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It is the first day of the Swan twins's second year at the Phoenix Gemini School, Apollo High, and this time around Alli isn't soliciting reassurance from her sister about conspiracy theories that the schools are designed to brainwash, de-power, or otherwise mishandle their charges. It's basically just high school, with unconventional gym requirements and an above-average proportion of superpowered faculty. And way more money than most public schools, and excellent diversity because the entry requirement cuts neatly across all demographics.
Well, in most conventional demographic respects.
There are no only children here.
Alli and Bella have all their classes together, which is nice - that wasn't always possible in elementary and middle school; here it's a matter of course.
This year they're signed up for gym but they can skip until two weeks into term, at which point they'll have their basics and Bella will be just as competent as anyone else. More so, relative to the general population. She has no idea what bonus she'll get and she's excited anyway. She's going to be able to actually go to dances, and dance at them, if she wants. Not the homecoming dance because that's not for underclassmen, but there will be others.
"Uuuugh," says Alli, "math first thing in the morning."
"Wouldn't it be funny if you said that and you got a math boost of some kind for your bonus?"
"No, that would just be horrible. And sad. Be sad for me if that happens, Bella."
"All right. What do you want to get?"
"I don't even know, is there a point? I'll just get something and so will you and that'll be that."
"Suit yourself."
The bus pulls in and out they get, uniform skirts swishing around their knees, swan emblems matching on their sleeves so everyone can tell who is whose twin.
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point_b
point_b
"Lucky you! I still don't know how to dance, but I will figure it out. Okay, are we going to somebody's house or practicing hereabouts or what?"
blink_and
"Well, three of the four of us are good at transportation, so - it's really based on what kind of scenery we want."
you_miss_it
"Awwww. I mean, I guess I could run for ages, but I get shit traction on sand and it's not very pretty."
point_b
"I mean, I am pretty sure I could also take us to attractive forested areas near Charlie's house but Mom wants me officially supervised for long-range testing."
point_b
"I will go up, and in a largish circle," says Bella, gesturing, "and then down to the ground, minimizing falling between hops and sudden panicked screaming."
blink_and
Nod. "And I will be clinging to you for dear life praying I don't put down portals incorrectly, send us flying at eighty miles an hour and make us go splat, right?"
point_b
"If you feel clinging adds something to the experience. I don't have to be touching you to take you as a passenger, or not-touching you to leave you behind. The latter of which I promise I will not do. If the experiment goes well you will not need to portal us at all."
blink_and
"In that case, no clinging. Yeah, I know, just nervous. Let's go before Savannah expires of boredom on the spot."
point_b
"Okay. Here goes nothing."
Up. A moment's hangtime, a little lurch of freefall - over a bit clockwise, and then again, and again, and again, and by the end of the circle Bella has cut her reaction time enough to make the ride, not quite comfortable, but tolerably smooth.
She sets them back down by their respective sisters and takes a deep breath. "Okay, I can fake-fly."
Up. A moment's hangtime, a little lurch of freefall - over a bit clockwise, and then again, and again, and again, and by the end of the circle Bella has cut her reaction time enough to make the ride, not quite comfortable, but tolerably smooth.
She sets them back down by their respective sisters and takes a deep breath. "Okay, I can fake-fly."
blink_and
Adana remains calm, no flailing about or screaming. She focuses on her job - checking in case they need portals (she will need to be fast with them if something goes wrong) and is otherwise not very emotive. Nothing goes wrong. They are both returned to their sisters, safe and sound and with no portal required.
She grins at Bella. "A bit freaky, but yeah!"
She grins at Bella. "A bit freaky, but yeah!"
point_b
"Yeah, I don't expect to use mine much, I should usually be able to get wherever I'm going without the intermediate steps and if I have to search an intervening area or chase a moving object I will typically be able to do it from the ground. I'd want to use it if I were looking for, like, a lost boat. If I ever look for a lost boat. I wanted to make sure this was an option."
blink_and
Nod. "Yeah, wasn't questioning the why, it's a good thing to know."
Pause. "... Also, if there's, say, an emergency situation where things need to be evacuated - want to team up and help people?" Grin.
Pause. "... Also, if there's, say, an emergency situation where things need to be evacuated - want to team up and help people?" Grin.
blink_and
"Yup! They can be summarized as 'quick transportation with me and Savannah moving from one key point to another separately' - transporting vital organs to places, evacuations, help with construction in, say, third world countries where it's hard to get supplies to the right places to do the most good... That sort of thing. Except if it involves transporting armies, that I am not doing unless someone has a doomsday device and the only other option is 'world explodes.'"