[Powers]

[plantfood]

When he wakes that morning, nothing seems out of the ordinary. His pillow is pushed up against the wall and he's sleeping on his arms instead, but that's nothing unusual. Sam is already awake, playing with her crayons on the floor of his bedroom and he rolls to the side, resting his head on his hand, smiling down at her.

"Good morning," he says.

"Morning," she replies, pausing in her colouring. "How come your pillow's different?"

With a frown, Mathias looks at his pillow, then pauses and stares at it for a long moment. It isn't a pillow anymore, but a large, rectangular rock that looks vaguely pillow-shaped. The only person he can think of who might play a prank on him is Danny, but this doesn't seem like the type of thing he would do.

"I'm not sure," he tells Sam, pushing back the blankets and getting out of bed.

An hour later, he is sure. Sam seems delighted, giggling every time Mathias touches something and it turns to stone, but she also makes sure to keep her things away from him. He isn't allowed to touch her squirrel and she scurries back and forth, collecting her own toys and making sure he stays away from the dogs.

"Taser can't be a rock," she informs him as they all head outside and Mathias sighs, trying again to find a shirt to wear. Somehow he's been allowed to put on a pair of shorts, but every shirt he picks up turns to stone. It's embarrassing, but he might have to ask Lucy to help dress him. Like a child.

With a muttered curse, he tries to close the front door of their hut, only to have the entire thing turn to stone. From behind him, Sam starts to giggle wildly and he sighs, rubbing his forehead with one hand, then begins to shove his shoulder against the door, trying to make sure he can get it back open.

Comments

[little_moons]

"Dude, what the fuck?" I laugh from the path, forgetting for a moment that the girls are within hearing distance.

It's been a weird morning. Everything was normal at home, but the rest of the island has gone fuckin' nuts. The girls are excited, wanting to explore, but it's making them a little nervous, so they've insisted on having me in sight since we left the house.

But when they see Sam, they both hurry forward, each of them with a teddy bear clutched against their chest -- Flo's pink and Mack's red and gold -- and tiny backpacks on their shoulders. Today was apparently the type of day that needed supplies.

"What happened?" Mack squeals, laughing because Sam is laughing.

[plantfood]

"He makes things into rocks!" Sam tells them excitedly, holding her squirrel to her chest and staring at Mathias in delight. "He touches some things and they turn into rocks!"

Sam has put it better than he can and Mathias turns back toward Neil with a sigh, the stone door still closed behind him. "I touch some things and they turn into stone," he agrees simply, holding up his hands as if they're weapons. That's almost what it feels like. He's too afraid to touch Sam or any of the dogs. It seems a little too risky, though so far all he's done is turn his clothes and the door to stone.

[little_moons]

"That what happened to your shirt?" I grin, letting my eyes flicker down over his bare chest without trying to hide it.

Mack's gone over to knock against the stone, giggling madly, while her sister warily stands back, her hold on that teddy bear tightening.

[plantfood]

Sam follows Mack to the door, knocking as well, still absolutely thrilled that there is stone where there used to be wood. Mathias doubts she'll be quite so happy when she wants to get inside or when he eventually has to replace it, but for now, if she's happy with this, he can relax at least a little.

"That's what happened to all my shirts," he answers. "Well, three of them. I gave up after the third. It doesn't happen to all things, though, only some of them. My pillow is stone, but my bed isn't."

[little_moons]

It's like, fuckin' impossible not to laugh. I don't even really try.

"'Least you got your pants on."

[plantfood]

"Apparently I don't have much control over it," Mathias answers dryly, but then he smiles faintly. If it doesn't last, which he's counting on, then it isn't so bad. It will pass and he'll be able to touch things again, but as it is now, he's standing with his hands up, waiting for them to do something.

"I don't know what happens if I touch something living," he admits. "I've been avoiding that, just in case."

[little_moons]

"Yeah, keep your hands off my kids, dude," I tease, walking over to push at the solid stone door, but it'll hardly budge. All three little girls crowd around me to try and help.

"Hope you don't got anything in there you need."

[radicalize]

For Lucy, waking up tended to happen slowly, a habit she'd fallen into only in this more recent stretch of time she'd been on the island. It was why she was half-asleep, still in the t-shirt and shorts she'd worn to bed and rubbing the sleep from her eyes when she finally emerged from her bedroom, drawn out by a noise that didn't really make much sense. At least, it didn't until she blinked a few times to realize that something was off — namely, that there was now stone where there ought to have been wood. Huts had changed before, she knew that, but this wasn't a snowstorm, shouldn't have been anything outside the ordinary.

Stifling a yawn, she gave the door a hard tug, just in time for it to open between the two of them. "Hey," she said, voice still a little hoarse from sleep. "What's going on?"

[plantfood]

"I don't know entirely," is the most honest answer Mathias can give, but he takes a step back from Lucy anyway, because he understands at least in part what's happening. So far it's only been a few shirts and the door, but he doesn't want to risk touching anyone. He has no idea what might happen.

"He turns things into rocks!" Sam announces from behind him, holding her squirrel up and dancing it back and forth for Lucy. "He turned his pillow into a rock and all his shirts and the door and he's not allowed to touch the dogs."

[radicalize]

"He turns things to rocks?" Lucy echoed, eyebrows raising as she looked down at Sam, though her expression grew more serious when she lifted her gaze to Mathias again. It sounded ridiculous, of course, like something Sam would just have made up, a game she was meant to play along with, but the fact that their door was presently made of stone spoke for itself, an impossible to ignore fact. While the island had done strange things before, though, this seemed especially far-fetched, enough to leave her still with a shred of doubt. "So, what, did this just... start happening? How does it work?"

[plantfood]

"I wish I knew," Mathias answers, holding his hands up in front of him, looking at them as though he expects them to start doing something. "Some things I touch, they turn to stone. Other things don't." He reaches down to touch his shorts, which stay exactly as they are.

Then, making sure Sam isn't looking, he reaches down for a stray crayon to test it out. As he holds it up for Lucy to see, it turns from red to a stick of stone.

[radicalize]

"Holy —" Lucy started, then cut herself off with a hand pressed to her mouth, eyes going wide. Somehow, though the look of it wasn't really any different than she would have imagined, it was a whole lot more strange to see it happen than just to see the effects of it after the fact. The island had done some weird shit before, but this might have been in a class all its own. Pausing, she frowned, hand dropping to her side again. "I wonder if you're the only one? Usually it's a wide-spread thing."

[plantfood]

"If half the island population can turn things into stone, we're going to have a very interesting island very soon," Mathias answers, because he can't imagine what people might touch or do with that sort of power. He isn't very pleased about it, but he expects there are other people who would be even less amused by it, people who woke up and went about their day, touching food or animals or the building supplies.

"I think this is preferable to being turned into a woman," he adds thoughtfully. "I will just have to be careful about what I touch."

[albatross]

The island seemed to be having a weird day, but the residents of Serenity seemed to have remained as they should be, and River was determined that she and Zoe were going to try to have a normal day, which meant letting Mal out of her sight for at least a little while.

Mathias and Samantha were their first stop. It was clear that the island hadn't left them alone, but she wasn't sure what was going on, exactly.

"Did you remodel?"

[plantfood]

With a huff of laughter, Mathias leans his forehead on his arm, glad to hear River's voice. From behind him, he can hear Sam running over to them and he straightens and turns, looking at her with a faintly amused smile.

It isn't funny, though, but it's better than frowning at them.

"Mathias makes things rocks!" Sam announces, before he can say anything and he nods, holding up his hands for River to see, though there's nothing different about them. "I've been turning things into stone," he tells her.

[albatross]

"Rocks!" exclaimed Zoe, though she could not possibly have grasped exactly what Mathias' trouble was. She just liked the sound of the word, and Sam's enthusiasm in saying it.

"Why?" River asked, though she knew well enough that these island things rarely made much sense.

[plantfood]

"I wish I knew," Mathias answers, letting out another long sigh. "I'm not even sure the door will open again now that I've somehow managed to turn it into stone." He has to touch things. It's impossible to live and not touch things, but he still doesn't know what will happen if he touches a living thing.

"I woke up on a stone pillow," he tells her. "But how is your day?"

[albatross]

"Better than that, so far." Sympathy and amusement fought for dominance in River's voice. She was glad to have been spared this particular island nonsense when it was messing with her enough already.

"Mal came back," said, finding easier to just state the fact. She knew Mathias would understand what that meant to her.

[plantfood]

Mathias wants to come forward and touch River; her arm, her hand, but he still doesn't know what that might do. Instead, he smiles and steps closer, looking at her for a long moment. It's good news, it really is, but at the same time, he knows the hard truth. Mal won't know his daughter, won't remember his time with River.

"I'm very glad to hear that," he says, one hand lifting and then falling again. "I would hug you, but I'm afraid he might kill me if I turn you to stone."

[haolehothead]

Danny's been having issues to the point that it's showing -- in the form of him only wearing a pair of board-shorts and a t-shirt. For him, it's practically bereavement wear. He stops when he sees stone and Mathias looking like he's got issues.

Issues is what Danny's got. He keeps going out of control on the breath thing and while he's starting to get the hang of it, it's still ridiculous. "Mattie-boy," Danny says warily. "What the hell?"

[plantfood]

Sam looks up at Danny, considering him for a moment. She knows Danny, but she doesn't know him well and it takes her a long moment to gather up the courage to speak to him. Her stuffed squirrel is held carefully against her chest and she digs her foot into the dirt.

"I'm turning things into stone," Mathias says and that sets Sam off. Throwing her squirrel down, she shouts, "I was going to tell him!"

[haolehothead]

Danny laughs warmly at the young girl, crouching over. "Sam, right?" he clarifies, glancing up at Mathias. "We met in the kitchen when Veronica was cooking once upon a time. I was impressed by the intelligent little five year old that she had with her," he says, winking at Sam.

The stone thing, well, he's still processing that.

[plantfood]

Sam is fine with being flattered by Danny, it's Mathias she's mad at now, so she picks her squirrel up again and looks between them. "His pillow got turned into a rock," she says, trying to decide if she's happy to just share that or if she's still mad that she didn't get to say it all.

"What else?" Mathias asks.

Sam smiles, just a little. "And his shirts."

[haolehothead]

Okay, well, that gets Danny laughing and it's a good thing he's straightened up to do it because the breathing thing gets a bit out of control and it looks for a second like a hurricane's about to strike the trees. Danny sucks in his breath and counts to ten, muttering an, 'ah, fudge' aloud. "Trust me, you're not the only one who's gone haywire today."

[plantfood]

"Are you..." Mathias trails off and looks around at them, in much the same manner that Sam does, her eyes widening a bit. The dogs all pause as well, Hal is frozen near the stone door of the hut, her nose in the air, sniffing. "What's happening to you?" he asks after a moment, looking back to Danny, his eyebrows lifted curiously.