Living Pele -- Awakenings
Dec. 14th, 2006 06:23 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsIn Hawaii, Pele awakens and takes her first steps into the world.
In New York, Lorna and Scott watch the news coverage and Lorna has a failure to cope.
The magma flowed through the earth like blood through her veins, pulsating, hot, and completely at her command. Her senses had been nearly overwhelmed when Vida came to, everything was richer, sharper, more in focus. And the earth, she could feel it move, sigh and shake. Power building and releasing.
Her power.
Intoxicated, Vida hardly noticed the stares as she walked freely up towards Mount Kilauea. A 10-foot tall girl wreathed entirely in flame. Pele reborn.
----------------
"…reports of a woman on fire. Officials at Volcanoes National Park say that there is no cause for panic and that they will be attempting to communicate with her shortly." The news anchor looked calm and unruffled while fuzzy video played behind him. "We'll keep you up to date on this emerging story. In sports news…"
Lorna yelped and switched the channel, trying to find another station discussing the girl. Sitcom, drama, sitcom. Christ, why was TV so stupid? In desperation she changed to CNN where the story was a bit different.
"…sizeable seismic activity, possibly even an event."
Lorna dragged her hand through her hair and looked around catching sight of Scott as he wandered by the rec room. "Scott! Get in here!"
Scott stopped in his tracks, leaning back towards the door. "What?" he asked, frowning at Lorna.
She gestured at the TV with the remote as CNN began to play the same grainy footage--probably from a tourist's camera--of the fireclad woman. "This is Hawaii. They're saying that Kilauea is about to erupt. When was the last time you talked to Alex?"
"Last week," Scott said, biting his lip as he sat down on the arm of the couch, watching the footage. "It's finals time, I didn't want to be hassling him..." He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing Alex's number.
----------------
The fire-woman extended her hands and laughed as she was greeted by a slow, sleepy rumble. Kilauea was not due to go off for another several years, but Vida/Pele could knock her out of her slumber. Vida/Pele felt for the energy beneath the volcano and pushed.
She was answered by another, much louder roar.
----------------
"Now is the perfect time to bother him," Lorna said crossing her arms and watching him impatiently. "If he's studying, he can take a break long enough to tell you to stop worrying." She looked back at CNN, now showing a helicopter view of the giantess who stood on the edge of the cauldron and held her hands out as if summoning up the forces within.
"It's not going through," Scott said a moment later, shaking his head as he flipped his phone closed. "The lines must be jammed - I'm not surprised, given the circumstances."
If that was supposed to make Lorna feel better it completely failed to do so. She tightened her arms around herself even more. "They've been having a lot of earthquakes and stuff recently. It's not like California, that's just plates shifting. Hawaii's on a hotspot."
Scott tore his attention away from the television, frowning again at her. "Look, no jumping to conclusions, all right? The lines are jammed, you'd expect them to be jammed at a time like this, and Alex is sensible. He'll be following whatever emergency instructions they're giving out there."
Lorna gave Scott an incredulous look. "Exactly what are the instructions for a mutant manifestation?" she demanded, nodding at the TV which was showing lava welling up around the girl on the lip of the cauldron, ash and rock flying into the air around her as if in celebration.
The look she got in return was level. "Well, I'd presume they're suggesting that the civilians in the area react to the symptoms, not the cause." Scott's gaze strayed in the general direction of Charles's office. A thought down the link to Jean, which she'd relay... there.
Lorna shivered, "You hope."
The TV droned on. "A cult calling themselves the Children of the Islands has claimed responsibility for the imminent eruption. They released a video statement of their demands. As is our policy, we do not give air time to terrorist messages. The following has had the audio removed."
The screen switched abruptly to a girl, her features obscured by the glowing fiery veins under her skin. She spoke directly to the camera for a moment then the video cut away displaying desecrated Hawaii monuments, commercialized traditions, rich tourists and poor native islanders. Even without sound the message was clear, blaming the ills on the mainlanders who had come to the islands.
"Well, that's enormously helpful," Scott said, watching the silent footage play. "Charles will be able to make a call or two and find out what she actually had to say."
----------------
Ash was spewing forth from the mouth of the volcano, followed by orange-colored magma. The booming was deafening. And if anything, Vida/Pele was growing brighter as she poured her energy into the volcano, making it erupt.
In Hawaiian mythology, Kilauea is the location around where most of the conflict between Pele and the rain god Kamapua'a took place. Kamapua'a, hard-pressed by Pele's ability to make lava spout from the ground at will, covered it with the fronds of the fern. Choking from the smoke which could not escape anymore, Pele emerged. Realizing that each could threaten the other with destruction, the gods had to call their fight a draw and divided the island among them.
Here, however, Vida/Pele wasn't going to compromise. She wanted the haole who had been slowly desecrating her Islands out.
----------------
"Oh fantastic. Will he be able to find Alex too?" Lorna wasn't sure why she was the one having a total meltdown over this. How in God's name was Scott taking this so well? Normally a crisis like this meant that something would be done but...they didn't know anything yet. There might not be anything to be done. Suddenly they cut away from the footage to show live tape of Kilauea erupting. "Oh Christ."
Scott rose. "I'll go see what Charles has to say," he said, "and check on whoever's sitting coms watch at the moment." He looked down at her for a moment, assessingly. "Try and calm down, Lorna," he said, and there wasn't even a trace of a crack in his impassive facade. He had either learned to be a far better actor in the last few months, or he really was that calm. "There's no reason to be panicking at the moment."
Calm down? "Calm down? Did you not see the island that your brother lives on just blow up? Do you know anything at all about volcanoes? How can you not be worried?" She was going to be sick, she really was. Her stomach was already rebelling against her entirely too heavy dinner and this wasn't helping. She sat down on the couch and bent at the waist, still watching the television. "Maybe I can call Mailani."
He didn't bother telling her anything about the pointlessness of getting upset. At another time, he might have done that, just to provoke the inevitable lashing out that would have let her vent some of her fear instead of internalizing it - but right now, he wanted to talk to Charles. "That's probably a good idea," he said neutrally. "Keep trying her, and I'll talk to Charles."
Lorna was pale as she nodded, pulling out her phone. She didn't watch him leave, her gaze fixed instead on the television, some part of her mind reciting cold, clinical facts from her vulcanology courses and calculating the damage that might be done. This could be incredibly bad.
In New York, Lorna and Scott watch the news coverage and Lorna has a failure to cope.
The magma flowed through the earth like blood through her veins, pulsating, hot, and completely at her command. Her senses had been nearly overwhelmed when Vida came to, everything was richer, sharper, more in focus. And the earth, she could feel it move, sigh and shake. Power building and releasing.
Her power.
Intoxicated, Vida hardly noticed the stares as she walked freely up towards Mount Kilauea. A 10-foot tall girl wreathed entirely in flame. Pele reborn.
----------------
"…reports of a woman on fire. Officials at Volcanoes National Park say that there is no cause for panic and that they will be attempting to communicate with her shortly." The news anchor looked calm and unruffled while fuzzy video played behind him. "We'll keep you up to date on this emerging story. In sports news…"
Lorna yelped and switched the channel, trying to find another station discussing the girl. Sitcom, drama, sitcom. Christ, why was TV so stupid? In desperation she changed to CNN where the story was a bit different.
"…sizeable seismic activity, possibly even an event."
Lorna dragged her hand through her hair and looked around catching sight of Scott as he wandered by the rec room. "Scott! Get in here!"
Scott stopped in his tracks, leaning back towards the door. "What?" he asked, frowning at Lorna.
She gestured at the TV with the remote as CNN began to play the same grainy footage--probably from a tourist's camera--of the fireclad woman. "This is Hawaii. They're saying that Kilauea is about to erupt. When was the last time you talked to Alex?"
"Last week," Scott said, biting his lip as he sat down on the arm of the couch, watching the footage. "It's finals time, I didn't want to be hassling him..." He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing Alex's number.
----------------
The fire-woman extended her hands and laughed as she was greeted by a slow, sleepy rumble. Kilauea was not due to go off for another several years, but Vida/Pele could knock her out of her slumber. Vida/Pele felt for the energy beneath the volcano and pushed.
She was answered by another, much louder roar.
----------------
"Now is the perfect time to bother him," Lorna said crossing her arms and watching him impatiently. "If he's studying, he can take a break long enough to tell you to stop worrying." She looked back at CNN, now showing a helicopter view of the giantess who stood on the edge of the cauldron and held her hands out as if summoning up the forces within.
"It's not going through," Scott said a moment later, shaking his head as he flipped his phone closed. "The lines must be jammed - I'm not surprised, given the circumstances."
If that was supposed to make Lorna feel better it completely failed to do so. She tightened her arms around herself even more. "They've been having a lot of earthquakes and stuff recently. It's not like California, that's just plates shifting. Hawaii's on a hotspot."
Scott tore his attention away from the television, frowning again at her. "Look, no jumping to conclusions, all right? The lines are jammed, you'd expect them to be jammed at a time like this, and Alex is sensible. He'll be following whatever emergency instructions they're giving out there."
Lorna gave Scott an incredulous look. "Exactly what are the instructions for a mutant manifestation?" she demanded, nodding at the TV which was showing lava welling up around the girl on the lip of the cauldron, ash and rock flying into the air around her as if in celebration.
The look she got in return was level. "Well, I'd presume they're suggesting that the civilians in the area react to the symptoms, not the cause." Scott's gaze strayed in the general direction of Charles's office. A thought down the link to Jean, which she'd relay... there.
Lorna shivered, "You hope."
The TV droned on. "A cult calling themselves the Children of the Islands has claimed responsibility for the imminent eruption. They released a video statement of their demands. As is our policy, we do not give air time to terrorist messages. The following has had the audio removed."
The screen switched abruptly to a girl, her features obscured by the glowing fiery veins under her skin. She spoke directly to the camera for a moment then the video cut away displaying desecrated Hawaii monuments, commercialized traditions, rich tourists and poor native islanders. Even without sound the message was clear, blaming the ills on the mainlanders who had come to the islands.
"Well, that's enormously helpful," Scott said, watching the silent footage play. "Charles will be able to make a call or two and find out what she actually had to say."
----------------
Ash was spewing forth from the mouth of the volcano, followed by orange-colored magma. The booming was deafening. And if anything, Vida/Pele was growing brighter as she poured her energy into the volcano, making it erupt.
In Hawaiian mythology, Kilauea is the location around where most of the conflict between Pele and the rain god Kamapua'a took place. Kamapua'a, hard-pressed by Pele's ability to make lava spout from the ground at will, covered it with the fronds of the fern. Choking from the smoke which could not escape anymore, Pele emerged. Realizing that each could threaten the other with destruction, the gods had to call their fight a draw and divided the island among them.
Here, however, Vida/Pele wasn't going to compromise. She wanted the haole who had been slowly desecrating her Islands out.
----------------
"Oh fantastic. Will he be able to find Alex too?" Lorna wasn't sure why she was the one having a total meltdown over this. How in God's name was Scott taking this so well? Normally a crisis like this meant that something would be done but...they didn't know anything yet. There might not be anything to be done. Suddenly they cut away from the footage to show live tape of Kilauea erupting. "Oh Christ."
Scott rose. "I'll go see what Charles has to say," he said, "and check on whoever's sitting coms watch at the moment." He looked down at her for a moment, assessingly. "Try and calm down, Lorna," he said, and there wasn't even a trace of a crack in his impassive facade. He had either learned to be a far better actor in the last few months, or he really was that calm. "There's no reason to be panicking at the moment."
Calm down? "Calm down? Did you not see the island that your brother lives on just blow up? Do you know anything at all about volcanoes? How can you not be worried?" She was going to be sick, she really was. Her stomach was already rebelling against her entirely too heavy dinner and this wasn't helping. She sat down on the couch and bent at the waist, still watching the television. "Maybe I can call Mailani."
He didn't bother telling her anything about the pointlessness of getting upset. At another time, he might have done that, just to provoke the inevitable lashing out that would have let her vent some of her fear instead of internalizing it - but right now, he wanted to talk to Charles. "That's probably a good idea," he said neutrally. "Keep trying her, and I'll talk to Charles."
Lorna was pale as she nodded, pulling out her phone. She didn't watch him leave, her gaze fixed instead on the television, some part of her mind reciting cold, clinical facts from her vulcanology courses and calculating the damage that might be done. This could be incredibly bad.
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