Power Swap: OHMAHGAWD

[Ann Hudgins]

Strange things were afoot at Hammel Institute. Lots of people were aware of this, Ann was someone that was aware the moment it happened. What was it? It was a fuckin' miracle.

Her eyes had flown open at about seven o clock, and she breathed deeply in what felt like the first time in years. She felt like her old self, the self where she only had to worry about her own problems, and not that of those closest to her. She felt like she was in her own mind.

She didn't exactly know how to react to this miracle. Though, she sang nonsensical songs at the top of her lungs as she took a shower and got dressed. After she towel dried her hair, she noticed a little thing. That little thing took place right around her ears, only it was inside her mind. However, she was hearing voices.

Well....ok.... Ann didn't like it, at first, because the voices she heard wished she would shut up and stop singing. After a moment, she discerned those voices to be those of her roommates. At first she thought they were just yelling at her to shut up, but once she stuck her head out of her bedroom, they were both just sitting watching Tv, not yelling at her. So then how could she hear them? The light bulb flipped on over head and she had exclaimed, "Oh my god! I can read your minds!" The look on all three of their faces was pretty priceless.

Once she had discovered that...well, it was time for some experimenting, right?

She was decently dressed in a tank top and pants (for some reason she couldn't cover herself with a baggy jacket today) and she left the dorm. Then she wandered the halls, leaning in close to people in the hallways and heard their thoughts. She got funny looks all around, but this was just weird. She could read minds.

My power isn't control over water! This doesn't make sense, thought one kid half-bent over the water fountain, water was suspended like it was frozen between the guy and the faucet.

I can't change shape for some reason! My power isn't working, a panic-stricken shapeshifter mentally chattered as they leaned against the wall next to a training room, probably waiting to speak to their trainer.

Thoughts like this filled the hallways, and her mind. At one point there were just too many voices floating around in her head, but she could just easily force them away. Her head throbbed a little after each time she shoved them away....but she could control this, unlike her own power. She was just too excited for words.

At one point, she couldn't even remain roaming the halls, eavesdropping (people were starting to notice her gleeful expression), so she went outside. Which was where she was now, laying on her back, laughing quietly to herself. Voices drifted in and out of her head--the thoughts of those passing by--and each time her giggling ensued. She could hardly control herself--or contain it.

This was by far, the best day of her life.

"Oh god! What if I can touch people now?" She was so immersed in her mind she didn't even realize the thought was spoken--not that she cared. What if she could? What if she didn't have to fear any more?

(note: Open to anyone. I am not responsible, however, if Ann attacks the character(s) in the thread with monster hugs.)

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Anna was sitting happily in the courtyard. She’d had a full nights sleep the night before, something had been different to her usually restless nights. Last night she’d fallen asleep with a copy of a fantasy novel she’d gotten a couple of days ago and had ended falling asleep, with normal dreams. She couldn’t understand it. How had she gotten normal dreams? To be honest she didn’t care, all she knew was that she was happy.

So right now she was just sitting somewhere watching the confusion on everyone else’s face. Of course Anna was confused as to what was going on but right now all she could do was sing ‘I had a good nights sleep’ in her head over and over again. She wasn’t thinking about anything else but that. How could she? Hell if she had to deal with a different power (which apparently other people had been complaining about) she would be ok with it.

Continuing with the song in her head Anna grinned from ear to ear laughing as she sat there unable to control her excitement. She couldn’t change how she felt, she was herself and was extremely excited which didn’t happen often. Standing up Anna walked around, almost skipping as she smiled and looked around. Why were people stressing about this? It was different and kinda fun. She smiled at everyone around her as she walked. This was one time that Anna would be this happy and she never thought it would happen again really.

Smiling over to a girl who was lying on the floor, she laughed slightly too happy to think of anything but nice things complimenting the girl’s clothes in her mind, not about to say it out loud. Anna may be in a good mood but she was still very quiet and shy.

((OOC- Hope you don’t mind me taking this))

[Ann Hudgins]

Her toes started to tap to a song she was hearing from someone elses mind (which was kinda weird). I had a good nights sleep played over and over in her head, and it brought a grin to her face, because she too had a good nights sleep. She woke up all invigorated and she took a shower singing at the top of her lungs. She was so damn happy. She was glad to see (hear) that she wasn't the only one as well. While the song continued, she sat up and tried to see which person it was she was hearing.

After looking around, she figured it was the girl that was skipping around. Everyone else looked too sullen to really be thinking a happy song like that. A small peal of laughter erupted from her and she wriggled against the ground. Being this happy was almost too hard to believe. Ann was so freakin' ecstatic, she really didn't even know what to do with herself.

The happy girl--the one skipping around-- grinned over at her and Ann reflected the grin. She woulda said something, maybe commented on the song, but that would be a bit rude. However, she thought the girl complimented her clothes. Her eyes cast down at her pale arms exposed 'cause of her lack of a jacket. It was just a simple tank top and jeans to her, but she smiled up at the girl. "Thanks! I like your clothes too!" She smiled and laughed, gleeful. "I'm Ann." She sprang to her feet and held her hand out for the girl to shake, since that was how one was supposed to introduce themselves to one another. And she could do that now.

(I don't mind at all!)

[Annaleigh Valentine]

When the girl Anna had thought about her clothes replied to the unspoken thought in Anna’s head, Anna frowned and then smiled. “Uhm thanks, I’m guessing you’re telepathic.” Anna said laughing slightly. She was in too much of a good mood to care if this girl read her mind.

Smiling more Annaleigh laughed as the girl held her hand out to shake it and introduced herself. “I’m Annaleigh, but most people call me Anna, pleased to meet you Ann.” She said as she took the girl’s hand and shook it kindly. Though Anna was usually a very shy person, she couldn’t help but be very happy and open today because she was in such a good mood.

Then it struck Anna that if this girl was telepathic then she probably heard the stupid song that Anna had been singing in her head since she woke up this morning. “And sorry for what’s probably gonna be the most annoying song ever that I was singing in my head. I haven’t had a good nights sleep in a while so I’m pretty happy about having a good nights sleep.” She said. To be honest Anna wasn’t actually that sorry for singing in her head, she just felt bad if the song was annoying, but the song was still in Anna’s head because she was so over excited and such. If you hadn’t slept more than an hour a night on a good day you’d be happy to get a good nights sleep without any dreamwalking too.

((OOC- This isn’t great I’m sorry DX))

[Ann Hudgins]

"Oh! I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude; reading your mind like that. It's just...well I've never been a telepath before but I woke up one. It's so strange, right? Did your powers change too? I'd noticed other people have." Ann rambled for a moment, as she had been brought up short, she didn't want to bother the girl with thinking that Ann was doing it on purpose. She was still getting the hang of this.

"Oh that's cool." Ann commented, that their names were so close. "Nice to meet you Anna." As they shook hands, Ann looked down, seeing her touch someone, easily was something she'd hardly ever dream about. It was so simple--such a simple human thing yet she had been so denied in it for so long. She missed it, truly. Even though back then she was hardly ever in skin contact, it was certainly more than nowadays. She closed her eyes as Anna took her hand back and she let her hand fall back to her side with a small sigh. Ok. She did it once, she could just do it again.

"Oh, I liked the song! It was catchy." Ann grinned a little, "and I'll keep out of your mind now, promise." Ann looked at her shoes a bit embarrassed, though she could tell the girl honestly didn't mind (the power of a happy mood was amazing). She still did what she said and kept the girl's thoughts out of her focus. "I just really wanna know why my powers changed over night, that's just...unheard of, right?"

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Anna laughed slightly and shook her head raising her hands. “No it’s fine, don’t worry you’re not being rude.” Then Anna frowned with a smile on her face. “Powers changed? Uhm I don’t actually know, I mean I know that my ability has gone, because well, dreamwalker, hence my excitement of a good nights sleep.” Annaleigh said laughing slightly. “But I wouldn’t know what to do to try to find out if I had changed my powers you know?” Anna was never ever this chatty, with anyone, she didn’t know why she was talking to this girl so easily. It didn’t bother her but she just didn’t understand why she was so calm.

Smiling again Anna shook Ann’s hand in a nice way, not too firm but not too weak. Anna could tell that the girl obviously was happy by the handshake, though Anna didn’t really know why. She wouldn’t ask I mean, it was rude and impolite to ask right? Though she couldn’t help the thoughts that went through her head be curious as to why the girl seemed so happy. Oh well, if Ann heard Anna’s thoughts then she heard her thoughts, there was nothing Anna could do about it.

A laugh escaped Anna as Ann said the song was catchy. “Seriously? I thought it would be like one of those annoying songs you get sick of after like a minute or two.” She said laughing. “But yeah I know what you mean it’s really strange that everyone is having problems with their powers and stuff. I mean some things about it aren’t bad but other things are pretty strange and stuff.” Anna said, wondering if she had changed her ability what it was now.

[Jared Park]

Unlike Ann or Annaleigh, Jared was one of those few people who’s not so happy with what had happened to him. Not that Jared didn’t like that his powers had changed (he sees his powers as useless and pathetic; he did get an awesome one, albeit a bit more creepy) or that he had no control over his new ability (unlike before, he can will himself to use his powers, he thinks), but it’s the side effects that bother him. And they aren’t just simple insomnia or oversensitive hearing; they’re actually far more sinister and disturbing. Jared now feeds on fears – and despite hating it, he can’t do anything about it.

It all started last night, when he woke up in the middle of the night so suddenly. He felt a bit hungry, so he went out and tried to scour their fridge for something to eat. Despite munching on two cereal bowls, a cup of ice cream, a bag of chips and four slices of cake (he hopes Riley or Devin or whoever the cake belonged to, wouldn’t mind), he still felt hungry. Like his hunger stems not from his stomach but from somewhere else. Not really knowing that it’s a side effect of his new ability, he decided to sneak into the cafeteria for something to eat.

As it was, he failed to notice the guards roaming around. It was way past curfew after all. As he was walking towards the dining hall, a female guard stopped him. As she made her way over, all her fears suddenly flooded Jared’s mind. Fear of falling, fear of spiders, fear of dogs, fear of her abusive ex-boyfriend. It’s as if he knew her all his life. And then it happened. When she came near, Jared had this strange impulse to suddenly tap to one of her deepest fears. The next thing he knew, she was screaming her lungs out, too terrified to even move. Apparently he’s transformed himself to a mangled baby doll, with an eye plucked out and left arm partly singed. While he feels bad that he’s scared the woman, he found out that her fear, hurt and sadness actually tasted good.

It just followed that a few guards who heard her scream went in to check what happened and boy was Jared in for a treat. He transformed into each of their fears, and well, it felt good. Felt so good that Jared wanted to go all night and scare people. But he felt guilty. He felt bad and guilty. And he felt scared (apparently too much boggarting in one night can cause the residual fear to be significant). Unable to even move away (or return to his room), he decided to simply crawl into a ball near a tree and wait for the sun to come up.

Jared woke up the next morning feeling full and satisfied, yet extremely terrified and guilty of what he just did. What should he do? How would he control his urges? He knew he told Ann before that he’d be ok with any side effects, but he didn’t imagine this. Wait, Ann? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his first Hammel friend, happily talking to another girl. And what, they were shaking hands? He thought Ann could touch no one? Would that mean that she’s finally controlled her powers? Or did she have a whole new power altogether? Nonetheless, Jared was happy to finally find someone he can talk to.

Not caring that he’s dressed in a pajamas, a very loose white shirt and his hair a mess, he ran through the courtyard barefoot, tears unconsciously forming as he went. “Ann!” he shouted, giving the girl a tight hug from behind. And it was then that the few droplets became a continuous stream of tears.


ooc:
Hei. :3. I do hope you won't mind Jared suddenly barging in. Thanks guys. *huggles Nana and Ashers*
-Jam

[Ann Hudgins]

Ann was glad to find out that she wasn't being rude--or at least the girl didn't consider it to be rude. Her eyes widened when the girl admitted that her power was just gone. "Oooh. Maybe it changed to something like cell regeneration, or maybe something else like that you don't actually know about until it happens? Not that you should experiment with it, because that would be dangerous." Ann rambled as she thought about it, her finger tapped on her chin as she thought about it.

Ann did actually hear Anna's thoughts, without meaning to, she was trying to keep it all silent in her mind, but she was too excited and her thoughts were jumping around too much for her to remained focused. "My other power...my normal power? Anyway, I was an empath, and I couldn't touch anyone because I'll take in all their emotions so much like it erases who I am and I actually start to believe that I am the person I am touching. Not to mention the fact that it hurts." She explained while she looked at her hands. "I think the last time I hugged someone was a week before my powers manifested. Four years ago." It was a somber thought and Ann frowned because of it. "But thanks to this...it doesn't hurt me. At all." She grinned a little, totally pleased.

She grinned. "No, it wasn't annoying at all. It might have gotten annoying....after a couple of minutes but it's all good." She grinned a little. Her eyebrows knit together in the middle when she heard someone's thoughts approach...she started to turn her head to inspect with her eyes, but before she could someone shouted, "Ann!" and then hug her. She jumped in surprise.

"Jared!" She called in surprise when she turned around to see who it was. It was almost weird to see him standing before her instead of as a small picture on the computer screen. She hugged him, then. "Ohmygosh, this is great." She said a bit loudly in his ear. Then she stood back and gestured between Anna and Jared. "Jared, this is Anna. Anna, this is Jared."

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Anna frowned. “Yeah maybe.” She said slowly. What else could she say? Now her head was reeling with ideas of what power she could had. Unfortunately she couldn’t know until it happened right? Trying not to dwell on it, Anna began to think about better things. She had kinda made a new friend right? That was good. She liked friends, even if she was pretty reclusive from everyone around her.

To her surprise, Ann answered Anna’s unasked question and Anna felt really bad. This girl had it worse than Anna’s sleepless nights. “Wow, that’s pretty bad, well at least you get this, I mean do we know if it’s permanent or not?” Anna was already desperate for it to be permanent, though she did highly doubt it was, hey as long as she got a few nights of good sleep she’d be happy, and hopefully if Ann got quite a bit of human contact she’d be a bit happier.

Anna laughed when Ann said that it wasn’t annoying but it may have been after a little while. “Well I’ll try not to sing it in my head again.” She joked smiling. She then frowned when someone shouted Ann’s name then hugged her from behind. Didn’t the girl just say she couldn’t have human contact? If this guy knew her then he knew that, so why was he hugging her? Anna kept quiet and just watched the two of them.

Frowning slightly Anna noticed that this Jared that Ann just introduced seemed pretty upset. “Hey are you ok?” She asked hesitantly, she had a thing where people cried, she didn’t like it at all. She didn’t want to intrude on his reasons for crying but she couldn’t help but wonder why he was crying. Keeping her distance in case he didn’t want to talk to her or wanted her to leave, she looked at him concernedly and kept quiet letting him hug Ann.

[Jared Park]

Jared didn’t really realize how sloppy he looks when he rushed over to Ann and her friend. And he certainly did not care how weird he may have seemed when he suddenly hugged Ann so tightly, considering that all they’ve ever been were online buddies and she’s currently talking to someone else. No, none of it ran through Jared’s head. He was panicking; he was scared (if it was an effect of the residual fear or his own, he can’t tell). All he cares about is having someone to talk to and maybe calm him down through this unnatural phenomenon.

He slowly opened his eyes when Ann talked and introduced him to her new friend, Anna. Only then did the whole Ann-is-talking-to-someone-else-and-it’s-kinda-weird-that-you-pop-in-and-hug-her-all-of-a-sudden scenario got inside his head. He promptly removed his hold on Ann and stepped back a bit, blushing slightly while trying to keep the tears from falling. He rubbed his eye for a bit, shyly saying, “Oops. I think I dropped in on a bad time. Sorry. And nice to meet you Anna.” Fortunately he remembered his social conventions and reached out his right hand, though he noticed that it’s a bit too dirty, a nice mix of soil and tears, that he quickly took it back.

All the time he was around them, he could feel, sense, even taste their fear. Well, actually Jared could feel every person’s fear in the courtyard, but since he was far from everyone before, everything was just too insignificant for the urge to feed on those negative emotions to be strong. But now that he’s around the two, the mere fact that he had physical contact with Ann, made the urges even stronger. He could feel their fears even more strongly now, which means the urge to transform and scare them was even harder to fight. And since he’s not familiar with the mechanism of his newfound power yet, he finds it very hard to resist such an urge, despite having moderate control of his transformations (he assumes he has moderate control, considering he doesn’t transform unless he wants to).

“Err guys, did you experience change too? Like, something just wasn’t right when you woke up this morning?” Nobody likes a crybaby, especially a male teenaged crybaby. If he was ever going to find out what had happened to him, he needs to stop crying. And fast.


ooc:
Question. Would you mind if Jared goes all boggart-whatever on either Ann or Anna? Well of course not in the next reply or something, but somewhere in the not-so-near future? Just asking if ever. And sorry if I seem too invasive of the thread or anything. >.<.
-Jam

[Ann Hudgins]

Ann was buzzing with the prospect of this being permanent. She hoped it was, she wanted this. It was, like, her biggest wish, that she made constantly. She always said she would take any power other than empathy. Mind reading wasn't that far off, like Dr. Neville had been---she needed to go talk to him! He was her therapist, and needed to know. She wondered if his power changed as well, because it seemed liked everyone she had come across so far had their power changed.

She looked between Anna and Jared, her eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment, with the two of them and their chatter and mental chatter, she had a hard time deciphering the two. It was like they were talking double--saying two things at once. Ann had a hard time telling what was thought and spoken. She rubbed her temples for a moment and in her mind imagined there were headphones in her ears that blocked out all the thoughts, kinda like how she had imagined a shield around her chakras. When she opened her eyes she was sure she only heard what the two actually said and not their thoughts as well. Which was so much easier.

Ann gaped at Jared for a moment, now that she had actually looked at him and noticed he wasn't the hyper youth she had imagined when talking to him online. "I woke up a telepath. I can touch people now." She was so happy about her power swap, but she could tell that Jared was not so blessed, something was the matter. She hugged him close again, because she could and because she felt that he needed it. "You power changed as well?" She asked, though knowing it was probably true.

(Ann would be a'feared of her parents and anything they had to say to her. Do with that knowledge what you will~)

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Anna smiled lightly. “Nice to meet you too.” Anna said slightly quietly. She could tell that this Jared was kinda upset and stuff and to be honest she was a bit more concerned about that than any of his manners.

Looking back at Ann she listened to what the girl said about her being a telepath. “I don’t know if I’ve got a different power or not but I’ve definitely lost mine.” She said slowly as she pushed her hair back slightly. She was beginning to wonder how big this thing was, how many people had lost their powers or gotten a new one? Was this just in Hammel or was it outside as well?

“How many people do you think have been effected by this? I mean it can’t just be the three of us right? Do you think the teachers and staff and people have had this problem too?” She was beginning to ramble slightly, that’s what she did when she got nervous. Nerves weren’t good. But now she was thinking about it she kinda wanted to know what her power was now, if the other two had gotten new powers what was her new one? Or did she even have one now?[/justify]

((OOC-I’m fine with Anna being scared outta her mind, might set off getting herself hurt. Her worst fear would be her birth parents finding her adopted parents and hurting/killing them, oh how fun fears are ))

[Jared Park]

Jared would so not wish for this power to be permanent. While he wanted a different power, he definitely would not want something with such a horrid side effect. Not now, not ever. He could handle headaches and insomnias (or so he thinks); this deep urge to scare people out of their wits and feed off the resulting negative emotions, he can’t.

Standing around the two girls at such close proximity is like waiting for a time bomb to tick: you know it will explode, you just don’t know when. Both girls have a myriad of fears, some more potent than others, and the prospect of feeding off them was too much for him to simply ignore. It’s amazing how swiftly he filtered through the various sources of despair and anxiety and located the two most potent ones. He could feel the urge to transform eating him again; he could swear he could feel his limbs slowly shifting and contorting already. It was horrible and wonderful all at the same time. But he can’t transform just yet. Forcing the transformation back as much as he can, he felt hungry and weak, but happy with himself all the same.

Jared let out a sigh of relief as he heard Ann and Anna’s accounts of them having different powers (or in Anna’s case, it was stripped from her all together). “I-I’ve c-changed too. I can now shift into different forms, somewhat.” Jared hesitated for a bit. For a comic book geek, he was at a loss on how he should call or describe his power. He’s encountered a whole lot of comic book powers but his was completely new. “I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I don’t like it that much,” he added, trying to hold back tears as he remembered how disturbing his power became just a few hours ago, “It’s creepy.”

Ann’s hug only made Jared gulp, trying to push the urges off his mind (fortunately control of his powers was fairly strong). “Really? Your powers are now gone? A-and that is a good thing?” he asked Anna, trying to get his mind off his urges by engaging himself in the conversation. It may be a 180o all of a sudden from his sad and teary initial appearance, but if he was to stop himself from transforming, he has to go back to being friendly and bubbly Jared.


ooc:
Thanks guys. I think I shall let Jared loose within the next post or the other. *snuggles NanaKee and Ashers*
-Jam

[Ann Hudgins]

That happy feeling that bubbled in and around Ann could be described as Christmas morning. Things seemed to actually be working in her favor today, and while she had a growing headache because of her use of the telepathy, it was something she'd gladly live with, so long as she did not have to return to her awkward, full-of-pain and emotions self. This was just so much better.

The only thing that dampened this feeling was that the two of them did not feel the same. Anna was close, but she wasn't as near as elated as Ann was (she could tell) and Jared just seemed down right afraid. Or something like that. Ann had a hard time guessing because her power didn't sense his feelings (thank the LORD). "Oh, so you are like a shapeshifter now? That's cool. At least doors will open for you now, right?" Ann, trying to be the optimist, brought up a point Jared had made about his power before to see if she couldn't cheer him up a tad. His faced reddened around his eyes as he mentioned how creepy it was and how he didn't like it and she had to suppress the urge to find out why it did, just as well she had to stop herself before she closed her arms around him in a hug again. She was pretty sure that wouldn't socially acceptable.

As for Anna, Ann turned to look at her, as one of her hands slowly snaked around Jared's shoulders to comfort him (turns out she couldn't fight the urge), "I've come across a lot of students ambling in the hallways that were confused because their powers weren't working right. I don't know about the teachers, but it stands to reason that their powers changed too." Ann reasoned as she glanced around the courtyard, as if the reason for their power changes were somewhere out there, in a tangible state.

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Anna was slightly worried about this guy, he seemed really upset, although she was happy to have lost her power, or maybe gotten another one, she didn’t like to see people this scared. “Well I’m sure after a while you’ll be able to control it and it won’t be that bad.” She said, touching Jared on the shoulder trying to be comforting.

When he asked about her powers she nodded. “Well, I don’t know if they’re fully gone, but I usually can’t get a good nights sleep because of my ability, and last night I had a full nights sleep, so whether or not I’ve got a new power or not depends on if I figure it out or something. I’m not actually sure.” She said frowning.

Glancing over to Ann she nodded slowly. “So it’s quite a bit thing then, it’s kinda weird though. I mean, how do we know it’s just happening in the school.” Pushing her hair back Anna was stumped. She didn’t understand any of it, and she wasn’t really up to trying to think about it. She bit her tongue as she thought about it. Nope, no ideas.