Hey y'all, new story here. I know I promised Prey would be the next one, but I got a request for this and well… My ego outweighs any plot-bunny, no matter how many carrots the thing's horked. So, Bri, hope you like this one so far, and Bitsy-glitter, I hope you like this one better (If you read it), keep up the criticism, I need it to write better (seriously).
I don't own Sky High.
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"…TCBSS, HHRRZP, and finally SSHROTZPQ, what do all these acronyms stand for?"
"Uhm, Bee Yew El El Ess Eyhch Eye Tee?" Laughter irrupted around the class room as the brown-haired girl grinned from her joke.
"Very funny Felicity, go see Principal Powers." Felicity, still grinning like a mad man, gathered all her things and stuffed them in to her largely abused book bag. Warren liked to imagine that her eyes, which she had once said was blue, glittered in amusement over her various hijinks, underneath her perpetually bushy bangs. Her mouth, which was the only visible part of her face since her long fluffy, and that was being generously kind about them, bangs reached past her nose, which he suspected was styled like that as part of her gimmick, was wide with a teeth-baring grin. She waited a few more seconds, using those moments to make faces at Magenta, who, oddly enough, could tell her expressions apart, and was shooting ridiculous faces back at her, while the teacher was trying really hard not to laugh and finish the referral slip legibly. Finally she managed, and cleared her throat, schooling her face into the semblance of professionalism she was supposed to embody. And Felicity was out the door singing some Japanese anime song.
"oto no nai mahiru
kaze ha tada akarui…"Her surprisingly melodic voice drifted till the door closed behind her, cutting off the song.
Even after knowing her almost two years, Warren couldn't quite pin down everything about her. One moment she was cracking jokes and eating her lunch, and the next, she was singing some sad-sounding melodic Japanese song. Despite the fact that she was one of his "friends", and in fact his closest female friend simply because she knew when to push and when to back off, Warren knew surprisingly little about her, even if he knew more about her then his other friends through the times she would come to help out around the Paper Lantern, in exchange for a free lunch and solid connections with her "Asian-peeps".
He remembered the first day he had "met" Felicity. And how surprised he was by her.
There she was, tiny little thing, not even five feet with her puff-ball hair, and about as big around, at the widest part of her body as his hand. She trembled a little at Boomer's loud voice and scurried up to the platform.
"I can do Origami." She had said quietly. And Boomer laughed.
"Paper folding?!" He had cried, between gasps for air. "That's your super power?! PAPER FOLDING?!" He nearly fell out of his chair laughing."Sidekick!" He crowed.
"Aren't you going to at least give me a chance to show you what I can do?" She asked, her fists going to her hips.
"No! Sidekick! Now get off and let someone with real power come up." He jeered and she frowned, looking furious, grabbed her backpack and zipped it open, pulling out a large bundle of paper cranes.
"Very nice sweetheart, but my decision's final." He said, getting frustrated. She breathed on the multi-colored paper birds and a golden glow swept over all of them. Suddenly they all came to life and started attacking Boomer.
"Ow! Hey!" He swatted at the birds as they continued to dive-bomb him. "Okay! Okay! Hero! HERO! JUST CALL THEM OFF ALREADY!" He boomed, and she smiled sweetly, and the birds flew back to their bundle and resumed being lifeless.
"Thank you for letting me demonstrate my abilities." She bowed to him and scurried off the stage. People started to murmur as she made her way to the back past Warren Peace.
It amazed the pyro that she had grown so far since the timid little thing she was freshman year. From quiet shy girl to class clown.
At the teacher's frustrated "Ahem" Warren dropped his thoughts and returned to taking notes.
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Principal Powers sighed as Felicity once again sat in front of her for disrupting class.
"Felicity, this isn't going to be an everyday occurrence is it?" Felicity sighed.
"I'm really sorry Ma'am, it's just… I can't stop the things I say from coming out of my mouth! I've tried everything I could think of! Including stuffing my mouth full of gum so I would be too busy chewing, to talk, but I ended up blowing a bubble in Mr. Medulla's face." The older woman's lips quirked in a repressed smile at the memory of the man leading her in here by the arm, spraying spit he was so mad, and covered in sticky pink gum.
"I want you to take that board to the detention room, and write, a thousand times "No one likes a smarty-pants." you may leave after the thousandth line." She said pointing to a rolling blackboard with a fresh pack of chalk on the little shelf at the bottom of it. Felicity bit back a groan and grabbed the blackboard and made her way to the blindingly white room to serve out her punishment.
After the girl had left, Powers let loose the chuckle she had been holding back, and leaned back in her chair.
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By the time she had made it to lunch, her forearm felt like it was throbbing. There at the table, Magenta was waving her over. Despondently, she sank down into the saved spot and groaned.
"What was today's punishment?" Magenta asked, popping a chicken nugget into her mouth.
"One thousand times on a chalk board "No one likes a smarty-pants."." Everyone chuckled at the line. She pulled the bento her mom had made for her that morning.
"Lunchboxing it today?" Will asked, curious as to what his friend was eating.
"Hai, mum made me a bento this morning." She said falling into her English accent. She ran a hand underneath her bangs and rubbed her temples. She opened the box, and ripped opened the paper to the disposable chopsticks her mum kept around for bentos and guests. Holding the bamboo sticks in front of her, one stick in each hand, she softly called out "Itadekimasu" and pulled the sticks apart, aiming for a perfect 50-50 split. Alas, no such luck.
"What's E-ta-decky-ma-sue?" Will asked, eyeing the box full of Japanese foods.
"It's kinda like grace. The Japanese say it before beginning to eat." She said, popping the sausage in her mouth.
"But you're not Japanese, so why say it?" Zack asked, eyeing her omelet.
"I'm half." She responded eating a spicy pickled radish.
"Really? I didn't know that!" Layla said.
"I don't really talk about myself much." She replied, shoveling a clump of rice in her mouth to cool it after the spicy pickles.
"Well, you know everything about us… we'd like to know more about you." Layla said earnestly. Felicity paused and sipped her freshly opened canned green tea.
"Well, what exactly would you like to know?" She took another sip of her tea, before putting it down.
"Everything!" the Flora-manipulator insisted. Felicity paused for a moment and began, in the same tired dull voice she had had since arriving.
"Well, I'm double third generation, meaning I'm third generation on both sides of my family. On my Dad's side my Grandmother was the Super called Jaguar, and my Grandfather was the head of an International Rescue branch, in Scotland. My Dad was the British Superhero called Arrowhawk. My Grandfather on my Mother's side was the International Jewel Thief called Origami, and my Mother was the "Magical Transformation Girl" who ended up defeating him. My Dad met my Mum when he was on a mission in Japan and ran into Mum when she was battling a giant monster. I have no siblings." She took a drink of her tea before continuing. "I was born and raised in Japan, I speak English and Japanese fluently, I do have a bit of a British accent to my voice because my dad was British and it's how I learned to speak English. I moved to America in the seventh grade after my Dad died. I've always had my powers for what I can remember. That satisfy your curiosity love?" She asked mildly, she really didn't mind sharing information about her life; she just thought it wasn't important to mention with out being asked.
"So you're Scottish, Japanese, and…" Felicity rolled her eyes, only Americans were so obsessed over their ethnicities.
"Belizean." She supplied. Finishing off the last bit of her rice and pickles, she placed the lid back on the container and threw away her chopsticks in the trashcan right by their table.
"Cool." Magenta said.
"So, can we go over to your house?" Layla asked.
"I don't know… Mum runs a Japanese household; they're pretty strict about their rules and standards, and you don't get a chance to rectify a mistake." She said warningly.
"It's okay! We'll be on our best behavior!" Felicity peered at them through her overly frizzy bangs and gave a surrendering sigh.
"All, right, I'll call and ask if you can come over." She said, pulling out her phone and excused herself from the table.
"Moshi Moshi."
"Oka-san, can a few of my friends come over after school today?"
"Well, I don't know…"
"They promised to be on their best behavior, and I will inform them of our customs."
"Alright. But only if you inform them of the rules of the house, and they follow them to a tee. Got it?"
"Hai Oka-san, Ja ne." Her mother hand already hung up the phone, so Felicity ended her side of the line and pocketed her phone. She returned to her friends and sat down.
"She said yes, but only with some conditions. Upon entering the house, you must take off your shoes and leave them in the doorway. I highly doubt you'll be expected to follow tradition exactly and announce yourselves, so don't worry about that. You are to be quiet, and this is a biggie. We own a Dojo and our students must have quiet. Plus Japanese households are usually quiet anyways. If she makes us Ramen or Miso, which she might as an after school snack, it is polite, in Japanese customs, to slurp, it's considered an insult not to. Yes we use chopsticks, no we don't have forks. Any questions?" The group shook their heads. Felicity leaned around Ethan to talk at Warren's back. She always tried to include the stoic boy, and at least make him feel like he was always welcome, because she always had a niggling little fear that he felt left out.
"Warren? You coming?" He grunted and shook his head no. She sighed, of course he wasn't.
"Well, call me if you change your mind." Not that he ever did. But she felt, that in some way, he must have been somewhat, deep down inside, touched by her efforts. And she was content to have him know she did consider him a good friend and tried to include him, in things outside the Paper Lantern.
"Well then meet you all after school." She said as the bell rang, summoning the super-powered adolescents to their next class.
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"Now girls, remember! Next month I'm having a talent scout come to the school, don't worry he's also a super, come to guest judge our open concert, and I want you all to bring your "A" game." The bell rang and the small group of girls in Mrs. Merlot's Choir, all stuffed their items in their bags and left.
"Oh! Felicity, be a dear and stay after. Don't worry I'll write you a pass." Confused she turned and walked back to the choir teacher's desk.
"Felicity, don't say this to the other girls, but out of everyone in this class, I think, talent wise, you have the best shot. But, unless you join up with a band in the next week and audition in for the last spots, you aren't going to be able to attend if you keep up your trend of detentions, and you continue to look… like that." Felicity looked down at her torn jeans and black shirt with the holes in it. "So, I purpose... a sort of challenge for you. If you want that badly to perform in the concert, starting Monday, you will be clean-cut, well groomed, and no longer get in detention daily… or ever. And if you stay well-dressed and groomed, and have stayed out of detention till the day of the concert, I will let you perform… heck I will give you a solo, but only if you meet my criteria. Do we have a deal?"
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"Sh-she-she wants you t-t-oOo d-d-do wh-ha-ha-hat?" Layla cried, shrieking in laughter.
"Shh! Kami-sama Layla! Keep it quiet!" Felicity hissed as she heard the Dojo class paused in their katas. She could practically feel her mother's anger radiating.
"Ooh, sorry, but it's just, you know… funny. She wants you to dress normal." The half-girl was seriously tempted to strangle her friends… and burry the bodies underneath the Sakura tree.
"Oh… and how so?" She arched an unseen eyebrow, crossing her long, thin, arms underneath her pathetically lacking bust-size.
"You're… just perpetually a mess. We love you to bits, Flissy, but you didn't even manage half way decent at homecoming this year… and lets all please forget the previous year's winter formal disaster you wore." She scowled at the hated, no loathed, nickname and mulled over what they said. There was no point in being hurt, and boy did it, after all they weren't trying to be malicious, they were just pointing out a truth. She gave a small sniffling sigh, as she really tried hard to over-look basically being called ugly by her friends. Suddenly feeling horrible at her saddened demeanor, her friends all made excuses and fled, with only Layla staying behind to hug the poor distraught girl before taking off in awkward silence.
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After excusing herself from the house, Felicity found herself wandering around till her stomach growled with hunger. She checked the cross streets, mentally pulling up a map of the Maxville Suburbs, before making a left and walking down three block.
The doors to the Paper Lantern stood open, offering a respite from the chilly early October air. Inside Mrs. Heung spotted her and called out.
"Let me guess… you're here to bother my bus boy too." Felicity looked up and smiled sadly at the Chinese woman.
"No, Mrs. Heung, I'm here to scarf down a big plate of your delicious eggrolls." She had always got on fabulously with the ageing Chinese woman. One of the few adults she did get along with. Mrs. Heung, familiar enough with her bizarre ways, knew that she was in need of some serious comforting.
"Come in dear! Come in!" The elderly woman hobbled out on her broken feet and ushered the girl inside to a booth in the back.
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Mrs. Heung was the owner and occasional hostess when they were understaffed, of the Paper Lantern. Mrs. Heung, and her daughter Ms. Heung, who was recently divorced and had taken her maiden name back, were the two responsible for running the Paper Lantern, which is where one could normally find Warren working his ass off bussing tables and, every once in a blue moon, serving food. That's if Layla wasn't there trying to get him to take the night off and play Parcheesi at her house, or something equally fun when the group got together.
"Here dear. You just sit and thaw okay?" She turned to the back and shouted something in Mandarin to the back and sat down herself.
"Now, you tell Granny Liu what's wrong." Felicity couldn't help but chuckle, she had to be the only teenager, aside from Warren himself; the old woman was "Granny Liu" to. One day, Felicity swore, the ancient woman was going to snatch Layla bald for trying to convince her bus-boy to ditch work.
"Ah, I'm just having a crappy day." she sighed. "It's pretty stupid, but I don't know… I've always been self conscious of my appearance, growing up in Japan a half… well they're always quick to point out your differences. And I tried so hard to not stand out, even though I was taller them most the girls, and my hair was always frizzy regardless what I tried to do… and my eyes, they're… blue…" The woman across from her nodded sympathetically. "I've always been the "ugly duckling" and I'm… I tried to not let it get to me… but… it just… I'm happy the way I am… why do people need to change me?" The woman sighed and patted the girls hands, who where currently folding her napkin into a puppy dog. Since it wasn't paper, she couldn't bring it to life, but it looked cute anyways.
"I grew up in the early 1920's in China; women were objectified and put into roles that they couldn't escape. And in many ways, they still are like that today, in some parts of China. I was the last female of my family to have my feet bound, and I suffer daily from it, but it was tradition. When I had Mao, I told my husband, that I was not going to let him do to her, what my father did to me, and I left him, with Mao, who was an infant at the time. To come to America. This great land whom they say is free of intolerance, is not so. But… I never had to bind my daughter's feet, and she was free to marry the man she chose, unlike I was. And sometimes that's worth everything. I can never return to my home village, because of my disgrace. But I took a little bit of home, and started the Paper Lantern, which then I took other immigrants, much like you and myself, and gave them jobs, and now, I can offer food, not just from the Mandarin province, but every province in China, even some Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tibetan cuisine." The old woman said. Felicity wasn't sure what it had to do with her problem, but it was a heartwarming story none the less. Granny Liu smiled at the young girl and got up to start closing down the restaurant. Felicity had no qualms about staying after closing, usually that's when she came anyways, being an unofficial member of the Paper Lanterns "family" since any time the place was holding an celebration of an Asian holiday, she would come and do origami for the kids, and have the Karaoke system set up and taken down when needed. For free.
The clack of a plate being set down broke her out of her thoughts and one Warren Peace came into view, looking scrumptious in his tee-shirt and with his hair tied back. Quickly, embarrassed about her thoughts, she looked down at the over piled plate of eggrolls, with a few dumplings, wontons, and pot stickers piled on the ends, and the plate filled with different dipping sauces.
"I figured you'd be here tonight." He said, noting she was looking at the over filled plate. "Oh, by the way, you're splitting those. I had to deal with a manic Layla, upset over hurting your feelings." She grunted. As he took one from the top and started on the hot-mustard sauce, she opted for the plum sauce, and took a bite.
"So that bitch really said that shit to you? About not being "pretty enough" to have a talent agent spot you?"
"Roughly." she said in-between bites.
"I think you look fine the way you are." Felicity blushed and swallowed roughly, wincing as a sharp piece of deep-fried wrapper scrapped her throat painfully.
"Thanks." She muttered, feeling great about her secret crush saying something like that to her.
"So, what are you going to do about the concert?" He asked in-between bites.
"I got two options. One I get all beautified, and perform. Two I say fuck it and done jeans and my extra ratty Pink Floyd shirt Monday."
"Option two sounds more appropriate, I mean who's that bitch to tell you how to dress?" He said, dipping his third eggroll in Duck sauce, while Felicity opted instead for a pork bun.
"Well," she began after taking a bite "it's complicated; this is an opportunity I'd rather not miss. I mean, sure, I could probably get recognition some other way, but, it's a talent agent, one who's used to working with Super's in the Biz. I probably will never get that chance again. I don't want to change, I like my frizzy hair, most days, and I'm content with myself. It hurts to hear people say that I'm not pretty enough for something, or that I'm a fashion disaster because I wear guys tee-shirts and jeans instead of pretty clothes, but it's part of who I am. I was never a Harajuku girl, and I couldn't be if I tried. But I will put an effort into doing this, if it means I have a chance at my dreams, I'll try." Warren pushed the plate out of the way and leaned across the table to grab her shoulders.
"Listen to me Felicity, you're fine the way you are. But if it means so much to you that you impress these people, I guess I'll support you." He gave her a little shake, loosening up a smile on her face, before sitting back down to finish his food.
"Thanks Warren, you have no idea how much that means to me." She said softly, a blush staining her cheeks. She finished her bun just in time for Mao to come by with a freshly brewed pot of Oolong and two of the establishment's best tea cups.
"Hey kids, clean and lock up when you're done kay? I'll count it as payment." She winked at them and left with her mother, both of them donning identical long red coats. Again, Felicity being the only friend of Warren's she treated like that, and had always insisted that if she cleaned her own dishes, her meal was paid for. Warren poured tea for the both of them, and fished out a cream cheese and onion wonton.
"So, I take it you and Layla are going to spend an entire weekend fighting crowds at the mall." Felicity smiled a charming smile at him that made him shiver in alarm.
"Mm-mm." she shook her head, her fluffy chocolate colored hair swishing back and forth. "I'm going to the Harajuku district in Tokyo."
"It must be great being the daughter of a Super-powered dignitary." He deadpanned.
"Ah, Mum's going to fill out some paperwork they need her to do once every so often. She's going to talk to the Japanese Super Embassy about extending her stay, which of course they'll agree to. And she told me that I should take a limo and a friend and hit Harajuku with her credit card." Warren looked at her in surprise.
"You're mom's letting use her credit card…" he said.
"Yeah, I was kinda shocked too. But I guess, it's okay, it's tied to the account she receives all of her money for being an ambassador to the American Supers Council. It's not a lot of money, so we basically live off the dojo's earnings. But we use it for spending, which is what it's intended for." Warren didn't see how they needed the dojo, which he was welcomed to have free kendo lessons at his discretion, when they were also paid for being representatives of the Japanese super community. But let it go, for now.
"So you and Layla are going to go to Japan to shop? She'll love that." He said, refusing to read her smile.
"Nope, not Layla, got someone else in mind." Warren gulped his tea and shot her down.
"I am not going shopping with you."
"Aw, come on… don't you wanna go to Japan with me?" Warren sighed.
"I'd love to go to Japan, especially with you, but I ain't going shopping." Felicity refused to get her hopes up by asking what he meant by "especially with you" so she dropped it. Besides she knew he would come anyways, he was just being stubborn.
"Oh come on Warren! I trust your opinion better than anyone else's. And besides… I'll take you to go get Japanese Hotpots." He swallowed the rush of saliva that flooded his mouth, cursing the day she discovered his weakness for Asian cuisine.
"So, I can get one here too you know." Damnit, he really didn't want to go shopping. "And besides! What the hell do I know about fashion?"
"I don't need you to tell me about matching colors and fabrics. I need you to honestly tell me if I look stupid or not." Warren sighed; she wasn't getting a crucial flaw in her plan.
"But that's the problem… I think you look fine the way you're dressed right now." She smiled and blushed.
And people wonder why I'm crushing on him. She mentally laughed, they never had him try and pick their damaged ego back up for them.
"I know, and it's because of that I ask you to help me look "diva" for a month. And I promise it's only for an afternoon. And the rest of the weekend's ours to goof around in an entire country." Warren sucked in a furious breath and fumed. A weekend in Japan, authentic Japanese cuisine, the weekend with Felicity, and a guaranteed five plus star hotel for the weekend. All for agreeing to sit through an afternoon of critiquing her clothes, while she changed herself for something he didn't agree with to begin. God damnit he really hated shopping. He let loose his breathe and took another deep inhale through his nose.
"It's only for an afternoon." He finally said.
"Right." She confirmed, mentally dancing as she won a hard won victory.
"And I will get food." He said, pouring a new cup for himself and downing it.
"Yes."
"And I will get food immediately before and after this… shopping." He said the word like it was synonymous with deadly flesh eating viruses... or Barney.
"All you can eat." She promised.
"What time do I have to be there." He sighed.
"Seven."
"PM right?"
"AM."
"It's twelve thirty now." Warren said glancing at the clock.
"Really?" She asked, her eyes going wide.
"You didn't show up till ten." He reminded her.
"Wow… I'm not tired." Warren smiled.
"I guess we're sleeping on the way there then." He joked.
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Review people, it makes updates so much more frequent. And seriously, critique. I love constructive comments, whether negative (just don't be a bitch about it, because I'm sure you can find a way to say whatever it is you dislike, without trying to make me feel like an idiot for writing (and trust me… if you do try… it will never succeed)) or positive (and "I love it", is not constructive, appreciated, but not constructive) just tell me what it is you like or dislike, I will respond with a thank you and my reasoning behind it, or my promise to fix it.
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Explanations:
Most of these you probably already know or can figure out, this segment is for the more obscure references and stuff.
The Ethnicity/American comment. Most of the people I know, who are of mixed decent, and come from another country, all say the same thing; it's typically an American thing to ask about ethnicities. And while some countries, like Asian ones, are slightly biased against mixing into other ethnicities. For the most part, no one cares.
And the Hotpot thing. Hotpots are universal Asian food. They are very popular amongst many of the Asian cultures, as they are quick, easy, and can feed a large group of people. The basics of a Hotpot is broth, and however much, of what any person wants, of whatever ingredient. It differs from country and season. The thing that makes a Japanese hotpot stand out is that they are A) made with miso broth, and B) largely comprised of seafood.
A hotpot is one of the few dishes not traditionally served with rice.
