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[color=ffdf46][h1][b]A U R O R A  Z H A N G[/b][/h1][/color]
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[COLOR=ffdf46][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]Z H A N G   R E S I D E N C E[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][indent][sup][color=silver]Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 - 5:26 AM[/color][/sup][/indent]
If ever there was a testament to the breadth, depth, and height of a father's love, Rory thought it would be this: waking up in the buttcrack of dawn after two consecutive all-nighters to join your daughter in her weird photosynthesis thing. She and her dad were up on the rooftop, sat huddled under a warm duvet and testing the fortitude of the deck they built over the past three weekends. Their TV had been on nonstop HGTV all day, every day, as though that would help them absorb all the DIY tips they needed and magically turn her dads—the least handy people she knew—into proper carpenters. Spoiler alert: it didn't. The wooden platform and its railing were rickety and unpolished, a mishmash of recycled planks and an accident waiting to happen. 

Rory wouldn't have it any other way.

Her eyes flicked up to her dad as his hand moved to stifle a yawn. The dawn light shone on the purple under his eye, casting deeper shadows that perfectly reflected his sleep-deprived state. Rory knocked her head against his shoulder and smiled. [color=ffdf46]"Thanks for doing this with me."[/color]

[color=fffbe5]"Are you kidding?"[/color] Xian tousled her hair affectionately. [color=fffbe5]"Do you know how lonely I've been since you started sleeping early like a normal person? I'm getting as much Rory-time as I can."[/color]

Rory laughed. Her body underwent a lot of changes when her powers manifested, but nothing more apparent and life-changing than the metamorphosis from night owl to early bird. Before the emergence of her power—also known as two months ago—Rory had never been a morning person. She'd grown accustomed to the sporadic schedule of a prolific writer with a penchant for barely meeting deadlines. There were lots of late night hot chocolates, midnight Disney movie marathons, and 2AM [i]Just Dance[/i] tournaments that have earned them a complaint or four over the past years.

But now it was like she had grown an internal alarm clock attuned to the sunrise, one she was unable to snooze or turn off. Every morning, minutes before the sun would rise, she would wake with a feeling she could only compare to hunger, even though it wasn't exactly that. It resonated throughout her entire body, beckoning for her to sate its appetite. When she explained it to her dads, she said it was like having a voice whisper right in her ear, bossy and incessant just like pop.

The craving goes away the moment sunlight touches her skin, as it did now. Rory sighed contentedly, feeling a lot like she'd just eaten a whole cake, and watched as streaks of orange and yellow and purple paint the sky. All at once, she felt more awake and energized. She felt the warmth of the light within her, enveloping her. It was so familiar and so natural to her; she could hardly remember what it was like before.

When she had her fill, Rory turned to her dad with an excited grin. [color=ffdf46]"Fully charged! Can I practice it right now?"[/color]

Xian nodded, standing up to brace himself for what was going to happen--which could be literally anything, as he'd learned over the past few weeks. [color=fffbe5]"Alright, sunshine, show me what you got. This time, remember to control it. The principal probably wouldn't like you causing a blackout."[/color]

During the summer and within the confines of their home, her dads had encouraged her to freely use and experiment with her abilities. Any collateral damage was pre-approved. But in school, she would need to show restraint. Lots of it. Her dads have been worried nonstop; they've seen and worked with so many ostracized hyperhuman students that they're torn between allowing her to stay true to herself, as they've always preached, and keeping her safe from smallminded people that could hurt her.

[color=ffdf46]"Yep, yep, I remember,"[/color] Rory waved his concerns away. Like her dads, she was aware of how people like her were treated--she grew up around them, has heard many accounts of their plight. Unlike her dads, she had hope that the students in Mather Memorial were more openminded than people give them credit for. Wasn't that why they agreed to that new program? When she finally gets to tell her friends about her new abilities, she was certain they wouldn't treat her any differently. [color=ffdf46]"Okay, here goes!"[/color]

The exercise today was simple: make her light warm but not bright. She tried to think of the lamp she had on her bedside table for reference: it had a dull yellow glow, but it still burned when she accidentally touched it. Instead, her mind drifted as it often did, and she thought about Street Fighter and Hadouken and how cool would it be if she could do that? 

Turns out one stray thought was enough to derail her focus. Before she knew what was happening, a small beam of light burst out of her hand. It was bright and [i]solid[/i] and it went barreling towards their rickety railing. Rory tried to stop it to no avail, losing her balance instead (as you would when your already unstable DIY rooftop deck gets blasted and blown to pieces). She saw her dad's panicked face as he tried to grab her hand and thought about how, were circumstances any different, she would be laughing at how funny he looked with his mouth and eyes wide open like that.

Then she fell.

[COLOR=ffdf46][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]N O R T H  C R E S T W O O D  H O S P I T A L[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][indent][sup][color=silver]Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 - 1:48 PM[/color][/sup][/indent]
Rory left the hospital sporting a pink cast on her right arm and a sheepish grin directed at her dads, who'd gotten an earful from a very angry mother just minutes before. She tried to console her mom that a broken wrist was pretty lucky all things considered, but that had only seemed to add to her fury. The doctor advised her to take it easy the rest of the day, and while she wasn't normally the type to skip skipping classes, she begged to at least be allowed to attend the last class of the day. Rory had been looking forward to meeting the cool new teacher, the only one brave enough to help out hypes in school. She had also been excited to be able to share her abilities with hypes her own age, and not just her parents or their friends.

It took her biggest, saddest pair of puppy dog eyes (one she liked to use sparingly, for maximum effectiveness) for them to relent. 

[COLOR=ffdf46][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]M A T H E R  M E M O R I A L[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][indent][sup][color=silver]Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 - 2:33 PM | The Loft[/color][/sup][/indent]
Rory rushed to the top of the main building, giving no pause to the reprimand one of the teachers called out for running down the hallway. She stopped only momentarily to catch her breath and tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. When she noted a pause in the discussion happening inside, she slipped through the door as discreetly as she could--an endeavor made obsolete by her loudly announcing her presence afterward.

[color=ffdf46]"Hi guys, sorry I'm late!"[/color] she waved her broken arm at the group. From a brief sweep of the room, she recognized a couple of faces, noting Felix in particular. Rory grinned and took the empty seat next to him. After the fiasco during the game, she had made it a personal mission to help him out, but he had been nonreceptive to any of her attempts. Maybe Mr. Lehrer was what he needed!

Rory gave him a little wave and leaned in to whisper. [color=ffdf46]"So what are we talking about?"[/color]