Intro pt 2

Some say I’m a loner, others that I’m weak, occasionally they’ll throw in a rumor, but none of it is true… or at least that’s what I’d like to think.

Back to reality, I get picked on and can’t do anything about it. Bullies can smell your fear a mile away, if your facade breaks even slightly, it gets infinitely worse. They never let my best friend, Liam, have any space, but what would you expect with a Fluids Type Toughman?

They call it Li-Ren Syndrome, and Liam has a Toughman variant of it, with his sweat turning to stone in the presence of “the body’s natural fear response.”

Why bully him, you might ask, well, why not?

They like to back Toughman types into corners, usually next to a toilet or something equally humiliating, and force them to sweat themselves into petrification. He misses a lot of class to it.

Me? I have Elementalism, the Li-Ren syndrome where victims can move heat supposedly at will. Supposedly, but we all know that’s not how it works in reality.

Some people envy those with Li-Ren, but those of us who have it often wish we didn’t. Others call it Superhero Syndrome, because some of us have used our abilities to do great services for humanity, but for every hero there’s someone who would rather break the rules to their own will, something I know all too well....

Regardless, with most people dying before they even get a chance to drive, I certainly wouldn’t call it a “superhero” syndrome. In reality it just causes more problems than it solves.

My bullies, well, if I had my way I wouldn't have them, but I'm powerless to stop them. People think I could just flambe my way, flame on like some comic book hero or something, but its not that simple, and today was bound to be another day of dealing with Brad.

Brad... He's something alright... I wonder what his parents do to him, people don't just push people around for no reason, but whatever it is isn't my problem. Kid reminds me of your typical film bully spiked hair, no, buzzed, or was it... it doesn't matter, what matters is what he represents, and he represents a threat to my sanity, and I to his safety.

Beyond Brad, I didn't mind school too much, didn't like it either, but it was alright. This year I have Miss Zhang for fourth period, a new teacher fresh out of college, well mostly fresh, its second year at this school for both of us. And laaate...

"You're late again, Elma," Miss Zhang reminded me as I entered the classroom.

"Liam was stuck again, I can't help it if no one else will get him out of his resin."

Lunch was rough, Liam got shoved into the gender neutral washroom again, and scared into a plasticy figure, kneeling face in the toilet. I had to keep an eye on it, teachers don't care, rules aren't enforced, and its not like anyone else is going to go free him from his own body. I'll never understand why people like Brad need to pick on people like Liam. So he has Li-Ren, so what? Don't they get how difficult it is to fight with one's own mind to keep from going insane and incinerating everything of suffocating in a pool of their own sweat? Guess not, and I guess that's why I have to use my heat to carefully burn away the resin Liam ends up stuck in.

Its bad enough to be unable to move, its that much worse having to smell someone's shit three inches from your head for hours on end. Its why Liam shaves his head.

"I'll excuse you today, as its not too far into class, but if you keep coming late, I'll be forced to dock marks."

Miss Zhang was someone I could trust. She always has a response like that, she gets what's happening, but she's just as powerless as I am to do anything about it. She taught lit, something I liked, always found meaning in the things I saw, heard, and read. Lit gave me the opportunity to explore that.

"Please open your books to page 135, Elma you're late, you can start us off by reading of 'Wings of Dawn' please."

"In morning still, my neck was chilled, awoken from cold slumber.
Outside I see, too dark to see, spare a dot on the horizon yonder.
Routine, routine, not much to see, or so I say and ponder.
What's this I see, an angel set free, on wings of dawn torn the sky asunder.
Light, light, awake with me, a new day has come, sky ablaze in wonder.
Author unknown."

I liked this poem. Sure, it wasn't good, and I don't know why it was included in the text, but it gave me hope. Maybe one day, on the wings of dawn, and light my sky ablaze. Its not like I could forget even if I wanted to, so why should I be stuck in the past when I have a path to tear my own sky asunder?

Liam and I planned our classes to both have fifth off. Most days we'd hang out at the library, and by most I mean most that I didn't have practice. Practice was every other day, I did want to win regionals this year after all, so Coach lets me come by as I please and I have a key to the gym. Today was a Liam day though, we had been planning to head to this new cafe.

"Liam, Komikaf is open, and it should be less busy since most people are in class, wanna head out now? We can avoid Brad altogether this way."

Komikaf opened last week, a cafe for reading comics, seemed like a cool idea. You go, get a coffee, maybe a cookie or biscuit to go with it, and pick up a comic or manga from their library of shelves to read and pass the time. Seems like it would be a nice quiet place to get away from all the bullshit that goes on here at school.

"Sure, end of Route 29, right?"

"Yup, its at The Boardwalk, if we head out now, we should just barely make the bus."

The bus ride wasn't too far, ok, it was kinda far, takes us past one of the universities and through one of the nicer neighbourhoods in student territory.

"Got anything you're hoping they have to read, Liam?"

"I think I'm going to browse and see what catches my eye."

Classic Liam, deciding on the fly and going with it. Not sure if its because he's had to plan his life around getting bullied or if there is some other reason, but it always makes for an interesting day.

"You?"

"I'll see if they have Hajime no Ippo, seen the anime, would be cool to read the manga. Boxing and crude humour, always a great combination!"

Yep, definitely excited for that one. Its older, so outside of libraries that have a big manga section, its hard to find. I wouldn't call the anime a classic, its certainly no Rocky, but its good for what it is.

"Well, this is our stop, no point in walking further than we have to."

The terminal was at the far end of The Boardwalk, Komikaf dead centre, beside a shawarma place, where an ice cream place used to be. Bus stop was literally couldn't be closer.

It felt like some joke or something to amuse old white people, The Boardwalk. Boardwalk to where? There were barely any boards, unlike the Boardwalk when I visited Halifax, no reason to have boards, and only a drainage pond for water. They wanted this place to feel upscale, but it just seemed stupid. Lifestyle Way was what the bus stop was called, or was it that that is what the people who owned the place called this intersection. Its not even a real walk, pedestrians don't get any priority and the drivers are nutcases. Maybe, I guess you could call it a "lifestyle" "way" given the sheer amount of variety, but its nothing special, just a medium sized collection of strip malls. I could go on for days, but at the end of the day, there were some cool places here, like one or two depending on what you are into.

They really did some impressive stuff with Komikaf, made the door and its frame look like the cover of a manga. When you opened the door, it almost felt like you were walking into a book, and that smell, you could just smell the pages on pages and sheer number of volumes they had. Every wall without windows lined almost to the ceiling with comics. Well, might as well be the ceiling, I'm kinda short...

"Welcome! First time here?"

"Yeah, how does this work?"

"Take a seat, browse our menu and book selections, if you'd like to order something, press this button and we'll be over to take your order. Just so you are aware, there is a sitting fee, it is five dollars."

"Alright, thanks. Liam, how about we sit over there, away from the window?"

"Sounds good."

"What would you like to drink? I'll grab orders while you're browsing."

"Mocha, whipped cream, thanks! I wonder what treasures I'll find..."

We took a seat in a corner away from the windows. Corners are safe, they're less open, and I feel like I can hide in them if I need to. Call me paranoid, but I just don't feel comfortable out in the open.

The button was simple, I pressed it, it lit up, and something chimed behind the counter. Barista came over took orders, Liam's mocha and my double espresso over ice.

Liam took his time, picking up one thing after another, mostly steampunk, and volume one of My Hero Academia.

"Ordered your mocha, triple chocolate mocha with whipped cream topping alright?"

"Sounds great!"

"Alright, I'm going to go hunting, Haaaajime no Iiiiiiiippo!"

Not going to find it in the western comics, manga section was closer to the window. Historically I'd feek uncomfortable with it, bad memories, but I've come to be able to handle being near windows without feeling uncomfortable, I just don't like having to sit near them. Manga, manga, selection is pretty but I can't see any Ippo... Wonder what's in the western section. Woah, they have the Cybersix comics! Can't read Spanish, but damn, that was one amazing series. I'll just take a couple issues of this and flip through them, even if just for the art.

Cybersix was one of my childhood heroes. Sure, she has powers, but she isn't like your stereotypical comic book heroes. Super strength, able to take a beating,, but struggling with her humanity and what it means to be human. She also has to deal with the need to continually take a drug to not be killed by her powers. In that respect, Cybersix is a lot like Liam and I.

Usually I'm wearing a zip hoodie, because I like being able to strip off to my shirt underneath. Crimson is my favourite colour, it blends nicely with my skin, usually I'm wearing a black T underneath, but if I took off my hoodie you'd see all the scars where I've burned myself. Li-Ren has its advantages, and elementalism can be fun at times, but the number of times I've been to the hospital because I've seared my arms. I wear that hoodie for a reason, I don't want my bullies to know I'm different.

"My Hero Academia, you'd probably like it, main character has some serious consequences for using his powers, you'd probably relate. I really liked the anime. I'd like to think that, like me and my Elementalism, Mr MC never really gets used to the pain caused by harming himself in the process of using his powers, a burn's a burn and it hurts like hell... What comic is that?" I was curious about the comic Liam had picked up, female character with robotic arm on the front, steampunk vibes about as obvious as the steam they used to power things.

"Miss Mechanica, I started it a couple weeks back, its really good so far. She's a detective who lost her arm in the war, steam batteries allow her to use her robotic arm, and she solves mysteries with mad scientists and crazy contraptions. What more could I possibly would in steampunk noire?"