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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.
point_b
point_b
"I guess if you want to brake you send yourself straight up and then when you're at the apex you make a portal right under you and the far end very close to the ground, so it's like a short fall?"
blink_and
"Yup! That's the general idea. Scarier than it sounds, though. And if I mess up at any point over an ocean without being hundreds of feet in the air - hello, sea water. Which, of course, screws up the rest of my portals because water's annoying."
blink_and
Adana shrugs. "Well, I'd have to get into a portal to get speed up again, and I can't pull myself up into a portal - I tried, the edges don't work like that - so I have to add water. Which I would be flinging myself and the water, and that would get annoying." Pause. "I'm not picky on where I go, home, I guess. I'm having fun talking, though, no one geeks out with me about portals unless I'm filling out one of the forms, which isn't very fun."
point_b
"I'm happy to geek out with you. I just should drop my sister-and-a-half at home first and it seems impolite to abandon you in the desert when your other vantage point is running in a semirandom direction through said desert."
blink_and
"Sure." Adana names her address. "There's fine, by me, unless you want to drop me off at your house or something?"
point_b
"Addresses cover a lot of space and if I do something to specify where I want to land, like 'northernmost point' or whatever, then I'm trying to convince my power to believe in property boundaries, which it doesn't want to do. It seems convinced of streets, and consequently intersections, and I can add 'northernmost secondarily easternmost corner curb' to any described intersection and reliably have somewhere to land."
blink_and
"Oh! Uh -" Pause. Adana wracks her head for something less easily memorized - she's only been here for a few months. "- actually I can't remember the intersection. Your house, if you don't mind? I can just get myself home from there, no problem."
point_b
"Yeah, sure."
And then they are all three/four of them standing on the front doorstep of the Swan household.
And then they are all three/four of them standing on the front doorstep of the Swan household.
alli_oop
"Dibs on the last grape," says an Alli.
"Oh dang is there only one? I'm right there's only one. Well, dibs," says the other Alli, and then there is a single Alli making a beeline for the freezer.
"Oh dang is there only one? I'm right there's only one. Well, dibs," says the other Alli, and then there is a single Alli making a beeline for the freezer.
alli_oop
"There's some of everything else except for blue raspberry," calls Alli from the freezer. "Whaddaya want?"
point_b
Bella flickers over to peer past her sister into the freezer and pulls out a yellow popsicle. "Adana, there's one more lemon, there's cherry, there's lime, there's orange."
blink_and
"Lime," says Adana, smiling. "Thank you. Mind if I grab one for Savannah, too? She is running in a desert."
blink_and
"I'll ask!" She takes the popsicle, then addresses her sister, "Hey, want a popsicle? There's lemon, cherry, lime, and orange."
Pause. "Cherry, please. I'll toss is through a portal, she's not sure where she is right now and couldn't give directions."
Pause. "Cherry, please. I'll toss is through a portal, she's not sure where she is right now and couldn't give directions."
point_b
Bella ports back to the fridge, has to reopen the freezer because Alli has already claimed the last grape, and flickers back to Adana to hand over the cherry.
blink_and
"Thank you!" She opens a little tiny portal, holds the cherry popsicle over it, and drops it through.
"Savannah says thanks, but she is going to stubbornly figure out where she is and get home that way. Because she wants to."
"Savannah says thanks, but she is going to stubbornly figure out where she is and get home that way. Because she wants to."
point_b
"Well, if she wants to know, I put us south of Phoenix. So if she is running in a non-north direction she's just making more work for herself."