michellewebster (michellewebster) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2023-10-16 23:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, !match-up, !weather, michelle webster (michellewebster), ~2023 october |
Who: Michelle Webster
What: Narrative
When: Monday, October 16
Where: Miller Home Enhancements
Warnings: None
Status: Complete
Michelle usually got an earlier start, but today found her going running a little before ten a.m. The sky was threatening. Towering, dense clouds were rolling in, and the air felt charged. It looked liked a serious rainstorm, maybe a thunderstorm, was about to roll over Madison. Michelle wasn't about to let a little rain stop her. The whole point of her training was to be able to run for her life when the occasion called for it, and it might happen in the rain. She did compromise by wearing a transparent rain poncho.
The sky darkened as she ran, and the rain arrived with a thunderous noise. Michelle watched a wall of water advance on her faster than she could run, and then it engulfed her, soaking her to the skin despite the poncho. She continued running until she reached the parking lot for Miller Home Enhancements and she slowed to a halt, breathing deeply but not out of breath.
Lightning flashed all around the city and thunder crashed and rumbled around her. Michelle stopped and looked up, contemplating the lightning storm. She raised a hand and concentrated. Amanda had taught her this, as a way to settle a powerful quickening, to dissolve the strong personality of a defeated foe. It wasn't something she'd done often, but this seemed like a good opportunity to practice it.
It took a couple of minutes while stood in an open part of the parking lot, hand raised. But her persistence was rewarded when a bolt of lightning flashed down to strike her. The charge sizzled through her body and into the ground. It was shocking--literally and figuratively--but did her no harm. She focused, and it happened again. And then again. And again, until a nearly continuous arc jumped between the clouds and her outstretched fingertips.
Michelle let her concentration lapse and the onslaught ended. She stood let out a breath--and her breath smoked a little when she did--but she felt energized. Light. And somehow more grounded emotionally than she had been when she started.
Also, her running shoes were scorched, the rubber soles melted to the asphalt beneath her. She stepped out of them, peeled them up, and walked toward the store entrance, where half a dozen onlookers had gathered to watch the show.