Episode: 6.13

--- Prosperity ---

It hadn’t taken her long to make it back to her house, a perception filter she’d bound to her rooftop letting her land without worry.

The moment her feet hit her deck, she released the various little powers she used to keep her identity hidden, once more changing from Tempest, the Dreamweaver to Prosperity Jones, the young woman.

“Ariel is back!” She squealed jumping in place.

This change in identity of course meant a change in composure as well. Not that she had much in the first place.

“Yes, yes, yes!” She shouted, her [Excitement] bleeding into the various paintings she’d covered her deck in, bringing them to life as they slowly woke up to stare at her.

Something tugged on her jacket, and she glanced down to see a furry blue creature she’d been fond of painting since she was six reaching off its canvas with its four clawed hand and watching her with a mix of curiosity and concern.

“Don’t worry.” She told the painting, reaching out to pet the 2-D creature as her powers gave reality the middle finger. “I’m just excited…” she glanced around a bit before leaning in as if to share a secret. “Ariel is back!”

The blue Bwuffy, a name that made sense to her six-year-old self, gasped before wriggling around and moving to one of her other Canvas Creatures and spreading the word, causing all of her friends to generate an [Excitement] that even non-empaths would be able to feel.

She couldn’t help but shiver in delight as she fought down a mad giggle at the gibberish her various creatures spoke in, that somehow only made sense to her and little kids.

A handful of dreams overflowing with [Excitement] and [Joy] fluttered off of her, the little butterflies spawning and dancing through the air without the slightest prompting on her part.

(Pretty butterflies!)

The rational part of her frowned at that, even as the rest of her continued to smile.

(Should probably get a handle on that before something bad happens…) She thought, taking note of the spots starting to dance on the edges of her vision.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, and entered the semi-meditative trance she used whenever her sanity was slipping.

(Come on, we don’t want to follow that Wonderlander stereotype about being cloudcuckoolanders.) The rational part of her reasoned.

(But I’m so excited!) The more (wonder-full) part of her mind argued.

The more patient half of her sighed. (Yes, but we can’t be pushing too much of our power into reality.)

(But our wonderland is wONdEr-fUlL!) Her more childish half whined, and she could just picture an eight-year-old version of herself in a blue butterfly dress, stomping her foot in frustration.

(M-maybe, but do you r-really want to, to share it?) Her conscious half asked, pushing through the stab of pain in her head as her powers split themselves in two.

(With mommy and Ariel!) Her inner child nodded excitedly. (And we can play, and play, andplay, andplay,AnDpLAy,ANdPlAYaNdPLAyanDplAy-)

(W-what about all of the, the meanies wh-who made Ariel leave?) She asked cutting her more innocent half off as she felt a dampness building on her upper lip.

(NO!) Her younger self pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

(Right,) Her personal mental personification nodded, (They, they don’t deserve to see our wonderland, do they?)

(Mm-mm.) Her inner child shook her head so fast her hair flopped all over the place.

(So, let’s pull it back a bit, okay?)

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She could feel her inner child staring at her, an eerie experience when she knew it was little more than a figment of her imagination to represent her powers. (Or at least that’s what I hope she is…)

(Fine…) Her inner child conceded with a tone of disappointment, before fading back into the recesses of her mind.

From there it took a few more minutes for her emotions mellowed back into the more human range of things rather than the extremes most Wonderlanders tended to drift between.

(Damn it, that was close…)

As she held her head in her hands, she took note of the handful of butterflies fluttering about around her, before sending them off with the mental request to find someone having a bed day and to make it better.

A couple of the little dreams tried to flutter back to her and shooed them away with a half-amused grin. (And that’s why imaginary friends are the best friends.)

Shaking off the odd mix of emotions inside her, she stepped back into her house, before finally wiping at the bloody dampness on her mouth, a simple flex of her powers sending the blood into nothingness.

(Going to have to be careful until things calm down…)

Wonderlanders were emotional creatures by nature, their emotional limits being much larger than most adults, which was a dangerous thing when one took into account that too many emotions caused most Wonderlanders to lose their minds, something she’d already risked more times than she was comfortable with.

(Honestly, I’m lucky I’m just talking to myself…)

Shaking her head at that thought she began making her way through her studio, the walls of the old attic covered in a wide landscape of grassy plains, shadowy forests, and singing rivers with a mid-day sky above. As she walked across the room even more of her Canvas Creatures came out from hiding behind bits of furniture and the painted foliage, odd beings spawned from the mind of a child with an overactive imagination and brought to life once that child figured out how to infuse her paints with Madness as a teenager.

“Prosperity, is that you?”

She paused at her mother’s voice.

If she’d seen the news or heard about the Creep incursion some other way, she’d probably be worried, even knowing her daughter was Tempest.

(I should probably let her know I’m okay.)

“Yeah, I’ll be down in one second.” She called back, as she started down the stairs.

Besides she really wanted to tell someone about Ariel.

As she made it to the first floor, she glanced around the café making sure no one customers were waiting, or that there were any eavesdroppers so she could talk about everything, before going into the kitchen where her mother was pulling something out of the oven and setting it on the counter.

“Everything alright my little tempest?” Her mom asked with a small smile. “I wasn’t expecting you back for another hour or two, with the ceremony going on.”

“Y-yeah, something came up and I had to bail.” She waved her mom off, deciding not to worry her about the incursion if she didn’t already know. (Small mercies I guess…)

Her mom gave her a concerned look. “Did you manage to give your speech?”

“Ariel ‘s back!” She blurted without even thinking, since the whole point of her giving a speech was to defend Ariel and the Corrupted anyway.

Her mom blinked for a moment. “Um, what was that dear?”

She began bouncing on her heels, the excitement just too much to bear as she once more blurted out, “Ariel is back!”

It took her mom a moment to figure out what she’d squealed out, but once the older woman did a wide smile broke out across her face. “Really?!”

Still bouncing in place, she nodded rapidly, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get anything else coherent out, as her [Excitement] began to build once more.

“That’s wonderful!” Her mother laughed pulling her into a hug, which she gladly bled all of her [Excitement] into.

“Butterflies dear.”

She pulled back and winced just now noticing the number of yellow and green butterflies flying about like drunken speedsters as they fluttered about and crashed into each other.

“Sorry.” She winced, sending them back to her dream and reclaiming what resources she could from them, the process sadly pushing her bits of excitement back into the depths of her being.

“Don’t worry about it, sweetie.” Her mom consoled her with an amused smile.

(Kind of have reason to, mom…) Not that she’d told her mom about the downsides of being a Wonderlander, when she came out about her powers.

After a moment her mother frowned, and for a second she wondered if she’d inherited her more Empathic abilities from the older woman.

“Wait, if Ariel is back, then why are you here so early?” Her mom asked bypassing her fears. “I’d have thought you’d want to spend the whole day with him.”

That put enough of a dampener on her excitement that what

“That’s uh… Sanctuary showed up.” She finally bit out, contemplating letting a few Nightmares loose on their base, regardless of consequences.

“Oh, my little Tempest…” Her mom pulled her in for another hug, running her hands through Prosperity’s hair like she had whenever she was upset as a little girl.

“It’s fine.” She eventually admitted as she pulled back from the hug, because even if she wasn’t actually upset, her mom still gave the best hugs. “I managed to talk to him, we’re meeting up around ten a couple of blocks over.”

“You know you could’ve invited him here.” Her mom pointed out with a teasing smile. “I’d just love to meet the boy you’ve been going to all this effort to help for the last year.”

“I-it’s not like that.” She scowled. “Ariel is my best friend that’s all.”

“You sure, because I remember a lot of flirting in the videos, I’ve seen of you two.”

Her face heated up at that memory. “A-Ariel was a flirt; it was all one-sided.”

Her mom gave her an amused smirk. “Su~re it was.”

“Look I um, uh, I have to get some Guild… stuff, for Ariel.” She told her mom, deciding it was best to make a tactical retreat.

“Alright dear.” Her mother nodded, mercifully letting her go.

She took one step before her mom decided to shoot her in the back as she ran.

“And don’t worry, I’ll make sure you have a full picnic dinner for your da~te!”

“I-it’s not a date!” Not that she’d deny it if it was, which she wouldn’t, (because it’s not!)