I'm Invisible (Thomas)

[Jordan Scholl]

After talking to Mia (much as it had frightened him, it had to be done) and somewhat straightening things out with her (yeah right), the only thing for Jordan to do on Saturday was to actually attend the power warm-up he'd signed up for with the teacher.

But that didn't mean he had to go in blind.

He arrived early and found the room that had been booked, which was already in use. Cursing his bad luck, he waited outside the room. As soon as the people came out, he turned on his invisibility and snuck through the open door, still swinging shut behind the leaving group.

He actually had found a trigger to his invisibility--fear. He couldn't maintain the power long, nor could he find any other way to trigger it. But if he imagined himself falling off a cliff to the waiting hands of giant bullies with knives, well, a simple shiver and he was running around out of sight.

The whole goal for today was to try to see how long he could hold it for, if there were any other tricks to become invisible, and if there was some way to stop being so dizzy when he stopped.

The invisibility fell off when he was halfway across the room, and he stumbled and sat down hard on the ground. Holding his head, he looked around.

"Ow," he muttered. "That wasn't even a full minute."

He'd brought no materials--what did you need when your whole bit was turning invisible? It wasn't like he needed to move something.

"Right, I'm here," he said, calling out. "Let's get this thing started. I want to be invisible, and I need to be able to see where I'm going when I am invisible. So...yeah."

The best news of all was that the teacher was completely not intimidating. Mia was right. How scared could Jordan be of a guy who used markers? No way fear was going to trigger his power use here unless he intended it.

[Thomas Lajoie]

As his prior pupil left the room, Thomas anticipated the arrival of his next student. Jordan Scholl was definitely one of his youngest trainees and had an ability that the french Canadian man was far from experienced with - Invisibility. Thomas was not a stealthy, unseen person - in fact, he was often hopelessly in the middle of conflict, or falling over and destroying someone’s things in plain sight. That is, unless he was dancing. If he were in the middle of a pas de deux, and he was supposed to be highlighting his partner, you’d never guess he was there. But life, he has learned, is not a dance - and training can’t be choreographed.

He waited patiently for his arrival. He didn’t want to become an unwavering authority on time and punctuality, especially with someone so young. He remembered being that age, and how quickly he would shut down if faced with incessant nagging. A couple moments had passed, and before Thomas could even begin to go over what he had learned in the boy’s file, the boy was sitting in the middle of the room shouting.

”MON DIEU SACRIFICE!”

Thomas was flat on his bottom as well, his heart racing and blood pumping at an alarming rate. He should have expected things to be a bit “out of nowhere” with an invisible boy, but Thomas was not the kind to think rationally about... well, anything. He got up, dusted off his shorts, and walked over to the boy, offering a hand to help him up.

“I am eh.. sorry about that. My name is Toe-Mah. I’m a new trainer at the school. I see you ‘ave the ability to... go unseen.” he said, struggling to find the words after being scared so senselessly. “You said you we’re ‘aving troubles in your e-mail? Is it just that you cannot see?”

[Jordan Scholl]

The teacher was screaming and had fallen onto his back.

Yeah, Jordan wouldn't have any troubles from being scared of this guy.

He took the offered hand and stood up, keeping his hands on his knees to support himself as he bent over, taking deep breaths.

"Yeah. Unseen. Whole invisibility thing." He had a definite accent. French, if Jordan wasn't mistaken, though he wasn't totally up on all his accents or languages or anything.

"I have trouble seeing when I'm invisible, but I have trouble doing everything else, too. Like walking in a straight line. And listening to anything. I also need help making sure I can hold the invisibility for longer. Because being invisible for thirty seconds doesn't do much good."

He had quite a few demands, and he didn't expect much. Really, what was there to expect when the guy was French? And used markers. But it didn't really matter, this was just a warm-up session. He didn't have to master everything right away. It was good just to get things on the table.

"So I guess we should get started, then."

[Thomas Lajoie]

Invisibility. He knew that one for sure! It was frustrating to think in one language and speak in another, especially to still struggle with it after being in the United States for so long. He didn’t spend a lot of time working on his English, however, and his written English wasn’t fantastic, grammatically. But he did pretty well, he thought, and would deal with a loss of words every so often. The boy before him certainly didn’t share the same problem - he was speaking quite a bit, explaining in detail each of the problems he faced with his powers. In fact, Thomas was quite impressed at the level of understanding he had of his limitations at such a young age. This kid had the potential to learn quite quickly.

”Yes, get started.” he said, stretching his neck from side to side as he thought about his next move. ”Should I know about anything that keeps you from being able to become invisible? Or per’aps is there something that would cause it to ‘appen? Can you control it at will, or can you not choose when to disappear?” he asked, throwing a barrage of questions back his way. Perhaps Thomas could find a way to use his powers to help the boy figure out what he was doing. Maybe he needed to be nauseated. Thomas was great at that.

[Jordan Scholl]

"Um." Jordan didn't like admitting this part about his power, but if it was necessary... "No, I can't make it turn on or anything. It's when I'm scared. And I can't make it not happen. But I don't want to have to be scared every time I want to be invisible."

Jordan was getting a bit worried. If this guy couldn't help him try to find another way to turn on his power, how was this going to be anything other than an hour of them standing around talking to each other? Because there was no way this guy could scare him. No way. Ever.

"I don't know how to make it work or anything, or how to make it so I can do anything when I'm invisible. I just...like, I'm invisible. And that's it. And it doesn't even work really long or anything." He shrugged. "It's kind of lame, mostly."

If this wasn't going to work out, Jordan was willing to call it quits early. He just didn't see how it was even going to work--he was too inexperienced, and he didn't think this trainer had any idea what he was doing, either. "Look, should I just go?" he asked. "It looks like you won't be able to help me. Maybe we should just let it go or something."

He didn't mean to be insulting--as he saw it it was the honest truth.

[Thomas Lajoie]

There was a lot to take in at once. For starters, Jordan had a trigger, and only one trigger, to his power. Fear. He was also looking to explore a control of his ability past just choosing when and where he uses it, but manipulating it in a way so to be able to function more or less normally while being invisible. Easy peasy, right? Well, Thomas was a bit nervous. He wasn't used to powers that were not kinetic, but that was the entire reason he started these sessions - to warm the students up for their classes, and give himself the chance to be exposed to a variety of powers.

Thomas' eyebrows furrowed as the child assumed he would be of no help. He didn't think he would have to prove his usefulness even before he failed at something. "Jordan," he began, "you signed up for an 'our of my time, and I would appreciate you 'onoring your commitment." he continued, feeling an ounce of Honor surfacing in his demeanor. He made an effort to be more gentle and sweet, and continued by grabbing from his pocket a pen-like structure. He handed it to the boy.

"I think I may be able to 'elp you. But in order to do so, I must ask you a favor." Thomas pointed to the two ends of the pen, and spoke slowly so as to not lose his words in his accent. "This is a blood test pen. Inside is a variety of clean needles that prick your finger for blood-glucose level tests. You may have seen it before if you know any diabetics. In order to use my ability to assist you, I'll need you to prick one of your fingers. You just put the flat end on your finger, and click the top. It is perfectly clean, I assure you." he continued, deliberately making his speech controlled and calm. Asking people to draw blood was not the simplest of requests, but if Thomas could control Jordan's heartbeat - he might be able to help him control his power. But he needed a way in.

[Jordan Scholl]

Honoring his commitment? Jordan was trying to give the guy a break. It was better not to have to waste time here. At least, that was the way he saw it. But if this To-ma guy was going to make such a big deal out of it, he supposed he could hang around. "All right, fine. I'll hang around." He wanted to see, at the very least, what sort of help could be offered here.

When that pen thing came out, though, Jordan took it with intense suspicion. "A favor, huh?" he said quietly, playing with the tool in his hands. He listened to the description, worry furrowing his brow. Then he looked up at the guy.

"You're kidding me, right?" He held the tester out between two fingers, dangling it like a pair of dirty underwear. His face was wrinkeld to match. "You think I'm just going to go pricking my finger and trusting you that you didn't put some sort of drug or something on this? Is this supposed to give me some sort of boost so I can figure stuff out? Well guess what, I'm not falling for it. And if this is the sort of gig you're running, I'm going to go tell my uncle Chase. This is so creepy, I can't even...you shouldn't be giving kids drugs. You're going to get in so much trouble." Jordan dropped the tester on the floor and started walking backward toward the door. He still didn't know what this trainer's power was, and there was always the chance he could pull something out to stop him. Jordan put up his fists in a mock defense pose as he tried to leave the room.

"Mia was right. I shouldn't have trusted a guy with markers."

[Thomas Lajoie]

It was as if, in an instant, Thomas had fallen completely out of control of the situation. Like Jordan was some grade school bully, holding Thomas upside down and shaking until his lunch money fell from his pockets. He was being left out to dry, completely out of control, and threatened to boot. He would not let someone - regardless of their age or position - have that control over him.

Thomas bent over, picked up the pen, and looked back to the boy. He took the pen, and put it to the tip of his finger and clicking the top. With a slight pinching on his finger tip, Thomas threw the pen aside and squeezed the new pinprick to bring a drop of blood to the surface. With his other hand, he motioned from his finger upward, and the drop of blood floated from his skin into the air. He passed his controlling hand back and forth, keeping the drop of blood in constant motion.

"Jordan, I am 'emokenetic. I can control blood. With it, I can control many aspects of a person - including their pulse. Do you know what the main physical reaction to fear is, Jordan? It's an increased 'eartrate." he said, almost snidely, and threw the blood droplet to the ground. He grabbed the black milk crate only feet away from them, and slid it in Jordan's direction. It was full of long, skinny boxes - each one packaged to be sterile.

"Take your pick. None of them have drugs. But letting me get access to your pulse may allow us to learn more about this problem." he said, stepping closer and glaring at the boy.

"And for the record - I don't give a damn what Mia 'as said. My markers are kick ass."

[Jordan Scholl]

Jordan watched suspiciously as To-ma picked up the pen and used it to draw a bit of his blood. He was backed up almost against the door now, but he stayed in position as he watched the tiny drop of blood floating in the air. He frowned as he listened to the trainer's explanation. As he tried to understand exactly what was being said, the crate of pen-things came sliding over toward him.

Slowly, Jordan shuffled through the collection of pens and finally chose one about halfway down the pile, along the side of the crate. Then he looked at the as-yet unopened box, glancing between it and the trainer.

"So let me get this right," he said slowly, "If I prick my finger with this, then you will have a way to control my blood, which means you can control my pulse." Looking straight at To-ma now, he maintained his frown. "You could stop my heart. Or..." he remembered something he'd seen once on a cartoon, "or you could use me as your puppet, and make me do whatever you wanted! As soon as I use this, you could...you could...and you think it's a good idea for me to just trust you?"

This was completely ignoring one of the other reasons why Jordan was suspicious, namely that even five-year-olds didn't think markers were kick-ass. And only idiots said something bad about Mia in the presence of one of her listening devices. Only idiots didn't know that she had listening devices hidden throughout the whole school. What kind of a trainer was this guy, anyway?

"Look, To-ma, or whatever, I just don't know...this is just..." And he stood pressed against the door. Completely against his will, he felt his legs begin to shiver. Darn it! He wasn't supposed to be scared of a guy who used markers! Why was he letting himself be intimidated here? Frowning, he looked up at the trainer. "You promise you won't kill me or anything? Because my uncles work at the school. And if something goes wrong, they'll find out. They're really smart."