♡

For most Maia imagined that it was difficult to determine whether or not a person was being sincere, but luckily for the brunette ever since her powers manifested that hadn't been a problem for the teen. Regardless of what a person said or did, their emotions while saying or doing something often revealed their true intentions. It was for this reason that the pop star knew that the smile that the blond offered her was quite genuine. While Maia would hardly consider herself a fashionista, the teenager enjoyed a spontaneous shopping spree as much as any girl. As such, the young girl's closet was filled with any number of designer clothing most of which she rarely wore.

Nevertheless, when prodded by Sunny, Maia withdrew her cellphone from her pocket and unlocked the device with a gentle swipe of her finger. Navigating to her photo gallery, the teen sifted through several pictures before landing on a zoomed in photo of a black and white polka dot sling with pink trim and monogram. Tapping the picture to enlarge it, Maia tilted the phone in Sunny's direction so that she could see it. "This one didn't have pockets but it was so cute that I didn't really care. By the time that I transitioned to this sling my arm was nearly healed anyway."

As a person whom had always been quite vulnerable, it was a bit difficult for the teenager to imagine what it must be like to be virtually invincible or at the very least believe that you were. Only to find out in the most painful manner that you were most certainly not. For a moment, Maia appeared to be lost in thought before finally responding "That was the first time but unfortunately if you are going to keep working as a superhero, it's highly unlikely to be the last. It's a pretty dangerous field. Even for people with powers since you are likely fighting other people with abilities as well. I'm nowhere near brave enough to attempt to be a hero and honestly, I doubt there would be much use for my ability in crime fighting anyway."

To say that Maia found Sunny's train of thought concerning her scar to be a baffling would be a massive understatement. On one hand, Sunny was quite bothered by the physical representation of a hard fought battle that was ultimately lost, and yet on the other she didn't want to conceal the blemish as she expected people would be looking for it in pictures. Offering the other girl a casual shrug, Maia responded "Well, I guess at this point it comes down to a matter of perceptive. You know, how you choose to view the scar. It can be a badge of honor signifying that you survived a terrible ordeal, or it can be a reminder of how you feel that you failed a fan. It's totally up to you."

In the past few months, the brunette had performed emotional scans on dozens of people, yet Sunny was by far the most fascinating individual that the teenager had come across to date. A mistake was when you picked up the wrong dry cleaning or someone put pickles on your cheeseburger when you were very clear that you wanted it without pickles, but for Sunny wearing the wrong thing was a mistake.  Shaking her head, Maia commented "While I'm not exactly sure if that matches my definition of a mistake, if it were to be one seems like it was on the part of your mom not yours. Unless you were of age to dress yourself, but even still that falls under her purview as your manager. Mistakes like that barely even hold any weight in the grand scheme of things. In the world of celebrity scandals there's definitely something else that will come along to drown out the horror of a bad photo."

Maia's nose wrinkled adorably as she considered Sunny's words for several minutes before responding "Not to say that you didn't already but I am sure that this situation has shown you how large of a responsibility it is to protect the public. With this new understanding, there's a slim chance that you will ever allow something like this to happen again. You can train harder and be better prepared next time." Sighing inwardly, the nineteen year old continued "Well, failure is inevitable. It happens to everyone eventually. Or is it the magnitude to which you failed that truly bothers you? Dwelling on it really isn't helping anyone. You just have to learn from it and grow from it."

Maia's eyes illuminated rather noticeably when Sunny inquired about the outfit. "Oh, right," the teen stated as she turned the phone back around to face herself and resumed shifting through the photo gallery. Coming to a stop of a photo of herself at an MTV event , the pop star handed the phone to Sunny. Despite the fact that they did both have a mother that managed their careers, judging from their conversation thus far the starlet doubted that the pair had much in common at all. Nevertheless, the brunette smiled warmly at Sunny as she added "I don't know. Maybe we do. I think it would definitely be as jarring for you to walk down the street and not be noticed or immediately recognized as it is for me to walk down the street and have people notice or immediately recognize me."

Truthfully, the teen idol could do much more than imagine what it would be like to be so poor that one couldn't afford to go to Disney. Smiling softly Maia answered "Actually, my Disneyless childhood wasn't so bad. I was probably well into my teens before I visited Disney for the first time and I have to say that it was kind of an overrated experience."

♡

In many ways, the concept of real live superheroes was still one that Maia still struggled to wrap her head around. In all the movies, comic books and TV shows that she'd ever seen caped crusaders swooped in saved the day and vanished quietly into the night, but nowadays they posed for photo ops, signed autographs, and conducted interviews. It was kind of weird actually. Of course she hadn't wanted to say that to Sunny as it would have seemed unimaginably rude. Gods, she was cranky this morning, Maia noted. The hero program seemed to be churning out new heroes everyday and it was beginning to get difficult to keep track of who was who unless that particular hero did something that really stood out or had such amazing PR that they were on the scene of every crime. Gravity Girl seemed to belong to the latter group now that Maia thought about it. Although, she did recall seeing something on the news recently about the pink clad hero. There had been some kind of event where a person was harmed...no.... killed. Someone had been killed at a high profile gathering that Gravity Girl had been attending.


It was just then that Maia noticed that the girl's arm was in a sling. Likely as a result of her superhero work, Maia reasoned. Especially as she'd heard that Gravity Girl had been badly wounded in the altercation. A sympathetic expression settled on Maia's face as she gestured towards the sling "That looks like it hurts pretty bad. How much longer do you have to wear that? I had to wear one once when I slipped on a slick floor in the studio and landed on my arm. They are so clunky. Not to mention that they clash with EVERYTHING. I have a designer friend that makes decorative slings and he made me the cutest checkered patterned one. It even had a pocket for my cellphone. He just did a pink and black damask one that would look amazing on you."

As Sunny indicated that she wished for people to know who she was, an amused smile flickered across the diva's face. Well, she certainly wasn't an old fashioned hero, wasn't she? "That's really brave of you. If I was a hero, I would be worried about someone that I care for being dragged into my hero work if I let people know who I really was. Although, I totally get the mascara thing. It can take me forever to wing my liner just right and it is totally annoying to go through all that effort just for no one to see it. Not to mention that it could also ruin your hair."

Politely, Maia took the cup that the barista extended towards her with one hand and the pen in the other. Hastily scribbling out the message "To Diana with love, Maia Morales", Maia handed the cup and pen back to the clerk. She would have loved to make the note far more flowery and personal but the cup really didn't provide for such a thing.  Smiling a little shyly at Sunny, the nineteen year old replied "Honestly, I am still kind of getting used to the whole thing. I mean I've been doing this for a while, but the idea that I have like fans... it actually so surreal to me."

A few minutes later, the starlet lifted her drink from the counter as her name was called. Almost immediately after she removed her drink, the barista called Sunny's name. Shooting a glance towards the superhero, Maia inquired "You want me to get that for you? You are at a bit of a disadvantage there?"

♡

On an average day, patience was typically a virtue that the pop star tended to have in spades, however surprisingly Maia was discovering that her patience seemed to be in very short supply today. The end was near, she could see it. The counter where she would place her order and soon enough be presented with beloved beverage was clearly in sight and yet the battle weary mother with her two small children in tow seemed completely unable to decide what she wanted. Of course the little girl tugging on her mom's shirt and the squirming toddler in the woman's arms likely weren't helping matters. However, neither of these contributing factors were doing much to assuage Maia's vexation.

Particularly, as the nineteen year old was acutely aware of the series of exasperated sighs that were being emitted every few minutes as the red faced mother of two continue to stammer apologies to the compassionate barista.  As the teen was growing more and more agitated by the minute, a insistent buzzing at her hip diverted the teenager's attention away from her annoyance and back to the pressing matter of her hectic schedule. Digging the device from her pocket, Maia glanced down at the phone screen to see a barrage of new notifications. Her agent must be freaking out, Maia realized as she took note of the time.

The pop star had just been about  to respond to the incessant 'Where are you?' messages when a high pitched squeal startled her. To her dismay, Maia glanced up to find herself staring into the dark brown eyes of the perky, blond that was standing in front of her.  The girl looked vaguely familiar to the starlet, but it was hard to put her finger on where she knew her from. Especially as the girl's scream had drawn the attention of several patrons who were now staring at the pair of them. The diva's cheeks flushed under the watchful gaze of the other customers even as the blond lowered her voice.

As there no longer seemed to be any point in anonymity, Maia offered the blond a sheepish smile as she replied "Guilty." Upon hearing that the girl was a superhero, the brunette quirked a brow. "Oh, yeah I've heard of her. Or.... of you rather. Although I'm not sure you were supposed to tell me that. Aren't heroes supposed to maintain their secret identities," Maia inquired.  However, before the blond was able to respond, the barista summoned her over to place her order. Despite having been in the music business for several years now, the brunette still found it somewhat difficult to get used to the idea of having fans. Least of all meta fans.

While Maia was contemplating the contrast between Sunny's exterior appearance and the power that she'd seen gravity girl display, the barista gestured her over to place her order. Finally, Maia thought with exuberance as she scurried over to the counter. "I'd like a strawberry and cream Frappuccino with double cream, a shot of vanilla and a shot of caramel," the nineteen year old declared. Reaching over to unzip her purse, Maia had just dug out her credit card when she caught sight out of her peripheral of the barista returning.

That was fast, the teen thought to herself. As she lifted her gaze to meet that of the woman behind the counter she noted that the woman was extended an empty cup towards her. A bit baffled, Maia had parted her lips to indicate that she didn't understand when the barista blurted out "Please... if you don't mind. My kid loves you! Could you make it out to Diana?"