The Stupendous Springer

Episode 0: Foundation, Chapter 4

The family of housemates had shared a hearty lunch, making a few agreements while they were there. The first was that stretchy hugs would take some getting used to. The second was that Sophie's powers were her secret, to keep or reveal as she pleased (at the time, she chose to keep rather than reveal). The third was that Holly would tone down her science project, scaling it back to something that not only could she finish without the Vector Ratio Harmonizer, but that would not run the same risks as last time. Rita had told her that it was fine if she wanted to continue her original work some other time, but not for the senior project. With those agreements reached, Holly noted that there was a lot of valuable technology left behind at the lab that she could recover, now that it was unnecessary. Rita and Nicole bid them farewell as Holly drove them to the lab once again, both mothers knowing it was an excuse for each of their daughters to re-acquaint each other after their scuffle.

"You're getting better at walking," Holly noted as she opened the lab door, this time leaving Sophie to handle it herself. "Nice job! It's almost exactly like it used to be."

Sophie shrugged. "I got plenty of practice," she noted with a soft chuckle.

Holly returned the laugh. "Of course. Now, let's see what we can recover here. Probably shouldn't keep leaving my laptop here if it's that easy for things to get stolen. Let's take that. I'll need it to plan the final project anyway."

Sophie's phone buzzed. Checking it, an alert about a missing person appeared on the screen. Sophie mentally acknowledged it, and digitally dismissed it, as she always did. Momentary distractions gone, she turned to Holly's device. "Anything I can grab?" Sophie asked, glancing over the electromechanical mess in front of her. Hopefully Holly would describe anything she needed to grab in enough detail for Sophie to identify it.

"Yeah, let me get underneath so I can show you," Holly said, putting her laptop on a nearby desk and sliding onto the floor under the E.A.R.W.I.G. "I need you to grab those four dangly doodads, the big silver globulus, and the funky-looking jank-fest over here."

Holly really had a way with words. Sophie knew instantly what was needed, and snatched all the components as indicated. As she collected the various components, she elongated her arms to reach the desk to her side and place them onto it. Glancing down, she saw Holly giving her a funny look.

"What?" Sophie asked. "If I'm going to be a rubber band, I might as well get some use out of it."

Holly smirked. "Admit it, you love it," she teased.

"I don't hate it, but..." Sophie began. "Like I said, I'll deal with it. I would really prefer if I didn't have to, but that's more about life complications. Other than that, it's fine, I guess."

Holly hesitated, then simply asked the nagging question. "What does it feel like? I can tell it doesn't hurt, but does it tickle? Tingle? Feel like nothing?"

"There's...a lot of feelings," Sophie admitted. "They're not too different, honestly, just happening in ways that don't make sense. Pulling, squashing, pushing - those are normal. I just feel them in new ways. At least, when it just happens, which it kinda does all the time. It's just sort of...always there." She extended her arm to reach the desk once again, depositing the third dangly doodad. "When I do it myself, though, it's like I'm flexing a muscle, but the muscle has a rubber band tying it back, and it gets tighter the further I go. The rubber band can feel me pushing, too, like it's another muscle or something. I don't know. Somehow, the stretch and the resistance are both hooked into my brain, and I can feel them both."

Holly slid out from under the machine. "Interesting. So a large part of it is the state of being, not just the actions you can take. I didn't think of it that way, I guess."