apollo

[point_b]

It is the first day of the Swan twins's second year at the Phoenix Gemini School, Apollo High, and this time around Alli isn't soliciting reassurance from her sister about conspiracy theories that the schools are designed to brainwash, de-power, or otherwise mishandle their charges. It's basically just high school, with unconventional gym requirements and an above-average proportion of superpowered faculty. And way more money than most public schools, and excellent diversity because the entry requirement cuts neatly across all demographics.

Well, in most conventional demographic respects.

There are no only children here.

Alli and Bella have all their classes together, which is nice - that wasn't always possible in elementary and middle school; here it's a matter of course.

This year they're signed up for gym but they can skip until two weeks into term, at which point they'll have their basics and Bella will be just as competent as anyone else. More so, relative to the general population. She has no idea what bonus she'll get and she's excited anyway. She's going to be able to actually go to dances, and dance at them, if she wants. Not the homecoming dance because that's not for underclassmen, but there will be others.

"Uuuugh," says Alli, "math first thing in the morning."

"Wouldn't it be funny if you said that and you got a math boost of some kind for your bonus?"

"No, that would just be horrible. And sad. Be sad for me if that happens, Bella."

"All right. What do you want to get?"

"I don't even know, is there a point? I'll just get something and so will you and that'll be that."

"Suit yourself."

The bus pulls in and out they get, uniform skirts swishing around their knees, swan emblems matching on their sleeves so everyone can tell who is whose twin.

Comments

[blink_and]

"Yes," says Adana, at the same times as her sister.

[point_b]

"That seems like an exceptionally pointless pastime."

[you_miss_it]

"Eh, it would be lots of fun, though."

[alli_oop]

"Fun? Like how, do you do karate or something?"

[you_miss_it]

"Some! Other things, too, but I think it's a lot of fun."

[point_b]

"Do you plan on being a superhero? I mean, I guess you have the powers for it, but that's nnnnot a safe profession."

[you_miss_it]

Savannah grins. "... Maaaaybe."

[point_b]

"Maybe as in maybe or maybe as in you haven't decided if you're going white hat?"

[blink_and]

"First thing," says Adana, frowning. "I would be upset with her if she went supervillain."

[you_miss_it]

"First thing!" agrees Savannah. "Ana would kill me if I started wearing black and red and spouting out about how I'm going to flatten Manhattan." Pause. "Not literally."

[alli_oop]

"You rhymed."

[point_b]

"Yeah, supervillainy would get you killed all by itself. I haven't sat down and brainstormed about what I want to do yet but I'm thinking I could do good evacuation work."

[you_miss_it]

"No idea what I'm going to do, aside from 'Maybe superheroing.'"

[alli_oop]

"Being forkable seems like it'd help a little but not more than something more specialized, with, like, anything I could think of. My backup 'if my bonus is terrible' was 'like, maybe, art, or, nepotism'. So I guess there's still that."

[point_b]

"If I do disaster relief I'm not sure how much I'll be able to nepotism you. I guess I could bring you along without impeding my carrying capacity and you could be another couple pairs of hands for things not best addressed by immediately teleporting out? But you'd have to learn something useful. First aid maybe. Don't enroll in anything for future nepotism reasons till I've had a proper sit-and-think after I'm through with my early experiments though."

[you_miss_it]

"Ana's thinking about disaster relief, too," says Savannah. "'Cause she can take passengers."

[point_b]

"Yeah, the portals would be a good fit, can you leave them open as long as you want?"

[blink_and]

"There's a time limit of about two hours, but I can put them back right after."

[point_b]

"I guess we have a lot of the same potential career opportunities, do you want a copy of my brainstorm after I've done it?"

[blink_and]

"Yes. Do you want mine?" Adana grins.

[point_b]

"Yes please."

[blink_and]

"I don't have my notes with me, but I can give you the basic ideas now if you want them."

[point_b]

"Uh, I do, but the bell's going to ring any second. Meet me here after school for testing and tell me then?"

[blink_and]

"... It is, isn't it. Sure! Later, I will. Sav - transportation?"

[you_miss_it]

"Mhm," says Savannah, and then - off she zips.