“Right
then,” Juliet commented to herself as she looked up and down the last road of
her delivery route, “It took twenty minutes yesterday, I bet I can do it in
nineteen today.”
As
she reset her stopwatch, she tried to ignore the fact that it was probably a
bad idea to be even trying to break her record today with all of the ice and
snow that had started to become a regular feature on her route the closer she
got to Christmas. It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if there had not been a
fresh snow fall overnight, hiding the most treacherous patches of ice
underneath a layer of freshly fallen, still quite powdery snow.
But
then she relished a challenge. She would not be pushing herself to improve if
she did not. Not with the skills she had acquired.
“Right.”
She spoke to herself as she pulled the last pile of letters out of her bag and moved
to press the button, “Three, two, one...”
She
pressed the button and suddenly there was not a postwoman any more, but a blur of
red and black that shot up the road, a figure appearing briefly at each door in
order to post the letters through before vanishing back into the blur.
The
blur was just reaching the final door when she slipped on one of the hidden
patches of ice, went tumbling and crashed into one of the parked cars, sending
the last few letters everywhere.
“Ow.”
Juliet complained as she picked herself up, wincing slightly as she rotated the
shoulder that had hit the car first and started picking the mail up. It was not
the first time she had hit something at that speed, when she had first been
adjusting to the powers the World Sphere had granted her, she had not been very
good at breaking at all. She had improved in the last year but the rapid healing
that she had gained had been incredibly useful this time last year.
She
posted the last mail and then hit the button on the stopwatch, glowering at the
clock for its time of fourteen minutes and seven seconds. She knew she had only
dropped those two minutes because of the crash, but it still ticked her off.
At
least, she thought as she dropped off her equipment home and got changed, she
was done for the day. Super speed was cheating, but it meant that she finished
her rounds much earlier than any other postman or woman and when she was done
with her route, she was done for the day. This meant that today, as on most
days, she had the entire afternoon all to herself.
Or
she would have if she had not been called by one of her friends from the Club
last night to double check that she was okay for filming today. She did not
mind too much. Nicola, aka Snap, was in her final year and Juliet remembered what
hers had been like. She was quite happy to do almost anything to make the
stress of that year easier on her friend.
And
since Snap was a film student, with a project to do that involved creating a
short film, if this meant going in and acting for a while, she was good with
that. Especially considering the genre involved played to the strengths of the
Club.
She
darted across town, weaving through the traffic and darting onto the university
grounds. She had to slow down as she hit the padestrianized zone in order to
walk at what should be a normal pace but was slow enough to Juliet’s mind that
she was practically at a snail’s pace. It did not take long, however, for her
to reach the building she needed and find the studios where her friend was
waiting.
As
she walked through the door she found that Nicola had her back to the door and
had not even noticed her enter, causing her to grin as she said, “I hate ice.”
The
offhand comment from nowhere made Nicola jump and wheel around. When she saw
who had spoken she let out a heavy sigh and glowered at the speaker. “Juliet,
seriously, a little warning when you arrive. Please?”
Juliet
just continued to grin as she shucked her work boots, a pair of boots with
heavy treads for her favoured trainers. Emerald green eyes dancing in their amusement,
as she took a moment to let her chocolate brown hair down and brush it tidy
before putting it back up.
“How
was work?” Nicola grumbled as she turned back to her cameras, the small, black
haired, brown eyed girl trying not to get ticked off at her friend.
“Eh,
busier then yesterday, not as busy as tomorrow.” Juliet shrugged, moving over
to see if she could help, “With Christmas coming up fast the post is just in
heaps when I get there in the mornings. Deliveries are a breeze though.”
“With
your skills, yeah.” Nicola couldn’t help but be amused at that as she finished
setting up, “You’re early.”
“I’m
always early.” Juliet boasted, “It’s hard not to be.”
“Speedster,
your ego is showing again.” Nicola poked her in the chest, a wry smile on her
face as Juliet paused for a moment before looking sheepish. “Honestly, I
thought you had that under control.”
“I’m
allowed to boast occasionally. You should hear some of the others after a
couple of rounds.” Speedster responded, settling at her side for just long
enough to pick out the props belonging to her before pacing the room, unable to
stay still for more than a few moments at a time without something big to focus
on.
“You
lot have been drinking?! In public?” Nicola’s yelp caused Juliet to pause and
chuckle.
“No,
no. Don’t worry.” Juliet waved her concern off. “If we’re going to get so drunk
we’re boasting, it’s done in the halls, well away from anyone else. After all,
I’m the only graduate in our group.”
“And
as such you’re supposed to be the responsible one.” Her friend grouched at her,
“You know, trimming the excesses and stopping bad ideas like that?”
“Hey,
in my defence I’m not anyone’s boss.” Speedster complained, “And if you remember,
Snap, I never agreed to referee our little group. I’m not a teacher or their
parents, so I don’t actually have the right to tell anyone what to do.”
“But
you’re...” Snap trailed off at the sharp look Juliet was giving her. Nicola
knew what was wrong. Speedster didn’t want to sit on anyone, because she
remembered all too well what had happened when everything had first changed for
the club and one of them had tried to suppress the changes and hadn’t been able
to take the fact they were no longer ‘normal.’ Just trying to behave to another’s
rules of normality had sent one member of their club crazy and another had
ended it all after getting chased by police. “Oh...right.” Snap breathed,
looking apologetic, “I’m sorry, Speeds.”
“It’s
fine.” Emerald eyes shifted away from Nicola, towards the window where she
could see snow beginning to fall, “I just wish...”
“You
didn’t know they would do that, you couldn’t have.” Snap reminded her. Thinking
of last December, almost a year to the day now, when everything had changed so
drastically for about thirty or so lives. “Besides, it wasn’t you who found the
first set.”
Juliet’s
response was to pull something out of her bag, a smallish box, probably about
five inches long by five wide and just as tall. She opened it and pulled out a
small sphere that from Nicola’s perspective seemed to emit a bright glow. She
knew what it was though.
“You
brought your World Sphere?” Snap asked, moving over to get a proper look at it
and see what images it was providing today.
“I
don’t leave it anywhere unattended.” Speedster replied with a soft tone and
slight scowl. “It’s not safe, not after...” She trailed off as the images
inside the glass ball shifted from roaming green hills to a city not unlike
venice, which had a great, decorated torch which they knew was lit only once a
year, during an important festival.
“No,
and with your house full of builders at the moment, I suppose it’s probably
better than it doing to them what it did to you.” Snap agreed, reminded as the
images passed some houses, that Speedster didn’t really have much peace and
quiet. Between club gatherings and problems arising and work and builders, the
oldest of their number often found herself with no way to unwind without going
for a run. And nowadays that was getting harder and harder with the roads
steadily being covered over in ice and snow.
The
closer it was getting to Christmas the more enclosed they were all feeling
though. For some of them it wasn’t too bad. The club members like Snap, who had
not ‘Fused’ to super powered individuals, didn’t mind the cold weather
curtailing expeditions outside to parks and long runs through the woods. For
those like Speedster whose Fusions had resulted in gifts of power, the fact
that they couldn’t let off steam once every so often was becoming a nightmare
and it was even worse for the girl in front of her.
Speedster
had been a runner before she had Fused with the fastest being amongst all the
individuals from the world. A being who, in his own world, was never still for
more than a few moments or when he was sleeping. She wanted to be able to run
and it was often only her job which allowed her to blaze round town at full
speed.
“Have
you tried wellies?” Snap couldn’t help but offer, wondering if they would help
against the cold, wet, frozen ground and allow her friend to speed along without
worrying about breaking a leg or worse.
“Wellies?”
Speedster blinked at her for a moment, conFusion obvious at the sudden subject
change, “For what?”
“For
running in the snow,” Snap chuckled, amused by the other girl’s conFusion. “Unless
you want to crash again.”
“How
did you know I crashed?” Juliet yelped, wondering if Snap had precognition and
had not told them yet.
“I
didn’t.” Nicola smirked at her, “I just guessed. You’re the one who confirmed
it.”
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