super speed and other exceptional abilities

[self_composed]

Wisconsin fast plants (so called because they are from Wisconsin, fast-growing, and plants) are the subject of Bella and Bridget's chosen bio experiment. It involves taking at least some measurements after sunset - Bella managed to find an exact specific experiment design that hasn't been done before, when she heard they were allowed to choose their own, and even though all it will determine is whether indoor plants without windows can "tell if it's night" even if you leave the light on all the time, she is slightly excited about this.

She meets Bridget there. They measure their plants in the lit room and the dark room, take pictures, and write down subjective evaluations of leaf droopiness. They leave.

They're about a third of the way to Bella's building when a man's voice behind them says, "Hello, girls."

Comments

[self_composed]

"You said no fairy godmother, but if it wasn't your own doing, and it wasn't your dad's, and people spontaneously becoming physically invulnerable isn't something on the books as a normal childhood event, maybe somebody else did it, because of that, and then if I want to find out what's going on I know where to look next. So. Non-fairy godmother? Your mom? Siblings cousins friends aunts uncles next-door neighbors?"

[regularsized]

"Why is someone else doing it any more likely than it happening spontaneously, if you've never heard of either?"

[self_composed]

"I didn't say I ruled out it happening spontaneously, but I can't get as far on that possibility through mere conversation," Bella says. "Or other routes either, really - I'm not qualified to look at your genes or whatnot even if you were inclined to let me, which, why would you, if you wanted that done you could do it yourself."

[regularsized]

"Well, to answer your question, I don't know for sure that anybody knew but there's some people that I don't know for sure that they didn't. Needless to say, I'm not in contact with any of them anymore."

[self_composed]

"Was there anything special about the day it happened, or the day before?"

[regularsized]

"Special meaning what? I was eight. I wasn't that observant."

[self_composed]

"I don't know, this phenomenon is weird enough that it could be related to anything. Was it your birthday? Did interesting things happen at school? Was the weather funky? Did you meet a strange old lady with whom you shared half of your lunch?" Bella shrugs.

[regularsized]

"You're a very curious person," Bridget observes.

[self_composed]

"Yes. Yes I am."

[regularsized]

"Okay," says Bridget. "What if I told you I'm not the only person I know who has mysterious powers spontaneously developed during childhood?"

[self_composed]

"That would be very interesting. Is the other person also indestructible? Did they also develop the power at age eight? Was it also uncommonly useful to them relative to the general population?"

[regularsized]

"I'm reluctant to tell you too much about them without asking them first, but: no, I don't think so, and less than it was for me."

[self_composed]

"Do they have an idea about where their power came from, perhaps one they haven't told you?"

[regularsized]

"If they have an idea, they definitely haven't told me about it. Our best theory so far is 'it just happens sometimes'."

[self_composed]

"How did you meet them? How'd you find out they had a power too?"

[regularsized]

"Nope," says Bridget. "I will ask them if I can talk to you about all that."

[self_composed]

Bella grumbles. "Fine. Back to your power. You've got an experimental mindset, haven't you, do you know your tolerances?"

[regularsized]

"I know my tolerances are mostly beyond my ability or inclination to find," she says. "Cold weather is uncomfortable but I didn't manage to give myself frostbite the one time I tried. I don't need oven mitts. I don't get chemical burns. I have yet to meet the impact that can so much as bruise me, and I am impermeable to sharp objects including needles, knives, and any power tool you can name. Which was very exciting to test, let me tell you. I also don't get sick, although I haven't deliberately tested my resistance to infection in any systematic way."

[self_composed]

"That must have made getting your vaccinations for school interesting," comments Bella.

[regularsized]

"If I'd gone to a school that cared, it probably would have."

[self_composed]

"Ah."

This is truly fascinating.

"What else do you know about the power? Does it vary at all with time or circumstance, does it interact with the other person's power...? Exactly how does it protect you if you're forced into some position humans typically can't occupy without injury, like if I tried that same wrist-break I used on that creep only I was also half-steamroller? Do you just fail to twist past that point, or do your various parts extend their tolerances as they go so you could in theory turn your head all the way around like an owl if you had the right machinery?"

[regularsized]

...Bridget laughs. "You have a positively vicious imagination," she says. "I haven't tested that specifically, but if I had to guess, I'd say the first one. I have broken a few drill bits, stripped the teeth off a chainsaw, and now flattened a bullet."

[self_composed]

"Would you mind awfully if I did try to break your wrist, to see for myself?"

[regularsized]

"Go for it. Where did you learn to break people's wrists, anyway?"

[self_composed]

"Snuck to aikido lessons for a while when my mom thought I was at various other things. Didn't want to tell her because she'd think it meant I felt unsafe and do silly overprotective things - and couldn't keep up when I moved, but there's Youtube and my boyfriend let me toss him around. I didn't know till tonight if I could pull it off in reality." [Fictitious backstory update: I have practiced aikido on you and can totally kick your ass therewith. We can make that non-fictitious if it appeals to you,] she informs Alice.

Bella then gets up, takes hold of Bridget's hand, and attempts the throw. "Erm," she says, when Bridget just stands there. "Oh, right, usually your tendons would be screaming at you to get on the floor now - but the technique can work on people who can't feel it if you push a little harder, by sheer leverage. Cops use it on people too drugged to feel anything all the time." She follows through harder, Bridget goes down, and she leans on the wrist.

It does not go.

"That is really fascinating."