starlaboratories | (no subject)

(no subject)

[Look who comes skidding across the floor on an ice path! Crystal only stops when she bumps pretty bodily against one of the main consoles in the Cortex]

Okay, ice slides are something that's a lot harder than I thought it would be.

[She gets up and gives a small hiss of pain at bumping her head against the console table before looking around. It's a lot emptier than she's used to. The brunette brushes a few curls out of her face and dark eyes take in her surroundings. She looks young, in her mid-20s. She walks around cautiously, her heeled boots clicking on the floor]

Where is everyone?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, you can't. Not when you don't have control over your abilities.

[She's even more heartbroken at this]

I...I can learn, mom. I...

You can learn, yes. However, school comes first and I expect you to finish it. Not just decide to go on sabbatical. I’ll even teach you how to control your abilities, but that will require you to continue school. Otherwise, I can’t teach you.

[Caitlin has stipulations for her daughter that need to be filled before any type of training or superheroing can be done.]

What if I don't want to go to medical school?

[She's brilliant, that's the obvious thing. Crystal placed top in her class and field every single time. She gives a sigh]

Never mind.

[She walks away, maybe they just won't agree on this.]

Don’t walk away.

[That’s the worst thing anyone can do.]

Do you want to switch majors? Whether it’s medical or engineering, I don’t care. School, however, needs to be finished while I teach you how to control your abilities.

[They’d also have to talk to Ronnie before any mention of superheroing could ever happen.]

[She stops and is frustrated because, mom. The temperature of the vicinity goes down a few degrees before going back up.]

I said I wanted to take a sabbatical from medical school. I still want to keep going for my doctorates in engineering.

[She turns back to look at her]

I really like what I do there.

[She shakes her head when she feels the air change. Something that she knew her daughter had no control over. Something that didn’t phase her one bit.]

Drop medical and take engineering full time then, Crystal.

[She gives a small smile]

I know you do. I just want you to finish school first. That way I can show you how to use your abilities and then we can approach your dad.

[That gets her running back and she hugs her tightly]

I didn't know how to tell you and pops. I...I've been keeping this quiet for a while. And maybe practicing in some parts of STAR Labs without you knowing. I just...I can make the dagger. I can kind of make the sword. But I can't seem to coordinate the slide.

Did you think I'd get upset if you didn't want to do medical anymore?

[She hugs her daughter back and leans her head down, kissing her forehead.]

No more training alone, Crystal. Just promise me that you'll finish school and then when we've got alone time we'll head out, and train. I'll help you master the ice slide.

I thought you'd get pretty mad at the whole...I'm not a normal human thing.

[She feels better now that she told]

I can make snow pretty well.

Why would I get mad that you were a meta? I'm one and so is your father. I'd of been surprised if you were just a normal every day human.

[She can't help but laugh before stepping back.]

Snow is easy.

[She lets her go and looks excited again. Crystal holds her hands out. Cold air rolls off of her hands and she waves, creating ice walls to protect the electronics. Her eyes glow, very similarly to Killer Frost's, and she creates a bank of fresh snow around Caitlin]

[Caitlin notices the eyes glowing and smiles, watching the ice walls that rise up. That was pretty good even with the lack of real training and she tilts her head back when the snow starts falling around them.]

Not bad.

[There's an obvious smile to the tone in the older woman's voice.]

I can make it go away too!

[She closes her hand into a fist and it all recedes until there's no trace left. Crystal starts rambling]

I think the molecules go right back into the air!

[She can't help but laugh before pulling her daughter back to her.]

Far as I know it does. I've never known it to go anywhere else.

[Though she has noticed something.]

Is it just your eyes that change?

[They return to a normal, honey brown color]

Uh yeah. I was waiting to see if I would go full Frost but it never goes past just my eyes.

[She shrugs]

I don't even have the heat sickness.

[She gives a small smile before shaking her head.]

Where did you hear about heat sickness, Crystal?

[Oh how she wishes this were the STAR Labs back home]

I've done some research for cryokinetics in the past. There were a couple of metas that existed but were undocumented, somehow, until their death. Their exposure to the cold, or permafrost, seemed to absorb any/all means of being able to keep their bodies warm enough to function. Similar to when a human body undergoes frostbite.

[She deftly avoided researching her mom]

I haven't tested it yet but I think, because of dad and Professor Stein's Firestorm Matrix, and because you don't seem to display or show any signs or symptoms of the heat sickness, I don't need to worry about it.

[Caitlin is a doctor, a damn good one, and likes to do her own research a lot of the times. The fact that her daughter does it too causes her to smile a bit. The apple didn't fall that far from the tree.]

I've never had heat sickness. Even if your father wasn't here I'd be able to function just fine. Just as I'm sure you don't have it. The other cryokinetics that were undocumented probably had some other symptom within their bodies, before they became a meta.

Exactly.

[She beams]

And...well, I couldn't find documentation if they also are like um...you and Killer Frost.

[She means the two in one parent that she gets from Caitlin]

[She can't help but give a bit of a laugh before pulling her daughter back to her side.]

They probably don't have to deal with one taking over the other, no. That's probably one of the biggest things that help me.

[She wraps her arms around her middle]

You guys being separate helps? How?

I'm not entirely sure how it helps, but I know it does. There's a connection there. Maybe we siphon off of one another and it just... works.

...is that going to happen to me?

[She looks unsure about it.]

[She seems to think about that for a moment before shaking her head.]

No. I doubt that's going to happen to you.