sixthiterationlogs | [OTA] Trick of the light

WHO: Liv Moore
WHERE: 6I Fountain Park
WHEN: 3 July, eveningish
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Nothing yet

So, about a week after I emerged ever-so-gracefully from the village fountain, there was a seminar-thing on native plants. I did not go to this seminar. I probably should have gone to this seminar, because hey, knowing what will and won't kill you is always a bonus. But I didn't, and I think saying it was only about a week after I arrived is really all the excuse I need.

Now, Ravi is friends with the plant guy, so I know more than I really honestly want to about a lot of these local plants by osmosis. You hang around Ravi, and the information just comes whether you like it or not. I think maybe he mentioned the flower that generated electricity, but who really knows. I just know that through a series of honestly pretty boring events, I picked some lilies to help perk up my sad, dinner-for-one bungalow, and now I'm basically Thor.

Things did not go great right away, I will admit. My house doesn't have electricity. Ravi's house has electricity, but apparently I was on the naughty list this year or something, which... Okay, fair. I think it's a natural inclination in that context, that when one discovers they can conduct electricity, they try to get the lights on.

I now would not have my lights on even if I did have magic electricity like Ravi, because I blew out every old-school bulb in the house. Gold star, self; you tried.

Leaving the place I sleep at night in one piece seemed like a good idea after that, and that's why I'm outside right now, sitting on one of the benches that surround the new arrival vomit fountain, playing with the little fizzles of light between my fingers. I'm here on purpose: If I catch myself on fire, I can at least cannonball back whist I came and put myself out.

Trying something a little bigger, I aim toward a branch nearby — The weather's been on-and-off crappy, so there's plenty of flotsam tossed around that I'm sure some good citizen who probably isn't me will tidy up. Focusing, I gesture the way I want to electricity to go, and—

A massive bolt leaps from my hands and across the courtyard, where it effectively saws a tree in half. Eyes wide, I stare as the tree wobbles, crashes back into the forest and then lays there, smoldering.

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"If I beamed down from anywhere, it was clearly an epic mistake," he says, still a little too panicked and struck in one place to move. He actually feels physically frozen, gaping at Liv. "Do I look like a Jeffries tube for you to shove things at with energy and physical items?"

Because no, he's not.

"Why have you suddenly gone all Thor on me?" he asks, stepping forward very slowly, because the last thing he wants to do is set her off again into a new sparky fury.

"I picked the wrong flower, okay? And you were not there a minute ago," I insist with an emphatic point of my finger toward the still-smoldering tree.

"As it turns out, conducting electricity with your own two hands is not as easy as superhero movies make it seem," I add, and lift my hands in a shrug, still a little crackle leaping from finger to finger. "The reason I was even out here was because I figured it was a safer place to practice than my own house. Apparently not."

No, he wasn't, and Ravi is honestly wondering what would have happened if he'd been a few steps ahead. Goodbye Ravi Chakrabarti, hello new corpse for the village. That does bring up the thought that if he dies, would Liv eat his brain? What would she see? And god, what would the personality be like?

"Let's not do it again," Ravi hurriedly insists, both hands in the air like he intends to defend his face in case Liv gets going again, like his hands will actually prevent death. "Why don't we practice on something smaller? Maybe into the ground?"

"That is literally what I was trying to do," I'm quick to answer. "Well, not into the ground, but at the ground. In the ground vicinity. I was going for that branch over there." And looking at it now, I have even less of a clue how I zapped the other side of the courtyard instead.

"This stuff is no joke, and it is not easy to get a handle on, okay? I blew all of my worthless light bulbs out, so if the village gods ever decide to bestow me real electricity, I won't even know."

"Well, we can always go pilfer and loot everything else, as is the grand tradition of the village," Ravi assures her, seeing as he doesn't want her to feel like she's going to be out of lightbulbs forever. "How do you think we got the curtains in our house? Good old fashioned thievery." You can call him Oliver Twist all you like, but is works for them.

"I mean, if you are willing to head out a bit, I wouldn't mind doing some experimentation," he coaxes, giving Liv a hopeful look. "It's better than rats and brains?"

"You realize that the phrase that just came out of your mouth really doesn't make me trust you more, right? And that's as a person who actually understands the reference." I really can't imagine what interacting with Ravi is like for the opeople who know even less about what he's talking about. Confusing, obviously, but probably a little scary, too.

"But fine, whatever. Lead the way," I add with a sweep gesture. I'll just consider this my payment for almost killing him.

"And here I thought me accepting you into my life, zombie and all, meant that we had a perma-bond of trust," Ravi says, hand over his heart like somehow he's been wounded. True, he does more science into brains than he'd ever thought before, but it's also way more exciting than just cutting up bodies.

Take that, CDC, Ravi's got a purpose. "Let's see if we can find an empty house," he coaxes. "We can test out whether you can actually conduct electricity into the wires. Of course, the whole thing is a bit strange. After all, is the energy coming from the flower? Could we plug it in or does it need a human to conduct for it?"

"This is going to result in a fire, I can just feel it," I reply with sigh. "You did hear me when I said I blew up all my light bulbs, right? As in all of them. The whole house. I just cut a tree in half on accident."

"I did, and I was present for the near decapitation via tree," he assures her, seeing as he doesn't want to die, obviously, but he's just too tempted. "I mean, we could always find non-conductive metals." Or, they can find more of the plant and have a very Star Wars like battle.

Though, that probably would end up getting someone killed. "I mean, we could always just put it in a glass jar like Belle and wait for it to start doing something?"

[OTA] Trick of the light

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