[Deleted]

WORDS: 343

TAGS: OPEN

"That's so pretty." It had not been the reaction she expected, especially out of Alice. Claire had caught a glimpse of the tattoo's odd color when she'd stepped out of the shower just yesterday, twisting herself to see it better along with the barely-blue tint to her pale skin. She knew she would've curled back into her shell had Alice started hopping around and yelling in excitement, but what she said actually had Claire looking over her shoulder to her with a soft, surprised expression. "Really?"

"Woah." Mason breathed, causing her eyes to look in his direction and then duck down with a rather abashed face. They both thought that, it seemed. She felt naked, suddenly. Not ugly or unwanted, but strangely exposed. Like a nerve. Her hand dropped the tank top's strap back to where it had been so she could turn around, a hand rubbing onto her opposite forearm with shoulders pulled upwards - flushed. "It's nothing, really.." 

"What do you mean by full proof? Have you been trying other things as well? Like other than keys and forks I mean?
"

"I uh.. I put my hand on a pan I pulled out of the oven. It didn't hurt.. didn't burn the skin either. So I guess-," she shrugged, letting the silent sentence finish itself.

"Have you been trying that kinda stuff alone?"

Her head turned to Mason, obviously caught off guard by the question. "W-well, yeah, I mean-,"

"What if you got hurt?"

She swallowed, a sudden pang of guilt rising in her chest and making her head drop down. "Sorry..." then she lifted it, trying to make it right again to the both of them, "It wasn't purposeful at first, and then after I didn't feel anything I just put my hand on it-," she took a breath and realized the comment for what it was. He'd just been worried. "I'll be more careful next time. Kay?" her hand extended out carefully towards his voice, looking for a handshake.

NOTES: I promise.
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Mason Warner + Claire Elliot + wearing

“Well yeah… so pretty, don’t you think so?” Alice was still struggling to accept that anyone might not want these abilities, and might be frightened when new ones appeared, instead of awestruck. Alice fell very firmly into the latter camp. She couldn’t help but be excited about all of these things. The comic books that she had horded under her bed were coming to life, and she was desperate to make the characters that she loved so much step out of the pages. Mason was right though, they still didn’t know how exactly these abilities worked, and who knew what exactly they could do if they really pushed them? At least they had been practising in a large and just about abandoned warehouse. It was in a not uninhabited district, but they’d all been together, so if something had gone wrong there was someone there to help, or call an ambulance should the worst happen. Alice therefore kept quiet about her own small experiments outside of the warehouse. She hadn’t done anything huge, but it was tempting. There was only so much they could do in an old rusting shell of a building and in her cupboard like apartment. “Don’t worry, this stuff is so different, how could you not want to test it out sometimes?” Although now this was an opportunity for Claire to come and join them, Alice couldn’t help but bounce a little in excitement. “Oooh, oooh, you should come and experiment with us.” She leaned in, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “we have a bat cave…” Alice looked a little awkward, “except without bats, and cave really…”

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Stress Fracture

The discomfort at being centre of attention was clearly visible in Claire’s body language, but she was doing admirably in not completely shying away from them. The fact that she had felt comfortable enough with them to even demonstrate this new effect was more than enough for Mason. He knew that having all eyes on you – even if "all" constituted just two pairs of eyes – was an intimidating experience for many and a not altogether positive experience for others still. In his experience, there were very few who truly flourished and thrived in the spotlight.

“Real pretty,” he said firmly in agreement with Alice. He wouldn’t have her dismiss it as nothing so easily.

It was hard to relate to Alice’s suggestion of testing things out due to curiosity. For Mason, there was no fanciful play with his invisibility – only a constant, silent battle to gain control over it. He’d been trying hard to understand how the boundaries of his ability could be extended too, but the whole process was very difficult and he had a feeling that the subsequent frustration was not helping at all in overcoming his difficulties.

Not that touching burning hot pans was exactly "fanciful play" by most people’s standards, but there was a subtle difference there that left Mason feeling a little envious. He pushed the feeling aside. He didn’t need to add envy onto the pile of negativity that was beginning to grow within him. It was something he needed to burn down; strike a match of productivity and set fire to the worries of self-worth and invisibility until they crumbled. He needed something to take his mind off his problems by immersing himself in it.

Scolding Claire was clearly one suggestion that his brain had come up with. She’d looked terrible for a moment – so guilt-ridden – but then something had softened on her features and she offered him a hand. Apparently his scolding had been forgiven.

Mason stepped forwards and grabbed her hand carefully, giving it a firm, professional handshake. “There, we shook on it. Now you gotta behave.” He hoped she could hear the smile on his face.

“Our high school monarch isn’t selling this too well,” Mason apologised, laughing at Alice’s batless, caveless bat cave. “It would be seriously cool if you would come check out the warehouse, even if just to admire the fallen shelving unit which is probably still there after Alice tantrum-ed it to oblivion.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, adding a jeering hum so that she could get the hint.

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 477

TAGS: OPEN

"Well yeah… so pretty, don’t you think so?" Alice said it so matter-of-factly that it actually had Claire questioning herself. Was it truly and did she overlook it that easily? Her neck craned again, head turning over her shoulder to look down at the moderately exposed, glossy image that now gave off its own reflection on her skin. It was seemingly the source of her somewhat-blue tint; this new living navy in her tattoo. It was the latest one she'd gotten. "I guess it kind of is, yeah," she realized, breathing the words out as she made the small discovery.

"Real pretty." Mason's voice had her blinking and looking away from the tattoo momentarily to hide the slightest blush that she didn't understand showing under her cheeks. Too much attention. "Thanks," she rushed out, pulling her sweatshirt back into her arms with the intent to put it on until Mason had somewhat scolded her out of concern. She felt his hand hold onto her own, shaking it much firmer than she probably ever could've. Handshakes always made her nervous in interview settings.. it was something she needed work at. "There, we shook on it. Now you gotta behave." It made her smirk and respond with her own almost-snarky, "Yes, sir." He was rubbing off on her.

"Don’t worry, this stuff is so different, how could you not want to test it out sometimes?" "I don't know, I guess I've just been doing other things. Mine doesn't really change much I don't think. Like, not daily life stuff.." sorry, Mason. "I got really worried when I couldn't test myself but I've been doing alright health-wise so... guess I'll just play it by ear til I figure out something." And then it all came. The literal barrage of information from the once again easily excitable Alice. She was cute, but Claire was already in the 'center of attention' position that wanted to make her curl in a blanket fort. Thankfully, Mason stepped in to calm the air.

Man.. They really, really wanted her to come. Claire wrinkled her mouth and looked around at the kitchen to try and find something to focus on. Once her attention went back down to the sweater in her arms, she pulled it over her head and tugged it back on - giving her body a much more filled-out appearance than the twig underneath. She looked at Alice who was basically giving her puppy eyes.. then to wherever Mason was and could only imagine either his pouting, fake lip or suave eyebrow raising. Claire dropped her head in defeat, lifted it back up with a hesitant grin, and a sigh. "Okay. I'll come admire the shelving unit. But I'm just coming to look, okay? I'll draw or something while you guys have fun."

NOTES: You got me..
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Claire Elliot + Mason Warner + wearing

"Hey… I didn't tantrum." Alice pulled a face in Mason's direction, which probably did not add much to her defence. She realised that about halfway through the face-pulling, and did her best to reverse it without attracting any more attention. She felt momentarily awkward between Claire and Mason, and unsure of why, moved on as fast as she could. "It changes more than anyone else's, I mean Dom just throws lightning, and I can absorb like, energy I think, but that's all they do, just one thing. Yours makes your skin really tough and it does that too…" She paused for a moment, "I wonder what it means…" It was completely different to everyone else's abilities so far. Everyone else seemed to just do one thing. Claire's new discovery was something different, it didn't fit the pattern. Which was odd. Alice wasn't normally the kind of person who would pick up on patterns and signs like that. Admittedly though, this was more her area of expertise. She noticed these things in comic books, so why wouldn't she pick up on them when they were living in a real life comic book? "Maybe it means that you can do something else as well, that would be cool. I mean, none of the rest of us can do anything like that, maybe it's like a new power or something? Did you see if you could do anything else after it happened?" She shrugged, moving over to the couch to take a seat. She dropped back like her strings had been cut, then smiled at Claire, "yeah, come and see what we've done so far, Mason's building something for Dominic as well…" She gave what she thought of as a knowing look. She was hoping that maybe after he made something for Dominic he might be able to make something for her. After all, she couldn't exactly throw herself down the stairs every time she needed to absorb energy. She wondered whether she could absorb it from something else. If she could fall down stairs could she jump off the edge of a building? "I mean, you should get involved as well though, we could do stuff all together, wouldn't that be cool? I mean, it's not like I know anyone else with powers outside of you guys is it?"

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Stress Fracture

Mason quirked an eyebrow at the attitude Claire gave back to him with that sassy "Sir". He tried to give her his best disapproving look for a good few seconds before remembering that it was destined to go unappreciated, by which point the conversation had moved on. Man, he really needed to get a firm grip on his powers. People were missing out on some top-notch facial expressions.

“If you’re doing alright health-wise, it’s probably because of the doctor,” he said, pointing out the obvious. It was such an obvious statement that there wasn’t even a need to clarify which doctor he meant. “A major road accident – the gift that keeps on giving.”

There were leaps and bounds in Alice’s many discussions about powers that sometimes eluded Mason. She presented this idea of multiple abilities as though it was a completely logical conclusion and, to her credit, was pretty convincing with it. Colour changes and tattoo-sourced power felt like more of an aesthetic effect to Mason and yet… maybe there was more to it. Maybe Alice – the official superhero expert – was onto something here.

Mason decided to stick to handyman as his designated role of expertise. Much easier.

He couldn’t help but laugh at Claire’s reluctance. It would only be a matter of time before Alice’s contagious enthusiasm had her practising and planning with the rest of them. “If you wanna draw, get Alice to put on a show for you. Or I could make stuff look like it’s floating… I guess that’s pretty cool…”

Art had never been a strong point of Mason’s, but he was willing to try to understand it. The whole uncertain, subjective nature of it clashed very strongly with the engineering mind-set that had been drilled into him for a good decade now, after all. He was sure that random floating objects was pretty arty… right?

Alice mentioned his project for Dom, which caused him to puff up with constructor’s pride. “We’ll have a proper batless caveless bat cave by the time I’m finished with it!” he announced cheerily. He deflated a little as Alice began to press Claire to join the makeshift team. Mason was nervous that it was too soon to be suggesting such things, even vaguely, and that they might scare her off. He’d been happy to shock her with the revelation of Alice’s power but he was pretty sure that convincing the quiet, sensitive art student to join them in fighting for truth and justice required a softer touch.

But what did he know? Mason couldn’t even settle on her nickname.

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 449

TAGS: OPEN

Actually, she hadn't thought about that at all. When she'd woken up in the hospital, she felt like she'd been in hibernation; her body having cleansed itself of anything and everything through deep sleep. She hadn't been able to test herself since the incident but had kept a close eye on her diet. Still, she'd had to have flubbed up at least a few times since she was so used to relying on everyday testing numbers. "Do you really think that's.. like, possible?" she asked honestly, looking to the both of them for their opinions. Had that been why she'd been craving everything with massive amounts of sugar? She hadn't eaten a candy bar since freshman year of high school. What she wouldn't give for a Reese's...

"Something else?" she tilted her chin back against her neck to think about Alice's suggestion. An arm crossed over her chest to pull the fabric of the sweater down her shoulder a ways so she could give another glance at the tattoo. "I don't think so. I don't feel anything different. Just been that way since everything happened," she shrugged the sleeve up and leaned the back of her waist against the counter, hands holding loosely along the edge on either side of her.

As the two spoke about the renovations and Mason made a rather corny suggestion, Claire actually gave him a casual point and raised her eyebrows with a smirk. "I might take you up on that. If you can hold still for a bit. That'd be.. really neat actually." But then.. her expression tensed more and more the longer Alice tried prying past Claire's agreement and boundaries. "Alice," she shut her eyes and let her head hang from her shoulders for a moment, taking a deep breath to try and clear her head and form the right words.

"Listen.. All of this, this whole thing.." no, different path, "-I'm not you. I'm not really excited about all this. But," she took another breath and lifted her head to look over with an understanding expression, "I think it's really cool that you're happy and if you guys wan't me to come and hang out, I will. But you've gotta let me be me.. Okay?" Had it been someone her own age or older, Claire would've told them they needed to back off and give her space. But it wasn't fair to Alice.. She deserved an explanation. After a silent few seconds, Claire dipped her head down to try and catch the girl's eyes, offering a smile. "If you want, I'll even draw you something cool while you show off. Sound good?" 

NOTES: Deal?
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Mason Warner + Claire Elliot + wearing

Alice nodded enthusiastically in response to Mason's comment, "He's right, I haven't felt this good since… uh… ever. She didn't just give us powers, it's like she hit the reset button on our bodies too." She looked back at Claire, "I mean, I don't see why not. You can't do any of your insulin stuff can you? But you've not collapsed or anything. Maybe it really has taken it away. I mean she brought me back from the dead. Curing diabetes seems kinda easy by comparison." She realised, finally, that she might have pushed a little too hard regarding this training idea. Claire seemed annoyed, and she really didn't want to upset her, or anyone, or risk any of them being mad at her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pressure you or anything. I just got really excited cause I've got powers now, and you've got powers and I thought it might be fun for us to do something together." She pulled the sleeves of her hoodie awkwardly down over her hands and looked around the apartment, wishing that she could drop through the ground right now instead of blowing stuff up. Surely that would have been a more useful ability. "I didn't mean it like… I just… thought it would be nice…" She perked up a little as Claire's smile caught her eye. "Yeah that's be cool! I'd love to see some of your art!"

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Stress Fracture

For the first time in a few days, a visual flashback of the accident tore its way into Mason’s thoughts. He winced. Alice’s reminder that she’d been brought back from death had clearly triggered something in his mind. He’d been so caught up in the highs and lows of developing powers that he hadn’t really had time to think much about the crash itself. Yup, definitely still a traumatising experience. Thanks for the recap, brain.

“ I’d still keep a bunch of emergency sugar around just in case, until a doctor can confirm it or something,” Mason said hesitantly. He wasn’t really sure how diabetes worked. “But Alice is right, curing diabetes could definitely be in the doctor’s skillset.” That would be nice for Claire – an undeniably positive outcome of June 3rd.

He beamed, pleasantly surprised that Claire hadn’t shot his arty ideas down. “I can hold still! It’s typical though… my modelling career starts the second no one can see my face…”

Mason really wasn’t one to care about his looks. He supposed at least if someone were to become invisible, it was good that it was somebody like him. He could only imagine how terrible it’d be for somebody who lived and breathed on the admiration from others. Plus, he could work from home. A model didn’t really have that option…

Claire was visibly uncomfortable at the idea of joining in with power experimentation. To her credit, she was holding back fairly well from completely rejecting Alice’s invitation. Not well enough, obviously, but Alice probably would have been disappointed however she’d have put it unless the answer had been “Yes”. Alice reeled back, apologising profusely, and Mason watched with sadness as she retreated in on herself.

“It will be nice to show her the batcave,” he said gently, not really sure what else to say.

Fortunately Claire’s offer to draw something for Alice got her smiling again. It would probably take Alice a bit to really recover, but she was unexpectedly tough with this kind of thing. Her relentless attempts at positivity could only be seen as admirable in Mason’s eyes. He knew what it was like to put a happy face on, after all.

“Well you gotta give her something cool to draw now, Al,” Mason chuckled. “She’s already seen a flying bat smack you on the head after all. Shall we?”

He gestured to the door.

…Mason was definitely still in some kind of denial regarding his own transparency.

ψ