Power Loss (Open.)

Odion hadn’t noticed the board through the flurry of snow until it was too late. Usually he simply would have paused time to avoid the fateful blow, but that button was nowhere to be found. He was stuck in this little bubble, and thankfully someone else had saved him the trouble of what it would feel like to be struck by a skateboard to the head.

That sense of relief is what helped Odi return back to normal, Lani questioning him. It took a few more moments for Odion to get his bearings and push back the oncoming headache. “What’s wrong with you? This is a training field, I’m training.” He said, frustrated. Had he not given it some thought, he would have told the guy to get a better hold of his powers and not decapitate his fellow students, but that was just asking for a smart rebuttal.

“I’m fine,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry about your skateboard,” he said, not a hint of remorse in his voice. He was upset, and Lani didn’t have anything on him worth pickpocketing, not that Odion could see anyways. Plus, he decided it was safer to rob random strangers, not classmates.

Odi wondered what Lani’s powers were without asking the boy. Perhaps it was levitation, which seemed to make the most sense. So much for being the only one out here while it was snowing, Lani needed the extra cushion, in case he plummeted to the ground. If Odion was nice, and his powers weren’t malfunctioning, he could break Lain’s fall by stopping time and stopping a lot of pain. But he wasn’t nice, and he didn’t care about some snotty guy and his remarks.

“Anything else?” he asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

Odion was as equally annoyed, if not even more than Lani. He hadn’t been in the way at all in the ginger’s opinion. In fact, if anyone was in the way, it was the other boy. There was a whole damn field to practice in, how hard was it to notice another figure in the white snow? He surely wasn’t that pale. And even if he was, his hair would be a signal of life. He was obviously too self centered to take a simple look around him before pointing fingers at someone who happened to be doing the exact same thing he was. There must’ve been something intrinsically good about the kid though, Odi thought to himself, otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered using his levitation powers to fling it away. Odion might’ve said thank you if Lani hadn’t been such a twat about his standing there. But he probably wouldn’t have said much of anything had Lani ran to him with nothing but apologies. There would probably be a fight ensuing at the end of this.

If he could read minds, he would realize he and Lani were on the same playing field. Odion was more of a verbal fighter, but when those he encountered weren’t intelligent enough for such enlightenment, such as Leon Belenos, fists were always a good bet. Hell, if his powers weren’t acting up on him he would freeze time right now and do the same to Lani what he did to Leon. Freeze time, spit in Lani’s face, punch him where it hurt, and leave before the other even knew what was going on. Maybe he could levitate, but he could never catch up to Oidon.

He watched Lani’s reaction with slight amusement, smiling a bit, hoping to anger Lani a little more. “I can stand around if I please,” he said, his strong British accent seeping through, “and what if I were deaf? Bet you wouldn’t be making such an ass of yourself at the moment.” There were many students at Hammel with all kinds of powers, all kinds of handicaps, all kinds of everything. “I would advise the same to you,” Odion hissed, his fists clenching and unclenching. There would be something being projectile very close to Lani’s face pretty soon. The redhead scoffed, shaking his head. This guy was a real treat, wasn’t he? That apology wasn’t even worth addressing at this point. “Usually people apologize first, don’t know your manners yet?” He asked, standing stoically, never mind that an apology hadn’t been the first thing out of his mouth. Then again, he had been the one who had almost experiences a concussion.

Odion rolled his eyes. Wow, this guy was just full of intriguing words. ‘Eh’, ‘whatever’, and ‘huh’. It was like talking to a child. The ginger’s dark blue eyes scanned the tree, then over to Lani who was trying to smile. “Can’t levitate yourself to the board yourself?” He challenged, an eyebrow raised. Obviously he couldn’t, otherwise Lani would have already, Odi was just trying to be snarky. This would be great fun, watching someone else struggle to get their possession back. There was no way Lani would get Odion’s help, especially not now. He didn’t budge, not willing to get anywhere near the other boy and the tree. “I was already almost hit with that thing, maybe it’s meant to stay up there,” he said with a shrug. If you wanted something done, you should do it yourself. It was best Lani learn to do that now.

Odion had been lucky to have a power that served him so well. He was their lord, their master, he could do anything with time under his control. You could rob someone, stop an enemy in their steps, and do just about anything else with time manipulation. The only drawbacks were the occasional headaches, and apparently the growth spurts. There was nothing special about puberty, except if you were a meta. Luckily for Odion, growth spurts didn’t stop for males until they were in their twenties. His powers were on the fritz, manifesting once more. It was high time he got a hold on speeding up time. He supposed that constantly using his talents to freeze time, wasn’t giving that ‘muscle’ enough of a workout. Now it was coming to bite him in the ass with a vengeance. He had no one to blame but himself, but that didn’t mean he was going to quit. It just meant he was going to be more irritable than ever when training, and he wasn’t going to walk around with a warning sign for the benefit of others. They were in high school, weren’t mood swings a staple ingredient?

Selfishness was in the ginger’s nature. Being an abandoned orphan having to fight for himself in the streets of Europe had toughened him up more than was healthy. Odion liked to tell himself that he didn’t have a heart, that he was untouchable and no one was worth touching in return. Perhaps Odi was more disturbed by the fact that someone had seen him training outside, unsuccessfully, while the other had managed to do exactly what he had set out to. His pride had taken a hit and he didn’t want to be here, at this very moment. He wanted to push past this guy, but to do so would be admitting he was a coward, he would be running away from his problems. It was just an excuse to quit practicing. Lucky for both of the teens, no one would be making that first move today.

Odion pushed an eyebrow up on his face. He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed, or bored. He had never been ‘right’ before, not when he was being such a smart ass to a complete stranger. Odi wasn’t usually so easily annoyed, he just happened to be in a bad mood. If Lani met the ginger’s charming side now it was seem like a facade. He watched the boy carefully. Yes, yes they were all uncivilized here in America, but that wasn’t any different from any other place. “Your sincerity is rare, so, thank you.” Odion said, not breaking eye contact. He meant it. Lani had thrown him through a loop he hadn’t been expecting. “I don’t expect grovelling, but you’ve apologized twice now, I think that will suffice,” he said, grinning madly. He didn’t mind the nickname really. There were no mistakes in life. Ginger, Red, it was all the same to him. Better anonymity than everyone knowing who he was. It was just better that way. He wasn’t sure about the rest of the population, but he could name a lot of people he didn’t like because they were complete morons. Usually Odion saved his charm for the fairer sex, it was just good manners on his part.

The only flaw in the challenge, was that Lani was too dense to see it. Odion sneered. “Levitate, that’s your power, no?” He asked, trying to take the sting out of his tone. He was starting to calm down from the onslaught his powers had poured onto him. Surely he had considered using his power to get the board down from the tree. It would make things simpler in the end for the boy, without having to snivel. Odion laughed a bit, a broken sounding thing that was out of place and stood out like a redhead in a snow field. The way Lani described what he looked like was exactly how everyone else looked like to him when he stopped time. He had to admit, it was pretty amusing. He shrugged. “Close enough,” he said, touching his temple where a headache was starting to bloom. He looked from the boy with the stupid grin on his face, to the board in the tree. It was easily replaceable, and would probably go unmissed. This was what he thought it would be, boring.

Another pang to the head, and suddenly Odion was hearing a screeching noise in both ears. He winced and clasped his hands over his ears, closing his eyes. Things slowed down to a halt, Lani included. He was in Odi’s bubble now, and there was no doubt in the ginger’s mind that his new acquaintance would feel the effects of time standing still – his powers weren’t in his grasp well enough to be able to leave Lani unaffected. After a few seconds in real time, the noise in the boy’s head went away, and time returned to normal, and only one thing had changed. Odion approached the tree where the board had been, his head throbbing like crazy now. He picked up the board carefully, looking it over as though it could be precious. But alas, it wasn’t, and was too big to carry away for fun. “I guess it was just stuck momentarily,” he said, he said, looking back to Lani. He extended it to the blonde, blaming his slight kindness on the migraine that was coming on.

Perhaps the two young men had more in common than they knew. As it were, they happened to be brothers on the same rose stem. Still, Odion wasn’t about to ask Lani for a rundown of his powers, how he used or abused them, and what his personality was like. He wouldn’t need to ask for the truth to eventually slip out. No, he could already see that the blonde didn’t run when someone beckoned to him. He was his own person, he followed the beat of his own drum. But they couldn’t be friends, despite the similarities. There was no joy in either’s eyes, and Odion couldn’t even pretend to be someone else for the sake of friendship and keeping him sane (like he was with Avi). No. His powers usually worked well, like thinking something frozen would make it so. It was just that easy. Of course he was a show off with them, who wouldn’t be? Time was everything. Time was all anyone ever had. Mess around with it too much, and you can find yourself older, though never younger. That’s why he didn’t speed up time. He didn’t need to. How could you learn anything about people if you just slipped right by them?

They were so good at what they did that neither would know until they happened to run into each other one day. It was relatively easy staying in the shadows around Hammel, unless someone took an odd interest in him. That was a different story. But in a world where everyone was eager for friendship, where everyone trusted so easily, it was mere icing on the cake to have everything you wanted without lifting more than a finger for it. Odion had been a pickpocket for as long as he could remember, even before he had his powers. When he did finally receive them, it was like they were there all along. How convenient they were, how useful. Now nothing could stand in his way between having a good life without ever being employed. He didn’t have a birth certificate anyways. He had a passport, but that had been a tricky bugger to pin down. But still, being in a public school, you were bound to run into students despite your best, albeit selfish, interests. He came here for one reason, and one person only. The rest was just a nuisance.

Social skills weren’t really a high point for Odion, unless he had time to access the situation, and since well, his powers weren’t giving him that advantage, he had to think on his toes. He resented this. Resented that he would meet someone who wasn’t in his face, smiling, and trying to desperately to be his friend. Between the grins, Odi realized a fight wouldn’t be worth it here. It would be misplaced and directed at the wrong person. There were a lot of people he hated freely, and perhaps one more would tip the scales permanently out of his favour. They were in civilized society, they could play nice. Odion watched the boy carefully. Good indeed.

Odion’s eyes twitched, then turned to slits at the mention of the other’s powers. It wasn’t the boy’s fault that he happened to have the same powers as someone Odi once knew quite well, would almost consider family since they were brought under the same wing. He had been fooled once, and he wouldn’t let it happen again. “That’s what it looked like,” he retorted simply. Everything about the redhead was tense. It was that damn headache that wouldn’t go away, gnawing at the inside of his brain. He glanced at the tree, then back to the other. “I see,” he said, uninterestedly, “you weren’t very successful.” Harsh, but true. Hadn’t the very same board that was now in the tree, almost become lodged into the side of his head? But of course, he was interested. Telekinesis was rare. It was powerful, hard to control. Lani was out here doing the exact same thing Odion was trying to do. Get rid of the high emotionality and learn to control the damn power. Still, Odi was proud of himself. The boy’s power had been revealed without him having to ask.

Glimpsing the blonde from beneath his eyelashes, Odion let his hands fall to his side, before going to the tree. “I didn’t do anything,” he said with his back turned to the boy. It was true, he hadn’t wanted that to happen, to reveal himself and the struggles he was having with a complete stranger, fellow classmate or not. The relapse in power wasn’t his fault, and judging by the look of surprise in Lani’s eyes, Odion didn’t want to scare him further. Huh, he didn’t want to scare him further. He looked down to the snow, and wished he had met an easier person to deal with today. The board dropped, and so did the subject. Dark blue eyes watched the board hover over the ground, not answering the question right away. There were a lot of people at the school who had useless powers, it was always the teens with the fearsome ones who had matching personalities. He looked back up to Lani, a sheepish smile on his face. “Of course,” he held out his empty hands, “but not with me.” It had been a severe oversight on his part. He was going to the field to train his tantrum like powers and hadn’t brought any back up. In any case, they wouldn’t have helped in time to make something more of the day.

Lani’s grey eyes reminded him of another’s, and Odi smiled softly, before his expression turned emotionless once more. He needed a drink. Instead, he crossed some invisible line and prodded the floating board with the tip of his shoe. “Can you mock levitate other people?” He asked, trying to see just how far and how wide Lani’s powers could go. He hadn’t even asked the other boy’s name yet, but it almost seemed too late for introductions. The migraine wasn’t going away, but Odion also didn’t want to leave. He doubted very much he would ever have this kind of encounter again, or meet someone else with Telekinesis, but there was something stimulating about being here.

Judging came as easily as breathing for Odion, because when you had to live on the street, a judgement meant the difference between life and death. He didn’t care about the state of Lani’s life, rather the here and now and what the blonde would make of it. Maybe this was a personality trait of Odi’s, maybe it had something to do with the ginger’s powers, but he didn’t want to know himself too well. It would be a scary place to find himself. Withholding information was Odi’s specialty, as was making people squirm in front of him. It wasn’t a power trip, it was just a way of feeling he was ahead of everyone else. Lani, no matter had happened between the two of them, seemed like a trapped animal. He looked nervous at times, confident in others, but trapped none the less, despite the open air. Maybe the only threat was Odion himself, since the ginger thought the same about the blonde. Unknown people made for unknown landmines. Odion would be proud to say he didn’t have a boss, and he stole only what he thought necessary, or pretty. Shiny things had always been a weakness of his. He hoards jewelry, especially pocket watches.

To run into Lani would make Odion freeze. Would he be kin, or foe? Either way, they would owe each other, have to keep each other’s secret, and in that way be connected. It would bring something to light he didn’t want to know but probably wouldn’t stop thinking about and wanting to know more about, which would lead to a messy operation of spying and taking mental notes. Trust definitely wasn’t an option. Stealing wasn’t just fun, it was who he was and he could never stop. Odion wouldn’t describe the boy in front of him as slow, far from it. If others did, he obviously had put on a good act. Yet this was a moment of being caught off guard for the both of them, and perhaps it would do them some good. Or, it would just be another day. Friendships must be avoided at all cost, they were risky and Odion thought he had too many of them as it was. It was dangerous. But most of his friends didn’t know about the stealing, in fact, only a couple did. He was okay with them thinking he was just some European boy who could get fancy with a deck of cards and drank for fun.

Lani, like few others around here, was interesting, and not because of his powers, though they did remind him of ESP. That power also had everything to do with the mind, but did telekinesis include mind reading, of faux mindreading? He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t care to ask. He didn’t want to look foolish, and frankly if Lani could read minds, Odion seriously doubted he would still be here. Odion looked to the side, focusing on a pile of uninteresting snow as he became the object of the other’s scrutiny. No, he wasn’t a mind reader, or he’d be making a smart remark right now, right? The redhead hid his nervousness, he believed, successfully, before finding the courage to look at the blonde again. He would keep asking himself why other people found him so interesting. To let people see him made him a normality, or so he thought. He wanted to be normal so he could be forgotten, but that wasn’t happening.

Small glimpses. That’s all Odion needed to piece together the puzzle of this boy before him. Someone he would try and continue to figure out long past this meeting. The ginger scratched the back of his head. “We’re here to practice, it only makes sense that you’re not perfect,” he said, thinking himself very clever for such a line. He was far from perfect as well, and the sentence could mean any number of things, and that was the beauty of words. You could insult someone without their ever knowing, and Odi liked to think that was another gift he possessed. Languages were fun. As for time control, he didn’t even want to begin to understand the ins and outs of it. There were times where he so lost track of time, he was weeks behind. Another reason he didn’t like school. Graduation was just around the corner, and he doubted he would be leaving Hammel this year. His powers were a mess now, and maybe that was due to his lack of knowledge about his powers. Why couldn’t he just use them and be done with it? Or better yet, leave the school? He wasn’t sure why he was here, he had managed to harness his powers just fine on his own, until now. He doubted most people could relate – all those people who made such fantastic progress throughout the year, and his amounted to nearly nothing. He continued to look at Lani, with some jealousness. Was lightning mightier than thunder?

Okay, so it wasn’t that he hadn’t done anything, it was that he hadn’t tried to. If Odion was going to make people feel uncomfortable, he wanted to do so consciously. Lani’s basic suspicions were right. The ginger could make people slow, or make them think they were. Let the blonde think he was a threat. Odion was all about playing the right cards and keeping up bluffs. Lani would buy what Odi was selling, regardless if he believed in the ginger or not. Funny thing about files. They were easily misplaced. Lost, forgotten. He was uninterested in others, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t want to know more about him. Odion caught the pills using both hands, cupping them gently. “Thank you,” he said, popping the cap open and dry swallowing a couple pills. An eye for an eye. Lani wasn’t someone who felt good being indebted. There was no way the boy could plan running into someone simply to poison them though. The pills were safe, and if not, Odion had swallowed some pretty questionable things in his life before. “Martin,” he said, blinking a couple times, “pleasure to meet you, Lani.” Odion enunciated the boy’s name with utmost care, almost tasting it. He wouldn’t forget the name for the face he beheld.

Odion watched Lani carefully as he considered Odi’s half proposal. Lucky for the blonde, Odion didn’t think about the time that passed between two people during conversation that most would consider awkward. The beauty of holding time in the palm of your hand, made certain things in life more bearable, gave him a bit more patience in certain areas. Odion raised both eyebrows in defeat, letting the board, and Lani, be. “Sometimes you have to push the limits,” he offered, studying the board still. He wasn’t offering to be a test subject, but he did find the whole power quite intriguing, though he was sure Lani didn’t like being made spectacle of. A fresh perspective made people think about using their powers in different ways that they may never have seen. “I was only wondering,” he said, shrugging. Odion could understand that others liked to keep their powers under control.

Boredom was seeping in, leaving Odion to wonder what was left to be done with Lani. He had a name, a power, a bit of character, a lot of attitude, and surprisingly, Odion liked him. It must’ve been the familiar and yet strange eyes. “Good luck with this,” he said, but his tone was anything but hopeful as he took a last glance at the board. Lani could keep practicing; Odion was going to take a nap. There was nothing to do but begin to walk away. He took a step towards the school, and then changed his mind to head towards town. He would pick up a pack of some kind of alcohol before going to visit Rhett.