Who: Simon Stroud and Daniela Flores Where: Simon's apartment When: Friday evening What: Daniela makes a request Warnings: None
Daniela had known Simon for a long time. He’d entered when he was thirteen and she was eight, she herself having been born there since both of her parents were metahumans. Despite that, she’d never talked to him all that much. She’d had a hugely embarrassing crush on him when she was fifteen and he was around twenty, which resulted in her blushing and fleeing whenever she spotted him around. But since they’d never actually talked much, it was likely he’d never noticed, for which Daniela was grateful. She’d gotten over it soon enough, but sometimes she’d see him and she’d remember how awkward she’d been, and she’d feel embarrassed all over again.
She shouldn’t feel that way now - she was a grown-up, a twenty-six year old independent woman who was an operative. Her powers were pretty awesome and despite being a rookie, she felt she brought a lot to her team. So, she told herself firmly, she was not nervous about approaching Simon. Not at all.
She knocked on the door to his apartment, a small part of her hoping that maybe he wasn’t at home. But when the door opened, she gave a cheery smile. “Hi, Simon, I’m Daniela.” As if he didn’t know who she was. Which was a possibility, as they’d never talked before.
He had been relaxed and prepared to laze about till he felt up to going to Capers. The knock on his door surprised him and he grabbed his cane to support him as he headed to the door. "Oh, hi Daniela," he said. He definitely knew who she was. They had never talked that often, but 003 was like a village: everyone knew everyone to some degree.
"Hey, come on in," he said, wondering why she would stop by. He moved so she could pass him and go into his living area which was neat compared to the mess in his kitchen.
“Thanks,” Daniela said, making herself comfortable on the couch. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” she said, not trying to disguise the fact that she was totally checking out his apartment. She wasn’t usually in the studio layouts - she lived in a four-bedroom suite, and prior to that had lived with her family. And most of her friends had roommates also.
"No, I wasn't doing anything important," he admitted. "I was just wasting away a Friday night for the most part. I'll probably go to Capers later, but there's nothing exciting about that either." He slid his phone into his jeans pocket and sat on the armrest of the couch on the other side from Daniela, turning to face her with his curious expression.
"So, what's up?"
Daniela could see that he didn’t want to beat around the bush, and she couldn’t exactly blame him for that. “I heard a rumor that you’re going to start training some operatives,” she said, laying her cards on the table. “I wanted to see if you’d consider me.”
"Oh," he said. He grinned. "That's great. Yeah, I start Monday," he said. "I was going to post about it, see if I could scrounge up any takers. I'd be really excited to work with you," he said. "I think you've got a lot of promise as an op and you have a really powerful power."
He rubbed his chin. "But I'm not going to go easy on you," he said.
Well, that had been much, much easier than Daniela had anticipated. She grinned back. “I’d hope not,” she said firmly. “But I can take it.” To demonstrate, she held up her right arm and broke the bone in her forearm, letting it dangle at a weird angle before healing it back up again.
“Of course, my chin-ups are pretty impressive too,” she added as her bones knit back together, her face not showing any sign of pain.
He chuckled at her display of power. "What element are you hoping to work on?" he asked. "Anything specific?"
“No, not really,” Daniela admitted. “I think I’m pretty good, but I feel like I could be better, you know? So I need someone to push me.” She paused, then spoke up again, “Plus, I’d like to be a team leader someday. I know it’s early on, but I feel like I should be working towards that.”
He nodded. He knew the drive to be stronger, better, maybe even best. He'd wanted to be a team leader once upon a time. "It's never too early," he told her. "You need to be at your best if you want to be a team leader, and you need to work hard enough that that best will last for years, decades even. I'll help you with that."
He eyed her. "How often do you run in training?"
“I usually do 5K a day.” she answered promptly. “But I can do 10K pretty easily.” She eyed him, hoping he wasn’t going to expect her to run a marathon a day or something. Now that she wasn’t sure she could handle, no matter how much she pushed herself.
He nodded. "And do you utilize your power while you run or just run?"
“Well...I usually just run,” Daniela admitted. “Although I have used my power while running during patrols.” Granted, not that often...but still, it counted.
"You need to start working your power no matter what you're doing. When you run you're going to work your bones, when you're doing pull ups, push ups, eating. You need to make it as natural as possible for you to do what you're going to do to save your life and the lives of others."
Daniela nodded. “That makes sense,” she agreed. “I’m willing to work hard, and I’m not a complainer,” she promised, starting to feel excited. “My only concern would be making sure I’m not too sore that it interferes with patrols.”
"Good," he said with a nod. "Then I'm definitely going to take you on." Simon reached out a strong arm to shake hands with her. "And if you do end up being a complainer I'll work it out of you," he said with a chuckle. "And we'll be careful."
Daniela shook his hand, her face flushed. “Thanks, Simon. You won’t regret it.” She grinned and stood up. “Well, I’ll get going now. Just let me know when you want to start.”
"Are you free Monday, 9am?" he asked. He wasn't sure when she had patrols. He'd have to get more acquainted with the current teams and their schedules.
“Yes, that’s one of Violet’s free days in August,” Daniela said with a nod. “I’ll meet you in the gym.”
"Good," he said. "I'll see you there." They shook once more.