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It'd been several weeks since Rioko reset the year. She wasn't sure exactly how long it'd been. Learning a new calendar and the fact she never kept track of time very well, left over habit of Duviri, made it rough. She knew day and night, but that was about it.
She'd been getting to know the members of The Hex and was really enjoying all their company. It was nice to have company in this loop she'd unintentionally created, or at least company that enjoyed having her around. Gaining everyone's trust was slow going with some. So far it seemed like Quincy was warming up to her to fastest. Arthur, not so much. He trusted her about as far as he could throw her, which was far.
Currently, Rio was perched on the railing of the second floor of the mall, over looking the food court. Feet flat on the railing with her knees pressed up to her chest. Aoi called it “the Asian squat” and was the only one in The Hex who could also do it. Amir could get close, but his balance wasn’t as good.
She'd been asked about the perching habit several times and can't really explain why she started doing it. It was comfortable to her and she could easily start running if she needed. A working theory is it's a defense mechanism from Duviri.
Rio was disassociating, arms crossed over her knees with her chin resting on her arms, and had a vague idea of what was happening around her.
Amir had been walking through the food court when he noticed Rioko perched up above. He gave her a smile and a wave and then realized she wasn't "there". He let out a sigh, smile fading, and gained the attention of Aoi, who came over with a raised eyebrow.
"She's doing it again!" Amir pointed to Rio.
Aoi looked, brows furrowing and sighed. "Of all the places, why there?" She started towards the stairs, but stopped as she saw Quincy trotting up them.
"Her balance is really impressive." Amir said, putting a hand on his hip, head tilted to the side, as they continued watching Rio. Aoi stood beside him, arms crossed over her chest.
Quincy didn't take long to get to Rio's side, looking her up and down as he leaned against the railing she'd perched on. He shook his head when she didn't move, not even looking at him. Some defense mechanism.
With a quick and solid shove, he pushed Rio off the railing.
Rio made a sound close to the start of a scream, but it was cut off as Rio disappeared, blue-purple sparkles where she’d been.
This stunned the three Hex members. Aoi and Amir exchanged a look. How would they explain this to Arthur?
Then Rio reappeared on the ground floor, on the other side of the food court, taking a couple quick steps before coming to a stop. She whirled around to face Quincy, glaring. "What the Hell?!!"
Chaos erupts as Amir is suddenly in front of Rio, startling her. “Why didn’t you tell us you could teleport?!!” he demanded.
Quincy and Aoi are yelling questions at her as well. Quincy is sprinting down the stairs to join them in the food court. Aoi trots over to join beside Amir.
Arthur and Lettie came out from their respective rooms.
"Oi!!" Lettie yelled from upstairs, but it only added to the chaos. She sighed and quickly headed down the stairs.
Quincy joined the group, coming up on Amir’s other side. He asked more questions. Aoi seemed to just be talking, very excited. Rio was unable to keep up with it all, eye wide as she tried to figure out who was asking what.
Arthur sighed and shook his head before letting out a sharp whistle, instantly stopping the chaos. Everyone looked at him.
"What in Sol’s name is going on?!" Arthur demanded as he strode to the group.
"Rio can teleport!" Amir immediately blurted, big grin plastered on his face.
Arthur raised an eyebrow, confused. He looked from Amir to Rio.
Rio sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's...It's a little like teleporting, but also not?"
"You were up there! And now you're here! And you didn't jump! You just disappeared and reappeared!" Amir kept talking, using his hands to emphasize where Rio had been and where she was now.
Lettie nudged him with a pointed look and he immediately shut up.
Arthur gave Rio a hard stare, almost a glare. He hated that there was so much mystery about her and her explanations didn't always make sense and often led to more questions.
Rio shifted a little bit, always feeling small when Arthur looked at her like that. "It's called Void Sling. It's not... Exactly teleportation, but...uhm..." she frowned as she tried to figure out how to explain something she barely understood her self.
“More Void shit?” Quincy let out exasperated sigh, though he wasn’t mad like Arthur was. Quincy seemed to understand some of Rio’s explanations better than the others. If he didn’t understand he at least had different insights. Somehow it always ended up being related to The Void.
“Heh,” Rio smirked and then shrugged her shoulders. “I’m made up of Void Shit.”
The banter didn’t ease Arthur’s expression. If anything it made the glare worse, his eyes moving from Rio to Quincy and back again.
“Could you try to explain?” he asked.
Rio took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Using Void energy I am shot through the Void plane, going from one place to another.”
“You’re teleporting.” Amir said matter-of-factly, a proud smile on his face. It was cute.
Rio shrugged slightly. “Yeah, sure, but I can’t go wherever I want. I have to be able to see where I’m going.”
“Oh.” Amir’s shoulders dropped. That wasn’t as cool.
Arthur raised an eyebrow, the tension in his shoulders easing some. That actually made sense, well more than usual. “So there’s constraints to it?”
“Yeah. I can only go so far and I can’t go through objects.” Rio said, glad Arthur was relaxing a bit.
“Restricted teleportation...Void Sling does sound a lot cooler.” Amir nodded in approval.
Rio smiled at him with a nod. “It does.”
“How far can you go?” Arthur asked, arms crossed over his chest. His glare was gone and he was curious now.
“Uh, about 20 meters.” Rio looked at him. She hadn’t ever measured, but it was her best guess.
“Can you show us?” Arthur curiously asked.
Rio nodded and the group spent the next hour seeing what Rio could do. This included a race with Amir, which he won because Rio can only Sling twice in a row. It ended up being a really good bonding experience for all of them. Eventually they started to disperse.
“Quincy!” Rio called, trotting after him so he wouldn’t get far.
“Mm? What’s up?” Quincy stopped to look at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Why did you push me?” Rio asked.
He smirked and let out a soft chuckle. “I wanted to see what would happen.”