Chapter 21 : Tempus Fugit - That's a thing with human women?

I honestly thought that after another eventful week, full of schoolwork, afternoon activities, afternoon activities, time spent regularly at the gym, a second remotely exploded head, and another saturday where I wrung myself nearly to the bone while trying a few unsuccessful Warp related experiments, the universe would have mercy on me and not-quite let me sleep in, but at least give me a fucking break on Sunday morning.

Guess. Fucking. What?

"Mmrgh…" I groan weakly from my perch above my toilets, one hand kept busy massaging my temples, tHe VoIcEs not as quiet as usual, since my focus was admittedly quite shot at the moment-

-the other cradling my lower belly, having woken up with the particularly lovely impression of my whole reproductive system trying to claw its way out of my body.

I was a girl, and it was absolutely great on all accounts so far, but I apparently wasn't ready at all for the more, let's say, unglamorous aspects of womanhood, and my first period evah' was absolutely kicking me in the ass.

I had the niggling suspicion that it was particularly bad because that was the first time I tanked the sensation 'for real', and that my pain tolerance wasn't the one the me pre-insertion, or whatever you want to call her, had cultivated through teenagehood.

Nonetheless, I was feeling like absolute dogshit, and tHe SuSuRrUs added on top of the pile wasn't helping at all, especially when you factored in that I was still sore from yesterday's gym activities.

I was a big ball of hurt, especially downside, and it was driving me absolutely nuts, shooting my focus, badly, because all I wanted for it was to cease, to feel better, ChAnGe this awfulness to feeling WeLl and-

-with a gasp, tHe WhIsPeRs come to a crescendo, the Warp seemingly acting on its own as I startle backward on the toilet seat, my back hitting the cold ceramic and metallic piping with a thump-

-my eyes widening, a powerful feeling of dread taking me as I feel the psychic-soul stuff of the universe wash over my body, seemingly obeying a command, or maybe doing whatever the fuck it felt like at the moment-

-it comes and leaves, the moment stretching itself for an eternity as I fail to comprehend how and why it happens-

-only for all of my pangs of pain to vanish like they weren't even there, leaving me to blink a little bit dumbly as my muscles stop being so goddam sore all over and my uterus decides that its arguments have been heard and that it'll cease its protest for now.

For a beat, as tHe VoIcEs settles back to a more tolerable volume while I catch my breath, I remain unmoving, like frozen in time as I try to understand what the fuck exactly happened-

-and only then, I start to properly panic.

Hours later, once I had tried everything I could think of, I was almost entirely sure that I hadn't mutated myself or something along those lines by accident due to my control sliping and my weak-ass pain tolerance level.

No, according to my observations and some logical deductions, I was just 'healed', for lack of a better explanation.

Which meant that I had somehow managed to stumble upon the very basic, starting level of biokinesis, by accident, because of a particularly vicious tummy ache.

I had an inkling, a while back, somewhere in the back of my brain, that the whole thing was tied to the dark-blue concept of Change, which indeed seemed to be the case when linked to the soft, white glow of Well, the most positive emotion I've ever channeled so far.

My current theory was that it, somehow, rubber banded from my mind-soul representation in the Immaterium, my ideal metaphysical self, and translated it into my physical vessel.

Now, why do I think that?

"Am I, like, hotter or something?" I mumble in front of the mirror, frowning a bit as I look at myself under every angle possible, especially my face.

And either I am hallucinating, or this very instinctive and rough display of biokinesis just did away with some very minor imperfections, because I'm pretty sure my skin wasn't that neat before.

If only I had some kind of old scar or something, like I had a lifetime ago, those disappearance could shine some light onto what the fuck is going on-

-and I blink, as memories of younger Prima nicking her knees while falling off a bicycle rear their head, prompting me to look downward-

-only to see the thin, whitish outline of the near-invisible scar very conspicuously missing from my body.

I blink, once again, not paying attention as my bangs fall over my eyes as I keep looking downward, furiously thinking.

Right, so, my idealized view of myself somehow translated into being reality because Well is probably a tad too wide an umbrella for all the feelings, emotions and concepts it can potentially convey.

…Which means that if I want my instinctive bursts of biokinesis to work properly and not mess anything up, I'll have to be more specific, possibly tying Change to something like Wellness, which should be less all-encompassing.

I straighten before looking back in the mirror, my lips quirking up.

…Or maybe let things as is because I'm a bit vain and I like what I see?

Erh, I'll sleep on it.

In the meantime, it splendidly dealt with my womanly issue and gave me an unexpected boost in self-confidence.

I'll have to see if it works like I think it does when exercising, but if it ends up being the case, then this unexpected boon will cut down the timeframe to unlock Touki by such a wide margin, it isn't even funny.

…Still going to double check if I haven't messed up something, somewhere, one last time.

I tilt my head consideringly, before nodding to myself.

At least, it gave me an idea as to how to avoid another tea time with Rias and co. this afternoon, since I still haven't gotten a handle on my aura, and I'd rather have that under control before possibly meeting a certain white haired catgirl.

In hindsight, I had been very lucky that Koneko -if she even exists, because I don't know for sure- has been absent last time, since I've an inkling that I'd be rather 'loud' to her sensibilities, if they work the way I think they do.

Maybe the Gremory heiress will be a bit bummed out, but I'm sure she'll understand.

"Wait," Rias boggles, her hand still clutching her phone, Akeno apologetically smiling back at her while sitting on the sofa in front of her, "That's a thing with human women?"

"Apparently, from what I've heard from older reincarnates, my King." The half-fallen answers, herself being a bit uncomfortable with the subject since she luckily and unknowingly sidestepped it by earning her evil piece at a young age, "It's generally uncomfortable, to varying degrees, for the woman. It's a common private joke between recently turned girls that not having to deal with that particular mess any longer should be the main marketing point, and dozens would take the offer and enter a peerage right away."

"Poor Prima-chan." The crimson headed devil commiserates with a sigh, "I'll hope she'll get better."

"She'll be right as rain in a couple of days, don't worry, my King." Her Queen assures her, making her smile a little shakily.

ENTRY: Alpha-015

ANNO:0 - LOCAL:2009

LOCAL DATE: APRIL, 26TH

BEGINNING RECORD

"So, I'm a bit of a dumbass.

"I just spent hours looking over every nook and cranny of my body, trying to find out if my uncontrolled Psyker outburst messed up something, and only remembered a few minutes ago that Skully had a scanning Doctrine that could probably pinpoint if I was screwed or not.

"Y-yes, yes, you're a good boy. Now go back to your hover-spot!

"Where was I?

"Ah, yes. So, the results of the scan.

"Well, there's nothing grand to it, really, bar having somehow corrected a few very minor genetic deficiencies and defects, like someone had taken a look at my body and told themselves 'nah, we're looking for a Human Exemplar here' and ran along with the idea.

"It also apparently 'reset' my endometrium to the beginning of my cycle, which explains why I'm not curled up under my bed sheets with a hot water bottle while cursing the human condition or something along those lines.

"Since I hadn't thought about taking some scans before all of that happened, I have no idea if it negatively impacted my routine and sent me back on my gains, so I'll have to reiterate the experiment since I more or less know what I'm doing now.

"...

"Maybe I'll double-check on some mice beforehand, just to be sure.

"Anyway, the whole sequence of events had me thinking about how I'd go about channeling positive emotions and what I'd do with those, and I think I know just the thing to get started.

"I mean, it's still Sunday, for fucks sake, and I really don't want to do something productive right now after freaking out for a whole ass morning, so, even if it doesn't pan out, it'll still be something more relaxing than mind-numbing reviews."

ENTRY: Alpha-015

ENDING RECORD

As I let the Beauty of the Warp gently wash over me with a bare thought, my ballpark black pen dances across the sheet of paper in front of me, illuminated by the middle afternoon's sunlight, a cup of tea next to me.

Eyes half-lidded, guided more by instincts, echoes of dreams and raw concepts than anything else, I draw.

What do I draw exactly?

I'm not sure.

I have a feeling, after all, that if I tried to guide the process myself, then I'd ruin the moment.

I'd ruin something.

Curves, straight lines, shading and geometrical forms intersect, combine, becoming a coherent sum of their parts, my attention only half-focused on it, tHe WhIsPeRs firmly at the helm.

I had always found something fascinating about the process of creation, something mesmerizing.

Humans destroy, yes, and often enough that it's sometimes the only thing you can think of about our species, but they also create so many beautiful things and wonders, art being one of them.

Slowly, lines by lines, the form, no, the vista takes shape.

My awe grows in answer.

Finally, an eternity later, when my hand finally stops moving and I drop back the pen, my tea having long gone cold, I have trouble believing my eyes.

In front of me lay the most beautiful and artistic rendition of a massive city of cyclopean proportion, with titanic walls etched with lifelike carvings, a majestic mural encompassing its borders, enshrining gigantic buildings adorned with gilded statues.

It doesn't show everything, now, barely what I can only call the main entrance right in the middle of the metallic and carved walls, a rendition of a woman with indistinct features, her arms spread wide, as if welcoming everyone in the city's midst, also carved upon those doors.

I straighten a bit in my seat, looking at the whole of the drawing.

…And I think I misjudged.

It is not a city: it is a massive complex, spreading for miles, upwards and to the sides, and what I can only call a Temple.

A golden one, I can tell, even when drawn with only black ink, the shading being so lifelike that it leaves no doubt about it.

Slowly, I utter a few words under my breath, before shivering slightly and wrenching my eyes off the drawing.

I remain seated like that for a while longer, eyes unfocused, as I mull over what just happened.

Then, I shake my head, a bit forcefully, before looking back at what I drew -with a lot of help, yes, but with my hands still-.

My lips curl up.

"Well, I know now what I'm going to do on my Sundays' afternoon." I say aloud, my tone a bit giddy, "Because I'm fairly certain that I can use this."

[AN: Timeline kicks up another notch, Prima stumbles upon Biokinesis 101 by accident because oochie, and we find a way to utilize those positive emotions, yes?

me: making my MC have an out-of-context bullshit that boggles the mind.

also me: makes her use it to draw pretty pictures. :3

This is, of course, not the end of her experiments, far from it, but it was always sort of the plan to have her unlock godlike level of drawing because the plot said so. *nods nods*

I'm cookin' something, trust.

Hope you enjoy, xoxo]