[Persephone Dean]

Recruitment Drive

In all honesty, the warehouse looked super sketchy. Although, tucked away in the midst of SoMa, Persephone was actually pleasantly surprised at how remote it felt. There probably weren’t many people who looked at such a sketchy-looking building and simultaneously felt a sense of comfort, but Persephone was definitely one of them. She was always drawn to places that she could hide away in. It was why she liked her apartment, and why she’d applied to the specific places that she now currently worked at. The diner was pretty devoid of character and could blend into the background quite easily, while the restaurant was down a small side street that would have given it “hidden gem” status had the food been of a snobbier standard.

Her smile was genuine as she thanked their invisible doorman, waiting for Alice to go ahead before she too entered the warehouse.

She hadn’t really been expecting anyone else to be here – it had seemed like a bit of an impromptu invite – but there Claire sat, pencil in hand. Made sense, it wasn’t like she actually had a job. Girl had all the free time in the world to just hang out in dodgy old industrial buildings with a sketchpad.

“Yeah, I guess they did,” she said, still not entirely sure what she was being roped in for yet. The details didn’t exactly bother her too much but she wasn’t completely apathetic. She set her bag down carefully beside the entrance and stepped further into the space to take a look at it.

“So this is where you guys have been testing out powers?”

Persephone could see a little dishevelment here and there that could be attributed to that kind of activity. She knew Dom’s power could be destructive but didn’t really know about the other two girls. Alice had definitely mentioned developing one and she vaguely remembered Claire having an ability of some sort. She hadn’t really described it – seemed reluctant to even admit that it existed. Clearly she’d accepted a little more now if she was also here in the warehouse testing stuff out.

She turned to face Alice, who seemed to be the main voice for all this. “I’m happy to be involved with testing out our powers, using them as a group and stuff… Sounds fun!” That was a lie. “But what powers do we even have? He’s invisible, Dom shoots electricity… What about you guys?”

If Dom and Alice truly thought there was a potential here to utilise their powers, surely at least one of them had something impressive that really sparked this idea to help people. Sure, Persephone could grow some really nice tomatoes for people but she wasn’t sure how much she could do as a superhero. Was this really a suggestion for full-on, action-packed superhero battles against crime?

Well, it was flashy. It would certainly grab people’s attention, both the wrong and the right sorts. An opportunity to expose the doctor’s work, perhaps? Time would only tell.

ψ

[Alice Morrow]

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

Alice watched Persephone carefully, she had become a little aware over the last few days that not all of the others shared her enthusiasm for this idea. Persephone at least did not seem opposed, and once she had looked about the warehouse, she seemed positively excited about it. Her deception flew straight over the blue-haired girl's head. Even better, Persephone had asked about something that Alice had been dying to talk about. It had taken long enough to convince Stephen that she actually had powers. Mason had seen everything she could do, and Alice was still trying to tread carefully around Claire. Here was someone who seemed interested in her powers! She almost bounced with excitement. "Mine is soooo cool! I sort of need some to help out though." She looked around anxiously for something that could be sued to help out. It wasn't as if there was a shortage of wrecked shelving units around here, including a few with entirely separated legs. She crossed to the nearest pile, one that had been used as target practice by both her and Dom judging by the scorch marks on the crumpled metal. She yanked a metal leg free and held it up. It was about three feet long, jagged at one end where it had snapped. She turned back to Persephone and held the bar out. "Mason?" The invisible man responded as she wished, and the bar was taken gently from her grip, the jagged end clearly being used as the handle. They might be confident in her powers but it was clear he would rather avoid the possibility of stabbing her. She took on a strong stance looking a little like she was squaring up to a fight. This time she didn't flinch as the bar whirled towards her. Once again it stopped dead with barely a sound, once, twice, three times. It should have been vibrating in Mason's grip, but it had simply stopped as if it had never been moving in the first place. She looked at the metal bar, a thought occurring to her. "I'm going to try something new. Can I get that back Mason?" She took the bar back and held it with both hands, turning to face the opposite end of the warehouse. She could feel the energy dancing inside of her, vibrating along her bones, eager to go somewhere. She focused on the metal between her fingers, and then raised it over her head. She took a step forward and flung the bar forward. She felt the energy flowing out of her fingers as the metal left her hands. For just a fraction of a second before she let go the metal felt warm, as if it was alive. Then it accelerated, tearing itself free from her arms like a bird of prey. The metal bar flew across the warehouse at far greater speed than she should have been able to throw it, Mason's strength compounded by the weight of the metal bar adding up to much more than Alice could have attempted. It clattered against the wall, chips of red brick splintering off such was the force of it's impact. "Ow…" Alice sucked at her fingers. Clearly the bar had not enjoyed having its kinetic energy multiplied exponentially while it was motionless. If she wanted to try that again she would have to let go a little earlier. The pain didn't stay on her mind for long. "How cool was that?"

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Recruitment Drive

Mason’s grin was astronomical as he spotted Claire. Her greeting was casual as ever but he was sure that some enthusiasm for the whole idea was beginning to creep up on her. The fact that she noted their early arrival meant that she had intentionally arrived early herself. It wasn’t quite the jumping, dancing and spinning that Alice and Mason liked to indulge in but she definitely seemed to have warmed up considerably to spending time in the warehouse.

“Don’t sound too excited,” Mason teased as Persephone somewhat reluctantly admitted to being "roped in too". “Whatcha drawing, Picasso?”

His latest attempts at nickname had been famous artists. Unfortunately, Mason was quickly running out of names… Did Banksy count? Ronaldo? No, wait- he was a footballer.

It was actually quite interesting taking in Persephone’s reaction. She hadn’t given much away and so he wasn’t really sure how happy she’d be to join the makeshift supergroup but she actually seemed quite intrigued. Then she even said it sounded fun! The reaction was a bit of a surprise, but at least it was a pleasant one.

Alice practically leapt at the chance to show off her powers to Persephone. It was, after all, a pretty amazing power to demonstrate and still something that Mason hadn’t quite wrapped his head around. Alice seemed happy with it though, and she was certainly happy in getting to grips with it herself, so that’s all that mattered. He wished he could be at that level too – desire to understand it driven purely by excitement rather than desperation. He wouldn’t have swapped powers with her for the world though – she clearly loved her current set.

A menacing-looking metal leg was torn from one of the piles they should have cleaned up from last time they experimented in here. “Here,” he said, taking the bar from her as softly as possible. He didn’t want to snatch it and catch her by surprise in case her power didn’t have time to respond. Swinging it wildly at her once she knew it was coming? He’d done that enough times by now to be perfectly content with that routine. Still, he kept the jagged end away from Alice. Just in case.

“Ready, Persephone?”

He said it more for Alice than he did her, making sure Alice was really, really ready, and then hauled it round to smack straight into the side of her shoulder. He grunted – it was kinda heavy. Then, heaving it back, he struck her a second and a third time. Gotta give Persephone a proper show, right? With each blow he marvelled at the way it just… stopped, and at the way that Alice barely even blinked. It was awesome.

Then Alice took the weapon back in her hands and spun around to face the far wall. He was about to ask what she was doing, and then it happened.

He winced as the wall took the force of the projectile, making a mental note to check whether the structure was still safe, but was unable to really focus on health and safety when he’d just witnessed Alice launch a freaking rocket from nothing.

“WOAAHH that’s new, okay, okay. Wait,” he frowned. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

He’d gotten so used to her invincibility that he was even more concerned than usual about the injuries. She didn’t seem too worried herself though. Eventually he let himself relax.

“So cool, Paladin,” he said proudly, deciding the moment was a little too cool to deserve a Prom Queen reference. There were plenty of opportunities for PQ, he’d let her have Paladin for this one.

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 327

TAGS: Mason Warner , Alice Morrow , Persephone Dean

"Whatcha drawing, Picasso?"

She smirked at the nickname but ultimately shook her head as a silent 'sorry, no cigar'. That wouldn't quite do yet. Since Mason had insisted beyond everything and anything that she have a nickname, Claire had decided to wait until the opportune one. So far, nothing had stuck.

"So this is where you guys have been testing out powers?"

"Well.." where they had been. But instead of continuing that unnecessary sentence and being Johnny Rain Cloud, she quieted and looked back down to her sketchpad to let Alice and Mason introduce Persephone to the space. Honestly, she was surprised that she seemed so.. ecstatic. Really, really ecstatic. She lifted her head from the pad to watch them exchange words until Alice had moved into position to make a display.

Claire's attention dropped back down to the picture to continue working on a line she had been trying to get just right. It kept looking wrong.. so it had been erased a few times and redone. It was getting better. Maybe if she darkened the curve-*THWUNG!* Claire straightened from her seat on the toolbox and stared wide-eyed at the chunk of metal that had shot towards the wall like some major league baseball pitcher had gotten a hold of it.

Mason wasn't the only one that was concerned. No time was wasted as soon as 'ow' had come out of her mouth, Claire hopping off of the box and leaving the sketchpad and pencil behind to jog her way quickly over to the blue-haired girl. "Hey," she reached out, grabbing gently for one of Alice's hands and turned it over to take a look at it. "What happened? Are you okay?" Claire's eyes went up to the girl to check for any pain past her excitement. Mason's worry remained, but he was quick to congratulate the astonishing thing they'd all just witnessed.

NOTES: Skinny mama bear.
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Persephone Dean]

Recruitment Drive

She needed help with her power? Interesting. Persephone’s was so personal; it was hard to imagine involving someone else in demonstrating it. No, that wasn’t true at all. A lot of the ideas for potions she’d had were for other people. The source of it all was in her but the application seemed broader. If Persephone had been mulling this over at home alone, maybe she would have had a thoughtful moment of reflection… but she wasn’t, so she didn’t. She simply smiled and waved to indicate that she was ready for the demonstration.

There was certainly a good selection of debris for Alice to select from, if that was what she needed. What could she do with a short metal bar? Transform it into a sword?

Watching her hand it over to Mason was bizarre. She still hadn’t quite gotten used to his invisibility and so it was quite hard to convince her own brain that the metal wasn’t floating eerily in space of its own accord. She watched it carefully rotate before holding firm, as though Mason was shifting his grip on it, and then she heard his voice call out.

“Yeah, read-!”

He cut off her response with a sudden movement, the makeshift weapon hurtling towards the girl before…

What?

It just stopped. Alice didn’t even react. The bar drew back and then struck another two times, neither of the strikes producing so much as a scratch. It hadn’t bounced away like she was invulnerable it had just… stopped.

“That’s amazing!” she said, and she meant it. Then Alice spoke. Something new? Something more impressive?

In a way, Persephone was actually slightly less impressed by the launching of the bar across the room. Both were novel demonstrations to her and the ability to remain unaffected by attacks appealed to her more than the potential to cause damage to the brickwork. Now, however, she could see why becoming a superhero seemed like such a viable course of action.

It seemed to have caused some slight friction but the girl looked fine. Mason and Claire over-reacted a little, Claire going so far as to rush to her side and grab her hand for inspection, but she seemed entirely fine… excited even.

“I agree, awesome,” she said, assuming that Paladin was yet another nickname. “What about you Claire? I don’t think I’ve ever seen your power.”

ψ

[Alice Morrow]

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

Alice's hand was uninjured, mostly. They were a little red, and they stung a little, but it was no real lasting damage. She sucked on them gingerly. At least until Claire grabbed her other hand to inspect it. She allowed Claire to, eager to return to their previous level of friendliness. "I'm fine, just friction burn I think." She shrugged apologetically, "I think it just wanted to go a bit faster than I could, you know… like metal bars normally want to…" She looked at the damaged brickwork at the opposite end of the building, it was nearly a hundred feet away. The now less than straight metal bar was lying on the floor, having rebounded and clattered to the floor. She looked back to Persephone, glad that her demonstration had at least impressed. She nodded vigourously, wanting to explain, but not wanting to take the opportunity away from the artist. "It is so cool, it was the first one we saw, and there's something else that's really pretty, it's like…" She caught herself, "Sorry, I shouldn't, it's not my power." It was weird, but these powers were clearly a part of who they were, they were personal, and they should be treated as such. She couldn't tell someone else about them, it was like outing someone before they were ready.

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[Mason Warner]

Recruitment Drive

Although it didn’t look like Alice’s hands were about to fall off or anything, Mason felt obligated to at least try to help out. He certainly didn’t want the redness to turn into blisters. Also, Claire seemed super concerned; maybe taking some precautions would put her at ease.

“You should run those under some cold water for a while,” he suggested. “That bar certainly seemed, uh, enthusiastic!”

They had running water in this building, right?

Mason had to admit that he was surprised Alice had been affected at all – apparently she could withstand baseball bats and tumbles down entire flights of stairs but not friction? It could have been that she wasn’t expecting it and that her power was somehow not ready to absorb that sudden energy… Ugh, no, Mason still didn’t really get it. He was sure she’d figure it out herself eventually.

He blinked at Persephone’s directness. She was just outright demanding a demonstration of Claire’s powers? Had she not noticed the way Claire felt about, well, all of this? Her attitude had certainly gotten more positive but that didn’t mean she was ready to jump up and demonstrate. She could surprise him and boldly show Persephone what she could do, he supposed, or maybe she could get away with a simple explanation of her power. Mason was always happy to be pleasantly surprised, however.

It was almost funny to see the way Alice held herself back from taking over the description of Claire’s power. They’d definitely established some kind of concept of ownership over their powers. There was still something a little demoralising about having a personal connection to being unseen, but the connection was still there. He wouldn’t expect anyone else to try and understand his experience to explain to others. It was unique, a part of him, like a weird, unexpected new limb. That didn’t function as a limb. Obviously.

“If Claire joined in with our team idea, she’d be awesome, her power really is pretty cool,” he contributed, trying his best not to make the decision for her. “Almost as cool as her drawings,” he added with a wink. “Almost.”

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 391

TAGS: Mason Warner , Alice Morrow , Persephone Dean

"Yeah, cold water," she agreed, a relieved smile smoothing out her worried features. Needless to say, ever since the hospital, she'd grown protective. She would have been more so over Persephone had the girl not separated from the group so quickly and resumed her normal life. Claire didn't blame her in the least, she'd try to do the same but it was hard when you were a full-time student out of school. Chicago - home - had been waiting for her until the crash.

After realizing the odd strain in the air from her natural reaction to Alice's hiss of pain earlier, she let the hand drop and took a step back before looking over to Persephone's question. "What about you Claire? I don’t think I’ve ever seen your power." A second before she could open her mouth, Alice already began to speak for her, bragging on her behalf almost, and then briefly mentioning its rather visually unique source.

Things had been relaxing since Claire had the mini-talk in the kitchen with the younger girl and she was grateful that she seemed to understand and had been trying to change her approach. Even now, after starting with her unrivaled excitement, she slowed down and apologized. It hadn't gone unnoticed. Claire gave her a thankful smirk and slid her slender fingers into the pockets of her jeans.

"If Claire joined in with our team idea, she’d be awesome, her power really is pretty cool. Almost as cool as her drawings. Almost." The expression on her face in his direction read 'good save' and she'd be lying if she didn't admit that the wink she could practically hear in his voice made her want to see how goofy his face looked when he'd done it.

"It's really just a less impressive version of Alice's," her bony shoulders shrugged back at Persephone. "And I'm paler. Somehow. Didn't think that was possible," a small, amused breath left her and she let one hand lift to rub the back of her neck. She was bad at explaining it, but didn't actually mind talking about it for once. Nice and slow. "Mason tried to stab me with a fork once. Kind of just... pulled a Matrix." There is no spoon.

NOTES: Opening a little.
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Persephone Dean]

Recruitment Drive

Honestly, Alice seemed to have already shaken off whatever superficial injuries she’d sustained. Even Claire had pulled herself together once Mason had suggested a little first aid. She wondered idly how much Claire had agreed to the plan that the others had been putting together. It didn’t seem like the kind of work that would appeal to the more nervous type – not that Persephone really knew what the work would entail. The concept felt too close to fantasy, too far from normalcy, to really allow her mind to analyse it any further than “fighting crime”.

It would work out. Dom would have a plan and it would be driven largely by the more enthusiastic members like Alice and Mason. All Persephone had to do was come along for the ride and hopefully reap the rewards. She was strangely intrigued by the super-powered underworld, maybe this could be her first stepping stone towards it.

Strangely, it seemed that Alice didn’t feel at liberty to speak about Claire’s power. As though it was a dark, terrible secret, rather than something “cool” and “pretty”. Persephone didn’t really mind if people tried to explain her power because, at the end of the day, it wouldn’t be enough to unlock it for themselves. It was tied so securely to her very being that she had no fear of it being stolen or taken advantage of. It worked by her own intuition so nobody could force her to do anything with it. She did understand that it was a personal and somewhat private thing though. Maybe Alice was just trying to be innocently respectful.

“Must be cool drawings,” Persephone said, mustering at least a little interest to put into her expression.

She wasn’t about to pretend to know anything about art. It was all a bit too subjective an experience for her, and Persephone had a strong preference for hard facts and logic.

Claire humbly explained her power, looking actually a lot more relaxed about it than Persephone had been expecting. “So like, super strong? And extra white?” She laughed, despite herself. “A dentist’s dream, huh. And Mason,” she added, a mock-stern tone to her voice, “You shouldn’t go stabbing people with forks.”

It didn’t sound like the cool and pretty power that Alice had gushed about. There must be more to it. The impression she’d gotten from Alice was that she was unfailingly honest a great deal of the time, so she wouldn’t lie about Claire’s power, no matter how much she wanted Claire to feel good about it. What else could Claire do? What did getting paler have to do with anything?

ψ

[Alice Morrow]

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

Alice had indeed managed to find running water, it took some effort, but after putting her whole weight against the rusted faucet water began to flow. It was murky at first, but after a moment it cleared up. She put her fingers under it, enjoying the cold water running over her sore fingers. It certainly hadn't been a bad injury, she'd had worse in gym, but it had stung. She heaved the faucet off again and turned back to the others as Persephone listened to Claire's explanation. Unfortunately it seemed like Claire was selling her power, and therefore herself, short. Alice might have stepped back to allow Claire to talk about her own abilities, but she was not just going to sit back and let her pretend like it wasn't a big deal. She came back towards them, "It was so cool. I just found mine out cause I fell down the stairs and got mad. At least you managed to be a bit more graceful with yours." Now seemed a good time to stick her tongue out; she did so. She wasn't finished though. Her onrush made it pretty clear how hard it had been for her to hold back about Claire's power. "And it's really pretty, like part of it anyway." She turned purposefully to Claire, then realised how she had been talking. She'd intended not to push Claire too hard, and here she was doing it. She was already committed, but she tried to moderate her next words. "Maybe ummm… you could show her?"

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Recruitment Drive

Try as she might, Claire couldn’t just down-play her power like that with Alice around. Not that Mason thought she was being deliberately deceitful at all. Clearly she wasn’t used to singing her own praises and good-naturedly mocking her talents was a habit she’d formed long ago. For someone who had a comparatively outlandish dress sense, Claire sure didn’t seem comfortable in the spotlight.

He wondered how long she’d been dressing that way.

Mason was startled by Persephone’s sudden light dental humour, a surprised laugh forcing itself through his lips. The dry delivery had caught him off-guard. “Hey, she was fine, not a scratch. You shoulda seen the other guy,” he added with a grin. “I sure hope that cutlery wasn’t an expensive matching set.”

Alice had moved away to follow Mason’s advice – he felt so proud of himself – but quickly returned upon hearing Claire’s modest explanation to add her own interpretation.

“Yeah, you just became some kinda Incredible Klutz,” Mason teased.

He paused.

“So, you’re sure you want to be called Paladin? Incredible Klutz is free for the taking…” Somehow, Mason doubted she was going to take him up on that offer.

It was interesting watching her frame her next words, obviously trying her hardest not to seem too forceful. Persephone probably would have demanded a demonstration eventually anyway. Mason wondered if she would be able to do any show-and-tell of her own without her garden here. They should have prepared something while they were in the garden store.

He looked at Claire, waiting to see how she would react. It wasn’t like she hadn’t shown them her powers before, right?

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[Deleted]

WORDS: 397

TAGS: Mason Warner , Alice Morrow , Persephone Dean

It was safe to say that things between her and Alice were ten times better after Claire had the small talk with her about needing her space and the stark contrast and differences in their boundaries. She was glad things had both settled down and been a lot smoother the more cognizant Alice strove to be around the whole 'powers' subject. It was very mature, something Claire was pleasantly surprised about, and felt a small bit a pride for her young friend.

Super strong and extra white; now that was a way to put it. It had her lips curving upwards on one side, bony shoulders lifting uncertainly in a thoughtful shrug. "Yep, that pretty much sums it up," she'd hit the nail on the head and Claire was praying silently that Mason wouldn't be making any pearly-white dentist nicknames anytime soon. "I only choose the finest forks from Walmart. You probably owe me a whole dollar. If even."

When Alice stuck her tongue out with the small tease, Claire mockingly rolled her eyes with the same smirk on her face, nudging the girl's side with her elbow. "Incredible Klutz is definitely more 'you', don't you think?" she agreed with Mason while jesting with her, but stopped to listen when Alice turned back around to face her. She honestly hadn't even thought about showing Persephone. Actually... that wasn't a half bad idea. Maybe the more people that saw it - those that could be trusted not to go spreading secrets around - the closer she could get to understanding what the hell it meant. Perhaps Persephone would have a new idea none of them had thought of.

"Oh, yeah, sure. It's... back here," she turned halfway around with the back of her shoulders visible to Persephone from the racer-back tank top. One arm twisted behind her and tugged the fabric further away to show most of the shimmering, almost metallic navy of the dragon that somehow seemed... alive on her skin. The paleness of her skin carried the same, blue hue - though only very slightly - that was more clear in association with the dragon visible. "Kinda neat to think that I paid just over two fifty for it to be solid black," she joked lightly, "Can't imagine the price tag on it now."

NOTES: Shiny.
WEARING: Here.

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Persephone Dean]

Recruitment Drive

Again, Persephone wasn’t a huge fan of the subjective nature of art appreciation – tattoos included. However, there was something undeniably entrancing about the mythical creature that danced on Claire’s shoulder blade. It was definitely not actually living and breathing but there was still something bizarre about it. She dismissed the instinctive reaction as childish, but Persephone’s first thought was that it radiated some kind of deep potent power. Like there was something more to the tattoo than just being an aesthetic side effect.

No, it was just a tattoo. The doctor had clearly messed with their bodies – what was going to stop her from messing with their modifications? Maybe it had been a little after-thought; some brazen signature on her miraculous work.

“Priceless, right? This whole car crash is feeling like a better and better deal by the day,” Persephone responded, slightly surprised by Claire’s attitude. She’d been a lot quieter before, more anxious. Obviously she’d warmed up to the group a little more now. Either that, or she was putting on a whole lot of bravado, which Persephone didn’t rule out.

“So that means you can do what Alice does on like, a smaller scale? Or is it different?”

It would be strange if the two shared a power – differing only by magnitudes – where the others were so different. Well, Persephone didn’t actually know anything about powers. Maybe there was a small selection of skill-sets for people with abilities to choose from, so to speak, and they had all just happened to luck out with different ones. She was achingly aware that she did not have even close to enough information about the current situation and it was definitely quite the irritation.

She looked across at Alice, remembering her earlier, impressive demonstration, and cast her eyes to the girl’s reddened palms.

She looked across at the minimal selection of items she’d acquired from the garden store, power already a thousand steps ahead of her.

“Hey, Alice? I could take care of those burns, if you like.”

Alice Morrow | Mason Warner | Claire Elliot

337 words

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[Alice Morrow]

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

Alice glared in the direction of Mason's voice once again. It seemed to be something of a regular occurrence and she wondered if she should just generally glare whenever she thought he was around. It might discourage the invisible man from making those awful jokes. Not that she really minded all that much, but it was the principle of the thing, in keeping with that principle she turned her glare onto Claire. "I'm sure I want to be called Paladin. Anyway, I wasn't the one who broke a fork. That was all you…" The dragon was still just as beautiful as it had been when she had seen it a few days ago. It had been breath-taking then, and it had lost none of its lustre. Persephone too seemed to be drawn in by the strangely luminescent artwork and Alice didn't blame her. It seemed as if the tattoo itself was breathing and not just the girl wearing it. "No it's something different, I need to be prepared for it, like expecting an attack, Claire just seems to be tougher straight away. I have to be actively involved in mine." Alice looked a little surprised by Persephone's offer. She thought her power was entirely to do with plants, not human beings, she definitely wasn't going to turn down the offer though, not if it meant finding out more about someone else's power. "Sure! What are you going to do?"

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Recruitment Drive

Mason gasped, hand drawn to his chest. “A dollar?! Consider that IOU duly noted, ma’am.”

In all seriousness he did feel bad about breaking her stuff. Especially the key – that one must have been a little more annoying than a bent fork.

“Suit yourself, Al,” Mason shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to stick with the totally awesome ‘Paladin’ … for now.”

He indulged in another gaze at the dragon on Claire’s shoulder. It was gorgeous; so magical, reminding him again of just how connected Claire’s power was to her. She was a lot more open with it now, too. When she’d first showed it to them it had been with hesitance and an obvious discomfort to be in the spotlight. Now she was so comfortable that she was even joking about it.

Mason liked to think that he and Alice’s persistent, patient encouragement over the last few days had something to do with that.

He nodded along with Alice’s explanation. It was fairly sufficient, and Claire could always fill in the blanks. He still couldn’t help but quip, “She can grab burning hot pans too, though she’s promised to be more careful about that now.” Mason grinned, remembering the mock-serious handshake that had sealed that one.

Suddenly Persephone’s expression changed. She’d glanced at Alice and suddenly something had shifted on her face. He was both intrigued and a little alarmed. Though she’d made the offer to Alice in quite a casual manner, there was something mystical driving beneath. Maybe there was more to Persephone’s power than just being excessively green-fingered…?

Claire Elliot | Persephone Dean | Alice Morrow

259 words

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