Lucas blushed a bit more at Cass's looks at her. She paused and looked at David, figuring she had creeped David out quite a bit in that last conversation, not to mention Mark herself, since the two were a choir.
"Uhm, also, Dave? I wanna apologize... I... wasn't quite myself before."
Mark looked up. "No kidding. You were all 'we don't play the roles our changes give us' when dealing with Turtle Guy, and you went on to go all knight templar when talking to Dave.
Rachel and Robert paused. They clearly hadn't gotten this part of the conversation.
Dave nodded. "I'm curious, though. What happened?"
Cass spoke up, blushing. "It's my... Dramatis Personae power..." - with that, katakana scribbles appeared under her, and she paused for half a second, as if an animation had been paused too, as happened in many animes after a given power is named. A background "ominous" sound played. She went on. "Ugh. That's annoying. Anyways... Before you ask, this won't change your inner natures - an asshole angel will be an asshole, a good demon-changed will remain good. But... When people are exposed to my aura for too long, they begin playing the parts of their external forms more..."
"So Lucas..." - Said David.
"...became a knight templar of an angel who would crusade for her ideologies as if they were her god, yes." - Said Lucas, embarassed.
"Whereas you would become more mischievous, Rachel." - Said Cass - "It's only noticeable after an hour or so, though, and it goes away shortly after getting apart from me. I... kinda got the whole package in a whopper in animation powers. It's not all it's cracked up to be."
"Animation powers?" - Said Robert, intrigued.
"I did some research on my kind of transformation. There are western and eastern animated changes. Western ones have Tex Avery-style powers, but these powers can't really do anything permanent. They can walk on air so long as they don't look down, pull stuff from nowhere and so on. Anime-changed tend to impose anime auras, tropes and roles around them - sometimes it's to a small extent. Sometimes they can control it. Other times, you get people like me. I can control some things, like the dimensional mallet - only stuns people for a bit, and flattens them, or sends them into orbit - and so on. Or the genre of the "anime" around me, so to speak. I can't make anything appear or change reality, but the genre will still influence chance events and sensations."
With that, Lucas blushed a very deep crimson, and her nose began to spray out blood - which vanished on contact with anything. The others were treated to a curious experience: sweatdropping.
"Wh-what was that???" - Asked Robert once both her and Lucas recovered. Cass giggled.
"My guess is she was thinking of hentai as a genre. Nosebleeding, priest, is what anime characters do when sexually excited. And sweatdropping is what they do when they are uncomfortable, witnessing something silly or absurd, and so on. Lucas, yes hentai is a genre, but if you want tentacles you'll have to bring your own. I can't change reality, just the genre, so to speak. Right now, it's slice-of-life... With a bit of romantic comedy thrown in."
Lucas blushed.
"S-Sorry... I didn't... How...?"
"Well, dear, you chose to spend time with an anime woman whose powers work overdrive. Heck, I can turn my powers up, but never down. Your sexual thoughts will be painfully obvious when you're around me." - she smirked - "It clearly seems you mind it more than I do. I didn't even hit you with a mallet..."
Lucas blushed harder, got another can of Dr Pepper, and chugged it.
"You know, Lucas, I think I really enjoy making you blush... Just for the record, I can change genres without telling anyone..." - Said Cass matter-of-factly. Lucas blushed harder.
"Hokay, that's bordering on TMI..." - Mark piped in. Rachel smirked. "Aww, just when it was getting to the nice juicy bits..."
Cass smirked. "Okay, okay." - She looked at the sun setting, its iridescent colors adding a new spectacle to it all. "Lucas, walk with me..." - Lucas obliged.
"I know you'll still get to sit with us and eat and so on while you play security. You'll just have to pay some attention. But I wanted to say something. People seem to think you're coming off a bit too strong with that sword of yours, darling..." - Cass said once they were further away.
Lucas sighed. "Yeah, yeah... I screwed up with the turtle guy..."
"You're a good deterrent to violence, but don't overplay it. I've been in protests. I know how they work. If the people that have the weapons play it up too much, the crowd feels threatened and reacts. Beware he power of dumb people in large numbers."
Lucas nodded. "I know. I'll hide the sword for now, make it a baton." - with that, Lucas concentrated, and the sword reformed into a baton.
"Good. Also?"
"Yes?" - Said Lucas.
Cass pulled Lucas into a deep kiss. Lucas blushed, kissing back, and lost herself in the feeling - it all felt very right, and so dreamlike... So good... The landscape around them changed a bit - it became like a picture of hearts and flowers, with some special effects thrown in. Cass's power.
Cass broke the kiss, smiling.
"That was a romantic kiss. Don't screw this up, and you'll get to see a hentai one today. I'll mingle with some of the people on both sides to interview them for my work. Wish me luck. Also, if you do so in trying protect me, I'll forgive you if you happen to screw up, so long as no one ends up hurt." - she winked.
Lucas blushed and smiled as Cass left.
"Eu adoro o Sol Iridescente..." (1) - she muttered, smiling.
(1) "I love the Iridescent Sun..."
