[centre][img]https://i.ibb.co/nChzdGp/Arthur-Luna.png[/img]

June 11, 2021
Arthur’s Apartment[/centre]

Arthur stared into the bathroom mirror, still coming to terms with what he saw. His skin had become noticeably paler since he had last looked into the mirror in the morning. While he had heard of diseases that changed skin pigmentation, he could think of none that would do it so rapidly and then also change back to normal. He also seemed taller, something Arthur had always wished for, not liking his small body.

Hoping to see for sure if there was a change of height, Arthur walked over to his storage closet, fumbling through the mess for a few seconds before finding a tape measure. Lining up next to the wall in the hallway, Arthur extended the measure vertically down his body, noting the height. He had become just over an inch taller than he was this morning.

Still amazed, Arthur walked over to some hand weights lying next to his couch. Before whatever this is happened, Arthur could barely lift anything, with almost no arm strength. But now that he had changed, he could easily lift these basic weights. But that was only at night, as during the day he went back to his usual weakling self. Arthur picked up the weights, finding them even easier too lift than a few days ago. He thought that perhaps he should buy a heavier set.

Arthur put down the weights and went back to sitting in front of his laptop. In his browser he had several tabs open, each one a page related to superpowers. However, the tab that he was on was about a conference on plant essence powers. A few months back Arthur would of thought the notion of plant powers ridiculous, but his own power experience seemed to be tied to it. Arthur could clearly deduce that his powers came at night and went away during the day. He couldn’t help but be reminded of certain flowers that bloom at night and close during the day. There were several types of such plants in the community garden he worked on, each one very special to Arthur.

Arthur re-read the info page on the conference, noting that it wasn’t terribly far from where he lived. The only problem was the price of tickets. Arthur had been saving his money for college tuition as he still did intend to eventually attend. But figuring out his powers was very important to Arthur, as it would irrevocably effect his whole life.

Arthur decided to search what other people were saying about the conference online. After scrolling through several tweets making fun of it, Arthur found a few posts about people who believe they have plant essence powers and were genuinely stoked to learn more about them. What finally sealed the deal for Arthur was a re-tweet stating that those who can prove they have an animal essence get two-thirds of their admission back. Arthur figured that wouldn’t be hard to do as all they had to do was just look at him during the night.

Arthur went back to the conference website, hoping that there was some tickets left. Luckily there was, so Arthur gladly paid the fee. He then remembered that he needed to call his work to get time off, with only like a week in advance notice. Arthur prayed that they would let him.

[centre]***

June 19, 2021
Cypress View Retreat[/centre]

So Arthur managed to get the time off, as the other receptionist at the office wanted to pick up a few more extra shifts. And Arthur had promised to owe her a favour. Arthur didn’t know what the favour would be as he drove down the wooded road in his bright red Volkswagen Beetle. Arthur wasn’t entirely sure where he was going as he made his way through the woods. The GPS app on his phone had decided to stop working about half an hour ago, and like most people his age, Arthur didn’t have a map of the area in his car.

After winding around the trees for a little while longer, Arthur finally saw another car. Then another. Then a few more. Figuring that they were headed the same way, Arthur followed behind them. The assumption proved right as they soon came upon a sign saying Cypress View Retreat. Arthur pulled into the parking lot, finding that there was still a decent amount of parking spots.

Getting out of his beetle, Arthur half expected everyone’s power to be evident. Instead he saw mostly middle aged people or young hipsters scattered across the parking lot. Arthur did realize that he as well wouldn’t stand out as the sun was still shining. Also, maybe people had an interest in plant essences, even if they didn’t have one.

Still kind of disappointed, Arthur grabbed his bag from the trunk and walked over to the entrance station. He pulled out his ticket and showed it to the check-in man. He scanned the ticket before directing Arthur to cabin five. Arthur said a quick thank you, before walking across the pavilion and toward where the cabins were situated.

As Arthur neared his assigned cabin, he saw a seemingly strange woman emerge from the wilderness, sauntering toward the cabins. Arthur was slightly stunned by her appearance, she was pretty, but looked like a mess in just a bikini and shirt, with flowers strung across her hair. Arthur wondered what she was doing here as this was a scientific conference and not burning man.

[color=#B7F2B3]“Are you alright miss?”[/color] he asked, not really sure what kind of response he would get.

[@Bai Suzhen]