Blues Run the Game (Anya)

Anya had never used her powers so much in one day before in her entire life. The talk had been a disaster, and if she'd even read a single one of those texts the obnoxious LaRousse boy had pinged off to his friends, she would have flipped and probably given the students a good slapping. To hell with the fact it was illegal, it sounded like a great deal of the kids in the lecture needed to be bent over a knee and hit squarely and hardly on the derriere.

That was why she was grateful that the rest of the day was booked off - after some calls to parents and punishments - and free to be spent with Sean. Anya practically wilted into the car seat, migraine throbbing. She was lucky in the fact that she kept ibuprofen with her at all times, and took a few before they left.

She sunk into the sofa when Sean offered her a seat, and put her fingers to her temples. "Mia's problem is that she has no respect for any one. Nor does Zachary. They both believe they are above the rules." She sighed, looking more than a little stressed.

"God, Sean. That was a mess." She added, pausing in the temple rubbing to fold her hands in her lap. "I preferred Emma and Vincent's last stunt a thousand times over to that."

The fact that both she and Sean had similar side effects was of some small comfort to Anya as she watched the man pour the drinks. Indeed, she'd never been keen on using her power too much to subdue the students, but really. The motley bunch of ingrates had deserved this punishment, and she was more than willing to continue to use it on them till they learnt that their powers weren't just something to abuse.

She took a deep drink as Sean explained Mia's predicament. "I don't think she wants to be helped." The woman admitted quietly, resting her head in her palm, fingers knitting in her hair. "I've come to the conclusion that none of that group have any idea the level of responsibility having a meta-power needs." She grit her teeth. "If they knew what would happen to them in Russia..."

It was a sour note to drop, but a very real one. "A stuffed elephant?" That caused a smile to return to Anya's otherwise frowning, unhappy looking face. "I'm sure one of the students will figure that out, I'm not sure if I should break up the angry mob that's going to go after Mia and Zac, or just leave them to it."

Anya did think the students who had been revealed deserved some form of revenge on being revealed so suddenly in front of their peers. And, despite it going against her teaching she felt she shouldn't break up the lynch mob this once. Being punished by those your age was sometimes a stronger message than being punished by adults.

"Thanks for this, Sean." Anya finally said, taking another big sip of her drink and setting it down. "I think this was more stressful than teaching Sammy how to control his fire." She smiled a little, then nodded. "We're meant to be the better people, yes. But it's so difficult in this situation. There were some of my proteges in those images. I feel angry for them."

Anya nodded numbly as Sean explained his idea to fix the the problem. "I don't think it would have bothered me as much if we hadn't only faced a group of irresponsible meta humans only a month before." She put her head in her hands for a moment and sighed. "I don't want kids like that turning into the new MSAD, Sean." It had been playing on her mind a lot recently, especially with her feeling dutybound to take care of Morgan. It all started with people getting away with things like this...

She did sneer a little at the thought of giving such irresponsible, and clearly uncaring students an escort, but Sean was fair to her firm, and she knew she'd get fired if she'd given the students the clipped ear they deserved. "You're right." She nodded softly. "As satisfying as it would be to see their fellow students forcibly beat them into submission..." She finished her drink then set it down, staring at it and feeling a little numb.

When Sean addressed her again, she looked up and smiled. "It's alright, Sean. I'm glad it was me. I don't think anyone else's powers would have been as useful." She admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "Perhaps Chase, but I don't think he's in any state to use his powers on a student right now." She mused this, before resting her head back and closing her eyes.

Anya gratefully took the bottle of vodka and poured a large shot of it in to her glass. She drank it like water, feeling relieved at the sting of drink. "Don't apologise, Sean. It wasn't your fault." She nodded and shrugged.

"People need to learn to be more like you." She added, a little sadly, before kicking off her shoes and putting her feet up on Sean's lap with a smile. "You don't mind terribly, do you?" She asked, concerned for a moment. "I had to stomp full force in heels on a tape." She frowned, shaking her head.

When Sean mentioned Misato, Anya looked concerned. "He ran out and I was going to chase him, but..." She trailed off. "I thought he needed to get away. I know I'd want to be as far away from the school as possible if that happened to me." She sighed.

"Did you see what happened to Evan?"

Anya listened as Sean spoke and felt soothed, putting her hand over her chest and taking a deep breath. "Zac got too much too young. I don't know about Mia." She admitted, happy to keep drinking the vodka till the worry and stress faded away. "Mia seems to think that being that unpleasant person is the only way she can cope with being in school." She shrugged, then stared down at her drink.

In the scheme of things, she supposed things could have been worse. People could have been physically hurt by the powers. Sure, mental harm was harder to treat, but she didn't think she could have stood by if one of the student body had harmed another with their powers.

She let out a soft groan and flopped her head back. "I wish I could help Chase. I wish I could help Morgan too." Instinctively she put her hand on her leg where the bullet wound was, glad she'd iced it earlier and taken her painkillers. "I feel like I'm not helping the others enough sometimes." She said quietly, pushing her fingers into her brow and rubbing there a moment.

"I don't remember being frightened of my power." Anya admitted, sipping the vodka and enjoying the taste and sting. "But I do remember feeling very very responsible from a young age about it. And... then there was my ex husband." She frowned and chewed her lower lip. "Call it selfish but whenever I see those teenagers I see myself in them, and I don't want them to end up in bad relationships because of ignorance caused by careless power use. I don't want more MSAD students."

She sighed. "I still feel terrible about Jesse." Her voice lamented.

"Ah..." Anya swooned, closing her eyes as Sean began to rub at her feet. "Thank you so much." She added, a larger, more at ease smile resting on her face. "I'll have to give you a massage afterwards, I'm excellent with the shoulders." She laughed quietly, then took a sip more of Vodka.

"Evan's one of my proteges." Anya finally said, after a few moments of enjoying Sean's foot-rub. "He tries very hard, I just wish I could help him more. He's really struggling."

Anya had been desperately asking the other schools for any help to aid the boy, but in the end there was nothing beyond encouraging him that she could do.

"You're right. I doubt Mr. Verax would be quite so eager to jump off of five story buildings without cell regeneration." Anya smiled a little wryly. It had been nice not to have to run out and check to see if Vincent had damaged anything in the past few weeks. "I doubt I'd feel quite so heavily responsible if I had a different power, too. I feel like I should be taking care of everyone's powers." She offered a mild shrug, and finished her second glass of vodka.

Perhaps she shouldn't be drinking quite so furiously before 5pm, but it was soothing, and she could feel her stress melting away with each drink. "I blame her parents for a lot of it. I spoke to them briefly and her dad seemed only mildly interested and didn't seem to have any desire to scold her." She went quiet for a moment. "If a child of mine had pulled that stunt they'd be shouted at, and have every privilege aside from the basic needs cut off."

Still. Modern parenting was nothing like what she remembered when she was little. Anya supposed that was why there was so much more crime these days. Crime with meta humans was just so much more dangerous. Gabriel Underwood had proved that. "I think... maybe Chase needs some time off work. To spend time with the family and reconnect with himself." Anya didn't really know how to fix any of the problems. She, herself, now walked with a stick and had a limp. She felt nervous alone at night. "You're right though. You always are." She smiled mildly. "I've been sending food parcels to Morgan every day, and some vegan snacks to Willow... then there's the loaf of artisan bread I sent to James." She blushed. Food wouldn't fix anything, but it made her feel like she was doing something.

"At least you understood your responsibility, though." Anya said warmly, leaning over to give Sean's arm a reassuring squeeze. She may not have feared herself, but she found her power made her believe she should be protecting the weaker from more aggressive powers.

She listened quietly as Sean explained his point of view, and nodded mutely. She didn't feel like saying much more on the subject, but she felt being quiet was too somber. "We'll get it fixed. I know we will. The new head seems good, though I do miss Claude. He was always very pleasant to me."

The foot massage, along with the vodka, was doing wonders for Anya's tension. "Honestly, I'd feel bad if I didn't. I can't imagine you're feeling much better." She smiled softly, leaning back and just enjoying the company of her closest friend.

Her smile did falter just a little when Sean inquired about Evan. "Well. He has started to be able to use his power on command. But he can't have any distraction. He just has to concentrate. And I've got him writing a journal so we can figure out what triggers him to phase unexpectedly. I get the feeling it's strong emotions, or stress."

Anya rubbed her face as Sean spoke. Powers really did shape a person more than she could imagine. Her own abilities had made her into the woman she was now, and she assumed some of Evan's skittishness was to do with his lack of power control. "I think you're both a wonderful listener and a talker." She admitted slowly. "The advice you give is impartial even when it's hard."

"I'd like children some day." Anya said with a small smile, content like one of her cats as the pads of Sean's thumbs soothed her feet. "I just can't understand how someone can thrive without some sort of discipline. Mia has a lot of boundary issues, but I'm sure you already know that." She offered a small shrug. She wasn't Mia's trainer, but she was now one of the power suppressors who could put a rein on errant powers. "Even Samuel, despite his stupidity, appreciates people enough not to use his powers to harm others."

"I was having a chat with Cobalt a few days ago about pushing forward something to the board and further up." She said conversationally, setting the glass on the table and folding her hands together. "That perhaps students that show good control over powers should be allowed to return to ordinary high school and get weekly visits from trainers." She looked up at Sean and smiled. "I thought it might be a viable idea as long as we don't send students back into bad situations." Like back into the hands of the Russians. Or to homes where they were feared and abused.

Closing her eyes, she draped over the arm of the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. "I really think Chase and James should go off for a week. Somewhere sunny and relaxing where they're away from the stresses." She smiled over at Sean. "The mind can deal with trauma better when it's relaxed, right?"

Wiggling her toes, Anya began to feel much better. "How do you feel about ordering in chinese?" She offered, reaching down for her handbag and wiggling her purse out to check if she had any notes tucked away that they could use to pay. "Do you have Claude's contact details? If so, wish him well for me, please." She added, finding a $50 and setting it down in her lap.

At Sean's admittance that he wasn't doing any better, Anya moved over and pulled the man into a warm hug. "I'm sorry, Sean. This year hasn't been too pleasant for anyone, least of all you." She paused, looking troubled. "It's the anniversary of my divorce next month." Her voice was weak and sounded slightly uncomfortable. "Unburden yourself. If we share our loads between us, things will feel a little less stressful, you should know that."

Her eyebrows raised when Sean said he kept a journal too. "Really? That's a good start then." She looked relieved. "He's such a sweet, good person. Levi too, though I don't really teach him often."

"Don't put yourself down." Anya scolded lightly, nudging Sean's shoulder with a gentle shove. "You do a wonderful job. You did all you could, and always do." A reassuring, confident smile followed. The woman really did believe that if Sean couldn't do it, no one could. She admired his patience and good will when it was hard to see the sun behind the clouds.

"Then you shall be godfather to them." Anya added with a small grin. It was tinged with sadness, she'd hoped she'd have a family by now. She'd hoped a lot of things, though. It wasn't the time for broody-blues. "Though I'm afraid I don't think I'll be having children for some time." She breathed, managing a stronger smile and patting Sean's arm. "I'm sure you can work your magic on Mia. You're good at fixing people." It was true, when they'd first met she'd been painfully secretive about her past, then Sean had made her feel more comfortable about it.

Anya nodded slowly, then offered a small shrug. "I was thinking we could have a set of people hired as trainers for travelling? Or perhaps train certain groups in countries, so there's less travelling involved. Either way, I do understand Cobalt's desire for people to return to their families." She laced her fingers together and lent back, frowning. "The Bucklands, for example. They're extremely uncomfortable in their current situation. I've heard several comments that they've attempted fleeing, too." Anya was lucky enough to be nearly rescued from Russia, so she couldn't fathom disliking Hammel. No matter, that there were students that thoroughly miserable was distressing.

"Or an in-house high school trainer? I know that means a lot of trainers, but from what we know about metas, there's certainly enough of us for one in each school." She offered, still enjoying the foot massage.

She closed her eyes for a moment, just thinking quietly about how nice a holiday would be, despite the fact she'd only just come back from Russia. Maybe California the next time there was a school break? "I hope so." Anya eventually said. "I'd like them to be a content family unit again." It was sad to see James and Chase suffer through it. Her heart went out to Niko too. He was such a sweet, good boy.

"At least let me pay half?" The woman offered hopefully, smiling. "You should know I don't like you paying for everything." It was a light, fond scold. "But Chinese does sound good, I haven't had it for ages either. Last time I had it, it was because I'd forgotten to go food shopping." And that was about six months ago. About time for a little indulgence, especially after today. "Does the local restaurant do peking duck? I can't remember."

She bit back a choke of relief when Sean asked if she wanted company. Looking away, she nodded mutely, just able to breathe out a "Yes, please." It was not a happy anniversary, and she didn't want to sit mulling over old photos and her wedding dress - which she'd kept (it wasn't the dress' fault the wedding had gone sour). "I'll probably take the day off and stay in my pajamas, I hope that doesn't bother you?"

The hug was lovely, and Anya just cuddled up next to Sean, taking a few deep breaths. "Everything will turn out fine." She eventually decided, moving to hold Sean's hands between hers. "We'll get through it, this is just another hiccup." She said soothingly.

Then she looked up at Sean expectantly. "Do you need me to get the menus? Where are they?"