>>58456730
>Groaning, you opened your eyes.
>Even they had trouble.
>Flittering and reclosing and lifting again.
>Nothing escaped the shock.
>Any deep, lingering thoughts of fighting were fried and gone.
>If that was a friendly, juiced-up zap…
>You didn’t fancy the odds of taking a truly angry thunderbolt.
>Had to focus on something other than the numb.
>Focus on her.
>She started enthusiastically speaking sometime mid-hug.
>Only now could you make it out.
>”Haven’t seen you in ages!” Was the final, and only sentence you gleamed.
>Round her neck was the red scarf.
>An impromptu, but much appreciated gift from your meeting last month.
>Frayed at the edges, fried in places, and torn in parts.
>Bundled with inexpert care around the short fur of her neck.
>The gift, by some miracle, hadn’t burned to ash.
>You rolled a dull grunt into conversation.
”Ggggguuuhhhaaaaiii’m glad… Uh, too…” You stuttered, working hard to piece a sentence together.
“To see you.”
>A sudden tic in your adrenal area made you grimace.
“Too.”
>Another low, grumble flipped Kat’s beaming, smile upside down.
>”Oh no…” Kat said, folding her ears.
>“You’re sick…?” She asked, reaching out to help.
>Frightened, you shooed the hand away.
“Not…”
“Not exactly.” You began, unsure how to continue.
>Uncontrolled.
>Natural talent and no discipline.
>Made worse by, you guessed, bonding with other electric types.
>That sense of responsibility flared up again.
>Who else but you had the power to help?