Cracks 1.4
[x] I might as well at least try it. If it worked, I would eat until I was full and then take the rest with me.
[x] I should talk to Kurt and Lacey, figure out what the current situation is and…
- [x] tell them about my powers and food problem – I still had that sink to explain too.
I would start slowly. I had a pretty good chance that my teeth would never make it through the glass anyway, even if I had disturbingly little trouble with one of the lids. I did take off the label as best as I could, then I bit into the lid again. Crunchy, chewy, sweet and somehow becoming more syrupy on my tongue until I had absolutely no problem swallowing anymore. It wasn't as good as the peanut butter, but it was pretty good nonetheless and that just seemed like an unfair comparison anyway. I ate my way through the lid in less than a minute.
But without being particularly hungry, I couldn't help but be a bit hesitant to try the same with the glass. It was after all still glass. I knew exactly what would happen if I broke it, but just lifting it up to my lips and feeling it with my mouth couldn't hurt. It was cool, slippery and becoming more so by the second when I ran my tongue over it, although I didn't dare to actually bite down. There was no way I could describe the taste. The lid had been difficult enough, but it was as if I'd somehow become able to smell more things. Taste more flavours I couldn't find any words for. Solid, intriguing, slippery, almost tingly and not too bad in a completely different way.
When I finally bit down, I felt just a bit vindicated, happy even, my teeth sheared through the glass almost without resistance. It cracked, splintered and almost shattered, but even so, the sharp edges became rounded again within less than a second. I could chew this. It was the crunchiest thing I had ever eaten, but I could. And my teeth had to be much harder than glass right now.
Combining lid and glass resulted in an even better flavour and the paper serves as a surprisingly nice garnish.
I had no idea how long I spent there, eating but I only got through just under half of my glasses before I finally felt it it. So warm and full I could fall asleep right here. I could think, but even with everything that had happened, I didn't have it in me to be too upset right now. I couldn't give up., I was curious, I missed dad, I could still feel, but… I just couldn't be miserable. Not completely, not while I also felt so good and ready to curl up. The floor was sort of damp, but it wasn't as if the cold got to me nearly as much anymore…
I would probably be fine.
But I had also promised Kurt and Lacey I would be back, find out what was going on and somehow deal with these powers.
[Humanity -2]
So I started walking. Weirdly split between urgency and just curling up somewhere, I ended up just going for a light jog instead. If I were being honest, I wasn't looking forward to getting back. Not really, but I'd broken their sink, they were trying to help me and with my food requirements... it was probably better if I told them. I had to do something at least. Especially since giving up apparently still wasn't an option.
Lacey was getting ready to go back out when I walked in.
I still didn't know what to tell them. They didn't seem to quite know how to deal either, but just like I couldn't, they weren't giving up either. Even if I could only smile a little bitterly at their concern.
"I'm fine. I'm going to be fine..." I dropped the empty glasses and went off to wash my still slightly sticky hand. I could tell they didn't believe me, they knew I could tell too. Lacey sighed.
"I suppose." Her smile was tired already, I didn't know her or Kurt nearly as well as Dad had, but they were trying. And I at least thought it was genuine. "We're hoping you will. I would have offered you some takeout but you already took care of that, didn't you?" She was looking toward the fridge.
I blushed. Even if I was remarkably content, full as I was, I still blushed. "Yeah… Um. We should probably talk about that." I swallowed. Tried to get the oil and sugar off as best as I could before I couldn't avoid coming back into the room anymore. I was so sleepy. Finally full too. I might have looked around, but there really wasn't any way of avoiding it. They didn't really know how to handle me, I knew that, but they wouldn't leave me alone either. They'd offered to let me stay just as friends of dad, without anyone needing to ask, despite the situation the dockworkers were in now. I didn't know where to start.
But I might as well get it over with. "I'm sorry about the sink." I looked away. Suppressed the very faint annoyance at that because I was sure they would be disappointed. Sinks were expensive after all and…
Kurt just chuckled. "We found that already. I'm honestly more surprised how you managed that. With how everyone's reacting, I didn't take it well either. I understood where they're coming from of course..." but they had dragged Dad through the mud anyway. Still did. No one cared that he was hurt or wasn't in control or had just triggered. The protectorate saw it as a victory, putting the villain down, with some platitudes about tragedies. The media used it as a show piece of how horrible people could be, dangerous Parahumans, a lack of control and making Dad the face for wanton destruction of the city.
I really hoped it would pass.
Kurt continued after a few seconds. "We'll fix it somehow." he sighed. "But I would appreciate it if you didn't try that again, even if you're angry."
"And don't let anyone tell you you don't deserve to be after what they did to Danny. I'm not saying they're not right and that capes aren't dangerous, but he would never have done this." Not if he were in control. Lacey's hand was curled into a fist, shaking for a few seconds before I could see her forcing herself to calm down. "It's not his fault and not your fault."
"We'll just have to move on. Work with what we've got, because that's what he'd have us do." That or fall into depression, I supposed, but even sleepy and content that particular part of me still wouldn't even consider giving up, and I didn't think Mom would have either. So it was good enough. I felt a little better anyway.
"I guess. I didn't even mean to break it though it just… happened." I took a deep breath. "I don't even know what's going on right now, but I… I've got another problem. I'll understand if you don't want to deal with this on top of everything but I've sort of managed to eat half of everything in the fridge and it still wasn't enough. I just cracked the sink because I wasn't thinking, I was angry, it's not fair, but I didn't mean to!
"It just happened.
"I'm pretty sure I'm a cape. And I need a lot of food and my body apparently thinks all sorts of other things count as food too."
I looked up.
And they weren't even surprised, at least not nearly as surprised as they should be. Lacey just sighed again, while Kurt came back with what looked like a dozen pamphlets, all branded by the PRT.
"They told us you might be."
"Heavily implied."
"They told us you might be, not just because you were pulled out smoking and bloody, but without a scratch on you. But something like half of the medical bills is made of the scans they've tried because you wouldn't wake up. They don't know what kind of powers you might have, but with all of this and your body messing with the scans," she half smiled "I can see why they would think so."
But that didn't help you at all. No one had said anything at the hospital. they'd just let you go, just like that. A few superficial checkups and you were free to go.
The PRT knew. You didn't even have any secret identity and they did absolutely nothing. Which was weird all in itself and..
"So, I'm guessing they're right about regeneration, but correct me if I'm not. What else did you end up with?" Kurt looked tired, just a little unsure, but I could forgive him for that for trying to smile.
None of this made any sense, but at least I felt lighter. "I'm stronger, not Glory Girl or Alexandria strong, but I'm definitely stronger. I think if anyone tried to mug me now, you would need to worry about the mugger, not me. I might be tougher too and I think I can regenerate. Even if I try to run as fast as I can, the pain never gets so bad I have to stop, it just stings a bit and I'm not even out of breath for long. I just need so much food it's absurd. I ate ten big jars of peanut butter and over half the jars themselves." I couldn't help myself and yawned. No idea when I had sat down on the couch. "And I'm not even sure how long this will last or why it's happening. The only good thing is it doesn't seem to have to be food, I mean if I can eat glass?" I somehow though steel, wood or cement wasn't such a huge stretch.
I had absolutely no idea why I suddenly needed so much food though. I glanced back at the table. "Maybe these can at least help me figure it out." Even if I had no intention of going to the PRT unless I absolutely had to. Or maybe I should. I would think about that later.
Lacey nodded, but she looked worried. "I'm not sure how much we can afford. And even if you can eat other things we can't be sure hos healthy they would be or whether your healing works on getting sick too. We'll have to see.. But if you get sick or don't feel good after eating something, you need to stop and we'll figure out how this evolves. Alan Barnes is still trying to offer help."
"No. I'd rather not right now. It's complicated." I was being a lot more honest than usual, but I supposed nothing too terrible had happened yet. At least not form talking. Apparently staying away from the PRT might not be working and there wasn't even anything I could do about it if they already knew. I glared at the pamphlets.
"What's going on anyway?" I really hadn't been paying attention the night before, I still felt hollow now, could feel the anger creeping back up, but I had to know. I should know if I wanted any chance at figuring out what to do next. And that weird contentment kept me from going too far even as I could feel it recede a bit.
"Well..." She paused. "You'll need to pay for your stay at the hospital. Not too much in terms of medication but your room and the scans are still being billed to you. Alan Barnes has been trying to put everything on hold and delay until your situation gets figured out, but this isn't exactly his area of expertise." Divorce law made more money, I knew that. "You probably won't have a college fund." Which Mom and Dad had been saving money into for years now. "We don't know what we're going to get from the insurance payouts but we're hoping it will be enough to cover it and let you keep the house at least, even if there won't be much left over. Alan still wants you to live with him and they will probably take him or us over the foster system if they can, as long as we somehow manage to make it legal or seem that way, they're too overworked to care. There are people trying to sue, but Alan's boss says they shouldn't be able to, but we're still worried and they might try anyway."
You could see how she was avoiding to talk about Dad. What had happened to him and would happen now but you didn't mind. Not really. You didn't want to think about that right now. You were drifting off. Vaguely thinking of plans for tomorrow, even if it was just afternoon.
[Humanity +5]
Tomorrow you would:
[ ] Go to the library and do some research. Find out as much about Capes, cape conventions, making money as a cape and the Heroes and Villains of the Bay
[ ] Go do some more testing. Figure out some way to actually measure your powers and actually test your resilience and healing at least a little if you could too.
[ ] read those pamphlets, go to the library and research the PRT, PRT procedures and secret identities, just in case.
[ ] write in.
Hunger: 100/100
Humanity: 73/100
