ximilia | TEXT. @PARKOUR

hey, so, full disclosure: this is super weird for me. i've never done this before. like, classically when i tell people bad stuff happens so i sorta don't tell anyone, but uh, here goes:

so i've got... superpowers. it feels like?? that's not that big a deal around here. some people are like 9 ft tall and can do magic (???) and have full robotic wings so it's just nbd but also for me it kinda is a big deal so it's a little scary to be upfront about this but i super duper did just liveblog my spider wall-crawling to the entire team during the last mission pandora's box is way open so yeah i have superpowers

( and apparently he's no better at trying to send brain messages, RIP friendos, his brain is just Like This )

but anyway, uh... since there are a lot of us, maybe if you wanna, we can... share??? nothing more than you are comfortable with, obviously, and trust me if you wanna hang back and stay quiet i get it. back home, i can't share this stuff. it gets people hurt. i was just thinking here, maybe... and since there's a ton of you like me or not even like me but different too, i don't know. maybe it'd be good for us to know who can do what? what we're all capable of? things we should look out for?

i guess i should go first. i, uh... can crawl on walls. everybody saw that (SIDEBAR that is my bad for that shaky camera work if i gave you motion sickness i am so so so sorry). i'm pretty strong too. and maybe be careful trying to touch me or throw things at me bc my senses make me react if it seems like a threat and i'm not super good at turning it off. i'm trying though. i have webslingers too, for flyin around?? so that's cool

uh... that's it? ama? i'll try and answer... or you can tell me anything, if you wanna talk shop. if you wanna keep things dl, private works. trust that i get it, this feels so viscerally uncomfortable, like those went to school in ur underwear dreams, only i really did it, holy snickerdoodle, i really hope this does not blow up in my face

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i suppose that makes sense

[ surprisingly; it's not so different than the distinction between grisha's small science and genuine magic, in concept. not pictured: alina staring at her hands like "wait do i have superpowers." ]

were you born like this?
is that rude to ask
sorry. you don't have to answer if you don't want to.

i mean you can't take back an ama

( that shit is ironclad. set in stone. unbreakable. )

but no it's ok. it's weird to talk about but i started it, right? so
no, i wasn't born like this. it happened when i was 17
and um speaking of not wanting to talk about stuff maybe i won't say how it happened? just bc... i know it sounds crazy, but in the wrong hands the information could be really bad. i've already seen it happen and yeah probably it's paranoid but i'd rather be paranoid than careless

no, but you could conveniently turn off your earpiece and forget to answer me
i wouldn't blame you

[ "conveniently". never mind that she has no idea what an AMA is, and no desire to make herself sound ignorant as a result. ]

don't explain it, then. it's safer for all of us
i know what cruelties kings and countries will commit to get their hands on power
even at the cost of someone else

i'll just have to come up with my own story for you
you offended baba yaga and she cursed your existence 🕷️
i'm sorry, but you really should have known not to insult old crones

i mean, sure, but i feel like this is an opportunity i probably won't have once i go back home. maybe it'll be good to talk about this stuff. idk. ask me again in a couple missions

i guess we've all seen it. recently.

( Cheri had been manipulated by the orb, the thrill of power. she'd managed to step back from it, when it mattered most. not everyone was that strong, turns out. )

i'm not 100% on what a baby yaga is but i really am not known for insulting old ladies
but maybe. maybe it was that. maybe that's why i don't insult old ladies anymore.

that's true. i'm sorry it can't be the same for you at home. it sounds unbearably lonely.
are you the only one of your kind, or are there others?

i suppose so. but there are worse monsters than even cheri.
where i'm from, being different means being feared. and you know how people react when they're afraid.

[ violently. but expounding on that is uncomfortable terrain, for alina to explore. too out in the open, too available on the network for everyone to hear. ]

she's an old crone who lives in a hut made from chicken legs and eats misbehaving children for supper. 🐔
those are the stories i was told as a child, anyway, when i wouldn't eat my herring.
you must have terrible manners to be menacing your elders like that.

mostly just me. there's a couple other people with powers but they use them to... idk turn all of midtown into lizards? so yeah we don't talk that much. esp since he's at ravencroft now

i guess i've been lucky on that front. people weren't ever scared of me. they knew i wanted to help, i guess. but i can get how it'd be easy to be afraid of something you can't understand. people doing what you think they shouldn't be able to.

my aunt definitely raised me better than that, so really i deserved it.
shouldn't i have like, chicken powers then
🐓

i can't say i expected you to say that bit about turning people into lizards
ti'shaaz collective had a lot of scrolls about curses. mostly hexing people into toads, though
was it something like that?

sounds like your world is kinder than mine, in that case
i've heard of plenty of saints that were killed because of their gifts, even when they used them for good

who's to say you don't have chicken powers?
maybe you're secretly holding back on me
remind me not to let you into the sunlight room or you'll start crowing at dawn

it was experimental gene therapy that involved cross species splicing. gotta say the threat would have been a little easier to manage of half the city turned into frogs.

i've definitely had some threats murder but it was less because i had powers and more because i was choosing to get in the way. maybe it'd have been worse if people knew who i was behind the suit, could pin down what made me like this.

you got me, in the early light i turn into foghorn leghorn. it kills me because i can just vibe that you won't get the reference

[ experimental gene therapy. cross species slicing. the gears in alina's mind grind, trying to decipher those strange phrases as though they're an ancient text. with ravka's industry built on such a shaky, outdated foundation — it's inevitable, that all she manages to translate is: ??????

rather than appear as ignorant as she is, ] imagine all of the frogs you might have had to kiss to turn them back, though.

i suppose the anonymity must help, but i'm sure people still have expectations about what you are and what they want you to be.

no i get it [ ........ ] okay i don't get it. what does a foghorn have to do with chickens?

haha think that only works if you're a princess??? we'd have had to get used to a high frog population in the city i think

i mean, sure. but they can't exactly call me up and guilt trip me about it if they don't know who i am. there are news paper articles and the occasional scathing critic on the news but usually it doesn't feel personal enough to bother me

he's a giant chicken with a southern accent. from a cartoon, to clarify. my reality doesn't have giant chickens that can talk for real. i wish though

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