[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/chfMMdXw/Copy-of-Guardians-2.png[/img][/center] [color=#f6dd69][h3]Beverly, Massachusetts[/h3][/color] [hr] [color=#f07244]"You're running low."[/color] Carol barely look at her dad as she passed him an open beer, entrenched as he was in his favourite chair in their lounge. She paused briefly to clink the glass of her own against his, bringing the bottle up to her mouth to click the cap off with her teeth. She'd seen some of the guys do it at a party recently, amused at the idea; it was a way for her to use her powers in public without giving it away, the slightest spark of energy from her tooth connecting hidden away. "Maybe you should stop drinking them then." Joe Danvers spoke in his persistent grumble, providing even less recognition of his daughter than he had received, his eyes not moving from the beginning of ESPN's Friday Night Showcase. At first he just recieved a snort of contempt in return as Carol's own attention drifted to the start of the broadcast, but she spoke as she turned away and headed back to the kitchen. [color=#f07244]"When you don't need me to get them for you, I'll stop taking my tax."[/color] She used to loathe the idea of drinking, seeing what it did to her father, she still loathed [I]his[/I] drinking, but she couldn't at least deny the appeal any longer. The use of her powers and the relevant combat often left her with aches and pains that didn't show on her largely impervious body, and the taste of cold, albeit cheap, beer was already working against that. Usually her Friday evenings would be spent in support of her own school's football program, but they were on a bye and for once she was quite thankful for the reprieve. Obviously most of her classmates, at least the ones that mattered, were using the opportunity to attend Corey Brown's party. A large and parent-free home on a bye week was like a flame to a moth for the football team. She'd told her friends she wouldn't be coming, but as it happened, she'd somewhat overestimated just how long being a living weapon and/or hero for the government was going to take out of her evening. She wasn't too thrilled at the idea of spending time getting ready, but she was less thrilled at the idea of spending an evening alone with her father. She paused only to grab a donut from the gradually vanishing supply on the kitchen table as she made her way upstairs and into the solace of her room. Carol never had guests over, for a variety of reasons, and so her room remained one of the places less cultivated in the image of the young woman she had become and more the girl she had been. The walls were decked with posters of bands she had listened to with her brothers, photographs and artistic renderings of planes past and present and even a few pieces of art she had taken a liking to. Her desk was stacked with notebooks, each used to the full with her own writing and journaling. Only her wardrobe really spoke to the idea of head-cheerleader Carol, and even that still had a few exceptions. When she swung open the overstocked furniture, the presence of her old pilot's jacket drew her eyes first, a long pause, before she began pulling options for the night from their hangers to appraise. There was something of a stereotype about taking forever to decide on clothing, but this wasn’t an issue with Carol. As with many things in life, she was decisive. The only times she wasn’t would be entirely for performative reasons among groups of friends where such things were expected. It was only a few moments before she had decided, the central piece, a white floral-print mini-sundress with a smocked bodice and bubble hem which trailed halfway down her thighs, with just a short gap before the top of knee-high suede Western boots. It was a little Southern belle for the East coast, but what was the point of being young, blonde and tan if you weren’t going to rock it? She paused before the mirror for a few test swishes of the dress, turning to examine the back before giving herself a bit of a pep talk. “If I do say so myself, I look grrrrrrreat.” She laughed slightly, grabbing her phone from her desk where she had just been applying makeup before thumbing her way through her contacts, scanning for a lift she could secure at this later hour. [color=#f07244]“Hey, it’s Carol, can you-"[/color] [color=#f6dd69][h3]Later[/h3][/color] [hr] By the time Carol arrived, the signs of a party in full swing could be heard well before it could be seen. As with many of the more prominent members of the student body, Corey’s house was impressively large for a suburb of Boston, an ideal gathering place. The scope of these places was one of many reasons Carol never had even her closest friends over to her house; at least this way, she could pretend to be one of them. She was hardly dressed for subtlety as she arrived, but she didn’t attempt to draw any further attention to herself as she moved inside, the bass rumble of the music passing through her in waves, a sensation she was so much more aware of now that her very being was interwoven with the fundamental forces of the universe. A few faces clocked her right away as she moved through the house, particularly an eager junior who handed her a solo cup with something which at least seemed cold beer adjacent. She offered a distinctly cool thanks in return, which was still enough to elicit some excitement from the younger student, even as she continued her progress. She'd been to Corey's a couple of times before and knew the main event was the outside pool. "Oh look at [I]you[/I] that is so boho western." She heard Michael well before she saw him, offering him a quick post before leaning in for the kiss to her cheek that he always greeted her with when he'd had a drink or two (or five). "So you could make it then? Wonderful, this was getting a little sigma-grindset for my liking." Michael wafted a hand around at the increasing number of party-goers she noticed wearing some variation of the Beverly High Panthers football attire mixed with party-suitable clothing. [color=#f07244]"Keep up, Michael, these are high-performance alpha males, far too team orientated to be sigmas."[/color] She laughed in jest at her friend's eyeroll. [color=#f07244]"It's our job to be supportive, go team, remember."[/color] She teased further. Of all the friends that made up the circle of people that she spent time with, Michael came closest to what she might consider a true friend, although she could never be sure if that was anything more than surface level. Would their long-running friend-mistry mean anything if she wasn't on top anymore? The paranoid claws in her heart trembled for a few moments more before she turned to regard the pool and patio where most of the party guests could now be found. The relative chill of the evening was little match for teenage adrenaline and beer jackets as several had already ended up in the heated waters of the pool. "Corey's going to be mad, but only cause he bet it would take at least another twenty minutes." A new voice broke Carol's momentary spell of worries. Kyle Briggs was tall and even more tan and blonde than Carol was. He was from the West Coast and was a large part of the Panthers current success on the Football field. He'd had a pretty obvious [I]thing[/I] for her for at least a month, which was practically pining for years in starting quarterback terms. [color=#f07244]"Well, that was a stupid bet to make. Definitely a 'I grew up with a pool' sort of thinking."[/color] Carol's tone was a practiced half-husky she used when she was a little undecided between friendly and flirty, turning slightly towards Kyle. She felt Michael slink away on the other side of her. Of course her friends hadn't stopped encouraging her to run with Kyle's clear interest in her, especially before someone else could 'swoop in' and prevent the obvious Prom King and Queen pairing. She knew what people like Kyle were like though, beneath the charms and smiles. She'd done pretty well for herself not letting people through the walls she'd built up since moving to Beverly and wasn't desperate to even play at letting them down. "That's what I said, guess the novelty has worn off for him." Kyle grinned at her words and laughed, probably performatively, but it was still almost a surprise he even got the implication. She'd naturally presumed the future [I]whatever star[/I] star prospect from California would hardly be strapped for lived luxuries himself. She finished off her first beer as they spoke, and he was attentive enough to immediately offer to find her another which she readily agreed to. For all her misgivings about emotional connections and the dangers of inebriation for that, she craved the [I]at ease[/I] feeling a few drinks gave her. While the team quarterback was away a few others approached her. Kelly was keen to impress on her the need to pursue Kyle or 'she' would, other members of the cheer team offering their obligatory greetings and a few other students for a variety of reasons. It took Kyle a little longer than she would have liked to return, even if she didn't exactly crave his company either. Already dread clawed at her that everything was some big set-up for a joke she wasn't apart of, before a charming grin entered her vision. "Sorry, Corey needed some helping chasing off some freshmen." [color=#f07244]"Ew, shouldn't they be in bed?"[/color] A dismissive look touched her features, channelling the figure of hierarchical authority the world considered her to be. "Exactly, don't worry, they won't be crashing anything further." She didn't entirely miss the look of grim amusement on Kyle's features that had nothing to do with a conversation with a girl he liked and she felt a flicker of guilt. If she started caring about everyone being chased out of parties though, she'd probably start running out of friends [I]again[/I]. [color=#f07244]"So, what's Cali like? My brother was posted out there -"[/color] [color=#f6dd69][h3]Later Still[/h3][/color] [hr] [color=#f07244]"CALIFORNIA GIRLS WERE UNDENIABLE-"[/color] Ok, maybe she was [I]DRUNK[/I] drunk. She must have been, scream-singing the lyrics with Kelly and another two girls she hadn't bothered to recall the names of as some of the still-standing football players watched and laughed. The patio had turned into something of a dancefloor by the late hour and she and Kelly had been 'insistent' on the playing of the vintage Katy Perry song. "Does that make you hoooomesick, Kyle?" Kelly winked as she spoke to the Quarterback, almost draped across him as the group descended into giggles. Carol's eyes narrowed, and she felt a bit of smug satisfaction even through the beer haze as he pushed her aside. Just because she wasn't playing along didn't mean she had decided she was ready to let anyone else enjoy the social capital. "You're all crazy." Kyle laughed, a sound quickly echoed by the other football players still on the 'dance floor' in a manner which reminded Carol of the gaggle of student-parrots usually hanging on her words. She was about to request a new song when a buzz in her hear stopped her dead. [i]"Operative Warbird, Code-Gold, you are required."[/i] [i]Damn[/i] She'd been pretty insistent her handlers couldn't keep calling her out of her life, although they'd never exactly agreed to that. Given she'd flown a mission for them today she was probably still 'on the clock' though. [i]Double Damn[/i] Her powers weren't exactly diminished by inebriation, but she probably shouldn't rock up a complete mess to a secret government facility, she might just fly straight through the mountain. She was pretty certain a fuller trigger of her haptic powers might far outpace alcohol's ability to muddle her senses, but she'd never actually proven that. Time to experiment. [color=#f07244]"Hey, Corey, can you teach me how to block,"[/color] She managed to hide the panic in her voice, entirely hidden in the drunk musings of a very silly girl. "Uh...I could? Might not be a good idea though." Corey was the centre, and as far as team linemen went, a pretty chill guy by her estimations. He was also roughly the same size as a small vehicle. [color=#f07244]"Pllleeeeease, I bet I could manage."[/color] She allowed her skirt to swish as she asked, an adorable-annoying trailing of her voice that tended to work on most for a wide variety of reasons. "Alright...if you're sure." .... Carol hit the ground [I]hard[/I] enough that she bounced on the expensive tiles of the patio. She felt it immediately, the surge of her powers as it converted the force she was struck with into energy within her. The biological reactor that was her body, taking both the impact of Corey blocking her and the strike to the ground into a burst of power she had trouble making sure it didn't spark into reality. It worked as intended, though, the pulse shot through her system like a battery shock, ridding her mind of the befuddlement of inebriation in a moment. She sprang up in the next moment, entirely missing the concerned gasp of shock from most as the Cheer-captain had hit the deck with enough force to risk a popped shoulder. [color=#f07244]"Thanks Corey! That was fun, gotta dash!"[/color] She spoke in a blur as she ran off past a bunch of startled faces, even as the lineman himself rubbed a shoulder that he didn't know would bruise something fierce over the next few hours. "Dude....I think Carol should be our new fullback."