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Panda — Description
All the powers of a Panda.
Linda groaned, her back was aching, her legs were tired, and above all that the dinner crowed was just beginning to show up. It was looking to be another rowdy night of disgruntled patrons whining about the service not being fast enough, or the food not being to their extreme tastes, or the lights in the room. She had heard it all, and just under two weeks too. Closing her eyes she drew in a deep breath and steadied herself, ‘It’s a government job. It’s a government job. It’s a government job.’ She silently repeated to herself, trying to draw some solace from the words. Little came of that.

‘You have no one to blame but yourself.’ Came a light hearted voice from behind her, Linda did not need to turn to know who it was. The lightly built waitress that had slipped so silently behind her shrugged giving a small shoulder bump of encouragement. Angie, she was always doing that. ‘Is it really that bad?’

‘Yes.’ Linda growled, still balancing the twin trays for the table at the far end of the hall. ‘And I thought you said you weren’t telepathic.’

‘I don’t need to be to read the look on your face.’ Angie tired her best to smile.

Like Linda she too had been deemed a ‘Class One’ Super hero, the thought only made her scowl harden. Angie looked for all the world human, light skin and a wave of blond hair that cascaded down her back. The only oddity that set her apparat was the fact that she had miniature wings sprouting from her back. Less than a foot long each, they served no purpose, save for classifying her as a super human.

Super. The word still sat bitter on her lips. Kelly was super, she had gotten the powers of the human torch, able to fly around encased like a fire ball. The last she had heard, Kelly had even learned how to shoot fire from her hands in arcs now. Then there was Molly, Molly had been the lucky one, developing the powers of teleclinics, able to throw cars around with the mere power of her mind. Carla, Carla was said to have gotten the short end of the stick, though Linda could not see how, as she had developed a super intellect, able compute and problem solve like a human super computer. And then there was her, Linda, who had inherited all the powers of a panda.

A panda. Seriously, she had though this a bad joke, that maybe she had super strength, or animal senses or something, but after several months of testing all that she had developed was a growing enjoyment of bamboo sprouts.

It was the stupidest power she had ever heard of, or so she had thought. That was until she had been set up with the ‘Promised’ government employment at one of their reject facilities. Not that they openly called them that, but the staff had aptly renamed the few organizations that were used to fulfill the company’s obligations. Harry’s Cafe and coffee was just one of them. A convenient way to put all those who did not make the cut in one place.

‘Table nine is still waiting!’ Came the managers voice, cutting through her haze of thoughts. ‘Are you going to just stand there, or are you actually going to work? Get that tail of yours moving!’

Muttering darky, Linda hitched up her best smile, she had a feeling that it was not very good, and dutifully began working her way to the table.

C.S. Notes: Just a little side idea I have been kicking around for a few years. It was meant as a practice run for a comic book, as to let me explore styles, panel arrangement, characters, ext. without really investing to heavily into it. The comic is titled: Wonder, and takes place around a group of individuals who have through the government program been exposed to a test that grants random super powers. The only problem is that it is completely random, no one knows what you will get. Some people become amazingly overpowered, while others, get abilities that make no sense. This was spawned from all the crazy powers I started to read about from multiple universes. Like, the man who by eating a food, understands that foods whole history, how it was prepared, who touched it, did they wash their hands, ext. Save for eggplants he can not read eggplants. Or Stilt man – yes that is a real marvel super villain, who’s powers are long legs… Yeah. Linda here, well she got all the powers of a panda. And a few latent ones that she has yet to find out about. That and I wanted to explore and make people the other side, customer service, and how individuals are treated, waitresses, cashiers, baristas, and the darker nature of what is expected of these individuals. I figured this would make for an interesting comic, if only to explore the aspects of social hierarchy and western culture.