Current Energy: 21
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
Hebert Household
You can feel the exact moment your Master finishes obtaining her new power. This isn't abnormal - she's basically drawing from the same battery that keeps you functioning in order to fuel her rapid advancement, so the sudden tug on your reserves would be more than enough of a warning for you to be able to guess what was happening.
What is quite abnormal is the entire house going suddenly very silent before a tremendous pressure lays into you, forcing you to flare your own power to remain standing properly. You glance at the clock on the wall in the living room and sigh. It's just shy of six am, which means that your Master is going to be very unhappy with you when you wake her up. Assuming she hasn't already done so which...
'Why! Am I! Glowing!' Your Master screeches at you mentally, eliciting a wince from you as you navigate all the - now floating - knick nacks and objects in the home to reach her room.
When you pass through the door to examine the situation, you find your Master sitting up blearily in her bed, staring at her hands and around her at the wreckage of her room, which looks like a whirlwind has, or even still is, passing through it. Rising around her is a fluorescent blue aura of pure power that nearly dwarfs the girl herself. It's such a blatantly obvious display of power that you'd be surprised if the neighbours hadn't noticed by now. On the bright side, it's not shaped like a skull, which should please your Master somewhat.
"Spiritual Power is like sneezin'. You gotta hold it back all the time or it flares up like this." You explain patiently, idly poking your head through the wall into Daniel's room to check up on the guy. As you expect, he's spasming in his bed, desperately trying to rise from the mattress to see what's going on, so you meander over to him and flip him onto his back to make sure he doesn't suffocate in his pillows before returning to Taylor.
"I mean, if you're really into a fight you can push it past what it sits at naturally but you maybe... shouldn't... do that." You offer, eyeing the room around you to see if anything your Master actually cares about is liable to be damaged.
"How the hell do I hold it back?!" Taylor continues, panic rising in her voice as she wakes up enough to fully grasp her situation.
"You sorta... just do it?" You say stupidly. Then you blink once. Does... does this Emulation even know how to hold back? You can't recall a single memory of him doing so. In fact, he seems to substitute the skill for - of all things - an eyepatch that limits his power for him.
You suddenly feel like you have made a grave mistake.
"That's not an answer!" Taylor scowls at you, before screwing her eyes closed and furrowing her brows in concentration.
"...fair." You mumble, scratching the back of your head idly in embarrassment.
Several seconds pass as your Master focuses, with each passing moment lessening the pressure you feel pressing against you until - accompanied by the sudden return of gravity to many of the small objects in the building - her aura retracts back into her.
When she opens her eyes again, she is breathing heavily and clutching her bedsheets tightly, her face slightly red from how tense she is.
"So just outta curiosity... how do you do that?" You ask on behalf of your Emulation. Your Master's eyes snap towards you at the exact same time as her Father tumbles through the door to the room, and suddenly there are two Heberts glaring at you.
Fun.
"So... she's bulletproof?" Daniel asks you hesitantly at the breakfast table as you both watch Taylor awkwardly attempt to eat without accidentally releasing her power and obliterating the utensil she's holding.
"Eh. A strong soul resides inside a strong body or somethin'. It's like... uh..." You pause to find a way to explain this. You yourself don't have a hard time understanding the math involved, but your current Emulation seems largely incapable of actually getting a point across.
"S'like hitting a guy with something heavy? Even if you're weak, the heavy thing makes ya hit harder. It's like that, only the heavy object is her Spiritual Power, and it applies to... uh... everything?" You explain with a shrug.
"How is she supposed to go to school when she might accidentally murder anyone she bumps into?" Daniel asks you, shooting a withering stare your way. You are just about to explain that you don't actually care if she goes to school or starts murdering people by mistake, but are saved from your own mouth when your Master jumps into the conversation.
"It's... it's all right Dad. I think I'm getting it. It's just a little uncomfortable is all. Like clenching a muscle all the time." She says, while carefully lowering her spoon into her bowl of cereal with a grimace.
"Besides, this is Brockton Bay - when is being bulletproof bad?" She continues.
"I can't say I like it but if it makes you safer then..." Daniel grunts, pointedly turning his head away from the cabinet you know he keeps all his alcohol in.
"It's fine Dad." Taylor says, exasperated. Once she got over the obvious displeasure at the hour, in addition to accidentally totalling the door to her room, she took surprisingly well to her new strength. She was actually fairly ecstatic about it really. If you had to hazard a guess you'd say that something about having a power of her own is simply more 'real' to her than having you as a Projection. You'd be offended but technically that power came from you anyway so if you squint at it you can tell yourself that she's proud of you and not just the new power.
"Hmm. Maybe I should call out of work again? I still have some sick days saved up so-" Daniel queries hesitantly.
"Dad I'm fine. Better than fine! Besides I have Emmy - nothing bad is going to happen." She counters quickly, slightly deforming the spoon in her grip.
"That's what I'm worried about..." Daniel mumbles under his breath, shooting you another glare and then rising to put his dishes away.
Fifteen minutes later and you find yourself in the basement again, watching over Taylor as she practices a controlled release of her power. It's going... you won't say well. But well enough at least. You suspect she may have inherited your current Emulation's complete lack of any skill at control, but doubt that will hold her back for long.
Speaking of being held back...
"Hey, Ma- Taylor. What's with all the stupid spandex around here anyway?" You ask curiously. Your Master stops in her tracks to stare at you, expending some focus to retract her aura back into herself.
"It's not stupid!" She blurts out before blushing slightly and glancing away from you.
"I mean, it's not... really spandex. Most of the time. I'm pretty sure Alexandria wears a special tinker tech cloth. She gets set on fire a lot so..." Your Master mumbles shyly, not even once making eye contact with you.
"What the hell is an Alexandria?" You ask, nonplussed.
"She's one of the Triumvirate," Taylor explains, clearly not understanding that you don't know what that is either.
"...They're the three strongest heroes in the world! How do you not- right. Basically a baby. Um. Remember those guys you fought before? The Protectorate?" Taylor tries again, obviously seeing the blank look on your face.
"Heh. Weaklings." You answer fondly. Taylor frowns at you but continues.
"Those guys work for the organization that the Triumvirate founded. They have teams all over the country that fight crime and stuff. They wear costumes so the bad guys don't know who they are and take their families hostage or something."
You stare at your Master as several things click. Then you frown.
"What about Glory Girl?" You ask.
"She... her family doesn't believe in masks? Vicky's a bad example." Taylor responds.
"Eh. Whatever. At least you don't -" You start then stop when your Master glances away from you again. You try imagining her in spandex calling herself Laserfist or something else equally stupid. And you hate it.
"Now Master let's not be hasty..." You try, stepping slightly towards her, only to be bombarded by her suddenly unleashed Spiritual Power.
"Hero's wear costumes! They have cool names!" Your Master hisses at you, blushing red to her ears.
Welp. You can tell when you've lost the argument. At least you can suggest a costume and name that aren't... as stupid?