18. Water You Doing? (Comes with water chestnuts) [video]

[continuousgroaning]

[When the feed clicks on, it's in the kitchen of Tina's new home of Heropa #004; she's sitting at the table, supervised by a wizard made of carved wood whom some may recognize as a figure of the dearly-departed Taako. There's a glass of water in front of her.

With a look of immense concentration, Tina places her hand, palm up, on the table and slowly raises it. The water inside the glass also rises, above the rim, and when Tina lowers her palm the water lowers back into the glass. Well, most of it, anyway; some of it ends up on the table, but she still looks pleased as punch. The water then develops a film of ice on top of it.]

My magic powers are gone, but they were replaced with this. I'm still practicing, but I can manipulate water now. I think that's a pretty good trade, don't you?

Also, uh, sorry for disappearing for a day. I didn't get any new memories from home this time, oddly enough, just new powers. But I'll have to make up for not being there for moving day and come up with a special burger for our new household either way. Maybe... uh... "New Year, New Ewe", with a lamb patty? I'll work on it.

Comments

[monster_san]

Oh! Very nicely done, Miss Tina! [Fuu is smiling, and maybe a little nostalgic.] That's a very useful power for a chef.

[continuousgroaning]

Thanks! I tend to spill water everywhere, but I'll get better with it.

It'll make me a hit at parties, too.

[monster_san]

Practice makes perfect, as they say.

A hit--or even a splash!

[oh gawd]

[continuousgroaning]

Hey, nice one!

[monster_san]

Thank you! I have very little experience in English wordplay.

I like your idea for the burger name, too.

[continuousgroaning]

Huh, is that not your native language? I've always been able to understand you perfectly.

Thanks. I inherited my penchant for puns from my dad. He came up with a different punny special every day for our restaurant.

[monster_san]

No, I'm from Japan. I believe the nanomachines provide some assistance with translation, though.

Ah, so it's a family tradition! That must be hard work, coming up with a new one day-by-day.

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[mildmanneredwriter]

That's pretty neat. [He smiles at the moving water; it's almost like it's alive.] Your powers just...changed, for no reason?

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[continuousgroaning]

Uh-huh. It's not even the only time that's happened to me- I only had two powers when I first came here, then when my friend Taako got the ability to teach other people magic, I was able to start learning from him, and that's not something I could do back home.

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[mildmanneredwriter]

...huh. How about that. [He straightens his glasses.] Does this kind of thing happen a lot?

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[continuousgroaning]

I've been here for almost two years, and that's the second time it's happened to me. I've gone home and come back with new memories, too, but the weirdest part is it'll be a years' worth of memories, but only a day will have passed here.

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[mildmanneredwriter]

Kind of makes sense if we're in two different dimensions with time passing at different rates, right? [He holds up a hand for a moment.] Wait, no, forget I said that. Nothing about being here makes sense.

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[continuousgroaning]

It's okay- I've done a lot of thinking about it because time was kind of weird back home, too. My parents have pictures of me as I grew up, I remember when my siblings were born and we grew up together, but at some point I just... stopped aging. Everyone did. My birthday and holidays and school would happen every year, but we never got older, and nobody noticed or thought it was weird.

... I know I sound pretty casual about that, but I've talked about it to other people before. And now that I'm here I do age normally.

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[aboveand]

That's pretty schway. You've got good control for someone who just got it.

[And it makes him just a teeny bit jealous that he has no powers to call his own.]

I hate to do this over video but I'm at work--hi, I'm Terry and I'm one of your new roommates. Don't worry about missing move in, we got it all handled.

You wouldn't happen to be a fan of dogs, would you?

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[continuousgroaning]

[Tina smiles bashfully at the compliment.]

Thanks. I'm kinda scared to do more than a glass, though- I don't want to flood the bathtub or something.

I'm Tina. And I absolutely love dogs. Do you have one?

[aboveand]

Gotta work your way up to the bathtub.

[He smirks.]

Just do me a favor and don't flood my room if I leave a mess in the kitchen.

[A nod.]

His name's Ace, and I kept him in my room for now. He's pretty mellow now, but he's a guard dog so just be careful.

Especially if I'm home, because... well he goes from a dog to a superdog if we're close together.

[continuousgroaning]

[Tina laughs.]

Thankfully, I'm not that mean. Maybe I'll just leave a little puddle on the bathroom floor so you end up with wet socks.

Oh, then I'll let him approach me on his own terms. He'll probably like me, but I'll give him space at first. It's got to be hard having new people around all of a sudden.

Superdog sounds exciting, though.

[aboveand]

I dunno, that sounds pretty mean to me.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I'm sure Ace will too.

[He grins.]

If he's in a good mood when I get home I'll have him fly in loops for you.

[continuousgroaning]

Yeah, I'm not sure I have wet socks in me. That and I don't want MY feet to get wet, either.

No problem. I love all kinds of animals, but my siblings and I are definitely dog people. We never had one back home, since my family lives above our restaurant I'm sure the health inspector would find some excuse to get on my dad about it, and we couldn't really afford one anyway. So I try to be kind to other peoples' and enjoy their company.

I'd love that! I kinda wish my horse could fly...

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[h2no]

[archie looks SO FUCKING DELIGHTED.]

That's incredible! I want something like that!! What else can you do with it?!

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[continuousgroaning]

I can make it into ice, liquid or steam. Here.

[Tina screws her face up in concentration once more; some of the water on the table changes into vapor, though some remains. She smiles regardless.]

This is going to be so much fun to play with.

Re: video

[h2no]

No kiddin'...

[he watches the vapor rise with an expression of wonderment, like a child that's just been told santa is real.]

You'll have to let me know how it goes, developing it.

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[continuousgroaning]

[His wonder makes Tina even more pleased than she is already.]

I will. I think there's probably a limit in how much I can move at once, otherwise it'd be too easy to just empty a swimming pool or something. But it'll still be fun. I could make killer snowballs.

Re: video

[h2no]

Maybe trying to move an entire swimming pool would help you gauge how much you can do?

[continuousgroaning]

... Hmm, maybe I'll start with the bath tub first. I'm not sure I'd trust myself around THAT much water. That and the only swimming pool I know of that's filled up right now is at school, and I want to keep in the swim team's good graces.