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The Swan girls have their evaluation appointment. It is largely uneventful. Alli splits and merges under various inoffensive conditions; Bella teleports to various other evaluation stations around the country and to one in a military base on the other side of the world (the evaluators call ahead about this) without incident. They have already - well, Bella has already - determined all the interesting wrinkles of the Swan girls' powers, but it's nice to have them on paper. They sign up for the Junebugs - the evaluator sniffs and says that it's the Gemini Guard, have some respect if you're going to join them! - with Bella as a solo bonus, junior grade, stratum 3 (she gets a badge and dog tags and a lollipop) and Alli as her optional/emergency support, junior grade, stratum 4 (she gets dog tags and a lollipop but no badge).
The evaluative office is crowded. A bunch of twins got their bonuses over the weekend and piled up on the Monday appointment slots. There's a pair where one can apparently conjure objects and the other wield telekinesis over them, juggling. There's a cryokinetic and someone who seems to cling to arbitrary surfaces, the one making a little ice sculpture and the other sitting on the wall (Bella supposes he can probably cling to his brother's ice). There's a set of triplets who don't seem to be doing anything, so she can hazard no guess as to what their powers are. There's a girl weeping into her hands while her brother tries to soothe her; she's crying about fire, ash, devastation, the menace lurking under the ground, and Bella hopes that's an overreaction to some TV show. But considering where she is -
"Er, what's her bonus?" Bella asks the brother.
"Not sure," he says. "Besides really upsetting. I just got a luck tweak, far as we can tell, dice and stuff..."
"So she doesn't pyro or -?"
"No, no, she's not dangerous," he assures Bella. "Not so much as a wisp of smoke, I don't know what the problem is, bonuses are supposed to help."
"I hope the evaluators can figure it out," Bella says, disconcerted, and she and Alli go back to school.
Spanish class is the next one they can catch.
point_b
blink_and
And then the Sanders get back to work moving. They finish pretty quickly, which makes sense, considering they only recently moved to Phoenix and Savannah has super-speed. Then, in the interest of fairness, Savannah zips over to Renee's house, Adana creates a portal from there to Charlie's house, and then they help them evacuate, too.
Adana and Savannah report to the Junebugs two hours later.
Adana and Savannah report to the Junebugs two hours later.
alli_oop
An Alli is there, apparently twining latitudes and longitudes to her sister off a piece of paper so that either the stationary Junebugs can update her on the fly or so Bella just doesn't need to engage her vision on anything other than orienting herself in each new environment. The need for new instructions is intermittent enough that Alli says to the Sanders twins, "Hi."
you_miss_it
"Hey," says Savannah, and then they both go to check themselves in to start doing things. They're pretty sure they will be really useful for evacuation, the both of them.
The receptionist, who looks exhausted and drawn but functional, ID's them, and directs them to collect Junebug jackets and hats so they'll look official to the panicked residents of places to-be-evacuated. "Right then," she says, reading the synopses of their powers. "Sanders, when Bella's done deploying standard National Guard to control rioting in to-be-evacuated civilian areas we'll call her back to put Savannah in -" She taps her computer. "Denver, and Adana in -" Tap tap. "Juneau, until Juneau's full to bursting. Savannah, you'll talk to the Guard deployed in the evacuating site and help them keep people organized and under control. We cannot save everyone and we have to prioritize. Our priorities are small children, their parents, gemini of any age, their immediate families, emergency personnel - your job isn't to sort these people, your job is not to argue with the senior Guard over their sortings. Do not slow down the evacuation of Denver because you want to save different parts of Denver. Is that understood?"
alli_oop
"Swan," the receptionist calls across the room to Alli. "Report in."
"Bella," Alli says, "what's the story? When you're done with this you're putting Savannah and Adana places -" And then shortly afterward: "She's ninety percent done with this guard unit and thinks she can keep going for another six or seven hours before she has to break for food and coffee."
"And you?" asks the receptionist.
"I can go forever, other me's napping at home, we can converge and diverge when this one flags and Bella can just grab one again," says Alli in a small voice. "I - I'm fine."
"Bella," Alli says, "what's the story? When you're done with this you're putting Savannah and Adana places -" And then shortly afterward: "She's ninety percent done with this guard unit and thinks she can keep going for another six or seven hours before she has to break for food and coffee."
"And you?" asks the receptionist.
"I can go forever, other me's napping at home, we can converge and diverge when this one flags and Bella can just grab one again," says Alli in a small voice. "I - I'm fine."
blink_and
Hug.
"Savannah's likely to need a huge amount of food in - three-ish hours if superspeed's necessary a lot. Should I try to find some while I'm in Juneau, or is that up to someone else?"
"Savannah's likely to need a huge amount of food in - three-ish hours if superspeed's necessary a lot. Should I try to find some while I'm in Juneau, or is that up to someone else?"
"The Guard offices are stocked," says the dispatcher. "For now, anyway. If there's anything to be had in Denver you can eat there, too - Juneau's supplies aren't going to blow in a few days, and as long as you can freely move around you shouldn't deplete them."
point_b
And with that, Bella appears, Junebug-jacketed and stone-faced. "Where am I putting them?" she asks the receptionist.
She gets intersections. She takes a step in Savannah's direction and puts her down near a squad of National Guard, then without further ado flickers back to the office and takes Adana to Juneau's impromptu refugee center, and then disappears again.
She gets intersections. She takes a step in Savannah's direction and puts her down near a squad of National Guard, then without further ado flickers back to the office and takes Adana to Juneau's impromptu refugee center, and then disappears again.
blink_and
Adana makes sure Savannah's in a good spot for a portal, and then - she opens one.
It's the largest one she's ever made. It's physically painful to open it, actually, but Adana doesn't care. And then she starts helping with the evacuation herself.
It's the largest one she's ever made. It's physically painful to open it, actually, but Adana doesn't care. And then she starts helping with the evacuation herself.
point_b
When Juneau's refugee center can no longer accept new input, Bella appears and takes Adana to a center in Miami, and when that one's full too, Denver's output is redirected to an accommodating location in Mexico, after which she deposits Adana back at the center where Alli is sitting because Adana doesn't need to be present to keep the portals open and it is about time for someone to feed her.
blink_and
Yeah, Adana does need to be fed. Savannah has managed to scrounge up food (four times) in Denver, so she's reasonably okay for now. Adana sits with Alli and eats the provided food without even registering what it is.
alli_oop
Alli is quiet except for when she passes on the receptionist's deployment instructions to Bella. She's not eating, at least not here.
It sounds like Bella is very, very busy.
It sounds like Bella is very, very busy.
blink_and
Adana's getting that feeling, too.
And then her food's gone and she asks very nicely if she can go back to manning her portals.
(It's about time to renew the latest one.)
And then her food's gone and she asks very nicely if she can go back to manning her portals.
(It's about time to renew the latest one.)
blink_and
Adana goes back to opening portals when brought places.
Seven hours later, her sister asks for a break for a nap. Adana... Does not. She will be surviving off of coffee.
Seven hours later, her sister asks for a break for a nap. Adana... Does not. She will be surviving off of coffee.
point_b
Bella can put Savannah in Charlie's house. She can have Charlie's bed, since he's not in it and there's a sleeping Alli in the other room.
Bella's not sleeping yet either.
Bella's not sleeping yet either.
blink_and
Without Savannah, Adana needs to be brought to where the portal will be on both sides, but with Bella that's easy enough.
point_b
Yup.
Bounce, bounce, vanish. Reappear hours later to retrieve Adana from an overcrowded refugee center, put her in a different one, vanish again.
Denver gradually empties through the portal.
The Allis converge whenever the one helping Bella gets tired or hungry, diverge again at once, and leave one to stay rested and fed in Charlie's house while the other reads off latitudes and longitudes and notifies Bella whenever she needs to make a detour from her relentless flickering.
Bounce, bounce, vanish. Reappear hours later to retrieve Adana from an overcrowded refugee center, put her in a different one, vanish again.
Denver gradually empties through the portal.
The Allis converge whenever the one helping Bella gets tired or hungry, diverge again at once, and leave one to stay rested and fed in Charlie's house while the other reads off latitudes and longitudes and notifies Bella whenever she needs to make a detour from her relentless flickering.
blink_and
Adana's forced to be a bit more passive, with her powerset, letting other people do a lot of the organization around them, but she's certainly not useless. She works to organize whatever overcrowded refugee center she's at, and helps relay instructions with other Junebugs when an opportunity arises for such.