Chương 13: R&R Ch. 13 — Team Building Pastries

Nicholas hated how good training it was for him to look at a dictionary. The way his power worked was based on how he saw the word and what he associated it with just as much as what they actually meant or how he built the card in his mind. Up lifted things up because that's how he thought about it. And down changed what direction down was because that made sense to him.

He was pretty sure it wouldn't be hard for him to turn the word 'close' into a word that turned something explosive just because of the common phrase. But that was a question of whether he even wanted the word to go in that direction. Having 'close' well close things would be useful too. But there was a part of him that felt that, as a hero, he needed some kind of explosive attack; otherwise, what was the point of having the power to do whatever he wanted?

There was also the fact that his teammate was moping, but that was in his estimation a smaller problem. Yes, they had a small disagreement, and he had left early because he couldn't express his feelings properly through a text to speech app, but she hadn't expressed an interest in talking about it. So he was wondering if she was potentially upset about something else. What that something else could be he didn't have a clue, but it was the leading theory.

And his third problem was the folks calling him to ask about the video. Yes, they never said his name. Yes, he was wearing a mask. But it still wasn't the hardest jump to make for people that knew him, though most were respecting his privacy. And the ones that weren't were not getting much traction in the flood of fake theories. Which meant they were going to owe somebody, though he wasn't sure if it was the training academy staff or Jasmine's ancestor.

Nicholas had yet to spare much thought about who Jasmine came from, but the context clues were clear she had a super relative. Someone strong as well, or at least knowledgeable, otherwise they wouldn't have had methods that worked for him and Jasmine. Why Jasmine had been taught both was another question, but it made a sort of archaic sense to pass down everything you know to your successor, even if they don't want it.

The question on how to cheer her up before the next trial weighed heavier than the trial itself in his mind. Even with them not able to use the call for his own ethical reasons, they could still fly around and smash everything in their way. Jasmine could fly just as well with him along as she could by herself, and if needed too, he could approximate flight. Eventually, he would make a word that gave him flight, but there were other things he needed to do first.

Fixing call was a priority of his, but first he had felt the need to work on both a defensive and offensive word. Up and Down were good at controlling the battlefield, and against basic enemies, he was pretty sure they were all he needed for it, but that's not the hero he wanted to be. The defensive one was coming along nicely, though he wasn't so sure about the card he was making for offense. It would work, and probably well, but he found it a little embarrassing.

He had just thought of the first person who came to mind that was a hero with worthwhile offensive abilities to copy. Nicholas didn't have the time to worry about that; there were only a few days till they had to fight monsters again, and that variation would at least be quick to build. With his defensive abilities steadily improving as the ability stabilized and the offensive ones being easy to build, that left him with the most time-consuming task he needed to figure out.

How was he supposed to cheer up Jasmine when she was being mopey? He had about another three hours before she would be back from classes and her own training, so he was free to take as long as he needed to come up with a scheme. If you called trying to cheer up someone you were quickly learning to call a friend a scheme. Nicholas saved his notes on his laptop before turning the device off to work on his plan. Thankfully, as supers, neither of them were allergic to anything as far as he knew.

Outside of abilities that targeted that, but being allergic to super death peanuts isn't exactly the same as a regular allergy. By the time Jasmine walked in, the cinnamon rolls were done, and Nicholas had just finished pulling one out for her.

"What is this for?" Jasmine asked, holding the plate of pastries suspiciously.

"For you, you've been out of it the past few days," Nicholas said, grabbing his own before sitting at the table. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yeah, cause I was trying to figure out how to apologize to you because you were barely talking to me!" Jasmine said, placing the cinnamon roll on the table gently so she could then slam her hands against the table in exasperation.

"I'm the screwup, so why are you apologizing?"

"So you were upset because you thought I wasn't talking to you because I was upset? Instead of that, I'm not a talkative person unless pressed, and the fact I could barely talk?" Nicholas asked, tilting his head to the side.

"You make me sound ridiculous when you put it like that," Jasmine said, crossing her arms.

"Not ridiculous. Kind."

"So you're not upset?" Jasmine asked, sitting down. She still did want to eat the freshly baked pastries after all.

"Nope."

"Then why did you storm off?"

"Because I couldn't explain with a text to speech app, and I didn't want to just bury the lead, so I left." Jasmine stared at him for a long moment. He couldn't be that ridiculous, could he? He was.

"You know, that buried the lead a lot I was. Yeah." Nicholas nodded, staring at his pastry for a moment as he tilted his head from side to side, considering her words.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I meant to put pause on an important conversation, not ruin it." Nicholas said, dipping his head in apology.

"I accept your apology pastries, so could you tell me why you don't want to use that word?" Jasmine asked, deciding not to mention the word in question just in case.

"With a word I will eventually be able to do anything. If I'm not in control, something could slip out. And I'm not going to use any words that I would consider mind control. Using something like lullaby to put a person to sleep is on thin ice. Call didn't just focus people's attention on me like I intended. It forced them. Even on you, with your resistances, it worked." Nicholas said, refusing to meet her eyes. Jasmine nodded.

"Then we won't use it. But why is attention manipulation okay?"

"What's a magician's misdirection?"

"Fair."

"I love my power. It will let me build myself to be the hero I want to be. But I don't want to risk hurting people with a casual slip of the tongue. I can keep myself on as tight of a leash as possible. But the best solution is to make sure I don't make any words that could do irreparable harm." Nicholas said quietly.

"The reason I don't want to use people's souls is because while they're stronger just because I cut it off doesn't mean there isn't still a connection. And I don't use dead humans because I can't ask them." Jasmine said pointedly, not looking at her friend.

"What?"

"Well, you were sharing, so I wanted to share as well. It's not fair if only you say what's going on," Jasmine said sheepishly.

"Can I ask some clarifying questions, or do you not want to touch it?" Nicholas asked, leaning forward.

"What kind?"

"You said living people's souls were stronger. Could you combine that with your own soul to make a super weapon?" Jasmine shirked back at the thought.

"I could, but it would involve the two souls being linked. Which would be even worse."

"That doesn't sound pleasant."

"No, some folks have died from it."

"We'll put that on the in case of emergencies table."

"Who would be willing to volunteer for that?" Jasmine asked, flabbergasted. They would need to find someone crazy to link their soul to hers, even if it was a fate of the world emergency.

"I would do it." Jasmine gaped as Nicholas returned his attention to his cinnamon roll. She was still gaping by the time he was done and got up to get another one. She had finished gaping before he was done with the second one, mostly because she couldn't stand the idea of him finishing them all before she got hers.

"How is your new stuff coming along?" Nicholas asked, sated after only two of the massive cinnamon rolls.

"Great, I made a bunch of bombs today."

"I thought you were making a gun?"

"No, I made a gun and then realized what I was missing were bombs. The gunslinger weapons and armor aren't very defensive; it's all in on offensive and mobility abilities, so I wanted to lean into that."

"With bombs?"

"With bombs."

"They do seem exciting." Nicholas conceded after a moment.

"Next, I'm going to build flying cowboy boots." Jasmine nodded.

"Do they make you fly or do the boots fly to you?" Jasmine laughed at the joke before going to get another cinnamon roll. Today deserved a celebration; she and her friend were friends again!

"So, is the plan to unveil it this weekend, or do you want to go with the gravity armor again?" Nicholas asked as the planning phase of the pastry break started.

"I'll have to decide day of. I'm not sure if either will be where I want them to be." Jasmine shrugged.

"Then there's something else we need to discuss." Nicholas nodded, moving onto the next topic. He wasn't exactly pleased about where they had to lead this way, but it was what they had to do.

"About what to do with our points? I was thinking of saving them," Jasmine shrugged. It wasn't like either of them needed to worry about their rate of improvement; both of them were at the top, and Nicholas seemed perfectly content to figure out how to do everything on his own.

"That's not going to make Astra pleased," Nicholas pointed out.

"So what we can't get the best prizes till we're higher ranked anyway." Nicholas considered that. It was a good point, and he didn't want to actually use them up now there wasn't anything really impactful. If they fully bottomed out all they had earned, they could get one lesson from Astra. And both of them thought it was because Astra had specifically changed the price so that they would spend everything they had.

"We'll table it then. Do you want to help me practice my defensive word?" Nicholas asked, standing up and taking his plate to the dishwasher.

"Are you asking me to shoot magic bullets at you?" Jasmine asked, pulling out her magic gun from her soul forge. Yes, she had left it right by the entrance so she could pull it out all cool-like. She couldn't wait till she was a higher tier and could actually summon and control her armaments instead of just powering them. She would impress everyone after that.

"You can use the hammer too if you want?" Nicholas offered, opening the door and gesturing for them to leave.

"You mean Beeg Hammar?"

"Unfortunately." As the two walked to the training room, they bickered about whether or not it was unfortunate she had named her gravity hammer Beeg Hammar.