Young Writers Society

Estella Fay gasped. “You write songs? That’s fascinating. Do you play an instrument, then? My governess said that music is vital to a woman’s education, so you had to learn at some point. I learned the piano myself.”

Heliodor Everett tapped her on the shoulder. “Give her a chance to respond.”

Estella Fay flushed. “Right, sorry.”

"Sometimes I do," Jo said, grinning. "It really depends on the song, you know? I also do a lot of tech stuff, which wouldn't really make sense to you. But I mostly rely on my voice. I can do a lot with it."

Their smile turned a bit more mischievous. That was the main way they used their mutant power.

"They use their power in their songs," Kyle clarified.

Jo gave a fake offended gasp. "I was going to keep it a surprise!"

"You already showed off your power," Kyle pointed out.

"Just the visuals, though," Jo argued. "Not the audio part."

Estella Fay laughed. “You can use your voice to control your power? I’m envious. Us alis we have to change how our eyes see the world. Like this.”

Estella Fay blinked, and now there was a thin, yellow film on the surface of her eyes. It made her eyes glow slightly, making her features seem brighter. “And once I do this, I can see the individual spots of light in the air.” She blinked again and the film disappeared, leaving just her normal golden eyes.

Heliodor Everett hummed. “Fascinating. I can certainly see why my tutor failed to teach me that.”

"Oh, wow," Jo said, eyes wide in surprise and awe. "I'm sure there's some mutant who uses their power like that, but it's definitely not us."

She grinned a bit and glanced over at Kyle.

"Permission to use your voice?" they asked.

"You're going to use it even if I say no," Kyle pointed out. He really did know her all too well.

Jo cleared her throat. When they spoke a moment later, they were using Kyle's voice instead. It was clear from the amusement in their voice that they had done this a hundred times before, and that she took great joy in doing it. "I can control my voice as part of my power. I don't need to use it to control my power. I'm actually one of Mutopia's shapeshifters. I can make myself sound and look like other people."

She coughed.

When they spoke again, they were back to using their own voice. "I can't copy their powers, but I can copy pretty much anything other than that. I'm a theater kid at heart, so it was the perfect power for me."

Estella Fay bounced on her toes, tapping her wrists together in excitement. “Malvis can’t do that! I’ve never met anyone who could. How does it work, and-“ She paused, her face brightening even more. “Heliodor Everett! You need to learn how to use your fire powers!”

Heliodor Everett flinched at the sudden attention at him. “Pardon?”

Estella Fay nodded. “I taught myself how to use my alis powers. Mostly by accident, but that’s beside the point. So I can teach you! You’ll be able to make and control fire.” She laughed. “This is amazing! We all have amazing capabilities, I’m sure. Though I haven’t seen yours, yet.” She pointed at Kyle. “But I’m sure it’s amazing.”

"Hopefully," Kyle said quietly and darkly, "you won't have to see it."

Jo knew he was indifferent to his power, but her stomach flopped at the thought of them getting into a situation where the only solution was for him to use his power.

"I vote on teaching him to use his powers!" Jo said, quick and eager to change the topic. Kyle's power was a power best left hidden most of the time. Jo's technically was, too, but there was no problem letting its existence be known if they were good enough at replicating the person they were shifting to seem like. "It's cool being able to get in touch with another side of yourself. It was really freeing once I started getting the hang of my own."

Heliodor Everett nervously glanced between them. “So I have the ability to do what you just did?”

Estella Fay hummed. “Not exactly. You’re a fire alis, so it’ll work differently for you. The first thing we want to do is build a fire. Can we do that? I know how to, but it might not be safe if we don’t want to attract attention. If not, we can just start with controlling your eyes, but it’s hard to do that when you don’t have your element in front of you.”

Heliodor Everett swallowed. “Alright.”

Kyle eyed the woods. Jo did, too.

"As of right now," Kyle said, "we haven't run into anything dangerous. I think we could get away with lighting a fire."

Jo nodded in agreement. It had been risky lighting them back in the Dark Year, too, but at least they had the seclusion of the Arizonian wilderness then. They'd have to hope for the best here. "There's, uh, just one problem: Kyle and I don't have anything to start a fire with."

Estella Fay grinned. “Don’t worry! Artemis taught me how to start a fire. She used to live in the forest until guards attacked.”

Heliodor Everett looked away.

She winced. “Sorry. Anyway, she probably wouldn’t like this forest very much. Her forest had didn’t have any ghosts. But, what she taught me is still useful! First thing we need to do is collect very small sticks and dead leaves. They’re much easier to light then logs.”

"I can definitely do that," Jo promised.

Before Kyle could offer to collect the supplies as well, Jo spun around on her heels, walked a few feet away from the rest of the group, and started collecting the supplies they needed.

Kyle sighed, but didn't berate them. He joined her by picking up some small sticks as well.

“Alright, Heliodor Everett-“ Estella Fay paused. “You need a nickname.”

“Pardon?” Heliodor Everett grabbed a handful of leaves from the ground.

Estella Fay nodded. “Something short that honors both of your names.”

Heliodor Everett shrugged. “If you say so.”

Estella Fay grabbed a few twigs of her own. “Okay, when you have enough we make a pile with them.” Estella Fay formed a small lump with the debris.

Kyle and Jo both deposited their collection of twigs and leaves into Estella Fay's.

"Heliverett," Jo suddenly said.

Kyle blinked and stared at her. "What?"

"Heliverett," Jo repeated with a completely serious tone of voice. "It's a combination of Heliodor Everett. You could also do Dorever, but."

They shrugged. Kyle stared at them a little bit longer, then looked away. He wasn't even sure where to begin with responding to those suggestions. At least Jo was trying to help by coming up with nicknames.

"Is it normal for people for your Earth to have two names you regularly use?" Kyle asked, turning to Estella Fay and Heliodor Everett. He had assumed that Fay and Everett were their last names earlier, but it seemed like they used both in conversation.

Estella Fay shook her head. “It’s an alis practice. Alis are descended from the sons of angels who took mortal women for wives.”

Heliodor Everett dumped his collection. “Rumored to be descended from.”

Estella Fay sighed. “Regardless, we have two first names to honor the unity of humanity and divinity. Man of dust, and angel of heaven. Two names.”

“It’s one of the only part of culture that’s still our own.” Heliodor Everett brushed dirt off of his hands. “I never learned that we had elemental powers and it’s illegal for us to fly. We’re a people in shambles, I suppose. Nothing of ours is sacred.”

Estella Fay’s face fell. “And that’s what I’m fighting for. I don’t want this-“ She stretched her wings to their full length, the light catching the yellow in an explosion of sunlight. “-to be illegal.” She shook her head. “But we’re not worried about that today! I’m going to teach you how to use your powers and then you can learn to fly, and everything will be great!”

"Yeah!" Jo agreed, copying Estella Fay's enthusiasm. They barely knew anything about Estella Fay and Heliodor Everett's world, but she was determined to help him get used to using his powers.

"We also have two names," Kyle noted. Jo grinned. Even though he pretended like he couldn't care about being a mutant, it was so obvious that he was secretly fascinated by the whole thing.

"Besides our last names," Jo pointed out.

Kyle nodded in agreement. "It's normal for mutants to take on other names after they get their powers. It's to honor our new selves."

It was also, Jo thought, an act of protest, but they had already talked about how bad things were over in the other Earth. She got why Kyle didn't want to sour the mood by bringing up their Earth's issues.

“Now, Artemis calls this pile astillas. And now we have to gather thicker sticks to sustain the pile when it’s lit. You can pull them off of dead tries or just find them on the ground.”

Estella Fay picked up a thick branch and snapped it in half. “Like this!” She showed it off to the group. “You don’t want anything living. It won’t burn as well.”

Heliodor Everett smoothed his hair. “This is an awful lot of trouble-“

“No trouble at all!” Estella skipped to a dead tree. “It’ll most likely be dark soon, anyway. It’s best to get settled before nightfall.”