Around dinner time there's a knock on her door.
"I'm up!" She looked around and remembered where she was. Greer came out to the door and smiled. "Hey sorry... dozed off."
"It's okay." The blonde says. "I just wanted to let you know dinner's ready if you want to join us."
"Um sure... I'm Greer. What's your name?"
"Lucius, though most people call me Luce. It's nice to meet you, Greer."
"Likewise Luce. Thanks for letting me join the apartment. I'll be better about helping with chores after this. Promise." She still had her gloves on. She wanted to be sure there were no accidents. The one thing she'd learned over the years was there was no good, polite way to ask anyone if they had powers without being rude about it. She just hoped it came up soon.
"It's okay. I mean, you just moved in so it's not like it's a big deal or anything..."
"So are you done with college too?"
He nods. "Culinary. We used to save a bit on food bills because I brought food home all the time from the cooking labs. Our tuition paid for all the ingredients so the instructor let us take everything we made with the reasoning that we technically paid for it ahead of time."
"That's really cool. I bet you're planning on being a fancy chef or something huh?" She smiled. Ok, she could do this. Other people have.
"Actually I kind of want to open a pet friendly cafe. You know, have a 'normal' area where you can order food and an open area to hang with your pets. Maybe partner with a local rescue shelter to have a few adoptable animals on site for 'pet-less' patrons to be able to interact with and adopt if they want to."
Greer's eyes were almost sparkling at that idea. "With cats and dogs and stuff? That'd be so cool!"
"I know. I took a bunch of restaurant management classes so I'll know what I'm doing and hopefully don't have to shut down. You know one in seven restaurants don't last more than a year.... I'd hate to have to close my doors because I wasn't properly prepared for the challenges. Plus I heard you can get a better rate on a business loan if you have a degree in the field."
"It'll make it I'm sure of it. You seem like a put together guy." She sat down and was still smiling, imagining the cafe. "Do it near the college and you'll get all the kids that miss their pets...."
"I still need to find a suitable building that's available first."
She nodded and watched as the others came. "Um Hi." She started helping to pass the food around. "So... I guess this is when I properly introduce myself to everyone?"
"If you feel like it. No pressure if you don't." The guy had light hair with red highlights. He put a scoop of food from the container he had and passed it on, but as soon as Blake took it, he wordlessly put two more scoops on the guy's plate before serving himself.
Must have a high metabolism. Or work out a lot. Greer didn't say anything so as not to embarrass the guy. "Ah well... I'm Greer Smith... I start college in 3 days and I'm gonna try for a degree in mechanical engineering... with a backup of going to become an auto mechanic. Dad's agreed to sponsor me if I fall on my face here."
"Cool. I'm Dewi, by the way. I'm going for fashion design... probably only have another two or so years before I get my degree."
"Nice. My Ma would like talking to you. She runs a salon." She chuckled. "Though Dad said as much as she does her other thing it might as well be a part time job sometimes."
"What other thing?"
"Oh uh..." she tried to figure out how best to phrase it. "She... harassed politicians to make things more fair."
The one she assumes is Sato looks thoughtful. Dewi's the one who responds though. "Oh, so she's kind of an activist, then?"
"Sorta? It's complicated. But that's part of why I came by train today. She had to go the other direction. She wants to yell at Director Brown about why he hasn't put out the information packets for parents yet about some stuff..."
"Smith... Greer Smith... You're that Greer Smith. My mom is going to love this. I thought the name sounded familiar. Did you know a lot of the government employees keep bets on who your Mother is going to come meet with next?"
"....Ohhhh hell please tell me she doesn't scream at your Ma a lot and I really am sorry. Ma just kinda got on a roll when I was a kid cause there weren't any powered and..." She looked around. crap. Well... maybe it didn't matter?
"I mean, from what I've heard, she's brought up some very valid points throughout the years. There really isn't enough resources available for those who need them and nothing's going to change if someone isn't making a fuss about it."
Greer nodded. "She is mad at Brown because he was supposed to have the parent 'so your family has its first powered' help pamphlets done last week. So she's going to yell at him..." She sighed. "I think ma could yell at the sun to shine brighter if she wanted."
"I wouldn't be surprised. She's made a lot of the community realize how much more needs to be done in terms of resources and access to information about powered."
"Yeah, anytime she goes in first thing out of her mouth when they try to say it works itself out is '75 mile radius! A 75 mile radius confirmed by the government before the next powered shows up in ANY direction from our home address. and 30 cousins and she is the only one.'" She chuckled. "At least I only got dragged a few times."
Greer looked at Sato and then the others nervously. "So... I... guess you're powered too?"
"... Yes...? We thought you knew that... This apartment building advertises that it specializes in housing for powered young adults, a result of the right people taking notice of stuff that your Ma has been pointing out for years. Our listing even said we preferred a powered roommate since it can be harder for some to find adequate living conditions. And you didn't think it odd that the sub lease agreement had an area where you can list any special accommodations you might need... Legal documents can't require you put down anything that identifies you as powered, but if you volunteer information that you need something a certain way, that doesn't break any rules..."
"......" She put her hands in her head. "So.... hi... I'm Greer the idiot that somehow got into college without apparently knowing to read shit. Nice to meet you all."
"It's okay, G. You were in a panic about suddenly not having a place to stay. Could happen to any of us."
"Um well... if you guys are all powered guess I'll be keeping gloves on then." She sighed a bit. "I copy powers. but they automatically switch if I touch a powered... so... ya know... gotta be careful."
"If that'll make you feel more comfortable... Though there might be an advantage of powered roommates for you. If you want, we can teach you how to manage each of our powers and then if something happens, you'll have access to four 'safe' abilities that you already have experience with using..." Blake doesn't seem to be pushing the idea, just voicing it to make her aware it was there.
She nodded. “Well... I already know an accident is gonna happen soon anyway. It’d be around now I think.... not now-now but like in the next few months I think.”
"That's probably Blake, then. I mean, unless you know for some reason like getting a vision of the future. That would be possible, but if we're talking about an accident that causes you to know about it before it happens, first thing that comes to mind is Blake."
Greer sat there a moment. Part of her just wanted to get it over with then. But she wasn't sure what would happen, how long, or anything else.
"Maybe...I only did it the once, according to Ma. It's how she knew I was going to be able to go to college... and then she started yelling at all the politicians."
"I mean.... most powers are tied in some way to the person's emotions, but mine don't even activate unless I'm emotional. If you learned to keep a cool head, you wouldn't be much different from a non-powered when you have my power... Learning to control your emotions could account for it only happening once so far... Well, that and going forward is usually more common than back. It's this whole complicated thing involving instinctual needs, desires, etc. and how the future tends to be more helpful in the situations."
"..........ok so.... I'm a hot head so maybe touching you guys is a bad idea."
"What do you usually do when you're pissed if you can?"
"...hit things or work out. I mean I'm not likely to hit you guys, just um... you know..." She looked very interested in her plate now.
"If you got angry enough to activate the power while you had mine, likely you'd find yourself in a situation where you can work out and hit things until you've run out of steam..."
Greer nodded a bit. "I guess..." It didn't explain why she showed up on the couch of movie night though.
"So..." Dewi speaks up. "If the cause of all this chain of events really is Blake, that means you got to see some of your own future. What do you remember from that time?"
"....I was asleep. I woke up enough to see I wasn't on my couch and thought I was at aunties somehow and went back to sleep."
"Then how did you know that it's probably soon? I mean, you said something about how the switch is how your Ma knew you could do college, but you evidently revealed enough to know it was after you started college but not how long after... Couldn't it have been in your second or third year? Or maybe the trigger is stress from your finals before graduating..."
"From what Ma said. She said I had started recently. I mean I guess I might lie..." She touched her hair. "But she said my hair looked like this too... I didn't tell her I was getting it and when I did she said I looked like I did back then."
"That makes sense... Though I wouldn't be surprised if you decide to keep that hair style for a while. It looks good on you."
"Picture!" Luce suddenly blurts out, as if what Dewi said sparked something. "We should get a picture of you since your power is copying others, just in case..."
"....O...kay? Also not keeping the hair cut long if I get a say. It didn't look like I hoped."
"Well, you might decide to change the hairstyle, but it's still a good idea to have a record of what you look like since there's the chance of you temporarily becoming a shapeshifter... You know, just so you have a reference in case you have trouble remembering what you look like..."
"I don't think.. I would? I mean, is that a thing that happens?" Well now she knew one of them had time powers and another was a shapeshifter. These were safe powers?
"Lu! Saying it like that is misleading... The thing with shapeshifters is their self image affects their physical appearance. So stuff like low self esteem can affect how you view yourself and change how you look when you have that power... A picture is an unbiased image, not affected by opinions or insecurities."
"Oh! I... guess that makes sense." She looked at Dewi. "I guess you're the shapeshifter then...?"
"Yep." He grins. "What gave it away, Princess?"
"I swear your hair was a different color since you sat down. Working in a salon you notice that stuff I guess. Also not a princess."
"You're really observant. People close to me are usually the only ones who notice such slight changes like that..."
"Thanks. I helped at Ma's salon for extra cash when Dad's shop was slow. More tips was more cash for college." She looked at Luce. "The food is really good by the way. Thanks."
"Thank you for the compliment."
"So... what are the other powers then? if... it's ok to ask."
"Luce has mental manipulation and Sato can create dimensions." Blake takes a sip of his drink before continuing. "On a scale of how dangerous it would be to suddenly have their powers without knowing anything about it, Sato is our least dangerous while Luce is our most. Sato's can only be used if activated while opening something. On the other hand, the strength of Luce's power is dependent on so many factors that it's best for him to not even talk when upset.
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