Making a Fool of Himself (Open.)

[Odion Martins]

Odion really wasn’t sure what had possessed him to go to the club this weekend, but he was bored. Mind numbingly bored. He was pretty sure Rhett would find him beyond annoying if he tried to see him again so soon, so he had to make do on his own, something he was very tired of doing. He wasn’t sure of himself anymore, and tonight, he didn’t want to be calculated. He didn’t want to think about Rhett and what kind of relationship they had – even his brain was hurting from processing everything about their last date encounter.

Perhaps the only thing helping him in this situation was his height. In his mind, it was the only reason why the fake ID had worked to begin with. Not a lot of people would look at him and think he’d pass for twenty one. Really he looked only to be around fifteen, and that was bad enough already. He liked to blame it on his lack of nutrition while growing up as an orphan, where teenage boys could care less about the recommended intake of vegetables and fibre they were supposed to have. There were way better things to steal anyways. Or buy, like a fake ID.

If there was something Odion wished he had inherited from his biological parents, it would be the ability to hold his liquor. The ginger was the definition of light-weight, especially after having had only three rum and cokes. Odi wasn’t dancing, just sitting at the bar. Still, everything was starting to get fuzzy and he couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off his face. “Hi,” he said to the girl sitting next to him, a girl who seemed a little too eager to speak to him.

“No, I don’t come here often,” he said to her, the accent in his voice strange - he never could pigeonhole what nationality he sounded like most. Odion was waving around his stolen money a bit much, buying the girl next to him a drink, causing her to clinging to him like a bee to a flower. The redhead found the girl’s touch a little unbearable, but he was throwing his shyness to the wind for now, wanting to be a different person tonight.

“Oh, no, I’m not drunk enough to dance yet,” he tried to tell her, but she insisted, dragging him to the dance floor. His ‘dancing’ was simply stepping side to side awkwardly, and his inebriated state caused him to collide with a body. “Sorry!” He yelled into the unsuspecting victim’s ear, his usually blue eyes turned green from the lighting.

[Tim Lyne]

"'s'all good," Tim nearly slurred. He was still a few drinks from actually being inebriated. The buzzing hadn't quite gone away; usually didn't in Pilot Ridge. But touching someone, feeling that little shudder, it was like alarm bells going off in Tim's head. He paused for a second, blearily looking at the kid.

Ginger. Buzzing. Powered, definitely a meta. Definitely a meta who was--

"Man, no way you're old enough to be in here," said Tim. Well, more like yelled. There was the music and all. At least Tim had hand gestures to work with too, waving his arms and stuff like this. "Dammit, I come here to get away from work."

Or, you know, the not work that Tim pretended to do while he was at the place that paid him money for some reason. He blinked and looked at the kid again. Buzzing. If this kid wasn't at Hammel, then he needed to be brought in. But... but he was too old to not be at Hammel, right?

"So not my job," muttered Tim. Still, he was tapping Odion on the shoulder and jerking his head toward the bar. Might as well find out. Wasn't Tim's job to discipline students or anything, but it sure as hell was his job to make sure they didn't hurt themselves or someone else. That was where he drew the line, if barely.

Of course, he wasn't sure how exactly he was going to convince Odion to come with him. He was kind of relying on the kid's grace at the moment.

[Odion Martins]

Odion patted the older looking man on the shoulder, a sweet smile on his face. Honestly, he had expected a shouting match, and that wouldn’t end well. He wasn’t one for physical fighting, that was about the time he ran away.

The redhead flinched, looking around to draw attention away from himself. Apparently lady luck was not on his side this evening. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Odion said over the music, wondering why this chap was yelling at him. “Honestly, I have no rhythm, I wasn’t trying to hit you!” The ginger looked totally confused, the girl who had been dancing with him, quickly clung to his arm. The man didn’t look like a bouncer – he was too thin for that. So just what was he trying to get at? Maybe Odi was buzzing more than he thought...

Apparently he wasn’t going to be able to shrug the dude off, as he nodded towards the bar. Odion raised an eyebrow. “Dude, I’m busy here,” he said, but the other man seemed hopeful, so the ginger looked at the girl he was with, gave her a polite goodbye, and walked over to the bar.

“If I buy you a drink, will you leave me the fuck alone?” Odion asked to his new companion. His vision wasn’t what it was a couple of hours ago, and he was leaning dangerously to his superior. Of course, there was no way of the boy knowing this. He was new to Hammel, he barely knew the student body let alone the faculty.

[Tim Lyne]

"No shit," yelled Tim over the music, "you're trying to hit the lady next to you, if you know what I mean," he winked, reaching over to try and pull Odion a little closer. "Trust me, I'm more your age. See you in a bit."

Because Odion was at least walking with Tim to the bar. Tim was already saluting the barkeep, holding up two fingers. Not like he particularly cared whether or not Odion's card would hold up under close scrutiny. The drinks would arrive shortly after they did, and Tim exchanged money for them, taking both in hand and passing one off to Odion.

"That will probably work!" he ended up yelling, waving his hand. "I'm pretty damn easy to bribe. If you had boobs instead of undropped balls, we'd be in even better territory."

Tim took a deep swig of his drink. Man, he was hoping that he just ran into a student out on a lark or something. The last thing he needed right now was to explain to some half-drunk, underaged kid that he had special powers and should be suiting up for the special school on a hill. Seriously, who let their kids anywhere near this stuff?

"Let me just cut the crap," said Tim after he finished. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and pointed. "You know you're a meta? You know," he wiggled his fingers, "special powers of doing something special or something."

Like mind controlling someone into thinking the ID was totally legit, for example?

[Odion Martins]

Odion took the drink offered to him, and put some more money on the counter. “For later,” he said to the guy behind the counter, who happily took the money. He looked at the other guy beside him, his eyes searching his carefully. What was he up to? The redhead burst into laughter, pointing at the older man. “I usually don’t talk about the state of my balls to just anyone,” he said with a wink, sipping at his drink. So he really didn’t look that old in her. Huh. That girl he was ‘dancing’ with earlier sure didn’t seem to mind.

The ginger cocked his head to the side in interest, nodding in agreement when it came to ‘cutting the crap’. A coy smile crossed his face, “I wouldn’t call myself special, but thanks for the compliment,” he said, dragging out the conversation for humours sake. How often did you get to talk to someone who randomly came up to you, shouted at you, and then accused you of being something? Oh right, they were in a bar after all.

Spinning around on his stool, Odion waved the bartender over for another drink. Pretty soon he’d be laughing for no apparent reason, even though it all made sense to him. “Are you special?” he asked the bloke, raising his eyebrows as he took a sip of his new drink. Odi had no idea he was being ‘recruited’, nor did he think the older man was from Hammel. If he did suspect such a thing, he would be trying to leave. How successful he would be at doing so in his present state, was a different story.

[Tim Lyne]

"Are you hitting on me?" asked Tim, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "'Cuz I totally card, and I'm a lot more strict than this place, apparently."

Not that Tim particularly cared about an underaged person drinking or hanging out on their own. Ethically, he didn't care much about taking an underaged person home with him either. He just didn't fancy spending a night in a jail cell with a lonely guy named Bubba (because in Tim's mind, that's where they put all people who fraternized with underaged persons).

Aaand the kid was making this even more difficult. Tim rubbed at his face. He came here to get wasted, or, you know, pick up a non-underaged person. Not to toy with some kid about whether or not he crapped radiation.

Yes, that's happened, and no, Tim wasn't going to reminiscence.

"I'm all kinds of special," insisted Tim. He waved his hand over Odion, even poking the young man on the forehead. Yep, tingly. Kid was definitely a meta. Maybe he was just one of those who changed colors or something. Wasn't like every meta gift was a huge, obvious, ugly affair.

"Special as in meta special, in that I specially find other metas," more finger wiggling, "like you. You're a meta. Whoo?"

[Odion Martins]

Odion laughed again, his vision getting blurrier by the second. “You haven’t been hit on much have you?” He asked, knowing that he wasn’t exactly the best in the art of flirting. He tried. How successful he was, was another story. Evidently he did it well.

“You have some nerve bothering metas, even if you are one,” he said, nearly going cross eyed as the older man touched his forehead – or maybe that was the alcohol having its adverse effect on him. “Especially if you’re power is detecting others powers, and you don’t even know what they are,” he accused the gentleman, picking at the man’s nerves if only to get him as far away from him as possible. This meeting was pointless and was requiring him to think – something he was tired of doing and had come here to get away from.

“If you’re done pointing out the obvious, I think I’d like to dance again,” Odion said, his strange accent showing through. His moods went from jubilant to plain outraged depending on who was speaking to him in the state he was in now. Strangers agitated him quickly if they tried to do something to him he wasn’t comfortable with. “I’m sure you have better things to do anyways,” he said to the guy. But Odi didn’t move, he thought maybe he’d have one more drink before leaving this awkward conversation.

[Tim Lyne]

"Usually I'm the one doing the hitting," said Tim, smirking. "Or I usually don't care."

Though it was rare that a woman actually flirted with Tim first, and it generally took more than a few drinks. Usually he was the one initiating, which, really, wasn't that far removed from what he was doing now. Except now he felt a lot more like a parent or parole officer instead of his usual sex offender persona. Not a comfortable fit.

Though Tim had to hand it to the kid, he had a point. The whole finding meta ability really didn't do a whole lot of good on its own. Except for actually finding said metas. That's generally when Tim's partners stepped in, did the talking bit. Which might explain why Tim was sucking at it so bad.

Or it could just be Tim.

"Yeah, I got tons of other stuff to do," agreed Tim. He sighed, standing up. "Except I'm a recruiter for the big shiny school on the hill made for kids like you. So I'm going to have to drag you back to the school. Or you tell me that you just sneaked out for a beer and we both go back to drinking ourselves stupid."

Tim left out a bit there, the bit where he made sure to call someone back at Hammel to let them know that he'd run into a student. It wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to, but considering that he needed to do it to keep his job, well, it was gonna happen.

[Odion Martins]

“I pick the latter,” Odion said, looking up to the ceiling in thought, “or is it the former? Hmm, anyways, I say you do whatever you have to do, but I’m staying here. I’m already enrolled there,” he said, unaware of the trouble he was getting himself into. There was no way that this guy was going to believe he was twenty one, even less likely that he wasn’t going to mention to anyone that he had been drinking under aged.

“If anyone asks though, you’re the one who hit on me,” he said, before slipping off the bar stool and immersing himself in the crowd. The girl had had wrapped around his little finger before was currently grinding with some other bloke, and Odion frowned. “Fucking recruiter...” He said, looking back at the bar for the culprit, but it appeared he was already gone.

Feeling wobbly on his feet, the ginger made his way outside, taking in a deep breath of the cool night air, his vision clearing somewhat. Odion took out a packet of fags, placing one between his lips before setting a match aflame and inhaling from the cigarette. He sighed, the smoke flying up and away into the air. He usually didn’t smoke, but he managed to steal this particular pack from someone in the club. He wasn’t sure who, and he didn’t really care. He just wanted to clear his head for a moment, his mind jumping back and forth from Rhett’s face, to the recruiter back there. Should he be worried right about now?

[Tim Lyne]

"Damn,' muttered Tim. While he hadn't exactly been looking forward to dragging in a drunken kid for recruiting (talk about your crappy ways of discovering your meta-ness), he also didn't want to be the responsible one to turn in someone who clearly needed alcohol. Likely the kid needed more than that, like someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. That just wasn't Tim's game though, especially not when the person in question had matching genitalia.

"You totally hit on me, you perv!" yelled Tim to Odion's retreating back. He sighed, leaning back against the bar. He'd bought the kid a drink too. An underaged kid. Wasn't that against the law? Hell, wouldn't be the first time.

Sighing, Tim dug into his pocket, checking his phone. For once it was actually charged, and there were a few missed messages, mostly stuff from Ella. He thumbed through it, dismissing most, and typed out a quick response. Licking his lips, he finally landed on the number he really didn't want to call.

Another groan, and Tim was pushing off, heading toward the exit. It had been several minutes since Odion left, and Tim wasn't sure if he'd see the kid or not. Still, he pushed open the doors, stepping into the night air. Without the noise of the crowd, the buzzing felt even more intolerable. Yet Tim could still more or less detect someone dangerously close by.

He hit the green button on his phone, slid it up to his ear, and muttered into the receiver.

"They'll be here in a few," Tim said to the night air. "So you could probably fake getting sober or something."

He paused, considering. He probably would've been in Odion's position, a few years ago. Hardly seemed fair. But then again, Tim liked his job, and he was supposed to be an adult. He leaned against the building, closing his eyes and hoping they weren't in a hurry to pick up a drunken kid who clearly needed to forget something.

[Odion Martins]

Odion sighed as the guy approached him. The last thing he wanted to do was use his powers to sober up, but it was worth a shot. The ginger had never been good at speeding up time, but sometimes being intoxicated had it’s benefits. His gift was strange, the way it worked. Odi could never figure out how it made sense, and he didn’t want to – it was just another thing to think about and he so didn’t want that.

What would’ve taken a few hours happened in a couple of minutes, and Odi was now sitting on the curb, the whole pack of cigarettes gone already, the butts in the drain as evidence. He looked up at the man who found him, and shrugged. “Guess you know what my power is now,” he said, leaning back on the palms of his hands. Tonight was going to be an even longer night now. The boy with freckles closed his eyes, urging his headache to dissipate, but he doubted it would. One because he was hungover, and two he always received a headache after trying to speed up time – not exactly flawless.

“Sorry you’ve been landed with me,” he offered, seeing as the guy wasn’t going anywhere, and he couldn’t just shrug him off. It would just be better to play nice. And he really couldn’t just run away, not now. It was better they see him, tell Tim he’s already enrolled, and take him back to the school. Odion sighed, bringing his hands to the back of his head, trying to relax. “Teenagers have too many problems,” he said, hinting towards his own life. He wasn’t going to indulge he older guy or anything, but he was just trying to pass the time normally, without using his abilities.

“Name’s Odion, by the way,” he said, unable to see the point in lying about his name. People already seemed to know it, what did it matter if a staff member did too?

[Tim Lyne]

At first Tim didn't notice that Odion was really doing anything. That constant buzzing was mixing with his alcoholic consumption, leaving Tim ringing and a little out of it. He did notice the pile of cigarettes, and winced a little at that. Deadly habit, though Tim was hardly one to talk about stuff like that.

"Right, super sobering ability. What everyone dreams of," replied Tim. He walked over next to Odion, nudging the butts with his foot. Just what were Tim's responsibilities now? Was he supposed to stand around and wait for the backup to show? They should've just sent a teleporter or something.

Stuck with the kid though? "I don't know if I'm stuck with you yet or what," admitted Tim. "I recruit people; I don't babysit them. Especially the ones with dangly bits."

Tim sighed and rubbed at his face, noting the stubble. Have to do something about that. Curious, he looked at the boy, who kept talking. Name. Some complaints about teenage life. Tim wasn't sure why exactly he should care, but he did feel a part of him twinging. Yeah, he remembered that all too well.

"I hear you," he ventured. Little bit of "I'll listen till the cops show up" to it, really. But Tim didn't quite feel like being a complete ass. Probably the alcohol buzzing in him, or the fact that he'd just been a major buzzkill for poor Odion.

[Odion Martins]

Odion could have easily sped up time for Tim as well. Maybe not that easily, but it could’ve been done, but he didn’t want to risk having a migraine. Selfish was something Odi always had been, especially when no one else was going to look after you.

He laughed though, shaking his head. Sobering powers? Close enough. Odion rolled his eyes, what was this guy’s problem with hanging around another male? Was it really that bad? “You could just leave,” he offered, looking up at the older guy hopefully. Then he could leave too, and forget that this stupid thing ever happened.

The ginger let his whole body relax, falling back on the concrete, his legs sticking out in the street. If there weren’t so many damn lights he’d be able to see the stars. One of these days he was going to make a trip up to the mountain top, maybe camp out a night or two there. He looked back to the recruiter. Like he has any idea what Odion was going through. Obviously he didn’t struggle with the same things, especially if he had problems with ‘dangly bits’.

[Tim Lyne]

Tim flicked his fingers into the void, dismissing both what he’d found there and what he thought of the whole thing in general. He looked back at Odion, who'd shifted and was looking up at the sky. Then to Tim. There was so that look of "you don't understand me" going on again. The kid ought to go out and start a band or something. Tim sighed again, rubbing at his face. This so wasntt what he did. But he could at least understand some things these kids went through. The whole being dragged from your family to find out you're "special." Then it was usually "surprise, you're not Cyclops, your head just buzzes."

"Look dude," said Tim, still not looking at Odion. "This whole thing, it sucks. High school sucks balls. But they really aren't lying when they tell you it gets a little better. Mostly because of homework, but, yeah. There's just a lot less going on, here," he waved his hand around his body,"and stuff. Also I suck at this."

A pause, a beat of silence. Then Tim added:"Could you maybe not tell them I bought you a drink?"

[Odion Martins]

Odion glanced up at Tim, wondering why he was still speaking. Wasn’t it obvious he didn’t want to be friends with the guy? The recruiter probably felt the same way, but he couldn’t really be blunt about it. It would be like a car salesman bitching at his customers about how shitty his personal life was – inappropriate.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure the job will get better for you,” he said, making it difficult for his listener to know whether he was trying to nice about the situation, or being a smartass. Odi gave him a small smile, making the former possibility seem accurate – he just seemed so innocent.

“Sure, if you tell them you came out here for a breather and I happened to walk by,” he said with a shrug, finding that excuse the most believable. Then nobody would get in trouble. Well, Odion would, for being out so late, but that punishment was probably better than what would happen to him after being found in a club.

The ginger stood up then, brushing off the back of his pants. He just wanted to go to bed now.

(OOC: Tony will be replying with James shortly =3 )