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It was alarming how often lately she felt like she was going to explode.

She knew her parents were worried. She knew they were glad she was alive. She knew Parker was also worried, was also glad she was alive. She also knew, more through intuition than actual explanation, that he'd cradled her assumed-dead body to his chest and thought she was actually gone for a freaking long time. That was traumatizing, had to be. Dani would have freaked out if it had been her, and probably not handled it even close to as well as Parker had, which she suspected wasn't that well at all, but they Didn't Really Talk About It. The fact of that matter was, however, she was fine.

She was actually really fine. So they could all stop breathing down her neck and acting like she would shatter if a rough wind blew through town while she was taking a run.

Expressing as much to her parents, however, simply led to a fight. As usual, most of the yelling was on Dani's side (and the bluenette had an impressive lung capacity, great pitch and range, really) but by the end of it, everyone was frustrated. Her father had to go into work, some late-night meeting, so as he slammed the door behind him she was gathering things, her sweatshirt and some make-up and she didn't even know what, she just knew she needed to go stay with someone else for a while and she had no real destination in mind. Her mother was blocking the door, and then, the final straw that broke the camel's back --

"Where do you think you're even going?" Madelynn asked, arms tucked tightly around herself.

"I don't know," she said, because even Parker was driving her insane by hovering, smothering, but she wasn't going to say that. "Maybe Tallulah, maybe Parker, maybe -- I don't know, I just need to spend the night somewhere!"

Madelynn covered her face with her hands, temper obvious in her voice as it filtered between her fingers. "You're not staying overnight with your boyfriend."

"Why not," she exploded. "Why not, Mom? I've had -- I've had broken bones and bruises and my friends have died, and I've been in a coma and don't you think I should get to live a little? Don't you think that maybe staying the night with my boyfriend and oh my god, maybe having underaged sex with my boyfriend is a risk I should be allowed to take?"

Tears were gathered in the corners of her eyes, furious, frustrated tears, and she hand handfuls of cosmetics that suddenly seemed absolutely useless. She hurled them at the floor, mascara container bouncing off the floor, her powder foundation flying open and sending a fine mist over the carpet. God damn it, she'd been in a coma for her own sixteenth birthday!

"I'll be back," she managed through clenched teeth, holding up her cell phone. Luckily, they were both distracted enough not to notice that it was her senshi phone. "I will call. Okay? I just -- I can't, Mom, you guys are smothering me and I'm fine."

"If you aren't home by eleven," Madelynn said, one hand still covering half of her face, "I am calling the police."

"Fine!" She shouted it, and when her mother sidestepped, she just grabbed a jacket and stomped past, heading straight for the front door. Later, she would clean up the mess on her floor, later she'd probably feel a little bit embarrassed by still mostly justified by her temper tantrum, but just then, she felt entirely justified and more than a little reckless.

So when she burst outside and saw her boyfriend, or rather the senshi alter-ego of her boyfriend, standing in the shade of a tree, she lost it just a little.

"Are you watching me at home," she demanded, voice rising to an unnatural pitch. "Are you going to tell me to go back inside and paint my nails? Because I swear to God, Taranis, I swear to God--" but what she swore, it was difficult to tell, as her voice seemed to fail her so she simply stomped her foot.

Stomped the hell out of her foot.

Dani didn't believe him for one red hot second, even if she maybe should have. That was the glorious and horrible thing about a sixteen year-old girl in full temper: even if her better sense tried to tell her to listen to something, the mad in her just bowled right over the top of it. She had a lot of furious energy to get out, and she couldn't very well stand around screaming at her mother all day. She could, however, be unreasonably angry with her boyfriend, considering he was standing outside her house in full henshin.

Cheeks flaming, she ground out, "You wouldn't be dressed like that if you just wanted to visit." Temper flashed in her eyes, an all-too-familiar sight for anyone who knew Dani long (she was either perfectly content with you or pissed off at you, it seemed) and she shoved her hands deep in her pockets.

Her fingers bumped into something familiar, something she hadn't really touched since she'd come back, and she hesitated a second. Curling her fist around her henshin pen, she narrowed her eyes, took a deep breath. "But fine. I'm game."

She pulled her pen out of her pocket, taking somewhat vicious pleasure in seeing the way his eyes immediately darted to it, the frown that dominated his face. "Let's go, Taranis."

And then, in broad daylight, right in front of her house, she henshined up. It was a weird feeling, a bit uncomfortable at first, like a second skin sliding over her that wasn't quite supposed to be there; just her own apprehension, she was sure, which only served to make her more angry. She shouldn't have felt nervous about being a senshi. She was a goddamn senshi, wasn't she, this was her duty and her destiny and being afraid never helped anyone.

Glitter fell around her feet, disappearing into the air, as ribbons settled around her thighs. Then, expression mutinous, she took off running.

It felt good to run -- better than it should have. It felt even better knowing that Taranis, even though he outranked her as a senshi (and that made her stomach churn, her chest burn with envy and misguided anger -- why wasn't she a Super, why hadn't she promoted, she'd done just as much -- she'd been a senshi for so much longer --) couldn't catch up to her, couldn't hope to even snag the ends of her ribbons unless she slowed down to let him. Her boots beat a steady rhythm against the pavement, arms tucked to her sides as she darted down the street and wove past the bystanders.

It wasn't smart. It wasn't fair, and it was certainly childish, but she didn't care. She was a god damned senshi, and she had a right to be in her henshin and leave her house and do dangerous things once in a while. She had a freaking obligation to put her life on the line sometimes, and she wasn't stupid, she knew people died -- had almost died herself -- but she wasn't stupid! Her parents, Parker, everyone treating her like she was some kind of china doll was just making her feel like one, like she was useless and powerless and fragile, and she hated that. More than anything.

Cutting a corner, ribbons snapping behind her as she did, she used her momentum to kick off a dumpster and propel herself up the wall. Left, right, left -- she bounced, feeling the impact of it from her heels to her knees each time she kicked off the wall, and finally stopped on the rooftop. Her heart hammered, not entirely from the run, and she balled her hands into fists.

Below, she saw Taranis cut the same corner she had, watched his eyes snap up to meet hers.

And she glared.

"I am not a child," she said, ironically, because she was acting like nothing but even if she would never admit it. "And I am tired of this."

She disappeared, again, but this time it was just falling back a few steps. She'd burned off a sizeable bit of her anger running, and was ready to talk -- maybe -- if he was.

Didn't mean she had to make it easy on him, though.

"What do I--" She took a deep breath, hands balled into fists at her sides, shoulders shaking with barely suppressed temper. The fact that he didn't know exactly why she was angry didn't bode well for him, and that was glaringly apparent by the spark of her eyes, the sudden color that crawled into her cheeks and stained them bright red. She didn't care that she was being unreasonable, wouldn't even pause to acknowledge the fact; Parker was in the wrong, as far as she was concerned, and she was more than ready to tell him exactly why.

As soon as she found her voice, anyway.

Later, she would be disappointed in herself for running through the streets in henshin in broad daylight. Later, she would go to the gym and viciously pound her frustration out on the battered, taped punching bag that all but had her name on it. Later, she'd berate herself for her behavior -- but it wasn't later.

It was just then.

Just then, and she was pissed.

"What I want from you," she said finally, pointing one slender, shaking finger at him, "is for you to stop treating me like a goddamn child. I am not made of china. I am not going to shatter. You need to back off, Parker," she added severely, forgetting for a moment that they were in henshin. It was a good thing that they were on a rooftop and no one would overhear. "Or you can back off permanently."

The words were tumbling, wild and angry, and she couldn't take them back. Worse, in the immediate wake of them, her stomach twisted, but the strongly-held conviction that she was right bolstered her; she didn't want to take them back.

It was, it seemed, a day for ultimatums.

He wasn't listening. He was hearing her, there was no denying that -- and how could he not, when she'd been saying the same thing to him for days and days and days -- but he wasn't listening. Her needs, the things she was telling him, simply weren't processing. That would have been frustrating on a good day, but when she was two seconds from completely losing it, the last thing she wanted to hear from Parker was about him, him, him.

It was small and selfish, because she knew that he'd hurt. She knew that he'd worried, and that warmed her, but she couldn't handle this. Dani had always been independent, and Magellan was Dani set on fire: the speed, the power, the liberation of no one knowing who she was. She couldn't live her life restricted or afraid to step out of doors, and she knew that because when she'd gotten out of the hospital, that's what she'd done. For a time, that had been fine. For a time, she'd been afraid.

But soon enough she'd gotten angry. Being afraid was exactly what the Negaverse wanted. Even if they didn't succeed in killing her, if they could make her too frightened to go out at night, if they could destroy Sailor Magellan, they would have accomplished their goal. And she was going to be damned if she let anyone defeat her.

Even if it was Parker. Taranis. She didn't even care anymore.

"Right now..." She brought a hand up, passing her glove over her mouth. Her lips dragged down, her tongue darted over them to wet them. "Right now, Taranis, I don't give a flying <********> what you want, because you don't seem to care about what I want. What I need."

His arms were outstretched, just ever so, and in the past, she would have gone into them in an instant. She almost did, as though the center of her gravity was irreversibly drawn to his; the toes of her boots skipped forward across the roof, but she stopped herself, dug her heels in. If she gave in right then, she'd be giving in every single time he did this, and she would never grow. She would never become stronger. She'd never prove that she didn't need to be smothered, coddled, petted.

"If you can't respect me enough to leave me alone, then you don't respect me enough to work with me." Her teeth were on edge, jaw aching as she clenched it between sentences. "I know how much it hurt you. I know how much it hurt my parents, my friends. I know how goddamn scared I was to even look out my window at night. I know what my nightmares feel like, Taranis," she added, voice rising, both in temper and near hysteria. "So don't tell me that you can't anything."

She pressed her hand to her chest, digging the powder puff brooch against her skin, almost relishing the brief, sharp pain. It was a pull back to reality, a reminder that she was here, now. Alive, and angry.

"I need to be able to do this." Her heart was hammering, pounding in her ears so loudly that she could barely hear herself speak over it. "I need to be able to take care of myself. I need to not have you looking over my shoulder. I love you," and she sounded angry about it. "but I need you to back off. If you can't do that, then..."

She shook her head.

And just like that, the fight left her. Dani was a girl whose temper was righteous when it was invoked, but the moment she was placated, she simply let it go. Sure, she could be resentful, and she was vindictive when it came down to it -- she might give every appearance of letting bygones be bygones and then actually sinking her claws into someone later -- but that was only if she didn't actually feel the score had been settled. With Parker, she didn't necessarily want to fight, so when he was ready to resolve the argument she generally was, too.

(Nevermind that she tended to consider him relenting as being equivalent to him being ready for resolution.)

Her shoulders relaxed, and finally, she took his hands; both of them in hers, palms fitting comfortably against his, as she smiled and squeezed them. "Thank you."

She led them off the building, ribbons training behind as they descended, and when they hit the alley, they both shed their fukus. The walk to his apartment wasn't far, thankfully, but they still didn't say much. Dani said even less when they got inside, simply giving his hand one more reassuring squeeze before she slipped into his bathroom.

She was in there for a while.

When she came back out, her expression was calm; serious, even. Her hands were fisted in front of her, fingers curled tight around long, trailing locks of powder blue hair. This was troublesome, because those same locks were no longer on her head; without the weight of feet of hair, what was left bounced and curled up above her shoulders, her bangs spiraling off to one side of her face in a merry corkscrew. Her head felt almost too light to imagine; she kept thinking, as she walked into the kitchen to find Parker, that she was going to topple over from the sudden change in her center of gravity. She didn't, though.

With his back still to her, she said crisply, "There. That should help you look at me as the new and improved version." So saying, she tilted her head to the side, examining the handfuls of hair that she had carried out with her.

When Dani came out of the bathroom, Parker had been pouring himself a cup of coffee. He kept pouring long after the cup had been filled, drizzling coffee across his counter and down the cabinetry all the way to the floor. He didn't even realize what he had done as he set the pot back down on the burner. "Dani," he said. "Your... hair. Is gone." He sounded like a mildly retarded child.

As if on cue, Derpraline bustled out into the kitchen. Parker was hardly paying attention to her. He was too busy staring at his girlfriend. He had always found Dani beautiful, but there was something about her edgy, short cut that made her look years older.

Dani was beautiful before.
But he had never found her sexier.

...he really wished Derpraline wasn't here.

But then, Derpraline did something sensational, and Parker found himself staring at one Super Sailor Magellan. It was too much for him, and without thinking, the boy rushed to his girlfriend and dragged her into a PG-13 kiss. Someone should cover Derp's eyes.