Time Warp: She's Mine (Alyssa)

[Valentia de la Torres]

Canon: 2012

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Sensory deprivation.

Valentia had seen the ability, acquired by a student who'd been in the halls much longer than she had. It was barely her first week and her roster of students had arrived. Their abilities were mixed, and powerful in their own right. Some didn't suit her techniques, but when it came to training when did that even matter? But when the words came up against an unimportant name, she sat up and decided to take notice.

Because it was useful, if trained right.

Stretching out her shoulders, she waited in the training room assigned at the early hour of five. The student knew, and likely knew that it wouldn't end well for her if she didn't turn up at that time. It was the kind of thing that really didn't need stating, right?

Well, for the most part Valentia would have to admit that she was excited. She wanted to meet the student with the interesting complex power. They had to be something special, right? Something of a puzzle. A conundrum. To accept such an ability - despite how forced it probably was - must have made her an incredibly strong individual. It was riveting to wait.

What she didn't expect was to be so... Disappointed.

[Alyssa Ramius]

“I’m sorry! I’m here!”

The student with the strangely unique ability, out of breath in the effort to rush to be on time to meet her trainer, was a little fluff of a freckled dandelion. There was a brief bow of her head, an overwhelming feeling she did not have to speak that loudly, her voice carried well enough. Hell, the poor thing look like she would pass out at any second just getting here on time, but managed to will away the exhaustion at the last moment.

She had dressed comfortably loose for the occasion; jeans that would not drag, a pink shirt beneath a blue cardigan and sneakers. A pair of thin cotton gloves with faint gray stripes covered her hands, and though those types were more from UV protection, heavy doubt could be cast as that being the real reason.

Really, the blonde was nothing extraordinary in the least; not in looks or demeanor. At least, that’s always had been the perception long carried by the girl herself. A dip in her gaze would be to the floor more often than not, rarely looking up unless startled or called upon in class. Alyssa Ramius clasped her gloved hands together in nervousness as she approached her trainer. There was a definite imposing air about the woman at first glance…but maybe she would be wrong? Dark hair and dark eyes always looked imposing. Should she try better eye contact? Chin up!

This was the person who was meant to help her control her errant ability after all. She had even gone so far to avoid getting a trainer until this one, and quite new if she recalled, had been assigned to her.

“G-Good morning Miss Torres.” Yes, she had tried to remember her name well. Better to salvage some sort of a good impression if she had been, if only Alyssa could stall the heavy sensation in her chest from flubbing anymore words from here on out.

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia felt her eyes widen slightly at the sight of what had just rushed in. Blonde flowing hair, and an out of breath teenager at her feet. She supposed she couldn't fault her just yet - she had made the time with seconds to spare. If nothing else, Valentia caught sight of her gloves and allowed her eyebrows to furrow slightly. What was she hiding her hands from? Perhaps the ability was touch-based? Oh, then gloves would simply not do.

She caught her bright eyes in her darkened ones with mild curiosity. Definitely not what she expected - how was it that the timid so often got dealt the powerhouse abilities? And more to the point, why didn't they see it as the proverbial blessing.

"Alyssa." Valentia greeted in return, having remembered her name at the same time. She took the next few moments of silence to really study her. Her electrical reading was so... Tense. Tightly wound in what she could only understand as nervousness. "You... Did not had a trainer until now?" She asked curiously, confused as to why such an ability had gone unattended for so long.

[Alyssa Ramius]

There was a sigh of relief when Alyssa learned she had gotten the name correct, not knowing if one added the "de la" part first or not. That had bugged her for the past run between her dorm and reaching this part of the school. She'd nod just once at her name, a quiet thought to how nice her name sounded the way her new trainer said it. Of course, the blonde would easily tense up as the dark eyes fixed on her. W-why was she studying her so intently? Her first thought was to stand straight, fix posture, anything but she felt a bit frozen in place at the moment.

"You... Did not had a trainer until now?"

The blonde's shoulders hunched slightly, appearing to have lost the way to answer that question. She'd lift her head again once she actually captured the answer, though clearly she was distraught by the question.

"I...um, did have one. But two of his senses got zapped instead of one as intended and there was...hallucinations...so I felt bad."

The girl's words dialed down to a meek little whisper at the end of her explanation, a small blush rising from her cheeks remembering that time. Safe to say after that, she really avoided seeing that trainer again. She wrung her gloved hands together, maybe pondering if she should say more.

"It's weird that way, my ability I mean. It would sometimes zap more than one sense, or just backfires on me. I'm, um, used to how it feels and all, but someone who doesn't live with it, it's...creepy, so to speak."

[Valentia de la Torres]

She felt bad? Valentia raised her eyebrows at the information given to her. She knew some people here would likely choose to avoid their training sessions. But something like that never used to fly at her old Institute. Why someone would allow themselves to get worse was beyond her. The purpose in most - especially this one - seemed to be lost.

But look, she really did feel bad about the fact. The colour on her cheeks and the softer tones to her voice were more than enough proof.

"Some would say all abilities are... Creepy." She spoke the word, though judging by her expression it was clear the adjective didn't suit her very well. She glanced down at the gloves that covered the girl's hands again. Something about them seemed to irk her. "Do you require contact to use it?"

[Alyssa Ramius]

"Some would say all abilities are... Creepy."

Alyssa's gaze averts for a moment. Yeah, that would be right, some would say such things quite openly too, never minding the feelings of those that do happen to have abilities. It was the sad reality of the world, something unavoidable now that she was one of those types.

Creepy. Her trainer did not seem keen to the word choice. What would have been a better word to describe it?

"Do you require contact to use it?"

The blonde looked down at her hands a moment before wringing them again in nervousness. Especially right now, when her nerves were most frayed, absolutely a must. Accidental zapping of senses? That was something she definitely had to avoid. The girl could already look down at her hands, seeing small pulses coursing through her skin, glimmering through her clothing. She knew they weren't visible to anyone but herself, a side effect of her own ability.

She blinks and they are gone. But how to explain that without appearing mad?

"Y-yeah..." A small pause after her response, the brown eyes peering back up to Valentia.

"Well, not always, but it seems to happen that way more often than not. It gets more potent if I'm...stressed out."

And that in itself was debatable. Does the girl even know what not being stressed felt like? The girl bowed her head a moment, losing what she was going to say again. Once found, she gazes up at her trainer.

"I mean, accidental ones happen more that way, so I try to cover myself as best as I could. You know...just in case?"

Which explained her choice in clothes; every effort to keep as much covered as possible with the exception of her face. Alyssa would even have considered adopting a burqa if it wasn't such an out of place garment to wear here.

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia could practically feel her nervousness. It radiated through her energy, threatening static the more it built. She couldn't believe her luck; how was she supposed to train this? To hone this into something worthwhile?

She wasn't surprised to hear it reacted on its own when she stressed out. Such was the case with most powers, especially without any real prior training. Ugh, this was going to take longer than it should have.

Valentia weighed her options carefully, allowing the room to dissolve into silence for a few moments before she made any purposeful decisions. "Take your gloves off." She ordered. Taking a few steps, the Chilean-born Russian breached the distance between them and rolled up her sleeves. When she was close enough, she held her arms off. "Use it on me."

[Alyssa Ramius]

Alyssa bowed her head a moment, clenching her hands together in a moment of unease. Her trainer was hard to read and wielded silence at the right times; a fact that both unnerved her and amazed her all at once. Was she even trainable? She could stand to go back and hole herself up in her room if need be, thing would work themselves out eventually…or so she hoped. No, that was stupid to think-

"Take your gloves off."

Valentia’s demand and approaching footsteps made the blonde visibly flinch back into reality. The words had not even settled at first…and then it sunk in. Her eyes widened in disbelief. What?! She was rolling up her sleeves too?

"Wh-what?!"

"Use it on me."

Why, no, how could she ask to subject herself to such a thing?! Flashes of the day that troublesome power flowed out of her, how terrified her classmates were at losing a sense or two. Instinct drove the girl to hide her hands behind her back. Even without looking, she could feel the pulses flicking inside of her, urging for release, urging for attention. Ahh not good, the visions were not helping either. At this rate, her own senses were going to shut down first.

“N-no, I mean, wait, I don’t think I can do that Miss Torres-“

[Valentia de la Torres]

The way she flinched was not lost on Valentia, but she decided not to react to it. Instead, she kept her pace steady and chose to continue walking towards her.

There was a shift in her demeanour, and Valentia expected it to happen. Why wouldn't it? She seemed to discouraged about her ability. She was practically hiding it with those gloves of hers; of course it was nerve wracking. But she didn't have time to watch the girl stammer through her paces and build the courage to do it.

"You can." She urged, with an odd sense of calmness about her. Valentia extended her hands towards the girl, inching them closer. "Do it now. Or I will reach out to you. I doubt the requirement is exclusive to hand-to-hand contact."

[Alyssa Ramius]

"You can."

That calm…was dissonant somehow. The blonde stepped back, relenting to the safety distance offered. She couldn't place what it was exactly it was that startled her, but the compelling sensation was one that Alyssa decipher seconds before her first refusal - do not say no again.

“But-”

"Do it now. Or I will reach out to you. I doubt the requirement is exclusive to hand-to-hand contact."

A small jolt akin to a flinch this time, but she could not place why it happened then. Nevermind, what was important was there was nothing outright harsh in her words, but the request. Quick shifts of her gaze, the look of a mouse creature wanting to seek a place to hide…but she doesn't break into a run. Alyssa could not comply with that comfortably; she really did not want to drain her trainer’s senses. And yet her hands return to view from behind her back despite her visible discomfort, and the peel of the gray lined glove. Smooth and fair skin surfaced, not a visible trace that her ability was active.

Valentia could probably feel it emanating through the girl now, a spike of energy deeply entwined with her present nervous demeanor. Brown eyes flicked up to her trainer a moment before Alyssa’s hands reached out to touch her arms – light, a slight shake, and cautious. Her eyes were apologetic, but the blonde says nothing else.

Pulse.

For Valentia’s keen senses would realize the speed of the world falling into a numbed darkness.

[Valentia de la Torres]

A lack of any real harsh undertones was key. While she barely knew Alyssa, it was clear from a few minutes of shorthanded conversation akin to the run of her energy that it wouldn't help matters. Her remorse for the idea itself was very clear, and warranted no further explanation. But the fact remained - her hands were there. And without a point of reference, she could offer no resolution to this problem.

At least she was going to comply, and really, what more could she ask for?

When there was contact, Valentia waited for the onslaught of disarray. No awkward waving of the hands across her face. No real obvious reaction of any kind. But the darkness of it all was not lost on her completely.

"Perfect." She said in earnest. "I cannot see."

Dropping her hands, she folded her arms before her chest and seemed to stare out at a point on the wall before the line of her eyes dropped to Alyssa's face. The glazed over expression in her dark eyes would have been a telltale sign that it had worked, had she not voiced it so openly. But these abilities sometimes backfire, and so she felt compelled to ask; "Can you?"

The corner of her mouth twitched slightly, her eyebrows lowering. "Stop slouching." Valentia corrected. The imperfect line of her shoulders was an irking trait to be privy to.

[Alyssa Ramius]

"Perfect. I cannot see."

Blink, the girl was confused by the earnest tone of her voice; how strange. Alyssa would have certainly been compelled to handle the awkward wave in front of Valentia’s face, but she would withdraw her hands and clasp then together at her waist.
Reason one, why make things more awkward?
Reason two, using it on her trainer and preceded by a heavy dose of worry, a familiar numbing sensation flushed through her entire body. So it was the sense of touch this time that would be drained; this power has yet to have a setback pattern that she could pin down. Sometimes the same sense would be eliminated, other times it was one of the others at random.

"Can you?"

The girl hunched her shoulder at little, at least she thought so. Even knowing her trainer couldn't see her, it still unsettled her when the dark eyes fall upon her.

“Um…Actually, can’t feel. It does that sometimes...” She responds in a soft voice, pinching the back of her hand to be sure. If she was nervous, that's what she meant to say, but the girl lost the nerve to finish the explanation. Alyssa could not register the feel of her own skin, the blink of her own eyes, weight and feel of any of her clothing despite their apparent existence. The earlier pinch was entirely lost on her.

It would be unnerving if she had no familiarity with it.

"Stop slouching."

The smallest “eep!” and a flinch escapes from the girl, straightening her posture immediately. A number of apologetic spouts would have followed, but she had been startled out of it. Not to mention she really wanted to know what was to happen now – her trainer could not see and she could not feel.

“What's the next step, Miss Torres?” She asks, her lack of knowledge of actual training painfully evident. How does one even start to train an ability like hers?

[Valentia de la Torres]

She couldn't feel? What a strange side effect to suffer from. As if the ability itself hat taken her sense of touch. Or the energy pertaining to the ability to feel. Valentia would ponder on the subject more when she had the time.

The straightening of her posture did wonders for the kinetic flow of her energy. It was a step most people ignored, but the appropriate type of energetic flow came from standing right.

"Take away your own sight." Valentia instructed, opting to close her eyes. What use was keeping them open if she could not see?

[Alyssa Ramius]

Alyssa may have gathered an inkling from her mentor that it didn't make sense. If only her ability made any sense to anyone but herself! Sometimes it would be the same sense as the one she accidentally shuts from another person; today her ability decided to throw a curve ball. But the blonde kept quiet about the ordeal – suppose if Miss Torres asked, she would explain in her obviously nervous manner.

But for now, she kept her posture rigid, because that had been the order to her.

"Take away your own sight."

A spike of nervousness shot through her, or so it felt.

“B-But…”

The girl stopped short, not wanting to incur another cast of those dark eyes in her direction because of refusal. A small sigh escapes her lips and Alyssa closed her eyes, residing to have the matter wait until it was relevant. The darkness sinks further, a familiar inward snap as her vision cuts away from. At least due to the concentrated effort of her sight, a slow but gradual sensation began to return to her limbs.

“Ah…” A small, quieted gasp of discovery: interesting! She had never actively tried to fixate on physically shutting off a sense while another had already been shut off. Of course having both senses at a general loss, it meant her mind began to build an illusion world to make sense of the lack of stimuli. Monochromatic shades of the training room, including where the pair stood, embeds around her. Not quite as strong now that she was feeling out her limbs again, but it was a faint and washed out negative.

“Okay…” She says with an initial unsteady lilt to her voice. She cleared her throat and tried to sound ready, grounded despite the hallucinations.

“My sight is off too. Ready.”

But was she really? Alyssa couldn't see now and had no idea what to expect next...but she wanted to believe she was ready.

[Valentia de la Torres]

Valentia was testing a theory.

When Alyssa said she was ready, she opted to trust her voice despite how unclear her diction had been. Sensory failure would be an issue she'd face for a long time - it was possible that the side effect would never completely go away. And that was forever problematic.

Taking several steps back and to the right, Valentia stood in a different location to create all important distance between them. "Come find me."

But it wasn't going to be as simple as finding a stagnant target.

For each step Alyssa took, Valentia countered with sound of her footsteps - taking an almost silent one of her own.