─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

syd went over and took a seat opposite the table.

"when you said research, i thought you meant... research." syd confessed.

"same." fifi raised her eyebrow, "like... internet research."

"this is way better." he explained.

fifi nodded, still slightly unconvinced.

"okay, so the people who wrote these things." stan started, "do you think they came up with these characters and their powers out of thin air?"

"yes." syd nodded.

"most of them have a creative mind." fifi shrugged.

"or-or-or is it possible that they researched carefully and grounded these superhero abilities in modern science and parapsychology?" stan suggested.

"what..." fifi asked.

"no, it's not possible." syd shook her head, "at all."

"okay. you're right." stan nodded, "the people who wrote these were probably eating acid like candy."

"mmm."

"but the point is, they know superpowers." stan concluded, "okay? so each of these comics features an unknown visitor. a professor, a wise old sage, some form of a mentor figure, you know, who visits the hero, explains their abilities, the mythology behind them, and how they can harness those powers for good."

"i don't think i'm following." fifi admitted.

"what's your point?" syd questioned.

"has anyone like this ever visited you two?" stan quizzed.

"visited?" fifi scoffed.

"okay, totally fine." stan breathed out, "maybe i'll just be your mentor figure."

syd grimaced and fifi could feel a smile creeping on her face.

"or not!" stan retaliated, "i mean, sometimes, it's a rite of passage thing. there's always an origin. okay? so have you experienced any of the following... uh... spider bite?"

"no."

"i don't think so."

"okay." stan flicked through the comics, "radioactive goo?"

"no."

"nope."

"alien gemstones?"

"don't know what that is."

"no."

"okay... what about secret military experiment?" stan investigated.

"no."

fifi thought back to her biological mother and hesitated.

"fifi?" stan asked.

"uh... no."

"bionic limb transplant?" stan continued.

"what?" syd scoffed as fifi laughed.

"okay, what about your parents?" stan quizzed.

"what about them?" syd and fifi asked in sync.

"well, sometimes, a person inherits their abilities." stan explained.

"i mean my mum was elsa before she left us." fifi lied.

"really?" stan's face glowed in wonder and awe.

"what? no stanley." fifi laughed.

"the only thing i inherited was pasty skin and my bubbly personality." syd joked.

"and the thigh zits." stan laughed causing her smile to drop, "oh, too soon. i thought those were fair game. sorry."

fifi raised her brow in confusion but shrugged it off.

"God, this is a waste of time." syd groaned as she got up.

"okay. look, all right." stan stopped her, causing fifi to turn and face them, "all right. okay, look. i'm the first to call out how shitty this town is. and my life, it ain't great, syd."

"yeah, i noticed." syd stated.

"syd!" fifi hissed.

"okay, but-but you two have something special. and you're here right now because you wanna try to understand it." stanley said to her, "and that's a big first step, okay? and i know this because i am your mentor figure."

"self appointed." fifi pointed out.

"yeah, yeah." stan smiled at her.

"okay, mr. miyagi, then, tell me, what's the second step?"

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

with a grin on her face, fifi placed in 'stan's ledgendary mix' into the stereo as he requested.

montage begins:

"focus, syd." stan instructed as him and syd stood in front of a lane, "i want you to knock down those pins with your mind."

syd stared at them intently and attempted to focus while fifi attempted to cartwheel behind them.

stan turned to face her as she successfully did the trick, "whoop, whoop."

she bowed and grinned, "thank you."

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

"go on, fifi," stan gestured to the single bowling ball on the floor, "freeze it."

with a shrug, she put her arms out and closed her eyes. she felt her energy being used up and particles of ice made their way around the ball. the ice turned into a vast amount of vapour as it surrounded the ball and froze it.

"awesome!" stan grinned before high-fiving the girl.

he quickly moved his hand away and winced.

"you okay?" fifi asked.

"your hands were still cold."

"i didn't ask you to high five me?"

"anyone with common sense would know her hands would still be cold." syd pointed out.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

"okay." stan sat beside his new can bottle mountain, "knock 'em over."

syd stood in front of it and gazed at the tower, she turned around and saw fifi dancing about to the music.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

"what else can you do?" syd asked as she and stan stood in front of the dark-skinned girl.

"i don't know to be honest." fifi shrugged, "but i can do this."

she held her hands together and squeezed them tight. when she separated them, a snowball was formed.

"woah-" stan stopped when she threw it at him. the ball of sleet crushed at the impact of his body and the small bits turned into nothing.

"that is much better." syd smiled before another ball was conjured up and thrown at her.

"it's not a snowball fight if only one person has the snow." stan huffed.

"every man for himself."

"or woman for herself." syd added.

"right, sorry."

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

"i want you to make the kernels pop, okay?" stan ordered as him and syd stood in front of the alley's popcorn machine, "come on. i want hear 'em pop!"

"pop, pop." fifi echoed.

when absolutely nothing happened, stan stood up straight in frustration and sighed.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

montage over.

syd and stan sat opposite each other, leaning on the bowling machine as fifi rested in the ground, next to stan.

"okay. so how does it normally happen?" stan spoke up, "like, after ricky's party? like, what-what was your mindset?"

"i didn't have a mindset."

"something has to have channeled your abilities." fifi stated.

stan nodded, "okay, but were you just having fun, and then you just blew down some trees, or..."

"i think she looked quite angry." fifi voiced her opinion.

"i, um... kinda... kissed someone at the party." syd confessed.

fifi slowly sat up and turned to syd's back, "you what?"

"yeah." syd sighed.

"right, so... this person you kissed, and i'm not gonna ask who, because i'm above it and i don't care." stan grimaced at his words, "i'm not even the least bit jealous."

"stan come on." fifi half-smiled as she nudged him, "you are totally jealous."

"i am not jelaous at all." stan repeated, "just tell me... does he dress cooler than me?"

the two girls laughed at his question, causing stanley to join in.

syd smiled, "no one can dress cooler than you, stan."

"that's true."

"not even me?" fifi inquired.

"not even you." stan told her.

"i actually... kissed someone who... didn't wanna be kissed." syd continued, "and i felt like an idiot. it almost always comes out when i'm angry like fifi said. or embarrassed. or-or scared."

"okay." stan stood up and pulled fifi up with him, " come on."

syd got herself up and stood opposite the two.

"i think i know why they didn't kiss you back." stan crossed his arms with a smirk.

"you do?" fifi looked up at him.

"yeah." stan nodded, "it's because syd is incredibly ugly."

"what?" fifi's face crumbled in shock as syd grinned.

"repulsive, actually." stan continued, "and i'm not even counting the zits."

"you know, i-i see what you're doing, stan." syd chuckled.

"ohhh." fifi finally caught on.

"and you wanna know something that's even more embarrassing than being ugly?" stan asked, "flunking biology and health. which you are most definitely gonna do. i mean, martin ganza passed biology and he thinks cyborgs staged the moon landing."

"in his defence, you think jellyfish are going to take over the world." fifi pointed out, remembering what he once told her when he was driving her home.

"and they are!" stan defended himself.

fifi shook her head and turned to syd, "jason sommers passed health and he swears he was in the womb for 11 months and still came out premature."

syd sighed, "okay, so i'm ugly. i'm dumb. wait, is that all you got?"

"do you wanna know the scary thing? you're never gonna figure this out. you'll never know what the hell's going on inside you." stan explained.

syd turned to fifi who was nodding at stan's every word causing her smile to drop.

"or what the hell's wrong with you. and that's gonna eat you up inside." stan rambled, "you'll never have answers, and that's gonna haunt you for as long as you live. and that's gonna suck. yeah, it will."

him and fifi noticed one of the bowling balls behind syd began rotating.

"but nothing will ever suck as much as your shitty family." stan explained with no remorse.

"wait stan, don't." fifi shook her head as stan dug himself a deeper hole.

stanley was too mesmerised by the floating bowling balls behind syd, he decided to ignore her.

"for starters, let's talk about your dad. i hear he didn't even leave a note."

"which is fine." fifi tried to intervene.

"and do you wanna know something?" stan asked, "you'll never know why he killed himself."

the two heavy balls launched themselves in between the duo, flew past them and slammed into a wall.

"holy shit!" stan grinned as he raised his hands to high-five her, "that was awesome!"

"fuck you!" syd shoved him.

"what?" fifi quizzed.

"s- what? syd, i-i didn't mean any of that!" stan struggled with his words, "i just- i was just trying- i mean, it worked."

"i could've killed you two!" syd yelled.

"yeah, you definatley could have, but-" fifi started.

"we're through." syd shook her head, "i'm done."

"what? no, i-" stan muttered before syd slammed the door shut.

"great." fif groaned, "one of my only friends is mad at me. nice goin stan."

"fifi, i-i'm so sorry."

"stan this thing syd has inside her isn't a joke." fifi explained, "the school bit was okay, but-but you pushed too far stan."

stan had nothing to say so fifi made her way towards the door.

"wait-" stan ran over to her and took her hand, "i-"

the two stood there in that position before fifi pulled her hand away and walked off.

stan sighed, "nice going bud. now i gotta clean this up."

⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
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