X-COM: Friendship Unknown

The mining was going quite well for the snek and her new friends. Zossi found that she enjoyed resource farming-slash-exploring more than crafting things or fighting.

“Ooooo more redstone.” The viper did a little happy bounce on the coils that made up her seat. “That’ll help. Oh and your tips are helping everyone a lot by the way.”

Command was glancing between seeing what Zossi was up to and making static snap between each of his fingers in order.

“Hey, I’m just looking for things related to the game,” Command answered. “It was popular enough once to get lots of people playing it, there’s probably a whole slew of videos out there I have yet to find.”

“Anything you can dig up on the old web would be great.” The snek nodded as she dug her way around a patch of lava.

Command’s phone started to buzz. He blinked. That wasn’t a message. He pulled it out of his pocket and unlocked the screen.

And that was Sunset calling. Command accepted the call and put it up to his ear. “Hello?” he said, careful to turn off his lightning touch so as to not fry the phone.

“Hey, good you answered.” Came the woman’s reply. “So, a specialist for your Electromancy is coming by. Sorry for the short notice, but because interlinking hospital-psy classification-work related-things an old school friend is gonna come by. I’ll supervise so she doesn’t end up killing you.”

“...Is that an actual concern?” Command asked after a moment to process what she’d said. “I’m willing to wait for someone less likely to do that if it’s an option…”

“Sunset, I thought you were a professional, God!” Came a half-heard voice. “I’m not gonna kill the guy!”

“Well excuse me for being concerned that a pair of Electomancers are going to be zapping things.” Sunset snarked back. “Sorry, we’ll be there in a little bit, she’s driving.”

“Oh, okay then,” Command blinked a few times before looking around. “Um. Where will we be practicing? I don’t think here is a good option…” What with his room of easily zappable computer parts. That Zossi was using.

“And they say you have people skills, gimme the phone.” Came a complaint.

“Wha- hey!”

There was a sound of a scuffle.

“You’re driving!” Came Sunset’s now farther off voice.

“Sorry about her. You got nothing to worry about, kid. I take safety very seriously, at least when I’m training.” Came the new woman’s voice. “It’ll be a few minutes, I think Sunny needs more caffeine.”

“I do not!”

The phone clicked.

“Huh,” Command turned the phone off and put it away. “So, Sunset found a trainer for my electric powers,” he said out loud, mostly to Zossi. He kept up his little training exercise once the phone was away, of making little arcs of electricity snap up and down his fingers.

“Oh good!” Zossi smiled at him. “And enjoying your practice?” She gestured at his fingers.

“Well, I mean, I’d be practicing on you, but you’re kinda on the computer at the moment,” Command teased.

“Well that- uhhh- doesn’t mean you can’t… or… something.” The viper flushed and turned back to the computer.

“Yeah, it kinda does,” Command replied easily. “I’d rather not fry my computer, and I don’t have enough training to only zap you yet.”

“Very very true, so, moving on.” Zossi wiggled a bit as she refocused on the game. “I’ll work on lunch in a bit here. Unless you're gone, then I’ll just cook for everybody again.”

“Well Sunset and the trainer did say they’d be here soon, so who knows?” Command shrugged. He kept the electrical training to one hand and used the other to run over Zossi’s long tail. Just to tease her a bit.

“Eep!” The snake visibly jumped and fell off her now twitching tail coil. “You dick!” She whined from the floor.

“I thought that was the part of me you enjoyed, after the electrical powers,” Command taunted.

“Getting pleasured by magic fingers is preferable to random zappings to sensitive areas.” Zossi grumbled as she got up.

“With the right settings, your entire tail is a sensitive area,” Command countered.

“Now I need to find a rubber thing to cover my tail.” The viper screwed up her face as she slithered over to the computer and exited the game. Then she slithered over to the kitchenette and started to look through things to figure out what to make.

“I’m glad one of us is going to invest in protection,” Command noted aloud.

“There’s probably some moral lesson or something there.” Zossi commented, putting out some steaks.

“Something of the sort,” Command agreed.

The viper plopped a pair of steaks on a pan and set the pan on the burner. “I’m gonna cook the steaks, then I can chop them up and put them in something.” The snek thought aloud.

“Oooh,” the human hummed from the couch. “Maybe some rice and fried vegetables, make a whole dish out of it.”

“Oh, great idea!” She said, pulling out another pan and tugging the cutting board off the wall.

“Now all I have to do is hope I’m still here when the food’s done,” Command noted, going back to playing with his powers on the couch as a form of training.

“If not, I can save you some.” The viper said with a smile and a nod.

“Oh, that’d be wonderful,” Command agreed. He was starting to get a hang of small electrical powers.

There came a knock at the door.

“I’m working.” Zossi commented. Command sighed, but pushed himself up and answered the door. There was sunset in a nice black suit.

Next to her was a teal-skinned woman with amber, almost orange eyes. Her hair was cut short, but was still noticeably yellow-orange. She was wearing jeans, a blue t-shirt, black shoes, and a dark green hoodie. “Hey, I’m Dust. Lightning Dust.” She held out a hand.

Command shook it, and there was a tingle that ran up his arm. Ah, so...was that normal when meeting someone who had the same sort of powers as him? “Command Line, but most just call me Command,” he introduced himself.

“Wanna get to work, or would you rather your lady finish lunch?” Dust asked.

“You can go, it’s fine.” Zossi spoke up.

“And I might keep her company.” Sunset moved in to sit on the couch.

“Sounds good to me,” Command agreed. “Gives us a chance to work on this, and gives Sunset and Zossi a chance to catch up.”

“Well come on then.” Dust nodded out the door. Command followed readily, leaving the Viper to the tender touch of Sunset.

“So, you figure anything out?” Dust asked as the pair sat at one of the picnic tables on the roof of the complex. “I’m sure you’ve got a few party tricks down already.”

“Well I mean I can do this,” Command said, making electricity snap up and down his fingers. “I can also run a current that doesn’t kill someone through their body and back into myself. I’m a cheap electro-stim unit.”

“Careful of how many amps you put through somebody.” She warned, pointing a finger at him. “Low amps are good and probably what you’ve been doing anyway. Fuck, it’s probably only what you’re capable of at the moment. It’s like a muscle, the more you train it, the stronger it’ll get.”

“So, keep it low, even if it feels like I can do more, as long as I’m using it on someone else,” Command summarized.

“Well, think of it like water. Amps are the amount of water and volts are water pressure. Lower is better because it’s basically less electrons flowing through somebody. Mmmm, amps how much electricity and volts are how much you’re pushing.” Dust rambled on. “Sorry for the science lecture, not everybody knows the difference, and pretty soon you’ll be able to feel the difference.”

“Hey, not a big deal,” Command commented. “It’s nice to know the finer details of how this works.” He hummed for a moment as he thought about the situation. “So...I should be trying to do things for longer as training. But I should also keep it safe if I’m doing things to someone else, so keeping it low and careful with how much I push into them, so as to avoid injury. This will let me work up my skills without hurting anyone.”

“Precisely.” She nodded. “Trust me, I know how many amps it takes to knock someone out if necessary.”

“That...is not something I hope to learn,” Command gulped. “Nor do I wish to get into a situation where it’s needed.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to, but a little static aided self-defense wouldn’t hurt.” Dust shrugged. “But we don’t have to do that now. I’ll be staying in town for a bit, so we have time to practice and talk and such.” Dust leaned back and stretched.

“Oh cool, so I had a question,” Command replied. “Is it normal for Vipers to get...aroused at low voltages running through them?”

“Man, you hit the right spot and that’s kinda everybody.” Dust snorted a laugh.

“...Well I don’t have much desire to ply these talents on anyone except my snakefriend…” Command muttered.

“Good on you. I’m sure she appreciates it.” Dust shrugged. “Now, show me some party tricks.”

“How’s life?” Sunset asked, watching the viper cook. “You happy?”

“Yeah, life’s good. I’m good.” Zossi nodded, slicing up the cooked steak.

“And how’s the adjustment to Command’s Electromancy?” Sunset scooted up beside her to start stirring the cooking vegetables in the pan.

“It’s kinda great.” Zossi said with a sigh. “Unless he zaps me on accident… or when he jolts some sensitive areas when I’m not expecting it.”

“Make sure you talk to him about it.” Sunset glanced at her.

“We did a little today.” The viper nodded. “I made a comment about getting some kinda rubber insulation clothing thing.”

“Good idea.” Sunset nodded. “Beyond cooking, getting into any other hobbies?”

“Well I’ve been getting into anime thanks to Floor Bored.” The snek glanced at Sunset and saw the girl’s questioning look. “One of the girls downstairs, she’s an anime fan. It’s kinda great. We hang out sometimes. Oh, and Wallflower has been less jumpy and doesn’t really come running that much anymore. So that’s a plus.” She hummed. “Everyone else kinda keeps to themselves. Except for Sonata, she tends to drag at least some of us out every so often for whatever it is she wants to do together.”

“Well it sounds like you’re making friends, at least.” Sunset smiled. “I was worried for a bit there.”

“Thanks for the concern.” Zossi smiled back at her. “Now, how spicy should we make… whatever this is?”

“Well the rice’ll be ready in a couple minutes, and that could either be mixed or be the base for the pretty much curry. So… How about liquid fire?” Sunset suggested.

“Ooooo, I like the way you think.” The snek bounced happily.

There was a loud snap and the smell of ozone. A can flew off the table with a black mark smoking on it. Dust lowered her hand. “And you too can shoot lighting, if you practice.” She said a little theatrically.

“Well I mean, I have been practicing ever since the collar came off,” Command replied, a little hesitantly. “I don’t know if I can do that just yet, but I can give it a shot…”

Dust walked over, set up a can, stepped back and gestured at it. Command nodded once, held out a hand, and breathed deeply.

The scent of ozone increased as a glow started to build on his hands...and the resultant spark got no more than an inch off of his form.

“Hey, I wasn’t expecting you to actually do it.” Dust snorted. “It’s fine. Practice that little static jumping thing and you’ll be able to zap things in no time.”

Command breathed heavily as he slumped a little. “I think the problem is…” he took another breath. “I can build the power. But getting it past my body is...proving hard.”

“And that is something you get to figure out. It’s kinda hard to put it into words.” Dust shrugged. “But… hmmmm.” She picked up the can and brought it over. She held it up. “Zap it.”

Command blinked, before building the power again and sending the spark across the short distance. “It’s a lot easier when it’s closer,” he admitted.

She moved back and set the can down. “Try again.”

Command took a breath, built the power...and the spark got about two inches from his body this time, fizzling before it even got to the can.

“Is it...a problem with me?” he asked.

“You probably don’t have enough energy built up. That grows, again, as you practice. I just figured that you might be able to hit it the same way lighting can strike a lightning rod, or the same place twice for that matter.” She shrugged. “Don’t let it get you down, newbie.”

“So...basically, put the can down on the roof, keep taking steps back and seeing how far I can go before I stop being able to hit it?” Command questioned.

“That could work too.” Dust admitted with a chuckle.

“And I can practice how long I can hold it with careful application of my talent on Zossi…” Command mused. “Basically whenever I use it I should consider it training.”

“Smart thinking.” Dust nodded along to his thinking.

“Right, starting tomorrow, I’ll come up here with a can in an attempt to practice how far I can throw the electricity,” Command agreed. “And I’ll also practice on Zossi...when she allows me to.”

“Hey, consent, wonderful.” Dust chuckled. “So, I’d show you some more flashy stuff, but I don’t wanna cause a power outage. Huh, right, probably should have mentioned, I’m kinda a superhero in Manehatten.”

“Huh,” Command blinked. “Guess that comes with the refinement of my technique. Not that I want to get to the point where I need that much power, but I’d like to have a few more tricks than I do.”

“Just use your imagination.” Dust moved over and sat on the bench of the picnic table. “You’ll come up with some fun stuff.”

“Yeah, I probably will,” Command agreed, sitting next to her. “Hmm. I might keep it all low-key, though, as I train myself, so nobody figures out what I can actually do.”

“‘Ey smart move, and you can surprise your girlfriend in the bedroom with your magic hands.” She nudged his ribs.

“Well I mean, I already did that once,” Command answered with a blush. “She uh...really liked it.”

“Oh, lucky guy.” She snickered, then got up. “Come on, let’s see if that food she’s made is done.”

Lunch was…. Spicy. Sunset and Zossi loved it. Command thought it was good. And Dust... managed to eat it with enough drink. Sunset and Dust bid their goodbyes, and Dust said that she’d keep in touch.

Now the man and his viper were cuddling on the couch.

“So… How’d you like the food?” Zossi asked, glancing at Command.

“It was tasty,” Command replied with a soft sigh. “I might not have much of a tongue for spicy things, but I could learn to love it if it’s all as delicious as that.”

“I try.” Zossi said happily.

Command took a breath, psyching himself up for what he was about to ask. “So, um, Zossi,” he said. “Lightning Dust and I had a chat on the roof about how to train myself. And while there’s various techniques for power buildup, the best way to train how long I can hold something is…” Here he blushed. “What...we did the other night. Me running a current through something for a prolonged period of time. But!” He held up a hand. “I’m...very aware of what sort of an effect it has on you, so I’m...going to try to not do that without your permission. I can’t say I’ll always succeed, I’m a little bit staticy all the time now, but I won’t do anything like what happened the other night without you asking for it.”

“The occasional accidental zap is fine.” She replied, shaking her head. “But, thank you for actually asking. And I will definitely let you know when I’m in the mood, and I’ll be sure to let you know if I’m feeling like something special.”

Command let out the breath he’d been holding. “I’m glad you’re not mad at me,” he admitted. “I’m sorry about the zaps I’ve been giving, I need to keep a tighter hold on my static to make sure it doesn’t leak into everything I’m doing.”

“Again, zaps are fine. They’re gonna happen.” The viper nodded. “I’m sure you’ll be able to get a reign on things.” She smiled.

“Yeah, eventually,” the human nodded. “As long as you’re not upset, then...I’m relieved.” He ran a hand along Zossi’s tail, not even a spark jumping between them.