“Well, Marie is a pretty name. Suits you,” He said, smiling a little as he stood up and extended his hand to her. “I’m Rick.”
“I’m not sure how you can make an assumption on how it suits me,” Marie said making a face. That wasn’t empirical, just a statement. But why would he say it?
Rick made a face right back, though his was screwed up in confusion. “Because...you’re pretty and it’s a pretty name…” Was that not obvious? He’d thought that was pretty obvious but maybe he hadn’t said it properly.
Marie’s mouth fell open. Was she? He wasn’t the first one to say it, considering Christien had said the same thing. But that couldn’t be right. Christien was an anomaly. This was him. Him. That was like something out of a dream. Without meaning to her arm started to fade, panic pulling her out of view. “You think I’m…” No. She was
“Oh wow….” She was disappearing? How was she doing that? Watching her arm with intent, Rick leaned a little closer. “Where are you going?” He asked, pointing at her arm as he glanced back up at her face. “That’s really cool! Is that your thing?”
Marie looked at her arm surprised pulling herself back into focus and jerking back, covering her arm. “I’m...right here.” She didn’t go anywhere. She stayed here. She was just wasn’t visible. “I...yes.”
“Yeah, you’re still here, but that was something else,” He said, smiling more as he watched her. “That’s so cool,” He repeated, still very intently watching her arm. “Mine is not that cool. What exactly just happened, anyway?”
“Your ability is very interesting,” she corrected. “It’s impressive. I’m curious about the side effects, if you still fatigue normally. Or if you can control it. Are you always too strong?” She realized after a moment she’d just asked him a series of clinical questions, the kind that people here hated being asked because the government had asked before. She clamped her mouth shut, not answering his question right away. “I fade. Dynamic camouflage.”
If she wasn’t so cute, the questions might be annoying. But she seemed really interested and maybe he should be more concerned about why she knew so much about him, but he just sort of...wasn’t. Maybe she’d seen him do something out on the fields? He wasn’t exactly trying to hide his gift. “Uhm...I do get tired sometimes, but I’m getting better at it, controlling it. When I first had it, I was too strong. Breaking stuff everywhere, but now I’m better.”