A trip to the fair

So not much happened between this and my last post, some of us went to Cleo's restaurant, Precog did a bunch of drawings detailing TP's fight with Linda and the Johns, Dragon had gone off to talk to Cleo beforehand, and we learned he'd had history with her family. Oh, and my Technopathy recovered more and Persuasion and Phasing started to come back.

So this is about what happened on saturday:

Strawberry Fair is an annual event in Cambridge, and a fairly big deal, with everyone looking forward to it, so I invited my new friends along, because me and the rest of VHS were going to it, along with a friend of mine without powers, who for now at least we'll call Don. It's a nickname we use, and I don't want him being tracked down for knowing us or anything like that.

Oh, I forgot to mention the box that Precog gave me. Dragon was about to point out to me that when he became the Dragon he got his chinese robe, because it fitted the part and he wanted to look more like the head of a secret group, stuff like that, and maybe I should do something about me. (I've mostly tried to be inconspicuos, it helps blend in with crowds in an emergency. I was going to argue with him, but then I opened the box to see a cloak, in a really nice deep purple colour. 'Admit it, you've wanted a cloak ever since you got you're first ability' said Precog with a grin, and with Tingle in the room there was no point denying it. I've always been one of those people that liked the superhero or wizard capes, just don't try and get me near any of that lycra ski-suit nonsense. 'Happy now?' I said to Dragon as I put the cloak on.

So, Damian couldn't be found, by telepathy or technopathy or electronic communication (Hana), and even Dragon couldn't tell exactly where he was (He has clairvoyance like that Molly girl) 'He's alive...but his signal is faint, and I haven't actually managed to see him at all' said Dragon, who we're still calling that even though he passed the title to me, at least until we get the new Zodiac complete. Cleo and most of her TP lot came along, and even a few CHASE members, making us quite a big group as we set off.

'Aren't people going to ask about the cape?' asked Cleo, eyeing it as Gravity lifted us into the air. 'Nah, not at Strawberry Fair' I answered. 'Alongside the great food, nice stalls, and good music, there is a hidden layer of drinking and drug smoking that rears it's head as soon as you look for it. A lot of the people here are so drugged up that they wouldn't bat an eyelid if we landed on the stage and turned the lead singer into a fish.'

Dragon was propelling us through the air, and we landed at the north corner of the huge green that housed the Fair. A few people turned around, and a young man in sunglasses called to his friends 'Oh look, some faires!' and then hiccuped loudly and procedd to tell the guy next to him that he would always love him. 'You didn't tell me you were flying in!' called a voice, and I saw Don running towards me. looking excited and a bit annoyed 'You could have picked me up earlier and I could've flown too!'
'Pick you up? Sure' said Gravity, and Don floated into the air. 'Whoa, that's cool! I'm err, Don, and you are?'
We went round with introductions, and I explained that because Don went to a different Sixth form as the rest of us, he hadn't been there the day Precog had discovered his ability, or the time we all got attacked, and had missed out on the founding of VHS, but knew about us, and had seen all our abilities at work, just not got really involved.
'Ok, couple of quick guidelines everybody.' I said, addressing our group. 'Do not eat or drink anything with the words 'Coke' or 'Hippie' in their names, avoid any pipes or tents full of smoke, and stay away from people with waist length hair. Other than that, have fun and try not to kill anyone.'
'Are you sure nobody will care if we use our powers?' Charlie was a bit dubious.
'It's fine really, we won't be the only powered people here. A lot of the people here have abilities and just don't realize it. You wait until they get drunk and drugged up. I've found cases of abilities being brought out by drugs, as the day goes on you'll see lots of people using powers they won't remember having tomorrow morning. Everyone else is expecting to see that sort of thing, because of the hippies.'
'Oh, ok, cool'

We set off in little groups, Me, Don, Cleo, Dragon, Healthbar and Stan went off together, Gravity was with us for a few minutes but went and joined a meditation class to spook them. They were all sitting with their legs crossed, humming, and the Hippie leading it was floating slightly, telling everyone to just relax and let them selves leave the ground. He was impressed when Gravity did. 'Dude, our brother is enlightened' he said to the others, and Healthbar whispered as we passed him 'That, or your not the only one around here with special powers' he stared at her and crashed to the floor. We walked off, still laughing at the look on his face.

Dragon was trying to teach me about channeling my abilities. 'This is something you can all learn' he said, addressing Cleo and Healthbar too 'You can, with a little effort, channel your abilities through other objects. You probably already have without realizing. Miss Cleo, I believe you have used superspeed while holding onto some of your teammates?'
'Yeah.......'
'Did you not find that they could travel at the same speed as you? You channeled your superspeed to them, allowing them to keep up with you. Without it the pressure would have seriously injured them. Damian can teleport people with him, Tempest can phase people along with him, Tempest has had Precog's and Tingle's powers shared with him, your clothes are immune to anything you are, these are all examples of channeling. Even when you focus on your beam of fire or electricity to form it into a certain size or shape, that is indirect channeling, you are only letting it into certain parts of the air. I wish to teach you about channeling abilities throught objects.'

He grabbed a deck of cards from a stall, paid the seller, and turned to us. 'I believe this is familiar to you?' He selected one card, span it into the air, and it exploded, just like gambit's from X-Men. 'Induced Radioactivity in the card' he explained 'channeled by me. Stan, your gun, if you please.' Stan handed it over a little nervously, and Dragon handed it to Cleo. 'Now, I want you to concentrate on your Cryokinesis. Feel the gun becoming part of the power, but, no, don't let it freeze, let it control the power, as you do.' The gun started to freeze, thawed, and then seemed to be fine. Cleo aimed it at the sky and fired, the gun glowed ever so slightly, and instead of a bullet, a shard of ice flew from it and arced into the sky, before falling and striking the top of a tent a little way off, and seemed to spread, coating most of the tent-top in a layer of ice.
'You see? And with practice, you will be able to do it without touching it, allowing young Charlie here to use your ice power in his gun while you use other abilities yourself.'
'Is it like how Pete can transfer an ability into an inanimate object? He did make shoes with someone's wall crawling ability in them once, but they got destroyed.'
'Exactly Tempest, but in this way you keep your ability yourself, instead of the object itself having it.'

With this cool discovery we started wandering again, and passed many more things which I'll explain in another post, because I think this one is long enough already.