The next day after hanging the posters Jethro’s alarm went off at 9. He slowly rolls over to tap the alarm clock, shutting it off. He rubs the sleepy dust out of his eye. ”Man, why did I set my alarm so early,” Jethro takes a moment to recall, “Oh right! So I can meet Molie today since she didn’t tell me what time she’d come. But I’m so tired. I wish I wasn't so tired…wait if i don’t keep wounds when I transform. Would I keep my tiredness?” Jethro transforms and Jade sits up and stretches her arms out, feeling invigorated. “I’m a genius!"
Walking to the kitchen, she gets out some butter from the fridge and spreads it over the plates of the grill press. She places the bread, tomatoes, cheese, and another piece of bread then presses it all down. The loud hiss and sizzle of the grill adds to the cozy morning atmosphere. She takes her now completed grilled cheese out and slowly munches on it while marveling at her spritely attitude upon waking up only minutes before, heck Jade even notices that her current body is already cleaned and freshened up. She wouldn’t need to brush or shower before heading out to the woods. She wishes she could wake up like this every day. She grabs an apple and a can of soda as she leaves and heads to her training spot.
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Jade has her eyes closed and crinkled in heavy concentration. Honing her super sense™, she detects a nearby insect floating by the edges of her sense’s radius. She tries to cut the bug out of the air when it enters her space and manages to bring the blade close enough to zap it with her sword. Jade gives a big wide grin. That had been one of the more successful, intended attempts at her usage of super sense. (Ah dang it, she needs to get the super sense’s name figured out before it settles any further.)
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Attempting to climb a tree, she jumps about a foot and a half and stabs her sword into the tree before using it as a ledge to climb higher. She folds her arms around the handle and guard before rotating her body to stand on the blade itself, then lunging off the wedged blade she reaches the top of the tree to climb into its canopy. As she reaches the top and examines the upper regions of the forest she realizes in a moment of surprise, the blade is already back in her sheath, “What it returns by itself! How long has it been doing this for?” A good part of the next hour is spent experimenting heavily on this new found feature. “How many times had I actually lost my sword?” She thinks upon this as her sword flies to the ground and at will returns by her side in a similar blink like her transformation. “And why do all of my magic abilities come with no cool sounds or effects?”
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She climbs down from the higher reaches of the canopy to hang upside down on the lower branches. Enjoying the view with the aid of her physically enhanced eyesight, she decides to reach into her pockets to pull out the can of soda she had taken with her earlier. She cracks it open and takes a sip before immediately feeling it come out her nose and gags at the crackling and painful sensation running through her entire nasal area. (It turns out hanging upside down while drinking soda may not exactly be the most intelligent idea.) Jade lets out a deep sigh, “Ugh, when is Molie gonna get here?”
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Jade waits with hours passing and when it's noon, Molie runs in yelling, “Sorry! I forgot to tell you when I was coming!!!” Jade’s bored and vacant expression does a complete 180 and flips into an excited bright smile, “Molie you’re here!” Molie however doesn’t completely smile back, the edges of her mouth are curled up but there is an ultimately nervous air about her. She whispers into Jade's ear, “my dad came along. My parents were worried about me after hanging out with you, since I got lost yesterday. They don't know about my arms or your things yet.” Jade’s smile drops as she looks over and she can see what appears to be Molie’s dad walking up to the two of them.
He is a relatively tall figure wearing a dark red flannel shirt paired with denim jeans and of course: a long bright red and orange beard, now that Jade looks at the two of them she can see that while Molie is a brunette she has the same blue green eyes as him. He waves with a bright and warm smile and says, “Hey there! You’re Jade right, Molie’s new friend?” Before Jade can even respond, “You really do look like a jewel. That bright green hair and eyes. And that shiny atmosphere, you really are like a Jade!” Molie and Jade blush at this, “Dad you just met her!” Molie’s dad gives a sheepish grin while ruffling Molie’s hair, “Sorry pumpkin. Hope that didn’t make you too Jaded.” Molie’s face becomes painfully blank, “Dad that was even worse.” “I know pumpkin. Molie told me a lot about you when she came back. I want to thank you for keeping her safe while she was lost and helping her come back home!” “Molie really did put me in a good light,” Jade preens internally a little. “Actually now that I’ve gotten a good look at you I noticed you're carrying a sword around and are quite dressed up!” Molie freezes in fear, “Oh god I forgot about Jade’s secret identity! What if my dad tries to find it out! What if we can’t hang out because he thinks she’s suspicious!” Molie is vibrating and suddenly letting out quick breaths and Jade responds without noticing Molie’s billionth meltdown, “I’m a magic girl!” “YOU IDIOT! WHY WOULD YOU TELL HIM THAT!?” Molie internally screams. “Sure you are Jade! You must really like that outfit!” “I do!” The topic moves on from Jade’s appearance and Molie feels her adrenaline come down as sheer exasperation envelops her entire being, “One of these days she’s going to make me keel over from stress!”
“Anyways I was going to invite you over, but where are your parents?” Molie’s dad visibly looks around as if expecting them to be chatting around the corner. “They’re at work.” Jade explains casually. His brow furrows, “Well have you been ok by yourself?” “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Jade reads his concern. “Just checking, we are a little bit away from the trail.” It looks like Molie’s dad wants to say more but immediately Molie interrupts to say, “Do you want to come over to our house?” Jade doesn’t even let a beat pass, “Sure!” “Wait a sec how are we going to train Molie’s arms at her house? “Alright then let's call your parents real quick and let them know what’s going on before we head over.” Jade takes her phone and texts her mom, [Can I go over to a friend's house?] [Sure] her mom replies. “Ok my mom said I can go.” “Anything else she had to say about you being in the woods up till now?” Molie’s dad asks with his lips drawn thin. “Why would she ask about that? She lets me come here all the time.” Jade now worries for his reaction wondering if she did something wrong. Molie’s dad drops all expression of worry back to his previous neutral grin, “It’s nothing! I was just curious since I always make sure to look after Molie whenever we come out here. I just wanted to make sure everything was ok!” Molie walks over to grab Jade’s hand, “C’mon! I want to show you my room!” Jade immediately forgets about the unusual feelings of the previous conversation and the three of them head over to Molie’s house.
Thanks for the chapter.