tushanshu_logs | 'Cause I found what I was missing

Entry tags:

'Cause I found what I was missing

Characters: Frank Zhang and OPEN
Date: A day or two after his intro
Location: On the way to the turtle's head
Situation: Frank practicing archery and shapeshifting a bit (with different threads), because it's been a while and it's a good way to get his head to stop spinning after so much information dumped on him.
Warnings/Rating: None, will add if needed

Frank Zhang didn't consider himself useless, despite what others might say about his self esteem. He simply knew what he was good at, and the things he... wasn't. There was nothing bad in being realistic about your own abilities, or so he kept telling himself.

And he was aware that this was way beyond him. Being somehow 'teleported' into this world- if not outright cloned- when everything was in chaos, the war that they were supposed to be fighting against an enemy so powerful they couldn't even pronounce their name, the way his friends had reacted to the arrival of a demigod he hadn't even heard about, the fact that he could maybe never get back home...

'Beyond him' was putting it lightly. He had never felt more like a burden to his friends, more unable to do anything to help them out. So he did what he did best in this kind of situations.

Train his abilities until he could become useful. He was the son of Mars, and as much as that had made him feel awkward it was who he was. And a son of Mars never ran from a battle.

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It's honestly not the fact that an eagle is flying much lower than it should be that gets Vanessa's attention. What does she know about the behavior of birds? Very little, actually.

No, what actually gets her attention is the fact that there's an eagle on Tu Vishan. Not that she knows everything about this place, but she's been here long enough to know that none of the animals are exactly like their Earth counterparts, and most of the birds on the turtle are, well. Not as cool as an eagle.

She stops walking, using her hand to shield her eyes as she looks up at it. This is weird, right?

And Frank is so immersed on his flying around (which isn't as easy as it seems even if you've got the wings, let him tell you) he doesn't even realize he's being stared at. He simply soars around, feeling the wind on his feathers... until he begins to feel the kind of tiredness that comes from adopting an animal form for too long.

So he lands on the ground, not far from where Vanessa is and... begins to change his shape to an Asian kid. That should be fun to see.

The funny thing is, this should be surprising. Honest to God surprising, the kind of thing that would have had her freaking out back home, but there's a weird sort of resignation when the eagle lands and begins turning into a boy. Seriously, why not. She can break apart molecules, she's seen Leo catch on fire, and there's some ancient evil creature masquerading as who only knows on the back of a giant, dying turtle.

Yeah.

Her reality has expanded to allow eagle boys in it.

She walks over to him slowly, just in case. Not everyone here is friendly, after all. "Am I hallucinating, or are you a shapeshifter?"

"Uh."

Smart answer as he turns around to face her, but to be fair she had kind of caught him by surprise. He glances at her but no, he doesn't remember meeting her. But she does seem friendly.

"It would be silly to deny it right now huh? Yeah, I am. A shapeshifter, I mean."

It's probably a little bit more bold of a question that Vanessa normally asks, but there's not a lot on Turtle Paradise that is particularly normal anymore, and well... There's a boy who was a bird in front of her, and she's trying to not freak out about that. Or wonder how that's even possible, because where does all the mass go.

"You could deny it, if you wanted to. And I could pretend I didn't see anything, if that's something you'd rather not talk about. Trust me, I know all about those sort of things." He confirms it, but Vanessa's serious about forgetting it if he wants her to.

His lips twitch up to a smile. He likes the girl already. But honestly he was too proud to finally have learned what the skill of his family was that he hadn't even ever thought of hiding it.

"Nah, it's fine. It's not really a secret." He holds out a hand out. "I'm Frank, Frank Zhang and I'm a shape shifter. This is my real form though, I promise.

Hi?"

"I'm Vanessa, Vanessa Cleveland. I turn invisible." She takes his hand, shaking it firmly as she grins. "Oh, good. Not that I was actually worried about it. Can you shift into other humans, though?"

She's not sure if she thinks that would be cool or kind of terrible.

"Invisible? Really?" That one was new. New and pretty cool, none of the demigods he knew could do that- except Annabeth with her cap of course.

"Only animals, and only ones I know well. That's why I had to go with an eagle instead of something less suspicious."

"Yup!" There's a moment of hesitation. She's never really been that open about her powers before, but seeing as how she kind of did just see Frank's, it seems like a fair trade. "Well, sort of. It's more like I can pull molecules apart."

Vanessa nods, because that makes sense. As much sense as anything else. "You should take a look at the local wildlife, then. You know, to find ways to blend in a little bit. That's a really cool gift."

"I- yeah, I guess I should do that."

He blushes a bit, reaching to rub the back of his neck. He should be used to people saying that about his powers by now (even among demigods it's quite unique), but he doesn't think he ever will. So he changes the subject.

"You can... pull molecules apart? How?"

She smiles softly, reading the blush as more an embarrassment at the suggestion than at the compliment itself. "Don't worry. Sometimes the most obvious answers are the hardest to see. Or some other fortune cookie response."

And then she makes a face because she actually doesn't even know how it happens. "I... Can't be sure. With mine, it's sort of like they don't want to be together. If I concentrate, I can pass that sort of energy on."

He lets out an 'oooh' sound, not really understanding but he gets weird kind of powers that are hard to explain.

"Can you show me? Or is that rude to ask?"

"Sure!" A few months ago, and she would have never even mentioned her abilities. It's a weird thing to come to the realization that she's actually coming to accept herself.

Holding her hand up, she concentrates on her humming molecules. If she's not careful, her entire body will dissolve, but she's been working on doing only a few body parts here and there. It takes a couple of seconds before the tips of her fingers, down to her wrist begins to come apart in a silvery mist.

"Ta-da?"

Frank let's out a chuckle of amazement.

"Ta-da indeed, next you'll be making a bunny appear. Are you still tangible when you do that?"

She flashes a bright grin at him. "Only if the bunny was already invisible, to be honest." There's a shake of her head now. "Not exactly. I'm more like particles floating around. Great for hovering and spying and making people think I'm a ghost, but I can't really be touched."

He can't help but reach to try to touch her, but indeed he doesn't get to touch anything. It's really as if there was nothing there- and then he looks quickly up, thinking of something.

"Oh, sorry, did that hurt?"

She can feel him, sort of, moving through the scattering of her molecules. Her head shakes at the question as she reforms her hand again, flexing her fingers.

"Not a lot can hurt me like this. I mean, smog is really bad, because it clings to my molecules, but that's doable. Spirits and other invisible things, they're no good. They can meld with me if they know I'm there."

A shudder runs through her. She hates that feeling.

He makes a face between a wince and a smirk- and yes, somehow he manage to do just that.

"Well, can't say I know what a spirit melding into you feels like, but I do know they mean trouble wherever one goes. Some of my friends got possessed back at home by some kind of... Greek... ghosts things and then said ghosts tried to kill us. It was a mess, but Leo managed to save us."

That's a pretty amazing skill, Frank. Vanessa's suitably impressed by the mix of those two expressions.

"It's disgusting," she says automatically, making a face as she toes a rock near her foot. "Like shades?" Those are the only Greek ghosts that she really only knows, but that's probably not the same. Veto didn't exactly possess people. And then there's a look of surprise and a sheepish grin. "Leo did, huh? He doesn't give himself a lot of credit for the stuff he does."

He shakes his head at the name, but he's kind of surprised she knows that much. And that she believes him right away too, but she did saw him shape-shift in front of her.

"Eidolons, they were called Eidolons. Leo is..." He shrugs. "Leo is like a combination of too-much-ego and too-much-self-doubt."

Her lips purse as she turns that name over, but then she shakes her head. "I've never heard of them, but they sound really creepy." Like, demon possessive creepy.

"Yeah, that sounds like him." There's a moment before she blushes and makes a face. "I mean, not that I know him really well or anything, we're just friends, but that's just... How it seems." Because clearly him and Frank are friends, right? He'd know more than she would.

Well that sure was a blush. And Frank might not be the fastest when it comes to getting body language but that was one damn big clue... still he decides not to push it. It's Leo, gods knows what he had told the poor girl.

"Well, it's not like I know him all that well either. We met only a few days ago actually... but saving the world together does get people close."

"Oh." That's a little awkward. Story of Vanessa's life, though. "Yeah, it's that whole traumatic experience thing that brings everyone together. You live through one near-death experience, and suddenly it doesn't even matter how little you know about a person."

"Yeah, I mean: we argue a lot but I know I can trust my life to him, not that I can tell him that. He'd tease me about it forever." And then a pause... "Wait, are you speaking from experience?"

"Don't worry. Your secret is completely safe with me. He won't hear a word about it." Vanessa makes an 'x' over her heart to complete her swear. And then she makes a face. "Uh. Sort of, I guess."

Well, that's an awkward slip up.

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