Chaos (Open)

[Lani Hunter]

The strength of the emotions was starting to twist Lani’s mind he was starting to wonder if sanity was really going missing. Things were exponentially better, now that he had been swatted, talked at, and scolded into lifting himself up again. He was very glad that he had friends who were willing to not let him get away with wallowing in self pity or else he might still be there. Lani was starting to learn how to deal with being honest not only with other people but with himself. He was also coming to terms with the fact that he was never going to stop stealing. This freedom had solidified that idea. Now he was free to feel the excitement of reaping all of the benefits of a heist. All the money went to him and on top of that he didn’t have to do anything. He found a buyer who wanted something and went after it. The adrenaline was a rush and Lani loved it.

What he did not love was the fact that his sister had to struggle with a power as well. Caroline should have been able to live her life normally. But oh well, he could curse the universe all he wanted and that would not change. But the emotions were tearing his power all around and it was getting very dangerous thinking that anything could set off his explosive power. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He felt like a new person, like the embers he had been reduced to had again taken flame. Lani had something to fix now. He had projects; he didn’t have to wallow anymore because his hands were no longer idle. Now he was set to work on another project. His power. Odion had told him not too long ago, though it felt like eons, that his power and himself were the same. So perhaps if he understood his power he would understand himself.

Still in the hoodie turned safety blanket Lani made his way to the training room. He hadn’t bothered to reserve one, so he only hoped that someone wouldn’t come in hoping to use one. Unlocking the door with a touch of his hand on the knob and a reach from his power he slipped inside hitting the lights with his hand. Closing the door behind himself Lani moved into the middle of the room looking around. Nothing too heavy, he was looking for control not power. For good measure he back pedaled and locked the door. It would not do for someone unaware to walk in on this. Because Lani was going to intentionally lose control and see what he learned from it. Lani again moved into the middle of the room where he settled onto the floor and struggled to free his thoughts and his power from the shackles he had placed over them.

He took several deep breaths and closing his eyes he did what he hadn’t done since his power first appeared. He let down all of the walls and let go. His power spread out in a million directions and within an instant Lani had a perfect picture of the room in his head but unleashed and full of all of the frustration, the anger, the sadness that he had been burdened with the last week everything started moving. It was utter chaos. Things flew in all directions and Lani gritted his teeth. He felt it, he felt the anger in his power, he felt the sadness, and the frustration but he also felt the confusion, the fear and the avoidance of everything. He looked inward and the more he pried into himself and forced himself to react to the truths he had realized about himself recently the power went all the more wild. His power rattled the door and it tugged at the bricks, which thankfully held. The beams overhead shook and things broke into shards against the wall. And still Lani dug deeper. He needed to understand himself. He was a thief, using his power to steal. He was not a bad person but he wasn’t good either.

Lani’s head started to ache but still he pushed further. He didn’t trust people but he didn’t trust himself either. He though who he was but now he was really learning. He got down to the depths of his heart and the chaos went insane. Things smashed into walls and things shattered. But Lani was unaware of these outward things because he was digging into his torn and tattered heart looking for answers that the metaphorical organ didn’t have. But he did find something that surprised him it was strange and unfamiliar and it was connected to the people he loved. The desire to protect them was strong but it was what was under it that surprised him and actually knocked him out of his internal search. He was protecting others because it was a way to avoid himself. Why had he never seen that before? He was always running away. Always. He opened his eyes and the wreckage terrified him and he pulled is power back under control with a strong pull. It backlashed and Lani felt like his head had been hit with a board. Things rained from the air and shattered on the ground and Lani just fell back his hands going over his eyes as the pain in his skull seemed to want to explode out his eyes. He didn’t even car that the door was blasted half open nor that he had made a mess of the room. He only cared that his head was about to explode. With shaking fingers he reached into his pocket and poured pills into his mouth and waited for the pain to subside.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow was struggling with being at Hammel. She hated having powers, but what she hated more, was having powers she couldn’t control very well. It wasn’t like she couldn’t control it either. Her powers could mimic other powers if she spent enough time around a person. If she fell, her skin would toughen at that spot in order to protect her. It was like her power was the ultimate survival weapon. Learn how to be the fittest, the toughest, and get through it. But she couldn’t learn these things without first having to go through them and fail – this didn’t jive with her perfectionist nature. But she couldn’t blame her hardships solely on her powers, no, not when she was emotionally unstable. She was never perfect enough, could never get things right in her own eyes.

Lately she’s been stuck in her dorm room, just another reason to really love her powers. Who didn’t love unbearable headaches after all? With an IQ level reaching far beyond her physical age, Willow was often bed ridden from over exerting her powers and learning far too much all at once. Today she was in her bed reading about the inner workings of the mind. Maybe if she knew more about that, then she would then be able to control how fast she learned and adapted to things. But this only seemed to spur on another headache. Her trainer had urged her not to train so much, something he told her he often didn’t say to students. She was a fine pupil, eager and willing, but she pushed herself too hard and was only hurting herself. But she just had to know more and more. How else would she find perfection?

Being a loner was something that just happened for her. No one would like someone with a strange desire to know everything. And for someone that knew so much, still had an eating disorder. Willow found herself an anomaly among meta humans. And that was saying something. She felt no one understood her, and even if they tried they would be unsuccessful. So she would only try harder and therefore further herself from her classmates.

Willow didn’t find herself pretty in any sense of the word. She didn’t really try because she really didn’t want to. Let people see her long frizzy brown hair and make of it what they will. But that wouldn’t stop her from reaching that perfection of knowing everything. Because maybe if she knew everything, then her powers would stop being so unbearable. If she knew everything, every thought every sensation, every language, then there would be nothing to adapt to ever again. Experience everything now and then, be normal. It made sense to her and she didn’t see why it wouldn’t work. But as she passed one of the training rooms, she had to pause. Now this kind of training was impressive. There was a boy in the middle of the room, and things within were going berserk. She was sympathetic because even though she could never do what he was doing with her mind, that’s what the inside of her brain often felt like.

The door pushed open and she yelped. It scraped over her foot and she held back a scream. Her power had taken over, rushing to heal her body. And it would be healed, the skin forever harder than the rest of her. She peeked inside the room. Everything was a mess. Things were broken and shattered, and yet, the boy seemed the worst off. He inhaled something she assumed to be medicine and tried leaving. She stepped backwards onto something that cracked under her weight. A piece of glass must’ve made its way into the hall after the door had been opened. Willow glanced down, wishing she wouldn’t have given herself away. No one needed a spy while they trained. She paused, knowing she had been caught and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Was that on purpose?” She asked in a soft, timid voice. Her shy nature made her curious but hesitant to approach people. Especially a boy with the power to fling her through mid air using only his mind. She hoped he wouldn’t hurt her.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s head swam and he would honestly have been completely fine if he just slept right here on the floor for the next few days. He should have been more careful and he knew that. His trainers words rang in his head. ‘You can’t let go of a lot of power and suck it all in or it will backlash, and you’ll give yourself a nasty reaction headache, well a nastier one. But by all means if it’s between that and hurting someone pull it all in.’ Lani mouthed these words now and growled. His trainer had him getting reaction headaches just from having to listen to that over and over again. The man didn’t seem to understand that monotony bored Lani and sometimes he deviated from the task and his focus slipped because he was bored with doing the same thing over and over again. He sighed and closed his eyes waiting for the pounding to go away. His trainer did have a point. This was a nasty headache.

Taking a breath in and out trying to calm his mind as it whirred from the sucked in power. His power was still fighting his bonds after having been so free and the emotions that it suppressed with it were those that were freshly sore from being prodded at in a failed attempt at the user to understand himself. Lani’s sharp ears heard the glass snap and his eyes snapped open with it. Instinct took over and he was on his feet facing the door before he realized that standing so fast was a bad idea. His head swam and for a moment it looked like the world had all blurred together in a kaleidoscope of color. Lani held his head with one hand until his eyes were able to focus on the woman standing in the doorway. He winced a little wondering how much of that she had seen. Wouldn’t that be great? Hello, I’m a crazy telekinetic with a power attached to my crazy. Great first impression, Lani.

He took her in for a moment; she was one of those people that would blend into a crowd. He could tell she was younger but not by how much. She was very pretty in her own way, not in the way that Adrianna was beautiful, but still pretty. Lani realized he was glaring at the idea of being disturbed so soon after he had just rooted through his own mind and come up with only more questions. Upon this realization Lani blinked and his glare was gone though there was no humor in his eyes, he was just neutral. Which was good because the less emotion he showed the less he could imagine he felt and the less he would have to fight his power. He blinked hard as his eyes became unfocused again. The medicine was taking a while to kick in and his brows creased with pain. This was why when Lani used his power he focused. Because this happened when he was unfocused.

Her voice was soft and shy and Lani wondered if she hadn’t made a sound if she would have slipped away without him ever knowing. Lani flushed a little and wondered if she mean his power going crazy or blasting the door open. “Kind of,” he said with a shrug, “I guess it depends on your definition of purpose.” He winced a little as he read between the lines. He honestly wouldn’t hurt her even if he really wanted to. He had gotten caught in that trap a few weeks ago and he hated what the bloodlust was doing to him. Lani’s rage was internal and focused inward, he couldn’t take that out on other people. Lani had seen the result of the pain that he had caused and he never wanted that to happen again. He gave a smile which he hoped was comforting, “Don’t worry, I won’t throw you.” Honestly right now he didn’t think he could if he tried, he was so tired.

He gulped and turned away to look around the room. What if it had been Caroline who had seen this and not some stranger? Caroline would recognize him and the emotions and might have tried to help. He should have been more careful. He made a mental note to only let himself go insane when people were asleep. He searched the room and ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. Walking to the corner he stooped to pick up half of the broom, and looking he found the other half wedged into the corner. He tossed the broom down and looked around the room. “Well this sucks,” he said aloud not really to anyone in particular.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow’s breath caught in her throat as the older boy spun to face her. She didn’t like confrontation. She knew she only held her ground because she wanted to make sure he was okay. Also, she was curious. Maybe if she had been able to make a noiseless getaway she wouldn’t be so curious. But it was too late now. Her eyes widened as she watched him, wondering if she should set foot in the training room at all. If he was crazy for his performance, than she was crazy for sticking around to watch it. Everyone was a little crazy. Fear paralyzed her to the spot.

Beauty wasn’t something she was worried about. Her sister Juniper had told her that all kinds of guys thought she was pretty, but Willow didn’t believe her, mostly because she thought she would’ve picked up on something like that. And she didn’t try to be pretty like most girls, so how could someone be pretty if they didn’t seek it out? It just didn’t make sense to her. She really did hope this boy was alright though. Maybe he was someone who could be sympathetic towards her powers. She was so tired of people complaining about their minor headaches. They couldn’t begin to understand the meaning of the word pain.

“Purpose,” she restated, “was it your intent to make everything fly everywhere.” Willow already knew he hadn’t meant to hurt her, but she was still pretty shaken. First she had witnessed his insane power and now she had been caught doing it. She had reverted back into her knowledge, but wasn’t willing to leave just yet. She had to make sure he was alright. “Okay,” she said, believing him and his half hearted smile. “But you’ll be fine too, right?” Looks could be deceiving. Had she met him in any other circumstance, she wouldn’t think he had that in him.

Stepping into the wreckage after he moved into the corner, Willow surveyed things mouth slightly agape. Weren’t they supposed to have more, uh, stable rooms? “Your telekinesis is impressive, I’ve read about it.” Her eyes landed on him, blinking a couple times. Was he really not going to throw her? There were a lot of broken things, but she had seen worse. “Almost like a tornado...” She said. Willow loved weather; maybe that was another reason why she was so drawn in at the moment. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. Judging by the look on his face, he hadn’t been trying to make this mess though. “What were you trying to do?” She asked, curious.

[Lani Hunter]

Headaches were something that was a constant in life for about half the people here. It ranged, yes but Lani would give anything for his mind to be quiet for once. Not everyone had a beast ranging in their head twenty four seven. But some people had powers that were just as much nuisances. At least telekinesis was some form of conscious control. Well, kind of. At least it wasn’t like his power just did, most of the time he could feel when it was doing something and if he didn’t use it a lot, like today, the headaches were mostly bearable with medication. He didn’t know what he would do if he had something that he had all the time. At least he could hide his power most of the time. So long as he was calm and focused on what he was doing that is. That nagging curiosity drew him to wonder what the woman’s power was.

“Ah,” Lani said with a half hearted laugh, “Yes… and no. I mean I knew things were going to fly everywhere but I didn’t realize…” He simply gestured around the training room as if unable to come up with the right word to describe it. He had chosen this room on purpose too, it had a lot of stuff, it wasn’t usually one they let him in, and he was willing to bet that this was the reason for that. And here was another reason Lani didn’t let his power go. Sure he could toss cars if he did and create frightening tornadoes but he didn’t like that he could. He hated that he had this type of power. It was too much for one person. His head felt heavy and he blinked looking back up at the girl. He pulled on his strong mask and smiled at her hiding the pain rather well. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Are you going to be alright?” He countered, she looked rather shaken.

Lani listened as she entered the room and spoke. He didn’t look at her as he examined the remains of the broom. “You can have it if you want,” Lani said dryly before tossing a grin over his shoulder at her. “But thank you.” He really should be polite. His headache was making him rather grouchy and he had to be careful about taking that out on the poor soul who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. “What’s your power?” He asked dropping the broom and reaching up to pull the wood out of the wall. He frowned and found he had to tug on it to get it unstuck. He looked over at her started by her observation. A tornado? Lani smiled a little. “Tornadoes are far more impressive than this.” Lani had to admit that he would be one of those people stuck still watching in awe as imminent doom approached.

Ok well, now that the broom was snapped in half how was he supposed to get this room clean of glass. They would not be happy if he just left a mess of broken glass all over the floor. Not to mention that Lani would feel very bad if someone got glass in their foot because he was too lazy to clean up. Lani refused to use his power now; it would just hurt too much. “Um…” Lani said to give himself a little more time to think of an answer. “I was trying to understand. I thought maybe if I let it all go it might give me some answers.” Not completely true, not completely false but about as much as he was going to supply her with. Needlessly to say he was not going to give his power full reign at any point in the future. With a sigh he went over and righted the stool that had originally been in the corner and he set to examine things on the ground to see if they were still whole or not. There were thankful not too many less of the former than the latter it seemed.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow wasn’t so lucky. If she was around something new, whether it be a person or an experience, her power reacted. She kind of thought of it as having a strange extra layer of skin. Unless she planned on staying in bed for the rest of her life, headaches were going to sneak up on her at every chance they got. It wasn’t a conscious thing, it just happened. Her power was just there. Like the need to breathe, her power reacted. It wasn’t explosive on anyone but herself, a kind of armour that she wished she could take off once in a while. Maybe that would explain why she was such a control freak, and felt the need to control her eating habits as a way of having control over something. It wasn’t her emotions that drove her power, and she could cry all she wanted and it would still exist. It was just something she had to deal with, and information overload was one of those things.

Shyness wasn’t really what she felt around others. Just a really strong dislike and distrust, especially from males. But it wasn’t that which intrigued her. It could’ve been a woman with the same abilities. But the boy seemed nice enough, despite his powers being quite the opposite. “The door went over my foot,” she crouched to examine it. She touched it and felt no pain, only the annoying sensation of being poked. “Seems fine though,” she announced, in case he really did care about her wellbeing. “The way you were making things fly around, that was a bit... frightening.” She admitted with a nod of her head.

Willow smiled. Just the other day she was trying to get someone to trade powers with her. Weather manipulation was much better than the power she’d been given. She kicked at a broken light cover and glanced at him. “Reactive adaptation,” she said, seeing as she had nothing to hide. Powers were a common thing around here after all. “I know,” she agreed, a small smile still hovering on the corner of her lips, “I said almost.” Her eyes lit up from the subject of weather. “Have you ever seen a tornado?” She hadn’t personally, but she’d looked them up online. Tornado simulators were pathetic though.

“Trying to understand what? Gravity?” She asked in all seriousness. This boy was speaking in riddles, and Willow happened to like riddles. “Maybe you’re not letting it go far enough,” she said obliquely, unsure of what she even meant by that. But often answers were found in things that didn’t make sense to begin with. Willow went to a door within the room and opened it, a few cleaning supplies within. “This is going to take some time to clean up,” she said, taking out a big, janitor’s broom and a garbage bag. She wasn’t going to ask if he needed help, she was just going to. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do anyways.

“You don’t like having telekinesis, do you?” She asked, filling the trash bag with the bigger bits lying about. The mess wasn’t as bad as he thought it was.

[Lani Hunter]

That would be unfortunate, because new things were being discovered every day and new things were happening every day. Every day was new; it brought new people, new places, and new things. Every day, that would drive him crazy. Telekinesis was great, if Lani didn’t want to use it for a day, well it might get upset, but he could. But on the up side, learning things came easy and so understanding and knowledge could make a person go far with such a power. Lani would be so happy if he could do something worthwhile, someone who could learn could also create, and new things would be created by the hands of the learner. If Lani knew she had an eating disorder he might just make it his business to bother her and get her on track. But then again, that would be sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. Oh what the hell would Lani care about that? He was never one for boundaries, hadn’t he chased Odion around with a loaf of bread one time?

Lani winced. “I’m so sorry! Are you ok?” His brow came together again this time not in pain but in concern. He approached her so he could sneak a peek as she examined it. “Are you sure?” He fretted looking at it and actually surprised that there wasn’t a larger mark over her foot. “Do you need to go to the infirmary or anything?” Lani backed up a step giving her her space when she said it had been frightening. He sighed and looked down at his feet for a moment. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s not normally like that, I promise.” He smiled hoping to assure her that he was not as scary as his power looked.

Reactive Adaptation? Lani hadn’t heard that one before, he wondered if it was rare. It wasn’t like telekinesis, everyone had heard of that but this was something new and Lani’s eyes sparked with interest. What kind of stuff did her power do? Did it prevent her from being hurt? Would it prevent her from starving or drowning? Lani raised his hand a little. “Alright, I have a stupid question,” he warned, “But can you adapt to things like water? Like would you grow gills or something?” Lani would kill for that, perhaps he would finally not be afraid of water if it couldn’t kill him. Or at least drown him. Lani grinned along with her and his smile grew as her eyes lit up. Was it possible? Another physics nerd? He shook his head, “Only on TV. I think it would be so cool to see one though. Scary as hell, but very cool. Have you ever seen one?” Vermont wasn’t really known for tornado outbreaks but it had happened before.

Lani looked at her surprised that she was pressing on with questions. “Among other things,” he said, “Understanding the physics is easy, I was trying to understand the base. But I don’t think I even found it.” Digging into the mind was a terrifying thing and Lani didn’t wish to repeat it in the very near future but he did want to reexamine his mind if he got the chance. There were answers there he just knew it. If he could look at his power he could know himself better and perhaps if he stopped running from himself he could control his power better. Lani’s smile brightened as she went to the closet, thankfully the things inside had been safe. Lani followed her and took the large broom and started sweeping. She was an angel, without even having asked she was picking up larger things. Lani swept careful to check larger pieces to see if they survived. It was kind of nice doing plain manual labor. No mind craziness involved.

He looked up at her and shrugged. “You could say that. Sometimes it is awfully useful but mostly it’s just a pain.” It was too much power. He would have probably liked it better if his power was weaker. He looked at her watching her as he continued to sweep. “I take it you don’t like your adaptability very much, either?” He asked watching her. She didn’t seem like the kind of person to be completely joyous of her power.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow considered once that maybe she was crazy. But then she would have to admit to that, and being crazy seemed like it was overused. Perhaps she could be crazy, but it would just have to be another facet of her personality, it seemed much better than way. It was a part of her then just like her power was. Simple, in theory. Willow was quite skilled in many things, and since she was so young, everything was new to her. Just another reason to avoid falling in love with someone, for once she felt it, could she ever feel that way about someone again? Ugh, never mind that, that involved trust and feelings, and really, she had enough to deal with.

No one knew of her eating disorder, not ever her closest friend and family member, sister Juniper. Just another element to add to the crazy.

“I’m alright now,” she said, not trying to make him worry. Willow reddened as he neared, wishing she was upright so she could take a few steps away from him. She didn’t need his help. The shoe slumped where it had been run over, but her foot was just fine. “Really, it’s not that bad,” she twirled it around, the joint spinning at the ankle, “see?” Just another “perk” of her power. “I didn’t have to see it, I was just going for a walk and you were training so I thought it’d take a peek.” Curiosity always managed to kill the cat. Willow smiled back a bit. Nothing ventured nothing gained, but still, he was a bit intimidating. Promises were meant to be broken.

Willow looked around nervously. Most people didn’t ask about her power, they just nodded and then talked about their own. “That’s the idea, but I haven’t tested that out exactly...” It wasn’t a stupid question, she just hadn’t expected any questioning at all. She shook her head. “No, I haven’t either. I’m still trying to find a weather manipulator and convince them to make one for me.” That’d be the best birthday present ever.

“Are you taking physics?” She asked. The subject was fascinating to her, but the projects were the fun part. Willow had asked to build a projectile this year. It would be fun, being so young and in a senior class. She didn’t like being singled out as the geeky kid, but she wanted to do something that held her attention, where she didn’t have to feel her brain cells go numb from boredom. The base of what though? His power? Powers were impossible to understand, she had tried, and every day something new baffled her own power. Trying to understand it might cancel it out completely, but she hadn’t figured out how to do that yet.

“Pain,” she repeated with a nod. Everything seemed to be attached to pain somehow, be it powers or life in general. It was cruel cruel fate, to be cursed with something terribly powerful, and yet, not know how to make it good. Her eyebrows furrowed, wincing as a blade of glass cut into her fingertips. They bled for a few seconds, and she watched with curiosity as she healed almost instantly. She wiped the excess over her shorts and carried on. “I don’t like it ninety eight percent of the time,” she said, “I can’t ever turn it off, and I’m always reacting to things in different ways, constantly learning. I can’t stop until it burns out,” she said. With an IQ of 150, eventually one had to have a day of bed rest to recuperate. If she could switch powers with him, she would. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel so small an insignificant. She could be as big as the display she just saw.

[Lani Hunter]

It seemed like most of humanity was an anomaly of some sort but it was when one found people who shared those differences that friendships really bloomed. Such things could be interests or hobbies or a bad habit of some people to steal from people. So perhaps insanity was something that made everyone in the world connected in some way shape or form. It was just that there were some who were more crazy than others, but those were generally those that were committed. Though how many of them really were insane, for a person who was in such a place who declared themselves sane was more likely than not to be assumed even more insane that was originally believed. It was as if being inside forfeited any ability to take care of oneself.

Lani smiled relieved and drew a breath finally. It didn’t change the fact that she had been hurt. The point was that it never should have happened. He took a step back and watched as she spun. “If you say so,” Lani said clearly not fully convinced, but he was willing to let it go. “Oh,” Lani uttered lamely blinking and flushing. He scratched his head and a laugh drew from his throat. That was great, there really was no privacy at this place was there? In all honesty he would have done the same thing. “Well, I’m sorry I ran the door over your foot and frightened you.” He raised a hand as if in a swear, “But I don’t want you to be frightened of me.” He almost pleaded that last part. It hurt worse than anything else to know that he frightened people, it wasn’t really that farfetched but Lani still didn’t like it.

Though he would admit that being frightening did have its perks sometimes. Usually, if people who knew his power saw him in a gloomy mood they steered clear. Lani would never intentionally hurt someone, well, save for a few people who had been asking for it anyone. And if someone pushed the telekinetic too far he pulled all strings and made himself the victor even if it was sticking someone to the ground while he make a quick jab and escape. Lani looked at her curiously as she looked around as if she was checking her back. She seemed nervous but he wasn’t sure if that was his fault anymore or not. “That would be cool,” he said with a grin, “What about cold and heat? Sorry, I’m being nosy.” He laughed at himself. His eyes brightened, “Well I know who to call for a storm chasing trip.” He gave her a wink, “Let me know if you ever succeed with that.”

Lani nodded, “Are you?” He hardly went, he just read the book and went for labs. Projects and labs were fun, the class… well there were only so many time he could sit through a lecture with someone droning on and on about the math. “I have to admit that I love making my teacher’s demonstrations go against physics.” He laughed recalling when the man was going over gravity and he had stopped the marker from falling. The man’s face had been so confused and the class had been laughing hard. Lani had gotten detention but he had yet to attend it.

Her answer wasn’t unexpected. Powers generally were for the most part in Lani’s opinion. With the occasional perks. He leaned on the broom for a moment to see if she would elaborate. When she didn’t immediately do so he went on sweeping, there was a lot of stuff piled in front of the broom now so Lani started a piled and paced across the room to start pushing that stuff closer to the pile. She started speaking again and Lani glanced at her before he went back to his work. He smiled a little and nodded as he listened. “Sometimes it’s gotta be useful, like today, your foot is ok because of your power.” He shrugged. He didn’t like the idea that she might burn out, that didn’t seem like a day to want to look forward to. Though Lani did have to admit that sometimes overusing his power to death would sometimes be preferable to the headaches like the one he had now. At least all of the medication had gotten it down to a dull pounding. “But, your possibilities are unlimited, you could literally do whatever it is that you wanted.” Lani said trying to steer her toward the brighter side of the coin.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow had just finished the second installment of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ series, and found it quite interesting. It portrayed someone who had been labelled insane by society, completely sane in reality. So then, what was reality? What the author provided, or what the reader made of it? People were constantly being watched by others – so who was right? And did that matter? Willy grappled with these questions all the time, they were mind boggling and infuriating, but yet also calming. It gave her brain something to do when she had to sit in bed all day sometimes.

“You don’t trust me?” She asked, slipping her shoe off, her bare foot completely unharmed. “Comes with the territory of my power. My skin adapts to what I put it through.” In other words, she was a walking human shield. It was similar to the gill question. Willow smiled a bit. “It’s alright, I’m sure those weren’t your intentions.” He didn’t seem so bad, not now that she had had a closer look. But she was happy to not be a light bulb within his reach a few seconds ago. “Is that why you don’t like your power?” She asked. “You aren’t scary, but what you’re capable of is. But, everyone has that potential, you just show it in an extreme way.” Some people scared others with words, still others with power. The difference lied in one’s worst fear.

Cool, yes. Hopefully she wouldn’t be in a position of having to breathe underwater to save her life. Like the ice breaking underneath her and then proceeding to be stuck underneath. It made her shiver. “No you’re right, that’s the idea,” she said, fidgeting on the spot. She liked getting to know other people, other things, why did she have to be interesting to others in return? She gave Lani a blank look after he winked at her, before glancing away. What was that kind of behaviour called again? Her sister had talked about it once, but she wasn’t paying attention. She had been too busy staring at the clouds. “Strom chasing trip?” It sounded too good to be true.

Willow’s brain went into overdrive. “I am,” she said. That’s why he looked so familiar then. She’d seen him every once in a while, though lately he hadn’t been showing up. Actually, he rarely ever showed up to class. What? She had to focus on something other than what the teacher was saying when she already knew what was going on. “You’re in the senior class then, well, as much as I’ve seen you in it you are.” But wait, didn’t that mean he had graduated? Hmm, maybe he stayed back from his power? Willy tried to ignore her power, but it just kept digging. It wanted to know as much as she did. She managed a laugh that sounded strangely like a squeak. “That was pretty amusing. All a part of the perks of being a wallflower.”

“True,” she agreed, “but if it weren’t for my power, would I still be as interested in everything?” Yes, everything. Willow found everything fascinating until she figured it out. It wasn’t that it wasn’t useful, but maybe sometimes... “I just wanna be normal sometimes,” she said in a mumbling voice. Willow hadn’t meant burn out completely – she just meant sometimes it was nice to stay in bed all day if she needed to. Well, she didn’t really like doing it, but it was a nice break. “I can even replicate powers, but I’m not there yet,” she said at the mention of so many possibilities. “But I’m,” she looked down at herself, “small.” It wasn’t about the bright side, it was about what she thought was reality.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani bit his lip and did his best to ignore the underlying message in her question. She didn’t know, she couldn’t know. So Lani did his best not to react to that and he smiled in his mask covering the conflict in his mind expertly. It was an innocent question and Lani took that moment to look at her foot and seeing that she was indeed right and that there wasn’t even a mark on it. “Huh,” Lani uttered in surprise. Well that was useful. Lani smiled back, this woman was gracious, he was very glad that she had stumbled upon him and not someone who was more unsympathetic, like security. He nodded slowly, he should be more careful about what he said. Oh well, who really cared. “I guess you could say that,” he finally answered after contemplating how to, “It’s more accidental than anything else when it does do something crazy. So…” He shrugged in conclusion. It was terrible, when that did happen they would be very understanding but he could see it in their eyes that hidden light of fear.

She was fidgeting, Lani was asking too many questions. That was clear as day. He scolded himself with a thought. “That’s very useful, though I can imagine that going out of your way to try it would be unpleasant.” Her expression when he winked at her left him a little deflated. Well, apparently not everyone was up on Lani’s sense of humor, he was spoiled that both Adrianna and Odion but up with it. Or perhaps flirting was a better word, but he didn’t think he was flirting with a stranger, just joking. Though he could honestly not speak very well for the other two. Lani nodded enthusiastically, “If you can’t get a weather manipulator to make on here, it’s best to go where they happen often.” Maybe he could drag Odion along and Adrianna. Though it would probably terrify Adrianna. This poor girl probably didn’t realize how seriously Lani was thinking about this.

Lani beamed at the girl. “That’s awesome!” Lani’s mind grumbled at him and the ache throbbed. His heart felt like it was put together with strings wrapped around it to keep it together but it wasn’t yet whole. He was glad that he was having a pleasant exchange after what he had just seen in his own heart. But if he wanted to understand his power he had to understand himself, at least that was Odion’s theory. Lani blinked at her and his mind was called back to the present, he was not going to let it bring him down. He laughed and scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, it’s kinda hard to pay attention when your power is essentially physics. Or anti-physics. But yeah… I’m uh… I guess you could call me a super senior.” Yep, year five and potentially counting. Lani couldn’t help it, when she laughed he almost lost his marbles. It was such a sharp and sudden sound, he had to hide his giggles behind his hand. “Oh you remember that?” Lani asked a sly grin on his face, but who was the wallflower? “Hey, I’m Lani by the way,” he added suddenly realizing he didn’t remember her name from class. He extended his hand across the broom.

That was an interesting question. Lani simply shrugged because he didn’t have an answer. Not even close to one. He didn’t know the girl well enough to answer one way or another and though he was in the process of analyzing her he had yet to deduce anything that would lead him to such an answer. “Hmmm,” Lani hummed in agreement, “Don’t we all?” Now he looked at her fascinated. She could mimic other powers? That was amazing! Lani’s mind was already working through something before he even knew it. “Wait… so are you saying that you could learn to be a telekinetic?” Lani was looking at her his bright eyes hiding a mixture of suspicion and hope.

Lani laughed, he couldn’t help it. “Since when does size put a limit on what you can and cannot do?” He raised his brows at her as he waited for her answer. That was always frustrating, when people thought they couldn’t do something because they were too small. Well, maybe he should get this girl to talk to Shapiro, Shapiro would show her a little something about strong things in small packages. Lani pushed the broom around absently creating a rather sad looking pile of broken glass and bent objects. Yeah he was going to be in trouble for this… Unless they finished cleaning and no one ever found out. It could have been anyone…

[Willow Birdsong]

“So you wanted to see how crazy it could get because you wanted it to,” she said with a nod. “Makes sense.” He seemed older than her anyways. It was probably high time he checked out just what he was capable of. He seemed a little wary of her. “I don’t mean to ask so many questions, it just happens sometimes.” Whether he cared about her explanation or not didn’t matter. Sometimes she needed to justify things for herself, regardless of who was around her. Plus, she wanted to be herself, though she did worry most people wouldn’t like who she was. But she wasn’t sorry for it, just, well, she was often wary of herself sometimes. “You probably get asked questions a lot,” she offered. Usually she didn’t like guys, but this one, he seemed alright. For now.

Well it was only fair. She was asking her share of questions too, and he seemed to reply quite easily. Then again, Willow wasn’t always the best judge of character. She read about people, studied them that way, but as far as actual social interaction, she preferred her books. Will had no sense of humor. It was truly lost on her. Comedy seemed like a waste of time, and nothing could be learned from it other than people had nothing better to do. “I don’t know how I’d get to a region with tornadoes,” she said honestly. Well she knew how, but she didn’t have the means. Her mother didn’t have the funds, and she certainly didn’t. Maybe she could learn to fly… Now that, that would be a power worth having and brag about. Soon, she would learn to replicate powers.

Willow smiled a bit. She liked him. “I’m Willow, I think we’re in the same classes, other than physics,” she said, shaking his hand. Her grip was stronger than she meant it to be, since she didn’t want to come off as strange and unable to give a proper handshake, which were meant to be inviting and business like. It would be nice, to know someone at least a little bit. If only roll call was done in high school as well, she might know his name before he announced it. She flushed after laughing. Why must fate do this to her? People, people just weren’t her strong suit. She couldn’t charm or lie her way out of anything. It was better just to tell the truth, tell it how it is, and if people got offended, you ran.

“Maybe, but your power would be complicated, and I would have to study it for a long time, and use it only because it would be in my defense.” She knew the mechanics of it, but doing it was another thing. She wasn’t afraid, she was just putting it off. How many more days spent in her bed all alone would she have to endure? How much of life would be her power trying to gain. If she had a different personality, one that wanted everything, she might find her power more useful. As it was, she just wanted to be left alone. She wanted to run away and live like a hermit and never be bothered. No one understood her, and no one would. But she couldn’t because she would miss her family too much. And she couldn’t be abandoned by them either. It would kill her.

Willow shrugged. “I don’t see the difference it would make, when I don’t want to make a huge difference. I want things to feel normal, I don’t always want to conquer everything. I want some things to remain a mystery.” Like love. Couldn’t it just be, instead it was a matter of feelings and choices, and it just became another equation. Love was formulaic, and so sought after, it made Willow depressed. The things she felt became nothing after she felt them, she just got used to things right away. Now was that to protect her, or infuriate her?

Tying up the now full garbage bag, she went back to the closet to get another one. Life, was formulaic. “You have a girlfriend right?” She asked. Adrianna. She was a sweet girl, and Willow had seen her studying quite a bit. Now that girl, she would love Willow’s power. It turned school into a joke and every test easy. She only asked because she thought she had seen them hanging outside in the courtyard once or twice from her dormitory window. No, the hard thing about this power, was it’s unruliness. Willow, didn’t know how to have fun.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani paused to consider her assessment. After a moment he shrugged offering her a nod, sure he could accept that. Lani looked at her as if she were crazy and laughed, “You’d be right. So don’t worry, I don’t mind.” Well, most of the time, if it got really annoying Lani made sure to let whomever it was know. “I know how that is,” he nodded a little his mind backtracking. “Sometimes you just can’t help yourself. And now that we’re even I would say.” They were both curious creatures it seemed, it only made sense that her power was learning. It was so basic and yet so complex, it was like frozen water, it was so simple in its organization and yet it could create forms that were beautiful and intricate. So complex but the reality of it was so simple it was amazing.

It really seemed like Lani needed to teach this girl a little something about humor. He contemplated a prank he could pull but decided against it with a shake of his head. Now was not the time. She seemed awkward and a little out of place in conversation, but this only made Lani smile. It was so strange, how would people learn to interact with others if they never tried. Reading about them and watching from afar was nothing compared to the actual interaction. Lani was grateful for the people he had met here for when he had fallen there were hands there to catch him. Things had slowly become less gloomy and it was nice to think that if he reached out there would be someone there. Lani was still trying to figure out how he had been so blind, but then he couldn’t have everything that he wanted. He smiled blinking himself out of his thoughts. “Who cares? We could hitchhike for all that it mattered?” He grinned teasingly at her, “Come on where’s your sense of adventure?”

Willow… Willow… Oh yes, now Lani remembered. He hadn’t looked at the face, he had been in the back of the room when roll had been called but he really hadn’t thought anything of it other than that Willow was an interesting name. “Really? Which other ones are you taking?” He wondered, perhaps he should go to class more often, then he would know… Strong handshake, Lani smiled at her, at least she didn’t limp noodle him. That was always the worst. When one stuck their hand out and was met with someone grabbing their hand like it was a vial creation. Lani grinned as her face colored, her laugh was unique and nothing to be embarrassed by. She maybe needed a little practice with people, but hey, her power would help her out with that, wouldn’t it?

Lani shook his head like she wasn’t getting it. “No, I mean that makes sense but the point is that you could learn to do it. So you would be able to learn how it works like what triggers it. How it actually touches things…” He trailed off as his imagination ran away with him. There was a lot of potential there, if she could learn how each power worked after enough work she would be the greatest trainer ever. Even one of the telekinetics Lani had spoken to had been unable to tell him exactly what his power was connected to. But then perhaps it was different for everyone, perhaps others knew exactly what their power was born from; others just didn’t care to know. Lani just cared to not make it do things accidentally.

Now Lani shook his head at her. “It makes a world of difference, you have to live for something, and even if the difference is just small it can have a bigger impact than you can even imagine.” Lani couldn’t hold it back. He laughed. “Bah! Everyone normal wants to be extraordinary, and everyone extraordinary wants to be normal. And there will be things that are always a mystery,” he raised a brow at her, “When you can tell me that there is or is not a God, then you will have solved every mystery that has ever been contemplated.” Lani hadn’t intended for it to come out as such a challenge but now that he had given it he knew that if she ever came up with the answer to that he would be not only amazed but he would be extremely humbled. The point was that there would be a mystery, even to someone who could learn everything. The point was that it had to be discovered first to be learned. And there was so much in this world that was still a mystery.

Then their conversation did a one eighty and Lani was not prepared for it. He stopped his sweeping for a moment and looked at her as if she had just grown an extra head. What a strange question. “Um, yeah, I do.” He narrowed his eyes at her, how did she know? He reasoned with himself, it wasn’t too farfetched, she could have seen him before, she didn’t seem like the type to forget something. “Adrianna, do you know her?” He asked pushing his suspicious thoughts out of the way. He needed to stop looking at everyone like a potential enemy and start thinking in terms of friends. But it was only too easy to see the danger, especially after what had happened to the two people close to him. He had already known it was dangerous for them to get involved with him, but it had been a balance between not getting close and keeping close enough to keep them protected. Lani sighed a little, but that hadn’t worked either.

[Willow Birdsong]

Even. She liked the idea of that. “Maybe if I ask you a question, you can ask me one?” She offered. It seemed fair, even. It set the groundwork, it made the most logistical sense.

“I like adventure,” she said softly. But, wait, what was he saying? “We?” Clearly, she was confused. He was going to have to explain that one to her. She didn’t remember inviting him along, and why would he want to go at all? She knew she was the most awkward person at Hammel, no one needed to tell her. She knew from the looks she got, the stares, and the lack of friends with her. Why would anyone want to go hitchhiking with her? Hitchhiking wouldn’t be very safe on her own, especially with her being so young and so... female, which automatically made her vulnerable in this society. Maybe he was trying to protect her? That was suspicious.

“I’m also in math and astronomy. I’m terrible with English though, don’t understand poetry. I don’t see the point of random words put together just for the sake of rhyming.” She paused. “What about chemistry? I thought I saw you in that class as well.” Then again, she wasn’t a hundred percent sure, because she hadn’t been paying attention to any potential friends she might acquire. Yes her power would help her socialize, but only if she actually went seeking people out. Easier said than done. And maybe she didn’t want to be a social butterfly, which is what her power would turn her life into. Point being, she wanted to do things her way, defy her power somehow. She was so sick of not being in control of her life. You know, like every other teenager.

“How it works?” She asked, confused. “I know how it works,” she said. Something was getting lost in translation here. But they had a deal. A question from a question. And this answer, would count for at least five questions in return. And then the question of God came up and Willow smiled a bit. “I’m working on that one,” she said. But there were so many other things to work on and learn about at the same time. “I’m just worried that one day there won’t be anything new to me anymore, even people will cease to surprise me, and that, well, that’s depressing.” Sometimes she could be quite articulate, but it came and went in spurts. She still longed to be normal, if only to be naive and not know any better.

“She’s nice,” Willow offered. Adrianna probably wouldn’t know anything about her, but that was alright, Willy didn’t mind so much. There was often nothing else she wanted to do than look out her window, longing to be outside than stuck waiting for her head to be done pounding. And then, on the best of nights, she went outside to look at the stars. It was where her best thinking was often done. “Do you love her?” She asked innocently. It was something she couldn’t figure out without making it linear. What if love was more than that? Could Lani shed any light on the situation? That, and she wanted it from a male perspective, if only to give them back the credibility her father had taken away. But then, Lani didn’t know that her father had left shortly after she was born, purely because of her. That had been a hard pill to swallow, it still was. Even her, with all her knowledge and incredible power, still didn’t know what to do with the emotions that swelled and caused her to binge and purge.

[Lani Hunter]

A question for a question? Lani weighed the options and smiled. “Alright, you have a deal.” He nodded. Lani was more than happy to start them off, “How long have you had your power?” He was always curious to see if there were any other late bloomers like him. He doubted he would be very excited by her answer since she was already younger than him, but perhaps she was later than most. Really it was hard thing to comprehend when one came into a meta life from a normal one at seventeen. It had been hard to accept and hard to believe. Sometimes he still felt like Alice in Wonderland and that he would wake up randomly and this will have all been a dream. Or maybe he was in Oz.

Lani smiled at her statement and laughed fully at her question of ‘we’. He rose his nose and mimicked a delicate and vulnerable expression looking at her with big innocent eyes. “Of course, you wouldn’t make me hitchhike all on my own would you?” Yes, he was doing it for protective purposes but he was also selfish. He wanted to travel and see the world. Perhaps hitchhiking was not the best of ways, he could always steal a car. But if it mean seeing a tornado up close he would take the chance. At least he had found someone just about as crazy as he was to share in his insane idea.

“Ah, maybe math, and maybe English,” Lani shook his head with a shrug, “I didn’t know we had a astronomy class?” How had he missed out on that one? Lani laughed and nodded, “Yeah, I feel the same, poetry is never fun, I do like reading the books I just hate dissecting them. It ruins the personal opinion.” Lani’s smile waned a little, he used to care about English but that had been because of a certain teacher and how he taught Lani the power of words, but what had Lani done? Betrayed him for a lump of cash. It was awful moments like this when he realized what a horrible person he was hiding behind his masks. Lani scratched his chin glad the conversation was moving quickly so he didn’t have a chance to contemplate it very much. “No, I’m not a big Chemistry person. It was probably someone else. One of those faces maybe?” He shrugged, he did have one of those faces, for the most part very easy to blend into a crowd, but now he had scars, ones he thought were obvious that might be able to give him away.

Lani stopped what he was doing and looked at her his mouth agape. “What? What do you mean you know how it works?” He narrowed his eyes at her, had me missed something in his training? “Well, how? Tell me, how does it work?” He didn’t move he was too frozen with shock but his eyes were straining at her as if to see the answer through her. This was big, Lani’s heart was rising, if he could have the answers, if he knew how it worked, oh man, this was huge. If Lani knew that he could shut it down completely when he needed to and then maybe he could pull more power out of it and not hurt his head so much. He blinked and shook his head shaking himself out of his stupor. He smiled and shook his head at her. “I doubt that, people are never predictable. There are always new people to meet and new things being discovered each day. There is always more, Willow, always,” he looked at her his inner science geek was showing.

Adrianna was nice, certainly one of the nicest people he knew. But she was so innocent it scared him. He nodded in agreement. She had been there for him when he had broken, she had been strong when Lani wasn’t. “What?” He was startled by her sudden question. He knew she loved him and it killed Lani that he couldn’t be sure, because he was so broken up about what had happened between himself and Odion. His heart had been a mess and it hadn’t healed completely yet. Lani didn’t know what to feel anymore, all he knew was that he cared deeply for Adrianna and would do anything for her, but now that Odion and he were trying to mend their friendship he was better. He was on his upward slope and it was getting easier to smile. But it bothered him that Adrianna wasn’t angry, at least not very angry with him for what had happened. Sometimes he wanted to shake her and tell her that he was not a good person. “I… I…” He tried to come up with an answer but it was so much more complicated than a yes or no. It was half the terror that she believed he was a saint when he was a sinner and half was that he just didn’t know. He loved Caroline, that he was sure of. Adrianna had been there for him, but his love for her was neither the same, nor much different than his love for his sister.