2019-11-22 - Taking The Leap

Summary:

Anon finds Lydia gearing up to jump.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Fri Nov 22 05:30:53 2019
Location: A 30-Story Building

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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anonlydia-dietrich

Lydia is having second thoughts about this. She's standing on top of a 30 story building, having been able to sneak up to the roof without setting off any alarms despite the glowing green aura of ectoplasm that always surrounds her. She walks up towards the ledge, trying to psyche herself up.

"Okay, Lydia. You can do this. This is just like in the Danger Room. Nothing special." She takes a moment to peer out over the edge of the building and immediately takes a step back. "Nopenopenopenope. Too high." She starts pacing back and forth, now. "C'mon, Lydia. It's nothing you haven't done before. Just …. wings. Jump. Fly. And pray to G*d that you're not violating some kind of flying ordinance."


Celerity is out tonight running deliveries like usual. After finishing her latest one, she happens to look up — so few people really look up on a day-to-day basis — and happens to see a young woman standing at the edge of a rooftop. Well, that looks more than a little bit dangerous. It looks like someone working up the nerve to jump… and most people can't sprout ectoplasm wings.

After a quick change of clothing, Anon zooms up the side of the building. There's a rush of wind in her passing, even as she just stops and stands nearby: a slim young woman in a hooded leotard, mask, and shoes. Clearly a costume. "Hey… are you alright up here?" Slight awkwardness. She's never talked a jumper down before.


Lydia nearly jumps out of her skin at the appearance of Celerity, having been lost in the endless cycle of psyching herself up. "Waugh!" she cries, the radiant green cloud forms a bit of spikiness to reflect her surprise. "Oh! No, I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just…. really really high up and I've never done anything so high. Just a couple of stories before."


Now that she has a closer look, Anon notices the green mist around Lydia, and how it shapes those spikes. She winces behind her mask, and… still misunderstands. 'Has powers' doesn't mean 'can survive a 30-meter drop', and with what some mutants go through, lack of survival may be desired. She holds up her hands in front of her. "It's okay. I just wanted to come up here and see if you were alright. And not going to do anything" She eyes the roof's edge. "drastic."


"I'd say jumping off a thirty story building is drastic," Lydia says with a nervous chuckle. "Regardless if you can fly or not." She blinks and suddenly realizes that Celerity though she was a jumper. "Oh! I can fly. I just haven't done it from this high, and I thought that sooner or later I might have to so I should do it on my own terms before I'm forced to do so so I don't hesitate."


"Oh! Oh. Oh." Anon blushes behind and around the mask, hand running along the back of her neck. "So this was, like… about trying to stretch your limits, to psych yourself up to try it. Not about…" She looks over the edge. "…yeah." She coughs. "Umm. Well, I'm here now. I'm Anon, and I'm pretty speedy. So if you try it, and something goes wrong, I can catch you. Just as long as you keep fairly close to the building's sides. I can run on walls and jump really well, but I can't fly."


Lydia grins, and walks over to Anon with an outstretched hand. "I'm Lydia," she says. "I don't have a code name. I mean. I thought about it but the only thing I could think of was 'Spectre' but that seems sinister. I don't know. Does it seem sinister to you?" Should Anon take her hand, contact with the ectoplasm will result in a kind of chill, tingling sensation, not unlike rubbing menthol onto your skin.


Anon takes the hand, then peers down at it when she feels that chill. She shivers — which, when she does it, seems more like a burst of vibration rather than a normal speed of shivering. "Mmm. It makes me think of, like… a ghost who solves mysteries. This stuff, is this what lets you fly?"


Lydia nods, "Yeah. This is ectoplasm, so 'a ghost who solves mysteries' isn't too far off the mark. Check it out!" With that, the ectoplasm contracts as a pair of wings unfold from Lydia's back. It's about a fifteen foot wingspan, and resemble what you'd imagine phoenix wings would look like, if they were glowing green instead of fiery. "Neat, hunh?"


Anon steps back to get a better view of that wingspan. "Whoa. That is cool. Can you, like, go through walls, too? Because if it's all in the ectoplasm, and making it solid, then… 'Shaper' comes to mind, too. I admit, I kind of lucked out with my supranym."


Lyda shakes her head, "No, I can't. The ectoplasm could, but I'm still just a solid regular girl inside all of it." The wings dissipate and flow to her hands to become a pair of talons that extend from her fingers. "Hmm. Shaper. I can shape it into a bunch of stuff."


Anon smiles. Lydia doesn't hate the name! "Or something like 'Ectomorph', since you morph ectoplasm. But… I think that also means 'skinny'? So might be a bit strange for people coming at it from that perspective. Like, 'her super-power is that she's skinny'?"


Lydia looks thoughtful for a moment. "Mmm, I see where you're coming from, but it just doesn't resonate with me." She lets the claws dissipate and the ectoplasm returns to the standard aura surrounding her. "When I first got my powers I was thinking things like, 'Ghost Girl,' and 'The Green Spook'" She shrugs, with a wide grin, "But I was fifteen at the time."


Anon nods her head. "They can't all be winners." She grins. "Green Spook sounds more like a spy thing than a superhero." She chews her lip. "So… want to try the flying, then? I'll be here to catch you if anything goes wrong."


Lydia bobs her head thoughtfully, as she walks to the edge. "I better do it now before I chicken out." She looks over it again and blanches. "I just have to get over the primal fear of 'Oh G*d I'm going to fall to my death!' when I know full well I'm not going to."

She takes a deep breath, and her wings unfurl from her back again. "Right. I'll stick close to the buildings at first to make sure that I've got it handled." Then with a gulp to swallow her terror, she does a graceful little swan dive off the edge. After a suspenseful couple of heartbeats, Lydia soars up over the building to show that she's all right, her wings leaving a trail of ectoplasm in their wake.


Anon squeezes Lydia's shoulder, smiling. "You'll be fine. I'm sure you'll fly on your own and not need me at all, but I'll be here just in case." When Lydia takes the dive, Anon dashes to the rooftop's edge, holding her breath… but then Lydia comes back up, and Anon lets out a whoop, clapping her hands. She runs along the edge and jumps from rooftop to rooftop, keeping pace with her. She can keep up with 60 MPH, keeping herself nearby.


Lydia isn't going nearly as fast as she can, rather she's taking experimental swoops and dives and even, in a fit of bravery, a loop de loop. After a good fifteen minutes of this she touches down on another rooftop, breathing heavily. "Wow," she says when Anon catches up to her. "That was something. I hope not too many people were convinced that I was a UFO or something."


Anon laughs while one hand fixes her hood. "Well you're a little green something. And hey, nothing wrong with aliens. Some aliens have an embassy here in New York." She smiles. "So, looks like this test went as you'd hoped, huh?"


Lydia nods enthusiastically. "I'll say! I mean, I'm still going to have qualms about jumping off such a high distance, but now that I've done it once, I know I can do it again." Her lips purse into a moue of thoughtfulness. "Though next time I need to bring a warmer jacket and those motorcycle goggles. It gets breezy up here." She tilts her head at Anon and asks, "How do you deal with the whole wind in the eyes thing?"


Anon taps her mask with a fingertip. "Lenses built in. They're not, like, safety goggles, but they keep the wind off. I'm surprised you're asking about the wind, and not the windchill." But then, Lydia's already seen how well Anon can shiver. "I've been trying to think of costumes that can give me a bit more heat without too much drag."


Lydia conjures up a couch and sits upon it while she thinks. "I know they make this really nice fur lined lycra that they use for leggings," she suggests. "I have a pair for when I want to wear a skirt out in winter. You might be able to sew that in the lining?"


Anon tilts her head. "Fur lined lycra, huh? I'll have to give that a try. Or at least get a set of leggings." She sighs. "Problem is, I wear this under my normal clothes so I can change quickly. The more the costume, the harder it is to hide, you know?"


Lydia nods empathetically. "Yeah. I never bothered with a costume because … well … this" she says, waving an arm to indicate her ever present ectoplasm. "I can't exactly hide this. Makes it hard to maintain a secret identity. Plus, I expect, wearing a fur lined costume under street clothes would be rather warm when you're not zooming around."


Anon winces with sympathy, nodding her head. "I couldn't even imagine not having my identity secret. I feel for you, Lydia." She laughs. "Just a bit. But with how cold it gets in New York, I might need that. Zooming around keeps me warm, but when I'm in civvies, I don't zoom around."


"True. This would be the season to try it out in." Lydia agrees. "I just have to be careful with my 'extracurricular' activities. I help out when I can, but I don't go out on patrol looking for trouble. But if I'm around and you need help, you can count on me."


Anon smiles. "Thank you. It's good to have people to count on. I usually do things on my own, and keep it small-time. But sometimes… more needs to be done." She slips a phone from a pocket behind her hood, squinting. "Mmf. It's getting late; I should get back to work."


Lydia nods, and gets up off her ecto-couch and heads towards the door. "It is. I should get back to my apartment. I've got some studying that I should be doing, but have been putting off myself." She tries to open the door only to find it locked. "WELP. Looks like I'm going down the other way. Hope a cop doesn't bust me or anything."


Anon grins, putting her phone back in place. "Look at it this way. You know you can get down the other way now. Have a good night, Lydia. I'll see you around." And with that, she's off like a shot, running down the wall to get somewhere she can change back into her other self.


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