Two military girls meet (backdated to Monday)

[xp-friedlander.livejournal.com]

If there was one thing she liked about her new home so far, it was the space to run and flip around. The grounds provided several running trail and there were enough obstacles to play around with. Or like the grassy clearing she was approaching now, to try something else. Changing her stride just a bit for a few paces to gather more power, she launched into a round off, backhand spring and a double back tuck. Her feet hitting the ground only moments later, she powered back up, this time flipping, forward her body in a layout.

There was an unexpected smatter of applause as she landed, coming from the teenaged girl who had obviously been using the mansion's running paths, to judge by the running shorts, tank top and sneakers. Her skin was also glowing slightly as she came out from under the shadow of the trees. "Niiiiice!" she called appreciatively at Sharon. "You've got some pretty awesome moves there."

"Thanks!" Sharon called back, grinning. Feeling mischievous she seemed to launch into a back handspring again, only this twisting halfway, so that she ended looking forward. From there she launched into an aerial and jumped again, this time folding into a butterfly kick. Trying to wipe the grin of her face, she turned to her audience and bowed a little.

"Show off," the girl said, laughing. "I'm Nica. I don't think I've seen you around before?"

"Sharon. And I haven't been here long, so that's pretty likely." Sharon explained as she walked over, folding her hands casually behind her back. "You are one of the students?"

"Yep. I'm pretty new myself, actually - I've only been here since August." Nica cocked her head slightly, looking Sharon over. "That acrobatics stuff was pretty damn impressive. Is that part of your thing?"

"Seems to be, yeah. I'm still kinda figuring out what exactly it is that can and cannot do." Sharon confirmed with a nod. "How about you? Is it me or do you seem to be glowing?"

"Do not adjust your television set," Nica replied with a snort. "Yeah, that's me. I'm what the science types call an energy absorber. Light goes in and light goes out." She held up her hand and focused, the glow becoming brighter for a few seconds. "There might be more to it, but that's it for now."

"That must come in handy at night." Sharon commented as she studied her glowing hand. "No need for a nightlight or a flash light. And an energy absorber... Might need to start carrying a notebook around. Or ask one of the docs for an book."

"Between my roommate Alison and I, our room never gets dark," Nica replied with a snort. "She's got similar powers to me, only more. And there's something to do with sound involved, I think. Loud noises make her glow more. They explained the basics of mutation to us at Gen X training - maybe you could come along and sit in?"

"That might be an idea. When I do end helping up one of you kids in the Medlab, best I know what I'm dealing with." Sharon mused, the realization coming to her that this world of mutations were a lot more complex then she even imagined.  
"As well as working on your own, too," Nica pointed out. "You said you were ex-military, in the journals?"

"I was a medic with the Army." Sharon confirmed with a nod. "But that is a couple of years ago. Been back in the civilian world for about eight years now."

"My parents were both military," Nica revealed. "Dad's a Marine at the base in South Carolina. Mom... she was military police in Iraq." There was a literal dimming of her glow, before she abruptly changed the subject. "What made you leave?"

"My enlistment was up and my mother's health was not so good, so I chose to go back home." Sharon caught the past tense in reference to the girl's mother and hesitated if she should mention that she had served in Iraq as well, attached to a group of MP's herself.

"I get that. If you don't mind me asking, where were you deployed?" Nica solved that quandary with her curiosity.

"I did two tours in Iraq as well as briefly in Germany." Sharon told her fairly directly. "My last posting was in the United States though, at Fort Drum."

"Huh." No wonder the woman felt familiar. She could be one of the military types she'd grown up with. "Maybe you ran into one of my parents along the way. Frank and Maria Rambeau. Dad's a first sergeant now." The words were spoken with pride.

Sharon took a few moments to consider the names, but then shook her head. "Sorry, Nica, they don't sound familiar. And your father sounds like a fine soldier. Takes a lot of work and dedication to reach that rank."

"It was a long shot." Nica shrugged a little. "And yeah, he is. He's pretty damn awesome, actually." It was obvious Nica adored her father. "I just wish I could have stayed with him. But I get why he put me here. Kinda."

"I am sure he's trying to do the right thing." Sharon agreed. "Where is he stationed at the moment?"

"I can't go around randomly glowing for the rest of my life, so yeah." Nica shrugged. "Parris Island, in South Carolina. He's involved in training the baby jarheads."

"Ouch, I hope his voice is holding up... and pretty true about the glowing." Sharon agreed. "How about you? Had any ideas about joining up?"  

"Dad's an expert at yelling by now," the teen replied with a chuckle. "He's been doing this a long time. And yeah, I've thought about it - but Dad's all 'you will have better choices and a more stable life, blah, blah,' so it's not exactly plan number 1. At this stage, I'm just gonna focus on school and training and work out what I can do with this whole mutant thing."

"Still plenty of time." Sharon concurred easily. "Were you nearly done with your run or were you planning on going further?" A small shiver ran down her back as the cold October wind picked up.

"I was done. I was thinking of raiding the kitchen - you want to join me?"

"Mug of coffee and something hot to eat it is." Sharon gave the girl another grin and turned in the direction of the mansion. "Last one there cooks?"
"No mutant super speed - if that's one of your things - and you're on," replied Nica with an answering smile.