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As it turns out, being a human was not all that it was cut out to be.
Katie had thought she knew everything there was to know about the creatures. You know, being the Mother of All and stuff. But somehow, there was so much that she’d missed.
And there were just so many- THINGS.
For one, humans had a daily requirement of sustenance to function properly AND what she consumed had to be from the most random selection of "food”.
Like, why can she eat things that leave a sharp tingling like her tongue is burning or suspicious looking so-called delicacies, but it’s “not safe” for her to eat lava?
She had to collect her own materials because the world’s minerals weren’t a catalog at her fingertips. She had to walk, swim, or climb to go anywhere because humans couldn’t fly BUT their bodies grew tired easily. And that was just the start of the list of negatives.
Suffice to say, it was hard for Katie to not hate her decision to keep playing human sometimes.
Especially when she could just as easily, if not more, end it all.
Here and now. Forever.
After all, it was a trying task to constantly try to gauge how accurately “human” her charms, actions, and mindset were. Doubly so when her only frame of reference was her former height of divinity.
But on the bright side, she’s sure her adventures in human skin will eventually prove informative once she returns to her role as The Mother of All. Thus, until the time comes for her homecoming, she will do her best to stick it out, even if all the residents of this island are insistent on making her days here as miserable as possible.
In any case, Katie has certainly been struggling among the humans, but her biggest problem was an issue she had only recently realized existed.
The problem in question?
Humans’ emotions aren’t supposed to be linked to the people around them! (Who knew?! Certainly not Katie)
Anywho, if there was one thing you can count on Katie for, it was being full to bursting with emotions, whether it be her bright pink fireworks of happiness or the rippling splash of navy-blue hurt.
And so, for someone as emotionally volatile as Katie—combined with her admittedly naive grasp of earthly constructs—to say the open-door policy on her emotions was taken advantage of was the understatement of the millennia (in her humble opinion).
Sure, at first it was only little things that the islanders did with their advantage over her.
Like when she’d first arrived on the island, bursting with boisterous attitude, some playful islanders would tease and egg her on the moment they felt the dull yellow crawling of falsity permeate into the confidence she shared with them.
But once they fully learned of the ace they held up their sleeve, it was quickly used to manipulate her. Hurt her.
And few on the island could say they were innocent of this.
Katie was an open book when it came to her emotions, even without her pathokinesis.
But with it, she was torn apart page by page until she was only a cover.
And so she learned.
She stole back the pages she could and abandoned the ones she couldn’t. As such, Katie slowly began to reign in her emotions from those outside her select few. First, she only loosened her hold of her emotions to just those she liked. Then, her hold tightened unless it was just her allies. At some point in the process, Katie had choked her emotions to the point they dimmed into apathy.
However, there was a sole exception.
His name was Multi.
He was the single confidant with which she entrusted to keep her emotions closely guarded. And as her last true connection standing (combined with her own improved control of her ability), the strength of their emotional bond far surpassed her prior projections.
Now, no matter the distance or dimension, Multi is the sole receiver of her happiness and heartaches. So while her emotions still feel foreign in his chest, they have come to exist within him just like his own.
As a fellow whirlwind of emotion, he understands her better than anyone else.
Whereas Katie suffocated most of her feelings, Multi masks his own behind cold logic, disguising personal motives as calculations.
And despite the issues brought upon by her own selfishness, he couldn’t close his heart to her, nor could she, him.
Most think them an odd pair, his ruthless demeanor joined with her unserious mannerisms.
But they work.
Quite well in fact!
Katie had been relearning trust and was learning to be more selective about it. Allowing herself to share again with the people she rationally knew loved and supported her but had feared being burned by again so she closed herself off before it could happen.
Multi learned from her emotions as well, soothed by how freely Katie let them be around him. He even began to allow emotions to coexist with logic, without attempting to justifying them with twisted logic.
But when an unknown darkness ebbed over her emotions, Multi immediately recognized the severity of the situation.
It was a regular day in the reactor when the telltale wash of foreign emotions overcomes him. He recognized the sensation as his connection to Katie and was about to continue with his work when he sensed an oddity.
There was a complete newness to what Katie was feeling right now.
The emotion felt like a pervasive ink dunked in pale yellow, like it was desperately trying to obscure the void-like color but only managed to lighten it a shade.
It had a pinprick sharpness to it that stung his hands.
Multi paused, dropping his tools to focus, attuned to just Katie.
He waited in silence as the new emotion grew. It crept over him despite the faint warming wash of pearlescent white which meant protection marking the presence of her older brother, Don.
He figured Katie would still be with her brother, seeing as she’d left to chat with him less than an hour ago, but if so then what did this mean? What on earth could be happening with her? To make her feel what he could only assume was fear, which would be the first time he’s ever known her to experience it.
For a few more minutes, Multi continued to partake in Katie’s fear until it spiked, plateaued, and finally began to ebb.
He sent Katie a message on his communicator, inviting her over as nonchalantly as he could.
She arrived, soaked in ocean water for some reason, but when they locked eyes, he shared in her soft pink waves of relief.
They wordlessly joined hands as Multi led her to his bedroom, where she changed into some of Multi’s looser clothing. The silence continued as they sat beside each other on his bed.
He didn’t offer empty platitudes or try to impose the (admittedly violent) solutions he had in mind for whatever had happened with Katie. But he’d eventually learn that just his quiet acceptance was exactly what she needed.
In the meanwhile, Multi tried to imagine what he would do the next time he saw Don.
After all, he needed to have a chat with him, or rather, Don would be having a word with his loaded raygun.