So this is the new world of magic I have access to. 

Gotta say, really don't like the back pain. Sure, I can be powerful and strong whenever I want. And also a girl. Not sure how to think about that, so I'm not going to!

Anyway, I have all this magic, but I can basically use it like once per day. And the rest of the day I'm dealing with the aftermath of fighting monsters to get these powers.

I can't work as a fire fighter till I recover, so that's been rough. Been sitting a home playing with my new power, talking to Pascal, and thinking about who I'm going to be.

Someone with a back that hurts, that's what. That was a Joke Pascal

Okay, I need a break.

(The camera captures Pal moving stiffly away from the camera, and then beginning to glow, giving off waves of blue and white light. He shifts as he does so, moving his arms and hands to fit into the costume forming around him. His body shifts and shrinks, becoming about a foot smaller, and growing long flowing hair)
(Moonstone shakes out her hair, her transformation done)

Oh good that's better.

Yes Pascal, I haven't forgotten, I'll leave soon. 

Anyway journal, I feel a lot better like this. The pain is still there, but it... doesn't matter? I'm not sure how to feel about changing my sex. I kind of like it? But also I like it when I switch back? Like maybe I want to be a girl sometimes, but not always. 

Well, I'll think about that later.

Anyway. Pascal's been making me train. Moonstone at least. When I'm the other one I mostly just wait to get better and look for people who could help fix my back.

I feel like there is some separation between me and my other form. Like. We are the same person, but right now I'm Moonstone. Don't call me the other one. And similarly, for when I'm the other one. Moonstone is who I am right now.

Anyway, I'm joining a fight club. No pascal, it's obviously a joke, I don't need to say exactly where I'm going all the time. My journal will know that I'm training to get better at fighting, and I'll know where that is, and because I'm the only one who has access to the journal, I don't need to over explain it.

Anyway  Journal, I'm heading out. Only got 25 more minutes of Moonstone time before I gotta use up more power.

Hey journal!

So. Last contract was a big one. 

Got some missing fingers out of it. Going to see if I can get someone to fix that. I have to know some people by now. I know Johnny is advertising some weird thing, so maybe he has something. Otherwise, I'll go to the person I got my first big injury from.

Pascal has me doing speed training. Yeah I'm telling it Pascal, just. Can you give me like 5 minutes. Seriously, we can talk after this.

Anyway.

I'm super fast now. But, according to pascal, that's even more reason to focus on training and increasing my natural speed as much as possible. 

Magic works on what you have, and Moonstone is an improvement on me, not a replacement of me.

I've chatted with Sammy a bit. He is going to try and talk to the dead rangers in the park.


Yeah Pascal, I know I know, just... 

Sammy wants to know what's going on, so we'll see how that works out. If he goes near the forest, I'm going with him. Seems like it could be dangerous without me, and I'm fast.

Heya Journal.

Being Moonstone feels smooth now. Like her body is more responsive. Pal's body has also been improving, but not nearly as magically.

(Pause as Pal realizes he just referred to himself in the third person). 

Well. Both my bodies are getting stronger. Moonstone is just getting better magically fast. I feel like I could go as fast as a car, and still stop quickly. Like I'll never trip. Like this body really belongs to me.

Honestly, sometimes Moonstone feels more like me than being Pal does. But sometimes she doesn't. Maybe there is something there. If I can ever be Moonstone for an extended period of time, maybe I feel just as strongly that I should be Pal.

(Pal stops and thinks)

Well. We'll see what happens. My body feels like it really is mine now. And after my last mission I feel like I'm getting a hang of things. Contracts are still dangerous. I will definitely still need to be careful. But. I feel like I've come into my power.


I had a chat with Wren! I worry about her some. She... She still has more to go, and I don't know if she will have someone like me with her on every contract. She... can be a bit tough to manage sometimes. But worth it, I think. Everyone is worth it, and she seems like she has been hit harder than most by the world.

Pal sets up the camera.

"Okay, okay. This is fine. This is... Shutup pascal. Okay Just. Recording. Day one. Or whatever"

Pal rolls up his pants. On his knee there is a mark along his leg that seems like a slightly different color than the rest of his leg. There is a bit of black around it.

"So, tripped when I was going on a run. Was working on.... not important. It healed in less than 3 hours. I'm thinking that either I got some sort of curse or..."

Pal becomes Moonstone. 

Moonstone starts stripping her pants.

"I didn't think much about this, but."

Looking at her leg, the black lines are there, but all other skin is the same color as the rest of the leg.

"Well.... I guess when I'm like this it won't bother me as much... But I guess If I get hurt as much as I have in some previous contracts, that pretty soon.."

By the end of the month through training Pal was covered in black lines around differently colored skin.

Pal paces.

He checks his phone.

He frowns.

He paces more. 

He itches at his neck. A sigh.

He picks up his phone. Still no reply. He checks his text history. 

A few screens of just him checking on Wren 

Hey, haven't heard from you in a few weeks is everything alright?

Saw a documentary about ... well, it's not important. Made me think of you. Call if you want to talk?

Hey, not sure If I did something, but just. Let me know you are okay? Please?

He backs out to his contacts.

Ems.

He calls.

Ems picks up on the second ring.

"What happened?"

Pal frowned. "Why does something have to be wrong."

"Pal, I'm your sister. If you are checking in you send a text. If you want to hang out, you send an invite to my google calendar. If you are calling, something is wrong. Now spill, big sister will take care of it." 

Pal chuckles. 

"Well... You remember that girl that I saved a few..."

Pal get's back home after about a week. 

He text's Wren around 11 pm.

"Should be getting back home in the morning. Catching a late flight. Will need to do laundry pretty badly."

"Looking forward to seeing you again! But like. You don't need to see me immediately or anything. Know you have your own life."

"But. Looking forward to seeing you."

Unifel —

Me too! I'll make my way over. Safe flight.

RNG — 

Pal grins down at his phone.

He considers saying something else.

Instead he makes his way to the airport, boards his flight, and sleeps the full length of the flight.

He gets home at around 2 am. He is wearing a white tshirt that fits his frame tightly, and black sweatpants. New clothes. They don't looks expensive. Or nice. 

He does his best to enter the apartment quietly

Unifel —

Wren isn't at the door, but that's usual.

RNG — 

Pal opens and closes the door quietly.

He knows the Wren doesn't sleep.

But it's still good to be quiet just in case. 

Pal makes his way to his bathroom, the one with the laundry built in.

Unifel —

He can hear a quiet humming coming from it as he gets closer. Movement.

RNG — 

He pauses. 

"Hey sunshine! I'm home. Going to start a load, and take a shower. Then we can catch up maybe?"

Unifel —

How loud does he say that?

RNG —

At a normal volume. He doesn't want to accidentally wake a neighbor

Unifel — 

Cute! He's so good.

There's no response.

RNG — 

Pal shrugs. He heads into the bathroom.

Unifel — 

Wren is in there, with headphones on, humming as she pulls clothes out of the dryer. She was... She did Pal's laundry.

RNG — 

Pal blinks several times. 

He puts his bag down.

For a moment he considers hugging her from behind. Picking her up, kissing her neck.... 

Then the thinks about his instinctive responses to surprises.

Don't really want to need to fix my nose tonight.

He moves into the room, getting into Wren's line of sight. 

He looks at her with a soft look.

Wren smiles brightly, and pulls off her headphones.

"Hey! I wanted you to be able to get some rest, so I took care of the laundry for you. How'd it go?"

RNG — 

Pal shrugs. (fond. protective.)

"It was fine. I was mostly worried about the clothes I brought with me though." (True)

Pal grins. 

"You are so sweet. Can I kiss you?" (Happy. Fond. Relieved) 

Unifel —

"Please!"

She leans forward, one of her fangs poking out between her smile as she closes her eyes.

Image

RNG — 

Pal leans forward and kisses her, lightly holding Wren's waist as he pulls her closer. 

He smells sweaty, and a bit dirty. Long job. His mouth is still a little too minty.

He pulls back. (blissful. happy. safe)

"I need  to shower. Also I probably need to start a load. Got a lot of blood on my clothes. Then yes. Bed time." 

Unifel —

She makes a quiet mmmm sound, content in the kiss.

Then she smiles mischievously.

"Do you... need any help? With relaxing? And cleaning up?"

RNG — 

Pal blinks. (Surprised) 

Then grins. (Happy, a little aroused. Regret)

"I am uh.... probably not in the shape for... activities. But... we can cuddle. Shower together if you want."

Pal starts un packing his back. In a collection of large ziplock bags, he has several piece of clothing. The clothes he left in, and most of Moonstone's outfit.

It has several huge holes in it, and is covered in blood.

As he unzips and throws the clothes in the washer (Carefully detaching the moonstones from Moonstone's uniform), the room is filled with the smell of blood.

Unifel —

Wren's breath catches, and she licks her lips.

"Oh my god."

Unifel —

Image

RNG — 

Pal blinks. (A slight guilt. embarrassed)

"Oh! Yeah, I almost got cut in half." 

He slides his shirt off. Wren can see 3 lines of black outlining large swaths of Pal's skin. With how Pal's healing works, you know that he probably lost most of his guts. or Her guts. 

And was probably impaled.

He tosses the shirt in the washer.

Unifel —

Her face looks at the scars.

"You what?"

RNG —

Pal nods. (Embarrassed)

"Yeah, there were like. These swords, and people were good with them, and they cut me a lot. I didn't like... go down or anything. But yeah, I got cut pretty bad. "

Pal grins sheepishly. 

"Flew back after. I could have had people help, but one of them was a kid, and I kind of... Thought I could handle it?"

"Anyway, mostly was solved after that. I also had a whole aerial battle. That was cool. But yeah, was laid out after it for a bit." 

Pal rubs the back of his head, and keeps working on taking off the moonstones. (Embarrassed, a little worried and guilty)

"But I'm fine now! I can recover pretty quick nowadays."

Wren gently puts a cold hand on his shoulder.

"You need to remember you matter too. Was this kid a contractor? You need to let your team help you. You need to-"

She pauses. Her voice steady, she continues after a moment.

"You need to come home to me."

RNG —

(intense guilt)

"I.... Yeah. I will."

Pal moves his hands up to hold Wren's hand.

"I promise. I'll come home...."

He leans down and presses his forehead to Wren's

Unifel —

She holds him, tightly.

"Speaking of coming home, I... Will you move in with me?"

RNG — 

(Surprise. Mirth) 

"Oh? Like Seattle?"

Pal pauses. (Contemplative. Loved. Fond. Protective)

"Oh, that would be a lot closer to Ems anyway. And since I can't really work much anymore... yeah, that sounds great."

Unifel —

She lights up, and squeezes even tighter.

"Okay! That's great! Let me get you cleaned up, and we'll set it up."

She lets go and starts helping with the clothes.

"You take a seat, my light. Rest."

RNG — 

Pal kisses Wren's forehead, then her nose, before putting a light kiss on her lips.

"You are so good to me."

Then he goes and takes a shower. A long shower.