A wide open area of flat, grassy land and rocky trenches, supposedly a wide range of ancient civilizations once lived here. Species that like wide, open areas, such as Gyrophants, Serraptors, and Sahound, thrive here, though only the agile survive. (+3 Speed)

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"Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/03/2017 7:52 PM

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Every summer, while their friends were away on vacations, Fade's mother took them on a road trip.

"Do you have everything?" their mom called from downstairs. "We're not turning around again if you remember something after we've gone out." She was loading a cooler of snacks into the car. Fade could see her from the window, long blonde hair pinned expertly up, still elegant and fashionable despite being probably closer to forty than she cared to admit. Fade had asked before, and their mom had been pretty miffed about it.

She looked kind of like a mom just then. She was doing something a mom would be doing, anyway, even if she still didn't look like someone who had actually had a child.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/03/2017 7:57 PM

She didn't look like any of the moms who actually came to the parent-teacher conferences, or even any of their friends' moms. To be fair, a lot of their friends' moms didn't look like other people's moms either. But Fade could still look at Aunt Trace, at Aunt Sunny, and believe they might spend any of their time with a child. They couldn't look at their mom and say the same.

Which was true, wasn't it? Mom didn't spend time with children. With her child. She didn't look like a mom because she was so busy trying to pretend her child didn't exist.

But for a couple of weeks each summer, she still crammed the two of them into a car and drove off onto the open road. And if they were being honest, Fade was kind of excited.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/03/2017 8:01 PM

Sure, it wasn't a real vacation, but some of the things they did were kind of like things other families might do. They packed clothes and snacks, and Fade bought a wilderness survival guide last week to take along with them. Their mom had noted the book with something like approval, possibly, though her lips had drawn into a line when she thumbed through the contents.

Fade understood why. They'd looked through it in the store, and everything in there was basic tips, clearly written for kids looking for a camping adventure on those campgrounds where you paid a fee to rent a lot or something, rather than someone really roughing it. But Fade hadn't really bought it for the advice. They already knew way more about wilderness survival than they really wanted to anyway.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/03/2017 8:06 PM

That was the thing about their trips. Fade looked over their packing checklist one more time, ticking them off as they rummaged through their backpack. Three t-shirts. Three shorts. A week's worth of underwear. Flint and steel. Rope. Slingshot. Switchblade. Two sets of combat knives. Diving gear. A pistol. A hand gun. Cans of pepper spray... Some of it was for them, and some of it was to use against them. It wasn't really a vacation. It was training.

Training for what? That was what they'd like to know. But their mom had looked at them with such disbelief when they'd asked, as if she couldn't quite believe her kid was being so stupid. They hadn't asked since. In that time they'd figured some things out and guessed at some others, and now they weren't so curious anymore.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/03/2017 8:45 PM

But moms not giving their kids enough credit was universal, apparently. "I didn't forget anything," Fade called back, hefting the backpack onto their skinny shoulders. It was heavy, but they'd put up with worse. That was probably the point of these trips, and all the other things their mom did with them.

They'd thought it was normal to have to carry weighed packs on hikes and things like that, until they were acing gym class all the time and kids were asking why they were so strong. "It's nothing," they'd said. "My mom makes me run three miles sometimes with twice this much." After that, there had been a bit of an uproar and the counselors were advocating an investigation into child abuse. Uncle Nihil had to smooth that one over, and it hadn't been one of their better family moments.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/04/2017 2:38 AM

They had thought their mom would be furious though, which she hadn't been. She had only really been exasperated, and in retrospect Fade was beginning to think that the exasperation had been as much for herself as for Fade. "Let's keep our bonding time a secret now, alright? You can tell your friends---" by which she meant the other Alliance kids--- "but otherwise, this stays between us."

At the time, they'd been too relieved at being spared a scolding to do anything but nod. And wasn't it always like that? There had always been secrets and unspoken promises between the children of the Alliance. They just hadn't know this was one of them. They knew better now. It was probably why, as they got older, they had fewer and fewer friends among the regular kids. It just wasn't safe, wasn't comfortable; you never know what could get you a funny look, if you said something.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/04/2017 2:46 AM

It was the same with the others, to the point where people spread rumors about them being some weird sort of insular vampire society, but they just didn't get it. They didn't understand how freeing it was not to have a million secrets to keep, to have to be vigilant all the time. They understood each other too, about what it was like to have powers, even if your powers weren't the same.

They cast one last look back at their room, then bit the bullet and headed out the door. They closed it quietly behind them, and tried not to be too hung up about it. It was just a couple of weeks, and they'd done this before. Their room would still be there when they got back.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/04/2017 2:50 AM

"Ready?" said their mom, when they reached the garage. She was already in the driver's seat, and didn't so much as look at Fade when they walked in. It was the big, clunky car, like it always was for these trips. Fade didn't know the name for it. It wasn't an SUV, though it kind of looked like one, if SUVs were a little less soccer mom and a little more battle tank. Not that it was camo. That would be too obvious, and too tacky.

Their household had two cars, though with Fade being ten, it was really just like saying their mom had two cars. One was sleek and stylish, just the way their mom was. This was the car she used when she went out in public. The big one only got brought out for trips. Fade liked the big car better, since their mom didn't care if that one got dirty, inside or out.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/04/2017 2:53 AM

They stayed tangible as they pulled open the back door and crammed the backpack in, but phased right through the door when they went to sit in the passenger seat up front. Technically this wasn't legal, but Fade was on the tall side for ten, and liked looking out the windshield. Their mom, who maybe had a rebellious streak that she didn't want to talk about, let them. If the police really wanted to start anything, they always had Uncle Kismet's lawyers.

This was one of the other strange things about growing up in their mother's circle of friends--- you always knew you had access to lawyers, very good ones. When they were younger, they had thought lawyers were like magicians. The way people talked about them, if they were good enough, they could do anything.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/04/2017 2:58 AM

They knew better now, of course. Now they, and all their friends, knew more about the law than they had ever cared to know. It was definitely more than other kids their age, and it was one of those other things they didn't talk about. They knew so much about these things because they were more likely to get in trouble with the law, even if they didn't try; and because there were loophopes for them, or there were supposed to be, except the people in charge didn't like to remember that these existed sometimes.

In any case, no one had ever pulled them over while Fade was in the car. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't seem like something to worry about. "Can I turn the radio on?" they said, adjusting the seat so they were comfortable. It hadn't changed since they were last there, but they liked to do it anyway, as a way of making themselves feel at home.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/04/2017 3:40 AM

"Mmm, sure," said their mom. With a small smile of glee, Fade pushed the button, and the display sprang to life. They flicked through the stations as their mom pulled out of the garage and waited for the door to close behind them, never dwelling on any one for more than three or four seconds. "Just hurry up and pick something," she said. Fade stopped, and immediately the car was filled with country crooning and the sound of acoustic guitars. Fade's mom drew her mouth tight. "Not that one."

The next radio station featured a song extolling the virtues of Jesus. Their mother vetoed that one too. They went through several news channels, which they rejected out of hand, since neither they nor their mom liked the news. Eventually, after stumbling onto an especially loud and annoying mattress advertisement, their mom reached over and shut off the radio altogether.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/07/2017 6:52 PM

The drive proceeded in silence from there. Fade didn't try to make any conversation; their mother was clearly in a bad mood. It would go away once they reached the highway, maybe. Or maybe it wouldn't. Either way, they'd have to find something else to occupy themselves with in the meantime.

The familiar landscape of the suburbs went rolling by, giving way here and there to shopping centres, and eventually to a downtown. None of it was very familiar to Fade, who couldn't drive, and generally wasn't driven. Their haunts kept mostly to the neighborhood, or to the backwoods beyond, when they went on their long wanders.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/07/2017 6:58 PM

Looking out at it, Fade felt less like they were leaving everything they knew behind. It was like they'd never lived here at all. Their own life, in the house and at school and around, felt strangely small now.

Before they knew it, the car was pulling onto the highway. Sure enough, some of the tension ebbed from Fade's mom's shoulders. Fade took this in with quiet, cautious eyes, waiting for her to make the first move.

"So," said their mom, "how's Nova these days?" Her eyes were still on the road, which made sense, since she was driving. Truthfully, though, it felt like all their other conversations, where their mom was only ever half there.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/07/2017 7:02 PM

Her question, too, felt familiar. She always asked about Nova, as if they were close, as if they ought to be best friends just because their moms were close too. And it wasn't like Fade didn't like Nova, who was nice and non-intrusive. Actually, maybe she thought they should be friends because Nova couldn't see anyone, and this levelled the playing field somehow for someone like Fade. But Fade never used their powers in public anyway, and there were other ways to avoid Nova, if they wanted to.

"He's okay, I guess," they said. They would have liked to say they didn't really know much, but then their mom would say that they should watch out for Nova, or something like that. "He joined the school band," they offered, leaving out the part where they'd heard this second-hand from Ariel.
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Re: "Bonding Time" [self]

Postby crow » 04/16/2017 2:03 AM

"Oh, did he? What does he play?" she said, sounding more genuinely interested than she had in weeks. Fade had to think about it for a minute. They weren't even sure if Ariel had mentioned it. Ariel didn't mention a lot of things, actually, though sometimes he would opt to include useless details that no one had asked for too.

In the end, they couldn't recall, and opted to own up to it. "I don't think he said." It was better that than being caught in the lie later. Fortunately their mom didn't pursue the matter, only making a 'mmm' sort of noise. Their conversation lapsed back into silence after that, and Fade couldn't decide whether they were glad for it or not.
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