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Collab between [@BCTheEntity] and [@Old Amsterdam]
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About a week had passed since the interrogation of Love Craft and its shocking end. Since then, the city had been surprisingly quiet, with seemingly little crime going around. Even so, Alessa had been engaging in patrols of various areas whenever she had the spare time, and right now was just soaking in the heat of the active fireplace in her room. Meditating, of course, as was standard for her, but in the midst of her trance, she felt at peace. Moreso than she had for a while, in fact. Not wanting to ruin that, she let her mind drift again, allowing her brain to move through the various states involved in it.

Further wandering through the Halls, Lillian found herself outside a door. Heat was coming from the other side, likely the instinct that had driven her here to begin with. Having already gotten to meet that guy Ruben, and the funky interaction him and Evelyn had shared, she didn't see the harm in one more before her bedtime came into effect. Raising a hand, she knocked gently on the door.

Aaaand there went her trance. Gah, Alessa really had needed the self-introspection. She hadn't been feeling quite herself... but, whoever this was, she assumed their needs would outweigh her own. Stepping out of the flames, she walked to the door and opened it up, revealing none other than the newest member of the Wards.

'Oh, hey there!' Alessa began, a tad more cheerily than she felt at that precise moment. 'Lillian, right? I don't think I've had a chance to chat with you alone yet, but... well, I'm the current leader of the Wards, Alessa, as you've been told. What can I help you with?'

Lillian visibly brightened as the door opened. "[Color=pink]I'm sorry to bother you. I didn't even realize where I was going. I just...I guess I'm bored and it's so cold around here and.. Well, I suppose I was looking for company. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?[/color]" She rambled off, glowing a little red.

Alessa had meant to chastise the younger girl, since she had in fact interrupted something... but... she couldn't really, not when Lillian just wanted company.

'Of course not, Lily,' Alessa confirmed. 'Please, do come in. And mind the fire, okay?' Once Lily had come in and the door was closed, the heat-absorber asked 'So what's on your mind, then? Anything major, or do you just want to chat?'

Lillian twisted her hands a little. "[Color=pink] Something is always on my mind... But I don't like thinking about it. The therapist says I should talk about it, but...[/color]" she looked nervously at Alessa. "[Color=pink] I guess I'm just trying to not think about...it.[/color]"

Without realizing it, Lillian was slowly gravitating towards the fire as she paced anxiously. "[Color=pink] I want to be a good hero, like you.[/color]"

'Mind the fire,' Alessa reminded her, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving any closer to it. Alessa was immune to heat; Lillian, she knew, was not, despite her affinity for it. But, if she wanted somebody to talk to about that event...

'Listen, Lily,' she soothed. 'You can definitely be a good hero. You're already halfway there just by being a good person, you know that? And that'd be true even if you didn't have your powers, so don't let that stop you. Besides, you're still with us, aren't you? If there's anything to be thankful for, it's that.'

Lillian nodded, letting herself be steered away from the fire. "[Color=pink] Sorry... I don't realize it when I do that. I just get cold and the heat...[/color]" She let out a sigh. "[Color=pink] I mean, I'm happy cause everything is better, but... It's still there. I'm still scared. And I'm not pretty like you, or confident half the time. I just, I'm great half the time and the rest I'm not. And you're amazing. I've heard about your patrols, and sure nothing is going on right now really, but you still do amazing. But how useful am I going to be? I just am normal except for when I go RAWRRRR.[/color]"

She plopped down on the floor near the fire, almost arms reach away, with tears in her eyes. "[Color=pink] I just want to be good enough for once. [/Color]"

[i]...huh. Does she really think I'm pretty...?[/i] Alessa asked herself. She wasn't one for vanity, and fully acknowledged her general plainness when asked... but the compliment was nice. Not such much the rest of Lily's speech, though. Especially not when she started crying.

'Lily...' Alessa sat down next to the girl, pulling her into a hug warmed by her power. 'You ARE good enough, Lily. Surely you know that, right? Otherwise, why would you be in the Wards? Everyone has to be good at being a hero, so that means you're definitely good at being heroic. You, uh...' For a moment, Alessa paused, not sure where to go next and fairly certain generic platitudes wouldn't actually suffice, but thought back to what Lillian had said for inspiration.

'Do you want to know something?' Alessa asked. 'Sometimes, I get scared and lose confidence too. Sometimes, I think I'm not good enough, that maybe what I'm doing isn't enough to help, even though I go out on patrols regularly. And you know what? It's okay to feel like that,' she explained, 'because once you get past it, you feel better for knowing that you were wrong about not being good enough. Besides, you can turn into a [i]dinosaur![/i] How is that not an AWESOME power to have?' And really, it was a pretty amazing ability, one that made things quite a bit better for the Wards considering. Since Dean had left, they'd needed a new member to handle up front combat.

Lillian practically curled into Alessa, the tears flowing a little more freely now that her face was hidden. She let out a stifled giggle at the mention of her powers being awesome, and she drew in a shaky breath. Holding Alessa Lillian sat there and let her emotions finally release after nearly a week. A week of struggling with these new powers, of fighting the dark thoughts inside of her mind.

She nuzzled a little closer, taking a shaky breath. "[Color=pink] I know, I know. It's just... Hard. So hard. It's a big adjustment from all the darkness I've been in and I worry about everything. I'm a mess. I'm sorry...[/color]"

Alessa rubbed Lily's back as she cried, smiling just a little as the girl opened up to her. 'It's alright to open up sometimes,' she said softly. 'And I understand that what you're going through is hard. That's how it is with any Parahuman, I think, they've got to experience hard times, and that... it sucks, for a lot of them, but they come out the other side better for it, right?'

"[Color=pink] You really think so?[/color] Lillian sniffed quietly, looking up with hopeful eyes. "[Color=pink] I mean with all that. That I'm good enough and the dinosaur thing is awesome and that it gets better? [/Color]"

'Yeah, for sure!' Alessa confirmed. 'I'll be honest, the event that gave me my powers was... awful. But it absolutely gets better. You just have to give it time. And really, your powers are great. I don't know a lot of other people who could turn into a T-Rex, after all, or many people who could handle fighting one. It's a great ability to have.'

Lillian smiled wide, wiping at the tears. "[Color=pink] Thank you, Alessa. That really means a lot to me, [/Color]" she said with a yawn. "[Color=pink] It's warm in here...[/color]" she added, looking around idly before becoming fixated on the fire. "[Color=] Can... Can we keep talking? It's really nice. But I don't know what to talk about and I don't want to be a burden. [/Color]"

Noting her fixation on the fire, Alessa cuddled Lillian just a bit more tightly, increasing her heat output to what she hoped was around "cozy dryer-warmed blanket" levels to distract the younger girl. 'Well, I guess let's talk about what we're interested in. I usually meditate, or practice my martial arts, just in case I need them. What do you like to do in your free time?'

Lillian redirected her attention to Alessa as she started outputting more heat, unconsciously snuggling closer. "[Color=pink] I like gymnastics. Stretching is kinda like meditation, I guess? And music is nice, usually. Not stuff like rap because that's violent sounding and rude and it's like yelling. I don't like yelling,[/color]" she replied, making a face at the mention of her dislikes. "[Color=pink] I don't really know much about fighting and meditation.[/color]" she yawned again, growing quieter as she talked. "[Color=pink] But I like you. You're nice. [/Color]"

'Aw, thank you,' Alessa smiled. 'You know what? I like you very much too. I'm no expert in martial arts, but I'd say stretching and exercise is an important part of doing martial arts and gymnastics alike. So what music do you like, then? Classical, pop, jazz?'

"[Color=pink] Classical is nice, but I really like rock. It's got soul to it. And...[/color]" she looked away briefly. "[Color=pink]I like electronic stuff. Because it goes RAWR like I do. I didn't like that stuff until I got my powers, though... What about you, Alessa? [/Color]" Lillian asked quietly.

'You mean what music I like? Well... if I had to pick,' she pondered, 'I guess I'd have to go with... I'm not sure exactly what it'd be called, but the sort of dramatic, orchestral music style you get at the end of some games, when you're fighting the final boss. Singing choirs and a tense atmosphere and stuff, you know what I mean?'

Lillian nodded. "[Color=pink] I call it Epic Music, because it sounds Epic. I like... Oh, I can't remember the name. Skyhooks or Skyhold or something like that. I think you'd like them...[/color]" her voice drifted off towards the end. "[Color=pink] Can... Can you tell me a story? [/Color]" Lillian asked hesitantly.

'Hmm... I don't know many stories, so I might have to make one up on the fly,' Alessa confessed. 'Is there a particular type of story you wanted to hear about?'

"[Color=pink] Not really. Just something nice. [/Color]" Lillian replied softly.

'Well, okay.' Thinking for a moment, Alessa came up with the beginnings of a story in her mind, and began to speak:

'Once upon a time, there was a great pirate by the name of Roger... uh, Roger the Golden, so called because of the vast quantity of treasure he had accumulated throughout his life, from various... hang on, I need to restart. He was a [i]space[/i] pirate, so the treasures he gathered were from a great number of planets, with lots of different shapes and...- uh.'

Apparently, she was worse at storytelling than she'd thought. Lillian was already asleep, gently snoozing against Alessa's shoulder. Or maybe she was just tired... either way, it'd hardly be fair of Alessa to leave her outside after she'd fallen asleep. Hoisting the girl up in her arms - a harder task than she'd expected, since at the end of the day, they were only separated by two years - Alessa carried Lily over to her bed, laying her on one side of the bed, and then laying down on the other side herself, hoisting the covers over both of them. She hoped that didn't look too awkward...

But, if she exuded just a bit of heat, she imagined most of it would get trapped under the covers for the majority of the night, keeping them both relatively warm whilst they were asleep. And she supposed she was starting to get a bit sleepy, herself... maybe she'd just snuggle up to Lillian, and close her eyes for a bit...