Heroid

((New post today!))
http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.co...dbye-pt-2.html

((I'll join! ))

((Gyah! I'm missing my target days like crazy lately! Anyway -- new one up! Thanks for reading! ))

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I never expected this. When I asked Shae to leave cat-me aware and cognizant of my human identity, I figured that I would still feel like… well… me. But only moments ago, I spotted some Circle mages on a rooftop, stealing some poor woman’s soul. Since I retain my powers (at least to some degree) my first thought should have been to stop them. But as I was TK’ing my way up, I spied, through a window, a television.

Now, I have never been much of one for television, especially with the proliferation of reality programming. But there, on the screen, were the tiny figures of dance show contestants gliding across a stage. I had to stop to watch, and so found a perch on the fire escape.

I can’t take my eyes off of them. They looks so… small. And their dance, their prancing and skipping… I can tell they do not see me. I reach out a paw – I think I can just… pin… that… one— No, there’s something there, something invisible protecting them – ah… a window. Of course.

I watch. Their costumes are so shiny. Their arms and legs… so delectable… I can just taste them… But no! Despite their size, they are not mice, not prey… But… they are so… small…

I reach out to touch them again. The invisible barrier is still there.

But… I have powers, don’t I?

I imagine my eyes glow brightly green as I will the box containing my tiny prey across the room toward the window. Humans, unnoticed by me until now, scurry out of their chairs, shocked that their tiny pets in the big box are flying past their heads.

Halfway to me, the mice draw a black curtain to hide behind. No matter. Once the box crashes through the invisible –

Shards of glass explode out upon me and I suddenly realize who I really am. I turn and leap just as the tv flies over the fire escape railing above me. I levitate and watch it crash into the alley below. Up on the rooftop, I can hear the mages panic. One of them says, “What was that?” Another says, “Masked interlopers!” Then I hear the woman’s voice – “Where am I? What happened?”

She scurries down the fire escape, past the elderly man and woman with their heads poked through the broken window pane.

My work done, I float to the rooftop and give myself a good grooming.

Despite the impertinence of my question (it turns out that asking a djinni if she will grant a wish is a bit of a faux pas) Shae was very gracious in her response. It seems that in Shae’s view the potential for my personal growth outweighed my lack of manners, so she agreed to grant my boon. I had only to meet her again the next day and it would all come to pass.

My wish? I wanted to become a cat of course! What better way to understand Miu more deeply?

So I met with Shae the next day and she presented me with a simple black cat collar.

“Odd,” I said looking at it, “I imagined it would be irridescent or clusttered with mystical jewels. It looks like a regular collar.”

“You wanted to be a cat, not a unicorn,” she said.

Until she grinned, I could not tell is she was being serious or mocking me.

“And all I have to do is put it on?”

“Yes. The timing is up to you, but it will only last a maximum of seven days.”

I left Shae and spent the next few hours making the rounds in Peregrine and Talos, trying to decide when I would put on the collar, trying to decide if I should tell Miu about it.

At dusk, I met with Miu at Spanky’s Boardwalk. She seemed somewhat reticent, as if she had something to say. It turns out that she was preparing to go away – for how long, she did not know – on a rescue mission. She and some others were preparing to go to the Underworld. The Underworld. The realm of many gods, none of them benevolent. One of them my uncle, Hades, traditional ally of my hated uncle, Ares. The Undeworld. A place I cannot go. I am hidden from the Olympians, and I must keep it that way.

I wanted to beg her not to go, but I did not want to undermine her confidence. Besides, Miu will be their guide to return home. I could not have talked her out of it, no matter. I would have liked to have kissed her goodbye, but we are still miles away from that, and we may not even get there. Life is complicated. I simply made her promise to return.

So now, Miu is gone. For days? Weeks? I do not know. I miss her. I do know that.

In my hand is the black cat collar. Without a second thought, I place it around my neck. Amazingly, it fits.

As I start to change, it occurs to me: Seven days as a cat – how long is that in people days?

((Whoops -- need to make a change and it won't let me!))

I met a djinni in Gemini Park.

While that’s not an uncommon occurrence in this city of everything you could ever imagine, it was unusual enough for me. I am not one to seek out the type of being that a djinn represents – you know, nearly omnipotent spirit-beings and gods – but there was something about this one, sitting alone in the park that drew me to her.

If you’ve never seen a djinni up close, you might not understand what I mean when I say that she was beautiful in a way that human language simply cannot express. I suppose it is somewhat akin to a “glamour” or a spell that makes a normal mortal more attractive than to others than they really are, but with this djinni, I knew it was not a spell. It was something innate. It was as natural a part of her being as breathing is to yours and mine. Even though she was surrounded by fire imps, she seemed entirely approachable, as if she welcomed company, and although I had come to the park for some quiet contemplation, once I saw her, I knew I had to visit her.

“Greetings,” she said as I approached.

I said hello and looked at the living embers which danced around the large rock upon which she sat. “Those belong to you then?” I asked.

“They don't bite as long as you are friendly,” she said with a casual grace.

“I do try to be,” I said and then introduced myself. “My name is Smith.”

“I’m called Shae.”

An unusual name for a djinni, but then, I have no idea what a typical name for one would sound like.

“I hope I’m not intruding, Shae. I sometimes come here to clear my head.” It had just occurred to me that she might be here for the same reason that I was.

She looked at me with pleasant contentment and said, “No. I actually used to come here when I wanted to find company. “

Instantly, I felt completely at ease.

One of the fire imps danced close to her, and she stuck her hand in its flame as casually as if she were petting a kitten. “There aren't as many folk here as there used to be, but, someone eventually comes by."

I realized then that she was one of the Veterans. One of the heroes who came to Paragon six or so years ago when the city was nearly destroyed by Rikti invaders. One of those who responded when the call went out for champions. Shae was a Hero in a city of heroes. Once upon a time, they had gathered here in Gemini Park to share burdens and victories.

“I've heard stories about those days,” I said, “before everything was so organized, when everything here was still somewhat uncertain and chaotic.”

“Things are organized? You are travelling in circles that I have not been,” she said with a smile.

I laughed, but when she asked, “You said things were more organised, by whom?” I realized that she wasn’t joking, she was asking. She had been away from the city for a while.

I replied. “Oh, you know... Long Bow... Freedom Corps...”

“Vanguard is still around as well? “

“Yes, prominently so.”

“Well, fighting Rikti probably means they get the budgets they ask for. People like their toys, so recruiting is easier than for some other groups.”

She paused and thought about something, the nature of which I would not dare to guess, and then she asked, “Is Lady Grey still around?”

“With Vanguard?”

“Yes.”

“I do believe so, though I don’t go to the RWZ very often. I find that my powers aren't very effective against Rikti... and the reverse is also true. It's... almost like a Mexican standoff.”

And it is so. While I do my part to turn back the drop ships and invasion forces when they attack the city, by and large my psi powers are not as effective against Rikti as they are against human foes. And I, also, seem to be somewhat resistant to their psi attacks. We wind up being a huge waste of each other’s effort.

“I put most of my efforts into more common criminals,” I explained, feeling a little inadequate in the stating thereof.

“There's nothing wrong with that. Someone needs to,” she said as if sensing my self-perceived deficiency. “Too many victims get passed by heroes rushing to save the world. Someone has to keep the world worth saving.”

“That’s my philosophy,” I said.

There was a moment of silence in which I watched the fire imps interact in ways that were decidedly not like the random movements of flames on a candlewick.

“Have you not seen elementals before?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, I have,” I replied, “I was just wondering if they are sentient. If they are, I would feel bad for ignoring them.”

She smiled at me and said, “Thank you for the thought. As to their sentience....you might ask a cat about that sometime. If you can get it to care enough to answer."

Just like that, she addressed the reason I needed to come to the park, the very thing I needed to contemplate.

When Jessie left Paragon City, she not only left me behind. She also left Kit, her kitten.

Kit is no ordinary kitten. She began as a creation of Jessie’s electrical powers – a lightning kitten, if you will. But as is the way of such things, she was more than she appeared to be. She was a spirit-being who was developing and growing and becoming even more than that. She calls herself Miu now, and she is testing the waters of humanness. Dangerous waters those are. Waters that are best navigated with a friend and companion.

I would like to be that friend and companion.

My problem is that the more I am with Miu, the more she is a mystery to me. I wish to understand her, and when we are sitting together drinking smoothies or laughing at some hero’s poor fashion sense, that is easy to do. At those times she seems to be a girl like any other girl – though very special to me – and no less unfathomable than any female is to any male. But there is another side to her – the cat.

And so I had come to the park to consider how I could better understand that side of her, and now, standing and chatting with Shae, a djinni, an idea occurred to me.

“Shae…?”

“Yes?”

“You say you're a djinni?”

“Do you... I hope it's not rude of me to ask... But do you grant wishes?”

((I wish you the best. And remember, bad times never last, but bad people do.

... or something like that.

See you when you come back. ))

((New post today.

http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.com/

Comments welcomed.))

((Didn't see the analyzer link.

I got James Fenimore Cooper, Raymond Chandler, Jane Austin, Dan Brown, Ian Fleming (woot!), William Gibson, J.K. Rowling, and Charles Dickens (double woot!).

But honestly, I just pasted the name "Elizabeth" in a couple hundred times, and it still told me I write like Jane Austin. ))

*sqeaks in a birthday wish before the day is through*

((Happy Birthday! ))

((I've been a little slack as far as posting to deviantart lately. I haven't stopped drawing, but the drawing I've done lately was for a customer who will own the artwork, so therefore I don't feel free post it.

But I did this (http://heroid.deviantart.com/#/d2tq04y) for a Project Rooftop (http://www.tencentticker.com/projectrooftop/) submission.

Hope you like it. ))

((Took last week off, but I'm posting this week's Rock on time! ))

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((Not bad. ))

((Nice! And I voted! ))

((New post today! ))

http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.co...shee-pt-8.html

((Thanks for reading! ))

((Thanks! It's nice to know that people are reading it. ))

((New post today!))

http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.co...shee-pt-7.html

((Heroes Con was great!

But I'm late today -- sorry!))

http://alternautuniverse.blogspot.co...shee-pt-6.html