Blasted (Open)

[Taitum Marshall]

The boy didn't shove him away like he expected the boy to do. The boy didn't scream or fight or punch. Lani was far too exhausted for that. Far too tired. He could tell but this had to pass because there was precious little minutes remaining for them. He needed Lani to fix the mess he'd made and a little boy tantrum would not do that for them right this minute. God, Lani had turned from couragous to cowardly in a matter of milliseconds and Taitum wanted to slap the little shit for putting him through all this.

Taitum allowed Lani the few moments he needed to collect himself and take the pills Taitum himself had watched the boy steel. Swift and quick and silent. That was the way of a good soldier. Swift, quick and silent. It was how Taitum did what he needed to do and saw what he needed to see. Lani looked into his eyes and this time Taitum didn't look away. Instead he raised an eyebrow expectantly when the 'But' came but finally Lani said alright and he'd straightened himself against the wall, much to Taitum's surprise.

The boy was actually about to listen to him?
"Good..."
The word came out more as a question. Like Taitum was surprised and was sure he had not heard right at all. Taitum watched Lani slide to the ground, tired and weak and waited, waited till things were flying back to where these things were supposed to be. He felt relieve when they did.

Taitum too, slowly shifted so his back was against the wall and he slid down to the ground beside Lani watching the kid work. Taitum watched the boy get up and then start to attempt to put all the pieces of his broken puzzle back into place. Taitum's eyes widened slightly and instintively his shield was brought around them to protect them from both the door and the rubble from the blasts. Taitum was on his feet, sheild removed again, frowning at Lani as he kicked at the door in anger.

Taitum moved up behind him and smacked him lightly up the backside of his head.
"It doesn't help that you're getting angry. Your powers are connected to your emotions, bright spark. Let's go. I have a ton of paper work to fill out on this one. You need to pay attention in your training classed and take up a concentration hobby. You're a complete mess like a five year old with a machine gun. Dangerous. "
Taitum nudged at Lani and headed down the hall to the exit of the buiding.

"Of course, you can't do it right now. You have no focus, no strength and you've had no sleep then what little you did have, you pushed into your emotions that developed out of your irritation with me. You don't just go trigger happy with a gun in your hand when your mom does something that annoys you or your dad tells you you'll never amount to anything. You need to think, Lani. At some point...."
Taitum said in a slightly scolding voice.

The best thing was to just leave right then. Just leave and go elsewhere. Someone else could deal with the mess.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani growled his anger coming back to peak when his failure crashed to the ground. Frustration flooded through him and he was only dimly aware that the was another person with him. He glared down at the door and willed it to splinters but nothing happened but a little rattling. His toe throbbed and his anger blotted out everything else. It was just like the explosion the first time. They threatened Lani and frightened him and his power had tossed cars every which way. Lani shook his head wondering if he would ever get over this explosiveness. His power was certainly much for of a fling now ask questions later. He was ashamed of himself but he didn't feel as if he was any better off here at Hammel than he was if he were to just become a hermit. But no that wouldn't work either. He had too much to do.

The hand stuck Lani breaking him out of his anger and replacing it with shock. His head ducked reflexively and his head scowling and rubbing at his head. It hadn't hurt but Lani was doing nothing for Lani's temper. He was afraid of his power, he hadn't had a break in control this bad since it first appeared. Lani turned and backed up a little bit wanting distance between himself and the man. He had never liked people getting in his face, it reminded him too much of his father. Lani's frown deepened as he started speaking. He went rigid when he realized the direction his lecture was going. He was no different than any of the others. Lani didn't regret in the least giving him paper work after the morning he was having. His eyes darted around and he crossed his arms at the mention of training classes. Chances were Taitum would be furious if he knew Lani hadn't been to more than two in his short months here.

Here Taitum's voice became too familiar and Lani clenched his jaw in frustration. That was all he heard at training. That was why he didn't go. He knew he was dangerous, he didn't need people to remind him. He made a small sound of unhappiness. Lani threw his arms in the air when Taitum nudged him. Instead of protesting walked a few feet then turned abruptly. "Look, why don't you stop stating the obvious and go fill out your paperwork. I don't need to listen to this." He was turning into a sour teenager again. He didn't need much prompting to continue toward the exit. Lani rolled his eyes and crossed his arms when he continued.

Lani turned to him surprised when he agreed that Lani couldn't do it. A sense of depression washed over Lani and he held it back making his face cold and expressionless. It didn't brighten his mood when he explained why he couldn't. He glared at him and didn't honor the statement about his emotion with any more response than that. Well this guy had seen behind Lani's arrogant shield and Lani didn't like it. He felt vulnerable, exposed as the failure he was. When they reached the door the mention of Lani's father threw him over the edge. 'Whats wrong with you, Lani?' His father would ask. 'Nothing but a lair and a thief. You'll never be anything more.' He would scream and go on about how he had soiled the Hunter name. He had more than once threatened to disown Lani and break all ties with him. His mother always intervened then but Lani was wondering if he might be more happy without a father.

"Shut up!" Lani snapped suddenly. The scolding had come too close to his heart. Too close to his walls and threatened to break them down. "You don't know the first thing about me! You think I wanted this? Huh?" He spread his arms to indicate his power. He raised a hand and shook his head realizing his weariness and anger were going to make him blast again. He sighed instead and woefully realized he was right. He had threatened his father with a table the last time they had had that particular conversation. "Fine," Lani growled and refused to expand on the thought. "Look, can you just do your paperwork and be done with it. I don't want your lecture." Translation: I don't want your help. It was infuriating and detrimental for Lani's ego to admit that he needs help.

[Taitum Marshall]

Taitum yerked to a stop when he heard Lani yell for him to shut up and he slowly turned to face Lani. The cracks were starting to show. He was breaking the boy down. That much was obvious. Not that it was his goal to do that. Somewhere in his words, he'd touched a subject that was off limits and Taitum wondered ever so faintly what that was. Family? Powers? Failure? What had he touched on that made Lani fight back all too suddenly? Taitum raised an eyebrow at Lani when he started to speak and he paid attention.

Taitum was always overly attentive when he was trying to pick clues from words that were spoken to him in anger after he'd raised his own opinions. Taitum stepped in front of Lani, stopping him from exiting when he'd wanted to, if he'd wanted to. Taitum watched Lani who'd suddenly gone from screaming to calm again and after a clear assesment he finally spoke again.
"Well that's too bad. You just got it."
Taitum smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You know... I write that report and you'll be meeting with the shrink Hammel has. "
Neville made him want to throw up. Funny how he had now met two boys though, he'd consider to pass under Neville's wing if he had any say in the matter. Taitum stayed where he was.
"I'm impressed you calmed down enough to speak normal yet quite curious as to what set you off in the first place. Family issues? Missing your folks? That isn't gonna get you anywhere close to managing that power of yours."

Taitum was now gonna give him the lecture he didn't want.
"Here's my lecture. That back there was fault picking. Pointing out your mistake but since you mentioned lecture..."
Taitum smirked.

"You are a God among men. Maybe you didn't ask for it. Maybe you don't want it but which demon or angel ever did ask to be such? Which person ever asked to be black or white? We never ask to be born to the parents we are born to or to have stupid names or blonde hair or whatever? Point is... as humans, we're never really happy with what we have and that makes our lives suck. The only way to change that is to accept what you have and make the best of it. You're a God. Start acting like one. "

Taitum stepped aside and held the door open for Lani to go.
"There's your lecture. Now you see the difference? Get to your dorm. I'll be watching you, Lani."
Taitum said lowely. He hated the fact that he'd even done this... That he'd been forced to do this. Lani would ignore all he'd said, shrug it off and go about his desires but some of it would stick... Taitum was sure at least one thing would stick.

When he'd been Lani's age... maybe a bit younger, he himself had come to discover he was a God and there were so precious few of those aroumd. It had changed everything about him.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani stopped when Marshall stepped in his way. He glared his eyes clouding with anger and weariness. This certainly hadn't been the restful night... morning?... he had hoped for. He hated to admit that his lack of sleep was making it easy for him to slip up and even more easy for him to give things away he didn't want to. Like yelling about his father. He could see it in Taitum's eyes. They were curious and penetrating and Lani didn't like it in the least. He walled himself off and willed himself not to react. He didn't want to to give him anything to hang over his head. Lani's eyes widened a little at the mention of the shrink. "That's not necessary." He said smoothly. He really hated doctors in general, but especially shrinks. They made Lani's skin crawl. There was nothing wrong with him... well save this power, but otherwise he was of sane mind.

He waited for him to move and inevitably lock him up. A chill ran down his spin at the thought but he shook it off seeing as the guy didn't move. Despite Lani's wishes Taitum did not shut up but kept digging deeper. He growled and glared in warning. "That is none of your concern." Lani said with forced calm through clenched teeth. Lani rolled his eyes and gave Taitum a long suffering look. He didn't care about the difference between a lecture and a fault picking, as he called it. If there was anything Lani hated it was people picking out his faults and laying them on a table to him to see. He knew his faults he didn't want nor did he feel like he needed to have someone spell them out for him.

He sighed heavily and adopted the 'whatever I'm listening' expression that several teens used when lecturing came into play. At the first sentence Lani was knocked out of his pose. He shifted and willed himself not to react. It was hard when he was throwing things that all seemed logical into his face. Those words gnawed at Lani's mind and he didn't very much like it. He didn't like responsibility. He looked out for his sister yes, but that wasn't responsibility in his eyes. Responsibility for Lani mean prison and punishment. Never give in, and never confess, Lani remembered.

Lani looked at Taitum with suspicious eyes. Was he really letting him go or was this just another elaborate trick? Lani didn't really mind, he had more tricks up his sleeve than Taitum knew. He raised a brow when he said he'd be watching. Greeeeeeeaaaaaat, Lani thought, just what I need. He would rather give the man the benefit of the doubt than be dragged to the detention cell. Lani stepped out into the cool morning air and took a deep breath. He glanced back at Taitum watching him carefully then his eyes drifted to his feet. He rested on hand on the door frame and watched his shadow. "Marshall, I'm sorry I tried to throw you." He said sincerely and slipped off toward the dorm. He never meant to hurt anyone. That was one thing he never wanted to do. He glanced behind himself a few times to see if he would follow.

He didn't trust Taitum to not send someone after him later so he set his chair against his door, just in case. Then pulling his blackout curtains he curled up under his blankets. He sighed heavily when his mind kept whirring with activity. He silently cursed the security officer. He had given Lani too much to think about and he was just as awake as he was when he had left his room in the first place. He snorted a little laugh at himself. Well sleep or no sleep he refused to leave this room today, he decided and pulled the blankets over his head.