[h3]Kila and Pei[/h3] [hr] Pei was going through her things post mission when she realized she had forgotten something in the satchel she brings along just incase she needs free hands while also carrying something. It was Metamorph’s mask! The one he had dropped when he disappeared. Pei pursed her lips, and resolved to go give it to him. That was why she was still in her superhero uniform when she knocked on Kila’s room door, not knowing where else to find him. Worst case scenario, she could just leave it outside his door. It was a shave and a haircut knock, a jaunty little tune for anyone that wanted to spice up their knocking arsenal. [color=goldenrod]“Come in.”[/color] Came the calmed voice of the young man inside. Pei hesitated, then tilted her head with a shrug. Upon opening the door, she could see him sitting in a metal chair near the window. He was at least half of the way dressed down, the torso piece of his metamorph suit traded for a sleeveless black compression shirt but the uniform pants remained. A white, albeit now partially stained red, towel laid on the floor near his feet with one of the suit’s gauntlets resting on it. The other was in his hand being wiped down with a wet rag. Kila only briefly looked up to see the identity of the person coming in before continuing with his task. [color=goldenrod]“Hello, Pei.”[/color] [color=pink]”Hey howdy hey.”[/color] She said with a smile. [color=pink]”I was uh, lookin’ through my stuff when I remembered I picked something up of yours.”[/color] She approached and presents his mask to him with both of her hands. [color=pink]”Ta-daaa. Your cool mask. I never was much of a secret identity person but, I might get one of those superhero eye mask thingies one day, if only for the aesthetic.”[/color] That seemed to rouse his attention more directly and he paused again to look at it. [color=goldenrod]“I see. Thank you…I was hoping that it wasn’t stolen.”[/color] He looked at the cleaned golden piece of armor in his hand and rested it on his lap. Accepting the mask, he stared into the eyes of it for a moment. [color=goldenrod]“I don’t fully know why I took it off in the first place…Where did you find it?”[/color] [color=pink]”On the ground.”[/color] She says with a bit of a grimace in her smile. [color=pink]”Next to a bad guy with two broken arms and a lot of scared civvies.”[/color] She rubs the back of her head. Her smile fades completely as she works up the courage to say what she felt she needed to say. She hadn’t come here with the intention of doing anything except dropping off the mask. And yet: [color=pink]”Um…look, I know I’m new here but…that was um…well, that- that wasn’t okay.”[/color] She managed. [color=goldenrod]”You’re right…It wasn’t. I thought when I joined this team, I wouldn’t have another incident like that…but, here I am, cleaning blood off of my things…I’ve at least been told that none of the innocents were harmed.”[/color] Pei turned and walked a few steps away and then walked back. [color=pink]”Right, but, you totally brutalized those guys. Put them in the hospital for months, probably. Injuries that will only heal years from now, if at all. The people we were supposed to be saving were scared of you.”[/color] She said. [color=pink]”Scared of me, afterwards.”[/color] [color=pink]”Are you saying you’re not in control of your actions or somethin’?”[/color] She asked. [color=pink]”What do you mean ‘another incident’?”[/color] [color=goldenrod]”What I am referring to is my mysterious power of the Red; my ‘animal’ side, if you will. I have exhibited some uses of it in the past, which are more numerous, as I am now learning. The incident in the past was when I was younger…and had less control. It has a primal fury that I can only guide, instead of contain.”[/color] Pei looked a little exasperated. [color=pink]”Oh, great. You have a superpowered evil side? Dude, I’m sorry, I know you’re more sick of dealing with it than anyone. But it’s still happening and it’s like, [i]totally[/i] not conductive to superheroing. We need to work on this. We need to stick some Blue or Green into you to balance it out, or whatever!”[/color] She said and at that point, Kila’s eyes cut away from his mask up to the icy girl. His stare held contempt. [color=goldenrod]”What do you think I do all day?! Do you think if it were simply as easy as changing one little thing that it hasn’t been tried?!”[/color] He threw the mask away and stood. Pei took a couple steps back. [color=goldenrod]”You say ‘I know’— You know [i]nothing[/i] about what I was put through in Buredunia! Or about the Red, Blue, and Green, you don’t know anything about it!”[/color] In his sharp burst of emotion, his breaths quickened in pace, shoulders rising and falling. Yet, he looked down at the gauntlet in his hand. Iwisa… He closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself, but still raised her garment up as a representation. [color=goldenrod]”I come from a military where kids like me;”[/color] He paused, opening eyes to look at Pei directly. [color=goldenrod]”Kids like us; are trained to be weapons for their country to deploy at their enemies. I was the son of the President-King, with dormant, barely controllable abilities. I was meant to be the example, so how do you think it was handled…?”[/color] His eyes again fell to the gauntlet and he lowered it to hold in both hands. [color=goldenrod]”My amai took me away from that system, and taught me that I didn’t have to be a weapon…but that this power of the red that flows through me, will surface again. That it is forever part of me. Not just some ‘evil’ side, as [i]some[/i] see it, but something I must learn to make peace with…”[/color] Pei tilted her head, a little incredulous. [color=pink]”My guy. I’m sorry about your past. But I’m talking about the present.”[/color] She said. [color=pink]”You brutalized those crooks like they killed your dog. You terrified those civvies. You left me completely by myself in the middle of a dangerous situation. Things could have gone [i]real[/i] bad. Like, make peace with it? We gotta fix it!”[/color] She said. [color=goldenrod]”I have only been free from their influence for a year, after years of conditioning to be a certain way. This short period of time and [i]you[/i] coming in here to tell me about myself isn’t going to fix it. While talking about those thieves like they weren’t holding guns at the hostages. As if that they hadn’t shot at us. But our teammates’ injuries say otherwise, don’t they…?”[/color] The young lion sat back in his chair. [color=goldenrod]”If you are done being yet another voice telling me that you are afraid of or for me, you know where the door is. Thank you for returning my mask.”[/color] [color=pink]”...Geez, man.”[/color] Pei put a hand on her hip and shook her head. [color=pink]”You’re welcome.”[/color] She was about to leave, but…she stopped and turned around. [color=pink]”Come on, you really don’t see where I’m comin’ from at all? You just- I just- I got left out to dry. Like laundry. Flap flap, on a little- clothesline. What was I supposed to do, not say anything?”[/color] [color=goldenrod]”Not come in acting like the results were my intent. Or like I don’t understand the severity of the consequences my actions may have. I have the worst of them physically embedded in my skin. If what you need is an apology, then I apologize. It will not change what I’ve done, or really provide a solution, but I said and meant it.”[/color] She really wants to argue, like, she didn’t come in here acting like it was his intent. She came in here to give him his cool mask back. She also didn’t like being made to feel like she was out of line. But she couldn’t see the point of saying these things so she just thought them really hard while staring at him. [color=pink]”Yeah…okay. It’s just, I think we worked well together. Like, right up until that last part. Which was also like, the first part. It was like the first thing that we did. Just: zwoop.”[/color] She slaps her hands together and sends the top hand soaring away like an airplane taking out. [color=pink]”I did the acting of my life, by the way. I distracted the hell out of that robber, just like you said. Nobody else even saw.”[/color] She said, pouting while the premature veteran sighed. [color=goldenrod]”I know you did your best…Just…give me some time, Pei. I’m still recovering from what happened.”[/color] [color=pink]”Yeah, man, no problem. I just- I just want us to all work together, y’know? Sorry if I came on a little strong.”[/color] She said, rubbing her elbow. [color=pink]”Let me know if you ever wanna hang out or whatever.”[/color] With that she turned to leave, overall feeling pretty bad about how that all went down. When she faced away from Kila and walked out she bit on her finger and winced. Closing the door behind her she kept her knuckle in her mouth as she walked away. Then she stood up a little straight and took her finger out to talk to herself. [color=pink]”Guess I have no choice. I’ll just have to trust him all the way anyway.” [/color] That solution cleared up all her problems. Pei believed in second, third, fourth, and fifth chances. Sixth with a bit of bargaining. And Metamorph was only about a quarter of the way through his first chance. She just needed to be on her toes in the future now that she knows about his problem. Would it have been nice to know about it beforehand? Sure. But the past was in the past. Pei was more concerned with the present.