章 19: Chapter 19 - Contact

"I have to say, flying through the clouds isn't as awestriking as I'd imagined," I remarked, as I stared out the window.

"I think it's pretty cool that we can travel through the air so easily, though," Replied Theo with a shrug.

"I mean, sure, it's a marvel of engineering and all, that's not what I'm talking about...the seats aren't very comfortable, there's not enough leg room, reclining the seat doesn't make much of difference, and the view gets old pretty fast," I countered dryly.

"Okay, fair enough, you're not exactly wrong on any of those counts," He responded with a chuckle.

We were currently on a flight to the nation of Cahgo, it was a five hour flight and we were only two hours in so far. It's the first time I've been a plane, and I'm already over it. It doesn't live up to the hype.

As an air stewardess then headed down the aisle, pushing a cart with a bunch of drinks on it, Theo raised his hand with a smile as she walked by our seats.

"Yes, sir, how can I help you?" She inquired with a friendly smile.

"Hey, have you ever had any booze to drink?" He turned to me and asked.

"Huh? Well, no, I've never had the chance," I shook my head.

"Could we get two beers each, please?" He requested politely.

"Of course, sir," She nodded, before taking out four cans of beer from the cart and handing the cans to us.

As she then walked away, Theo cracked open one of the cans and chugged down a deep gulp, letting out a content sigh and licking his lips as he set the can onto the tray table.

"What does it taste like?" I asked him curiously, as I opened one of my cans.

"Hey, try not to drink too much, you might bother the other passengers," Siara turned around and warned Theo.

She was in the window seat in front of us, Theo was in the aisle seat as he offered me the window seat since it's my first time on a place and all.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," He waved the back of his hand at her dismissively.

"In case you forgot, you threw up all over a little girl in the seat next to you on our flight to Esidd," She sighed in exasperation.

"Seriously?" I responded in bemusement as I glanced at him.

"O-okay, yeah, that wasn't great. But in my defense, that was because the food they served gave me a stomachache, the booze was innocent," He muttered defensively as he averted his gaze.

"Anyway, getting back to my question, what does this taste like? It smells kinda weird," I frowned, as I gave the open can a sniff.

"Just brace yourself and you'll be fine, it's pretty easy to get used to," He assured me.

Hm...alright, then, here goes, I guess. I raised the can to my mouth and began drinking from it, taking several gulps. It's kinda bitter, but the cold and fizz is nice.

Oh, right, I should probably suppress my healing power. There we go...but I think I might have wasted a bit of the drink. I then took a few more gulps from the can, pulling it away as the bitter taste began to get a bit overwhelming.

"Hey, nice, you chugged down, like, half the can in one go, not bad for your first time trying alcohol. Up high," Grinned Theo, as he held up his hand.

Huh? Oh, he wants a high five. I then awkwardly raised my hand and lightly tapped it against him, feeling weirdly embarrassed. I've never high fived another person before, it's kinda strange-...hm?

"Uh, you okay?" I asked him, as a bewildered look appeared on his face.

"I...I don't know. Something feels off, it's hard to explain. It's almost like...something is missing," He frowned with a confused, uncomfortable look on his face.

"Hm? Are you being serious or just messing around?" Inquired Siara, turning around with a look of concern.

"I'm serious! Like, right after we high fived, something feels off," He shook his head.

"I see...hey, Ariodred, touch my hand," She turned to me, reaching out her hand.

"Uh, sure, okay...," I nodded, before touching her palm with my index finger.

"W-woah...you're right, something feels off. Wait, this is...," She muttered, before raising her hand towards one of the beer cans, her forehead scrunching up as a strained expression appeared on her face.

"What's wrong? You look constipated or someth-...ow! Hey!" He frowned indignantly, as she smacked him with the back of her hand.

"My powers, I can't use them. Ariodred, I think you blocked my powers when you touched me," She remarked as her eyes widened in realization.

Wait, what? I can do that?

"Holy crap, you're right. Hold on, uh, isn't this, like, really bad!? Have we lost our pow-...!? Oh, never mind, I think my powers are back now," Replied Theo, his expression easing up significantly.

"I see, you can temporarily block the powers of other Alters upon physical contact," Siara surmised thoughtfully.

"Wait, it's been more than two weeks since we found him, how have we not noticed this sooner?" Inquired Theo with a confused look on his face.

"Hm, well, it could be-...oh, my powers are back too. I think that was about a minute or so. Anyway, as for why we haven't noticed this power, it might be because we didn't come into direct physical contact with him until now," She shrugged in response.

Oh, yeah, now that I think about it, when they helped me out of the lab, they were holding onto my shoulders, which were covered.

Well, it's not much of a power, it's only useful against other Alters. And I doubt I'd be getting into too many fights against Alters...at least, I hope I don't...

_____________________________________________

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