Dawn couldn't help but smile at Avery. Something about her had something in Dawn stirring... Probablh just nerves of a new person. She could say the same for Sage! "Yeah, um, alright," she said, then leading their little group into the facility. Darcy and the mysterious teacher watched as more students followed after them.
"I hope she knows what she's doing..." Darcy said.
"She always does," Walter responded.
Dawn happily brought her friends to the topmost floor, happily showing them around the classrooms while she did. Opening the door revealed a cramped room with a pair of bunk beds, a table with four chairs and a microwave hanging off the edge, and a large window filling the entire room with light and overlooking the sandy training stage. There were already lots of vases and pots filled with flowers decrotating the room. "I can always move some stuff around..." Dawn said as she placed one of the smaller flowers on the windowsill. "The place comes with lots of things to work around powers. Nobody's gonna be burning or disintergrating any sheets here!"
"Whoa," Sage fluttered to the window, staring out at the huge campus. The training stage stretched below, covered in waves of pale sand. Further on was an enormous garden with dozens of blooming plants, and even beyond that was the huge wall, stretching into the sky. The afternoon sun beamed down, giving everything a wonderful golden glow. "It's beautiful...you're telling me your mother built all this?"
Dawn blushed and rubbed the spine of her book. "Um, well, yeah," she stuttered. It was a bit shocking that her mother was the one who did all this. Money, influence, and friends, I guess... "I mean, she definitely had a lot of other supers helping her out, but yeah. She likes to call herself a visionary. Whatever that means."
"I can't believe one person accomplished all this," Sage cried, bobbing up and down as she gestured to the campus. How come I didn't know any of this existed before? "It is quite impressive," Avery murmured, smiling. She had claimed the lowest bunk and had opened her canister, the purple wax within swirling around her shoulders.
Dawn grinned nervously at Sage and put her book down on the windowsill. "Well, with investors and stuff, but yeah... I guess she did." It really didn't hit until now just the amount of resources poured into an academy for to-be superheroes. Superheroes. They were going to be taught mathmatics while also learning moral dilemmas and how to punch people so hard they knock out but don't die? How to put their lives on the line? Suppose it was better than doing it all alone... "Oh!" Dawn decided to break her own train of thought, "What is that?" She quickly approached Avery and leaned over the canister curiously. "We never asked you about your powers, did we? Does this have something to do with it?"
Meanwhile, Izzy paced back and forth in the courtyard. "I have to choose! Who thought of that?! Ugh, now I have to do this all by myself!" she whined. Izzy soon began speeding around to different groups of students, struggling to find anyone who wanted to room with the streak of colors racing around. She ended up in front of Evan and Sam. "Hey, are you still looking for- Ah, damn it! Y'all aren't girls, are you?!" In a moments notice, she was a blur of color heading in the opposite direction.
"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be flattered or offended," Evan muttered flatly, watching Izzy speed away. Sam pulled a jar of peanut butter from their backpack, unscrewing the lid. "Is your skin supposed to be that color?" they asked, looking Evan up and down. "I suppose not," he glanced down at his green-tinged hands. With a slow blink, the color leeched out of him, staining the tiled floor. Sam watched in fascination, scooping peanut butter into their mouth. "I think you're supposed to use a spoon for that," Evan wrinkled his nose. "Why?" Sam asked, peering over the top of their jar. "Well...isn't that kind of unsanitary?" "Is there anyone else eating out of my peanut butter jar?" Silence. "So it's fine then." Evan sighed, glancing around. "We should probably find a room before all the good ones are taken."
Back in Dawn's dorm, Avery raised her hand, pulling some of the glowing purple substance into her palm. "I can mold stuff out of it," she explained, closing her hand around the wax. "It's called Daya. It's a sort of...energy transfer thing. I make it when I eat food. Apparently, the energy from what I consume is processed into a state of molecular instability, or nothingness. It has no structure, no defining properties whatsoever until I decide to make something out of it. See?" She opened her hand to reveal a small red rose nestled in the center of her palm. "How do you make the Daya?" Sage asked. "Like, where does it come from?" "I can show you," Avery flipped over her other hand, closing her eyes. Sage watched in fascination as the veins in her wrist began to glow, growing brighter as more Daya traveled up her arm. Then it sort of...melted through her skin, collecting like water in her palm. She then tilted her hand, letting it flow out between her fingers to join the rest of the Daya orbiting around her shoulders. "Whoa..." Sage murmured breathlessly. "That's so cool!" "Thank you," Avery smiled. "Here, you can keep this." She handed Sage the rose. "Oh, and one for you, too," another flower appeared in her hand, this one purple. She gave it to Dawn. "For letting us stay in your dorm."
Dawn was fascinated by every small movement Avery made, completely concentrated on the processes. When a purple rose appeared in front of her face, it took her a moment to realize that Avery was handing it to her as a gift. Her face went red within seconds. In an instant, beautiful roses the same shade sprouted behind her ears and around her head like a headband. "I, um, thank you?" Dawn nervously tried to push the flowers back, but they kept blooming larger as they did. Eventually she did take the Daya rose and rubbed the molded petals between her fingers. "It's expertly made... How long have you been using your powers? When did you get them?" she asked, curiosity overtaking her. Dawn promptly sat down next to Avery, awaiting a funny or heart wrenching story.
"It all started when I got bit by a radioactive spider..." Avery began. "Really?" Sage's eyes widened. Avery laughed. "No. It runs in my family. My dad had it, too," she tilted her head back, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. "I was...twelve, I think. The day after Thanksgiving. I woke up feeling really, really hungry, even though I had absolutely stuffed myself with food the previous night. And then, I opened my eyes, and all this stuff was floating around me." She waved her hand, and the Daya came rushing toward her wrist, spiraling around her arm. She chuckled. "It was funny--I thought my dad had come to visit me. My parents are divorced, you see. My mom got custody of Evan and I since my dad...well, he wasn't sober very often. Let's just say he didn't use his Daya to make flowers. Anyway, it took me a while to realize that the stuff was coming from me. As soon as I did, I absolutely freaked and went running to my mom. Thankfully, she was able to explain it all." Avery raised her hand to her face, watching the Daya collect at her fingertips. "That was six years ago. I have pretty good control of it now. Heh, the first time I tried to use it my creations came out all warped and melty. I attempted to make a horse figurine one time--it looked more like a squirrel that had been hit by a semi."
Dawn listened extremely intensely, chuckling when it seemed appropriate and sympathizing when she could. Well, if she could. Not like she had that type of male presence in her life. Or any. "That's so neat. I've heard of that stuff running in the family, but I've never actually seen it," she said, touching the Daya as it flowed. Quickly, her hand retreated. Sometimes she forgot that not everyone was so immersed as her. Soon enough, Dawn turned her attention to Sage. "Well, what about you? Don't wanna end the awesome mysterious backstory train now, right?"
"I, uh..." Sage twisted her chain over and over in her hands, making a frantic click-clack sound. "I didn't get my powers until just recently. Like, literally today. I, um, got the letter and my head got kinda fuzzy and then there were vines at my feet? I dunno." As she spoke, more of those dark green fronds curled around her legs, little bunches of crimson berries sprouting from their stems. "They always seem to be the same thing, too," she muttered, looking down at them. "I haven't been able to make any flowers like you, Dawn. I've never seen anything like them before...but that's not saying much. I don't know much about plants, anyway. Plus my memory sucks."
Green eyes met with the bracelet, but she decided against saying anything. It'd be like if someone mentioned her journal. Instead, she offered a gentle smile in an attempt to mimic Avery. The results were... up to personal interpretation. "Yeah, I know a lot of Prodiges like that. Maybe that's a good thing. Sometimes they just spring up and sometimes you're just born with it. So, you're not alone. And not-so-great memory is fine. If I didn't have my journal, I'd be lost."
It took a few seconds for Dawn to realize she was the only one left and continue. "My older brother was born with his, actually. Sound amplification, or something like that. Drove my mom mad. Imagine a little toddler having a temper tantrum the same noise level as a jet engine! We got kicked out of a lot of apartments.
"Well, anywhos, how I got mine is a little stupid. See, I was arguing with my older brother about how loud he was, but being a teen, he just kept getting louder and louder to get on my nerves," she giggled, "Until I felt I could just burst and I screamed! Then my brother screamed like a normal person and I realized thousands of cactie were all over the place and his foot was right on one!"
Dawn laughed a bit at her own story, thinking back to the angsty ginger boy refusing to make his guitar any quieter, then shrieking like a banshee and discovering his weakness: sharp objects. He lived in fear of cactie from that day on. "I feel a little bad for torturing him like that, but I don't think I was even six at the time."
Sage laughed. "I have a brother, too! A younger one. His name is Thomas. He gave me my chain." She held up the blue-and-green plastic bracelet. "He has all sorts of little things to fidget with. I steal them from him sometimes." "Is he a Prodigy, too?" Avery asked. "Not that I know of," Sage muttered. Her eyes became distant. "Although...there was one odd thing that happened. He..." She trailed off, turning her gaze to the ground. The vines around her legs wilted, their bright red berries shriveling to brown.
"Uh, uh-" Dawn panicked, approaching Sage as normally as possible. She knew the dangers of asking a Prodigy's past, but she always took the risk anyway. Curiousity kills the cat every time. Though, it did comfort her knowing maybe they were even more similar than they first thought. She placed her hand on Sage's shoulder. "So, um, how about we go... to the cafeteria! I'm getting hungry. Or the garden! It's really pretty, despite the heights. Or we can go to the faculty room and meet some teachers! Help ease first day nerves and all. Or-" Dawn went on and on about ways to distract the group of them. She really needed to be more careful with who she asked these kinds of questions, or she needed to be more brave about listening to the answers. Maybe both.
"The cafeteria sounds good," Sage said softly, trying to pull her face into a smile. "My lollipop is almost gone, anyway." She pulled the candy out of her mouth. There was only a tiny, glassy sphere of pink perched on the end of the stick. She frowned at it, twirling the white cylinder between her fingers. "I'm getting low on these. They help me with my nerves..." "What brand are they?" Avery asked. "I dunno, just some generic candymaker," Sage shrugged. "Here's the wrapper, if it helps. I'm pretty sure they're the kind you get from the gas station. Cheap. After all, I wouldn't expect Nelson to go the extra mile." Avery took the wrapper, studying it closely. Then, she reached into her canister, pulling out a bag of the same watermelon lollipops. "Here you go," she said, handing them to Sage. "Hopefully they taste the same. Sometimes it takes a few tries for me to get the flavor just right." "Wow...thank you," Sage murmured, taking the bag. "I didn't know you could make food." "I can make all kinds of things," Avery shrugged. "As long as they're inanimate." "Thank you so much," Sage repeated excitedly. She stuffed the lollipops into her backpack, bouncing a little on her toes. "No problem," Avery said, smiling. She rubbed her stomach. "I am getting pretty hungry though. To the cafeteria?"
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