Natalia Koutolika (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theriflespiral) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thenashira2025-07-13 11:31 am
theriflespiral) wrote in thenashira2025-07-13 11:31 am
Chapter 1: Spreading Valor's Wings
Who: Natalia and Cynthia
What: Natalia, after lacrosse practice, is present for Cynthia's awakening.
When: Late afternoon June 6
Where: That one smoothie shop all the Everwave student athletes hang out in
Warnings: child endangerment
Everwave's lacrosse team has a ritual, after every practice.
They don't call it a ritual, but Natalia sees it, as clearly as she sees so many of the little rituals of this place, this Chalra City. The little social things that they hold so sacred.
The first week after tryouts, she wasn't invited. The girls simply filed off somewhere, without her, and she walked home on her own. She'd had her own concerns, and Lord knew that Natalia's mother worried about her. With good reason, as it turns out, but 'secretly an alien superhero' is not, generally, at the top of most parents' worry lists, so these were not the signs Lenya was looking for.
Getting into lacrosse had helped; it was easy to explain away bruises about the shoulders and neck and arms as tough stick checks and promises to avoid getting into hockey, my dear Natashenka, we cannot have you rattling your head about, it will be bad for you and your careers.
And yet, someone had, apparently, recognized that she was missing, for today, June sixth, one of the girls specifically took her aside and invited her to join them.
Even then, she found that the knots of people were... largely leaving her out. They had their familiar tables, a gulf which seemed insurmountable, that she wanted to reach across, but that everyone wordlessly followed. What were the ways in which they organized? What were the ways in which they wanted to assort? Would they all notice she wasn't the same as they are?
She was closer than ever to joining them, physically, but even that distance fell like a chasm between the tables they sat at and the place where she waited for the specific sort of smoothie her... Friend? Could she call her a new friend?-- had recommended.
Amidst the hubbub and gleeful talk of the social matters of the day-- dozens of names whose significance escaped Natalia, the door chime rang.
A mother-- not much older than them, brown hair, a bit rounder-- and her-- her child, Natalia thought, not wanting to bother to take the time to puzzle out gender at this precise moment-- entered, brightly colored. The child was slightly tired-- who wouldn't be, in the heat of June?-- but Natalia regarded them with a little bit of kindness.
She paused. She felt the wave of darkness before anyone else.
Of course.
Of course it was a monster attack. What else could it be?
Unlike the others, who were confused about the sudden change in the noise off the blender, Natalia was already in motion to protect them-- and more importantly, get everyone to leave.
But she can't be everywhere, now can she?
What: Natalia, after lacrosse practice, is present for Cynthia's awakening.
When: Late afternoon June 6
Where: That one smoothie shop all the Everwave student athletes hang out in
Warnings: child endangerment
Everwave's lacrosse team has a ritual, after every practice.
They don't call it a ritual, but Natalia sees it, as clearly as she sees so many of the little rituals of this place, this Chalra City. The little social things that they hold so sacred.
The first week after tryouts, she wasn't invited. The girls simply filed off somewhere, without her, and she walked home on her own. She'd had her own concerns, and Lord knew that Natalia's mother worried about her. With good reason, as it turns out, but 'secretly an alien superhero' is not, generally, at the top of most parents' worry lists, so these were not the signs Lenya was looking for.
Getting into lacrosse had helped; it was easy to explain away bruises about the shoulders and neck and arms as tough stick checks and promises to avoid getting into hockey, my dear Natashenka, we cannot have you rattling your head about, it will be bad for you and your careers.
And yet, someone had, apparently, recognized that she was missing, for today, June sixth, one of the girls specifically took her aside and invited her to join them.
Even then, she found that the knots of people were... largely leaving her out. They had their familiar tables, a gulf which seemed insurmountable, that she wanted to reach across, but that everyone wordlessly followed. What were the ways in which they organized? What were the ways in which they wanted to assort? Would they all notice she wasn't the same as they are?
She was closer than ever to joining them, physically, but even that distance fell like a chasm between the tables they sat at and the place where she waited for the specific sort of smoothie her... Friend? Could she call her a new friend?-- had recommended.
Amidst the hubbub and gleeful talk of the social matters of the day-- dozens of names whose significance escaped Natalia, the door chime rang.
A mother-- not much older than them, brown hair, a bit rounder-- and her-- her child, Natalia thought, not wanting to bother to take the time to puzzle out gender at this precise moment-- entered, brightly colored. The child was slightly tired-- who wouldn't be, in the heat of June?-- but Natalia regarded them with a little bit of kindness.
She paused. She felt the wave of darkness before anyone else.
Of course.
Of course it was a monster attack. What else could it be?
Unlike the others, who were confused about the sudden change in the noise off the blender, Natalia was already in motion to protect them-- and more importantly, get everyone to leave.
But she can't be everywhere, now can she?
no subject
The lacrosse team's post-practice routine is always a highlight of Cynthia's day. Nothing beats the reward of a yummy treat after grappling, body and mind, with the epic highs and lows of high school lacrosse. Cynthia doesn't remember how this little collective routine began, but she can't imagine life without it.
That's why it bummed her out so bad when she realized that one of her newer teammates had been missing out on post-practice smoothies. Not on her watch!!! Today, Cynthia directly invited the girl -- Natalia -- to go get smoothies with her and the rest of the team.
Cynthia has gotten to know Natalia a little bit as a teammate on the lacrosse field, but not so much as a friend outside of practice. Natalia always seems to Cynthia like she has a bit of a gloom about her-- not outright depressing or anything, but... a strange kind of somberness and focus, maybe? Certainly a mysterious quality. Cynthia's never short of friendly to anyone, but she hasn't quite been sure how to become pals with Natalia yet.
So far, though, this smoothie excursion has been going wonderfully!
...So far.
Suddenly, there's a weird...shift. The smoothie blender's ordinary noise becomes strange, threatening and pointed and growling. For a few moments, Cynthia wonders if it's breaking down, but--
--then--
--the monster appears. It arises from the smoothie-maker, part fruit, part machine, and a 100% unhealthy dosage of vitriol. It swings its form around, as if scoping out everyone in the smoothie shop, before seemingly settling on Cynthia and Natalia.
"Wh-what is THAT?!" Cynthia yells, staring at the monster. It doesn't reply, but it does loom over the two of them, dripping raw smoothie all over the floor. Yuck!
no subject
She takes a step back, and finds herself backing into Cynthia. Wh-- what is she doing here? There's a moment.
A spark.
But it's one she can't indulge just now. There's a monster in front of her, and her friends, including Cynthia, behind her. This is no time for freezing.
"MOVE!" Natalia slides under a table, prompting everyone sitting there to pick up their drinks rather than risk them being upset by whatever dumb stunt Natalia's planning.
It's about when she picks up the table by its one leg, to swing it at the monster, that everyone realizes that she's not being a weirdo doofus about this-- or, if she is, she's being a weirdo doofus that's also being a hero. "Out of the shop! Go! I'll catch up!"
no subject
When Natalia bursts into action, bright admiration sparks in Cynthia’s chest for Natalia’s swift, selfless response. Cynthia follows suit, ushering those nearby towards the front door of the smoothie shop. “Everyone out! Hurry! We gotta clear out!”
As her teammates and the other customers flee the scene, Cynthia turns back to Natalia. The thought occurs to her that Natalia seems very ready to stay behind. To fight this smoothie monster. To protect everyone. A hero. Alone.
For reasons Cynthia can’t pinpoint, there’s something impossibly upsetting about that idea.
“Natalia!” Cynthia shouts over the rest of the commotion. Slinging her homework-filled tote bag off her shoulder and into her hands like a cudgel, she moves closer to Natalia and the smoothie scoundrel. “I’ve got your back! What do we do?”
no subject
It's about at this moment that Natalia's self-sacrificing internal monologue is tossed out the window, right along with the rest of her.
It's not many people that can calculate what will happen to them in a split second. It's a similar subset that can maneuver using that information in another split second to maneuver to minimize their injuries as their weapon turns and fouls in their hand.
The subset who can do both and thereby actually minimize the damage that a pane of broken glass and getting tosses ten yards can cause means that Natalia Koutolika is in a very select club. She arrests the spinning of the table just enough that the edge hits first, sending the glass away from her into the empty street.
Well. Most of it. Some superficial cuts. I can still fight. She skids to a halt on her back with the table underneath her, sliding on the broken safety glass.
"If that's the way you wanna play it, sneaky bastard--" She reaches for her phone charm, pulls it off, and tries to close her hand on it.
It resists.
... Shit.
no subject
Well, almost alone.
In her peripheral vision, Cynthia spots two other customers: a mother and young daughter, cowering under a table, trapped in a far corner of the room. The smoothie monster spots them too, and it looms threateningly over them with intent to strike. The mother shields her daughter from the monster, as if her fragile human body could be strong enough to save her child.
The young girl makes eye contact with Cynthia, and time stops.
A voice echoes in Cynthia's mind. It's her own voice, saying something utterly new and yet achingly familiar: Why couldn't I have been strong enough to protect everyone?
The room fills with multicolored, otherworldly light, and Cynthia feels a weight materialize in her hand. She opens her hand to see a phone charm shaped like a cartoon wing. Filled with more resolve than she knew was possible, Cynthia grips the charm tightly and begins to glow.
"Stay away from them!!!"
There's a shift. A surge energy and power - magic - flows through Cynthia, changing her school uniform into a very cute and heroic new outfit. A tasseled, ornamented spear appears in her hand. It's unusually light, but deadly sharp; more than enough to dispatch this monster. Cynthia points her spear at the smoothie scoundrel. "It's over, creep!"
Cynthia is so ready to take this thing down. She is also, however, totally unaware of the lightshow that she just gave half the block. Discretion, who?
no subject
She sees her.
... A heroine. An Angel, shining brightly, golden wings outstretched, confidence beaming, glaive at the ready, clad in blue and black. Was this what it felt like to be saved?
And yet.
And yet it's wrong to leave anyone to die alone. She knows that too well.
And yet, despite every normal instinct telling her to leave it to the Nova Knight who must be Cynthia, to rest, to stop...
Natalia's footsteps continue towards the monster, dogged, glass crunching beneath her feet.
"Natalia, wait--"
"Go."
"But--"
"Go! I will catch up later!"
The team member seems briefly concerned, but keeps moving, herding the woman and her child out of the shop, too.
Natalia nods.
"It might take every inch of power I've left..." She says, stepping up, over, and through the window into the shop. "It might take all the strength I have. But--"
She ducks behind the wall that once held the window, sticks the green-blue planet charm in her mouth. A purplish field of light glimmers inside, protecting Natalia from herself, but preventing her from transforming. "So long as I draw breath...!"
Natalia bites down, until the field shatters, and there is a knight, like spoken of in rumors around some of the recent happenings. Her armor is black, with golden trim, and her eyes and gems are amethyst, and, one more time, she puts up her fists. "You will not shine alone!"
With no further preamble, she strides into the fight.