A desperate and possibly in leave of their senses, teenager, is who would be foolish enough to rob a grocery store.

The building wasn’t even that big, and there were only a couple of checkout lanes. The robber had a balaclava on his head, obstructing everything but his eyes, mouth, and nose. There was an angry set to his lips, and his eyes practically ablaze. Yuriko wasn’t sure what he was so angry about though, since he was the one waving a snub-nosed revolver at the cashier’s face.

The poor woman already had her till open and she was hastily shoving the bills into a bag. There was only one robber, thankfully, but the gun terrorised everyone in the building, and no wonder, since the security guard was laid out on the floor, holding a bloody hand against his side.

The robber looked at Yuriko when she entered and barked, “You! On the floor, now!”

When she didn’t move, he pointed his gun at her. “Now, you bimbo!” he yelled.

That was when she lunged at him and struck his hand…or what she would have done anyway. Mindful of the fact that she wasn’t alone, and she was sure there were cameras recording the scene. She slowly followed his order, though she made sure her Anima was ready to interpose between where the gun was aimed and her skin. If he shot her, she wasn’t sure if her incarnation body could shrug it off but she was certain her Anima could keep her safe.

Just wait until the robber finished his business then she could leave. Or do something else, if needed.

“Hurry up, you!” he yelled at the cashier, even as his head swivelled towards the door and back. Once the till was empty, he shot the revolver at the ceiling and ran off.

The crowd looked nervous as Yuriko got off the floor with a huff while she brushed the dust off her jeans and shirt. She doubted she’d get her groceries now. The cashier was nervously calling someone on her phone, while another rushed up to the stricken security guard. She didn’t know what to do, so she simply left to avoid adding to the problem.

The store, Lo-Down Supermart by name, was tucked away just outside of Trinity Valley, which was about a couple of leagues from Neo Prism City centre. The metropolis spanned across a wide river, into two islands in the middle, and most of the surroundings. The suburbs and actual urban area had melted into each other a decade or so ago, and Lo-Down was at the edge of the zones and development had ground to a halt. Lilibeth went here because most items were just a bit cheaper than the bigger grocery stores. The neighbourhood wasn’t as good, but it wasn’t that bad.

She heard sirens pierce the air when she exited the grocery, but there was no sign of the gunman. At least, not immediately outside the store. She spread her Anima perception, trusting the brightness of the afternoon Sun to mask her aura. Surprisingly, she found something in the alley, a building away from where she stood. The range of her perception was still about triple her normal, but because her Anima’s density was triple, it didn’t need to deform into tendrils to reach that far.

Driven by a sense of pride and more than a bit of annoyance at not answering a challenge, she strode briskly down the street and into the space between buildings. There, she ran into the robber. Unconscious and hanging upside down, secured to the metal emergency stairs by a piece of…rope? The bag with the stolen Torries was underneath the robber, and…well, his balaclava had been pulled off his face, revealing a relatively young man who couldn’t be out of his teens. There was also a piece of paper attached to the man’s shirt that read: One robber caught, courtesy of the Weavemaster.

“Huh,” Yuriko muttered, then turned around and left the alley. She didn’t even think about taking the Torries. She might be short on it next week, but she wouldn’t take what wasn’t hers. Her interference wasn’t necessary either, and she didn’t want to be entangled with the authorities. She wondered if the Weavemaster was an Altered since there was little reason to avoid notice otherwise.

She stuck around until the healers…paramedics came to take the security guard to the hospital. He was pale and withdrawn, and she hoped the man would make it. All he was doing was his job, after all.

Once the man was loaded into the ambulance, the hullabaloo ended and the grocery returned to business as usual, which shouldn’t have surprised her. She expected them to remain closed for the day, allowing the traumatised employees to recover, but apparently not. Oh well.

Yuriko re-entered Lo-Down and went about buying food. The grain was called rice and it was easy enough to store. When cooked, it was quite filling and would fit many dishes. It wasn’t too expensive, she thought, for the amount she could buy and how long it would last her. Then she got some beans, root vegetables, lean cuts of meat, chicken breasts and pork loins mostly, and half a Jin of leafy greens. This should last her a week…maybe. Her appetite, now that she was back to training her physique, had grown tremendously. She supplemented the intake by absorbing ambient Chaos and Radiant sunlight, but nothing quite beat actual meals. Too bad nothing she possessed made it to her incarnation body.

‘I’ll probably have to work longer hours,’ she thought to herself. She didn’t mind that, really, but her memories from Lilibeth were of being tired of her part-time work.

Stolen novel; please report.

Lilibeth took a journalism course, but Yuriko wasn’t sure if she’d keep it. While the former self had been enamoured of people’s stories and writing them down, Yuriko was certain she wouldn’t enjoy the process at all. Thankfully, while she was on that course in the university, as a fresher, she was still on the general education point, and wouldn’t take any major subjects until next semester. Ah, classes early tomorrow morning. Then work after lunch.

She stowed her groceries inside the scooter’s basket, fired up the machine and drove down towards Whilton Apartments, humming softly to herself. All the while, her true body continued her massacre of antibodies, slowly but surely inching towards mastery, and hopefully, an eventual improvement of her Ennoia.

____________

In the shadows along the rooftops, a masked and costumed figure stared down the alleyway with more than a little interest in their eyes. They watched the confident, blonde woman walk nonchalantly away from where the robber had been trussed up and returned to the grocery, acting as if violence, up close and personal, was a normal occurrence.

‘Her body glowed for a bit,’ they thought. ‘A newly Altered?’

Rubbing their chin, Weavemaster mused on whether there was something to capitalise on this or not, and whether they should make contact. Something about the woman’s gait felt dangerous, and the supreme confidence told them not to approach carelessly.

‘Whether ‘tis arrogance or confidence remains to be seen.’

But the crux of the matter was that they saw a potential Altered’s face unmasked, and there was always an advantage to be gained from knowing someone’s true identity.

________

The rest of the afternoon was spent cooking, packing, and then cleaning up. Thanks to the fact that she was alone and that she could easily cover the windows, the task was made incredibly easier with Animakinesis. What would have taken Lilibeth several hours only took Yuriko a couple, and by dinner time, she was free to do anything else.

She hadn’t slept since arriving in Astoria, so after eating, Yuriko did her evening ablutions and readied herself for bed. Still, at seven o’clock in the evening, it was a bit early to sleep, so she lounged on the sofa and turned on the television set to browse.

The first channel was set on the news and it was of an elderly man speaking animatedly in front of an audience. The banner at the bottom of the screen read: Senator Brent Conway pusher for the Altered Human Registration Act.

“...they are a loaded gun hidden from plain sight. Every Altered has the potential for great harm. We have the Civilian Firearm Registration Law, yet we’re dithering on this one!” The man continued to spew his rhetoric, circling around the same points chopped finely enough that at first glance, they might seem fresh. Yuriko listened for a while, more to figure out what other people thought of Altered. It didn’t bode well for her, but then again, if nobody else trained their Anima, then she was practically invincible.

Except for the Altered, of course. The newsreel showed a long-distance shot of one, wreathed in lightning. The Altered stood on a hilltop overlooking a city, and when it pointed an imperious hand, the lightning coiled around its arm and shot out a blast that levelled the buildings in its wake.

Yuriko drew a surprised breath. That level of power was higher than what Johann showed her. She sighed as she realised she’d done the right thing by being inconspicuous. Then, she felt her heartbeat quicken at the thought of challenging such power, even while her incarnation was limited. That was what she was missing. Most of her foes now were too weak. Her Anima could easily overpower whatever they could throw at her, and where was the challenge? She had to limit herself, and while it worked somewhat, it was stifling at times. That level of power was something her true body could do easily, but she doubted her incarnation could reach that point in a short time. Perhaps there were more.

Now…maybe she shouldn’t be too happy with having possible foes who were capable of mass destruction, especially of cities with innocent bystanders. The thought sobered her up and filled her with disgust. Where was their pride? To strike down at those weaker than they were?

But then, the hate-filled face of Senator Conley returned and his rhetoric grew in vitriol. Perhaps if they were faced with such prejudice?

Lilibeth’s knowledge of history was a bit spotty and Yuriko needed to know more. If she was to live in Astoria for a while, she should be aware of such things. But…would she be able to read properly? She hadn’t tried yet, but she suspected the problem remained.

She changed the channel with a huff, flicking through more than a few. Most of what she stopped at turned out to be commercials selling this or that product or service, and having been inundated by such in Dragon Fall City, she had little patience for it. But then again, the ads here weren’t quite as obnoxious.

Her channel switching halted when the next scene showed her a hall filled with different medical machines. The doctors were clustered around a patient, but most of their conversation was about their private love lives. Despite herself, Yuriko put down the remote control and watched the drama.

She felt a budding anticipation as the lead characters had apparently been harbouring a flame for each other but hadn’t gathered the courage to say so. Instead, they foolishly had relationships with other colleagues and it was only when their partners cheated on them that the chance for their romance to blossom came up.

It was an insipid drama, but why was it that Yuriko’s gaze was riveted? The actors of the sordid play were quite comely, but they couldn’t compare to the physical beauty of her lovers.

It was only when she cheered loudly when the leads finally kissed that she realised why. Lilibeth loved this Sunsday afternoon drama, General Admissions, and the desire to watch the thing was inherited.

“Ancestors,” Yuriko muttered as she reached for the remote to change the channel, but she paused when the scene cut to the two getting busy inside a broom closet. Huh. That wasn’t something that was shown in theatre plays.

Despite herself, it was close to ten o’clock in the evening before she realised that she’d been staring at the set for three hours.

She shivered in fright. That so much time passed without her realising it wasn’t that unusual, but it had always been in training, never while staring at something like that.

“Scary…” she muttered as she finally turned off the television set and plopped onto her bed. Tomorrow would be a test of her ability to blend in, and she worried she would fail. And…her bed felt cold and lonely.