Brine Time [Saga]

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A mascot hoodie. Emi’s thoughts on the marsupial were best kept to herself, but it was at least good to know that the girl held some pride for her school and its symbols. Then again, why wouldn’t she? If UA was happy to sing her praises, then returning the favour was a no-brainer. Emi knew that she’d have a lot more to say about the school if it recognized her efforts more oft-[break][break]

She was getting off-track.[break][break]

Talk of their quirks gave the girl something better to focus on; she stood up straight to give Melody’s demonstration the attention it deserved. Water manipulation, with her voice as its conduit, apparently allowing for much finer control than anything she could do. Folded arms and a small smile showed that the observer was impressed, but still deep in thought. Was her mastery the mark of a superior student?[break][break]

“Not a bad quirk to have… especially on an island. Doubly so on an island that manages to flood a lot. I’m guessing you lean more towards the rescue side of things?” She was showing her lack of research. If she’d looked deeply enough into the girl, the Sports Festivals would have given her an answer. But then, knowing everything about a student you’d barely spoken to was a good way to freak them out… And a bad way to keep a conversation going. Getting the girl into the habit of answering questions worked better for them both.[break][break]

“Anyway, it’s no big deal. We’re partners today – sharing’s no big deal.” With little more than a point and a thought, one of the balls at her feet chose to ignore the laws of gravity. It sprang six feet up, only to gently place itself atop Emi’s finger. A basketball spinning atop a finger was difficult, but still possible when playing by normal rules. Her palm-sized ball, on the other hand, showed no motion once it landed, making it painfully clear that her power was at play.[break][break]

“The salt thing is no secret, yeah. In a sentence, I can manipulate and duplicate different kinds of salt. The manipulation is all good, but in most situations there isn’t a lot of salt around to work with. Fortunately-“ The ball zipped forward, hovering forward until it rested between the girls. A twitch of her pinkie prompted the ball’s rapid, chaotic expansion. Cubic crystals forced themselves into being, over and over again until they eyed a platform with enough room to stand on.[break][break]

“I’ve learned to make the most of what I have.” The pride in her voice was small, but audible nonetheless. “Since salt is a solid, I can use it to lift objects and people… Or as a defence, when things get heated. Pretty versatile, if I do say so myself, so we’ve got a fair bit to work with, right off the bat.”[break][break]

Unfortunately, returning her ammunition wasn’t much of an option for her; shrinking her salt back down to size wasn’t in her list of powers. Instead it lazily hovered back to her side; she knew full well that it would find use within minutes. “Your water – can it hold objects, or does it have to stay pure? Ocean water tends to hold a lot of salt, so I do really well with it... But it’s also not often that I accidently find myself out there.” A piece of her platform snapped off, crumbling into grains better used to season food. They were whipped into the air and commanded to approach Melody, gently floating as a miniature cloud. “If your quirk can carry that, then we might be onto something. Worth a try, right?”

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It didn’t take much to draw a self-assured smile onto Emi’s face; its emergence when Melody spoke of her power made that much clear. A simple “Thanks” sufficed as a response, until her partner threw more questions her way. “It’s funny. At first, I could only work with table salt, then rock salt. Now it seems like all kinds of salt are the same, as far as my quirk is concerned. Only difference is the colour – and the flavour, if you’re into that.” A slight grimace followed at the notion of somebody taking a bite out of her creations.[break][break]

She’d done it a few times before, in an emergency, but Melody didn’t need to know that.[break][break]

No, she was there to investigate the girl, not give up some of her own secrets. The girl had enthusiasm, a decent understanding of her quirk… But none of that was outstanding, especially considering for a final year student. She’d have to pry a little more.[break][break]

“Drawing salt out of water is the best way for me to work, yeah. Lots of things have salt inside them, even some clothes. Not our uniforms, though. I already tried that. Shame, too. I would have been able to mess with a lot of people.” In a flash, the frown flipped into a smirk. For a few seconds she paused, apparently distracted by daydreams of saline sabotage. It took a snap of her fingers to bring her back to Earth.[break][break]

“Ocean water just happens to be one of the most common sources, since we live on an island and all. I don’t see why the salt wouldn’t go back in, but whether that’ll cause problems…” There was no sense talking when actions could answer. The levitating stream of water was peppered with countless grains. There was no change in the girl’s expression, implying what her element’s movements would confirm a moment later. The grains were withdrawn almost as easily as they were sent in. A flick of her wrist, and they were flung back into Melody’s manifestation, spitting themselves back out the other end. Back and forth the salt flew, at the whim of its master until she spoke.[break][break]

“It’s not perfect, but at the same time, it’s not any harder than trying to move it through saltwater. Like pushing anything underwater, really, and I’ve trained a lot for stuff like that. I figured that a quirk like mine would really come in handy during typhoon season, so once you’ve trained in raging waters, this…” She let a shrug finish her sentence.[break][break]

Her gaze trailed off to one side, and with it, her voice did too. She began to slide into her own thoughts – but not enough to forget herself entirely. Twitching fingers recalled all of her salt back to her, and then behind her. It rushed together, into one solid clump, and then spread itself thin vertically. Simple shapes were no trouble for the girl, and Melody could conclude that anything complex called for the touch she gave her creation. It wouldn’t take much brainpower to realise she was making a chair before she sat in it. The thing was a crystalline facsimile of those in their classrooms, after all. The control might have been the surprising part, which may have prompted the question: Was she that good? Or did Emi Ryoko Tachibana seem like the type of girl that would practice making a single shape hundreds of times, until she could do it without looking, just to look cool?[break][break]

She didn’t offer an answer. Instead, more thoughts on their combination: “I wonder, though, if it’s a different story on your end, or if it gets more difficult if either one of us is actually trying to get away from the other. I guess that wouldn’t be a problem if I let go of my salt and let you carry it until I needed it again…” The girl’s brow slowly raised. She fixed her eyes back on the other girl, as if finally remembering she was there. “Well, there’s one idea. You spray droplets of salt water around an area, and all of a sudden I’ve got every angle to work from to keep a villain distracted. It’s not exactly a power play – personally, I’d prefer something flashier -, but if we do end up in a situation where we’re working together, it’s good to know that that’s an option.”

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The name escaped her… That late into their school life, if Emi couldn’t match a face to a name, they were either very new, or not notable. In her eyes, at least. Hers was a harsh criterion, of course; in a school of superheroes-in-training, standing out got harder by the day. Not that it stopped her from trying.
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“Muffled. Yeah, I get it. Inconvenient, but not impossible.” Closed eyes and a slow nod told that she knew the feelings well, but rather than elaborating on that- “I’d bet. Quirks tend to not like it when you try to find loopholes in them. There’s a few people around here that use quirks I should be able to pull salt out of, but no dice. Sucks, too. Would make it way easier to get the jump on them.” Half her mouth cocked into a smirk, albeit only for a second. “That aside… I’d feel a lot better about this is we could come up with something that could actually stop a villain, instead of just setting stuff up for later.” She leaned forward in her makeshift chair. With an elbow against her knee, and her chin resting on its bent hand, she was well on her way to mimicking The Thinking Man. She sat much straighter than the statue, at least. Years of gamer girling have beaten poor posture out of her. Being occupied by trying to focus on their task (unlike somebody) meant that Melody was free to engage in her trickery without intervention, until-
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A gacha. Emi showed about as much interest as a stressed mother tending to a kid on a sugar rush… Which was to say that Melody earned little more than a raised eyebrow and a “That’s cool, pal.” She added ‘easily distracted’ and ‘very excitable’ to her analysis of Number Eight, none the wiser to the game the girl was really playing. Beneath her bottom, her crystal eroded in a matter of seconds – an unnaturally fast process, as a result of two unnatural abilities at work.
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She snapped her fingers. “I’ve got an idea. It’s gonna sound very… dark, but stay with me on this one-“ Emi might not have noticed her construct deconstructing, but it was hard to miss her vision – and body – tilting, fast. She and the chair were falling one way, but a forceful application of her quirk could make them swing the other way. And so they did. Too much. Wide eyes realised too late that the end result was the same: Emi was thrown off her chair, just at her own hand instead of Melody’s.
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How gracious of the Lady of the Lake to save her, and how humorous Emi’s face must have been, finding itself pressed against a blob of water… But not slipping through it. She lifted her head off the solid liquid while Melody revealed her grand scheme, apparently more interested in the makeshift platform than anything the girl had to say.
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That was how it looked, at least. The wethead had left Emi with a lot to process. A quick glance back at her chair – still in one piece, minus the missing leg – explained her tumble, and demonstrated the girl’s capacity for deception. That was more than she could say for a few students, in what was supposed to be casual brainstorming. A playful side to the girl, or an otherwise well-hidden imp showing her true nature?
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Emi wanted to be annoyed. Actually, she was a little, if her face was any indication. As she stood back on her feet, she seemed hesitant to speak, as if carefully choosing what insult she was going to ruin Melody’s day with. She took a deep breath in, and then-
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“For somebody so eager to find out the details of my quirk, you left out a pretty big one.” Assuming that the water remained, Emi directed an open palm and a narrow-eyed gaze at it. “You being able to make the water… that, changes a lot.” The girl gave pause. Rapid foot tapping made her attempts to keep her cool clear enough, but it only took a few seconds for her to do so.
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“Makes what I had in mind more feasible, at least. Hypothetical. We’re fighting a villain. He’s already a little knocked up, wounded maybe. You use your quirk to surround him in saltwater – encase him, really. Like a ball of water that he has to struggle to break out of. Maybe leave his head out so he can breathe. Guy’s focused on breaking himself out of the water orb… Which gets a hell of a lot harder when salt is being forced into his open wounds.” Emi assumed Melody was smart enough to connect the dots, or had spent enough time in the kitchen to have experienced it. She let it hang in the air, waiting to judge the girl’s reaction.

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