No Such Thing as Super-Heroes

[midst_of_threads]

There is someone in her forest.

Flynn runs her hand over her creature's back, and then sends it fluttering away into the trees with a flick of her wrist.


Her first creation, her guardian, lets out a small growl.
"I know," Flynn says.
"Go. Get rid of them."

It slinks into the forest, feline features molded from broken glass.
It quickly vanishes from site and Flynn pushes down a flash of loneliness.

Comments

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"Magic..." Henry started saying before his mouth abruptly interrupted himself.

[unadalturedstrength]

"Magic isn't real," Gabe says, starting in the exact moment Henry did "wait a minute you didn't finish that, are you sick? are you hurt? It's shock, isn't it!? We need to... give you a blanket, they do that on TV" Gabe is obviously very worried.

[midst_of_threads]

Flynn inspects Henry closely, "I don't see what you're seeing. He looks fine."

[unadalturedstrength]

"You don't know him!" Gabe snaps at her "I grew up with him! If the Fairy Godmother showed up in the arms of the golden man saying that magic is real, Henry response would be that it isn't."

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"Gabe!" Henry protests.

He almost says "calling it magic is a valid point too" but that would completely insincere. Even with all that he just saw, going the extra length of calling it "magic" was somehow too undignified.

Instead he spoke.

"Flynn, I am sorry for Gabe," he says with just a small pause "but I need to test something... are all of your creatures valuable? My test is likely to hurt them."

[midst_of_threads]

"Don't touch them!" Flynn says, sending her bird away and stepping in front of Henry.

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

Henry raises his hands, but realizing that wasn't actually nonthreatening. He slowly lowers them (and the rifle).

"I wasn't going to," Henry says "I was going to shoot some raw material and then see if you can form a creature out of it... I was thinking that it might clue in if the power comes from you or the environment."

That... wasn't true, Henry didn't even know how he could have lied so fast. That kinda of test was on the background of his mind, but his original proposal was to shoot a creature and see if it was less warm afterwards.

Henry couldn't say he felt particularly guilty lying to the woman who almost killed his cousin, but that was a odd reaction.

"Unless your creatures attack us," Henry added absently "We won't attack them."

[midst_of_threads]

Flynn relaxes, "Oh. Sure."

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"Do you mind if I ask how smart they are?" Henry says quietly.

[midst_of_threads]

"It depends. I have one who might be as smart as me. All of them are at least as smart as dolphins."

[unadalturedstrength]

"I can do science too!" Gabe says half-mocking "Can you teach them tricks? Fetch, Stay and..."

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"That is a valid question," Henry cut Gabe off smoothly "they can learn new things? Have you noticed if they act differently when you sleep?"

Henry felt almost telepathic right now, he knew Gabe was going to say "and kill people in the forest" as the third trick.

[midst_of_threads]

"They can. I taught my bird to land on my wrist. They can follow complex commands and they often figure out what I mean if I'm not clear. And I have no idea how they act when I sleep because I'm asleep."

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"You could have noticed if they move when you sleep," Henry says "or if they keep obeying the last orders you gave them. I am trying to figure out if they burrow your mental processing to make decisions. The two creatures I saw you creating are capable of complex movement seconds after being created."

[midst_of_threads]

"They move. I'll wake up to find some of them gone or sleeping next to me. Sometimes they bring me presents."

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"Presents like a cat bring presents?" Henry asks "or... stuff that you never mentioned out loud that you liked but they knew you did anyways?"

[midst_of_threads]

"More like a cat. They'll bring me things they think are pretty like wild flowers or a shiny stone, and they bring me food they've found. "

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

a new piece of information.

Henry has - ultimately - no idea what anything in the situation means. He can guess that if the creatures display the same basic behavior, this points out for them to have the same basic mind, which might be able to quickly adapt to a new body each time it is created even thought the largest land animals will typically need a few hours before learning to walk (Henry was no zoologist, but he didn't feel too off mark). But that didn't being to explain how a piece of inanimate rubble raised up and started moving at it's own will! Or how Gabe could violate conservation of mass to turn into a giant monster! Or how his hands instantaneously became sensory organs that can shoot something without any apparent structural change

"I need a wall so I can hit my head against it," Henry said after a long quiet moment.

[unadalturedstrength]

"Use my chest if you want to," Gabe said "I can even make it as big as a wall. Or you can wait, the hotel just came to view."

The hotel comes to view just as the group turns around a large rock, it isn't very visible in the dark, but a few lights can be seen through the windows.

[midst_of_threads]

"Are there other people here?"

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"No," Henry said "Only us. There were other workers but they went to get somethings in the nearest town before the road got cut off by a landslide. We are stranded, but there is plenty of food."

[midst_of_threads]

"Do you mind if I crash here tonight?"

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"Be our guest," Henry says "well, keeping in mind that we don't own the place and most guest rooms aren't habitable anyway, but you can get your own room in the servant quarters. We would be down the hall."

[midst_of_threads]

"I really miss sleeping in a bed."

[there_is_no_such_thing_as]

"Where have you been sleeping?" Henry says "Did you have any plans for the winter... or the future?" he adds before Gabe could add something potentially offensive.