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Wisconsin fast plants (so called because they are from Wisconsin, fast-growing, and plants) are the subject of Bella and Bridget's chosen bio experiment. It involves taking at least some measurements after sunset - Bella managed to find an exact specific experiment design that hasn't been done before, when she heard they were allowed to choose their own, and even though all it will determine is whether indoor plants without windows can "tell if it's night" even if you leave the light on all the time, she is slightly excited about this.
She meets Bridget there. They measure their plants in the lit room and the dark room, take pictures, and write down subjective evaluations of leaf droopiness. They leave.
They're about a third of the way to Bella's building when a man's voice behind them says, "Hello, girls."
self_composed
regularsized
"If they have an idea, they definitely haven't told me about it. Our best theory so far is 'it just happens sometimes'."
self_composed
Bella grumbles. "Fine. Back to your power. You've got an experimental mindset, haven't you, do you know your tolerances?"
regularsized
"I know my tolerances are mostly beyond my ability or inclination to find," she says. "Cold weather is uncomfortable but I didn't manage to give myself frostbite the one time I tried. I don't need oven mitts. I don't get chemical burns. I have yet to meet the impact that can so much as bruise me, and I am impermeable to sharp objects including needles, knives, and any power tool you can name. Which was very exciting to test, let me tell you. I also don't get sick, although I haven't deliberately tested my resistance to infection in any systematic way."
self_composed
"That must have made getting your vaccinations for school interesting," comments Bella.
self_composed
"Ah."
This is truly fascinating.
"What else do you know about the power? Does it vary at all with time or circumstance, does it interact with the other person's power...? Exactly how does it protect you if you're forced into some position humans typically can't occupy without injury, like if I tried that same wrist-break I used on that creep only I was also half-steamroller? Do you just fail to twist past that point, or do your various parts extend their tolerances as they go so you could in theory turn your head all the way around like an owl if you had the right machinery?"
This is truly fascinating.
"What else do you know about the power? Does it vary at all with time or circumstance, does it interact with the other person's power...? Exactly how does it protect you if you're forced into some position humans typically can't occupy without injury, like if I tried that same wrist-break I used on that creep only I was also half-steamroller? Do you just fail to twist past that point, or do your various parts extend their tolerances as they go so you could in theory turn your head all the way around like an owl if you had the right machinery?"
regularsized
...Bridget laughs. "You have a positively vicious imagination," she says. "I haven't tested that specifically, but if I had to guess, I'd say the first one. I have broken a few drill bits, stripped the teeth off a chainsaw, and now flattened a bullet."
self_composed
"Snuck to aikido lessons for a while when my mom thought I was at various other things. Didn't want to tell her because she'd think it meant I felt unsafe and do silly overprotective things - and couldn't keep up when I moved, but there's Youtube and my boyfriend let me toss him around. I didn't know till tonight if I could pull it off in reality." [Fictitious backstory update: I have practiced aikido on you and can totally kick your ass therewith. We can make that non-fictitious if it appeals to you,] she informs Alice.
Bella then gets up, takes hold of Bridget's hand, and attempts the throw. "Erm," she says, when Bridget just stands there. "Oh, right, usually your tendons would be screaming at you to get on the floor now - but the technique can work on people who can't feel it if you push a little harder, by sheer leverage. Cops use it on people too drugged to feel anything all the time." She follows through harder, Bridget goes down, and she leans on the wrist.
It does not go.
"That is really fascinating."
Bella then gets up, takes hold of Bridget's hand, and attempts the throw. "Erm," she says, when Bridget just stands there. "Oh, right, usually your tendons would be screaming at you to get on the floor now - but the technique can work on people who can't feel it if you push a little harder, by sheer leverage. Cops use it on people too drugged to feel anything all the time." She follows through harder, Bridget goes down, and she leans on the wrist.
It does not go.
"That is really fascinating."
self_composed
[In other news Bridget is physically invulnerable.]
Bella lets her up, applauds politely, and says, "Is it hard to keep this under wraps?"
Bella lets her up, applauds politely, and says, "Is it hard to keep this under wraps?"
regularsized
"Less so than you'd think," she says, getting to her feet. "I haven't been made like this in a long time. As long as I don't rely on it, which I don't, it's pretty easy to avoid demonstrating."
edgeofyourseat
[Sucks to be Bridget,] is Alice's first response, because of course it is. [That's kinda awesome, though. Did you tell her about your brain?]
self_composed
[No. Have not told her about my brain, or anything about coins - which is the only way we could know about my brain. And I don't think it sucks to be Bridget, unless she would otherwise have had the chance to do wishcoining.]
"Huh," says Bella. "Does anything hurt you? I mean, you said cold weather is uncomfortable - do you get hungry? Cramps around your time of the month? Migraines, gas, flashes of bright light, loud noises? Cayenne pepper?"
"Huh," says Bella. "Does anything hurt you? I mean, you said cold weather is uncomfortable - do you get hungry? Cramps around your time of the month? Migraines, gas, flashes of bright light, loud noises? Cayenne pepper?"
regularsized
"I do get hungry, I don't get cramps or headaches, loud noises are annoying and no I have not tested whether I am susceptible to hearing damage, spicy things taste like spicy things but they don't really hurt."
edgeofyourseat
[But what if she's really into pain and doesn't know it 'cause she can't get hurt? That would suck!] he insists.
self_composed
[She didn't always have it, she developed it as a kid. Apparently she gets hungry, so if that were something she were into - which I hope you realize is ludicrously uncommon, especially at your level of intensity - she could starve herself for a bit and enjoy lovely abdominal agony. She has run tests, but not as many tests as I would expect you to run if you woke up with her power and were frantic for a loophole.]
"Hmm." Bella taps her chin. "What if you tweeze hairs out of your leg or something? Will they refuse to come out, or does it just not hurt when they do?"
"Hmm." Bella taps her chin. "What if you tweeze hairs out of your leg or something? Will they refuse to come out, or does it just not hurt when they do?"
edgeofyourseat
Alice is momentarily distracted by that thought.
It is kind of genuinely horrifying in a way that very few things are, until he remembers that Bella has magic pain powers, which makes it a little better, and then he remembers that he could have magic pain powers if he wanted to and could use them on himself, and then it's fine.
It is kind of genuinely horrifying in a way that very few things are, until he remembers that Bella has magic pain powers, which makes it a little better, and then he remembers that he could have magic pain powers if he wanted to and could use them on himself, and then it's fine.
regularsized
"I have not in fact tried that bizarrely specific test," she says. "I do shed hair sometimes in the normal way."
self_composed
"Have you got tweezers?" Bella says. "I'm curious!"
She hits Alice with a comforting medium-square amount of "tension headache" flavor, as a screwed up long-distance substitute for a pat on the head. [There there. You are very unlikely to wake up with her power.]
She hits Alice with a comforting medium-square amount of "tension headache" flavor, as a screwed up long-distance substitute for a pat on the head. [There there. You are very unlikely to wake up with her power.]
