Cracks 1.7
[x] Yes. I was starting to get hungry.
[x] On the other hand, there was no real point talking about going to the PRT before I had some rough Idea about my own powers. Maybe they knew some better way to test them.
It was… nice. Different, but somehow nice despite everything. Or maybe I was different, I was reasonably sure I felt different from before even if I couldn't quite figure out how, apart from a few stray impulses. But that might just be having powers. I imagine that if I didn't have those impulses I would never even have tried eating the glass at all.
All in all it was probably fine. It wasn't as if my powers were trying to turn me into some kind of murderous psychopath or anything like that.
"So… did you sleep well?" And Kurt's raised eyebrow suddenly made em remember, just how long I had been passed out for. That had to have been more than twelve hours.
I blinked. Then blushed and looked down at the plates I was carrying. "Um. I think so. I was just feeling full I guess. I've been sort of feeling hungry ever since I got out of the hospital and then it was just gone." I shrugged.
Lacey sighed. "You should have told us and we could have done something about it. Told the hospital even, although it's a good thing you can eat inanimate things too." She sat down just after I did and leaned back. But I didn't think they really had the money to feed me on normal food either. And I had no idea whether I needed more or less abnormal food to feel full. Or even just what was counted as acceptable for me to eat period. 'Just about anything' couldn't be it could it?
I shook my head. "The hospital would just have tried to keep me wouldn't they? And I didn't even know how much I would need. Anyway I feel better now, but I'm getting hungrier again." It was surprisingly bearable so far, actually. I knew I needed more food and probably more water too, but it wasn't overwhelming or painful yet. It probably would be soon enough, but it wasn't just yet and that would hopefully be enough. Kurt was already coming out of the kitchen with his own take on oven baked fish and the appropriate sides.
"Probably would have. Do you want the stuff from work as dessert or right now?" I could see the bah of various bits of metal filings sitting in the corner and my stomach grumbled. Kurt just chuckled. He looked just as wary as he had yesterday, but he was still going and would have refused any help I offered anyway.
"I'll stick with the normal stuff for now." Then paused, because I'd had another thought. I was going to ask about the PRT and what I should do, but I didn't even know my own powers. I still had no idea what my limits were and going in to the PRT with no clue what I could do was probably a terrible idea all around. At the same time I would need a better way to test things than just Kurt and Lacey's small garden shack.
He nodded back at me and I started to dig in. Somehow the fish tasted even better than I expected. Warm, with garlic, parsley and rosemary and probably other things inside too, so soft and not at all dry. Delicious, with that deeply satisfying savoury aroma I couldn't quite describe. I tried to enjoy it bit by bite, but that just made me want more. Lacey across from me was eating so much more slowly, blowing on her food, but I was enjoying the warmth of it, the way the flavours spread out, trying to prolong everything as much as I could even if it did barely anything for my hunger. I knew my stomach would be demanding more, much more, but while they weren't destitute or anything, they would never be able to afford the portion size I needed in normal food. Besides, the other stuff wasn't so bad either. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be bad.
We ate in silence for some minute until I my plate was completely empty and I had to ignore the impulse to try and see whether porcelain tasted good too. "So they don't mind if you just… take all of it?"
Kurt shrugged. "We're in at the same time and told em it's for a project. Can't take too much do we'll have to see what we do later, but they don't care too much as long as we don't take too much or take anything we still need." He stretched. "Work's got its up sides even if she gets asked to come stupidly early and then gets to say even later just because someone broke something important. Good people." The Dock workers. Or in their case, their machine and repair shop.
"We can't let things get held up too much, keeping jobs is a problem as it is without us making it more difficult on anyone. We'll just have to keep things running. Don't worry too much about it. If you can eat this" Lacey pointed behind herself ", feeding you won't be too difficult. I brought a bit of extra wood too, apart from what you were testing yourself on in earlier to see if we could use that." My smile was shaky. Just like that. But I supposed they were keeping things running, weren't they? Somehow. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I at least thought I was keeping things running too.
Wasn't I?
"So what does it taste like. You said you tried glass?"
"Yeah." Trying to as much as describe my experiences was just driving home how weird all of it was. Not just because tastes were off, paper wasn't supposed to be sweet and neither was plastic, but because there were some things I could only barely describe at all, like the glass or the traces of the ink. Not because I couldn't remember, but because I just couldn't come up with the right words for it.
"So, do you want to try steel?" I had no idea why Kurt was grinning, but he had opened up a treasure trove of spiraling, gleaming metal around various odds and ends. Rusty parts, broken parts and broken wood. And I was salivating at the very Idea of it.
I felt like a human trash compactor.
I was reaching out to grab one of the strange spiraling pieces anyway, pointed tip and all. They were both staring at me, but as soon as I started putting it into my mouth, I was distracted. It was just so different. Delicious iron, sweet traces of something else, the heavy aroma of some other metal that wasn't iron at all and although the taste of blood might not have changed, I was absolutely certain that I didn't mind metallic tastes anymore. It was harder than glass, harder to bite through and so chewy, but also so good.
And there were different kinds. Different degrees of sweetness, different composition with the main iron element, Zinc plating was different still. Like another layer of flavour on top of everything. I even found little bits of bronze and brass and those were just a bit less chewy. Softer and satisfying in a completely different way. The copper wire was amazing. Even softer than the bronze, but not rubbery at all, I didn't need much effort at all for that and it just melted away into my mouth.
In comparison, the wood was sweet. Not too sweet, but definitely sweet. Still with many other tastes laid in, but the sweetness was what always stuck out. Like candy in some ways, with flavourings packed in, with different textures, but always still sweet and always similar to the others anyway. So easy, so simple and also soft though nowhere near as soft as normal food. But I guessed all normal food might just be mushy in comparison to what else I could eat. I really should not have been surprised at that. It never got mentioned, but there was absolutely no reason, why my jaw would be any weaker than the rest of me after all.
Although I had been able to adjust that…
A nudge to my arm pulled me out of my thoughts. I was so full. So deliciously full. I had no idea how much stuff I'd eaten, at least as much as yesterday. I blinked at Kurt.
"Hey, don't fall asleep on us again, I don't think that chair's too comfy to sleep on."
I wasn't sure I cared right this moment, why would I… Oh. I had slept on the couch before hadn't I? I probably shouldn't do that again, so I blinked a few more times and tried to force myself more awake. There was something I wanted to talk about, I was certain of it.
"Sorry. We were talking about powers, right?" Both of them nodded. "I tried testing in the shed before, but I didn't really get a good idea of what I could do and I wasn't going to try too hard because people might be watching. Do you have any Idea where I could go to figure out what I can do?"
Kurt was silent for a bit, but Lacey sat up. "I don't think they will be using the second yard at night and there will be barely anyone there during the day. If we were able to use the shop, we could find you some weights with no problem, but even so, if there's no one there, we could probably take some of the materials for testing as long as you don't damage any of them. If we can't use the yard, I know of some abandoned warehouses close enough by for the gangs to at least for the most part stay away."
Kurt took over from there. "We'll be just be testing physical stuff right? I'll bring a stopwatch and we can see if you can run any faster now and we can try to check your stamina too."
I nodded. "You'll know how much they'll weigh, but there's one more thing. I think I can heal or at least I' like to test that so we'll need a knife too." I knew hurting myself was bad. My eyes wee darting between the two, Lacey who looked resigned and Kurt who was still bristling, but she got a word in before he did.
"You need to know whether you can afford getting injured and whether you're any more resistant to damage now." She closed her eyes. I knew she didn't like it, none of them did. "And I'm guessing you would test that anyway, even if we weren't watching, so I suppose, we'll bring a knife as well."
"Are you… Lacey, are you sure?"
She smiled a bit bitterly. "It's better if you know, isn't it? Better to test it now than to have to guess later. You want to go out, don't you?"
Did I? I had to go out, of course I did, but to go out in costume?
Was it even a question?
I had powers. I didn't know what to do with them or how to go about it, but I wanted to help people.
I nodded.
A part of me just thought of it as obvious and self evident that I would sooner or later get into a fight.
"So you'll need to be careful and you need to know when you need to get away." She continued but Kurt still looked conflicted.
"You'll run away if you find anything you're not sure you can handle, right?
Yes. I nodded.
Maybe, the other part of me said. Unless it's worth it.
I wasn't sure how much I disagreed, but at least Kurt looked appeased, although I felt guilty. Lacey just sighed. "Saturday night then?"
"Yeah." In two days time, so they could sleep in the next day and I could hopefully get my sleep schedule at least somewhat under control. The second to last day before I had to go back to school and deal with Emma, but there was still time. And I was very, very sleepy. And had successfully put off power testing with the PRT until after then at least, which was much more of a relief than I thought it would be. Although I still wanted to know how I compared to everyone else, going there right now… Was almost as bad as thinking of talking to Mr. Barnes and Emma. And I should be doing that before Monday too. Or I could just drop it.
I was such a coward, I should just get it over with. Before, I might not have, but now…
Now I was going to sleep. There were so many things left to do, but I was too tired and felt that contentment again. It wasn't as if I could do much of anything tonight anyway.
But tomorrow…
[ ] I would finally go back home. Grab some clothes and a few more things. It hurt but I needed to wash again and I didn't need to take everything. Just a little. And maybe I could test a few things in the basement.
[ ] get into contact with Mr. Barnes. As much as I didn't like it, I should figure out what was going on there.
[ ] Talk to Kurt and Lacey about the PRT and what they had to offer, what I would do depending on my power testing results.
[ ] Go for a walk to clear my mind.
[ ] Write in.
Hunger: 100/100
Humanity: 72/100
(options not chosen can probably be taken again at some later point)
