Judy had been told by various people over her life that she wasn't normal. She considered this to be a ridiculous concept, after all if people were calling her odd, then they couldn’t be too well-adjusted themselves. To tell the truth, she considered herself quite normal, which is why she was hovering 3 feet above the ground. Now this wasn’t inherently surprising on its own, after all, the sheer technological advancements that have been made in the last 20 years were amazing, or so people said, for Judy, she had lived her entire life with wonders, so it was hardly something to gawk at. At 22, Judy Thernia had grown up during the storm that ravaged the way people saw science, the storm had a name. Potentia. The aforementioned storm of course, not being a literal storm, was a completely new technology. What had been done with it would have been regarded as magic by the prior generation. The closely guarded secrets of potentia allowed the creation of devices such as the belt Judy was wearing. A propulsion device made to negate gravity, making the user technically lighter, or, with perfect mathematical precision, allowing the user to hover. The issue with the belt is that it was broken, or rather, it never worked to begin with, a replica. See Judy wasn't using the belt to hover, it was something else, something not quite normal, that gave her that ability, with far greater control than such a belt could achieve.
“Judy, hey! You coming back inside or what?” Evelyn Terce, where to start? Warm, dark hair that flowed to the shoulders, lightly kissing her chocolate stained skin. A bright, translucent pink dress that followed the current style — made of a synthetic, plastic material opaque only at the waist and chest. Light blue eyes and soft features, the only child of the man behind potentia, as the media so gallantly portrayed her. A compliment in their mind, but not so much in hers as Judy had learned. Sighing she opened her unusual eyes, straightening from her calming, meditative pose with belated movements before pretending to adjust her belt and descending to the concrete. “Just give me a minute Eve.”
Eve lowered her voice to a whisper “Your not having one of your… yknow…. attacks?”
Tactful as always, Eve was referring to something that Judy called, at least in her own company, light sensory overload. Flashing lights, loud noises and too much on her mind left her feeling... overwhelmed. Judy of course considered this a fairly normal thing, but Eve insisted on seeing them as some kind of epileptic fits, never content with normality, it had to be dramatic, or it wasn't worth time.
“You really should see a tendoc about that stuff, probably got some kind of enhancements that could help”
“A wonderful suggestion, except they’re not attacks Eve and there’s nothing wrong with me.” Was Judy’s terse reply. Stubbornly without enhancements, a stance that was none too popular nowadays, she wasn't about to look for a fix to something she’d lived her entire life dealing with perfectly fine.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Sure sure, anyway. You gonna join us or what?” Silently cursing at Eve’s ignorance, Judy moved to follow her. The wall seemingly melting with a wave of the hand from Eve. The bar was following the new style of furniture, meaning hidden doors that fade in and out, burnished steel tables and chairs with bright LED lights sunken in accompanied by garish projections of distorted animals wandering around. In other words, a catalyst of overstimulation for anyone, by Judy’s estimation at least. She wasn't even sure why she’d agreed to come out, well that's not exactly true, Eve had bullied her into it.
“Dislocate, Relocate” Judy repeated, muttering to herself as the door reappeared behind her, the urge to do so not completely removed by her short respite, and quickly starting to rise again.
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Sitting around one of the garish tables was the group of girls Evelyn had dragged Judy out with. Hannah, Leif, Niko, Yggdra and Ash. Judy stopped muttering, replacing it, or at least trying to with a smile.
“You alright?”Ash’s husky voice intoned, her ice-white brows furrowing.
“Yeah, we were all kinda worried when you ran out like that” Leif jumped in. At this comment, Hannah raised an eyebrow before quickly resetting her face to one of concern. Judy assured them that she just needed a breath of air and the girls continued their conversation. The topic moved on to the newest ‘tenmod’ enhancements, causing Judy to shift uncomfortably. Everyone else on the table was visibly modded and as usual she found her eyes drifting to Eve’s chest, where her low cut dress exposed the slightest shift in colour from her skin. Judy knew at this point not to ask her friend about it, but it didn’t stop her wondering what function could possibly require such extensive modding. As she was musing, a table near them erupted into sound, accusations of cheat shouted at a short man, cards held in a fan in front of his bright red jacket. Trying to focus elsewhere Judy looked at the table, only to be met with a rapidly flashing white light. A lion with thin, green legs attached to massive yellow paws took the opportunity to sidle up to her and roar, the apparition not quite having mass but still somehow eliciting a response from her shoulder. The now familiar feeling taking over as Judy’s gut began to sing, the sensation rising up her throat. Judy tried to tamp it down, but it started to sear, it needed release. Yggdra, Leif and Niko turned and narrowed their eyes towards Judy as she buckled in pain. The conversation stilled as Ash tried to help Judy to her feet, guiding her towards the bathroom, setting her down and handing her a paracetamol patch before closing the door to the stall. Ash was speaking, but Judy couldn't hear, it was all muted, the only thing she could listen to was the force building inside her. Release. It needed release. And so it was, a strangled whisper of Dislocate, leaving nothing behind but a fluttering strip of painkiller.