Who's that Girl? (Alpha)

An attractive teen girl sat outside near an ice cream shop, slowly enjoying a dish full of strawberry ice cream. It was a bright, sunny day, and the girl was trying to enjoy it to the max.

She had long black hair, bright blue eyes, and a slightly gothic style to her clothing, including a pair of combat boots. A wide smile crossed her face as she took another bite of the ice cream. This was Grace Koori, but it was also Shivering Jemmy of the Shallow Brigade. She had come to like this form quite a bit lately, and was trying to spend more time as a human.

An adult human. She hadn't noticed before how many looks she got from boys when she was like this. Having a grown up body seemed to have it's advantages. She felt popular.

Why, here came another boy now. This one looked like he wanted to talk to her. He had something strange on his arm. Jemmy wondered if it was magical in nature. Unfortunately, while she was in any form other than her original, she was unable to use her other powers. She would have to be content to wait and see, for now.

The boy walked up to Jemmy, and fell on his face. Jemmy jumped in her chair, startled. The boy got up, remarkably uninjured, and held out his hand for her to shake. His name was Damian.

"Pleased to meet you, Damian. I'm Grace Koori." She smiled. "You don't have to bow to me, you know. It's not like I'm royalty or anything." She scooped up a spoon full of ice cream and put it to his lips. "Here, this will make you feel better." Ice cream always made her feel better, so hopefully it would work for Damian, too.

"So, what can I do for you, Damian?"

He just wanted to get to know her? Jemmy thought that was odd. Did people normally go around introducing themselves to others? Surly, there was some dark, secret motive that Damian had for speaking with her.

Then again, Jemmy supposed that eventually people had to talk to strangers. After all, friendships had to start somehow. Humans weren't born with friends. That must be inconvenient.

"Go ahead." He could sit with her if he wanted. It would be nice to have some company, now that she thought about it. Jemmy suddenly felt nervous, though, and it showed. She was Grace right now. The body looked really good, but she didn't have much of a 'backstory' for the teen girl. What was she supposed to say that she liked, or what she did with her time? She went to high school, but wasn't in any clubs yet.

"I guess I really don't have that many skills or anything. Um...I want to join the soccer team, so I've been practicing for that. It's kind of hard, though. I've never played a sport before." At least not as an actual human. "School is really hard...and I like ice cream. I guess that's me." She smiled cutely. "So what about you? What do you do for fun? Do you have a job? Do you go to school?" Jemmy was anxious to get the attention off of her for a moment.

Jemmy looked at the gauntlet. It was red and made of some weird metal. She pointed at it. "What is that thing? Some sort of magical device? Or is it cosplay?" Jemmy's appetite for magic had gone down considerably lately. Adding the fact that she was in her human disguise and currently eating ice cream, she had no desire to eat the gauntlet. It was strange how a single year changed things. Still, the gauntlet looked cool, and Jemmy reached for it. "Can I try it on? I promise not to break it, or shoot lasers. Come on, I gave you some ice cream, remember?"

Jemmy really didn't want to do anything nefarious. She just thought the gauntlet was neat.

It was definitely a piece of armor, but it was the only armor he was wearing. "So, where's the rest of your suit? And what powers do you have?" Honestly, even without the gauntlet, Jemmy might have asked the question anyway. Every other person in Jump seemed to have some super power. It was a strange city, the strangest by far that she had ever lived in.

Sacred Gear? Jemmy had no idea what that was. Even without her magical sensory, it took a lot to surprise her when it came to relics. If she didn't know anything about it, then maybe that meant Damian was from a different universe. That was a scary thought. Jemmy didn't even recognize the Thirteen Longinus, so that convinced her. He was a reality jumper.

He couldn't take it off? Like, it was a part of him? "That must get you a lot of attention at school."

She listened intently as he described the powers of the gauntlet. It sounded amazing, like it could do anything. Still, the idea that he couldn't take it off had to be annoying.

Jemmy put her hand on the gauntlet. "Can you feel my hand?" Her eyes were full of worry. "This thing...the Boosted Gear, it sounds like a blessing and a curse at the same time. Everyone wants power, and they feel threatened by others who have it." Jemmy laughed. "Hey, that sounded smart. I guess there isn't anyone normal in this city, so you really fit in here." She suddenly panicked, and it was quite obvious on her face that she had said something she hadn't wanted to. "I mean, I don't have any powers or anything. It just seems like everyone else does. I'm just a normal person, and sometimes...you know, left out."

If Jemmy had to judge her performance, she would say she was doing quite well. In reality, she had a lot of powers, but she did still feel left out a lot of the time. That was why she was in disguise right now.

"So, do you want to join the Titans, then? I hear they're pretty cool. Except for their leader."

Oh. The gauntlet really was a part of him, not just attached to his body. Jemmy smiled a little bit, but she still seemed concerned. Damian said that an abnormal life had been shoved in his face because of this gauntlet. It was possible that she could actually eat the gauntlet, freeing Damian from it's 'curse.' Of course, since it was connected to his soul, that action might have some side-effects. But she was certain she could figure it out. He seemed like a nice person, and if she had a chance to help him out, then wasn't it her duty as a fledgeling hero to do so?

But she had already told him that she had no powers. She didn't want to be caught lying, so she decided to go about this in a roundabout way.

"Would you give it up, if you had the chance? If someone had the means to make your Sacred Gear go away forever, would you do it? I mean, I always hear these hero-types say that their power is a curse, and that they wish they could go back to being normal. Would you like to be normal, or would that be too boring?"

Aha! Jemmy smiled widely. She had caught him now. She had just said that she felt left-out by not having any powers. If Damian said that being normal was boring, he would be calling her life boring. His second choice was to go to any length to rid himself of the Sacred Gear, at which point Jemmy would find some sly way to eat it without revealing who she was.

There was, of course, a third choice, a fourth choice, and so on, but Jemmy couldn't think that far ahead. For now, she was content to listen to Damian's answer.

Damian gave a good answer, and Jemmy was impressed. Her eyes widened when he talked about getting back home. The words he used made it pretty clear where he was from, or at least where he wasn't from.

"I knew it. You're from another dimension, aren't you? We get a lot of people here with the same situation. Or at least more than you'd expect. I don't know if any of them manage to get home."

The Sacred Gear held the key to returning Damian back to his home? That was incredible. Not even Jemmy could travel between different realities. She frowned for a bit, realizing that there was nothing she could do to send him back where he belonged. "Even if you have that gauntlet, it might still take a long time. By then, who knows if you will even want to go back? I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to help you return to your old world."

She perked up. "But I can make you feel at home in this world. Is there anything I can do to help you right now?"

Well, Jemmy felt like she knew Damian fairly well now. Surprisingly, he hadn't asked too many questions about her. Maybe he was just nervous because he was talking to a girl.

Either that or he found her boring.

Jemmy tightened her grip on the spoon. "So, did everyone you love disappear out of the blue? Because that happened in our world about 5 years ago. It was pretty hard on me. I was so lonely. We're kinda in the same boat, actually. I moved here, to Jump City, hoping to make some new friends. I have a few now, so I'm doing better. It's just, I'm afraid that I might mess up and make them all hate me. Why can't everyone just be nice?"

What else did Jemmy want to share about herself? The trouble with pretending to be a human was that it became hard to speak from the heart. Ah, who was she fooling? She didn't have a heart, not in the same way these humans did. "I'm not very smart, talented, or hard-working. Can you still be a friend to a person like me?"