favor for one of you to bring Victoria with you. I'm inviting Valerie so that both sisters get a chance to have some Christmas fun and cheer. If not, I'll figure something out.
"A mirrored ball? That's really novel," Shin comments as he adjusts the tie on his tuxedo. He's dressed well for this, with only his new First Class lapel pin showing off what team he was from.
Percy tilted his head away from Connie making sure not to aim his crest or horns in her direction.
"Well for me it was control... Eh well no, I guess that came easy at first up until..." He trails off for a moment his eyes briefly glancing down at Femtite's gift to him, before snapping back up to Connie."I never touched anything that would manipulate the mind, protective magic came fairly simple, teleportation is more about knowing the place than actually knowing the spell. Illusions can be tricky especially deep ones and for a very similar reason so are. Hmm transmutative magic I guess? Shapeshifting is a very new thing by the way, usually I'd stick to simple stuff earth to mud and such. Temporal magic is also strange. So i'd have to say those two are pretty closely tied for most difficult."
"No! Not like what subjects were hard, what took a f+#!ing epiphany! The feeling like you had to run naked out of the bathhouse because it all made sense! But also something you'd been working at hard enough to actually have the foundation for that epiphany to hang on instead of just shooting off somewhere useless and... f$!#. Lemme just... okay. You were working with that Lucas guy for a minute, right? How did you meet? How did we meet? Why did we meet?"
Horizon: Anyone on the team planning to attend and not bring a plus one? If it's all right with you, I'd like to ask a favor for one of you to bring Victoria with you. I'm inviting Valerie so that both sisters get a chance to have some Christmas fun and cheer. If not, I'll figure something out.
Connie: Ugggggghhhhh fiiiiiiiiiiine
***
Connie's outfit is a study in contrasts. Her jacket has a fashionable, classic cut, but is patterned like a dayglo Pollock. Her shorts are a black a few shades lighter than Shin's energy signature and a very un-classic length. Her normal assortment of jewelry and piercings are present, though with additional accent pieces, most noticeably an intricate leg chain that adds another layer to the tattoo that twines its way up her thigh.
But her 'date' is a preteen.
Who's the same height.
"God f%!@ing damnit Shin." She whirls to Victoria and claps her hands together twice. "Okay, you're in. Go find your sister. Do not get drunk. Do not poke anyone whose super powers you don't know. And do not take center stage and sing/act your heart out in a not particularly skillful but undeniably family friendly way. And keep not touching my jacket. I know kids have sticky hands. Now go - shoo!"
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Percy Furrowed his brow as he thought on what Connie was saying and felt the need to correct her gently, "Tobias." He couldn't help but give an amused chuckle as she flailed with a Whatever at the correction.
Though after she continued to dig down in the questions he started to believe he understood where she was trying to get with her questions. "Well... I met Tobias at Trismegistus, he reached out to me since I didn't really have many friends. We liked to talk about superheroes and everything and our families weren't too different, I mean his made all kinds of cool tech but other than that pretty normal lives. Then I was, given Dr. Infinity's book, from this library I used to go to all the time. Didn't know it was a real magic book or anything till I tried to read through it and blamo magic started happening. But when I went to go talk to the librarian, the whole place had just, burned down. They never found or reported the missing Librarian which always felt weird to me. So I guess as far as inciting incidents there's that."
Turning his mind to when exactly Connie and him had met he pauses. "After Tobias's injury, I wasn't exactly keen on letting anyone get close, even with Feya's training. She of course insisted I get with a team, that's how I eventually hooked up with Horizon and the others." But we met before that.
Closing his eyes fully he began to recall the day, "I had just left after getting tea at the Harvest Moon Café, you remember the one near Branwyn Drive? Then while I was traveling down Thorpe, I heard someone getting into a fight in the alley. Low and behold there's this scrappy punk girl, that's you, and some sleezebag harassing her. Things turned violent and you just tossed the guy like he was nothing, or really your wards did and that's when I knew you weren't just anyone. Then when he tried to smash that bottle over your head I stepped in with that barrier." He laughed again remembering how she'd yelled at him about how her charms would have done the job.
"I don't know if there was really a... why we met unless you're trying to say that it was all a set up. And I guess none of those were really the Ah-ha moment your trying to tease out, I just can't really point to any that stick out."
After an arduously difficult time trying to type on the phone Percy just relents and asks Connie to do it for him with her correctly sized and strength'd fingers and asks to put the phone on speaker. His deep rumbling voice going through the phone as soon as it was picked up.
"Dad, hey I just checked my phone and saw this, stuff happened, long story. Just like with Mom I'll try to explain as best I can, there's just uh.. a lot of unknowns that I'm still trying to figure out. It might honestly be easier to talk in person than over the phone though."
Indy shuffles nervously on the sidewalk outside the Halcyon youth hospital, holding the unwrapped gift box Femtite had given him in his at least humanish hands. He'd been careful not to accidentally tear the packaging with his claws and really needed to find a better way to blunt them, it was hard enough given how viciously strong he was. But that was a later problem, for now he had to convince his body to take that first step and his feet felt so damn heavy.
He was happy that with Feya's help he'd gotten some clothes tailored that were, not exactly comfortable but manageable in his pseudo-human form, if he could call it that. He drew so many eyes standing at nearly seven feet, covered in silver-gray scales, with two massive wings that spanned his entire body length on both sides, even furled they felt huge, and that's not to mention the horns that would probably gore someone if he stood too fast from a bent position. But a firm hand on his forearm helped to bring him back from his wandering mind, looking down to see Feya offering him what aid she could.
With a silent nod and swallowing of the bile in his throat he strode forward into the building and to the receptionist desk. He never knew what to say, how could he. Simply asking for the room for one Tobias Caldez and if he could deliver an early Christmas gift to him to be directed to the room after some hesitation which was mildly dispelled by the sight of the adult hero accompanying him.
He'd asked Feya to knock on and get the door, honestly afraid he might accidentally bust it open, he was still learning his own strength especially in this condensed form, and she had obliged. Though Percy's heart almost froze as the door opened and he saw Tobias Caldez, one of his oldest friends in the world laying in the hospital bed resting after a day of routine check-ups.
Whatever words he may have had prepared dying in his throat long before they were spoken, replaced with his own thudding heartbeat. A long awkward silence hung in the air between them before Feya gave him a nudge in the back. "Go on, didn't let you drag me all the way over here for you to chicken out now." She chided.
With another gulp Indy took a single step into the room, "Um.. hey Tobias, it's been a-too long. It's me Indarius, erm.. Percy if you remember me at all. But I brought you something for Christmas." He lifted the box awkwardly as if the object hadn't been an obvious thing.
Indarius arrives in a dark grey vest with holes in the back for his wings to slide through, as well as some very loose fitted slacks, forgoing shoes or any accessories as those were on too short a notice to get. He pulled at the vest uncomfortably, the fabric getting caught on the scales of his collar bone. "Is it weird that I'm more nervous talking to the people here than I was fighting a deadly dragon who was full well ready to rip my head off?"
Connie cocks her head sideways and squints up at Percy. "What would the setup be for?"
Connie looks up and sighs, "Yes. Look just... causality and fault are complicated. I didn't secretly introduce you to the librarian. I didn't hurt Tobias. But when you were gonna give it up and walk away from things, you instead bumped into someone you could help, but who also has things to offer, someone smart and inventive like your previous partner, but who worked in the same magical arena as you. Someone who wouldn't get hurt. Do you think you would have showed up to the team up without something like that happening? Cause that's the moment where what happens to you starts to be my fault." She gives him a cheeky grin. "And that's assuming it wasn't all a setup."
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"Feya was the one who pointed me to the team, but I think I get what you mean. But Connie I wasn't going to drop it. Maybe just retreat into being a recluse, but who knows. So sure I guess if you really try hard we can say that me joining the team was your fault adjacent."
He looks over to the side of the room which would be closest to the outside, then looks back at Connie. "Half expect Dear old Dad to burst through the wall and exclaim how this was all somehow part of his maciavellian scheme. Wouldn't that be wild?" with a cautious shake of his head, minding the horns, he rounded back. "But, you can't honestly blame yourself for everything from joining the team onward. I still had every choice to walk away or say no. I was in full control of my actions. Sometimes my magic got out of hand, but hardly anyone's fault other than my own. You all brought me into situations where I had to push myself. To really focus on controlling what I couldn't before. Because of that I got used to it, i went from saying magic shouldn't be used for small stuff, to being the guy who uses magic for small stuff."
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As the Christmas Promenade starts to reach its zenith, a murmur ripples through the crowd. Heads turn and the crowd parts as a sensuous figure strides toward the members of First Class. Her strapless red dress is trimmed with fuzzy white fabric, and it falls to mid-thigh, leaving a large amount of her purple-hued skin on display. Her voluminous hair falls in rings around her face, and mistletoe-shaped earrings dangle from her ears.
"Long time, no see, amigos," Devil Diva says, flashing a dazzling smile. Her yellow eyes sparkle, and her tail wags happily behind her.
Since it was Rain how was invited, Caio could not bring Skyler with him. He'd have gladly invited Victoria as his plus one, but once he received the invitation Connie had already offered to do so.
Rain arrives at the ball wearing a blue suit and a necktie with dark clouds motif. Instead of his usual wooden mask, he wears a white venetian mask that leaves his mouth exposed. Strangely, his suit appears to be wet, yet he leaves not drops of water behind as he moves... instead, small wisps of mist form and disappear with his steps.
Femtite’s eyes grow wide with delight as she sees a familiar face. “Dee Deeeeeeee!!” she exclaims.
She finds it amusing that she is presenting herself as a Christmas angel—similar to the look she had when she and DD were on an info-gathering mission in September.
She leads Chasity by the hand as she flits to her former teammate, greeting her with a warm hug! “You surely remember Chastity Robertson? Chas, this is DD.”
Femtite might consider how uncomfortable things could be between these two what with the protests (which Chas stopped attending since the day she and Fem met), the reaction to DD’s pheromones, and the fact that DD actually saved Chas from impish creatures summoned by men of her own church. But hey, it’s Christmas!—a joyous tradition that precedes the New Year’s resolution, so why not do the fresh-new-starts a week early!
Max returns Femtite's embrace, then gives Chastity a smile. "Hello, Chastity. How's it going? It looks like you two are still getting along well." If she has any reservations about her previous interactions with Femm's girlfriend, Max doesn't let them show.
"Sorry about vanishing on you all like that. There was a lot going on. I'm sure you all have been keeping yourselves busy as well."
Upon being reintroduced to Max, Chastity's cheeks flush so red she becomes a decent stand-in for Scarlet. "It's um going well in a... well, we're well," she mumbles, her eyes roaming around and not being able to find anything they can rest on. "I mean, well, not that, er, yeah. We're well. Well." Her self-consciousness becomes palpable and she quickly excuses herself from the conversation.
The Alliance members' plus-ones are all patients from Halcyon Children's Hospital, which has been an ongoing tradition. Captain Stalwart's guest is a young boy of about seven in a wheelchair, while Imagerie's plus-one is a ten-year-old girl with an oxygen tank. Both children, along with the others sponsored by Foray, Yeoman, Ordnance, and Feya Firestorm are wide-eyed and agape at the assembly of superheroes.
Whippoorwill, however, is not in attendance.
Siphon is dressed in a sleek and form-hugging black dress. Victoria is in a dark green dress with sequins. Once escorted in by Conflux, she gravitates to hanging close to her sister. Valerie spots Silver Shield in attendance, and spends the evening avoiding her. At one point during the party, Horizon catches Valerie looking at the children with terminal illnesses with a troubled expression.
The ballroom's large, open space and vaulted ceiling gives the larger heroes, notably Indarius and Ordnance, plenty of head clearance, though they still have to be mindful of their surroundings.
Rain does spot most of the Heralds members in attendance, including their leader Nimbus. Gothic seems to be absent, however. He is also pleased to see the famed sushi chef in an adjacent room just outside the ballroom with a delectable and colorful spread.
There were a lot of interesting people in attendance here. Shin was glad that Valerie came with him. The sisters needed a nice night out together away from their parents. He was doing his best to provide them what they needed to relax in the base. Cooking was also helpful for him, being a meditative act.
The patient's from the children's hospital being here though made him feel a little more self conscious about this. Should he have followed that lead? Though Whippoorwill not being here was strange to him. His mentor hadn't mentioned that she would be absent.
He found Connie, standing next to her and offering her a flute of the sparkling cider offered here. "Thanks for bringing Victoria. I owe you one. I wouldn't have felt right bringing Valerie without her sister," Shin tells her. "It's a good fit you're wearing. You look great."
Shin clocks how Valerie is looking at the kids. He's savvy enough to put the pieces together as he steps over to her. She had to have some extremely complicated feelings about seeing children who were not dissimilar to her at their ages.
"...penny for your thoughts?" He asks quietly. "I don't want to assume too much of what you're thinking."
“Oh, she is modest. In fact, Chastity saved my life.”
Femtite can see Chastity is overwhelmed, and possibly afraid her attraction to DD will cause an issue. It pains her to cut the conversation short, but Femtite would sooner die than embarrass her girlfriend. That is the unthinkable. Call it pixite culture, call it genetic engineering, call it A Femtite Thing.
Whatever the case, Femtite moves on in the way she hopes is not at the expense of DD’s feelings.
“You have nothing to apologize for, DD. I want to wish you well with the show biz, and have a happy holiday!”
She flits away with a cheerful smile, leading Chastity to the children. As they move, she speaks words that only Chastity can hear.
Femtite floats over to Imagerie and the girl with her. There is a pain in her heart when she sees the tank and recalls being strangled. She understands the girl needs the tank to breathe. Make the child happy. Do not show pity. She did not come here to feel different. This child is the most important person in the room.
Considering the other children, she realizes, They all are.
Smiling warmly, she says to the kids, “Seasons Greetings, Earthlings! I am Princess Femtite of the Lavender Spire, and this is my honorable guest, Chastity Robertson. Femi and Chas for short, if you prefer. It is a pleasure to meet all of you.”
Unknowingly echoing Femtite's greeting, Connie caroms into Max at a dead sprint, flinging herself into a hug that demands Max catch her, and giving her a smack on the cheek. How's it going girl?!"
***
Connie takes a sip of the cider with a carefully blank expression. "Yes, and that is a good fit that you are wearing as well. Don't worry bro, the slang will come in time."
She looks across the room at the Big Capes. "Well now I'm glad I didn't bring a date? Clearly not a thing the serious business capes do. Or they just can't get dates. Not impossible: even with the typical physiques involved, there's a lot of horrible scheduleness and lying and/or danger involved. Or we weren't supposed to treat this as a remotely safe environment hence all the rando civvies and Femtite should've made Goody Putnam wear a domino mask. Date would've been fun though, especially without touchy targets right here for her to mess with... Oh holy s#&%!"
Connie locks eyes with Feya's +1, a boy a couple years younger than her in a nice suit that fits kinda inexactly.
"Tommy Berenson?" Her jaw tightens as she looks up at Feya to see if she planned this, then quickly bounces her eyes to avoid being caught staring. "Gimme a... gimme a sec, Shin."
Tommy was already wheeling over, a look of trepidation on his face.
Connie hustled over to intercept him.
"Hey uh, z̷̫̼̖̱͕̊͐̍́̆o̴̻̳̣͚̠͐̄̑̋͠ɿ̴͙͉̞̦̯̀̆͗̊͒ϱ̴̳̭̦̖̓̑̿̋͝ͅơ̶͓̼̣̮͈̔̒̓͘d̴̢̢̼̰͚́̈́̊̐͝l̷̊ ̻̺̜̮̈́̉͒̂ͅɒ̸̮̙̝̪̲̾͋̀͑̑ẋ̷̨̯͉̺͂̉͛͝ͅ?? Is that you?" Connie's face goes unfocused for a second, doubt crossing her features. "Uh yeah. It's Connie now." "Holy s~+!, you look- well you look great!"
"...Yeah. Uh, did Feya know that you-" "Wait are you a superhero now?! Are you like, a shapeshifter or-" "No jackass, puberty was just really good to me." Her words have the shape of a joking clapback, but their edges are a little too sharp, and he goes silent for a half second too long before she cuts in, "Yeah I'm a superhero. Conflux, part of First Class if you've heard of us."
"So should I like... keep your identity a secret or-" "Oh f%~@ no. Shout Connie Westcott Mathers to the g&~~*+n skies if you want man."
"I guess that's not really a change."
Connie looks at him a little uncertainly. "Eh?"
"Not the... I mean you were always... Like, even if you didn't have like a lot of... People still definitely knew who you were? Whenever you were back with us I mean."
"Oh. Yeah."
"Yeah. Look. I don't know if I should... I'm umm... I'm sorry? I know I wasn't one of the ones who like... you know. But I didn't really- I mean I don't know if I could have really stopped it, but I didn't really...
"Tommy, are you looking for absolution for sitting by here? Or a compliment for not being actively s&~~ty?"
"I uh, I go by Thomas now."
"Okay Thomas, I'm not sure that changes the real thrust of my question."
"Look, Connie, I-" She tilts her head back to the ceiling. "F~~~ it, it's fine. Your apology-shaped-thing is accepted. Hardly the worst f&&~ing things that happened to me anyways."
Thomas blanches. "I thought you finally got a family?"
"Yep.
"...You want me to introduce you to anyone? Obviously you've met Feya, a magical superhero who knew my dad by name and probably studied with him, but to whom I have spoken not once." "Oh. Are there any of them that like you?"
"Ehhhhh..."
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Connie catches your eye from across the room and beckons you over, the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips, but her eyes are level and challenging. "Hey. Come dance with me."
***
Connie seems to appear out of nowhere from behind your new bulk and gives you a quick shove towards the dance floor. "Hey! Come dance with me!"
***
Connie's been sipping at her sparkling cider, but now that it's empty she's just fiddling with the flute. All at once she sets the glass down and strides over. She looks up and away, well over your shoulder as she asks, "Hey, come dance with me?"
Unknowingly echoing Femtite's greeting, Connie caroms into Max at a dead sprint, flinging herself into a hug that demands Max catch her, and giving her a smack on the cheek. How's it going girl?!"
Max laughs as she catches Connie, hugging her tightly. "Hey, Connie! I missed you, too." She flushes a bit at the unexpected kiss.
"It's been busy. With the Alliance's help, I finally was able to contain my sisters and reverse the takeover of Taylor International. Since Praetoria's away, I've been helping the Taylors get things back together and researching ways to free Kayla's parents from their hellish prison. We've still got a long way to go, but I think we're making progress.
"How have you been? What have I missed the past few months?"
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Percy approached DD after the others, lightly pulling Tobias along. "Hey Dee! It's me, Indy good to see and hear you've been doing well. Hope putting your sosters away wasn't too much of a pain." He moved to give her a hug but made sure to keep the claes and horns pointed away.
"So turns out the whole dragon business is a bit deeper than we initially thought. But I think it's a good thing and Halcyon is ready for a bit of change. Oh also!" He moves out of the way to introduce Tobias, though doesn't know if he's going under any hero name these days. "Look who's out of the hospital."
*********
Percy practically stumbles as Connie shoves him towards the dance floor. "Alright alright, no need to shove." Once out on the floor he turned to face her and started doing an uneasy jig. He kept his wings tucked and tried his best to keep his tail in check from slapping anyone nearby. "So, seeing Dee, old... friends, how's the punch? You holding up well. I think Rain's off chowing down on the fish platter, not gonna lie sounds pretty great right now, but dancing on a full stomach not a great combo." He didn't want to touch up on whatever sort of awkward looking situation had happened with that Thomas guy, but touched on it enough that if Connie wanted to keep it up then she could.
Before she goes to meet the children, Femtite has to track down Chastity, who had disappeared quickly into the crowd. She eventually finds her girlfriend in the restroom, splashing cold water on her face. Chastity retreats into a stall when she comes in. "Just go away! I need a minute!" Chastity's muffled voice comes through the stall door.
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Valerie is interrupted from her reverie and immediately gives Shin an incredulous look. "'Penny for my th--?' Who says that?" She sighs and shakes her head, then turns back to look at the sick kids.
She's silent long enough for Shin to start thinking she's not going to share, but then Valerie starts talking just barely loud enough to be heard through the music. "I was invited to this thing once. Or one like it, about ten or so years ago. Ultra-Star would've been my chaperone, but I wasn't allowed to go. Mom and Dad didn't say why, except that I was too sick. Except, that wasn't really why." She gestures around the ballroom. "No press. No cameras. It wouldn't have driven up our crowdfunding donations."
Siphon shrugs, scowling at the scene of a smiling Captain Stalwart lifting a youth in a wheelchair high over the crowd to the child's delight. "It's not like coming to this party would've changed my life or anything. Dr. Sang still would've still done his experiments, because if he hadn't, I'd be dead. Like these kids'll be in a year or two. It's so messed up. What's the point of this? 'Super' heroes making themselves feel better by pandering to some terminal kids. Makes me want to puke, and I don't even eat."
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The music alternates between a dj playing holiday classics and the live band playing their own jazzed up versions of familiar tunes of the season.
When the dancing starts in earnest, couples start pairing up. Nimbus and his very pregnant plus one are exclusive to each other, but some play the field. Screech Owl is seen dancing with Half-pipe, then with Crossbolt, while Parkour dances with Rendezvous and Imagerie.
Shane Taylor is one of the youngest attendees, and surprisingly he seems to hit it off with Victoria. Valerie gives him some severe warning looks.
Femtite says very gently, “Sorry. I’ll be right outside the door.”
She moves outside as promised.
In that quiet moment, Femtite reflects on her conversation with Chastity’s subconscious. She had locked Femtite away in the Ugly Thoughts. And I pushed too hard and…
…did she… did she lock Devil Diva in there instead of Femtite so she could fully know me?
This is a question for Imagerie later. For now, Femtite just has to be a good girlfriend.
"Shoving expresses urgency, so uh, beg to differ." She takes a couple tries to get into a comfortable dancing position, but gives a broad smile when she gets it right. "Seeing Deedee? Great. Seeing other friend-shaped people... I dunno. Weird? I don't exactly go the reunions which do not exist. I have substantially more friends and moments of happiness now than I used to, so it's kinda hard to find the nostalgia goggles, y'know?"
***
"So you're working on just like, two problems? And they're both rooted in the same dimension? Wow. Retirement really is easy. Lesseee what've you missed... Dragon stuff, angel stuff, truly hellish personal stuff... Oh! I got 1-2 eternal nemeses out of it though, which is a plural you should always relish."
***
"Yeah, there's a limit to how long or how hard I'm gonna try to convince you to be mad at me. Suffice to say a stronger case could be made... Whatever. Gimme your phone. You shouldn't ignore your dad. I'll dial."
"Sure thing. I've got room on my dance card for you," Shin tells her with a smile.
He heads out with her and enjoys the more upbeat Christmas beats, grooving to the tunes and meeting Connie's challenging gaze head on.
"Think you can keep up with me?" He asks.
There's not much that Shin thinks he can say that wouldn't be just pandering. Her experience as a sick child was not one that he had similar knowledge about. But he figured that there was something that might give her a different perspective.
"Dance with me for a bit." He asks, gently leading her to the dance floor. It's a slower, jazzy tune plating, so he can get close to speak in her ear.
"Those kids right now, this is probably one of the better nights of their lives. We might not be able to give them a cure, but the Alliance is giving them a chance to meet their heroes." He looks at her. "Even you when you were pretty young had to be disappointed you weren't allowed to come to something like this."
After several minutes, Chastity finally emerges from the bathroom. She'd clearly touched up her makeup. "Sorry. I'm so sorry. That demon. I... lusted after her once, and seeing her again... I couldn't help thinking about... things."
She draws in a tremulous breath. "It's not fair to you. That was awful of me. I'm sorry."
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Siphon doesn't resist Horizon drawing her out to the dance floor. She allows herself to be led in a simple dance, her eyes roaming around the ballroom. "So what if I had been excited to see these heroes? They weren't going to cure me. I was sick, and starving, and had no future. I'd have seen it in their eyes. Little Valerie, the girl without a future."
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The phone connects right away. Percy's father is on the other end. "Perc! Come on, what's going on? Your mother is freaked out and talking crazy. She's saying you're a super hero, and turning into, into a what? Dragon? Come on, Perc, you can't be scaring her like that! Why don't you come home, and we can all straighten this out? Okay?"
Femtite gently takes Chastity’s hand. “It’s okay. Sometimes you have a certain experience with someone, and… it makes it hard to face them.” Especially when Lust is in the history! “I understand that feeling.”
She gives Chastity’s hand a squeeze, smiles at her… but then Femtite’s face becomes more serious.
“I… I saw Imagerie and others, even Captain Stalwart. They have children with them. But… the children have wheelchairs and oxygen tanks. I want to meet them. I…” She has an uneasy expression. “Oh, I just don’t want to mess it up, Chas.
“I mean, do I do tricks? Appear as a fairy? Do a big princessy curtsy? Or… or… well… you know human children. I think the best approach is to treat them as human children their age, not treat them different.” She confesses, “I just don’t know how to do normal.
“Can you help me, Chas?”
Femtite doesn’t want to ruin the date. She thinks that Chas being good with kids will help… but she also noticed that familiar phrase.
The celebration basically fades from existence as Caio sees the sushi master in action. Virtually hypnotized, he heads directly towards him, bows, and starts to eat with as much manners and respect he can muster. After the first bite, he misses the Wolf, just because with him he could eat as much as five normal persons.
***
Caio looks surprised as Connie asks him for a dance, mostly because he wasn't used to her asking for anything.
"Uhm... if you do not love your toes and don't mind the embarrassment..." He starts, but takes her hand. "I'm a horrible dancer and I still have nightmares about that night in Hell."
While usually humble about his talents, it was clear Caio wasn't underselling his skill at dancing. He is sluggish and apparently has no ability to perceive rhythm... to make things worse, the few moves he knew were not really fitting to the song being played. "Any chance they will play a forró?"
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"Yeah, there's a limit to how long or how hard I'm gonna try to convince you to be mad at me. Suffice to say a stronger case could be made... Whatever. Gimme your phone. You shouldn't ignore your dad. I'll dial."
Percy motions over to the small pile of his things that he can't use effectively because of his newfound size and strength. "I feel like we'll have to touch on this later, and that's okay. I still don't blame you Connie and I need you to know you shouldn't feel bad for this." He is filled with anxiety at the idea of talking to his father and trying to explain this again. It was hard the first time, but at least he'll have Mom and Connie backing him up. "Alright so the password is-"
Percy sits there for a moment, "Um.. well yeah that's all pretty true actually. I can show you, but not like.. at the house kind of have a situation right now and I don't want you guys to be roped into my mess. I'm not in trouble just.. it's hard to explain. But, I could meet at um... let's see. One sec actually." There's a clear moment of worry on his draconic face as he tries to come up with a place that's not going to alert everyone in the neighborhood that the Dorn's have a dragon son who's also a super hero. He looks to Connie "Okay I have a really... really stupid idea, but I think together we can make this work. Iiiif you don't mind taking a trip to my house? I can get us most of the way."[/smaller
***
"Shoving expresses urgency, so uh, beg to differ." She takes a couple tries to get into a comfortable dancing position, but gives a broad smile when she gets it right. "Seeing Deedee? Great. Seeing other friend-shaped people... I dunno. Weird? I don't exactly go the reunions [smaller]which do not exist. I have substantially more friends and moments of happiness now than I used to, so it's kinda hard to find the nostalgia goggles, y'know?"
"Well that makes two of us in a sort of way. Growing up it was practically just me, Kalliope and Tobias. Mom and Dad weren't really home long when they weren't working, the only family events we had the holidays really. But hey you get to have that with the team now, so I hope we make it bearable at least. Or aggravate you just enough to keep you sane." He seemed pretty unsure of dancing to faster paced songs. The fact that he hadn't fully grasped the motor skills of his wings and tail didn't help as they came danger close to clobbering a nearby couple. "Oops sorry, still new to these." He cleared his throat as the pair grumbled a bit and moved a bit further away.
"I hope they play a slow song soon..."
"Any sign I would?" she grins back, but then an elaborately worried look comes over her face. "If you try to make me do the Lindy I'll probably step on your foot. You might never know if it was on purpose or not." She rolls her eyes. "Just get out there before I remember you actually used to have a dance card."
***
Connie's eyebrows are perched high on her face as she takes in Caio's dancing prowess. "I was already gonna bribe the DJ to put on some Shania for me and Deedee and I guess Femtite et al, so I'll see if I can get a forro on the playlist. Though fair warning, you'll have to show me how that goes."
***
"Sure thing bud. Whatever you need."
***
"Oh f@$@ right off!" She spins beneath his wing and just keeps going, stalking off the dance floor.
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"Alright awesome, also sorry." He turns back to the phone, though it's more his attention goes back instead of anything having actually moved. "Okay Dad I can come home to explain this all in person in a bit if you want. Gonna bring my friend Connie over, she'll probably be able to pick up the slack where my own words fail. Is that good with you?"
***
Percy turned as Connie swept under his wing and towards the edge of the dance floor. "Wait Connie I didn't mean for that to- ACK!" He let out a shriek of surprise as something crunched the tip of his tail and he reflexively pulled it around into his hands. Head snapping back to glare at whoever just stepped on it only to see a couple dancing away like nothing had happened.
When he turned back to pursue Connie and say sorry she had already vanished through the crowd of dancers and watchers leaving him stranded on the floor. "Way to put your foot in your suitably sized mouth dumbass."
He sulks off the floor in the general direction she went trying badly to avoid bumping into everyone on the way out, only to eventually decide that if they didn't pay attention enough to get out of the way it didn't matter.
Blinking rapidly up at the ceiling, Connie rushes into the women's room. Keep it together. Keep it together...
"...the future's a fickle thing. You think that it'll be as you expected, and then you reach it and you've become a super-villain who has lost all hope in humanity," Shin comments as he spins her around. "But that's not my future anymore. It might still be a possibility, but there's always opportunities to get off that road. More than one. Those kids will have their own opportunities. If not one they can grab themselves then likely by their parents fighting tooth and nail to save their kid."
He stops dancing as the song ends, holding onto Valerie's hand. "You've got a future to think about for yourself as well. I hope that I can help with that."
Shin gets onto the dance floor before Connie does, enjoying the new song as he turns back to look at her and sways on his feet, before doing a quick two-step. "I'll tell you a secret. I never went dancing before I came to this period. So I've never had a real dance card either."
He dances around her, looking down at Connie. "I've also never done the Lindy, never played Monopoly and never raced a soap box derby."
Just when Femtite’s finally ready to do this holiday party right, her eyes flicker to Connie’s door-dash.
Oh dear. At least I didn’t do it this time.
She grimaces as her eyes lock back on to Chastity’s.
“That’s Connie, my teammate. Also my ex… I uh… umm. Well, I can’t go to her.. like, one on one. That wouldn’t be fair to you. But I can’t just pretend I didn’t see her. And no one else on the team is allowed in there. But she didn’t ask. Because of course she didn’t ask, she’s about to cry. Uh.
“Uh…”
Valerie's waifish form is lithe and naturally fluid. She spins easily in Horizon's arms, though her eyes go wide in alarm when he mentions supervillains until she realizes he's talking about himself. She notices he's still holding her hand when the song is over. "Do people still look at you like you're going to become Dusk?" She glances at the other superpowered individuals around the dance floor, partnering up for the next song. "I'll bet everyone here's thinking I could start snacking on them at any moment."
Chastity was still flustered, but seemed to welcome the distraction of going to say hello to the Alliance's guests. Just then, they're interrupted by Connie rushing into the restroom.
Eyes widening at the mention of the "ex," Chastity picks up on Femtite's concern. "You want me to-- Oh, well, that might be..." Her head turns back and forth from the dance floor to the bathroom door and back. She arrives at a decision and gives Femtite's shoulder a squeeze. "I need to make sure I touched up my makeup right. I'll be right back."
She enters the bathroom.
Chastity takes a position at one of the sinks and checks out her face. She opens a small compact and adds a little more powder to her cheeks to cover up the remnants of her furious blushing. Leaning forward to closely inspect her eyes, she says aloud, "Thank heaven for waterproof mascara, huh? Otherwise, I'd be all streaky."
She steals a glance at Connie out of the corner of her eye.
"I don't care if you bring the President of the United States, just as long as you bring an explanation," his father says.
Femtite is about to say something, but she’s too surprised and impressed… and maybe should be frightened, but she’s so nice. I really need to make it up to her.
She sees Percy on the dance floor alone and flags him over. It’s hard to miss someone making sunshiny-rainbowy auras while flying, waving arms overhead, and shouting, “Ohhhhh, Perrrrrrnnnnndyyyyyyyyy!”
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"Alright that's as good a go ahead as any. Be there soonish, bye."
He nods for Connie to hang up, then once she does he sighs, "Alright that's done for now... Now... we need a bag and a big one."
Sitting up slightly he conjures a large backpack, likely used for mid-range hiking. "Now it's all simple, I shrink down, get in the bag, you take the bag and then I'll teleport you to down the street from the house. Get inside and then I'll slink out. Don't think it'd work well if I went at my current size too well ya know? And uh, before any of this goes-sideways. Thanks Connie, for being here with me and helping with my parents."
Percy catches a glimpse of Femtite, Chastity, and the short figure of Connie near the bathrooms. But she's already gone by the time he could react. "S$+*.." Then Chastity dips back into the bathroom, in what he can only surmise is an attempt to see what's up. "Double s%+%." It's then that Femtite turns towards him and makes a bee-line towards him.
'Wait.. can we go up to triple s+!+? Did I mess up so bad that Femtite's coming to scold me, whatever just don't-' He waves sheepishly at the Pixite princess. "Hey, I think maybe just this once at this party it's okay to call me Percy, Femms. Try not to get used to it though I guess." His glacial blue eyes flick over to the bathroom, not at all subtly. 'Don't you dare ask, you'll catch her later and can apologize.' So he refocuses on Femtite.
"Yoooouuuuu... wanna join me? I was about to go ask Tobias if he wanted to snag some sushi. I think I saw Rain head that way earlier too and I'm starving."
Femtite points toward the bathroom door. “My girlfriend and ex-girlfriend are in there. I’m just gonna stay here, and just… not… mov..”
She finally reacts to the unfamiliar name. “Ooh! Who’s Tobias!”
A spark darts over to Percy and his friend.
Femtite grows back suddenly, and in a different outfit—a sparkling red strapless, backless gown that resembles a rose in full bloom from the waist down.
She curtsies to Tobias.
“Princess Femtite of the Lavender Spire, Envoy to the Council of Queens. A pleasure to meet you, Tobias. How is it that you’ve come to know Percival?” If he’s from school, I’m going to look really dumb.
Connie has to laugh. It's an ugly, barked out escapee of a laugh, and it brings the first few tears with it. "That," she laughs again, "Was a pretty f%**ing good opener."Oh f$#+ me, she might be the most socially well adjusted gal here. That's... devastating.
She shoves partially assembled noise baffling gear into her clutch and wipes her face far more aggressively than most makeup could withstand.
"I'm actually... yeah I'm fine by metrics relevant to this conversation. I'm just pissed and hurt. Finally manage to open up to a guy about some s%$@ in my past and he's like 'oh it sucks that your family used to alternately starve and force feed you like a goose, my mom wouldn't let me have dessert unless I ate all my vegetables, plus there's sushi here now!' Not literally what we were talking about and I just needed to get the f~%! outta there. Thank f~## I'm not into him, but g#%~~$n. Might finish paying penance there just by talking to him about unrelated s~!% until he emotionally sucker punches me ten or twelve more times."
She shakes her head, eyes fixed on the ceiling above her. "Seriously, there is no emotional obliviousness like a teenage boy's obliviousness, so kudos on dodging that bullet at least. Oh, I'm Connie by the way. We never actually met."
***
Connie just grins more broadly as they dance. "Wait sorry, is this you trying to say that you're not an old, old nerd? 'Cause being old enough to have had a dance card and not doing it isn't one of those two uncools make a right kinda thing. ...It might work for Monopoly though. So... did Psyche teach you to dance then? Or Princess Kitty Kat Fantastico?"
"Jesus, please no!" He says, laughing. "The last thing I want is everyone in here going 'what the f#++' is playing and then seeing me look like a fool." He never liked being the center of attention, specially when doing something he was not comfortable with.
Caio focuses on easy steps, knowing that even if off, he could use some of them independently of the music being played, as long as it was not a romantic-slow one. "One day I'll have to take some lessons on this..."
Another thing about dancing that always bothered him was the intimacy of it. He was always reticent of where to put his hand, how hard to hold someone, how close to pull...
"Do people still look at you like you're going to become Dusk?" She glances at the other superpowered individuals around the dance floor, partnering up for the next song. "I'll bet everyone here's thinking I could start snacking on them at any moment."
"Not everyone has made the connection between Horizon and Dusk. The caped community certainly." He continues to dance with her through the next song, leading with one hand on her waist. "As much as I think that I've earned their trust, I know a lot of it comes from Whippoorwill's support. I wonder how many of them are waiting for me to go bad like a milk bottle left out of the ice box."
He keeps up the pace of the music even as they continue their discussion. "But I'd go crazy if I dwelled on that. I might never get their full approval, but as long as I follow my conscience and do what I know is right then I can continue living here. I know I'm not going to go and start a fight here. You know you're not going to drain someone of their powers without good cause."
He squeezes her hand gently. "Sometimes though, I feel like my power wants me to use it. It's always on at least a little that I can't control. Just enough that my skin feels cold to the touch to others."
Mentioning Psyche makes him falter a step before picking right back up. "...she was the first girl I ever danced with, in this period and where I came from. And..."
He gets a little quiet as he focuses on moving his body along with Connie, trying to focus on the present and not dwell on the recent past.
"Grace though, we danced a couple times. Mostly at the Halloween bash, before she went full cat. That was honestly a surprise." He looks over her shoulder at Devil Diva dancing with somebody else on the dance floor. "...but it's been long enough. I need to bury some hatchets tonight I think."
He takes Connie's hands, focusing back on her. "What about you? Planning to take this chance to talk to people you haven't met before? Or do you just want to have fun and forget about your troubles?"
Tobias shakes Femtite's hand. "Hi, nice to meet one of Perc's teammates. I was his guy in the chair. Literally." He smirks.
"That's a neat trick with the dress," he compliments. "Since you shrink, does your clothes have some kind of technology in them to change size and shape?"
Valerie's mouth twists into a smile bittersweet with shared understanding about powers wanting to be used. "I know what that's like. Except my power keeps me alive so I can't not use it. But at least I can take a crowded bus and feed off of anyone who gets grabby." She drapes her arms over his shoulders during the dance. "Siphon: saving the world by teaching creepers the meaning of consent," she sing-songs.
At the compliment to her opening, Chastity offers a bright and effervescent smile that goes a long way in telling why Femtite fell for her. That smile fades into a look of genuine sympathy as Connie continues to speak.
"Yeah, I know. We go to the same school. Chastity Robertson. It's all right we haven't met; I'm one of the NSBs." She pauses, taking a glance herself to the ceiling as a courtesy. "Sorry that your friend trampled on your feelings. That can be really hard, especially coming from someone you've opened up to." She lets that hang in the air a moment. "I can give you space, if you'd like."
Femtite is so giddy to talk tech, she doesn’t feel so nervous about Chastity and Connie chatting while both a bit flustered.
“Oh, wow… you’re a tech guy, aren’t you? Haha. Well, at the subatomic level, technology and biochemistry are hardly different. Maybe it’s true at the atomic level as well, but harder to see because of the elements that make up living and nonliving structures.
“What I mean is, my Goddesslike Beauty program—the official name; sorry if it’s presumptuous—is a program I run through my own mind! Originally, through my first ‘car.’ I have fairy- and angel-winged variations of this body, clothing and hair from various goddesses, or popcultural goddess-equivalents such as Princesses Peach, Tinkerbelle and She-Ra. Hairdos included and interchangeable.
“To tell you the truth, my clothing is as much Me as this body. It’s a simple trick of converting energy to matter and back, called Radical Shapeshifting because of the manipulation of radicals to shift my size and shape. But it’s easier to just say I ‘shrink’ and ‘grow.’”
Not knowing where the TMI line is, Femtite adds one more infodumpling that a tech guy might like:
“I can also use this ability on Earth technology. I’m essentially a gremlin, in this respect. Only it’s not a power I use frivolously, since the altered device usually melts into a pinkish-purplish goop after a use or two.”