101 Ways to Skin a Hoodie

Chapter 4.1

"You did what?!"

Aruetta flinches, which I suppose is unsurprising, but right now I don't really care if she knows about me and the Author's communication. I feel like I'm going to vomit. Jesus. In... and out. In... and out. I take deep breaths to try and get my emotions under control. It's hard, but I manage to do so somehow. Slightly, at least.

I continue, in my head this time;

Never. I repeat never are you to... possess me like that again without my express permission.
Even though I saved both of our lives?

It's not your life I'm concerned about. And from what it sounds like if you had just stayed down then my opponent would have been content with a knockout victory.

...

And then you murdered someone. With my hands. With a massive crowd to witness me, what was it? Bashing some girl's head in with a metal pole?

Sorry. I guess I'm just kind of... used to it by now. You know why.

You make me sick.

He really does. Ugh. I have a pounding headache and now after hearing what he did I feel nauseous as well. I curl up on the floor. The memories are resurfacing, and tears start to pour across my nose and onto the floor that's parallel to my cheek. He killed her he killed her he killed her. With my body. If he wanted to, I'm sure it would be easy for him to... Aruetta puts her hand on my shoulder, and I shrug it off. I still need to talk to him.

If you had full control of my body, then why didn't you just keep it that way? I mean, you'd have your old position back, so why not just go all out and finish it with your magic or something?

That's the mystery, isn't it? I'm afraid that if I told you then you'd have a considerable edge over me, and I don't think I'm comfortable with that quite yet.

Is this some kind of game to you?

In a sense. And as it turns out one of the mechanics of the game is that you can only use the powers that I expressly give you, and part of that is what I do in you body is what that body gets to keep. Now isn't that curious?

Now that he mentions it, I wasn't able to trip that thug with my mind when I first arrived here.

Hey, I'm right here.

Quiet. I'm thinking to myself right now.

I sit back up, and extend my focus towards Aruetta, who has scooted back to the wall opposite me. She has a sullen look on her face. It doesn't really phase me, I have something I need to check for myself right now. I extend my mind and... nothing. No matter how hard I strain, I can't get her to move. She looks at me inquisitively, and I turn away again.

I suppose this makes sense. I mean, the only reason I had access to those powers in the first place was because we were in the original timeline, where the mesh of the science and magic allowed me to use my latent abilities. So then since this timeline is on the science side of the refraction, like my own world but much more extreme, then why would I be able to keep said abilities?

Alright.

Okay.

I feel more reassured now that I know my limitations again, even though it's going to be much harder to get out of this place without magic. And I'm sure I can't rely on the Author to give me a helping hand either. So I'm just down to my physical strength again.
Once again I thank the stars for my decision to partake in the sport of track so that I'm already fairly fit, but I'm not going to be able to take down these aliens with my fists. I'm going to need a weapon. That staff was nice, but after what happened, I don't think I'm going to be able to pick it up again. Luckily, I have a pretty good substitute at hand. Literally.