Pike and Steph | May 10th

[ax_everlight]

Two friendly, sometimes glowy healers meet and hit it off instantly. Good thing, since they're living together!


Pike's yawn felt like it was going to rip her face in half it was so big. And after her adventure in the hospital, she actually had a good idea of what that might feel like.

But that wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to think about. Certainly not when she was riding high from seeing all her friends again! She was actually a little bummed that she had to kick them out, but jet lag was a pain in the arse. Though she probably could have convinced them to have a cuddle pile, she'd feel bad to make them settle down so early in the day.

Stretching her arms over her head, Pike turned in a circle, checking out her new room. The first thing she'd noticed what that she definitely had a roommate. One who clearly had a bunch of people she loved, which was a great sign. There were pictures everywhere, including ones of an adorable little baby. Unable to help herself, Pike leaned towards one of the pictures and cooed.

Steph stopped short when she saw the other girl in her room. It took a few moments for the clues to fall into place: the luggage, the fact that this girl must have had a key, and yes, the fact that she'd been warned several days ago that she was getting a roommate - this must be her. She was tiny, only waist height, and seriously pretty, especially with her odd silvery hair.

"That's Ben," Steph said. "And I'm Steph. I guess I'm your roommate?"

"Hello!" Pike was already smiling as she turned around, and it grew warmer as she saw her roommate. She looked nice, and comfy! Pike admired some of the fancy outfits her friends could pull off, but even her ragged overalls were selected more for comfort than fashion. "I'm Pike! Are you sparkling?"

Steph grinned. "Yeah, I am. It gets worse when I'm using my powers, but the sparkles never stop." She dropped her books on the desk and pulled her chair out so she could sit. She wanted to get closer to eye level with Pike but crouching down felt patronizing. She picked up the picture Pike had been admiring and stuck her chin out, just a bit, just in case Pike's reaction was anything close to negative. "Ben's mine. He's just a little over six months now."

Pike didn't even really notice the height difference between her and Steph. She had nothing on Grog, after all. And she was a little distracted, gasping in excitement at the news. "Really?" Young mom's weren't exactly a strange thing to Pike, not in her neighborhood or even in her extended family. She had caught Steph's defensiveness - but unlike some other religious people she could mention, Pike didn't think God judged people for anything based in genuine love. She glanced back at the box labeled "Ben's stuff" and bounced on her toes. "Is he here? Oh, does he live here?"

"No," said Steph, letting the little bit of tension she'd gathered dissolve. "He's with Mom and Dad, but he has visited and, if you're okay with sharing your room with a baby for a night or two, I'd really like it if he could visit again?"

"Uh, yea," Pike's voice went a little low, vowels rounding out a little more. She clapped her hands together. A baby! "I bet I'll be an awesome babysitter!"

"Oh, thank god. The Professor said I had to have my roommate's permission so... I was worried. I mean, if he's here, and you find he's too much, you can let me know and I'll just go home to see him, but," she closed her eyes for just a moment and let out a long sigh, "thank you."

Pike tilted her head ever so slightly, considering. She supposed it could probably get annoying if he was being fussy for days at a time, but. Well. "I should warn you that I come with six of the best friends that could ever be. Have you met Grog? Or Percy or Vax or Vex or Scanlan or Keyleth?" Pike squinted, making sure she got them all. Yup! "So they'll probably visit a lot. And if I ever can't handle it, I can just go stay with one of them."

She slowly shook her head at the long list of names. "I don't know them, but I haven't been here long myself."

"They're awesome!" Pike beamed. "Grog's like my brother. People think he's all big and scary, but he's a sweetheart. And the rest," she reached up and scratched the back of her head. "I'll bring 'em around sometime."

"That would be nice!" She'd met a few people, and they'd been friendly, but adjusting to the school and being without Ben was getting in the way of reaching out. Or she was. When she had Ben, or needed something for him, it always felt much easier to approach people. Without him, she felt a lot more like the somewhat invisible girl she'd always been at school. Maybe Pike could give her a push out of that.

Pike turned around and took a little hop to get onto her bed, then turned around so she was sitting with her legs dangling over the edge. "So's your power sparkling? That's probably a wicked nightlight for Ben."

"Nope! Well, I mean yes, it makes a nightlight, but no, that's not my power. What I really do is heal people, or give them a boost. That's got a few side effects, including the sparkles."

"No way!" Pike's eyes went round, the skin tugging a little uncomfortably over the scar bisecting her left eyebrow and extending down her to her cheek. Even though it had stopped hurting, it made her incredibly aware of how much she moved her face. "I heal people too! And I glow!" She leaned back a laughed, delighted.

"Oh my god! And we're roommate? I wonder if they did that on purpose! Okay... " Steph rolled her desk chair over a little closer to Pike. "Can you do other things? Mine sort of works over time on me so I can go really fast, lift things... well, a car. I lifted a car once. And I heal like crazy too."

"Woooow!" Pike was impressed! "No, at least I don't think so. I just heal stuff and glow. Why did you lift a car?"

Steph grimaced. "Because it was there? Really, I had a clue I was stronger; I just wanted to see what I could do. For the record, train engines are way out of my range."

Pike nodded. "I get that. Gotta try, right?"

"Exactly! But... Well, I did get a bit of a lecture from the Professor about not doing much in terms of healing until I get some lessons on anatomy and that sort of thing. Did he talk to you about that?"

"I didn't need the warning," Pike grimaced. "First time I healed myself, I was out for days. But I heard about the anatomy classes, yeah! I have a little first aid training through my church, but there's tons more to learn."

That sounded quite a bit different from how Steph's power worked. For her, healing herself was something her body did without conscious thought; the effort was when she had to help others. "Yes, too much. My mom's a nurse and just... ugh, so much. But maybe you and I will have special classes then?"

"That'd be neat!" The idea of special classes all on her own sucked, but everything was better with a friend.

"Something to ask about then. You'd think I'd have started them already, but they probably had to get coursework together and everything. It's not like there are textbooks out there for magical healers!"

Pike snorted. "Thank goodness. I'm not great at textbook learning. I'm more hands on, you know?"

"Oh, I like textbooks, good ones anyway. They give me a good guide to explore things on my own." Steph leaned forward in her chair and rested her elbows on her knees. "Okay, so we know each other's names, powers and learning preferences. Is there anything else we should cover?"

"Snack food preferences?" Pike grinned.

That was challenge. Steph narrowed her eyes and widened her smile. "Salty and sweet together, like chocolate dipped pretzels. You?"

"Good pick," Pike nodded. "I like sweet-sweet, mostly. That or a good steak, but that's not really good for a study snack."

Steph held up a finger. "There's always beef jerky!"

"Hmm, good call! We'll have to stock up before the next school year. Unless you're doing the summer session?" Pike leaned back on her hands.

Oh, good question. She'd missed a lot of school after Ben was born and her mutation manifested. But Ben..."I hadn't thought about it but, I think I might have too. God, I really don't want to."

Pike frowned in sympathy. "Well then we'll get summer snacks, too. And I can, I dunno, quiz you or whatever you need. Don't you have finals soon, too?"

"I don't think so. I'm all messed up with my school year - no way Mom was sending me when I sparkled - And I only got here a few weeks ago."

"Oh! Well I have to finish a few papers for my old school, but they'd have to be pretty big dicks to fail me now so I'm not too worried," Pike narrowed her eyes briefly, imagining what she'd do if they tried. "But otherwise we should definitely take advantage of this time off."

Steph nodded, finding herself drawn in by the slightly conspiratorial feel of Pike's words. "Ergo the junk food. Maybe explore town a bit too?"

"Might as well," Pike shrugged. She did glance curiously at Steph's sparkles. "Do they, um, know about the mutant school?"

"The town? Not as far as I know. I think we're supposed to stay quiet about that bit. One of the kids' parent were killed a little while back or something because he was a mutant so... Best to lay low." She hadn't met the kid yet, only heard about him. It made her parents' caution about keeping her own mutation under wraps all the more reasonable.

"Oh wow," Pike bit her lip. She'd be a wreck if anyone killed Wilhand because of her. And knowing him, he was probably telling whoever asked about his miracle of a granddaughter. "So do we need hoodies or something to go into town? For your sparkles, and in case I, I dunno, stub my toe and start to glow?"

"The professor said something about image thingees that would help disguise us or something?" She hadn't checked into it yet because she hadn't planned to go off campus, but sooner or later she'd want to and no hoodie was going to stop the sparkles.

"Huh, okay," Pike said. "Well, whatever we need to be safe, yeah? Even though it sucks we can't just be us."

Steph blew out a puff of air. "We're teenagers. When do we ever get to be just us? There, you just witnessed my cynical side."

Pike frowned, immediately concerned. She couldn't blame Steph's cynicism, but she could try to make it better. "Right here. We can be ourselves here, okay?"

"There you are. You just said the thing that's convinced me we're going to be good friends. Thank you." Steph reached over and put a cautious hand on Pike's shoulder, just long enough to let her know she appreciated the comment.

Pike immediately reached up to clasp Steph's hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad - it would be awful if we didn't get on," she said with utmost sincerity.

For a moment, Steph stayed silent, savouring the moment. It felt big and important, like the two of them had made some sort of commitment. Maybe this was how it was with roommates? She giggled as the moment stretched out a touch too long. "There, we've done the bonding thing. It's all going to be good from here on out."

"Definitely!" Pike said, then immediately pulled her hand away to cover a massive yawn. "Ugh, sorry. Jet lag."

“You need a nap,” Steph declared. “Or a recharge. I can give you a boost if you want. The Professor said no healing, but he didn’t say a thing about that.”

"No healing?" Pike frowned. "Does that apply to all healers? 'Cause I already mostly healed Percy today." And she certainly wasn't going to stop until it was done.

Well, she’d sort of thought the rules were the rules, but maybe the Professor had just meant her. Which was... odd. Maybe it had been an emergency, and she must have been supervised, right? “I don’t know. I thought it did, but maybe not. Still, the boost offer is still on the table.”

"Sure, boost me up!" Pike brushed her concern away. She'd heal whoever she needed to, whenever they needed it. Even if the Prof told her otherwise. "Better than falling asleep in the middle of the day, ye?"

“Definitely!” Steph took her hand again, excited that she could try this again. She was leaky enough that even just being very close to someone would charge them up given some time, but the intentional stuff, what she’d done for her Dad as they drove here, that always felt like an intentional kindness that made her feel as good as the person on the receiving end.

It wasn’t hard, just a bit of focus, a little push, and she managed to share a concentrated bit of the energy that usually seemed to dissipate in the sparkles.

Pike laughed as she suddenly felt rejuvenated, jet lag dissipating like a bad hangover. "This is better than coffee! That's so cool! You didn't say that you were the best study aid!"

"Oh! I didn't even think of that. You've got a secret weapon now!" It was one part of her mutation that she'd used the most with family, but given the least thought. Super useful, yes. Exciting? Not so much.

"Can you do it to yourself?" Pike scrunched up her brow.

Steph held out her hands and looked into the space between them where her sparkles floated. "I'm always doing it. I can't help it. I think that's what the lights are; the excess I don't use draining off. I still sleep, but I don't often feel worm out like I used to get."

"Oh than you can totally give me a pick up, whenever." Pike tilted her head. "Do you always get brighter? We should do group healing and do a light show or something."

"Yup, every time I do anything related to my powers so lightshows can happen!" She was curious about Pike's glow, but from what she'd said healing took a lot out of her. Still... "When you glow, is it a white light? Or different colours?"

"White like a light bulb," Pike confirmed. "Not as fancy as yours, just kinda a general glow."

It sounded beautiful to Steph. "You must look a little like an angel, especially with your hair."

Pike smiled fondly. "S'what my pop pop says, which is sweet if a little sacrilegious." She snorted to show she wasn't serious about the criticism. "Almost makes the hair worth it - it was black before I healed myself that first time, with this wicked purple streak."

"That would suit you too, anything that makes you stand out a bit. Me? I've just got these, otherwise I sort of fade into the background." Steph pretended to flick away a light.

"Y'know, we could give you some nice color." Pike gestured at her own hair. "Just a touch. Blue maybe?

"Blue?" She absently pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, trying not to picture what that would look like. "I don't know. That's a little out there, for me anyway."

Pike shrugged. "You never know. Ooo, can you program the image disguise thingies to do anything? Maybe we could try something out!"

Oh boy, this was going to happen wasn't it? One way or another Pike was going to get some small concession out of her on the hair issue. "I don't know, but I suppose we could ask."

"I'll totally try out, like, pink or something, if we can!" Pike said, not noticing Steph's lack of enthusiasm. "Oh, we could have so much fun with it, if we can!"

And why not? Maybe Steph had been something of a wallflower at home, but here she was the sparkly kid with a baby, so maybe worrying about a streak of colour in her hair was just a little silly. She took a breath and nodded. "Okay, but I'm not doing pink. Blue sounds good to me."