One of the things Jessica Cruz had told Pei to try was something called ‘mindfulness exercises’. As such, she was sitting cross legged on the floor of the training area, in a full training get up, staring so hard at a bowl of raisins it looked like her eyes might explode. 

[color=00ffff]”...Pei, what the [i]fuck[/i] are you doing?”[/color]

Cora walked in, not floated in, holding a metal water bottle full of something that was absolutely not water, or safe for normal humans to consume. She had training stuff on, too.

Exasperated, Pei threw out her hands and feet and fell onto her back like she was making snow angels. [color=pink]”Ugh!”[/color]

She grabbed her pink hair. [color=pink]”I don’t know! I’m being mindful! The raisins make me a better person. If I stare at the raisins long enough, I get a Green Lantern ring.” [/color] Pei said. 

Cora burst out laughing, nearly choking on the vile concoction she was drinking. [color=00ffff][i]”What?[/i] That- No, Pei- [i]What?[/i] Aren’t you supposed to eat them?”[/color] She walked over and grabbed a raisin out of the bowl, committing what could’ve been an act of sacrilege in mockery of the Green Lanterns.

As Cora approached, Pei picked up the bowl with her foot and lifted it to meet her. [color=pink]”Help yourself. I’m giving the fuck up for today. I can’t explain how she put it. Some shit like…”[/color] She waved the bowl around before setting it down. [color=pink]”Examine the mundane in a new way or something… I already did taste, that was the easy part. Then touch and smell. Sight I’m stumped on. Let along [i]hearing[/i].”[/color] She was still layed on the gym floor. 

[color=00ffff]”Who’s “she?” Sounds like you’ve been hanging around Daphne when she was on something special…”[/color] Cora grabbed the bowl. [color=00ffff]”I don’t think staring at a bowl of raisins is gonna get you into space. I would’ve tried that already, if it worked.”[/color]

[color=pink]”Jessica Cruz. My temp mentor, a Green Lantern. She told me a whole buncha shit but I was, I was too nervous to remember most of it.”[/color] She facepalms. 

Cora made a [i]snrk[/i] sound. [color=00ffff]”Reasonable reaction. Static helped me build stuff, and figure out power things. Raisins were [i]not[/i] involved. Maybe I should’ve asked…”[/color]
[color=pink]”That’s so cool. Static’s so cool. He’s a real inspiration. One day I’m gonna go back to Coast City and kick so much ass. I’ll have my own rogue’s gallery.”[/color] Pei said wistfully.

[color=pink]”Green Lantern probably gave me some good advice. It’s just…how the fuck do you get more ‘willpower’? More ‘mindfulness’? By finding meaning in staring at raisins, probably. Powers and building stuff is way more obviously useful, y’know.”[/color] Pei said. 

[color=00ffff]”Well… I don’t know how they do it.”[/color] Cora took a contemplative sip from her bottle which was labelled “Battery acid.” [color=00ffff]”But I’ve been taken out by my own powers once or twice. You ever have trouble lifting your own hand up in the morning because there’s nothing there to move it [i]with?”[/i][/color]

Pei shrugs on the ground. [color=pink]”Haha, no. It’s okay, though, Cora. I heard what happened. She snuck up on you, you zapped yourself. It happens.”[/color] She said, assuming the aftermath of Cora being in the wheelchair was what she was referring to. 

[color=00ffff]”Point being, you don’t really learn how to do stuff, no matter how much you can’t, by not [i]needing to,[/i] I think. I think you need to end up in some real shitty place for that. It’s not nothing you just figure out.”[/color]

It took hours for Cora just to sit up, after she fried herself. The next few days, it stung just to float an inch off the ground. It sucked.

[color=pink]”...Wah?”[/color] Pei asked, genuinely confused. 

[color=00ffff]”Okay, okay,”[/color] Cora made a waving gesture with her battery acid. [color=00ffff]”So… When I was lying in bed feeling like death? It was hard to do literally anything. Green Lanterns do hard stuff every day. They didn’t start that way, you know? They’ve probably had so many bad days, the worst ones are stuff we’ve never gone through. That’s how they got good at the willpower thing.”[/color]

[color=pink]”Yeah, maybe.”[/color] She says. [color=pink]”But I think the raisin test has something to do with it.”[/color]

[color=pink]”What are ya drinkin’? Battery acid?”[/color] She asks. 

[color=00ffff]”Something like it.”[/color] It [i]smelled[/i] like battery acid. [color=00ffff]”Half a gram of salt and potassium, plus some other stuff. The rest is mostly just water. It’s a power thing.”[/color]

[color=pink]”Like, it gives you powers?”[/color] She asks with a tilt of her head. Still laying on the floor. 

[color=00ffff]”No… Humans are mostly water, but water is a really bad conductor of electricity. So that’s what this stuff is for.”[/color]

[color=pink]”I guess?”[/color] Pei says with a little laugh and a raise of an eyebrow. 

[color=00ffff]”And water stops being water when it’s electrocuted. So this [i]hopefully[/i] helps me not fry myself more the next time I have to zap something. Static helped, but I can probably do more.”[/color]
 
[color=pink]”Don’t think I ever had that problem. Sounds unlucky.”[/color] Pei scratches the side of her head. [color=pink]”So, what? Does it…hurt? When you use your powers? You zap yourself?”[/color]

Cora shrugged. [color=00ffff]”Kind of. Not at first, but the more I do it, the worse it gets. The lightning comes out of me, it electrocutes me. If you zapped me with anything [i]normal,[/i] like a taser? I wouldn’t feel it. My powers aren’t normal electricity, though.”[/color]

Pei clasps her hands together over her midsection. [color=pink]”Huh! Well I’m glad Static helped. I’d hate for you to be hurting yourself on our missions, y’know?”[/color] She said.

She stammered a bit. [color=pink]”I mean- y’know- hurting yourself as just a matter of course. Rather than extreme circumstances that can be avoided.”[/color]

[color=00ffff]”Yeah.”[/color] Cora didn’t [i]really[/i] want to get too into all that. She had a feeling Pei would get on her ass about it if she knew the rest.

[color=00ffff]”I’m pretty sure stuff like that isn’t going to happen again,”[/color] she said.

[color=pink]”We just gotta watch each other’s backs, is all.”[/color] She performed a kip-up maneuver to her feet and moved to sling her arm around Cora’s shoulders. [color=pink]”Team tactics. Cool as ice. Hot as lightning.”[/color]

[color=00ffff]”Hot as-“[/color] Cora blinked. [color=00ffff]”Uh- I mean…”[/color] She [i]completely[/i] misinterpreted that.

[color=pink]”Hot as lightning. We’re cool. Remember I said we should look out for each other?”[/color] Pei jostled Cora lightly. 

[color=00ffff]”Yeah, you did say that.”[/color] [i]Stop being a dumbass, holy shit. She did NOT just call you hot.[/i]

[color=00ffff]”…I completely forgot what I walked in here for.”[/color]

[color=pink]”Well it definitely wasn’t training.”[/color] Pei teased, grabbing Cora’s arm and trying to circle it with her finger and thumb. 

[color=00ffff]”Well- Um.”[/color] This escalated quickly. [color=00ffff]”I guess not.”[/color] Cora was still slightly sore in a lot of places, after she exploded in the swamp. But that [i]didn’t[/i] hurt, weirdly enough.

She very awkwardly took another sip from her battery acid. A long one.

[color=pink]”Look, see? It practically goes all the way around. Super heroes need super training. I could be your spotter!”[/color] Pei exclaimed. 

[color=00ffff]”Oh- Right. I don’t usually do anything intense enough to need one,”[/color] Cora said. [color=00ffff]”I’m skin and bone, I mostly just run on a treadmill or spar with someone if they’re around.”[/color]

[color=pink]”Never too late to pump it up!”[/color] Pei declared. [color=pink]”But that’s okay. I’ve done all my raisin training for the day. So I guess unless you really want to shoot lightning at me I can call it a day and leave the gym to you?”[/color] Pei detached from Cora and shot a couple of finger guns at her. 

[color=00ffff]”I think that would probably kill you, actually.”[/color] Cora sat her battery acid on the ground against the wall. [color=00ffff]”I’m surprised it didn’t kill [i]me.”[/i][/color]

[color=pink]”Well, obviously you wouldn’t blast me full force with lightning.”[/color] Pei said with a good natured roll of her eyes. 

[color=00ffff]”Doesn’t have to be full force to kill someone. Nah, I’ll blast something else. Like a target or something.”[/color]

[color=pink]”I’ve seen you use lightning on bad guys before. You’re just trying to seem cool. Well, for your information, ice powers can [i]also[/i] be pretty dangerous.”[/color] Pei says, crossing her arms and wiggling her head.

Cora shrugged. [color=00ffff]”I thought I [i]was[/i] cool.”[/color]

[color=pink][i]”Oh-ho[/i], believe me, I can tell.”[/color] Pei said cheekily, leaning towards Cora with a toothy grin. 

[color=00ffff]”…Yeah.”[/color] Cora was doing that thing people did where their eyes went left and right constantly, but it just looked like she was staring right into Pei’s. 

[color=00ffff]”I’m gonna… Go do that thing, now.”[/color]

Pei hopped up, standing up straight, giving Cora a reassuring pat on the shoulder. [color=pink]”I’ll leave ya to it! See you later, I’m done trying hard today so I’m gonna go find something to fuck with. Bye bye!”[/color] She waved, turned, and transitioned her quick walk into a happy little skip as she left the room, leaving Cora alone with a bowl of raisins. 

[color=00ffff]”Heh. Yeah.”[/color]

When Pei was gone, Cora looked down at the bowl of raisins. And she felt [i]confused.[/i]

[color=00ffff]”Was she hitting on me?”[/color]