SUE: Still need to Study...(open)

[Neo Harris]

Just because the lights were out didn't mean it was time to sit back and relax. It wasn't meant to be an opportunity to slack off or forget about assignments. Nope. If Neo wanted to stay ahead, he wasn't going to let the dark stop him. 

Now, Neo wasn't the type to study 24/7, however he dedicated a pretty hefty chunk of time on weeknights to prepare for upcoming tests, and the power outage Hammel was experiencing was never seen as an obstacle for the academic. He simply stocked up on double A batteries and brought a couple of flashlights along to the library with him. He was even happier that he hadn't turned either of them to gold, yet. (Though Neo had much better control of his powers, he still slipped up from time to time. Usually when he wasn't thinking about it). 

So for the second night in a row, Neo curled up in the corner of the library with his portable light source and his history books. He had a test coming up, and expected to receive nothing less than a 100 on a test in his one of his favorite subjects. He actually really enjoyed studying for history, because it was just so damn interesting. He was in the zone, completely shutting out the rest of the library, which was fairly easy since it was mostly dark and he was one of the few crazy enough to be studying at night during the outage. 

[Miles Daugherty]

Miles was not coping well with the power outage. He couldn't watch any of his Disney movies. He couldn't charge his AAC device. And the computers in his tutoring room were useless for doing any of his work. If it wasn't for his battery powered nightlight he would probably be in complete meltdown mode all the time.

That being said, he was approaching a melt down now. The batteries in the flashlight he was using at the library were giving out. He had spares in his backpack, but he was afraid to change them on his own. What if his power flipped out when he touched the metal on the batteries? He couldn't take that chance. But he had to do something.

He had seen the other boy curled up with his own flashlight when he first walked into the library. At the time his only thought had been that he hoped the boy would stay to himself and not bother him. Now it looked like Miles might have to be the one doing the bothering.

He walked over to the boy's corner and held out his dying flashlight in one hand, chewed on his sleeve with the other, and rocked back and forth on his heels. "Help...me...please...thank you," he said slowly, staring at his feet.

[Neo Harris]

Neo hadn't even really taken notice to anyone else in the library, there were only a few individuals spread out in the large room. That being said, it frightened Neo a bit when a voice and an increasingly dimming light appeared in front of him. From what Neo could see, the voice was coming from a small boy - probably one of the youngest at Hammel, an early bloomer. He was shaky with his words and rocking back and forth on his feet as if talking to Neo was the most innervating thing he ever had to do.

The boy clutched his dying flashlight in an outreached hand, still a fair distance away from Neo, but the tone of the boys voice told Neo most of what he needed... The kid was scared of the dark, maybe? Neo sighed slightly, not exactly thrilled to be pulled away from his reading about Paul Revere. "Alright," he said, setting his book aside, and getting up, bringing his own flashlight with him. Luckily, Neo had brought a couple of extra batteries with him.

"Here," he said, walking over toward the boy, AAs in hand, offering the fix to the boy generously, waiting for the little guy to pick his eyes up off the ground and accept the power source. "I hope it takes double-As" His flashlight illuminated the boys small, pale face, tattered sleeves, and slightly unruly hair. He looked like more of a nervous wreck than he sounded, if that was even possible.

[Miles Daugherty]

Miles bit down hard on his sleeve when the older boy answered. Although he had been hoping for an answer and some help, it was still hard to make contact from a stranger, but he hadn't known what else to do. He just hope this stranger didn't turn out to be the kind that was stranger danger.

He continued to rock a bit as the older boy stood and offered him a handful of AA's. He didn't know how to explain the situation. He didn't want to touch the batteries, but he needed them in his flashlight.

"No," he said, stepping away from the boy's hand with the batteries while at the same time hold his flashlight out closer to the boy. "You have to." He chanced raising his head long enough to give the boy a brief glance in the general area of his face.

"Please. Thank you," he added again as he turned his gaze to the floor. This was why he hated being a meta. He hated having to be at this school with so many strangers. And always having to worry about something melting when he touched it. And never having things just like he liked them. It was all so hard. And this power outage was making it all worse. He wanted to scream, but tried to keep the sound inside. Instead a small sound somewhere between a whimper and a groan escaped his lips.

[Neo Harris]

Neo made a face, something between concern and confusion, in reaction the boy's response. And while it was becoming harder and harder for Neo to justify helping the boy (was he just stupid? did he not know how to put batteries in a flashlight?) the whimper that escaped him was enough for Neo to sigh and take the flashlight out of the boys hand.

"Here, hold this," Neo half offered and half commanded the boy as he thrust his own flashlight in his tiny hands, positioned so the light was directed toward him and the other light source. The dimming light went out completely when he opened the battery housing. He made sure the first battery was facing the right way, carefully looking at the boy's flashlight for the little plus and minus signs that indicated how he should put in the batteries (luckily the thing did run on AAs).

Though as Neo went to put in the second battery, the small cylinder rolled between his fingers and slipped from his grip. Having quick reaction from years of tennis, Neo swiped his hand down with plenty of time to catch it, but in his mindless and quick response, he forgot about his tendancy to change things to gold when he wasn't thinking. And when he brought the battery back up to the flashlight, it gleamed gold in the light the boy was holding on him.

"Damn it," Neo muttered, stuffing the now golden battery into his pocket, since it was likely to change back later, and pulled out a third battery. He knew he was bound to slip up eventually.

After he got the second battery into the flashlight, he closed the battery case and flicked the light on, waving it around a bit as if to prove to the nervous boy it was actually there and working. "There you go," Neo said, offering the device back to the boy, "Good as new."

[Miles Daugherty]

Miles relaxed a bit when the older boy took his flashlight from him, only to tense up again as the boy shoved his own flashlight into his hands. Normally he didn't like being touched, but since Miles had only touched the flashlight and he was more concerned with getting his own light fixed, he managed not to flip out.

Still when the boy dropped one of the batteries and it turned to gold at his touch, Miles almost flipped again, but for a different reason. This boy was like him. Maybe not exactly, but it was the closest he had seen. And the battery hadn't melted. It had turned all shiny and gold. "You..." Miles said, pointing to the pocket the boy tucked the golden battery into. "You're like me."

He was so distracted he missed that his own flashlight was fixed. Taking it back from the boy, he kept his other hand still pointing to the pocket. "You're like me," he repeated. "And you said a bad word."

Again, he gave the boy's face a quick glance. "Show me again?" he asked again. It didn't matter that the battery had been a mistake, surely the older boy had more control than he did. And in Miles's eyes that raised the older boy to god-like status.

[Neo Harris]

Neo raised his eyebrow, his face always managing to be much more exaggerated than even he planned. "However Neo definitely found the kid odd. Two seconds ago he seemed ready to run off into the darkness, never to face Neo or the possibility of changing flashlight batteries again. He had barely even looked at Neo the entire time the older boy was fiddling with the flashlight, but suddenly his face shined with intrigue. "It wasn't that bad of a word," Neo said, looking at the kid with the kind of face that asked 'how old are you, anyway?'

"What? The gold thing," Neo asked, as if the boy could be talking about anything else... unless he wanted a step by step guide to changing your flashlight batteries (which was probably more important at this point). It wasn't uncommon for people to want to see his little trick again, though, so Neo internally sighed and obliged, thinking maybe if he appeased the kid he'd be less freaky and go back to doing his own thing. He looked around him, trying to decide what would be ok to change to gold, in case it didn't change back for a while (he still hadn't really gotten the timing down, and sometimes managed to make things gold for weeks by accident). "Uh... here," Neo said, remembering he had a broken pencil tucked behind his ear. With a tiny bit of focus, the yellow tool seemed to disappear under a layer of gold, though the added weight told you that it was solid. "You can have it... it's going to change back though," Neo offered, holding out the pencil to the awe struck boy. He still hadn't been able to change anything permanently. His trainer said someday he might, though.

[Miles Daugherty]

Miles was used to other people thinking he was odd. Though he didn’t always pick up on it, or understand the reasoning behind it, he heard it voiced often enough that he understood the other kids thought he was different. And he understood on some level that they thought it was a bad thing. Still he had no idea how to remedy the situation, so he tried not to worry about it. Besides, he thought everyone else was the one who was off.

He gave a quick, short nod the boy’s question, staring at the pocket the older boy had slipped the golden battery into. He watched amazed as the boy turned the broken pencil into gold just as easily as he had turned the battery. So it was true that the older students could use their abilities on cue. He had sometimes wondered if his trainer and tutor was lying to him. The kind of lie his mother said were told to make him feel better. But a lie was still a lie.

And he really wanted to touch it, to hold it, to feel the weight of it in his hand, but he had no idea if it would stay solid once it came into contact with his fingers. So when the older boy held it out to him, Miles jerked his hand away as if he had been burned.

“No. No. No. I can’t,” Miles said, taking a step back in case the boy decided to shove the pencil into his hand. “I’ll melt it. I always melt it. No.” His sleeve when back into his mouth and he started chewing on it again, still staring at the pencil he wished he could touch.

[Neo Harris]

Neo was a smart kid, and it only took him a second to put two and two together. Or at least come up with some formidable conclusions. "Oh," Neo said, eyes narrowing as everything started to make sense, "I'm like you...". The kid had a power that allowed him to manipulate metal in some way, Neo supposed. That's why he couldn't change his own batteries. That's why his eyes lit up like a kid's on Christmas when he witnessed Neo changing the battery to gold. It was probably part of the reason the kid was so nervous (Though Neo had a feeling it may just be his nature, to an extent).

Neo knew what it was like to fear yourself, and your power. It was hard as a kid to believe everything they tell you - that you won't hurt anyone, and that your ability is a gift. Especially when your ability seems to ruin things. Neo didn't step forward after the boy. Didn't want to spook him more. But suddenly he had the overwhelming urge to do something to help - Neo just didn't know what. He saw a bit of himself in the boy... even if his nerves were exaggerated in comparison to Neo's, and the kid seemed to lack the sociability that Neo prided himself on (because who likes a smart kid who can't hold a conversation?)

Neo kept his hand out, pencil still stretched out toward the boy who was anxiously knawing at his sleeves. "You can't hurt it," Neo promised. "It's a pencil. If it melts, I won't get mad," he promised, eyes staying on the boy's and voice sincere. Actually Neo was a bit curious what would happen if the pencil melted and then turned back into wood and granite as it usually would when he turned stuff to gold. Though he wasn't going to try and test that theory now. He just wanted to see if he could get the boy to take the pencil... and maybe a Prozac.

[Miles Daugherty]

Miles had problems putting himself in other people’s shoes. So when the trainers told him that lots of kids worried about their powers and were nervous to use them, it didn’t really click with him. All he could focus on were his own fears.

He was grateful when the old boy didn’t take any more steps toward him. It was important for Miles to have his space in order to keep calm and think this through. “I can’t hurt it,” he repeated quietly. “You won’t be mad.”

He reached out slowly and poked the pencil with one finger, before jerking his hand back. The pencil stayed golden, giving Miles the courage to reach out again. Still once he gripped the pencil into his fingers, he quickly slipped it into the pocket on his T-shirt.

Then a though occurred to him He didn’t know this boy’s name. That meant he was a stranger. And he shouldn’t be trusting or talking to strangers.

“I need your name!” he said, the words bursting out of him suddenly. “So you won’t be a stranger. Please thank you.”

[Neo Harris]

"Neo," the older boy said quickly, almost defensively, as if the little guy in front of him might whip out a can of pepper spray any second and yell 'stranger danger'. Frankly, it seemed like it might be characteristic of the nervous little boy. "I'm Neo," he said again in case the boy didn't catch it.

"Uh... what's your name?" Neo asked in return, not entirely sure if he was asking to be polite or if he was asking to create closure on the whole 'stranger' fear. Neo back up and grabbed a chair from the desk he had been sitting at, spinning it around so he could straddle it, and lean his elbows on the back, keeping the flashlight shining between them so there was just enough light to see each other's faces. Neo had all but forgotten his History text book at this point - being slightly more caught up in the little boy's apparent paranoia.

[Miles Daugherty]

"Neo," Miles repeated to himself. "You're Neo. And I'm Miles. So now we're not strangers." He was glad that the older boy knew about stranger danger. And how he should ask for Miles's name too. Then again, Miles wasn't much of a danger to anyone, although sometimes when he had a tantrum he hurt people, but he didn't mean to. And he always apologized, because that's what you were supposed to do when you hurt someone. And then they were supposed to forgive you. At least that's how it was supposed to work. But since coming to Hammel, Miles had started to feel that a lot of things didn't go the way they were supposed to.

Miles wasn't sure if he was supposed to sit down too, so he rocked back and forth on his heels a bit. It felt better to be moving anyway.

He chewed on his sleeve wondering about things. Neo wasn't a stranger anymore. And he was like Miles, he did stuff to metal. Of course he didn't melt it, so it wasn't the same. But it was the closest he'd seen so far at Hammel. So did that mean he and Neo were friends now. It was often hard for Miles to make distinctions like that. Strangers and non-strangers were easy cuz a stranger was someone whose name you didn't know. But where was the line for a friend?

He gave Neo a quick glance before returning his gaze to somewhere around the older boy's knees. "Are you my friend now?" He asked, a bit flatly. Not because he didn't want friends. But he didn't really attach the same emotions to the word that other students might.

[Neo Harris]

The way the Miles asked the question was a bit unsettling, like he wasn't sure how define friendship - like the concept of having a friend was terrifying and needed to be avoided. It was a good thing that Neo wasn't his friend. "No, man, I don't think we're friends," he said confidently, so his answer would be taking seriously.

"You have to know a little bit more than a person's first name before they can be your friend," Neo explained, trying to make sure he didn't sound as if he thought the boy was stupid for asking such a question (even though it may have come off that way a little...). "You gotta know their interests and hobbies and things they like. And usually you make friends with the people you have a lot in common with. And you gotta make sure you like the person and like being around them," Neo continued to explain, feeling like he was talking to a 5 year old, but trying not to show it. It was strange. He knew his superiority complex was shining through, but he wasn't sure if the boy noticed or cared. And even though normally Neo would feel like he was wasting his time still talking to the kid, he felt like he had to help. For god's sake the kid couldn't change batteries on his own. He didn't know what a friend was.

[Miles Daugherty]

Miles gave Neo a quick nod at his answer. Although he considered adding that he was a boy and not a man, he was getting a bit tired of all of this talking. Also he was busy listening to the rest of Neo's explanation.

Miles didn't understand that Neo was explaining things to him like he was a 5 year old. Instead he felt Neo was very smart. And good at talking. Most people we so confusing that Miles often wondered how they made themselves understood to anyone. He wished he had a notebook or something to jot down what Neo was saying. It would help to have a checklist in the future so he could know if someone was his friend or not.

"Are you going to be a teacher?" Miles asked. After all Neo was so good at explaining. And he could control his power and explain things. And he was nice. Wasn't that all you needed to be a great teacher?

[Neo Harris]

Was Neo going to be a teacher? That was a pretty good question because Neo still wasn't sure. "I'm not sure," he said honestly, "But I think I want to be an Engineer." He considered for a moment than maybe the boy didn't realize what that was... "I want to build things. Like bridges and skyscrapers," Neo explained in simple terms. He wouldn't actually do the physical building, of course, but he wanted to design structures and roadways and plan cities. But then again he could see himself being a teacher. Or a doctor. Or a meteorologist. Or an animator - which to most would be out in left feild but Neo just loved cartoons so much.

"But maybe I could be a teacher," Neo agreed with a shrug, seeing that maybe Miles was hoping he was going to be a teacher. Like he was the type of person Miles wanted to have as a teacher. Neo had to admit it was a compliment in a weird way. "What about you?" Neo asked, wanting to try and keep the conversation as two-sided as possible taking the boys curiosity and general nervousness into consideration. "What do you want to be?"