Star filled evenings and smoke filled lungs [Open]

[Taitum Marshall]

Taitum had a hard time the day before. It had been killing him to receiving all those E-mails from friends and family of his deceased brothers in arms that had served along side him in the war. Right now he was struggling to keep himself from tredging up old memories.Yesterday he'd had just returned from a week in DC to celebrate the lives of past friends who'd died during the horrible war. It was over now and that was the most important part. His brother had seemed well when he'd seen the younger boy. He'd looked quite fetching in his uniform and Tait might have slipped in that he made his elder brother proud.

Hell, his father would never encourage them so they had to encourage one another. Yesterday had been hard as a Seargant to put down a ring of ... whatever plant it had been, on the graves of the three men he'd lead to their deaths. Yes, he still believed that it was his fault. Horrible thing he'd done. Just out of boredom? and it had cost them their lives. It had also cost the lives of the men in the camp they'd attacked. Three people had survived out of ten but only due to the element of surprise.

No matter. They did their country proud. The war was over and they died heroes. Taitum found it even harder to raise his hand in salute to them. Now the ex-soldier sat in the middle of the football field staring at the school he worked for. It was dark. He was on night shift this week, which was horrible because all he could do was stare at the lights flicking out one by one as the night wore on and be lost in his own thoughts. Taitum's head was never a good place to be anyway.

His eyes darkened considerably as he spoted a movement out of the corner of his eye blowing the smoke from his lips as he killed the cigarette he'd been smoking. Taitum got to his feet. He was too exposed to follow who ever was slipping across the far side of the field so he walked the opposite way. Of course, that was only untill he was hidden by a pavillion. Once that occured he was back into the shadows and following the person who seemed to be trying to sneek away from the school. When Tait had caught up he allowed his power free shivering at the ripple moving through his own body.

The heaviness pulling at his own knees must have been twenty times worse for the runner running away. It was the middle of the night... well almost, so that gave him prerogative to use his powers. The person would feel gravity's pull and would fall to their knees.... just the way Taitum liked it.
"You do realize its 12 am at night and you're slipping though the shadows making me just a little suspicious."

[Kaytee Palladino]

Kaytee had been running around campus later than usual that night. She just needed to clear her head. She had gotten an email that her father had been diagnosed with kidney cancer. She was already determined that he would get one of hers, but that didn't stop her from being upset. It was curable, she knew that. The doctors report said that they had caught it pretty early on, but he still had to go through chemo.

He wouldn't let her come home. She had begged him, he was the only thing she had left and she couldn't lose him. She didn't want him in that hospital room all by himself. He promised to bring his laptop and skype her if the doctors allowed, but that wasn't good enough for Katyee. She wanted to be there in person for him. He was stubborn, just like she was, and there was no changing it.

Running was the only thing she could manage to do at the time. She couldn't go off campus to talk with Reece and Craven was dealing with his own personal issues. Her roommates were busy studying for an exam and she was left to her own thoughts. She had quickly left, she had to clear her thoughts from everything running through her head. She was so terrified of losing the one parent she had left, she couldn't bare it.

The moonlight covered the clouds and Kaytee glanced at her watch. It was already midnight and past curfew. Shit. She thought to herself as she took off for the dorm. She glanced at her right and smiled. Her birthday present from her dad was a beautiful ring he had found for her. It had her birthstone in the middle, surrounded by small diamonds on a white gold band mixed with black hills gold. It was custom. She had no idea how he had been able to afford it, but she would treasure it forever. The inscription on the ring read Love, Dad.

Her knees buckled beneath her in an unbearable weight as she sank to the ground. She snapped her head to the noise coming toward her and her first instict was to freeze something. She didn't know who it was but she could only thing to defend herself. She shot her hand out and could hear the icicles hitting against a tree. She winced at the pressure on her body and fell to her hands.

She gasped and looked up at the menacing security guard. Well, she just shot her powers at him too, that was never good. Not only was she out past curfew, she had used her powers against the rules. Good job, Kaytee. She whimpered at the pressure on her body and tried to tell him what was happening. "I'm so sorry, sir. I was out for a run and I got lost in my thoughts. I promise I was just heading back to my dorm.

[Taitum Marshall]

Taitum moved slowly toward the girl until she threw icicles at him. He gave a quick gasp and moved swiftly out the way of the icicles but they shot across his arm, one actually shattering against his bad shoulder causing his fist to ball and a low dangerous growl to issue from him. Like a dog about to attack. Taitum had to close his eyes for a moment and focus on not making his power any stronger. He didn't want it to get out of hand or hurt the girl in the process. Only when she spilled out her apology did his eyes flash open. He was surprised.

So submissive. Probably figures that she'd never had a partner in her life which was why she was submissive. Didn't stop him from wanting to draw blood from her skin and make her feel pain rather then himself. He released his power hold on her and stepped in front of her, grabbing her upper arms and pulling her to her feet. He felt like shaking her a little of making her hurt too, but that would have been a bad idea in the general scheme of things. Who knew who else would be lurking on the grounds on campus just searching for trouble.

Taitum let go of her. He'd gripped too hard at her arms. He could tell. He'd hurt her. Good. She'd hurt him. He hoped she bruised easy. Taitum had seen her around. What was her name? Kaylee... Kaylin. Kay something. He'd never been good with names anyway. Taitum sighed and stepped back from her.
"You shouldn't be out here. Have you seen the time...?"
Taitum half growled frowning at her. He then nodded to the direction they had both come from.

"Start walking Kay-something or other."
Taitum moves a hand to rub at his shoulder half sighing. He couldn't really just trust her to go back to where ever she had come from. he had to follow her, make sure she got into her actual dorm room and her actual bed and didn't leave again. He didn't trust easily anyway.

[Kaytee Palladino]

She had hit him. She could see the scratch through his shirt. She looked down sheepishly as he approached her. Her released his power and lifted her up, squeezing her arm tightly. She winced but knew she probably deserved it. She had grazed his arm with her knife-sharp icicles. Her let go and she knew there would be a bruise on her arm the next day. Probably in the shape of his hand as well.

Kaytee nodded at his question and followed his directions to start walking. He knew who she was, and she had seen him around before. She had never heard his name, but she had noticed him patrolling the grounds. She shook her arm to let go of some of the pain from him grabbing so tightly and looked behind her.

She felt awful that she had managed to hit him, knowing how sharp and painful they could be. The cold of them also added an element of stinging to it. She bit her lip and kept walking, trying to think of something to say. He was angry, it wasn't hard to tell. She had bruised his pride and broken rules on top of that.

They grew closer to her dorm, the lights coming into sight. She let out a sigh and looked over at him, an element of concern in her eyes. It would probably annoy the crap out of him, but she would do it anyway. "My name is Kaytee. And, I'm sorry I got your arm. I have a first-aid kit up in my room if you would allow me to look at it? I at least owe you that much."

[Taitum Marshall]

Taitum was trying to keep his temper from becoming explosive. He'd barely managed to calm it when they arrived at her dorm room. The only time his temper did flare up again was when she started to offer him some first aid. Owe him? Taitum frowned and stopped staring at her for a long time. For the longest time he tried really hard to keep from screaming or running away from the over sensitive little school girl in front of him but when things finally calmed down inside his head he tilted it to the side, eyeing the girl in front of him with a critical look.

"Owe me for what?"
Not what he wanted to ask. The first thing that had popped into his head was 'I've been through war and been shot in the shoulder. Do you think this little party trick gone wrong bothers me in the slightest?' or 'I don't give a damn what your name is. You're all annoying to me anyway so get out my hair.' But he'd said neither of those. He was quite proud of that fact. Instead of flipping out, he'd calmed down.

He was curious to see what she thought she owed him and why she thought he cared. It was easy to see that she could be guilted into certain things for the most part and he'd enjoy using that against her when she misbehaved again, or simply for his own amusement at some point. Whatever the case may be, he would under no circumstances, allow her of all people, to make him feel like he should be the one to be guilted.