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| "Hey! You! Yeah, You! Up here! Do you think you could toss me a line or some rope? Pretty please? Q-Quickly!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twenty-three years ago, a small child was born to rather normal parents. Average in every way, at least amongst their own kind, the pair had fallen in love, wed, and soon settled down in a small suburban home, outside the capitol city. They had been blessed, as was the moon-kin tradition, under a lunar solstice on the night of the ceremony, to have a peaceful, tranquil life. Forward a years time, the couple bore their first, and only child. A miraculous day, one of intertwined anxiety and joy... but also of confusion, and of anomaly. As the child was first brought into the world that now would be it's domain, it was quickly discovered that it was no ordinary infant. The mother, a quiet but loving woman, had been under special watch for the duration of her pregnancy. The cause for concern had been the very slight increase of weight, despite being with child, even through the later stages of development. There were no real problems, however; The only anomaly was that the mother's approximate weight with child had only increased by two and a quarter pounds, while normally the increase would be more of a change of 40 pounds, minimally. While startling and initially cause for concern, it turned out that no complications arose, and no reports of distress were ever reported by the mother. 'Strange, but essentially not important', was the unofficial designation that the doctor had said, placing the sonic listening tool aside. As said, the child was far from ordinary, and it's birth brought a light of spectacle and disbelief into all eyes. As soon as the father, by moon-kin tradition, pulled his new daughter from the mother, his eyes showed what he felt. Even so, he went about performing the ritual of childbirth, the entire extended family there to watch, patiently sitting around the couple, again, as tradition dictated. With all complete, he would hold the child up, towards the moon, asking for it's blessing to complete the ritual, only to see now just how special and unique their daughter was. As if all logic had stopped, the child, with the simplest of motions, continued to rise when his supporting hands stopped. A spectacle, wide-eyes stared from every direction, along with the weary eyes of the mother; All focused now upon the infant, who simply floated upwards, still at the same speed and motion it had started. The father, along with the rest of the viewers, however, came to their senses, and just before the little one could escape all chance of being returned, he leapt up, cradling his daughter in his arms, before kneeling by his wife, handing the child to her for nursing, once more by tradition, though he was unable to take his eyes off the little girl. The same could be said of all those around. No other moon-kin had ever -seen- such a thing, much less have been born the same. The child was celebrated as a 'muse', a reincarnated spirit that held within it the moon's love and joy; She had been blessed by their article of worship with what they thought was a miracle! And be that as it may or may not be, there was a deeper, more profound explanation in store for the couple. As to be expected, the scientific community asked to study the child, so that they might, for both knowledge and future concern, be able to understand what made the child so special. The answer, they found, was remarkable. A rare, chromosomal mutation was discovered from the child's samples, most of which taken from the discarded matter on the placenta. Even moreso, the mutation caused a chain of mutations to occur through multiple levels of the child's genetic structure during her developing phases within the womb, overall changing the very core of her make-up. The direct result, suprisingly, was a gigantic rift in her total mass, compared to the normal value for infants: Her total mass was less than a few grams. Despite her appearance as a completely healthy baby, the over-exaggerated laws of inertia and friction and even more shockingly, her resistance to the effects of gravity against her extremely low mass, merited multiple double-checks upon the data that had been gathered. Years and years, unobtrusive check-ups were made, even into her adolescent life. No matter what, the results were always similar. A miracle, or maybe even anomaly, of the natural sphere, but a relatively safe one; Providing, of course, that she didn't blow away in the wind. She grew into a fine young woman, and though life was a constant struggle to remain among the grounded, she also found her life to be quite rewarding. She was named "Volare", the ancient word for 'feather', despite her kind being Moon-kin. It was well-fitting, however, as when she let herself, she could float along the gentle breezes, or well near anything that provided a force that acted against her. Small gusts, breezes, or even pushes could send her in a nearly linear path in the direction of flow, with little to no obstruction. The smallest of forces, such as the twitch of someone in full contact with her, could cause her to bounce into the air in a hopping trajectory, almost as if on the moon's surface, itself. While all these things were good, or bad enough, there was still more. The effects of her genetic mutation were also felt in a number of more relative concerns. For example, any static and non-organic materials in constant contact with her body would deteriorate more rapidly than usual, due to the lack of mass in her cellular tissue; This causes the mass of the static compound to be absorbed, slowly breaking it down and transferring it's mass into her own. Living, organic matter that's held in extended contact, however, goes through a similar process; The only difference, however, is the the absorption is a subtle, slow process, and therefore, organic tissue can regenerate cells faster than they are absorbed, and therefore, the relationship is more commensal than otherwise, allowing Volare to enjoy more mass, and therefore, less floating off, randomly. The effects are very small and temporary, but noticeable. Through her teenage years, Volare found that her gift was both that, and also a rather effective mood-killer. Like all moon-kin, she was affected by her bodies adverse reaction to growth and stimulation of glands. Male moon-kin suffered a sporadic and short-lived shrinking effect, which became controllable later in life, able to be restricted on will, while females experienced a single three-day period, each new moon, when they gained male genitals, alongside their normal, female sex. While this was commonplace among her kind, the real problem came in their applications. In separate bouts of experimentation, she ended up suffering extreme stimulation by a shrunken male within her canal, due to the forces from his struggling being rather amplified from very little resistance, while in another, she was rocketed off of her lover as he pressed himself inward from behind, ending the night rather awkwardly, and a bit humorously, in retrospect. Even so, as time went on, Volare learned to embrace and control her gift, or at least try to, even in her more promiscuous adventures. Now, twenty-three years later, Volare finds herself rather successful. She moved away from her parents three years prior, at the age of twenty; Tradition's work, again. While she maintained constant contact, a precaution of her parent's wishes, due to her condition, she is steadily independent, even owning her own home and business. Her body's unique qualities is the whole reason, as well, finally a blessing beyond dreams. The "Hop-a-long courier service" is by far the most successful and nearly unrivaled package delivery service among her people. She wears a themed uniform, the subject of which is rather obvious, while using her special talent, along with a couple of adjustable weights, and expandable, dehydrated matter pills... along with the occasional guest, to deliver goods back and forth between clients. Her body's low mass allows for a very stretchy and expandable tissue, which makes it no surprise that she's experimented with holding other beings within her, in many more places than one could expect. In fact, the act is very beneficial to Valore, giving her a steady source of mass to draw from, allowing her to have a break from the weights and pills for a time, even extended periods, which would normally be impossible. Those within has little to fear, as well. Her body, while sensitive, is fairly ineffective at processing organic tissue, due to her stomach's lesser mass than normal, and therefore only producing diluted acids capable of being held within. Organic compounds with slower regenerative rates, such as vegetables and grains, are processed fairly efficiently, while firmer meats and living flesh would take terribly long amounts of time, or even be impossible, passing people through her body with no problems. Air also permeates within her body, as the lesser mass allows diffusion of the molecules much more easily than normal. Coincidence on her part, it seems, that this would have been where she ended up. Following directions with a pack of dumplings, she seems to have gotten lost. Something not too terribly uncommon with her. She'll get back on track, sometime, but who knows what awaits her between now, and then. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  |