fashionably_strong | 4th shopping trip [Voice] Backdated to August 13th

4th shopping trip [Voice] Backdated to August 13th

[Though she typically prefers video communication, Bulla deliberately selects voice. It's difficult to tell whether she sounds a little off because she's tired, depressed, or sick, but she's definitely not her usual upbeat and sociable self.]

Hi, everyone. I could use some suggestions for a distraction or three. Preferably something where you don't have to move around much.

[Truthfully, she's tired, depressed, and not feeling well, though it's due to an injury rather than illness. Her mother has vanished from Luceti, and she's recovering from the worst injury she's ever had in her life courtesy of a cultist.]

...and if you're suggesting reading, please suggest a specific book, because I've already read everything I have here in the house.

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He sounds like a good father.

[Bulla smiles a bit.]

Are you close with your brother? Mine's a lot older than me, but we do get along pretty well.

He is. [She says, in response to the comment about her father, with a fond smile.]

With Pietro? ... Yeah. I wish we were closer, but it's not really... possible. We're very different. He puts up with me really well, though, and I know he cares. He has super speed, so just day-to-day-- life, the things everyone does, every day, take forever for him, and... he gets annoyed, because of it. And then there's me, and I have to be cautious and slow-- because of my powers. [She smiles, at the contrast.] It's not a very good combination. But... I know he tries, more with me than with anyone else. ... I appreciate his effort, and I enjoy whatever time we can spend together. He's in charge of my homeschooling now, which is... [Different? New? Intimidating? ] nice.

[It surprises her, that Wanda's own brother doesn't have remotely similar powers.]

It's nice that he puts in that extra effort for you. It sounds like powers are really varied in your world. Powers in mine mostly come from extensive martial arts training or from being full or partially alien. Or both.

Yeah... Almost no two people have the same power. Well. Almost. There are some that are more... that you're more likely to run into. But even then they're not usually exactly the same.

Your world... sounds like it would be much easier to-- train in. Easier to find a teacher, and learn control. That must be nice.

Wow. That must make learning basic control difficult at first.

[She can't imagine having powers that were completely different from even her own family members. Well, she can, but she has no idea how she'd have managed without the benefit of a teacher. Being possessed by Eferin gave her pretty good insight into what it would be like to suddenly manifest new powers.]

There aren't too many people in the world who can use ki...but anyone who has enough to be able to fly or use ki blasts will probably attract the attention of the people who can. Especially if it's because the person is a great martial artist rather than just born with an abnormally high amount of it. The annual world tournament is a pretty big deal in my world.

"At first." ... Yeah. ... Luckily not everyone's powers are destructive. Like-- I live with this guy who has skin you cannot cut. And he's basically impossible to move, once he plants his feet. Not much training there. ... Of course, he's pretty inhumanly strong too, that needs training. [She shrugs.] ... Training is always important, if you want to get better.

Is-- Ki something you can train to have? Or do people just have it or not? ... What's the Annual World Tournament? ... It sounds important.

[Oops? She doesn't envy Wanda's struggles for control.]

Well, technically everyone has at least a little ki. Unless they're an android or something. It's life force energy. It takes a lot of physical training for most people to have enough to fly or do anything else with. Having a lot of it is partially genetic for Saiyans, but it still takes training to learn how to use it, and it grows with training.

So... If you have more ki, does that mean you'll... live longer? If it's life force? And do you use it up when you fly? [Wanda is intrigued at the idea that one could train death away, if how she's thinking of ki is right.] ... How do you know how much ki you have?

It's possible that you could live longer, but not forever. My dad's in his late fifties, but he doesn't look a day over forty. I do use some when I fly, but ki's something that gets replenished with food and rest.

[It's that last inquiry that gets her thinking.]

There were these little devices called scouters that would give a reading on what someone's power level was at. They're not really in use anymore, though, since they weren't produced on Earth and they break if someone's power is over a certain level. Trained fighters can sense approximately how powerful someone is. That's...surprisingly hard, though. Learning to fly was way easier.

[Nodding, understanding and learning.] My father looks younger than his age, as well. ... But that's because of a scientific procedure he undertook.

... I suppose if I had any ki worth noticing, I would have noticed by now. ... I'm glad to hear flying's easier than something though.

I'm sure you can do it with practice. If you've been able to do it in your sleep, you definitely have enough to fly. You just need to learn how to tap into it while you're awake.

[In fact, Bulla's confident she'll be able to help with that, even if it would probably be better for her to learn from Gohan, Goten or Trunks if they were here. More knowledgable and yet patient enough to teach.]

How... Do I tap into it? Is it... a mental thing? Or-- a hand gesture? How do you do it? Er, not that we have to talk about that now, you're still injured!

You have to be able to feel your body's energy inside of you. It takes a bit to learn how to sense it, but once you can do that, the steps to learn how to fly aren't as hard.

[She's not going to encourage Wanda to try flying until she's certain that her arm's healed up enough to catch her friend if need be.]

It's...a little like meditating, actually.

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4th shopping trip [Voice] Backdated to August 13th

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