The Pitfalls of Being

[ launch sequence ]

He gestures to the only seat in the room, which she's already sitting in.

Efficiency, she breathes in deeply through her nose, highly irritated, is an art form long lost on the people of today.

"Er, right." Dr. Dalus nervously rubs the back of his ear, as Wynona's noticed he's done three times in the two minutes he's realized her presence in the spacious office. "Well, as you know, Wynona, you are due to graduate soon from the LIBERATION program at Great Pines High ―"

She waves a hand in the air, stopping him mid-sentence. She knows this part already. "Yeah, yeah, and I can't because?"

"I-I don't know how to tell you this, dear, but the Council has decided not to grant you your requested Superhero license."

Wynona stills. "What."

It's dangerously low pitched, sharp without her intending it quite to, and by the way Dr. Dalus' hairline is suddenly sopping with sweat, he can also tell the murderous tint to her voice.

"It's your power, sweetheart," he stammers, a poor excuse for a man, "They just don't think it's ... super material."

"So I've just wasted a couple years of my life, doing everything you've told me to do, just to have my dreams crushed and rejected because my power isn't cool enough?" Her eyes narrow, arms gripping the chair tighter while on the inside her heart is pounding and thumping and wailing in sorrow as her brain screams failure failure failure at her over and over again.

Ah, yes. That familiar, familiar crushing defeat. She was wondering when it would show up again.

She's a Benoit, after all. It's in her bones. Certainly was in her father's.

"Er, yes?"

"Is that a question, or an answer, Doc?"

"A question? No - er, an answer. An answer. Yes." He fiddles with his fallen blocks, eyes not meeting hers, and Wynona can feel her eyes beginning to sting, blurring her sight.

Biting her lip angrily because she will not cry in front of this dumb fuck, she will not, she manages to grind out, "So what can I do with the education that I have at hand?"

Relieved at the change of topic, Dr. Dalus straightens up his tie and points to the insignia of a boy standing in the clouds, the sun melting the wax wings off of his very back centered above him.

"Why, Wynona, do not fret," he says, "ICARUS would be willing to take you for their new program, something about using teens to influence change in their fellow subjects.

"A job just opened, in fact, and I've already told them you're the perfect young lady for it. The Council always reconsiders applicants who can show that they're hardy enough to deal with and influential enough across their own transform delinquents into street-smart, responsible citizens."

"So I'm supposed to play babysitter, and suddenly, everything will be just peachy?" Wynona frowns. "This sounds too easy."

She nearly misses the smug grin on Dr. Dalus' face; it's unusual, seeing such a thing of confidence draped across such a mousey character, and her breath hitches at the sight.

"Now, now, I never said it would be easy, Wynona. You should know better: life is much harder than that." He clears his throat, happy to inflict pain upon Wynona, who's caused much more hurt than happiness in her brief stay here as a client.

"You've been assigned to Bunker 398, the most problematic group of teens the program has seen in years. Mess this up, and you can kiss your dreams of becoming a superhero goodbye. Mess this up, Wynona, and it's very unlikely that you'll be able to return home after this. Why, doesn't that sound familiar ― a Benoit disappearing and bringing home nothing but shame upon the family name?"

He flashes a smile, all teeth. "What can I say? Like father, like daughter?"

Wynona clenches her fists in anger, watching the smug face of man who knows he's holding all the goddamned cards in the palm of his hands. Her bones sing for a taste of his blood, just a pinch ― she grits her teeth. She won't let the bastard win this time. Or ever, really.

"So what's it going to be, Wynona?" He wiggles the packet in his hand, derisive in all the ways that hurt. "Do you really want to be a superhero?"

She swallows hard, thinks of someone who used to say that to her all the time, someone who's more of an echo than anything else these days, and nods briskly, swiping it out of his grimy hands.

"Yeah, I kinda do."

A timer beeps in the far distance, signaling the end of her session with Dr. Dalus.

Huh, Wynona thinks bitterly, as she grabs the contact information from him and stumbles out the door in a blind daze. It just took me thirty minutes and I've got all my dreams crushed, dead, and down in the dirt with nothing more than the barest of chances to get them back up. That's a new record, even for me.

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start: june 2016

end: ???

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SOUNDTRACK TO A DEATH

i. heathens - twenty one pilots; ii. war - tunji ige; iii. come and see me - partynextdoor ft. drake; iv. numb & getting colder - flume ft. kucka; v. good grief - bastille; vi. kerosene dreams - x ambassadors; vii. ..fuck - johnny rain; vii. sucker for pain - lil wayne, wiz khalifa & imagine dragons; ix. calm down - g-eazy; x. biting down - lorde; xi. i know why - marian hill; xii. buzzcut season - lorde; xiii. thinking - marian hill; xiv. freak of nature - broods ft. tove lo; xv. i found - amber run; xvi. unsteady - x ambassadors; xvii. oblivion - bastille; xviii. drive - oh wonder; xix. all i want - kodaline; xx. youth - daughter; xxi. expectations - sir sly; xxii. i'm gonna be (500 miles) - sleeping at last; xxiii. conscious - broods; xxiv. chandra - gallant

BONUS

+ heartlines - florence + the machine
+ unsteady - x ambassadors
+ bad_news - bastille
+ which witch - florence + the machine
+ miyazaki - gallant 
+ breath of life - florence + the machine

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a/n: i know i know i knOW i'VE BEEN DEAD FOREVER sorry mi amigos!!! i hope this will do well to lift your spirits??? i'm super duper excited to start this ok just think angsty teens with supernatural powers wrapped in a coming-of-age story it's like all my favorites (& specialties) wrapped into one hehe i'm v sorry for not continuing/bringing back any of my other stories but i know i'll be able to finish this one first and go back to the others. for sure. thank you for staying w/ me through this ugly time and i love you all; i can't believe u believe in me enough to stick to this sorry ass. let me know ur thoughts ok loves?

copyright (c) mountainy 2016

all rights reserved. please do not repost anywhere without my express written permission.

and without further ado, welcome to the pitfalls of being.

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start: june 2016

end: ???