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[hr][color=ffec42][h3]The day before...[/h3][/color]
[hr]

The summit had better be worth it, Mara thought as she bustled around the cafe.

For someone with a newfound command of electricity, she felt more like a drained battery than a live wire. Admission wouldn't be cheap, and if this turned out a scam, she wouldn't be seeing a cent of refund money. Hence the extra hours rushing around on sore feet, smile plastered to her face, while resisting the urge to 'accidentally' dump food into the laps of less than pleasant customers.

One such customer loudly cleared his throat in her direction.

"Miss? How do you explain this?" Scowling, he jabbed his finger at the menu. "There's no Milano hot chocolate. What the hell kind of cafe doesn't have Milano hot chocolate?"

It took all Mara's willpower to keep her tone bright. [color=ffec42]"I'm afraid we don't serve it,"[/color] she replied, biting back what she [i]really[/i] wanted to say, [color=ffec42]"but instead I can recommend..."[/color]

"I don't care!" the man snapped, like it was somehow her fault. "Not like there's anything good on the whole menu anyway. I'm a journalist, you know, and I'll be writing a review of this place..."

Mara took deep, steady breaths as the customer's verbal lashing went on, but it was no use. Under the rubber gloves she'd taken to wearing, her hands tingled. No time to excuse herself. She slammed down the tray she'd been carrying onto the nearest table and ran, reaching the staff room just as her arms started sparking.

[i]Fuck fuck fuck get a grip get a grip GET A GRIP[/i], she mentally yelled at herself, hunching away from anything in the room she might fry. Freaking out didn't exactly help matters. She forced more slow, shaking breaths of lemon-scented air, sighing in relief as the sparks died down. Crisis averted. For now.

As much as she dreaded the summit, if she wanted these electrical malfunctions under control, there was no way around it.

[hr][color=ffec42][h3]Conference day[/h3][/color]
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That wasn't to say she raised her expectations too high. Driving into the parking lot, Mara grumbled to herself. The scolding from her boss yesterday for 'slacking' hadn't helped her mood, and she'd never been one for camping anyway. It brought back unwelcome memories of family vacations, and the relentless mocking for not being able to take to the skies or the bottom of lakes. As she climbed out of the car and headed towards the circle of cabins, she braced herself for any braggarts she'd all too likely meet.

Out of force of habit, her gloved hand drifted to her jacket pocket. She sighed. Usually in times of stress, she'd reach for the lemon candies she carried around, one of her former favourite snacks. She'd gotten rid of them though, since they seemed to make her sparking problem worse. Yet more proof of her affinity.

[color=ffec42]"What a joke,"[/color] she muttered. Lemon essence? It sounded like a baking ingredient. Still, she wasn't going to stand around sulking. She'd wanted a power, she'd gotten one, and she had to deal with it. First thing to do was find a BioTech member, in case they had any useful advice. If they even cared about helping, that was.

She glared around the area, spotting a middle-aged man and some hippie woman but nobody in BioTech attire - and failing to notice the rock in her path until she sprawled forward. [color=ffec42]"Ah!"[/color] As the forest lurched and her palms slammed against the ground, panic wasn't the only jolt that ran through her. Electricity arced above one of her gloves. A nearby tuft of sun-dried grass smouldered and caught aflame.

[color=ffec42]"Shit no!"[/color] Mara scrambled to her feet. Letting loose a string of expletives that cut through the quiet, she stomped out the fire before it could spread. Heart thudding, she grimaced down at the blackened patch, a whiff of zest rising from it with the smoke. Another close call.

Yeah, this was already turning out to be a bad idea.