Of Patience, Tigers, and Friends [Lani]

[Echo Waverly]

Echo perched on a metal fold-out chair, watching the door into the training room like a tiger waiting for its prey. She grinned-- she'd read that description of someone waiting expectantly earlier that day, and had decided she liked it. Tigers were cool-- her new favorite animal. Which reflected in her notebook, and clothing choice recently. That day especially, as she wore fingerless tiger-striped gloves, an orange T-shirt with a black long-sleeved undershirt, black leggings, and tiger socks. She'd hung out with her old nanny that day also, and she'd done her hair to almost look like ears, and put in sparkly orange and black ribbon clips. Were she the type to, she would have painted her face, too. But she hated the feeling of stuff on her face. Even a little makeup felt weird.

But that was okay. It'd only get smudged anyway. She shifted on her chair, which she had placed strategically just behind the door, so when Lani-Stranger-Man came, she'd be able to jump out and scare him. Hopefully not too much though, because if he had a heart attack, that'd be real sad, and not a very nice way to say thanks for coming to teach her telekinesis stuff. She chewed on her lip, almost rethinking. Maybe she shouldn't, after all. Heart attacks were real bad things-- and they happened to older people when they got scared. 

She worried over this for several minutes, debating both ways, before finally shaking it off. No, Lani-Stranger-Man wasn't that old. He didn't have grey hair yet, and she was pretty sure only grey haired old people had heart attacks when they were scared. She breathed a sigh of relief. It would've been super embarrassing if someone had seen her get all ready, then chicken out. Tiger wouldn't do that.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her iPod. She'd found a recording of a tiger roar (she'd been very careful to make sure it was specifically a tiger roar, and not just a random roar) and she made sure the sound was turned up all the way. When Lani-Stranger-Man got there, she'd be ready.

The door handle rattled, and Echo almost fell out of her chair as she prepared for the pounce.

The door handle turned. Echo unlocked her iPod screen. Ready.... 

The door began opening. She hovered her finger over the play button. Set.....

Lani stepped into view. Go! She tapped the play button, which cued the tiger roar, as she leaped from the chair, intending to land just behind him and stab him with her iPod (actually tackling him was out of the question, after all-- that might scare him too much) .

Unfortunately, her socked feet slipped on the slickness of the metal chair, and she pitched forward headlong with a startled squeak.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was glad it was summer and he didn’t have to deal with classes. What he did have to deal with was powers training. After that horrific training incident he had been assigned a new trainer and as far as he knew his old trainer had been tossed out of a job so fast that her locker hadn’t even had a chance to collect dust. He hated that woman and if he ever saw her again he wasn’t sure he’d be able to control himself. Luckily his new trainer was not the same trainer as that poor girl he almost did in. He’d felt miserable for weeks after that, none of Odion’s consoling would do the trick. It wasn’t something that Lani could just get over. Perhaps what bothered him more than anything else was that it worked. It was as if shock was what made his power come to him and it would take another shock for him to get it. One would think that between all the mob battles Lani had been a part of that something would have happened. Or maybe it had… toward the end it all got a little fuzzy.

He put a hand to his head. He was still trying to understand what kind of trigger he was dealing with. His power swirled around him without making trouble. Just exploring and curious. He wasn’t getting the details he would get if he really let it out but he knew the general placement of things. It was this that alerted him to someone behind the door. When he’d happened upon Echo he hadn’t expected to be training with her, that had just kind of happened. Being reminded of her power made him miss his best friend. Adrianna was busy he knew, but he still missed her. He wondered how it different it would feel for his telekinesis to touch another’s again. It was always such a strange feeling, intimate almost. Like two hands touching.

It was a hot day so he’d dressed in a concert tee and dark colored shorts and boat shoes. He wasn’t expecting to do a lot today, his whole plan was to start slowly, get Echo used to feeling things that she wasn’t actually touching. It was a strange sensation to get used to. Lani wondered if he was doing the right thing teaching her this, but in all honesty he had been seeking a purpose and maybe teaching people so they didn’t have the terrible experience he had was the right thing to do. He still had to look into Hammel’s program, if they had a program. And pass his own powers test, though his trainer seemed to think this time would be it. He ran a hand through his hair he drew a breath. He hoped he hadn’t burned too many bridges here, he was in serious danger of being turned away and he wouldn’t blame them in the slightest. If he were them he wouldn’t let himself in. He could only hope that they would see how much he had changed since he was a student here. Strange, how it had been only two years but it felt like a lifetime.

Cocking his head, he gave a little smile as he sensed movement beyond the door. Now why would someone set up a chair and be crouched in it. At least he thought it was a person crouched there. There was only so much he could do with people shaped clothing. At least it wasn’t a mannequin, that much he could tell. But he couldn’t tell who it was. Alert and ready for anything Lani opened the door. To be honest the sound of a roar nearly made Lani jump out of skin and he let out a pretty embarrassingly high pitched shriek. He whirled and his eyes found Echo but his heart didn’t stop pounding. Luckily for Echo, Lani had a younger sister and when he saw her slip, instinct took over and he lunged for her. Lani grabbed Echo around her middle and used all his meager strength to keep from falling over himself. He felt them start to go down and the though suddenly occurred to him. He was a telekinetic. And he was a fucking idiot. His power caught them and held for a moment until it was able to set them right. He set Echo on her feet and put his hands on his hips to give her a disapproving look.

He couldn’t hold it and started laughing. “Rookie mistake,” he said and pointed to her feet, “You want as much traction as possible, socks are far too slippery.” He wondered if she would speak to him this time. His lips twitched upward in an impish grin and he looked positively evil. This meant war. She had opened a door she should not have. “That was a good one though,” he said with approval his eyes turning upward as he tapped his chin already considering his options for payback.

[Echo Waverly]

Echo sucked in a breath as Lani-Stranger-Man caught her, then nearly fell over himself. However, as his power caught them, she grinned a little, and couldn't help a giggle as she blinked up at him. Yeah, she supposed shoes would have been better, but she didn't have tiger shoes! And tigers didn't wear shoes anyway. She wondered if a tiger would have slipped on the chair too. Cats slipped on things all the time, so maybe it would have. Maybe she would google it later-- whether or not tigers had slippy feet.

She quickly scribbled in her notebook to explain-- "Tigers don't wear socks", and gave a serious nod, lifting up a foot so he could see the ridiculously cool tiger-stripes. That would surely explain it well enough. She glanced down at her hands, studying them for a moment. She could already feel the telekinesis from Lani-Man. It felt weird, like last time. But different from last time, she'd learn how to use it. Which would make the weird mimic thing worth it this time.

She looked up again, eyes alight satisfaction. Of course her plan had been a good one! She'd planned it out herself, and talked to Yvette about it, and they'd both decided it was good! She scrawled a brief, "Duhh~" before sticking her tongue out. Thought a moment. Then added, "I'm happy you didn't have a heart attack."

That out of the way, she tucked the notebook under her arm, grabbed the chair she'd been sitting on, and scooted it back against the wall where it had been. Maybe before she left she'd be able to do that without touching it. How cool would that be? She bounced a little and faced Lani-Man, expectant.

And pleasantly clueless of his plotting.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani shook his head affectionately as the girl moved away to get her notebook. He felt himself sag wearily at the idea of writing all his thoughts, but that was the girl’s prerogative. Maybe if he could he could get her to speak to him. A voice was a powerful thing and she was old enough that if she didn’t start speaking up for herself someone would start doing it for her. His brow quirked at the strange explanation on her pad. He smiled warmly giving her a chuckle and a shake of his head. His power grabbed the pencil from her and wrote underneath her words: “Cool socks! But tigers also have claws.” He couldn’t help but smile, he had a soft spot in his heart for little ones and especially anyone that reminded him of his sister. At least his sister when she’d been little. Caroline was quite able to take care of herself now.

Reading her next joke Lani couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh. “Well me too! You’re gonna have to work harder if you wanna scare me though,” he wrote and gave the girl a wink. Lani watched the girl bemused as she moved the chair against the wall and turned back to him. He felt a sense of wickedness come over him. So he wrote, “Do you mind if I speak? It helps my power focus. Also, bring that chair back over here.” He turned then and paced a few steps into the room and picking a spot he dropped down to the floor crossing his legs. When she had the chair back in place he motioned for her to join him. While he waited for her he closed his eyes and let his power flow from him like a river. Despite the horrors of it, Lani was glad he had gotten a true handle on his power. He found his center and locked in and instead of a clash of wills he felt the dragon hum in his mind, a harmony.

He opened his eyes when he felt her sit and he took his hand and plucked her pencil from her hand. It was a harsh lesson but Lani had learned it far too late and if she wanted telekinesis to be a tool in her hands instead of a wild beast it was one she had to learn. He held it out in his palm and then let his hand drop, the pencil staying suspended in the air. “Telekinesis is a tool. When you use it you have to treat it like you do your pencil. It is how you communicate, it’s your connection to the outside world. It’s important to you.” He spoke and hoped he didn’t offend her, but he couldn’t control his power, teach her how to use it, and use it to communicate. “But, unlike this pencil, you can’t just get another one. Telekinesis must be respected. And if you let it, telekinesis can connect you with the world in ways you never imagined.” He leveled his gaze at her.

He hoped she hadn’t gotten the part of his power that was strong and unruly. When he had first gotten his power he had had a bad case of what his trainer called the ‘Grab’n’Throw’. “Start slow. Open you mind, and feel the world around you. And when you’re ready, take the pencil.” He smiled encouragingly and held her pencil in his mental hands. It was always a strangely intimate feeling to touch mental hands with someone and he would know when she took control over the pencil and he could guide her through that process, like a hand guiding another with a paintbrush. Lani was content to wait, though he half expected her to be like most people and dive immediately in for the pencil.

[Echo Waverly]

Echo snorted and wrinkled her nose at Lani-Man. He had totally screamed, so he'd totally been scared. He couldn't fool her. She tapped her temple and shook her head, hoping to convey that she wasn't tricked by his "have to try harder to scare me" comment.

She nodded as Lani-Man asked her about talking out loud, quickly writing, It's okay, you should talk. You're a teacher. She nodded seriously before tucking the book under her arm and going off to grab the chair again, wondering why he wanted it brought over. Maybe she was going to raise it into the air with the telekinesis. She grinned. That would be cool. Though, she wondered what side-effects came with this power. Hopefully not migraines-- she'd had plenty of those since she started at Hammel, and they were never fun.

She watched him for a moment as he sat on the ground, cross-legged like a monk from movie or something. Or maybe like a Jedi. She wondered if that was how he trained. Maybe telekinesis was like the Force. She grinned at the idea and plopped next to him, looking up to study him expectantly. It didn't even occur to her to be offended that he spoke aloud-- most people did, and she'd grown to not expect them to do anything else. So though she liked his writing in her book to talk to her, she was just as content to hear him speak aloud.

So, she listened carefully to his instructions. Start slow, open your mind, feel the world, take the pencil. She wasn't sure what "feel the world" meant, but maybe it was similar to when she practiced telepathy stuff, and could feel peoples' minds. With a short nod, she squeezed her eyes shut.

Step one: Start slow. She guessed that meant just breathe a little first, so she took a couple of breaths.

Step two: Open your mind. Like telepathy, she told herself, though it was a little more difficult than when she'd absorbed a telepathy power. A different feel. She made a face and struggled with it for a moment, before deciding she'd gotten close enough.

Step three: Feel the world. She still wasn't totally sure what that meant, but she imagined in her mind what was around them. The cold, metal chair, the tall Lani-Man, and the pencil floating in the air. She sat for several moments trying to feel it, but still wasn't sure she was completely there. Ah well, close enough.

Step four: Take the pencil. She wasn't sure if she should open her eyes again or not, but decided that if she couldn't see the pencil, it would be pretty useless, so, trying to maintain the same mental status, she opened her eyes and "grabbed" for the pencil. It didn't move, and she felt a surge of irritation. She'd done all the steps, she should be able to grab the pencil! A scowl flickered over her face as she closed her eyes--that helped her focus with telepathy anyway--and she tried grabbing the pencil again, much more violently than before.

This time, she was certain she touched the pencil, but with more of a smack than a grab. She frowned. Yeah, this would be harder than she thought.

[Lani Hunter]

Ignoring her unspoken sign, Lani let her believe whatever she wanted, but he was sticking with his first answer. “Thanks,” he said, taking her permission with respect. She was a child with a strange desire not to speak, but that didn’t mean that Lani should be condescending to her. She was excited and Lani was happy she was enthusiastic but he was also worried that she wouldn’t take this seriously. He had been old, a year shy of adulthood when his power finally awoke. It was an anomaly, he had been told, but no one really explained what had happened. He didn’t mind, not so much anymore. He just wanted Echo’s experience to be different than his. Recently, his grip on his power had strengthened. Some piece of the puzzle had snapped into place. But he would never wish the way it had happened on anyone.

It was a good thing that Echo didn’t mention her thoughts on paper. Being a Jedi would just take Lani’s arrogance and take it completely out of control. She was smiling when she sat across from him and he wondered if she would be able to get it right off or if it would be as elusive a power to control for her as it had been for him. He wasn’t worried about her hurting him, he was worried that she might hurt herself, but he hoped that he would be able to stop anything that happened. But he couldn’t do this for her. He had never taught anyone how to use his power, or any power for that matter, before. He had little confidence that he would be able to help her do anything more than the basics. And at least here, he could help her.

He watched her as she took a few deep breaths and frowned at the pencil. It was a struggle, he had had trouble with precision when he was first starting out as well. His power was really good at sweeping a wide swath of things away or throwing things in the air. But moving one thing at a time was hard. He waited patiently, his own power humming around him. He felt his young friend and the chair, the pencil and the scars in the floor. The ‘vision’ that his power gave him, allowed him to look at things like the pencil in more detail than he could ever imagine. He sensed another power lurking, clumsily knocking into things. His power stayed out of the way and focused on the pencil. Lani smiled at her fallen expression. Then without warning the pencil was whapped by a force that almost knocked it right out of Lani’s mental hands.

“Great!” He exclaimed, smiling broadly at her as his power got a hold of the pencil again. “You did it,” he said, “Look.” The pencil hadn’t moved much but it had been inverted. “How about this, instead of grabbing it, touch it.” Lani was grinning like a loon, he’d never taught someone how to use his power before, but he was enjoying it. Seeing her succeed, even just that little bit was enough to make him proud. “Here…” he moved his power and brushed against hers, “Do you feel that?” There was so much that Lani didn’t understand about this power. Why he could feel Echo’s clothing but not her. Why it was that when another power occupied the spatial plane he could feel it. Maybe that was because in telekinesis, his power and hers worked like an object in the invisible plane to move objects.

[Echo Waverly]

As Echo opened her eyes, she was pretty sure the pencil wouldn't be where it had been. She was sure it would be on the floor or something-- because she'd hit it, she was sure, and when things were hit, they fell. So, when she saw the pencil still there, her face went into a pout. Stupid pencil. This was harder than she'd thought. Then again, maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. Most of these powers were hard to get used to. The first time she'd used telepathy she was pretty sure she'd been broadcasting to the whole room of people, rather than just the one she'd been actually trying to talk with.

But Lani-Man seemed excited about it, the small step of moving the pencil, however slightly. She studied him skeptically, almost moodily. Was he seriously excited, or just pretending to be for her sake, like some teachers did? After a moment or so, she mirrored his grin. She was pretty sure he was being really happy about it, not just pretending. And that made it okay. As long as he thought it was a good start, she decided it must be good.

She stretched out her arms in front of herself with a smug grin, before going thoughtful again. Touching the pencil instead of grabbing it? Like what she was doing before she hit it? Or was touching different than feeling? She frowned, then jumped a little as she felt something brush against her power. Or at least, she guessed that is what it must have been. It was a weird feeling, anyway. She sat for a moment, processing and a little confused about how this worked. How could powers feel other powers? It didn't make sense. But being able to feel other minds didn't make sense either. Curious, she reached out with her power as best she could to try and brush against Lani-Man's power in return. She thought she felt something for the briefest of moments, but wasn't sure. So, she refocused on the pencil.

Feel the pencil. She imagined what pencils felt like-- smooth, scratchy at the end, rubbery at the other end. She drew her brows together as she bumped around the pencil, feeling like a blind person, and making the slightest of growly sounds to further illustrate her frustration. Was it usually this hard? It was her first time really working with this power, but still! After a little longer, she was pretty sure she'd managed to touch the pencil, but still wasn't super sure how much of it had been wishful thinking and how much was actually real.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was very thankful for his own power at the moment, because if her power was coming out anything like his, he could have very well been skewered on a pencil at any moment. His own power kept it steady and he hoped he could keep her from getting out of hand. On the one hand, unlike his power, without someone nearby Echo wouldn’t have his power, at least that was how he thought it worked. He wasn’t sure if there was going to be some residual or something, he’d have to ask Adrianna. She was doing well for her first time, fumbling. He was glad that it wasn’t blasting out of her like it had for him. He had been in a unique and life threatening situation and hopefully that was the reason his had initiated as it did, otherwise this might be a very different and very painful experience for her. It was only after months of healing and training that he was able to think about anything but the pain and even now it was his constant companion.

The telekinetic chuckled, glad that she was enthusiastic. It was easy to get discouraged, especially, he imagined, if ones power was constantly changing. He reached out mentally to her and knew the instant he touched her power. How or why it worked this way, he hadn’t the slightest clue, he was okay with his own explanation that for the moment their powers were occupying the same space. But he was really just making things up. He stayed silent and let her mull it all over. She seemed thoughtful at least, not power crazy or completely frightened of the massive power she now held. She already had that advantage on him, he was still far too afraid of his own power for his own good.

“Write to me how it felt,” he said gesturing to her pad and the paper. He didn’t expect her to grab the pencil with her power and write with it. That was a skill in precision that had taken him ages to master, though part of him wondered if she would be able to do it. Maybe not yet, but she was diligent and hard working, she was probably going to start showing him up at his own power at any moment. There were certain details that could be mustered from mental hands more than fingertips. Fingers, Lani was beginning to find, were sensitive instruments, amazing things that could discern temperature and texture. But it was nothing like seeing something with his mind. In his mind he could know more about something than he ever could by using his eyes and hands. It made lock picking an easy art.

[Echo Waverly]

Echo grinned and took her pencil, turning to a new page in her notebook as she thought how to describe it. She dated the top of the page out of habit and added a page number in the top right hand corner. She'd had her book pages ripped out before, both from accidents and from not accidents, so she'd learned a long time ago to number her pages so she could put them back together again when she got all the pages back. And she usually did get them back, unless it was an especially mean bully. Thankfully, there were less of those here at Hammel.

And she still wasn't sure how to explain how it felt. She fidgeted with her pencil for a few moments, then started writing. "Weird. Like my mind was running into things." Did that make sense? She shrugged. "Minds are clumsy." She grinned a little. "It felt a little like being blind maybe. How long did it take you to get good?" She looked over her answers and held them out for Lani to see better. Writing was getting a little annoying, she decided. She frowned a little and tapped her pencil on the ground while Lani read the answers, studying him intently.

On one hand, talking could make things easier during training. On the other hand, if she started talking to some people, then everyone would expect her to talk to them maybe. That didn't sound at all pleasant. She gave an exasperated sigh and a look verging on a glare. People were irritating.

A fleeting moment later, the look had passed, and she started practicing feeling around with her power again. Being able to use the power and listen to people was important, right? Plus, it was cool that she could feel around and sort've almost "see" things that her back was turned toward.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani waited patient while she wrote. It was eventually going to get difficult communicating like this, he could only hope that when Echo took her steps down that path, she was brave enough to be as sassy and sarcastic as she wrote. In Lani’s eyes there was nothing different about her writing and her speaking, but her voice wouldn’t be heard unless she spoke and people would walk all over her. Luckily she was still a child and not subject to all of the cruelties of the world. He looked down when she held out her notebook. He smiled, nodding. “Very clumsy, indeed.” He agreed. He cocked his head and handed her back the notebook, looking at her with eyes distant in memory.

“It is a little like being blind. At first,” he mused, “After a while though, I found that if I closed my eyes I could See more than I ever could with my eyes.” He remembered the first time he got his power, the explosion of power that tore through his mind like a dragon. It had taken him a long time to recover enough to use his power without agony, and even now he felt as though he had only gotten used to being constantly on the verge of a migraine. He took a breath and leaned forward a little his elbows resting on his knees. Lani looked down at his hands in his lap for a while before answering her question. “When I got my power… I was quite a bit older than you are now. It took me a long time to accept it and so I’m still working on fully understanding my power.”

He looked up at Echo. “So, no two experiences are the same. I resisted for a long time, and so it took me a long time, so you’re already leaps and bounds ahead of me when I first got my power.” Just by trying that is. She was already looking to get better, it had taken Lani a year to just accept that his telekinesis was his new reality and another several years after that to stop being afraid of it. Part of that had been his trainer’s doing, she’d forced it upon him and he’d been put into an impossible decision. It had ended well, for both him and the girl he’s inadvertently attacked, but it could have ended terribly.

He straightened and smiled at her, not missing the sigh. He did, however misinterpret it as frustration. “But don’t worry. Let’s try something else. Close your eyes and I want you to point to the pencil, okay?” He took the pencil with his power and waited for her to close her eyes. When she did he moved the pencil to her left, hovering just over the floor. “Don’t rush, take your time to feel for it.”