Honing my Attraction {open}

[Naomi Green]

Several metal orbs, most the size of BBs, were floating throughout the training room. In the middle of them, directing them as though she were a conductor and they her orchestra, was a single girl. Her wavy hair had been pulled back into a more serious ponytail, and she'd forsaken her normal classy clothing for something more suited for the gym. Yet Naomi still tried to carry herself well, even when she could feel sweat starting to form upon her brow.

She moved her arm, trying to draw the BBs closer to her, till they were hovering just a few feet from her. An entire ring: BB to BB now. Breathing slowly, Naomi extended her arms, trying to force them wider and wider, while keeping them in the basic ring shape. Five feet. Ten. Twenty. Nearly thirty feet out, the BBs hovered. Then, suddenly, one started to tremor and shake. Then another.

Naomi's arms were starting to wobble too, and she glared at the offending BB. It would not defy her will. Things would go as she wanted. It was a matter of control. She would hone this ability. Now.

The BBs suddenly shot toward Naomi at top speed. She didn't move, simply stood there. Then she directed her hand, forcing them to stop just as they were starting to form around her body, almost forming a pair of BB gloves. but she couldn't hold it. The BBs shot out wildly, scattering across the room, clearly repelled by the girl.

Cursing, Naomi flung her hand down, which had the unfortunate side effect of making several BBs bounce off the floor. Anyone else in the room would likely be hit by the projectiles, especially if they weren't paying attention. Not that Naomi cared. She had her abject failure to worry about.

"Unacceptable," she spat, shaking her head. But was it the damage to other students or the lack of control that bothered her?

[Cole Kessler]

Cole was walking down the training room corridor after he'd finished his power work out. He'd changed out of his sweaty clothes, as was his usual after training and into his normal attire. Three hard strikes to his right arm and leg sent a stinging pain through his nerves. He quickly rubbed the spot on his leg with his hand and the two on his right arm with his left hand, "Ow, shit!" He heard the tapping of metal on the gournd amongst his inhaling through clenched teeth. He'd forgotten how much it hurt when you got hit with a BB, especially at medium to close range of the firing source.

He heard the semi-familiar femal voice above the pitter-patter of more BBs hitting the floor. He walked over to see Naomi in the middle of a BB littered section. Her hair, though the ponytail was removed, was still bunched up behind her head as it slowly tried to unravel itself. A small grin crept across his face as he realized something. She controlled metal, he control electricity. Metal conducted electricity, making for a spectacular light show if the two met either violently or casually.

Cole's newest ability allowed him to control the intensity of the current. He could switch it from small static discharges to a full blown lightning storm. The more he worked out, the more his body became a pure electric conduction engine. "Ya'know," he said as he stepped toward her nonchalantly, "You should be more careful with the BBs, Naomi. Those couldn't put an eye out." He smiled. He wasn't trying to pick on the new-girl, though it would seem that way. He would save his idea until he knew if she would welcome his company, but would still share some words of wisdom, "First mistake, you're too tense. Relax a bit and have faith in yourself. Two? Don't try and puh yourself too far. I did that once and almost killed myself.... All over a woman, too. And three? Calm yourself. Anger won't help any here. And again, trust me on that one."

[Naomi Green]

So, the wayward BBs had connected with one of Naomi's wayward companions. She stared at Kessler as he stepped toward her. It hadn't quite clicked for her yet that she didn't have a bad reputation at this school, didn't have much of a reputation at all. Plus, she'd actually been friendly to Kessler, and part of her still found him and Zac more amusing than threatening.

Naomi raised her hand, and most of the BBs around her formed around it. She arched a brow as she moved her hand slightly, directing them, demonstrating her control over the metal.

"If we don't push ourselves, we'll never expand, never grow. We must continually push against boundaries and create new ones, otherwise we'll grow content, fat and lazy," insisted Naomi. The BBs spread out slightly, and she locked eyes with Kessler, her own gaze almost intense. "Also, your first and your third points are essentially the same."

She raised her hand, watching the BBs swirl around it. Yes, so long as she was dealing with small amounts of metal, her power was relatively impressive. In fact, she knew full well that she could fling the BBs with accuracy, even hit Kessler hard enough to do some minor damage. However, the point here was to train, and he wasn't quite at the level of her wanting to harm him.

Yet.

"Are you here to polish your own power, or do you moonlight as a trainer?"

[Cole Kessler]

"If we don't push ourselves, we'll never expand, never grow. We must continually push against boundaries and create new ones, otherwise we'll grow content, fat and lazy." She insisted the point and Cole took it into consideration.

"True, but if you push yourself too far, you may cause harm to others and to yourself." Cole smiled as he held up his right hand. Placing his thumb and index finger about an inch apart. A small band of electric energy formed between his two extremeties, "I guess they were the same, huh? Whoops. Anyway, I used to think that same way as you, Naomi," Cole explained to her, "then something happened. I used to live by the motto 'Know your limits. Then, break 'em'. That saying got me alot in life, but I worked for every ounce of it." The band of electricity grew brighter, slightly more violent, "All I'm saying is breaking the limit isn't everything. Sometimes the greatest lesson can be learned another way. From merely reaching the limit: a higher level of control is gained."

"I don't shadow as a trainer, but I do know a thing or two about control." He laughed, "Watch this." Cole reached down and grabbed a handfull of BBs, letting them rest in his left palm. He took his right hand and placed it directly on top of his left, palms together. He then turned his hands right side up. Slowly, he pulled them apart. Instead of hearing the prattling off BBs hitting the floor, only the buzzing and crackling of electricity was heard. "Look closely." The BBs were suspended in the current, holding multiple, smaller currents together. The crackling they heard was the occasional clacking of BBs as the switched through the currents.

Cole's voice was normal, unstrained, and strong, "See? Even in the smallest of excercises one can learn something new." Cole said as he clenched his hands, closing off the source of the current. The BBs fell to the floor. "Do me a quick favor? Pick up those BBs again, just as you did earlier, just don't hit me with them."

[Naomi Green]

The lecture grated on Naomi's ever word. The superiority implied, the blatant show of power. It made Naomi want to start shoving BBs into each of Kessler's eyes, just to show how much control she actually had. Lessons, be careful.

"You sound like a self-help manual," said Naomi, her voice icier than normal. She felt like exerting her own control and pulling the BBs away from the electric current, or possibly walking away from the training room altogether. Then again, she'd been here first, and it was a fool who didn't take advice when it was offered, regardless of the source.

Naomi extended a hand, locked eyes with Kessler, and simply focused. Within moments, the BBs were moving toward her, as if she were a giant magnet. This was truer than most would think. Attraction always seemed easier than repulsion, and it was far easier to simply increase the inner magnetism, to focus it upon Naomi herself. Without Kessler's power to draw them close, this came easy. Naomi stood there, the BBs hovering more or less around the extended hand, forming a ring.

She focused a little more, and the BBs twirled slightly, before linking to one another. The end result was a string of BBs dangling from her hand, each magnetized to one another, and the top one magnetized to Naomi's hand.

"Does this work? Or would you rather I extend them into a circle again?" she asked, her tone slightly defiant. While she was willing to listen to the advice, nothing said she couldn't be snarky about doing so.

[Cole Kessler]

Cole laughed as she mentioned a self-help manual, "Yeah, I've heard that before." He chuckled, "Truth is, if I see a friend struggle, no matter how familiar with them I am, I will try to help." He offered a smile. Truly, Cole was probably the most loyal friend anyone could have. He only fought against you if you pissed him off. Playful banter was fine, he and Zac proved that sure enough, but if you insulted his family or his friends you were asking for trouble.

He watched as the small metal spheres floated up from the ground and toward Naomi. He could sense the snarky defiance in her voice as she asked what he wanted her to do. He smiled at the tone. It reminded him of a girl he once knew, long ago. "Honestly," Cole chuckled, "I'd rather them be back out in a circle." He eyed the distance between them, "Circle them around me if you don't mind. This should be fun." He said as he closed his eyes and focused his power.

[Naomi Green]

"A friend?" Naomi wanted to add a "are you mad" to that, but she stopped short. Really, she hadn't done anything overtly destructive since she'd come here. There really hadn't been any real reason to. Instead, she'd socialized with people, practiced her powers, and more or less been a good student. That didn't change what was going on in her brain, of course. It was just that the realization hadn't quite hit her until Kessler had said the word.

She shook it off, forcing herself to focus. She'd never be able to accomplish her goals if she didn't train and practice, and this was an opportunity. There was still the urge to shove BBs into Kessler's soft spot, but it was much dimmer. After all, he was another meta, and one that was friendly. Naomi's true rage was reserved for other cases.

A nod. Then Naomi whipped her hand out. The BBs lashed out as if a whip, before forming a circle around Kessler. Naomi let go of her end, letting the metal balls float around her "friend." Uncertain as to how close he'd wanted them, Naomi kept them within a hands-breath of touching him, simply hovering there. Something like this barely took any concentration at all, especially with Naomi's fine control.

So now she simply looked at Kessler, expectant.

[Cole Kessler]

Cole closed his eyes, "Shhhh....." He said as she spoke, "Simply focus and open your mind." Cole's words gave way to a new level of silence. His body completely relaxed from his head to his toes. A small static field corrupted the air close to his body. His breaths were long and deep. And so he began....

Clenching his hands into fists, he bent his arms at the elbow and widened his stance as if he were readying himself for a fistfight. He relaxed his hands and opened them swaying his arms as if to channel his inner-strength and chi. Really this was just for show, and it made Cole feel kind of cool to do it like this instead of magically forming a burst of electricity.

He repositioned himself again and gently pulled his hands upward. A flash of blue-white hue from the ground made his eyes pop open. Slowly and fashinably, the blue ball of energy rose from the ground. Cole brought his hands under it and rolled it as if he were flattening dough. After a minute of flattening it and rolling it up, he had what looked like a cylindrical tube of energy, yet, it was not solid. Cole had complete manipulation of it and slowly moved it into contact with each other the BBs. After that, he spoke to Naomi, "Alright, next step: Place the BB ring up against a wall of your choosing. Just make sure you stand far enough away from the wall."

[Naomi Green]

Focus and open you mind. Naomi almost rolled her eyes, though she knew full well that this was actually how their powers worked. However, she knew this before Kessler's instructions, and was again half tempted to start bouncing BBs off his head to see if it would make a hollow pinging noise with each contact.

Instead, she focused and let her power take reign. It moved the BBs just about Kessler, and Naomi thought she knew what he wanted. She purposefully moved the BBs within the field at times, directing the magnetic waves as they appeared. What Kessler created wasn't magnetic, not directly, but it was closely related enough that Naomi felt that she could likely manipulate it slightly. Nothing compared to his control, of course, and it wasn't likely that she could do much. But her control generally lent toward such feats. Something to try for later, perhaps.

As such, the BBs moved when Kessler moved them, held in place by Naomi's control. He gave his order. She nodded, feeling like she knew where this was going. Combining powers had occurred to her before, but she hadn't practiced it quite as often as she would have liked. Now seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Though she suspected that Kessler was doing it to show off.

Naomi raised a brow and extended her hand. The ring moved toward the wall, spiraling out. It didn't even wobble until several yards from Naomi, where it almost became erratic enough to be worrisome. One last push shoved the BBs against the wall though, where the inevitable was bound to occur.

[Cole Kessler]

Cole almost spoke as he watched her, but this time he kept silent, even when it looked like she would lose it. A small smile crossed his face as the BBs met the wall. Cole stared at the pattern created by the timy metal orbs, almost invisible against the grey wall of the training room. It reminded him slightly of an optical illusion.

He turned to face the opposite direction, "Your control is good, though slightly inconsistent. You'll get better with time. Hell, maybe better than me controlling my powers." Cole tightened his right hand as it sat at his side. A small grunt escaped his breath as he brought a violent ball of electrical energy to life in his palm. He controted the shape in his head and clenched the bolt in his hand. Cole looked like a young Zeus or Thor holding a lightning bolt in his hand.

He brought it up to gaze upon it with his own eyes. His smile told of his emotional state. The crackling and snapping of the electricity seemed to soothe him. He let it back down and drew in a breath, "Let's see just what we can do here, yeah?" He quickly turned and threw the spear-shaped bolt into the wall, striking the dead-center of the circle.

A laugh and fistpump came forth in celebration as Cole watched the entire spiral lit up as it it were a tesla coil. A bit lightheaded, Cole leaned against the wall and simply stared, contentfully, at their creation. There could be other stuff they could accomplish, but Cole would wait on those ideas. "How's that for a light show?"

[Naomi Green]

"Keep in mind that I'm roughly the same age you are, dedicated master that you are," drawled Naomi, looking at Kessler and raising a brow. "I just happened to have honed my abilities to be far less... flashy than yours."

Though her lack of punch still bothered Naomi greatly. After several years with her powers, she'd expected to be able to do more than she did now. Instead, she had someone more or less her age acting like he was some kind of veteran. What reason could he possibly have for strutting about so? Oh, God, he wasn't flirting, was he? Because he really sucked at it if he was.

Lightning bolt. Grecian pose. Yes, Naomi was fully convinced he was flirting with her now. She watched, a bemused expression on her face, as he flung the bolt across the room. The electrical show was more or less what she'd expected from all this. It also made her slightly curious. Focusing, she jerked her hand slightly. A BB twitched, and the course of the electricity altered slightly as well. Yes, their powers would definitely work well together, and Naomi couldn't help but feel like it was she who was more in control here.

Then again, she couldn't conjure lightning from the air.

"Impressive," she finally allowed. "Though it hardly seems something that one could apply in real life," she looked over at Kessler. "Seems a shame for someone with as much flair and power as yourself would be contained so. At least," she looked back to the arching electricity, which was burning itself out, "that's how it seems to me."

[Cole Kessler]

Cole looked at her, "Contained?" He couldn't help but a mildy evil smile, "I'm contained......," Cole thought about how to put it accurately, "because I choose to be." He told her. Was that the truth? He wasn't even sure if that was an honest answer. Maybe he was afraid to hurt someone. Maybe he was afraid he would lose control. Regardless, the answer he gave her was all he could say about it.

The lighting died down as the electrical current fizzled. Cole could create and manipulate it, sure, but keeping it alive was beyond his control for now. He brought to life another bolt, this time, he merely threw it into the spiral. He could have done it all fancy-like again, but once was enough, he figured.

The bolt died almost as soon as it hit the wall. No light show, no crackling or snapping or popping. What the hell? Cole cursed himself in his mind. The puzzled look on his face telling his thought to the outside world. He threw another, then another, and another once more. Three bolts, no results. He took to the fancy footwork and presentation, yet he still got nothing from his power.

What had happened? Cole looked down at his hands. He'd done everything the same, just as he had before. What had changed that his power would short out and suddenly stop? He didn't the answer, but the answer did lie within him. Had it been Naomi's question? Or had it been Col's answer to said question? A combination, perhaps? Or had Cole just exhausted his "batteries"?

[Naomi Green]

At first Naomi didn't say anything. Kessler asserted that he was controlled because he wanted to be, because it was his choice. If that lie suited him, he could continue with it. Though it seemed as though reality wanted to argue with him. Either that, or his power had suddenly run itself dry, something that struck Naomi as being very unlikely.

It was true that magnetism might be able to effect Kessler's power, possibly even to that degree. However, Naomi wasn't entirely certain how to perform such a feat, at least not yet. No, whatever this was, it was no cause of hers. At least, no cause of her direct actions or her powers manifesting themselves.

"We're contained because they say we must be," said Naomi. She was looking at the circle of BBs. "It's their ruling. This idea that we should control ourselves. Moderation is all well and good, but really, who are we protecting? We can certainly handle ourselves well enough. But really, isn't it the people outside the walls? The very people who are so determined to control and contain us?"

Naomi walked a few paces forward, closing the distance between herself and the BBs. Just as she was drawing close, she extended her hand, and her will. The BBs flew off the wall, arching toward her, till they were spinning in a tight circle. She turned to Kessler, arching a brow.

"I suppose you're not the only one with a flair for the dramatic," she allowed, the edge of her lip curling in a half smile.

[Cole Kessler]

"You say it as if we were given these gifts like they're absolute power....." Cole took in her words and let them soak, a storm brewing inside him. It struck him oddly that what she was saying was remotely true...., even to him. Were they really training them to prtoect themselves or the ones who look at them as "freaks of nature"? Even if he did believe her he could never admit it. And if this powerless crisis continued because of that, he would live with it.

He watched as Naomi took the BBs from the wall, "I guess not." He said in respose to her, "Of course, mine's not really a dramatic flair. It's more like the showmanship edge of me." Cole explained, "Though I will say that I've been told that I'm as reckless as a movie hero." He laughed. It was nice to reflect back on words that his bandmates told him often. Though the thoughts of the good times did nothing to quell the storm within his heart. Something wasn't right inside Cole's mind. His power didn't just run itself out. Perhaps Naomi could help him resolve the issue, but Cole wouldn't dare ask.

[Naomi Green]

Naomi allowed herself the smallest of smirks at Kessler's comment. Perhaps they had, or perhaps she'd just wanted him to think that. He thought about it now though, and the seed had been planted in that little comment. Enough for the moment. Besides, Naomi was finding that she was, yet again, enjoying herself. Likely it was being in the company of another meta, even one as different from she as Kessler.

Or maybe they were more similar than Naomi thought.

"You fire lightning from your fingertips," said Naomi, her voice slightly teasing, seeming to match the raised brow perfectly. "If that's not dramatic, then I'm not sure what is."

She paused, staring at him as he laughed and seemed abashed. Like a movie star hero? Naomi could see that. "You have the look of a movie hero about you," she agreed. "Though you really should be careful about entertaining beautiful, mysterious women. Especially foreign types with accents."

Naomi drew out the word "accents," letting it seem particularly "British,' even clipping her tongue against her teeth. She raised her hand, palm up, and gathered all the BBs to rest there, circled against her. Being magnet. So very wonderful.

"Is your power still not working? I assure you, I'm not doing anything to you," right now at any rate. "You didn't waste all your juice on that single burst, did you? If so, I feel sorry for your girlfriend."