"Oh, you poor dears!" Paz cried, rising from her chair to sweep the two of me into a hug. Tabitha yelped in surprise and both of my bodies stiffened in her arms, before each of me reflexively put an arm around her. Jacob chuckled into his beer from his place leaning against a doorway, which earned him a betrayed glare from Acacia.
Paz had led us into a nicely-decorated living room, complete with a fireplace and pictures on the mantelpiece. She'd directed me to sit on the comfortable navy blue couch, while she took one of the two matching chairs. From there, I'd proceeded to tell her my story. Or, well, an edited version thereof. I left out all mentions of my powers, of course, because… um… okay, so I didn't really know why, but maybe it was better to not reveal that to a couple of strangers? I mean, sure, they seemed nice, and it wasn't like I had any family here to put in harm's way, but, um…
Anyway, yeah. Once I'd finished explaining the whole "dimensionally displaced person with no way home" thing, Paz had made with the hugging. I let Tabitha grimace as I repressed certain memories that the hug brought up, but I didn't push her away. It didn't take much longer for her to release me, thankfully.
"So," Tabitha started as Paz returned to her chair, "Jacob told us about the PRT, and how they might be able to get identification and stuff made for us, since they'll be interested in our circumstances regardless."
"The sooner we're on our feet, the less we'd impose on you," Acacia added in a softer voice.
"Oh, don't worry about that, you're quite welcome here!" Paz replied with a bright smile as she brought her hands together before her. "But yes, we should call them and set up an appointment." Her smile shrank a little. "Of course, given the… unpleasantness currently affecting much of the city, it might be a little while before they can see the two of you."
Acacia looked to Tabitha, who sighed. "Might as well call, I guess."
She pulled out her phone to look up the number, leaving me to ponder what exactly I would say. My situation, obviously, and hopefully they wouldn't think it's just a prank. My needs, and, fuck, I'd need a lawyer if, no, when any paperwork comes up. And just in case the meeting wasn't soon enough for my liking…
"Here." Paz's voice cut through my thoughts, and Tabitha looked up to find her holding out her phone. Acacia nudged her with an elbow, prompting her to take it. "Just press the green call icon and you'll get through."
Tabitha did so and brought it to her ear. In spite of my expectations, it only took two rings before someone picked up. "Hello, PRT East-North-East non-emergency line, how can I help you?" asked a somewhat harried-sounding woman.
"Um." Yes, great start there, me. "Hi, there. I'm, uh, I mean, my sister and I, we're in a bit of a situation that I've been told would fall under the PRT's jurisdiction?" My modified hearts were beating faster as familiar anxiety took hold.
"I see. And what sort of situation would you say it is?"
"Well, uh, from what I can understand, we seem to have been forcibly relocated in our sleep to here from another Earth." Before she could interrupt, I powered on, "So in addition to being very, very far from home, we have no identification, no documentation, and no money. And we'd prefer not to do anything illegal to get any of that."
The woman on the other end was silent for a moment, then another. "I… I think I need to get my supervisor. Please hold."
Huh. The on-hold music wasn't actually that bad.
Tabitha sighed, then caught Paz's curious expression. "I'm on hold while she gets her supervisor." She made a silent "oh" of understanding, leaving me to wait in silence. Acacia's hand found Tabitha's, which proved to be more comforting than I'd expected.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before someone picked up. "Hello, thank you for holding," a deep male voice said. "I've been told you need assistance?"
"Yes! Um, did the lady tell you what I told her?"
"She did. You claim that you and your sister were kidnapped from your home, moved across realities, and left here? And that you need help getting identification and the like?"
"Y-yeah, that's about it. Though when you say 'claim', it's… I'm not lying, okay?"
He chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. For what it's worth, I don't believe that this is a prank call or anything of the sort. The circumstances may sound, well, unbelievable, but you don't seem to be doing this for attention. And thankfully, the specifics don't matter too much for my purposes. I believe what you want is an appointment with the PRT, yes?"
Tabitha smiled. "Yes, exactly! When will it be?"
He sighed, and I felt Tabitha's smile fade. "Unfortunately, due to the ongoing incident with the ABB, it might be a while before you can come in. Perhaps in, say, two weeks? You have somewhere you can stay until then, I hope?"
"Oh." Tabitha let out a long breath. "Give me a moment to think?"
"Of course."
Tabitha gave Acacia's hand a squeeze, and Acacia squeezed back, then leaned over a bit to bring their shoulders together. I'd honestly forgotten about the ABB and their little war in my excitement. Just… shit. Of course that'd complicate things. What should… hell. I guess it was time to use that little trump card of mine.
"So, um, would it make any difference if I told you I'm pretty sure my sister and I are parahumans? That's the name, right?"
"I, ah…" Well, I'd rendered him speechless. He took a quick breath, probably to steady himself. "I'll go speak to my superior, see if we can schedule an appointment that's much closer to now. One moment." Ah, the return of the not-terrible hold music.
"And I'm on hold again," Tabitha said as I looked up. Paz had stiffened in her chair, smile fallen from her face. When I turned my eyes to Jacob, I found that he'd pushed away from the doorframe, one eyebrow raised.
Tabitha smiled weakly, while Acacia let out a little sigh. "Yeah, we're parahumans. Pretty sure. Sorry for not warning you."
A small measure of tension left Paz at that. "What… what can you do?" she asked, and I thought I could make out a glimmer of curiosity peeking through.
"I'm, well," Acacia started, then hesitated. "I think what I have could be called terrakinesis?" She shrugged. "This isn't the best place to show it off."
Tabitha chuckled softly, which drew their eyes to her. "And you?" Jacob asked.
She stopped, and was silent for a moment. "Shapeshifting," she said. Holding her arm up so they could see, I sent ripples of melanin across her skin, before returning it to its former pale, befreckled state. But wait, maybe that wouldn't be enough? Taking inspiration from some half-remembered memory, I drew bone from the ulna and out through the skin of my inner wrist. I formed a curved, branching stem a few inches long, then, from each of its tips, I sculpted a lobelia flower from a surprisingly clear mental image. I couldn't quite remember what it symbolized, but most flowers meant good things, so I was probably safe there. Sadly, I couldn't figure out how to make any blue pigment at all to color the petals, much less pigment as vibrant as I'd need to do them justice, so I left them bone white.
Holding the phone between her cheek and shoulder, Tabitha firmly grasped the thinned base of the stem and snapped- ooh, that felt nice! It left my inner power's senses the moment I broke it off, and didn't appear in those of my outer power. I guess it wasn't technically dead yet? In any case, I smoothed over the arm and held the bone flower out to Paz, who hesitantly took it, eyes wide.
"Oh," she said after a moment. "Is this…?"
"Made from some bone," Tabitha confirmed with a smile and nod, then frowned when Paz nearly dropped it.
"Oh, um, thank you," the woman said, twirling the delicate stem between her fingers. "It's pretty," she added, and her smile was genuine.
Tabitha's smile returned, and she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the phone. "Hello, miss?" the man on the other end asked.
"Yes?"
"We could set up an appointment for Monday, at ten thirty in the morning. Is that a good time for you?"
Tabitha grinned. "Yeah, ten thirty on Monday works for us, thanks!"
"And could I get names to identify you?"
"Sure, I'm Tabitha Blair, and my sister is Acacia." As earlier had proven, I didn't exactly have anything to hide.
The man paused. "No cape names?"
"No whats?" Tabitha asked.
"... Nevermind. Have a nice day."
"You as well!" With that, she hung up and placed the phone on the coffee table, then sighed in relief. "Phew, that's taken care of!" Things certainly were looking up.
