As for Priss, here's a bit from The Dance of Shiva by John Biles:
"Everybody was a baby once, Arthur. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once. Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope. And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception."
Quote:
Somewhere around 23,000 BC or so.
The hooded woman took the baby in her arms. To most people, it
would have seemed a baby like many others. The little girl had no hair
yet, her eyes were squeezed shut, and she bore almost as much resemblence
to a prune as a human being, just like every other newly born baby.
The mother sighed. She was tall, thin, and platinum blonde, her
hair currently undressed in any of the elaborate hairstyles she normally
adorned herself with. She wore a simple white shift, also unlike the
palatial dresses she normally bore. "Must you do this?"
The woman picked up her staff, a long rod topped with an orb.
"If I do not, in 25,000 years, humanity will become extinct in the solar
system. This one alone cannot prevent what is soon to come here,
but where she is going, she will make all the difference in the world.
She is a warrior born, and she goes to a place that needs warriors
desperately." The woman sighed. "I am sorry, my queen. Cherish your
first daughter. I swear I shall never take her away from you."
The Queen sighed. "I know you know things I shall never know.
She..She'll have a good home, won't she?"
"She will live a long life and know much joy." And much sorrow,
but this is not the time to mention that, the hooded woman thought. She
pulled her cloak around herself. She didn't need it, but the baby would.
"There is one who waits for her there, though he knows it not. She will
know love...once she escapes her own stubbornness about it."
The Queen got up and kissed her baby on the forehead. "Take my
blessing with you, my child." The mark upon the Queen's forehead glowed
brightly. "Your power will awaken when you most need it." She laid back
down in the bed. "Go now, before I can change my mind."
The woman obeyed her Queen's command. She raised her staff, and the
world folded around her and vanished. She walked through mists briefly,
then they parted and she stood in an office. She wrapped the baby in the
cloak, and raised her staff. The cloak became a blanket, her own garb
became a conservative suit, dark green in color. She sat down at the
desk, and looked at the set of completed adoption papers on the desk.
Yes, this will work nicely, she thought. Be brave, little one...
Quote:--Sam
Priss swore. Damn kid takes after me too much. "You say you can
give me the power to stop this thing?" I must be crazy taking this
seriously, but I'm never gonna stop this boomer with my bare hands.
"Yes, but there's a price."
Priss looked down. The boomer was looking for a new 'customer'. "I
don't fucking care! I can't let this damn hunk of junk hurt Sho!"
Sammi smiled. "You have a brave and loving heart." She touched
Priss' forehead with her wand and the heart began to glow. Priss felt her
forehead growing warm as the girl traced an arc, the bottom half of a
circle across her forehead. "Now say the words that come into your mind."
Priss' mind spun. Memories of her recent dream flitted through her
mind, the crystal sword in the fortress and the woman who had called her
daughter. Words spun and danced through her mind. Finally, a memory
stabilized. Herself on her bike, gun in hand, preparing to revenge her
boyfriend's death. A red Mercedes Benz pulling up and a woman stepping
out of it. She was tall, with nice clothing and short dark hair. She had
looked at Priss as if she had known Priss forever and said, "Will you
entrust me with that burning heart of yours?" On that day, Priss had
stepped off of the path to self-destruction, and onto a new path. A
warrior's path. She finally understood why she had trusted the woman, why
she had followed Celia Stingray away from the road of the vengeance that
is as much upon oneself as others to a better way. Words formed in her
mind now, and she gave them voice. "BURNING HEART POWER!!!!"
Light erupted from Priss' forehead and rushed across her body,
which now floated, transfixed in the air above the tree branch. The
whirling energies around her sent tree branches flying everywhere, as her
clothing tore itself apart and reformed into a dark black outfit, rather
similar to her stage costume, though without the blond wig. There were a
few differences. Priss didn't normally wear a golden tiara with a blue
gem set in it on stage, for one thing. She could almost feel power
coursing through her veins, but she wasn't sure how to use it.
"Now what?"
Sammi pulled a short rod out of...somewhere. Priss quickly saw that
it rather resembled a carved wooden sword hilt. "Take this, your rightful
weapon," Sammi said.
She took it. She could see Sho trying to climb the tree. The
boomer had spotted him and was rushing over. "How the hell do I USE it?"
Suddenly, a blue blade of energy erupted from the end of the hilt.
"Right." Priss said, cutting off Sammi as she started to say something.
"DIE!"
She leaped down at the oncoming boomer, aiming a blow down at its
head. The sword cut right through the boomer, meeting no resistance
whatsoever. It fell into two neatly severed halves, which ceased to move.
Priss concluded that hallucination or not, she LIKED this. Sho ran
over to Priss. "Wow, oneechan! I didn't know you were a superhero!"
Priss laughed. "Me neither. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
"I promise!"
"Everybody was a baby once, Arthur. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once. Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope. And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception."