The After School Blues

Of course Roy had been taught manners by Jia when he was but a boy, you always held the door for ladies and the elderly, and though she was seven feet and over a ton she was still a lady. The skirt and ample bust attested to that. But Roy was ever the gentleman passing Dia to the counter as she decided on the seats, or at least positioning that they decided to take to eat.

After paying the white haired young man would move over to his companion and standing across the table from her, moving his chair out of the way and standing across from his friend. It was a his manners again, he didn't sit until the rest of his party was seated, the exception was of course the bathrooms. Which made Roy think, if she was too heavy to sit in chairs how did she go to the bathroom?

Shaking his head briefly Roy looked to his new friend, "So how long have you had your powers?" Roy asked planting his hands on his hips and relaxing slightly. "I've only had mine with a few years, but never really played with them until this school year started." The food would be coming soon, and so now was the time for a little pleasant conversation.

"Um..." she thought about it for a moment. "My transformation began just before I started high school... so a little more than three years, I guess?" she answered. "I spent a lot of the first year in the hospital though... I'm glad that I was able to make up for the time I missed as I'd really rather not be stuck in classes for an extra year..."

She cast him an awkward smile, standing stationary with her arms held at her sides. One didn't spend much time emoting when the simple act of lifting a hand was akin to doing ten push ups in rapid succession.

"Even after all this time my body is still adjusting to the state it's put itself in. Strength training has helped a lot too. As I am now is actually very good. Back when I first began gaining height and weight I couldn't move at all. I feel myself improving every day as well. Sometime soon I may actually be able to move like a normal person once my muscles are strong enough..." That thought made her awkward grin grow into a beaming smile. The day that she could wake up and move as though she wasn't carrying around huge lead weights would be a fantastic day indeed.

Responding to her smile, Roy beamed at his friends dreams of being able to move around, she would be more on par with a cripple than a Superhero in terms of movement and self sustainability. "Heck with the way you stopped that baton like it was nothing, being able to move around like normal would make you unstoppable." He chirped happily noting that not only was she tough, that her moving around like normal would make her even stronger. "You missed a whole year of school and didn't have to repeat either, that's pretty amazing too. I mean you must have a hell of a brain on you."

"I nearly got sent back a few grades because of my limited understanding of English when my family came to Ruby City." Roy explained, motioning a little with his hands, after he'd broken the language barrier in eighth grade and got on his feet it was nothing to get into the groove of learning. "It's a hard language, much harder than Arabic or Swahili."

Mr. Wulf's sudden barrage of compliments about her strength and intelligent brought a quick and obvious blush to Dia's pale cheeks as her smile turned shy and she turned her eyes down toward the table nervously.

"Thanks..." she replied as best she could, not managing to think of anything else proper to say in response. "English is more difficult than any language in the world. I think I read that somewhere once. It was fortunate that I was taking English classes in Italy before my powers began to manifest and my parents decided it would be best for me to finish my schooling here. I would have been fairly lost otherwise." She hesitated a bit before continuing. "So... you speak English, Arabic and Swahili?"

"Yes, Zanzibar, where I'm from, I learned a little English early on, not enough to speak or listen comprehensively and definitely not enough to read, but enough so that it gave me a good foundation for learning the language. Immersion and remedial courses, and a pocket dictionary helped quite a bit too." Roy eagerly explained his origin's to his new friend. "Thankfully I've completely given up the accent. Most people said it didn't suit me very well."

"So you're an immigrant too then?" He asked, wondering what Italy was like.

By that time the cashier came out around the counter with a plastic tray upon which sat two large cheeseburgers, fries and the two large shakes. She put the tray down in between the two standing patrons, with Roy giving a quick "Thanks" before the server give both patrons a funny look like they were some kind of aliens, before moving back behind the counter. There was going to be some busy body conversations tonight for sure.

"What was Italy like?" Roy asked obviously interested in anything Dia had to say about her childhood home.

"Yes," she replied quickly. "It was... nice." At least the time that she spent with her parents was nice. At this point she couldn't really remember many good memories that didn't involve her parents. "It's a beautiful, old country with a lot to see and do if you don't mind all the tourists. I did a lot of traveling around the country with my parents over my childhood so there isn't much that I wasn't able to experience. What about you?"

While she was speaking she was working on gingerly unwrapping the burger between her two oversized hands before getting it just the way she liked it so that she could lift the burger while standing without having to worry about dropping anything on her clothing or on the tray. The act of eating alone was an exercise for her body as she burned calories just lifting her five hundred pound arm to her mouth to get the burger there. Due to her strength training she was required to stay on a high protein, high calorie diet. This was pretty much right on target, though she likely would've increased the portions a bit.

Thoughts turning to his parents Roy looked out the window for a moment, it was sullen for him, as she reminded him of something he'd rather have forgotten long ago. Snapping back into the conversation at her question was about him. "I went all over Zanzibar, and Pemba the sister island. I had distant family on every corner of the islands, and even a few on the mainland, but I never visited them. Tanzania was unsafe at the time. " He responded succinctly, "But Zanzibar was beautiful, the water was always warm and the people friendly, when it rained it poured but when it was sunny it was always warm on your shoulders. There was always some kind of hubbub in the ports and a lot of activity. I used to spend the summer in Fumba swimming in the bay, here the water is too cold to do any such thing."

Roy's hands moved over the packaging of his burger and unwrapped it, peeling it completely out of the silvery lining and checking its contents an old habit, before looking back up to Dia "What did your parents do that you traveled so much?" He would begin consuming the burger as she answered.

"Oh... it wasn't work travel..." she attempted to quickly rectify the misunderstanding. "They were just wealthy so we did a lot of traveling for fun. Tourists in our own country... I'm sure you know how it is," she assumed innocently.

It wasn't often that she ate in front of others and, given her past, she found herself a bit nervous about actually consuming her meal at the speed she actually would normally. Instead she tried to eat at what she considered to probably be a normal pace, emulating her new friend as closely as she could with smaller bites for a smaller mouth.

Roy was taken aback as she mentioned traveling as a pass time. Whenever Tanar had taken him anywhere on Zanzibar or Pembra it was always for work always something for the spices, fertilizer, bug repellent, transport, warehousing, international shipping. Though he explored along the way and made new friends everywhere he went, there was always some work to be done on every trip. It was an odd insinuation that he would know what traveling for fun was like.

It brought Roy to a dream where he would just get on his bike and ride until he was sore, stop for the night and sleep under the stars before getting back on the motorcycle and repeating the process to see where the roads took him.

Stuffing the last of the burger in his face Roy swallowed hard.

"I don't know how it is." The white haired boy clarified for her. "To get to Ruby city, my father sold his spice farm and truck and house and boat to get us the requisite traveling money and a few nights sheltered stay after our arrival in Ruby City."

There were some unpleasant memories being brought up, leaving the house he'd spent his childhood in.

"The Tanzanian special forces kidnapped kids with powers and pressed them into their service." Roy explained knocking the lid off his shake and taking a few fries, "Have you tried it like this?" Roy asking changing the subject and dipping the fries in the thick chocolate shake and eating them.

"...Oh..." Dia's expression flashed quickly from idle remembrance to pure deer in the headlights terror at what she'd just done. Entirely dumbfounded by her stupid mistake, she dropped the fries she'd just been withdrawing from the paper cup and very nearly toppled the table straight over as she clumsily withdrew her hand. It was a good thing she'd set her burger down to snatch some fries or it probably would've been a wasted mess all over the floor right about now.

"I-I'm sorry...!" she panicked as she reached out to steady the rocking table. It was a miracle that most everything remained upright and that she'd only given it a slight bump in a corner rather than hitting it with the full weight of her arm, but that didn't save her own shake from spilling over and onto the floor from the initial impact and Dia's immediate over-response. Inwardly, she was violently cursing herself out for messing this all up so badly. "Oh no! I'm so, so sorry!" she called out in further distress to both the guy who had been dragged along for this fiasco as well as the restaurant workers.

This called for drastic measures, Dia bringing both her hands up to cover her quickly reddening face in embarrassment and humiliation as she squatted down closer to the floor without actually sitting.

Well this wasn't good, as the distracted girl practically flipped the table and began to panic, which made Roy panic grabbing the table as she did and feeling his own footing give way under her superior strength, really he acted like an attenuator for the rocking table taking most of the force feeling his teeth rattle in his head as she stabilized the table quickly causing her own shake to knock over. And spill on the floor. And he understood now...

She was immensely powerful. The very swinging of her arms while she walked could break bones. It was a power that Roy didn't empathize with, but understood, carelessness on her part meant serious injury or even death, so even little screw ups weren't allowed.

But there was also something so innocent about her behavior almost childlike and maybe even a little cute. Roy stabilized his still spinning milkshake. He would take a moment to right himself smoothing the wrinkled edges of his clothing before taking a hand to the milkshake again and her cup of fries and squatting down next to her holding both out. "I promise it's really good." Maybe in his own way he was his forgiving her, and passing over the little slight and accident like it'd never happened.

The server that had come over with their food returned with a mop and bucket, and started cleaning the spilt milkshake off the table not paying much mind to Diamante, as she apologized, this was his job after all. Not looking after powered individuals but picking up after messy customers, accidents happened. "It's alright. As least nobody is wearing it." The employee made a playful pun of it. "I doubt your boyfriend would look good in milkshake brown."

Usually full of playful and encouraging words in such a situation, Roy was caught off-guard, trying to show his new friend a little compassion did it really come off like that? And what was this burning in his face, like his cheeks were on fire. "I... uh... It's..." He stammered at a complete loss for words, but still held the cup and fries out for his friend. He didn't know what to say exactly, he was more concerned about his new friends feelings than the opinion of some store clerk.

When he squatted down in front of her to join her at her new height, Dia gingerly parted two of her fingers to peek an eye out from between to get an idea of just what on earth he was talking about. Her arms were already beginning to become tired from holding them up and so Dia was sort of forced to give in and let one arm fall back while the second tentatively reached out to take a couple of fries in hand and dunk them testingly into her friend's shake before bringing them to her lips and eating them.

Slowly but surely she forced her catastrophically distressed expression into a crooked smile. She appreciated the gesture... but maybe fries and milkshake just wasn't for everyone. Her smile faded quickly into another, much different expression of abject terror as the employee made a pun and an incorrect observation. Once again, Dia's entire face lit up bright red as all sense left her mind.

"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-BOYFRIEND?!" she exclaimed in an almost violent manner. She didn't even care that her arms were feeling a bit fatigued, immediately rushing to cover her face once again.

She didn’t like them, Roy thought it was the bee’s knees but at least she had got her mind off of the little screw up and that was what mattered. Not that his diversion mattered that much as a much larger one had come to full attention.

It took Roy a moment to get his shit together and regain his composure. “She’s my friend.” Roy corrected, in a manner of fact tone standing up and looking the employee in the eyes. “I would request and appreciate you keep your misinformed assertions to yourself.”

“Easy there.” The Employee responded back putting a hand up in a defensive position, “You two have good chemistry, even rode up together, it was a safe bet you two were a couple,” And suddenly the part-timer seemed realized their position, “but I digress, I apologize for making you and your… friend uncomfortable.” The employee, now having completely cleaned the table and surrounding floor turned to scurry off.

Having cleared his throat Roy placed his shake and fries on the cleaned table with the rest of the food and addressed his companion “I know we just met today but, we are friends, right?” He wanted to make sure he wasn't making any more awkward assertions.

Dia blinked dumbly as Mr. Wulf rather sternly corrected the fast food worker as to the status of their current relationship, standing up herself not long after he did and finally allowing her arms to fall back to her sides for good this time.

"That was... kind of harsh, wasn't it?" Dia made her best attempt to not look incredibly embarrassed anymore, though Roy very nearly tearing into an employee who made a simple assumption didn't really clear that up very well for her. All she could really manage was a lopsided, nervous sort of grin with a halfhearted chuckle, her cheeks still lit red.

"But um... yeah, I guess...? We can be friends... I-I mean... if you want to be my friend," she shrugged, attempting to appear apathetic about the whole thing. Shut-ins weren't really supposed to have friends. It wasn't really working out so well for her though.

And with all that taken care of, Dia returned to her half-eaten burger and fries. They certainly weren't going to finish themselves anytime in the near future and she was still hungry. The loss of her shake was a little heartbreaking, but she could always get something to drink once she was home.

Roy began back in with his fries and shake, even though she’d not really enjoyed it, he found the combo one of fast foods small pleasures. When she talked about how harsh he’d been Roy shook his head, “No.” Roy paused for a brief moment, it wasn’t right to leave her with just that much. “I think that I was firm and to the point. There was no need for me to be anymore harsh than that because outside of your-our awkwardness, nothing else was damaged. No harm no foul. I feel that If I wasn’t as forward then my message would have been deluded in cordiality and lost its meaning in minced words.”

“You’re smart and just and strong. It would make me happy to be considered your friend.” The white haired boy responded back to his newest and currently only friend. He’d had tons of friends before but now he’d taken a look back at how informal and distant all those friends had been. Roy had taken a long look back at his first year of high-school and had realized that he’d not had any friends, just acquaintances. After his fall from those circles he’d cut people, friends, out of his life. No-one he could call on in an emergency

Call on. “Oh yeah.” The young man reminded himself as he pulled the smart phone from his pocket, it was a previous year’s Samsung model phablet. “We should exchange contact information. I don’t want those guys targeting solo to try and get back at you for standing up to them.” Roy also looked out the window “Or if you need to get anywhere faster than walking.”

Dia opened her mouth to argue against his stance on this matter, but quickly decided to shut it before she could utter a single syllable, ending the thought with a dejected sigh and the last bite of burger. There was nothing that could be gained from such an argument. It would only alienate one or both of them. Dealing with such a thing would require patience much more than force and persistence. To save what little relationship they had now, Dia would opt to keep her mouth shut rather than be an opinionated know-it-all.

"Oh... well..." she started up again once he brought up the idea of sharing phone numbers to keep in touch. "I mean...I have a driver when I need to go places. I just... don't really like to bother him. I'm also incapable of keeping a phone on me considering I'd just break it the moment I tried to use it. I can give you my home phone number though if you like..."

When she opened her mouth the look on her face told Roy that she wanted to say something, something about the conversation to continue what she was saying earlier perhaps? The truth was that he was interested in her opinions, he wouldn't have explained himself if he didn't think as much of them. However when she decided to drop it, he was tempted to push, but realized that she had a good reason to drop the subject. If she was concerned about their freshly minted friendship being strained, Roy felt she was mistaken. It would take them a little time but soon he knew that she'd be able to say what she thought around him without worrying about his feelings on the subject.

Puzzled, was the best way Roy could put it, was her strength so powerful that she would crush electronics? And a Driver? "I'm half surprised that you don't have one of those bomb proof flip phones." Roy looked away and thumbed his phone unlocked and brought up the number screen. "Sure I'll give you a ring after dropping you off so you can have my number. Any time you might need me, I'll have my phone so all you have to do is give me a ring."

"I don't really make random calls... or any calls... at all," she responded hesitantly. "I only have a home phone so my parents can call me whenever they feel like it. The only phone I'd like to carry on me is a smart phone, but..." She held her hand over the table with one finger up to display the sharply pointed claw he likely hadn't noticed before. Her hands were more than just encased in a protective shell, they'd become deadly stabbing and slashing weapons. It wouldn't be very good for the screen. "I'd use a tool or something, but I can't really keep my hands up long enough to make good use of it anyways..."

Roy did his best to hide his interest and amusement at what would call a misshapen hand, he thought as far as hands went she had a fucking awesome one. He might have begrudged his own power but he thought that other's powers were quite amazing and maybe even a little amusing, though he realized that her power made her as much a titan as it did a toddler. Roy would make short work of his fries and shake. He would have offered it to Dia but he'd already drank out of it before asking and didn't want to make her feel any more awkward.

"Sounds like you could use a more hands free solution than a phone." Roy might have suggested a stylus but she already precluded that. "What happens when you're out and about and you need to reach someone?" He paused, "I mean you're going to become a Hero right? How will they reach you when they need you?"

"It's never happened so far," Dia responded with a quick shrug. "I don't see why I should be worrying about something that will probably never happen. If anything, though... this strength training might work out well for me and eventually I'll be able to use my hands normally. At that point something like a stylus may actually work well for me... so long as I don't lose it..."

She drifted off at that, popped a few more fries into her mouth as she appeared to think long and hard about something she wasn't being entirely forthcoming about.

Nodding at her reply Roy relented, if she had her reasons it was fine by him, perhaps he'd even over asserted himself in the thought that a woman of her caliber needed assistance on demand. He would relent from any other such assertions, he just wanted her to think about her choices, so that they wouldn't burn her in the future. Roy would re-arrange the trash neatly so that it could all be thrown away in one flick of the wrist. It was something of a habit to clean up easily.

Noticing her apprehensive look, the young man wasn't sure if he should inquire as to what she was thinking or if she something specific to say. What the hell: "What's on your mind?" Roy of course couldn't help himself from opening a can of worms.

"...Hm?" Dia's lightly glowing eyes refocused quickly at the unexpected question, bringing herself back to the here and now rather than the inner recesses of her mind. "Oh... uh..." Her eyes flicked about quickly as she collected her thoughts and rearranged them in a presentable order. "I... was just thinking about the training that I'm going through right now... to make me stronger. That's all. I just wish it was faster."

It wasn't the entire truth, but she had no intention of pouring her heart out to someone she'd only just met simply because he'd helped her fend off some bullies and treated her to lunch, even if they were newly minted friends. Her thoughts now were deeper than something a person she'd only just met could possibly understand.

That wasn't all of the story, she still had more to say but reservations about saying it, Roy could tell, he'd already pried and now wasn't the time to push that much further. "Here let me show you something." Roy Placed his hand on the table palm down in front of Dia. He slowed his breathing taking long deep breaths, and slowly the silvery liquid started to pour from his hand onto the table. He was focusing on his hand but his eyes had locked onto Dia.

As the boy slowly raised his hand it wasn't a simple shape he was making it was bent lines and long curves, it slowly rose and formed  as the liquid solidified taking very specific shape. It took Roy a few moments, because faces were hard, especially if you didn't have  a picture to look at.

But he had the real thing.

Removing his hand for the finished product Dia would see a what was essentially a six-inch cast replica of herself in almost perfect and maybe too perfect in areas, detail. Her arm outstretched catching something, a look of righteous indignation on her face. It was the moment she caught the baton that was meant for Roy. "That was it." Mister Mercury began to explain the statue and give words of encouragement to his new friend."The moment I realized you were a true hero. Something like strength training will pass. This part of you tells me that it'll be over before you know it."

"If you want, I've done a lot of physical training for sports, and since I don't have anything to do after school anymore, I could help you. I know working out is easier if you have a partner." Roy offered sincerely.

"Hm...?" Dia blinked with a look of confusion when Mr. Wulf announced that he had something to show her. She waited patiently as he worked with what she'd assumed by now was his power, recoiling just a bit once she realized that the shapes he was molding were quickly forming into a startling replication of herself. Had he really studied her that closely? Oh my...

She remained speechless for a time, her pale face flushed red, unable to think of the proper words to respond to such a compliment concerning her attitude and her future. Instead she chose to pass it by, mentally attempting to ward off the red in her cheeks as she spoke up, her voice cracking awkwardly.

"U-um... S-sure, I guess? I mean... uh... if you want to, that is..." And with that much said, she shoved the rest of the fries in her cup into her mouth to shut herself up, chewing slowly with swollen cheeks as she stared a socially awkward hole through her companion's chest.

Roy smiled openly at his friend when she blushed and started cramming her face full of fries having responded in the positive that she'd like his help. He'd done a little weight training for football, something he'd actually liked doing, but not as much as the cardio, he could run circles around everyone on his team. Maybe he could train Phalanx to that point, she'd be a mean football player if she could juke, bob and weave. Though he doubted that was on her list of goals.

Roy of course didn't mind being stared at, he was confident in his body structure and muscle tone and simply met her gaze, waiting for her to finish her fries before adding her trash to his own with a quick shuffle and pitching the neat package across the Burger Hut perfectly into the trash bin like he was a professional basketball player. Roy was just good at sports. "And it's good for two." He remarked under his breath stepping aside and scooting his chair into the place where he'd once stood.

"You ready to ditch this greasy dive?" It was a playful insult for one of Roy's favorite places to eat in the city. Though for a second he was given pause. "If you want to keep it." He said changing his focus to the statue. "...I would... like it if you did."