Alani & Arthur | So You Have Powers
Mar. 22nd, 2023 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_loa posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logs(backdated) Alani meets with Arthur once she realizes he's the person who's power...s she took possession of.
When one was so high, as winning the superpower lottery mega grand prize was a high, it was hard to remember that in this case that winning meant someone else lost. Namely, someone she liked despite only having seen him on tv and who happened to be friends with one of her best friends. And thank goodness for Fi, but, Arthur had lost.
The blonde looked sad as she opened her suite’s door to usher him in. A sad, pathetic wet cat of a man that if this were a tv show the studio would spray him with a hose for rain effects. “Oh, Arthur, baby boy,” well that had come out. She offered what she hoped was a supportive smile as she led him into the living room. “I’m so sorry.”
The usual bright light from the man's eyes was indeed dimmed, a candle to his typical cheery optimism. A shadow of the man who was usually the living, breathing embodiment of 'no worries.' Apparently he was done not worrying. He had also placed his hand on the entryway's casing between the two rooms and was having a hell of a time getting it to unstick.
"Hey now," Arthur offered as if this statement took effort, "These kinds of things happen."
Brows raised then knit together as Alani asked the universe when exactly things like this happened. The universe had no immediate answer for her, or if it did, she didn't know the language and it flew over her head. Smiling softly, she gave a slight shrug. "This is a first for me, dear, so you'd know better than me about how often this does or does not happen. If you need, though, I think I could carry you to the couch, and I have a very large bottle of wine that you are welcome to. How does that sound?”
”I could pet your hair and call you pretty if that sweetens the deal.” There was no reason to bring up the new sense her touch brought — his power, now that all the dots connected. Yet, at least.
Arthur truly took a moment to consider this as he continued to try to unlock his grip. "That is amazingly tempting, but Alani," and suddenly that wet cat man energy was shifted toward something more maniac, "Today has been a breakthrough." His eyes went wide as dinner plates. "I stole someone's yogurt and nothing shorted out or exploded. I did so many little me things and nothing — nothing! — happened."
He punctuated this with a tiny, trilling laugh sob.
Shock, confusion, the rollercoaster of emotions clearly visible on Alani's face as she took in what Arthur had said. Then a laugh of her own came out. "Well when you put it like that, I'm... you're welcome? No that's not right, but, it seems like it's maybe been a little good for you too?" Except maybe the yogurt, but that wasn't technically any of her business, and, really, what was one yogurt? A well deserved little Arthur treat. "I'll admit, it's been... it's been nice to not have my power." Said a bit like a conspiratory confession, as she looked away, towards the wine, because that seemed nice. "You'd tell me if I was distracting you from something else, right?"
If the universe had the tiniest of record scratches, one would have accompanied the almost unnoticeable twitch in Arthur's expression. "I would completely do that thing. Yes. And yes, good for me. A little vacation!" That universal soundtrack might also be pitching ominously into a higher register. Still, some things would always be constant in the world, and Arthur's own grief was immediately subsumed by his concerns for others.
"I never actually knew when my power showed up," he offered as a gift back, "So not having a thing I've had to twist my whole life around has been A Lot. Feelings shaken in a bottle. Speaking of!"
He went to grab two glasses.
Ah, everything was all coming up Alani. She beamed at him. "You better watch out, Arthur, or I'm going to fall in love with you." Oh, that felt weird, like the entire universe disproved of the words that had left her mouth.
Shaking it off, she circled back, brows knitting together as she turned over his statement in her head. "That must - that's a lot to deal with, I imagine, especially if you were young. You deserve a vacation, and I'm happy to keep your power safe while you have it! Well, powers" she appended as she reached for a glass.
There was a flicker in his expression as he considered, "Yes? Also no. When you don't know it is all just a high. So much to do, so many places to get done. Everything was a golden opportunity and nothing could go wrong."
He held out his glass in a shrug of a toast, though, "You're going to have to tell me about the powers," he leaned into the plural, "thing though. That's both new and terrifying!"
It took her a moment to comprehend what he'd said, head cocking before she could only stare dumbly at him, both hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Oh my god, Arthur, I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. It's — Fi called it psychometry, I know things, you know things. Is that- was that? Is that new?" It was terrifying, that went unspoken, though. The universe was probably laughing.
She was rewarded with a few slow blinks. "Yes?"
That shouldn't have been a question.
Arthur bit his lip and took a sip of wine, considering. "I used to kn... work with? Be friends with. Am friends with!" This earned another pause. "My work circle is really complicated if you think about it. Anyway, Adrienne Frost. She could do that. That's not what I do."
Again, that last part had an uptilt that really shouldn't have been there.
"But I can." Not a question, just a slight edge of panic creeping into her as the worry that she had in fact snatched someone's powers from the other universe and stacked them onto Arthur's powers with the virus. "I mean, it's, there are colors too, red and white when I touch things. You've never seen the red and white?"
"Not just the colors, but, like, when you touch an item and know its history and the emotions that went along with it?" Okay that was a question and she nursed a drink out of her own glass before looking back at him, nerves pushing her to pop the knuckles of her free hand.
Arthur, considering, swirled his wine in response to this. "Wanda and Jenny used to talk all the time about chaos and balance when we were trying to figure out my powers. Real TED talk worthy stuff. Big words and even bigger ideas, but the red is chaos and white is order. What I do," and here the tension in his own voice pitched up in uncertainty, "Shifts that around. I can typically tell when I'm doing too much in that way? Like stretching too far. A pull."
"For the," she cocked her head before lamely finishing, "luck?"
It was hard to think of it in larger terms, chaos and order and TED talk terminology when thrown into the ocean of experiencing it firsthand. Her own powers were – had been easy to comprehend, for her at least, boiling down to 'keep calm,' then eventually adding 'just don't panic when you breathe water and let it wash over you' like an afterthought. But this seemed bigger than that, and the worry remained. She worried her lower lip before fixing him with a confused look. "But I know things. I touched Namor's trident and I know things now." Not like that.
He shrugged. "That bit is still new to me. I try to know nothing, ever. It is incredibly refreshing."
"Bad news, babe, I think you’re gonna know things now,” she offered with a the beginnings of a crooked apologetic smile. “But if I can help, I’m always down to.”
The smile was returned, with an accompanying wink. "That's way too much responsibility for me. I'd like to register a complaint."
When one was so high, as winning the superpower lottery mega grand prize was a high, it was hard to remember that in this case that winning meant someone else lost. Namely, someone she liked despite only having seen him on tv and who happened to be friends with one of her best friends. And thank goodness for Fi, but, Arthur had lost.
The blonde looked sad as she opened her suite’s door to usher him in. A sad, pathetic wet cat of a man that if this were a tv show the studio would spray him with a hose for rain effects. “Oh, Arthur, baby boy,” well that had come out. She offered what she hoped was a supportive smile as she led him into the living room. “I’m so sorry.”
The usual bright light from the man's eyes was indeed dimmed, a candle to his typical cheery optimism. A shadow of the man who was usually the living, breathing embodiment of 'no worries.' Apparently he was done not worrying. He had also placed his hand on the entryway's casing between the two rooms and was having a hell of a time getting it to unstick.
"Hey now," Arthur offered as if this statement took effort, "These kinds of things happen."
Brows raised then knit together as Alani asked the universe when exactly things like this happened. The universe had no immediate answer for her, or if it did, she didn't know the language and it flew over her head. Smiling softly, she gave a slight shrug. "This is a first for me, dear, so you'd know better than me about how often this does or does not happen. If you need, though, I think I could carry you to the couch, and I have a very large bottle of wine that you are welcome to. How does that sound?”
”I could pet your hair and call you pretty if that sweetens the deal.” There was no reason to bring up the new sense her touch brought — his power, now that all the dots connected. Yet, at least.
Arthur truly took a moment to consider this as he continued to try to unlock his grip. "That is amazingly tempting, but Alani," and suddenly that wet cat man energy was shifted toward something more maniac, "Today has been a breakthrough." His eyes went wide as dinner plates. "I stole someone's yogurt and nothing shorted out or exploded. I did so many little me things and nothing — nothing! — happened."
He punctuated this with a tiny, trilling laugh sob.
Shock, confusion, the rollercoaster of emotions clearly visible on Alani's face as she took in what Arthur had said. Then a laugh of her own came out. "Well when you put it like that, I'm... you're welcome? No that's not right, but, it seems like it's maybe been a little good for you too?" Except maybe the yogurt, but that wasn't technically any of her business, and, really, what was one yogurt? A well deserved little Arthur treat. "I'll admit, it's been... it's been nice to not have my power." Said a bit like a conspiratory confession, as she looked away, towards the wine, because that seemed nice. "You'd tell me if I was distracting you from something else, right?"
If the universe had the tiniest of record scratches, one would have accompanied the almost unnoticeable twitch in Arthur's expression. "I would completely do that thing. Yes. And yes, good for me. A little vacation!" That universal soundtrack might also be pitching ominously into a higher register. Still, some things would always be constant in the world, and Arthur's own grief was immediately subsumed by his concerns for others.
"I never actually knew when my power showed up," he offered as a gift back, "So not having a thing I've had to twist my whole life around has been A Lot. Feelings shaken in a bottle. Speaking of!"
He went to grab two glasses.
Ah, everything was all coming up Alani. She beamed at him. "You better watch out, Arthur, or I'm going to fall in love with you." Oh, that felt weird, like the entire universe disproved of the words that had left her mouth.
Shaking it off, she circled back, brows knitting together as she turned over his statement in her head. "That must - that's a lot to deal with, I imagine, especially if you were young. You deserve a vacation, and I'm happy to keep your power safe while you have it! Well, powers" she appended as she reached for a glass.
There was a flicker in his expression as he considered, "Yes? Also no. When you don't know it is all just a high. So much to do, so many places to get done. Everything was a golden opportunity and nothing could go wrong."
He held out his glass in a shrug of a toast, though, "You're going to have to tell me about the powers," he leaned into the plural, "thing though. That's both new and terrifying!"
It took her a moment to comprehend what he'd said, head cocking before she could only stare dumbly at him, both hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Oh my god, Arthur, I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. It's — Fi called it psychometry, I know things, you know things. Is that- was that? Is that new?" It was terrifying, that went unspoken, though. The universe was probably laughing.
She was rewarded with a few slow blinks. "Yes?"
That shouldn't have been a question.
Arthur bit his lip and took a sip of wine, considering. "I used to kn... work with? Be friends with. Am friends with!" This earned another pause. "My work circle is really complicated if you think about it. Anyway, Adrienne Frost. She could do that. That's not what I do."
Again, that last part had an uptilt that really shouldn't have been there.
"But I can." Not a question, just a slight edge of panic creeping into her as the worry that she had in fact snatched someone's powers from the other universe and stacked them onto Arthur's powers with the virus. "I mean, it's, there are colors too, red and white when I touch things. You've never seen the red and white?"
"Not just the colors, but, like, when you touch an item and know its history and the emotions that went along with it?" Okay that was a question and she nursed a drink out of her own glass before looking back at him, nerves pushing her to pop the knuckles of her free hand.
Arthur, considering, swirled his wine in response to this. "Wanda and Jenny used to talk all the time about chaos and balance when we were trying to figure out my powers. Real TED talk worthy stuff. Big words and even bigger ideas, but the red is chaos and white is order. What I do," and here the tension in his own voice pitched up in uncertainty, "Shifts that around. I can typically tell when I'm doing too much in that way? Like stretching too far. A pull."
"For the," she cocked her head before lamely finishing, "luck?"
It was hard to think of it in larger terms, chaos and order and TED talk terminology when thrown into the ocean of experiencing it firsthand. Her own powers were – had been easy to comprehend, for her at least, boiling down to 'keep calm,' then eventually adding 'just don't panic when you breathe water and let it wash over you' like an afterthought. But this seemed bigger than that, and the worry remained. She worried her lower lip before fixing him with a confused look. "But I know things. I touched Namor's trident and I know things now." Not like that.
He shrugged. "That bit is still new to me. I try to know nothing, ever. It is incredibly refreshing."
"Bad news, babe, I think you’re gonna know things now,” she offered with a the beginnings of a crooked apologetic smile. “But if I can help, I’m always down to.”
The smile was returned, with an accompanying wink. "That's way too much responsibility for me. I'd like to register a complaint."
