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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
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.
blink_and
"Thanks! We can geek out over portals or you can shoo me, I won't be offended."
point_b
"I'm all for geeking. Do you want to come in? There is air conditioning and popsicles."
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.
blink_and
Adana snickers. "Sure, inside and geeking. I will not take the last grape."
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."
point_b
"Also lime?" asks Bella, taking a lime and flickering to Adana to hand it over.
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."
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."