Chương 71: R&R2 Ch. 10 — First Date

Nicholas focused, and the beam of crimson energy tightened, forming a cylinder thick as a soda can that speared through the enemies without hassle. As they had gotten closer, more and more of their forces could not keep up with the pace, and there had been less of a concern put on clearing the path of corpses and just killing them. Book was already put away, letting Nicholas put his full power into the dragon's breath. It was all he could do, so there was no reason for him to stop.

It wasn't until they were inside the walls that Nicholas realized he didn't need to keep spewing energy out to break all of his opponents. There was nobody left, and he probably shouldn't just blast the next person he saw. He stepped back, falling flat on his ass almost immediately as his command lost all of its power, his concentration too fried to hold on to the connection. In an hour or two he would be able to think again, but until then he was going to be stuck. Everyone was fried.

And Nicholas still had enough mental agility to put together that was why they hadn't been told to go out and work today. They would be unable to do anything. Actually, Jasmine might be able to. With her power, there was a chance she hadn't needed to expend much of her power. Upon probing the bond, Nicholas confirmed Jasmine was in a similar state to himself. She was like a dying star trying to reignite herself after a long day's work. And she had been checking him as well.

"Attention supers, we have made it to New Athens. We will be spending the next few days restocking, so those of you who are continuing the journey are free, and those that rode with us to here, we thank you for your service." Coordinate said into all of their heads. It was a testament to how tired Nicholas was that he couldn't even bring to bear his normal dislike for someone rooting around in his head, and regardless of what anyone said, he was certain that they were doing that. It's what he would do.

After another ten minutes of just sitting on top of the train, Jasmine came to find him.

"How was being the tip of the spear?" Jasmine asked, helping him to his feet.

"Exhausting, I'm on nothing but fumes, and the only reason I have that is someone at the front could sustain and lend people energy, though they only started after most people dropped off." Nicholas said, leaning against her as they made their way back to their rooms.

"Call it two hours, and then we'll head out?" Jasmine asked, supporting Nicholas. Right, he had to do that. He had promised that he was going to do that, and he wasn't going to do something so asinine as to not follow through on his promises. Besides, he could feel Jasmine being excited for it, and he was pretty sure part of that was his own excitement bleeding through the bond. He still wasn't sure about this dating thing, even if he had been the one to suggest it.

That had been purely practical, and he wanted a romantic relationship with someone eventually. He just didn't know if he saw Jasmine in that way yet. But even if it wasn't going to be a romantic date, exploring a new town with his best friend sounded perfect for him.

"You going to rest for two hours too, or are you going to say goodbye to the folks that are getting off the train?" Nicholas asked as they reached their rooms.

"I thought about it, but I'm going to take a two-hour nap, or an hour and thirty-minute nap so I have thirty minutes to get ready. You?" Jasmine asked, finally separating as they reached the doors to their respective rooms.

"Probably going to read for an hour or so, watch a video, just something I don't need to focus on and I can relax doing." Nicholas said, opening the door to his room.

"Sleep well."

"Make sure to rest properly." It wasn't till he was in his room that he realized he hadn't helped Jasmine out of her armor, and he was still in his own super suit. He couldn't be bothered to help right now. Taking the armor off was way easier for Jasmine." Nicholas" He waved a hand over his face as the command rippled through the room, and he was now in a loungewear set. Nicholas grabbed his phone from his desk before flopping onto his bed and finding a fantasy novel to read.

He considered whether he was tired enough that a reread would be better for his energy, but he decided against it. He didn't want to do a reread; he wanted to continue this book, so that's what he was going to do. Ninety minutes later he could feel Jasmine getting up, and Nicholas did the same, rolling out of bed. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He hadn't been told what they were doing beyond exploring the town, so he wasn't going to dress that nice, but it wasn't like he should dress up like a bum as he was now. Dressed in his usual attire, with a jacket on and a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, Nicholas checked the time. That had taken him fifteen minutes to decide what to wear, so he ostensibly had another fifteen minutes before it was time to go.

He did not want to be late, however, so he moved to wait in the sitting room of their suite to find Jasmine already waiting for him. She was dressed much how she had when they had been in high school. Leather jacket with tons of pins and stickers on it, cropped tank top, and a pair of cargo pants pockets full of something.

"Sorry I'm late," Nicholas said, dipping his head in apology.

"Nah, I am just so fast," Jasmine said while tying her hair up into a ponytail.

"Shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's." Nicholas said, moving to leave. He was stopped by Jasmine grabbing his hands.

"Bad, this is a date, remember, so we're going to be obnoxiously coupley," she said, lacing her fingers with his.

"Why specifically obnoxiously coupley? I doubt you're the type, and I am certainly not," Nicholas said, the two of them walking in step.

"Because I figured it would be hilarious to mess with people, and that's something both of us want to do." That was a logic he could get behind. To do his own part, Nicholas exaggeratedly swung their linked arms as they walked this time, causing Jasmine to flinch in surprise before joining in.

"You should get taller, then I can clutch to your arm desperately and lean against you."

"I'm probably not going to be getting much taller." Nicholas said blankly. His family wasn't particularly tall. And he didn't really care. If someone thought height was impressive, then that was their prerogative.

"You could wear heels so that you're taller than me?" Jasmine offered, still stuck on the idea. Nicholas looked up to her.

"Those would have to be pretty tall heels."

"Yeah, I would break an ankle if I had to walk in heels like that," Jasmine agreed as they left the train station. While they had left the train through the super quarters exit, they easily blended in with everyone else leaving. Though they didn't have any luggage. That would tip off anyone paying attention.

"I could always hug your arm to my chest and swoon against you dramatically?" Nicholas offered once he was sure Jasmine was still stuck on the idea.

"You would? I don't believe you," Jasmine said, quite fairly in Nicholas's estimation. Nicholas considered his response. They were being obnoxiously coupley today because it was funny. And messing with Jasmine was going to be equally funny. He pulled her arm closer, holding it against his chest as he stood on the tips of his toes to lean against her dramatically.

"But babe, I thought this was what you wanted?" Nicholas asked, pitching his voice to make it more emotive than he would ever speak normally. Jasmine stared at him, jaw dropped, as they stopped in the middle of the group of people who had just left the train station. Whoops. Well, the point of this was to be obnoxious, so Nicholas was following instructions. Jasmine looked away, and they resumed walking.

"That's cheating."

"Oh, yeah?" Nicholas asked.

"You're not supposed to be flustering me, you're supposed to be flustering other people, it's not fair if you do it to me." Jasmine said, her words might have said one thing but her tone of voice and their bond told him otherwise.

"I mean, we stopped traffic, so that was definitely obnoxious to them." Nicholas said. Jasmine laughed.

"Good point. Come on, I saw in my research they have this town square that tons of food carts and food trucks camp out at and I want to go see; sometimes they even do live music!" Nicholas let himself be pulled along as they explored. The food had been excellent; he had gotten a few street tacos at one cart, while Jasmine had gotten some kind of fried bread product that had tasted amazing from the bite he had gotten from it.

The music playing hadn't been to his taste, but Jasmine had liked it, and they had gotten dessert afterwards, Nicholas with a loaded brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And Jasmine got a peppermint milkshake that he could concede was probably better than what he had gotten. Once they finished their food, they just walked hand in hand, talking mostly about the life before she had known him more than he had known her, but before powers they had been strangers passing ships in the night.

Not that either of them shared too much of importance. Most of Nicholas's life had been spent tirelessly researching how to gain super powers. And a lot of Jasmine's story she didn't want to talk about because it touched on her family. But inane things they enjoyed, didn't enjoy, and people they had disliked in school were all part of it. Before long the stars started to shine, and they found themselves on an outlook that let them choose between looking at the lights of the city below or the lights of the stars.

Jasmine pulled a blanket out of her soul forge and set it down on the grass, giving them a place to sit.

"This has been really fun, thanks." Nicholas said, sitting down next to her and bumping his shoulder against hers as he looked out at the city.

"Did you know that before powers in a city like this you wouldn't even see half of the stars because of pollution?" Jasmine said, looking up at the stars.

"Wait, really?" Nicholas asked, looking up in wonder. The idea that you wouldn't even be able to see half the stars was a horrifying idea to him. They were the stars they were supposed to be up there. He knew that the world was wildly different before powers. But the idea that you wouldn't be able to see the stars in the night sky? He couldn't fathom something like that.

"My grandma, she says that it's one of the things she thinks is objectively good about powers. That they've let us recover the sky," Jasmine said, reaching up a hand as if she could touch the stars. Nicholas would have to look up pictures of what the sky was like before powers; it wasn't that he didn't believe her; it was just something he couldn't fathom.

"They're beautiful, and now I know to treasure them more." Nicholas said, pulling a knee to his chest as he looked at the sky. He wondered how many other things he didn't realize could be snatched away. If stars could be stolen, anything could.