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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
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."
blink_and
"She will figure it out eventually, or twine me and I will give her a portal. I am a convenient twin safety net, along with being a taxi."
point_b
"Lucky you. I cannot invariably unlose Alli if she gets lost - but she is less likely to get lost since she must travel conventionally or with me to begin with, and has the possibility of getting only fifty percent lost and then unlosing herself without help at all."
blink_and
Nod. "Savannah's honestly about half of my utility. I would be functional without her, but not nearly as - taxi-safety-world-hunger-solving."
point_b
"My power works pretty good standalone - it cooperates more with Alli than with other people but I'd be nearly as useful if she decided not to ever speak to me again for some reason. She stands alone pretty well too but I'm useful to twine coordinator-ish-ly if she sends her forks far apart."
blink_and
"That's pretty lucky! I'm the one that needs to coordinate, Savannah can just do whatever and be just fine. Though she would obviously miss out on the fantastic taxi service."
alli_oop
"And the flinging. I dunno, maybe she can fling herself across, like, gaps between buildings?"
point_b
"Does her speed extend much to jumping? Given that one doesn't typically add extra propulsion mid-jump I'd guess some but not a ton."
blink_and
"She jumps extremely well when she has worked up speed for it - so, yeah, she can make it across gaps between buildings, but not as easily as I could help her do it. Since it's hard to work up a good speed on a tiny rooftop."
point_b
"Huh, I don't think I've observed her gathering speed, just - being fast. Too fast for me to notice subtleties of acceleration."
blink_and
"There's gathering speed involved, but it's - kind of hard to see. In large spaces it's not an issue, but if it's a tiny spot she has to run in circles to get up to top speed. It's kind of adorable."
point_b
"Hook her up to the power grid and you're set for life if search-and-rescue or whatever doesn't pan out. You're probably more efficient for electricity generation, though."
blink_and
"Hydroelectric power, creatively place portals, and gravity. I am really good at generating electricity."
point_b
"We are told, in science class, that in theory every bonus should come with a way to get free electricity, if only in a ludicrously stupid and low-yield way."
blink_and
"Mine isn't low-yield, I'm pretty happy about it. It's just - not a very efficient use of my portals for the long term. Like, if the power went out in a city and there was no electricity to be found, I can hook up something to generate power for a while, but then I'm basically useless except for that because I can't put portals elsewhere."
point_b
"Yeah, same teacher said usually it wouldn't be worth it unless your power is literally 'charge batteries' or possibly 'shoot lightning'."
blink_and
"I mean, maybe if I hated being a twin and wanted to go work in accounting it'd be okay, but - I do not actually want to go work in accounting."
point_b
"Would accounting really be your first choice if you didn't want to do portaly things, though? Be fair to the singlet job market here."
blink_and
"Probably not, maybe something in business, though. Take over the economy with the power of portals."
point_b
"You know what, I bet there exists some company that does private rapid or instant transit with twin powers for high prices, if we get uncreative."