No Exit: Equilibrium-a point of rest [Chase+Ann]

[Event !]

BRIIIIING! BRIIIIING! BRIIIIING!
A security guard wasn't even needed. Any teacher who had been at the school long enough knew the drill already. Lock the door, keep the students inside calm.

Easy enough, if the unease-hedging-on-panic of the student body wasn't thick enough in the air to slice. Luckily, only one of Chase's students had made it to class at that point.

[Chase Campbell]

Chase had been at Hammel long enough to be familiar with these drills. While he couldn’t exactly challenge the merit of them, they were still a pain in his ass. He’d known it was coming, all the staff did. But, just like any other drill, he had no idea when it was coming. He’d reassured James this morning that it was going to be just fine, and he’d see him later. So far, he’d only been mildly distracted with the drill potential throughout his classes, but he’d gone on with the training sessions as usual. The kids were supposed to be taken by surprise by this, though those that had been here for a few years knew them well. They were important, sure, but seriously, how was someone going to get into the school without detection? It was damn near impossible, and their security team was on top of things. All this was going to do was give them all a bit of free time. In lock down, in the dark, but at least the kids would be happy about the delay in classes, right?

It was during class shift when it happened. As usual, Chase had stragglers. It was rare anyone came to class early. He only had one student so far. But then the alarm started going, and he sighed. Here we go again. He glanced at Ann. “Lockdown drill. I’ll explain in a second.” He stood up from his perch on the desk and crossed over to the door. His stranglers were SOL now. They’d be rounded up by security, or other teachers, and put into safe places. He closed and locked it, then flipped off the lights. “Okay. We need to stay away from the windows, and the door. Stay low, and stay quiet.” He headed to the back of the room and sat down on the floor. He’d long since learned to be as far away from the door as possible. “Come back here, with me. This could take a while.” If he could keep Ann calm, he was doing his job. And really, he could think of worse students to be trapped in lockdown with.

[Ann Hudgins]

The entire school was squirming like worms in top soil. She'd been feeling it ever since she woke up; it was anticipation, suspense...Something was planned for today but not once in the halls did she get a wiff of any certainty. Her head pounded with all the different feelings that were normal, every-day problems, but after her first class she realized who was all amped up; the teachers. Her first class was clearly nervious, every other moment they'd lean backwards and look out of the door window, and at the clock, around the room and then pick up where they trailed off. This could be looked at as a pee-dance, but Ann knew better. Something was planned for today and she assumed it would just be a crack-shot fire drill, or the rare tornado drill.

She remembered both from when she went to a normal public school; everyone would march single file to the foot ball field and stand around like chickens, ready to be picked off, plucked and stuffed. As apposed to the tornado drill where they took to the halls, down on their knees with their heads between their legs. Also like chickens ready for the killing. And though she was beginning to feel the anxiety of the teachers, she didn't let it effect her routine. As soon as the bell rang she was in the hallway, juking through the halls better than the running back and was seated in her usual seat in the back of the class, last row and on the left. The window seat. She had always felt better with a gust of fresh air every now and then.

She was at the window, opening the clasps as soon as the unfamiliar signal sounded, filling the room with it's crazy alert. It was a drill, no doubt, but it wasn't a fire or tornado drill. Which left one of two possible ones; a bomb threat drill, or a lockdown. She prayed instantly for the bomb threat because it would take them outside and off school property. It was at that moment the teacher decided to speak up. She frowned at it being a lock down, but at least it was just her in the class--besides Mr. Kilbourne of course. She sighed and slid the window back in place, closing the latches with a scowl.

She moved to the back of class like a wise veteran and sank to the floor with her back against the wall, her eyes closed as the first wave of panic reached her. Some idiot students actually thought this was a real drill, and that sent her heart spluttering in her chest. The pain constricted in her fourth and fifth chakras and she let out a deep shuttering breath. She opened her eyes like there was a bright light in her face and hastily ran her hand through her hair a few times. The panic faded faintly but she still felt the accompanying emotions; exposed and vulnerable.

"How long did the admins say the drill was going to last?" She asked in a croak, her throat was dry from misuse. It was days like that that she rarely opened her mouth to speak; it occurred to her at that moment that she actually hadn't spoken since early yesterday afternoon. She rubbed her temples with her index fingers, how pathetic could she be?

[Chase Campbell]

The staff had tried hard not to let on that the drill was happening today. But Chase could speak from experience – it was hard to keep focused when there was impending drill doom coming any minute. Not only did he have to worry about his previous lesson plans, but he also had to have the drill plan in the back of his mind. The trickiest part of these was to keep the kids, especially the new ones, calm. At least he had his ability on his side. Calming a room full of kids would exhaust him, and bring on a killer migraine, but at least they’d survive the drill.

Drills were a common thing when it came to high school. Even normal high schools. Fire drills, yeah, they happened here, too. But in terms of Hammel, the lockdown drills were quite possibly more important. There was always the possibility of things going bad for the meta school. They could be infiltrated, and the kids would have to be protected. Silly as this seemed, it was important. If it wasn’t a drill, Chase knew he’d be out with the other staff members, fighting to defend the kids. He’d been willing to accept that fate the moment he’d signed on to train here. So far, they’d been lucky. Drills only, never a real threat to face.

Good. Ann remembered the rules. Closed windows. Chase winced slightly, wishing the alarm wasn’t so deafeningly loud. At least he only had the one student here. More students created more panic, and much more chaos than he really wanted to deal with right now. But with only Ann here, maybe the drill would go smoothly. Maybe being the key word. Thought it felt ridiculous to go over this (really, he’d be happier during a real threat, where he could be doing something helpful, it was in the student’s best interests to play along.

Her shuddering sigh alerted him to the fact that she might not be all right. He knew her powers well. Empathy. Whoever might be affecting her, it wasn’t him. He was calm, because for one, he knew it helped her, and two, there was no point to be stressed. So they’d have to be quiet, in the dark for a while. It wasn’t a big deal. “… You know, if it gets to be too much, I can try to calm you down.” It worked for his husband, when he got a little too neurotic to handle things. A little mental nudge backwards, and he was calmer. Perhaps it would work for Ann, too.

“Not a clue. They just said we’d have a drill, not much more.” He glanced at his watch, marking the time this all started. “But think of it this way. No class for now, right?” Their job was to stay relatively quiet. Of course, he didn’t know of a single teenager that had ever pulled that one off during a drill like this. He leaned back, resting his head against the wall, idly wondering how James was fairing during this. As soon as possible, he’d check on him. “You’ve been through this before, right?”

[Ann Hudgins]

Her arms held her together, her knees rested beneath her chin and her faintly watering eyes looked across the room. The perspective from the floor was different than what she was used to in the class and while this oddly intrigued her, panic student A and B were still having fits or P.T.S.D. or something because their inherent worrying still seeped through the wall like water on drywall. She ran a hand through her hair as she trusted her other hand to keep herself together. Her heart pounded in her chest again. She looked up, however, at the teacher. His calm was helping, but only like a crutch to a someone with two broken feet.

The problem with his calm was that it wasn't all calm. He was anxious about something, no doubt about someone he felt was very important, Ann was feeling it now faintly towards whoever this faceless and nameless person was. Which was a large problem; how can you love something or something without: meeting it, seeing it, experiencing it, feeling it, or knowing it? Ann faced this problem daily, what with everyone else's ties to other humans and their relationships. The most awful thing she had ever experienced was when she suffered from a broken heart of a three year relationship that resulted in the revelation of cheating and a year of lying. Ann's never dated anyone in her life. The retreating boy had shoved her out of the way and Ann mourned the loss of that long and serious relationship to a girl that she had never met, knew the name of, for days. She closed her eyes for a moment and seriously considered his offer of being forced to calm down.

She didn't even complete the idea. That was cheating, and whatever was held off by his meddling would shoulder overflow once it wore off and that did not sound appealing, in the slightest. She shook her head faintly, her eyes traveled to the door to the room as she wondered faintly. It was her imagination taking her away, mostly, but nevertheless, she was imagining that this was a serious threat. Complete with SWAT team and armored utility vehicles and tear gas. She had always wondered what it would be like if they were all 'discovered.' She usually entertained those ideas when she was more depressed; those sorts of days where she wanted to find a gun and shoot herself in the head until she couldn't pull the trigger.

She'd never do it, of course. Ann was never violent or self-sacrificing. She had too much self-preservation to do something so stupid. But after she entertained those thoughts, she always felt better. He asked her a direct question and since it was the two of them, she knew it'd be rude to not answer him verbally--even if he did say they had to be quiet. He seemed calm, but maybe that was just a very well-placed front. Though she knew no logical reason why he should be nervous...whatever. She looked up at him.

"Yeah, back in NC....though they were a bit different. It was a uh...more military school than public school, if you understand." She had no idea if this guy had any knowledge whatsoever about the military and what the cities with bases in then or near them were like. Nearly all of the people Ann associated with were military brats who lived in symmetrical homes with symmetrical lives. She moved her mane of hair from her face lazily and let her head rest against the wall. "They brought out guard dogs a lot of the time, sniffing out drugs and stuff." She laughed, those sorts of lockdowns took hours, she hoped that wasn't the case. Hammel didn't seem to have that sort of problem, but what would Ann know about people's skeletons? She snorted at her own morbid joke.

She needed to lighten up before she went gray before her teachers. She changed her legs to indian style. His probing question had allowed her to suppress the excess feelings of the school as a whole and remember her life and how content she was in that polished routine. Sad. It was terribly sad.

[Chase Campbell]

It was only natural for the students to be in panic mode right now. That was the point of these drills being a surprise. There was a smaller chance they’d take it seriously. Some, however, took it much too seriously. A panicked teenager was bad enough. They could be unpredictable, and sometimes even dangerous. Meta-human teenagers were even worse. A panicking meta-human could quickly lose control of their powers. There were a few Chase would worry about, if they were the same room. Right now, though, his responsibility was simply to get Ann through this drill, calmly and safely. That couldn’t be that difficult.

Much as he wanted to give a sense of a calm aura, it was admittedly difficult when he was worrying about James. They’d all been through lockdown drills before. He knew James didn’t like them, but he also knew he had a system. He would be all right. Even if he was thinking about what might happen if it was the real thing. His husband had no reason to worry. Yes, Chase would be out there defending the students. But if James thought for one moment that Chase could be hurt in a fight like that, he had another thing coming. His ability was a near fail-safe against it. He would be able to put someone in complete mind lockdown before it ever came to injuries. Was he confident? Of course he was. No one was going to get through him to harm the kids. No way in hell.

If this really was a lockdown emergency, the kids would have known, and fast. As would the teachers. This was why it was so important for them to practice this sort of thing. If there was ever a time they needed to lock down for real, in order to keep the students safe, they needed some kind of plan to draw on. In Hammel’s case, it was a little difference than the other high schools. It wouldn’t be so much about keeping the students and staff safe, and calling the police. It was more, keep the students safe, as well as the staff with powers that weren’t so helpful in a battle. Those that could fight would be sent out to do just that. Fight and defend the school, the students, and the staff. Sometimes, in the immature part of his mind, Chase often toyed with the idea of being a hero, that way. Being allowed to use his powers much like comic book characters could. It wasn’t going to happen, but it was still a fun idea.

Back to reality. Chase was somewhat relieved when Ann looked up. He knew she was quiet, but when it was the two of them, there was no need for her to be that way. As long as they weren’t running around the classroom, screaming, they were technically following the rules. While he wasn’t all that familiar with military schools, he still listened. Drug dogs didn’t really have a place in Hammel, not with the powers that were around the school. “Wow. Well, good news, then. No drug dogs, or locker checks. They just want us prepared, in case anything bad did happen. So we have an idea of what to do, right?” Panic was never a good thing. He tried to think about some common ground they could talk about. Not so easy, but Chase would try. “I guess we’ve never really talked one on one like this before. I like getting to know my students. It helps me teach you guys, believe it or not. So... do you want to tell me something about yourself? We could play Twenty Questions, or something. You know, to pass the time?” Was it a stupid idea? Possibly. But Chase wanted to take Ann’s mind off the drill.

[Ann Hudgins]

His emotions seemed pretty stoic at the moment, though some odd supressed glee filled the room long enough for Ann to wonder what in the world he was really thinking about. He didn't seem like the squee and clap sort of guy, but getting a feeling of that particular thing was rather immature and...well childish. She cast it aside though, it really was none of her business. She knew what it was like having a mind reader catch on to every word. She was hardly any better by catching any shift in emotion like a tide. She ran her fingers through her hair as he pretty much babbled. He was the one that was keeping her calm?

"Oh yeah, stay as quiet as death, stay out of the way of fights and...run I guess?" Ann shrugged. She didn't particularly care; she was far too jaded to care about a hundred other kids as well as her own. Especially in the bedlam that was sure to fill the air in such a case. She'd probably be incapacitated in the event of a full blown panic; her body would react like if you tried to run an LED flashlight off of a car battery. The charge would just...explode or melt the wires.

But be that as it may, she had to give him points for trying to either open her up, keep her mind off of the universe around her, or he just liked to fill the silence. She grinned crookedly. "I don't see why not, I guess." She scratched the skin beneath her nose as she looked at him, though it was accompanied by a shrug. "You'll have to fill me in on how to play first, though. I've never heard of Twenty Questions." She was sure it'd be one of those situations where he'd be shocked and balk at her what sort of kid has never played twenty questions?! he may ask. She wasn't terribly sure how she'd reply, but it probably wouldn't be too thoughtful or nice. Being a teacher, be damned. Ann never liked addressing the fact that she was so royally screwed by her powers, that she missed out on a million and seven things that made up so many people's child hoods or teen years.

(sorry, crap post is crap)

[Chase Campbell]

It was really, really hard to act like an adult when a part of you refused to grow up. Chase was one of those guys that refused to acknowledge that he was aging. Half his classes ended up outside, playing tackle football with the older students. It was too easy to give in to that immaturity when he was surrounded by teenagers. Of course, the knowledge that he’d get to be one of the staff members playing ‘hero’ was a nice fact, too. James would probably kill him for feeling that little rush that usually came with something exciting, but even in the meta-community, how often could you play hero?

“Mn. Not quite. If this was real emergency, you’d be following staff directions, and I’d be out there, defending you guys.” It really didn’t matter how many of these silly drills they ran. A real emergency would require fast action, and a different strategy. Depending on the threat, either the kids would be together, with adults in charge, or else they’d be taken away from the school. He could only imagine the trouble some of the teenagers were getting into right now. Not all of them took these drills seriously. Then again, neither did most of the teachers.

Chase had always been fairly open and honest with his students. Sure, he’d tell them about his own teenage delinquency, but only if they were in his good books. The students that paid little attention, and goofed around when they were meant to be listening? They didn’t get stories, or football on the field. He’d never really been able to place Ann. She did well with her training, but he was never sure if she’d want to goof off when he deemed the class practiced enough. The fact that she didn’t know the rules surprised him, yes, but he didn’t show it. “It’s pretty easy. The usual rules are, anyway. You just pick someone, or something, and the other person is allowed to ask twenty questions about it, before they have to guess.” He shrugged. “Or, you can ask me questions about anything. I don’t really care. Or we could play cards.” Anything, to keep them occupied during the silly drill.

[Aww, no, it was fine. ^_^]

[Ann Hudgins]

She resisted the urge to point out that the 'staff directions' would probably be to stay quite, stay out of the way (or halls, whichever came first), and run, if the need arose. She didn't feel like being a devil's advocate and run the risk of pissing him off. She'd seen him with the other students, felt his reactions to some things and how students reacted to him. Most, that she had tasted, liked him because he more often than not took them outside for some fashion of football Ann had never participated in. Sports in general were a huge bane. Any skin contact had her nearly incapacitated. She couldn't even imagine the shit-storm a contact sport would bring upon her. She shuttered at the notion.

She was a cower-under-the-bleachers-and-try-not-to-snap sort of girl. It was bleak, but it probably kept a lot of people alive that way too. The one thing she knew for certain about any time of 'game' was that it sparked competition. Some people could deal with losing, but others....they were the ones to watch out for. Ann fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, she felt his surprise like an icecube down the spine and she held back her reaction. Of course he was. She knew he would be, but still. It hurt. She couldn't let it show, however, because he didn't show it. She hated her power. It made her nearly the worst sort of ease dropper out there.

She listened to his explanation; and while immediately just wanted to shut up and fume in silence at being an outcast no matter the situation, she forced those pitiful thoughts away and talked herself into playing. She nodded, a wane smile on her face. "Alright..um you can go first, I mean I guess I can go first. To see how to play. Think of an object that is." She said, realizing after she spoke that she really hadn't said anything that would make any sense. She let out a breath with an eyeroll. She wasn't nervous or excited at all, was she? She shifted on the floor and tried again.

"That sounds fun. I'll think of something first so you can ask the questions, so I can get a feel of how to do it." She looked at him in a questioning manner, obviously asking if he was alright with that without actually saying anything. Ann was good at that sort of silent communication stuff--whatever got her out of talking, ya know? She also entertained the idea of them maybe playing a card game but she immediately let the thought go. The risk of touching was substantially higher in a card game than in an almost mind game where no contact was called for. Unless he wanted a high five for getting it right or something.

She'd just cross that bridge when she got there.

[Chase Campbell]

Okay, technically, Ann would have been right. When he got to thinking about emergencies, Chase tended to forget about any instructions the kids would get, because he wasn’t going to be the one dealing with them. He’d have his hands full with the intruder. His maturity level seemed to drop when he thought about that, simply because, well, what male didn’t get a little giddy at the idea of a fight on his hands? Especially a fight he was positive he could win. Thinking about that now, however, didn’t do him much good. This was just a drill. Ergo, no fight. His only job now was to keep his students calm. In this case, just Ann. It wouldn’t be so difficult.

Chase had always found empaths difficult to train. Sure, he had a mental skill as well, but in no way was mind control or domination similar to empathy. Unlike his abilities, empathy didn’t just “shut off” when not in use. Perhaps the only way to achieve that would be to completely isolate the empath, but that wasn’t an option. In time, Ann would learn to deal with it, much like the telepaths did. Briefly, he wondered if Sean would be able to help her. He wasn’t a trainer, but he had experience with being a telepath. It was somewhat similar.

He’d always found it easier to relate to his male students, and the good students, at that. Not that it stopped him from being a good teacher to the females. It was just easier for him to toss a football around and roughhouse with the guys when they were wasting time, rather than trying to think of something to do in the midst of the drill. Stupid games he used to play with his cousins when they were over were all he could think of. At least Ann seemed marginally receptive to it. He offered a little smile at her. “All right. I just hope you don’t play like my cousins did when we were kids. They’d either think of something really gross, or they’d keep changing whatever they were thinking of.” Granted, most of his cousins were older than him, and had a talent for being jerks when they were kids.

Hopefully, the drill wouldn’t go on for too long. Chase was an active person, and was usually moving during his classes in one way or another. Trapped in the dark classroom, he’d get restless soon enough. But he’d deal with it. Until then, he’d have the silly game to focus on. “Just let me know when you’ve got something. It can be anything. Something in the room, something on the grounds, a celebrity, an animal. Whatever you want.” As long as it was possible to guess, he was okay with it.

[Ann Hudgins]

She got a sort of reluctance from him, but it seemed more....inward. It hardly made sense to Ann, but the more the tried to pick through it, she started to understand. He was almost glad he wasn't like her, taking and taking...and he almost felt bad for her, but there was some hope in there. And then some camaraderie affection towards someone. Ann immediately thought of the shrink she had finally broken down into seeing, Dr. Neville. He was a nice man, and had her best interest in mind in his session with her...but Ann was fairly sure she wasn't going to bother him and take up any more of his time.

What advice he had given her had been helpful, and Ann was sure it'd pay off in the longrun, but she didn't see the point of going back and bothering him again and again. She'd tough it out for as long as she could--graduation wasn't that far away after all. Ann sighed inwardly. She shouldn't think about the far future, it'd only bum her out. Her parents wanted little to nothing to do with her. Coming home would be worse than being here for another year...

She looked back up at Mr. Kilbourne as he started speaking again and she nodded her head a little. Pick one thing and stick to it. She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'gross', but if his cousins were guys then what she figured was probably right. She shifted on the ground a little to get more comfortable and started to think of something to pick. Everything that was coming into her mind was just so random: water faucets, back hoes, sliding glass doors, Toucans, finger nails, wing nuts... She wasn't sure he'd ever be able to guess any of them, especially with twenty questions. But that was the point of the game, she supposed, was to not let your opponent be able to guess what you were thinking.

She nodded her head faintly. Garden gnomes it was. "Got it."

[Chase Campbell]

While in the back of his mind, Chase knew that Ann would be reading his emotions, he wasn’t all that vividly aware of it. He’d known empaths before, both students and coworkers, and he knew that there was a certain amount of control you had to keep of your emotions around them. Else they tended to get overwhelmed, especially the young ones. As it was, he was trying to keep calm in place because of the drill. The fact that his student happened to be an empath was just coincidence. At least his efforts to remain relatively calm would help on various levels.

Really, if Ann voiced her reluctance, Chase wouldn’t understand why. Sean was there to help the students in need. And, seeing as they didn’t have a current empath as a trainer, he was a good resource for a skill like that. Telepathy and empathy worked on so many of the same levels. And though he’d hate to be the one to hold Ann back, until she was able to function and cope with her abilities, she wasn’t going to be graduating. That was part of his job, to ensure the students would be all right in society. The last thing they needed was a half trained teenager out in the world, pulling some stunt and attracting attention. The anti-meta groups would have a field day.

Depending on their ages, Chase’s cousins had either picked highly inappropriate things (that were impossible for an innocent seven year old to guess), or disgusting things, as boys are wont to do. As they got older, and not as many things grossed Chase out, they’d moved on to switching their chosen item or person every few questions. But he trusted Ann to play right. Once she verified she had something, the blond trainer leaned his head back against the wall. “Okay. Person, place, or thing?” Technically, that was three questions in one. And if he was playing with James out of sheer boredom, he’d probably be called out on it. Was it cheating? Not exactly. In the long run, he’d just get two extra questions out of it. Then again, Ann was clever. She might call him out, too.

[Ann Hudgins]

The panicked student in the room across the hall or down it had finally been silenced and the emotional air around her was now boredom. Everyone was stuck where they were, most with people they weren't really 'friends' with, so they had nothing to look forward too forever how long this stupid drill lasted. There were a few little happy people around, that she tasted, but they were like the pickle in sandwiches, you have to actually bite them to taste them. She shifted on the floor because it wasn't the best seat in the room, but once she was settled she let her eyes close for a moment.

Ann hated being taken care of, even before she got her powers. whenever someone fussed over her, she got that feeling from them and it was just awkward to want to help herself, or feel sorry for herself because of someone else. It was something she wanted to avoid all together, it wasn't because she was selfless, she just didn't want to be getting that sort of emotion from anyone. It was rather complicated, but getting help from people like her teachers, or Dr. Neville was something she avoided unless it was an emergency, otherwise she'd try to deal with whatever it was in her room or some secluded place on campus. She rarely went in to town, because she had no reason to, and because there were even bigger crowds there full of even more emotions.

He asked her the question(s) and Ann's brow furrowed a tad. She had been under the impression they were 'yes' or 'no, questions. Not like his. She glanced at him with a quiet, "uh..." She shifted on the floor again because she wasn't sure if she should just answer the question or ask him if a multichoice question like that was legal. Surely it was, though, right? He was the one that warned her not to cheat, so he wouldn't be doing it himself, right...? Right?

Ann didn't like the amount of uncertainty she had about it, so she decided to ask him, just to clarify when it was her turn. "Aren't multichoice cheating...just a tad?" She was hesitant in asking because she didn't want him to get offensive, because then Ann would get pissed and be offended by herself at herself, and that just wasn't dandy at all. "Not that I think you're cheating or anything, I just thought they were going to be like 'yes or 'no' questions, is all..." She tacked on meekly.

[Chase Campbell]

Panic never did last long during these drills. The initial rush of ‘holy crap, what’s going on?’ wore off fairly quickly. And then the boredom would set in. Not everyone got along, and, unless you were lucky, you were stuck with whoever was close by. And they weren’t always someone you got along with. He could think of several occasions where little scuffles had broken out during lockdown. Thankfully, he wasn’t about to bear witness to one. Unless Ann took particular offense to something he managed to say or do. Again, his mind wandered to James, and for a moment, he bowed his head and toyed with his wedding ring (a habit of his when he was thinking), before pulling out his cell phone. He didn’t like them in class, but this wasn’t exactly class. His fingers tapped out a brief message to James, assuring him that things would be all right, and the drill would be over soon. While he knew James knew all that, he also knew about his anxieties during the drills, and hopefully a few loving, calming words would be enough to fight it off. At least for another few minutes.

It was hard for Chase not to want to take care of his students. Regardless of whether or not he liked them personally, they were all under his care for the hour they sat in his classroom every day, sometimes more. And since he’d talked to James about the whole adoption thing, well, it was hard not to feel just a little paternal now and then. And something about Ann caused that feeling to rise up again. It wasn’t pity, it was just... hell, he didn’t exactly know what he was feeling. But it wasn’t a bad thing.

Technically, when one played the game without bending the rules, most questions could be answered with yes or no. It really wasn’t strictly cheating. However, he’d been caught. He could tell that by her expression alone, and he let the little wave of guilt wash over him. When she actually asked him about the rules, he flashed a guilty grin. “You’re too smart for your own good, Ann.” No extra questions for you, Blondie. “It’s not technically breaking rules. Bending them, maybe.” He wasn’t mad, or offended, or anything particularly negative. He was just amused. “Let’s start again. Without rule bending. Person?” And, God forbid, if it was Justin Bieber, or... whoever else James’ nieces were obsessed with now, he was so, so screwed. ... Or was Ann too old for that?

[Ann Hudgins]

She watched him toy with his ring and then averted her eyes to the window as if she was imposing on a private moment. She shied away from love or anything close because of how much it constricted her system, her chakras were effected by her intake of emotions just as much as her mind (which was a chakra--seven in fact), and how powerful an emotion was determined how much pain it caused exactly. Right now, her chest was feeling as if something heavy was sitting on it, mainly over the left side of her chest cavity, and was starting to get a little hot. She pinched the color of her shirt with her index finger and thumb and pulled it away from her, and fanned herself by moving it to and away from her repeatedly. Love was sweet, and so was care, but it was also painful. But only to Ann.

Affection was something Ann was well versed in, like a nerdy child with comic books. Ann rubbed the insides of her eyes as she got this fatherly affection from him. She didn't blame him, he was a nice guy and nice guys generally cared for others. She felt infinitesimally better about her self, and her level of importance, but only just. She glanced at him with a wry grin, almost as if saying, nice try, or something of the sort. She was a lost cause, and if he thought about her at all after this drill was over, then he was wasting his brain power and time. So she thinks.

She let out a quite sigh. She just couldn't go anywhere, could she? Even locked in this room with one person, she couldn't maintain her own and stay sane. She let out another long breath. She mentally walked through her chakras, starting from her base and went up to her heart chakra. It was like a glob of hot energy inside her chest and it set her entire body on fire, she broke out into a faint sweat just from touching it with her awareness. After a moment, however, she coaxed some of the trapped energy away and felt it run through her system, filling her with a faint tingly sensation.

Her face was furrowed with concentration, her eyebrows scrunched together, after that release of energy, however, she smiled faintly and the tension melted from her face. She opened her eyes with that smile still on her face. It had actually worked. She smiled a little more triumphantly at Chase and then sobered as he started to answer her questions. He started off by saying she was too smart for her own good, which lifted a rather dry laugh from her throat. She didn't consider that to be so, and hearing him admit it after getting caught was just humorous to her. He admitted that he had bended the rules, and had started over by just asking if it was a person.

"Nope." She said with a tiny grin, "Not a person."