Chapter 7:
Splitting Image
Mina left the house and went straight for the forest. Having arrived there, she looked around to make sure she was alone. Afterwards, she raged. Her eyes sparked up in orange, the sphere came out and stopped at omega. Coming from it, a ring of fire built up around her and made a complete turn. Leaving her as a boy like before, the ring faded away and the sphere returned into her chest. But, looking at the boy from more afar, it was clear Mina was completely engulfed in orange flames. Looking at herself, she realised that too and panicked, accidentally setting the ground on fire in the process.
*And now back to the present!*
Mina(thought): WHY THE HECK AM I BURNING?! MAKE IT STOP! *waving her arms around in a panic* Wait, it doesn't hurt, somehow.
This info makes her feel relieved and suddenly, the fire stops.
Mina(thought): Well, at least I'm not burning anymore, but the forest still does!
She quickly runs to the places in front of her and stomps the fire out, one by one. After the last one is put out, she stops, exhausted.
Mina(thought): OK, note to self: The forest is a no-no in this form. I definitely need to find another place to test everything out as a boy. Hmm, the forest was my best idea, is there somewhere else...? That's it! Near our house, in the opposite direction, there is a hill. And on top of it stands an abandoned church. Everything there is made of stone, which makes it pretty much fireproof, it's perfect!
A ring of fire appears before her and turns around, fading again. Mina looks at herself and realizes that she returned back to her old self.
Mina(thought): That other form seems to be really unstable and harder to control. Back in the house I was having too much trouble to turn back and now it just dissolved like that. The hill is really high, I should get going so I can make it in time. *Considering her poor endurance*
Mina walks up the hill in a frogger-like style, running out of breath 2 times in the process. Then finally, she stands in front of the church.
Mina(thought): God, I'm exhausted. And I haven't even started yet.
Carefully, she opens the door, peeking inside.
Mina: Hello? Is anybody here?
Her voice echoes and is slowly devoured by silence again. Then she enters, stopping in front of the old altar.
Mina(thought): OK, here I am. So, to avoid any more strange events, I should have a list at hand with every emotion possible and test all of them.
She types on her phone for a bit.
Mina(thought): It appears there are six basic emotions: Happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger and surprise. Happiness and anger definitely show an effect, that is pretty much undeniable by now. Time to test the rest of them, starting with sadness. And I know exactly what to do to trigger this emotion.
A moment later, she is a bawling mess. The picture turns, showing a little duckling having to part from its parents on her phone.
Mina: *sob* Uwaah, that part always got me crying, it's so heartbreaking!
She opens her camera app, flipping the screen to selfie mode.
Mina: ...Nothing happens to me. Huh, weird. Next up is fear, that screams for a horror film sequence.
Looking at her phone, Mina turns completely pale after a while.
Mina: Now what does the camera say...? Still nothing, how about disgust?
To make her disgusted, she now searches in her browser for failed cooking attempts and her face gets all twisted.
Mina: Yuck, how can someone even end up doing such a mess?! *switches to her phone camera*...No, no reaction. The last one is surprise. A simple jump scare should do the trick, time for 'Five Nights at Furry's'.
After she stares at her phone for almost 10 minutes, Mina flinches from a costumed person that suddenly began moving.
Mina: ...Nothing. So I only transform with happiness and fury, it seems. Regarding other events like when I was embarrassed as CR as the pilots spotted me, it pretty much implies the other emotions won't change my appearance. Even from the six main emotions only two of them work, so the chances for another emotion to turn me into something else is almost zero.
Closing her eyes, she gives free rein to her rage, changing to the boy from before in the process. An orange flame burns wildly around her.
Mina(thought): The fire from before. Is that my ability in this form? Even though this is anything but normal, it somehow feels natural, now that I know it does not do any harm to me. It's almost like when I flew the first time, so... warm.
The flame vanishes, leaving Mina wondering.
Mina(thought): I stopped burning again. Why? Maybe...
Screaming out in anger, Mina catches fire again, now taking a closer look at herself while ablaze.
Mina(thought): I see, being very furious makes the flame appear, but it's quite difficult to keep up that level of anger for a longer time.
Just as she ends her thought, the fire is gone again. Mina breathes a deep sigh, changing back completely in the process.
Mina(thought): This is actually tough. There is such a small difference between catching fire and transforming back. For now, I need to be able to hold my form. Changing all willy-nilly would be bad for me... There's no helping it, I have to be able to control it.
With that, her appearance switches back again as she proceeds to light up over and over. Some time passes by until she finally stops, ultimately staying in her new form.
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