Heroes of Silvatica City

Caoimhe didn't quite know how to approach this situation. Should she be cordial or even nice to someone who was clearly an asshole? Or should she stand firm? Her old self might have been nice in order to appeal to reason, but she figured Huxley might just manipulate her. "I guess you was weak if none of ya could overpower Golem," she surmised. "So if you ain't gonna be good to Will, then I can easily keep all of ya down."

Caoimhe narrowed her eyes and strengthened her own aura too. She wasn't here for a fight, she'd just had her first kiss and admitted her feelings for Will but this Huxley had come along and ruined it. And why didn't Huxley have a Russian accent anyway. "I'd rather not," she admitted. At the same time, she was invisibly reaching out and took hold of Will's aura beneath all the others, which she could sense more clearly now.

Caoimhe's eyes widened. So he wasn't lying. Huxley, and the others seemingly, did have unique abilities unlike Golem's. This paralysis was deeply unpleasant. She tried to counter it by keeping her aura flowing around her body, but it didn't work. She gasped when she was released from it, trembling and in cold sweats. Despite that, she stumbled over to Will and wrapped her arms around him, helping him to sit down on her bed. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

Caoimhe's eyes watered slightly. "Will... You got other personalities," she said. "One of 'em came out 'n he... He was horrible." She put her hands on his shoulders. "I don't know what the others're like but they all wanna come out 'n they don't like ya."

Caoimhe truly loved Will, but it was hard sometimes. They had tied the knot a few years ago, at a small ceremony with just their hero friends and Ire. Neither of them had any family that would come to wish them well. Since then, their life had been peaceful despite Will's personalities. They ran a plant nursery in the small town, and were quite popular. It was never enough work to make Will stressed, but more than enough to live by. Caoimhe found herself escaping to the greenhouses often, and she was doing so now. Last night, Huxley had popped up mid-coitus and totally ruined it. Caoimhe had managed to get him off of her, thankfully he didn't seem to harbour that sort of ill-will towards her, but he'd not let her sleep after that. She got along well enough with Will's other sides, even Huxley was manageable, but... When they came along in situations like that, Caoimhe couldn't help feeling violated.

Aaliyah had to do a lot of soul searching before she agreed to return to Earth. Keeping the baby was not a difficult decision, it felt like the natural progression of their relationship and anyway, she'd kind of wanted a child to raise with all the love she missed out on. Returning to Earth was indeed the best option, she conceded. Anyway, the bounty hunters were growing old and disbanding too. The trio were living on a planet inhabited only by the fluffiest animals, serving as its protection in case poachers visited. Varian had passed a few years earlier, saying he would be seeing his wife and child finally. N-N had become part of a planet sized AI, doing whatever it was she did. She seemed happy about it. Dominique was returning to her world with Jennifer, while Kyun and Corlock had formed some kind of school on Betelgeuse Lot to teach martial arts. Aaliyah would miss Dominique and Kyun most, who were like a mother and sister to her respectively. They both asked for baby pictures once it arrived, and said their teary goodbyes on the day Daniel and Aaliyah returned to Earth.

With her collar, Tenpo was no longer a killing machine, and her beautiful singer had made her world famous. She toured quite a lot when she was younger, but for the moment she was settled at home with Zeke, and held singing classes at Ica and Squishy's school in her spare time. She could never have imagined her life would be so happy, but she and Zeke were so in love. Their wedding had been beautiful - and well documented in the press - and they had lived in blissful matrimony for years. Tenpo was starting to feel like they should move on to the next step in their relationship, blissfully unaware that Zeke was having some troubles...

"Eric hasn't turned up all week," Squishy was saying to Ica as he looked over the registers. "I suppose he's been snapped up too. It was a real shame that Eric had been swayed, and rather worrying too, as he was a powerful and slightly unstable young man. Squishy put its elbows on the table and held its head in its hands. "I don't know what to do anymore, Ica. What are we doing wrong?"

Ire went through assistants like she did underwear, as she had a hugely busy schedule and her assistants would often get too flustered and leave. Sometimes they left because Ire could sometimes be very grating to work with. This newest assistant was an older lady, and she was starting to feel the strain so she'd hired an intern to assist her. An assistant for an assistant... On this day, it was the assistant's assistant who came at Ire's call, looking sheepish and shy. Ire had not actually seen her before, though she knew about her. This assistant's assistant was clearly quite young, and of shapely proportions. "I'm sorry, ma'am, Vera hasn't shown up for work yet," she mumbled, looking down at her feet. Vera had actually quit, but her assistant was too nervous to admit it.

Caoimhe did want space sometimes, but most of the time she just wanted his support. This was definitely harder on him than on her, she knew that, but on occasions such as this she needed him with her, comforting her. He rarely did that, these days. He was becoming a recluse right beside her. Caoimhe sighed with all these thoughts weighing her down, and continued watering the plants. It was a beautiful early morning, and she'd just opened the nursery to the public. They were expecting a lot of shoppers today.

Aaliyah was about six months along with a medium sized bump, looking pregnant but not yet being weighed down by it, as she'd wanted to stay with her alien family as long as possible before her bump became a burden. Though flying through space with morning sickness was a real bitch. She put her hand over Daniel's and sighed in content. "Yeah, I remember," she said. "Ya reckon they do spicy pizza?" She was already getting cravings like mad and wanted something super spicy. Sadly with Varian no longer being around, she wasn't able to eat the spicy invigorating battle broth he always used to make anymore.

The next candidate could come in was oddly quiet, but Zeke couldn't figure out why for a few moments. In drifted a pretty young woman, with golden hair and a naturally glowing complexion. "Good morning," she greeted, reaching across to shake Zeke's hand. "My name is Celeste." Strange, normally when Zeke shook hands he could most clearly hear another's thoughts. But Celeste's mind was completely silent...

Squishy looked up at Ica and smiled dorkishly. It was usually cool and suave, but occasionally Ica did things that reduced it to a simpleton. "You're right of course," it said, standing up and putting its arms around Ica. "You're always right. Perhaps it's time to reunite the hero squad and go villain hunting."

The girl fumbled with her hands and mumbled, "m-my name's... Honey." She seemed reluctant to say it, and it certainly was a silly name for someone in this world. She looked entirely too soft and sweet to be working here, despite attempting to be sensible in a blouse and skirt, and her blonde hair tied up in a bun. Her plump face was speckled with freckles and framed by giant circle glasses, and she was blushing hard now.

Caoimhe didn't mind that Will did all the work out the back, in fact they'd agreed on that arrangement. He did the heavy lifting and the mental stuff, while she took care of the plants and did all the selling. She went to the stall where the selling took place and took her seat, sipping some tea and waiting for the first customers or browsers to arrive.

"Hmm... Jalapenos," she said. She hadn't been interested in spicy food back on Earth so she wasn't too familiar with what was spicy there, but she knew a couple of things. "Or green chillies. And maybe... Pickles as well." Even Aaliyah knew that pickles were the most typical craving, but thinking about spicy chillies also made her crave for pickles. Her stomach grumbled loudly and she giggled. "Oops. It's not much farther is it?"

Celeste took his pause to mean that he was taken aback by her appearance, which was something she was actually used to. She sat down neatly and spoke a little about herself. "Well, I graduated with a first class degree in psychology," she said. "It's been my ambition to help people in need all my life, and I think being a psychologist is one way to do that. So I hope that by assisting you here, I can gain real world experience in the profession that will hopefully help me going forward." Her mind wasn't saying anything to contradict that, in fact it wasn't saying anything at all.

Squishy smiled sadly. "Well, Tenpo is working here today so we can ask her. She might help us out the one time, but maybe not with her being a celebrity now. Kiki could help. Will... I doubt it. What if we put out a call into space to bring Daniel and Aaliyah back? I wouldn't know how to do that though, so we'll have to ask Morella."

Honey cringed a little, but then clicked her heals together and stood up straight. Her blouse strained a bit around her bust. "Yes ma'am," she said, nodding. Alright, this was her chance! She could prove herself and get into an interesting job. So long as Ire didn't fire her for her appearance, which had happened more than once before.

Seeing as this was a plant nursery that was outside, Caoimhe didn't notice the lights going out. It was the cackle that caught her attention, and she just sighed. This one of Will's was definitely the most similar to good ol' Golem, who she missed terribly. In that sense, he was also easy enough to deal with. She kept her cup of tea in her hands and got up to go and see what the fuss was now.

Aaliyah gave Daniel a quick kiss, and then leaned back in her seat as the turbulence hit. She was excited to see her friends again.

Celeste smiled warmly. "I'd be honoured," she said. She was a little disappointed that the interview had been so short and, frankly, unprofessional, but she was hiding the fact that she desperately needed this job. She and her wife weren't doing so well financially at the moment, though that wasn't worth mentioning. Perhaps she should ask some questions of her own. "Why is it that you help people?" she asked.

Squishy turned its head and kissed Ica on the mouth instead, before spinning her around and doing a mini dance with her. "You are perfect," it told her. "Now, let's go welcome our students to a new day."

After working for Ire's proper assistant for a little while, Honey was familiar with the jargon that the people here used and remembered the important things she needed to remember. She was there with Ire all the while, reminding her of the itinerary and informing her of any new people they were meeting. She also made a damn good cup of coffee. Of course, she was exhausted, and her neatly tied bun had let loose a few strands of hair by the end of the day. But her eyes betrayed how excited she was by the whole thing.

Oh dear, this could cause problems for them, but unfortunately it had happened before. "Is that Leroy in there?" Caoimhe asked, knocking on the door. "Leroy, honey, can I come in?" She knew this one could be violent and psychotic, but she found that speaking to him like he was a normal human being was enough to pacify him somewhat. She waited a few seconds and then let herself in.

"I can't wait to see him again," Aaliyah admitted, rubbing her bump to calm her nausea from the turbulence. "Hey, you're gonna meet grampy soon. You're gonna meet your grampy. Oh, you're excited to meet him aren't you?" Aaliyah giggled and cooed to her bump, feeling baby do a dance when she spoke to him. "Do you think he'll like the name we've chosen?" she asked Daniel now.

"S.H.A.D.E.?" Celeste asked, tilting her head. "Oh, yes, the government agency with... Yes." She was about to say 'the government agency with the child soldiers', because that was how they'd been painted by some media outlets, but she stopped before she said something so dark. "Quite a change in career path," she decided to say. Maybe he'd ask her more questions now.

Squishy squinted out the window when he heard the ship. "Ugh, the radar didn't pick it up," it said in irritation. "Must be the pigeons again. Come on, let's go and have a look." It didn't go to grab a weapon in case the alien was hostile, but it was always ready for a fight if need be. But the ship had passed by and was heading for S.H.A.D.E. instead. All the students had gathered outside to watch it fly overhead.

Honey was sitting down at her desk now, and could barely lift her arms to file the last of the paperwork away. She wasn't terribly unfit, but it had been such a hectic day. She felt it was okay for her to undo her hair from the painful bun, and she let her long, beautifully thick locks fall. "Oh, thank you ma'am," she said with a tired smile. "But I couldn't. I'm, uh... On a diet..." She trailed off. Whenever she told people about her diet, they tended to doubt her, or patronisingly encourage her.

Caoimhe took a deep, calming breath, and quietly made her presence known by clearing her throat. "Leroy, honey? Can I come in?" she asked, still standing in the doorway. They didn't need another mental breakdown on his behalf, and even though she could deal with him, she didn't fancy being electrocuted by him.

[Can you make up your mind about Daniel's parentage.] As Tenpo had been teaching at school that day, she was there to greet Aaliyah and Daniel too. Ooh a baby bump! Tenpo clapped her hands and ran to give Aaliyah a hug. "Hi! I'm so happy to see you. And a baby!" Tenpo said happily. Aaliyah was taken aback that Tenpo could talk, but readily hugged her back. "Glad to see everyone. Oh, where's Zeke? 'N Kiki 'n Will?" she asked. Squishy approached and looked at Aaliyah's bump intently. "William and Caoimhe live outside the city now," it said. "And Zeke's at work," Tenpo added. "We should all have a meet up again!" Aaliyah liked the sound of that, but first they had to see Daniel's dad.

Celeste's eyes sparkled and she smiled in amusement. "Let me make a show of poor etiquette and answer your question with another question: what hours are you looking for?" she asked. Things were clearly working out between them professionally.

Honey was beginning to look uncomfortable and she shuffled backwards a bit. "Really, thank you," she mumbled, going to grab her bag. "But I'm pretty tired and I have to feed my... Cat. Thank you, though, it means a lot. Thank you, ma'am." There seemed to be a commotion outside, which might be the perfect opportunity for Honey to leave. Ire wouldn't need admin support if there was a skirmish.

Caoimhe held her hands up and back away from the door slightly. "Whatever ya like," she said passively. "Just tell me where ya goin' first, pls." Leroy always talked about 'it' coming but never elaborated on what it was. It also, seemingly, never arrived.

The others obviously didn't stop the two of them from going to Daniel's father's place, but only after Ire got to greet them and their bump first. Then they headed over to pops' place. Aaliyah was giddy with excitement to meet her human father-figure after so many years.

"I can work whatever hours you do," Celeste said. "I can also arrive earlier and leave later if need be. My schedule is as flexible as you need it to be." She seemed so enthusiastic, but her mind was still completely blank.

Honey felt like that was a jab, but she still smiled at Ire as she left. Had she annoyed the boss by refusing dinner? It seemed inappropriate to go out eating with someone so important as Ire, especially on technically her first day of the job. But now she'd gotten into her bad books. Sighing, Honey finished packing her bags and left to go to the gym. She'd caved and eaten sugary cereal for breakfast and she had to work off the calories and guilt.

Ugh, so much for opening the shop early in preparation for a busy day. "C'mon, I'll take ya to a place," Caoimhe offered, gesturing for Leroy to follow. There was a wide open field just half a mile down the road, which Leroy had used before to let off steam. Caoimhe would have to keep an eye on him though, which meant shutting the shop and losing valuable patronage. Leroy was probably the most expensive of Will's personas in that sense.

Honey was definitely going to a different gym to Ire, as she didn't make nearly as much money and lived in a different neighbourhood too. She did her reps, prioritising cardio and then adding some yoga to the end for flexibility, before she could no longer take the jeers and went home. Her cat really didn't need feeding, as it was as 'fluffy' as she was.

Aaliyah was already watery eyed as she watched Daniel and Walter's oh so tender reunion, but she was blinded by tears at Walter's reaction to the bump, which she angled to the side so they could have a proper hug. "Hi," she greeted him warmly, putting her head on his shoulder despite being tall than him now that age was making him stoop. "Walt, meet your grandson... Daniel Junior." Aaliyah couldn't fathom naming her son anything else.

"I miss Caoimhe, too," Squishy agreed. "Do you think they will have their phones turned on this time?"

"More than satisfactory," replied Celeste, standing too and shaking his hand. "Thank you so much, I promise to do my best."